Busy weeks, Catching Up, & Tagged!

Things have been kinda busy lately. After the chaotic first day of summer school, everything has been fine with that. Brendan is enjoying it, and we haven't missed the bus or gotten off at the wrong stop any more! lol

Swimming lessons started up again last Monday. This session meets every night for 8 nights. It's good in that it gets it over with and doesn't drag out week after week. But, it is very annoying having to drive him back into town every night, and getting home kinda late, etc. On top of that, he has Tae Kwon Do on Thursdays, and I've been having to cover for one of my part-time staff on Thursday nights as well, so we are rushing around from one thing to another, and no time to drop him back off at home. So, he ends up coming with me and we don't get home until after 10pm those nights. Then I had to work an activity Sat night. I haven't been able to keep up with all the daily things at home that I normally would do in the evenings, like dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc. Our house is a mess! Ugh! This week we do it all again. But next week it will drop back down to just work all day, summer school and the Tae Kwon Do for Brendan, and extra work on Thursday nights. So at least that will be better.

Oh, and so far on my 4-weeks of WW, I've lost 9.6 lbs :) Would have been more if I hadn't have eaten all those snacks while my mom, sister and I were on our annual scrapbooking weekend in the cabin the weekend before last! But even that week I didn't gain anything, still lost 0.2 lbs that week. lol Thursday is my next weigh-in and I'm hopeful that I'll break the 10 lb mark. At this rate I'll finally be back to what I was before kid #2 by August, but I know things will slow down too, so I'm not gonna get my hopes up too much for it to happen that soon. I'm not aiming to get down to what I was before kid #1, that was too skinny for my height. But I am aiming to get down where I was in between kids, which was right where I should be for my height (5' 8").

I'll write about Father's Day later today when I can upload some pictures to go with it :)

For now, Carolyn has tagged me, so here goes...

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment.

Here are 7 random facts about me you may or may not know:

1) I don't know how to ride a bike! I can ride a dirt bike type bike, but if it has any gears, speeds, etc, forget it! I never learned how to work those things. Joe tried to teach me once, but I was about 6 months pregnant at the time...not a good idea. lol I've just never really had an interest in riding bikes.

2) I love to drive barefoot. First thing I do when I get in the car is slip my shoes off to drive. This started in high school when we used to go on float (canoe) trips and camping trips all the time and I'd jump in my truck with my swimsuit on and drive back from the river. It became a habit.

3) I tried out for and made an All-Star Dance Team and danced in the half-time show of the Hall of Fame Bowl on New Years day in Florida back in the 90's. There were dancers from all over the US, I really am not sure how or why I made it. Although I could do a mean high kick in a kick line...maybe it was that? The teams playing were Boston College and Tennessee. Don't ask me who won. I can't even remember. lol

4) I hate to run, but I joined the track team in high school because my boyfriend was on it. (silly girl). Turns out I wasn't too bad in field events. I competed in high jump, triple jump and long jump. I broke the school record for girls' high jump at the very first track meet I'd ever been in. LOL Then I broke my own record again. I still had the record when I graduated, but I hear through the grapevine that my record was broken again shortly after I left. No surprise there, I expected that.

5) I love tomatoes, but don't like ketchup. I love oranges, but can't stand orange juice or anything orange-flavored. I like apples and apple desserts, but I don't like apple juice or anything apple flavored.

6) I would rather drink beer with the guys than go shopping with the girls. (nothing against girls, I like hangin' out with girls too, I just don't like shopping and I do like beer. lol Our friends' wives like to go shopping, so I usually end up hangin' with the guys, drinking beer.)

7) One of my favorite things in the world to do is sit around a campfire at night, talking, drinking, and if there is a guy that can play the guitar there, that's even better!

Okay, if anyone wants to be tagged, then you're it!!! Let me know if you participate :)

First Day Chaos

So our adventure this week was Brendan starting summer school. We had quite the day yesterday-we missed the bus because I had it in my mind that the bus came at 6:50, but it was actually 6:45 so we had just missed it (we got there at 6:47). So I had to drive him to the school. It wasn't at his school, it was at another school that is even further away (and in the opposite direction of my work too). We finally got there, but we were too early (because he would have been on the bus for along time while they pick everyone up). So, I had to stay and wait with him for about another 1/2 hour until the teachers were ready for kids to be there. Finally I was able to leave and rushed out to get in my car, only to find that I was blocked in by busses and cars of parents dropping kids off. So I sat waiting to back out for at least another full 5 minutes. Ended up at work an hour-1/2 late. Ugh!

Then, when I went to pick him up at the bus stop after summer school, the bus pulled up, all the kids got off and NO Brendan! As I'm walking up to the bus to ask the bus driver, she calls out to me that Brendan got off at the wrong stop and one of the teachers was driving him to this stop. So, the bus driver had dropped all of the kids off by then and she insisted on waiting with me until Brendan arrived. It took what seemed like forever, but he finally got there.

So far today has gone much smoother, he got on the bus no problem this morning, and he said he knows where to get off the bus now. lol I can see why it was confusing to him though, because during the regular school year the bus picks him up at our house and drops him off at our house, but for summer school there are just a few designated bus stops. So, I guess he just wasn't familiar enough with what his stop looked like yet.

This week cannot fly by fast enough. I can't wait until Friday. I'm off at noon on Friday to leave for the annual cabin scrapbooking weekend with my sister and our mom. Girls' weekend. No hubbies, no kids, just us 3, scrapbooking, food, drinks, and whatever the heck else we feel like. I cannot wait!

Basketball Camp Pic

Just wanted to share a pic I took of Brendan at the basketball camp he attended this week. He had a lot of fun! Now next week it's on to summer school for the month of June.

Leave it to MY son

Brendan has really been enjoying basketball camp this week. I'm so glad, because this is the sort of situation that he normally avoids. Up until now, he's never wanted me to sign him up for any kind of sport type thing like this. He didn't even like gym class, and would get very upset if he couldn't do something just right. Then he would sit out and refuse to participate. But he has come so far this year. By the end of the school year he was having fun in gym class. And I was really surprised when he did want me to sign him up for this 1-week basketball camp.
He has been having so much fun and learning a lot.

Last night at the dinner table we were asking him about it, and what they did, etc. He was telling us that they have them split up into smaller groups and that one of the girls (from the women's college basketball team) was his leader. He said they were in their group and he was acting like Hammy (the hyper character on the movie Over the Hedge). I'm thinking, oh great, he was probably annoying the heck out of his leader. And then he said, "I raised my hand and said Oh Oh Oh until she called on me and then I said Can you help me find my nuts?" OMG, I died laughing when he said that. I can't believe he said that to her! I wonder what the heck she must have been thinking when he said that! LOL What the heck goes through that little boys' mind is beyond me. He knew it was funny, but he didn't really understand the "adult" part of that line! lol I just hope she has seen the movie and knew what he was talking about! lol I asked him what she said, because I was curious how she reacted to it. He said "she just laughed and said no." Oh my, leave it to MY son to say something like that.

Last Day of Kindergarten!

Well, Kindergarten is officially over. Brendan got home a little while ago from his last day of school. As if we don't already have a thousand papers from this year already, he stepped off the school bus toting a huge 3-ring binder with a whole bunch more, as well as his folder stuffed FULL of various pictures, journal entries and other things he had done throughout the year. They had an end-of-the-year party in their classroom today. He cried for about 10 minutes straight last night when he realized that Joe and I wouldn't be able to come for it. It wasn't really a thing for the parents, of course parents were welcome, but it was mostly just for their classroom. And it was at 11am, while we are both at work. I didn't know Brendan thought we were coming. I felt terrible that he was so upset about it. So I suggested that we have our own celebration tonight at home for him. Nothin' like the promise of cake and ice cream to cheer a boy up! lol He was instantly happy again. So, tonight we will have cake and ice cream, and I got him a Kindergarten graduation card along with a new Superman game for his V-Smile. I bought a separate Weight Watchers Smart Ones piece of cake for me, so that I wouldn't feel guilty eating the "real" cake, but wouldn't be left out either.

Speaking of WW, I've completed my first full week, and weighed in again today. I've lost 2.8 lbs this week. Not too bad!

But, back to Brendan...I don't think I mentioned on here that earlier this month he got Citizen of the Month award at school for the month of May! Now this is a great accomplishment considering the way he started out the year! He had a hard time following the rules, listening and participating in some things. He was quite obviously one of two "trouble makers" in the eyes of his teachers at the start of the year. His teacher repeatedly has said how very smart he is and more advanced than the other students, but we were continually getting notes home about his behavior. His behavior has improved so much! So, for him to be chosen as Citizen of the Month is a great honor. Here was what his teacher wrote (this was read at the flag ceremony where he was awarded a certificate, pin, ribbon and pencil)...

"Brendan has been chosen as May's Citizen of the Month. In our classroom, he is always the one who willingly helps assist students with computer problems. It doesn't matter what he is doing, he stops and goes over to tutor someone on a game or help them figure out a problem. Everyone in the class calls him our computer expert. Brendan also takes his time when doing his work and does his absolute best work at all times. Brendan has grown as a good citizen and now comes to class with a smile and a desire to do his best job! He's a great example to others."

Here he is with his award:

He also received a Reading Circle Award and his Kindergarten completion "award". Throughout the year he worked towards earning a free Big Surf ticket, a free Six Flags ticket, free pizza from Pizza Hut, and free meal at Denny's coupons. He earned all of these things from reading certain number of book and/or certain hours of reading. We read with him and Adam every night before bed, so that helped. So now, we shall make plans to take them to Big Surf and Six Flags this summer to redeem his free tickets :)

It's hard to believe Kindergarten is over, and that now he is considered a First Grader! Ack! And I actually got tears in my eyes when he told me all of the teachers, librarian, office staff, principal, even janitors all came out of the school together while the kids were on the bus and they all stood there waving as the kids left school today. That was really neat! Picturing it got me choked up. (I'm strange that way though...I'm much more likely to cry at neat or touching things than I am sad things. Yes, I'm one of those people who cries while reading cards at Hallmark, but can sit through most funerals without a single tear.)

I am just so proud of Brendan, and had to share! Now it is on to basketball camp, summer school, and day camps galore!

Wordless Wednesday (late today- and almost wordless)

Can they DO that?!!!

Considering the way the school year started, (with very little communication and information and still not knowing what time the bus would arrive until the first day, etc) I guess it is only fitting that it would end this way. The last day of school was supposed to be this Friday. (originally it was Wednesday, but after snow days and such it got pushed back to Friday). So, for the last several months it has been set and on the calendar as Friday being the last day.
Yesterday they sent home the school newsletter, and at the top it says Calendar Update. And goes on to say that the last day of school is THURSDAY and that Thursday will be a HALF day! And they are changing this NOW?! And giving us 3 DAYS notice?! Hello! Working mom here! I had not planned any care for Brendan for Friday or Thursday afternoon because he was supposed to be in SCHOOL! So now, here it is Tuesday and suddenly he only has 1 more full day of school left. Ugh! I'm just wondering how many parents didn't even read the newsletter! Something as important of a change as that should have AT THE VERY LEAST had it's own separate notice on brightly colored paper, not just another item on a newsletter! Geez! Thank goodness I took the time to read it, or Brendan would have been dropped off on Thursday and been alone for hours until I got home from work!

Can they do that?! Just change something like that with only a couple days notice?! Well, I guess they can, since they DID. Crazy. Guess I'll have a "helper" at work Friday. Grrrr.

New Roof, B-day Party and Last Week of School!

Wow, it's Monday again already! My weekend consisted of cooking and cleaning for 6 males. Joe's dad, brother and my dad all came down this weekend to help Joe replace our roof, and I tried to keep the boys out of their way. We are putting a metal roof on (supposed to be more energy-efficient, apparently) and they got most of the way done. My dad ended up staying last night too, and he and Joe both took off work today to finish it up.

Tonight we have my nephew's 7th birthday party. It's at this big indoor family center with huge 2-story tall crawl-through play structures, video games, skee ball, etc. We always have fun there- that's where we had our boys' birthday parties in November also. And being on a Monday night this time, it should be MUCH less crowded! Have I ever mentioned how much I like skee ball? I love it! I could play it all day. So I'm looking forward to playing that tonight :) Usually Brendan is like "Mommmy, are you done? Mommmmy, stop playing skee ball, let's play something else!" lol

This is Brendan's last week of school! After today, only 4 days of Kindergarten left! The other schools around here don't get out until June, but Brendan's school used up their spring break to make up snow days, so they get out earlier. But, I work full-time year-round so really that just means we have to find things for Brendan to do every week for the next 12 weeks! lol He has basketball camp next week, followed by summer school for the month of June, and then outdoorsy-type day camps the rest of the summer. It will be interesting to see how he does with all the new situations and activities. I hope he has tons of fun! I wish I could go to camp instead of work! lol

Officially a WW member

Well I finally did it. I joined Weight Watchers. I don't have a lot to lose, but my youngest is 2-1/2 yrs old now so I can't hardly blame the extra 20 lbs on baby fat anymore. lol I thought I could get it off by myself, without help, because before children I was always thin and I was dumb enough to think that there was no way that *I* could ever become/stay overweight. But 2 years later it's becoming pretty obvious my body just likes being this weight, and I just won't be happy with myself until it is gone. I know me. So, when WW was offered through my work, I went to the open house. And when they said the meetings are during our lunch break and our company would pay HALF, you bet your ass I jumped on that! So, yesterday was the first "official" meeting and weigh-in. Ever notice how the scales at the doctor's office and other places always weigh you heavier than your home scale? Ugh! Why is that? So I'm actually even heavier than I thought! But I'm fairly tall too, so it isn't quite as bad as it sounds. But still.

So, the goal to conquer is 18 lbs. Once I do that, I decide if I want to set another goal to lose more. I'm sure I will go for another 10 lbs after that. Then that should do it! That should be enough to make me comfortable wearing a swimsuit again and put me well into the range of what I should be for my height. So I'm a point-counting fool now ;)

I figure by mentioning all of this on my blog it will help make me more accountable. I'm in one of the photos from our trip a few posts down, if you want to see a "before" pic, but really, I would need to post a nude and/or swimsuit photo for a good "before" comparison photo for the full effect, but yeah...that's NOT happening. I will save your eyes the pain. Now the after photo...maybe. LOL

So, 18 lbs, here they go! Wish me luck!

Thursday Thirteen: Home Improvement Plans

Thirteen things we're planning to do to our house

1. Finish the garage: hubby has been working hard on building a 2-car (un-attached) garage with workshop. It is almost complete, just some finishing touches left.

2. Replace the roof: this weekend hubby, his dad, his brother and my dad are going to replace our roof with a metal roof.

3. Turn finished part of our basement into a playroom: part of our basement is finished, and we will soon be turning that into a playroom for the boys. Right now it is full of random stuff that we need to go through and clear out. It will be so nice to have 1 room for all the toys, games, etc instead of them being strung all over the living room and boys' bedroom.

4. Get all of the tools and stuff out of basement and into new garage: Now that the garage is almost complete, we will be able to start moving all of hubby's tools, hunting/fishing stuff, etc out into the garage, which will free up a bunch of room in the basement.

5. Build a new laundry room: once all the stuff is out of basement we are building a new laundry room down there- a finished room with a ceiling and walls, even! lol

6. Build a new bedroom for the boys: the other plan for finishing the rest of the basement is to build a new bedroom for the boys. My 6-yr-old has changed his mind 3 times already as to what kind of room he wants...Power Rangers, dinosaurs, and now Transformers. We'll see what he wants once it is time, I'm sure he will change his mind again.

7. Put in new steps or make the ones we have safer: we need to do something different with the steps leading to the basement, since the boys will be going up and down them a lot once their room and playroom are down there. Right now, due to the lack of space, the staircase is this funky spiral staircase with small steps. We either need to rebuild the staircase to be normal steps, or add backs to the existing ones.

8. Buy padding for bottom of the steps: also in regards to the staircase, we will be buying some foam padding for the landing area, just in case, God forbid, the boys ever do fall down the steps.

9. Remodel current laundry area to be entry-way: once we have the new laundry room finished, we will change the area that we are currently using for laundry into an entryway/mud-room like it should be! I have plans for a bench, cubbies, baskets, hooks, etc to make it very functional for all the coats, shoes, backpacks, umbrellas, etc. Can't wait for this!

10. Change boys' current room into workout/scrapping room/office: originally we were building a bedroom in the basement for my 6-yr-old, and we were planning on his current bedroom becoming my 2-yr-old's room. However, now they have been sharing a room for long enough that they want to keep sharing a room, so, they will both be together in the new bedroom, and that frees up the current bedroom for other uses! (until they decide they don't want to share, and then we'll move one of them). So, I hope to turn the current room into a room for working out, scrapping, and move our computer in there too.

11. Change flooring in master bathroom: for whatever reason, the master bathroom is carpeted! A carpeted bathroom is just not ideal. Hubby would like to eventually pull up the carpeting and tile instead. Oh, and he also wants to build a "shitter room" around the toilet too.

12. Change closets around and make into a walk-in closet: we have the most pitiful bedroom closets I've ever seen. They are 2 tiny closets in the bathroom, each is about the size of a small coat closet, and that's all we have for our clothes. Granted, I don't have many clothes, but still- they are ridiculously small. So, we're thinking of knocking out the back of the closets, expanding them into the bedroom to be a walk-in, and having the access to it be from the bedroom side instead of the bathroom side.

13. Long-term plan of big addition: all of the above things are to hold us over until we can eventually do a big-ol' addition on the house. We have it planned out, but we just can't afford it yet. But eventually, the plan is to add on a new living room, main level laundry room, attached garage, and 3 new bedrooms. Then turning the current living room into a dining room.

It will be many years before we can do the big addition though!

If you are participating in Thursday Thirteen, please add yourself to the auto-linky below. Thanks to Uisce for the linky and Goofy Girl for the TT banner at the top.

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Wordless Wednesday (haven't done one of these in awhile!)

Mothers' Day

Okay, so after Joe bombed out on my birthday (and various other special occassions over the years) and I vented about it, I have to give equal treatment and point out the good things he does too! lol One of the mornings while he was out of town last week I got in my car, there was this black cord thing hanging down from my visor. I was like, what the heck is falling apart now, and when I pulled my visor down I saw what it was. Joe had an early Mother's Day card for me along with a really cool glass necklace (black cord was the necklace). He must have put it in there before he left. A guy at his work makes these necklaces and other various glass things, and he was telling me about them the other day. So I knew he was probably going to get me one, but he did surprise me with the way he gave it to me :) So I just had to brag on him a little :)

Then he got home Friday afternoon, so I was able to go to the scrapbooking crop on Mother's Day. And Joe did great this Mothers' Day! lol In addition to leaving the necklace & card, he also made me breakfast on Mothers' Day morning and he and the boys brought it up to me in bed. That was around 6:30 or 7am, would have been nice to sleep a little more first, but oh well. lol The boys were up and Joe knew he needed to do it fast so that I wouldn't get up and tend to the boys. I could hear them and knew what was up, so it wasn't really a surprise, but it was still nice. I just stayed in bed and waited so I wouldn't ruin what they were trying to do. Brendan had made me a little bowl/pinch pot thing in art class for me too.

The night before I had asked Joe if I could leave him a list of things to do while I was gone at the crop Sunday, and to my surprise he said "Sure!". So I made him a little list of things that I've been asking/wanting fixed around the house for a long time but they always take the back burner and don't get done. I also put on the list to make dinner, and to give the boys a bath and put them to bed so that I could watch the Survivor Finale show without missing parts. He did everything on the list (even cleaned off his nightstand which has been piled high and messy for at least 2 years now!) except for one thing, and that was because he didn't have something he needed for it. So, I was totally impressed with him, considering the bombed birthday and other past special occassions. lol

How was everyone else's mother's day?

Super Hero

Saw this on Melissa's blog and Carolyn's too, so I decided to see what mine was...


Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 60% Robin 57% Hulk 55% Iron Man 55% Supergirl 50% Wonder Woman 45% The Flash 40% Green Lantern 35% Spider-Man 30% Catwoman 20% Batman 10%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Finally Posting Trip Pics!

Okay, so back in March we took a family trip to Branson. I've been promising pictures and I'm finally posting them! We went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and Silver Dollar City. Here are a few pictures from our trip...

This was the boys' first time staying in a hotel:

This is Brendan and me in front of the world's largest ball of string at the Ripley's museum (the digital image makes our faces look funky, but you get the idea. lol):

Then we went on to Silver Dollar City:

And of course, the rides...:

We all had a great time together. It was kinda chilly, but still fun. Mostly it was just nice to get away from the daily grind for a few days! We had planned this trip for part of Brendan's spring break week, and did all of our booking and ticket-buying way ahead of time for a discount. Well, with the terrible winter we ended up having, and all the snow days, they ended up losing their entire Spring Break week! But, we went ahead and went anyway and he missed a couple days of school. We figured he wouldn't miss too much since he's only in Kindergarten! lol

Playing the Single-Mom Role

Well, hubby is out of state this week for work. He left Saturday. So, I get to play the single-mom role. So far it hasn't been bad. I had more mower issues again, this time by myself. After about 6 phone calls to Joe trying to get the damn thing going and find everything I needed amongst his tools and such, I finally was on my way mowing. On one of the phone calls I told Joe I was about 5 minutes away from either calling some hot man to come mow my yard for me, or go to Home Depot and buy a new mower. In addition to everything I mentioned in my previous post, I forgot to mention that it also has a flat tire. So in addition to jump starting it, and having to start it by touch a piece of copper to two little black things, then by the time you do that, the tire needs aired up again. So I was mowing a section, then going back to fill the tire, then mow another section, then go fill the tire, all while trying to avoid the strapping (see previous post) and watch the boys to make sure they didn't wander off into the woods while I'm mowing or kill each other or what have you. About 2 hours into it I realized that I had no idea how to shut the mower OFF. Since you don't use the key to start it, you can't use it to shut it off either. So, when I got to the very back section by the woods where only we see anyway and it died on me, I decided I was done. I took that as a sign that it was time to stop, because if I re-started it then I may not be able to get it to turn off. lol

Sunday I took the boys outside again to plant some Mammoth Sunflowers. I've always thought they look really cool. Since they grow to like 12 feet, I thought the boys would get a kick out of them too. So, we marched outside with their new $1.00 garden shovels from Target and started digging. Who knows if the flowers will actually come up, but hey, we tried. My plan was to plant them in a semi-circle so that when they grow it will be a little area the boys can sit in/play in. It ended up more like an L-shape, but oh well. I'm half expecting them to not even sprout, since our "soil" is really more clay-like texture, and because I know NOTHING about gardening, planting, etc. We have tons of beautiful plants and flowers every year, but I can't take any credit for that- all planted by the previous owner. We just enjoy them as they come up each year. And every year they look a little less pretty. I'm sure that's because we are supposed to be doing *something* to keep them looking nice, but I have no clue what to do. I keep hoping my boss (who was the previous owner that planted it all) doesn't stop by our house or she might have a heart attack that all her hard work is going down the drain :( But what can I say, it's just not my thing.

Anyway, after the planting of the sunflower seeds it began to look like a storm was coming, so I brought the boys back in and we watched Night at the Museum. It was kinda cute- actually better than I expected. Brendan really got a kick out of it- he thought it was really funny.

Things have actually gone fairly smoothly getting both boys and myself off in the mornings too. I have to come in to work late and leave early though, because I can't leave until Brendan gets on the school bus (usually I work 7am-3:30pm and Joe stays until Brendan gets on the bus because he doesn't go into work until 8am). Then I still need to drive Adam to the babysitter before I go to work. And I still have to leave early because I have to be home when Brendan gets off the bus, and then drive back in and get Adam. It's a lot of driving and rushing around, but at least it's only for a week.

Well, I'm just babbling, and should get back to work now. I'll try to get around to visit some of you as soon as I can :)

Mower woes

Wow, here I go again falling out of blog land. Days just go by so fast, then weeks. This past weekend was the annual MS Walk that several of us walk in in honor of my mom. It was a good walk- 4 miles, and a nice sunny day. Then on Sunday Joe and I work outside all day. We had quite the adventure with our riding mower. I was trying to help him by mowing while he painted some trim and fixed some boards in preparation for putting on a new roof. But our mower is SO old that it just doesn't stay running. We didn't even buy this mower. It was left as "junk" from the previous owners. But Joe being Joe, he knew he could fix it, even though the former owners said that even someone who specializes in mowers said it was toast. But alas, Joe worked and worked on it and eventually got it running. And we've been using it for the last 3 years to mow. So yes, it "works" but it is to the point where there are so many little jerry-rigged tricks to do that have to be done just so, well, it just doesn't like me. Every few minutes it would die, we'd have to push it back over to the car and jump-start it off the car. It was rather frustrating and time consuming. And stupid me ran over some strapping and it got all caught up in the blade. Joe had to take the whole belly of the mower off, take the blade off, and pull the strapping (that was now totally shredded) thread by thread out with pliers. Ugh! I felt so bad. Maybe I should just NOT help next time. lol Oh, and did I mention the "key" to start the mower? There isn't one. Well, there is, but it is useless. Instead, to start it you have to use a piece of copper wire and touch it to 2 little black things on the mower at the same time. After that day I told Joe to just buy a new one. It's ridiculous to spend that much time and such every time he needs to mow. We are both already short on time all the time, and mowing takes long enough as it is. We got 3 years use of free riding mower, and that's great, but I think it's time to get a new one! That thing is at least 30 years old, if not older. (previous owner is my boss, and she just laughed when she heard we were actually using that thing). I think I've just about got him convinced to buy a new one. We'll see if he can actually bring himself to really do it.

Okay, so this was a terribly boring blog entry, I'm sorry! Pretty sad that I disappear for a few weeks and come back with nothing but a lawn mower to talk about! LOL Actually there is more going on, but will have to write about that later.

FINALLY!

He's gone, FINALLY, Sanjaya booted off American Idol...it's about freakin' time!!!

What a mess!

Last night was NOT fun. I had to do a total overhaul of the boys' room. Dh discovered we have carpenter ants under our porch, and well...carpenter ants eat wood, and we have wood siding! Yikes! So it had to be dealt with immediately. So with the guy scheduled to spray this morning, last night was a mad dash to get things away from the walls and cleaned up. The boys' room was HORRIBLE! Stuff everywhere you can imagine. Pieces of games, cards, little toys, breadcrusts (?!), books, you name it it was on their floor. And that's not even close to what all was under the beds! OMG! What a mess! I have done huge clean-ups in their room before, and I'm so sick of it. I did make them help me, but I had to do most of it because of the time issue involved. The boys were up until 10pm last night while I/we finished. It does look really good now, but I hate it that it had to be a big production! We will have to work harder on making it a HABIT to clean up EVERY night before bed so this never happens again. (FLYlady would not be happy).

It is also amazing what all collected under the couch! We had to move it away from the wall too. Apparently my boys have been stuffing wrappers and trash down through the sides of the cushions, and behind the couch! It's embarrassing how many string cheese wrappers and empty fruit snack packages were under that couch!!! Oh, and did I mention the pair of Brendan's dirty UNDERWEAR behind there? WTH?

One of these days I will have an organized house, that STAYS organized. It might not be until the boys are both away at college, but it WILL happen. Although with dh still there, even then maybe it won't. lol

Happy Easter!

American Idol babbling

I seriously hope Sanjaya is going home this week- he should have been gone a LONG time ago. I cannot understand what the appeal is. He is horrible compared to the others, and creepy/weasley looking too. Stop voting for him, people!!! Someone take the phones AWAY from all the little girls that are voting for him! Ugh!

Okay, that's my rant for today. You know I will be yelling at the tv tonight (like every week) if he is not voted off!

I keep forgetting

I keep forgetting to post some pictures of our Branson trip. When I'm near my digital camera I forget about it, and when I'm somewhere I can't get to my digital camera, that's when I remember. Like now. Ugh!

Kinda like when I'm at work I think about everything that needs to be done at home. Then when I'm at home I remember everything that needs to be done at work. *sigh*

Tomorrow I HAVE to remember to sign my son up for summer camp. Registration starts at 7am, and it has to be done in person. I cannot forget!!! Otherwise I have no other options for him this summer while I'm at work. This runs during work hours, and works out to be cheaper than daycare summer care. And fun too- outdoor skills, fieldtrips, games, all sorts of things. Perfect solution. So I must not forget to be there at 7am tomorrow morning to register him. Between summer school in June, and 5 weeks of day camps, that gets us through most of the summer. I just need to figure out what to do with him the last week (or two?) before school starts at the end of August. Not sure what we're gonna do for that yet.

Just for fun

Saw this on Carolyn's blog, so decided to do it too.

Too bad I sit at a desk 8 hours a day at work, lol...

Your Dominant Intelligence is Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

You are naturally athletic and coordinated, good at making your mind and body work together. Sports are fun and easy for you, especially those requiring good hand - eye coordination. There's also a good chance you're a great dancer, or good at expressing yourself through body language. You learn best by doing, and you feel like you've always got to be moving (even if it's just your hands). You would make a good athlete, physical education teaches, dancer, actor, firefighter, or artisan.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Catching up a little more

Thursday Thirteen, oh yeahhhh. During my 3 months away from my blog I almost forgot about the chaos of Thursday Thirteen. I didn't do one. Sorry. Maybe next week. Or maybe not. LOL I do so love Thursday Thirteen- I do. It's just, well, time consuming. And I don't know if I even remember how to do all the banner loading and linkies and such. Oh my, it's been awhile. I'll attempt to get back in the FULL swing of things soon. But not today. So, no 13 for me.

But I will do a little more catch-up on some things that have happened recently. Did I mention that Joe sliced his finger at work and had 7 stitches? Did I mention that he also had a pain that required an ultrasound because they thought he might have a gall stone or liver disease? Did I mention that after those two things, he then fell off the roof of our garage? Yeah, he's had his 3 bad things. He should be done for awhile. lol Oh, and I guess I shouldn't leave you hanging- he's fine. Stitches came out last weekend. Ultrasound results came back Monday and he is fine, just has thick liver bile...whatever that means. And the fall from the garage just left him with a sore butt cheek for a few days. No biggie.

Let's see...we also had a VERY SCARY sledding incident with Adam (age 2) that I will write about later. And we recently went on a little trip to Branson. Will have all sorts of fun pix from that up soon. More to come...stay tuned!

I'm on a Mission

You know what? I've been doing some thinking. A lot of thinking, actually. And I've decided that I'm sooooo tired of being upset, overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated, and sad almost every day lately. So I'm gonna stop. What a concept, just stop. I've let myself become so saturated with negativity over the last few years, being overwhelmed with all of my mommy duties, and feeling sorry for myself that I have to constantly clean up after hubby, the kids, etc in addition to working full time and so forth. I'm tired of being sad and mad that I'm not like I used to be...with a positive outlook, a skinnier body, and everything going my way in life. It's a vicious cycle really, being sad/mad that I'm not just makes me more sad/mad. And really, in the large scheme of things, does it really matter if hubby left his cereal bowl on the table, or if the boys left toys on the living room floor again? Is it really worth my effort and added stress to get upset about it? I'm letting go. I don't want to look back on my life and see wasted YEARS spent being upset, stressed and angry. I don't want my kids to remember a mommy that was always frustrated and ready to yell at any given moment. I don't want my husband to remember his wife as an unhappy woman who could only see the things he didn't do just right. It stops right now. Mostly I'm doing it for my own sanity. I need to feel happy. I need to feel peace. I need to get on the path to reclaiming myself and my happy life instead of sitting there pissed off while my happy life goes down the drain. Because this is not out of my control. I can do something about most of these things. No, I can't make hubby do the things I think he should. No, I can't keep the boys from making huge messes where it's just been cleaned. No, I can't just snap my fingers and make everything better. But what I *can* do is change my attitude, accept that things are never gonna be exactly as I think they should, give hubby some slack, give the boys some slack, and give myself some slack. I've become so wrapped up in how things aren't fair, and how my happiness is suffering because of everyone else. But I can choose to be happy anyway. I can do things to make others happy. I don't have to make everyone else miserable just because I feel miserable. And maybe if I do all I can to make others happy, they will feel happier too. And I am definitely a pleaser, so if others are happy with me, I will be happier. I know that.

So, I'm on a mission. I'm going back and taking the other path. I took a wrong turn somewhere and I'm making it right. I'm going to play with my kids instead of wishing they'd go find something to do. I'm going to be a loving wife and not focus on hubby's short-comings (and I certainly have many of my own as well!). I'm going to do things just because they make someone happy. I'm going to focus on what I can do to make hubby happy, instead of getting upset when he makes me sad. I'm going to do things that make me happy, even if it's not exactly what others think I should do. I'm going to do dishes, laundry, and clean the house as best I can with the time I have and not worry if it doesn't get done right away due to things not going right, and try not to even think about why I'm the only one doing it. I'm going to smile more and stress less. I'm going to look for ways for our family to do more things together. I'm going to make sure the special people in my life know I think they're special. I'm going to try to live the life I want to live. I used to live that kind of life, so I know it is possible. So I'm on a journey.

This weekend was so nice. Why? Because I have already started that journey and it feels soooo good. We walked in our woods down to our creek 3 times this weekend, just because we wanted to. All of us- Joe, me, and the boys. We skipped rocks in the creek and laughed when we messed up. When Brendan asked to go back outside right as it was getting dark, I said "sure" instead of no. When he asked Daddy to play tag with him and Joe said "not now" I jumped in and said "I'll play tag with you" and you should have seen that little boy's face light up with joy and the shocked look on Joe's face too! As I headed out the door with Brendan as the sun was going down I turned real quick, tagged him, said "you're it!" and ran off around the porch. We played for awhile and we inspired Joe to come out and play too. So we had a family game of tag- even Adam (age 2) played, running around laughing mostly. You know what? It was fun. The next day we played frisbee and I pushed the boys on the swingset. I made a point all weekend to hug and kiss Joe more often. I acted like someone in love should. I smiled at him for no reason. I tried to make him feel like I loved and appreciated him- just because. And acting happier, made me feel happier.

Joe and I watched a movie together after the boys went to bed. The Notebook. Wow, talk about good timing for watching that movie. It kinda validated that what I'm trying to do is worth it. Joe and I are the couple that our friends see as the strongest couple. I'm sure they expect us to be like that couple in The Notebook when we're old. (only hopefully minus the dementia!). But seriously, we have a love that is strong and we are in it for the long haul. Our friends that have known us from the beginning have frequently showed signs of jealousy of our relationship and wished theirs was as good. We are the couple that everyone in our circle of friends assumes will last. People who have known me for just the last few years don't know that side of us as well, but our long-term friends do. And when I stopped complaining long enough to remember that, well, it just seems silly the things I've let bother me over recent years.

So, I'm starting the journey back to my happy life. I'm on a mission to live by one of my favorite sayings: Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much.

On birthdays and men

Well, hmmm, it's hard getting back into the swing of things. I can't even remember what all has happened in the time I've been "gone". Guess I'll just start with recent stuff rather than trying to recall everything from the last 3 months! lol

I'm another year older, not sure if that's a good thing or not. Last Wednesday was my birthday, I turned 31. To which Brendan said, "Wow Mommy, you're ooooolllldddddd!" lol but then I quickly reminded him that Daddy was even older ;) I don't feel old, and I certainly do not consider 31 old, so I just laughed! So, yes, another birthday gone. It started out as a good day, I was off work, had the house to myself for a few hours, got some scrapbooking done, did some cleaning, etc. That evening was not fun though...

When Joe got home he did make me mashed potatoes like I had asked him to, but had no plan of what else to make. He said he couldn't think of what else to make and asked me to come up with something. I'm like, uh no! Coming up with what to make is the part I dislike the most! We didn't have the groceries for anything I wanted, I thought he was handling that. So, we really did just have mashed potatoes for dinner, whichI *did* say was fine, so I guess it's no biggie. Meanwhile, Brendan was wanting to make me a cake (sweet!), but Joe was saying I'm sorry I forgot to do anything about a cake. I told him I had already bought the cake mix and frosting. But he still didn't make it. So *I* made my own birthday cake with the help of Brendan and Adam. And after dinner, after we got the kids to bed, I noticed the kitchen still needed to be cleaned up from dinner and the cupcakes were still out, etc. I said, "oh shoot, all this stuff is still out". Joe mumbled something and kept playing his computer game. So, I thought he wasn't going to do anything about it. So, I started washing dishes and putting things away, etc. About the time I got done he finally came down and I said "Do you see anything wrong with this picture? I'm down here cleaning up on my birthday while you're sitting on your butt playing on the computer. Seems a little backwards." He flew off the handle and immediately got defensive, started saying how I'm such a martyr and that I cleaned up just so I could say that, blah, blah, blah. Hello? It's my BIRTHDAY. It seems like common courtesy would tell anyone that I shouldn't have to do all that, it's not just me being a martyr. My feelings were hurt, that's all. One day out of the freakin' year, just one day as MY special day, is that too much to ask?! Anyway, my birthday ended with him mad at ME and me crying. Fun birthday, huh? lol

I don't ask much, I'm about as low maintenance as wives come, but he KNOWS that my birthday is something I look forward to and get excited about and I want just for ONE day to feel special and to not come last on the list. He KNOWS this, we've been married for almost 10 years, and we've been together for 15 years, and it still hasn't sunk in. I'm not asking for expensive things or royal princess treatment, but it would just be nice to not have to make dinner, my own cake, and clean up afterwards, ya know?

I used to get excited about lots of things in life, I had the best positive outlook and was very laid back. Over the years I've just lost my excitement for things (or had it taken away) and my birthday is one of the few things I still get excited about anymore. (That and planning trips- another thing that causes arguments and he totally doesn't get). But I really shouldn't let myself continue to get excited about these things, because I set myself up for disappointment. No, it wasn't a big deal, and yes he did make mashed potatoes and give me a new chain for a necklace that broke, so I should be looking at the good things, but damn, I just want to feel special once in a while, and would it kill him to play along and let me get excited about things sometimes?

*sigh*

My friend Diana who shares in my woes had this to say, and she is so right. (So if any men are reading this, pay attention, because what she says should be heard by every man that cares about his lady):

She wrote: "I understand that boys don't think birthdays are really that special. I GET IT. But you know what, TOUGH. We girls, think it is special. We are willing to spend 90% of our life/love/time/energy/etc. on our husbands and our children and for the most part (teehee) we can do it without bitching or anything... but there are a few days a year where we want to be treated RIGHT. Birthday, Valentine's, Anniversary, Mother's Day. Really... 4 @#$)%&#$&*@%@% days a year. Is that so much to ask? No housework, no dirty diapers, no dishes, no cooking. Take care of me and treat me lovely just a little bit. It gives me the energy and will and floaty feeling to just GO ON until the next little holiday!!!!"

Amen.

Miss Me? I'm Still Alive!

Hello!!!!! Don't know if anyone noticed I've been gone, or if anyone will notice that I'm back, but here I am :) Sorry I haven't been around blog-land for awhile! I'm sure I have missed SO much in so many of your lives, and I'm sorry. I just got busy and then out of the routine of checking blogs or updating mine. I'll try to get back in the swing of things and hopefully catch up with several of you pretty soon. I really missed you all!

Happy New Year!

I'll be back to posting more soon! Hope all is well with you. Best wishes for a great 2007!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours!

Have a safe and fun holiday!

Ugly Christmas Lights

I know I posted this link last year too, but every year I crack up over these photos at UglyChristmasLights.com You gotta wonder what the heck these people are thinking!
The links to the 2006 collection is down the left-hand side...Go LOOK

Wordless Wednesday

Snow! Snow! Snow!

With 14-18 inches of snow, it is definitely starting to feel like winter now! lol This is the most snow we've had in many years. Thought I'd share a few pictures from this weekend...

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And...on Friday...

A very Happy Birthday to my good friend Carolyn and my blog friend Chaotic Mom who both have a birthday on Friday!!! Hope you both have spectacular birthdays!!!

On Friday, everyone go wish Carolyn and Chaotic Mom a happy birthday :)

Happy 30th, my friend!!!

No, it's not my 30th (that was back in March), but my good friend, Melissa (who some of you know as Frog Legs!) turns 30 today! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MELISSA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Happy birthday girl! Hope it's a better one than you expect!

Now real quick, everyone go wish her a happy 30th birthday!!! She could use some cheering up!

Contemplating Black Friday

I cannot believe there are only 5 weeks left until Christmas! OMG! I am pretty much done with the Christmas shopping for everyone on my side of the family, but not Joe's side. We don't even draw names on Joe's side until after Thanksgiving. So, can't do anything for that yet.

So, those who have been around know that I do not like shopping. Well I hate crowds even more. So, you would think that I would know better than to even LOOK at the Black Friday preview lists which involve shopping and MEGA crowds! I hate it. I cringe at even the thought of it. But dammit, there are some GREAT deals! I remember a couple years ago when I gave in and went to Toys R Us on Black Friday...OMG! I have never seen anything like it before! I got there at 5:15am, and the line was already to the door. When you walked in, you were at the end of the line. You just had to just jump in line first thing and look at things as you got to them in the line, because the line wrapped in and out of every aisle of the store. It was INSANE.

And here I am, two years later, and the crazy thoughts are entering my head again. Should I or shouldn't I? I REALLY do NOT want to, but there are 8 things on the Wal-Mart Black Friday list that I really want/need at a GOOD price. 1 thing at Toys R Us, and 5 things at Target too. UGH!!! I can't even believe I'm considering this. I will NOT got to all 3, but I'm leaning towards going to Wal-Mart at 5am, since there are 8 things there. I know I will be totally stressed out and flustered if I go, I H-A-T-E crowds, I can't stand people in my way when I'm trying to walk through a store. I avoid Wal-Mart on weekends because of the crowds, and now I'm thinking about purposely going there on *the* busiest day with the biggest crowds of all. What is wrong with me?! Well, I guess I have a week to decide.

What about you- are you venturing out on Black Friday?

Garage/Workshop Progress

Don't have time to post much, but thought I'd upload the latest pictures of our garage & workshop building project! We're getting there- it's starting to actually look like a building now.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things About My Oldest Son Brendan, Who Turned 6 Today!!!

1. He is a very smart kid. All of his teachers from the 2 yr old room teacher at daycare on up to his Kindergarten teacher now have commented to us numerous times each year as to how smart he is.

2. He is very artistic too. He loves to draw, color and write, and he is very good at it! He also loves books and is learning how to read.

3. He loves to watch movies. (He probably got this from me, I love to watch movies too!)

4. He can be very loving and cuddly when he wants to, and he tells us he loves us often.

5. He's a picky eater, but he will usually eat his dinner if the bribe is good enough. heehee He will almost never turn down warm bread (like crescent rolls or breadsticks) or a peanut butter & jelly sandwich though. And he would eat a whole tray of cold shrimp if we let him. But dinner is usually a struggle of some sort.

6. He seems very interested in things related to art, science, nature, and music. His teacher said he's good at math too. (He definitely didn't get that from me!) He can sing all sorts of songs and get the tune and rhythm right. He even makes up his own songs with multiple verses and chorus lines! (we won't mention that one of the many songs he made up was when he was mad at me and the song was all about how I don't love him! Talk about a knife to the heart overhearing that one while standing outside his room!)

7. He has an incredible memory! He still brings up things we did or saw when he was 2 years old and says "remember that Mommy?" I always have to dig down deep in my memory to figure out what he's talking about.

8. Although he has somewhat lost interest in them now, he is very good at puzzles. When he was 2-1/2 years old he shocked us by putting together a puzzle that was marked as being for 4-7 year old kids! He did it completely by himself at age 2-1/2 just by looking at the picture on the front of the box. We didn't help him at all. We kept buying him new puzzles, and he would put them all together without any help from us.

9. Even though they fight over toys and sometimes hurt each other, he is a good big brother to Adam. It is so cute when he helps his brother, or when they hug and play together.

10. He is tall and skinny. His weight is always around the 30th percentile, while his height is always up around the 75th percentile. His waist is so little that he wears a size 7-slim pants, and even that size slim is too big in the waist, so they have to have adjustable waists too, tightened to the tightest spot. Even then sometimes a belt is necessary too.

11. He looks just like his daddy did at this age, and his little brother looks just like he did at that age too. I'm not sure if any of my genes were passed on to either of the boys at all! lol

12. He has about 50 or more pieces of paper hung all over his desk and shelves and door of pictures he has drawn. At Halloween he drew all sorts of Halloween pictures and hung them up as "decoration". The day after Halloween he took them all down and started drawing Thanksgiving pictures. I'm sure the Christmas ones will be starting soon too.

13. HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY BRENDAN!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

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I did it!

Well, I did it. After 12 years of NOT doing it, I did it again. I voted yesterday! I've only voted one other time in my life...the very first election after I turned 18. Then, I didn't vote ever again...until yesterday! Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly for the right reasons, I *had* to cancel out my hubby's vote on a thing or two, but still I voted! Aren't you proud of me? LOL

What a weekend!

Wow, we had quite the eventful weekend! (as if things haven't been eventful enough lately- see my TT post below to see what I mean, if you didn't already).

They were supposed to be pouring/spreading the concrete for the garage on Saturday morning, but after a series of events, they ended up doing it Friday afternoon instead. But, it had to be smoothed out with a machine every so often as it was setting up. Long story short, we still had a guy there working on it until 11:30pm. But it's done now, so that's good. It's crazy how fast things are moving though, because our loan money hasn't come through yet, so we've been having to pay the excavation, gravel, concrete, and workers out of our pocket! Yikes!

Saturday was the annual Christmas shopping trip that my mom, sister, grandma, aunt, cousin and I go on each year. (those who have been reading my blog awhile know that I do not like shopping very much). That went fine. I spent A LOT of money, but am now closer to being done. Guess that's better than not having any luck.

While we were there, Joe called to let me know he had to take Brendan to the Emergency room! Brendan had apparently climbed up one of our trees and got too high up where the branches were not big enough to hold his weight. The branch he was standing on broke and Brendan fell to the ground. Joe had been getting Adam's jacket on him and got out there just in time to see Brendan on the ground crying. He said he hurt everywhere, including his stomach, and said it was hard to breathe, so that was enough for Joe to feel like he should take him to the ER just to be sure there wasn't anything wrong internally, or any breaks, etc. So he took him in, and they checked him out and did x-rays. Everything was fine. His one foot was the main thing still hurting him, but it wasn't broken...just sprained or bruised or something. He is still kinda limping around on it, but can walk and do things. He got really lucky that he wasn't hurt any worse! He could have easily been hurt VERY badly.

Sunday was the birthday party for the boys. It was very chaotic! I do not like how that place does their birthday parties! Long story, but here's the brief version- You only get the birthday party room for 1 hour of the party. So, for the first hour the kids played and had fun, but the adults had no designated area to go, and we couldn't take the cake, presents, etc into the room ahead of time. It was crowded, loud, and hot. Then when it was our turn to go in the room, it was so small, that we didn't all fit in, so a lot of the people had to stand outside of the room, looking in through the doorway! The kids ate the cake, and about 1/2 way through the present-opening, the worker told me we only had 5 minutes left. So,the boys had to quickly rip into the remaining presents and it was crazy trying to get all of our stuff out of there. They were all but pushing us out the door. And the other strange thing is, they didn't give us the tokens for the kids until we got in the b-day party room, so the whole first hour while the kids were supposed to be playing, they didn't have their tokens for the games area. Seems backwards to me. They could climb around on the huge 2-story play area, so at least they had that, but still seems strange not to allow them to have the tokens for the game area too. So by the time we got out of the room, most people in our party left. Some stayed and played longer. We stayed for awhile to let Brendan and Adam use their tokens, and then we left too. His classmate's parents all said their kids had fun, so hopefully it wasn't too bad from their perspective, but maybe they were just trying to be nice. lol! But, Brendan said he had fun at his party, so that's what's most important. And both boys got some really nice gifts! It is amazing how cool the toys are these days! That place is such a fun place to go and play, but I don't think we will ever have a birthday party there again, (unless they change the way they do it). Too hectic!

Now I just wish I had a weekend to recover from the weekend! lol

Oh, and saw this on Uisce and Veronika's blogs, so thought I'd try it too:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

There are apparently zero with my same first and last name combination, but 157,484 people in the U.S. with my first name and 810 people in the U.S. with my last name.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things going on in my world lately that have kept me from blogging much the last few weeks.

1. Early in the month (as I posted about earlier) we were dealing with all the car issues, right at the same time as Joe's birthday and our Anniversary.

2. Brendan has been having behavior issues at school. Not listening, not following classroom rules, refusing to participate in some activities, getting mad easily if he can't do something just right, and so on.

3. We went to Joe's 15-year reunion. It was fun.

4. Joe's youngest sister got married. Joe was an usher, so I had to try to deal with both boys on my own. I spent most of the ceremony outside with Adam because he was being too loud. Ugh! Thank goodness a friend of ours let Brendan sit by him while I was out with Adam. Then between the wedding and the reception Brendan got sick. So my dad and his wife (who luckily live close to the town the wedding was in) said they'd keep the boys at their house while I went back to the reception. It was a nice break, and Joe and I had fun. Then we stayed until almost 3am helping them clean up the reception afterwards! Finally got back to my dad's house, fell asleep, and at 5am the boys woke up. So, I got less than 2 hours of sleep that night.

5. Adam started climbing out of his crib, so we moved him to the toddler bed. We don't have a room for him, so we put him in Brendan's room for now. The first week was horrible, he was screaming and wouldn't stay in bed...took forever to get him down at night, and then he'd get up very early each morning. And this was the week immediately following the wedding, so I was already running on less than 2 hours sleep when this all began. I was NOT a happy camper.

6. Even though he is now going down easier at night now in his toddler bed, he still wakes up around 4am every morning, comes upstairs to wake me up, and insists he wants some milk. Since I get up around 5am-ish anyway, I usually end up just staying up after Adam wakes me.

7. Big deadline at work was during this same time period too. But I did get it done! Yea!

8. Joe was sick with a stomach thing. I was sick 2 different times (before and again after Joe). Now Joe is sick again. Ugh! He thinks this time maybe he was just dehydrated though.

9. We had parent-teacher conferences with Brendan's teacher. All the others just met with the Kindergarten teacher, but when it was our turn, in walked the gym teacher, art teacher, and music teacher too. *sigh* They all had similar things to say about Brendan, and his behavior (not listening, not participating, not following rules, etc). I felt like *I* was in trouble. lol On a good note, his Kindergarten teacher did have a lot of good things to say too, about how incredibly smart he is, and how advanced he is in writing, drawing, reading, etc for his age. Now if he could just behave, all would be great!

10. Adam's 2nd birthday was last week! Brendan's 6th birthday is next week! We are having a birthday party for them both this Sunday. I'm not ready yet! Yikes!

11. My mom and her bf took Brendan and one of my nephews to the circus last weekend! They had a great time. Brendan thought it was awesome!

12. Halloween was okay. (See photos of the boys in my Wordless Wednesday post below). As usual, I had to work at a Halloween event that night. I love Halloween, so it really bums me out that I have to work entertaining other people's kids and I can't even take my own kids trick-or-treating.

13. We started on building our garage/workshop! This is what it looks like so far, as of this morning (sorry for the bad quality, it was still mostly dark when I left for work this morning)

Now that you're done reading my list, go wish Veronika a Happy Birthday!

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Happy Halloween and Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Blogger won't let me upload the photo right now. I'll try again later.

No Thursday Thirteen Today

I'm tired, stressed, tired, overwhelmed, tired, have tons to do, tired, feeling defeated by Brendan's behavior & attitude lately, and did I mention TIRED?! Ugh! I can't shake this exhausted feeling I've had for soooo long :(

Joe's little sister's rehearsal tonight and wedding Saturday are not helping things either. lol

Wordless Wednesday

Tackle It Tuesday: Behind my desk at work!

I have so many things that need "tackling" both at work and at home, that it only makes sense for me to join in on "Tackle It Tuesday" over at 5 Minutes for Mom!!! I'm gonna need a lot of Tuesdays to get everything done, that's for sure! lol

This week I'm going to tackle the messy pile on the floor behind/beside my desk in my office at work!

This is a combination of work stuff/papers, as well as stuff from home, that needs to go back home, old catalogs, magazines, phone books, my lunch bag, even a shirt or two (?!). What a mess! Below is the before picture. I'll update with an "after" photo once I'm done!

***UPDATE***

I did it! I'm done! Wow, it looks soooo much better now. The rest of my office is still messy, but hey, at least I can roll my desk chair around without bumping into all that stuff that was behind me on the floor! lol See the "after" photo below...

The New SUV!

First a warning- you might want to stay away from me, apparently I am a bad-luck magnet!

If you read the post below, you know some of it, and then would you believe that night (Tues) my husband's truck broke down too?! And it was his birthday too! He was driving the truck and I was driving his car, since my SUV was dead. We thought we could get away with that for a few days before we went car shopping, but nope! Our bad luck continued. So, we were truly down to 1 car, and the hours we keep right now make it nearly impossible to carpool.

So, on Wednesday Joe and I both took off work (which just happened to also be our 9-year Anniversary!) and we decided to just get everything taken care of. Long story short, I ended up buying a 2006 Hyundai Tucson. I did have a Kia Sportage, and was planning on either getting another Sportage or the Hyundai Tucson SUV, but the sales guy at Kia was an ass, so I didn't want him getting the commission! (which is really strange because our Kia dealer place prides themselves on quality, friendly staff and we have always been impressed with how friendly and helpful their service department guys are, but this one sales guy just didn't fit the mold!) He was rude, and he lost our business because of it! Hyundai guy was awesome! Plus, I prefer stick shift and Kia only had 4WD in automatics and Hyundai had the 4WD manual ones AND they undercut Kia by $2000 even without a trade-in.

I totally love the new SUV so far! I've never in my life owned a brand new car before, I've always bought used ones in the past. But, with the great warranty (10 years 100,000 miles) and the fact that the used ones aren't that much cheaper, well, it made more sense to go new this time. (Plus, with the luck I've been having lately, I wasn't taking any chances! LOL!)

So, Joe's birthday and our Anniversary were not exactly what we'd hoped or planned, but oh well. At least we shouldn't be having any more car problems any time soon. *knocking on wood*

Here it is...

Back from the retreat

The scrapbooking retreat was great! I had fun, and got 17 pages done.
However, I had an eventful evening on the way home from the retreat Sunday! On my way home my SUV overheated and died. We had *just* gotten it back out of the shop Thursday night and paid $800 to have it fixed, and now, three days later it is dead. Ugh! I made it to about 2-3 miles from home, and OF COURSE I had forgotten my cell phone so I didn’t have it with me. So, I got lots of exercise walking the whole length of the gravel road about 2-1/2 miles the rest of the way to my house. Being out in the boonies, with nothing but trees, cows & gravel road ahead I had no choice but to just walk it. Doesn’t seem very long when you drive it, but it seems pretty darn long when you WALK it- especially when the ocassional car goes by and kicks up all the gravel dust in your face! (I did get an up-close view of the fields of cows, horses, and 3 deer though!) So, about an hour later when I finally did get home, we drove Joe’s car back to it and he towed me back. He looked at it and found that the radiator hose had busted, so all the water/coolant had gushed out and that’s what caused it to overheat. And the overheating caused the engine damage. So, dead/blown engine pretty much equals dead SUV. I will have to get a new one. Which I’m overdue for anyway, as it was a 1998 and had over 160,000 miles on it. But, we were hoping it would last another couple years since Joe just had to get a new one a couple months ago too. So, we’ve gone from having both cars paid off, to two new car payments again. *sigh* But, in trying to see the silver lining, I guess the good news is that I'll be getting a new car, AND I worked off a lot of the calories we consumed at the retreat! lol

Off for the weekend

In about 3 hours I'll be heading off to my weekend retreat of scrapbooking, eating, relaxing and hanging out with friends. I'll be back online Monday, I think. Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Where I'll be This Weekend for a Scrapbooking Retreat! Woohoo!

Our weekend...Cow Slime and Tantrums and Poop, Oh My!

We had a pretty good weekend for the most part. On Saturday my dad, his wife, and my grandma were in town to watch my nephew's soccer game. So we all met up for lunch afterwards. Then I had to rush off for a haircut (that I had already rescheduled once and the lady that cuts my hair wasn't available again for about a month so I couldn't reschedule again!)

Then Sunday we took the boys on a little trip. There is a drive-through zoo about 3 hours away, and after 35 years of business they are closing down on October 1. I remember loving that place when I was a kid, so I really wanted to bring my boys to it before they closed. Brendan wasn't too thrilled about the 3 hour drive, but he was looking forward to seeing the animals. (If he's worried about a 3-hr drive, just wait until March when we have a 14-hour drive to Texas! Yikes!) It was fun, but I'm pretty sure they have already gotten rid of a lot of the animals, because there were a lot less than I remember. And most of them were not even coming up to the car. But there were a few that did (mainly zebras & ostrichs) and then right at the end there were finally a bunch of animals that were coming up to the car to get food. There were these hairy cows (looked kinda like old english sheep dogs), Himalayan cows I think Joe said they're called? that were surrounding our car and had their whole head inside my window over my lap eating the food pellets as fast as I could get them out of the bag! They were so slobbery though, that I was backing up and practically sitting on Joe's lap trying to keep from getting slimed! lol The boys thought that was pretty funny! I finally had to roll up the window and now there is nasty slime all over the window!

After that, we took the boys to Incredible Pizza What a neat place! It's kinda like a Chuck E. Cheese, a Burger King play place, an arcade, and a CiCi's pizza buffet all rolled into one with go-karts & mini golf added in too! It was great until the end when Brendan had a total meltdown/fit/tantrum because of a silly little toy prize...which was very frustrating and embarassing. He was yelling, screaming, kicking, talking back, you name it. I'm sure he was tired and so something that little set him off, and he just kept getting worse and worse. It's situations like that that we are at a loss as to the "right" way to handle it. We have become the yelling type, and you bet he got a spanking when he started kicking the sink in the bathroom, and his brother. I don't want to be the yelling/spanking type of parent, but he doesn't respond to calmer methods. And I certainly don't want him to think he can get away with behavior like that. But we don't feel like we handle this sort of thing quite right either. (but that issue is a whole other post) What to do? We left, of course, at that point. It's weird to think our almost 6-year-old was the one throwing the fit and our almost 2-year-old who is already showing signs of "the terrible two's" was perfectly behaved! lol Seems like it would have been the other way around! Oh, but Adam wasn't completely innocent either...he had a poopy blow-out while we were there, and it was all over the inside of his pants, down his leg, etc. Thank goodness I had remembered to pack an extra set of clothes for just such an occassion! LOL

But tantrums and poop aside, all in all it was a fun weekend :) LOL

Over for another year

Well, the weekend is over, and I'm glad to have that event behind me for another year. Saturday the weather was great, but Sunday we sat in the rain all day. It was not fun. But it's over, and now I can start to enjoy fall. Fall is my favorite season :) We're still pretty busy though, Brendan has afterschool soccer this week and his swimming lessons have started back up. But the soccer program ends on Friday, so next week it'll be down to just swimming lessons.

The weather is much cooler this week, and I've discovered that both boys have outgrown all of their pants...even the pants I just bought them a couple months ago. The pant legs are too short, but the waists are still too big. Brendan is going to need a 7-slim for the length, but it will be too big in the waist, even being slim size. Adam started out chunkier, but now he is getting the same body type as big brother. He could probably wear 12mos in waist, but he needs 2T for length. Do they even make a size 2T-slim jeans?! lol So, somehow I need to figure out time to go to the store and buy both boys several new pants.

As you can tell, I don't have anything exciting going on right now to write about. lol

Busy week

September is my least favorite month at work, and this week is my least favorite week, and especially this weekend is my least favorite weekend of the whole year at work. Have to work an event that goes on and on and on long hours all weekend, and we're preparing for it all week. So, I may not be able to visit very many blog pals this week. Sorry. I'll try to catch up next week!