This is So Not Working!

They -below visitors yesterday- HATED the HOUSE so MUCH, they DIDN'T put an OFFER in THIS Morning, and it SO isn't going to WORK out. But I am not SAYING anything!


FYI- using my negative attracting positive theory!

Worlds Best Workout!

• Don't do your dishes before you go to bed. That means don't sweep or wipe off the counters either.
  

• Let the kids take out all their toys. Including building a large lego fort!
  

• Forget about cleaning your tubs over the weekend. Or wiping up the floors.
• Also since you were all sick over the weekend, leave the windows to be cleaned for when you are feeling a little better.
  

• Spill pretzels and broccoli all over you up stairs game room- even though you have a no food upstairs rule.

• Take apart your vacuum cleaner- well have your seven year old do that for you and leave it out.

• Wake up and don't make your beds.

• Fix breakfast and add to the pile in the sink, because you didn't feel like unloading or loading the dishwasher the night before.

• Sit at the computer and check email and read blogs while you are thinking in the back of your head "the house is a big mess you better get cleaning because its almost 11 and you never know someone will call to see the house....nah like anyone will do that." -see where I am going with this?
• Fix Top Ramen for lunch and have noodles cover up the crumbs and tomatoes from last nights dinner.
• Call a friend to come over and hang out with you while you finally get around to straighten up.
  

• As soon as the friend sits and gets comfortable, have an agent call to come and see your house.

Then in 40 minutes clean up all the above messes, including vacuuming, cleaning tubs and toilets, making beds, picking up legos, washing the sliding glass windows. Yeah thats a workout! And thanks Shawna for helping out! I didn't mean to call and have you help me clean. I just needed someone to talk to, BUT THANK YOU!

I wonder if my post yesterday helped in sending those people here.....I hope that they HATED the HOUSE and don't even THINK about putting in an OFFER!!!

Monday Mumblings: More like Monday's Moanings!

I fear in life posting things that scare me or frighten me or listing biggest fears, I guess those are all one in the same. But don't you ever feel like if you say something like "I'm so afraid of spiders." Then all of a sudden the big ears of the universe open up, to hear you say it and then spit fire as many spiders at you as it possibly can? And only because you said you were afraid.


Maybe that doesn't happen to you.

But it seems to happen to me.

Its as if I call attention to the very thing that I don't want to happen and the Universe all of a sudden pays attention to me, takes in what I said, chews it up and spits it at me!

Ok you probably need a better example, so for instance I wrote down how great the house looked how I was excited about two offers coming in the first weekend. Well I shouldn't have written about it because they didn't work out. If I had waited and not opened my big mouth, because I like to do that a lot too, our house would be sold and it would be one less thing to worry about. Not that I am saying I am all powerful or something I just feel like I open my mouth to say something and the Universe turns its big nasty head my way and starts laughing at me.

Oh so negative today aren't I.

So anyway I thought I'd turn the tables and attract the things I want by posting the things I don't...Does that makes sense? not sure any of this mumbling makes much sense. And that fact that you have read this far is amazing itself. I bet I just messed the chances of anyone reading this far by even posting that, see what I mean? No you wouldn't because you aren't reading this......

Ok so here are the things I SO WANT TO HAPPEN:

1. I don't want anyone to come this week and see our house, or put in an offer.
2. I want to spend another three nights up all night with sick crying kids because I love it!!
3. I want to gain a few more pounds.
4. I so want this deal for Hawaii to fall through and be unemployed again.
5. I want my kids to totally hate me and think I am the meanest mom in the whole world and tell me it often.
6. I want to stay in debt forever because I love not having money to spend on things. I want people to keep telling me how they have no money just like me.
7. I want my heart to get worse because I love not being able to run anymore because my circulation doesn't get to my extremities, heck its fun to just sit and lose feeling.
8. I want my kids to continue to ignore me every time I ask them to do something.
9. I want to go get another crown on my other tooth because the first one was so much fun and I didn't want to spend the extra $600+ on gas this month.
10. I would love to see a Grocery store not come closer to our house than 10 miles. Its just so exciting to take a road trip to go to the store.

So now the universe has heard my desires go ahead and spite me please!!!

My middle name is "stupid"

Yesterday I decided I wanted lemon bars, and came up with a really cool recipe...see we picked strawberries a few days back and had oodles of strawberries. So on Sunday morning I made the most delicious pico de gallo with strawberries, it was so red and pretty and really yummy, actually ate the rest today really good! But that is not where I earned the middle name, nor did I make lemon bars from the left over salsa.


Anyway Sunday morning I made crepes for the kids and made a strawberry-lime syrup, TASTEY! Well I had about a cup left of the syrup and thought "mmmm strawberry-lime lemon bars..." So I pulled out my handy dandy Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

and found the delicious lemon bars on page 220 (I think) and followed her recipe almost to the T other than her liquids of lemon juice and milk I replaced with my strawberry lime syrup.

I bake the crust per the instructions, get my mix ready and start stir frying some chicken for dinner. Well the buzzer buzzes after the 18 minutes were up, I grabbed my hot pads and pull the crust out of the 350 degree oven. I quickly grab my strawberry lime lemon mix pour into the 9x13 pipping hot pan, where the juice starts to kind of sizzle. And then bare handed grab the pan to put back into the oven!

I said out loud as if someone else was around "That has to be the STUPIDEST thing I have ever done!" as my hands made a sizzling noise. Well I quickly set it down, then grabbed the hot pads and put it in the oven.
(not my actual lemon bars but these look tasty too!)
And after soaking my hands in cool tap water I enjoyed some of the best lemon bars I have ever had if I do say so my self...they kind of soothed my hands....Stupid me!


Side note: I had fun making my play list with my kids last night. G-man helped me pick out some songs. He wants to learn Hey Delilah to sing to a girl in his class :) I realize how little I know about music and artists names cuz I didn't even know what to look up and select. So enjoy my randomness!

PS...Eric is enjoying Hawaii and sipping "cocktails" by the pool while I try to numb my loneliness with food....I made yummy brownies the night before last.

American Idol

I love watching American Idol, this season more than any other. I just have been captivated by the singers.

One singer stands out to me the most: David Archuleta.

I just think he is so cute, I love his voice and I am just drawn to him. Last night as he was singing, I realized why I think I am so drawn to him:




This is Eric around 22





Maybe I am just missing Eric, but I don't know I think there are some similarities...I'd make some BYU- Utah love child joke but probably not appropriate :)

While in the Dentist Chair...

I have tried really hard to take care of my teeth. I hadn't had a filling for many many years like high school, other than having to have a filling refilled after chewing gum and out came the filling with the gum, ummm tasty. Anyway, so that same tooth cracked, I think because it had been filled to the brim with filling! So yesterday I sat in the dentist's chair for a little over 2 hours, and while my mouth was propped wide open, drill's blaring the dentist says to me "you are mormon right?"

"huh huh"

"so let me ask you a question." not sure how he expected me to answer considering the fact that my tongue was numb and my jaw couldn't move, but sure ask away.

"how many wife's does Eric have?"

"un" he removes the tools so I can properly answer "one." giggle giggle chuckle...

So I go into a little bit of a discussion with him of how we are not one in the same and that they aren't what you would normally call a Mormon...anyway I was doing my best. I think I left with him understanding the differences...but who knows. Well today I tripped upon Tristi's blog where she explains the differences rather well. I wish he had an email address so I could send him to the blog. I also fell upon this blog the other day pointing out some of the differences in a pictorial but poignant (not sure that is the right word that I want to use) way.

And before you jump to these posts and think that I am being-- I don't know what, I just want you to know I feel horribly for these poor young children and girls, being taken from their parents whether it is to their new foster homes which I can't even imagine the trauma that is causing them, or being made to marry a man twice their age. It breaks my heart for these young children. Ok so there is my brief thoughts on local news...I guess its made it nationally...

Laws of Attraction:Physics 101

Remember your Physics class in high school, or was it just physical science? Oh I forget but I don't forget learning about the fact that opposites attract. Remember taking two magnets and trying your hardest to put the positive or negatives sides together and there was that mighty force that would not let the same ends touch. Push and maneuver how you will they wouldn't touch. The closer you got the magnet would flip and then stick together. Remember this?

I came up with something, since the laws of nature must apply to everything natural, including us, human beings. I was trying to figure out why "bad" things seem to always happen to me and our family- not horribly bad, but I'd say just seems we have had our run of not so good luck lately, like me renting a car while my car is in the shop and having some dim wit hit it with their door leaving a rather large dent that I just hope I don't have to pay to repair right now...that kind of thing.

Anyway so as I was thinking, I was wondering if I was just a really negative person attracting all this "negative" to me and then I remembered this basic principal, opposites attract. Negative things can't happen to negative people it is just against the laws of nature, it is repelled from them landing on positive people. So there you have it, I am just a positive person that has negative stuff being repulsed by negative people, flipping and sticking to me.

TeeHeeHee Tuesday: Potty Humor

Not sure what it is about bodily functions that get young kids all in a giggle, but tonight was no exception for my little ones. Two came down the stairs and said "G-man call me name, me fardy."

"Oh Two, tell G-man that isn't nice."

"G-man not nice, mom me said, me not fardy."

For some reason the tables kind of turned and little Two thought that it was funny as well as B and G-man. So then they sat around telling fart jokes. So I enlightened them with my favorite all time joke.

"why do the Irish put only 239 beans in their soup?"

"why?"

"because if they add more it would be "two Farty" (240) (said with an Irish accent).

The kids kind of laughed. Then after explaining the joke they laughed even more. You know if there was just one more bean it would make you farty. G-man asked and guessed "oh so it makes you too farty? "

Yes....anyway I laughed good cuz its just funny, and the thing that is even more funny is hearing my dad laugh as he tells this joke. Anyway there's your joke for the night.

YOUR AGE BY EATING OUT

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway---but your waiter may know! ;-)


YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH

This is pretty neat

DON 'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute. Work this out as you read .

Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat. (More than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758...

If you haven't, add 1757.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number...


The first digit of this number is the number of times you wished to eat o ut a week.


The next two numbers are...



YOUR AGE ! ------ (Oh YES, it is!)

THIS IS TH E ONLY YEAR (2008) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS!

Memoir Tag

I've been tagged by my buddyTonya to do this Meme and I always try to mind my elders..hehe :o) So here goes the rules

1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a picture if you want.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Here is Tonya's memoir: She has strength that surprises her.

Here is mine: Caring, Enduring, humoring, life enjoying woman.

So I tag: Asia, Katherine, Patricia, Erika, Marci, Melissa and Mandy

Monday Mumblings:The Day I decide not to care

Our home has been on the market for ummm about 40 days I think, average selling time is 60 something days so we are still good but man that is a long time to live on pins and needles. Every morning I wake up, draw my curtains, make the beds, turn some side lights on, wipe down counters, vacuum a couple of times, turn on candle burners, you know set the stage so that just in case some one decides to call and come over to see the house, I am ready at a minutes notice.

Well it has been two weeks since we have had someone come see our house, and this weekend Eric volunteered to help a friend with putting in a fence and I had the opportunity to be home and clean but I decided that Lifetime Movie Network had missed me recently. So needless to say I didn't get any cleaning done, I did straighten up but you know...

So fast forward to today. I woke up this morning, made my bed, didn't open my curtains, nor turn on the lights. I wiped off the counters in the kitchen but not bathrooms, and did put breakfast dishes away but that was about it. I went to get a rental car. Then I had the brilliant idea since no one has been to the house in forever and most likely wouldn't be coming by I'd start doing oodles of laundry, pull the buckets o' crap out of the garage that had been catching things from each car cleaning. After I made the kids some nachos for lunch, leaving shreds of cheese on the counter, their cups on the floor, and such, i took the huge buckets and dumped them on the floor, next to the pile of clothes that needs to be washed. I ran up stairs to do something, probably check email, and got a call from an agent...."Hi this is so and so from Remax and I have a couple that I have been showing homes to in your neighborhood and they just pulled a flier to your house and were wondering if I could show it to them."

"oh so you are out side the door?"

"yes. you don't have to leave."

"um sure I'd be happy to show it to them though I am in a middle of a mess!"

They came in and I encouraged them to go upstairs so that I could at least shovel everything back into the buckets and throw it in the garage. Though I should have noticed more things up stairs, like the lipstick finger prints no more like hand prints all over my bedroom window, or the stench of dirty clothes in our closet, or the piles of clothes ooozing out of the kids closets, or the trash cans that need to be empty....or the trail of books and dolls. But no I was too worried about the dirty counters, the pile of clothes, the m & m spill. Oh well it was in sort of straightened order, and there is nothing I can do about it now seeing they have come and gone.

Maybe they didn't notice. Though the agent came down stairs and said to me "He said, referring to the client 'shhh don't wake the baby in the closet.' I thought he was kidding and I looked around the corner and sure enough there is a sleeping baby." Yeah thats where we like to keep them. So some things I didn't hide so well. But maybe the smell of cheese and eggs from the morning, were over shadowed by the smell of the oatmeal cookies I baked and ate in the last little while. I did lower the AC so they mentioned how cool it was inside.

So after they left I ran around the house cleaning up some of the major messes, and then wondered why the heck am I bothering? I mean who is going to show up now?? I guess you never know and the minute you put your guard down or give up so to speak it happens right? Maybe my prayers were heard this morning of my pleadings for a showing today! I don't know but now I got to go fix my messes I created....and again get back on the band wagon of making the house perfect for those once a week chances of someone stopping by.

I got a title for my book!

So y'all know I want to be a writer and I got something good cookin' up. I came up with a title...

you holding on to your seat?

You ready to hear my awesome idea that came to my head late last night...

I know you are dying to know...if I tell you promise not to take it?


It is really good and I believe to be very captivating.

I would love to read a book with this title.

Intriguing it is...




yeah well I think you are going to just have to wait...I still don't have 403 signatures! :) So maybe you could help me out and then I'll tell you my title!

Flash Back Friday

Not sure where this photo was hiding but I found it while straightening up the girls' room this morning. I love this picture on so many levels:

I am with one of my best friend's ever. Julie is awesome. This was taken during the second year we lived together. We did some crazy stuff, like umm dress alike! Die our hair, well my hair, make up songs like "I cross my heart with a triple D going only to the store that make them especially for me, in all the world you'll never find a bust as big as mine." (sung to the tune of that country song by that country singer that I just can't remember), stay up late at night eating really healthy things like french fries, chicken nuggets, something from the freezer section at Food 4 Less at 2 am. Anyway I can't really speak for anyone else, but that was one of my favorite years. Yeah there are some crazy room mate stories to tell but over all they were all awesome. Other than the one who would steal our clothes and pile them high on her floor, poor Julie that was her actual bedroom mate but not in that house...anyway those were fun times.

And so not sure what we are doing with our legs up like that, must be showing off our matching socks...don't you love how we coordinated our socks with our shirts!

So the other awesome thing was our very smart invention of S.A.D (Single Awareness Day) which is also known as Valentine's Day in many parts of the world. We had some great turn outs on this day and it was much more fun than going on a date, getting some chocolates and flowers, at least we told ourselves that.

I love this picture cuz I actually look cute, its been awhile since I have thought I looked cute. I think this morning I was looking at myself in the mirror and thought "man I am getting old, and my face is so round, and my lips are thinning way too much. " Anyway, it is fun to see pictures of myself looking cute, is that vain? Maybe but this is my flashback. And if only I could go back to that time (ten years ago) and tell myself how gosh darn cute I was. I thought I was so fat and ugly! What a dork I was well still Am and wow I am so over sharing.

I guess I better go clean up pee.

Nice Parent, Mean Parent

I have to say parenting is such an interesting thing, and mean and nice terms are relative. Probably depends on what side of the parenting fence you are on.

If you are a mean parent you:

• -make your kid finish all their scrambled eggs that they begged for and then smothered in ketchup and tabasco sauce and found it too hot to eat, but because they chose to POUR that stuff over their perfectly fine scrambled eggs, they still have to eat it.
• -make a child go to school even if the rest of the family is going to pick strawberries.
• -help (well force) your child clean up their room after they took out all their toys, knocked over their bed, removed all the bedding, all the while asking them for help.
• -when you take a child to the grocery store and only let them get a lunchable, a soda and their choice of ice cream but not allow them to get a candy bar at check out.
• tell them not to come out of their room after you have already read them ten books, given them three glasses of water, and allowed them 3 trips to the bathroom.
• make your kid brush their teeth before school.
• You tell their friends to go home after they have been here for three hours and don't let another friend come over and play.

You are a nice parent when:

• You are home alone with out your spouse and you don't make them (the kids) go to bed, and let them all sleep on the floor or on your spouse's side of the bed.
• You go to the gas station and let the kids pick out an ice cream or candy in the store.
• When they wake up crying in the middle of the night you let them sleep on your side of the bed while you go and sleep on the couch to get a huge kink in your neck.
• When they get in trouble from the mean parent, you hug and kiss them and tell them its ok.
  
• You take them to some city wide activity with lots and lots of people, buy them treats and make sure they have lots of fun, while the mean parent stays at home cleaning.
  

-
OK- So I am sitting her trying to write this blog. And I hear a door open. I hear fiddling. And think any minute I will see a small child come around the corner. And then I hear what sounds like someone opening up a candy wrapper. And then I think, what the heck are they doing? I get up go around the corner and G-man is standing in the hallway with his underpants partially pulled down, peeing all over the floor. I rush him to the bathroom. Where he takes off his underpants, wipes his legs down with a towel. He then runs to my bed, in the buff, and curls up in the covers. I pull the covers off and tell him he needs to go get dressed and get in his bed. He then runs into his room and comes out with socks. He mumbled something after I told him he needed underwear and not socks. So he goes back in and grabs another pair of socks and then I ask if he needs help. I grab him some underwear and he grabbed them and curled up in his bed.

More Strawberries! Fresh Picking in Central Texas

So you live in central Texas and want to take a little road trip?
Do you want to pick fresh berries like we did??
Since we had such a great time I thought you might too.
We picked our strawberries at the
Marburger Orchard.
They do peaches later this summer as well as blackberries.
Anyway they would love to have you come
and pick from their rows and rows and rows of berries.
Check them out HERE.

And just for fun how about a few more cute pics!

Strawberries!

T-Rex says "what strawberries? I didn't eat any strawberries. I am just sitting here watching you pick strawberries."


Some friends and I took the kids to some farm lands to pick some strawberries today. And while we were picking, T-rex was in the wagon watching us and enjoying strawberries, he figured out how to gather his own berries, by bending over just so and grabbing them out of the box. It took us awhile to figure out where he was getting them from.

The kind people at the farm were nice enough to not make us weigh him when purchasing our fresh picked berries. Now does anyone know what to do with 20 LBS of strawberries?

What Not to Wear on School Picture Day!

Is it important to send your kids to school on picture day
worrying about what they are wearing below the waist??
No why would you worry about that?

The morning conversation with your child would go something like this:

Child: walks out with his favorite t-shirt on (black with the hulk body painted on it.)
Mom: You can't wear that for pictures today. Go change.
Child: "but mom..."
Mom: no go put on a nice shirt.
Child: Ok but I am not changing my pants.
Mom: thats fine but go put on your polo shirt.
Child: comes down stairs with a blue polo and matching colored basketball shorts.
Mom: You should put jeans on.
Child: but mom I changed my shirt.
Dad: he did change his shirt and at least he Matches.
Mom: Fine at least its just a class picture and you will only see from the waist up.

Maybe I should have stood my ground. I don't know what do you think?




Since when did they start doing full body shots?

Snickers, Hot Dog Buns and Ramen

The sounds of the toilet flushing and the water running in the shower told me it was morning, time to get out of bed. The sun hadn't been a part of this "time to get up" because it still was hiding itself for another 30 minutes. The crisp cold air warned of a cool spring day and begged me to stay under covers. "I can do this", I told myself, referring to getting out of bed. Staring up at me from the floor, my jogging shoes whispered "let's go for a run, come on, come on." I quieted the beckoning by throwing my pillow on top of them. It just wasn't going to happen today. I mean I could barely drag my butt out of bed.

Late last night I received a call that I knew was going to come. A call that didn't bring a smile to my face, a message of despair rather than hope. My grandmother of 92 years had a massive heart attack and stroke. After a minor surgery to try to repair things, they found a leak in her arteries and there is not much more time on earth for her. She is 92. She has lived a good life. A widow of 7 years, it is time for her to return to her Heavenly home, but I am not ready to send her. But sometime this week I am sure I will be saying my final goodbyes. Something that is comforting and heartbreaking at the same time, is that possible? But with this weighing heavy on my heart as well as thinking about the house selling and Eric's job, lets just say, I had a hard time falling asleep. Once I did it was interrupted several times by a wayward child, a crying baby and a snoring husband.

So while laying in bed this morning, knowing that I must get started on the day, I only begged for a few more minutes. But T-rex, who had been crying since the sounds of flooding water flowed through the wall, chose a different path for me. With my eyes half open I felt my way to his crib, and climbed back into the covers. I tempted to nurse him in bed with me under the nice warm bedding. That worked for a bit. Seeing that I couldn't nurse him all day in bed, and that he wanted to crawl all over his finally sleeping sisters, I grabbed him and hopped out of my warm blankets.

Oh time to start the day. Eric woke up G-man and had him out the door for school before I could wipe all the sleep from my eyes. The fortunate thing was it was just me and Timmy for the time being.

I searched high and low in the kitchen for food, as if I were a teenager unsure of what groceries her mom had bought over the weekend. Which in our case, there was no grocery shopping over the weekend other than a few items for G-man's birthday party on Saturday. Did I mention yet it was Monday? Yeah so its Monday morning. Typically we do a good grocery shop on Saturday but we hadn't. But deep in the freezer I found a Snickers bar. Nuts, milk chocolate, that creamy layer has to be somewhat good for you. As I go to take my first bite, T-rex reached out for some. What kind of mom would I be if I fed him a Snickers bar for breakfast, and give him nuts before he is a year? That would not be good. So I grabbed the next closest thing, a hot dog bun. It was there, quick and best of all he could hold it and feed himself.

With the girls still sleeping, mind you it is rare that they sleep this long I mean I think it was 7:15 am. I decided to enjoy my chocolate fat filling breakfast while watching the Morning Show. Timmy crawled around the nicely folded by his dad at 5 am clothes, and left a trail of bun crumbs, which I will need to vacuum at some point during the day because heaven forbid someone might call to look at the house. While close to my last bite I heard little foot steps coming down the stairs, and afraid of getting caught eating my nutritious breakfast, I shoved the last bit into my mouth.

I attempted to say good morning to Two without chocolate and nuts flying out of my mouth, not very easily done. She missed the spray of Snickers and asked for some cereal. I can do that, I thought. Cereal for breakfast that is easy enough, that's up to my speed.

But no sooner did I fix her cereal did B come down stairs. After a morning hug and some loves, which she so desperately needed this morning, she whispered, "I want eggs." I quickly replied, "not this morning." I just wasn't in the mood for eggs. She didn't do her typical arching of her back whining and pleading for eggs dance, instead she said "ok how about some Ramen?" After I said "no." I said "Ok, that's fine." Well actually after she asked for the ramen and I said no, she looked in the freezer and asked "where is the candy that you gave to Emily that she gave to me, that Dad put in the freezer?" I replied "I have no idea, how about some Ramen?" Since she had already asked for it, it was an accepted offer. She peacefully took it and ate it.

Contract Pending

Well today we countered an offer,
but I am not holding my breath on it.
Just trying to think of some positive thoughts for us
"sell, sell, sell"
"no checkbook at closing, no checkbook at closing"!!
Say it with me!

Happy Birthday G-MAN!!

Time sure does fly!



My little man is 7 years old today!
I just can't believe it!
He has grown so much and is turning into such a wonderful boy!

Seven things I love about him:

• He is so excited about life, you can see it in his eyes. Everything is always exciting with him around.
• 
  
• He is happy. From early days of his life, he has always been sporting a smile.
• He loves people and genuinely is a friend to all.
• 
• He loves to talk. Last night it was great, he was chatting with an older sister at church. B wanted him to come and play with him, he put his hand up towards her (B) to quiet her and whispered (just a minute I am talking) and went on listening to this older sister tell a story.
  
• He is excited to learn, he comes home from school and tells me of the exciting things he has learned.
• He is very emotional and considerate of others feelings as much as a little boy can be. He is always aware that someone is either hurting or sad, or happy. He too is sensitive to things being said to him.
• He is so willing to help and tries so hard to be helpful to me and his siblings.
  
• Ok one more he is very protective also of his siblings.

G-man we love you! Happy, Happy Birthday!

How Long Would you Sit on the Toilet?

Ok so seriously how long could you stay seated on a toilet? I don't think I would be able to stay longer than needed. Well while blog hopping this morning, I came across this blog, which led me to this blog, which led me to this article.

A few explanations I could come up with for staying on a toilet for two years is this:
-While having a BM you have a massive stoke leaving you in a coma for the duration of two years, and if this is the case you have a really stupid boyfriend that wouldn't call for help.
-You were held there against your own will.
-You were trying to beat a world record?
-You had fallen and couldn't get up.
-You had one major upset stomach.
-The decor was so captivating, the smell was so spring like, and it was by golly the best dog gone toilet seat you have ever placed your tush.

I googled it and found more of the story here with a video.
All I know is he (the boyfriend) mentions that after she gets out of the hospital he will take care of her. But all I can say is that he kept her on a toilet for two years? How is he going to take care of her??

The thing I just don't get, and not sure why I am wasting away my morning worrying about it is how the heck does one sit for so long that your own body starts to fuse itself to the toilet?? I am just baffled. Ok off to take a shower. And if you don't see a post from me tomorrow morning, call the authorities because I may have just decided to stay in there forever! And well a shower I could see that happening but a toilet???

A very confused child

Any of you with siblings know that parents typically do a role call before they get the child's name right. And if they get it right on the first call, its a good day. At least I hope I am not alone in this name forgetting phenomenon.

So our sweet little Em, doesn't know her name. Well at least she professes to not know it or at least say it. When we are out at the store or anywhere and someone asks her her name she quickly replies, "two."

But lately the conversation goes like this:

What's your name?
"ummm....BetBet...noo." (big grin)
No, what's your name?
"ummm .....Timmy...nooo" (big grin, head twist)
No, what's your name?
"ummmm....crin..noo" (big grin, body twist)
No, what's your name?
"ummm....Daddy.."
No, whats your name?
"ummmm...Geg"
No, whats your name?
"two"

So she knows everyone's name but her own and I blame myself, because I can never get her name right either. I guess we should have named her Two. And as far as blogging goes, maybe that is what I will refer to her as..."Two."

"Mom, Mom"

I hear as I am off doing something. I turn to say "yes" or "what do you need" to have Emily tell me, "not mommy, betbet my mommy." as she will point to B. So lately I guess I have been doing such a poor mothering job, that Emily has decided to have B be her mom.

To make me even feel like a better mom B and I had this conversation the other day.

B "When I grow up I want to be a Mommy Daddy."
me "What do you mean?"
"I want to go to work during the day. My kids can go to daycare. And then I come home after I made some money and be a nice mom."

So I guess I don't make mothering seem like lots of fun, or let alone must not be too nice of a mom, I guess.....huh?

I am a Mess!

You'd think it was my best friend who passed away! One of my sisters dear friend passed away in the night. I am just all tears and could hardly talk to my sister. I feel for her dear husband and her boys.

It makes me realize how very special each day is and more than anything it makes me realize that I should be grateful for having to "have" to make my beds, fix food and take care of my kids. And I am!

Wednesday Whine Fest!: Today I don't want to...

What is something or somethings that you don't want to do today?? I have been sitting at the computer this morning, staring at the screen, really not wanting to do anything. So I thought why not list all the things I don't want to do today, I mean really people list the things they need to do in a day, and well I just feel like being a little bit "negative" and pout and say "no":

1. take a shower (just not going to happen)
   
2. get dressed (put some clothes on)
   
3. make my bed (made mine plus the kids)
   
4. eat vegetables (do pickles count? did have some cantelope)
   
5. resist the temptation to make chocolate chip cookies
6. make dinner
7. fold laundry (the stuff that was in the washer and drier are folded I started another load but that may be done tomorrow)
   
8. vacuum
   
9. change diapers (2 down and who knows how many more today!)
   
10. worry about selling the house
11. put laundry away (everything folded and dry is put away, yeah me!)
    
12. clean bathrooms (what was I thinking I cleaned them Saturday so I have straightened them, that counts for something doesn't it?)
    
13. sweep the kitchen floor (I mean really how many times in one day can a person sweep the floor.)
14. tell my kids to stop what they are doing (I let my girls put on their swimsuits, turn the sprinklers on and jump on the trampoline to their hearts content, now they are watching tv and eating popcorn, so I haven't vacuumed yet)
    
15. get frustrated and angry over little things that bug me (see above, usually I get upset when the hose gets turned on)
    
16. get my vt reports together (sent out a reminder to get them to me)
    
17. sit at the computer and stare (I turned on lifetime movie network, can't say that is much better)
    
18. complain! (so I am done!) off to do the beds...but do I have tooo!!!

Thanks to Randi's comment, I decided to take her advice and slowly knock things off my list!

We Sure Are Blessed!!!!

You know with the way the last month and week have been going, you might be surprised to hear me say that. But as I was jogging this morning I was pondering on our blessings and I'd say luck but in my life I don't really believe in luck other than the fact that sometimes we have bad luck, but really in the end we truly are blessed. So with out dragging out my thoughts any longer:

• No body was attacked by the swarm of bees, could you imagine:
• Walking into the ER "My son has been attacked by a swarm of bees." "yes we have been here before, last Tuesday and Saturday.
• I didn't have to call 911
• There were so many bees I can't imagine one of those little guys surviving an attack.
  
• Though yesterday while out looking at the new beehive catching box, B got stung by one bee. In the bee's defense she did step on him. Luckily only a little swelling occurred and after some ice, Motrin and a bath all was well. It could have been worse.
  
• The bees have been safely removed to a new home, and we can go visit them whenever we want.
  
• We didn't have to go to the ER again last night: After dinner we went for a walk as a family. G-man with his new orange and red cast, was running ahead of us. He ran over the top of something, then stopped, pointed, freaked out, squealed pointed again to something on the road, what looked like a fish to me flapping its tale (why would there be a fish in the road), and then ran back to me. What was there you ask? A rattlesnake!!! He was all coiled and what I thought was a flopping fish was his little rattler shaking at us.
  
• I am glad he didn't get bit
• We are blessed that no one was bit!
• And I could have only imagined going into the ER....Yes we were here last night after he was attacked by a swarm of bees. But tonight as we were walking he was bitten by a rattle snake. Yes in one week we came here to get stitches, fix a broken arm, remove bee stingers and now stop the deadly rattle snake venom. Yeah you could say that was one Heck of a Week.
• We got another offer on our house, though we haven't seen it yet. Our agent had a few questions about it for the other agent before he gave it to us. I have been praying we would get an offer, and we have now received 3- well 2 written one verbal- but I think I need to change my prayers, and if you could change yours as well, to say "an offer that we don't have to pay to sell it." I mean am I being too greedy not wanting to buy a stranger our house??
  
• My kids despite a few knocks, bruises, brakes, cuts, runny noses are healthy. What more could a mom ask for? Maybe obedient, calm, mild and well mannered, but then what would I do for the next 18 years?
  

Busy Bees!

Ok Literally, the kids were playing in the back yard, when I saw a panic stricken G-man knocking at the back window, telling me to open it and to hurry. I ran to the window when he informed me that a sworm of bees were coming his way...And when I looked out, he was not kidding. They stirred up a hive that we didn't know we had on our tree. One I think that is recently being built. I tried to get a video of the swarm but it didn't show up. But I got a picture of them back on their hive, busily building it. It is about 2-3 feet long and about 4-6 inches wide. You might want to zoom in on this to make it bigger. I bet it is a great selling feature...

Active beehive! Free Honey!!

* Update: My father in law's friend raises bees, I don't know what the correct term is..Bee Keeper...anyway he brought by a hive for them and hopefully by morning they will all be in it. He had been thinking this morning he should put an extra hive in his car because the swarms of bees would be out soon. He was right. They apparently just stopped by our house today to rest and try to find a great place to build their hive.

Monday Mumblings: Week of the Twos

Rainy Days and Monday's always get me down....Don't know why but that song popped into my head and well as much as I like that song, I really don't feel that way, I actually really like a good rainy day, love staying inside, reading books doing crafts, and having a good excuse to wear my pjs all day. Though Mondays on the other hand seem to bring me grief and I am always just tired on Monday....But I have a few random mumblings to share this warm overcast day:

• Our home has been on the market for a few weeks now, lost count actually. We had two offers that first weekend, one of which was a verbal offer that we never saw a paper offer for and the other was too low for us to take at this time, considering the fact we would have had to pay to sell our house.
  
• We had two open houses this weekend, each of which a few people showed up to see. One wanted to get in touch with their mortgage broker, the other loved the house but they weren't ready to purchase anything at this time, and the rest we believe were nosey neighbors.
• Though while we were at a friend's son's baptism we had another family come look at the house. I think they had little girls because the girl's dolls were moved around a little. But anyway I didn't know they had come and the agent left a message asking if she could set up an appointment for that evening. I called her back and she said they loved the home and were going to talk some numbers and get with our agent. So who knows but we will see.
• This morning I actually ran a 9 minute mile! Plus I kept going for 1/2 mile and then walked the other 1/2 home. I am not sore yet, but I think this going while Eric is getting ready for work is going to work for me. I enjoyed being by myself though I think I was able to go so much faster because I didn't have to push a stroller and I was a little afraid to be by myself...
• Have I ever told you that I have the most wonderful husband in the whole world? Eric is really wonderful he is thoughtful and caring and considerate and helpful!
  
• I am sad I missed most of conference this weekend, with a trip to the ER, DVR not working, and kids! I am glad they come out with written talks.
  
• I loved Elder Ballard's (?) talk on mothers. Though he mentioned avoiding substances...or something along those lines, can't think of his exact words, but he encouraged us to avoid substances to help us "survive" the days, and it made me think would that be my diet pepsi's with Limes??? Because I need them to survive my days....
• I just figured out how to use these little tabby things and I think they are so cool!
• Two ladies with pink strollers just walked by! I guess me being practical and one that has multiple kids, I wouldn't buy a pink stroller (even though they are darling) I just wouldn't be able to use it for my boy. That is kind of whats the word I am looking for, anyway messed up because all my girls have had to ride in navy blue strollers...so why couldn't I use a pink stroller for my boys??? They do have brown with their pinks....anyway, sorry random mumbling...
• I got a crying baby so I got to go!
• one last thing, I have already consumed half of my points for the day! I am jumping back hard core with WW, well obviously not hard core, because I have already eaten half my points but at least I know I ate half my points and I can monitor what I eat the rest of the day. I mean if I am running now...( i know not much yet) but if I am doing that I might as well let my eating work with it too!
  

So they say things come in Threes....

I'd have to say this week things came in Twos for us:

2 Trips to the ER
2 Staples in a head
2 Broken Bones
2 Open Houses
2 Major Temper tantrums
2 Grumpy Parents
2 play dates
2 Days of conference
2 Dozen cookies eaten by me :)

So not a lot but we are just hoping today is the beginning of the calm cycle. Though my friend that I drove to Utah with, which I believe seems to have started the bad luck cycle for us, was in a car accident today....What a week!

When will the madness end??

Ok if only I knew how to upload my pics from my cell and I could just have a wordless blog, but since I am not that Tech Smart yet...this will have to do...


G-man fell off a bunk bed, by the hand of a friend.
Landed on his wrist.
Went to the ER.
Broke both bones in his arm.
In a cast.
Reminder: He went to the ER just um....five days ago...Tuesday night to get staples in the back of his head because well you know.....

G-man put it best..."this has been a really bad week for me."

I have been Tagged

I have been tagged by my friend Patricia though I am changing it up a bit! Seeing that recently I posted 100 things about me and I can't even imagine there are more things about me y'all could know :)

Here are the rules for this tag.

1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their blog, so that their readers can visit yours. -Her name is linked above.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the bottom of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their blog.

My New rules are:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
   
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 things you would do if money, time and daily responsibilities were not an issue.
4. Tag 7 people that you know that could use an escape from the daily humdrums of life and link them at the bottom of the post, then leave a comment on their blog so they know they have been tagged, because who knows when they will get to your blog and read your tag! :)

So here I go:

1. First thing I'd love to do is go back to school to study nursing.
   
2. After that I'd really like to rent an RV and travel across the US and just stopping by places and really getting to know the states.
3. I'd also love to home school my kids and possibly get a group of home schooling mom's together to do a really cool co-op I think there is such a better alternative to education than sitting at a desk and filling in answers on "dittos" do they make dittos anymore :) And this is coming from me who totally loves having my kids in public schools and one who has been a big "EWWW no home schooling, kids turn out weird" person...but I am changing my tune.
4. I would move to Utah to be closer to more of our family, yes we have some family in Texas and love being by them, but we have more in Utah and I just think that my kids would love to be closer to all their cousins...and so would I. And there is something lately drawing me there...though I am excited to take a little "trip" to Hawaii...
   
5. I want a personal trainer, who would work out with me every day.
   
6. I'd hire a personal chef as well, actually I don't mind cooking, I'd hire a meal planner and grocery shopper who would take care of all that stuff I really don't like, like planning and shopping...yeah that would be a great idea, and then while they are planning and shopping for me the kids and I could go to the zoo, or to Fredricksburg to pick fresh fruit to come home and can into yummy jams....
7. wow only seven things, I amazingly enough don't care to travel very much, though like number...I already forgot what number, oh yeah 2, I'd like to travel through the US...and why I put an RV because Heaven's knows I just recently took a road trip and that wasn't too fun, though if we stop along the ways and take our time...anyway the 7th thing I'd love to do is travel to Brazil and visit the places I lived and then go visit the southern part of the country.

So now it is your turn and well I didn't totally follow my rules, but anyway I liked my answers I think and so with out further adieu I'd like to tag these people:

1. Alyson
2. Michele
3. Jeannie
4. Marion
5. Mandy
6. Sheri
7. Yvonne
8. Jessica

And why not tag 7 more, well no I won't , but I have a hard time narrowing things down to just a limited number of people, so if you feel moved to do this, because I know you do because who couldn't think of seven things they'd love to do....so do it, and comment here and let me know you did, K?!

To Run or Not To Run

Now that is the eternal question! I just have to say I am very proud of myself, I decided yesterday morning while Eric was getting ready for work, I'd go jogging around our pond trail behind our house. Though I would have preferred to have done it alone, my daughter B decided she wanted to go with me. I really didn't want her to, but I didn't really want to go alone. So we headed out, her running behind me, then she decided she wasn't going to be able to keep up with me, so I ran back home and grabbed the umbrella stroller. She pushed it for awhlie, hopped in it for a bit, hopped out for awhile and well you get the picture. Though I was able to keep jogging, either going forward or staying in place. I was able to do a 12 minute mile. Which for me is rather impressive since I haven't jogged since, well minus those little jogs last week, but for a full mile in a long while um like almost 3 years! So heres to more miles!

How I turned a $5 bill into a $100 bill, in just one day.

I never have cash with me, I usually use my debit card, but today of all days I had cash. The cashier rung up my groceries and told me the total, "25.01". As I handed him my $10 and $20 bills, I searched through my coin purse for a penny, 'there has to be a penny amongst all these coins.' The cashier must have noticed me frantically diving through my wallet, that he just handed me the $5 bill and receipt and said "Don't worry about the cent" as he pulled a penny from his pocket and put it in the register. I smiled to him as I grabbed my grocery cart, kids sitting quietly, not asking for a thing, and said "thank you" as I walked out the door. I thought to myself, 'wow this is going to be my lucky day. It feels more like St. Patrick's Day than April Fool's Day.'**

The kids buckled up and I put the groceries in the car, and we headed on our way home, to meet our friends for a play date.

It was such a gorgeous sunny spring day that we packed a picnic lunch and walked over to the park. Not soon after being at the park the kids all decided they were done and wanted to go back home. We encouraged them to play different things, like who could run the fastest up the stairs and down the slide, or who could balance the longest across the little fence. Being only 5 they grew tired of our challenges and we gave in to take them home. Actually it was a good thing. See in Texas the weather likes to change in an instant. It went from 89 down to 69 in about two minutes flat, and the wind picked up and we were getting chilled.

After we got home, warmed up, it was time to pick up the brother from school. This is always a fun thing, you know kids crying because they want to walk, or because they want to be pushed in a stroller. Or sometimes we have to wake one up from their much needed nap, to only arrive at school to a crying first grader because his mom told him no friends after school. I was just tired, and didn't feel like watching the neighbor kids today. I mean can't a mom just enjoy her own kids after school? Something a six year old just can't wrap his brain around.

Well we make it home, and almost everyone is done crying. The kids decided it is a good time to eat Popsicles out on the tramp and I decided its a great time to veg in front of the computer. Then I remember what I had gone shopping for earlier, my special surprise Fauxberry Pie for dinner. So I run down stairs, to make it. Boy did it flop. I think I beat the potatoes too long.

The dinner was not a hit, I guess they didn't fall for the "we're having raspberry chocolate pie for dinner" because the firsts bites were followed by "this is gross!" and "I don't like this, I want Ramen." Now it would not have been such a big deal had they not done the same thing about dinner the night before.

Being one that doesn't do well with finickiness, I tell them. "Fine don't eat it. Fix your own dinner. And don't expect me to fix you dinner again!" I got up, put my dish in the sink and went up stairs to ignore the pleads and whines for something different. They survived and fixed themselves some Ramen Noodles. See it was OK. Well the kitchen was a mess, thank heavens no one called to see the house.

Because, while I was in hiding, the kids found me. They joined me. G-man also informed me that it was a parent's job to feed their kids and that I couldn't be serious that I was never going to fix them any more food ever. I was April Fooling right? No! I continued to ignore my kids as they thought it would be a great time to throw things down the stairs. I did warn them that it wasn't a great idea. But who listens to mom anyways??

In one of those throws my poor son's head met a flying metal pipe, that "accidentally" slipped out of B's hands down the stairs, where it bounced off a step and popped up pegging G-man in the back of the head.

Well so much for good luck, because that little accident cost us $100 in the ER for two little staples in the back of his head. I guess though I am lucky that it wasn't worse.

**this cash part of the story is made up :) I had to write a daily prompt about $5 bill....and thought wouldn't it make my story cool if I had used cash and got five dollars back at the store today....just had to let you know!

TeeHeeHee Tuesday

We have a little point and shoot cannon camera. It takes decent pictures, even though my dream is to own a really nice camera and become a professional photographer, well not professional but would love to photograph on the side..anyway sorry this is suppose to be TeeHeeHee Tuesday, yeah another thing I came up with. But for TeeHeeHee (you know a little giggle) I decided I need to share a few little stories to get a little Teeheehee out of you.

So my camera, it has this little feature that creates little squares to focus on faces. I decided to take a few pictures of T-Rex this afternoon. And well the angle I was or the angle T-rex was, the squares focused on his little, well obviously not that little, ears. I laughed so hard, as I looked at the screen and saw his ears squared off. I guess I better save some money for an Ear tuck.

Then this morning as Eric was getting ready for work he and B had this conversation:
"Dad do you have bangs?"
"Yes"
"well why do you do your hair like that?" She asked pointing to him slicking back his hair with gel into a hair do.
"Because I like to look nice. Do you not like my hair like this."
"No because it makes your forehead bald."
There you have it, now you know, Eric has a bald forehead.
But that is not the end Eric then replied..."well my forehead is only going to get balder and bigger."

(I guess Eric was out of gel the day we took this picture usually he doesn't have any bangs.)

Time Travel Tuesday

So while visiting my friend Yvonne's blog I hopped over to Annie's blog and found her Time Travel Tuesday post. I thought it would be a fun one to do. Then I realized I have no idea what the plates we ate off of growing up as a child- even looked like. I must ad a disclaimer, my mom loves dishes and I have to say she has several sets. After the earthquake of 89 she got some more dishes and we ate off of those, and well anyway I just remember a bunch of different dishes. Like bright red ones, and the ones after the quake were pink I think with something on them, see I have a horrible memory. My mom also had a set of light blue plates with pretty white bows on them. I loved those plates. We used those on special occasions.

But the dishes that stand out to me the most were her Christmas Spode plates, she did have other christmas ones that were red with trees on them but the Spode ones bring me to a happy place of meals with family and the smell of prime rib. And don't forget the feelings of anticipation for Santa to bring me gifts.
So what dishes do you remember eating off of??