Tackle It Tuesday #15

Well I didn't plan on having a tackle for today but I do. Like I said before I was re-ended while my car was still in the driveway (rolling my eyes). Well I never got around to calling in the claim, I've never had to do one before so I had no idea what was in store for me. I had to call 4 different numbers to finally get thru to make my claim. Since I have never had to do this before I didn't know what was needing of me but is it normal for them to ask you to "verify the age of the driver?" I have never heard that before and thought it was something that they should have but that's ok. Since I was coming home at lunch anyways today I knew I was going to call and get that taken care of and I did. It was one of the longest 16 minutes on the phone. LOL

What about you? What are you tackling?

Heads Or Tails #2

This weeks prompt for H O T, that I am finally able to remember to do, is Doctors.


Normally I am not a big fan of going to the Dr. and try to do as much as possible on my own. I try to go the herbal route whenever possible. But this whole thing with Halley has made me love the Dr. eve if it is a vet, lol.

A jumble of a day

Well today was a bit of a jumble. Halley got her stitches out, or so I thought. She had a 9:20am appt to get her drainage tubes out. She is such a great dog, she has been in such a good morning that she was waiting at the door from the time I woke up early (at 5:30am) and washed dishes, made coffee, and got dressed. By the time I got Savie up it was only 7.

I thought I was going to take her to school and then spend the morning with Halley but Savie wanted to stay with me so off to town we went. Savie was a trooper. Halley was really good at the vets office and got all of her tubes out but still has her E-collar on. Now she has a regular collar on instead of her harness, I hope that feels better to her, and I spent most of the afternoon at school. I need to go to bed. I am off.

Sunday Scribblings #18

This week's prompt is Solace and after the week I've had I need to find solace in something. To be funny I would say I found solace in a bottle of tequila but I don't think anyone would find that funny (right?). But I did take a couple of shots at home after I got Halley home. But the thing that has given me solace thru this whole thing was knowing that Halley is a strong dog. That she is ok, and will be ok, and that the car is only metal. I have to take comfort in the fact that even though she is as beat up as she is (did you look at the pictures? very messy) she is still in good moods. Even when we were at the vets office waiting to be seen, she wanted people to pet her. Yesterday I took her for a walk, even though it's hard for her to get out the door, she wanted to go. She wanted to go longer than I thought she should have. She has such a great heart that it gives me comfort that she wanted to be here, that she fought to stay and not leave me so soon.

Sky Watch Friday #13

My days have been a little hectic but this is a shot I got the other day just minutes before a storm blew it's way in. Pretty nice huh?






To see more, or to join, head over to the new blog just for the Sky watching!!!!

It was going to happen....

i knew this would happen sooner or later. Halley was attacked by javelina's two nights ago.

***WARNING***
***GRAPHIC PICTURES AND DETAILS***

The other night there was a big storm and I wanted to get some pictures of it. (I did and they are cool) and then we came back in. After the storm, about 3 hrs later, hubby let Halley out to go potty but didn't close the gate. I walked out a minute or so after her and was looking around. I turned around to say something to hubby thru the window when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I turned around in time to see Halley lunge for something around the bend of the road. I yelled for her to come back but she didn't and then I saw it. A javelina. I yelled two more times, yelled for hubby, and then yelled again for Halley. Another one came out of the bushes on the other side of the street and I turned to yell again. By the time hubby came running out of the house to help I saw at least 4 of them surrounding Halley. I screamed and ran. Hubby finally got her away from them and I grabbed her by her collar and pulled her inside.

When I pulled her into the house and saw it, it was bad. She had major bites and a big puncture wound in her neck. It took 30 minutes to get the bleeding to stop. I had to go to a friends house to get more gauze. I parked outside my gate because I just wanted to get home. I called to a after hours vet but never got an answer, and then I had to call a vet in Tucson (which is 2 hrs away!!!!) I wasn't getting an answer or help and Halley was not looking good. We finally got he bleeding stopped and I wrapped her neck. That was the good thing, the bad thing. Savie woke up during the fight outside. It's about 9:30p at this point and so now she is awake, scared, and not happy. I can't comfort her because I'm worried about Halley, hubby is working on her to.

I spent the night on the couch next to her bed checking on her. It was a long night. When hubby finally got up the next morning I took a shower and got Savie up for school. I packed a lunch, got her dressed, got myself some coffee and started to wash dishes when.......BANG!!!!!!!!! My neighbor from down the street ran into my car.

Yes that's what I said, ran into the back of my car. I wasn't parked out in the road. Several cars had already driven by my car and didn't hit me. It was just not the way I wanted my day to start. So now not only do I have to take my dog to the vet to get put back together but now I have to take my car in to be looked at.


I got Halley in and they looked at her, gave me an estimate of at least $700. I left her at the vets drove down the street to get my car looked at and that was about $1,700.00 but I still haven't called my insurance company to tell them about it. I figured my dog was a little more important then my car.

In the link the first one is the storm and then pictures of Halley.

What a day

Last night was a bad night. I am still in shock but will update later on when I have had a chance to relax and think.


Last night Halley was attacked by javelina and then this morning my car was rear ended. I spent all of last night sleeping on the couch, checking on her and trying to get some sleep. I am not in a good place.

I can run errends by myself?

right? I don't have to take my daughter with me everywhere I go, do I?

Apparently I can't.


I had a couple of errands to run this morning and asked Savie if she wanted to go with me or if she wanted to go to school and I wold come back. She choose school. Fine by me. That means that I can go have a muffin at HDM and read my book before going to the bank. But that was not to be the case. When I got the bank, not my usual branch, after the teller talked me up abut what I needed today she asked me where Savie was (that's one). I told her that she was in school (pre-school) and went across the street tot he coffee shop to get my breakfast (even though I wouldn't be able to read my book now). The lady at the counter asked where my daughter was.

"She's so cute, we haven't seen her in awhile." (that's two)

Since I still needed to go to the bank I went to the one I usually go to. Long story short I got asked4 different times "where's your daughter?"

I guess maybe I can't run around town by myself anymore, lol.

Updates

It dawn on me that today is the 21st and I haven't done an update in awhile. Let's see over at THF it's just about water conservation which goes great with the Quickie challenge. My plants are just loving me right now. I have watered the 4 pots that I have and they are doing great. I should take a picture of the rose tree that I've been watering like crazy. When I bought it there was only one bloom on it and that was it. Since I have been putting the shower water in the pot (did I meantion that?) I've gotten so many blooms off of it. I think I have 6 blooms going right now with at least 4 more to open in the next day or so. I love it.

My water bill hasn't gone down that much but it's a start, right? What about you, how are you doing on the challenges so far?

Sunday Scribblings #17

It's Sunday and time for me to do some thinking. This week's prompt is ghosts, do you believe?

No not in the X-files kind of way but in the "life after death" kind of way. That would be. I believe there are ghosts/spirits out there and in my house and at the library and the local park ghosts are everywhere. I have no problem with them. For the most part I think they are mis-understood. I think there are plenty of them out there that had great lives, happy ones, and something happened to them.

I remember when I was in junior high or maybe even in elementary school, that a friend and I used an Ouija board to see if there were ghosts in the house that she lived in. Long story short, there was and we saw proof of it in an unsettling way. This is not the kind of ghost that I am happy with. I like the ones that move things around in the house when no one is there. You know, the ones that turn the light on in the bathroom when you know you turned it off, or put the milk back in the fridge when you left it on the counter. These are the kind of ghosts that I like. I acknowledge their presences, say thank you for putting something away for me, that kind of thing.

What about you? Do you believe? Are they out there for you? Watching over you

Please return to your seat

I haven't flown in a long time, mainly because I can't afford it, but ti's stories like this that make me not want to fly. What is wrong with these people? Have you ever watched that show Airline? I've seen a couple of them and that doesn't make me feel sorry for them or anything. Some of them are funny. What would you have done?

Works For Me Wednesday #11

The past couple of weeks, well really months, I have been working and most days it's great. The kids are a lot of fun and they are learning things, playing with things, it's an adventure. I have learned a lot about myself and just how much patience I have ( a lot). But everyone needs a break from that right? And Savie needs some "mommy time" where it is just the two of us doing stuff, like it used to be before we started going to school. So for the past couple of weeks we have taken off Wednesdays to go the movies. When we go back to school on Thursday and finish out the week we are both in a little better mindset, having that break from all the kids and noise and stuff. It has helped with my mindset to. Thank goodness when school starts again in a couple of weeks (Aug. 6th to be exact) that I will only be there 3 days a week.

So for the summer that is what is working for me? How about you? What is working for you?

Wordless Wednesday

the cat is in charge

Tackle It Tuesday #15

Well I finished my tackle that I started last week. Remember I said I was crocheting a belt? Well I finially finished it but will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it works (and take a picture). Poor baby fell asleep not long after we got home so there was no trying it on her.

What about you? How are you tackling things? Head over to 5 minutes for Mom and see some more.

Family Ties

We all have family in some way shape or form. Whether it's your parents/his parents/aunt/uncles down the street, next door, or across the country we all have family somewhere. We have a real life family and an online family. There are plenty of people that I would consider my sisters like Michele, Anna, and Claudia. My new sisters Ana and The Goddess . And then of course there is the quirky one. You know, the one that you always have great stories about like the time she went to prom with her dress on backwards, went on a first date in a see-thru shirt, or failed her driving test because she backed over something. (I don't know of anyone that this actually happened to, it just sounded funny to me.) Kristen is my quirky sister.

I don't remember how I found her but I love her stories, they're great. This is by far my favorite post. (Warning, stop drinking/eating before you head over there) Did you read it? Were you laughing? This is why I call her my quirky sister. I have had a few moments, nothing like this yet, but I think I am still due for some. Poke around her place, you will always find something funny. I have to head back over a grab a button from her, she is so much fun. Don't forget to bookmark her.

Slow down Sunday

After reading Grace's post about sleeping husband's and sick kids I got sick yesterday.I mean really sick. Savie and I went down to the Farmer's Market even though I wasn't feeling great but I knew Savie wanted to go. When we got home I took a shower (hot, humid, muggy day plus we walked to the Market and back) and laid down. I shouldn't have done that because I was down for the day. Or rather up and down. My stomach was not at it's best. I really just wanted to sleep but Savie was determined to "play golf" since hubby's new golf clubs were still in the living room. I woke up at least once to her playing and there was a welt on the side of her face about the size of the handle. What did I do?

Rolled over onto the couch and went back to sleep. (Kristen would be so proud)

I tried calling hubby several times because I wanted to know where he was mostly because it was storming pretty good here, lots of thunder, some lightening and then the power went out. Twice. I finally gave up on trying to get any sleep in the living room and moved us to the bedroom in hopes that not only would I get some sleep but it would make it easier for Halley to snuggle up with me (the thunder was scaring her) and Savie to take a nap. It worked. We were in bed for a 20 minutes before she started crying for daddy. But she did go to sleep

But today I was feeling a bit better and after going to the baseball game and taking another nap we went shopping and ended up in the rain.



After this long post I thought I would leave you with a song. Don't forget to turn your sound on.

Oh in case you can't understand her the words are
rain, rain, rain, rain
beautiful rain (repeated 3 times)
oh it's coming down (repeated 3 times)

Sky Watch Friday #12

After a week of rain on and off and a power outage this is what greeted me when I left the house yesterday.

I love that you can see the clouds/fog rolling in over the mountains. I like that look, it's shots like this that make me wish I had a little better camera to really get shots like this. Don't forget to head over to Tom's blog to see some more shots.

It started out good

I was all set to start my post for WFMW and WW but then the power went out. Twice.

Thankfully Savie was asleep and didn't wake up at all but I wanted to call and check on K to make sure she was ok over there and ended up being on the phone for a good 15 minutes with her telling me the same thing she told me 2 hours ago. (I really need to stop calling her) Hubby decided to go to bed (not much else yo can do right?)when she woke up. But thank goodness the power came back on after another 20 minutes and I got to at least put this post up. Guess I will have to do WFMW and WW tomorrow when I have time to upload pictures.

Tackle It Tuesday

This is one that I have been putting off for a long time. Savie is so tall that most of her pants keep falling down. I am consistently telling her to pull her pants up, which I am sure she is sick of her by now. She is already 3 ft tall so most of the 3T clothes that should fit don't because the pants make her look like she is wearing high waters. The first couple of times it was funny to see but after awhile it was just annoying. So my fix for the problem?

Buying a belt.

Or rather make a belt.

I spent most of the day, at school, trying to make a belt, to fit her. It has to be pink (her new favorite color) and of course long enough. I've gotten about 3 rows done and hope to get it finished tonight if I get it done I will post pictures so check back tonight.

What about you? What are you tackling this week?

UGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

I'm a little offended. Not by anything online but by what a "friend" has implied of me. Now I understand that she has worked hard to be able to take care of these puppies and of course she is very attached to them but to call me and tell me that she thinks one of them may have Parvo and that I may be the one to bring it to her house is just a little rude. (if you don't know what I'm talking about read this post and then this one)

Now I can't fully understand how she would feel about the puppies dying or getting this sick since I have never had any contact with Parvo until now. And after last summer I really don't know what to make of it, it's a horrible thing. I saw the puppies after they died, I mean I help feed them!!! But she even said it herself some of them were just to young to begin with.

Now here is my problem. I got a call from her on my answering machine saying, as nicely as she could put it, that one of the puppies was sick and that it might be Parvo. He's acting that way, not eating, etc. That the dogs that I petted that smelled really bad might of had it and that is why you never go to a pound/shelter etc and then come to a house where there are puppies under a year. That even though I washed my hands that it might have come into her house on my shoes.

Now here is where I have a problem. Yes, I touched dogs that were really smelly, while I was at the dump. A place I go to at least one a week for recyclables. And have been there at least 6 more times since I ran into those dogs. Who by the way, have not had a bath all year (according to the owners) and walked over 10 miles thru who knows what, over 2 months ago. Now I don't know how long it takes for a dog to show signs of Parvo once it's been exposed but I was under the impression that it was faster that that.

As much as she wants to tell me not to do this or I should give Halley that she doesn't listen when I tell her not to give Savie something. She treats her dogs, all 9 of them, like kids and doesn't want me to spoil them or give them something bad but when I tell her not to give Savie candy/chocolate/pasta salad she ignores it. I don't know what else to say to her.

Friday was a perfect example. Savie is still sick and on antibiotics so I don't want to give her complex food and upset her stomach. We only went to the parade because she asked for it and then I had to go to the store so we stopped at her place to give her some stuff. While there she kept insisting that Savie take home a plate. I told her no, several times, that she is sick and I don't want complex food in her right now. "Oh well give it to hubby, he might like it." Hubby doesn't want anything from her let alone a plate of food that he can't chew. It's sitting in my fridge and will get tossed out. Even after that she came outside and gave her a chocolate bar.

So let's have a recap. I may be responsible for a puppy being sick but it's ok to ignore what I saw about giving my daughter stuff.

I want

one of these!!!

Types of rabbits: Types of rabbits: Argente

I miss having rabbits and can't wait until we move so I an get one again. Aren't they cute?

Sky Watch Friday

Sorry I haven't been around lately but I have been a little scattered brain lately. This is a beautiful shot I took last week (I think) of the moon coming up over the mountain behind my house.



head over to Tom's blog for some more great shots.

Happy 4th to all

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!!!!!!

We started our 4th off not in the best of spirits. Savie got sick last night, started with a temp of 100.5 so we took a cold shower and then tried again about an hour after that and it was up, like to 101.4. Yes I said 101.4. That means we are going to the ER. I wish I didn't have to but at that high of a temp, especially when it's taken under the arm, that means we are going to the ER. If it had been earlier int he day we just would have gone to the Dr. but it was almost 6:30 when we left. We sat in the ER for maybe an hour and a half. There was only 2 other people there and one was a little girl(12) who was throwing up (poor girl). When they finally came out to see us they took her temp and it was up to 104.2(I think), waited another 20-30 minutes and then we went back to a bed. They did all the usual, took her vitals and her temp again. not changed. They gave me some Tylenol to give her (not happy about that) and then took a throat culture to see if she Strep Throat (that came back negative by the way). But a long story short (to late huh? lol) she may have some kind of infection, but it is not a cold/flu, maybe the start of an ear infection. Jeez this sounds familiar. Well this time we get meds to take for 10 days (amoxicilln). OS that was my night (and early morning).

Today were what she wanted. I didn't want to try to get her up early to go across town to see the coaster races so we just kinda slept in. My plan was to go to the coaster races, come back to watch the parade and then hang out at home until the fireworks. This is basically what we did, except for the coaster race part. We drove down and saw the parade and then came home. Tried to get Savie take some more of her meds but she was feeling just fine she said. The fireworks were pretty good this year. There were a couple of ones that were pretty nice but it was even better that we didn't have to drive anywhere. But on the down side I am itchy all over and have to go take a shower. Hope you all had a great fourth!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Cat in the....box???

Tackel It Tuesday

My tackle was one that I have been putting off for weeks. We live in a copper mining town so I expect the water to be a little weird. It only stands to reason, right? Well growing up in CA I was used to the shower head getting clogged and having to clean it or change it but I have noticed that it takes a lot less time here. I have bought several different things to clean it that are suppose to clean lime and the like. (I am not going to name names) but none of them have really worked. I even tried soaking it in baking soda and vinegar. Nothing works. I finally broke down the other night and did the only thing I know that works.


A toothpick.
Yes that's right i said a toothpick. I have to sit down and go hole by hole and clean each and every one of the heads out with a toothpick to get it even close to spraying like a normal shower.

That was my tackle, what about you?

July is here!!!!!

Yeah it's July!!!! I should have posted this yesterday but things are just a little hectic this week. Monday we overslept and we were late for school. We have finally started to get our rain like we should be getting in the monsoon season. It's put a damper on my walking to school everyday but that is ok. With the temperature being in the 90's most of the day and then trying to keep up with the kids I am still losing weight. (I have dropped a pant size!) But I also need to wrap up one green challenge and update on another.

Ok over at THF there was the BYOB challenge. This was a great one and one that I thought I could do. Like I said before I started out really good. I still have to go check the bag under the sink where I keep my plastic bags but I think my count is really low, for me, I think I ended up with 8 of them. The last time I bought some fruits and veggies I skipped the plastic bag for them and had the bagger just put them all in my net bag. The bagger did look at me a little funny but once he put the first few things in he was fine with it. Plus I was reading on another blog about how your going to wash the fruits and veggies anyways so why does it matter if it's going to be on the conveyor belt. (I wish I could find the blog now but I will look for it). I want to get a metal basket for my fruits and veggies which I think would be great for the Farmer's Market anyways, maybe I will look into this one. I would really like to have something like a basket so i have less bags to use, they would also be good when I go to the FM and buy honey and other stuff in jars.


The second challenge, which is going on for 2 more months, is the quickie 5 minute challenge. This has been a little hard for me. I love taking a shower but have been doing it. I even have my daughter down to a short shower. I was at another blog and it was talking about how to get extra water for plants and the like. I have been doing this and I am curious to see how it effected my water bill. I just wish I could get hubby to shower with the pot so I can water plants and turn the water off when he brushes his teeth. I've gone in a couple of times and he's looked at he like I turned the lights off on him, lol. It will take awhile to get him on board with the sink business but I think I am just out of luck on the shower thing.

But he did bring up a valid point. With all the stuff that we use in the shower, body wash and oils, that it can't be good for the plants. But I old him that the body wash that Savie and I use are organic and harmless so it's no worse then the water that comes out of the sink, besides if the soap was harmful then the spot where the water drains in the side yard wouldn't have plants year round.


So here's a quick re-cap of the challenges.
The BYOB challenge: good results, very few bags, but more then I would have liked.
Quickie challenge: so far so good and hopefully good for my water bill.

Sunday Scribblings #117

This weeks prompt is VISION. I can talk a lot about vision. There is the vision to see the future and not in the whole psychic way (although I know nothing about that). I mean the vision to see what you want. The vision that I have is that we, as a society, will be better and make our world a happier place. But I know that is not going to happen in my lifetime. I want my daughter to have a vision of what she wants to be, be it a SAHM or a CEO of a mega company or the president of the USA. She can be anything she wants to be. I think my vision of her is that of a sweet, loving child that is a joy to be with.
With all of the above references to my child another important vision, especially here in AZ, is vision on the road. After my scare last week I am trying to pay a little more attention to the weather report when I am out during monsoon season. My visibility was completely shot. I could barely see the BP that was in the middle of the road maybe a good 50 yards behind me.


I guess I can't talk a lot about vision, lol.

Green reading

Ok I am a pale, light green person and I am on the lookout for green books. I came across this book twice at the Walden Bookstore, "Growing up Green" by Deirdre Imus. Now being the African American mother that I am I was offended and hurt and the whole gambit of feelings. Now I think I want to read the book, haven't really looked into it, but I don't think I want it because of her. True it's not that she said anything or did anything but she's married to him. So I need a little help her ladies, do I go ahead and get the book? Or do I find something else?

Wordless Wednesday

"Sitting pretty"

De-skunking

If you've read my tackle post you understand the title so you kinda know what I am talking about.


Halley, my wonderful, loving, 8yr dog loves to play, and sleep, and do what most dogs do. But her true love? That would be catching skunks. I mean she's done it 7 times now so I think that is her newest game. Why else would she get sprayed 7 times. But you might be asking yourself, how do you get the smell out of your dog at 11pm at night when all the stores are closed? Well let me tell you, this is what you do.

1. stop your dog from coming in the house
2. yell for husband to help you
   
3. not get an answer from #2
4. drag dog to the car to get the leash so we can keep her in one place (be sure not the let said dog get into car)
   
5. run into the kitchen and dig for the de-skunking recipe
6. un-hook dog and drag into the bathroom because dog knows that they smell and hates to take baths
7. mix the de-skunking soap and proceed to bath dog
   
8. repeat step #7
9. call hubby again to help you so you can run to the washer to grab some towels
10. wait 10 minute for hubby to get to you
11. run to get towels
12. drag dog out and put her outside (in the rain) to dry off

Not only did I tackle a pretty big thing but what worked for me having hubby around, even if it took awhile to help me, having a de-skunking recipe, and a leash close by. (If you want the de-skunking thing let me know)

What works for you?

Not what I planned

This is not what I planned for my tackled. I had planned to show you that I shampooed another carpet in my house (you can read about the other carpet I cleaned here). I did the bedroom mainly because I wanted something small to do since I was washing clothes as well that day but Halley must have thought that I needed something else to do. Something bigger and messier and smellier to do.

So she killed a skunk. Again.

It's a good thing that I found a really good recipe for getting rid of the smell otherwise she would still be sleeping outside. SO I spent a good 30 minutes giving her a bath hosing her down and getting getting myself all dirty in the process. Now that she is cleaned I have to clean the bathroom, change the shower curtains, and throw everything in the wash. So I guess instead of tackling the carpet I tackled my dog, lol!!!!!!!!

So what have you tackled this week?

Let me update for a minute

I know that my post the other day may have scared a few of you (the three that read it, lol) so I thought I better explain myself.

Yesterday there was a heat advisory for the county so I knew that being outside was a not a good thing. We went to the Farmer's Market, as usual, and showed off my new skirt (which i will show at a later date). I had plans to go to Douglas laer on in the day to hang out with friends and then do some shopping. I was trying to miss the worst of the heat but still get there but it didn't happen. I finally got around topacking up the car and heading out. And as always I spent a lot of time inside Wally world before we left. And this is what I came out to.




Now yes, this is a big parking lot but usually you can see those buildings over there without a problem. It's about a 35 mile drive to Douglas thru nothing so it wasn't until I was about 5 miles away from Douglas that I started to get worried. The sand was getting harder to see thru and there were few other cars on the road. Another 3 miles I hit a wall, not litteraly but it felt like it. I hit a wall of sand that made me hit the brakes ( I was really hoping that there wasn't anyone behind me). I tried to drive a little bit more but then I passed a few more cars and a Border Patorl vehicle and called it quits. I was freaked out. The only way I can think to describe it is a white out but with sand. I called hubby to let him know what was going on, and to get some moral support. I was almost crying but trying to hold it together for Savie. We sat there on the side of the road, with the blinkers on and the fans on because it was still like 96 outside. We saat there for at least 30 minutes and at one point Savie even said she was scared. (That broke my heart. I didn't want her to be scared. It's bad enough that we had the incident back in Nov.) I told her that I wouldn't let anything happen to her.

After awhile the cars tht I was sitting with starting ot move and instead of sitting alone I followed them. I didn't want to be there by myself even though I was about 2 car lengths away from the BP. On the drive home this is what I drove thru




I was just glad to be home.

It's offically summer here!!!!

I think every child should have a Smores and this was her first, lol. Did she have fun or what?!?!?

Sunday Scribblings

Happy endings, we all want them right? Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, and the rest of the princesses got ones. Even a real life princess had one for awhile. But I think we make our own happy endings. It's a question of what you want. Do you want more money? A bigger house? More kids? Myself just want to be happy. Yes it would be nice to have a bigger house, newer car, more money but for what? When I die I can't take it with me so why do I need to get all of this?


My happy ending would be in knowing that my daughter and my friends know how I feel about them. That they were loved by me and will be remembered.

(I know this is a short post but I have had a weird weekend but head over here and look around)

It finally happened

A dust storm. I finally got caught in a dust storm. Now all that is left is to be caught in a flash flood.

Challenges, challenges......and the heat to

Ok so I've said it before I am trying to be green and doing my part to be good to the earth. I am also doing two challenges. I know I've talked about one all lot, the BYOB challenge, but I don't think I've mentioned the other one just yet. It's almost over and I haven't said a word about it. It's a quickie of a challenge to, a 5 minute shower. Is that possible?

Yes it is. I have been trying it for the better part of the month and most days I do take a 5 minute shower. The day that I hurt my back I took an 8 minute shower and that's because my back was hurting me and I wasn't moving as fast as I normally do. It's a little harder to get Savie, my daughter to do it but it's getting easier. Hubby is not on board with this one and still walks out of the bedroom to take his clothes off. I just don't get it. But with the heat the way it is it's easier to get her in and out without a lot of water being used.

On that note, the National Weather Service has given the monsoon an official start and end day. It's a good thing and a bad thing. It's great that we have a date to start and we know what to expect after that day. The monsoon is a big deal around here since there are a lot of washes and draws, dry creek beds and the like, and there are also flash floods. We live near a wash and last year I heard a flash flood coming down in before I ran out to see what the noise was.It's quite a site to see that much water just coming at you.

Every year there are several people who think they can cross the wash/draw and get stuck or washed away. Last year we saw on the news that a family of 3 got stuck in a wash, a mother/father/child, where the child who was about 2 or 3 yr was washed away, just ripped out of the mother arms and the body still hasn't been found. It's sad. And it's not just family's or people there are also military personal who have lost their lives because of flash floods. But I need to change the subject and talk about happier things.

Because of the heat I finally broke down and bought Savie and pool for the backyard. Now before you think that I was just being a bad mommy by not putting one in wait until you see the pictures of the backyard. I had a hard time trying to decide where to put this. There wont be a lot of posts from me this summer because our house gets to be about 99 during the day and our swamp cooler doesn't blow as well as I would like it to. But I am hoping that once I get some curtains up there will be a change in the temp in here. I am hope, lol. Well I hope that everyone has a great day and I will post/talk to you later.

Today was going to be a good day. I had planned on taking a break from preschool and go to the movies. I thought it was about time for that big event in her life. I think this is about the age that I took my niece to her first. Plus the movie was only $1, yes you read that right $1. I was in love with that. All summer long on Wednes. I was really looking forward to this. We go there late (this time it was hubby's fault) so we rushed to get our tickets and find seats. Happy Feet started and I think about 15 minutes into the movie when it happened. The filmed burned.

I thought we were past the stage of having film reels in the theater but I guess I am wrong. We waited for a good 20 minutes to see if they would get it fixed but it turns out that this was the second time that this has happened. So we left. And got a rain check and we left. We went to the playgroup area and let the kids play for awhile, then we had lunch and went our separate ways. The cost of movies today:

Movie: $2 (refunded)
popcorn: $5.75
Lunch: $8.29
The time spent with friends: priceless
(yes, very MasterCard like I know)

Well I am hoping that next week when we go that things will work out for us but it was a good first time.

She was a perfect child

I know I know, there is no such thing as a perfect child but I like to think that Savie was a really good child. She listened really well, talked a lot, loved to play with anyone, willing to talk to just about anyone but things have changed. And not for the better.

Since we have been going to preschool she has become a sassy little thing. She tells me 'no' a lot more, has temper tantrums and has just picked up some really bad habits. There is one boy there who is the picture of an only child. He is used to getting what he wants when he wants it and when that doesn't happen he throws a fit. Now myself personally I am going to ignore that kind of behavior. My theory is the more attention you pay to it the bigger it gets (you know the squeaky wheel and all that). He wants the chair that someone is already sitting in, on the swing that someone is already on,etc and when he doesn't get it right that second he huffs, crosses his arms and then throws himself on the floor crying. Savie has started doing this and I am not having that. It's one thing for the parent to treat their kid that way but when they go to school they can't do that.
Am I wrong for thinking this? I can't tell the parent this because I think I already offended one parent by telling them to drop their kid off and go instead of dragging it out for a good 20 minutes and the kid ends up crying. I just don't know how to say it without offended them. But there is no way to say that without offending them, right?

BYOB Update

It's been 3 weeks since the start of the BYOB challenge and I was doing sooooo good until I got a package from my friend Anna. (Thanks Anna) I love the package I got from her, it was so cute but there were plastic bags in there!!!!!! What are you doing to me Anna?!?!? LOL. She must have been reading THF about getting rid of plastic bags that's why they were in there. So now my count is up to 5 plastic bags. I was doing so good and only had the one bag before today. But on the upside I have to mail a couple of packages out and will be using these plastic bags for padding.

So how are you doing on the challenge?

Tackle it TUESDAY #11

I really wish that I had remembered to take so pictures before I did this. I had a very old house with very old carpet. It really needs to be cleaned, or better yet replaced. I would but for this house it's just not worth it. But I'm getting off the subject. The carpet was cleaned when we moved into the house about 4 yrs ago and since then I've shampooed the carpet about 3 times. I just don't want to go thru the hassle of renting one or trying to find a friend that I can borrow one from. It's just a living room and bedroom that have carpet. Well a couple of weeks ago I bought a stick rug to clean the carpet. I didn't think it would since there was no hot water or anything to run through. i did a small section where Halley my dog sleeps just to test it out and see how well it would work. It worked great. I had to change the height adjustment on my vacuum when I did the area!!!! The only downside was that it took a whole small can, I was hoping that it wouldn't take a lot off cans to do the whole living room but at this rate I think it will take about 6 cans to get everything including moving everything around.


Well that's my tackle how about you? What did you tackle this week?

*****edited to add the link for the rug stick*****

I need to share something

So like I said in a previous post I am trying to be green. I buy breads, veggies, etc at my Farmer's Market when it's opened, I shop at my local Co-op and I use environmental cleaners. I recycle what I can (our dump doesn't do much) and use re-usable bags. I try to be green. I walk when possible, consolidate shopping trips when I go into town, I drive with cruise control when I do go to town, turn off my car when I am at the ATM, drive-up window, getting the paper. I try to be green.


Well I hurt my back the other day and not just a I pulled a muscle hurt I mean a I can't bend over to tie my shoes hurt. I was in bad shape but there was nothing I could do about it. I was just stuck. I am not a pill taking person, I don't like taking pills and avoid it whenever I can so taking a couple of Aleve's was not the answer for me. I couldn't get comfortable anywhere. Sitting down was ok but only for a few minutes, I couldn't cross my legs because I couldn't lift my leg up that high. I couldn't stand for long, I would get shooting pain up one leg. But it's only on one side. I know if I told K she would spin it so it had something to do with her so I didn't say anything to her, not even to borrow her heating pads (even though I don't think I would use any of them since the animals have been birthed on them). Well since I had bought this sample set at my Farmer's Market last year and had been using the facial wash(which I am so in love with, it's the thrid item on the page.) I thought I might as well try the Muscle Soother Spray (scroll down it's the third item on the page). I wasn't sure it would do anything to help me but it was worth a try, right?

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! This felt sooooooooooooo good. A good 10 minutes after I sprayed it on my back I was felling warm, then a little warmer, then hot. I mean hot. It started out as having a heating pad on my back while I was getting ready for school and everything but then it got really hot. Like someone turned the heating pad on high. But it felt good I was glad for the heat. I sprayed myself a couple more times during the day when I started to feel more pain then I was comfortable with. I am in love with this stuff. I am sorry to keep going on about this but I was in a lot of pain and want to share my joy with the world.

It's been 2 days since I hurt myself and my back still hurts but not as bad as when it happened. I feel a lot better.

Is it really that bad?

That my daughter licked the spatula after making our own colored sugar?? Does it sounds as bad as I think it does? Maybe I should tell the whole story.

It's hot so of course we want Popsicles and ice cream and watermelons. So being the green person that I am trying to be, I wanted to make my own. I found some good ones here and thought they were a good start so I decided to try my own recipe. It was a simple one of yogurt, fruit, vanilla extract, and water. I let Savie have one after lunch and it was a bomb. She barely ate half of one and when I tasted it I could see why, they were pretty bland and yucky. So then I thought "Well the glitter pops sounded kinda good, I want to try that." But there was a catch to the whole thing. I don't have any colored sugar in the house, just cane sugar. But then I found found this and thought it was the perfect quick project for Savie and I. I was hoping that she would make pink and something else. I knew she would want to make pink that is the color of the year. Everything is pink, the cup, the the clothes, the shoes, etc.

In all fairness I had planned on letting her make whatever color she wanted, make it as light or dark as she wanted. But that was not to be, she made it dark. It was getting pretty dark, almost blood red but I finally talked her into letting me add more sugar to help it lighten up. Got the red done and then started in on the second color. And from that you get this.





























Do you know what she is doing? Can you guess what my sweet little girl is doing? She's licking the spatula. The sugar covered spatula!!!!!!!! A green sugar covered spatula!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell me things are not as bad as I think they are.

Wordless Wednesday #11

Yummy, sugar!!!!!!



For more head over here.

It's a green, green world

I love a good challenge. I love green sites like this one and this one. I've done the paper towel challenge and did pretty well if I do say so myself. I used a roll and a half for the month which I think is pretty good for 3 people and have started using napkins for meals.

I love reading Tree Hugging Family, they have some great stuff. Cleaning supplies, crafts, and stuff like that. This months challenge is BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) and I am doing pretty good at this one. A better start then last months challenge. I have at least 12 reusable bags in my car. Let's me break it down for you count wise.

1. 8 Walmart bags
2. 4 small bags
3. 2 produce bags
4. 3 coupon.com bags

I'm sorry how many is that? Is that more than 12? LOL. I have plenty of bags so this is an easy challenge. How about you guys? Can you cut down on your use of plastic bags? There are some really good articles about what happens with them when they are used. I mean we all know about how they look flying thru the air during a wind storm or just a windy day, think about what they look to sea animals, and how long it takes for them to breakdown. Just some interesting reading, head over to THF for some reading.

Sunday Scribblings #114

Nights, there are so many different things about the nights that people do. There were 1001 Arabian nights, the endless nights of zombie, sleepless nights with a new baby, bad nights when your kids are away, myself personally I like staying up at night to relax. Yes I may of had a long day but staying up is my chance to spend some me time. It may seem selfish to not go to bed at the same time as my husband but I prefer it. He snores and I don't want to have to listen to him get comfortable and shift around while I am trying to do the same thing. It's kinda nice to be up that late and not have to share the TV with anyone.

Most nights I am alone with just Halley to keep me company, watching TV maybe reading a book, maybe working on my crochet projects. I really need to get back in the habit of working on my projects since I should have finished my nieces blanket months ago, seeing as how it was her graduation present and she graduated last week, lol. Tonight is one of those nights when I am not alone, Savie is asleep on the couch and so is hubby. Every night is a new thing. Some nights it's a peaceful thing and some nights I see a parade of animals, javelina, deer, foxes, and coyotes. What do you do at night?

What a night

That's all I can say. Last night I was hoping that since I had worked all week and still had to go back and clean today that we could have a relaxing night. And for the most part it was. I cooked dinner for us, a simple thing of pasta, and then tried to wash dishes and clean the house some. It worked. Savie and I had dinner, hubby fell asleep as soon as dinner was ready of course, and then Savie fell asleep. Yeah!!! or so I thought. Savie woke me up around 2am to tell me she had to go potty so we went, and then five minutes later she threw up on me. I was really awake now, wide awake. I put Savie in the shower and re-dressed her and got back in the bed. We woke up a couple more times to make repeat trips to the bathroom but no more puking thank goodness. I was hoping that things would be a little better this morning but that was not the case. So here is the count

puked on
4 times (including the 2:30 wake up call)
change of clothes
2
change of clothes for Savie
3



I am doing this now that she is asleep again, I am hoping that when she gets up I can get her to eat some applesauce and toast, simple things to help settle her tummy not like the cheese and sandwich meat that hubby gave her, lol. Here's hoping that things get better.

ABC Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I am finally able to get some pictures loaded onto my computer. Today's letter is T and here is the tunnel that greets you and is the only way into town. Sometimes during the monsoon this tunnel is closed because of the waterfall that is coming down on both sides. Please forgive the shots since i was taking them while driving ( I held the camera out the window just so you know).

This is mule pass tunnel. I don't know a lot about the tunnel even though I have lived here for 4 yrs so forgive me if this is short.





















































To see some more T shots head over here.

"When does school start?"

That is the question I will be hearing so, in my own head of course. Savie is not in school officially so she doesn't get bored just yet. But I have a couple of things planned for us to do when we run out of the normal things to do. So far on my list

1. Go to the pool
   (we have a great pool in the next town that is like going to the beach)
2. Go to movies in the park on sat night
3. farmer's market on sat morning
4. concert in the park on Thursday nights

I think that pretty much covers our whole week so we shouldn't get bored. We will be at school everyday so we will be busy. How about you? What are you plans for the summer?

Sunday Scribblings #113

I think this might be becoming a habit for me on my Sunday Scribblings.

Curves
There are many curves in the world
the curve of your hand a child's face
the way your hand curves together
your child and you

the curve of their face
when they look up at you
smiling and laughing
it makes your own face curve
into a beautiful curve of your own

as your child sleeps
you are amazed by the curves you see
the curve of their face
of their shoulders as they rise and fall
the curve they have moved themselves into
all the little
and sometimes big
curves that you love

What is the wrong with the world

Yesterday I was over at my girl Ana's reading this post and it made total sense to me. I have to agree, I am not colorblind and I don't think that you should use it that way. If your colorblind in the sense that you treat/judge people based on their acts great. But this is the problem I had today.

As many of you know I have been "working" and now that school is out there are plenty of older kids that wouldn't be there while I was there. (I usually leave around noon or 1pm) Most of these kids are good kids, aren't to loud, mess with the dog to badly, etc but of course like any school there aren't a few bad apples. P and M have been there a lot longer than me so of course they think they aca get away a lot of things like not taking off their shoes, pushing the younger ones around, etc. Now I don't know their home situation but I do know that at least one of them is mixed. Today P called me the N word. I know I know, I just threw it out there but it's like pulling a band-aid off, gotta do it quick.

I was a little pissed when he said that. I asked him if he knew the meaning of the word, he said "yes, that he was cool", that his brother calls him that, all with a smile on his face. I told him that that word is not a "cool" word, that that is what slave owners call black (notice i didn't use it in past tense), that is what white supremacy call black people. His response? "Your a n***** too."
My response? "No, I am not and neither are you. That is not a word to be proud of. It's not a word that you should be saying just to say. That is a derogatory word."

I was a little thrown off as to what I should tell him. I don't know him well enough to tell him a whole lot, I don't know what his family life is, so did I say enough? Did I tell him enough to make him understand the meaning of the word? I doubt it. What I wanted to tell him is how mean, spiteful, ignorant, hateful word that word is? That it's not something that we should be using i our everyday life? That just because it's used in rap music doesn't make it a good word? That it's not cool to be one? Read this article, or this one from Ebony. It's not a word I ant my daughter to know/hear but I can't keep it from her. I know that sooner or later it will come up. I will have to tell her about the first time I heard the word, what it means, etc. But P is not my kid I can't tell him that. I can't tell him that his is one of the few words out there that has done so much harm to us as a race/culture, the pain that our ancestors felt upon hearing that word. I wanted to much to hug him and tell him what the word really means. But I can't. All I can do is hold onto the pain and hope that things change.

What were they thinking?

I love DQ. I mean I got all excited when ours re-opened for the season (ours is not open year round, not enough customer draw from what I'm told). I go maybe twice a month seeing as how I am trying to lose weight going there is not a great thing for that, lol. Our DQ doesn't serve food at all so there is no real reason for me to go unless I want ice cream. I love the commercial for them but this is just wrong.



simply smiling at a boy is not "shooting fish in a Is this what we are teaching our daughters? That it's ok to flirt with someone to get something, even if it is food. Aren't we suppose to teach them that we should earn what we want? That flirting with men is not about "shooting fish in a barrel"? I mean no offense to this little girl but this is bad commercial.

I've been thinking

I know shock and surprise there, lol. I was thinking that I need to change the name of my blog. Not that I don't love it and everything but i think I need a different name, something that really describes me and what I write about. My girl over at BDG has me on her blogroll as "Adventures of an Arizona SAHM" and I kinda like that. I don't know feeling weird tonight so who knows I might not change anything.


On another note, every night when I go to bed, I try not to think. (Weird, right? I know I have a lot of weirdness coming out of me today.) I try to clear my mind and just relax and not think about all the things I should have gotten done (the clothes that still need to be folded and but away, the dishes in the sink, do we have milk?) and just let it go. But then all these great ideas for post pop into my head and I have to fight the urge to get up (at 1:30am) and turn the computer on to write them even though I know when I get up in the morning I won't remember what they are until I go to bed again the next night. It really is a little disturbing to me, that I have all these great ideas, projects for Savie or school, To-do lists, but when I get up the next morning they wont be there. Is that a sign that I am getting older or is it just a fact of life? Should I get post-its and leave them on the nightstand so I can write these ideas down?

Heads or Tails #1

I've followed this blog for awhile and I hop in and out every now and then. I finally remembered to do one of her Heads or Tails so here goes.

This weeks prompt is Tell about your job (or one you've had) so lets see do I tell about the job I have now? Or one of the many jobs that I have had in the past? Do I tell about getting up at 6 am almost every morning with a foot in my back because we co-sleep? About not being able to cuddle with my husband because my daughter is in the middle of the bed? Or do I tell about the stupid people that have come thru my lines over the years asking me stupid questions? like working at Dollar Tree where the sign says "Everything's a dollar" and being asked how much something is?

Anyone that has read my blog before knows that I love my job, no matter what happens. Whether it's getting sick at 4am and puking all over me, potty training stories, or just being silly at the park, my daughter is my life. Not something I thought I would say 4 yrs ago. I was pretty sure that I would not be married or have kids but that has all changed. I have my daughter, my husband and a completely different life then what was in my head about ten years ago, lol.

My day to day life is hectic and every changing. When I worked at a real job, as society calls it, I worked the same thing over and over. True it was a little different every day but it was basically the same thing, change this to that, move this to there. I worked retail so I saw everything. I worked holidays and saw the best and worst of people I saw people push older people out of the way so they could get to the register first. I've seen people give a dollar or two to help a single mother pay for something for her kids. But would I really want to go back to that? not really. I love the job I have now.

Sunday Scribblings #112

This weeks prompt is "quit" or "quitter" and this is what I've come up with.

To quit is a hard thing to do
it means to stop doing something you like
or love
to give up something you want
desire
or thrive at
can you do that?

Can you make your heart stop
beating for something you want,
something you want so bad?
Or do you continue with what you want?
to quit hearing the "No's"?
the "you can't do that"?

I for one will not quit just yet
I will not quit being a fighter
I will not quit being a friend
I will not quit
will you?

Everything is ok.......kinda

I wish I could say that everything is ok, that I'm doing great but that is not the case. As some of you know I was planning on going to school to become a preschool/kindergarten teacher. That is part of the reason Savie and I have been going to school for the past month or so. It's great for her and it's great experience for me. I love being there and playing with the kids, even if they are having a bad day. But here's the problem. It was almost $500 for 2 classes. Yeah a minor heartache there for me. it's been years since I was in school so paying that much for 2 classes is a lot to me, that's almost what we pay for rent for our place. But I thought we could do it but I forgot about books so that's almost another $200. And what has really put me in a funk about the whole thing is that I forgot to pay the Cable and cell phone bill. So what I just spent on school, for an 8 week session, could have paid both of those bills and still had some left over.

I think the other reason this is really bumming me out is that hubby hurt his back earlier this week and is having a hard time walking let along working and so far there is nothing new coming in. (Oh I forgot to mention that I placed an ad in one of the papers for a month so that should help some) But wait there's one more. Murphy's Law says all bad things come in three's. I am sick. Have been since Friday morning. I was hoping that it was just allergies and I could still go to "work" but when I went to bed on Thurs., at 5pm mind you, I was just feeling so icky. And I am one of those people that doesn't like to be around people when I am stuffy, hot, icky, uncomfortable, etc. I woke up with a runny nose, slight fever, and coughing. I was not going to be around those kids and make any of them sick so I took Savie to school and laid down trying to sleep (see this post to find out why) and then went back to get her. I still felt icky and the weather wasn't helping with that at all.


For the past 5 days we have been under a windy advisory which means that the wind can get up to 50 MPH. Joy right? Isn't that a tornado in some areas? I thought we got off lucky and there was no wind damage to our house at all but that is not the case. True this is an old mobile home and there are lots of things that need to be fixed but the only thing that broke off was a cheap plastic fake window shutter (if you really want to see a picture let me know). That's it, which is pretty good considering that the dance studio lost some windows (up to high for the kids to hurt themselves thank goodness), a church down the street had a tree fall on top of them, and a couple of down fences. It was just a bad storm to be in ans being sick at the same time does not help any ones mood.

So I am sitting here trying not to cry because I can't go to school this session, I'm sick and the weather is crappy.

13 Thursday #5

This whole thing with my hand is getting a little annoying but I finally have a 13 Thursday.

13 things I can do one-handed.

1. Wash my face
2. Take a shower
3. Wash my daughter's hair
4. Comb and braid my daughter's hair
5. Wash dishes
6. Drive a car
7. Get on the computer (can't go a day without blogging)
8. Wash clothes
9. Hang clothes on the clothesline
10. Make the bed (putting new sheets and everything on the bed)
11. Get ice out of the tray
12. Go grocery shopping
13. Take the garbage out.
    

I know you guys have heard about my hand plenty and I am thinking about taking the wrap off tonight so there might be pictures later.

Finally!!!!!!!!

It's finally raining!!!!! We have been told it was going to rain since Tues but all day Tues and Wednesday. It's been clear. But today, today it started out clear and then moved to overcast by lunch. I walked to school (did I mention that Savie goes to school now?) and was hoping that I wouldn't have to walk back in yucky weather but it held out until about 3pm. It got darker and darker and then the first couple of raindrops hit the ground and now it is steadily raining. I think I need to go to the store so I can make cookies. We need cookies on a rainy day, lol.

Wordless Wednesday

Works For Me Wednesday

This week I have a weird one. What is working for me this week are kitchen gloves and plastic bags. (I told you it was weird)

Since I can't get my hand wet I have had to use a plastic bag to keep my hand dry. It feels weird and makes it a little hard to wash my daughter's hair but it works. The kitchen gloves are for, well, the kitchen. This is the first time that I have ever used kitchen gloves. I am not one to use gloves I need to feel what I am washing.

What works for you?

A rambling rant

I have a bit of a ramble tonight. I love watching movies. It's something that i love to do whether it's with my family or late at night by myself. but there are a lot of movies that i watch alone, well maybe not alone but without my husband. Why you ask? Are they bad movies? Not in the least bit; They are what most people call "Black films". Movies where the cast is mostly black, talking about black issue. Movies like Daddy's Little Girl, Friday, First Sunday, and Waiting To Exhale. These are all movies that I wouldn't watch with hubby. Why you might ask. It's because hubby has a tendency to talk about a movie. Not just during a movie, and make me miss something, but about the movie, about how some scene was so bad and he could have written this (something that he usually says during a Sci-Fi channel movie) and so on. It gets really annoying. Does that make me a bad wife? I don't think so. True some people have asked if we love each other why don't we watch the same things. that would be just boring to me. I don't like going out and socializing as much as he does but that's ok, we balance each other out.

The other thing I want to talk about tonight is parenting. I have been working for the past 2 days. Friday morning and today, I will also be working tomorrow and everything is going great. The kids are having just as much as fun as they normally would have and no one is getting hurt. A friend has been coming and "helping" out. She asked me this morning if it was ok that she was coming because it seems like i put her son in time out the most.

I am not one to tell someone how to raise their children. What to say to them, discipline, that kind of thing. But this is the thing. Her son has issues with fighting. Not that that is a bad thing but that is how they show affection in their family. That's fine but there are rules at daycare. There is no fighting, pushing, etc so yes he does get put in time out a lot. But I chalk it up to the fact that he hasn't been there before or a lot for that matter. It's like expecting someone to understand and do another person's rules if they haven't been there in a year. I wanted to tell her that yes, her son is a trouble maker but not int he way she thinks. I have a hard time telling people no (which is probably why K is still a friend, lol) but this is something that I can't tell her.

So my question to you mommies is this......Do you tell your friend that her coming to help is not help? That her son is a trouble maker? That I'm not singling him out? (Now keep in mind when you answer this that I am not the best friend here, I have known this woman for about 2 yrs but get along with her pretty well. I jokingly refer to her as our "cruise director" in the group.)

Paper Towel Challenge

I must have been really distracted this past week. In an effort to be more green I signed up for a great challenge over at Tree Hugging Family, a paper towel challenge. This is something that I really want to do, we go thru to many paper towels anyways. I know this because the have been a few nights when paper towels have ended up in our bed, lol.

so this is the challenge. Use less, or no, paper towels. Simple right. Not so, at least not at first. The first week, last week, was just to keep track of how and when you use them. I haven't done that, at all but let me see if I can list some uses off the top of my head.

1. wiping down the cutting board. ( don't feel so great using a sponge for this)
2. small spills on the table
3. drying hands off because dish towel is missing
4. napkin for meals

I think those are the ones that we do a lot. There are probably more but that's what comes to mind. This coming week the goal is to use less. i think I barely used a roll of paper towels. I don't use the regular ones but the select-a-size ones. For us it makes a difference. We have switched to cloth napkins but I have bought a lot of them, mainly because I can't find any that I really like, but I am looking. I like having cloth napkins instead of paper towels. My hand is starting to hurt so I will leave it at that. How about you? are you up for a challenge? can you use less? How about none?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!

I hope all you ladies had a great mother's day. Mine, it was a little painful. I have learned that i can do a lot of things one handed, though. I am going to try and list them on Thursday (13 Thursday ) but we will see how i feel by then. I am off to bed have to work tomorrow and will be there all day so i will need my sleep.

sunday scribbings # 110

Forgive me if it takes awhile to read this, I'm trying to type with a bad hand.


The telephone. It's a great invention. i don't know what I would do without it. There's so many good and bad things about it that it's hard to pick one moment in time that is just the moment for me.

There was the call i made to my father telling him about my boyfriend (at the time), telling him him his (they are the same age by the way). Or maybe it was the phone call telling my family that i was pregnant. That was a call i know my mother was waiting for. True she has four grand kids already but i am still her daughter. doesn't every mother want that for her daughter? to experience the ups and downs of being pregnant? the labor? and then holding that little bundle of joy?

those are the good phone calls, for me anyways. but there are a few that i am not looking forward to. there's the call, that will be coming, telling me that my grandmother (my last grandparent by the way) has passed. i know that it is coming but i also know that when it comes i will not be ready. i will drop the phone, i will cry and not be able to tell my daughter "what is wrong with mommy".

Because of this, i think, it's one of the reasons that i answer the phone "someone better be in the hurt" when my phone rings at odd hours of the day/night.

It's D-day

I am just hours away from D-day. Well two of them. First I am "working" all alone at Sam's tomorrow. It will be just me, Savie and at least 3 other kids. I will also be there Mon and Tues by myself. I think I will be ok, I have been there for going on 3 weeks now and feel comfortable being there and taking care of the kids. I am mentally making myself ok with this. Wish me luck.

The second thing, and not even scary to me, is having my hand taken care of. I have finally decided that I will just have it taken out. I'm trying to plan my weekend (Farmer's Market, dinner, etc) but it's hard since I don't know what to expect. You know how long before I can use my hand, how much is it going to hurt, stuff like that. But I think it will be ok. I need to go to bed and be ready for Friday for the kids!!!!

The Ramblings of a Woman: You Know You Are a Mama When....

The Ramblings of a Woman: You Know You Are a Mama When....

You know your a mom.....

So once again I was blog hopping and was over at Ana's site and thought about this post. It's something that needed to be done.

Everyone, well every mother, gets the "You know your a mother" email. I love them. They're cute and very true. I love the part about peed on and pooped on. It makes me laugh, but there are other things about being a mother that have changed me.

• going to the bathroom by myself is a luxury
• eating a hot dinner is a rare treat
• I always have Kleenex, wipes, and plastic bags in the car and my bag
• my purse is a backpack
• getting puked on is not a big deal
• you would rather they puke on your hands then in the car
• sharing with the dog is "normal"

I know there is more but those are they things that just pop in my head right now. I knew I was a mother when I found out I was pregnant, when the baby kicked I knew I was a mother, when I was in labor and held her I knew I was a mother. But I think the moments that really defined me as a mom is when people tell me what a joy she is, how helpful she is, that I have done a great job with her. That I am responsible for the way that she behaves. I am responsible for the fact that she is so willing to share and is empathic to other people. I am responsible for that. That makes me a mother.

I got plugged

I got plugged by One Tree Hugging Family!!!!!! I have been trying to be more green and reading green blogs has helped a lot to get me in that mindset. I been lurking there for awhile and commenting just recently. But this, this is great. Pop on over and have a look!!!!!!

Sunday Scribblings # 109

FAMILY

It's a wonderful thing. most of the time. When I first met a lot of the ladies that I am now friends with we did the usual conversation "Where did you grow up? Is your family near here?" etc. I have a short version of my answers of course (third of four girls, all my family is in CA, etc) even though I love to hear about other people's family I don't really want to bore people my story. It's not a boring story or anything but it's not interesting to me. It makes me wonder, what will my daughter tell people when they ask? Will she have good things to say? Or will it be about how she uses our dog as a horse? That she loves us just as much as we love her?

I think that she will have so many stories to tell her friends. We are a family of 4 and yes one of those four is a dog. Halley is just as much a part of the family as any Savie is. I laugh when I think about how I have to spell words, not because of Savie but because Halley knows the word, lol. Yes it may sound funny but it's the true. She has a big vocabulary for a dog her age and is so well behaved, when it's just us. I don't know what I will do when she is gone.

I know most of the time I don't make sense to her, or to myself halfway the time, but there is just so much that I want to say but I'm never totally sure if my family is reading this or not. It would make it easier for me to say what I need to say. Like I said I am the third of four and since my younger sister and i are close in age you would think that we would be a little closer but we aren't. We live in the same state but barely talk to each other, even with e-mails we barely talk. It's kinda sad when yo think about it. I wish we were closer, maybe not geographically, but emotionally. I wish that things were a little better than they are now but I have to take what I can get. I have to be happy with the family that I have now, my husband, my daughter and my dog (that doesn't sound good does it?). I just want my daughter to feel loved and wanted by the family , and also by the friends, that we have around us.

6 Quirks Meme

I am really behind. I was tagged awhile back but am just now getting to do it. (Sorry BDG) So here goes.

Rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules in your blog.
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Six unspectacular quirks (now, readers, if you know the goddess, everything about her is spectacular!!)

1. I despise shopping for clothes in the mall, a quirk I share with Smell Goods Spa and Black Domestic Goddess. If I didn't have to go to the mall I would avoid it but on the other hand I am a little leery about buying online sometimes.

2. I love ketchup and pasta sauce but can't stand tomatoes on my burger.

3. I can hear people chewing and it bothers me.

4. I refuse to pass gas anywhere but in a bathroom. on the toilet.

5. I don't like people to touch my feet and I hate wearing shoes but I hate to go shopping for them.

6. I wanted to be a stripper when I was in my twenty's.

OK I am going to tag my bloggy friends Claudia, Anna, Devon, Ana, Michele, and B. beautiful mind body spirit.

Sky Watch Friday #9

It's been a wild week for me but I love this shot that I took a couple of weeks ago. I don't remember where I was when I got this shot but I love the rainbow around the sun.






For more head over to Tom's Blog.

BLINDSIDED

I have been blindsided. I love being on my computer. I love looking things up, hopping around the different blogs, adding pictures. But I think I will have to stop for awhile.

A couple of days ago I noticed a lump on the back of my left hand but didn't think much of since it didn't hurt. But then this morning I reached for something and had shooting pain in the hand. I almost dropped a pen. I figured that by the time I went back to pick up Savie from school that it would be ok but that wasn't the case. I took us to the ER to get it looked at and it turns out that I have a Ganglion Cyst on my left hand. I still have an appt. tomorrow so hopefully we will know something. Keep your fingers crossed.