CYNDIBLOCK TALK

Crawling back in bed

2009-11-10T21:38:00.001-08:00

We were watching 13 going on 30 tonight. I had forgotten how cute that movie was. There is a scene in the movie where the lead character finds herself emotionally lost. She goes home to her parents house and crawls into bed with her mother where she felt safe. I could not stop crying at that scene because it was so touching.
I have been emotionally crawling in bed with my mom for over 38 years. I run to her when I am lost and because of that I am a spoiled baby. I can't take care of myself and I crumble when things get out of whack. My Parents have always bailed me out. It is because of this, Jeff and I are seriously considering moving from Vegas. As much as it will rip me apart, I feel as though I need to do it to survive. There is no work here. Work that Jeff can do that will pay our bills. The business is at a standstill and I am working my ass off with my day job and with Avon.
The thought of moving scares the crap out of me. I have lived here for 34 years. I know where everything is and I am comfortable here. But realistically, if we are going to move, we have to do it soon. Alyssa is getting at that dangerous teen (you ruined my life) years where she will hate me if we move closer to her time in high school.
We will not move anywhere without a real job prospect. We are not the "I left with $35 in my pocket" type of people. But we have to make some serious decisions soon. Because it is getting crowded in my mothers "emotional" bed.
And to tell you the truth, my father never let me in the bed. I always had to be snuck in the room on my mom's side and sleep on the floor. It sucked

Trying not to rip my eyes out

2009-10-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have a lot going on. Seriously. I have my regular job at www.zappos.com, I sell Avon www.youravon.com/cynditatum, and I help make my husbands business become something amazing. www.jtsfaco.com
I am also a mom, a wife, and a human. Thats right, a human.
I feel that I am failing at the last three because of the first three. This year has flown by and it hasn't been as fabulous as I had hoped. I have pretty high expectations about the tween years.
I feel really disconnected from the girls because Jeff is with them. I am trying to let go of a little control and trust him with their daily affairs. Baby steps. I even feel guilty about this freakin blog. I haven't updated in weeks. And it isn't that I feel so supierior that I think that I have people waiting to hear my every word, I just feel guilty to the one or two that actually do read it.

I just need to organize and mentally chill. Not chillax because that term makes me want to punch someone

Garage sales, Avon, and the streets Oh My

2009-09-18T11:26:00.001-07:00

September has kind of sucked a little bit. We didn’t have any customers and it has kind of been hard. But we have come up with plans B through X. This weekend we are having a garage sale. I was blown away by the amount of crap we had stored in our garage and house. CRAP! I just want it out. The girls are having a lemonade stand too. So if you are in the Las Vegas area please by our shit. We live the Lakes, Sahara and Durango by the way.
I have also started to sell Avon. Yes…Avon. I sold it a few years ago and enjoyed it. It is a lot easier now. Everything is online. So I am doing that to help out. My only problem is buying things for my self. Please check out my site or I can mail you a book. It is one and the same. It just depends on what kind of service you prefer. www.youravon.com/cynditatum
If I make about $100 a month it is still an extra $100 a month
Jeff will be getting booths at the next few gun shows and he is in a hunt in October. We need to get him out there, more visual.
Any suggestions before I start working the streets?

The summer is over

2009-08-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

It has been a huge bummer here that past couple of days. I feel so stressed and overwhelmed with home, work, and money issues. I hate this feeling.
This summer went so fast.
The girls are getting ready for school. They had a pretty rockin summer! The traveled cross country to visit cousins in the beginning, then went to camp where they swam all day and went on field trips. Last weekend we took our annual trip to Tuacahn to see Annie and Footloose. HERE are pictures.
Nobody is calling us about the business. It is driving me insane. And it makes me crazy sad. I am trying not to think about it.

2009-08-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have been really down on my home computer lately. First I got this horrible Malware virus that would not go away despite everything I read on the internet on it. It would let me open any of my programs and I wanted to slam it against a wall. But then I thought to myself… I have a friend who is a fricking computer genius and once again I called upon her and used her knowledge. Loraloo I love you!!!! She did it but I have some fragments still in my system. My Picasa 3 went on strike. It was angry that I could let such a horrible virus in. I fixed that too (thank you internet!) but now I am war torn and scared to use the computer for fear of something popping up or freezing. It is good and bad because I love my computer. I love working on projects and writing in my blog and surfing and lately nothing. It is good I guess now I spend more time with the fam.

My brother got Alyssa a kick ass computer. It was our first MAC. I was really anti Mac but it is such a cool lil thing I have grown to love it. Much like our dog, Samra. I hated her at first too.

Anyway. The reason I bring this up is because we are 100% back into our business again and all of my business files are on my computer and I could not get to them. It was really depressing me.

For any of you out there that have a gun or a gun collection that may or may not be antique or collectables and would like an appraisal either for personal record or home insurance reasons please let me know!

And spare me the “I hate guns” “I can’t believe you have guns in the house” etc…. lecture. It is old and I am tired of hearing about it. I had a very dear friend murdered with a knife and there aren’t any anti knife clubs. People, who want to kill, will. Idiots who do not teach gun safety and rules to their children have accidents and assholes that leave it in their car or dresser for the four year olds to find are just ignorant.
There… I am done. I worked in the news for a long time and have heard all of the stories. I get it. My husband hunts and is extremely passionate about it. But people give us crap all the time.
In conclusion….. Check this out.

http://www.freewebs.com/jtsfaco/

Summer post.

2009-07-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

I certainly hope to post more often but here is a little something for you.

This summer has been really freakin busy. The girls started camp a month ago!! We have been double booking for parties on the weekend and planning events for during the week. Never in my life have all been so busy.

The Amazon.com thing.
Unless you do not watch the news at all, and if that is the case, I have nothing to say to you. Then you most likely heard about Amazon purchasing Zappos.com. Everyone wanted to know details. The truth is, I don’t know. We are currently in a “quiet period” The deal isn’t done yet and we can’t talk about it until it is. The reason that everyone even knows yet is because Amazon is a publicly traded company and by law, must tell.
So what was it like here, as an employee? On Wednesday afternoon, Tony Hsieh sent us an email about the goings on. He asked us to take 20 minutes to read it carefully. It is actually right here if you would like to read it for yourself.
http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/ceo-and-coo-blog/2009/07/22/ceo-letter
At first, I went into a mini panic. This is the third merger I have been through where “nothing will change” I kept cool but inside I was that scene from Airplane where they ask the passengers to remain calm and people start choking each other.

We had our “All Hands” meeting on Friday with Tony and the two other tops from Zappos and two top guys from Amazon.com. They answered some questions that had been emailed and informed us on a few other things. All in all, a fabulous meeting. Ask me about it again in November.

Alyssa got her braces today. As far as I know she is not in any kind of major pain but she can’t eat anything.
Jeff and I are in business mode 100% so if you know anyone that needs a gun appraisal, give us a jingle.

http://www.freewebs.com/jtsfaco/

And so I don’t leave Emma out, she is fine too. :)

1148

2009-06-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

That is how many pictures Alyssa has on her camera from her trip and apparently 50 years before that. She never erases I found out. 600 pictures are actually from her trip down South and 569 are pictures of kittens and my Brother in laws place. She is actually an amazing photographer and she is trying to be “arty” It may take me a few days to go through all of these.
So yes, the family has arrived home safe and sound. This includes my parents who drove to Niagara Falls from Vegas. They had a great trip too.
I also arrived home safe and sound from Albany, GA. So it’s all good.. The Georgia Mosquitoes must have smelled us a million miles away because the four of us are minus pints of blood. I was stung by a wasp and bitten by no less than 232 ants. My body is a mess in more ways than the usual. Jeff legs are cut up and scabbed too. Alyssa got bitten by a horsefly. For those of you that do not know what a horsefly is, they look like the fly in the Cars video. Without the sunglasses.

And I can’t even begin to tell you about the crazy humidity. If you are outside for more than 30 minutes it was if a bucket of water got dumped on you. It was gross. Anyway, it was a long three weeks but we are together again.
I have a living room filled with dirty laundry, backpacks, duffel bags, ammo, guns, and coloring books.
And now there seems to be a death curse in Hollywood. I remember going to the skating rink and getting to watch the Thriller video. They would dim the lights, pull down a screen and we would sit on the rink. It was an awesome piece. And as far as Farrah goes, I had mentioned in my face book profile that when I was a child I wanted the Farrah “do”. But my mom made me get the Dorothy Hamiil instead. I was wondering how different my life would have been if I had the Farrah. I still had brown, mousy hair and baby poop brown eyes but I know I would have been popular. I am sure of it.

2009-06-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

So the family is gone. They left on Friday morning and made it to Tyler in two days. Faster than we ever have all the other times we ever went. It hit me last night and I was really sad. My parents are also gone. They actually drove to New York in four days.

I willl have stuff to do.... Yup, Don't worry about lil ol me. Busy as a bee. Last night I spent 5 hours cleaning out my kitchen cupboards. Exciting. I also went to participate in Zappos corporate challenge tug o war. I am feeling it in shoulders today. You should have seen the guys we were pulling against! They were the bouncers for Pure nightclub! We didn't have a chance. Here is a picture.

They were meaty.

Anyway I am kinda welcoming the quiet. Last weekend was crazy. The end of school programs, awards, recitals, birthday parties and everyday life. Here is some pictures from the week.

My friend, Nicole is having her baby this week. So I will be hanging with her.

25 years

2009-05-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

25 years ago today I attended my very first concert. I was 14 and I went to see Van Halen's 1984 tour at the Thomas and Mack here in Las Vegas. The ticket was $15 and I still have it. I went with my friend Vicky and my boyfriend, Erick. I remember spending $12 for a t shirt and coming home to my mothers homemade egg rolls. I have no idea why I remember this so clearly.

Oh My

2009-05-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lets be clear, with Facebook and twitter* and MySpace, You know every frickin move I make. Every thought and every random emotion. So why the hell would I update this friggin blog every day? Because 1. I dont have my space anymore. 2. I need it for REALLY deep thoughts. 3. It makes me feel smarter if even one person reads and cares what I think about something.

I have a busy bee. Jeff's last day at Sportsmans Warehouse was Thursday. He has been catching up on laundry ever since. That makes me happy. He walked the dog today. That makes Samra happy. He meets the girls after school. That makes them happy.

We have some plans. Right now we are taking a deep breath, and stopping to sniff the cork tree.

Thanks for hangin in there.

*cyndiblock

Perfect lil family

2009-04-20T13:36:00.001-07:00

We had the most perfect night last night. It was kind of a Beaver Cleaver family evening. The day was bad with me having a horrible headache but it wore off by 5. We went to Fuddruckers and Golden Spoon to have yogurt. We all laughed and had a great time. It was very overdue.

2009-04-13T08:24:00.001-07:00

I had a dream about black eyeliner last night. A complete waste of a dream. It leads me to believe that
1. I need a more exciting life
2. I need black eyeliner
3. I should stop eating Golden Spoon before I go to bed.
4. I have completely run out of blogging ideas.

Like.. OMG!!!

2009-03-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hey there! So I am kinda refocused and ready to talk about what has been going down the past few weeks.
First of all, Sportsmans Warehouse is closing it's doors. In reality, the owner had no business opening up his two new stores in Las Vegas. Jeff worked at the one that opened in November. He will be out of work by early May. It was a huge blow at first. And lets be clear, it was a hoot being middle class for a few months. We will be golden though. He has already had a few offers at other places and we have his business to fall back on. Granted it may not be as much money as he is making now but we are survivors.

Second, I turned 39 on the 26th of March. to say that my birthday was fabulous would be an understatement. Last year was well, very bad. This year was full of love and happiness. A part of that was Zappos.com and and part of it was my brother and his family in town. I will get to that in a second. Lets talk about Zappos. My department decorated my desk, hired the Zappetts to sing to me, took me out for sushi, and just made me feel really loved. Here is video.

I got some amazing gifts. But the best gift of all was that my brother, Julia and baby Jordan were in town from New York.

It was the first time I got to hold the baby. It was everything I could have asked for and more. The girls loved their little cousin and he loved them. We had some professional pics made up and we had a really groovy time. Here are some of the pictures from the week.

Thank you for your patience.

hello?

2009-03-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

I will update. I promise. I have several things going on. Some life changing. I am just a little overwhelmed at the moment. I cannot get my thoughts together. Love ya.

Snapfish:Photo:Shared

2009-03-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

Snapfish:Photo:Shared

Deja Vu?

2009-03-06T10:32:00.001-08:00

My cholesterol is 248. You should know that it is high and the range is 125-200. High Cholesterol runs in my family. It has nothing to do with my weight because my brother is a Freakin Vegan and weighs a buck o’ nine or something like that and he has high cholesterol. But I am doing something about my weight. I know, we have heard this all before but now I really care about it. I will be 40 years old in 1 year and 20 days. I don’t want to struggle with this anymore. It makes me sad. It puts me in a great depression. So I am truly starting a lifestyle change. Not just with my health but with other things as well.
I have a list of things I want to master in this next year.
1. Be healthy
2. Be more organized with my budget and bills
3. Be more involved with my kids emotionally and physically
4. Organize my kitchen and pantry
5. Figure out a laundry system that works for a family of four with way too many clothes
6. Walk at least 60 minutes a week. I hope to do more.
7. Relax and “let it go”
8. Understand that if people in my life do not accept me for who I am , they have the problem, NOT ME
9. Communication with my Honey Bunny
10. Let him do the things he wants like hunting because he truly loves it and not take it as personal hit that he doesn’t want to be with me. It is not about me.
11. It is not always about me.
12. Embrace the learning opportunities my employer is offering me.

Ikea makes my heart flutter

2009-02-23T12:36:00.000-08:00

So, last week Jeff and I and Nicole and her husband, Eric drove to Covina, CA to specifically go to an IKEA store. Yes, I know. It sounds crazy but it was a fabulous trip.
But back up to the beginning of the weekend. On Friday the 13th Jeff came home with Roses and chocolate. He took out two of the roses to give to the girls. Samra helped herself to the rest of the chocolates the next day. On Saturday we met up with Nicole, Eric and Gage and my friends Kandace, her husband and two of her children for dinner at Buca De Beppo. We had a great time and we have decided to make it a monthly event. On Sunday, Eric and Nicole picked us up at 7:30 AM with their toy hauler and off we were to Pomona, CA where we stayed at a RV park. The IKEA was about 15 minutes away. After we hooked everything up and ate lunch we took off. I actually screamed when I saw the big blue building. It is pretty sad. What was sadder is that we stayed three hours that first day. That’s right, I said first day. We actually went back the next day and stayed two more hours. But I have no regrets. That store is friggin huge. I could not go more than once a year. It is exhausting. But we had a blast. Jeff and I are slowly putting all of our goods together. Our house will ROCK when we are done.
Jeff has a shooting competition next week in Ely, NV. He is really excited. Alyssa is sleeping over a friend’s house on Friday so it will be me and Emma for a night. We might go to a fancy shmancy restaurant or get drunk and pick up sailors. I am not sure yet.

Who ate the toppings off the pizza or why the dogs new name is farticus

2009-02-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

I didn't cook the entire weekend. We either ate out or ordered in. We NEVER do that. And we paid dearly for it. We were bloated and disgusting all weekend. We ordered pizza on Saturday. I don't eat pizza because I am lactose intolerant so right there I should have known. I ordered Jeff a "Peez-illa" Which is pizza with everything. I saw a lot of green peppers and sausage on it. Well we were eating in the living room and watching TV when apparently Samra went into the kitchen to investigate the pizza. And apparently lick all the toppings off of three slices. Puppy had a really swirly tummy for about 30 minutes. At the time we were confused on why she kept grunting and shifting positions. When Jeff got up to put his plate in the sink he saw why. But it was too late. Samra was letting go of some of her discomfort and it was painful for all of us. Alyssa kept calling her Farticus. I don't think Samra has learned her listen since she went through the garbage last night.

2009-02-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

So my youngest turned 8 yesterday. Emma Grace is a big girl now. Birthday week has begun. On her birthday night (last night) we have a family dinner. I told her she can go anywhere in the city. She chose Krazy Buffet. A Chinese buffet we have gone for lunch a few times. But that is where she wanted to go. Funny enough, there was another birthday going on for another little girl. Who knew? She got her gifts from my parents last night and we had a nice time. Tonight we have 6 kids meeting us to see “Coraline.”
Emma’s birth story is the best. I may have told this story before so I am sorry. The date is February 5th, 2001. Alyssa was 3 ½ and didn’t really “get” that there was going to be another kid coming soon. At the time she was going to a private Jewish preschool and taking karate. My doctor had planned the delivery so it would best for both of our schedules. I wanted to make sure I had a babysitter for Alyssa.
Emma was due on February 14th. So this was quite a few days before. Two of my best friends in the world were planning on being in the delivery room with us. Nikki and Nicole. Along with Jeff and my mom, we had quite the party going on. Nikki put glitter on my face and kept trying to pamper me. Little did she know at the time, I hate being touched on my face. Anyway, they kept me in good spirits and we laughed a lot. Which was good because almost exactly a month earlier, Nikki’s mom had passed away and her being with me on that day meant a lot to me.
My father was going to pick up Alyssa after karate class and keep her entertained until we called him with baby news. My mother was nervous about this because Alyssa was only three and her vocabulary at the time consisted of Teletubbies jargon and 101 Dalmatians. She was concerned about my father losing his mind trying to keep her happy. So it was all planned out. My mom said that if I did not give birth by 7:30 PM she would leave to get Alyssa. She was pretty upset because she wanted to be there when Emma flew out. Luckily enough she popped out at 7 ish. Just in time. My gals made me laugh so hard that the doctor said that if I gave one more hardy laugh that the baby will come. That made me laugh harder and swoosh! Baby Emma, looking exactly like her sister. Jeff even said “holy Crap! She looks just like Alyssa!” It was a fabulous birth. Nikki did have the Life/ Death realization of her mother and had to leave the room right after in tears. A nurse saw her crying and thought that something had gone wrong inside and rushed in. But it was all good. My dad showed up with Alyssa at around 8 PM. She was in her little karate outfit and was very shy about her baby sister. She thought it was pretty funny that Emma sucked on her finger when she stuck it in her mouth. Nikki and Nicole are the best to have in your birthing room and they may be for hire. They definitely take your mind off what is going on.
It seems like yesterday. I know that is cliché but it is true. My baby is not a baby anymore.

Little girls

2009-01-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

We got Alyssa a cell phone in the middle of 5th grade. Jeff and I didn’t get a cell phone until we were 27 but that is not the point of this story. We got her one because at the time we had reconsidered our house phone and just wanted mobile phones. I thought it was important that she have a phone as well in case of an emergency. Her first cell phone was a “hammy-down” from Jeff. She was very excited and proud and would call me every day to tell me that she has connected with Emma and they were now walking to my car so I could pick them up. She really only wanted her friends to see her on a cell phone. She begged and pleaded to have a custom ringer and she chose some High School Musical 2 song.
Jump ahead to last night. Jeff got a new cell (T-mobile G1- *sweet* phone) and gave Alyssa another “hammy – down”. This time she wanted, Katy Perry “Hot and Cold” for her ringer. Does the vast difference in ringer choice in one year make me a little sad? Kinda. She is not a baby anymore. She is growing up and her priorities right now are fashion and hip hop dance. She wants to wear mascara and gloss and she has better fashion sense than me. She is tall and thin, blonde with blue eyes. How I ended up with this creature is beyond me.
Emma is turning 8 next week. I can officially stop saying that it is still “baby weight” I am carrying. Pork chop is also an amazing being to me. She is beautiful with red hair, freckles, and green eyes. She looks like Strawberry Shortcake.

She is a deep thinker and very smart. She can either spend an hour watching Hannah Montana or spend an hour completing a suduko puzzle. Which she does correctly by the way. I can listen to her for hours and never get bored. She is very concerned about equal rights for fairies and is mildly obsessed with them. She has fairy gardens all over the house and worries that the tooth fairy works too hard.
I really dig my kids.

Zappos! #23 on Fortune Mag best companies to work for

2009-01-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

If you click on the picture you can see where I was standing! I put a red circle around me! This is also about 30 minutes before the big crazy snowstorm we had!

Check out the magazine here!

The actual article is here!

Weekend update

2009-01-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

1. Clean out garage
2. Sleep until 9
3. Make sweet monkey love to my husband

This was a list of what I wanted to do this weekend while my parents took my girls to Laguna Beach, California for the long weekend. Not one happened. Jeff got really sick on Friday night and it continued throughout the weekend. We did manage to go and have sushi on Friday and go to our Safari Club International banquet on Saturday. We even managed to go out for dinner and breakfast on Sunday and Monday morning. So we took care of our appetite but that is about it.
The girl had a blast. It was a grandparent’s weekend. My parents went with their good friends and their grandchildren too. It was pretty awesome that they did that. My mom is slightly nutty about my girls and would buy them both pink ponies if she could.
Anyway, the weekend is over and today is a WONDERFUL day. We have a new president!!!!! YEE FRICKIN HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHOES

2009-01-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

I used to really love shoes. I mean it, I had a sick and crazy love of shoes. At one time in my life I think I had 10 pairs of black shoes alone. After I became a mommy my shoes fetish downgraded considerably. I felt more comfortable in Birkinstocks and flip flops. I still have a pair of Birkies but I wear more than flip flops now that I live at Zappos.com land. Not a good place for a recovering shoe addict. I have bought many shoes since the start of my employment here. I have also sent out many 20% coupons for friends and family. :) (email me for details)
Now B.C. (Before children) I wore a size 8 ½. After Alyssa I wore a 9 and now I wear a 9 1/2 – 10 depending on the shoe. Working here we actually had a “shoe size” tutorial during our training. The guy told us that many people go up a size when their shoes don’t fit but what they actually need is a wider shoe. So I tried that and purchased 9 1.2’s in a wide. They fit like a glove. I highly suggest it.
I heart Zappos.com

2009-01-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

So we are back. We had a really nice time. The RV rental went well. The RV is very loud inside and everything shimmies and shakes and can really drive you mental. So the first day was a bit crazy. We couldn’t pick up the RV until 1 PM. We get to the place and there are 5 people in front of us and they tell us to come back in an hour to an hour and a half. So we didn’t even get checked in until 3:00. After we get that all settled they inform us that we have to wait another 30 to 45 minutes because they just fixed a crack in the windshield. We didn’t even get back home until 4 PM and by the time we got everything packed and on the road it was 5 PM! Already dark and FREEZING in the back of the RV. The kids were bundled up and I was very tense. We decided to go a different route this year. We were afraid of snow in Gallup, NM. Well, apparently we went through a time continuum and time stopped altogether. It took us about 1000 hours to get to Texas. We actually drove from 9AM to 4:30 AM on the 2nd day and we were STILL not at our destination.

MAJOR Monkey butt.

But we did arrive in Tyler, TX eventually. The kids had a blast and I got to meet a cousin of Jeff’s who I fell in love with. She and her husband were awesome and I wanted to be with them 24/7.
We came home the old way and made it back in two days. We hit a lot of snow in AZ but were in our own bed that night. Sleeping in your own bed after a certain amount of time s almost a religious experience. The next day was spent cleaning out the RV which smelled a lot like armpit. At some time while driving home Alyssa decided she wanted a pickle and didn’t close the jar tight enough and it spilled all over the mini fridge. So the whole place smelled like armpit and pickle. Parmpit.
I have about 23,498 pictures to upload so give me a few days. There is actually a link to my mother in laws pictures on my picture page in the top right corner of this blog. That should hold you. FYI: Samra was amazing! She slept on her pillow between Jeff and me on the ride and ran and ran until she passed out on the pasture

TTFN

2008-12-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

If you were as hip as my kid you would know that was the hip texting lingo for ta ta for now. Tomorrow is Christmas and we leave for East Texas on Friday sometime in the late afternoon. The kids are bouncing off of the walls. I have a lot to do and plan. Laundry is no where near being done and shopping is still two days away. I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays. I will have pictures when I get back in 2009. Thank you for giving me one more year of blog reading.

Dance Ballerina Dance

2008-12-16T10:28:00.001-08:00

Alyssa had her school dance recital on Saturday. Here is a link to them.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cyndiblock/AlyssaDance#
This is all proof that girls mature at different speeds. You should know that these are all 6th graders and some have boobies and well, some don't. Alyssa is totally ok will being a teeny tiny girl. She is petite. She gets it from her Paternal Bio Grandpa and her Maternal/ Paternal grandparents. Get that all?? I don't think any of them were actually over 5 ft tall. Emma is pretty teeny too. The girls in that class probably stuff anyway.
Anyway, enjoy.

Snow Here?

2008-12-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Sam I am in the snow.

Todays post is sponsored by the letter J

2008-12-14T15:50:00.001-08:00

I eat your baby belly nom nom nom nom. I eat you baby Jordan. I eat you. And you will cry and cry because you do not know who I am. But I will chew on your cheeks and lick your bald baby head. nom nom nom.

Sunday and the month ahead

2008-12-08T08:39:00.001-08:00

I was really sick yesterday. When the clouds are low and the pressure is so high I get a bad migraine. I woke up in pain. I went to my pottery class and was ok until I would go outside. I actually did really well in pottery despite my intense pain. It works for me I guess. But I didn’t quite make it home. I got really sick. It was bad and ugly and did not make me feel any better. I practically called in the house and told Jeff that I needed to shower and go back to bed. I slept for about two hours and woke up so we could go to Abbe’s house. We haven’t been over there in about 6-7 months and we missed it horribly. I was feeling better by then because it finally rained. I still managed to go to bed at 8PM. Other than hanging with Ab, It was a yucky day for me.
This month is going to get really stressful for me. I have three Holiday parties where I have to bake, a dance recital, three Orthodontist apts. Work classes, work, and a major trip back east to prepare for. I also signed up to sell things at a craft fair so I am trying to whip out my scarves. I am doing this to myself. I am shocked that I am not stick thin. I am shocked that I always manage to find time to eat.
I read all the time about these celebrities that say their weight loss technique is that they “forget” to eat because they are taking care of their kids. I take care of my kids; I have never forgotten to eat, ever. I have forgotten to work out, I have forgotten to purge, I have forgotten to chew, but I have never forgotten to eat.

Thanksgiving weekend 2008

2008-11-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

What a busy four days! I miss work! So lets start at the beginning. This is the Cliffs notes version
Wednesday:
Raining raining raining. I was terrified driving to work because I could not see the road. It was cold and yucky. We made pancakes at work to make everyone feel cozy. I left at 12:30 so I could make it to Emma's thanksgiving show where she was a pilgrim. That night it was clean and cook for the next day.
Thursday:
Raining raining raining; Thanksgiving merriment, 16 people, Jeff deep fried a turkey it was yummy.
Friday:
Shop, shop, shop.
Saturday:
Girls night out. Hibachi dinner and Jonas Brothers Concert. Sweetest words I have ever heard? : "Mommy can we go now?'
Sunday:
Pottery class! First day, loved it, very frustrating but awesome! Then Alyssa, Mom, and I saw Twilight.

OK People this is were the Cliffs notes ends.
I really liked this book. It took me a long time to get into the first one but I really started liking it. The last book was the best. The movie was very close to the book which is impressive. But I have complaints.
1. I hated the actor choices for the Cullen family. These people were supposed to be the most beautiful people on Earth. I didn't see that in these actors. Robert P is the exception. He is a tasty vittle. I just didn't think Rosalie was the right choice at all. Stephenie Meyer goes on and on about how stunning Rosalie was and I did not see that in Nikki Reed. Who I adoredby the way as writer and actress in 13. She is much better looking as a brunette. I thought that Carlisle should have been better looking too. The guy who played Jasper was creepy. I did see Alice that way though. She was exactly like I had pictured her.
2. The makeup on the vampires bothered me. It was too white and not consistent.
3. I wanted more.
I wanted to watch the rest of the books!!! And I am bummed that it may take years to complete.
I can't wait for Jacob is more involved because, hello... I am so team Jacob.
The bestest part??? The Harry Potter preview we got before the movie started.. It angers me so much that it has been pushed back to July. It is already finished!! Why the wait?
Pics from the weekend.

ouch! Baby Jordy

2008-11-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

This face makes my tummy hurt. I am hoping to squeeze this baby in February.

BYOF

2008-11-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

I know I haven’t written in days. I am so consumed with Thanksgiving, work, and my Texas vacation that I have abandoned my deep thoughts.
On the subject of Thanksgiving, is it wrong for me to ask the guests to bring their own forks? I don’t have enough forks and plastic just doesn’t look right with china. Should I tell them that in our family we eat with our fingers? Should I tell them that they should show me how a piggy eats? (Ala Christmas Story) I will figure this out.
In the meantime I am way bummed that I have not seen Twilight yet. I have been cleaning, cooking, and living and was sorta sad that my 11 year old niece called me from Georgia called me on Saturday to tell me that she just saw it. In Georgia!! Where Superman 2 is still playing. I am re reading the first one because I read it so long ago and so fast that I want to brush up before I see the flick.
Alyssa is getting set for braces. We had our first consultation today and found out that braces cost the same as a 98 Hyundai. The monthly payments are the same too. So Alyssa better rock these straight teeth because she is going to need a ride to school in high school since she will be wearing her first car. The better she looks the more guys will want to drive her.
Anyway, Have a great Thanksgiving. Think of me as I serve 20 people with chopsticks.

Single mom weekend

2008-11-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

Emma and Belle

One of the dishes

Jeff store is on the tippee toes of opening up.(finally!) So he is there most of the time stocking inventory. The difference between his old place and Sportsman's is that the old place believed in working their people on 18 -20 hour days until it was completely done , burning out the employees just in time for sales and events. Sportsman's only works their employees for 8-10 hours making sure they are rested and physically ready. Plus his manager is actually helping out busting his ass and making sure everything is right. Lets just say that his old guy was more comfortable telling people what to do and delegating. Jeff is very excited to get this place open and start working.

We are making plans to travel back to East Texas again. This time we are going for New Years. We are hoping to rent an RV too. We had done it twice before and we had the time of our life. Emma has never been in one. Unfortunately, they are very expensive to rent. If you are in the Vegas area and know someone that wants to rent out their RV let me know. It needs to be a driving RV, not a Pull behind. Let me know. We will take really good care of it and sign any papers you need for us to sign.

Any way, my mom and I took the girls to see Beauty and The Beast yesterday. It was really sweet and the costumes were amazing.

Lime is the new pink

2008-11-10T19:29:00.000-08:00

I am on a lime kick right now. I redid my upstairs bathroom in lime and yellow. What is up with that? Am I an old lady now? Do I gravitate towards bright neon colors? Should I but gold flats and glass tables? Both of which you can find in every home in Sun City where my parents live.

Blah blah, anyway... Within 48 hours I had three people in my life tell me that they were 8-12 weeks pregnant. Not everybody knows yet so I will keep the names secret until the baby is out of the bag.
I am so crazy happy for all of them but kinda sad and jealous for me. Since the run of fertile drama I had a few weeks ago I am kinda moody on the subject of babies. I text Jeff after I found out and said "so and so and so and so are both 8 weeks pregnant, I will be tearing out my heart and dipping it in acid later.. fyi" He text back, "do you want a baby?" I said I don't know. I love my girls. I don't always like them but I totally always LOVE them. They are pretty groovy little chicks and they can take care of themselves. They are fun to talk to and they make us laugh. No, I don't want another baby.
Tonight Jeff and I went to eat Sushi, where a infant was SCREEEEEEEEEECHING! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHING and the parents were LAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHING. I wanted to MUUUUUUUUURDER them. What is up with that? Whenever the girls acted up in a restaurant we took them straight out. I don't think it is rocket science. I made up my mid right there that I was finito with the baby making. I am sorry mom but I am done. I may still get weepy from time to time and wonder what if... but this house is closed.

Whatever. The sushi was fab and we got their just in time for happy hour so it was all half price. Now we are too stuffed to even look at each other which is a shame because the kids are at moms.
Jeff is watching the rice expand in his belly while I keep tasting spider roll. Not romantic at all.

Zappos.com

2008-11-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a crazy sad day for Zappos.com. They had to lay of 125 people. This compnay has never had to do this before. It was very sad. Everybody was crying and hugging. I made the cut to stay but I have severe survivors guilt. Three of the people that trained me were let go. Zappos gave them all pay until the end of the year and 6 months of health insurance but it was still a huge blow. I have never worked for a company like this and I hope I stay for a very long time. But if the economy doesn't turn around soon, we are all screwed.

Get over it

2008-11-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

It is what it is so just get over it! I don't want to hear about it for four years. You have to understand, this is 2008. You are going to have to adapt to change. Whining only annoys EVERYBODY around you.
For the record, I am a democrat. I did not base my vote because of race. Race was not even a factor. Which is more than I can say for why some people did not vote for Obama. I voted democrat because i think this country needs a change. I can only hope for the best. I have always loved McCain. I thought he was an amazing hero. I remember seeing him on David Letterman YEARS ago. I loved him and I was excited to see him run. He blew it for me when he chose Palin. She could not even control her own family. Her teenage daughter was pregnant. I felt that her appearances on Saturday night Live made her look as though the presidency was a joke. She was not taking it seriously.
It is as time for change. I am scared for Obama. I worry for those two little girls and that some KKK yahoo will destroy him because they were never taught tolerance, only disgusting hatred and ugliness.
When people cannot accept me as a Jew it upsets me. How people can base their opinions on someone just because of their religion, gender or color confuses me and makes me sad. People should look at people as humans.

These are just my thoughts. If you don't like it, get your own blog.

And this goes out to YOU: Just because someone thinks differently from you does NOT mean they are wrong. It means they have a different opinion.

Perverts and Foreclosures

2008-10-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

The girls are really excited about trick or treating this year. It is the first time we are doing it in our own neighborhood. According to the news, with a huge amount of house in foreclosure it may be a quiet Halloween. So when the houses are dark there is a good chance that it may really be vacant instead of people not wanting to give out candy and are just hiding in their house with the lights out. Also in the news, There are letting parents know that Sexual predators will have a pumpkin on their door with a NO CANDY written across it. So we are either going to be skipping houses because of the economy or skipping because of society. Actually, According to www.watchdog.com there are no known predators in our zip code.
Jeff is mad because I bought pretzels to give out this year, He thinks kids will egg our house in protest. I think he is angry that I didn't buy Reese's peanut butter cups which are his favorite.

I am on Oprah!

2008-10-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

Very Briefly. I am wearing a Zappos crown and shooting a nerf gun. Blink and I am gone.

http://www.oprah.com/media/20081015_tows_zappos

So me... Cyndiblock : As seen on ABC Nightline and The Oprah Winfrey Show. HELLO!!!

ZAPPOS.COM on OPRAH!!!

2008-10-21T08:51:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday; I am no longer your Cougar

2008-10-16T11:21:00.001-07:00

I love you so much. Up one hill and down another.

gmail

2008-10-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

To become an official follower of my blog you have to get a gmail account. It is free and easy and hey.. An extra email account nobody needs to know about except your lover. You can still read my blog but I am not sure you can comment and I am all about the comments even though you never do.

Hello Y'all

2008-10-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new home.
Blogger.
It actually works out well because I upload my pictures from PICASA and they go to a blogger site.
We will return to our regularly scheduled blog after the AOL JOURNAL mishap.
Thank you for turning in.

Status of Blog TBD

2008-10-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

I got this email today.

Dear AOL Journals user,

We’re sorry to inform you that on Oct. 31, 2008, AOL® Journals will be shut down permanently. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

It’s very important that you save your Journals content before the shutdown. We're working on a way to easily move your Journal to another blogging service -- you can expect an email within the next week with more details about how to do it. We want the transition to go as smoothly as possible for you, so you’ll have two choices. You can either save your information manually and find another place to blog on your own, or choose to automatically transfer your Journal to a different blogging service we’ve selected.

In the meantime, please bookmark the People Connection Blog, where you can find out more about AOL Journals. You can also subscribe to the People Connection Blog RSS feed to stay informed about any changes. We’ll be updating the People Connection Blog often, so please check it regularly.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we make this transition.

Sincerely,

The AOL Journals Team

OBAMA!

2008-09-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

My nephew, Jordan Henry says he is tired of Republicans running this country into the ground. OBAMA IN 08 !!!!

Pics of Alyssa at the climbing wall

2008-09-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

We went to the Greek Food Festival on Sunday and Alyssa climbed the inflatible climbing wall!

Be a better person

2008-09-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

On a completely different note.....

On October 25th, the girls, Samra and I are walking the Creep Walk for the Arthritis Foundation. This is a Zappos.com sponsored event and the Finance team is trying to get the most donations. Make me look good. donate anything from $10 to a million and I will send you a 20% discount coupon to Zappos.com. Please click here to see my personal site to donate. I will really really really like you. I won't just fake it like I have been.

http://creepwalk.kintera.org/cyndiblock

completely jacked up

2008-09-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

The last post was not supposed to be posted. I hit cancel and for some reason it did not. Half of it was missing and there were errors in it. I have fixed it though and have added in the missing parts. It is complete now and I don't want to talk about it anymore.

You don't know what you got until it's gone

2008-09-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

I had a trying week. My mom doesn’t like to me to air my dirty laundry in public but personally, I like to read about other people’s experiences on the internet that I can relate to. It makes me feel as though I am not alone. So If I can relate to one person, it will make me feel good. Part of this blog entry was taken from an email I sent to friends so If it sounds familiar to some, I apologize.

I have PCOS which is poly cystic ovarian syndrome. Just cysts that keep growing on my ovaries. It is supposed to make you infertile, fat, and bleeding all the time. I was diagnosed about 5 years ago and it went away. Well, as you may have known, Jeff and I decided to try and have another baby three years ago and that never happened because of the PCOS which I had forgotten I had. So we gave up. We also actually gave up after Emma’s crazy 6th birthday party where we had 20 screaming little girls in our house for over three hours. Well the cysts came back about three months ago but worse than before. I was exhausted and going through about two pads every hour. It got pretty bad. There was maybe one or two days a month that I wasn't bleeding. Sorry if this is TMI.

Well, on Friday I called the Dr because I was sick of it. I was exhausted and the cramps were killing me. So they told me to come in this last Monday. This was the day that my brother and his wife were having their baby. I had taken some blood tests and pee tests and everything to figure out what was going on with me. I was sitting in the room waiting for my doctor, holding my phone because I knew I was going to get the call at any second because my sister in law went in for a c section. When the Dr came in I apologized for having the phone but explained to him what was going on. He asked me how I felt about that. I told him happy but a little jealous because Jeff and I had wanted another baby and it didn’t happen. And he said, “What about this baby?”

If you would have just told me that Mel Gibson was converting to Judaism, I wouldn’t have been as shocked as I was by what he told me. I couldn’t even speak. I asked him how this happened and he said he didn’t know but it wasn’t all good. He was concerned that I was bleeding so much. And I had to go back to the lab to take more blood. I am not sure how this works but my levels were at 4000. If all was good my levels would be higher and that meant that my body was trying o keep the baby if they went down it meant that by body was trying to reject the baby and would eventually miscarriage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anembryonic_gestation

Needless to say, I had a long talk with Jeff on the “what ifs.” I was kind of excited. Honestly, I know that I am almost 100 years old but I thought it would be cool to have a baby with Alyssa and Emma there to help. I thought it would be cool to have a baby while working at Zappos because they are so amazing and supportive. And I also thought it would be cool because I was more patient now.

The cons were that, Hello?? I am almost 100 years old. Having babies in your late 30 is for celebrities and people who have surrogates. Also, I am tired now and too busy and my kids are already set in their ways and can make their own dinner when mommy is passed out on the couch after drinking too much Boones Farm Strawberry Hill. And, I already weigh 435; did I want to get any bigger?

So either way, I had issues. Well it turns out my levels went down and my body would start to miscarriage soon. When he told me my options I was bummed. Honestly. Jeff however I find out was crazy relieved. He told me that if it would have happened then he would have been happy but if we had sat down and planned a baby then he would have tried to talk me out of it. So I had three options. 1. A D& C which not only will take care of the miscarriage but will take care of my cysts as well. 2. Was to take a pill that would induce “labor” which in my case, the thing that is trying to leave my body... 3. Was to let it go naturally but that could take weeks and I am not into having a scene at work or at tap class for my daughter
the D & C on Tuesday morning. crazy. I was horrible sad before.. And I was horrible sad after but now I am ok. Except I can’t get the bandage shmag off of my arm from the IV and I have a huge bruise.

An I am ok. I mean it. I may or may not want a baby now. I have never been so torn in my life. But I know that I do not want to go through this again nor would I wish it on anyone. It was not a pleasant week.

my 9-11 poem

2008-09-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

I wrote this the week of 9-11-01 I copywrited it. I read a lot of poems that week and I never saw one like this. I think it is a pretty decent read.

The Radio woke her up with a start -

The voice from the box was speaking with heart.

A plane he said had crashed into the tower –

Another into the other, it happened this hour.

She arose with anticipation –

She listened along with the rest of the nation.

Her head was pounding; her eyes had a bruise –

She listened in pain to the rest of the news.

Her husband fought fire with passion and glory –

She knew he was there and listened to the story.

Many were dead, the innocent and the brave –

She hoped, deep down, one was her husband, Dave.

A strong man with the strength of ten –

An angry man, who beat her again and again.

She turned on the TV and sat up in her bed –

She sat in silence waiting to hear who and how many were dead.

With a cracked rib and a broken arm –

She watched as many ran from harm.

She continued to watch, Still in her nightgown -

When the day was over, the shock wore down.

The phone call she got was filled with despair –

She sat and listened and pretended to care.

No more slaps and no more hits –

He won’t be around any longer to work off his fits.

It was only then when she started to cry –

While the country mourned she began living her lie.

She mocked sadness and horror as people would call-

She nodded and wept; she had fooled them all.

For she on that Tuesday was given a freedom that she never knew –

While hundreds screamed and cried she knew what she had to do.

She covered her bruises, like she had done before –

This time with hope for something much, much, more.

A life she could live without threats and fear –

She looked in the mirror and she cried her first happy tear.

Cyndi Tatum 9-14-01

BABY!!! Jordan Henry

2008-09-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

Pine Valley, Utah 2008

2008-09-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

We had a really great time camping this last weekend. The kids had a blast. I may be a little bit too big and old to climb in and out of a tent but I still had a great time. Jeff managed to make it up Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. That was wonderful! What I learned on this trip is:

1. Don’t run around the fire because Nicole will yell at you.

2. I have gray hair growing

3. The creek is cold and wet

4. How to make churro poppers

5. I use too much mayo

6. My eyeballs start to ache when I hike

7. I don’t hike well and I cannot go down a hill or jump over rocks in a creek at all.

8. Noodle pudding is best when eaten freshly baked from the oven and served immediately.

9. The kids go through 40 changes of clothing whenever we camp

10. Eric is quite funny when he wants to be.

Pictures from the camping trip are here

I am cherishing any time I have of him because hunting season is among us and I will lose him to cami’s and a gun. Dove season started last week which really makes me giggle. Jeff has never hunted doves and in my mind it can’t be much of a challenge. They seem pretty dumb. Can’t you just show up to a wedding and wait for a bunch of them to be released? And how hard is it to find them? They are the only birds flying around with olive branches in their beaks.

5 days down 175 to go.

2008-08-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

The girls finished their first week of school. They totally love every second of it. Tomorrow we will celebrate by taking our annual trip to Pine Valley, Utah to go camping. This year will be a bit different because Jeff can't go. I am so crazy bummed out by this. His Henderson store will be opening on Monday and they just received their shipment of 2000 guns which need to be labeled, scanned, assembled and stocked. It is 9:22 PM on a Friday night and they are just starting now. Meaning that there is no way he will be done by tomorrow afternoon to go with us. I promised him that I would not nag him at all about this job. But I have to honest, I am sad. I know that the girls and i will have a blast anyway. I just like the family memories. I will have pictures when we get back. Have a great 3 day weekend.

I got it from here

2008-08-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

First day of school!! The girls were up at 5:45! I never seen them get dressed so fast! This year was a bit new. Emma was at her school alone. Meaning that her sister wasn't there anymore to help her out and Alyssa started Middle school and got on a school bus for the first time. I started crying as soon as I pulled away from the bus stop. I am such a pussy.

Utah is for Tatum

2008-08-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a few days, huh? Well my lordy, the days are flying by so fast, I haven’t had time to breathe. As you may know, Jeff was in ST George for the past two weeks for training for his new job. He will be the hunting manager at Sportsman’s Warehouse. They didn’t have any in Vegas and the closest was there in Utah.

They are opening two here in town. One in Henderson about 8 minutes from my job and one in North Las Vegas area. That will be Jeff’s store. The one in Henderson opens around September 6 and the NLV will open November 9. In the meantime, Jeff is helping stock the Henderson store and will work there until it is time to stock his own.

Jeff and I both shlub our way to Henderson for work but we can’t carpool because he never knows when he will get off. Hopefully when the store actually opens he will get a more exact schedule.

Anyway, for the past three weeks we have driven back and forth the Utah. It is not a bad trip at all. The first time was to get Big Daddy settled in, the next was to spend the weekend with him and the last time was to go to Tuacahn to see two plays. Sound of Music and Les Miserables. As usual, the performances were crazy good and I was practically hyperventilating while crying during Les Miserables, my favorite play of all time.

The girls start school on Monday. Alyssa will be in middle school and will have to take a bus. She is super excited and the school offers some amazing classes. She will be taking dance and drama as part of her curriculum. Much different than when I went to 6th grade. Emma is starting 2nd and is all ready with her clothes and supplies.

I laughed so hard I peed a little

2008-08-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, I sure did. I laughed really hard when I woke up this morning and saw the Colorado River draining out of my garage. Cyndi + August = sadness. Yuppers, it sure did blow just like we thought it would. That silly ol' water heater. What? What is that you say? Jeff was home for how many months and nothing happened? I know! Isn't that just the funniest thing you ever did hear?

Big Daddy hopped on his white steed and galloped all the way home to save the JAPrincess. He just kissed her goodbye and galloped back to slaying his dragons in St George, Utah. JAPrincess loves him so.

Week one

2008-08-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Week one of Project single mom is over. On Sunday we followed Jeff in his truck to St George and got him settled in to the hotel. We had a very nice day. But as soon as I got home things changed. I started to do the dishes and noticed that there wasn't any hot water. So I called him and he told me to check the pilot light on the water heater. Now, lets just say that I am not a handy woman. I am Jewish. We call peole to fix things, we do not fix anything ourselves. Jeff went through the steps with me to re light it. I just knew I wasn't walking out of there with eyebrows but he assured me that it will be ok. And it would have been if I had a lighter long enough to fit through the area to relight it. I had to attach a match stick to a pencil and light that. I am not joking. It worked and I had hot water.. for 24 hours.. and it went out again. So I called Jeff...again. And he said to look around for water for puddles and hey!! There was water around the water heater. not good. He told me to turn off the pilot light and the water valve and to either get used to cold showers or shower at my moms but that water heater is about to blow.

Anyway, this is what we have done for a week. I drop the girls off at camp in Summerlin, Then I drive to work in Green Valley, then I drive back to Summerlin to pick up the girls. Then I drive to my moms to shave, shower, and shine, then I drive back to the Lakes where I live. Google this I put 350 miles on my car this week.

We actually went back up to St George on Friday. We had a great weekend. We swam, went shopping for school clothes, and swam some more. We are home now. Funny enough, we will be going back to St George on Friday with my mom because we have tickets to Tuacahn. We missed last year and it made me sad. This year is Les Miserables and The Sound of Music. I am very excited and hope it does not rain.

Paris Hilton loves Big boy Jeffy

2008-08-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

courtesy of photofunia

It's the best of both Worlds

2008-07-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

So we had a pretty cool weekend. On Saturday we all sat down with our 3 –D glasses to watch Hannah Montana , the Best of Both Worlds concert on Disney Channel.

They girls were so excited!

Even Jeff watched.

The last time we got 3-D glasses for a movie it was swamp thing. You had to get the glasses at Wendy’s. We watched on our TV that was on top of another TV. The effect actually sucked. Jeff remembers being completely disappointed because he had a black and white TV at the time which by the way, does not give off a 3 – D effect.

On Sunday was my company’s Vendor Appreciation Party at rain in The Palms Hotel. Jeff and I got a room in case we drank too much. The party was crazy! 2000 people were there. The club had these sort of Cirque gymnasts on a spinning globe attached to the ceilings. There were also fire twirlers, a balloon maker, and penguins. Yes, The CEO rented penguins. CRAZY!

Minnie is an ugly cat

2008-07-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

Since Minnie won us the $40 gift certificate from Pet smart, we got her a gift from there. We ended up getting her a new fish to stare at. Ever since Harry Potter 2, the betta died she has been bummed out. She loved to watch him and scare the crap out of him. So we got a new little bowl, a tree and a beautiful lavender betta and we named it Herman after Jeff’s grandfather. Plus Alyssa really digs that name. Minnie was beside herself with glee. I am just kidding on that. Minnie shows absolully no emotion except for hate and anger. But she eyeballed that fish all night. This morning I found a puddle on the ground and the plastic tree on the floor. I checked the fish and he was obviously frightened since he pooped himself and was too scared to take it off. I picked up the little wet tree and put it on the counter. By the time Jeff woke up the little tree was in front of our bed on the floor. Jeff was impressed by how Minnie lifted the tree out since it was embedded under aquarium rocks. I told him anger and hatred makes you strong.

What the heck have I been up to?

2008-07-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have been really busy. I know, right? Well I will give you a Cliff's Notes version of the past few weeks.

1. July 4th. Hooray. At 8:30, after watching the 5000 flowers twirl on the ground, the girls asked to go back in the house because they were "bored" PICTURES

2. July 7th. This is where I work. It was filmed on June 26th. ABC came in and they were originally supposed to film just the training but they got wind of the finance dept's pinewood derby we were having and filmed it. Then they caught another wind of the toga awards Finance was having later that night and filmed that too. We ended up being in it more than we thought. for the record.

(A) The school bus was mine. I painted it. It was awesome.

(B) I am in the part where Tony offers everyone $2000 to quit. I am leaning against the wall wearing a white t shirt.

3. July 12th Jeff and my 15th anniversary of our first date. 15 years! We went to a Perry Ferrell and Dave Navarro concert where they were two hours late and showed up drunk where I heard (we left) they only sang two songs. The tickets were free from work so I didn't really care. We went out after and had a few drinks and oysters.

4. I entered Minnie in a ugliest pet contest at work and I won first place! I won because of the caption I wrote.

Caption:

"This is Minnie and she looks like a burn victim. She is really mean and
nasty. We have had her for three years and she hates our entire family.
She is ungrateful even though we rescued her from the animal shelter
where they took her from the streets where she was undoubtedly whoring
herself for vittles and catnip. She only lets us pet her on her terms.
She only stays in the master bedroom even though the door is open and
she can come and go as she pleases. She is also super fat. When she
jumps from the dresser to the floor the ceiling light over the dining
room table sways a little. Minnie is ugly on the inside and out" I won a $40 gift card from Petsmart.

5. I got my cholesterol checked and it is not good. My score is 224 (normal is 100-199) and my LDL is 149. (normal is 0-99) so it is diet and oatmeal for me for a while.

6. Jeff starts work again in two weeks!!!

Pretty nifty

2008-07-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

If you have On Demand, please do this:

Go to Free Zone, then comedies, then Comedy Net. There you will see two movies my brother made from his Barry series. Pretty cool. The weird part is, I did not know they were on there. Jeff and I were browsing for something to watch when we came across his art. I freaked and said that it looked just like my brothers art. Jeff said it looked pretty damned close. (actual saying) Turned out that it was his clips. Warning* If you are unfamiliar with my brothers stuff then be prepared not to understand it. I don't get it either.

D-uh

2008-07-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I told Alyssa to make sure that she and her sister put on suntan lotion on their face before they went to camp so they don't get a sunburn. She didn't know what i was talking about. Why? Because it isn't called suntan lotion anymore. It is SUNBLOCK. How friggin old am I? She read me the riot act on how getting a tan isn't good for you and how they need SPF 5000 because she is practically albino. Then she whipped out her tube of Clinique Sunblock lotion that each kid in her class was given during field day. Retail value? $18.50.

Outlook

2008-06-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am scheduling my outlook to remind me to write at least twice a week.

I am working, yo- i am busy, boo. I had to plan a toga party, organize a move, and make a car for a pinewood derby. Give me a break. I had to do this so I would be nominated for Employee of the week. And I was. After two months. And this is with several hundred employees, yo. I likeeeeee my jobeeeee. Yo.

fingers!!!

2008-06-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is my nephew. Apparently hailing a cab since he lives in New York. Actually, he lives in my Sister in law's womb at the current time but He will be renting an apartment on 34th and Broadway around September.

When I asked my sister in law about this picture she thought it looked like the car scene from Titanic when Rose and Jack were getting in on in the back seat.

Happy Fathers Day

2008-06-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

A mild day at home. We had my parents over for dinner and basically just chilled out for the rest of the day. Jeff got some Oakley Boots, a pair of shorts and a tooth tunes toothbrush that plays a KISS song when you brush your teeth. It was a very nice relaxing day. I have been so tired lately that it is hard to get up to do anything. I should be used to working by now. It has been almost two months.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin head!!

2008-06-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

Alyssa is 11 years old today.

Dear Alyssa,

We love you so much and we are so proud of how beautiful, smart, and amazing you have turned out to be. We can only hope that you love us a quarter of how much we love you.

Love Daddy, Mommy, and Emma.

P.S. Your letter from Hogwarts arrived by owl. It is on the counter in the kitchen.

Alyssa's 1st birthday

10 years later

a wowser weekend!

2008-06-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

I had a cool beans weekend. Abbe's nephew, Joe is the Maitre' De at Red Square at Mandalay Bay. He is a real doll and he hooked Abbe up with a wonderful dinner at some of the restaurants there. She had friends from Florida in town and he hooked us up big time! We started the evening at China Grill. We had lychee shots and an amuse bouche of tuna tar tar on a cucumber with a mandarin orange. We left there to go to Rum Jungle and had a grave digger shot and an amuse bouche of this crazy good shrimp, tostada, seaweed thing that was my favorite of the whole evening. From there we went to our dinner reservations at Red Square. The only word I can think about is decadent! The chefs kept sending dishes out for us to try. We also took a tour in the Vodka Vault. It is kept at 5 - 7 degrees for customers to store their personal vodka bottles in at $5000 a year!!!! I felt like royalty. It was truly magical. Check out the AMAZING pictures here.

It was also Alyssa's 11th birthday party. She had 5 friends over for a sleep over. Plus Gage and Damen because they haven't been to any of the girls' parties because they have been all girl so it was a treat to have them with us. And to have everyone sleep over well, that was a first for me. It was very loud and screechy/ Everyone conked out at midnight and woke up again at 7. We took everyone who could go to IHOP for breakfast. Alyssa had a blast. My baby, she is eleven. Well, she will be tomorrow at 4:16 PM. Pictures of her party are here!

Sex and the Cyndi

2008-06-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

You cannot possibly understand the passion I have for Sex and The City TV series. I watch it continuously (Not the TBS versions) and have read the book about 5 times. So when I heard about the movie I was very happy to say the least. I was NOT disappointed AT ALL!!!! It is fabulous and perfect and amazing and Abbe and I cannot stop talking about it. She went with her nephew and sister and I went with my mom and her friend, Harriet. That's right folks, I went to see SEX and the City with my mommy. Fortunately there were only a few scenes that I had to hide under my seat for. I don't watch that show because it has crazy sex stories, I watch it because it is an extremely powerful show about friendships with women. It is that what draws me too it.

The movie was fab and I plan on seeing it again many times over.

I will not however go again and sit between my mom and her friend, Harriet because they would not stop squawking before the movie started. At one time I asked them if my breasts were getting in the way of their conversation and if they wanted me to move so they could sit together. They told me to shut up. No really, they did. I understand that finding the perfect gift for their gay hairstylists birthday was very important but I didn't need to hear all about it while I was shoveling popcorn in my mouth.

Alyssa is having her 11th birthday party this Saturday. My baby is 11 and all I can think about is that she could get into Hogwarts now. I have a really bad problem.

Helllooooooooooooooo??????

2008-05-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

Are you still there?? I am so sorry. To my 4 readers, I am so sorry. I have been so busy. This working everyday thing is wiping me out. I am currently in my last week of training for my job. Everyone, regardless of position has to take the same training course. It is from 7 AM to 4 PM every day. I live very far from my work so I have to leave the house at 6 to get there just in time. So I wake up at 5 :20. It stinks. But I do like getting off at 4. I also kinda like that paycheck thingie. It is pretty awesome.

Most of the people in my class are young enough to be my daughters. They are in their late teens to early twenties. That kind of freaks me out a little. But it is cool. I am anxious to start my real position in the Finance department.

Anyway, We have been busy busy little bees. We are trying to fix up the back yard. Summer is coming. Even though we had the coldest freakin Memorial Day I can ever remember. We went to Abbe's Lagoon as usual and as she put it, "it is as if we are in Amity Island on the 4th of July." ( From Jaws... Hello??) Nobody was in the water. FREEZING. But the girls still had fun. For the 5th year in a row, they won the limbo contest and won gift certificates. We don't even live in the community!!!

This Saturday was Nicole's son, Gage's 8th birthday, which was, funny enough, a pool party. It rained ice cold rain all day. But the kids still swam. They are crazy. Emma was a lovely shade of blue for most of the afternoon.

We are actually enjoying each other as a family with Jeff home. I love having CoCo the house boy whip up amazing dinner concoctions every night. And the laundry and dishes are always done. He is a much better house mommy than I was.

School is out next week. Alyssa's birthday is in two weeks. She is having a ........*gasp* sleep over. I limited her to eight kids including her sister and herself. I know, I suck. But she was happy with that. Being the big whiner I am, I am also having a birthday party and sleep over that night. Nicole and Abbe are staying over too. We will be drinking Cosmos and playing truth or dare while the kids watch the chipmunks or something stupid like that. In case you are wondering, I am celebrating my 38th birthday again since this one was crap tastic. Abbe and Nicole better get me good gifts. All I am saying is that it better rhyme with hony. and start with a "P".

oh my

2008-05-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

Looks like I haven't written in a few days. I am just really tired. I promise that I will update this weekend.

Cheese Nips and cherry pie at 5:45 AM

2008-05-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

This morning at 5:45 AM Emma burst into my room with a tray table of Cheese Nips, Dry cereal and a slice of cherry pie for Mothers Day. I think I thanked her and told her that was was still very early and to go back to bed. When we woke up at 8:45 the girls were dead asleep.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

We had wonderful day at a Mothers day brunch at a friends house. She has that magnificent house that was just built. I can't explain the inside without using the word spectacular. You will get the idea from the pictures of the backuyard and pool.

The pool slide and "grotto"

The Tiki bar and grill area

The Jacuzzi and sunning area

The waterfalls and grotto with the water on and the slide

The top of the slide

The atrium

The men in the bar area

Michelle ( The home owner), Her mom, Harriet, My mom and me in the Jacuzzi

My friends were in town

2008-05-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Nikki and Tanya came to town and we all played. Saturday night we had a fabulous dinner and I laughed harder than I have in years. I love, love, love, these women. That is what happens when Nicole, Nikki and I get together. I fly to a new place of happiness.

Pictures are here.

Helo there smile

2008-05-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

So I got a job at Zappos.com corporate offices. It is unlike any place I have ever been before. These people thrive on employee happiness. Their philosophy is happy employees + fun and happiness = more dedication, less turnover. Hello? The last place I worked was truly hideous. Everyone there was so cold and tense. The owner was a fastidious angry man who people feared. This owner… doesn’t even have his own office because he believes no one should be above anyone else. He sits out in a cubicle with everyone else. This a multimillion dollar business and the CEO sits in a cubby! It is a very positive place to live. They provide a free lunch all day which everyone has warned me of the Zappos 15. I am trying to do well. In the giant cooler filled with drinks of every kind (including Perrier) I have only chosen juices and water. In the afternoon I drink a diet Dr Pepper for energy. The health bars and fruit they provide in all the break rooms help too. It is crazy! On Monday I go into a 4 week extensive “boot camp” to get to know all about the company. When I get back from training I will be past my 30 days and I will eligible for my health insurance for which the company pays 100% for employee and over 50% for dependants. I am the administrative assistant for the finance department. I also set up all there special events for the department. So far I love it. Keep that in mind. Day 4- I love it.

There is also some changes in the Jeff department. After 4 years of overly dedicated service, He has put in his two weeks notice to Bass Pro Shops and has accepted a position for more money and less hours. I will tell you where when he starts. Which will be in July. He will train at another store until his own opens in September. In the meantime, He and I have switched role as house mommy and I am ok with that. I like using my brain again. Jeff prefers to be called Coco, The house boy though. The girls are ecstatic to have him home. Keep in mind that he has worked 60-70 hours a week for the last year.

As far as money goes, I am working now, we saved a little and Hello May money from the Government. We will be ok.

Life Plan. Take 243

2008-04-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

So I decided that as much as I LOVE being home, I am going back to work. I got a great new job that pays very well. I will let you know where when I start, which will be Monday. Jeff and I have a LOT of new changes coming soon. If I were you, I would keep reading.

I love this man!!

2008-04-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

Three things to mention

2008-04-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

1. Cannot wait one more second for THIS

2. Happy Birthday Pop Pop!

3. We still miss you Matt. Twelve years feels like forever. We hope that you are boozin and cruisin like you always did!

County Fair

2008-04-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

As you all know, we were supposed to be in Texas this week with Jeff's family but funds were a bit sparse. We hope to get there by December. In the meantime, the Clark County Fair started in Overton. A town about an hour away from Vegas but still in the same county. I figured going to the Fair was the same as going to Texas in some ways. Jeff wasn't so homesick after we went to the see the pie exhibit. The girls ditched school so we punished them by making them eat caramel apples, candy apples, cotton candy, pizza and icees. They were also forced to look at pickled eggs and swine races.

Pictures are http://picasaweb.google.com/cyndiblock/CountyFair

Boy oh boy!!!

2008-04-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

They are having a BOY!!!!!!!!

(This is not their child. I googled imaged naked baby boy and this picture came up. )

2008-04-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

overheard

2008-04-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Jeff: "Emma, look that Monkey is doing the Macarena"

Emma: "He is doing it wrong, his hands are supposed to be up"

Jeff: "Throw him some slack, last week he was probably throwing his feces at a tree."

Emma: "He is doing it wrong."

Saturday Morning hoo ha

2008-04-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

So, Alyssa has been learning about the Revolutionary war, She has to write a letter to King George III and tell him why he is such a jerk. So I tell her that when Mommy and Daddy were growing up there were these cartoons called SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK That taught us everything we needed to know about life. We looked up this little diddy on you tube and I almost cried watching it.

But it got me thinking about Saturday mornings. My brother and I used to get up and watch the Bugs Bunny /Roadrunner hour. The best part of these mornings were the schoolhouse Rock clips and that funky little round dude with the long legs that taught me how to make ice pops from the freezer. His name was Timer and his little clips were called Time for Timer.

Ahhhh the 70's. These kids just don't get it. We appreciated TV!! They have 1000 channels to choose to watch on Saturdays. We had three!!

www.freewebs.com/jtsfaco/

2008-04-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

www.freewebs.com/jtsfaco/

By the way

2008-03-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

I am so over it. The depression was so Wednesday.

turning 38

2008-03-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Birthday wishes to me. Uneventful, unsatisfying, underrated. Unhappy. Very very unhappy.

Thanks for the cards for those who remembered. All two of you. I did get a few e cards. That was nice.

I long for the days of YORE. Cake and ice cream clowns and balloons. Except I can't eat ice cream because I am lactose intolerant and clowns scare the crap out of me.

Whatever. It is over, I am 38 Yippee skippy.

Hop Hop Hop Hop

2008-03-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter Sunday like the good Jews we are and went to my parents house for a bagel and lox brunch. We had mimosas and then went to the patio to play Texas Hold Em with Nevada Slick, Texas tatum, Jammin Juggs and Brooklyn Barry. A good time was had by all.

Nevada Slim with her pot and sunglasses to hide her way obvious tells

Brooklyn Barry, Nevada Slim and Tex Tatum watch for the flop right before Jammin Juggs knocked Texas Tatum out of the game. (Jammin Juggs is not pictured)

Lin Lin and Uniqua Tatum played War.

44 years is like a prison sentence

2008-03-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Happy 44th anniversary to my mommy and daddy who have spent 44 years of marital bliss together.

cool weekend

2008-03-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice past few days. On Sunday Abbe and I took our oldest girls to get their nails done. It was Alyssa's first real manicure. Today was Jeff;s day off and we spent the day fishing at Boulder City. It was a lot of fun. Pictures are HERE!

Fo evah

2008-03-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

Geesh it has been a month of Tuesdays since I have written. Nuttin new.

We are not going to Texas in April like we plan every year. It has been a complete bummer and the kids are crushed. It just isn't a very good time to go anywhere right now.

Jeff and I celebrated 13 years of marriage on Tuesday. I know.. long time. Especially in Vegas. We went to breakfast and gazed into each others eyes for a solid 18 seconds. So romantic.

Emma lost another tooth.

Alyssa wants to be a SK8 TER GRL

I am on the rag and puffy

Jeff is a tortured soul but still manages to have enough energy to clean out his bobcat skulls.

Abbe Road

2008-03-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

I used to be so spontaneous. When I was a teen and in my 20's, Stace and I used to be so spontaneous. So radical so fun and crazy. Now, not so much. I have these here kids that I gotta take care of, not that I mind but it kind of puts a dent in the "lets run off to Cali" idea.

Las Vegas is one of the most exciting cities in the world. If you live here long enough you get familiar with the word, "comp" A comp is a COMPlimentary ticket or meal, or drink or whatever makes Las Vegas exciting. It is a word I grew up with being a Vegas kid and having "interesting" relatives that dealt with a lot of "interesting" Vegas people.

But enough about that. Lets go back to being spontaneous or the lack thereof. My friend Abbe, has a teacher friend who is a moonlighting Bobbie at the Beatles Love show. A Bobbie is a British cop but in this case an usher. She occasionally gets tickets for the show and usually calls Abbe. Abbe has asked me to go about 200 times and something has always "come up" I know what they were.. excuses. I always said no and she was bummed but before she even hung up she managed to find someone else to go because these were hot tickets. So last night at 6 PM she made one last attempt. She said she had em, it started in an hour if I wasn't going she was asking someone else. And most likely tearing the garment. But I stunned her and myself and said I was going. Jeff had just come home from a 73 + hour shift and believe me, I was ready to say no again because I didn't want him to have to deal with the kids, but I went anyway, That's right, I went anyway. I wear the pants in the family. (So after he said I could go....) I went.

It was magical. I used that word a lot. But it really was. I think that you have to be a true Beatles fan to enjoy it but maybe that is because I am. I am a die hard fan and the show kind of interpreted the song meanings through Cirque Du Soliel dancers and acrobats.

So thank you Abbe. Thank you for dragging my ass out to a wonderful show on a Sunday at 7. And thank you for the commemorative cup filled with Margarita goodness that I nursed through the entire show when I really wanted to suck that puppy down. It sits in my freezer in the tupperware waiting patiently for Google Friday.*

* Google Friday is when I sit with a box of wine and look up everyone I have ever known through Google. Alcohol helps because it numbs that fact that it is sad and pitiful to cyber stalk people in your past when you really have no intentions of ever talking to them again. You just want to assure yourself that their life is as depressing or more than yours.

Gush

2008-02-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

I love my friggin kids. LOOOOOOOOOVE. This week in school it is Nevada Reading Week. A HUGE deal. They have events and guest readers and parties, etc all week long. They do D.E.A.R. During school hours where all the kids have to Drop Everything And Read. The kids have a blast. Yesterday was dress like your favorite literary character. Emma went as Dorothy and Alyssa went as the Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George. Here is a picture of them and a close up because I think they both have such angelic faces in the shot, I had to share.

CLOSE UP.

2008-02-26T00:04:00.000-08:00

Jeff as a South Park Character

Me as one. Yes my hair is red now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG DADDY

2008-02-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

Not my daddy and not Alyssa and Emma's daddy but my big brother, Eric!!!!!!!!! Today is his birthday and he is going to be a first time DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 We are thrilled because lets face it, we all thought he would marry his MAC.

Anyway, Happy birthday and congratulations you are going to be a way cool pop.

If you love Spongebob, and I know you do...

2008-02-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

The cast of Spongebob Squarepants redid some lines from Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, and The Godfather. Funny stuff.

Alyssa is gullible

2008-02-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

The other day Alyssa was in her room reading with the door closed. Samra wanting in and was scratching at her door which she was obviously ignoring. I walked upstairs and knocked on her door. Alyssa opened it and there stood Samra waiting to get in. She looked around and saw no one else but the dog and said, "no way!". I was hiding in thieir bathroom and started laughing so hard because she honestly thought Samra had knocked on the door. Kids are so much fun to screw with.

Dear Mr Car Salesman

2008-02-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr Car Salesman at Dealership #1,

You were really very nice. I like that you kept telling us that you are not in this for the commission because you are three times retired and you do this for fun. That was sweet but a bunch of crap, I'm sure. Who would voluntarily be an ass hole for "the fun of it". But you were kind and patient with our questions and if we ever do go back to dealership #1, I want you.

Dear Mr Car Salesman at Dealership #2,

Oh sweetie, you are adorable! I thought you were not allowed to drive these cars until you were 25 because of insurance. You cannot be a day over 16. You adorable little thing. What part of "this is the most we can do" don't you understand? I really did not appreciate you taking our car keys and refusing to release them for over an hour while your jerk off of a manager tried to talk us into paying $200 more than we wanted to a month. And speaking of your manager, You have got to inform him that the leather Members Only jacket with a thin tie screams CAR SALESMAN. He had more teeth than a shark and he was so fake I could poo. And I can almost bet that he has never been to Tyler, Texas in his life and if Jeff would have said he was from Neptune, that greasy manager would have said that he was from there too think he had a "familiar" with us and an edge.

Dear Mr Car Salesman at dealership #3,

You were nice too but it is unfortunate that the night before we saw "Trading Places" with Eddie Murphy and you sounded exactly like Billy Ray Valentine from the train scene.

Louis Winthorpe III: Nenge? Nenge Mboko? It is me, Lionel Joseph!
Billy Ray Valentine: Lionel! From the African Education Conference!
Louis Winthorpe III: Yah, mon, I was Director of Cultural Activities at the Haile Selassie Pavilion.
Billy Ray Valentine: I remember the pavilion - we had big fun there!
Both: Boo-boo yah, boo-boo yah, boo-boo yah, hah! Boo-boo yah, boo-boo yah, boo-boo yah, hah!
Billy Ray Valentine: Oh, memories!

It was all I could think about plus I was stressed because I could only understand every third word and I had to pick up the girls from school.

Dear MISS Car Sales WOMEN from car dealership #4,

I hate you. You are pond scum. You and your fake collagen lips and orange bottle tan, who are you fooling? You were painful to look at and I hate you with every fiber of my being. You called my husband to tell him that you have worked out a deal within our budget and to come down with your wife to sign. You promised him that the deal was what you two had agreed on. So after I pick up my kids from school and drive them down to the dealership you try to seduce the girls with your fancy hot chocolate. You sat down with us to say that you had to crunch some more numbers and it is actually $300 MORE A MONTH to get us in the car. $300 more a month that we had agreed on. You mad me cart my kids all the way here just so you can humiliate us in front of them. You are a whore. I hate you and I sincerely hope your lips explode. You are a very ugly women, inside and out.

We did NOT get a new car.

2008-02-10T23:08:00.000-08:00

I hate all of the pictures I took from Emma's Birthday party but this one

She got some really great gifts. Her favorite being from Grandma, A Hannah Montana doll and watch, and Abbe, The Bratz remote control car and doll and from my brother, Pixel Chix, which we all, including Jeff, fought to play with first. She got a groovy stash. But now it is is over and the next few months will be w whirlwind. I am excited to get to Texas and do our yearly trip there. Wheels are in motion, my friend. Also, Jeff is getting a new car tomorrow. Long story. Cliff's notes version is our loan co. said good job with the nice payments, what can we do for you, go buy a new car, we will finance you. The end. I will let you know what we end up with. I am hoping for a Barbie pink Hummer.

Emma Lemma Ding Dong is freakin 7 years old!!!!!

2008-02-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

My sweet, crazy, baby, Emma, is turning 7 years old tomorrow. That is just NUT-TEEE. I just had her yesterday.

Seven is so not a baby anymore.

She is wacky and funny and just a sweet little girl when she wants to be but if you make her mad.... step back.

Happy Birthday Porkchop!!

We love you madly!

Mommy, Daddy, and Alyssa

We got ourselves a family

2008-01-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

He's back. And he has sent us Thumper pics. They are on the left.

w-ah

2008-01-26T10:05:00.000-08:00

Day 6 and Jeff is still gone. He hopes to be home by tomorrow night. I am such a freakin baby. I am optimistic about our future in the business though.

By the way....

2008-01-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL SISTER IN LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!