hotheaded

Dreams

2010-10-15T07:13:00.002-04:00

So I had a dream last night that Bubba peed all over me when I was trying to potty train him. I have a good feeling that it was not an entirely crazy dream. Seeing how all of my kids have peed/pooped/vomited on me on more than one occasion.
My mom bought him some training underwear to start potty training but he still has no idea when he has to go. I mean he does go and hide when he has to go number 2 but he was all excited to wear the underwear so we let him wear them and he just goes when he needs to go. My doctor said not until he is 3 will he probably potty train so we will see.
By the way I am horrible at potty training. My oldest took forever to be completely trained. I got lucky with the middle child as her dad set that whole train in motion on one of his weekends. I was so traumatized by the my first child that I was in no hurry to work on child number two. But she must have been ready because it was seriously like 4 days and she was trained. I still have battle wounds from my oldest and it was like 8 years ago. So I am just going to try to relax about training bubba and follow his ques on when he is ready. He will sit on the potty but anything has yet to happen.
This is all exciting and interesting I know! About half way through this I felt like I was talking about training a dog. About the same no? Neither one has any idea what you are talking about and for the life of them can't figure out why you are upset with them when they have an accident. Or something like that.

Maturing or self centeredness?

2010-10-01T12:24:00.002-04:00

Do you pay attention to what other people are wearing. Not in a fashion sense so much but if they look nice or like a bum.
If I don't have anywhere to go I'll be a bum in sweats and a hoody. If I have to leave the house I will at least put jeans on. I have been more mindful of how I look. I still wear jeans out but I have bought "nice" jeans that are a very dark wash and I have been mixing in actual shirts with buttons on them and jewelery. I don't know if this means I am maturing where I see a need to be presentable or if I am becoming more narcissistic. I even went out and bought foundation to start using. I use to just put some eye makeup on and be done with it. But I have developed dark circles under my eyes and feel a need to cover them up now. So I bought concealer and foundation. If I am leaving the house I put on a full face of makeup. I just feel more presentable.
I guess I am finally maturing past the point that looking nice meant to put on a a "good" hooded sweatshirt.

Another year older

2010-09-29T07:08:00.002-04:00

We made Caribbean Jerk chicken last night for dinner. I really liked it but the kids didn't go for it and I'm not sure how Mike liked it. He did ask if that was how it was suppose to taste so I don't know. The reviews on allrecipes said it wasn't spicy but mine was. I think that's what turned the kids off of it. They like their food on the mild side. I love when my food is spicy! I also made rice with black beans and pineapple in it to be served with it with some of the sauce over it. The pineapple added a touch of sweetness to offset the spiciness of the sauce. I'm going to add this recipe to have on the weekends the kids aren't here.
Been busy with school. I have a paper to write for government but I have been putting it off. I'm not sure what I am going to write yet so I am procrastinating.
My birthday is tomorrow. I'm not sure I am ready to be officially in my 30's. I just don't feel like I am that old. But I guess I am considering I have an 11 year old. The worst part of getting older is that no one cares its your birthday anymore. I get one card from my mother and that's it. I remember when you are little how exciting it was to have your birthday but the older you get it seems the less people care. Of course until you really get up there and then everyone is like Hey your still alive! Congratulations!
Speaking of 11 year olds. What is up with the know it all attitude already? We were told the other day that we (meaning my husband and I) don't do anything around the house. And we treat our children like slaves. Seriously? I guess they should have no chores and be able to make a mess out of the house and have no repercussions. I actually bought a dishwasher so they wouldn't have to do dishes by hand and make it easier on them. And now they get all mad for having to load and unload it. I was thinking about making them do the dishes by hand for a month and see if that doesn't change their attitude a little. But of course I am such a mean mom. Ah well. I'm not going to let them get away with whatever they want and not have to clean up after themselves. I've got enough on my plate without having to clean up after everyone else.
Life is so tough for the children.
I am looking for a part time job now. Money has been way too tight lately and we are starting to struggle. Okay we've been struggling since the summer but Christmas is looming and its not looking good. I know its not going to go over well if we skip Christmas. Even though they do get spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa they are still going to expect to get something from us. So hopefully somewhere here in town has an opening and I can squeeze in. Its not looking good though we have had 3 businesses close up in the last month or so. And we are not a huge town as it is. It really won't be worth it for me to go out of town as the closest towns are over 30 minutes away. So here is crossing my fingers that something pops up soon.

Happy Dance!

2010-09-09T17:51:00.002-04:00

Right now I am doing a happy dance. Okay not right this second but you should have seen me before I started typing. I was dancing!
I got awesome news in the mail today. I got invited to join Phi Theta Kappa! It's an honourary society at my college. Its for anyone who maintains a 3.0 or higher. I will get to wear something different when I graduate and have all these extras like recommendation letters for other schools and jobs. I am so stoked!
I've been working really hard on all my courses so far this semester. The one thats giving me the most trouble is sociology. I really like it but find it hard to relate back to myself. Considering I don't have many memories from my childhood. I think I mentally blocked all the crap that was happening to me. I dunno. Anyways when the instructor is asking about how society shaped this or that about you its kinda hard to say when you don't remember much from your childhood. I'm doing my best though.
Other than that its the same old everyday. School work, school, cleaning, and cooking. I'm sure just like everyone else.
Later taters

been a while....

2010-08-03T10:00:00.003-04:00

Life sure has had its ups and downs this summer. School has been great. I still have a 4.0. We had my stepson for 4 weeks this summer and we all had a good time together. We went camping for the first time. In tents. It was interesting. I was ready to go home after a day in a half but we stuck it out for the long weekend over the 4th of July. I am use to always having stuff to do and the sitting around doing nothing was hard for me. Bubba was a whole other issue with constantly needing watching since we were camping by a pond and I was soo worried he would sneak off and drown. He of course didn't want to play with his toys I brought and decided the coolers were much more fun to get into and play with all the drinks and food I packed. I had bought hamburgers to eat one night and didn't pay attention to the expiration date. Well they expired before we got to eat them so there went money down the drain. We ended up running to a Wal-mart near by and buying more hamburger to have for dinner. I had decided I would bring beer to drink instead of my usual rum and pop. Why I thought I could drink beer and why I thought I would drink as much as I had bought I will never know. So yep I still have beer leftover in the fridge that I probably won't drink. I of course bought too much food and had to throw away a bunch when we got home. I have a hard time gauging how much food 6 people would eat over 3 days. The girls tents zipper decided to break on the second day and by the third day they were ate up with mosquito bites. I am now seriously considering buying a camper. There are some good deals on craigslist. I told my hubby we could use our tax return to buy a camper and pay the yearly fee for a campground. Even a pop up would be better. At least I could use a stove. Maybe I'm just not the camping type. I want to be but maybe I'm not.
We've had some hard times in the last couple of weeks but nothing I want to write about here. Maybe in a couple of weeks when everything has settled down. But keep my family in your thoughts as we go through these hard times. Thanks!
Thats about it for now. I am going to try to write more on here as it is therapeutic for me to write sometimes.

Living each day one at a time

2010-03-02T07:20:00.003-05:00

School.
Work.
These two things have been eating up my time very efficiently. I've been going to school four days a week and working the remaining three. While I love to go to school. And I love the paychecks from work. I am starting to wear down a bit. I am excited for spring break next week. It happens to fall in line with a day off work. Soo five days off here I come.
Besides that though I have been dreaming of summer break. Even though I am taking one or two classes I think it will be much more relaxed. Plus it'll be summer. Warm. Sunny. Happy time of the year.
The girls had gotten their ears pierced way back in August. The lady at the counter told us it would take six months for the holes to be permanent. So I made them wait to change their earrings. We had had a bad experience with the oldest ones ear holes many years ago and I was not about to go through that again. So it has been six months and now I have been changing the earrings for them everyday. The oldest has figured it out my my middle child still struggles with finding the holes. So its up to good old mom.
The baby still isn't gaining weight very good. I took him for his WIC appointment and he hasn't gained at all since his last doctors appointment last year. It doesn't help he has been refusing to eat at the babysitters. Yesterday I packed a PB&J sandwich and he did eat almost the whole thing. Guess I'll have to pack for him from now on. Hopefully he gains a pound or two before his two year appointment in June. He is still off the bottom of the chart for weight. He is at the 40th percentile for height so no worries there. Just his dang weight.
I've been obsessed with quotes lately. They really have been helping me keep a positive attitude and make it through each day.
Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~Author Unknown

Anticipation.....

2009-12-23T15:03:00.002-05:00

Today is Christmas Eve Eve as I'm sure everyone is aware. But for us it is Christmas Eve. We have all the kids on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day so we get to celebrate one day early. I'm soo excited for the kids to open all their goodies and see their reactions. The only sad note is that my husband has to work so he will not be able to be here when they open all their presents. I am going to tape it so he can watch it when he gets home. Which reminds me I better check the camera to make sure the batteries are still good.
On Sunday I went to a good friends house to bake cookies with 2 other wonderful ladies. We cranked those cookies out like we were in a factory. She has an AWESOME convection oven that allowed us to bake several sheets at once. I am soo jealous of that oven. I want one. I need one. The things I would bake with that oven. Oh my.
On his way over to join me and bring food for the troops my husband had not one but two little ones puking in the car. Nice, right? So needless to say we didn't stay long. I cleaned the car up and shoved some pizza in my mouth and we left for home. On the way home they both threw up two more times and the third child started to cry because her belly hurt. Not good.
We got home I got everyone in jammies. Beds made on the couch and loveseat. Port-a-crib set up. Then my hubby started to feel ill. Ugh. But by the morning the puking had stopped and I let them lay on the couches and watch TV all day long. Of course the next night it was my turn and I was up and down all night long. Today I'm feeling much better and got the house cleaned up. I even got my step-sisters bench finished up for Christmas.
So tomorrow we will have the big day in the morning and head to my mothers in the afternoon for another orgy of toys. The kids love this time of year and I enjoy seeing the joy on their faces.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Pasta ..... it's whats for dinner

2009-12-07T08:21:00.004-05:00

Tonight I am cooking some Pasta Carbonara for dinner. I use the recipe off the Pioneer Woman's website. It is oh-so good! And I don't even really like bacon! But it works wonderfully this way. I'm not going to reprint the recipe here just follow the link on over and check out her beautiful pictures and step by step guide. I do love her recipe posts.
I sat down and figured out that I only need 6 points from the final to get an A in my math class! So needless to say I am pretty confident that I will get an A in that class. I am really hoping to get an A in my Composition class also. But a B would be alright too. I have worked really hard in that class and it would be a disappointment if I only got a B. School is going to be done here next week. I think this is my last week for Composition though. She said we shouldn't have to go until next week. I have two classes of Math this week then next week one class of review and then the final the next class. He does get a preview of the final so he can steer us in the right direction which is nice.
I've been thinking about what kind of Christmas cookies I am going to make this year. Every year I make cookies for all the guys in the family. I am definitely going to make these giant peanut butter cookies that use coconut and a 1/4 cup to portion them out. I also am going to make fudge and buckeyes. But beyond that I'm not sure. I am also going to a friends house to make some Christmas cookies with a group of people. Making cookies is one of my favorite things about Christmas!
The baby is up now so I guess its back to the real world for now!

Homemade Twix Bars!!

2009-12-02T07:48:00.004-05:00

Okay, so these were called Millionaire Shortbreads. I had copied down this recipe a couple of years ago so I don't remember what cookbook it came out of (Sorry!). I was looking for a recipe that was fairly simple and didn't need a lot of ingredients (and ones I already had on hand). These are really rich cookies so you might want to cut them smaller than what I did. Of course the kids and hubby don't think so. They are begging me to make more already!

These cookies have three layers: Base, Caramel, and Chocolate.

The base is--
1 1/2 sticks butter - the real stuff
3/4 C. Sugar
1 2/3 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. corn starch
1 tea. baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar together then add the dry ingredients. The mixture is very crumbly. Press the base into a greased 9x13 pan. I used non stick spray. The recipe called for a buttered pan. Either way make sure the pan is coated well.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

While the base is cooling go ahead and make the caramel.

Caramel filling--

3/4 C. Sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter -- again the real stuff
1 T. corn syrup or honey-- I used honey
1- 14 oz can of sweeten condensed milk
few drops of vanilla

Mix everything but the vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously. Don't stop. I did and had burnt sugar/milk flakes in my caramel. (still tasted good though). Bring to a boil. Still stirring. Boil for 5-7 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir another 2 to 3 more minutes off the heat. Pour over cooled shortbread. Let sit until completely cooled.

The chocolate top is just melted chocolate chips. About half a bag (6 oz). Of course you could melt some dipping chocolate and dip these to make them more like Twix bars. But I'm too lazy for that. These say to cover and store in the fridge. But it does make the caramel hard. You've been warned! :)

I really like making bar cookies. They are much easier since you only have to bake once instead of over and over. Anybody else have good bar cookie recipes? Please share!!

Meet Frank

2009-11-17T14:46:00.003-05:00

This is Frank. The cat not the man. The man is just my husband Mike. He is perched on one of his favorite spots. Mikes shoulders. He was found almost dead by my Mom last week and she nursed him back to health. But seeing how my stepdad doesn't like cats and her dog doesn't either she had to find him a home. At first I said no because well we have an old ass cat and she doesn't take to other animals sharing her house. We do have a dog but she just ignores him for the most part. But of course the kids got wind of the kitten (why did I even tell them?!?) and did a bit of begging (not that it took much) and now we have a baby kitten.
Franks been good for the most part. He is figuring out the litter box. At first he thought blankets were excellent pooping places and I've had to wash a few blankets but now I just keep them off the floor and he's been using his box. Now I just have to get him fixed. That's going to have to wait till that magical time after the first of the year when the government goes crazy and actually gives you money for being poor.
Life been okay lately. Wilbur has learns a new way to drive me crazy everyday. Today was playing in the kitty litter. Oh JOY. He also says Mama every 5 seconds for no reason. But I fall for it every time. Asking what do you want buddy. Only to be met with a look like what the hell are you talking about. And a minute later it starts all over again. Ahhh the joys of being a mother.
School is going. Not horrible or anything but my comp class is driving me nuts. I hate trying to write when I have no idea what I am doing. I feel like I'm just winging it every single time. Math is awesome. I've gotten all A's so far. Hope it continues on through. Next semester I will be going during the day to class and full time. Soo excited to be out of the house! I've been going a little stir crazy. Cleaning bores me to death so I've been avoiding it as much as possible.
My crazy meds are keeping me sane so I've been in a pretty good mood. No hysterical outbursts or anything! Its a damn miracle!
Well hows that for an exciting update. See ya in a couple of months! LOL

Back in the saddle

2009-10-09T10:42:00.003-04:00

Soooo.....

Well I haven't been posting lately because I've been busy as a bee. At least that's my excuse. :)
School has been awesome! I have been doing great in my math class. Even managed to get a 100 on a quiz! My comp class is doing really good too. I've got the hang of it and have had several people ask me about papers, how you do them, ect. It's a real ego boost when other people are coming to you for help. :) Everyone needs that once in a while right? It also reaffirms me going for a teaching degree. I have been thinking about what I want to teach. I know for sure that I want to teach little kids even if its only for a few years. Then I know I want to go back for my masters. Probably teach math. I love math. I like to sit down and do math for fun. Odd I know.
I did find out that even though I am going to a community college I can get my bachelors there through a partnership with a 4yr college. So that would be cool to not have to change schools. Also that most school districts will pay for you to go get your masters so I am definitely waiting to get that after I get a job.
Wilbur is getting soo big. It's amazing how much they grow from 1 to 2. He is starting to talk to us and follow directions. It is exciting to watch babies grow up to toddlers.
The girls are loving being back in regular school. They have made new friends and found their old friends. Both are doing really good in school. All A's. Such smart little girls.
We are having a Halloween party this year. I'm super stoked. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought almost all the decorations. Only spent about $40. Our house is all decorated up. The girls are going to be a mummy and a vampire. I bought a little puppy costume for Bubba. It has ears on a hood! Adorable!! I am having friends from high school come over with their kids. It is going to be soo fun!
My new medication is working awesomely. I feel better than I have in years. Depression is almost gone, I have more energy than what I know what to do with sometimes, and most importantly I just feel good. I'm hoping that this one keeps working this good forever.

2009-09-23T05:57:00.002-04:00

Well my comp class is starting to make more sense to me, its not getting easier mind you but I am understanding better WHAT I am doing. Thank God! I was worried there for a week or so that I was in the wrong class.
Last night we had peer review which was basically the instructor came around and read what you had so far and critiqued it for you. I was happy that she was happy with what I had so far and that she even told other people to read what I had written to see what "you are suppose to be doing"!!! I was over the moon when I had to pass my paper around for others to read. I LOVED it!! It helped reaffirm I am on the right path. Now the next paper we do might be a different story!
It just blows my mind that there are people who never attend class or that show up without their work. What did they think exactly we were there to do? I know some are just young and dumb. They don't think that this is THEIR money not just some magical free place to screw around in. Whatever.
My math class has been going equally well. I'm still freaking out every time we have a quiz or test but so far have managed to get a 96% and 95%. We have another quiz tonight so I am going to slow down and double check my work. I want to get a 100% but I keep making dumb mistakes.
The girls are no longer doing OHVA. It was really too much with me going to school and bubba running around. I was getting up waaayy early to do homework or trying to stay up and do it at night. Neither was working out too well for me so I had to change something. This has been their first week back and they are enjoying it so far. Raven gets to ride the bus so she was excited about that but not so much anymore! She said it was boring. I hope she makes a friend on the bus and it makes the time go by faster. Teagan is happy to be back in a brick and mortar school as well. She doesn't like the gym teacher but she also doesn't like gym so that might influence her feelings toward the teacher.
Since the girls are back in a "regular" school next semester I am going to go full time to school during the day. I worked out what classes I could take and it wasn't too bad. I only had to take classes Monday through Thursday. I still get 3 day weekends with the hubby! Woot woot!
Bubba is growing like a weed. We call him a mountain climber. I think most can figure that one out! He is driving me crazy with the climbing but what are you going to do? I just keep my fingers crossed he doesn't break anything. He understands soo much of what I say now its amazing. He has been trying to repeat what we say and some of it you can actually understand! Before you know it he will be going off to kindergarten!
The big 3-0 is right around the corner for me. I'll be 30 on the 30th! I don't feel that it is that much of a milestone. (At least right now!) I'm not dreading it like some do. I've had all the "Adult" responsibilities for a while now. I am pretty happy with where I am in life right now.
My moods have seemed to stabilized. Not saying I don't have my down days but at the same time I don't feel they are anything I can't handle. Which is nice because there for a while I felt as if I would just die from the pressure of trying to figure out how to handle my mood. I look back now and realize that I should of got help sooner. I had major postpartum depression. At the time I kept fooling myself by thinking it was just sleep deprivation but now I see it was postpartum and not just me being a "bad mom." But I suppose hindsight is 20/20 huh?

Stressing

2009-09-09T07:37:00.002-04:00

Well my math class is going great! So far it is stuff I understand so it has been easy. I actually have my homework done for the next couple of weeks. I started my comp. class last night. Boy, that scared me! We had to write a short paper last night in class. I struggled a bit with it but maybe it will get easier. The class is only 8 weeks and we have 5 papers we have to do. We will see how I do.
Girls have done school for a week now and this started our second week. I'm already having doubts about doing OHVA this year. I'm not sure if I should have tried to take all this on or not. But I have so I guess I just need to buckle down and do it. But part of me really wishes that I would of sent the girls to a brick and mortar school. Maybe I'm just stressing about nothing. I'm good at that.
We are talking to a lawyer tonight about my stepson. I'm not sure where all this is going to lead. He already told us at least a $1000 retainer. That is a whole butt load of money. More than we can afford. But staying positive and maybe things will work themselves out.
I am hoping for some miracles to head our way. We have fallen trap to not enough money and too many bills. We weren't able to pay our house payment this month. I am hoping that my school loan will help us catch back up. Otherwise.....well I don't want to go there just yet.
Stress, stress, and more stress. This is what my life has come to. I'll either crumble or push on through. Not sure yet which direction I am heading.
Wow this post has turned into some rambling. Sorry but I've got a lot on my plate right now and I'm not sure I've got more room for anything.
Wish me luck.

School and other news

2009-08-31T07:59:00.000-04:00

I have officially started school. And it is boring as hell. We are starting out on some pretty easy stuff. I can't believe the people having problems with it. I ended up working ahead since the instructor gave us a syllabus. Other than that its been going smooth. We have a quiz on Monday. Our grades are pretty much determined by our quizes and exams. So I have been practicing the math problems. Hopefully I ace it. I really want to try for a 4.0. I've never had that and I think I can do it if I work hard enough.
The girls went on vacation this past week. They went to The Outerbanks. And they complained it was boring!! I would love a week vacation by the ocean. I swear next time I will have my mom take me and leave the girls with their dads. Ugh.
I just gagged on a pill. That is THE worst feeling. I suppose that is what I get for trying to take 3 pills all at once.
There is something that I have avoided talking about but I think I need to get it off my chest. I have been seeing a doctor to treat possible bipolar. Definite extreme depression. All summer we ( my doctor and I ) have been working to get the right blend of drugs and the right amounts. Still no success by the way. I really wanted to just take a pill and be better but it doesn't seem to be working that way. I was put on a depression med that wasn't quite working so they gave me a "helper" to fill in where it wasn't working. Well that dosage has been upped. So I get to wait and see how that works. I was hearing things for a while but that is a side effect of one of my meds. Let me tell you nothing is worse than being up late at night and swear there is someone breathing in your window staring at you. I am really, really hoping that goes away. Paranoia is never fun.
I feel like there is a label of being crazy or just not right if you take any kind of psychiatric medication. It makes me not want to talk about it but I guess that is a hang up I will have to get over.

Which way to the lake?

2009-08-16T20:56:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend we went to the lake to cool off and have some fun.
Unfortunately we also had some extra driving, failed destinations, and closing stores.
We were first heading to a swimming spot on Lake Erie that we use to go to. I was closed the last 2 years so we weren't able to swim there. A person my husband knows said that it was opened back up so we decided to go there. Except I think we were in the wrong spot. The beach was still closed and the sign name was different. But my husband swore it was the right one. So we decided to drive 30 minutes down the road to go to a different swimming spot. We swam. We tanned. We even went down a giant water slide. (Well my two step kids did.) A fun, fun time was had by all.
We came home. Had dinner. And got around to go to a hot air balloon fest. But got stuck in traffic. For like 45 minutes. They closed a city street down and were redirecting traffic. By the time we found our parking spot it was pretty much over. So to keep everyone calm and happy I said we would go for some hard dip ice cream. Well I didn't realize that the store closed while we were in there. GAH!
We left and went down the road to Friendly's so we could get my hubby and step-daughter ice cream also.
The kids said they had a blast and that's what matters I suppose. It was just very frustrating day and night.

Yard Sale

2009-08-14T10:06:00.002-04:00

Well I just threw all the clothes out front on tables and had a yard sale.
I didn't do too bad either. I was going to have it on Thursday and Friday but I sold over half my stuff Thursday and I didn't want to do it anymore.
One of my first customers bought ALL the baby clothes. She wanted everything. I was more than happy to sell it to her. So bye, bye baby clothes.

The same woman bought a bunch more stuff. She ended up spending $50 but she paid me with a hundred. Who the heck takes a hundred to garage sales?!? I had to call my step-dad to come get me some change. Grr...

Another lady came and told me how she buys for disadvantage families and gives them bags of clothes to start out the school year with. I took her number and called her after the sale and gave her the clothes that were left. I would rather the clothes go to someone like that then donate them and not know what they do with them.

All in all I made a little over $100. Not bad considering that almost everything was a quarter.

Making some balls. Meatballs that is!

2009-08-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

I've been making a batch of my meatballs for my hubby every month or so. I freeze them up and he takes what he wants out for lunch. For a sauce he uses that Country Bob's sauce I gave away a couple of months ago.
Ever since we tried it we have had it in the house. I was wondering if anyone else had got some and if you liked it as well. He uses it for steaks also. I make homemade BBQ sauce and I use it in place of spices. It give the sauce a nice tang. I suppose I could also try A-1 sauce too.
I love Meatballs and rice. I think we have that about 2 times a month. I make sweet and sour with one bottle chili sauce and 9 oz of grape jelly. That's my favorite. I also do a BBQ sauced meatballs. And I just had italian meatbalss with rice. I used a jar of spagetti sauce. I also added Italian seasonings and real parmasean cheese to the meatball mix. Yummy, Yummy!
I took some kids clothes over to a consighnment store in the next town over. I dropped off two garbage bags of clothes. The lady said it would be 45 minutes until they could finish going through them. So we went shopping and came back. She handed me back the two garbage bags pointed to a pile of 5 outfits and said "That is all we want. The rest is stained or worn."
Um.
Yea.
They weren't worn and there were no stains. I had already sorted all the summer, older, and stained stuff out. I'm haveing a garage sale this weekend and I'll sell that stuff there.
Whatever.
I stopped uptown at a different consignment shop. The sign said she wasn't taking anything now so I asked her when she would be taking stuff. She said that in two weeks call. So I'm going to have the garage sale and what I don't sell I'll take up there if is nice enough.

Whose life is this and Where did my old one go?

2009-08-11T22:08:00.004-04:00

I have been so unmotivated to do very much I am starting to wonder what is going on. My house is a complete disaster. The kids are running wild. And I'm on the verge of a panic attack. Lifes been a real rollercoaster this past month.
I hope I can start to get things back on track soon because I am NOT going to make it if I stay at this pace.
School is starting for me in two (yes two) weeks. I'm excited, nervous, and scared all at once. It's like any first day of school I had all through elementary and high school. Wondering how everything is going to look. Whether or not I make a complete ass out of myself. You know those normal first day jitters.
I get to go get my books next week. Which I'm super excited about. I have to get a rediculous graphing calculator. $150 for a calculator I will use for 3 classes and then never use again. Ugh. But I have family (Hi Tash!) that MIGHT have one I can use (Did you look yet?) Heehee.
Everyday Wilbur proves to me that he is THE most stubborn, most ornery, cutest baby monkey around. He climbs on EVERYTHING. On a standard day I say "Get Down!" no less than 2.2 million times. I have to physically take him off of tables/desks/chairs no less than 4.6 billion times. I am ready to anounce that he will be the youngest person ever to climb to the top of Mount Everest. In record time.
So obviously he is developing fine. I'm glad because that whole weight thing really scared me. I always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I did weigh him on our home scale and it said 19.4 lbs. So that would be a # gain in a month and a half. That is a lot more than what he was gaining. Hurray!!
I may or may not be getting a laptop. A very inexpensive one. I'm looking at those little ones that are (or maybe not) for little kids. But it will help me out for school. I might not get it depending on how much money I have left over from my loan and grant. If not maybe next semester. My brother is looking into some dell ones for me. I can get a $70 rebate on. But not sure what is and isn't good for computers. I'm pretty illerate when it comes to them.
That's what computer genius brothers are for.
Life lately has been hectic, crazy and exciting. What a mix! Hopefully things will start to settle down and we can get into a nice flow with school.

Another Birthday!

2009-08-07T09:10:00.008-04:00

My middle child's birthday is this weekend. She's turning 8 this Sunday.

Oh my.

Already.

Where has the time gone?? I still remember her little, smiling, chubby face. Her patting on my back every time I held her up. How she was THE happiest baby I have ever seen. Her pointing out each and every little scratch, bump and bruise as soon as we got to my Mom's house. ("Papa look at my booboo. Here and here." as she points to each one.)

Oh how my heart swelled with love when she was born. I slept through my whole labor only to wake up and push for 30 minutes. The panic after she was born because the doctor heard a popping noise. Her poor little face soo swollen she wasn't really cute but I still found her beautiful.

With each of my kids I feel like I have a unique and special bond. I don't know if it is a mother thing or because of everything they have been through with me. Or maybe a little of both. But to me she still is my baby. She was my baby for so many years. She will always be my baby.

This year she wanted a Jonas Brother's cake. Because they are soooo cuuuute.

Oh how fast they grow up!

I made her cake with a frozen butter cream transfer. (This is where I found directions.)
I love making those. It makes the cake look "professional". But isn't super hard or time consuming to do. This took me the better part of a morning. It wasn't perfect but she loved it.

BTW this is the Jonas Brothers' symbol/crest.

Happy Birthday BooBoo. Mommy loves you!

Back to School!

2009-07-15T09:14:00.002-04:00

Well, not really. I have started going through the motions already of getting stuff for the start of school. The girls got their supplies and books from K-12. After I tortured them for 5 days of NOT opening the boxes I gave in last night and let them ogle at all the new school stuff. Of course Tigger was most excited about science and art. She said I could send the rest back. Ha, ha! Silly, silly girl.

Booboo liked it all. Especially the language arts. She got a TON of books. She wanted to dig right into them but I am evil so I am going to make her wait to read them at the appropriate time. Bwahaha... (that was my evil laugh. Just so you know.)

Also very much exciting (at least to me) is that I am all registered for classes at college. I am starting out taking Composition and Basic Algebra. Because apparently after 13 yrs of being out of school I no longer remember how to do Algebraic equations. Hmm... imagine that. I found out though since I am transferring to a 4 yr college to finish my degree I get to earn a .... wait for it..... Transfer Degree. Imagine that. Heehee.

As I was listing all the classes I need to take my DH was all whoa that's alot of classes. And you still won't be done? And this is going to take how long? But it will all be well worth it. I hope. My heart skips a beat when I begin to think about how much my student loans will be. After being debt free I really don't want to build debt back up again. But I have so far secured a Pell grant and I have found another grant from the government for teachers. They give you 4,000 for your last 2 yrs of school, if you sign a contract to work in a low income/high need area. Which every state has schools that fit that criteria and I think I am going to take Spanish classes so I would qualify for bilingual areas.

It all has been very exciting.

The baby had to have a ton of blood taken to run a bunch of tests on him. He still isn't anywhere near where he should be for weight. But all the tests came back normal. I was really concerned about the Celiac. I have read other blogs from mom's who deal with that disease. It is definitely hard to find foods that are gluten free. And an accidental ingestion can really make some kids sick. So I am happy that Celiac isn't the problem. But it still bugs me that something isn't quite right. But I suppose as long as he is hitting those milestones I'm worrying about nothing. As usual.

I have been weekly grocery shopping and making a weekly list. Doing a whole month at a time was too overwhelming for me. The weekly seems to be working out okay. I have been trying to make meals with stuff in our cupboards before grocery shopping. That has helped out a bit.

Grilling out

2009-05-25T22:26:00.003-04:00

We have been grilling like mad men here at the house. Since it has warmed up some I thought it would be nice to grill out once a week. Thursday is Hubby's last day of work for the week so that was the day I chose.
I really like grilling out. Normally I don't have too much stuff to do in the kitchen. And I can usually prepare ahead of time. Like whip up some macaroni salad or cut up some raw veggies during the day when not too much else is going on.
But since we had done the kitchen we have been grilling outside and eating outside. Yes, yes the dining room table is still covered with crap from the kitchen. I haven't got everything put back a week later. I'm working on it. I swear!
My hubby had a couple of old dining room tables in the garage so I had him get one out and set it up in the yard. We've been eating outside for at least one meal every day for over a week now. We are all loving it. It is soo much more relaxing to eat outdoors. Nobody is rushing up from the dinner table to go do something else. The kids tend to just hang out and talk more which is really nice. And clean up is easy since we don't have to clean the floor up after the baby.
I am running out of ideas for main dishes and side dishes. We've done hamburgers several times, coney dogs, chicken, and bbq pork chops.
The side dishes are what trip me up. I don't want to messing around with something forever. But Hubby is soo stinking picky that most sides are out of the question. I made pasta salad for me and the girls but I had some macaroni salad left over for him. I also made some asian spaghetti salad that I loved but the girls weren't impressed much.
Tonight I made some deviled potatoes. I got the recipe from myrecipe.com (Thanks Paula!)

My (Almost) Done Kitchen

2009-05-21T10:58:00.006-04:00

I am soo sick and tired of messing with this kitchen! I love the wall color and the bottom cupboards but HATE the top ones. I didn't think I would like white but hubby thought if we painted them grey it would be too much. But I am pretty sure I am going to paint the very top ones grey. There is just way too much white.
And I am not into cleaning my cupboards everyday. Several times a day.
I am debating on putting fabric on the large doors on top. That is what is on the drawers on the bottom. Good ole Modge Podge. I freaking love that stuff.
Yeah I am a bit obsessed with plates. I love hunting for them at yard sales and flea markets.

Occasionally I'll find one a thrift store. My current obsession with them is finding ones with Ohio cities on them. I have had good luck finding them. I don't normally pay more than $2 for one. Usually $.50.
Oh and roosters. My newest one is the gold trivet above the stove. I had to find another rooster for the kitchen. I had realized that I had 13 in my kitchen. So I blamed all the bad luck I had been having to that.
Bring on the good luck now! I've got 14 cocks in my kitchen.
That sounded a little dirty. * hahahaha*
If anyone has some advice as to what to do with those damn top cupboards please, please leave a comment and help me.
I am at a loss as what to do with them. Hubby thinks maybe I should cut the fabric into squares and randomly Modge Podge it on the large doors. But I'm not sure it would be too busy or not. He thinks one fabric per door won't look right. Somebody please help!!

Oh and the two upper cabinets are missing because I was going to make a little curtain to go there. But now I think I will just paint them. Which of course means going back to Menards and buying more handles to match. The ones we just returned. Because I said we wouldn't need them. Oops.

Oh the Horror

2009-05-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

Yes. I am foolish enough to believe that we could get an entire mini kitchen remodel done in a couple of days and not break my marriage up.
I kid of course. But crap! We have the hardest time agreeing on everything and nothing all at once. How is this possible?? We talk about what colors to use. He doesn't like the colors I choose. So we talk about it some more. I get irritated. He says "I don't care, do whatever." Then I start to do whatever and he makes a comment. I doubt that I have made the right choice. I make a new choice. He complains on how much it costs. So I revert back to my original choice. Are you lost yet? I know I am.
I have had the wall color picked out for several weeks. But figuring out what to do with the cabinets has been a whole other ballgame. I think I have changed my mind nothing short of 1,000 times. I don't like being indecisive. I like to make a decision and stick with it. Or maybe just tweak it a bit as I go. But what I have been doing is flip-flopping around with no clear choice or direction.
We had bought a small container of a really, really pretty blue to go on the bottom cabinets. But after I realized how green my counter really was I decided it just wouldn't look right. I have returned that color and got a shade of green so maybe it will "blend" better. I haven't even started painting them but now I am doubting how it will look. If it will even look good. GAH!
And the top cabinets. Oh. My. Lord. I am soo conflicted about those. We were going to paint them the same color as the walls. But hubby was worried it would be too much grey. So now the cabinet backs are grey and the doors are going to be white. But I'm not sure that is going to look good. Will somebody please hold me??
I did find the perfect back splash. But, of course, hubby is having a hard time installing it. Why would anything go smoothly? He finally had to stop with it last night because we both were getting soo frustrated over it.
And the baby isn't helping. He wants to be in the kitchen with us. He wants to stick his hand in the paint. Touch the wet paint. And God Forbid you should stand on a step ladder. He will stand at your feet and cry. And try to climb the ladder. And flail himself about. Because he needs to be As! Close! As! Humanly! Possible!! to you at all times. Unless of course you aren't doing anything. Then he ignores you and will keep himself content.
My frustration levels have reached new heights with this project. I'm not sure this weekend was the best weekend to decide not to drink. It's only 9:30in the morning and I can feel the need for a nice soothing glass of rum and soda to calm me down.
I just checked the cabinets doors and they need ANOTHER coat of paint. I have already painted them 3 freaking times. Grrrr. I suppose I should get another coat of paint slapped on them.

We Love Science

2009-05-17T08:49:00.002-04:00

Last week we took the kids to a science museum 2 hours away. The girls school was hosting a fun night there so we got in for free! And you know how I love free. It was a looonnnngggg drive but well worth it in my opinion. The girls had a blast. It wasn't as crowded as the last time we went there so that was a HUGE bonus. Mommy didn't get a headache and want to drive home by herself and leave the rest of the family there. In a city 2 hours away to fend for themselves. So that was super awesome.
I must say the kids all behaved very, very well. The older two did both get stern talking to's once, on separate occasions. But that was it. No fighting. No bickering. No baby crying or having a fit. It was great.
The picture is the girls and some random boy lifting a car. Pretty cool.
The school is hosting another event at our local zoo. So I am keeping my fingers crossed it will go just as smooth. I have been procrastinating about buying a zoo pass that I promised the kids I would get. We promised that AND a pool pass this year. Total they are going to run us $100. Which to us is alot. So I have been putting it off.
My husbands job had an unexpected shut down for a couple of days. They ran out of material they need. Not good. So I am worrying about money again. I need to stop and remember that everything will work its way out. But dang it. I'm a worrier.

Scattered

2009-05-12T09:05:00.003-04:00

Lately I have been feeling soo scattered.
Like I am going many different directions yet nowhere all at once. It has been frustrating for me.
The house is a disaster, I don't know what I am making for dinner most nights. I can't even seem to get it together to make a lunch. Which, come on, is THE easiest meal of the day. My oldest complained on Saturday that she had had a peanut butter sandwich every day that week. My response? One more won't kill you. I have bought some ham since then but still. We have no leftovers at all. Usually we have more leftovers than what we can eat.
My house. OMG. My house. It is very, very messy. I try to clean one room but in the middle of cleaning that I have to do something else. Like make a meal. Or do laundry. Or hold the baby. And I never seem to get back to that room. I was washing dishes last night and one pot had a bunch of black stuff on the bottom I was scrubbing. My husband asked what I had cooked in it. It was Pasta Carbonara. That we had had about a week ago. A WEEK. That pot had been sitting on my counter for a week. Every time I started dishes I would get so much done and would either A) run out of space to put the clean dishes or B) The baby would be throwing a holy fit on the floor and I couldn't take it any more. So I would stop. And think the next time I do dishes I will do the pots first. But that wouldn't happen. We would be out of cups or spoons or butter knifes. So I would get those done so we could, you know, eat dinner. And the pots would get put off another day.
The baby is walking now. I think that statement speaks for itself.
My memory is totally fried. I go to the store to get one or two things specifically and some grocery items. I leave forgetting the one or two things I really needed and have bags full of crap I really didn't. I was suppose to call the doctor about getting a refill for my medication. I would forget every day until I actually ran out of it. The oldest has needed a book to complete her Literature for school. For a week now. Everyday I forget we need to go to the Library until after they are closed.
I am suppose to start going to college in the fall but I am not sure I will be able to do it. Considering Mike has to remind me to take my medication everyday. Or that I forget the simplest things.
I have to go take testing for placement in a couple weeks. Yeah, I think that is going to be sad. I haven't been in school in 12 years. I am pretty sure I have forgotten how to do most math.

My weekend recap

2009-05-04T08:56:00.005-04:00

I had a lovely weekend. Did you?

We went to a flea market on Saturday AND Sunday! Whoo Hooo! I was super excited. There is nothing I love more than a good flea market. We arrived around 10:30 on Saturday only to find the parking lot at the fairgrounds was completely FULL!! I have never seen it that busy outside of actual fairs. We ended up parking on a side street and walking into the fairgrounds.

Lots of people. And LOTS of stuff. They had tables set up way in the back where normally there aren't any. Unfortunately it was on grass. That people had drove on first. So it was a muddy, muddy mess. It was pretty difficult to push the stroller through it. I was thankful that I didn't wear my flip-flops.

We did find some more games for the girls' DS and Advantage. We seriously get great deals there. One lady sells the DS games 2/$25 and Advantage games for 2/$15. She told me she has a shop and one of these days I will stop in there and check it out.

I also got some new plates. One for Kings Island (just $1!), another from a church in Ohio, and a pretty blue one. The blue one had a small chip in it so it was just 50 cents. I love me some deals!

We had seen some really, really cute benches that looked like a picket fence on the back. I wanted to buy it but my hubby said he could make it. When we got home he did just that.

After I seen it I asked if he could make another one for my Mom for Mother's Day. Of course he did. :) He loves working with wood so it was a win-win for us.

I am now in the process of painting them and getting all the decorations done for them. I am attempting to do a crackle finish with the paint but I have never done it before so I am a tad nervous. I might have to "test" a spot before doing the whole thing.

On Sunday we drove 2 hours to attend a flea market / animal swap. It was pretty big and had roosters, chickens (yay!), peacocks, ducks, and puppies. I talked to a guy about one of the types of chickens he had, Barred Rock. They are the kind I want to get whenever we manage that. They are a beautiful chicken that is very docile.

Gorgeous! But I am beginning to think my hubby is an anti-chicken-ite. He doesn't seem too up on the idea. But just think. Fresh eggs! Cuddly Chickens! Free manure! Less bugs in the yard!

Anyhoo. We went to a nature preserve after the flea market and went on a 1.5 mile hike. It was very hilly. We went up 2 different hills so I should have burned mega calories. Which was good because I ate a whopper afterwards! It was very pretty and serene there. I love hiking in the woods.
We did have to carry the baby though because I did remember to bring the stroller for the flea market I forgot the front carrier for the hike.
Oh well 19+ lb baby helped burn even more calories. Right?

We did go to a Wal-Mart after the hike and lunch. I bought some paint to paint up my awesome benches.
Hubby helped me pick out a really pretty color blue. *Thanks babe!*
I am hoping to get a move on it soon but the girls are dragging their feet about starting school this morning. Raven will be done this week. I can not even explain the happiness that I feel typing that out. I now remember how elated I was at the end of the year to be done with school for the summer. This must be how teachers feel. Relief.

All and all I had a very nice, relaxing, fun weekend with hubby and baby. Next weekend we will have all the kids and it is mother's day so I know it is going to be hectic.

A Non-Recipe for Meatloaf

2009-04-23T08:57:00.004-04:00

Okay so I am not much for following a recipe. Or measuring for that matter. I think cooking should be fun. And to me measuring is not fun. It's more of a pain.
I do usually put the same things in my standard recipes but for the most part all my cooking and recipes are in my head. I am really trying to write recipes down for my girls but it has been slow going.
Here is my non-recipe for meatloaf.

In the past I had try to follow several different meatloaf recipes with no luck. So I said screw it and started to throw things together. I normally use my homemade BBQ Sauce that has many ingredients to it. But I did think the Country Bob's is a very nice alternative. Especially when I am short on time.

Meatloaf with Country Bobs

.5 lb ground sirloin
.5 lb ground chicken
1 egg
salt
pepper, just shake some in it
1 regular sized sweet onion or a half of one of those giant ones
olive oil
roasted red pepper - chopped, around a 1/4 cup - or a fresh red or green pepper
quick cook oatmeal, 1 cup, more or less this will help hold the loaf together and keep it from being too "loose" - regular oatmeal doesn't blend as well with the meat

Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce 1/2 a cup or so, plus more for top of the loaf

First heat a pan on medium heat with some olive oil in it. You need enough to cook the onions in but you don't want a bunch of oil left over. So maybe around 1-2 tablespoons.
I only use sweet onions. I don't like the taste of yellow onions but if you do go ahead and use those. Chop the onion up so most the pieces are the same size. Otherwise some of them will burn while others are still not cooked enough. But you can make them whatever size you would like. Just as long as they are around the same size.My family claims they don't "like" onions so I have an evil trick I do that I'll tell you about in a minute.
Go ahead and add onions to pan once the oil is starting to shimmer a bit. Sprinkle with some salt. Don't walk away at this point. Your onions might burn and that won't taste very good. Saute the onions for 5 minutes or more. Until they have caramelized and are nice and golden brown but not black. Remove these from the heat so they can cool down a little.
Heat the oven to 350 and spray a bit of non-stick spray in the dish you want to use. It could be a 8x8 or round casserole dish. Even a loaf pan because this is a really lean meatloaf.
Now because my family is very picky about onions this is the point where I place the onions, egg, Country Bob's AP Sauce and roasted red pepper in a food processor and blend to a pulp. That way I get all the yummy flavor without my family knowing there are "yucky" onions in it. Evil I know.
If you have normal people in your family just go ahead and place everything in a bowl and mix it with your hands. Yes I know it will make your hands all messy. But that is how I like my cooking. Messy and fun!
Shape however you would like in your chosen pan. Pour more of the CB Sauce on top. Cover and bake for 1 hour or so.
I served ours with fried potatoes and a salad.
This would normally serve our family of 4 plus a baby. But my hubby, the baby and I ate almost the whole thing. Because we are pigs. But it was yummy. The baby did eat more than he usually does. Yes I am attempting to blame a 10 month old baby for eating a 1# meatloaf. What of it?
Please go down to the next post and leave a comment. You could be the winner of a FREE bottle of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce. Delivered right to your front door. How cool is that?
I LOVE free. Don't you?

Country Bob's Review and a Giveaway!!

2009-04-21T08:53:00.011-04:00

DISCLAIMER **I am no way affiliated with Country Bob's. I just tried their product that they sent to me for free.

Recently I was contacted by the fine folks at Country Bob's. They offered to give me 2 bottles of their All Purpose Sauce to try out and blog about. So here is what I did with the sauce and what I thought about it all.

I have never heard of this sauce and have never seen it in the store. On the bottle it says that it is for Steak, Hamburger, Chicken, Fries, and Barbecue. On their website they have a recipe section and you can search what ever kind of dish that you would like.

Of course as soon as I got the bottles I opened one and tasted the sauce. I wanted to know exactly what I was dealing with and how I would use it.

It tasted semi-zesty, like a well known steak sauce brand, BUT with a sweetness. Which just happen to be my 2 favorite tastes together. I love anything that is hot/sweet, zesty/sweet, or spicy/sweet.

The first night we had steak with it. We just dipped the steak straight into the sauce. Mmmmm. I also dipped fries into it and that was very good as well. I would have ate more of it but I ran out of fries.

Meatballs were next on my list. I made my normal meatballs and then made a sauce for it using the Country Bob's. I will write a whole other post for that because that was nothing short of awesome. My DH loves BBQ meatballs and this sauce makes them next to perfect.

Next up was Meatloaf. I used the Country Bob's in place of any tomato sauce in the loaf. Um, let's just say that between me and my DH we ate almost a 1 lb meatloaf for dinner that night. I think that I'll post a recipe for that because while it's super simple it was one of my favorites.

And lastly we marinaded boneless, skinless chicken breasts in it. I grilled them up on the George. It imparted a very yummy flavor to the chicken. But I did notice it wasn't zesty like it was when I used straight into the recipe. Which would of been great for kids who don't like zesty/spicy things.

I also wanted to do the Baked Beans recipe from their site but I ran out of sauce. So I am on the hunt for it in a store. My DH is in LOVE with this sauce. I looked at Meijer's when we were there but they don't carry it. So I have to check all the other stores near me.
They do offer it online. You can buy the All Purpose Sauce or other products that they offer.

Now for the fun part.

I am giving away 2 lucky readers their very own bottles of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce.

Enter by checking out their website here and leave a comment telling me what you would like to use this sauce for.

Bonus entry if you have seen this sauce in a store. Leave a separate comment what store and what area. (City/State)
Another entry if you blog/twitter about this contest. Just leave another comment letting me know.
And another entry if you follow me. Just say I follow in your comment!

Make sure to leave a way for me to get a hold of you so I can get all your info to the fine folks at Country Bob's to send out your FREE bottle of All Purpose Sauce.

US residents only please!

Giveaway ends on Tuesday, April 28th at 8am. I will draw the winner later that day.

**EDIT** I did find the sauce at a locally owned grocery. So I would check your smaller (not the big chain) grocery stores to find it first.

The Winners

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

54
7
Timestamp: 2009-04-28 13:12:57 UTC

Pat said...
I would use in a BBQ.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Alicia said...
I'd use this for dipping. Meat, potatoes, chips, whatever. Yum.

Thanks for the giveaway >^..^<

Monday, April 27, 2009

Congrats to the winners! I will email you to get your shipping info so your bottles of sauce can get mailed out!

Easter Pics then a Mini Ramble

2009-04-15T12:28:00.003-04:00

On Easter we all headed over to my Mom's for lunch, Easter baskets, and an egg hunt. Nobody cried this year that it wasn't fair that one found more eggs than another. Nobody had a melt down over who got better stuff in their eggs either.

It was an Easter Miracle!

Maybe it's the kids getting older.

Or maybe it's because I warned that the first person to start complaining would lose all candy. It would be mine. All mine. *evil laughing*

Not that I won't "help" them dispose of the candy anyways. *Ahem*

My Step-Dads Great Granddaughter. So my Great-Step-Niece?? Right? I don't know but she is a whole lot of cute!! We hid eggs on the porch for her. But of course she tried to go out in the lawn with the big girls.

2 of mine trying to find eggs. You would think that they would all go in different directions to find the eggs. As to increase their odds of finding eggs.

Nope.

They ran together like a pack of wild dogs on the hunt.

The whole gang with their baskets/buckets.

See that pink stuffed bunny in the background? That's the Easter Bunny. Just so you know.

Raven brought that down first thing in the morning and made me (and everyone else) hug the Easter Bunny. Not that she still believes in it. But whatever.

I think the girls stopped believing in the Easter Bunny/Santa/Toothfairy 2 yrs ago or so. It makes my life much easier. Because I refuse to do baskets up. They get one from my Mom and sometimes one from their Dads. So the less candy rotting around my house the better.

We didn't want to do the whole Santa thing after a church service we went to. It basically came down to the fact that we lie to our kids about these things but we expect them to believe us about God and Christ. It really hit home with my DH because the church he grew up in was pretty conservative. His Grandma (who raised him) was deeply religious and I think he wants to impart some of that on to our kids.

Even though I'm not a Christian I still don't ever want my kids to lie to me so it makes sense to not lie to them. Also when we pick out a name from a giving tree I want the kids to realize that some kids don't get ANY presents at Christmas. Because that very thing came out of my DH's oldest's mouth.

"Why do we have to buy a stranger presents. Santa will get them some."

Some magical fat man is NOT going to break into their house and deliver all the material possessions that they desire.

Also we are not well to do and I don't need unreasonable expectations on Christmas. If I can't afford the latest DS now they are not going to get it at Christmas. I understand why people do the Santa/Fairy/Bunny thing but that's just not what I want to do.

Cake Pops!

2009-04-15T11:50:00.004-04:00

Have you ever heard of these? I found them on Bakerella. I have been admiring them for a while now but when the kids saw the ones for Easter I knew we would have to make them. The kids had great fun rolling them balls out the night before and then I coated them. In the morning they got to decorate away. They had great fun doing it. Now they want to make these for every holiday. I am warning you now these make ALOT. We had 50 good sized balls. I sent some home with my step daughter AND left some at my Mom's. But we still have 10 or so left. Of course none of us are big cake eaters either.

We did eggs, chicks, and bunnies. Plus some "creative" ones.

This is Teagan's version of a sheep. It is made of marshmallows. Very cute. When it came time to eat though she wouldn't eat it.

"I don't like marshmallows THAT much."

Oh and that thing next to the sheep. She told me it was marshmallows, Tic-Tacs, and Good and Plentys with some sprinkles. When asked what it was suppose to be. She shrugged, "I don't know."

Yeah. Nobody ate that one either. Can't imagine why. Chocolate with minty Tic-Tacs, sugar and licorice. Bleech.

Here's the gang Saturday morning decorating the cake pops. Everyone is concentrating so hard.

My hubby even did one just for me. A rooster. Isn't he cute?

How NOT to Make Coffee

2009-04-01T08:32:00.002-04:00

Forget to put the filter basket resulting in water being sprayed all over the counter.
Decide since the water is all over the counter you will clean it and the coffee maker resulting in the filter basket (which is now where it is suppose to be) being knocked to the counter and spilling the last of your coffee all over the floor and baby.
Swear about the coffee being spilt causing baby to cry and rub coffee in his eye.

This has been a public service announcement.

Thank You.

Feed Me

2009-03-26T15:15:00.000-04:00

Do you feed your baby "baby food"? or do you just give "regular" food to them?

My guy just gets regular food. I tried baby foods with him in the beginning but he didn't really eat them. He would just spit them out. And he hated the cereals.
He started in grunting and making noises when I was eating so I started giving him what I was eating and never looked back. It is a whole lot cheaper. The prices they charge are outrageous! I was going to get a food mill and just grind up what we are eating but I didn't have to.
He really likes to feed himself. Like really, really likes to. Most times he will not let me feed him off a spoon. I have to trick him by pretending its my food and not offering him any. I wait until he almost into cardiac arrest having a fit about it then I let him have some. He then is determined to eat the whole thing without letting me have anymore. If there is even a 2 second delay from me scooping and shoveling into his mouth the grunting and screeching will start back up.
Scoop.
Shovel.
Scoop.
Shovel.
Before I know it it's all gone. Of course he still wants more and I have to scramble to find the cheerios or a cracker.
In my freakout the other day I had totally forgotten something the doctor had said. She knew he wasn't eating baby food because his skin wasn't yellow. Huh? Wha? Why would baby food turn your child yellow? Isn't it just regular food pureed? If I ate pureed foods would I turn colors too?
Hmmm.... now that is a thought. I could change from pasty white to a nice shade of yellow. Maybe it would be mistaken for a tan. And everyone would comment on how nice of a complexion I have.
I worked for the kids when they had jaundice. :)

Mama Worries

2009-03-25T09:01:00.003-04:00

So I took Bubba to his 9 month check up yesterday. For those of you keeping track it was 4 weeks late. But It wasn't my fault. For once. The Dr. office "lost" his appointment. How the heck they lost it I'm not sure. But when I called to ask when it was, because of course I had misplaced the card, they didn't even have an appointment for him. Whatever. Let's just make a new one. Of course the Dr. was taking some vacation days and so was the nurse. On different days of course. So I couldn't get in until yesterday.

So she charts his head and his height. Everything looks good. Everything is doing the little curve that it's suppose to.

Then we go and weigh him. Now last time I went (at 6 months) he had fell from 50 percentile to about 40 percentile. I wasn't worried because the charts are made for formula fed babies and well he has never had formula. He, more than likely, isn't going to be able to keep up with a formula baby.

So the nurse weighs him and I was a bit nervous. I thought he would be at least 18 lbs. But he was only 17.4. Okay. The nurse goes to chart him and says "Oh his weight has really fell."

Now I know that wasn't good.

The doctor comes in and starts to check him. She said his eyes and ears look good. He does have eczema. I kind of figured that. He has had dry spots all over him since he was 5 months. I've been using Aquaphor on his face since it is soo red but he has a fit when I put it on his body. She gives a prescription for lotion that isn't greasy. Aquaphor is like Vaseline. Very, very greasy.

Then she looks at his chart and makes a comment about his weight. Now I was assuming he went down to 30 percentile. Nope he is almost at the 10 percentile. She asks about my milk supply. (It seems good to me) If he is eating solids. (Three plus times a day)

The only advise I got from her was feed him more solids.

The same advise she gave me 3 months ago.

That worked well the last time you told me that didn't it?

So now I am making a conscience effort to get him to nurse more. I am drinking more water to help up my supply. And I am going to try to eat some oatmeal everyday. I am hoping it will help up my supply a bit and in turn get him more breastmilk. Because, frankly I'm not sure eating more solids is the solution to this problem. The things he eats alot of are not very calorie rich. His favorite things to eat are cheerios and pasta. Yea I'm not sure how much extra weight he is going to gain with that stuff.

Oh did I mention that my guy is the most stubborn baby and will not eat barely anything from a spoon?? He wants to feed himself at all times. And he will not eat baby food at all. Which is fine by me but with some foods it is just not possible for him to feed himself. So I either battle it out with him or I make him something else to eat.

Also the Dr. mentions that she wants him to take a vitamin. After researching it online I've decided not to give it to him. She was saying I don't have enough vitamins in my breastmilk for him. Which I found odd considering that's what it is for. But I think that is the whole point of him eating solids. To help give him vitamins that he no longer has stored up in his body. Also the research I found says the American Ped. say no vitamins unless deficient and extra vitamins could inhibit his ability to absorb the ones that are in my breastmilk. So I said forget it. Obviously for thousands of years breastmilk was just fine and he isn't deficient. So no vitamins for him.

So I am freaking out about his weight. I thought his diaper covers were seeming too big around his waist. And he didn't seem very heavy. Also I ran into a friend that has a formula fed baby and she is 2 months younger but as big as my guy.

I hate taking him to the doctor. I always walk away feeling like a bad mom.

Oops I forgot

2009-03-19T11:10:00.003-04:00

I forgot all about posting pics of the Beef and Biscuits. I even actually forgot to take a picture before we all dug into the dish. So you don't get to see it all pretty in the dish before we all got our share. :) It is really really yummy. I forgot to add that I only use 1 lb of beef with 1 cup of rice cooked right into it. I makes the dish less fatty and the dish alot cheaper.

Doing a menu and some shopping

2009-03-10T15:13:00.004-04:00

I broke down this month and made a menu. I don't like having a menu sometimes because I have to eat what it says. Even if it doesn't even sound good. But we had tons of food in the freezer and it was time to do our once a month major grocery shopping.
I hate grocery shopping. If I can't be out of the store in 15 minutes I don't want to go. So we have been going once a month to the bread outlet, Aldi's, and Walmart. The stupid bread outlet has been out of the wheat bread we eat the last 2 times. Last month I bought some Wonder bread "wheat" and it was really nasty. I think they just colored the white bread brown. This month the had 3 loaves of my wheat but one loaf was 1/2 smashed and there was no way I was buying it. So I got the 2 loaves plus some doughnuts. For the kids and hubby. Really. ;)
Aldi's was suppose to be a cheap trip since I didn't have to buy any canned veggies. But they had a lot of nice produce and some other things I didn't know I needed until we got there.
Walmart was the usual pain in the butt trip. I really, really hate going in there. But the cheap prices keep drawing me in. We tried to switch over to Meijer's but the stuff we like is more expensive there. The only meat I buy there is ground turkey and chicken. I refuse to buy the meat that has air in the pack. They spray the meat with a chemical to keep it from browning when it gets old. Ewwww. Ground turkey, chicken, and beef are the only meats at our Walmart that aren't in those packs.
It took us several hours to get all the shopping done. It was worth it because I don't think I will have to go to the store much more this month. My fridge and both freezers are stuffed to the gills.
Last night we had Easy and Delicious Chicken but with brown rice instead of pasta and a side of mixed veggies. It was delicious.
Tonight we are having Beef and Biscuits without the peas. And Big Daddy's biscuits on top instead of the canned ones. Oh. My. Lord. These are the best biscuits ever. But don't use a whole cup of milk, maybe just 3/4. And don't roll them out. Just pat them until they are as thick as you need them. For this I'll make them thinner but normally if we are just eating them I'll pat them out to about 1/2 inch thick. I'll post some pics later.

Going Batty!

2009-03-04T14:35:00.006-05:00

Yesterday as I was going about my business cleaning up the kitchen, trying to get supper cooked early so I could be a little ahead of the game, I looked up and saw this:

Needless to say I freaked out! Hole-lee. Crap.

It was just chilling on the wall and I'm pretty sure it had been there since the morning. But it didn't matter. I was not going to just hang out in the kitchen and finish what I was doing with a freaking bat hanging on the wall. It could get frisky and try to attack me!
Bats are nasty. They like to fly around all crazy and swoop at my head. How do you know you ask? Because this house is a freaking bat cave. We are bat central around here. I have came home to bats flying around the house. I have came home to my husband chasing a bat around the house with the oldest child outside bawling her eyes out. Woken up to my husband chasing not one but 2 (TWO!) bats around. Me hiding under the comforter until it went out the window. Oh we have lots of bat stories around here.

I should start charging the little buggers. They come in. Do a little air show for their friends. Scare the crap out of us(me) and go on their merry way. I'm sure their personal favorite shows was driving me under a computer desk until my husband arrives home from work. Oh yes. I hid under a desk. What else was I to do? That thing was out for me. No matter what room I went to he followed. And swooped. And Tried. To. Suck. My. Blood. Oh, you say, they don't actually suck your blood.

How do you know? Have you personally befriended a bat and NOT had your blood sucked?

I think I won't chance fate thank you very much.

My husband was due to be home in 10 minutes. And for once I was happy we have an igloo for a home. We have the kitchen separated from the rest of the house with a heavy blanket over the doorway. So I was confident that the blood sucking bat would stay safely contained in the kitchen with our partially finished dinner still on the stove.
How the bat went unnoticed by the kids, me, the cat and the dog I don't know. The dang thing was hanging out on the wall directly above where the dog and cat eat. I know both of them had been out there several times. Didn't they smell that nasty little bat? I find the whole thing unnerving. We could have bats just chilling in my house. With out me even being aware of it. I don't like it one stinking bit.
My hubby finally arrived home. I greeted him at the door by telling him "You might want to grab that bucket" as I pointed to the purple sand bucket.

He just grinned and said "Huh?"

I explained that there was a bat in my kitchen that I needed him to take care of. He giggled like a 10 yr old boy and ran to the kitchen to check it out. Yeah it's real funny. Until. It. Tries. To. Suck. Your. Blood. Out. He then ran back to the porch since in his excitement he forgot the sand bucket on the front porch.

I waited safely in the dining room. Telling him "Get some cardboard so you can trap it in the bucket. And don't break my plate or I'll kick your butt."

I heard the bucket thump against the wall.

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah"

I cautiously looked in the kitchen. There he stands with the bucket against the wall.

"Where's your cardboard"

"I forgot it."

"I told you to get some cardboard."

"I didn't think that far ahead."

So I tear down a box so he can secure the bat in the bucket and it won't break free and attack us.
I tell him to let me get the door and wait until I shut the door before freeing it. He throws the bucket into the yard and...... nothing. The dumb thing lays on the ground and doesn't move. After some prodding with a stick we determine it is not dead just lazy. So we leave it. An hour later I go out to check it and it hasn't moved. The dog comes out and doesn't even notice it. He finally steps on it before it moves and then he circles it trying to figure out what it is. I on the other hand run back in the house before it decides to take off and attack me. The bat makes it clicky noise at the dog but ever take off. I finally call the dog in to leave it alone. I don't need the dog getting rabies or something.

Okay so its out of my house and probably back in the attic where we are pretty sure it came from. And I don't mind them being in the attic. Or the yard. We have talked about putting a bat house up in the back of the yard because we get mosquitoes pretty bad in the summer. But my living area is a bat free zone. At least for now.

Great Giveaway I want to Win!!

2009-03-04T12:41:00.002-05:00

Over at Christopher and Tia they are having an awesome giveaway. It is for a ring sling from SugarBugSlings on Etsy.

I soo want to win this. I have been lusting after a ring sling since little man was born but alas we are too poor to buy one right now. So I entered and you should too if you want/need one. The contest ends on Saturday the 7th. So get on over there and enter. Hurry up before you are too late!

I must say that even if I don't win I am going to try to figure out how to scrap up the money to buy one of these beauties. Little man does not like strollers for longer than oh maybe 5 seconds and carrying a 20lb baby has got to really burn up those calories right? I plan on going to every single flea market this summer and there is no way I can carry him by hand. Last year I had the front carrier but I believe he is too big for that. Plus these are WAY more stylish.

2009-03-02T13:19:00.001-05:00

Here is a picture of my soup.

And here is a picture of the little man enjoying some!

Bean and Ham Soup

2009-03-02T12:11:00.003-05:00

I made Bean and Ham soup today. It (surprisingly) turned out well.

I was worried because I was using dried beans. And I totally suck at soaking beans. I swear I have a bean soaking voodoo curse put on me. This is the first time out of many, many attempts to get beans to become edible. Not hard little nasty things that mock me from the pot and ruin another meal. I have researched how to use dried beans. I've read the bag. I have tried quick soak, traditional, and crockpot methods of soaking beans with no success. I am hopeful the curse has been lifted because these were really good.

I also have some ham that I have been trying to use up. I bought it super cheap at Kroger. Like 69 cents a pound cheap. I had them cut it up into thick slices and I froze them with wax paper in between so I could use it as I wanted to. But since my hubby doesn't really like ham it's been slow going.

My girls and I like ham and beans so I made this for lunch while he was at work. We all win this way.

Here is my non-recipe:

Bean and Ham Soup

1 bag of dried white beans
1 pound or so of ham, cut into bite sized chunks
some water
garlic powder
salt & pepper
onion powder

Soak beans. It took me 2 days of soaking to get them just right. But I am pretty sure normal people will be able to soak for overnight.
Drain off the soaking water. Put beans in a stockpot and add water. Add enough to cover the beans by a few inches. Now boil the beans until soft skimming off any foam or scum. I had to boil these for 3 hours to get them soft. Crazy I know.
You can now add the ham. I just added it frozen.
Add your spices. This is all to taste so add as much or little of stuff as you like. I don't like to measure stuff. It takes away the fun of cooking. FYI the ham will add some salt of its own. I have forgotten this a few times and have had super salty soup! :)
Boil for about another hour or so.
If you have added to much water to start with (like I did) now is the time to strain it off into another pan. Remove the bean pot and put the pot with the water on the hot burner. I had to boil that another 45 minutes to reduce it by half. Add that back to the soup and you are done.
You can taste it again at this point and add more seasoning if needed.

Tada! You've got a pretty yummy and healthy soup. Beans are good for you (lots of fiber!) and ham is pretty lean. I served it with some corn muffins from a box mix. I baked those as I boiled down the extra water. Easy peasy.

Snow White and Butts

2009-02-27T10:55:00.000-05:00

Have you ever read the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Not the Disney version but the Grimm Brothers version? Grim is right. I read it to my 1st grader as part of her literature. And I must say that we were both a bit disturbed by the story. Snow White is only 7 years old, the dwarfs basically enslave the poor thing, the queen tries to commit cannibalism, tries to kill the girl 3 times, and then at the end the queen commits suicide by burning herself alive in the middle of a party. Needless to say she had many, many questions at the end of this depressing tale.

Why of why did the school think this was a good story for a 7 yr old to analyze. We had 3 sessions on this story and each time she would be freaked out by the whole thing.

Of course then for History we are studying Ancient Greece. Somewhere along the way we seen a statue of a naked man. She's all "Ewww" and "They didn't have arms back then?" I tried to explain the best I can in words that a 7 yr old can understand that its okay to look at statues of naked people. And that the artists were just too lazy to make the arms.

Her response "They need to put some clothes on because I don't want to see their naked butts."

Nothing like art appreciation from a 7 yr old.

38 weeks

2009-02-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

You've been growing soo fast these last two months I just can't just keep up with you. With the crawling and the climbing. Yesterday when you tumbled over the craft box and were stuck with your little legs and butt up in the air. That was hilarious. I'm sorry I stood and laughed at you and try to find my camera before rescuing you. I just wanted to capture that moment in time because how often does something like that happen?

This morning I heard your Dad's alarm go off. As I lay there I realized that you hadn't been up to eat. At all. All night. Panic set in. I pushed your Dad away as he leaned over to give me a kiss. I check your head. You're still warm. That's good. Then I hear your snotty nose breathing. That quiet raspy sound that makes me worry you can't breath very good fills me with relief as I know you are okay. You are just growing up again.

As I lay back in bed your Dad asks "Is he breathing?"

"No, but I'm just going to go back to bed." I reply.

Then he gets up for work and goes over checks you before he leaves. I think just to make sure I wasn't serious. Because seriously, I haven't slept through a night uninterrupted for well over 10 months. And Mama needs some sleep.

Of course now you are being super clingy. You must miss not having our little snuggles all night long. I guess you figure I got a good night sleep and I can handle a screaming, crying, fussy little baby now. You're right. I can handle you so much better well rested vs. the half awake fog that I usually try to handle you in.

I love seeing you grow into the big boy you've become. But just don't grow too much more. I still need someone to snuggle with. Just not in the middle of the night.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

2009-02-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had this?

Have you even heard of it?

I seen this for the first time in America's Best Lost Recipes cookbook. It's from the same people that do Cook's Country and America's Test Kitchen. And I love me some America's Test Kitchen. I had to try this recipe. It was too strange not to. They claim the sauerkraut helps make the cake tender. And that this use to be a popular cake to make for April Fools Day.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

Cake ingredients:

2 Cups Flour

3/4C. Cocoa

1 tea. baking powder

1 tea. baking soda

1/4 tea. salt

1 cup water

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 tea. vanilla

12 T unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups sauerkraut rinsed and drained

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling / Icing ingredients

2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

2/3 cup mayonnaise

2/3 cup coconut

2/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour three 9" cake pans. (I used one 8" pan over and over) Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together with a whisk. Mix water, eggs, and vanilla together in a separate dish. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add flour and egg mixtures in two batches alternatively. Beating well after each addition. Fold sauerkraut and pecans in with a spatula. Divide batter evenly among the 3 pans. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (I did my cakes one at a time and they took about 20 minutes each plus cooling time.) Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack and then remove from pans and let cool completely before icing.

To make icing / filling: Whisk melted chocolate chips with mayonnaise. Reserve back 2 cups to ice cake with. ( I for some reason only had 2 cups of icing so I eyeballed 1/2 a cup out for the filling) Mix 1/3 cup coconut and 1/3 cup pecans with remaining frosting. Spread filling on top of bottom layer and middle layer of cake. Ice top and sides of cake with reserved 2 cups. Press 1/3 cup coconut and 1/3 cup pecans onto icing on side of cake.

Refrigerate until served. Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.

I'm not sure why the frosting didn't turn out very good for me. It was tasty but it wasn't enough to frost the cake. Part of the side didn't even have icing on it so I wasn't able to press the coconut and pecans into the side. I'm not sure what I did wrong on that part. If I would make it again I would double it. It also got hard like chocolate chips after I let it sit overnight. I'm not sure if that was how it was suppose to be or not.

It was an okay cake. Box mix tastes better than this. It was suppose to be tender but I would describe it as dry. You would never know there was sauerkraut in it. So that was a big plus. Everyone here was saying "Ewwww" at the thought of eating a cake with sauerkraut in it. I think it is going for a German chocolate cake but fell flat.

Fun to try as an experiment but not worth making again.

Tuna help and a contest!

2009-02-23T08:39:00.004-05:00

Over at $5 Dinners she is giving away one $50 gift card for Meijer's. Go over there now and sign up! Who couldn't use free groceries? There are 3 ways to enter so do all three to increase your chances!

How much do you spend a week in groceries?

We spend around $50 for a family of 5. Now some months we do go over but then the next month we usually even back out. We are getting assistance right now because of the slow down of work. So we get a little over $400 a month. And I do get WIC still since I am breastfeeding. The only problem is that my hubby doesn't like tuna and I get a couple cans a month. They are starting to add up and I think I have about 10 or 11 cans sitting in the cupboard. The only thing I know what to make with canned tuna is tuna salad (not a huge fan) or tuna noodle casserole. What else do you make with tuna? Please help me purge these cans from my cupboard!!

What next? A big, bad wolf?

2009-02-16T10:26:00.004-05:00

Coffee. Do you drink it? Do you add anything to it?

As I was laying in bed last night thinking about my yummy coffee I got to drink in the morning I realized maybe I was a little obsessed.

I drink Millstone Chocolate Velvet with light chocolate soy milk. I fill my tall coffee cup so far with chocolate soy and then fill'er up the rest of the way with warm, yummy, chocolaty coffee. This way my coffee isn't too hot nor too cool. It's just right. But thankfully no bears come in crashing my coffee party.

I am fully obsessed with my coffee and I think it is by far my favorite part of the day. Everyone complains how my breath stinks but I don't care. I can brush my teeth later. My coffee makes me feel all warm and happy inside!

I use to drink hot chocolate. But then I realized how many calories were in it. So I switched to the light. But man is that stuff ever expensive. They don't put that on sale when all the other flavors are just a dollar a box.

So I switched to tea. That was pretty good but I still put sugar in it. So I started to use the fake sugar. It kind of freaked me out though. It would fizz up all crazy when I added it. It was just like in a movie when the bad guy adds poison to someones drink. I was half expecting to see it change green and make me go into a coma that only a shiny, sexy prince could wake me from.

At what point did my life become a bunch of fairy tales all mixed together? First bears now princes. Maybe I need to cut back on the coffee.

Karma

2009-02-05T08:50:00.002-05:00

Along with the good in my life there is always a little bad to check me back in place. Everytime things start looking up something comes along and slaps me in the face. As if to say "Hey, bitch know your place."
I have been super excited about getting our big, big tax return this year. Thanks kids! We are/were going to pay off my car and hopefully most of my hubby's truck. Less bills, less money I have to worry about were it's coming from. Plus it is like my HUGE dream to pay off the house in 10-15 years. There is no way in hell I want to pay twice the value in interest alone.
But of course I needed to come crashing back down to reality. The universe couldn't let me get my hopes too high. So we get paper work from my hubbys child support for one of his other kids. They want to double what he is paying every week. What?! He has one other kid he pays support for and our little guy here at home. So now I feel as if I am going to pass out/ throw up everytime I think about it. He sent in papers to appeal it so hopefully it gets reduced.
And you know the thing that really irks me is that I doubt any of that money would go to his son. I know, I know typical doesn't like my hubbys ex. But that isn't it. She just doesn't care about her son. She shows up with new tatoos, piercings, and new fake nails but yet doesn't have any money to buy him clothes that fit or night time pants because he is still peeing the bed. It just burns me up when he shows up in pants a size to small and a shirt that is a 5T. He wears an 8 for god sakes!
But I believe in karma and she's a bitch so I'm sure hers will come in time. Just like it keeps coming back for us. When we aren't on path to do what we should things start going down the crapper. And when we are on path things are okay. So I just gotta behave myself and wait for things to straighten back out.

And the shoveling

2009-01-30T10:10:00.000-05:00

I shoveled all 5 inches or so of this heavy, heavy snow by myself. Oh yeah I am paying the price today. My back is sore my shoulders are sore and I can't move my head in the one direction. I feel like I have a permanent kink.

At least it was good exercise! I was sweating while I did it. I tried to get out of it by conning the girls to do it for me but they wouldn't have any of it.

But as soon as I was done they went out and built a couple of caves and got more snow on the sidewalk. But I was nice enough to let hubby go out there and reshovel the front. I also left the back walk and drive for him. Wasn't that sweet?

I did have to run to the post office to mail out some diaper covers and stop at the grocery store. I got stuck not once, not twice but three times. Once leaving the alley, once at the store and the third time was in the alley again but in a different spot. But I was able to free myself by slamming on the gas. Oh winter how I hate you.

When's the first day of Spring again?

My Snowy Day

2009-01-29T07:58:00.003-05:00

Late Halloween Post

2008-11-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Okay I'm a slacker. I am just now getting around to posting about Halloween and trick or treat. So sue me! :) The kids had much fun. It was super warm (like high 60's). I was sweating by the time we were done. They also had it early because of the football playoffs going on. So we didn't light our pumpkins until well after all the trick or treating was done.

These were the kids pumpkins. My husband tried to light them before he went to work but I had given him crappy candles that wouldn't stay lit. He also had several kids come up and try to get candy from him. One mom yelled at him for being outdoors and not having candy. Ugh some people are soo rude. I would of cussed her out. lol Good thing I wasn't here.

What is the cut off age for trick or treat in your mind? I think Junior High. That's about when I stopped. I did see alot of High School kids out. It bothered me that their parents let them go out in "sexy" costumes. High heels, fishnets, super short skirts, and super low tops. I'm not sure what they were dressed up as. Hookers maybe? I don't know. The one that took the cake for me was the a young 20 something mom pushing a baby in a stoller. The mom was dressed up carring the basket. The baby was maybe 3-4 months old. Following her was her mom. At least 50. Dressed up also and carring a basket also. And following her must of been the babies dad dressed up and carring a basket. The people passing out candy were griping about that group. It takes some guts to go trick or treating when you are at least 50. I would have refused to give them candy. Give me a break!

Oh well on to my cute kids!

Booboo as an American Idol Contestant. She was going to be a cheerleader but after hearing me suggest this for her older sister she decided on it instead. She is a total ham and loves to sing so it was a good fit.

And my little bag of Jelly Beans. She had everyone guessing until she got close enough for them to read the sign. Everyone loved this costume. I wish we would have been able to enter her in a contest but she wasn't here for the only one they had in town.

She was getting mad that everyone kept poking her balloons. She was soo worried about someone popping them! Then she got upset because everyone was looking at her. Heaven forbid somebody looks at her. She is totally becoming a teenage drama queen I feared she would. Of course she didn't have much of a chance to avoid that gene.

They were already talking about what they will be next year. Bubba will be big enough to at least dress up next year. No candy though. That's the last thing they need more candy to tempt me with.

Something new

2008-11-11T08:54:00.003-05:00

So I was browsing through the many, many web pages I read almost daily. I say almost because most don't update on the weekends, some don't update everyday, and sometimes I just too darn busy with my super exciting (yeah right) life to read them. But anyhoo, I was browsing through them and was all "Dang, nobody has updated since yesterday. What the hecks going on?" I then realized that I'm not exactly the poster child for regular updates.

But dang it I need new internet content! So here I am adding to the internets.

My Mom's birfday is Saturday but we won't have any of the kids cept Lil mister. So I told her we would be over on Thursday with cake and I'll cook supper. Now I realize that my Hubby has his doctor appointment and I have my eldest's GTE conference at school. Oh yea. I get to rush around like a crazy person in the afternoon. But it won't be too bad. I've finally decided to make the Awesome chicken for her in the crockpot. That way all I have to do is make the noodles and veggie when I get to her house. Thursday is the only day my brother could show up. So it has to be that day.

I told hubby that if he's not back by the time I was ready to leave that I would leave without him. But that probably won't happen now. Sissy's conference is somewhere in the time frame of 4 to 4:30. I gotta look for that paper today. Hopefully this conference will be better than the last. The last one wasn't terrible. I was told she was the teachers favorite student as usual. She usually is because she is afraid to talk. The quite ones are always the favorites. lol But her math was not as good as it should have been. So we will see what this teacher has to say.

Wanna play hanky with me?

2008-11-10T13:17:00.002-05:00

Booboo, my 7yr old, asked the other day if she could play hanky. Now that stopped me in my tracks considering I usually associate hanky with hanky-panky. I asked "What did you say?" and she repeated "Can I play hanky from school today?" lol She was wanting to know if she could play hookey. I asked why she would want to do that and she replied "Because I want to stay home with you." Now if she hadn't already missed 7 days from vacation I might have considered it because it was soo sweet. But I had to be the mean mom and tell her no you have to go to school.
But soon there will be no more chances to play hanky. They are going to do public school from home. Our school system is pretty crappy and my oldest is having numerous problems. The biggest being she is suppose to be gifted in Math and Reading but her Math grades are terrible. She says she is too stressed. This is coming from a 4th grader. No 4th grader should have to be stressed. She says her class is "bad" and they often do not get to do promised fun things because of it. She feels it is her obligation as a "good" kid to help the teacher settle the class down and gets stressed when everyone doesn't listen to her. Not good. So I offered her this solution and she agreed to it. I am going to do both because what sense does it make to have home and one not. My oldest now just has to finish her placement testing and then I fax in some papers and I believe we will be ready to roll.
Now I have to figure how I can play hanky sometimes. :)

Crockpots

2008-10-29T09:01:00.001-04:00

Crockpots rock my socks! I love using them and I have been using mine almost every day for the last couple of weeks. The one thing that irritates me is you really have to search for recipes that don't use cream of something soup. Now don't get me wrong. I love cream soups as much as the next person but I really don't want to eat them everyday. I have found a couple of good recipes. But I really have to hunt to find them. Over at A Year of CrockPotting she has some wonderful ideas. Crockpotting really helps me stay a little more sane. For some reason Lil Mister always gets fussy in the evenings. Nothing major except he has to be held by mommy only and can't be put down for more than a few minutes. And GOD FORBID daddy tries to hold him. Or worse yet take him into another room. Really he was getting better until he got sick. So if I can get a portion (or all!!) of dinner going at nap time then it helps me hold on to that little bit of sanity I do have left.
So far my favorite crockpot food has been Chicken Rice Soup ( I just winged it), Easy and Delicious Chicken, and Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast (it was awesome!!). After making Easy and Delicious Chicken I was cleaning up and my DH decided to help, god bless him. He set my crockpot too close to the edge of the counter and as I moved other things out of the way the crockpot flew to the ground and broke. It was a tall all-in-one piece. The inner ceramic busted into a thousand pieces and ruined all my leftovers. :( I really liked that chicken but it was gone. Luckily we had my DH's Grandma's crockpot out in the garage. I tried to sell it in a yard sale but thankfully no one bought it. It is exactly like the one I had except its a different color. Yea let crockpotting times roll!

Sick Babies

2008-10-27T09:20:00.005-04:00

Oh I have had sick little ones the past week or so. The older ones aren't so bad. I give them medicine, make them take a hot steamy shower and prop them up on pillows to sleep. But the little mister. Oh its just no good. He's unable to tell me how bad he feels so he just makes me miserable too. We barely slept one night. During the day he would fuss and cry unless momma was holding him. He wants nothing to do with daddy and I feel bad for him. (Both him and daddy) But I think we are almost out of the woods now. He slept most the night last night. He has been taking naps in his bed. And some nasty stuff is finally coming out of his nose instead of just hanging around up in there.
I did get some yummy chocolate chocolate chip bar cookies made on friday. Oh they were sooo good. I used a cake mix with some eggs and butter and chocolate chips. Easy and yummy. Of course I didn't get a picture of them. We had all 5 kids here and between them and me we ate them all up!

My hubbys 2 kids carved their pumpkins yesterday. I have the seeds that I am going to roast this afternoon. Yummy! My oldest and me love to eat pumpkin seeds. My hubby loves sunflower seeds but not pumpkin and I am not sure if the middle one likes them or not. I am sure she will try it though. That girl will eat almost anything new. She might not like it but she at least will try it.

Our furnace can kiss my big toe!

2008-10-03T12:35:00.005-04:00

Our furnace sucks. But not literally because that would mean it was working. No ours just hums at you in its taunting manner without actually doing the job it was intended to.

This week it got mighty chilly. It was lows of 30s at night and highs in the upper 50s to low 60s in the day. That is quite a jump from the 70 to 75 degree weather from the week before. I decided to go and turn the furnace just up to 60 so it will warm up some for the night and be a little warmer in the morning when the kids are getting ready for school. I hear it do its little click and hum noise and then I wait.

And wait.

And waited.

I waited for 15 minutes for it to do something other than hum but I was sorely disappointed. When DH got home from work I sent him down to take a look at it. It has been the ignitor the last 2 times it has broke. Which is fine with me because it only costs a couple of bucks. But unfortunately it looked just fine. DH isn't a super handy man when it comes to electrical things. So he decided to take it off and take it to the heating and plumbing store in town here for them to look at it. They of course said that it was fine. It was most likely the part that the ignitor plugs into ( I don't remember what it was called). Of course that is going to cost us 100 to 150 smackaroos.
Why O why couldn't have been the three dollar part? Oh thats right because its time to push me to my limits and see how far my positive thinking will go. So I am going to look on the bright side of things and say well at least I have a furnace to break.

Changing my goals

2008-10-03T12:10:00.003-04:00

Okay so when I first restarted using Spark I figured I would play it safe and just go for my "normal" weight that I have been able to maintain easily which is 170. But when I figured my BMI for that weight I was still overweight. Ugh. Not good. So I checked what a healthy weight range would be for me. Its somewhere between 125 and 168. Not far where my goal is but I figured I would try to be more in the middle at 140-145. I have not weighed that since high school and it was only for a year or so before I started gaining. I am really going to have to push myself to make this goal. I will get there by lil misters 1st b-day if I lose 2 lbs a week. But since I am still breastfeeding if it takes longer thats okay. On a side note who are these women who claim that breastfeeding helps them lose weight? I lost some post pardum then gained some of it right back. I am still way higher than my pre-preggo weight 4 months post pardum.

Okay, back to the item at hand :)

Everyday that I work out it is getting easier and easier. I added a bunch of strength training exercises to the ones I already had. So I will start those Monday since I only do those types of exercising M/W/F. I need to get in more cardio everyday but I like to do it in the morning since it gets me feeling good for the rest of the day. The only problem is that lil mister will only cooperate for the 15 minutes I am doing now. Sometimes I barely eek out 10 minutes before he is screaming and crying. By the time my hubby gets home I have to cook dinner, clean up after, talk to him and the girls about whatever went on with them and make sure lil mister gets a bath. My hubbys been giving him a bath but by then (6 to 7 pm) I just want to sit on the couch and relax. I guess I'll just have to force out more time somewhere. I wonder how much our water bill will go up with me taking 2 showers a day? lol

I am doing well with my program and have lost 2 lbs this last week and a total of 6 since I started mid September.

mmmmm.....cookies

2008-09-22T14:28:00.007-04:00

Yummy in my Tummy Oatmeal Cookies

Okay so I know I am watching what I eat and I have been craving cookies. I really wanted oatmeal raisin cookies but all the recipes I found have like 150 calories per cookie. And really who eats just one cookie? So I found this recipe in a cookbook I inherited from my husbands grandmother when she passed away this last spring. This is the first recipe I have used from this book and its pretty good. I'm going to have to try some more out of it.

Oatmeal Cookies from Busy People's Down-Home Cooking without the Down-Home Fat

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1 C. applesauce

1 C. packed brown sugar

1 tea. ground cinnamon

1/4 tea. nutmeg

4 C. rolled oats (I used quick cook)

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Preheat then oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 cookie sheets with nonfat cooking spray. (I used foil - I didn't have any spray). Combine the applesauce, brown sugar and spices in a medium bowl and mix well. Stir in the oats gradually until well blended. Drop by the rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

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Makes 48 cookies

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Per Cookie: Calories - 46; Fat - trace; Cholesterol - 0mg; Fiber - 1g; Protein - 1g; Sodium - 2mg

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These are pretty darn healthy if you ask me!

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I fit 24 cookies on a cookie sheet due to the small size and that they do not spread at all. I tried to cook both cookie sheets at once only to burn the bottom pan. So I pulled them out after about 8 minutes. I had to let them set all night on the cookie sheet because mine did not crisp up. But they are nice and soft today. I prefer my oatmeal cookies to be softer. But if you want a nice crisp cookie then let them cook the entire 15 minutes. I thought about adding some chopped up raisins to them but of course that would change your nutritional values.

I'm not sure if my oven is off or what but I burn so much stuff in it. Last week I burnt some of that take and bake bread from the deli. I was pretty P.O.-ed.

Get the Spark!

2008-09-19T12:07:00.002-04:00

Okay so I finally admit it....I need to lose the baby weight. Here he is 3 months old and I am still sitting at the same weight I was 2 weeks postpartum. I have no more excuses and the weather is starting to get cold. I have no pants that fit me. Or anywhere near fitting me. Like I seriously can not get them over my thighs.

So I got back on SparkPeople. I LOVE this site. I used it almost 2 years ago to go from 245 to 175. My favorite part is where you can put your food in and it counts your calories for you. That way I can always see how much more calories I can have for a snack at the end of the day. I sure do love bed time snacks! Sometimes its like I am 10. lol

It also gives you strength training exercises to do 3 x a week. That part I do not love but I know I need to do them to help build up muscle so I burn more fat. But crunches seriously suck. Like bad. Like I want die when I am doing them. But I do like to do cardio. I use to walk around town but now I have an elliptical trainer that I have been using every day. I like it okay I can workout while lil mister is napping. I really have to do the cardio everyday because otherwise I will sit around all day feeling crappy. Which is funny because I have always hated exercise. I was never into any sports growing up. The only thing I would do to exercise was to ride my bike. But I don't have anything to put lil mister in so I'll have to wait until next summer maybe to start riding again.

There is also alot of support from a bunch of people who are just like me who struggle with eating healthy and within my calorie range. I use to love all kinds of fast food. Well I still do. But to fit it into my calories I would get like a hamburger for a meal and that's it. And I know that's not gonna fill me up. I love trying to figure out how to eat a bunch of food but still stay in range. I know. I've got too much time on my hands. lol

There are also a bunch of recipes. And everyone on there seems to know all these great tricks to be able to eat sweets but make them low cal and yummy still.

Anyhoo if you are thinking about losing a little or even alot of weight check it out. Its a pretty awesome site.

a day from....

2008-09-13T12:02:00.002-04:00

Gah! I am mad at myself. Really, really mad. Last night my 2 daughters cheered at the high school game for pee-wee cheer. It was the only game they cheer at. Half way there I realized I forgot the camera and had to turn around to go home to get it. After doing that it started to sprinkle. No biggie I thought. By the time they took to the track it was a full out raining. I get my camera out to take some pictures. NO memory card. Grrrr. I thought that at least my mom will get some pictures. No she didn't bring her camera because it can't get wet. So no pictures at all. Tiggers dad wanted some pictures because he couldn't make it. My dh also wanted some pictures because he had to work.

Yesterday was a long day anyways. Her testing went fine and they said nothing is wrong with her. That was about the only thing that went right for us. We spent over 40 minutes trying to get lunch through a drive thru. She wanted to eat at the new Sonic. But you had to go to a line to wait to get in line for the drive thru. Yes, they were having you line up in a different parking lot to wait to go to their parking lot to get food through a drive through. No way. So we went to ole nasty McD's. Of course they messed up our food and of course we didn't discover this until I had drove to a different parking area so I could feed lil mister. So I had to go back and get the right food. One big mess. I told her we could of been home by then and cooked something up ourselves. I just got the eye roll.

Oh did I mention that lil mister thought it would be a good idea to cry. The entire way up there. In the pouring rain. And that I forgot his bottle that I pumped to take? Oh yes it was a day of crap. So glad its over.

new projects

2008-09-12T07:37:00.004-04:00

Today is going to be a long day. We have to drive an hour away to a hospital to have an ECHO done on my daughters heart. They said to be prepared to stay for 2 hours at least. I am hoping lil mister will 1/2 way behave. lol So I am looking at a 4 hour trip, at least. Ugh. Why couldn't my insurance let me go to the hospital 20 minutes away??!? I don't understand it sometimes.

On another note I am making progress on my scarf that I have been working on off and on for 2 weeks now! It's never taken me this long to finish a crochet project but I have been dealing with a teething 3 mo. old and by the end of the day don't feel like messing to much of anything. I just want to sit down and zone out and not deal with anything or anybody for an hour or so.

I have been redoing furniture and have about exhausted all my options in my house. I still have my dd dresser to do and maybe a coffee table. I have to finish the top of the mini dresser and it will be done. The chair needed a new piece of wood for the seat. DH made that for me last night so now all I have to do is put padding and the fabric on it and it will be done. I really like do the furniture. I am now on the look out for some more to redo! I will post some pictures later of what I have done so far.

Check this out!

2008-09-10T12:20:00.003-04:00

Over at Unique Nurses she did a little feature about my shop and an experience I had when I worked at a nursing home. Wow! Thanks so much :) Go check it out

etsy goodness

2008-09-09T13:34:00.002-04:00

My New and Improved Piano Bench

2008-09-09T09:03:00.006-04:00

Well here is my little project I did yesterday. I had major inspiration from Bombus on Etsy. I really like her chairs and tables covered with comics and maps. And thought I can do something like that.

I went up to the junk store and found some old sheet music. And transformed my piano bench I bought at a flea market a few years ago. I think it turned out well. Don't you? DH was not impressed. Of course he didn't like the piano bench when I bought it.

Doing projects like this are really fun. I now have a coffee table, mini dresser, and 2 chairs that are begging to be re-done. Also my oldest asked if I could put the Sunday comics on her dresser. I guess I'm not going to have a shortage of things to do any time soon. :)

little hats

2008-09-04T09:03:00.006-04:00

Well here is my newest fly-by-the- seat-of-my-pants creation. A baby hat with ear flaps. My lil mister is modeling them. Awww isn't he cute?? I had to say it. I think the hat turned out okay. The top is a little too ...um.... puffy. I'm not real sure how else to say it. But essentially I made the crown too big so I compensated by decreasing in the rest of it. But like I said it's okay. Nothing I would sell. But okay for my child to wear. I tried to make it a little big so he will fit into it this winter but only time will tell if he gets his daddys charlie brown head or not. I started making another hat. Hopefully this one turns out better. *fingers crossed*

So what do you think?

2008-09-03T13:43:00.004-04:00

Well here is my newest creation. It's a water bottle cozy. I didn't have a pattern I just guessed but it turned out pretty good.

I wasn't too keen on making it but my kids asked me to make some when they seen them on Etsy. So here it is. I think they are pretty neat. I haven't seen too many with short handles so I thought that would make it a bit different.

My kids really like theirs. It helps keep their desk dry at school and it helps keep the water a little bit cooler longer. Also they don't have to worry about someone else picking their bottle up by mistake.

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Weekend fun

2008-09-02T12:14:00.007-04:00

Sadly this weekend was the first weekend that we went to the beach. With lil mister being born and him being so unpredictable we just never went. Even though that was where booboo wanted to go for her birthday. I bribed her with roller skates not to go. But dh said "Hey wouldn't it be fun to go to the beach? Lil mister is not such a cranky pants and he could be in the sun a little bit." Ah so he convinced me because I truly love the beach. It is my favorite thing to do. There is nothing else in this world I would rather be doing at any moment than to be at the beach. So we were off Saturday. After the diapers were done, snacks bought at the store, and kids were fed an early lunch.
Unfortunately the beach we always go to is now closed to swimming. Apparently because of the lack of rain this year pollution is way high in the water. So, of course, lil mister needed fed by this point so I sat in the car and dh and the 3 girls braved the sticker plants to go check out the water. They come running back letting me know "Nasty!"
So we headed off down the road to the only other swimming spot on the lake that we know of. It wasn't as crowded as I feared but more crowded than what our beloved beach ever was. But that was okay because we were going to relax and have some fun. Unfortunately the water was pretty nasty here too. The girls found a "clean" spot and went out in the water splashing and having a good time.
It was really pretty there and the sun always feels good. But what I hadn't considered was how hard it was going to be keeping my lil mister out of it. We had brought a sheet to make a little tented area for him but dh grabbed a fitted sheet instead of a flat one so it wouldn't work no matter what we did. Of course lil mister only wants to be held so I sat on the blanket with my back to the sun so he could sit on the blanket with a patch of shade. DH was upset because the water was cold and nasty and he didn't want to swim in it so he convinced the girls to pack up and walk across the parking lot to the pond.
That side was a bit nicer because they have lifeguards and the water was cleaner. But unfortunately the seagulls liked it better too. I really do not like seagulls. I'm no fan of birds up close and these buggers are brave! They will get super close just in case you have some food. Every hour they would have a safety break and everyone had to get out of the water. Well the seagulls decided that included them. They would pick up as a flock and fly to the lake side. Pooping on everything as they did. Including my blanket. Ugh!
So not the best trip to the beach. DH and I both got sun burnt. He didn't apply lotion because "someone didn't offer" and I did apply lotion but apparently not enough. I am still sore 3 days later but healing. None of the kids got burnt so I was happy about that. Hopefully next year things will be better. My favorite swimming spot will be opened again and I'll remember to apply lotion more often.

green or just plain cheap?

2008-08-29T13:38:00.005-04:00

I was reading a blog over at christopherandtia

and it got me to thinking about how green we are. Now I by no means try super hard. I mean I try to do the little things that I can. But by and large what I do is not for the earth but because I am cheap. (Hang head in shame)

I am always harping on and on about saving the earth but quite frankly if it is going to cost me $3 more. I'll just deal with the consequences thank you very much.

I try to do my best but if you look at my "green" list. Its just a big fat lie. It should be how cheap can you get list. So for your amusement here we go.

Use cloth diapers. Well this is just plain cheap. I figured buy 24 or so dipes and use them for over a year? Sign me up! The only thing this cost me is time, water, and a little extra electricity. But over all it is saving me bucket loads of money. The fact that someone won't be discovering his poopy dipes 500 years from now is just a bonus.
Cloth napkins and towels. We don't use any paper at all. This also is just a cheap thing. I was tired of buying paper towels by the bulk because you need at least 3 to do anything with them.
No paper or plastic plates, cups, or silverware. We only use regular re-washable things. Being able to throw stuff away is convenient but cheapness always trumps convenience
Recycling. Well it started at my house because of being cheap. If we did this we wouldn't have to buy as many colored garbage bags for trash pick-up. Aluminum is the exception. We recycled this because they PAID us to do it. How awesome is that. See all that soda drinking is really paying off.
Composting. I do this for the same reason as #4. It cut down on our garbage. We use to put out 3 colored bags a week now its one. Also we now have a reason to go pick up horse poo! Bonus! :)~
Buying clothes from thrift stores. Again I am cheap and see no reason to buy new clothes when they have the exact same thing at a thrift store somewhere.
Buying new furniture. Again I can most likely find it at a thrift store. But we have been very lucky we have had the bulk of our furniture given to us by someone.
Breastfeeding. Yes I did this because I am cheap and didn't want to have to get a second mortgage to feed our son. I figured I make it for free so why not.
I try to walk as much as possible. Gas is expensive. I don't think I need to say more.
I have been *trying* to remember to take my cloth bag to the store as much as possible. I can say this is one truly green thing I do. It doesn't save me money. Just the annoyance of fifty billion plastic bags laying around the house. They get on my nerves because I always forget to take them back to the store to recycle. And I feel soo guilty about throwing them away. So they end up all over the house because maybe next time I'll remember. Yeah right.
I garden. Well this is because I am cheap but also because its darn tasty. I love home-grown cucumbers. They don't have that icky waxy coating on them. I like eating the peel darn it! And as I said before. I'm a salsa snob.
I have even tried to get everyone to use cloth for TP. This was totally because I was/am tired of buying it and I hate (with a passion) the commercials for it. How gross a bear is talking about wiping its butt. Ugh. And there is another on with dogs. So nasty! Every time I see a tp commercial it just grosses me out. My DH thinks I'm bizarre but doesn't argue. So we only use a generic brand or Scott. Because I have yet to see a nasty commercial for it. But if I ever do it'll be generic or cloth all the way.
Female *ahem* Cloth. I plan on using this whenever "it" returns. The cost of pads and tampons is ridiculous! Sometimes I wonder if its just because they know we need it. Short of a hysterectomy or menopause just about every woman needs some kind of product to take care of it. You would think that it would be a bit cheaper seeing how you are going to have to use it for at least 1/2 your life.
Those new light bulbs. We went out and replaced all our light bulbs. And we now save bucket loads of money on electricity. Plus we don't use any lights during the day and only ones in the room you are in at night.
Keep thermostat at 62 to 65. We layer clothes, wear hats inside, and use blankets. We do have electric heaters for upstairs (no heat vents up there) and the kitchen (we block it off because of no insulation). Its chilly sometimes but natural gas is really expensive.

Well that is all I can think of for now. So I like to say I'm green but I think you'll agree that I'm actually just cheap. I do try to do things to lessen my impact on the earth but if its gonna cost more I more than likely am not going to do it. But thats just me.

stop...... salsa time

2008-08-26T14:25:00.005-04:00

Well here are the fruits of my labor today. I've been a busy busy girl canning some salsa. yum yum!! It took me for-ever to get it done. But it was worth it. Its so freaking hot and oh so yummy. When I eat it my mouth waters like crazy and my nose runs! I love it!

This is the only kind of salsa I'll eat now. I am now officially a salsa snob. lol! I usually can enough to last us (mainly me) until spring. Every year I try to can more and more but it never seems like enough. I think my appetite increases right along with the amount I make.

What took me so long was that lil mister just would not co-operate with me today. I put him in the bouncy seat to chill out and watch me work. But he was having none of it. So I kept having to stop and entertain him. I make plans and he usually lets me know he had different ones. Like today didn't I know I was suppose to hold him all day and keep him entertained?!? Silly mommy :)~

And lucky me there wasn't enough to fill the large jar. So I'll just have to eat it now. Oh Darn! :)

I am hoping the rest of the tomatoes get a move on and start to ripen up. Its been cooler and I would like to get everything canned now. But you know how those things go. They'll wait until its like 95 out with 75% humidity and then they will all ripen at once. Oh well, at least I do have a window air conditioner this year. I'll just crank that baby up and get to work.

I've also got some green beans that need blanched and then freezed. I didn't have as many beans and peas as I thought I would. So we are saving all of them for when lil mister starts to eat solids. I really don't want to have to buy "baby" food. I've got one of those handy dandy mini food processors so I'm gonna grind everything up myself. Those little jars are outrageously expensive and I'm amazingly cheap!

Oh and I was super psyched that I made my first real etsy sale!! Thank you kristaalley you rock!

get along little doggy

2008-08-25T14:23:00.007-04:00

Well I made this little journal/notebook out of my homemade paper. I thought this little doggy looked right at home on the cover. I didn't realize it at the time but that white is right by his face and it doesn't photograph too well. But what can ya do? It looks super cute in person so I'm still happy with it.

Of course as soon as booboo saw it she wanted it but unfortunately I had already posted it on Etsy. I will have to make some more paper in the next day or two and surprise her with one. I told her maybe I would be able to make her one for Christmas with a cow (her absolutely favorite animal) on the cover but to my surprise she wanted a dog on hers too. So I will make her one with a dog and her name above it sometime this week.

I have been super busy crocheting circles for my new project. As soon as it is done I will post pics but for now I'm not gonna reveal too much about it. I had a lighting flash of an idea the other night and since then I've been obsessing about it.

On another note I am really upset. I searched for 2 hours yesterday looking for my rosette/flower pattern. Do you think I could find it anywhere? Noooo. I tore this house apart and its nowhere to be found. So I looked online since that's where I think I had gotten it from. No luck. I found all kinds of flowers but none like mine. I loved that pattern. I am now contemplating tearing apart one to see if I can figure it out that way. I will wait and see. Sometimes stuff shows up in the weirdest spots.

I did have a happy call today though. My mom is coming over for a visit and bringing over dinner for us tonight. Yea! She made too much taco salad yesterday so she is bringing the rest over here for us. yum yum :) She also bought the girls new clothes to wear when they go to Disney next month. She needs to make sure everything fits okay before they leave. So I have been trying to clean this house up a bit. It has not been easy the lil mister is not cooperating. He has been waking up every time I put him down. Right now he is sleeping in my arms while I type. I am going to try again and get some cleaning done. Hopefully he sleeps longer than 5 minutes!

what i made this morning

2008-08-24T09:18:00.005-04:00

I made this last night. My intention was to make something a guy or girl could wear. But was informed by dh this morning "Guys don't wear those kinds of hats." But I disagree and am pretty sure I have seen guys wearing hats like this one. Let me know in the comments what you think. I will be posting this hat in the next day or two on etsy.

This is what I got done this morning before dh left to do some painting.

I love buttons. I think they are so fun. I stole these ones from tigger but I ordered her some new ones from etsy yesterday. I think that will make us even. Hopefully. 9 yr olds can be fickle sometimes.

intro post

2008-08-24T06:37:00.001-04:00

Okay so here we go.

I have never had a blog before but I figured I would give it a try. I am selling stuff on etsy now so I keep hearing how great it is to have a blog. Well I'm not sure about this whole blog thing because I am not a "writer" or anything. But I guess we will see if anybody is interested about my life and crafts or not.

Let's see I suppose I should tell everyone about myself.

I am a 28 yr old SAHM currently.

I have an almost 3mo old baby boy, and two girls a 7 and 9yr old. My hubby alos has 2 kids of his own. A 7yr old boy and an 8yr old girl. We stay pretty busy most of the time.

I love love love to craft and create. My favorite is crocheting. I love making hats and I tend to make too many.

I figured I will use this blog to show whats new in my shop and what I have been creating. Maybe also I will talk about my family and all that good stuff.

hotheaded

Dreams

Maturing or self centeredness?

Another year older

Happy Dance!

been a while....

Living each day one at a time

Anticipation.....

Pasta ..... it's whats for dinner

Homemade Twix Bars!!

Meet Frank

Back in the saddle

Stressing

School and other news

Which way to the lake?

Yard Sale

Making some balls. Meatballs that is!

Whose life is this and Where did my old one go?

Another Birthday!

Back to School!

Grilling out

My (Almost) Done Kitchen

Oh the Horror

We Love Science

Scattered

My weekend recap

A Non-Recipe for Meatloaf

Country Bob's Review and a Giveaway!!

Easter Pics then a Mini Ramble

Cake Pops!

How NOT to Make Coffee

Feed Me

Mama Worries

Oops I forgot

Doing a menu and some shopping

Going Batty!

Great Giveaway I want to Win!!

Bean and Ham Soup

Snow White and Butts

38 weeks

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

Tuna help and a contest!

What next? A big, bad wolf?

Karma

And the shoveling

My Snowy Day

Late Halloween Post

Something new

Wanna play hanky with me?

Crockpots

Sick Babies

Our furnace can kiss my big toe!

Changing my goals

mmmmm.....cookies

Get the Spark!

a day from....

new projects

Check this out!

etsy goodness

My *New* and Improved Piano Bench

little hats

So what do you think?

Weekend fun

green or just plain cheap?

stop...... salsa time

get along little doggy

what i made this morning

intro post

My New and Improved Piano Bench