Spring Cleaning

You may have noticed I did a little Spring cleaning around here yesterday. And when I say "I" I'm really talking about Emma from Indie Chick Designs.

This is my first ever 'blog makeover' so I wasn't sure what to expect, but Emma was more than patient with me as I choose each element of my page. Right up until she installed my new look I was still changing stuff around.

Thankfully she is not only patient but extremely talented. She was able to put everything just the way I wanted it & I couldn't be more pleased.

If you've ever come by before you would know this is a dramatic change for me. NYASM went from a dark black background, neon fonts and 3 columns to what you see now. And I'm sure you are seeing it much better now with a lighter, brighter background.

Squeeeeeeeeee!

Peeps if you are looking for a bloggy makeover, Emma is your woman. Go to Indie Chick Designs check out the portofolio - she does awesome work! With excellent prices.

Emma I can't thank you enough for all your hard work!

You rock!

A dinner to remember

what three celebrities would
you invite to dinner?

The King of Rock n'Roll. For sure. A legend that was lost too soon...it would be amazing to see him as he was in his heyday. I can see why woman all over the world swooned when Elvis smiled & shook those hips.

I'd share a peanut butter & banana sandwich with him in a heartbeat. Uh huh


Hilary Clinton is one that I would like to debate with. We don't necessarily have the same views politically but she is one strong, smart, savvy woman. Love or hate her you cannot deny that.


If I could dine with Tupac I would be able to solve one of hip hop's biggest mysteries - his death. IF he's really dead.* And maybe he will be able to shed some light on Biggie's death too. Not that I'm accusing anyone...ahem.

Now it's your turn: what three celebrities would you invite to dinner?

*I'll never understand how someone so dead can still pop out album after album, track after track. It's very suspicious.

Good, Bad and Pure Awesomeness

Good News: The teens college visit/audition went well.


Bad News: Waiting to mid-April to find out if he made it. And if they are offering him any scholarships.

Good News: Not killing anyone using my new pressure cooker.


Bad News: But I did kill the roast & potatoes, aka they were slightly overcooked. Thank goodness for gravy.

Good News: Having a sleep over with my very adorable niece.


Bad News: Who is also very active in her sleep. She started at the top of the bed & ended up turned around at the bottom.

Good News: I spent a very rainy Sunday on my couch.

Bad News: My house looks like it. Ahhhhhh!

Pure AWESOMENESS: You have until Wednesday to WIN 2 medium sized bows from Made Just 4 You & moi! Have you entered?

What was your 'Good, Bad or pure AWESOME' moment from the past week?

Brownies & Bows {A giveaway for you!}

On Monday my 'awesome news' were these brownies:


I should have linked the recipe then. Duh. After looking at that picture is there any doubt you would want to make your own.

I didn't think so.

Good news is that it all starts with a Betty Crocker brownie mix & the even BETTER news is that you can win a Betty Crocker Prize pack from me by entering HERE.

As requested here is the recipe link - Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Nom. Nom. Nom.

The BOWS portion of this post is brought to you by Brandy @ Made Just 4 You!

During one of Made Just 4 You's FB 'Deal of the Day' offers I snatched up 4 medium sized bows - 2 for Lil J, my granddaughter and 2 for Miss Blue Eyes, my niece. Little did I know but Lil J's mother (aka my stepdaughter) also spied this special and ordered two herself.

Thankfully MJ4Y has LOTS of ribbon choices so there weren't any duplicates in our orders.

I picked out these four:


And let me tell you, this picture does not do them justice. They are so cute! I actually considered keeping one for myself.

Here's how to enter:

1. Go to Made Just 4 You & leave me a comment telling me which ribbon you would choose.

2. Become a fan of Made Just 4 You on Facebook. Brandy posts new products, daily deals and contests there all the time! {leave me a comment}

3. If you follow me then I deem you worthy of another entry. {leave me a comment}

The giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents and will end at Noon EST on Monday March 29. A winner will be chosen using random.org and have 48 hours to respond.

Congrats Katie!

*The bows & shipping are being provided by Made Just 4 You. All opinions are mine & I actually paid for the bows I received so don't be hating on me. Thank you Brandy!**

**Brandy as in Brandy R. I am not Brandy R. In fact we don't even live in the same state just in case you were confused. I do however think her name is cool as hell.

Going forward...

would you rather live for a week in the past or in the future?

Initially I thought the past so I could right some wrongs. You see I was a snob and a bully when I was younger. It's not something that I'm proud of but it's the truth.

There are a few people that I would definitely treat differently if I could have a do over.

But then I think maybe that was part of my journey. I have evolved from that person into a much more forgiving, generous person. Yes, I can be snarky, but I try not to be hurtful. I try to encourage rather than discourage people & believe it or not I try NOT to have a negative attitude towards things.*

So my official answer would be the future. I'd love to see how all the kiddos look in a few years. To see how they have grown and if there was anything that I could do to push them in one direction or another.

I can only hope that it would be a good look ahead but if it isn't then getting that peek would give me an opportunity to try and make it better.

Now it's your turn: would you rather live for a week in the past or in the future?

*Notice I said try because let's be honest it is damn hard to remain positive everyday, all day, in all situations. To me that is not realistic. Not for me anyway.

Good News, Bad News Monday

Good News: Having this big ole' box of K-cups was on my doorstop.


Bad News: We got pretty darn low before ordering.


Good News: Little Man & Lil J joined us for one of the teens concerts this weekend.


Bad News: I didn't get very good pictures because while the church was beautiful the sun was behind the band. My point & shoot camera did not like that.

Good News:I had The. Best. ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins.

Bad News: We had 3 hours to kill the teens second performance because no one, ie the teen, didn't tell us it was a private party affair.

Good News:The weather was beautiful this weekend.

Bad News:Raking leaves and cleaning up the yard from a bad winter. Not so much fun.

Downright AWESOME: Cream cheese brownies!

What was your 'Good, Bad or downright AWESOME' moment from the past week?

Friday gets all the love

Every week I can count on at least one FB pal saying "TGIF" or something similar letting us know how excited they are for Friday. I'm guilty of it too.

Statements like "I can't wait till Friday!" and "Friday. Finally." have found their way into my status updates too. It's embedded in our brains from grade school to long for Friday and the weekend in general.

Average life expectancy is 78 years. That means that the average person will see 4056 Fridays during their stay on Earth.

You might think that sounds like a lot. Until you really think about those numbers.

If I live to 78, there's only 2288 more Fridays for me. Not nearly enough.

Now add in the 13,728 additional days that aren't Fridays. Yep. That sounds more like it.

So don't be surprised to see "TGIW" as one of my future status updates because I'm going to cherish everyday that I have, not just Fridays.

Having said that...

TGIF! (cause well it IS Friday after all)

*Except for Mondays. Sorry, but I just cannot bring myself to give Monday any love.

The lesser of two evils

is it harder for you to eat healthy or get exercise?

I literally laughed out load at this weeks question, because really BOTH are a total PITA for me.

Carbs and sweets, oh my! Those two are my guilty go-to snacks on any given day. Give me a fresh piece of bread or Dove chocolates OR combine the two for a chocolate covered doughnut and I'm in heaven.

BUT I know what I should be eating, having dieted before so eating is probably the lesser of the two evils, whereas exercise is the DEVIL!

Exercise and I are life long enemies going way back when I had to wear navy polyester shorts in gym glass & try to smoosh my boobage in a bright green tee. Having a fuller chest is not conductive to running, especially in a normal bra. At 12. Or 34.

Trust me. I've wrote about my woes before.

Anyway, I've never understood how some people enjoy exercising. And those people that "crave" it really freak me out.

I just don't get it & I probably never will.

Now it's your turn: is it harder for you to eat healthy or get exercise?

The good, the bad and the downright awesome

Good News: Finally getting a much-needed pedicure.


Bad News: Having it rain every day after.

Good News: Keeping this cutie on Friday.


Bad News: Because she had a fever.

Good News: James "Survived" another week.


Bad News: He's hurt pretty bad & probably won't make it much longer.

Good News:Getting The. Most. Amazing. birthday gifts.

Bad News: Um, there ain't nuttin' bad about that!

Downright AWESOME:Today is S's birthday! Happy birthday babe! xoxo

What was your 'Good, Bad or downright AWESOME' moment from the past week?

**Is that Barbie cool or what?!

Beauty amid the trash.

Sitting on the exit ramp, waiting on the light to change, I glanced to my left.


Immediately I started to rant over how disgusting people are. How smokers who obviously smoke in their cars should keep THEIR cigarettes in THEIR car. I wondered how people could be so callous to just throw trash on the side of the road and expect that someone else would clean it up. Gross.

I was heated.

Then I looked a little bit further out...


Looking past all the discarded cigarettes and trash I saw the first signs of Spring. The best. sight. ever.


As the light changed so did my mood and I couldn't help but smile.



**I'm still thoroughly disgusted by the trash left on the side of the road. For the love of Christ do not throw your cigarette butts or trash on the side of the road. Litter bugs should be squashed.

The perfect rainy day...

what is the best way to spend a rainy day?

It's hard to think about rainy days while the sun is shining so beautifully outside. Temperatures will be reaching the 60's today. The SIXTIES...it's almost like a dream.

A dream that will be ending before long because we are supposed to get rain later this week, with the heaviest downpour on Thursday. Blah.

Ideally I would stay at home, curled up on the sofa with a blanket and the remote control. Comfort food would be on the menu - like soup, pinto beans or a big steaming pot of chicken n' dumplings.

Mmmmm...

Instead my reality on Thursday will be that I have to go out in the rain. To work. And then for darts. I will be back in sweaters & socks and just trying to keep my hair from poofing* too bad.

What's your favorite way to spend a rainy day?

*"Poofing" IS the technical term when you have curly hair like mine.

Good News/Bad News revisited

Good News: Having a birthday week where I get awesome gifts like this:


Bad News: Only one more day of being 33.

Good News: The sun is shining and the temperature is a'rising here today.

Bad News: My toes are not sandal ready yet. Must. Get. Pedicure.
**

Good News: The teen has a jazz concert this coming weekend.


Bad News: The teen has TWO jazz concerts this weekend. On the same night.

Good News: Making THE. BEST. spaghetti & banana pudding for Sunday dinner.


Bad News: Cleaning up.

What was your 'Good news/Bad news' from the past week?

**Obviously NOT my actual feet. Ick!

Friday Tunage

Music has the power to alter my mood. So it's muy importante that I find some good tunes on Fridays to pump me up for the upcoming weekend.

These two songs are currently in my rotation:





What song gets you in a weekend kind of mood?

**Now I know why I don't watch many videos. After seeing Cascada's I'm confused how the song can be about dancing but she doesn't do any actual dancing in her video. Other people are dancing but she's not. I'm odd. I know this, but it still bothers me.

Groundhog Day?

I'm starting to feel like an extra in 'Groundhog Day'. You know that movie starring Bill Murray where every day he gets up it's the same thing over and over. And over. And over.

You get the idea.

My 'Groundhog Day' consists of snow.



Snow. Snow. Snow. And more snow. As soon as one snow melts more snow appears.

Very 'Groundhog Day'-ish no?

They are calling for 50 degree temps this weekend. Bring on the heat wave & melt all this snow I say!

But I can't help to wonder...

When is the next snow storm?

Big girls who cry-yi-yi...

what is the last thing you cried about?

This one is going to be hard to narrow down for me because I'm an emotional wreck some days.

I cry at songs...like "Fancy" by Reba McEntire, which is about a mother's dying wish for her daughter to prostitute. {"...And criticize Mama for turning me out..."}

At TV shows...such as Undercover Boss when they gave that 17 year old a $5000 scholarship.

At commercials...for example, the sad puppy one where Sarah McLachlan is playing in the background. Breaks my heart. Every. Time.

At movies...'The Notebook' anyone?

I cry when I'm sad. Or mad. Or frustrated.

My hormones are making me a leaky mess in my old age. And I don't like it one bit.

Maybe I'll have a good cry over it.

Let's play 'bad news/good news'

Good news: Waking up to this


Bad news: Realizing it's Monday.

Good news: Getting a new Droid Eris with all the bells & whistles.*


Bad news: Had to get a new phone because my other one went kaput on Friday for no apparent reason

Good news: The teen auditioned for All State this weekend and placed 10th overall.


Bad news: They only take the top 8.

Good news: We sold one of our cars.


Bad news: We bought a used F-350.**

Good news: My birthday is next week.


Bad news: I'll be 34. ***

What was your 'Good news/Bad news' from the past week?


*This is no way implies that I know how to USE all the bells & whistles. Cause I don't.

**Not bad exactly but I'm just wondering how many cars a 3 person family needs.

***THIRTY EFFIN' FOUR.