What I'm Loving Wednesday

Back again for another edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday!  I hope everyone is doing well.  :)


*  I'm loving Chris and Logan's new dentist.  We decided to switch them to a new one because their old dentist was just getting more and more rude with each visit and toward the end all of the staff just seemed to have zero patience.  That's not a very good environment for the children, especially since Chris gets freaked out about going to the dentist anyway.  They had their first visit with the new dentist today and he is AWESOME.  Everyone was so kind and patient.  I'm glad we made the switch.  Both boys had a good report - no cavities!  Woot!  Chris had a little bit of a melt-down and even started gagging, I'm guessing because he was a little nervous about the change.  But the staff was really patient with him and we were able to calm him down.  Both boys walked away happy and with a little goodie bag ;)

*  I'm loving my new keyboard!  The other night Logan spilled soda all over my keyboard and it quit working.  I called Eric and told him to stop by Wal-Mart on his way to work to pick up another one.  I looooove the way this new one feels.  The keys are soft and quiet.  My old keyboard was really "clack-ity" and loud when I typed.  I can type over 100 WPM so when I start typing that made for a lot of noise.  This new one is so much better - and quiet, too ;) 

*  I'm loving all of the summer activities that the local library is holding.  A couple weeks ago we took the boys to a Magic Show.  On Monday they were having a Mad Scientist show but I completely forgot about it so we ended up missing that one.  Yesterday they had "The Spoon Man" so I took them to see that.  I wasn't quite sure what it would be at first.  Would he do tricks or something?  He ended up playing music with spoons.  That was really neat!  And of course all of the kids thought it was hilarious.  The guy actually makes a living doing this.  It's pretty cool.  Some other things the library will be doing is a Happy Birthday Parade next week, a musical storytime, a live bird show, a puppet show, and they'll also have a balloon lady.  We're looking forward to all of that! 

*  I'm loving that our air conditioner is working again!  It was spewing out water but now we've got it fixed.  Soooo thankful for that since we're supposed to have temperatures in the 100's by the end of the week :( 

*  I'm loving that gas prices just keep getting lower and lower.  Who wouldn't be happy about that?!  :D

ABC's of Me

The ABC's of Me




A. Age: just turned 27 a few days ago

B. Bed size: Queen.

C. Chore that you hate: Dishes!  And anything in the bathroom. 

D. Dogs: We have a lab/dachshund mix named Marley.  He is super hyper and loves everybody.

E. Essential start to your day: Eat some breakfast.

F. Favorite color: pink and blue

G. Gold or Silver: I like them both equally.

H. Height: about 5'5

I. Instruments you play: I don't play any instruments.

J. Job title: Stay-at-home-Mom and wouldn't change it for anything!

K. Kids: Two boys.  Chris is 6 and Logan is 4.  L. Live: In North Carolina. Born and raised here.

M. Mother’s name: Claudia.

N. Nicknames: Jackie, JJ, Liz or Lizzie (from my middle name Elizabeth), and Eric calls me babydoll. 

O. Overnight hospital stays:  I've stayed overnight in a hospital three times.  Twice for me when I had my c-sections with Chris and Logan.  The third time was for Chris' kidney surgery when he was a baby. 

P. Pet peeves: Bad/crazy drivers, lying, cheating, rude people, someone ignoring me

Q. Quote from a movie: "I want my pink shirt back!"  - Mean Girls

R. Right or left handed: Right-handed

S. Siblings: I am an only child.

T. Talents: I'm really good with children and can type over 100 wpm. 

U. Ultimate Vacation: Touring Europe would be AWESOME! 

V. Vegetable you hate: Just about all of them :P  I'm not a veggie person.

W. What makes you run late: the alarm not going off, oversleeping, the kids not cooperating and being slow

X. X-Rays you’ve had: I've had a bunch of chest x-rays because of breathing issues and I had one on my leg a few years ago because of a possible blood clot. 

Y. Yummy food: Anything Italian is always yummy, burgers, anything that's not good for you LOL :P

Z. Zoo animal: Monkeys, penguins

Sunday Funnies

Now it's time to link up with Kara for the Sunday Funnies.  This is my first time doing this link-up so I'm a little excited ;) 

Source: someecards.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jackie on Pinterest

Sunday Social - Week 3

Linking up with Neely and Ashley again for week 3 of the Sunday Social.  I look forward to filling these out each week :) 

1.  What is your all-time favorite song?

Just like with movies, this is a hard choice for me to make.  There are some great songs out there.  A couple of my current faves are "Uprising" by Muse and "Grenade" by Bruno Mars.

2.  Who is your favorite singer/band?

Again, I have so many favorites.  My top favorites are Muse, James Durbin, Phil Phillips (can't wait for his album to come out!), Lifehouse, Paramore



3.  What is your theme song/song that best describes your life? 

I think Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" is pretty appropriate. 





4.  What songs put you in a good mood?

These are always sure to put a smile on my face and get me dancing. 





5.  What is your favorite road trip music? 

I usually just go through the radio stations until we find a catchy song or listen to whatever CD's we have in the car at the time.



6.  What song are you embarrassed to admit you love?

Friday's Letters



Dear birthday, thank you for being wonderful this year and not absolutely sucking like you did last year.  Much appreciated! 

Dear Abby and Joanne, thank you for celebrating my birthday with me.  Couldn't have asked for better company.

Dear Chris and Logan, thank you for being sooo excited about my birthday, singing to me, and being super excited about eating my cake ;) 

Dear bills, you suck!  Go away. 

Dear summer heat, can't you back off just a little bit?  It's a little too much too soon, don't you think?  :P






Have a great weekend everyone!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Two blogs in one day?  I'm on a roll. 


*  I'm loving that tomorrow is my birthday!  Last year was hands down the WORST birthday I've ever had in my life, so I'm really hoping that this one is better ;) 

*  I'm loving that tomorrow night I am having dinner with a group of my friends to celebrate my birthday.  It's always great to have a girls night!  Chilis, here we come!

*  I'm loving that I am getting better about writing in my blog.  I would go months at a time without writing but these past few weeks I've really kicked it into gear. 

*  I'm loving finding new blogs to read.  Like I need anything else to keep me on the computer ;) 

*  I'm loving that Monday night we took the boys to a magic show at our local library.  They absolutely loved it and the guy was AWESOME.  At the end of the show he made a balloon for every child.  There was easily around 100 or more kids there but he was so fast at making them it still didn't take very long in line.  The guy also does birthday parties so I'm considering using him for Chris' birthday in October. 

*  I'm loving that tonight I am going to a cook-out at one of my best friend's houses.  A small group of us are getting together to celebrate the husband's for Father's Day.  Sadly, mine won't be able to make it since he has to work tonight, but I'll help celebrate everyone elses :)   Plus, it'll be fun to get together with the girls and let the kids play. 

Oh, How Pinteresting

Today I'm linking up for Oh, How Pinteresting.  It's my first time so I'm a little excited ;)

Source: 9gag.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: pinterestschunt733.blogspot.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: postteenageliving.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: someecards.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: sixsistersstuff.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Seven Years

(back row from L-R:  Eric's grandmother Faye, his mother Debi, his sister Amanda, me, Eric, his father Larry, and his sister-in-law Christi)

(front row from L-R:  his nephew Chad, niece Hayley, and nephew Gabriel)

June 18, 2005

Yesterday was mine and Eric's 7 year anniversary.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that it is a miracle that we've lasted this long.  We have struggled with one issue or another pretty much since day one. 

Anyway, "in honor"of our anniversary I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you all who don't know me (or do know me IRL and just don't know the story) about our wedding day (and the days leading up to it). 

Eric's family made it clear from the start that they weren't going to help pay for anything for the wedding.  My parents were struggling financially and were not able to help, so Eric and I ended up having to pay for it ourselves.  I went to a used dress store and bought my wedding dress and veil.  I went to Wal-Mart and bought light blue and white (the colors I wanted) wedding decorations and a fake flower bouquet for myself and my maid-of-honor.  I went out and bought a new pair of shoes that would go with my dress.  That was the extent of my wedding shopping.  Why?  Because I was between jobs and Eric was low-level management at McDonald's, so that's all we could afford. 

Almost every decision about the wedding was made by Eric's family, or more specifically, his mother.  She ruled over *everything*.  The few decisions Eric and I made were still influenced by her.  Looking back, I really wish things had been different.  Mine and Eric's relationship was still fairly new when we decided to get married.  I was very young and honestly a little intimidated by his family.  I had witnessed some of the "temper tantrums" that they threw when they didn't get their way with things so I let them boss me around just to avoid confrontation.  That should have been my first warning sign to just run away and never look back.  I held on though because I loved Eric so much.

It was decided that Eric's brother would be his best man.  No big deal.  That was fine with me.  But then it was decided that his sister would be my maid-of-honor.  Not my best friend.  Not any of my friends.  But my soon-to-be sister in law who had never really been all that nice to me.  Great. 

We had to get married at the church Eric's family was members of at the time.  We went through the required marriage counseling.  Then we chose a date and time for the wedding. 

Fast forward.

At the rehersal dinner the night before our wedding, Eric's mother was acting particularly "crazy".  She was seriously freaking out because the tables in the fellowship hall were not lined up the way that she thought they should be along with a bunch of other things.  She completely ruined the entire evening.  I never did get an apology. 

We invited a lot of people but not very many actually showed up.  It was Eric's family, his grandmother and cousin from Alabama, a couple people from the church, my parents, my uncle, my aunt, and two of my friends. 

After the wedding was over, we had to stay behind and clean up the fellowship hall because the church was having a Father's Day breakfast the next morning.  I don't mean "we" as in everybody, I mean "we" as in me and Eric.  Yeah.  No help from his family at all.  Thankfully my parents and friends stayed to help. 

You would think after that we'd get to leave for our honeymoon, right?  Wrong.  We had to stay because our honeymoon was going to be driving his grandmother and cousin back down to Alabama the next day.  Yep, you read it right.  It didn't matter that we barely had the money to pay for the few small things we had at our wedding.  We had to pay for gas to drive down to Alabama and back AGAIN.  Again, you ask?  Yes.  His grandmother and cousin didn't drive up here (we live in NC for those that don't know) for our wedding.  We drove down there to get them and bring them up here.  So once AGAIN we were paying for gas to go to Alabama and back.  Because a low-level manager at McDonald's with a wife that has no job has a ton of money, right?  Yeah. 

I'd like to say that things have gotten better over the years, but they haven't.  At least not by much.  We did finally end up cutting all ties with Eric's family.  The relationship with them was toxic at best and it was just time for it to end.  I had hoped things would get better after that.  I don't know if it's because so much damage had already been done by his family or what, but we're still fighting to put the pieces together.  We've been hit with stress from job situations, a separation (we separated for 2 months in 2009), trust issues and many, many other things. 

We're still trying though.  We haven't given up yet. 

Sunday Social, Week 2

1.  What is your favorite movie of all time?

It is a close tie between How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and While You Were Sleeping.  Actually, I'd also throw in My Best Friend's Wedding.  I love them all!  It's so hard to choose.  I think I'll move on to the next question now because as I'm typing I'm thinking of more movies that could be my "favorite".  :D

2.  Favorite Movie Quote

I love just about all of the lines from Mean Girls.  I especially like Damian's "I WANT MY PINK SHIRT BACK!" and Gretchen's "I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me....but I can't help it that I'm popular."  :)

3.  Best movie to watch for a girl's night in? 

I'd say any of the Twilight movies, especially with my group of friends ;)  Anything with a cute lead guy in it wouldn't hurt either, right? 

4.  Best break-up movie?

The Break Up!

5.  Favorite celeb eye candy?

Oh goodness.  I have several I could list for this one.  My absolute top guy is Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy!!!!!).  Others include Matthew McConaughey, Dennis Quaid, Gerard Butler, Vince Vaughn. 

6.  Which movie star's closet would you want to raid?

Assuming I could ever fit into their clothes, Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Garner




PS.  Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there!

Friday's Letters

(link up with Ashley here)

Dear Weekend:  Woohoo!  I'm glad you're here.

Dear Abby, Erika, and Joanne:  My besties!  So glad we are going to get together with the kids today. Will it be chaotic?  Probably.  Will we want to pull our hair out by the time it's over?  Maybe.  Will we have lots of laughs?  You know it! 

Dear Hickory City:  Whyyyyyyy must you be so difficult with your trash pick-up?  I mean, really?  Whenever Eric puts the trash down at the road on Thursday night when he gets home from work, you don't show up until late afternoon on Friday.  But every.single.time that he forgets and doesn't take it down until Friday morning, you decide to show up at 6am and we miss out on our trash being picked up.  Quit! 

Dear Eric:  I know you're probably going to have to work, but Happy Father's Day!  Oh, and our anniversary is on Monday.  Don't forget ;) 

Dear camera battery:  I hope you are fully charged by now because I plan on getting a lot of use out of you today :D