N...is for...NEVER put too much bubble bath into a jet tub!

So, I am full of some GREAT advice today. Listen to my words very closely. Take this as a very valuable lesson. When going away for a fabulous weekend with your hubby and friends...DO take the room with the cool jet tub in the corner of the room. Look forward to enjoying the lovely homemade soaps and bath bombs that the nice hotel people leave on the side of the tub. Do talk all day about how much you will enjoy that bath later, while sipping a glass of wine and watching late night re-runs of I Love Lucy. Do all of that...

But NEVER...I repeat, NEVER...put in that tiny little extra squirt of bubble bath thinking that tub is sooo big that you will need extra bubbles to cover your not so tiny, adult sized body.

And whatever you do...NEVER turn on the the jets when you have that teensy, weensy, tiny too much squirt of extra bubbles in that jet tub. Trust me...this turns into an automatic bubble making machine! One that you will frantically beat with the first towel you can find, in hopes of breaking down the rapidly building wall of bubbles. When that doesn't work, you will blow and push the bubbles to the back of the wall, hoping they won't cascade onto the floor. Especially when you do not know how to shut the jets off. You might have to call your friends from next door for help. And when they don't come, thinking you are playing another joke on them, then you might have to go to the funny hotel lady and ask for help.
Then when you come back into the room, with the funny hotel lady who is laughing at your unbelievable story about a bubble explosion...you might find your loyal, helpful friend sitting on your bed laughing while taking pictures of your little teensy, weensy, tiny squirt of bubbles in your jet tub.

By this time, your friendly hotel lady will shut the jets off, with the ease of one finger, gently pushing on the jet button. All friends and friendly hotel lady will laugh at your expense. Your husband will worry that after all the embarrasment, you will be mad at him, for he is the one who turned on the jets for you so you could relax with that glass of wine while watching late night re-runs of I Love Lucy. Soon you will realize that your nervous system is starting to relax, and the sweat on your body is starting to dry.
What else can you do...but shamelessly get into that volcanic wall of bubbles?!
Unfortunaltely, you will soon realize that in your frantic effort to stop the bubbles you turned the water off, and there is only about 4 inches of water in your bath. For fear of igniting another explosion of bubbles...you will turn on the tap VERY slowly, and realize that you cannot enjoy a hot bath of only bubbles. One needs water to relax. But, it takes a LONG time to get rid of that many bubbles.

So, you will very quickly get out of your bath. Go to bed and hope for a better bath tomorrow.
Lesson learned...NEVER turn on the jets after putting in just a teensy, weensy, tiny extra amount of bubble bath into that great big tub.


With that, this is alphe-bet thursday...head on over to Jenny's place and see who else is having fun with N words today. http://www.jennymatlock.blogspot.com/

Pioneer Woman's Book Signing...

Old friends and a good book...does it get any better?!  Why, yes...yes it does!  For those of you who haven't ventured on to Ree Drummand/AKA Pioneer Woman...you have to go to her blog. 
NOW. 
OK...maybe not now, because you are here.  On MY blog.  You know...the one that gets like 7 hits a week.  While hers has had millions.  She won't mind if you go AFTER reading my blog!  When you have time...this is where you go:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/
Pioneer Woman describes herself like this:
I’m a ranch wife, mother of four, moderately-agoraphobic (self-diagnosed) middle child who grew up on the seventh fairway of a golf course in a corporate town. I attended college in Los Angeles and wore black pumps to work every day. I ate sushi and treated myself to pedicures on a semi-regular basis. I even kissed James Garner in an elevator once. Then, on a brief trip to my hometown, I met and fell in love with a rugged cattle rancher. Now I live in the middle of nowhere on a working cattle ranch. My days are spent wrangling children, chipping dried manure from boots, washing jeans, and frying calf nuts. I have no idea how I got here…but you know what? I love it. Don’t tell anyone.

Well, I got a call from Ree the other day telling me she was coming to the Great Northwest...
OK...maybe not.  But I did read on her blog that she was coming to the Great Northwest, for a book signing of her new cookbook. 

I quickly got ahold of my fellow Pioneer Woman blog stalking friend, Charity.  I used to work with Charity...I have so many stories I could tell you about my wonderful friend....but I will save those for another day.  :)  She won't mind. 
We soon made plans to meet.  Which we were both looking forward to as the last time I saw her, was 4 years ago when she was prego with her first little one. 
I made the venture south...from Canada down to Seattle...where we met up at Charity's place.  We decided to head over to the bookstore where the booksigning would take place.  It was a bit of a drive, so lots of catching up was had.
We were so lucky, as the bookstore did the book siging in an order, by letter.  Lucky us...we were letter A!  (Thanks to Josh for picking up our tickets early!)
While waiting in line, we saw this Pioneer Chicklet:

She was snapping pictures of the hundreds of people that were there, lined up to meet her Mama.  I will tell ya...Mama's baby...is TALL!  And purdy too.  She just smiled and took pictures and I decided I would take one of her. 

Then her Grandma walked by...I wanted to take her picture too...but didn't want to frighten her.  She might be wondering what kind of mess her daughter-in-law has gotten herself into!

Then...after 20 min or so...it was our turn.  She was so nice.  It was over before we knew it...but we got our pictures, and books signed and we were on our way!

Here we are...Me, Ree, and Charity.  Hmmm...kinda rhymes...

Charity jumped out...and I stayed.  Ree was very understanding...:)

As we were leaving, we noticed the little Chicklet again...she was buying a snack.  So we decided to chat with her a bit.  We stole another picture.  I decided to post the one with Charity, because quite frankly, if I posted the one with me...I might scare you. 

 Or her. 

Or both.

Truth is, we had a FABULOUS time.  It is the simple things that make life fun.  Kinda felt like we knew ol' Ree Drummond.  We've shared coffee with her in the morning.  Laughed at her silly stories.  Watched her babies grow, and couldn't believe how grown and mature they were when we did meet.  We've heard her Love Story...(Which you will see too, when they make the MOVIE about her soon!!)  And...we have cooked meals together, via her cookbook and other blog site, of course. 

She was just as kind and as real in person as she is online.

You call it stalking.

I call it blogging.

What a Happy Happy Day.

Thanks so much Charity for going with me!  It was so much fun catching up with you and finding out what we have missed out on over the last few years.  Your a city girl now.  I am a farm girl now.  But we still know how to have a GREAT time!  Hugs to you!

K...is for KIDS say the darndest things...

So, the other night...we had nachos for dinner.  I made them a bit spicey, so I was not surprised when Nicki, (*my 11 year old*), complained that her tummy was hurting.
I told her to go to the bathroom and get me the tums.

She brought them out, and I gave her one and said it should help her feel better.  Soon,  I saw Joe, (*my 9 year old*), eyeing the Tums and Nicki with a very giggly face.
I see him whisper something to Nicki, and it was then I realized what he asked her...

"OMG Nicki!  Why is mom giving you

her pregnancy pills?"

The look of shock and total laughter was soon taking over his face.  I guess the only time he see's me take my Tums is when I have been pregnant...poor boy couldn't figure out why on earth I would be making Nicki take them! 

Totally Cracked Me UP!!

Also...a bit more laughter in the house today.  Of course it had to do with April 1st...what would April 1st be without a good joke or two?!

So, last night, Nicki had a 4-H meeting.  While eating a donut or two, she put her retainer in her jacket pocket.  On the way home, she realized she lost her retainer.  In a state of panic, she starts to cry and Tony turns around and they went back to look for her retainer.  They couldn't find it.
Later in the night, the lady where they had the meeting, called...She Found The Retainer!  Woohoo!
I went to pick it up this morning.
With a little prank in mind, I made my way home.  Whipped up a batch of chocolate, and mixed in some granola bar...and made a nice little cow pie.  I topped it off with...you guessed it...Nicki's retainer!
When she came home from school, I told her they found her retainer.  She was thrilled.  Then I put the bag in front of her, and said, "The only problem is, it was in the manure."  She wasn't too sure until she saw some grass embedded in her retainer.
Hoping that is the last time she loses her retainer! :)

Then, I took out some lovely Chocolate Covered SPONGE that Ryan and I made...Yummy!  Gave one to each of the kids and gave them to the workers outside.
Definately made for another SUCCESSFUL April 1st.


Totally patting myself on the back here!  Mom is GREAT!!!


Because it is Alphebe-Thursday..you should head on over to Jenny's site and see how much fun she is having over there! :)
http://www.jennymatlock.blogspot.com/