1st Annual Team Gibbons - 4th of July Celebration

This weekend was our 1st Annual Team Gibbons 4th of July Celebration!  Another SUCCESSFUL event for our growing blended family!

G2 hitching a piggy back ride on C4.

Events on military bases tend to be VERY structured.  At our nearby base, if you want to put up a canopy then you have to rent a spot in "tent city".  We have a white canopy which helps reflect the sun AWAY and that also has 4 walls of netting. LOVE LOVE LOVE our canopy!

We were able to have a front row seat to the parachute performance by the US Army Black Daggers!

As you can imagine --- we spent 10 minutes staring into the sky to watch the parachute show!! Thank goodness for my sunglasses!

H3 and G2 had a beat box competition and C4 wanted HELP to escape from his dad and brother.

 G2 even had a guitar solo to the music performances!

G2 made new friends and played a little Pokemon!

They even played a little football -- GREAT ACTION SHOT G2!!!

C4 and H3 played cards...

and attempted to play Boggle.... but spent 20 minutes trying to fix the boggle game and then gave up!

Once the Boggle game was fixed, H3 decided to play the game with his own rules.  In the picture below H3 is tracing the words with his fingers and counting each as he goes.  Trust me when I say his count of 85,000 was slightly exaggerated.

The fireworks started about 20 minutes earlier than the base schedule indicated.  So much for the structure of a military base!!!  Perhaps the drizzling of rain is what encouraged them to start the fireworks finale earlier...

My favorite picture of the night is the one you can barely see of all three of my boys together watching the fireworks....  #PricelessMoments #TeamGibbons

Well this is another item scratched off our 2015 Summer Bucket List.  Now onto our next item --- I wonder what it will be?!?!

We Deactivated Our Facebook Accounts!

We did it!  H3 and I deactivated our individual Facebook accounts! 

Some of you may know that H3 and I were recently married.  Since we have children from other relationships we decided to devote all of our time blending our two families together and developed a list of 10 things to do over the summer.

Once we started living together, we became obviously aware of the amount of time that we spent checking our Facebook newsfeed or new comments to posts throughout the day.

In addition, to checking updates, there were numerous intense trending topics that were popping up across timelines in the political, religion and even racial arenas. Luckily H3 and I are like minded in numerous topics and frequently talk openly and calmly about these topics. On facebook however the line of right or wrong is drawn and either you agree with others opinions (even if you don't agree) or you are WRONG. Some of these topics tend to get very intense and if you get to wrapped into it --- it can consume you.

I personally don't see some topics (politics/religion) as right or wrong.  It is about perception. I think one way and you may think another way and that is what makes us different. Running the country is like running a business. The Board of Directors of a company has a strategic plan just as each political party does.

Another reason that we are stepping away from Facebook (a "hiatus" as I call it) is to get in touch with friends and family on a more personal level.  Talking by phone, handwriting messages and sending postcards while traveling are things that we want to do more frequently.  We speak to immediate family very frequently and even send postcards to them when we are traveling but felt it was important to broaden our reach to all of our friends and family and to share it with the kids too!

I will say that we will keep our individual accounts deactivated.  Once we return to Facebook we will be using our joint facebook account that we created just before we married.

10 Things To Accomplish Summer 2015

Our family summer theme this year is --- Blending.

As some of your may know H3 and I are newlyweds.  Since we each have children from previous relationships we made the executive decision to spend the summer blending our beautiful family, haters and all!

We have given this a lot of thought and here is our list of 10 things to accomplish over this summer that we believe we help us accomplish our goal!

1. Deactivate our individual Facebook accounts

2. Decrease the amount of TV shows that we dedicate our DVR to.

3. Start a new tradition for our new family

4. Convince H3 that he needs work on his smoked brisket recipe and offer to be his outbreak money /  taste tester. :)

5. Take at least ONE trip to the beach

6. Family walk at least twice a week in the evenings - including Cadence!

7. Start AND COMPLETE a furniture project.

8. Attend our first 4th of July celebration as a blended family.

9. Play Foot Golf .

10. Go fishing as a family.

As we accomplish each of our summer goals I will add another blog post and link it to the corresponding goal.

GPS Hell! #HateTheSlash

Today, GPS systems, regardless of stand alone or via app are vital to our transportation needs and have become more and more robust over the years. It is an excellent tool that has made my family vacations and commutes to unfamiliar areas worry-free and making the big folding map and three feet by two feet Atlas book obsolete.   YEAH FOR THAT!!!

Sometimes this wonderful tool can be very ANNOYING.  Until recently the only thing that I personally thought to be bothersome, but excusable, about a typical trip using a GPS was that it could misinterpret where your vehicle was when you were too close to other streets or on big city interstate intersection like the famous Spaghetti Junction in Atlanta, Georgia, which is formally named the "Tom Moreland Interchange".  As you can see from the picture below, it is very easy and understandable for the confusion to exist.

Spaghetti Junction, Atlanta GA

Now that we have determined that there are excusable "glitches" lets talk about the annoying inexcusable glitches...

What is up with all these multiple street names for the same road????  On a recent commute to a larger city near me, while using my GPS, via Google Maps, I discovered the MULTIPLE STREET NAME GLITCH!  

Does this happen to you??????????????????

It makes absolutely no sense to me that the exit that I am about to take should have 5 names associated with it.  Will that street have five different names throughout the course of it's existence??? Sure that is most definitely possible! Do I need to know EVERY ONE OF THEM before they are even 5, 10 or even 20 miles from me??? NO, I DO NOT!!!

Help me spread the word to rid the GPS world of the INEXCUSABLE SLASH! #HateTheSlash

Why All The Damn Cups!!!!!

Can anybody else relate to this image???  
I cannot stand for different cups to be used throughout the day by ONE individual.
(image below says it all...)

It can get a little difficult keeping up with which cup belongs to who especially if everybody is drinking the same thing and all the cups are the same....

These are the glasses my family insist on using.

It is also difficult to determine who's cup belongs to who even if they all have a different drink when the cups they insist on using are glasses that are dark in color.  Can you guess what is in each of the glasses below???   Maybe it is water, kool aid, or lemonade.

Can you guess what is in each glass above?

I decided I was going to assign cups to everybody.  Many of the suggestions I discovered were to assign certain cup color to each person. I agree color cups are the best solution for most families but in my family I have 3 kids; my 40 year old husband, our oldest who is 20 and our youngest who is 10. Since our ages are spread across multiple decades and because the above glasses turned me away from any cup that has a color, I believe the best solution to be a Tervis design cup!

Perfect solution to unknown cups

You can buy them just about any department store and even Bed Bath and Beyond but I actually bought mine at the actual Tervis boutique store in downtown historic Savannah while on my mini honeymoon last month. It is right across the street from The Lady's and Sons restaurant owned by Paula Deen.  You can't miss it!!!

We Got Married In Jail!!!!

We did it!  We went down the aisle!  Well actually, we went through metal detectors after my purse was searched but not before we had to return all four of our cell phones we had unknowingly "smuggled" in with us back to the car.  Yep - you guessed it, we were married in JAIL!  

Before you judge me...... 

Neither myself nor H3 (my Hot and Handsome honey/Husband) were in jail. The office/court to get married at locally is at the "County Detention Center". It is open 24/7/365 so it is like a southern Vegas without all the glitz and glamour plus you can wear jeans!!!!  

The lady that married us was the sweetest soft spoken person who was also the local Magistrate Clerk. She innocently laughed as we jokingly teased each other about how we should kiss.  I suggested "church tongue" just as Drew Barrymore stated in the 80s flick, 'The Wedding Singer'. Then to add to the humor of where we were, I asked if I could arrange for my new husband to be left behind in one of the available "rooms" - which gave our oldest open opportunity to tease us about conjugal visits.  The sweet lady of course laughed then said, "nope - you have to take him with you and there are NO returns." Funny, my mother-in-law said the same thing soon after we met.

Our official anniversary date is now 5/15/15.  We choose this day for numerous reasons... 

(1) 51515 is a cool set of numbers!

(2) 51515 is the same backwards and forwards!

(3) 5/15/2015 destiny number is "1" which is one of the best days to marry in numerology regardless of your own destiny birth number.  Destiny number:  5+1+5+2+0+1+5 = 19.  1+9 = 10, 1+0 = 1.

(4) We love each other!

(5) Are each others best friend and soulmate!

(6) Our families love our spouse!

(7) In our heart of hearts we knew it was the best day for us!

Top Three Annoying Things - May 2015

Pet Peeves.... the things that we just cannot tolerate and what annoys us the most.  We all have them, and some even more than others.  Trust me when I say; I have a lot of them.  The top most annoying pet peeves for this month are....

1. I cannot stand for people to ask nosey questions that have no rational or necessity for them to know the answer to it. 

Examples:
Q1: Why is that DVD in your car? 
Nice response:  Because I forgot to take it out.
What I thought:  Why are you asking me that? This is my car not yours and it is none of your business.

Q2 (Rebuttal to Q1): Why is the DVD even in the car?
Nice response: Because I took it to a friends house so they could watch it.
What I thought:  Ask me one more question about this and see what happens.  Nosey Ass! 

2. I cannot stand certain sounds. 

For some reason, I am sensitive to certain sounds sometimes only in certain situations.  I think there is an actual medical condition for it --- but I have not looked into it.

Examples:

• Potato chip bags - In my house, you have to put you snacks in a small container.  DO NOT EAT CHIPS OUT OF THE BAG!  Ugh!!!
• Repetitive tapping - Pens or fingernails tapping against books or tabletops over and over and over. 
• Toddler tantrums - Ugh --- I cannot stand when toddlers throw tantrums in the middle of the store.  Then the parents just ignore them and I have to tolerate it.  I just want to smack the parents and say --- Beat their butts or take your ass home and come back without your kid.  Don't get me wrong --- I understand people of all ages can have bad days but you know the difference between tantrum and moody.  Frankly tantrums are a failure of a parent not the child.
• There are so many more --- but this all I am going to include here.

3. I cannot stand bad tables manners. 
It amazes me how many children, teens and even adults have bad table manners - ESPECIALLY IN PUBLIC SITUATIONS.  I am not talking 5 star restaurants etiquette where you need to know the placement and usage for each of the 20+ in the place setting - I am talking table etiquette 101 basics.

Examples:

• Licking your fingers is just plain nasty.  Use a freaking napkin.
• Eating non finger food with you fingers.  I know there are some foods that are questionable and could be eaten either with fingers or utensils, but I have seen some inexcusable finger usage for entrees.  Have you seen someone eat pastas with their fingers (meat sauce and all)?  How about someone tear a piece of steak with their fingers, dip it in sauce and eat it? Neither are a sight that I particularly want to see.  I have even suggested to use the utensils in both of these situations and got a it's to much of a hassle.  Using a fork and knife is a hassle?!?!  (words I never thought I would hear uttered).
• Knife cutting skills that look as if you are auditioning for 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.  It's more than likely already dead ---- ease up.
• Talking with your mouth full of food.  This is plain and simple---Do not talk with you mouth full.  I don't know how many times my mother reminded me of this when I was younger.  (Thank you Mom!)
• Chewing with your mouth open - Yuk.  I don't want to get front row seats to your "see food diet" so close your lips.  It is not that hard!  Reminder your self each time you take a bit.
• there are so many more --- but I will leave it for a later posts.

I will say this --- table manners are CRUCIAL in corporate America.  When you climb the corporate ladder and have executive lunch events or even interviews --- I guarantee, no matter how well written your resume is or how experienced you are, if you do not have basics table manners you will NOT be the chosen candidate.  Leaders are expected to be well rounded and that includes table manners.

So what are you thoughts?  What bugs you?

~BB

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Finally! A Name That Works!

I cannot believe how difficult it was to select a name for this blog. I wanted a name that was a representation of how I view myself not the bipolar bitch that others may see me as, besides bipolar bitch was taken.

I bogged down my browser with every social media website available in an attempt to find the perfect combination of words.  If the name was available at Blogger than it was taken on Gmail.  If it was available on Twitter than GoDaddy did not have the website to match.  Hours later I had not created one damn account.  Can you imagine the frustration?!? You would not believe the obnoxious and potentially offensive names I started to type into these websites just to find a combination that worked and was able to catch the reader's attention.

Finally I settled on the word blunt.  You have to admit, blunt is far more pleasant than bitch.  It encompasses so many of my apparent characteristics like insensitive, to the point, crass, abrasive, painfully truthful and on and on.  Don't get me wrong, I am not harsh 24/7.  I have a caring and compassionate side too.  Often this type of personality is referred to as "Type A", but that is another story for a later post.

I finished up the combination of words by selecting "brunette" for my hair color and because frankly I did not want to be known as the blunt "mom", "neighbor", friend" or "Floridan" and besides all of those options where taken too.

So there you have it. The Blunt Brunette has arrived to entertain the world.  Join me for a front row seat to opinionated, abrupt and sometimes unceremonious remarks about random daily situations. You'll never know what will be coming next!

Feel free to reach out to me for my opinion and reviews or just to comment on what you think of the Blunt Brunette!

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