four how long, now?

If you're reading this post then there's a great chance you remember when this kid was born. Crazy no? Welp, he turned four on the 20th of January! 

I've been blogging since forever but I didn't start interacting with other bloggers until I was pregnant with #1. I was on the hunt for other mom bloggers and somehow stumbled into a strange underworld populated by eccentric punky-haired middle aged women who dress in vintage clothing with bracelets up to their elbows.

Needless so say I liked them much better than the 20 something hipster moms I was looking for.

Now mind you, I have come across a few "mom bloggers" that I love and follow but they are few.

I found them in the comment sections of the older ladies blogs and figured, if they like that blog then I'll probably like them too!

So here we are.

**huggles**

Because kid's birthday parties are terrible and no one really likes them, I'll just share with you a few random photos because... I can.

Since River loves trains I figured let's do a train themed party. Duh. 

But he loves Thomas the Train. Nope. Not gonna do it.

Mama don't do cartoon themed parties. That's too easy and super overplayed.

Soooo I asked him what colors he wanted for his party and he said "rainbow".

Alright, a rainbow train party. My greatest event planning challenge to date... and I failed.

So are you noticing a lack of trains in these photos yet?

Yeah. If you want train party decor, you better be going for Thomas or nothing at all.

Since I didn't have time to order anything online I just ran to the dollar store and grabbed anything I could find that was colorful. I couldn't even find party stuff in all the colors of the rainbow so... we'll just try again next year. Meh.

Yup, that's River being consoled by his Granny. Not because there were no trains, but because the girls at the party formed a clique and we wasn't invited.

I'm not sure what this face is about.

Alrighty. That's it. Hopefully I can get caught up on blog reading today. 

I've been stupid busy with my other blog and the social media management business thingy is really taking off! Woohoo!

See ya soon!

jerky bits

"There is only one difference between a madman and me.

The madman thinks he is sane.

I know I am mad."

-Salvador Dali

Today is my last day as an American citizen.

I'm going back to my home planet of of Xuberdoo in the Chocolate Chip galaxy (just a few light years away from the rock formerly known as the planet Pluto).

I'll miss it here but on Xuberdoo I was a princess and...

and...

What?

Right. Soooo anyway, we got a new flag. Our old one didn't do well with all the winter weather and stuff so we had to take it out back and shoot it.

**************************************

Saturday I went to Atlanta, TX for my Grandfather's 90th birthday party. The party was held at a small BBQ restaurant with tons of family in attendance.

My grandfather is a cowboy. We'll- not really. He just looks like it. He wears boots, pearl-snaps, bolo ties and cowboy hats. That's just his style and I love it. The theme of this party was Country Western so everyone dressed like cowboys like him.

I don't have Western stuff anymore. My boots are beyond repair and there's no snapping pearls over these massive jugs so I just put on some clothes. 

Better than going out naked and unshaven yes?

So that was my weekend.

Alight folks. Now, I'm going to go do some blog reading before my spaceship arrives.

"Reebuh krillip bloom."

That's how we say "Goodbye, I'm a lunatic." in my native language.

...and now he's two.

Well, he's almost two. River's birthday isn't until the 20th but for the past couple weeks, he's been giving us a very thorough demonstration of what's to come for the next 12 months.

They don't call them the "terrible twos" for nothing.

What's making it so hard for us (and him) right now is that he can't talk. Is it his hearing? Nope. He can hear you unwrap a Twinkie a mile away. What's his deal? Dunno.

So, because he can't talk, but has a lot to say, this is how he communicates:

In this particular photo he was extremely upset because mama wasn't delivering those little cupcakes fast enough. 

************************

River's party was supposed to be gothic circus themed... BUT... um, I kind of  forgot about his birthday until just a few days before and had no time to get things ready. Awful, I know. Shake your head at me, wag a finger. Shame, shame, shame on mama. 

It wasn't that I forgot his birthday - I just plain forgot what month we're in right now. 

I decided to go for an arty party. Nice and easy, cute and cheap. I put river to work with finger paints and crayons and used his art as party decor.

Soooo that's all for now. There are still strings of cheap plastic pennants and paper chains all over the place. It's the day after the party and I just plain don't feel like cleaning anything. I don't wanna clean anything ever again and you can't make me!

Ok. Bye.

it's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Yesterday was the most uneventful birthday I've ever had. I would love to write a long angsty post about how depressed I am about the whole thing but wallowing in my woes would just make it worse. Plus no one likes to read unhappy crap- I know I sure don't. So I'll just keep this brief  about why my birthday sucked so much. 

First, none of my immediate family called, emailed or even texted me to wish me a happy birthday- no gifts, no cards- nothing. I don't know why. 

My husband declared yesterday that we couldn't afford to go out for seafood like I wanted but said he'd think of something for us to do... eh, he didn't... So I spent the evening moping about washing dishes and halfheartedly fiddling around on Pinterest. 

The first half of my birthday started off rather promising though. Packages started being delivered to my door one after another. Even though only one was an actual birthday gift, I was stoked to get these packages in such good timing. I received a birthday check from my mother-in-law, a long awaited Ebay purchase finally came in along with a cute little froggy tea infuser giveaway prize from Tilda of Tea With Squirrels.

 It's been raining so much that this package was mushy and all the stamps began to peel off. These are my ear weights from Malaysia! Yay!

 Also, the day before yesterday a gift for River (from my Aunt) came in. River's gifts are my gifts so I'll count that as one. It's a play pen with a raised level to keep younger babies in. Flip the little bassinet over and it's a changing station! Cool!

Oh and how can I forget? My sis-in-law got me a pack of Shiner Bock which is one of my favorite beers.

Everyone knows that the way to a Hollie's heart is with good beer.

*******

Have you ever had a crappy birthday? Dish! Dish!

today I'm gonna party like it's 1985

28 years ago today I was born in the hallway of the Herman Hospital in Houston, TX at 5:41am. All the rooms at the hospital were occupied so they parked my mother on a stretcher in the hallway of the maternity ward. Her water broke all over the floor and a nearby janitor said to her, "You need some help, don't you?"

Minutes later my mother reached down and felt my little head emerging...  I came out, stood up and said, "I'm here and I'm FABULOUS!!" Still wet with birthing slime, I put on some little tap shoes and danced along to an Earth Wind and Fire song that had been stuck in my head since conception. The end.

Authors note: I was not named Hollie because I was born in the hallway.

************

So what am I going to do today on this glorious Hollieday? ::sigh::