I Need About Five More Hours In Every Day

 It's that time of year again.  There are only three months left until Christmas, and my creative juices are begging to flow.  I have so many ideas floating around in my head, but not enough time to do anything with them.  I don't know how it happened, but here lately, I have very little time for myself.  I was sure that once the kids started back to school, I would have all this free time to work on my crafts.  Instead, I have been spending a lot of time out of the house, hanging out with a friend of mine.

I am now hoping that in the next month or so I can get working on some projects.  A few years ago, I made name signs for all my nieces and nephews for Christmas.  Since then, whenever a baby is born, I make a sign.  Well, I am now three nieces behind.  I bought the wood, drew out the names, and am trying to find the time to get them carved out.

Maybe this weekend...

My Mini Flood

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Last week, I had a flood in my kitchen.  The hose that runs the water to my dishwasher came loose, and hot water was pouring out from underneath.  Thankfully, the kids and I were home, and even though I had no idea how to turn the water off, I was able to throw down lots of towels to contain the water while Ryan ran and got the maintenance man.

I don't want to think about what would have happened if we were not home.  Our vents for heat and A/C are on the floor, so the water would have filled the entire system I'm sure.  then it would have ruined the bottoms of my couch and entertainment center.  I don't even want to think about what it could have done to my books.

I learned how to turn the water off in the house, too, in case it happens again.  I don't like how helpless I felt, and it was just for a few minutes.  I can not imagine how people feel who lose everything in floods.  It must be such a helpless feeling.  The good news is that you can carry flood insurance, so you will have someone on your side who understands.

The only problem I had was having to wash every towel I own.  I was lucky, and I know it.

Me And Kasi

We took this picture last weekend while we were waiting for the fireworks to start.  Kasi just told me I look "soooo tired".  It seems like I have been soooo tired all Summer.  I think it's the heat, and the swimming, and everything else going on.  Maybe once the kids go back to school, I can get more rest.

Where Has My Creativity Gone?

This is supposed to be a blog about the things I create.  Lately, though, it has been neglected.  I am posting pictures of things I love, that other people have created.  What's up with that?  I blame Summer, and swimming, and kids being home....yeah, I have tons of excuses, but none of them are any good.  No one ever comments over here, but I can't blame them.  I think I need to do a little re-vamp, but I just don't have the time, or the motivation, right now.

Maybe once the kids go back to school next month....

Random Questions I Stole From Someone Else's Blog

1. What time did you get up this morning? Around 9, I think
 
2. How do you like your steak? before my first pregnancy, I preferred rare, but now I like it well done
 
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? New Moon...can't wait until Eclipse next week!
 
4. What is your favorite TV show/s? I watch so many great shows, but right now, I'd say True Blood!
 
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? right where I am, only in a house I own, not rent
 
6. What did you have for breakfast? um, cereal, I think
 
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Chinese
 
8. What foods do you dislike? seafood...I just can't eat something that lives where it pees...I have issues, I know
 
9. Favorite place to eat? mom's house :)
 
10. Favorite dressing? For salad? ranch
 
11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? ha!  that's funny ;)
 
12. What are your favorite clothes? anything comfortable
 
13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Hawaii
 
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? depends on my mood...
 
15. Where would you want to retire? um...right here?
 
16. Favorite time of day? nighttime, when I am the only one up, and I can get stuff done
 
17. Where were you born? Oklahoma
 
18. What is your favorite sport/s to watch? not a sports fan, at all.
 
19. Who do you think will not tag you back? I'm not tagging, so I have no idea
 
20. Person you expect to tag you back first? really?
 
21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? whoever steals this...
 
22. Birdwatcher? nope
 
23. Are you a morning person or a night person? night, without a doubt.
 
24. Do you have any pets? Brandi has three hamsters
 
25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share? I am going to be an aunt again!
 
26. What did you want to be when you were little? day care worker
 
27. What is your best childhood memory? spending time at my aunts house
 
28. Are you a cat or dog person? cat

29. Are you married? Yes.

30. Always wear your seat belt? abso'freakin'lutely
 
31. Been in a car accident? when I was little...
 
32. Any pet peeves? too many to list...the biggest, though, is when people dog ear the pages in books they borrow from me...I hate that!
 
33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? cheese & mushrooms
 
34. Favorite Flowers? pale yellow roses
 
35. Favorite ice cream? chocolate peanut butter
 
36. Favorite fast food restaurant? um, taco bell I guess

37. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? none, never took it LOL..

38. From whom did you get your last email? izea
 
39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? best buy
 
40. Do anything spontaneous lately? nope, I am pretty predictable
 
41. Like your job? love it!
 
42. Broccoli? yum.
 
43. What was your favorite vacation? camping with my family
 
44. Last person you went out to dinner with? my mom took us out tonight for our anniversary
 
45. What are you listening to right now? iCarly
 
46. What is your favorite color? purple and black
 
47. How many tattoos do you have? None.
 
48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? none.
 
49. What time did you finish this quiz? 7:37 pm
 
50. Coffee drinker? nope.

You KNOW You're A Redneck...

...when this is your truck:

Last weekend, we were walking into a local grocery store when we passed this truck.  Yes, that is chicken wire screwed over his window.  And yes, I got a picture of it.  Or I should say, Ryan grabbed my camera and took the pictures, because I was too chicken.  Turns out, there was a dog in the car, so I guess this was the owners way of letting it get some air.  Kind of a good idea, but I still wouldn't do that to my car.

Hmmmm......

I have been neglecting this blog.  I blame my new food blog.  I used to post food posts here, but now that I have that other blog, I have been posting over there.  And since I have not done one creative thing in months, I have nothing to post about.

I have a list of things I want to get done...I have to start another baby blanket, I have wood crafts to paint, I really want to get some clay to play with...I just can not find any free time!

Hopefully once the kids finish school next week, I will find time to be creative with them, and then I'll have something to post about!

Sleep?

I slept until 12:30 today.  I set the alarm for 10:15, but when it went off, I just reset it and went back to sleep.  I blame the meds I am taking for my tooth.  They make me sleepy.  I just hope I will be able to sleep tonight.

If not, I guess I'll get my ecards dropped early.

I Don't Usually Take Pictures Of Strangers Cars, But....

...I just couldn't help myself. Last weekend, we came out of Lowe's, and this truck was parked in front of us. I looked in the windshield, and, well, you can see for yourself....

These labs were adorable! It looked like the one dog was driving, and the other was along for the ride. I was so glad I just happened to have my camera with me.

After I took this shot, Junior looked at me and said, "blog worthy?". LOL! The man knows me so well!

Karma

Today at therapy, Junior and I were talking with our therapists, and he said something that made me smack him. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was something about wishing harm on someone else. Now, I am a big believer in karma, and that doing, or saying, things like that will only bring the same thing back around to us. I don't think you have to believe in reincarnation, where the things you do in this life affect what you become in your next life. In fact, I don't believe that you get more than one life. I think it all comes back to you in this life, so you better play nice.

But, if you believe in either or both of those things, check out this Fictional movie site for believers in karma and reincarnation.

What Resolutions?

It's January 6, 2010, and I still have not made any resolutions for this year. I am actually thinking of skipping that whole tradition. I know I should resolve to eat better, exercise more, lose some weight, and maybe finally go on that date with Keith urban that I keep putting off...

Okay, so that last one is maybe more of a dream than a resolution, but the rest are all related to, in one way or another, how fat I am. And to be honest, that is not something I want to focus on this year. Sure, I could go have a gastric band put in, or join Weight Watchers or something. But, since I have just recently decided to embrace who I am no matter what I look like, which, by the way, was a huge step for me, I don't want to spend the next 365 days focused on my weight.

I have, in the past 6 months or so, lost 42 pounds, by doing nothing other than eating less. I am going to try and add exercise to the mix (I say try because I always have the best intentions, but it never seems to work for me...I am entirely too lazy) and am hoping to invest in not only the wii fit, but the biggest loser wii game as well. I am a huge video game freak, and have a feeling that I can really get into working out with the games.

But, back to my resolutions. If I had to make one, I would say that I want to spend this year making happy memories with my family. I want my kids to know that they are loved and cherished, and I want my husband to feel the same way. I want to make enough money each month to help take the burden off of Junior, so he can learn how to relax, because I am pretty sure over the last 18 months he has forgotten how to do that. As for me, I want to continue being happy with who I am. I want it to not matter to me what other people think, and I want it not to hurt my feelings when I am excluded from things.

Not too much to work on, right? lol!

Back To It

The kids finally went back to school yesterday. I really want to know who decides how long these kids have off for winter break, because in my opinion, two and a half weeks seems a little excessive.

Just saying.

They all had a good first day back, and I had a wonderful, peaceful day here at home. In fact, I got a whole bunch of cleaning and packing done, and not once did I hear "it's my turn on the computer" or "why can't I play the wii". It was very nice and relaxing to just put on a CD, and spend the day doing whatever I wanted.

Until they got home, that is.

But, we are months away from another long break, and hopefully before then we will be in a new (and bigger...fingers crossed) place, and it will be nice outside instead of cold and rainy so they can all go out and play. Wow, that was a pretty long sentence. Anyway, I am off to enjoy the quiet while I can...

My Second Wind

I took a nap today, from 5:30 til 7:30 pm. Now I am wide awake, and worried it will be hours before I will be able to fall back to sleep. I was sitting here around 5, dropping ecards, and all of a sudden I couldn't keep my eyes open. I literally laid my head back, and fell asleep in my computer chair.

I think it had something to do with only getting about four hours sleep last night, and not going back to bed this morning. I stayed up to do some dishes and get some wrapping done, and it took me a couple of hours, and at that point it was almost time to get Brandi, because she only had a half a day of school.

So yeah, I was tired, and my little nap was just what I needed. Thankfully, I can sleep in tomorrow, so even if I am up half the night, I will still get a good nights rest.

Busy Weekend Ahead

Deep Breath.

That's probably the last one I will take until Monday.

Tomorrow is payday, so we have lots of running around to do. Kasi is going to a dance after school, so we have to be there to pick her up at 5:30, then head to my moms to help her move a few things into the house. (she closes tomorrow) After that, we need to head to Walmart for a little Christmas shopping.

On Saturday we will be moving mom completely, then me and Boo need to make her cake for Sunday. Plus I have to find time to clean my house, bake the ziti, make the goodies bags, figure out what kind of craft the kids can do...

Then Sunday morning I have to do the last minute things before the party...and then have a house full of people over. I am looking forward to good food and good company, but I will be glad when I can finally relax. I am also hoping my back holds up through all the moving.

So like I said, busy weekend ahead!

The Heat Is On

It's December first, and I finally broke down and made Junior turn the heat on. The house was so cold when the kids and I got up this morning, and I just couldn't get warm. At all. For the entire day. So when Junior got home, I had him turn the heat on. Doing it for the first time kinda freaks me out, especially when it starts to smell.

But now I know that tomorrow morning, it will be nice and toasty when the kids and I get up. The only problem is that if i am really warm, I won't want to get out of bed.

Laser Hair Removal For My Legs

I hate shaving. As much as it embarrasses me to admit this, now that I am no longer wearing shorts every day, I am no longer shaving every day. I know, it's mostly laziness, but I can't help it.

I am thinking that I might need to look into laser hair removal in chicago and maybe have the problem taken care of once and for all. The thought of never having to shave again is nice, but I am curious about the pain involved. I am too chicken to wax, so I don't know how brave I would be about having laser treatment.

I think I might need to do a little more research. I am not even sure if they do legs. Here I am getting all excited, and I don't even know if what I want is possible.

Okay. I just did a little reading, and it seems you can have your legs done, and it will kind of hurt. They use a topical anesthesia for large areas, so that tells me there will be some pain involved.

Now I need to decide if the discomfort will be worth it.

That Means What?

I have got to tell you all about this website I found. I can not think of one reason why I would need to use this, but it looks so cool.

Basically, it is an online translator. You submit what you need translated, and depending on the length of the translation, you could have results in as little as one day. I am curious about the name translation. I think it would be interesting to see what my name looks like in Chinese or something.

I have to make sure my kids don't get wind of this. I am sure they would figure out a way for this site to do their Spanish homework.

Wasting Time

There are a ton of things I should be dong, yet here I sit. My migraine from yesterday is finally gone, which is awesome. I just don't have the umph to get up and get things done.

I need to shower and get ready for therapy, and maybe when we get back I can put the kids to work helping me.

That might get things done a little quicker.

I have also been posting some pictures on my other blog of the goodies I am making, so go check them out if you want.

Tea

In New York, tea is a beverage served hot.

In South Carolina, tea is what us Northerners call iced tea.

I hate tea, no matter what you call it.

My first job down south was working at Hardee's. The first time someone asked for tea, I served them hot water and a tea bag. As you can imagine, the jokes started immediately, and I never lived that down.

My husband has recently showed my son how to make tea at home, and I can not stand the smell. Ryan makes it every night, and every night I sit here trying not to gag.

Why can't they like lemonade?

My Day Off

I enjoyed my day off today. I hung out with my girls and my mom, and we did nothing. Played some cards, watched a movie. Basically just chilled. I really needed it, and hopefully I am now ready to face another week.