Two Pine Trees

Just shoot me down now. Apparently I'm a sinner of the worst kind. I am a woman, who has hyphenated her last name. Forgive me my transgression for honoring my husband's family and mine. I will wear my scarlet letter now, but do I put W-H on my shirts for Woman Hyphenator or just the H? I'm so confused. Geez, the British have done it for ages, but a girl from North Carolina, born and bred, I guess I crossed a line much worse than The Mason-Dixon line. Sorry, I didn't mean to hyphenate again, but after 33 years of being an Alford-Carman, it comes easy to me, scarlet woman that I am. Long story short, my husband and I discussed my hyphenation pathology prior to marriage. The man was totally cool with it, having two sisters and an absolute loving respect for his own mother. With our children, we followed tradition, lest we resort to calling everyone "Hey you!" after two generations of hyphenating. I mean, imagine roll call, or attendance with "Maria Alford-...

Ah, vacation with the family. Video's of togetherness and loving moments shared. Places you've explored and people that you meet. These are a few of my favorite things, until dinner time, events, and any sort of "me time" that you might need for the sake of sanity alone. I did more dishes on our last vacation than I've done in most weeks at home. I also did laundry, and while nobody made me do it, I didn't want to come home with a weeks worth of smelly clothes that would trail it's unique bouquet through the car and the house. Mama needs a vacation from the vacation. I may be wrong, but I think most Moms' do. When we were child free, vacation was no hassle, there were no sleeping schedules or feeding schedules to worry about. The hubby and I could meander and explore without the stress of worrying that someone would fall off of Mile High Swinging Bridge, or into the Thames, depending on where we were fortunate enough to be. Baby one came and our car ...