Vacation...and Dumpsters...

hi.

remember me?

it's ok if you don't.

i am a blog failure.

and i am not using capital letters.

and i am not sure why.

I am not certain why I opened that way...I am not certain why I do a lot of things though. And my husband would say he is not sure why I do 99% of what I do...but enough about me.

How about you?

How have you been? Are my 5 readers even still with me?!?

I am so sorry that the Christmas chaos sucked me up... I promise I had intentions of checking in but it was like a fuzzy enigma, I couldn't escape...the wrapping paper, carolers, dancing Santas, and fruitcake had me glazed over like a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Anyhoo, we are alive and well!

We had an awesome Christmas, and even took a little trip down South between Christmas and New Year. I must first say it was a FANTASTIC trip. However, words cannot describe the home that we rented. Let's just say that the description online didn't exactly live up in person...here are just a few examples:

I give you the quotes from the website...then my version:

1. "Enjoy use of 36' Yacht, Jet Skiis, Catamaran sailboat and daily housekeeping."
-Lets just say that 1 of 3 jet skis was working most of the time, the sailboat didn't even have a sail, and the "yacht"...well, there was no way I was getting on that thing.
We never saw a housekeeper.

2. "Voted "Best Vacation Ever" by all 10 members of the Peterson family during their spring vacation."
-I have to believe that either a) the Petersons had never been on vacation before or b) they were blind

3. "Family room equipped with 3D TV and library of 3D Movies"
-ok, I know we were on vacation in FL and the TV should have been the least of our worries...however, there are times with three children under 6 that TV is very much a necessity.
So this TV (the ONLY TV in the 5BR house) had 6 channels.
And 3 of them were in Spanish. AND, the "library" consisted of 3 movies, all of which were rated "R".

4. "Gas/Electric BBQ Grill : More than just a grill....many new features will even let you grill a pizza on the pizza stone"
-This in fact was a rusty gas grill with a circular metal pan on it.

5. "The spa is equipped with many different pieces of aerobic gym equipment"
-The "spa"...and I use that term loosely, was located on the upstairs balcony. OUTSIDE.
I'm pretty sure the equipment was from the early Jane Fonda era and it was all rusted.

I could go on and on...but honestly, the trip itself was AWESOME. We had lots of family bonding time, the weather was GREAT. And the backyard with pool and inter-coastal views made up for the other areas that left little to be desired... We all will have fond memories of our "Griswald vacation"!

We haven't done much since we got back and I hate to bore you (if you have read this far) with the mundane details of our days...

But I will add that the hubby went out of town this month and I took full advantage of his absence to address his hoarding issue. We actually know the builder building the house across the street from us so I had him deliver his dumpster for his job site to my house first. I managed to clear out our garage...where I found a box of books that looked old enough to be first editions...as well as oil lamps. Yeah, oil lamps...you know, in case we need to go all Little House on the Prairie out here.

I also cleaned out our back deck. We finished our basement 2 years ago...and the scrap lumber, paint, and various other pieces o' junk were STILL back there.

Needless to say I was pretty proud of all my de-cluttering...aka, throwing stuff in the big dumpster in the driveway.

I asked the hubby when he got home if he noticed anything...of course in my head I am thinking, "yeah, he's gonna think I'm a rockstar...I got so much cleaned and done with THREE kids, BY MYSELF...he has to give me a pat on the back...or a high five....or those Frye boots I've been coveting..."

Um, no.

I should have known better.

He said: "I hope you didn't throw those little pieces of siding away that were on the back porch. We need those to complete the front of the house."

Gulp.

Ooops.

Um, helloooooo...I just have to say...the house has been built for 4 years now.

What do you mean "to finish it"??

I don't even remember seeing siding....honestly I was so excited to have that dumpster in my driveway and to be clearing out all that junk...I was like a kid in a candy store...

Anyway, I am sure you can get extra siding or whatever it is somewhere?

Right?

Or perhaps he might want to go across the street...