I'm so proud. Part deux.

Well thanks for all the encouraging comments about my husband and his wonderful cheesy moustache contest. To add to all this wonderful fabulousness I have to share a story with you about his big fish he caught.

Late August he was up at our cabin and he called me on Saturday morning freaking out. Here is a snippet of the phone conversation:

ME: Gerten's

DAN: I caught a 30 inch walleye this morning (trembly excited voice).

ME: Oh good for you. What does that mean? Is that big?

DAN: Yes it's a huge fish. I'm so excited!

ME: Oh. . . what did you do with it (quick short prayer that he threw it back)?

DAN: I'm on my way back from the taxidermist because I'm having it mounted.

ME: WOW. That's great. Where will you hang it?

Then other talk about that.

Well this weekend he picked up Wally from the taxidermist and brought him home.

I've accepted that Wally will be hung in our tv room. I've accepted that my husband won the cheesy moustache contest. But all in the same month? WOw. I'm so proud!!

Here is Wally hanging out on our new recliner. That's right, if you are white trash you MUST put your newly stuffed fish on your brand new recliner!!!!

I'm so proud.

My hubby has just finished 30 days of working ridiculous hours at his job. He was on days for the first half and then on nights for the last half. This meant that he was working from 7 at night until about 6 in the morning.

A lot of his co-workers worked these hours as well. So to boost morale they decided to hold a cheesy mustache contest. For the last 30 days members of the contest have grown these nasty moustaches. Dan joined this contest and not only did he grow a cheesy moustache, but he grew chops on the sides too. He was definately one of the top three going into the final voting.
Um. . . yeah and I had to look at that cheesy mug for a month! He was sort of embarrassed about going out in public and would often glance more at the ground than where he was going.

So the night before the judging, Dan not only needs the cheesy moustache and chops but he also decides to create a "look" revolving around his cheesy moustache.

So he gets a really tight v-neck tshirt. It's got some pretty stains on it and has a hole right around the belly button.

Then he takes a pair of old tight jeans and we cut them at the thigh/crotch. To compliment the look he puts on some bling around his neck and wears tube socks with his brown work boots. Oh and a pair of yummy aviator sun glasses with a nice ball cap.

Super sexy. During the modeling he gives his "Blue Steel" look and does the whole leg up on a table pose so people really get to see his. . . um. .. .(you decide what you want here).

Well I'm so proud because my hubby won the contest!!! He got $85 for the shenanigans and I think he should take the second runner up out for dinner. Actually I'm entitled to half of that because I had to deal with the whole cheesiness for the month of September/October.

The day he won he got home and pretty much shaved that beast off right away!

Here is a picture of him and the runner up (Travis). All I can say is wow.

Dan is the hunk in the white tshirt.

I'm so proud.

Play Dates

Well Gracie is getting to that stage where she is starting to have play dates. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Play dates with cousins are ok. They are safe and I know their parents.


Last year we had our first play date with two kids (bro and sis) from her Spanish Immersion school. I invited them over and it was really fun for all the kids. So when their mom invited Grace over for a Saturday afternoon I barely hesitated dropping her off. I know the kids and the mom well and their daddy was at work that day. Everything went well and Grace had a great time!

Now another family from her school has been asking about a play date. I have been putting it off for awhile (mostly because I didn't see them in the summer as Grace stays at home with me). The mom (who is really really nice) kept asking me and asking me. I couldn't really say no anymore so we have it planned for today. The mom asked me which house we should do it at and I would rather do it at mine because I have more control and I know what's going on and what the kids are doing and can watch them. But we can't do it at mine because Dan is working nights right now and needs to sleep and quite frankly the house is a PIG STY! I gave up on cleaning because it just takes so much energy. I also have a fear that Buddy stink it still in the house so I really don't want to host right now!!

So Gracie is going to their house today. I am hesitant to do this and really wish that we weren't. The playdate starts at one. The mom wanted it to last until 5. I only want it to last for a couple hours. I even don't want it to last that long. It's toooooooo long for me to unsupervise my child. I'm hyperventalating just thinking about her in their house. Not because they are bad people but because I don't know them that well. ARGH. Why did I agree to this??

HOw do you have that conversation with other kids parents? Help me!!!

Getting Better

Sorry to begin a post with that but I imagine that is the last image Buddy Lee had before he got skunked. None of it was pretty. The fact that a skunk stuck its tush in Buddy's face, the smell it caused, the amount of moola we have spent trying to deskunk him and how I wouldn't pet him until yesterday because he was still stinky. Oh yeah, and, if he gets wet it activates the skunk stench on his coat. Joy beans of America. He will be yummy for a long time!

Yesterday while Dan was working Grace and I went to Petco and bought some deskunk stuff. When we got home we applied the deskunker and let Buddy sit outside for awhile until it dried. Then we hosed him off and it was like he was skunked again!

As of today, if he is not wet you barely barely barely can smell the nasty skunk stuff. I petted him for awhile today and it felt so good. There is some truth to animal petting lowering your blood pressure.

Ok so here's my question:

WHY DID GOD MAKE SKUNKS? Seriously what is good about them?

Lizards eat mosquitos. Bats eat nasty bugs. Snakes eat mice and rodents. What the heck does a skunk do?? NOthing!

Maybe there is some smart animal person out there that can tell me the reason there are skunks and how they fit into the circle of life. You didn't see them with Moofasa and Simba in The Lion King!

Here's to wishing you a skunk free life!

Skunked

My dog just got sprayed by a skunk. Nice happiness to return home to after a 12 hour work day.

Argh.

It's a . . .

Girl! And it's healthy.

Ultrasound

So in about 45 minutes we have an ultrasound. Firstly, I hope the baby is healthy. It scares me to think anything is wrong. We didn't do ANY kind of testing this pregnancy so who knows what we'll see. Hopefully it's not the baby from the 80's TV miniseries "V". Member that? I haven't been copulating with aliens anyway so really that's not a worry!

Maybe we'll also find out the gender. Gracie, my precious sweet, wouldn't show us her bits and pieces so we never found out with her even though we tried. She was grounded before she even came out!!!

So we'll see you all in a couple hours. . . Healthy baby. That's what I really want.

Oh and how cool is this? My mother in law is coming with me!! I'm thrilled that she wants to!!

Will he or Won't He?

So more names to toss around if it's a boy. ..

Will

Will Stephen Gerten

Methinks I like it but there is one little thing. . . .

Will and Grace???? I did not like that show very much. I don't want people to assume that we named our kids off of Will and Grace from Thursday night TV.

Maybe we are far enough away that people won't think that? Maybe it's just me????

Thank heavens they are out of order (girl first). At least that might throw people off.

So what's your thoughts?

Horrible Person!

So I totally forgot Susan's birthday yesterday. And the worst part? I was on the phone with her in the morning discussing the gender of her baby. OHMIGOSH! I am so sorry, Susan. I promise to remember it next year and not just talk about me on your birthday but actually wish you a Happy Birthday. Excuse me while I go and beat my head against the wall.

Ahhh. .. Nature

Ok so I don't like nature. It's usually hot and gross and there are lots of bugs. Every now and then I'll do something crazy like water my flowers but that's the extent of my nature loving. It's pretty to look at though and I will do crazy things like sleep in a tent to get my fill (4th of July - fun, but the tent was outside!).

Before my mom died (man that still sucks) she started a family tradition of renting a cabin for a week and being one with nature. My family always asks me every year what I will complain about. The first year it was the heat. That was the year that it was 95+ degrees and humid. The cabin we rented didn't have ac and we (ok mostly me) complained the whole time. Seriously my sil was pregnant at the time and she was miserable too. Somehow that justified my being hot and I could complain more. Gracie was 15 months and she was so hot that she couldn't fall asleep at night. We drove her around in the ac car almost every night so that she would fall asleep.

The second year we stayed at a different resort because there was a unanimous vote that we needed ac. My parents could have cared less but we six kids were like "I want my ac!!".

The place we stayed at had ac but the lake was across a busy road. This was my shining moment to complain. Everyone knew how I felt about the busy road. Plus we had to pay for firewood. And there was this icky guy next door that scared me. He was really pissed one night because we took his parking spot (unbeknownst to us). He ended up having a large hissy fit peppered with expletives. There were no assigned spots but I guess he was a regular there.

Last year we went back to the original place because they had put in ac. Also that was the first place we stayed when my mom started this tradition so we wanted to honor her memory. The ac was great! But the futons we slept on were horrible. I really didn't have to complain about that but the fam was expecting something from me!

This year we are going back to the same resort but our family has grown so much that we got a bigger cabin. It has a washer/dryer, dishwasher and 5 bedrooms. It sounds like heaven! I announced to my family a few weeks ago that I wasn't going to complain this year. This is my new year to turn over a new leaf.


We leave tomorrow and will be gone for 7 fun-filled nature days. I can't wait to wash and dry my clothes - in nature!!!!!