Back to it!

O M G y'all it has been a LONG time since I blogged. I thought it might be good to get back to it so here goes!

Things are VERY different in my life than they were last time I blogged. Lets see, I now don't live in Des Moines like before. Two years ago we bought a home in Polk City and it is AMAZING!! The neighborhood is great and B man loves all his friends and his school. Oh yeah, so I have a kindergartner! That just sounds insane!!  It literally feels like yesterday he got to come home from the hospital and now, in just 39 short days, he will be 6!!! CRAZY!!

I am still at the same job and love it everyday! I work with great people and have a wonderful boss!

What else is new,,,,,,,I feel like I have been pretty boring lately. Not a lot has changed since I did these blogs a few years back.  Well maybe one major thing has changed. I am now a single mamma and LOVE IT!!! Was this the hardest decision I have ever made in my life,,,,,HELL YES!!! BUT, I am so glad I made the decision not only for me but for my son as well. 

I don't think I should get into too much detail about all that with my first blog back but stay tuned and we will get there.

Back to things lately, B man and I just had our family pictures taken just the two of us last weekend.

Here is a picture I took before of B man "practicing" his smiles!! This kid cracks me up y'all!!  I love him more than anything I have ever loved in my life! He makes me so happy and always on my toes!

My goal is to try to be as open with y'all as I can be and not offend anyone. But lets be real, I don't give a shit if I offend someone or not. If yo don't like what I am writing, don't read it! :)

What are some things y'all would like me to write about? I have some travel plans coming up this winter so I will let you know about those. I did some traveling last year so I can bring y'all up to speed on that as well.  Let me know if there are things you would like to hear about or not hear about maybe!! 

RAGRBAI recap Y'ALL!!!

I would first like to say a HUGE thank you to my hubs for being the mommy and daddy while I was gone for the whole week last week for RAGBRAI.  It was very hard on me being gone y'all but at the same time it was a lot of fun!  Now don't get me wrong, being up at 2:30 AM some mornings was FAR FROM fun but the whole experience was great!

I would like to thank the Christensen family for asking me to go and help them.  If y'all have not stopped at their stand either on RABGRAI or at Downtown Farmer's Market you are really missing out!  They serve some of the best breakfast around and it is always with a smile! The crew we had this year was a blast and I got to know most of them pretty well! 

We started out the week by working market on Saturday first and then meeting up to get everything loaded for the week.  We left Des Moines Saturday afternoon around 3:00.  This was very hard for me y'all!  I worked market, got home around 1, finished packing for the week and got to spend about an hour with Big B before leaving him for a WEEK!!!  To make things a little easier on mommy, Big B and I had a little "date" the night before with pizza and a movie!  We took him to his first theater movie and he did GREAT!  Anyway back to my week y'all!

B and mommy date night!

We left town and headed west to pick up the rest of the crew.  We met up with the other truck and trailer as well as the refrigerator truck and the remaining crew members to make the long trek up north to "God's Country!"  Wow y'all it is a LONG and BORING drive up there, I am telling you!  Plus we all followed each other of course so it wasn't like we were going very fast. 

We FINALLY made it to Le Mars where we were spending the first night around 9 I think after a few stops here and there.  I was in the ice cream capital of the world and didn't even get to enjoy it! :(  Oh well, there will be other chances I am sure.

Day 1  Sunday morning not so bright and early we were up and at um to set up camp for the first time.  I think the alarm went off at 3:00 AM that morning because we had to pack up and leave the hotel that morning also.  We headed to Hull to serve some great breakfast.  I am tell'n y'all there are some little ass towns in Iowa that I have NEVER heard of!!  But they have the nicest people in them!!

This wasn't my first taste of RABGRAI but I haven't seen it in about 15 years so to see the wide variety of riders was amazing to me!  I can't believe how many little kids go with their parents and wide for the whole week!  That was pretty cool to me. 

Day 2 we head to Terrill.  The whole time we were talking about RAGBRAI in the weeks before I thought everyone was saying Carroll.  Um, not even close and this town was little y'all but I have said for years, there is something to be said about small towns!! They really are the best!  I should know, I am from one!! :)  Terrill had midget wresting, a slip and slide and LOTS of beer (for a breakfast town) because there was LOTS of drunk bike riders "trying" to ride their bikes out of town around 1 when we were heading out. 

This is what is amazing to me y'all, how do you ride a bike when you are drunk?!  It is hard enough to ride one when you are sober........but drunk!??!!?

Day 3 was the long hall to Bancroft.  Some of the hotels we stayed at we could be in for two nights if they were close enough to where we were going to be.  This one was like that except it was about an hour and 20 min drive for us to get there!!  So I think the alarm went off at 2:30 that morning y'all! 

This was my favorite day y'all because I got to see a celebrity! Dallas Clarke stopped at the booth for breakfast not once but twice that morning!!  He was nice enough to take a picture with us too!!

Morgan, Dallas, and I at Bancroft.

After we all went back to the hotel to rest and relax a little bit and get some dinner we decided to head into Northwood and do a little bowling and play some pool.  It was nice to just get to know each other a little bit and have some fun.  I felt like the mom of the group since I was "ALOT" older than most of them but it was still a lot of fun!

Day 4 and the crew is really working well together.  We are in Clear Lake and the weather couldn't be more beautiful!!  The bikers are really enjoying their rides which makes everyone's mood better when they are in better moods!!  This was the day we had some entertainment beside us as far as other vendors go!  They were quite the site to watch is all I can say!!  I am sure the rest of the crew knows exactly who I am talking about on this day!! :)

Day 5 and things are running like a well oiled machine! Thank goodness because we were set up and serving food in about 40 minutes this morning in Nora Springs!  What a cute little town this was too!  They had a mechanical surf board here and there were quite a few bikers enjoying the board!  Looked fun but not for this mom y'all!! 

We headed to Waterloo to the hotel this night.  First thing on the agenda was for us girls to find a Starbucks!!  I love small towns y'all but this mama needs her coffee!!!!  Later that night I got to enjoy some adult drinks with some of the older guys and get to know them a little better!!  What a great crew we had with us on RAGBRAI this year!!  I am so happy I got to go and I hope I get to go next year too!

Day 6, the FINAL day!!!  I must say this was NOT my favorite day.  I know this is shocking to y'all but it didn't start out very well at all!  We were heading to Tripoli to set up and it was about 3:45 and raining pretty good.  I was driving the last car of the caravan because it was an SUV and everything was a truck.  Out of no where we were rear-ended.  All I can say is everyone was on and the SUV was still drivable.  It wasn't a good experience and I hope it never happens again!  I was just glad no one was hurt!  We eventually made it into Tripoli and set up shop.  Well y'all the day just got worse in a hurry!!  It stared raining and the wind picked up and it was lightening really bad.  It just went from bad to worse in a hurry!!!  Lets just say it was not a great day y'all! 

All in all, the week was AMAZING!!!  I had a blast and my boys back home did great without me!  There wasn't a better feeling however, than the ones of Big B's little arms around my neck on Friday afternoon when they came to pick me up!  He just kept laughing and saying Mommy!!!  It was the cutest thing in the world!! 

Next year I will get more pictures of the riders and our crew for y'all!  The next big thing is the State Fair stuff.  I will keep y'all posted on how projects are going and things go at the fair. 

Thanks for reading y'all!

Feeling Great!

Things are going well around our house y'all!  We have been working on not eating out except once on the weekend and the rest of the time we cook at home and take our lunches.  This has been going very well and saves us A LOT of money y'all!  We are eating a lot of fruits and more veggies.  This goes for Big B too! He is turning into quite the fruit lover!  I am VERY happy to report I am 6 1/2 months SODA FREE!!!!!!!  That is HUGE for me and I hope to keep it up for a long time!!! 

We have officially listed our house with a realtor so if y'all could send all the good vibes you can our way to get this house sold and help us find a bigger place that would be wonderful!!!!!!!!!

We took Big B to his first rodeo on Saturday night and he LOVED it!  It was the Dallas County Fair Rodeo and I wasn't sure what to expect for B's first time.  It is a long time for a 2 year old to sit there.  Some things at a rodeo are very exciting and then other things aren't so much for a little boy. 

The first thing they did was have the bucking horses and B loved it!  If you know our son, you know he is a very concerned little boy!  He is always worried about someone getting hurt.  So when the first cowboy got bucked off the horse, he yells "Careful horsey, careful cowboy!"  Then he cheers his little heart out!  It was the cutest thing every y'all!

He sat there most of the night really well and watched all the horses and bulls.  He got a little restless at times but that is to be expected.  It was a little warm there too but he didn't complain one bit! Our little guy LOVES to be outside so he was in heaven!

He will be in for a real treat in a couple weeks when we take him to the Dallas County Fair and he gets to see all the animals and they have an Extreme Bull Riding night.  I can't wait for him to get to watch that too!  Speaking of  The Dallas County Fair y'all, if you enjoy taking pictures or quilting and want to show off your work, you should take your hard work to the fair! It is all free and fun for all ages!  I am going to be taking some photography this year.  As soon as we get our house sold and I have more room to work on my quilt, I will be taking on that!  If you are interested in taking any projects to the open classes at the fair please email Sherry James at franknsherry@msn.com

I have decided to try my hand at some of the food classes at the Iowa State Fair this year.  I have never done anything like this before and I am SUPER excited about it this year.  I am going to take some of the salsa we canned last summer, some chocolate chip & cocoanut banana bread and my Grandma's "World Famous" Potato Salad! The hubs is excited because I will be working on perfecting these recipes over the next month or so and that means he will be the official taste tester!  I am not expecting anything but to enter and have fun learning more for next year.  I am trying to get in a class called the Mystery Sack.  From what I can tell it is like the show Chopped on the Food Network.  You pick three seasonings you want to take with you and the rest is provided for you to cook with!  Sounds exciting y'all! They only allow 6 people in and I am on the waiting list as of right now!  Fingers crossed...................

I can't believe how fast the summer is going already!  It won't be long and I will be leaving my boys for a full week to go on RAGBRAI. Oh don't remind me...........that is a LONG time to be away but I can do it.........RIGHT!?!?!?!?

Don't forget to stop by Breakfast Delights and get some great food if you are riding this year by the way!!  Or as always, we are at the end of Court Ave every Saturday for Downtown Farmer's Market! 

Thanks for reading y'all!

Filling you in!

Since I was on a hiatus for a little bit I thought I would fill y'all in on some of things we did while I was away!

We took Big B to see Sesame Street Live and he was SO excited to see Elmo!  As y'all know he LOVES Elmo! He almost made it through the whole thing before he fell asleep. I thought the whole thing was very cute and I can't wait to take him to more things like this!

We also decided to try a restaurant here in town called Twin Peaks. If you have never been to this place before, you should know a little bit of information ahead of time.

Now, I for one am not offended at all by restaurants like this!  I used to love to eat at Hooters when it was open in our area.  It has closed in the last year and I am not totally sad as I think BWW has better wings.  But, I feel that if you have a nice body and you are comfortable in the way you look, than by all means please flaunt it!   But Twin Peaks, I feel, pushes this to the VERY limits. 

So back to the eating experience.  We decided that we were going to go there because I wanted to try the food and lets be honest the hubs wasn't going to object y'all!  I am always up for new things and we all know I am a foody!  We walk in the door and I thought we just walked into the Bunny Ranch!  Now to be fair it was Easter weekend so they might have just had rabbit ears on for that purpose.  But, there wasn't much for clothing on and I am sure my face had to tell them that! They had on a bra, underwear, and some thigh highs and that is about it y'all! The hostess did have on a cover over here bra so she was overdressed!  I DO NOT JUDGE so we go on in for our lunch!  Of course y'all know we have the cutest little boy ever (ok so I might be just a little byes) and all the scantly clad ladies come running over to my little boy like he is Vin Diesel on the set of Fast and Furious or something!

We get sat down and I look at the Hubs like I am not really sure I thought this through!  Should I really have brought my 2 year old son here to eat!!!  I am frantically looking around to see if there are any other kids under the age of 15 in this place! I see one and that was it! Please don't judge me y'all...............it really is a nice place to eat and those girls couldn't have taken better care of us!!!

The food was AMAZBALLS!!  We both got the Phillie Steak sandwich a fries and Big B got some very good mac and cheese.

The funniest part of the meal was about half way through as we are enjoying our meal Big B looks at me and says "Look mommy underwears!"  He was pointing at the girls walking by in their bra and underwear (uniform) and I just about lost it!!!  He is the cutest thing ever y'all!!! 

As we get ready to walk out the girl at the hostess stand ask Big B if she can have her picture taken with him because he is so cute!!  Well of course!!!  What 2 year old little boy wouldn't want his picture taken with a scantly clad hot chic!!!

The Hubs took Big B to see the firetruck and helicopter one Saturday while I was working at market.  They have them down at market for EMS week every year! I am telling y'all if our son isn't a firefighter or policeman someday I will be shocked! (And I will be scared to death)  He loves this stuff some much but I guess all little boys do!  Here are a few pictures of him on the helicopter and fire truck.  He still has to tell me almost everyday about how he drives the firetruck! 

Big B on the helicopter

Big B Driving the Fire Truck!

I guess that is all for now y'all!  I started the 30 day ab challenge last night that is going on on Facebook.  I am SO out of shape but we all have to start somewhere right!  I am not proud of the fact that I keep starting all these things and don't finish them but it only takes one to get me going, right!

Thanks for readying y'all and have a great day!~

I'm Back Y'All!!!

I haven't posted on here for over a month.  That has been for a personal reason but I have decided that I am living my own life and not worrying about anyone else except my husband, my son and my family ANYMORE!!!  Those are the most important people in my life. If you don't like the way I live my life or the things I post on here, please don't read my blog!

So I am BACK BITCHES!!!!! :)

Life has been crazy y'all since I last posted! 

Farmer's Marker is in FULL SWING!!!  Breakfast Delights has been SO busy and it is GREAT!! I love working down there almost every Saturday and I am so blessed to have been asked to help out down there!!  This year I get the privilege (I guess that is what it is!) of going on the road with them for RAGBRIA!!!  I am so excited but super sad to leave Big B at home for a whole week!!!  I have never had to leave him home for a whole week and not see him!!!  This is going to be VERY HARD for this Mama!!!!  The hubs might be making a mid week trip!!! LOL

If y'all have never been to the Downtown Farmer's Market you have to try it at least once.  Trust me, you will want to come back!! The food is amazballs, the produce is super fresh and the PEOPLE WATCHING is as good as the State Fair!!!!  Chances are I will be working so if you are ever there, stop by the last food booth at the end of Court Ave by the bridge and say HI!!

We had a great Memorial Weekend!  I know it is an excuse to have a three day weekend but it is also a day to thank our Brave men and women who have and continue to fight for our great country!! I would like to say Thank You to my Amazing Grandfather for serving for his country in the war and my brother in law who is active Army!

We spent the day Sunday with family and Big B had so much fun with his cousins!!!  He even got to ride a horse.  Well he was on there for about two minutes and that was it!!  I didn't take jeans to ride this year so I did the worse thing you can do...................I rode in shorts and flip flops!!!  Lets just say I didn't ride very long but my nephew wanted to ride and I told him I would ride with him.  So you do what yo have to for those you love!! :) 

Big B was excited to ride until it came time to actually get on the horse!  Then he wasn't so much.  But that is a long ways up there for a little guy y'all!

Big B on the teeter toter with his little cousins.  He is such a toad that it takes two of them to equal out the balance.  :)  To be fair T and L are only 1 so B should be bigger than them!

Monday was all about Big B.  We took him to the zoo and he had a great time.  It rained off and on but that didn't damper his day! He was a little scared at first but I think that was just because he didn't understand the animals couldn't come out of the glass.  Once he found that out he was fine!

 After the zoo we went and had some corn-dogs at BWW's.  Then it was home for what mommy thought would be a nice nap.............wrong!!!  Big B had other plans so that didn't work so good!  We decided to go get a new John Deere Tractor shirt because one can never have to many of those!  Daddy needed one too so they could match!  I will get a picture of my two guys in their matching shirts soon for y'all!

That was a quick recap of our super busy weekend y'all!  I hope you had a safe and fun weekend too! 

This week is shaping up to be super busy yet again! We have had a lot of traffic on the house so everyone please keep the good prayers coming on the house sale!

Holy batman does life EVER slow down?!!?!?

Thanks for reading y'all and have a GREAT day!

SORE!!!!!

Holy SHIT y'all being sore doesn't even describe the pain I am in!!!  I always told myself that once I started this working out stuff I wasn't ever going to quit because I didn't want to have to go through this pain of being sore again.......................well guess what?!! 

I did and I am and HOLY SHIT y'all it sucks!!!  Walking is by far the hardest thing I have to do except when I need to sit down, or get back up again for that fact! :(  And lets not even talk about going to the bathroom!  Lowering yourself down on the toilet is EXCRUCIATING!!! But then raising my arms in the shower just to shampoo my hair is like a pain I have never felt..........except for the last time I did this to myself!!!

I have some shoulder issues so I am a little bit limited on what I can with the weights but I am giving it all I can as far as that is concerned.  I am trying to go two to three times during the week so I can be home with Big B on the weekends.  Plus once Farmer's Market starts I will be limited on my Saturdays anyway so I might as well get used to a schedule. 

With all of that negative stuff being said y'all..............I couldn't be MORE EXCITED to be back at Kees Camp working out and getting back in shape!  I started last week but things have been insane around here and didn't get a chance to stop on here and tell y'all about it!

I started with Zumba last week and I must say for a fat white girl with NO moves I sure do love that class!  I DO NOT however, love the floor length mirrors she has in there that shows me EVERY inch of fatness I have and then some!!  You know you are fat but then when it is RIGHT UP IN YOUR FACE it is really hard to deal with.........................makes me NOT like myself a whole lot right now!

I went to pumptime on Monday and boy do I love the weights!  Boy does my body hate me y'all!!  Welcome to the soreness issue!!  But, it is a good thing because it won't always be this bad, right?  It has to get better, right! Please someone tell me it has to get better!?!!?!?

Tomorrow night is Zumba again and then next week I hope to through in a little kickboxing!  I sure do love that class............who wouldn't want to let out all their anger on a punching bag!?!?!?!

After class on Monday night y'all Jen asked if I wanted to do my measurements.  I wasn't excited about it but I knew it needed to be done.  I started Kees Camp back in March of 2010 and have went off and on ever since.  The sad part is, I would be one hot biotch by now if I would have just stuck with it and ate right this whole time.  But having a baby and life's stresses got in the way and here I am.  All my measurements are up and I am NOT happy about it at all! 

I have a lot of work to do y'all but I am headed in the right direction.  I am off the couch and hitting the gym!  Soreness and all, I am doing this bitches!

As always, I am trying to raise money for the kids at the Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City.  Here is a link for y'all to check out.  Please feel free to either donate right here on this link or contact me directly!!!  I appreciate anything you are able to donate!  It all goes to a great cause and it is all tax deductible! 

Thanks for reading y'all and have a great day!

Finally!

So I am FINALLY getting back into working out and I couldn't be more excited!!!  I was waiting for a couple things to come together before I got signed back up again and those things finally came together.  So starting this week I will be back at it!!

It is so strange to be excited about getting your ass kicked and being sore for the next week or so but I really am!!  I have been so depressed about the way my body looks lately it is really time for a change.  I am one of those people that can change the way I eat but it truly doesn't make a difference unless I am exercising also. 

I know I haven't been on here for a while and I am sorry about that.  I have been so overwhelmed with my new job and that is a totally GREAT thing!!!  I LOVE my new job and couldn't be more excited about the opportunity for what lies ahead!!

The last two weeks my house has been hit by the flu and colds.....................I am so sick of being sick and having sick people in my house!!!!!  The good thing is Big B hasn't really gotten it, it is just mainly the hubs and I.  The bad thing is, I am just sitting and waiting for the other shoe to fall for Big B to get it! :( 

Last weekend we took Big B to the Science Center.  We went with some good friend from high school and they all have little ones too.  It was a BLAST and Big B did pretty good for only being 2.  We all went and ate lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings after wards and then he went home and took a 3 hour nap y'all!!  He was one warn out little boy!!!

On Friday night we went out for the Hubs birthday.  His birthday was during the week but he had bronchitis so bad we didn't really do much during the week.  So he decided he wanted to go to Buzzard Billy's for dinner on Friday night.  It actually wasn't that busy and we got right in!!  Big B did AMAZBALLS and sat there and ate his grilled cheese and fries like he was 10!!  I tried a shrimp Po'Boy for the first time and LOVED IT!!!!  I can't believe I have waited this long to have one!!!  FOR SURE will be having another one of those in the future!!

Today to start the nice weather off I treated myself to a mani/pedi day since the Hubs took Big b to his parents for the day.  It was so nice to just have a day to myself but I have to admit, it is so quiet around the house when Big B is gone!!!  I get in the car to take him to school and the first thing I hear is, "Seatbelt Mommy!"  I didn't hear that today to go to my "spa day" and it felt very strange!!  It is nice to have a break now and then, however.

Ok, here is my first of many requests to help me out..........I am starting to raise money for the kids at the Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City.  Here is a link for y'all to check out.  Please feel free to either donate right here on this link or contact me directly!!!  I appreciate anything you are able to donate!  It all goes to a great cause and it is all tax deductible! 

Well I better get off here and start something for supper y'all!  My boys will be home soon.  Look for updates on my new workout at Kees camp and my sore muscles!! LOL

Thanks for reading y'all!!