Happy New Year!

OH, I'm late...again...aren't I?

Dang. Sorry. It's becoming a habit.

How was your New Years? Did you all drink a lot and party? I didn't

Did you make resolutions that you may or may not keep? I did.

I got to spend the New Years with family. We all went to Angel's uncle's house and hung out there. It's a tradition to go to his house and bring in the new year. This year seemed especially long. I think Angel was there early (like 5 pm) already drinking. I needed to come home and take a nap. I never got that nap. I showered and did my hair and got ready. Then Angel started calling me to hurry up and come over. I did and from then the drinking began.

We all had a good time, the New Years was here and the kids were popping fireworks.

Around 12:30 am of the new year....I was home in bed.

I'm getting old...

This picture was taken several days BEFORE New Years at another Uncle/Aunt's house. Angel is in the background surrounded by his cousins, uncle and extended family. We had a great time this night too.




This next picture is a cake that Devyn WON at the Boys and Girl's Club. Do you see ALL OF THAT CANDY?!

Yeah, it's a candy land cake. Every time I blinked and looked at it some of the candy was missing and the cake looked ravaged.

Trust me....it was! The kids tore it up! I was getting a stomach ache just looking at it.

The candy land cake came two days AFTER the kids and I made a gingerbread house.

UGHHHHH.

All that candy all at once!

I swear, I probably have a dozen cavities....and I didn't even eat ANY of it.



The kids have a PS2 so I found Dance Dance Revolution for the kids for just 15.00. WOW. They love it. Especially Miah.

This picture was taken right after New Years. We packed up the kids and took off to the beach again to our new favorite hideaway.
Here is me and my baby girl.
Dom is peeking his head up in the background.

The weather in January is so nice, the kids had a great time at the beach. We parked close to the dunes so the kids could play.

How they can roll around in all that sand and not have a care in the world.....

Sand in their eyes, mouth and hair.....kids.

YES, that's a bike. We took a bike to the beach and Devyn rode it for awhile. The sand was hard enough where the cars drive to ride the bike.

Notice the BBQ pit. There is always a way to get nice hot food even if we are far away.

I know I said the weather was nice and all but my ass is OLD. I was cold and bundled up. I had to sit on the Queen's chair in the back of the truck because the air was hitting me and I thought I was going to turn into a Popsicle.

Damn, aging sucks.

If you read my last post then you know about my Christmas gift from Angel. What better time to try it out, huh?

So, I took my present into the dunes and almost got my nether regions all stung up by mosquitoes. Not pretty. Nevertheless, my present served it's purpose!

I hope everyone had a great and safe Holiday weekend. I will keep you updated when I can.

Labor Day weekend.

Alright folks.

Here we are again, at the beach.

The only difference is that we didn't spend the night or the weekend even though it was a holiday. We spent a good deal of the weekend cleaning because since my mom isn't here for another 3 months, we figured it wouldn't be fair to let things pile up for her when she gets back.

Besides, we needed clean underwear. I happened to go out and buy new ones but they still pile up..lol.

Anyway, we went to the beach for only for the day on Sunday with the kids AND the little dogs because I'm a nut and I wanted to take them. Angel never refuses.

Here is base camp.

It's simple this time because it's only for the day. We didn't load up like we usually do with a trailer and everything.

We get to the beach and the puppies follow us to the water. Immediately they start whining and wanting to be picked up. Chupa was shivering like he was a chihuahua. Miah covered the puppy in warm sand and he went to sleep. Dom came over and added a little bit of decorations.

At one point, there was this awesome rainbow in the clouds. I don't know if you can see if very well but all of the colors were there.

This is the puppies (Roary and Chupa) after they've been in the water. They were actually a lot cooler than Venus and Serena were when we took them in the water.

Roary was very hesitant everytime the water approached. He ended up retreating underneath the car.

Dom and Miah were on the sand and I thought that was a great photo-op because they were engrossed in their own thing.

Devyn was venturing off too far in the water so I called him back. He saw Miah and Dom in the sand and he wanted to participate.

Here they are chillin.

Devyn was a little upset because Miah and Dom wouldn't let him mess with their "project" so he pouted. I told him I was going to take a picture so that I will have blackmail photos.

This was a picture I couldn't resist getting. My kids are getting big.

The puppies have their own nap time so they didn't mind the kids making a couple of beds for them.

On our way out, we saw a crap load of cars getting stuck in the thick sand. I was afraid that we were going to get stuck too because we weren't close to the water. We were in thick sand. Angel reassured me that we were going to be fine. He may as well have slapped me because I was near hysterical before we hit the main road.

The kids had a great time. They were KNOCKED OUT on the way home.

We didn't even get off of the island and they were crashed. They're going to get me for posting these pics but that's what happens when mommy has a camera.

If you have been following me Twitter than you know that I am going to be doing some fishing in a couple of weeks.
On the 25th, Angel and I are going to enter a fishing tournament. It's called the Sharkathon. We are going to be sleeping on the beach (again) and fishing for a couple of days straight. I'm entered into the woman's division so I hope I win. Angel mentioned that we were going to have to be doing some "extreme fishing" which made me chuckle a little under my breath. I have this HUGE pole and HUGE reel and it's mine all mine but I just like knowing that I have it. Now, I have to actually use it and try to win something.

More info on all of that later on....

Devyn just came in and wanted to see the picture I was posting and he made this funky face asking me why'd I have to take the pic when he was asleep?

I will keep you posted on the upcoming event that is Sharkathon.

Keep in mind people. I volunteered. I know that Angel just can't get out of this 2 week trip I have planned next year to NY to visit my bro and SIL. I'm excited and he better get himself excited too. I'm talking Riverdance and everything!

P.S. Dom is writing in his blog again. Check it out.

Heading out...

Today is the day we are heading out to our "camping" location.

I say "camping" like that because our plans have been modified a little bit. For instance, We won't actually be "camping" like real campers do even though that was the original plan. You know, sleep in a tent...on the ground...with NO A/C.

NOPE!

I happen "come across" some sites online and found some rooms for us to stay in the whole time we are there.
HEY..I want to be happy. You guys want me to be happy, right?
OKAY...that means a nice soft, comfy bed and clean running water to shower.

That's what we got.
It's right off of the beach just the way Angel likes.

SOOOO...you know that since we are going on "vacation" I was going to need some new luggage.

Okay, so I didn't really need any new luggage but as I was shopping yesterday with the kids and my cousin CYN for some things for the kids I saw these..

I had seen them several times before but could never bring myself to buy them because each one was around 34.99.
I'm cheap. I can't do that. So I waited.

And I waited....

And waited...

Then, they had them lined up just like that and I saw this little orange sticker on them.
$20.00 for each of the larger ones, the smaller one was priced at $9.99 and the tote on top was $3.

I called Angel and told him about the suitcases and the prices. He asked if I wanted them and said I could get them.

AWESOME!!

So, Cyn, the kids and I all grabbed one and headed to the register before someone else could snatch them up.

When we got there we noticed a black set. *GASP*

What the hell?

How am I going to choose now?

When we looked closer, we noticed that the black set was missing one of the pieces. So Cyn suggested that I alternate size and color and have the best of both worlds. GENIUS!!

So this is what I ended up with:

To make everything blissfully better, when the cashier rang up the luggage, the prices weren't even the same.



The largest piece rang up at $7.50

The next size down was $10.00

Next down was $10.00

The small black one was $9.99 and the tote was $3.00



So I went from almost paying $73.00 to actually paying $40.49.

LOOOVE IT!



Alright. That was the good, happy part of the post.

Now to the gruesome part...



You all know Chupa, right?

See how adorable he is....

Here he plays with the cat. Since the cat has recently been de-clawed, he's pretty much harmless and can't scratch but he can still bite and pounce like nobodies business.

Watch out, Tattoo is a mean bitch slapper.

But of course, Tattoo is not the focus here.

I've encountered the same problem with Chupa that I've had with the other dogs and it's really tripping me out.

I love the little puppy and would like to have him play with me on the bed BUUUUUT.....



HE HAS THE SAME PROBLEM THAT VENUS HAD. (<----Trust me, you want to read that!)

I could be loving on the puppy and playing with it and *snap* in an instant, I'm fixated on watching his butt to make sure nothing slithers out.

GROSS, I know, but still. Anytime I imagine (or see) those damn things this is the image I get:

Yeah, Okay, so it may not actually be THAT bad but still. Have any of you seen a worm's face up close?

No?

I'm talking about the ones that come out of your pet's butts?

No?

Well, then, take my word for it. THAT'S WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE!!
Yes, I know they are only the size of a grain of rice but as I've said before..Menacing.

Anyway..

Have a good one you guys. I'll be thinking of you as I sit on the beach sipping on Cheladas (and any other alcoholic beverage I can get my hands on).

Yes I know that the act of sipping on Cheladas doesn't necessarily need a beach and that I'm usually sipping on Cheladas anyway but, today, the beach offers a change of scenery. You know...not like my bedroom, living room or shower. <---what can I say. I get thirsty at random times.

P.S. Dom will be writing in his Blog again once school starts. Hopefully the curriculum isn't to strenuous on him and he will have time. Not like his lazy Mama!

*SIGH*

My motivation to blog has been low. I've been working and knocking out again. I will get to each and everyone of your posts A.S.A.P.

Now.....

I have some vacation days saved up and I was planning on using them to either GO to NY and visit my Bro and SIL at Christmas time or use them when they CAME to visit.

It doesn't look like either is going to happen.

SO...Angel mentioned that he was taking 2 days off of work next week so that he can go to Corpus for his doctor visits. He asked if I could take a couple of days off so that the kids and I could go with him and we could stay up there for 4 days.

Guess what he wants to do.....

Go on..

Take a guess.

YUP. Fish and camp.

He actually thinks it will be "different" this time.

I don't see how.

We are still going to the BEACH. We are still going to set up CAMP. The only thing that may be different is that we won't actually be setting up the tent ON the sandy beach. We're going to set up in the background on a campsite with grass.
So that means, I won't be sleeping on sand, I will be sleeping on the ground. Okay, so knowing me it will actually be an inflatable mattress BUT still....

Angel is super excited as always.
He's running plans in his head about what we are going to do.
All I can think about is how fucking HOT it's going to be.

I know, I know...

Stop bitching and go enjoy your family.

I will...

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Yesterday I took the kids and myself to the dentist. My company received dental insurance so I jumped on that train. Found a dentist here and set up an appointment (which happened to be for the next day). I got us all there and they took X-rays of all of us. None of the kids have cavities (AWESOME). That's something to be a proud Momma about. I can't stand to have my kids talking and smiling and I see stuff on their teeth. All conversation is halted immediately and the kids are ushered to the restroom to take care of business.

7 yrs straight and no cavities for either of them.

Okay, so the math isn't exact seeing as how Devyn is 8 and Dom is 14 but still...NO CAVITIES!

Me...well....

DAMN RASPAS!

At the beach (And a little HNT)

For those of you wondering about the title.

HNT comes from one of my favorite bloggers. Honkeie2. He's a little odd but he's awesome!
HNT stands for Half Naked Thursday because on Thursday he posts a pic with some part of him.
......


.....no, not THAT part.


pervs.

Go read his Blog!

Anyway, Since I'm rarely in the pics, I figured I will do one post that will update everything all at once.
This one gives an update on my dieting results via before and after posts.

So, let's get the diet one out of the way, huh?.

Recap: Beginning weight....185.0 lbs

current weight...160(ish) lbs.

HERE (BEFORE) is a post a while back of me at the beach with the kids.

Now, here are the pics from this weekend at the beach with the kids.
We took the dogs too because I don't know what I was thinking. I was feeling guilty that I don't do enough with the dogs and wanted to take them to the beach and walk them.

The kids.....well, we always walk them at the beach.

Here's our day:

Angel and I (mostly Angel) were loading up the Land Rover with our stuff so that we could take the kids (and the dogs) to the beach.

Here's Venus and Serena with Dom and Devyn.

The dogs were "fitted" into the back of the truck and they would growl at each other because they were leaning on or touching each other.

We went to my Dad and Mom's house because I told Angel that their dog "Rex" would like to go to the beach too. I know he thinks I'm a little off the deep end but whatev.... this is Rex.

No kid can resist sand and toys.

Here I am with Serena. Angel had bought some bones for the dogs to gnaw on while we were there.
(Honkeie2...here's your HNT....enjoy.)

Here I'm sitting with Serena.

Dom decided to take the chips and dip and sit by the water and eat.

He's silly...and that's gross.


The kids playing



Miah and I with Serena and Rex.

There was a lot of tar on the beach and it was a pain in the ass. The kids are here with a little puddle of beach water and tar foam. Gross.

Rex was the only dog who was allowed to be loose because Venus and Serena will run away into the dunes JUST LIKE BEFORE.

The kids knock out on the way home and Venus finds a place to put her head.

Devyn was O-U-T! Then we stopped because Angel had to use the restroom. He woke up and denied ever being asleep. Just like his Daddy.

Now here we have some video of me trying to get Venus to come and play with me in the water. Every dog we've had have all been pussies!! They never want to play in the water like the dogs do on TV. Maybe it's the loud crashing waves that was scaring them.

Either way, no dogs were hurt in the making of this film.
(So don't be trying to call PETA on me!)



Sorry about the "Blair Witch" type of filming. Dom was trying the best he could to keep it still between the waves and him cracking up.

P.S. Can you find the skull in the pictures?
It's there...
Have a good one you guys.

Trying to Catch Up.

Hey Everyone!!

How was your weekend?

How was your Holiday?

Ours was GREAT!

Yes, we did make it out to the beach and it was a much easier trip than usual.

We reserved a room for 2 nights on the Island and we spent a whole day on the beach.

Here we have "base camp". See that nice blue canopy there? I took a nice 2 hr nap in that red lawn chair. Don't ask me how I did it? I can't sleep anywhere outside or to the sound of waves crashing or birds cawing or kids yelling.....

But, I did and it was AWESOME!

I woke up feeling like I needed some beers. It's a good thing we had some.

Later, we changed locations and my husband's friend caught a fish. (I forgot what kind it was because I was too busy digging in the cooler for more beer)

The kids did what they always did....ran straight to the water. Of course, you know I will throw a random skull in the post so here it is...with Devyn headed to the water.

The kids were in and out of the water ALLLL day.

Okay, Here I am. I got in the water but only up to my hips cause I have this thing about all that sand. If the sand gets on me too much I feel like I have to rinse it off and the water doesn't really help cause it just makes me feel and taste salty...ughhh.

I'm not a big fan of salt.

We all had a great time and then we headed back to the hotel so that the kids (water babies) could swim in the pool.

The best thing is we avoided the holiday crowd. We were on the Island Friday night and Saturday night and returned home on Sunday.

On our way back there were a line of cars miles and miles long of people trying to get to the Island.

When we got home we took a short nap (not like we had a choice, our bodies gave out on us) then we went to my SIL and BIL's house for a couple of hours for a BBQ and beers.

MONDAY:

The kids had school yesterday (WHAT?!?! on a HOLIDAY?!?!) Yup. Their last day of school is this Friday so it doesn't matter. Angel and I had a chance to have lunch together and just chill. We hardly ever get a chance to do that without the kids so we took advantage.

We were supposed to be cleaning house and doing laundry but only one load got washed and Dom just barely put that load in the dryer this morning...oops.

Devyn had a baseball game and they lost 7-5. This loss takes them out of the running for 1st place. We have 2 more games left and they are both against the Rangers.

First game is tonight.

We've got to beat them.

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On a sadder note. My Dad is in the Hospital in NY. My parents are visiting my brother and his heart gave out. His pacemaker shocked him 9 times and my brother was there to witness the whole thing. It must have been very traumatic for everyone. From what I know right now, he's doing "Fine" and there are talks of replacing his pacemaker.

I'm not sure of the details but everything is still undecided so me being so far away kind of leaves me out of the loop a little until more info is gathered.

I love you Dad.