Jacked Up Mess & Caffiene Addiction

I apologize in advance for this rambling mess of a post...and promise to make it up to you tomorrow. (Hint! Hint!)

Yesterday we received some disappointing news from a family member. I'm not going to go into details at this time because I'm pretty upset about the entire situation. If I dived into it all, I would say some really mean things and I don't want to do that.

Instead I'd like to take some time to get past the emotional part of it, and see if we can make the best of a not-so-good situation. I know this is very cryptic...just know that everyone is in good health & details will be forthcoming once I'm "okay" with it.

It doesn't help my mood & mindset that I woke up to rain. For what seems like the 100th day in a row. When did VA become Seattle? Or Forks? Edward save me already!

And subconsciously I choose a gray shirt. ~sigh~ Honestly, I could have used a bright sunny day today of all days.

In other (much better) news, my swap package finally got to Eve! I'm so happy that she liked everything that I sent. It was a challenge to come up with interesting stuff that she could actually use from my hometown.

S said we should have sent her a Dr. Pepper because it's a known fact that we drink A LOT of it around these parts.

"The company sells more Dr Pepper in the Roanoke Valley than any other metropolitan area east of the Mississippi River, according to Dittrich. In the past, the city has been named the "Dr Pepper Capital of the World" and broke world records for its mass consumption of Dr Pepper in the late 1950s."

That may be but this type of morning calls for large amounts of spiked COFFEE. Maybe I'll hit the DP later on.

Anyway, I have a couple of surprises planned for tomorrow so I hope you will forgive me and find your way back then!

Swapping & Other Randomness

I jumped on board with Shannon's Hometown Swap as soon as she announced it. Only realizing later that I would have to think of interesting things to send my swap partner.

I live in a very tiny town, in a very rural county, next to a smaller-side city. Did you catch all that?

Thinking outside the box I did manage to fill my box and ship it off to my partner. As of today she still hasn't posted it, so I'm not going to ruin the surprise, but I cannot wait to see what she thinks.

I received my box on Wednesday from Lana in Texas.



Lana sent me three postcards showing the beautiful Texas scenery, a key chain, a magnet for my fridge, a spoon rest, playing cards and a large button proclaiming "Don't Mess With Texas". I'm contemplating changing it to "Don't Mess with ME" and wearing it around the house during Cherry Monkey time.

Thank you Lana & Shannon for an awesome swap!

Although I'm not officially declaring this a Blog Fart Friday because I wanted to give The Hometown Swap it's due, I am going to include some of my normal Friday randomness.

It just wouldn't be Friday without it...

- My dart team took a total butt whooping last night, losing 9 to 2 in our first summer league game. In our defense these guys were A & B league players, while we are C league all the way. I have to say that even though we lost (BIG!) we had an awesome time! We were at our home bar and the other team were some of the nicest people that we've played against.

-Sadly, S missed the first game because he was away on "business". That's in quotes because "business" meant going to Myrtle Beach, staying at the Hilton & partying till 2 in the morning with his clients.

-I've said it before and I'm saying it again - sweet tea is the nectar of the Gods. Seriously.

-Lula has been known to refer to her section of VA as Forks, as in The Twilight Forks, because of all the rain and foggy conditions. This week MY part of VA can also be declared very Forks-like. Minus the sexy vamps and werewolves. Unfortunately.

-Since TMM made mention of snakes in the toilet, I have to cut the light on when I go to the bathroom during the night. That makes for one tiring night when too much sweet tea is consumed.

-I'm looking forward to S's return today, weekend graduation parties & seeing my pal A's newborn son.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Mail call!

Last month Kat hosted her first ever gift swap - A Favorite Things Swap.



It just so happened that out of 43 bloggers she got my name. And boy am I glad she did! Yesterday she gave a little preview to what I was getting...



Suffice to say I was estastic to get home and see it sitting on my kitchen table. After opening my packages I think Kat is my long lost sister. She and I seem to have very much in common right down to the packing material we used.

That "mountain" behind my goodies is made up of grocery bags from Kroger and other various sources. And here I thought I was quite clever in using them in the package I sent to Angie.



Here's a list of the greatness I received:

Cucumber Melon handwash from BBW - A regular staple in my house ♥
Pumpkin & Spice shower gel - It smells good enough to eat.
Sharpies!!
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie who I adore
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore - a humorous look at religion
WICKED journal - I guess after I stalked her page in order to hear the broadway tune Popular from Wicked it was pretty clear I would love this. And I do.
3 magazines - FULL of recipes
HUGE, I mean GINORMOUS bag of Peanut M&Ms - That S prompty tried to steal

I was thrilled with everything - getting to know Angie and Kat a little better, plus I love getting this kind of mail. I'm definitely in for the next one.

Bring. it. on.

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I wasn't the only one to get a package yesterday. Look what our WV pals sent S...




They are hardcore Barrack supporters and S adores Palin. Not for her politics - he just thinks she has that hot teacher look.

And if you want to know what a GILF is, just let me know...