Dealing with Bees in my House

When a bee flies into my house, this is how I deal with it.

I beat the hell out of it on my window's screen until 1) the bee is dead or 2) the bee bounces back off the screen onto the floor inside my house while the screen falls out, then I yelp and step on it until I ensure it will not becoming back after me in retaliation.  I opted for option 2 today.

Accusations Flying

Jackson woke up from his nap fairly early yesterday, so he and I were hanging out in the living room while Cullen still slept.

Jackson was happily playing with his cars on the floor when I heard a loud passing of gas come from him.  I leaned over the chair and said, "Jackson, did you toot?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Say excuse me," I said.

"Scuse me," Jackson said and went back to playing with his cars.

Two minutes later, I hear another loud passing of gas coming from the floor.  "Jackson, did you toot again?" I asked.

Jackson looks up at me and says with a straight face, "No, Mommy tooted."

I was so flabbergasted that he had the nerve to accuse me of tooting I said indignantly, "I did not! Now say excuse me."

He just looked at me with a big smile and said, "Scuse me."

When did this male gene kick in?  I couldn't believe he did it when no one else was in the room with us.  Of course, its not the first time he's done it.  Jackson usually tells Andrew, "Daddy, Mommy tooted," while I'm in another room.  Andrew just laughs.  I think this just gave me a small glimpse of what the future holds.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

So that's what it's for?!

Yesterday, Andrew reminded me of a funny moment we had awhile back.  He suggested I put it on the blog even though it does not put either of us in the best of light.  So per Andrew's suggestion (I heavily mention yet again this is Andrew's idea), here it is.

About a month before Cullen was born (Cullen is 15 going on 16 months old now), I bought an additional Diaper Genie II.  Jackson was only 16 months old, and I knew he would be in diapers for awhile longer.  It only made sense to have two Diaper Genies.

A few days later, Andrew was taking it out of the box and putting a bag in it.  Notice it was a few days later, we were not exactly stressed about baby #2 for some unknown reason.  Poor Cullen hardly had a room ready by the time he was born.  Oh well, he turned out just fine (so far).

So, Andrew is doing this and I hear him say, "Oh, so that's what it's for!"

I meander my 8 month pregnant self back to Cullen's room to figure out what that statement was about.  Andrew looks at me saying, "Did you know there was a cutter on the Diaper Genie?"

"Nope," I respond.

He points to this small out lying piece of plastic that says "Cutter" on it.  I look at it as if  it miraculously grew an arm over night.

"I wonder if there's one on Jackson's," Andrew says.  He makes his way into Jackson's room, over to the Diaper Genie, and opens it up to look.

Of course, Jackson's Diaper Genie doesn't say 'Cutter.'  It actually has a picture of scissors on it.  Andrew and I look at each other completely dumbfounded.

"You mean there has been a cutter there this whole time and neither one of knew this.  I mean it is a picture of scissors.  How could we not figure this out?" I said.

"I don't know," responds Andrew.

After looking at each other for a few seconds (which felt like minutes or hours), we both just started laughing at our stupidity.  For 16 months, we emptied it the hard way.

We finally stopped laughing and started using this amazing invention already (apparently) installed on every Diaper Genie called a cutter.

Hey, at least we figured it out before both boys were out of diapers!  That has to count for something.  Doesn't it?  Right?! I say it counts!

Tree Climbing

And it has started.  I think we might need bigger trees in the near future.

Look at how strong he is!

One handed!

Who's bleeding?

Last night after dinner, the boys were in a "ants in the pants" mood.  Neither one of them could keep still longer than 3 seconds.  I think I was climbed on, jumped on, stood on, and sat on about a hundred times between dinner and bath times.  When have I become a jungle gym?

As the climbing, jumping, etc, was going on, Andrew quickly says, "Emily, come here."  I go into the kitchen to find him crouched down looking at something on the floor.  He says, "I think this is blood.  Who's bleeding?"  My first thought was, "Really?!"

Andrew and I found another spot of blood about a foot away and started quickly searching for the culprit.  I check each dogs' mouth and bottom.  I can't find anything on the dogs.  Andrew rechecks the dogs while I'm turning around to check on the kids.  After all the activity those two were up to, it would not surprise me to find one bleeding.

After taking two steps in the boys direction, I hear Andrew say, matter of factly, "Oh, it's me."  I turn around to see Andrew's toe bleeding.  I immediately stop what I'm doing and double over laughing.  I laughed for a good couple of minutes straight, then some more when Jackson started imitating me laughing. 

All that panic because Andrew didn't even know he was bleeding.  Of course I quickly smiled and said, "That's going on the blog!"  Love you Andrew!

Our First Valentine's Date

It's Valentine's Day.  Every year Valentine's Day comes around Andrew and I decide not to do anything big.  I'm not a big Valentine's Day person.  I'm pretty happy with a card and some flowers.  I love flowers and any excuse to get them.  I don't need to be taken out to a fancy restaurant, wined and dined in order for my husband to prove his love for me.  He does small things every day to show me that he loves me.

Since it is Valentine's Day, I'll share the story about our first Valentine's together.  We were both graduate students at LSU, so nothing fancy was even monetarily possible.  Andrew brought me over to his apartment and there was a single red rose closed inside a hardback novel.  It was very sweet and thoughtful.  Andrew knew I loved to read, so he got me a book I had wanted that just came out.  That's love!

Andrew also made me dinner from scratch., chicken caesar wraps in crepes.  I was impressed.  We started, and everything was delicious.  About half way into my wrap, I bit into an entire raw clove of garlic.  Tears started flooding my eyes immediately as I was trying my best not to show my shock and gag reflex.  I really did try to swallow the garlic, but I just couldn't force myself.  So after about 15 seconds of tears falling out of my eyes, trying to swallow, trying to breath normal air (not garlic filled air) through my nose, not trying to hurt Andrew's feelings by spitting my food onto my plate, I gave up and projected all the food in my mouth onto my dinner plate.  I looked at what came out and saw a rather large raw clove of garlic staring back at me, taunting me.  I washed my mouth out as best I could, but I swear I was tasting garlic for hours.  Hours!

Andrew felt horrible after he realized what happened.  I tried to play it off, but I just couldn't at the time.  I found out later Andrew used a blender to made the dressing and the blender didn't chop up the clove.  I asked him to use a food processor in the future.  Although I did see the recipe, and the recipe did say blender.

So, our first Valentine's Day, garlic decided to infiltrate our dinner and have its evil way with my taste buds.  I rocked it by finishing off Andrew's homemade dinner and even eating dessert!

Neither one of us have forgotten our Valentine's Day dinner 7 years ago.  It was pretty unforgettable.  Every year, I have to retell the story to him because we both can laugh about it now.  Although, we laughed about it then after I could breathe again.  Good times!

Because it is Valentine's Day, I'll end with a quote I've always enjoyed.

 "Accept the things to which fate binds you and love the people with whom fate brings you together but do so with all your heart." ~Marcus Aurelius

A gift to Mom and Dad from Jackson.

Weekly Recap

It's been another one of "those" weeks.  Things seem to be going fairly normal, then all hell breaks loose and I'm trying to pick up the pieces.

Mea, our older cocker spaniel, hurt her a disk in her back two weeks ago.  She was fine when I left the house.  When I came back, she was hurt.  She's been steroids for almost two weeks.  I had to take her in for a check up with both boys.  It was crazy in the vet's office, but Mea is feeling better just 100 percent.  With her back still hurt, Mea is not allowed to jump, climb stairs or get up on anything.  Andrew and I have to carry her up and down the porch stairs every time she needs to go out.  Lucky for her, we brave the rain/wind/cold in order to ensure she follows doctor's orders.

Mea has also been being locked up when I leave to ensure she doesn't jump on the kitchen table (yes, we're pretty sure that is how the injury happened).  She is not a fan of losing her freedom and expressed her feelings by eating half a box of tampons while I was out this morning.

Jackson lost a fight to a laundry basket and has the wound to prove it.  One of these days, he's going to listen to me when I say, "Don't do that.  You're going to get hurt."  Alas, my warning was not heeded this time.  He has a lovely mark from mouth to ear along his jaw line where the laundry basket put its final blow in.

Cullen's last molar broke through this week.  He was up some nights which made for fantastically tired parents until it broke.  Fingers crossed, he will not be breaking any more teeth in the near future.  Mom and Dad desperately need sleep!

Two of our nice glasses broke in the dishwasher yesterday.  Yes, glasses can be replaced but it was disappointing.  A splash of danger was added when Jackson tried to grab a broken glass when helping me unload the dishwasher.  Mom speed out maneuvered him and intercepted said glass.  Crisis averted.

Cullen beat me downstairs by two minutes the other day.  In those two minutes, he managed to push a kitchen chair over to the refrigerator, climb on top the chair, and hit the water and ice buttons on the frig.  He was so excited to discover this new fun toy!  He kept pressing and pressing the buttons leaving water everywhere.  I was not too excited about his discovery and locked the buttons down.  I have to give him props for thinking to do this.  I wouldn't have thought he would discover it for a little while longer.  Guess he proved me wrong!

All things considered, it was a busy but good week!

A Simple Comment

Yesterday, I needed to kill about an hour after registering Cullen for Preschool.  Yes, my little man is old enough to start going to preschool in the summer.  It's both exciting and sad at the same time.

Anyway, I decided to stop by the place I used to work at before the boys were born.  Everyone is still there, for the most part, and its always nice to catch up with good people.  After I walk in and do the initial hello greeting, I received the most surprising and sweetest comment.

"Wow, Emily, you look the best I've seen you."  Thanks Kat!

I was completely taken back by it, and instead of over analyzing it (as I usually do), I just accepted it as is.  A sweet, amazing compliment from an honest, good person.  It just made my day!

I tend to not take compliments very well. I'm not sure why. It could be the cynical, analytical side of me who is always looking at the world as though someone is trying to take advantage of me. It could be I just expect that person has to say nice things to me. Andrew hates when I do this to him. I know this, but it doesn't make it any easier for me to take the compliment. Although I have tried to get better, he would probably argue against this. It's a wonder he puts up with me!

After having two children, I've worked very hard to get back and stay in shape.  I workout, regularly, and eat healthy.  I do have my weaknesses.  But really, who doesn't?!  I wouldn't be human if I was perfect.  And I am far from perfect.

It was just very nice to hear that I'm not this fat, lazy slob I somehow envision myself at times.  Especially when my son lifts up my shirt and slaps my side, very loudly.  (As he just did... hmm)

So Thank You, Kat!  Your honesty in that simple sentence meant more than you could possibly imagine.

An Interview with NY Times Bestselling Author Heather Killough-Walden

I was given the awesome opportunity to interview New York Times bestselling author Heather Killough-Walden about her new book The Vampire King (The Kings One).  Heather Killough-Walden has also written the Big Bad Wolf Series, October Trilogy, Chosen Souls, Hell Bent, and many more wonderful books.  Check it out.

1.      What  made you decide to write a spin-off series with your new book, The Vampire King?

The Big Bad Wolf series developed a pretty large fan base and, I gotta be honest with you – I’ve grown kind of fond of those characters too. So, while I can’t see myself writing another strictly werewolf book to continue the series, I can see myself branching out and diversifying the supernatural “Big Bad Wold” while still staying true to the men and women my readers have grown to love. J

2.      Do you plan all of the books of your series in the beginning, or do you decide while you’re writing how/when they will end?

I never plan anything. LOL  In fact, often when I’m writing, I end up writing myself right into a corner. Luckily, this only makes the books more interesting and believable, I have my trusty muses to help me out of those tighter jams. 

3.      Have you ever found yourself writing characters based on the traits of family members or friends?

Honestly, that’s almost all I ever do. There’s a little bit of everyone I know in my characters. Most of my heroines possess traits that I have noticed in myself or that I would very much like to have (usually the latter). It’s important for an author to write what he or she knows. I can’t stress how imperative that is. It’s why we spend so much time doing research, traveling to distant places, and even browsing the web. As soon as we delve into something we aren’t very familiar with, we either need to study up so that we can properly convey that thing through our writing, or we need to stop and turn around and go in another direction. Readers will always be able to tell if you’re writing outside of your bounds.  

4.      Were you surprised with the success of your books as an independent writer?

I wasn’t surprised that people liked them, because I had posted on free literature sites before deciding to go indie and I’d received amazing feedback. I was surprised, however, that it would go as far as it did. I made it to the top slot in Vampire Romance on Amazon with “The Third Kiss” and my wonderful agent from Trident Media gave me a call. This opened up a whole new world for me. I also made the USA Today and New York Times bestsellers lists with indie published books. That was surprising, but only to a certain extent. I believe in myself and I believe in my words. I wouldn’t be able to continue doing what I do if I didn’t. J

5.      With Indie writers being able to self publish today, how do you feel the publishing/book business is evolving?

       I think it’s finally opening up to what it should have been all along. For so long, there were all of these stories – these wonderful, brilliant, colorful stories – that were kept from the public through the bottleneck of traditional publishing. Now, with self publishing of ebooks, talented authors can share this work with readers from around the world the moment they type “The End.” That’s fantastic. It gives the authors what they want: recognition, fulfillment, even financial gain. And it gives the readers what they want: variety, escapism, joy.

I think that traditional print publishers might have to adjust the way they have been marketing and selling books in areas such as pricing if they want to keep up or compete with ebook indie publishing, but I also feel that there will always be people who prefer the feel of a paper book in their hands. Now both kinds of people are happy.

The Vampire King, book one of The Kings series by Heather Killough-Walden….

Synopsis:

It was immediate for Roman. In three thousand years, he’d never lost control of his emotions, or his heart. But the moment he laid eyes on Evelynne Farrow, he knew she was the woman who haunted his dreams. And everything changed.

Everything.

Evie Farrow has always loved a good vampire romance.  In fact, she makes a living writing them. While sitting in a coffee shop and working on her next mega-hot book, Evie is approached by a tall, dark, and handsome man who could have been pulled directly from one of her novels.

Unbeknownst to her, Roman D’Angelo is exactly what he appears to be – a vampire, and not just any vampire, but the king of vampires. 

Unfortunately, while Roman is both ancient and invulnerable, Evie is flesh and blood. Just as Roman decides that he and Evie have a date with destiny, for reasons of their own, an ancient god and a homicidal vampire take an equally strong interest in her. To make things more complicated, there’s something very special about Evie. Something not quite human.

Can Roman fight off the incredible forces that would have Evie as their own long enough to win her heart, or will destiny betray him, and destroy everything he has ever dreamed of?

Teaser:

 “Never in a million years would I mean you harm, Evie.”

Evie jumped, inhaled a sharp gasp, and scrambled out of the bed with insane speed. Her hair whipped around her face as she spun to face each corner of the strange window-less room. The shadows there were long and dark and endless.

But there were stars in the darkness – two stars that grew brighter as a man stepped out of the shadows.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview you, Heather Killough-Walden!  If you haven't read any of her books, I highly suggest you check them out.  They're all excellent reads!  The Vampire King comes out February 7, 2012.

What just came out of my mouth?

Since the boys were born, a few statements have become staples in my daily dialogue.  Some of the most common are...

"No."
"Get down from there."
"No touch."
"Get off."
"Put it down."

Are you starting to understand what I'm talking about out?  If not, you probably don't have children or pets.  Yes, the same things (usually more of one word commands) are said to my two dogs as well.

Tuesday, I said something I never thought I would hear come out of my mouth.  I soon as I said it I busted out laughing because I know if any other adult would have been around they would have laughed as well.  Even thinking back, it brings a smile to my face.

Cullen is my climber.  He's more of a climber than Jackson ever was.  With Jackson, I only had to tell him once or twice not to climb on something, and he would listen.  Cullen's hearing skills are excellent; his listening skills feel nonexistent most of the time.  I can't tell you how many times I've caught him on top of the kitchen table.  Even when all the chairs are pushed in, he finds a way up.  I caught him dancing up there one day.  He's mastered kitchen chairs, window seats, stairs (both up and down), toy chests, and a multitude of other objects.  I was in the kitchen cooking dinner when I looked over to check on the boys.  Cullen had climbed on top of the entertainment unit (which is a good 3 feet off the ground).  I then said...

"Cullen, do not lick the TV!"

Really!  What kind of normal person says don't lick the TV?  Me, apparently.  Although, my claims on normality vary day to day.

Here's a quick picture of the end result of one of Cullen's many climbing adventures.  He's actually gotten quite good with a spoon.