Farmers Market, Boat Riding & Cable, Oh My!

Saturday I woke up and went over to the farmer's market set up outside and got some really great veggies.

The grape tomatoes were phenomenal, I really like grape tomatoes in recipes, but not usually just to pop in my mouth to eat, but these were so delicious, I just kept snacking on them! Yum.



Then we picked up some more green beans because I got them last week and cooked them up and, once again, they were excellent.



Then things got a little interesting, food-wise, anyway. I spotted dark purple (green) beans? I couldn't believe the deep, beautiful color. I didn't want to appear to be a novice in the veggie department, because after all, I AM a vegetarian! So, I quietly ask the person working, "Are they purple beans"? He very politely assured me that they were and I said I would take a basket. When I turned around a lady that had an equally puzzled look on her face asked me if I liked those beans. I sheepishly looked at her and said, "I don't think I've ever even seen those kind of beans before". Then she said, "Me neither". So she bought a basket, too! How cool is that, finding new things to try (and for very cheap). I imagine the deep purple color has more nutrients in them than regular green beans?



And, finally at the market right next to all the baked goods that a little old lady probably spent hours baking were flavored honey sticks:



Some of the flavors included: strawberry, pina colada, apple, chocolate, root beer (yuck!), and blueberry, etc. We picked out 8 different flavors, can't wait to try 'em!

Friends of ours invited us out on the boat for the day yesterday at Glendale, what a blast! We had a great time, the weather was perfect, the wind was cool and the company was great! The kids swam in the lake, Mason was afraid at first to jump off the boat, but once he did, there was no going back, he did it over and over again! He even got to drive the boat! Then we stopped and had a picnic on shore and then rode around the lake for the rest of the afternoon. I couldn't have spend a better Saturday, Mason really needed to have fun like that and get his mind off of things for awhile. So, thank you, guys for showing us a good, family fun time. Sure beats taking Mason to a bar, huh??






I am WAITING and WAITING for the cable guy, I have to do something at 4pm and the appointment is scheduled for 12-4pm, so with my luck, he'll show up at 4pm! I really can't wait to finally watch TV!!

I'm Baaaaaaack!!

Wow, I actually have a minute to sit down and type up a blog, well, actually ever since the Verizon tech was here to fix the internet a few hours ago, I'm finding it hard to pry myself away from the wonderful world wide web! Mason and I were headed out on our regularly scheduled walk, to walk Baileigh when we had quite a disagreement about something, which escalated into an argument and I believe he fell asleep within 3 minutes of being sent to his room! I really enjoy the nightly walks, it gives us a chance to have some time to talk, but he really does need to get sleep. The poor kid has not had a day this summer where he could sleep in until late afternoon. I love that kid with all my heart and the things that he is going through should never be laid on a kids plate. I hope we can get through this ok, I hope HE can get through this ok. I'm so conflicted, I know in my deepest of hearts that the best thing for Mason is to be on civil, speaking terms with "him", but I can't bring myself to even look at the idiot for all the pain and hurt he has put us through. I know it would ease the stress on Mason if we all got along, but I just can't do it. Am I the one being selfish there? Should I 'suck it up' for Mason's sake? I don't know, what I do know is that this is going to be going on for years and years, do I have that much fight in me? I sure hope so. I want this to all be over and I want to move forward, but it is so hard to do with all the pain that is still with both of us. Oh well, I take it day by day, sometimes hour by hour, but I will prevail, I just hope that I am doing everything (or at least 90%) right. My fear is that Mason will someday want to live with "him", I would so feel betrayed all over again, but I guess I am getting ahead of myself. This is why I fight so hard, so that I can see this everyday:



And, yes, I'm not going to lie, everyone reading this is thinking the same thing. "Did he eat them"? Yes.Yes, he did.

Now onto other, brighter things! We are finally moved! Oh my, I never took on a task like that in my life, and I survived it! The downstairs is pretty much done, Mason's room is done except for his loft bed, but my bedroom is a different story! It will get done, hopefully soon! THE CABLE GUY IS COMING ON SUNDAY!! I thought it was bad not having internet for 2 weeks, not watching TV has been worse! Although, I don't think that I would have gotten half of this stuff done if I were parking my rear on the couch! So, I will certainly enjoy catching up on my shows in a new place! I have to tell you, though, I am the world's worst packer! I will shove things in a box from all different rooms, half the boxes didn't close, in an effort to save money, I bought generic duct tape that stuck for 3 hours, so all the bottoms of the boxes bottomed out, I still to this day can not find my tweezers. This almost became serious. I mean unibrow serious. It was bad, I caught a glimpse in the mirror after a very long day of moving and thought Bert was staring right back at me.



So, I frantically searched for those tweezers (I have 2 pairs, one as a back up, do you think I could even find them?) with no luck. So, I got in the car and ran to Walmart (where else could one with a unibrow feel so comfortable?) and picked up a pair. So, no worries, I am UNI-free!

Every Friday in August at the pavillion across the street there are free concerts and Mason was thrilled to see the firemen set up a popcorn booth! He ran across the street to go get some and he got a firefighter hat!



Well, that's all for now. I will be posting soon, as I have a lot more to say!

I just had to make a few new ice cream recipes before I packed the machine away for the move. Last week I made Vanilla-Almond ice cream, I used almond milk and vanilla soy milk and then put chopped almonds into it. Very simple and very good. Then this week I made pumpkin ice cream! Very good. I made it with light cream and skim milk. The texture is not as creamy, which is to be expected using fat-free milk, but the taste is just right. I microwaved some honey to get it 'more liquefied' and it blended in very well. Next up: Lavender ice cream. Doesn't that sound great??

Mason has been working his tail off helping me get all of our junk out of the house, mostly without complaints, so the other day he was just exhausted! The air conditioner is right by the couch, so it gets pretty chilly! Mason took a break to watch some TV and decided to put on this fuzzy winter hat and then fell asleep! How funny:



I have to drop off the lease and security deposit tomorrow at the new place and I am keeping my fingers crossed that she gives me the keys, too. It would be such a help to have all next week to move stuff in. I can't wait to get all settled in and put out some of my favorite flea market finds! So exciting!

[Wish List]

There are registries for everything now-a-days, birthday registry, wedding registry, showers, even kids birthdays. Why isn't there a Your-Worthless-Husband-Walked-Out-On-You-Leaving-You-Holding-The-Bag-For-Everything-And-Being-Forced-To-Make-Decisions-You-Never-Thought-You'd-Have-To-Make Registry? I think that would be perfect, especially in this world where the divorce rate is climbing into the 60% figures. Well, I'm guessing Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond could really increase sales with this idea. As I am moving all this stuff, I am realizing that I have not gotten new towels since my wedding. I have been pitching stuff that I have had around since then. My wish list would look a little something like this:

*new blender
*new crock pot
*set of glasses (that actually match!)
*12X12 area rug
*a new couch
*twin size bed (I'm downsizing my bed to make more room in my bedroom)
*toaster oven

I'm sure my wish list will grow as I move into the new place, but for right now as I see things that need replaced or are just too old for safety sake, I am putting them on the list and hope to be able to purchase them by the end of the year, so that 2011 will be MY year. I will be all settled and have everything just the way Mason and I want it. I sure as heck hope 2011 is a good year. I'll tell you 2010 will go down in history as a pretty awful year, I'd like to erase 2010 if I could but no such luck. I guess I can learn a lot from 2010, I learned that I can be shaken but not shattered. So, here's to moving and all the joy that goes with it....

Sun Burn And Lots Of Cash!

Well, most of you who will read this know WE ARE MOVING!! We are very thrilled to be making this move, however, I am not totally thrilled with my 'pack rat' ways. Let me back up a few days. I planned to have a ginormous yard sale, but work interfered with that plan, so the only free day I have for the next 3 weeks is Sunday-Flea Market Day. So, I decide to make a trip to the flea market to sell, but not before sorting through, literally 12 years of stuff that I have moved from one place to another--I had the room to store it, where I am moving I don't (this could be a good thing, though). So, Mason and I start sorting: Keep, Toss, Goodwill, Sell. The sell pile kept growing. Thursday we went up to the attic where I could actually feel the sweat pouring out of me, it was soooo hot. I did end up losing 3 pounds because it it, so no complaints!! Then, Saturday night rolls around and Mason and I had to lug a TON of 'sell' stuff from the basement to the van that my Dad let me borrow. In.90.degree.heat. For.three.hours. Well, to make this as short as possible I almost had to call 911 because I started blacking out and I was suffering from extreme heat exhaustion. Oh My Gosh, I NEVER want to go through that again. Thank goodness a few glasses of ice cold water and a half hour break cured it. It was awful. But we survived and kept on packing! It turns out that the huge van wouldn't even hold half of the items that I had to sell! This seems so impossible and a few times I felt like giving up. Really. But I know, in the end, it will be all worth it because I won't have all this clutter and I know that clutter=stress. Ok, so we got the van packed up and we were ready to roll out of the house at 5:15 am to head down to the flea market. It rained last night, so I went to use the windshield wipers and they don't work. WHAT?? Everything is on schedule, I don't need this! I knew it wasn't going to rain, so I pulled out some paper towels and dried the windshield. Ready to go. Except the defrost decided not to work, as I was driving out of town the windshield fogged up so bad I couldn't see a thing! Not to mention it was still dark outside. I managed to pull over and call my Dad, long story short, we got it taken care of and we didn't lose that much time! Thankfully my Mom and Dad helped me set up and sell all day long. I really don't think that I could have done it myself. I wanted to get pictures of the fun adventure we were having but we were TOO BUSY SELLING! My stuff was a hit, thankfully! $238 later, we are one step closer to decluttering! I was so happy to have made that much money, I needed it!! I surely paid the price with sunburn, though. I did have sunscreen on, but it apparently wasn't that effective, so now I need to get some aloe! The phrase 'Cash For Gold' is everywhere, so I decided to take advantage of that, too. Last week I took my wedding ring, engagement ring, an emerald ring that he bought for me and some old, broken gold charms to see how much I could get for them. $177 dollars later...I'm just glad that I was able to sell this stuff and thankful that I was able to make that much from it.

Goodbye:



Since I still have a boat-load of stuff to sell, I am thinking homecoming weekend I will set up shop in my driveway (if I can get the day off!) Maybe another $150 would make me happy?? We'll see....

Heat Wave Relief

Wow, we had about 4 days in a row of 90+ degree temps and I am so glad that is over! Let's hope that doesn't come back this summer! We have been spending the days at the pool as much as possible.

We went to the grocery store a few days ago and found this:



A Santa Claus melon?? Never heard of it before, but thought we should try it. It tasted just like a honeydew melon. It was good, but not nearly as good as the cantaloupe that I also bought that day. So ripe, so delicious!

Here are some funny pictures that I have found across the web this week:






That "T.HANKS" one made me laugh so hard! Very clever!

Now [drum roll, please]:

A ridiculous amount of pictures of the goofiest kid I know:









Mason's personality has changed so much since our life has changed so drastically, but he still has this goofy side that even on my worst days, the days when I don't even want to go on, when I just feel like throwing in the towel, he can make me smile and remember why I am fighting so hard to protect him. He's so funny and I hope that this family situation has not crushed his spirit and his confidence. We've been spending countless hours playing cards, taking walks, talking, swinging on the swing, eating ice cream, watching cartoons and just getting through this together. I love him so much and it still [and will forever] hurts me so bad to see him hurting. Time will heal this, I just wish I could fast-forward the time it takes, but then again I would miss out on a whole lot of good times, also.

Aren't the clouds just beautiful?

Stay Tuned....

[Deep English Accent] Stay tuned for the latest saga of, "Robynnnnn, and THE Fruit Market...."

"On Thursday, Robyn made her way to the fruit market for a third time this season. The wind had a cool breeze, but Robyn knew the temperature was going to break 90 today (this really has no relevance to the story, just setting the mood (!)). The time was 9:35 am. Fruit Market opens at 10:00am, not a second sooner. Robyn pulls into the parking lot, casually grabs the parking spot right in front of the door as she plots out her route to the [da..da..daaa] 'Reject Table'. God knows she had enough time! 9:45am, cars start flooding the parking lot. 9:50am, Robyn starts getting a little nervous, as she looks around she notices other people looking around, she can only guess it is to see who will make the first move, WHO will be in line first. Well, Robyn came there for one purpose, to be the first in line. For the thrill of the hunt, if you will. 9:59am, Robyn has been in line now for 4 minutes. An elderly woman gradually makes her way up to her with a smile. "I'm no fool" Robyn thought to herself. "I know what this woman wants to do", "She wants to strike up a nice conversation in hopes of my respect for elders deters me from running over anyone in my way to the reduced produce". Nope. Think again. 10:00am, the gate opens, Robyn, [this could be visualized in slow motion] holds her head up high, looks to her right to see people cheering her on, throwing bottles of water at her, chanting, "Go Robyn, you're almost there", "you can do it" [not really, this was just for drama purposes], she could feel the wind in her hair and as she approached the finish line, her reward was great. Sitting there were 4 baskets full of delicious veggies of all kinds. Eggplant, peppers (red and green) cucumbers, etc. "Amazing" she thought as she grabbed 2 baskets full. "Amazing and kind of ridiculous". What, I say WHAT is Robyn going to do with:



2 eggplants
10 hot peppers
2 mini rutabagas
7 cucumbers
1 huge zucchini
8 yellow squash
8 red peppers
1 sweet potato
1 bag carrots
21 (yes, 21!) green peppers
3 kiwis

Total: $5.00

I'll let her tell you.....

Well, one word comes to mind. It starts with an 'S' and ends with 'oup'. I mean what else is there?? Well, I did make a vegetable lasagna, I used the eggplants as the noodles and layered cottage and ricotta cheese in between sliced peppers and yellow squash. It made enough to feed an Italian neighborhood. So, I will be purchasing some quality freezer containers to save the rest. I love to cook and I thought it was difficult when there were three here to cook for because I always made SO much food, so now that there is just Mason and I, it's even more difficult. So, I hope this freezes well because if not, we might just turn into vegetable lasagna! I have a pot of soup on the stove right now and I am attempting to make my own veggie stock with all the leftover pieces of the cut vegetables. That would be nice to have veggie stock on hand and not waste anything! I still have quite a few green peppers left, I think I'll chop them up and freeze them for omelets, etc. I sliced up the cucumbers for us to snack on, however there were two causalities: 2 moldy cucumbers.

We went to our friends house for a '4th of July' Bash last night. How fun! I just couldn't imagine myself anywhere else right now. I have great friends and my family (not all) is close by and things are good.



The kids had a blast, great food, great company, sitting by the fire and talking. What else could you ask for?? Everyone left around midnight, we stayed until around 1:30am and Mason was asked to sleep over. Now, he has slept over there before and the last time he didn't go to bed until 6am! So, when they dropped him off today at around noon, I asked if he broke the record and stayed up later than that. He sure did!! He didn't even go to sleep!! He is still wide awake and plans to go to the pool later! What a life! I remember the summer days of staying up all night and sleeping in all day. I wish he could sleep in all day, but I have to work. I remember when I was a kid we had about 3 channels (how did I survive??) and one of them was Fox. At 2am in the summer they had "Insomniacs Theater"! It was a creepy movie that they played every night and I loved it! My nights of 2am movies have passed, but I still love the creepy movies!

Mason had his last baseball game of the season. The team officially named themselves the 'Davidson Ducks' [I have no idea why!], so I made them cupcakes for a great season:





I had these ducks from Mason's pool party one year (see, there is a reason I never throw anything away!). I thought to myself, this may be too goofy to give a bunch of baseball players, after all they are 9 and 10! Do they really want rubber ducks on their cupcakes? Would I embarrass Mason? Nope. They loved them (as I breathed a sigh of relief!) and they were gone in 6.7 seconds! I dread the day Mason doesn't want me to do this anymore.

Well, I guess to celebrate Independence Day, Jason decided to send me divorce papers. I got them yesterday along with the custody "request". I certainly hope I can see an attorney this week, early this week. This is going to be knock-down-drag-out. I didn't get justice with the child support hearing, so I am asking God to please be with me and let things go my way during this. I know because he is the father, he is going to have many rights, I just hope that my case can outweigh some of those rights. It's sickening to be going through this. All within 3 months, we were happy, he told me he didn't love me, he left, he files for divorce. I don't know, sometimes I still can't wrap my head around it, sometimes it all feels like a bad dream that I can't wake up from. That POS stood 6 inches away from me at Mason's game on Thursday night knowing that he filed for divorce and custody and that I didn't even know yet. I've wasted too much time on that loser, I need to get an amazing attorney and fight for what is most important: Mason.

Mason and I are currently looking for a new place to live. It's really hard with pets. I know I am going to have to find homes for some of them, but living my life without a pet (or two) seems unimaginable. All the reasonably priced apartments/townhouses do not allow pets at all. It is breaking my heart. I know I don't have to leave where I am at now, so I have time to look, but this place is so big for the two of us. The upkeep of a house is just too much for me right now. We want a fresh start. I am sick of looking at Jason's stuff here. I want to sell everything and move on. I didn't think this is what I wanted to do, but I am ready now and so is Mason. So, I found an apartment a little outside of town here, still the same school district, so my Mom, Mason and I went to go look at it. Oh.My.Gosh. The word squalor would be too kind. It was unbelievable and I can't imagine it was even legal to rent. So, we keep looking. It will happen when it happens. The thought of moving 11 years worth of 'stuff' is not too appealing, but it will be cleansing when it happens.

Happy 4th, everyone!