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!!