World of Homecraft

We have a dream

2011-11-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I dreamed and planned a life together... it came true.
We dreamed and not so planned 4 children... it came true.
We dreamed not having to move away from family... it came true.
Yes they did move away.
We dreamed of building a castle... and it is coming true sort of.

So the castle that we dreamed of together (it was really a literal castle) changed as we aged and became more realistic.
The castle dream became a dream home.

We think we have found that home for us.
It is not our original dream, God has a way of changing those, but it will be our "castle".
One day in the future we may get closer to our literal castle and replace the siding with a stone facade.

And that dream about living close to family... looks like that will come true for a season.

And you can't see it from the way we took the picture but our "dream lot" is a constrution dumping ground. We are standing next to a huge dumpster and half the lot is piled with discarded cement.
I like to think that God kept it messy to save it til it was time for us to buy it.

A Child's Logic

2011-11-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

On the way home from the store this is the conversation I had with Karist:

(the radio plays a song with a female vocalist)

Karist- "Is she dead?"?

Me- "No"?!?

Karist- "Michael Jackson is dead...Jesus is dead...Granny Fortune is dead"

Me- "No she is not dead, (the singer) and Jesus is not dead anymore either"

Karist- "When you are dead it means you are not home anymore"

That was it.
An odd dialogue that left me puzzled.

So the more I think about it the more I wonder what was going on in that head of hers.
The people she stated were "dead" we all personal to her. (Michael Jackson is one of her favorite singers thanks to her dad) She recently went to Grandma Fortune's funeral, and she has learned on Jesus's death many times at home and church.

Then there is the "not home anymore"
Does she think Marme and Papa are "dead" since they moved to Ecuador? Becka too?
Don't worry I will make sure she is clear on this one. But maybe she is more clear than I think she is, after all when we were celebrating the life of Grandma Fortune we said we would see her again in heaven.

I am pretty sure she doesn't think my parents and sister are dead but perhaps to a five year old the feeling and understanding is the same.

It will feel a bit like heaven when they come back, even if it is just for a short time.

Boo!!!

2011-11-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

Surprise, I am still here and actually going to post with pictures even.

For now I will just skip over the past 6 months and go straight to Halloween.

For the record Halloween is not my favorite holiday.
I don't like the stress/expense of costumes.
I don't like my door bell ringing and the dog barking.
I don't like the pumpkin carving and the mess it makes.
I don't like the candy and the kids behavior after eating too much.
I don't like kids throwing up after eating too much. (happened last year)

So basically Boo Humbug.

But, my kids Love Halloween.
I love my kids.

So how to make them happy while I stay sane an happy too.

First. No pumpkin carving. No knife action, no visits to the E.R. Happy Mom.
Pumpkin painting. Happy kids. Happy Mom.

Second. Think Beggar's night is on Saturday so you plan for the costumes to be
done by Friday night. Surprise! Beggar's night is actually on Monday so
Mom gets a stress free weekend. Less stress, Happy Mom.

Third. Tell kids on Friday that they have to finish their school by noon so
I have time to work on their costumes. Kids are productive and Mom is happy.

Fourth. Let the kids be whatever they want. Only limitation is that we
are making the costumes out of what we have. I am not spending money on
this holiday I don't like. Happy kids, get to be what they want. Happy
Mom, gets to be Scrooge. Boo humbug.

So how did the free costumes work out?
You be the judge.

Devonae as Rowan Hood, Robin Hood's daughter. This character is from this series of books http://www.amazon.com/Rowan-Hood-Outlaw-Sherwood-Forest/dp/069811972X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320346654&sr=1-1. Devonae really enjoyed the the read.

Danny as a pirate. It helped that he purchased the sword as a souvenir at Disney world. I raided the goodwill box and he makes ladies clothes look so manly.
I was very pleased with myself that I was able to sew his hat from scratch.

Elli as Little Red Riding Hood. I loved how this turned out. I upcycled a Christmas tablecloth into the cape. The basket was a gift that Devonae brought home from her corn maze outing with the church.

Next is Karist.
Hers needs a bit of explanation to those unfamiliar with World of Warcraft.
She so wanted to be a "Nonai princess" (Draenei)http://www.wowwiki.com/Draenei
I tried to talk her out of it. How was I going to make a blue space goat costume.
Well here is what we came up with...

Karist as a happy princess draenei.No one had a clue what she was :)

So overall the holiday went smoothly.
No trips to the store.
No trips to the E.R.
No vomiting.

Now I just need to get rid of all this candy.

The Emotions of Easter

2011-04-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

I teach 4 year olds for Sunday School. And since today is Easter you can guess what the lesson was on.
During our story we spent some time on the emotions of the women who went to the tomb.
These poor women went through quite a bit, I am amazed that they did not suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
And since it was a 4 year old class, repetition being a teaching tool, they went through it three times.
Three also happened to be the number of the day.

It went something like this:

Their friend, teacher, and Messiah was dead... they were sad.
The stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty...they were shocked
There was an angel there...they were afraid
Jesus was alive... they were joyous

They probably went through all these in a 15-30 minute time period.
They did it 3 times in my class.
I found myself wondering that these women weren't basketcases before lunch.

Then I thought about the emotions and realized that I had personally gone through something very similar during the birth of my first child.

So the lesson I learned this Easter is that I am not a basketcase because New Life brings joy that goes beyond my emotional limitations.

Spiritual Socks

2011-02-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I miss my Sister. Well I actually miss her all the time but sometimes it becomes too much to bear. I never know when these moments will hit. It happened again tonight so what is a girl to do?

Socks.

Really, Socks.

Becka has a thing for socks. Any socks, all socks, fun socks, pretty socks.
When she left for Ecuador she was as broken hearted as you can get over socks that she could not take them all with her.

She left several pairs of socks with me.

So when these moments come upon me I put on a pair of her socks and I feel close to her.

That got me thinking.

Sometimes in my busy life I drift away from God.
I get moments where I really miss him. Usually I am in some type of mess of my own making.

I need some spiritual socks.

Then I thought about it and realized the Bible talks about clothing. Clothing ourselves in righteousness, The armour of God and I think even Spiritual Socks.

Jesus left us the Holy Spirit because he knew that we needed the comfort he brings us.

I am so blessed to have the sister God gave me and am thankful to her for socks.
I am so blessed to have the Holy Spirit God gave me and am thankful for the comfort he gives.

A Birthday Gift

2010-09-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

A long time ago (eleven years to be exact) God sent me a gift.

My life will never be the same.

I loved him like a son... I still do.

He taught me to be a mom. A good thing too cause 5 months later I became one.

We traveled many miles by rocker trying to soothe so many earaches.
I would sing and pray over you.

Today I sing "Happy Birthday to you" and pray that you may experience the joy that you have brought to all the people who know you.

You are a wonderful young man Marcus and I am very proud to be your NaNa.

Need a bit of Magic

2010-07-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

The Morgans are still alive and well.

I should be busy now cleaning my house, disciplining children, folding laundry,and all other sorts of things but I don't want too.

I need to though.
I really need a fairy godmother.
I probably need a Mary Poppins more.

What I really need is motivation not magic.
I guess tonight I will wish upon a star for motivation.
I hope it works.

Mother's Day- Holy Socks

2010-05-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

So when we get home from church Devonae informs me that her teacher said I need to add socks to my shopping list.

What? Where did that come from?

Devonae showed me one of the socks she was wearing that was missing a heel and also had a large hole in the toe area. Evidently she showed them to her teacher too.

It is not like she doesn't have socks.
We are not even close to being that poor.

I let her know that she should throw holey socks away so they don't get worn again.
I also let her know that showing off ragged clothes was slightly embarrassing to her Mom.

Meijer Trip with Husband and Kids

2010-04-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Not sure which is worse shopping with your husband or your kids.

So here is what I got for 110.00

10 pkg Oreo cookies (I would like to say a year supply but who are we kidding 4 months I hope)
10 pkg Oreo Cakesters (soccer snack, summer snack, slave bribe)
8 pkg Fruit by the foot (ditto)
8 cans Campbells chunky clam chowder (this travels in Danny's suitcase to Marme's so he does not starve there)
50 boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese (this is a year supply)
2 boxes of Lucky Charms (insert threats to kids who eat up all the marshmallows)
10 Freschetta Pizzas (the kids favorite frozen pizza)
2 bottles Hidden Vally Ranch (cause Jesse complains about the dressing I got for .50)(not ranch though cause there is NO substitute for HVR)
1 pkg hotdog buns (to go with the pkg of turkey hotdogs I got for .25 at the Commissary)
3 pkg of frosting (I think this brings my collection to a year supply)
12 yogurt (a 2 day supply)

Oh I forgot to add the stuff that I bought because I love my Hubby
1 T-shirt (needed for sports day at work)
1 Nutty Bar pkg
1 Pkg Ding Dongs (I told him he was one, I found these out when I looked at the receipt)
8 6pack 20oz bottles of Mt. Dew (he takes these to work instead of buying them there)
4 pkgs of donuts (he blamed 2 of them on the kids)
1 pkg of gummy worms

Unfortunately the store was out of Capri Sun that I had a coupon for and said to come back with the receipt and coupon for my 10 free boxes of Capri Sun (can you say soccer mom)

I could have done better if I would have done smaller trips and planned better but I am still happy and Devonae is really happy to have her year supply of Mac and Cheese in the pantry.
I could have done better if my Husband had not put 43.00 of the 110.00 in the cart.
Yep his list was 43.00.
So that means I got my stuff for 67.00.

I love my husband very much and think more than worth the 43.00.

Dinner Deceit

2010-04-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Dinner is Tacos

My kid just asked me for more because "it is sooo delicious".

What she does not know is that there are vegetables in those tacos.

A lot of Vegetables.
And a bit of buffalo too.

Several months ago I added about a cup of food processed carrots to my taco meat.
I told Jesse and he was fine with it.
With the green light from the head man and a clean plate to show his money was where his mouth was I took it several steps further on recent taco nights.

So tonight's mix has:
Ground Beef
Ground Bison
Green and red peppers
onion
potatoes
carrots
and black eye peas

It is about 40% vegetables.

I am evil.

And I don't feel guilty.

More Morgan Misadventures

2010-03-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

The creation of this post was temporarily delayed due to a mad run to the door to try and get the dog to throw up outside... did not make it by 2 feet.

This part of my life began with a promise to my kids that we would get them a pet when they all were potty trained. (I am now questioning the wisdom of this policy)
My life was finally less chaotic so why not get it back to normal. (normal is chaotic)

How did we get here?
Jesse wanted and Sheltie. Renee did not. A brief research will show they are not good dogs for households with kids. (I think we had 4 kids at last count)

Being the Mom that I am I was shooting (not with a gun) for a family breed. Golden Retriever ranks #1 so that is what I aim for.

We found a Golden- Sheltie pup from a wonderful sounding rescue that was perfect. The rescue said we seemed perfect for the pup and that was a well informed analysis based on a questionnaire that is more intrusive than the long census form. We passed.
But so did several others of the 15 applicants.
We lost.

Off to find another.
They had one in West Virginia and one in South Carlina. Yeah right, not gonna work for us.

I keep searching and find one on Craigslist in Columbus.

She the puppy formerly known as Lily came to our house yesterday.

"Lily" pooped in the van on the way home.

Lily ripped out the support to a cup holder in the van on the way home.

Herbie, our van, is not so sure about this dog.

Here is what we ended up with:
An 8 month old puppy that has not been trained.
Has only had a rabies shot.
Not leash trained.
Doesn't appear to know her name.
She is a Golden-Sheltie it appears.
She has already peed on the floor. Add puke to that.
She had her puppy Kong torn to shreds after 2 hours.
She was too big for the kennel that the manager of Petsmart said to get. They exchanged it no problem and even said to bring back the trashed Kong for a refund when Jesse went back to get a larger adult one that we hope holds up.

BUT:
She has the temperament that we wanted.
She is not a barker.
Jesse's says she is a good puppy, just untrained.
The kids love her and she likes them too.

It is gonna take time, and a lot of work but I think we are gonna have lots of GOOD adventures with Vixey.

Name change due to Elli and Lily sounding alike.
Name formation came from Fox due to her red coloring, to Vixen because shes a girl fox, to Vixey the girl fox from The Fox and the Hound.

Cake or Death

2010-03-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

Their is a comedy sketch that Jesse likes called "Cake or Death".

We did a rendition of that here today.

It was go outside or clean.

For some reason they all chose to go outside.

I managed to clean at record pace without 4 kids undoing the things I had done.

I am so glad Spring is here.

God Sent Me a Message

2010-03-14T09:54:00.001-07:00

The message was "banyo"

It meant you need to learn Spanish.

We had a new young visitor in our 4 year old Sunday school class.
She seemed shy and quiet while I showed her where to hang up her coat and encouraged her to join us in the circle for our story.

After a few minutes she stood up and said "banyo".
It seemed urgent and neither I or Jesse understood.
She repeated "banyo" with a tone of concern.
So I began my guess with "brother" it starts with B and I saw one with her when she entered the class so I thought maybe she missed him. Wrong. I then remembered that I think brother is Hermano.

Jesse and I knew "banyo" seemed familiar.
Then it came to me "bathroom"
I told Jesse to open the door to the adjacent bathroom so she could see where it was and see if we had figured it out correctly.

"Banyo" is bathroom.

This is going to be an interesting class.
We colored out puppet craft and I showed her how we were putting it together.
A lot of showing and talking that I am sure the did not understand.

I complimented her coloring by saying "mucho bien" I hope I told her it was good.

After a bit one of the preschool coordinators brought us her registration and said that out new learner knew very little english.

Jesse and I chuckled and let her know that we had figured that one out.

Now I just need to figure out how to teach a lesson in Spanish.

Not being blindsided I think I will Begin next week with, "Ola, Mi amo es Senora Renee."

I think that means. "Hi, my name is Mrs. Renee".

The Empress's New Table

2010-03-13T18:41:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there lived an Empress.

She had traveled to many lands and lived in many castles while her husband campaigned for the Air Force.

During that time she done her duty very well and provided him with 4 heirs.

But that posed a problem...
Where to feed the residents of the Emperor's household?

The table was too small and was from back before he had conquered many dragons and obtained loot.

"This will not do", says the emperor to the fair lady who had stood by him through many campaigns, provided him with the children to carry on his name (literally), and faithfully served him.

So in honor of their eleventh year of wedded bliss he decreed that a new table be presented to the Empress.

But the day of the anniversary came and a plague was besieging the castle inhabitants so it was not to be.

But fear not, the noble grandparents Morgan enter to care for the imps, I mean prodigy, so there should be no delay in the quest to acquire the Empress's New Table.

The Emperor and Empress traveled long and far for about an hour to the land of Ikea.
Braving fierce downpours and blazing lightning they brought home treasure boxes that would lead to the fulfillment of the noble decree.

They all slept dreaming pleasant dreams knowing that soon the decree would be fulfilled.

The Next Day:

Behold the labor.

See the castle inhabitants toiling to create the Table.

All day they toiled.

When they had finished it was discovered they had looted the wrong table from the land of Ikea. It was too big.

Unfortunately the laws of the land of Ikea state that there shall be no returns of open boxes or built items.

A messenger was reached and a plea to correct the problem was made.
The return message was to return the item to the store and they would inspect it and then....
they could not say.
Really they could not say.

For all they knew they would be making a pointless journey only to have thier hopes and dreams and anniversary gift decapitated.

But the table was disassembled and the wisest members of the court were gathered to put the pieces back into the boxes. This feat was not for the weak minded or those impatient. Fortunately they packaged it neatly.

They packed the caravan and went to plead their case in the land of Ikea to the managerial leader.

The Emperor was convincing.

The work of the wise court was brilliant in their packaging and they were complimented on the excellent condition.

The Managerial leader agreed with the insight that it was better to get a smaller table rather than buy a bigger castle.
They gave us special Ikea money that is only good for trade in Ikea.

No problem.

The table to please the Empress was available for trade here so soon all would be triumphant.

The table they seek is missing from its shop.

The Empress went to the courier in Blue and Yellow and noble said, "Sir, the Bjursta table in not in its bin and the sign on it said to seek you". Well it was something like that.
"the spy system (Internet)said not more that 2 hours ago that you had 5 available
for trade".

He looks and says, "we are out of stock."
She laughs.

The empress laughs.

The poor Ikea man was probably concerned about the crazy female laughing at the bad news.
If he read my blog he would have been more frightened because he would have had confirmation that the Empress was crazy.

He took pity on her and told her that there would be 5 more for trade the next day. (He probably is calling off tomorrow just in case the crazy laughing Empress returns for the third day in a row.

So behold the Empresses New Table.

Yes it is invisible but don't tell her.

Frugal Art

2010-03-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

I am cheap.
I like to think I am creative.
I am a nut who hangs cardboard boxes on her walls.

The one above the window is cardboard also.

Cost: .50 for a sheet of scrapbook paper.
The other supplies were leftovers from other projects.

Family Jokes

2010-03-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

Our wedding anniversary is a running joke in our house.

Our first one occurred 2 weeks after the birth of Devonae and I was still in so much pain and having a kid who has to eat every 45 minutes around the clock was less than romance inducing. We sat on the couch and watched TV.

The following one we cleaned the house.

And the ones following have followed the pattern.
We know to expect work not romance on our "special" day.

This year we were stuck at home with 4, yep all 4, sick kids.

Good thing we know what to expect. Jesse predicted it 5 days before.

So I bought myself some flowers with coupon codes and reward points.

Happy Anniversary to Me.
Flowers I bought from Jesse for myself for .64 cents.

That made our day special.
The joke of me buying myself flowers on the cheap.
The joke of Jesse guessing right how our anniversary would turn out.
The humour of spending the night with 2 sick kids snoring between us in our bed.

The joy of knowing that we don't care that our "special" isn't special because we have fun sharing our life together all 365 days of the year. Anniversary included.

Crazy runs in the family

2010-03-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

So last week I was having a bad, hormonal, depressing day.
I was missing Becka and while I could have medicated myself with food I decided to Do Something rather Eat Something. Besides I probably would have had to share food with the kids, and I was not in a sharing mood.

Thanks to Jesse's dad who put a floor up in our attic so that we could clear some of the stuff in the garage, the garage seemed a good place to start.I began my craziness in the garage.

I cleared everything away from the door so I could move the heirloom sectional into the family room.
Managed that just fine by myself.

I am an independent type when I get crazy.

Everything was going fine and dandy until I tried to maneuver one of the corner pieces up by the fireplace without clearing the junk out of the way first.
The chair snagged itself on the clutter and I had to lift it high and twist myself to get it in place.
I hurt my back.
I found it funny that all the crazy painting balanced on a chair 8 months pregnant, last minute nesting moving bookcases up and down staircases by myself in my ninth month of pregnancy I never hurt myself. (the craziness has been around for a while)

At this point I actually thanked God for my migraine because otherwise I would have been in a lot of pain without all the painkillers in my system. I am a bit nuts.

So here it is inside the house.
I did it all by myself and all it cost was a couple of bottles of painkillers that I already had on hand.

But craziness has no boundaries and the drugs were still working so why stop.

My lack of a backsplash irked me.
So I will paint it.
I have the paint from the mantle in the garage so its free.
I like Free.

Of course it looks all nice and clean for the photos but the before was a sight to behold.
Part of my painting reasoning was to avoid cleaning the kitchen. Not very rational, I know.
Nor practical.
I had to move everything constantly to get it out of my way and it was a big pain.
Bigger than the pain in my back and head cause the have drugs for that but not for stupid.

And look I had to clean it anyway cause who wants to show off the accomplishments with dirty dishes and food all over. I am not that crazy.

I finished the backsplash and the kids told me I needed to do the soffit too.
So I did.
They were right. It is nice to know that crazy people have smart kids.

Day 1 of crazy ends.

Day 2 arrives.
Crazy is a long term ailment and was still hanging around.
My closet doors irk me.
I should fix them, I have the paint in the garage and it is FREE.
Now I had primed the ones in the kitchen but they were off white and needed a coat of white top coat.

Below is a picture of the ugly brown cheap crap I had on the walls.
The girl is doing her best to make the doors look better but it is a lost cause.

So I painted them.
Since I had the primer and paint out and am still crazy might as well paint the laundry room doors, coat closet doors and the cabinet in the bathroom.

So day 2 since I was injured I paced myself.
I painted the furnace room doors.
Painted the pantry door.
Primed and painted the laundry room doors.
Primed and painted the coat closet door.
Primed and painted the bathroom cabinet.
Painted the cabinet hardware.

Got on my hands and knees and scrubbed my kitchen and bathroom floors.

The craziness was wearing off because I did not do the cabinets in the 2 bathrooms upstairs.

Don't Get Run Over

2010-02-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

So it is snowing here again.

The roads are slick.

Our driveway has a bit of a slope that can give difficulty when the conditions are bad.

Today they were bad.

Kids hollered that Dad was home but could not get up the drive so I start getting ready to go out to help him. (I was planning on shoveling a path through the 1/8 inch of snow to give his tires a bit more traction)
Danny asks, "Are you going to push him"?
I inform him noway I don't want to get run over.

As I get my coat out of the closet I look out and see he made it up. I open up the door and greet him and say I was preparing to help him.

Then the car slides down our drive into the street.
Jesse runs along side his "baby" as it drives away leaving him behind.
I am yelling," Don't get run over" again and again.

She (the car) stopped partway in the street and managed not to get hit or run anyone over.

I went out and scraped the 1/8 inch of snow, sleet stuff off the drive and Jesse made it up without problems and the car has managed to stay put for a while now.

Jesse now agrees with me that our next house will have a less steep drive.
(not that this one is excessively steep)

Now if I could just stop checking the driveway to see if out car is still there.

A Partial Before and After

2010-02-17T15:19:00.000-08:00

The top of my microwave was a clutter magnet.
The shame of my shortcomings is so great you will not see a before picture of my sins.

So I cleaned it up.
Unfortunately the pillar of plastic containers holding the honey, butter, and Cinnamon was unsightly.

I needed a box or a basket to gather they together in.

Behold the box... from the recycle bin in the garage.

Before

After

Of course this project was free with stuff I had on hand, I went digging through the trash for goodness sake. Just took a bit of elbow grease to clean up the mess and craftiness to prettify the box.

I think I have a bit of touching up to get the handles the right color but for now I am satisfied.

Pull up a chair

2010-02-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

Grab a cup of tea, coffee, or beverage of choice and enjoy a Morgan house chat with Karist.

Some of you have heard of the "Pink House", if you haven't or want more info about it just ask Karist she will talk non stop and entertain you to your hearts content.

What exactly is the Pink House? It is a magical place in Karist's imagination (don't tell her, she thinks it is real)It is a part of her daily life.
She is always relating to things by saying "that's me" in movies she sees, games she plays, stories she hears, same thing with the house. You have a horse so she lets you know that she has a horse at her Pink House. Most likely it is a pink horse.

Here are a couple of samples of the Pink House phenomenon.

On Monday I spent the day baking.
I made: Butterhorn rolls
Bran Muffins
Pumpkin Bread and Muffins
Peanut Butter Cookies
And a 3 layer Cake with one pan...what a pain, I mean lesson in patience.

You can guess I was busy and using my mixer a lot.
As I was wrapping up I notice someone had taken the bread hook out and it was on the counter... with the enamel chipped off!!!
Tired Momma hollers across the house "Who broke my mixer"?
What kid in their right mind would confess that one.
No one did at first but I used my magical Mommy skills to discover that is was Karist.
Faced with the Magical, All-Knowing Mom she confessed and said she was sorry.
I gave her a hug and let her know that I forgave her but I was still sad that it was broken. I did not stay sad long.

She goes on after she says she is sorry to say:
" I got a mixer in my Pink House. It's a pink mixer." (that's a shock)
" My mixer is not broken"
She cracks me up.

Today I was prepping a Turkey to put in the oven for dinner. I called the kids in to show them the gizzards and talk about where meat comes from. Karist hung around after the other kids left asking "where is its leg?" for the third time. I show her again then put the turkey in the oven.
Here it comes the part you are waiting for:
Karist- "I have a pink turkey in my Pink House. I cut off its tail".

So if Karist ever acts shy around you or she is just nodding to every question you ask her on the phone just as her about her Pink House, she will talk.

Getting things done

2010-01-25T10:39:00.001-08:00

There are not before pictures but this is what it looks like now.

I tried to find a solution to targeted mess/problem areas.
Coat closet fix: another organizer.

Living room was dark and uninviting.
Fix: a hanging lamp from Ikea for 12.00 and hanging my favorite quilt on the wall for some color.
It was free also- I stole it from my Mom,
who got it from my Aunt Brenda,
who got it from the animal shelter, who got it from a donation from someone who thought it would make good kennel bedding.

New curtains also free but I had not hung them because they need a room darkening backing, tired of waiting I put them over the old green ones with clothes pins.
It makes me feel better, and after all that is what matters most in decorating.

Devonae's desk was cluttered with school books and papers. Simple fix a magazine holder to put them in when she is not using them.

Jesse's desk was worse but a couple of magazine boxes quickly store his clutter where it is out of my sight but in his reach.

Fluffing my Nest

2010-01-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Since my sister is getting ready to fly away to Ecuador I figure I will be spending more time at my computer. For the next two years till she migrates back blogging and Skype are how we will be keeping in touch.

So I decided to touch up my computer area with a bit of art.

The additions are free.

The pictures were intended to be in color and may be someday soon but my printer won the battle of the ink.

I had the letter stickers and scrapbook paper in my craft closet and the painters tape in the garage.

The art is from http://indiefixx.com/Feed_your_soul/index.html

Here is a not so widely known fact: Becka collected birds when she was younger.

Dance Recital

2010-01-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

When: last month
Theme: Who-ville
Why now? because I am a procrastinator that is why.

So why the stark background and the costume disarray?

Well did I mention a procrastinator earlier?
I put off getting new batteries in the camera until the last minute and then wardrobe malfunctions occupied me till the last minute so I had to toss the task to my sometimes reliable procrastinator-in-chief.

Batteries seemed like his kind of thing but in retrospect I should of had him braid hair on a wire while I did the batteries.

So we arrive and the recital begins, the camera turns on them shuts down. I turn to my partner and ask the obvious question with the also obvious answer.

"Did you get new batteries for the camera?"
"No"
Followed by either "I did not know it needed new batteries", or " I thought you did".

At this late date I can't remember which it was. Perhaps I should take a poll to determine the historical fact so that it can be recorded properly.

So there were no pictures or videos of the recital or the charming background.

You will have to live with the mugshot like post-recital photos in my kitchen.

Happy Birthday and other thoughts

2010-01-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Weston.
I missed being at your entrance.
I have missed every birthday since.
But I love you and think about you on your special day even if I can't be there.

Oh by the way thanks for sharing your day with Elli.
She is 5 now. She had a birthday she says. Weston's.

5 is now her lucky number.

Now on to "what is in a name".

So I was holding it together at the commissioning service for my Sister and her family, who are leaving in a few weeks for Ecuador, just fine until a name broke down my walls of emotional restraint.

I have pretty tough walls too.

So when Dustan's Dad was laying hands on the family and talking to God he called his son "Dusty".
I have heard him called this before but the way it was said, who it was said to, and the context it was said in, that tore me up.

Who knew "Dusty" was the weak link in my wall.

So what I heard was a Daddy praying and giving his little boy into the hands of God.
Dustan was not a man in his father's eyes at that moment...
he was young...
about Weston's age...
or perhaps little Samuel in the Bible.

I guess you can say it was the picture of the immense love of a father for his child that moved me so.

So "Dusty" if you read this in a way it was you, not Becka, that broke me down to crying in public.

I am pretty sure that what I saw and heard was the way it was seen from heaven.

Storytime

2009-12-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

It is bedtime. We are snuggled in bed together and Karist informs me she is going to tell me a bedtime story. Here is her story:

Baby Jesus was born.
Baby Jesus died.

That is it. I laughed and corrected her and told her that Jesus grew up before he died. And the conversation wandered all over after that.

Next day.
She tells the kids she is going to tell them a story.
Here it is word for word:

Baby Jesus was born.
He grewed up.
Jesus died. He died.

At least she was paying attention the night before.

Free

2009-12-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

So we had a morning free of T.V. and Internet and this is some of what we did:

We made really free Christmas lights.
The paper was a discard from Becka's and they use no power.
It was good practice for all 4 kids using scissors... they cut them all.

Cookies. Not free but almost except the sticks.

We were so busy crafting, cleaning, cooking and learning that we were mostly free of complaining and fighting.

Trick of Treat

2009-11-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

A night elf
A pirate
A snow fairy
And a Barbie musketeer

Too bad I never figured out the trick to taking good pictures.

Oh wait Jesse took these.
I pass the blame :)

Little Miss Know it All

2009-10-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

A conversation with Karist last night:

Me: How did you get so beautiful?

Silence
Karist: grins big

Me: God made you so beautiful.

Karist: Uh huh. (said with a tone that says I am not telling her anything new)

Me: And he made you smart

Karist: Uh huh

Me: And kind

Karist: Uh huh

Me: And helpful (can you tell I am buying that self fulfilling prophecy bit)

Karist: Uh huh

Me: *gives her another big hug*

Karist: And Proud

I died laughing.

So yes I have a proud little girl, and she is proud of being proud.

Karist and Water Play

2009-09-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

Still checking to see if I posted?

2009-09-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well I am still alive.

Not sure that I really did that much while I was gone.
Or it was so boring and routine I blocked it from memory.

Here is my short term memory kicking in...
What I did today:

Cleaned a place in the garage for my new freezer that arrives on Monday.
Note that I cleaned a place not the garage. I would still be trapped in there working if that was the case.

Fed people.

Got the kids ready for soccer pictures.

Coupon research.

Tried to get ready to teach my new 4 year old Sunday School class tomorrow.

Glad they are young and will forgive me if I mess it up.

So that is a quick update seconds before my laptop battery dies.

Happy frugal Birthday splurge

2009-07-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

So its my birthday.
If I had a choice of restaurants available nearby I would probably choose Ruby Tuesday.

But we are cutting back on our expenses so I went for the frugal splurge.
Also easy because it is my birthday ya know.

Birthday menu:

Make ahead rolls. Already had them ready so just removed from the freezer to bake.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Make-Ahead-Butterhorns/Detail.aspx

To die for Green beans.
3 slices of bacon 1 TB butter 1 pkg frozen green beans 2 tsp soy sauce
Pepper to taste 3 TB brown sugar.

Fry bacon to crisp. toss in Butter, thawed green beans, and all other ingredients cook about 5 minutes.

All measurements are approximate. But they are so good I eat them for dessert sometimes.

Grilled steak.
Cheap cut marinated in free marinade thanks to coupons. Cooked by Jesse of course, it is my birthday you know.

Whipped red potatoes.
easy. toss them in a pan. toss in mixer with milk, salt, pepper, cream cheese and butter and walla easy, yummy side dish.

Birthday Cake
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Orange-Cake/Detail.aspx

Yummy orange cake made from free stuff I had on hand from sales.
You didn't think we were gonna put a candle on those green beans did you?

So I probably spent about 8 dollars on all this yummy food that would have been very close to my Ruby Tuesday's order.

Investing in precious metals

2009-05-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

After some research into the current state of the economy Jesse decided some of our savings would be safer converted to platinum.

I agreed.

I tried to sell him on a smaller investment of a similar kind...Metal cans of food.

He did not agree so readily.

I had to back up my investment proposal with research showing that the responsible household should have a 3 day emergency preparedness kit.
He agreed.

Plus the concern that in an emergency we might not have the eggs to make his brownies sold him on having the powdered eggs on hand.

So here is what my "gold" investment looks like.
A few of the cans are for my Mom and Aunt Denise.

With this "flu pandemic" in the news it looks like my investment may be paying dividends sooner than expected.

I also have some "tin" investments too....tuna, pineapple, soup, rotel, etc...

My medical supplies shopping spree during the wedding has also payed off in peace of mind.

No worries about sold out face masks, I already have them on hand along with thermometers, blood pressure cuff, pain relievers, 5 first aid kits, stethoscope, lots of cold and flu meds, boxes of tissues.

Preparedness really does pay dividends in peace of mind.

Birthday girl

2009-05-01T09:15:00.001-07:00

Ellie is now 4 years old.
She had some elaborate cake picked out from a cake design book that she insisted I make. We were so busy over the weekend I really did not have time so I bought an Ice cream cake...with a coupon of course.

She decorated it with MMs herself. They were on sale with a coupon of course.

She was very pleased.

Swag

2009-05-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you who need a vocabulary lesson swag is the free loot you get when you go to conventions.

Jesse picked up quite a bit at the Space Symposium on our trip to Colorodo.

Here is our photo log of it.
Yes taking pictures of it is weird.
I had no kids and Jesse was gone during the day and I had nothing better to do.
And it was such a large diverse accumulation...
So for your veiwing pleasure :)

With all the papers and registation, maps etc he had on his way out the door I told him he need a manbag...he got one for free that night.

More bags

leather organsizer

note pads and triangle shape highlighter

pens

chapstick

stress relievers

carabiners and keychain flashlights

water bottles

mouse pads

necklaces

misc..

flashdrive, clock, multi tool, calculator

toys

My favorite chocolate.

And to top everything off the spellcheck did not flag anything.
Small victories :)

I need a Kick...

2009-04-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

on the butt to get me moving.

I feel so unmotivated.

Anyone want to come over?

A Sad Song

2009-04-14T15:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry no pic today.

I am lazy.

But I did think you would find it amusing to hear about Karist's Sad Songs.

Whenever she gets in trouble, doesn't get her way, or just gets her feelings hurt she leaves the room...

and SINGS.

The songs always have something to do with why she is sad.

Something like...
I am so sad my Daddy spanked me. Danny won't play with me. I am so sad.

She sings this n such a mournful tone.
It is funny.
Yes it is sad, but it is funny.

I feel a part of some musical.

Some momentous change, lets sing about it.

Imagine you tell someone in your life they can't have the last cookie.

Then you hear...

I am soooo sad I don't have a cookie. No cookie for me. I am so sad. I have no cookie. You won't give me a cookie.

Sung like their pet just died.

Funny I tell ya.

Dirt Devil

2009-04-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

There is something very precious in the exhausted question from my 2 yr old" Can I take a break"? Punctuated by an exhausted sigh.

Why is she so tired?

She just vacuumed the family room for 20 minutes.

She used Danny's vacuum.

He tried to help her. She fought tooth and nail to by it by herself.

She did.

So now she is resting.

A well earned break...for me too.

The Eyes Have it...

2009-04-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

with a tongue in the minority.

I love my kids.

Today's forecast...Stay in Bed

2009-04-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

So this afternoon we are supposed to get Thunder Snow.

Guess I will just crawl under the covers stay warm and watch is storm out the window.

Yesterday we did not do much.
We went to Garden of the Gods to do a bit of shopping.
No pictures cause what we bought is a surprise.
After that Jesse went back to the conference.
He brought home Red Robin for dinner and we sat around eating, drinking lemonade, and watching an old Sci-fi movie Krull.
The movie was his choice of course.

I really enjoyed talking to my little ones yesterday.
It was good to hear how well they were doing taking care of Marme.

I can only imagine that Saturday with all the kids gone and the house quiet Marme will declare her own stay in bed day.

Another Day

2009-03-31T07:16:00.000-07:00

We woke up to a dusting of snow. Too bad the car rental place did not put a ice scraper or snow brush in the car.

Jesse getting ready to leave for the Pike's Peak cog railway.

Me taking a picture of myself getting ready to go. There is no way this would be getting posted except that I know my kids would like to see a picture of Mommy.

Going up the mountain.

View of the snow as high as we could go. The wind was gusting at 80 mph at the top so the snow plow train could not keep it off the tracks. The snow was 7 feet deep where we stopped to head back down.

Another view from the top.

Looking down the mountain.

Still looking down the mountain.

Heading down the mountain.

So that is how we spent our day.
Today on Jesse's lunch break we are going to make a quick trip to the Garden of the Gods.

Who do I love?

2009-03-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

Marme: she is loving on my kids for me. She asked to see these so here they are.

Becka: She took such wonderful pictures of my children. She also helped me with the mantel decor and framing.

My Kids: I love them so much. For to many reasons to list.

Frugal decor: Since I have been tracking in my blog my decor expenses here goes.
Wall stickers: free had them sitting around from last year.
Frames: 40.00 for all 8
Mats: free came with frames.
Counstruction paper and scrapbook paper: free, had on hand from other projects.
Photo: Free, used a Wallgreens coupon to cover the 1.30 cost.

So in total I spent 40.00 out of pocket for all the projects below.

We are headed to the top of a mountain today.
It is snowing here so I am not sure how sane this adventure is.

Jesse has the opening ceremonies for the Space Symposium tonight.
I hope he gets some good pictures of the fireworks while he is there.

We are in Colorodo

2009-03-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Jesse took pictures at the airport from the side of the road of the mountains. He wanted to make sure his Mom got to see them since she has a fondness for Colorado's mountains.

Another picture taken from the car window as we approached Colorado Springs.

Hey kids, they have deer here too.

Jesse was careful to "shoot" pictures of them but not hit them with the car. Which is a talent because he was driving while taking the picture.

I miss my kids and hope they are having fun.
Hopefully I will have some new pictures for them soon.

Dang it...

2009-03-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

I went to Carrie's blog and it still says 2 weeks.

I refreshed and refreshed....nada

I followed her link to my blog...nada

Sigh

I guess I am still 2 weeks.

/cry

Guilted to post

2009-03-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

So my sister-in-law Carrie... who is wonderful, creative, talented, crafty and many other wonderful things...has this new feature on her blog...

A guilt link to my blog.

It says "2 weeks".

I have an old blog.

It had been 2 weeks with no new post.

Well HA not any more.

Miss newfangled bloggy sister.

One day she will show me how she makes her blog look so nice.

I feel kinda boring and old fashioned... my blog looks the same as it did on day one.

Except for this new post of course.

And we all know that a new post MAKES the blog.

10 again

2009-03-07T06:39:00.001-08:00

Today is 10...

10 years ago Jesse and I vowed we would be partners for better or for worse in sickness and in health.

So what are some random facts about those 10 years.

1. Gas was .73 a gallon on the day we were married.

2. Our firstborn was born 2 weeks before out first anniversary.

3. We had to deal with "sickness" early on with Devonae being born with craniosynostosis. I think we did well if survival is a gauge of success.

4. We slept on a pallet of pillows on the floor for the first month of our marriage.

5. Jesse bought me a TV for my first birthday we were together. It replace a 3 inch b/w one we had borrowed from a friend.

6. I have been pregnant 7 times but only have 4 kids. I learned that men grieve much differently then women.

7. Danny was due on our anniversary but came a week late on March 15.

8. Our anniversary's have never been typical celebrations.

9. Jesse paid for out first date together AFTER we had purchased our engagement and wedding rings.

10. Plans for today? Jesse is at the car dealer buying his new car. I love him. His 1988 camry is about on its last leg/wheel.

We are planning on cooking out today. The high is forecast to be 73.
Jesse is sick with a yucky cold.
My house is a mess.

I am pretty happy with how far we have come in 10 years. Am I ready for 10 more?
Sure, why not. Life is an adventure and who better to experience it with than your best friend.

Ten part 4

2009-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Becka gave me K.
At least it is not Q.

1. Knife
2. Kill
3. Kids...yes it is random just weird
4. Kite
5. Kroger
5. Kitten
6. I am starting to hate the letter C. Kin
7. Kinetic
8. Knowledge
9. Kindness
10. Knot

Well I must say I finished much better than I started.

The last one has led me to a random memory:

We were married by a minster named Mel Knott who shared the duties with my father.
He also did our premarriage counseling. The thing I remember most from our counseling with him is how much he loved his wife. It was very evident.

He is also the minister who showed up at the hospital for Devonae's surgery. I think he was actually there before we were.

A man of God who loved his wife, and touched our lives during significant milestones. So when I look back at it I see clearly what Christ was talking about when he said that you would know they are Christians by their love.

Mel Knott died to cancer about 2 years after Devonae's surgery.
He left behind the wife he loved.
He left behind an imprint on love on our lives and many others.
He went to live with the Christ he loved.

I am thankful he blessed our lives and want to strive harder to leave the imprint of love on those I encounter in my journey through life.

Ten part 3

2009-02-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

Ten random things that need cleaned in my house.

1. Kids. They are covered in pen and marker tattoos.

2. My desk. Junk mail and Marker.

3. Kitchen. dishes and food crumbs all over.

4. Couch. covered in marker.

5. walls. most of them. covered in marker, ink pen, chocolate, and I am sure boogers.

6. Guest room. Games all over. Sorry Mom it will be a mess still when you get here. I need a kick in the rear.

7. Bathrooms. TP seems to be a toy and I do have a boy. Not as bad as Becka's I am sure cause she has 2 boys.

8. The laundry bed in my room. It is mountainous. I refuse to climb it because it is there. The kid have though.

9. My pantry. The floor of it is well, sticky. Hot Chocolate mix clean up attempt only made it worse. Gonna have to go a few more rounds if I ever want to retrieve my shoes.

10. Me. I need to brush my hair, brush my teeth, take a shower, put clean clothes on, etc... Oh look, I have marker on me too.

Ten part 2

2009-02-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Ten things I am grateful for

1. I have generally healthy kids.

2. I have a nice house.

3. My husband has a job.

4. My Mom comes to help me and give me a break.

5. I have a church that has two Sunday School classes that we really enjoy and are sad we are moving from a great one to another great one.

6. I got the house straight before the police got here last Thursday.

7. I passed my drivers test. Yes it was so bad I am still grateful several months later.

8. That God loves me the way I am, no matter where I have been, or where I am heading

9. My husband thinks I am beautiful.

10. For the things that make life more bearable, Christ, Dr. Pepper, Family, Excedrin, Motrin, bubble baths, back rubs.

Ten

2009-02-10T12:09:00.000-08:00

I normally refuse to play tag games but when my sister tagged me with 10 random complaints I just felt like complaining.

1. My kids trash and break everything.

2. My husband thinks he is always right.

3. I am always tired.

4. I don't like paying on my husbands school debt when he blew the chance to go to school for free is he go good grades.(his parents would have paid for what scholarships did not cover) Instead he played games got D's and racked up about 28,000 in debt for 1 and a half years of education/vacation.

5. I hate that my responsible school decisions about school loans meant that I missed out on an exchange program to England and would have graduated before marriage if I had not taken time off to save up money for school.

6. I don't like driving.

7. I don't want people to see me but I don't like being invisible.

8. My tile floor in my house is cold and gets very slippery when wet.

9. My sister did not move to Ohio like she agreed too if we moved here, she is moving to Ecuador instead.

10. I don't like fixing 3 different meals for dinner for picky eaters, Husband included.

Cleaning from a new perspective

2009-02-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

The phone rings.
Someone is on their way over.
The house is trashed.

So how do I get the house clean before the police get here.
I start at the front door and quickly straighten up all parts of rooms visible.
Push the basket of laundry around the corner out of sight.

Have Devonae help get clothes on the nudists who will run to the door as soon as anyone arrives.

I managed to do it.
The police see no signs of a neglectful housewife and mother.
There is still no sign of that person either because I have continued to clean, even got out the oxyclean and scrubbed the stains on the carpet.

So am I reformed?
Probably not.

Is my son reformed?
No. Silly policeman was so friendly.
If I had to go through the humiliation of having a false 911 call from my house at least we could of had more of the "bad boys, bad boys what you gonna do when they come for you" routine.

So my bad boy was just pushing the phone on and off he "lies" to my too friendly policeman.
Perhaps the call was legit, I did just finish removing all the girls from downstairs because he was preventing them from cleaning by throwing batteries at them.
He might have been calling to report the assault.

Anyhow like I told the 911 operator , "there is no trouble here, just a little boy in trouble now"

Why do false 911 calls and calls to poison control make you feel like such a terrible parent.

Guess I get an F for Failure.

Not so great at pictures

2009-02-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

So this is our last family picture.
Only 3 kids missing.

I guess I am going to have to get my camera out and actually take pictures.
Then I need to put them on my computer.

I think this picture of a picture actually came from Devonae's camera.

Give me a few days and I will make a clean spot in the house and clothe my nudists and ducktape them in place and get something more current.

It the ducktape shows in the picture please do not call CPS on me.

I may even allow a picture of me to be posted.
We will have to see.

My Stimulus Package

2009-02-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

A mandatory immediate tax audit of all members of Congress and the top positions in the Executive and Judicial branchs.

Creates lots of lawyer and Accountant positions.

We need jobs right.

The rate things are going we should be able to use the money collected from owed back taxes to fund a tax cut.

Also all offenders must be prosecuted.

Think of the Correctional facility positions that will open up with the large influx of government employees.

More jobs.

Next do the same for every employee of every company that accepts bailout money.

Bailout pays for itself.
Tax cuts fund themselves.
Jobs are created.
And we get the "Change" we were promised.

Politics again

2009-01-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

After reading several pages of the actual HR-1 stimulus bill, yes I am a nerd, I had to do something.

So I did.

I wrote my Representative and Senators again.

I did this protesting the T.A.R.P. fiasco last year.

So I told them to not support pork and since my Dad taught me it is always good to propose a solution rather than just complain I proposed the following:

Tax cuts: Simple ones like a credit for being an American. Money that can quickly reach the actual American rather that padding the pockets of corporations and lobbyists.

State Funding: Give States no strings attached money to do with what they feel best for their state based on population.

That is it nothing else.

Simple huh.

I don't even have a degree.

Just so you know I personally think they should do nothing but that won't fly so I think my proposal is something my kids can live with.

What I have been up too

2009-01-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

I have given up Diet Dr. Pepper.
I have been having several issues with my health that have led me to believe that the sugar substitute is the culprit.
And yes I have been feeling better already at 8 days no Diet DP.

The kids are helping me watch my weight.
I got myself a 2 litter of regular Dr. Pepper, cause life just is not the same without it, and they drank all of it within an hour of opening.

I have discovered that I have more willpower than I thought I did.

Wii Fit.
Fun Fitness.
I am hula hooping my hips away.
O.K. not quite but I do enjoy bumping all my kids off the score sheet.
And boy do they rejoice when they "kick my face off".

Vacation planning.
Have to have fun sometime.
Destination: Amusement Park
DisneyWorld or Cedarpoint.
Even with the great discount we can get with Jesse being former military we have decided Cedarpoint wins. It is very tempting though, we did it several years ago for under 1000 and that includes food, lodging, tickets and fuel. Of course we had fewer kids, and Jesse's parents slit the 250 a week condo fee with us and footed most of the food bills. More kids mean more for tickets, and food. The condo fee went up to 350 and fuel is more costly also.
So now I have to find the cheapest way to do Cedarpoint.
A big plus is I don't have a 18 hr drive to get there since it is only 3 hours away.

Debt retirement planning.
Oh what fun.
Have to pay off Jesse's school loans his parent held for him.
Save for a replacement car. Not sure how long his 1980 Camry will last us.
Pay off the house. Ok this is not gonna happen soon but it is in the long term plan.
This is what nixed the tempting Disney trip.

Couponing.
I am getting to be a crazy coupon lady.
This takes a lot of time and organization but I feel real satisfaction to bring home more for less.
This is how I am gonna fund that trip to Cedarpoint.
My goal is to cut my grocery budget in half over the next 6 months.
My mom and Aunt Denise are crazy coupon ladies too.

Teaching.
The kids are learning.
Probably not stuff I am trying to teach them.
Devonae and Daniel are improving their reading skills.
Elli is practicing using scissors. On her and Karist's hair.
Karist is majoring in music and dance...and is the most adorable kid in the universe when she sings.

The potty wars.
I refuse to fight.
Good thing cause I would be losing.
If only they could use the potty if they had clothes on.
If they hit 5 years old and you hear we are moving to a nudist colony you know why.

World of Warcraft.
I kill pixels.
It makes me feel better.
Well actually my toon is a healer so I heal pixels that kill pixels.
I like to think I am good at it.
I could be better.
But I have kids who should be in bed who are tired and cranky yelling at me to take the clothes out of the dishwasher.

I clean.
The kids undo it.
I yell.
Then clean it again.
The kids undo it.
I give up.

I know I should not yell at the kids...I try not too.
I know they should clean up the mess not me...I don't have forever to wait.

My pantry sanctuary is usually occupied by kids.
Wouldn't you know that the pantry is next to the closet with the furnace which makes the tile floor nice and toasty in there.
Nothing better for a bear butted kid than a nice toasty tile floor to sit on surrounded by food.

lol I did it again, thank goodness for spellcheck or you would be reading about my panty sanctuary.

Political Rant Time

2009-01-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

I have been off the soap box for a bit but I have returned.

Bernie Madoff- I know that justice has not been blind in America for a while but to so blatantly see injustice makes me fear for the future. Not only is justice gone common sense has fled also. There is no doubt of guilt yet he stays in a penthouse while the joe crook who robs the 7-11 sits in jail till he is tried and sentenced. I believe it is cruel and unusual punishment for his victims who have lost their life savings to be losing their homes and become homeless while he the criminal lives high on the hog.

Tim Geitner- Obama's choice to lead the country out of the economic pit greed and crime has dug us in. He doesn't know he should pay his taxes. When he gets caught by the IRS for not paying for 4 years he say he made a honest mistake. Does he make it right?
Nope, due to statute of limitations he actually got away without paying for 2 of those years. He owes it but there is nothing they can do to make him pay.

So what is the moral of all this?

Crime does pay.
The rich are "too big to fail".
The average American is too small to succeed.

I miss the times where people felt bad for doing wrong and tried to make it right.

The next generation of nerds

2009-01-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

It is official. My kids are going turn out nerdy like their parents.

My six year old is designing his own Starcraft campaigns now.

Even Grandma is calling them for tech support for her Webkinz account.

I died

2009-01-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

See that is my body holding a knife and I am headless.

OK fine I really am alive but I dyed my own hair all by myself.

Still not sure how it tured out cause it is still wet.

Pantry Envy

2008-12-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

I must confess I have seen many neat and organized pantrys and have been green with envy. Until we moved to this house I did not even have a pantry.

LOL I caught the panty typo. Boy did it read funny that way :)

So I got a pantry but no neat and no organized.

Determined to keep up with the Martha's and June Cleavers, I plotted a pantry makeover that was budget friendly.

First I added canisters to my Christmas list.
Thanks to an early Christmas at Thanksgiving with Jesse's family I raked in the loot.
I am now in love with Lock and Lock. Container envy has taken hold.

Next I picked out paint... Green. The color of pantry envy of course.

After that a send help I am depressed in my messy house with children who need a bit of discipline reinforcement call with my Mom sent her arriving the next day. I did not intend this but it worked so you might try it yourself.

Now I inciting Mother envy... I feel almost evil.

Both my Mom and Dad said the color was a no go. They are my parents so I did the typical kid thing and ignored their advice. They were right about it making the room darker... parents are usually right. But I was willing to accept that and used it anyway.

Last I pick out the paper for my shelves.

Here are the results.

Cost:
Canisters..........free
Paint....... .......13.00
Shelf paper.......3.00
Contact paper......free (had already)
Stick up lights because parents were right 15.00

Total............31.00

So if you are now suffering from pantry envy I have a bunch of leftover paint.

Dear Mr. Obama,

2008-11-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

Please do not send you daughters to a public school, that you have said yourself were failing, to make a political statement.

Be a parent before a politician.

Your beautiful girls are going to have a rough time ahead of them. Give them the best education you choose for them. We won't begrudge you because that is what we strive to do for our kids.

Now some parents really do not have a choice because of the circumstances they are in but their lack of choice does not take away you right to choose. And if by some chance you are able to give those parents choices during your term of office you have my support.

Putting your family before policy and politics makes its own statement.

No tricks, Just a treat

2008-11-12T08:35:00.000-08:00

So none of my pictures turned out great.
You can tell that the face paint is wearing off.
Kid could not stand still for pictures, Jesse was in the other room going though their haul for safety.

3 cat and a hunter.
Cat costumes were 3.00 a piece.
Hunter 8.00 for the clothes. 5.00 for the weapon. All items are still being used.
Face paint 1.00.

Total: 23.00 for a night on the town.

Next year I will take pictures before we go out.

Also note that Becka's son was also a hunter. Funny how we did the same thing without knowing it. Her daughter was her webkinz puppy and Devonae was her webkinz cat. Must be that sister connection.

Obama Fear

2008-11-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

So a lot of moms on a site I frequent want an answer to the question:

Why does Obama scare/terrify you?

A very legitimate question that I feel deserves a response.

My answer is… I am not scared of Obama.
He is a man.
I do not know him but I truly believe that like the majority of people his motives are not evil.
He will be wrong, make mistakes, and have opposing views to mine but I would be willing to say that all people would fall into that category.

So why did I oppose Obama?

While socialism and communism is admirable in theory it cannot work on a large scale.
So while I personally find some of the ideals of socialism to be sought after I do NOT believe that the government should play ANY role in it.

It is an individuals right to act upon their compassion for mankind.

But my primary reason for opposing Obama is life.

I am pro-life.
I understand this stance is in conflict with the majority of Obama supporters.

I believe life begins at conception and abortion is wrong.
Evidence shows that Obama does not align with my beliefs.
I believe denying medical care to a living baby that survives an abortion is wrong.
I believe allowing babies to die because they might not have the “quality of life” WE think they should have or it might impede on OUR “quality of life” is wrong.

I see a trend that goes…
It is O.K. to kill…
Unborn babies
Born babies that we should have killed on the first try
Disabled/premature babies that might not live up to someone’s standards for “quality of life” be it hospitals, governments, parents etc.

“Quality of life” can move farther…
Elderly, sick, disabled etc…

The slope is a slippery moral issue that frightens and saddens me.

Obama is just a man.
One of many that must act in accordance to take us down this slope or get us off it.
The president is a man.
People are mistaken about his power.

I am not afraid of Obama.

I do distrust government and want less of it not more.

I have been praying for Obama and his family.
I am scared FOR him.
There are crazy, hateful people out there.
I am scared for his daughters and pray they do not have to hear their father being cut to pieces by the hatred that Bush’s daughters endured.

Obama will be my president.
I will respect him as a person created by God.
I will respect the office he holds.
I will oppose the ISSUES I disagree with.

They voted

2008-11-04T05:41:00.000-08:00

So my oldest 2 have now seen the voting process in action.

They were not impressed.

Getting up at 6:15 so we could be there when the polls opened at 6:30 was not their cup of tea.

Arriving at 6:40 and seeing a long line out the door had us all waiting in the cold.

Wrapped in blankets they were very patient. For kids that is.

Karist voted to go to the potty. We found it. No lines.

We finished voting with Devonae as her Daddy's partner and Danny as mine.

8:30 was too late for our plans to eat breakfast at Bob Evans so we drove through McDonalds and picked up breakfast for the kids to eat at home.

I think the kids vote that we don't so this again anytime soon.

The spice of life

2008-10-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

So simplifying and studying food storage has led me to this pondering.
If I only has 10 spices and seasonings what would they be.
Salt and pepper excluded of course.

So what would you have in your cabinet?

I will ponder and list mine in a bit.

1. Durkee grill creation steak seasoning
2. Durkee grill creation smokey mesquite
3. Ranch seasoning
3. Oregano
4. Garlic
5. Cumin
6. Cinnamon
7. Pumpkin pie spice
8. Chile powder
9. Sage

10.

Ok. if you don't sare a full list at least tell me what I should put as #10

Money is disappearing

2008-10-10T07:21:00.001-07:00

Out of our Roth IRA that is.

So I have been trying to think of some creative ways to make some.
After all a penny saved is a penny earned.

Here is my wacky Christmas gift idea.

Problem: need gifts for Christmas.
Problem: need grage cleaned out for van.

Solution: The Christmas gift game.

Open a random box once a week.
Somehow make or use the contents of the box into a giftable item.
Resew clothes into a cape for kids, make accesories for lost dolls or animals, and if all else fails paint the box itself to create a work of art.

Are you getting excited yet?
lol.

This is crazy enough I may just try it for kicks.

Midnight Ramblings

2008-10-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

So it is almost 2 in the morning and I can't sleep.
I had caffeine today and well you can see the results.

If you hate politics you should probably not read any farther.

I am angry about the passing of the bailout bill.
And yes I did contact both my senators and my congressperson.
Lot of good that did they all voted to give away my money, my kid's money and your money to socialize the free markets.

So now I am stuck with 2 Senator presidential candidates who voted for the load of crap with a side of pork.
My districts Representative is up for reelection next month and voted for the foul thing too.

Arrrg.

There is no way I want to vote for any of these people when I walk into the voting booth in November.

So I went and looked for some other options.

The Dem. who is running against Congressman Boehner is not anyone I can get thrilled about voting for.
He is young 29.
Very Democrat.
Pro socialism for health care and income equality. For the poor though not the rich.
Is inexperienced.
In reality there really is very little information about him and his stance on issues.

I think he has my vote.
No he is not my first choice or an ideal candidate but hey he hasn't messed up yet and perhaps he would listen to his constituents.
He has a heart for the poor and uninsured and that is a good thing too.

The Presidential thing is a bit more of a mess.

So much pressure to vote for Mccain in our battleground state or Obama will be president. This is a common belief here. Just because it is a belief does not mean it is truth. But is likely is not wrong either.

TO clarify the following comparison I am NOT comparing the candidates to these specific historical persons just how I feel the choice sucks from MY perspective.

I feel like I am having to vote for Stalin to vote against Hitler.
Both choices suck.
One may suck worse than the other... but they both suck.

If you find my comparison offensive please carefully reread my disclaimer.

What if I refuse to play the game I don't want to play.
Suck is Suck.

Is there someone out there on the presidential ballot who doesn't serve up crap and pork?

I looked and was surprised Bob Barr the Libertarian candidate actually had some common sense solutions to the economic problems our country is facing.
And get this.... HE voted AGAINST the bailout.

So what to do?
No matter what someone who I think sucks is going to be our President.
[this opinion is based upon the bailout vote]
[yes I know there is a bigger picture]
[hard to see though the red though]:)
Am I going to be just another sucker voting for them?

I know this Bailout was not good for America.
I know that I don't think either Obama or McCain are great choice to lead our country.
I know that the 2 party system will eventually lead to the fall of our republic if it is not changed.
I know there is no way that a third party has a chance in the near future.

Change has been the theme of these elections and I am becoming more changed personally than I ever imagined.
My choices are not clear this time.
I may have to travel a path that is new, fresh, and unpaved.
But I am thinking clearly.
I am investigating options. They ARE there.
I am refusing to play the game that there is no win.

I will make the rules this time.
I will vote the way I decide.

When I walk away from the ballots this year I intend to know that I voted for what would be best for America. Not necessarily for the short term but for the future. For my children.

Hurry and read this post it likely will self destruct in the morning after I get some sleep.

Ike hits Ohio

2008-09-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a bit breezy.
We were not prepared.
After several power surges interrupted our afternoon of helping our friend Mike complete some quests in WoW we decided that we should check the weather forecast.
We were under a high wind warning... things were going to get worse until about 6:00.
3:30 they got worse...we lost power.

So we lose phone service without power so we hunt down the cellphone...not charged.
Laptops for movies with the kids...not charged.
Ice for the perishables...not stocked up.
Food for the hungry...not that did not need an oven, microwave or grill.
Grill not an option...too windy.
Flashlight...batteries dead...wait we just bought some where are they?
Several hours later find the batteries in the dark garage...flashlight still does not work...bad bulb...fortunately we had a spare bulb handy so finally we have one working flashlight.
Candles have lots...no matches.
No radio to listen to so we are really and truly in the dark about what is going on.

About 4:30 we lost most of a tree in our back yard.
It fell less than a foot from Daniel.
***I am not a bad mommy disclaimer***
I told all the kids that it was dangerous to be outside and banned them all from the outdoors.
15 minutes later Daddy trumps my ban and tells the kids to get their shoes on they are going out.
Daddy is the kids hero.
Mommy is not thrilled and tells Daddy it is not a good idea.
Kids have fun.

Gives kids the following safety rule:
If you hear cracking run.

Dad talks to neighbor.

Tree cracks and falls practically on Danny and he stands there no running.
Mommy quickly gathers all her children indoors and Daddy continues to talk to neighbor.

No the branch did not fall on the pool.
The pool blew across the backyard and over a fence and we caught up with it 2 houses down in a neighbors front yard.
Branches were handy so Jesse threw one over the pool to keep it in the yard.

About 8:30 we gave up on the power returning and went out to seek food.
All our local restaurants were closed.
Everything by the mall closed.
Found an open dominoes and brought home pizza.
The CVS next door to Dominoes was sold out of flashlights and most food and batteries but they did have a book of matches they gave me.

Power came back on for us about 20 minutes before Jesse came home from work on Monday.
Many in the area still are without power and some have no water.

We feel blessed to have power and our son safe with us.

I am depressed and I heard sunshine helps

2008-08-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

So I have been a bit down lately... has a bit to do with my missing drivers license.
Last I saw it Elli had it commenting on how pretty momma was wearing makeup.
I have to admit for an ID pic it was pretty good.

Now it looks like I am going to have to take a driving test to get a new license hence the stress and depression.

They say sun helps so I made some.

No more "blue office"
Now it is "sunshine" yellow. The paint can says custard but I say sunshine.

Also check out the new Ikea desks.

I actually do feel better typing this up in my sunshine office at my new desk.

And yes I am a bit crazy...
but a happier crazy

The Man Chair

2008-08-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my blog over the past year you know that the house we bought was not my first choice but the house that my Man wanted.

Since I have lived in it I must admit that my Man has good taste and I really do like my house.

But during all the moving, house hunting, and debating the purchase of the house that I did not love I managed to get a $2,000.00 decorating budget.
Between my first trip to Ikea and the family room makeover I used up 400.00 of it.

We went to Ikea again...

900.00 of my budget flew away.

300.00 of that was spent on this...

The Man Chair...

So you might be wondering why I agreed to spend such a huge portion of my budget on a black leather chair that really does not fit my decor.

My Man has been really wanting a recliner for years... The kids tore up his.

My Man likes leather...It is kid friendly so that swayed me a bit.

My Man likes black leather not brown, or cream... sigh well I did make the black in the family room more tolerable so I figured I could work with the chair.

My man has horrible recliner taste... all comfort no style. I had been recliner shopping with him and there is no way I wanted to let his expensive, over sized, stay puff marshmallow man chair in my house.

So I went for the win... He got the chair and ottoman he really likes and I no longer have nightmares about the recliner he was destined to bring home.

I spent the day with the kids doing some art...
Here is theirs.

Here is mine.

Notice the incorporation of black to blend his chair in with the living room decor.
And yes it really is just an Ikea box hanging on the wall but it was free.

Perhaps more people should put cardboard on their walls.

Oh and in case you missed it... I love my Man.

I Serious Issues....

2008-08-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

with people having affairs.
Especially men.
Especially men in powerful or seeking powerful positions.

What follows is a rant and is not necessarily logical but it is certainly something I have issues with.

I hate that men cheat on the women who have stood by them and helped them obtain their powerful positions. What woman wants to be used then tossed aside for a younger prettier version.

John Edwards...give me a break. How could any man in his right mind do this to his family.

Bill Clinton...an grossly obvious example of a man using his position as a tool to be unfaithful to his spouse.

Just to be fair and prove that I really have issues and am not politically biased...

John McCain...Seeks to be President but has also been in adulterous relationships.

I really don't want Obama to be our next President for many reasons but I really don't think I can bring myself to vote for one of those cheating politicians.

I think I am voting for Huckabee.

You might consider me as throwing away my vote but I want to vote for the man I think would be best not the one who has the best chance of winning.

If a man has proved that his sexual drive can override his better judgement and break his marriage vows, how can I expect him not to be easily swayed against his better judgement not to hold true to the U.S. Constitution and the interests of our Nation.

Like I said my reasoning is probably full of broken logic but I seriously have problems with this.

How powerful can these men be if they are controlled by self fulfillment.

Vote illogically...Vote for any faithful politician you can find.

End rant.

My Man

2008-08-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Jesse is a collector.
If something is worth having... more would be better.
Kids...have 4.
Books...needs to introduce himself to the local library.
Games...if an expansion shows up he has to have it even if he has not played the game in 5 years.
Food...new flavor shows up have to try it...this has been scary sometimes
Computers...3 desktops, 3 laptops and now a new laptop on the way.

His current collective passion has been directed to World of Warcraft which is much more checkbook friendly than say "computers, Mageknight" and such.
He collect recipes, gold, gear and stuff which only cost time and a lot of it is spent with me.

I have been soooo glad he has not decided to collect in-game mounts or pets because he would sooo feel the need to go to BlizzCon in Anaheim,Ca to get the exclusive ones they hand out in the swag bags.

Not that I would not enjoy a vacation with him at the convention but now is not really the best time for that.

So we went today and spent some of the money my Hubby saved by not collecting pet murlocs and polar bear mounts and signed the kids up for gymnastics.

I think in a few months the checkbook and I will be wishing for the BlizzCon trip instead. :)

But his kid collection is happy.

Flower Girls

2008-06-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

So we went to my parent's house for a cousins wedding.
After the wedding I was enjoying the nice weather outdoors while the kids ran around watering Marme's flowers and picking a few.
Made some daisy chain crowns for Karist and Elli and they looked so adorable I had to get the camera for a pic.

Was gone for a second and this is what I came back too.

Crowns had been cast aside and muddied.

This is what my flower girls were doing.

Everyone gets in on the action.

Wouldn't you know it the lovely weather did not hold out.
Storms quickly moved in but fortunately PaPa did not get struck by lightning while he cooked our dinner.

Life through rose colored glasses

2008-06-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

If life starts looking rosy... it might be time to buy new glasses and makeup too.

After a bit of paint and elbow grease...

2008-06-20T13:20:00.001-07:00

My Mom thinks I am crazy for tackling the home projects that I do in the time constraints that I have, with the 4 kids that I have.
But I ask you, who is more crazy? Me or the Mom that gets conned into participating in the said crazy ideas.

Taking a hint from modern advertising theory... The room looks much better with a semi clothed female in it.

Finished... still looks good without the semi nudity.
Advertisers please note that things can look better if you clean things up.

What you can't see are the matching curtains in the dining area that somehow missed the shot.
All told I think the makeover took us 2 days and about 150.00 in materials.
I think the best thing about the makeover is that the rooms still look the same after 2 weeks.
And no, I did not send the kids to Grandma's.

Before our house was invaded

2008-06-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

The kitchen looked like this.

Please note the His and Hers bathrooms :)

I was sooo looking forward to leaving my bathrooms in Rome that were Blue and Mustard before we updated them to sell the house and move a month later.
Now this...sigh

This is my new family room.
It needs a lot of help.
Fortunately there is a magic wand to fix ugly brick fireplaces...it's called a paintbrush.

Our Poor House

2008-06-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

If houses could talk this one would be screaming in horror.
How do I know?
I myself am shrieking in horror.

So we bought this poor house...

So yesterday Karist dumps a full glass of grape juice on the carpet in the office.
Try as hard as I can the stain is still there.
Yes the kids are banned from drinks anywhere but on the tile in the kitchen/dining area. That was why her siblings left the glass on the counter to go play... I can't win.

Many of you may have heard of the Midwest flooding... our poor house has fallen victim to this regional disaster.

Yesterday Jesse arrives home to find water flowing from the garage. He moves thing out of the water and its path to the driveway.

A few hours later while searching for a missing Wii remote in Devonae's room located above the garage he finds the carpet sopping wet.

Evidently Karist and Ellie have been watching too much news and wanted to be up close and personal with the flood experience. They dumped many cups of water from the bathroom sink onto Devonae's carpeted floor. Devonae says she stopped them but forgot to tell me. This all probably happened while I was downstairs trying to clean up the grape juice stain.

a basket of towels later still wet....
wet vac bucket (2/3 full) later still wet...
overnight dehumidifier still wet...

Poor house.
Poor me.

Picture challange

2008-06-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Just asked myself what was the unifying theme of my picture folders?... besides they are all older pics.
I can't help it that the movers packed the camera.
Sure I found it last week unpacking but I have no idea where I put it, if I think about it too long I will start panicking and think I may have accidentally tosses it with all the packing paper.

So will all my folders have one of the following:
Pics of the T.V.
Naked kids...no naked ones of me though because I put considerable effort in keeping my unclothed form away from cameras.
Legos

Can you believe it I found 1 folder that did not have Lego's or T.V. pictures.

I did happen to find these pics that I love and meant to get printed for myself and the grandparents.

I'm Back

2008-05-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

After months of unemployment... Jesse is back to work. We should know if he is doing well at his new job in about 10 years... If the U.S. gets hit by some overseas long range energy weapon that they were not informed about than he isn't doing so well.

After weeks of homelessness... We are moved into our new house. We as in people not our stuff.... most of that is in the garage. I have not quite figured out how when I unpack a box of our possesions how the packing paper fills the entire emptied box.

After days of chaos... I am gifted with a few moments of peace. Otherwise there would be no blog posting. We have Karist napping to thank for these precious moments.

After many late nights raiding in World of Warcraft... My guild kills Illidan the one night of the week I am not there. I am very happy for their success but I can't help but feeling like I completed the requirements to graduate but I missed the graduation ceremoies.

After several posts with no pictures... I have posted a completely unrealated pic with this post to break the trend. I also happen to love the picture it makes me smile to remember the Massacre of the Fish. You really had to be there to enjoy it.

The glass of D.P is empty cause I keep drinking it

2008-04-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

So I am alive.
Jesse still does not have his start date for work.
The movers will be here to start packing on Monday.
So I am a bit stressed.
The Half empty glass of Dr. Pepper was just sitting there so I gulped it all down.
It helped.
But now I am out of D.P. and crying in an empty glass.

Did I mention that we still have no house.
It seems that when we find a house that would work it goes under contract before we get a chance to look at it.
I have started looking for neigborhoods rather than house to increase our odds.
It's not like anyone is gonna buy up a neighborhood.

The can of Dr. Pepper is half empty

2008-03-11T13:16:00.001-07:00

So I went on the second worst trip of my life… Vomit Vacation still holds first place.
It all started with listing our house 2 days before we leave to head down to Ohio for Jesse’s job interview.
What were we thinking.
The house is not ready to be shown… I still have four kids you know…so off to a mad cleaning spree.
I get to pack too, what fun.
The kids are still making a mess while I clean…

Jesse sleeps in and ruins my plan of hitting the road early in the morning so the kids will sleep for the first couple of hours and make the trip go smoother.
I even had the kids sleep in their travel clothes to speed up the departure.
I am up very early and end up working on the house for the hours I am waiting on Jesse.
He finally gets up when I wake him up again saying that I want to leave the house because I can’t stop working, the kids are up and I don’t think I am making progress anymore, and my plans are ruined.
We leave 20 minutes later…3 hours later than I hoped.

The travel part is horrid….
Kids must pee every 20 minutes…The trip is 9and a half hours with no stops…I feel my darker insane madwoman side breaking through.
One stop I took Devonae in to pee, get back and Karist is crying that I left her and Ellie wants to go potty.
I go back into Burger King smile once more at the counter people and go back to the bathroom again.
Get back to the van and Danny decides he has to go because Daddy told him we were not stopping for a while so back inside I go. It is cold out side, I am not enjoying this. I grin sheepishly as I pass the counter for the third time with different kids on my way to the bathroom. My disposition is not improving .

Get a call from Becka, my sister, and she has already made it to the motel and is checking in …No internet…what should we do?
I am even more unhappy…
She is there and I am suffering in the car with my 4 fussy, frequent urinating kids.
I REALLY need internet I am house hunting on this trip…all my info, realtor info etc is in my email.
I am on the road, no internet to make room changes so I say go ahead check in will will figure it out when we get there.

Call: No water in rooms
Front desk says they know that they are working on the hot water heater, should be on in 3 hrs.?!?!?

Call: Water back on.

We finally make it there after several wishes for God to put me out of my misery…Like I said, my not so good side was coming out. The kids were not having steller moments either.

TO BE CONT....

Before and After Once More

2008-03-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

The pictures are hopefully worth than words... we are looking for money.

This is the master bath
Blue version of the main bath...now lightened, brightened and neutralized.
Evidently they liked the wall paper so much that it was a must have for both bathrooms.
The unbelievable part is someone actually picked up the blue potty before the trash guys ever got to it.
The world has some weird people in it.

Before and After...again

2008-02-27T14:39:00.000-08:00

To many who have seen the state of our bathroom before we did any updating the consensus seems to be "that is the ugliest bathroom I have ever seen".

Looking at these pictures refreshes my memory and I am wondering what we saw that made us say, "we will take it".

Doesn't the staging scream, "buy me".

After......

pain...

sweat...

tears...

paint...

potty...

and the bathroom sink....

So now hopefully someone besides crazy people like us will look at this bathroom and think, " We will take it".

Haircut

2008-02-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Ellie cut Karist's hair.

Mommy tried to fix it but cutting Karists hair is like shaving an octipusses armpits.

Yes it looks uneven in these pics but the photogpher is a minor so the angles and blurryness must be overlooked.

It looks better in real life and onee day soon I will wrangle my octopus and even it up a bit more.

Blog Post

2008-02-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

This post meets the definition of a post.
Becka you can talk to me on the phone now.

No I have not taken the pictures off the camera.
Yes, I still plan too get it done.

I know that I have been slacking and that you people with no lives need me to post so that you know that you are not alone in your nothing better to do than spy on people.

So Long Captain Morgan

2008-01-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day Jesse worked as an officer in the US AirForce.

So this was the beginning of a post on January 29, 2008 that never got published.

Why you ask?

Perhaps my master bath became a flood zone.
This unnatural disaster was cause by two toddlers leaving the sink on and filling it with toilet paper.
The TP clogged the drain and the overflow drain so the bathroom became a wading pool.
No children were injured in the course of the cleanup but they were strongly reprimanded.

Before and After

2008-01-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is the downstairs bedroom before:
Before we bought the house.
Before we got rid of the camo carpet that smelled of pets and mildew.
Before we gagged removing the cruddy carpet.

This is the room BEFORE we removed the painted over wallpaper, that was starting to come off and had mold and mildew on it.
Before we repaired the walls.
Before we put in new carpet.
Before we did anything you get the pictures.

Here is after.
New carpet.
New paint.
Add a bit of furniture and you have a much nicer pit for accommodating the family and friends who brave the elements and many miles to visit us.

We still have a bit more to finish but as you can tell it has come a long ways.
I am sure you look forward to more before and after posts and I will try not to keep you in such suspense.

On Thursday we have the before the floor refinishers and Friday will be after the floor refinishers.

I think I am gonna be glad when we get to the after.

Hacker

2008-01-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here she is the child who has turned our computer world upside down.
Who knew that she was a computer genius.
Too bad her computer skills make me feel stupid.

We can not keep up with her.
She is drawn to the computer by some compelling force.
It calls her, whispers sweet nothings in her ears, tells her to ignore the people hollering in the background, "NO BUTTONS".
Karist <3 computers.

So after many attempts to keep her off and hours of wasted time trying to restore the desktop to its previous appearance we pass worded ALL the computers in the house... from an 18 month old.
Problem solved.
No more worries of deleted programs, desktop icons, and having 78 windows open at once.

Yeah right. She is a hacker and not gonna let a thing like a password stop her.

She is carefully watching.
She might not even be in the room but she is watching.
Leave your seat at the computer and she is in it in 5 seconds flat.
She KNOWS that she has to be quick before the password is enabled.
So I still get my icons deleted and buttons programed to do weird things.

To top things off she is in a nudist stage so there is a good chance that when I get back to my computer not only did she hack it but my office chair is gonna be wet too.

So when the Feds come in 10/15 years I will have to say that yes I was aware that my daughter is a hacker.

She likes the phones too... "Sir, I am sooo sorry my daughter got ahold of the phone...." Sigh.

Fun in the Snow

2008-01-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

Another post of mostly pics.

I am tired and still recovering from working on the home projects this weekend.

The kids all had a blast except Karist.

Poor baby was sick and could not go out to play.

Elli threw a 45 minute fit when she had to come in.

Mommy is still healing from the scratches made by Elli's alter ego Monster Ellie when I tried to take her coat off.

Too busy for wordy posts...

2008-01-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

So here is a couple thousand words worth of pictures.

Matching Pjs that arrived too late for Christmas. Out of 6 pics none have all the kids all looking at the camera. What is a family picture without at least one butt in it.

Ballerina princesses. Thanks Aunt Becka for the tutus.

Devonae smiling for the camera.

Karist inspecting her brothers picture below.

Danny self portrait.

Elli full speed ahead. Faster than the speed of light is seems.

And to wrap things up Elli appears to be ready for a Victoria Secret photo shoot.

Baby Steps

2007-12-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

This is a post for my sister.
Your blog has stagnated.
Please come back to blog world.
Take one small step, post you are alive.
Next post lots and lots of pics.
I looked for a blackmail pic of you but there were none on my computer :(
So yes I am on the verge of issu.....

Oh my goodness Phone !!!!
She is alive and has posted.
We must have some special connection.

Gotta love sisterhood.

Picture Train

2007-12-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

A box of wonder. Makeup galore.

BahhhBeee

Plug still intact.

This is fashion at its best.

The wrapping team.

Trouble what trouble.

I don't feel a thing.

Boy those Tylenol were tasty :)

Basement makeover.

Fake windows, courtesy of recycled torn window shade and craft paints.

The red caboose at the end of the train.

Time Flies

2007-12-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Fall was here.
The kids enjoyed it the few moments it stopped by.

Devonae raked this pile of leaves all by herself.
She was so proud of herself she told the neighbor who just got home from work to come and see it.
I don't know this neighbor and neither does she.
When she did not show up on our backyard after 10 minutes Devonae wanted to go knock on her door to remind her about her tremendous pile of leaves that just could not be missed.
I convinced her that while her pile was special the neighbor had other things to do.
She was consoled with a picture of the historic pile and the promise to show it off to family.

So here I am keeping my word.

Fall left and in came Winter.
Winter likes to stay for a long time here.

We interrupt this winter weather to bring you Christmas.

Christmas has come and gone and soon this year will be gone also.

Time flies.

I wonder if it ever lands anywhere?

Merry Christmas Marme

2007-12-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

So it is not wrapped.

It might not be finished.

It is certainly late.

One of the sheep have wandered off.

But at least it is spelled correctly... I checked and rechecked.

We all know it is near impossibe for me to spell things correctly and Marme has no qualms about displaying my short comings on her walls.

I love you Mom and I will finish it and go find that lost sheep soon.

Do do you understand?

2007-11-29T09:45:00.000-08:00

Flash card time with Devonae.

Sometimes I have her use a word she read in a sentence just to check that she understands what she read.

The word: DO

The sentence: Silly do do dolls.

Lots of giggles and laughter followed.

Big Brother is Watching

2007-11-13T15:50:00.000-08:00

Jesse is sick.

He is on sick leave from work. I volunteer to go get his prescription filled and pick up a few necessities at the grocery store... Diet Mt Dew mainly.

Karist was sleeping and Danny was playing on the computer so I took Devonae and Elli with me so Jesse could rest.

Elli had a major meltdown in the store.

Fussing, whining very loudly.

Climbing out of her seat. More fussing and whining, this is loud enough to be heard all across the store.

What she needs is a good spanking ... but not in Walmart.

Get to the checkout line I am left with the decision of taking her out of the cart which she insists she wants or a possible trip to the ER.

Out she goes.

What she really needs is a good spanking...but not in Walmart.

She starts playing with a toy camera in the line and Devonae helps me by staying near her while I pay.

Cashier takes a good look at me and asks to see my credit card and checks my signature.

All paid up I can go home and be done with this horrid trip.

But noooo Elli is still in the checkout line playing with the toy camera. I tell her we have to put it back time to go. She refuses.

I tell her we have one at home that is much better.

She refuses.

After several minutes of trying to get a bit of cooperation I pry it from her hands and put it back.

What she really needs is a spanking... but not in Walmart.

I pick up the flailing, wailing child and do my best to carry her out and push/pull a full cart.

Things are not going well.

Get stopped at the door they want to check my receipt to make sure I paid for the new shoes that the tantrum throwing child is wearing.

I imagine that they were really trying to get a good camera shot of me just in case they needed to report a child abduction/child abuse situation to the police.

Elli is yelling things like, "put me down", "let me go" "don't take me"

What she really needs is a spanking... but not in Walmart.

After posing for my potential America's Most Wanted clip I leave only to be followed/escorted to the van by a cart corraler.

This is no easy task for him or me because there was a lot of stop and go trying to carry Elli who was doing a greased pig impersonation and pushing the cart was beyond difficult. After she almost falls struggling I set her down and tell her to walk. No go. She tries to bolt back to the store to get her toy camera, I grab her and then she sits down in the parking lot. Since Elli is prone to her elbow popping out of socket I can't just drag her along and have to be careful not to injure her when restraining her and this is getting very difficult.

What she really needs is a spanking... but not at Walmart.

Under the watchful eye of the cart man and probably all of Walmarts exterior cameras I loop my arms around her waist and carry her to the van arms flailing in front feet kicking in back screaming the whole way. I put her in seat and she pops out and tries to jump out the door.

I stop her.

What she really needs is a spanking... but not at Walmart.

I am sweating by now and remove my coat to prepare myself to wrestle her into the car seat and buckle her in.
I win, I get her buckled and safe in the seat. I did not lose my cool.

The cart guy continues to watch me as I load up my car. You can still hear Elli yelling even with the van doors closed.

She yells the whole way home.

I start to unbuckle her so Daddy can take care of her while I unload the care she fights me so I stop and leave her in the seat while I unload the van.

That done I have to finish getting her out because she risks strangling herself with the seat belt.

She fights me the whole way.

She hits and scratches me on the way into the house.

I go to the couch bend her over my knee and spank her well padded behind.

So she got her spanking... but not at Walmart.

The police have not called.

I am not on the news.

She did not get injured despite her many attempt to do so.

Jesse is going to the store next time sick or not.

Politics

2007-11-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

Here is the deal... Elections are around the corner and now is the time to start taking action.

First.

Second.

Check out issues and candidates

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

http://www.mikehuckabee.com/

It only takes a few minutes go check it out.

Work in progress

2007-11-04T09:09:00.000-08:00

Home improvement pics coming soon... here is a preview

Getting ready for some heavy duty painting.

The choas seems to have created a drinking problem for Karist.

Drinking and home improvement is not reccomended.

Trick or Treat

2007-11-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

In the car getting ready to go...Karist princess minus crown, Devonae with self designed crown with Grandpa's help... and Danny the spooky ghost.

Here is the part of Devonae's costume I whipped up with shower curtain remnants, dollar fabric, and a stained turtleneck.

TREAT

Elli front shot of her princess skirt... next to the unfinished kitchen floor :)

TRICK

Back view of princess skirt/apron. The back of the skirt is velcroed to the backside of the front to enable the wearer to get dressed quickly without any mommy help.

So I guess you can say I am once again back with the pics of scantily clad people and gratuitous butt shots. It can't be helped, I don't even take these pictures this is just what I have to work with.

Still no pics

2007-11-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been busy fighting off naked toddlers, painting the naked toddlers, and other stuff in the bathroom too, pacifying a hubby about to go on home improvement war, that is an ANTI home improvement war, and all other types of crazy stuff. We also had our mandatory trip to Lowes. This all would be so much easier without all these constant hindrances not just things that go wrong with projects but the whole people aspect of it. The whining, complaining, harrumphing, sighs and all are getting to me. See now I am complaining.
So what have I learned today?

Don't personally get involved with any kind of project or I will have to nurse Karist.

Most defiantly do not start any new project at all or Jesse will go chop wood in anger... now if he only would lay kitchen tiles when he got angry boy would we be making progress.

Tools you need are no where to be found...

It is possible with considerably effort to keep one and only one room clean and habitable

having doors on your bathroom is nice... especially when you have overnight guests

There is still tons more stuff to due but it is so nice to finally get something off the to do list.

While a picture is worth a thousand words I have none so my few hundred words will have to suffice.

A Hectic Halloween with NO Pictures....Yet

2007-11-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hopefully y'all don't just com here for the nudity ( naked baby pics) and gratuitous Butt shots, and other dirty pics (I have 4 kids hence the very dirty house). I would like to believe that it is because of my witty take on the chaos that is my life that keeps you coming back for more.

In-Laws are in town so we are tackling the home improvement demons that abound in the house. No, the kitchen floor is still not done. Some demons are more powerful than others. So what is done you ask... well The main bath room sink is in and the counter tiled, The main bath floor is tiled, the hall is painted, the baseboard is up in the kitchen, the carpet strip thingies are down, new toilet #1 is installed and yes we have a #2, 5.3 more kitchen tiles have been layed, 234789797948 trips to Lowes has been made, and lots of prep for other projects has been going on.

Hopefully we will have all of upstairs done by next week. Except the kitchen floor of coarse :) .

I made costumes for the kids and took them trick or treating amidst all the chaos and have managed to survive. The dining room did not.. it is a dirty pic waiting to be taken.. got to go hide the camera. Kids had a blast and I was pleased with how the girls costumes came out and so were they.

I do plan on posting pics and hopefully they are of of fully clothed individuals and a clean house with completed projects to show off.

My little helpers

2007-10-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know that Jesse is not quite "little" but emptying the dishwasher sure helps out. Especially due to the extra help provided by the munchkins.
Karist will hand you one piece of silverware at a time "herego" "herego" and Elli jumps in to help too. It is a job I don't like and since I have to load it with the above "Help" it is nice to have a break.
Note that some of the dishes get thrown out of the dishwasher and end up in the floor.
To those who are concerned about the kids eating off the dishes in the floor don't worry. The dishes have been washed twice...and no I don't pre-rise them when loading that is why we bought a good dishwasher for. The kids remove them as I load them and lick them...yes, it is very gross. So I am trying to out pace the kids while I load, smacking hands that approach items that I know will kill them if they ingest the aging remains of goo or whatever is on the dish. Speed and distraction is the key. Go fast, super fast, drop a semi clean item in the floor so they can hand it back to you meanwhile get the rest of it loaded in 2 minutes flat or they will die from poisonous goo.

Karist loves to "help" me vaccum too. She stands in front of the vaccume while the filtered air blows her hair. Let's just say that progress is slow and at times I seriously thing about running her over. This happens while all the kids are screaming at the tops of their lungs and all but the immobile Karist who is modeling in front of the vaccume while the wind blow through her hair are running around like crazy people.

Progress truly is made by 2 steps forward one step back... just have to be careful not to run over anyone, or back into Karist who probably has a knife she stole from the dishwasher.