21st Birthdays, Potty Trainings, Tattoos, Spiders, & Other Ramblings.

Well, I haven't felt like updating on here in awhile. My last post was sort of half-ass, and I always find something else to do because I just haven't felt like writing, I've been in more of a reading mood. But since today is Tuesday, which means it's going to be very slow at work, I thought I'd give it another shot.

We've been doing something almost every day lately. Going to the beach, the mall, the movies, etc. Of course I still haven't been able to bring Gavyn to the park because, for whatever reason, James hates going. I'm unhappy about this because we don't let Gavyn play in the backyard very often because we have woods directly behind our house. Woods = Bugs, spiders, and snakes. We've seen snake shedding in our yard recently and my uncle (who mows our yard) is under the impression that he's recently been bit my a Brown Recluse spider. Gavyn's playhouse that we bought him last year and his "Flinstone" car have since become spider breeding grounds and we're just afraid to let him go out there. We think we've also seen some Black Widows. We've found (and killed) numerous spiders outside of the house, inside of the house, on the side of the house, and in the mailbox. Big spiders, little spiders, fat spiders, skinny spiders. So many spiders. James and I are deathly afraid of them, but luckily he mans up and takes care of them each time... From a distance... With spider spray.

My 21st birthday party is slowly approaching and I couldn't be any more excited. All of my friends requested off of work Monday and/or Tuesday, and it's going to be so much fun. Originally, I wanted to keep Gavyn at the house, just because I hate not being able to check on him throughout the night... But after a lot of consideration I figured bringing him to my Mom's or Tammy's for the night would be the best option. This way he'll be able to sleep through the night and not be awoken by a bunch of drunken idiots. We'll pick him up in the morning when we head over to Cracker Barrel for a nice breakfast (or possibly brunch, depending) feast. We've already bought all of the hard liquor. It cost us over $100 to get the biggest bottle of Jager, Peach Schnapps, and Vodka. We also have some Captain Morgan and another bottle of Jager from a friend from work coming. The drinks of the night will be Jager Bombs, Red-Headed Sluts, and Sex on the Beaches. I'm most interested in the second two, but apparently everyone else is excited for the Jager Bombs. Personally, I've never had one. Of course I'll try it, but I like to stick to what I know and love, especially for such an occasion as your 21st birthday!



I'm not sure (and don't feel like looking) if I've mentioned anything about it lately. It's a black and white semi-formal party. This is mainly because I'm excited to wear the dress referenced in one of my previous posts, so I figured I'd set the party around it. After all, we all have little black dresses that sit in our closet for a good portion of the year, awaiting the special occasion that you'd be able to wear it and not look too fancy/overdressed. This is one of them. Ah, yes, and I got Tuesday off since I'll clearly not be up by 6 am to head to work, so I have three days off in a row. This'll be a nice little treat.

We're ordering our plane tickets on Thursday. We're going to leave on Friday, September 25th, and come back on Friday, October 2nd. We'll have off on October 3rd and go back to work on October 4th. I'll have to miss a day of school, but hopefully I'll be able to get the work ahead of time. Besides, it's the Intro to Education class, so I'm sure I won't miss anything too substantial. We're really looking forward to it. We'll get to see my Grandma (who is 80 and the sweetest lady you'll ever meet), since she isn't going to be able to fly to Florida anymore. Plus, Lauren will finally be able to meet Gavyn. I'll be 21 when I'm there, so we can do fun club/bar things, too. I've never been to one with James before. We're going to go to Six Flags, too, and obviously visit with all of my family. I've got my Dad, Lauren, my Grandma, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins to see. It'll be a good time. And it'll be nice to have some time off of work.

Unfortunately, I've been told that our incentive program at work is going to be coming to an end shortly. This kind of upsets me because it was an awesome way to make some extra money to just put directly into savings or aside for our vacation. I've been looking for a way to do this for some time (mainly on the internet, which explains why I've had no luck)... And this opportunity just fell into my lap. Well, it was nice while it lasted, and at least it helped fund our trip to Chicago.

James has been drawing up his new tattoo idea. It's a snake twisted around the Old English I from Every Time I Die. He's actually really great at drawing, I was very surprised because I've never seen him draw something so articulate. I've been contemplating tattoo ideas, too. I was pretty dead set on the one I want, but it's on my side, over my rib cage, and I've been told that it's a little ballsy to head straight there because it's going to hurt like hell. So I might come up with an idea of something else somewhere else to get done first, just so I know I can handle it. After all, I don't want an unfinished tattoo just hanging out on my rib cage.

Gavyn has been doing really well with the potty. We were at Subway the other day and he told me that he had to go potty, so I brought him into the bathroom and set him on the big boy potty and he went by himself. This is the first time he's ever told us that he had to go. Usually, we'll ask him, he'll say yes, and he'll go. But once he starts telling us all the time, we'll start to get somewhere. He's pooped on the potty, too. He's getting there. It's always so bittersweet, but I'm trying not to focus on how heartbreaking it is to see him becoming so independent, and focus more on enjoying these stages... Before it gets to the point where I'm missing all of these phases and stages, too. For a two and a half year old, I'll tell you, he's pretty well-behaved. However, he has been repeating EVERYTHING anyone says. And so, of course, he picked out his favorite and says it often. Damnit. I say it a lot, and it could be A LOT worse, but sometimes it just slips and once it's instilled into his brain, it's very hard to try to get him to understand that he shouldn't say it. We'll get there. Until then, we have to try not to snicker when he says it in his cute little voice.

Well, I feel pretty accomplished because I didn't think I'd get anywhere with this post since I came into it without a thought of what I'd write about. I think I'll end it here though. And with letting you know that Rachel will be going home today. It's unfortunate, I enjoyed having a little stay-at-home nanny who likes playing Left 4 Dead with me when James is sick of it and saying, "Can we just play something else?!" But I am making her some Parmesan Chicken (not the kind you're familiar with), asparagus, and angel hair pasta and herbs tonight and most likely playing some Scattergories (which has recently become my favorite game). SOOO I'll ttyl.