New Years Eve,..Time for deep reflection.....Nah!!!

Well the end of the year 2007 is here. It was a good year. My kids are growing up and becoming a little less dependent on momma and we didnt have any deaths in our family or any major catastrophe with finances or job situations. We are still in the same, too small, house but at least we have one and it is one we can easily afford. I would much rather be a little cramped than stressing over whether we can make the next mortgage payment. We are very blessed and I thank God for his provisions. It is tradition to make resolutions for the New Year but they never seem to get done so I am thinking they are more "I suppose's" than resolutions. You know what I mean, instead of really "resolving" to accomplish something, we are really saying "I suppose" I will lose weight, eat healthier, spend more time with my kids, read my Bible this coming year, etc...
For those of you who are not from the South, I suppose is one of those great old figures of speech we use here. If someone asks you to do something you don't really want to do and really only have intentions of doing if that person persists to bug you about it. Like "Honey will you cut the grass?" and he says "I suppose so......" The job will only get done if the asker keeps asking.
So really when we make resolutions, it has been my experience that we are saying "I suppose" if nothing happens and if conditions are absolutely perfect for and if I remember this in the morning and If anyone else remembers that I said this...I will do this in the New Year. My dear old country, southern grandma used to say "if the creek don't rise", it was kind of the same thing as "I suppose" So it seems to me that instead of a true resolution which implies that I plan to do this as if my life depends on it, we are really only hoping to get this thing done if "the creek don't rise" So I suppose that next year I will try to lose weight, eat better and have more patience with my kids. How about you, what is your New Year's I suppose.....

Old cartoons....the lesser of two evils?

My dd has really developed a love for "old school" cartoons. She loves Tom & Jerry, The Smurfs,
the old MGM cartoons, and many more of the shows now on the Boomerang network. As a kid, I never saw anything wrong with any of these but as a parent, I am not so sure. I never saw the stuff in them that I see now. Like all the negative racial references and negative attitudes towards women. Then you have all the slapstick violence in Tom and Jerry and some of the others. She prefers these over the newer ones. We have never let her watch shows like Hannah Montana and That's So Raven and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody because even though they are fairly clean, they have older kid themes like dating and such and at 5, we think that can wait. We only recently have let her watch Sponge Bob Squarepants because my DH was totally against it. I told him that it does have "bathroom" humor but appears relatively harmless for the most part.
It really is a shame that the deciding what to let your child watch is such a mine field. I know I sound like a prude but I don't want my children being brainwashed into believing that certain behavior is okay because it was shown in a humorous manner. I also don't want to put them in a Christian bubble and have it cruelly "popped" by the real world. We have pretty much stopped watching network TV shows except the stuff they deem "Preschool" shows. It is a shame that the networks think that only Preschoolers need clean wholesome shows that teach good moral values. Apparently now the magic age of being able to handle what use to be considered adult humor is 7, hence the Y7 rating on most "kids" shows. It is a real dilemma for parents who wish to maintain their childlike innocence at least 5 years past that age.
Anyway, those are my thoughts and rantings for today. You do not have to agree with them but Thanks for reading. Have a blessed day!!!

New cool website.....You have got to check this out.

I have a dear friend that lives in Florida and she has always had a talent of beautiful handwriting and a very artistic flair. She has made these "Scripture Pictures" for years for friends and family mostly as gifts. I have seen her work and these are beautiful. She has now started selling her artwork on-line and in craft shows and I just want to give her a plug on my blog. If you have a chance, please take time to check out her website and look at her work. Each "Scripture picture" is handwritten and beautifully made. I am permanently putting her site as a link on mine and hope that she does amazingly well in this ministry and artistic endeavor.
The link is: www.scripturepictures.net

Itching to clean up.....

It is the 29th of December and I am itching to take down all the Christmas stuff and put it all away but Tradition says that we leave it up until New Years day so I guess I will have to wait another couple of days. I am just ready to get all the extra stuff put away. There are a lot of you out there who take all of your gifts after they are opened and arrange them neatly under the tree for another week or so to admire. That is just not in keeping with my mild OCD tendencies. I can handle the packages under the tree as long as they are wrapped and neatly stacked under the tree but when you have open packages and toys there, it just really annoys me. I have already put some of the toys away and all of the clothes away and as soon as I buy some new rubbermaid containers for the little stuff and the new "cutesy Christmas crap" (phrase courtesy of the delightful Scrappy D.) It will be almost done except for the tree and a few more knick knacks. I already tossed the Gingerbread House (don't tell the kids, they haven't missed it yet) We are heading out to the Big Bad Mall today to make some exchanges and returns. I use to love going to the mall but since the kids came along, it seems more like torture than fun. Either the malls are too kid friendly and you can't get your shopping done because the kids are bugging you to go to the kid areas or the mall is too upscale and the kids can't wait to get out of there. I am sure I will regain my appreciation of shopping in a few years when they are older but right now....not so much. My DH was invited to come with and to be honest, I was hoping he would say No thanks so I could go by myself. (Sweet freedom....) But he said SURE! I have one of those guys who actually like the mall and shopping. He hasn't had the joy of shopping squelched by kids. My drama princess (DP) is still doing much better with her behavior but I suspect we will be back at the Doctors office by Monday. Still coughing and congested but not bad enough to need her inhaler yet. I haven't heard any substantial news about my friend's daughter A. yet. She has had some more tests but nothing definite has been determined and her parents are hoping for some answers today. Well that is all the updating for today. Have a great weekend.

Getting old....

I am feeling very old today. I am sleepy and it seems every joint in my body is creaking. I don't feel particularly witty or even very coherent enough to be blogging this morning. But here goes...
We have had a good couple of days with the DP. She was diagnosed with asthma almost a year ago exactly and has been taking Albuterol and Singulair and Zyrtec fairly regularly since. That is when sleep went bye bye in my house. She started complaining about bad dreams and saying that she just couldn't close her eyes and became extremely irritable and starting having outbursts of anger and aggression. Since she has always a bit on the excitable and hyper side, we didn't associate the medicine with the behavior. We just thought it was her. The last month or so has been pretty bad with her asthma and bronchitis and therefore the medicines were stepped up too. She was totally out of control. She was screaming at us and seemed to be unable to control herself. She was up all night long and just seemed to be totally unable to focus on anything. I made the decision to stop all meds except her inhaler and only if she absolutely needed it. There has been an amazing turn around in my girl in the last 5 days. She has become bearable again. She is a typical 5 year old and has an extreme amount of energy but she now seems to be able to sleep and has regained control of her temper and her behavior has improved immensely. I am hoping that it is not just a fluke and that she continues to improve. So far her coughing and congestion seems to be under control with just over the counter meds at night. I am hoping that we can just use the inhaler in the case of emergency. It was a bad situation before because her outbursts and temper tantrums would bring on the coughing and breathing issues and cause her to need the medicine. Pray that she continues to improve. I also want to ask any of my readers out there that are believers to pray for the 15 year old daughter of my very good friends. She had a heart transplant at the age of 3 years old and takes medicines daily for that (immune suppressants and anti-rejection meds along with meds to offset the effects of the other meds). This last 2 weeks she has been running a temperature off and on and has been very week and tired. She was admitted to the hospital the day after Christmas to be on the safe side and has been undergoing some tests. The positive news is that she is not in rejection and her heart appears to be fine but they are still trying to figure out what is wrong. Her parents are strong in their faith but are worried about her. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. Well, that is all for today. Have a blessed day!!!

Its hard to believe that Christmas is over....

There is part of me that is sad that its over and part of me that is relieved. I have really enjoyed this holiday season. I have had the opportunity to catch up with a great friend that I have known for 25 years, I have really enjoyed building on already close family relationships, I have gotten to see my kids have another awesome Christmas where they got to be with their favorite people in the world, My niece and nephews, We all have gained a new member or I should say branch of our family, My future SIL and her family and I have had a two week break from school. My daughter is pretty happy about that part too. We will start back next week but the break has been a good one. The kids have been home for two straight days in a row and have not truly gotten dressed in that time. They have just changed PJs or sweats for clean ones. My favorite part of the Christmas season has been the time with family and friends. I wish we got together more. My kids would live with their cousins if they could. My son is just two but he knows the way to his cousin's house and knows if we don't turn onto their street. Just a few short days to the new year. I hope it is as good as this one has been. My babies are growing up fast but its fun to see how much they change in the course of one year.

Merry Day after Christmas!!!

Christmas has come and gone and we have opened every box and assembled every toy. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed thier "Haul" These last few days have been very educational. Things I have learned:
1. My kids are spoiled.
2. I have not outgrown toys.
3. Lincoln logs are more fun when the kids aren't "helping" and fall over if so much a breath of air hits them
4. Big boys (My Husband and BIL) never "outgrow" race tracks. They played with it more than my little boy.
5. My son and nephews are aspiring "Incredibles" (They all three got these wonderful Mr. Incredible costumes)
6. My BIL loves the word "Leche" and says it whenever possible (My other BIL makes this wonderful cake called "Tres' Leche" and it is awesome but the name really intrigued my other BIL)
7. Fried turkey really is the best.
8. My beautiful niece and daughter are going to be great mommies one day (far, far, far down the road)
9. My sister is "Stalking" the pet stores and truly needs a new "fur baby" as soon as possible.
10. I am a truly blessed woman and I thank GOD for my wonderful family and friends and for sending his son and letting us celebrate his birth every year.
I hope and pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a blessed New Year.

Merry Christmas Eve...

Hi and Merry Christmas to EVERYONE who stops by today. I know it is a busy day for all of you. I have been busy doing some last minute wrapping this morning. I have decided to go ahead and wrap everything this year. There is a reason for my madness. I want some new wrapping paper!!
I am tired of this same old stuff. I stocked up a few years ago, maybe 7 or so and I still have several rolls left. So if I am almost out, I can justify getting more. I would love to get out first thing Weds. morning for all those after Christmas clearances but my DH says he must get straight to work first thing and I have no desire to drag my babies out a the crack of dawn just to get stuff. I am sure there will be some left later that day, if not I will have to pay full price next Christmas.
For those of you following my UPS saga, the tracking website says Out for Delivery!!! Yeah!!! I have to get us all washed up and out to the grocery store for some last minute food purchases for the next few days. We are heading over to my SIL's house in a few hours for a Happy Birthday Jesus party and I need to do some cooking. Tomorrow we are spending the whole morning at home with nothing to do until late afternoon and we will again get together with my DH's family to exchange gifts and eat. My sister and her husband may stop by tomorrow morning sometime.
YEAH, I just had to stop and answer the door, THE UPS MAN ARRIVED!!! He had my last shipment. I just have to say that I am impressed with LeapFrog. They were unable to send one of the games I ordered and sent an apology and a free game 2nd day air. They also included a extra Leap Pad book in my order and when I called, said to just keep it along with the free vhs tape they sent. I am liking that. The free game was one that I had considered buying my girl anyway and my SIL was able to find the missing game for the same price at BestBuy so it all worked out. It is looking like everything is coming together here at the last minute. I am so glad that I am not out in the madness of todays shopping!! I am just going to the local grocery store and even though it will be crowded for our store but nothing like Wallyworld. Well, that's all the updating I have for today. I am guessing there will be no posting tomorrow morning for me! So MERRY CHRISTMAS from my family to yours and please remember to take the time to celebrate the real reason for the holiday. Love to all!!!!

Still no UPS delivery.....

I am still waiting for that last package to show up. It still says it is in Laurel, Md but no longer does it say on time for delivery. That makes me laugh because it now doesn't say when to expect it. Apparently with UPS, if its not there on time, then look for it when you get it. Everyone says that UPS does deliver ground shipments on Christmas Eve so it may come tomorrow. I am not so confident. It is funny that when you call their customer service number it just says basically, we're too busy to talk right now, if you can't find the answer on line, well....sucks to be you (Thank you Lil K' for just the right words to say at this moment) Anyway, all things considered, it all good!
I have had this sneaking suspicion for weeks now that my wonderful MIL (and I say that in all sincerity because I love her like my own mother) has been busy. My SIL and I had this great plan to help her out this year so that she wouldn't spend hours and hours out in the cold, standing in lines and wondering what to get the kids. We bought the toy items for our kids and mom bought them from us and then we knew that she would still buy some clothes but it would save her some hassle. What we weren't bargaining for was the fact that she would still go out and buy them as much as ever (0r more) in addition to the item we got for her. She gave each of them just last week a Christmas decoration to keep. She bought my little man one of his collection of musical plush from the Hallmark store (you know the one they have each year if you buy three cards, this years is really cute with a snowman, a puppy and a baby penguin on a sled) and she gave the DP a collectible Jim Shore creation (it is so beautiful that I have not let her open it but the one time to see it work because I am afraid she will break it and I would love for her to have it when she is old enough to appreciate this beautiful gift). She also gave them both a piece of clothing. We had suspicions when my niece told her that her mom had given away a baby alive doll that she wanted to their Angel Tree child and that she didn't think she was getting one now. Nana apparently told her not to worry, she would take care of it and went out and bought her and the DP one and outfits ($70 later). My SIL found out and let mom know that we already had it taken care of and that she could return hers. Then yesterday, they went shopping together and it was confirmed that mom was still shopping for the kids. I have called PODS to get ours delivered on Monday because apparently NANA CLAUS (I am so proud of my original little nickname that I gave mom 5 years ago) has been so busy that we will need to have some extra room. My DH and I will be moving our bedroom into the POD and then kids will finally take over..... Its all good....I know it sounds like I am complaining but really I am not. I am happy that my kids will have wonderful memories of their Nana and Papa spoiling them rotten at Christmas. Nana and Papa love their "Grands" as they call them and the Grands love them.
My youngest nephew considers papa to be his best friend. At 2 years old he asks to call papa, just to chat. Nana has a special bond with her girls. She loves buying them girly stuff and they love the attention. I am so thankful for my parent in laws. Wow, I started this post thinking I had nothing to say and now I see, as usual, I was wrong.
2 more days til Christmas! I hope you are all enjoying time with friends and family.
Have a blessed day!!!

The countdown is on.....

Good Morning everyone. As you can see from the pictures we did make our cookies and the Gingerbread house. I think it turned out well considering it was our first attempt and that there were many grubby little hands involved. I wouldn't mind getting another one just to do it by myself but that is my perfectionist tendencies coming out. We had fun with the cuzins yesterday and at my future SIL's house last evening. The kids were exhausted. On a positive not though, I have no reason to leave my home today to enter the madness of the Christmas shopping frenzy. I should be cleaning but so far, that is even too adventurous for my couch potato frame of mind today. My DH however seems to be in the mood to accomplish something because he is attempting to clean 15 year old mini-blinds and realizing that the dirt is what is holding them together. Sounds like he will be heading out to his place of choice, his home away from home....Home Depot. I have plans to bargain for the DP (Drama Princess) to have some daddy time and my sweet boy staying home to get a nap with, YOU GUESSED IT!!! MOMMY
I am still waiting on that elusive package from UPS. It says its ON TIME for 12/21 delivery but since it is 12/22, I'm thinking....no so much on time as LATE!!!! My UPS buddy didn't even show up this morning at 8 either. Maybe he knows my husband is home, LOL. I thought I would send him to the door this morning. Well, be get going, the couch awaits.....
Have a blessed day!!!

Big plans for today!!!

Well, you know there are only 4 more days til Christmas!!! Last night I got some me time out shopping for last minute stuff to keep my bottom as far from the shopping centers as possible over the next 5 days. I had to get milk and stuff to decorate cookies with. I made a last minute impulse buy too. My buddy, Legs, has inspired me to try making a gingerbread house (from a KIT!!) with my kids and niece and nephews. I bought two kits. One for our house and one for them to take home. It looks like fun. I also was looking for some cookie cutters last night. Piece of advice...don't wait til Dec. 20th to do this!!. No a one to be found BUT I did find sugar cookie making kit that had 3 in it. I have several but no gingerbread man or even snowman so this was a necessity with the fact we are making gingerbread cookies today. I have decided that with 5 kids, it was not necessary to "make" the cookies from scratch. I have bought the dough made from the sweet little hands of the Pillsbury Doughboy. All we have to do is roll it out, cut, cook and decorate. I know that isn't exactly the spirit of making cookies with the kids but I think they are more interested in the cutting, decorating and subsequent EATING than in measuring out and stir ingredients. Plus that means less dishes for me and since we are all going to a family party tonight after our day together, that is also a big plus!. Anyway, my gray haired buddy showed up this morning bright and early again with one of the two shipments I am suppose to get today. He says he may have another one later for me but that was all for now. The tracking says it is due here today and is on time so I am praying that it makes it. I suspect UPS will not be delivering ground shipments tomorrow or Monday. It has 4 games for the leapster, two of which are gifts for my niece and nephew or else I wouldn't sweat it. Well, better go get the house straighten up and get a shower before the festivities. Gotta take my OCD meds. so I can make it through the whole gingerbread house and cookie making extravaganza. Pray for me....or pray for the kids, that might be a better idea. Have a blessed day. Wonder if Mary was having Braxton Hicks contractions 4 days before her delivery all those years ago, she was on the back of a donkey after all? Just something to think about........

Newly wrapped gifts under the tree....

Last night after the kids went to bed, I finally got some wrapping done. I don't normally wrap my kids stuff, its just placed under the tree on Christmas eve. We have in the past wrapped stuff from Santa and everything from Momma and Daddy was just there but for some reason this year, I wrapped a lot of stuff. This morning, the ever observant drama princess came down and said, Is it Christmas today?!! She and her sidekick were quite disappointed to learn that was not the case. She then asked if there was any scrap paper and proceeded to "wrap" a pile of her current toys and placed them under the tree. About an hour later she said " I think I will open some presents and proceeds to open them but little man did not realize this was all part of the game and proceeded to join in the festivities with gusto. He was dissapointed yet again this morning to learn that yet again, he was being denied the pleasure. He also had a big letdown when the UPS man showed up at 8 am with a package and he was told that he could not have it (he did see the 2 Lmax Leapsters in the box and got excited but since he does not talk that much or that clearly yet, he could not relay the excitement to the DP). I have a theory about my UPS man. He use to come in the evenings about 4 pm but about 3 weeks ago made a delivery about 8 am and "caught" me in my jammies, hair flying and the "sistas" set free. Every since that day, he shows up right at 8 am like clockwork. Now I know I'm just flattering myself that he is doing this on purpose but......at almost 40 and more than a bit full-figured, it's my dream, I can make it as big as I want. He might have gotten a bit of a harsh blow yesterday though because the DP looked out the window when the door bell rung and yelled out "Mom! That guy with the brown truck and "GRAY" crazy hair is here again!!!!" He is a distinguished prematurely gray haired man and like most UPS guys is fairly good looking but to a 5 year old girl, that gray windblowned look isn't quite as impressive as it is to her mom. Anyway, sure hope my Sunday School teacher hasn't started reading my blog. Not that I have anything too risque in here but.... I have a signature line on all my email nowdays that says "Check out my blog". I am hoping he hasn't taken me up on it. Oh well, enough ramblings for today....Have a blessed day
5 more days!!!!!!

School cancelled on account of the cadaver......

Ok you know that we have turned our garage into a classroom for our home school. This has worked great so far until yesterday. my dh said that he noticed mouse trail if you know what I mean in the garage a day or so ago so he set some traps. I heard that distinctive pop yesterday and knew that meant that one of the traps had been triggered. I know its silly but I could not go into the garage from then on because I knew it meant the CARCASS was in there. I am a big scaredy cat when it comes to mice. I just can't stand the idea of the possibility that a mouse could be within the vicinity of my house. I just know that now I will be constantly worried that another one may be out there or even worse have made his way into the house. Just the thought makes my skin crawl.

Parenthood.....

Ok, You are going to laugh. My morning started off well enough. My DH got up with the kids in the middle of the night, he heard our dd coughing and went to check on them and got caught. He crawled into bed with them and got them back to sleep. We all got up around 7:30 ish this morning and everyone was in a pretty good mood. They got their milk and I got my coffee. Everything was going great. Got a shower, got them ready and out the door. That's when things started going wrong. We were on our way to breakfast when we got caught in a bridge lift that lasted forever. We stayed on the bridge for over 30 mins with no boat or ship in sight. After that we were running about 20 mins. late for the breakfast but no problem. We pulled up in front of Lil K's house and got out and were standing on the front porch....Remember that movie, Parenthood? Steve Martin's character asked his son, you feel bad? You want to throw up? and the little boy says ok...BLAHHHHHHH!!!! Well, we reacted that scene with unbelievable accuracy. It was surreal. I told my friends, we won't be coming in. Thanks! We then got back in the van and went to the mall to see Santa. I know that seems kind of bad but I really suspected it was carsickness and not a bug but I did not want to take chances with my friends Christmases, one is on her way out of town to Disney this weekend. She was fine the rest of the day and had a blast. My friend gave us a sleeve of saltine crackers and she ate almost all of them before we got to the mall so I suspect she was just hungry but she did not want to eat before we left home and she has gotten carsick once before on a long drive. Other than that we had a great day.
Have a blessed day!

No time to seriously blog this morning.....

My peep Lil K has invited us to breakfast this morning so I am in a hurry to get a shower but here are a few words. I am taking the kiddos to see Santa Claus today if they behave at the breakfast. They will be the only children there so, I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and praying). Santa is not a priority in our house but I do try to visit him every year and get a picture for as long as my girl will co operate. She lost another tooth last night. She is a cute little snaggle tooth.
Have a blessed day!!!

Photos to share.....

Good morning everybody!!! 8 days and counting to the big day....

Can you tell I'm getting excited! One thing I have noticed about home schooling is that you look forward to days off from school as much as the kids do. I think that's reversed in you "Traditional Schoolers" out there. (LOL, JK, I know you love having the time with your kiddos) I just have SO much time with my kiddos and just me that I look forward to being able to get out and do other things on our down time. I am going to my "peep" Lil K's tomorrow for breakfast (That word "breakfast" sounds vaguely familiar, I thought at first she was speaking in a foreign language but there is a distant memory...) Did I ever tell you how great the "peeps" and other girls are in my life! They are wonderful. I am so blessed with knowing some wonderful women. You know, us girls have a reputation in this world for being petty and catty and unable to get along and sometimes that is the case but when the chips are down, we will be there despite it all. Women have an amazing capacity to nurture each other as well as the men and children in there lives.
They can tell you like it is when you need it and instinctively know to tell you like you want to hear it other times. How many man do you know who would wait in line all night outside of a store to help her friend get a much wanted Wii video game when she already has one for her kids and she is just looking out for you. Now this didn't happen to me but I am very impressed. I do, however, have a wonderful friend who when she heard that I could only find a pink leapster (No, I was not giving it to him but I hoped since I had one in hand at the sell price I could exchange it for the other) for my son, called her store and got them to hold a green one and sent her husband out in the cold, windy weather last night to get it for me. (Thank you, my dear BIL, you know I love you). That friend could have just said, "OH! What a shame, Good luck with that." But she did not. By the way, my other friend did get her kids a Wii that night!!! Yeah!! I am so glad for her. Anyway, did I remind you that there are 8 days til we celebrate the birth of our Lord!!! My kids are excited, I am excited, my husband....well I think he's excited in his own way. This week will be another slow school week for us. My girl has finished her entire reading curriculum for the year so I need to make a trip to the library this week. She is also almost done with her math. She seems to really like math and always wants to do another page so we have doubled up many days. I keep adding extra stuff but I am taking advantage of being ahead this next two weeks. Well, I better get hopping this morning, the kids seem to be sleeping in (since we were up an hour in the middle of the night, I am glad) so maybe I can get some wrapping done.
Have a blessed day!!!

He got more than he bargained for today....

My DH got more than he bargained for today when I said that I needed to run out to the store for a quick check to see if they had a sale item in stock. (Again, in search of a great deal) and to return several items that I had reconsidered or repurchased. BTW, I would highly suggest that people check Amazon.com cause my SIL and I got some awesome deals on stuff we had already purchased and got free shipping and no tax so it was really great. As much as $15.00 savings on just one items. I am now a fan of Amazon. I ran to six different stores and in the end, got groceries and 5 hours later came home. My DH said, I thought you were just running out for a quick exchange. You would think after 8 plus years of marriage, he would have known....Oh well.
I almost got myself asked to leave Toys R Us today. I was standing over in the Leap Frog isle looking for a green leapster for my ds (on sale $20 off the original price) and I wasn't the only one. The isle was full of people taking advantage of the deal. Anyway, I saw several people picking up game cartridges for $24.99 and informed all of them (did I mention that I was a shy, quiet person?....NOT!!!) that Target had all the Leapster cartridges on sale and that they had tons of them just across the street. I also informed several people that they could buy the charger units on LeapFrog.com for $27.99 with free shipping instead of $34.99. I then made my trouble making self to another isle to check on something and told a really nice couple that they could get a $10 coupon in the newspaper for the item that they were purchasing and that there was a newspaper vending machine just outside of the store.
I know that I should just have made my purchases quietly and left the store but I could not keep my mouth shut. I did not spend any extra money today. I actually returned more than I bought for a change. I turned two smaller, cheaper items for my son to get him the Leapster but he and my dh were arguing over my nephew's leapster Friday night and I realized that he was going to be upset that she had one and he did not. Anyway, that was my afternoon today. Well that is it for today. Thanks for checking in.

Is there a 12 step program for people who don't know when to stop buying for their kids?

I'm just wondering....I started off with the best intentions, just a couple of toys a piece, a couple of movies to share and then whatever they got from the grands, aunts and uncles would round it off to a nice sensible Christmas "haul" for the kiddos. Sounds great right....So I made a few purchases and then things went terribly wrong. I got "caught" up in the shopping excitement with my Partner in Crime, you got it,, Super Shopping Mom #2 (or #1 depending on your perspective) better known as my SIL. We do tag team shopping as I mentioned before. When we're done, we keep our eyes open for things to go on sale and if its worth the trip, we repurchase to save more money. It has got so confusing this year wonder who owes who what that we have had to hire a CPA to figure it all out. Our husbands just shake their heads in wonder. I did a mental inventory in my mind today and realized that my kids are getting more than they could need or deserve. Its a good thing my 5 year old knows the "secret" or she would have more to worry about. She knows that mom is a sucker and won't really take everything back since she's been camping out on the naughty list for about.....oh.....5 years now. My boy is a sweetie but has recently been venturing into the terrible twos and in my experience, those last....oh about....well....I'll let you know when the first one gets over them.
Anyway, I think its time to make some decisions. I may have to involve "the boss" but I'm scared.....then he will know what is actually out there and its not all here yet. I've got several shipments coming this week. Its not that I've particularly overspent, its more a matter of values. I really don't want my daughter to think that she is always going to get every single thing she has asked for even to the extent of being ridiculous. Wish me luck....I'll let you know if anything really goes back....

By the way.....

Several people have asked where I got the pictures on the side of my blog. They are pictures that I took at Disney and Sea World in September and the one of the parrot was taken at our Fall Festival at church. I'm not the greatest photographer but I have a wonderful camera and photoshop so sometimes I get lucky.

Draggin this morning.......

Too much fun, too much good food and out too late last night equals one tired blogger this morning. Thank God for spellcheck because I think I need it this time. We had a great time at our friends annual Christmas party last night. Its great getting out without the kids and just being able to talk to other adults with no one grabbing your leg to interrupt. Our friends had all the great foods we have come to expect and it was delicious. The hostess with the mostest gave me a beautiful gift. It is hard to describe but she took a glass brick, you know the kind they build those glass accent walls with in new houses, and drilled a hole just big enough to insert a strand of lights in between the glass. She then put a bow around it (the wide kind) like a gift and when you plug it in, it is beautiful. My SIL, who is VERY handy with power tools, is already making plans to copy it next year. Well, I think coffee is in the cards for me this morning. My huge Minnie Mouse cup is feeling neglected. She is my friend and expects quality time with me every morning before I even acknowledge anyone else. Have a great day. There are just 10 more days to the big day!!!
God bless!

Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold

Today's post is dedicated to my friend. I have posted a picture today with actual people in it but since it is over 20 years old and taken by an old Kodak 110 camera and in lousy light, you really can't tell much. This young lady and I were on the weekend trip of our young life. Its the kind of trip you would never in a million years allow your 17 year old to do in today's world. We were 8 hours from home at a FBLA conference with one other younger girl (I think she was 15) with no chaperone. Our teacher sponsor could not go so she put the three of us with another teacher at a nearby school. However, that teacher had her hands full with a pretty good sized group and since our school had registered late, we go put in a different hotel from the one the conference was located about a mile away. It is really hard to chaperone 3 young ladies when you are in another hotel. We were on our own for the entire weekend. No one to tell us when to go to bed or to even make sure we showed up to the conference. We had a blast. The reason I bring this up this morning is that I have kind of lost touch with this friend over the last few years. She moved "away", this is silly since it is only about 25 mins but it seemed like a world away when I was single and she was married with two kids. We have recently reconnected and it has been wonderful, "chatting" with her via email. We are still in different stages of our journey with our kids but it is almost like those 20 years have never past. She was my best friend in highschool and we did almost everything together. We entered adulthood together and did the "party/club" scene together too. She got married and started a new journey with a great guy and I was still single so there came a fork in the road but this week, that road reconnected and it has been fun catching up. I have some wonderful "peeps" now too but there is just something about those connections made when you were a teenager and young adult that really are dear to your heart. So this post is dedicated to my friend "Legs", LYLAS GIRL!!! (that's 80's slang kids, see there, we started IM's back in the day but it was called "passing notes" back then. Anyway it means Love Ya Like a Sis)

Cheap Gas Prices, Hannah Montan and WebKinz.....

What do these three things have in common? What in the world could I possibly have to say about these things. Well the answer to both questions is NOTHING. I just noticed that yesterday I had a huge jump in the number of hits on my blog and they were not my normal readers (all the thousands of you....or should I say 10's of you.....BTW, I want to give a shout out to my loyal reader in Washington State, I don't know you but HI There!!!). I was wondering what in the world would cause such a jump and it occurred to me that in the content of my ramblings I had mentioned "Britney Spears". I am assuming that since she has been (according to Google) in the top 3 searched phrases for months now, that was the reason. When people Googled her (aren't I the hip mom?) some may have inadvertantly gotten me. What a let down for those people. She and I have so much in common....both blonde, both young (HA, HA, HA), both mothers of two young kids, both insanely rich....oh wait, that was just a dream, sorry...Anyway we are both blonde and moms. Well anyway if you are looking for BS, you can get that here but not the troubled Ms. Spears. On a side note, I do hope she gets things together and turns things around but I think she needs help of the heavenly kind. So anyway this morning the 3 top searched words or phrases were cheap gas prices, Hannah Montana and Webkinz. I really get the cheap gas prices one myself. Do you ever think we'll see those again?
The Hannah Montana thing, I don't get myself but I guess there are a lot of kids out there (I hope its kids and not pervs.). I get the Webkinz thing too. I have a confession...it seems, this is the place for my confessions lately... I love the Webkinz site. I spend time there safe from online predators, playing silly games and decorating my daughters house. What a child at heart I am. Now that I'm pushing 40, you would think I would have outgrown such childish things but I love a good game of "Where's Wuzzy?" Bet you didn't know that about me....Oh well...that's me for today.....We're going to try the kids craft day again, so hopefully my SIL don't get distracted by sales cause we need to get these done before Christmas.....
Have a blessed day!!!!

Professions of love to a telephone customer service rep., Did I cheat on my husband.....

Ah....bet I got your attention with that one. Let me weave a tale of suspense and drama for you. (You may say that it is not so suspenseful or dramatic when you are done but what do you expect from the title of the blog, I'm a stay at home mom not Britney Spears!!! Thank you God for that blessing) Anywho....here we go, strap on your seat belt and keep your feet and hands inside the vehicle at all times....For the last few days I have been checking Leapfrog.com (for you other moms out there, you know what a friend leapfrog products are to parents) Jordan is getting a Leap Pad Read and Write for Christmas and I have bought a couple of books for it and was checking it out to see what else was out there. They had all of them on sale for $3.90 and $4.50 each (They range from 9.99 to 14.99 in the stores so this was a deal with free shipping). But here was the deal to beat it all. They had the Leapster LMax on sale on line in the pink version only for $53.99 and they are normally $89.99. That is a $35.00 savings and they had free shipping. I had already gotten my DD all that she was getting for Christmas but this was an awesome deal and we had talked about getting one in the past. I tried to add it to my cart but it said out of stock so I was checking back every morning when I got on line. Yesterday morning, surprise! They had them in!! I put one in my cart and called my SIL to tell her. She was so excited too that she wanted one for her DD. I changed it to 2 and they were still in stock so I proceeded immediately to checkout. I entered everything and it confirmed that my order was good and when I hit to finish and submit and that's when the conflict started. It said sorry must update quantity, so I changed it back to 1 (thinking oh well) and it went through but when I got to the last screen again, I got message to change quantity. That was unbelievable that it would play with my emotions that way. Anyway, I called their 800 number to complain and hopefully still get them. I was on hold for 20 mins and finally got through. I had a nice English speaking American young man (but that is a rant for another blog about how much I hate calling American based companies and getting CSR's in India). He looked it up and said that he still showed them in stock on the phone order inventory so he would just place the order that way. I was so filled with emotion that I professed undying love for this gentleman. I think he was a bit embarrassed and worried about a future stalker....but I digress. He proceeded with the order, got my info, got my credit card, confirmed the total and.......crash! Now they were no longer available. This really ticked me off, here I gave this guy my love and now he just broke my heart. Anyway, jokes aside, he apologized said that there was nothing that he could do. I had to get off the phone to go to an appointment so I didn't pursue my frustrations but I was very disappointed with Leap Frog. Last evening when we got back home at 5pm, I got online to check again and BANG! They were back in stock only no longer at $53.99, they were "On Sale" for $79.99. To say the least, I was livid. I called customer service again and asked for a supervisor or someone to file a complaint with. The nice (again American, English speaking CSR) took my complaint and told me someone would be in contact in the next couple of days. About 20 mins. later, he called back and said that he had gotten permission to sell me 2 of them for the $53.99 and free shipping. This really restored my confidence in Leap Frog. So my question is, was my profession of love a violation of my marriage commitment? Please let me know your thoughts.
Have a blessed day!!!

Blissful silence.....

Its almost 11pm and the house is quiet. Everyone is asleep but me and it is wonderful not to have any demands being made on my time. The only noise is the clicking of the computer keys and the occasional squealing of little B. man. I have a sneaking suspicion that he is the culprit for my dd and I still being sick for almost 2 weeks. I at first thought it was a cold and now I suspect allergies. This is going to break my girls little heart, but if he is the culprit, he will have to go. I may consider suffering through it for myself but I can not allow her to be constantly relying on her inhaler just to breath without coughing. I really hope that we get some meds in the morning and once they are taken, the symptoms are gone for good. I am really bummed about missing my best girlfriend's annual cookie exchange brunch. I was looking forward to chatting and snacking with the girls. I have just written out 38 Christmas cards tonight and have about 25 more to do but no more tonight. I love letting people that we care about know that we are thinking of them and I love receiving their cards in return but it is a lot of work on top of all the other Christmas chores. It has become even more of a job since the kids came along because there is the picture taking and the processing and the notes of update for so many family. I will be glad to finish. We would have been making some cookies tonight for the exchange but I will postpone that until later in the week. I love Christmas so much, I especially love feeling the excitement in the kids including my niece and nephews. I love watching all the Christmas movies with my kids over and over and over and over.....(by the way, let me just say that in my opinion The Santa Clause 3, The Escape Clause, is the BEST one) Later this week, health permitting, we will be doing craft gifts with my SIL and the kids. We were going to do them last Friday but got so caught up in the shopping and spending time together, that we did not do them. I just realized that I'm rambling on like a to do list....Sorry. Well, lets just say its a busy but happy time of year. Have a great week.
God Bless

There are actually presents under the tree......

I have been sick with a bad cold for the last week or so and it seems to be gettting worse instead of better. I stayed home from church yesterday cause I just felt so icky. I planned on getting some rest while the house was empty and quiet and hopefully fortify myself for the upcoming week. That was the plan.....But then I started realizing it would be a good time to start wrapping some presents and then I noticed that Brownies cage was dirty, then I saw my stack of Christmas cards waiting to be written, then I notice that the bathrooms needed to be cleaned, and it just steamrolled from there. I am trying to get to the doctor today to see if I have bronchitus or just a nasty sinus infection but its looking like it will be tomorrow unless they call me back today. That stinks cause I had a special annual event tomorrow that I do not want to miss. I am bummed, but both I and my girl need to see our doctor. It stinks. Lets hope that I get that call. On the upside though, we are far enough ahead of schedule with school, I am going to make it a slow week and just do a few things to keep my girl from thinking that she's getting a week off.
Have a blessed day!

New reality video series.....

My SIL and I need to consider a new reality video series...You've all heard about the notorious "Girls gone wild" videos. Well we need to pull out the camera the next time we decide to take ALL 5 kids (one 8yr old, two 5 year olds, and 2 two year olds) out shopping. If you have kids you know how difficult it is to take them anywhere in public. I mean, you have to do it but if you can find anyway to avoid it, you do. Well, we discussed and realized that it was our kids first venture into the wild and woolly world of retail sales in several months. She, like me, had decided that it was too difficult to deal with kids while shopping and had avoided it too. We had the idea on Friday afternoon that we could run out with all five of the little boogers to Sam's club, just long enough to look at exactly 2 items. We get there and there was a much needed potty break, a diaper change, and then finally we got to look at the first of the two items. Well, with 3 of the 5 out of the carts, the younger two wanted to get out too. Me, being the bigger sucker gave in to some big brown eyes with big old crocodile tears. So she had to set the other free. We then have 5 little....angels, who had been locked down for too long, running free. It was on.....Then I, yes did I mention that I was a sucker, said well, lets let them look at the toy isle. No, she did not kill me with a look. We hit that isle and it was time for the fun to kick into high gear. We had 5 kids with 5 different interests. One needed to see trucks, one needed to check out to see if they had any Star Wars stuff, one was crazy about one doll and one was crazy about the other and one was having a meltdown to get a chest full of princess dress up clothes, yep, you got it, my son. "Momma, I want prisspriss" (that's 2 year old for princess in our house). My daughter informed me that she WAS getting that doll, right NOW! (yeah, sure you are) and NOT waiting til Christmas. Oh yeah..good times. Then we hadn't had quite enough of the fun when we ran next door to Wally world to grab some soft drinks real quick and then here we go again, they had WEBKINZ, the equivalent of pure heaven to an 8 and 5 year old girl. They also had that horse...you know, Butterscotch, the one my daughter has wanted for 2 years now and will NEVER own. It is a $269 toy that will hold her interest all of the time it takes to find out how to insert the batteries. We had the umpteenth discussion about this subject and then my 2 year old nephew decides to sing in the loudest voice you have ever heard " I will, I will, I will serve the Lord" . Apparently this song only has one verse and must be sung in full out scream fashion. He sung this song for about 10 mins. straight. This nephew of mine will one day be the next Martin Luther King, Jr. and his cousin will have some where to wear all his tiaras when his cousin is honored. Like I said, we could make millions, KIDS GONE WILD, Walmart, Kids Gone Wild, Sams Club....Kids Gone Wild, Target.......

Did I Miss Something????

I have watched all the videos and dvds, I have read all the books on the subject and I nowhere in all the information that I have accumulated have I heard that Santa made his list checked it twice, bought everything for Christmas and then repurchased it 3 more times.....I think I got it all wrong. I had finished almost all my kids Christmas shopping about 3 weeks ago. I was pretty much done.
But then Black Friday and Cyber Monday came and every started going down. I know you think I have wasted more time by repurchasing the items at the lower price but when you have 4-5 items at a 5-25 savings, I feel it is worth it. Then, the retailers started getting desperate and started including special bundles certain of the really popular toys and sweetened the price too, well then you have to repurchase to get the extras since they are now freebies. There is such a strategy to my Christmas shopping that it is not logical to the average person. You need to delve deep into the mind of the wife of Mr. Thrifty Mc Thrift. Every purchase needs to be a bargain beyond compare. So you purchase a lot of toys at a high price, he's frustrated, right...Then you start to bring the price down a little by repurchasing...He still thinks you bought to much but at least the price is better....You repurchase the third time and then the price is really good and they got bonus stuff, he's impressed.....See........Method to my madness? Just madness? You decided.

I got to sleep all night.....go sleep...its your birthday... go sleep......

Can you hear the shear joy in my title. My dd and ds were truly down for the count last night and even though I have a bit of a cold, I was able to get 7 straight hours of uninterrupted snoozing. I am a happy camper. Today we are going to have a short day of school and go to my SIL's house for some quality time and ornament making with the kids. I count it as school since it is the equivalent of arts and crafts class. We will be covered from head to toe in glitter and I am sure we will be stressed beyond belief by the time the day is over but happy. I just love spending time with my SIL and my niece and nephews. We have a lot of fun together and the kids adore each other. We also may make a trip out into the wild world of retailers. It is getting scary out there. Besides the normal nutcases out shopping you now have 14 year olds shooting women for their purses or teenagers upset over loosing their job at Mickey D's deciding to commit suicide and "go out in style". I have to say, it upsets me to know that kids are so messed up so young that they take these measures. I just pray that my DH and I are doing all we need to help our kids develop an appreciation for life and themselves and to know that regardless of how bad things seem, this is not the answer. I use to just say that the parents of these kids must just be terrible, but I now that I am a parent, I realize that you can love a child with all your heart and that is not enough. You have to spend time developing their character with them and in the process refining your own. I know in my own heart that I don't want my kids to react to things the way I did when I was younger. I know that my character is being refined by God through my kids because now I have to think twice about what I say and how I react to things. I know today has gotten just as preachy as yesterday but I guess it's not just all laughs and giggles. Raising kids is serious business.
On the lighter side, just want to say, my son is determined that plastic snakes are appropriate Christmas decorations. They found their way back on the tree yesterday. "Deck the halls with snakes and spiders, fa la la la la la la la la......"
Life is good...
Have a blessed day

It can't be said enough.....

I know that I am jumping on the pulpit with my dear friend Lorrie and I don't want to be a copycat but her blog yesterday (if you would like to read it just click on my link, Ramblings of a Slightly Demented SAHM) really got me spun up. I too have had more than I can take of this politically correct, don't offend anyone, keep everyone happy country we are living in. In my opinion, and since you are reading my blog, you are always going to get my opinion, it is just a kick in the teeth to everything this country was founded on. Yes, this country was founded by people seeking to worship God in the way they felt the Bible said they should. Yes, we should be a country that accepts people and their beliefs and respects their right to worship, I have NO problem with that. Unless their beliefs mean that they feel the need to destroy everything I hold dear. My God has been good to this world. He created us (No, I do not believe in this silly from the goo, to the zoo, to you theory of macro evolution, if this were so, then I should have about six arms by now since mothers should have evolved to meet the needs of their offspring) He provided us with the natural resources and the brains to develop them (the fact that we overdevelop and destroy more than we create is all on us though). He also gave us free will so that we were not little puppets that only moved at His command. He hasn't asked for much in return. He even sent his Son to be born, serve and died on a cross for the sins of each of us. Even if you don't believe that, then I should always have the right to and to celebrate His son's birth on December 25. The celebration is called CHRISTMAS. I am not trying to tell anyone that they can't celebrate whatever holidays they want but As for me and my house we will celebrate Christ's birth. I will not argue with those who say that its not his actual birthday, because that may be so but it is the day that we celebrate as a collection of believers in His birth. To be honest, I celebrate everyday that He came and died for my sins. There are those who believe in Christ that think Christmas has become too commercial and that we should not support the commercialism. Maybe we do take it too far and it has become polluted with greed and avarice but that doesn't mean we should just give in and quietly celebrate behind closed doors. Celebrate whatever holiday you want, but respect my right to celebrate Christmas and stop trying to make everything politically correct. That is an oxymoron anyway, if it is political then you can guarantee it is NOT correct. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Were you boxed cereal or bag?

This post is not your normal "Life with my kids" fare. This memory of a past "inside joke" hit me last night while grocery shopping. When I was single, there were a group of us that did just about everything together. We had a CHUM house (Christian Home for Unwed Men) that had 4 of our best male buddies rooming together and a CHUG house (Christian Home for Unwed Girls) that had 3 single ladies (only 2 of which that were really part of the group but the third was a really nice girl, she just was too busy with her other friends to hang much). The rest of us singles who dwelled alone would congregate at one house or the other for much fun. There was even a married couple with two cute little girls that hung with us too (they were the chaperones) One time there was a hurricane bearing down on our area and a lot of us gathered at the CHUG house to wait it out. There were people everywhere. Several of us ladies got into a conversation about how much the guys just seemed to be drawn to Chrissy (she was the other girl roommate that already had a boyfriend and was rarely around) It seemed that they just loved being in her presence. One of us and I don't remember which, said that Chrissy was like a boxed cereal and the rest of us were bag cereal. You know what I mean. In the grocery store cereal isle, there is the boxed cereal, the high dollar named brand with the flashy box, the special prize included, the high profile Mascot...and then there is the bag cereal, in a nondescript bag with a name just enough different to not infringe on copyright laws and if it had a mascot, you had no idea of his name. Chrissy was the boxed cereal, the one that every kid wanted because it had all the high dollar advertising. We were the bag cereals, the ones that were equally as nutritious, equally (well that is a matter of opinion but for this illustration) tasty, and a whole lot less and you got a lot more for your money. Do you remember when you were a kid and your mom would sneak and buy the bag cereal and use it to refill the boxes? Most kids could not tell the difference. We decided this was the way it was with guys. So my question to you today, were you a boxed cereal? Speaking as a former bag cereal myself, I am glad that my guy never fell for the lure of a flashy boxed cereal. Besides did you ever notice that it was the bag cereal guys that chased the box cereals the hardest? Some of those guys weren't even the good bagged cereals. Some of them were the ones that just came in the black and white bags that said "Fruit flavored rings" or "Crispy rice puffs". You know the ones your mom wouldn't even try to slip past you. Anyway, that is my thought for the day. Teach your kids to appreciate bag cereals, you'll thank yourself later. LOL

Please note the correction that must be made: Susan (one of the room mates) corrected me and she is absolutely right. They did not want to be the CHUG house since that had some other connotations like Chugging beer. They decided on the CHAW house, Christian Home for Available Women. Thank you, Susan for helping my memory.

Sleep...my dear friend, where have you gone?

For all you more experienced moms out there, please tell me, when can I expect to sleep again?
My kids have been sleeping through the night since they were 5 and 8 weeks old individually. But the problem is that in our family of 5, and our house of 3 bedrooms, they have to share a room. They have chosen to sleep in the same bed. Regardless of how often we move one to the other bed, they seem to make their way back to each other. I am thrilled that they are so close that they want to be together but unfortunately this means their sleep patterns are tied together. If one wakes up, the both wake up. If one wets the bed, they both need to be cleaned up. This also means they are definitely going to share any germs and viruses because if one sneezes, the other gets sprayed. I think my DD would sleep later but my DS wakes her up every morning about 7am.
I think my DS would go to sleep earlier but my DD keeps him up playing til well after 9:30 (even though they are in bed at 8) every night. I know I am whining but I need some sleep. You can't ride this thrill ride called motherhood on 4-5 hours sleep. Then it seems the night they both crash hard and sleep through, I have some issue (like a cold or something) that keeps me awake. I really have a lot of admiration for those brave (if crazy) women who have as many as 4 0r more kids. They don't get to sleep for over 10 years or more. Maybe I like sleep too much. Maybe I should just say farewell to my friend. I just don't want to.
Sleep, my dear friend, I miss you terribly. Please don't forget me. One day, and I hope it is soon, we will be reunited........
Have a blessed day!!!

You know you've watched too many Disney movies when....

You catch all the tongue in cheek references to other Disney movies. We were watching The Santa Clause Trilogy (LOL) last night (actually we only have two of the three but I will be getting the 3rd one as soon as I pick up a rain check from my SIL to get it cheap, you know me, ever the thrifty shopper). Anyway in the second one the "fake" Santa tells the real one "You're a sad, strange little man".....get it? If not, you have not achieved the level of Disney freakdom that my family has. I know one man that probably gets it. He is quite the fan. I would be willing to bet that he looks for hidden Mickey's in his own house. I think he has thought about going to court to change his name to Walt Disney but his wife put her foot down. Anyway, I sure get off topic easy don't I? That is the line the same actor uses in Toy Story when Buzz Lightyear and Woody are under the car fighting. We also have noticed that several movies, our Non-Disney contraband, please don't tell the mouse or we will be kicked out of the clubhouse and lose our ears, have used classic Disney lines like "Mr. Grumpy gills", I have heard that one several times. You know, before we had kids, I could quote scenes from other movies but now it seems that the only movies that I get to see are kids movies. We actually get excited when a new one comes out. We have developed quite the collection of DVDs over the last 5 years. You know, before our daughter came, I could not understand why anyone would spend $15-$20 on purchasing a DVD that they would only watch one or two times. Now that I have kids, I get it. You swear that you will never let your kids be "babysat" by the TV when they are in the planning phase but when they are actually here, you (or I did anyway) change your mind. You will do anything for 70 mins. of peace. You play the same movie over and over again if it makes them happy. You also realize that kids don't watch movies like we do. They don't sit down and veg out in front of the TV (or mine don't anyway). They act it out, run and play and maybe only "watch" 15 mins. of the movie. I think that is why they have to see them 487 times. Some of you probably think, That lady has NO life. That is not true, I have quite an exciting life. There isn't a dull moment. I would love some dull moments.....where there were no noses to wipe, bottoms to change, movies to put on, games to play, schoolwork to do, fights to referee, errands to run, appointments to keep, the list is endless. I better get going. Can't let the fun start without me.

Snakes on a tree......

Ok, this is a shocking realization for me this morning. I am sitting here and realizing that I have totally lost control of my Christmas tree. Was it just 5 years ago that I had a beautiful tree with white lights and tasteful, matching ornaments? Well that year I agreed that for the sake of my DD and DH, we could switch to colored lights. From there on, it has been downhill....We started adding ornaments that the kids picked out and those beautiful "back of the tree" ornaments that my kids look so hurt if they are not front and center. I will never forget last year when my boy was 18 mos old. He had seen his big sister come home from church with Christmas themed art projects for weeks. The Sunday before Christmas, I picked him up and he was holding a piece of paper in his had like it was a treasure beyond measure. It was a large piece of paper about 10 inches long and about 4 inches wide. It was a black and white picture of baby Jesus cut out of a coloring page. It had the words "Baby Jesus" in black marker written on it and my little Picaso had "colored" on it with blue crayon. They had taken it and punched a hole through the top and put a piece of red curly ribbon through it to make an "ornament". I am not criticizing the person who came up with this because in a room of 15 t0 18 toddlers ranging in age from 14 mos to 2 years, that is a GREAT craft. My boy gently cradle this ornament all the way home sitting in his car seat and when he came in the house, tried his best to manuever his fat little toddler fingers to place it on the tree. He was so proud that he had made an ornament for the tree. Did that ornament get placed in the back of the tree? NO. Is it on the back of the tree this year? NO (it is on the side of the tree that you dont see from the front door though). I now have many such ornaments. Apparently the ENTIRE month of December is ornamental craft month at our church. But this morning took the cake when I discovered that one of my kids had hung plastic snakes on the tree. I draw the line at PLASTIC SNAKES!!! I want to encourage their creativity but that is going too far. Well better get ready for church. They have ornaments to make......

My baby is growing up.....

Yes, today my daughter was eating an apple and her first tooth came out. The one next to it is loose too. My baby is officially a big kid now, I guess. Such drama. You would think she had lost an arm or something. I even had to post a picture.

Time to decompress and recharge with my girls...

Last night was just that for me. I had a night out with the girls. Were we partying, drinking and carousing?.....no way! We were "cropping". For anyone that doesn't know what that is (and I mean my loyal male readers, all ONE of you), it is Scrapbooking. This is just an excuse to get together with my some of my bestest girlfriends to chat and snack and just enjoy each other's company. After a week of schooling and wiping noses, this was a well needed break. My buddy, Scrappy D was visiting for the weekend and was there to inspire and amuse. She had a funny story about almost missing her plane. I won't go into all of it because that is material for her blog but for me the funniest part is that she parked her husband's car (she left the van with him for the weekend) in a park and ride lot at the airport and has absolutely no idea where....She said he would be driving the 45 mins from their home to the airport just to look for it this weekend. I just can imagine the colorful words he will be using while looking and I don't think "Holy Cannelloni" (apparently Scrappy D's favorite) will be one of them. I got home around 12:10 and got in bed about 12:20, was just dosing off at 12:30ish when my bedroom door opened and startle me with my 5 year old informing me that daddy forgot to make her go potty before bed and that she had an accident. Since the kids have taken to sleeping in the one bed together, we had two kids disposed while I strip the bed and change the sheets and daddy got the girl cleaned up. We made it back to bed around 1 am and they were up bright and early this morning at 7ish. My big girl has a swim meet today. 4hours of waiting for 4 mins. of actual swim time. What joy!

The snots-a-flying in my house.....

Isn't that a good title? Doesn't it make you want to read? No?.... well DO IT ANYWAY!!! You gotta love it when your kids get colds. At 5 and 2 years, my two darlings are still learning the finer points of "cold etiquette" My 5 year is much better but she also has that being a girl thing going for her and doesn't like being "Icky" but my boy is just not getting it. He sneezes and a big ole nasty wad of gooey, icky, slimy mucus flies out and lands.....Wherever it darn well wants too. (Did my very descriptive adjectives give you the mental picture? BTW, its not green, Thank GOD!) As a parent, you have to hope you are present to hear or see the sneeze so you know where to run with the tissue and Clorox wipes (tissue for the kid and wipes for the target). There is nothing worse than not knowing about the flying projectile until you actually put your hand in it later.
These are the memories that last a lifetime........hmmmm.....You gotta love motherhood!

A shout out to FedEx!!!!

I just want to dedicate this post to Federal Express. I am so impressed by them. I have had deliveries from UPS ground before that arrived at my local delivery center and sat 4 days waiting until the "expected delivery" date until it showed up to my house. Apparently they have no intention of getting it to you any faster than what you paid for regardless of how soon it actually makes it to its destination. But FedEx is unbelievable. They get it to you the same day it arrives at their delivery center regardless of how late they have to get there to do it. I had a Christmas present come yesterday for the kids that I ordered with JCPenney's online (Free Shipping, GOTTA LOVE THAT!). I ordered it on Cyber Monday and they sent it FedEx ground (which should mean a minimum of 4 days delivery time). The tracking site said it was out for delivery yesterday but by 8pm, I decided it wasn't coming last night. WRONG! The doorbell rang at 9:15pm and a very tired looking FedEx man had two big boxes for me. 9:15!!!! Can you believe that? FedEx RAWWWWKS!!!

Things that make you go Hmmm.....

No Arsenio Hall is not coming back to late night TV. I was reading the news about some of the things criminals do to escape being captured. The guy that jumped in a pond full of alligators to avoid police and got eatened though takes the cake. I remember numerous stories of criminals trying to enter or exit a home through the chimney and getting stuck. There was even one case in England where apparently the homeowners left him there or the house was empty (they weren't sure which) and the guy died in there, stuck. They didn't discover it til years later when the new owners had the chimney cleaned while remodeling the old home and discover his remains still wedged in there. What really amazes me is that people actually seem to be shocked that someone could be so dumb as to do these things. They are petty low end criminals to begin with not rocket scientists or even the more successful white collar criminals. There was even one guy lately who was robbing a convenience store and got caught when he was trying to run out the door, his baggy pants (you know the ones we all love to hate, where the waist is hanging down to the knees to begin with) fell down and he tripped over them, fell to ground and knocked himself out. You have to just laugh. I know this blog is off my normal topic but I just have to say Hmmmm...
BTW, I got a very important piece of advice from a friend of mine that turned 43 yesterday. She said to make sure that you go to the bathroom first thing in the morning after that particular birthday, apparently at that particular age, if you cough with a full bladder....well, you can figure out the rest.....I hated to tell her that 43 wasn't the magic age and that she was lucky to have made it that far. I think that motherhood does that to you. You get so use to "holding" it that you eventually loose all control. Laughing, coughing, hiccuping, and yes, even blinking is just too much stress on that particular muscle....Why do you think the bladder control industry is booming and I don't mean Huggies and Pampers. Happy Belated Birthday to my "Gangsta Peep", Flava K!!!!!

So many changes....

I know that my blog has been in major flux for the last week or so. It started when I deleted it by mistake and I have been trying to get it right since. In the meantime, my laptop was at HP for some last minute warranty tweaks (I won't say repairs since it wasn't really broken). My one year warranty runs out on Dec 24Th so I just wanted to make sure it was up to snuff before that date. I have been tweaking my banner for a while now and I think I finally have a Christmas one that I like and that is the right size. Sizing this thing to fit the page was quite a chore. I had one that was good, the one that was there yesterday, but a friend called it to my attention that it was not completely visible unless you had a wide screen computer (which is what I was looking at it on). I realized that I had deleted the original and I wasn't completely happy with it anyway so when I re sized it, I started over. I will not make any promises but I plan to keep this one through the holidays. I know some people think these ads are annoying but every time someone clicks on one or googles something from my website, I get paid. We figured that since it was free money, what the heck. So there you are. Website is no longer under construction.
Have a great night!

Writer's block or is my brain just fried from spending too much time with my kids?

This morning, I am sitting here trying to think of something witty or funny to write about and I am just hitting a big fat old brick wall. I can't think of a single funny thing that happened yesterday or anything interesting to prattle on about. I got groceries last night and didn't do anything to catch security's attention (that was a subject of another rant). I taught my five year old yesterday and other than being completely uncooperative (despite her pinkie swear to the contrary), nothing really interesting happened. I changed several diapers....some interesting stuff there but not for good blogging material. I cleaned out the guinea pig cage, again not for good blogging material other than the fact it occurred to me that if I saw that much rodent poop at any other time or location in my life, I would need to be hospitalized from the sheer panic it would cause. I spent some time on the phone with my SIL but we didn't discuss anything blog worthy. My husband didn't provide any complaining material for me, other than working on his laptop last night so I could not use it. (Mine should be back tomorrow!!! Yeah!!!) I took pictures of the kids for Christmas cards and that was fairly frustrating but unfortunately too fresh to laugh about at this time, the trauma of the memories are causing tremors as I type. Let's just say, Clothes: $60, Shoes and accessories $40, Prop stuffed animals $20, Time setting up background, 1 hour....Pictures: WORTHLESS!!! (Well I did get one that I am using but not my best work). Not only that but I burned the edited copy to disk and when I got to Walmart to have them printed up, their reader could not see the pictures (I guess I didn't have the computer format the disk so that all computers could read it). Again, Too fresh.....
Well, for someone with writer's block, I sure did type a lot stuff in this post. Probably not that interesting but a post nonetheless.
Have a Blessed Day!!!

Christmas ornaments that play sound bytes.....Why oh why?

Good morning all of the three of you who read my blog daily. This morning's whine (so get your cheese out for a tasty snack) is about my Christmas decorations. Must be the season cause I just read my peachy friend's blog and she is talking about the same subject. This is my rant. Over the last 6 years we have purchased a lot of Hallmark ornaments. Each year we get both of our kids one that tells where they were that year in their likes. You know that most of the Hallmark ornaments have lights or sound or something and it seems that 99% of ours do. Our daughter has had a love affair with Rudolph the red nose reindeer for several years now and we have now 6 ornaments with sound bytes from the movie. My husband loved The Phantom of the Opera and it was one of our first dates so we have a ornament with a scene from that and it has a sound byte and we have a few others like this also. We also have several dancing, singing stuffed animals and stockings. My kids favorite pastime this last 3 days has been pushing every button on every decoration and creating a symphony of music. Gotta love it. In addition to the normal insanity of life with 2 young kids (the running, the jumping, the singing, the fighting, the endless array of Disney movies on the DVD player and the endless array of noisy, beeping, singing toys) we have added in the last 3 days the noise from these decorations and the occasional squealing of a guinea pig. I feel like I am on sensory overload. I hear these songs and other noises in my sleep, I sing them in the showers, I even sing them while using the "potty" ( I know, TMI!) I bet if my life was a sitcom with a theme song it would be one of these sound bytes. We have also gone through a resurgence of the Veggie Tales videos. My two year old has discovered them and really loves a particular one with a lot of different songs on it. He wants to watch it over and over. He loves the song "Modern Major General" (I'm not sure if that is the official name but if you know the song you would recognize this). It is a song that is highly repetitive and very fast beat. Can a mom get a moment of silence? You know, when I was in school, I hated it when we had to have a moment of silence every morning after the pledge. It was the longest "moment" of the day. I would pay major denaro for a moment of silence now that I am a mom. OK, that is all of the whine I have today. Thank you for listening (or reading I should say).
Have a blessed day!

Brownie

We have a new member of our family....

Yesterday was a busy day. We went to church and actually made it at a reasonable lateness and not extremely late. We went to lunch with my sister to my favorite Mexican restaurant and had some yummy crab and shrimp enchiladas. Soooo tasty. Even my husband who is not a big fan of Mexican food, said that he would order that next time. My husband is a very picky eater and will not try new things but I encouraged him to try mine and he did and really liked it. We will be finishing up our turkey tonight but needed a break yesterday. We got the tree finished, THE ONE and ONLY tree for those who have a tree in every room and YOU know who you are. I considered putting one in the classroom and it still may get put up but I have to send the man out to the shed to get it so we'll see. Anyway, back to the subject of today's blog, our new addition. We have been discussing a pet for our kids for 2 years now. My daughter loves animals and has wanted a dog forever. I just am not ready for that kind of responsibility again and my husband wasn't ready for the financial obligation (LOL) and he got so attached to the last three dogs in his life and hated when he lost them to old age. Anywho, we talked it over with a vet friend of ours and she recommended we get a guinea pig. She said they were great for kids and had little upkeep other than cleaning the cage every other day or so. So yesterday, we went looking at the local petshop and saw the cutest little baby guinea pig. He was so calm and sweet and our girl (and her mom) kind of fell for him. So after some major negotiation with daddy and some really intense begging and pinky swearing (about behavior), we walked out of the pet store with "Brownie" I feel I can put his name in here and not violate my agreement with my cybersafety cop, my husband. There may even be a picture of the little "B" man soon, since I have big plans to actually take Christmas pictures of my kids today so I can get my cards out in the mail soon. I am almost completely finished with my shopping. I need to get one more nephew something and get gifts for our Nasty Santa exchange and I will be done. Sounds great doesn't it. Jealous aren't you! Don't hate.....I'm sure I'll have a epiphany and realize that I have missed about 80 people that I must buy for......Well that is all the updating for today....
Have a blessed day!!!

I need help.....

This morning at 5:20 am, picture it...The kids are sleeping soundly (for a change)...The hubby has gotten up early to watch TV (since it is the only time he can watch the news in peace)...I have the entire bed to myself to stretch out and get 3 more hours of sleep and ......do I? NO!!! Thoughts of the day and Christmas decorating and shopping enter my head and I am trying to figure out how I am going to make room for our Christmas tree in our toyfilled (is that a word?) family room. I am mentally rearranging all the furniture, marking off what needs to get out for good, and thinking of what I could do to place the tree in a "safe" spot (you know free from the possibility of being bumped in the frenzy of playing that goes on every day in this house). Then thoughts go to the stores and what to get for the birthday party we are going to today. Next thing I know, I am wide awake and thinking that maybe the next 3 hours of kid-free time would be better spent preparing for trauma of decorating and doing damage control. So here I am now wondering why I am out of bed when my eyes are so heavy they can barely stay open and on the computer instead of "doing" any of what I got up to do. Like I said earlier...l need help...

Black Friday....To shop or not to shop,..THAT is the question!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Our family had a wonderful time together and my brother in law asked his girlfriend to become his wife. It was a wonderful day. By next Thanksgiving, I will have a new sister and she is a sweetie. They also will be living over here in the boonies (lol) near us. I can't wait til the nieces and nephews start coming. We also met his future in laws and they are wonderful people. It was just a great day of fun. We found out that SOME of us ARE indeed smarter than 5th graders. We found out that our new family members Wii often and well. Some of us were crushed in bowling. The newly affianced lady found that her "Rock" helped her get 6 strikes in a row but wasn't willing to share to improve our games. One of us "old school" in laws found that he had mad skills at virtual baseball and was quite obnoxious about it (LOL). The kids had a blast playing together and we had enough food to feed a small army. We thank our God for the bounty and his blessings.
Today was "Black Friday". It started early when our girl woke up with dreams of vampires getting her at 3:30 am. This worked out well for my husband since he was leaving at 4ish to go get some bargains for me. I worked "dispatch" this year at the squad room while he made the raids on Wal-mart, Sams, Target, Macy's, etc. He was. however, unwilling to attempt ToysRus
without serious backup. We got several gifts taken care of though and he was back home by 8:30 am. We had a lazy day here after that.
Tomorrow will be the big day of decorating in our household. What joy, what stress! But when its all said and done, Christmas will officially be here for our family.
Well that's about all the updating I have energy for today.
Have a blessed day.