What am I doing here?

25 years ago...

2009-09-23T20:23:00.002-05:00

Twenty-five years ago this morning my sister D and I had spent the night with my Granny. I remember waking up and laying in my Granny's bed with my sister when the phone rang. I knew who was on the other end and I knew why she was calling. I even told my Granny and sister before my Granny answered. Unfortunately I was right. It was my Mom calling to tell us that my Dad had died early that morning. The cancer had won and my sisters and I were fatherless, my mom was a widow. He was 41.

I have very few memories. I know very little about him. I can only tell my children a little bit about him because that is all I know. I am thinking of sending letters to his sisters asking them to write some stories and send me some pictures of him so that I can piece together his life. I thought once I get all of their stories together I will get my mom to fill in the blank spaces for me and I will compile it into a book for my family. I would like for my children as well as my nieces to know about their grandad.

Today was a sad day for me. I grieved for the loss of my father. I grieved for all the things that I missed out on because I did not have a daddy. I went to the cemetary after work and took an arrangement of flowers, not much else that I can do. I thought the book would be a good tribute for the father that I never really knew.

Did you know???

2009-09-11T16:42:00.002-05:00

Did you know that you can actually cough hard enough to break a rib? Well you can, because I did. The babe had a virus a few weeks ago, some horrible strain of something that has been going around. It causes flu-like symptoms, so it has everyone scared. Anywho after a visit to the doctor and swabs and blood tests confirmed it was just a virus. A VERY HORRIBLE VIRUS! Well after the babe had it for a couple of days I got it too. Although I honestly think I felt much worse, maybe it is the 30 year age difference. So after a couple of days of fever, chills, body aches, severely congested head Hubby convinced me to go to the doctor. Well after several tests I was told that it was just a virus, give it 7-10 days and it would be gone. Well 7 days later the sever head congestion was gone, but it had moved into my chest. It was making me cough so bad and so hard that I would literally wet my pants! After a week of coughing this hard my ribs started hurting on the left side. It wasn't a major pain, just felt like maybe a bad bruise. Well everyday the pain was a little worse, until Wednesday night when I could not bend over without crying in pain. I could not cough, or raise my arm above my head. Let's not even talk about sneezing. So yesterday I go back to the doctor, they take x-rays and yes I have a broken rib! So they wrapped me up in this rib belt, which feels a lot like a girdle, gave me some meds and sent me on my way. The doctor told me to just go home and to take today off too, but I just could not do that, so I went back to work yesterday and finished up what I was working on and stayed at home today! I slept until 10:00 this morning, got up ate me a little something, drank my coffee, watched a little T.V., and by 1:30 I was back in bed. I got up around 5 and now I am going to try to find the energy to cook supper. This med makes me very sleepy and honestly I just want to go back to bed, but I feel like such a bum because I have done absolutely nothing all day, but sleep. Happy Friday to me!

I'm back from the abyss

2009-09-09T19:27:00.003-05:00

Oh my goodness! Has it really been over a year since my last post? I am so sorry for that. My only excuse is my 3 year old. He keeps me so busy, there is never a dull moment with him around. So much has changed in a year. I have tried to read a few of my favorite blogs, with little success. I feel like I have lost touch with everyone. So I bet you are wondering what has brought me back from the abyss of my life...Well it was actually a concerned blogger that I used to read quite frequently over at the Peanut Gallery. She emailed me today and I felt totally horrible for not writing anything in over a year. There are people that post everyday and some that post multiple times a day, I should at least be good for one post a week! How hard can that be? I am sure most people are probably on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. I am on none of the above. I prefer to write anonymously. None of my friends or family know about my blog and I prefer to keep it that way. Then if I want to talk or vent about them, I can and I don't have to worry about hurting their feelings! So what has been happening in the past year? I see that some things in Blogger have changed. I guess blogging is like riding a bike, even though it has been a while, it is all coming back to me now!

Updates on the cast of my life:
The babe is 3 now, he will be 4 in November. He is extremely smart and cute! I have lots of stories to tell about him.

The princess is almost a teenager. She is 2 inches shorter than me and just beautiful! She just started the 8th grade. It is hard to believe how grown up she has gotten.

Hubby is still the love of my life. We will celebrate our 6th anniversary in November! Wow that is a long time.

Granny is doing great at the Nursing Home. She really likes it there. We have had our share of problems since she moved there, but we have gotten everything worked out. I go see her at least once a week. My mom and I are supposed to be taking turns doing her laundry, but Granny told me that she likes it better when I do them because they smell better. She must like the Snuggle fabric softner! I have not told Mom this, I just told her that I really don't mind doing them and it is easier for me to keep up with her clothes if I just do them all!

The rest of my family is about the same, just a year older. I am sure there will be stories to come of them. Anyway, it is great to be posting again and I swear I will try to get out at least one post a week. I really have missed it!

Moving day

2008-08-23T15:56:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was moving day. A day that I have dreaded for the past few years, but one that had to come no less. My Granny has moved into a skilled nursing facility, or as most people think of them a nursing home. I am having a really hard time with this move. She has been staying with her nephew and her sister for the past few years, about an hour or so away from her family. Her sister died in May and Granny has gone downhill since then. She has Alzheimers and senile dementia. Those are just the things in her head, she also has osteoarthritis and some other physical ailments. She still knows everyone. The big A has not robbed her of that yet, but it has made her very mean at times and she thinks that everyone is stealing her stuff. At times she seems to have it all together and then there are times she just doesn't. Anyway, she wasgetting aggravated with her nephew and her sister's other children and decided she was ready to come back home and go into the nursing facility.

I have always loved my Granny. When I was little, she was one of my favorite people. I spent nearly every weekend at her house. When I was sick I wanted my Granny. When I was out of school for the summer I was at her house. When my dad died when I was eight, she moved next door to help Mom look after us kids and I moved in with her. She taught me the importance of hard work and the value of a dollar. She also taught me to look for bargains and always shop the clearance racks first. Anything she has ever had, she always said it was mine. I am afterall her favorite. The few years that she spent at her sister's I called her every week and just let her talk and I tried to keep her updated on what was going on with her family.

But being her favorite comes with a price. I got the pleasure of going to pick her up yesterday for the long ride to her new home. I think it helped having the babe with us. He takes the uneasiness out of a lot of situations! I was a nervous wreck yesterday. I did not sleep well Thursday night just anticipating the move. I was off work and had a few errands to run so it was a little after lunchtime when I got there to pick her up. Of course it was raining and extremely windy from that lovely tropical storm Faye. What a wonderful day to be moving! We got to the facility and I met the admissions lady that I have spoken to so much over the past week she knows my voice on the phone. She hugged me when she met me. She knew how this was affecting me. I am sure in her job she deals with this a lot! She took us around and we got to meet Granny's new roommate, a very spry and extremely nice 91 year old lady. She said she was happy to have a roommate and someone to talk to and walk to the dining room with. We had thought about getting Granny a private room, but she has a tendency to get depressed and not come out of her room, so we decided at least with a roommate she would not be alone. After we met her roommate we toured the rest of the facility and met most of the daytime staff. They have a physical therapist, dietician, cosmetologist, and an activities director. Of course they also have RNs and CNAs and a doctor and a PA that are there everyday to check on the patients. Everyone was so nice. She will start her physical therapy sessions on Monday and we are hoping that will help her blood pressure and her feet and legs swelling. They have an aquarium and a huge bird enclosure with about a dozen small birds. There is also a big screened TV in the commons area and we are getting her TV hooked up for her in her room, so she can watch what she wants. It really was not as bad as I had imagined. It has been years since I have visited anyone in a nursing home. My other grandmother was in an assisted living facility and it was a little nicer that where Granny is at, but it also cost a lot more and they do not accept insurance or Medicare. Mom and I got her settled in and put her clothes away and made up her bed. I brought her a quilt from my house and a pillow in a sham to help dress up her bed when she isn't in it. The babe picked out a stuffed elephant for her to put on her bed and sleep with. We got her room all squared away and then we walked her down to the dining room. The do not have a seating chart, but you know how old folks are, they are set in their ways, so after they pick somewhere to sit, that becomes their spot. We asked the dietician where she needed to sit and she was seated at a table with 5 other people. We told her goodbye and left her in the dining room. She told us right before we left that she was fine. At that point it was me that wasn't okay. I did not let her see me cry. I cried all the way back to her room. Mom and I walked out to our cars together and my heart just felt so heavy.

I can reason with myself and tell myself that she is fine and that she is better off there, but a huge part of me feels so guilty for putting her there. There just is not anyone in our family that could deal with her on a daily basis. As much as I love her, I can only take her in small doses. I just cannot take on another person to take care of that would need someone here 24/7 with her. I will have her phone hooked up next week and we will get cable hooked up to her TV. I just want her to be comfortable in her new "home".

What a mess.

2008-08-09T07:10:00.002-05:00

We have a major family problem going on now. I was so upset when my sister got pregnant. I have not spoken to her since Christmas. Some people just told me to let sleeping dogs lie, but I just could not stand to even look at her or be around her. Her sweet little angel girl was born on Monday on my sister's birthday. What a birthday present! Only after I went to the hospital to visit did I learn that she and the baby tested positive for drugs. I cannot even begin to express my feelings on the matter. I am working on it, but I am not quite there yet. My mom and oldest sister have the baby for the time being. I am just taking everything one day at a time and watching how this whole situation is going to unfold. Personally I think she needs to be in jail with the baby's daddy and the baby needs to go to a family that will love it and that actually want a baby. I will update later as things unfold. Please just keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we all deal with this mess.

Sickness

2008-06-28T07:57:00.003-05:00

I am so sleepy today. The babe has some sort of cold or allergy thing going on and it is making all of us just miserable. Anytime has has nasal drainage it gags him and makes him throw up. Then he starts crying, which only worsens the situation. I think I slept for maybe 3 hours last night, in 1 hour increments of course. I got the most sleep sitting on the living room floor holding the babe in my lap propped up on tons of pillows. It was not comfy at all, but at least I was able to close my eyes. He has started sneezing this morning which is good because it is getting the gunk out of his head. Everytime he sneezes he yells, "YUCK, NASTY!" Unfortunately for everyone else in our house when the sun came up this morning my sweet little sick boy felt it was the perfect time to start his day, since he hasn't been able to sleep anyway. I think I will wait until Hubby gets up and quietly sneak off to the bedroom for a nice long nap. We had planned to take the babe to see Wall-e today, but we will just have to wait and see how he is feeling later. I know right now he seems okay, but who knows in a few hours how he will be feeling. I am sure just like everything else, this too shall pass.

My little boy

2008-06-07T18:40:00.004-05:00

I am sorry that I am such a bad blogger. My life is just so busy that most of the time I have a hard time making time for the things that I enjoy, such as blogging. Anyway, I have not written about the babe in a while so I thought I would update you on his growth and the many milestones that he has passed. He is such a big boy, bot fat, just tall. Actually we have a hard time finding clothes that fit him in the waist and the length. He is slim and tall. He was tall enough (over 3') on vacation to ride in the go cart with me on the wooden track. He had this look on his face but never said that he wanted to get off and he did not cry. I kept my hand on his leg the whole ride and kept asking if he was okay and he was, at least he said he was!

He is so very smart too. He outsmarts us sometimes. He requires an answer to all of his questions, and if you don't give him an acceptable one, he just keeps asking. He knows all of his ABCs by sight and the song. He can also tell you what letter certain words start with. He can read letters off of signs or in books. We are constantly amazed by him. He can carry on a conversation with people. He loves to tell everyone that will listen about his latest toy, whether it be a monster truck or his new best friends from Kung-Fu Panda. Sometimes I wonder where he comes up with this stuff, but I am sure that he has heard it somewhere and just stored it in that huge brain of his. He can "read" books that we have read to him. He can tell you things that happen in movies and on TV shows. We try not to watch too much TV, but it is usually on in the background of our life anyway. At least he is picking up good things from it! He can also count to 20 and beyond. For some reason he has some aversion to the number 6. He usually skips it, but if you show him the number 6 written he knows what it is and where it goes in a sequence. He loves to talk on the phone and he can usually tell who we are talking too, don't ask me how because I have yet to figure that one out.

He orders his own food in restaurants, complete with Sprite and water. That just cracks most of the waitstaff up that he orders for himself. It cracks me up too. He always asks everyone else eating what they are having. His favorite foods are chicken and french fries. He also likes steaks, hot dogs, sauteed mushrooms, rice, mashed potatoes, and almost any kind of peas. He likes most breakfast foods too. I have to keep cherry Pop Tarts in the car because that is what we eat on our commute in the mornings. He will usually eat a half one in the afternoons too.

He can play for hours with his toys. He loves his trains and cars. Just this past week he learned how to take apart his train tracks and put them back together, sometimes in a different pattern. He also loves our dog. He does aggravate her by chasing her with his wheelbarrel or throwing his balls at her or crawling around on the floor with her and disturbing her many naps. He was trying to hug her and love on her this morning and she kept getting away and I could hear him begging her to just please be still so I can love on you. It just makes me smile to hear him be sweet like that. He is sweet for the most part. Unless he is tired, then he can turn in to a little monster, but I will not go into that today. I just want to focus on the good.

He still will not give up his paci, but the time is drawing near that it is just going to disappear or suddenly get a hole in it or something. He amazes most people because even with his paci he talks better that some kids older than him. He still sleeps with us. Sometimes I really miss the days of just putting him in the bed and still having a little time for me, but I so enjoy snuggling with him and being able to watch him sleep. I love that I am the first face that he sees in the morning and he is the first face that I see. It just makes my day so wonderful when he rolls over and snuggles with me and says, "I love you Mommy". It also just melts all my cares away when we are lying in bed at night watching some movie trying to fall asleep and he wants me to hold him and snuggle him to me. It just makes everything in the world seem alright. He still gets excited everyday when I pick him up after work. I ring the doorbell and wait to hear him screaming Mommy, Mommy and hear his little feet running to the door.

Although he is growing and maturing fast, he will always be my little boy!

Death really does come in threes

2008-06-01T09:18:00.004-05:00

In the past 3 weeks I have lost 3 people in my life. I always thought that it was crazy when people said that death comes in threes, but in this case it was right on. On May 10th a former co-worker that I still kep in touch with had an aneurysm and she was alive, but we really were not sure how much alive she was. Her family really would not say for sure. I went to see her in the hospital, she was just sleeping, or in a coma really. She was always one of those women who were dressed to the nines with a matching purse and shoes for every outfit she had. She loved to shop! When I got married my thing that was borrowed were her shoes and they were a perfect match for my dress. She looked bad in the hospital, hooked up to all those tubes and she was on the ventilator. I don't usually go see people in the hospital when they are hooked up to all that stuff, it just freaks me out, but I just had to go see her. I went to see her a few times and I kept up with her prognosis from a few of our mutual friends. I went to see her on Thursday, May 15 and on the way there my cousin had texted me and told me that they had to move my Bigmama to hospice.

My Bigmama was my dad's mom. I spent a lot of time at her house growing up. My grandparents owned a farm and my cousin and I would help my Bigmama gather eggs in the afternoons. She kept everything going on that farm, she cooked 3 meals a day and made sure her family was taken care of. After my Grandaddy died 20 years ago, my youngest aunt took over the duty of caring for her and making sure that she had what she needed. Bigmama had a stroke about 8 years ago and lost the use of her right hand, but she learned to walk again and when she got out of the hospital she went to live with my aunt. She lived with my aunt for a year or so, but it just got to be too much, she needed more medical care than my aunt could give so she moved into an assisted living place. She loved it there. They had activities and played bingo. They had church on Sundays and special outings for the residents. Bigmama eventually got to the point that she needed a wheelchair all of the time, so my aunt got her one of those pwer chairs. That was always funny to everyone in the family because Bigmama never learned to drive, she never had a drivers license. She did run over a few of the other residents, but they always forgave her. She was such a sweet woman, she never complained and she loved having company. Before I had the babe, I would go and eat lunch with her at least once a week. Her health had been gradually declining over the past few months and she had to be moved from the assisted living home to a nursing home. She only stayed in the nursing home for a month. Her eyes had gotten so bad that my aunt had to take her wheelchair away because she could no longer see to drive it. She was moved to the hospice on early Thursday morning. I went to see her on Thursday night, but I never actually saw her, everyone kept saying how bad she looked and I just did not want to see her like that. She was on morphine and was in no pain. She never woke up once she got to the hospice. I sat on the porch for hours with my aunt and my family and just reminisced about the past. I got the call that Friday morning that she had died.

The next Wednesday my co-workers husband had a meeting with the doctors about his wife. The doctors recommended unplugging the ventilator, she had no brain activity and had made no improvements in the time that she was there. They unplugged her about 12:30 and she died at 12:50. I just still can't come to terms with this death. It is just so unreal. She was only 55. She was so filled with life, it is just so hard for me to believe that I will never talk to or see her again on this earth.

Last Wednesday morning my phone rang and it was my second cousin telling me that his mom had died on Tuesday. This is my great aunt that had alzheimers and had both of her feet amputated in the past year and my Granny had gone down to live with her. She lives an hour away from us. She had a urinary tract infection that turned septic and she died. This aunt was my favorite of my Granny's sisters. She was so funny. I went to visit her at least once a month when I was growing up. She had like 13 children and a ton of grandchildren. In the last few years her alzheimers had gotten so bad that she did not know anyone, even her own children. It just got so sad for me to go see her. She had gotten to the point that she could not eat, she was being fed through a syringe and she could not get out of bed. To me she had been gone a while, especially since she did not know anyone. She did not even know who she was. It was really sad, so I feel that she is truly in a better place. I guess all three of them are really.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-10T07:43:00.006-05:00

My little monster!

The center of the girl's attention!

All dressed up for church on Easter

Someone emailed this to me and I thought it was great and I wanted to share it with you all!

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms,

wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and

cherry Kool-Aid saying, 'It's okay honey, Mommy's here.'

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end

soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up

in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.

And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see.

And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors. And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars. And that when their kids asked, 'Did you see me, Mom?' they could say, 'Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world,' and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them

in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner.

And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children

and explained all about making babies.

And for all the (grand)mothers who wanted to,

but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat.

For all the mothers who read 'Goodnight, Moon' twice a night for a year.

And then read it again, 'Just one more time.'

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces

before they started school.

And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook

and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls 'Mom?' in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home -- or even away at college -- or have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches,

assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there,

only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up.

Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them. For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings,

and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful,

and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good mother anyway?

Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?

The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it in her heart?

Is it the ache she feels when she watches her son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M.

to put her hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M.

when she just wants to hear their key in the door

and know they are safe again in her home?

Or the need to flee from wherever she is and hug her child when she hears

news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts

are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation...

And for mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all. For all of us... Hang in there.

In the end we can only do the best we can.

Tell them every day that we love them.

And pray and never stop being a mother...

Happy Mother's Day!

Friendly, not really

2008-04-21T14:56:00.003-05:00

I think there must be something wrong with me. What do you think? I don't have any friends, not really. I mean I have some acquaintances, some people that I see occasionally that I have known for a few years, but no friends. I have no one who knows or cares what is going on in my daily life. I have no one that I call when things go wrong or go right. I have my co-workers, but when we are away from work, we really don't see each other. Maybe I am just too busy for friends, or maybe everyone else is just too busy. I have often wondered if I am just not a friendly person, but I am. I joined this meet up thing to try to meet some people and find some other children for my son to play with, but really, I just did not click with anyone. My neighbor has a daughter just a couple of months older than my son, but she just doesn't seem to want to be friends. We exchange baked goodies every year at Christmas and we wave when we see each other outside, but that is about it. I think maybe it is harder for me because I am gone so long everyday to work and I am busy, but not too busy for a friend. Not too busy for coffee or a shopping trip or even a 10 minute phone call. Oh well, maybe it does just get harder to find and maintain friendships once we get older and have a family to take care of. I don't know what it is, but I know that I miss having friends.

Happy Birthday to me

2008-04-09T17:35:00.002-05:00

32 years old already? My how the years are flying by. The day has been wonderful so far and I am sure that my party tonight will be too. Several people really went out of their way to make me feel special today and I love it!

I am still treading water, but at least my head is above it!

2008-03-27T19:59:00.002-05:00

Oh what a week! I have a co-worker that is driving me insane. I can't write much about it for fear of her finding my blog and forever making my life a living hell. Anyway, just know that things at work are stressful, as if work isn't stressful enough it doesn't help to have a psycho co-worker. 'Nuff said on that matter.

Something good did happen. We sold my car. Yes I was VERY sad about it. I miss my car everyday, but I know it would have taken a lot of money to fix it and it needs lots of work. The guy who bought it is a mechanic and he works with my hubby. So hubby gets to see my car everyday and make sure that she is alright. He has her running and has replaced several things and still has some work to do, but she is running. He even drove her to Tampa, FL last weekend and she made the trip there and back with no problems. At least I know she has a good home and someone who will take good care of her. I made sure to tell him how much I loved her before he agreed to buy her. For the time being I am driving hubby's Nissan Sentra and he is driving his grandparent's Cadillac. It is killing us on gas. I think I have a car in the works, but I will let you all know when I know for sure.

In the past month we have been to the rodeo and the monster jam monster truck thing. They were both so much fun. I love the rodeo. I had never been to see the monster trucks, but we watch them on TV all the time. The babe loves them. He knows when they are on in the afternoons and he asks my MIL turn them on for him. We had a blast. It was very loud! Of course he would not keep his earplugs in, so I had to cover his ears with my hands. I don't think he has any hearing loss, thank goodness.

We had a wonderful Easter. I hope everyone else did. The pollen here is just horrible. Everything has been covered in a yellow dust for about 3 weeks now and Easter was no exception. My feet and shoes were yellow. The babe really enjoyed the egg hunt this year. He was old enough to hunt and he had a ball. He enjoyed his stuff from the Easter bunny too. He was telling everyone that the bunny easter brought him a basket of stuff. It was so cute. I did not go to Easter at my mom's house. I just did not feel that I could be nice to everyone and so the best thing to do was for me to not go. I get tired of always having to put my feelings aside for the sake of everyone else. We went to church on Sunday and the babe stayed in the service with us and was really good, so we may try it again soon and not make him go to the nursery. I just feel like he cries most of the time we are gone. He does not like being left with strangers.

I have pics of most of the stuff that I am writing about, but blogger is being a pain and will not let me post them, so I will try to post them this weekend. For now it is almost my bedtime!

Can I borrow an umbrella?

2008-03-09T18:25:00.002-05:00

You know the saying when it rains, it pours. Well my life is flooding. Does anyone have an umbrella they can lend me for a while. I don't know how much more I can take before I just get in a boat and float away! 2008 has not been a good year for me.

Let me start from the beginning of the year and end with this weekend. My 20 year old neice who just had a baby last year is pregnant again and she got married on Valentine's day. I have not even met the guy and don't care too honestly. She quit her good job and now is unemployed. I am sure she is getting by with the help of my hard earned tax dollars, but that is a post for another day. Not long after I found out that she was pregnant, I fould out that my good for nothing sister is pregnant. She has nowhere to live, is on drugs and smokes like a train. She does not eat healthy and has never had any desire to have a child. I think I have written a post about her before, she is very immature and has no desire to better herself or be a productive member of society. She does not work and has never had a job longer than a month or so. Her boyfriend has been in and out of jail. He has one son that he was a less than good father to, so I can only imagine what he will be to this baby. They don't have anywhere to live or bring a baby home to. They don't have a car or anyway to get a baby to the doctor or anywhere else. I can only pray about this situation. It truly pisses me off!

My Aunt's girlfriend had an aneurysm a few weeks ago and is not doing very well. My Aunt is 6 hours away all alone having to deal with this and everything that it entails. Neither of them have any family nearby, so she is essentially alone now. This just breaks my heart! Also my Great-Aunt in another state just had a triple by-pass. She has had many health problems over the past year or so.

I think we may have a leak in the roof over our bedroom. We have not confirmed this, but I am almost afraid to know for sure. We have some sort of critter, think possibly a squirrel living under our bathtub in our bathroom. We can hear them in there. Scary, but we do not have the money to have them removed yet, so we just kick the tub when we hear them and try to scare them away, but they keep coming back. I am pretty sure that it is a squirrel. I think we live in the squirrel capital of the South. I have never seen so many squirrels in all of my life! The Christmas lights are still up on the house. We took down the yard decorations, just not the lights on the house. Last year we left them up all year. I am thinking we may do that this year too. The dishwasher is broken. When I called the warranty company they informed me that our contract has expired. Wonderful, even though they have not sent me anything telling me it was time to renew. Oh well next weekend after I open my new checking account I will renew our contract and have the dishwashwer repaired. Oh how I miss the dishwasher. My daughter and I washed about 6 sinkfuls of dishes yesterday. We had to unload the dishwasher and wash all of those dishes as well as everything else that was dirty. Back to the new checking account, I have had 5 NSF checks in my account in the past month! 2 of them were my fault, 3 of them were the bank's fault in a way, but I still have to pay for them. So hubby and I have decided to close out that account and open a new account for me at the credit union where he banks and where our savings account is.

Is your head spinning yet? Well I am not quite done. For the past few weeks the clutch in my car has been giving me some problems. It has gotten to the point that you have to have it pressed all the way to the floor for it to engage. We got in it last night to take our daughter back to her Mom's, got a few miles from the house and it would not go into gear. I finally got it in 2nd gear and drove it back home, afraid to take it out of gear until it was safely parked in the driveway. So now the issue is what to do with it. It is a '96 Accord, it has almost 200,000 miles on it. It needs a paint job, a new windshield, oxygen sensors, a clutch, and it has an oil leak. It will also need a new timing belt before too long. It has been a FANTASTIC car. It has been the only car that I have ever paid off and truly drove until it fell apart. I feel like my car knows me and I know it. The drivers seat just hugs me when I get in it. I cried myself to sleep last night thinking of how sad it is going to be when that isn't my car anymore. Getting rid of it brings us to another problem. We do not have the money to get another car right now. I really needed my car to last until next year when hubby's car will be paid off. Since that didn't happen now we are trying to figure out what to do. My SIL is getting rid of her car. It is a newer Accord and it is in great shape. We know the history of it. I think our plan is to get rid of my car and take that money to pay on hubby's car and try to borrow the money from the bank to buy SIL's car. Other "things" that go along with her car would be the higher insurance and the higher taxes and tag fees. Oh well, I have to have a car to drive and it needs to be a good reliable car. Good things about this car would be that it is newer and prettier than my car. It is bigger than my car, which would be wonderful. I can't tell you how often I have bumped the babe's head getting in and out of my car. I took some pics of my car today. I love that car!!!!!!!!!!

You see things have been pretty bad for me. Bad things just keep happening. I am usually a very optimistic person, but lately I am having a hard time finding a silver lining in these clouds.

Ex-family

2008-03-07T21:25:00.003-05:00

Is it really possible to disown certain people in your family? Even if the part of the family that you like doesn't disown them? You see I really have no reason to want to be around certain people in my family. They are such white trash they make my stomach upset just thinking about them. You see the big problem that I am having is that they are close relatives of mine and most of our family get togethers are at my Moms and they are there. Well honestly I do not want to see them, I don't want my kids around them. So what do I do? Just not go and break my Mom's heart or go and have to be around people that I truly don't like? Mom's birthday (60th) was last week and I called up my oldest sister and invited her and her kids to a restaurant for a surprise party for my Mom on Saturday. It was awesome without the people that I don't like there. We had such a good time. She was so surprised, but she could not tell the other people about it because she did not want to hurt their feelings. She did say that it was the best birthday ever though! It isn't like any of the others have ever done anything special for her birthday. Easter is coming soon and Mom is already talking about the get together at her house. As soon as she mentioned it I started praying to get sick that day so we won't have to go. I have come up with a hundred excuses to not go, but I love my Mom and I hate to let her down but I am so sick of having to suck it up and be around these people. If they were not my family I would have lost contact with them years ago, much like the people that I went to highschool with. Anyway, am I wrong for not wanting to be around them. Maybe one day I will tell you the whole story of why I am sick and tired of them, but it is late and I am tired tonight.

Positive parenting

2008-02-23T13:23:00.004-05:00

I am taking a parenting class. It is called Triple P (I can't remember what it stands for at the moment, but I know that part of it is PositiveParenting). Anyway I started it last week and it is an eight week class. The babe has been going with me and staying in the nursery with the other kids. It is the only interaction that he really has with other children. I am trying to get him involved in more things with other kids, we do still go to out meetups when we can, but that is just usually once a month. He does well with other children.

Anyway, I am excited about this class. I think I do alright with the whole parenting thing, but there is not one right way to parent and I think that I could certainly use some pointers to help me with some things that I am struggling with. So far I really like the class and have learned that a lot of what I am doing is right on, but some things I need to work on. So we have little homework assignments and things to work on during the week and then in the next class we share our ideas. I think parents need all the help that they can get, especially if you have a very stubborn hard-headed child like the babe.

Sick again

2008-02-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

I think I have the flu or just some really bad virus that is making me feel like crap. I have been on so much medication since Thursday that I feel like an addict. I am popping some pill every few hours. It started with a sore throat on Thursday and Friday and has morphed into a runny nose, sneezing, pressure in my ears and body aches. On the bright side at least the sore throat went away. I think I would rather have the sore throat than all this stuff. I did take a nap yesterday and today when the babe did. Hubby has been wonderful and very helpful. He knows that even when I don't feel good I will still try to do everything, so he has been cooking and taking care of me. I feel okay when I get up in the mornings, but as the day wears on I start feeling worse. Oh well, I hope this goes away soon.

Is there something burning?

2008-02-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

I am truly sorry for the lack of posting and reading other blogs. I miss it, really I do, it is just to do anything, it is so busy at home and you all know that I cannot blog at work anymore, it makes it hard to find the time to actually sit down and write anything. When the babe sees me on the computer he wants to look at Thomas the train or go to Sesame Street and that is fine, but it doesn't help me post anything. Anyway, I promise that I will try to do better.

So much has happened in the past few weeks, I will update you a little at a time. I would hate to blow your mind all at once. I will start with my stupidity from Sunday. We still have not found a church here, I know, I know these things take time. We have only been here a little over 4 years, so I guess it goes without saying we really need to find a church. All of that said, we decided to go to church Sunday. We got up and got ready and I had a little extra time while I was waiting for hubby to get ready, so I decided to put some peas on the stove to go ahead and start cooking them to go with our lunch. Well I forgot to turn them off before we left the house. We got through church and made up our mind that we would just keep looking because that was not the church for us. We got home and hubbywas unlocking the door and asked if we smelled smoke. Well the weather was nice, so I just thought maybe someone was cooking on the grill. When he opened the door he looked at me and asked if I was cooking something. Then I remembered the peas. The house was filled with smoke and the peas were ash in the pot. We immediately began opening the doors and windows to get the smoke out. Well we got the smoke out, but we are stuck with the smell. Some rooms are worse than others, like the kitchen and adjoining den. The smell is making me sick. It is stuck in my nose. I am trying to get rid of it and everyday it is a little better. I have invested a small fortune in air fresheners and cleaners and Febreez. Hopefully soon the smell will just be a memory, like my favorite pot that I ruined.

Oh well, I guess everyone makes mistakes. Thank goodness it was only smoke and no fire.

Bloggers Block

2008-01-08T07:22:00.000-05:00

You would think after my hiatus I would have plenty to blog about and I do, but when I sit down at the keyboard I just freeze. When I am driving in the car, the thoughts are just flowing, but I sit down here to write and I get nothing! Help me. I think I need to keep a small notebook with me and jot down my ideas when they come to me so I can remember them. Any other ideas on how I can overcome this block?

If you were wondering, no I have not named my bike yet. I have not had time to bond with her. It has been raining or too cold and I have been so busy with home and work. I hope to be able to bond with her soon so I can pick out a name for her.

I have a killer headache this morning. It actually started yesterday, I think it is a stress headache. Imagine that, me stressed out! We are planning our daughter's birthday party. She wants a 50s theme, so that is what she will get. I have so many ideas, I did start writing them down yesterday. We will all dress in 50s attire. I am looking for a poodle skirt. Then I thought maybe I needed a diner waitress outfit, since I will be hosting the party. I am a little stressed because we are having it at our house. Most of our parties we have at my in-laws, but they are having some issues with water damage in the ceiling and floor of their living room. In a way having it at our house makes it easier on me, but I just always feel like I cannot get the house clean enough when we have people coming over. At least I have most of the Christmas decorations taken down and put away!

Alright, I have to get to work! Doesn't that sound fun? I hope all (the few of you) my readers are alright, I was watching the news about those tornadoes. My heart goes out to those people!

Happy New Year, I'm Back!

2007-12-31T16:26:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-12-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

A few pics

2007-11-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

Cabin that we rented for the week.

Vacation anyone?

2007-10-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-12T15:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-11T13:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-07T15:14:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-28T09:13:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-23T14:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-08T10:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-06T16:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-08-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-26T12:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-19T12:13:00.001-05:00

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

2007-07-13T12:33:00.001-05:00

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

2007-07-06T12:03:00.001-05:00

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

2007-07-02T12:06:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-06-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-18T13:09:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-13T08:35:00.001-05:00

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

2007-06-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-30T15:38:00.001-05:00

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

2007-05-24T15:34:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-05-22T08:16:00.001-05:00

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

2007-05-17T12:47:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-05-11T13:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-07T12:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-04T14:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-30T11:13:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-25T13:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-20T08:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-13T12:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-04-04T15:45:00.000-05:00

I will be 31 on Monday, enough said.

The pursuit of tears

2007-04-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-03-27T14:28:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-23T08:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-20T14:18:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-07T12:43:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

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.

Too much, yet nothing

2007-02-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

So much is going on, yet not much that I can write about on here. Nothing really exciting is happening and I guess that could be a good thing. I will put these in bullets to help navigate through them.

We have to refinance our house soon, our APR will become adjustable in the next few months, so I have got to start that process soon and decide who we will refinance with. Any suggestions or anyone that we should not go with?
Our daughter is sick. She has some sort of virus or something. She barfed in my car last night while hubbby was taking her home. Actually they had already gotten to her mom's, but of course mommy dearest wasn't there yet, she was at the store and on her way. Why is it that we have to be on time bringing her back, yet we are not given the same courtesies? Oh well, that is a rant for another day. Anyway hubby was waiting in the car with her until her mom got home and she said that she wasn't feeling well and she thought her fever was back, so he asked her if she wanted to get out of the car and get some fresh air. Of course she did not want to do that and then it happened. Grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup all in the seat, floor, everywhere. Hubby has not thrown up in 30 years, but he almost did last night having to ride to the car wash with that awful smell. We cleaned it as best we could after he got home. We Lysoled and Febreezed the hell out of it, but it still stinks. At least he is driving my car right now, so I have not had to smell it.
Hubby is driving my car because one of my tires has a vibration or something in it. He wants to get rid of my car and me just drive his car and he just get something older to drive until we can afford another car payment. I really love my car, but it is 11 years old and I am really paraniod that something major is going to happen to it and we really cannot afford to get a new car right now, so I think I am going to let hubby sell it and get himself something cheap to drive. The thought of getting rid of it makes me sick to my stomach. It has been the best car that I have ever had. I have been everywhere in that car. I have never kept a car as long as I have kept this one and I am really attached to it. I love my car, but maybe it is time for a change.
It is time to start planning for vacation. You know the vacation that we cannot afford to go on, but we are going anyway. Yeah that is the one. I think we are going to the beach for Memorial day weekend and we cannot decide if we want to go back to the beach for our weeklong vacation or if we want to go to the mountains. I found a few really nice places to stay that are not too expensive for the week. I am just ready to make some plans so I will have something to look forward too. We did not go on vacation last year, and I NEED a vacation.
Things are going on at work, but I cannot write about them here. Just know that some things are good, some things are not so good.
My niece is having a girl. I am so happy that she is not having a boy. I know, I know, I am crazy, you don't have to tell me. I cleaned out the babe's closet on Saturday and got together some blankets and neutral colored onesies and things for her that the babe has outgrown. I also have some outfits and exersaucers and stuff that I am going to sell to try to make a few extra bucks. Wish me luck on that, I am not at selling things.

I think maybe that has you updated, if I think of anything else I will add it later.

I want my Peter Pan

2007-02-20T13:20:00.000-05:00

Okay so I am sure that you all have heard about the peanut butter recall by now. I am so upset. I eat a peanut butter sandwich nearly every day for lunch. My favorite peanut butter is Peter Pan Honey Roast. I have 3 jars of it in my desk drawer, yes I know a bit obsessive. Anyway I can't eat it because it has been recalled and I don't want to get sick! The worse part is that you cannot find any un-recalled jars anywhere. I want to know when my peanut butter and I will be together again. Hubby in all his sweetness went to several stores Sunday to get my beloved peanut butter, but there is none to be found, so he bought me Jif. YUCK is all I can say. I have been eating it, but it isn't the same, it isn't even good to me. I know, I know that choosy moms and dads choose it, but I don't like it! Oh well, I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

Me, weird?

2007-02-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

I am dusting off this post from November 24, 2006. I have been tagged by Becky, but I had already done this one, so I will post it again for her.

6 Weird things about me:

1. I don't eat mayonnaise. We don't have any mayonnaise in our house.
2. I have to be covered up to go to sleep in the bed, no matter how hot it is. I cannot sleep without cover. I also have to have my feather pillow to go to sleep. I have to take it on vacation with us and anywhere that I will have to sleep.
3. I brush my teeth in the shower. It saves time.
4. I have never used or sold illegal (or legal) drugs.
5. I opted for a c-section instead of an induced vaginal birth because I had a major fear of labor and delivery. That was not the reason that it was an option, but that was the reason I decided to have it.
6. I have a fear of being put to sleep. I worked in the OR in college and it was a SCARY, SCARY place. I hope I never need surgery!

So there you go. Did you learn anything new about me? If you do this meme on your blog, just let me know so I can see if you are weirder than me.

Happy President's Day. I hope you all have the day off, I don't!

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

I know this is a little early, but hey give me a break at least I remembered. How could I not remember, I am being bombarded from every which way with ads for Valentines day stuff and we all know that we must spend a fortune on our loved ones for this blessed holiday. I am not looking for anything for Valentine's day. I was not asked what I wanted, if I had been I would have simply replied a card. Honestly, I don't want the $75.00 bouquet of roses delivered to my office. I don't want my hubby to spend a small fortune on jewelry for me, of course it would be nice, but we don't have a small fortune for such things, and I don't need any more jewelry anyway. To me it is a pointless holiday. I guess if I were in the flower or greeting card or candy business I might disagree, but I am not. Tomorrow I will go to lunch with my hubby and give him his card and Hershey's dark chocolate kisses that I bought him. We will have supper with the kids of heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches and soup and chocolate frosted cupcakes for dessert. We have gotten the kiddos a few small things and some candy for our daughter and some goldfish crackers for our son. If my hubby is a good boy and I can muster up the energy, maybe we can have some Valentine lovin' after I put the babe to bed. Whatever you do for Valentine's Day I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

It's gone, it's all gone

2007-02-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

I got a phone call Wednesday afternoon from my hubby asking me to please go online and see if my daughter's cell phone had GPS capabilities because of course she has lost it, along with her new digital camera. Both of these were Christmas gifts, the phone from us and the camera from MIL. I did not want to get her a cellphone because she is too young for that responsibility, but hubby wanted to get it for her so he can get in touch with her. When we call her mom's house either they don't answer the phone or they have the ringer off and her mom leaves her cellphone in the car most of the time, so we can't get in touch with our daughter when she isn't with us. So hubby got her the Firefly phone for Christmas. She went to eat lunch with her mom and step-dad Wednesday and gave her mom her purse to put under the seat and they forgot to get it. Do you think that mom forgot her purse? Of course not, but she "forgot" to get our daughter's. Of course no one has turned it in and I don't expect that they will. If you found a purse that obviously belonged to a child wouldn't you turn it it? Hubby went by the restaurant that night and still no one turned it in. I just know when I take the kids anywhere I make sure when we leave that we have everything that we came with.

I am so pissed about this. I know that if she lost something expensive while with us that her mom had bought we would offer to replace it. Do you think we have had such an offer? We haven't and I am sure that we won't either. So there went at least $200.00 down the toilet, not to speak of the fact we can't get in touch with her when she isn't with us. Hubby asked if we should replace her phone and I told him no we should not. She should have been more responsible with it in the first place and it would not be gone. We don't have a lot of extra money and hubby is working a second job right now to try to help get ahead on a few things, so buying another cellphone is not an option. I told him that we should tell her that she can save up her money from our house and her moms and buy the new phone herself and maybe then she will take better care of it. I even told him that we could pay her a few bucks for doing things like picking up pine cones in the yard or helping with the laundry or dishes. I guess we will see what happens.

15 months

2007-02-07T15:10:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that the babe is 15 months old? Me either. He is such a little toddler now. He walks everywhere. Every so often he will crawl around on the floor, but usually he is walking or more like running. He is so busy and into everything. He still isn't really talking, of course he makes lots of noise, just not many distinguishable words. He sounds like he is speaking in chinese or something. He says mama and dada and a few other things that you can understand, but most of the time it is some other language. He get so frustrated with us when he keeps telling us something and we just don't get it. He points and grunts ALOT! We go through the pantry trying to figure out what he wants, when we finally figure it out he gets so excited. He also knows the difference in the yes and no head shake. He is such a bog boy, where has my baby gone? He also has stopped watching the Wiggles as much. He prefers to watch Baby Einstein and Baby Mozart videos and Madagascar. We have tried so many other movies that we thought he might like and he will not watch them. Occasionally he will watch Shark Tale, but he prefers Madagascar. If you haven't seen it, watch it, it is a really cute movie. Before the nasty comments start or the hate emails I know already I am a horrible mother for letting my child watch TV at all, but hey I can't entertain him all the time.

For the past few weeks he has had some sleep issues. I thought we were over those when he finally started sleeping through the night, but I guess not. He has had separation anxiety REALLY bad the past few weeks and at night when I put him in the bed and leave the room he just screams his head off. So I would go back in and pick him up and sit in the rocking chair with him for hours sometimes before he would fall asleep. He was tired, but he is also very strong willed and he would not let himself go to sleep. I don't mind rocking him to sleep, but for 2 hours it was a bit much! I could not get anything done or get any rest myself. Then after I would put him in the bed he would wake up at the least little noise, like my knee popping! I started putting him in our bed and laying down with him to get him to sleep and then moving him to his bed, but even that would take hours some nights. So on Monday I decided I had enough. It was time to be the parent take some control. Crying it out worked before to get him sleeping through the night I prayed that it would work again. So Monday night he got his bath, brushed his teeth, we read some bedtime stories, said our prayers and then I tucked him in his bed, said goodnight, turned out the light and left the room. He screamed for about 2 minutes then he got quiet for a few minutes, then he screamed a little more, never more than 2 minutes. After about 10 minutes he was asleep and he did not wake up until 5, then we went and got him and put him in our bed. I don't mind sleeping with him for an hour or so in the mornings, but I don't want him to sleep with us every night and I can see that was where we were headed. Anyway last night was night 2 and he did just as well. Hopefully by the end of the week he won't cry at all when I leave him in the bed. I hate to hear him cry, it just breaks my heart. I feel like a new woman this week, having slept more for the past 2 nights than I have in weeks. WOOHOO for sleep!

It is happening

2007-02-01T16:57:00.000-05:00

Something that I really feared is happening, I am gaining weight. Before I got pregnant I weighed 170 lbs. For me that was fat, I was out of shape and unhealthy. When I got pregnant I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and I had to keep track of everything that I ate and count carbs and take my blood sugar 4 times a day. I was able to keep my blood sugar down with diet and exercise. I walked for about 20 minutes at least 5 times a week. After I had the babe, I breastfed and it was wonderful. I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight within 2 weeks and within about a month I weighed less than I did before I got pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I was still pudgy in the middle and I needed a good workout to get myself toned up, but I was smaller than I had been in years. I ate pretty much anything that I wanted and still didn't gain any weight! YAY, because I like to eat. I had gotten back in to a size 10 pants and down to 145 lbs.

Well I stopped breastfeeding in November and went back on regular birth control pills and the weight is slowly but surely coming back. My clothes are getting tight and I am scared to get on the scales. I know what I need to do, it is just so hard. I don't have a lot of time to exercise. I leave the house at 7:30 in the mornings and I am lucky to get home before 7 most nights, then I have to get everyone fed and the kitchen cleaned and things ready for the next morning. I guess I could get up even earlier than I already do and exercise, but there is no where that I can exercise at 5:30 in the morning in my house where I will not be disturbing someone's sleep. I could go walk, but it is like 30 degrees in the mornings here and it is mighty dark that early I might get hit by a car. I guess I could evercise at 9:30 or so at night after the babe goes to bed, but by then I am so tired I just want to go to sleep too. I have started back to drinking water all day long again. I have also cut my coffee back to one cup a day, maybe 2 on the weekends. I am trying to eat healthier, but it is so very hard. Do you all have any suggestions? I really do not want to gain this weight back.

Partying with the Stars

2007-01-29T14:04:00.000-05:00

The birthday party was awesome! My daughter was so surprised as were most of the guests. We partied like the stars that we are. We walked down the red carpet. We accepted awards. We ate and drank. It truly was one for the history books. She smiled the whole time! Everyone looked great in their hollywood get ups. Here are some pics. These are only a few and they only show my hubby and kids. Because I write this site anonymously, I will not post a pic of myself or any of the other party guests. If you want to see more pics from the party send me an email at samanthak26athotmail.com and I will be glad to email you some more pics.

Funny for the day

2007-01-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I needed a laugh today!

A woman went to her doctor. The doctor, after an examination, sighed and said, "I've some bad news. You have cancer, and you'd best put your affairs in order. The woman was shocked, but managed to compose herself and walk into the waiting room where her daughter had been waiting.

"Well daughter, we women celebrate when things are good, and we celebrate when things don't go well. In this case, things aren't well. I have cancer. Let's head to the club and have a martini." After 3 or 4 martinis, the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more martinis. They were eventually approached by some of the woman's old friends, who were curious as to what the two were celebrating. The woman told her friends they were drinking to her impending end. "I have been diagnosed with AIDS." The friends gave the woman their condolences, and they had a couple of more martinis.

After the friends left, the woman's daughter leaned over and whispered, "Momma, I thought you said you were dying of cancer, and you just told your friends you were dying of AIDS." The woman said, "I don't want any of those bitches sleeping with your father after I'm gone."

Monday Blahs

2007-01-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

The weekend was really good, just too darn short. I did not want to get up this morning and I certainly did not want to come to work. It has been raining since yesterday afternoon and it is just yucky here. I got soaked trying to get the car loaded this morning and get me and the babe out the door so I could come to work, and I don't even really want to be here today.

I had a good weekend. We had so much fun on date night. We dropped the babe off to my MIL and several of hubby's aunts and sister at Target at about 3, then we were off for our date. We went to the movies to see The Good Sherpherd. It was good, but LLLLOOOOONNNNGGG! We did not know how long it was, so that put us a little behind on our plans, but that was okay. After the movie we headed to this little restaurant in a little town about 20 minutes from our house in another town. We were all dressed up for our date and very excited about this restaurant. We had read a review in our local paper for it and it sounded wonderful. Well we finally found it and let's just say we kept on driving. We would have been WWWAAAYYYY overdressed and there were only about 10 people there anyway, so we really would have stood out. So we headed over to the Adult Store that is also in that town and bought a few new toys, then we headed back to the Red Lobster. I have a weakness for the RL. It was so good, we had such a good time. We had to wait on a table so we sat outside in the cold and snuggled on one of their benches and watched the other patrons as they came and went and just talked. It was great to just spend time with my husband without the interruptions and stresses of our everyday life. After dinner we headed home and waited for the babe to return. He was asleep when they got there, so I just kissed him goodnight and tucked him in the bed. Hubby and I were both too full and tired to even play with our new toys so we went on to bed too.

Sunday we went shopping for our daughter's birthday. We went to Toys'R'Us. The babe had such a good time. He played with everything. We went down the stuffed animal aisle and he hugged every animal and then he found this Elmo thing and just stood there playing with it for the longest time. Then we let him pick out a new book and of course he picked out an Elmo book. Then he wanted M&M's, which he didn't get. He did however get to ride the little BigBird airplane thing. It was the first time that he had ever ridden one of those little things and he liked it, it was so cute. We also went to eat and he was so adorable. We put a plate in front of him and put some little pieces of turkey and sliced pork and french fries and macaroni and cheese on it and he ate it up. We also got him a Sprite to drink and he loved it. He was such a big boy, feeding himself. He is growing up so fast. He has a mouth full of teeth and it seems like everyday there is another new tooth! He also laid on the sofa with me yesterday morning and watched a movie and took a long nap with me, it was wonderful. I love to snuggle with him. I also turned his carseat around so he is forward facing now. I think he likes it, now he can see where we are going! One bad thing is that he can also see me if I am eating or drinking and then he wants some and it is impossible for me to feed him while I am driving. Maybe that will help me to not eat and drink and drive.

This week is going to be busy getting ready for the birthday party this weekend, but I am sure that it will be well worth it. I hope when my kids are grown that they remember how special that we tried to make their birthday parties.

Slacker, who me?

2007-01-19T14:04:00.000-05:00

Yes I admit, I have been a slacker. I have been so busy I have been neglecting my blog and my blog friends. I am trying to get caught up with everyone, really I am. Things at work have been crazy. I now have even more job responsibilities for the same pay. Fun, Fun! I am glad that I like what I do and where I work or I could be really bitter about it all, instead I am just really busy now, busier than I should be. I don't think I will ever get caught up. Job security as we like to call it, I have plenty of it!

Hubby and I are having date night tomorrow night. I am excited. We are going out to eat at this steakhouse in a neighboring town and I think we are going to the movies, although I was somewhat disappointed by our choices. I am just excited about having some grown up time with my hubby. I miss him, it seems like we hardly ever spend any time together.

We have been running around this week trying to get things together for my daughter's birthday party. We are having her party next Saturday. Her birthday is Tuesday, she will be 10! She wants a Hollywood themed birthday. When she first told us that I went into panic mode thinking we would never be able to find decorations to go with a Hollywood theme, but then we went to our party supply store and hit a gold mine. We found so much stuff to go with her theme. I am so excited. We are all going to dress in red carpet attire and make it a grand affair. I will be announcing everyone as they arrive. We are going to hand out awards. It is going to be so much fun. She has no idea about any of the decorations that we found or that we will all be dressing in our formal wear. We are letting all of that be a surprise to her. If you have any other ideas for the party, let me know.

Happy MLK Day

2007-01-15T12:31:00.000-05:00

Today is a holiday for many Americans, but not for me. No sirree, here I sit at my desk, staring over at the empty post office parking lot, wishing today was a holiday for me too. Not much going on here, the babe has been sick and now the Hubby is sick. The have snotty noses and a cough. I hope I don't get it.

The babe is now walking all over the place. He runs when he gets excited. He doesn't really fall that much either. He is such a sweet little person. He will come over while he is playing and give me or his dad a kiss. He will give the dog kisses. He still tries to eat dog food, bless his heart, could my cooking be that bad that he would rather have dog food? Yesterday he would go over to the dog bowl and get a piece of food in each hand and take it over to the sliding glass doors and try to feed it to the outside dogs. He is such a little person and not so much a baby anymore.

We went to the movies Friday night and we went to the late movie after his bath thinking that he would go to sleep during the movie. I don't know what I was thinking! He stayed awake during the WHOLE 2 hour movie. He wasn't bad though, he ate his Nilla Wafers and drank his milk and watched the movie. He didn't even go to sleep until after we got home and I read his bedtime stories and put him to bed.

I took some video and pictures of him Saturday night walking around dragging his blankie. He is never far from his blankie and he makes sure that he takes it everywhere he goes! He looks like Linus walking around dragging blankie. He is also teething like crazy. He has gotten 3 of his 1 year molars we are waiting on one of the bottom ones to come in. He also has gotten another tooth on the bottom. I wasn't even expecting it yet. He has 12 teeth now! He brushes them every night after his bath. He takes his toothbrush and bites it and swipes at his teeth with it. It is so cute to watch him, he is so serious about it. He stares at himself in the mirror and then he breaks out into the biggest smile. Motherhood, still wonderful after 14 months!

We did it

2007-01-08T15:39:00.000-05:00

We did it yesterday. After months of preparing ourselves we finally went back to church. You see it wasn't so much church that I had to prepare myself for, it was leaving the babe with strangers in the nursery. I decided Saturday that unless we had some really good reason Sunday morning we would get up and go to the 8:30 service at a nearby church. We did and we left the babe at the nursery with strangers. He didn't cry until he turned around and realized that we were gone, I could still see him, but the lady assured me that he would be fine in a few minutes, so we went on to the sanctuary, in tears. I only cried for a minute, but I had a sick feeling in my tummy the whole time. It was really hard to pay attention to the preacher because I was counting down the minutes until I could run over to the nursery and get my sweet little angel. Hopefully next Sunday will be better and I will be able to pay attention. It felt good to be back in church, I sure have missed it. When we went back to get him, he was sitting in the floor on a mat reading a book. They had Barney playing on a nearby TV. There were 2 other little girls in the nursery and he seemed happy. He really did not want to leave, he just kept sitting there reading his book and showing me the horsey near where he was sitting. I think he enjoyed it, after he got over us leaving him. He really needs to be around some kids his own age. I still can't believe that we did it, but I am glad that we did. I realized after we got home that I did not even take a picture of him in his Sunday clothes, oh well, maybe next time I will remember.

Dropping the bomb

2007-01-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

Christmas with my side of the family is always interesting. You never know what may happen or who may say something that will offend someone or piss someone off. I was quite surprised when my oldest neice walked in with my 2 middle sisters. I was surprised because my next to the oldest sister M was in jail for failure to pay her child support and I had not been informed that she was released. You see it really would not bother me if she was left to rot there. Yes I know I am heartless, whatever I have my history with her and it isn't a very good one, no love loss here. I try to remember her the way she was when we were growing up, but even then she was mean and controlling so I have a hard time having warm and fuzzy thoughts about her. Not to speak of the fact that she has lost custody of her 3 children and has failed to pay child support since July of 2005. She is a little behind and child support enforcement finally caught up with her in the beginning of December and put her in jail until she could pay some of the money that she owes. Well guess who bailed her out 2 days before Christmas? Her oldest daughter, my 19 year old neice. I am sure that everyone saw the shock on my face when she walked in the door. I really hate surprises. I don't do well faking excitement or pleasure if I am really not pleased. I did my best, what more could you ask for.

So Christmas eve rocked on and we opened gifts and ate and made small talk and oohed and aahed over my sweet baby boy. A family friend was there with her kids, her youngest is a month older than my son. They were playing together in the floor when the other little boy leans in to kiss my son on the cheek and my son starts just bawling. I asked him what was wrong and picked him up and the mom says Maybe her kid bit him. UM HELLO WHY DID YOU NOT WARN ME THAT YOUR CHILD MIGHT BITE MY PRESCIOUS ANGEL BOY? I was pissed. My son was crying like it was the end of the world and I know it hurt. He left teeth marks, which turned into bruises on his cheek. The mom didn't even do anything to her son nor did she apologize to us for her kid biting mine. Then I had to tell my mom and oldest sister what happened because my baby would not stop crying. Everytime he looked at that kid he busted out crying. I am sure that it hurt his feelings as well as his face. Everyone was shocked at the way the other mom handled that situation. I still can't believe that she did not warn us or apologize. Oh well, we won't be playing with him anymore.

So after all of that drama, we were just sitting around in the kitchen talking about our plans for Christmas, yadda, yadda, yadda. My 19 year old neice was sitting next to her good for nothing mother and said that she had something to tell us, that my sister was just dying for her to tell us. I was expecting that she was going to tell us that her good-for-nothing boyfriend gave her an engagement ring and she was getting ready to ruin her life by marrying him. No that was not what came out of her mouth. She told us that she is pregnant! OH MY WORD! CAN YOU FREAKIN' BELIEVE THAT? Yeah me either. She is just a baby herself and she is going to have a baby.

I sat there in shock and no one said a word. I looked at my mom and she looked at me and we just stared at each other. Then finally my mom started the lecture about how her b/f is a sorry ass and how hard it is to raise a baby by yourself and how she wanted a better life for her and she deserves so much more. I just busted out crying. It truly broke my heart. I remember the day she was born. I was very close to her and I just want her to find her Prince Charming and have him carry her off into the sunset to a wonderful life with a nice house and a white picket fence where she can sit on the porch and watch her children grow up. Instead she will be stuck raising a baby by herself with help from whoever will help her with the baby. Another fatherless child brought into this world. I am truly sad for her and her unborn child. She doesn't have a clue! She does have a job, so she will be able to provide financially for the baby, which is a good thing.

Also I really hope that she does not have a boy because I have the only boy in my family and I would really like to keep it that way! Selfish isn't it, well that is me. I am trying to be supportive, really I am. She came by my office earlier today and she was telling me all about the sonogram and her doctors visit and I just wanted to vomit. I know that isn't the reaction that she needs, so I hugged her and pretended to be excited. I also told her to get some maternity pants because she can no longer squish her tummy into those too small jeans that she is wearing. I told her to get the What to Expect book, you know the bible of pregnancy. I am trying to get my maternity clothes back for her to use, but since I let that girl borrow them and her baby was born in August, she still hasn't returned them. I did ask for them back, but as of yet, I still haven't received them. That is what I get for trying to help someone.

How is that for a Merry Christmas? I wish people would realize that I don't like gifts like that for Christmas.

Problem solved

2007-01-03T15:12:00.000-05:00

Well I found out what that stinking fungus is in my yard, it is Stinky Squid (Pseudocolus fusiformis). It grows in mulch and in rotting and decaying trees and stuff. I think it is trying to help rid us of the Dogwood Tree that was killed in a storm a few years ago. It is harmless, except for the stinch, which it uses to attract flies to help spread its spores. I don't know about you, but I feel better now!

I rearranged my office in celebration of the new year. I just love it. I wish I would have taken before and after pictures so that you all could see the changes. It is so much brighter and open now. I also have a more condusive work space, you know for all the times that I have to actually do my job while I am at the office. All joking aside, it should actually make me more productive, everything is within my reach now. On the subject of work, my boss came back last Friday. WHOO HOO! I am so happy that he is back, if I could do summersaults I would. He is only able to come back for a few hours at a time, but that few hours has been wonderful. This place has a whole new attitude. I hope this is a better year at work than last year, so far it has been.

There is a fungus among us!

2007-01-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

I have a fungus of some sort growing in my yard. When I went outside yesterday morning to get the paper there was a strange odor, it smelled like rotten garbage near the end of our driveway. When I looked across the yard I saw a strange orange growth, several of them actually. Some were big and some were small and some were just barely peeking out of the ground. The look like the texture of the inside of a pumpkin. They were covered in bugs, feasting on their rottenness. Anyway I ran inside and got Hubby to come and see the alien formations out on the lawn. He wasn't the least bit concerned. He said it was probably just some sort of mushroom from all of the rain that we have had lately. I have not had a chance to research them yet, but as soon as I figure out what they are I will let you know.

We had a wonderful New Years Eve and Day. I spent Sunday cleaning and taking down Christmas decorations and Monday I spent enjoying my hubby and the babe. It finally stopped raining Sunday and the sun came out and we went on a walk. It was wonderful. I really wasn't ready to come back to work today. Oh well, that's the way life goes. Anyway here are some pics for your viewing pleasure, some of the growth in my yard and a few of the babe.

End of the Year

2006-12-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

I was planning a really awesome post for my last post of 2006, but I don't think it is going to happen. I have been under so much pressure at work and at home lately I have barely had time to think about anything else. We got some shocking news at Christmas that I am still trying to deal with and then last night we got hit with another bombshell, so I am just mentally exhausted. Anyway I know that things will all work out and everything will be fine in the end, but I just need some time to wrap my mind around it all. I am sure I will tell you all about it in the new year. Please have a safe and happy New Year's weekend.

Christmas in pictures

2006-12-27T11:42:00.000-05:00

Here is a small sampling of pics. I took over 200 hundred pics, so I won't bore you with all of them. Elmo was the first thing the babe saw on Christmas, which was funny because that is one of the few words that he says that you can understand.

I have also included a few pics of my tacky blow up Christmas decorations, for anyone that wanted to see them. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we certainly did. I have lots of stories to tell, so stay tuned! I will try to get caught up with everyone today and tomorrow.

Running on empty

2006-12-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

I can barely keep my eyes open today. My coffee has worn off, I think I need to go make some more! I got off a little early yesterday to finish up my Christmas shopping, which was a good thing. I got most of it finished with the exception of a gift certificate that I have to pick up today at lunch. I got home around 6 and turned on the oven to start my marathon baking. I took the last batch of pecan drops out of the oven at 11:30. 5 1/2 hours of baking and I am beat. I baked 6 dozen cookies, Chocolate Chip, Sugar, and Chocolate-Peanut Butter, 4 dozen Pecan Drops, 6 mini Honey Walnut Pound Cakes, 2 Gooey Butter cakes, and I also made a batch of Tiger Butter. When I finally fell into bed around midnight I was so exhausted I just wanted to cry. I did manage to sit down for a few minutes and eat some supper and then I was back in the kitchen. I also took a break and bathed the babe and got him in the bed. Baking all these goodies is really tiring. I still have some baking left to do as well as cooking a pork roast to make BBQ. I don't need the BBQ until Monday night and most of the baked goods until Sunday, so I can pace myself.

I am very proud that I got all of that done last night though. I brought little goody baskets for the ladies in the office today for Christmas. I got one of my Christmas presents early last night. After we finished eating supper Hubby told me to stay sitting down for a minute. Of course this irritated me because I needed to get back in the kitchen and get to work, but I obeyed. Our daughter brought one of my gifts from under the tree and they told me to open it so I could go ahead and use it before Christmas. I really had no clue what to expect, I had not asked for much. Much to my surprise it was a DIGITAL CAMERA. I was so shocked. I have wanted one forever, but we just haven't gotten one yet. We have a camcorder that also takes digital pictures, but it doesn't have a flash and the pictures are not that great. So now I have my very own digital camera. Hubby said that when they picked it out he told our daughter that they really did not have to get me anything else and she told him that she wished that they could get me more because I do so much for them that she does not know how I get it all done sometimes. That just melted my heart more than any gift, to know that my child sees and appreciates all the things that I do. Ahh the joys of parenting! After Christmas look out I will post some pics with my new camera.

I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas. I will be back on Wednesday, I will catch up with everyone then.

All grown up

2006-12-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

I had to go to court for my work today and so I am dressed very professionally with a blazer and a long straight black skirt and my tall black boots. I rarely if ever look in the mirror after I get dressed in the mornings, but I know what I look like in this outfit. On my way into the courthouse this afternoon I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass doors and I had to look twice at who that professional woman was in my reflection.

I guess in my mind I still do not see myself as a grown up professional person. Most days at work I just wear slacks and a shirt or skirt of some sort, but nothing too businessey like a jacket. Anyway I think it is a greal look for me, maybe I need to add some jackets to my wardrobe and pray that the weather here cools off so I could wear them. I jokingly told them when I got to the office this morning that I had on my big girl clothes today.

When exactly did I grow up? Was it when I got married the first time, or bought my first car, or maybe when I got my first full time job? I can't pinpoint it, most days I still don't feel like a grown-up, I just feel like a kid trapped in this 30 year old's body and life. Does our mind ever feel the age that our body is? Do our parents and grandparents still feel like young people in their mind? When they look in the mirror do they see their true reflection staring back or do they see the young, beautiful person that they once were? I know when I look in the mirror I don't see the same reflection that everyone else sees everyday. I still see myself as a 23 year old with less wrinkles and lines and less gray hair.

6 days until Christmas

2006-12-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

I am really trying not to get stressed out, but honestly I just can't help it. Here it is 6 days until Christmas and I still haven't gotten hubby's stocking stuffers, I still have TONS of stuff to bake and make, the house is a mess. The list goes on and on. I did manage to get a decent picture of the kids, have Christmas cards printed, got them addressed and in the mail last week. That was a major accomplishment! I also managed to get cupcakes, a butterscotch cake, and some M & M cookies made and delivered to the Ronald McDonald House last Friday. I am on a roll. I still have so much to do and a very short time to do it in. Not only do I have all of those things to do, I still have to work everyday this week and take care of my family at night. Oh and another thing I have to do is get the kids to help me make stepping stones with their handprints in them for the grandparents. How long does it take the cement to set? We have to make 3 and we only bough one mold, so we will have to wait for each one to dry before we remove it from the mold. WHY DO I DO THINGS LIKE THIS TO MYSELF EVERY YEAR? Instead of buying gifts, since we are so poor I am baking goodies for everyone. Again, why do I do these things? Our office Christmas party is Friday morning, so I have to get all of the stuff made for my co-workers before then. I have until Sunday to get my family's done and Monday night for hubby's family. I also wanted to make a little basket for our neighbors (3 of them). I wonder how little sleep I can actually survive on, 4 maybe 5 hours? I was up until midnight last night wrapping gifts, so now everyone except me has a present under the tree. I should have one wrapped and under there tonight. I will be glad when Christmas actually gets here so maybe I can sit down and relax with my family a little bit.

Faster than a speeding car

2006-12-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

Well not so much so. The babe had his first bloody accident on Saturday. His sissy was pushing him in his little car in the kitchen and he opened the door to attempt a stunt. Well 13 month olds do not need to attempt stunts. Anyway he fell face first out of the car onto the HARD kitchen floor. He was crying and bleeding. I was in the shower oblivious the the goings on in the rest of the house. Hubby came running into the bathroom screaming that the babe was bleeding, he fell out of the car! I jumped out of the shower, knelt over the crying, bleeding babe on the floor and dabbed his mouth with a wet washcloth. Finally the bleeding stopped and I could see that he had busted his lip. His lip was swelling. I took him to the kitchen, got a cold teething thing out of the fridge and took him to the living room to watch the Wiggles. 10 minutes later he was up and playing. I was so calm, it was almost surreal to me. I am not usually the calm type, but hubby on the other hand was like a raving lunatic. Thank goodness I am able to keep my cool under pressure. Let me just say it was scary to see my sweet little angel baby bleeding. What would they do without me?

Christmas Meme

2006-12-14T13:21:00.000-05:00

I thought this was a fun meme, so here it goes.

1. Eggnog or Hot chocolate?
Hot chocolate with LOTS of marshmallows

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
The gifts from Santa do not get put under the tree or wrapped, each child has their own pile of loot in the den.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
We have 4 trees, 2 of them have multicolored lights, 1 has white lights, 1 has blue and white lights. We have white icecicle lights on the outside as well as red and green candy canes lining the driveway. We also have white lights in the hedges and some white light balls in one of the trees. The Griswolds would be jealous!

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No.

5. When do you decorate for Christmas?
I try to get started right after Thanksgiving, but it takes a while to get everything decorated.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? (Excluding desserts!)
My mom's dressing and sausage balls.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child.
All of my family being together at my grandparents house on Christmas Eve.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes. We have Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve. I am also going to start letting the kids open one gift from us on Christmas Eve. It was a tradition we did as children and I would like to do that with my kids too.

10. Do you bake cookies every year?
Yes as well as other things.

11. Snow? Love it or dread it?
I love it. Of course in Georgia we rarely ever get any and if we do it is Febuary or March. It doesn't usually stick and causes more of a mess than anything. It looks pretty in pictures though.

12. Can you ice skate?
No, I am way too uncoordinated.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
As a child it was my silver Barbie Corvette.

14. What's your favorite thing about the holidays? What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
The decorations, the food. Spending time with family and friends and remembering the real reason for the season.

15. Favorite holiday dessert?
Divinity, fudge, pumpkin pies and cakes.

16. What is your favorite Holiday tradition?
Having Christmas celebrations with my family and hubby's family.

17. What is your tree topper like?
A star, multicolored of course.

18. Do you like to give or receive?
Both, but really give. I like to do things for others.

19. What is your favorite Christmas carol?
Silent Night

20. Candy canes? Yuck or Yum?
Yummy, especially the fruit flavored ones.

21. What was the one gift you always wanted for Christmas but never got?
A car and a pony.

22. Do you buy a gift for yourself when shopping?
Before I had the babe I did, but since he has gotten here I am so broke I can barely afford to buy anything for anybody.

23. Favorite Christmas Movie?
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

24. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
In steps. First we pick out the tree, the hubby gets it put up in the stand. Then I put the lights on it. Then we decorate it and it usually takes a few days to get all the ornaments on it.

25. What do you do on Christmas morning?
We wake up and see what Santa brought the babe, then hubby and I open our stockings, then we play and eat some breakfast and play some more. We don't get our daughter until 5, so after she gets there we see what Santa brought her and then we open our gifts to each other.

I am not tagging anyone, but if you want to do this, go ahead.

I'm gonna wash that gray right out of my hair

2006-12-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

Do you remember that slogan from a few years back for some haircolor? Anyway when I was off Monday I colored my hair. I did it myself and of course I hate it. That is one of those things that you need a girlfriend or a sister to come over and help you with. But since I have neither close by, I had to do it all alone. It was scary, I have not put any color on my hair in about 4 or 5 years and you can tell it. My hair has gotten so gray that there was almost as much gray hair as there was brown. I just tried to pretend that I didn't notice when I looked in the mirror, but it was there staring out at me.

I ran into one of my Mom's cousins Saturday and she made the comment that I had more gray hair than my Mom. Well that is because Mom dyes her hair and has for years. Premature gray hair runs in my family and unfortunately that is one of the things that I inherited. Why couldn't it have been money or a talent of some sort, why the gray hair? Anyway that comment really bothered me. I have kicked the idea of coloring my hair around for a couple of months now, but always dismissed it for one reason or another. Well I simply cannot have more gray hair than my Mom who is 28 years older than me. While I was at the grocery store Monday I picked up a bottle of light brown haircolor. You see I have learned in all of my years of previous bad hair dying experiences that you never actually buy the color you want, if you do your hair will be way too dark. I made sure that no where on the box did it say anything about red hair. Something else that I have learned in all of my previous experience is that if there is any variation of the word golden in the color it will turn my hair red, as much as I like red hair I am not ready to be one again. So I finally got up the courage to do it before my hubby got home Monday. I was so scared, I was shaking. I put the gloves on and got down to business, I walked around the house with that goop all over my hair and then the time was up. I went and rinsed it out and guess what color it is? DARK BROWN with red highlights! EXACTLY WHAT I DID NOT WANT! That was why I picked out a nice shade of LIGHT BROWN! My natural haircolor is medium brown (with LOTS of gray). Anyway hubby got home and did not even notice, so I did not say anything, since I really hate it. I think I liked the gray better. He noticed it last night, finally! He said it looked alright that maybe it would lighten up some the more I washed it. I sure hope so. No one at work has noticed it or if they have they have not said anything about it. Maybe they are pretending not to notice because it looks hideous. When will I learn to just leave things alone and let the professionals take care of it, after all isn't that why they went to school?

Food network, here I come!

2006-12-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

I had a very productive day yesterday. I did not get everything done, but I got a lot accomplished and my house is a cleaner place because of it. I also sat down over the weekend and picked out the goodies that I will be making for this holiday season. I went to 2 different grocery stores and after spending WAAAYYYYYY too much money I am ready to start baking tonight. We are taking several cakes and cookies and cupcakes to the Ronald McDonald house in our area this weekend, so I gotta get started on those things. Hopefully this week I can post a few recipes for you all to try. That's all I got for now.

Brrrrrrr.....

2006-12-08T13:25:00.000-05:00

That chattering sound you hear is my teeth. It is freakin' cold here, in Georgia, in December. I can't believe it. We are having the coldest weather that we have had in 2 years. WONDERFUL! I don't like the cold weather, I don't mind cool weather, but 18 degrees at night, give me a break. I had to get gas on my way to work this morning and I didn't even have a pair of gloves with me. I did have on my leather coat and fleecy scarf though. It is a really pretty day, sun shining bright, it's just cold. Actually I am not that upset about it. I hope it gets cold enough to kill all those creepy crawly critters outside.

I am going to see my Granny tomorrow. I guilt tripped my Mom into going. I hope they can be nice to each other for the few hours that we will be there. Really I wanted my Mom to go with me so she can ride in the back with the babe and make sure he is happy while I make the hour drive. She also needs to go see her Mother, even if she has a lot of resentment towards her. Tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us and my Mom needs to make peace with my Granny while they are both still on this earth.

I have taken Monday off so I can get my house clean. Doesn't that sound fun? Does anyone want to come and help me. Things have just gotten so cluttered and I have not really cleaned since before the babe was born, so it is wwaaaaayyyyy overdue. I am afraid the dust bunnies may attack me when I try to get rid of them. Don't think that I haven't cleaned any since he was born, I have done things like vaccuum and clean the kitchen, but other things like putting away the laundry and getting rid of just general clutter has really been put on the back burner. I hope Monday to get most of the major things done since I will have a day without kids or the hubby. When my house is a real mess it stresses me out and that is some stress that I can control, so I will.

Quick little bit about the babe. He is walking more now. He took 10 steps last night without holding on to anything! He is getting so big. He eats almost everything, especially things that he can feed himself. He is becoming so independent. He loves to read. He will get his books and just sit in the middle of a pile of them and thumb through the pages "reading" (mumbling and making noises). He is also starting to say distinguishable words other than Mama and Dada. He can say our dogs names (Dixie and Zoe) and he can say "Sissy" and "G.g" (his great grandma). He understands so many words when he hears them. He gets upset if you say ice cream or doughnut and you don't actually have any. He loves Ritz crackers and will point in the kitchen and grunt until you take him to the counter to get a Ritz. He also likes Cheese puffs (the organic ones). I break them into a few pieces and put them on the tray of his highchair and he gobbles them up. He has gotten 2 of his molars on one side and he is working on the other 2. This time the teething really has not been so bad. He has 10 teeth now!

I wish I had more to write about today but I really need to get my desk cleaned off so I don't feel so bad about not being here Monday. Have a great weekend and I will be back on Tuesday!

All apologies

2006-12-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, please forgive me oh faithful readers, it has been 5 days since my last post. I can't believe I have been so slack. Actually I have not been slack, I have been extremely busy. I also have not read any blogs in at least as many days. I hope to be getting caught up this week. Let me catch you up really fast.

This weekend was fun. We went to Callaway Gardens Saturday night to see the Fantasy in Lights and it was magical. It sparked the Christmas spirit in me and we had a great time. It was cold and we nearly froze to death, but it was worth it. If you are anywhere near there, go see the lights, you will enjoy it. I did not take any pictures because I tend to get lost behind the camera and have a hard time actually focusing on the things going on around me when I am snapping pictures, so I left the camera in its bag and did not take one picture of any of the lights. I did take a picture of my sleeping baby after the tour. He was sleeping so peacefully as we walked through the gift shop and took turns holding him.

We did get our tree Saturday. We went to get it Friday, but everywhere was closed, so we got it Saturday. It is an ugly tree. It has a huge hole that no matter how many ornaments and lights I try to cover it with just won't go away. It is not a fat tree and it is not very tall, but honestly it was the best tree that we could find. Maybe it was a bad Christmas tree year. I got the lights put on it Monday night and we put the ornaments on it last night. So far the babe has not cared one little bit about it. We have 4 Christmas trees this year! We have one in the babe's room that is about 2 or 3 foot tall and it is a Pooh Bear tree. We have one in our den that our daughter decorates in all pink and purple, that is her tree. This year I got a small real tree for our dining room. It is my favorite. I decorate our dining room in blue and silver snowmen. My tree has a blue and silver bow on the top and blue and white lights and blue and silver balls. It is very simple, but I just love it. From someone who did not even want to put a tree, we now have 4!

Hubby has gotten most of the outside lights up. He worked on it until late in the night on Monday and he hopefully will finish with them tonight. The babe loves the outside lights! We have one of the blow up snowglobes and a blow up penguin and a small blow up Santa. We also have a runway for Santa and so many other things that I am not going to name them, just think of Christmas Vacation. Anyway, we do it for the kids and they LOVE it, so it makes it all worth while.

I spent most of the day Sunday decorating the inside of the house. I have entirely too many Christmas decorations. I did not put a lot of stuff out, because I just don't have time or room to put it. My house is now decorated for Christmas.

I had jury duty Monday, which I had completely forgotten about until Saturday. I spent most of the day at the courthouse only not to be chosen at the end. It was a case of Theft by receiving stolen property and the stolen property happened to be jewelry. Our house was broken into 2 years ago and the only thing they took was my jewelry, so of course I did not get picked for that jury. It was quite an experience and I realy didn't mind having to go. I did have to stand up in front of a group of people and talk several times and that made me very nervous and anxious. I do not like talking in front of a crowd. I dropped several classes in college because as part of the curriculum I would have had to give a presentation or a speech and I just can't do it. Having jury duty did get me out of the office for a day and while we were waiting I did get the thank you notes from the babe's birthday finished. Having jury duty also meant being away from the office while my boss was away from the office. I was so far behind yesterday I ran all day long. My phone rang off the hook and I had several errands for the office that had to be done, so I just did not have time for anything but work. Today is a new day and I think I have gotten a little more caught up, so maybe soon I get caught up with all of my regular reads. I missed you guys.

I made the kids get dressed in their Christmas outfits on Sunday morning so I could take some pictures of them. I managed to get one to load on blogger. Maybe I will try to load some more later.

I survived!

2006-12-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

Whew, it is finally Friday. I for one, am so very glad. I survived the month end with a few bumps in the road, but I managed to get through them. I also managed to piss off a co-worker yesterday and now she is being a bitch to me. Oh well honey your loss. I am so sick of all the cattiness in our office. It really grates on my nerves sometimes. That is what happens when you work with a bunch of women. Oh well, I am not going to worry about it. I have many other things to worry about like picking out a tree and hours in the car with the babe.

We have such a busy weekend. We are going to get our tree tonight. Part of me really hates going to pick out the tree. It is so hard for my hubby to make a decision sometimes. I just pull up to the trees, look at them and pick out the best one. It should not take longer than say 10 or 15 minutes. He has to compare this part and that part and it never fails that when we get the tree home, it is too freakin' big for the living room so he has to trim the bottom. Having the babe that is now into everything will also add another element to the holiday tree decorating. It would be fine with me if we got a 3 foot fake tree to put on the table so he can't reach it and we could go back to the real tree thing next year. Hubby will not go for that, so we will begin the hellish nightmare of the Christmas tree tonight after work. Then once we get it home, he has to get it in the house and in the stand and then guess who gets to put lights on it? Yes that would be my job. So I guess Sunday will be spent putting lights on the tree. OH WHAT FUN! Anyone want to come and help me?

I am very excited about tomorrow. We are going here: http://www.callawaygardens.com/. I have never been and of course neither has the babe, so we are really looking forward to it. There are lots of shops and things on the way that we will stop at to break up the monotany of the babe riding for hours in the carseat. Our appointed time to see the Christmas light tour is at 8 pm, so I think we will be alright for the car ride home, he should probably sleep most of the way. My MIL and SIL are going too. It should be a fun family outing.

Maybe Sunday after I get the lights on the tree and some decorations put out I can get some rest. I doubt that I will, but hey a girl can dream, can't she? Have a good weekend!

Stress is killing me

2006-11-30T11:36:00.000-05:00

The stress at work is really bad lately. It is causing me tummy problems and headaches and insomnia. I DON'T LIKE IT! My boss is still out of course with his back surgery and I am trying to do it all. Today is my first month end that I have to do it all, and do it all alone. I am very stressed because our business is down and that makes the other employess ill and cranky. I could not eat supper last night because I felt EXTREMELY nauseated. I could not go to sleep because my mind was just racing about work. My head is hurting and I am certain that my blood pressure is up. It is all stress. I will be glad when today and tomorrow are over with so I can relax again. Pray for me, send me some positive thoughts and energy!

Fear

2006-11-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

Can I be really honest with you all? Will you go ahead and promise not to judge me or leave me nasty comments. Try to remember if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Anyway since getting pregnant last year and going through 9 months of pregnancy. Most of the months being during the summer (since it is summer the better part of the year here) and having my baby last November I have had an awful fear, I actually have several fears, but the one that I am focusing on today is: the fear of getting pregnant again. Hubby and I have discussed it and honestly we do NOT want any more children. I have fairly crappy insurance so having the surgery to remedy that fear from ever coming true is out of the question, for now anyway. Hubby has no insurance so he isn't getting snipped either. I spend a greater part of every month hoping and praying that the birth control is working and that my period will be right on time. I also avoid sex and that is not me. So far we have been lucky. I read all sorts of stories about people who were breastfeeding taking the progeterone only pills getting pregnant and I feared that would happen to me. It may seem crazy to some especially since it took us being off the bc pills for a little more than 9 months to get pregnant, but it really scares me. So now I am back on regular birth control pills and as soon as they have a chance to get my cycle regular and stop this ovulation then maybe I can relax and enjoy the sex with my hubby again. I have tried talking to him about it, but he does not understand the real fear that I have. He doesn't want anymore children either, but I don't think he quite understands the deep roots that the fear has for me. It is like the fear of spiders to a person that has arachnaphobia. I am also back on the happy pills so hopefully one day soon that fear will be gone and I can find something else to worry about.

Monday Musings

2006-11-27T13:11:00.000-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went on a hayride. The weather was nice and warm so we did not freeze. The food was wonderful and I did not overeat. The babe was not whiny and cranky despite his shortened nap. It really was a nice day.

I did not get up early on Friday to go shopping. I know, I know I was really looking forward to it, blah, blah, blah. I sat down Thursday morning and looked at the sales papers and honestly, there wasn't anything worth me getting up that early for and having to fight the crowds. Have I really changed that much? I think I have. Now don't get me wrong, I still appreciate a good sale, but there really was nothing worth all the hassle to me. I instead opted for sleeping in with the babe and then cooking breakfast for my family. I had to come to the office for a few hours, so on the way we stopped at Target and picked up a few things that were on sale, but that was the extent of my black Friday shopping. I think I spent $30.00, whoo hoo I am the big spender! We got the decorations and the tree up at work and it really looks great. Well as great as a really old fake 6 foot tree can look. The lights really help, you are blinded by them so you don't notice the tree.

Saturday we went to my Mom's for my family's T-day dinner. It was nice and quiet. My oldest sister had to work, but her kids came and one of my other neices. It was so great to see my neices, 3 of the ones that were there are all teenagers now and we rarely see them anymore. My 2 middle sisters were there, but everyone got along with each other and we were all nice and cordial. There was no talk of jails or drugs, so I did not have to tell the hubby about all of that mess. He already doesn't like those sisters, I just hate to give him more reasons to dislike them. We also had the babe's small birthday party. He ate just a little bit of the cake that I baked for him, without the frosting of course. Frosting makes him gag, funny child!

A co-worker's mom died on Saturday, so Sunday I had to go to visitation at the funeral home. When I got there, I looked for anyone that I recognized and I did not see anyone, so I walked up and got in line. I thought maybe the family was in the room next to the viewing room and the only way to get there was to walk by the casket. So I stand there and wait and wait for what seems like an eternity, then finally the line starts moving. Guess what? It was not my co-worker's mom, I don't know who it was that I was waiting so patiently to see. I promptly got myself out of the line and looked around very embarrassed until I found someone who worked there and he pointed me in the right direction. I just laughed it off. I bet that other lady's family was trying to figure out who I was. Anyway I got that over with, I hate visitation and funerals, but it is a part of life and we can't always avoid them. Her mom had been sick for a while with Cancer and in this case her death was a blessing, she had suffered so much in the past few months. Still it is never an easy thing. I went to the funeral this morning and it truly was a beautiful service. She was a wonderful woman who lived a very full life and her funeral was a testament to that.

Also Sunday hubby got up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters. This is the first time this has been done since we bought the house in June of 2005. I would say it was VERY overdue. It looks so nice now. For a while when you looked out the windows it looked like we lived in a grass hut what with all the pine straw hanging over the edges of the gutters. I HATE PINE TREES. The next extra couple of thousand dollars we have to spend will be spent on having a few of them removed. Now that the gutters are cleaned, we can start putting up the lights! YAY! He hopes to get started on that this afternoon. We have so many decorations for outside and inside, it will take us a while to get them all up. I need to get up in the attic and get down the boxes of decorations so I can get started on the inside of the house after the babe goes to bed. We will get our tree this Friday, so I would like to have most of the rest of the decorations up by then.

I had to sign the Christmas cards at work today too. I think my hand is going to fall off. I think there are like 200 of them. I need a stamp with my name on it!

Not much else going on here. The babe has had a low grade fever this weekend. I think he is getting his molars. I could see the top of one peeking through his gums. Thank goodness he hasn't been really cranky, just feverish. Maybe the old wives tale worked! Someone told me after we had been suffering through the teething for like 8 teeth to take an egg out of the fridge. DO NOT BOIL IT. Let it get to room temp and write your child's name in it and put it in one of the child's socks. No not the socks that they are wearing, that would break the egg. Anyway then put the sock with the egg in it in a dark place in the child's room. I also heard to hang the sock over the child's doorway. I did neither of these. I wrote his name on the egg and it is still sitting on my kitchen counter behind some other stuff, where it has been for months now. I think that it helped with his teething though. These molars have been nothing compared to the other 8 that he has. Who knows? Just for the record, I don't normally do these wives tale things, but after you have suffered through a few sleepless nights of trying to comfort a teething baby, you will try anything, especially something as harmless as writing a name on an egg.

**Anwer to a question left in my comments. I started brushing my teeth in the shower a few years ago when we moved into our house. I think I started doing it because it seemed to save me time in the mornings and that was one less thing that I had to remember when I got out of the shower. I usually brush them at the end of the shower while I am rinsing my hair and body. Try it, it just might work for you too! Any other questions?