Cleaning up

not necessarily cleaning house but I am cleaning my computer. I have way to many pictures on my computer and files so I am going to go thru everything I have and move them to a disk in hopes that it will speed up my computer, I should be cleaning house or at least my dishes but this is more important, lol.

African American Art

So I was talking to hubby the other day about art class and it got me thinking. Hubby asked me if I thought the teacher was singling me out for a reason and was I getting upset about the subject. I said no, African American art is, to me, art done by an African American.

"well what about art of an African American?"

That's a good question, is art done by an Indian/Hispanic/Angelo/Russian of an African American still considered African American art to you?

50 Book Challenge

Ok I know some of you are hoping that I have finished another book but I have hit a little snag. I am reading "Queen Bee Moms & King Pin Dads" but it's a little hard to follow since she keeps referring to her first book "Queen Bee's and WannaBee's" so I am going to put this one on hold until I can get that book. Luckily I have another book that I've started already, "The Cursed" and it's a good read. Good thing I bought a lot of books when I went to the store closing in Tucson a couple of weeks ago.

Works for Me Wednesday

I, like many other people, love on-line shopping. If I could get my groceries I would. I hate going grocery shopping and almost always end up getting more than I planned and not the stuff I went in for. But here are a few of my favorite places to shop.
One Hanes Place~ has great bras and panties. I'm to big for most of the bra's but the panties are great, especially the Barely There brand.
I've had to start buying my bra's at Figleaves. It really sucks that I've gotten to be so big on top and spend a good $30 on one bra, if I'm lucky.
I've looked up books at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, mostly to get reviews on books and check prices.

Just something I got from Rocks in My Dryer.

OK I think I've said this before K has a lot of pets. One of her cats just had kittens, I think they're almost 2 weeks old, and Savie loves to pick them up which is fine. Well she has a tendency to pick them up when Smokie, the mother, is in the bed and of course they start crying. So I've explained to her that when Smokie is in the bed she has to put the babies back because she is going to feed them. A perfectly ok explanation for a 3 yr old, right? Well little did I know that this is what would come of my answer. Hubby showed me this when I got up the other morning and I couldn't help but laugh. That is just to cute.

Sight seeing

After looking at Michele's Blog and loving all the pictures she has on there I've decided that at least once a week I will post pictures of my area. I just have a basic camera, nothing fancy so I am hoping that they can be scenic and picturesque as her's but I will try. I may even go so far as to give a little history of it. But that might be pushing it a little for me.

Tacke it Tuesday

ok I will try this one more time. I started doing this meme, from 5 minutes for Mom, last year before I started working but then had to kinda stop because I was just to tired all the time. But I did one today.

It may not sound like a big tackle but it's something that I've been putting off for a few weeks. I cleaned out brush's. Yeah I know it sounds like a simple thing but for my daughter and I, it's a lot of hair. Every time I brush my hair I lose some and same with Savie. There was a lot of hair in the drain when I was finished. I had to soak our brushes, which I did while we were at the library, and then came home and rinsed them out. Let's see if we can do it two weeks in a row. ha ha ha


(oh by the way, I didn't link it because I want to do it a couple of weeks in a row before I link back.)

I almost did it

I was really close, so close. I made a menu plan 2 weeks in a row and pretty much stuck to it. There were a couple of days that I didn't have to cook since we had leftovers and now with leftovers from Super Bowl so I didn't have to cook tonight. So tonight I will figure out what I will be making for the rest of the week.

50 Book Challenge

Well I finished another book. Yeah!!!!! and it didn't even take me a whole month to do. This time around I read "How to talk so your kids will listen......" It was a good read. I took a positive parenting class a few weeks ago, before Christmas and this was one of the books that we used. There was a lot of good stuff in there and I will definitely be passing in on to another parent.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

Here it is, 4 hours before game time and what am I doing? Trying to clean house before my guests, that I just found out about, come over. I had no plans to make anything for the game since it's suppose to be just the 3 of us. I ha guacamole made, shrimp cocktail and leftover pot pie, that's it. Nothing for another family with a toddler, eat. Oh well wish me luck!!!



****************UPDATED AFTER THE GAME*******************************
Well the game is over and I couldn't tell you who won, lol. We were to busy talking and watching Savie play that we weren't paying much attention to it. But it was not as bad as I thought it would be since we are in a small house and even with just us it's a little crowded and then to add 2 more people plus their little dogs?!?!? But they have two little dogs, a teacup chihuahua (Chile Tapin I think I spelled that right) and a regular one (Apache). Chile is a cutie of a teacup and was of course very timid since she has never seen or met my dog Halley. But they did good. They got down and ate some snacks. Savie finally went to bed about an hour ago, almost half an hour after the game was over.

Black History Month

It should be a great thing. A chance of artist, songwriters, authors, etc to take the front stage but instead I'm pissed. Yes I am one of the few African American in town (there are only 5 of us) and yes I know my history. There is no reason to tell me about why they painted something, what they were feeling, etc I know it so don't preach it to me. Your probaly wondering where this train of thought came from, well let me back up and tell you (I will try to do it without yelling)


There is a Art class taught at the library every sat. and Savie and I have been going since they started this new session, at the beginning of the year. I love it. It's a lot fun. We've done sand and sugar art, "I have a dream" stuff like that. The teacher is a little out there, even for this town, and she has a tendency to talk over the kids heads. I mean it's 3yr old for goodness sakes. The class is for 3-8 yr so I would think that you would want to keep it pretty simple right? So for MLK day wouldn't you ask them what they dream about, what they want to be when they are older, the older kids I mean. But for the younger kids, you know the ones that aren't in school wouldn't you just let them draw whatever they want? Why control it, they just want to draw something. I think that you should let kids draw however they want, if they want a pink horse with a green sky and purple clouds go right ahead. It's their picture so be it. I am not a Helicopter parent. Today's project was "African American Art", a prefect subject for Black history month. But there is no reason to spend 15 minutes asking 3-4 yr old what it is. They have no idea. Am I wrong in thinking that? She showed us some beautiful pictures that she printed here's a few of them.






The teacher asked me if I could help Savie draw something like the second one, really????Really?? She's three for goodness sake I can't even draw like that. And when I told her "No I don't think I can." she looked at me like I had a third eye or something. She is starting to make me not like this class but I will keep going and if I have to get ugly faces then so be it. I just want to let Savie enjoy the coloring/drawing/making things part of the class. There's no reason to push her to make it African American art because as far as I am concerned it's African American art if an African American did it whether it be a painting, a statue, or a sculpture.
Ok I think I am done ranting and raving about the whole thing, please someone say something nice to me.

I am no longer a thief

Hey notice anything different about my blog?? Look really hard, it's something that is easy to see. No? Nothing? I added more mommies to my list. Mommies I've been reading for awhile and some new ones, that I've found from reading other mommies blog. There is will be more, it's just a matter of moving things around on my computer, lol.

2 Days

in a row. (doing a little happy dance) I got out of the house at 9:30 this morning, that's right I said 9:30. Let's see if we can continue and make it 3 days, lol.

I am a thief

but not in a bad way. Let me back up and start at the beginning.

I don't really know what I am doing online. I love to play around and see what's going on. Reading other people's blogs, seeing what they have on their pages, layout, etc. Every now and then I see something that I like and think "that would look kinda cool on my page" and I steal it. I click on whatever they have on their page and make it my own. I am such a bad mommy. What kind of example am I setting for Savie? (hanging my head in shame)

And since I bounce around a lot and come across other mommies that I like to read, I never seem to save them to my blog but to my toolbar. I really should move some of them over, like Claudia who lives in Canada, Anna's site espically with her crocheting and stuff, Mom's Happy Handful with her six kids, and also her sister. There's new mommies I've found like Queeny, crazysoccermom, and Dawn. I've read their blogs for the past week or so and have them saved but haven't added them to my blog I should and quit being sneaky about the whole thing right? Ok so sometime this week I will have to start moving them from my toolbar to my blog and quit being a thief, lol.

Yeah I did it!!!!!!!!

I made it out of the house on time this morning..............barely. It wasn't a pretty leaving the house but it worked, we got out of the house and only got to where we needed to be about 5 minutes late, which isn't bad at all. I was really trying to get out since it was horse day and all. But I'll talk about that some more in the next post.

Things have to change

they really do.

Usually I am really good about getting us out of the house and to where we need to be but the past couple of weeks. I just can't do it. We haven't gotten out of the house before 10am all week and today was library day. Actually since it's the end of the month today was our tea party.It's something the librarians do for the kids, it's so much fun. They have a little tea set and saucers, with milk and sugar, sandwiches or some other kind of snack. It's just so cute I'll have to post some pictures next month. But back to what I was talking about, getting out of the house on time.

Story hour is at 10:30 and I would like to be in the car and on our way by 10. That way we have time to play and relax before story time. Today we didn't even get in the car until 10:15am and then I got to thinking that if we rush (a bad thing to do) and get there we'll have to leave early anyways since she has a Dr. appt. at 11:30 so why rush across town just to have to rush back? Turning the car around we came home, not going to the library at all. Back home I unloaded and threw another load of clothes in the washer and tried to figure out what we could do for the next 45 min before our appt. Let's just walk down, mommy needs a good hike anyways. So a harness on Halley, jackets on us (even though it was a nice 59 today) and walked down to the Dr. office. It's only a 15 minute walk but you know what happens when you walk with a toddler? A 15 min. walk turns into a 45 min. walk. But we did it and then after our appt we walked over to K's house and then I walked back to my house to get my car and then drove back over to get Savie. We only stayed a few minutes because K was living to and we needed to come home to have lunch, by the time I got back to her house it was almost 1:30p!!!!!!! At least we did something today and I got a good walk in, lol. Hopefully tomorrow will be better since we are going out to the horse's again.

5 Minutes For Mom

I know I posted this before but they've changed so much in the past year, grown and everything, that they've had to re-tool their blog listing. My interview should be listed in a day or two but check them out, they have a lot of cool stuff on there.

50 Book Challenge

Well I finally did it. I finished a book. That's right a book. From the way things go I might not get a full 50 book read this year but we will see. I finally finished reading "For the Love of Money" by Omar Tyree. It's the sequel to Flyy Girl and that was a good book but for some reason this was just slow to read. I'm hoping that my next one, The Cursed by L A Banks, will go by faster. I love her books.

Take two

Ok I don't know if I mentioned this in my post about new years or resolutions but I am going to try and keep a weekly menu plan. And, drum roll please.......I've done it for one week. YEAH!!!!!!!! But the big question is can we do this for two weeks in a row. I am trying to plan for this coming week right now so if anyone has any suggestions for websites that could help in planning that would be great.

It's offical

I have tried to deny it for a long time now, and even after Savie was born I knew that I would have to stop doing this but I can't, I just can't stop myself. I am no a morning person and can not get out of the house before 11am. There I've said (well wrote it, same thing) and now I can move on and do something about it.

Today is Friday and I should be at the park right now but instead I am on the computer, in my pj's and haven't even made anything for breakfast. Savie is eating dry cereal because I didn't feel like putting milk on it (plus she has a bad cough and a runny nose so no more milk than necessary). I guess we really should get up and get dressed but after all the running around we did yesterday I really don't feel up to it. What did we do yesterday you ask that would make me feel so tired today, even after a good nights sleep? Well let me tell you....

Got a wake up call around 7 from another mother calling to see if we wanted to meet at her place or if I wanted her to drop L off at my place. I completely forgot that I promised to watch L for her while she had a Dr. appt. So now I have to jump out of bed and get Savie out and dressed so we can leave the house in 45 min. Did I mention that we don't really do morning's in my house? But we were only 5 minutes late, which isn't really a good thing since the place is only 5 minutes from my house!! LOL.
After playing with L she took us to breakfast to say thank you to me, which wasn't really necessary since I would do it for anyone and I would like to think that they would return the favor but anyways. By now it's 10 and I really want to get on the road for Tucson, it's a 2 hr drive to Tucson and I just want to go. But I'm not going alone, I have to wait for my friend.
Yeah the same one that has all the animals, so I know it will be awhile because she has to feed the lambs, get the hairless set, etc, etc. But I called her when I was getting dressed so she knew where I stood time-wise. Called when we left breakfast and told her that I still needed to come back to the house but I was almost ready to go. I'm not going to get into it but we didn't leave here until 1:30pm!!!!! That's right for all that time, the whole 3 1/2 hrs we were at her house trying to get her ready. It was not what I wanted.

But we finally left, around 1:30pm!!!!!!!!! We should have been in Tucson already not just leaving but that's another matter. Savie fell asleep on the way up there which is a good thing since it's a 2 hr drive and she wasn't going to get nap in. We got there and did the shopping I went there to do and spent way more than I had planned. I didn't think there would have been that much left in the store but there was. I spent close to $100 on books in that store (stupid store closing sale, lol) and then let Savie play in the play area that was in the mall before making the 2 hr drive back.

And just so you know how tired I am today, I started writing this this morning and now it's 10p and I'm finally finishing, lol. Oh well off to bed I go,

101 post

Wow what a thing to post for my 100 post, not what I was hoping for but oh well i guess it will do, lol

She doesn't get it

not even a little bit. K doesn't have kids of her own, how could she you read the last post about the animals so where would a kid be in all that??? But I'm getting off topic. I take S over to her house mainly because the walk there and back is good exercise and she has plenty of space outside for her to play in. But that's it. I would never go to dinner and leave her with her for a couple of hours that is just out of the question. Especially after yesterday.

A couple of days ago we went to Walmart and she bought a bunch of stuff for S to use at her house, glue, paper, stuff like that. Well when I left they were playing outside. It was a little windy but not as bad as at my house since i leave right at the base of a mt. Fine, everything is fine, so I walk all the way home and get the car and come back for her. I called to tell her that i was on the way so they can clean up whatever they were playing with, you give her a warning. Well I get there and they are coloring and gluing pom poms to paper, it was all very cute.......until i saw that there was a heart drawn on her pants.. IN GLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that's what I said, in glue. And then something was drawn on her back pocket to. I was trying really hard not to get upset but just because it says it's washable does not mean that you can put tit on anything. I left, with S, and did what I needed to do came home and washed her pants, twice. When I talked to her later online, she asked me about ti and I told her that it finally came out. She got upset because "it says it's washable, that's just like a bait and switch. I'm going to write them a letter and tell them they can't mislabeled and mislead people like that".

me "No K, it's not meant for fabric, and it is washable.... from your hands"

K "Well that's just wrong, they shouldn't do that"

K "the girls and I used body paints on our clothes and skin but, it washed out easily..."

me "because body paint is meant to wash off of just about anything, not the same for glue or crayons"

K "WELL.... they should NOT say washable then!"

I could go on wit the conversation but I think you get the point. How many different ways can I say not to do that? I finally just told her not to do it. It's meant for paper, pom poms and stuff like that. Maybe it's just me but that is just stupid on her part. Kid or not, if I was watching someone else child and they got something on their pants be it crayon, glue, stickers, whatever, I would try to take it off not get made at the company that made it because it didn't wash out.

Martin Luther King, Jr

Ok I've been a little lax in days and didn't even realize that MLK day was on Monday. I can't believe that it's almost the end of the month already. Our library here has started doing an art class on Sat afternoons and we've been going. It's only been 2 weeks but so far it's been really fun. (just another day for me to spend at the library right?, lol) Well anyways, in an effort to get us caught up we did 2 projects today, a sugar and sand art project and then something for MLK day. Well the first project was easy. Glue and colored sand on paper, how can you go wrong? lol. Then it was time for the second project.

The lady asked how old the kids were and if they knew who made the line "I have a dream" famous, or rather who spoke those words. Well let me give you a little background about the other kids in the this class. There is Savie and myself, another mom who has a 4yr old and a 3yr old, and then a lady visiting from Alaska with a 9-10yr old. The old girl is the only one in the class that is not half black. So back to the teacher.

She was going off talking about how he was a great man and that we should watch programs about him this weekend, etc. I am all for that and have nothing against anything she said, it is after all a part of black history. Then she proceeded to tell us that "even a 3yr old should be able to understand what is going on". Then, continuing to look at myself and my daughter, she wants to know if she knows who he is and what he stood for. Am I wrong in thinking that at 3 she has no idea what is going on? That she is more interested in coloring and painting? So I got over that. The whole point of the project we were suppose to make was "who inspires you to be a better person, what are your dreams, what do you want to be when you grow up".

Ok that's fine for the older girl but how would a 4yr old know the answer to that? Am I wrong in thinking that? Have I lost my mind? I was a little put off by the fact that she was trying to tell me what I should be teaching my child. I know what she needs to know about black history, about the people who gave their lives so that I, as a african american woman, can go where I want, do what I want, and live where I want. I know this, there is no need to tell me that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ok I feel a little better now. Sorry for the speech but I have been thinking about this all day.

Can you say "yea haw?"

We, the other mommies that we spend time with, try to get together every Wednesday and do some kind of outing with the kids. Today's outing was to go to a horse ranch just outside of town. We have driven by every almost every week when we go to Douglas, so it's not a totally new place for us. It was so much fun. I am so glad that J suggested it. There was a horse there with blue eyes!! I've never seen a horse with blue eyes. I think the lady said that they were Appaloosa's ? I don't remember and I didn't get a lot of their pictures I got more of the kids playing in the carriages they had around the place than anything. The horse's are a mix, Appaloosa's and Arabians. Horse's look so different when they have their winter coats on, lol. She also has burro's but I think they are minis, they have short legs and really big heads, they look kinda silly. Here's pictures of the kids playing and the animals. I'm kinda looking forward to Friday now, I think we are trying go to the pool (indoor).

Fast Food

Now I'm not saying that I don't eat fast food, I would be lying if I said I didn't but this is getting old. The whole " whopper freakout"?? It's getting old. Are really that hung up on getting a whopper that we are going to ask "for the manager to come to the window" as one woman said during one of the commericals. I mean c'om. So you can't get a whopper, go home and make a sandwich, have some leftovers, get something from the grocery store. But I have to wonder, how many people just took what they got, in the ones where they gave out Big Mac's instead of whoppers, and were happy? I think a lot of people just got their food and left or ate it. Get over it people.


Today was to cold to do much of anything outside, well not really but it was really windy. I think that we had wind gust that were 15-25 mph today so makes it kinda hard to enjoy the sun that we got. I'm hoping that tomorrow is not more of the same but we are in kinda of a wind tunnel so who knows. Tomorrow is library day so will be out for the morning and then back in the afternoon, I may end up making banana bread to keep the front of the house warm since this house is drafty. It's one of the things I can't stand about this house and I can't wait to leave but that's another post, lol. Well off to watch some movies, eat some popcorn and work on my niece's blanket.

5 Minutes for Mom

I miss being on the web. Last year I signed up with 5 minutes for Mom and when I was able to post about them I did. They are a great bunch of woman who support and joke and hang out together. I love it. Check it out.

Meanest mom on the Planet

So I was on another blog and I came across this link on her sidebar and went to it. I had to laugh because after reading the story about the "meanest mom on the planet" to myself I had to kinda agree with what she did. It's a little more than I would have done but hey everyone is different. I read the story to my husband and you know what he was stuck on??? The price of the car!!!!!!! Yes ladies and gentlemen, the fact that they, well the mom, was going to sell the car for $3,700. Not the fact that there was booze in the car, that it was hiding under the seat or that 'a friend' left it behind. I have to laugh at that. It took about 5 minutes for me to get over that one.

Today was park day. We did the usual park thing and then went for hot dogs. Usually we don't go because we end up doing something for my friend and end up missing things. It was a lot of fun though. We need to it more often.

Goals pt2

I forgot to mention this in my goals, I will lose weight this year. Not because of a diet or fasting or anything like that, I will be more mobile this year.
-I will ride my bike
-I will take my dog for a walk more often (she's starting to gain weight to)
-I will get a smaller size bra (trust me I need it)

These are all things that will happen, not only because I need to lose the weight but because I want to feel better. Playing a round of ring-a-round-the-rosie with Savie leaves me winded, walking up a flight of stairs leaves me winded. I should not feel that way, I am to young for that. Well maybe not that but I am not ready for that to be my reality. I want to lose the weight.It's not a matter of being a size smaller but being a healthier weight and being able to do things without having to stop because I'm tired and winded. I thought that working would help with that but I only ended up putting on weight instead of losing it (all those late night trips thru the drive-thru is what did it to me). But this time next year I will weigh less.

what a day

Today was a great day. We were suppose to go hiking today with some of the other moms but it fell apart so Savie and I went by ourselves. It was a good day for it. I know the place, we tried it last year with a friend last year but we only made it about 5 minutes, lol.

It's at the pass here in town, which is nice since I brought our dog along with us. She had been left out for so long, not going on walks, being locked in the house because it's cold. So off we went on a good hike.

We had a late start, didn't leave the house until about 10:30 and still needed to gas up (not a good thing to drive to the top of a mountain when your 'check gauge' light is on, lol). Halley was every happy to be in the car to the point that she almost fell out, lol. We got to the spot and Savie kept asking me 'where are we going?" It was to cute, even though I had told her several times that we are going for a hike (we can't say walk around Halley, she knows the word and goes crazy). Out of the car we go, oops wait a minute forgot the camera, gotta take pictures of the sites and scenery. So we set out again, this time with camera in tow. Halley was her usual happy self when we are out, Savie was more interested in picking up sticks then looking around. We walked down the trail for about 30 min before we walked back to the car. Got some great shots of her climbing a mountain and sitting next to a small tree and then in a tunnel we found. I will have to post them later. I am to tired to go out to the car and get the camera.

I needed the walk. I need to lose the weight that I've gain over the past 2 years from doing nothing. Savie and I are going to be doing this more often, at least until it gets to cold for it. But I think that the worst of our winter is over since today was a nice 60 degree's with no wind. I'm hoping that maybe even try again this weekend. Let's hope.

What a friend

Yes I am going to brag about myself. I have a friend, who started out as a co-worker, that uses me a lot. Not necessarily in a bad way all of the time but one of those friends where when you get home at the end of the day after being with them or dealing with them you are just tired. Now not just physically tired but emotionally and mentally tired. Yesterday I promised to come over and feed the two baby lambs that she rescued from her mother's ranch outside of town (don't ask that's a whole different post) and she said that I could use her washer/dryer since I only have a washer and it was raining here yesterday. So no big deal, feed 2 baby lambs their bottles, wash clothes, let Savie play on the play set outside, easy right?

No such luck. Her washer/dryer situation is bad. It's in another room that is barely big enough to fit the 2 of them in there. I mean they are right there, you can't even really walk in the room because to open the dryer door it pushes you out. It gets a little old and makes my back hurt, I don't know how she does it.

****edited to add more****
So today, the 13th, we went to Tombstone to buy trigger locks for the gun that hubby has because we need them. So it';s a great family day, nice and warm and sunny, we are enjoying ourselves. We've just gotten there, are walking around watching the street fight they have every hour (gotta love Tombstone) when my phone goes off. It's her!!!! I hung up the phone and she calls back!!!! So I finally turn my off off and went on with the rest of our family day.

When we left to come back home I turn my phone back on and she left a message asking me to come get her from her parents ranch, 30 min outside of town!!!!!! how can I say no when I listen to the rest of her story. What a friend I am.

Goals

I have finally made up my mind, and I think my mother would be happy. I am going back to school. I may have said this before but I am really going to go thru with it this time. I went the the junior college here and got the books so I can plan for next semester, not the winter semester but the spring/summer one. That way I have time to plan for Savie, find grants/financial aid (if I qualify), and look for a house. I figure that by the time we move, he stops working long enough to get his contractors license things should be settled down enough for me to go to school. Especially since I plan on doing online classes and Savie won't be in school just yet. I'm hoping that by the time I put her in day care/prechool I will be ready for 2-3 classes and not stressing to much, lol.

Which brings up another subject, putting Savie in daycare. I don't see the point since I am not working and we spend time out with other kids. I mean, why waste the money that we don't really have, on putting her in school now when I am not doing anything else during the day? I mean if I was working, or in school, then yeah I will put her in school but for now there's no need. And it's not like we don't spend time with other kids and are not social, we are. We have a pretty wide schedule where we do do certain things on certain day, ie story hour or going to the park, but we are active. Everyday is something, even if we just have to go wash clothes we are out doing something. Well it's way past the little one's bedtime so I guess I better go put her to bed, lo. Have a great night ladies.

Playtime

Well it's Friday here again and we did the usual, playtime at the park. But for the past couple of weeks we have missed it or have been out of town so we haven't been. It was so nice to see everyone, both old and usual (if that's the right phrase) again. Usually after Tues we don't really see a lot of other people because we don't go over to Douglas for their story hour we stay here and do bi-lingual story hour. I have so many pictures that I would love to put together for a scrapbook that I think the other mothers would like to see. It's nothing fancy, just pictures I've taken at the park and the library and other event/things that we have done as a group but to see the changes in the kids would be nice. It was only after looking at some of the pictures that I can really see the changes in Savie. Besides it's something nice to do for someone other than me, lol.

Today started out pretty good. Finally put the new down comforter on the bed so we won't be freezing anymore and had a very warm night last night. Slept in and then got dressed and eat a little something for breakfast. Savie was her usual cranky, wanting to watching TV self (we are going to have to put a stop to that soon, very soon, but we made it out the door at a reasonable hour. I tried to drop stuff for hubby but he wasn't where I thought he was going to be so I have his phone and am looking all over for him. Played at the park for a good amount of time, hoping in the back of my mind that she will take a nap so i can think after 5 minutes lol. Then came over to feed a lamb and dry some clothes but I ave yet to eat. I really want to get home and work on my nieces blanket, eat my own lunch and just relax. I don't think that's asking a whole lot you know. But that's what I get for being a friend to this one person. I am getting myself into her stuff, it's great and everything when I can do that I like, like go to the ranch, feed some animals, have a 2 opinion when I go shopping, but it wears then when I can't get a word in edgewise.

Like the other day when I was trying to tell her a story about the trip I just took. Somehow things managed to work their way around to being about her......again. Not that she hasn't had a hard time in life, but when we're talking about how hard it is to find time to do something for me without Savie how does that translate to her not having car?? Maybe I'm missing something but somehow everything that I bring up works it's way back to her and her problems.

Well maybe I can eat my lunch now that the lamb has calmed down and she is eating. Let's hope for good things, right?!?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! Just a view from the pass near our house. I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year eve's I spent my night watching movie's, eating popcorn, and having a glass of wine.

End of Year

It's the end of the year and I am trying very hard to get some things wrapped up. I have a blanket for my niece, who will be 18 in Feb but that is another story, to finish, I need to get the files/receipts and whatnot together for taxes, and work on finding a house soon. I am never very good at doing this but I will have to get better at it because i am the only one who can do it. He is to busy working to do it. But of course it's hard because everytime I start to get something done, you know pull things out to get them organized, who has to call me wanting something? Nope not the child but hubby. He has the worst timing in the world sometimes.

But I think because he has to stop working in about 2 months things would get better for us. He is going to stop to get his license and then hopefully he will be able to get bigger jobs and bring in more money. I on the other hand will still be out of work,. I want to go back to school to get a degree in early childhood education so I can either run a daycare/preschool or be a kindergarten/1st grade teacher. I know that for the later it's a couple more years of schooling but it's a plan, you know. It's better than a few years ago when I didn't know what I wanted to do and I just a general idea.

A couple more days and then it will be 2008, can you believe it???? It seems like this year has flown by. When I have a chance to look through some f the pictures I have online I will post a slideshow of Savie just from this year and you can see the changes in her, I can't really see them, other than the fact that most of the clothes from the beginning of the year don't fit anymore, lol. But the coming of a new year has so many different meanings to it. It's a clean start, a new diet, a new house, new baby, etc. I hope that I have a chance to enjoy the old and as well as the new and just be happy with what I have.

Your Birthdate: March 15

You take life as it is, and you find happiness in a variety of things. You tend to be close to family and friends. But it's hard to get into your inner circle. Making the little things wonderful is important to you, and you probably have an inviting home. You seek harmony with others, but occasionally you have a very stubborn streak. Your strength: Your intense optimism Your weakness: You shy away from exploring your talents Your power color: Jade Your power symbol: Flower Your power month: June

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!! May you all have warm nights, family close in person or in your heart, and plenty of time with all. I will post pictures soon of our day before Christmas outing.

The Holidays

Yes the holidays are here, a time for everyone to feel closer to the ones they love, to spread the cheer of the season, blah blah blah.

Now before you think that I'm some kinda of Scrooge stop and think about it for a minute.
~Why is that at the end of the year we suddenly feel it necessary to be kind to people?
~This is the time that everyone wants to 'give' to others for the sake of giving?
~We put up lights to show our 'Holiday cheer' and be 'festive'? (even if we go overboard and look like something out of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation)

It's not that different from my feelings on Valentine's day, but we will get to that later. This is when we want to be close to family not because of the holiday but because society has we have to. I want to be close to my family all the time, and I will get to see some of my family pretty soon yeah for me!!! A lot of people over do their house's in decorations and presents and food and then there are people who are looked at as hating Christmas because they don't go all out for the holiday but want to stay with their family and keep it low key.
That's where I am right now, wanting to keep things low key. That's what Thanksgiving was for us. It was just the 3 of us, turkey/stuffing/football. That's it, simple and sweet. There was no need to have everything prefect and looking just right when it's just the 3 of us, why am I trying to impress someone whose not here?
Now let me get back to the joy of the season.

I have not even started to get the presents for my own child but i have the presents for my niece and nephew in CA, who I am going to see in a few days, but I still need to wrap them before we leave because you know that just doesn't look right if I show up with them unwrapped. But it will be nice to see some of my family again. The only problem is they are all spread out that it would take a week to see everyone, lol. But I will be seeing a few people, I just wish that I had time to see my friend, K, who just had her 3rd baby so she is once again outnumbered in the house. 2 boys and a girl.

I have just gone off on such a ramble about the holidays but I am wishing everyone a happy and safe one, that they are simple plans that are enjoyed by everyone with as little stress as possible.

Happy birthday Baby

Can you believe it? My baby is now 3 years old. It only seems like yesterday, blah blah blah. That is not me. She has gotten to be so big but she is so much fun. Everyone loves her and that's not just me bragging on my own child, she is so well behaved that it makes me wonder what she will be like when she becomes a teenager, lol. The other shoe has to fall soon.

The past year has been pretty easy, there have been few days where she has been a 2 yr old, you know trowing temper tantrums, not listening, etc.it's just been in the past month or so that she has been a 2yr old. Tomorrow is balloons and cake, not a whole lot of partying here but that's ok, thankfully she is at an age where it's not a big thing and we can focus on other things right now. We are having cupcakes in the park on Friday at our regular playgroup so that will be something. So again I saw happy birthday baby.

Resolutions

I know it's early but I am making a resolution right now. I plan to keep my blog more up to date and to add pictures. Also to keep a better account of my 50 books.

Happy Halloween

Are we having fun or what?? This is out in Wilcox, Az at a place called Apple Annie's. It was so much fun, even though it was just the two of them. That is Savie and Lia, a friend of ours that just turned one a few days ago. It took us about an hour and a half to get out to this place but once we got there it was so worth it. We picked pumpkins and a few other veggies. There had to be a couple of acres of just pumpkins. So glad we went, hopefully next year we will make it to the apple orchard, lol.




Here we are going pumpkin picking, again. We did it once at the beginning of the month with a couple of friends and it was so much fun. This time we stayed local, we not really, but it was only about a 30 minute drive this time. This is PJ and Hank with Savie. As you can see they are having a ball. They have so much fun together even though Hank is a little rougher than he needs to be and his poor mom has a hard time handling him. I feel for her since she has another baby, who is almost a year, and is trying to keep them both happy. I know I couldn't do it so I feel for her.

I will have to come back and post Pictures of Savie in her costume. She had so much fun for her first time trick-or-treating.

It's almost that time again

No not Christmas but time to plan a birthday party for my child. I am not looking forward to it, not because I don't want a bunch of kids at my house (couldn't anyways house is to small) but there is nothing really here for the kids to do. I remember growing up in CA and going to Chuck E. Cheese for birthday parties and than roller skating or something like that. But there is nothing really here in town I mean there is one fast food place in the whole town, there is a Dairy Queen but it closes for the winter. The next best thing would be to go to the next town over and do something there but it's a 45 min. drive and I hate to ask anyone to do that. But what I am thinking of doing is driving out to this place that is a pick your own garden about 20 minutes outside of town to let the kids pick pumpkins and stuff. We've done it before and Savie had a lot of fun. Hopefully none of the kids are allergic to anything out there since it's the last day of the season and they will be closed when her birthday rolls around. so i am stuck trying to think of something to do in the cold weather that will keep the kids entertained.

look at my map

5 times is one time to many

Doesn't she look like she's a smart dog? Like she wouldn't get into to much trouble? Wrong!! She has been sprayed 3 times by skunks, twice in one week, and all before we left CA. Then again here in AZ while Mike had her out in the woods camping, ha ha on him. Well last night was number 5.

We've had a skunk problem here for about a month. There has been one here at least once or twice a week but the bad part is that they have been going under the house. Yuck just picture that. This little thing walking up and down the driveway and not being able to do anything about it.

Last night I pulled in and checked to make sure that it wasn't in the driveway, again then let Halley out so she could potty before I went in the house. I turned my back on her to close the gate and that's when it happened. She took off and grabbed the skunk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes that's right. Halley was sprayed again and it was to late to go to the store to get Baking soda. (I found a really great recipe that works better than tomato paste/juice) so I left her outside with her blanket and water, took a shower myself, ate a little and then went to bed so I could go to the store as soon as they opened at 6am.I will be drinking coffee today for sure, or maybe just have an energy drink or two.

So Abby is gone, she was the only hairless left out of the pack that we found, as I said in the lat post but in the sale my friend Kerrie got 3 more hairless that are 4 weeks old and huge!!!!!! I'm trying to go over there tomorrow and get picture of all the puppies that are left.

I have to go to the Dr.'s on Friday for a stupid allergic reaction to some bug bites. My legs are swelling and they itch really bad. I mean it's to the point that I'm thinking about taking sleeping pills just so I can sleep. My arms are getting bad to. I went last week, before going to Vegas, and I get some meds then bu that was only enough for a week. This is just got to stop. I don't like taking meds but that's what i need right now.

The Puppies

are getting so big. Unfortunatly we lost a lot of them to Parvo but there were 4 puppies left and only one of them is hairless. Here is a picture of the one hairless that was left. She has been named Abby and living in her new home with a friend of a friends house here. The picture is just to funny. She is so small right now, she fits in the palm of your hand. I should have more pictures of the other ones tomorrow.

Gone for the weekend

Well I am off to Vegas, I might have something to tell you guys when I get back, lol.

Tagged

I have been tagged by my friend Claudia so here goes.

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.

At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

DaVon

D is for Devoted, I am devoted to my daughter and my family.

A is for affe

V is for very simple. I would love to have things simple and the more simple the better, lol.

O is for

N is for 'no' the word i hear all the time from my daughter, lol. so goes the vocabulary of a 2 yr right?

You gotta love the things that mommies share with each other.

Kisha will go to jail for ... Stealing condoms from the grocery store 'What sexual activity will you go to jail for?' at QuizUniverse.com

So I am home alone

I went and got my hair braided today, got up and left the house around 6am this morning, which is really early for me on a Sat, lol. So hubby took Savie to the mountains for the day and she finally got to use her backpack which has a sleeping bag, tent, flashlight, canteen etc. I knew she would be really happy to do it to. Hubby called around 5:30p to tell me that they were flooded in, yes I said in, at the campsite and not to worry about them or try to come get them. Was I worried?? A little but he called and I know where they are so it's not that big of a deal plus they have plenty of food and should be home early tomorrow. So I came home and enjoyed the piece and quiet that is my house tonight.

YUCK GROSS YUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok let me warn you first, if you don't like spiders or creepy crawlies don't read this.





OK this past Sunday Savie and I were having a lazy morning just hanging in bed, hubby was in the mountains (left the day before since I didn't have to work)when my friend Kerri called. I was talking to her on my cell with Savie laying on my right arm, close to the edge of the bed when I looked over saw this crawling over her shoulder and onto her chest. Of course the first thing I did was scream and yank Savie away from it. I dropped the phone and got the thing off of her and ran out of the room. Can you picture that??? this is just gross and it turns out that it was a mini tarantula, true they are not aggressive but still that's a spider on your child, eeeeeeeeeeee. I still have a hard time going to bed at night even though I have had the house sprayed and haven't seen anything in a week. Unless you count the skunk that came in the yard last night, lol.

Puppies

are just to funny. They are at that age where they are so big and bad, trying to scratch themselves while falling down, making a mess when they eat. They crack me up. I have to get some more video of them playing. The 4 in the video are the oldest and then white one with the spots has already been sold. Savie is having so much fun with them. She was helping feed them when they were on a syringe and then on a bottle and now that they can try and chase her she thinks they are funny until one of them tries to get me or play with me, then she tells them "my mommy", lol.

Has anyoone noticed I'm................

not here? Yes I have not posted anything for quite some time. Part of it has been because I've been working, part is due to my computer, (finally got it fixed ad cleaned), and then part of it is that I was helping a friend from work since she blew her back out and has been having a hard time getting around. then on top of that we found 20 puppies, by 3 different mother's. The oldest one's were born Father's day and that mom was doing an OK job of taking care of them. Here's a picture of some of them.
Can we say ohhhh???

Today we took them outside for playtime and they were just having a ball trying to run around. I have to get the pictures I took of them off my camera today so you guys can see them. They are just adorable.
Ok time for me to go to bed, it's almost 2 am.

A belated Easter post

50 Book challenege

Well I'm not as far along as I was hoping to be but I will stick to this. I have 12 books read so it's no that bad i was hoping that by summer I would be at a halway point but we'll see how the rest of the year goes.

It's my day off but does he care?????

Apparently not. I don't need to get up at 6am when I just went to bed at 1 and don't have to work this evening. I've worked the last 4 days nights, until 11pm not getting home until midnight and would have liked to stay in bed until 7am, if possible. All of this just to show me the big chunk of ice leftover from last nights storm. I was at work, duh, and didn't see/hear all that went on last night. There was hail about the size of peas, he said, and about 2 inches deep in the driveway but the door. I know that sounds like a lot but our driveway is slanted so everything runs in to the front door making everything look like more than there is, but still that's not the point. The pack of ice is in the shade it would have still been there when I got up at 7am if not that then maybe part of it and I would get the picture. But c'om I need my sleep.


Well since it rain we are not going to go swimming. i was considering it on Sunday but thanks to the rain it's not that hot anymore so we will wait until the end of the week. In the meantime, we have some errands to run so I will have to add to this post later today.

good food

Ok this will be a short post since i am trying to stay awake and it's not going very well. I did a little grocery shopping yesterday and cleaned the freezer. I mean cleaned the freezer completely. We had berries in the freezer that defrosted and then refroze so there was yucky, sticky berry juice on the bottom of the freezer. But now my freezer is cleaned and there is no sticky berry juice anymore. Savie and I went to the store and bought some cheese and eggs and milk, you know the basics and i saw that there was a new kind of fruit cup that you put in the freezer and then eat. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i had one today and they are so good. I looked for it on the website and they don't ave it up there yet but it's Del Monte Fruit Chillers. i will definitely have to buy more, these are really great instead of ice cream.

What a week

It's only Tuesday but I am so tired. Yesterday we went to the pool and then came home. I had nothing else planned since it's my day off and I needed to wash clothes. Plus we hadn't seen many of the others kids since Tuesday of last week, which reminds me I need to find a way to get pictures of the tea party on the computer. There was no story hour on Thursday and we missed the gym class on Friday. We saw a few kids at the Farmer's Market on Sat. but not that many, so went to the pool. One to cool off, it was about 90 around 9am when we tried to left and also to hang out with the other kids. Savie had so much fun. She walked around and tried to swim in the kiddie pool and didn't get upset once so I thought we would go back today (Tuesday).

It was just so hard to drag myself out of the house this morning and go. Savie was morning than ready to go this morning. But we dd it, we made it to the pool around 9:30 even though we tried to be there by 9am. We stayed at the park, which is right next to the pool, for awhile with some of the other kids and then went to the pool for an hour. Savie and PJ were the only ones that went in but that's ok since it means the little pool wasn't that crowded.
Tomorrow is the start of the summer reading program so we will see how that goes. Hopefully better than last year with all of the kids that show up.

Sorry for the long

delay from my last post but I've been so tired the last couple of nights that it's just crazy.

I got our pictures back yesterday (family you will get yours soon) and they are sooooooooo cute. Yes I am bragging about my daughter but she is just to cute for words. I wish I had a scanner so I could scan them to my computer and show them off some more but no such luck there. (I have figured out though that I need to take my computer in to get it cleaned so i can find out why I can't download my pictures from my camera. )


Some of the moms "trade" kids, like one mom will take another moms kids for the day so she can work or go to the Dr. whatever the case may be and then they will trade later. I love that fact. i had never asked anther mom to watch Savie until i had to go in my interview.

Also last week w went to the San Pedro River for a hike. It was so nice. The kids walked to the river and played for awhile, then when they got cold from the water (can you believe it?) they sat down and ate. I have pictures and a link for some of the other pictures that another mom took but I can't do it right now, my mind doesn't want to work right now.

Potty Training

This is just a an update. I have been trying to get Savie potty trained but have hit a wall. She hasn't gotten any better about using the potty and we are just going thru so many pull ups it's crazy so I have decided that we are just going to wear regular panties and see what happens. Well Sun was good. She had one accident all day and then I think she was fine while I was at work. Mon was good to same thing. Today was not so good. We went to the library like always and then stopped at the Co-op and came home. It wasn't until w came home that she had an accident. She even took her nap and woke up dry!!!!!! I think we may be closer to being potty trained and able to go to day care.

I think I go a little ahead of myself buying the Vista software for my computer. I need to take some things off before I ca load all of it on my laptop. Oh well. That's what I get to trying.

Happy Mother's day

Happy belater mother's day to everyone!!!!

What a week!!!!!

This has been such a crazy up and down week. I said I was going to buy myself a bicycle and start riding again but with Savie I need to get a trailer so that's what I did. I wasn't going to it for Christmas because it would just sit in the garage until it got warm so I waited for spring to buy one. I got a good one and tried to hooked up the trailer that I bought from Walmart.com (Yeah I know shameless plug) but wasn't having any luck but hubby came home early and did it for me. OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I thought that I could pull her in the trailer but it was so hard to do. I was sore on just the two blocks that we went. That was on Tues. and then I tried again the next day to ride down tot he post office and back and that really hurt me but of course Savie was having fun. She loved sitting in there and being pulled. I figure it will take me a couple of months to work up to go really far with the trailer.
Wednesday we didn't do anything and then Thurs we went to story hour and then our SnB. It was fun. Since it's been so warm lately that we spent most of the early evening and night outside, we start at 5pm which is fine since the kids were having so much fun. I haven't been riding since Wed because my butt hurts so bad from the seat but I'm going to buy another one and see if that helps.
Today we went to the park but it was hot, I mean it was already 90 by 10 am this morning. I think we are gong to move back to the other park since it has more shade. See what I mean about it being a great week. We've had nice weather, great days, and very little temper tantrums. lol.

From so-so to great

Today started out as just ok. There is a wind advisory in effect until about 8pm tonight so we were only going to go down to the Farmer's Market for a little while and then come home to rest before we went to Sierra Vista for pictures.That was the plan but something didn't want to work with me on this.
First I couldn't get the Suburban started, not just ignition trouble that I've been having for the past coupe of weeks, but nothing, not so much as a click. So I had to unload hubby's truck, which had all of the tools he used this week at work, by myself. All of the toolboxes that he had, the rolling toolbox, and then tried to unload the table saw and the air compressor and then changed my mind (that thing is way to heavy). So we went to the bank and deposited my paycheck, a whopping$361.00 for 2 weeks!!!!! who hoo!!! anyways we came back to the Farmer's Market but because of the wind they were shutting down so i still didn't get breakfast, my second thought was to go to the BBC for breakfast. What was I thinking, it's a Saturday morning and there are tons of tourist in town so there is at least a 20 min. wait and I'm starving at this point so we just went next door to the Co-op and got some eggs and came back home to eat. Since I thought I knew how to hook up the battery charger I tried to that so I could take the Suburban into town instead of having t worry about his truck but there was no luck there. I let it charge for almost 2 hrs and still got nothing so we had to take his truck.

So we drove to Sierra Vista in his truck and thankfully she fell asleep just outside of town is she was nice and rested when we got to Walmart. Spiderman was suppose to be there and I was hoping that we would get there in enough time to see him before we took our pictures. I knew Savie wasn't going to want to get to close but i thought we would at least try and I hoped it wouldn't take away from her good mood and ruin taking pictures.

I got soooo lucky!!! She did great! There was no fussing, crying, outing up nothing. She took great pictures. I can't wait to get them back. There are 2 of us and then 5 of just her, the lady that took our picture said that she did great. I can't wait to get these pictures back. I wish I had a scanner so I could post them. They came out so nice.

So a so-so day turned into a great day. That's the way to end it right, ladies??

Just a little insight.

I guess not working for so long has let me forget just what people think when they re customers. This guy and this lady are the reason I hate customers. They are the reason that waiters spit in the food and other people pee in the coffee. They really should have thought about what they are doing and saying before they open their mouths.

Menu plan for 4/29-5/5

Here's the plan for the week, hopefully we can stick to it.

Sun: Pasta with bread and veggies
Mon: Pork chops
Tues: Leftovers
Wed: leftovrs
Thurs: Chicken Mozzalra with pasta and veggies
Fri:
Sat: Mexican night

Opening Day

Today was opening day for the Farmer's Market (so be prepared for a lot of Saturday post about it). It was also Earth Day, at least here. There was a big Earth Day celebration going on. There was a jumper for the kids but Savie didn't want it to go in. So we walked around some more and saw some of the usual for Farmer's Market. It was really nice. I can't wait for next week so we can buy some of the regular stuff. Well I'm tired and a little annoyed so that's it for tonight.

This is weird

It's Thursday afternoon/evening and Savie is with hubby and what am I doing?? Nothing, absolutly nothing. This just feels weird. I don't know what to do with myself. I can't work on my crochet project (it's done and I'm waiting for my new yarn to get here), there's nothing on TV I want to watch, and it's to late to workout (for me anyways) So what am I going to do??? Haven't a clue.

What is she thinking?

Last week a new mom showed up for Story Hour, I've seen her once before but that was a couple of months ago so I don't really remember her name. Well she was talking to another mom about SAHM and working moms and how it wrong for working moms to tell SAHM that they are stupid for no working, blah blah blah. She was loud about it and seemed to want to make sure that all of us heard what she had to say. Well needless to say she rubbed me the wrong way. Well she was there Tues as well and seemed to have an opinion about everything that people said. There were only 3 of us there and not all of the conversations were directed towards her. Savie and PJ were being loud and wanted to run around so I took them in the other room so they could without a chance of one of them falling on the 2 babies that were there, hers and a nanny who both have 8 month olds. I even closed the door so they could be loud without disturbing the rest of the library. What does she do???? She comes in and sits down in the middle of the room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello?!?!?!? did you not get the hint?? I took the kids out of the room so you wouldn't be in the way and what do you do?? You put yourself in the way. We read one story and then it was time fr the musicians. They sung a bunch of songs about animals and when we got to 'Old McDonald' she made a comment about knowing a version that's not very kid friendly or animal friendly. Why would you say that??? Why bring it up if you can't sing it in front of 2yr????
I don't understand this woman. She had a comment for everything and everyone. Maybe I'm missing something but I think she's reaching for something.

Tackle It Tusday

I know it's already the middle of the week but I did make my menu plan for the week yesterday, as part of my Tackle Tuesday. I actually have this week and next week's menu. Here's what left for this week.

Wed: leftovers
Thurs: chicken, potatoes, an veggies
Fri: leftovers
Sat: Tuna casserole

This will more than likely change since we went out to dinner last night eve though I had dinner in the oven.

I need a new car~update

Someone somewhere was listening to me rant about my car. Hubby told me today that after we work out something for a house, I'll explain that later, I can get a car and not just some old beat up car for like $1,000.00 no he said something for maybe around $5-$6,000.00!!!! I was shocked to hear this, I almost hit a tree (we were driving when he told me this). I would love to have a new-er car. I don't really need a 2007-8 but a 2000 would be nice. You have no idea how happy this makes me since we paid $1,100.00 for this stupid car and then put in over $4,000.00 in it in the past 2yrs. It's crazy, let me tell you why we had to sped that $$ on it.

About 2 months after we bought the Suburban, which I have named Betty, when we went up to Phoenix for a photo shoot for Savie and then decided to drive up to Prescott to visit some friends. About 2 hrs from Prescott there was all this smoke and Betty was pulling really hard up a hill and then she just went dead. We called AAA to get a tow and then found out that the transmission went out!!! And had no choice but to have Aamco put in a new one. That one day trip cost up about $4,000.00 that's the transmission and rental car.
The next time we needed to do work on the transmission was about a year later, it went out again but this time it was still under warranty so it didn't cost anything but the rental car for a week.

Fix #3~ we made a road trip to Idaho for Labor day and took a friend with us. While we were in St. Maries, hubby's hometown we put in a new radiator, the size it should have been which was 4x bigger than the one that was in it (that's why it took us so long to get from AZ to ID).

Fix #4~took another road trip to CA for business for hubby. On our way home, can you guess what I am going to say??? That's right it was the transmission again. So another call to AAA and Aamco. It took about a week for them to fix the problem, we were stuck in some little town in CA in the mts in the winter when we had only packed for a week. I was pissed. So we were stuck for 2 weeks with no car. So let's see that's a new transmission (under warranty), a hotel room for a 2 weeks, a rental car for 2 days, and a plane ticket to get home and back. Oh wait I forgot we did get Betty back but then on our way to get the trailer that we had, in the city we got stuck in, the transmission went out about 2 hr after we got Betty back that's why we ended up flying back.

I love Betty but she is just a drain on our $$. Hubby says that once I get a car (yeah) Betty will be used mainly for camping, which is great cuz then we don't need a tent when w go, lol. We've already slept in it once so it's not that bad it's actually about the same size as our bed now so it won't be that cramped.
Ok I think I'm done ranting/raving about getting a new car.

Talking.........

or maybe it's the lack of talking. My daughter is 2 1/2 yrs old and not speaking clearly. I am not worried about her talking, she talks tons. She talks on her play phone, to the dog, to her stuffed animals, to her baby, to u!!!! But for the most part it's not clear, a little garbled like her tongue is swollen or something but I'm not worried. The point is she's talking, clearly or not she's talking. I know that at this age she should be saying at least 20 words clearly, making 2-4 word sentences, blah blah, blah. If she wasn't talking then I would be worried but she's talking and I should be happy with that right? One of the other kids that's about 2 weeks older than Savie is talking clearly but she has no interest in potty training and still wears diapers. But Savie is potty training and some days she does wear regular panties. So I think that it balances out. There are kids that are around Savie's age that are doing things differently. Some are talking better than her while she's potty training or maybe he coordination is better than theirs or they are more willing to share their toys, etc etc it's just a matter of picking and choosing what to be very concerned with.
I got my hair done this past Friday (finally) and of course took Savie with me. I've been to this lady's house before, Ms. Beverly as I call her. Savie was really good, she watched some of the movie Ms. Beverly put on for her, watched me for awhile but even she asked about her talking but when I told her the same thing I tell everyone else, she was happy with it and didn't make that 'oh you poor thing' look. She said at least I was aware of the situation, that a lot of parents miss the chance to help their kids because they are in denial about the situation. At least one person backs me up with my decision.

I need a new car

well, not new but new to me. I have an 83 Chevy Suburban that's diesel. Here's the list of problems with it

• the passenger windows don't work, which kinda sucks during the summer
• the heater/cooler doesn't really cool/heat the back seat
• the cooler in the back of the vehicle doesn't work in my opinion, just makes a lot of noise
• the glow plugs don't work so I have to spray to start it, every time
• it has a leak in the transmission line
• leak in the oil line
• no washer fluid for the windows
• can run without the key being in it, but it needs the key to start

Now this is a tough vehicle don't get me wrong but there are days when I can't stand driving it. It's loud and smokey, I can hear it coming from a block away literally, so I know when I go over to other people's house they can hear me coming it's embarrassing. So on any given day I know that people in my neighborhood know when I'm leaving, coming home, etc.

Well yesterday I was leaving to go to work and was backing out of the driveway like always, looking behind me since we live right at the curve of the road and sometimes people fly around it, when all of a sudden I hear creeeeeeaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!! The stupid wind blew the gate closed just as I pulled out. I hit the gate.........again. Yes that's right I said again. About 3 months ago I hit the post itself but this time I hit the gate so now you have to pick up the stupid gate to open/close it and what is the damage to the Suburban, nothing much just a dent in the side panel.

But about 5 hrs before that Savie and I went to the grocery store and just after I pulled into the parking lot I have a flat tire, a totally flat tire, not just low, but flat. This is nothing like when I blew the tire in Douglas when I knew I ran over something, no this is just the weirdest feeling something not being right with my tires. I know that having a new car I would probably still have these problems but hopefully not all in the same day.

Book #7

The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner is a great book. Now I really have to see the movie. It's not the book I thought it would be, there's a lot of background to it, but that's a good thing. It took me a little longer to read than I thought it would but I think that's mainly because I was working on a crochet project as well. Now on to one of the two books I have, lol.

Menu's for the week

I am going to try and keep this every week espically with me working nights and everything. Let's see if I can do it

Mon: (working) leftovers
Tues: (not working) Swiss casserole 1, Mashed potatoes and parsnips, with bread
Wed: (not working): Oat & Herb Encrusted Turkey, potatoes and seasoned veggies
Thur: (working) leftovers
Fri: (working) leftovers
Sat: (working) tuna casserole
Sun:still trying to decide about this one.

What kind of parent are you?

I was reading the latest issue of Parents and came across an article about parents, "Totally Rude Parents" and it got me to thinking, what kind of parent am I? Am I one of these parents? And if so which one? And is it right of me to decide which one I am?

I know that I'm not the 'competitive' or 'expert' or 'selfish' mom or 'oblivious' one but am I the 'lax' one or maybe 'the wimpy' one? Am I a lax mom because I don't hover over my child at the library/park/gym? I don't think I'm a wimpy mom I do punish her if she's not behaving in public. I tried to get the article to link but no such luck so check it out and get back to me, let me know "how rude are you?"

50 Book Challenge

Book #7


Red Hat Society's Domestic Goddess by Regina Hale Sutherland. This was another book I got from one of the mommy's from my playgroup. It was good. I was very surprised but I think I've getting pretty close to my limit of books that are out of the ordinary for me, lol.

13 Thursday

1. which is worse leaving your dog at home or in the car during the rain?
2. is feeding your dog canned and dry better than than cooking their food yourselves?
3. is a walk once a day enough?
4. is it really so bad to let your dog sleep in the bed with you?
5. why do we let our dogs lick our faces after they lick themselves?
6. do all little dogs have a "little dog complex" or is that just us?
7. how long does it take for the dog and owner to look alike?
8. why do dogs love to ride wiht their heads out the window?
9. and why do we let them?
10. why do some people dress up their dogs in clothes?
11. and why do our dogs let us?
12. what are people thinking when they name their dog "Sir Ralph snoozer"?
13. is there really such a think as an ugly puppy?

Ok those are all my questions about dogs................ for now,lol

13 Thirteen #2

13 Things I love about people while standing in line

1. Standing in line they like to play with the kids in front of the
2. They are willing to give them some change to help them out
3. they have very little patience
4. wait until the last minute to pull out their wallets
5. the younger couples fight over who's going to pay
6. the younger kids always want candy
7. the kids are just cute
8. the older ones want to have a conversation with you even though they hold up the line
9. they think your not listening to their conversations
10. they don't realize just how loud they are
11. usually don't pay attention to you (the cashier) when they are in a hurry
12. want to be in and out 5 minutes ago
13. there will always be more of them

DWTS~ result show

How did Cylde pass?? This is just wrong. That's it.

DWTS~ week 4

ok Joey can really dance!!!! I mean that was a great dance but I have a feeling that Clyde is not going to make it out of this week. He's doing the same thing that Master P did when he was on there, walking thru everything. I understand that there is a height difference and everything but you can at least try and look at your partner. Billy Ray even did great, it was such a difference to go from Clyde's dance to his and see the passion and the effort mainly, in his dance. Leeza looked a little stiff she lost her inner 'tramp' somewhere, lol. Heather's waltz was beautiful and I thought that Ian did a great job on his dance to. I didn't see Laila's dance but who picked that music?? I couldn't get past that, it was annoying to hear such a patriotic song used that way it just didn't seem right. Well I am off to vote.

It's Easter, hope everyone had fun

Well Easter has come and gone and what do we have to sow for it?? A bunch of colored eggs in the fridge and stickers all over the house. I wish my computer was taking my pictures so I could show you guys what we had. I have been getting a lot of food from our Co-op so hen I saw that they had goose eggs coming for Easter I thought that would be so cool for Savie to have on her first real Easter so I got a few and since I am not, at least I'm trying really hard not to, give her candy I bought stickers to cut up to put in some plastic eggs also for her. My plan was to boil and dye the eggs on Sat. so she could help me and have that whole experience but things just did not work out that way. By the time I got her down for a nap I was ready for one to but I still needed to boil the eggs and Mike was out with his friend so I had no choice but to stay awake and boil the eggs, even though I had to work last night. I told him when he got home that I would take care of the eggs when i got home from work and not worry about it. Besides I forgot to buy vinegar so he couldn't really dye the eggs with her later on anyways (besides I knew he was to tired to do it and I would just have a bigger mess to clean up when I got home)

So I left and went to work hoping that I could buy vinegar at the store and not have to get up early or something. No such luck I couldn't find any in Wal~mart before my shift and the grocery store across the street was packed there was no way that I could get in and buy just the vinegar and get back to the store in 15 min!!!!!! So when I got home at 1am, yes that's right I said 1 am, I dyed the eggs, cut up stickers and then hid everything so when I got up today I could hid them in the backyard. Thankfully I had already told mike the plan so he let me sleep in, which is great seeing as I didn't go to bed until almost 3am.

Well the princess was just a little hyper and I only slept until 7:30 maybe. She was bouncing off the walls and just seemed so ready to go do something so I got dressed, after a couple of sips of coffee, and went outside (on a very windy/cold morning surprisingly) and hid her eggs. Oh did I mention that I had to hide eggs for Mike to? He wanted me to do a dozen eggs besides the goose eggs that I did for Savie so I told him that he needed to find them if I was going to go thru the trouble of boiling them. It was so cute. Savie was so happy/excited to go look for them. I really need to figure out why the computer isn't taking my pictures. As much as I would have liked them to come out better they didn't. She was just moving to fast for me so there are a lot of shots that are from behind or the side of her. But other than that it was a good first Easter for her. She got lots of stickers, did a great job finding all of her eggs, and of course had a lot fun.

Organizing

What did I do today? That is a loaded question. I thought I did a lot yesterday but it's only 1:30p now and I've done more today then I did yesterday.
Since hub didn't clean up the spilled apple juice she spilled in the bathroom 2 days ago, which he told me about while I was in the shower, I needed to mop the floor. And since I needed to mop the floor, I might as well mop the kitchen and the hallway. And since I was going to go thru all of that I might as well give Halley a bath (my dog). And since I was giving her a bath then I need to clean the whole bathroom. See what I mean?? A+B+C+D+= a lot of cleaning. Which then got me a little sidetracked from making dinner plans and here's why........

now that I am working I need to get more organized. I need to plan out meals for the week, not just dinner but also lunch so I can get things together ahead of time. I have dinner ready for tonight, lunch for myself for the next couple of days, I have an idea of what they will have for dinner considering that dinner tonight is pretty big so tonight and tomorrow are taken care of. Then I need to think about Friday and Saturday. What to do what to do.

Tackle It Tuesday

It's Tuesday and I should be working on the pile of clothes that I have sitting on my bed. I have at least 3 loads there and 2 more out on the line drying. I don't want to do it but I have to work tomorrow night so I guess I better get cracking. Forgive me if don't show pictures but I can't load pictures onto my computer still. I better try and get some of it done while she's still sleeping. I'm hoping that I can get some of it at least folded before she wakes up. She's getting over something, poor baby still has a runny nose and a bad cough, the fever from Sunday is gone and so is his upset stomach no more throwing up at night thank goodness for me). Well I think I hear footsteps in the hall but I will post later when the clothes are done.

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UPDATE~
Well everything that was in the house is done but there are still 2 loads on the line, they will have to wait until tomorrow since we have no plans tomorrow that should not be a problem. Did everything fine, she's still upset but you would never know it from all the running around she's been doing.

We went and got some of her Easter stuff for her but since we aren't religious and don't go to church and she's not getting any candy there wasn't a whole lot to get her. She has a new basket, some plastic eggs and then tomorrow when I go to work I'm going to buy some stickers and stuff to put in her eggs. I'm not going to pay $3.00 for a sheet of stickers here when I can get 3-5 sheets for $2.00.
Oh yeah I ordered Goose eggs!!!!!!! I can't wait for them to get here. I'm going to go to the Co-op tomorrow and see if they are in, I wanted something different for Easter since this is her first time. Savie and I are going to dye the eggs on Sat., unless something comes up, the goose eggs and then some regular chicken eggs, and then sometime before I go to work (hopefully) I'll put the plastic eggs together and then get up early on Sunday and hide them in the yard. Am I just asking to be hurt or what?? I work until midnight on Sat and then I want to get up early and do all of this, what am I thinking?? Oh well the things we do for our kids. lol

DANCING WITH THE STARS

I love this show. I can't dance, well that's not true but that's besides the point, I love to watch other people so and especially celebrities embarrass themselves. Last season I was pulling for Emmett Smith the whole season from week one but this season I don't know who I wan to win so lets run down the list of celebs.

Laila Ali~ great boxer with a kinda deep voice. I saw her dance tonight and she was good. It was a Bond song so I loved it, she was very into her character.

Billy Ray Cyrus~ He's a little stiff but he's trying, you can really see that he's trying it's so cute.

Clyde Drexler~ He's a little stiff to but I think it's the height difference between him and his partner.

Joey Fatone~ ok after being in 'NSYNC guess I expect him to be better then some of the other dancers. But he's been good. I was impressed with his last 2 dances, he's fun to watch.

Shandi Finnessey~ nothing to say her, don't know her and didn't see her dance this week.

Leeza Gibbons~ Old, I love the fact that she flashed everyone on camera!!!!! That was just funny. and I think he was right that Janet is wondering why she got in so much trouble when she did it a few years ago.

Heather Mills~ She was great! I love the fact that she got away with wearing tennis shoes even though Master P got such hell for that.

Apolo Anton Ohno~ He was great!!!!!!!!He may think that he isn't a dancer but he's great.

John Ratzenberger~ Hey it's Norm?? ok had to say that. He's pretty good, just like Jerry last season. I think he's got a couple more weeks in him.

Ian Ziering~ He was cracking me up with the butt shaking thing. He has it n him to get close to the final.

Like I said I can't call a clear favorite just yet so check back if you like the show.

Book #6

A lot of post today, lol

Finished another book today, this was a little quick. Good read. Don't have much more to say about it. "On Tall Pine Lake" by Dorothy Garlock. It's got a little romance, a little mystery.

Holidays and other things

With Easter next week and we just got a card in the mail for Savie from an Auntie, it's got me thinking about this again. How do you tell family members not to send candy to your kids??

We have no family in the state, at least not ones we are talking to, so the only way to stay in touch with them is to call them or send cards. I love this one Aunt, she is very big into scrapbooking and makes her own cards so every card is very personal and i love them. But the down side is she has sent candy in the last 2 cards she has sent to Savie. Valentine's day and now Easter. But she's not the only one, my mother has done it to, so it's not like his side of the family is doing things that I don't like, it's across the board. Do I send them a card back saying thank you for the beautiful card but please don't send candy anymore? Savie would really like to have stickers/books/whatever? How do I do this and be nice about it?

Trying something new today

Picture this, it's a warm spring day, very little wind; aslight breeze really, and you've just finished hanging the laundry on the line and have a 2 1/2yr old (omg is she really that old already?) , what do you do? you grab couple of chairs, some kleenex (she's got a running nose) and your laptop!! That's what we are doing today. Since I don't want to leave the house and it's a nice day outside we are sitting in the backyard enjoying the day. I need to wait for a check to clear and some other stuff so I am going to be working on the laptop for awhile, post a little, read some other blogs, and enjoy the morning even though it's already 11am for me. We jut can't seem to get out of the house before 10, even if it just to hang the clothes up. So for all of those that have the warm weather, and I'm wishing it for everyone, get out there and enjoy it before it gets to be to warm!!!!!


UPDATE~~~
well it didn't last long, about 10 minutes after I posted this the battery on the laptop went dead. Guess we'll have to try again later. lol