Weekend of old friends

Ah yes, high school.  So long ago...15 years to be exact.  We had our 15 year reunion this weekend.  I was super anxious about it.  You never know how people are going to be--are they going to be friendly?  judgmental?  pompous @sses?  So I was very pleasantly surprised by everyone. 

Some of whom I've known since I was 5 (kindergarten).  Many of us are married w/ families, some are single parents, others have been/are getting divorced, a number of them are/were in the military.  Despite what our lives are now, same or different, it was just a really good time of catching up. 

Do I regret that I haven't kept in touch with most of them?  Part of me does, and another part of me is like, well that was fun.  See you in 5 years.  Is that bad?  With a house full of kids, working full time, kids' activities, etc. it's hard to carve out extra time to keep in more frequent contact.  With fb, it does make it easier to at least keep caught up on what everyone is doing, and for me, that's really enough.  Horrible huh.  Ah well, it is what it is, and with that I'm content.

In other news, thanks to the blog and fb world, I have met people and made friends across the US and even in other countries.  To me that is pretty amazing!  15 years ago, the world wide web was just beginning.  Probably before that, but I remember being against having an email account.  lol  And fb, well I didn't get that account until about 2 years ago.  A blog, well that was pretty recent too.  lol  I like to stay just behind in the times.  haha

Ramblings of today & a prayer request

First, please visit Courtney's blog.  Her little boy Tripp, who has EB, is in a LOT of pain & could really use any & all prayers!!  http://randycourtneytripproth.blogspot.com/  She is an AMAZING mama to an even more AMAZING little guy.

Found out today that my "baby" got accepted into the preschool we've been trying to get into for 2 years!!  Doing a happy little dance & a squeal of delight.  We had pretty much given up on her ever getting in.  Yeah for her!!  So SUPER-EXCITED and what a GREAT way to start our weekend. 

We, like much of the rest of the country, are in the middle of a freakish heat wave.  Okay, not really freakish, happens every year, but still.  I'm so ready for a break from the 100+ degree days.  Yes, pretty sure I was the one who was complaining about the cold awhile back too.  72-85 degrees, that's all I ask year round.  Maybe 90 if I wanted to go swimming, but that's it. 

People are becoming very brazen around here.  3 store robberies in the middle of the day, 2 women shot & 1 was killed as they arrived home the other night.   It's scary.  I have no desire to take my kids anywhere by myself, and even during the day it seems to be less safe than before.  The way everything seems to be going lately, I have a feeling it's only going to get worse before it gets better. 

Well had other news to share, but have since forgotten.  Happy it's Friday & can't wait to enjoy the weekend!

Stay safe & cool!

I'm realizing...

*That I'm not very good at this whole blog thing. 
*Apparently I don't have nearly as much to say as I thought.  Which isn't entirely true, but unless I change the name to "ready to vent" or "here's how it is", I will continue to not be negative nelly all the time. 
*Rice makes a huge mess when trying to warm it in the microwave.
*I dislike people who compete to have the biggest *sob* story.  UGH!!!
*I will not jump on the all men suck bandwagon.  I already knew this, but it irritates me that people think I will or should.
*I ordered Scentsy & my house smells FABULOUS!
*The year is nearly half-over.  How did that happen?!?!
*My kids are awesome & getting older entirely to fast!
*My hubby is equally as awesome & loves me inspite/because of my "here's how it is" daily vents.  :)
*I desperately want a new job.
*My favorite shoes reek to high heaven.  Gross huh? 
*I'm soooo ready to go to Disney!!!!  Come on Thanksgiving week!!!!! 
*Maybe I should consider the "Here's how it is" blog.  I'll ponder it some more.

And that my friends is me in a nutshell for a day.  Enjoy the beautiful weather!!!  Thanks for stopping by.

Tulip time...

The tulips are in full bloom & today we took the kiddos to get pictures taken with the tulips.  B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!  For the most part the kids did really well & the weather was perfect.  80 degrees & cloudy.  other than dusk, cloudy is my favorite for taking pics. 

I am SO happy to stop & smell the roses, I mean tulips.

De-cluttering & New Bed!!

Much of my weekend has been spent de-cluttering (or trying to) the girls' room.  How 2 little girls, under the age of 5, can accumulate SO MUCH stuff is beyond me!!  So far four trashbags full of toys will be taken out.  That's just what we got through & the girls could freely part with.  Another 10 or so gone, and we'd be in really good shape. 

I tried limiting part of the stuff animals to five apiece, but the littlest one just looked so sad.  So yep, ended up keeping them all.  I know, I know, I'm a sucker for a sad face. 

In other news, their beds FINALLY arrived!!  We got those put together today (before noon), and the girls have been excited about them ever since.  Let's hope they're just as excited to sleep in them tonight.  Now just as long as they stay in them all night, we'll be doing good!

Allergy season is upon us & I'm not liking it one bit!!  The runny nose is bad enough, but the migraines that come with it, I could live without.  Seriously, I'm such a baby when it comes to headaches.  But the 80+ degree weather that comes with allergies, I'm totally diggin' it. 

Seeing the BIG picture

UGH!  Sometimes the BIG picture seems so small & hard to see.  In this case our house & saving for it.  I know what the end result will be, I know what it is I want to achieve, but man, it is hard training yourself to do things differently.

Saving money is not something that I've ever been good at.  I have the best of intentions, I have the thought process of how to do it, but when it comes right down to it, I like to buy things.  Sometimes it's things I need, sometimes things I want, and sometimes just because I "deserve" it.  So I think anyhow.

For example, I really want new clothes.  Not because I necessarily need new work clothes, but I seem to wear the same things all.the.time.  It won't change even if I buy new clothes, I'll just wear those instead of the older ones.  Ugh!! 

Ah yes, arguing with myself.  The wanna-be saver vs. the I-know-I-shouldn't spender.  Which one will prevail?!?! 

SPRING is in the air!

Ah yes, spring is in the air.  The past 3 days were 60+ degrees and yesterday even reached 77 (maybe that was Thursday??), but either way totally diggin' the warm temps.  Today a little cooler & rainy, but I'll still take it.  Tomorrow back to mid-upper 70's.  Yeah for spring!!

Perhaps we'll hit the zoo tomorrow.  I'm ready to be out doing stuff!  The kids are too.  All I hear is talk of fishing, archery shoots, swimming, etc.  In my head I'm going to start the couch to 5k program, though I have a feeling it's going to stay there...in my head. :)  I've never been a runner, but I like to believe that somehow I could train myself to be. 

And now I'm off for a very rare date night with hubby!!

Why is it that...

when you ask a question, people will automatically assume that they know what you're asking & then proceed to answer, without answering your question?  Please, take a moment & actually hear what is being asked.

This happened twice today in a meeting, with two different people.  So instead of getting a straight yes/no answer, with minimal explanation, which is what I was after.  No, instead I receive a 5 minute explanation of a question that wasn't even asked.  Seriously?!?! 

I get that the one person has the whole condesending attitude & that he is sooo much more all-knowing than the peons he works with, but come on.  It is very difficult to show respect to superiors, when half the stuff out of their mouth is just a bunch of hoity-toity, I'm better than you crap.  UGH!! 

Thankfully tomorrow is another day & with any luck, I can avoid conversations with this person completely.  Wish me luck!!  :)

P.S.  My FAVORITE scrapbook store is hiring part-time help on the weekends.  Soooo tempting to apply for the job.  I won't because it's coming upon spring/summer & we'll be super-busy, but man is it ever tempting.  Maybe they'll need help this fall/winter. 

After much searching...

We finally found beds for our girls.  After being on the look-out for SEVERAL months to find beds that would fit in the girls' super small bedroom, we finally bought them new beds.  Let me just say bed shopping is tough. 

Bunk beds were out (due to their age), single twin beds were out (due to the size of their room), so then we started looking at trundle beds.  Several of those peeked my interest--a daybed with trundle, captain's bed w/ trundle, extra drawers underneath the trundle for storage...many, many possibilities.  So that is what we were after.  A nice trundle bed.  Until last weekend, when I happened upon this...


PERFECT!!  Not so high so that I would be completely uncomfortable with them sleeping on the top bunk & yet enough room in between the beds, that we could leave decorative pillows & stuffed animals on the bed even when pushed underneath. 

I must say shopping around PAYS OFF.  I found these online & the price ranged anywhere from $1600-$700.  Since these are Ashley brand, I found an Ashley Homestore within an hour of us that sold these for $600.  AWESOME!  There were still a couple other stores we wanted to check too, so today we headed out to check them out. 

We ended up at Roommaker's which does sell Ashley furniture.  They had this bed for $699, but matched it to the Homestore's price & we could pick it up in our hometown instead of having to drive an hour.  Not only did I save us driving an hour (twice) to order the beds from the Homestore, or driving an hour to pick up said beds at Roommaker's, we got the cheaper price AND local pickup.  Suh-weet!!  Gotta figure the driving alone saved us probably $200. 

Decided to let the girls pick out their own bedding also.  I did limit it slightly, and perhaps encouraged specific bed sets :), but they did have their choices.  That counts right??  Had to have some restrictions or we would've come home with some bright pink/orange combo with sequins attached to it.  Probably not the best idea or the most durable for a 5 year old.  AND even somewhat coordinated.  YEAH!!  & half the price of what I was finding online.  Score!!

Hurry up & wait!

I learned this game well when my husband was in the military.  Plans would be made & then changed & changed again.  So you'd hurry up to finalize things for the initial plans & then wait to see what they changed to.  It is one of my least favorite games.  EVER!

Alas, this is where I am today.  Hurrying up & waiting to see what changes come about.  Waiting to see where we find land at to purchase, finalizing house plans to fit the landscape so those can be ordered, waiting...waiting...waiting while we save up money to build said house.  Hoping the plans in my head go as planned.  UGH!  Have I mentioned that I dislike this game. 

And yet, "good things come to those who wait."  Patience, I admit, is a virtue that I do not have.  I am very much a "see now, buy now" type person.  I am a work in progress, so I keep telling myself.  HA!

All that said, I'm not complaining about the wait.  Certainly not the wait for the house.  Other randomness however, I do wish would speed up.  I keep waiting for a email & checking it 50 times a day to see if it has arrived.  Nothing yet.  Waiting & watching for an email is much like watching the grass grow.  It doesn't speed anything up & starts to take a toll on your mind. 

Now admittedly, I really did watch the grass grow at our first home.  We had this crazy yard that we didn't really ever smooth out, with ruts & humps, and dirt.  Just DIRT!  No grass.  We'd plant grass & wait (patiently, mind you) for little sprouts of grasslings to grow from the mud.  It was so exciting to see little tufts of grass sporadically around our yard.  So yep, I really have watched the grass grow & it was EXCITING!!  :)  Poor old yard, pretty much stayed a dirt patch with few splotches of green here & there. 

And that is today.  Hurry up & wait...& wait...& wait.  One thing that won't wait...sleep.

Goodnight!

Cheesy chicken burritos

My Favorite & super-easy burritos.  It's a combination of a couple of recipes, but man are they good.

boneless, skinless Chicken breasts
White refrigerated mexican cheese
cream cheese, cubed
cream of chicken soup
refried beans
Rotel
Tortillas
Shredded, mexican cheese

Cook chicken breasts.  Cut (or chop, I use my pampered chef hand chopper) chicken.  Combine chopped chicken, cheeses, cream of chicken soup, and rotel.  Let simmer until cheese is melted.

On tortillas, thinly layer refried beans.  Add chicken mixture**, and roll up.  Place into 9x13 bake pan.  Add shredded cheese on top and bake at 350 for approx. 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

**Chicken mixture is also really good as a dip with tortilla chips. 

Can you tell I like cheese?  A LOT!  Mmmm...these are so delicious!! 

Dreamin' Big.

**Updated--here's the link to the house plans.  Hopefully it works.  :)
http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/home-plan-23614
This will give you the layout of the inside, in case you're interested.

So on my quest to find our perfect home, within the next couple of years, I stumbled upon this house plan.


LOVE it!  It's not nearly as big as it looks in the picture either.  Think 800 sq. feet on the main & upper levels.  As is-3 bedrooms, modified a bit, it will have 5.  Perfect!  A few other modifications to the kitchen & we'll be good to go.

To try & keep our debt to a minimum, I'm thinking if I save ALL my paychecks for the next 3-5 years, we should be able to pay cash to build.  Or get pretty close anyhow.  So that is my plan for now. 

Now--must learn NOT to buy unnecessary things.  I'm working on it.

What to do on a day like today? Bake!

So while we're in the middle of blizzard hell 2011, I decided today was a good day to bake.  Homemade bread & Kolaches!  Delicious!!  The first batch just got done & look absolutely yummy.

Today was a perfect baking day, judging by the dough.  It raised beautifully (twice) and was oh so fluffy.  I have a hard time not "killing" the yeast.  Though I think it's the yeast's fault & not mine.  Only thing that would've been better-if I wasn't to lazy to make cinnamon rolls.  But really by the time I was done with the Kolaches, I had no desire to roll out dough.  That & I ran out of butter.  How did that happen??  I LOVE butter!  I will eat a cracker with a stick of butter, just because eating butter by itself may be considered gross.  Ha!

This was after our dryer quit working this morning.  2 hours of drying time & still not dry.  Thankfully hubby was able to rig it to work once he got home.  So at least tomorrow, if I take another snow day, I can be even more productive. 

Let it snow, let it snow...

I've heard as much as 13 inches is supposed to hit us by Wednesday morning.  Fun times.  Wouldn't be as bad, but that's following however much ice first.  Snow on top of ice=NOT a good driving time.  Thinking it may very well be a snow day on Wednesday.  I'm totally okay with that.  I normally try to make it to work, because really if I can make it to the highway, then I can probably make it into work.  Although with the last 10 inches we received, I decided that I just didn't want to dig myself out at 7 in the morning.  Is that wrong?

My favorite part of snow?  It just makes everything look so pretty & peaceful.  The fact that I can look at my windows at midnight & it looks like dusk is pretty cool too.  My least favorite part, minus the cold weather?  It tracks in the house.  Then when it melts, it becomes all gray & dirty & gross looking. 
So along with the predicted amount of snow, I think the birds are confused.  I've seen the geese heading north, and Robins are out.  Silly ole' birds.  Although I'm thinking this weather is for the birds.  Obviously.  haha

Full Contact Basketball?!?

So a double header tonight, both of which the boys won!  Woot woot!!  Oh my goodness some of those kids are agressive!  By the end of the 2nd game, I'm thinking football may be the safer bet.  At least they get to wear padding.  sheesh. 
3 or 4 kids on our team came out crying, luckily nothing serious, but dang.  Thinking full body armour may be needed at next week's games. 

Do you have the time?...

...to listen to me whine.  About nothing & everything all at once!  Well if that doesn't make you want to stop reading right now, I don't know what will. :)  Really it's a Greenday song that's stuck in my head.  Makes for a catchy title though, don'tcha think.

Although it does go with where my train of thought is tonight.  Scrapbooking & finding the time to do it.  Oh so many options out there--pretty papers, stickers, buttons, ribbons.  Most importantly the pictures that you transform into little storybook pages.  Some day I will have/make the time to do it.  I'm only 10 years behind thus far.  That's not bad.  Right?  Perhaps when I'm old & grayer than I am now.  :)

In other randomness...I played the Mega Millions lotto a few weeks back.  Nope didn't win.  Bummer.  Which is just as well, I'm not even sure I'd know how to act if I suddenly became a multi-millionaire.  Don't get me wrong, I'd most definitely give it a shot.  In all reality the thought alone freaks me out.  Enough to pay off all our debt & buy a house would be okay with me. 
I've decided (for today) that for our 15 year wedding anniversary, we should get bridal attire & take pics with us & the kids.  How fun & cute would that be!  I hate dresses, but I do love wedding gowns.  Anyhow, something fun to celebrate.  We'll see.  That's a couple years down the road yet. 

And that is me for today! 

And here I thought I always had something to say...

until I find an outlet to say it, and now...nothing.  Who would've thought?!?!  Well really I always have random thoughts, but now it's about what do I find interesting enough to post.

The crazy ways people park when there's snow on the ground?  Cause really, we all know there's 6 feet between cars on a normal day.  Nah, that makes me sound grumpy, which I'm not.  However I do think it would be hilarious to park sideways & take up 6 spaces.  Just sayin. 

I've never understood why misery likes company.  Wouldn't it make more sense if you're not happy, to find happy people & do what they do?? 

More snow is on the way here in the midwest.  I like snow.  I don't like the cold that comes with it & how it tracks into the house or freezes on the floor mats in the car.  It looks so pretty though when everything is all white & fresh looking.

I've come to realize that apparently I'm clenching my teeth a lot lately.  No real reason for it, but dang if my jaw doesn't hurt a lot.

& now for happy thoughts since the above seem kind of grumpy, though they're really not.
~~water aerobics sounds like fun.  Now if I could only force myself to the pool at 7 am...during the summer of course.
~~South Park has got to be one of the "worst" shows on tv, and yet I find it to be incredibly funny, though wrong. 
~~My pumpkin cake I made last night was delish!  And since it had pumpkin & eggs in it, I'm going with it being a healthy snack. :)

Fascination with Gadgets

Kitchen gadgets always grab my attention.  Not because I have any desire, what-so-ever, to use them, but in my mind, I would use this one.  I won't and I know this, but it doesn't stop me from thinking I need it. 
Take for example, the food buffets.  How cool are those?!?  3 separate crockpots in one handy little, organized server.  Awesome!!  I would totally use that!  Ummm...yeah, no I won't.  I don't have dinner parties & for us, I'm pretty sure we don't need three crockpots of queso.  Fun idea though.
Still they (sellers of such gadgets) try to sucker me into buying.  I will be strong & not buy unnecessary items...today.  No guarantee for tomorrow.

My First Attempt at a blog...

So I've decided that I need a creative outlet for my random, sometimes odd thoughts.  Because really, as fascinating as I think I am, I do believe sometimes I have a tendency to bug the same people over and over.  :)  Shocking to those who know me, I'm sure. 
There you have it.  Prepare to be both amazed and enlightened, I'm sure.  :)  And yes, I totally over use the " :) ".  I'm happy, what can I say.