I have been so crazy busy for the last couple of weeks that my blogging has taken a backseat. Its funny how that gets away from you and by the time you realize it, its that much harder to get back in the saddle. Have you noticed that?
Anyway, things are crazy, its summer time. Its 101 degrees right now at 845 and its miserable here. Its officially monsoon season and so instead of being a 'dry heat' its hotter than hell with humidity to top it all off. Ugh. I have been asking myself for the last few days why in god's name do I live here in the summer!?! Ick. I guess the answer would be that I am not made of money and can't afford to have 2 houses and move 2ce a year! lol
I will be getting back to my regular posts and commenting hopefully tomorrow since there is nothing going on! haha

"The Honest Scrap award comes with a caveat or two. Firstly, you have to tell your readers ten things about you they may not know, but that are true. Secondly, you have to tag 10 people with the award. Thirdly, let all the people you've given the award to know that they've gotten it (comment on their blogs or something). And finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you."
I got this award from Linz over at Goodbye, Martha. Linz bestowed this fun award on me early last week (Monday I think) and with everything I have had going on, I am just now getting a chance to accept it and pay it forward. Thanks so much for thinking of me Linz!!
Ok onto the task! I have to tell y'all ten things about me that you may not know, but that are true.
1) I was born in Connecticut. Yep, I am true 'Yankee' lol.
2) I was engaged three times and married the third one.
3) I have 2 tattoo's that you can't see unless I decide to show them ;)
4) I have several body piercings that you wouldn't expect from someone like me.
5) I believe in ghosts and haunted houses. Yes, my house IS haunted too.
6) I didn't vote for Obama.
7) I filed bankruptcy 7 years ago.
8) Before I met my husband I didn't want to get married or have kids.
9) We have been TTC # 2 for 3.5 years. Sucks.
10)I was home-schooled in the ATI program with Bill Gothard.
Now to pass this wonderful award on to ten other fantastic bloggers! Ready? Here we go!
1) Stacy over at LipGloss and RazorBlades
2) Shelly over at Shelly's Story
3) Angie over at Angie's Spot
4) The Obnoxious SAHM
5) Erica at But Mommy
6) JJ at I'd Rather Be Laughing
7) Erin at It's All About Alex
8) Liz at Sugarplum Creations
9) Amanda Jo at A Special Blend
10) Heather at Mrs Southern Bride
Now go check them out and leave them some comment love! I am off to let them each know they I have given them an award!

Mama Kat from Mama's Losin It wrote:
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back and sign Mr. Linky!!
The Prompts:
1.) Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page and share two “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
2.) What do you aspire to be?
3.)Share a piece of unsolicited parenting advice...only I'm soliciting it.
4.)Tell us about your blogline...how long have you been blogging, when did you start, what were/are your goals for your blog, etc.
5.)If you had 5000 dollars to give away or donate to a charity...explain what you would do with it and why.
These are great prompts this week, I think I am going to choose #2 What Do You Aspire To Be?
I aspire to be a better mom. I know we all make mistakes and its all part of the process of parenting...feeling your way, learning from your mistakes. But I hope that I am making better choices and being a better mom everyday than I was the day before.
I aspire to be a better wife. Sean works really hard to support us and I am able to stay home with our daughter. There is a lot of room for improvement and I am really trying to work on building up our relationship. Aside from being parents, we need to work on us as a couple and I have a lot of work to do in this area.
Ok, so this is not exactly the post I envisioned coming back with, but oh well.
For the last 4 days I had been having a pain in my chest (around my heart) that I thought might have been just from sleeping wrong or even just indigestion. It was hard to take deep breaths but I was ok with shallow ones. Then yesterday afternoon it started to hurt worse and I was even having trouble with shallow breathing. Also the pain was extending down to my shoulder and upper arm. Last night after Sean put Hannah down he came out and I told him what was going on and since he works in the ER and sees this kind of thing everyday I was hoping he would tell me it was just indigestion or something. Wrong. He was very concerned because all the questions he was asking and the answers I was giving did not indicate a small problem.
We called my mom to come sit with Hannah and we left for the ER. Luckily there was no wait and they got me right in to a bed. They took blood, started an IV, did an EKG, chest xray and then we just had to wait. The first EKG was abnormal - mild heart attack. They ran all sorts of tests on my blood to check for heart disease and everything came back fine for that. He also thinks there may be a tiny blood clot. They did another EKG right before releasing me that came out normal.
I was released after 1 am with the instructions to come back to the ER if it gets worse. I am on drs orders to rest, take baby aspirin and follow up on monday with my doc and then get a referral to a cardiologist for a treadmill test and other heart testing.
I am still in a lot of pain when I breathe otherwise I feel ok. So if I am not posting as much, this is why. I am still really uncomfortable and of course - kinda freaking out. I will keep everyone posted after I see my doc on Monday.
Any positive thoughts and prayers would be much-o appreciated!
Ok, so its been a crazy busy couple of days here and I am kinda trying to decompress a little. I will be back with a blog tomorrow and catch up on my comments and everything else! =)

Today is FMM again and Kasey at All That Is Good says today's task is Confessions! So it's time to spill your guts...
1) I have totally been neglecting my house. It's awful. My floors are atrocious and apparently I am not disgusted enough because instead of being up sweeping and mopping, here I sit blogging away...yep.
2) I send about 3000 text messages a month. What am I, 17? Sheesh.
3) I bought all this expensive camera and equipment and I haven't done a darn thing with my photography in months.
4) I have been a really awful wife lately. My poor husband works so hard all day long and then comes home and wants to spend time with his family and I haven't wanted anything to do with him lately.
5) I spend way too much money at the grocery store. Seriously.
6) We eat out way more than we should.
Ok, well I think that is enough confession for now. I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about me ;). So, have you spilled your guts?

What a fun idea and I am so excited to participate in Christmas In July! Angie from Angie's Spot is hosting this great idea. If you want to join in, just head over to her blog and grab the instructions. But hurry, there are only 50 spots available!

If you haven't heard about EMME yet, head over to Amber's blog at {AE:Filkins} and grab the button and the rules. Each week she posts an EMME to help us all keep track of our progress on improving ourselves by taking time out for ourselves! Something that most women, especially moms don't do nearly enough. So, this weeks question for EMME is:
What's your favorite thing to drink while you're losing weight? We all know how important it is to get that water intake up, especially with summer almost here. What's your favorite way to spice it up?
I really don't drink anything special when I am trying to lose weight. I just try to drink more water and less of the other stuff like soda and the high sugar drinks like Kool-Aid. I do drink lemonade and some Crystal Light, but honestly I haven't really gotten into those kinds of drinks. Maybe I would have better luck staying away from the soda's and stuff if I was drinking the Crystal Light instead...hmmm, thoughts to ponder!
So my new friend Carissa over at Sugar Boogers & Tantrums tagged me for a game of meme! Here are my rules:
*List six unimportant things that make you happy
*Mention and link the person who tagged you
*Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along, and comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged
So here are my six unimportant things that make me happy
1) Eyebrow threading and pedicures
2) The smell of clean laundry just off the clothesline
3) Finding a few extra dollars laying around the house
4) Home made sweet tea
5) Looking at the flowers in bloom in my garden
6) Trying out a great new recipe
Ok now to tag my favorite bloggers to play along!
Mimi over at What Happens At Mimi's House
Jen over at Tatertots and Jello
Lins over at Goodbye Martha
Vivienne over at The V Spot
Dawn over at Two Pretty Little Skirts
Jolanthe over at No Ordinary Moments
Don't forget to go check them out and leave them some comment love!

It's FMM again! I have to admit I really am diggin' this particular feature! If you want to join me, just head over to All That Is Good - Friend Making Monday. You can go HERE to get the rules and stuff for FMM and don't forget to take a cute little button for your FMM post. It can be found at the bottom of the right hand sidebar.
So, on to today's task: This week's task is to tell us 10 things you love about summer!!!
My ten things that I love about summer are:
1) Swimming - I love to swim, if the pool was heated I would swim year round...of course I can do that here in Phoenix. If I was in another city or state I would probably not be wanting to swim year round!
2) Grilling - I absolutely love to grill, bbq's are one of my all time favorite family activities!
3) Sundresses - Sundresses are so comfortable. I am all about the comfort factor!
4) Sunglasses - If I didn't wear actual glasses I would have like a gazillion pairs of sunglasses because I adore sunglasses. Which reminds me, I need to get contacts again so I can wear the sunglasses!
5) Open Toe Shoes - In particular flip flops and sandals. I wear them year round anyhow, but people don't give me weird looks in the summer ;)
6) Riding In The Car With The Windows Down - There is nothing that screams summer to me like riding around with the windows down and the music up with my hair blowing all around. It just reminds me of my teen years doing this very thing!
7) Stanley Cup Finals. Nuff said. Oh yeah and LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!
8) The Beach. How could I leave this one for number 8! The beach is sooo my happy place. Granted, you can go to the beach any time, but its freakin' cold the rest of the year, so summer is my favorite time to go. lol
9) Watermelon - I love me some watermelon! If I eat too much my mouth starts to itch, but dangit, I can't help myself!
10) Air Conditioning. I don't think I need to explain this one. I live in Phoenix Arizona. Nuff said. =)
So, there is my top 10, let's hear yours!

Amazingly it's that time again already! How does this happen? Anywho, for more information on Menu Plan Monday, head over to Orgjunkie.com for more tips and recipes. You can also link up after you post your own menu for the week. So here is mine..
Monday - Spaghetti Squash with grilled veggies
Tuesday - Crock Pot Shredded Chicken Taco's from Rachel vs The Kitchen
Wednesday - Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies
Thursday - Omelets
Friday - Nacho's
Saturday - Layered Salad
Sunday - Leftovers
See ya next week for another Menu Plan Monday!

Am I blessed or what?! I am so thankful for all my wonderful blog friends who are such an encouragement to me. I got this award from Rachel over at Rachel Vs The Kitchen the other day and I haven't been online much with the inlaws here, so I am just now getting around to posting this thank you and paying it forward. Rachel thanks so much for thinking of me, it means a lot!
Now to pay it forward to a few of my new (and old) favorite blogs! Check them out and drop them a comment and let them know you heard about them here.
Harmony over at Too Much Testosterone
Bundle 2 Baby at Bundle 2 Baby
Celebrate Woman Today at Celebrate Woman Today
Ollie McKay over at Chic Boutique
Messy Mommy at Messy Mommy
Becca over at Becca's Backyard
A Happy Hippy Mom at A Happy Hippy Mom
What a great weekend I had with my family. It started on Wednesday with my inlaws coming into town from SoCal for a few days. We ordered dinner in and played out in the pool and just had a great time. Then Thursday we decided to go to Lowe's to look at flowers for the garden and some other stuff. Well, we of course found a bunch of stuff we wanted to add to the front garden so SMIL and I decided we would come back after lunch and get what we needed to redo the front yard. So we all headed over to Red Robin for some lunch..

Hannah loved having Nanny and Papa BobBobBob here. She played Connect 4 with them, watched cartoons, flew airplanes, helped plant the new flowers, played in the pool, did morning prayers with nanny and at bedtime nanny read Harry Potter to Hannah.






Then Friday, hubby and I had a funeral to go to for my Great Aunt Anne, she was my favorite great aunt. She was 81 and passed of natural causes. So we left Hannah home with nanny and papa while we went to the funeral with my parents. When we got home, nanny and I ran to the grocery store to get some last minute stuff for the family bbq that night. Hannah stayed home and played in the pool with daddy and papa. When nanny and I got home, we went in the backyard and started cleaning up the yard by trimming back the bushes and things like that. That turned into ripping out 4 oleander bushes, 3 rosemary bushes and replanting 2 bougainvillea's and trimming back all of the pittsphoria plants. Then we cleaned up the mess from all that work and everyone came inside and got showered so we could start getting the food ready for the shish kabobs and grilled veggies. Yum! My parents came over and brought 4 different salads. My brother and SIL and their kids brought a yummy fruit salad. We all went out back and the kids played til dinner was ready, we all ate out in our new backyard and then those who were brave enough got in the pool!






















Head over to Mama Kat's Losin It for Writers Workshop every Thursday, here are the directions
Directions:
For you newbies it's never to late to jump in!! Here is what you must do. Choose a prompt that inspires you most. Write. Come back Thursday and paste your blog URL into the Mister Linky that will be up...this way anyone can click on your name and head over to your place to see what you wrote.
Feel free to write on more than one prompt if you so desire. I do it all the time, but it's my game...and I don't know how to shut-up...so it should be expected. And remember the more comment love you give, the more comment love you get so comment comment away.
The Prompts:
1.) If you could cut back on something in your life that takes up your time what would it be? And what would you prefer to spend that time doing?
(inspired by Lady Isra)
2.) Share a recent adventure you had with a friend.
(inspired by Amy)
3.) Describe a memorable gift. Why was it important to you?
(Inspired by Kit Kat)
4.) If you could change career paths now and be anything you wanted to be...what would you be and why?
(inspired by Lauren)
5.) Kim's email:
In the St. Louis News-Dispatch paper, they had an article of a man who wrote his own obituary before his death, and gave it to his sister to post when he died. He summed life up in 45 words.
So I am going to choose number 1 this week, If you could cut back on something in your life that takes up your time what would it be? And what would you prefer to spend that time doing?
One of the things that takes up a lot of my time that I hate doing is sweeping and mopping the 2000 sq ft of tile in my house. Blech. I hate it. It takes forever. If there was a better way to do it in less time I would be all for it. I could spend the extra time playing with my daughter, swimming in the backyard, reading...lots of other things that I would much rather spend my time doing! But alas, the floors have to be done so until I get myself a roomba, I will have to keep sweeping and mopping myself...ick.
(inspired by Lady Isra)