Snow Boots

Oh my goodness! There must be a lot of little girls running around the town that my hubby's parents live in that have the same size foot as our daughter. Saturday afternoon my mother-in-law, one of my sister-in-laws, my daughter, and myself went out shopping. One of the main things I was looking for we never found, a pair of snow boots for my daughter.

We started out at Shoe Carnival. They had some pretty cute ones but only one pair were in our price range and neither my daughter nor myself liked them. After that we headed over to Wal-mart. They had two pair but neither pair really jumped out at us so we decided to keep looking. Our next stop was Payless Shoes. After the girl working there measured my daughter's foot she informed us that they had no snow boots in my daughter's size so once again we left without any boots. The next store we tried was Target. Here they had some cute boots that were a bit more pricey than I wanted to spend but I would have probably gone ahead and purchased a pair had they had my daughter's size. So once again we left still in search of a pair of snow boots for my little girl. We were done shopping for the time being and I told my daughter that daddy and I would take her to look for a pair of snow boots later in the week.

Well tonight we went to Wal-mart by our house to get groceries for us and our doggie. Low and behold we saw an end cap with snow boots on it! Our daughter tried on a couple of different sizes and of course they were all too small. We glanced down the aisle and yay! There were a whole lot more of this particular style. We found the next size up and hip, hip, hooray! They fit great and only cost $7.00!

It's unreal how the sizes for snow boots run compared to shoe sizes. When we had gone to Payless Shoes and the girl had measured my daughter's foot, she told us that she needed a size 2 in snow boots. I thought that sounded like it was too big of a size considering my daughter only wears a size 13 shoe but believe it or not, the snow boots we bought her tonight were actually a size 3! Isn't that crazy?

Apparently my daughter LOVES her new snow boots too. She wanted to put them on as soon as we got to the truck in the Wal-mart parking lot. We told her to wait until we got home. We hadn't been home long and she had them on her feet. She said she wanted to sleep in them! I told her no. She didn't even want to take them off to get in her jammies so I told her she could wear them with her jammies. She is now walking around in a night gown and snow boots. Boy, does she look a bit silly but hey, she's happy so I suppose it's all good, right? Who's gonna see her anyway besides mommy, daddy, and little brother? Hmmm....maybe I should take a photo?

Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas!
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
And a Happy New Year!

Ok, ok, so we can't sing that well but hey, you didn't have to listen to us. You just had to read it and get the song stuck in your head!

Merry Christmas to all my blog readers from my family to yours! Wishing all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas! Stay safe and warm!

White Christmas

It is definitely a white Christmas at our house this year. Yesterday our weather started out with some misting/light rain that turned into freezing rain/sleet and then produced all that white stuff you see in the photos. I think it snowed most of the evening and most of the overnight hours. I think this is the most snow we've had in quite some time. It's way too much! It definitely messed up travel plans for many I'm sure, us included. The interstate we normally take to go visit my hubby's family is currently closed and we have no clue when it will reopen. My kids have yet to go out and play in it. I'm really surprised my daughter hasn't been continually asking to go out. She loves to play out in the snow. Not me! I get cold too easy! Brrrrr! According to the online weather report I read we're expected to get 1-2 more inches of snow today and another 1 inch tonight. Like we need anymore! I'm sure that many out there have more snow than we do. I say we ship it all to everyone who doesn't have any! It's only fair we all get some! I'm more than willing to share! Now who wants some snow?

Good Morning

I read this in an e-mail this morning and wanted to post it on my blog.

When I say good morning I mean to say:

G-od
O-ffers us His
O-utstanding
D-evotion to

M-ake us
O-bedient &
R-eady for a
N-ew day with Him.
I-nspire others please, and
N-ever forget
G-od loves you!

Questions Kids Ask

Today we went to the grocery store and they had cheese hot dogs on sale for a very good price so we picked up quite a few packages. When driving not long after leaving the grocery store our 6 year old daughter asked us a question. At this age kids always seem to want to know how things work, what things are made of, why something does this, and other questions along those lines. You just never know what they will ask next do you? Today the question our daughter asked us was, "What animal has hot dogs in them?" Are you smiling now? We were smiling and I think giggling a bit too when she asked us that.

What Are Parents Thinking?

Seriously, what are some parents thinking now a days? I was driving home tonight and in the middle of one of the main streets were three girls playing around and pushing each other. They were probably pre-teen to early teen. So maybe about 12-14 years old. It's so hard to tell ages anymore. So many kids look older than they truly are. Either way, these girls should not have been out walking around by themselves and definitely should NOT have been playing in the middle of the road. It was about 9:40pm at night for goodness sakes! I can't believe that parents just let their kids roam around like that. With the way the world is these days and all the crazy people and crazy things those crazy people do, I don't plan to let me kids far from my sight. I obviously don't plan to completely shelter them and keep them in a bubble or anything like that but by golly I plan to do my very best to always know who they are with, what they are doing, and where they are!

An Etsy Story

My hubby sent me the link to an Etsy story he found online so I wanted to share it with you. I thought it was a pretty good read and would love to some day have the same type of success with my Etsy shop! If you'd like to read it, you can go here. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday dear me!
Happy birthday to me!

Yep, today was my birthday. My daughter, who along with her brother and daddy mean the world to me, gave me the world for my birthday. She had painted a picture of the Earth. Such a sweet little girl I have here!

Too Many Goodies

Seriously folks, between all the yummy sweets I received from the moms of the children I do childcare for at church to all the goodies and treats hubby and I have either purchased from the store or baked at home, I am going to put on weight. More of me to love I guess huh? I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but I just might have to make one to exercise more next year to get my figure back! Heck, all these tasty things to eat and it isn't even Christmas yet. I still have tons of family gatherings to attend where I know there will be so many yummy treats waiting for me to eat them. I do think I'm in trouble here! How are you all holding up?

Awww...He Braved The Cold

My hubby is such a sweetie! This morning I had about 5-10 minutes before it was going to be time for me to leave. I said to my hubby, "Guess I better go start my truck and scrape off my windows." He was feeding our son his oatmeal and fruit. He asked if I wanted to finish feeding our little boy and he would take care of my truck. Ummmm....of course I said yes. I dislike the cold so much! What a great hubby I have to offer to do that huh? He braved the cold for me! What a man! I think I'll keep him!

No Right Turn On Red

So we were coming home tonight and stopped at a red light. In front of us was a police car. Next thing hubby said was, "No right turn on red." Yep, sure enough that police car turned right at the red light with that "no right turn on red" sign clearly posted on the pole. I'm not even sure he used a turn signal either. Why is it okay for them to do that? Just doesn't seem quite right but what can you really do? Nothing I suppose but complain about it in a blog huh?

Finding The Doctor

So today I went for a follow-up visit to a medical condition I've been following for years now. I got the all okay which was wonderful news. I hadn't been having any problems so this was the news I had expected to receive. Even though the news was great, getting to see the doctor was quite a pain. I went and had my test done first then headed to the doctor's office which we thought was in the building attached to the hospital where I had my test done. Well, the office was there last year but apparently they moved to a new office off hospital grounds and we did not know this. We stopped in at the help desk at the hospital and they were able to track down the new address and phone number for us. What a pain! I can't believe they didn't let their patients know they had moved! I even called the office this morning to be sure that they had received my referral and they didn't mention the move. Needless to say we were pretty late for my appointment. Luckily this particular doctor is always running behind schedule so us being so late didn't even matter but still.....you would think they would have told us their new location!

Busy Post Office

I went to the post office not too long ago and boy did I get there at just the right time. When I pulled into my parking space there was one car in the parking lot. I got my son out of his car seat, grabbed the bag my packages were in, and went inside. A lady was coming out so I didn't have to wait to be helped. By the time I mailed all my packages a line had formed behind me. When I got back to my truck I counted eight, yes eight vehicles in the parking lot. Man, did I time that right or what?

And The Winner Is.....

AND THE WINNER OF THE NOVEMBER SALES DRAWING IS ........chrisd23! Congratulations! chrisd23 just won a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop!

YOU COULD BE NEXT!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPECIAL DRAWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the entire month of December any and all purchases no matter how big or small will get your name put into a drawing to win a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop! Buy one item, get your name in the drawing once! Buy two items, get your name in the drawing twice! And so on! One name from all the December sales will be drawn on January 1st!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Good luck to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

I just spent the last 15-20 humming this song to my son while rocking him to sleep for his nap. He seems to like it when I hum this particular song. When my daughter was a baby she also seemed to like it too. Now I'm probably going to have it stuck in my head the rest of the day!

Gobble Gobble

I don't know about any of you but I am SO looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner. My hubby's mom cooks and we all pig out! She usually has turkey and/or ham, yams, mashed potatoes w/gravy, rolls and of course pie. Mmmm mmmm pie! She usually has an apple and a pumpkin pie. I myself prefer the pumpkin pie loaded up with lots of cool whip! Oh I can't wait until tomorrow to fill my tummy with lots of yummy food!

My Little Rocket Scientist

I can't remember if I ever ended up blogging about this so I figured I would do so today. It's basically a post bragging about how smart my little girl is so even if I've already written about it, she is definitely worth writing about again!

Just wanted to share that my Kindergarten daughter is currently reading on a 2nd grade reading level. We are so proud of her and how smart she is! We call her our little rocket scientist. She loves school and has always loved to learn starting at a very young age. We hope this will take her places as she gets older!

Little Angels

These little angels are one of the newest creations in my Etsy shop. Mom and I spent part of one of our Saturdays making a lot of these. We will be having them at three upcoming craft shows we are participating in. We're hoping they will be a big seller for us. You just never know though. You can see them listed in my shop here if you'd like to take a peek.

Sleeping In

Soooooooo................I had all intentions of trying to sleep in this morning since it's Saturday and I hardly ever get to sleep in now that my daughter is in school. Don't really have any MAJOR plans today either so sleeping in sounded like a GREAT idea! Ummm.....yeah, sleeping in did not happen and here's why!

Well, we stayed up a bit late to begin with last night. I was crocheting on some things until about 12-12:30am. Can't really remember for sure. I woke up once in the middle of the night but not because of one of the kids. They both slept ALL night long! Yay! I myself just woke up. No biggie. Just rolled over and went back to sleep. Wasn't like when I have to get up, rock the baby for 10, 20, 30 minutes, sometimes longer until he falls back to sleep. Then of course you always have to use the bathroom too once you get woke up in the middle of the night thus making me usually be up at least 30 minutes on average when my son is the reason I'm awake in the middle of the night.

After my brief waking up and falling back to sleep I am sleeping soundly. Next thing I know I am waking up to my hubby getting out of bed and the annoying ringing of my cell phone alarm clock from the dining room in my purse. Grrrrrr!!!! I use the alarm on my cell phone as my alarm clock in the mornings during the week because I can have it right there by me on the head board of the bed. It isn't as loud as a regular alarm clock and with it right there by me I can easily grab it and turn it off before it wakes everyone up in the mornings. That way I can get ready before getting the kids up and around. Well, I forgot to turn it off for the weekend thus messing up my plans of sleeping in. Yeah, I know. That's my fault!

So at about 7:30am hubby brought me my phone and I shut off the alarm. I'm lying there in bed trying to decide if I want to just get up or if I want to try to fall back asleep. I chose to stay in bed. Well, I never really fell back asleep so I just got up about 45 minutes later. Figured everyone else is sleeping so I'd get up and try to accomplish some things before they all got up. Lucky you! First thing I'm accomplishing today is this blog post for all your reading eyes!

So much for sleeping in! Guess I'll try again tomorrow morning! Suppose I better go disable the 7:30am alarm on my cell phone though huh? Otherwise I'll be in the same boat as this morning! All I did this morning was make it to where it wouldn't go off again today. If I don't completely disable it I will we waking up to its annoying sound again tomorrow!

My Third Featured Etsian!

My third featured fellow Etsian is a wonderful shop I met on one of the BNR threads I am on. The spot light for tonight's blog post is shining on PLBcrafter.etsy.com Awhile back I bought the cutest piggie card from this great shop. You can see this adorable little piggie card included in a bath set here in my Etsy shop.

I have been wanting and meaning to feature this wonderful woman that is absolutely fantastic for quite some time now. More than fantastic is the heart this particular shop owner has! As any of you who have been following my blog for awhile know, one of my best friends lost her mom to cancer a few months ago. My featured Etsian offered out of the kindness of her heart to make me a sympathy card to give to my friend at no charge. If only the world had more amazing people then it would be a much better place!

I found this to be the most unbelievably unselfish gesture for two reasons:

1.) She only knows me from the forum threads
and
2.) She did not know my friend at all.

I don't have a picture of the sympathy card she made for my friend but I will tell you it was a very nice, well made card. Be sure to check out her shop for a whole lot of wonderful cards and more! Now go look! Maybe you'll find something you can't live without!

Holy Conversations Batman

Recently someone had mentioned that they had been going through their Etsy conversations and deleting part of them. I decided to see how many I had. There is a whopping total of 1170. Wow! That's quite a few considering I've only been on Etsy for about 2 years. I'm a regular ol' chatterbox apparently! I'm sure there are some who have more than that and some that have less than that though. I think I will take the time sometime soon to delete the ones I don't think I need any longer. So how big of a chatterbox are you? How many Etsy conversations do YOU have? Do tell!

More Time To Blog

I love to blog but just feel like lately I don't have the time to sit and type out the things I'd like to write for you all to read. That thing called life just keeps getting in the way but hey, what can you do? Even though I don't get the chance to type out some of my topics I have however started jotting some of them down on paper to hopefully get the chance to blog about them some day. Yeah, you may be thinking, "How do you have the time to write them on paper but not type them on the computer?" Well, let me answer that for you! My son is completely spoiled rotten! He loves to be at my side whenever he can. It can be tough to try and type on the computer with him RIGHT there but if I'm sitting on the floor next to him and his toys he will play and not have interest in me for quite awhile. So I sometimes grab my pen and paper so I can write while I am sitting there beside him while he is playing. Hopefully I'll be able to find some more time to type out some of the things I'd like to share.

And The Winner Is.....

AND THE WINNER OF THE OCTOBER SALES DRAWING IS ........LavenderFields! Congratulations! LavenderFields just won a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop!

YOU COULD BE NEXT!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPECIAL DRAWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the entire month of November any and all purchases no matter how big or small will get your name put into a drawing to win a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop! Buy one item, get your name in the drawing once! Buy two items, get your name in the drawing twice! And so on! One name from all the November sales will be drawn on December 1st!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Good luck to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calling Daddy

Hubby and I were in the kitchen and from across the house we hear, "Daddy." "Daddy." "DADDY!" Hubby started to walk that way. I told him our son was awake and just laying in his crib so don't get onto her for yelling but tell her next time to come walk in to talk to him. As he got closer to her room I hear, "It's crawling. IT'S CRAWLING FAST!" Turns out it was a tiny spider. She can be scared of the smallest things sometimes. Even those itty bitty black ants.

Happy Halloween

Hope this works! Go here to get your Halloween wishes!

Trick Or Treating

Hope all my wonderful blog readers had a happy and safe Halloween! We had a busy day and evening here at our house. Started out with getting to sleep in just a bit then having breakfast. I got a few packages ready to mail and by that time we were eating some lunch.

After that we got both the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Our little boy was Winnie The Pooh and our daughter was Sleeping Beauty. Our daughter's unicorn from Build A Bear was also Sleeping Beauty.

Once they were ready we went to the post office to mail out my packages and headed over to my grandparent's house. We have never taken our daughter door to door trick or treating and do not ever plan to. There are just too many crazy/strange people in the world today that I don't trust candy from strangers. Granted I know that there are also a lot of nice people out there too but we are just not going to chance coming across one of the not so nice ones. So instead of going through the neighborhood we have always dressed our daughter up (and now our son) and gone to family members houses.

This year we took both the kids to my grandparents house where they had candy waiting from not only my grandparents but also one of my aunts had dropped off some candy for them too. We stayed and visited a bit then went over to Wal-mart which was so SUPER packed that we couldn't even find a parking space so we ended up shopping at Target. After that it was off to trick or treat at my mom's house. While there mom and I took my daughter over to my mom's old neighbor's house to get some candy. Went back to my mom's, visited for a little longer, then came home with FAR too much candy than we needed!

Once home my son took a good long nap while the rest of us had some supper. When my son woke up we fed him then headed off to my brother's wedding reception. No, they didn't get married on Halloween. They got married in Florida on the beach a few weeks back and had their reception tonight. We got there a few hours into it and stayed a couple of hours. My daughter was having a blast but my son was getting cranky. One, because he was still a bit tired since we had to wake him up to go and two, because he didn't want to be held. He wanted to go, go, go but couldn't just crawl all over. There were way too many people.

Now we are home and getting ready to tuck the kids in for the night. Whew, what a long, full day!

He Couldn't See

Today at lunchtime I had my son in his high chair and my daughter sitting at the table. Barney & Friends was on tv at the time. It was pretty obvious that my son thought my daughter was in his way. She was between him and the tv. He was squirming, moving, and stretching in order to be able to see the tv. He doesn't watch a whole lot of tv but does on occasion. He especially likes the shows that have music and singing. I've even caught him trying to dance along with the rhythm. It is too cute! Barney & Friends happens to be one of those shows that has a lot of music and singing so that is why I think it really caught his attention today during lunch. As soon as I moved his high chair over so he could watch, he was content. He watched while eating his lunch.

Custom Orders

So if you were on Etsy and decided you wanted to have a large quantity of something made that a shop on Etsy had in their shop would you :

A. ask that seller about placing a large custom order

Or

B. place an Alchemy request on Etsy for a large quantity of the item using the picture from the shop on Etsy that has the item you are wanting/needing

I personally would have asked the seller first and if they couldn't do it for a price that worked for both of us then I would have placed an Alchemy bid but I would not have used their picture. Maybe I am just being moody today but I don't think it is right to use another Etsy shop's picture especially if you haven't even asked that shop about making the item for you. And yes, I just came across one of my pictures on Alchemy so that is where this is coming from. I'm sure this would not bother most but I bet it would bother some like it is bothering me. I'm not mad or anything. I just wish the person would have asked us to make the item first. We love custom orders! I feel like they did the Alchemy request to get our item made at a cheaper price. Okay, I feel better now. Thanks for reading!

Very Popular Item

The miniature rainbow colored face scrubbies in my Etsy shop found here have been a very popular item. Who would have thought? I'm not even sure how many sets have sold but I know it has been quite a few. Yay! Share with me your most popular items. I'd love to see!

Instead Of Candy

This morning I made what my daughter will be passing out to her class for their Fall party at school this coming Wednesday. Instead of buying candy, which I'm sure they will all get plenty of, I decided to make little miniature notebooks for them to draw in. I had to make a whopping 27 of them as my daughter has a very large class. I stapled plain white paper in between orange card stock. The front is printed with a Halloween picture and the back is just plain orange. I think they turned out pretty cute. What do you think?

Something To Make You Smile

This will make you smile!

This one is for everyone who...
A) has kids
B) had kids
C) was a kid
D) knows a kid
E) is going to have kids

I guess that means all of us!!

DADDY'S GONNA EAT YOUR FINGERS

I was packing for my business trip and my three year old daughter was having a wonderful time playing on the bed. At one point she said, 'Daddy, look at this', and stuck out two of her fingers.

Trying to keep her entertained, I reached out and stuck her tiny fingers in my mouth and said, 'Daddy's gonna eat your fingers.' Pretending to eat them.

I went back to packing, looked up again, and my daughter was standing on the bed staring at her fingers with a devastated look on her face.

I said, 'What's wrong, honey?'

She replied, 'What happened to my booger?'

Custom Order Baby Afghan

Earlier today I delivered a custom order baby afghan to a woman who had placed her order at a recent craft show we did. She was very pleased with the afghan and LOVED it. It's always so great to see people's faces when you get them their custom orders. Just makes you feel so good to know they truly do love the item! I think she is thinking of possibly ordering another afghan. She said she'd spread the word for us too. That would be great if we received more orders from those who see her baby afghan. Only time will tell!

Ears

My little boy is so funny! He likes to have you put your fingers in his ears. He'll be sitting on my lap and I'll put my index fingers in his ears. He'll just sit there and let me. After I take my fingers out he grabs my hands and puts them back in. What a funny child! It's so cute and funny yet strange all at the same time!

ONE DAY ONLY SALE!

*****ONE DAY ONLY SALE*****
For one day only, Tuesday, October 20, 2009 receive 20% off all orders of 2 items or more. All orders of $20.00 or more before shipping will receive a FREE gift. Percentage off does not include shipping charges.
*****ONE DAY ONLY SALE*****

Nightlights

So last night hubby and I are laying in bed. It is about 12:30am. All of a sudden he sits up and lays back down. It was like he did a sit-up which I knew wasn't the case. Right as I was getting ready to make a comment about it he asked me, "Where did the nightlights go that were at the foot of the bed?" We used to have some of those flat nightlights plugged into the plug-in that is on the wall across from the end of our bed to help light up our room so we can see if we need to get up in the middle of the night. I told him I didn't know. Maybe they quit working? I wasn't sure. Next thing you know he gets up out of bed and walks around the bed to the other plug-in then comes back to bed. I was like, "You have to deal with it RIGHT now? There hasn't been a nightlight plugged in there for quite awhile now." He had gone to the other plug-in that had a nightlight plugged in it and moved the clothes hamper out a bit to make it a little brighter in our room. I asked if he was scared of the dark. He jokingly said yeah. Apparently he is worried about stubbing his toes? I have no clue what prompted having to deal with it at 12:30am at night but it was just kind of funny. Men. They can be strange sometimes but I wouldn't trade him for anything!

Second School Fundraiser

Can you believe that only after about two months of school they have already sent home ANOTHER fund raiser? I guess if you have kids you probably can believe it! I'm all for helping raise money for the school but holy cow, how many are we going to have? One every month? I know there is at least one more in our future. The one that will be selling the candy and Christmas wrapping paper. At least I assume that one is in our future. The second one they sent home last week with my daughter was a MAJOR SAVER card. Only thing is we didn't expect her to sell too many of them as the places on the card are basically only for locations in the city we live in which is about a 25 minute drive for all of our family and friends as none of them live very close to us in the same city. We, of course are buying one since we're the parents and we have to right? My mom is buying one since she is over our way often so she figures she'll be able to use it. Both my aunts are buying one as well. I think they just wanted to make my daughter happy. Hmmm...do you think they spoil her? Only time will tell what the next thing she is selling for school will be!

Restaurant Lunches

Yesterday and today I got to eat out at restaurants for lunch. Yesterday my mom took me to Red Lobster where I had a Shrimp Linguine meal with a salad swimming in Ranch dressing. Oh, and mom had also ordered an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms. Today my grandparents took me to Bob Evans for lunch where I had a Country Biscuit Breakfast which consisted of a biscuit covered with crumbled sausage, scrambled egg, gravy, and shredded cheese. It also came with seasoned potatoes on the side. Both lunches were extremely yummy! Gotta love mommies and grandmas and grandpas!

Daily Posts

Alright my dear readers, I have decided I don't think I have it in me to blog daily like I would like. With my son not sleeping well at night thus making me extra tired and all of the other things going on in everyday life around here, I just don't feel I have a whole lot of time to post. I have so many things I would love to write about but it seems I just never get them typed out for all your eyes to read! With birthday parties, three day craft shows, family reunions, custom orders, among other things happening in the past weeks, I have begun missing days posting here lately. One of these days I hope to get back in the routine of blogging daily as I really do enjoy it. Things will soon be slowing down for me here soon I hope. At least for awhile they will anyway. So as of now you may see a daily post or you may not. Guess you'll just have to wait and see!

Another Up A Lot Night

11:30pm ish, 2am ish, 3am ish, 5am ish, 8am ish.....

Those are the times associated with very little sleep for everyone in our household last night except our daughter. She is a pretty heavy sleeper. Luckily! She needs her rest for school so it is a good thing she doesn't wake up when baby cries at night.

Hubby and I went to bed last night about 11:30pm and all the other times are when our son woke up. Poor hubby was even more tired than I was today too because he stayed up after the 5am wake up of our son since he was planning to leave for work about 6am anyway. I've been told that when babies sleeping patterns change it means they are approaching a milestone in their life. I'm thinking our son's milestone he is approaching is a couple of new teeth that are just taking their sweet little time breaking through. I sure do wish they would hurry the heck up! I miss getting to sleep all night long!

Waking Up A Lot

Yep, it was too good to be true! Our son did not let us sleep last night all night long. He was just teasing us the night before with that 8 hours we got. Last night he was up four, yes four separate times. I got up with him the first time, hubby had the next two, then I was up with him the last time. I was the lucky winner to get up with him to start his day as well while hubby stayed in bed. Too bad we won't get to sleep when it comes nap time. Always too many things to do! Oh well, maybe, just maybe, he'll sleep all night tonight. Only time will tell. Just have to wait and see.

8 Hours Of Sleep

This morning I woke to the sound of my son crying. Looked at the clock and I think it was just before 7:30am. My hubby's alarm was set for 7:30am but it hadn't gone off yet. No way! Had he REALLY slept THAT long? Yes, yes he had! Hubby asked if I had got up with him and I said no. He hadn't either. Our son had slept ALL night for the first time in weeks! I think it was about 10:30pm last night when we had put him to bed and we went to bed about 11:30pm. Oh my goodness, did it feel nice to get pretty much a full 8 hours of solid sleep! I had begun to wonder when that would happen again! He had been sleeping basically all night long since he was about 3 or 4 months old. A couple of different times he has had his moments where he gets up in the night. The past few weeks has been one of those moments. We aren't 100% sure why but think part of it is because he's teething and part of it might be because he gets chilly since the weather here has changed and is now cooler outside. Neither of my children like to stay under the covers. Now, I am not going to expect another 8 hours of sleep again tonight as it was probably just a "Yes, I can still sleep all night if I want to but ha ha mommy, just kidding, did you think I'd really sleep ALL night long every night" kind of night. That's alright though. I'll take it when I can!

Almost Everything Is Purchased

After a post office run to mail out a few packages this morning, I went and purchased nearly all the rest of the things I needed for my son's 1st birthday party this weekend. I can't believe he is already going to be 1! Where does the time go? We are throwing him an Elmo party. I bought an Elmo cake pan awhile back from Hobby Lobby with their wonderful 40% off coupon. Got to love those coupons! On a different day I purchased some new cake icing colorings with yet another one of those great little 40% off coupons!

I had previously bought some plates and plastic silverware. Today I purchased some cups, white napkins, and a table covering at Deals then headed over to the party store to get some Elmo napkins and Elmo hanging decorations. After that I stopped in at Hobby Lobby to get some black cake icing coloring since it was not one of the colors included in my new box I had previously purchased but I need it for the Elmo cake. Our last stop today was at Hyvee to pick up some chip dip for the party to go with the chips I already have. I have everything for the punch I plan to make except for the fruit I plan to put in it so while at Hyvee I also bought a lemon, a lime, and an orange that I will be slicing up and putting in the punch bowl. I think the only thing left to purchase is a small package of cupcakes. For our daughter's 1st birthday we gave her her own little cupcake to eat so we plan to do the same for our son.

Dreams

I've been thinking about blogging about dreams for awhile now but hadn't done so yet. I decided that today would be a good day to do so. My daughter has to be at school in the mornings by 9:05am. When I walk her to school we usually leave at about 8:53am or so.

This morning I was dreaming. In my dream we had woke up at 8:52am and had to rush around to get ready so we could get my daughter to school on time. When I woke up from my dream I looked at the clock and it was 8:21am. A bit later than I normally sleep in the morning but still plenty of time to get ready. Next thing I know I look at the clock again and it was either 8:51am or 8:52am. I can't remember for sure. I do know we were not all the way ready to go. Rush, rush! We had to hurry to get my daughter's hair done, she went potty, and hubby helped me get my son's shoes and socks on. We all got our jackets on and put my son in the stroller. Out the door we went. Got my daughter to school on time. Whew!

So what do dreams really mean? I think they have some sort of meaning but I just don't always know what that meaning is. Crazy how this morning my dream I had basically became reality. I've had at least one other dream in the past that basically became reality too. Hmmm......Am I psychic? Naw, I don't believe in all that stuff. I know some people do and that is just fine. To each their own but I personally don't believe in it. I sure wouldn't mind dreaming about picking the winning lottery numbers though and having that become reality! Wouldn't that be grand? So what are your thoughts on dreams? Do share!

Better Weather

Today the weather was definitely better for us at our outdoor show we were doing this weekend. Sun was shining bright most of the day I think. No need for the stocking cap, scarf, and gloves today! It was like a heatwave compared to the last two days. Boy do I dislike winter. I'm a baby when it comes to the cold. I'm already ready for it to be spring! I say we just skip winter this year. Whatcha think? Anyone agree?

A Little Warmer Day

Well, today was a bit better at our craft show. It started out pretty darn chilly again but did warm up a bit. Got kind of chilly again this evening but nowhere and I mean NOWHERE near as cold as last night. Thank goodness! I think tomorrow is suppose to be nicer than today was so hopefully it will be!

Brrrrr City!!!

Tonight was the first night of a three day craft show mom and I are participating in. Boy was it chilly! The wind was just blowing and blowing! I had to wait to set up our items because I didn't want to have to chase them down every two minutes. A man helping with the show finally lowered part of the tent opening to help cut back on part of the wind so my things would stay put on our tables better. The winds were suppose to have calmed down but I think they got worse. Brrrrr!!!! Was it cold! Mom and I had gloves on and blankets wrapped around us! Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer. They say it is suppose to be nice but that is what we heard from the same people who told us the wind would be dieing down. Guess we'll find out tomorrow!

And The Winner Is.....

AND THE WINNER OF THE SEPTEMBER SALES DRAWING IS........PookThy! Congratulations! PookThy just won a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop!

YOU COULD BE NEXT!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPECIAL DRAWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the entire month of October any and all purchases no matter how big or small will get your name put into a drawing to win a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop! Buy one item, get your name in the drawing once! Buy two items, get your name in the drawing twice! And so on! One name from all the October sales will be drawn on November 1st!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Good luck to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Night Night Time

Every night I try to make sure that one of the last things I tell my kids is "I love you." My daughter and I have a "routine" that we do. I say "Night night." She says "Night night." I say "Sweet dreams." She says "Sweet dreams." I say "See you in the morning." She says "See you in the morning." I say "I love you" and she says "I love you." Then I make a kissing sound and she makes one back. I plan to do the same with my son when he is old enough to talk. Right now I say the same things to him on most nights. He almost always if not always gets an "I love you" from me. He just doesn't repeat anything back yet. He will however smile big when I tell him. I always want my kids to know how much I love them and I think this is a great way to do so! They should definitely feel loved because they are!

Pre-Paid Gas

So the other day I had to stop to get gas and all I had was cash. I normally pay for my gas at the pump with my bank card so I got to experience the whole pre-pay process. I think I've only had to do that once or twice before. I know it hasn't happened very often. My question is, how does someone who has to pre-pay ever get there gas tank completely full? I wouldn't think you would be able to guess exactly how much it would cost to fill your tank? I know I couldn't. If you pre-pay too little then you won't get a full tank. If you pre-pay too much then how does that work? If you don't fit it all in your gas tank do you go back inside and get the difference back? Anyone know? Someone enlighten me on all this as I am pretty clueless obviously but definitely curious as to how it all works!

Pictures

I have had my daughter's pictures taken at Sears ever since she was 4 weeks old. Last week for her 6th birthday I ended up taking her to Wal-mart to have them done. One, because the Sears I like to go to was closed on the day of her birthday. I'm a stickler for having pictures taken on the exact day. And two, I was kind of ready to start going somewhere else anyway. We've pretty much used up all the backgrounds and props available at Sears. They called me today to let me know the pictures were in. I actually wasn't expecting them until tomorrow. I needed to get some baby food for my son so I decided to go ahead and pick up the pictures today. Yeah, that didn't happen. Of all the times for me to be at Wal-mart I went when the picture place was closed for lunch. Go figure! Guess I'll just be getting them on the day they were originally suppose to be back after all. Looks like I'll be making another Wal-mart run tomorrow.

Tic Tacs

I was rocking my son for his nap earlier this evening when my daughter came to the doorway with her magnet letter board. She had spelled out "I wut a tic tac!" Which obviously was suppose to be, "I want a tic tac!" Hey, she just turned six years old. I think she did a pretty darn good job! Thought it was cute and worth blogging about for all to see! Hope it made you at least smile! We all need to do that as often as we can!

Three Day Craft Shows

Wow! Craft Shows are a lot of work to participate in but three day ones really make you tired. Today is the last day of the show we've been doing this weekend. Thank goodness! The first two days were so long. Luckily today is a shorter amount of hours that it is open so I got to sleep in a bit this morning. I've been so busy with the show this weekend that I feel like I haven't had time to do much of anything else. I look forward to sitting around and relaxing this evening once we get everything packed up.

Still Behind

I know! I know! I said I'd try and write again last night. Ummm....yeah, that didn't happen huh? I'm still a day behind but I will catch up, one of these days. Yesterday was the first day of a three day fall festival craft show. I got home late because they didn't close the tents when we thought they were going to. A woman from a booth near ours actually ended up helping close them so we could finally leave more than 30 minutes after we were suppose to. There were still so many people around who kept coming in the tents even though you could tell people were closing up. We didn't want to leave all of our stuff there with all the people still around. Once the tent was finally closed I had to drive home and get the kids tucked into bed, check my Etsy shop and e-mails, and pack up some things to take back with me today to the show. Whew! What a busy day it was! Today is going to be a long one too so be prepared to have this be your only read for today. It's okay. Don't cry! You know I'll do what I can to get you some more to read as soon as possible. Here's a tissue. Now cheer up! I'll be back when I can!

Fell Behind

Grrr....I was doing SO well for the month of September! Hadn't missed one day of posting! Not one! I managed to mess that posting streak up yesterday didn't I? Well, this post is for yesterday and I'll do my best to post again this evening for today so as not to fall behind again. It is a busy, full day for me today but I'll try and get you something else to read later tonight.

Early Birds

Uugghh....I do not like to get up early! I miss the mornings of saying good-bye and I love you to hubby when he left for work then rolling back over and sleeping until the kids woke up. I don't get to do that anymore now that my daughter goes to school. I have to be up to get her up and ready. This morning hubby had to leave a bit earlier than normal. I was going to have him bring me my cell phone so I could set the alarm on it. My plan was to roll over and fall back asleep for a bit. Only thing is, after I asked him to bring me my phone from my desk I remembered it wasn't on my desk but in my jacket pocket. So of course, I had to get up myself. Came in the living room to find him searching my oh so cluttered desk not having any luck finding my phone. I told him never mind, I remembered it was in my jacket. I set the alarm on it but then decided to just go ahead and stay up. I know I will be tired later but oh well. I'm hoping to try and accomplish a few things before having to get the kids up to start their day. Got one thing done so far. My blog post for you to read! This early morning stuff is for the birds though! I don't like it much! They can have the worm! I'll keep my pillow, blankets, and warm, cozy bed!

Happy Birthday

Today my daughter turned six. My how time flies! We took her and had the most adorable pictures of her taken at Walmart tonight then headed over to her choice of restaurant. Yes, she stuck with her choice of Red Lobster. It was so good! Mmm mmm! We nearly froze to death though when we first got seated at our table! It was SO SO cold! I wanted a jacket but didn't have mine with me. Hubby was even a bit chilly and he is hardly ever cold so if he was chilly you know it was cold in there! Overall my daughter had a great birthday and that is all that matters! She had fun at school handing out treats to her classmates. Was a ham for the camera during pictures and LOVED the fact that they sang Happy Birthday to her at Red Lobster. She actually reminded them that they hadn't sung yet. She also loved the gift we gave her tonight for her present from us. I will hopefully be blogging about it one of these days as I got it from an amazing shop here on Etsy. You'll have to keep reading my blog daily to see what it is. I still need to blog about her party we had for her a few weekends ago and show off the cake we made. Stay tuned!

Rain Rain Go Away

Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day! Running errands can be such a hassle already sometimes but when it's raining, the rain makes it that much more of a pain especially when you have kids to take with you. Today I had to run to a couple of places and had my son with me. Now, I had an umbrella that helped keep us dry. Problem is my son is scared of the umbrella. Not sure why? Poor little guy. I guess when they are that young odd things will scare them. He isn't totally terrified of it that he screams and cries or anything like that. You can tell he obviously doesn't like it much though. He kind of whines and just looks at it like he's keeping his eye on it. Guess to him it is this big, strange object that he doesn't understand how it works yet. Thankfully he isn't extremely scared of it so we can still use it. Otherwise we would have been pretty darn wet today!

School Birthday Treats

My daughter's birthday is Tuesday. She wanted to take treats to school to celebrate with her class. The procedure for this is that whatever you bring has to be store bought and individually wrapped. Although I like the idea of this because you just don't know how clean all the other kid's families and houses are, it can get a bit expensive by the time you buy enough to treat 26 kids and the teacher. We bought Hi-C juice boxes and chocolate cupcakes tonight for my daughter to share with her class. This was what she wanted to take. Of course since there are 27 to feed I had to buy three packages of each so we will have extra to enjoy at home! This also made it cost more to buy enough. I think it was somewhere around $15.00 plus tax. You can buy a cake mix and thing of frosting for about $3.00. Big price difference here but again I completely like the idea of pre-packaged. It completely makes sense and is totally understandable. This blog wasn't necessarily to complain. I just wasn't sure what to write about and this topic came to mind. I'm doing good to not fall behind yet this month! Notice I said yet. And yes, I still know I owe you a few posts from last month!

Just A Little Funny

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”

The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?”

The boy takes the quarters and leaves.

“What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”

The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

Rocking Chair Boredom

You know it is pretty boring to just sit and rock in a rocking chair for a long time. My son likes to rock when it is time to nap or go to bed at night. Usually it is only about 15 to 30 minutes of rocking but that amount of time feels like an hour or more especially when you are tired yourself. You sit there thinking about what you could be doing or getting done. You get past that train of thought though when you remember that you won't always get this cuddle time. At some point they grow up and don't want to be held. They would rather go, go, go. So for now, I know I need to enjoy this time. It won't last forever!

I Need These

My daughter loves to make bracelets and necklaces with all her plastic beads. At some point she got these plastic clasps that go on the end of the string after she gets the beads strung on. One goes on each end of the string. They connect together holding the necklace or bracelet on. I think they must have come in some sort of kit or something. I have since not been able to find anymore of them anywhere. Thought I'd post on here to see if anyone might have some or know where I can get some. The pictures show what they look like. Let me know if you can help! Thanks!

New To Etsy

Mom, my son, and myself spent most of the day shopping today. When we came back to the house I checked on my Etsy shop to see if there had been any sales. There were! 14 items to one buyer who just joined Etsy today! I love it when that happens!

Penguins

Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go?

Wonder no more!!!

It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.

The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.

If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.

The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:

"Freeze a jolly good fellow."

Then they kick him in the ice hole. You really didn’t believe that I know anything about penguins, did you?

Sometimes

Sometimes...
when you cry...
no one sees your tears.



Sometimes...
when you are in pain...
no one sees your hurt.



Sometimes...
when you are worried...
no one sees your stress.



Sometimes...
when you are happy...
no one sees your smile .



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-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

But FART!! just ONE time...



And everybody knows!!

Gotcha!! You thought this was going to be one of those heart-touching stories!!

Strawberry Sundae

Just a short and sweet blog post for tonight. I'm sitting here waiting for my hubby to get back with Sonic ice cream. He's bringing me a strawberry sundae. Mmmm mmmm good! See, short and sweet! Do you want ice cream now?

Another Joke Day

Whew! It has been yet another long busy day. We had our daughter's 6th birthday party today. I plan to blog about it but just not tonight. On that note, I am going to share with you another joke I received in an e-mail quite some time ago. Some will find it funny. Some will not. You be the judge!

One evening a husband, thinking he was being funny, said to his wife 'Perhaps we should start washing your clothes in Slim Fast. Maybe it would take a few inches off of your butt!'

His wife was not amused, and decided that she simply couldn't let such a comment go unrewarded.

The next morning the husband took a pair of underwear out of his drawer. 'What the hell is this?' he said to himself as a little 'dust' cloud appeared when he shook them out.

He hollered into the bathroom to his wife, 'Why did you put Talcum Powder in my underwear?'

She replied with a snicker. 'It's not talcum powder. It's Miracle Grow !'

Joke For Today

It has been a long busy full day for me today. I didn't know what to write about so I'm just going to share with you a joke I received from someone in an e-mail. Some of you may find it funny and some of you may not. I'll let you decide!

A little boy blows up a balloon and starts flicking it all around the house with his finger.

His mother tells him to stop it as he's liable to break something, but the boy continues.

"Johnny!" Mom screams.

"Knock it off."

"You're going to break something."

He stops and eventually Mom leaves for a short trip to the shopping center.

Johnny starts up with the balloon again after his mom has left for the store. He gives it one last flick and it lands in the toilet where he leaves it.

Mom comes in and while putting away the groceries gets the urge, a diarrhea run.

She can hardly make it to the toilet in time and SPLASH, out it comes.

When she's finished, she looks down and can't believe what she's seeing.

She's not sure what this big brown thing is in the toilet!

She calls her doctor.

The doctor is baffled as she describes the situation, but he assures her
he'll be over shortly to examine everything.

When he arrives she leads him to the bathroom and he gets down on his
knees and takes a long, hard look at the thing.

Finally, he takes out his pen and sort of touches it to see what it might be and POP!

The balloon explodes and poop is everywhere. On him, the walls, etc.

"Doctor! Doctor! Are you all right?" she asks.

He says, "I've been in this business for over 30 years, and this is the first time I've ever actually seen a fart!"

Open House

Tonight was our first Open House at our daughter's school. All went fine. Everyone started off in the auditorium where the principal introduced the staff of the school and a few of them talked about some things. After that you went to your child's classroom and the teachers talked about some of the things going on in the class. My daughter's teacher had the kids do a scavenger hunt with their parents and find some things in the classroom. They had to check them off as they showed the parents where they were. After they were done they turned in their paper to her and received a prize. The prize was a box of crayons. Tonight kind of reminded me of Kindergarten round-up with so many people in the room and the teacher bouncing back and forth. We didn't really get a chance to talk to her about anything. I'm glad that the parent teacher conference will be a one on one with her. I'm sure it will be so much less hectic.

BD's Mongolian Barbeque

Yesterday my mom came over and treated my hubby and I to lunch at BD's Mongolian Barbeque. Of course, baby was there too but he isn't quite big enough to eat that sort of food yet. Poor little guy! Just doesn't know what he is missing!

For those of you that haven't ever heard of this restaurant, let me tell you about it. You go in, get seated, and order your drinks. You then have the choice of having just the meat and veggie bar, the soup and salad bar or both. The prices vary depending on what you pick. After that you make your way up to the food. You are basically creating your own stir fry.

We always start with the soup and salad bar. Then it is off to the meat bar. On here they have all kinds of raw meat: steak, pork, chicken, shrimp and more. You take a bowl and put in whatever meats you want. Head over to the veggie bar and add any veggies you want to your same bowl. Some of the veggies to choose from are green onions, broccoli, zucchini, squash, carrots, and more. Once you have your bowl piled high with your meat and veggies it's time to go get you some seasonings. Here you take a different small bowl and put any liquid flavorings you want like terriyaki sauce, soy sauce, marinara sauce, among many other choices. After you have your liquid flavorings you pick what powder seasonings you want and add them to your liquid ones. They have garlic, pepper, season salt, and a lot more to choose from.

Once you have both bowls with all you want in them you go up to the counter that goes around this large grill. You give it to the people grilling and they cook it right there in front of you. They cook your meat and veggies first then add your seasonings on right at the end so you won't lose the flavor while it is cooking. They then put it all on a plate for you and you head back to your table. At the table they bring you white rice, flour tortillas, or both to eat along with your combination you made.

It really is a good restaurant in my opinion. It's almost like you make your own food. I mean, besides the grilling part you do put it all together yourself. My mom had never been there before. About a few weeks ago a friend of mine, my mom, my baby, and myself had gone there to eat. Mom loved it SO much that is where she wanted to eat at again yesterday. It really is a good deal for the amount of food you get and the price you pay. They have an option of an all you can eat but we never have room to go back more than once!

If you have a BD's Mongolian Barbeque near you and have yet to try it I suggest you do! I hope you will be as pleased with it as we are! If mom has her way, I'm sure we'll be eating there again really soon! You can go here and check it out online if you'd like.

Tackling My Daughter's Room

Tonight I took on the challenge of cleaning my 5 year old daughter's room. Ummm....wow! Was it a mess! It is so crazy how fast they can get it all so unorganized. Seems like just last week I had gone in there and straightened it all up. For me, everything has a place. For her, everything has a place too, just not where I would like it! Well, tonight I had looked at the clutter in there for long enough and decided to get it all cleaned up. She is having her birthday party this weekend so she'll be getting lots of new things that will need a place to go in her room. Crazy me decided to rearrange her room tonight too along with cleaning it. What was I thinking? A few hours later and her room looks great! Question is, how long will it stay that way? Hubby and I are guessing until this weekend when she gets all her new birthday gifts. At this rate, we're going to need a bigger house just to accomodate all our kid's things!

So Many Items Or Less

So we all have some sort of pet peeves or things that bug us right? Well, one of mine is people who get in the so many items or less lines at the store with WAY more than the maximum amount intended for that line. Sometimes the lines are set up for 10, 12, 15, or 20 items or less. You know what lines I'm referring to here.

Let me tell you about my latest experience with this issue. We stopped in at Wal-mart the other day to pick up three things which ended up being four because I thought a 3 Musketeer's candy bar sounded good. I ran in really quick while hubby and the kids waited in the truck. At least I was hoping it would be really quick. I think I waited in line longer than it took me to walk around the store finding my three things I was needing. This particular Wal-mart we went to is usually extremely busy especially on the weekends so the 20 items or less lines were already long when I went to check out.

I started to get in one line and then realized it was a cash only line and I was planning to use my bank card. I ended up just one line over thankfully or I could have been there for a LONG time. Looking back at the cash only line I saw a woman putting her things up on the counter to check out. Let me remind you that I think the lines at this Wal-mart are 20 items or less. This woman already had the counter top FULL and still had probably over 20 items left in her shopping cart to put up there once the cashier made room.

People like this are what make the lines even longer. People who are in the store for just a few things expect these type of lines to go quicker than the regular check-out lines. I mean, come on. 20 items is a lot to begin with let alone having more than that. Now I know I am guilty of having just a few more than the maximum amount of items at times so I'm okay with someone else doing so but double or more of the amount of items is just annoying! To me it is anyway.

One time we were at this same Wal-mart and two woman were behind us with a cart full of things. After getting in line I think they realized it was a so many items or less line. I heard them talking and they were saying that they would just leave the cart if the cashier refused to check them out because they had too many items. They were well aware they were in the wrong line but just didn't care.

Maybe I'm just not a rule breaker or something but my hubby and I usually count how many things we have. We've been known to put something back just to not have too many. Other times like I said before, we have been guilty of having a few too many. Okay, that's my gripe for the day. Does this bother anyone else or is it just me being silly?

What Makes My Baby Laugh

It is just amazing what little it takes to make a baby laugh sometimes. Tonight my son was standing at the baby gate we have put up to the entrance of the hall from our living room. Across the way is our bathroom. My daughter was in the bathroom brushing her teeth. Each time she rinsed her mouth and spit the water in the sink my son would just laugh and laugh. It was so funny and cute all at the same time! I wish I had recorded it because I know it would have put a smile on your face to be able to hear him.

Pancakes

I am not overly fond of pancakes. They are not one of my favorite breakfast foods. When someone else makes them and brings them to you they can be pretty tasty though and I am not going to complain. Hubby cooked us all pancakes this morning for breakfast. They helped to satisfy my hungry tummy. What did you have for breakfast on this fine Saturday morning?

Guacamole

Tonight I made homemade guacamole for the first time. I always love it when we eat out at restaurants and have wanted to try and make it many times at home. With the price of avocados I had yet to do so until now. I was able to get some avocados the other day for a half way decent price. Mash up a few of them. Add some chopped tomato and onion. Dash in a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic salt with a touch of lime juice and voila! You have some pretty good tasting guacamole! Now I just need to get some tortilla chips and I'm all set. I had to taste test it with plain potato chips. Not quite the same. We plan on doing some grocery shopping tomorrow so I'll grab some tortilla chips then. The guacamole along with the homemade salsa I made last night will make for a nice tasty treat tomorrow! Mmmm mmmm......I can't wait!

Ranch Wheat Thins

I am going to do my best to stay caught up with my blog by posting one blog post per day for the whole month of September. Whether I do this or not is another question but I'm going to try! I know I am still missing a few from last month. I'm going to see if I can't find enough to write about to catch up on those too. Yeah, I know. That's a whole lot of writing!

Tonight's blog is one of my try it before you buy it blogs. I'm featuring the Ranch flavored Wheat Thins tonight. Normally when we have purchased flavored crackers they don't have much flavor to them. It's like you get a quick little taste of the seasoning on them and then it is just a mouth full of plain ol' cracker. Well, that is not the case with the Ranch flavored Wheat Thins. They taste great the whole time. I would definitely buy them again and if you haven't tried them yet, I'd recommend you do! Now go out and get yourself a box!

Very Little Sleep

My hubby was out of town last night for work. When he is gone I already feel like I don't sleep as well but last night was just crazy! I almost feel like I should have not even bothered to go to bed. Let me give you a run-down on what sleep I didn't get! Here's all the times/reasons I woke up last night:

Midnight: This is about the time I went to bed after I got the kids to sleep and enjoyed some quiet time all to myself.

2:48am: This was the time on the clock when I woke up because my daughter was having a dream and made a noise.

3:18am: We had a few thunderstorms come through so about this time some rumbles of thunder woke me back up. Obviously I had not been back to sleep very long. Normally I love the big ol' claps of thunder. Just NOT while I'm trying to sleep!

3:55am: Again I hadn't been asleep long when the storms woke me back up. This time it wasn't the thunder though. It was the sound of pea sized hail coming down.

4:44am: This was the time on the clock when baby woke up and needed mommy to rock him back to sleep.

5:46am: My daughter must have been doing a lot of dreaming last night because she woke me up again.

6:34am: This was the time on the clock when baby woke up again and I had to rock him back to sleep again.

7:30am: My alarm went off. I won't lie. I hit snooze a few times. Wouldn't you have too? Then I had to get up to shower and get my daughter ready for school.

So..........as you can see I didn't get a whole heck of a lot of sleep last night. Seriously, I should have just stayed up all night! Don't ya think?

Then I felt awful because I had to wake my son up, who was snoozing away so soundly, so I could walk my daughter to school. Go figure! He sleeps when I can't but wakes up when I want to sleep! Isn't that how it seems to go quite often?

Obviously I was super tired today and REALLY hope to get a better night's rest tonight! Wish me luck!

And The Winner Is.....

AND THE WINNER OF THE AUGUST SALES DRAWING IS........Ullalentz! Congratulations! Ullalentz just won a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop!

YOU COULD BE NEXT!!!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPECIAL DRAWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the entire month of September any and all purchases no matter how big or small will get your name put into a drawing to win a $20.00 gift certificate to our shop! Buy one item, get your name in the drawing once! Buy two items, get your name in the drawing twice! And so on! One name from all the September sales will be drawn on October 1st!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Good luck to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sleepless Night

Last Wednesday night I didn't get much sleep at all. Baby woke up A LOT! It reminded me of when he was a newborn only I think he woke up even more often. We went to bed about midnight and at around 1:30am I heard cries. I got up and rocked him back to sleep only to have him cry out again at about 4am. Again I rocked him back to sleep. At about 5:30am he woke up and needed rocked again. My alarm went off at 7:30am so I could get up, get around, and get my daughter ready and off to school. Boy was I tired that morning. I think my son is trying to cut some new teeth. That was the only night he has woke up THAT many times. Thank goodness! Running on such a short amount of sleep makes for a very long and tiresome day.

French Toast

Mmmmm mmmm good! I love French toast whether it is for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Picture this, nice fresh hot off the stove French toast smothered in butter and drowning in syrup. Can you see it? Can you taste it? I could this morning! Know what made it even better? It was made for me by my hubby so I didn't even have to cook! Paired up with a nice big ol' glass of orange juice and I had a wonderful tasty breakfast. Now I know I could have included a picture so you could have had a visual along with this description but there was just not time to be snapping a photo. I was too busy eating! Are you hungry now?

Treat Jar

On Monday, August 17th, we went to the school for the Kindergarten Meet And Greet. Tuesday, August 18th was the first day of school for our daughter. On Saturday, August 22nd the woman who lives next door called and asked if she could come over. She had something for our daughter. I told her yes, that would be fine so she came over a few minutes later.

With her she brought a big jar that had a lot of change in it and a few one dollar bills. Apparently in her family she has a tradition that takes place when each of her grandchildren had started Kindergarten. They got to put their hand in what she calls the "treat jar". However much money their little hand could pull out was theirs to keep and spend. They could only use the one hand though. She let our little girl be a part of this tradition. Our daughter's little hand pulled out $4.14. She put it with her money she was already saving. She had $1.00 from the tooth fairy, $1.00 from a woman who gave it to her who had come to a yard sale we had this summer, and her earnings from her chore chart she has recently begun to do small little things around the house from to earn some money. She is saving up to buy a Mermaid Barbie. With the money she got from the "treat jar" she is over half way there.

I thought it was such a sweet nice thing our neighbor did. She reminds me a lot of my grandparents and is about their age too. She has always been so nice to all of us. We exchange gifts at Christmas and she brings the kids things on occasion. I think she enjoys watching our kids grow up. She's lived here in our neighborhood since her children were little so she's been here for many many years and knows a lot of the neighbors. It's really hard to find such nice people in this world now a days but there are still some around.

A Love Tiara

This is a picture that my daughter drew and I colored. My daughter LOVES LOVES LOVES it when I blog about her whether it is something she said or did. As long as it is about her she is happy! She doesn't sound like she loves to be the center of attention or anything, does she?

This morning I had her practicing how to write her name five times since she is five years old. Now she already knows how to write her name in capital letters and has for quite some time but now that she is in school the teacher wants her to write it in lower case letters in the style of writing the school teaches. So when I had her start practicing she wanted to draw a picture for me to write my name on and color when she was all done writing her name. I told her I would and I did.

The picture she drew she said is called a love tiara. She picked the colors I was to color it with. Blue for the heart and pink for the tiara. I had to write my name at the top of the page too. I have a feeling that part came about because she has to write her name at the top of her papers for school.

It's so funny around here when her and I do stuff like this. Most of the time when we are done she will say something like, "Are you going to take a picture?" or "Now you have to blog about it." Geez, blog about her one time and now she thinks that is all I want to write about. Kids! Gotta love them!

Tootsie Rolls

How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop? I have no clue but I do know that I really like the fruit flavored tootsie rolls! There are cherry, lemon, orange, and lime ones. I do believe I like them better than the chocolate ones. Yes, I said it. I like fruit better than chocolate! What stinks is that as far as I know you can only get the fruit flavored tootsie rolls in the bags of assorted candy. If you can buy just the fruit flavored ones in a bag of their own then I am unaware of that. If someone knows differently please let me know!

Now to end this blog I am going to attempt to get a song stuck in your head. You can thank me later!

The world looks mighty good to me
Cuz tootsie rolls are all I see
Whatever it is I think I see
Becomes a tootsie roll to me
Tootsie roll
How I love your chocolately chew
Tootsie roll
I think I'm in love with you
Whatever it is I think I see
Becomes a tootsie roll to me

Be sure to let me know how long you are singing that song for! You're very welcome! To see the old commercial with the song playing go here. Now the song will REALLY be stuck in your head! Glad I could be of assistance!

School Fundraisers

As any of you who have been following my blog know, my daughter started Kindergarten last week. Of course, along with being in school comes the fundraisers they do. Yes, on just the 8th day of school they sent home the first of who knows how many fundraisers. We don’t expect anyone to buy anything but I am going to tell you about it just in case any of you are interested in making a purchase. So here goes my sales pitch.

The first thing that the school is having the kids sell is a coupon book called Entertainment 2010. It has over $16,000 in everyday savings. You can save with card savings, coupons that are in the book, and also coupons you can print more of online. As with pretty much any of the school fundraisers the kids get to win prizes for every so many things they sell. With this particular one, she only has to sell one to win the lowest prize on the list. Of course she will be getting that because obviously we’re going to buy one. In order to win a “Fuzzy Monkey” which she wants she needs to sell at least two books total. We’re hoping she can at least reach that goal. There are different editions based on many cities throughout the US. There are also Canadian editions too.

I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least blog about this. You never know. One of you might like getting this type of book. So if anyone is interested just let me know and we’ll make arrangements to get the money from you. You can either leave a comment letting me know you are interested or contact me via my Etsy shop here. Thanks so much for reading this!

The Joys Of Children

Baby drool, baby boogers, baby poop, oh my! Yep, with an almost 11 month old you get a little of all three of those things quite often. Well, tonight I had my fair share of all three in a very short amount of time.

Let's start with the baby drool. My son got some on my leg and then proceeded to play with it and smear it all over. Bet you are probably smiling now aren't you?

Moving on to baby boogers. I'm sitting on the couch eating some Cow Tracks ice cream. Mmmm mmmm good! It is vanilla ice cream with little pieces of chocolate, caramel filled chocolate cows, and the liquid caramel topping. I had just been holding my son prior to this. I look at my shoulder and see what I thought was a little piece of chocolate that I had some how missed my mouth with. Ummmm....nope! Wasn't chocolate! Yep, you're right! It was a booger! Good thing I didn't just put it in my mouth thinking it was chocolate. That would have been nasty! Bet you are probably laughing now aren't you?

And last but not least is baby poop. I was holding my son and smelled poop. Checked his diaper and sure enough he was dirty. Not just dirty but really dirty with it coming out the sides of the diaper and all. Ever notice how they always seem to wait until AFTER their bath to do their business? I took him into the bedroom to change him. As soon as I layed him down I looked at my arm. Yep, you guessed it. It had baby poop on it. Ewwwww! Got to love hubby! While he changed the diaper I went in and washed my arms. I felt like a surgeon getting ready to operate. I could only see and feel that one arm was dirty but I lathered up both arms to my elbows with soap just to be on the safe side. Bet you are kind of grossed out now aren't you?

Even after all the baby drool, baby boogers, and baby poop tonight I still wouldn't trade my little boy in for anything! It is all a bit gross at times but definitely less gross when it is your own child and not someone else's.

Losing Someone You Love

I am going to let you know ahead of time that this blog post is not going to be one of my short, sweet, or funny posts that I like to normally write for you. As most of you know who have been following my blog for awhile now, I have a very good friend of more than 18 years, whose mom has terminal cancer. Unfortunately at this point it is just a waiting game as to when she will take her last breath. Her time is definitely going faster than any of us had hoped. I wish she could have had more time to enjoy things before becoming so sick.

My heart goes out to my friend. She and her mom are on my mind and in my thoughts quite frequently. I just feel so awful for her and wish I could make everything better. Since that is not possible I am making sure she knows I am here for her if she needs me. She knows I am just a phone call away. I've told her to call me whenever she needs to no matter what time of day or night it is. I feel like I should be right there by her side helping her. I probably would if I didn't have my son. With him being just a baby it would probably be more of a hassle to have us there than a help.

I've got to tell you that I think my friend is an amazing person for being there for her mom the way she has been there. She really should be proud of what she has been doing for her mom and what she will be continuing to do for her. For the most part, she has been doing everything for her mom and I mean everything. She was the one taking her to nearly every doctor appointment before the treatments stopped. She is the one who helps bathe her mom and feed her. She gives her her medicine and helps her in and out of bed to use the restroom. I am so so proud of her! Not everyone would step up and do what she is doing. Heck, not everyone in her family is stepping up. She has a sister and a brother who I don't think have helped much. I have a feeling that all my friend is doing for her mom means the world to her. She may not necessarily say so but I just have this feeling. She only wants my friend to help her with things and give her medicine. That right there in my opinion means she loves, trusts, and appreciates her help. My friend said that she told her mom that she hoped she was as good to her as her mom had been to her mom. My friend said her mom smiled so that right there to me meant a thousand words. To me it was her way of saying thank you to my friend for all that she is doing. I know it is very tough right now for my friend having to see her mom like this. I'm sure she is tired, stressed, sad, angry, and who knows what other emotions right now. In the end though I think she is going to be glad she was there and glad she did all the things she has done and will do to help her mom in her last days.

As if my friend needed anything else to worry about she is also facing a tough decision. She has been battling whether or not to tell her 9 year old daughter what exactly is going on. I think she knows something is not right since the hospice nurses have been to the house so often and her grandma is obviously ill but I don't think she knows that her grandma will not be with them much longer. My friend faces the decision of telling her and then having her constantly thinking about it while also trying to concentrate on school or not telling her and just having her find out when the time comes. It is a very tough choice. I mean, do you tell her and then have her sit there and think, "My grandma is going to die anytime." Do you not tell her and then take away her chance to say her good-byes? Such a hard choice but I know my friend will figure out the best way to handle it. She knows her daughter better than anyone and will know which way would be easier for her.

She e-mailed me last night and tonight. In last night's e-mail she said her mom was talking "crazy" talk and having hallucinations. In tonight's e-mail she said that the "crazy" talk went on all night long last night. She ended up calling her brother and he came. They sat up with their mom all night last night and all day today. My friend had the nurse come today and she asked her about it all. Apparently it is called Terminal Restlessness. It's when they are ready to go and start having anxiety, agitation, and get restless. My friend thinks it is just a matter of days before her mom is gone. The nurse told them it could be days, weeks, or months but my friend really thinks it will just be days. Her mom has said she is ready and told my friend to have everyone that wants to, to come over, to have their chance to say good-bye.

Kudos to my friend's husband too! He has been there for her and helped her to be able to get though this. I'm sure it can't be easy for him to watch her and her family go through something like this. I just keep saying prayers for my friend and her family that they will have the strength they need to get though. I keep praying that my friend's mom will not be in any pain and that when it is her time to leave us it will be peaceful and painless. I know not everyone believes in the power of prayer but I am a firm believer in it and will keep saying them!

Lunch Box Notes

Just a quick little blog tonight so I don't fall even further behind than I already am! On the first day of school I put a little note in my daughter's lunch box. It said her name, have a great first day at school, we love you, love mommy, daddy, and her little brother's name. That night she wanted me to put a note in her lunch the next day too that said the same thing only have it say have a great second day at school. She continues to want me to put a note in her lunch box each day. I cut the paper in the shape of a heart. She really likes it when the hearts are big though. One day it was a tad smaller and she told me she wanted a big heart. I have absolutely no problem writing her a little note each and every day for her to find at lunchtime. It means a lot to me that she loves it so much! It's so cute! She says it makes her miss me and feel loved. I think she is really enjoying school but glad to see me when she gets home. I might just have to cut a whole bunch of paper hearts out and have them ready to go though so I don't have to make one each and every day!

Saving Juice

Just wanted to share a little story of something that happened on my daughter's first day of school. I think it will bring a smile to your face. For those of you who have children of your own, this little story may bring back to mind similar stories about your own kids.

For a little while before school had started we had been telling our daughter that she was going to have to start talking less while she was eating. We told her at school she would only have so much time to eat and if she talked too much she wouldn't have enough time to finish all her food.

While walking home on the first day of school I had asked her if she ate all her lunch. She said, "No, and I didn't talk." I told her she must have or she would have had time. She still insisted that she didn't. For her lunch that day I had packed her a peanut butter sandwich, (because the child does not like jelly for some reason), some plain potato chips, a package of fruit snacks, an oreo cookie, and a juice box. I asked her if she ate the sandwich. She said yes. I asked her if she ate the potato chips and she said yes. She didn't eat the cookie or the fruit snacks though. Isn't she such a good little girl to eat her meal before her dessert even when away from mommy? I'm so proud of her! The last thing in her lunch was the juice box. Now keep in mind that her lunch box is one that is a soft insulated tote box bag similar to this one here. When I asked if she drank all of it she said, "No, just half of it." I asked her what she did with it. Had she thrown it away? She said that she had saved it. Yep, you guessed it! A partial juice box was now a spilled all over her lunch box, leaked through and soaked her change of clothes in her back pack, juice box. I told her from now on if she doesn't have time to drink it all to just throw it away because we can't save it like that anymore. That was the only day she didn't finish her juice box.

My Favorites

So I was bored this morning and decided to add up what it would cost to purchase ALL my favorites I've saved in my Etsy shop. Some are items I want for me while others are things I think family and friends would like. Ummmm...wow! I need a lot of cash to buy everything! The grand total NOT including shipping was $907.50! Yikes! I'm going to have to make A LOT of sales to make that much money! Yep, guess that's why it is called a "want" list. I'll be wanting them for awhile I think.

How To Plant Your Garden

This was in an e-mail that I received tonight. I thought it was worth sharing! Enjoy!

How To Plant Your Garden:

First, you come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses....

FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR DAILY LIVING,

PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS:

1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:

1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:

1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

NO GARDEN IS WITHOUT TURNIPS:

1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:

1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends
4. Thyme for prayer

WATER FREELY WITH PATIENCE AND CULTIVATE WITH LOVE.
THERE IS MUCH FRUIT IN YOUR
GARDEN BECAUSE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW. NOT BAD, HUH?

Living in 2009

I received this in an e-mail this morning and thought so much of it was true that you all might have fun reading it. Enjoy!

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.

Go on, forward this to your friends. You know you want to.