Crazy Week

Sorry for the bad blogger. I think I am ready to update from this crazy week now.

Friday- I drove myself into Chicago for my OUAF training. I knew going in that I would only know one other person there and I was determined not to cling to her. I was very nervous and did not stop for lunch. When I got there, my one new recruit was there so I sat and talked with her. Then came all the training which was very exciting for me, but boring for you. We had a prime rib dinner, yum, and then we all changed into jammies and talked in the lobby of the hotel. I slept on the couch of the room my only "buddy" had gotten.

Saturday we got up and had a yummy buffet breakfast. The French toast was to die for. Especially after 3 weeks of dieting. Then more exciting training. I got soo many ideas for boosting sales and sharing our message with more families. We also have a new motto: "Happy homes don't just happen." We are all about being intentional with our families.

Saturday evening I drove home and the boys were out having dinner at Machine Shed so I had an hour to calm down before I saw them. They got home and I was on the computer catching up. I said I had just gotten home a little bit ago and Joey said "Yeah right, you've been on the computer the whole time." Daddy about fell on the floor laughing. I guess I have a bit of a computer addiction. I am getting help. Soon.

Sunday Daddy was gone all day. We did some house cleaning and I worked out twice. That felt good. Just mostly a lazy day.

Now for Monday. Black Monday. I had a couple of girls from my mom's group bring their kids over for a playdate. It went pretty well and I was able to share my excitement for OUAF with Cindy. She booked a show, yay! But when she went to leave...(Side note- we have a double wide driveway, but it is narrower at the end and there is a fire hydrent right next to it.) yes, she backed right into the fire hydrant. Popped her tire and scraped the whole side of her new car. OMG. I wanted to die. We both felt like it was our fault. I should have warned her, she should have looked, etc, etc. Of course it was no ones fault, but oy, now she has to get her car fixed. Daddy came home from work to change her tire for her, and then she was back on the road. Ben and I left to run to the library and then to Michaels. I got a bunch of fun books at the library that I can't wait to dig into. Then I just headed down N 2nd to Springcreek to cut over to Mulford. We got off the ramp onto Springcreek and had to stop because of the red light and there was an ambulance going by. We were just about to start going again when I looked up in my rearview mirror and there was a car quickly filling my view. I had enough time to think I should move but not enough time to do it when BAM. I hit my head on the headrest but it didn't really hurt. I turned around right away and asked Ben if he was ok. He said "Yes, but what did we hit, Mommy?" I said someone hit us, honey. I got out after a minute and the driver was already writing down his info. I called the police. They arrived in about 30 seconds (but just by coincidence. He was pulling someone else over.) Then I called my husband and he had to leave work for the second time in one day. He came right away and took Ben home. Ben thought he was at some kind of party where we play in the streets and I was getting really nervous with all that traffic. The cop had us sit in his squad car while he took all of our info, then let me go. I drove straight home but with my eye on the rearview the entire time. I just could not believe that we had two accidents in one day. There was seriously a black cloud over us.
So DH had me make an appointment for the Dr the next day just to make sure we were ok. Ben was fine but I have whiplash. My neck is really stiff and sore, I have a headache and I keep getting dizzy. They did x rays just to be sure nothing was broke, then sent me home with muscle relaxers and ibuprofen. The muscle relaxer makes me sleepy and I feel weird so I'm trying not to take it. But my head and neck are still pretty sore. They hope I'll feel better in about a week. Meanwhile there is no way I can work out like this so I'm worried that I am getting off track. And the whole experience of the last 3 days has left me feeling crabby, which I can't relieve with exercise so I'm getting more crabby. Probably I shouldn't be around people until I feel better.

So that has been my week. This weekend is our genealogy meeting and next weekend is scrap weekend, yay. If I can just make it to that I'll be ok.

Scattergories

I got this in email. Passing it along. Consider yourself tagged if you are reading it.


*Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions...* they have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers, especially, if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. (WHICH BY THE WAY IS HARD IF YOU ALREADY READ THEIR ANSWERS) You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl.
1. What is your name: Stacie
2. 4 letter word: star
3. Vehicle: Saturn
4. City: San Francisco
5. Boy Name: Sam
6. Girl Name: Sarah
7. Alcoholic drink: Stone sour
8. Occupation: Sanitation Worker
9. Something you wear: Socks
10. Celebrity: Snoop Dogg
11. Food: Starfruit
12. Something found in a bathroom: Slippers
13. Reason for lateness: Stopped by Police
14. Cartoon Character: Swiper
15. Something You Shout: Stop!
16. Animal: Sloth
17. Body part: Skin
18. Word to describe you: Saint (Ha-ha)

Insomnia

Help! I can't sleep. I shouldn't still be awake. I have to drive into Chicago in the morning. I went to bed and just laid there with my eyes open listening to my husband snore. Now I'm down here checking out everyone's blogs and not drowsy at all. Except I know I will be tomorrow, when I'm going to want to stay up late. I'm sure it is because I am going to a new place and meeting new people and having new experiences. I'm kind of a nervous person. New stuff makes me jittery, anxious, etc. But I'm doing it. Just with less sleep than I'd like this time.
Good night, I hope. Update on Sunday.

Mustaches and Pizza!?!

Yesterday was my full day of working. After work I ran Grandma home, got Joey off the bus, straightened up a bit, then headed out for a haircut. I love getting my hair cut. {Which might explain why my hair is so short.} My stylist and I are a lot alike and we always have a great conversation. Last night, she had a student with her who she was "training." It was interesting to hear her talk about my hair. It is very thick and there is a ton of it, which apparently makes the cut a little complicated. I found out that she razors my hair every other time and uses scissors every other time. And she can never thin it enough. I don't ever have to worry about going bald. Gray, yes. I've been plucking many of those. Anyway, then it was on to the lip wax. My abundance of hair does extend to my lip, and I would prefer not. In case you've never had a lip wax, you should know that I am subjecting myself to great pain to avoid my mustache. But this time she had this new wax that she used me as a guinea pig for. I wasn't too keen on being a guinea pig, or having 4 people stand over me to see the hair removed from my face, but it really was less painful. Gotta love that.
So after all of our chatting I got home 20 minutes later than I expected to find the hungry family waiting in the driveway for me. Apparently I can't leave at dinner time and expect Daddy to figure something out. He figured out Pizza Ranch. It was my first naughty eating since starting this diet and it was good, but my tummy hurt after and the scale didn't like me this morning so I consider it not worth it and not going to happen again anytime soon. Except maybe this weekend when I'm out of town. Going to Chicago for OUAF training. I'll do my best to eat healthy, but I don't think I'll always have too many choices. Super excited to meet other consultants and get motivated, though.

Today after work I did Tae bo Sculpt Express for 45 minutes. I am going to be so sculpted!

Quick Exercize Update

Saturday I did Tae bo Lower Body - 35 minutes.
Sunday went bowling
Today I did Tae bo Amped - 45 minutes

Sunday Recap

I have a lot of things I want to write about today. I hope I can get them all down the way I want.

*This morning we had our everybody wrestle in Mommy and Daddy's bed ritual for the first time in a while. Our schedules have been too crazy to sleep in lately, but today both boys woke before us and came to our bed. Ben starts with me, being goofy and trying to tickle me. I send him to tickle Daddy who doesn'r even stir. Then Joey jumps in and starts getting Ben and me. All of sudden I'm getting tickled by Daddy which just amazes the kids. It was fun family time that we've been kinda missing out on. (I'll have to check for bruises later- Daddy tickles hard!)

*We took the boys bowling for the first time today. It was a blast, especially not having to deal with the smoking. Joey was able to hold the ball and throw it down the lane pretty well by the end. He had this crazy wind-up dance that was fun to watch. Ben marched his ball up to the line, set it down andshoved it as hard as he could. The ball never got stuck, but it sure was agonizing watching it meander down to the pins. He was just delighted with himself every time, coming to give double high fives with each score. A couple of times he set the ball down and kicked it before we explained to him that bowling is not like soccer.


*Have to share this dear husband story. I'm standing at the sink washing dishes and he is standing at the fridge. He notices that there are no bottles of water in the fridge so bends down and opens the new case right next to him. I'm about to say I'm going to grab the camera to record him putting water in the fridge since it never happens when I realize that, no, he is not putting water in the fridge. He is getting one for himself and leaving the rest to get warm. All I could do was stare incredulously. He noticed me staring and still chose to walk away. So I finished the dishes and moved on to loading the fridge. Then laundry, straighten up.... all for his family to come over to watch the game this evening. Hmm.

*Going to talk more about this later, but I'm just finishing up The Golden Compass series. I think that some of the subjects in the stories may not be appropriate for young children, but I did find the books to be quite fascinating. If they are read as fantasy. I like fantasy. I loved Harry Potter (who didn't), and The Wheel of Time series, and even the Left Behind series. But I read them as fiction. Not as something trying to influence my beliefs. I am strong enough in my faith that I don't find them to be offensive. So that's my opinion about that subject. Now I would like to see the movie to see how it is adapted from the book. The special effects seem pretty awesome.

Bullet Points

*Joey got his kindergarten report card yesterday, which means he is halfway done. Oy this goes so fast. The good news is that even with the trouble he's been getting into he still had a great report card- all S's. The teacher says he is an eager learner and is well-liked in class. Super news.

*I had another OUAF show this morning. I think I like doing morning shows, because I still have the rest of the day to do stuff. Like run to Target with the rest of town. It was way crazy in there! I had to park far away and run in the -20 degree windchill. Crazy. Got some milk and cereal and a gift for our gift exchange tonight at scrap night. Can't wait for that since I had to miss the last one. Then in 3 more weeks we go away for a whole weekend to scrap. I'm excited, but unsure of what I will do. I need to get more organized before I go.

*Speaking of -20, my crazy husband is on his way out to go hunting. This is the first year he hasn't gotten a deer and this is the last day so he refuses to stay home. Stupid. What if he gets frostbite? And if he does get one, he's going to make me really late for my scrap night. Grr. I don't get it. What is the point?


*Oh, I sold my first ebay item. My Tae bo videos went for $41. Pretty good for my first try. Better than $.99. The person who bought them is actually a Tae bo trainer, so I guess they're going to a good home. She already told me she's selling some of them, though. Oh well, guess I can't control that.

*I did get my new Tae bo amped set. I did the first 2 Thursday and Friday. It uses a 3 pound bar- a big adjustment for me. My shoulders and back HURT, but I am going to be so strong. I got to work out Friday because we had to cancel school. When we arrived in the morning our rooms were 53 degrees. Not good. The furnace guy didn't come til lunch time so we couldn't let the kids come in and freeze. Not sure what's going to happen with my paycheck, but it was nice because Joey went to school in the afternoon and Ben took a nap so I had like 3 hours to myself. I worked out and then read in silence for a while. I actually got a little bored!

*Ok I can't seem to tie my thoughts together coherently, so I'm going to do my blog in bullet points. I am jealous of people who write their blogs all about one thing, or are able to transition from one topic to the next. Not me. Oh well, this works for me.

Celebrate!

Yesterday was a great day! I worked all day and then drove out to Itasca (about an hour and 15 minutes) for my first celebration in a WHILE. The hostess was one who doesn't DO home parties but just fell in love with our product. She had the same reaction I had when i found it. Her party went well, and I didn't leave there until 10:30. She is considering becoming a consultant, but with three kids and her own business she's not sure when she'll have the time. I hope she joins my team because I think she'd do great. She has the passion. And two of her guests wanted to do a show and I'm not so sure how worth it it is to drive out there all the time. Hello? Is there anyone else in Rockford like this? I do have another show Saturday here in town with another "love it" hostess, so I hope to get more leads and bookings from that. And next weekend is corporate training in Chicago so I'll come home with even more ideas.

So we talked to Joey when he got home on Tuesday. He knew he was in big trouble and at first refused to talk. After we had an honesty talk he told us the story, which was the same story the principal told us. Joey wanted to sit next to his friend but another child was in his way. He told the child to move, and when the child refused he hit him. Wow. I still cannot believe my child did this. I pray that this is the first and last call I get from his principal. Poor kid had a dream the next night that the principal called me again but he hadn't done anything wrong. I think he'll be on his best behavior for a while.

I adjusted my weight loss goals. Right now my BMI is in the obese range. In order to move to the healthy range I need to lose a total of 40 pounds or 35 more pounds. So my goal is to have a healthy BMI by the end of summer. And MAYBE try for another baby at that point. There, I said it. You heard it here first. I want another baby. Not sure I'm ready, but the desire is there. I miss my babies so much.

Ben just came over to sit in my lap. He was rubbing by hairy legs and asked "what's this on your legs?"

"hair"

"no this stuff"

"goose bumps"

"no- gooses have goose bumps at the zoo."

well, duh mommy.

So here are some pics. Bill posed like this with his family about ten years ago when he first started seeing them again. The kids wanted an update. They are so grown up. And this is our completed kitchen wall finally. I love it. And, of course, just a cute pic of the boys together.

Uh-oh

After Joey gets on the bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Ben and I take Grandma home and then run any errands we need to do (today it was library and Walmart for OJ and doilies). This afternoon when I got home, I could hear someone finishing up a message on the machine. I checked caller id- Joey's school. Uh-oh. Pushed play- "This is the principal. Please call back. Joey had an incident on the bus this morning and we have to assign him a seat." Oh crap. What happened? My first thought is that someone messed with him. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's completely innocent, but I also don't picture him as a bully. So I called back- yes my child hit another boy and made him bleed. Horror. I am just in shock. Now I am waiting for him to get off the bus and tell me what happened. He is soo grounded. I still think someone probably instigated, but that is no excuse for hitting. What has gotten into him? Now I'm worried that when his progress report comes home Friday there is going to be a note about behavior.
Joey has always preferred to play by himself and I have always worried about him making friends. He is not reassuring me right now! He doesn't come home and tell me about friends he plays with. When we go to other people's houses, he either plays by himself or with adults. How can I teach my child to make friends? Raising children is a fine art that I am feeling very unqualified for lately.

Diet department: I took yesterday off partly because I had no time and partly because everything was sore. So much for just my calves hurting. Today I did 45 minutes of lower body Tae bo. And I know I'm a scale addict, but I can admit that and still go on with my life. How can I not get on when I'm seeing these great numbers right now. I have already lost 5 pounds! I'm back down to my pre-holidays weight and less than 30 to go.

Random Occurings

I did an hour of Tae bo Extreme yesterday and 1/2 hour of abs today. The only thing sore today is my calves for some reason.

Grandpa Bill, Grandma Julie, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Jeff and Uncle Mark came over for a visit today. The boys love playing with their Aunt and Uncles, and really kept them busy. We finally got my pics hung up in the kitchen right before they came and we got comments on them right away. It does look really nice, if I do say so myself. I took a picture of my pictures, but it's not quite the same.

I have two OUAF shows coming up this week. I am very excited to get back into it. It's been a while since my last show. I have high hopes for both of these shows that they will lead to more. I would just like to bring in a little extra income each month. And it would have been nice if it was enough so I wouldn't have to work this summer, but that is not looking good so far. One step at a time.

Tomorrow we have a playdate in the morning and I'm covering for my boss in the afternoon so I don't think I'll work out. Tuesday I'll hit it, then Wednesday is my full day and my show. I cannot let myself get off track. Maybe I can squeeze something in tomorrow.

I'm selling my first ebay item right now. I have 12 VHS Tae bo tapes that I can't use anymore because we don't have a VCR hooked up, so I'm hoping to get a little $ to go towards the new ones I'm getting. If anyone is interested, I can deliver here in town. The item # is 120209368450. I'm just a tiny bit worried that they'll sell for $.99 and then I'll be a little screwed. But hopefully everyone with their New Years resolutions will be looking for these.

I'm realizing my post is really choppy today. Just little snippets. Tomorrow I will try to do more early memories. Have a good week.

Prayers and Weekends

First of all, we need a lot of prayers over here. My boss lost her Mother-in-law Thursday and her kids lost their Grammie. They are relieved that her pain is over but sad to not be with her. And our Mayor lost his baby Thursday night. Words cannot express how heartbreaking this must be. I cannot imagine losing a child and hope I never have to. I hope that both of these families find peace that their loved one is in a better place.

In the better news department, I've still been working out and even ordered some new Tae bo DVD's. I've lost 3.5 pounds this week which is amazing for me. Usually it takes a month to see any results. I've already noticed more energy and I've actually been able to get more stuff done around the house. And I've finally been able to go to sleep and stay that way the last 3 nights. I had been having some major insomnia for the last few weeks. I would go to bed and just lay there thinking for an hour. Then I would fall asleep only to wake up every couple hours. Not fun.

Weekend plans: Get my pictures hung, grocery shopping, house cleaning, workout today. Visit from Father in law and family tomorrow. Doesn't sound too busy but hope to get a lot done.
Have a good one.

Old Movies and Babysitters

I am sooo sore today. It hurts to move anything. So I just did a 15 minute stretch. But I'm twitching to get back to it, and I've already been shopping for the new Tae bo set. That's how I do things. Jump in running. I get almost to the point of being obsessed with it. Whatever works to get this flab off, though.
Today was a bit crazy because my babysitter/MIL called in sick at 6 o'clock this morning. We kept saying we needed a backup, but of course never figured one out. So I ended up calling our friend Amy who stays at home with her kids. I woke her up, oops, but she watched the kids for me at the last minute. And she said they were good! I ended up working the morning, but got a sub for the afternoon so I could get Joey to school and I didn't want to take advantage of Amy. I rushed over to pick the kids up after my morning class, picked up Burger King for them on the way home (I had a grilled chicken sandwich- no fries), and shoved Joey onto the bus. Then Ben and I had a relaxing afternoon off. Ben watched a new Backyardigans movie we got from Netflix while I tried to finish my latest book.
It's funny. We've been getting the kids movies that we used to watch when we were young. They've seen Home Alone, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Neverending Story the last few weeks. Certainly some reminiscing from Mommy and Daddy watching those. And the boys really liked them. Now they want Home Alone 2 but my memory tells me it wasn't nearly as good. We'll also have to get Goonies and Short Circuit.
Off to finally finish that book. Good Night.

Woo-hoo!

I worked out again today. I really wasn't planning on making this commitment right now, but I'm moving while I have the momentum. I am really sore from yesterday's workout, but that didn't affect today, 'cause I mostly just did cardio. The scale was nice this morning and showed -1 pound, which was helpful.
Tomorrow I will take a break and I have to work all day. The real test will be Thursday.

Today at school, the only thing we could talk about was the tornado and the apple orchard. These 3-year old kids are very sad that the orchard was hurt. Fortunately they said on the news tonight that they plan to rebuild and be open by the fall. We also had a chance to talk about what we do during a tornado warning. I was glad to hear that most of them went to the basement.

I want to record a few more memories from childhood:
*The earliest thing I can remember is getting in trouble with my Mom. I must not have been too naughty because she asked me where her good Stacie had gone. I just remember thinking I was some interloper who had taken over the body of her good Stacie.
*When we lived in North Dakota, my Mom was driving us to church one day, and my Dad must have been home sick. Well, she drove off the road and down into a ditch. Several other cars stopped to help us and we were able to sit in their cars until ours was out of the ditch. Once out, we turned right around and went back home. We had to wake Daddy up to tell him what happened. It was quite the adventure for us, but I'm sure not for my Mom.
*When we lived on Guam?, my Mom worked at a day-care center as the cook. I remember she used to make tuna and noodles there just like at home. Yechh.
*If you know me, you know my front two teeth are caps. When I was six I was sleeping on my bed in a sleeping bag and fell face first onto the ceramic tile floor. My two front teeth were broken in half and there was actually pieces of tile stuck to the part that was left. My Dad let me pick a book out the next day and I picked a Garfield cartoon book. I remember thinking I was a little cool because they put things like braces on my teeth. Have I mentioned my dorkiness?

I've run out of memory for now. More later.

Trying To Get Back In The Groove

I worked out today! For the first time in several months. I managed to do 45 minutes of Taebo with the boys' help. They like to stand in front of me and do the exercises, especially when we pull the resistance bands out. Billy Blanks was really life-size on my 52 inch TV. I can tell I will be sore tomorrow, but it felt really good and I hope I can keep it going. I also signed up with sparkpeople.com. It's a free site where you can track your weight loss, exercise, and eating goals.

I also baked a cake. I know, that doesn't really fit in with losing weight, but it was for a co- worker's birthday. Cake baking is not really up there on my list of things I like to do, but it turned out ok.

And can we just mention the weather today? This morning I just thought it was so wierd how warm it was. Ben and I went to the grocery store in short sleeves. But then it got kinda scary for awhile. We had a tornado warning and one actually touched down east of us. Our favorite apple orchard seems to have been destroyed. :( Joey was 20 minutes late getting home because he had to put his head between his knees right when school was supposed to get out. But as far as I know everyone is safe. Phew.

This is just a cute picture I caught of Ben. He fights getting his picture taken so I took a bunch while he was in a good mood this evening.

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

I just had to put this on here- I didn't write it, someone shared it with me.

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning. Uphill BOTH ways. Yadda, yadda, yadda..........

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but Look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Play station video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids' and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen Menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

My Precious Few Memories

I've been thinking about my blog and wanting to put something a little more than just my boring day to day stuff (which even to me has gotten pretty boring), so I'm going to try to do some reminiscing. Now, I need to put a disclaimer that anyone who knows me knows I have terrible memory, so I really should get down what is still up there before I've forgotten everything.

Ok, so most of the things I remember are traumatic and I don't want to go into those. How about sports? I remember playing t-ball and my dad was the coach/ sometimes umpire. No, it must have been Little League, because I remember pitching. My strongest memory is of one player on our team who was maybe developmentally disabled. He would swing at the ball well before the pitcher even pitched it, or well after it crossed the plate. I remember trying to understand how hard it would be to not be able to do things like that. I also remember that we did not tease the boy. I don't know that we were especially nice to him, but nor were we cruel the way children tend to be. I was always the "nerd" of my family. I was never really pressured to be in sports, though my younger sisters played at least one sport thoughout their childhood. I know at the time I could have chosen to play, and once in a while I did, but usually I took the easy way out. The thing about that is that I really felt left out. My sisters played, my dad coached, and I just watched. That's kind of been a pattern in my life. I have a hard time jumping in and being an active participant in things. The other night I was riding in a car with 4 other moms. They were all talking and I did feel like I had something to say a few times, but I couldn't jump in fast enough. I felt uncomfortable and hated myself for it. But that is something I continue to work on, and as an adult I can see what I need to do most of the time. Like today. I officially took over as vp of my genealogy society, and had to stand up in front of everyone and speak into a microphone to introduce our speaker. I was nervous, but I did a great job if I do say so myself. I never would have been able to do that 2 years ago.

Wow, somehow that ended up being a negative memory! Ok I'm racking my brain for a good one. When we lived on Guam, and I was maybe 9 or so, our next door neighbors who we called Aunt and Uncle had this elaborate party at their house. I think it was for their daughter's birthday. Was her name Gina Ann? My friends and my sisters and I got hula skirts and choreographed a huge hula dance to do in front of everyone. I remember practicing for weeks, but then that night when we went play the tape the music kept cutting out. It was fun, though.

I also remember my best friend from that time, no I remember 2 friends. One from school was Patricia. She moved away before we did. And one who I really think must have been a "local." She used to tell me she was really a monkey and I believed her. She was small and dark and obviously very creative. I think she was the one who taught us the dance.

Oohh. I remember riding my bike to Patricia's house. Looking back, her Dad must have been an officer because they had a way nicer house. And I rode my bike to piano lessons, which were near Patricia's house. One day I fell off my bike on the way to piano lessons, and got through my whole lesson with skinned knees and ripped pants.

Then we moved to Utah. My best friend there was Nikki. She was a naughty girl and I don't think my parents wanted me spending so much time with her. We watched Dirty Dancing in her basement and she used to claim Jennifer Grey was her cousin. We also played spin the bottle with some older neighbor boys. There was probably a reason for me to not hang out with her. Our neighbors across the street had four boys: Trevor, Tate, Todd, and Tyler. Creative. The two older ones were real cute. Perhaps one of my early crushes. But a boy at school asked me to "go with" him. Kevin. My first love. Cue aawww. This was sixth grade. We put on a play of "The Christmas Carol" and I was the narrator. I remember the dress I wore. Was I a dork.

Here I found some Christmas pictures from around that time. I was a dufus. Hee. Oh well, we get better with age, right? Sorry Heather and Trina, had to put you on there too.

Well that's enough reminiscing for tonight. Hopefully I've inspired someone else to look back to their chilhood as well. That was the topic of our program today. :)

Did You Know I'm Royal?

It was back to work and school today. Actually it went rather well. Ben didn't want to wake up at 7, but really neither did I. The kids were anxious to tell me everything from the break, so it was a little noisy but otherwise they were good and I had missed them. It was nice to see everyone again. Joey was getting ready for the bus and said he had really missed his teacher, too. He has the greatest kindergarten teacher. I'm glad he likes her. Except she is a Packers fan, so he comes home and tells us about that. He almost wants to be a Packers fan just to make his teacher happy. Not quite, though. He also veers toward the Vikings because Grandpa Scott and Ti-ti are fans.

Tonight is Bunco. Yay! 24 moms get together and eat, then scream at the top of our lungs over this dice game. It is so much fun. Can't wait. Oh, and we win money. Last time I won $40. Woo-hoo.

I found out that Shedd Aquarium is free next weekend, so thinking about dragging the family there. The only way we would go is for free. It is way too expensive otherwise, but I think the kids would really enjoy it. We took them to the Field Museum a couple years ago but Joey was bored. We'll wait a few more years to try that again. And I remember going to the Museum of Science and Industry and really liking it, but I think they should be a little older for that too.

Last night I was actually doing some family tree research and discovered Ancestry's new content- passport applications for all of the 1800's. I didn't find any for my direct ancestors, but here is one from a cousin. Really cool. Some of them even had photos attached. I'm hoping with some more digging to find one for one of my direct ancestors. Somebody had to have traveled during that time. It also reminded me how fun it is to do research. I've been away from it so long and feel like all my lines are dead ends. I really need to take another look and get back into it. The excitement of finding a new ancestor is like winning a huge contest. I do really love it. Oh man, am I a nerd or what?

I don't think I've mentioned on here the famous connections I have made. On my Dad's side, we are related to President Bush and the Wilson brothers from the Beach Boys. Also the founder of The Seventh Day Baptists in the 1600's in Rhode Island. And we have royal ties in England.

On my Mom's side we descend from a family on the Mayflower. And there is a historic site in Indiana with my ancestors' first home in the US.

Boobie Update

Here is Ben with his "boobies"/"earplugs."

I keep trying to take pictures of the nice new office, but there is still clutter. Will keep trying.

Today I got up, washed dishes, did laundry, took down all the Christmas decorations (by myself), went to work for a couple hours, came home, did laundry, ... the house looks nice, my classroom looks nice, I feel like I accomplished something, it's all good. Now I just need to get all the laundry put away. The hard part.

Oh, yesterday we went to 2 movies. I've been to the theater 3 times this week which is a record. We saw National Treasure - very cute, and I Am Legend- very tense. Then we came home and I fell asleep on the couch but woke up for the countdown before heading to bed.

Tomorrow Daddy has to go back to work. I am actually looking forward to going back on Thursday. I start missing the kids and the interactions. I don't think I could be a stay-at-home mom. Hats off to those that can.

Happy New Year

I just want to say 2007 has been such a blessed year with so many changes and I am Thankful for (almost) every one of them. I pray for 2008 to be as good as 2007. Especially the last week. I could die happy right now. Well.. that is a little dramatic, but this has been my week: Going to movies with friends, going to movies with hubby, getting together with family, reading to my hearts content, deep cleaning (don't love that, but love the result- the office is really starting to look good), playing on the computer, playing with the boys, staying up till midnight (which I don't think has happened for many years).

So those New Years resolutions?
I resolve to maintain thankfullness for my blessings.
I resolve to be more patient with the boys.
I resolve to eat better and excercise (I know it's cliche but I really do need it).
I resolve to take time for myself, my husband, and my family.
And tomorrow I resolve to finally go to work and get ready for Thursday. The Christmas decorations are still up and that will just not work for anyone.

May everyone have a beautiful new year.

Turning a Corner

We've had a fun couple of days. Daddy had to work so Mommy got to do work around the house {and lay around just a bit:)} Wednesday was cleaning and errands. We donated ten bags of toys to Goodwill so we could make room for the new stuff. We still need to take about ten more bags. I also got to go grocery shopping by myself since sis was here to watch the kids. Yesterday we went to lunch and Alvin and the Chipmunks with Sarah and Jackson. The kids loved it, and Ben and Sarah got some snuggle time. Last night Daddy went to the Menards to buy some office furniture/storage solutions. I spent an hour last night and several hours this morning putting together bookshelves and cabinets, then cleaning and organizing the office and my scrappin' area. It's really starting to look nice. I'll post pictures after it's all done. We still need a couple more shelves and Daddy needs to sort through his papers. We went for our Friday night dinner at Stockholm Inn with old friends and thier kids. Nobody was too naughty and the kiddos are sooo cute. After we got home the kids played by themselves in their toy area for a looong time without any fighting. They've been doing that more lately, so I hope we're turning a corner. I love watching them entertain themselves. They both love to pretend to be characters and go on rescue missions. The lines Ben chooses to quote from movies are hilarious! Today it was "fire in the hole" from Chipmunks.
Tomorrow my Dad is coming to celebrate Christmas, so I don't get to go to my monthly scrap night :( But the kids are really looking forward to seeing Grandpa Scott. Joey is actually excited for Grandpa to open his gift from us. Love the giving spirit.

A story from Christmas: One of the first gifts Ben opened from Grandma was a pair of fuzzy earmuffs. As he pulled them out of the package, he said in awe "I got Boobies!" {He calls my bras boobies.} We really did roll on the floor laughing. Of course I had to tell the story the rest of the day and embarrass him, so he started yelling at me each time "they're ear plugs!" He'll figure it out soon enough, but I love when the kids say things quirky. I was sad because he has started saying Jack Sparrow instead of Chicken Back Sparrow. At least Joey still says "constructions" for instructions.

Christmas Joy

Yesterday after cleaning the house all morning Joey and I went to the childrens' christmas eve service at church. Joey was great- really into Jesus' birthday this year. Then we came home for Daddy and Ben and headed out for our traditional Christmas eve party. This is my step-FIL's family who we just adore. They are very into tradition, though. For the last 30 years they have always done things the same way. Same menu, smae order, same guests (pretty much). So I found out last night that a new food item was introduced about 10 years ago, but since it is not part of the tradition a few people refuse to eat it! Now, I love that they have such strong traditions, but really the sandwiches are really good. So funny. The boys loved the presents they got over there and so did Daddy. Joey got a voice-changing Transformers mask that Daddy just had to try on. I have to admit it was pretty cool, but not meant for adults. Silly boy. Then we went home, got Santa's cookies and milk ready, boys to bed, and I headed out to the 10:30 service by myself.... except it started at 10. Whoops. I still stayed and enjoyed the beautiful service, came home, wrapped the Santa presents, and headed for bed. Oh yeah, and ate Santa's cookies and poured out the milk.

Here's what we've been waiting for! Santa came last night and left the boys one big present that they asked for. Joey got a remote control dragon and Ben got a dancing mat. They were both super excited about those and all the other presents they got today. Lots of Pirates, drawing and reading stuff, jammies, and movies. We all had a great Christmas! Oh- the kids had to wait to open presents until after we fixed breakfast- the most delicious whole-wheat cherry pancakes ever. They were very patient and didn't even mind that Uncle Michael was a little late. Then we headed up to Janesville and my Mom's, then back down to Cherry Valley for the in-laws. Now we are home playing with our toys. Joey actually just asked to do his writing practice. After plenty of roaming the house with the remote control dragon of course.

So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. I hope everyone had as good a time as we did.

Ahh Family

We had our family Christmas get-together on my Mom's side today. This is the family where everyone hates each other and talks about each other behind their backs. Then they turn fakey sweet when talking to people, and everyone competes for best kid/job/most money/worst health problem. It's just very stressful worrying about who's saying what about me or my kids. Fortunately the kids were absolute angels today. I could not have asked for better behavior. They played together with the one toy in the house for a long time while we visited. They found a couple of grown-up buddies in a couple who were visiting and wrestled with them for a while, then Joey colored a picture for Leigh before we left. Leigh is a beautiful young lady who is in the armed service. She just recently returned from Iraq and is going back the day after Christmas for another year. So brave. Thank-you for serving our country.

Oops. Daddy just walked in and caught me blogging. Apparently he thought that the last time he told me to get rid of it I listened to him. Nope, honey I sure didn't. Kinda like you didn't listen to me when I said no on the moniter. I love blogging. It's my chance to talk about stuff and not worry about if anyone cares. Blogspot cares. That's pretty much all I need. {It's nice that I have some friends who like to check on me, too.}

So anyway, more about that family party. My Mom hosted at my Grandpa's house. (He has a big house- as he said to that visiting couple, he's "loaded.") My two aunts who have always treated my Mom like crap came late, ate, and left before we even had dessert. They made sure to offend my uncle's wife before they left, so she was upset the rest of the time. It was a great time!

Christmas Eve tomorrow. Should be a lot more fun with the in-laws. And hopefully we can work in church somewhere in there. Merry Christmas!!!!!

The Best Laid Plans

Today was supposed to be a busy day with get-togethers w/ Dad and sister and then with FIL family. Well, Dad couldn't make because of the weather and then FIL cancelled on us too, so we had a free day. We used it to do some major rearranging. Guest bed went upstairs to Joey's old room. His old bed came down to the toyroom to be used as a toybox/trampoline. Lots of old toys and stuffed animals went out to the car to go to Salvation Army. Now we are going to get a second desk and some shelving for the office. Maybe now we can be organized like we always planned. Maybe not, but we'll have space for everything. While I was cleaning out the closet in Joey's old room I came across a box for a 22" monitor. I figured he just saved the box from our new one, but when I went to move it - it was still sealed. Hmm. I just told him last week that no, we couldn't afford to get another monitor right now. So I took it down to ask him. Hmmm. Apparently when I say no, that means please just go behind my back and hide it. Grrr. We have spent sooo much money lately. Of course, him working 60 hours a week doesn't hurt. But still.
So right now he's out shopping for that new desk. He still wants to get a newer model of DVD player. And I was really looking forward to trying to get away for a weekend. Please come visit us in the poor house.

5...

Yay! Vacation has begun. We had our three Christmas parties at school the last two days, and they were great. My little 3-year-olds sang their hearts out. And they have officially learned why it is we celebrate Christmas. I was blessed with many mugs of hot cocoa and some new ornaments for the tree, along with other wonderful gifts from so many families. I do just get the warm fuzzzies from being appreciated. Also when I got home today there was a Christmas card from one of my students at my old center. I was thrilled that are still thinking of me and miss me. I miss the family, too. And lots of other families that I don't get to see anymore. I hadn't let myself think about it too much, but it really hit me this afternoon what I had to leave in order to make the change to a new job. I hope I can go visit soon and have it be a good experience.

I have some prayers that need saying that could use some more power:
for Kari who just found out that her unborn baby has some health problems
for Kathie and Julie whose babies are recovering in the hospital
for all those who cannot buy presents for their children this year


The countdown is on for Christmas. I do not want to have to go to the store for any reason for the next 5 days. Unfortunately there is no food in the house. Ugh. Why didn't I think of this before Joey started his break. Now I have to find a way to lug both boys to the crazy crowded Walmart. Ugh. That's all I can say.

Getting Ready

Yesterday was pretty busy. It was Daddy's birthday so he got up early and went shopping - bought himself a new laptop after weeks of research. My sister came over to bake Christmas cookies so we spent the afternoon in the kitchen. The boys got to make a gingerbread house- hopefully a new tradition. It was kind of a fiasco - the pieces kept breaking and the kids couldn't get the candy to stick the way they wanted it, but they had fun and ate a bunch so it was fine. Then Daddy took the boys sledding. They were only gone for about 45 minutes, but they said they had fun. Meanwhile we made a whole bunch of different cookies and only burned one batch and one hand (mine). They look great and I can't wait to share them this weekend at our family Christmas parties. The one funny thing that happened was when we went to roll out the sugar cookies, we couldn't find a rolling pin. I swear I've used a rolling pin in my house before, but I can't actually remember needing it so we decided that no, I've never owned a rolling pin. We ended up using a drinking glass.

After all that we went to Daddy's Christmas party for his work at the Discovery Center. We only stayed long enough to see santa and play for a few minutes because we still needed to eat dinner. Oh, and they gave the boys each $10 gift cards for Toys R Us. That was nice. So then we drove over to Chili's for dinner. {I forgot to mention we were doing all this in the middle of a pretty good snowstorm.} Daddy was super excited to get to use the 4 wheel drive in his truck while we all hung on for dear life.

This morning we got up and started doing some major cleaning in the basement in preparation for the new TV coming in. Our office area is just despicable, but I got some of that cleaned and the TV area organized. Daddy went out for some containers, I thought, but was gone for four hours. My sister helped clear the driveway that we hadn't shoveled yet this season, and then she helped me carry the old entertainment center up to the garage. She certainly earned her keep this weekend, I'm sure she was very excited about getting to sleep in at our peaceful house this morning :).

I have two more days of school before the Holidays- and three Christmas parties. I'm looking forward to them, though, because the kids are just so excited. Tomorrow I have to get some gifts for just in case someone forgets about the gift exchange.

Okay- funnies: Ben said "Mommy, I can speak Spanish. Listen." He leaned in to whisper in my ear: "Ssspanish."

Joey was thinking about where all the helium balloons have gone that they have lost to the sky. He said: "maybe they went up to the planet that has rings around it and when the planet spun around it popped them. Or maybe they flew all the way to Pluto!"

A Regular Thursday

I'm sitting here staring at the blank blogger because I don't know what to write about, so I'll write about nothing. I don't want to write about how I've been feeling because I'm tired of whining. Hopefully soon I can just write about how much better I'm doing. I don't want to write about how busy we've been because I think we're all pretty busy with the holidays. I will say that I had my final at school tonight and am glad that's done. I don't want to write about finishing up Christmas shopping because ugghh I don't even want to think about it. I know. I'll work on my grateful list.
I am grateful for beautiful Christmas music, religious, secular, country, Manhattan Steamroller, all of it.
I am grateful for Christmas parties. For that time to get together with people who we don't get to see very often.
I am grateful for snow. It helps when there is not much sun to brighten up the world.
I am grateful for the story of Jesus' birth. Isn't it the most beautiful story? I have been teaching it to 45 three year olds for the last few weeks and I've got that baby down. We have read so many great books about the nativity.
I am grateful to get to teach the Christmas story to 45 three year olds.
I am grateful for people who are always happy. They show me what I want to be.
I am grateful for being invited to a scrapbook weekend. I am sooo looking forward to getting away for a whole weekend.
I am grateful for friendly strangers.
I am grateful for book sales. I love books!
I am grateful for blogs. What would I do if I couldn't do this?
I am grateful for the weak ice storm we had- beautiful trees, not scary streets.
I am grateful for having so many things to be grateful for. There is nothing to be sad about!

L-A-Z-Y

Recovering from the laziest weekend ever today. Saturday the boys and I never even left the house. I think I took three different naps. Accomplished nothing. Sunday I at least went to the grocery store, and got myself one present- a scrapbooking tote filled with goodies. And when I got home we got our Christmas picture done. We managed to all be in it this year thanks to the handy timer on my new camera. Have I mentioned that I love my new camera? Today neither Ben or I is feeling the best. Ben woke up croup-y again. Poor thing has the cutest little hoarse voice, though. And me, well let's just say I have a Dr appt. on Thursday. We'll go from there.

I called Parker Center about getting Ben screened today. They can't even screen him until June, so obviously no spot for him this year. If anyone has a solution for me, I'd love to hear it.

I'm almost done Christmas shopping- just gift cards and some stocking stuffers left, yay!

If anyone is interested in Once Upon A Family for Christmas, I'm putting in an order tomorrow. I'm offering free shipping, and there are several things on sale. Just let me know if you want anything. Thanks so much.

Ice storm tomorrow- we are really having quite a winter already! Be safe.

Changes

Yesterday I had to do a group presentation in my class, and I actually was hardly nervous at all! If I had done that a year ago I would have been sick to my stomach. I have made so many changes this year and stepped outside my comfort zone in so many ways that I almost feel like I could do anything right now. Almost. Still not really about confrontation and would rather not jump off a tall building, but other than that...

Speaking of growth, I signed up my second new consultant today! I'm very excited to be building a team and hopefully this will help motivate me to get my own sales going.

In the not so good department, Ben has been having a really hard time in preschool with me as his teacher (at least that's what I tell myself). I think my next step is to get him screened at Parker Center and see if we can get him into an every day class where there is no Mommy around. It's kind of unbelievable to me that I actually want something to be wrong enough to get him into a special needs school {ooh it hurts me to put that into words}, but right now I feel like he needs more than I can give him.
So I'll update on that dilemma as I have news- I haven't even told hubby about my thoughts yet. Of course we're not really speaking right now so that will be difficult...
But that's a whole nother story for a different mood.

More snow this weekend, more snow Tuesday. Yippee.

Cont...

Ok here we are. I managed to get Joey out in the snow for a few minutes before dark, and I took a pic of new cam with old cam. Joey sure did throw snow right down my shirt. That was pretty much the end of that.

Camera Details

I guess I need to take a picture of my new camera with my old camera. It is Kodak ZD710 with 10x optical zoom and 7.2 megapixels. It was on sale at Walmart after Thanksgiving for $149. I just can't convince myself to do anything other than Kodak because I've had good luck with them (aside from gettting one stolen). I want to take the kids out in the snow and take pics, but Ben is sleeping right now. Look for those soon, since the snow is apparently not going away. 2-4 more inches tomorrow night on top of the 5 or 6 from last night. I was the one that said I wanted a good snow storm.

New Camera

Got my new camera today so I just snapped some shots of the boys. The pics are so clear! Love my present:) {The one of Ben he is telling me "No!" because he doesn't want his picture taken. Joey wanted me to take about 30 more of him.}

On another note, tonight was supposed to be bunco night, but I got snowed in. I'm so sad to have missed my girls night out. Everyone else was braving it, but Poplar Grove was a bit far for my slightly not adventerous self.

Shopping

I'm finally getting some Christmas shopping done. I made a list and there are only 23 people on it this year. We've cut back:) So today I went on the Discovery Channel Store website and ordered all the kids and my Dad's gifts. {He's a kid at heart} I love toys that are at least a little bit educational. Joey has been asking for a remote control dragon, so Santa got him that. And Ben is getting a dance/jump mat with music. I'm hoping for a little energy burn. Now I have to go find webkinz for Cousin Julia and something for all the grownups. I'm thinking about trying to make jars again this year. A couple years ago I made cookie jars. This year maybe dips. Now that I have scrapping supplies I can even dress them up a little better.
I also did some cleaning today- scrubbed the top of the stove (not the burners, that shelf up there) because it was really dusty. Laundry is caught up, the kids straightened up their room, and the TV area downstairs is neat.
Now I need to go make dinner. We've been experimenting since hubby started his diet and discovered that pesto chicken is yummy, and diced tomatoes with whole wheat pasta isn't so bad either. Better than frozen pizzas and TV dinners.

Gotta go. Later.

Let it Snow

Is everyone enjoying the weather? It is just awful out there. If you're not here in town, it started snowing at about 11, changed to sleet/ice by about 1, and is now just pouring freezing rain. The TV has gone out a few times and now they are saying that power outages are a distinct possibility. Yuch! I like a good snowstorm, but this is not it.

Have I mentioned that I finally set up an ebay account? Not a good idea! I first set it up to try to get Brad Paisley tickets, but now I've discovered many fun things. I won a Dad's garage scrapbook set, and I got a musical instrument for school. I can spend hours shopping, mostly for stuff I do not need! How 'bout some shoes? Or kid's clothes? Or maybe books? It's not even that good of deals. Especially after shipping. Oh well, it's fun. Like those new commercials.

This new diet is killing me. Hubby is losing weight and I'm gaining! Maybe because I fall off the wagon every time he is not around. Come on! No french fries, no bread, no sweets, lots of meat and veggies. I think pretty much everyone who knows me knows I hate veggies. Gag. So I really need to get back to working out. But I don't wanna (insert whiny voice here). I just have had no motivation, and I hate waiting 2 months before I see any results.

Tomorrow is Ben's fun fair at school. He is very excited that we are going to his school and not Joey's for this. He asked me several times. "Is it at Joey's school?"

"Nope, your school."

"Does Joey get to come?"

"Yes"

"At Joey's school?"

"No, your school."

"Me and Joey and Mommy and Daddy?"

"Yes"

"Going to Joey's school?"

And on and on. I think he finally got it, but it was rally something to see him try to wrap his head around it.

Okay, I'm going to try to do some reading tonight. Hope the weather gets better and everyone gets through it safe and sound.

Small Scare

Had to go buy a pg test at the Walgreens tonight. For some reason my period has been super regular, so I know right away when I'm late. Well, the test was negative, but it really got me thinking again. I miss holding my babies. I actually miss nursing in the middle of the night. The cute little baby outfits. The big belly. That first smile. And maybe I do still want a girl. I've been telling myself and everyone else I was done, but I was a bit dissappointed when there was only one line on that stick. But the rational side of me says what would I do for work? And where would the carseat fit? And Ben's already an attention hog, how would he react? And we can't afford it. And.... I just keep picturing that little baby in my arms. Oh dear. Now what? Someone else close to me better have a baby soon so I can get my fix, or we're in big trouble. I think Daddy would give me the go ahead, which is even scarier. And what about my depression? That's been a battle of late. So I think I'll try to find a baby to hold and not make one of my own for right now. The timing really isn't what I want, so it's for the best.

So I need to be thankful right now for what I've got. I'm thankful for school being almost done. I'm thankful for being able to wear green shoes. I'm thankful for cars that work. I'm thankful forboys who clean up the first time I ask. I'm thankful for all the support I recieve from everyone. Thank-you

Real Quick

Ok I need to get to bed, but I wanted to record this so I don't forget. We were waiting in the truck tonight while Daddy ran in to the pet store to buy dog food. Ben was talking in the backseat and said "Mommy, last time daddy got dog food at the other store I was awfully, awfully naughty."
"What happened?"
"I was just awfully mad."(except he has a southern accent so he was ma-ad)
Well. My three year old is apparently now 14. I guess he knows when he is naughty, just not how to stop.

Oh. And Joey thinks I'm one thousand and nine years old. But Daddy is 30. What the heck? Daddy thought that was sooo funny. He had to point out that it must be because of my hair.
Grr.

Welcome

Check it out! I went to Michael's today and got this sign, painted it, and put my UL welcome on it. Then I didn't have any way to hang it so it is propped in the window. SO cute. I even distressed it. So proud of my creativity. And now I want even more from UL.

All right, the blogger is driving me nuts. I realize now why I don't put pictures in very often. Now I'm doing another post to see if I can make it work the way I want.

Ok- we got decorations up so here are a couple pics of that.

And here are some adorable pictures of my adorable boys (if I do say so myself)

Well it still won't work, but hopefully you get the jist.

More Fun

I got my uppercase living tonight and had to run home and get at least one up. It looks so great in the kitchen. Now we are going to get our family picture taken and then put a black and white under this. I love it. I'm going shopping tomorrow for some backgrounds for 2 of my other ones, and I can't wait to give my gift one. SHH.


I just found this on my camera. Bonus points to Daddy for taking pics while hunting.

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

We got home late last night from all our Thanksgiving travel. We had a great time and nobody got hurt. Thursday we went to Aunt Nancy's. It was a small crowd this year as other families take turns with their in-laws, but the food was delicious and the boys had kids to play with. Thursday night and Friday morning Bill went shopping for Black Friday deals. He was really wanting a good laptop deal so he camped out at Comp USA from 2 am, but unfortunately he was behind 2 too many people to get it. He bought some other small stuff and came home for a nap. Then we headed up to Janesville to my Mom's. She has a Golden Retriever puppy named Gus. He is huge and eats everything. The kids loved it, and Ben did not have an asthma attack with his new meds. YAY! I'm so happy to not have to worry every time we go somewhere. Another yummy meal and then Nana was ready for us to leave. (I think she is used to her peace and quiet, which my boys do not relate to.) We drove 3 hours up to my Dad's and spent some quality time there. They live in such a small town (pop 300), that they were able to take us down to the local restaurant and introduce us to their friends who happened to all be there too. We stayed the night and I got to listen to the trains go by every twenty minutes (that's the other thing- they live right next to the train tracks). Saturday morning we got up and Dad had to go ref some basketball games so we went to the next town (pop 4000) to go to the library and a movie. The library so I could research my Dad's wife's first husband's family for her kids. {Sounds kinda weird, but he died and the kids are interested so I'm doing it.} And we had to stop at Cabela's, but it was tiny compared to the new one in Hoffman Estates so we just stayed for a minute. On the way back we stopped at Walmart hoping to still find a laptop deal, and I've had my eye on a new camera. No purchases there, but when we got back to Dad's house dear hubby got on the computer and ordered my camera for me. I can't wait- 7.2 megapixels and 10x optical zoom here I come. It also has anti-shake so I hope for less blurry pictures when I'm in a hurry. One more yummy turkey dinner and we were on our way home. Got home about 11, hubby went back online to try to find his computer, went to bed and got up this morning to try to find his computer. Still looking. Cyber Monday is tomorrow. Wishing him luck.
So now that we were out of town, I only have today to get Christmas decorations up. The kids have been begging to get them out, so that is what we will be doing all day (along with a quick trip to the grocery store- we have no milk).

Friends and Family

We won't discuss how day 2 of Open House went. Let's just leave it at not well. I did meet two people who I formed a quick relationship with, which was very unlike me. Charlsanne was selling Stampin' Up and has the most friendly 11 month old I've ever met. She just kept reaching for me to hold her. I told her she makes it very hard to resist those "I want another baby" thoughts. And Deanna sells Southern Living, but really "got" Once Upon A Family. How can I not be friends with someone who loves OUAF as much as I do. She is having a party in January and I am really looking forward to it.

Today was my one day of work this week, and the kids were a bit crazy. THe Holidays really do affect them as much as us. Or maybe it's because our minds are elsewhere the day before vacation. This year we are only having one Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, with Bill's family. Then my Mom on Friday in Janesville. From there we go to Dad's in Prairie du Chein. Looking forward to getting together with everyone. I have been appreciating family more lately (especially since we've all been getting along), and can't wait to see what everyone has been up to. I'm really looking forward to some Pumpkin Pie! I hope it is as good as I've been anticipating.


Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Open House

Yesterday was day one of my open house at some model homes. I've not been having too much luck so tried not to set myself up for disappointment, but I actually did OK considering. Considering NO ONE come. Considering I was in the last house and by the time they got to us they were out of time and money. Considering I had a Mary Kay lady next to me who was very aggressive. She would even keep trying to make a sale when the customer had moved on to my area. ARG. So other than that- I sold a Family Tree Poster that I had been carting around for months, I booked two parties (except one is that Mary Kay lady), I moved one customer/fellow direct salesperson to tears {love that}over Letters To My Dear Sweet Child, I got a ton of reading done between customers, and I did meet several very nice people. Sarah's friend Amy is great. She was very sympathetic about my "issues" and stopped by a couple times to check on me. Today is a new day. We're hoping for more customers with the better weather, and the Mary Kay lady will not be there. Phew. It is very difficult for me to be pretend nice to someone who is driving me nuts. Oh, and I will be eating something before I leave. Yesterday I went from 8 to 4:30 without eating. Talk about headaches.

PS Joey has gone out with Daddy morning and evening the last 2 days and is out there again right now. They've seen 18 deer (Joey's keeping count) but so far nothing to bring home. Daddy had a chance at a doe yesterday, but now Joey is saying he only wants a buck. Hmm. That might make things a little more difficult.

Etc.

I think the sick bug hit our house. Ben was running a fever last night. He woke up cool this morning, but he has been wheezing pretty bad. Probably has an ear infection. He is sleeping right now, which is pretty unlike him, so we'll just rest tonight and hopefully it won't get worse than this.

Joey went hunting with Daddy this morning. No deer:( They saw a couple but they were on someone else's property and for some reason wouldn't come over close enough. They are going to try again tomorrow afternoon. Joey did really well. He got up at 4:30 this morning and was excited even though his little eyes were still puffy. His fingers got a little cold, but other than that he was a trooper sitting up in that tree stand. He even took a little nap. Then he still had to go to school this afternoon. I wonder how that went. :)

Tomorrow is my Open House at a model home with several other vendors. They advertised in the paper and we all handed out fliers, just like mine. I just hope the turnout is better. I'm going in with a positive attitude. People will want to buy. My products are beautiful. Christmas is coming and they make great gifts. Family is important. People will want to buy. Or book shows. Or join the company.

Tonight is the Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Rodney Adkins concert. I'm real sad we won't be there. I actually tried bidding on some tickets last night on ebay, but got outbid. Boo-hoo. Man, I really wanted to go to that!

Not one of my better days

I try not to complain. Life is usually actually pretty good, and I'm not having an episode or anything, but today has not been good. First I got up this morning and my throat was sore and flegmy (ok I don't know how to spell that or even if it's a word). I remember coughing last night so I'm sure I didn't sleep well. Got the kids up and got ready for work. Ben goes with me today so I had to get him ready, too. At school today we were making totem poles, which was fun for the kids, but a mess for me. It involved squirting liquid watercolors into empty bottles and of course at some point I squirted blue all over one of the few pairs of pants that I like right now (they used to be green). Whatever. Then the kids just destroyed the room so we had early clean-up time. I bent over to put something on the floor and stood up right into the corner of the cabinet door. Ouch. Oh ouch. So I'm just standing there holding my head with my eyes watering and noone notices. For like a whole minute. Finally one of the kids looks at me and says "What happened?" I said I hurt myself but they had already walked away. We're going to work on empathy next. Then today was my hair appointment, which is usually a cause for celebration, but not when you have a big lump on your head. And tomorrow is the Brad Paisley concert and we do not have tickets for the sold-out show. Real sad about that. So today is just one of those days. Right now I'm typing this when I should be playing with my kids who are pounding each other. GGRRRR.

Lets see, do I have anything positive to report? Nope, don't feel like it right now. Hope everyone is having a better day than me.

Updates

Apparently I forgot to let everyone know that yes, indeed the flood was cleaned up and taken care of in the basement. The problem was the same as 5 years ago (the day we got home from the hospital after having Joey). The tree roots in the front yard start growing down in the pipes and eventually cause a clog. The roto-rooter guy put the scare in Bill at first saying that it was going to cost alot of money and take alot of time and effort. He did end up having to go down the manhole in the street, but it wasn't as bad as anticipated. He got done in a couple of hours, and $135 later he was out the door. He did warn us that getting it cleaned out every 2 to 3 years is better than waiting 5 years between visits. Catastrophe could have been avoided. Hopefully we'll remember that before next time.

And I did finally talk to the owner of Swanson's. He was a bit defensive, didn't offer to make things better, and told me that the person would not be getting in trouble but he would be sure to "handle it." That wasn't good enough for me, so we will not be shopping there. We looked in consumer reports and they recomended the Eureka Boss Smartvac, so that's what we got. So far it seems great. Lots more attachments than I'm used to.

Okay two posts in one day is more than enough. Oh wait, I need some gratitude:

I am thankful for the world wide web, for my new good friends at WBCGS, for bonuses, and for naughty children other than my own (it's nice to know I'm not alone sometimes).

Field Trips, YAY!

I had three field trips in two days to the Discovery Center this week. It was actually a really fun time, despite 15 three-year olds doing the same thing three times. As a grown-up, I think I might have a better time than the kids. I went down the mouse holes with all three classes (only two classes really appreciated this), played in the park, solved puzzles, did all the body activities, and nothing is broken. I'll have bruises on my knees later from crawling on the floor, but it was worth it. The only little problem was my fault. Yesterday I decided to give blood on my way home and it left me feeling pretty weak for some reason. So I got just a tad light-headed when I was climbing around in the mouse holes. That would have been fun to explain to the kids: "Yeah Mrs. Leese got tired and just fell asleep while she was climbing. Look at that cool ambulance!" The kids of course showed a different personality around their parents than they usually do at school. Basically they acted like Ben acts every day. Which made me feel a little better.
Ben also got his flu shot yesterday. I know he's tough, but I was pretty impressed when he didn't cry as he got poked. He just said "ow, ow, ow, ow," and then was done. Big boy.
Joey is super excited about going hunting with Daddy this weekend. He has been counting down the days. I'm thinking there might be a story from this experience. More on that later.

Fun Times

Last night was scrap night/girls night out. I worked on something new- some large tags that I'm putting pictures of all the boys' different facial expressions on. I didn't get much done, but I had a great time catching up and laughing about the funny stuff we can't put on our blogs. I'm so glad to be able to be part of this group and have friends who are not just co-workers. (Something new for me.)

Today I have been married for 7 years. I have to say that there is no 7-year itch in this family. We are closer than we have ever been. We laugh together more than ever, support each other, and have hobbies that we actually enjoy doing together. I'm not saying that it's perfect (we'll work on what is and is not appropriate for wiping children's noses:), but I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together and seeing how much fun we can learn to have. I love you, honey, and I hope you have a chance to read and appreciate this.

I think for our anniversary we are going to go shopping! 'Cause we really haven't been doing enough of that lately ($463 at Walmart!). Joey is now outfitted for hunting. We got a camo coat, snowpants, boots, mittens, and a blaze orange hat. Then Ben had to get something so we got him a blaze orange ski mask and Spiderman slippers. He runs around saying "I'm a ninja!" And we finally got a vacuum (not at Swanson's thank-you very much). Consumer reports rated the Eureka Boss really high, so Walmart saved us yet again. And THEN we had to go over and get groceries for Bill's new diet. The doctor informed him that his tryglicerides level put him at a 50% greater risk for heart disease and recommended the South Beach Diet. Lots of meat and veggies, no carbs, low fat. Not too difficult, but not what we had in the house. So after all that, the total was $463. Oy was that difficult to stomach. But we're back at it today because we need a new dryer and Bill has his eye on a big screen TV.

Happy Veteran's Day. Remember our heroes today.

Bad News, Good News

The Leese household has been having sooo much fun the last few days. Our basement flooded. Again. For the third time. Saturday morning we all got up and took baths and showers, and I was doing laundry because we would be busy the rest of the day (good news section). I walked into the laundry room at one point and was suddenly ankle deep in water. AAAHHHH!!!! Not too much is ruined, but it did get on the carpet in the play area right where all the stuffed animals lay. Darnit we might have to throw some out. Well, we figured it was just because we overloaded the drain so I cleaned it up and Sunday morning I started another load of laundry. Nope- flooded again. Well great, now we need to call someone and actually pay to have something fixed- not something we do often at this house. Bill decided to try pouring drain cleaner down and running a snake through it. It seemed fine so today I started yet another load of laundry and watched to make sure it drained. So far so good. Then Bill gets home from work and it's flooded again. This time it seems to be the toilet. So now we really did call someone but they won't be here until tomorrow at 8, and I reeeaalllyyy need to take a shower before then. So if anyone sees me tomorrow, don't get too close cause I'll be havin a pretend bath.

So enough yucky stuff. Saturday we had our genealogy meeting and I am going to be Vice President of our society. Yay. I have fun at these meetings and it is nice to be appreciated.

Sunday Bill's Dad and family came to visit for a short time. We don't get together often enough with all of our busy schedules, but it was nice seeing everyone. Joey and Ben love it because their Aunt and Uncles are young enough to still enjoy rolling around on the floor with them. Of course, Grandpa tried it too, but he got kicked in the chin and that was the end of that. After they left we went to the Office store and finally bought a new desk chair (our old one was in two pieces under the desk). We got a really nice one that is more comfortable than the couch. Now I can sit at the computer for hours and be all cozy comfy.

Yesterday Joey didn't have school so the three of us ran errands all morning. We went to Target to buy a new table, Kohls to get a tree to hang my OUAF keys on and a Thanksgiving decoration, the library, the toystore to window shop for Christmas, and then we rounded it all off with a trip to McDonalds play area.

Tonight was Bunco night. My throat hurts from screaming. We get so excited, and it is so much fun. I won $35 for having the most wins! (Actually it was a tie, but I won the roll-off!) I never win anything:)

We've left two messages with the owner of Swanson's and they have not even called us back, so they apparently don't want our business and we are now back to looking for a decent vacuum. Needless to say I am very disappointed in their customer service and will not be recommending them. The thing is, I like when local businesses do well, and I believe it is because of service.

My grateful list for today: down comforters, changing leaves, cool weather, libraries, God, medication, comfort food, and pumpkin (pie, ice cream, bars, whatever as long as it's pumpkin)