Merry Christmas!

I just have to share some pictures from today.....This was the first present that Hunter was opening this morning, it's the box from my hair dryer, because I've been saving boxes for months. (And I actually used each and every one of them and could have used more, but that's beside the point!) He ripped off the paper, and this is his reaction to the box, which he thought contained a hair dryer! We did get each kid a Nintendo DS with 2 games each, and already I'm thinking that this was a GREAT investment. They took them with us over to my brother and sis-in-law's house and they've played them non-stop.

I didn't take a picture of my fun, fun Clay Cafe plate before giving it away, but you can see most of it here. She really liked it, and now wants to go "Clay-Cafe"ing soon! I need to go back and make something for ME! I absolutely had a blast. And on another note, I think Janae is going to have her birthday party there, but not until April.

Hunter got stocked up on pirate toys, we just had to get a picture with Uncle Herb, who gets asked on a regular basis by little kids if he's a pirate! tee, hee Too bad we didn't have another hat

It's been a wonderful day, we enjoyed family and of course the traditional part, the gifts!! Merry Christmas!

Facebook

Well, I have now officially joined Facebook, and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing on it. I opened it up to look at some of my friend's profiles, and ended up opening up a profile. Kinda like I just ended up starting a blog, due to those same friend's insistence. Hmmm, am I caving in to peer pressure at the ripe old age of 31? If anyone has any suggestions for the facebook deal, let me know, I'm muddling my way through it. Not quite sure if I'm supposed to post, or just let people comment....

Check, check, check

After a fun filled day of running all over town, it feels like, I am now down to only needing a present for Hubs. I just wasn't up to dragging the kids around anymore tonight! Target and Wal-Mart both on a school night, during the holiday season, when we'd all had a long day was about it for me! I'm sooo ready to be finished. I'll be sure and let you all know when I am, so you can all be extremely jealous....

It's Been a Week!

Well, once again, it has been a whole week since I sat down and blogged! This time of year passes so quickly, and we have been busy, busy this week. John took his finals, made an A and a B, he was quite happy with that, both kids had programs at school, Christmas lunch, and just the day to day things to help with. On Thursday, I had 2 houses to clean, lunch with Janae, Hunter had a doctor appointment at 3, and then back up to the school for Janae's program. On top of all that, I'm the room mother for Janae, so now I'm in the midst of trying to plan her party on Friday. I'm ready for the holiday business to be over, I'm still going to try to work during the Christmas break, and will have to take them with me some, and leave them at home some, trying to keep them quiet while Dad sleeps. Friday night I went to Clay Cafe with the girl-friends, it was so much fun! I had never been there before, but I had so much fun, and was ready to go back the next day and do something else. We are just almost finished with Christmas shopping, that is another thorn in my side. How come the money runs out before the gifts are all bought? We've done really well, though, I only need a couple of small things for Hunter, John, and my brother. I think that's it, and Christmas is still 10 days away. Oh, and I need to figure out something for teachers. That's hard, I think a gift card is on the way! I just have to mention that most of my "buddies" are running a bit behind on blogging as well. (Except for Kristen, she's staying on top of things!) Start blogging again friends, especially you, Cimmaron saga, it's been awhile.....

Fun Morning

It's been a great morning! I love Monday's, I usually don't work on Monday, so it's my day off, and today I went and had breakfast with some friends. We were there about 2 hours, then forced ourselves to leave. The waitress was really sweet, but she was probably wishing that we'd get out of there. (But we tipped her really well!) Then I went to see some of the ladies that I used to work with, that's always fun to go see them, and realize what I don't miss anymore! Hunter is going to play basketball with one of their sons, so I had to go get his form filled out. Then onto Target after that, Janae needed some new pants, she only has 3 pair, and one has a hole in the knee. And they were on sale! She is so easy, I don't have to go buy her expensive jeans, she is happy with the Target brand, and I paid $7.99 a pair. I had intended to buy 2, but since they were on sale, I got 3. That should be taken care of for awhile. Then.....I went out to the college bookstore to get John's books for next semester. Whew! They were NOT on sale! I spent $213. For 2 books! My goodness! Neither one of this semester's books were allowed to be bought back by the bookstore, and the 2 he needed for next semester had to be bought new since he goes to classes on-line. He has to have the access codes, which come with new books. How do you like the stockings? We got new stockings this year, (Hobby Lobby) and Hunt and Janae picked out the same one, so I called a friend of mine who does embrodiery (know that's spelled wrong, but don't really care right now!) and she put their names on them. Aren't they just adorable! She does a marvelous job!

The stockings are just pretty darn cute too, I think. The bells jingle when the stocking is moved. I love getting stuff personalized, it just makes it so much cuter! Bye for now, it's time to start thinking about picking up kids from school, my day went by much too fast, back to the salt mines tomorrow!

I Guess I'm It!

Well, I guess I've put this off long enough....Staci has actually already done it, so here I go:

7 Random Things:
1. Never had a cavity, a fact I'm quite proud of
2. My birthday is 9/11
3. I drive fast!!
4. Love to bake chocolate chip cookies, have done it since I was a kid, and if I
do say so myself, I'm very good at it! (not bragging!)
5. Was home-schooled from 1st grade on, wouldn't do it again
6. Have been in 8 different countries, we were missionaries
7. Had picture taken for a Korean magazine while we were out shopping,
somebody that we knew saw it, and gave us the magazine. The whole thing
is in Korean.


8 TV Shows:

I really don't watch 8 different things,
1. George Lopez
2. Hannah Montana
3. Cory in the House
4. Zach and Cody
5. House Hunters
6. That's is, most of those are shows I watch by default, because they are on alot at my house!

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Abuelos
2. Chili's
3. Subway
4. Chick-Fil-A
5. Taco Villa
6. Papa John's Pizza
7. Jason's Deli
8. Burger King
You can tell we don't go to restaurants too often....it's so expensive to take 5 people!

8 Fun things that happened this week

1. The financial blessing we got, see previous post!
2. School was back in session after T-giving break
3. Had 2 1/2 hours all to myself yesterday afternoon while John took the kids
shopping
4. Getting ready for Christmas
5. John bought me a portable heater while he was out yesterday.....yippee!
6. I'm stuck....can't think of anything else, I'm a bore


8 things to look forward to:

1. step-children turning 18 and leaving our house and day to day responsibility
2. Getting out of debt
3. Christmas day
4. John finishing school eventually
5. Bk-fast in am
6. Clay Cafe on Friday
7. echo #1
8. echo #1 a thousand times over

8 things on wish list:

See previous list!
1. Midland step-child will find something better to do then come here the weekend after Christmas
2. "home" step-child would join her sister
3. No more cleaning houses for me, that would equal the getting out of debt thing!
4. Going to pharmacy school, getting a doctorate--that's my dream right now
5. Having my children always be their agreeable self and not turn into moody teenagers
6. Peace and harmony with hubs, no more petty bickering, which we're good at
7. My buddy Brooke will stay here with us!
8. A Dyson

Thanks you Lord!

I'm going to once again, blog a post about how much we're blessed! I've been a bit worried that last few days about a bank draft we have coming up next week for my car payment. John and I neither one worked as much last week, due to Thanksgiving, and it's kind of hitting us now. The draft comes out on Wednesday, and he gets paid on Friday. Small problem. It's about $475, so I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to move money, when to deposit, blah, blah, blah. So, anyway, this morning, I go to my first house to clean, and see a note from the lady. She said she wants all of her weekly cleanings in December, gave me a Christmas bonus, and paid for the entire month!!! Guess how much?? $400.00. Then I cleaned another house that was $75, and for all of you math people, that adds up to $475. Now why in the world did I worry and fret over that??? God has promised to take care of us, He proves it time and time again, yet I still have a lack of faith and trust. In church on Sunday, we had a guest speaker, and he had an activity for us to do. On a piece of paper, we wrote down all the things that we were thankful for. Then on the other side, we wrote down what our worries were. (are). Well, finances were on my worry side, then he went on to ask how many of our thankful items were once on the worry side. Just goes to show that God will take care of it. All of them have been on the worry side at one time or another. I want to have the faith not to worry and wring my hands over things like this, God is showing me over and over that He's taking care of it, we've been blessed beyond belief, I need to just remember that and keep praying that I will become a woman of great faith!

Christmas List

I just have to share this with my girl-friends, you'll all understand....We got a Christmas list from step-daughter in Midland, among all the gift cards she wants us to buy her, she also included the fact that she wants a Burberry scarf. John didn't even know what it was, so I told him there was no chance we were buying that, he just said okay, and we went on with our lives. Fast forward to yesterday, I was looking at the paper and saw one ON SALE for only, (are you ready??) $295.00! It's a scarf, for crying out loud! Now, don't all of you out there in blog land think that we should buy that for a 16 year old who really wants nothing to do with us? (Now that Christmas is close, that seems to be changing. Hmmmm!!!!) It was amusing, she listed about 4 different places she wanted gift cards from, along with a few other pricey things, then went on to tell us what NOT to buy her. Ungrateful kid! I'm kind of looking forward to Christmas being over, just to see if she "dumps" John again until her birthday gets close. She started this right after she got her birthday presents, and now with Christmas on the way, she's decided that she wants something to do with dad after all. Seems mighty fishy to me, the skeptical stepmom. Only time will tell....

What?!?!

A couple of nights ago, we were home, minding our own business, when the doorbell rang. I answered it, and there were a couple of jr high girls standing there with city newspapers, (obviously selling them). I said "hi, what can I do for you?", then they asked me if my parents were home. Woo-hoo!!! I bit back every bit of sarcasm that was just ACHING to come out, but managed with: "I am the parent." They could hardly manage to get anything out after that, and I was a bit taken aback as well, but we managed to end the conversation by my saying, "no thanks, we already get the paper." In one way it drives me nuts that at 31 years old, some people think that my children are my siblings, or I am my husband's child, BUT, on the other hand, who can be upset that at the age of 31, I'm mistaken for a teenager? That just means when I'm 50, people will think I'm 30. Maybe I'll avoid the plastic surgeon and the Botox. (Anybody who knows my aversion to needles, knows neither one of those things will ever get close to me!!!) So, I do want to end by saying, that I AM quite a bit past my teenage years, and I myself, don't think I even remotely look like one!! I most certainly hope I don't act like one, heaven help us!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Yesterday at Thanksgiving my blog was mentioned...my brother commented on how he'd seen that I'd posted about him a couple of times, to which I promptly gave him "what for" that he's not commenting. My sis-in-law as well. They are "blurkers"!! Hey guys, you'd better start posting!! :) Anyway, I took pictures of the family to show them all off, it's always fun to see pictures of the family member of someone, so here I go....I expect to see some from some of you guys now..... my mom and dad,

my dad's sister: my Aunt JoAnn, and her hubby, Uncle Herb, he's a retired Marine, he was in Vietnam,

My cousin, the Marine Captain, Brandon, with my Grandmother, she's the sweetest thing in the world,

and last, but not least, my brother, the policeman, and sis-in-law, Megan, she's a physical therapist. We always tease her that she's the mean one, because she makes people get up out of bed and start walking, causing them great pain and agony. tee, hee My kids LOVE their Uncle J and Aunt Megan, because as Hunt and Janae say, "Aunt Megan spoils us!" And she does.

There are only 3 grandkids on my dad's side of the family, and let me tell you, being the only girl has had it's perks for years, and years!! We've always been close, and grew up within 20 miles of each other. Brandon is in Albuquerque now, we need to get him closer, but as long as he's in the Marines I don't see that happening! We had a great Thanksgiving, I always love it when all of us can be there, and we were this year. We have a small family, but there's more love to go around that way! Now Christmas is only 4 weeks away.....YIKES!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I was checking out the blogs, most of which haven't been updated in several days, and it really dawned on me how we are entering into the thick of the holidays. Everyone is getting busy! Nothing new going on with me, for which I am extremely grateful! Our phones went out again this week, so I took them back and got new ones. I just happened to look at the caller ID and saw 5 missed calls, and the phone hadn't even rung once. Kind of irritating....but when I was checking out, saw Nintendo DS games on sale for 1/2 off, and guess what we bought Janae and Hunter for their big Christmas gift? Nintendo DS. (Which DO NOT come with a game, of course). Most of them run $25-$30 each, so I bought 4 for $15 each. Can't beat that. They aren't the latest and greatest, but they won't care. They are all about having more presents than expensive presents. Quanity vs. quality. Well, the quality is the Nintendo DS itself, everything else is just peanuts! And, I'm rambling and making absolutely no sense, so good-bye, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Excitement!!

Well, once again, we have a story to share from our house! Last night, John was working, usually he calls around 10 just to check in and then I go to bed. I turned off my cell around 9 or so, and then a little after 10 I went on to bed and hadn't heard from him. No worries, figured he was busy and just didn't call. Off to sleep I went. Well, the next thing I know, the doorbell is ringing, the dog is going nuts barking, (and that's not quiet coming from a giant dog!), and as I walk into the living room, being woken out of a dead sleep, there is a flashlight shining into the house through the skinny front window by the door. I somehow knew it was the police, I don't know how I knew that, but I shoved Duchess into the playroom, and by then could tell it was my brother, who is a police officer here in town. So I opened the door, wondering what in the world was wrong, that I'm getting a "police wake-up", he wasn't pounding on the door yet, but I have a feeling that would have been next!! He was also looking extremely concerned. Come to find out, it was only about 10:45, but I'd been asleep long enough that I was dead to the world, and feeling kind of out of it. Of course I asked what in the world was going on, and he just kept asking if I was okay. He probably thought I was on something, since I was in such a daze. Turns out something had happened to the home phone, and when hubs tried to call, it rang and rang on his end, never going to the machine, but it didn't ring at all on my end. He'd been trying my phone, and the home phone alternately about 10 times, and decided something terrible must have happened. So, he called my brother, who in turn got worried on his end. Obviously, the worst part of the whole thing is that it took me quite awhile to go back to sleep after all that!! I love having a police officer in the family, he's so handy! Although I wouldn't recommend having the police wake you up out of a deep sleep on a regular basis. This morning I unplugged the phones, and plugged them back in, then they worked again. It might have been a power surge or something, I don't know, but all is well now!

Funny Hubby.....

Last night around 1:00 am, Janae woke me up and said she was sick in her bed. So, as all of you moms know, I was instantly awake and running to her room. She really wasn't sick, I think that she's been so congested that maybe she choked and got a bit sick. She didn't feel bad, and was fine this morning, but I still had to change her sheets before she went back to bed. So, my whole point in this is that after I had been up, changed sheets, put them in the washer, went to the potty, and then went back to bed, hubs was snoring up a storm. Never knew I was up. Still doesn't as a matter of fact. As I was settling back down to go back to sleep, I had a reminder thought of years ago, when Hunter was a baby, he got up TONS during the night. Even into toddler stage. He's actually only been sleeping all night on a consistent basis since school started. But, during the first couple years of his life, after I had been up during the night with him, we'd get up in the morning, and hubs would cheerfully say, "The baby slept all night, wasn't that great?" I'd have to inform him, that NO, the baby did not sleep all night, neither did I, but apparently you did. Anyway, that's funny now, and me being up last night while he slept just reminded me of that. And at 1:30 in the morning, I knew I had something to blog about today!!

Lazy Cookie Day!

Today, John and Emily have gone to San Angelo to visit his grandparents, so Hunter, Janae, and I have been left home alone. Is anyone feeling desperately sorry for me, or all are you all insanely jealous??? We have had a marvelous day, I didn't even get out of bed until around 10, I was finishing a good book, then took a bath, and finally got dressed by 11:30. After that we went and did a bit of shopping and had lunch. (Target's One Spot is going to make me go broke! Probably spent $15-$20 there.) Back home, and Janae wanted to make cut-out cookies. It's a messy job, but they had fun with it.

I absolutely love lazy days like this. It's so nice after a crazy, busy week. Last night our church had a ladies night with our former music minister coming to talk about decorating for the holidays on a budget. I really, really enjoyed it, and I'm inspired now. I CAN do it! They had a drawing for a door prize, and I won it!! I never win anything, but now I can go to Hobby Lobby with $40 to spend. WOW! I will be there on Monday bright and early. I refrained from going today, really didn't want to take the kiddos. I want to go, and take all the time in the world to look around, and gear myself up to start decorating. If I would have known how good the evening was going to be, I would have called all of you and harrassed you to come with me. I'm not very creative, but I realized you don't have to be.....you can copy other people's ideas. So, here we go. I'm not going to start actually doing anything until after Thanksgiving, I think Thanksgiving gets pushed aside, and I want to remember that first. There's a very important message behind the holiday, and we as a nation need to remember it, so Christmas needs to wait until after that for our family! Have a wonderful weekend friends....they're about to get busy, busy!

Hunter Update...

I can't believe I didn't think to talk about this yesterday, so I'm going to do it today! On Monday, Hunter had his first doctor appointment since his ear surgery. We had 2 different hearing tests, and he passed them both with flying colors. The "student audiologist" loves Hunter. This is the 2nd time she's tested him, and she thinks he is so incredibly cute. She said she'd love to take him to school and let everybody test him, and play with him. That's my boy! Anyway, after almost 2 hours of waiting, we finally see the doctor, one tube is clogged, but that's an easy fix, peroxide in the ear once a day, until he "goes bananas" as the doc said, then we're good to go. So, back in a month to see doc. I go up front to pay and schedule the next appointment, get it scheduled and the lady says, "bye, have a nice day", when I remind her I need to pay. Now our insurance doesn't take effect until Dec 1, so I'm still paying full price for everything. No $20 co-pay for us, no sir! :) She responds by saying "The doctor said 'no charge today'"!! Can I even begin to describe what a blessing that was? I was expecting about $200 for that visit! His surgery was roughly 7 grand, so to have the doctor do that was just wonderful. He didn't say anthing to me, so I had no clue. Guess who'll be getting cookies in a month??!! I have to put a plug in for God here, because we've really been diligent in our tithing, and when you least expect it, God sends out the blessings! Monday was proof of that!! Thank you Lord!

I'm back from my blog vacation...

Well, what can I say? I took a 10 day break from blogging. Some of my "public" has been trying to convince me to get back in the swing of things, and start back up. You know, I do good while I'm posting every couple of days, but once you take a few days off, it's hard to get back into it. Guess that should tell me something huh? Don't wait long?
Alot has happened since I last blogged, alot I could have blogged about, but I've just been darn lazy. We had the fall festival at church, went to the circus as a fundraising reward for the kids, and had Hunter's 6th birthday. I'll start with the birthday.... My boy is now 6 years old. This has been as hard for me as the start of kindergarten. I truly don't have a baby at all, (actually haven't for about 4 years, but I've been in denial). Six years old definately is considered a kid, not a baby. He's still my sweet boy, but it's just hitting home that the baby part is over, never to return. Unless God throws in a surprise.

Look at the cute birthday hat he got to wear at school that day. It had candles sticking out of the top of it. I shudder to think of all the children that have worn that hat, so I just pushed that thought to the back of my mind, and hurridly snapped the picture.

For our fundraiser this year, we had to sell 6 items, per child, so they could get a circus ticket as their prize. Mom and Dad bought 3 items per child, so I'm so very thankful that we spent, oh, probably a hundred bucks on worthless fundraising items, all so I could save $6 a ticket, and still buy one for me!! Way to help out the economy! The circus was okay, I didn't think to bring any cash, and the kids weren't happy that I wasn't buying them drinks, popcorn, and snow-cones, all which cost $4 each. Yes, $4 for a drink the size of a small Sonic cup. I don't think so. They neither one had been to a circus, so I guess they enjoyed it, it certainly wasn't great, but at least now they've had the experience of it. I certainly won't push a fundraiser next year if that's the prize, it'd be tons cheaper to buy 3 tickets. I'm all for helping out the school, but man, they have much more fun when the school brings in a bouncer and feeds them pizza, (and we have to pay for that as well)!

Okay, I'll quit griping and making myself out to be a cheapskate. Which I am, I just try not to name it that!

Oh, and on a bright note, a couple of weeks ago in the mail, I got a card for 6 free weeks of People. Yes, the magazine. So I sent in the card, and promptly got a bill. It was only $38 for (now I can't remember for sure), several, several weeks, maybe 6 months, so I did it. I splurged! I wouldn't have been able to stomach writing a check for a full year, it is a magazine, for heaven's sake, but I figure I'm working my tail off, I'm gonna splurge a bit, on me, not a kid!! So now I'll be up to date with all you People junkies.

Well, good night for now, think I did fairly well on my first day back!!

My husband is going to get beat up tonight.......

Tonight is the big night for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The big game against University of Texas here in Lubbock. Both teams are undefeated as of today, but that of course will change tonight at the end of this game. John is adamently refusing to wear anything to support the Red Raiders, he likes Texas. So, he is going to the game with his friend who is a Tech graduate and will be decked out in red and black while my hubby goes in orange. Alas, I tried to tell him to support the home team......but look how far I got with that reasoning. Me, myself would refuse to go with him...but I'm not going anyway. Ah, well, I will post pictures of all the cuts and bruises that he gets when the tech fans get ahold of him!! And I have to say, "go, Red Raiders"!! I'm a Lubbock fan myself, if you can call "somewhat rooting" for a football team a fan, when I really couldn't care less about football, there's just something that makes you root for the home team. I do hope that Tech wins, and wins big tonight! I have already informed him NOT to call me if somebody throws a beer bottle at his head, I'm of the opinion that he's asking for trouble in that "get-up". So, he's on his own to get the stitches put in his head!!

Another Project Complete!

I got the names on the walls! They look so cute, if I do say so myself! I had wanted to get them for a long time, but never actually looked for any. It only cost about $15 bucks to do both names, all the letters were half off. I think Hunter's letters aren't completely straight. That's bothering me already! Think I'm gonna have to go back and raise the first couple of letters. More nail holes, but it'll drive me nuts like that. I'll probably leave it for a couple of days, and see if it's still as noticable, I'm sure it's only to me, but if it's still bothering me, I'll raise them.

Notice the nice clean rooms and floors? I spent all day Monday, at least most of it cleaning out the rooms. I can't do it very well with them at home, but when they are gone, the trash can comes out and I fill it up! They'll never know 99% of the stuff is gone. Janae is a packrat and wants to keep everything, that's so opposite of me! Now I'm big time on their case to pick everything up after they are finished with it! They do a fair job of picking up every night, but at some point, mom has to come in and clean it all out!

Pictures!

We have been busy trying to buy things a little at a time to make our house look nicer. Back in the spring, I painted, but the walls have been looking bare since then. We have a huge dining room wall that was just bare. So we went to Kirkland's over the weekend and found a mirror that we liked for it. I'd like to get a couple of the 18" metal crosses from Hobby Lobby and add them to the sides, then I think that this wall will be finished. Next, on to the entry way....this picture is also from Kirkland's, I love that store!

It was half off, so we grabbed it. I'd like to get a small table to put under it, try to dress up the entry. I realize I'll have to move the dog to get it completely dressed up, but until then I guess she's okay. After the table, I've GOT to get some kind of window treatments for the living room. We have 6 windows in the living room and all they have are blinds. We need something with some material. But, whew, that's usually expensive. Although....maybe I could talk Quilty Chick into giving me a hand and actually making something. I'm thinking this as I type. Whatcha think, Quilty Chick? I know you're "crazy busy", and probably don't want to take on any project from me, but a bit of advice at least? Maybe?

I also bought some letters for the kid's names that I'm going to put in their rooms. I've always loved those, and found them for half off at Hobby Lobby. I did good with the sales this weekend! Hooray! I'll show pictures of those after I get them up. The mirror and the picture took up all our time to hang on Saturday night, we didn't get to the letters. Maybe tonight I'll do the letters, and show the pictures tomorrow. Bye for now, I'm off to change sheets, and start on the mounds of laundry that never ends......

Pumpkins!

It's pumpkin time! I finally broke down and went and bought pumpkins. The kids love to draw the faces on them, and just color all over them. So on Wednesday I finally had some cash, and we got a couple of pumpkins. Well, after they marked all over them, Dad said they could carve a face into it. So last night, they all went to work. Mom stayed out of the way and kept the camera handy, much to Dad's chagrin. He didn't much appreciate the pictures, but what's a story on the blog without pictures???



Here is Dad giving some sort of meaningless instructions before beginning......




...Janae being throughly disgusted by the inside of the pumpkins. I know that she's seen the inside before, but I guess she didn't remember. Dad made her pull out one handful of the insides, then he did the rest. Hunter did as well, and he didn't like it either, but I didn't get a picture of that!

Now here is Dad finishing up the "gutting" process

And.....the finished project! They turned out pretty well, not a professional job, but he did good!

How do you like all the marker all over the faces? It was a decent picture before it all got cut up......

My Hunter brought home a "book" on Tuesday to read for homework. He read the whole thing all by himself! I'm so impressed with my 5 year old kindergartener!!

It was amazing to listen to him read. Now granted, it probably only has about 6 different words, but still!! He's learning letter sounds and how to put them together! Janae wasn't blessed like that in kindergarten, she had kind of a sorry teacher who didn't enjoy it, and I don't think the teacher put much effort into the kids, but Hunter's teacher is awesome. I think he will be reading independently by the end of the year. This is kind of hitting home that I no longer have a baby......he's growing up on me!!

Visiting the vet

Okay, so today was the day to go visit the vet for a nail trim for "little dog" and shots and an exam for "big dog". Little dog weighed 84 pounds, and big dog, 120. I went by myself and took both of them. Are you impressed yet??!! Well, little dog loves to go, she loves for anyone to give her attention, and she will go with anyone, so no problems there. I took her in, put her in a room, and went to the car to fight with big dog. She is a nervous wreck. I always feel so sorry for her! The last time we took her for an exam it took Hubs, me, and 2 vet people to get her in the room. Her 4 legs are going all different directions, and she's fighting it all the way. HOWEVER, little dog was with us today, and I didn't have much of a problem with her. Big dog just followed her into the room. But, bless her little doggy heart, she tee-tee'd everywhere when the vet came in and did the exam. It's so funny, this absolutely huge dog is really a big, fat, scardy cat! But, now it's done for another 6 months. You know, I had over 200 pounds of dog with me. Bet nobody would mess with little blonde girl today! Thank goodness I could bring them in and out one at at time or it never would have worked! Notice there are no pictures on this posting. I did think about it, but there's just no way!!! I'm not quite that crazy! Close, but not quite.

Wish me luck, I'm off to the school cafeteria to take lunch to the kiddies. Also quite a chore....

The joys of the mop.....

My kitchen floor goes on and on and on......which I do like, it avoids spills on the carpet under the dining table, but it is an awful lot of mopping, which I don't like. That's probably actually my least favorite household chore, mainly because there is so much of it! I'd rather clean toilets than drag out the mop and bucket. It's kind of a mixed feeling, because I am glad that I don't have to worry about drinks spilling on the floor, but you know every single time that I mop all that tile, it never fails, that within 48 hours something amazingly sticky gets spilled on it. So, I mopped on Friday, had scrapbooking here Friday night, and I will plead the 5th on how long it had actually been since the mop and the floor connected before then, some things are better left unsaid. (Plus I don't actually know!) So, fast-forward to tonight, and the 14 year old drops the pickle jar and of course it shatters all over the kitchen floor. (big, big sigh). Out comes the mop and the bucket again. I just did the whole floor again. Now, we'd better not play this game spill something on the floor again, for at least a week!!!

"Cabinetry Work"

Our cabinets in the kitchen, (and the whole house), are quite boring. Every house that this builder has built has the exact same cabinets, the only choice you have is in picking the color. So....we are trying to do small things to set our house apart from every other one in our area. One of the easy things we could do was to put handles and knobs on the kitchen cabinets and drawers. I think it turned out rather lovely!
We only made one "boo-boo" and have an extra set of holes in one of the drawers. We very foolishly assumed that all the drawers were the same size, and just started drilling holes. Not smart! So we're going to have to patch and stain over 2 extra holes. Ah well, we wouldn't have a good project in our house if we couldn't mess it up at least a little bit.


Now I'm thinking that the bathrooms and the laundry room need to be next. We are thinking of putting a wider and bigger cabinet in the laundry room, and then moving the laundry room cabinets to the master bath, which has only one individual cabinet above the toilet. I'm not entirely sure we want to take on hanging cabinets. I may have to call our trusty "crown-molding" installer to take on that project! My sweet friend Stacee's hubby did a great job with that, and I'm sure he could probably whip those cabinets into shape in no time. But, that will be another day, and another time!

Had girl's night here last night, as always that was quite entertaining! I just love my girlfriends, they are good for the soul! Good luck to my sweet friend Kristen, who is about to have a sweet little baby girl! We all can't wait!

Diorama

Janae had to make a horse diorama for a project at school. She has worked really hard on it, did the majority of it herself, I helped with some of the glue and the ideas, and she has done the rest. Great job, isn't it?
It's due on Wednesday, but I'm happy to say that today is Saturday, and all she has left to do is write out the note cards for the back of the box. Way to get motivated and do homework, and mom didn't have to nag her a bit!

Surgery Day

Okay, today was the big day! Hunter slept in this morning until 8:30, which was perfect, because we had to leave about 8:50. We gave him a little present for his big day, just to help keep him distracted......a dinosaur! He loved it and was so surprised! He asked, "why didn't you tell me I was getting a present?" Cute, cute!

On to the surgery center, still no visible nervousness going on, he got a gown with tigers on it and actually kind of liked it! They gave him a dose of Versed right about this time, just to keep him calm, and he got really loopy. It was really quite entertaining, he was trying hard to stay awake, and was acting like he was so incredibly silly. We laughed and laughed, which was also good for me!
Off in the little red wagon! They gave him the choice whether to ride in the wagon, or have the nurse carry him, and he picked the wagon. Don't think he could have even walked back there, he was so loopy he was falling all over himself at this point, but he went with her without a backward look. Didn't bother him at all.

After it was all over, the anestheologist came and told us that he so worked hard to blow in the balloon (the one that was going to put him to sleep), he was trying pop it. He was a little champ, the recovery room nurse said he was the best kid she'd had in a long time. He was a big boy, and I'm proud of him. My biggest prayer was that he'd be courageous and brave, and boy, was he ever!!

I got it done, finally!!! Chop, chop

This is the "long-haired" me. Admittedly, I did nothing to fix it that morning. This was the morning of my first scheduled haircut, which got cancelled. I had Janae take one of the pictures, and Hunter the other, that's why they are looking upward!




Wah-lah!! I called Amy this morning, thought she might, maybe have an opening in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day, for a last minute caller like me, and she did! I finally got it hacked off. We didn't measure, but I'm thinking between 6-7 inches was taken off. It looked like a whole 'nother head of hair there on her floor!

So, I'm back to the "short-haired" me. I'm like Brooke, I let it grow, usually in the summers when it's hot on my neck and end up hacking it off in the winter when it's cold. I've been that way since I was a kid. Usually it doesn't get as long as it did this time, just thought I'd see how long I could grow it, and what it would look like. Looked kind of ratty!! It's alot of work, takes lots longer to dry, and it felt like it was all falling out! So no more ponytails, that should help with the "falling out" problem, and not as much time with the hair dryer. Woo-hoo!

I love getting a new look and a new haircut. If I could afford it, I'd be there every week!

Hair

You know, by the time I finally get that long-awaited haircut, she's going to be cutting off another 2 inches. I don't even have another appointment made yet! Maybe next week.....I'll keep you posted.......

Here I Am Again!

My life has been relatively boring in the last week, but quite busy just the same. Getting ready for surgery on Friday, I feel like I've been driving to "the medical district" 20 times a day. It's not that bad of course, but when I went to the doctor's office on Monday to pick up the paperwork, they couldn't find it. So.....on my way home, they called and told me they did find it. So that was probably 1 1/2 hours of my day just driving back and forth over there. And I've been writing the checks, whew, have I ever! This is NOT going to be cheap! Not that it matters, because we'll do whatever we need to for our boy. Anyway, after I'd gone over there twice on Monday morning, that afternoon, the anesthesia office called and said they needed to be paid before Friday. So, another trip today. It is almost a 30 minute drive from our house, simply because you have to go straight through town to get there.

I had a bit of a meltdown in church on Sunday, struggling a bit with all of this, but strangely not the surgery itself, I really have no worries about that, but more about Hunter's reaction to it. He had not been told at that time, he knew he was going to get tubes, just not when. Well, John told him on Monday morning, and he was fine with it. I asked if he wanted me to take the camera, and take a picture of him with his doctor, (whom he loves), and he is all for it. I think he's going to be fine, may have a little trouble leaving when it's time to go into the O.R., but the prayers are working, because my main concern was that he was going to be really troubled and upset over it all, and he's taking it very calmly. Thank you Lord!

Other than this, everything is smooth sailing in our house lately! I have to put a plug in for the new movie "Fireproof"....GO SEE IT! It was great, I took the kids last weekend, John was out of town, and he and I are going to go see it on Monday, if all goes as planned. It is well worth those stinkin' expensive theater tickets, although I'm paying matinee prices both times! Even those are getting on up there! I absolutely love all those movies, "Facing the Giants" is one of my favorite movies ever, and it still makes me cry everytime I watch it. I wish I had that kind of faith, working on it, and will get there!

I will report back on Friday with surgery details and a picture of my brave kid! Soon you'll be able to read about something else, sure everyone is getting sick of all this talk about ears!!! I am, I'm ready for it to be done and over with.

Just for kicks, I'm going to let you crazy scrapbook girls in on an absolutely crazy dream that I've had a couple of times in the last week......I'm dreaming that I'm pregnant! Hmmm....should I take a test? I think not! Although, we got the insurance paperwork, and it covers maternity at 80% with no waiting period. No way Jose!! However, should it accidentally happen, I know I'll be covered. Once Kristen has that sweet, beautiful baby I know there's going to be a part of me that's ready to do it again. Bet I'll get some comments for that! tee, hee

No haircut today!!

Well.....my child had to stay home from school today, guess what!? His ears are hurting and he's on antibiotics again. The school nurse said his ear is really red, so doc called in a RX for him. So, still no haircut pictures. I'm going to have to make a 3rd appointment......maybe I can get it done someday!!!

My poor kid!

My Hunter has had ear infections since he was only a few months old. We have fought them and fought them for years. We started seeing an ENT when he was about 18months old, the pediatrician had already seen him so many times, she sent us on! We kept trying different things, then finally when he was 2 1/2 we put tubes in. Viola!! No infections the entire time they were in, probably right at a year. We went from roughly every 3-4 weeks to a full year with nothing! Yippee!! Since they fell out, we've still battled the infections every few months, nothing as bad as they were when he was about 2. He woke up with ear pain during the night about 3 weeks ago, so off we go to the doc first thing on a Sunday morning. We've learned that when he complains about it, that you don't waste anytime, you head straight to the doctor. He had a severe infection that looked like it might possibly rupture his eardrum, so we got 10days of a big gun antibiotic, (the little ones don't work anymore!) and off we went. Well, no rupture through the course of the meds. BUT, about 4 days after coming off of them, once again he woke up in the night with the same ear hurting. So....again, off we go to the doc! Now the ear has ruptured. After a RX for a $100 dollar ear drop, we had an appointment with the ENT today. He is recommending that we put in the tubes again, and remove the adnoids as well this time. Seems that the SAME EAR is full of fluid yet again. You wouldn't believe how much drained out last week when it ruptured, he was soaking cotton balls. How in the world is it full again???? We don't have a date set yet, will probably be within the month. If it gets infected again, since the fluid is already there, it could be another bad infection. He also had a hearing test, and is hearing isn't very good right now, probably due to all the fluid, doc said that it's like listening with your hands over your ears. I feel so bad for him, he doesn't want tubes, it's scary for an almost 6 year old. The worst part about when he was 2 and got them, was that morning, when he woke up and couldn't understand why he couldn't have his cup, that was the first thing he got every morning then. So, please keep him in your prayers, for him to have God's spirit and be courageous and brave! And also for protection over him during a surgery. We are in the process of hubs changing jobs and getting insurance finally, so please also pray that the insurance part works out as well, otherwise we will be paying for this out of our pocket, which really is the least of my concerns right now. I'm pretty worried about his hearing, I can really tell that he's not where he should be. It's not the same as "selective" hearing at all! He truly can't hear often, and is constantly saying "Excuse me?" in his sweet little voice.

Well, on a brighter note, I'm getting a haircut on Wednesday, time to get it hacked off! Was scheduled for this past Friday, and was all ready to blog about it, but my hair lady called and cancelled. Her kids were sick at home, and she had to cancel on me. Can you believe that???? ha,ha What nerve! When I'm ready, I'm ready, it's killing me to wait 5 more days.

When it rains in Blogland, it pours (with news!)

Look what we did after school today!!!

We went and looked at it on Saturday afternoon, and had to wait for them to get the financing in order, we're going to use it as a 3rd car, and some of the finance companies didn't approve of us not trading anything it. So it took all evening Saturday, and all day today to get it approved. It's a '03 Toyota Sequoia, LOADED, with only 63k miles! And the absolutely coolest thing is, (I'm about to show my "hick-ness" with this), it has a programmable garage door opener!! I was wondering how we were going to get another garage door opener, thought I'd have to call Overhead Door and probably fork over 50 bucks, asked my brother about it, and he informed me of this absolutely awesome feature!! I am soooo impressed!! All we have to do now is push a button, and the garage door will rise and fall (or close, hopefully!)

Sorry!

I forgot to preview before posting.....I meant that I took a week OFF, not of Brooke! Of course, it is fitting, only I didn't see Brooke all week long!!! So sorry!

I took a week off......

Okay, so I took a week of Brooke, but I'm back now. Not like some people who will remain nameless (Staci) who take off whole months at a time! he,he


Okay, have to tell about my great Wal-Mart deal. I went on Friday night, needed to get a few things and was looking at sheets. What better place than Wal-Mart to buy sheets?? ;) Well, my perfect children were wandering (running) up and down the aisle, and found a comforter that Hunter liked. In being the great mom that I am, I looked at it, ready to say "NO". Then.....I saw the red price tag on it. Ready? $7 Yes, $7, comforter, sham, and ruffle on clearance.
So I said "YES"! What he did have was okay, it was about 3 years old and he did potty train while we used it, so it had multiple washings under it's belt, and was looking a little flat and faded. The new one is so cute and it matches his wallpaper and curtains.

If only I could find a comforter for my bed for $7.00. I'd probably send out a text to everyone I know informing them of my good luck!

In other news, for those of you who don't live here, we got 7 inches of rain on Thursday. That was a record, never had that much in a day here before. I love the rain, love rainy days, but a downside to that rain is that school got cancelled for Friday due to flooding. Can you believe that? So, I"ll bet you anything we'll have to make it up on one of our other days off later. Hunter was going to be on the school news saying the pledge Friday morning, so now that has to be rescheduled too. Probably for waaaaay later in the year. And he was so excited. Well, I'm starting to blabber, going to say good-bye for now!

Lunch in the Cafeteria

Just a quick post before going to get the kiddies from school....Hunter, my sweet boy, has yet another ear infection. He woke up about 12 :30 a.m. Sunday just crying and crying, so in went the Motrin and the ear drop, and off we go to a clinic first thing Sunday morning. Yes, he has a horrible infection in one ear, and the doctor informs me that yes, it's bad enough it may rupture. It would be the 4th (?) time he's had a ruptured ear drum. However, it didn't as of Monday, so I think we're free and clear on that. Why is it that he doesn't complain of it hurting until it almost hits the emergency status? Anyway, I say all of that in order to inform everyone, that due to the school not giving any medicine unless it's a prescription, I went in at lunch to give him another dose of Tylenol, just in case.

Now, he eats first, then Janae's class comes in after him. So after she came in, I went and said hello to her, then back to sit with Hunt for a few more minutes. As I'm walking back over there, I see a corn dog in the floor, no big deal, that's not a bit unusual in the school cafeteria, then the assistant principal comes over, and is trying to get the kid sitting across from Hunter to get up and go with her. As I'm watching, this kid starts trying to throw his food, his tray, trying to hit and/or kick the assistant principal, and screaming and throwing an all-out trantrum. She finally picks him up and off they go. Hunter turned to me, and said, "Braxton threw his corndog at my head, and hit me in the face with it". All I can say it's a good thing that the pricipal dragged him off, he was safer that way!!! Now all of you know and love me, so I can safely say "What a little brat!!". He just decided to chunk his food at my son's head. I'm dying to know what A.P. did with him, she was back in the cafeteria in just a few minutes, doing what she usually does. I would just skin my children alive if they EVER even thought about doing that. I would be soooo mortified if they had to be dragged out of there by the Principal or the A.P. So glad I'm not in elementary school anymore! :)

Fire!

You know, in all my years of cooking, I've had relatively few mishaps. A cut here and there, and burn once in awhile, but really nothing major. Well, tonight that changed. I had a blonde moment. I was pulling bread out of the oven and dropped the potholder. Right onto the heating element, and guess what!!?? It caught on fire! So, amist yelling for John to come in there NOW!, I hated to scream that we had a fire in the house, would have scared the kids half to death, I grabbed the tongs and pulled it out of the oven and threw it in the sink, turning on the water! Whew!

It really probably couldn't be classified as a fire, as it was just the potholder itself that had flames coming out of it. The oven wasn't on fire, and the smoke detector didn't even come on, but I do not wish to experience that again. I'm probably naive, but I didn't even know that could happen! Lesson learned!! he,he

Hot Tub- oh, la,la

Now, for the hot tub. As evidence of a couple of the posts I got about my mosquito post, not everyone was as interested in the mosquitos as the hot tub! I myself thought that the bugs were much more entertaining reading.

We got the hot tub as a hand me down from my parents a couple of summers ago. I couldn't even tell you for sure how long they had it, I think I was 16 or 17 when they got it. (It's been awhile.) Anyway, they kept it in the garage, and wanted the garage cleared out, so John decided that if they were giving it away, we wanted it. It wasn't working very well, but we all thought it only needed a couple of minor repairs and we'd be home free. Wrong! It's been alot of work, we keep thinking that this "one little thing" needed fixing, and then "one more thing". We had to have an electrician come over and wire it to be plugged in, and he replaced some of the fuses and what not. Couldn't really tell you all he did to be honest. Then the heating element wouldn't work. John worked on that for awhile and never could get that fixed so we decided the kids could just use it during the summer as a swimming pool. That worked well last summer, but this summer the filter quit working. Solution: Replace the filter. Wrong! Still not filtering. So, now no swimming pool either. So at the present time, we are contemplating hiring someone to just come haul it off. I think it is past it's prime. We called someone from the Thrifty Nickel, and he's going to charge about $80, which if he can haul that huge, heavy thing off, that's a bargain in my book! So, if any of you loyal friends has a better offer, you are welcome to it! We might even pay you. Well.....maybe not.

Entertainment in more ways than one!

Well, as much as Brooke likes Craig's List, I like Sams. Wholesale Club that is. Greatest place in the world. My friend Tiffany had told us that they saw an entertainment center there at Sams that would match our funiture perfectly. So, on Friday, as we were doing our regular Sam's shopping, we of course had to check out the furniture. May I say I was impressed! So, we went home, talked about it, and decided to "let's do it!". Saturday, we asked our buddy and neighbor Bryan for the use of his pickup and assistance and off we went.


Now we are the proud owners of a new entertainment center. And may I say, it was about time. We have been wanting to get one, but expected to have to pay around $2500 for something we would keep for years. (What we had was a Wal-Mart beauty.) This new one was about $689 and we will be keeping for the long haul. Bargain! I couldn't resist snapping pics as the guys hauled in box #1, weighing in at 304 pounds. I offered to do it for them, but as gentlemen, they declined. Who would have thought? It's only because I'm the only one taking pictures, and they wanted pictures of this monumental event. I could have saved them so much time and trouble, oh well. So, there you have our week-end Sams story.

Now, on another note, I am getting quite frustrated with this picture thing. I can't figure out how to put the pics where I want them, I tried cutting and pasting, and just ended up cutting, and had to up-load them again. Grrr! I'm going to have to get with one of you professional bloggers and just see how to do it.

Well, it's time for week 2 of school. I'm telling you, after just one week of school, then having Labor day holiday, was quite laborous for us. Whew! Attitudy high schooler and kindergartener! Whew, back to school tomorrow! Thank goodness the 3rd grader is managing to keep her attitude in check this weekend, don't know if we would have survived 3 of them. You know, there are only 2 of us, against 3 of them. Heaven help us! he,he,he My sweet kindergartener has gotten spankings the last two days, and he probably needed them more than the one time each day I gave them. He seems to think he can growl and stomp his feet at me when he doesn't like what I tell him, and that's just not flying. I asked him today if he just didn't like being with me, and he said "NO". Hmm, guess he's liking his teacher better than his mommy. Janae had this kindergarten attitude too at first, guess it's part of the adjustment. We will get through it, but it made a couple of looong weekend days for momma!

Farewell for tonight, will talk about the hot tub tomorrow........