Sick day

This morning Brendan was stalling big time on getting himself dressed and ready. I was rushing around like usual trying to get ready for work. Adam was fussy, crawling around following me and crying. Every time I rushed by Brendan I would say "Brendan, get your clothes on!" "My tummy hurts, I can't" was his response each time. This is an excuse he has used before when he doesn't want to do something, so I figured that was the case again. "Brendan, get your clothes on, we need to go" After about 5 times I finally helped him get his clothes on, and we rushed out the door, got him and Adam strapped in the car and took off. I gave Brendan some water and crackers for in the car on the way to daycare. About 10 minutes down the road I realized I was VERY low on gas. I almost went on and tried my luck thinking I probably had enough gas to make it there, but at the last moment I decided to go ahead and take the exit and get gas. Good thing I did! As soon as we pulled up, Brendan said he needed to "swallow". (for some reason that's what he said instead of throw up). I still thought he might just be saying that, he's done that before and pretends to throw up to be silly. Well, just in case I did unbuckle him and told him he could stand outside at the pump with me. "Where can I swallow?" he asked. It's then I realize he just isn't letting this go, he must be serious. I pointed to the trashcan, but poor little guy, the trash can was too tall for him, and just then BLAAAAHHH he puked all over the ground. Ewwwww! Thank goodness it was outside and not in my car. lol Okay, so now I feel like a bad Mommy for not believing him this morning when he said his tummy hurt! I wiped his face for him, and asked if he was okay. He said he was. We got back in the car and I drove the rest of the way to daycare to drop Adam off (don't want him around a sick Brendan all day). Then I turned around and brought Brendan back home, and called in to work. So, we are here at home today. He is watching cartoons on the couch for now. So far he seems okay, and he hasn't thrown up again yet. We shall see how the rest of the day goes! Poor little guy :(

This is me...for now

I decided to post a picture of me and change my profile pic to one that is recent (keeping myself honest I guess), instead of the photo I did have on my profile (which was from about 3 or 4 years ago, about a year or two after I had Brendan, before Adam existed!) I took this photo of myself this morning on our porch. I am so startled by what I look like in photos. Who is that? I hardly even recognize myself. Even though I've lost a lot of the weight from having the 2nd child, I still have a ways to go. I don't like what I see, but I guess photos don't lie, huh? I guess I need to stop living in a fantasy dream of wishing I still looked like I did 11 years ago in high school! I can't wait until I lose another 20-30 lbs of "baby fat" so that I can post a new photo of the thinner me...like I use to be and was intended to be! The part that strikes me the most odd about this picture (besides the extra weight) is how the shape of my face is different and how loooonnng my face looks! LOL So, anyway, I hope to be able to post a better updated photo after a couple more months, but for now...this is me!

Tired, but not stressing :)

Wow, am I tired! Adam woke up at 2:00am and really never completely went back to sleep. After feeding him, he still didn't go back to sleep, so we pulled him into bed with us, thinking maybe he was cold? From then until 5:00am he kinda dozed off and on. But at 5am he wanted no more of that! He was ready to be up. So, I got up with him again and took him downstairs so that Joe could sleep a little longer. Now here it is almost the end of the work day and I am beat! I could go to sleep right now if I didn't have to wait until the boys go to bed tonight! lol

Tonight is the finale of The Biggest Loser. I can't wait to see everyone's "after" look. So amazing the complete transformation that those people accomplish on that show! More proof that people can do anything they put their mind to.

Well, another work day is coming to a close, so here we go:

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. Even though I really wasn't wanting to supervise one of our programs for one of my employees this morning, it did give me a chance to just sit back and go through some of the magazines/catalogs I've been meaning to look through! lol

2. Treated myself to yummy chicken and dumplings soup for lunch, which really hit the spot on this blustery cold snowy day!

3. My kitchen is clean right now! lol

4. My bedroom is not clean right now, but I am not stressing about it and know that I will get to it when I can.

5. I am enjoying a cup of hot chocolate right now at my desk, and getting ready to go home.

Great Thought from M. Scott Peck

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers". -M. Scott Peck

Holiday "tag"

Holiday tag from Carolyn's blog, here are my answers:

Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes
What are your favorite "holiday" colors? Red and green
Favorite Christmas song? "O Holy Night" and "The Gift" (by Collin Raye)
Favorite Christmas movie? I enjoy the funny ones :)
Favorite Christmas cartoon? "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus"
Real tree or artificial? Real!
Special family traditions? We get our tree the Fri or Sat after Thanksgiving every year. We haven't really established very many other traditions yet that are "ours". We still have some lingering traditions from when I was growing up. And Joe and I actually talked about this the other day, and we're planning to carry on the tradition with our boys of having a birthday cake for "baby Jesus" on Christmas each year. This was something my grandma use to do and Joe's mom use to do sometimes, and we like the idea of the boys being aware and reminded that the day isn't all about them!
Travel or stay home? We go to my mom's about a week or so before Christmas, to my grandma's on Christmas eve, to see my dad, step-mom, and other grandma sometime around Christmas, and Christmas morning at our own house with our children. On the even years we celebrate with Joe's family on Christmas afternoon/evening, and on the odd years we celebrate with them whenever it works.
Does Santa wrap presents? He didn't when I was a kid, but he did wrap gifts in Santa paper for my kids last year. We're still trying to work that out as to whether he will or not from now on.
Do you do an advent calendar? no, but we probably should
Do you send Christmas cards? yes
Store bought or handmade? store bought
Christmas letter? Yes, but I only put it in the cards going to people far away or that we haven't seen frequently throughout the year.
Pictures? Sometimes
What do you put in stockings? small toys, candy, underwear, socks, crayons, stickers, etc
Typical holiday meal? nope!
Are you done shopping yet? nope Have you started? yep

Courtney needs...

Okay, so here's a fun little game I got from Carolyn's blog. Go to Google, and search for your name followed by the word "needs" and see what comes up.
Here are 11 of mine:

1. Courtney needs to think global, not local
2. Courtney needs to promote her next movie
3. Courtney needs a parent, or parents that will be willing to have patience with her... Courtney needs possibly go to a spa, get a manicure, a pedicure, etc. ...
4. Courtney needs to have him in her life. ...
5. Courtney needs to die in childbirth... (geez that's a little harsh and disturbing!)
6. Courtney needs to be in an all adult home because she can be snappy around children. (LOL!)
7. COURTNEY NEEDS TO BE CUT SOME SLACK
8. Courtney needs no explainin’
9. Courtney needs to go home.
10. Courtney needs help getting rid of me...
11. Courtney needs to enlist the help of Jack Osbourne.

Feeling great!

Wow, I feel great! I don't know what happened exactly, but I have let go of a lot more of the stress, frustration, and martyrism that I've been carrying around with me the last several months (honestly, about a year!). I think I just decided I was tired of being stressed and annoyed, it's too much work. lol I've been doing better for a few weeks, but now I really feel like my soul is lighter or something! Joe and I even cuddled on our love seat recliners and watched a movie Sunday while Adam took his nap. It's been a loooong time since we did that. Usually if we watch a movie I'm folding laundry or something while we watch. It felt so nice just to lay there with his arms around me, not worrying about anything else. Which, for me is a big deal. I am not a huggy-kissy person (except for obvious times at night in bed). I also did not let any "lack of help" annoy me this weekend. I think the fact that Joe's brother was staying with us actually helped me adjust my attitude. I happily fixed simple meals for them, and cleaned up afterwards without even thinking twice. I did laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, took care of the boys, put up the outside Christmas decorations, and so on without feeling any resentment or annoyance. Go figure. I use to always "preach" the popular saying "Don't sweat the small stuff...and it's all small stuff" but I haven't been practicing that much lately. Why have I been lingering on things that just don't matter and making myself and everyone else miserable with my attitude? So what if he doesn't jump right in and help with everything? So what if I take care of 90% of Adam's needs? So what if the house is never perfectly clean and picked up? So what if we don't see exactly eye to eye on some issues? So what if the boys are a little loud and annoying sometimes? So what if I can't do all the things I'd like to? So what if I have to pick up after others? So what if I clean, do all the laundry, and bathe the kids while he relaxes in front of the tv? and so on and so forth. Do these things REALLY matter in the large scheme of things? Probably not! Are they worth being pissed off and moody all the time over? No! I've been making mountains out of mole-hills and I'm just plain tired of it...I'm annoying myself! lol That's not the type of person I am, and I don't like being that way. I'm ready to be happy and to stop resenting him for little things. I'm ready to go back to being a happy, pleasant person to be around. I'm ready to enjoy being a wife and mom again instead of being resentful for the things I no longer am. I'm ready to focus my attention on making life enjoyable again. And I feel great!

Our Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend

Well, we had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent it with Joe's family this year at Joe's older sister's house. Lots of yummy food and we enjoyed visiting with the family. Joe's brother came back to our house Thanksgiving night, and has been here ever since. He's hunting in our woods all weekend. While he was out today, one of our neighbors who has property that backs up to ours was out training his dog, using a shotgun. He didn't know Joe's brother was out there, and he was really close to our property line...he accidentally peppered Dan with his shotgun spray! Luckily it wasn't bad, but Dan sure didn't expect to be SHOT while he was hunting! Geez!!!

We did get our Christmas tree Friday (see pics here of us decorating it). Today it was so nice outside! Low 60's in late November!!! Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. I was outside in shorts and a t-shirt putting up our Christmas greenery, lights, & bows! LOL

The rest of the weekend it's pretty much just cleaning, cooking, laundry, and watching the boys. Then Monday I'm hostessing a Big Yellow Box party at my house after work. It's one of those home-business parties, I usually do not do those, but I had never heard of Big Yellow Box (by Crayola) parties, so I'm doing it out of curiosity & to help another lady on our moms' group who is the consultant. So, we shall see how it goes!

While I'm here, I'll do my happy stuff...

5 Things to be Happy About Today:

1. I love looking at our Christmas tree lights in the dark.

2. The greenery outside worked out perfectly in length, without me having to redo it over and over to get it right.

3. We enjoyed 2 meals using meat from Joe's deer today.

4. Adam went to bed without crying tonight.

5. Even though I've been off for 3 days, there's still 1 more day off for this holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving (the Sesame Street way)

Okay, okay, so everyone has probably seen this cartoon before, but it still cracks me up, so I had to post it. LOL

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

First "Bad Word"

Brendan said his first "bad word" the other day. I honestly am very surprised that he made it to age 5 before it happened. Sure, he says words like poop and butt and booty and things he thinks are funny bad words, but I don't consider those as swearing or cussing (whatever word you use where you're from). The other day I was in the kitchen, Brendan was playing nearby and talking away to himself/his toys as he often does. All the sudden I hear him gasp and say "What the hell is that?" while he's playing. He said it so naturally that I almost didn't think twice. I looked at him and said, "what did you say?". He looked up and said "nothing". I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, because then he might say it more to get a reaction out of me, but I also didn't want to just let him say it. So I told him, "Brendan, you can say what the heck is that, but please don't say hell...that's not a nice word." So he went back to playing and talking to himself and continued on his play-scenario, picking up with "what the heck is that?". The next day I was telling Joe about it, and I didn't know Brendan was listening. Part way through the story, Brendan chimed in "Yeah Daddy, we say what the heck is that, not hell. Heck, not hell". lol

So anyway, since I seem to be on a posting-spree today I think I'll add my happiness report now, so I don't have 4 posts in the same day!

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. I got a new hairdryer (mine started shooting sparks out the cord yesterday!)

2. I actually got to work EARLY today! Usually I'm about 10-15 minutes late, and today I was 10 minutes early!

3. Today and yesterday flew by fast at work!

4. Good shows on tv tonight (Biggest Loser, My Name is Earl, etc)

5. Tomorrow is the end of the short work week!

French Name Quiz (my results)

Your French name is
~Nuit~
It means 'night'.
You are a quiet person who enjoys being alone.
Unlike Congele, you are accepted, you just like
to have time to yourself to think. You
especially like the nightime, because looking
at the stars makes you think of how small we
all are in the world, and how much there is
about the universe that we don't and can't
know...


What is your French name?
brought to you by Quizilla

Almost Thanksgiving already?!

Wow, Thanksgiving is in 2 days?! It's so hard to believe November is almost over. And then December...and then a new year again. This year we'll be with Joe's family at his older sister's house on Thanksgiving. I absolutely LOVE Joe's mom's stuffing...can't wait to eat it Thursday. I never even liked stuffing until I had hers. lol It will be interesting to see if Joe's niece shows up this year. She is Joe's older (adopted) brother's child, but she lived with Joe's parents for the first several years of her life, and then lived with Joe's older sister & her husband for many years...until this year. She was becoming really hard to deal with, didn't treat them with respect, wouldn't clean up after herself, etc, and she took off the day she turned 18 to live with her boyfriend. That was in August, so we'll see if she bothers to show up for Thanksgiving. For Brendan's sake, I hope she does. She use to really love Brendan and always play with him, and he loves her. I know he will ask where she is.

On Friday I am going to try really hard to not go anywhere! lol I hate crowds. I don't like shopping. Great sales or not...I do NOT want to be anywhere near the stores on Black Friday!

Saturday we will get our Christmas tree. Every year we go get our tree (real one) the weekend after Thanksgiving. Then we will decorate it that evening, while having snacks/drinks, and breaking out the Christmas music. It's our "kick off" to the Christmas season each year. Even though it doesn't feel like it's time for the holidays yet, I am looking forward to it. I just love to sit in the dark and look at the twinkle of little Christmas lights on the tree at night :)

Joe's first deer!

Well, it finally happened...Joe got his first deer today! He is sooo happy! See a photo here on my photo-a-day blog. He has been so frustrated every year in the past for not getting one, but now his time in the woods this year paid off. He loves his new gun even more now that it got him his deer. lol

The Potato Soup Recipe

Okay, here's the recipe for the potato soup we like (that I mentioned in my previous post). I got this recipe from Sheila D., and old online friend, several years ago...

POTATO SOUP
6 potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
4 chicken bullion cubes
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
5 cups water
1 tsp. pepper (we only use a sprinkle or two)
1 Tbsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
chopped green onions (optional)

Cook potatoes in 5 cups of boiling water in a large pot for 25 minutes. (It looks like it's not enough water, but it's enough. Don't add more.) Add onions, carrots, celery, bullion cubes, salt, pepper, butter, parsley & evaporated milk. Simmer until carrots are easily pierced with fork (about 20 mins.) Serve with green onions sprinkled on top, if wanted.

Alternate Option: You can also add all the ingredients to a crock pot and cook on low for 10 hours.

time is dragging on!

Oh my, this has been the loooongest day! Usually the work day flies by...today it is dragging on and on and on. It is finally 4:30...I can leave soon. But ever since 2:00 I've been ready to leave. It's Friday. This weekend Joe will be hunting again during the days. Saturday night I will be going to the mom's group Mom's Night Out, so at least I will have a little time away. During the day on Saturday & Sunday I'm really hoping the boys are good. I have so much I want & need to get done around the house. I need to go through some stuff and get rid of stuff. It just never seems to happen, I can't seem to work it in. There is a girl on freecycle who left a bad situation and is starting over with basically nothing. She has a child and is pregnant with another. She needs everything. I have a bunch of baby clothes and items that Adam has outgrown that I'd like to give her...I just need the time to go through it and set stuff aside for her. Hopefully I can at least accomplish that this weekend.

Well, anyway, I don't really have much to say, just killing time til I can go home. No point in starting on anything on a Friday afternoon! So, time for my daily happiness report:

5 Things to Be Happy About Today

1. It's Friday

2. I'm making potato soup tonight- it's a recipe Joe & I both love

3. My cough seems to be finally going away (after 4 weeks)

4. I cleaned out and reorganized the instructor files in one of my filing cabinets at work

5. It's close enough to 5:00 that I can leave work now! Yea!

Have a great weekend!

A fun time waster

(Lifted from this random blog that I somehow accidentally stumbled
across)

1) My mother once: ran a red light with me in the car (she was talking,
not really paying attention, and came to the red
light...stopped...looked both ways...and went! LOL)

2) Never in my life: have I broken a bone (*knocking on wood*)

3) When I was five: I threw up on the floor of my Kindergarten
classroom, and was SO embarrassed!

4) High school was: the best I've ever looked and felt

5) I will never forget: the births of both of my sons

6) I once met: Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton

7) There's this person I know who: got rid of her "pet" mouse by holding it by the tail and whacking it against the ground. (No, this is not a close friend of mine, it's just a girl Joe works with who apparently has a psycho streak in her.)

8) Once, at a bar: I thanked our friend Kevin for some "advice" he had given Joe (won't go into details, as that would be way TMI).

9) By noon I'm usually: done eating my lunch at work (I just get so
hungry before actual lunch time! lol)

10) Last night I: was in a pissy mood.

11) If I only had: time at home by myself to get things done!

12) Next time I go to church/temple: it will be long overdue.

13) Terri Schiavo: shouldn't have been the public's business at
all, in my opinion

14) I like: time alone, by myself (which is extremely rare these last few years).

15) When I turn my head left, I see: the left side of my desk/office,
printer, phone, piles of papers, etc.

16) When I turn my head right, I see: the right side of my desk/office,
cabinet, piles of papers, piles of stuff on the floor, etc.

17) You know I'm lying when: I can't keep a straight face

18) In grade school: I was part of a large group of friends, and we
would always get in "fights" with each other so that we could go to
the school counselor's office to talk out our "problems" and miss class. Haha

19) If I was a character written by Shakespeare: I have no clue who I'd be.

20) By this time next year I: hope the addition to our house is almost
complete (wouldn't that be a miracle!)

21) A better name for me would be: ???

22) I have a hard time understanding: how I can spend all weekend
cleaning only for the mess to be back within hours.

23) If I ever go back to school I'll: be amazed! I have no intention
or desire to go back to school, ever.

24) You know I like you if: I continue to communicate with you.

25) If I won an award, the first person I'd thank would be: my
parents.

26) I hope that: I will master FLYing soon (see Flylady.net if you
don't know what I mean)

27) Take my advice: into consideration, and then do whatever you want
and feel is right for you!

28) My ideal breakfast is: biscuits with "Granny's Groovy Gravy"
and sausage.

29) A song I love, but do not have is: "100 Years" by Five for
Fighting and "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me

30) If you visit the town/city I live, I suggest: you be very alert
when driving around because the college students will walk
out into the road right in front of traffic and look at you like how
dare you be driving there. (There are 3 colleges in our town too, so
there are TONS of college students wandering around)

31) Tulips, character flaws, microchips & track stars: Tulips- are my
favorite. Character flaws- are part of life. Microchips- No comment.
Track stars- run fast. lol

32) Why won't anyone: pick up after themselves in this house

33) If you spend the night at my house: you'll have nowhere to
sleep...my youngest son doesn't even have a bedroom, so you *know*
there's no guest bedroom either!

34) I'd stop my wedding: it's 8 years too late for that!

35) The world could do without: wasps...couldn't it?

36) I'd rather lick the belly of a roach than: be stung by a wasp

37) My favorite is: drinking around a campfire with my husband and
friends.

38) Paper clips are more useful than: tits on a bull (lol, sorry, old
expression my granny use to say)

40) And by the way: I believe everything in life happens for a reason.

41)The last time I was drunk: we were on a vacation with several of our
couple-friends and everyone's kids, and I forgot that I had not eaten
anything since breakfast, and after about 6 beers I was suddenly
reminded! Normally 6 beers wouldn't make me sick, but on an empty
stomach, it was not a pretty sight. I threw up, and then was too weak to walk, so Joe had to help me to bed, and I stayed there until the next
morning. No hangover, but was a little embarrassed!

42) My grandmother always: amazes me. She's in her upper 80's and
still runs around in shorts (and looks good in them!), and takes care of
her house, her huge property (not sure how many acres, but it's a
lot), sews, fishes, paints, makes dolls, cooks, goes out with her
friends, drinks, tells dirty jokes, is fun, and is just a great lady.
She has also out-lived 3 husbands!

Okay, now it's your turn to answer all of these on your blog!

The addition discussion, Adam's fall, and cranky me!

My mood overall has been so much better lately...that is until last night. Ugh! I was really irritated and frustrated from several things, Brendan was testing my patience, Adam was fussy, and well, even though I'm generally a quiet person, for some reason I can't keep my mouth shut when I'm irritated & frustrated! lol So basically I just made everyone else more upset too. Then after the boys were in bed, Joe and I got in a "discussion" about the addition we want to do on our house. I am about to go crazy in our little bitty house with no doors, and nowhere to "get away" ever. Yes, I love having 10 wooded acres, but wow that house is just not meant to have a family of 4 in it...especially not with a little one that can get into everything. Anyway, Joe keeps putting off moving forward, because he's afraid we can't afford it, and a bunch of other fears of his. I say lets take the first few steps of planning, getting some real plans on paper, and get some estimates so we can FIND OUT if we can afford it! We can sit on our butts and daydream about "someday" for the rest of our lives, but if we're going to get it done we have to DO something about it! We need it now...Adam doesn't have a room at all, and he's too young to share with Brendan. Not to mention Brendan's room is too small for 2 kids anyway. Our bedroom has no doors, it's an open loft. The rest of the house is open floor plan, which looks kinda neat, but wow I had no idea how annoying it would be to have no doors to shut, and nowhere to hide! LOL We have a small living room, tiny kitchen, Brendan's small room, tiny laundry room, bathroom, and master bedroom & bath. That's it. That's our whole house. The addition we'd ideally like to do would add: New master bedroom (and our current one would become an office/guest bedroom), laundry room (our current one is really supposed to be an entrance-way), a living room (our current one would become a dining room), and another bedroom for one of the boys (the other boy will be in Brendan's current room). Oh, and a garage. If it turns out that there's no way we can afford the addition, then we need to look at ways to work with our existing conditions, and/or a smaller addition to get us by. But we still have to take the first steps to even find that out!!! I have no doubt that if I had never said another word, that Joe would continue to keep this addition as a "someday" and it would never happen. He admits that that is possibly true, even though he really does want the addition. He's just not the type to jump into things without totally analyzing and agonizing over them and thinking of all the reasons we shouldn't, and how money is too much an issue, and how all the conditions aren't right, etc, etc. Conditions will never be perfect for anything in life, so if he's waiting for that, it's not happening. I've had to push forward on everything we've ever accomplished/done to get anywhere, because he just won't take any leaps of faith on his own. He even admitted that everything in the past that I've pushed for and taken leaps of faith on have always worked out fine. But he was also defensive and taking things personally in our "discussion", so I guess I wasn't being as nice as I could have been. But dang! Nothing ever gets done if I don't keep on it. *sigh*

To add to the frustration, this morning we overslept, and then while I was getting ready, Joe forgot to put up the baby gate on the steps and he went out of the room for a minute...Adam climbed up the steps and I hear a series of bangs and bumps, followed by Brendan yelling that Adam fell, and Adam started crying...I ran in there thinking Joe was already in there to find Joe nowhere in sight and Adam had tumbled down from near the top of the steps (according to Brendan, and I believe him since I heard it as Adam tumbled down!) and was upside-down on the next to last step. Scared the crap out of me! I scooped him up and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. Turns out he is perfectly fine, no signs of any injuries or anything, thank goodness! Then as I'm rushing around, already late, I go outside to the car and it is covered in frost. Ugh! Had to stand out in the 16 degrees and try to scrape the windshield while already so late, while Joe sat inside on the couch eating his cereal. Grrrr. My arm is still sore from the flu shot yesterday, and I'm achy all over, tired, cranky, etc. (Gee, can I whine any more? LOL) So this morning I was still not in a good mood. But, I'll get over it.

Not sure I can come up with the 5 things to be happy about today without a lot of thought! lol But I'll try...

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. I was finally able to get badly-needed groceries on my lunch break today

2. I was able to use 8 coupons on our groceries (not a lot, but better than none!)

3. It's Thursday again, so Survivor is on tonight again

4. I actually did my menu planning for the rest of this week, and next week like I'm supposed to do as part of the FLYlady system.

5. ????

Almost forgot...

Almost forgot to post my 5 things to be happy about today! So here goes...

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. Enjoyed a yummy (& free) Thanksgiving meal at the boys' daycare

2. Brendan was so excited to see me and Joe when we ate lunch with him...always makes me feel good when he's happy to see me :)

3. It's sunny today (Even though it's turned cold, at least it isn't raining like yesterday!)

4. I finally got 3 boxes to the post office today that I've been needing to mail since last week!

5. I found out today that the Taekwon-Do class (which is in my area of supervision at work) made the front cover of our Department's book of winter activities & classes. (Usually they put a photo of parks, or aquatics, or something like that as the cover, and my recreation classes rarely make the cover photo, so that was a nice surprise).

Okay, gotta run- time to go home! Yea!

Turkey Feast at preschool

Today was the "Turkey Feast" at Brendan & Adam's daycare/preschool. I guess they wanted to have it early to avoid the busy holiday week next week. So, Joe and I went there for lunch today. Brendan was so excited when we arrived! It was kinda fun to eat lunch in the 5-yr-old room, on little bitty chairs and a little bitty table. heehee. They had turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, macaroni & cheese, rolls, and a few other typical Thanksgiving foods. And then there were all the yummy desserts...pumpkin pies, brownies, cakes, cream puffs, etc. Now I'm sleepy, and still have 4 hours left to work :( They gave us a card that has Brendan's picture on the front, and the inside of the card is a turkey made out of Brendan's handprint. So cute! I'll scan it in tonight and post it on my photo-a-day blog, and I'll also upload a pic I took while we were there. Adam was taking a nap, so we didn't even go back to his room at all. Really we were hesitant to anyway, because we were afraid he would get upset and cry if he saw us and then we left him there for the rest of the day. So it worked out well that he was sleeping anyway.

Well, time to get back to work, so I'll end for now.

The Nerd Test...I passed...or failed...or however you want to look at it! lol

>

LOL! Saw a link to this on Kathie's blog, and had to take the test! Above icon shows my results! I am somehow not only a non-nerd, but says I also despise nerds! lol Not true, I married one! Heehee...just kidding! But anyway, just a fun little test, that I have to admit I was nervous to take, as I thought it would be my luck it would come out 100% nerd! lol Okay, who else has the nerve to take the nerd test?

Catching Up Again

Okay, so the annual Christmas shopping trip went just fine. My sister & my aunt got a lot done, and the rest of us got a few things done. I was able to get my 2 nephews finished, a couple little things for my Box Project family, and 2 shirts & a pair of pants for myself. I am always in desperate need of clothes. Since I don't like shopping, and since Joe doesn't like it when we spend money, I just don't end up with many clothes. Casual Corner is going out of business, so I was able to get a $50 pair of khaki pants for only $24. Also found 2 shirts at Sears.

Joe hunted Saturday and Sunday, but didn't get a deer. He's planning to try again this coming weekend.

Sunday we had planned to take the boys to the free showing of Madagascar at the local theater, but they were out of tickets so fast we missed it. Brendan was so upset, he busted out crying, poor little guy. We felt bad, so we took him to Burger King to eat and play on the indoor Play Place instead. He had a lot of fun, and Adam was in awe of all the bright colors and such. Both boys behaved VERY well the whole time we were there! If I had known we were going there, I would have brought my camera along!

Last night I went to another Tastefully Simple party. I love their stuff. And the parties are fun because you get to sample all sorts of the food! lol I ordered several more things for my family, and also a gift pack for Joe's mom, so I spent quite a pretty penny. Ssshhh...don't tell Joe. lol

I didn't think I was going to be able to go last night, because during the day I had this really weird sudden on-set of extreme dizzyness, followed by nausea and got really hot & sweaty. It took everything I had to make it home and collapse into bed! I passed out for 3 hours, and felt much better when I woke up. Very weird.

Today it is raining like crazy, and the temperatures are dropping as the day goes on. This morning my drivers side windshield wiper all the sudden stopped working. What timing! It was pouring down rain, and here my windshield wiper isn't working! Yikes! The other one was, thank goodness, so I'm leaning over trying to see out that side of the windshield while driving. Ugh! Joe came by my office to take a look at it during lunch, and he just got done fixing it.

Well, that's about it, I think that catches me back up to today!

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. Joe fixed my windshield wiper!

2. Got to smile this morning seeing how cute Adam looked in his hat & mittens

3. Got to laugh this morning when I dropped the boys off at daycare, and took Brendan's hat off...OMG his hair was sticking up and out in every direction possible, it was hilarious!

4. Biggest Loser is on tv tonight

5. Both boys were good this morning

Quiz

Lifted from Carolyn's Blog (who lifted it from Amy's blog)

2 - names you go by: Courtney, Mommy

2 - parts of your heritage: German, Welsh

2 - things that scare you: wasps, all bees

2 - of your everyday essentials:
computer/internet, Sugarfree Red Bull in the car on my way to work.

2 - of your favorite bands or musical artists:
Collin Raye, Kelly Clarkson

2 - favorite songs: I can't pick just two! lol Two *of* my many favorites that pop in my mind right now are, "I Volunteer" by Collin Raye, and the first 5 songs on Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" cd. lol

2 - things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
respect for me and my goals/dreams, feeling and acting like a team

2 - physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex):
eyes, smile

2 - of your favorite hobbies: scrapbooking, camping

2 - things you want really badly:
To be happy inside & out, a clean/organized house with all our excess stuff and clutter gone, and I have to add a 3rd one here...getting the addition on our house built ASAP!

2 - places you want to go on vacation:
back to Wyoming and/or Colorado (I love mountains!), and would like to take the boys to Disney World in about 5 years.

2 - things you want to do before you die:
see my boys grow into adulthood, see Alaska & Hawaii to finish visiting all 50 states

2 - ways that you are stereotypically a chick:
I ask my husband to kill wasps & big spiders for me, and I don't know much about cars

2 - things you are thinking about now:
Hoping I don't start feeling dizzy & nauseous again, wondering what the UPS guy just left on my doorstep! (I'm gonna go see, be right back! lol)*

2 - stores you shop at:
Wal-Mart, Michael's

2 - people I would like to see take this quiz:
anyone that sees this

*(By the way, if you're wondering what the UPS guy brought, it was a gift for Adam from my aunt...Vtech Sing & Discover Piano from our Amazon.com wishlist! It's so cute & fun, he will love it!)

We took time to stop and smell the...cows?!!! LOL

Sooo...I think I'm going to try to incorporate doing something a little out of the ordinary every day that I can, to keep things interesting and kinda fun. Not a big thing, just little tiny things that maybe I wouldn't have otherwise done. This morning, that was stopping along the way to daycare/work to take pictures of cows!!! LOL! I decided that my photo-a-day blog was getting a little too predictable with photos of my boys, so I wanted to shake it up a bit. Every day on my way to daycare/work we pass by fields of cows...so, I thought I'd take a quick pic of some of the cows we drive by every day. Heehee. Brendan thought it was really funny that Mommy stopped the car to take pictures of cows. Then he said, "Mommy don't forget to take pictures of all the birdies and snakes and snails too!" LOL If I didn't have the boys in the car, I would have ventured closer to the cows, but I didn't want to get far from the car, so they are not close ups of cows or anything like that, but they are cows! I will upload them tonight to my photo-a-day blog. And, we counted the properties that had cows, and wow I had no idea we passed by SIX different fields of cows every morning on our commute! If you had asked me yesterday, I would have guessed maybe 3. So, see there...I learned something today too! lol

I need to hurry this up and leave work, but before I go for today:

5 Things to Be Happy About Today

1. It's Friday, and I can leave my office in 5 minutes

2. I made Brendan smile this morning by taking pictures of cows

3. Brendan still loves playing with his Leapster that we bought him for his birthday

4. I treated myself to roast beef sandwich and yummy chicken & dumplings soup from Lion's Choice today for lunch.

5. I have 3 more Christmas gifts done, thanks to a few quick clicks on Amazon.com, including Joe's dad who is usually very hard to buy for!

Christmas shopping (ugh!)

Yes, it's that's time again. Every year as far back as I can remember, the ladies on my mom's side of the family have gotten together one Saturday in November for the annual Christmas shopping trip. Tomorrow is the day. So, tomorrow me, my sister, my mom, my aunt, my cousin, and my grandma will get together at the mall. Usually we end up going to the city my mom lives in, but this year we're actually going right here in my town. (That helps, because Joe will be hunting seeing as it is opening day of deer season, and there's no way we would have been able to go out of town and miss that! lol) So, I *am* very much looking forward to seeing the relatives and eating lunch & dinner out with them...it's the shopping part I'm not looking forward to. I am not crazy about shopping. The appeal of wandering around for hours around a crowded mall looking for things to spend money on is lost on me. Actually, there are many "stereotypical female" type things that are lost on me, but I won't get sidetracked on that right now. For me, if I need to buy something, I want to go quickly, go in, get it, pay, and leave. That's it. Online shopping is my favorite. I can just sit down for a few minutes and get 3/4 of my Christmas shopping done in just a few minutes and few clicks. Then lo & behold several days later boxes are delivered to my door and, viola! Shopping done. See, now wasn't that easier? But alas, once a year I give in and go shopping for hours on end in the name of family tradition. Wish me luck tomorrow. LOL Seriously though, I *am* looking forward to seeing my relatives, no matter what we're doing, so for that reason I will enjoy it.

If You Give...

Okay, for those of you who are moms, and are familiar with the books like "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and others in that series, then perhaps the following will make you chuckle like it did me when I accidentally ran across it on another blog...

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her
she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook
("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse
that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her
that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are... If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

~author unknown
(where I found it...posted by KDubs on her blog)

I think I thrive on change & new experiences

I've had bits and pieces of random thoughts & revelations these last few months, and one of the conclusions I've come to is...I think I thrive on change and new experiences. So many people fear change, but I think I crave it. I am pretty laid-back and quiet most of the time, and I got to thinking how I haven't really felt excited about much or felt passionate about anything much lately. And I know I use to. Thoughts of "maybe I'm depressed" passed through my mind several times this past year, but then an episode of Dr. Phil (or was it Oprah?) a lady was talking about her situation and she said her doctor told her, "you're not depressed, you're just bored!". This lady needed shocking excitement in her life to keep her happy. I laughed, because it kinda clicked inside me. No, I don't need "shocking" excitement, but when I think about the times I am the happiest, it seems to always be centered around times of change and/or new experiences. We have really fallen into the daily grind so much these last couple years, and I think I'm bored! In a way I can't believe the word BORED is even in my vocabulary right now...as on one level I feel totally overwhelmed with the responsibilities of every day life, lol, but I think my soul is bored. Does that make sense? I need to be rejuvinated and experience new things and keep myself excited about life. I've actually been feeling pretty good (except for being sick) lately, and I think it's because I've been busy planning for both boys birthdays & party, which is something out of the ordinary daily grind, and with the holidays coming up, I'm starting to PLAN for upcoming things. I am a born dreamer & planner...so if I have something to plan for it keeps me (and my brain) entertained.

So, now, how to work new experiences and excitement in to my every day life? How to keep myself (& soul) excited and alive. I will be working on that. (see, that gives me something to PLAN! lol)

In the meantime, I think I'll start keeping a daily "5 Things to Be Happy About Today" list on my blog :) Corny? Maybe. But hey- it's my blog and I can do whatever I want, right? lol

So, here we go:

5 Things to Be Happy About Today

1. Brendan made his bed, got dressed, and fed the cat this morning (his 3 morning chores) without us having to yell.

2. I've already finished 14 of my employees timesheets, and they aren't due in until next Thursday.

3. Survivor is on tv tonight.

4. Tomorrow is Friday already.

5. It is not too hot or too cold today, it's cool like it should be for mid-November.

Brendan's birthday!

Today is Brendan's 5th birthday. It's funny, we had to convince him it really was his birthday, because he kept saying "no I already had my birthday"...thinking of his party. I made cupcakes for his preschool class, and hung up the happy birthday banner at home, so then he was convinced it really was his birthday. lol Tonight we'll have cake and I saved a present back to give him on his actual birthday. I think I'll get him McD's or Burger King on the way home too as a treat, if he wants to.

As for me, I've not been feeling well. I've had a cough for 3 weeks now, and yesterday I stayed home from work sick with a sore throat & ear ache too. I also had a migraine the night before, which really knocked me on my butt. I'm still not feeling well, but if I keep taking ibuprofen it is tolerable. I probably should go to the doctor, but I really don't want to. If this continues much longer I will have to.

Geez, I really need to clean/organize my office! I'm surrounded in piles of papers and such right now, and it looks terrible. I was in a meeting from 8:30am-11am this morning, and have another meeting at 3:30pm today. Not much point in working on anything else, so maybe I'll take these couple hours before the meeting to straighten things up a little! I'm sure my employees that work at my desk in the evenings are annoyed by my mess! lol

But now I'm just babbling, so I guess I should log off.

Whew! Birthday Party is over!

Yesterday was Brendan & Adam's birthday party. It went pretty well overall. In addition to several family members (adults) we had 9 kids total bowling. They all were so cute. (Well, Brendan wasn't so cute when he got tired of bowling and threwa fit, but the rest of the kids were. lol) We were a little annoyed with the lack of instructions from the bowling alley though. We had to ask them every little step of the way what the procedure was and what we were supposed to do when, and such, I think if we hadn't asked, they would have let us just sit there doing nothing the whole time. They also apparently don't allow you to bring in any food or drink except cake, (but they didn't tell me that ahead of time). They provide the kids' meals w/ the party, but I had brought some soda and snacks for the adults, but they said we couldn't. So I felt terrible telling the adults I couldn't have anything for them but cake. We also had to wait a long time for the kids' food & drinks,which made us have to majorly rush through the food, cake, and presents at the end. So it was kinda hectic, but overall I think the kids all had fun. And Adam & Brendan had fun playing with all their new toys last night too. Unfortunately Brendan had a fever last night after it all, but he seemed okay this morning, so hopefully he's fine.

Tonight was supposed to be our date night for this month, but we decided to cancel. Between Brendan's fever last night, Adam's fever off & on, and the fact that Joe & I are so tired, AND the boys' presents from yesterday are strung all over the living room waiting to be put away...we decided to cancel the babysitter and stay home tonight.

Now we have Brendan's actual b-day on Wednesday, deer season starts Saturday, and then a very brief break before the holidays get in full swing.

I'm hoping to get all the Christmas shopping started & done before the end of November, but I'm sure that won't happen. It's nice to dream though. lol

Water problems, but a Fun Weekend Ahead!

Joe left on Tuesday morning to go out of town for work. Wednesday when I got home from work our water had been shut-off. Note said for non-payment, but I know I paid. My check registry showed I paid on 10/21. Their office was closed by the time I got home, so we had to do without water until the following day. Called their office, and was told they never received our check. Ugh! Since the check I wrote did not clear the bank, I had no proof that I did send payment. So we had to pay a $50 reconnect fee. So frustrating! We've never missed a payment before..never ever...doesn't seem right that they would just cut off our water the first time they don't get a payment, and without warning at that! So we're not too happy with them right now. And when I got home that night, our dishwasher had stuck somehow and was running all day without any water! The whole house was hot & humid from the heat of it. Thank goodness it seems to be running okay now that the water is back on, so hopefully it wasn't damaged.

Joe should be home sometime today. I think Brendan missed him a little more this time than usual. I know he'll be glad to see Daddy tonight. Tomorrow my mom is taking Brendan on an Amtrak train ride, and then to see the movie Chicken Little. He's also going to stay the night at her house (this was her idea! Yippee!). Then she'll bring him to his birthday party the next day. Yes, Sunday is the boys' party. Adam of course doesn't know the difference, but Brendan is very excited! I still haven't gotten an RSVP from most of the kids in his preschool class, so I'm not real sure how many kids to plan for. I hope I have enough goody bags made up. I still need to wrap presents, and figure out what decorations I want to do, and get stuff packed up & ready to take to the bowling alley. Cakes are ordered, just have to pick them up at noon on Sunday. I'm hoping all goes well, and everyone has fun.

My baby turns 1 today!

Today Adam turned 1 year old. Wow, what a mixed year this has been. It's been hard on me & my stress level has been pushed to the max, but it's also been filled with lots of blessings and I've enjoyed watching Adam grow. His baby smiles and babbles can melt my heart. He is getting cuter every day, and doing more & more. I know he will be grown before I know it, and I will look back & wonder where the time went. Heck, I'm already wondering where the time went this past year! It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I'm really looking forward to watching him grow & develop and becoming more independent and able to do things on his own, but I will also miss these little baby days. Tomorrow we are getting his 1 year photo taken. Tonight we had cake and gave him a couple presents. See a few pictures from tonight here.

October weightloss :)

Now that October is almost over, I'm happy to report that I've lost 10 more lbs in October, bringing my total baby fat lost since January up to 35 lbs :) (this is in addition to the 18 lbs I lost after giving birth to Adam up until January) Adam turns 1 year old TOMORROW, and I still would have liked to have lost 15-20 more lbs by now, but at least it is still coming off (even if it has been ever so SLOWLY! LOL) Hopefully I can shake off those last 15-20 lbs soon! Now let's see if I can keep from eating too much birthday cake this week, Halloween candy next week, and then Brendan's birthday cake the following week! lol

Wise words from FLYlady

FLYlady always has great advice and words to live by, but part of one of her emails from the other day really grabbed me...I felt like she was talking directly to me. These are definitely words that I need to remind myself of every day!!!

"None of us have enough time, yet we all have the same amount. It is time that we quit whining about this and accept that we can't get it all done and just do what we can. Do you understand this? Life is too short to dwell on what doesn't get done. Celebrate what you do every day and start fresh each morning." -Marla, aka FLYlady

Catching up again

We've actually been pretty busy these last several days. Last Saturday we took the boys to get pumpkins and apples at a nearby farm. See a couple pics here. Wouldn't ya know it, Brendan picked the smallest, ugliest pumpkin in the whole patch! LOL That's fine, whatever he wants. We also got 2 larger pumpkins for the porch.

Sunday we went to my step-grandfather's 80th b-day party. After that we were...are you ready for this...KID-FREE FOR 2 DAYS!!! My dad & his wife watched the boys from Sunday night until Tuesday night, and Joe & I took off work Mon & Tues! We tried to get a lot done around the house, but of course as usual I didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped. But, we also went out Sunday night for hot wings & beer, and then Monday we went to a movie, Just Like Heaven (it was good!), and then to a place called Grindstone Brewery for their Monday Night buffet w/ crab legs special. Overall, it was a nice break. I wish I could have had one more day though. lol

Now we're in full-swing of the boys' birthdays & party planning. We've decided to do their party at the bowling alley. They offer a fun birthday package of 1 hour bowling (with bumpers) and 1 hour party in the room, all the kids meals are included, and the birthday boy gets a real bowling pin that says Happy Birthday and all the guests can sign it with a permanent marker. They also include invitations, thank you notes, goody bags, all plates, napkins, cups, etc. Pretty good deal, for $9.95 per child. Brendan is excited. We put invitations in the cubbies of all his friends in his preschool class yesterday, and we already have one child coming. We also sent invitations to family and our friends that have kids around Brendan's age. I'm not expecting a lot of people to actually go, but as long as a few kids come, it should be fun!

Adam's 1st birthday is next Wednesday! Even though the party will be for Adam too, we're going to have some cake for him at home on his actual b-day.

And Halloween comes in there too. Brendan is so excited to be the black Power Ranger this year. Adam will be a frog.

Well, after being off for Mon & Tues, I'm swamped here at work, so I better get off the computer & get back to work!

Brendan Acting Up, but Adam is Sleeping Better!

Brendan has been acting up at daycare lately. He's been "written up" by his teacher every day this week so far for various things...
-play-biting his friend while playing Power Rangers (he said he was being the dog Power Ranger- whatever that is?!)
-dumping sand on another kid's head on the playground
-talking back and saying no to his teachers
-not listening during their lessons
-copying his friends (don't all kids do this sometimes?)
-yelling at his teacher when he got in trouble
and the day he didn't do anything "wrong", she wrote him up for kissing his friends too much(?!)

None of the incidents were too serious, but I certainly want to nip it in the bud. I don't understand WHY he's acting up...can't think of anything that's changed at home that would make him act differently. They recently changed teachers in his room at daycare, so maybe he's just testing her? I don't know. She seems to write him up for every little thing. (including for kissing his friends?!) Joe's starting to think the teacher just doesn't like Brendan. I wonder if he's been doing things like this all along and the other teacher just didn't think it was bad enough to write up?
Seeing as it is after-the-fact by the time I pick him up and get home, some things, like time out, for example, for something that happened hours ago doesn't seem appropriate. I always have a talk with him and we talk about why he shouldn't do what he did, and tell him what he needs to do from now on (be nice to his friends and teachers, listen when they sit down for lessons, etc). And he doesn't get any treats or anything like that that night. And then when I drop him off in the morning I remind him to be nice to his friends and teachers and I ask him what he needs to do at lesson time and he says "be quiet and listen, and do what my teacher says". This has worked in the past when he acts up for 1 day, and then he's fine for a long time, but this week it's been something every day!
I'm not sure where to go from here. I guess the next step is to take away toys/priviledges at home.

On a good note, Adam is sleeping SOOO much better! In desperation I moved his crib into the bathroom off our bedroom (it's a big, long bathroom with plenty of room for the crib) because it's still close, but has a DOOR. So now we're in the process of training him to fall asleep on his own (which we SHOULD have been doing since he was born, but we didn't have him in a room that the door could be closed, so we were feeding him a bottle until he fell asleep and then putting him in his crib...sometimes at 9pm he was still awake!). Now, we give him his "night night" bottle, and if he doesn't fall asleep, well, it's still bedtime anyway. I take him into the bathroom, turn on the nightlight and some soothing music and put him in his crib, close the door and walk away. He, of course, cries, but it is only for a few minutes now before he falls asleep. OMG I can't tell you how wonderful this has been!!! Why didn't we do this sooner?! I actually have part of my evening back and don't have to stress over trying to put him to sleep. Now I can focus on Brendan and getting things ready for the next day instead of falling into bed myself as soon as Adam goes to sleep. Now he is in bed by about 7:45pm every night. I can't wait until we can put the addition on our house, which includes a bedroom for Adam, but in the meantime the bathroom will do!

I'm feeling a little better today. Adam didn't get up until 5:30am, so that was better. My dad & his wife are taking the boys on Sunday night and keeping them until Tuesday evening. Joe & I have both arranged to take off work on Mon & Tues. So, we'll get a little break. This was already planned awhile ago, and was supposed to be a time for us to go down to a cabin on the Black River, (as a late anniversary celebration) but the cabin was already reserved. Oh well. We really need the time around house without the boys anyway, so it works out. We both are so looking forward to being able to sleep! lol And we'll take time to go out too, in addition to getting some things done around the house. Can't wait!!!

I think I'm more frustrated with myself than anything. I have so many things that I want to work on to improve myself, and make life more fun like it used to be! I was thinking today that I really need to just start doing things that I enjoy again, somehow find a way. It's fall, and I love fall! Why am I not enjoying it? And I always have to work every Halloween night, but I've been so lucky to be offered by my boss to be off this year!!! I LOVE Halloween!!! And yet I'm about to let Halloween and Fall sneak up on me and go by while I'm having a pity party. So, today on my lunch break I went out to the local garden center and bought 2 big potted mums to put on our porch. I almost got pumpkins too, but decided I want to wait and bring Brendan to pick out his own pumpkins. Maybe seeing those pretty mums on my porch will inspire me to get excited about things. I think I've let little enjoyments go over the years because I knew they weren't important to Joe and that he thinks things that aren't useful are a waste of money. Well, you know what? So what! Why am I letting that stop me from enjoying things I enjoy? *I* think little things that bring me joy *should* be important. So what if he wouldn't choose to do them himself...*I* can choose to do them for me. And I don't mean to sound like I'm blaming Joe here, I'm not, I'm blaming myself for stopping doing things just because he doesn't think they are important. I wasn't intentionally doing it, but I kind-of came to that realization today. I'm going to make a concious effort to do little things that bring me a smile. Why am I waiting for happiness to just fall into my lap? I know better than that. lol

Dragging along

Weekends at home just emotionally drain me sometimes. My boys are not bad kids, they are good...they are just high maintenance. I feel like I never have time to get anything done. I can’t even think straight anymore about what I need to do, or want to do. I’m tired, and I’m cranky. Adam woke up around 2am Fri, Sat, & Sun mornings. We were already exhausted, and I felt physically ill as I got up with Adam. I’ve always been one to feel sick/nauseous if I don’t get enough sleep, ever since I was little. Adam was so tired by about 9:30am, but try as I might, I could not get him to fall asleep. Usually a bottle works like a charm, nope! His crib is in our room (because our house only has 2 bedrooms- ours & Brendan’s), which is a loft, so there’s no door to close or anything, which makes it hard. I tried rocking him, no. I tried another bottle, no. I tried holding him, no. I tried rubbing his back, no. I tried letting him stay up and play, no, too fussy & didn’t want to be put down...but didn’t want to be held either. Ugh!!! Finally, I just put him in his crib and let him cry. Not just cry...scream at the top of his lungs. Since Joe was gone hunting, and I had been up with the kids, I still had not had a shower yet. So, since the shower is right next to our room and I was close by, I took a shower while Adam screamed. I didn’t know what else to do, and thought maybe I’d feel at least a little better after a shower. Finally, he fell asleep.

All day both days of the weekend I spent chasing Adam and trying to meet Brendan’s needs too. Every time I open the refrigerator, Adam is right there trying to climb in. When I shut the door, he cries. Every time I open the dishwasher, here comes Adam, wanting to grab the racks and climb in. When I shut the door, he cries. Every time I open the pantry to get something or throw something away, there’s Adam trying to get in the pantry. When I shut the door, he cries. Then he’s opening all the cabinets, pulling out pots & pans. When I shut the doors, he cries. Then he’s climbing on top of his plastic box. Then he’s pulling out videos, and playing with the stereo/tv/vcr/dvd buttons. Then crash! He’s knocked the top part of the stereo system off and behind the stereo. Then he’s grabbing the cordless phone, chewing on the antenna and pushing buttons (my luck he’s going to dial 911 accidentally one of these times!). Then he’s crawling into the bathroom, wanting to play with the plunger (EWWWW). Take it away, and he cries. Close the door and he cries. I can’t wait any longer to pee, so I run upstairs to use the bathroom as quick as I can, come out, there’s Adam who had crawled all the way up the stairs after me! Yikes! Go downstairs in basement and dig out another baby gate. Put up gate at foot of stairs. Adam immediately gets to work trying to figure out how to climb it. Brendan starts pretending to be a Power Ranger, and keeps kicking the gate. Our house is just laid out really badly for little kids. It’s too open- he can freely go room to room because there aren’t enough walls and doors to close things off. Constantly all day, all weekend went on & on like this. And that’s just Adam...I haven’t even mentioned all the things Brendan wanted/needed taken care of at the same time. Including waking up Adam TWICE. So, when do I do laundry? When do I do dishes? When do I cook? When do I vacuum? When do I pick up papers and stuff that have accumulated? I have a hard time finding time to CLEAN, let alone any time for ME. Is it wrong that I look forward to the work week and dread the weekends?! I need a break. I need sleep. I can’t even think straight.

They say to take care of yourself first, because until you do you can’t take good care of anyone. I totally believe this, heck I’m living proof of it, as I’m just about useless to anyone else right now. But HOW do you take care of your own needs, and WHEN? Joe is tired and worn down too, so we’re not much help to each other either, and can’t easily give each other a break. How do you take time for yourself and meet your own needs without neglecting parental responsibilities? I’m so tired I can’t logically think this through to come up with a solution. I feel like my life is just rushing past and dragging me along behind it.

Dragon Tales Live was great!

Brendan & I really enjoyed our "date night". First I took him to McDonald's and we sat right up at the big fish tank. Then it was on to the Dragon Tales Live show! It was great! Lots of neat backgrounds and lighting. All the little kids in the audience were so cute singing & dancing along too. Brendan thought it was really cool. I bought him a t-shirt and neat flashlight thing at the show. He insisted on wearing his t-shirt all weekend. He's already run out the batteries on the light too. (After getting home, I realized I should have probably gotten Adam a light too, because he was very interested in playing with Brendan's.)

Tastefully Simple, Funeral, and Company coming!

Well, this week is flying by too! I can't believe it's Thursday already. Tonight I'm going to a Tastefully Simple party. I love those. All those yummy samples...mmmmmm...can't wait. Luckily Joe likes their products too, so he won't get upset when I buy some more! lol

Tomorrow I have to take off work for a funeral. My uncle's mother died. No, officially I'm not related to his side of the family, but I definitely knew this woman. Every Thanksgiving since I was little we have gone to my aunt & uncle's house and since they had their other side of the family there too, we grew up with those relatives at Thanksgiving every year too. So, since my mom is insisting that I have to be there, and because I can, I'm going to her funeral. I don't know yet if Joe is going with me or not. He says he will, but really he already had plans to be hunting with his brother. So, I'm not sure.

Speaking of that, we'll have company for the next 5 days! Joe's brother is coming to hunt. He'll arrive tonight and get an early start hunting tomorrow. Then he plans to hunt Sat, Sun and Mon too! So, things will be a little different for the next several days. Not a big deal, I just will have to think of meals & such, and be sure I'm dressed before walking around the house. lol The last 2 years he came several weekends in a row to hunt, but he's never stayed this many days in a row in one stay before. Joe is planning to hunt with him part of the time, but not that entire time. I have plans tonight, & tomorrow night I take Brendan to Dragon Tales Live, so Joe & his brother will be stuck with both boys tonight & Adam tomorrow night. But then I'll be stuck all weekend. lol Okay, I guess I shouldn't say "stuck", I don't mean that I don't want to be w/ the boys! There are several neat fall festivals in the area this weekend, but I don't think I want to attempt that w/ both boys by myself. So, we'll probably just hang out around the house.

In Crableg Heaven!

Well, on a lighter note than my last posting...

Last night Joe & I had our date night. It was Joe's birthday, (and our Anniversary is today). We went to a restaurant called Grindstone Brewery, and boy were we pleasantly surprised to see they had a small buffet set up with crablegs on it! We LOVE crablegs! Even better, the cost was only $5.95 for all-you-can-eat buffet! Holy cow! That is soooooooooo cheap for crablegs!!! We jumped at that. There were also other items such as hot wings, cheese sticks, chili, chips & sauce, and more on the buffet too. They put it out on Monday nights as a Monday Night Football special. We felt like we had won the lottery! LOL I still can't believe that's all they charge for that. We also enjoyed the home-brewed beers they have there.

Tonight for our Anniversary, we actually had already bought some crablegs and had them waiting in the freezer! We didn't know we would have crablegs last night too! lol So, Joe is picking up some steaks and champaigne, and we'll have that with a side of crablegs for dinner tonight! We'll still have the boys there with us of course, but we figured we shouldn't get a babysitter two nights in a row. We also got home too late (and we were too full) to eat Joe's birthday cake last night, so we will have that for dessert tonight. Brendan is really excited about getting to eat Daddy's birthday cake! heehee

Sad news :(

Unfortunately I have received some sad news from my Box Project family (in MS) that I sponsor. She has 2 girls, and back in May she had had a baby boy born prematurely at 24 or 25 weeks. Well, now after 5 months of life, he died on Sept 21. I just got a letter yesterday letting me know.
Awhile ago they took him off the ventilator and put in a trach (sp?), and she (the mom) had gone to a training session at the hospital to learn how to take care of all of his needs, and such, in preparation of him finally coming home, but he had not been released from the hospital just yet. Then he got really sick. She said she had a really overwhelmingly bad feeling for about a week that wouldn't go away. (and this is unusual for her, as she has had a very positive outlook through everything else he's been through so far). She said at first when she had that bad feeling that she prayed and begged for God to spare her child, but when the feeling kept coming back she realized that this was God's way of warning her of what was to come, and so she changed her prayers to asking for whatever was God's will and to "just give me strength to handle it and to be strong for my kids and allow me to accept His will without guilt, anger or regrets". As soon as she came to accept that, she called the hospital and asked to have the minister baptize him, and they did. Then later that very same evening, the hospital called to say that her son had died. So sad.

I feel helpless. There are no words to say that will do any good, I know. I'm sending a sympathy card today anyway though. At least she will know I'm thinking about her & the girls. I had a big box of baby clothes from my boys ready to send her when her baby came home from the hospital. Since she has 2 girls, I knew she didn't have any baby boy clothes. I'm so glad I had not sent it yet, as that would have been hard for her to have to do something with them when he died. I knew he was going to have huge obstacles to overcome in order to make it, but gosh after living for 5 months I thought he was going to make it! She has miscarried a couple/few boys previous to this too. She was so happy to finally have a baby boy that made it to birth, and now she's grieving another loss. *sigh*

Here it is, the end of another month! I'm actually glad it's over, September is my least favorite month. October is my favorite, so I'm happy! We do have a busy weekend and week ahead of us though. We're helping my mom caulk her basement Saturday. Well, okay, JOE is caulking her basement while Mom and I visit and watch the boys.

Then on Sunday I'm going to Croptoberfest! It's a scrapbooking event, 12 hours of scrapping time with no kids! WOOHOO!!! I can't wait.

Next week we have something every night except one. Joe's birthday is Monday and our Anniversary is Tuesday, so we're starting the week out celebrating! Followed by several other things next week...including taking Brendan to see Dragon Tales Live! Just Mommy & Brendan. It's part of his birthday gift (early). I'm looking forward to having him out just the two of us. Sometimes I feel like I can't give him enough attention when Adam is around, so it will be nice to do something just for him.

I hope I can find time to clean the house Saturday night after Mom's. I just have not been able to keep caught up lately.

The weather has been so much nicer this week! Went from 90's last week to 70's this week...I love 70's! The mornings have been chilly, so I've pulled out the boys fall clothes. Adam started wearing little tennis shoes this week. He looks so big in "big boy" shoes! Over the summer we left him barefoot, and we were trying to leave him barefoot until he started walking but the weather cooled off before he started walking. Although he did take his first step a week or so ago. But his tennis shoes are so cute...white with Winnie the Pooh. He's growing so fast. He's started trying to say Brendan's name now. He can't say Brendan but he calls him "nin nin". It's so cute. He loves to crawl into "nin nin's" room and play with the big kid toys instead of his baby toys.

I've also been eating really healthy this week. Hoping to make that a habit. I'm following the menu for Dr. Phil's 14-day fast start. I just needed some ideas of what to eat and not eat and recipe examples of healthy food. I'm not really fat, but I do have a little baby fat left to lose. Mostly I just want to be HEALTHY and look better. I also haven't had any soda this week at all. That just kinda came along naturally without me even trying this time. With all the fruits and veggies I've been eating, I just didn't have any desire for soda anymore. Soda doesn't go well with fruit especially! Too much acid! So I've been drinking water, and when that gets boring I grab a no-calorie flavored water. Still have my sugar-free Red Bull some mornings, but that's not soda. I've lost 2 lbs in the last 4 days. Yea! The dinners have been pretty good too! And I have felt more full than when I wasn't eating as healthy. Eating more, feeling full, and losing weight. Go figure.

Time marches on

Wow, I never cease to be amazed at how fast time flies by! Here we are the last week of September already, and Adam is 11 months old!!! Time to start thinking about his 1st birthday party already. And Brendan will turn 5 two weeks after Adam turns 1. We've decided to do just one party for them both together. That way the family won't have to drive in twice so close together. Brendan is insisting on a Power Rangers birthday party. Yesterday I bought the plates and such...half of the plates are Power Rangers and half of them are Baby Sesame Street 1st Birthday plates. LOL What a combination!

Brendan is also insisting that he wants to be a Power Ranger for Halloween. At first he really wanted the white Power Ranger, but those are kinda hard to find! I showed him a website with all sorts of Power Ranger costumes, and he decided that the black one was cool and that's what he wanted. So, I found it on ebay for a little less, and we're waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Every day he asks me if his costume is here yet.

This past weekend my sister & I got together again to do a 2-family yard sale AGAIN. It is such a pain and hassle every time. We pretty much decided we're not doing those anymore. I'd rather sell stuff on ebay and give stuff away than do yard sales. Then on Sunday we got together with some of the people in the moms group I'm in for a fall picnic. That was kinda fun. All the kids played together on the playground. Brendan enjoyed it. Towards the end, Brendan needed to go potty, so he went into the men's bathroom by the shelter. After a few minutes, Joe went in to check on him, only to find Brendan SITTING on the URINAL, and yes, he had pooped in it. Leave it to MY son to do that! LOL *sigh*

Well, my lunch break is over now, I better end this & get back to work!

Our babysitter is TOO good! LOL

Well, for our date night this past Monday we went to see "Wedding Crashers". It was pretty funny. We decided to keep it short and just do the movie & then go home. Brendan was so excited that Mary was going to be watching him that night. He absolutely LOVES the babysitter. He cries every time she leaves. Brendan cried when she left this time too. Not just a little cry- he was screaming crying and carrying on uncontrollably for about 20 minutes straight! And of course, all that noise woke Adam up too. So, we ended up having to redo all the bedtime stuff and get the boys settled back down and into bed again. So that was not fun. Even the morning after, Brendan was really grouchy and he said "I miss Mary". Really he has been a brat all week ever since she left. I'm so glad we have a great babysitter that he loves, but I'm kinda wishing he liked her a little less so he wouldn't have a meltdown every time she leaves! lol

Brendan also got "written up" at his daycare twice this week so far. First for something I didn't expect...they said that on the playground he pulled down his pants and stuck his bare butt in another kid's face! OMG! On one hand I had to laugh when I read that, but I was also a little embarrassed that *my* kid did that. LOL The other thing he got in trouble for was for copying another kid, and the kid & teacher asked him to stop and he didn't, so they sent him up to the front office, and he yelled at the teacher said she was bad and stuck out his tongue. Ugh!

At home he has stopped doing his regular morning jobs without a fight this week (making his bed, getting dressed, and feeding the cat). When we tell him to do something he just whines and says "I don't know how". It's so frustrating. We hate to yell at him for every little thing, but he just is not doing what we tell him to. We asked nice, we told him nice, we told him sternly, we yelled, we gave spankings, we took away toys, nothing worked. He just whined and yelled that he "didn't know how". Ugh! I tried making a race out of it this morning, told him to see if he could make his bed before I got done putting on my socks & shoes and then said "Ready, Set, GO!" (he loves to try to beat us at things, so I thought that might work). He smiled, like he thought it was funny, but then he said "That's okay, I don't want to beat you right now." LOL So much for that "brilliant" idea.

Sugar-Free Chocolate Candy...Never again!

Note to self: never eat sugar free chocolate candies, no matter how good they look!

Oh my, yesterday I ate 3 pieces of sugar-free chocolate candy at work and it gave me the WORST stomach ache and pains. A while back I got a small stomach ache from sugar-free chocolate candy, but I thought it was just that brand or kind or something, so I tried a different one this time. UGH- how does anyone eat that stuff? I spent most of the evening in pain (and in the bathroom).

Never, never again.

It's Friday again?!

Wow, this week flew by! Can't believe it's Friday again already! I've already forgotten what we did last weekend. lol On Monday (Labor Day) we went to Joe's parent's house to celebrate my MIL's birthday. All Joe's siblings were there too. We had a good time. Some friends of ours were having a get-together for Labor Day, and since they live just a couple minutes away from Joe's parent's house, we went by there afterwards. All our friends there were surprised to see us, since we live about 2 hours away and they didn't know we were in town. We had fun there too. We got home late Monday night, and then back to work on Tuesday morning.

About a month ago, Joe & I decided to set up a regular date night. One night a week is too much, we can't afford a babysitter that often, so we decided to make it once a month- the first Monday of every month. We picked Monday because we hate crowds, so we wanted to avoid the weekends. So, with last Monday being a holiday, we post-poned until the 2nd Monday for September...which is this coming Monday! We're both looking forward to going out without the kids. And our regular babysitter has agreed to always babysit the 1st Monday of each month for us, so we already have her lined up for these. We're going to go see a movie this time, I think. Either Wedding Crashers or The 40-year-old Virgin. We both want something funny.

Things at work have suddenly gotten a little hectic. We have our annual Heritage Festival next weekend, and I'll have to work 11 hour shifts both Sat & Sun that weekend, yuck! Also, one of my co-workers that is a key part of the festival set-up and such, just found out that her grandpa died, and she will be in California all next week, getting back the night before the festival. So, we're trying to fill-in for her as best as we can with all the preparations next week. September is always my least favorite month of the year because of this festival. I'll be glad when it's over.

Oh! Adam has started standing on his own now. He has stood there without holding on to anything about 10 times in the last couple days. We cheer for him every time. A couple times when we started cheering we startled him and he fell. LOL! I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but hopefully I can have the camera ready when he does it soon.

Other than that, not a lot to write about today.

Friday Rumblings

Joe made it home safely from Nebraska last night. (he's been there all week for work). I felt bad for him...he was anxious to see the boys, and Brendan barely looked up from his movie to say "Hi Daddy" and Adam would not go to him, he wanted Mommy.

While Joe was gone, the electric company came out & talked to me, and pointed out 3 trees that were in the way of the power lines and said they needed to take out the trees. I was surprised that they wouldn't just trim the limbs, but since it was only 3 trees (and we have hundreds of trees on our property) I said okay if they had to. So yesterday I get home from work and wow, it looked different! They cleared way more than just 3 trees! Joe wasn't too happy either. But, we figured it was done, nothing to do about it now. Well, then Joe happened to go home early today and he couldn't even get up to our house because there were guys there with their big trucks taking down MORE trees!!! Joe about threw a fit. He was almost in tears telling me about it, because he was so mad. We understand that the trees cannot be causing problems for our electricity (& others nearby), but our poor trees! Apparently they said there can't be trees within 15 feet of either side of the power lines. That's a lot! (we have a VERY long driveway leading up to our house, and the power lines run along the whole length of our driveway on one side, so that's a lot of trees!) So I'm not looking forward to seeing it when I get home tonight. You use to not be able to see our house from the road, and now Joe said you can see straight up all the way up our driveway and the house no problem. (We liked being hidden! lol) *sigh* What a bummer. Joe called the electric company, and the guy said, "really it's our fault because we let you get used to having all those trees." Gee, thanks :P

We got him!

The mouse is gone! We set the regular snap traps last night right before bed, and before we even got in bed we heard the SNAP! Mouse gone.

Catching Up

Wow, I really fell behind in posting on my blog! Here are some snippets of things that have been going on:

- Monday & Tuesday I was off work, and had every intention of cleaning/organizing the basement while the boys were at daycare. I did get a good start, but still have a ways to go! However I did take time to go through about 4 or 5 rubbermaid tubs of baby clothes, and get them all separated out into specific sizes. I pulled out all the 12-18 mos clothes & washed them & put them in Adam's dresser since he's wearing 12 mos now. Then I labeled the tubs and put them neatly on a shelf in the basement. So now there's a 24 mos/2T tub, a 3T tub, and a 4T tub. As he grows into those I can just grab the tub & wash them & he'll be all set. I also was able to list several auctions on ebay of clothes he's outgrown, and set aside others for an upcoming yard sale. So, I didn't get what I intended to do done, but I was productive!

- Monday morning Joe left for a week of work near Nebraska. He's been gone all week, so I've been playing the part of a single mom. It's actually not been bad this time. He'll be back tonight, time flew by really fast while he was gone.

- We have a mouse! Ugh! So, the day before yesterday I bought mouse traps. I tried to use the kind that is a plastic box with a one-way door, and put a cracker with peanut butter at the far end of the box...in theory the mouse goes in to get the cracker, and then can't get out because the door doesn't swing out. Good theory, but this little sucker was too smart for that. When I got up yesterday morning & looked to see if it caught him, the trap was moved, cracker was gone and the box was on it's side with the door wide open! So, he had gone in, briefly got caught, but figured out how to flip the box on it's side so that he could get out the door. As I was examining this, I looked over and there he was just sitting there looking at me, like "na na na na boo boo!" LOL! Then he took off and I haven't seen him since! So much for trying to use a humane trap, now we're gonna set the kind that will snap him.

- On a sad note, I also found out that my mom's MS is getting worse. She was diagnosed with MS about 13 or so years ago, and has been lucky that it has been pretty mild. However, this past year things have been getting worse. Here's a blurb from an email I got from mom:
["Today I saw my neurologist, who said I'm now classified in the next level, the "secondary progressive" one, which basically means that it's getting worse, which I already knew. She's increasing a couple of my medicines, and adding a couple more, in hopes of slowing down its progress. One of those 2 new medicines has an increased chance of damaging my liver, so I have to get blood drawn once a month and see her every couple of months. Also, as long as I'm on it, I can't have any alcohol, not even wine. I'm also going to have another MRI, and see a physical therapist, who can show me some things I can do to make things easier to accomplish, hopefully saving a bit of energy."]

I feel helpless, as there's nothing I or anyone can really do to stop this from happening. It's sad to think of your mother deteriorating. I hope she doesn't get too much worse too quickly!

- My Box Project family that I sponsor lives in Mississippi, so I've been worried about them with Hurricane Katrina! I still haven't heard directly from them, but I heard from someone else that the town they live in was not hit too hard...they just had power outages and some tree limbs down. I'm still anxious to hear from them though, just to be sure!

Well, those are the main things that have gone on while I wasn't updating my blog recently!

Our family weekend!

This past weekend we decided last minute to take a family weekend down to the Black River (our favorite!). We had a good time overall. There were some fussy times in the evenings with Adam, but otherwise we had a good time. Normally we would camp in a tent, but with a 10-month-old baby along we decided that wouldn't be a good idea. So, we stayed in a one-room log cabin at one of the campgrounds that we haven't ever stayed at before. It was a nice, quiet campground (although not a river front one). Turns out we were the ONLY people there in the whole campground that weekend! It is one that was just renovated & reopened this year, so I guess not a lot of people know about it?

Anyway, Friday night we got there around 7pm and basically just unloaded our stuff and hung out around the cabin & campground. The cabin was really hot at first, no ac, but we asked if we could borrow a fan and that made a world of difference. Joe put the fan in the window and it soon was tolerable, and even a little chilly in the mornings.

Saturday we went to Elephant Rocks, which Brendan thought was cool. We climbed around on the rocks, and then had a picnic lunch there. Adam happily rode in the baby backpack the whole time. Then we wanted to play in the river, but since our campground didn't have river access, we were trying to think of where we could get to the river without having to go to another campground, and we ended up just going to Johnson's Shut-Ins. We didn't want to take the boys in the actual shut-ins since there are some pretty strong fall flows on part of that, but we went in the water above the shut-ins where it is just basically still water, and played there. Adam did good in the baby float, he enjoyed floating in the water. Then we went a little closer to the shut-ins, and there were some smaller "shut-ins" that were very shallow and not dangerous...like a shut-ins area for preschoolers! haha! So we played there for awhile. Brendan had a blast. Then we drove a little ways and found a place by the river to play, but shortly after we got there, Brendan said he needed to go potty, so we drove back to our campground. That evening we roasted hotdogs on the campfire, followed by smores, and played on the playground, ran around a little racing back to the cabin from the bathroom, playing "tig and tag" (that's what Brendan calls it), and a game of "I Spy" (Brendan's favorite thing to play right now). Then we all slept good that night, even Adam!

Sunday morning we packed up, and then went back to Johnson's Shut-Ins. This time we walked part-way on the walking trail throug the woods, and came to a really pretty spot along the river where noone else was. We knew that was just the type of setting we were looking for. So we baptized Adam there, just like we did Brendan when he was a baby. We took some pictures...I hope they turn out, because it was a really nice, pretty spot!

So, anyway, that was our weekend. It was a lot more hectic with a baby & a 4 yr old than the old days of camping (& floating) by ourselves with friends, but it was still a nice change of scenery and good to get out as a family to do something fun together.