Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things that hang on our walls:

1. This hangs in our living room:

2. This family portrait from summer 2007 hangs in our living room too:

3. This hangs above our bed:

4. This hangs in our master suite; my SMIL made it for us as a wedding present:

5. This is a big brother, little sister collage:

6. LittleMan made me this at daycare when he was 2 years old:

7. I bought this not long after LittleMan was born:

8. My Granny made this for me when I was a little girl, now it hangs in Princess' room:

9. I made this to hold Princess' hairbows:

10. This is a picture of my Daddy. One of these pictures hang above both of my kid's beds:

11. LittleMan's first year of T-Ball:

12. This clock was my great uncle's, until he died. It doesn't work, but it will hang:

13. And this is a picture of my parents not long after they found out they were expecting me!

Yummy Chicken Casserole

I am the pickiest eater in the world that I know of, and I know some picky people.
My kids are pretty picky too, although they eat some things I wouldn't touch ... some things I can't even bring myself to cook for them. {That's what Daddy & the Grandparents are for!}

[I don't eat fish, any seafood, or deer. And not too many fruits or vegetables either, yes I know what you're thinking]

So, I thought I would share this recipe, that the whole family not only enjoys, but devours and we never have any left. I can't remember where I found this recipe, or I would give due credit.

Yummy Chicken Casserole

1 pound chicken, cubed & boiled until done

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup milk

1 can of crescent rolls

salt

pepper

garlic salt

• Take the cooked chicken and toss with salts & pepper to season. Open crescent rolls and separate.
• Add some chicken to a crescent roll and roll it up. Laying it in a greased rectangular baking dish, seam side down.
• Repeat with all other crescent rolls.
• After you have all the rolls down, take your cream of chicken soup, add the milk and mix. Pour over the top of the chicken crescent rolls.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
• Enjoy!

King of Hearts

LittleMan came home yesterday with a permission slip to participate in the King/Queen of Hearts.
It is to raise money for the school. There will be one King and one Queen per grade level. All others who raise at least $25 will be the Prince/Princess of Hearts and gets a trophy.

One King per grade level, which means LittleMan has approximately a 1 in 130 chance of winning. You are to ask family & friends for donations. So ..... Basically whoever turns in the most money wins. They cannot do a bake sale anymore because of the Child Nutrition Act. So, of course, it's laid pretty much on the parents, at LittleMan's age.

Normally I wouldn't even think about it, but for some reason LittleMan is interested. He used the word, "Awesome!" [which he of course picked up from me =) ].

Keep your fingers crossed for him, He may be the next Kindergarten King of Hearts!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Funny Pic

New Look & Tuesday Blues

I've been trying to find a look for my blog that I love don't hate like enough to stick with for a while.
We'll see how long this one lasts!

Well I've been sick for the past 3 days. Nothing serious, but definitely feeling like I wish I'd stayed in bed under the weather. And to make things better (ha!) I've babysat the past two days. A baby that is sick himself.

He has been unbelievably fussy today and I am sooooo ready to go hide from everyone back to bed! And I still have almost 2 hours left of watching him.

He is finally sleeping, after feeding him every hour for half the day. I don't know where he fit all that milk!

Anyway, he gave me enough time to freshen up the blog & that's more than I expected today!

Grumpy Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Bribery

Have you ever bribed your kids?

As you must know by now, I love to shop at thrift stores. I usually do it on Thursdays or Fridays, whenever Hubby is at work/busy and LittleMan is at school.

Princess gets tired, I suppose, because she is always asking to go home. So, how do I get her to keep the peace until I'm done shopping? A new {used} purse of her choice [as long as it only costs 99 cents =D ] if she'll let me shop til I drop.

Hey.

It works.

I've been High Five'd

High-five I got from Andrea
It's an Archive meme Hoopla
Here are the rules:
Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you have written. But there is a catch:
Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be anything you choose.
Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better. Readers - don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!

{Ok, since I'm fairly new to blogging, this is gonna be a bit harder, and I probably haven't wrote enough to cover all these categories, but I'm gonna try my best!}

About Family: This post has pictures of my babies this past Christmas holiday. It made me realize I need to blog about them more, rather than just taking pictures ... but I'm learning =)

About Friends: Sadly, this is about the best I can do on the friends category

About Myself: Here is 13 of my favorites

Something I Love: I'm gonna suppose that you can't use people here, and leave you this post about music.

Anything I Choose: This is awesome!


And now I am going to high-five: Dixie Chick, Random Mommy, Yankee Belle, Blue Momma, and MamaGeek,

Update

Princess is feeling lots better. She threw a fit to eat. She asked for chick-chick. That's either chicken biscuit from Jack's, or chicken nuggets from Wendy's/McDonald's. Since it was 9am, she got the biscuit. And she ate most of the chicken part.
I know now to keep her away from spicy foods. I will keep extras of her favorite foods for when I cook spicy stuff from now on. The kid could live on chicken nuggets & hot dogs. =)

I took a quiz:

33

Calling All Mommies

It's 6:15 A.M. and I've been up with Princess for almost an hour, throwing up again. I think I was wrong about her having a stomach virus [it's been less than a week since the last time].... I started putting everything together and visited with WedMD and I think it is Indigestion/Heartburn/Reflux.

I hadn't thought about this in forever but ... Once, when she was a year old, we ended up in the ER because of her terrible stomach pains. I mean she was screaming as loud as I've ever heard her scream, she was rolled up in a ball & her tummy was hard as a rock. They gave her some medicine to mix with Mylanta. She has severe indigestion, because someone had let her try some deer sausage.

Now, sitting here this morning, I remembered that one episode of "stomach virus" or so we thought, the night before she had eaten meatballs in spaghetti sauce. Last weekend when she was up sick, she had eaten some jalapeno cheese dip & chips, and last night we had pizza.

I think I made her sick! Do you know how terrible I feel right now?!?

So I need your help.

Any Moms out there that has any experience with this, please email me and let me know anything & everything you can think of!

I can read the internet all day long, but you know other people with experiences helps so much more!

I have severe GERD, [I was diagnosed with it one week after my congestive heart failure], and I know it hurts, [I thought I was having heart trouble] but vomiting was never a symptom with me. Does that mean hers is more severe than mine?

Please Please Any help you can give I would greatly appreciate it!!

My email address is sweet.heart7@yahoo.com

Thanks Mommies.

The week that changed my life forever

February 19. In less than a month will be my Dad's birthday [who has passed away]. With it being so close, I feel I need to share a piece of my past. I don't believe that I have finished dealing with his death yet, so maybe this will help ... to get it down, seems so ... I don't know, real? final? something.


My husband's cell phone woke me up on the morning of August 10, 2005 around 4am. I was very pregnant, due in just days, so the interruption in sleep was annoying. Andy answered it and long story short, we found out my Dad had been hit the night before in a hit & run accident and died. Most of my family lives about 200 miles away, so there was no visiting with my Mom, who took it the worst, of course; and I knew there would be no way I could travel to be at his funeral. I never had a chance to say good bye.

There is a lot about that day I don't remember, mainly because I think I just thought a lot. I know that I had awesome support from my family [both mine & Hubby's side] We had a houseful all day. And someone was constantly calling us.
I still remember not being able to show emotion in front of anyone. I don't know why, but it was a weird feeling. I was able to let little pieces out with Andy, but not much more.

Andy took me to the hospital maternity ward that night. Just to check and make sure Baby Princess wasn't stressed. Thankfully, she was fine. The next day I had a routine OB visit. My Dr. decided with the circumstances and my due date, it would be best if I was admitted that night.

I didn't sleep that night at the hospital. I was already having light sporadic contractions, but that wasn't it. Every time I closed my eyes, I seen Daddy there. I wasn't ready to face him. I think maybe I was mad at him. I had just talked to him on the phone that morning that he died and he told me, he would be here for me, when I brought his first grand-daughter into the world.

Let's speed things up .... the next morning they induced me and at 343pm on August 12th 2005, there was my Princess. Only 13 minutes of pushing. Beautiful, Healthy, with long toes! The nurses commented about this future little ballerina.

By that night, I wasn't feeling right and I knew it. My back hurt, my ribs & chest hurt, I was in a cold sweat .... the nurses told me it was gas and not to drink any more carbonated drinks. It didn't work, but I thought it might have something to do with the fact that my epidural had wore off 45 minutes before Princess was born.

After we got home from the hospital, there was an instance that I couldn't breathe right. I thought it was my milk coming in. Later that night, I was up feeding Princess. After I got her back down, I couldn't lay down. It hurt so bad. A few hours pass and I am having to bend over to breathe. This new day that was beginning was August 17.

My Mom & Granny were still at my house, helping me adjust to having 2 kids and just being there for me because of my Dad. So my Granny rushes me to the ER. Everyone panics and thinks I'm in labor [that is to show that I have not lost 1 pound since giving birth almost 5 days ago]

Another long story short and countless wrong conclusions, I was in Congestive Heart Failure. They injected me with Lasix and within a couple hours, they had almost 6 liters of fluid that had been inside my body. I had been drowning from the inside.

The condition that caused this is called Dilated Cardiomyopathy. And the cause? Being pregnant didn't agree with my body. They said it started with my first, LittleMan, but being pregnant a second time was too much for my heart.

In 2 days time, I went from weighing 163 pounds to weighing 138 pounds.

I was put on 5 meds, 2 just for my heart. And a low-sodium & low-fluid diet. That diet alone made my life hell for the following few months. [By the end of 7 weeks, I was down to 127 pounds] But then the news that ... if I ever got pregnant again, I wouldn't live to deliver the baby.

After that lots of things happen, my body changed, I had tubal ligation surgery, I went though panic attacks & depression. But most of all, I thrived. I lived. I grew.





That was over 2 years ago. And it still feels like yesterday. I'm still on the meds, but I took myself off the diet once my Ejection Fraction had went back as close to normal as it could get. I still watch my weight though, just to make sure I'm not holding too much fluid.




My Dad would have been turning 47 year old this year.

Kid Names & Myspace Crap

(Editted to take names back out. Hubby freaked when he found out I shared. Sorry!)

When I first started blogging, I was unsure of if I wanted to share the names of my kids on here or not. Some of the blogs I read do share, some do not. I have been blogging for about 2 months, and I feel it's okay to share now ...
So introducing ......

My son LittleMan:


and my daughter Princess:



On a different note.
Myspace has become too much!

I had deleted my profile after having someone start some crap with me/my hubby.

I decided to go ahead and start a new one because it's the main way I stay in contact with my 3 sisters (who live in CA) and 1 of my sister-in-laws who lives in FL. Needless to say, we don't see each other often, so Myspace can be great for that.

Well I didn't add all my old contacts because at first I wasn't planning on using the same as I did before. I didn't add my school or my town I lived in so that "that girl" wouldn't find me.

After a while, I slowly started adding friends and friends started requesting me again. Well, then yesterday I get an email from one of my friends (who is 20 years old, by the way), who I haven't seen much at all in the past year and I don't talk to much. Of course she supposed that I was mad at her, etc etc etc.

Now telling her I wasn't mad, just wasn't enough. Why? Because I didn't request her friendship months ago & something about some headline I had on there once. For people that are totally wrapped up in Myspace, I can understand why she might think that, but come on. I'm not gonna lie about something like that.

If you're not on someone's top list, you MUST be mad at them. If you don't forward their chain letters, you MUST be mad at them. If you don't make other people your priority, you MUST be mad at them.

I just have to say that I am a 27 year old WOMAN and Myspace WAS so fun .... in the beginning. Now? It's just a means of conversation.

If your not on my top friend list, or even on my friend list at all, does that mean I secretly despise you and never want to talk to you? NO that's just silly.

WHY does everyone make Myspace/Facebook/whatever out to be this big deal? This is probably why it isn't fun anymore.

So just to clarify ... I am not mad at anyone other than TOM. Why did he have to go and start some online community that was gonna make people question their ideas of what it means to be a good friend, or even good human being? I, for one, do not care about Top Friends. I have my beautiful kids & my sexy hubby and the rest of my family, telling me that I'm their number one, what more do I need? NOTHING.

So if you want to add me as a friend on this SUPER IMPORTANT MYSPACE, then click here. And leave the drama at home =)
{{Just make sure you email me first and tell me who you are, otherwise I might think you are some stalker person, lol.}}

100 Things (Part 2)

26. I love the idea of being organized, but can never stay that way.

27. I have an addiction to Meat Lover's Pizza from Papa John's Pizza

28. I love going to thrift stores & yard sales

29. Pink is my favorite color

30. I don't eat deer, fish or any other seafood.

31. I love to swim. In a pool only. I'm weird about lakes & the ocean.

32. I am starting a binder with my favorite recipes in it.

33. I am German, and 2 different types of Indian, but I am mostly Italian. Which explains my big nose, my hot head and my great love of food. =)

34. I love Butter Cream scented candles!

35. I like to play scrabble.

36. I used to work at Dairy Queen.

37. I am terrible at hitting in softball. But I'm pretty good at catching. =)

38. I like musicals (like Sound of Music), but I didn't like the new Hairspray movie.

39. I have hazel eyes, that change slightly depending on what color I am wearing.

40. My favorite flowers are calla lillies.

41. I am jealous of my husband's freedom... he comes & goes as he wishes, without having to worry about the kids.

42. I have moved houses more times in my life than I can even count.

43. I have low patience, most of the time.

44. I'm really good at math.

45. I would LOVE to remodel my kitchen.

46. I am a big procrastinator.

47. I used to write poetry.

48. I miss Super Nintendo. My mom still has one. I tried to get her to give it to me. No luck.

49. I hate to exercize, but need to start.

50. Before I had kids, I was a wonderful 104 pounds. That was a LONG time ago.

Tagged by Random Mommy

Why do you blog? Well, there are a few different reasons, but I guess the main reason is so I have something to do that is Mine. You know, I clean all day, I cook, I do home volunteer stuff for Little Man's kindergarten, I do all this stuff for others. I blog because I enjoy it and it's MINE.

What was the first blog you ever read? The Incoherent Ramblings of a Stay at Home Mom

What was the first blog that had you hooked? Catwoman, I got sucked in!

Which blogger friend would you most like to meet in real person? Dixie Chick, even though she would probably make me watch American Idol with her, lol

Which blog do you admire the most, why? Random Mommy, she tells it like it is.

How different are you in real life than in your blog? I'm alot more boring than I put on

How many blogs do you keep up with on a daily basis? Around 20, more on a weekly basis

Link to your 123rd post. Or your 3rd, if you don't have 123. Here is my 3rd, boy was I in a crabby mood that day! And it, OF COURSE, has happen countless times since then.

My camera decided to cooperate finally ....

I've been trying to upload pictures all year {lol}
[I had the usb cable in the wrong port]

Little Man had a birthday on January 2nd; we never did have him a birthday party last weekend, due to SNOW, but here's a picture of Little Man with the birthday cake I made him:

Yes I used Smarties candy to write his name!

Now for some pictures of our grand snowfall this past weekend:
We live at the bottom of Cheaha Mountain, which is the highest point in Alabama.
So, this is our ride up the moutain:


This is me & Little Man at the top of the mt.


I took this picture on our way to our cabin, which is on a different mountain:


Here's the kids at the cabin (it was Kenzie's first time to see snow!):


It's called the Bus Stop & Rib Shack because it is an old school bus with a cabin built into it:


The View up there & the Creek:




Well that was our Snow Day!

[[As you know, Princess was sick yesterday. So, I wanted to add that she is fine today and back to her normal princess state!!]]

Until next time ......

Princess is sick

She has that stinkin' stomach virus that Little Man had a couple weeks back.

She's been up almost every hour on the hour since 2am this morning.

I don't know how she got it unless it happen at Wally World.

My poor baby =(

Please keep her in your prayers!

Thanks!

Looking forward to SNOW

We're suppose to get 3-6 inches tonight / in the morning.

Little Man is already planning on a snowball fight with Daddy.

Princess probably won't know what to think about it.

It's been too long since we've had a good Snow!

Sharing my [our] Yumminess News

Little Man got his 2nd 9 weeks report card today. [He was suppose to get it last Thursday, but had the stomach virus].
Anyway, they rate on a 1, 2 & 3 scale. 1 meaning above grade level, 2 meaning at grade level and 3 meaning under grade level.
He had all 1s & 2s.
Our rule [which was actually started by my SIL for her daughter] is that: a good report card means Little Man gets to pick a place for us to go out to eat. So tonight, we went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse.

D.ELICIOUS

Plus .. Outback leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

WOOHOO . lol

A little Update

I thought I'd update everyone. Since my last blog, I started babysitting (app. 3 days a week) my cousin's 2 month old baby "Baby Boy" I watched him M, T & W. No time to blog those days, cuz he isn't picked up until 6pm.

Wednesday afternoon, Little Man comes home from school with a tummy ache. I go through his backpack like usual, and find a note from his teacher. 4 children checked out today with .... the stomach virus. Of course Little Man, not wanting to be left out (lol), came down with it about an hour later. I felt so bad for him! Poor little guy was so sick! So I didn't sleep hardly at all Wednesday night, rushing to his side everytime he got sick. So, he was out of school yesterday. And he still wasn't eating as of last night, so I made the decision to keep him out today too.

Well.... he is better today. {Thank God of course!} But doesn't understand why I won't let him outside to ride his bike, or go horse riding with his Daddy. He actually told me that he was mad at me because I wouldn't let him do anything. =( Ah, the joys of Motherhood.

Tonight my MIL will be coming with her bunch to stay for the weekend. So blogging will be out of the question until at least Sunday evening, if then. But I will get to go to the Thrift store. We always go when she visits. I LOVE me some thift store shopping! Yep that's right!

Plus my MIL seems to LOVE to clean {lol} [or at least it seems that way] so I don't have to clean up after everyone by myself. That's a big Plus +++++

So not much else to blog about, except I found boxes full of horse magazines from the 80's in my attic [from previous owner] which I plan to sell on ebay, if I ever get my courage up to do so. I'm so afraid that I'm gonna get screwed some how. Lose money or come in contact with some weird/stalker person. Keep your fingers crossed for me, k?

Little Man's 6th birthday was on the 2nd and I'm thinking about giving him a small party on the 19th. Some of the family has already given him money, but I think he deserves a party this year. Since his birthday is so close to Christmas, we didn't give him a party last year. But I feel like he shouldn't miss out just because his birthday falls on the day it does...

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

I've been bad

I know! I'm really behind on my blogging!
After Christmas, that Friday we left for Louisiana to visit with my hubby's brother's family. We were there until New Years Day.
It took a couple days for us to get back in the swing of things and have some clean clothes too!
Then my uncle came to visit on the 2nd {WHICH IS MY LITTLE MAN'S BIRTHDAY, BTW!!! HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!} and he is still here visiting until tonight.
So even though the holidays are over, we are still pretty busy!
I promise to get back in the swing of things ASAP!!!
Hope everyone had a terrific New Years!!!!

Breakfast Pizza

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:
Pillsbury pizza crust
cooked peppered gravy
scrambled eggs
cooked bacon
cooked sausage
mozzarella cheese

After cooking gravy, eggs, bacon and sausage all separately, unroll pizza crust on large baking sheet.
Layer:
gravy, eggs, sausage bacon, then cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 17 minutes.

Our Holiday **PICS

Quick post: Here's some pics from our holiday parties/visits & opening presents @ home.
Enjoy!

Gone for a bit

Just a heads up [for the 3 people that actually read my blog, lol] I am leaving out of town tonight for Christmas with one part of hubby's family & then Christmas with my family. I probably won't be able to blog til I get home, which will be Christmas Eve ... so it may be after Christmas!
Where we're going, they don't have DSL ... I know! It's like some other land! lol So I probably won't be able to read all my fave blogs either =( Know that I will catch up with my reading ASAP!
Good bye Internet friends & Happy Holidays!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen of My Favorites

1. Favorite food: Chicken & dumplins; although I occassionally make it without the chicken part [when hubby's not home]

2. Favorite animal: Cats! I'm just sure I'm gonna be the old cat lady one day!

3. Favorite Author: John Grisham, I could read him for hours upon hours, if I didn't have all that pesky housework to attend to!

4. All time Favorite Movie: Dirty Dancing. My mom said I wore that VHS completely out and still watched it!

5. Favorite television show: ER, I have 2 words for ya: Noah Wyle

6. Favorite snack food: Pizzaria Combos!, pizza flavor on pretzel ... nothing better!

7. Favorite cartoon as a kid: Smurfs! Who doesn't love those little blue creatures?

8. Favorite subject from school: Math, it was my thang!

9. Favorite Pizza: Meat Lovers minus the ham ... yeah I know I'm weird.

10. Favorite sport to watch: Football, unless Little Man is playing, then it's baseball

11. Favorite spot to play: Basketball, street style, lol

12. Favorite Musical Group: Rascall Flatts

And last but not least,
13. Favorite thing about summer: Swimming!

Wordless Wednesday ~ One Year Ago....

100 Things (Part 1)

100 Things about me:
I am doing this in 4 parts. It's not cheating, it's improvising!
When I get all 4 finished I will combine them for a special 100 things post!

1. My birthday is October 24
2. I got married at 18 years old
3. I was a cheerleader
4. I almost died in 2005 from congestive heart failure
5. My dad died 4 days before I gave birth to my daughter.
6. Even though we have 3 horses AND both my kids ride, I am so afraid of them!
7. I love shopping!
8. I'm allergic to mayonnaise unless it's cooked in.
9. My hair is naturally curly.
10. I hate talking on the phone, now have you EVER heard a girl say that?!?
11. I love reality shows
12. I used to do gymnastics
13. I am soooo anti-Britney
14. I have a half sister, 2 step-sisters & 1 step-brother
15. On the in law side: I have 6 sisters & 3 brothers
16. I never went to college and I regret it
17. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday
18. I really dislike Tom Cruise & Rosie O'Donnell
19. I Love to read!
20. I wear a size 7 shoe (or 6 from the children's department)
21. I'm suppose to be on a low-sodium diet, but I don't do it
22. Valentine's Day is usually such a disappointment for me =(
23. My favorite actor/actress: Robin Williams/Jennifer Aniston
24. I went to a really small school, there were only 19 in my graduating class
25. I love Margaritas on the rocks!

Great (and Fun) Site

I just stumbled upon FreeRice.com. For every right match of the word they give you, they donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end World Hunger. I have already donated over 1000 grains of rice today!
This site deserves a place on everyone's daily clicks. Please join us in the fight to end world hunger!!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

They're not new, they're rather popular now, but I just wanted to blog about and let everyone know about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. If you've never heard them, scroll down to my music playlist, there quite a few songs by them on there.

They.Are.Awesome



If you like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and would like to check their website out, click HERE.

They will be at the BJCC Arena in Birmingham on December 31st. Click to check Ticketmaster for tickets, if you're interested.

I, personally, would LOVE to go to one of their concerts ... maybe someday, somehow!

Christmas Pics

I know I've already posted some of these pictures, but I wanted to try blogging with Smilebox, I've never done it before! So .... enjoy!

Make a postcard - it's easy!

Have you met my husband?

I'm not too happy with him today. Other than his "drunk issues" last night, when he KNEW we were gonna have family pictures taken, he has been totally unreasonable today.
I wanted to take the kids to see Santa because they still haven't visited him yet this year. He was all like, well I have this and this to do today, and so-in-so is suppose to be coming over to help me do this..... So he decides that it's early enough in the day to go ahead and go to the mall, so that we get back in time for him to get all his stuff done. Never did it cross my mind that Santa wouldn't be there until noon. So it was 11:15 and he wouldn't wait. On the way home, he stopped by Wally World {that's Walmart for you people without kids} By the time we left there [which is about 1/2 mile from the mall, btw] it was then 12:10. So I mentioned the time and asked if we could swing back by the mall.... Nope, time to go home, C. is probably there waiting on him already.... Did I not understand that when he tells someone that he's gonna do something, he sticks to it? I'm sitting here wondering, if he realizes that what is coming out of his mouth is the exact opposite of how he is treating his kids right now?!? We're less than a mile from Santa, but there's more important things to get to, even though that's what this entire trip to town was for...
And to top things off, at 1:45, C. still wasn't here and hubby still hasn't even left the house ! ! ! Anyone else out there thinking what I'm thinking?

Friends & Pictures

Yesterday was spent with my S-M-I-L [that's step-mom-in-law] Christmas shopping for my 2 kiddos & my 3 nieces. We had tons of fun in the best stores, TJ Maxx & Ross. Then we ate lunch at a place I've never tried. We had the buffet at a Chinese place. Now, I've only had Chinese a few times, which is why my SMIL wanted me to try it. Well, it wasn't the worst food I've had, but I think it's safe to say that I won't be eating there again any time soon. [1 fact about me: I'm a super picky eater]
Today was good progress on my organization list. I went through & cleaned out Princess's closet, clothes & even pulled down clothes from the attic to organize them into all one size in each box. We have 3 nieces older than Princess, so we get the great hand-me-downs! [which I am ever so grateful for!!] So I organized what sizes I had into summer & winter boxes. That [and regular cleaning] took most of the day.
Tonight, we went out with my BF Girlfriend & her fiance. We ate at my fave Mexican restaurant. It was so Yummy! Good times, great friends! And the kids actually acted pretty well while we were there. Princess got all upset when she noticed the people way down at the bar were watching a rodeo, and our TV was showing basketball. To keep her from hollering, we had to get the television changed to rodeo. That's my little cowgirl =)
And we took some Christmas pictures today. They were suppose to be all 4 of us, but hubby had "issues" so our "family" picture only had me & the 2 rug rats in it.

Rich Chewy Peanut Butter Bars

hosted by The Pumkin Patch

Rich Chewy Peanut Butter Bars

I've been making these since I was in High School, which is a very long time =) They are my favorite to make at Christmas! And I usually double the recipe. Enjoy!

1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky(whichever you prefer, personally I use smooth)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat peanut butter or margarine together until melted. Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Add flour and stir just until combined. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack and cut into bars.

Need help with Christmas present ideas?

Here's ya some links!

Simply Thrifty has a list of 50 Holiday things you can make yourself!

Budget101 has some cute gift in a jar ideas!

FamilyFun has some great Homemade Christmas gift ideas!

Thrifty Fun has their list of Christmas gifts ideas you can make.

Strecher.com has some Creative inexpensive gift ideas!

Now for some fun! I found this website with some of the stupidest stuff I've ever seen! And the website is .... you guessed it, Stupid.com
Here's some of the stupidest of the stupidest: [I will not name the items, to add to the fun, check the links out to find out!]

Stupid Thing 1

Stupid Thing 2

Stupid Thing 3

Wordless Wednesday

What the holidays mean to me

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are about emotional connections and bonds. You are happiest being around those you love. You celebrate the holidays in an over the top style. If something is cute, you'll buy it. People end up with a lot of gifts from you - and your house is like a holiday wonderland, full of decorations. During the holidays, you feel magical. You love all of the decorations and how happy people are. You like to sit back and take it all in. You think the holidays should be nostalgic and sweet. The holidays bring out your inner child. Your best holiday memories are of childhood foods and traditions. You secretly still wish you believed in Santa Claus.

What Do the Holidays Mean to You?

Ice Storm

St. Louis, among other places has been hit by a horrendous ice storm. The news has said that by the time the storms end, there will be over 4 million people out of power.
Normally, my hubby's crew would have already left out. Yesterday, they told them that this time, they weren't sending them out. Then around 7am this morning, hubby calls me and tells me to make sure all his clothes are washed and ready to go. They are talking about sending them after all.

This upsets me a little because he could possibly miss Christmas, if the damage is really bad. I mean, I love that he goes and helps people out when they are in need. And these peoples' needs are definately more important than Christmas presents, I know that. But he has never missed a Christmas and it just saddens me that he could. I would understand, of course!
I just hope that everyone up there where the storms hit are safe and healthy. And that they have the shelter they need until the storms are over and the power is back on! Please keep these families in your prayers!

Broke at Christmas

Well we did it. We broke ourselves. Okay, we're not completely broke, but we might as well be.
We got all the Christmas gifts taken care of. We're gonna be traveling quite a bit this month and feeding these horses with the drought has almost sent us under. {Drought= less hay= more $ spent on feed}
And I don't know about where you live, but here, Little Man's kindergarten is 3&5 dollaring me to death! Everytime I turn around they are going on a field trip, putting on a program, having a party, needing supplies, etc... it goes on and on!
Not to mention that Little Man's birthday is right after Christmas, January 2nd, so there goes more $$$
On the upside, one of my heart medicines, Coreg, finally came out with a generic, so I now get it at Walmart for $4.10 a month.
But with all the stress that goes along with Christmas, sometimes I just wish it was over already! I don't even get to enjoy it that much anyway. We put too much emphasis on gifts nowadays. I think this is gonna be the last year that we go so present crazy. Next year, the kids will get a couple gifts from Santa, and a few from us, and that's it!

Reality

Funny Pics at pYzam.com

Freebie Friday

Free sample of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee

Free Campbell's Soup for Life Booklet

Free Caregiver's Guide to Alzheimer's

Free 20 piece starter pack of Nicorette Cinnamon Surge & Stop smoking Now!!

Sign up for Folger's Wakin' Up Club & get special offers & sample via postmail!

Free Jesus First pin

Free Menopause Survival Kit

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Evolution of Dance

Best thing I've seen on YouTube!!
Make sure to go to the bottom of the page and turn the site music off first, and make sure your volume is turned up!! Enjoy!!

Christmas Links

Santa themed:

• At northpole.com, you can track Santa on Christmas Eve, send letters to Santa, check the naughty and nice lists, browse recipes and More!
• Great ideas for family Christmas fun at AmazingMoms.com!
• Holiday Party Supplies has great Christmas buys including Stocking Stuffer Sets, partyware and personalized items.
• Christmas Recipes
• List of Christmas movies

Christian themed:

• Story of Christmas
• The Birth of Christ
• Kids Craft Ideas
• Poem - There's No Christmas without Jesus
• Christmas Stories & Articles
• How to Cope with Grief & the Holidays
• Annie's Christmas has tons of great stuff!
  

Getting to know me. Christmas Version

Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, copy, paste, and insert your answers.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? artificial ... had a real one once, too messy

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but this year I was a little late due to rearranging the living room / playroom

4. When do you take the tree down? Somewhere in between the day after Christmas and New Years Eve.

5. Do you like eggnog? I am extremely picky and was told I wouldn't like it, so I never tried it

6. Favorite gift received as a child? swing set from my Daddy (R.I.P.)

7. Do you have a nativity scene? used to, several pieces got broke and I never replaced

8. Hardest person to buy for? my uncle J.

9. Easiest person to buy for? either one of my kiddos

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A really old-lady outfit from my Granny, bless her, I wore it once while pregnant only to please her.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail only! I love holiday cards.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Night They Saved Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I try to start in January with all the after-holiday sales, but really start shopping around September.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? probably

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? sausage balls

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I usually have either/or/both {yeah I know people gasp at the thought of both! idc} This year I have clear & red so =p

17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't really have a favorite, but anything Little Man sings for me I love!!!

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? both, but stay at home on Christmas Eve night

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen .... okay I'm missing one.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? neither this year, started with a ribbon, now have a santa up there ... the angel I bought for the position didn't come with a hole down there, lol.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? hubby and I open Christmas Eve that way Christmas morning is all about the babies

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? not being able to find that special gift you've been searching for

23. What I love most about Christmas? being with family & the decorations

A little Christmas Funny

Christmas Traditions: New and Old

We have a few traditions for Christmas. Some that we started when we got married, some started when we moved away from our hometown, some when we had kids.

My Dad, now deceased (R.I.P.) gave us our very first family Christmas ornament with the year 1999 on it. Since then, we have bought a new family ornament every year. When Little Man was born, we continued the tradition by buying an additional new ornament with his name on it. Same with Princess, but we just picked a girly one out for her, instead of getting one to engrave. Now that they are both older, they pick their own ornaments out every year.

We have family scattered all around different areas. So we have always tried to split time between everyone. Hubby has 2 sides of family with step-parents and all. And I have have my mother's side that we visit. And hubby has a brother in Louisiana, a sister in Florida, etc. One tradition that we have Always stuck to is, being home to sleep Christmas Eve and opening Santa's gifts Christmas morning at Our Own Home. This is a biggie for us. No matter how many plans and parties we make, we are always home for this special time.

A rather new tradition for us is, hubby sitting with the kids and reading them "The Night Before Christmas" before they head to bed. Also a new tradition starting this year, I will be reading them the Real Christmas Story to enforce the real Reason for the Season.

Usually hubby's brother, his wife & their 2 girls come up from LA for Christmas, which means they are never home for Christmas morning. This year, they decided to start being home like we always have. So that changes our Christmas a little. Also hubby's step-mom (who is a nurse) has to work on Christmas Day, so that changes some too. [We always go to her house for Christmas breakfast] So we are getting some new traditions this year. I will be making Christmas breakfast here at home and I plan on making Christmas lunch too.

We will be going to Louisiana on Dec. 28th to see our family there and exchange gifts. Not sure if this is gonna become a tradition yet or not.

Lots of old traditions holding strong and some new ones coming in this year!! What traditions are special to you and your family?

Just got our tree up

...so I thought I'd post a couple pics on here. I decided to go a little different this year. Our tree is prelit with clear lights, I usually add multi colored lights to it, but this year I added red lights. And I got red & silver garland & a red & white ribbon topper. Red, clear & silver balls, along with the kids' ornaments & others that we've collected over the years. I did forget to add the candy canes before I took the pictures though.

I have wanted to do something different with the colors for a few years. I had actually bought some pink & some bright blue beads last year on sale after Christmas, but I decided not to use them. But instead to go with a red theme.

I think it turned out pretty good. This is the first year Mackenzie helped put her own ornaments on too, so it's so memorable already!!

Well hubby has to work tomorrow & the kids went to bed with him, so I guess I get the couch tonight, but I'm sooooo tired already. I'm out! Nite everyone!

A Little Elf Fun

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself.
Check it out by clicking the link HERE.

Make yourself one here
I got this from a friend's page !

MIA

Sorry I disappered for a bit. I've been pretty busy.

We spent the 21st to the 25th at our family's houses.

After we got home I spent Monday catching up our laundry.

Tuesday was spent grocery shopping & cleaning the house.

Wednesday I had to take Little Man to the doctor. He's been running & sliding on his knee for a few weeks (even after multiple attempts my me to get him to STOP) and it caught up with him. He's got infection in there. Gross looking too, lol. So he's on antibotics for a week.

Then from Wednesday evening until yesterday, I was rearranging the house. I am going to start babysitting 2 boys in January, so I decided I needed a playroom. I moved the living room to the front room of the house that I had used as a sort of family room with a tv, my computer & stuff in it. Now the room that was the living room is the playroom/office. It turned out great, but took A LOT of time getting it done. Matter fact, there's still some small things that have to be finished.

Last night I went out with 2 of my female cousins to celebrate one of their bdays. My hubby actually kept Little Man & Princess without complaining OR calling his step-mom to babysit. And I got to go out with the girls and have a few drinks & appetizers at Applebee's. We were home by 9pm, {we're all moms, lol} but we had a great time. Want to know the weirdest part? We spent almost the entire evening talking about our kids! Go figure!

So here I am today, finally getting a chance to sit and blog. If my hubby & Little Man weren't off herding cattle, we would be putting up the Christmas tree, but I guess we get to do that tonight.

Hope everyone had a fun & safe holiday last week. Have a great weekend too!!!

Oh yeah ....... Happy December!!!!

Here's a couple pictures from our Thanksgiving: