It's a great big world out there. And I'm sure there are lots of significant things that happen every day in every town across the earth.

But today?

In our little corner of the world?

The Yankees are king.

Friday...

Today we're kickin' back . . . again.

We're having the showers steam cleaned. I'm lazy like that.

Laundry, dishes, a little bit of cooking . . . just the usual.

I wish Honey could hang out with us today. He's working. He works so the kids and I can play. And pay to have the showers steam cleaned. I'm so blessed.

The Nanny is coming over for lunch and a swim. Then, tonight, we're going to a wedding.

This week I went grocery shopping for the first time this summer. Now I remember why I love going to the store alone. Here's our meal plan for the next couple of weeks.

Breakfast
Cereal
Monkey Bread
Bacon, eggs, biscuits
French Toast Bake
Donuts

Lunch
Lunchables
Pizza Pockets
Pigs ‘n a Blanket
Frito Pie
Mac & Cheese
Chicken Salad Sandwich
Homemade Pizza

Dinner
Tacos
Baked Spaghetti
Chili & Potatoes
Hobo Dinners
Fajitas
Chicken Strips
Caribbean Salad
Chicken Rolls


Tomorrow is the last day of baseball. We're hoping to play 2 games, win the first and play for the championship in the second. Go Yankees!

But today? We're easy like Sunday morning . . .

Weekend in Cancun (or How We All Survived Four Days Without Our Cell Phones)

Honey and I woke up at 4:45 on Friday morning to be at the airport by 6:15 to catch a 7:40 flight. In our little town, 6:15 is way too early to arrive for a 7:40 flight, but I was getting a little nervous about customs, and passports, and getting the Fiber one cereal I'd carefully measured and packed into Mexico. So Honey humored me, and we got to the check-in desk around 6:25.

That's when we found out our flight had been delayed until 9:35. And we wished we'd known this little bit of information at 4:45 that morning.

We decided to embrace our 3 hour wait with some Starbucks and some problem solving on behalf of the quickly disintegrating Big 12 conference. Once I was satisfied with the plan we'd come up with for all of the Big 12 teams, I called my parents one last time to check in on the kids.

I don't know what rumors you've heard, but even in this age of advanced technology, American cell phones don't work in Mexico . . . unless you add the international package to your plan. And even after purchasing the package, you can't text or Facebook. The international plan I purchased only allows you to talk . . . for $.59 a minute.

These facts convinced me that my cell phone usage would be severely limited while in Cancun. Honey didn't even bring his cell phone. He hates it and is counting the days until he can upgrade, so we only added the international stuff to my number.

I'm not what you would call an excited traveler. Most forms of transportation give me motion sickness. Both of our flights were smooth and uneventful, and our peaceful spirits as we arrived in Mexico were only slightly dampened as we realized that the bag with ALL of our clothes in it didn't make it to Cancun.

Actually, Honey's peaceful spirit was only slightly dampened. My peaceful spirit was completely washed away and replaced with anxiety-ridden, I-knew-this-was-too-good-to-be-true kind of feelings. I was so wound up that Honey wanted me to wait on the bench while he spoke in broken Spanish to the airline representative that spoke back to him in broken English.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in, endured many jokes about not needing clothes in Cancun anyway, and called the kids.

I think it was about 5:00 when we got our missing bag. I'm guessing here because the clock in our room wasn't set right. It was about 2 hours and 20 minutes off, and to be honest, making that conversion is a little too much math for me while on vacation.

Honey knows quite a bit of Spanish, but not enough to figure out how to reset the clock. So we spent the whole weekend saying things like, "I think it's somewhere in the 5:00 hour." And somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I found 11th and 12th grade and remembered the phrase, "Que hora es?" from my Spanish class days.

It was kind of fun to watch everyone wander around lost without a cell phone clipped to their hip. I can't remember how many times I heard someone say, "I have no idea where my wife is. I can't call her. She said she would meet me as soon as she finished getting ready."

It was kind of important to know the time though. We were on an all-inclusive plan at the resort, and breakfast was a buffet from 7 am to noon. Then at noon lunch started along with drinks. Drinks, of course, included alcohol, but also sodas and WATER . . . bottled water. It was pretty easy to see when the clock struck noon because everyone started swimming up to the bar and carrying away a pina colada or a bottle of water, or both.

The first full day we were there, Honey and I took a bus to Playa Tortuga (turtle) and went para sailing. We had to get on a little, bitty motor boat that took us to the somewhat bigger ski-type boat where the para sailing rig was. If the water had been clearer that day we would have been able to watch sea turtles (hence the name of the marina) from the air, but we were told the water was a little rough to see them that day. It was still an amazing experience.









Lucky for me, we were pretty close to the dock when they reeled us in and we didn't have to get back on the tiny boat to make it to shore. We decided to walk home instead of taking the bus because my head and stomach needed a chance to catch up with each other from all the non-land movement they had experienced over the last hour.

It was HOT. And HUMID. And when we finally made it back to our room some time during the 11:00 hour, I discovered a use for my cell phone that didn't cost money . . . a temperature converter. And let me just say that 21.8 degrees Celsius is the perfect place for the thermostat when it is HOT and HUMID.

We did venture out again to do some shopping, but for the most part we stayed in or near the water. Because it was much cooler in or near the water than anywhere else.

At one point during the weekend, Honey was able to use his limited Spanish to learn from ESPN Deportes that Universidad de Tejas and Texas Tech had, in fact, announced their departure from the Big 12. And we caught the very end of Karate Kid 3 with the Spanish dubbed over the English, and somehow Ralph Macchio was able to win the life and death fight at the end. Again. Wearing Guess jeans and a silk bath robe.

Starbucks is Starbucks . . . even in Spanish. And they have air conditioning.

We had lots of fun hanging out with friends that live in Chicago. Aren't they cute? They're getting married next month. Honey and S get to see each other a few times a year for work, but L and I have only met a couple of times at the yearly sales meetings.

L is a much more adventurous eater than I. This is a sea food salad she had as an appetizer one evening. I like shrimp, but that purple stuff is octopus. I can't handle that. I would need several more pina coladas before I could handle octopus.

By Monday morning we were ready to go home. I wish I could say that the trip home was as smooth as the trip over, but I can't. It was full of turbulence, and wind sheers, and flying around storms, and racing through customs in 4o minutes to barely make our connecting flight. And by the time we made it home an hour late, my nerves were shot. But . . . both of our bags made it, and we got to hug and kiss on the kids.

It feels so good to be home. The temperatures are hot, but they are recorded in Fahrenheit. The drinking water is abundant, the clocks are only 5 minutes fast, and the Big 12 is still hanging on after all. But I sure do miss the views.

Jet Lag

It's hard to believe that this time yesterday Honey and I were here:


I'm told that to really enjoy Cancun, you have leave your equilibrium at home and step out of your motion sickness comfort zone.

And drink only bottled water. And then throw the empty bottle away. Under no circumstances do you refill the empty water bottle with water from the tap in an effort to recycle and reuse.

And when you doubt the quality of the drinking water, order a Pina Colada.

After 4 plane rides, 2 boat rides, 2 airport shuttles, 1 bus ride, and not nearly enough of the liquid gold they call bottled water, we're home from our adventures. Despite the motion sickness, we had such a relaxing, fun time.

We didn't all get back home under one roof until about 10:15 last night. Honey jumped right back in to work today . . . cold turkey. The kids and I are taking the "wean yourselves off slowly" approach. We're still in our pj's.

I am doing laundry though. I did fix breakfast and lunch. And, I have a plan for what to cook for supper.

I know what you're thinking. Going from cooking zero meals a day to 3 squares and an afternoon snack isn't exactly "weaning yourselves off slowly".

No, it isn't.

I still half expect a hotel waiter to find me lounging by the pool and ask, "Hola, Mrs. Would you like a refreshment?"

Honey did bring me coffee in bed this morning. I love that even after 4 days, he remembers how to make it just the way I like it.

So, I'm off to switch the laundry and unload the dishwasher. And rehydrate. Because, you know what? We're back in the land of make your own bed.

Some Summer Crack

We all are self proclaimed Monkey Bread experts. We been makin' it for years and years. And it is good.

I've blogged about our family recipe. I've blogged about Aunt L's recipe.

A few weeks ago I found this new and improved recipe. I made it for a breakfast treat yesterday morning. And we all said it was good.

Try it.

At Last!

I didn't even have to look at the calendar. I knew today was the day. I knew because as I stumbled to the kitchen to pour my first cup of coffee, Brooke bounced in, informed me that she'd been up since "6 something", and asked, "Can we change my earrings now? Can we, can we, can we? Pleeeeeeease?"



Knowing myself as well as I do, I politely put her off until I'd finished my first cup of coffee. It was in every one's best interest. Before coffee is not the best time to attempt to use fine motor skills . . . especially on something so monumental as changing the 6 year old's earrings for the first time.



As soon as the last drop of coffee had touched my tongue, Brooke was in my face ready to go. I still maintain that 1 cup of coffee was not sufficient because she cried. She said taking the first one out hurt and absolutely, under no circumstances, wanted another earring in her ear.



At that point, being 1 cup of coffee short, I had no patience to list all the reasons why she really did want earrings in her ear. I just man-handled her. Cleaned the ear really well, and put the new earring in.



Then I focused my eyes on the second earring and realized that there were some crusties keeping me from slipping the post out easily. It's probably why the first one was a little more difficult than Brooke would have liked.



Well, it's her own fault. I tried to tell her that I needed a little more time to wake up before we changed earrings.



After the crusties were cleared away, the second earring was changed without a hitch.




We've come so far in such a short time. Six weeks ago, this was our little Brooke . . .

And today, she's showing off her first set of Mickey earrings.

Because of reasons that we are no longer allowed to speak of, Mary TuTu did not get her ears pierced at the same time that Brooke had hers done. The phrase "chickened out" has been banned from our house. And, word to the wise, if you have twins, take the other one out of the store and walk around while the first one is wailing and gnashing her teeth. Then when the first one is smiling and so excited about the sparkles in her ears, put the second one in the chair.



For goodness sakes . . . don't let the second one watch the first one.



If you do, you'll have two freaking out, estrogen-filled girls on your hands and you will walk out of the store with only one set of pierced ears. And 4 days later, on a busy Saturday afternoon, you will find yourself back at the mall, fighting all the crazed teens, gearing up for round two.



And then you will have to explain to your 6 year old girls and your 10 year old son why the 50 year old man is getting his ears pierced. Because Saturday is the day when all the freaks go to the mall.



Just suffice it to say that Mary TuTu waited 4 days. So now, she has to wait 4 more days.

Honey's nephews-ish (kids of Honey's cousin, not sibling) are in town for the week and we got to have them spend the night this weekend. We love getting to see them, they are such sweet boys.

As I was thinking of things to do while they are here, I decided it would be a fun time to come up with the summer version of the great scavenger hunt.

I really wanted to do this on a budget because I'm trying to make the summer fun money go as far as possible, so my goal was $50. Not counting food -- I took all of that out of my eat-out money and the grocery money -- I spent $44. The only reason I spent that much was because I bought a new DVD.

We went swimming at our neighborhood pool and played with some new pool toys I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Don't ever pay full price for anything at Hobby Lobby. Just wait a week and it'll go on sale.

There was pizza . . .

. . . and a new card game.

We ate my version of this cake while we watched a new DVD. I was hoping my way would take less time to bake because I only had 40 minutes to get it done. And when I was baking it, I was tired, and the night-o-scavenger hunting hadn't even started.

My way only took 1 cake mix . . . although I used 1 1/2 cans of icing. Momma loves her some icing.

After the movie, there were glow sticks...

. . . at 11:00. Glow sticks at 11 are fun for about 10 minutes and then Honey and I'd had about all the glow stick fun we could handle. We put the kids to bed with promises of more scavenger hunt fun in the morning.

With instructions not to wake us before 8:00am, the boys let us sleep in a bit, but Honey and I were up making breakfast for a morning picnic in the shady,cool back yard.

Then we played some bocce ball . . . in the shady back yard . . . and discovered that our back yard is too small for 3 pre-teen boys to be playing bocce. I'm sure the neighbors loved hearing the balls hit the fence at 9:30 on a Saturday morning. Oh, well, maybe they will think about that tonight at 11:30 when they are letting their really loud cars idle and play inappropriate music.

And then we had strawberries and bananas for a morning snack. And then we made Hobo Dinners for lunch. And then we polished off the cake for an afternoon snack. Because another thing I learned about pre-teen boys this weekend is that the thing they'd most like to find when they open a gift bag is food.

'cause I can...

just some bragging...

Bubba did ace his Reading TAKS. Perfect score.

He missed one question on his Math TAKS. We'll cut him some slack :)

He got a 3 out of 4 on his writing composition, and missed 3 questions on the writing Q&A.

He was commended in all areas...whatever that means. He's such a smartie pants.

He thinks this is a "get out of doing anything involving brain activity pass" for the summer.

He is sadly mistaken :)