YES!

Jessie called me a minute ago...he went to Cingular and successfully obtained a phone!
A camera phone! Yay!
The guy first started out saying that it was $110 with a $70 rebate. So Jessie called me and I said, "that sounds good".
Then it turned out there was only a $50 rebate, so the guy knocked the price of the phone down $20...(Aha! Now we know they can do that!)
Then, when he was ringing Jessie up, it came up that there would be a $70 rebate!!! But the guy said it still may be $50...either way, its a lot better than the "deal" offered to us last night. :)

No we were NOT notified!

Sorry, just felt like yelling that out. I'm sorry for taking my frustration out here!

My mom talked to a Cingular henchman (I don't even know if that makes sense- haha) and they said my insurance was canceled in MAY 2006! What? And they said we were notified! Um...no.

Anyway, as usual, I am at their mercy. So the phone saga continues.

Can I get out some more frustration? Please?

Here it is...there have been some RUDE people coming in the library today. And 99.9% of me wants to be rude back...so bad.
The first was a lady who was just APPALLED that we charge .20 cents per page to print.
"20 CENTS?" she yelled. "JESUS", she yelled, making me VERY angry...
Then our resident annoyer, who I'll call Prandon BecElrenny, and who happened to be in here checking out movies, put his two cents in: "That's why I don't print here. That's why I print at the college, they only charge 10 cents a page."
"Well", annoying woman huffs, "I can print at work FOR FREE!"

WELL, I wanted to scream, YOU go back to the college, and YOU go back to work and then we'll all just be so happy, won't we?
Also, I wanted to yell, the library is a FREE service...no one is forcing you to use it. Instead of being thankful we're here for Prandon to rent movies and for rude woman to get free internet usage, all you want to do is COMPLAIN!

Sorry. I'm done ranting. These are the same people who will come in EVERY day and use our resources...yet complain about them the WHOLE time. Augh!

Ok...let me end on a happy note. I ate Chik-fil-a for lunch today! It was delicious...then I rode around on my bike for a few minutes. I wish I could find a place to ride where there is no traffic. I thought I broke my behind too, I accidentally went off a rather high curb and was not prepared for the bump! I had fun though. It is such a beautiful day outside. :)

No phone, no phone, I just want to be alone today...

Those are lyrics from a song by Cake. "No Phone"...which is what I have today. No phone. :(
I rushed to get to Cingular last night after work, because, as you know, I need a new phone. My plan was...to keep my old plan and pay the $50 or something dollars which is required when you have insurance...to get a new phone. So...I ask if I can keep my old plan. She says "Oh we have a better one!" I say "great!" and it does sound better. (I'm happy but shocked.) She smugly laughs at my phone because it is so old and we ask what kind I can get...she says (still smugly) "you're due for an upgrade"...(smug look at phone)..."Anything we have will be an upgrade from this."

Ok! I get it already! I think. So, in the middle of all this, Seth and Lily have to go to the bathroom really bad, so I usher them to the bathroom and go back to Jessie and the saleslady. She's telling us that there will be an $18 activation fee...blah blah blah....that's all you have to pay....discount....$139.00....
Hang on! we say. What about insurance? I say. She nods, seemingly not understanding.
I SHOULD have insurance, I say. She looks at the bill pulled up on the computer. "It's not showing that you have insurance."
WHAT???????
"Have you noticed a change in your bill?" she asks.
"No, it's been around the same price each month."
"Well," she says offhandedly, still looking smugly at the phone, "I think we canceled the insurance on these phones a while back."
Sigh.
I left. I was SO frustrated. Plus, it was time for them to close. HOW can they cancel someone's insurance and not tell them? Jessie's dad said they probably put a little slip of paper in with the bill that never got looked at.
So, the phones are in my mom's name, so she's calling them today to see what's up with the insurance and such.
I just want a phone!!! :(
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enough of the phone saga. Kim called me a few minutes ago telling me that Katy (my niece) is going to pick out a prom dress (jr. prom) tomorrow! Awww! And she wants us all to go with her. So, if Jessie doesn't mind being left to cartoons and video games again tomorrow morning, I guess I will be going shopping again! Not for me though. (gotta save every last penny for a new phone, I suppose). Its so sweet...I hardly ever get to see Katy...and she asked if we could come with her to shop for her dress. I might cry when she's trying them on!

Oh and I forgot to mention this yesterday! Seth lost another tooth. And I actually didn't lose it this time! It's his third one to lose...the first time I misplaced the tooth, the second time, I think he swallowed the tooth, but this time he was brushing his teeth and he spit it out and caught it! Its so little! He got .50 for it...which he plans to spend ASAP, I think. There was already another one growing in behind it. And now his second top tooth is loose! He'll be toothless, or have a bunch of half-teeth for a while, I guess. haha

Weird dreams again...
Last night I guess I dreamed that someone was grabbing me, and I didn't want them to...I woke up and Jessie had his arms around me and I was thrashing around trying to get away from him! Again, he didn't even wake up!! haha he just made a grunting noise and when I realized what was happened I stopped thrashing. Wonder who dream-grabbed me?
Lily and I had a lovely little day together yesterday. I took her to Wal-mart and we had her pictures made. The photographer kept commenting on what a good little "poser" she was. She's quite a ham. Seth has had 2 sets of pics taken at school this year (and you know I had to order them both times)...so I thought I should get some taken of Lily-loo.
Its funny, my last post was talking about how I wondered if I should keep telling her she's beautiful all the time...yesterday, everywhere we went someone told her how pretty or beautiful she was! (I think I was more proud than she was though!) So she had her ego pumped up a good bit yesterday. haha And mine too!
Anyway, her pictures turned out really cute...its pretty laughable how they present the packages to you. They start off with the "gold" package...all five poses - for $150!!! Then it goes to the "silver" package...for $115 or something. I kept saying, "What's next?" haha I ended up with the "Signature" package (the one she should've shown me first) which comes with the basic package plus 3 other poses. I love getting the kids' pictures made :)
We went to McDonalds for lunch, went downtown to the consignment store, to the library, and finally to a little park in the middle of town with a small pond. It was so nice...there was a breeze blowing and the water was pretty (although the water smelled a little fishy in some places)...so we rode our bikes around and I followed Lily around the several times she abandoned her bike to explore. She looked at me at one point and said, "Mama, we're just having a good day together, aren't we?" AWWW! For someone who can drive me to the point of crazy sometimes, she can melt me in a second.
And...I accidentally broke my cell phone. I had a little purse with me at the park, which was hanging over my shoulder whilst I was riding my bike. It slipped off my shoulder and somehow got caught in between a metal bar and the wheel....later I tried to call Jessie and that phone was dead. I tried to charge it when I got home...in case it was the battery....but nope. So I've got to get a new one. At least I'll be able to get an updated one, finally. Mine is ancient, by today's phone standards.
So now I'm looking forward to the weekend. (Isn't it bad that I live for Wednesdays and weekends?) And right now, I'm looking forward to eating breakfast. I'm starving! So I hope everyone has a nice day and a nice breakfast. :)

What happened to my chubby-cheeked baby?

Here is a problem that has been bugging me the past few weeks...Lily is 5 years old. She is still very much a baby to me. She's not even in kindergarten yet! Yet, she wants to

1) wear makeup
2) play with Bratz dolls (she thinks they're "awesome" and "beautiful")
3) look "popluyer" (she can't even say the word popular and she wants to be it! she doesn't even know the meaning of the word!)

I know the source of the bad path Lily is taking...

A mini-bad influencer who goes by the name of Kylie Beth.

She goes to daycare with Lily...she and Lily appear to be "best friends". They are always excited to see each other in the morning...but the kid is making my kid want to be a pint-sized teeny-bopper! (Is that still a word?)

What can I do? Lily is constantly asking me if she can wear makeup. "No", I say, "only for play inside the house...not when we go places"....and she of course says "Why???? The two Kylies wear it!" (there are 2 Kylie's at her daycare) and I say, "You are too young to wear make-up/You don't need make-up/You are beautiful without makeup/It is only for older girls/I am your mother, not Kylie's mother, etc, etc."

We let her wear play make-up...I let her put on my lip gloss...but I am NOT going to let her make herself up when she is 5 YEARS OLD! And she seems to think it is preposterous! I saw a little girl in the mall last weekend, probably around 8 years old, and she was caked in make-up...it was done proportionately or whatever, but she had so much on! And I thought, why?? Anyway...it sickens me that Lily, at such a young age, is already feeling the pressure to do and look exactly like her friends...I've got to do something about it! I'll fight to the death!

Dog Days of Spring

Last night, on the way home, my truck started overheating (again)...so I called Jessie and told him and he asked me if I thought I could make it home. I was pretty close, almost to our church, so I had the brilliant idea of stopping at the church, letting the truck cool off and riding my bike the rest of the way home.
My house is only about 5 minutes from the church (driving), so I thought, "easy". It was fine at first...and then came THE DOGS!
There was a bulldog and some other dog...I didn't stop to look. I was praying and pedaling as fast as I could!!! Man, those dogs were fast. Luckily, after a couple of minutes (it seemed like an eternity!) I got to a downhill slope so I coasted down the hill and they couldn't keep up. Oh, I was never so happy to see my house!
And also, I couldn't breathe when I got home! I guess I had pedaled my little heart out...I couldn't even speak! haha Jessie was like, "Are you alright?" Never again, I told him!
Then when Jessie drove me back to the church to pick up the truck, I didn't even see them. I guess they only chase poor defenseless bike riders!

a new odd blog

Amber and I have started a blog together, but I warn you...it's bound to be even more senseless than this one! Anyway just click on mine or Amber's profile to go to it...its listed with the names of our other blogs. Happy reading!

A good long peek at my weekend

Monday, Monday...
It's here again. And I'm as sleepy as usual. I just don't do Monday's (or mornings) very well.
The weekend was really great though. I love it when they are so fun you don't want them to end, but its always so sad when they do!
Friday night, we met at the park after I got off of work (Yes, we spend alot of time at the park lately) and the kids played, and I rode my bike and Jessie suprised me by bringing a suppertime picnic! It was so nice...after it got dark, we had a picnic under the stars. Seth started pointing out what he thought might be planets, and we tried to guess which ones they might be. Then we were playing and racing each other and I thought, "sigh, it doesn't get much better than this"...
Then everything went black.
Apparantly, they shut the lights off at the park at 8:00, so we decided it was time to go home. It was very dark out there. But we had our fun.
Saturday morning, Kim, Zora and Becca picked Lily and I up and we all went yard-sale-ing. (? that looks funny) Here is another of my favorite pasttimes...I LOVE going to yard sales. We ended up going to Columbus and we went to a bunch of different yard sales...of course, Lily wanted everything...here's what the kids ended up with (but come on, they were good deals):

a scooter ( for her and Seth)- $3
a crazy necklace (which Kim described as African)- .50
a PowerPuff girls video and An American Tail video-$1 each
a Wendy doll for Lily and a Spud doll for Seth (from Bob the Builder) - .25 each
a framed Aladdin picture (which, sadly, the glass got broken that night) - .50

See what good deals? I also bought a bike for me for $5...but it needs some serious work. I bought a couple of shirts too...I was in bargain heaven.
I had a really good time though...it's been...how many years since we hung out with Zora?? I have no idea, but I know its been a really long time. Lily made a "friend" at the Salvation Army thrift store. A cute little girl about a year older than Lily. They were holding hands and playing hide and seek...it amazes me how quickly kids can take to each other. Too bad adults couldn't be that nice to each other too!

Sat. night, we took the kids to Mom's and Jessie and I went OUT! We played a round of putt-putt golf (which I won! Yay! it'll probably be the only time that ever happens) and ate at Ryan's (where I cheated mercilessly on my diet...but oh it was good). We went to Sam's and walked around aimlessly, then went to the mall and walked around aimlessly some more...we did get Slushies at the mall and Jessie bought a used Mat Hoffman bike game for his Playstation...so we were contented and happy when we picked up the kids from Mom's.

Sunday was church day...Seth and Lily both went into the 1st grade class and had a ball...they made biscuits and sang songs. I was recruited to be a "helper" at the kids Easter party in April...well, I was going to be there anyway...After church we went to the park again...and I tell you, we are getting more than a little sun...my face was very reddish this morning and Seth is turning his usual deep brown. I guess its time to invest in some sunblock. Sunday night, it was back to church for choir practice...where I fully switched to soprano and had to try to hit some very high notes...eeeh. I tried. :) I kept the nursery during the sermon and basically colored the whole time with this sweet little boy named Mark while my kids ran around the room and acted like heathens! And Sunday night bedtime came all too soon...So here I am! I hope everyone has a good day and week.

Stuff n' nonsense (have I used this title before?)

Thursday, Friday, Happy Days!
I'm always excited when Friday rolls around. Sleeping late and watching cartoons in the morning. And yes, I realize I sound like I'm 8 years old. Because I do have a favorite cartoon on Saturday mornings (you know, if I happen to be in the living room when the kids are watching it...haha). Jane and the Dragon...it's not really a cartoon, per se, but an animated show...(anyway)..it comes on NBC, I think, on the little Qubo program in the morning. I don't believe Jessie and I will ever fully grow up (he's loyal to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) but that's alright with me. Lily likes all the (ick) girlie shows, like Bratz (which she's not allowed to watch) so she's pretty much stuck watching the stuff Jessie and Seth watch. I stay in bed as long as I can, eat breakfast, and watch Jane and the Dragon. A typical lovely Saturday morning!

Now I'd like to take a moment to address something. It was brought to my attention by an anonymous commenter that people other than my loyal commenters read my blog...and I didn't realize it. To them I say, don't be anonymous! Let us know who you are! And I'd also like to say that my blog is filled with my opinions and life and ramblings and that's all. I've never claimed for it to be any more than that, and it's not! Having said that, if you ever have a problem with anything I say, I'm more than happy to read your black-cloud comments (just kidding). So comment away!

So...what else? The weekend looms ahead...and it looks to be a beau-ti-ful one. I've been bike riding so much that my legs are literally in rebellion right now. Like when I try to stand up, they refuse to work for a few seconds and feel like rubber bands. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. But oh, do they ache!

When I saw Becca this morning, her hair had turned black!! Or at her insistence, I will call it "blue-black"...it's very important I get that right, you know. It's very shiny and pretty...but I feel for her when she gets sick of it...black is HARD to get out. Amber, I'm sure you're now laughing about my hair stripping incident at Danielle's. Sigh. Amber and I were at her sister Danielle's (we were about 15 and 16 (?) I think)...and we decided to get rid of my black hair. (I had dyed it black to cover the purple)...and Danielle stripped it...IT TURNED ORANGE AND BROWN AND SOME OTHER UNIDENTIFIABLE COLORS THAT RESEMBLED PUKE! It looked so terrible. Luckily, there was a lovely cousin around who worked in a beauty parlor and she worked some kind of miracle and got it looking decent again. I hate to think of poor Becca going through that! haha I warned her though!

And yesterday was Leia's birthday! I can't BELIEVE I forgot it yesterday. Did anyone else remember to call her? :( I felt like a terrible aunt. I'm so absent-minded lately. And it was marked in big red letters on a calendar in my kitchen! Ah, well.
Hope everyone has a good day today! And a marveloso weekend.

Can you tell I've been bored today?

IN THE WORLD OF WEIGHT LOSS

Bad

Good

Scary!

Sweaty Betty, part 2

I just went for a lovely bike ride. On my lunch break, I drove a couple of blocks over from work and went for a bike ride in the surrounding neigborhoods. I am extremely sweaty! It's so nice outside...a little warm, but very nice. I was so hot, I had to take off my overshirt thingy I was wearing and am now wearing a white tank top, with arms as white to match!!! No one's been blinded yet though. :)
Jessie keeps hinting that he wants us to go out this weekend, just me and him. So I asked him about it this morning, but his target babysitter, his dad, is going to Water Valley for the weekend. So I don't know if that'll pan out or not. I don't know what he wants to do ??? I guess he just wants us to have some alone time...how romantic. :) Honestly, we probably don't need to spend any money at all this weekend. Our lunch yesterday was so expensive!!! Plus, I feel like I need to spend some time with the kids, namely Seth, who is schooling all week while I'm working, and on my Wednesday off he's still schooling. So I feel like I haven't spent any time with him lately. Parenting is always a juggling routine and trying to keep everything together, isn't it? And my house is still in a shambles. Sigh, I've been trying to get it clean bit by bit, but the bits keep getting messy again!
Anyway...I wish we women had an "easy" button, like on those Staples commercials. Push the easy button and then, like Mary Poppins, you get everything cleaned in a snap! Or with a snap rather. Where was I going with this?

Wedding bells have rung

Yesterday we all went up to Vernon, AL, for K and J to get married. Unfortunately the judge had left about 30 minutes earlier, so we were given directions to Fayette, AL, about 20 miles away. And yay! the judge was there. K and J had to fill out some paperwork and then we were all led (stuffed) into the judge's office...I got to stand behind him and get a good view of the whole thing because I was the camera-person. I made faces at Kim at first but then thought better of it and stopped so she could keep a straight face (for the pictures, at least). Becca and Leia giggled the whole time and when they were married and had "the kiss", Becca and Leia started saying, "Gross! That's enough kissing!" You could tell they were so emotional. (rolls eyes) haha they told me I took pictures every two seconds...but I didn't want to miss anything! It was a really sweet ceremony. I was glad we were all there together. I got some pretty funny pictures!

Kim looked really pretty...Leia borrowed a dress from me (from my skinnier days) but wore a jacket over it and refused to remove it. Weirdo! Becca wore this dress of mine that I got from a thrift store long, long ago...it looks like something Marsha Brady would've worn!! heehee she looked really cute in it though. The mother of the bride looked very pretty also. Lily wore her Easter dress for this year and looked like a little princess! I did her hair in pigtails and she looked so cute.

Once Kim "bought the cow" (Jerry's words) we all went in search of food. There was pretty much nothing to eat in Fayette, nothing very nice anyway. But we finally saw this Mexican restaurant, whose name I'll never be able to pronounce, and we ate there. It was very tasty (and filling).

Becca spent the night with us last night. We exercised our behinds off. First we went to the park and rode bikes a little. Then, we did two exercise tapes!! (About an hour total) We exercised in Seth's room and she insisted on closing the door so Jessie wouldn't see. So it got SO hot in that room!! She is such an enigma. For someone that wore her bangs to school spiked up this morning, she is so easily embarrassed by little things! Yesterday when we got back to Amory, we were in Dollar General and they were playing this western-y music over the intercom. Mom and I were doing our best western jigs in the aisles (it was so catchy, you couldn't help but dance!) and Becca kept going "OH MY GOSH" and begging us to stop! haha I love embarrassing her.

Today looks like another beautiful day. I have been loving this weather lately. I hope it lasts a while longer. At least until I lose a little weight!

These are just too good (awful-good)

What is with celebrities? I think when some of them name their babies they just stand in a room and look at whatever is around them for name ideas. Like when I was a kid, my mom asked me what my stuffed rabbit's name was, and I looked around the room and said, "Radio-basket" (they never let me live it down). I just had to share some oddball examples of names that these poor children are going to have to live with.
(from http://www.babynames.com/Names/Celebrities/celebrity_babies.php)

Satchel Seamus Allen - Woody Allen & Mia Farrow
Seven Sirius Benjamin - Andre Benjamin & Eryka Badu
Zowie Bowie - David & Angela Bowie

Willem Wolf Broad - Billy Idol (William Broad) & Perri Lister

Sailor Lee Brinkley Cook - Christy Brinkley & Peter Cook

Calico Dashiell Cooper - Alice & Sheryl Cooper

Fifi-Trixibelle Geldof - Bob Geldof & Paula Yates

Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof - Bob Geldof & Paula Yates

Little Pixie Geldof - Bob Geldof & Paula Yates

Bluebell Madonna Haliwell - Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell

Elijah Bob Patricus Guggi Q Hewson - Bono Vox (Paul Hewson) & Alison Stewart

Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence - Michael Hutchence & Paula Yates

Moxie Crimefighter Jillette - Penn & Emily Jillette

Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee - Jason Lee & Beth Riesgraf

Allegra Sky Leguizamo - John Leguizamo & Justine Maurer

Speck Wildhorse Mellencamp - John Mellencamp & Elaine Irwin

Daisy Boo Oliver - Jamie Oliver & Juliette Norton

Poppy Honey Oliver - Jamie Oliver & Juliette Norton

Very colorful, aren't they? (I think Paula Yates holds the title for weirdest names)

My NEW reason for sleep deprivation

I tried to put a picture up, but couldn't for some reason. My new reason for no sleep is The Sims! It's a video game that Jessie bought. You make up a person and then you basically live his or her life. Jessie and I built a house and bought furniture and you have to make sure they eat, shower, sleep, and so on. Its SO addictive. I rue the day we bought that Playstation. I always get a little nervous when I get so into a game an hour passes by and I don't even notice!

Well, at least last night I got a little exercise and fresh air. I took Becca home last night and she, Kim and I rode bikes around some neighborhoods in Aberdeen. I was the slowest member of our trio. I kept falling behind! Well, seeing as they weigh, like 40 or more pounds less than me, its not that big of a surprise. It was fun though, really fun, until we went down "Evil Dog Street". Oh man, all of a sudden there were dogs everywhere! I was really scared because they were barking viciously and they were running right at my feet! Then, as soon as we'd outrun a couple, there'd be more. Only two got REALLY close to me though. I uttered some words I don't normally utter, as I was a bit scared of getting bitten, but luckily we outran them, and I told Kim to please never take me down that street again! It was cool riding around at night though, the streets were dead; I think we saw two cars. It was an interesting new experience. (I NEVER ride around my neighborhood at night!)

Tomorrow's Kim's wedding day. Dum-dum-da-dum. I still haven't had a chance to pick out something to wear (or shave) but I plan to cram that, cleaning my house, exercising and eating a healthy dinner in tonight. haha We'll see, won't we?

Speaking of my house, it is a TOTAL disaster. It looks awful. Last night we ate supper at the table, but in the middle of the table was a pile of papers, books, and who knows what else. I was not pleased. On the couch is a pile of unfolded clothes. In the sink is a pile of stinky dishes. You get the picture. So I'm going to dive right in when I get home. It'll be fun! (I hope you were able to note the sarcasm in that).

I'm taking off work a couple of hours early because I have to pick Lily up from daycare today. That's a good thing, considering the shape my house is in. And all I need to do tonight. Why is it so hard to keep a house in order? I guess playing video games instead of cleaning might explain it. :P

My perfect evening

Where I'd Like to be Right Now:

What I'd Like to be doing Right Now:

(Obviously, that's not me, but I wouldn't mind if it were!)

What it would be nice to eat Right Now:

(Someone please teach me how to make these!...and what a cute plate)

And after my nice nap on the beach and hearty meal of chicken n'dumplins, it'd be nice to watch:

(My "stories" (haha)- Jim and Pam on "The Office!")

I'll just keep dreaming until 6:00!

A new hair day

Monday morning again! It comes so quickly. I had a very nice weekend though. I'm going to mix things up and tell you about my weekend in categories. (Why? I don't know.)

Hair
I'll start with something trivial, yet important (to me.) I got yet another haircut Saturday. :) I really like it. Kim got hers cut first...she got a LOT lopped off and then she had it layered. I liked it so much I decided to have mine done that way. So basically we have the same haircut, but thankfully, it doesn't look exactly alike. We went to a place called Turning Heads, and the girl that did our hair (also named Kim...and she also had a son named Seth! haha) was extremely nice and had awesome hair herself. So I guess that was a good sign. We were both very pleased with the job she did and Kim couldn't stop admiring hers in the mirror! haha She also got her eyebrows waxed (ugh) and tried to get me to do it, but I wasn't about to. I don't pay attention to my eyebrows now, and I don't ever plan to! ha

Shopping
Another trivial topic, but an important element to our day, as we were shopping for Kim's wedding attire. She tried on and tried on and tried on dresses, skirts, etc. and complained about her body all day! I seriously considered slapping her (just kidding). But she found a skirt and shirt at Cato that she was happy with...and she looked very pretty in it. We also went to a consignment shop, Little Blessings, where another extremely nice girl works, and bought some shirts and things. Now I have to rummage through my closet today or tomorrow and find something decent to wear. And shave my legs! (I'm not looking forward to that. :P)

Eating
Oooh eating. Kim and I ate at Bill's Hamburgers on Saturday...it was sooo good. Kim kept saying "I'll gladly pay you Thursday for a hamburger today"...haha....remember what that's from? Wimpy, from Popeye, you know, the little man who loves burgers? I was cracking up, as is my usual way in a public setting. And Sunday we had our housewarming party at church (for Matt, a church member)...and oh those people can cook. Julia, our piano player, made this scrumpdiddilyumptious vegetable soup. And someone made barbecue...it was too good.

Exercise
I exercised this weekend! My mom gave Kim a bike for her birthday, so Saturday when we got back to her house, we rode bikes around her neighborhood. I was worn out. I thought my legs would fall off. So I'm apparantly going to have to ride more often so my legs can get used to it...poor legs! Jessie, Lily and I went to the park yesterday (Seth was at his grandmother's) and Lily and I rode bikes. My legs are extremely sore today, but that's a good thing, right? haha

Kids
Like I said, we went to the park Sunday...then we went to Sonic for happy-hour slushies. We got out of the truck to go sit at the tables outside and Lily picked something up off the ground...something pink. Something open and pink. Something that when I saw it I screamed at her to DROP IT! It...was...a....used...condom. I was HORRIFIED! We raced her to the bathroom where her hands where thoroughly washed and sanitized. She...thought...it...was...a...balloon! Oh man...then I saw the wrapper on the OTHER SIDE of my truck. What the....? Are people actually going at it in the Sonic parking lot, then dropping their mess outside on the ground for poor innocent children to stumble upon??? SICK!
I kept the nursery yesterday morning at church and I got to keep a baby, Shelby...she was so precious. I rocked her to sleep. Lily came over and looked at her lovingly and said, "It's almost like she's our baby, isn't it?" It was so sweet. I think Lily is going to be like me, with a deep love for babies. I think that means she's going to be a good mama. Of course, I don't want to see that day for another 18 years or so!
Today the kids had to go back to school. Seth actually seemed ok with it. Not like me after being off a week for spring break...I acted like I was marching toward certain death. haha But Seth seemed nonchalant about it..."Are you ready to go back to school?" "Yeah." I'm glad he likes school. He doesn't get that from me, that's for sure. I guess I liked it well enough in kindergarten though.

Weddings
The event of the season is on Wednesday. Kim is nervous and excited. I'm just excited. And I'm glad we both have nice new haircuts for the occasion. :) Mom and Chuck are going and Becca and Leia. I'm probably going to take Lily with us too, but Seth will go to school. I don't think he'd care to go anyway (he's a typical boy.)

That's my weekend in a nutshell. It passed by quickly, as weekends do. Hope everyone has a good day. :)

Going to the chapel and we're...gonna get ma-a-arried

As with Dwight and Angela, it's true love

I don't think I've mentioned it here...but my sister, Kim, and her boyfriend Jerry are getting married next Wednesday (so the plans are for now). Jessie and I will act as the best man and the maid of honor and accompany the happy couple to Winfield, Alabama, where they can apply for a marriage liscense and get married in the same day...the whole shebang!

So Kim called me a little bit ago and asked if we could have a sister-shopping-day-before-the-wedding-day (lol) or something to that effect. So I'm excited! I think it'll be fun. She went with me to buy my wedding dress and it was a lot of fun. We missed a lot of sisterly time together, living apart in different states for so long, among other reasons, so I'm glad when we get to have times like this together. She says shes going to get a haircut too, and I'm to stand watch and make sure they don't mess it up. (Great.) And then we're going to find her something pretty to wear. Don't ask me what I'm going to wear. Last night I assured her she wouldn't have to worry about the bridesmaid looking prettier than the bride. (I'm just not happy with my reflection these days!)

Anyway, I'll let you know Monday about our findings. Wednesday evening when the kids and I were at Mom's, I went through her shed and found some of my old wedding stuff. My bouquets (fake, obviously!) and my gorgeous veil that aunt Daphne made for me as a wedding gift. Lily, Noelle and I all tried on the veil and felt like beautiful brides! I don't think Kim will wear a veil, but maybe she can carry a bouquet and she and Jerry can drink from the "bride and groom" glasses. I love weddings...especially when I can be involved in them!

Bargain hunters

Last night I went on a mini shopping spree. I feel like I've been spending way too much money lately, but we'll save that for another day...

I had many gifts to buy last night. Tonight we're having Kim and Leia's birthday dinner, so last night I had to run to Walmart to get their gifts, plus we're having a housewarming thing for a guy at church Sunday, so I had to get him something also.

But first...I went to Peebles to take a second look at a jacket I had seen a couple of days earlier, to confirm my suspicion that it was indeed, 75% off! And it was. Yippee! But it started to look like I wasn't going to get it for that price. The boy who checked me out was a nice red-cheeked lad (actually probably about my age). The yellow sticker on the jacket said $64.99 or something, so with 75% off, that's about 17 dollars right?

It rang up as $32.98. (or something relatively close).

I was a bit perturbed. I asked him if we could go check the rack, becasue I was pretty sure the sign said 75% off. He was very nice and accompanied me over there. He saw the sign, then we went off in search of a calculator. A few minutes later, we went over to a woman who I think was his boss and asked to use her calculator. I'll call her Saleszilla.

Saleszilla: (to nice boy) What are you trying to figure?

Boy: (explains situation to her while figuring it up on the calculator)

Saleszilla: What's 70% off?

Me: 75% off.

Boy: It's a coat (tells her because coat is in bag already). It's not like someone just stuck it on the rack or anything, there are more coats over there. But it rang up as $32.98.

Saleszilla: Mmm-hmmm. (seemingly confirming that that was the price it was supposed to be.)

Boy: But the sign says 75% off. So it should be about $17.00.

Saleszilla: Well, that seems awfully low for a coat.

Me: (inwardly seething: Well that's why I came back for the coat! Because it was a good price! If you don't want to sell the coat for that price, why did you put the sign over the coat???? Grrrr!!!!!!!)

Saleszilla: Well, I guess we can let her have if for that. (as if she was doing me this BIG favor when that's what the sign said. GEEZ!)

Me: (smiling syrupy sweet smile, actually ready grab the coat and run away with it) Thank you.

So I got it. And I'm happy with it. It really was a good deal. But to Peebles I say, don't advertise your good deals, lure me into the store and get me all giddy and ready to buy stuff if you have a problem letting me have it for the price that is on the sign!!!!!

Ok, I feel better now. :)

So then I went to Walmart, where I found more really good deals. I got Kim and Leia each a cute t-shirt for $5 and then found them pants for $4! Yippee! However, upon arriving home I noticed that the pants I bought for Kim were actually totally the wrong size...someone had hung them on the wrong hanger. So back to the store they will go. Then I got them some cute socks to go with their clothes. Then I found this really nice chenille (or however you spell it) blanket for $5 for my fellow church member's housewarming gift. So I was happy with my purchases. And I was glad that Wal-mart did indeed let me have them for the prices advertised without a fight!

When I got home, the kids wanted to see everything I'd bought, so I was showing them and Lily says, " You didn't get me anything?"

I explained to her that Nana bought her and Seth some clothes yesterday, so she had already gotten something (and you all know that completely appeased her - haha). I let her try on my jacket though, and she seemed to feel better. Meanwhile Jessie's going, "No, its not your birthday, or Christmas, or a special occasion!" I wish I could say that was our family policy. But I'm a regular girl, who likes to buy things (especially gifts and things for her children). Actually I think I spotted some kids coats for 60% off at Peebles yesterday. I wonder how I can get Jessie to go with me...

How to have a really fun and really cheap day out with your kids (plus get your exercise and be completely worn out by the end of the day)

1)Go to the bowling alley intending to spend money on bowling but find out they are freakishly crowded at 10:30 in the a.m. Leave without spending money! Meet up with other parent who accompanies you to the park!

2) Go to the park, ride bikes, play on the playground in the beautiful morning sunlight (side note: this begins the wearing out process of the parent...first with riding bikes, then trying to lug three bikes around when the kids get tired of riding and/or cannot ride in the grass...but at least there are two parents to share the lugging!)

3) Go to Pizza Hut for lunch, eat buffet, the kids eat free! (parent is momentarily refreshed with pizza and Pepsi, kids instantly recharged!) Other parent must leave to go back to work. :(

4) Go to the library and let the kids play games on the computer (parent is still sweating, as she has never stopped, but at least she is able to sit down for a few seconds. Every other few seconds she is getting up to try to fix headphones that are not working properly)
Then let kids go up and down stairs to look at what's upstairs (note: parent must go upstairs at least twice!)
Let kids pick out books...read two very long books, then check them out. Chase after kids while waiting for cousin (Amber) to arrive
Go outside to recieve wonderful gift of clothes that grandmother brings to you (beautiful new Easter dress plus an outfit for both children! more money saved! Hooray!) Chase kids outside and sweat more

5)Go back to park...walk and sweat...sit on sidewalk and watch children play as there are no available benches. Try to keep an eye on each child while accessing your laser vision to see through 20 other children
Cousin and little cousin arrive (Amber and Noelle!) Watch children play...then realize littlest one is missing. Frantically run after her as she is making her merry way (by herself!) to the pond to "see the ducks". Marvel at how fast she can run.
Walk around the pond, sweat more, buy food out of the machine to feed ducks. Laugh hysterically at cousin when she puts 75 cents into two food machines and only gets out about 6 little pellets of food.
Feed ducks! Have embarrassing pictures taken of you by cousin's camera phone. Chase children around and then sit down to rest (whew!)
Go halfway across the park to buy a soda from the vending machine. Skater boys kindly let you know that machine is broken. (more money saved!) Decide to leave park in search of liquid refreshment.

6)McDonalds! Air conditioning, refreshments, seats! Save even more money when cashier tells you that ice cream machine is broken! Settle on drinks for all the kids and a fruit and walnut salad. Kids play and scream and have a merry ol' time on the indoor playground. Become annoyed by game on playground that repeatedley says "Find Skippy!" (we never did find him)

7)Go to Nana's house. Have her graciously feed you dinner and sit outside in the lovely evening breeze on her patio furniture. Kids play, ride bikes, moms and Nanas relax as much as possible and have a lovely chat and look at pictures.

8)Realize it's past 7:00 pm! Frantically gather up bikes (which results in many trips down Nana's steep driveway...sweat more, huff and puff as if you'd never walked up a hill before...and children. Go home, give baths and put children to bed.

One problem with this method. At the end of the day, the children are still as wound up as ever. YOU are the one who is ready to collapse!

Money spent: about $20
Fun had: enormous amount!
Sleep needed afterwards: enough to make parent oversleep the next morning!

Attention please! (Is this thing on?)

If you'll notice, to the left, under the section "Blogs I read", I've linked Amber's blog. Appropriately titled "Crazy Amber's blog". If anyone else wants to be linked I will, but I didn't want to do it without anyone's permission (except Amber, cause I know she doesn't care). And Mom and Aunt Daphne, when are you going to start your blogs! Your bloggy-friends are waiting in frenzied anticipation!

Last night was not too eventful. Jessie had to go to Eupora last night to deliver some invoices so Kim was watching the kids. We all ate pizza together and Kim and I watched part of "Anne of Green Gables: the Sequel". :) I love those movies. But I find I like watching them better alone...I don't want to miss a word of it! All the kids (Becca and a friend of hers, Leia and a friend of hers, plus Seth and Lily! - 6 kids!) kept coming in and talking and being extremely loud, so I didn't see too much of it. Then the kids and I went home and Jessie and I ended getting home at the same time, so I was happy not to have to come home to a dark house. Well, at least not to come home alone to a dark house. :)

Tomorrow is Laura's birthday! Happy Birthday Laura! Reaching the ripe ol' age of 25. :) We usually have birthday lunches at work, but since Sarah is on vacation, I guess we'll have to wait a week or two. And I didn't mention it yesterday in my blog, but Kelly mentioned it in the comments yesterday, so I feel more comfortable mentioning it now. (did that make sense?) Congratulations Kelly! Kelly is expecting her third baby. :) Is there any way we can have a blog baby shower? haha I'm not sure how that would work. But I'm so excited for Kelly.

I just noticed how many smiley faces I've put in this blog. 4 in all. Here's another one. :) They're cute, aren't they?

Well, if you haven't noticed, I've run out of things to say for right now (I'm very sleepy this morning, that's my excuse for being un-interesting). I hope everyone has a nice day today!:) :) :)

This blog needed a little color

Oh what a beautiful Mornin'!

A bit of "Oklahoma" for you there. I had a really nice weekend. It was just perfect weather. I didn't get the house cleaned as I'd planned to. I couldn't be pulled back inside to do it! We went to the park Saturday and rode bikes. Then we rode around on the sidewalks of some neighborhoods close by...and the smell of chestnut trees filled the air (UGH)...it was a lot of fun. I have become a bike-riding fanatic. I have finally found my favorite form of exercise. Unfortunately, there is only one bike between Jessie and I (and its Leia's, really) so we have to take turns riding it! Oh well, walking is good exercise too. But my favorite day was yesterday...right after church we went to a different park..its right by the high school in town. We took a picnic lunch, then the kids played while Jessie and I played frisbee. We could've been on the cover of a "Family Circle" magazine or something (just kidding). Jessie and I took turns spinning Lily and Seth on the merry-go-round. Jessie (the fastest spinner) was spinning them really fast at one point, and Lily, who was standing up on it and spinning at a great speed said, "Daddy, there seems to be a lot of you!" haha Then a BUNCH of other kids came for a birthday party, so we got our bikes out and rode around the high school. Poor Seth got overheated and started coughing his head off, so we detoured into the football field and took our shoes off and walked around in the grass. It was just so...one of those days where everything is right as is should be. It was nice. We all got a little sunburned, as there was not much shade...after riding around a little more, we went to Sonic and got some slushes. Much to our delight, it was happy hour and they were half off! Very nice.
Then we went to Kim's (after getting a "Come over, I'm bored!" phone call) and Jessie and Seth played "Kingdom Hearts" with Becca while Lily, Kim and I sacked out and watched Mary Poppins. Then I got to choir practice just in time. Ooh man I was so out of tune last night. We're practicing for our Easter Cantata, and the songs just seem to be really hard to keep up with...and I tried to take my voice some places it should never try to go again!
Seth was quite happy not to have to go to school today. I'm hoping the weather will be nice Wednesday so we can go back to "the duck park" (Ballard) for a while. And I still think we might go bowling (yay bumpers!). So I hope everyone has a good week!

Three cheers for the weekend

Here I am again. Boredom has set in, as it often does in the last couple of hours of the day. I guess I used all of my energy in my last post...which I realize was a little over the top, but still...

So I'll counteract that bad blog with unpleasant things in it with a "happy little blog" that will make you smile and think about Bob Ross and how much you always wished you could paint like him.

Happy little trees

How did Bob Ross make it look so easy to do that? I always wished I had an easel and some paints on hand so I could paint along with him.


Lily got a new doll recently. Remember her?

Isn't it funny how all the things that were popular when I was a kid are coming back around now? Like My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite...and they are still loved as much by children now as they were then. :) Isn't she so much cuter than a Bratz?

It's always neat to show the kids shows that we watched as kids too. Like She-ra and He-man, as I've discussed before. And we have a DVD of this guy too:

Seth and Lily love Fat Albert. I'm glad he and Charlie Brown and Garfield are still around...

What were your favorite shows and toys when you were little?

Yikes

Am I the only one who is really creeped out by Tom Cruise these days?

It's that maniacal gleam in his eye

I seriously doubt that I am. I long for the days when he was with Nicole Kidman, shouting "Show me the money!" and I thought he was a "normal" actor (whatever that may be.) I didn't care a whit about his couch-jumping fiasco on Oprah...it's the Scientology junk that scares me. And now he's seemingly brainwashed little Katie Holmes, who I loved watching on Dawson's Creek (Wednesday evenings in high school...). And then there's this poor little baby they've brought into the world (not to mention his other kids) who will be brought up with that rubbish! *Sigh*

I feel for him...he's so freaking misguided. I don't know, or care to know, anything about Scientology. All I know is that is has to do with the Hubbard guy and aliens and is extremely creepy. I seriously think we all, as Christians, need to send him tracts, a Bible, something, anything! Carrying on though, I am SICK of hearing about him and his "religion" and - ugh!

Here's the bottom line. He's an idiot.

1- He's trying to shove Scientology down everyone's throat. He -and his "religion"- have hooked a number of celebrities, one being his wife, Katie Holmes...she's a sad sight. On that small face, above that seemingly happy, crooked smile, there rest two eyes void of light and life. That's what I see anyway. It seems like he's tried to mold her into his perfect puppet woman. Again, just my opinion!

2 -He believes he is a top expert on post-partum depression. Idiot! Yeah, it sounds like a really good idea for a depressed woman caring for a newborn infant to take the advice of a guy who believes in "space operas". (Look it up if you care to...geez.) "Hmm...my life and the life of my precious newborn child are in my hands, but I'm crying uncontrollably, can't feel close to my baby, and am feeling suicidal...what would help? What was that Tom Cruise said? Vitamins? Well, why didn't I think of that?" GIVE ME A BREAK! He needs to stop giving is "advice" before he truly hurts someone.

3-The man fashioned a giant pacifier for his wife to "keep her quiet" when she was to give birth to their daughter. No talkie, Cruise insists. Oh Katie...WAKE UP! THE MAN IS PSYCHO!

4-Is it just me or does he have the "crazy eyes"? (See picture above) I just get this feeling that there is something undisturbingly not-right about him.

I'm too disgusted to go on. I swear, I don't think about Tom Cruise on a daily basis, but I saw a picture of his maniacal eyes today and was spun into a frenzy of thinking about how much I really dislike what he's become. I know he hates psychiatrists but that's exactly who he needs to be sent to. And also, someone needs to invite him to church.

Dream Induced Psychosis

So...last night was the second night in a row that I had bizarre dreams. But last night, my dream movements were carried out in real life. You're going to think I'm crazy, but...I was dreaming about giving a spanking, I believe I was trying to spank Seth. I don't spank the kids a whole lot in real life, so it was kind of strange. I would put my hand in the air, but when it came down on his butt, I couldn't get any force behind it. It was like my hand stopped in midair and slowed down to almost a stop, resulting in just a little pat on the behind. And then he sort of transformed into a different kid, and the different kid started laughing at me because I was trying so hard to spank him but couldn't! This is where is gets weird...I woke up...and I was spanking Jessie!! He was still asleep, but was going "ugnn", and then I realized what I was doing HAHAHA! I was like, "I'm sorry!" but he never even woke up! I asked him this morning if he remembered it but he didn't. haha Then I had ANOTHER crazy dream but I won't go into that in detail. But I will tell you that Jessie and I had 9 kids and he bought them a dog without discussing it with me! Maybe that's why I gave him a spanking! Crazy!
Speaking of dreams, the way my house looks right now is a nightmare. I confirmed with Jessie this morning that we had NO plans this weekend, so we can actually clean it up. Its sad that it takes so little time to get in such bad shape, but takes a hardy effort and much more time to get it clean again! Its mainly just clutter...everywhere. Seth's school papers, library books, you name it, it's strewn across my house.
Next week is spring break for all the kiddies! Lucky them, huh? Sadly, I wasn't able to be off next week, so Seth is going to be staying at the babysitter's with Lily. But on Wednesday I'm going to try to take them to do something special...I was thinking of taking them bowling and then to get ice cream or something. Seth needs to have a little fun on his break.
Well, its Friday and it looks to be a gorgeous day (yay!) so it should be a good day. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend...feel free to come and help me clean the house!

Do you have a good 45 minutes? Sit, have a nice cup of tea, and read about my terribly interesting day. :D

It's Winds-day!

Well, yesterday was Winds-day! It was windy at some points, anyway, and I kept thinking of "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day" and the gopher who whishels when he talksh. "It's Windshday!"

I had the busiest day ever yesterday. At the end of the day I collapsed in exhaustion! Here, a play-by-play of my day for you! (Aren't you excited?)

8:00: Woken up by Lily. "Mama I'm hungry! Mama can I do my bannerina video? Mama, I want some milk." Face facts that I must drag myself out of bed.

8:30: I lay on the couch to "rest" my eyes. Lily talks incessantly, and repeatedly tells me to "Look!" and "wake up mama!"

9:00: Give up on resting my eyes.

9:30: Get Lily and I dressed and ready to go. Our plans for the day are to go to Aberdeen to pick Kim up, take her to the vet's office to pick up some meds for Mama Dog, go to Walmart and go to the library, then go pick Seth up from school to take him to the doctor.

10:15: Arrive at Kim's. Kim asks if we can go ahead and bring Mama Dog back to my house, because she's doing really badly...we thought she might pep up if she could roam around in my yard. So Kim coaxes her out from under the house and she pees three times before she gets to the truck. Kim and I hoist her up inside the bed of the truck and Becca (who's home sick) pulls her in the rest of the way while Kim and I go wash our hands.

10:20: Mama dog has thrown up and also left us a nice present in the bed of the truck, and is out of the truck peeing again when we go outside. Proceed to hoist her back in the truck and finally make our way back to my house to drop her off.

10:40: Back at my house, we drop Mama dog off, clean out the bed of the truck with the water hose, and Yay! we're finally on our way.

11:00: We all decide we're hungry so we decide to stop and eat. Kim wants to go to Hardee's so I pull into the Hardee's parking lot only to have Lily beg that we go to McDonald's to play on the playground. So back to McDonald's we go.

11:20 We're happily eating, outside as Lily requested, but the wind is blowing our food and us and our napkins everywhere. I repeatedly tell Lily to "Please hurry and eat!" and she continues to eat at a snail's pace so we shiver and try to batten down the hatches (our napkins, that is.) She finally finishes and plays on the playground a few minutes, and we leave...I'm trying to watch the time because I want to pick Seth up by 2:00 to take him to the doctor (if you were wondering how I knew all the exact times...I'm not usually this much of a clock-watcher!)

11:40: We go to the vet's, but the vet says there's no point in giving Mama Dog antibiotics since she's throwing up. She suggests Kim buy some Pepto instead and tells her to bring her in Friday. So we make our merry way to the library and I almost get us hit by a man riding a motorcycle (he came out of nowhere, I swear!).

12:00 (I think): At the library! Lily wants to play the computers, play with the puppets, read the pop-up books, anything to deviate from my strict schedule of checking out 2 books and movies! haha We pick out a couple of books and movies (she picked 12 Dancing Princesses - Jessie was thrilled when I showed it to him later) and then the library's circulation goes down! We have to wait a while, but finally they just write everything down and we speed off to Walmart. Well, not speed (Mom that's not what I meant). Rather, we safely and briskly drove to Walmart.

12:30: I drop off some meds I need to get filled at the pharmacy and Lily and I accompany Kim to the make-up section. If you see me on a day-to-day basis, you know I am a person who NEVER wears make-up. But lately, with my allergies making my face all red all the time, I decided it was time to take the plunge. So Kim, Lily and I deeply assessed which brands we wanted (the cheapest) and whether the Pink Blush 32b lipstick or the Wild Rose 36b would look best on me. (We went with the Wild Rose). I felt like a regular girl for a minute there! haha

1:00: Back to Kim's in Aberdeen. We stop at Sonic to pick Becca up some lunch and marvel at how much one cheeseburger and two cream slushes sets Kim back.

1:30: I'm off to Hatley to get Seth...right on time, much to my delight and suprise.

2:00: Destination reached. A tired Mama and a chattering Lily make our way to the elementary office and collect our precious cargo. Seth and Lily chatter like monkeys.

2:35: Hubbard Clinic, Verona. Much to my delight, there is only one car in the parking lot! Oh yes, there's NO ONE in the waiting room! We get called back immeadiately, Seth coughs continuously and Lily rides around the room on the wheeled doctor's stool. Seth hides behind the table so the doctor won't see him. By the time the doctor comes in, he's come out of hiding. :) Doctor tells me that Seth's coughing is due to sinuses and allergies, no antibiotics needed (Yay!) He prescribes some cough medicine. I supress the urge to tell him about Jessie's temporary insanity (throwing all the cough medicine away) and accept the prescription with a thankful smile.

3:00: Head to Dollar General for who-knows-why. Spend about 30 minutes in the flip-flop aisle with Seth and Lily. Jessie is supposed to meet us there but is nowhere to be found. I exclaim "Where is your Daddy?" Turns out he's spying on us from the other aisle. Weirdo! We buy flowery flip-flops for Lily, a Spiderman shirt for Seth and then go out to get drinks from the vending machine. Lily begins drinking her second root beer of the day and starts burping again. Seth wisely chooses water and makes me proud. :)

3:30: We part ways. Lily and I go to the library to see Nana, and Seth and Jessie go to GameStop (or is it GameZone? Anyway...) Lily finally gets to play games on the computer and is blissfully happy. Everyone tells me that they like the way I've braided (or "plaited") her hair and I am proud once again. Nana and I have a nice chat and I marvel about pictures above the computers in which there is a cat reading a book with a library card lying beside it. Interesting.

4:00: Ballard Park! Its a little breezy, but still a beautiful day. We all meet back up (but park on different sides.) They play on the playground a while, then we walk to look at the ducks. This extremely nice family shares their bag of bread with us and we give the fish and ducks a little feast. Walk around the pond and see Isla (Laura and Kelly are friends with her) and her adorable baby son Jake. I coo over Jake and we talk about how we both wish we had baby leashes to keep our kids from running away (!!) as Jake grins and tries to make his way to the water (he's such a cutie-pie!). We part ways and go to the other playground; the kids swing, play, then Lily "HAS TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! REALLY BAD!" I make an attempt to make her bathroom trip a little more sanitary by placing lots of toilet paper on the seat for her to sit on...when I should've heeded her cries of "I have to go really bad!!" Needless to say, she didn't completely make it to the potty. Uh-oh. I stick my head out the door and tell Jessie the bad news. I consider our options and since we are really hungry and want to go grab a bit to eat, I suggest going to Walmart to pick up my contacts and Lily a pair of pants and underwear. We can also get Seth's medicine filled there. Brilliant.

5:00: Yay, Walmart again. I'm beginning to drag. I wait about 20 for my contacts, then Jessie informs me it'll be 30-35 minutes before his meds are filled. Augh!

To make an already long story short (ha a little late for that, isn't it?) we went to eat after Wal-mart, and didn't make it home until about 8:40, where I had to give Lily a bath, wash clothes and do a myriad of other millions of things! So at about 10:30, I collapsed. And slept. And here I am today! Still alive! It just seemed like I never stopped yesterday! I'm wearing my make-up today, but I think I've rubbed it all off because my nose has been itching ferociously!

This is the reason I am sleep-deprived today. We rented this Playstation game, Kingdom Hearts...its so much fun to play! Its kind of like the game Final Fantasy, which is a role-playing game but it has Disney characters in it too. You get to go to different worlds, like Olympus (Hercules) and to Beast's castle...last night I was in the 100 Acre Woods with Winnie the Pooh and he was doing his "stoutness exercises"! It was so cute! Sometimes the characters join you while you are in their worlds and help you defeat the "enemies". Last night, I had to battle "Hydra", that thing that starts with one head, but when you cut it off, it grows a million in its place! It took forever to beat. Anyway, its fun...the kids like watching it, its kind of like watching a bunch of Disney mini-movies!

Jessie went back to work today. He still had fever last night, but this morning it was gone, so he went in...he really didn't have too much of a choice, I guess, because his boss called him and was like, "Are you coming in today? Two of the salesmen are out!" then proceeded to give him a list of places to go and things to do. So I'm glad he was feeling better this morning. (!) I also got onto him about throwing away all that cough medicine (since he was better and all- haha). I said, "WHY did you throw away all that cough medicine?" and he said:

"Because no one was sick."

Sigh. Meanwhile Seth is coughing his poor little head off. I definitely plan to take him to the doctor sometime this week. And I'm still hoping none of us contract strep throat..I read yesterday that its passed through "droplets" (gross!) - through sneezing, coughing, breathing, etc. And it can live for a short time on surfaces...I told Jessie to keep his "droplets" to himself!

I love this song!

Mansion over the Hilltop

(Words & music by Ira Stamphill)

I'm satisfied with just a cottage below
A little silver and a little gold
But in that city where the ransomed will shine
I want a gold one that's silver lined

I’ve got a mansion
just over the hilltop
In that bright land
where we'll never grow old
And some day yonder
we will never more wander
But walk on streets
that are purest gold

Don't think me poor or deserted or lonely
I'm not discouraged, I’m heaven bound
I'm but a pilgrim in search of the city
I want a mansion, a harp and a crown

I’ve got a mansion
just over the hilltop
In that bright land
where we'll never grow old
And some day yonder
we will never more wander
But walk on streets
that are purest gold
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The choir at my church sang that during the morning sermon yesterday. I LOVE that song! I love the words and the music and just the gospel-y sound of the song. Since there were only five of us singing in the choir yesterday it felt like we were a little harmonizing gospel group (haha)...it was really great fun to sing though. And those words...don't they make you feel excited?

Can I just go back to bed, please?

It's been one of those mornings. You know what I mean, the kind where nothing seems to go right! I was running late, I kept tripping over things, I set down my lunchbox on a hot stove eye (it melted part of the bottom and the strap!), and things just kept happening. ;P Hopefully the rest of the day will go better.
I did have a good weekend, on a more positive note. We went to the movies in Aberdeen on Friday night, at their little theater. It was just a cute little place! It's on Main Street, and its SO much cheaper than going to the movies, at, say, the mall. Tickets were $4 and all the concessions (popcorn, drinks, etc.) were $1 apiece! The movie we saw was pretty good. Mandy Moore is a really good actress. I thought Diane Keaton was a bit overdramatic in many, many scenes, but that seems to be her usual way. :P (Don't tell my sister I said that! She's a BIG Diane Keaton fan). It was a cute movie, overall, though. Jessie didn't like it, but I figured as much. He was a good sport though, and we did have fun. Leia and her friend Lelah ended up watching Seth and Lily, and I must say, they did an excellent job! I was proud.
Saturday we went to clean out the RC office...Jessie's taken this on so we can bring in a little extra money. Twice a month we have to clean the office...which, its a small office, so it kind of seems like easy money. BUT...this time we earned our money. That floor was SO greasy...we started off using their string mop, and after going over a small section of the floor with it and swishing it in the bucket, it turned the water black! So Jessie tried to spray the mop out to get it clean and the stringy part fell off the mop! I ended up having to go to Dollar General to get a new mop, haha. We sprayed so many different kind of degreasers on the floor it was pitiful. And the walls were all marked up with black marks...sigh. It ended up looking pretty good, but it took a while. Hopefully it won't be back to that next time we do it. :)
And we DID go to Sam's too. :) Lily was acting strange though, saying that the store was "scary". haha! Kids are so weird sometimes! I guess it just looked different to her. I love Sams though...we bought so much cereal that I told Jessie we ought to open a cereal bar.
And Sunday Jessie came down with strep throat. :( He started feeling bad in church, and when we got home he was burning up with fever. I made him go to the doctor and sure enough, he has strep throat...his fever keeps going up and down, but hasn't broken completely yet. Poor thing, he's miserable. I just hope the kids don't get it! Yesterday Lily said, "Daddy, no kissing!" haha. And Seth is getting the cough again. I was rummaging through our medicine basket this morning, looking for one of our thousands of bottles of cough medicine and found none! I sweetly said, "Jessie, where did you put all the cough medicine?" and he hoarsely replied, "I guess I threw them all out when I was cleaning.."
I kept thinking to myself (as I was feeling a little annoyed and crabby this morning) "Don't get mad at him, he's sick, don't get mad at him, he's sick"...
I don't know WHAT possessed him to throw out all that perfectly good cough medicine, though! We had some OTC and some prescription too, as Seth gets sick a lot. Anyway, I'll probably end up taking Sethie to the doctor soon too...hopefully it won't be for strep throat though. :)
It is a beautiful day though...the sun is shining and its supposed to go from bone-chillingly cold to warm and pleasant. So hope everyone (including myself) has a good day today. :)

I told myself yesterday that I didn't think it was possible to be any sleepier than I was. Well, today I proved myself wrong. !!! I don't know what the problem is lately...if I wake up during the night, I pretty much can't go fully back to sleep. I doze and wake the rest of the night. :( Bleh. I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake tonight during the movie! It'll be dark...I'm getting sleepy just thinking about it. I think the name of the movie we're going to see is called "Because I Said So". I have no idea what its about; from the title it seems to be a movie about parenting... I'm pretty sure of that, because that's a line I use rather frequently myself.. or some version of it. :)

The Office was a rerun last night...but still quite hilarious the second time around!

This man is insane and this man is his willing accomplice.

If I worked with Dwight (right) I think I would truly be scared of him. Look at those eyes!

On another note, Jessie ran into his mom yesterday (well he met her I think) at Sams Club to pay her our rent and also some - ahem- back rent we owe. She was apparantly so happy at this gesture that she climbed Jack's beanstalk and stole the giant's box of oatmeal! Sorry. Its just that I opened the cabinet last night and saw this humongo box of oatmeal. I started to pull it out of the cabinet but...remember the old magic trick with the different colored handkerchiefs? You keep pulling and pulling them out but they never seem to end?....it was like that. I keep pulling and the box kept coming. It was huge! Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. But she also put us on her Sams card account and got us a Sams card! Is it weird that I'm really excited about this? I was so happy when I saw the card! We've wanted a Sams card for a while, but neither Jessie and I were willing to pay the fee... I was like, "can we go this weekend?" and Jessie, almost equally excited, said "Yeah!" So, yeah, we're weird, easily excited, and by Saturday evening we'll probably have a couple of giant-size boxes taking up all the room in the fridge and the cabinet. :)

Thank you for your refreshing common sense

I read this article on www.msn.com, it's titled "10 Women who make us Cringe". Number 10: Bratz dolls! I couldn't agree more.

Echhh! Why? Why?

I pasted the article below for your reading enjoyment. :)

Bratz Dollz

Many mothers worry when their daughters start to play with Barbie. The moms fear that their daughters could develop a skewed sense of body image thanks to Barbie’s unnatural proportions.

But for parents worried about that, Barbie’s got nothing on the Bratz Dolls—a big head, skinny body with the lips of Angelina Jolie and overly made-up come-hither eyes. And these are dolls that girls as young as 5 years old want to play with.

For heaven’s sake, girls don’t need dolls that look like streetwalkers. The social and behavioral cues girls get from the sleazy Bratz dolls are far from empowering—at least Barbie has been a doctor and an astronaut.

Joanne Cronrath Bamberger is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

And I found this picture and thought it was too cute, so I had to share it:

He's a cucumber, not a pickle

Stormy weather and sore muscles

That pretty much sums up the day so far. The weather is supposed to get bad today, which is always kind of a scary thing. You never know quite what to expect. I took Lily into daycare this morning, stayed in there for maybe 3 minutes and when I came out it was pouring down rain!! I made a mad dash to the car but my hair was not completely saved. So we'll be experiencing mild frizziness today along with the thunderstorms.
The sore legs attest to the fact that I AM VERY OUT OF SHAPE!! Yesterday I completed a a task that should've been done weeks ago. I cleaned the leaves out of my flower bed...I know I know. I noticed the green starting to grow on the azalea bush (sp?) and I got excited, then noticed the flower bed was covered in leaves. So...realizing I had no rake (I made Jessie buy one though) I had to use a shovel to drag the leaves out and then shovel them into a garbage bag. It took a long time. I had bouts of "this is taking too long" so I got down and just picked up piles with my hands...but I got it done...and then I was so exhausted. haha Then after Jessie and Seth got home, we went to the railroad park and took our bikes (well, the kids and I did, Jessie took his remote control car and chased us around with it -haha). So I rode around the park for a long time...and my legs are so sore today! It really was fun though. Until...I was riding - fast- by Lily, who had stopped, and she wanted to tell me something, so before I could even blink, she ran straight into me!!! She was coming at me from the side, so she rammed her face into the handlebar...I screamed, thinking I'd killed her or something and threw the bike aside, but she was fine. Hurt, but fine. But then we left...I was getting really hungry anyway (I kept smelling wonderful smells from the "Frisco Grill" across the street). The park is right beside the fire station, so all the guys standing outside got a good show...the bloodcurdling scream was kind of embarassing for me though!
Yesterday was such a beautiful day though. I wish the weekend would be as nice, but alas, its going to be cold. Bleh. I'm extremely ready for spring. Daylight savings is coming soon, which is nice, because I love the longer days. But I won't get started on daylight savings time...(I won't say, "what's the point of changing it back and forth???" because no one has an answer!)
Jessie and I are going to the movies tomorrow night with Kim and Jerry. Becca has graciously offered to watch the kids! We're going to see a movie with Diane Keaton in it..that's all I know. And I know it starts at 7:00, which means I'll miss most of the previews. I'll be cutting it very close!! Jessie, of course, seems thrilled to go see a Diane Keaton movie (note the dripping sarcasm) but Kim really seemed to want us to come, so he reluctantly agreed! (Haha poor Jessie) I'm up for a good chick-flick anytime though. Don't feel too sorry for Jessie though...he got a PS2 (playstation 2-it was on sale) yesterday with some leftover income-tax money, so he's blissfully happy about that right now. I guess that's why he didn't put up a bigger fight!