Our Easter Weekend

Hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. We did. Brendan was off school Friday, so he and I went to a yard sale that morning and we got a few shirts for the boys, a Dr. Seuss book, and there was this Spiderman electric guitar that Brendan wanted really bad, so we got that too. Both boys are into Rock n' Roll already. lol "Old Time Rock 'n Roll" is both of their favorite song, and they always ask me to play that song numerous times every time we are in the car. Anyway, both boys had fun "rockin' out" on the guitar...

Friday night we met up with my sister and one of her sons at a nearby indoor family play center. The boys all had fun. Then on Saturday Brendan had his last basketball game of the season, and my mom and her boyfriend drove about 2 hours to come see him play. After the game the coaches took the team out for pizza. That night we watched Enchanted, since we had missed doing our family pizza and movie night that we usually do on Friday nights. I thought the movie was pretty good, even though I'm not into girly fairytale type stuff in general. The boys seemed to enjoy it too, although they let out with the occassional "EWWWWW" on any kissy or love parts. lol Oh, we also made some Easter cupcakes, that turned out really cute, I think, but they were not a big hit with the grown-ups. I wish I would have thought to make these earlier in the week for Adam to take to preschool, the kids would have loved them...

Easter Sunday we did our little egg/candy hunt for the boys and they got their Easter baskets of goodies.

And I remembered to have Joe take a picture of me and the boys. Since I am usually the one taking all the pictures, I rarely appear in them, but once in a great while we remember to include me...

Later in the afternoon we went to visit Joe's side of the family at a get-together at his sister's house. They did a candy egg hunt for the boys there too, so the boys are overloaded on sugar for sure. Joe's brother & his wife brought our newest nephew, William, by too, so we got to see him again. Brendan and Adam love that baby, especially Adam. Adam is always mentioning his "new baby cousin" and he was so excited to see him. Both boys got to hold him too.

It snowed while we were there too...SNOW, on Easter, now that was a strange feeling. There were huge fluffy flakes coming down hard- almost looked like a blizzard at times.

Now it's Monday again. Brendan is off school again today, it is his last day of Spring Break. So, we are home cleaning. He even picked up in his room a little, while I worked on the living room, which has been overrun with toys again.

It's hard to believe that March is almost over! April is right around the corner. Next week swimming lessons start back up and we have to register Brendan up for his summer daycamps already. Time just flies by, whether you're having fun or not!

Happy Easter!

ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM THE EASTER BUNNY

Don't put all of your eggs in one basket

Walk softly and carry a big carrot

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears

There's no such thing as too much candy

All work and no play can make you a basket case

A cute little tail attracts a lot of attention

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits

Some body parts should be floppy

Keep your paws off other people's jellybeans

Good things come in small sugarcoated packages

The grass is always greener in someone else's basket

An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare

To show your true colors you have to come out of your shell

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

-author unknown

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Horton, Possum, Spring Break & Easter

Thanks for the happy birthday comments! My birthday itself was fine, the movie was pretty cute. The weekend did not go as I had pictured and hoped, but oh well, it usually doesn't. Life goes on.

Oh, and look what Joe found living under our canoe...

Ewwww, possums are just the ugliest things. It was not happy w/ Joe either, he was hissing and showing his teeth. This one must think he's our pet though, we catch him up on our porch eating the cat food all the time. Guess he had it made...a nice place under the shelter of the canoe, and food served 24/7 on the porch.

This week is Brendan's spring break. He had to go to school yesterday and today for snow make up days, but he's off Wed, Thurs, Fri and next Monday. The problem is neither Joe or I have enough time to take off the whole time with him, especially since we will be going on a week long vacation in June. So, he will get to go to work with Joe on Wednesday (at least for part of the day), and to work with me on Thursday. Then I will take off with him Fri & Mon. Saturday will be the last basketball game, and Sunday we're going to Joe's sister's house to celebrate Easter. I'm thinking we should try to take the boys to the Zoo this weekend too, get it in before it gets hot and crowded over the summer. Not sure if we will or not.

Brendan has become burnt out on Tae Kwon Do, so we did not sign him up for the new session that starts tonight. He had gotten to the point where he was begging not to go the last few weeks. Between basketball practices & games, Tae Kwon Do twice a week, and all the Cub Scout meetings & activities, I have become burnt out on taking him places almost every night of the week too. So, now that basketball is ending and he's taking a break from Tae Kwon Do, things should be a little less hectic for a couple weeks. Whew! But, not for long, swimming lessons for both boys starts up again the first week of April, and that will be 2 nights a week, and we still have scouts. But at least I'll get a few of my evenings back temporarily.

Happy Birthday to Me :)

Today is my birthday :) The agenda is work, then off to see Horton Hears a Who with the family, then to the Chinese buffet, and hopefully lots of productive work around the house over the weekend. Everyone go out and have a drink to celebrate...there's your excuse :)

How Many of Me?

This is kinda interesting. You can type in your name and it tells you how many others there are in the US with your name. It appears I am probably the only one with my first & last name combination. However, there are 159,401 people in the U.S. with my first name.

HowManyOfMe.com

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

Almost birthday time...

We had fun at the comedy show last Friday. The comedians were pretty good. Eric O'Shea had us laughing so hard in the first 5 minutes of his part of the show that we could hardly breathe and my stomach muscles hurt from laughing. Luckily his whole act wasn't *that* funny so I did get a chance to breathe and drink my beer. Don't get me wrong, he was funny the whole time, just not as intensely funny throughout. He gave us a few breaks to breathe here and there.
And of course, we were seated at the front and center of the stage, thank goodness neither of the comedians that night picked on the front row people like some do.

The rest of the weekend went fine. We survived the basketball game, Pinewood Derby and school carnival. This was Brendan's first Pinewood Derby, we learned a lot. We will do better next year. lol At the school carnival we won an unlimited ride one-day ticket to an indoor family fun center that is located about an hour or so from our house, so that will be a fun little day trip some day soon.

This week I am gearing up for turning 32. My birthday is Friday (the 14th). Usually I am super excited about my birthday, this year I just don't have that excited anticipation anymore. Haven't decided what all I want to do yet. I'm leaning towards just having all of us go see Horton Hears a Who as a family, and maybe go eat at the Chinese buffet or something easy like that. The boys are still young enough that it makes doing anything a potential disaster if they do not behave. So, I figure as kid-friendly as possible will save me some stress over if they are being noisy or annoying to other people. Plus, I have to admit I have a soft spot for certain Dr. Seuss books, Horton Hears a Who being one of them. I have fond memories of my mom reading them to me over and over when I was a kid. Sometimes she would get so tickled over parts of the stories (in particular in the Grinch, the line "and he puzzled and puzzled til his puzzler was sore" would get her tickled frequently). So, even though it is a kid movie, I wouldn't mind us seeing it as a family for my b-day.

Then over my birthday weekend I'm hoping that Joe will be my handy man and work on some things *I* want done around the house. They always seem to take a backseat to his woodcutting and truck & chainsaw fixing (and cartoon watching and Bookworm Adventures playing, and book reading, etc). heehee.

I was supposed to be going to someone's house for a Bunco night on Saturday, but it got canceled because she couldn't get enough players. I've never played Bunco before, but I have been wanting to learn and thought it would be fun to get together with some ladies once a month, but oh well.

Except for Brendan's basketball game on Saturday morning, we don't have any other obligations of places we have to be, so I'm hoping for a productive weekend at home...and a clean house (hint, hint if you're reading Joe! lol)

If I don't make it back online before then, hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Fun!

It's finally Friday! Things have been crazy this week, and will be crazy today, but I'm really looking forward to tonight. We are dropping the boys off at a local gymnastics place where they have a 4-hour drop-off time and the kids get to play in the foam pit, the big in-floor trampoline, and other equipment. They play games, do obstacle courses, free play, and have a ton of fun. Meanwhile, Joe and I get to GO OUT without children! Woohoo! We are going to grab something to eat and then head out to a comedy show at the local comedy club. In a way this is my birthday celebration too, even though my actual birthday is not until next Friday. But, we had to take the child care opportunity when we could get it. I have been completely frazzled, stressed out and in a horrible bitchy mood lately, so a few laughs and a few drinks tonight are just what I need!

Unfortunately the rest of the weekend will be back to busy obligations, rushing from basketball game to den meeting and pinewood derby to school carvinal, and so on. All kinda fun things I guess, but too many all at once when I'm already frazzled.

But tonight...that I am really looking forward to :)

Warm Weekend!

It's WARM!!! After so cold for so long, this weekend has been in the upper 60's/low 70's!!! What a great feeling it is to walk outside and not have a gust of bitter cold wind freeze my skin! I hear it is supposed to snow again tomorrow though, ugh! I wish it would just make up its mind.

Well, I'm happy to announce that Adam is FINALLY potty trained! I think I can safely say that now. He's been wearing "big boy" underwear for over 3 weeks now, but I was afraid to say anything just in case. But, he has been doing great for those 3 weeks, so I'm declaring him officially potty trained. Since he is my youngest, that means we are forever diaper-free now! WOOHOO!!!

This weekend we actually didn't have anywhere we *had* to be. I did a lot of cleaning and laundry yesterday. Joe bought a new chainsaw. He has 2 old ones that were hand-me-downs, but every time he's going to cut wood, he ends up spending 1/2 the day trying to fix the latest problem and get one of the chainsaws to function. It is a horrible waste of time and effort. He has milked those 2 chainsaws for all they are worth for a very long time. He finally just went and bought a new one, and he is very happy that he can just cut wood and not have it be a huge ordeal. Joe and Brendan also worked on the pinewood derby car a little too.

Today I went into work for a little while, to try to catch up with some things in my office. The rest of the day will be spent cleaning more, helping Brendan with his book reports, and spending time outside while it is warm!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I'll close with a pic I took of Adam chilling out in his jammies on the couch this morning watching cartoons with daddy and one of the cats.

Weekend Movie, Dancing and Snow

We had a pretty good weekend. On Friday night I went to see Definitely, Maybe with a friend from the moms' group, Lisa. It was our monthly Mom's Night Out, but only Lisa and I made it this month. The movie was cute.

Saturday we went to a wedding & reception for one of Joe's co-workers. We brought the boys to both, which was risky, but turned out okay. They were not perfectly behaved, but they could have been a lot worse. The boys had fun dancing...

And they liked to literally spin Mommy around on the dance floor too, haha...

The little girl in the picture above tried to dance with Adam a couple times, (Adam is behind me so you can't see him in this pic) but he was totally oblivious (or maybe he was just ignoring her, who knows. lol)

Brendan was quite the little dancing machine. He danced to a lot of songs, and was doing all sorts of footwork stuff that I've never seen him do before. At home he is really silly and does this little "butt dance" thing, and a song came on that would have been perfect for his butt dance, but he wouldn't do it. I can't get him to stop doing it at home, but at the reception he wouldn't even do it once. Go figure.

Sunday morning we woke up to a little more snow! The boys (with daddy's help) made a cute little snowman shortly before the snow melted...

And that, in a nutshell, was our weekend.

Our Newest Nephew!

Our new little nephew was born last night (well, officially I guess this morning) at 3 minutes after midnight. He almost made it as a Valentine's baby, but just a few minutes too late. They named him William Aloysius, and he was 8 lbs 10 oz. After nearly 2 hours of pushing with no success, they tried the vacuum, but no luck, so she ended up having a c-section. We were there at the hospital from 7:45pm until 1:45am, but we did finally get to see our new little nephew. Our boys were excited waiting to see their new cousin, but they didn't quite make it...they fell asleep in the waiting room before he was born. We thought she might go faster than that since this is her 3rd kid (she also has a 15 yr old boy and an 11 yr old boy) and she went fast with the first two, so we were afraid to leave to take the boys to my dad's house nearby (and we live 2 hours away, so there was no way to take the boys home to our house). We did eventually go to my dad's house to sleep for a few hours after it was all over, and then drove back home this morning.



Here's the pic I took of our new nephew around 1:00am this morning, when he was almost an hour old...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day to you all!

We actually had our Valentine's celebration last night, since today is a busy day and evening. Joe stopped by my office yesterday afternoon with some of THIS yumminess, and these tulilps...

Then, thanks to Deanna watching our kids for us, we were able to go out for a little while. We started at our favorite place for hot wings and beer, and got there in time for the happy hour specials (bonus!). And then we went to a movie. I was kinda wanting to see Untraceable, (I like thriller/on-the-edge-of-your-seat type movies), but we were a little too late for it, and Joe had heard that Juno was good, so we saw that instead. I was leary of it, I thought it was going to be too much of a "teen movie", but it wasn't. I was pleasantly surprised. We had a nice time, and a much needed little break. THANKS AGAIN DEANNA!

Today both boys have their Valentine parties at school. Then, as soon as we get home we are booking it to the hospital (about 2 hours away) to see our new niece or nephew! Yes, they are having that baby TODAY!!!! A Valentine baby :) I'm so excited for them, and I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl and see him/her.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day today!

What We've Been Up To

Catching back up a little here...on Feb 1st Brendan had the Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts, where he was awarded his Tiger Cub badge and some beads for his electives.






He's also been having basketball games every Saturday morning, basketball practice every Monday night, Tae Kwon Do on Tuesdays & Thursdays, and Cub Scout den meetings twice per month.



On Thursday evening we had a parent-teacher conference. He's been acting up again. He's in this phase where he is just really silly. He likes to act silly and try to make his friends laugh. It is becoming a problem at school because he doesn't know when to quit. He's been disruptive and while he's acting silly he is not listening to directions or learning what he needs to. She said that right now he is ahead of the others anyway, and can do the work without hearing/learning how, but she's concerned that if he continues this, then eventually it is going to affect his learning. The gym teacher also came in, and she is worried about his safety and others in gym class. She said he is very disruptive and will do things like roll on the floor and other "silly" behavior. Last year the problem was that he wouldn't participate and would get upset if he couldn't do things just perfect, this year he is participating, just being disruptive. Maybe by 4th or 5th grade he will finally just participate, listen AND act correctly?!



Anyway, on to the kitties. They are growing, that's for sure! Here's the latest picture of them napping on the couch together...almost looks like a heart shape, awwww how cute...


If you've been reading the last couple "Tackle it Tuesday" posts below, you know what else I've been up to...cleaning and organizing the boys' room! (see pics in previous 2 posts of progress).



And guess what we're doing tonight?! We're actually going on a DATE! It's been awhile. One of Joe's co-workers offered to watch the boys for us so that we could go out. The boys are SO excited, they love having babysitters (and it doesn't happen very often). And we are excited to have a few hours out. THANK YOU DEANNA!

Tackle It Tuesday: Putting in Bunk Beds!

Wow, I guess I didn't post all week, because here it is Tackle it Tuesday again already! lol

This week our "tackle" was getting the boys' beds out, and putting in bunk beds! A friend of mine from the local moms group told me her mom was getting rid of some bunk beds that her little brother had had, and she gave them to us! (Thank you Kathleen!!!!)

Bunk beds just make so much sense for their room because it is small and they share a room, and floor space is severely lacking as it is. And the boys LOVE having bunk beds!

This was "before" with the 2 beds in there. (Minus the comforters, they had animal print comforter that I had already thrown in the wash before I took the pic)...

Then under both beds was a TON of stuff! Ugh! Toys and junk everywhere that the boys and I cleaned up before the bunk beds could go in...

Now the "after" with the bunk beds! I still need to get some new sheets and comforters for them though, so this isn't really the finished product. We are turning the room into dinosaur theme now. (It was a jungle theme).

The boys LOVE their new bunk beds!!!...

Tackle it Tuesday: The Boys' Closet

(I'm posting this on Monday night because I don't know if I'll have access

to the internet tomorrow.)

Still waiting on hubby to do some things before the basement progress can continue, so this week's tackle was the boys' closet. As embarrassing as the "before" pics are, I must admit it actually even looked worse in person! Ugh! Anyway, I completely emptied it and now it is the most organized area in the whole house.

BEFORE...

And now AFTER...

One step closer to getting the whole house organized in 2008!

Sick :(

Sorry I haven't been on in a few days. With all the office moving I haven't had much time, and then Monday night I came down with strep throat. Talk about bad timing! So yesterday I was home sick all day. Today I am exhausted and still don't feel good, but since I'm on antibiotics now I felt like I should come in to work. I felt so bad being gone during our big moving week! But, I will probably not be online much for the next couple days :(

I Survived

Whew! I survived last Thursday's being at 3 places at one time, and the busy Saturday. Thursday I ended up having Joe go one of the places I needed to be, then I had one of my part-time employees meet me at another place and I gave her instructions of what to do and the key to lock up. Then I rushed over to the third place. So, it all worked out.

Saturday was Brendan's 1st basketball game. Poor kid, he was so excited but once he got out there I think he realized that he had no clue what he was supposed to do. Too busy being silly at practices to really grasp an understanding of how to play an actual game. He did okay though. I don't think anyone expects a 1st grade team to play very well anyway. He kept sticking his hands in his pockets, which was the most frustrating part. How can you be ready for the ball if your hands are in your pockets. Never again will we take him to a game wearing pants or shorts with pockets! Although, now I'm worried that without pockets his hands will be down his pants instead! lol They were cute though. They don't keep official score with the 1st grade teams, but we're sure his team won 3-2 (although the coaches tell them they tied).

Here's a pic of Brendan trying to make a basket (he's the blur shooting the ball). He missed that one, but at practice he is able to make baskets a lot.

At one point, Brendan was upset that he wasn't playing so well, and Adam saw that he was upset and went over to him and gave him a hug. It was so sweet. I'm so glad I was behind them with the camera handy!

Later that day Brendan had a scout event, a rocket derby of some sort. I thought this was going to be outside, but I was wrong (thank goodness!). They had given us the rocket a few weeks ago. We thought it was just a little kit to put together real quick, we hadn't even opened the box. Come to find out it was just a block of wood and we were supposed to sand in down into the shape of a rocket and put the propeller and wings on, paint it, etc. Whoops! So, while others had been working on theirs for a long time, we started the night before. Joe got it sanded down into the right shape. And Brendan painted it...about an hour before he had to be there! Talk about last minute. It still looked fine though, and he got 2nd place in his heat.

We're still busy packing and moving our offices and such. The guys that have been helping us move the big stuff have been awesome. We are so thankful to have their help. It's also been fun having them around. We should be completely moved by the end of next week. Then the unpacking and trying to work out all the kinks of being in a new location begins.

I'm not complaining though, my office will now be only a block from where Adam goes to preschool. A BLOCK! I can walk there if I want. And the park that Brendan goes to day camp at over the summer is ACROSS THE STREET from my new office location. So this summer both boys will be within close walking distance to my office. Doesn't get any more convenient than that! And lucky Joe, he won't have to take or pick up either boy anymore.

More later on basement progress and such...

X-Box at 4:50am

Is it normal for a 3-year-old to get up at 4:50am asking to play the X-Box? Cuz that is what happened this morning. As soon as I got up, here comes Adam running out of his room asking to play the X-Box. Perhaps we have overdone the video games with the boys. lol They are obsessed with it. Joe's sister and brother-in-law gave them their X-Box for Christmas, along with a lot of games. Between that, the computer games, Brendan's Gameboy Advance SP and Adam's Leapster, plus the V.Smile in their room, I'd say we have more than our fill of video game options now. Although it's hard to tell them not to play it, when their daddy can sit for hours playing Spider Solitaire and Bookworm Adventures on the computer. *sigh* Okay, okay, yes I have been known to play the occassional Bejeweled 2 marathon now and then too, but not for very long or very often.

I still haven't had a chance to break out my new Dance, Dance Revolution & dance pad for the X-Box yet. I'm hoping this will be a fun way to get some more exercise in. Bet you didn't know I was a dancer, huh? I'm not, not really. I did use to dance on the poms squad in high school, and I even tried out for and made an All-Star Dance Team and performed at half-time of one of the bowl games, but that was about 15 years ago. I've done little or no dancing since then, except for when I've had a lot to drink at wedding receptions and such. lol So, it should be interesting to see if I can even begin to keep up.

Speaking of drinking, lol, I actually got to kinda go out last Friday night. We met for drinks for a co-worker's retirement, and a lot of our department showed up. A few of us stayed for quite awhile, and ended up going over to another local place that is kind-of like Hooters, only not as classy. lol We had more drinks there and hung out. It was fun. I almost never get to do things like this anymore, it was a nice little break from the usual evening routine of dishes, laundry, making dinner, getting the boys ready for bed, cleaning up after the boys and hubby, etc. And I got to know a few co-workers better, so that's kinda nice too.

Tonight is a crazy night, have to be 3 different places at once, still haven't quite figured out how exactly to pull that off, but I'm working on it. Saturday is a crazy one too, basketball game, scouts event, and temps are supposed to be in the low teens. Did I mention the scout event is OUTSIDE and goes for 3 HOURS?! Ugh!

But oh how I'm looking forward to Monday. I am off work. Joe is off work. Brendan has school (snow make up day) and Adam has preschool. WOOHOO!!! This means several hours with no children at home that we can actually get some things done! I am super excited about this.

Tackling, Basketball, and More

I never did get my Tackle it Tuesday up yesterday. We didn't really make any progress on the basement this past week. I did do some little half "tackles" like getting my car cleaned (most of it) and menu plan for the rest of January written down. The biggest tackling has been at work this week. Lots of going through old files, storage and packing and such. I emptied a whole file cabinet that has been in my office for the last 10 years (as long as I've been there) and I threw away everything in there except 4 little files. Sad that I let it sit there taking up all that space for 10 years when 99.5% of the stuff could be thrown away!!!

So far this week Brendan had basketball practice Monday night, and then Tae Kwon Do Tuesday night. His team's first basketball game is this Saturday! I can't wait to see him play. They will be so cute, I'm sure. We also have a scout event (rocket derby) the same day.

Things are pretty busy at work and at home right now, so I don't know how much I'll be able to get around to blogs and update my own. Once mid-Feb gets here I'm hoping things will slow down a little.

Menu Plan Monday

MONDAY: Grab 'n Go whatever you can find (basketball practice night)

TUESDAY: Sloppy Joes

WEDNESDAY: Garlic Lime Chicken

THURSDAY: leftovers

FRIDAY: Pizza/family night

SATURDAY: Stir Fry

SUNDAY: Potato Soup

Rainy Thursday Blahs

Not a lot for me to write about today. We haven't done much more on the organizing front yet this week. I'm waiting for dh to finish building shelving in the garage so that we can move the rest of his stuff out of the basement. The area we are building the new laundry room is filled with all sorts of his stuff that needs to be out first.

Tonight Brendan has Tae Kwon Do, so I won't get much if anything done at home tonight. Friday we're meeting for drinks after work with a guy that is retiring from our department, that will be nice, I almost never get to do stuff like that anymore. After that I'll go home and have pizza and movie with the family (our Friday night tradition). I believe Nanny McPhee is the kid movie on it's way to us this week (we do the Blockbuster.com thing). I really didn't want to see this movie, and was not planning to put it in our Queue, but then I heard from so many other moms that their kids loved it. I decided maybe the boys would like it too, so I added it. I really have no desire to see it though. lol

Sunday I'm going to my sister's January Jumpstart scrapbooking crop. I really don't have anything ready for that, haven't even looked at my stuff for a few months.

Just feeling kinda blah today. There's so much that needs to be done around the house, and things I'd like to improve on, and so little time. We're also in the process of packing stuff up at work, as our offices are moving at the end of the month. When I'm at home I think about everything that needs to be done at work. When I'm at work I think about everything that needs to be done at home. lol It's so cold and rainy today, I just want to wrap up in a big fuzzy warm blanket and take a nap. Don't think my boss would allow that though. lol

Off to get more done...

Tackle it Tuesday: Basement Update

Okay, so I haven't been posting my "Tackle it Tuesday" lately, but I'm back to it now. And, since I'm focusing on getting organized big time this year and wanting to post my progress on that anyway, it just makes sense to update my progress on "Tackle It Tuesday" each week. So, here we go. If you've read my previous post below, you know that we are tackling our basement. This is a HUGE project that we were supposed to do LAST winter. We are in the cleaning it out phase and rearranging some things to prepare to build a couple of rooms down there.

We worked on it New Year's Day, and then this past weekend, so far. This is what one corner of the unfinished part of our basement looked like part-way through the clearing. I forgot to take a true "before" picture until I had already cleared a lot of shelving off, etc. That empty shelving was packed full of stuff originally, and there was a whole pile of stuff on the floor in front of all that shelving too.

We eventually got it all cleared out...

And then I painted the walls to try to brighten things up. We're not really finishing this part with drywall or anything, but I wanted it to be something other than just grey concrete basement walls. So, I painted it yellow. Doesn't look all that good, there are many indents/pocks in the concrete, so it is not a smooth finish, but at least it is brighter.

I bought some of those foam square floor mats that fit together and put that down on the floor. Then we moved some of our exercise equipment in last night. There will be a wall on one side that's not there yet, because we'll be building the laundry room next to it. So, I can't really finish covering the floor yet, and we haven't moved our treadmill in this area yet, but at least we are well on our way to getting this corner of the basement organized. Yea!

Getting Organized in 2008

As I mentioned in my previous post, my goals for 2008 are focused around ORGANIZATION!!! Organization in many areas and ways...House, car, office, scrapping, time, activities w/ the family, meals, thoughts, plans, visits w/ friends & family, and so on. Just taking one thing at a time and figuring out how to best organize it and make it work with my life. Some organization are of "things" others are more abstract.

I'm not setting any strict time table for these, nor am I setting specific things that will be done, I'm just going to be focused on taking things a little at a time. Just so long as things are better at the end of the year than they started, that will be success in my mind.

First thing is the basement and getting it prepared for the remodel. We made pretty good progress on New Year's Day considering the limited time we've had. We got a double set of shelving moved out of the basement to the garage, and another double set (these are huge wood shelving sets that were packed full with all sorts of miscellaneous junk collected over the years) emptied and moved to another part of the basement and re-loaded with tubs of our camping stuff (all together and neat, not strung all over the basement in various places where we never know where things are like they were). We also emptied a third set of double shelving that was built in the middle of the room and we tore that shelving apart and removed it completely (since a wall will need to go there when we make the laundry room). We went through a LOT of boxes of stuff we haven't even looked at in years, and we threw out a lot of stuff, set stuff aside to freecycle, and organized the things we did want to keep into plastic tubs & bins and everything will be put with like items grouped together on the shelving like they should have been in the first place.

We have a very long way to go, but it's a start at least. I am going to be keep track of our progress on things throughout the year here on my blog. I think that will help keep me motivated to keep going, even if things seem to go slow. I have to keep enough motivation to not only keep myself going, but to keep lighting that fire under Joe to get busy too. That's the difficult part. He would put all of this off another 5 years if I'd let him. lol

So, if you're interested in watching our progress on all sorts of organization, keep checking back for updates :) I'll even have embarrassing "before" pictures- ugh!

So, what are your goals for 2008?

2007 Goal Results

Looking back, here's what I had set as goals for this past year, and how I did...

1) To lose 15-20 lbs and eat healthier in general
YES!!! I lost 24 lbs between May and December.

2) Continue to declutter and organize the house
Ummm, this is a forever on-going thing that I still do not have a handle on.

3) Get our basement remodeling done & everything moved into the new rooms once they are built
NO! The garage is basically done, but we have yet to even start onthe basement remodel. *sigh* This will be on the 2008 list again.

4) Make menu planning a habit (and other FLYlady routines too)
Sorta, I am better about menu planning than I was, but still go through phases of not doing it.

5) Find a church and start attending
No, can't say this happened :(

6) Scrapbooking goal: finish the 2006 album, and try to keep up with2007 as it happens.
YES!! I did finish the 2006 album, and I did stay fairly caught upwith 2007, sorta, I think I'm on fall 2007 now.

7) Think of something really fun to do for my b-day in March, since hubby decided to cancel our Texas trip that we were going to take that week!
KINDA did this, we ended up taking the boys to Silver Dollar City inBranson for part of that week.

So, I didn't do too bad with 2007 goals. Now on to 2008. This year my focus is going to be on all kinds of ORGANIZATION!!! I will post more details later.

Happy New Year!

Christmas & Basketball

So, how was your Christmas?

Ours was pretty good. We had several places to go to, and the boys definitely hit the jackpot once again. They got SO much stuff. This was the year of the video games...Brendan received about 10 new Game Boy Advanced games, Adam received new Leapster games, and Joe's sister & brother-in-law gave the boys their X-Box along with about 20 or so games to go with it! (they bought a Play Station 3 and didn't need their X-Box anymore, and they knew how much fun the boys have playing their X-Box when we visit). On top of all of that, both boys got a lot of other stuff too- toys, games, books, clothes, etc. Brendan found the pickle at 2 of the houses we went to, so he was feeling pretty clever. Okay, so, how many of you do the pickle? Do you even know what I'm talking about? lol It's an old German tradition, there is a pickle ornament that is hidden on the tree, and the first person to find it gets an extra gift- the pickle gift. At one house the pickle gift was gift certificates to McDonald's (score!) and the other pickle gift he won was a really soft beige colored blanket. I might have to swipe that one when he's not looking. lol

Anyway, we enjoyed being with family and the boys had a blast seeing everyone and playing. My mom gave me an MP3 player, so I guess I am no longer the last person on earth to not have one. heehee. I don't know how to use it yet, but I hope to have time to play with it this weekend. Yes, yes, I know I am many years behind technology, you can stop laughing now.

I was going to upload a few pics from Christmas, but I apparently walked off without the cord to my digital camera, so I can't right now. Will have to do that later.

Brendan is on a 1st grade basketball team, and they had their first practice last night. After a minor meltdown/pouting session after getting hit in the face with the ball, I was eventually able to talk him in to sucking it up, going back out there and not giving up. After that, he had a blast, and even made 6 baskets! It will be fun to see him play and learn over the next few months. Between Basketball practices, Basketball games, Cub Scouts, Swimming lessons, and Tae Kwon Do, we will be running all over the place.

Well, anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or whatever you celebrate).

Now it's on to New Year's eve, when I "get" to work all day and all night while everyone else has fun :(

Graphics at pYzam.com

A Little Late, But Here it is...

Isn't this amazing?! A picture just doesn't do it justice, but let me assure you it is AWESOME.

This is what they call The Magic Tree. The guy who does it every year likes to be called Will Treelighter. He has a very detailed purpose and meaning that this tree is supposed to represent. I will copy & paste his description below if you're interested in reading it:

The purpose of the Magic Tree is three fold. First and foremost it is a "senseless act of beauty". This idea, that there can be a senseless act of beauty is actually a misnomer for beauty all by itself has the supreme purpose of conveying the human/divine ideas of hope, goodness, peace and even love. Beauty has a way, when we recognize it, of putting us at ease while at the same time exciting us, paradoxical yes, but true. I think this particular paradox is better known as the state of joy. This is a healing state of mind that can have a powerful affect on heart, mind and soul not to mention the body. Acts of beauty, then, are always quite sensible.

The second purpose of the Magic Tree follows quite naturally from the first and that is to illicit from the viewer a sense of their own natural goodness. What you perceive outside of yourself you have also within you. We spend far too much time seeing what is wrong with each other and the world. What we see outside of us we reinforce within us. It is of course important to acknowledge those things in the world that are not working and find creative solutions but in order to be creative we also must acknowledge those things that do work. Doing so reinforces within us the ability and power to be a solution to problems in the world, in our relationships and within ourselves instead of a part of the problem. Beauty is a powerful ally along with good natured humor in confronting the woes of the world and empowering our sense of Self, our sense of worthiness and response-ableness. So the second purpose of the Magic Tree is to reflect back to you what you essentially already are, a healing being of hope, goodness, peace, love and joy.

The third purpose of the Magic Tree also follows naturally from the first two and that is to bring your attention to the great Being of hope, goodness, healing, peace and love that comes to us by right of our own readiness and developement in these aspects of divine manifestation through the human system. Maitreya is said to be the expected one of all the various religions and also for those who hold to no religion. Maitreya is someone like us but who has gone on before us in His personal evolution to the point where He embodies these divine aspects like no other to date on this planet. He comes to inspire the changes needed in the world to restore balance to the human to human relationships and the relationship of the human system to the other systems of the planet. We however are the ones who must do the work because doing so further developes our own abilities to represent the divine in the world and Maitreya would not take this opportunity from us. I have no proof of Maitreya's existence but only a deep sense of hope that it is true. The prospect of His presence encourages me. How else, without the guidance of this Great Encourager and elder sibling of the human family, can we together work out the solutions to this time of turmoil that we find ourselves in?

The Magic Tree then is a beacon of healing and soothing beauty. It is a call to goodness, drawing out our own innate desire to be the positive changes we want to see in the world. And it is a notice of grace and encouragement to come from that magnificent manifestation of what we together are ready to receive, the Great Encourager, The Teacher, Maitreya.
When the student is ready the teacher will appear. Who shall teach the student, humanity, but one who has been, in many forms and guises, one of us and with us from the beginning?

(as described by Will Treelighter).

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

After the ice last week (check out the double-decker long icicles on our garage above), we got the snow to go with it over the weekend. About 6 or so inches. The boys were so happy, since snow is a lot more fun to play in than ice! lol

Last night we took the boys to a "Cookies With Santa" family activity.

(drunk on cookies? heehee)

They had so much fun decorating a foam stocking, talking to Santa, eating cookies and playing.

Brendan told Santa he wanted a Super Mario game...

Adam told Santa he wanted a reindeer! LOL!

Afterwards we drove around and looked at some Christmas lights around town. To which the boys kept asking "are we there yet?" I don't know how many times I had to try to explain to them that it was not a destination we were going to, but that we were driving around to look at all the Christmas lights as we drove by. Brendan said, "but that's boring". So, it wasn't so much the nice warm fuzzy family togetherness I had envisioned, but we got to see some neat lights and several real deer up close in one neighborhood, so I can't complain too much. Even the boys eventually thought some of the lights were really cool. One house had a ton of stuff, from fountains to racecars to sleighs to gingerbread houses and more. Apparently they have done it every year and we must be the only ones who never knew about it until this year. lol The guy was standing out front taking donations to give to Habitat for Humanity. We donated some money and stopped and talked to him for a little bit. He was so surprised that this was the first year we'd been by. I guess we really are out of it by living out in the boonies instead of in the city limits. lol

The other really awesome thing we went to see was the Magic Tree. I will post that pic for Wordless Wednesday tomorrow :)

Catching up & 2 Cute Pics

Wow, I ended up being away from my blog longer than I intended, sorry! I'll try to quickly catch up on what's been happening since Thanksgiving...

* Thanksgiving was good, we went to Joe's sister's house and enjoyed visiting and eating yummy food. That weekend we decorated the tree and I put out our greenery/lights/bows on the porch outside. I still can't believe it is almost Christmas!

* Adam got sick last week with diarrhea and fever, but he's finally better now.

* Scouts have been taking up some time, Brendan enjoyed their little Christmas party & meeting the other night, and this weekend they are supposed to participate in a parade and craft show.

* Also this weekend is the annual Cookie Share that our local mom's group does. And a scrapbooking crop that has been rescheduled from last weekend (got canceled due to the ice).

* Ice, ice and ice has been our scenery these last several days. Brendan's school has been closed all week so far. His Christmas concert was supposed to be last night, so he sang & performed for us at home instead. lol

* Joe is still having issues with heartburn and stomach. They had put him on Nexium for chronic heartburn and then he started having stomach issues. His doctor was an idiot and no help at all, so he changed doctors. He is now scheduled for an upper endoscopy on Tuesday.

* Speaking of medical issues, my nephew is having another hernia surgery Monday. This is his 5th hernia surgery I think, and he is only 7 years old! Poor kid.

* Kitties are still doing good. They are crazy little furrballs.

I'll end for now with a cute picture of my 2 boys in front of the tree, and a cute pic of my 2 furry boys too...

Hope you all are doing well! I'll try to come around and visit blogs as soon as I can.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's our menu plan for this week...

Monday: Chili

Tuesday: leftover spaghetti from Sunday

Wednesday: Beef stew in the crockpot (one of these weeks we will actually have this! lol)

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Pizza/family night

Saturday: Pork stir fry

Sunday: On your own

Will write more about other stuff later...things have been kinda busy.

Happy Birthday & Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to my FTS friends Melissa and Carolyn!!!

Melissa's b-day is today and Carolyn's is Saturday.

And Happy Birthday to my RL friend Necia next Tuesday!

Happy birthday ladies! Hope you all have wonderful ones!

And a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!