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Name::April_Mommy
From::Small Town, Arizona, United States
What information would be important here without being too personal? Hmmmmmm... I am a stay at home mommy who loves her kids. I started this blog as an attempt to have fun while keeping track of important things in my life. Alright, not everything in here is important, but it is all from me.
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. : About Sultry Husband : .
The ever Sultry man in my life has chosen to go by the name of Sultry Husband within the walls of my blog. Occasionally he will post his thoughts and experiences here as well.
A writer by trade as well as passion, he keeps our home a happy and inviting place.
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Monday, October 31, 2005
Today is the dayToday is the day that my children have been talking about. Today is the day that we wake up early by jumping on our parents bed. Today is the day that my kids demand to get into their costumes the second that they get out of bed. Today is the day that we have been looking forward to for two months. Today is of course, Halloween.
Saturday we went in search of the perfect pumpkin. The five year old wanted to choose which one that she would decorate. However, she had to choose the biggest and most perfect pumpkin that I actually wanted! I love to create those very detailed pumpkin master carvings which require the perfect pumpkin or the image ends up looking lopsided.
The five year old could not be talked into giving Mommy her pumpkin. However, my Husband had the ultimate idea... He asked her if she would like Mommy to carve her pumpkin in an ultra scary and cool way! Talk about brilliant! The only difficult part was that she demanded to sit on my lap and watch every step of the process and cheer me on. Now, I am all for an audience, but having her watching so closely was quite distracting. Not to mention that her head kept getting in the way so I couldn't see what I was carving! It did turn out very well, and my daughter gave her stamp of approval... So I still got to carve the good pumpkin, but it just needed to be known as hers!
I will let you all know about our Halloween adventures later on, I will say that we have some big plans! Today is the day! Today is HALLOWEEN!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
WiredWhenever I go away for an evening, my husband and girls play. It is somewhat interesting that he keeps the kids up longer when I am away, while I seem to put them to bed earlier so I get some sanity time when I am alone. Last night, I had a rehearsal so it was Hubby and the Girls all night. He kept them up late again, but this time he added a game. Not just any game, but a treasure hunt! The interesting part is that his treasure hunt consisted in a big bag of popcorn with chocolate (treasure) mixed into it.
This game sounds like a lot of fun. Especially with my girls that are way into popcorn and especially love chocolate. This game would ensure a happy time. I however wonder about my husband's timing. He started the game at 7 pm and the chocolate that I mentioned was an entire huge bag of M & M's. They were greedily consumed by the children who then proceeded to bounce off the walls for the next hour. The five year old came down from the chocolate buzz much easier than the two year old. By 8:30, she crashed and fell into a deep and happy sleep.
The two year old needs her own story. You see, I control very carefully the candy intake of my kids. They get it somewhat regularly, but in very small doses. She was so wired that when I returned home at 10:30 pm, she was still dancing and singing on her bed. She was contained in her room, but she was very far from sleep. My husband said that she had been like this all night!
By 11:00 pm, she was coming down a bit from her chocolate induced high, and she just sounded silly. She was sitting up on her bed singing songs that she didn't know the words to, so she interjected her own. I think that we had a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that had barking and mewing at one point. She sang and sang. I am glad that she had a wonderful time, but it is one more reason to control not only the portions of my children's chocolate intake, but the timing as well. At least we were able to laugh about her till the wee hours of the morning, but it sure makes for a grumpy child today!
Monday, October 24, 2005
SamI grew up in a nice suburb of a somewhat large city. I had access to all kinds of opportunities that come with such a location. I had a wonderful and full childhood. There is one thing however that I have never truly experienced. Life on a farm. I now live in a very rural community surrounded by farms. Everyone it seems owns some sort of livestock. If it isn't horses, cows, or sheep it is chickens, goats, or Llama's. My girls love to go for drives into the farming sector just to see all the animals.
My husband works in a building that is nestled between several farms. It is right off a pretty busy two lane highway, but is easily accessible. There is one interesting fact as to the location of his employment, and that is Sam. Sam is a chicken. She has adopted my husband's place of employment as her new home. She has lived outside the building for almost three weeks now and seems to have no intention of leaving. I find her fascinating, the way she struts around like she owns the place is amusing, but most of all it is the way that she acts as if she belongs right where she is.
One of the guys that works there decided to take pity on this poor creature who picks and scratches at the weeds outside. He put out a small dish of water and some oats. My husband occasionally provides her with an apple if it is left over from his lunch. Sam decided that she likes this new home and refuses to leave.
Each day when I drop hubby off for work, there is Sam strutting her stuff and flapping her wings at the passing cars. Now instead of running to see Daddy when we pick him up, the girls run to see Sam. They gather her feathers each day and bring them home for their "chicken feather collection". The two year old is especially adamant that she be allowed to get out of the car to see the chicken as she chants over and over again, "see Sam, see CHICKEN!"
I was afraid that when my girls realized that Sam was a chicken that they would never eat dinner again... We didn't try to hide the fact from our children that what they eat is the same as that fun bird outside Daddy's work. The only promise that I had to make to them was that we would never eat Sam. I only hope that no one else takes her home for dinner.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Blog MonsterI don't understand how they decide what your blog monster name should be, but a few of the profile things on mine were too fitting... here is my monster.
| Your Monster Profile |
 Death Hitchhiker You Feast On: Pie You Lurk Around In: Swamps You Especially Like to Torment: Your Exes |
First of all, I always feel awkward around my exes. There are not many of them, but if I ever run into them, I always hope that they walk away wishing that they hadn't given me up... hehe I am a great catch after all! Oh, and I happen to love pie... swamps I could do without though...
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
You might live in Idaho...My dear brother Johnny Lingo has returned from the void in which he had fallen... In his efforts to ridicule and tease me, he gave me a great idea for this post. I have had these jokes around for years, pretty much since I chose to go to college in Idaho. Now that I live here full time, they ring even more true which is sometimes painful, but always hillarious! I have included my comments on each in black. Hope you enjoy!
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Idaho. (yup.)
If your brother's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Idaho. (we routinely tease our friends who actually have these tan lines...)
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Idaho. (sad but I actually have done this...)
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Idaho. (we have more bars than churches... 5 in a row on main street, three on the way out of town... there are only 5 churches. In a town of 3,000.)
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Idaho. (this old lady calls me at least once a week... she swears that I am "Evalynn". I think that I would miss her if she stopped calling me but I still don't know who she is.)
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE IDAHOAN WHEN:
1. "Vacation" means going east or west on I-84 for the weekend. (yup)
2. You measure distance in hours. (uh huh... how far to your fishin' hole? 'bout an hour.)
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once. (they take it home for dinner.)
4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again. (every day this week.)
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching. (I still flinch.)
6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings). (yes... yes they do.)
7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked. (I am the only one on the block who locks their car... a friend of mine even leaves the keys in it...)
8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them. (we all do.)
9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. (It has snowed on Halloween every year for the past 8 years.)
10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow. (I prefer the potholes.)
11. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction. ('nuf said.)
12. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce. (my blue spruce died this summer... sad.)
13. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age. (there is?)
14. Down South to you means Utah or Nevada. (yup.)
15. A brat is something you eat. (mmmmmm tasty.)
16. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed. (hey that was a great party...)
17. You go out to a tail gate party every Friday. (naw... I am one of the few that don't like football.)
18. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost. (naw we just wear coats.)
19. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car. (I need to get me one of those.)
20. You find zero degrees "a little chilly." (by spring, we wear shorts as soon as it hits 40 degrees.)
21. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Idaho friends. (or we just post them on our blog's.)
As you can see, we blend in quite well here in Idaho... we have loved it here, but we are thinking that it is time to leave... Applications are out there people! Someone hire my hubby!
Friday, October 14, 2005
Good Vs. EvilI was invited to a super cool Halloween party for women only. Can you say fun?! No kids, for an entire evening and dinner was even included! We were encouraged to dress up in a costume of course, but I have several standby costumes so I had no problem with it. In fact, the host of the party asked me to come over early and help decorate. Well, actually she just asked to borrow all of my decorations and hoped that I would put them all up because I know how to work my smoking black cauldron... Yup I have a working cauldron that hubby and I built together. I also have a crystal ball, pumpkin lights, spider webs, and of course no Halloween party would be complete without the requisite black lights. We own 6 of them.
Anyway, I dressed as a wizard for the party, complete with flowing black wig and super cool hat on top. I can look pretty freaky with this wig in the black lights. It is black with two stripes of white hair that frame my face. These two stripes happen to really glow when under black lights, therefore I am bathed in an unearthly glow... I looked downright evil. I set out to cackle and hack my way through the evening festivities.
Another guest arrived in the opposite costume. Her outfit was a pretty white dress, blonde wig, fairy wings, and her head was circled with pretty daisy flowers. As she walked into the party she started skipping around tossing flowers at everyone (she owns a flower shop so it was pretty easy for her to get the flowers). The most hilarious part was the fake eyelashes that she chose to wear. They glowed bright green under the black lights which made her look even more innocent.
Throughout the evening she and I would play off each other and the role's that we were supposedly playing because of our costume choices. We would tease each other about being good or evil. By the end of the evening however, I had traded my wizard hat for her circle of daisy flowers. Somehow it seemed fitting. Somewhere deep down inside we are both good and evil aren't we? All in all, it was a wonderful evening and I look forward to hosting the party next year... That way I won't have to transport all of my stuff to a friend's house!
This last picture by the way is what the room looks like within a minuite of my activating the smoke part of the cauldron... I have to admit that it is so cool!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
HalloweenI always enjoyed the month of October as a child. I loved the fall colors, and most of all, I loved Halloween. There is just something wonderful about free candy. Well, it wasn't exactly free, we did have to work for it... I was fortunate to marry a man who loves Halloween as much or, dare I say, more than I do. Our first year together, we were the Ghost Busters complete with proton packs. Through the years, we have always managed to find a theme to follow in our costumes.
Our love of the holiday has definitely rubbed off on our children. The five year old, wanted to be Princess Fiona a few years ago, and we decided that the theme for the year would be Shrek. Daddy made a perfect Shrek, and our poor new baby was dressed up in a Donkey costume on her first Halloween. I still feel a little bad about that, but hey it really could have been worse. I could have made her a round pumpkin or something.
This year, the five year old started talking about Halloween a bit early. As soon as her birthday in September was finished, she knew that the next big celebration would be in October. She started talking about her costume. This little girl is quite complicated at times, she loves all things scary that have to do with Halloween, but she also likes to be pretty as well. She could not decide on one costume. One day she announced that she would be a princess, snow white to be exact, and a day later she wanted to be a scary skeleton. When Grandma sent a gift certificate for her birthday, we knew that we would have to use the money on her Halloween costume. I took her to the store, and we spent a very entertaining hour choosing the perfect costume.
This year, she wanted to be pretty yet scary. Thus the princess versus skeleton question. She waffled back and forth between the two ideas for at least 30 minutes. As I was beginning to feel frustrated with her indecisiveness, we found the perfect combination. We decided upon a black dress (scary) that has pretty orange wings (pretty), and she calls herself a "scary butterfly". Yes folks, she is dressing up as a monarch butterfly. I am just afraid that someone will tell her that she is cute instead of scary... Perhaps I will make a sign that says "Please tell me that I am scary!" seeing as she can't read yet, I may be able to get away with it.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Fun yet copied postI saw this on Heather's blog and had to try it out for myself... I know, call me a copy cat, but it is really cool, so I did it too...
Directions:Go to Google and click on the images link. Type in the following and post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds.
- The name of the town where you grew up
- The name of the town where you live now
- Your name
- Your Grandmothers name (pick one)
- Your favorite food
- Your favorite drink
- Your favorite song
- Your favorite smell
The town where I grew up
The town where I live now (there was no picture of my town...Yes it is THAT small)...
My Name(I guess that is what I get for being named after a month...Although that picture makes me a little confused... uh oh, I think that I just opened myself up to ridicule from Johnny Lingo again... Pretty usual occurrence though so I really don't mind that much.)
My Grandmother's name (scary thing is that I actually found a real picture of my actual grandmother that I didn't even know existed... freaky eh?)
My favorite food (mmmmmm I am getting hungry now...)
My favorite drink
My favorite song (such a cool piece!!! I would play it every day if I could. Seriously.)
My favorite smell (mmmmm refreshing)
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Silly ThingsI know that posting twice in one day is not usually my thing, I just received this e-mail from a friend of mine and I really wanted to share it. This has been forwarded through so many people that there is no way that I could actually find the place where it originated. Therefore, I preface this by saying that I did not write it, but I did enjoy reading it... I hope you are entertained as well.
Dear Family and Friends,
I want to thank all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me your darn stinkin chain letters over the past few years. Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of what's left of my heart for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy. Because of your concern...I no longer can drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains. I no longer drink Pepsi or DR Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans. I no longer drink anything out of a can because I will get sick from the rat feces and urine. I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer. I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS. I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day. I no longer use margarine because it's one molecule away from being plastic. I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me. I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise. I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number for which I will get the phone bill from hell with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers. I no longer date the opposite sex because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice. I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe. I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish. Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. (Geez, the BIBLE did not mention it works that way!) I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time). I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.
Yes, I want to thank all of you soooooooo much for looking out for me! I will now return the favor. If you don't send this e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with diarrhea will crap on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your armpits. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's 8th husband's 2nd cousin's 3rd husband's ex-wife's mother's beautician!
I had some very interesting feedback from some of you on that last post. Keep in mind that when I wrote it, I had just returned from a very mentally exhausting evening at Symphony practice. Not to mention, it was late and I was quite tired. That said, I wonder if perhaps I owe an apology to Mr. "The Server". According to a few of my friends/readers, I came of sounding grumpy in that post. Perhaps I was. Really, I am a happy person, and I have to admit that I try to make others happy in anything that I do, so I suppose that I was a little harsh on the guy. However, he is still yet to post a new blog even though it says that on Sunday he would post "tomorrow". Hmmmm, do I really owe him an apology for my criticism? I am not sure. I may have been harsh and grumpy sounding, but I am still a little confused. I mean, really, I would not have even been bothered that he hadn't posted in a while. Friends of mine will sometimes not post for two weeks or more and I don't worry about them. I am not bothered by the fact that they choose to spend their time doing more productive and important activities. I suppose that my frustration is not with The Server, it is with the general populace out there who says they will post on a certain day and then not follow through with said promise. (You are off the hook Sariah, as Karen pointed out, you only said that you "try" to post every few days... :-)
Shoot I think that I am sounding grumpy again, so I will stop this Retraction, Apology, or whatever this is. I suppose it is my attempt to sound funny and still explain my feelings on the pet peeve thing. Perhaps in the future, I will only blog about uplifting and entertaining subjects... But then that wouldn't really show the true me... Or would it?
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Pet PeeveThere are only a few things in this world that truly bug me. One is when the violin and viola bows in an orchestra are not going the same direction at the same time, but that is not what I have decided to blog about today. Which means that more than just a handful of people will understand what I am talking about. No, today I am choosing to talk about how much I hate liars.
One of the most endearing things about my husband is that his word means something. If he tells me that he will take out the trash, I know that it will be done. If he promises to take the five year old to the park after work, no matter how tired he is, they will be going to the park. A promise is a promise.
For some reason, this basic principle of life does not seem to translate to the blog world. I have been reading "The Server" lately and I have been enjoying his posts. However, he has committed the carnal sin of promising a post "tomorrow", and then not delivering. I mean really, I don't care if he posts tomorrow or not. My life will go on whether or not I get to read his silly little stories about serving food to ungrateful people. No, what has me irritated is that he promised a post and then didn't deliver. If you don't plan on following through, don't promise in the first place! Now this little man is not the only one out there who tends to use this practice of not delivering on a promise. It makes me want to remove his name immediately from my "blogs that I read" column and forever blot out that website from my memory. But then, I am tired, which should explain the wonderful rambling blog post of mine... At least I didn't assure you all that I would post today and then not. I posted without telling anyone that I was going to do so. I guess that puts me one step ahead of the game.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Romeo? Are you ok?While growing up, my husband loved to act. He was in many plays, which we have nice blackmail video tapes of, but most of all he developed a love for the arts. I was never in a play. I was always called upon to be in the pit orchestra or something, but I never showed my face on stage. That is until we were married.
Hubby and I decided to take a summer off of school and work. One of his former employers had invited him back for a summer job, so we moved in with his parents for the summer. What could be better than spending a few months in sunny California? Not to mention, he could show me all of his old haunts and I could puzzle together faces with the descriptions that he had provided me with. On one of these outings I was introduced to Frank.
Frank must be one of the most interesting and yet baffling people that I have ever met in my life. He directs plays out of a small theater that he owns. As my husband introduced us, Frank immediately invited us to audition for a play that he was about to produce. Lucky for us, it was a summer production of "Romeo and Juliet". I was sure that I wouldn't get the lead roll, and I was alright with that. What I was worried about was my new husband being cast as Romeo and having to kiss another girl in front of me. You can spout your "stage kissing is different than real kissing" all you want. It is still kissing! Imagine my relief when he was instead cast in the lesser roll of Benvolio, the cousin and close friend of Romeo. Frank had cast his son with the lead. I was given a small bit part, I am sure it was because of my husband that I was given one at all.
We rehearsed three nights a week. Hubby and I didn't mind, seeing as we were both in the play, we really were not apart. I also enjoyed watching him in action, seeing as he really is a fantastic actor. Opening night arrived and Romeo was a wreck. I swear he was drunk, not to mention he could not remember a single line of the play. As he appeared out on stage, the cast panicked. Most of my husband's scenes were played with Romeo, which made for some rather interesting improv, but most of all, the audience really didn't seem to notice how terrible the play was.
Perhaps this memory of mine has kept me from desiring to find an opportunity to be in another play. Or maybe we just moved away and became busy with our lives. Some day I really would like to have another chance to perform. Possibly I could have the experience of being in a good play. Either way, there is only one way to go from where I started. Rock bottom, with a terrible performance, there is no possible way that I could be in a worse play. Well, unless someone shows up naked of course. That would definitely be worse.