The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Hey there, you guys! It's now 10:28pm, and I'm SUPER sleepy. I need to go to sleep! But first, to blog...

I woke up at 6:50am, and was glad to have gotten to sleep in a bit! No seminary this morning :) Woohoo! Tom was already ready for school, and headed out the door. I got Jim and Joe ready (Eme was already ready), and walked them to the bus at 7:15am. There were a TON of Dad's there today, because it was a training holiday, and the guys got the day off.

Captain America was still sleeping. He'd gone to bed SUPER late after staying up and detailing the car. Poor guy. I got the kids off on the bus, then came back home, and got ready for the doctors appointment with Jake. It was with the Dietitian. Over on Biggs. I just assumed that it was at the new TMC...

Anyway, I went in to tell Captain America that I was leaving. And he was SO asleep that he started sleep talking to me. ROFL! Something about checking out platform 99 on my way to Biggs. He's even entertaining while he sleeps! hehe.

Jake got his stuff for school, and we headed out around 7:50am. The appointment was at 8:20am, but they wanted us there early to fill out paperwork. We got to Biggs, and the parking lot was deserted... Not a good sign. Maybe we were in the wrong place??

We looked around for a bit, and saw no one inside. It was unlocked, though. That was good, right? I tried calling a number I had for the place, and no answer. Another bad sign. Finally, I tracked down a cleaning lady, and asked her if she knew where the dietician office was. She knew it was upstairs somewhere. So she stopped what she was doing, and took me and Jake looking for the office. Such a sweetie!

We headed up the elevator, and walked to the end of the hall we thought the office should be in. There was one receptionist there, doing some paperwork. Nope the guy's office was closed. The receptionist printed out my confirmation paper, and it WAS for today at 8:20am... She didn't know what had happened.

She gave me the paper, and the dude's card, and said to call. I did one better. I took a picture of my print out, took a photo of it, and texted it to the dude. hehe. That'll work, right? I should have said "I'm here, where are you???", but I refrained. ha!

So, since there was no appointment, I drove Jake to school. Luckily, it was still early enough that he wasn't tardy. I dropped him off in front of the church, and headed home. I got my new house phone set up! Lesa had given me her old one, and I was SO thankful! Amanda showed me how to get the phone to work. Thanks, girl!

Also, Amanda had told me that her parents get free hotel rooms up in Albuquerque ALL the time. And she was gonna see if they could gt one for Captain America and I too. Whaaaat?? How totally awesome would that be?? And it was at the Hard Rock Hotel, to boot! I was excited :)

At 10am, I went to wake Captain America up. We needed to get on the road. Albuquerque is 4 hours away from El Paso. So we needed to get the show on the road! Captain America and I packed some of our stuff, and Captain America did a few things around the house.

I started some chicken leg quarters in a crock pot (rotisserie style!) for Kari to feed to my and her kids tonight. She's SUCH a sweetheart for letting them stay!!

I headed up to the school to drop off a note for Jim so Kari could pick him up. And swung by Fallas to grab another dress like the purple/teal one. It wasn't quite the same, but I liked it. Well, I wasn't sure about the blue leopard boobs, but I liked it for the most part. hehe.


I put on a new coat of make up, and brushed out my hair, and I was ready to go!



I found this shirt at Fallas for Jim. Hot Wheels are one of his favorite things!

Socks for Emeline

I made a shake out of Greek yogurt, milk, splenda, a bit of water, and some tropical frozen fruit. OMHeavens, SO good! I like shakes, just not protein powder. hehe, Boxer was giving me his "Where's mine" look...

Nope, it'a ALL for me!

And finally, around 1:30pm, we headed out. I know, WAY off schedule... We swung by the post office to send back some boots of Captain Americas, then were on the road. 2pm, and we left El Paso.

We had our first "potty break" outside of Las Cruces. And I snapped a few pictures in the rest area :)








And on we drove. Well, on I drove. Captain America was the passenger. After our rest stop, he decided he needed a nap. So I turned off his music, and turn on my car dancing music. hehe. And sang and had a GREAT time!

We were supposed to stop in Truth or Consequences for gas, but Captain America was still sleeping. I decided that I could make it to Soccorro. It wasn't that much further.

Captain America woke up, and here's a nice pic of the two of us :)

We stopped in Soccorro at the Walmart for gas and snacks and a few toiletries. Isn't this coat AWESOME? Yeah, not an El Paso coat, but still, I thought it was cool!

We grabbed some protein-ish snacks, and a few toiletries that we needed, paid, and headed out. And we were on the road again!

And about 5 minutes from where we were headed, a light and noise starts dinging... Whaaaat? Oh yeah, gas. We TOTALLY forgot to get gas! Crap! Luckily, there's a gas station right near the hotel. And the Hotel isn't inside of Albuquerque all the way. It's on our side.

We stopped at the gas station, and Captain America filled up. And I darted to the bathroom. Aaahhh, much better! We paid, and headed out. Here's the sign for the Hard Rock Hotel!


We parked, and walked on up to the hotel part.
It was AMAZING inside!!! So cool and fancy! I loved it! Amanda and family had already checked in, and had our room key waiting for us! We just had to show our ID, and leave their names and our room number. Can do!

The end tables were lights, too! So freakin' cool!

We got our key card, and headed up to the elevator. And they were glass. Great... That's just Wonderful for my fear of heights. hehe. We got in, and tried to make the elevator work. With no luck. Another couple got in, and they didn't have any better luck. Apparently, you had to put your room key inside of the elevator place to even get it to go...

We rode it up and down a few times to pick up people coming down. But never to our floor. IT was getting quite comical. ha! Finally, the front desk lady saw us, and hustled over to help us. hehe. We're dorks!

Me, scared, in the elevator. hehe

View from the top!

We got to the top, found the room, and OH YEAH, they were AWESOME! Nice soft feather pillows, memory foam pillow top on 2 large beds, and great decorations! All rock themed (go figure!) Here's Elvis, for my mom and Tom!



We dropped off my purse and our laptops, and headed back downstairs to grab our suitcase. But decided to look around first. There was a TON of cool memorabilia stuff to look at in the lobby!

We hit up the gift shop and found t-shirts that we just HAD to have!





We got some used dice for the kids, and picks for those with guitars. And the lady threw in 6 decks of cards for our family. Awe thanks!

And we walked around a bit more, and found the casino. I posed with it, but this is as close as I got. hehe. You could just smell the smoke pouring out of that place :)






After seeing what was to be seen, we headed out to the car. We'd parked FOREVER away. But found a SUPER close parking spot on the way back to the car. So Captain America guarded it, and I ran back to the car. And drove it on over to our new up front spot. hehe.

We grabbed our suitcases, and headed upstairs. We got our stuff situated, hung for a bit, then Captain America went to lift. I took a nice, soaking bath, then started blogging. And it's now late. Well, it's only 11pm. It's not late if you don't have to get up early tomorrow.

But I do, have to get up early. We wanna leave the hotel by 6am, to make it to the temple by 6:30am, to get our clothes and changed and stuff, and make a 7am session in the temple. I told Kari that we'd come home in the morning. So we need to hustle!

I'm super excited! And as for the Prozac saga, I had a good day today. No violent mood swings. I was on 20 (don't know the unit...), and then on the 24th, they upped it to 30. So I had 30 for 7 days. Then only 10 for 3 days. And yeah, it must have been enough of a drastic drop to mess things up. But I am feeling things more now. And I think when Captain America leaves, I'll be able to get back on a schedule of some sorts of good habits. They kinda all stopped when I stopped caring so much. oops :)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net

Great layout, Sharon! LOVE the hair - hehe. And the layering is PERFECT! Good job!

American Beauty

Hey there!!! Great day today :) Woke up at 5:30am, and yeah, it should have been 5:20am. Captain America can't get ready in 5-10 minutes. I forgot to re-set it after yesterday, when he didn't come with us. So we were a tad late getting to seminary, but we got there.

Jake went inside, and we pulled out our pillows and got 50 minutes worth of sleep. ha! I woke up at one point, and my whole left leg was asleep. hehe. But still, I felt SO much better when Jake came out after class. Again, it felt like I closed my eyes for 5 minutes! ha!

We headed back to post, and had just enough time to say a family prayer before Tom had to run to the bus. I got Jim and Joe and Eme ready, and headed to the bus stop. Jake and Captain America stayed back at home and cooked themselves breakfast.

I chatted with the ladies at the bus stop, then came back home. Jake left for the bus, and I got ready for my nail appointment. I got dressed, and removed all of the nail color from my nails. It was hot pink, so it was kinda hard to get off. And I pushed back my cuticles, and made sure my nails were all good to go.

Captain America took Boxer on a quick walk around the neighborhood, and I looked for the info on the tags for the truck. They'd expired back in February. It took a while, but I finally found them. And the envelope with money for the tag! Oh yeah :) And printed off current insurance, and left it all where Captain America could easily find it.

I headed off to my nail appointment at 9:25am. And Veronica made my nails look beautiful again! Thanks, hon! We had fun chatting for the hour, then I headed back home.


I got home, and Captain America was still there. He'd got back from his walk with Boxer, and was getting ready to head on up to the tags place. So I decided to come with him! And I brought my laptop, so we could work on the baptism program.

We got to the building, and signed in. And we were about 15th in line. It was gonna take a while... Captain America played on my phone for a bit, and helped me with the program. And here is the finished result. You like???

It took forever, but finally, it was our turn. And guess what? I'd already paid. And got stickers. Really? I don't remember getting it. So we paid the $7 reprint fee, and got tags. That's better than the $60 I was planning on!

We tied up, and headed out. Off to L&J's cafe! Captain America had never been there. I took the wrong road off of the Montana exit, and ended up heading towards Jaurez. hehe. So I flipped it around, and headed back the right direction, and finally found it. It's right next to the old Cemetery by the Spaghetti bowl. LOVE L&J's.

We headed inside, and it was SUPER crowded. It was 1pm, but the lunch crowds was still tying up. And Captain America HATES crowds. I could tell that it was a little much for him. Luckily, after about 15 minutes, we got our table. And he was warming up to L&J's.

They brought us the chips and salsa, and I was happy that it was the "white people" salsa. hehe. It was the green stuff. And yeah, I'm thinking it was the "Kill the white people" salsa! It was SO hot and spicy. If Captain America says it's spicy, it's spicy. And he said it was spicy!

Thank goodness for the Diet Dr Pepper!!!

We asked for some red salsa, and it was a bit milder. I think. My taste buds were totally scorched from the green stuff. hehe.

My favoritest salad :)

By the time we were ready to leave, Captain America had decided that L&J's was a great place. And he'd recommend it to his friends. Crowds and all. hehe. I knew he'd like it!

I was starting to feel a bit stressed out as we left. I don't know if it was the lower dose of Prozac or what, but I was feeling a bit antsy. I hadn't felt that way in a while. Captain America wanted to go look at the cemetery for a while. So I snapped a photo of him by "his" grave marker. LOL! He likes this one :)

On the way home, we stopped at Fallas, and found a few things for our trip this weekend. UPS!!!

Kari volunteered to let the kids sleep over on Friday night, so Captain America and I get to go to Albuquerque to the temple! I'm so excited! We're leaving Friday after kids get on the buses!

And finally we headed home. And I was feeling really anxious by this point. Tom got home at 3pm, and right before I needed to go to the bus and get the kids, I fell apart. I was sobbing and everything. I'm not used to feeling stressed out! Or feeling in general. Is it soon enough to be feeling the effects of a lower Prozac dose??? I didn't like it.

I had to take a shower, and get cupcake papers and frosting from the store, and get the kids from the bus, and order the baptism programs, and make cupcakes. And I didn't know what to do first, or how to do it all, and was overwhelmed, and became a ball of tears. Poor Captain America. Full blown PMS meltdown (but it wasn't PMS...)


I think he re-though the dropping the Prozac dose thing. Because if it's only been 2 or 3 days, and I'm flipping out, what's it gonna be like when he leaves??? I wanna be able to feel things, but I wanna be in control of myself, too. I didn't like the sobbing thing. So not cool.

I hopped in the shower, and Captain America got the kids from the bus. And I felt SO much better after the shower. I put on my new dress that I'd bought at Fallas, and on some make up, and started to straighten my hair.

Captain America came back home, and had got the kids from the bus and gone to the store to get some supplies. He'd bought the cupcake liners, but they'd gotten lost before he got home. Oops. He has no idea where they ended up! Slippery little buggers. hehe.

So I made some cupcakes without the liners. It worked out fine. I made a batch of Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, white cupcakes with cream cheese flavored frosting, and spice cake cupcakes with a dab of cream cheese flavored frosting and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They all looked pretty good.

At 5:30pm, Captain America headed on over to the church to help get it ready. The kids were fed, and some of the chores and homework got done. And at 6pm, I headed to Walgreens to pick up my prints. And headed back home. And grabbed the kids, and we all headed to the baptism! Everyone had on their church clothes, and we looked pretty good!



We got to the church, put the cupcakes in the kitchen, and the baptism started at 7pm. It was a very nice service. Very laid back and informal. Amanda and Austin came, and a bunch of friends from church were there. It was really nice that people came out for Joe!

I led the music, and said the opening prayer. Eme gave the talk about Baptism, then we all went down near the font to watch Joe get baptized. While Joe and Captain America were changing, we wrote little notes to Joe on note cards. I'd grabbed it from my HUGE school supply box/stash before leaving the house. ha!

After the guys were done changing, Tom gave a talk about the Holy Ghost, then Joe was confirmed a member of the church and received the Holy Ghost. Kristal Caldwell, the Primary President, said a few words, then Brother Peterson, a Bishopric counselor, said a few words, I led the closing song, and Captain America said the closing prayer. Short and sweet. Just the way we like them :)

After the meeting, everyone gathered for cupcakes, and stayed and chatted. They guys ended up in the room we had the meeting in, and the girls by the kitchen. And after about 30 minutes of chatting, us Harty's got together for pictures! With Amanda's new camera! Did I mention that she WON the contest??? And got the $800 camera? Let me tell you, it takes WONDERFUL photos :)




We headed home after the baptism, and Tom and Captain America headed to Walmart to pick up a few things. I took the bulk of the kids home. And put them to bed. Jake stayed up to watch a few episodes of Star Trek TNG, because there's no seminary tomorrow (YES!). Jim went STRAIGHT to bed. He was sleepy :)

I helped Joe with his last little bit of homework, and he was super sleepy too, but eventually finished it off. I downloaded the pictures from Amanda's memory card, and edited a few. I thought they were AMAZING!

I put Joe to bed, then started blogging. And then Captain America came home, and I was still blogging. Because I'm easily distracted. hehe. And we did a lot today. Ha! It's now 11:30pm. I'm gonna put this away, and go to sleep. I'm gonna wake up at 6:45am tomorrow and get the kids off to the bus. Then take Jake to the nutritionist over at Biggs. I guess I need to figure out where that is. ha!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net

Awe, patriotic one!!! I love it, Sharon! What a cutie!!!