The Sound of Silence... mixed with a guilty obsession...

So as I sit here, moments away from doing my grueling one hour daily workout, I am enjoying the bliss of having a clean house and a quiet house....

AJ is sleeping..... *AMEN!!!*

Anyway, I've got a confession to make. A quiet, guilty confession of what I cannot hide anymore....

I am obsessed with books. Reading them, buying them, collecting them.... something that ALWAYS makes me happy is having a GREAT BIG PILE of books that still need to be opened, to be read, to be treasured. I tell everybody if they are at a stump on what to get me for a Christmas or birthday present, to get me a gift card to Barnes & Noble.

Have I told anybody how beautiful I think that store is? The beautiful smell of untouched paper... the crisp off white pages of books just waiting to be explored by somebody as appreciative as I am.... mmm its the smell of peace. And the silence of dedicated readers.... mixed with the slight aroma of Starbucks' coffee. I sure do hope that heaven has a Barnes & Noble.

Notice all those dot dot dots? Those are the dot dot dots of a dream to splurge at that store, unbiasedly, not worrying about money, not realizing that every book you want has at least a $15 price tag on them.... its a dream. A confession. An obsession....

*BASH!* stupid! *BASH!* sinuses!!!!!!

Ok, so this weekend has been CRAZY and it is only 2:45. Last night we took AJ to the park for the FIRST TIME to let him play. Let me tell you, my kid is freakin AWESOME to play with. He did attach himself to me thinking he was a kangaroo at first because he is so shy, however, about 10 minutes of me talking with another mom while holding him, he was OFF. In that picture he was actually laughing and talking to me, teasing me, you know, being a typical Gliebe. It was a blast.

And today he is over at his Grandma Sue's house for a bit, to play catch up. Since she is now NOT doing taxes 24/7 I can start having some "ME" time on the weekends and he can have some "HER" time. The great part about all of this is after I pick him up, we will immediately go to a party where he will rock until he drops.

And so tomorrow will be Mother's Day. I hope that Drew did NOT get me anything due to our financial troubles. I however DO hope that I get to sleep in a bit and be lazy before our CRAZY day of being at church, mom & dads, and Karen's. Woohoo, WHAT FUN!!!!!!!

oh tab key, how I miss thee.....

So due to an accidental spillage of Coke Zero on my (err I mean Drew's) keyboard, we had to revert back to the old keyboard that we used to have. The one with the broken tab key. I did not realize how much I used the tab key until I tried logging into everything, started posting on random spots, etc etc. Booo... it sucks. Anybody have a apple keyboard that they do not use anymore?


on A BRIGHTER NOTE!!!!!! Jen Lancaster's "Pretty in Plaid" came out today!!!! I just *hope* that my prereleased copy will come in the mail tomorrow, because I am almost done with the book that I am reading now so I can indulge into some sarcasm, wit, and footnotes. Here is one of my favorite blurps from her website, jennsylvania.com as a "closing statement"



""""Dear Paul Rudd, I Am Only Funny Inside My Own Head

Setting: The family room, approximately one second after Fletch has come in the door from work this evening.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Guess what?" I exclaim.

Fletch is automatically wary. "Can I guess after I take my coat off?"

"Um, okay." I pause for a millisecond before pouncing on him again. "Guess what? Guess what?"

His sigh is barely perceptible, yet still surprisingly heavy. "Do you want me to guess or are you just going to tell me?"

"I'll just tell you. My friend got a freelance job doing an interview with Paul Rudd!" (Whom I love SO MUCH.)

"Nice!"

"Yeah, and instead of doing my own work, I've spent the last hour creating pretend emails that she should send to him, like 'Dear Paul Rudd, As part of my research, my editor requires us to make out.' And "Dear Paul Rudd, we're going to need an additional photo for your feature. Might you have any where you're not wearing pants? (Profile is fine.)'" And, "Dear Paul Rudd, what exactly are your thoughts about swinging? You know, hypothetically.'"

Fletch appraises me with a gimlet eye. "Since when do you write anything even vaguely suggestive?"

"Since never. But it's so damn funny."

He shakes his head. "Yeah, not so much."

Well, then, you know what Fletch really isn't going to find funny?

When I prepare an entire dinner while speaking out loud in imaginary letters to Paul Rudd in lieu of actual conversation.

"Dear Paul Rudd, Stacey and I are getting massages and having high tea tomorrow. Can I have $200?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, How do I roast a chicken?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, Remember the last time I roasted a chicken and I accidentally did it upside down and then I almost felt too sad to eat him once he was cooked because he looked too much like a hostage in that position?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, Do you know what happened to the extra bottle of olive oil?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, How come I set the alarm off every morning after Fletch goes to the gym? Am I punching the numbers in too slowly? Or too fast?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, Can you introduce me to Seth Rogan? But just as friends, okay? I find his hair unattractive."

"Dear Paul Rudd, Can you please option one of my books so you can play Fletch, so if we have to make out it won't be cheating because you'll just be getting into character?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, If I were to buy a demi-baguette and accidentally eat it all before you had any, would you also call me The Cookie Monster, only for French bread?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, I found the olive oil."

"Dear Paul Rudd, Do you also think I'm passive-aggressive for licking Fletch's wine glass on Thanksgiving because he wasn't being properly sympathetic to how much I was suffering with my cold?"

"Dear Paul Rudd, I was not aware I was 'braying like a jackass' every time I say 'Dear Paul Rudd.'"

"Dear Paul Rudd, I promise to stop speaking in imaginary letters if Fletch stops hiding downstairs."

(Although, honestly, I think it was the lure of a freshly roasted chicken that brought him back from the depths of the basement rather than any false promises on my part.)

Anyway, if you'd like to comment on this entry, it must be in the form of a letter to Paul Rudd.

(P.S. Dear Paul Rudd, I know. I know. And I'm sorry, but I don't actually have a day job that I shouldn't quit.)"""""""

iiitttsss been a minute!!!

Well, sad to say, I did have a whole blog post written down old- school style for when our computer was acting up. However, my laziness level is up to a 10 today, so therefore I will post it at a later date.

There have definitely been some fun times in the past week!!! The top moment was of course on Wed, which was the lovely miss jessie's 25th birthday!!! I've never had so much fun and so many laughs at a Plaza before. To top it off, we had the most amazing non mexican mexican waiter ever-- his name was Daniel. He did not get a good tip from me because I did NOT receive my half shot of tequila since it was my birthday the Wed. prior that! *sigh* Jess-- remind me to go to Plaza NEXT YEAR and ask to be seated in his section. I will make him pay!!!!!!


Friday we had the pleasure of being accompanied by my kick ass nephew, Peter. He makes AJ laugh like that one baby that dad has saved on his phone. If you know my dad, then you know what I am talking about-- that laugh is so contagious he lets everybody he knows listen to it! As a Thank You for us saving Karen and Adele from hearing Peter complain the whole time they were at this Cinco De Mayo on The Dos, they bought us wonderful cinnamony churros. Which Leon promptly ate about 3 our of the 5 of, and farted sweet foul farts for the rest of the night.

Anyway, on Saturday we did the ULTIMATE TASK. We cut my beautiful baby's hair!!!!!!! There is the before and after shot. Drew tended to make fun of me a lot that day because I did not keep a lock of hair from him..... I kept the whole pile off the floor!!!! You have to be a mom to understand. Or me. Whatever.



There is that beautiful pile of hair... I later wrote the date, time, and place of which the deed was done...

Saturday was going to be a pretty hectic day for us. We were going to shop for a Birthday Present for olivia's ultimate first birthday bash, go to peter's baseball game, come home, take a quick nap, then go to Olivia's party. However, we got a frantic phone call from my sister in law, Karen. She took Peter to the ER because he couldn't get out of bed-- he was feeling uber crappy and was showing FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS. Now-- unless you live on Antarctica, then you should know about the piggy flu that is going around. Soooooo naturally, we decided to keep to ourselves, indoors, and frantically go around Lysol-ing everything we could think of that Peter may, or may not have touched. Then I promptly called Tara and told her, while we had a great present bought for Olivia, we are giving her the best birthday present EVER by not contaminating her with our possible flu-carrying germs. She thanked me about a hundred times and we then parted ways off the phone with a promise of a playdate with the future Mr. and Mrs. Gliebe (We totally support prearranged marriages.)

Well, that is a short update. I would be frantic today, however, I got to have the pleasure of having a DAY TO MYSELF with no Megan, no going to Laurels, and Drew being at work for a little while!!! Will I resist the temptation of going on ebay and buying something? We.... will.... see.....

OK OK

So so much has been happening over the course of the last couple of weeks. I will post them for you in short 'summaries' so that I can hop my smelly butt into the shower in preparation of the manifacent feast that my mom will bestow upon me for my birthday....


FIRST OFF: My skin cancer is finally gone.

Some of you know I am partially joking, most of you know that I have been mildly concerned for the blue-black mole that has been growing a little on my hand. My mom begged me and begged me to get it removed, however, due to financial reasons I never did so. She finally laid down the 'I'm your mother, and I said so. Send me the bill and I'll take care of it' card, so I reluctantly went to Dr. Hannaman's office to have it looked at/ taken off. Alas, I am now without my blue mole, and it is a DARN GOOD thing that I got it taken care of. It was what is called a "cellular blue nevus" and in lame mans terms it is a mole that if not taken care of can later on down the line cause some trouble, aka melanoma skin cancer (aka, the one that you DON'T want to get). So, thanks mom, and like always, you were right.

SECOND OFF: AJ had his first birthday

What a great day that was!!! HOURS went into that cake that I made for him, which pics will be posted of later when I get the energy to post them. It was adorable, even after I dropped three of them outside while trying to balance the big cake board, walk, talk, and laugh at the same time. Oh well. AJ got uber cool gifts, mainly because he has such an uber cool family. I especially loved the bag that Jessie made for him-- even more so that she used little airplanes in it, which I have always had a special thing for. My folks got him this awesome big wheel/ stroller/ rocking gadget that he adores, his grandma got him a super cool slide, and of course his grandpa (who he always has to outnumber, haha!!) got him this FABULOUS playhouse-- and it is for boys!!! It has a basketball hoop on one side, a gas nozzle for his 'cars' on the other, cool doors and crawl through spaces, as well as a drive through looking place for all those fantasies that boys can have! Probably one of my favorite gifts would have to be that special chair that rob made for him. It is called an adirondack chair for those like me who didn't know. Google it if you want to see, because once again I don't really have the time to post a pic.

THIRDLY OFF: My 23rd birthday

At AJ's birthday, I received my awesome birthday gift from my awesome brother and sister in law. There is a funny story about that, which you can read on Jessie's blog. Basically my mom was 0-2 when it comes to birthday gifts, which I found to be quite amusing, but all's well-- she has found great replacement gifts, I am sure. Other than that, on the 22nd (also Earth Day) we went to Texas Roadhouse, which was a lot of fun, with Trevor, Laurel, and Trenton. Lets also say that poor little Trenton has a fear of men with beards, that is super cute. He tucks his chin into his neck and stares at the table until Laurel gets him and then he didn't move for the rest of the night from in between his parents. Drew got me this AWESOME AWESOME antique looking necklace (he went to Jared's!!!!!) that matches my engagement ring. It is the first thing he ever picked out for me on his own, and it means A LOT to me! Last night I got some money which I will probably splurge on etsy.com necklaces, and we went to Chili's with Drew's family. One of the many things I love is the fact that AJ loves going out to eat. He sits back in that high chair like he is king you-know-what and makes everybody laugh. He's such a hambone. Today I get to self indulge in my favorite meal at my mom's house, in honor of the beautiful Jessie's and my birthday. I hope Jessie likes what I did, even tho it does not beat what she did to AJ's birthday wrapping! We are having Baked Chicken, Mac & Cheese (homemade with cinnamon sugar on top!!!), salad, and RED FREAKIN VELVET CAKE for dessert (notice the chicken and side are capitalized, because yes, that is how important they are). My mom is the coolest <3

LAST OFF: Pregnancy Scare

On Thursday Flora, Liz, and I went out to Smokey Bones for *donuts* and dinner. They have these AMAZING donuts there that come in a doggie bag filled with cin sugar AND THEY ARE FREAKING OUT OF THIS WORLD. Don't believe me? Try them for yourself! They come with apple & chocolate dipping sauces and you have to have a big ol glass of milk in order to be able to swallow the heavenly goodness. The only bad part is apparently Flora and I had bad sour cream on our baked potatoes, so about 2 hours later both of us threw up. Hence I thought I was pregnant, because I almost did the same thing at Chilis last night, and I have been super weird feeling lately. Well, this morning and last night I took two out of my three tests and both came back NEGATIVE. Mwahaha, soldiers, my BC pills have beat you in April's battle of conception!!!

And at this moment, I shall leave you to ponder over my last three weeks of excitement. Two birthdays, cancer, and pregnancy all in one month--- no wonder I am so tired all the time (well, more tired than normal with having a one year old!)

*doye?*

That is how I think Leon, my adorable massive border collie, says whenever I tell him something. I swear, this dog is pretty bright but when it comes to listening to me you'd think I was speaking Arabic or something. However, when it comes to chasing squirrels and birds, getting along with other dogs, being gentle with the babies, or doing one of the five or so tricks that he knows how to do I speak fluent dog.

Anyway, that was a short ramble. I'm just tired of my nice clean house getting messed up again between the dog, the cat, the son, and the husband. Its too much testosterone in this house-- its driving me nuts. You would think that throwing a kids first birthday isn't a big deal, which it really isn't, until you realize how much family and important people you have in your life!! I think that the last time I counted I had 32 people showing up??? And the funny thing is, its all people that I would expect to be there even if I wasn't doing anything, just to say happy birthday kiddo to my acrobatic baby. Speaking of acrobats, he gave himself another black eye today. I would post a pic, however, it makes me want to cry whenever I see it. It is kind of funny how history repeats itsself-- when I turned one, I had a big ol fat bruise in the exact location that AJ is now sporting one. I was hoping that he'd inherit my charming personality and my artistic and academic abilities, however, so far my clumsiness, stubborness, and murky brown eyes are the only thing his genetics are sporting of mine.

*sigh* Now I'm off to swiffer my mudstained floors... again... more posts later, in a hopefully more upbeat mood.

I know, I know, I'm horrible at this!!!

For a while I was good about keeping up with my blog. Now it is more like a once a month kind of thing. I apologize. It is not the lack of not having anything to write about, however, it is the lack of time to write anything. I am attempting this weekend to make my first 'fun' dessert item-- AJ's alligator cupcake birthday cake. Dun dun dun!!! I went to a baking supply store and the woman (who I share a birthday with.... and who is expecting her first grandchild.... and who's daughter who is pregnant is due in July... who lives in Germany right now, but is hoping that they can move to Colorado before the baby is close to being due.... yeah... we talked a lot) really helped me out a lot with how to do things!!! I feel more confident now in the cake, and am hoping that it will look good and taste delicious. will post pics as soon as it is done.


Meanwhile, Easter just came and went. What a fun day. My kid was the cutest thing on the block. Thanks Jess for posting pics up, because you and mom are the only ones who took pics of him in his outfit!



God is awesome in blessing me with such a great family and such a fantastic *almost* one year old!!!!

Anyway, not only did Easter come and go, AJ's FIRST BIRTHDAY *WOWZA!!!* is this SATURDAY. Holy Moley, to think that at this time last year I was contemplating my feet's death as they kept swelling and growing.... mmm.... I do not miss being pregnant one bit....

This year AJ's birthday theme is nonexistent, other than he is getting some fun outdoors stuff as well as other random objects. Thanks to Drew's fantastic kind of rich father, he is getting the coolest play center ever that I OKed him on getting.



This thing is the coolest thing on the block. It is the closest thing to a boy's play house that we could get. Now, we have asked the other grandparents to supply a car to ride around in the back yard, as well as a slide that can fold up and either go inside or out. I have to admit I am more excited about this birthday than any other birthday EVER. Forget the fact that my birthday is next Wednesday, it is all about my kick butt kid and his day!!!! (Seriously! I don't care about turning 23!)

Anyway, other than these exciting events of April, I have been obsessively buying off of Ebay.com.... I am so horrible... I was so sick and tired of watching the same movies with the kids over and over again that I just... got a little... carried away. But Ebay is so addictive, in case anybody hasn't had a chance to experience... I will tell you the list of movies that I have gotten, all for less than 10 dollars a piece (either bought at ebay.com or moviestop, which is another guilty pleasure of mine)....

~Aladdin
~Lady & the Tramp
~Peter Pan
~Cinderella
~Sleeping Beauty
~Robin Hood
~Jungle Book
~Pinnochio
~A Bug's Life
~Antz
~Never Ending Story I and II
~Beauty & the Beast
~Shrek I and II
~101 Dalmations
~Emperors New Groove
~The Little Mermaid

About half of these I even managed to pay under $5, which is anything short than a miracle. Nonetheless, I am ending my ebay days because quite frankly, I am afraid of spending any more money on it. I would tell you that I got all of these for AJ... however by noticing the Princess movies on there, you would know that I am lying... haha.