81. *Go on a dinner/booze cruise

Greg and I took a 3 day/2 night trip to Branson, MO.

One of the first things that we did was take a lunch cruise.

 

Any vacation that includes drinking on a boat before noon is a win.

Yummy!  I love how buttery and delicious croissants are.  And the brownies weren’t too bad either 🙂

 

We went up and down Lake Taneycomo which is beautiful

::Sigh::

Along the way, we saw the cutest summer camp that we are seriously considering sending the kids to once they get a little bigger.

Look at that!  It’s a 30-foot tower that the kids jump from (with lifeguard supervision, of course.)

They also had several tennis courts, rowing, basketball courts, archery, soccer fields and many other fun things for kids to do in the summer.

It’s not like I want to go to summer camp.

You think I could fit in the kids’ suitcases??

They wouldn’t care if their mom tagged along, right?

Kids love it when their socially awkward parents tag along and make it impossible for them to make friends!!

It’s settled then.

I will join my kids at summer camp.

Now that that’s been decided, let’s get back to the topic at hand.

Greg and I were on a boat.

And we were drinking.

The end.

51. *Take a vacation and leave the kids with their grandparents

Almost a year ago, Greg and I were in Bass Pro and someone approached us about viewing their hotel at a discounted rate.  We were down because we wanted to take a vacation anyway and if we could do it cheaper, we were all for it!

Well, Greg was all for it but I was a little unsure about staying in a hotel that was sponsored by Bass Pro.

I’ve never been much for camping and I was a little afraid that it would be a little too . . .  rustic for my taste.

Not to mention that it was a time-share and 1) I knew we couldn’t afford it and 2) When randoms come up to you in the middle of a store trying to sell you a “good deal” it’s usually best to act like you are either deaf or on your cell phone planning something sinister because they are determined to getcha.

But when I heard we could go to Las Vegas, I was on board again.  We’ve been to Vegas one other time but it was before either of the kids were born and we have always wanted to go back.

Then the more we talked about it, and realized how much airfare, food, entertainment, etc. were going to cost along with the fact that we are actively trying to pay off some of our debt (we are currently closing in on our last credit card!!), we decided to go somewhere a little closer to home.

Luckily, Branson happens to be much closer to home AND they host a BlueGreen Resort (the company that sponsored the trip)!  Win-win!

We were able to get several things done that happen to be on this list and I’m going to give each one of them their own blog post.  So get ready to hear a detailed account of our trip.  I know, I know.  You’re so excited that you just can’t hardly stand it and you hate me for leaving you hanging like this.

Or you just plain ol’ hate me.

You say tomato.

I say tomatoe.

Who’s up for a room tour?!

Even though the trip was affiliated with Bass Pro and it was in Branson, MO, the hotel?  It was classy.  And I don’t mean in the traditional smart-ass way when I spell classy with a “k”.  It was gorgeous.

See what I mean?

We were stuck with views like the one above for 3 whole days.  It’s a rough life.

Ozark mountains that provide a wonderful backdrop?  Check.

Gorgeous lakes everywhere?  Yup.

Perfectly manicured lawns?  A shuttle service to transport you around the grounds?  Lazy river?  Room service?  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  and Yes!

But back to the lodge, and more specifically, our room.

We stayed at the Falls Lodge (just in case you can’t read the gigantic sign right out front):

The giant moose antlers threw me for a loop at first, too.  Just keep in mind that we were in Branson, MO.  At a lodge sponsored by Bass Pro Shops.

I can hold your hand if you get too scared.

This was outside, just before the main lobby.

 

And we had a little piece of home with us on our trip.  Mom is always on us about recycling so she was thrilled when we sent her pictures of these:

Inside the lobby:

Greg cozying up with one of the locals:

Here’s Greg cozying up with somebody else!  He sure does like to get cozy!

The view from our doorway into the room:

WARNING: If you are morally or otherwise opposed to seeing dead animal carcass’ stuffed and used as decoration, please look away now.  If you are NOT morally or otherwise opposed, please continue!

Inside the bathroom door.  Jacuzzi tub on the immediate left, shower on the far left (just behind the tree), vanity on the immediate right, toilet on the far right:

Standing in front of the jacuzzi tub, looking into the room:

And the opposite view:

All of the switch covers, lighting fixtures, etc. were part of the lodge theme.

Cute, right?!

Here’s the rest of our room, including Greg’s tookis:

We had a fireplace (that we didn’t use), a mini-fridge & the TV was tucked into that cute little dresser on the right.

Did I mention that we also had a balcony that looked out over most of the property?

There were also lots and lots of taxidermied animals to keep us company:

See that little raccoon just beyond the ceiling fan?  He’s eating Cracker Jacks.

The raccoon for the win!

Well, sorta.

I mean, he is dead and stuffed and forever forced to hold a Cracker Jack box but still.  Hilariously posed mounted animals make me laugh.

Okay!  Room tour is officially over.  I still have a few more pictures that I could add in but I’m started to get bored so I would be willing to bet money that you passed bored about 5 minutes ago.  That is, if you’re still here at all.

Are you there?

Anybody?

Oh, hi Mom!!  Glad you stuck around!

My next post will be slightly more interesting and definitely funnier because we went to a museum.

But it was a wax museum and a half-ass version of a Ripley’s Believe it or Not! museum (not together though) and Greg might have posed inappropriately with a few of the wax figures.

Hugh Hefner and Bella from Twilight to name a few.

45. Order room service

While Greg and I were on our mini-vacation, one of the things that we did on my list was order room service.

We opted for breakfast since we were staying in a really nice hotel and they had a price list that matched the decor and we were vacationing on a budget.

Did I mention that we had a gorgeous view??

 

This was the view from our balcony.

It was absolutely beautiful!

I never wanted to leave!

::sigh::

I love how fancy room service plate-covers are.  It always reminds me of the scene from Home Alone where Kevin ordered that giant ice-cream sundae and the white-gloved concierge pulls the lid off and reveals the delicious goodness that is underneath.

No, you have a weird obsession with movies from your youth and can tie everything back to them.

What was I talking about again?

That’s right.  Food.

 

Greg and I both had ham & cheese omelets that were completely delicious and Greg also had a bowl of oatmeal that he loved and that I thought was just . . . meh.

But I’m not a huge fan of oatmeal to begin with.

And now you know that about me.

Anyway, the room service was delicious and we ate out on our balcony and enjoyed a gorgeous view.

I love vacation.

87. *Throw somebody a surprise party

When I was young, I always secretly hoped that my parents would throw me a surprise party.

Nobody ever did.

Boo-hoo.

When I was pregnant with Brock in nursing school, my friends threw me a surprise baby shower and it rocked my socks.  I decided that as much as I liked being surprised, I really wanted to be in on the surprise.  The only way to do that was to be the one throwing the party!

I knew that I had a great opportunity to do just that this year when my husband turned the big 3-0.

I began planning his party several months ago so I could get everything done without him finding out about it.  Greg’s mom and I discussed several different dates and we ended up choosing a weekend a month after his actual birthday. 

It will be perfect!

He will never suspect a thing!

He always says that he doesn’t want a big fuss made about his birthday anyway so this will really get him!

The one thing that we didn’t consider?  The fact that all of his friends were also turning 30 this year and he got really suspicious right around his birthday.  And when we didn’t have a party for him in April, he got really sad.

I think we made up for it, though:

When we walked into Greg’s parents’ house, he immediately saw the “Surprise!” banner and said, “Who the hell is the surprise for?”

Everybody was hiding on the deck and he didn’t have any clue what was going on until finally everybody yelled, “Surprise!” as we walked out onto the deck.

I don’t think I was as stressed on my wedding day as I was this weekend.  I was worried about the weather (it ended up storming its ass off during the party but we moved indoors), I worried that people would get lost on the way to the party and I was fielding texts & phone calls all day long while trying to hide it from Greg.  I panicked a little when I found out that Greg’s best friend (who was cooking the meat) got a flat tire and was over an hour late getting started.  I must have checked the clock 15 times every hour until we were ready to leave the house.

But, in the end, it was all worth it.

Greg got to celebrate a major milestone surrounded by friends and family.

After the downpour stopped, we took the piñata outside and let the kids burn off some of their limitless energy.

And even though that plan totally backfired on us,

We all had so much fun!  In case you can’t tell, that last picture is one of my kid shoving 4 gum balls in his mouth at once.

Why, yes I did made the birthday boy wear a party hat.

Besties

And that smile makes all of the stress worth it.

 

I love you , babe.  Happy belated 30th birthday.

6. Grow a garden

I suppose it’s time to cross this one off the list.  It’s been in the making for quite some time now, and I’ve been blogging about it here & here and, yes I know.  I’m extremely annoying about it.  But, as I’ve said before: This year was the first year that Greg and I had a garden (together) and we didn’t have any clue what we were doing.  To start out, we planted wayyyyy to many things in too crowded of an area.  We weren’t sure what our lovely little garden would yield, so we planted corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, peas, green beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, summer squash, pumpkins, cucumbers & zucchini.  Oh, and carrots. 

We had to replant almost everything because, I swear, the day after we planted everything Missouri entered monsoon season and to our dismay (and most of the local “real” farmers) our crops got washed out.

But our little garden was the garden that could and soon we started to see tiny little green things emerging from the ground:

Our first pumpkin sprouts

Our tiny lettuce leaves

4 rows of corn

The important thing to note here is all the space between the rows.  These pictures were taken on May 4, 2010.

Enter monsoon season:

Re-plant:

Some of the things didn't need to be replanted (like the lettuce) but most of it did

The above picture was taken May 21, 2010.  This next one was taken May 30, 2010.

Apparently my garden likes monsoons!

Our first harvest!  We got only lettuce for a couple of weeks, but we were so excited!

 

Black Seeded Simpson makes yummy salads!

For a few weeks, we just had to sit and wait patiently which is something that none of us are any good at.  But, alas!  We survived!

By the middle of June, we had baby green tomatoes:

 . . .  cucumber blossoms

. . .  green bean sprouts

. . . corn that was beginning to tassel

. . . green peppers

. . . and pumpkin buds

We were so thrilled!

But wait!  It gets better!

These were taken at the end of June:

Not too bad for our first garden, right?

He was so proud of his "grain beans and mush". For those that don't speak Brockenese, that means green beans and squash.

 Some of the important lessons that we learned from gardening:

• Don’t plant pumpkins in the spring with everything else.  Otherwise?  You end up with pumpkins that are harvest-ready in June/July.  Next year we will wait until mid summer to plant our pumpkins.
• We love corn.  We did not plant enough of it this year.  Next year we will know differently.
• Don’t go more than a few days in between weeding the garden.  It will get out of control very quickly.
• Gardening is an excellent form of exercise!  I suggest wearing a sportsbra & a light shirt/shorts.  I would sweat like a pig when I wore my yoga capris.
• Once you can start harvesting, do it!  We lost several cucumbers & cantaloupes because we thought we could let them go just one more day.
• Start gathering potential recipes early.  I have a freezer full of tomatoes that I don’t know what to do with.

Now that gardening season is over, our “garden” has become our compost pile & a burial ground for our pumpkins.

As well as a sad reminder of the harsh reality that warm days are long gone 😦

I can’t wait until this spring when we can have another crack at gardening and to restock our freezer with all kinds of yummy veggies!

13. *Make a nice dinner for my in-laws

It seems that with each passing year, we get busier and busier around the holidays.  This year was no exception.  Since I now have a job that allows me to be off for the holidays (for the first time in years!), we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents.  Greg’s parents went out-of-town to be with my mother-in-law’s side of the family and we didn’t think that traveling with two small children was such a good idea.

Instead of trying to cram a bunch of turkeys into one day, we opted to celebrate Thanksgiving with Greg’s parents on December 4th this year.  We couldn’t do it the weekend after Thanksgiving because they had some out-of-state guests coming in.

It was also a monumental meal because it was the first “big” meal that we hosted!

We’ve had people over before but not for such a high-profile event.

There are a couple of things that I would like to point out about this meal:

• I cheated and used Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts.  I can’t make a decent pie crust to save my soul & I wanted to save myself the time & frustration of failure.
• We decided that since we were pretty much over turkey, we would have a ham instead.  We are so rebellious.
• I used bagged lettuce for the salad.
• I love Velveeta cheese.  Mmmmmmmmm.

I decided that I was going to start early in the day and make as many thing ahead of time as possible.

Since my delicious cranberry salad has to chill for a few hours before it sets, Brock and I started with that.

Turns out?  My kid is an awesome sous chef!  I had everything pre-measured and it went so much more smoothly than I thought it would have! 

He actually listened to me!

He stirred when I told him to stir!

He poured when I told him to pour!

Wait a minute.  This doesn’t sound like Brock at all!

Apparently my threats about Santa skipping our house if Brock misbehaves are working!

After we finished our cranberry salad, we moved on to the macaroni & cheese with corn.  We assembled it and put it in the fridge until we were ready to pop it in the oven.

Next?  We started the apple pie.

Brock? 

What are you doing over there?!

Brock!  Are you eating the apple pie filling?!

I can see the spoon in your hand!

Young man.  Don’t you lie to me.

Brock!  You aren’t even trying to hide it!

Fine.  Just don’t double dip the spoon.

Greg and Adrianna worked on the lattice for the apple pie while Brock and I took a few minutes to tidy up the kitchen.

How much cuteness is in this picture? I die.

I know he was singing in this picture but I can’t remember what song it was.

After I broke several child labor laws, it was back to work!

Here’s a quick run-down of the rest of our day:

Put the honey-glazed spiral spiced ham in the oven.

Wipe drool from face.

Peel & chop a thousand potatoes.

Wipe sweat from brow.

Teach Brock the technique on how to dip your finger in the mixing bowl to get a glob of mashed potatoes without losing said finger.

Laugh at Greg when he yells and Brock and I for “sampling” too many potatoes.

Yell at Brock for double dipping into the apple pie. 

Again.

Ponder my double standard of double dipping potatoes vs. double dipping apple pie filling.

Eat another glob of mashed potatoes.

Make a mental note to stop over-sharing details of things that go on in my kitchen for fear that we may never host a dinner again.

Remember that I forgot to throw the macaroni &  cheese in the oven.

Panic slightly.

Remember that in-laws are never on time for anything and rationalize that everything will probably be okay.

Throw the bagged salad in a bowl.

Feed Adrianna a giant spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Dissolve into a puddle of giggles when she rubs her tummy and goes, “Mmmm-mmmmmm!”

Roll eyes at Greg when he tells me (for the 6th time) that I should probably change out of my grimey sweats and do something with my hair.

Set out the “fancy” dishes.

See? Fancy. Minus the plastic bowl/place setting.

Realize that in-laws have been on my couch for 10 minutes and I’m still in grimey sweats and my hair is a mess.

Realize that I should stop taking pictures and finish getting ready.

Take one final picture and realize that Adrianna is completely engrossed by her toe jam.

Laugh at the similarities between my kids and myself.

Grab on final glob of mashed potatoes.

Change into jeans and a sweater.

Throw hair into a ponytail.

Do one final check of the menu.

Announce, “Soup’s on!”

Collapse into a heap.

Regain consciousness.

Eat more mashed potatoes.

Bemoan to self that I will regret that last bite of potatoes when I have to weigh myself.

Remember my self-made rule about calories not counting on birthdays/holidays.

Proceed to stuff face full of delicious food.

Announce that I’m stuffed.

Remember the apple pie.

Decide that there is always more room for pie.

Eat a piece of apple pie.

Cry when I look at what a mess my kitchen is.

Dig deep & start putting away leftovers.

Send lots of leftovers home with in-laws.

Put kids to bed.

Drink a bottle of wine.

Kiss my husband for tolerating my neuroses & for keeping the kids mostly entertained while I had to do some serious cooking (read: while I was opening the oven door).

Now.  Who is ready to come over for dinner?!

99. *Buy cute shoes that match my little black dress

One night last week while Greg & I were talking about what we were going to do when we go to Las Vegas in April, I mentioned that there are tons of great shops at Caesar’s and I could buy a little black dress & matching handbag & shoes.  He just sort-of rolled his eyes at me and then said, “Wait!  You just bought a pair of black shoes!”

And, for possibly the first time in our relationship, he was right.

I had forgotten that I bought these little beauties for my best friend’s birthday party back in August:

Aren’t they preeeeeeety?

One of the great things about these shoes is that, despite the heel, they are actually comfortable.  I wore these went out dancing for Stephanie’s birthday party and ended up wearing them most of the night.

 

I also like them because they can be worn with jeans, slacks, dresses or skirts!  So many uses out of one pair of shoes!

 

But my absolute favorite thing about these shoes?

 

The thing that made me choose them out of racks and racks of other shoes?

 

The fact that I only spent $14.99 + tax on them.

 

I rock.

75. *Dress in coordinated Halloween costumes

As much as I really really wanted to dress the kids in coordinated costumes last year, it just didn’t quite work out.  So, this year I let Brock chose the theme & we ran with it!  He has been obsessed with Toy Story for the past few months & he decided, around his birthday, that he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. 

Greg would obviously be Cowboy Woody

& I would be Jessie

Our biggest problem was figuring out what Adrianna should dress up as.  We thought about a monkey but couldn’t find a red monkey suit (red, as in, the barrel of monkeys).

We debated dressing her up as a pig (the piggy bank or Mr. Dr. Evil Porkchop as Brock likes to call him).  This idea was actually a front-runner for the longest time.  When she was an itty-bitty baby, I used to call her “piggles” because, well, the girl can eat.  We even had a pig costume, but it just didn’t feel right.

Then, when we were at Target looking for a Cowboy Woody costume for Greg, we found this little baby:

When we saw that, we knew that we had a winner. 

So, you wanna see the finished product?

Brock refused to wear his tennis shoes, so he was wearing mud boots with cows on them.

Child rearing tip: pick your battles wisely.  Some shoes are better than no shoes (especially at the end of October) and if it meant that he got to wear mud boots, so be it.

Greg already owned his costume other than his hat so that worked out really well.  I had my jeans & boots but had to buy the hat/chaps, vest & shirt.  Obviously Brock & Adrianna’s costumes were totally bought.  Yeah, I’m not crafty.  At all.

But we had a blast and ate entirely too much candy!

I’m really hoping that this is a family tradition that we can continue for many years!  As long as my husband doesn’t kill me 😀

101. *Take the kids to a pumpkin patch & let them pick out their own pumpkin to bring home.

Even though I grew up in this area, I had never been to the pumpkin festival that is held every year in one of the nearby towns.  When Brock was 2 months old, we took him to a different pumpkin patch in the area and took pictures of him propped up next to various pumpkins.  This year, I decided to take the kids (& Mom.  I would have taken Greg but he was supposed to work but ended up staying home sick) to an actual pumpkin festival.  Part of our trip included item #101 on my list: take the kids to a pumpkin patch & let them pick out their own pumpkin to bring home.

Before we could get to the festival, we had to drag the double stroller through a corn field.  That was such a nightmare!  Luckily, they had tractor-pulled wagons for shuttles and we hitched a ride.  We had a lovely chat with a little girl who was also riding the wagon (with her family) and she and Brock talked about their Halloween costumes.  He told her he was going to be Buzz Lightyear and when she said she was going to be Jesse, he yelled, “No you not!  My mom is going a be Jesse!  And my sisser is going to be a awien!”  They made up though when we drove by the jump house and they both decided they had to go in there.

Mom and I decided that our best plan of attack would be to walk around the festival and pick up the pumpkins on the way back.  That way we could push the pumpkins in the stroller and the kids wouldn’t be crowded as long.

Aren’t we so smart?

Yes!  Yes we are!

That fella there with the cowboy hat on is "Franke". That's what he told me anyway.

We walked all over that little town buying mostly food, including kettle corn (yum!) and homemade root beer (double yum!)  Brock was determined that he was getting a “spider” and mom finally found one made out of pipe cleaners attached to a Tootsie Pop.  He was thrilled!

We also found a face-painting booth where Brock got a spider (he was going to scare his dad with it) and Adrianna got a flower pained on her hand.

Which she promptly ate.

She had to inspect it before she tasted it 🙂

Once we were done looking around at all of the booths, we were ready for our pumpkins!

Brock had already wriggled himself out of the stroller and had his eye on the prize.  He looked through a few of the bins before he found The One.

I asked him if he wanted an orange one and he said, “No.  The white one is perfect!”

I love those kids.

Adrianna was a little less sure of her choice.  At first she wanted to go traditional with a perfectly round orange one but then she spied this little baby:

It was perfect for her because she could hold it and chew on the stem all at once!

I’m really so happy with our weird little hodge-podge of pumpkins (although mom informed me that Adrianna’s green “pumpkin” is actually a gourd, but whatever) and I love that neither of the kids went with typical pumpkins.  It really spices up our front porch and I can’t wait to get the rest of our fall decorations up!

2. *Run a 5K

I can honestly say this is one item on my list that I wasn’t sure if I could complete.  But when I signed up for the Susan G. Komen 5K, I knew that I had made a commitment for a great cause.  Several people in my family have either died from or survived cancer and I’ve always been a big supporter of the Susan G. Komen foundation.  Since this 5K was being held in my hometown, I figured it would be a wonderful way to 1) give back to my favorite charity & 2) cross something off my list!

In typical Tara fashion, I registered with less than 2 weeks to prepare for the race.  I am not a runner, nor have I ever been, but I didn’t want to completely embarrass myself so I began to “train”.  One of the doctors that I work with is a life-long fitness enthusiast and he gave me several tips in the 2 weeks leading up to the race.

The first day that I went to the gym to “train”, I was able to run 2 miles.  Not two consecutive miles, but more of a walk, run, walk, run, walk, die scenario.  The second day, much to my surprise, I was able to run 2.5 miles.  Without stopping.  Apparently losing almost 20 pounds in the last few months has helped my stamina a little bit! 

By the beginning of week 2, I was up to 4 miles on the treadmill (again walk, run, walk, run, walk, run, walk) and I began to take note of my times to see if I could improve.  Greg told me at the end of my first week of training that there was no way he was going to be able to run the entire thing with me and I promised that I wouldn’t leave him behind.  After all, he did promise to wear the pink shirt.  I was still having side stitches and gasping for air during the entire last quarter-mile of the run but I was going farther than I’d ever gone.

initially, my goal was to complete the 5K.  Once I consistently started hitting 3ish miles on the treadmill, I knew that wouldn’t be an issue. 

My next goal was to complete the 5K in under an hour.  At the beginning of the second week, I was running a total of 3 miles & walking 1 mile (1/4 mile before as a warm-up, 1/4 mile in between & 1/4 mile afterward as a cool-down) in 53 minutes, 9 seconds.

Day 2 of the second week, I died. 

The end.

Okay, fine.  I didn’t actually die but I couldn’t run for 3-4 days because I had shin splints so bad I could barely walk.

The day of the race was finally upon us and we were ready.  Until we got to the stadium & almost got struck by lightning.  There was literally a bolt of lightning that struck right next to us and we actually felt a little jolt when we were holding hands. 

Greg almost backed out but I drug him to the starting line.

He just recently started talking to me again.

In the 2 weeks leading up to the race, I constantly ran my mouth telling Greg how badly I was going to beat him. 

How he was going to cry like a little girl. 

How I hope he liked my butt because he was going to be looking at it a lot during the race.

I’m completely embarrassed to say that I was wrong on all counts.  However, Greg and I finished the 5K at about 30 minutes which I’m pretty proud of since it was my first 5K and we were running in the rain.  I was really hoping to have been able to run the entire thing, but we did have to stop to walk a few times.  Greg was very patient with me and stopped every time I needed him to so I could walk.  He constantly encouraged me with comments like, “C’mon, babe!  You’re running like Brock!” and “Keep it up!  Do you wanna finish or do you want to stay here and keep crying?!”

Okay, fine.  He didn’t actually say things like that.  He was really very encouraging and gave me lots of great tips afterward about lengthening my stride and running heel-toe rather than the flat-footed ape that I am.  He even encouraged me to sign up for another 5K that is in October.

Here we are rounding the last corner just before the finish line!

Just before crossing the finish line

That’s me in the pink visor next to the big strong man.  Apparently I was drafting behind the girls in the yellow hats.  Greg was so sweet–he even held back at the very end so I could still tell the world that I beat him.  Isn’t he sweet??

I would really like to think of something a little more witty to end this with, but you guys.  I’m so tired and sore.  I’m going to go lie down for a few days. 

See you on Wednesday. 

Maybe.