i can't stop eating peaches.

(more spacing janky-ness included within. i'm at a total loss. anyone know a trick i don't? geez!)

so the title of this post has absolutely zero to do with the content, but that doesn't make it any less true.

i adore fresh peaches and strawberries. i practically live on them during the summer ... and if i'm feeling particularly dangerous, i'll put 'em over a bowl of chocolate cheerios. major YUM.

but anyway.

we've been all kinds of busy the last week or two.

basically it's: pool, cartoons, pool, ice cream, pool, cake pops, pool, sonic, pool, mall, pool.

it's totally a tough life, but somebody's gotta do it.

in the three weeks i've been out of school, i've managed to cook FIVE real dinners, which as pathetic as it might sound, is actually a rather vast improvement for my sorry self. hubby is mucho impressed. (and don't even act a little bit surprised that i've cashed in on that approval by burning the dust off my trusty ol' gap card. ha!)

i've also tried to do lots of extra fun things with my precious wild woman that we don't ever have time (or for me ... energy) to do during the school year. one category of insanity activities that occupies a permanent spot atop that list is working together in the kitchen.

i'ma just keep it real for a sec, y'all - we all know the only thing i'm really good at in the kitchen is cleaning it. and pouring a diet dr. pepper. everything else is a total craps shoot. so adding an iron-willed, eye-rolling, smack-talking, 3-going-on-13 year old priss to the mix is (all but) guaranteed to end with one, or usually both, of us cussing and in tears.

however.

i'm beyond determined to be fun mommy this summer.

so. i was way past thrilled to see the dipped marshmallows pop up on jenna's blog a couple of weeks ago since it looked easy enough even for me and my significant lack of skillzz. (yep. totally went there. ha!)

(p.s. head over and sign up for jenna's commenting challenge!!! it starts today!)



my obsessively compulsive side took a back seat for this project and actually let the wild woman skewer the marshmallows all by herself. i don't know why it surprised me to find that she's just as particular as her mama - any rejects that accidentally got poked all the way through had to be eaten immediately as they weren't acceptable for further involvement in the process. duh.

we had a BLAST making these, and they were super yummy.

i think we're down to about a dozen left in the freezer (we made almost 40!), and we'll both be sad when they're gone. they (and the construction process!) were most definitely slacker mommy approved. yay!

that same night, since i figured sister girl would be distracted with the unlimited access to mass quantities of sugar, i snuck taggie into the washing machine.

for the first time in more than 5 months. (sick. nasty. gross. i know. i just keep telling myself that each new germ is only helping to bolster her immune system. gag me.)

i thought i'd gotten away with pulling a fast one.

until.



i found sweet thang with her ear pressed to the washer and asking in her most pitiful, whimpering voice, 'taaaaggggiiieeeee are you IN THERE?!??'

no amount of chocolate or caramel was diverting her attention once she realized what had happened.

so she camped out through rounds of wash, rinse, drain, spin and dry.

needless to say, my popularity took major hits that night. and for several nights to come. she still clutches taggie in fear every time i walk in the room.

i'm sure this will become yet another item on her talk to my therapist about all the ways my mom screwed me up before i hit kindergarten list. fo' sho'.

switching gears a little bit - have i talked to y'all since i started running? (i'm thinking so ... remember the whole working out or working people over thing? running shorts or prison orange? caught up? fantastic!)

apparently i'm too exercise stupid to even be able to run around in circles (err, ovals ...) without hurting myself.



(excuse the photo. i know feet are grody. especially mine. ick. necessary evil though.)

my left ankle has declared a mutiny.

that weird bone thingy that pokes out the side of my ankle has all but seceded from the rest of my foot and claimed its independence. that sucker HURTS. all. the. time.

i can walk fairly decently if i really concentrate, but any kind of turn or rotation while bearing weight on that foot is MURDER. and it's sore to the touch too.

i had it x-rayed, but of course that showed a whole lot of zilch. the doc thought maybe a small stress fracture? i'm trying to take it easy for a while in the hopes all will be well enough for me to get back to the track. otherwise, i'm afraid there will only be more injuries. to others. truth.

the lack of exercise went to my head last weekend, and i showed my severe lack of good sense by suggesting we take the wild woman to chuck e. cheese. on a sunday afternoon.

this sweet child o' mine has hit a growth spurt lately and is turning into such a kid. it's fun and sad all at the same time. (check out those long legs!) part of my motivation behind taking her to see the giant rat was to fend off some of the early onset mom guilt i was feeling about heading out of town the next morning.

my youngest sister is heading up to the hill this fall, so i took advantage of their trip to orientation to sneak in a quick visit to one of my favorite places in the world. (somebody please let me know if you ever figure out why on earth we decided to leave?!)

dad checked in as hannah's guest and got a nifty little alumni ribbon to go with his nametag. i totally wanted one too but couldn't really justify him having to spend another $50 to register me all in the name of a ribbon that cost less than a quarter.

so i just grabbed one off the table while they weren't looking.



and no. i'm not kidding. i gave that university 4 years of my life. the LEAST they can give me is a freakin' ribbon.

of course, having the fancy ribbons didn't mean we actually went to any of the orientation sessions. (who really goes to those anyway?!)

we dropped my sister's butt off with her obnoxious, overly-enthusiastic (no offense - i think they tell them to be that way!) group leader and got ourselves down to dickson - jose's to be exact - for a few fruity frozen treats.




i just love a good father-daughter bonding session.

especially when it involves mango, limes and tequila. truth.



we had dinner on the square at hugo's (thanks a bunch to sweet michelle for the tip!! we LOVED it!) with my fantastic roommate hogtrnr, her cutie boyfriend and her sweet neighbor. i was too busy stuffing my face with a mushroom swiss burger to document the occasion with photos - plus it was WAY dark in there. (it is my official statement that my two large mango margaritas had NOTHING to do with this oversight.)

the sister was finished with her stuff about 9:30, so we picked her up and headed the long way back to our hotel.



that view never gets old, y'all.

and neither do the memories of the countless hours i spent in the basement of the broyles center working in the training room.

we caught up with one of the former trainers who made the comment that my current work with small children isn't all that far removed from the way it was when i worked with athletes. ha!

that was a SPECIAL group - players, trainers and staff - that i doubt will ever be replicated. love 'em!!

now. y'all please prepare yourselves for what you're about to see.

seriously. it's no joke.

proceed with extreme caution....

umm, told ya. apparently i'm not quite as bad-A as i'd like to think.

two margaritas, my super comfy granny nightgown and a full night's sleep and i STILL looked like i'd been hit (repeatedly) by a truck carrying a full load of UGLY. ha!

took more than a little dust it to correct that kind of atrocity. dannnng.

fear not, though - i cleaned myself up significantly before heading out in public.



dad and i wandered around campus for a while and soon found ourselves back at the stadium and the little razorback museum inside the athletic complex.



the boot!

i still have ZERO love for lucky state. sorry. that's just one sec relative i'll never be able to get along with. they're like that trashy cousin who wears too much eyeliner and hairspray and shorts that are too tight and talks all the time about crap nobody cares about ... wait. was i talking about myself or someone else? never mind - don't answer that.

moving on.



this is one of the pictures mounted inside the case showing all the memorabilia from the hogs' trips to the orange bowl.

the most notable of which (against all odds - we KILLED oklahoma) took place in 1978 when a certain shumaker i know and love played starting center for our beloved razorbacks.

that's right, y'all - dad is famous!



or something like that.

see that dude laying on the ground like a turtle with only his head showing in the photo? yah. that's totally rcs. in all his glory.

when i questioned him about being face down on the turf, he assured me it was acceptable because - see that guy in the dark jersey falling down like he got hit by a bus? well he did. and that bus was rickey shu!



from there we left and found my (small yet still significant ... or so i think) claim to fame ... senior walk!

(don't ask me why it won't rotate - i haven't a clue.)

it wasn't long before it was time to head back home, and while i hated to leave the hill, i was definitely anxious to get back to my girl and her furry brothers. and their daddy - as long as i didn't come home to his nasty socks balled up on the bar next to the couch. (our current fight. GAG. boys are gross.) ... just kidding, honey! (sorta. pick UP your stuff, yo. much love - your sweet wife.)

the only part of the trip i didn't love was this.



it's a long 242 mile drive when you've got a couple of passengers sawing logs next to and behind you. and they tended to get a little narrow-minded when i jacked up the tunes, which is really the only way i can enjoy a road trip.

next time i'm gonna get brave and take the wild woman with me. gotta raise 'em right, y'all.

love & happy 4th!!!