InsomniacRed

What am I thankful for?

2008-11-15T14:13:00.002-06:00

It is November, and that means Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

A wonderful understanding husband

Two beautiful and healthy children

A roof over our head

Food on our plates

A car to get us from point A to point B

The list could go on forever...but I will stop here

What are you thankful for?

Oh yes

2008-10-22T09:23:00.001-05:00

I have a blog....LOL

Sorry for no recent update... Ive been a bit busy with school! I graduate on the 28th!! Woot!!

Tata for now

Change Me Plan: New Healthy Food Sunday

2008-09-14T08:37:00.003-05:00

I kind of cheated. I tried my "New Healthy Food" yesterday. And at that, it really was not a "food". I keep coming across things that say green tea is so good for you because of all of the anti oxidants that are in it. So, that is what I tried last night.

I bought a package of green tea, along with two fresh lemons. I made the tea per the directions on the box, added my lemon, and drank. OMFG. Green tea tastes like regular tea, which I only force myself to drink when I have a sore throat or am under the weather. I will not be having anymore green tea until I am sick. That was about as nasty as regular tea. BLEH!

So, new healthy food, FAIL.

Next week, either avocados, papaya, or real figs (not the kind in fig newtons lol)

The Change Me plan

2008-09-13T09:08:00.002-05:00

There are several things that I would like to change about myself. First, I am overweight. This happened after having two babies, and one of my medications doesn't let me loose weight, but it wont let me gain weight either. I would like to spend more time doing stuff with my family. Hubby and I have been having Date Night once a week, every Monday. I take Lil Red out to do something on Saturdays, and Tiny Red and I go do something together on Sundays. Friday night is ME time, and I usually watch a movie on VOD.

Other parts of the change me plan is to exercise every other day, along with yoga on the opposite days. On Sundays, I must try one new healthy food. Yes, only once a week. Other wise it could get very expensive. By Tuesday of next week, I will be down to a half a pack of smokes a day, while my quit date is roughly the last day of October, pending graduation date. Also, I am trying to walk the dog every day. This one is difficult because he is a big pain in the arse when it comes to walks. He pulls, he walks in circles, he runs into me. I have tried several ways, such as those taught by the Dog Whisperer, and by Its me or the dog, but none have worked. Yesterday after taking him for a short walk, we returned home due to my frustration. I went to Fleet Farm and purchased one of those nose harness things. Apparently a Large is too big for my chocolate lab... Today I get to exchange it for a smaller size. Maybe the smaller size will not put pressure on his EYEBALLS.

Anyways, my plan is working ok so far. It helped to create a list of things I can do with the girls along with what new foods to try. Now I just need to figure out the yoga and exercise thing. I know walking the dog is exercise, but I would rather keep that as just spending time with the dog.

Ok so now you all know about the "Change Me" plan! I will keep you updated on my progress.

The Bus and More

2008-09-08T08:31:00.002-05:00

Ok. The bus this year has been faithfully coming at teh same time everyday. This is a first. Last year it would come anywhere from 7:45 to 8:15. This year, it has been right on time (as the time sent to me by the bus company), or well a minute early. It comes every morning at 8:00 (the schedule says 8:01). Every morning I send Caitlin outside at 7:50 just in case. Every morning the neighbor can not get her kids out the door before the bus sits at the corner. Today it took her children two minutes to get out the door and on the bus. First the older one came out, then the middle boy and then the youngest. She insists on yelling at them their entire way to the bus. Why?? Why can she not get her boys outside and ready to go before the bus arrives?? I just sit back and watch the mayhem happening across the street. Its my morning entertainment...

I shop at Target, and their generic appears to be "Market Pantry". So I have been trying to shop more frugally since food prices seem to be rising with no relief on the way.. I have started to buy generic poptarts, cereal bars, jelly's, baking soda, and snacks for the kids. I must say, I do not like the generic poptarts, but that is ok since I probably don't need to be eating them anyways!! The children have not complained one bit, even though I have been buying generic cereal bars on and off for years. Caitlin was rather excited to have "Chickadee's" instead of "goldfish"...

Smoking.

I must quit. I told myself I will quit when I graduate with my AA in CJ from Kaplan. First I was done in June, but then Hamilton switched to Kaplan, and that moved my graduation date up to April. Sometime in there I got a letter saying I was done in January. Then I got a letter for my externship, saying I was done in October, but as I was meeting with the person in charge of the externships, the registar stopped by and said I would not graduate in October, but in January because I was short credits. When I picked up my schedule, my graduation date went back to October, because the registar found some credits from when I went to college right after high school. Thank you art class! So anyways, back to the smoking.. My quit date keeps changing. I was ready to quit in January. But keeping my word, I must quit in October. I have been visiting a few websites and one of them said to keep track of my *triggers*. Thats going to be hard, since everything is a *trigger* for me to go smoke!!! I must be down to a half a pack by September 16th. Wish me luck!

Ok thats all I have for now..

Politics.

2008-09-04T08:59:00.002-05:00

*sigh*

I have to admit, I never really get into politics... I usually vote for who ever my very smart husband suggests.

This year, it is hard to stay silent. We watched the Republican thing (see I don't even know what it was called...) on TV last night and listened to what Sarah P. was preaching about. I managed to get a few things out of the garbled politics boring crapola. Mainly, she would fight for more nuclear power plants in the US to help us get away from foreign oil. Wow. Where does she plan to put all this nuclear waste?? Does she wish to have more Chernobyl's?? Ugh. That just absolutely disgusts me. Why not put all of the money saved from NOT building more nuclear plants into wind, solar, water, and geo thermal energy?!

The other thing that I took away from her speach was that she is an average every day mother. I am sorry, but an average everyday mother who wishes to continue to be there for her children would not want to run for vice president of a very large country. How does she expect to raise her special needs child, and a grandchild if she is too busy following around the president?? She has FIVE kids. I have never really seen the vice president's job as a 9-5, Monday - Friday job that ends when you leave the office. No, I am not after working parents. I just dont think she would be good for the job.

Another thing that was not discussed at the Repblican thing (Convention?) was how many controversy's that Sarah P and John McCain have been envolved in. Google it. Why would we want people who create controversy in Washington??

Lastly, Sarah P.'s youngest child has a disability. As far as I know, Republicans are the ones who always vote against keeping programs that benefit children with disabilities. Can she continue to call herself a Republican?! when they themselves deny children with disabilities the programs that they and their parents need?? Many of her views do not seem to back the Repblican way. How does a country expect to elect a president whos VP doesnt follow the ways??

I do not think that Sarah P. is right for the job. Not because she is a woman, but because of the things above that I mentioned. Yes it is great what she has done for Alaska, but do we really need to change a law that was made several years ago because one party does not agree with it? (Roe vs. Wade) Why does government feel they must step into someones live and tell them that they can not have an abortion?? We settled this issue! Leave it alone! There are more important things to worry about! Off the top of my head I can name a few... The ecomonmy, the war, local energy, less foreign oil, balancing the budget, social security... Lets worry about those before we try to dictate US womans lives.

/Rant

The Great Battle

2008-08-27T12:41:00.002-05:00

Ugh. Time for homework again for Little Red. Thank goodness that Tiny Red does not have homework yet in Headstart! LR loves to fight me tooth and nail about doing her homework. Yesterday, she came home with her spelling words for her test on Friday. She also came home with math homework that is due on Thursday. Today she will come home with her Anthology book, and that homework is due Thursday also.

I always have her write her spelling words a million times, then I test her on Thursday night, day before the test. Last year, every time she did this, she got all five correct. This year she has a list of ten. After writing the first couple of words a few times, the complaining started. She continued to ask why she must do this, she claims to know the words, and how she doesn't like doing this. She took forever getting to the end of the list. Then came dinner, and as that passed, I told her she must do her math homework. After getting up from the table a few times and mom telling her to sit back down and just do it, she got up again. At this time, I told her that if she got up one more time, or complained again, it was time for her to go to bed. Five minutes later, she was up. I said BEDTIME. She argued. I said BEDTIME three more times trying to talk over whatever she was complaining about. UGH. Day one of homework. Only a couple hundred more to go...

I do homework daily. I have been since October of last year. I tried telling Little Red that mommy does homework all the time to get good grades and she too should try to get good grades. Does not seem to work.

Hopefully today homework time will go smoothly, since I have class at 5:30. We also have to start to find distractions for Tiny Red while Little Red is doing homework. That was another issue we had to deal with last night. Maybe her homework will be identifying the letters on the alphabet and writing them each a couple of times. I don't know yet...

Ok speaking of homework, I must study for my test in statistics tonight...

First Day of School

2008-08-21T08:23:00.002-05:00

Well.. Today was Caitlin's first day of school. My little girl is now in the 2nd grade. Where did the time go?? Seems like just yesterday that she was born and we took her home!!

I started my next term yesterday. It went ok. I have statistics this term. I have very mixed feelings about this class... but hopefully I pass.

Everything was great this morning. I woke Caitlin up, she got dressed and brushed her teeth, I brushed her hair ... She got her stuff... Then came time to feed Zoe. I got out the oatmeal, and put the empty box on the counter.. CRASH! Apparently, the counter that always is consumed with recyclables was too full and the empty cardboard box pushed it all over the edge of being full. The radio from which we took camping with us fell over, then knocking over the ceramic flour canister, and sent it straight to the floor.. It was almost as if it exploded leaving tiny shards of white ceramic all over the floor. Of course, both girls, the dog, and both cats had to come investigate the noise.. OMG. Get out of the kitchen! *sigh* The morning was almost perfect..No one got yelled at before this incident, everyone was following mommy's directions...

I finished Zoe's breakfast, and sent Caitlin off to school on the bus.. Ugh. The bus. I hope it manages to come on a consistent time this year...

There is always tomorrow for the "perfect" morning before school.

Now time to find my desk under all these receipts, coins, thread spools, and paper work from everyones school... so I can do my statistics homework..

I am a bad mother.

2008-08-15T16:19:00.001-05:00

Every so often, my children's cute little voices stream into my ears like nails on a chalk board. Everything they say "SCREEEEEEETCHHHHHH". Am I the only one??

ADD & ADHD

2008-08-14T09:37:00.002-05:00

Ok ... First of all.. I am not saying I do not believe in these disorders and they can severely impact families.

I have 5 boys that live in our neighborhood. Four out of the five have ADHD and a few other acronyms.

Is ADHD just a mystery diagnosis that if a child acts out or is out of control, they add this label to them?? Why does it seem like some (SOME) parents use these disorders as an excuse as to why their child is a disobedient monster?! Could it be the parenting of these children?? Maybe their diet of fast food and foods filled with chemicals?? Why are so many children labeled with this?? Do a few of these parents just give up and let this disorder take over their family??

From my observations of the neighborhood boys, I see a major lack of parenting, and extreme cases where fast food is a major part of their childrens diet. One of the parents' only consistancy is that she will ground her children, then ten minutes later tell them to go outside and play. Grounded for ten minutes?? Does she send them outside to play because they are bugging her?? I often feel bad for her because she is a single mother of three young boys... But there has to be other ways of dealing with these children.

How do these labels affect them later in life?? How long does ADHD "last"? Is there an age where it no longer becomes an issue? Maybe when the children start eating right, or have solid rules and schedules?

Maybe in some cases, parenting skills and diet are part of the problem. Has anyone explored this??

Yet another reason...

2008-08-10T16:15:00.002-05:00

... to avoid Walmart...

Customer Service

2008-08-07T08:09:00.002-05:00

Its been a while since I have done a product review on my blog.. Today I will share my best and worst customer service stories...

Its been almost a year since I have contacted these ones, but they stand out in my mind as having EXCELLENT customer service...

GE - Bought some CLF's and three burned out... They sent me two 20$ coupons for free light bulbs

TAO - I bought a photo key chain on clearance at Sharper Image.. It would not charge... They sent me a replacement with a box for me to return the non working one.. No credit card number or anything... they just sent me a 60$ replacement with the hopes I would return the broken one!

Select Comfort - We have had a sleep number bed for a number of years. Our remote died... I called them, they sent me a new one with a postage paid label to return the broken one.

HP - online chat. I was having a driver problem, and I figured I would try out the chat with tech support. Few minutes, I was up and running with my new drivers

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE (Yes they deserve all caps..)

XM radio - I never get an American. Well at least not an American that can understand plain simple english. I have spent hours upon hours on the phone with people from India, or where ever they are just because they do not understand I want to add a gift card to my account, no more. Just the gift card.

Leap Frog - Zoe has a weird thing stuck on her screen on her leapster. It looks like it is something under the screen, so I got on the phone... waited...on hold... for more then an hour before I gave up. I later read in the book that came with it that they only have a 3 month warrenty. WOW. Thats kind of short!

Hmm well thats all I have for the worst... course I could add Walmart...

Walmart - I was in the check out line and finished putting my stuff on the thing. I then went to go pay and mysteriously cut my finger on the pad where you write checks. The check out lady asked if I needed a bandaid, and so I looked ... I had blood running down my arm. YES I need a bandaid. She handed me a paper towel and called for the manager. She went on a hunt for a bandaid and came up with nothing. UM HELLO? Is there NOT an entire isle of bandaids?? I would have bought the box had she went and got one... but no... I was left standing there with a paper towel on my cut finger... UGh.

OK thats all I got ...

10 Things that I have learned this Summer

2008-08-04T18:42:00.002-05:00

1. Summer vacation is short, about 12 1/2 weeks. Make the best of all of it. Best of all plan some down time to do nothing.

2. Do plan on free activities around the area. At the beginning of the summer I went through the community calendars and found several free, and not so free activities for our family to be apart of this summer.

3. Anticipate major weather events to interfere with those free activities. The Sunday of the "500 year flood" or whatever they are calling it, was also the McNader Arts Festival. We did not make it because we were either glued to the TV or were walking down to the river. We were prepared to be evacuated if necessary, but also missed the arts festival.

4. The dog likes a sandbox that has rain water in it. Oh boy. When it was hot, the dog would roll around in the sandbox, and actually kick the sand out so he could have more water! Yeah. We got out the pool for him that same day. He did manage to sneak in there a few more times during the hot days.

5. My children would rather help clean the house then their own room. Zoe helped Tony clean the house several times... (Caitlin was at summer reading camp).

6. Buy stock in sunscreen and bug repellent. I have two redhead girls with very fair skin. Caitlin swells up were she gets bit by the pesky critters... Should have bought stock.

7. Dollar store toys last only a short time - buying the more expensive higher quality plastic or even wood version will save you time in shopping for toys next year. Best part? They will last many years in stead of many days.

8. Along with the weather issues, the fair can turn into a disappointment because of poor planning on the boards account although they did pass the buck and say it was the carnival company's fault.

9. Wet laundry in the washer stinks twice as soon as wet laundry in the washer in the winter. Who knew...

10. Having a DVR helps you to forget about time when you are doing something fun. The DVR came in handy several times through out the summer. It also is nice to have something to watch when you feel like chillin'.

Well I probably could add more, but would you continue to read it if it was 100 things I have learned this summer?? lol

Welcome to August!

2008-08-02T19:07:00.000-05:00

Already?? WHAT? Ok... My terms are ten weeks long.. I started this term June 4th.. I shall be done by Aug 12th. That means the summer is roughly 12 weeks long. WHAT? TWELVE WEEKS?! *sigh*

So I have been doing some school shopping here and there. I did grab a new pair of pants and a tee shirt from KMart today... The shirt was too cute to pass up.. "Save the Trees, Ban Homework". I dont know if I blogged about Caitlin's issues at school last year, but apparently she had not done her home work for like a month. The teacher finally called me to tell me she had a good day after not having good days. That was the first I had heard about Caitlin not doing well!!! Why did she wait so long?? I implemented a few things into our after school routine, and Caitlin was back on track with in a week. ONE WEEK. Anywho.... Perfect shirt for Miss Caitlin who does not like to pay attention in class because she "likes to watch people".

So yeah back to school shopping... Our college put on a item/money drive for the victims of the flood that attend the school. No one... NO ONE affected from the flood stopped by to see what they had to offer. So after a couple of weeks of the stuff sitting in the college, they opened the room up to the entire college. There were about 20 tables full of clothing. I did get some stuff for all four of us... Mostly tried to aim for the children, since hubby and I really do not need much...maybe another pair of shorts or something... But, I lucked out ... I got about 4 outfits for each of the girls...

I also have been Ebaying... I got a pair of Gasoline jeans and a sketchers tee for dirt cheap... Still waiting on the shirt, but the pants are brand freakin new. I LOVE Ebay other then the fact that people sometimes go over board on shipping packaging.

So yeah... August... We are planning a trip to the Zoo next Monday, so hope for no rain, and a day in the high sixties! LOL The Zoo is our last Ha rah for the summer before we all go back to school. I have a short week long break .. I go back August 20th, Caitlin on the 21st, and Zoe starts head start on the 26th. Busy busy...

Now we just need to find a job for the Hubby and all will be well!

School

2008-07-27T10:02:00.003-05:00

School is right around the corner. Caitlin starts August 21, and Zoe starts August 26. I am so excited that Zoe got into head start this year. She will be gone Monday through Friday from 8:45 to 1:30. This will help me out while I continue to go to college.

Problem with having two in school? Double the school clothes!! Luckily I do not need to provide supplies to head start (or at least they have not told me yet). Bleh!

Money Green Money

2008-07-25T19:07:00.002-05:00

We have spent $3777.82 on our gas and electric bill over the last 18 months. WOW. Our highest for gas was in February 08 for $307.05. Our highest electric bill was in July of 07 for $144.75. It averages out to be about $210 a month.

We have changed all of our bulbs to compact florescent. We turn lights off when we leave the room. We keep our thermostat low (Not too low because I refuse to be COLD in our HOME). We grill in the summer, as to not heat up the house more then it already is. We have curtains with backings along with pull down shades. Closed in the summer, open in the winter and at night. We only wash and dry full loads of laundry and dishes. I spent weeks caulking around our windows and doors and any other place that heat / cold air could escape.

I know we need insulation. We need it bad. I guess I am blogging about this to keep track to see how much we save after we get insulation.

BLEH. Thats a lot of money that could have been saved or spent on other things. (like insulation?) lol

Finals...

2008-07-23T19:51:00.002-05:00

Ok so we have a week called "Finals" week, which is week 10 of our term. But for some reason, here in week 8, I have a final project due for class # 1. Then in week 9, I have final essays for class #1, final essays and final exam for class #2, and a final project due for class #3. For week 10 (FINALS WEEK), I have a final exam in class #1, and final exam and final essays for class #3. I guess I am ok that it is not all due in week ten, but why have an entire week called finals week if the finals are spread out between week 8 through week 10?

For those of you that are keeping track, that means I have three things due for each class; a final project, final essays, and a final exam.

Ok. Rant over. Going to work on final project in week 8 for class #1.

So much to post about!

2008-07-06T10:23:00.003-05:00

Hmm where do I start? I talked about the flooding last week...

We went camping from Sunday through Thursday of last week... Came home because I had class on Thursday and Tony DJ's on Friday and Saturday...

Heres a covered bridge that is near our campground...

Some canna lilies that my neighbors mom gave me...

The blackeye susans that I planted last spring that never grew... I went out back one night, and omg, there they were, about three feet tall!

Some celosia that I planted ...

I had four rose buds this year!

I finally bought some shrubs for the front of the porch! They are "globe arborvitae" and have a cedar like leaf...

Rewind a couple of weeks...

2008-06-27T21:00:00.003-05:00

So Tony and I went out on Saturday... The sky was very pissy... Thunder and lightning everywhere... before we had went out, there were tornado sirens and a huge nasty storm cell coming our way.. We put the kids and animals in the basement and tuned to the local channel. I think we had the kids in the basement for over an hour due to the bad weather, tornado warnings, thunderstorm warnings, and so on.....

Fast forward to Saturday night... Drive home, awesome because you could see all of the lightning ... Little did we know.............

Sunday morning, I wake up ... got ready to go to the store...I realized our quiet little dead end road was busy with traffic... I decided to head towards the local park... I hope to never see what I saw that morning again! The river had rose so much it was going (and fast) over the bridge and the entire N. Carolina was flooded....

A wagon, one of the green ones... floated down the river...

No one in our city was injured physically. The emotional part will effect several for a very long time..

I drove home to find out the river was at an all time high of 18.67 feet... previous record was 15 something in like 1933...

Water everywhere. Except our little house on the hill! Countless number of peoples houses and basements were flooded... we were lucky.. the carpet was just damp.

Late Sunday afternoon, they shut the water off in our city... The water treatment plant had flooded.

Wednesday, we had water to flush the toilets and to shower... Friday we had clean drinking water.

It was a mess, the city is still a mess and peoples homes are now condemned.

Of course the water went south. Cedar Falls, Des Moines, and many other cities flooded. All but 8 counties were listed as a "disaster" by the governor

Heres pics of the river, well normally there is a trail there and not the river... and other areas of the City.

Moles? Dwarfs? Gnomes?

2008-05-17T08:22:00.002-05:00

Something is digging up our yard at night. Strange part, there is no hole under the piles of dirt... there are no ants or other bugs in the dirt... they are just piles of dirt on top of the ground that keep appearing over night. Is it the garden gnomes?? Are they playing a trick on me? I know they can be mischievous, but WHY THE YARD? Is it aliens? Are they dumping the dirt in the back yard as some kind of out of this world experiment?? WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE BACK YARD AT NIGHT?!

Below are pictures of the mysteryous dirt piles... Number 1 was the first one to happen about three nights ago... Number 2 was the next night, and number 3 & 4 appeared this morning... The last picture is all of them...

Sorry for the low quality, it was taken with my 1.3 MP camera phone since my actual camera batteries are D E A D.

New things

2008-04-14T18:59:00.003-05:00

Ok... the last few months I have come across several websites claiming to have the best product and if you send them 10 dollars you can give a hippo water roller to poor people in Africa so they can haul clean water to their homes. Then I come across another website about sending the people in Africa croc shoes so they no longer have to walk barefoot. Now today, I came across the next new lifesaving product called a LifeStraw. As much as I would love to help out the African people, I must say my family must come first. Whether it be shoes, clothes, books, toys, they just come first. Usually, I then come second lol. I hope if you read this, and if you have an extra $10 you could help send these people the shoes, straws, and rollers that they need.

In my next life I hope to be a rich humanitarian so I can travel the world and lend a hand where needed. It wont happen in this lifetime, and I apologize for that...

And.. I just want to add, that if I did have an extra $10, I would put it towards one of several things on my current "want & need" list: getting the fence put up, cutting down the Mulberry tree so we can have back that part of our yard, an outdoor patio set so the inlaws and us have a nice place to sit outside while we have BBQ's (and so I have a table outside to do homework on), insulation for our attic and sidewalls, a hammock chair and stand, and well an emergency savings fund.

So again, I feel bad for those who are starving and can not have safe drinking water in Africa, I do think that we should focus a bit on the American society too. There are starving people here also, even though you can not tell by looking at the number of morbidly obese. There are also homeless people who have families... For the richest country, we sure treat our own pretty shitty when it comes to them being homeless, disabled, or even an armed forces vet. Lets get AMERICA put back together first.

Card

2008-04-05T20:26:00.002-05:00

My husband asked me at the last minute to make a card for a co-worker for his 15th wedding anniversary. Heres what I came up with

Well fine.

2008-04-05T11:01:00.002-05:00

I will update my blog. I don't remember how long it has been, but here I am...

I am currently trying to keep up with my homework, housework, kids, laundry, and this thing called spring cleaning. I actually love to do spring cleaning, but because of my backlog of laundry and housework, the spring cleaning does not get done.

My children have managed to keep their room clean since I cleaned it. They do go a couple of days without picking up, but it is still considered manageable.

I am so bogged down with homework, it seems to take me the entire week to complete my readings and assignments. Its ok, I wont be in school forever, right??

UGH The housework... We had Caitlin's birthday party on Wednesday night and the house still has trash here and there from the presents, tags, and toy packaging. Why must stuff come with so much packaging?? Ill work on this sometime today.

As for the yard, I did get all of the MONTHS of dog poop in the front yard cleaned up yesterday. That was a nice accomplishment. Now for the side yard!!

We have one less dog (long story) so you would think the poop would be cut in half. Unfortunately, it was the little dog that was banished, so the large pooper is still adding large dog logs to the yard! LOL

As for the laundry... ugh. If I could remember to start it at a decent time, and remember to put it away when its out of the dryer, I would be a million miles closer to being caught up then I currently am! Fly lady says a load away keeps the mountain away. I wish I could grasp that concept!

Ok back to writing my paper that will determine what the subject of my final paper will be about. I am having problems starting it, knowing what order to put it in, and just plain getting it organized. We are supposed to pick a social problem and why we want to write and research this problem and which perspective we feel it has.

Frosting...

2008-04-02T15:55:00.001-05:00

UGh.

I read on someones blog about how they took the premade frosting and whipped it in with their mixer and it almost doubled in size. DO NOT TRY THIS!!! All it did was make the frosting sticky. It did not double in size, nor was it light and fluffy... it was a sticky gooey mess.

Pictures and stuff to come later...

APRIL FOOLS!

2008-04-01T08:03:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, this is no April Fools joke. If it is, its a pretty elaborate one that affects the entire city...

Every morning...

2008-03-29T08:42:00.005-05:00

All I can think of is "STARBUCKS?! WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST OUR CITY?"

*sigh*

I just want a Frappichino, Caramel, Extra sweet :/

No one around town seems to sell the bottles of caramel frap anymore :(

Yes I am fully aware of the Latte' Factor, and don't really see this as a problem since I usually buy a bottle of frap from the gas station anyways.

I guess I could drive 35 minutes to the Casino for a frap...hmm naw...

Srsly...

2008-03-27T09:46:00.002-05:00

The Box

2008-03-26T07:50:00.002-05:00

I came home from grocery shopping yesterday to find a box on the porch. I did not have time to open the box until 9pm. When I opened the box, there was another box inside. When I opened the second box, there were two boxes inside. I ordered one teekwood bathmat from JC Penny's on Sunday. After opening the boxes, I realized they sent me two teekwood bathmats! I paid with a gift card, so its not like they can charge me for two, and according to all the paper work, they only sent me one!

Mmm

2008-03-21T16:02:00.001-05:00

OK so according to the calendar today is the first day of spring. According to my weather plug in, it is 32 and foggy with a chance of snow.

GET IT TOGETHER WEATHER!

Back to Class

2008-03-19T07:41:00.003-05:00

Well, my break is over! The only real accomplishment this week was the fridge got cleaned...I did do some laundry and other things, but not what I had planned.

I am so happy February is over. It seemed to last forever!!

I planted impatiens seeds from the store, and some salvia seeds that I harvested. I guess we will see if I am a good seed harvester or not!! I have pictures, but I have not downloaded them yet.

Ok well off to class!

Hotpocket!

2008-03-14T14:34:00.001-05:00

I had a hotpocket for lunch and could not stop thinking about the comedian who did a skit about them...

watch the hotpocket video

Sundays

2008-03-13T19:22:00.002-05:00

This is what I do on Sundays...

Scrapbook
Watch tv
Think of design ideas for my craft room
Organize things
Make weird projects such as these below.. rope coasters! I want coasters, I really want thirsty stone ones, but I never find the ones I want...

I saw some online that are made out of rope, but they glue them together on a piece of cardboard. I just can not see them holding up... so I am lightly stitching them together then I will glue some felt to the bottoms...

Ramblings

2008-03-13T10:27:00.003-05:00

Well I got two out of three of my grades for this term:

Criminology A
Juvenile Delinquency A-

Im a bit disappointed in my A-, but I will live. I just hope to PASS composition II! LOL Next term, I have Introduction to Corrections, Crime Scene Investigation, and get this... SOCIAL PROBLEMS! I know I have problems, but sheesh did they have to make a class about it?? I am all ready to go for next term, but since we switched from 11 week terms to 10 week terms, we now get a week off between them. Let me tell you... this is the second longest week ever! The first longest week was winter break. It just did not want to end!

Since I have not had to worry about going to class, or writing several papers a week, I have managed to do silly little things around the house that I usually put off cuz I have more important chores to do! Yesterday, I gave Zeus a much needed bath, and I cleaned out the fridge! It was so nice when I got home from grocery shopping today to just put everything in and have room for it all!

I never really thought we did ok money wise for groceries until today when I bought food only. I spent about 100 bucks on food for two weeks. The grocery list was longer then usual too! This doesn't include our soda or junk food, but wow. On the menu:

Tuesday
B Oatmeal
L PB&J
D Meatball Subs

Wednesday
B Cereal
L PB&J (Zoe gets PISSED if she does nt get PB&J)
D Mediterranean Chicken & Rice

Thursday
B Oatmeal
L PB&J (See above)
D Sloppy Joes

Friday
B Cereal
L Nuggets
D Going Out

Saturday
B Cereal
L Mac & Cheese
D Chili

Sunday
B Oatmeal
L open
D open

Monday
B Cereal
L PB&J
D Sketti & Sticks

Tuesday
B Oatmeal
L PB&J
D Beef Chimichangas

Wednesday
B Cereal
L Mac& Cheese
D Meatball Strognoff & Potato wedges

Thursday
B Malt O Meal
L PB&J
D Fettichini Alfredo

Friday
B Oatmeal
L PB&J
D parmeasan chicken

Saturday
B Oatmeal
L Mac& Cheese
D Tuna Noodle Hotdish

Sunday
B Cereal
L open
D Ham & Scallop Potatoes

Monday
B Oatmeal
L PB&J
D Meatloaf & mashed potatoes

Recycle...

2008-03-05T18:29:00.002-06:00

Footprints in the snow

2008-03-05T17:41:00.001-06:00

The longest

2008-02-24T21:32:00.002-06:00

I have a small bit of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and every February is the longest month of my life. Funny how the shortest month seems like the longest every year...

Schools going great, kids are growing...

It was Craft Room Sunday today! I finished a page and a half... (well 4 and started another set for each of my family albums)

Finals are coming up the second week in March! I can not wait to see what my new classes will be! I already know my schedule, same as this term, 1 in house class, 2 online...

Is winter over yet? Someone make the "winter storm warning" go away. It keeps popping up every Sunday & Monday...

Um Ok...

2008-02-13T22:05:00.002-06:00

I woke up this morning to me stealing my husbands pillow. I was having a dream that I was shredding pillows.....

My family doesnt know this yet but...

2008-01-24T14:10:00.000-06:00

I have decided that we are going to change our diets in a major way... out with fast food and pizza ... in more healthy alternatives... and get read for this... fruits and veggies..

This will be fun...

Its been a while...

2008-01-18T15:46:00.000-06:00

Since I last blogged, and since I have done a product review!

IDog

Ill start with the IDog. I loved the concept of these little critters, they barked, played music, and I THOUGHT they were able to have an MP3 player plugged into them and they would be a speaker for your music. I got the wrong one. I got the cheaper one for 14.99, and it did not allow you to hook up a MP3 player. Well... thats why I bought both girls an MP3 player in the first place! Although, they use them a lot. The IDog goes through batteries like they are going out of style!

My rating: Poor

Leapster

Leapster! We bought two of these, one for each girl. They love them, and still do. Now that they have had them for a couple of weeks, the cartridges are a little bit of work to get them to recognize it. I wanted to buy the battery packs and charging system, but wow! they are almost 40$ a piece. We only paid 59.99 a piece for the system! The girls still love them, and play them a lot. It gives me some peace and quiet, so of course, I love them.

My rating: Great

TAO Key Photo Key Chain

When Tony and I went on our mini vacation last weekend, we bought a TAO keychain that was an open box from The Sharper Image. After tring to charge the thing both with the usb to computer, and usb to wall charger, it still did not work. I called the company and they sent me a new one, and a labeled and postage paid envelope for me to send back the old one. They did not need a credit card or anything. Excellent customer service!!! I have not had the chance to use the product yet, but I can already tell that this one works. lol

My rating: Great

Swiffer Wet Jet

I have a swiffer sweeper vac that I can not live with out. I would cry if it died. Then I would wipe my tears and go buy a new one!! So since I love the vac so much, I figured I would give the wet jet a try! I am not sure I like it. I vac'ed before I used it, and it still seemed to have picked up some dog hair, but I felt like I was just moving the dirt and not really picking it up...But it was very quick, and thats what I need

My rating: Good

My robe

I got a robe and several pairs of pajamas for Christmas. I love them all. Its nice to have new ones to wear around the house. I also love my robe. I never was much of a robe person, but its been kinda cold in here, even with the thermostat cranked, so I have been wearing it. Very nice... lol

My rating: Great

there ya go. I posted

Happy Monday

2008-01-07T11:13:00.001-06:00

Thanks to me for forgetting to pick up my pills on Friday, I did not sleep last night... After tossing and turning, I finally got out of bed at 5:30am. So I did some internet surfing and finally went and took a shower around 7ish. After that I got Caitlin up for school, and gave her breakfast. Around 7:50, i told her to start getting ready to go out to the bus... So she did. She walked out the door at 7:55, just as the neighbor and his boys were walking to the bus stop. Not knowing any better, we stood there with our kids until 8:18 and I finally called the school, no water main break this time, they transfered me to the bus depot. Turns out, the bus was at the stop after our stop at 7:58. For some reason she has to call the bus depot every day when she gets to that stop. PROBABLY because she is either way early, or way late, and drives away when kids are four feet from the bus. Anyways, she had already been back to the bus depot. Grrr... so fine. I tell the neighbor boys and Caitlin to get into the car, and I go in to get Zoe... Caitlin and Logan start complaining about space. LOL TOO BAD. I have a dodge neon. not big on space.

So I make it to school almost late myself... Blahblah Composition II lecture thing... get done, go to Tonys work, then to get my pills... I go get Zoe, get home, and theres a small doggie on a chain at my back door... WHOOPS! I forgot to put Zeus back in the house in the shuffle to get everyone to school and daycare!! hehh Good thing its 34 outside today!

Blogging can help with Scrapbooking!

2008-01-03T12:30:00.001-06:00

I have not scrapbooked since we have moved here. We moved here June 2006. We moved into our house October 2006. I got my craft room set up sometime in Feb of 07. I have not printed any pictures for scrapbooking this entire time, but I have posted to my blog!

I was writing on the back of the pictures today and simply could not remember when it was or the exact month... I knew I had blogged about it, so I searched for that post and omg! Theres the date! lol

Anywho...

Happy Holidays

2007-12-29T12:11:00.001-06:00

Weeeee made it through Christmas!

I AM SOOO BORED.

I miss having home work to obsess over! I can not wait to get back to school! I go back on the second of January, the kids go back on the third. This term i have two online classes and one in house class. Criminology, Juvenal Delinquency, and Composition II. I think the composition might kick my butt, but I will try my hardest!

Today we are leaving for Wisconsin, and we will stay in a hotel once we get there. Then in the morning, we will go to my aunt and uncles, and await the rest of my family. I hope the trip is pleasant, since you never know how its going to go with a 6 and 4 year old!

Ok must finish packing and gathering stuff for our trip! Bye!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

2007-12-21T15:33:00.000-06:00

So I completed my last week of my first term last week. I am done! Whoohoo! I go back January 2nd, for my second term.

Guess what..... I am getting A's! Who knew?? I'm sooo proud of myself!

Ok Christmas is coming faster then I would like! I am on break, Zoe is on break since Thursday and Caitlin's last day was today.

I finished my christmas shopping on Tuesday, thanks to my wonderful hubby who sold a ton of cars! I am so proud of him!

I got a hair cut yesterday. They cut off nine inches, and i still have enough hair to put into a pony tail! I knew it was long, but my gosh...

Hmmm

2007-12-03T13:16:00.000-06:00

Well its that time of year and some people need things like wishlists. So here is one of mine at Amazon.com

More to come later

Day Lights Savings

2007-11-04T10:21:00.000-06:00

Not only do our electronics get messed up, our children's inner clock does not realize the time difference. I have never liked day lights savings because of this reason. Don't matter what time it is, the kids still get up at the ass crack of dawn. But when you change your clocks, they get up an hour before the ass crack of dawn. Thanks.

My kids are strange. Its Sunday morning and instead of watching cartoons, they are watching some kind of dog Olympics on Animal Planet. Three hours later, they are still watching Animal Planet. I tell them to go clean their room and they say but I am watching cartoons. NO YOUR NOT.

We are under a severe weather alert today. It is supposed to be windy. Um hello? I live in Iowa. Its either windy, or windy. Duh. But since its below 60, we might end up with a wind chill. Silly weather...

I took down the spider webs out side yesterday. I heard it is supposed to snow, so I wanted to do it before that happened. BTW, it was much more fun putting them up then it was taking them down. It makes our porch look a bit dull.

Now that all my flowers are dead, I miss them. A lot. I miss looking at them and realizing how much they have grown since the last time I looked at them! Time to pull them out of the ground. I am going to wait till its warmer outside. If that happens.

School Update

2007-10-26T07:41:00.000-05:00

Weeee another busy week thats almost over! I have been studying for my Intro to Criminal Justice test since Tuesday. The test is not until next Tuesday, but I don't want to procrastinate when it comes to school. I want to know my stuff. I want to get A's. I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I know I am capable of getting good grades, my last year in high school proved that.

I am having a hard time finding a study technique that works for me. I know writing things down several times helps me, but it doesn't seem to be helping in this situation. In my Human Dynamics class we are learning about study techniques. I am trying to apply them to my other classes.

I have psychology home work, and I need to do some of my Document Processing & Presentation stuff. But mainly, I need to study for this test.

Blahblah blah...

Update:

2007-10-22T15:45:00.000-05:00

Nothing new here... Well actually there is a lot new...

Tony and I celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday! Woot! Its been a great seven years with a lot of ups and downs, but I don't think a marriage should be with out them! How boring would that be, right?

We finally got around to getting more family pictures done! (Thanks Kim!) Our last family picture was when Caitlin was 9 months old! Oops. I am not saying we haven't had ANY done of Zoe, just not the four of us!

I am still working on decorating my bedroom! I ran out of stuff to texture the walls! But even if I had some more stuff, I would have NO time to actually get to it since its a very messy project.

Today is week three of school. That means there are 7 more weeks of this term. So far so good. Now if only I could get my house work done too. I spent time doing homework Thursday and Friday, and I worked on it for 10 hours on Saturday, and about 3 on Sunday. Thats a lot of homework. Oh well, I guess I only have one project due every two weeks for Psychology, so this wont be a weekly trend.

I don't know if I blogged about it, but we put Tico in the craft room. He was peeing on EVERYTHING in the basement, and we just couldn't take anymore of it. We did this about a month ago. The bad part about him being out there, when I have my mandatory craft room Sundays is that he is sooo lonely that I cant get anything done!

Uh... Hmm... OK... thats all for now I guess!

Fly like a butterfly sting like a bee?

2007-10-15T11:13:00.000-05:00

Wow.. week two of getting everyone to where they need to be and when is going okay so far, yet its only Monday so we will see how Tuesday and Wednesday go. Thursday and Friday I do not have class, and its just Tony work, Caitlin school, and Zoe preschool on Thursday.

Of course I have two appointments to throw into the mix, along with having to pick up and delivering of the fund raiser stuff from last month.

Ill be going to the Mall of America today to meet my aunt and uncle before they fly out to Australia and New Zealand for vacation. It always takes ME an hour longer then anyone else to get places.. lol I drive the speed limit and make many stops. I hope the girls sleep on the way home so I can just cruise back on into Iowa.

Although everyones schedules are now blending together a bit better since we have two cars, I have been slacking on the home front. Laundry is not getting done, the house is in constant disarray, the dogs are probably under walked... :( I have not made the bed in almost a week *sigh*

That will be next to put into the mix of things I guess...

Strengths Quest

2007-10-13T19:07:00.000-05:00

www.strengthsquest.com

We found out our top five strengths on Wednesday. Some people find they don't identify at all with their top five, or maybe one or two, but not all. I pretty much agree with all five of mine. Here are my top five and some "definitions" of them..

Strategic
Sort through the clutter and find the best route
See patterns when others simply see complexity
What if?
Know there is more then one way to get from point A to point B
Quickly pick out relevant issues and patterns
Lightning quick evaluation of what wont work
People don't realize you have considered all of the options
Sometimes you think backwards

Intellection
Like to think, like mental activity
Like exercising the "muscles" of your brain
Thought goes in multiple directions, may be focused, may lack focus
Simply like to think
You are your own best companion
Mental hum, constants of your life

Communication
Like to explain, describe, speak, write, and tell stories
Bring a dry idea to life
Want information
May be criticized because you like to talk a lot
Reach out and connect with people

Input
Inquisitive
Collect things that interest you
Find several things interesting - Keeps your mind fresh
Always adding information to your archives
Don't feel comfortable with throwing anything away
Want to know more, crave information
Active and resourceful curiosity

Restorative
Love to solve problems
Analyzing the symptoms, identifying what is wrong
Enjoy bringing things back to life
Fix it, resuscitate it, rekindle its vitality
Readily take on projects others believe cant be "saved"
Quickly recognize problems that others may not detect
Other people might not like the fact you can quickly detect problems, weaknesses, situations and organizations

Now add those things to my bipolar, depression and anxiety, and you pretty much have me figured out.

Busy!

2007-10-12T07:22:00.000-05:00

Oh my I was so busy Monday Tuesday and Wednesday that my head was just spinning! Monday I had to get Caitlin off to school, and went to my first class. Tuesday Tony went out of town and I had to get Caitlin off to school, Zoe off to school, bring Kim to the hospital, and I ran several errands. Then I had to pick Zoe back up. Tuesday night, I had a class. I found a babysitter (at the last possible second) for that night since Kim had another procedure done and I wanted her to get some sleep. Wednesday, I got Caitlin off to school, took Zoe to her new daycare (her second day EVER in daycare) and went to class. Then I had to pick up Zoe... (she had fun) Then I had to go to the online orientation that I had accidentally gone to on Tuesday... Then I attended my night class. When I got home, my husband was home! :D Then Thursday, I had to get Caitlin off to school, and take Zoe to preschool...........

Is your head spinning yet?????? Hehehe

And since today is Friday, and I apparently have ignored the house, I must clean clean clean!

DO NOT WANT!

2007-10-09T07:39:00.000-05:00

I went downstairs to the laundry room this morning to look for clothes for Miss Zoe. This is what I saw crawling across the floor....... These pictures had a bottle cap in them, but it got cropped out of the picture. This spider fits perfectly inside the bottle cap.

I thought that it might be a brown recluse spider... So I googled them, and came across this picture. Yup ... Close enough for me... *shudder*

Now I feel kind of silly since yesterday I posted this in my children's blog...

First Day of one class

2007-10-08T11:21:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day of Human Dynamics. It started out with roll call, then sign in, then initialing the "contact" sheet with our information on it.

We then went through our class syllabus. Talked a bit about the books for the class, and then we each said something about each ourselves. This is a huge part of the class since it is about learning about ourselves. Our strengths, not our weaknesses...

We then had a sheet of paper with a few squares labeled things like "has pets", "traveled to another continent" and so on, then we had to collect "signatures" of the people fitting those "titles". Once we got as much from our classmates, we were off to find the rest from students and faculty in the building. Once that was completed, we were free to go.

I had fun. I told my husband that I had "fun", and he kind of looked at me like HUH? FUN? Wednesday we are going to be taking our"strengths quest assessment" to learn our top five. Ive started reading the book about the assessment, and it seems very interesting. I almost can not wait to do it!

Got some spare change??

2007-10-04T12:01:00.000-05:00

Apparently, banks are getting rid of their change counters. Well they are in my city anyways. WHY?! .... My bank bags the change then sends it to Des Moines for them to count and then they credit your account. WHAT?! They told me First Citizens might still have one. So I load Zoe back into the car and drive a block. We get out, go inside, and the teller says "Its a five dollar fee if you do not bank with us." "WHAT? I don't even know how much change I have, but I know I am not giving five of it to you to count my change and give me paper money..." (Didn't actually say this but OOhhh So wanted to) She told me she could waive todays fee. Great. Thanks. I walked out of there with $7.59.

So what is the point of saving that change then?? I usually use mine for when I completely run out of money. But if you have to have it "sent out" by your own bank, or pay a $5 fee for a local bank to count it, whats the point?? Why is there "change" then??

WOOT! FOR SUNDAY!

2007-09-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

Woot! Football is on tv! Yes... I know.. I am actually CHEERING for football. About three weeks ago, I asked hubby if he was going to continue to watch football, he said ya probably. So I handed him my glasses and tried to take a nap. A few minutes of laying there not sleeping, I said "HEY why dont you call your brother and see if he wants to come watch football, and I will go play in my craft room! But theres one catch, the kids stay in the house." He said okay! And off I went to my craft room. It is so nice to be in my craft room alone. Completely alone, expect for the cat that we kicked out of our house and into the craft room. He can be a pest, but I dont mind...

WOOHOOO FOR FOOTBALL!

(and craft room day!)

oh yea

2007-09-29T08:31:00.000-05:00

a blog! hehe

Hmm whats new... my glasses start soon, in less then two weeks actually... I am getting nervous about baby sitters, class schedules, homework, PEOPLE...

In the mean time, I am trying to decorate our bedroom, and decluttering our home. There is clutter everywhere... I am sure its not as bad as some peoples houses, but I don't want to deal with the clutter anymore. Like flylady and several others often say, a cluttered house can make you tired, depressed, and lead to a cluttered brain & life. I would love to get rid of everything but the basics, but that will never happen because we all have a slight hoarding issue. LOL

Zeus got fixed on Wednesday. He is really bruised. The sack that is left is black, and around his incision is very red. It is not warmer then the rest of him, so I am hoping there is no infection and it is just bruising.

Kim drove me to the vet to drop of Zeus, then we went to IF to visit the grandma greats. They were very happy to see us and the pictures that Kim had done from her friend the photographer.

I was going to finally have my garage sale today since the neighbor is having one and she put an ad in the paper. I was going to use her publicity to get people to come to my sale. After much procrastination, lack of planning, and plain laziness, I decided to donate all of it to the local womans shelter. I hope they pick stuff up since they don't have an address published anywhere.

Ok maybe more later...

Mom.

2007-09-23T07:38:00.000-05:00

Lois. Lois. Lois. Lois. Lois. MOM...Mommy Mommy Mommy Momma! Momma! Momma! MA! MA! MA! MOM MOM MOM Mommy Mommy Momma Momma!

*WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaT?!!*

Hi.................... hehh

LINK!

Look what my garden sprouted!

2007-09-21T13:48:00.000-05:00

Yet Another review: Sergeants' Silver

2007-09-19T14:31:00.000-05:00

After washing the cat, yes. WASHING THE CAT. I put Sergeant's Silver on our cat Deja. About two days later, he started loosing fur where I applied the product. I immediately called the emergency number on the back of the box. They told me to wash the cat. YES AGAIN I HAD TO WASH THE CAT. They told me to use a mild soap such as dish soap, rinse well, then lather up again and rinse well.

Heres a picture of the fur loss on our poor cat. (WHO STILL HAS FLEAS.) *sigh*

Another Product Review: Hartz brand pet supplies

2007-09-19T13:36:00.001-05:00

After using the Hartz ADVANCED CARE 4 in 1 flea and tick drops for our dogs all summer, we got fleas. I really liked the price of this product and the availability at the stores. They had two different ones to choose from, the 4 in 1 and the 3 in 1. I of course got the one that "Kills fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, PLUS flea eggs.

So after washing the dogs with HARTZ brand "Rid Flea" dog shampoo, and following the instructions to the T, we still have fleas.

So today I called HARTZ to see what they could do for me, I dunno, send me some coupons or a refund, or whatever. I figured since the back of the box it says "Guaranteed to work or your money back" followed with "if not completely satisfied, return unused portion for a full refund." But apparently those rules are different if you call them first. They told me that there was nothing they could do, and it sounded like the fleas became resistant to the drops, and told me another laundry list of products I could buy. Then I asked about the guarantee on the box, and he told me that if I send the product back, along with the sales receipt, I could get my money back. I do NOT have this receipt! Can you imagine the clutter one would have if they saved every receipt for EVERY product they bought?? Its bad enough that I saved the cardboard and receipt for the hose that I bought and it happened to burst! LOL

UGH. So, my suggestion, with the horrible customer service that HARTZ has, do not use their product. NONE of it. If you call they will contradict what their packaging clearly states.

8 dollars and 10 minutes

2007-09-17T10:08:00.001-05:00

What can you do with 8 dollars in 10 minutes??

I created this head board... out of bamboo place mats from dollar tree...

Obsessive

2007-09-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

I really can not wait until I go back to school. Other then the fact that Zoe might switch days and I will have to find a sitter on Mondays. I think that would be the only conflict day. But until I start school.... I have been printing lists, calendars, weekly & daily planner pages...

I got a "binder" organizer idea from flylady a while back, but have not been utilizing it to its full potential. My friend KCBlueGal brought up that she has been using a binder and gave me her idea of what sections / tabs she has. So I took some of her ideas and flyladys ideas and came up with one that works for me!

I had one binder sort of done, but I did not like how it was done, so today, I redid it.

I am also almost out of calendar pages for my ginormous desk calendar, and went on a hunt to find new pages. I have had no luck locally. I think I might try Iowa Office Supply sometime next week. I also tried to find a planner thing that I can tote to school or where ever with me so I always have my schedule and everyone else's schedules with me. Again, I failed to find something that I liked. So I bought a new binder and some tabs to create myself one that will work for me and my busy family.

Obsess obsess obsess...

I did it!

2007-09-04T07:26:00.001-05:00

So after working on the front pillars on the porch all summer long, I finally had my husband finish scraping the paint off the tops so I wouldn't have to do some funny acrobatic moves on top of a ladder that is way too far off the ground for me. Then comes the paint. I am completely finished with painting the pillars! I am so excited! Now I just have to clean off the porch and all its contents that seem to multiply when I go inside.

Whats on my to do list next? Finish the door of the girls room that I was going to scrape the paint of and stain and polyurethane. But the rain for six days helped the paint pealing process go a bit faster. It also ruined the door to the point where I no longer can stain it. One painted door among two stained doors is going to look kind of funny. Not sure what to do now.

I also would like to finish relocated my rock pile to the 8th flower garden that I am making. 8 you say? Why yes. Because this 8th flower bed will make it so I do not have to haul the mower all the way around the house and between mine and the neighbors garage just to mow a six foot by ten foot space of green. I plan to take the preannuals that are all over my yard and divide them up and start new ones in this area.

There are about fifty other things on the "To Fix" and "To do list" but for now, I am happy with completing one of the things on there.

Saturday

2007-09-01T20:00:00.001-05:00

WOW! I was busy today! I raked the front yard and mowed it and the back yard (theres no acorns in the backyard). I scraped some more paint off of the pillars (I borrowed the neighbors' contractors ladder) and did the other things I do during the day LOL.

ok.. thats all..

Quote of the day

2007-08-30T08:04:00.000-05:00

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."
– Robin Williams

Going back to school

2007-08-30T07:37:00.001-05:00

No, I am not talking about my 6 year old or even my 3 year old. I am talking about me. I decided that I am going to go back to college. I want to be a counselor or a talk therapist. I just feel there are not enough of these in the world, since every time *I* try to make an appointment, I can not get one for three months. In order to do this, I would either need a PhD in Psychology, or a Masters in Social Work.

Of course the college that I want to go to does not have this exact field at this point. They are switching to a different college, so at that time, they will have more of what exactly I want. So for now, I am in the "Criminal Justice" program, which will help me be more aware of the system which would help me have a bigger client base.

I chose this college for several reasons. 1) Its smaller, and has less students and smaller class sizes. 2) The other college in town, NIAC, is so busy with students, sports, and other things. 3) I wont have to take a zillion English or Math classes to get where I want to go 4) Its close. I don't have to drive out of town or to a bigger city

I am very excited, yet disappointed that I can not get into the fall term until October 8th!

Dogs vs. Cats

2007-08-24T09:07:00.000-05:00

So I have been a cat person all my life. In fact I say that after my children leave home, and if my husband were to pass before me, I would be come "CAT LADY" ...

I have not had a dog since I was a child. Ive always had cats though.

Today I just realized that a dog is so much more loyal then a cat. Dogs want your attention all the time, and don't really care. But I do know we have two very needy dogs. But cats? They will only pay attention to you if you are busy. You know, reading a newspaper or magazine that they can lay on . They also only want attention from you when THEY want, if you want to socialize with them, they usually have other things to do. You know, very important stuff... like nap... take a bath... lay in the sun...

New product on ETSY

2007-08-17T11:24:00.000-05:00

I just put a new digital kit up in my Etsy store! This one is called "Back to School" Go check it out!

Back to routine.

2007-08-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

I get stuck in a rut. A lot. My house is a mess, my family and myself mostly is disorganized, everything is just messy.

Last week I attempted to "get back into my routines" and failed. I am unsure why I failed, but I did. FAIL.

So this week I am going to keep on track of my daily tasks, attempt to keep up my routine, and hope that I can slide into the new school year smoothly. So you may find several posts on what I have done, or need to do from time to time. At least if I type it in here, I can reread it over and over, and feel better about getting things done. Checklists do not always give me the satisfaction of putting a line through a task.

Also. I figured out another little way to remind myself to take my morning medication! At night, as I take my medications, which I never forget to do, I flip over the bottle of morning meds. That way in the morning when I remember to take my meds, I will know for the rest of the day because the bottle will be right side up! I still write it down, or try to remember to write it down, but I have been doing this for three nights now, and have remembered both mornings! WOOT!

when I am bored...

2007-08-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

I do stuff like this...

Before

After

Dont click on them to make them big. because it probably looks totally edited when HUGE. hehe

Seeds...

2007-08-11T09:16:00.000-05:00

Last night while grilling I discovered that my saliva's were seeding! So promptly after dinner, I went outside to pick some and collect the seeds. This was fun, and I got a lot of seeds! I did mix the red and the white, but Ill get over that. (someday) I have enough seeds to plant the same amount, if not more, then I bought from my local greenhouse. I am excited. These were fun to watch flower and they grew nice and tall. I would like to plant them thicker next year...

WARNING: If you plan to do this, think about it first. If you are scared of spiders or other type of small insects, do NOT attempt this. I repeat, DO NOT attempt this!

I found several spiders and small insects that live in the petals of these flowers. They are kind of bell shaped, but longer, and make perfect hiding places and nesting spots.

The crab spider was one of of several that I found. I swear he stopped moving and put up his arms like he was going to pinch me. It was kinda scary other then the fact he was smaller then a pencil eraser!

Big People Stuff!

2007-08-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

We had some friends that invited us over for dinner. We have not done this (with FRIENDS) since we lived in St. Louis Park. We were very good friends with our neighbors, Jana & Jeb. We often made dinner for each other and were almost always at one an others apartment. I miss that so much. I miss having friends live so close that you can go over in your pajamas or even barefoot!

We had a good time chatting with other adults on other things then work! It was awesome! I guess its our turn to invite them over! I cant wait! :D

Oops.

2007-08-05T20:46:00.001-05:00

So I figured out why the frogs died. When I got the organic dirt stuff, you cut it into chunks and place it into water so it expands. The stuff expands like 10times from its original size.

Our frogs are (were) small. They absorb the water from every thing they sit on or in. Since I did not treat the water that the "dirt" soaked in, they absorbed plain old tap water with all the wonderful chemicals that the city and who ever put in there. :( Thats what did it. Sorry little buddies!

Bad mother bad wife bad pet owner

2007-08-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

I killed the frogs. Not on purpose, but accidentally. I think they dried out when I put in the organic dirt. *sigh*

My husband could not find pants or a shirt today because I thought I only had to do his laundry for work once a week, because I thought he had enough clothes. Oh, and I forgot to buy an ironing board when I went shopping. And no I don't have a surface that I can iron on. *sigh*

Something got into our trash last night. Again. It seems to be happening once every couple of weeks. Its getting old. I would put my trash can into the garage, but that would be too easy.

Its a TRAP!

2007-07-30T11:54:00.000-05:00

So.. We have had a fruit fly infestation since the last time I had bought bananas. That would be sometime in early June. They are EVERYWHERE. Does not matter how clean the kitchen is, they still multiply. Its getting very old. I have put out little "traps" of vinegar and dish soap, but this has only killed a few.

I accidentally found another "trap". One day a piece of lettuce ended up in a glass of water. Apparently, they are attracted to the lettuce, then get wet and die. The glass has become a graveyard for the fruit flies!

If you have any other FREE ways to attract these little buggers, please please please let me know!

Title (not sure what to call this post)

2007-07-26T08:40:00.000-05:00

Monday I sold my car to the junk yard. I got a check for $350! They weren't able to pick it up until yesterday, so there it sat taking up a parking spot in our driveway. So yesterday, I was looking out the window, and I see this car that looks like its floating down the road. Then I realized it was on a flatbed and it was the tow truck coming for my car.

The money came just in time. Our water bill was DUE Tuesday, and my husband got confused on his payday. So I was able to take care of that, buy all of the animals some food, buy a few fast food meals, hubby a couple new work shirts, and a baby shower and wedding gift, and some clothes to wear to the wedding!

Tony is doing good at his new job as a car salesman! Hes sold two cars so far, and has several leads on other sales. He is very relived to no longer be working at the factory, and I think he likes dressing in nice clothes again.

I think my sleeping pill might need to be raised. Seems like every other night I am unable to fall asleep after they have kicked in. I do not have an appointment with the doctor until October, so I am going to try to call him.

I have my "shop" up on ETSY! So where are all of you digital scrapbookers?! My website is still under construction, and I am unable to put all of my kits up on ETSY, so let me know if you are looking for a particular style of kit! I might have it laying around on my hard drive! If not, I will make it!

Before I moved here, I had started to put together a plan to do Party / Wedding Planning once I got down here. I have a business plan, and lots of information already figured out. I was pleasantly surprised on Monday. A girl called to book Tony for a wedding. I talked to her for about 20 minutes, and let her go. She called back ten minutes later asking if I would be able to help plan her wedding and to let her know what I would charge!! SWEET! Her wedding is in August 2008, so I have plenty of time to help her get organized.

Now if only I could get my digital scrapbooking business going, I might be able to add some extra cash to our family's income!

My shop!

2007-07-20T14:23:00.000-05:00

Visit my Etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5223388

Walmart.

2007-07-20T10:03:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure the last time I posted about Walmart but here goes....

Cons

-Cashiers do NOT know how to bag groceries. Considering this is an average size store with a grocery store, you would think they would be trained on how to put food in a bag. Anything that could be squished or smashed, was. Cold stuff was with canned, dry with frozen. WTF Kind of packing is this?? I put my stuff on the thing the way it should be bagged. Like items together. I first put my heavy stuff such as sodas, juice boxes, propel, power aid, on first. Then I put the canned goods along with other non squishable items, then dry goods, and last of all, my bread, buns, chips. I don't know what this guy did, but NONE of it was together, I had cold stuff in every bag, propel in with my kids individual packs of gram crackers, frozen stuff not together at all. I also ended up with three bags with no more then one item.

-They move stuff around the store about once a month. Just when you figure out where they moved it, its gone, it went to a new home.

-They constantly discontinue things that I like. Doesn't matter what it is, if I like it, eventually it gets discontinued.

-Takes no less then an hour to grocery shop. Seems like no matter what I go there for, it always takes an hour or more. Wow what a waste of my valuable time! (Not that I have anything else to do...)

-Never have enough lanes open. Target has a 1 plus 1 policy. If theres more then two people in line, they open a new line. Walmart has not heard of this. They never open more lanes, no matter how many people are in line.

-They put the "special" people at the regular lines, and the fast people at the express checkouts. Um hello??

-Parking. Its as if all of the employees park right by the doors. Even when the store is not busy, you still can not park NEAR the store. I always try to park near a cart corral when I have my children with me.

-No one to be found. If you need something, and want to ask someone a question, there is NO ONE around. Employees should be cross trained in all departments. When you ask someone in the Hardware, they should know something about the department next to them, and that happens to be be housewares, or garden. And if you do find someone for that department, it usually takes no less then three employees to answer your question.

Pros

-Cheaper to shop here for groceries then anywhere else. The selection of MOST items is good, and so is the price. There are two other grocery stores in town, one is very expensive, and the other is cheap, but has zero selection.

-Self check out. This is nice if you only have a few items, and you are shopping between the hours of 9am - 7pm.

hmm... I can not think of any other "pros" oh well...

/end rant

bleh.

2007-07-18T08:27:00.001-05:00

Its gonna be one very long week. I ran out of my medication that I take in the morning. Monday was the last day I took this medication. You say go get more? I can not. I have a stupid 35$ dollar copay for it, and I have zero dollars to my name. I have no way to get these until Friday! Ugh.. Later today, I will get crabby, dizzy & sick to my stomach. I have no idea what will be in store for Thursday and Friday, because I have only gone two days with out this med, mostly because of forgetting to take it.

Factory

2007-07-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

I always knew my husband was not a factory worker. He has been so grumpy the past few months because he absolutely HATES his job. Its not that it is hard, its that it is repetitive. All day, eight hours a day doing the same exact thing the same exact way. He wakes up in such a horrible mood, sometimes I want to kick him to the couch!

He has nice hands. He does not like dirt under his nails, and keeps them neatly trimmed. Its not about his hands, its about the hate towards the job. He is a hard worker, just not a factory worker.

Sometimes people say that is work. But come on, if you do not like your job, there are other ones out there. If your job creates so much stress in your lives, and those around you, there is a problem. It does affect me and the kids, as would anyone who is unhappy so frequently. So he has decided to switch. I am excited! I can not wait until he starts training and finishes so he can do his job. Not a factory job.

Recycle: Things you probably overlook

2007-07-11T09:52:00.001-05:00

As I have been recycling like a mad woman, Ive found a few things that I have not been recycling! But don't fret! Now I know!

-Empty paper towel & toilet paper rolls! (you can recycle, or reuse them to hold plastic grocery bags, or use for kids projects!)

-Junk mail! Open it up, tear it up and put it in your paper bin to send off to the recycle center! Even if you shred these things, you still can send your shreds!

-Batteries. How many batteries do you go through? We go through a lot between remotes, toys and cameras. I have a small box set aside to collect these! Staples takes them!

-Empty ink cartridges. Staples will take them plus give you $3 off your ink purchase! See, it PAYS to recycle!

-Finished to do lists. I make lists. Lots and lots of lists. I can fill my desk trash can in a week with all my lists! Start throwing them in with your light weight cardboard and other paper!

-Empty shampoo, conditioner & cleaning bottles! We all use these... and plastic takes up a ton of space in the landfill! Start here with PLASTIC if you don't know where to begin!

I have managed to go from FILLING and THEN SOME in our 32 gallon trash can that gets picked up weekly, to having two bags of trash! (I would like to see it cut down to ONE bag weekly) Just think of the space you free up in the landfill by cutting down your trash! Besides, its free to fill your recycle bin!! Ive been so good at filling mine, I have actually had to drive to the recycling center to empty it!

Have any other items around the house that you think people over look? Leave a comment!

Busy busy busy

2007-07-10T15:19:00.000-05:00

We went camping with Tony's parents over the weekend. Heres some photos, more on the kids blog

Food

2007-06-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

So the other night we were being lazy and did not want to cook. I wanted Chinese and Tony wanted Godfathers. Well I got my Chinese! It cost me 16 dollars plus delivery tip. I ended up with so much food! I ordered shrimp & snow peas, and some sweet and sour chicken. I got those two things in big boxes, then I got two smaller boxes of rice. WOW was it yummy! I can not wait to order again!

My fortune from my cookie: "Patience is one of the hardest virtues to master."

Gee thanks. I already knew that, and I have no patience! heh

Got Roots?

2007-06-26T20:40:00.001-05:00

Once again...

2007-06-21T23:25:00.001-05:00

"they" said it was going to rain today. I didn't really care to wait for the rain, so I watered my very thirsty flowers and plants. The last time they said it was going to rain, it did not, and there was not even rain in the 15 day forecast. Today it rained for MAYBE two minutes, if that. I am happy I watered my flowers.

Wow

2007-06-20T22:09:00.000-05:00

Wow am I getting exercise from walking with the dogs and kids! Poor Hershey does circles in front of Zoe & I. heh We don't walk fast enough for him I guess!

I'm super busy these days! I wake up and take a minute for myself then I make breakfast for the kiddos, then take the dogs for a short walk. After we are all dressed, we take the dogs on a longer walk. WHEW! All this walking! I'm trying to break Hershey of his habit of pulling me down the hill to the trail, or just pulling at all. Its going ok.

Poor hubby is working his tail off! :( I hope he gets a chance to take some well needed and deserved Zzz's soon!

We got him!

2007-06-17T20:46:00.001-05:00

We got our new family member yesterday! His name was Hershel, but we changed it to Hershey!

JEEEZ It was hot this weekend! I can not wait for it to rain tomorrow to cool things off a bit!

A new family member...

2007-06-15T21:52:00.001-05:00

No I am not pregnant, and do not ever intend to be again! We are however, obtaining another family member soon! When exactly I am unsure of, but the neighbors down the street are looking to give away a dog. The dog belongs to the lady's ex boyfriend, and he does not appear to be coming back for it. She put a few ads in the paper and told everyone she knows with out anyone wanting the poor dog. I told her that if she gets him fixed, I will take him. So when ever that happens, we will gain a dog.

His name is Hershel and he is a three year old chocolate lab. He is very friendly and just needs a good home. She is hardly ever home, just has no time for another dog, as she already has a pit bull.

The way life works is kind of funny sometimes. We were at a friends house Tuesday night, and they asked us if we wanted some chain link fence. There is at least one gate, hardware, poles, and a post hole digger. Because of the way our back yard is, we only have to shut off a small spot between our garage and the neighbors fence, then another small spot out back then the side of our house. I hope to be able to put fence around enough to have the back door open into the fenced in area. This will be so nice with two dogs and two kids! I can not wait to let Zeus run free with out the leash!

We also acquired a swing set frame with one swing. I noticed the neighbors a few houses down building a new one last weekend. I didn't want to bother them while they were building it, and then I never seemed to catch them outside! Well today, as the guy was dismantling it, I yelled over "Hey what are you going to do with that?" he says "Why, do you need a swing set?" I yelled back "yeah!". Turns out, just as I called over, he was picking up his saw to cut it up and haul it away!! Good timing huh! However, he did already bust off part of the middle legs, and cut off some of the bolts holding the end braces on, so we will have to buy some bolts, and figure out how to reattach the middle support. He said he didn't know where the swings where for it, but a few minutes later, he came over with one swing!

OH yeah... Our lawn mower died last weekend. I got two swipes around the back yard, and the throttle would not stay open. So I shut the mower off to get some wire to HOLD it open. Of course, when I got back to the mower, it would not start. So I stole all of hubby's DJ money and off I went, garage saleing. I drove by two sales, and didn't see any mowers, so I kept driving. I went down Peirce Ave. and found a sale that had four lawn mowers, four weed eaters and two chain saws. I got to pick! So $55 dollars later, I came home with a "new" mower. I get out back and start to mow, and hubby managed to START THE OLD MOWER. Grrr... oh well... It did not sound very healthy to begin with.

See the kids blog for Tadpole updates!!

Its hot

2007-06-15T09:52:00.001-05:00

Well its not even 10am yet, and its already 77 degrees F outside! Probably inside too, because its hot and sticky in here. Gonna see temps of 93 or greater today.

Our new grass seed is starting to sprout! I guess that means I have been watering it enough! Although the front yard seems to be not sprouting yet.

Last night I broke our sprayer for our hose. Gonna have to water the grass with the watering can! heheh

I am going to have a garage sale next weekend! I have a list of stuff from room to room to start collecting. I figured I will need about 8 - 9 signs to put up so all directions since I can not afford to put a 16$ ad in the news paper!!

OMG!!WTF??BBQ!1!!

2007-06-12T22:56:00.001-05:00

all the hair

2007-06-11T21:36:00.001-05:00

HAIR NO MORE!

2007-06-11T21:28:00.000-05:00

Its gone! Finally, its gone! :D

Kids

2007-06-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

Heres the Kids' new blog!

What am I?

2007-06-09T22:30:00.000-05:00

What are these? You can not tell by the picture, but they have silver leaves, and smell minty! WHAT ARE THEY?!

Compost

2007-06-09T22:28:00.000-05:00

Heres my compost "pile"

All about green

2007-06-09T08:01:00.001-05:00

What are you doing to live more green? Do you know what I am talking about? Have you switched to compact florescent light bulbs yet? Do you recycle anything that you can? Do you have a compost pile?

We currently have four more light bulbs to replace with the compact florescent ones. Yes, they are expensive you say, but they last up to 8 years, compared to the one year if that of the other bulbs and our electric / gas company gives a 2 dollar rebate for each bulb you replace! You also save money on your electric bill by having them. I am sure if you write to GE and let them know that you would like some money saving coupons on their bulbs, they might send you coupons. Also, the GE bulbs have a 8 year warranty so if any expire before they should, call the company or write, and they will replace them. (don't forget to save your receipts along with the upc) I did this, I had TWO bulbs burn out, and they sent me TWO coupons for free bulbs up to 20$ a piece. So like my frugal self, (sometimes) I searched for the biggest box of bulbs! I ended up getting 8 bulbs at the cost of 31$ for FREE!

I try to recycle anything that I can. Wether its putting it in the blue bin for Mondays pick up, or reusing it with in our house hold, I just do it. Also, recycling saves on trash! We have to pay an extra dollar to set out a bag next to our trash can, so if I can recycle, we don't have to put out that extra bag!

Today, I am starting a compost pile! Eww you say? If done right, your compost pile should not stink! Besides, think about how much trash you are NOT putting into the land fills between food scraps & yard waste! I started gardening for the first time this year, and I can NOT wait to be able to use the compost in our flower beds and yard!

So thats what I am doing with my family to be more green! What are YOU doing? One person can not make a difference. Think again. Teach your children to live more green and then there will be more people!

Wow

2007-06-07T08:23:00.000-05:00

Something interesting happened this morning. I heard very faint sirens from fire trucks and police cars. Next thing I know, Caitlin says "I hope they are not coming here!" I said to her "You can hear that?!" Caitlin replys "yes"

My little girl can HEAR! She got tubes on Monday, so hopefully this new "hearing" thing lasts! It was such a good feeling knowing that all the pain she went through and still has from getting tubes and having her adenoids and tonsils out has done something wonderful.

whats new

2007-06-06T09:54:00.000-05:00

Well lets see... I finished all of the flower beds, then I had to go buy flowers to put in them!!! I said I probably wasn't going to put anything in them this year, but after they were built, I just could not help myself! I got all kinds of different flowers, and don't ask me to name them because I can not pronounce half of them let alone spell them!! Pictures to come later.. I have no batteries for my camera!

Caitlin had her tonsils & adenoids out and tubes put into her ears on Monday. She is recovering very well. She was chattering as soon as she woke up. She is still on a "soft" foods diet for two weeks and still gets pain medicine every four hours, along with ear drops twice a day and amixicillin(sp) three times a day.

Thats all... I guess. lol

hmm

2007-06-02T18:53:00.000-05:00

So I have not posted in a while! So lets see... Last weekend was "Band Fest" in town, they had a carnival and a parade along with bands playing all weekend. Of course, we did not go. I played in the yard, finished another couple of flower beds (putting rocks around it) mowed, weeded, trimmed stuff, stripped paint off a door, cleaned the patio area, took more paint off the front pillars and did other yard stuff.

Monday, no school, didnt do much, Tuesday back to school, and the class picnic, Wednesday, I dont remember much. Thursday happened along with Friday. lol

Friday, I did my usual grocery shopping in the morning, and was sure to buy plenty of stuff for Caitlin after she has her tubes put in, and tonsils and adenoids taken out. Then we went out to eat for my birthday. Afterwards, we drove by Caitlin's new school since we no longer live in the "Hoover" district.

Today I got up way early... I was going to lay back down, but didn't get around to it heh. I was going to mow, but it was only 7, so I weeded the gardens and dug up some dandelions around the yard and flower beds and tried to just waste time. I finally mowed... then had Tony help me move the rest of the landscape wood ties so I could finish the last, YES FINALLY THE LAST, flower bed! WOOT! Still have a big pile of rocks though so now I have to get creative!

long weekend...

2007-05-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

too tired to post!

Change

2007-05-24T18:34:00.000-05:00

Some times change is good sometimes it is bad. Next year Caitlin will be attending a different elementary school because when we moved into our house, we were outside of the school district for her current school. So we will see if she moves easily into the first grade. I hope it goes well, and I have told her a few times to tell her class that she is going to a different school next year so hopefully they pass it on to their parents and contact us. I am sure it probably wont happen the way I hope it will, so I might send something to school with Caitlin with her name and our phone number. You never know, maybe she made some really great friends.

I am unsure if she has any particular friends from her class this year. She never comes home and talks about the same kid twice. She talks about them all equally. In preschool, she would often come home talking about the same two girls.

Also with her getting tubes and having her tonsils and adenoids removed, she will be able to hear better, or so we all hope. I hope she will pass her hearing tests at her new school, since she failed all but one at her current school.

As far as home goes, I can not wait till she can hear me. I often get frustrated and end up yelling because she can not hear me, then I feel horrible. I don't like yelling at my kids, or being short with them, but sometimes it happens. I am hoping it will happen less after the tubes. I also can not wait to not have cartoons blaring early in the morning!!