Home.

I really miss my husband.

He's in Utah.
Fly fishing, welding and snowboarding.
and the house is so quiet without him.

Cue Mom.
A mother and daughter have a way of needing each other at the same time.
At least we seem to.
I had such a great time preparing for her visit.
Typically my time management skills are terrible.
Really, truly terrible.
What happens is usually Casey will give me some sort of heads up.
i.e. babe, we have to be there in a half hour and it takes 15 minutes to get there...
Sounds good. I say with a smile, going about my business.
the same business I was attending to before he made that comment.
So basically, not taking the cue that I should be changing my business
to the "getting ready" type of business.
Then five minutes until departure and I'm all,
Babe! Why didn't you tell me what time it was?!
And I'm rushing. And where the freak are my skinny jeans?!
And Stop following me around, youre making me nervous!
(Casey does this "following" thing when I'm late. drives me nuts)
And I'm a crazy lady.
And were 20 minutes late.
2 miles into our journey and I ask, Did you put diapers in the diaper bag?
And Casey's all, Why would I assume that the diaper bag doesn't already contain
diapers?!?
Casey is from Mars and I am from Venus.

But I digress.
Today I switched things up and started preparing dinner early.
And you know what?
I really enjoyed myself and it was even... dare I say... relaxing?
Yes. Relaxing.
I had music on and I'm not talking about the Wiggles.
Like Real Grown Up music.
I had candles burning.
There was even some dancing in the kitchen, donning an apron with Ginger moments.
I know. Crazy.
And this happiness continued all through the night
while mom and I ate roast and watched Paper Moon.
Which by the way, all I could think of during that movie was...
Tatum, one day you are going to get busted for trying to buy drugs from
an undercover cop.
Then you'll go on Oprah to apologize to your kids for it.

Moral of this post is...
Someone once told me
(granted, in a moment of anger)
that I'm incapable of just. being. happy.

I thought, I can be freaking happy, you moron.
I'll show you.

That all led me to making an effort
to look for and acknowledge the beautiful and happy moments more often.
And it just seems like those moments reveal themselves to me
more everyday.
Because I'm seeking after them, not waiting for them to slap me in the face.
It's fantastic.
Honestly.
As fake as this all sounds.
I know it seems that way.
I'd roll my eyes too.
But. I'm grateful. So there you go.

And to any of you that say I'm not capable of contentment...
Suck it.

kidding.
I totally just ruined this post for some people.









AND Ginger learned a new trick.
Drumroll please...

Ta-Dah! She can take off her diaper.



Now I've been known to stage a photo or 2.
(Oh you know you've done it)
But I swear to you, I caught this picture candidly.
No remotes, no x-box controllers, no candy wrappers.



Still, I'd welcome the mess
if it meant Casey was home.

Anyone ready to throw up yet?
No?

Dearest Casey,


How about now?

And so I say,
Go forth,
Acknowledge the happy moments.
Look for the beauty in life.
Buy flowers.
Tell Tatum O'Neal her future through the t.v.
Enjoy the occasional Baby Butt.
And tell the naysayers to suck it.