Party In My Bed!

No one should ever share a bed with my kids.
Ever.

My Night from 3am on looked a bit like this...

Mind you, you're not even getting the full effect without the boney little kid toes digging into your ribs, the wads of blankets threatening to suffocate you(he brough 2 of his own), the dog sleeping on your feet until they go numb, or rolling over onto a matchbox car.

Then he didnt actually go to sleep. He was up and down and crawling over me and knocking my phone off the table onto the floor.

Awsome.

No one slept too much last night so cheers to afternoon naps today.

Giveaway Link-up

I'll only do this for things I know and love and I can really get behind this one.

Once upon a time I was married to this guy.

That nice guy had an even more lovely sister who looked a bit like this.

Around the Bloggy Universe she is known as Gussy from Gussy Sews. She has some amazing talents and one of them just happens to be sewing.

Right now, if you head over to Meet Virgina Design you can enter to win a $40 shop credit to Gussy's Shop online.

Support a cute girls dream of sewing for a living and go enter the giveaway or just buy yourself something from her shop!

Epiphanies and Wife Hunting?

I made it back from my vacation in one piece and my hope of coming home refreshed and renewed was a reality. Mostly.

I took the earliest train ever home from the city Saturday morning. I needed to spend Saturday packing and moving the rest of my big stuff out of Prince Charmings house.

I made it through the experience without crying, puking, yelling, or saying more then 5 words to him. In fact I didn't even look at him. We just existed in the same space for 2 hours.
You see, Prince Charming is a closet alcoholic. I didn't know until it had reached its worst and everything ended. I don't see the man I once did. I still find it all pretty astounding.
But as I was driving away from the house I was feeling mighty numb and then I realized something.
He never deserved me in thefirst place and his memory does not deserve to own me now.
His inadequacies are not mine.
His short comings are not my responsibility.
His mistakes are not my fault.
His vices are not mine and his sins are no longer mine to bare the shame of.
An epiphany.
I felt a sudden physical and emotional release.
A weight was lifted.
I'm not broken.
I'm ok.

Whew!

So I did what any unbroken pretty newly single girl would do.

My sister and I got gussied up and went out to dance away the memory of it all.

We met up with some Roller Derby Girls and danced and drank cheap beer.
We crashed the favorite hangout bar of my ex Mr. Nice Guy, made some friends, made Mr. Nice Guy pretty mad, and let men buy us drinks.
And after a very VERY fun night of dancing and drinking, I made a ridiculous drunk interesting choice.

I had my sister drop my off at The Neighbors house.

The Neighbor and I have been friends for a couple of years. Hes a single dad, not too much older than me, who lives around the corner and is good for a quiet movie night, a kid friendly sleepover, or a good bonfire every so often.

I let myself drunkenly quietly into his house, shed the coat and shoes, and quietly crawled into "my side of the bed" and went to sleep.

Well luckily for me hes mighty good humored because this morning he woke me with the smell of coffee.
"Um, Good night last night?"

"I didn't drink enough to forget anything" I groaned. "And I don't know why I came here."

"Because you love my bed, my coffee, and me. Now get up. We're going to look at a house with my sister."

And so we did. He dragged me around town with him and his sister, made me pork tenderloin for a late lunch, and didn't complain when I snored my way through the Daytona 500 on TV. He just let me be quiet, and feel normal. He let me use the shower, and gave me a clean tshirt to wear.

But I realized today, The Neighbor is Wife Hunting. Hes never been married and hes starting to feel like hes missing something.
Hes adding an office and 5th bedroom onto the house so when he marries someone with kids, there will be enough space.
Hes remodeling the master closet into "his" and "hers" sides, and putting 2 sinks in the master bath.
He spent 20 minutes explaining how his kitchen is perfect for his future wife.
And mentioned that hes taking applications for the position.

Was he speaking in general or is he trying to hint?
He wants to take the kids to Disney world. I better come so his daughter isn't out numbered.
He wants to know if I'm comfortable in the house.
Do I want to go to his parents for dinner?

I took it as my cue to hike back through the snow towards home to wait for my boys to arrive.

I'm seriously unprepared to date.

This Lady is ON VACATION

But only until Friday.

Last night after moving some more of my stuff out of the Ex's house and it NOT going well at all, I decided I needed to get out of town for a little bit.

I booked myself a train ticket and I'm headed to the Windy City for a couple days to bum around.
Not Literally BUM around, I'm just going to relax and do what I want. I have friends to stay with and places to see!

The question is, Can this lady do Chicago for less then $20 a day?

I think I can. I mean, I think all of the walking will cancel out the $2 slices of pizza I'll be existing on.

I slept in past my alarm this morning, and cant seem to find any motivation today. I'm blogging in a towel with wet hair and its 11am. My train leaves in 7.5 hours and I still need to go get dressed, work for a couple hours, pack, etc.

But I love you so I made time for this.


Hopefully I come back a refreshed, new-ish, woman.
Oh and maybe bring back a few pictures.

Giveaway Winner!

Yeah I'm sure you've been waiting anxiously for a winner be announced.
I actually have.

But today is the day!

The Winner is Pink Hibiscus from Daiquiris and Denial.

 She won the Ultra Fabulous Maggie Headband, which will come cutely wrapped in 100% recycled tissue paper, and raffia because THIS girl, is environmentally friendly and so are her products.

So Ms. P. Hibiscus, it sounds like you could use a pick me up today so I hope this helps. E-mail me your address at life.reassembled@gmail.com and keep in mind, this is international shipping so I need your FULL address.


Alright, next order of business.

Lakes of Fire is pretty much my favorite summer event and I spend all winter looking forward to it.
It is a Burning Man Regional burn and if you arnt familiar with Burning Man you need to go check it out online.
LoF plops you in the woods of SouthWest Michigan where the most fun, free, and creative community is built out of nothing and disassembled 4 days later back to nothing. I have never met a more wonderful group of people than the people who participate in LoF. Everyone has a talent or a gift to share with everyone else.
That said, I got my e-mail yesterday to announce the dates and Theme for this year and it has resparked something in me. I long to be back there with those people for those 4 days. The feeling there is undecidable.
You all should make it to Michigan for a few days in June to join us. You wont be sorry.

 Standing about 5 feet away from this sign in the direction of the arrow was a girl starting with her arms open to hug you. She said it just felt appropriate.

 I spent some time getting painted and painting others

Fire Spinners in the Conclave on Saturday night.

I'm secretly such a hippy.

Studying Woes

I'm not a math girl.

Numbers are scary to me.

I don't care what x is and I don't know why anyone else does. Honestly.

This week I started studying for my ASVAB which is the standardized test the military gives you to see what kind of stuff your good at, or if they should even let you in.
I decided that since I'm not 18 and fresh out of highschool I should probably brush up a little.

Reading Comprehension?
Psh, nailed it.

World Knowledge?
Whatevz, soo in the bag.

General Science?
I'm a biological science master.

Mathematics Knowledge?
.......

Its just Algebra right? I took algebra. In like the 8th grade.
All this stuff looks familiar. These equations look like something Ive seen before.
Quadratics?
Distributive Properties?
What?

I sat for 2 hours last night reading and taking notes and trying to figure out what the Hell was going on in these pages of the book I have. They arnt even asking me to know that much Algebra even.
But I kept letting every little thing distract me.

"Was that a snowplow outside? I'll go watch."
"I think I just heard one of the kids out of bed. Must check."
"The peacefully sleeping dog looks like he needs to be put outside right away!"

The snowplow was gone even before I was out of my seat.
The kids were sound asleep.
The dog looked really annoyed when I dragged him outside for no reason.

So Ive designated Monday as my buckle down and learn it or else day.
I have the feeling this is going to be a long and painful process unless this stuff starts coming back to me, QUICK.

p.s. Scale said 142 this morning. I don't think I believe that.

p.s.s. Giveaway is still going until tomorrow. Go Enter.

My Apologies

First, Welcome to the ladies who are stopping by from the Cafe Bloghop. I hope you stick around for awhile.

Second, Thank you to Tammy and Deb for including me in their hop.

Last but not least, UGH!

I'm so sorry I'm not here to welcome you with open arms but for heavens sake, don't come anywhere near me! I think its the flu.
All I know is that Ive been wearing a hat indoors all day because I cant get warm. This is not a good sign.

Thumbs down for today guys...

So me and my laptop are crawling into bed and I'm going to read some of your great comments, browse some blogs, and hopefully fall asleep for an hour or so.

Hopefully I can turn my thumbs down into a thumbs up tomorrow!

But really, Thank You for coming by. I'll be back to my usual chipper self tomorrow.

Oh, and the Giveway lasts until Sunday. Go check it out!

A Horrible Conspiracy

Yes, thats what Valentines Day is to me.

Not even in a "I'm such a single loser" kind of way even. I feel bad for couples too.
All that pressure to live up to something but no one is quite sure what.

(xkcd)

Every year aside from those few I was married, I've been a single lady on Valentines Day. That wouldnt even be so bad if I wasnt the ONLY single lady I know.

So a couple years ago I started going on the most unromantic platonic Valentines Day dates I could come up with.

2009- I met up with J whose girlfriend lived out of town and couldnt make it in for the weekend. We dressed up in our fanciest hipster swag and went to a local coffeeshop for soup and tea. We had our picture taken very Senior Prom like, and then went to the Opera. After the Opera we drove around town, stopped and bought an $8 bar of chocolate and a slice of pizza to share and then went on the "skywalk" around town which basically leads you through every large hotel and convention center in town, two or three stories up.

(J and I crashing some party in a hotel)

2010- Was the year of gluten free, kosher pizza, dancing to 80's music, and alot of beer with D. We came home damp from the sweat, sticky from the spilled drinks, and completely exhausted from all the 80's mania.

So what will 2011 bring? I believe I've secured my platonic date for the evening and I'm still trying to decide what we should do. The more random, and un-date like, the better. I need to look into whats happening around town and get some ideas and then I think its kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of night.

So I think at this point, I almost feel bad for the people who have all these expectations about the day because I'll be out riding around in a rickshaw, taking a baked good tour of the city, watching a bluegrass band, or something equally as random.

p.s. The Giveaway is still going on. Go check it out.

p.s.s. New layout today. Any thoughts? Im still on the fence.

Car Repairs and Reading

My trusty rusty Volvo Wagon has been out of commission for the last week. It just wouldnt start.
I can do some car related things but not many so I called in reinforcements in the form of my step-dad. After 2 hours he had made no progress either.
Today I broke down and had it towed to the repair shop up the street.

$210 later, it was Spark Plugs.

4 dollar spark plugs.

At least its fixed.

I got my Coast Guard manual in the mail FINALLY so Ive been reading all day. If only the court system moved faster than a snails pace, we might actually be able to get this show on the road(ie. leave for basic).
It gets continually frustrating the longer I dont hear from anyone.
Basically Matt and I have to change our custody agreement in order for me to enlist. We are in agreement about the change. We dont want to pay to go to court and stand in front of a judge which we dont think is necessary. We dont want to pay to sit with a mediator because we also dont find it necessary.
We, two friendly adult parents, would mutually like to change our agreement in some legally binding way.
This blows peoples minds.

"WHAA?! You two dont hate eachother and want to have a long drawn out court battle? But EVERYBODYS DOIN IT!!"

Thats not how we roll.

There has to be an easier way but no one even seems to understand the question to begin with.

Its just what we do.... Blow peoples minds by being logical nice ex spouses.

And now, back to diligently reading what I'm in for with the U.S. Military.
(I learned those reading glasses arn't allowed. High Five for blindness!)

Happy List/Happy Day

My entire Friday was one big happy list and was exactly what I needed.
I had a sister date!

About 11am, after a good solid cup of coffee, morning cry, and shower, I ran up the stairs and pounded on my sisters bedroom door.
"Do you work today?"
"No..." She looked suspicious.
"What are you doing in the next hour?"
"Nothing...." Still suspicious
"In the next two hours?"
"Nothing..." She was finally sitting up in bed.
"Do you want to go to the brewery for lunch and a beer?"
"Ok. I just need to..."
I cut her off "Im having a bad morning and I need to get out and do somethingandyouknowhowhummusmakesmefeelbetternottomentionbeer..." Im rambling like a nut.
"I SAID I'LL GO NOW GET OUT SO I CAN SHOWER!"
Got it, Got it, Got it.

Sister date is ON.

So we headed to the brewery downtown and had our fill of yummy food, and a beer each. Any more than one of those beers and neither of us was going to be fit to drive.

After our long girl talks about men(mostly her boyfriend), my overwhelming fear of having to start dating again one day(not anytime soon), and Targets sale(whoa, 75% off anyone?) I decided that our day shouldnt be done quite yet.

We moved onto Thrift shopping. I was on a mission to find brown boots.
3 hours later I didnt have any brown boots, but I did have a sweater, a jean jacket, and 2 pairs of pants.... the smallest sizes I've worn in probably 4 years easily.

When the store we were in started announcing that they were closing we realized we were supposed to be at a Birthday dinner that night to celebrate grandmas 90th birthday so we high tailed it out. We decided it would be easiest for us to meet our family rather than ride with them so we set off.
40 minutes later(and running right on time) Jess looked over at me and said "You know, no one ever told me where we were going to dinner. I just assumed the tresselstop since thats where we go every year."
*cue the crickets chirping*
"Um, I never asked where dinner was since I planned on riding with our parents. I thought you knew.
*cue hysterical laughter followed by me dialing our parents number*
Our dad informed me that we were headed in the completely wrong direction, in the wrong town, headed to the wrong restaurant.
We finally made it to the right restaurant about 25 minutes later, and about 20 minutes late. We had dinner, cake, played a game, and me and Jess won a beautiful prize basket from World Market.
We ended our night by meeting up with one of my friends for a drink before limping home at 1am completely exhausted.

It was exactly the kind of day with my sister that I so badly needed.

One another Happy List note, I dropped another 2 pounds.
I need to start running though. Help me motivate to get on the treadmill.

Snowapoloza 2011

We made it out alive here in Michigan.

We now feel like hamsters running around in tunnels since everything is mearly "tunnled out" with 3-5foot snow walls on either side.

My dads pets in his backyard.

I was finally starting to get a little case of cabin fever and needed a change of scenery. So I got all spruced up and ran out of to my Trusty Volvo.

*crankcrankcrankcrankcrankcrank*

No *fire*

You know *fire* is when it STARTS.

Dang it.

"I know I should have been starting you every day and letting you warm up but it was like snowing SIDEWAYS! I couldnt even see you yesterday!" I'm holding onto my steering wheel and half yelling, half pleading.

"You were made in one of the coldest countries in the world. WHY WONT YOU START!?"

I NEED to leave the driveway. I did my hair. Targets having a SALE! Why wont the car let me leave!?

I cranked, and cranked, and cranked, until the battery started to die. I came close once or twice to getting it started but nooo....

So theres my checklist for today, "Get my car started".

Its 15 degrees out there.

Yay! I cant wait.

Dont forget. The Giveaway is right here.

Giveaway!

Well I missed the Handmade with Love Giveaway.
I cant get on the list with that but maybe I can do my own.
That's right! MY OWN!

So here it is. I'm giving something away from my Etsy Shop.

(1) Mossy Cypress Headband made with Eco-fi felt and pretty little beads.

(2) Saint Pattys Headband, made with Eco-fi felt. Perfect for St. Patricks day shenanigans

(3) The Maggie headband made with Teal and Yellow eco-fi felt. This one is a statement.


Heres how we'll do this.

Mandatory!
Follow via GFC and Comment to tell me which headband you like(1 entry/comment)

Bonus Entries!
-Favorite Green Acres Bliss on Etsy(1 entry/comment)
-Place my button in your blog and link me(1 entry/comment)
-Blog about it! (1 entry/comment)

The Giveaway ends Feb. 13 2011
The Winner will be chosen via random.org and contacted.

This is open Internationally.