My Weekend, By Mandi Swedlow

After we went to a beautiful wedding on Saturday in Orlando, We bought some goodies at ...
We got THIS: and this: .

Then my sister calls, who was at with her husband for their Anniversary (same day as ours). They convinced us to go to Pleasure Island to hang out, but we ended up doing this: and this: here: until the wee hours of the morning.

On Sunday, I looked like this: until I got some and a to settle my stomach.

We relaxed on the trip home, got the stuff from upstairs (in the same dress that I bought it in the day before), FINALLY got a shower and got some pictures on . (But not before I stubbed the out of my toe on the newly placed stuff on the floor.) After a few choice words, and once we were relaxed and fed, we went to to buy THIS!! (Kids not included).

So now we have a potentially beautiful living area AND dining area. I say ‘potentially’ because right now, my house looks like this:. (And who knows – we probably do have goats sitting in our living room...)

Hopefully I’ll get it cleaned up soon.

The Weekend

This weekend was jam-packed with stuff. I had a moment of insanity when I asked if my friend's 4 kids wanted to spend the night friday night. :P So my house went from NO kids to 4 kids ranging from 8-11 for about 23 hours. It actually wasn't that bad. We went to Movie in the Park downtown at Treaty Oak. They were playing Hook. I LOVE that movie! When we got there, of course, they wanted to play on the tree and not watch the movie. Luckily Barry was there to play with them so I could watch Maggie say " C'mon Daddy, Mommy could do it!"

After they all were ready to go, (and before the end of the movie, of course) we went on the tram here in jax. its this sad excuse for an El train, but at least we have something. It was later so we just rode it back and forth across the river. The kids seemed to have gotten a kick out of it.

The next day we were up before nine, and they were ready to swim, so after some cereal, we went swimming in the pool. Then lunch, swimming, and of course Barry introduced them to Peggle, so now there are 4 more people in this world addicted. Before we knew it, Daddy James was there to pick them all up!

After they left, we got ready and went to BW3's for the UFC fight. It was Awesome! Had a few drinks and an all around great time. next time we think we'll go to a friend's and split the pay-per-view, because beers were re-donk-ulous expensive.

Sunday, my sisters and I took my mom shopping for a girl's day out. My mom just stayed in the dressing room and we would just bring her stuff. My new favorite store? KOHLs. it's flippin' awesome. I got 2 dresses, 2 pairs of shorts (with belts), and a pair of slacks for 99.97. Not bad, eh? I love hanging out with my mom and sisters. We laugh the whole time.

Other than that, the 2 hours i had to relax was of course playing Peggle or hanging out with Barry. :)

All in All, a good weekend. :)

Grandma Blimp

My grandparents called today to wish me and Barry a happy anniversary. My adorable Grandma sounded so good! So i told her. I said, "Grandma, you sound awesome!" Her response?

"I am awesome!"

Then she was quiet for a while. She broke the silence by saying, "I'm gonna be a blimp." I'm like, what? She said if she keeps eating the way she does she's going be be a big blimp! I told her she can eat whatever she wants. :) She was enjoying a chocolate eclair with milk. YUM!

One Year Ago Today...

Barry and I said "I do!"

How time flies when you're having fun.

Peggle

... I'd leave a more interesting blog, but my husband introduced me to a new addiction: Peggle. So, if you're wondering what i'm doing... Don't worry, i'm just depriving myself of much needed sleep playing this game. I'd explain more about it, but i just won a challenge and i have to get back to the game...

Braydon

Tonight, Braydon was 'talking' up a storm, which is great because he's still quite far behind. My sister really needs to get it on video before he starts talking for real. His words are still very, um, hard to understand. But he knows exactly what he's saying, and once you get it, you can see what he's trying to say. (i.e. "Tick" could be sick, stick, or kiss). He burped today after some Diet Caffine Free Cream Soda, and instead of saying "Excuse Me" he says, "heehee! ...Me." With the "I claimed that one" most adorable smile you'll ever see . Most of the things that ashton and braydon do or say are soo cute, but because it's how they say them more than what they, it's so hard to describe. Like:
Daddy: "On your way, will you grab that napkin and wipe your runny nose?"
Braydon: "O-tay!" and preceeds to smear snot all over his face, place the napkin snot-side-down on the table, smile, and run into the living room.
It was freakin' adorable.

Design on a Dime!

Check out my new dining room!

Kudos to my awesome friends for helping me refinish my dining room chairs and decorate my dining area!

Eric and I had a great girl's day out shopping for fabric and accessories. We went all over jax, but $73.88 later, we got the supplies to redo my dining room, including re-upholstering my chairs. We (me Eric and my friend Dave) were up until 1:30 Saturday night doing all 6 chairs. Barry did what he did best and stayed in the other room and played on the computer the whole time. BUT, straight from the HGTV show, we took things that i already had, mixed a little new in there, and VIOLA! New Dining Room! Why would I do such a thing, you ask? Well, this is what our chairs had on them when we bought them:

And this is what they look like now:

Thanks again to my awesome friends for helping ugly dining rooms everywhere, one rooster at a time.

Loves, Hates, and Whys

So. I love food. Absolutely love it. I love chocolate. I love how it feels when I eat chocolate mousse. I love cheesecake. I love Cheesecake Factory. I love carbs. I love Maggianos. I LOVE Maggianos. I love my mom's cooking. I love fried almost anything. I love fried potatoes. I love creamy mashed potatoes. I love creamed corn. I love pasta in cream sauce. ... I love food.

I hate feeling fat. I hate that I’ve been married only a year and I know I won't fit into my wedding dress. I hate sitting here feeling my belly on my thighs as I type. I hate feeling tired almost all the time. I hate that my cleavage sticks out of almost every top I own (yes, this is a bad thing). I hate that I meandered through the "Women's" Section at target today. I hate that they call it the women's section. Just call a spade a spade. It’s the fat section. Maybe if they called it the fat section, fewer women would be fat. I hate that I make excuses to not go to the gym when I have a free one here in my complex. I hate that I look in the mirror and just look away. I hate that all my clothes are either too small or too short for me to wear, or that when I wear them I look like a torso-less freak.

I enjoy watching the Biggest Loser. I think "Good for you! I should be doing that!" every time I see someone jogging down my street. My mental motivation is there. I see friends and people on TV that have lost weight and kept it off and I think "I can do that!" ...why don't I? Why can't I just get off my ass and move? Why can't I resist the smell of fresh cookies baking at work? Why can't the thought of loosing weight help me loose? If that were the case I’d be a size 2 by now. Why can't the FACT that I am a size 16 for the first time in my life motivate me enough to just do it? Why does my love for the instant gratification of food overcome my want and desire to be healthy and thinner? Why can't the idea that if I loose weight, I may be able to actually conceive a child one day when we're ready? That, in itself, should motivate me?

And it does...until I smell those proverbial cookies again.

West Wing

OK, so, I agree that the West Wing is one of the best written shows that has ever been on TV.

HOWEVER.

I watched the entire serires with Barry a while back when he borrowed them from a friend. Recently he was given all 7 seasons on DVD as a gift. Since then he's been watching them all over again. SHEESH! I don't even know if Rachel and Giada are still on the air because all we've been watching is FREAKIN' WEST WING. good grief. As i type right now President Bartlett is about to get shot. crap.

Oxford, Here I Come!

I was texting a friend yesterday in response to his text saying that he just bought Rock Band on the xBox 360. I meant to say SWEEEEEEET!! But with the wonders of T9, it ended up SWEDEDEDEU!! Buahaha! So I have decided to make it my goal in life to get the word Swedededeu in Oxford's English Dictionary right along with Bootylicious.
Therefore, let me 'splain. Swededeu can have a miraid of conotations:

• "Swedededeu! Rockband is awesome!"
• "Do you know how to get to Main St. from here?" No, eh, swedededeu? *shrugging shoulders*
• I just spilled my beer! Swedededeu!

and my personal favorite:

• Swedededeu, Muthafucka! (Obvious Die Hard Reference)

So, in conclusion, help me in my efforts to add Swedededeu to the dictionary. Use it daily.

...Now if i could just get Beyonce to write a song about it.