Yes I'm PMSing!

I haven't blogged in a few days because...I haven't had anything to say. I still dont, but I am determined to blog, so please, bear with me.

We're still waiting to close on our house. We should be doing it this week. But it's looking like it may not happen, thanks to our bank lady who's handling everything. She's gone from office until tomorrow. Our appraisal is done and is just waiting on underwriting. It's been waiting since last Wednesday, but like I said, our bank lady is out of the office. Who needs Thursday-Tuesday off for Thanksgiving? That's what I'd like to know. Seriously, getting pissed here. I want to move. More importantly, I want to decorate for Christmas. Brown cardboard boxes are not nearly as beautiful as a Christmas tree. And if I hear one more person talk about how they got their tree up and decorated over the weekend, I am going to scream! I'm highly considering just breaking and entering into our new home and putting a tree up and decorating. Maybe moving in a few boxes..beds..who would really care? It's empty. It's just waiting for us. It's all about formalities now.

To ease our impatience we decided to hit Lowes over the weekend to check prices on the upgrades we want to incorporate into our new home. Things like paint, a new front door, shutters, old-fashioned screen doors, dishwasher, shower for the basement, curtains, carpet, laminate wood flooring, new cabinets. You know, just little stuff. I didn't realize just how much the "little stuff" would actually cost. I have just one room I want to carpet. Our family room. I want plush, sink your toes in carpet in there. The kind of carpet that when you lay on it, you fall asleep. Of course with carpeting like that you need the good pad underneath it. I found exactly what I wanted. I was so excited. It wasn't even the top of the line stuff. I looked lovingly into my husband's eyes. "Please, can we get this once we move in. It's so perfect! It shouldn't cost that much to do just one room." He looked back at me with a smile that said; You simple-minded little fool. Then he said, "To carpet that one room with this exact carpet and padding, with me installing it and not paying for labor, it would cost over $1200." That was a shock! I had budgeted $1200-$1500 to put laminate flooring in our kitchen, dining room, living room and hallway. I thought that was expensive! But over $1200 for one room. I might have to scale back a bit on my "dream carpet". Either that or look into robbing a bank!

So now I am frustrated that I can't move into my house. Frustrated that I can't decorate for Christmas. Frustrated that I don't have bottomless pockets of money to do all the upgrading and decorating to my house the FIRST DAY we move in. Frustrated that the only options for me right now is to wait, be patient, try not to bite people's heads off when they look at me, and learn how to save. Damn home-ownership!

I Wish My List Looked Like Theirs!

While working on a "To Do" list this weekend, my children wanted me to make each of them one as well. I did the writing, they did the listing of things they felt they needed to do. Here are all of our lists:

"Mommy's To Do List"
1. Clean living room
2. Clean kitchen
3. Clean downstairs bathroom
4. Fold & put away clothes
5. Pack hall closet
6. Pack Hayden's closet
7. Call HVAC contractor
8. Pack & clean back porch
9. Pack 1/2 of kids' toys
10. Put dinner in crockpot

"Hayden's To Do List"
1. Rest
2. Do some push-ups
3. Eat something healthy
4. Rest a little bit more
5. Talk to Daddy when he gets home
6. Go to sleep for a little bit
7. Sit around

"Tara's To Do List"
1. Twirl
2. Exercise
3. Take a nap
4. Drink juice
5. Have water
6. Play dollies
7. Hold Kayley
8. Play with Barbies

"Kayley's To Do List" (planned by Hayden & Tara)
1. Do baby exercises - Hayden
2. Stand up - Tara
3. Relax - Hayden
4. Fly a plane - Tara
5. Take a nap - Mommy!

It's A Big Day!

Let me start this post by sharing you a few words from the song that I woke up to singing in my head...

"We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan! We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, we're from OHIO!"

Oh yes, today is THE day! It's Ohio State vs. Michigan day. The BIGGEST day of the year for every Buckeye fan!



In about 2 hours, it'll be time for us to put the "BEST DAMN BAND IN THE LAND" in our stereo for our own personal "skull session" and cheer as "Hang on Sloopy" fills every corner of this house! Oh it's a mighty big day indeed!!

At noon..it's KICK OFF, BABY!!!





GO BUCKS!!

I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!!

I know we all would like to have perfect kids that played together, never fought, never refused to share, never punched each other...

But it's a pretty unrealistic dream, at least in my house it is.

Hayden and Tara spend the entire day together, a huge chunk of it they actually do get along and play nicely...but it doesn't take much to have them turn on one another. Hayden will punch Tara in the nose (he actually just did this about 2 minutes ago), or Tara will tell him he smells and all hell breaks lose.

Hayden: "I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE, TARA!"
Tara: *crying* "Mommy, Hayden says he don't love me no more!"
Me: *yelling from the kitchen* Hayden YOU DO TOO LOVE HER, knock it off!"
Hayden: "NO I DON'T!! I ONLY LOVE KAYLEY!!"
Tara: *crying hysterically* "Mommy HAYDEN SAYS..."
Me: "I HEARD WHAT HE SAID! Hayden I. SAID. KNOCK. IT. OFF."

(insert a few minutes of blissful silence)

Tara: MOMMY!!!!!! HAYDEN SAYS I'M A BABY!! I'M NOT A BABY!!"

...(silence)...

Tara: MOMMY!!! Mommy...??

(a few more minutes of confused silence)

(insert sounds of normal playing coming from their bedrooms)

Sometimes when the kids are acting in a heathen manner it's just easier to ignore them! Seriously. I always find myself pulled into their little "trap" and yelling and pleading, and begging them to get along... But it never fails that once I just ignore them, and keep a ear out for what's going on, they always seem to resolve their "issues" on their own.

Or maybe they are just plotting against me?

They both like to remind me multiple times a day that not only do they only love each other half of the time, they pretty much "don't love me anymore!" most of the time too.

Just part of the job description I suppose. They seem to come around and love me again once I remind them who is responsible for feeding them!

Total Chaos!

I know I didn't blog much last week. I had the flu the beginning of the week and the end of the week was filled with house-hunting excitement! So far no luck, but it was wishful thinking that we'd find our perfect home right out of the gate. I'm sitting here now very impatiently waiting for our Realtor to call and let me know which of the 4 properties we're interested in we can view tonight. We looked at 3 over the weekend, all turned out to be NOT for us! Three of the 4 houses we want to see tonight we are both really excited about. I'll keep you posted!

It's amazing how stressful this actually is. I had NO idea!! There is the problem of picking out the diamonds from the duds. Then we have to worry about whether we'll get to view it before someone else does and puts an offer in. Then we have to worry about once we DO put an offer in if it'll be rejected. Then of course, what if we actually get the house and it turns out we hate it once we're in it!? I worry about everything non-stop, so this is obviously no different.

My husband and I are both irritable, grouchy, emotional and stressed out! It's going to be a long process, and by the time we do find something and I'm sure by then we'll both have aged about 5 years!

But on top of all the stress, there is a ton of excitement! So much so that I still am having trouble not jumping up and down at any given moment. The kids were not too pleased when we told them we'd be moving. But once we told them they would have bedrooms they could paint any color they wanted, they started to come around. Then of course (without consulting me) my husband told them they could get a puppy AND a kitten...they are now very excited and won't stop talking about our new animals.

Our house is in an uproar of chaos, stress and excitement. It's scary and wonderful at the same time! Now if we could only find a home! I can't wait to move in to our OWN home. Hopefully this will be our last move! I really really am dreaming of the house we will live in for the rest of our lives. The house our kids will grow up in and will bring THEIR kids back to. I sure hope I'm not getting my hopes up too high!

Sorta...

Yesterday was just "business as usual" around here. Tara took a black Sharpie to Hayden's bedside table and his box springs. (She's a very destructive girl, I tell ya!) I spent the day doing all of my usual "mom" duties. But then I got an unusual phone call. From my mom. She wanted to come speak with my husband and me. Hmm...were we in trouble?

Will and I spent the hour and a half before she finally showed up wondering what could be wrong. Was it something good? Was she coming to tell us she won the lottery? Did she just want to tell us that she preferred ham instead of turkey for Thanksgiving? Was she moving to Alaska so she could become a "hockey mom"? What the hell was going on? It was torture!

She FINALLY got here. She hemmed and hawed and finally said, "Now you can say no if you want to, but..."

"I want to buy you a house."

WHAT!? SHE WANTS TO WHAT?!? AM I DREAMING!?! WHAAAAT????

"Now, it has stipulations. I am already preapproved. You'll have to find a house within a certain price range. You can get whatever house you'd like, although I'd like to get to be a part of the house hunting since it's always so much fun. And I'd like you to buy the house from me in 3 years for the remaining amount of the loan. You'll be paying me the house payment (taxes, insurance) monthly until then. But it would be yours."

So WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE! Sorta.
My mom is BUYING US A HOUSE! Sorta.

I'm freaking excited..to the point that I was jumping up and down and doing a wild dance in the privacy of my bathroom last night!

I'm scared out of my freaking mind as well. What if we make the wrong choice? What if she changes her mind? What if our Realtor hates us and gets us a bad deal?

But with all of the emotions running through me right now..the one that is the most overwhelming is how much I love my mother!

Yesterday was the best day of my life! Sorta.

Since I Depressed You Yesterday...

...I'll try to make you make you smile today!

Here is the list of things I've done this past week that have either not cost any money, or if they did cost some money, the emotion reward was MUCH greater!

1. On Saturday I threw a surprise party for my husband's 38th birthday. It was HIS FAMILY ONLY! Something that we NEVER do! I made pizza's and hid them in the freezer in the basement the day before. I bought beer and liquor and also hid them in the basement so he didn't get suspicious. I bought presents, wrapped them in the Speed Racer wrapping paper that Hayden picked out and again, hid them in the basement. Oh and I made a cake that morning...and you guessed it! HID IT IN THE BASEMENT! He spent the whole afternoon, once he got off work, washing our cars and working on the brakes in our van. Around 4, our son(who knew of the surprise) started yelling "SOMEONE'S HERE!" As we walked around to the front of the house he saw his sister and her family getting out of their car. As his sister handed him her present. I said "Surprise, this is your birthday party!" About 15 minutes later the rest of the family showed up. He was so happy and truly surprised. I had pulled off his first surprise party of his life! I am still smiling about that!

2. Sunday morning we woke up and our 4 and 3 year old crawled into bed with us to watch their cartoons. We never do this. It was so warm and snuggly! What a great way to start out a day!

3. I taught my 4 year old son how to spell and write "Halloween". That was cool! (In the picture his writing is the bottom one.)



4. We took all 3 of our children to vote with us. Even gave the older 2 our "I Voted" stickers. They knew how important it was, and were so quiet and well-behaved! I couldn't have been more PROUD to be American!

5. My husband and I cheered when Obama was declared to have taken Ohio. Our home state! What a PROUD day to be an Ohioan!

6. I took the kids to their Tuesday morning class, "Jump & Shout"...on the way we drove past my husband's work where he was outside for his morning break. We all got to tell him "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" since Tuesday was his official birthday. It was wonderful to make him smile.

So...what things have YOU done this week that have made you happy. What things have you done that have made others happy? I'd love to hear about it all!

Don't Let Me Depress You

It's pretty obvious from some of my posts over the last week that I do not have to tell you that I am very pleased with the political headlines this morning! But...I AM, I AM, I AM!!! :) On that note, this is the extent of my political blogging. Back to the regularly scheduled mommy-blogging for me!

Now that Halloween and the Election are officially over, it's time to start thinking about the Holiday Season. This really has my head spinning. I am NOT ready for any of that. It could be that it's been over 70 degrees here for the last couple of weeks, but it could also be the fact that money is TIGHT and I get bad anxiety in normal circumstances...add in trying to buy all the fixin's for a Thanksgiving feast, Christmas presents for all 3 of my children, my 3 stepchildren and my 1 step-grandson, not counting all the extended family we buy for, plus things for myself and my husband! It makes my head spin!

I have been trying to put money back for all of this...but it never fails, something else always pops up. You know, things like rent and groceries!! Thank goodness gas prices are now cut in half! Right there is a major relief!

Wow, I'm even depressing myself with this post. I can't help it. It's stressful times in this country, I think everyone feels it. I just certainly hope our new President really will bring CHANGE! And maybe by the time the holidays roll around next year, things will be better. One can only hope!

Halloween Recap

So Halloween has come and gone. Thank goodness! I was tired of listening to "When do we get to go get candy!" Now its a fight over when they are allowed to eat the candy. They've been begging since 7:30am today. I'm ready to throw it all away already!



While we were out it was pretty uneventful. It was the typical, "Trick-or-Treat", "Thank You!" You know the drill! But we made it to one house in particular and their grass was very high. For the most part everyone's lawns around here are very meticulous looking because we've had frost so everyone has done their final mowing and there has been little growth. Well Hayden and Tara walked up through the yard to get the candy and then came running back through the yard to Will and me waiting on the sidewalk.

Hayden took that opportunity to YELL "Why is their grass so HIGH!? Don't they know they should MOW IT!"

We just smiled and grabbed their little hands and headed on to the next house as fast as we could trying not to crack up laughing.

Yeah, not very exciting, but it was funny and I thought it was worth sharing! If you live in the neighborhood we trick-or-treat in...one word for you! MOW!


And on another note..if you live in the United States of America...I have just one word for you as well! VOTE!!

Don't forget, if you haven't taken advantage of the early voting, tomorrow is ELECTION DAY! Let your voice be heard!!!

A Conversation With A Future Voter

**Like the new look? Let me know!** (Sidebar is still in progress)

Last night while reading my October Good Housekeeping, Tara, who is 3, asked me what I was reading. It was an article about raising future voters. I started reading to her and asking her questions. Here is our conversation (I took notes, it was too funny!)

Me: This article talks about how we could go online to watch the candidate's ads so we can discuss whether or not they are fair.

Tara: When you eat grapes, you're eating grapes, it's fair.

Me: Okay... Um.... Do you know how old you have to be to be able to go vote by yourself?

Tara: ONE!

Me: No you have to be 18. Now, do you remember how old you have to be to vote by yourself?

Tara: TWO!

Me: No, 18.

Tara: ONE!

Me: I said 18!! Alright, do you have any idea what you have to take with you to be allowed to vote?

Tara: A bucket!

Me: No, your driver's license. Now...let me ask you... (at this point it was just plain funny for me!) Are you a Republican or a Democrat?

Tara: *covering her eyes with her hands* Don't look at me!!! Is this over?


Yes I know that she wouldn' t know any of these answer or have any idea what we were even talking about. But it was funny to hear her response and I can't wait to remind her of this conversation when she IS 18 and heading to the polls!

For now, she'll be taking her bucket and tagging along with mom and dad!

A Little Fairy Magic?

Mama Divas are having a Tinkerbell DVD/Bluray give-a-way! I am so excited and hope I win the DVD! :) No matter what, it will become an addition to our DVD collection as Tara has so loudly requested it for Christmas! The screaming at the TV everytime the commercial comes on is a major clue!

If you love Tink as much as we do in this house...go on over and sign up to win yourself! Just click on this post's title!!!


Now speaking of fairies...I need some magical fairy dust to get me through the day! I thought this morning's coffee (that I normally DON'T drink) would have done the trick...but not so! We are officially potty-training Tara this week. By "we" I mean ME! The kids and I have only been up for 3 hours, and already Tara has "earned" 7 stickers for her "Progress Chart" but also...is on her 5th pair of panties. I am EXHAUSTED!!! I dont know how much of this I can take.

It's so tempting to just put her back into her Pull Ups, but that would just be putting off the inevitable. She is 3 years old for heaven's sakes! She SHOULD be peeing in the potty! I refuse to have her in Pull Ups anymore. But man this is hard work! Hayden literally potty-trained himself. Having to actually work at it with Tara, is going to put me in a mental institution!

My husband keeps sending me "encouraging" text messages on my cell phone...but it's not helping at all! Really its just pissing me off! Why isn't HE here helping!? Why was he here yesterday when we started this but still I was the one running to the bathroom every 5 minutes while he talked about how "WE" were finally going to get her potty trained!?!

UGH!!! SERIOUSLY I NEED SOME SPECIAL FAIRY MAGIC FOR THIS FEAT!!!

To Conive? Or Not To Conive?

So my aunt is coming to Ohio tonight for a one week visit. We are all very excited for this and it worked out that I was going to be able to go to the airport with my mom to pick her up thanks to my husband getting home from work in time. I was just going to go alone because there is not enough room for all of us in my mom's vehicle. After listening to Tara's heart being broken this morning when she realized that she wasn't going to get to see her Aunt Susie today I decided to take her with me and leave the other 2 at home with Will.

This presented a problem. How was I going to convince Hayden to let me go somewhere with his Grammy(his most best friend in the whole world) without him.

I thought and thought about it and decided to do what every mother has to do from time to time: be coniving.

Me: Hayden, you know how you and Daddy are going to be cleaning your room tonight and making it look super cool for when Aunt Sue comes to our house?

Hayden: Yeah, but I don't really wanna clean. I just wanna play my video games.

Me: Oh you do? Well why don't I tell Daddy to let you stay up late playing your games if you get all your cleaning done.

Hayden: That sounds great!!!

Me: Oh, but it will take a really long time to clean your room if Tara is here. She'll just mess everything up as your cleaning and by the time you are finally done, it will be too late to even get to play your games.

Hayden: Oh, she always messes everything up.

Me: I have an idea! Why don't I take Tara with me and that way you can get all your work done really fast and she won't bother you!

Hayden: Yeah, do that! I dont want her making my room a mess.


Hey, if I would have just said I'm taking Tara and not you, I'd have never made it out the door. Now he gets to get something he wants and I get what I want. Everyone is happy. Well except maybe Will, he is after all the one who will have to put up with "late night" Hayden. That in itself is a whole 'nother post!

Yard Signs

Last night as my husband, the kids and I were pulling out of our driveway a car pulled in front of us and blocked us from getting out. I thought it was someone just turned around but then the woman got out and walked up to my husband's open window.

Lady: Hello! I'm running on the Democratic ticket for County Commissioner and noticed your Obama/Biden sign and wanted to know if I could put one of my signs in your yard?

Will: Well we're just heading out..

Lady: I know but....

Will: Go ahead, we really have to go.

And we pulled around her car and headed off to the store. We get home, and there is a sign that is larger than the Obama sign. I don't know this woman. I don't know if I'm voting for her as I haven't reviewed our local candidates yet. Hell, I'm not even a Democrat, I'm just voting for Obama because he is who I believe will be the best president for this country.

So now what do I do about this lady's sign? Do I take it out of the yard until I actually decide if I want to vote for her? Do I leave it there? What if I do take it out? Will she bang down my door wondering where it went? I don't know!! We only agreed so we could leave without being held up by her speech.

What would you do?

I'm Calling For A Hibernation

*updated link below*

I'd love to post all about the crazy stories that happened over the weekend, but it's too painful to do. I'll just say that I spent the whole day yesterday crying...and I dont care to elaborate more than that. I will add; it had nothing to do with anything my dad did. And Hayden had a wonderful party, he was unaware of everything else going on.

Today we're bracing for the huge snow/ice storm that is expected to hit us sometime tomorrow morning. I am begging my husband to cancel work tomorrow because of it. It's going to get nasty. The last time they called for a snow/ice storm like this, parts of our town were without electricity for a week. (We lucked out and only lost it for 16 hours.) If that happens again this year, we wont be so lucky. If we lose it, we'll probably be out for awhile since we now live in a rural area.

I know I probably sound like I'm overreacting...and I really hope I am. But, I'm pregnant. And in a pregnant woman's mind...a storm that's forcasted like this, has me convinced that no one I love needs to be out driving at all tomorrow.

I'm going to go make my grocery list now. Yes, I'm planning on being one of those crazy people at the grocery story tonight stocking up on obscene amounts of food and water in case the worst happens. ( I swear, I'm usually not like this...it's all hormones! )

Happy Birthday, Hayden!

Today my baby boy is 3. He's enjoying the fact that it's his birthday and he can not wait until his party tomorrow. He's so excited about the presents, the cake, getting to see family we dont get to see all the time, and did I mention the presents? Even his imaginary friend, Fish, is going to be in attendance.

Listening to all of his excitement, I just couldn't stop myself from reminising about the infamous 1st Birthday party that we threw for him. What H-E-L-L!


Since it was my baby's first birthday I had to go all out. I invited everyone we knew and went all out on the menu and making the cake. I was especially excited about the cake. I had made sure that for his entire first year he had never had a bite of any cake so that on his 1st birthday he'd really get to dig in and relish in his first sugar-high! I was so excited!

So the party got started at 1 in the afternoon. Of course Hayden had sensed all of my stress excitement and refused his nap before hand. Luckily we were having the party at my mom's house so she was there during the whole set up and was able to help me and keep Hayden amused while I set out the appetizers while finishing cooking the main lunch. Soon after getting all set up, our guests arrived and so did the gifts. It looked like Christmas morning in my mom's living room! Except it was ALL for Hayden!

We did the presents first and Hayden could have cared less. I wanted him to look at everything and sit nicely on my lap, but that was a joke. He spent the whole hour sitting on the floor playing with some annoying ball popping machine that a friend of ours got for him. Needless to say, it was my husband's idea to open that up before the rest of the presents were opened. I was not amused.

After presents came lunch. I was already a little pissed. Hayden was very pissed. He didn't want to sit in his high chair and he didn't want his hat on. (see above picture). As I was making up his plate, there was silence from the screaming demon behind me. I turned around to see my dad holding a fork and pure bliss written across Hayden's face.

No. He. Didn't.

I whipped around to look at my cake, only to find a forkful taken out of a corner. MY DAD HAD FED MY SON HIS VERY FIRST BITE OF CAKE! The screaming was heard even by the guests in the other rooms of the house. I was beyond mad. There was steam coming out of my ears and tears pouring out of my eyes. Who did he think he was? (you also have to know that my dad and I have a strained relationship, thanks to his drinking, and I didn't really even want him there in the first place).

In my eyes, Hayden's birthday was ruined. Ruined. I still haven't been able to forgive my dad for that. He wasn't invited to Hayden's 2nd birthday. But this year he is. I'm hoping it goes a little more smoothly since we're just having a big family dinner, instead of a party with everyone we know.

The only concern to me is that...my dad now lives 2 hours away. So he's arriving tonight and staying through Sunday...

Heaven help us all.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy! I can not believe that you are now 3. I'm scared to blink, because if I do...who knows how old you'll be when I open my eyes!

February, Dreaduary

It's February. The only month of the year that makes my head spin...even more than the holiday season. We have so much going on this month that this year I wish I could just skip it all. I'm tired. I'm nauseas (even while taking the Zofran). I just would like to skip February this year.

Both of Will and my's siblings have birthday's this month.

Hayden's 3rd birthday is this month.

Then there's Valentines Day.

Will and my's 2nd Anniversary is this month.

Oh, Super Bowl Sunday is now this month...didn't it used to always be in January?

Plus, this year I've got Hayden starting Sunday School, and although I'm really excited for it, it's just more things that we have going on!

It may not sound like a lot, but it really is. And I'm just too tired to deal with February this year. Oh how I wish I could just hibernate for this one month!