Batteries In The Trash

Last week during a mad rush to get my house clean for Christmas, I managed to drop our cordless phone in a bucket of mop water. For Christmas, one of the presents my husband bought for me was a new cordless phone with two handsets. He knew I hated being stuck only having the corded phone to use...it was a very nice gift.

Well yesterday I finally got around to getting it all plugged in to charge. After setting it up I moved on to gathering up all of the Christmas trash since today is our trash day. I added the phone box to that huge pile.

This morning, I went to get the cordless phone off the charger to see how it worked, and to my surprise, nothing happened when I pushed the buttons. I was totally confused until I realized I hadn't put the batteries into either of the handsets. The trash was gone, along with the batteries.

Although, I'm not even 5 weeks along yet in this pregnancy, my hormones are running at full force and I started freaking out about telling Will what I had done. I got all shaky and sick to my stomach. I just wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. So I called him and coudln't get ahold of him. That made things worse, I had time to dwell on how mad I imagined he'd be.

He finally called me back after getting my message and when I told him what had happened I burst into tears. Full out sobbing is what I was doing. It was embarrassing, but I couldn't stop. I just kept telling him how mad he should be at me and how awful and worthless I was. (yeah, I know, it was only batteries...but that's not how I felt at the time!)

He of course said he'd just go buy some new ones and told me to calm down. I know he had to have been kicking himself for agreeing to get me pregnant and putting himself through this a 3rd time...but it's too late now!!

Emotional, evil, psychotic Jen has returned. Waaaaaahhhhhhhaha!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas...a couple days late!

I got tagged by Babaloooo to blog my top 5 favorite Christmas songs. Here they are:

1. Oh Holy Night (Josh Grobin's version)

2. Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

3. Last Christmas

4. Do You See What I See (Rosie O'Donnel and Elmo's version...silly, I know!)

5. Jingle Bells (my kids' version!!)



Since we're past Christmas I wont tag anyone else, so everyone take a deep breath...you're free from the meme. I personally LOVE doing meme's but I know a lot of you dont.

Our Christmas was wonderful, if not too wonderful! The kids were spoiled beyond belief, as was Will and I! But I'm definitely not complaining!


Christmas is still not over in our house though. We still get to do this all over again for Will's kids. He has 3 from his first marriage.. two teenaged boys, 19 and 17 and one daughter, 5.

For 5, this is just the icing on the cake, but for the boys this will really be their Christmas. Apparentely for 17, all his mom got his was 3 $20 gift cards, and for 19, all he got was 1, $30 gift card. It really broke my heart listening to Will talk to them on Christmas Day and hearing about their utter disappointment. And no, thier lack of ANY gifts was not a money matter, it was all due to a selfish mother and step-father. I am just so thankful that we were able to buy them so many things that they wanted, and will love!!

I just dont understand how you could be a mother and yet, still turn your back on your children just because they've gotten older! Talk about a smack in the face!

Christmas Blubber

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat....

Oh wait, that's just me!! I've already gained 4 lbs. since the beginning of December. Not such a great thing when you find out that you're pregnant and wont be able to diet it all off as soon as Auld Lang Syne is done playing on Jan. 1st!

Every year I think I'm doing so good. Only having a cookie here or a piece of pie there. What is it about Christmas that we feel the need to bake every cookie we've ever aquired a recipe for and on top of that buy out half of the candy section of our local grocery store!?

At our house, we have everything from peppermint nougats to candy canes, 3 kinds at that! To bread pudding to cut out reindeer! I should seriously consider putting a sign out in my front yard advertising my own goodie shop.

Since I'll be unable to lose any of the pounds that are so generously piling up on my ass, at least maybe I could make back a few of the hundreds of bucks we've shelled out on gifts!

Now wouldn't THAT be a Merry Christmas!?

Updating

It sure has been awhile. I can not understand how so many of you can keep up with your blogging during this time of year! Of course, I'm stuck with dial-up so its a long process if I want to just jump on and leave a quick blog post.

We've had family in from out of state and that spawned dinner parties, too many to count. Of course shopping has been one of the major time suckers recently. W and I are going to be hitting the mall again tonight. Well, not really the mall, but we need to go to Target and Meijer. It doesn't sound that bad, but we have almost an hour drive to get to the closest ones. So, once again our kids will be having an overnight at my mom's. The bad part is, my mom has to work tomorrow, so I have to get up at 6 to be at her house by 6:30 to pick up the little munchkins!

Once again, that doesn't sound that bad, but I just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant and I've already got the fatigue and nausea...so the idea of getting up that early is not exactly sounding great! In fact it was because of the nausea that I even took the test yesterday. I was planning on waiting until the day after Xmas because then I would be officially "late", but I felt so sick yesterday that I had to know whether it was pregnancy or the flu. I was thrilled that it was pregnancy! I'm so excited...and nervous too. Even though we planned this, the fact that it's actually real now, is scary. I didn't think I'd have that feeling, but I do. At least I know that in the end, it all works out perfectly!

How Snot To Start Off Your Day

One of the worst parts about the weather changing is kids get sick. It seems that they are the most vulnerable to the colds that come about when the weather goes from only needing a long sleeved shirt to needing the whole winter bunting. Both of my kids are sick. As sick can be. Coughs, snotty noses and heavy breathing has taken over the sounds of giggles and squeals in my house. Fever is running wild, and I know it's only a matter of time before my slight congestion turns into the disgusting gunk that is so freely escaping from my children!

After a couple of days of trying OTC cold medicine I broke down and called the doctor today. The thought of spending $50 (a $25 copay X 2) just on the visit has my Christmas budget wincing in pain, but of course, the health of my children is worth it, right? After being told that this is moving week for my doctor's office and the receptionist was not sure she'd be able to get them in at all, I got a little defensive. I know that having a new pediatrician office will be nice, but it would be even nicer if they could take care of my kids NOW! Not next week when they are all settled. (Thank goodness we had Christmas pictures taken last month, or my family and friends would have a picture filled with watery eyes, and wet noses!)

After waiting on hold for what felt like an hour, the receptionist told me that the doctor could see them tomorrow. Unfortunatly, it's the one day a week that he practices in a neighboring town, so I'll have over a 30 minute drive there. She then proceeds to tell me that although my appointment is at 2pm, I'll probably have a long wait since they are fitting me in. If they're fitting me in, and they KNOW I'll have a wait, why not make the appointment for later in the afternoon? It makes no sense to me, but who am I?

I'm only the mother who's going to be stuck sitting there with whining kids and will receive the looks from the other mother's who are just there for well-baby checkups and ear infections. Those mothers will give me that "thank you very much for exposing my healthy child to your sick one" look. It's not something I'm looking forward to. But if it will save me just one or two nights from being awoken by the hacking over the baby monitor, I'll take it!

This Isn't Your Everyday ABC's!

Here's some things I learned this weekend during the annual crazyness also known as my husband's work Christmas Party.

A. After waxing your eyebrows, never use rubbing alcohol to get the excess wax off.

Oh that's right, I'm officially stupid. Not thinking, I used rubbing alcohol and holy hell did it burn!! I now have a very large bright red burn scab where my eyebrow hairs where...what was I thinking!?


B. Don't accuse a bartender of hitting on you without taking a good look at him first.

I slid next to my husband at the bar to order a drink the bartender came up and said "Heeyyy, how ya doing?" I had had a few by then so I decided to tell him that it is not polite to hit on a girl who: 1. Is wearing a wedding ring, and
2. Is standing next to her husband.

Turned out...he was someone that I had gone to school with since Kindergarten and he was actually just asking me how I was doing. Ugh, the humiliation!


C. Picking up girls in a bar is much harder than it looks!

Okay, so I wasn't picking up girls, but I was trying to help my stepson pick one up! Seriously, I was shot down about 20 times! Either it's a tough game, or having a guy's stepmother who looks like she's really his girlfriend is not an attractive quality to a girl!

**He did manage to get a phone number...but that was without help from me!**


D. Trusting your husband, who kicked off the night with a Corona and a double shot of Jeigermeister, with the car keys is a BAD idea!

The man lost our keys. LOST them! Luckily, my stepson had driven too and was planning on being our DD so we were able to ride home in his car. But, that was not a solution. We still had to find the keys. We dont have a spare set. W called the police station yesterday morning and our keys had been turned in. But they locked them in the Evidence Room to keep them safe, but can't get them until after 8am today. (Something to do with only detectives have the keys to that room, and none of them work on weekends.)

Apparently, in our town, crime is not a 24/7 job!


E. Dont let your keys get locked in the Evidence Room of the police station when you have to be at the airport at 6am the next day.

This is a lesson my husband learned. Since we can't get our keys until 8am this morning. I had to borrow my mom's car overnight to drive W to the airport at 4:30am this morning. And had to get back to my mom's house by 6:45am so she wouldn't be late for work. Plus, my mom was stuck with my kids overnight for the second night in a row, because she didn't want me having to wake them up that early just to ride over 2 hours in the car.

Oh what a mess!



So, another year, another Christmas party. It's a good thing there is a year to recooperate between these things! At least I looked hot...minus the eyebrow!

November's Perfect Post Awards

I have awarded Jeannine, from My Ovaries Made Me Do It, my pick for November's Perfect Post Awards for her blog entry, It's Not So Secret.

If you are a breastfeeding mother, were a breastfeeing mother, or against breastfeeding mothers...go read her post!

To get the complete list of the Perfect Post Awards for November go visit MommaK or Lindsey!

After reading Jeannine's post..if you feel strongly about her post. Go visit Mom's Rising and sign thier petition!

Semi-Hiatus

What happens when you're trying to raise two babies, trying to keep your home spotless, keeping up with laundry for everyone in your family, planning and making all of the meals, losing sleep with a toddler who doesn't think he needs to sleep in past 6am, and at the same time trying to jumpstart a writing career? It means your blog falls behind!! And any other hobby or fun activity that you used to enjoy!

I was just telling Chris yesterday on IM that I didn't think I'd be able to blog anymore. I feel like it's taking up so much time and that time is something I should be using on writing. After all, writer's WRITE! Right? :) She said to use this as practice for my writing, but when you're trying to write for teenagers, a mommy blog is not exactly good practice. But, I did decide something last night and I'm hoping it works. I'm going to continue over at A Comfortable Home, but I'll write out the blogs weekly and just take a few minutes every day to post the appropriate one for that day. And here at Mamaritaville? Well, I think I'll have to go on semi-hiatus. Yes, I'll still blog, maybe once/week, depending on what I have to say, but it wont be how it was. I promise though to add an announcement over at A Comfortable Home whenever there is a new post over here so that you dont have to waste time coming here everyday! Although if you use Bloglines, it'll be updated every time I have something new to say!

So, wish me well with the writing, I'm taking a 2 year course and have only completed Assignment 1 as of now, and I just know that it's going to get harder, and more time consuming as I go.

See you over at A Comfortable Home!

All I Have To Say Is...

We DONT Give A Damn For The Whole State of Michigan....We're From OHIO!!!

Oh that's right! National Champs, Baby! We're on our way!!

Ohio State 42 Michigan 39

There was no doubt we'd kick Michigan's....well, anyway, but who'd have thunk this!?

Uh, Lady? We've Got One!

So W totally straight-faced, says to me last night, "19 says his mom got a deer last night."

"Oh! She hunts?"

(Remember 19's mom is W's ex-wife)

"Well, no, she was on the deer call list." Still totally poker faced.

"What's a deer call list?"

"Well, 19 says that if you call the Highway Patrol they can put you on the call list for deer that have either been shot and ran into someone's property and died where the hunter couldn't find it, or...if they've been hit by a car and not claimed by the driver."

"So you're saying she got roadkill?"

By this point I was cracking up and W started rolling too!

"Yeah, she made 17 go with her to get it and they took it out to the farm and gutted it. Could you imagine seeing 17 doing this for his mom!?"

Insert more howls of laughter. A few snorts too!!

"Well babe, I've never heard of a deer call list, but if I had, I'd have wondered what kind of person would put themselves on one....now, I know."

"Hey, it's free meat!"

"Ya gonna put your name on that list, cause if you are, I swear to you...."

By this point neither of us could catch our breath we were laughing so hard. Oh how my husband is glad to be rid of that hillbilly woman!

Oh Hell!

Have you ever had "one of those days"? Today was certainly one of them. First off, yesterday afternoon I remembered that a month ago I had made my kids' appointment to get their Christmas pictures taken for today. So I went straight into panic mode because I had somehow forgotten to put it on the calendar and Punk needed a haircut and both kids needed dress shoes. It wouldn't have been such an issue, but my car is in the shop and I had no way to take care of any of that. Luckily, my husband took Punk to the barbershop after he got off work and my mom came out and picked me up to go buy shoes. When we got back here, my mom offered to take Punk overnight and would come back around 9am to pick up Twinkletoes and me to make the 10:10 picture appointment.

The phone rang this morning at 8:58...I was still in bed!! It was my mom calling to say she was just leaving her house. It takes her 12 minutes to get here. In that amount of time I managed to wet down and brush my hair, get dressed, wake up Twinkletoes who had kept W and I up most of the night because we think she was scared to be sleeping upstairs without Punk, get her in the bathtub and have her almost all the way dressed before my mom and Punk walked in the door.

We then had to go to Kmart because of course the shoes I bought for Punk were too small. I just wanted to exchange them, but the lady insisted on giving me my money back and making me go through the checkout line again. Because the shoes were "Buy One Get One 1/2 Off" I didn't get the whole amount of money back and when I had to pay for the new pair of course I was charged the full price. I couldn't worry about it then, but I had to go back later and get it resolved...such a pain in the ass!

Okay, so we get to the portrait studio and guess what??? My name wasn't in the book!! When I made the appointment(in person!) the lady said "Oh, you're the first person to make an appointment in November, lucky you!" Yeah, lucky me! They didn't even put me down in their book! So we had to wait 45 minutes while someone else who's name WAS in the book at the time that I had scheduled got their pictures done.

We ended up taking that time to walk through Walmart because I had a few things to pick up and what happened? Punk got diarreah and it soaked through his brand new Christmas pants. Thank GOD we were in Walmart and I was able to buy diapers since of course I didn't bring any along, and also thank God that his pants were black!!

My kids were hungry and mad and by the time it was our turn it was torture to get them to sit up and smile! We did get some good pictures, but it was sure a hassell! I then ended up spending $40 more than I had originally planned to, but by this point I SO did not care!

Afterwards, we stopped to get lunch and then left to go back to Kmart so I could get my money back...only to find that I had left my purse at the restaurant.

Yeah, it's been a great freakin' day!


On the plus side, I do have a new renter! Go over and check her out! She's got a great blog and some really interesting posts!! Go on now...she's right there on the side bar...click on her!!!

Recognition!

A Comfortable Home was recognized on Blogher!

Go over and read the article writting by Mary Tsao. There's some great links to some new *informative* blogs out there!

Upside Down...Porn Star

Mamaritaville is planning on getting a little more crazy! That's right, we're planning a new addition to our family! I finally wore W down and we're hoping to be pregnant very soon. Wish us luck!

Talking with Chris today on IM she was asking me about names. I told her that I really like Shane as a boy's name, but that I wasn't quite sure how W would feel about it since it's the name of a children's show character and that's how I even got it in my head. For a girl's name, a few months ago I fell in love with the name Kimber. Now if any of you watch Nip/Tuck you'll know that Kimber was a porn star on that show. Yet, my husband has no qualms about naming his baby girl Kimber.

How strange is is that I'm wondering how I could convince him to name our son after a wholesome character on the Noggin channel, but he has absolutely no second thoughts about naming his baby girl after a character that's a plastic surgery obsessed, ex-pornstar, now Scientologist!

Of course I dont either. So either we're just asking for trouble....or she'll be the sweetest little Kimber there ever was!

That is if this new baby that we're working on actually is a girl. The Chinese Lunar Calendar sure doesn't think so!

Picnic

Yesterday Punk had his very first picnic with his "friends". He asked me to help him lay out a blanket on the floor and to "get the food out of the grill". His "grill" being my husband's new footstool with a lid that opens to store blankets. So, of course I helped and I layed out all of the "food". The "food" consisted of a few Peek-A-Boo blocks, a couple of Hotwheels, a book, and his little fanny pack that he got at a friend's birthday party last week (they had a Dora Adventure and that was their "backpack").

After laying out all of the food he starts laughing at me and says, "Mommy, that's not food!" and he picked up his backpack and keeps on laughing. I asked him what it was and he said "It's my backpack!!" And continues to laugh!!

Uhh...okay. I was supposed to know that the books and trucks and blocks were food, but the backpack wasn't. I guess that's why he's the 2 1/2 year old and I'm the mom. His imagination is much better than mine!

So a few minutes later he comes and asks for something to drink. "But don't forget something for Tigger and Baby!" he says.

I looked to see what he was talking about and there was my sweet little boy sitting on the floor with his half-sister's baby doll on one side of him and Twinkletoes bouncing Tigger on the other. Him and his "friends" were having a picnic and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

I wish I'd have taken a picture without him in it to show! It was really sweet!!

Voting Made Me Feel Pretty

I woke up yesterday morning with a terrible cold and fever! So of course I managed to stay in bed as much as possible with my two little monsters running around! I didn't get dressed, didn't brush my teeth, I just laid around. Around noon I flipped the TV from Noggin to our local news. AAHH!! I forgot today was Election Day!

So...there I was, feeling more miserable than I've felt in awhile and I realized I needed to get up and go vote. I managed to get my kids dressed and me looking halfway presentable and we headed out to my car. Wait! Where is my car!?

That's right, W drove my car to work. So we trudged back inside and I collapsed back into bed. I called W and after a few choice words warned him to be home in time for me to get into town to vote before the polls closed.

Around 5pm, I decided to get a quick shower so I wouldn't go out looking like death warmed over. I styled my hair, applied just a touch of makeup, put on my favorite jeans and my high-heeled boots! Damn! I look hot! Okay, so maybe that was a stretch, but I definitely felt like I was looking pretty darn good!

Finally, W made it home, I made it to the polls and survived the line! I'm happy to report that the Governer and Senator race went in my favor. Not so happy that Ohio is now a "smoke-free" state, but what do you do? I voted and at least I had my say!

Today, I'm back in my pajamas and still feeling really crappy, but I was so happy to have those few moments last night of looking good and feeling good! How American is that!?

How was your voting experience yesterday?

Quarantine, anyone?

So what would you do?

A child comes to your house for an overnight stay and you find out in the course of that visit that they have something on their back that looks very much like ringworm. Your two young children have been exposed.

What do you do when that child is your stepdaughter, who wasn't even supposed to visit this particular weekend, but it was your husband's birthday and for the first time ever his ex-wife decided that he needed to have his daughter on his birthday, which just happened to fall on a Saturday.

So now, now only did your plans of sending your kid's off to stay with Grammy while you and your husband had a nice dinner and a night out on the town get cancelled, but now your children have been exposed to a highly contagious disease, that the ex-wife knew her daughter could possibly have and has not yet made a doctor appointment for treatment.

What do you do?

Yeah, this happened here this weekend, and I am beyond pissed. Of course I was disappointed that our plans had to change because of my stepkids' visit, but that was okay, we can go out anytime and it's important for W to have time with his kids. But what really gets to me is that they were pushed on us at the last minute, and W's ex didn't even has the decency to keep the youngest at home when she suspected that she has ringworm and needs to see a doctor!

Oh, yeah, I am beyond pissed! Of course saying this to W doesn't help because he just gets all defensive. And counting on him to talk to his ex is a lost cause. Why he can't just say, "You know I enjoy being with the kids, but if they have something contagious I'd appreciate it if you let me know in advance so we can switch weekends, we give you the same courtesy when our children are ill and the kids are scheduled to visit."

Why can't he just say that to her? It's so freaking simple! Yeah, I'm holding a grudge!

Ohhhhh, Yeah!

My NEW project is up and running!!! Please go over and check it out!! This will be the only time that I'll link to this site, promoting myself. You'll see when you get over there that I'm a whole new person! ;)

Go on now...check it out!!

Going Into Hiding

I've been reading on a few blogs today about a new blog that's out that is taking pictures of blogger's children off their blogs and photoshopping them. I don't like that thought at all. I dont want pictures of my kids in other people's hands. I got to thinking about it, and I realized that's just what I'm doing. I am putting out pictures of my kids, and their names for ANYONE to see.

I used to think, "Well, its safer than taking them to the grocery store where someone could see them and follow us home."

But maybe not. So, I've decided that I'm going to take down all of the pictures of the kids, and go back to using aliases. I'm going to get working on that right away. You may think I'm overreacting or silly, but I can still blog great blogs while using an alias and not showing you pictures of my beautiful munchkins! ;)

On another note...the new project will be up and running VERY SOON!! Keep an eye on this blog for the update!

My First Time...

My first time was set into motion my senior year in high school. Interest is actually doing it was fueled by lots of encoragement by my Senior Social Studies teacher. He taught us how to be educated over our choices. How to get behind closed curtains and do it right.

It was the year 1999, and we spent the first whole part of the school year (all leading up to that first Tuesday in November) studying the primary candidates for the 2000 Presidential Election.

What did you THINK I was talking about?

Although I was only 17 at the time, I was able to vote in the primaries because I would be 18 by the time of the 2000 election. We were able to register to vote right from our classroom desks. We had posters made up for all of the candidates and their views on all of the issues all around the classroom.

I remember the feeling of what it was to truly be an American the day I walked into the polling office(which happened to be the music room in the elementary school I attended as a child). Talk about full circle. I walked out of that school heading to the middle school. Feeling scared and not wanting to leave. And when I walked back in...I was an adult. Filled with pride for my country.

I'm writing this for you all today for the organization Women's Voices. Women Vote. In the last election 20 million woman who COULD have voted DIDN'T! If you are one of those woman you need to check out this site. A huge reason why women dont vote is that they dont feel as though they are informed. This site will FIX that!! Get informed, get registered(you can register from the site also), and get voting!! You need to vote to make a difference.

If you are a woman who does vote and would like to encourage other women to get out there and vote. Visit the site. There's so much info!! And lets Mommy Bloggers pull together and get our voices heard!

Mr. Sensitive?

Punk is such a sweet boy. He is very sensitive to other's feelings, and if someone is anything but happy, it really upsets him. In the past couple of days there's been a two examples of how he deals with things when someone is physically hurt. Let me share those with you...

Twinkletoes and I bumped heads. You'd have thought it was the end of the world for her because she screamed and screamed. Hayden came rushing over and this is what happened:

I need to fix her!! First I need to listen to her heart. He proceeds to put a Mega Block on her chest.

You are so smart! Now what do you have to?

I need a wrench!!

Okay so he was little confused about the actual process of how to fix someone. But how smart is that, that he knew that the first thing a doctor normally does is listens to someone's heart!! Oy! I was so impressed!!

Okay, next example. He ran out of the house yesterday when I was in the kitchen. I heard the front door slam and I took off running after him because we live on a State Route and I didn't want him going down by the road. (He was only heading over towards the cow fence to "say hi" to them, thank goodness!)

It had been raining all day yesterday and I got to the edge of the porch just getting ready to run down the steps and my feet slipped out from under me and I landed on the cement step, and my hip slammed into the hard wooden porch. (I'm still in terrible pain and all swollen and bruised!)

Well of course I started to cry and Punk by that point was running up because I must have screamed when I fell. He was yelling at me!!

Mommy, you're NOT hurt! Dont cry!!! STOP IT MOMMY!!

Then he proceeded to start smacking me in the face.

YOU'RE NOT HURT!! DONT CRY!!!

Hmmm....how do I rank. His baby sister gets hurt and he is all about fixing her up. I, his mommy, gets hurt, and he just wants to smack the sense back into me!


How do your kid(s) react to other's when they are hurt or sad?

Let The Madness Begin!

Believe it or not, but the holidays are fast approaching! Once October hits, it's like you blink and you're eating Thanksgiving turkey. Blink again, and Santa Claus has filled your stocking! One more blink, and you're singing Auld Lang Syne.

I have been enjoying the leaves changing and the cooler temperatures, but I hadn't put much thought into the fact that the holidays were near until I kept getting asked by friends and family if I'd started my shopping yet. Believe it or not, but some of my family members have, and it's only mid-October, but now I feel behind!!

So, I need to get cracking and start making lists. I need to plan our Thanksgiving meal since I'm hosting again. I need to find a babysitter for New Year's Eve in case my husband and I decide to go out.

The holiday stress has begun at my house, and I am feeling behind. I need to start planning so when they actually do hit, things wont be in total chaos for me. That way I can actually enjoy the food, gifts, music and magic. Because before we know it...we'll be watching those July 4th fireworks, again!

Have you started your holiday shopping/planning yet?

My Apologies!

Lately, I have been an awful blogger! I think it's because of the dial-up. It just take too much time to get online these days and so I haven't really devoted much time to my blog, or to reading everyone else's blogs that I normally LOVE to read.

Dial-up is really sucky, and I dont know how much more of it I can take!! Half of the time whatever I'm trying to look at ends up timing out because things take too long to load. It's getting really ridiculous! So, I just wanted everyone who reads my blog to know that I am trying to update my blog, but it's not happening like it used to. I

have been working on a new blog project, but only on paper, because actually putting it all online right now gives me half of a panic attack just thinking about the time it's going to take. Not because there's THAT much to put up...but because it will take

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So, if you've noticed that I haven't been stopping by your blog much or that I'm not commenting. It's nothing personal. It just is taking too much time, and I do have a couple of kids to raise! ;)

We're heading up towards Cleveland tonight to go visit my Dad and Aunt and Uncle. I have that Alzheimer's walk tomorrow up that way and so we'll be staying with them through Sunday.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Passing Notes

Dear Zak,

I know you saw me because I saw you look away when I looked your way. You could have at least smiled in acknowledgment instead of acting as though I wasn't there.

Yes, I know your kid was a little angel. I saw the way he was gazing into your eyes and the two of you were cooing at each other. Believe it or not, my kids used to do the same thing. Just you wait. It wont be that long before that little angel will be like my one year old and will be up on it's knees backwards in the bucket of the cart grabbing at everything it can get it's little hands on and throwing it on the floor. And before you know it you'll be wishing for those days because then he'll turn into a two year old like mine and will be screaming "I WANT CANDY!!!!" for the whole world to hear while running away from you and grabbing things off shelves that you then have to pry out of his hands only to induce more screaming.

So, I know you were thinking, "Thank God I broke up with her when I did in the 5th grade so I didn't get stuck with those terrible kids. What a horrible mother she must have turned out to be." Yes, I know that's what you were thinking, and you can go right on ahead and think that. Because in another year when I see you and your ex-angel now devil-toddler in the store and he's getting disapproving shaking of heads from strangers, I'll look your way and smile. I'll smile a smile that will tell you, "Don't worry, everything is going to be okay, it's just a stage. You are not a terrible father."

Then maybe you'll regret ever having judged my parenting. Because I know you did!

XOXO,
Jen

Legal Cocaine

If you haven't heard about this already you may have been living under a rock. I heard about it a few weeks ago on Ellen, who was not endorsing it, I might add. There has been a bit of controversy surrounding it and I dont think that most people are big supporters of the whole concept or idea.

Last night, my husband and I were watching the news and we saw the preview that it had been released, finally.

W, "I'm so getting some of that!"

Me, "You better bring me some home! I wanna try it!"

Cocaine is only being carried in NYC for the time being. I wonder if it will be accepted in our area or if it will even make it here. (Newscaster report)

W, "You've got to be kidding me, I really wanted to try it!"

Me, "Me too, this sucks!"

Apparently, the makers of Cocaine do have a market. If with no one else, then with the people in my living room! Even my stepson who came in the living room towards the end of the news story was disappointed to hear we wouldn't be getting it here anytime soon.

I dont know if it's that we all have addictive personalities but are smart enough not to actually use the REAL cocaine, or if it's just a novelty thing and we want to try it because it is new and it is controversial.

Or maybe it's just that every energy drink we've tried sucks and this one might actually work...

So...what's your thoughts on Cocaine?

I'm Married!

After almost two years I have finally officially become my husband's wife.

Alright, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. I had never went back to the courthouse after our wedding to get a copy of our marriage license so that I could do all the official "stuff" with it. So..my driver's licence, bank account, social security card all still had my maiden name on it.

I also had never went to have my rings sized. I've been wearing them with a bandaid wrapped around them to keep them from falling off.

Wednesday, I took my kid's to my mom's and got all of that done!! So now I have a driver's license with my married name and my bank account is changed (I even ordered new checks), I still have to make in the SS form, but I'll do that next week. And I dropped my rings off to be sized! He bought me a size 7....I'm a size 5.

It's was really hard handing my rings over. They're not super fancy, but that's not what matters, it's what they stand for. I already feel like I'm missing a piece of myself by not wearing them. If they were to be lost forever, oh that would be so sad!

My husband of course had to tease me that it took me 1 year and 8 months to decide that I actually wanted to commit fully to him. I guess he thought I never did all of that stuff so that if I were to change my mind it would be easier to go back to "my old life".

After almost 5 years being with him, and 2 kids later....going back to my old life...could never happen.

How long did it take you to do all of the little formalities after you were married? Was it hard letting go of "the old you"?

Adventures In Parenting

I have to apologize to Valerie!! She's my renter this week(what's left of it) and I didn't even introduce her!! I promised her a post on Friday, but I really wanted to get that Alzheimer's information out there and leave it up for the weekend!!

So, Valerie, I'm very sorry!! Valerie's blog is her everyday stories that she chooses to share with us in the blog world. She covers a wide range of topics...heck up on her blog right now you can read about ghosts, Clomid, and sweating!! If that doesn't hook you than I dont know what will! ;)

So go! Tell Valerie Jen sent you and you may just get a surprise*!

Back to regular blogging tomorrow! But today is all about Valerie and her Adventures In Parenting!



*the surprise being the satifaction of supporting another blogger by visiting her site!

Helping Others

On one of my favorite blogs, Bloggy Gossip, I read about this.

Her Bad Mother was challenging all bloggers to write about a cause they are passionate about. Some way that we as bloggers can make a difference! I read about this before our move and was already signed up for The Alzheimer's Association's Memory Walk and knew that I needed to share all of this information with you. Donations are not necessary, but would be appreciated.

If nothing else, please click on the following links and learn a little about why I'm so passionate about this cause, and how you can help.

So here is my post on a cause I am passionate about. Please read it...and again, please visit the links.


As you may or may not know I have two loved ones who have been affected by Alzheimer's Disease. Because I have seen the devastating effects of this disease firsthand I would like to do my part by participating in the Alzheimer's Association's Memory Walk.

Proceeds from the Memory Walk go directly to fund local programs and services designed to improve the lives of those affected by Alzheimer's.

Please help me make a difference by supporting me with a donation as I walk in the annual Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk.

By clicking on the link above, you will learn more specifically why I'm walking and who it's for. And you'll get to see a picture of my beautful grandma who was my hero. I loved her dearly and seeing her deteriorate was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever gone through in my life. (She's the grandma mentioned in this post.)

To learn more about the Alzheimer's Association, click here.

To find a walk in your area, click here.

If you have a cause that you are passionate about. Write a post and put it out there for everyone to see!!

Babies and Drugs

On moving day, Twinkletoes got sick. She came down with an awful cold. Congestion, cough, fever...you get the idea. So, in mid-moving rush, I had to make a stop at Walmart to get her some medicine. This was the first time Twinkletoes had been sick like this so I of course went to get what always helped Punk. Infant Tylenol Cold plus Cough. It's awesome and would work within a day or two.

My mom had the kids, so I told her I'd be right back with medicine for Miss Sicky. I went right where I knew the medicine was in Walmart and there was one of those little cards telling you to take it to the pharmacy and they'll give you the medicine. Now I know that some of the adult formula medicine had this rule, but not infant formulas. Ugh. So I ran it over to the counter and the lady asked me for my driver's license. Well of course I didn't have it. My purse was in my husband's car because I had ridden with him to the Uhaul rental place and drove his car out to the new house so it was out of our way. Where I then got my car which my stepson had driven out for me and drove him back in to help his dad, took my kid's to my mom's and went to Walmart. I didn't even think to grab my purse. (I had cash in my pocket for lunch later.)

So, there I am at the Walmart Pharmacy telling this woman that I only need one box because I have a very sick little girl at home and why can't she just let me have the one box!! I could tell that she honestly believed me and wanted to just give it to me....but rules are rules and it's now against the law for any store to sell any of the medicines that require that they keep them behind the counter without first running someone's driver's license. She did offer to just look me up in the system by my name, but the problem with that was I had never bought anything that I needed to show my driver's license for so she wouldn't do that because I wouldn't be in the system.

So, I left. I took a chance and went to CVS. They were out of what I needed, but they did have Infant Tylenol Cold. So I bought that. And I didn't even have to go to the pharmacy. I was grumbling about Walmart and all the idiot people using over the counter medincines to make DRUGS and they're using INFANT medince at that!!!! Seriously, idiots!! My child was very sick, and I couldn't even get her any relief! And when I did it wasn't even what she really needed.

Two days later I went to Walmart prepared with my driver's license to get the kind of cold medicine I knew Twinkletoes needed because the other wasn't helping her cough. Right there it was sitting on the shelf. WAH? So I grabbed it and marched right over to the pharmacy. The lady who "helped" me before wasn't there, so I got kind of snippy with the woman who was there.

"Excuse me, but I was in here on Saturday and I was refused to be able to buy this because it was behind your counter and I didn't have my driver's license on me. This sweet little girl has been sick and needed this and I COULDN'T BUY IT and now I see that it's just sitting there one your shelf. Do you realize what you guys put me through on Saturday and now it's just sitting out for anyone to grab? What is there just a "no weekend sales" on cough medicine in this hick store?"

"Mam, Tylenol has reformulated their cold medicines so that they can sell them on the shelves again to make it more conveinient for the people who really need it." And then she just walked away.

Now, you'd think I'd have been embarrassed by my outburst, but I wasn't. I immediately started thinking about what was in the Tylenol medicine now. Would it be as effective? I mean if its not strong enough or is missing the ingredient that makes drugs then would it still work for taking care of my kids' colds? And if it isn't as strong, then why am I still have to pay the $6 price?

I bought it anyway, Twinkletoes got over her cold. But, I swear it took 2 extra days!

I've been seeing that Claritin-D commercial where they are advertising at the end that they are not reformulating just to be able to keep their medicine on the shelf and that you can find it behind the pharmacy counter. So there MUST be a difference in the ways that medicines work after they're reformulated. I guess as inconvenient as it is....I'd rather have to go show my driver's licence to get OTC meds than to not know if something that has always worked so well, wont work as well anymore.

It's really awful that there are people out there that are making this a problem at all. SUCH STUPIDITY!

Damn That Tiger!

Having a 2 1/2 year old is pretty difficult. Obviously, there are the terrible 2's, which I hear turn in to the terrorific 3's and I am SO not looking forward to that!! But, what I mean by difficult is that it's hard to know how to treat the little person before you. Is he a baby? Or is he a kid?

I know this sounds confusing, but let me explain. Punk is 2 1/2 and I see him as a baby. Yes he can talk and walk and feed himself. But he's just learning so much new stuff that when he remembers something that happened months ago or says something like, "I told you that!" when I ask him where something is and it's really where he told me, I get so taken aback!

He's definitely turning into a little kid...

But what happened the other day, I so did not expect for at least a couple more years. My son has been overtaken by consumerism! OH that's right. I really didn't think that would happen for awhile. I mean, he knows that he likes chicken nuggets. So sometimes when I ask him what he wants for lunch he'll request them. I know that he wants McDonalds, because that's the only time get gets chicken nuggets, but he hasn't caught on to that yet.

But the other day while grocery shopping I let him walk beside me for the first time. We went to Walmart and the only carts they have for multiple children are those stupid blue 2 seater things and Twinkletoes is too small for that yet. I prefer shopping at Kroger because they have the 2 seater plastic car attatched to the front end of the cart and then the basket part fits 2...that right, 2 kids!! I told my husband that we can have 2 more kids because Kroger can accomdate them while I have them in tow!!

Wow, I got WAY off subject! Anyway, Punk was walking beside me and of course he was drawn to the stuff on the shelves. At first he just wanted to help me put things in the cart...but that quickly changed!! Next thing I know he is actually screaming about what he wants to put in the cart. Here are some examples:

Danimals "drinkable" yogurt (has pictures of monkey's on it)
Scooby Doo Kraft Mac n' Cheese (pictures of Scooby Doo)
Kelloggs Frosted Flakes (BIG picture of Tony the Tiger!)

Not once did he choose something that wasn't geared towards kids. Well, except the head of broccoli that he picked up and licked and I HAD to buy after that!! But broccoli is his favorite veggie so that explains that!

I was just horrified. I thought he was too young for things like that. He's just a baby!! Baby's aren't supposed to be able to notice these kinds of things!! I didn't expect him to be throwing the Lucky Charms into the cart until he was at least 4!!!! AAHHH!!!

By the way, I'm going to go broke with this kid helping with the shopping. I bought all of the above listed products that he threw in the cart(they just looked so good!!).

Country Living

First off, I'm back! Thank you for the emails while I was gone! Our move went pretty smoothly and it's so nice to finally start getting back into a routine again. Everything is pretty much unpacked. The kids' room's boxes and my Ebay things are the only boxes left to unpack. Woo Hoo!!

Living in the country is so nice! There's just this total sense of calm. (Although, as I'm typing this Punk is screaming and throwing himself on the floor because he wants Twinkletoes to wake up and I wont let him go upstairs to wake her!)

I dont know what it is. Maybe the fresh air or the cows? But I just am feeling completely at peace here, and very homemakerish. Yeah that's right, homemakerISH! I made it up...so what?

Since we've moved in there hasn't been a dirty dish in the sink(because I wash them, not because we're eating off paper plates!). I've kept up with the laundry! Huge GASP from my family...I am always about 4 loads behind! I've made dinner every single night without complaining. I've quit smoking! And I even took the kid's to church on Sunday. Something I haven't done for months! W couldn't go because his other kids were here...but he'll be joining us again next week. This is just the best I've felt for so long!

I dont know if it's in my blood because my mom grew up on a farm and I spent my summers on that farm with my Grandma. Or if it's just the total peace you get from fresh air, open spaces, and star-filled skys. But I am a whole new person here. And I LOVE it!

I Have Proof!

I've been busy with all the packing preparing us for our move. After packing up the living room the other day, I looked a round feeling such a sense of accomplishment. Then I glanced at our fireplace mantle.

This had been the focal point of the living room. I kept a framed wedding picture with the frame matting that all of our wedding guests had signed. There was a shadow box with our wedding invitation in it that a friend had made for us. And our champagne flutes. It may seem silly to display all of that, but they're so simple and elegant and I hated to box them up!

So, glancing at the mantle I was completely taken aback. My beautiful wedding decorations, symbolizing our marriage and commitment to each other, was replaced by this:




I now feel like I'm living in a Frat House! Yes, that's Jegermeister. Yes, its my husband's. I TOLD you he wasn't helping me!!!

Meet Erin!

Today is not about me. Today's post is all about, Erin, at Its MY Life. She's my new renter, and I hope all of you go over and visit her.

I've never seen her blog before, but I really like it!! I just spent the last 20 minutes or so reading all of her entries that weren't archived yet. She's very interesting and tells it how it is!! I admire that in a blogger.

So, head over there!! Tell her I sent you! You dont want to miss her!

W? W? Where Are the Boxes?

This is moving week, and there is just so much to do! Its definitely is not helping that W does not want to help me. He had the nerve to tell me on Sunday while he was watching football and I was packing Twinkletoes's room that there just wasn't much to do, so he was just going to watch the game.

HUH? Not much to do!?

I've packed the living room(sorta) , dining room and now Twinkletoes's room. Every other room in the house needs packed and that was our last weekend home together to do anything. Saturday was consumed by Twinkletoes's birthday party, but all day Sunday was supposed to be packing. Oh that man makes me so mad!

He also could have called to get our phone/internet/satellite services set up, but did he? Nope. I did it yesterday.

Moving sucks, and it's getting worse. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, on top of having this house to pack, I need to be at the new house to paint the bathroom, tear down the border in the living room and put up the new one, and clean the whole place to my liking. Where's W going to be? Work. Will he leave one hour early those days to help me? No.

I got my revenge though...I found a border that I LOVED for the living room and bought it. It cost almost $100! He about had a heart attack, but a little crying and voila...I get to keep my border!

We Will Never Forget

Robert T. Lane, 28 years old
Engine 55, New York City Fire Department

Died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.







These comments about Robert were left on the Victims of 9/11 site. I wanted to share them with you.

ROBERT WAS A VERY FINE PERSON. I HAVE KNPWN ROBERT AND HIS FAMILY FOR OVER 30 YEARS. I WANT TO EXTEND MY VERY DEEPEST CONDOLENCES TO ROBERT'S FAMILY, DICKIE, JANET, SUZANNE AND JASON, PLEASE ACCEPT MY SINCERE SORROW TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

IVE ONLY RECENTLY DISCOVERED THAT ROB WAS A VICTIM OF 9-11. MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO HIM AND HIS WHOLE FAMILY. GOD BLESS


My prayers and love are with Robs family and friends...just know that Rob was a wonderful person who shared much love and laughter with everyone he met.

Rob was so loved by his family and friends. I miss his bright smile and laugh. I consider myself so lucky to have been friends with such a special person. I will never forget him, or the great times we shared.

I just want you to know that you are always in my thoughts. I love you all very much and miss Robert dearly. He is always in my heart, as are all of you. I will forever cherish the wonderful times that we all shared growing up.


Robert T. Lane is a HERO. He made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11. I am sure he will be remembered by his family... and that his family and friends are very proud of him. I send my love to the Lane family, and hope that you find some comfort from this. God gave Robert a wonderful gift that day.... He gave him wings....

I miss you and love you too evn though i dnno you that well you wored with my grandpa and i now hes with yo now!

bobby i miss you so much, i really wish you were here right now cause ever since you left me here i've been so lost, so so lost, and i cant seem to find myself without you here, its been so hard these last 5 years to wake up and breathe without it hurting knowing that my best friend is never coming home, so bobby you are missed and loved and please find some way again to show me your still near me...

To Robert and all of the 9/11 victims. You will never be forgotten. Never. May you all rest in peace. You are truly angels. And to Robert, for dying a hero. A very special angel indeed!

Visit 2,996 to read about the rest of the 2,995 vicims of that fateful day.

Preschool

When it comes to preschool, I SO do not want to send my kids! Around here for one year, it's close to $700! I dont know if that's high or low compared to other places in the country, but it sure is HIGH for me!! I could not imagine spending that kind of money!

I know that Preschool is important. I know this. But I really think it's something that should be decided upon on a kid-by-kid basis. For instance, Punk. Punk does not need preschool. He is already ahead of the game on things that he'd learn there. He knows all of his letters. All of his numbers, 1-10. He can count(most of the time!). And he's learning the ABC song. He can sing his own version of Twinkle, Twinkle and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. He's also very social with other kids. I'm going to enroll him in the ABC Swim Gym program at the YMCA just for fun. But I'm not going to pay $700/yr. for preschool.

Now, Twinkletoes? Twinkletoes is just one, but she may end up needing preschool. She's not as advanced as Punk always was. But I'll make that decision when she's older!

I know that Valerie just enrolled her little one in preschool. And my next door neighbor's son had his first day of preschool yesterday. She, like me, did not want to send him. He's very smart like Punk, and is definitely NOT lacking in social skills. But, her husband insisted that she enroll him. Well....she waited until the very beginning of summer to call. Right at the time when they are booked and you get put on a waiting list.

I remember about a month ago her laughing and me about it because it kept her husband off her back, but she would not have to send her little one or pay the money. I guess the joke was on her....last Monday they called and said he could start right away! Oh was she sad. But, yesterday when I talked to her, she was delighted! She had had THREE WHOLE HOURS to herself!! I was jealous!! And it worked out perfectly for her.

I'm still not going to enroll Punk, but I am jealous of those of you who get a few hours to yourself. I guess I have to wait for Kindergarten. But that's okay...at least it wont put me in debt...right!?

Punk's Version Of:

Twinkle, Twinkle

Twinkle, up side diamonds.
In the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle...
Where you ARRRREEE!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, row, row, row yur boat.
Row down stream
merrilymerrilymerrily (insert a bunch of head shaking back and forth)
Where you ARRREEE!

Yeah, I know they both end in "Where you ARRREEE!" But, it's so darn cute, I dont want to correct him!!

My Interview!

Click on the image to read my interview at "5 Minutes for Mom".

Wondering what the fuss about 5 Minutes for Mom is all about? Check it out. It's a blog for moms run by twin sisters who are helping mom blogs and mom-owned stores take over the Net! With their experience running a retro pedal cars and collectibles store and a childrens furniture store they've learned how hard it is for moms to get their sites noticed. They're encouraging moms to shop with moms and to make it nice and easy, they've created a directory of mom-run sites.

We're Gonna Win!!!

Today'd be da day!! What day is that do you ask!? The kickoff of OHIO STATE FOOTBALL!!!!! WOOO HOOO!!!

(If you're a Michigan fan, please quietly exit out the side door!)

I bought a new necklace for the occasion:



Punk got dressed in his OSU jersey his PaPaw(my dad) bought him before he had even turned one. Its a size 6...he'll be wearing it for many games to come!



I even hung my flag in the garden. Stood outside in the rain, I did, I did!!



My husband had better be in his OSU garb, but I haven't seen him yet(he's still at work).

The kids and I are headed to Walmart here in a few minute to buy Twinkletoes an outfit...she outgrew hers from last year.

Oh yeah, baby! Can't wait for KICKOFF!! Is it 3:30 yet!?

Perfect Post: August

This is my first time presenting a Perfect Post Award! I've enjoyed reading every month over at Momma K's and Lindsey's. Finally, I got up the courage to join as a presenter. It was just as tough as I'd imagined it'd be. There are just too many good posts out there!!

This is the one that stuck out to me. The Queen of Spain has decided to stand up for mommy's everywhere and our habit of dropping the F-bomb, and some of the other swear words that we may let slip out(Hayden's picked up on "Oh Dammit!" and YES, it was MY fault. Just ask my husband, he wont let me forget it!).

I couldn't have agreed with this post more and it sure was fun to read! Definitely the reason why I love her blog so much!

So go over and read:

The Post Where I Cuss, But Only For Emphasis

...and see why I awarded this post my Perfect Post for August!!

We Got It!

We got our country home!! I'm so excited. We'll be able to move in probably mid-September! It's going to be complete craziness around here for the next couple of weeks!

Twinkletoes is going to be one on September 7th and her birthday party is September 9th. We're going to have it at this house. I'm hoping it'll be nice because I really need to have everyone outside since inside will be filled with boxes ready to move.

My mom saw the new house yesterday(just driving by) and she loved it! Punk keeps calling it "the white farm" and is thrilled to get to "live with the cows"!! This is going to be so fun!

I think I'm most excited about having a big kitchen. It's not huge, but it's MUCH bigger than what I have now, and I really need that since I cook all the time! I just can't wait to get moved!!!

Just Crown Me the Winner!

Yesterday I was not feeling well. At. All. My husband called me late in the afternoon to tell me not to worry about dinner, he'd make something when he got home. I already had a meal planned so I thanked him, but told him I had it under control. I made pork fried rice (just click on the link, follow the recipe and add some chunks of cooked pork loin(I fried it before starting the rice) and voila...dinner!)

We were all sitting together eating dinner (W, his son 19, Punk, Twinkletoes and myself) and everyone was scarfing down their food. Even Miss Twinkletoes couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough! My husband, who truly appreciates my culinary talent, said to 19, "We sure dont eat anything boring around here do we?" 19 agreed and went on to talk about how much he loves Chinese food and how he'll always get the fried rice when he goes out to eat it. I jumped in to share how cheap it had been to make since I found a great pack of thick pork loin for only $5 at Kroger.

19 looked at me and said, "So you cooked the pork yourself? Its not just packaged?"

W answered and said, "No, she made this totally from scratch, everything from the veggies to the fresh ginger she chopped up herself!"

19said, "Wow, you said she was sick, so I just figured this was one of those frozen packaged meals! This is GREAT!"

Every last grain of rice was eaten last night. I was filled with homemaker pride!! My husband knows I can cook, and usually when I'm sick I dont. But I had this recipe planned and decided just to stick with it. I'm so glad I did.

See, I never say anything about my husband's ex. But she's not a very motherly type of person. She doesn't cook. She doesn't clean. At all. They go to her mother's house every night for dinner. And her mother is not a very good cook either. W thought he hit the jackpot with me. Not only did he get him a hot, young wife. But (shock!) a wife who enjoys cooking and is actually GOOD at it!!

Because my stepkids aren't around that much they dont really know what I'm like day in and day out. I think 19's impressed. And that makes me happy because, although he's accepting of me being his dad's wife, I dont think he every really got what a good wife I was to him. And now he knows.

So tonight, after the laundry, vacuuming, baking a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies....it's Cuban for dinner!!

Did I mention that I LOVE that my husband thinks I'm WAY better than his ex-wife!?

Should I let it go and stop making it a one-sided competition in my head? Probably.

Will I? Uhhh, NO!

Keeping Our Options Open

We decided that we'd still keep looking for a house while we were waiting on our old one to open up. Just because its so far out of town and moving twice would be miserable we just thought we'd keep our options open.

Well last night we went and looked at the perfect house for us! It's a farmhouse, but completely remodeled so it's absolutely charming! It's got 3 bedrooms, but there are two extra rooms that could be used as bedrooms so essentially it's a 5 bedroom house. In fact the two rooms that their not considering bedrooms we'll be using as bedrooms(if we get it).

I can not wait to find out!! They should be calling today or tomorrow. It seems pretty promising that we'll get it. We were there for 45 minutes, and only 10 of those minutes was us looking at the house. The rest of the time we stood out on the deck and talked to the owners.

It's their farm that this house is on and they live in a larger house on the same property. There's cows all around and I thought Punk was going to pass out from all that excitment!!

I always wanted to live on a farm, but not have to do the farming!! I guess that little dream may be coming true!! Oh I can't wait to find out!!

Why Waste So Much Money!?

It makes no sense to me why so many families eat out at sit down restaurants multiple times per week. It's such a huge expense!! While we were in Texas we at out every night and our bill was always over $40! And that was just with my husband, Punk and me eating. And Punk eats off the kids menu!!

Now I dont cook every single night. Most nights, yes. But every week or two we'll order pizza. We dont go out to restaurants as a family. Sometimes W and I will go on a date night. But other than that, it's primarily just for special occasions. Like birthday's.

I love to cook. I used to not, but when I started going through cookbooks and searching online for recipes I realized just how much was out there and fell in love with cooking! Lately I've fallen behind. I got into a slump. Mainly because it's been so hot!! But I think I'm coming out of it. I discovered a website that I just fell in love with. It's been around for awhile so many of you may have already seen it...but it's just wonderful.

I planned meals for the next seven nights...I'm so excited!! We just got home from the grocery store and I only spend $130 and that included things for breakfast, lunch, snacks for my stepson and stamps!!! SEVEN MEALS!! Why you'd want to throw away money on eating out all the time is beyond me!

Here's the link to my new favorite website, Recipe Zaar!

Defending My Honor

I was reading Cosmo and it reminded me of something and I thought I'd share...

Let's set the scene..

When: December 2003

Where: A local bar, following my husband's Christmas party at another bar.

Who: Me, 7 months pregnant. My husband, 7 tequila shots too many!

Why: Because after the Christmas party my husband decided he hadn't had enough to drink and convinced me to take him to our favorite bar...not so much a favorite when you're preggo!

The story..

It was close to 2am and at 7 months pregnant I was exhausted! All I wanted to do was go home so I finally convinced Will to get out of there. He was hem-hawing about leaving so I just put on my coat(which didn't zip because my belly was too big!) and headed towards the door.

As I walked passed the bar this guy who was leaning against the wall stuck out his foot to trip me! I about fell because of the lack of balance us pregnant woman have, but managed to recover.

I swung around and slammed the guy against the wall by his shoulders. I did. I still can't believe it!

To picture how funny that had to have looked, I'm only 5'1" and this guy was easily 6'. Oh, and here is a picture of me pregnant(I was pregnant with Punk at the time of this story, but this is pic of me pregnant with Twinkletoes).




Anyway, the guy then noticed that I was pregnant and was visibly horrified that not only had he 1)almost wiped out a pregnant woman, but 2) his judgment was so fogged by beer that he was hitting on a fat cow!

I went back and grabbed W and told him that this asshole had tried to trip me and "COULD HAVE HURT OUR BABY!!!" I was a total mess over the whole thing. W went up to him and I was so convinced that he was going to beat the shit out of him and I did not want to get hurt in the scuffel so I went outside.

I stood out there for a few minutes and W never came out. I got a little worried about him and went in to see what he was doing. That's when I saw my manly husband(boyfriend at the time) defending my honor by......standing there with jerko numero uno, arm around him like they were long lost buds laughing and getting ready to go buy another beer.

I walked up, ignored the man's rambling apologies, grabbed W by the coat sleeve and drug his ass out of there!!

Needless to say...it was a LONG time before I let him live that story down...apparently I still haven't!

Show Me Yours...

And I'll Show You Mine!!!


Jess from O Mama Mia and Laura from The Noodle Incident have started a really cool Monday picture meme called Show Me Yours & I’ll Show You Mine.

This weeks? Show Me Your (Inner) Domestic Goddess. Are you in suburban bliss? Do you get lost in your kitchen, flouring the hours away, baking? Do you love your home? Or maybe you’re in suburban turmoil & you live amongst desperate housewives?

That'd be me. Last Thanksgiving. I was making the gravy. Actually I made the whole meal. Pumpkin pies and all!! I'd show you a picture of the feast...but we were all so hungry we forgot to take a picture of the table!! And it was my FIRST time making any large holiday meal!!

Now...I want to see yours!!

Family of Four, no...FIVE!

Well my stepson has "moved in". He's 19, graduated from high school in June and is now working for my husband. So since he lives an hour away he's staying with us for the time being.

I like my stepson. He's responsible, picks up after himself, helps with the little ones, and is very polite. Plus he cracks my shit up! I know you're not supposed to play favorites with your kids....but I have three stepkids, and he's my favorite! I think since they're stepchildren, it's okay...isn't it? I dont tell them that he's my favorite, it's just my own personal secret..and I guess everyone else's now too! At least those that read this blog.

Here's my only dilema. He stayed with us for a week last winter while he was helping W out at work. It was fine at first, but by the middle of the week. I swear I was totally ignored by W. He had his son here to buddy around with and they'd watch what they wanted on tv. They'd talk all evening. I was totally left on my own. It was lonely. And sad.

So now, my stepson is here for who knows how long. And I'm really worried I'm going to have those same feelings again. I tried telling W about it last winter, but he laughed at me. Really, he did. He thought I was being silly. Already I can't sit in my spot in the living room. W's let his son have the couch and him and I have to sit on the loveseat. So not comfy!

I dont know. I'm happy my stepson is here. I'm glad he's not staying with his mom and stepdad anymore(they're horrible people). But I will look forward for him to save up enough money to get his own place.

I am going to have to talk to my husband though and make sure that he doesn't ignore me comepletely, like last time. I dont want to interfere with father/son bonding. But, it's not fair to me either, when it gets to the point where our relationship is sacraficed...

Opinions...Everyone's Got One!

You know, I've always been a "nice" blogger. I try not to go to other people's blogs and stir up trouble. Even when I dont agree, I usually wont post, I just let it go.

In fact my McEvil? post was the most controversial thing I think I've ever done since I've been blogging. But you know what, I liked how I felt after that post. I felt like I had shown something a little more about myself than I had before. Some of you agreed with me(which I LOVED) and some of you didn't. But did I email you and harrass you about it? No. Did I email the people who made the original posts and harrass them because I disagreed? No.

It's not a personal attack when you disagree with someone's blog entry, it's a matter of opinion. They're like assholes, everyone's got one. (I hope!) I love blogging so much because I get to be me. And I started this new blog identity so I could REALLY be me. The me who I am inside. On the outside a lot of people see me as mommy to Hayden and Tara, and yes that's a HUGE part of who I am, but it's not all that's in there.

Okay, so back to my point. I've always been a "nice" blogger. I never leave negative feedback. Ever. But that was the insecurity in me. Thinking that I wanted everyone to like me and why cause waves? Well. With this new identity. I want to be me. I want to tell people I dont agree with them. And if they dont like it. THAT'S OKAY. But dont go emailing me privately and blasting me.

I left a comment on another mommy blog about the fact that I disagreed with her post. I will not go into all the details, but I thought what she did was wrong, and I told her.

I did not think I was being rude..just stating my opinion. We all need to remember that when we post stories about our lives out in cyber-world, not every person who reads your stories will a)like them and b)agree with them. Remember, it's all a matter of opinion. But instead of her taking my comment as what it was, my opinion...she then sent me a PERSONAL email that ended with this paragraph:


I would encourage you not to leave rude comments on people's blogs
that you've never even been to before. My blog is open for all kinds
of discussion....but I will not be repremanded on it! I've gone to
many blogs and read many posts that I didn't agree with, I did not
however leave rude comments...you wanna know why??? Because it's not
my place.

Thank you.

She then proceeded to go to another website and personally attack me. Saying I was crying because she emailed me. Um...no, not crying, again, just having my own opinion.

So maybe you'll all read this post and think, well she is crying or she wouldn't have bothered to make a post out of it! But I hope not. I'm just doing my thang. Blogging about what I want. You can agree with me or not. But I promise you, I will not send you a personal email attacking you because you dont agree with me. I dont want a bunch of Stepford Bloggers reading my little blog.

Dont kiss my ass. Dont flatter me to get me to put you on my blogroll. Be real. Be raw!! Let me have it if you hate a post. I want to hear it!

And We'll Call Her Ted Nugent

My baby girl has had a high fever for the last three days. I thought it was just from teething, but three days later, no new teeth and still no relief I decided to call the pediatritian. They got us in as soon as I called and I was shocked at what we found out.

My little princess has...

CAT SCRATCH FEVER!

What!? I thought that was just a song!

See, our cat had kittens. Our cat keeps going outside. Our cat brought fleas into the house. Our cat gave those fleas to her kittens.

Apparently, Cat Scratch Fever is in a cats saliva and when they clean themselves, particularly their paws and then if they scratch you you can get the disease. Well it's not that common, and usually only among young cats or kittens, particularly who have fleas.

Tara plays with our cat a lot. Not so much with the kittens, but our cat is not even a year old, so she probably was carrying the disease if her kittens had it. Tara doesn't have any scratches on her, but the doctor said she could have already healed or it could have just been a faint surface scratch that I wouldn't have even noticed.

Only my kid would get something like Cat Scratch Fever!!

How could something this cute...



Get this baby so sick?

Say Thank You!

I read about this on Bloggy Gossip. I hope that everyone reading this blog will click the link below and send a message to our solidiers. They need to know that we're behind them 100%!!!!

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

Home Sweet Home

Well I had a cute post all ready for today...pics of the kids included. But of course Blogger is sucking and I can't upload my pictures! Those of you out there who blog under anything but Blogger, leave a comment, tell me about the system you use and the benefits/drawbacks. I'm so sick of Blogger. Of course I just got this great new template and would not want to lose it by switching!!

Okay, so now I have to blog about something else...here goes..

If you dont know already we're planning on moving soon. Rentals are hard to come by in this town. Either you pay an arm and a leg for a nice house in town, or you pay what you can afford and get a crapper on the bad end of town. Now we're looking to pay no more than $700/mo. That is a lot of money for a rental, and to pay that and live in a house that sucks, is so not worth it. Right now we have a fairly nice house on a good end of town...but because our rent is average, we pay out the butt for utilities!! Our gas bill through the winter was higher than our rent.

Well, we looked at a house this weekend in an area that's about 15 minutes from town. It's a private community with a lake. To live there you pay member dues and get access to all three beaches, the indoor and outdoor pool and the golf course and club house. Now if you rent out there the dues are included in your rent. The nice part about living there is all the homes are nice and fairy affordable rent-wise. But the drawback is that you're 15 minutes from town(and that's just if you live near the front of the lake). It's more like 25 minutes if you live near the back side.

Okay, so we looked at a home there. It was nice, but too small for a family of 4. Turned out though, that the landlord was someone who W and I rented off of before Punk was born. He called last night to see what we thought of the house and W was honest and told him it was just too small. But he surprised us by offering us our old house back.

Now we loved that house, but it was even further than the lake from town. But we LOVED that house!!! I dont even remember why we moved...I think we were tired of the drive. After that surprise he double surprised us. Later in the year(we dont know when yet, he's calling Will later today) he will allow us to move into a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 3 car garage, on 3 corner lots house at the lake. Now we wouldn't be ON the lake, but in that community. We're taking it!! W's going to find out later today how long it'll be until that house comes available. If it's only going to be a couple of months we'll just stay here, but if it isn't until spring then we'll move to our old house and then into the lake house.

Moving twice will suck. But to get an affordable NICE house with all the perks of living in that private lake community...that would be too cool!

Funny how things work out. I'm going to start packing this week. Theres a lot of stuff in this house that we dont need on a daily basis and to get a head start on the packing would be so nice!

Having a Husband Does Not Mean Having a Helper!

I know that this is probably something that every stay-at-home mom encounters, but I'm starting to get really pissed off by it! My husband thinks that when he's home, he does not have to do anything. Seriously. Nothing. He even made the comment the other day there there was no way that I could do his job, and that he could do mine very easily and would never complain.

I think he has a death wish. Especially since for some reason my body is all screwed up and I'm having my second period in three weeks!! Our house is being overtaken by my PMS hormones!! Even my kids have learned to back off, but my husband...not so smart!

Now, back to the comment that I couldn't do his job. He may be right there, but only for the fact that I haven't had the proper training or 15 years experience like he has. But if I had, then your damn straight I could do his job. But here's what gets me. Yes he works all day, but when he gets home, he gets to sit down and be waited on.

He does nothing around here. I'm not going to go into the details of what my day with the kids is like. It's pretty self-explanitory. But as soon as my husband is home in the evening or the weekends, my job is even harder. There's one more person to pick up after. There's one more person asking where their things are that I've picked up and put in it's rightful place, but how would he know because he just lets stuff lie where it lands. And when I'm trying to make dinner, I still have to keep my eye on the kids, he wont even look after them for me! He used to.

He does so little that when the kids want or need something, they only come to me. Even last night, Twinkletoes had something in her mouth. I was actually sitting down for a minute and W says. "What's she got now?" And just sat there and let me get up to go check. WTF?

He makes a big deal when I mention any of this to him. He gets all pissed and says that he hates how I make it out like he's lazy. But he is, when it comes to things around the house. He used to get the kids changed and put in bed every night so I could kick back after making dinner. But he doesn't even do that anymore.

Oh, and one more complaint before I go. I made the comment last night that our house got trashed over the weekend. He proceeded to tell me that most of it was mine and the kids. And because of that I was to assume that it was my responsibility to clean up(no surprise there). But it's now Monday, he's at work, and his things are still lying where they were last night.

I guess that's my cue to get cleaning!

But first there's lunch to be made, diapers to be changed, doctor's appointments to be scheduled(one of those being for my husband!), birthday party invitations to be filled out and mailed, and Ebay items to be listed. Oh, and fight my kids to take their naps.

Oh no, I do nothing around here. My job is so easy.

McEvil?

I came across these two posts today.

Life in Forsyth: Get Up Stand Up

The Queen of Spain: McEvil Teams Up With McEvil-er

Seriously, read them then come back and tell me what you think. I just dont get it.

Seriously. Dont. Get. It.

Just yesterday we had that playdate at McDonalds. Punk got one of the Hummer toys. He played with it, Twinkletoes played with it. Every other kid in the room who had received a Hummer were playing with them. I didn't notice any of the mother's upset by that. Not a one.

I dont know what it is. No one has a problem with Hot Wheels selling their tiny real-life car models. I dont think that McDonalds has tried to scheme parents into buying a Hummer. I really dont. Maybe I'm ignorant, I dont know. I just think it was a way to get more kids to want a Happy Meal because of the "cool truck".

Hell, I thought it was so cute that I want to take Punk back next week and see which one we get next!! We had fun playing with his H1 and it's retractable winch! But I'm not going to go buy a Hummer. And I am not going to boycott McDonald's.

Now, check out this picture of the McDonald's we saw in North Dallas, as we were leaving to go home. It was freaking awesome!! We didn't go in but through the glass could see the chandeliers and fancy decor. Plus they had a McCafe, with AWESOME vanilla lattes!! (I've been dying to blog this pic, but never had the right moment(and yesterday I was too tired!)

Swimming In Texas!

Here It Is...

Here it is!! I'd have put it up earlier...but as you saw from my post last night, I needed a little recovery time this morning!! Plus, I had planned a playdate with my kids and their little friends at McDonald's for 11am. Oh that was a dumb move!! 30 screaming kids was not a fun way to deal with my hangover! I dont know why I drank so much, well, yeah I do. My husband and I got in a huge fight, it was such a stupid thing, but it just made me so mad and I stormed out of the house and over to my friend's house(we share a yard). So about 100 beers later, I decided to come in and blog! LOL!! Thank god I didn't write more than I did!!!

Anyway, how do you like my template!? I know that it needs to be centered, but there's a issue of finding the code for that....so if you know anything about HTML and want to look and see if you know what will fix that, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, its going to stay this way for awhile. I am just THRILLED with it!! It's so pretty and so ME!!!

Welcome to Mamaritaville!!!

I need to pass out

I am drunk...drunkity drunk drunk drunk.....tune in tomorrow for the new template!! WOO HOO!!!

Sorry!

Just wanted you all to know that I haven't abandoned my blog! I've been busy! I've got someone working on the new template and I just have been kind of waiting until that's set up before I get back to blogging regularly.

Here's why I've been busy though:

We've decided we need to move. We rent our house and last winter for three months straight our gas bill was higher than our rent. And we only kept our furnace on 68. Plus we had our windows covered in plastic and we were still chilly! I know that with older homes, you'll have that, but still, it was ridiculous! The landlady had promised some new windows before the start of winter last year..and we're still waiting! GRR! So we need to find a new place before the snow flies again. I think we're going to look at a place this evening. I want a good insulated home with a large kitchen and carpet! This house has hardwood floors and their in desperate need for a refinishing!

Second, I've joined the world of Ebay! I'm slowly going to start selling on there! I've never even thought about doing it before, but now that I have, I'm SO addicted!! Check it out and tell me what you think!

That's all for now. I promise as soon as the template is up I'll be back to normal. I want to work on building my blog visitors too! Man, the internet is addicting!!!

Your Opinion

I have a few ideas for a caption for this blog...tell me which one you like:

Mamaritaville...

1. Looking for my bottle of "happy pills"!

2. Some people say that there's ba-by to blame...

3. It's my own damn fault!



And one more question for you before you leave...

Would you like the posts(when they get back to normal...later today?) to be full sized or just a teaser of it and then you click to read on?

Let me know!