Media Free Nights...give me an AMEN!

Let me start out by saying....I still don't have the Christmas organization post ready.

Lemme explain or at least give my excuse.

My parents had to put their cat down over the summer. They are very much pet people so my sister, dad and I were going to give my mom a puppy for Christmas. I went out searching for the perfect puppy for them and found the cutest little puppies called "Teddy Bears". They are a mixed breed between a Lhasa Apso and a Bichon. When we talked to our mom about it she said she wasn't ready for a pet. A couple days ago my sister was over at our parents house and she happened to pull up the website to see if the puppies were still available. She showed them to our mom and guess who now wants a puppy? Yeah! So my sister called the breeder and found out that 4 puppies are still left. The only wrench in it is the breeder is located 3 hours away. So, phone calls were firing back and forth between me, my sister and our parents last night during the time I should have been taking the Christmas storage photos. Kayk and I got on the website to see the puppy that my parents are most interested in. Well, looking at a picture of a puppy is like looking at babies....as soon as you see one you want one. So, we began trying to work it hard with my husband to let us get one too but he said we are a one dog family. My sister was luckier because she worked her husband and he said she could get one too. She just isn't sure if she wants to have two dogs.
Anyhoo, in the end, tomorrow my parents and sister are going to make the 3 hour drive up to the breeders house to see the puppies and hopefully come home with one, two, or three (wishful thinking on my part). Here is the picture of the little stinker that my parents and my sister both like. I talked to sis last night and she is going to allow our parents first choice. There are 3 others available that are just as cute.

So after all of that we ate dinner and then had to run to pick up Kayk's pink eye medicine. Yes, she has it! Uuuugh! We had also promised her that we would take her out for ice cream and watch one of her new DVD's with her so we did that.

After the movie you know what broke loose. Kayk copped a big attitude and was screaming and crying. These teenage years are for the birds!! I don't get it. We spent the whole evening focusing on her and then wham! she throws a fit afterwards. She spent several weeks grounded for these very things and now that she is ungrounded little by little it is all coming back. I sat down and had a talk with her to see what she felt like we weren't doing. I also gave her examples of how she could have better handled herself in recent times. I also put her on warning that if she has another episode she will be grounded again. I try so hard and I am sure I could do better but sometimes I feel like such a failure as a parent when I go through these things every night. All is so different with Kayk than with the boys. Kayk is extremely vocal and dramatic about everything. She literally wears us out at times. I am finding it hard to enjoy being around her right now and I don't like that feeling one bit.

While all of that was going on my husband was plugged into his headset playing a PC on his game. I was a little irked with him because while we were watching the movie he sat in his computer chair and had one eye on a basketball game on the PC and the other on the movie. My husband is a sportsaholic and it too drives me insane at times. I think it hits hardest at this time of the year because basketball and football overlap. After all was said and done with Kayk he takes off his head set and wants to know what was going on. I told him I had it under control. It was like he didn't want to be bothered with it while it was going on but once it was over he wanted to know all of the details.

So, I ended up having a talk with him as well. I explained to him that there is too much sports watching and game playing going on in our home and not enough interaction between us all. When the boys are over they pretty much play games the entire time they are at our house and that should not be happening since we do not get to see them that often. We agreed to sit down and make a schedule where one night a week there will be no TV and no games. We are also going to have a time period over the weekends for no media as well. I have been asking for this for years and never got anywhere so we are going to set it in stone and abide by it. As a family we need it.

So you can see why I was not up to putting the Christmas organization post together. I promise by Friday...you can hold me to it!

I'm Sleepy

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Oh hi! Goodness I am so tired! I could fall asleep at a drop of hat .... so don't drop one.

I had planned on posting about how I organize and store my Christmas decorations today but I was too tired last night to take the pictures. If I can fester up enough energy today I will get that all ready for tomorrow.

Kayk and I were not able to squeeze our haircuts in before Christmas so we went last night to get those done. I was a little nervous because the lady who originally cut my hair into the Kate Gosselin hairstyle was on her way out of the door when we arrived so I had to have another lady cut it. The other lady actually did an even better job. I am liking the hairstyle even more now. I also like the fact that from time to time my husband stops me and says, "I really like your hair cut like that. It looks really good on you." Melts my butter every time!

Kayk woke up yesterday with a red eye yesterday. I am trying to figure out if it is pink eye or if she got some glitter from her new eyeshadow in her eye. I bought some Visine last night and it looked a little better but this morning it was still red. She says it is not itchy nor is any discharge coming from it. Bless her heart~!

I am trying to decide what I am going to do on New Year's Eve. Kayk is going to her dad's. The boys want to spend the night at our house so as long as their mom will let them they will do that. Which means all of the testosterone packing characters in my home will be playing video games and I will be twiddling my thumbs. I thought about scrapbooking but I really don't want to get all of my stuff out just to scrap for a few hours. There are a few Valentine's crafts I want to make so I may do that. Or I may read some more on the book my husband got me for Christmas. I am hoping we finally drink the bottle of Welch's grape juice that has been in our refrigerator for 2 years now. Don't you think it will be aged enough to be good tasting???

Parking lot nightmare!!!

I love my sweetheart husband to pieces but I think I am going to have to have him declared insane.

He not only drug me and the kids out on Black Friday but also managed to get us all out in the mess on the day after Christmas.

Here is how the story goes.

Husband: What is on the agenda today?

Me: I am going to take a shower, take down the Christmas decorations, and I am NOT going shopping.

I knew exactly where his original question was leading to. Our kids always get a some money for Christmas. My husband, who is usually very conservative and makes sure all purchases are well thought out, is busting at the seems to take the kids out to spend their money. Each year he is gung ho about taking them out to spend their Christmas money on December 26. I usually do not go shopping with them. Hubby will return with the children who bought items they didn't really want but picked up what was available in the store after being picked over after the Christmas rush.

I began telling my husband last week that he really needed to wait to take them shopping for a couple weeks in order to allow the stores to get restocked so that they purchase what they really want instead of grabbing whatever is still left in the stores. He agreed. But as he woke up on December 26 all changed and he was raring to go shopping.

We had a four gifts that had to be returned/exchanged. I explained to my husband how if we went to do exchanging/returning on that day we would be standing in line for an hour or two just to do so. He told me he was quite aware of that and was up for it. I wasn't but I went along anyway. Since I do 99% of the driving for our family I headed to Toys R' Us first. I knew Energy wanted to purchase a game there so I would use that as our judge if we should head to other stores. Toys R' Us was not that crowded and we were in and out in 15 minutes.

We then head to Best Buy to exchange a game for Master G. As we drive towards Best Buy we could see that the entire shopping area was packed with shoppers. Which is not my thing! We find a place to park and go inside. I head to the return line and my husband and kids go off to find the game Master G wants to purchase. It took about 20 minutes in the return line and another 25 minutes in the check out line. And then our nightmares truly begin....

I looked at the clock as we got back into the car and it was 4:30PM. I remember saying to my husband, "It is 4:30 so lets see how long it takes us to get out of the parking lot." Cars were EVERYWHERE and when I say EVERYWHERE I mean EVERYWHERE!!! We sat and we sat and we sat and we sat some more. And this was just going down the aisle from where we parked. The sun ended up descending behind the horizon and we had moved maybe a car link. Finally at 5:45PM we made it to the main road!!! Yes, one hour and 15 minutes later we made it out of the parking lot. On a normal day it would take one under a minute to get from their parking space to the main road. I have a display on my dash that shows how many miles I have until my gas runs out. We watched that display burn through 12 miles of gas as we sat there. It was not an option to take another route. We were stuck amongst cars turning right and left and backing up and going forward. It was complete chaos!!! There was no way out except to sit and wait for that lucky moment when we were able to break free.

Once we got out we still needed to hit Walmart which we all said NO WAY were we even going to attempt that.

I think my husband has finally learned to trust me on which days to shop and which days not to.

Our Christmas

Christmas 2008 has come and gone. We had such a nice Christmas. We spent time with family and ate entirely too much good food. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Here are some pictures from our festivities:

Energy opening a gift. He got the jacket for Christmas as well and would not take it off. I even caught him playing Guitar Hero with it on with only his boxers. Of course, I snapped a picture for ransom someday.

Kayk with a new Sims game.

And Master G with what else but a new game.

Hubby with some new KU hats

And me with my new bowls

My sister surprised us with a batch of HOMEMADE cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. They tasted as good as they look.

CousinsMy cousin, Dustin, (in the brown hoodie) provided us with excitement on Christmas day. First, he thought he lost his cell phone which prompted an hour long search through my parents house to try to find it. Later we would find out that he ended up leaving it at home on his bed.

When it was time to go he went out to his truck to warm it up. His oldest brother went with him and accidentally locked the doors. All of the men tried to "break into" his truck for another hour in which they were not successful. One of his brothers had to end up driving home to get the spare key, which was when the lost cell phone on was found on his bed.

How was your Christmas?

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!

May God bless you!!!

Christmas Helpful Hints ( Talk About Tuesday)

With Christmas a few days away here are some last minute helpful holiday hints:

1. Put a basket by the tree that has the following items inside: trash bags to discard wrapping paper in, batteries for those battery operated toys and YOUR camera, a screwdriver to get inside of those battery operated toys, and scissors to help cut open boxes.
***NOTE: Keep your wrapping paper trash separate from your garbage from the kitchen. Chances are something, like a Barbie shoe, will get thrown away and this way you are not digging through slimy discarded food trying to find that needle in a haystack. As well, keep the trash bags that you threw the discarded wrapping paper away in for about a week in case something comes up missing so you still have that to go back to see if it accidentally got thrown away.

2. Put the Cool Whip in the refrigerator to de-thaw today. I can’t tell you how many times when it came time to eat pie I forgot about mine and it was still frozen in the freezer.

3. Charge the batteries for the camcorder and camera today so that they are ready.

4. Go through your menu and make sure you have all the items purchased for your meal(s). Remember the grocery stores close early on Christmas Eve!!

5. If you will be traveling (even locally) go ahead and fill up your gas tank today so in case you are running late you won’t have to make an extra stop on the way.

6. If you have to go to several different places to celebrate get a couple big boxes and separate the gifts by house that you will be visiting. This way you don’t have to go through all of the packages each time you arrive at your destination or accidentally leave a gift behind.

7. If you have small children and will be out celebrating late go ahead and back a bag with their jammies, etc. and put it in the car. That will be one less thing to think about!

8. Wear a Santa hat and play Christmas carols as you cook or clean the house. It helps to put you in a festive mood although you may be stressed out to no end!

9. Don’t forget to debrief after Christmas! Write down the answers to these questions and keep it in your Household Notebook or Christmas Planner to help you for next year. What worked this year? What didn’t work this year? Menu likes/dislikes? Who attended? Suggestions for next year.

10. I know you have been going a hundred miles a minute for the past 30 days or so. Now is the time to get a couple candles and relax in a nice warm bath. You deserve it!!!

Fun for the kids!!!

1. On Christmas Eve don’t forget about Rudolph and the gang. Make some reindeer feed using this recipe:
½ cup oats, 1 tsp. of glitter, and a candy cane. Mix it up and pour it out on the lawn before bed. Parents be sure to go out and stamp it into the ground or pick some of it up so that it looks like it has been eaten!

2. Wow them with Santa’s footprint by stamping a pair of large shoes in baby powder and make footsteps on the carpet.

3. Get some Christmas decorated socks, put them on and stretch them out. Then take them off and leave them by a chair or the fireplace and the kids will think Santa left his socks behind!

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4. Our family favorite by far is we have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. We put a candle in each persons cinnamon roll, light it, and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

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Go over to Laura's site to see what others are talking about on Talk About Tuesday.

Bum Weekend

It was really cold out this weekend. So cold that when the wind touched your hands it hurt. I tried smoothing my husband over to consider moving to Florida but he wouldn't have any of it. I told him that while we were experiencing 8 degree temperatures we could be laying on the beach in Miami where it was 80 degrees!!!

We received some sad news on Saturday that one of my dad's brothers committed suicide. This particular brother was somewhat of a drifter so we didn't see all that much of him. My parents heard more from him through a phone call of needing money a couple times a year. It is still sad and disappointing that he took his own life. My cousin (his son) had to be more like a parent to his dad so it is like loosing a child to him. I know he is having a hard time with it all especially with it being near Christmas and having to explain all of it to his own children. My dad seems to be holding up fairly well. He said it is sad but he had always suspected that his brother would do something like this.

My husband drug me to the movie theatre yesterday to see The Day the World Stood Still. I slept through most of it. Yeah, it was that entertaining to me. We then went to 54th Street to have steaks.

My calendar is jam packed the next few nights with last minute Christmas to do's. I have a little bit of cooking to do tonight and tomorrow night. I have to clean the living room and kitchen and pray that it stays clean through Thursday. We have to run to get the dog food and a gift certificate. We need to start loading the car up with all of the items we need to bring to my parents house. I love it though! I am sooooo excited for Christmas to come!

Be sure to be here tomorrow when I share last minute Christmas tips!!!

Courtney's Book Give Away

I know I have told you several times to read Courtney and Stephanie's blogs. They are two neat gals who are apart of an amazing family. You will be inspired in 10,001 ways to be a better mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and daughter of Christ, just by reading their blogs.

If you go over and read Courtney's blog and submit a comment before Monday you will be entered to win a SIGNED copy of her book, Enjoy It!

Now hurry up....go do it NOW!!!

Also be sure to click on the pink "I read Nie Nie" button to read Stephanie's blog.

Have a great weekend!

I am related to Kel's grilled cheese maker

We have ice headed our way today. It totally stinks! It is alot warmer today than it has been so maybe it won't be so bad.

I have always had the idea of teaching our kids some basic sign language. I think it is a good skill to have. You never know when you could be of help with being able to sign. As well it also opens the door to friendships with someone who uses sign language that you wouldn't otherwise be able to communicate with. I taught the kids about 10 words last night and I was pleased to see they were eager to learn and had asked that we continue to practice so that they don't forget them. I think we will stay on these 10 words for a couple weeks and then gradually add some more in.

We got a call from Nemo last night. You know, because it is a week before Christmas. He called a week before his birthday last spring so that he could collect on his birthday present. At least the boy is consistent. He told us that a co-worker had agreed to co-sign on the car for him. They have not went to the bank yet so who knows if it will actually go through. We told him that we didn't think it was a good idea but he won't listen. He has already had 2 cars and totalled them within 3 months of owning them. I don't want to see him have a loan for a car, total it, and still have to pay for it. He also told us he has picked up an awful potty mouth at work. He mounts tires on cars and works in a garage with all men. He told us that he brings the potty mouth home with him and that his girlfriend gets onto him about it. So, I guess there is at least one thing I can say I like about her.

I made a hominy casserole last night to bring into work today for our Christmas luncheon. It looks pretty good. I also made cornbread that didn't turn out. Who can't make cornbread? I checked the middle with a cake tester and it came out clean. I sat it on the stove to cool and went to play 300 games of Word Mojo and when I went back to check on it the middle had caved in. When I went to bed I prayed to God that if I ever had the chance to have Him over for dinner that I couldn't even make Him cornbread and how pathetic was that? I asked that He grace me with some better cooking skills.

Case updates and babble

I am still spending a great deal of time following the Caylee and Casey Anthony case. I read documents and blogs each day that blow my mind. One blog in particular that I read is written by some folks in Orlando who actually worked the searches. They are doing some investigating of their own and came up with some powerful information found on some of Casey's friends myspace pages that would further discredit some of her lies. Or at least prove where she is coming up with the lies. As Leonard Padilla says there is some truth in each on of Casey's lies. They are turning this information over to the OCSD. I hope and pray that Casey pays for what she has done.

In reading going out to check up on updates about Casey today I read where Drew Peterson is engaged to his 5th wife. If you are not familiar with Drew Peterson he is the freako that his 4th wife is currently missing and it was determined that his 3rd wife died of homicide although at the time it was said to be an accident. His 4th wife, Stacy, had told friends and family if she ever came up missing it was because Drew killed her. Drew claims she left him and their children to go be with another man. Family says Stacy would never leave her children. I just do not know what kind of woman in her right mind would date this fool much less get engaged to him. What does she want to be the next wife that he kills and gets away with? I just don't get it!!

On the home front, Kayk got ungrounded over the weekend and was presented with her new phone. Although she wasn't happy a few months back when we told her about the phone because it wasn't the phone she wanted ..... she absolutely loves it now. As I knew she would.

I need to schedule myself a haircut before Christmas and probably need to get Kayk in as well. My hubby cuts the boys hair and they need a trimming too. We may do that tonight.

We have our annual Christmas luncheon at work tomorrow that I need to make a few things for tonight. I boycotted it last year because they called it "The End of Year Event" in order to be politically correct and not offend anyone. Well, they did offend alot of Christians and we all didn't attend. This year it is called Christmas Luncheon and it is optional if people want to attend or not. We celebrate Christmas for ONE reason and ONE reason only. I get so upset when the world wants to change it into something it is not because of those that do not believe in Christ. Those same people sure don't have a problem having Christmas day off paid.

I need to go by my parents house to give them some money for our Christmas dinners. I also need to get a list of items I am supposed to pick up from the store. Our weather has been so nasty this week with another storm coming in tomorrow that it has been hard to get out and get things done.

Then last but not least I need to do a little bit of baking this weekend.

Our weekend

On Saturday we to see Twilight. Finally, as Kayk put it. I wasn't looking forward in seeing it but was surprised that it was actually a pretty good movie. It was 20 minutes or so too long for me, though.

Afterwards we drove around trying to find somewhere to eat that wasn't overly crowded and finally decided on Cici's Pizza. We then drove home to find that Master G had lost his favorite Nintendo DS game. He knew he had it on the way to Cici's but couldn't find it once we pulled into the driveway. We tore my car apart and didn't come up with it. I then loaded him and Kayk back into the car and we went back to Cici's to look around in the parking lot and inside at the table we ate at. Still nothing. We were all frustrated as even before we left to go to the movie my husband told Master G not to bring the game and he did anyway. Once we were back in the driveway I tore apart the car again and ended up finding it underneath the seat. Master G gave me the biggest hug ever.

After dinner we drove out to Lee's Summit to see the lights at Christmas in the Park. We didn't tell the kids where we were going and once they figured it out they started complaining. They have all seen the lights there for nearly a decade and let's face it, looking at Christmas lights is not a cool thing to do when you are a teenager. Tough...we wanted to see them anyway!! As we got near to the entrance we noticed it was backed up for nearly a mile. It would have been at least a two hour wait just to get in. So our kids lucked out as we turned around and went back home but not without a stop for ice cream first.

On Sunday evening my husband was doing some repairs to the shower knobs in which ended up being an even bigger problem. Once he put the new equipment on and turned the water back on we couldn't get the water to shut off by turning the handles. Uh oh! He tried taking the new equipment off and on several times but still got the same result. We decided that the three of us would stay home Monday since we couldn't take a shower or brush our teeth. The plumber came out Monday morning and took the new equipment off and put it back on twice and still had the same problem my husband had. He then said he would try something else and viola....it worked! That goodness!

I spent most of the day Monday wrapping a handful of Christmas presents I still had to wrap, doing some Christmas cleaning, organizing and watching Court TV.

We woke up this morning to a little bit of snow that will amount to up to 4 to 5 inches before the storm moves completely out. Most of the major schools called school today probably do to the fact that they didn't want to get the children to school and not be able to get them back home. Poor little kiddos have already used their 2 snow days that are built into the school schedule and winter has not even begun yet. That means they will have to make up days at the end of the school year.

Caylee Anthony

I have been following the Caylee Anthony story since it broke back in July. The findings of the skeletal remains just 15 houses down from the Anthony home is a bittersweet. Of course, no one wanted it to end this way but we all knew that this was the probable outcome. May Caylee finally get the proper burial she deserves and the justice she so very much deserves.

I know Caylee's mother, (if you want to call her that) Casey, has not gone on trial yet and is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However, Casey, painted her picture of guilt long ago with all the lies and deception. How could she do this to her sweet, precious child just so that she could be free to bar hop and attend hot body contests? She is the lowest of lows! I know Casey's parents (although I can't say much for their mental well being) would have taken Caylee to raise in a heartbeat. It didn't have to be this way.

I think a psychologist that was on Nancy Grace last night said it best, "Casey has created a delusional web and George and Cindy Anthony have stepped into it and became a part of the delusion." I think Casey's parents have been part of that delusional web for years, especially Cindy Anthony. Cindy Anthony has always made light of Casey's wrong doings or has always got her out of trouble. This is something Cindy can't fix. However, I do have to give Cindy the credit of making the initial phone call to the police department back in July in order to get this whole investigation started. George, being retired from the police force, I feel is somewhat stuck in between the truth of what his career has taught him and the guilt of his daughter and the love for his family and wanting to protect them. I know the two of them have had their world's turned upside down through all of this. The thing they can't do is keep pointing their finger at everyone else and not looking at their own daughter that all the evidence points to. George has said in an interview with police that he "doesn't want to believe he raised a child who could do this."

Casey Anthony makes me sick. The way she pranced to the cop car wearing a shirt that she purchased by using her friends checkbook smiling to the world as if she was some sort of celebrity. The way she smiled at her parents when she was in court as if she had something to be proud of.

And don't let this fool you.

Because this is what she was doing while her daughter was missing.The tears are tears of I have been caught. Just the same, when they had to give her a sedative in jail last night it wasn't because they broke the news to her that her child's remains had been found. She has KNOWN since June that her child was gone. It was the fact that the remains had been found and it is all going to run downhill to her.

It is time for Casey Anthony to fess up and FINALLY tell the truth!

May little Caylee now rest in peace.

Things to get done

I have several things on my to do list today....

1. I heard through the grape vine (my sis) that my 7 year old niece is mad at me. Yes, this is major! Apparently she is saying that on Thanksgiving day I told her if she showed our uncle her toothless grin I would give her a dollar. That does sound like something I would say but I am always sure to follow through. But Sarah insists I never gave her the dollar and that I lied to her. I can't be having that so I will make a special trip by my sister's house tonight in order to pay up on my debts due! Everyone should have a 7 year old in their life in order to keep them honest and accountable.

2. I have been assigned by my dad to do some research on a puppy he is thinking about getting our mom for Christmas. He is thinking about getting her a Bichon so I need to find out about the breed and see if I can find any available in the area. I have about two weeks to see what I can come up with. No pressure though! I also happily offered to foster the puppy at my house if we can find one. Poor Sean....we will all probably become so attached that we will want a new puppy of our own.

3. Tonight I have to make Sean a batch of green bean casserole for yet another food day. I think all his department does is eat at work!!!

4. My sweet daughter has been grounded for three weeks. From EVERYTHING! Phone, texting, TV, radio, computer, special treats, spending the night with friends, etc. She had got out of hand with her mouthiness and we had to put an end to it. It took her a week of being grounded (and completely bored) to finally decide she better start shaping up. She has been doing really well and is due to get off from grounding this next week. She has been saying that she would like to go to Chick-fil-a to get a shake. I am going to surprise her with one tonight to reward her for all of her efforts. So must pick that up.

5. Then I see this ever so cute popcorn idea. I seriously doubt I can add it into my night tonight but I am sure trying to find a way. Perhaps, this weekend. Be sure to look around Little Momma's blog. It is as cute as her popcorn idea!

When life throws you snowflakes....

make chocolate chip cookies....
We received our first official winter storm yesterday. Although it was not much in the amount of snowfall it was so cold that the snow turned to ice which caused havoc on our roads. I was fortunate enough to have an eye doctors appointment yesterday afternoon so I left work early. It was just starting to get bad out when I left the doctors office and was once again, fortunate, to be fairly close to home. I did see several cars that had slid off the road or were stuck because they couldn't make it up the hills.

Once I was home I changed into sweats and a hoodie in order to keep myself warm. I made us dinner and then made some chocolate chip cookies. Nice warm, chocolate chip cookies sounded so good on a night that it was so cold out.

Sean was at the PC looking at houses so I joined him. I know he is as eager as I am to move. But he has the financial smarts for it all where I don't. He has it all carefully planned out where I would want to just move and figure it all out later. I KNOW his way is better.

We then went to Lowe's website and priced out a ballpark figure of what it is going to cost to have the kitchen remodeled. We are going to have someone come in and do it but needed to know what to shoot for in order to know how much money to save.

Kayk sat with us while we were on the PC and we hypothetically asked her if she would be willing to move and leave her friends anytime soon. She responded with a big, fat "NO" so I know we are doing the right thing by staying with our original plan of not moving until our kids are out of school.

By the end of the evening we had a game plan written up for saving the money for the kitchen remodel and a few other odds and ends that will need to be done that we don't already have the money saved for. We also created a plan for saving a larger down payment on the new house than what is required. Our goal there is to a) hopefully be able to get more house and b) be able to pay off our new house in 15 years. Slowly but surely we will get there.

I went on and on without offering a cookie. Please, help yourself to as many as you would like.

Looking for change

Today I was going to post about how down I have been in regards to our house being so small. But I decided that there are worse things in life and I really need to look on the the positive side. I mean, after all, I do know that a move is in my future. I may be 82 years old before we move be we ARE going to move.

I have been racking my brains for months about how to eliminate some stuff in our house in order to make it feel larger. I have not been successful. Everything in our tiny house is huge. We have a huge sectional sofa, huge TV and speakers, huge kitchen table, three desks with PC's on them, and a huge dog kennel. But when you have a large family you have to have all of these things so that everyone has a spot in no matter what you do.

So the huge stuff, huge family, and huge dog stays and we will just have to find a way to deal with it all.

Every room in our house is wall to wall furniture. Before I lived in this house I used to like to rearrange my furniture every other month or so for something different. I like adventure and change. I think part of my problem is that I can't do that in this house. Everything has been the same from day one and will have to remain the same way until we move. Incredibly boring.

The only thing I can change is paint color. And my decor. Which is exactly what I am thinking about but you can't tell my husband. You see, he doesn't like frivolous spending unless it is on the latest and greatest electronic device.

I love the color of my living room so I will leave that alone for now. Which is good because I painted that baby three different times before I was happy with a color.

The room I am thinking about painting is the kitchen. It is currently green. (You can see the color in the candy jar pictures on yesterday's post). I can hear my husband now, "Didn't you just paint that last year? You haven't even given the paint time to dry yet."

For some reason a shade of blue is speaking to me. I am not usually fond of blue. I was not fond of yellow and painted my living room a gold color and absolutely love it!!! It is only paint and if I don't like it I can always repaint it.

I also do not like the flooring we put down in our kitchen last year. But I will wait another 6 months or so before I go there. I don't want to make hubby too upset.

Thrifty Crafty Weekend

Over the weekend I worked on some old projects and started a few new ones.


I seen this idea on the BH&G website and thought it was really cute. So I went to a local thrift store and bought some glass jars. I brought them home and gave them a bath in the dishwasher.

I then filled them up with Christmas candy and viola! There are a few more thrift stores in the area that I want to hit to see if I can come up with some more jars to add to the collection. I think these would be fun to fill up with different items for all of the holidays.

I also found this bill organizer at a local thrift store. I had always wanted one but didn't want to pay $50 for it. When I seen this one for $3.98 I snatched it right up. Since my husband does our bills and already has a system that works for him I am not sure what I will use this for. Rest assured I will find some kind of use for it.

I also worked on silhouettes this weekend. I got my sister's girls completely done. I am not 100% happy with the frame or Em's silhouette. I have our kids cut out and painted but still need to paint the frames. I am hoping to have them done sometime this week.I have a couple other projects that I am working on that I hope to finish up this week and will post them as soon as they are done.

With a finger and thumb in a shape of an L on her forehead

Remember how I said if any varmint got at my dog they would have to deal with me?

HA!

This morning I had to leave a little earlier than normal so that I could go pick Kayk up from her dad's house in order to catch the bus for school. Normally, I don't let the dog out until a little after 7AM so it is light out. This morning I let her out around 6:30 and it was still pitch black. I didn't look around because I figured if I am seeing the raccoon between 6PM and midnight I am sure it is off somewhere asleep by morning.

I let the dog out and am standing on the landing when all of a sudden I hear her peel out in the leaves and I can hear additional sounds of something running that she is chasing.

What do I do???

I run inside and close the door. Leaving my defenseless dog to be eaten by whatever she is chasing!!!

I am standing in the sunroom shaking I am so scared. I slowly open the door to find her looking through the fence. I then realize she had to be chasing a bunny who was able to make its escape through the fence.

Don't count on me getting any Pet Parent of the Year Awards!

Oh What A Night!

I hurried home after work, changed my clothes, got Kayk packed and spent some time with her and hubby.

I then took Kayk to her dad's, made a quick stop at McDonald's for a cheeseburger and was on my way to my parents house.

Where my sister, Dad, and I put up their Christmas tree.

My nieces were jumping on bubble wrap and liked having their pictures taken with their hair flying up in the air.

We were then off to Anthropologie to get some plates to my dish set that my parents are giving me for Christmas.Our Dad was nice enough to drive us down to the Plaza so that we didn't have to walk from the parking garage to the store. While we were shopping our Dad drove the girls around to look at the Christmas lights. Which I will have you to know that our very own American Idol winner, David Cook, flipped the switch to turn the lights on, on Thankgiving night. As we stood there freezing in the 20 degree weather I heard my sister say, "Stac, here comes Dad....with my kids flying out of the sunroof!"Yup! Our Dad would be the one to allow children who should be in a seatbelt stand out the sunroof while the car is moving on a night when the temperature is only 20 degrees. They thoroughly enjoyed it! Kel - I know you are laughing as you too are familiar with the acts of Richard W!

I then head back home to get a baby gift ready for a baby shower at work tomorrow. Yes, those are some dead roses on the table that I meant to get in the trash today but forgot.
I then quickly whipped up three batches of sausage gravy for my husband to take to work for Breakfast Club Friday.

All in a days work!!!

Our not so wanted new pet

Today was a very trying day for me.

My other half was on my last nerve for reasons I won't go into. He is now tucked into bed dreaming of sugarplums and oh how I pray he wakes up in a sweet mood tomorrow. I would much rather love him than be mad at him but there are days he tries me. But don't worry I am always sure to return the favor.

Secondly, we have a raccoon who has decided to move into our backyard. I love wildlife and I love when they come out so that I can see them. I even think raccoons are kind of cute. The thing I don't like is when they decide to set up their home in my backyard. You see, more than wildlife I love my dog and if any varmint hurts my dog then they are going to have to deal with me. Yes, I will be the biggest scaredy cat but they will still have to deal with me. So with it being extremely cold outside I have to walk into the backyard with a flashlight to make sure Mr. Raccoon is not out before I can allow my dog to come out to do her business. My dog is a sweetheart and I know if she ever sees Mr. Raccoon she is going to take off for him and think he is a new playmate. I can almost bet Mr. Raccoon is not going to be thinking the same thing. Then my loving husband will become a veterinarian so that we don't have to spend extra money at the vet in order to stitch up my dogs body that the raccoon shredded to pieces. I just don't want to go there so I hope Mr. Raccoon moves on soon!

So, what do I decide to do tonight? Fill out our Christmas cards. Not the best idea when you are not in a merry mood. If you are a recipient of one of our Christmas cards please know the following things up front:

*Never mind the dove on our Christmas tree that is taking a nose dive in our family picture. In fact never mind our Christmas tree all together as you will notice almost our entire family is taller than our tree.

*I know I normally have prettier handwriting than you see in the cards. I had to deal with Koko jumping up on me every two seconds as I filled them out. She was a tad jealous that she wasn't getting the attention although I even signed her name to the cards.

*If you are my dearest, oldest friend please forgive me when your card arrives in the mail and you notice I had to correct the "I" to a "Y" in your last name. I really do know how to spell your last name.

*And to my friend Paul. I had to look your address up online. Please verify that "Diamond" is in your street address so that I know that I got the right address.

I must be off to do dishes, make lunches, and play with the dog before I head off to bed myself. I am super duperly overloaded at work so may not get a chance to post tomorrow but I will be making my rounds reading all of your blogs. After all that is the highlight of my day!

Picture Day

Now that the holiday is over and my mom is out of the hospital and back to work I need to rewind to share some pictures I have taken over the past few weeks. As you will see my camera skills still have not improved in the least bit.

Presenting the Christmas tree with the living room lights off. Sorry it is blurry. I wish I could capture how pretty the tree actually is. I guess it just isn't that photogenic!

Don't let this next one scare you. I present my new hair do. I don't get how to take a self picture so once again....sawry! Don't you just love my eyes bugging out of my face? I also did not spike the back out on this particular day. The next are from when I had my nieces last week when my sister was at the hospital with our mom. I call them the Toothless Wonders since they are missing so many teeth. S can actually sing All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth and it would hold significant meaning to her.

At Christmas time my nieces love to come over to my house to play with my Christmas Village. Kayk enjoyed playing with it when she was younger so the girls are only carrying on tradition. They have only broke a few pieces but that is ok since I only buy them when they are on sale. After the last time they were over I noticed several pieces were missing. I looked around for them and finally found all of them stashed behind the TV.

This is what happens when your stay-at-home mommy goes to work for a week and the neighbor lady gets you off to school. You go to school with one set of piggies covered up and the other set....not so much!

Have a great day!!!!

Our weekend

We only had to work a half day on Friday so it was nice to have some extra time off. My husband talked me into the unthinkable by running him up to Kohl's to get some jeans. I protested because I never go out shopping on Black Friday. Never! Ever! Ever! As we pulled into the parking lot he finally realized what I had been saying about how crowded it was going to be. We decided I would stay in the car with the kids while he ran in. It didn't take him too long and we were on our way of trying to make it through the traffic and back home. I will say there were alot of "merry" people out and about, allowing others to go in front of them and signalling a wave for the cut in front. Good people!

On Saturday afternoon we went to go see A Christmas Carol which we all thoroughly enjoyed. We were 4 seats back from the stage so we were able to see really well. Kayk even picked out an actor that she thought was cute. She proceeded to talk about him the entire day long. After the play we went to my favorite burger place, Red Robin. It was delicious!!

On Sunday afternoon I decided to move some of the decor around in our living room in order to see if it would make it feel more spacious. I feel like we are packed into this tiny house like sardines. Let me rephrase that....we ARE packed into this tiny house like sardines! After working on it for a few hours I went to the Internet to look at houses for sale. My hubby soon joined me and wouldn't you know it....we found one we both loved!

If only we were in a position to move right now. It at least gives us inspiration to get the years of work that needs to be done in this house done so when the time comes we are ready to fly!

Some other things that went on this weekend:
*~ I got the family picture taken and ordered for our Christmas cards
*~ KU beat MU in the border show down. Way to go, HAWKS!!!
*~ We received our first snow. All be it a dusting...but snow is snow.
*~ The Chiefs finally won a second football game.