Some of my favorite things...

I have been looking forward to the Southwest salad at McDonald's coming back since September. Its now back and I've had it twice already. The kids are wondering why all of a sudden I like McDonald's. http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/features/salads.html I normally hate fast food but this is certainly an exception. The crispy version is best of course.


On another note, our Disney trip is coming quick (32 days) so yesterday we went shopping for an extra suitcase and some shorts and sneakers. Doug actually allowed me to make him over and it was so much fun. I picked out some great outfits and I was able to get him his first pair of casual sneakers. I absolutely love these sneakers and now trying to find a fun pair for myself. I love shoes!!!

Wow, I really feel like I'm doing commercials today for McDonald's and Converse. Sorry, I just get excited about food, shopping and shoes!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Stacey Attack!

I thought it was time for another Stacey Attack. I have been doing this to him for years but thought it would be nice to capture this on my camera for a change. He's so lucky I keep my camera in my purse! The best part of this video is hearing all the giggles in the background. DO NOT feel bad for him in anyway. Just because there are no videos of me here does not mean that he doesn't embarrass me! He is usually the one dropping me off so I can run into the store and get something without the kids. He likes to move the car up everytime I attempt to get in. He also likes to yell across the store and ask if that toilet plunger will do the job!! No pity parties for Doug please. Trust me, he doesn't just let me get away with embarrassing him, he gets me back. He's just lucky I can't post on here what I just did to a pair of his underwear :)

Easter

I came across some "Gospel Wraps" that my Gramma had to decorate eggs. They are the plastic covers that you put over the eggs then you put them in boiling water and they shrink onto the egg. I was excited to find these and be able to think about my Gramma again. I don't believe people in heaven can look down on us but I really wish she could. We are going to put those wraps on the eggs today to prepare for an egg hunt.

When I was growing up we would go to my Gramma's house and have an egg hunt and have Easter dinner with her. I really enjoyed this time and I'm really missing her today. I really wish I could have spent more time with her. I spent most of my time being too "busy" to see her more often and I really regret it. There is so much I could have learned from her.

I have to admit that this Easter is a little hard for me. We don't have a church, our family isn't getting together, Doug has to work and I don't know anyone in this city. I never thought it would be so hard to find a new church. We have been visiting one but its just not the right place for us and I know that. I love going to church on Easter and hearing the sermon and seeing how excited the kids get but this Easter is just making me a little sad. At least I know the reason for Easter and that is all I need!

Celebrity Apprentice

I was watching Celebrity Apprentice last night and it came down to two people, Trace Adkins and Piers Morgan. These two will go head to head next Thursday night for the finale. Has anyone else watched this show? This has been the only show I've made a point to watch the last two months. I love the regular Apprentice but the Celebrity one has been even more fun.

My vote goes to Trace Adkins. I'm sorry but no matter how hard I try I can't say no to a cowboy with a deep voice :). He is calm, cool and collect and is doing this for his daughter and a severe food allergy charity. He is definitely playing with integrity and heart.

Then you have Piers Morgan who thinks he hasn't made a mistake this season. He is arrogant, rude and demeaning. He could not get along with Omarosa but instead of ignoring her comments he had to get into it and attack her verbally. He also resorted to sending in a spy to see what the other team was doing for a project. I know that some business people feel that they need to do this to get ahead but I just don't respect them for it.

I'm really looking forward to watching the finale on Thursday. With nothing good on TV these days I'm sure the days will go by slowly. Do you know how we pass the time?? Doug and I get to watch TV for a little over an hour each night. If there is nothing on that I'm really interested in he puts on his lovely military, history or nature channels which bore me to tears. I guess I'll be doing lots of reading :). He will honestly watch anything as long as it is in HD. Its the nerdiness that draws me in.......

Here's a thought.....

If I was sent to jail for some reason, not saying I did anything bad, just stay with me here, I could sleep all day, read books, have a college degree paid for, not cook, not clean, not work, exercise and possibly watch T.V. What's the down side again??

Happy Birthday Taffy!!

Taffy is now 2 years old! These are pictures of her enjoying her birthday gift.

Vroomm, Vroomm!!

In this picture you can see what we have now instead of the truck and the motorcycle. Yes, Doug got rid of his motorcycle. You can send your condolences to our email address, I'm sure Doug will appreciate it. He's handling this very well considering he liked both of his vehicles so much. In my defense, this was not my decision. We have been talking for a while about getting a new vehicle since the van was getting up in miles and the truck has seen better times. We test drove and researched a lot of different vehicles and decided this would be a good fit for the size we needed. I was not a part of buying this vehicle and I'm very grateful to Doug for that, he even picked my favorite color. I hate the stress of those situations so I just had to go in and sign my name and pick it up. I'll have to get a better picture of it when its parked outside. Its a Jeep Patriot 4X4 and Doug says its my new vehicle but lets be serious, I hardly leave the house. We still have the Venture van and Doug is planning on using that for work but I'm hoping he uses both since he likes the Jeep so much. It will be nice to finally have two vehicles that both kids will fit in. I always had to have the van before because it was more difficult to get booster seats in the truck and there wasn't much space.

Go Back To Bed If You Can!!!

Let me first start by saying that I am a morning person. Most peopleI've encountered will agree, I'm almost annoyingly happy in the morning, right Kristy? My biggest thrill of the day is unloading the dishwasher, opening the blinds, making the beds and starting laundry. Like I've admitted before, I'm a dork.

Anyway, I've had a rough morning. It started last night when a child, whose name I will not reveal, overflowed the toilet. I didn't notice until I heard dripping from the downstairs bathroom ceiling.

This morning I get up and the air purifier is still running near the damp spots and it still stinks (by the way if you have a solution to get rid of the smell let me know). I stumble down to start working and I listen to the news. All I hear about are the climbing gas prices, the stats regarding retirement when my generation reaches that age and a governor that was involved in a prostitution ring. As if I'm not irritated enough, both kids are up by 6am which is not normal. They are normally struggling to get up at 7:30am. A child points out a nice big stain on the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom from last night. Robyn decides she is feeling sick (she says this everyday because she hates school) so I tell her to eat something and that will make her feel better. She still feels sick and has a fever so she will be staying home.

Its now only 8:30am and I'm scared to continue my day. Can I just go back to sleep and start over?? I wish I could but now I have to start my 7 hour work day so I can be ready to take the kids to return our library books that are due today while Doug sneakily buys Garrett's birthday gift.

I'm Famous!!!

Everyday when I start working its 5:30am so I'm always around to watch the news on the Daily Buzz from 6am - 8am. This is my favorite news show because it covers the biggest news stories but also has a fun edge to it. Anyway, they have a section where you can submit your weather pictures and I sent some in last week of the earlier snow storm. They actually put them on there today!! It was so weird to see my name and pictures on the news!!! I'm a celebrity, no really I'm just a dork that has nothing better to do, then I blog about it :)

Buried In Snow!!

Here are pictures from our latest snow. This storm was much more interesting since the city is out of salt and they are not plowing the roads. Doug is scheduled to work tomorrow but we aren't sure if he is going to attempt it or not. He has a great 4X4 but they can only do so much in over a foot of snow on the road and with snow drifts in different areas

YIIPPEEE!!!!!

We had success!!!! Garrett finally tied his shoes. He did have trouble doing the double loops so we just stuck with the other method. Doug stopped helping since he is left handed we were afraid that was confusing him too. The last two nights I sat down with him and we practiced for about 15 minutes. Tonight he finally got the hang of it. He now earned the new Scooby Doo movie that we have been bribing him with since September. Hopefully he will tie them without a fight for school tomorrow then I will go buy the movie.

Shoe Tying

I thought I would be nice and take off the auto Disney music. Really... it was just driving me crazy when I was checking my blog.

Anyway, I have a question for all my mom friends out there. How did you make your kids learn to tie their shoes? Robyn was tying her shoes as soon as she turned 4 because she was very independent but as it looks now, I will need to go to college with Garrett to tie his shoes. We ALL have showed him a number of times but he refuses to try and fights it until we have to go somewhere and we end up doing it for him. Do I just make him walk around with his laces untied? We go to the bus stop at 12:25pm so I told him TV and computer are off at 12 and he was to work on tying his shoes until its time to go. Yesterday he screamed and cried until I finally had to do it to make the bus. I'm baffled, how can a kid not want to do this?? He will be 6 next month, this just seems ridiculous to me. This also refers to buttoning shirts too. There must be a trick to this boy that I'm not getting. Please, someone help me before I go insane.

200th Post!!!!

I finally made it to my 200th post!!!

I was really anxious for Tackle It Tuesday so its a day early. I've been going crazy organizing and its making me feel so much more relaxed in my house. There is nothing worse than working at home and seeing a mess grow around you. Thank goodness I had a laptop so I could work away from this desk!!!

Out of EACH kids room I was able to collect 2 large trash bags of trash and 1 bag of clothes for Goodwill. I will never again buy a happy meal because of those little toys!!! Now that I've done that the kids have to keep it that way!!!

Election Time

I am so upset over this entire election situation. I have been wanting to talk about this for some time now but I get so upset about it I can feel my blood pressure rising. Is anyone brave enough to discuss their feelings on this one??

I personally feel that I can't trust any of the candidates. Until now I couldn't even decide on the lesser of the two evils on the Democrat side. I'm a hard core Republican and I am scared for this nation right now.

Robyn is furious at the possibility of a female president. She really wanted to be the first. When I was homeschooling her at 4 years old I watched the debates with her and she became very interested in politics. I'm excited that she has already asked to watch the debates in the fall. I just wonder how much she understands at this point.