Totally Random Quote of the Day....

From the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Talking about FOX news being bias:

"MSNBC wishes they were as good as FOX. They are the Toledo Mudhens to the FOX's Yankees."

Keeping With The Fall Theme For October!! Plus pictures from when K & I were kids!!!

This weekend I realized that our new(ish) printer/copier was also a scanner. I also came to the realization that I could now scan all of those pictures I had just found from when I was younger and save them onto our computer so we could have copies to keep forever. I then realized that since these pictures were on our computer, I could now post embarrassing pictures of myself and family members on my blog for the whole inter-world to view! I mean seriously, what a lot of realizing I did this weekend.

So here is the first blog inspired by pictures. I have a feeling over the coming months you will be seeing more blogs posted that allow me to incorporate classic pictures of myself from back in the day. You are welcome.
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As I was going through pictures this past weekend I found a series of Halloween pictures from when K. and I were younger. I noticed a common theme to these pictures; all our costumes were homemade by our mom. Now I have ALWAYS remembered my Halloween costumes because of the fact that they were homemade and totally unique. I mean seriously, how could we forget wearing these costumes?!



Answer, we couldn't because they are awesome. (I think I had one of those inflatable swimming rings around my waist to give my pumpkin more volume and my sister was the cutest bunny EVER!)


I have always loved that my mom has been able to make things from scratch for us. Whether it was a Halloween costume, blanket, hat, dress, a pound puppy, outfits for our toys….she has always had this creativeness and talent for making homemade things for us. As for the costume, I am sure it would have been a lot easier for her to just go to the store and get some cheap looking Halloween costume that everyone else had, but what is the fun in that. No MY mom would spend the time (after working all day, making dinner, and cleaning,) to make us our very own, special Halloween costumes. Yes, my mom is a special kind of amazing.

This is something that you can bet I will try do for our kids someday. Ok, mom will have to help me…but I am sure between my mom, sister and myself we will have the cutest dressed kids at Halloween EVER. Well maybe not cuter than me, but pretty darn close.

Here are a few of my favorites. There are a few more on my facebook page that I uploaded this last weekend!


A full shot of my famous pumpkin costume! It is my all time favorite, so much so I wore it a couple times!!


Here I am as a masked cheerleader. Please notice the duct taped "J" on my shirt. That. Is. AWESOME!!! (I think I have a mullet.....oops)



This is me in my mom's wedding dress. Favorite part about trick or treating in Ohio. That you get to wear layers and layers of clothes under your costume. I don't think the orange sweatshirt takes away from the sheer white wedding dress AT ALL.


Me as an angel. I think I am an angel.


Kristen as Princess Jasmine. It is nearly perfect, but K. opted for the short blonde cut over the long black hair :)


K. as catwomen. No, she does not like to play for the camera at all!!



Do you have a favorite Halloween costume from when you were a child? Or a favorite Halloween story from your childhood? (wow, large enough font Jenn?!)


My favorite thing about Halloween from when I was a child is of course the homemade costumes and also when we got to carve our pumpkins! Newspaper on the table and a big 'ol mess. Perfection!


*I had this scheduled to post, but I am glad to see on other blogs there is a Halloween costume theme! I LOVE it because I adore Halloween!!!

And In The World of Celebrity Gossip....

(I needed a break, so here is a little bit of this and a little bit of that in the world of celebrity news to keep things fairly light.)

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It looks like Jon and Kate Plus 8 is over after November! HOLLA!

Yes, i feel as though this is blog worthy, as I am sick and tired of hearing about this stuff and think these children would be much better off TV and out of the public eye. I am also tired of seeing Kate and her pointy hair all over the place and seeing Jon's douchebag face all over my entertainment gossip sites.

Hopefully by the new year, the two of them and all their shenanigans will be out of the tabloids. And so help the TV station that gives either of these two a show or something that keeps them in pop culture.

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Who else would I like to see out of the tabloids by the first of the year?

For starters how about anyone who is related to or even friends with anyone with the last name Kardashian. I also would like the Cyrus family, anyone on The Hills, Michael Jackson and his family, anyone who has not done anything of real importance in Hollywood within the last 6 months, and anyone who has a nickname given by the media (i.e Li Lo, J Lo, Brangelina, etc..) gone and off the websites NOW.

Thank you very much.

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In other gossip news Garth Brooks has said he is coming out of retirement!

I am not a huge country music fan, I like more old time country when I do listen to it, but there is something about Garth Brooks & his music that I just ADORE! I have every CD he has done and just love him. I am very excited that he will be singing again and can't wait to hear what new music he has!

I mean, really, who didn't sing out loud with their friends "Friends in Low Places", or get the shivers with "The Thunder Rolls", or love "The Dance". *sigh* I love him.

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The 80's band a-ha is calling it quits after next year. (yeah I didn't know they were still together either) You remember then, they are that Norwegian trio that had the hit song "Take on Me" with the really cool video with pencil-sketch animation? I seriously LOVE that video.

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And in sad news, wrestling icon, Captain Lou Albano dies. If you didn't watch wrestling you had to have known him as Cyndi Lauper's father in her video "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"(they just wanna, they just wanna) Here is the video!

It is Pumpkin Pick’n Time!

So every year T & I have a tradition (hey Mickey D, I thought of a non-Christmas tradition in our family!) of putting on warm sweatshirts and jeans and going over to the Pumpkin Peddler on Route 25 the beginning of October and picking out our pumpkins. I have to say we take pumpk’n pick’n very seriously in our household. We are usually at the farm for no less than 30-45 minutes walking around and looking at all the pumpkins available. It is SO much fun! Honestly, we can’t wait till we can do this with our kids someday! (We are seriously the only adults without kids every year, but I think we have just as much fun as the kids that are there.) We make it our mission every year to find the most perfect pumpkins for each of us; I think mine are the better ones but this isn’t a competition…but if it was I feel as though I would win.

After we pick out our pumpkins we like to get hot coffee or apple cider and then we go home, listen to music and get all our fall decorations out and decorate our house! This year we had to postpone decorating our house as T. had homework for his class to work on, but I think we are going to get all the decorations out this week!

But we did get our pumpkins and here are our pumpkins in their wagon at the pumpkin peddler, they are HUGE! (these are very lucky pumpkins to be coming home with us)



Here are our pumpkins at home. T’s is the shorter round one on the stand as he likes to go with a more traditional round pumpkin and mine is the taller one on the porch as I go with taller ones with more room to carve. Since K. was out of town for our trip to the pumpkin farm, we picked hers out for her. It is the one in the middle behind ours. You may have to enlarge the picture to see it. We thought it was perfect for her.



At the pumpkin peddler they also have hay rides and a little place that sells some cute Halloween decorations. We got this cute Halloween door decoration. It has little metal bells in the pumpkins that jingle when you open the door. I LOVE this!



I saw this one and instantly thought of A Couple More Hours! Do you see it has a button eye? (I was going to get it for you but the side had a big scratch, sad)





And if you are looking for fun Halloween decorations, go to this site HERE. I love the stuff they have. The vintage decorations are my favorite, but they have many other types of Halloween stuff as well and stuff for other holidays. (Don't get me started on Christmas!)

Here are a few things I feel would add to our halloween collection!












So have you got your pumpkin yet? Are your fall/halloween decorations out? Do you have any favorite fall decorations? Have you heard me mention I LOVE this time of year?

Happy Birthday My Husband!

(Yes, this is an Iron Maiden Birthday Cake - I totally want to make one of these!)


You know babe, as you are now on the tail-end of your 30’s I thought I would try to give you some encouraging words so you do not fret about turning another year older and getting another year closer to 40. I know age isn’t always an issue with you but I wanted to give you a little extra encouragement this year!

So I did a little research and it seems that most people like to say: “Age is just a number, you are only as old as you feel” when they want to offer support to old slightly more mature people. However, I thought about this for a few minutes and after 9 amazing years with you I feel I know this simple phrase would turn into a major discussion and the realist in you would not like this because you know that it is not at all true.

If I told you “Don’t worry, age is just a number, you are only as old as you feel” you would most likely say: “no I am as old as I am, I cannot say I feel like I am 25 and therefore I am 25. It doesn’t work that way Jenn. And besides, what does 25 feel like anyways, it is all relative to the person and what they remember feeling like at that age based on a few select memories but it is by no means a standard for everyone all the time.” This statement would then be followed by a 45 minute dissertation that would include a philosophical conversation about age, followed by a brief history of how the Aztecs use to calculate age in their society, which would move into the scientific discovery of a species of fish found in the Atlantic that never seem to age, shifting to Tesla’s theories on age and how Tesla never seemed to age because he was a time traveler from the future, moving to discussions of gravitational time dilation and theories of relativity, which would then trigger ideas of how age is just a relative idea and why should so much emphasis be put on birthdays when they are nothing more than a marker to keep track of how long you have been in this realm of existence. (phew…Though I don’t know if anything I said above is actually factual, it is the idea of what he would talk about and I am not exaggerating, infact I may be under-embellishing.)

And though I know this conversation would be very fascinating, I think instead I may just say what I say every year and that is....
Happy Birthday Terry!!!

You are an amazing husband, a wonderful partner, and an individual who I truly admire! I am so proud of you and I wish you many many more birthdays and I am so happy you were brought into existence in this reality we share together!

Love Always,
Jenn

Smart Cars – They Don’t Seem That Smart

This is a Smart Car.


Oh wait, no, I think I may be confused.


THIS is a Smart Car.


So here is the thing, I would never EVER buy a Smart Car. Besides the fact that I just think they look ugly and they are too expensive for what you are getting; I think there is nothing about a smart car that looks safe or comfortable.


So because I enjoy lists and hate Smart cars I have decided to compile a list of reasons why I think Smart Cars are Dumb.


1) My friends’ kids have toy cars bigger than a smart car. (see pic of the little tikes car above)

2) Have you ever seen a smart car driving next to a semi-truck on the highway when everyone is going 65 miles per hour? If you have, then that image alone should be enough to scare anyone away from a not-so-smart car. I mean seriously. Are you trying to kill yourself.

3) When I see a person climb out of or into a smart car I think of a clown car. It really looks awkward and uncomfortable and not meant for someone over 5’2” or who isn’t a practicing contortionist.

4) I believe my Grandpa’s Hoveround is safer and goes faster than a smart car. And is a hell of alot cooler, did you see that commercial where the lady just spins in circles?! That is awesome.

5) I am fairly certain a person could just come by and pick up your smart car and easily walk off with it….if they really wanted one THAT bad.

6) Fact: You would not be able to make it over a speed bump, let alone an actual hill. Though in good news if you can’t actually drive up the hill you can just carry your car up the hill.

7) Question: Do you think based on the amount of space inside the car, that there is even room to have a full airbag, or do they just use a balloon? I am going with a balloon.

8) I believe the Smart car goes from 0 to 60 in a mere 5 minutes and 42 seconds*. That is almost as powerful as most lawn mower engines, almost.

9) I think if you took a turn too fast your Smart car would flip. And too fast for a Smart car is most likely 20 mph. And by flip I mean just fall over on its side.

10) If it hails, rains too hard, or a leaf falls on your smart car it may dent it.



Now, I shouldn’t be all hate'n on the Smart car as it does have a few good features, albeit completely pointless features, but good features nonetheless.

1. It takes only 6 – 1.5 volt (D) Duracell Batteries to run your smart car. Seriously, what a bargain.

2. You don’t have to worry about anyone stealing your car, because really who wants to be caught stealing a smart car.

3. You can get your smart car with a convertible top. Because that is, um, really cool and stylish….I think.

4. You and your 5 year old can have races between your smart car and their electric Kids Wheel car. Though your child may have a slight advantage.

5. You don’t have to worry about driving the car pool to work.

6. Because they made a mini bus smart car and that is just awesome. I seriously must have this.



7. In the winter you could just store your smart car on a shelf in your garage.

8. There will be less dead squirrels on the side of the road, because there is no way that a smart car could kill a squirrel and if someone did hit a squirrel it would cause a lot of damage to the car while the squirrel will remain unharmed. (And frankly, squirrels know this and are not at all afraid of smart cars.)

9. Shopping trips to the local grocers will be cheap, as all you have room to fit in your car would be one bag of groceries and a ½ gallon of milk.

10. You can fit 5 smart cars in one parking space.



So maybe the smart car isn't that bad. Oh who am I kidding, Smart cars SUCK! And if you have a smart car and this offends you I am sorry. Sorry you have a smart car and know I am right! ;)



*This is not an official number, I was just being funny. I seriously doubt the car would actually EVER reach 60 miles per hour. And for the record, I refuse to acknowledge a Smart car as an actual car.

Because All We Can Do Is Laugh About It.....

This is a forward I got from a friend.


The economy is so bad that I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

The economy is so bad, I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"

The economy is so bad that CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

The economy is so bad if the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

The economy is so bad Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

The economy is so bad McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

The economy is so bad parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

The economy is so bad a truckload of Americans were caught sneaking into Mexico.

The economy is so bad Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

The economy is so bad Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore. (haha, my favorite one!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today is the birthday of one of the most beautiful, marvelous, inspiring, funny, fantastic, genuine, compassionate, people in the entire WORLD!

(no, no, no not me…but easy mistake as I am the spawn of said person)

Happy Birthday to the world’s greatest MOM!!! Mom, there are never enough words to describe how wonderful you are and how much you mean to us and to SO many people. We feel so very lucky that you are our mother, because I don’t think there is anyone better!!! Thank you for all the love, support, laughter and kindness that you have given to us. You are truly the most amazing person I know!

Love Always,

Terry, Jenn, Kristen, Sebastian & Belle xoxoxo


We can’t wait to see you in a couple weeks to celebrate!