Adventures in Madisonland

What?  You've never heard of Madisonland?  Well, what planet have you been living on?  It's only the best amusement park in the world!  Don't believe me?  Well, you need to go

here,

here,

and here.

Don't worry, I'll wait.  These stories aren't going anywhere.

Get the idea yet?  Madisonland is the ultimate preschooler playland.  Ramen noodles are still the best concession food around, although we do offer more varieties than just lime-shrimp now.  Accessorizing is still a must

The dress code is backwards.

Dinnertime can, however, be a full contact sport, so proper protection is required.

And, after a long day of rides like "Make Your Little Sister Scream: The You're Not a Good Girl Experience" and "The Half-Naked House Run", you can always find a relaxing place to unwind.

6 AM wake up calls are mandatory and non-negotiable.

Shoes may or may not match and may or may not be on the right foot.

But, at the end of a long day, there is always a Mommy's arms to snuggle in.

True Story Tuesday - Things I Never Thought I Would Do

I am beating my head against my desk.  I have nothing.  No ideas.  I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off the past two weeks, trying to just keep enough clean underwear in the house amidst the chaos that is our life right now.  I have a bazillion update/fun times posts started, but nothing TST-worthy.  I have a ton of thought-provoking, insightful writing-type posts developing themselves in my brain, but no TST. 


So, today, to spare you & me another embarrassing story from my childhood, I will attempt something different.  Because, if you've known me for, say, 5 minutes, you know I have opinions.  Strong opinions.  Opinions about things that may not necessarily make sense to other people.  But there is logic, in my mind.  And it never fails.  Those things I am adamant about, that I will NEVER do, are just those things I end up doing.  So, here you go!


Things I Swore I Would Never Do:

• buy Jerome plaid shorts ( I still despise plaid, just for the record).
• get on Fac*book
• write my own blog
• marry anyone but a blond-haired, blue-eyed California surfer
• work for my parents
• drive a minivan
• have a crackberry (yup, that one fell today & inspired this post)
• say "Stop crying before I give you something to cry about!"
• get married in a church
• go to church
• love a church
• open up about my struggles to people I had never met in person (yeah, Rach, you totally busted that one)
• drive around just looking at the countryside (help, I am turning into my mother!)
• think pulling weeds is relaxing (again, turning into my mother!)
• help the homeless people that panhandle outside our Wal-Mart (yeah, that may need to be the TST next week)
• hang out with the "mommy" crowd
• share poop stories while eating dinner
• enjoy the techie toys (i.e. cameras, laptops, photo editing software, ipods, phones, etc).  My hubby is rubbing off on me!
• have women as my best friends.

So, now that you've read all my dirty laundry, what's yours?  What did you swear you would NEVER do, that you now do?  C'mon, spill the beans!  You know you want to!

Letters of Intent

Got a letter that just needs to be written?  Then like up with Julie for a bunch of letter-writing fun!

Dear Debit Card Number Thief,

You thought you were sneaky, didn't you?  Stealing numbers directly from the bank?  Using them for small purchases to make sure your fake card worked?  Did you really think you would sneak the big one by me?  Now, in all fairness, you don't know me.  Which is good.  Because I would turn you every way but loose after the grief you caused me. 

But, seriously, you probably should have picked a location closer to my home to try to sneak a purchase in.  Because I know for a fact that neither my husband nor I were in Fresno, CA yesterday.  And we most certainly did not buy gas.  Nor did we buy convenience store food.  And I check my bank account daily.  Because I am anal like that. 

Now, my numbers are no-worky-worky for you!  Bwahahahaha!  Cause you just messed with...

Qui*ken Psycho Mama

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Dearest Summer,

I love you.  Seriously.  Because we can eat dinner outside.

And everything (fudgecicles included) just tastes better outside. 

Lovingly,

The woman who refuses to use her oven

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To my honey,

Please warn me the next time you use my camera for work and forget to erase the pictures.  Because when I see this

I become paranoid that I have suddenly developed a psychological disorder that causes me to take pictures of random piles of dirt then forget about it.  And don't give me a weird look when I ask you why you took a picture of a pile of dirt.  I had no idea its purpose it to become a beautiful subdivision.  Honestly.  It just looks like a pile of dirt.  I guess that's why I'm the practical and you're the dreamer.  Although I have no problems posting this picture

because it has your cute little sign in it.  Oh wait.  Your signs aren't supposed to be cute, are they?  But they have your name on them, and...umm...

Love,

Digging my hole just a little deeper

The Wanderer

Hi Everyone!  My name is Harley.  And I just knew you needed to see these pictures that Mommas cousin Heather took of us.   I know Momma doesn't talk about me much here, but I am actually the most important member of this household.    Why, you may ask?

Because I keep him in line!

That is my brother Toby.  Yes, he is my big brother.  And he picks on me.

Oh sure, I know how innocent he looks.  Don't believe it for a minute.  This boy is full of piss and vinegar.  You've seen the scar on Moms shoulder, right?  You haven't?  Well, one night I was sleeping peacefully on her shoulder, when psycho boy decided to jump on me.  I got startled, and accidentally put out my claws and hurt my momma.  I was so ashamed I hid under the couch for two days. 

Anyways, that incident doesn't even compare to the stunt he pulled this week.  This sweet, innocent *snicker* decided to run away.  The weather has gotten really warm and nice, and all the evil white stuff of doom has finally disappeared from the deck.  We like to go outside and lounge in the sun while Mom works in the garden, or watch the girls play.  But, we are always supposed to go back inside when they do.  Because there is a really big scary highway in front of our house.  I'm not quite sure what that is, but Momma doesn't like it, and I listen to her like the good girl I am.

Toby didnt.  Yes, this sweet little boy ran away yesterday.

He got out sometime yesterday while the girls were playing, but Momma and Daddy didn't know until they got home from the softball game really late.  Momma said she even thought she saw him in the field near the house, so they took turns driving around the neighborhood looking for him.  I tried to help them call for him, but he was nowhere to be found.  The girls were so upset.  Katrina didn't want to go to bed until she knew he was ok, and poor little Madi was convinced he was going to get run over by a car (is that why Momma hates the highway?). 

I spent all night comforting the girls.  I was so mad that Toby would be so inconsiderate to our girls.  He knows how much they love him. 

This morning, the girls, Momma, and Daddy were still really upset.  Momma and Daddy even prayed that God would bring Toby home.  Then, while they were getting dressed, Katrina looked outside and saw him!  She ran outside in her pajamas and when he refused to come in (see what a meanie head he is?), she just picked him up and came back in. 

Then he sulked all day.

Because Momma didn't find the headless mouse he left for her until tonight. 

Sometimes brothers can be such jerks.

True Story Tuesday - The Photo Blitz!

Disclaimer:  There are a TON of photos.  Because I couldn't pick just a few.

Eight years ago today, I married my best friend.

He is the sexy one on the right.

Together with my girls

I stood before God, our friends, family, and our pastor

and married my best friend.

We had dated for 5 1/2 years before we said I do, but I had made a promise to my mom to finish college before I got married.  So I received my diploma from college (from my dad - another TST post) in April, then got married in June.

I know there was stressful times that day, but I don't remember them.  What do I remember?  Well, I remember more food than we could ever eat

I remember the hours spent with our friends and family, transforming our church (with an orange basketball court for carpet)

into a fairytale (and had fun in the process).

I remember watching my love become an uncle

and precious moments with my daddy.

I remember the act of love and sacrifice shown to us by my new father in love.  He had not made a wedding cake in years.  But, for his son, he made two.  We had a beautiful 3-tiered American cake, complete with fresh flowers from his garden.  We also had the French wedding cake, which is essentially a tower of cream puffs with jordan almonds glued on with sugar.  Heaven, I know.

I remember our friends and family checking their inhibitions at the door to have fun.

I remember how hard our youth group worked to make sure everything was perfect (even when the tray of sparkling cider tumbled).

But, most of all, I remember committing for a lifetime to my husband.  I remembering promising to honor, cherish, respect, and love him till death do us part.  I remember looking into his eyes, and seeing the love I had always dreamed of. 

Happy Anniversary, my love.  I was, and always will be, honored to be Mrs. Jerome Bleger.  You are my prince, my love, my light.  Tu es mon meilleur ami, et la joie de ma vie.  Je tadore pour toujours. 

By the way:  these beautiful photos were taken by the amazing Carol Cardwell of Carol Cardwell Photography. 

Congrats & a couple of giveaways

First of all, I have to give a huge shout-out to my new friend Rachel.  She & her hubby, the illustrious Mr. Daddy, just got their 200th follower!  Rachel is one of those ladies you wish you could go have coffee with every week.  She is genuine, loving, wise, honest, and so many other things.  And Mr. Daddy?  Well, lets just that every time he gets ahold of the blog - you are guaranteed to giggle!  They are so excited to have 200 readers they are having a giveaway.  Jump on over to Once Upon A Miracle, give them some lovin, and enter to win some beautiful personalized beach towels.


Also, Sheri over at Unexpected Bliss has a couple of wonderful summer giveaways.  She is giving away 2 $100 Target cards (who wouldn't love that?) here and a Canon PowerShot A3100 IS here.  She is also raising money to send her sweet son to the Rose Bowl Parade in January.  for every $5 you donate to his fund, you will get another 5 entries for the camera. 


So head on over & enter!

True Story Tuesday - Hi Dad!

Now that I've done a few of these, the weird and embarrassing stories from my childhood are just flowing out of my memory.  We have had a lot of laughs at Mom's expense in the last few weeks, to be honest.  Go visit Rachel & Mr. Daddy for more unbelievable stories!

Growing up, we spent a LOT of time at Lake Powell.  What?  You've never been there?  For shame!  Well, here is what you are missing:

photos courtesy Google Images and my brother's FB page

Seriously, we spent almost every weekend from May to October there.  My fondest, and most peaceful, memories from childhood are associated with this lake.  I love Lake Powell.

I learned to ski at about 10.  I have never been good/brave enough to slalom (be drug by a rope attached to a boat travelling 30 miles per hour on ONE tiny piece of fiberglass).  Nope, not that dumb brave.  But I still love to ski.  It is so peaceful, but challenging at the same time. 

This particular weekend (I was about 15) was perfect.  There were very few people at the lake, so the water was like glass the entire weekend.  When it was my turn, I put on my lifesaver, grabbed my skis, and jumped in.

When you yell "Hit it!", the initial pull from the boat is an adrenaline junkie's dream.  You literally surge out of the water, leaning back as far as you can so that the pull of the boat doesn't make you do a faceplant.  Believe me.  I have done my fair share of faceplants.  I can wipeout with the best of them.  This time was smooth sailing. 

I skied for a really long time.  When my arms finally tired, I threw the rope and allowed my weight to slowly sink back into the lake.  I took off my skis and handed them to my mom as Dad brought the boat back around.  I swam to the back of the boat, grabbed the step ladder, and pulled myself aboard.

While Dad started to pull the rope in, I took off my lifejacket.

And realized I was naked from the waist up.

The blessed surge when the boat pulls you up?  Yeah, It pulled my bikini bottom clear to my waist. 

And my poor dad got a front-and-center view of just how grown up his little girl was. 

I didn't ski much the rest of the weekend.

And I ALWAYS ski with a one-piece now.