Halloween - for tricks or treats? - Guest Blogger Amanda

Guest Blogger Today!

Please meet my friend Amanda from The Forever Endeavor.  I've known Amanda since high school. She is very loving and kind person. I don't think I've met anyone else in this world that has a bigger heart than this lady. She is a Newly Wed and married her high school sweat heart. I even went to homecoming with them on their first date. She has the cutest new blog and a new blogger. Although, not a mother yet, she plans on making babies in the next year or so. Don't give her too many baby horror stories. Since it's coming up on Halloween, she had a great cute post, and I asked her if I could have her as a guest on Mountain Mum. 

Please welcome Amanda to the blogging world and leave her some love @ The Forever Endeavor

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This year the discussion of dressing up has come up again between my husband and me. He really wants us both to go as 80's prom zombies. And every time he brings it up I can't help but to have the same image in my head every single time.

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie "Mean Girls" but it's one of my all time faves. It's got some of the greatest one liners EVER!

Boo, you whore!

I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me... but I can't help it that I'm so popular.

And my personal favorite

Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.

Well it just so happens that when I think of Halloween and dressing up, I also always think of this scene; where Cady(played by Lindsay Lohan), the new student who has lived in Africa her whole life and has been home schooled up until now, walks into her new friend's party looking like this:

Because her new "friends" neglected to tell her that once you reach a certain age, dressing up for Halloween isn't about being scary and most creative anymore, it's about who can out skank each other. In fact, her exact words are:

In the real world, Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of it! I have a picture to prove it

Not my finest moment, but for that night, it was fun. Bryan bought it for me, and I'm not sure if it was supposed to be some kind of nurse or dominatrix woman? In 2005 we weren't even old enough to go out to the bars, so we went to a local house party, and even though I felt like I looked good, I still felt completely ridiculous. I mean, what would my parents say if they saw me like this?!

Now, flash forward four years, and this is what I wore last year

[please don't mind the creeper to my left, that's my husband, dressed up like a crazy psycho killer clown that just escaped from jail]

This costume was the product of a last minute decision to go out to the local bars for Halloween and not feeling comfortable enough to wear something skimpy like I did once before. And if you're wondering I was a Seahawks fan... lame.

I guess my point to all of this is, if you've got it, flaunt it, but is it necessary to show alllllll your secrets? Since it's not so cool to dress like a "ex wife" as Lindsay calls herself in the movie, it's totally fun and acceptable to feel pretty and sexy, but some of the outfits have just gone so incredibly overboard. I don't want this come across like I am judging, and I'm sure the argument will be made that it's just one night, but I guess I just don't get it. I just find it humorous that the movie is completely right in saying that this is the one night that girls can dress like complete - ahem- sluts, and no other girls can say anything about it.

With that being said, this post was not meant to step on any one's toes, I'm just simply expressing my personal opinion. I hope that my costume this year is super cute and still tasteful, something in between my nurse outfit and half-assed attempt last year. If everything goes according to plan and I'm able to find every part of the costume that I need, here's a hint :) Stay tuned for pictures from Halloween weekend, we will be attending a wedding reception that is being held on October 30th and is costume themed. I'm kind of excited for this one!

<3 Amanda

My butt hurts

Got back into yoga today. My butt hurts but im feeling good. Cheers to all the mamas out there getting in shape.

Tomorrow guest blogger from the forever endeavor. Its a great post. Stop by tomorrow.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Meal Plan Monday

Sunday: 

Isabel's 3rd Birthday (Mack's Cousin)

Monday:

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

Tuesday:

BLTA's and Salad

Wednesday:

Beef Stew and Bread

Thursday: 

Steak, potatoes, and Salad

Friday:

Pizza

Saturday:

Bake M&M Cookies for Bake Sale and Mack's

Preschool

Leftovers

Sunday: Fish N Chips w/ Salad

Busy, Busy weekend. I'm sorting through all of the photos tonight from the weekend. We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday, (local elementary school). Mack's cousin's 3rd birthday party was on Sunday. All of the kids had so much fun. I have tons of photos that I will be posting of the party. 

Thankful Thursday - My Cousin an Addiction Survivor

My cousin is 3 1/2 years older than me. His name is Michael James Ruth. He was like my big brother growing up. He used to make me do the craziest things that would make my mother freak out. For insistence, my cousin thought it would be a brilliant idea to take my training wheels off at the age of two and push me down the street and let go. My mom would freak, and little mikey would say, "It's ok aunty Teri, Kristina can do it watch." I would go for awhile and then crash. 

When we got older he moved away to oak harbor in puget sound of Washington. I didn't see his as much, but when I did see him it was so fun. We would wrestle to the point where I might of been crying and yelling uncle. Besides that we had a lot of fun together. 

When they moved to Washington to California, I begged and pleaded my dad if I could go and visit. They were living in Incline Village at the time in Lake Tahoe. When I first came to Tahoe I fell in love. I knew that I wanted to move here. From there on out, I came for several years leading to the ending of my senior year. I decided then that I would be moving to Lake Tahoe, California and go to college there. My Aunt Dee and Uncle Bruce and cousin Mike came up for my high school graduation and my cousin Mike and I would be making the drive down with my car full to California. This was in 2005.

A year or so later, my cousin Mike had a back injury at work. He went to the doctor as any of us would and he was prescribed oxy cotton and other severe pain meds. I think the other one was methadone. (ya the drug they wean you off heroin with.) Mike took those for a year or so and it turned to something even harder, cocaine and eventually the death drug I call it, heroin. 

It was scrarey to see my cousin all dopped up on heroin, because you knew he was gone for awhile and it was heroin, so to speak, that was talking to you. It wasn't my cousin Mike. My cousin lied, stole, and hurt his family over the drug heroin. However, there was still some of him there left. Even if he was doped up and I needed help, he would be there if I called. He would pull me out of the snow or if I needed anything. Moving a couple of boxes.

Mike was eventually entered and exited rehab several times in the last couple of years due to his addiction. One of the times he came out clean and then he doped himself up so much that he overdosed and was brought back to life by CPR. By this point it was clear that none of us could watch him, my aunt and uncle's marriage would be shattered, he just needed help that none of us could give him. 

He then was packed up and shipped off to this rehab in Honduras. HONDURAS! Ya kinda of out there. However, I know my cousin says it's not the best place, and it sucked. I believe this place really did change him and make him better. I know it was a shady place, and it wasn't ideal, but when he came back he was clean, healthy looking, and starting to look like Mike again.

My cousin was never encouraged as much as he should have been. He was always told he was a fuck up and that he would never amount to anything. He proved everyone wrong, when he came back rehab. He took him awhile to figure out what he really wanted to do. He decided that he wanted to go to culinary school, (my cuz is the best damn cook), and pursue a career in the kitchen and be a chief one day.  He studied hard, despite what every thought if he could do it or not, and in October 2009 he graduated culinary school and was so close to being a valedictorian of his class. He still graduated with his class with honors and attendance awards.

Me and the cousin after graduation ceremony

All in all, my cousin is doing great. It's been 2 years since he has came back from rehab in Honduras, and he is still clean. 

Cousin receiving his diploma from culinary school

My cousin is an addiction survivor and I'm proud of him.

I have my cousin back.  

62.. My cousin's addiction survival 

63. My cousin's presence back in my life

64. Sobriety 

65. Family Bonds

66. Diet coke

67. Fall leaves 

68. Pumpkin pie

69. Glass of Red Wine

Wordless Wednesday

I love being a mom and going to a place to just play with Mackenna. This is from this last weekend. We go to this place called the Kidzone. It's an indoor facility for your kids to just go and play. It's great for us since we live in the mountains for a snowy day and we get bored at home. Here are a couple of quick snaps I got with my phone. 

First Ever Giveaway... Hot Mama Handbags

* Closed *
Hot Mama Handbags by Maranda 

I ran into Maranda's Hot Mama Handbags through a fellow blogger and just fell in love with her Etsy shop. She does awesome work. I bought my hot mama bag in August and just love it. I dumped the diaper bag and now using just my hot mama bag. When I received my hot mama bag in the mail, I first looked at it and said to myself that this could not be hand made. It is so well stitched and it holds all of my crap.

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My Hot Mama Bag

Inside

My stuff

Mackenna's stuff

You can fit a lot into this little hot mama bag and still look stylish without lugging around that large diaper bag.

Giveaway

Maranda has a great offer to my readers. She is offering free shipping and a wipee dipee clutch with an order over $50. Which is such a good deal. Please make sure to stop by her Etsy Shop and start to drool over her stuff. If you want to take part in this awesome offer, please make sure that you mention you are from Mountain Mum. This special giveaway to my readers has a 1 week time limit and closes Monday 9pm PST 10/18. 

Free with $50 purchase. 

While you are here, please vote for me and make sure to follow me if you are new.