What gives?

Why is it that there are days like today where I feel like wonder woman, and days like yesterday where I felt like...well, not wonder woman. Today, I managed to get up at 6 am...put on my jeans and decide I didnt feel like getting up yet and went back to bed. Still managed to get some homemade chicken noodle soup going and got lots of laundry done. None of it is actaully put away yet...but who cares. Yesterday I might have gotten a load of laundry done. Why is it that some days I just cant do a thing and get anything done and others I manage to do a weeks worth of work and still spend time with the kids?? I dont get it. The sun is out...does that matter? Who knows.

Which brings me to my next point... I am absolutely amazed at Justin (who will be 3 at the end of January). I was upstairs playing with him and doing this pre-K book with him. We came across a page that had the upper case letters of the alphabet on one page and the opposite page was all the lower case letters. We sang the ABC's as I pointed to the letters with him. When we were done, just for the fun of it, I asked him what each letter said. He got 2 wrong out of 26! The Y and the U. Otherwise he told me the sound that each letter makes :) I was speechless and decided right then and there that I will need to go to college so I can help them with their 2nd grade homework once they get there.

QotD: Vox Potluck

If your Vox Neighborhood had a potluck dinner tonight, what dish, drink or dessert would you bring?

I would make these really good chicken drummies. I got the recipe from one of the moms back when Andy was in  preschool. They are the best things I have ever tasted :)

Krissy's favorite things

I saw a commercial the other day where Oprah surprised her audience and told them that they had gotten on "Oprah's favorite things" and everyone went hysterical. I dont watch Oprah (or any tv geared for adults for that matter) but know this is a pretty big deal. Since I am not Oprah, I decided to come up with my own realisitc list for my own life!!! I am sure the list will go on and on...some big and some small and in no particular order:

1. The sun sparkling on the lake in the summer and fall

2. The smell of a wood burning stove creeping into the car when you drive down the street during winter

3. The smell of grass being cut- even better if I am cutting a fresh watermelon at the same time. Totally a summer thing!!

4. Dairy Queen

5. When Jake puts on cologne and a snuggly shirt

6. Campfires

7. Waterfalls

8. Sweatshirts

9. Coloring with my kids

10. The look of accomplishment and pride in my kids' faces when they do something new for the first time

11. Pine Trees

12. Pop

13. Shopping for anything- groceries, clotes, towels...whatever

14. The smell of freshly done laundry

15. Smooth legs- no prickles

16. My whirlpool bathtub

17. Massages

18. Time alone and good conversation with Jake...a date!!!

19.Pretty skies

20. Ice skating

21. A good song that brings me back to a certain time

22. Butterflies

23. That sparkly paint they use on boats

24. Little Debbie/Hostess snacks

25. The smell of snow and then seeing it glisten in the sun...then the sun goes down and the sky turns that sort of fluorescent blue and everything glows from the snow on the ground.

25. This is an ultimate favorite... seeing my kids everyday and watching them grow and learn new things. Then being able to give them a bath and make them smell like little babies with that lavender lotion. Getting them into their jammies and reading stories and tucking them into bed and getting smooches and squishes (Hugs and kisses). Seeing their little arms reaching out to give mommy and daddy a hug, and imagining myself looking back at this time when they are 16 and wanting nothing more than to make them smell like babies and get my hugs and kisses again- which makes me apprecaite this time all the more :)

Is that Santa??

Yesterday when Andy got home from school, I was talking to my sister on the phone. We were talking about Christmas and ideas for eachother and the kids. When I asked Andy who he had already told Spiderman 1 and 3  (he is trying to get the trilogy) about as ideas, he got curious about who was on the other end of the phone. He came up to me and said, "Mom, is that Santa?" I smiled and said, "You think I am talking to Santa?" He said Yes. I got distracted for a second and he said, "So, is it him?!?!?!" Yes, sweetie, this is Santa. He got this look on his face. You know the look...its magic. His eyes lit up and he couldnt hold back his smile and he just walked away on cloud 9. How cute :)

Then we went to the mall to TRY (and fail) at doing some Christmas shopping.  We walked out of Sears and right there in the mall was Santa! This was one awesome Santa too. Real beard and all. He wasnt one of those that just sit on the chair and wait for the kids to come up to him...he was walking around at the fence and talking to all the kids who walk by. He talked to Andy and Justin for a while, gave them big hugs and we were off. We didnt actaully go see him yet though...we'll save that for another day! We make it up to the 2nd level of the mall and walk back to Sears on our way out and I cant figure out what the kids are doing. I look down over the railing to see what they are being all silly about, and there was Santa- waving at them from the 1st floor! Not just a quick wave either. Justin gave up after a quick little wave...but Andy had this googley look on his face and waved at Santa till we couldnt see him anymore and the cool thing was that Santa did it back. I glanced back at him at the end and I could see him give his "elf" a smile about it. It was so adorable. Whoever said the magic of Christmas is gone?? It was right there with Andy and Justin last night :)

Love them, but hate them!!!!

I just picked up my new contacts after wearing my glasses for the WHOLE stinking weekend! I hate wearing my glasses! I cant smile in them without the back of my head cramping up... and not only that, I feel like I am in a box peeking out a teeney little hole looking at the world. I really dont like putting my contacts in every day either, but man...I didnt even make it out of the parking lot before I had those boxes open and the contacts in my eyes!!! Once I had them in and looked around, I felt like I was awake for the first time all weekend! Ahhh... I sure hate the things, but they are SO much better than my glasses. Maybe if I had a different pair, it would be better...but I say that every time I get a new pair and I end up hating them just as much as the last pair.

On my way out of the building, I helped this little old man through the doors. He was having the hardest time getting in the double doors with his walker. The door was shutting on him and he was getting tripped up on the rug. Then there was another set of double doors on the other end of the entry way so I helped him with those too. He was so cute...His depends were poking up out of the top of his pants and he was so thankful for something as simple as a little help with the door. He said "Thanks for taking care of us old folks!" :) I just wanted to hug the guy! I am glad he wasnt offened by the help.I never know if I should help someone or let them do it themselves. I dont want to offend them! Some people just want to do it themselves and not need anyone else to do simple things!! I am glad he didnt yell... or get hurt by the door!

It wasn't me!

I am happy to say that I am not too dumb to thread a sewing machine! I got a new one on Friday...got up a 3am to go get it... and the thing works like a charm. I actaully have the whole back side of a a blanket done already :) The one I was borrowing was driving me nuts! I dont know what was wrong with it...I did everything the same on my new one as I did on that one. So maybe something is goofy with it...I dont know. Maybe it was my thread. I am relieved that I got this one to work though, or I would have felt like the biggest moron in the world!

My mom FINALLY had her first chemo treatment about a week ago on Friday. She is doing so awesome. I love looking at her face because she has the twinkle back in her eyes. Hopefully her body keeps tolerating it the way it is. She deserves that after all the B.S. leading up to this point .Something has to go easy on her once!! Hopefully the blanket cheers her up!!! (Shhh....its still a secret though!!!)

QotD: Penny Pinching

What are some ways you save money? 
Submitted by Pixiemom.  

What??? Money?  What is this thing called "money" that you are talking about?? I thought that was meant to spend...why save it :) Just kidding.

Lets hear it for the RED, WHITE and BLUE!!!! YEAH

 

   

Well, here it is. My bathroom. It might be a little bright, but hey... the rest of the house is pretty neutral so far, and this was a SMALL room- I thought I'd have a little fun in there and show how much we love our country :) Hehehe. It is BRIGHT!!! But I think it will grow on me more and more. It is really hard to see the denim look...but both colors are done that way. When you are in the room, it looks like linen or wallpaper. I am kind of proud of it :) Thats all for now!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_0437

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_0436

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_0428

                                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QotD: My Ring Sounds Like...

Ringtones: What's yours and how often do you change it? 
Submitted by enrico.  

I just have my ring tone set to vibrate and this fast "beep beep beep" sound. If I have it set to a song, I never hear it. My phone isn't cool enough to have the ability to play real songs anyway. Mine can play a song I download, but it sounds like polka...and who wants to litsen to a polka version of  a good song anyway?? I would change it more often if I had better options. Oh well...Maybe someday I will have a cool phone :)

QotD: Thanksgiving Treat

What is your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving table?
Submitted by Kadeeae.  

My grandma makes really good scalloped corn, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. I would pick those over turkey if I had to pick!! Everything else is so yummy too, but I dont normally get to eat that stuff since I live with the world's most picky eater- so I spend the whole year waiting for this day... MMMMmmmmm I cant wait!

Paint is the devil

Ok...maybe its not, but it comes close in my world now. You would think that all of the little painting kinks would have been taken care of when we painted our kitchen 3 times...but oh no. Thats not true. I had this really neat idea for our powder room and I am trying to do this denim technique in there. It is hard to blend the seams and make them look good and not obvious. So the first wall I tackled last night, I screwed up big time. The other 3 turned out awesome. They look just like what I had pictured. So I kept trying to touch up the darker overlap spots on my first wall. No dice. It looked horrible. So for some crazy reason this morning... I decide that 5:30 is a good time to get up and start my day. I walk into the bathroom and get reminded of my rotten paint job. I am bound and determined to fix this wall before Jake gets home so I can surprise him and have it fixed and done. I get out the painters tape and the white paint. Yay...its a brand new start. One plain old white wall. I let it dry and go at it with my blue glaze. I start rolling the glaze and low and behold...it is not sticking in the bottom left hand corner. The rest of the wall is taking the glaze perfectly. I ignore it because there was enough there to make it work. When I get done, it is so light compared to the rest of the walls that I can't leave it or it would have looked really bad. So I let that coat dry and do a second coat like I did on the other 3 walls. that spot is still lighter and not dry like the rest of the wall was. So as I roll the glaze over it, I am actaully pulling up the stuff that I had already painted. I am removing paint. Damn. This isnt what I was going for. So since the rest of the wall looked ok...I left it and touched up this spot 3 more times. I guess it is bearable...but you can tell it is different. My eye is drawn to it everytime I go in there. Maybe when we do the bottom half, it will distract your eye away from that spot. I really like to paint- now if only I were good at it. (Kind of like sewing, I want to make this stuff, but cant thread that thing. ) Someday, I will find something I am good at!!!!!

QotD: My First Single

Music-wise, what was the first 45, single or download you bought? 
Submitted by Paddy Melt Wagon.

My grandpa bought me a record player when I was 5.  I used to listen to "Border Line" by Madonna  every day before I went to kindergarten!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCdXCKor6B0

I dont know how to add videos to this or anything...I dont even know if I put the link in here right :) But I try...thats all that matters- haha

 

 

woof woof

After wondering why Justin is consistently up this early every morning (about 6:45) I finally figured it out today. I had suspicions before, but now I know its true. Every morning the people who live behind us and over one house let their 2 beagle type dogs outside before they go to work. They couldnt be two quiet dogs. Nope. They go runnning outside like wildfire and think they are hunting. Full speed around their yard BOTH of them barking and howling and chasing up birds from their birdfeeder.  How can these people NOT hear this? And if they do hear it, how can they not care? That is so early to have the kids woken up by something so unnecessary. If those were my dogs, I would hurry my butt up and get them inside or teach  them not to bark so damn loud in the morning... maybe even get rid of the birdfeeder since that seems to be making them bark in the first place??? All I know is that it is annoying that Justin gets woken up everyday by these dumb dogs. :( Its not fair to him. He cant help it that his window is the only one on that side of the house. It is SO inconsiderate. They are really nice people- just shut your dogs up so my kid can sleep like he needs to!!!

QotD: Hey, I Was Just A Kid

What did you do as a child that you feel guilty about even to this day? 

Oh my gosh- I was so mean to my sister!!! I feel so bad about it...I cant believe she doesn't hate me :)  I was the big sister and we shared a room. I would never let her in there because I wanted my privacy and she ended up sleepig with my mom and dad forever because I was such a brat to her. One time, we were arguing and I threw milk in her face...she got me back by putting dishsoap in my shoe and garlic on my pillow. Now we get along the way I wish we did when we were little. We laugh about those days...but really, I feel like a big old jackass about them. I said some really mean things to her too. Good times :) Atleast she gave it right back to me...if she didnt, I would feel even worse :) hahaha

How do you do this???

I am going crazy trying to thread this sewing machine!!!! I have looked online at directions and they dont have directions for specific types of machines...unless you want to buy them. I think I have it right...but I cant get the bobbin to catch. I took home-ec...why is this so hard??? Does anyone know how to do thread a stupid sewing machine??? I have done everything that 5 different websites have said to do. This is making me cranky. :(

biggest chicken ever

This weekend, we went and rented some movies for the first time in about 2 years. We got a funny one, and a scarey one. I dont know why I thought I was ok with the scarey one...I hate scarey movies. I am a big wuss... I dont like to watch movies that make me feel scared and sad, creepy or whatever.I hate movies that depress the hell out of you like Armageddon etc.. I am pretty much a chick flick, comedy, kind of girl. I will watch the occasional high speed thriller- just so Jake doesn't go nuts... or lose his watching all the girly stuff! So we watched "Knocked Up"  kind of so stupid it was funny... then we rented "Disturbia". I dont know if that is scarey to normal people or not, but I was freaked out! The worst part was that there was a car that turned onto the road behind our house and it lit up the wall with its headlights. Then the icemaker started making noises like 3 minutes later. Normal people would have realized that someone turned into their driveway, and 3 minutes later, the icemaker made ice since I just filled up our glasses with ice before the movie started. But...not me. Nope- I freaked out because I havent seen the lights from a car on the wall like that before, and was freaking out that the noises were someone trying to get into the house and get us. I forgot about using the icemaker 30 minutes earlier! Hehehe! I am such a moron. I was sitting on the couch afraid to look into the kitchen to see what the noises were, and pretty much sitting on Jakes lap so he could save me from the big mean refrigerator! I wont even get into the bad dreams I had from watching it. I am such a whimp. I guess I will stick to my nice little happy movies. Give me the happy little girly movies with rainbows and puppies and happy endings :) Haha

QotD: Never Going Back Again

What's been your worst experience at a restaurant?

Other than the normal old waitress forgetting about our table, or getting raw meat on my plate or trying to go out and eat when it just wasnt a good day to try that with the kids who decided to raise he!! there...I would say the worst experience I have had in a restaurant was when I was really little and went to eat with my dad's side of the family. I ordered a hot chocolate and everyone else ordered their drinks too. The waitress brought all the drinks out to everyone a few minutes later and leaned over me with her tray to hand someone thier drink, and spilled my hot chocolate all over my back. It hurt like hell...but since that side of the family is so over dramatic and loves to dwell on any thing unfortunate, I played it off and choked back my tears! They made me go put a cold towel on my back so it didnt burn so bad. As far as I remember, I think we all got to eat for free though...and the table was full of people. I wouldnt say it was worth it since I was small and I didnt have to pay any way. Talk about taking one for the team...

good or bad??

So, I got a job tonight. I saw an ad in the paper for data entry not too far from here. I went and applied and took a typing test and a written test last Friday, and got the job. It is 3 days a week from 6 till midnight. The pay isnt horrible, but its not great. The hours are ok- sort of. I am going to feel horrible that 3 days out of the week, Andy will get home from school and I will have to be rushed out the door to go to work until midnight and then be up early in the morning to start the day again. I feel like a bad mom and like I will be missing out on fun nights at home and making bad memories for the kids when they are older. I am freaked out to leave the building at midnight. I dont know if everyone else works until midnight too, or just a few?? It is an industrial area surrounded by a weedy swampy area. I should be excited to get out of the house for a little while- but I'm not. It is only 3 days out of the 7 days of the week... but I just dont feel it with this place.I am only doing it for the money.  I am hesitatnt and sort of regretting that I said yes tonight. I am seriously trying not to cry thinking about leaving my kids to go to work 3 nights out of the week. I dont think it would be so bad if Andy were still at home and I got to see him all the time like I do with Justin and Ryan, but he is at kindergarten...ALL DAY LONG- EVERYDAY. I am so bummed out. I guess I'll try it and see how it goes... but I feel horrible about leaving  here to go to work. It will be like I say, "Hi Andy,  how was school- ok...bye. See you tomorrow morning."  Too sad. I dont know if I can even do this now that I am typing this and thinking about him. Atleast I get to spend time with the younger ones during the day...but not him. Maybe it wouldnt be so bad if I felt better about the place to begin with?? It seems weird. I just dont know if I can do that to him. I already feel like I dont spend enough time with him. I dont know what to do. We need the extra money, but how do I look him in the face and leave him right when he gets home from a long day of school????

The big bad wolf

So... not much going on in my life right now...so I have to write about my dads! :) Hehehehe. This is a little (ok...a lot) scarey for me!! He was up north  deer hunting with the guys and saw a wolf!!! He was in the woods and it was walking right for him. My dad said that he didnt think the wolf knew he was there, but that it was huge! Bigger than a german shepard. My mom said that he yelled "HEY" to try and scare it away and it just stopped and looked at him for a second, and then kept on walking towards him! I have always been afraid of bears up there...but a wolf never crossed my mind!!! Thankfully he had his gun with and I hope that he would have shot the thing if it came any closer!!! I bet that would have been kind of cool to see...if you knew it wasnt going to snap and attack you!! (I did it again...att-ack...defense, attack- damn curse) This is why I am too scared to sleep in a tent when we are up there!!!! I like the bunk house where it cant get in...not by the hair of my chin, chin, chin. (not that I have hair on my chin...)

Singing Tom Petty at 5!

What are you supposed to think when your 5 year old boy walks up behind you and starts singing "You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I wont back down!" I know what I think "Yeah, you have been acting like a stubborn little devil lately, I am not surprised!"

He learned the song on "Barnyard" when Ben is singing it- but what a weird thing to hear out of the mouth of your little sweet 5 year old!!  But then he walks around saying "Holy Shoot" because Mater says that on "Cars"... and on occasion, a real "Holy Sh*t" comes out. I tell ya. pretty soon I wont be able to let him watch these full length cartoons! They are giving him quite the potty mouth!! Its one of those things that it is more funny when it is NOT your kid saying them!! :)  Hehehee...although I always have to turn my head and laugh because it just doesnt fit coming from such a sweet little voice!!!

Just dont sing it at school, whatever you do!

QotD: Día de los Muertos

Today begins Día de los Muertos.  What are your rituals or occasions when you remember loved ones you have lost?

I dont take one day and remember them. I think about them each and every day. It could happen in a daydream or I could hear a song and it will remind me of them, or just talking to people when an old story comes up -then you spend 1/2 hr. laughing about it on the phone, and the rest of the day thinking about it :)