I have the best friends in the world. Yesterday they made me feel special and loved and it was wonderful.
Today, it’s back to work. Tomorrow, Ian turns 18 and I’ll probably take to my bed. After we go to Oaklawn that is…
Here’s my goddaughter dressing up as me for my birfday:
And here we are being silly:
And check this out! I bought myself a birthday gift that I LOVE so much. I’ve never had a Coach purse before… And now I do. It’s so me!
Celebrate the Ides of Melf by doing something sweet and romantic for someone you love.
I have been derelict in my duties as a mother. I have failed my children. HORRIBLY. I may not be able to recover my Mother of the year decade century ALL THE YEARS x ∞ = MELF tiara. (it was very sparkly.)
When my kid put on this get up over the weekend, immediately El Jefe and I started laughing and saying “Shitter’s full!”
And he didn’t get the reference.
OMG. What have I done?
Okay, so it’s a cape and not a robe…and there’s not a cigar in sight, but still…c’mon! That’s funny stuff right there…
And sadly the funny was lost on my son, because I have failed him. I haven’t made it a holiday tradition of watching Christmas Vacation OVER AND OVER AND OVER every year like I should have.
That ends this week… It’s on, boys. I will regain my tiara and you will deliriously happy with your forced entertainment of the holiday season.
I’m feeling a little nostalgic today, so I thought I’d repost one of my favorite Rader stories. This is from 2006:
My 8 year old had a really, really, really bad day at school a couple of weeks ago.
It was so bad, he came home and told me about it. He told me everything–except for the part where he was extremely rude to the assistant teacher. He absolutely refused to do anything she told him and apparently had a couple of ugly things to say to her in the process.
All this happened on a Friday. On Monday, I get a note filling in the missing pieces of the story. We do the “do you know what you did wrong?” talk and he tells me he’d just had a really bad day and took it out on Mrs. G.
I said, “Well, you should draw her a picture and tell her you’re sorry.”
So he did. I didn’t see the finished picture, but I saw him writing the note to Mrs. G. He told me that afternoon that Mrs. G. really liked his picture and that was that.
Until this morning when I ran into Mrs. G…
Mrs. G: Did you see the picture he drew me?
Me: No. Should I have?
Mrs. G: Laughing Oh Lord, yes.
Me: Worried now. Um. Why?
Mrs. G: Well, (snicker, snort) he drew me a picture of a donkey.
Me: gasp. this didn’t start off promising.Mrs. G: At the donkey’s head, he wrote my name and drew an arrow. “This is you.”
Me: grimacing
Mrs. G: And at the rear end he wrote, “And this is what I’ve been.”
Well, that did it. I started laughing and couldn’t stop.
Me: Well, I guess he can recognize ass-like behavior afterall.
Mrs. G. went on to say that it was by far the best note of apology she’s ever received.
I should say so.
Okay, so I haven’t done a fun “MY” list in a while. And since I feel like a million bucks and am very excited about going to Oxford with El Jefe this weekend, I thought I’d make today all about me.
Because, you know, it’s my blog. And it should be all about me.
Some of my favorite things:
2. Flamingos: partly because they are fabulously pink (Yes. I love pink. Sorry I’m such a cliche) and partly because I’m just enamored with them. Today I’m wearing my Swarkovski Flamingo pen that my kids got me for Mother’s Day several years ago.
3. The smell of brand new, crisp, hot off the press, straight from the bank, money. No I do not print my own. But if I could, I’d roll around nekkid in it because that’s how I roll. hahahaha.
4. Bath and Body Works fragrances Sensual Amber and Into the Wild.
5. The 4-legged Family Members:
6. Hammock time:
7. Girls night out with my good friends. I’m lucky and might even venture to say blessed with wonderful women in my life.
8. El Jefe.
9. Sock Monkeys. Nothing says happy like a sock monkey.
10. Last but not least: My rotten boys. They crack me up every single day.
Tony and Angela’s wedding reception was Friday, so the boys and I got cleaned up and celebrated together. I took pics of them because THEY WERE BOTH CLEAN. AT THE SAME TIME. You probably don’t understand how monumental this is, unless you also are the parent of 13 and 17 year old boys…
This is me and Ian after the reception. He’s about to jump into the pool for a late night swim and I’m sweating like it’s my job. But it turned out to be a cute pic, despite the hair in his eyes. At least he’s not flipping off the camera or making some weird face…
Here I am with my nieces Zzer and Scarlette. I can’t believe they are both almost taller than me! WTH?
And here I am with Robyn and the *ahem* BLUSHING bride, GiGi! She looked beautiful. And I had such a good time seeing my some old friends and family again.
Rader and Ruby soaking up the rays…
Pretty much the best picture of my mother to ever exist on earth. And possibly the universe. Happy Birthday, Momma! You’re pretty awesome for an old chick. 🙂
My weekend in pictures (and some brief narrative, because despite my lack of productivity in recent months, I am still a writer…)
Friday night… after fantastic pedicures with Robyn (go see Mickey at CK Nails on Cantrell. AWESOME) and while Ian was gallivanting about with his lovely girlfriend at the movies (they saw Thor and both said it was Surprisingly Awesome. Go figure) Rader and I had dinner with friends. We went to Salut where we had some of the absolute best homemade pasta I’ve ever eaten. Holy Spamoli I would have slapped my momma twice for the chicken cannelloni topped with fried spinach.
The next day, was soccer. All day of soccer. Down by the river…where I wish I had a van because the north wind was blowing and it was friggin’ cold. After game #1, Rader and I went to US Pizza for our favorite BBQ Chicken Pizza (it has jalapenos on it and is verra good)and this is where I took the pictures below:
My child is NOT RIGHT. He has all this hair, which I love…but it gets in his way during soccer. So we pull it back, but it falls out (well, it doesn’t now, thanks to my superior hair engineering abilities). Rader, being the sharp-as-a-tack guy that he is, took some pre-wrap and made a headband. I have referred to this as his Hair Injury.
Saturday night, we sat down with our tub of cheesy poufs to watch movies:
Yes, I had to fight them off my cheesy poufs. Ruby declared herself guardian of the pouf and Kitty G didn’t care. So she sat on my lap where she tried to take the poufs from my hands…
Sunday we had more soccer…and sadly the boys lost. Well, I am sad they lost, but not sad that I didn’t have to spend the rest of the day at Burns Park because I had 4+ hours of yard work to do. I don’t always have a lot of help, but Ruby decided she was all about John Deere Dreams this weekend.
When yard work was complete, Wolverine was put together…
And Trinity watched as El Jefe set up our HBOgo so that Rader and I can catch up on Game of Thrones which we are missing out on! I’m 4 shows behind now! The horror!!!
So…how was your weekend? Don’t worry if you didn’t get much done, I feel like I did enough for everyone!
ALSO: Please head to Fictionistas where my girl Stoney guest blogs today. You can follow Stoney on twitter [@stoneyboboney] and in the internetz at http://www.heydontjudgeme.com
OMG AUNT MEL!!!!!!!!! I read your second book and like i was like what the crap after i read it because i cant believe lex is going to leave he sounds totally hot and so does ryan but to be honest ryan made me mad haha for most of the book soo i kinda chose lex for a while!!! UGHHH anyways just thought i would tell you that!! LOVE YOU!! YOUR NIECE, ELIZABETH FRANCIS
Best. Letter. Ever. And I love you too, Z. Also, I wanted to choose Lex but Maria Geraci wouldn’t let me. Whatever. Lex was hot. And in other Fantastic Fanatical news…Ian had a doc’s appointment the other afternoon and I had to check him out of school a little early. As we were leaving, this group of high school girls followed us out.
“OMG I love your red hair! It’s so sexy.”
“Ian! Is that your mom? She’s hot.”
Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner! There’s pretty much nothing better for the ego…other than getting carded… which happened again the other day. Haha! Looks like selling my soul is paying off… 😀
This pic is from my launch party for BITE ME! in August 2009. My hair is redder now and I’m about 20 lbs lighter (and those glasses are at the bottom of Lake Ouachita)… but my daddy still looks the same. 🙂 Here’s some fun trivia about Cotton.
I would also like to send a shout out and a big HAPPY SWEET 16 to my darling niece TAYLOR MARIE. I love you kiddo and miss you lots and lots. Hope to see you this summer!!!
Bitchin' Fiction: Musings by author Melissa McKenzie / Melissa Francis 
