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Friday, August 31, 2007

Is it bedtime yet?

I stayed up way too late last night finishing a book. I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I had really hard time getting into it the first half of the book, but the second half I didn't want to stop reading. I kept saying, "Oh just one more chapter" and before I knew it I was finishing and it was 2:30am! Way way way past my bedtime! Since I get up by 6:50 every day that was only about 4 hrs of sleep. I need 8-9 to function well. Then today we had to take our car to get fixed and go to the eye doctor for a checkup and new contacts/glasses. Yep, I'll be getting glasses. I haven't worn glasses for about 10 years, but I want a pair for backup and to give my eyes a rest from my contacts once in a while. Anyway, it's been a long day and I am so ready for bed. I might head to bed at the same time as the boys tonight. I really want to be rested for the race tomorrow.

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What time is it?

Game Time! That's right, football season is upon us! WOOHOO!!! I can't wait to watch the games on our big 50" plasma TV, it's going to be awesome! If you are a college sports fan you might want to catch the Florida Internationl vs Penn State football game tomorrow. Or if you prefer pro football, Week 1 kicks off next Sunday! My favorite team, the New England Patriots plays the New York Jets. Football season is so exciting!

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Running out of time

Well, tomorrow is the big day! Running a 5k. I'm starting to get nervous. I'm pretty sure I won't come in last, and I doubt I'll get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, but I'd like to :) I'm trying to prepare by eating lots of carbs and drinking more water, I feel like I'm on some bizarre colon cleanse or something. We had to pick up our race packets today, including a duffel bag, race number, ankle timer, and instructions. They also gave everyone a sack of potatoes. I thought that was just weird lol, but hey, free potatoes! I was planning to have baked potatoes for dinner anyway :D I'm going to make myself go to bed earlier, 10 at the latest so that I will be nice and rested. Wish me and Michelle luck!

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Friday Feast


Appetizer
Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?

- People I don't know online :D

Soup
If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?

- Probably none, I need indoor plumbing, electricity, and memory foam mattresses. If I absolutely had to choose I would choose somewhere with a matriarchal society, many ancient civilizations looked down on women, I'd want one that revered them :)

Salad
What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?

- The birth of my children

Main Course
If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?

- Well, I'd go against the current "too posh to push" celeb c-section births and have a homebirth.

Dessert
What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?

- I don't think there's an ideal age, just when a person is ready to have children (though probably at least 18). I was 20 when I had my first.



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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that it's almost the weekend! On Saturday is the 5k, it will be nice to have that over with :) And Hubby is almost done with getting the yard ready to plant grass, so soon he won't spend all his time out there so I might actually see him once in a while. I'm thankful we have 2 vehicles because our car is broken down and if we didn't have the van it would be harder for Hubby to get to work. And I'm thankful I have nowhere to go the next few days so it's ok for Hubby to take the van.

What are you thankful for today?



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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

New Blinds

I have never been a fan of the cheap white plastic blinds everyone has in windows, they drive me nuts! I think the blinds in our house are the same ones that were put in when the house was built 15 years ago. They are kind of yellowed and brittle. Our cats like to jump up in the windows and so pieces would break off. We've slowly been changing them for new ones as they've gotten really bad. I finally received some faux wood Blinds from www.blindschalet.com and they are gorgeous! I got the 2" cherry color and they are exactly what I wanted. They were easy to order, simply measure your window and they can custom make your blinds to fit. There are a ton of types to chose from too. I chose the faux wood because I figured it would be easier to care for than real wood and not warp from the dampness that our window a/c sometimes blows on them. Installing them wasn't too hard by following the directions online. It only took about 15 minutes for me to put them up. Hubby was busy working on the car so I did it all myself and it really was easy. The only part I was confused on was the valance clips, I wasn't sure how they went on, but once I figured it out it was a snap. Once I got them up I stood back for a look and they look perfect! I really love them and want them for my whole house now! They block out light much better than the cheap blinds we had up there before, and the movement is really smooth. Next I want to order some for my bedroom. Aren't they gorgeous?! And they are long enough that when the a/c is out during the winter they go down all the way. I will definitely buy from Blinds Chalet again.

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Routine Cleaning

Does anyone have an easy to follow cleaning routine? I'm working on one to hopefully get myself to clean more. I was thinking of doing 1 room a day, like Monday- Living Room, Tuesday- Kitchen, Wednesday- Bathrooms, etc. And of course I also have to come up with daily cleaning too like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and all that, cuz I definitely can't get away with doing those once a week! So if you have a cleaning routine that works for you, will you share your ideas? Do you do the harder things earlier in the week so you have more relaxed weekends, or save it for weekends when you have more time? And if there's anyone out there with Toddlers that has a clean house, please tell me how you do it!!!

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Works-For-Me Wednesday: Toy Storage

*Repost of previous WFMW, can't think of anything new right now*

OK, so I'm sure most of you that have kids look around their room and wonder why there are so many toys, how to keep them cleaned up, do the kids even play with most of them, and WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TOYS?!?! I know I have lol. Especially with Christmas coming up, and most likely more toys are about to invade the area, we wonder how to get it under control. We don't want to throw it all away because, after all, we paid for those, and they might play with them again some day.

So one day I took some advice I heard from someone else. I put about 80% of the toys away, really away. Boxed up, hidden away on shelves, stored out of reach. My 2 yr old doesn't even miss them. I left out a few of his favorites (which is still enough to make a pretty big mess lol). Then you can rotate toys when they start getting bored with them, put the ones out away and get out some of the boxed ones, it will be just like Christmas for them! This has really cut down on the mess, clutter, crowded space, and cleanup time in my boys' room.

Next is to have some sort of system for storing the toys in use so they are easy for kids to get to, but easy to put away. For me what works best is a small bookshelf, designated areas, and a few containers. Cars go into one container, blocks in a bag, miscellaneous small toys go in another container and everything else goes back in the same spot every time. I also utilize the area under the baby's crib for thing that don't fit on the shelf, like a Tonka dump truck.

Here is my boys' toys. This is about 95% of his toys that we have out (a few things like the dump truck and play table aren't pictured). It's so nice not to have a ton to pick up. Though I wish I had more containers but it works :)



*Updated with current pic. We have rotated out some toys, and got baskets to help sort the toys into.*

Check out Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer for more great ideas!

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Heads or Tails: Hobby

Todays Heads or Tails theme is Hobby.

My main hobby is blogging and messageboards. I spend quite a lot of time online seeing what everyone else has to say. Other hobbies I have include reading, crochet, and, um, I think that's about it! LOL I really don't have many hobbies. I used to read all the time, but don't as much, though I can still finish a good book in a day or two. I also crochet sometimes. I can make baby blankets, hats, booties, etc. Mostly I've done it for myself and friends, though I do have my little online crochet store that nobody goes to lol. At least my Internet hobby is fairly inexpensive. Is procrastination a hobby? Cuz I'm pretty good at that!

Go to Skittles' Place to join in Heads or Tails Tuesday!

Tuesday To-Do

OK, got a few things I should do today:

* Dishes. Never-ending. Again I ask myself why I don't just use paper plates and plasticware all the time?

* Clean up living room. I swear I just cleaned it yesterday :P

* Vacuum. I don't know why my boys prefer everything on the ground.

* Sweep and mop kitchen. My feet keep sticking to the floor.

* Pick up toys in boys room. They have dumped everything on the floor and there is no room to move in there.

* Try to get a nap. I really need some sleep!

That's my list for today. Who knows how much I will actually get done. I haven't had a good nights sleep in a while and especially this last week. I am so exhausted I can barely think. Baby wasn't feeling good last night and kept waking up screaming until I finally got him to sleep at 1:30. Then Hubby woke me up 30 mins before my alarm and I couldn't get back to sleep, thanks a lot. :P

Win a photo printer!

If you are like me you have thousands of pictures stored on your hard drive and CDs, but none printed out. I keep meaning to go through them all and send them to be printed, but with 3 years of piled up pictures, it's hard to know where to start. The answer? Print as you go with a new HP Photosmart A626 Compact Photo Printer. This cute little printer is portable and small and can be used with or without a computer. You can even edit your photos right on the printer. I would love to have one of these to get started on my backlog of saved pics. Go to 5 Minutes for Mom to join this contest, or you can get one at Best Buy or HPShopping.com.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The best laid plans...

Today we were planning to go swimming with Michelle's family. I got the boys ready, everything packed and ready to go, then herded the kids into their carseats and we were off. Toddler loves playing in water so he was excited all day to go. As I turn the corner to the water park I noticed that the parking lot looked oddly empty. I was confused at why nobody would be there Monday afternoon when it's 90* outside, I had expected it to be packed. We drove by the pool. Nobody. No splashing, no screaming kids, not even a ripple in the water. We drove by the front gate and read the big sign on the door announcing they were closed. Something about school starting this week so they had different hours. What does school have to do with the swimming pool?! Don't they realize that people still go to the pool when school starts? I didn't see Michelle's family there so I figured they had already gotten there and left. I decided that we would go to the community center to the pool there. As I turned the corner to the building it was like deja vu. An empty parking lot and a sign on the door. This time the sign stated they were closed for repairs. As I drove away sadly, Toddler piped up, "Mom! I want to go swimming!" I tried to explain to him that both pools were closed and we couldn't go swimming today. He started to cry. I felt so horrible for getting his hopes up. I told him we would try again another day, and then we stopped at Sonic for some dinner and headed home.

Hopefully when we go next week the pool will be open. I think I won't tell Toddler where we're going next time though, that way he won't get disappointed if it doesn't work out.

Menu Plan Monday


Check out Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie to join in or get some great dinner ideas!

Here's this week's dinner plan for us:

Monday
- Pork Chops, mashed potatoes

Tuesday
- Baked Potatoes, corn on the cob

Wednesday
- Taco Ring (didn't get to it last week), peas

Thursday
- Stuffing Casserole, corn

Friday
- Leftovers

Saturday
- Open space, not sure what we'll have

Sunday
- Lasagna, garlic bread

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Sunday Saying

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
- Pablo Picasso

I thought this was a very interesting thought. How else will we learn how to do something unless we try? For example, I don't cook much because I'm not very good, but I'm not going to get better without cooking more. And another example- I don't know anybody who can reason with a toddler, but I keep trying and hoping to figure out how some day lol.

Freezing feet

It was so cold in church today! For some reason they always have the a/c on really cold and so I'm always freezing, then the shock of going out into the heat to go home makes me feel sick and dizzy. I much prefer being too hot than being too cold. I'd love to live in a place that is 70-75* year round. I like to look at California and Arizona real estate listings and imagine living there, but then the prices bring me back to reality lol. Plus we'd be farther from family. Oh well, guess I'll have to live with the ever-changing weather here in Idaho. But can't the people who control the a/c at church keep it at a reasonable level of comfort?! My toes are still cold!

Need sleep!

This weekend has been busy and went by really fast and I did not get enough sleep. I am so tired! We even overslept this morning and were late for church. I need to take a nap. I'm going to ask Hubby to watch Baby and keep him quiet so I can try to nap. Some days I wished he had a home based business and was home more so I could take naps. I really do need more sleep, I'm a zombie if I don't get 8-9 hours of good sleep, like uninterrupted deep sleep. Of course I rarely get that, every little thing wakes me up. I think I need to buy some earplugs to block out the noise at night so I don't get woken as much. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Running again

I'm tired! We ran again tonight and I managed to run 5k in 2 minutes less than I did Monday! Go me! But it was hard, the last mile was so hard to keep going and not stop. I didn't get a nap earlier so I was already tired, but I managed to make it without stopping. One more week and the race will be over, yay!

SMART Habit Saturday

Well, I was trying to focus on my flossing goal and crunches but didn't do too well. I did do my crunches 2-3 times, but didn't floss at all. Been a busy week with sick kids and all. I didn't do quite a few goals very often. I'm going to keep trying this week though.

Goal recap:
#1- Clean 1/2hr a day
#2- Keep up with dishes
#3- Brush teeth once a day
#4- Read scriptures daily
#5- Toddler bedtime routine
#6- Bedtime 11:30pm
#7- 50 crunches a day
#8- Take vitamins every day
#9- No computer for 1hr a day when Hubby gets home
#10- 1 load of laundry each day
#11- Daily prayers, morning and night
#12- Dinner 3x during the week
#13- Lotion every day
#14- Floss every day
#15- Bringing dishes to kitchen
#16- Clean office each day
#17- Make bed every morning

To join in SHS go to The Lazy Organizer.

Campout

We went camping this weekend. It was a lot of fun. We went with Michelle's family again. Now I'm just exhausted cuz I was cold and Baby kept moving a lot and waking me up. But we still had a good time. One thing I don't like about camping though is port-a-potties. They are so gross! And they scare me. I'm always afraid I'll drop something in or that bugs, spiders or animals will be in there waiting to get me. I usually take my rings off and put them in my pocket because I'm seriously afraid they will fall in. I wonder how many people have lost wedding bands in those? I actually saw a news article just a few days ago about someone who's wedding band was retrieved from a port-a-potty. Personally, I'm not sure if I'd want it back after that! Yuck!!!

Friday, August 24, 2007

Blogaholic!

So I passed 1000 posts and didn't even realize it! I knew I was getting close but forgot to check and passed it probably a week or two ago. Go me! When I started blogging less than a year ago I thought I would have nothing to say and would only update a few times a month. Turns out this is extremely just a little addictive. Once I started getting comments, visiting other blogs, and making friends I just couldn't stop myself. I don't know what to do with myself if I can't get online for a day!

So in honor of my 1000 posts and my upcoming blogiversary next month, I want to hear from you. Leave me a comment or send me an email about what you want to hear about. Ask a question, tell me what you like, or what you want more of.

Friday Fun

Lots to do today. First off, I need to figure out what that smell is that is driving me nuts!!! I can't figure out where it's coming from, but it's strong and not very good, but isn't constant. And no, it's not the kids lol, though I do need to change Toddler's diaper. Speaking of which we are just about out of diapers so I need to head to the store with 3 little kids to get diapers, wipes, hot dogs, buns, marshmallows, and probably a few other things that will end up in the cart. (Speaking of things ending up in carts, have you read this blog yet?) Then I need to do some laundry and pack because we are going camping tonight (hence the hot dogs and marshmallows). Oh yeah, I need to drop off a check at the bank while we're out, and I need to see if my library stuff is ready to pick up at the library too. All that on top of all the cleaning I need to do and laundry I need to fold before it takes over my room. Fun times I tell ya.

Friday's Feast


Appetizer
Say there’s a book written about your life. Who would you want to narrate the audio version?

- I really can't think of anyone, what kind of silly question is that? Definitely not me though, I don't like reading out loud.

Soup
Take the letters from your favorite kind of nut and write a sentence. (Example: Perhaps every avenue needs understanding today.)

- Please eat all nachos under table.

Salad
If you could go back in time and spend one week in another decade, which decade would you choose?

- When Jesus was on the Earth, I'd want to go spend a week listening to him :)

Main Course
Name a song that brings back memories for you.

- Haha, at first I thought it said 'Name a soup...' lol, I even had it already all written, good thing I double checked. Um, "our" song reminds me of Hubby and our wedding. "When you say nothing at all"

Dessert
Do you prefer to wash your hands in cold water or warm water?

- Warm, I don't like cold.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Thankful Thursday

Today I am very thankful that we got a new bed for Toddler and Baby. My friend Michelle was giving her old queen-size bed away (lucky duck got a new king-size lol) and she was kind enough to let us have it. I've been wanting a bed to put in the boys room for them to share so that Baby wouldn't have to sleep on the floor and it would be easier to lay down with him to get him to sleep. It works great! Toddler loves his new big bed and it was much easier for Hubby to lay down with Baby to get him to sleep since there is plenty of room, Hubby said Baby slept better too. It was kind of sad to pack away the Toddler bed and little mattresses though, I don't want my kids growing up so fast! They look so little on that big bed lol. And we were able to help Michelle out by giving them our old entertainment center that we weren't using. I love when things work out so well.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Long day

Well, the kids were still fussy today just like yesterday, but it didn't seem as bad today :) Hopefully tomorrow will be even better. I even made cookies today, chocolate with chocolate chips, mmm! And a friend gave us their old queen size mattress so we have taken out the toddler bed in the boys room and put that in there for them to share, hopefully Baby will sleep better on that mattress, if anything it will be easier for us to lay down with him to get him to sleep. I better head to bed too :) Oh wait, I need to do some dishes and switch the laundry around, sigh.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Getting Out Pet Odor

Today's Works-for-me Wednesday tip is for getting out pet odors, specifically that of cat urine. We have a cat that I do not like but Hubby won't let me get rid of. He poops all over the basement and twice in the last week he has peed on my bed. This wouldn't have been so bad except I had just removed the plastic mattress cover a few days ago cuz the noise was annoying me and it was cracking from wear. Then yesterday I went to lay Little Baby down for a nap and noticed a huge wet spot on the bed. Sure enough, the cat had peed on it. I was hopeful that the cloth mattress cover had stopped it from getting to the mattress, but it didn't. I had a huge wet spot soaked into my mattress. I about killed the cat right then. I had no clue how I was going to get the smell out and keep it from staining. Our mattress is less than 2 years old so I didn't want it to be ruined (although that might've been a good time to talk Hubby into getting a king size lol). I tried vinegar and baking soda like I read online, but that didn't help. So I had Hubby get some pet odor remover stuff on his way home. He picked up "Kids 'N' Pets Stain & Odor Remover" and I used it all over the area. I was a bit skeptic that it would really get rid of the smell, because I know how cat pee smell tends to stick around forever. But I went to check on it about an hour later and I swear the smell was gone! Just the smell of the cleaner, which is a pleasant smell. I am so thrilled! You can't even tell where the cat peed unless you get really close and look in the right light, you can see the faintest outline. I also decided to use it on a spot in the kitchen that the cat had stained and smelled horrible and it took away most of the smell (there are a few more spots I need to get) and most of the stain disappeared. So I highly recommend "Kids 'N' Pets" if you need to clean up all kinds of odors and stains. I want to get their aerosol carpet spray to use on some tough stains on our carpet too.

Sorry for the extra long tip, but that's what works for me! Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more great tips!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Feels like a Monday

Dang, I know a few people have tagged me for memes lately, but I can't remember who! So if you've tagged me and I haven't done it yet, let me know! Had a busy day taking care of fussy kids. I didn't get any cleaning done, though I did get a load of laundry washed. I think I will at least do dishes, because if I don't we won't have any clean bottles or sippy cups. Oh man, I just saw the time and realized I should be getting the boys to bed!

Slinglings!

Some days it can be really hard to take care of 3 kids under 3 years old. Today was one of those days. Toddler is sick, Little Baby is teething, and Baby is both. There were times that both Baby and Little Baby wanted to be held at the same time. So I was so relieved to get the mail today and see that my baby sling from slinglings.com had arrived! I immediately tried it on and was happy to see that it fits perfectly. First I tried Little Baby in it, since he was the only one awake. I can wear him in a cradle hold still, but not much longer, he's growing fast! I bet he would do fine sitting up too. Then Baby woke up crying. It was the perfect time for me to really try out the sling because they both wanted my attention. I put Baby in and he loved it. I could hold him while still taking care of Little Baby. He cuddled up against me, it was so sweet. Soon after that Toddler woke up and I decided to see if he would fit, just for fun. He's still only 26lbs and the sling holds up to 35lbs so I wasn't worried about it holding up. And he actually fit quite well in it. I had him on my hip and my back, though it didn't last long lol, he'd rather run around (and yes, they look sad today, poor sick kids). It's nice to know that I can put any of the kids in it. And I love the fabric, it's neutral so it won't clash with whatever I'm wearing and isn't too girly. The material is really light, but strong, and the sling seems like it is made nice and sturdy. I love how easy it is to use a pouch sling, just slip it on and plop in the baby. I was able to hold one child while still having my hands free to take care of the other two. This is going to come in even more handy when I start babysitting another baby in a few months! I really recommend www.slinglings.com if you are looking for a good sling, the quality is excellent and the service was very fast.

Heads or Tails: Luck

Join in Heads Or Tails Tuesdays at Skittles! Today's word is Luck and because Tails was called this week, Barb got to choose the topic: List a couple ways LUCK has played a part in your life.

I am one of those people who doesn't believe in luck. I think God is in charge. I try not to say "I'm lucky" and instead I give God credit by saying "I'm blessed". God has blessed me with a wonderful husband who is my best friend, 2 beautiful healthy children who I love more than I could ever imagine possible, our good home, good jobs, and everything we need when we need it (not everything we want lol, but we get what we need). Some people would say I'm lucky, but I don't think it's just chance, I know God has blessed me and I thank him for all I have.

Tuesday To-Do

Well, here's what's on my list today:

* At least 2 loads of laundry.

* Dishes

* Clean boys room

* Clean my bedroom

* Clean living room

* Vacuum

* Sweep and mop kitchen

* A few Tuesday Memes (I promise I'll get to yours Barb!)

* Go to library

Of course I know I won't get half of that done lol, I would rather nap :D I will get some laundry washed and dishes done though, and hopefully fold the laundry too.

Monday, August 20, 2007

5k-Kara

Wow, I'm tired! Tonight, for the first time, me and my running pals ran 5k without stopping once! Woohoo! Go us! We did it in about 32 minutes, which is really good considering 3 months ago running 2-3 minutes was torture for us lol. Our race is next Saturday, and although I know I probably won't win, I am proud of myself for doing it. And I didn't need a personal trainer, muscle milk, hard-core programs, or anything, just a pair of shoes and some friends :) We used the Couch to 5k program at www.coolrunning.com and in just 3 months have gone from barely running a few minutes to running 3 whole miles! I really am so proud of us :D

Image Meme

I've been tagged by Mama Pajama with this Image Meme. Here are the rules:1) Go to Google.2) Click on Google images.3) Type in your name and search.4) Re post (w/ a link) the picture of the oddest, craziest, strangest, coolest, oldest, etc. person that shares your name. Post multiples if you find a few you like.5) Pass it on to at least 5 other people.

Here's the one I liked most :D It's Super-Kara!



Of course I could never look like that lol, I wasn't that skinny before having kids and definitely am not now lol. But I am a Mom, which means I have superhuman powers right? Or at least I should LOL

Oh, I almost forgot to tag some people. Um how about Michelle, Nate, Richard, Dawn, and Lorie :D

Monday Madness

So I have 2 sick kids today. Not really sick, just enough to make me (and them) miserable. Toddler and Baby both have runny noses and fevers, which I think they probably got from Little Baby being sick last week. My boys get so cranky when they are sick. Little Baby is pretty good today at least, and he's finally learned to roll over front to back! Funny how excited I am over someone else's kid accomplishing things lol. Hubby stayed home today cuz he had to go to the eye doctor. He has an eye infection, owie. Tonight we are going to go eat at the new Texas Roadhouse Grill that just opened, never been there but everyone says it's delicious. Anyway, all 3 boys are down for naps, so I'm going to go eat, change the laundry around, and maybe lay down for a bit.

Big bang

Have you ever watched on TV when they show a building being imploded? It always fascinated me that they can just blow up steel buildings that are surrounded by other big buildings, without anything else being destroyed. I recently watched the news and they showed a bank in Salt Lake City being imploded so they could build something else there. That's got to be a lot of technical work to get the explosives just right so that it falls straight down and doesn't hurt any people or damage nearby buildings. What kind of training does a person go through to get to blow up buildings? Are there classes like Explosion 101, Demolition for Beginners, and Theory of Implosion?

Pants or shorts?

So I was looking through the ads in our Sunday paper yesterday, just looking at clothes at different stores. Not that I have extra money to spend on new clothes, but it would be nice. I want to find some nice running shorts or pants for our race next weekend, but all they show is those too-skinny golf apparel ladies, the ones who don't look like they ever sweat, and just wear the cute little tennis or golf clothes to sit around the club gossiping while their husbands smoke cigars and sip wine. :P Wait, my train of thought just derailed, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, so I still need to go buy some running clothes for the race but haven't decided if I want shorts or pants. I think I'll go with pants, my legs are ugly, white and spotty. We are making cute matching shirts (me and my 2 running pals). Even if we don't win we'll still look good :D

Menu Plan Monday


Check out Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie to join in or get some great dinner ideas!

Here's this week's dinner plan for us:

Monday
- Eat Out. Texas Roadhouse Grill just opened here and Hubby really wants to go.

Tuesday
- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans

Wednesday
- Shredded BBQ Pork Sandwiches, peas

Thursday
- Taco Roll, corn

Friday
- Camping. Probably hot dogs

Saturday
- Leftovers

Sunday
- Chicken Divan, salad

Google it!

Who else here uses mybloglog.com to track visitors? I use it a little, I just like seeing where my visitors are coming from. What is really fun is seeing the Google searches people do that get them to my site. Some recent ones are: babysitting swap ideas, financial reporting software, videoclix, idolme, alcoholism and deep sleepers, and nationstar mortgage blogs. It's interesting to me to see the kind of things people actually Google. I also like seeing what my viewers look at and click most on my blog. Sometimes I feel like writing a post with a bunch of popular keywords like Harry Potter, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc, just to see how many people stop by through a Google search lol.

Flip That House

One day I'd love to get into house flipping with Hubby. I think it would be cool. Of course I don't think the housing market around here is good enough for it, but the other day I was listening to the news and they said that Raleigh or Wilmington NC real estate market is the best for sellers right now, because there isn't a lot of new housing growth but lots of people still moving there. And when I watch those house flipping shows like Property Ladder and Flip That House, they always seem to be in California. But I don't want to have to travel far just to do it. I bet there are places here in Idaho or down in Utah that could have some good potential. I know down near my family in Utah property values are soaring, and I could probably find a place to flip down there. Of course we wouldn't be able to do this for a long time, it's just a dream for now, but hopefully some day.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Sunday Saying

"If you never did, you should.
These things are fun and fun is good."
- Dr. Seuss

Now, who does not love Dr. Seuss? I was reading "One fish two fish red fish blue fish" to my boys tonight while getting them ready for bed and was reminded of how much I love Dr. Seuss books, they are so great! I really should read more to my kids, because as the great Dr. says, "These things are fun and fun is good!"

Animal Alphabet

Did you know you could buy anything on Ebay? We've used it to buy books, baby gates, kitchen faucets, toys, and more. Some times I like to just browse through it all. There's an old VHS I used to watch as a kid that is no longer for sale, "Animal Alphabet" with Geoffrey Girrafe from Toys R Us. I seriously grew up with this show and learned my ABC's from it. We have that old copy I used to watch as a kid, but it is so used it barely plays anymore, I wish I'd copied it to DVD before it got so bad. My Toddler really loves it. Every few months I check Ebay for it, but usually they don't have it. So I just checked again today and somebody does have it... for $100?! Seriously, WTH?!? Sure it's a great movie I want to buy for Toddler, but not worth $100! I made the seller an offer of $20, but I doubt they will accept it. Guess I'll just have to keep looking. If anyone who reads this has this movie or knows where I could get it, let me know!

Never ending

Isn't it amazing how quickly a clean house can get dirty? Our living room rarely stays clean more than a few hours at a time, Toddler is always in there coloring and papers get strewn across the whole room. And the kitchen, boy, some days I feel like just eating out all the time so that the dishes will stop piling up lol. The boys room has miraculously stayed pretty clean after I cleaned it good the other day. The only room I didn't even get to this weekend was the master bedroom, but at least Hubby put the luggage sets away that had been sitting there empty at least a month, so at least now we can walk without tripping over them. If I actually folded and put away laundry that room would not be too bad really.

Some days I just really wish I could afford a housekeeper. And a cook. And a gardener. And a personal errand runner. And a masseuse. Then I could just relax and play with my boys and blog all day. Wouldn't that be nice?

Time to share

Alright, here's some more great blogs and posts that you should go check out!

First off, my Hubby. He started a blog recently, Life Happens, and it would be great to send him some comments to help him feel more welcome to the blogosphere :D

10 is good enough for Michelle, and me too!

Kimberly is a great writer, read about an embarrassing moment she had, because I know everyone loves reading about other people's embarrassing moments.

You can hear some pretty funny things when working at a call center, like this story at She Says It's Pretty Dumb.

Barb has come up with a new weekly MEME called Heads or Tails, which is on Tuesdays. Make sure you join in!

Make sure to join the Foster Care Quilt Raffle at The Lazy Organizer. All raffle proceeds go to help foster kids, and the winner gets a beautiful handmade queen-size quilt.

Check out the 30 days of great money saving tips at Mom Advice.

Check out all the great giveaways that 5 Minutes for Mom does.

Juggling Mum helps us by sharing an article on how important it is to teach our kids about clean teeth.

Visit Amazing Trips to see how life with toddler triplets and a newborn is. I can't imagine.

I'm telling you again to go read everything Antique Mommy writes, she is amazing, especially this heartbreaking story, parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and conclusion. You will want to read the whole thing, and I promise you will cry.

Dawn shares more about her son and pepper. And if you still haven't read the original pepper story, here it is again cuz I just can't get enough of it :D

Congrats to Heather on her new baby girl!

Hope you enjoy!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Sick of hearing about it

Today I was watching the news and heard yet another story about Lindsay Lohan. I swear every day she is in the news for addiction treatment rehab or getting arrested or something. She's kind of like Paris Hilton, everyone's getting so sick of hearing about those two and the trouble they get into it. It's just pathetic that they can't do anything better with all their fame and wealth. There are other actresses and singers donating to charities or helping people in Africa or something good, but some of them like Paris and Lindsay just waste it and ruin their lives.

Going the distance

Well, tonight Michelle and I decided to try running the actual 5k course we will be racing on in 2 weeks. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be, though we weren't sure where the end was and stopped a little short, but we could have made it all the way if we'd known. We'll continue to practice their until the race. Just 2 more weeks! I just ned to make sure I don't eat so much before running, we ate at Denny's a few hours before running, but I ate too much and felt sick most of the run. Good thing the race organizers will have medical stations at the end with stuff like pulse oximeters and stuff in case I over-do it. But I think we'll do pretty good :)

It's raining, it's pouring...

Boy, we've gotten plenty of rain today too! Too bad the boys slept through it all or I would've let them go play in it like yesterday. Perfect timing too, Hubby got a chance to mow the lawn before it rained, and he didn't need to water the lawn after. Hm, speaking of Hubby, I have no idea where he is lol. Well, Toddler just woke up and wants to go splash in the water, and who am I to turn down that sweet little face? :D

Well, it was clean for a few minutes at least

OK, so it actually took me about 20 minutes to get the boys' room and most of the office cleaned up. Normally it only takes 10 minutes cuz I just clean their room and don't bother vacuuming, but today I did, plus I had to take a few breaks to change Baby's diaper, stop Baby from playing in the toilet, and stop Baby from getting out the toys I had just put away. Anyway, it looks much better, and to prove it I'll show you some pics. And I promise I did vacuum, but our carpet stains really easy so it always looks dirty :P And the furniture is kind of "thrift store meets WalMart" but until we can get some new home furniture it'll have to do. I really want to get a really cute bedroom set from IKEA for the boys' room, but don't have the money for it yet. And yes, that is a mattress on the floor, we don't have a second toddler bed so Baby's mattress just goes under Toddler's bed and we pull it out at night. OK, enough talk, here's the pics.

Dirty Office

Clean Office


Dirty Bedroom

Clean Bedroom


And they've already dumped out the box of balls, the cars, and I had to take off all the bedding to wash, so in just half an hour it's already messy again lol.

Off to conquer the cars

My boys really don't have a lot of toys we have out, but somehow they still manage to make a huge mess. Most of their toys fit on one little bookshelf, in baskets, except for the bigger toys like dump trucks and activity tables. I guess the problem is that they have so many little toys. They have blocks, play tools, cars, and a basket of miscellaneous toys like trains, golf balls, and stuffed animals. Thus, when they get dumped out it seems like a ton of toys because they get spread everywhere. Luckily it is almost as easy to clean up as it is to make the mess, since we have certain baskets for each toy and Toddler knows which toys go in which baskets, it just looks overwhelming. It usually only takes 5-10 minutes to get them all put away, if I ever get started. So, I'm going to go time myself for 10 minutes to see how much I get done in their room before I allow myself to come back. I might even take before and after pics to show you, because all bloggers now how important pics are :D

SMART Habit Saturday

Look at the cool new banner Lara has come up with for SHS! Very nice :D

Anyway, I did ok this week. I did all of my goals at least once this week, except for crunches, which I did not do at all. So that will be my focus this week, to do my crunches every day. Last week I focused on flossing, but unfortunately I only did it 1 day (which is still better than 0 lol), so I'll be focusing on that again as well. I still don't feel ready to add another goal because I have so many that need a lot of work, but hopefully next month I will.

Goal recap:
#1- Clean 1/2hr a day- 4/7
#2- Keep up with dishes- 5/7
#3- Brush teeth once a day- 6/7
#4- Read scriptures daily- 7/7
#5- Toddler bedtime routine- 6/7
#6- Bedtime 11:30pm- 4/7
#7- 50 crunches a day- 0/7
#8- Take vitamins every day- 7/7
#9- No computer for 1hr a day when Hubby gets home- 4/7
#10- 1 load of laundry each day- 2/7
#11- Daily prayers, morning and night- 9/14
#12- Dinner 3x during the week- 4/3
#13- Lotion every day- 4/7
#14- Floss every day- 1/7
#15- Bringing dishes to kitchen- 7/7
#16- Clean office each day- 1/7
#17- Make bed every morning- 5/7

To join in SHS go to The Lazy Organizer.

Free Stuff

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. OK, it's probably not much of a secret, lol. If you haven't checked out the Mom Advice blog, you really should, she always gives great advice on saving money, and this month each day she's posting tips on saving money in certain aspects of our lives. But my favorite part is that every Friday she does Freebie Fridays, where she finds a bunch of free offers online and posts about them. You can get samples of laundry soap, shampoo, cereals, Premium dog food, and more. It's awesome. I really like the shampoo and conditioner samples so I can try new kinds.

Clean up

I really need to do some cleaning today. We cleaned up the downstairs yesterday and today I get to do the upstairs. The boys room has toys all over and the office has toys, books, papers, and stuff all over. My room has laundry everywhere, though we did finally put away the empty luggage that's been just sitting in the way on the floor for a month. Bathrooms need cleaned, floors need vacuumed, and bedding needs washed. Fun fun fun. I really should get started, but I just want to go back to bed lol. I did get to sleep in until 9:15 this morning, which rarely happens, so that was great.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Splish Splash!

So that nice summer sprinkle turned into a big stormy downpour! We played outside for a little bit, but then the wind picked up and started getting cold. The boys didn't want to come in but I didn't want them to get sick. About 5 minutes after we came in the rain started coming down hard. The boys sat at the window watching the rain and listening to the thunder. Luckily that didn't last too long, then we were able to go out and splash in puddles, the boys love that. I love watching them play and have fun, even if they are getting messy, it's just to cute not to enjoy. I hope I can always appreciate the dirt, noise, and puddle splashing.

Rain on a summer afternoon

I love the smell of rain. It's so refreshing. We have hardly gotten any rain this summer, probably less than 5 small showers. It has been so hot and dry. But today we are getting a small shower and I'm sitting here by the open window enjoying the smell and the cool, light breeze. It's wonderful! My boys are playing happily together on the floor behind me, I have no where I need to go today, and am not feeling too guilty about not getting anything productive done. Just relaxed and peaceful. I think I might take the boys out to play in the rain.

OK, getting off my backside

OK, enough being lazy, I need to go do something productive while Little Baby sleeps. I really need to wash my bedding and the kids bedding, but I just realized I can't do that yet because Little Baby is napping on my bed. Guess I'll have to choose one of the other 7 dirty rooms in the house to work on :P I better vacuum before the kids get lost in the carpet with everything else.

Germaphobe

Am I weird or is this normal? I think it's gross that most bathroom faucets you have to touch the same place to turn it off and on. What's the point of washing your hands if you are just going to touch the same handle to turn it off that you used when your hands were dirty? Usually in public restrooms I will use the paper towels I dry my hands with to turn off the water, because I don't want to touch the dirty knob right after I washed my hands. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this lol.

Sensitive Eyes

I really need a new pair of sunglasses. My eyes are sensitive to light and sometimes it is really hard to drive when the light is a certain intensity. A few days when I was driving to my orthodontist appointment, over an hour away, I had a really hard time, I had to keep squinting. I wish Hubby's sunglasses had been in the car. I have no idea what happens to mine, they just seem to disappear, kind of like socks in the dryer. I usually buy cheap ones, I don't need fancy ones like RayBan or Wiley X or anything, but just something that looks ok and does the job. I think my last pair was only $7. Anyone know a good place to buy cheap sunglasses?

Friday's Feast


Appetizer
Describe your laundry routine. Do you have a certain day when you do it all, or do you just wash whatever you need for the next day?

- I try to get a load done each day, just whatever needs done most.

Soup
In your opinion, what age will you be when you’ll consider yourself to truly be old?

- I'm not sure. My parents are 52 and they are getting older, but not really really old. I'll just have to see how I feel at each age.

Salad
What is one of your goals? Is it short-term, long-term, or both?

- Get to heaven, preferably long-term lol.

Main Course
Name something unbelievable you’ve seen or read lately.

- It's almost midnight, I can't think of anything right now lol.

Dessert
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how happy are you today?

- Probably a 9, I had a fun night out with some friends, would be a 10 if I'd come home to a spotless house lol.


Thursday, August 16, 2007

Off to work we go

Hey everyone,

This is Kara's Hubby talking here. I am writing this post to talk about my day at work. If anyone has held a job for very long, they can know how monotonous it can become. Mine has been that way for the last two days at least. As s software engineer, I do have some freedom in what I am able to write and create. However, that comes with a price. Maintenance is usually that price. That seems to be all that I have been doing at work is just maintenance on existing software and fixing bugs on new software. It has gotten quite boring. I was just curious to know what other people do when their job starts to turn into a very monotonous schedule.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Things You Shouldn't Say Around (blank)

I was tagged by CrAzY Working Mom for this new meme. This meme comes to us from Frank of Honk'n'Holl'r. Here are the rules, as he states: Rules are simply fill in the [blank] in "Foxxfyrre's: Things you shouldn't say around [Blank]", and write at least eight phrases you shouldn't say around your [blank]. To make it interesting, when you tag someone, go to their memes and add a phrase using their [blank] topic. Send your list of 5 tags back to the person that tagged you so they can follow and play with their [blank] topics also.

Things You Shouldn't Say Around Toddlers
1) Any swear word. They will repeat it immediately, even if you've tried to get them to say Mama for months and they still can't say that.
2) "Vegetables are yucky."
3) "Cleaning stinks."
4) Anything having to do with intimate relations with your spouse, unless you want your neighbor to hear about it next time your kid goes over to play.
5) Any word that will sound like a bad word when coming from a Toddler, like ditch, graham, ash, and stick. It will invariably come out sounding bad, and the more you try to correct them, the worse they will make it sound.
6) "We should go to the park sometime this week." Do not say this unless you really plan to go to the park immediately, or you will have meltdown on your hands.
7) "Ice cream." Same as above. Unless you are getting ice cream at that minute for your toddler, do not say this out loud or you will get a fit.
8) "I need to go to the bathroom." When at a restaurant do not say this, unless you want your toddler loudly proclaiming "Mommy go poop in the potty!"

Wow, that was harder than I thought it would be! Here's my tags:
Lorie
Michelle
Dawn
Beth
Kimberly

Just everyday life

Today I have an orthodontist appointment. I've had braces almost 2 years now. I've forgotten how my teeth feel without them, or what it's like not worrying about everything I eat getting stuck in my brackets. Some days it feels like I will have them forever, I see no end in sight. Every month I go in, the do a check and tie and send me on my way. No "Looking good!" "Not much longer and you'll be done" or "Let's take those off today!". Sigh.

I didn't do much on my to-do list yesterday. The only thing I did was dishes, so I still need to do some laundry, vacuum, and whatever else was on my list. Plus I'm going running tonight. I went last night but only ran a few laps because my back hurt too bad, hopefully it'll be better tonight.

Well, I think I've wasted enough time while I ate lunch, I should go do something like clean my living room.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Heads or Tails: Beginnings

Barb at Skittles' Place has started a new weekly meme called Heads or Tails. Every week you get to post on whatever the topic she chooses. Fun, eh? This weeks theme is "Beginnings".

There are so many things I could write about that have to do with beginnings. I had thought up this big long post about all the major beginnings in my life, but then decided that was too much work. Why should I begin to change my lazy habits now? So I decided to go with 2 major beginnings that I cherish: the births of my children.

Toddler- In the beginning, there was me and Hubby, and then I managed to nag him long enough about having a baby that he finally gave in and we conceived Toddler. The beginning of my pregnancy wasn't too hard. I had a little morning sickness, I couldn't eat chocolate without feeling sick, and I excitedly told everyone I was pregnant (whether they wanted to know or not). I began looking pregnant about halfway through, about the time the morning sickness began to fade. We didn't do much to get ready for the baby, but slowly began to collect items we needed from family and friends. Finally I got to the point where I just wanted it to be over. Beginning about midnight the day before I was due, I started having contractions. About 1pm that day we checked into the hospital and about an hour later they began my epidural. I began pushing at 7:30 but after 2 hrs he still wasn't coming out, so they began prepping me for a c-section. When I heard my son's first cries I began to cry. Although his beginning was not quite what I'd planned, it was still amazing.

Baby- His beginning started right after I had Toddler, when I started thinking about having a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) for my next child. I had a miscarriage 6 months after Toddler, so in the beginning of my pregnancy with Baby it was hard not to worry. Luckily nothing bad happened. I was surprised when morning sickness wasn't as bad, and I began to look pregnant a little earlier. The whole time I researched VBAC and began making plans for this birth so that it might turn out how I wanted. From the beginning I felt sure that it would be a girl, so I was completely shocked when we found out it was a boy! We were happy Toddler would have a little brother though and we began to try to help him understand about the baby coming. He didn't really begin to understand until it was almost over. Contractions again began the day before my due date, and continued throughout the night. We arrived at the hospital around 12:30 and I began laboring without pain medicine. Around 4:45ish (I didn't really care about time through all my pain lol) I began pushing, and at 5:15 on his due date, out came Baby. He didn't really cry in the beginning and they had to give him oxygen but he was fine. I was able to begin nursing withing 15 minutes of his birth. His beginning was so empowering and wonderful.

OK, I have officially over-used the words beginning and began and they're starting to sound really weird, so I will finish up.

Tuesday To-Do

Today I should:

* Do dishes

* Vacuum (yay for our vacuum being fixed!)

* Sweep, and I guess I should mop too

* Do a few loads of laundry

* Try to get a nap

I think that's all I'm going to shoot for today :) I'm really hoping I can get all the boys napping at the same time again today so I can try to nap too. Last night was terrible, we're trying to get Baby to sleep in his room and it did not go well. I finally got him to sleep at 10:30 after over an hour of trying. Then he woke at 2 and wouldn't stay asleep until I finally brought him to bed with me at 4:30, I was pretty much awake that whole time. And I had to get up at 6:50 like normal. Hopefully it'll get easier!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Monday Madness

Boy I'm tired today. Normally Hubby sleeps on the couch with Baby at night. I don't make him sleep on the couch lol, it's just cooler down there since I can't sleep with the loud a/c going in our room and Hubby gets really hot. And Baby will not sleep by himself longer than an hour, so he stays with Hubby. Baby is a light sleeper, like me, and very wiggly, but Hubby is a deep sleeper so it works perfectly. He is better at getting Baby to sleep and doesn't get woken by every toss and turn. But last night I ended up with Baby because Hubby didn't want to get up when he woke up screaming for milk. It took me over an hour to get him to sleep and then I got woken up probably 10 times during the night whenever he would move since I'm such a light sleeper. It was not a fun night. We really need to work on getting Baby to sleep better by himself. I really don't want to do cry-it-out, but I'm not sure how else to teach him to sleep by himself all night. I will try to get the boys all napping at the same time today so I can at least lay down a bit. I need to do a few loads of laundry today, but not too much cleaning since we cleaned a bunch yesterday. Maybe I'll get the bathrooms cleaned.

How's everyone else's Monday going?

Menu Plan Monday


Check out Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie to join in or get some great dinner ideas!

Monday
- Sloppy Joes, green beans

Tuesday
- Garlic Chicken Pasta, salad

Wednesday
- Pasta Roni, peas

Thursday
- Spaghetti, garlic bread, some veggie

Friday
- Leftovers

Saturday
- Hamburger Helper, corn

Sunday
- BBQ Ribs, asparagus

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Sunday Saying

"Books only partially represent their authors; the writer is always greater than his work."
- Christian Bovee

I love getting into a good book, and a really good series is even better. Such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I often wonder what the authors are like in real life. I once watched an old rerun of the British "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" and it had JRR Tolkien on it, and I was surprised at how funny he was. I know he must have been extremely intelligent to cme up with the world in his books, but I always imagined him to be very serious, not funny. So it makes me wonder a lot about authors and their true personalities that we don't see in their writing.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

SMART Habit Saturday

Last week I was focusing on my laundry goal. I'm happy that I was able to get caught up on the piles, though I still need to work on doing a load a day. I'm still not adding a new goal yet, because I just have too many too work on and not doing well on most of them lol. But I'm going to focus on my flossing goal this week. I definitely need to be flossing more, so that's what I'm going to work on this week as well as trying to get myself motivated to do my other goals. I'm still doing good on prayers, scriptures, vitamins, dinner, making my bed, and bringing dishes to the kitchen. So it's not all bad, but the others I've only been doing ok on some and not at all for others. So I'll just keep working on them and hope they become habits some day.

Goal recap:
#1- Clean 1/2hr a day
#2- Keep up with dishes
#3- Brush teeth once a day
#4- Read scriptures daily
#5- Toddler bedtime routine
#6- Bedtime 11:30pm
#7- 50 crunches a day
#8- Take vitamins every day
#9- No computer for 1hr a day when Hubby is home
#10- 1 load of laundry each day
#11- Daily prayers, morning and night
#12- Dinner 3x during the week
#13- Lotion every day
#14- Floss every day
#15- Bringing dishes to kitchen
#16- Clean office each day
#17- Make bed every morning

To join in SHS go to The Lazy Organizer.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Arg, I just want to scream!

I am in a bad mood tonight. Part of it I'm sure is because I am exhausted and feel sick from running 3 miles on an almost empty stomach (though I did walk a few minutes in the middle). The rest is just because some people make me so frustrated when they make ignorant comments that are obviously not based on facts (and I'm not talking about anyone here, just someone on one of my many message boards I visit). I really need to go to bed and hopefully sleep off my negative attitude, it does me no good to be angry about things I can't change.

It never ends

It looks like a bomb went off in my house! OK, maybe not that bad lol, but I really do need to clean today. There are toys all through the house, I need to vacuum, and the clutter is getting out of control. I better make myself a little to-do list.

* Do a load of laundry
* Clean living room
* Clean boys room
* Vacuum
* Clean counters and table in kitchen
* Sweep and mop
* Clean bathrooms

OK, that's not as little as I was hoping it would be lol. Guess I better get started!

Friday's Feast


Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of pie?

- Chocolate Pudding Pie, mmmm

Soup
Name something that made you smile this week.

- Watching my little boys playing in the dirt together, way too adorable :)

Salad
What do you do to cool off when the weather is hot and humid?

- Turn on the a/c and fans and do nothing.

Main Course
You receive $1,000 in the mail with a letter that says you can only use the money to redecorate one room in your home. Which room do you pick, and what do you buy to spruce it up?

- I would most definitely use it to redo our kitchen floors. Get rid of the old hardwood I don't like, and the carpet under the table, and put in a new wood laminate.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: My _________ says __________, but I __________.

- My body says I need to go to bed, but I am not listening.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful the chance to go camping with friends. We went last weekend and it was a lot of fun. They even sold us their 8-man tent for really cheap since they are buying a new one. Now we can go camping more and not have to borrow a tent! We had fun talking and roasting marshmallows. Well, I pretty much roasted all the marshmallows lol. A certain friend of mine doesn't like roasted marshmallows, can you believe that?! LOL but that's ok, we can still be friends :D It really is great to have friends that we can go do stuff like that with. They've had us over for game nights with some of their other friends too and that has been a blast. I am so grateful for friends.

Tasty Thursday: Cookie Edition


I decided to join in Tasty Thursday, hosted by Trista at The Pumkin Patch. I think this is my first time joining in, because I couldn't miss out on cookie recipes! Not that I bake a lot. I prefer to buy them, or use premade cookie dough, or do it the easiest way possible, which I'm about to share with you! It is called Cake Box Cookies. The recipe is very simple, just 3 ingredients!

1 box of cake mix (my favorite is chocolate, but a spice mix is really good too)
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 cube) melted butter or margarine

Simply mix the ingredients together and spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350*. They come out so soft and chewy and are delicious! I like to use a chocolate cake mix and add chocolate chips, mmm!

I can't take credit for coming up with this recipe, I'm sure it's been around for awhile. I found it at Nikki's blog. But it's a favorite of mine, especially since I don't like baking, anything this easy works for me :D

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Grocery List

I used to always forget things I needed when I went to the store because I would never write down things as I need them. So one day at the store, I picked up a small magnetic memo board. Half is cork board and the other half is white board with a dry erase marker. On the cork board I keep things like business cards for the dentist and doctor's numbers. The white board I use to keep a running list of things we need, as well as write quick notes or messages, phone numbers, etc. The magnetic board goes right on my fridge. Then as I'm making something in the kitchen and see I'm out of something or running low, I can jot it down. When I think of anything else we need during the day I can just go to the kitchen and add it to the list. This is a big help for me, I'm not forgetting things I need as much, and it's easy to glance and see what Hubby can pick up on the way home if needed that day. When I go shopping I just copy the list onto paper and erase the white board to start again. This works for me!

To see more great WFMW tips, head over to Rocks in My Dryer.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Tackle-It Tuesday

Today I am going to tackle my laundry pile! I have been so bad lately and let the clean laundry pile up in baskets at the foot of the bed. Then I don't want to pile up more so I haven't been washing laundry as much, then I run out of clothes to wear lol. So I'm going to fold all the laundry and get 2-3 more loads washed.

I will check back in later to let you know how I did! The boys are both napping so now is the perfect time to work on it.

(ETA: I did end up getting 5 loads of laundry folded and put away, and a few small loads still in the wash to be folded Wednesday)

Go to 5 Minutes for Mom to join in Tackle-It Tuesday!

Tuesday To-Do

Well, today I need to:

* Do laundry. Yep, I've still put it off and it's piled at the foot of the bed and I'm running out of clothes to wear.

* Dishes. I was too tired after running last night to do them, so they are stinking up my kitchen and really need washed.

* Vacuum, but I can't lol. I do need to look up how much the part would be to fix our vacuum.

* Clean up boys' room. Again and again and again...

* Go to the zoo. Actually, this should be first on the list since we are going soon :)

I think that's all. Not really much to do except get dishes and laundry done. Of course, that will have to wait until after we go to the zoo :D

Monday, August 06, 2007

Off to bed

Boy, I'm tired today. I didn't get a nap earlier, but that's my fault. I was busy doing stuff online so I didn't get Toddler down for a nap at his usual time, so by the time he finally went to sleep, Baby was waking up. Then Michelle and I went running, but we were sore from doing sprints Saturday so we only ran 5 laps, instead of 12. I'm glad she wanted to stop early cuz I don't think my legs were going to allow me to go much further lol. We will go again tomorrow and hopefully do better. I think I'm going to go hop in the shower and then head to bed. Hubby was sweet and got both boys asleep tonight, isn't he awesome? Good night everyone!

Monday Madness

Today we don't have anything going on. My little sister went home yesterday, my mom came and picked her up. It was fun having her here for a few days. I don't have Little Baby today or tomorrow. I tried to sleep in a little but Baby decided he wanted to get up and play at our normal time. Why don't they understand sleeping in?! Maybe I can get a nap later if I can get both boys down at the same time. Laundry needs done, and I really need to put it away instead of piling it at the foot of the bed. Oh, I better go get the chicken out of the freezer so I can defrost it and get it in the crockpot for dinner.

Menu Plan Monday


This is my second week joining in Menu Plan Monday, hosted by Organizing Junkie. I've been loving having a plan that I can glance at and know exactly what we are having for dinner every night. It has made me a lot less stressed about dinner time. Planning meals that are simple and that we actually will eat is such a good idea, I don't know what took me so long to get around to doing it!

Monday
- Crockpot BBQ Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

Tuesday
- Beef Stroganoff, peas

Wednesday
- Pizza, pasta salad, chips

Thursday
- Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, vegetable soup

Friday
- Leftovers

Saturday
- Hamburgers, fries, salad

Sunday
- Turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Sunday Saying

"Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness."
- Blaise Pascal

I just thought this was funny. I'm not even sure it makes sense, but I liked it lol. I'm trying to make some sense of it. I guess people in general or all a bit crazy sometimes, and if there was no "crazy" in the world, then it would just be weird, in other words, it would seem like madness for everyone to be sane.

OK, that just sounds odd. Anybody else have any idea what this quote might mean? Because it is making my head hurt!

Saturday, August 04, 2007

SMART Habit Saturday

Well, I still haven't been doing too well on my goals. There are about 4 that I haven't even done at all this week. Of course there are a few that I do every day too, so that's good. But for this week I'm going to just keep working on what I have, I have really been slacking on a lot of my cleaning goals, so I'm going to work extra hard on those this week. My main focus will be on laundry. That was one that I did really well on, but have done poorly on the last few weeks, and I'm actually out of clean clothes right now, so today is a good day to get started again.

Goal recap:
#1- Clean 1/2hr a day
#2- Keep up with dishes
#3- Brush teeth once a day
#4- Read scriptures daily
#5- Toddler bedtime routine
#6- Bedtime 11:30pm
#7- 50 crunches a day
#8- Take vitamins every day
#9- No computer for 1hr a day when Hubby is home
#10- 1 load of laundry each day
#11- Daily prayers, morning and night
#12- Dinner 3x during the week
#13- Lotion every day
#14- Floss every day
#15- Bringing dishes to kitchen
#16- Clean office each day
#17- Make bed every morning

To join in SHS go to The Lazy Organizer.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Hot, toasty S'mores

We are heading out to go camping with friends. Hubby and I have not gone camping since Toddler was a baby, so it's been over 2 years. We don't own any camping gear so my friend (Michelle)was kind enough to borrow some things from family and friends. It should be a lot of fun , I bet the kids will love it. I'm making a yummy cherry cobbler, I was going to use our dutch oven, but I can't find it anywhere. How do you lose a dutch oven?! So I'm cooking it now and hoping it stays warm until we get there. And we are going to roast marshmallows, my favorite part of camping.

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

Friday's Feast


Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?

- 7-8 I think

Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

- I can't remember. Probably something one of my boys did or something on TV

Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?

- I don't have a favorite

Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.

- Mr. Dolezol, my 10th grade drama teacher, he was seriously like Drew Carey, looked just like him too

Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ______________________.

- I strongly believe that it should be illegal to wake up before 9am lol.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful today for my little sister who is visiting. She is 14 and a big help when she's here. The boys love her and she helps me take care of them and clean. Plus it gives me someone to talk to. We also invited Hubby's little sister who is 14, she is just here for the day, but they are good friends so it's nice that they can spend some time together and they both help me out. It really helps to have one person per child lol.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Cute as a bug contest

Cute As A Bug is a new cafe press store with adorable shirts. You really should go check out their cute designs. I like the "I eat dirt" and "Cute as a button" ones best. And now you can win a free shirt, in the size and design of your choice. Just check out Musings of a crunchy domestic goddess and follow the directions. Maybe my luck will turn and I'll actually win! LOL

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Parenting Advice

Today is the parenting advice edition of WFMW. So head on over to Rocks in My Dryer to give and receive your best parenting tips!

My advice is this: There is a lot of different parenting methods, and everyone thinks their method is the right one. Some people are even quite militant about the right way to parent. The thing is, parent's should just do what they feel is right, follow your instincts. What works for one family won't always work for yours. For example, I have a lot of friends who do Cry-It-Out with their babies. This works for them, their babies are great sleepers, but it's just not part of how I parent. Just like some people like skydiving and bungee jumping, I will never do it but that doesn't make it wrong. Try not to separate parenting into groups like "Attachment parenting" vs "modern parenting" or anything like that. It creates divisions between people that cause feelings of competitiveness, hurt, and a "better-than-you" attitude. We need to be willing to accept people who parent different than us, doing otherwise just makes the divisions wider. Like I said, I have friends that parent much different than I do, but that doesn't make them bad parents. Their kids are healthy and happy and I know their parents love them, that's what matters.