Mejojac's Memos

2009-06-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

HA!

Have you ever watched a music video and wondered "What in the world does this crazy guy running around have to do with this song???"

Well I have... and apparently I'm not the only one. I present to you "Total Eclipse of the Heart". That 80's hit by Bonnie Tyler... but now the lyrics match the video... and you will laugh. I promise. You. Will. Laugh.

Enjoy!

2009-06-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

Small Gripe
Its the end of the school year and I'm once again faced with the task of getting gifts for teachers, aides, therapists, bus drivers and so on and so forth. I really do appreciate all that these people do for my kids. I am so thankful that there are people out there willing to be teachers! Let's give it up for the educators! WOOOHOOOO!!

And now... for the gripe. I've been looking for something to do for everyone and my creative juices have run dry. So, what did I do? I did what any other self respecting (read: a little desperate) parent would do... I Googled "gifts for teachers". Oh how I love Google! Anyway, I got some good ideas but I also read a few things that really irked me.

I came across articles written by teachers about how much they hated lotions, candles, coffee mugs etc. and wished for things like a day at the SPA or season tickets to a local venue... WHAT THE CRAP!?! I'm sorry but be a little thankful that anyone took the time to give you ANYTHING. Teaching is your PROFESSION. That means you get PAID to do it and that we (the parents) don't have to GIVE you anything. I give you something because I want to show you that I appreciate what you've done... but I can't afford a day at the spa or season tickets to anything!

I don't owe you a gift, dear teachers. I give you one because I like you. I try to take the time to make it something worth while that you will like. I may miss the mark, but at least I try.

I do have to say that my kids teachers this year have been really gracious and sweet. Sending home thank you notes and showing they are really grateful for our little gifts. But if we ever end up with one of these "Gimme a spa day" types... well, that will be the year we stop giving gifts!

Do you give gifts for the end of the school year? What are your kids teacher like? Do they seem to expect a gift? Are they appreciative of the things you do? Or do they grump and groan about getting ANOTHER candle? I'm curious...

Anyway.... rant over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program...

2009-05-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

She's Baaaaaaaaack....
So, MARISSA wanted me to share another little story with you. Do you remember Marissa? If not, you must go read about her here. Laugh like a maniac and then come back. Don't worry. We'll wait for you.
Anyway, Marissa has learned another great life lesson and thought she'd share it with you all. As you remember, the last lesson was "Go to the bathroom before you leave the house... no matter what." Today's lesson is "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever try to quadruple a recipe when you are...
a. really tired
b. in a big hurry
c. your children are awake
d. you're just not good at math
e. all of the above"
Unfortunately, Marissa falls into the "e" category.
She was up late last night and then didn't sleep well (stupid neighbor dogs).
She hadn't left herself enough time to really undertake a baking project this morning.
Her children kept running in and asking life or death questions such as "Can we watch the Gummi Bears?" (do you remember that show?) or "Do I have to shower today?".
And let's face it - Marissa is really bad at math. Basic addition still stumps her.
All of these factors should have been clues for Marissa to forget the whole idea, but she REALLY wanted zucchini bread. So, she ignored all the warning signs and went blazing ahead.
She was supposed to add 2 cups of the following ingredients: sugar, brown sugar, and oil. In her hurried state she added 4 cups of each of those ingredients. ACK! On top of that, she didn't add enough baking soda or flour.
Do you know what happens when you do such a thing? Neither do I. But MARISSA DOES! You end up with bricks. Sugary, nasty, burnt on the outside, gooey and gloppy on the inside, bricks.
And the extra batter that was thrown in the freezer? Well it won't freeze. Why? BECAUSE IT'S GOT TOO MUCH DARN OIL IN IT!!
Marissa is a tad frustrated and really annoyed that she didn't get any zucchini bread today. But I told her she probably wasn't alone in her baking mishap. I'm sure there are others out there who have had troubles of their own... right? Um... anyone? Please... feel free to share...

2009-05-10T20:34:00.001-07:00

STRETCH
First off, I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.
Second, I decided that Mother's DAY just isn't long enough. Which is why I insisted that we have Mother's Day Weekend in our home this year.
It started Saturday morning. Hubby took the kids out shopping - I stayed home and sewed on a new skirt. Something that I just can't seem to do when the kids need my attention. They brought home a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for me. Then we went to Subway for lunch because there was NO WAY I was cooking on MY weekend. After that we needed to do grocery shopping... but I bailed out and sent the kids and Hubby packing. I had two BLISSFUL hours of UNINTERRUPTED reading time! It was like heaven had opened its pearly gates and let me enter for a moment. Ahhh... After that, Hubby fed the kids and got them in bed while I continued reading. Then I picked a movie for us to watch... it was stupid. But it didn't matter - it was my choice. After the movie was over, I finished reading my book (it was the 5th book in the Percy Jackson series and it was so good!).
Today I got to sleep in. Baby Girl snuck into my room and whispered "Happy Mother's Day. I love you momma." I love it when she calls me "momma". Hubby made me breakfast and got the kids ready for church. I opened some fun gifts and then got myself ready for the day. At church I got to hear some fantastic talks - especially the first speaker. It was a young woman from our ward and she spoke about how it takes courage to raise a family. It was a fantastic and left me feeling so uplifted. The men and all the children sang in a special choir for the moms. It was fabulous! Then, all the women were given brownies as a gift. You can never go wrong with chocolate. After church I relaxed and talked to my parents on the phone. Hubby and the kids made dinner (rib-eye steak and garlic Parmesan potato wedges) and dessert (no idea what it's called, but it involves a peanut butter mixture, cocoa krispies and vanilla ice cream). Then Hubby put the kids to bed AGAIN while I played the piano! Now I'm eating my second helping of dessert and blogging.
I feel rested and relaxed and loved. Does it get any better than that?
I hereby declare Mother's Day Weekend a success and proclaim that it will be carried out every year from now through eternity. Actually... can I proclaim a Mother's Day Weekend once a month? I like that idea... I like it a lot!

2009-04-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

Oink
The swine flu has decided to make an appearance in my little valley. I can't tell you how thrilled I am. I've always wanted to be part of a pandemic and now it looks like I just might get my chance! YES!! I will be part of history... gotta love that, right?
Okay, not really. I'm not freaking out yet, but I am concerned. After all, I have a child who can't talk. If he gets this, he won't be able to tell me. We'll just have to wait for him to be completely miserable before we will know that he needs help. Sigh. So, we are taking a few precautions...
Hand sanitizer was sent with Red to school along with instructions for him to use it, especially before he eats, and share it with anyone who wants some. Little Bug's class already uses hand sanitizer, but I'm going to buy more to send for the class. We will also be bathing in the stuff once or twice a day.
The everyone will change clothes when they get home from school/work/shopping... wherever they could be exposed to the flu (ugh! I don't even want to think about the mountains of laundry I am creating for myself here :S). If we find out that someone from the family HAS been exposed, their clothes will be burned.
Clorox wipes are now in my purse to wipe down shopping carts, door handles, and anyone who sneezes or coughs in my general direction.
My Mom is sending us some masks to wear if someone does get sick. If no one gets sick then we just might wear them anyway and pretend to be Michael Jackson.
Hand washing will be required throughout the day. I'm even thinking of waking everyone up in the night to make them wash...
And we will be staying home unless there is a really good sale somewhere. Then, I'll take my chances.
Not a lot of changes but it should be fun, don't you think?
There is a silver lining in all this though... we already have a subscription to Netflix. So, if we do get sick, we will still be entertained. Can't ask for more than that... right?
(Please recognize a healthy dose of sarcasm in this post... I'm not that crazy. Not yet anyway...)

2009-04-29T15:15:00.001-07:00

Decisions, Decisions
I have a dilemma. And so, as usual, I'm turning to you, bloggernauts, for your guidance and inspiration.
I have a membership to Barnes and Noble. So, every time I order a book, I get a discount between 10-40% off. On top of that, every so often they send an email with an extra discount code in it. So, I have an additional 20% off one item (oh, how I love discounts!).
And that's where my dilemma comes in. I can't decide what to use it on! I'm like a kid in a candy store when it comes to books. I love getting new books... but (there's always a "but" isn't there?) I'm also hesitant. I don't like reading books that are gory,vulgar (language or sexual content) or just plain boring! And so, I always worry about spending money on a book I haven't read before. What if it's nasty? What if it's foul? Or what if it is so stinking boring that my brain turns to mush and leaks out my ears? See? This is a big deal!
And this is where you can help. What have you read recently that you've liked? And, if you had a 20% off coupon for Barnes and Noble, what book would you buy? Or would you use it on a game? DVD? CD? What would you get?

Oh, and one more thing... Barnes and Noble has just opened an Audio Bookstore. You can download over 10,000 books. I've done a few price checks and B&N is anywhere from $5-15 less than what I found on iTunes... I've only looked at a few books, but what I've seen has been encouraging! We listen to audio books whenever we travel... so this is a great thing for us! Just thought I'd give a heads up in case anyone else out there loves this format as well. (And no, I don't work for Barnes and Noble and this is not a paid blog spot... I just really love buying things from them!)

2009-04-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

Liquid Refreshment?
Several of you have commented or contacted me in some way asking if I've dropped off the face of the earth. I haven't... and I'm here to explain where I have been...
The other day I was feeling rather worn out but couldn't really put my finger on why. I had slept well, had a good breakfast, and I had even exercised. But I was exhausted. I started looking around online and found that fatigue can be caused by dehydration. So, I went on a quest to figure out just how much liquid is recommended in a day...
They say that you should get between 8-10 8oz. glasses of water every day. That's 64-80 ounces to stay healthy and hydrated.
8 oz. of pomegranate juice
Then we have milk... 3-4 8oz. glasses each day to get the calcium you need.
Grape juice is next on the list (full of all those great antioxidants, ya know) 1-2 glasses at about 5oz. each.
You should have about about 8 oz. of cranberry juice each day.
Another 8 oz. of grapefruit juice should also be consumed.
Then there are all sorts of herbal teas, protein shakes, health drinks and a myriad of other juices. The list goes on and on.
Basically what I'm saying is that I haven't been blogging because I've been living in the bathroom. I no longer feel tired... quite the opposite actually. I haven't felt this lively or done this much running in a long time!
Okay... not really. But it was funny, right? (Oh, and just so you know, you really shouldn't drink that much liquid. It's around 64 to 80 oz. total liquid intake. I know all my readers are smart, but I don't want some stranger stumbling onto my blog and start drinking a couple of gallons of beverages every day... I think that would be a bad thing and I don't want to be held responsible. Anyway...)
I haven't been blogging lately because I just don't feel like I have much to say right now - not even in comments. I seem to go through spurts like this every now and again. Hopefully inspiration will hit and I'll be writing up a storm and keeping up with all y'all again soon.
Thanks for checking up on me!

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

Just Keep Swimming
I've rewritten this post a few times. Okay, so maybe more than a few! I'm just kind of at a loss and a little bit overwhelmed right now.
You see, yesterday we had a meeting to discuss Little Bug's goals and testing results with the school. Now, we get to go to quite a few meetings for my little guy, but this is the one that I dread the most. This is the one where they let me know just how far behind he is. This is the one where they let me know that my 8 year old is functioning on a 2-5 year old level. And in some areas it's even lower than that. It's never fun to have another person point out areas where your child may be lacking. But it's one thing to have a person give their opinion on what they think is wrong. It's another to have a set of professionals (psychologist, speech therapist, behavioral therapist, teacher...) sit down with test results in black and white to illustrate each and every area where your child is struggling. He has made progress and I'm thankful for that. But sometimes it's hard to see those steps forward because they are usually microscopic.
And after these meetings I always wonder... what more can I do? And then, of course, the guilt comes rushing through me because there is always MORE I could do. I start a list that is not unlike the one given to me by the school. I'm lacking in so many areas. And as I continue to pile things up, I begin to feel more and more desparate for solutions. But each solution seems to bring with it another mountain of problems and soon I'm feeling suffocated and overwhelmed. Because, really, how can I do everything I need to do for each of my kids (especially Little Bug) and keep myself in a sane and happy place? I'm starting to wonder if it can be done.
And so I sit. Paralyzed by the vast amount of things that I should be accomplishing. And in the end? I've done nothing and everything in my life suffers and then my guilt list grows.
I think my biggest problem right now is knowing where to start. I have to move a mountain and I feel as though I've been given a teaspoon to do it with. So, how do you tackle the mountains in your life? How do you keep moving forward even though your progress doesn't really seem like progress? Does anyone else feel this way? Or is it just me... and Marissa?

2009-03-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Mother of the Year
See this picture?
Would you believe me if I told you that this looks BETTER than it did before? Well, it does.
Would you believe me if I told you that this isn't a sunburn? Well it's not.
Not any more... it started out as a rather mild burn. Red's skin is super-mega fair and he burns easily. We went to the beach last week and he got a light burn. So, I alternated putting burn jel and aloe vera on his back. But it got worse... and his back got really splotchy. Each time I applied the stuff he said it hurt a little more. But, being the BRILLIANT person that I am, I didn't add things up... so, I kept putting stuff on his back.
On Friday night he was hurting. I put more aloe vera on him (stupid, stupid, stupid!) and the pain it caused was terrible. Soon he was laying on the floor shaking. He kept telling us that he was okay, but it was very obvious that he was not. We were getting ready to take him into the ER and we decided to say a prayer. The power of prayer is amazing. The pain stopped shortly after and he was able to sleep.
Afterwards I started looking at both the gels... both have lidocaine in them. I'm not sure if he had an allergic reaction or if it was some kind of chemical burn... but I just thought it was the sunburn getting worse. Sigh. Why is it that when I make a mistake, it's usually my kids that pay the price?
We kept him home from school yesterday, but by last night he was teasing Baby Girl till she was almost in tears. Apparently he's feeling better :)

2009-03-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

Just Keepin it Real: A Cautionary Tale
I have a story to tell about...um... a friend of mine. Yeah. That's it. And her name is... uh... her name is Marissa! Yep. That's her name alright! Anyway, Marissa had some family visiting. One day the family decided that they wanted to go for a hike. Marissa got all the kids ready and made sure that they went to the bathroom before they left. But, she forgot to send herself to the little girl's room and by the time they got to the trail head she had to go... BADLY. Of course, there was no porta-potty or outhouse type structure. Marissa had never wished to be a boy till this very moment in time. But that's besides the point. Anyway, she sent the rest of the party on ahead and took off into the bushes. She found a lovely spot and ... wow. What a relief! Till she stumbled just a bit... she's not used to squatting, you know. Anyway, there was a dead tree branch behind her behind (ha!) and she kinda fell onto it. Now, this dead tree wasn't all nice and smooth... no. It was rough and very brittle. It broke. Marissa caught herself before she fell all the way to the ground, but not before that branch left a lovely splinter in her rear end. Have you ever had a small piece of wood in your bottom? Yeah... um... me neither. But MARISSA has! And she told me that it hurt pretty bad. Luckily, she was able to get it out in the end (ha!ha!).
So, the moral of this story? Go potty before you leave the house... but if you have to pee in a bush, check for items that may impede the process. Oh, and you should probably start doing squats to build up those leg muscles, just in case. Learn from Marissa's mistake... I know I have...

2009-03-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Random... Again
It's time for another edition of randomly random stuff. I'll be your host today to guide you through this jumbled mess of thoughts that have been scrambling around my mind. Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times... my brain can be a scary and dangerous place!

Why is it that people who drive fancy cars think they can do whatever they want? I was cut off three times yesterday... once by a guy driving a Jag, another driving a BMW and another driving a Lexus. I know that their vehicles cost more than we make in a year, but I think someone needs to let them know that they only bought the car... not the road they drive it on.
The other day we were cleaning up and I handed Baby Girl some toys to put away. She turned around and said, "Look Dad! Mom gave me the bird!" It took me a minute to figure out why Hubby was laughing so hard...
We have family coming tomorrow. They'll be here till Thursday and then we have more family coming on Friday. Should be a fun and hectic week!
I left a message on Hubby's phone the other day that went something like this... "Hi - I hope you're having a great day! Hey, I may or may not have bought a Wii Fit today. And I may or may not have played it all afternoon. And I may or may not be the hula hoop queen! Love ya!" I'm stiff and sore, but I'm lovin that Wii Fit!
The neighbors have a little girl. The other day she was in the back yard singing the songs from "Enchanted". Totally made my day!
I made my picks for March Madness. I'm not very scientific about my picks. First, I pick the teams by location. The closer the team is to where we live, the more likely it is that I will pick them. Unless they have a really cool name... then I'll pick that team. Like Villanova or Gonzaga. Try saying those names.... see? Totally fun!
Little Bug pushed our Little Tykes car over to the fence the other day. He climbed on top and threw rocks into the neighbor's pool. Sigh.

I think that's about it for now! Thank you for joining us today here at Mejojac's Memos. Please remain seated till the ride comes to a full and complete stop. We hope to see you again soon. Enjoy your day!

2009-03-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Coming to a Table Near You
We spent some time in the field with Hubby this morning. It was a great day to be out and about and I realized that almost everything we were seeing was going to be eaten at some point in the not so distant future.
Summer 2009... Super delicious table grapes...Winter 2009...Oranges and lemons (I wish you could smell the blossoms! SO GOOD!)

Some random time in the future...
Honey! (And yeah, this photo was taken from the car because I'm a coward... but come on... that's A LOT of bees!)And probably never...

Escargot! Yep. They have escargot snails out in the orchards, but they don't harvest them. This is actually an empty shell, but the snails are everywhere!

Hubby works in agriculture and so we've been surrounded by all kinds of different fruits and veggies over the years. When we were in Oregon there were watermelon fields, peach and cherry orchards, potatoes, peas, onions and corn. Down here there's strawberries, citrus, bell peppers, dates, tomatoes, and lots of other things. The best part is getting to bring a little home every now and again... like the oranges Hubby picked this morning and I ate with my lunch. There is nothing better than produce that goes from the field to your table and skips the middle man.

Do you live in an area with a lot of agriculture? If so, what is grown where you're at?

2009-03-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Not Too Bad
The other day I was at Kohls and found a skirt that I really wanted... but it was almost $50... on sale. I don't have $50 for a skirt... and so, sadly, I put it back. But then, I had a thought... I could make my own! It can't be that hard, right?
And actually, except for the zipper, it wasn't that hard!
I went to JoAnn's and found a pattern I liked and the fabric I wanted. Came home and measured myself to see what size I would need. I'm usually an 8-10 and figured that's the size I would need.
WRONG!
Apparently, in pattern-world, I'm a size 18. I figured that they MUST know what they are doing and went ahead with the 18. This is what I ended up with.It seems that pattern-world measurements are a tad off. If I hadn't been wearing jeans it would have slipped off completely.
So, I took about 5-6 inches off the side seam. It fit much better.
The zipper was a pain. I've never put a zipper in by myself before. My mom has ALWAYS been there to help (a.k.a. do it for me). The stitching around the zipper is crooked and kind of off center, but for my first try, I'm pleased.
The finished product?Nothing fancy or amazing, but I like it! And the cost...
Fabric - $8.00
Pattern - $1.50
Thread - $.50
Zipper - $2.00
Hook & Eye - $.15
Twill Tape - $.75
Total = $12.90
Lots cheaper than the skirt I had wanted and it only took me about 3 hours to finish it (would have been less but I had to unpick the zipper twice... I told you it was a pain).
I bought fabric to do a different skirt that was in the same pattern packet. We'll see how that goes... but all in all, not bad. Not bad at all!

2009-03-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

To Whom it May Concern
Dear Person Who Thought of Daylight Savings,
I hate you.
From,
a Tired Mom who will have to PEEL her kids out of bed in the morning... sigh...

2009-03-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

So Cool
The Elasticwaistbandlady, otherwise known as The Smiling Infidel, had this video on her blog. I thought it was so awesome, that I'd share it here too :)

So fun!
I'm still working my way through the Google Reader. It's still deleting posts, but not every time. Selective deleting. Kind of like my kids selective hearing loss, only I can't punish Google Reader for ignoring my pleas to STOP DELETING POSTS!

2009-03-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Out There!
I'm back! Kind of... my parents and brother left yesterday. We had a fantastic time with them here! It was fun to play games each night, go hiking a couple of times and head to Disneyland one day. And the weird thing? I think they had a good time too!
I tried to catch up a little on blog reading this morning but my Google reader is being weird. I clicked on a link to take me to the blog and it didn't go. So, I clicked again and noticed that it deleted a post from my reader. I looked through and realized that it had deleted two posts. I tried a different link... it deleted two more posts. I have no idea what is going on...so, I'm waiting for a little bit to see if it quits and then I'll try to catch up again. It's going to take me awhile... there are almost 300 posts in my reader! I'm not going to get to all of them, but I will hit your most recent posts. Unless, of course, those are the ones that were just deleted in my Google reader. Then I can't promise anything!
I did want to thank you all for your kind words and encouragement about Red's car. I made a certificate for him letting him know we thought he did a great job and it promised a trip to Carl's Jr. (his fave fast food spot). He was pretty pleased with that. Anyway, I read your comments to him and you should have seen that kid grin! Y'all made his day - so, again, thanks!

2009-02-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

Not So Fond Farewell
It's no secret that I dislike the Scouting program. Red wants to participate, and so, we do. But if it were left up to me, he'd never don that neckerchief and blue shirt again... but, this isn't about me. It's about him.
Last night was our Pinewood Derby. It's probably one of my least favorite things about Scouting. But, again, not about me.
Red was pretty excited this year. He was hoping to break a sad losing streak. You see, his first car was shaped kinda like a funky sports car. That year he didn't win any races. Not one.
The next year we had the pencil car. It looked awesome, but still didn't win any races. Not even close.
This year we chose a wedge shape hoping that it would be a little more aerodynamic. But what Red really wanted was for it to be really fun... and so, he decided to do this with his car!
That's right... he wanted it to look like a wedge of cheese with a little mouse on top!
We don't have the greatest tools, but I cut it out with a little hand saw. Red sanded, drew the holes on and then helped a little with the drilling. Then he painted and cut out all the shapes for the mouse. I glued the bits and pieces on the lead sinker to make the mouse because the stuff we had to use is pretty nasty if you get it on your hands. Then Hubby and Red went to put the wheels on... and the nails bent. They ended up having to glue them in and, apparently, that's not such a good thing.
I wish I could tell you that his car won a race. That's all we were hoping for... just one race. But it didn't. It seems that we are the worst Pinewood Derby car builders in the world. He took dead last. Again.
Red was a pretty good sport, but he was SO disappointed. It was so hard to watch him try to smile as he told me the news (Baby Girl is sick again... bad fevers and her legs hurt... not sure what's going on, but I stayed home from the Derby with her). We're going to take him to Carl's Jr. to celebrate a job well done. He did a lot of the work on the car and I'm pleased with that. Besides, it looks AWESOME!
And even though this isn't about me, I can't help but feel a little pleased that we don't have to make another Pinewood Derby car ever again!

2009-02-20T14:41:00.001-08:00

Winter Reprieve
It's 31 degrees in Idaho where my family is at right now.
It's 74 degrees in California where I am at right now.
Which is why they are leaving Idaho and coming here. It makes perfect sense to me! The same logic is what takes us there in the summer... it is 120 here and 80-90 there.
I thought it befitting to deck the blog out in snow white for their winter visit. It may be snowing at "home" but here they will be able to bask in the sun and play out doors. The kids can't wait and neither can I! One more day till the fun begins!
I am sorry I haven't visited blogs this last week. I probably won't this week either. I'll be back to blog reading the first week in March. Till then, have a wonderful day!

2009-02-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

More and More and More Random

First of all, thank you for all your kind words. Last week was hard. I wanted so badly to be in Idaho with my friend, but it just wasn't happening. I appreciated all of your thoughts and prayers.
Blogger is being weird. It keeps rotating my photos when I download them into a post... it's turned on my computer, but when I bring it on here, it rotates them. So frustrating. Maybe when I publish it, they will rotate back... or not.
I participated in a Valentine Swap and I got the best package! (again, sorry about the rotated picture...) I got a cute little bag, a notepad, some super yummy chocolate, awesome socks, truffles and a fun card from Earth Muffin! Thank you again for the package! So much fun! I also got a fun little valentine from Carrot Jello! I felt so loved!! Thanks Carrot!!
My parents and my youngest brother will be here on Saturday!! I can't wait for them to come visit! We're going to Disneyland one day, San Diego another day, the beach another day, hiking on one or two days... they'll probably need a vacation from this vacation ;)
I'm sick. I knew it would hit me. Yesterday we were visiting with friends and towards the end of the visit I started to feel blah. I felt bad because we were having a great time visiting, but I needed to get home. I don't have the flu that the kids had (thank goodness!) but I do have the head cold. So fun. I have a dream that one day all of my family will be in good health...
We bought a carpet cleaner. I decided to try it out last night (even though I felt crummy). I read the instructions, put it all together and then decided on a small area to try it out on. I was so disappointed with the results. It left weird stripes in the carpet and didn't get the spots out. The water was dirty nasty, but the carpet still looked icky. BUT, then I got up this morning, looked at the carpet, looked at the cleaner and realized something very important.... I never turned the scrub brushes on. All the dirty water that came up from my carpet was just from me squirting cleaner on and then sucking it up. No scrubbing was involved... on one hand, I'm glad that the carpet cleaner probably works better than I thought. On the other hand, I feel like an idiot.
The dejunking has been going rather well. We've got about 20 boxes of stuff in the hall that need to go to Good Will. I was going to do a yard sale, but I'm tired of this stuff in my house. So is Hubby. Which is why he bribed me to not do a yard sale and just get rid of the stuff. We filed our taxes. We'll pay for the STUPID termites with that money and then, whatever cash is left, is mine. It won't be much, but it will be a little bit...enough that I took the bribe and I'm gonna haul off the boxes as soon as I'm feeling better.
Okay... enough random. I'm off to bed. Baby Girl is playing. So I'm going to rest. I hope you're all having a fabulous week. I will try to do some blog reading in the next few days, but I'm not making any promises... and then my family will be here... but I will try!

2009-02-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

Enough
First of all... the blog is REALLY close to looking the way I want it. I wanted to change the belt to this little wavy line thing, but every time I mess with the widget HTML, Blogger gives me an error message. I'll try again today. **update...fixed it! FINALLY!!** I did finally get the backgrounds the way I wanted them. If you came here within the first few moments of my messing with it, then you would have seen yellows, oranges, teals, olive greens, and pinks. I'm sure that somewhere a rainbow was weeping.

Anyway, yesterday turned out to be... well, I don't know what yesterday was. One of my best friends from high school had a tragedy in her life. Her younger brother committed suicide. I knew this kid. Their family grew up just across the street from us. He was the typical little brother who did his best to bug us whenever he could. We, in turn, tormented him. As we grew up the teasing continued on both sides, but never in a mean way. I joked with him and he tried to get his big sister's friends to laugh. I remember seeing him at a gas station a couple of years ago and we visited for awhile. He was a good kid.

Fast forward to now... he was 28. A husband. A dad. Yesterday he found enough reasons to take his own life. And no one has any idea why.

I was pretty out of it yesterday. By the evening I just wanted something mind numbing to do. I played video games. But that wasn't enough to stop the wheels in my brain from spinning. Why would he do this? What was his thinking? Were things really so bad? Why? Why? Why? The truth is, I don't know his demons. I can't judge him or his actions. I don't know what he was dealing with. But I did have a thought that struck me...

I can't understand why anyone would take their own life because I can look around and find enough reasons to live. For whatever reason, he could no longer see those things. We have our troubles and I may whine and complain, but overall, the good overshadows my life in a really big way. And for that, I am truly grateful.

My heart goes out to this family. They have been amazing friends to me and my family through the years. I can't be there with them right now and that makes me crazy. I want to hug them and try to give comfort somehow. But I'm over 900 miles away. For now the only thing I can do is make a few phone calls, send a card with my love, pray for them, and hope that somehow, it's enough.

2009-02-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

ACK!
Please ignore the horribleness of my blog right now... I was playing around with the template and now Blogger won't let me save any new changes!! GRRR... I promise to have it looking all wonderful and stuff as soon as possible...

2009-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

Waging a War
I don't have much time... You see, I have been taken hostage by viruses and only have this small window of time to get my message out to the world wide web. Those sneaky little things are making my life a bit crazy at the moment.
The first wave came in the form of head colds. Mine is gone, Baby Girl hasn't been so lucky. It's moved from her head to her chest. The evil viruses keep her up all night by making her cough. They make her feel miserable and cranky. And sometimes, when they are feeling particularly vicious, they won't let her breathe.
The second wave has been worse than the first. They attacked Little Bug with all their might by giving him fevers, making him lethargic and causing the contents of his stomach to leave his body. He's taking his 3rd nap for today and we won't discuss the 3 a.m. wake up call that involved vigorous carpet scrubbing. Those vile little beasts!
To top it all off, they have forbidden me from blogging and are enforcing their edict by causing misery in my children. Can you imagine? The nerve! I am sneaking in a moment right now while Little Bug is snoozing and Baby Girl is involved in a movie. But it won't be long before the viruses catch me and drag me back to their dark lair.
This is the reason I haven't done much blog reading this week and I ... wait... what was that sound? They're coming! Hurry! Run! Save yourselves!! I promise to make contact as soon as I can....

2009-02-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

Randomly Random

I blinked. January disappeared. Do you know where it went?
Hubby brought the laptop home again. I'm watching T.V. and blogging. I love this thing!
I just saw a commercial for a new Disney movie. Do you remember the very first "Air Bud" movie? The one about the basketball playing dog? They now have one coming out called "Space Buddies"... why?!? The first one wasn't so bad, but come on. Isn't this franchise dead? They have one for soccer and football and hockey and... and... and...The only movie with more sequels is probably "The Land Before Time".
The state of California has been in budget crisis for 89 days. They have decided to delay sending out tax refunds for at least 30 days. But the deficit is around 15 billion dollars. Yeah. Billion. And our lovely leaders can't seem to agree on anything. Technically they have till May to get the refunds out... but we'll see if it ever really happens.
We have termites. We got an estimate today to see how much it will cost. Did you know that termites are very expensive bugs? Stupid little things. With the lack of tax money and the possible $1,000 to clean up the bugs... our vacation plans are now on hold. Stupid, stupid little things.
I have been pondering some very deep questions and I need your help. When you make a root beer float, do you put your ice cream in first? Or the root beer? And what about strawberry shortcake? Strawberries or whipped cream first?
Baby Girl has a head cold. I think I'm coming down with it too. Bah.

M'kay. I'm sure there will be more random randomness coming up, but I think that's it for now.

2009-02-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

Simplify
I like to spend money. Hubby would testify to this. Some people eat when they're bored, I go shopping. Instead of taking Baby Girl to the park so that we can get out of the house, I take her to Kohls or Target. And, of course, we can't walk out empty handed. Then I bring the random item home and I have to find a place for it. Trouble is... usually there's not a spot for it. So, it gets set down somewhere till I can figure out what to do with it. Then the next item gets put on top of the first item... and so on and so on.

We have so much stuff that it's overwhelming. I look around and I'm surrounded by stacks of things. Piles of papers. Boxes of toys. Mountains of stuff everywhere I look. It makes me feel helpless and kind of lost. No one should feel that way in their own home. And yet, I do.

I was visiting with a friend the other day. She was telling me about how she and her husband are minimalists. They keep things very simple. They don't spend money on things they don't need. And it made me wonder about why I buy the things I buy... is it just on a whim? Or do the things in my life have purpose?

Then I was reading over at Morris Moments. You see, Julie and I have a few things in common. We both have three kids. We both love my play list (hee hee). AND we both HATE laundry!! I usually just sit and whine about it. But she DID something! She figured out exactly how many outfits each kid needed and then got rid of the rest of the clothes. SO AWESOME!! Now she doesn't have as much laundry to do.

And THEN... Yvonne at The Life and Travels of Me blogged about a cleaning system that she has used in the past and is starting up again. It breaks things down into daily, weekly, and monthly chores. It's a great system!

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I've been inspired. It's time to get rid of the "stuff". I don't need it. And I don't want it any more. The kids have too many toys. We (as a family) have too many clothes. My cupboards are filled with dishes, odds and ends containers, and small appliances that never get used.

Our neighborhood will have a garage sale... probably sometime in March. And so, I'm setting a goal. I'm going to have my home dejunked so that we can sell as much as possible on that day. That money will then go into the vacation fund so that we can maybe stay an extra day on our trip!

I've tried to dejunk before by doing one room at a time. It doesn't work for me. So, I think this time I will focus on items. For example, I'm going start with clothes. And when I get that done, then I'm going to hit the fabric and craft stuff that I don't use or need. Next up will be toys and then the kitchen. After that... the garage (involuntary shudder). I'm hoping to be ruthless. I have also created a list of questions I'm going to ask myself every time I go shopping.

Do we NEED it? Not want... need.
What are the pros for this item? What are the cons?
Do I have a place where I can put it without having to rearrange anything?

Hopefully this will keep my spending at a minimum. We're hoping to get some of our big debts paid off this year. It has occurred to me that if I spend less, this may become a reality sooner. I know that's not a shocking discovery, but it's something I forget from time to time. And, like I said, I like to spend money.

So, let the dejunking begin. Let the money diet proceed. And let the overwhelming hopelessness disappear!

2009-01-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

I Want One
I've never used a laptop till this very moment. Sad, don't you think? Hubby tried to talk me into getting one a few years ago, but I was trying to be good. We needed the money for other things. I turned the offer down. Stupid, right?
Usually when I'm on the computer I'm away from the family. Our PC is in the master bedroom. It's the only place we could really put it when we first moved in. We could probably move it into the living room now, but I'm lazy. I don't want to do it.
But, as I sit here playing around, I'm tempted. Not to move the PC, but to purchase a laptop. This is fun. I'm part of my family's activities right now. I'm carrying on conversations and laughing while blogging. Usually I'm secluded (which is also nice from time to time). But, I'm liking the mobility here... and so I'm thinking that maybe... just maybe we could look into a laptop.
I'm working on a Dell right now and I like it. But I'm wondering, for those of you with laptops, what kind do you have? And do you like it?