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.

The turkey's in the oven and the sun isnt up yet.....

It is 5:30 am on Thanksgiving morning and I have a big cup of java in my favorite cup (my Minnie Mouse one that holds more coffee than I care to admit to drinking). The turkey is in the oven and I am cooking sweet taters for my world famous (just kidding) sweet potato souffle'. I have had a special request from my beautiful niece for some grandma style lima beans (the secret is letting them cook forever and putting in a little bit of sugar) When an eight year old requests a vegetable because she loves it, you just can't refuse. I am also trying a new recipe from the newspaper for individual pineapple upside down cakes made in a muffin pan so that each one has a pineapple ring with a cherry in the middle. It looked so cute and tasty that I hope it turns out as good as it looked. My SIL and "Mom" are taking care of the biggies (the turkey and ham) so I am bringing bunches of side items. The turkey in the oven is for my family to have turkey leftovers over the weekend. The kids are so excited about seeing their favorite people today. My daughter and niece have already made plans for a play date for their kids (LOL, their baby alive dolls, Veronica and Christie). My "Dad" is hopefully cooking the collards. It is a tradition. We are meeting some new hopefully future family members today so pray that all the kids are on their best behavior. Not to mention their MOMS, lol, my SIL knows what I mean. We have a tendency when we get together to have a lot of silliness. I am sure my sweet husband has a nap chair already in mind. He won't admit to it but I know he is planning a nap. My brother is hoping someone offers to let him watch football. The weather is suppose to be fairly warm today and hopefully nice so maybe there will be a walk after the big lunch/dinner so that we can make room for dessert. Can you tell I am excited about Thanksgiving dinner with my family. This is one of my favorite days of the year. Not for the food but for the time with some of my favorite people in this world, MY FAMILY!!!!
God Bless!

Thankfulness.....

There are so many things that I am thankful for and this is just the short list.
1. My God and His mercy that I get the blessings He has given and not the ones I deserve.
2. My husband and kids and again that I got the ones He gave me not the ones I deserve (LOL)
3. My family and the my husband's family. I got the best set of "in-laws" available and hopefully will have one more in the future..... I love my "Mom" and "Dad" and my other brothers and sister.
I love my niece and nephews like my own kids only they don't interfere with my sleep so that makes them even better.
4. My Gangsta peeps (you know who you are) and the other wonderful ladies that have been my friends for many years. I thank God that each and every one of you have been brought into my life and I love all of you.
5. My country, because with all of its problems, I would not live anywhere else. I pray that this is always the case since the citizens of this great country seemed determined to drive God out of it.
6. My home and the fact that we have what we need if not always what we want.
7. My husband's job and the fact that he has one.
Like I said this is the short list but I think it covers most of the biggies.
I hope that everyone that has bothered to stop by and read this has a wonderful Thanksgiving and gets to be with the ones they love.
God Bless

Blonde moments.....

I am officially a ditsy blonde today. I was in my google account trying my best to fix something and in frustration decided to close account and start over, not realizing at that moment that I was closing my blog account also. So my other blog is shut down. It is nice to know that I had loyal readers because I did this and my good friend WH called me not five minutes later to say, hey girl, what happened to your blog. The only problem is that all those five or ten readers I had in other states who don't know me will not get the email telling them the new address. Sorry for those guys. I know they will be absolutely heartbroken and inconsolable at the lost of their favorite nutty housewife. I actually had some loyal readers in Nevada, California and Mississippi. I only know this because my Analytics account told me exactly where my hits were coming from. I love that counter. It is so much better than just a basic one. So, here I am starting from scratch yet again. I have started and ended too many blogs. I won't go into discussion about that one but some of you know what I mean. I will endeavor to not mess this one up. I have to keep it safe and not post pictures of my kids (That was one requirement of my sweet hubby) and keep it clean, LOL. No more postings about my shopping habits at Walmart.
So here we are starting over again, please stick with me folks, I will try to control my blonde moments in the future. I will get my custom banner back on when my wonderful laptop comes back from the shop (My one year warranty was close to being up and several of my keys were getting kind of funky acting so it went off yesterday for some free service work). My husband's laptop doesn't have Photoshop or any of my cool digital scrapbooking downloads on it so I can't make a new one til it gets back.
Have a blessed day guys!!!!