I moved!!!

Please come visit me at my new blog at:

http://thislittlenestofmine.blogspot.com/

I finally did it!!!

I'm so excited! (insert Pointer Sisters song) I finally named my new blog! Yes, after days of searching "how to name your blog" and reading through lists of descriptive words a name popped into my head. It is nothing fancy so don't expect too much. After all, it is ME who is naming this blog. One thing I know for sure is that I am glad I won't be having anymore children. The poor thing probably wouldn't receive a name until it was 42!! Giving something a permanent name is a huge feat for me. You have to wait until Monday when I launch the new blog to see what the name is.

The boys were over last night for dinner and homework. Energy told us that he does not want to play football next year. We had already wondered ourselves if he was going to play next year or not. Like I stated in the Meet My Family section of this blog Energy likes to play sports for the mere fact of it is something to do. He doesn't want to put forth the time and dedication to the sport in order to become the best he can be. That is why he was clueless at this weeks game because he didn't study his playbook. We are a little disappointed but will respect his decision. He does still want to go out for basketball but my husband fears the same thing is going to come into play. Energy attended basketball camp this summer and my husband said he did not go all out in camp like he should have. And making the basketball team is going to be alot harder than making the football team because there are not as many positions. So we will see. I want to find something we can push Energy to really put forth all his efforts in. He is ok skating by with whatever is enough to keep him afloat. I want to help make him stronger than that.

Kayk came home from school in a really bad mood and stayed that way for about 3 hours. I am sure it has to do with some smelly boy. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong which is out of the ordinary for her since she usually tells me everything. Her response was that she didn't need to bother me with things that her friends could help her with. Ouch! I think we are at that bridge where her friends are way more important to her than I am. I don't like it one bit! Then at around 7:00 someone else took over her body and she was happy go lucky, dancing around, smiling and having a great time with the entire family. Gotta love those teen hormones and mood swings!

Master G was incredibly chatty last night. After dinner he and I sat at the kitchen table and talked for a long time. I had asked him how things had been going at school and he explained the whole missing math book situation to me (as if I didn't know about it). Then he told me about how he had to go sit in the safe seat two days ago. Apparently he was daydreaming in class so the teacher made him go sit in the safe seat. He then came back with an incredibly mature response as to why he shouldn't be daydreaming in class and how he should be paying attention. I was so proud!! I see Master G going far in life. He has a great head on his shoulders and really thinks things through. He then wanted to talk to me about how we were going to decorate for Halloween and Christmas and what kind of special events we were going to be doing between now and the end of the year. And about his birthday coming up in a few weeks! Awwww! He is a planner just like me!!!!

His turn today

My husband called in to work today so that made it hard for me to get up and come in myself. I could have easily taken another day off. Kayk missed the bus this morning so I had to drive her to school. I don't mind so much. I kind of like taking her - that is on the mornings she is in a good mood. We always seem to have a pleasant time talking to each other on the way to school.

Energy's school played Kayk's school in football last night. Energy's school ended up being the winners as they took both games. The first game was a beating at 42 to 0!! The second game Kayk's school only lost by 2 points. Energy just was not into the game last night at all. We could tell the problem was he did not study his playbook therefore had no clue about where to line up or where to be once the ball was in motion. He got yelled at by his coach alot. We always have him study his playbook on the weekends he is with us. We doubt he is looking at it all while he is at his mom's. Coach is going to work with Energy over the weekend since he will be with us and hopefully he will have better success this next week. He did get a couple quarterback sacks so that was real good!

That is all I have got for today!

Mission Accomplished

I am done filing! Wahoooo! I made all the file tabs and then neatly filed away all the papers. I even created two new binders. One for reborning doll instructions and another for "fun" recipes for like holidays and all the dog bone recipes I found about a month ago. I even had time to take about a 40 minute much needed nap. And I picked a good day to play "hooky" as it has been absolutely beautiful outside today.

Another other good thing about organizing is:

I cleaned out an old handbag I had that I no longer carried because it was too heavy from all the change in it. I sorted out all the change and put them in their appropriate jars. A couple times a year we take the change to the bank to cash it in and then go do something fun as a family. We usually have around $200 change when we do that. It really does add up so start saving your change today!

I also found the following items that I had no clue I even had:

The Manning Sisters book by Debbie Macomber

A Panera Bread gift card

Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride CD (I came this close (--) in going out and buying that last week....glad I didn't or I would have had two!

Now I need to go get ready for Energy's football games tonight.

At home

I had to take a mental day from work today. I have so much to do at home that I thought it was best to just get it done rather than carrying all the stress around with me worrying about getting it done. Now that school is back in session it is without fail there is something going on every night. It is hard to keep up.

Right now I am organizing paperwork as the picture above shows. The "Save the Trees" people must hate me because I print off alot of stuff. Then there is the official paperwork that I need to save. Then of course, the awards, grade cards, special papers that the kids do that I have to save. I have little sticky notes laid out on my table and am organizing the papers and then will file them or put them in their appropriate binder. I am already feeling some relief by tackling the project.

I pretty much have the new blog thoughts ready to go. I just need to go out and "create" the blog and come up with a name! I have the hardest time naming things. That is why this blog doesn't have a good name. I will ask Coach to help me as he is good at those types of things.

Oh and before I forget....we got an email from Master G's teacher last night and she did find the math book in the "office". She told us someone from the office came down to borrow one so that they could order more and then forgot about it and left in lay in the office. It seems kind of strange to us but at least the book was found. She never apologized for the way she handled herself. She did apologize for it all being so confusing as "she was confused herself."

Have a great day.....I will be organizing away!

How do you see it?

Yesterday we were over at my parents house for dinner and my sister brought up an interesting conversation. Her and her husband had lunch with a group of people and this conversation was a topic of discussion. The conversation was how everyone can be thinking of the same thing but see it in a different way. For example, my sister asked us to tell her what we saw when we imagined the alphabet in our minds. Our responses were:

Sister: Sees the alphabet in a long straight line with a capital letter followed by a lower case letter on a green background in white lettering.

Dad: Sees the alphabet in a long straight line in all capitals on a white background with black lettering.

Me: I see the alphabet in in rows with 7 letters in each row. All letters are capitalized and follow an alternating pattern in the colors of the rainbow.

Then we imaged the months of the year:

Sister: Sees the months of the year in a long straight line with a white background and black lettering.

Me: I see the months of the year in a circle with a white background and black lettering.

When then did the days of the week:

I can't remember what my sister seen but on the days of the week I see the week starting with Monday in a long straight line and the days are written in fancy cursive script lettering with a white background and black lettering.

So what about you? How do you see the alphabet? Months of the year? The days of the week?

Funnel Friday

I had been looking forward to this weekend for weeks. We didn't have anything at all planned, which is rare for us, and all I wanted to do was relax.

I wasn't home for 5 minutes from work when the news station announced we were under a tornado warning. A few minutes later the sirens sounded. So off to the basement we were and spent 45 minutes down there until the all clear was given. There was a brief touchdown of a tornado a mile away from us. As far as I know it did not cause any damage.

I had been craving a burnt end sandwich all week long so my husband and I were going to go get one, bring it home, and watch the KU game. Unfortunately we had to take shelter until 15 minutes before the game started so Sonic had to do.

The KU game was a pretty good game. We were behind for so long but then came back and took the lead. The game ended up being tied a little bit later and in the remaining seconds we through an interception and ended up loosing by a field goal in the last second of the game. Bummer!

Tonight we are going to go see Pam's kitchen (she has been painting it) and then go out to dinner with her.

Later gator!

The KNOWS have it

Update on Master G's math teacher

First and foremost this precious math teacher goes on and on about what she knows she did in her first email to my husband. She knows she put the math book in Master G's cubby. She knows she had him write his name in it. She knows every student in the class had a book.

Apparently she knows alot.

My husband has sent two emails to this math teacher. In both emails he specifically states for her to not reply to the email but to send her response to (insert hubby's work email address) so that he can get the response quicker. What does math teacher do? Presses the reply to button.

So we know she is not detailed oriented. So that leaves room for error that she may not really know if she gave Master G a math book or not.

So we wait and wait today for her response to my husbands work email (since that is what we asked her to do) and we never hear from her. In the late afternoon I decided to check our home email account to see if by chance she replied to the email we sent last night. And low and behold there is a response there.

Math teacher has now changed her tune. She is as nice and sweet as can be......and you will never guess where she thinks the math book is. Read her response below:

Dear Parent:

Thanks for getting back to me.

Please don’t take offense. We loose books all the time in sixth grade. Mostly they are in someone else’s cubby. We’ll do a team check to find the book. We haven’t used the book until this week. That’s why you haven’t seen it coming home. We have been working long and hard on long division and multiplication. This is not a skill in the book. Blake seems to do well with both of those skills. We’ll keep looking. They always appear. I’ll have to check with the office about him borrowing another book until we find it. I think they may have borrowed his to order more for the school. We have a huge group of sixth graders and there aren’t extras like there usually are.

I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we have a solution.

Math Teacher

So after we get a hateful email last night from her where she knows she gave him the book and she knows he lost it and how incredibly difficult our boy is to communicate with now her story is this happens all the time and she thinks the office borrowed his book so that they could order more.

I can't wait to meet this cookie in real life.

It is all about the teachers

Last night we had curriculum night at Kayk's school. It all went really well and I really like the teachers she has this year. Yes, even the math teacher. I do need to share something I forgot to mention about the math teacher. The math teacher is the sister of Kayk's aunt's best friend while growing up. (Does that make sense?) In a nutshell, the math teacher knows Kayk's dad side of the family very well and we have met her prior to her being the lady we would know as Kayk's 7th grade math teacher. I did have a chat with her about the frustrating math homework and she told me that as long as Kayk attempts the math problem she will get credit. It doesn't have to be the correct answer but she must at least do the problem the way she thinks it should be done and they will go over it the next day during class. So, as of now I am letting her off the hook of having to come over and cook the meals and clean my house 4 nights a week.

So on one hand everything is great with Kayk's teachers and on the other we are having a devil of a time with one of Master G's teachers. Master G has ADD and his math teacher (what is it with these math teachers?) is the type that doesn't want to be bothered with ADD students. We know this type all too well as his 4th grade teacher was the same way. Master G said he never received a math book from his teacher and she said she knows she put one in his cubby. Apparently for the past three weeks she has hounded him to bring in $50 to pay for the missing math book but has never ONCE contacted us about the book being missing. So my husband sent her an email yesterday trying to figure out what was going on and she sent a real nasty email back to him. In her email she said she spent 20 minutes trying to ask Master G where the book was and more or less said he was too incompetent to communicate with. So today, my friends, it is on, with math teacher #2. I will keep you posted.

I will leave you with a picture of Energy's first school football battle wound. Once again, my camera skills are not the best but this is what happens when several pairs of cleats trample on your leg.

Tribute to 9-11

Today marks the 7 year anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. As I drove into work this morning the radio station was doing a dedication to 9-11, its victims, their families, the hero's, to Americans and to all people in the world as this effected everyone. The radio station asked the listener's to stop and think about what they were doing at the time of the attacks. I thought I would share my story.

I work for a large company in the financial industry. I was already at work when the first plane hit. I heard people walking around talking about it but didn't think much of it. At the time I was an executive administrative assistant and I couldn't walk away from my desk without someone covering my phones so I couldn't really go inquire about anything. Then my co-workers started coming around saying a second plane had hit. Almost immediately after the second plane hit our phone lines were ringing off the hook. We had several clients located in the World Trade Center buildings and some of their remote clients were calling in. We had family members calling for their loved ones who were not at their desks trying to locate them in order to make sense of what was going on and fearing what might happen next. I asked one of the other administrative assistants to cover my phone and I walked down to the conference room to watch the news with several other co-workers. I saw the video of the first plane hitting the building and my stomach dropped. The second plane had already hit by this point but if you didn't know that you would have thought the first plane was just a freak accident of a plane going into the building. By the time the video showed the second plane and I saw it for myself I knew our country was under attack. And yes, I feared being in the building I was in. I slowly walked out of the conference room and headed back up stairs to cover my phone. Everything was completely chaotic in our office. No one stayed in their offices or cubes. I continued to field calls and associates who congregated by my desk. And just as I was hanging up from a call I heard someone yell out that one of the buildings had fallen. We all ran down to the conference room to see the TV. I remember thinking there was NO WAY those buildings would come down. No way. Even today after I have seen the video several times I still can't believe it happened. After the buildings collapsed and we had heard about the other plane attacks everything got very quiet in our building. The phones didn't ring. Many folks continued to stand around in groups and talk but it was hard for people to go to their cubes and try to work. By early afternoon our company announced that is was closing and that we all needed to go home. In some ways it was worse once we got home because we could actually see all the footage of what had taken place. Still 7 years later it is so much to take in and understand what happened that day. I cannot begin to comprehend what the people went through. All I know is I hold a special place in my heart for those that did not make it out, for those that did, for those that rescued and for those that died rescuing. We will never forget.

I am going to leave you with a beautiful song today by Lee Greenwood. Please take a moment to remember those lost on 9-11. Take a moment to remember those that made it out, those that lost family members, those that rescued and those that gave their life rescuing. They are all our hero's!

If tomorrow all the things were gone. . I'd worked for all my life,And I had to start again. . with just my children and my wife,I'd thank my lucky stars. . to be livin' here today.Cause the flag still stands for freedom. . And they can't take that away. And I'm proud to be an American Where at least I know I'm free And I won't forget the men who died Who gave that right to me And I gladly stand up. . next to you and defend her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA From the lakes of Minnesota ... To the hills of Tennessee... Across the plains of Texas ... From sea to shining sea... From Detroit down to Houston ... And New York to LA Well there's pride in every American heart And its time we stand and say..That I'm proud to be an American Where at least I know I'm free And I won't forget the men who died Who gave that right to me And I gladly stand up . . next to you and defend her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA And I'm proud to be an American Where at least I know I'm free And I won't forget the men who died Who gave that right to me And I gladly stand up . . next to you and defend her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land God bless the USA!

Fabulous Football

Energy had his first school football game last night. He actually had two of them since he played on the A and B teams. During the first game he had a magnificent catch at the 3 yard line but it ended up being called back for a penalty. Bummer! He got "cleated" on his leg during the first game and had to go out in order to be taped up. In the second game he played all defense and got some good tackles including a quarter back sack which resulted in a fumble and his team getting the ball in which they scored on that possession. They ended up loosing the first game and winning the second. Way to go Energy!! It broke my heart that Energy's mother didn't even bother coming to the games. There are many things about that woman that I will never understand.

I finally got notification that the apron I won on ebay is on its way. It is coming from Canada so it will probably take a week or so. I can't wait to get it. I will be sure to post a picture.

Now that I have been blogging again for several months I finally have a "feel" for what I want to do with my blog. So some changes will be underway. I am probably going to "move" to another blog still within the blogspot network. Be looking for those details coming up!

Have a great day!

Nothing good to say about Math!

Math. The subject right above learning about the Greek God's on my list of least favorite classes back when I was in school. I mean I can add, subtract, multiply, divide and I love Algebra. Geometry was a different story and thank God my teacher lived across the street so I passed the class when I should have received a F-! It is the questions like:

Sarah had 35 purple marbles and she gave Timmy 9 of them. Timmy added the 9 marbles to his collection of 11. How tall is Sarah?

As if I want to figure that out!

The way they teach Math these days is enough to make your head explode.....twice! And to come home after a hard day at work and have to help your child with Math like that is enough to make it explode 45 times! Kayk's Math teacher assigns homework every night except for Wednesday nights. Boy, do I LOVE Wednesday nights. So with the new way Math is taught mixed in with the fact that my husband and I have been out of school for over 20 years we have to take a crash course on the Internet in order to be able to assist our children with their Math homework. Oh and don't let me leave out that in efforts to save the school district money they only buy a classroom supply of Math books so the students can't bring them home with them. So all we have is the worksheet and whatever we may stumble upon on the Internet in order to help them. You gotta love it!

So last night we had a complicated Math problem that we were trying to assist Kayk with. It made no sense to me or my husband. Kayk is a straight A student so I know she pays attention in class but she couldn't figure it out either. And the Internet was no help. Uuuuugh! I ended up flipping out and told Kayk I couldn't wait for Curriculum night this week because I was going to have a little chat with her teacher. It was nearing 7:00PM and I had not even started dinner yet and we had been working on this same problem for nearly an hour and a half. Kayk told me she didn't want me to say anything to her teacher. I told her that all I was going to tell her Math teacher was that each evening she needed to come to our house to cook dinner and do my chores so that I could assist with Math homework and that I would gladly give her every Wednesday night off. I think that is a fair enough trade off.

We even tried contacting some of Kayk's friends from school and no one could get the problem. I think there may have been a typo on the worksheet. I don't usually allow Kayk to give up on her homework but in the case I told her to do just that. There was no way this problem could be worked out.

After all of that I finally made dinner and we ate. Afterwards my husband put his arms around me and told me he appreciated all of my efforts and what a wonderful job I do. Awwwwwwww! He then told me he would take me to Yankee Candle to get my Pumpkin Pie candle. Awwwwww again! I get a Pumpkin Pie candle each fall and I had been mentioning to him that I needed to get up there to get it. I had a coupon for a buy one get one free (I have frequent flyer miles at Yankee) so I also got my Christmas candle as well. This year I got Hollyberry - smells yummy!

So tonight is Tuesday night so you know what that means? Yup....I will be doing all of that Math doo doo again! Lucky me!

The Weekend

Coach and his posse left for the golf tournament Friday afternoon which gave me and Kayk a "girl's only" weekend. We started off our festivities by going out for Chinese on Friday night which was delicious. Coach normally does our grocery shopping but left me in charge of it since he was out of town which was probably not a wise decision on his part. I had planned out our menu before we left for dinner and had everything written down on the master grocery list of what I was going to buy. I pretty much just purchased what was on the list with the exception of some dog ice cream for Koko and a magazine for Kayk which was filled with pictures of the Jonas Brother's that she had to have! Low and behold I went $60 OVER budget. Thank goodness I had grabbed some extra cash to bring along with me otherwise I would have been telling them to put some of it back!!! When Coach called that evening I told him about what happened and being the awesome CFO of our family he is he told me where I could find $60 in order to pay myself back for my overage.

Saturday morning Kayk and I went to see a movie and then we went home where I made lunch, cleaned the kitchen, and made an apple pie. Then her and I played a game of Life and watched some of Picture This until she decided she would rather IM with her friend on the computer than hang out with her mom. =( That evening we watched the KU game (they won!) and I prepared Sunday's dinner.

On Sunday Pam came over and we made some really, really cute Christmas crafts. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them last night but hope to tonight. We were wondering if we were going to even be able to make anything because we went to JoAnn's to buy our supplies and they didn't even have their Christmas stuff out yet! What are they thinking? Hobby Lobby has had their Christmas stuff out since July! Luckily after hitting a few other stores we were able to come up with the needed supplies.

Coach got home around 6:00. Him and his golf team took 1st place in the golf tournament in which they got to purchase $285 worth of golf equipment from the golf shop. Hubby got a new golf bag, a golf shirt, a hat, and a short sleeve pullover that is rain resistant.

After dinner I took Kayk to Target so that she could spend the gift cards she got from her birthday. She got the Camp Rock DVD and another magazine with the Jonas Brother's in it. I picked up another book since I already finished Promise, Texas. This time I got a book called The Pact ... A Love Story. It is about two families that live next door to each other and have been best friends for 2 decades. One family has a son and the other a daughter, who date each other and for some reason (haven't read why yet) the son and daughter decide they are going to commit suicide together. One lives and the other doesn't and this changes the whole dynamic of their relationship - including the surviving child may be charged with homicide. I have only read a few chapters and I am finding the book to be very intense. I like to read to relax but reading this one you cannot relax.

the very, most special, perfect one

So, I am in the market for a new handbag. You really do not know what a tremendous task that is for me. I have a handbag obsession BUT I am not an impulse buyer when it comes to making the purchase of one. I will put down some pretty good money for the right handbag but it has to be the very, most special, perfect one.

My husband learned my handbag buying issues the hard way. Before we were married I told him I was going to go purse shopping and he said those regretful words "I will go with you." TWO days later I finally found the very, most special, perfect one. We hit almost every store in the metro area before I found it. Needless to say, he does not go purse shopping with me anymore. He did "give" me a handbag for Christmas last year but I went out on the scavenger hunt for the very, most special, perfect one, bought it and then he wrapped it up for me.

I typically do not carry a handbag longer than 3 months and that is really pushing it for me. I do hang onto quite a few of the prized ones and switch out from time to time. However, I have been looking for the past 3 months and just can't find that very, most special, perfect one. It seems that the older I get the harder it is. I am hoping that special one will jump out at me soon because it is defeating not being able to find it.

Not all recipes found on the internet are as good as they say...

As you remember I made up a batch of cinnamon butter cookie dough a couple days ago. The dough had to chill for at least four hours so I didn't have the time to bake them until last night. The night I made the dough my husband and I licked the bowl (and the spatula and the beaters) clean! Being that we are connoisseurs of cookie dough we deemed this some of the best tasting dough we have ever had. The finished cooked cookie....not so much! The cookie is yucky! Very dry and not really sweet at all. I could do some tweeking to the recipe but I have far too many recipes in line waiting to be tried out that this one will go to the back burner. Perhaps maybe someday when I have nothing else to do, or if we just want to eat cookie dough, I will give it another whirl. This weekend however, I am going back to a recipe that I have made numerous times before and know it will taste good. Good old fashion appie pie. Mmmmmmmm! Coach will be out of town for a golf tourney (thankfully the last one of the year) and I always make him something special for his return. He doesn't know I am making it but I know he has been craving some because I have seen him eyeing apple pie on the dessert menu the last few times we have been out to eat.

The boys were over last night and we had to go on a search for Energy's practice jersey. He had left it at the BBQ we went to over the weekend. We then went out to eat to celebrate him making the "A" football team. We took them home, got Kayk to take her shower and then listened to her read two papers she is writing for school before getting her off to bed. We then caught the end of Sarah Palin's speech and was very impressed. We are looking forward in hearing John McCain's speech tonight although we won't get to watch it all because we have to deliver Coach's luggage/golf clubs to the RV.

I have almost read all of Promise, Texas. I need to go out searching for what I want to read next. Any suggestions?

Back to work Wednesday

After having 5 days off from work I am finding it hard to get back in the groove of things. It doesn't help that it is cold and rainy out today either. The thing that is keeping me going is I have exactly 44 days until my next 5 days off. I think I can make it.

We didn't do much yesterday at all. My husband had promised to spend the day with me; however, he spent most of the day playing a football game on his PC. I read some of my new book, Promise, Texas by Debbie Macomber. I really like it alot. Promise, Texas is a fictional place but somewhere I would absolutely love to live. Late in the afternoon we went and had lunch at Mr. Goodcents and went to the grocery store.

I had waited all day long for Kayk to get home from school in order to make up some cinnamon butter cookie dough so that she could help me. I got the ingredients out and asked her if she wanted to help but she declined because she doesn't really like cinnamon. You gotta love teenagers! The dough is chilling in the refrigerator and I will make them tonight after dinner.

Energy called us last night to tell us he made the "A" football team. Coach was on cloud 9. We are going to take the kids out to dinner tonight to celebrate. Way to go, Energy, we knew your hard work would pay off!!!

Over the weekend I found me a fu-fu apron on ebay that I bought. It has to come from Canada so it may take while to get here. I am so excited about it. Now I am going to start hitting the antique stores because I want to replace my current dishes with mismatched china.

I ended out my night but signing coach up for a subscription on husbandhero.com. It is a website that sends husbands a monthly email of a romantic tip or two. He must have checked his email and seen it because he asked me about it as soon as I got to work. He told me he appreciated the subscription and that he is capable of being romantic and will show me he can be. I figured if he is romantic at least once in the next year it was worth the $12 subscription fee.

What we did this weekend

I have alot to say today as we have been doing alot of the past several days so if you don't want to read a long post....leave now!

We went out to eat Friday night and my husband asked if I wanted to go get paint for the upstairs bathroom. I am always ready to conquer the numerous house projects we got going on so I took him up on it. We picked out a paint that looked gray in color at the store; however, when I painted it the color looked more green. In fact the color almost matches what is in the kitchen and the paints were from two different paint companies! We like how it turned out; however, it bothers me that the colors in the two rooms are so similar. I am not one to keep things the same for too long so I will probably paint one or both of the rooms again in the next 2-3 years or so.

Here is the bathroom before (wall Kilzed):

And after:

There are still a ton of things to do in this bathroom. The vanity and cabinet on the wall will be painted. The sliding shower door will be removed. We are going to put a shower insert in the tub. A new mirror and lighting will be put up and the floor will be tiled. Then of course, once we get all of this work done we are selling the house! But that is still several years off.

On Sunday we went to a BBQ at one of Coach's best friends parents house. The boys went with us and we played several games of volleyball and had some good food.

Sunday night I drug my husband to the movies to see Momma Mia -the sing along version. Oh my goodness! This movie was so written for me. Beautiful setting, fufu costumes, love, romance, tons of dancing and horrible singing. Yes, I was totally in my element! If I would have know about this movie I would have certainly went to the casting call and I am sure I would have got a role. We also saw a preview for a movie called Fireproof that stars Kirk Cameron that I can't wait to see.

I am still trying to learn how to take pictures with my new camera. I am like the world's worst photo taker. Here are some photos I took in my training:

Koko a NO-GO in the Car-o

Yesterday was a rough day at work. I felt like I was being pulled in 18 different directions to put out fires for other people and was not able to do the job they pay me to do. When the clock stuck 5:00 I was high tailing it out of there!

THEN on the way home, my husbands ex-wife calls him and asks if he can pick a prescription for her. Now granted the prescription was for a child they have together and my husband was on his way over to pick up the boys anyway.....but honey poo, he is NO longer YOUR husband so don't be asking him to do favors for you. You decided many moons ago to replace my husband with the one you currently have. A down grade - yes - but that is not our problem. The other thing that bothers me about it is neither her OR her husband work so they had ALL day long to go pick up the prescription. So yes, while me, you, and every other American is at work getting our butts handed to us in order to make donations to every freebie pot that they have their hands in....we would be thrilled to also run their errands!

I am extremely jealous of those of you that can have your dog ride with you in the car. Last night I had to run one of my OWN errands and I decided I would take the dog with me. Our dog is a complete spaz in the car but I got to thinking that perhaps if I take her on short trips she would begin to get more and more used to it. Not so! I couldn't even make it out of my neighborhood without her trying to get up on the dashboard (and we are talking about a 55-60 pound dog!) Then she tries to get behind my back so I am using all of my might to drive with my left hand and push her back into the drivers seat with my right. I get her over to the drivers seat and she attempts again to get on the dash board and has a paw on the gear shift. Ok.....this is not going to work so time to take her back home. This morning when I woke up the right side of my neck, shoulder and arm were so sore. I am sure it was from the fiasco of the dog in the car. I have a few more ideas in order to try to get her acclimated to the car; however, when I got back home my husband (who is not a pet lover) had to share his displeasure of having the dog in the car in the first place.

Have a great weekend!

A Piece of Cake

Update on Tyler:

On Tyler's caringbridge site his parents say he is doing very well. Once they attached the new liver it turned a beautiful shade of pink and bile started flowing through it. Yeah! They said he is in pain but all in all they on the road to recovery and a new journey for Tyler without having to be sick. THANK YOU for all the prayers and please continue to pray as he recovers.

Over the past few days I have been feeling completely overwhelmed. With school back in swing it is keeping to strict routines and helping with homework. My PTA position is demanding so I have to go to the school twice a week before I even go to work. Then there are usually two nights a week that I have to work on PTA at home in the evenings. (I have decided that after this year I am retiring from PTA. I made it to my goal of being a VP and now it is time to let others be involved). I also made a list of all the things I have to do at home. Seventy seven line items on my list!!! Some will take 5-10 minutes others will take 2-3 days! The good thing is I am the least stressed out about Christmas coming up. We already have all our Christmas money saved up and I have the dates on my calendar of when I will do my shopping (well before Thanksgiving), decorating and wrapping.

I was letting it get to the best of me when I had to remind myself that attitude is everything. I was letting these mountains of tasks make me feel like I was being pounded into the ground. I can handle this. It is all about organizing my priorities and doing a little bit at a time. I have 4 members in my home who can help me - I don't have to do it all by myself. So I am shaking all of those negative, overwhelming thoughts out of my head and am starting over with a new bright sun shiny attitude and will accomplish all that needs to get done one thing at a time. =)

Prayers for Tyler

Today I am asking for prayers for the son of a guy I graduated from high school with. Tyler, is 21 months old, and is going through a liver transplant operation as I type this. Please pray for Tyler, the doctors, Tyler's family, and the family who lost a family member and gave Tyler a second chance at life.

Tyler's family got the call around 1:30AM Tuesday morning and surgery did not start until 5:15AM this morning. I imagine the surgery will take several hours to complete.

Pray! Pray! Pray!

New Names

I have come up with a new naming convention for my family so that it will be easier to understand who I am talking about rather than typing in their first initial.

Introducing:

Coach: My husband who is "obsessed" with sports. If he isn't watching them on TV he is playing them on the PC. Thank goodness his coaching days are over because that was yet another corner of the world he devoted his life to. He will tell you he is not obsessed with ALL sports because he doesn't care for tennis or hockey.

Nemo: As in finding .... is our oldest child who is currently out "finding himself". Against the way he was raised and his families wishes he took off at the age of 17 to move in with his girlfriend who is BBB (Bleach Blonde Bimbo). I pray to God everynight that BBB does not become my future daughter-in-law someday because I do not know how I can find it in my heart to like her. Nemo has thrown away college, wrecked cars and burnt bridges with his family all because of BBB. I do know he was raised right and I pray he gets his head out of his $#@ and turns his life around real soon.

Energy: Is our second oldest. Energy is somewhat like his father and is obsessed with sports but for the mere fact for something to do. He cannot sit still and must be shooting baskets whether it be outside in the driveway or inside with his Nerf goal. He has even got out of bed after being in bed for 2 hours and came to us and told us he couldn't sleep and felt like "shooting some baskets". Get back to bed!

Cupkayk: Is the only other female in the house besides moi. However, now that she is 13 she likes to be referred to as only "Kayk" which I pronounce like "cake" and she pronounces is like "Kay Kay". Whichever way you say it she is our girly girl who has alot to say and can say it in an extremely dramatic way. She likes clothes and is "in love" with Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers.

Master G: Is the youngest. Master G stands for Master Gamer. This little fellow has an obsession with video games. If we do not take the Nintendo DS at night time he will stay up all night long playing it. His future hopes are to become a game developer.

Koko: Is actually another female in the house. She is our beloved four legged friend. Part Beagle part Boxer she is a sweetheart, who is afraid of thunderstorms, loves Peanut Butter, and can bark your dog under the table any day!

K to the E to the Y ?????

I was going to post a somewhat serious post today; however, we had an incident that happened last night that kind of ties into it so I will hold off that serious post until this weekend or next week. I do need to ask those that read my blog that know us in real life to not mention that I told you this to K.

Last night we had our first PTSA meeting in which K and I attended. Since it was our first meeting of the school year, with a new principal, new board, new students/parents the meeting lasted two and a half hours which was two hours longer than I had planned on being there. I had to stay about 20 minutes longer because we had an abundance of new memberships come in so I had to fill out their cards and write up a deposit. Once I was finished I walked out to the car and stopped at some other board members car to say goodnight. I used the remote and unlocked my car so that K could go ahead and get in. About two minutes later I headed towards my car and threw my PTA bag in the backseat. As I made my way to the drivers seat I look in and notice K's finger has blood all over it. I immediately open the door and ask her what is wrong. Her reply was "I was trying to get it out." In which I replied "get what out?" She points to the ignition of the car and I see a barrette (just like the one pictured above except without the pretties on it) hanging out in the slot where the key goes. I asked her why she did it and she told me she got hot and wanted to see if that would make the car start in order to get some air. She then tried to pull it out and of course couldn't and ended up slicing her finger on the side of the barrette. I get in there and try pulling it out myself and the barrette wouldn't budge. I tried putting a key, a screw, and a pen through the barrette and I couldn't get it out either. I then had to call my husband who was at home watching his FAVORITE football team on TV. I explained what happened and asked him to come up to the school with a pair of pliers. Needless to say when my husband got there he was not happy and after his first 3 or 4 attempts of not being able to get it out he was not even happier. K is crying, my husband is mad and I am trying to keep everything calm between them. Finally my husband inserts a smaller key next to the barrette which caused the inner piece of the ignition to retract and he was able to slide the barrette out. He saved the day!

On the way home I explained to K (who is still crying) that everything worked out and the only bad thing of it all was that her finger got sliced open. I told her we would have to punish her for it and she agreed. She was in line to get a new phone and service come November and we decided that we would push that back to December as her punishment. She is on the Internet practically everyday searching for "the phone" that she wants so I think making her wait another month is fair and will get her attention to really think things through before she goes and does something silly like that again. She was pretty upset by it all saying that she wasn't even thinking when she did it and knows it was something stupid that she did. I told her that once it all dies down this will be something we will certainly laugh about one day. I told her how we will tease her future husband to check to make sure she doesn't have any barrettes on her person before she gets into their car. I got a smile out of her for that. I love my baby to pieces....mistakes and all!

I am a winner!!!!

I wasn't sure what I was going to blog about today and then I got to work and read an email about a contest that I won. It is not everyday you are a winner of something so that is definitely something exciting to blog about! I won a super sized storage bag at http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/. You really need to check Lara's site out. She is super funny and always has something interesting to say. I first found her while going through photos on flickr looking for organizing ideas. Lara offers some amazing organizing tips on her site as well as sells organizing bags. You can see them here: http://laragallagher.com/bags/index.html. The key to organization is to make sure everything has a home. With these bags you can accomplish the task!

We are in full swing of getting back-into-school-routines chaos in our home. The first 45 minutes I am home from work is the most stressful time. I am trying to make dinner, listening to K talk, listening to my husband talk, giving the dog loves, doing chores, and preparing for errands or whatever I have to do for the evening. Last night we had the boys over so they were added into it as well. I am already ready for summer vacation!

I was planning on going to bed fairly early last night and then got engaged in watching Kerri and Misty play volleyball for the gold. They are so fascinating to watch that I couldn't turn the TV off. They have not been beaten in over a year! So, of course, they won the gold!!!!

After reading Kelly's blog yesterday she motivated me to get my office clean. I got about half done yesterday and plan on doing the rest today. Thanks Kel!

Summer on Scott Street

I have been meaning to blog about this since I started my blog but I always had so much other stuff to say. (Probably boring stuff to you!) Kel beat me to the punch and blogged about it several months ago. Since summer is coming to an end I thought I better hurry up and get this post in.

My parents couldn't have picked a better place to live and raise my sister and I. We lived on a dead-end street with approximately 40 children in the neighborhood. Finding a playmate was never hard. Summer time was the best on the street.

When we were younger we would play hide-and-go-seek until midnight. We would roller skate in the street, cheer lead, and ride our bikes but not without stopping at the fire hydrant to get a fill up on "Grease Lightening" gas. We caught lightening bugs and would pull out their lights and wore them as rings. (Poor little fella's) We would have lemonade stands where we would have our customer stay and drink their lemonade so that they could return the cup and we would use it for the next customer. We would play house with our dolls and sometimes could even talk the boys into playing with us and be our husbands. We would paint rocks and then go around the neighborhood trying to sell them. (Not sure if we ever sold any) And if we ever got thirsty or hungry we would go rap on Weez's door and ask for food. Each summer we held auditions for "Annie" and was going to put on a huge play that the whole neighborhood could come watch. However, we never made it to production. In early August we would follow the mailman around seeing if he had our teacher assignments with him.

As we grew older we played kick-ball, zone dodge ball, and four square. We would write "I heart whoever the boy was at the time" on the light pole in silver pens. Then there were the crushes on Brandon, Sean, Thomas, and Gary. (I tell you he not home!) When we turned 16 we would go cruising with each other in our cars. We would have slumber parties and stay up all night long.

We spent time together as families eating dinner together or go on outings together. We would do our school shopping together and get lost in the store and have to have our mothers paged.

We spun webs so closely that as adults we were in each others weddings and at the hospital for the births of each others children. We were more than neighbors on our street. We were and still to this day are family.

It's a girl!

My new toys came in the mail last night!!! It is actually a hobby called "reborning" or "reborn doll". It is where you take vinyl doll pieces and paint them to look like a real life baby. I have only done one before as it costs around $200 to do a doll. I am doing this one for my mom. She picked out the doll sculp (Paige by Tasha Edenholm) that she wanted and unfortunately it has been out of stock since May. I received an email on Friday that the sculp was back in stock. I ordered it Friday night and it was delivered yesterday. I am impressed with Bountiful Baby's fast shipping. This time I am going to do a different technique than I used on my first doll. The first doll I did you painted mostly the inside of the doll with a purple wash to give it the look of real skin. This time I will be using heat set paints and you paint the outside of the body and then cure it in the oven. I am also going to hand root the hair where on my first doll I used a wig. I am super stoked about getting started. I know I will push off the organizing project in order to work on the doll. Here is a picture of the doll completed by someone else. I hope mine turns out somewhat like this. You may not be able to see the detail very well here. If you are interested in seeing more you can go to http://www.bountifulbaby.com/ or do a google search on reborn dolls.


Some people make these and sell them. I don't think I could ever part with one that I did - outside of family. I have seen them on ebay going between $300-1000!!


Last night I babysat my nieces while waiting for my sister and brother-in-laws flight to get in from Mexico. I read the manual that I purchased with my reborning supplies and then watched some of the Olympics. I got ticked off when Nastia did not win the gold in gymnastics. I think the gymnastics is rigged. The announcers even said Nastia did a far better and cleaner routine yet the Chinese won the gold. In the USA's mind we know Nastia was the winner.

I got home at about ten till 1:00AM. I considered not even going to bed at all as I knew I would have a hard time getting up this morning after going to bed so late. But I actually did pretty good this morning so I am proud of myself.

Off and running (or falling in some cases)

This morning we woke up early in celebration of K's first day of school. She chose a black Tinkerbell tshirt and capri pants to wear. I straightened her hair and made her scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Koko, who normally will not budge from the couch in the mornings, joined us in the kitchen hoping to have some scrambled eggs herself. Woof! Woof!

K's cell phone was going off like mad this morning as her friends were texting to find out what each other was wearing and who was already at the bus stops. Oh! To be 13 again and those types of things to be your biggest worries.

Here are a few pictures of K before the bus came:

Each year I take a traditional picture of K walking down the street. I was getting ready to take that picture when K thought she heard the bus and took off running. She apparently tripped over her feet and fell to the ground. I was lucky enough to catch the fall in action. You can't see it very well in the attachment but trust me her buns are about to meet the ground. God love her!

Last but not least K captured this picture of a strange looking furry monster that was on our couch last night. I think we are going to have to go out and buy some special repellent to get rid of it.

Have a great day!!!

A Jam packed full day

We started out early Saturday morning by taking my SUV by the dealership because I have been having a problem with the accelerator pad. They ended up having to order the part so I will have to go back again this week when it comes in. Afterwards we went and got some breakfast and then went to see The Dark Knight. I absolutely loved the Joker's make-up. I had not seen any of the Batman movies before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had a little trouble following the story line and keeping track of who was a good guy vs. who was a bad guy. All in all it was a good show. I give it 4 out of 5 popcorn bags. I had not seen a show that Heath Ledger was in before. It is incredibly sad he is no longer with us because he was a VERY talented actor. He played the Joker part brilliantly!

After the movie we went by to let my sister's dog out and play with him for a little bit before being off for Sean to hit golf balls at the range. I brought Love the One You Are With, with me as I had not picked it up to read in the past few weeks. I read a couple pages and am ready to say I am going to give up on this book as I am half way through and am bored to death with it. The two other books I read that were written by Emily Giffin were page turners that I couldn't put down. This, her fourth book, is by far her worse book.

We listened and watched the Royal's game that went on for a half day long. I was so sick of sports by that point and knew the Chiefs game would be blaring in my living room a few hours later. My mom called me and told me they were going out to dinner with some family from my dad's side and that my nieces didn't want to go so I told her to bring them over to my house and I would watch them. We played beauty shop, colored pictures, went over to let their dog out and had popcorn. They entertained me while Sean watched the Chiefs game. We had a good time.

We have been busy today getting the kids school stuff in order since they start school tomorrow. The boys just came by to pick their clothes, shoes, and supplies up. K will be home from her dads in a few hours and we will get her all set to be ready.

That is all for now!

Saturday's Post

This is actually Saturday's post although I am posting it on Friday evening. My day is booked tomorrow so I figured I would post before I go off to bed.

Ten years ago my parents purchased their first PC. Being the big spenders that they are they purchased an E machine for $300 in which it was as slow as molasses. The evening they got it I went over and got it all hooked up for them. I am not a technical person by no means but can at least get a PC up and working. As soon as we got it powered up my mom asked me "what her website was?" This woman had never laid her fingers on a keyboard so I was pretty sure she didn't have a website and if by chance she did, I didn't want to know what it was. LOL. I ended up figuring out she was trying to find out what her email address was. Back then AOL was the big thing so we set them up an AOL email account and then we shut it down for the night. The next evening I was in my apartment chatting away on AOL when my mom called. She asked me how to power up the keyboard so that they could get on their PC. My only response was "put it back in the box and take it back." I had no idea at that point the nightmares I would be up against with my parents being PC owners.

There were several issues with the nasty lady sites "popping up" on their PC. My mom even accused my dad of looking at the sites causing the pop ups. At the time they didn't have the security on their PC they do today so they could have very well just be popping up. My dad was notorious for deleting anything on the PC that he didn't "think" needed to be there. He would delete major applications and the whole thing would have to be reloaded. In the last year they purchased a second PC which is a Dell. They seem to have more problems now than they did before. My husband and brother in law cringe when my mom calls saying she is having a PC problem. We have spent countless hours at their house trying to fix whatever problems they are having.

So today I am sitting at my desk waiting for time to pass so that I can go home when my mom calls. She wants to reply to an email to my sister but doesn't know how to. I am thinking to myself that they have had a PC for 10 years and my mom has never replied to an email before?? Oh it gets better! It takes about 10 minutes but I finally get her squared away. I had to explain the reply button and what a cursor was and what it looks like. Yes, I can teach Emailing 101. We hang up and about 2 minutes later she calls back. Now mind you my mom is talking to me on her cell phone which is another electronic device they do not understand. My mom thinks you have to scream into a cell phone in order for the person on the other end to hear her. So I have the phone receiver at arms length from my ear listening to her. She now tells me that she is at the end of the line of her email and she doesn't know how to get down to the next line. For crying out loud! I started cracking up. She can't be serious!!! She has had a PC for 10 years and has never written an email over one line long??? I walk her through hitting the 'enter' key so that she can get to the next line and I also explain the send button when she is done writing her email. We hang up and she calls a third time!!! This time she tells me that she pressed send and her email went away. For the love of God please take ALL electronics out of my parents house!!!

I just got back from my sisters house a little while ago. My parents picked up her dog from the kennel and brought him home since my sister and her husband will be home from Mexico on Monday night. I stopped by to take Norman out before he goes to bed and to visit with him for a little while. He is such a sweetheart. He is like my friend Pam's dog and he thinks visitors are there to see him and no humans in the house. I took him out to potty and then brought him in and gave him one of the organic dog biscuits I made. He loved it too! His tail was going double time while he was eating it. He ended up eating 4 while I was there. I left him a bag that I will give him when I go over to let him out over the weekend. Two dogs down that love my biscuits. The true test will be if Princess Julie Beck (Pam's dog) likes them. She is a finicky one but if she likes them then I may have a future in the organic dog biscuit biz!

WARNING!!!! I am in a cranky mood today....

I am very tired today. I didn't stay up late but I couldn't get into a deep sleep either. I woke up several times during the night thinking I was late - which anyone who knows me knows I could care less if I was late to work. (Bad attitude I know but I am not a morning person) If it weren't for the fact that 2 of our 4 team members are out of town on business I would have certainly called in using one of the precious sick days today. So here I am sitting at my PC with my eyes barely open and the first Diet Coke I drank this morning is doing nothing for me. And of course I had a truck here at 8:30 this morning to make a delivery and the truck driver was Chipper Dave who was whistling with the birds. Then about 30 minutes later I had an IBM CE show up for a meeting that was supposed to take place on July 14. He did apologize for being late. I guess a month late is better than never. All I know is I am not staying here until 5:00 today. Noon sounds good to me but it will more than likely be 4:00 before I leave.

After 1 week in production I am going to cancel the Sister2Sister Friday's posts I was going to do. For one, most of the people who's blogs I read did not post at all this week or if they did post it was only once or twice. So not much to learn from. I also started reading a blog that is written by a male and I am sure he wouldn't like to be a "sister". I will think of something but just not today.

I think we are going to finally go see The Dark Knight this weekend. Sean messaged me this morning and has our whole weekend planned out. Bless his heart, he is like Gopher the Cruise Director on the Love Boat, making sure we are entertained at all times. Of course, it is usually entertainment that swings towards his pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I want to see The Dark Knight, but the going to the golf range to watch him hit golf balls and watching the Chiefs game Saturday night just doesn't do anything for me. Besides I wanted to get some organizing done in the kitchen this weekend and I have about a half day worth of PTA work I need to get done.

Well....I am going to get off here since my phone keeps ringing. These people do not seem to get it that I don't want to be here today.

Have a great weekend!

Just because it doesn't look right doesn't mean it doesn't taste good

Yesterday at the awards ceremony breakfast I sat with a group of co-workers that I do not normally hang out with. The conversation at the table was about vitamins and organic cooking. I have always been interested in going all organic in our home so I listened intensely and made several mental notes. Once back at my desk I logged onto the Internet and started searching for organic recipes in which I printed several off. I had also came across some recipes for organic dog biscuits so I printed them off as well. Since we had all the food purchased for our meals for the week I decided to go to the store on my lunch hour in order to pick up the ingredients that I didn't have so that I could make the dog biscuits. I have seen organic dog biscuits at the pet store but there was no way I was going to pay $8 or more for a box of them. However, here I was at the store spending $15 on ingredients that I didn't have in my home in order to make them. No matter how you crunch those numbers the end result is I am a dork!

After we took the boys home I began mixing up the biscuit concoction and ran into a serious problem. The recipe said that the dough would get VERY stiff and mine was sticky and wet. Now I don't know much about the science of baking but something tells me that some cornstarch, evaporated milk, oats and 3 cups of whole wheat flour is never going to absorb into 5 and a half cups of hot water. ??? Mine didn't! In the end I ended up adding the whole small package of whole wheat flour to the mixture and it never got stiff. Instead of wasting the dough I drop the sticky gooey mess by the spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The recipe said to cut the dough with dog bone cookie cutters but that was never going to happen with mine. I let them cook their required 50 minutes and when I pulled them out they actually looked really good. I put them on a plate to cool and put another batch in the oven. Once the biscuits were cool I gave one to my dog and she loved it! I went into the living room to join my family in watching the Olympics while the tray of biscuits cooked in the oven. As soon as I sat down on the couch Koko (our dog) brings her Kongie toy and puts it in my lap. Her Kongie toy is a rubber toy with a whole in the center in which you insert treats and then the dog has to figure out how to get it out. I tossed the Kongie onto the floor in which she retrieved it and put it in my lap again. I then realized she LOVED the biscuits and she wanted me to put one in her Kongie. Yes....even though the dough was no way near what the recipe said it should be my dog was telling me I was the bomb at making organic dog biscuits!!!

For the rest of the evening when she was craving one of those delicious, made by mommy organic dog biscuits she would walk into the kitchen and bark. She has a whole jar full to enjoy over the next few weeks.

It's a bird....it's a fish.....no it's Michael Phelps!

Is Michael Phelps a freak in the swimming pool or what?? Wow!!.....totally amazing to watch him swim! And the way he does events back to back like it is nothing. You go boy!!! USA is soooo proud of you!!

I watched women's gymnastics last night too and felt so bad for Alicia when she messed up on the beam and floor exercise. You could tell she was trying so hard to hold back the tears. Bless her heart. We are equally proud of her and the other gymnasts. There is alot of speculation that the China gymnasts are not the required age of 16. As I watched the China gymnasts preform I wondered the same thing. They are much smaller (which the Chinese usually are) but you can tell it is more of an age thing than body structure. I also noticed their teeth .... there is one gal that it looks like her incisor teeth have not come all the way in yet which they should be in well before 16 years old. Bella Caroli even is questioning their age but said even if they are not the correct age their country would supply them with a passport making them at least 16 ..... so what can you do?? And don't even get me started on them booting the little girl out of the opening ceremony because she was not cute enough. Pathetic!

I made dinner last night and then had to run a quick errand to find a Hawaiian shirt. I am not the type to wear a Hawaiian shirt but we receive our award at work today and the other two who are receiving the award with me thought it would be neat if we wore the shirts. So I was game....got my Hawaiian shirt sitting in my guest chair in my office because I am not wearing that thing all day long. I also ran by the grocery store and picked up another cake mix since we have so much icing left over I decided I should make another batch of cupcakes for the kids. (Ok....and I love to hear my husband tell me how good the cupcakes are each time he eats one!) Let a girl gloat for a little bit! So I cleaned up the kitchen, made cupcakes, and then cleaned up the kitchen again so no time for organizing last night. And there will be no time for it tonight either because I have to finish cleaning out K's closet and get her clothes organized for school since she starts next Monday!! There will be plenty of time to organize this weekend as it is supposed to rain all weekend long.

Well, let me get ready to go put on my Hawaiian shirt.

How the new generation thinks

I forgot to add this to my posts for the past few days so decided to jump on here and add it. This was a conversation between my sister and my niece. My sister and her husband were getting ready to leave on a trip to Mexico for their 10 year anniversary and my nieces were going to stay with family in another state. My nieces both had loose teeth and the concern was them coming out while my sister and her husband were out of town.

Sister: Girls...you need to loose your teeth before mommy and daddy go on their trip otherwise the tooth fairy won't know where to deliver the money to.
Niece #1 : Can't you just text her and tell her where we will be?

Yup....just get on the old cell phone and text the address to the tooth fairy and all will be good!

Truck back!!! (Kitchen Organization Update #1)

My hubby got his truck back last night. It looked so shiny and new. The damage ended up being $3000 with labor. I know the body shop submitted a claim for the $4000 so insurance must have seen what I seen and had the body shop rethink what they were charging for. My hubby and I both agreed we didn't like riding with each other in the mornings but that we certainly were going to miss being with each other like we had been for the past week and a half.

I made spaghetti for dinner last night which is not one of my favorite meals to make. The reason being K doesn't like meatballs so I have to make her meat sauce. My husband doesn't like meat sauce so I have to make him meatballs. I am diabetic and have to eat the wheat noodles which they both don't like so I have to make them different noodles. And if we have spaghetti when the boys are over B doesn't like sauce or meatballs - he wants just plain noodles. I often think I need a sign from either Wendy's or Burger King to put up in my kitchen that says "Have it your way!" Spaghetti is not the only meal I make several different versions of. Yes, my family is spoiled rotten so don't let them tell you any differently!!

We watched some of the Olympics last night. The men's gymnastic and swim teams were great as well as women's volleyball. They all make me so proud! Go USA!!!!

While watching the Olympics we would flip to the Green Bay game. As you know I am not a huge sports fan but I am going to pick Green Bay as my team for this year. For one, I have always liked their outfits (I know it is called something else and my husband always gets on to me for saying outfit....whatever it is they wear....I like the colors). I always liked Brett Favre and I think his replacement Aaron Rogers is going to do a fantastic job!

Organizing Update:

Last night I decided to start on the west side of my kitchen and will work myself towards the east side. I started with the computer area since that would be the easiest. I went through the basket of PC games and threw away any that were really old and put the others that are no longer played in the donation sack. I wrapped up all of the headsets (you know everyone has to have "their own") nice and neat and put them in the basket. I then moved over to the baker's rack where I did some rearranging and cleaned out any old paperwork that was in the drawers. I put the hanging files in the file box and put the labeled files inside them. I still need to make the tabs to go on the hanging files.

As I was cleaning the kitchen last night I wanted to jump in and do other organizing things but I had to tell myself to pace myself so that I don't get burnt out. I could have easily stayed up until 3:00AM and did the whole kitchen in one night but that is not what my plan is. Nor is that the proper way to organize. Baby steps.....I will get there!

Let the organizing begin!

K's skating party went well on Saturday. She had a great time and talked about it non-stop for the rest of the weekend. Mission accomplished! Here are a few pictures of the polka dot cupcakes:




On Sunday we took the boys out to get their school clothes. Let's just say it is way easier to shop for men than it is women. They were in and out of the store in less than an hour and that was with trying everything on! We also walked out nearly $75 under what we had budgeted to spend - and they got alot of stuff! Good job, boys!


Today is the day I start reorganizing my house and getting it back into shape. I am super excited about getting this done. I know it will take me several months to get through the whole house but it is worth it. When I had my house organized a few years ago it made for an easier life and I also gained alot of time that I could do things I enjoyed doing rather than always working around the house.


Since I decided to start with the kitchen I am going to give you a tour of what I am up against. I took these pictures on Friday during the day so some of the clutter that is on the counter tops is no longer there. If you remember I had to work the PTA booth at the school for 3 nights last week so my hubby and child had reign of the kitchen so it wasn't kept up to par as I would have done it. However, most of the clutter is from my own doings so now I must fix what I was being lazy about doing in the first place.


We will start off in the "eat in kitchen" part of the kitchen. We live in a very small house so as you can see I have to cram alot of furniture (etc.) into small spaces. We house the computer in the back right hand corner. This is not the ideal location for the computer but we want to monitor where our kids are when out on the Internet so it is a small sacrifice that we are willing to make. The computer area stays cleans and clutter free which is good. The chair in the middle of the wall is no longer there. It is one of the chairs that we have to use when the boys are over for the weekends so that we can all sit around the table. When I cleaned out the sunroom I was able to make room for that chair to sit in there along with the 6th chair that we use when my oldest stepson is over. The table has a leaf but as long as the computer is in the kitchen we cannot use it or there is no room to walk around at all. The next thing on the wall is the baker's rack which I will get to in a little bit. We recently put up the wainscoting and trim on the wall which still needs to be painted. This will be one of the "projects" I finish before I call the kitchen done.



Now for the baker's rack. I could not live without the baker's rack as it provides me with some added storage place. The baker's rack is not in too bad of shape. I am aware of some items on the top shelf that do not belong there but everything else is good - just needs to be tidied.




Here is the sink area and on either side is the only counter space I have. The side on the left is usually clear as that is where I prepare our meals. I do tend to let the right side get cluttered with papers as you see. I purchased a small filing bin last night and will get that mountain of papers filled once and for all!


Here you can pretty much see all of the cabinetry I have to work with. Not much so I have to be efficient when I store items in the cabinets. There will also be a major project on this side of the room. If you will notice there is wallpaper trim around the top of the wall above the cabinets. About 2 years ago I took down what I could reach and left the rest for my husband who is over a foot taller than me. Well.....it is still sitting idle and it drives me crazy so I WILL find a way to reach it, get the wallpaper taken down and the wall painted so that the project can finally be done!

The last thing I am going to share with you today is a floor plan of my cabinets that I made a couple years ago when I was getting organized. I made this on Word - it is not to scale - but works for what I need it for. I drew out each cabinet and then labeled it as to what was being stored in each space. On another sheet I brainstormed out ideas of how I could better manage the cabinet space and then rearranged my cabinets. The way I have my cabinets set up now works really well but I am going to do the brainstorm activity once again just to make sure I can't make it even better.



I will let you know what I get done this evening!