Happy New Year, I'm Back!

Oh my goodness I am actually able to post now from the comfort of my own home! Santa brought us a new computer for Christmas and it is awesome. Sorry that I have been gone for so long. I know a lot has happened since I was last able to really post. Work installed a new firewall and were monitoring our internet usage for work/personal and since I need my job, I decided it best if I let this site rest until I could post away from the office on my own time. Soo, here I am posting in the comfort of my den. I have been trying to get caught up on everyone. My goodness you all have been busy. So have I! I had this wonderful post all planned out in my head, but now eveything is just running together, so I will just get down as much of it as I can.

I will just tell you that a 2 year old is so much fun, most of the time. He keeps me running! The babe talks non-stop now and you can understand most of what he says. One of his favorite places to go on Saturdays is the bakery. Those ladies just love him! His favorite restaurant is Chick-fil-A, I can't say that I blame him, the boy has good taste. He is still very much a mommy's boy and I just love it. Okay more on him later, you know I could just go on and on.

Christmas was wonderful. We had such a good time, the kids loved all their stuff and getting to spend time together. I loved all the yummy food! I got some new wheels for Christmas... She is beautiful, that was the only thing that I really asked for from hubby and the kids and they came through. Of course it has been raining since Christmas, so I haven't gotten to ride her much, but I can't wait for the skies to clear and it to warm up a bit so I can ride. Here is a picture of my new wheels.

Isn't she beautiful. I think she needs a name, what do you all think? Help me name her. Hubby has been calling her the Cadillac, but I think she needs her own name.

I also told Hubby about my blog. I know, I know I should have told him about it a long time ago, but hey, I made a mistake, so sue me. Anyway he was a little hurt, but he went on and read some posts and realized that this is harmless, just something that I like to do. So he is alright with is now. Maybe I will get him to guest post for me sometime. I just love him! Also, it was my 3 year blogaversary in October. Oh my goodness I cannot believe that I have been blogging for 3 years!

Alright I have to go now and do some Mommy stuff. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve. I look forward to more posts in the New Year.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

I miss you all, having issues. Be back soon!

A few pics

Wearing a hat, undershirt and diaper.

Before the haircut.

After the haircut.

I tried to upload some more pics, but I was having some issues, so maybe soon I will get some more uploaded. Tomorrow is the babe's 2nd birthday. I cannot believe that he will be 2! We had his party last weekend and he had a blast. It was Cars themed, he had a McQueen cake which he could not wait to eat, unlike last year when he would not eat any of his cake. He blew out his candles and dug in this year! He also opened all of his gifts and played with his new toys for HOURS! He did not care much for his new clothes and shoes, but he needed them anyway! It was a wonderful birthday party and he truly was a good boy.

Sorry that I have not written much lately, things at work have been crazy. I feel like someone is watching over my shoulder, so I am trying to limit my personal time online while I am here. Anyway, if you are still reading, thank you for sticking around. I miss my regular reads and I hope to get caught up with everyone soon.

First Haircut

Okay, so the babe is almost 2 years old and had never had a haircut. He hadn't really needed one. If you can remember, he was quite bald for a long time. He finally started getting hair but it is naturally curly and very baby fine. It had started taking on a look like the Donald, which isn't a good look for anyone, much less my sweet boy. So we decided that it was time for a haircut. Hubby has been going to a woman that he really likes and she has a son almost the same age as the babe, so he called and made an appointment for last Saturday. In preparation for the big day, we talked to him about it and made it seem as fun as going to the zoo. I was nervous that he was going to freak out and therefore get a very bad haircut, but much to our surprise he did wonderful. He sat very still on his Daddy's lap. Hairdresser woman introduced hin to the scissors and comb and told him what she was going to do. I sat quietly across from him, trying to choke back my tears. My little boy was getting his first haircut. We left his curls in the back, and just had the sides and front trimmed. He still looks like a baby, but also like a little boy. I love watching him grow, but sometimes it is hard on my heart. Here is a before and after pic of the hair. I did good and left the camera in the car for the actual cut, I thought it might freak him out if I was snapping pics like the paparazzi.

**Okay, so for whatever reason I am unable to upload the pics, I will try to post them later.

Real answers about mothers

Someone emailed this to me and I thought I would share it with you. I hope you enjoy it!

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1 We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goofball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet - you know, her hair. I'd diet maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Pictures from vacation

Cabin that we rented for the week.

Vacation anyone?

Sorry for my absense, I was on vacation last week and spent the week before that preparing for it. Am I rested and refreshed? Not so much! The babe is getting his 2 year molars and he and I were both sick with a cold/allergy/sinus illness. It was hot and we did not pack clothes for hot weather, so it was miserable wearing the same 3 outfits over and over. I felt like I was constantly doing laundry. The mountain vacation that I had envisioned as relaxing, cool, and just plain awesome was none of the above. Because the babe was sick he only wanted me, to do everything! Everywhere we went I had to hold him, he would not ride in his stroller or let anyone else carry him. He was whiny and just plain awful! I know it was because he did not feel good, but we spent too much time and money on this vacation for it to be so bad!

There were some good things that happened during the week. We went to BabyLand General Hospital and saw a Cabbage Patch baby being born, it was neat. I had never been, so it was really cool to me. Our cabin was beautiful! We went to Dollywood. It was way nicer than I thought it would be. Hubby and I rode 2 roller coasters, which we had not done in about 7 years. It was awesome. We also went to the Dixie Stampede, dinner and show and it was wonderful. It was really better that I had anticipated and the babe was really good while we were there. We also rode go carts on this awesome track. I had the fastest car and it was a lot of fun.

I was very glad to be home on Friday and believe it or not I am very glad to be back at work. At least the people here don't want me to hold them all day long. They do whine and complain a lot, but I can deal with that. I will try to get some pics posted later on in the week.

I won an award

I won an award for being nice! I cannot believe it. I never win anything, really, not contests on the radio, nothing. I feel so honored. Thank you Just a Girl, I would link to you, but I still don't know how, one of these days I will figure it out. She is in my Daily Distractions as Nothing to Show But This Brand New Tattoo. She is a wonderful person, who has so much going on right now, but still manages to throw us a post every now and then. What am I talking about she posts more often than I do. Thank you so much for my award.

Alright, now I am supposed to award this to 5 other bloggers that I think are nice. You know I can't link to you, so you will just have to look for the links in my Daily Distractions. I really just want to give this to all of my readers because I don't want anyone to feel left out, but I guess I will follow the rules. Just because I didn't pick you doesn't mean that you aren't nice or that I don't like your blog or anything else. You see I feel bad about having to only pick 5!

Here are my 5 picks:

The Princess, although she seems to have disappeared momentarily. Maybe she is polishing her tiara (just kidding). I just love her blog.


The "strongly opinionated" life of me. I live vicariously through her stories of single life in the big city. If I were a single girl, I would totally want to be her. She is really a nice person. She is also really skinny and has LOTS of great, expensive shoes!

Comments from the Peanut Gallery. Very funny woman with 2 of the most adorable kids.

Fluent Brittish, she is not in my Daily Dstractions, I am lazy and have not updated her new blog info over there yet, please forgive me.


Curtis from Canuckville. He is such a great writer and he is such a nice person. He never has anything bad to say.


Now, to all of you that were tagged, copy that picture, post it and pick 5 of your own.

6 years

It is hard to believe that it has been 6 years, it seems like just yesterday. All of those images are still so fresh in my mind. It is a day that I will never forget.

All birthdayed out

I am tired of birthdays. In the past 2 weeks, we have had 3 birthdays. My SILs birthday was the 28th of August, we went to Atlanta the Saturday before to surprise her for a late lunch. Then the following Monday we had a small party and dinner for her at our house. Wednesday was my MILs birthday. We had dinner and a party for her at our house, too. Then yesterday was hubby's birthday and we went out to eat with MIL and SIL for his birthday and we are having his party tonight at his grandparents. I still have to go pick up his cake and get everything ready for his dinner and party! I have been so busy the past few weeks buying gifts, cards, and cake for all of these birthdays. I know, I know we could celebrat them all together, but they all mean so much to me that I try to make each one of their birthdays special and all about them. Thank goodness we don't have another birthday for 2 months, but then it will be my sweet baby boy's 2nd birthday. I am trying to be prepared early for his day so I won't be so stressed out, maybe!

Bullets and sunShine

So much has been going on, but not enough about any one thing to write an entire post, so I thought I would update you, bulletstyle!

• How about the Warner Robins Little Leaguers winning the LL World Series? That's my hometown, we are so very proud of them. They did such an awesome job! Congratulations boys and coaches.
• I have not been exercising for the past few weeks because something is going on with my knee. It is popping when I walk up stairs or bend it too much. It feels swolen on the inside and it hurts some, but I am afraid to go to the doctor about it because I don't want a shot in it or anything else that will hurt, so I have just been dealing with the pain.
• Sciatica sucks! My back/hip have really been hurting lately. I guess I need to find a good doctor that can treat this as well as my knee. I wish I wasn't such a baby about things like that, but I am. I am trying to work up the courage to go have it seen about.
• The babe was in a wreck yesterday! Someone rear-ended my MIL and Grand-MIL and the babe as they were slowing down in traffic. They are all alright, but until I knew for sure that my baby was alright, I was FREAKIN' out! I was crying uncontrollably and having all sorts of REALLY bad thoughts. I thought about banning him from ever riding in a car with anyone other than his dad or me driving. I know how ridiculous that is, but that child is my heart and when I thought that he was hurt, it scared the hell out of me. When he got home I just hugged him and showered him with kisses. He is bad sometimes, but he is my baby and I just love him so much.
• My bestest friend got a job. A pretty good job, too, with benefits and at such a nice place. I am so happy for her. I was really worried about her lack of income and I know she was too, but now things are looking up. YAY!
• It has cooled off here. The high today will be 90 and rainy and overcast. Hooray for cooler weather. I am ready for the fall. Fall and spring are my 2 favorite times of the year. I like 70 or 75 degree days and 50 or 60 degree nights.
• We have planned our vacation. We are going to Gatlinburg, TN for a week at the end of September. I know it will be cooler by then. I am so excited. I have not been there since my honeymoon. We have a nice cabin with a jacuzzi and pool table! The kids have never been to the mountians, I am sure that they will love it. I am a little sad though because we are not going back to the beach for vacation. Our last 3 vacations have been to the beach Oh how I love the beach, but since we went for Memorial Day we decided to go somewhere different for our vacation.
• The babe is still sleeping in our bed. The last time I tried to put him in his bed to sleep, he cried and screamed until he threw up. Yeah, I am not into making my child that miserable. I think he does not like to be alone, so I guess until I can come up with a solution that works for us, he will continue to sleep with us. It is nice to snuggle up with him at night and to see his little face first thing in the morning. I know when we go back to the doctor for his 2 year check-up he will not be happy about this, maybe I just won't tell him!
• In about 3 months my sweet little baby boy will be 2 years old. I cannot believe that he will be 2! He is already acting like he is 2, what with the meltdowns and terribleness and all. He can count to 10. He is making sentences now and he has such funny pronunciations for some words, like a dinosaur is a da-seen. He also says "I a mess", and he really is. He runs everywhere and likes to jump off the sofa into a pile of pillows. He is fearless about some things and then other things scare him.
• My neice is having post partum depression. She is not really taking care of her baby, if it were not for my sister and mom I don't know what she would do. My mom said that she has not really bonded with her baby, which is not good, that makes me so sad! She is also thinking about quitting her GREAT job, that pays really well and has great benefits so she can go sell insurance on commission. That makes a lot of sense to me. I just can't talk to her, she doesn't listen because she already knows everything. You know how 19 year olds are. She is on an anti-depressant, but I don't know if it is working yet or not. I hope it kicks in before she quits her good job. I just hate for her to make such a big mistake, good jobs are really hard to find around here. Some people have to learn the hard way!

Okay enough for now, is your head spinning yet?

Dreaded news

I got news today that I had been anticipating, but hoping and praying that it wouldn't happen. One of my Daily Distractions has lost her battle with cancer. My heart is just broken. She is in my sidebar as Emptying my Head, her husband is over there too under Canuckville (I still don't know how to link). He is my only male reader. I began reading Ellen (and Curtis) several years ago and she was such a great writer and a wonderful person. She was always so positive, even when it would have been easy to give up. She fought a great fight, but in the end she lost to the beast. My heart goes out to Curtis, her husband, and her family. I know she will be missed greatly. If you have a moment go by and say hello, send him a prayer. I am sure he needs all the support that he can get right now.

The heat

Oh the heat! It is unbearable! For the past few weeks we have been breaking all kind of records with the high heat and honestly folks I am sick of it. It is so hot in my office that I just fantasize about laying on a big iceberg somewhere very, very cold. That is just not me because I don't like cold weather either. I can handle the mid 90s, but 103? Come on, give me a break. I think our air conditioner must be about to die at work because it is barely keeping the place cooler than the outside. I have my fan on, blowing right on me, but it offers little relief from the heat. When will it cool off? On the weekends I don't want to leave the house because the thought of having to get in the hot car and drag the babe out and in places in this heat is just more than I can stand. I know the old saying, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, well please someone show me the door!

Safe toys

Is there even such a thing anymore? So far we have several of the toys that have been recalled due to high levels of lead in the paint. Of course these were all small toys that most children would love to put in their mouth and chew on. Thank goodness the babe is not too bad about putting things in his mouth. Most of the time he has his "pa" (paci) in there, which I guess is a good thing, at least it isn't filled with lead paint for him to suck on.

I am so infuriated with these toy companies. I remember a time when things were actually made in America and we were proud of that fact. Now most of our stuff is imported from foreign countries who for the most part don't really care for America and they don't have many safety and accountability standards in place to ensure that the products that they are creating are safe. I worked in the manufacturing industry for 5 years and I watched our jobs being sent overseas to other poor countries that had plenty of workers willing to work for nothing compared to our salaries. I also saw the work that came back from those countries, far below the quality of work that the american factories were putting out. Yet still, more and more of our jobs are outsourced and now with all these recalls we are beginning to pay the price. I say let's bring these jobs back to America, put our people back to work and stop importing so much of our stuff from foreign countries. I am so afraid now for my sweet little boy to play with most of his toys because what if it is painted with lead paint, what if the toys that make him so happy are harming him? These past few weeks have really been an eye opener to me and I hope they have to you all too. I will be looking on the packages from now on to see where things were made before I spend anymore of my hard earned money on things Made In China. I also know that things can be made in America from parts that came from China and there is no way around that, but I will be more careful now.

Miracle Treat Day is Thursday

This Thursday is Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen. They have pledged to give all of the proceeds from the sale of their blizzards to the Chidren's Miracle Network, which helps alot of the children's hospitals. This is a great cause and you get a treat for yourself also! So take the family to DQ and enjoy a blizzard. We could all use something cool in this horrible heat!

Breaking out of my comfort zone

Okay so I took someone's advice and signed up on meetup.com to meet some local mommies and children in a playgroup. So our first meetup was planned for Saturday at a local park. I WAS SO VERY NERVOUS. I have major social phobias, so I just usually pass on any sort of thing that would actually require me to leave the house and interact with strangers. I was excited, but nervous. I wanted to back out of going several times, but how am I ever going to meet other people and have some children for the babe to play with if I don't take a chance. So as the time neared, I was dressed and ready, but nervous. Was I overdressed? Did I look frumpy? What about my hair, was it okay? So I loaded the babe in the car and off we went, to the bank and then to the park. Well the babe was in an especially cranky mood, since he was sleepy and had been up way past his bedtime the night before. Of course he went to sleep in the car, so I got to the park and got him out of the car and as I was walking up to the park I thought it looked rather empty. There was one other woman there with a baby. So I approached her and asked if she was M, the group administrator. She was! So I introduced myself and the babe and we put the kids in the swings and pushed them. Well we kept pushing the kids and waiting for other mommies to show up and they didn't. There were at least 7 other RSVPs that said yes and yet none of them showed up. Everytime I tried to take the babe out of the swing he would whine. He would not play with the other little girl or on any of the playground equipment. He just wanted me to either hold him or push him in the swings. So after an hour of playing we decided to go, it was hotter than hell and the babe was ill. Maybe next time more people will show up and it will be more like a playgroup. At least I put myself out there and tried.

Zoo fun

We took the kids to the zoo on Saturday. I had never been to the zoo in Atlanta, so it was a new experience for me too. We had a great time, but let me tell you that outdoor activities in Georgia in July are HOT! It was so hot, we drank plenty of water and ate some ice cream to help keep us cool. We also spent a lot of time in the air conditioned exibits. The babe could name most of the animals and the ones that he wasn't sure about, he just called them what they looked like. Lemurs are kitty cats and he meowed at them! It was cute, they do sort of look like very large cats. They are much larger than they look in the movie Madagascar. The babe did great and only had a few mini meltdowns, which were quickly corrected. We rode the carousel, but the babe will not sit on any of the animals or get close to any of them. We had to sit in one of the seats, but he enjoyed it. He also would not get near any of the statues of animals or the cut out things where you put your head through to take a picture. We did have our picture taken by the gorilla statue, but even with me holding him he was still screaming!

After that on the way home we stopped at TGI Fridays to eat supper since we don't have one in our town. They were very busy, after all it was Saturday afternoon. We had to wait about 20 minutes, but that was okay because the babe was asleep, so I just sat in the car with him until it was time for us to be seated. They called our number and we went inside to the hostess. When she got ready to take us to our table someone from the bar had taken our seat. The hostess told them that they needed to move, that the table was for someone else. They did not move and she called the manager over and told him what was going on and he looked at us and then looked at them and said that they could stay. The hostess told him that was not fair and he looked at us and said that life isn't fair. Talk about being pissed. We were all so pissed, we were about ready to leave. The hostess was so nice and she tried so very hard to find us another table in a hurry. We ate there, but then we asked our waitress for a number for the corporate office and the managers name. She gave us a card with his name and the number to call, so hubby took care of that yesterday. Other people were standing outside as we were leaving talking about the horrible service. They said their waitress just never came back and they had to go to the bar to pay. That place has some major problems!

Here are some pics from our adventures at the zoo.

The babe looking at the flamingos, which he called ducks and quacked at them.

Lemurs, or kitty cats as they are known in my house!

This was the babe's favorite. Marti and Melman!

My little boy

He is growing so fast, he is hardly a baby anymore. Some days I miss my baby, but I am delighting in the joys of watching him grow up.

Resting on Daddy's shoulder.

Do you see my frog (fwog)?

Playing a beautiful piano duet with my Sissy.

Now which one of these makes it go?

Pointing to something very important with a kitty in his hand!

Losing it

I am trying to lose weight. I think most of you know how hard that is, especially after a baby. My tummy is WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY too big and I need to be in control of my body, not the other way around. My pants are tight in the waist and I don't like it. So a few weeks ago I saw this commercial for an exercise show that comes on at 6 am on one of our local cable channels and it is 20 minutes of cardio and 10 of toning. So I got up early and started working out with this lady. It is very high energy, but I can feel the difference, not so much in my waistline, but in my energy level and mood. I can't do the whole 20 minutes of cardio, but I do about 10 minutes of it and then 10 minutes of toning. I did not do it on Tuesday and I felt so tired and sleepy all day. So now I have to do it. I am also trying to make healthier food choices and not eat out so much. I cannot give up my coffee in the mornings, but I have tried to cut back on the amount of sugar in it. It is the little things that add up. Anyway, hopefully I will be able to stick with a workout and get in better shape. After all, I need to be able to keep up with my children!

The week in review

I am so glad that Friday is here, even if it is Friday the thirteenth. So far, my day has been alright. It has been a long week, at least it felt that way. I am mentally tired. Okay here is a rundown of the past week in my life.

Saturday- I had an impromptu yard sale. Someone down the street and around the curve from me was having a yard sale and they advertised and put out all the signs for the sale and I took advantage of the free advertising and the HUGE yard sale sign that they put up in MY yard, so I put my stuff out and made a few dollars too. I made about $45.00 which was not bad since I had not planned to have a sale and most of what I got rid of was old kids clothes and toys.

Monday- I took the day off work because MIL had a colonscopy and I did not have a babysitter, hubby called in sick and spent the day with me and the Babe. I got reauthorized to be a notary public, which my work paid for! We had a good day.

Tuesday- Had my bestest friend and her daughter over for dinner. She is getting a divorce (I guess I can write about this). Anyway, for completely selfish reasons I am happy about it. It means she is going to move back to my town and possibly come back to work at my office. I am so happy about all of that I could just cry! See, I told you it was selfish.

Wednesday- A co-worker that was our longest tenured got fired. I am still upset about this. We knew it was coming, but no one thought it would actually happen. She was like my mom at work and now she is gone and my heart is broken! I have tried to call her, but she hasn't returned my calls, I hope she will keep in touch with me. It just is not the same without her here. I have been here longer than anywhere else (7 years) that I have worked and she was here almost twice as long as me. In the past couple of months I have lost 3 co-workers that I had worked with at least 5 years and that were friends of mine. Things at work are sad. It takes all of my strength sometimes to hold back the tears.

Friday (Today)- Hubby told me that he wants to take me on a date tonight. I am so excited about a date with my hubby and some ALONE time!

So, that about sums up my week. I hope everyone is doing alright, I will try to check in with you all soon.

Retail therapy

I love to save money! I went to the semi annual sale at Bath & Body Works today and I got a whole bag of goodies for so cheap! I got $55.50 worth of stuff for $15.00! I saved $40.50. I am so proud of myself! Not like I needed anything else from there, but clothes shopping depresses me and I can't find any cute shoes lately, so new bath products make me very happy! That was how I spent my lunch break today, shopping! Oh how I miss having money to shop.

Movie time

My last post was my 300th post! I can't believe that I have written that much. Okay so I will keep my blog, because I really do love it, I just get so overwhelmed sometimes by life. Thank you all for your wonderful comments. I love you guys!

Okay, just a quick post. Did anyone else go see D*sney's new movie this weekend? You know the best movie that they have ever made, or so the marketing people would like for us to believe? We took the kids to see it Saturday and I was very disappointed. There have been so many better movies than this one that they have made. I would recommend waiting until it comes out on video if you haven't seen it. Who knows maybe other people have liked it, none of the adults with us really cared for it, and trust me with my children we have seen most of the animated movies, some over and over again. So if you have seen it, did you enjoy it?

Sorry I haven't written much lately, I just don't have much to write about and even less time to write about it. I have thought about just deleting this blog and disappearing from the blog world. I am not a good writer, I am not a faithful writer and I only have a few readers. Then when I think about it I get sad. I feel like I know some of you personally, although we have never met. We have been together through my pregnancy, through the births and raising of our child(ren), through disappointments and heartaches, through good times and bad. I have prayed for many of you and I know that you have done the same for me. I have even cried for some of you. I look forward to your comments and I love to read your blogs and take a peek into your worlds. I love the pictures of your children, dogs, new shoes, vacations, etc. This is not a plea to get everyone to say nice things about me, it is simply to let you all know what is going on. Maybe I will be back soon, out of my slump and ready to write. I will be checking in with you all soon.

Father's Day

Just wanted to wish all the Father's a LATE Happy Father's day! We had a wonderful weekend. Hubby enjoyed having his daughter all weekend. He really loved his movie that I made for him and his other gifts, too. I wish every weekend could be as nice as this one was.

Saturday I was a little bummed out. Father's Day is not an easy holiday for me. I tried not to feel too sorry for myself though and instead showered my hubby and children with love and attention. Sometimes it isn't all about me!

Randomness, with bullets

• The babe is sick and he has been since last Monday. He has a cold complete with a cough, congestion and a runny nose. FUN! I called his dr yesterday to see if there was anything other that Tylenold Cold and Cough and Claritin that I could give him for the cough and congestion and the nurse said I needed to bring him in, so I did. After the finger prick, blood draw thing I was told that he has a virus! WELL DUH! I was trying to tell your nurse that on the phone. I still had to pay the $40.00 co-pay, which I really didn't have!
• Since the babe has been sick, he refuses to sleep in his bed, so for the past week and a half he has been sleeping with hubby and I. Which means that I have not been sleeping well.
• A co-worker's fiance was killed in Iraq this week. What do you say to someone? I just hugged her and told her that I am here for her. Please keep her and his family and all of our troops in your prayers.
• Father's day is coming up on Sunday. Father's day is always a tough one for me, since I lost my dad at such a young age. I always try to make it special for my hubby, even though he didn't feel the need to make Mother's day special for me. Thank goodness I don't hold grudges! I have bought him a few things, but his big gift, the one that I have been working my butt off on is a movie that I have made for him. It is a lot and I do mean a LOT of pictures that start with the birth of his daughter. We do not have many baby pictures of her, because when hubby got divorced she kept most of those pictures. So I had MIL to dig out some pics and I even enlisted the help of our daughter to bring me some pics so I could scan them and use them in the movie. I have managed to keep it all a secret from him, so I think he will be surprised. It was really more work than I had originally thought it would be, but he is worth it!
• My neice had her baby on Sunday. A little girl, 7 lbs 2 ozs. She is just precious. I hope my neice will be a good mother, but I have serois doubts, she is so much like my sister and I see history repeating itself. I wish her all the luck in the world. This parenting thing is hard.
• I do not want any more children. Holding my new neice was nice, but it did not spark a desire in me to have another one, none of those motherly feelings came rushing back to me. I did not hear my biological clock ticking. All I could think about was how much work a newborn is and how sad that she is not even going to try to breastfeed her. I am glad that the question has finally been answered in my head, now I don't feel so bad about it when I tell people that I have no desire to have another one.
• We should be getting a closing date on our refinance loan for our house! WOOHOO! I will be glad when that is over. 2 months with no house payment. I hope we can go ahead and get started on Christmas and the kiddos birthdays (one in November and one in January).
• I need a hairstyle, but I cannot find anything that I really like. I also need a new hairdresser. We stopped going to the lady that we had been using because she hardly ever works and it was really hard to get an appointment at a time that was convenient for us. How do you find a new hairstyle and hairdresser that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for a cut? The last time that I went to the local beauty school to get a trim, it took 2 hours and the girl was real afraid to cut my hair, while I was in the chair and she was cutting my hair she was telling her classmate that she really didn't like doing haircuts! HELLO, I can hear you, please don't say things like that when you are in the middle of a haircut!
• I think that about sums up what is going on in my life, sounds fun doesn't it?

Taking action

This post has been swirling in my head since last Friday, but this is the first opportunity that I have had to actually write it. I had to run an errand for work last Friday afternoon. I had to go to the MEGA OFFICE SUPPLY STORE and pick up some toner. I wheeled into a parking space and when I was getting out of my car I noticed that in the car next to me was a woman in the passenger seat and 2 little children in the backseat. One of the children looked to me maybe 7 or 8 months old and the older one might have been about 2 or 3, not any older than 3. The younger child did not appear to be buckled into his carseat. I am not even sure that it was really a carseat that he was sitting in. He was forward facing and it looked like he was in a carrier, rather than a carseat. At any rate, he was not strapped into anything because he was sitting straight up in it reaching over the side to try and get his bottle that he had dropped. The other child was not in any kind of carseat or booster, he was just sitting on the seat. As I went into the store I thought about what I should do. Should I call the cops and tell them? Would I sound like a raving lunatic if I did that? Should I approach the lady in the car, and if so what would I say to her? I got the toner and left the store and the car was still there. Instead of doing anything, I just left and came back to work. That has really bothered me. My daughter rode in her booster seat until she was actually a little taller than the recommended 48" tall or whatever it is. I am a firm believer in properly buckled up children in a vehicle. Not only is it safer for a child to be in a carseat, it is also the law. How do you know when to call authorities or get involved? What woud you have done?

Yes, I have returned

We got back home Monday night around 10. Had a great time. The babe is not so much of a water person, but he was an angel anyway. Here are a few pics.

The view from our condo. Paradise!

This was as close as the babe wanted to get to the water!

Here I am being attacked by a shark! Scary isn't it? This upset the babe, so I had to quickly make an escape from the jaws of death.

He learned to climb stairs while we were gone. He was following his sissy!

He was peeking through the stairs at me!

Okay are you tired of pictures yet? I will try to post some details of our trip later.

Off to the beach

We are leaving tonight for the beach and I will be back here on Wednesday, please check in and look at the pics that I hope to get posted and hear all about our FUN mini-vacation! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

The smoke, it is choking me!

For the past few weeks now at least 2 mornings a week the air is smokey and heavy. It is the smoke from the fires in South Georgia and Florida. Some days it is so bad you can barely stand to be outside. You can see the smoke in the air! We are more than 200 miles away from the fires. I can only imagine what it must be like for the people closer to the flames. Please pray that we get some rain soon to help put out the fires. Everything here is so dry and dusty. Our grass is dead and I haven't been watering it because of the watering restrictions. I have been watering my new little trees and some flowers that I have planted, but not running the sprinkler on the lawn. The babe loves to help me water the flowers. He plays in the water and sticks his little hands in the stream of water and says "COLD" and laughs.

Busy, Busy

Oh my goodness, I feel like such a slacker! I am so sorry for the lack of posting lately! I have all these posts floating around in my head, but no time to actually post them! I feel like I have not slowed down in weeks. Working full time and taking care of my family and house is really taking its toll on me. We are going to the beach Memorial Day weekend and I cannot wait for the break, at least I am praying that I will get a break. I have already gotten our daughter packed and I have gotten the babe about half packed. I need to start packing for hubby and I tonight. I just have no time to do anything extra like pack and prepare for this trip. We will be leaving next Friday morning and getting back home on Monday night, but I took Tuesday off too, so maybe I will be able to post some pics Wednesday. I am nervous about going too. We have never taken the babe that far away before, I don't know how he will handle being in the car for 5-6 hours. We have even thought about leaving Thursday night around bedtime and driving a little more than half-way and just staying in a hotel and then driving on to the beach Friday at his naptime. Even if we do that, we won't be able to do that on the trip home, so that only solves half the problem. We are taking a portable DVD player so maybe he will be entertained enough by watching a movie. The other thing I am worried about is bedtime. The condo that we are staying in does not have a baby bed. We do have a Pack n Play, but he will not sleep in it. He will have to sleep with us, which is fine, but I don't want him to get used to sleeping with us because that is a habit I don't want to start. The other issue is that everything, including bedtime will be off schedule. I am not a stickler for a strict schedule, sometimes at home he goes to bed at 8:30 and sometimes he goes at 10:00, but we do the same routine and then I put him in his bed. I just hope it doesn't mess him up too bad to not be in his environment. He also has a hard time going to sleep when he isn't in his bed. You see I am excited about going to the beach, but I am stressed about it too. I am sure that most of what is stressing me is stupid stuff that will work itself out, but if I have to spend 4 days trapped in a condo with a cranky babe, I will go insane! Hubby's mom and sister are going too so I will have extra help and people to help keep him entertained, so maybe it will be okay. Another thing is that we do not have a car big enough to take all the things that we need, so I am trying to pack light, but really with children how do you do that? They have to have toys and extra changes of clothes and blankets and stuffed animals.

Anyway I also have to get my house cleaned before we leave because my mom and step-dad are coming to house and dog sit on Saturday and Sunday while we are gone. I am grateful that they are coming, but my mom is a clean freak and I don't want the uncleanliness of my house to drive her crazy. I don't want her to spend her time at my house cleaning because that will make my hubby crazy! I also have to make sure that I stock the fridge and pantry with some food so they will have something to eat while they are there. So when I am not sleeping or working, I am cleaning or packing. I was actually in the shower this morning with my Mr.Clean Magik Eraser* scrubbing down the shower. Multi-tasking, that is the only way that I can get it all done! The eraser worked wonders on the soap scum, the shower was shining when I was finished. That thing is amazing. I wonder why it has taken me so long to use it. Something else that I cannot live without is Lysol wipes. I use them everyday to wipe down the kitchen counters and sink. I also use them when I clean the bathroom and they work great, they clean and disinfect! I also could not live without my Swifer* sweeper. It does such a great job picking up all the dog hair on our kitchen floor. Anyway, now I am just rambling about cleaning supplies, I ramble when I am stressed.

*I know these words are misspelled!

What's for supper?

Why am I the only one that knows that answer to that question? Everyday my hubby calls me and asks me what we are having for supper. I guess because I am the wife and mother the responsibility of planning the meals, buying the groceries and then cooking the meal all falls back on me. We usually have the basics for a meal, but I hate having to come up with the meals EVERY SINGLE DAY! OH HOW I HATE IT! I want to be a good mommy and have balanced meals, but I don't have a lot of time to cook during the week, so we usually end up having the same few things all the time. What I really hate though is wen hubby asks me what we are having and I tell him and that isn't what he wants. WELL WHAT IN THE HELL WOULD YOU LIKE FOR SUPPER? I don't know but not whatever it is that I am cooking. So, last night after having a 15 minute discussion about what we could have for supper, but still not coming up with anything I told him to sit down and write out a menu for next week because I am really tired of having it all fall on me and then he isn't happy with what I cook. Well do you think he did it? Of course not, so I sat down today and wrote out the menu and that is what I will buy at the grocery store and that is what I will cook and if he doesn't like it I don't want to hear it. He had his opportunity. Does anyone else have this problem? What are some quick meals that you cook? I am running out of ideas.

Pictures, as promised

Hubby said that he is practicing for manhood. The hand with the car will be the one that he will hold the remote in, watching TV in his undies and undershirt!

Feeding himself with a spoon and his fingers!

He had on the heels. I convinced him that the flats were much better with his outfit!

I'm too sexy for my clothes. But I am wearing mommy's shoe. Now where did I lose the other one?

Sitting at the dinner table.

18 months already

My, my where has the time gone? My sweet little angel boy will be 18 months old on Monday. I honestly cannot even believe that I have a child, much less an 18 month old toddler. He is such an awesome child. He has such a good personality. He has been sleeping better at night (Thank you Lord). He has started feeding himself with a spoon! Everytime he manages to actually get some in his mouth, he nods his head and says MMMMMMM. It is the cutest thing.

He is obsessed with Cars, the movie and anything with wheels. Anything that has wheels is a car and he loves all cars. He usually has a matchbox car in each hand. We name colors of cars on our commute and I try to point out interesting things to him on our ride. He gets so excited every day when we see a train (and we see one in the morning and the afternoon) and a school bus. He just shrieks with joy when we see either of them. He talks incessently, from the time he gets up in the mornings until he goes to bed at night. He can say so many words now that we can understand, but a lot of his conversation is still not discernable. He can name all of the Wiggles and most of the Sesame Street characters. He loves Barney and Bob the Builder. If he thinks something is really funny he will tilt his head back and laugh very loud! It is hilarious to see. He is finally getting some more hair. He may actually need a haircut before his second birthday!

He knows his basic colors. We can line up his blocks or cars or anything colored and ask him which one is blue, or yellow or any color and he will pick up the right one. He is so smart. He said "I don't know" last night. I cracked up! He has the cutest little voice. He likes to play outside and to swing in his swing. He plays the piano at my MILs. He actually sits on the piano bench and touches the keys and makes music, not banging like most kids would do. Who knows maybe he will be the next great pianist.

He also loves all of our dogs, but especially our inside dog. She is so good with him, he can pretty much do anything to her and she just lets him. He will get in the floor and snuggle up with her and love on her too. He loves to chase her around the kitchen and she in turn will chase him around. He likes to pick up her food pieces out of her bowl and hand feed her and she likes it too. As long as he will feed her she will stand there and eat. It is like she knows he is little and so she is extra sweet to him. I really worried about her when I got pregnant because she was my baby before he came along. She has adjusted to her new role well and she has done great with him. I couldn't ask for a better dog.

My sweet boy just amazes me most days. We have so many nicknames for him. Most of the time we call him Bud or Buddy or little Buddy. He gets so excited when I go to pick him up in the afternoons. 9 hours is a long time to be away from each other! I miss him so much during the day. That is why on the weekends I spend as much time with him as I can. He is just growing up right before my very eyes. Maybe I can take some pics of him this weekend and post them on Monday.

Spring Cleaning on a deadline

I am so tired and sore that I can barely move. We are in the process of refinancing our house. The appraiser called me Friday morning to see if he could come to do the appraisal that day. Um that would be a negative, Hubby and I both were at work and the house was a total mess. The grass hasn't been cut yet this year because both of our lawnmowers are broken and the second lot looks abandoned, it was so overgrown with weeds. So I told him Mondya would be better, so I bought us 2 days to get it all done. I started Friday night with the inside and started working as much as I could. Thank goodness I had cleaned some major stuff inside the weekend before, so the inside wasn't nearly as bad as the outside. I am embarrassed that my yard looked that bad. I called around Friday to get someone to come and clean the yard for us, but of course everyone was booked, so that meant we were gonna have to get it done. I found a place that rented lawnmowers, so we got up EARLY Saturday morning and Hubby went to get us one and wouldn't you know it, the only one they had left wouldn't crank. Hubby called me and I started crying, I was so tired and just felt like there was no way we would get the yard cleaned and the house wasn't going to appraise well and we wouldn't be able to refinance and we would have to move! You know on top of everything else I was PMSing! He went to Wal-Mart and bought the cheapest lawnmower that they carry, brought it home, cut the front and side yards and then it was time for the NFL draft to come on, so I lost my help. I had told him that if he got up early with me and helped me then when the draft came on, he could go watch it. I cut a little of the back yard, but it was such a mess I could not get much done, then the babe wanted to come out with me and I did not want to cut grass with him outside. I put him in the swing and proceeded to trim hedges, cut down briars and rake up the pinestraw and pine cones. I HATE PINE TREES with a passion. I wish we had the money to have the 3 main ones in our yard and the one in our neighbors yard that puts pine cones in our yard chopped down. Anyway, I worked out there until it got too hot. Then I went in took a shower and got dressed and the babe and I went to run errands and go to the grocery store. I took him for ice cream, he loves ice cream! He has started feeding himself with a spoon now. It is so cute. He will get a bite in his mouth and shake his head yes and make a mmmmm sound. It just cracks me up! Anyway, 4 hours later I was back at home and hauling more pinestraw down to the street. I worked outside until dark.

Sunday was pretty much the same thing, work, work, work. Hubby got all of the yard cut, even the back part that was nearly has tall as me. Let me tell you the lawnmower that he bought is the cheapest one that we could find, but it runs like a dream. He cut all of those weeds in the back lot down with that lawnmower and it never even shut off. He also ran over bricks and landscaping timbers with it and it just kept going. It was like the little engine that could, it just kept going. I like it more than the expenisve one that we got last year, that won't even start this year. Anyway the appraiser was there this morning just as scheduled and everything went well, as far as I can tell. He said that he did not see anything that detracted value from the house and our house has a lot of extras, like a deck, patio, out building (shed). He also said that he had appraised 3 other houses in our neighborhood in the past month and that our house will be on the high end of the market value. WHOO HOO! We need for it to appraise at least for what it did 2 years ago, but hopefully more. I will let you know as soon as I know something. If you ever needed an excuse to do some spring cleaning, just have your house appraised. Hubby said that our house is cleaner than it has been since the babe was born. I think he is right, but normally I just don't take as much time, I would rather spend the time with my family, not cleaning.

Happy Administrative Professional's Day

Today is my day along with the other millions of Administrative Professionals out there. Happy day to all you! I hope your bosses were generous with you and you got the recognition that you deserve. Without you, most companies would not be able to function. Pat yourself on the back. You deserve it! Now get back to work!

Running

I am running and running and getting no where. Trying to get ahead, but only falling farther behind. I don't know how to get out of this mess. I don't know which way is up.

Right place, right time

Our weekend was pretty good, no major catastrophies. We managed once again to escape the severe weather in our area on Saturday night. Saturday after we had gotten the kids all packed in the car and buckled up for our weekly run to the bank and then to get some lunch, my car wouldn't start. It has done this before in the past few months, and then it will start and so I don't worry about it. Hubby jumped it off and off we went. He was driving. We got to the bank and he turns the car off, not thinking that it might not start. Sure enough he comes out of the bank and nothing, just some clicking noises. Thankfully another couple was coming out of the bank, just as he opened the hood and asked us if we needed a jump. They gave us a jump and we were on our way. I have said many prayers of thanks that those people were there and were so willing to help us.

Today I went walking on my morning break, which I have not been doing lately. But the weather was nice today, so I put on my walking shoes and headed around the block. As I rounded the corner I saw a car broken down headed in the opposite direction and a small child, maybe 5 or 6 years old standing on the sidewalk. There was an older man trying to push her out of the street, but in order to do that traffice needed to be stopped because the car needed to be pushed to the other side of the street. So I walked into the street and put my hand up to stop the traffic and then I waved the cars that were behind her on through and then I helped the man push the car out of the street. All of the traffic stayed stopped and I crossed the street and took the child's hand, and he was reluctant at first, but then he went with me and I walked him across the street to his mom. She had already called her sister to come and get them. I am glad that I went on my walk today because I helped someone who really needed it. I was in the right place at the right time!

The stationwagon

When I was a small child we had a stationwagon. It was a powder blue '70 something Chevrolet Caprice Wagon. It was huge! There were 6 of us, including my parents, so it was just the right size to transport everyone. I loved that car. It wasn't much to look at, but as a child things look different to you. It had blue interior, plasticy seats that were SSSSOOOOO hot in the summer. I don't remember if it had an air conditioner or not because it seemed like we always had the windows down. I got my first arm sprain in that car. I was in the front seat sitting in the middle and I kept hanging my arm over the back of the seat, well my sister thought she would grab it and see how far it would go. Needless to say, it did not go very far. I think I was about 3!

My mom would put blankets in the back part, we always called that the wayback, because well it was way back from the front of the car. My sister D and I would always crawl over the back seat and play in the wayback. If we went on a long trip, we would crawl back there with our pillows and sleep. That was before the days of children riding in booster seats until they are 10, heck that was before children had to wear seatbelts. We would climb over the seats in that car like the monkeys that we were. There were storage areas in the sides of the wayback, underneath the windows, and we would put things like crayons in there for safe keeping. We all know what happens to crayons that are left in hot cars. I'll bet there are still crayons melted in the back of that car! I was driving down the road a couple of months ago and got behind one just like it, maybe it was it. I tried to get beside it and see if I could see melted crayons in the back, but I couldn't get close enough to it.

A joke for Wednesday

Natural selection in employment

1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room. 2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door. 3. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours. 4. Then analyze the situation:

a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the accounting department.

b. If they are recounting them, put them in auditing.

c. If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in engineering.

d. If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in planning.

e. If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in operations.

f. If they are sleeping, put them in security.

g. If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in information technology.

h. If they are sitting idle, put them in human resources.

i. If they say they have tried different combinations, and are looking for more, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in sales.

j. If they have already left for the day, put them in marketing.

k. If they are staring out of the window, put them in strategic planning.

l. If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved, congratulate them and put them in management.

Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Congress.

**Quick note: My birthday was awful. The babe was sick with a fever and runny nose and sinus drainage. Took him to the doctor and he has a virus. He kept me up for 2 nights. I got 2 hours of sleep on Monday night. I finally figured out the correct amount of Benadryl to give him without making him crazy, so that helped ALOT and we were all able to sleep last night. He seems to be feeling better today, still a little runny and a low grade fever, but better. He is eating and drinking. Even though he was sick we had a good day at home together yesterday. Anyway, sorry for the short post and joke, but since I missed work yesterday, I am behind!

Happy Easter

When I was growing up, every year my mom would take us shopping and get us a new frilly dress and shoes for Easter. Then we would wake up on Easter morning and run into the dining room to see what the Easter bunny left us in our baskets. Sometimes we would have store bought baskets and sometimes my mom would put some stuff together for us. Either way we always had a basket full of goodies on Easter morning. Then we would get dressed and go to church. After church we would go home and take pictures in front of various different blooming bushes in our yard. Then we would change out of our Easter dresses and have an egg hunt. It was always so much fun. We had a dog that would help us hunt the eggs and eat them.

Now that I have a child, it is time for us to start our own traditions. We still have not found a church, so we won't do that this Sunday. The Easter bunny will be leaving baskets of goodies for the kids to enjoy. We are going to my mom's Saturday for my birthday party and Easter dinner and an egg hunt. Then Sunday we will go to MIL's house for dinner and an egg hunt. At my MIL's we have a grown up egg hunt. MIL and SIL get little trinkets and things and hide them all in the yard and the grown ups have to hunt for them. We did it last year and it was so much fun! There are a few eggs with money in them! I hope I find a big money egg, I need some lunch money! What are you doing for Easter? What traditions does your family have?

Mrs. Plumber

Just call me Mrs. Plumber. In my house I am the one responsible for the plumbing, not that my hubby doesn't help out, he is just a procrastinator and so for him to actually get around to doing something, it takes a while. You see our icicle lights are still on our house, yeah it is April people and I still have Christmas lights on my house! In his defense he has been working 2 jobs and when he isn't working, he is either playing with the kids or sleeping. That means all the house work is falling back on me. Anyway I am getting sidetracked, back to my story. Monday night I cooked tacos for supper and the grease from the drained ground beef got poured down the sink. Well you know what happened next? Yes the drain got clogged! I didn't say anything, hubby was playing with the kids, so I go the plunger and tried to unclog it, but it didn't work. Instead all the water and yucky stuff ran into the dishwasher. GROSS! So I had to dip the water out of the dishwasher, so it would not overflow. We had some stuff for slow drains, so I tried that. On Tuesday morning I felt like the clog was gone. I had ran some water and it seemed to be draining, so I turned on the dishwasher and left for work. In the middle of the day I wondered where would the water from the dishwasher go if the drain wasn't unclogged. I freaked out a little bit and as soon as I got off work I rushed home fully expecting a flooded kitchen. Much to my surprise, the dishwasher had just backed up into the sink and then drained back into the dishwasher. So for the second time I had to dip nasty water out of the dishwasher. I got most of it out and put more drain cleaner down the sink and waited. After a few hours everything seemed to be fine, well the dishwasher is the real test, so I started it again. Again water was backing up in the sink so I just turned the damn thing off and went to bed. Yesterday I went to the store and got some Drano Max, poured it down the drain waited 20 minutes, poured some boiling water down the drain and voila, it was unclogged. You see hubby's solution to the problem was to call the warranty company and request a plumber, which would cost us $50.00 and I would have to take time off work to sit at home and wait for the plumber. Glad I didn't listen to him. My solution cost us about $4.00 and no lost time from work! Now if I could just find the time to fix the toilet in the kid's bathroom!

Where has the time gone?

I will be 31 on Monday, enough said.

The pursuit of tears

Hubby and I had a date of sorts Saturday. My mom came to our house and kept the babe for the afternoon and hubby and I went to the movies, Target, and the grocery store. It was nice to have time with hubby alone. We hardly ever get that. It was nice to go to the grocery store and Target and be able to just browse the aisles and not have to rush around because you know in a matter of minutes your fabulous child is going to morph into a screaming banshee that's screams could pierce the eardrums of the deaf. We went to the discount movie theatre and watched "The Pursuit of Happyness". Has anyone else seen that movie? It was great, but it was so sad. I swear the movie stressed me out! I was sobbing in a few parts. It ended very happy, but boy how he got there was just heartbreaking. Even hubby shed a few tears in a few parts. If you haven't seen it, rent it, it is worth watching. Let me know what you think if you do watch it, I am just curious.

The babe decided that naps are for whimps yesterday. He went to sleep 2 times only to wake up after about 5 minutes. I was so stressed. I am PMSing and it has been the mood swing roller coaster for me. I was so tired yesterday, I was cramping and ill and the babe would. not. go. to. sleep! Finally after being awake a little more than 12 hours I put him to bed for the night. That lasted about 5 hours and he was crying again. I put him in bed with hubby and I and he tossed and turned and kicked. I thought I would go insane, everytime I would get comfy and dose off, he would start moving again! Finally about 4 am I felt someone looking at me and I rolled over and he was staring at me. I took him and put him back in his bed in his room. He cried for a few minutes then went back to sleep. Then at 5:30 he was crying again! I have to get up at 6:15, so that was like the best part of my sleep. I put him back in bed with us and he went back to sleep, I wish I could have! I am so tired and ill today, I just wanna scream. Actually I just want to turn the fan on and lay my head down on my desk and take about a 2 hour nap. Do you think my boss would mind?

Excuse me?

We had fun Saturday. It did not start out good, but it ended up good, isn't that what counts? Hubby got a phone call while we were getting dressed from ex-wife that daughter had a birthday party that evening at 6 and the invitation had gotten returned due to a wrong address, blah, blah, blah. Well that put a little damper on our plans, we would only have a few hours and then we would have to rush her to the birthday party. She still wanted to go the the festival, so after we got dressed, off we went. There were so many people there, it was ridiculous! Hubby and I were in 2 different cars and when we were going in to park the cars the stupid woman directing traffic did not know what she was doing and she caused a little traffic jam in the park. Hubby and I were about to be seperated and I wanted to park by him, so I stopped and motioned for him to get back in front of me. Well the old biddy behind me started laying on her horn. I still sat there still in my car and waited for hubby to pull in front of me. I turned around and looked at her as nicely as I could and tried to motion to show her what I was doing. Apparently she did not care, she continued to lay on her horn, not just a little toot, I mean full fledged blowing her horn. So after hubby got in front of me, I snatched off my seat belt and jumped out of my car, I had enough of her crap. So did he, he was screaming at her from beside his car. I politely walked up to her window, which of course she would not let down. I then noticed she was about 70 years old, which is no excuse for being rude! I called her a few choice words and asked her to please let down her window, which she did not do. Imagine that! I was headed back to my car when she honked again! The nerve of some people. I think she wanted her ass beat! I told her to kiss my ass and gave her a hand signal to go along with it, just in case she could not read lips. I got back in my car and then I drove along at about a snail's pace. Guess what? She had to park in between hubby and I. She got out of her car and would not even look our way. B*TCH! I kept loud talking, but she probably had her hearing aids turned off by then. So that was the start of our day at the park. It did get better. It was 87 degrees with no breeze, just hot, sticky sunshine! We slathered ourselves and the kids in SPF 50 sunscreen and we managed to not get burned! YAY! We ate unhealthy fried foods and walked around and watched the kids having fun, which was fun for us.

The babe's first carnival ride, the dragons. He just loved it! He also rode the bumble bees and the cars. He was really good Saturday, no meltdowns, no screaming. Bliss! Hubby and I even took turns riding rides with our daughter. It ended up being a good day, despite its bad beginnings.

Friday, YAY

My bills have finally caught up with me. I handle our household finances, hubby gives me money every week and I make sure that everything gets paid in a timely manner. Well I have seen the snowball coming for a while and it has been gaining momentum and getting larger, but I have managed to stay one step ahead of it, until this week. I had to ask hubby to dip into our little bit of savings to pay our insurance. A few other things are going to have to wait until I get paid next Friday and just be paid a little late. We have to refinance the house and maybe we can get that done soon and hopefully be able to pay off a few high interest loans. I just need a little wiggle room. I am excited because one of the medical bills that I have been paying on for years will be paid off next month. That will free up $20.00 a month. That might not sound like much, but it all adds up. Enough about my money or lack of it!

The babe has been so sweet since his horrible Monday. He has been loving and cuddly and sweet as he can be. He has been content playing with his toys. He has only had one meltdown since Tuesday morning. So whatever was bothering him must be better now, thank goodness. The weather is so nice here that we have been playing outside alot. He loves to be pushed in his swing and to play on the deck with our dogs. I am glad that he likes to be outside, when I was a child I would play outside with my sister and some of the neighborhood kids all day long. I would get mad at night when I had to go inside.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will be outside tomorrow enjoying this fabulous weather at the Cherry Blossom Festival carnival with the kids. I can't wait to eat a funnel cake! YUMMY!

Cherry Blossom time

The Cherry Blossom Festival is here! Fun, Fun! Lots of tourists, lots to see and do, beautiful weather. I think we will try to get out and enjoy some of the festivities this weekend with the kids. I might see if hubby wants to meet me at the park for lunch tomorrow there are all sorts of food vendors set up there and we can get some yummy artery clogging fried food.

I am tired and edgy today. The babe has decided that sleep is highly over-rated and he would rather stay awake and cry. The only problem with that is that he wants other people to stay up with him, yet he does not want us to cry too. He woke up this morning at 1 am and did not go back to sleep until after 3, and in our bed then. At one point he was crying and I was crying and I just wanted to wake up my hubby grab my purse and leave! I think maybe he is teething again, although I don't know where another tooth would go in his little mouth, but I have to blame something. I am really hoping this is not a precursor to the terrific twos that I have heard so much folklore about. He dropped a bite of his pop tart this morning on our commute and decided that he needed to cry and scream about it for 20 minutes. I am surprised that you didn't hear him. I thought I would go insane! He cried so much that he nearly barfed. He would not take his paci, he did not want anymore pop tart, nothing helped. After a night of no sleep 20 minutes of crying and screaming is not a good thing. I will be glad when he can talk so that he can tell me what the hell is wrong with him. Times like this make me more thankful to have a job to go to everyday!

Brain game

I have suspected for quite some time that when I got pregnant and had my baby that it did something to my brain. I was not as quick witted. I could not remember things. Well I tried to play Freecell the other day and I could not win a game, not one. Sad, I tell you. So I have been playing a few different games to help my brain and I am happy to let you all know that I have finally won a few games of Freecell. Whew! I was really beginning to worry about my brain. But honestly I feel better now. I think I just need to keep my brain in check by playing some games every so often.

Covered up

This weekend was just beautiful. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. I decided that we needed to get out of the house Saturday and do something outside. We headed to Macon to Rose Hill Cemetary, our daughter had never been. That in itself shocked me because I love this cemetary it is so historic and beautiful and the Allman Brothers are buried there, well the dead ones at least. We drove around and looked at some of the other interesting gravesites and then we went to the Allman brothers graves. We were shocked to find them covered in a tarp. I knew there was a fence around them, but it had been removed and a small wire thing was around them now complete with a No Trespassing sign. It is sad that someone feels that their final resting place should be covered up. I know who is responsible, but I will not call names here, that is not why I write. People are still buying their music and I am sure that their surviving family members are getting the royalty checks for those purchases. Their fans cannot even come and pay their respects to members of a band that did so much for southern rock. I could really rant about this, but I won't. It was just disappointing, my daughter did not get to see their graves. Saturday I did take my camera with me so I could share some pics with you of our beautiful historic cemetary. There are graves dating back to the mid 1800s. It is very interesting, anyway here are my pics.

This is little Martha, there is an Allman Brothers song about her.

Pictures

Naptime!

Snuggling with my Sissy watching a movie!

Helping in the kitchen!

I'm gonna get you!

See my tongue!

I am not very happy right now, give me a minute!

Climbing in and out of the laundry basket is loads of fun! Hey I can watch TV here!

Pictures of the babe (requested by Elmwood).

Monday meanderings

If you are bored, go to CNN.com and read some of the top stories. What is this world coming to? A husband kills and dismembers his wife, a rat bites the nose off of a sleeping infant, a bus driver mistakes an off ramp and wrecks his bus killing 6 people, including himself and his wife. You can find it all there and then some other stuff too. All of that makes the things going on in my life seem trivial.

We survived last weeks tornadoes unscathed. Others not too far from here were not so lucky. In Americus the devastation is just awful, but at least only 2 people were killed, it could have been so much worse. I cannot even begin to fathom Enterprise, Alabama and what those people are going through, nor do I want to. Hubby called me Thursday before I left work and told me to go to his mom's and just stay there and he would be there as soon as he got off work. He knows one of the emergency management people at our local hospital and he had been in earlier and told them that this would be the worse storm that this area had seen in a long time. So I got off work and headed over to MILs to wait for the storm. There was no way that we could make it home before the first band of storms made its way to us, so that was why hubby said to stay at his mom's. We sat glued to the local channel that had continuing coverage of the weather and the doppler radar. I tried hard not to think the worst as I watched my child running around in a t-shirt and diaper playing. We tried to make things seem as normal as possible. We cooked and ate supper and continued to watch the TV to see when the next storm would be here. Thankfully we did not lose power. Many in our area were without power for 12 hours or more, including my sister and mom. My MIL lives near train tracks and so every time a train would come, we would wait for the whistle to blow so we could be reassured that it was not a tornado. At one point we did go to the hall and sit and listen and wait, but thank goodness, nothing ever happened. We stayed at my MILs until the rain was gone and then headed home. I was a little fearful driving at night after such bad storms, but the only thing that I hit was a dog, but he was already dead in the road. There were a few places that had trees down, but they had all been cleared from the road. When we got home, our house was still in one piece, our dogs were there and we had power, we had been spared, once again. The next day as the sun came up pictures began emerging of the devastation that those storms caused. It really makes me thankful that we only got the storms that we did, it could have been so much worse.

Okay, now on a lighter note, I was changing the babe's diaper yesterday and it was stinky. I looked up at him and he was holding his nose! I laughed so hard I nearly cried. I don't know where he got that from, but it was too cute. He has such personality, sometimes it makes me laugh, other times it makes me want to scream. He is such a good boy for the most part. He just does not always listen when you tell him "no" and he tests my patience sometimes, but I guess all children do.