"Here's Your Christmas Card"

Wow, its about time I update my little journal! Christmas will be here soon and we are thankful for MANY things! 

Keira had her tonsils out and new eartubes put in last Wednesday, the 8th in Rochester. St. Mary's is so pretty at Christmastime I couldn't resist taking a few pics!  Daren and I had commented on all the time we've spent there in the last 3+ years we have never been there around Christmas!  Anyway, she did pretty well with it all and we spent one night.. which was Plenty.. ha.. and got to go home the next morning!

Nick had his Christmas concert last Friday.. it was Great!  There was a nice variety of songs, great vocals, some action, it was very cute!  Keira enjoyed it as well, and I think Nick enjoyed singing in it!

Daren will be working in Des Moines this winter, and will actually be working up until Christmas.. a first in a long time, he will have off the week after Christmas!  We are happy that he is able to work so that I can take care of the kids!

Last but not least, the (dreaded) Christmas card... This is the first year since Nick was born that I didn't have a professional picture taken! So, I decided I would take my own pictures and design my own Christmas card using my "Memory Mixer" scrapbooking software.  I spent at least an hour designing one, had a copy made at Wal-Mart and still had that "ick" feeling.. So I went back to the drawing board.. whipped another one up in 5 minutes flat, and decided to get half of each!  I ordered them online.. they might be here by Christmas!

I hope everyone has a Peaceful and Joyful holiday season! Love, the holiens

Hope

Halloween was okay, I pulled Keira around the neighborhood in a wagon, in high heels and froze my %@* off. Nick, at the LAST second, decided he didn't want to wear the costume from last year, so he would go as a football player.. wearing football pants size 2yr and his Packers jersey and red cleets.  He was too stubborn to wear his helmet.  Basically, he wears that outfit EVERY Sat/ Sun during football season, so I can't say you can call that "dressing up'!  Keira and I dressed in coordinating 50's costumes, she was a doll!

I'm supposed to be cleaning my house for company over Thanksgiving which is now a short 16 days away!  There is no way I'm going to get it all done, and decorate my house and do the Christmas shopping, but I have hope-- and Tony Robbins said on the Today Show this morning that you need Hope to be happy!  At this point a clean house and hope would make me happy!
Take care!

Nesting

Today Keira will be riding the bus home from school- for the first time! Everytime she sees a bus, she gets extremely excited and does the sign for bus over and over!!-So I'm hoping she doesn't get scared after she gets all buckled in.  I then found out this morning that her school is the first of 3 stops in Decorah that is made before they head back to Calmar.. that means almost a 30 minute bus ride! I'm not too happy about that, but since she's not potty trained yet, we won't have to worry about any accidents.

Our latest family outing led us to Ames for an Iowa State football game!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had such a fun time tailgating with some long lost friends and just hanging out!  The outcome of the game was not good at all for ISU, but the kids still had a blast watching... and eating popcorn, pizza and pop!! Ha



For all you mother's out there-- did you ever go through the nesting period before you had the baby?  I did, and thank God I did, but both my babies came early, obviously Keira way early.. but it made me prepared!!  Well, this week I've been cleaning out cupboards, drawers, etc., cleaning things that have never been cleaned in the 9 years we've lived here, etc... and I thought to myself,.. It feels like I'm nesting! (Minus the pregnancy of course.. don't want to start any rumors!)

Whatever the reason behind it, I'm glad to be getting some things cleaned up and organized.. hopefully this nesting period lasts a LONG time!!

Honey Crisp

Why is it that the older you get the faster time flys?  and why is it that everyone else feels that way too!!

I am a true summer lover, but I have to admit I love fall too!  It is so much fun to get out the fall decorations, put out the pumpkins, put some lights in the front window, it's a good thing as Martha would say!

The feeling of the impending holidays always gets me a litttle excited inside.. then I think about how frickin cold it gets and the 10 ft of snow to shovel off the sidewalks and then I get a bit grumpy!  Again, I'm sure many of you agree!

I'm hoping to take a short trip this afernoon and visit the little pumpkin patch by Lawler. Its an interesting little place, with "stuff" piled about, but the kids have fun exploring and I LOVE the honeycrisp apples from their orchard! I took a bunch of pictures last fall there.. I will post one!

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Crazy Glue!

Another year older and I feel 10 years older!!  I'm still not feeling well, and so I'm finally going to the Dr on Thursday, which I'm sure will be a huge waste of time and the beginning of a huge run-around like it was 5 years ago! Obviously this is also affecting my attittude! Ha!

Keira did her sleep study last week, it was a long drawn out process of a consult Tues morning at 10:30, then report back for sleep study at 7:00 pm. and then go over results the next morning at 10:30... if they hadn't woke her up at 6:00 a.m. that 10:30 am appt would have come a bit sooner!  As expected, she was not happy with them glueing stuff to her head, and so she pretty much cried the entire time they prepped her.
Apparently I was not happy with the glue they used as I almost immediately broke out in hives and spent most of the night itching... I was glad that camera wasn't on me!

The results indicated she would benefit from having her tonsils removed, which we had expected anyway, but at least they did not reccommend a C-pap!!

We did manage to get some shopping done for Keira on Tuesday, a couple more outfits for school and the colder weather! Not a bad day, but we were exhausted on Wednesday!!

Happy New Year!

I've ventured into selling a few more of Keira's Gymboree clothes on ebay and I'm liking it!
It took me quite a bit of time listing my first items because I didn't want to forget anything important!
I listed twelve items/outfits and have sold 3 things so far!  The auctions aren't finished until Sunday, so that is when I will find out if I made any real cash or not!  Ebay is amazing!

Tomorrow Keira and I head up to Rochester for an overnighter- sleep study!  It is a lot of dinking around with an appointment in the morning, then report at 7 for sleep study, then a morning appointment after that as well!  I'm just praying she does not need a c-pap machine.. the hearing aides are enough equipment for us!!

Almost halfway through September and I'm thinking of Christmas shopping, taxes, and another new year!  I just want to get ahead on things so they don't become the stressor they could become!  Time to pull out the fall decorations.. next week!

Breezy is an Understatement!

Happy Labor Day!
I ran my first official 5K on Saturday morning as part of Spillville's 150 year celebration! Overall, it was actually very fun, it was a nice morning- somewhat chilly, but sunny so that helped! I think my time was just over 36 minutes which is nothing to brag about, but hey, that leaves lots of room for improvement!
My foot was fine, I didn't feel too tired, it was a nice jog, but a little different trying to get our footing on gravel roads!

Spillville's Celebration was a good time, the kids got about 5 lbs of candy at the parade and the bloody marys and pivo were a treat for the adults! On Sunday, we ventured out to a new Corn "Maize" nearby, Nick thought it was supercool, in fact we might head back on Saturday, they are hosting a Barbeque and Fireworks!

Adios on this WINDY Day!

Who Defines Success?

We are still trying to get our morning routine down now that school has started!  Keira has always been the early bird and we've often relied on her to wake us up in the morning! However, yesterday she decided to sleep in, and since I was up for about 3 hours in the middle of the night, I was sleeping as well!

So Nick missed the bus! I had to drive him to Spillville and then Keira was also late for school.
So last night we tried to get to bed early and made sure to set the alarm!  Keira was up first, but Nick still needed the alarm to help him out of bed..

We were almost on time today, Nick didn't miss the bus, but Keira and I had to come back home to finish breakfast before I brought her to Decorah.. so I guess we will call that a success! Ha!

Bloody Marys!

I think I started this blog off with a goal of running more.. and I did pretty well in May and June, then 4th of July hit and all my good eating and drinking habits flew out the window! I ran a few times here and there at the end of July and beginning of August because I knew I was planning to run in Spillville's 5K on Sept 4th.

I picked up a registration form at the bank early in August and filled it out right away, then emailed my friends the link so they could register too!  I finally mailed in my registration on a Monday, then the next day, Tuesday night is when I broke my foot!! WTH?  more specifically, my middle toe, I found out 2 days later, had a spiral fracture. The Dr. said not to run on it for at least 4 weeks!

It is still swollen, but finally feeling A LOT better!   On Sunday we went for a nice family walk and bike ride,so I tried a little jog and it was tolerable! So last night I went for a jog/walk, and again, it wasnt' too bad on my foot!, It felt great to run and get and get my "sweat on"- So I decided to go ahead and run/walk on Saturday even though I did not get much of a chance to "train".

Just in case my foot does hurt a bit, I decided to whip up a batch of bloody mary mix for after the run! Yum!

Itchy, Itchy, Scratchy, Scratchy.

Well, I've pretty much been a mess for about the last month.. healthwise that is.
I'm not really sure when it started, I think it was sometime in mid-July my "hives" started to return.
Some of you may remember a while back, actually a long while back, I think about 5 years ago, I had a huge battle with hives and allergies, and of course after going to the Dr, Mayo Clinc for allergy tests I "got nothing".... the only thing I learned is I do not have any airbornne allergies.

I know I am highly sensitive to beauty products, and have allergies to metals, and have been know to break out in hives from eating a can of black olives, but that is pretty much it.  It has been really hard for me to pinpoint what is causing my hives, itchy palms, itchy scalp and itchy soles of my feet.

So besides that, I have been also questioning whether I have some food allergies due to my awful complexion, I have chronic millia, and have been lactose intolerant for years.

Then, I broke my toe a couple weeks ago, the night before we went to Adventureland.. that was a joy.. and I think I've had well over 100 mosquito bites in the last month at the lake.  In fact, I scratched mosquito bites so bad, I have scabs all over the top of my feet and ankles.

Due to all of the above, I have't been sleeping well, waking up every hour or two to scratch my palms to death, walk around the house in hope of relief from something and try to get back to sleep.

So, with all that going on, we did a mini vacation in Des Moines, the kids are back in school and I get an opportunity to blog on this beautiful rainy day!

WOW

I sound like a broken record- but really summer is going way too fast!  and the kids start school on August 18th!! which is WAY too soon in my crazi opinion.. but don't get me started on that topic, I could ramble on forever!

We spent 4th of July weekend in Clear Lake, boating, swimming and eating of course!  then we came back home to view Spillville's annual Fireworks.. the rain stopped just long enough.. and the kids enjoyed the rainbow too!

Nick finished up his Little League season on July 1st already, and he Really misses that!  He also misses "his neighbor kids" who moved out to Denver Colorado indefinitely... it sure has been different not having them around!

We made it to the Winneshiek County Fair a couple days, the kids had a blast, Keira threw a fit everytime I took her off a ride! (I didn't have so much of a blast, but they did serve beer, that helped!)

Keira got fitted for hearing aids yesterday and will get those before school starts, that will be an interesting adventure..  I will have to post some more pics!  Speaking of kids.. I better go pick them up!  Don't get much time on the computer, which is totally okay with me.. until next time.. craziiowamom

June was busy with Little League games, dentist apointments, haircuts, and a family wedding!
We had a blast at Dave & Lindsey's wedding, both the kids were in it, I will post some pics!

With the "time flying" by it really makes me feel old, my cracky knees, crinkly feet, gray hair, undereye circles, it all can be so depressing! Not to mention the never-ending weight loss struggle! It seems like the more determined I am, the worse I do.. my running has improved, but not my weight like I thought it would.

I guess you just keep on plugging along and at this point I might as well start praying for a miracle.

This summer is just going to fly by, and it makes me sad:(

Especially when I lose a whole day of life to the dentist!  Nick went in to the dentist yesterday morning to have a sore tooth checked out, the filling had fallen out a while back, and now it is bothering him.

So the dentist said it needs to be pulled, and Nick is freaking out even before they come back to the room. They try to pull it but Nick is screaming in pain and refuses to open his mouth.  So they immediately send us to La Crosse to have "emergency" oral surgery where they can put him under to remove it.

So we sit in the waiting room for 2+ hours, have it looked at, and they decide they don't have enough time, so we have to go back tomorrow morning.. so basically 2 whole days of my life chalked up at the dentist.

and Keira came down with another cold... and I AM TiRED!.. and this is a day in my life...

Back to Sanity.

I just did a whole load of dishes with only one plate!- an Elmo plate- if you know me well, you might know that its because I'm kind of a paper plate freak, I also buy paper bowls, and paper cups of all sizes- all of this to cut back on the number of dishes I have to do!  Unfortunately, I have an affinity for real silver ware, so its usually when the silverware runs out that I have to break down and do the dishes!

I'm also kind of a recycling freak, so its really an oxymoron- Or I am a Moron- that I would even do this!
But if you're a mother, you know that some things are worth doing just to save the small bit of sanity that might be left!

Speaking of sanity- I think Nick is going to use mine up by the end of June!  Today was his first day at the daycare center for their school-age program. He didn't complain too much, so hopefully we can stick it out until at least the end of June.  Tomorrow they are doing a feild trip to the Dairy Center, so hopefully he will enjoy that!

Momma Needs Shoes!

Haven't posted in a week!  I kept meaning to, but it seems like I should have something extra special or funny to say, well you probably won't get either in this post!

Today was Keira's last day of school at West Side, so I guess that means summer has officially begun!  We've been to the pool, had a couple little league games, biked the trails in Decorah, went to the Whippy Dip, and of course used the slip n slide a couple times!... so we are off to a pretty good start!

Nick and I hit the new Decorah trails today and yesterday morning, he bikes, I walk and run- they are pretty nice, its great to get some different scenery other than Hwy 52!  We enjoyed the trail through the campgrounds and along the Upper Iowa, scenic and you can do a loop, although you do have to go through town down 5th Avenue that is the only drawback.

Speaking of running, I bought a Garmin Forerunner to track my distance, pace, and see how many calories I burned, I was so excited to get it!  But of course, it won't actually DO those things unless you also buy the "optional" foot pod for an extra $100!!!  WTH, thats a crock-- so I think I'm gonna have to send it back and buy myself some new running shoes!! 

Maybe I'll look into it again when I can actually run further than 2 miles! HA!

Summer Entertainment

Yesterday was the last day of School for Nick, we had Mass and were home by 11:00 a.m.
By 3:00 p.m. I already got the "I'm bored" line!! So we zipped to Wal-Mart to buy a slip n slide!

I would have been happy with the 2 lane slide, came with little inflatable boogie boards.. looked like fun, you could "race" your buddy.  But Nick saw the 3D Shark Tunnel Slide, that includes a big inflatable shark mouth to slide under and a set of 3D swim goggles!  So, of course we got that one -and a sprinkler- and headed home for some cool off time.

Get home, open the box, the plastic smells like terpentine and I get an instant headache (I'm very sensitive to smells, chemicals, etc.).  So I yelled at Nick to get it outisde- we carefully placed it halfway up the small incline so that the kids could slide down the hill, argued about which way its supposed to lay.. and stake it in.

Next is the hose- we spend 1/2 hour looking for the garden hose, finally find that in a pile of spider webs under the basement stairs.  Hose is all tangled up, finally get it untangled, hook it up to slide.. slide is upside down..

Flip the slide over, restake it, I think its ready to go.. I talked Nick into forgoing all the "blow up " parts till the next day since it had already taken an hour just to get that all set up! HA!  They had fun, it was a little chilly, but the afternoon sun was still very warm.  Even Keira got into the action, a little too cold for her, but something to burn time and keep them entertained!

Looks like I will have to come up with lots of stuff to keeps the kids entertained this summer! As long as its outside I'm okay with that!!

Summer Time?

Nick was mad we had to leave Grandma & Grandpa's Sunday night, and as he was pouting on the way home he said, "I wonder why kids need parents?"  I replied kinda gruffily, "So they can buy you everything you need!"  he paused for a minute then said, "No I know why, so they can drive us around!"

Isn't that the truth! I'm sure I will be doing a lot of that this summer!  We can't wait for Little League games to start up!  The summer life in Iowa is such a contrast to the "school year".. I just wish it was longer!! 

They get out of school end of May/beginning of June, and right after July 4th Wal-Mart is advertising its Back to School specials!!  and Nicc does there "Fall Fest" beginning of Sept... why do they have to ruin it for everyone!!  Summer is officially June 21 through about September 21! Can't we just enjoy it without rushing into Fall!!  I'm going to try!

BANJO

I'm sitting in my basement office with my space heater on and the central air running at the same time!  Ha!  When it gets hot outside, it gets really cold in the basement, even with the vents shut!  So, in order for me to stay comfortable, I still run the space heater!

I love this hot weather, and I cannot complain of the humidity either, you might hear me exclaim,
"It's H O T!!", but don't get me wrong, I love it!  I just said yesterday, my favorite weather is when you can be comfortable outside all night with  just your shorts and a t-shirt on!

We did a little fishing again yesterday afternoon out at "Lake Harvey"- the fish were biting like crazy and we caught some pretty good sized bass- and by we I mean not me- but everyone else caught something, I was busy watching Keira and trying to figure out our new bait...

Daren bought some bait off of an infomercial called the "Banjo"- I was going to try them out, but they needed to be assembled to get the "eyes" in properly.. so that will have to wait! 

We had a fun weekend partying with the Dave and Lindsey- the Bachelor and Bachelorette-got to meet some new people and hit some bars I haven't been to in a while!  It will be a beautiful June wedding- both the kids are in it, which I probably have mentioned before- so we are really excited!

Hodgepodge/Random Thoughts

Nickolas had his class feild trip today to Annie's Garden and Greens.. he said he learned how to use a hoe and got a cookie with weeds in it... I think I better take this up with the principal!

Keira was supposed to have hers as well, but she is still sick, just can't seem to get the junk out of her lungs!
If she would've went, she could have had lunch with Nick since both classes had lunch at Phelp's Park!

Nick also had Little League practice again in Festina, he is liking it of course, but he was whooped and barely complained about going to bed...

Keira on the other hand was very crabby at bedtime, I think she was the dreaded "overtired", and probably a bit hot, since I'm still dressing her in winter pajamas!.. she never has any covers on, so I feel like she needs long sleeves.. plus in the summer the air is on and its cold!

I'm excited to get to babysit my nephew Ethin again tomorrow!  Last time he slept the whole day, which is good for cleaning time, but he is just so much fun when he is awake!

And up for the weekend is Lindsey's bridal shower that Keira will be a flower girl in and Nick is a "junior usher"... he won't be the ring bearer because he did that when he was 4! so we just feed him what he wants to hear! ha!.. 

The men are going golfing so Nick will be tagging along, he has been golfing quite a few times this year already so he can actually golf.. he picked out his shorts Tuesday night.. plaid of course!  I'll have to remember to take a pic and post it!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Martha Help!!

It's been a whirlwind around here, and if you walked into my house, you might think that it had literally been hit by a tornado!  I have light fixtures, magazines, boxes of junk, and even a toilet!! stacked up in my bedroom!  A bathroom vanity setting in my entry way, and a swath of dirty dishes and a load of bills and junkmail scattered on the countertops!

My last visit to Wal-Mart I broke down and bought more "organizational" materials- a bin, two magazine boxes, and a file folder box to organize all Nick's new summer activities- baseball and swimteam- and Keira's health and school records.  So instead of having piles of loose papers I don't know what to do with, I'll have it in boxes and bins sitting on my countertop!?  Is that better?

Organizing seems to be a never-ending battle... Clothes: new clothes, old clothes, clothes I want to sell, clothes that need to go here and there, clothes that don't fit anymore... the mail:  bills, junkmail, newspapers, a plethera of magazines!... maybe I'll donate to this cause, do I keep this? or throw it out?

 my Silpada stuff, tax stuff, Send Out Cards stuff... AND the #1 clutter of papers: Nick's school papers!: coloring sheets, math sheets, footprints, notes from his girlfriends with their phone numbers on it!...and Nick thinks we have to keep EVERYTHING!  so when he goes to school, I toss it in the garbage so he can't see!

Of course I keep a few things, those are stacked up in a pile ontop of the organizing bin!

Dead Bolt!

I woke up about 3:30 last night, to Nick saying "Mom".. "Can you come in here?"  My first thought was he puked or peed his bed, but when I walked in all of his blankets were on the floor and his pillow was covering him up! HA! His jammies were a pair of shorts, no shirt, so I assumed he was freezing!

So I scooped the comforter off the floor and covered him up, but then he had to go to the bathroom. Since our upstairs bathroom is still under construction without a toilet, I helped him get downstairs. As I walked down the stairs I smelled cold, fresh air. It had been raining all night and I thought maybe I had left a window open!

When I came back upstairs, again I felt cold air, and the heater was running full power!.. so I walked into the living room to check the windows and the front door was WIDE open!!!

We do not have a storm door in yet, so I assumed the windy storm had blown it open!  but I was kinda freaked out!  The door handle was locked... but we do not have a deadbolt installed.. which we will HAVE to get since the handle still opens freely from the inside even when in the locked position... which I found to be a problem yesterday when Keira was home sick (again).

I was in the basement doing laundry (6 loads yesterday!), when I hear my little girl walking around crabbing which is nothing new!  I yelled up, "I'm downstairs!"  stupidly thinking she might come to find me. Five minutes later I went up to find my front door Wide Open!! Keira's sweatshirt lying on the front porch!! An instant of panic, then knowing Keira, I knew I could find her right where I did... in the sandbox! Schwew!

It's under 50 degrees, raining, no shoes on, no jacket with a fistful of sand in her mouth!!  I guess that sand will just wash down the toilet water she played in earlier this morning!  Another day with an early bath!

Gray Hairs

When we had our hardwood floors installed  throughout our main floor last November, I joked that I was sick of scrubbing carpet.. scrubbing up puke, pee, poop, food.. etc, etc.. We had carpet in EVERY room of our house, even the dining room!

Uncle Lester failed to inform me that even though it was indeed easier to wipe up those things off wood floor, it did not guarantee that the kids would stop producing those things... which I found to be true yesterday!

Over the course of 6 hours, I wiped a snotty nose about 20-30 times, got puked on and cleaned that up, wiped poop off little fingers, and attmepted(not very well) to scrub up pee off the one piece of carpet (area rug) in the kids room.. I figured it would dry!  Not to mention the mandarin oranges glued to the floor under Keira's chair.. and I forgot to mention this all happened after a morning bath!

Three outfits later and a 2 hour nap seemed to produce a somewhat less crabby little girl. The joy of "sick" days!  I told my mom yesterday this girl was going to send me to an early grave.. and I have a lot of gray hairs to prove it!

Super Shiny ToeNails

I had one of the most amazing pedicures yesterday! and I can probably say that honestly since I haven't had very many, and the last real pedicure I had was..(Real meaning in a Nail Salon dedicated to pedicures, with a real massage/pedicure chair, with 2000 colors to choose from, and my very own Asian girl named Kim to rub my legs and feet!)... so my last real pedicure was 3 years ago when Keira was in the hospital!

It started out with the massage chair and feet soak, I seriously can't believe a automated chair can give such a great massage!  Right off the kicker I had a hard time understanding my girl, but she was able to get the okay from me to put soap in the spa, and was able to get me a soda!  Caffeine was a big plus!

There was a couple other girls in there, one kept giggling and saying she was ticklish, and one older "well to do" lady who was making dinner reservations and chatting away on her cell.. I left my cell in the car.. not that anyone would have called me anyway, but I didn't want to sit there and look at my phone the whole time pretending like I had something to do or somewhere to be, I was just going to relax!

So Kim rubbed my legs and feet for a LONG time, cleaned the gunck out of my toenails-which I had just done myself, so it wasn't too nasty- got me more soda, it was great!  I think I was there about 1hr and1/2!
and BONUS, I now have super shiny dark red/purply toenails, which I think look great!

Can't wait for hot weather so i can wear all my sandals!

Good Dream!

I had a dream I was exercising!  Working out on my pilates machine and running on my treadmill, which both magically appeared int the upstairs living room!  Do you think I lost any calories dreaming that dream?  I sure hope so! I need all the help I can get!

I might have lost a few calories Saturday morning- our family walked in the March For Babies walk in Decorah, a 5 mile walk "over the river and through the woods" literally. It was a nice walk, a nice event, and free Mabe's pizza to cap it off was great!.. that's where the "might" comes in for calorie loss...

Let's see, to recap the weekend, we went to a "bonfire" Friday night, grilled out Saturday night and had some friends over, and Sunday afternoon went out to Mom & Dads for some fishing and food to partly celebrate Dad's birthday, Happy Happy Birthday! 

It's always something different out at the pond... the pile of frogs croaking and Nick trying to catch them with a net, the huge mother goose who has a nest up in the field, bass, bluegill, catfish, and some little duck swimming around in the rain storm.  A few fish were caught, and one frog, (good work Michelle!)  And a rainbow behind the woods after the short storm!  very pretty!

Jelly

Not the kind that goes with peanut butter... the way my arms feel after painting the ceiling for two hours! 

My living room has been re-textured for 2 weeks and i finally got to painting yesterday!  Nick was home sick so he felt it was necessary to "help".  I had a small roller so I let him play for a bit, but put the kabosh on that after he laid his roller down, stepped in the pile of paint and proceeded to track paint around the house!

Right now I'm letting the last of my priming and spackling dry and hopefully I can get a bunch done today.. it would be nice to have the livng room furniture in the living room instead of the dining room, bedroom and family room... I guess that just keeps things interesting!

Save Money. Live Better?

You might be guessing I did a Wal-Mart trip this morning after I dropped Keira off at school-she is seeming to really like it so far!! 

The main reason for my visit is to pick up my prescription, or as I call it my "mommy vitamins."  The pharmacy was closed.. wow I don't think I've been in Wal-Mart this early in the morning-so I do the rest of my shopping, a lot of dinking around, picked up some cute nail polish called "Risk Taker", seemed fitting.

Another gallon of primer for the living room ceiling.. which has been put off again until next week.., deordant, dental floss, tampons (bonus $2 coupon), baby shampoo, coffee creamer, organic eggs, 12 frozen juice concentrates, butter, cheese, bagels, and a bag of White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies- my favorite!

But when I get home, the cookies say Tahoe on the front, which apparently means crispy! Darnit, I hate crispy cookies! and the cheddar cheese is FAT FREE--Yuk! and where are my mommy vitamins?  Still at Wal-Mart!!  Am I the only person who pulls this kind of crap?

I did not have my morning coffee yet, so lack of caffeine could be to blame!
Oh well, I may be living better again this afternoon... but I will be looking better with my cute nail polish!

Sushi

My sister Nicole turned 30 in December of 2008- that was the last time I ate sushi! 

A large crowd celebrated her birthday by going to one of those "Osaka Steakhouse" places where they hash up and cook up your food in front of you- my first experience with that as well!

It was a great time.. but I wasn't feeling too well!  Nick had the stomach flu the week before, and I thought I was going to be lucky enough to escape it! But of course not, my body decides to get sick the night I eat a bunch of raw fish and caviar!  I will spare you from the details about the rest of night... but I did feel much better in the A.M.

So, I dropped off Keira at West Side this morning and went to the Coop to get some groceries for Ethin's baby shower this weekend.. and before I left I grabbed a container of California Rolls (a safe choice) from Cho Sun and I am proud and excited to say I've eaten half the container (breakfast) already!!!

Since I used to claim that Sushi was my favorite food... I'm happy to get over the "gagging' reflex when someone would mention the word! HA!  Now, I'll have to give Koreana a try since I haven't been there yet! My friends keep telling me about this amazing toilet they have in the womens bathroom... seat warmer, massager, lights?  Wow, I'll let you know!  Maybe I'll take Stimpy there for her birthday!

HumpDay

Wednesday's are so stressful.. and this is why.. and probably how it goes every week..

So it's Wednesday.. I'm re-evaluating what I've accomplished so far this week and what I will be able to get done before the weekend arrives, and like most weeks, it seems I've dinked around on the internet on Monday and Tuesday, now I have to kick it in gear.

Maybe I should put the laundry that's been in the washer for the last 2 days in the dryer.. wash last Friday nights supper dishes, and I'm thinking about changing my bedding since Keira slobbered all over the pillows and I found something crunchy or sandy in the sheets!

So on Thursday and Friday is when I'll actually get those 3 thrings accomplished, so that leaves today for working.. so all I can say is I better get to it so that when I post tomorrow I can say I actually accomplished something!!
For your entertainment, Kristi

Tweezerman

HOORAY!  I'm stoked I just found my tweezerman's... they have been MIA for the past couple months, and my eyebrow's have been suffering for that fact!  In fact, I was trying to use a pair of el cheepo tweezers which couldn't snag the fattest chin hair I've ever had.. so I threw them directly in the garbage.. totally worthless!  I heart my tweezerman's they are great!

 I guess one would be able to find things if one would clean off the top of their desk more than once every 3 months.. but that's a whole nother story! I guess "cleaning" (Chris Farley) doesn't always make it to the top of my priority list..I guess one would actually have to write a priority list if one was going to have priorities.. I'll have to give that a shot!
Priorities:
1. Kid # 1
2. Kid #2
3. Take kids to school
4. Try to get something done during the day
5. Pick up kids from school
6. Feed Kids
7. Bath Kids
8. Put Kids to Bed
9. Don't yell at the kids
and the #10 Priority:
get some sleep so you don't corrupt the kids

Cleaning apparently didn't make the Top 10, and now that I mention it neither did "showering", "exercising", "flossing", "grocery shopping", "doing laundry"...

the Cellar

You might be wondering why I titled yesterday's post Mabel, or if you're at all like me you probably didn't notice! I'd like to think that maybe the ghost lady's name was Mabel, that seems like an appropriate fit, doesn't it!? But in fact, Mabel Lou was born yesterday to my good friend Heather and she is a sweetheart, Congrats to her family.. in fact Grandma Donna lives pretty close to the little "gingerbread house" I visited today!

I'd like to say something exciting happened, or I caught an image of an old lady in one of my pics, but as you may have already guessed... nothing!!  It was such a cute darn house it made me gag, (litearlly, I had my pen in my mouth too long). Anyway, the only thing that may have been a bit strange was the basement.

It was COLD down there, the temp dropped at least 20 degrees, in fact Brenden noticed it first.  At first I was thinking, great cold cellar, I'm sure it stored a lot of canning back in the day, and it would make a great wine cellar!.. then I thought of that movie with Bruce Willis in it.. you know the one.. the one with the kid in it.. and it got really cold when she was sleeping...so I bolted up the stairs and we headed to the Farr Side for lunch!

Cheese curds and a tap... a great way to toast both Mabels!

Mabel

Today was another victory in and of itself, HOORAY, the kiddies are in bed and I get a minute to write about the day!  I didn't get much work done, did manage to get my hair done, hit the trail.. it was very blustery!, and I showered!  I think just the fact that I got a shower in without Keira NOT tearing up the kitchen could be chalked up as a separate victory!
So this is what has been on my mind- no laughing please:). .. Backstory goes like this.. We are at my Mom's for dinner Sunday night because it is her birthday-- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!-- and  we got to chatting about this little gingerbread house for sale in Spillvill that's been for sale for a while and I was informed by Connie, a neighbor to this house, that the house had sold! So I informed Connie about the "friendly ghost" that supposedly inhabits this home. She was a bit surprised because she hadn't heard that before, so we all kinda chatted about it for a bit and I was secretly glad we never looked at that house when Brenden and Miranda were looking for a place.. yikes!
So sometime Tuesday afternoon I receive a fax... its an appraisal request for for THAT house, I'm like No Way.  But I'm okay, the realtor will have to take me through so I won't have to be in the house alone.. so I call the Realtor and he informs me that there is a lock box and I can swing through whenever I get the chance.. Say What? &$#(
So anyway I talked Brenden into going with me during his lunch hour tomorrow.. HA! I'm such a chicken, I shouldn't be scared of a little ol' lady, right?  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

My First Entry

So I'm walking on my treadmill recalling that I had just informed my 6 year old this weekend what the definition of insanity is (or my definition anyway): doing the SAME thing over and over again and expecting to get DIFFERENT results...  Well in that case, the definition of insanity has pretty much been the definition of my life!

So I decided to not do the same thing anymore and try something different!  I was inspired this morning by Rachel Coleman, founder of Signing Time and singer of Keira's beloved Baby Signing Time videos!  As I read her blog, I admired her commitment to running, something I want to do, and her commitment to keeping a blog!

So, as I took a walk on the treadmill, I decided I was going to start my own blog for a couple reasons:
1. Just for me, to track the different things I'm going to do and hold myself accountable!
2. Hoping to gain some new friends and share some inspiration along the way!