Countdown

Let the countdown begin.
I’m not talking days anymore either.
I’m talking HOURS.
51 hours at the typing up of this blog post…central standard time.
50 hours eastern standard time.

HOURS until I land myself in Savannah, Georgia.
HOURS until I meet my Best Bridesmaid.
HOURS until I am in the warmth of the Georgian red clay.
HOURS until I see the Atlantic Ocean.
HOURS until the fun begins.

AND the fun WILL begin.

Everyday since my birthday, Tiffany and I have giggled and laughed via webcam and we have gotten pretty crazy together too. I sure hope we don’t get into trouble while I am there. (We do have a backup plan as Chip said he’d bail us out…gives a whole new meaning to Get Chips too!)

I can only imagine the tears of laughter we will share on my visit to her house. OMG ya’ll are in trouble in April…I’m sure of this now more than ever!
And I can’t forget to mention…3 days until Tiffany’s birthday! Oh girl…you have no idea…some special things are going to happen very soon way down yonder on the Chattahoochee! You’re future’s so bright, you better wear shades Shugah!

Our plans for the weekend so far include…
A picnic on the beach (or pier)
A dolphin watch
A dip in the ocean
A tattoo
A birthday party with DQ cake
A photo session
A lunch in Macon (MAKE ON as Gabby says) with her sister and Chip
A few other surprises…
And
A TON OF PICTURES!!!

I'm pretty confident we can get it all done...after all...I'm a Git 'Er Done girl and I'm on a MISSION this weekend...and we all know how them MISSIONS turn out!!

I’ll make sure she gets one of me with my jaw dropped open when I see that ocean and pier for the first time…Don’t let me fall in love…all I’m sayin’!

Have a fantabulous Tuesday ya’ll!!
Love,
TT

Pool Tournament

Boyfriend...a.k.a...Nate Rinehart in the top picture.

SB...a.k.a...Tessie Winjum in the bottom picture. (My sister)

This last Saturday, I had the pleasure of going down to Spike's for my first ever Pool Tournament and to watch my sister shoot some pool. I was shooting her shoot.
Imagine my surprise when these pictures actually turned out.
Oh I practiced before her match up with the Master shooter.
I had the pleasure of shooting Jay Z. as he practiced before hand. He loved the pictures I took. They are progressive in a way, kind of like a movie.
I took about 200 pictures...but not all of them turned out or made the editing cut.
And I can tell you that this Pool Tournament Virgin will go and watch another one at the end of November.
AND...out of the 64 guys and the 19 women...I actually knew someone...Mr. Telephone Man was there! It was great to see him too!
Oh...and Tessie won that first match against the Master. I was pretty proud of my little sister.
I'm looking forward to just watching next time...and learning even more about the art of billiards.
Happy Friday!
Love,
TT

Thursday's Post

ETA: This was typed up on Thursday...I was waiting to take the pictures! ENJOY!


Happy Thursday!

Sorry if I have been a little flighty and absent this week…I was pre-occupied with my mom’s gallbladder surgery, which by the way, went fine.

They removed her gallbladder and some stones, one of which was the size of those rubber bouncy balls!! I asked the Doc to save it…I wanted to see! I couldn’t imagine…no wonder she was so sick!

So with all that going on, I spent the night with Megan, Ashley, Natalea, Gabryelle, and Remmie (and Megan’s friend Dana) at mom’s house. I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving those girls with my little brother but Megan was awesome…she even fed Remmie for me!! I gave him his medicine though…but she did the rest! I know now, if anything happened to mom, I’d be pretty confident I could handle Remmie. Although it helped that he was pretty good for us too.

So we had a little pizza/slumber party although we were all in bed by 9:30 because I had to get up for work. That was awesome too…only having to drive 5 minutes to get to work. I got to play poker until 8:45 today instead of 7:45! That was really nice.

Oh and the best part…I made a chore list for the girls to do when I went to work…you know, take the garbage out, do the laundry, and pick up the house, those kinds of things…and they had it almost done before I even left! AND even did some extra…like sweep and mop the floors! Way to go girlies!!

I called Megan to let her know that mom would be home in about 20 minutes…she informed me they were making mom a Gignamous card…Megan hollered at the girls…”20 minutes people, 20 minutes!” like she was a Director on the set of some hot movie or something. I swear that kid is funny when she’s not crabby!

When I stopped over for lunch, I saw the Welcome Home sign the girls made and then they had to show me that mongo HUGE card…pieced together with duct tape…ROTFLMAO!!
Only my nieces and daughters would come up with that…too stinkin’ funny!!

Outside of Card

Inside of Card
I also found my mom making them lunch and chewed butt…and finished making lunch after I kicked her out of the kitchen. She is glad to be home now though! We’re glad to have her back home too…especially Remmie…he missed his momma!

One more day until the weekend…
Love,
TT

The Last Goodnight -

My new theme song in full screen. Once I figure out how to put in on the sidebar full screen, I'll do that for you.

Great song...Hot guys...What more can a girl ask for? I heard this on KS95 this week...brand new to us here in Minnesota. Give a listen...and a look too!

The Pumpkin Bowl

Last night’s game was interesting to say the VERY least!

The 7th and 8th graders were mixed up into two different sets of teams, complete with nicknames. The plan was to have 2 teams play first quarter, 2 teams play second quarter and the winners of the quarters, play the second half.

Erik was listed in the program as Erik “You’re Fired!” Trump….78.
Matthew (Kim’s son) was listed as Matthew “Mark, Luke, John” Hennen….68.
COMICAL as all get out!!

The boys sure didn’t think it was comical…but I told Kim that we should have a couple drinks and then re-read that list as I was sure it would be even funnier then! She agreed with me.

The there were the Coaches. Coach Atherton (McHOTTIE) and Coach Hauer, Sr. I say Sr. because Referee Hauer is the Jr. (McHOTTIE 2). The other referee’s were Coach Baaken and Coach Wagner (McHOTTIE 3) from the high school varsity team.

Oh and my girls…bless their hearts…were just “EWWWWWWWW”ing at the comments Kim and I made. Kim’s daughter, Emily, thought she was claiming him, she was schooled needless to say.

And don’tcha know, my camera was acting up (although I think I got it now) so I didn’t get very good pictures this time. And you know I damn near killed myself trying to get good pictures. Next year, I’ll be an old pro with Mack Daddy.

I did get some cool shots of the boys lined up on the Scrimmage Line. Little Hauer kept getting in my way and even though he was a nice view, that’s not the view I was looking for. All of my pictures were of the first half as it had started to sprinkle right after Monique was done performing. So we grabbed our gear and headed to the van to watch the second half from the goal post (where the van was strategically parked).

Erik played on the team that played 2nd quarter. The first quarter team ended up playing the second half and lost. After the game, the boys slid into the mud on the field and were having an absolute blast in doing so! Erik just headed in to the locker room, changed, and brought all his gear to the car. It reminded me of that Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial.
My boy had a great time with the 7th grade football program. He plans on being in it next year too.

I think the team ended up with a 8-0 record. They will certainly be a group to watch in the next 3-5 years if they all stay on the team. The varsity team in 2012 will kick some serious ass seabass!

Monique was a part of the half time entertainment. The varsity football cheerleaders put on a Cheer Camp and Monique was a part of it. They dance (or cheer) at the last varsity game on Wednesday. I did get a couple of okay pictures of her. I will try to get more on Wednesday.

Happy Saturday!


I tried to sleep in, but it just wasn't working out that way today. I was sleeping by 9pm so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to sleep in.

Erik and his team won his game on Thursday. The score was 45-6 which makes them undefeated still. We are pretty proud of him. He keeps track of his tackles and lets me know just how many he did in one game. And, while I was there for the first half, he played almost the whole time. Which, in Jr. High Football, means that he's a pretty good player for the coaches to keep him in.

Erik-Football-7th Grade-Defensive Tackle-2007

Monday night is the Pumpkin Bowl and it looks like the 7th and 8th graders will be playing the first half together...then for the second half...the winners of the first 2 quarters will play each other. It should be fun and interesting both at the same time. Hopefully, it won't be too cold. I might have to dig out mittens and hats though, we will have to see.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Love,
TT

Want vs. Need

How does it feel to want?
I used to have an instructor at the Model College of Hair Design that used to say that too me all the time. His name was Randy and yes, he was gay, but he was hot too!
(ALL the hot ones usually are!)
I used to think it was the dumbest question I’d ever heard.
Until I found out how it really felt to want.

Oh my list of wants is long, as I’m sure yours is, especially these days.
I want to travel to London, the Netherlands, and Texas, among other places. I want to get a new van. I want to buy a house. I want to win the Powerball.
I want, I want, I want. “Is that all you know how to say?” my dad would ask.
Sometimes, you don’t know how much you want it, until it’s gone.

But my list of needs is short, which is what really matters most.
And according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I have it all.
I have shelter, food, clothing, my family, friends, and my health.
Sometimes, you don’t know how much you need it, until it’s gone.

But yet, I still want more.I want better. Not necessarily the best, just better. Better for myself and for my kids.
Better, because I know it’s out there.

My mom used to tell me, “Life is what you make it.”
In other words, take those negatives that are thrown at you in life, and make them into something better. Never settle for anything less than the best you can do.

Only then do you begin to appreciate what you have. I often refer to myself as “Low Maintenance” because I truly don’t require much in life. I like simple things. And the simpler, the better too. I can appreciate life more today than I used too. Only because some of those simple things have been taken away. You just don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

“It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got.”
-Sheryl Crowe

Happy Thursday, ya’ll!
SHOUT OUT…to my girl CW…Thanks for the giggles Biotch!

Love,
TT

Brrrrrrr….Baby it’s cold outside!
I swear it’s about 50 degrees out with no sunshine. Drab and Dreary…with clouds up above…yuck. Back to turtlenecks, sweaters, and jeans. Gone are the days of sandals and dresses I think. Pretty soon I’ll be turning the heat on. It is supposed to warm up by the weekend, so I’m holding off on that heat thing still.

Matter of fact, Tommy is getting the kids’ winter jackets out of storage today. It was so chilly this morning, they should have had them, but wore sweatshirts instead. Me, I wore my sweater as usual. I won’t wear that winter jacket until Monday (for the game anyway).

Last night Erik’s football team played against Blooming Prairie.
Of course, we won. My son’s team is now 7-0.
Thursday night is the last regular game and it’s at home.
I plan on going, unless it’s raining.

Then Monday night is the Pumpkin Bowl. I for sure have to go to that because Mo is cheerleading/dancing at halftime. You can find me on top of the electrical box with my tripod taking pictures of them both. Pray I don’t get electrocuted. (I’ll be wearing tennis shoes…I should be ok right?)

I want to give a few SHOUT OUT’S to my fans…An Artist is only as good as their fans make them to be! Love ya’ll!!

Tiffany…Thanks Babes for reading daily!
Kelly…Thanks hon for the comment!
Dutchie…Thanks for lurking!
Mom and Pa…Thanks for making me giggle!
Mom…I am not full of shit like you think…lol!
V-Man…I miss ya babe!

Have a Happy Hump Day!
Love,
TT

Poetry And Prose

LET ME

Let me bend your ear.
Let me hold you near.
Let me call you dear.
Let me hear your voice.
Let me have a choice.
Let me see your face.
Let me learn your grace.
Let me have the nerve.
Let me be your verve.
Let me be your mend.
Let me be a friend.
Let me have the same.
Let me not be a game.

YOU

You make me smile.
You make me sing.
You make me think.
You make me see.
You make me be.
You make me hear.
You make me tear.
You make me touch.
You make me listen.
You make me glisten.
You make me love.
You make me dance.
You make me take a chance.
You make me complete.

MISS

I miss your lips.
I miss your smile.
I miss your laugh.
I miss your style.
I miss your hair.
I miss your stare.
I miss your chair.
I miss your t-shirt.
I miss your pants.
I miss your dance.
I miss our talks.
I miss our walks.
I miss your language.
I miss your smell.
I miss your spell.
I miss you, period.

LOVE

Love me if you will.
Love me as I am.
Love me if you can.
Love me for who I’ll be.
Love me to a T.
Love me if you care.
Love me, if you dare.

WONDER

I wonder how you are.
I wonder what you do.
I wonder if you know,
How much I care for you so.

I wonder if you dare.
I wonder if you care.
I wonder if you see,
How much you mean to me.

It is with great passion and love that I write
these words of prose.
One day, I hope that you will see them
and know.
In my dreams, you already do, for you are my
one and only true love.

I’ll keep you locked in my head,
Until we meet again.
--Pink

Love,
Your TT

MISSION Updates

MISSIONS.
{LOVE THESE}

Here's an update on the current outstanding MISSIONS.

{Uncle Jerrill's Death Certificate}

My cousin sent away for this over 6 weeks ago and has not heard a word.
I sent an email inquiry today, so we'll see if I get a response or not. As soon as I get more details from Donna, I'll give them a call. Don't make me go down there to complete this MISSION. It will not be pretty, I can promise that. I might have to call up my Aunt Debbie for help. I don't want to bother her though, so I'll try to accomplish this one on my own yet.
Why is it taking so long? It's a Death Certificate for pity's sake.

{Tiffany's Birthday Surprise}

Well, both Tiffany and I (and her son Andrew) are counting down the days until I get to Georgia.
24 Days to go until I arrive in Savannah.
25 Days until her birthday.
Her son is our walking calendar. Everyday, Tiffany asks him, "Andrew how many days?" and Andrew will say, "25 momma and tomorrow is 24!" (or however many days it actually is)
He's so stinking cute too, when he says it. I can't wait to get there!

{B&I Wedding}

I am expecting the rest of the cardstock to arrive today via UPS.
I can then finish printing up the invites and begin assembly.
I think when the Boss goes on his hunting trip to Montana, I'll do these at work.
There I will have peace and quiet and minimal interuption.
Sounds like a plan to me. Unless the Boss gives me a list.

{Dad's Military Records}

I sent away for my dad's military records. Unfortunately for me, his records were part of a fire and were destroyed. They sent me a copy of his Discharge paper, so at least I have a legible copy now. So, if anyone reading this has early pictures of my father, please contact me so that I can get copies of them.

{Dad's Records}

I still haven't gotten these put to CD yet. I'll have to get over to mom's one day and dig them out. She had them out the other day looking for her birth certificate and didn't leave them out for me. I'll have to give Cousin George a call too and see if he has anything, as well as the rest of the Marlar family that I haven't met yet.

I think that those are all the outstanding MISSIONS I have going on right now. At least those are the ones I can think of.

Happy Monday to you all.

Gabby

So you have to know my daughter Gabryelle, to appreciate her. And I mean APPRECIATE her.

Friday night she tells me...and these are her exact words..."I was screwing around with the machine in the bathroom, and it spit out 10 cents!"

She was sooooo excited. She thought she hit a jackpot playing Tampon Slots!
Now, mind you, she is only 9. She doesn't know what that machine is or what it's for even (I don't think anyway, she might).

But she has this sense of humor...that's kind of dry in a way. And those of you lucky enough to have met her, know what I'm talking about! Those of you who haven't had the privilege yet, watch out and brace yourselves...you are in for quite a treat!

Happy Sunday, ya'll!
Love ya's! MUAH'S!
TT

Happy Weekend!

Well it’s Homecoming in Waterville tonight.
There’s a parade this afternoon.
The game is tonight.
Activities have been going on all week.
And my kids thought they’d be going to the game.
Until…they were informed that since they didn’t get their chores done, they aren’t going.
I know, Mean Mom. Tough. They’ll learn sooner or later to listen when I speak.

They have rooms to clean and clothes to put away. It’s not like I’m asking them to move the Earth or anything. Take an hour out of your day and get it done. Stay on task and all it’ll take is an hour. Easy peasy.

Not for them. They are the most stubborn children I have ever met. I can stand over them and make them do it and they still wouldn’t get it done. So I quit doing that. I was just wasting my time and energy. Now I take away what they love in exchange for chores getting done. Get it done, or it’s gone. Easy peasy.

I told the girls this morning, if they got their chores done, I’d take them out for supper tonight. We’ll see when I get home and pick them up if they did them or not. I have to take Tommy to get his car after we pick him up. Then I can have mine for tomorrow. By the end of my day today, I will have put on 100 miles. 2 trips to Waseca and back and 2 trips to Faribault and back = 100 miles. I’ll be tired I know.

Natalea has a volleyball tournament tomorrow and Lynn is having a Stampin’ Up! Party.
I already put my order in for the party. I needed some more white ultrasmooth cardstock for Bruce and Irene’s invitations. I ordered plenty.

Speaking of invitations, I believe I have all my supplies here now to start them. I had the photos printed up the other day. Now I’ll have to do them up assembly line style. I only have 3 weekends to go before they have to get done. I’ll map out my steps on paper (in my B&I Wedding Notebook) first, then assemble as required. It all requires that the first step be completed before I can move on to the second step and third step, etc. It’ll be some tedious prep work, but I’m feeling pretty groovy about it all. So, B&I, have no fear, TT is here! (I love that…B&I…lol…rhymes with V&I and T&I…lmao!)

Happy Friday Ya’ll!
Have a Groovy weekend!
I love you all!
TT

M's

So my sister went to Las Vegas this past weekend.

And this is what she brought back for me!

Of COURSE I will keep the bag too!!

TT's T-shirt...Gotta love the M's!
Mr. Red...I think my friend Bob should have one of these.

His nickname is Red, and this has Red on the handle!

I love my M&M stuff Tess!!

After all, it's ALWAYS all about the M's!

THANK YOU!!

Happy Thursday ya'll!

Day Old Donuts

I know, I know, I’m sick. My sense of humor is just a TAD bit demented. My mom was born and raised in Iowa, so can you blame me? I think not…blame the grandparents maybe.

Since my little visit to the doctor’s office, Tiffany and I have been ever so busy with cracking butt jokes. She had me in tears of laughter this morning. So much and so loud was I laughing that I woke Tom up out of his sleep.

And don’t say GM anymore for Good Morning…it now stands for Gluteous Maximus in our world. (I’m only letting you in for a sneak peek of our world by the way, not the whole exhibit…that’s closed to the public…and for good reason…ya’ll wouldn’t get it!)

I also have a new name…Sweet Cheeks. Talking about my Sugared Donut got Tiffany thinking for sure. And ya’ll know I got up at the butt crack of dawn just to hear all this from her…I’m telling you…tears before 5 a.m. is always a good thing…Martha said!

Got Donuts? We just can’t seem to get enough of them for some reason. If you have a MySpace that I’m aware of, be on the lookout for some Day Old Donuts! We aren’t talking Dunkin’ Donuts either! Everyone should have a batch of donuts by the time I’m done.

Yep, everyone should have as much fun as we do. You can bet my sweet cheeks I am having a blast! Thanks Tiff for my early morning giggles. I look forward to many more Shugah!!

Diagnosis

Oh man, in all my humor and excitement yesterday, I forgot to tell you what was the major malfunction in all that!

You see in the photo below, most normal people have a curved towards the front tailbone...A.K.A. Coccygeal Vertibrae.

Well, mine curves toward the front, but then it takes a sharp turn backwards almost in an "L" shape...but not that sharp of a corner...almost a 45 degree angle.

And when I sit down, it feels like I am sitting right on the tip of that tailbone. It's hard to explain the pain unless you have had the injury before. And if ya'll know me, I can't tolerate a lot of pain. I have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to pain...just can't stand it. It's a wonder I birthed 4 kids!

The treatment for this sort of thing is limited. I mean, it's not like you can put your butt in a cast or anything. You can take pain medication to help with the pain, or you can have surgery to have it removed as it's not a vital piece of your spine.

And surgery for me isn't an option until after June because of vacation days and the upcoming wedding in April. So predicting the future like I always do, I see the Neurosurgeon in my future, probably in December or January. If I know my body like I think I do, the pain won't go away and this won't heal on it's own. And Dr. Wagner didn't look too hopeful. Although he cracked up when I asked him about a Donut...and not one from the bakery either...LOL!

Yes folks, I am Ass Backwards. But lucky for me I have a Sugared Donut butt you can bet my sweet ass I'm going to enjoy all these puns and jokes! You have to have humor with an injury like this...or it's totally worthless!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

Love you,

TT

P.S. I'll post a picture of my sweet ass tomorrow after Tiffany takes it for me...I'm stuck on you!

***Edited to add Tiffany's picture! Just call me Sweet Cheeks!

Seems Like...

Seems like just yesterday

You were a part of me

I used to stand so tall

I used to be so strong

Your arms around me tight

Everything, it felt so right

Unbreakable, like nothin' could go wrong

Now I can't breathe

No, I can't sleep

I'm barely hanging on

-Kelly Clarkson

(The lyric was stuck in my head when I typed this up at work, FYI. No real rhyme or reason for it...but it sounded good?)

Seems like yesterday when I cracked my tailbone at the ripe old age of 9. ONLY AFTER my cousin Jason pushed me a little bit too hard and I went flying off the clothesline pole only to land on the gravel driveway. Talk about ouch! I was sitting on a pillow for weeks! I still to this day can’t do a sit up on the bare floor. I much prefer the exercise ball for crunches.

Seems like today, there is still tailbone pain.
YES I went to the doctor (You know the pain is bad if I have to go to the doctor’s office). YES he ordered up x-rays (You know that was uncomfortable).
YES I got a prescription for 600mg Ibuprofen (I prefer 800’s but take what I get I guess).
YES I got a donut to sit on (NOT one from the bakery either).
NO I would not wish this upon my worst enemy (Well, maybe I would too).
NO I can’t stay home from work and lie around all day (Or play poker for that matter).
NO I can’t wait for the pain to go away either (Please save me now B&B…you know what you must do!)

Is this annoying for me?
You KNOW it!
Will I deviate from my routine?
Um, NO!
Is there another option?
Yes there is.

If it doesn’t heal or the pain doesn’t go away, then Surgery here I come! I’ll have a recheck on this with Dr. Wagner and if it’s still not painless, then he’ll send me to the Neurosurgeon to have it cut out…it’s just the tail so no paralyzation should occur.
This all sure gives a new meaning to “My Achin’ Ass!”

And the BEST PART of my day...was NOT seeing my Vman at lunch (with MY BTTT), BUT...at the doctor's office...I found out....are you ready???

I LOST 9 POUNDS!!!!!!!

Have a Happy Monday ya'll!!

Love you!

TT