Photo shoot!

McKenzie and I decided to do a little photo shoot outside our apartment, next to the waterway. It has lots of Ducks, turtles, fish, and birds we love to watch. Mckenzie gets so excited and screams "Duck!" and "sghrigie!" I think this means birdie. My favorite part of the shoot was when she decided to throw my phone into the water. Ahh the joys of mother hood. But with a priceless face like this, how can I stay mad?

Maid Service

With my incredibly busy schedule I have decided to hire a maid. If she's good, I'll give her a good reference.

McKenzienese

It is rare that we get actual documentation of this very ancient dialect, but here we have just a small bit of footage that proves it does in fact still exist and is used in this tribe regularly.

Inflation

It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.... This post is an opportunity to vent a couple of experiences I had today so if you don't want a strong opinion, stop reading now. But if you too are fed up with the greed that is ever growing, maybe you can relate.

I went to Whole Foods today to purchase some Elderberry. The magic fruit. Ask me about that later. For some reason, down here in Florida they don't carry much of it in pill form, so I had one choice in pills. There was no price so unfortunately my first reaction to the cost was in front of the young clerk who got an earful. $24.99 for a bottle of 60 pills? Are you serious? I can get a bottle of 100 pills for about $15.00 at home. The supervisor explained that they do not carry much of the pills because NO ONE takes it in pill form. EVERYONE takes it in liquid.. according to him, no one outside of Coral Springs FL exists. They wouldn't even order in a bottle for me. I told the clerk what a rip off that was, told her I didn't want it, and paid for my expensive children's elderberry and moved on. Not before my husband reminded me how un Christ like I was acting. Great.

Second, I headed over to Sam's Club for some socks and soap. Going to check out, I began to run my Visa debit card as credit. Now, I run my card as credit because big 'ol Mr. Chase bank gives me points for things I can buy with those points for a mere $25.00 annual fee. I was introduced to this program when Chase told me they would no longer approve me for a 0% interest rate card because they "weren't making any money off of me" as well as reduced my savings interest from 3% to .05%. This points program is to compensate for the interest I am no longer "missing" with my AMAZING rewards points program. Back to Sam's. So when running my card as credit the cashier said "Is that a debit card?" "Yes" I said. " You can't run it as credit, it has to go as debit" "Yes I can, I do every time. I have for years." "But Sam's won't let you do that." "Yes they do, I run it every time, just push credit on your register" "No we can only run it as debit because we don't get paid if you run it as credit." (We don't make any money off you, I'm sure she meant to say) ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (Try to keep up here) Do I look like I care that Sam's Club does not make .50 cents off of my purchases? You've already got a 500% mark up on everything in your warehouse and you won't let me run my purchase as credit so I can make 4 measly points for every dollar I spend to go buy a toy kitchen for my kid, because Chase told me to kiss off with my interest? Where is something heavy? I need something very sharp and heavy in my hands right now please.

Where the Heck is this country going may I ask? Customer service is NON EXISTENT. No one looks anyone in the eye anymore, Smiles are no longer priceless, you can buy them for a fee, and all we seem to care about is Money Money Money! What's in it for me? I want my big check! The world owes me! I'm so done with this attitude and the way it is affecting my day, and my relationship with my family because now I'm psycho Mommy who yells at cashiers every day!

I titled this post Inflation because what happened at Whole Foods is just the beginning. You think you won't pay $20-$30 for fresh fruit and vegetables? I'm sorry but you're sadly mistaken. Homeopathic vitamins and minerals will be crazy expensive if even legal in the near future. Get ready ya'll, you need to be as self reliant as possible. Because your dollar is not going to go as far as it used to. Have you noticed going to the mall how much a tee shirt is? Well I have. It used to be my second home. Before shirts became $50.00 a pop that is. The reality is now, just wait until it hits our food, then we'll all be as pleasantly surprised as I was today. Stupid Whole Foods.

Oh, and Sam's Club- were through. I'm going to Costco, where they take credit. At least they better, or I'm going to throw the big heavy sharp object in my hands. Big 'ol thieves.

I'm out.

So Close

This girl is so dang close to walking. She's about 50/50 walking/scooting. We're almost there! Tonight she took the initiave to walk all over our Friend's apartment with no encouragement from Mom. It was so exciting to see her go and do it all by herself! Go McKenzie!

McKenzie's special diet

Since moving to Miami, Mckenzie has decided to put herself on a "special diet". This diet you might think odd, is actually very common for children under two, I understand. It consists of eating apples


Sidewalk chalk, mostly the color red


Sand, by the handfuls I might add


Note, very little sand around the mouth, as most made it down the shoot.


Bread by the loaves, ahh just like her Mama


And cottage cheese eaten sideways for more nutrition


With this diet, McKenzie is able to work full time. Right on schedule as planned,


Enjoy spending time with her best friend,


And keep up with her "cool kid" status

I'm still adjusting to this new diet, but I think we're gonna make it. Stay tuned for more adventures from Miami! Ta ta for now!

Home Sweet Home!

Ok here it is!! Pictures of my lovely home! Now I am really proud of this little casa inside and out, so if you don't like it, or think my style stinks, please just lie to me and tell me you love it. We worked really hard to get here and managed to do it without therapy or Shawn loosing his knee caps. Here's my house.

The outside. Duh.
The view from my back porch, not too shabby.


The entry way. With my lovely Rod from Rod Works. Hanging pictures on ribbon is not as easy it as looks.


Power bath, imagine with some really fun Orangish wallpaper with dark brown embellishments, don't laugh.

My kitchen. Love these cabinets. Paid just a smidgen extra for them.

My living room, complete with Mckenzie's toys all over the floor. Notice the ridiculously expensive 46inch LED flat screen to the right? Shawn's little addition to the decorating.

Master Bedroom, complete with baby wipes on the dresser. You can tell I have kids, and don't clean before taking photos of my new house.

Master Bathroom, look at all that make up!

Office- this will have lots of old family photos framed all over the walls, with old newspaper clippings and antiques.

Bathroom, I tell everyone we got these paintings when we were down in Rio De Janerio. The beaches there are amazing.

McKenzie's nursery- Ok, can you see the stripping I worked so hard on? It's very subtle, I was sad it didn't come out more dramatic.. Maybe next kid I paint for it will. Oh, and it's missing the painting from Pottery Barn kids that I won at "Oh Sweet Sadie" that will hang over her bed. Minor details I know you are dying to hear about.

Other side of McKenzie's room. Oh, and It's missing the base board that Shawn so kindly forgot to hang in between the two colors before he left for Miami.

Ok I am REALLY proud of this, mostly because I put these shelves up myself- well, Rob helped with the second one, but I put ALL of our food storage up by myself, and now I have arms of steel. Look how ready we are for an earthquake? Or to get robbed after you all read this blog. Notice the 72 hour kits on the second shelf? That's right, I'm ready for an emergency.. just as soon as I get back from Miami.

The food storage all labeled and carefully placed by my own two hands. I rule.

Ok that's it! Thanks for entertaining my creativity and checking out my new house. Oh and thanks of course to Rod and his team at Axiom Home Loans who closed my loan without a hitch and making my dreams come true. (My dreams of not living forever in my in-laws basement) I now work there by the way. I had to go work for the best mortgage company in Utah. Come and see us! And bring us your business too! And maybe one day, you too could have a mansion like mine!

Chao!