House cleaning gone awry......

Yesterday was one of those days when my urge to clean and organize outweighed my abilities and common sense. For those of you who read my crazy writings on a regular basis, you know that for months I whined and complained about the fact that my sweet husband was dragging his feet in the painting department. Well, he finally did get it done and we got all the tape down about a week or so before the wedding and our trip. I have not been feeling up to putting up the curtains and all the pictures and knick knacks since our return, but yesterday, since I was feeling better, I got that urge to restore my downstairs. The very first thing I decided to do was get a huge mirror that was going to go over my couch and put that up. My first mistake was in thinking that I could do this. Now, not being a stupid woman (oh shut up Lorrie!), I smartly determined that this was a very heavy mirror and it needed to be hung from a stud in order to stay on the wall.
I went into my husband's tools (big mistake! HUGE!) and got his measuring tape and stud finder (many jokes come to mind with this one, but I digress) and a couple of other things. I intelligently measured the distance between the hanging thingys on the back of the mirror and took the stud finder/laser level into the livingroom to tackle this project. I used the stud finder to find a stud in the first spot and put in a pretty large screw (I did say this mirror was huge and heavy). I used the laser lever to shoot a beam to the other side of the wall and used the measuring tape and placed a pencil mark exactly 49 inches away. All was going great! I got the stud finder to find another stud on or near the pencil mark and found one....or so I thought...turns out...NOT SO MUCH.....anyway, not being one to give up, I tried again two more times creating a total of 4 holes in the freshly spackled and painted wall.
Even my kids realized the folly of my actions! I got several comments such as "Oh, momma! Daddy's gonna be mad!" and my personal favorite "You're going to get a spanking!" (Like he'd even consider it!) I got the spackle out and did some repairing, turns out I'm not so good at that!
Anyway, when my DH came home that evening he came into the house and those little traitors were all too eager to find out if Momma was going to get a spanking. They ran up to daddy and each grabbed a hand and said "Look what momma did!"
That's when I got the ever favorite, "thoroughly discussed with YOU!" look and that condenscending "Why did you do that?" along with "Why didn't you just wait for me" and finished off with a healthy dose of "Let me just fix this immediately so that you can feel like a complete moron even though it took me 6 months to originally paint this room" cold shoulder.....I'd have preferred the spanking!
You better believe the next time those little angels do something wrong, I'm going to be waiting at the door to tell on them too! And just you wait til he tries to cook something!
Anyway, I did not get my cleaning done yesterday after all.

Another picture of Lady Lulu Belle....

Daddy's back! Yay!

My poor husband had to leave first thing Monday morning for a 7 hour drive to PA after just spending the previous two days driving home from Florida. He had a conference for work that just happened to coincide with our return from vacation. He was there for 4 days and had to drive back yesterday. He was one tired camper last night. I don't know how professional truck drivers do it. I would hate spending all that time behind the wheel. He met Lady Lulu Belle for the first time and won't admit to it but I think he likes her. He says he doesn't like the name but its here to stay so he will have to adjust.

I have titled this video that I took at Magic Kingdom, "Say No To Crack"

I was at Mickey's house in Toon Town at Magic Kingdom and was innocently video taping my kids when what do I spy in my camera screen. This fairly large young woman (and being a large woman myself I am not criticizing her weight just her choice of attire) sitting on Mickey's front porch with more exposed than anyone should have to see.
Please ladies, buy pants that fit!

Name change....

Okay, you know how some people are undecided on their kids names for a while? Well turns out that Princess Leia looks and acts more like a Lulu Belle or Lulu or Little Lulu than she does a princess.....Go figure. We had a good night or so it would seem. We put her in her crate and went to bed and if she had any issues (other than tinkling on a towel), we didn't hear about them. My girl gave up one of her stuffed puppies so that Lulu would have something to cuddle up to and she had a baby blanket that the breeder had rubbed on the mother before she gave it to us. She started whining the minute she heard us (at SIX STINKIN THIRTY! My kids get up WAY TOO EARLY!) Now I just need to get out there and cut the grass so that she can actually walk in it. We were gone for a week and then my DH went out of down the day after we got back so it is getting too high, especially for a little bit of nothing puppy like her. She has never been outside before so she is very confused about the whole grass thing anyway. She was paper trained by the breeder so going outside is a new experience.

"Princess Leia" (revised to Lulu Belle as of 10/22)

No, I did not choose this name! No, I do not particularly like the idea of this name. But my girl insists that this face screams "Princess Leia". My boy on the other hand has other ideas. He thinks she looks like a "Belle". So, stay tuned for future updates on baby girl....Oh, by the way, we got a puppy today.....isn't she just precious? She is a 9 week old, long haired Chi HooAh HooAh. And sweet? Oh yeah!

Home, Sweet Home!

As much as I look forward to a vacation, I equally look forward to coming back to my home. It is so nice to finally be off the highway and sitting back in my recliner with my laptop and all the comforts of home. We got in about 6:45 this evening after a long day of driving. I have already cleaned up a good deal of the stuff we unloaded from the van and now just need to put away the clothes and such. Fortunately, since we stayed in a 3 bedroom condo in Orlando, I had already done all the laundry from the week before we left for home. Now all I have to do is the stuff that we wore on the trip back. There is nothing worse than coming home with a bunch of stinky laundry for 5 people and having to do it all the first day back.
We did come home with a bit more than we left with BUT no puppy for those of you who were wondering. Well, that is all the updating I have time for tonight. More stuff to come on the cruise and all but that will have to wait until another day.

Is it Saturday yet?

If I have to hear this question one more time, I think I will scream (not that much sound would come out right now)! My daughter knows that we are leaving on Saturday for Orlando and man is she excited. My son talks about Disney constantly and keeps saying he wants to see Mickey Mouse and Sweeping Booty.....you know, Aurora, the sweeping booty.....Oh! Wait, you may have heard of her by her OTHER name, Sleeping Beauty, but in our house she is the sweeping booty. My son, being ever the victim of television marketing has been fixated on this young lady for a week now ever since the commercials started advertising the re-release of the film. My daughter is looking forward to spending some money that is burning a hole in her pocket. She, being the typical female, is looking forward to going in the shops and looking. (It's enough to make a mother proud, LOL). All this excitement and it doesn't even compare to the excitement that "The Peeps" are having over our cruise. You should have seen the flurry of emails being sent across the world wide web yesterday. I would guess there was a MINIMUM of 100! Everything from discussing packing strategies to discussions about branding....you know like you brand cattle during a roundup...
Why on earth were we discussing that, you may ask? Well, if you have ever been on a cruise, you know how they have a lifeboat drill early the first evening to make sure that everyone knows their lifeboat station and how to put on a life jacket? Well, during the discussion yesterday it was likened to being in a cattle roundup. You feel like a herd of cattle being roundup to be counted. You stand there for what seems like hours in the hot sun waiting for everyone to get their lifejacket on, apparently this is a difficult thing for some people, and then you have to counted. The crew has to account for every passenger and seem to take an extraordinary amount of time doing it. The only difference between this and an actual roundup is that you are not branded and the men or steers are not castrated.....FUN! FUN! One of my girls actually thought she might like being branded.....I did say we were a crazy bunch didn't I? Well, we have 2 more days before we leave, there is no telling how many emails may be sent today....I am sure it will number in the thousands!
Have a great day!

4 days and counting....

Can you tell that I am excited about my upcoming vacation? I just pre-registered on line and now can print my cruise pass. I have my "mad money" all saved up. I just need to pack now. I dread that aspect of vacation since I have to pack for 5 and then pack for DH's business trip that he leaves for the day after we get home from Florida. I dread the 12 hour plus drive there, but I can not wait to be there. I just want to lounge and chill for the entire week. I need to get a good book, Flava K please email me the name of that one you mentioned, and I suppose I should plan out some scrapbook layouts too. Just pray that I get over this "cold" or whatever it is soon. I have completely lost my voice and I have been coughing my head off for days now. I have been on anti-biotics since last Thursday and just don't seem to be getting better yet.

Wow, what a busy weekend....

It has been crazy around here. We have been running nonstop for DAYS! This past weekend was THE wedding event of the year. We had the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and my dh had bachelor things to do on Friday night...In case you are wondering what good Christian guys do for a bachelor party, apparently its BOWLING. Just for future reference. Saturday, the we left home at 11:20 for a 3pm wedding with a nervous groom in tow and arrived home after the festivities about 10:30 pm that evening. A long day. It was a lovely wedding and I got many nice pictures. Now everyone knows that I have been prohibited by my DH from posting pics of our kids on my blog BUT this one, well you can't see anything but my DD's back and it is too cute, or I think so anyway. I love this picture.

Somebody stop the boat, I want to get off....

I guess I am getting a early taste of seasickness yesterday and today. I have had a headache and chest cough for a week now and yesterday I started getting so dizzy and nauseated that I could hardly stand to sit up. I went to the doctor today and got some antibiotics for the suspected culprit, a sinus infection. I say suspected culprit because she did not see the obvious signs of a sinus infection but I did have fluid in my ears and with the headache and nausea, she said it was most likely the problem. You've gotta love when a doctor "GUESSES" at your diagnosis. Anyway, I am still so nauseated that I could not even drive myself today. I got my seasick patch prescription filled today while I was getting my other meds. I am tempted to put one on now to see if it would help with this......
We also took my baby to the doctor today too to check out a patch of skin that was staying irritated. $100 in doctor and prescription co-pays later, we returned home. I am really thankful that we have insurance and that it is fairly good because it truly scares me to think what it would have cost otherwise. Well, that has been a day in the life of ME. I am praying to be all well by next week, you know, when I leave for the actual boat trip. Oh and the DH put a stop to the puppy madness that had taken over. He reminded me of how little actual money we had after all the stuff we have had to get this summer. He said he did not mind the idea of the actual puppy, it was just the expense right now. I guess my baby girl is going to have to wait a little longer.

Ok, here we go again....

First of all, I want to wish my baby sister HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I know she and her husband read faithfully, lol. They are busy planning to move in a couple of weeks.
Now to the "here we go again..." part of the story.
I jokingly told a very good friend of mine on her Facebook account that my little girl wanted one of her puppies. I say jokingly but everyone who reads this knows how very much my girl wants a dog. She saw a picture of one of the puppies on my computer and immediately named it Oreo and said that it was exactly the dog that she wanted (of course). My friend who lives in Florida asked if we were serious. She is breeding Havanese. Look it up but it is a small dog who looks like a Maltese or a Bichon Frise. They do not shed and what some people call a Hypo-Allerginic dog (my allergist and my daughter's both say there is no such thing). We kept my fur-nephew Sammy (pictured on the right, just scroll down) for a week and she had no reaction to him. Now I know that I said that keeping him convinced me that I did not want a puppy but the memory is fading.....Anyway, she has one little boy that is black and white and is adorable. We are seriously considering stopping by and seeing it on the way home from Florida in 2 weeks. It will be ready to leave its mommy by then.....so unless I come to my senses.....