The Thorntons

Hi!

2011-09-23T22:17:00.000-04:00

After being admonished by my Aunt (Hi, Aunt Betty :) ), I have decided that I might try blogging again.

We'll see how that works out, but in the meantime, I'm trying to find a template that I like, and that is cute, and free, and easy to customize.

So, look for some new updates here in a bit.

Jump Rope!

2011-05-09T21:31:00.002-04:00

Happy Almost Mother's Day!

2011-05-07T21:13:00.011-04:00

Tomorrow will mark the 8th year I have been a mommy.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

And also to all you other mothers out there.

In honor of our special day, I have taken the liberty to list my Top 8 Worst Mothering Moments. I was going to do my Top 10, but could only think of 8. Oh well........Enjoy!

8. Accidentally letting Elizabeth fall down the stairs when she was about a year old. All the way down. She was fine. Whew.
7. Making Alexandra go to bed at 6pm one night because she refused to eat her dinner. She fell right asleep, slept all night, and didn't seem to remember any of it in the morning.
6. Laughing out loud when Elizabeth asked me if "shit" was a swear word.
5. Forgetting to have the Tooth Fairy visit Elizabeth. Not once, but TWICE. It was necessary after the 2nd time to create a huge ruse - fake letter, extra money, etc. to keep her believing. But it worked, so there.
4. Yelling "Elizabeth" really loudly across a WalMart when I watched her almost walk into the men's bathroom.
3. Letting Alexandra cry in her crib when she was a few months old at naptime because I figured she just didn't want to go to sleep. When I went in to check on her later, after she was quiet, I discovered that the reason she had been crying was because her leg was stuck in between two slats.
2. Continually calling Alexandra "Brown Leg" (a nickname I gave her after an incident with a brown marker) even though it really makes her mad.
1. Not relishing every single moment.....even the annoying and tiring ones. Because I know now how fast it goes.

I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow! Happy Mother's Day.

Starting Over

2011-04-28T22:23:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends.

I left for a while, but I'm back now. I'm not sure for how long, but for today for sure. I can't promise anything past that.

So it seems as though the last time I had anything to say was way back on February 1st. Now, it's almost May. So that's......about 3 months.

Sure! I've been busy. We're ALWAYS busy here. I have two kids in school, a full time job, a cat, a dog and other stuff that I like to do/need to do/am obligated to do. And most of the time, that stuff takes precedence over typing on the computer for a while.

Also, I'm pretty tired usually when the kids go to bed and mostly just lay on the couch, watching TV.

But also, also, (that's sort of like a P.P.S....or P.S.S.....not sure which way is correct?) I was actually caring about what I wrote, and making sure it was OK for other people's eyes. As in: is it PC? Is it interesting? Funny? But actually, what matters is that I am at least trying to document what our life is like. Because someday my kids might actually like to hear about this stuff. And I'll be too old to remember it all. I'm too old to remember it all now already, so I can only imgaine what it'll be like in 30 years when I'm.....nevermind. I don't want to think about how old I'll be in 30 years.

So. No more followers on the sidebar....no more caring about whether or not someone has a comment for me.....no more making sure I comment on other people's blogs so they look at mine. Because it's not for them. It's for ME. And the 2 family members who like to hear about what we're doing.

Have a happy Friday tomorrow! XO

the joy of love - day 1

2011-02-01T21:10:00.000-05:00

Here's my first joy of love photo. The task was to take a photo of your loved one doing what they do.

So, mine is of the girls playing.

Also, the blizzard I mentioned yesterday? Well, it seems to actually be happening. Right now it's snowing quite a bit and blowing A LOT.

See the map below? I live where the small red dot is. Right in the middle of all the blue snow.

{photo from http://www.woodtv.com/}

School is already closed for the girls. They are very excited. Me? Still have to go to work. They said we could work from home, but I find it difficult to get anything done when I'm here. Too many distractions!

Happy Tuesday!

Here Comes the Snow!

2011-01-31T20:59:00.000-05:00

**Please sing the title line in the same tune as "Here Comes the Sun"......aren't I clever?

I live in Michigan. Granted, southern Michigan, but still Michigan. Michigan is in the north. Also, surrounded by giant lakes that combined with wind, make lake effect snow. Those two factors alone guarantee that every single winter, for a good three months, we have snow. And lots of it. Depending on where in the area you live, you might have 75 inches of snow each year.

This year, we've been pretty lucky. Not too much snow, and hardly any of those "horrible" days where it's snowing AND blowing AND 11 below.

But folks, they tell me it's coming.

Who is they? I don't know. But I like to say it because my Grandma always used to say "Well, they say......" and then go on to tell me something. And I would always say "Who are they?" and laugh. And she would laugh too. I miss my Grandma.

Anyway, in this case "THEY" are everyone.

Apparently, we are in for 10-16 inches in about 12 hours, and 20-30 mph winds, and cold temps. Brrr. I am shivering just typing it. Either because of that, or the fact that I won't allow anyone in my house to turn the thermostat up above 64 degrees. Whatever. I am shivering.

They say it's going to snow, and a lot. The kids are pretty much planning on having Wednesday off school, and I am even getting sucked in, hoping I get a snow day too. I am planning on going to work tomorrow and ask people who have been there a long time if we ever close. I hope so!

Even though it's supposed to be a big one, I say "Keep your shirts on people! We live in Michigan. It snows here. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes it's a pain to drive in, but we have a lot of snowplows and salt trucks and they do a pretty good job keeping things clear for us. IT WILL BE OK".

Hopefully though, we don't loose power. Now that? THAT would blow.

Lightroom. Friend or Foe? Discuss.

2011-01-29T20:53:00.005-05:00

Up until recently, I had been using Photoshop Elements 8 to edit and organize all of my pictures. I did a pretty good job of keeping up on the labels and organization, and had a pretty good system down.

Then Adobe came out with CS5, and I had been drooling over that, and sort of drooling over Lightroom.

Well, right after Thanksgiving, I got a Facebook message from one of the people I follow saying that Amazon was offering a "huge" discount on Lightroom 3 for like 8.5 minutes. I looked at Greg and said "I know what I want for Christmas!" and headed over to Amazon to see, sure enough, Lightroom 3 was selling for $125. Typically, it's $300. So, I clicked on "add to cart" and became the proud owner of Lightroom 3. Yay!

Fast forward (or is it fastforward?) to Christmas. I open the box and install the software. I could almost hear angels singing as I'm doing it, I was so excited.

Then, I started to use it and quickly became frustrated and annoyed because wow! was it different. And complicated. And hard.

Oh, also, around this time, I had the opportunity to get Photoshop CS4. Which I did. Which is also confusing. I know. I shouldn't really complain, right? At least I am fortunate enough to even be able have stuff like that. But still. It's confusing.

Anyway, I am finally starting to see the "benfits" of Lightroom, although I can't say I'm a total adict yet. I have figured out the organiaztion part, which is really important for me since I take so many pictures. And the developing part (editing) is cool too. Oh....it's also pushed me back to shooting in raw (different from IN the raw for those of you wondering), which I got away from. I didn't want to at first because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get my pictures into jpg form to be able to post here, but once I figured out how to do an export preset, it's super duper easy! The only downside I've figured out now for shooting in raw is that it literally takes like 10 minutes to upload some of my pictures to the place I get prints from. But.....when I finally order them, I bet they look fantastic!

Today, I think Lightroom is more friend than foe, but.....it took a while.

Your thoughts on Lightroom? Easy? Hard? Love? Hate?

the joy of love

2011-01-29T20:09:00.001-05:00

Hi!

I have recently discovered a cool photographer/blogger/mom/graphic designer type person out there in internetland. Her website is http://www.willettedesigns.com/newsite/wordpress/ and her name is Kelly Willette.

Anyway, I check her blog a few times a week, and I added her to Facebook, so one day I got this email, or notice, or whatever they're called, about a free "class" she was going to be offering for February.

It's called "The Joy of Love", and it starts on February 1st, and I'm super excited!

Every day for the month of February, she will email a different prompt and/or assignments and there will be tutorials and/or some instruction included along with it. Of course, in the way of my life, I am sure I'll miss or have to skip some here or there purely because I won't have time, but I think (?) I can go back if needed. And did I mention it's free?

Awesome!!

Please expect purely professional looking stuff from me after I am done with this. *Wink wink*

You can read about The Joy of Love here.

Happy loving!

random thoughts. by jodi.

2011-01-11T22:18:00.000-05:00

Well hello......(said in my best creepy guy voice).

How are you all? Pretty good here. Pretty good. Busy, as usual!

Did I tell you we have a craft room now? Well, we do, and let me tell you.....I had forgotten how MUCH I like to craft! It's so easy now that all of my stuff is in one spot, and it's easy to get to. I can work on something while Elizabeth is doing her homework, or while everyone else is watching TV, or whatever. I love my our craft room!

Also, I love hot glue guns and Modge Podge.

Also, the kids love to craft. We do it almost every day!

Trixie (you remember her, right?) is fine. Naughty as usual. Right now she is quietly laying on the back of the small sofa in the living room. Just like the tiny kitty cat that she is. Oh wait. Right. She's NOT a cat. She's a large dog. Why in the world is she laying on the back of the sofa?

Also, although she has mostly stopped eating toys, I think it's just because the kids have finally learned to put them away. But she HAS stepped up the eating of bathroom trash (read: dirty kleenex) and pencils.

Is lead harmful to dogs? Or maybe the decorative paint on the outside of the pencils?

Also, we are pretty sure Trixie has epilepsy. Yes. Dogs can, and do, develop epilepsy. Yes, dog seizures are very frightening.

Something else that was frightening? My work today. Wow. But, tomorrow is a new day and things will be juuuuuust fine. I am sure of it.

I think that is all for today.

Have a fantastic tomorrow!

HEY!

2011-01-04T22:42:00.001-05:00

Back for just a minute.....

I am starting a new photo project (inspired by my desire to use my nice camera and some new photo editing software) with a new blog.

Please check out MY NEW PHOTO BLOG!

Well, soon anyway. I promise!

Also, sweet new look, no?

XO

One Month!

2010-11-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

Well hello!

It's been almost one whole month since I last checked in with everyone.....how are you?

Things are the same here. Busy. And I've pretty much felt like besides that, there's really nothing else to tell you about. So I haven't really been around. Even though now there's probably no one that even checks back anymore, since it's been so long. But that's OK.

I've also been feeling like I should be spending my time on other things, like interacting with my husband and stuff, rather than spending a bunch of time on the internet.

But he went into work tonight, so I have some free time, and here I am! Yes, it's Saturday night, and yes, he went into work, but he had to stay home Friday with Elizabeth because she was throwing up, so he's behind and wants to get caught up before Monday. I know the feeling - I had to stay home with Alexandra on Wednesday because SHE was throwing up and it took me until Friday to get caught up. It's not easy for me to go into work at night like it is for him. First, I work a bit farther away from home than he does. It's not far, maybe 15 minutes, but he literally works 4 minutes from our house. Also, my work is much larger and there are security guards and stuff there during non business hours, and since it's so big, when most of the lights are turned off it's super spooky there.

Anyway, speaking of my new job, things are going really well with it. I felt like I was drowning at first, but the last few weeks I've really caught on. Also, one of the things I was tasked with when I was hired for this position was to "get my customer under control". Obviously I had said "Well, of COURSE I can do that" although I wasn't really sure what it meant. And then I did. Without totally boring the two of you who have actually returned to see how I am, we have date ranges that our customers need to order their stuff within. That way, we can plan for material, and also for our manufacturing plant's capacity. Well, my customer pretty much ordered what they wanted, when they wanted. They didn't care if it was withint the date ranges we have set or not - they needed their stuff and they needed it now.

But, they've actually been behaving really well for the last couple of weeks. I know that they'll have some bad days sometimes and drive me crazy, but that's OK because they are not the norm anymore.

Well, enough about me. On to the people you really care about - Elizabeth and Alexandra!

They're both fine. I mentioned they were both sick this week, and that totally sucked (especially since Elizabeth seemed to forgot how to make it to the bathroom in time and threw up on the couch, the floor and the floor again). But they're seeming to be OK now. Whew. Hopefully now Greg and I don't get it.

We went to their conferences last week, and they're both doing well. Elizabeth had A's and B's, and Alexandra did well too (no letter grades in Young 5's).

I bought their Christmas dresses last weekend, and have a pretty good idea what I want to do for our Christmas card this year; I just need to find an hour or so when everyone is well and wide awake and in a good mood so I can take the pictures for it.

The girls' redecorated bedrooms are finally done....they look super cute and fit their personalities. Alexandra was upset that the rocking chair from her room is now gone (we had rocked her in that chair almost every night of her life), but it went to Grandma's, so it's not totally gone.

The craft room......well, it's still a work in progress. I have most of the stuff in it now, but it's not really organized and it's still a huge mess. But I am glad that we did it.

And, I think that is it, for my latest boring update.

Happy weekend to you all!

What's Happening

2010-10-23T21:06:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends!

This will be a quick post, with not a lot to say. But I figured I would let you know that I am actually still alive. Also, it will give me a good excuse to tell you about how busy I am. Again.

So, here's what we have in the works right now:

1. Elizabeth's room has been redecorated. We painted, bought new bedding and curtains, a rug, a new storage thing, etc. Actually all very small and easy changes, except for the fact that we have about 16.5 free minutes per day. So that means it actually took us about a month to do it all. But it's **finally** almost done. Just a few things to go through and put away!
2. Alexandra got a new bed. She also got new bedding and a few other things for her room. And a miracle happened and we finished that all in one day! Grandma helped that one along by taking the girls to the movies and gave us 2 uninterrupted hours to work. It's amazing how much we get done when it's just the two of us.
3. Craft room is still very much a work in progress. Pretty much nothing more has been done besides getting the furniture and computer in there. The rest? Well, it's pretty much a disaster.

I know. 3 things? Doesn't seem like all that much, but combined with working, kids in school, laundry and cleaning.....well, it is. But have no fear! We WILL be done soon.

And....there will be PICTURES!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Crafty!

2010-10-15T20:58:00.000-04:00

Hello Internet.

So, since I last checked in with you, things have been moving right along, as they tend to do.

My new job is getting better.....I still don't really know what's going on, but I am getting my legs under me and can at least get through the day without someone supervising me 100% of the time.

One girl was sick and had to stay home for two days, but the other one wasn't. Whew.

And....Greg finally convinced me to turn our "den" into a craft room.

I call it a "den" because in reality, it's just a small room off of our living room that we watched TV in. And the living room didn't get a lot of use. But that's how I liked it. I'm the type of person who thinks your living room is more of a "sit and talk" type of room, rather than a messy room that you watch TV in. I also have a formal dining room that we eat in about 2 times a year, but....that's how I like it! Now that we have fewer toys downstairs, and the girls are doing more homework and crafts, it became apparent even to me that the living room was really just a big wasted space.

So I finally relented.

Plus, the idea of a craft room that our computer could be in sounded really cool to me. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that our computer was in the basement and that I didn't use it a whole lot because of that. But now? Well, the computer's been upstairs now for about 2 hours and I've already been on it more in those 2 hours than I have been in the last week. Maybe even 2 weeks.

Good or bad? I haven't decided yet. But at least I can be on the computer and not feel isolated, and if the girls want to play on it we can supervise a lot more easily.

None of my actual craft stuff is in here yet.....we have to clear off the bookshelves (there are two of them, floor to ceiling and they are full of books) and buy some storage containers, but the desk and craft desk are here and I'm digging it.

So there is my non newsy update for you. But hopefully you'll be hearing from me a lot more now that my computer and I have joined the land of the living!

Oh and PS: I read today that Tom Cruise has been givin an offer to come back and film Top Gun 2. At first I was like "Oh! I love Top Gun!" and then I was like "Oh. Maybe not." I also read something that a friend of a friend on Facebook said: "Iceman better get on the treadmill". Which is mean, and I should be the last person to make fun of anyone who is a bit heavy, but I have to admit. I laughed out loud at that one.

Just Because I Like Flowers

2010-10-08T17:49:00.003-04:00

Yes, I Fell Off the Face of the Earth

2010-10-07T21:36:00.000-04:00

And, I'm pretty sure I will be staying there for a bit longer.

As I have said the last few (and far between) posts, things have been super busy around here. Seems as though starting a new job, making sure your mother gets moved into a new house and having a 2nd child start school is more than even I can handle.

Go figure.

Pretty much all I have energy for at night after the kids are bed, lunches are made and laundry is washed is to sit on the couch and not think.

In my old life (at my previous, super easy job) I had all sorts of time during the day to check in on my internet friends to see what was going on and even to comment on their blogs. Now? Well, I actually have to work from the time I get to work until it's time to go home. I might have 3 or 4 minutes to check in real quick and read what's going on, but that's about it. So please don't think that I have forgotten about any of you, because I haven't! I just need to make sure my priorities are set in the right place. And you know....the internet is down pretty far.

*****************************
On an unrelated, but also overwhelming note, please pray, think healing thoughts, whatever you do, for one of my friends. Her husband was in a motorcycle accident on Tuesday and he passed away today. He was 35. My heart is breaking for her........it's just so sad.

*****************************
Until I find some more time! XO

Pictures

2010-09-27T21:28:00.000-04:00

I don't know if you remember, but I used to take a lot of pictures. And then, I sort of stopped. I'm not sure why, but it's been about three weeks since I even pulled out my camera and that was for the first day of school. And before that, I'm not even sure when it was.

But for some reason, now that fall is coming, I've been really missing my camera, and tonight while Elizabeth was at CCD, I went out to one of our local parks and took some pictures.

For those of you from around here, I went to Crane Park, and don't ask me why, but I've never been there before! It's really pretty though, and I can see why people like to get married there.

Anyway, I also managed to get a picture of a full rainbow (and a very light 2nd one) behind the church when I sent to pick Elizabeth up.

Sorry there are only a few, but, Enjoy!

Twelve Days

2010-09-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

Well, since it's been twelve days since I have checked in, there probably aren't any people left to type this for, but I will so it anyway, just in case.

So. What have I been up to? Well, a lot, actually. As a matter of fact, since school started, we have so much less time than we did before, it's amazing. And I thought we were busy before. But now? Whew.

I am in the den, watching the movie "Rattle and Hum". Ever seen it? It's a film about the band U2 (my favorite band - EVAH). I saw it like 11 times at the movies when it came out. My friend Christine (also....roommate freshman year in college) and I cut class on the first Friday it was out and took the bus to the theater to go see it. We went to the theater in Okemos, which is down the road from East Lansing. Actually, I probably would have cut class anyway, since it was a Friday, and I was a freshman, but maybe not. It was a long time ago, so my memory may not be the best.

Elizabeth started CCD this week. For those of you out there who are not Catholic, that's religous ed class.

Alexandra really likes school. She had to stay home one day last week because she was sick. I called her around lunch time that day and she said "Can I go back to school tomorrow?". And then tonight, we were watching a movie before bed and she said "I wish I could go to school tomorrow". I am quite happy, because I was super worried about her hating every single second of it. But, I guess not, which is good since she has a few more years left.

Trixie is laying on the floor at my feet whining because I won't let her upstairs. But I have banned her from unsupervised time upstairs because of what she did last night: I was sitting downstairs watching TV and I kept hearing crashing sounds coming from upstairs. I was ignoring them because I was watching the season premiere of The Office. Finally, I couldn't ignore the sounds anymore so I went upstairs to find that she had pulled all the trash out of the bathroom trash can and Alexandra's trash can and flung kleenex and fluff (from a stuffed animal she had destroyed a few days earlier) everywhere. Also, she had gotten into the toy bins in Elizabeth's room and chewed up a bunch of colored pencils, pens and tiny toy animals. All I could do was laugh. Because she's a menace. For real - my dog is a menace.

I am at my new desk at work. I have "officially" started my new job. I say "officially" because I started getting paid for the new job on September 1st, but didn't really start until Wednesday. And I am now drowning in issues I don't know how to fix and 100 emails a day. It's awesome! Actually, I think once I figure out how to fix all the issues on my own without having to ask someone about every single one I will really like most of it. Lots of problem solving and making things happen and very fast paced. Which is what I said I wanted in the interview for the job, so I guess that makes it a good fit, right?

We (Greg and I) are playing in my company's golf outing tomorrow. I haven't played golf in about 10 years. I should totally suck. Also, we drove out to the course last night, so we knew where it was, and I saw a dude playing without a shirt. So, as you can see, it's a super classy course. It should be a good time.

OK. I think I am done for tonight. I am going to drink a little beer and eat a couple of cheese pringles. I know, they're gross, but they were there at Target when I ran in to get some milk and orange juice and I couldn't resist.

Blah Blah Blahblitty Blah

2010-09-12T21:41:00.000-04:00

OK, so besides being so busy I can barely breathe, things have been uneventful.

Because I am too tired to be entertaining, but I know you are dying to hear about what's going on in my life so I will provide a helpful list for you!

I continued training this week for my new job. I have pretty much no idea what I am doing, so that's cool.
I played tennis (mixed doubles with someone that I work with) in a tournament called The Corporate Cup on Saturday. Unfortunately, we only got to play two matches because it started raining, but the good news is that we won the two matches we played. Go us!
Greg played in a golf tournament this weekend, so he was gone all day Saturday and Sunday.
I had a work party last night at the home of one of the managers in my (old/current) department.
I am going out of town Monday and Tuesday for work so I spent Sunday cleaning the house, getting things ready for school for the next 3 days and packing.

So now, I am sitting on the couch, typing this completly enthralling account of my week, drinking a beer and watching TV. Multitasking at it's best.

The First Day

2010-09-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day of school here in Michigan. Well, for public school kids, anyway. One of my friends teaches at a Catholic school and they started back last week. But they also get out a full week ahead of my kids, who will be trapped in their classrooms until June 14th. AH!

Anyway, today was the first day back for Elizabeth and Alexandra.

Elizabeth is in 3rd grade this year, so this was all old hat for her. In fact, after we got her and her stuff to her room I said "well, after we get your stuff put away....." she interrupted with "you'll leave?". Even though I had been planning to say "I want to get a picture of you", I said "Yes, we will leave".

Alexandra, on the other hand, was starting at "real" school for the first time this year. She went to preschool last year, but that was only 3 mornings a week, for a couple of hours. This year is every day, every afternoon. She's doing a young 5's program this year since she doesn't actually turn 5 until the end of November.

She did really well though at our drop off. She was very shy going into the classroom, but settled in all right, and once she was busy working on something, I left. I cried a little, but only a little, and only after I was out of her sight.

Both girls had good days. Elizabeth likes her teacher and only one kid in her class got in trouble (compared to, oh 50% of the class who got in trouble multiple times a day last year). Alexandra said one kid got in trouble for not sitting "criss cross apple sauce" (not sure he actually got in trouble, but, we'll go with what she says) and only one kid wet his pants. Success!

The Tooth Fairy

2010-09-02T21:38:00.000-04:00

So. Do you remember earlier this summer, when Elizabeth lost a tooth and the tooth fairy forgot to come? Go here if you're interested in rehashing that memory.

Well, obviously, I swore that I would never do THAT again, because what kind of horrible mother forgets the tooth fairy visit twice? NOT ME.

And then, Elizabeth lost another tooth and I forgot again.

What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. Me?????

Actually, I can answer that - it's called "as soon as my kids go to bed my brain stops working because I'm so tired that the moment I don't have to take care of other people I pass out on the couch and don't think about anything except for maybe what's on TV" syndrome.

Some of you may have heard of it? Or maybe also suffer from it?

Anyway, this morning while we were eating breakfast, Elizabeth disappeared for a while and returned, looking very disappointed. She then announced, "She didn't come. The tooth fairy didn't come".

So, while I was at work, I concocted a scheme to make sure my baby wasn't disappointed for long. That, and I paid her off.

When Elizabeth got home, she found this letter in our mailbox:

**Sorry for the weird formatting of the letter; I am on my laptop, which has a tiny screen so I had to turn the letter into two separate pictures to be able to make it big enough to read**

So I know it's corny and all, but I'm here to say: Elizabeth LOVED it. That, and she got $5, which also made her happy.

I know some people don't believe in "lying" to their kids about the stuff like the Tooth Fairy, Santa, etc. but I am not one of them. And I think it's a good thing to let Elizabeth believe in those things for as long as possible. I don't think she needs to grow up too fast is all.

Happy Friday to you!

One Last Time......

2010-08-31T21:44:00.000-04:00

We spent a few days at the lake last weekend with my mom and my aunt. One more fun thing before the new school year started.

Fortunately for us, we only live about 45 minutes away from Lake Michigan, so it's not a big deal at all to go there often, even though we don't.

Anyway, we took the girls and did all sorts of fun stuff: splash park, the beach, a pier, lighthouses, children's museum, pizza, parks, hotel with bunk beds.......

We also saw some sunsets

Watched people fish (this is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.....I just really like it!)

Looked at some lighthouses

Played on the beach

Left stuff laying around, just like at home

And stood around, while I took pictures like this

School starts one week from today, and summer will be over. So it was nice for one last time.

It's Almost Here......

2010-08-29T20:42:00.000-04:00

We have had a really really hot and humid summer this year. Last year was really nice - not a lot of super hot temperatures, and even when it was hot - it was just hot - not humid too.

This year? Not so much. We've had temperatures over 90 with high humidity on more days than I care to remember. My hair has been a disaster all summer!

But, things are starting to change.......

I am seeing more of these on the ground:

And the tree that the girls like to climb is looking like this:

My calendar is filling up:

And the temperatures (except for today!) have been bearable:

And lastly, my dining room table has this on it:

Because this is happening soon (now...only 8 days!):

Fall is almost here!

Yippee Skippee!

2010-08-28T22:43:00.000-04:00

Hello Strangers!

Once again, it's been way too long, but you know. End of summer....getting ready for school (more on that later)......blah blah blah.

But I'm here now, so there you go.

So. This is just a quick little update about ME! Since I know you're all so interested and all.

I've been at my job for almost 3 years now. I really really like my job. Although, since I've been there for so long now, it's getting a little boring.

Typically, at the company I work for, people stay in their positions for 2-3 years, and then they move on and up. Of course, last year there was no new hiring being done....and the people that were laid off were not replaced. Finally though, in April, things started moving. New jobs were posted, people started moving around, and things were looking up.

What does this all mean to you?

Well, it means that I am finally moving on and up to MY next job!

Yippee Skippee!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to be a Customer Rep for a heavy duty truck OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and will be managing their orders and issues.

I am super excited....you know - new challenges, etc. etc. That, and a lot more money. Yay!

The end.

Two Red Peppers and an Avacado

2010-08-23T22:18:00.000-04:00

OK guys. I know I talk about my dog a lot. And I apologize about that. But I mean, I can't help it. She provides me with so many stories. Really - my life would be way more boring sounding without her.

So, I made a run to the store last night to get conditioner (which, incidentally I forgot and had to go BACK for tonight) and bought some other stuff, too. Some milk, some orange juice, some tomatoes, two red peppers (the bell kind - not the hot kind) and an avacado. I got home and left the peppers and avacado on the counter.

Tonight, after getting back from the store (to buy the conditioner I forgot to buy last night), I put Alexandra to bed and then came to the basement to do laundry. I ended up on the computer for a few minutes, and then finally went back upstairs to the kitchen to make my lunch for tomorrow.

Well, I'm at the counter, packing stuff up and I happen to look over at the peppers and avacado and notice that there's only one pepper left. And Trixie won't stop following me around.

The following me around part isn't really unusual, but the fact that she kept sort of burping at me was, and I even said "Trixie, you are so gross". But.....even then.....she's a dog and she does gross stuff. Whatever, right?

Anyway, I see that there's only 1 pepper, so I call Greg and ask if he had cut it up for Elizabeth, and he of course was "Ummm. No." I sort of look around the kitchen, but don't see it anywhere.

Unconcerned, I went and sat down to watch TV. After about 30 seconds, I hear the basket at the bottom of the stairs that I keep things in to carry up when I am too lazy to do it right away fall over. I go to see what Trixie has stolen out of it and happen to see her at the top of the stairs, looking at me, with a Barbie doll in her mouth.

I do the "TRIXIE" loud whisper-yell thing and she runs into Elizabeth's room and hides under the bed. I of course give chase, and manage to get the Barbie away from her before she can chew it up.

Then I take Barbie into Alexandra's room because it's hers, and that's when I see it:

A pile of seeds and a stem.

Yes. Trixie had stolen my red pepper, taken it to Alexandra's room while I was surfing the internet and eaten all of it but the stem:

I pick the stem up to bring downstairs and photograph, and Trixie hid under my bed, because she knew she probably shouldn't have done that.

But you know what? I say "Whatever Trixie. You probably have a tummy ache now, but it's your own darn fault!".

So there (said the lady who will have to clean up after her dog who will probably throw up the red pepper she probably shouldn't have eaten).

Twenty Five

2010-08-21T09:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight, we ~~have to go to~~ get to go to Greg's 25 year high school reunion.

Can I get a WHOOP?

Yeah, me neither. I don't think from Greg, either, but like many other people he felt obligated to go.

He tells me we will be arriving late and leaving early.

I don't know though.....there will be karaoke (did I spell that right?) in the bar at like 10:00. That's always good for some laughs, right?

So wish me luck, spending the evening with three people I know (me, Greg and our friend Debbie) and many others that I don't.

Later!

Dog Pedicure

2010-08-18T21:50:00.001-04:00

So if you have a dog, you know that their nails grow and need to be cut every once in a while (I didn't - for real!). Because if they're not, when they jump on you, their nails scratch you so hard they leave bruises.

Anyway, I bought a nice pair of clippers because they showed me how to cut her nails at the vet and it looked super duper easy!

But then I discovered that Trixie knew what nail clippers were and whenever I got them out she hid in difficult to reach places because apparently she didn't like to have her nails clipped.

I finally gave up and took her to one of those big pet stores to have them do it.

Well. Let me just say: muzzles, Trixie, and 3 employees holding her down to clip her nails did NOT go well.

I gave her a month or so of respite, but her nails reached critical lengths again, so that time, I took her to a different big pet store. That visit was MUUUUUCH better.

Trixie does not respond to people wanting something from her and at the same time being nice and touchy and feely with her - she needs an alpha to dominate.

(Ha ha! Didn't I just sound like a real "dog person" there??)

Anyway, if you want Trixie to do something (sit, quit jumping on you, drop the stuffed animal she's chewing on....) you need to be pretty straightforward and no nonsense with her.

So the lady at the 2nd pet shop was great. She took control and didn't mess around. Trixie figured out pretty quickly that her nails were getting clipped, so she'd better just settle down and get on board.

Today was round #3 in the nail clipping saga. I took her back to the last place and Oh! No! The lady who did her nails the last time wasn't working.

I should have just left - I don't know why I didn't - but I should have.

Also, I had Alexandra with me (anyone with a 4 year old knows how "helpful" they are when you're out and dealing with a somewhat stressful situation).

To make this already long story short, here are the highlights:
1. One of Trixie's nails bled (ew!)
2. Alexandra almost wet her pants
3. I got very sweaty trying to help
4. 3 out of 20 nails got cut
5. We were sent home and told "Chell works tomorrow.....you can come back then"

Poor, poor Trixie. It's gotta be tough being her.

Why I Will Never Become A Rich Blogger

2010-08-16T21:22:00.000-04:00

1. Because I go a week, sometimes more, without updating.
2. Because my life really isn't all that interesting, and most people find me super boring.

With that said.....

Hello!!!! So sorry I've neglected you for so long, but I am finding this summer to be so busy and hard to do anything except just BE.

Also, I don't really have much to talk about.

Here is what I can tell you:

1. Trixie now goes downstairs (she's been too afraid, but for whatever reason, overcame that fear this past weekend).
2. Quinn has been in the basement since we brought Trixie home. So, this is bad news for him.
3. I weighed myselft this weekend. It was NOT pretty.

Aaaaandddd.....that's really about it.

I will try to check back later, when something more exciting happens.

Happy Monday!

Hello From the Basement!

2010-08-06T19:48:00.000-04:00

Hi There.

So, I'm in the basement right now. That's where our computer is. Because when we moved into our house a long time ago, it seemed SO! BIG! and now that we have two kids, a cat, a dog and a bunch of stuff, it's really not that big anymore and the basement is the only space we have open for a computer.

Anyway, that's where I am at. And you know what? It's super lonely.

Usually, when I am updating the world of the internet, I am sitting in the den on the couch, watching TV and typing away on my laptop. But......my laptop is my work computer, and guess what!? The hard drive is dying on it. So I am too afraid to even try to turn it on this weekend, because it could be the last time it ever turns on. Insert some good news here: IT guy told me today that the new hard drive finally arrived and he was going to put all my backed up stuff onto it and it should be ready to install Monday morning. But in the meantime, I must use the computer in the basement.

Because it gets super lonely down here, I tend to do the bare minimum as far as showing you pictures and writing anything because after about 10 minutes, I get to wondering what the heck is going on upstairs, and I end up just shutting down and joining everyone else (except for Quinn.....he hasn't left the basement since we got Trixie. So he's here).

So my point in that whole long story is this: I have a couple of new things I'm working on, but 10 minutes only goes so far, so it might be awhile before I finish.

Don't abandon me! I couldn't take the rejection.

OK, enough for tonight....I hear fun things going on upstairs and I must go join everyone.

Happy Weekend!

My Dream Career

2010-08-01T21:25:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was at work IM'ing with a friend of mine (yes, I probably should have been doing real work, but hey.....I gotta have social life sometime, right?) and she asked me what my dream career would be. (If you're interested, hers was working for the Travel Channel like Samantha Brown, who gets paid to go around the world and check out hotels and restaurants).

Anyway, I have had thoughts over the years of what I would do if money were no object, and some of the things I've come up with were: Owner of a shabby chic type of home decor store, A stay at home mom, and A lawyer. Interestingly enough, teacher is not one of them, which is unfortunate, since that's what I have my degree in, but hey.....

OK, I am rambling today. Sorry. Back to the other day.

So when she asked me what my dream career was, this time, right away I said "Highly paid professional photographer".

As I have said before, I love pictures. I love taking them, I love looking at them, I love editing them. I love it all! Over the last year or so, I have really gotten more into it, and if I do say so myself, I think I do a pretty good job. I could use improvement, sure, but for someone who has never taken a class, or read the entire manual that came with her camera, I'm not too bad.

I took some pictures (OK, like 319) of the girls at the beginning of July because it had been a while since we had had professional portraits done. But since I think I'm so great, rather than paying someone else to do it, I thought I would do it myself. So, I dressed them up, took them to the park, and played photographer. I ordered prints at Mpix.com, and I think that I will not pay anyone else to do it again.

These are the two on my mantle:

Not bad, right?

I had someone at work tell me that he wished he'd known I could take pictures before he hired someone to do his daughter's senior pictures this last week, which only makes me want to do it even more. Especially after he told me what the guy was charging. Knowing what prints REALLY cost, and knowing what I've paid in the past? Man....I could totally make money doing it. Only problem is start up $$ and time. What with my "real" job and all.

So anyway, that is what I would do if I could do anything I wanted.

How about you?

Before the Store, by Jodi

2010-07-30T22:30:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, our whole family went to the grocery store (well, not Trixie and Quinn....they're family too but they didn't come with us).

Typically, we don't all go because, well, it's somewhat of a pain if we all go. Greg and I shop differently (he starts at the fruits and veggies and puts them on the bottom of the cart and they get all squished by the time he's done....I start on the correct end), Alexandra does not like to go which causes much heartache for everyone involved, and it takes FOREVER if we all go.

So last Saturday, I nominated Greg to go, and since Elizabeth likes to go, she was going to go with him.

Then! As they were walking out the door, Alexandra decided she wanted to go too!

I actually had a couple of things I wanted to look for, so I ~~somewhat stupidly~~ said "Well, do you want me to come too and we'll all go?".

Now, before you become afraid that you're going to have to read a really boring account of my trip, please be assured that you're not. I would never do that to you, friends! Just know that the pre-grocery store story I am going to tell you pretty much sums the entire trip. And that you don't need to know anymore than that.

Anyway, after it was decided that we were all going to the store, I told the girls to go to the bathroom so we could avoid the middle-of-the-frozen-food-aisle-really-far-from-the-bathroom need to go potty.

Alexandra went into the bathroom and was there for a while, making me think she went potty. I heard the flush, the door open, and Alexandra say "There's no more toilet paper!". And then, "I didn't have to go, but I tried".

Yes, yes.....in hindsight, the "no more toilet paper" and "I didn't have to go" comments should have clued me in. But, they didn't. What can I say? I'm getting older.

So then Elizabeth went in. And I put Trixie in her cage.

Then I heard the flush.

And then I heard "Oh, oh OH! Oh no! Daddy! The WATER!!!!" and then I heard water splashing all over the floor.

I walked over to the bathroom to see what seemed like gallons of water rushing out of the toilet and onto the floor. Hmmmmmm.

Knowing that we wouldn't be leaving soon I let Trixie out of her cage and went to get some towels to clean up. Meanwhile, Alexandra was standing off to the side looking a little sheepish.

Perhaps it was becuase she had unrolled about a 1/4 full roll of TP and shoved it into the toilet and then flushed it, causing it to clog and overflow when the next person flushed?

We may never know. But, that's what I am choosing to believe.

And that is my before the store story.

The End.

Is $*&^ a Swear Word?

2010-07-29T21:35:00.000-04:00

A long time ago, in another life, I used to swear ALL.THE.TIME. Really!

I mostly did it at work. Because 1). It sucked there. And 2). Everyone else (bosses and company presidents included) swore, so it was OK to do it.

But I also did it at home, and when I was out and about. So OK. I guess I did it everywhere.

Anyway, then I went and had kids and I had to start watching what I was saying and try to be a good example and stuff. Also, I started working at a real professional place where people don't typically swear and it's considered bad form to do so.

Well the other day, I was picking up the kids at the babysitter's and she asked if it was OK for them to watch the movie "Dr. Doolittle" because there were some swear words in it. I asked what they were, she told me and I said "Sure....just don't call attention to it and they probably won't even realize what they're hearing".

Then, 1.5 minutes later, on our way to the car, Elizabeth says "Mom? What's a swear word?"

Doh!

I then launched into an explanation about swear words. That they are words that grown ups use sometimes when they're frustrated or mad, and they aren't for kids to use.

Obviously, they wanted examples of swear words and kept asking "well, like WHAT is a swear word?".

I was in the middle of silently working out in my head whether I should tell them one, like hell, when Elizabeth says:

"Is shit a swear word?"

Of course, I did what any parent would do: I burst out laughing.

I mean, I know it's wrong and all, but when a kid swears? Well, it's just a little funny. I know it shouldn't be, but it is.

After I composed myself, I said "Yes, it is a swear word. And where did you hear it at, anyway?"

Now, please know that even though I really try to watch what I say, it's ~~a proven fact~~ entirely possible that I have sworn in front of the kids at some point, so after asking her that, I thought "please God, don't let it be from me!" Fortunately, it wasn't - it was from one of the other kids at daycare. Whew.

We then had a conversation about what shit means (another word for poop, which was totally hilarious to them) and that they are not allowed to say it. They both assured me that they do not and will not.

At least not when I'm around, right?

Coming Soon.......

2010-07-25T12:35:00.000-04:00

Hey All!

I have 3 things coming up (hopefully) soon for you:

1. I will answer the important question: is shit a swear word?

2. You will get to hear about my trip to the grocery store.

3. I am planning something new. More to come.

Have a happy Sunday :)

GAH!

2010-07-20T21:59:00.000-04:00

God Lord, where have I BEEN? I am not quite sure where the time goes anymore. Tell me it gets better....please?

So a lot has happened over the last week. But honestly? I can't remember any of it. Except tonight.

Tonight, I told Elizabeth WHERE BABIES COME FROM. That's where the GAH! title came from.

Our decision to tell her was based on a couple of things. First, at her doctor's appointment last month, the doctor mentioned periods and breasts. Breasts? Not a big deal. She already knew about those. Periods? GAH! News to her. Of course, she asked "what?", so I told her. Also, I was afraid that she would go to school in the fall and some kid on the playground would blab about it. Rather than have her hear a bunch of incorrect information, we figured we (and of course by "we", I mean "me") should just tell her.

So, with the help of a book, it happened.

It went pretty well, actually. I did not act embarassed or ashamed (and surprisingly didn't even feel that way), and made sure that I menioned being married and being in love as part of the process. She seemed OK with it all - curious, but not horrified (I'm sure that will come later). She didn't ask any questions, although I asked if she had any and I told her she could ask me whatever she wanted whenever she wanted to. I also asked her to let me be the one to tell her sister - I told her Alexandra was still too young to learn about that stuff and when she was old enough, I wanted to be the one to tell her.

So that's that. One of life's more horrifying moments, DONE! And it was not horrifying at all.

Schwew!

The (Missing) Tooth Fairy

2010-07-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth lost (another!) tooth this weekend. This is literally the 15th tooth she’s lost. I know this because she’s keeping track and she keeps telling me. I could also go count them, because yes, I have saved every tooth she has lost. They’re in my dresser in a tiny gold box. I don’t know why I am saving them, because really? They’re gross. But, I am sentimental like that.

Anyway, it fell out while she was sleeping Saturday night. She came into our room about 3am and woke Daddy up saying “Daddy, my tooth fell out and I can’t find it!”. She was really concerned. But, he told her to go back to sleep and that we’d find it in the morning. She came back in about 7, triumphantly holding it in the air and proclaiming, “Mommy! I found my tooth!”.

Oh, thank goodness!!!

So, we have a special box that lost teeth go into, and that box is set on the nightstand at bedtime so that the Tooth Fairy can find it, take the tooth out, leave some money, and then fly away until the next tooth is lost.

Obviously, Trixie has found and chewed up two tooth boxes, so I went out and bought a small round tin with a cover Sunday to replace them. I bought metal in the hopes that if (when?) Trixie finds it, she’ll spit it back out because it’s metal. We’ll see.

Sunday night, the tooth got put into the tin, which was then set on the nightstand. Elizabeth went to sleep, and I promptly forgot about it.

Do you see where this is going?

There was a thunderstorm overnight Sunday night which woke me up (well, that, and Alexandra screaming for me at 2am because there was something scary scratching at her window – the rain – and she was afraid). As I was laying in bed after all that, trying to fall back asleep, the tooth popped back into my head again and I thought to myself “Remember to get the tooth and leave money before waking Elizabeth up”. I thought it over and over, which was supposed to make me remember.

Fast forward to 7:10 am, when Elizabeth comes downstairs with the tooth tin. Of course, the tooth was still in it. And she was pretty disappointed.

Daddy and I tried to come up with reasons why she didn’t come: Maybe it was a Tooth Fairy holiday? Maybe she was sooooo busy she didn’t make it yet? Maybe the new tin threw her off? Maybe because the tooth fell out in the middle of the night she got confused?

Elizabeth decided to write her a letter. Please read in your most annoyed and teenager sounding voice to get the full effect.

How cute is that?

Of course, the Tooth Fairy wrote back, and thanked her for being so patient. She seemed OK with it, but then said "Mom, the Tooth Fairy's writing looks like yours". I did what any good parent would do and lied to her and said "All girl's handwriting looks the same, just like all boy's handwriting looks the same".

Oh dear.

Uninspired

2010-07-11T21:39:00.000-04:00

Is "uninspired" a word? Should it be "not inspired"?

Whatever the case, that's me right now.

I haven't felt lately like I have anything interesting, or funny or entertaining to tell you all about. Life is rolling along, nothing horrible happening, but nothing fantastic, either.

So I guess that's good, right? But so.....boring.

I think more of the same will be on the plate for this coming week, which means I probably won't have too much to talk about. I could try to do a carnival (where you link to another blog somewhere for something fun, like answering questions about yourself, or something like that), but that would require me to find one, and then think about it, and honestly? Just not sure I'm up for that.

See? Uninspired. Or not inspired.

I told you.

What's in YOUR Wallet?

2010-07-08T21:59:00.000-04:00

OK, I suppose, since I have a purse, this post should be called “What’s in YOUR Purse”, but I was sort of going for the sound of that credit card commercial where the Viking asks “What’s in YOUR wallet?”……OK. Nevermind.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, the girls were upstairs in their rooms getting the stuff they wanted to take to the babysitter’s.

Later, in the car, I asked to see what they had brought with them.

Elizabeth:
• 5 handmade paper airplanes – one for each kid at the babysitter’s; each one has a nice, original Elizabeth drawing on it
• Zhu Zhu pets

Then, just to prove how random 4 year old really are,

Alexandra:
• Small stuffed sheep
• Small stuffed cow
• Small stuffed horse
• Leapster
• Sunglasses
• $17

How cute is she? I know. Very.

Bottom of the Barrel

2010-07-07T21:50:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a long 5 days since I've checked in, even though I know I said I'd have all sorts of time over my long weekend. Ha! If you remember though, I DID say "she said, snickering". So none of us should be surprised that it's been so long.

Anyway.

The highlights:

We had a great 4th of July. We went canoeing, we saw fireworks, we blew up some stuff (stiff, if you read my Facebook), cooked out, stayed up late, slept in late, drank some beer (Greg and I....not the girls) and relaxed. It was AWESOME!
Trixie is.....well......Trixie. In the last week she's eaten and/or chewed up a Barbie, some Polly Pockets, a frisbie, a sippy cup, and an ant hotel. I had to call poison control about the ant hotel, but they said not to worry! it would have been worse if she'd eaten the plastic (which she did not). She also graduated from obedience (ha ha) school, dug a pretty massive hole almost all the way under our back fence and pooped in my mom's living room.
We watched a bunch of movies. Dead Girl is bad. Do not rent it. Under any circumstances. Hot Tub Time Machine was pretty cool. I know it's wrong, but it was.

OK. I think that's about it! I know.....very very boring. But that's me! Boring and uneventful.

I'm gonna go watch some TV now.

Catch you later!

In the Meantime.......

2010-07-02T14:56:00.000-04:00

I know....it's been a while. But I promise! I've been busy. I should have some time to update this weekend. I took today off work to get all the stuff I normally take care of on the weekends finished, and we have Monday off for the holiday, so I should have plenty of relaxation time between now and Tuesday (she says, snickering......).

But until then, here is a sampling of the pictures I took of the girls yesterday. I have my name on them because I'm suddenly paranoid about seeing them elsewhere. But it looks cool, too, I think. Like I know what I'm doing or something!

Enjoy, and we'll talk soon.

The Last Day........

2010-06-25T22:24:00.010-04:00

Today is Elizabeth's last day of being 7. She turns 8 tomorrow.

It feels like I just brought her home from the hospital a few weeks ago. Actually, it's felt like that for the last several years - does that ever change? I would imagine not.

She was born on a very hot sunny day. She was mostly bald, except for some orange fuzz on her head. I couldn't believe that I actually had a baby with red hair! But mostly, I couldn't believe that I had a baby.

After 8 years - almost 3000 days - Elizabeth is still as sweet and nice and beautiful and kind and wonderful as she was the day she was born.

Happy Birthday Baby!

I love you.

A Day at the Beach

2010-06-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

Greg and I took the girls down to St. Jospeh yesterday so they could play in Lake Michigan. I was a little worried that: 1) We would get there so late, it wouldn't be any fun; and 2) The water would be freeeeezing.

But, of course, like always, I worried for nothing and it WAS fun, and the water was NOT freeeeeeezing. Yay!

For obvious reasons (well, maybe not to you, people that can't see me, but they are to me!), Mommy didn't wear a bathing suit, but instead stood just out of water's reach and took pictures.

So, we got there, stepped out of the car and turned our backs on Alexandra for about, oh, 11 seconds. Then we turned around and saw this:

After getting her all cleaned up, it was time to head to the water. Elizabeth can swim now, so she was brave and headed right out:

Alexandra, she mostly splashed:

One going one way and the other going another. Makes for interesting supervision!

Sand!

Mommy's artsy shots:

We do the feet thing every year.

Getting the freckles!

Alexandra feel asleep on the way home. Greg dared me to stick my finger in her open mouth. I did. She didn't wake up. And Elizabeth did stuff like this:

I know. We are mean. But it's all in good fun. And plus, these are the pictures I will save and pull out at high school graduations and weddings.

**On another note. I edited all of the above photos with my trial version of Photoshop CS5.

Man. I WISH I had $600 (or is it $700?) to spend on this!

I also downloaded the trial of Lightroom but have been too overwhelmed by CS5 to try that yet. We'll get there. And then I will wish for another $200 ($300?) to spend on that.

Happy Week Everyone!

Hello, My Name is Jodi.......

2010-06-17T22:37:00.000-04:00

......and I am an addict.

I am adicted to pictures.

I love to take them, I love to look at them, I love to see how other people take them and how they process them. I love everything about them.

I suppose that's because my mom took about 5 million pictures of us when we were growing up - it must have somehow seeped into me - like osmosis.

My dad also takes a lot of pictures.

So, it was inevitable, right?

I just wish that:

1. I had more time to take pictures of things I want to take pictures of. Right now I am lucky to get one or two snapshots each day and they're usually of the every day things that happen around here, like dressing up the dog in a Snow White dress or rollerskating on Grandma's old skates.

2. I had lots of disposable $$ to spend on fantastic lenses, cameras and software. Like the girl I overheard in the camera shop saying "well, I know I won't use it that much, but I need a telephoto lens to use when I do weddings.....nah, $2500 isn't too much".

3. I had beautiful children to take pictures of.

**OH! Wait! I already have #3**

Look at that - I am only 1/3 of the way there to getting my 3 photography wishes!

Mom...Mommy...Mama...

2010-06-13T22:25:00.000-04:00

For a quick glance into what my day was like today, please view this "Family Guy" clip from YouTube

Mom....Mommy.....Mama.....

Have a lovely week......

It's (almost) Done

2010-06-10T22:11:00.000-04:00

My crazy week is almost over.

The choir concerts are done, the funeral homes are done, the meetings after work are done.

And, school for Elizabeth is almost done too. I'm excited about that, but not as excited as her. She's already referring to herself as a 3rd grader. How frightening is that?

I remember some stuff about kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades, but 3rd grade? I think I remember pretty much all of that, which means I had to be sort of old. Which in turn means, Elizabeth is now sort of old.

Speaking of old, Alexandra asked me the other day when she could wear shoes like mine (they were high heels). I said, "When you're as old as me". She asked me how old I was and I said "40". And then she said "Oh my goodness, you are OLD, woman!".

After recovering from the shock of hearing her say that, I gave her "The Look" and she looked appropriately ashamed of herself. I told her we don't talk like that to grownups and then asked her where she heard that from. Of course, it was one of the kids from daycare. Jeesh.

What the heck, kid from daycare! Quit teaching my kid to say funny, yet totally inappropriate phrases!

On Your Mark.....Get Set.....

2010-06-06T21:04:00.001-04:00

GO!

Last night: Get about 72 inches of rain in 45 minutes. Realize at midnight-ish that basement is flooding. Clean up, go to bed about 2:00.

Today: Get up early because girls get up early (why do they always want to sleep in on weekdays and wake up at early o'clock on the weekends, all ready to play?). Go to the zoo with Grandma. Get home and finish birthday party invitations, finish cleaning the basement from the disaster last night, make the kids dinner, haul all the garage sale stuff out to the garage before the girls realize what we're selling and try to talk me into keeping some of it, clean up all the random things laying around the house, clean up the kitchen, sweep and mop kitchen floor, go through all the kid clothes I want to sell in the garage sale and try to determine what I CAN sell and what needs to go to Goodwill.

Tomorrow: Work. Leave work early to go to the girls' school for "Moving Up" - meeting their teachers for next year. Go to my IAAP meeting from 5:30 - 8:00. Iron Elizabeth's dress for her concert Tuesday (see below).

Tuesday: Work. Race home after to give Elizabeth a shower because it's field day at school and she'll be very dirty, sweaty and stinky and she needs to look nice for the choir concert at 6:30 (nice job on the scheduling, school people). In addition: miss Trixie's obedience class, also scheduled for Tuesday nights. But school choir concerts are more important.

Wednesday: Work. Nothing else scheduled! Yay! Oh wait. Finish pricing everything for the garage sale. Get stuff ready for Elizabeth's field trip Thursday.....

Thursday: Work. Elizabeth and Greg go on school field trip to the same zoo we were at today. Go to funeral home in the evening for my friend Al.

Friday: Work. Come home and make sure everything is ready to go for the garage sale Saturday.

Saturday: Get up at early o'clock to get ready for the garage sale. Interestingly, the girls will NOT want to wake up early to help me, even though it's a weekend and they typically like to wake up early. Unless work is involved.

I'm tired already!

So you won't be hearing much from me this week. I will be a little busy. But school is almost out, so things should slow waaaay down after the 15th. Whew!

Have a nice week, and I'll talk to you when I can!

Mishmash

2010-06-04T23:45:00.018-04:00

Hola Friends!

I am sitting at the computer working on pictures and drinking a beer.

What I SHOULD be doing: laundry, cleaning the house, pricing and organizing the MASSIVE amounts of stuff I am supposed to be selling in our garage sale next weekend, sleeping.

But I'm not.

Not much new to report today......

Mom, I put the link to the photo blog back. It's at the top of the page and it works, so you should be all set now. :)

Below is a picture I took last (?) weekend of the girls in some masks my Aunt gave them:

The universe played some mean tricks on me this week. Two people that I know passed away.

My Uncle Ernie and my friend Al.

Uncle Ernie lived a very long and happy life and even though it was his time, I feel very bad for my Aunt Rita - they were married for over 60 years! Can you imagine? I think she had time to prepare, but still, what a hard adjustment.

My friend Al was not old, and although he had been sick, it's still a hard thing. He was one of the nicest, most helpful caring people I knew. I will miss him.

In other Jodi news, "Operation ~~skinny~~ Healthy" is starting on Monday. I say ~~skinny~~ healthy because I try to be really careful about what I say regarding weight around the girls - rather than telling them "Mommy needs to lose weight", I phrase it as "Mommy wants to be healthier" so that I don't create anorexic teenagers and give them crazy ideas about how women should look. But anyway, I will fill you in more on "Operation ~~skinny~~ Healthy" once I have all the details in place. But hopefully, it will make me go from looking like this: O to this I.

Well, not REALLY like the letter O or I, but hopefully you know what I mean. If not.....well.....hmmmm....I suppose I am just too clever for my own good.

Oh! One more thing: I got my prints back from Mpix.com, and the verdict: LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE THEM!!!!!

If you're ever looking for really good prints I highly recommend using them. Make sure to consider their special papers (the metallic one is awesome for bright colored shots!!!) even though it's extra. Totally worth it!

OK. I must go to bed now. It's almost tomorrow.

Later my peeps!

Holy Smokes!

2010-06-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I know I ALWAYS say it, but dang! have I been busy!

Let's see......since we last talked, here's what's happened:

I've gone to obedience school twice with Trixie. I was concerned that they were going to ask us to leave the first week, because Trixie does not enjoy meeting other dogs for the first time. There was a lot of growling and standing up of the fur. But, they didn't, and they even let us come back for the 2nd class. She's doing alright; I've determined that she has two main "problems". First, she jumps. Second, if something catches her attention, she will NOT listen to me/Greg/anyone. That is mostly an issue when she escapes and runs away.

Trixie has escaped and run away 3 times in the last two weeks. Once with Greg, twice with me. The 2nd time with me was through no fault of mine - she actually managed to crawl UNDER our fence and run off. That problem has been solved, but she's no dummy and hangs around the area from which she escaped every time we let her out, looking for another way to break through.

I have been told by the people I work with that I need to write a book called "Bad Dog, Trixie" (you know, similar to "Bad Dog, Marley") because I have SO MANY stories about her. When I mentioned this to Greg, he said "Hey, the people I work with told me the same thing!". That tells me: I tell good stories and also that I talk about my dog too much.

Alexandra graduated from preschool!!!!! Our little girl will be a Young 5's student in the fall. Oh, how the time flies people. I JUST BROUGHT HER HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL!! How did this happen?

Elizabeth found out who her 3rd grade teacher will be next year. We got a letter in the mail today. Of course, she didn't get the teacher she wanted. But that happened for this year too and she seems pretty happy so, it all works out. I did remind her though that the teacher she wanted teaches the advanced math class, so she'll have him for at least that time every day. That promted her to tell me "I think I should be doing 3rd grade math next year because division is super hard". That prompted me to tell her "Well, you've already done the 3rd grade math this year, so if you don't do 4th grade math next year, you'll be really bored. Plus, division is kind of hard until you get the hang of it, so you're right on track!". Oddly enough, that did not seem to make a difference to her.

Elizabeth is going to be 8 YEARS OLD in 24 days. Again, how did this happen? She is having her party at one of the local theaters in town and we will be enjoying the movie "Toy Story 3". I am a big fan of Toy Story and I think I might just be a little more excited than the birthday girl. So anyway, since it's so close, there is a lot of talk about birthday gifts. Of course. Obviously, I have no idea what I am going to get her. I need to wait until the last second to buy that.

I found an awesome new site to order pictures from: Mpix.com. They do professional printing, so it's a little more expensive (OK, it's a lot more expensive......Shutterfly is 15 cents for a 4X6 print...this place is 99 cents) but I'm super excited to see how the stuff I ordered turns out. I track my shipment multiple times a day to see where it's at and was thrilled to find out that they were finally in Grand Rapids tonight. Which means a couple of things: 1. They should be here by Saturday, and 2. The truck they came in on from Missouri probably drove (literally) right by where I live to take the prints an hour away and then bring them back again. Crazy, I tell you. Just crazy.

OK. I guess that's enough boring stuff to bore you with.

Oh! We also went to the Memorial Day parade, the cemetary, had a cookout, bought me some new shoes to replace one of the (multiple) pairs that Trixie has chewed up, played tennis, gone to work and done a ton of laundry.

NOW I think I'm done.

Memorial Day

2010-05-29T21:19:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day!

And, thank you to everyone, past, present and future who has served our country.

Lemonade Stand

2010-05-23T19:50:00.004-04:00

**I have to apologize off the bat.....I cannot for the life of me get some of my pictures to center. Darn Blogger!**

Today, the girls ran a lemonade stand at the end of our front sidewalk. They charged 25 cents a cup and they made $4.25.

This is the sign that Elizabeth made and hung on the table:

Before I let them sit down to sell though, I made them pick up all the rocks I found that they had tossed over our fence. I am not sure why, but they LOVE to throw rocks.

Finally, they were ready to sell! This is Alexandra holding up the sign, yelling "free lemondae for 25 cents!". There was no one to be seen - anywhere. I think we were the only people outside.

It's hard work, not selling any lemonade. I better drink some.

Well, I guess I'll sweep the driveway since I'm not really doing anything else......

Please! For the love of God, man in the orange shirt across the street! Please come buy some lemonade!

**We finally sold some to orange shirt man, and Jamie from next door. Whew!**

Now we're just waiting for Daddy to get home. What should we do? Oh! Let's jump across the sidewalk while Mommy takes pictures!

Hey! We found an inchworm!

Yay! Daddy is finally home!

We had a nice hot Sunday. I hope you did too!

Please Bear With Me......

2010-05-22T18:04:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm working on fixing up the ol' blog, and giving it a different look.

But, since I typically have about, oh, 3-4 minutes every 4 hours of free time in a row, the final product might take some time.

Right now I need to fix up the side columns....they don't fit everything very well.

But, I'll get there.

Remember: it's not what's on the outside that counts - it's what's on the inside. And I'm still the same old me!

OK, off to eat some dinner....will try to fix more later.

Happy Saturday!

OMG, Where Have I BEEN?

2010-05-20T22:32:00.000-04:00

OK. So, I realize that I am behind the times on a lot of things: fashion, getting married, having kids, etc. etc.

But today, I discovered something that has made me realize just what I've been missing out on: FREE PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS!

What are FREE PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS you ask? Well, they're only THE BEST THING EVER INVENTED!!!

It's late, and I need to go to bed because some of us have to work tomorrow (that's me), but here's a little bit of a teaser for what I can now do with a quick download and 3 clicks of the mouse.

Before (I took this picture this weekend. It's OK...nothing great).

After (with one of my FREE PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS! Doesn't it look like something a bit more special now? I cropped it first, and then chose the action)

Here's another for you.

Before

After (not much difference....subtle color changes)

And another

Before

After (again.....subtle)

So. There you have it!

If you want to do this (because you're like me and live in the dark ages and didn't even know this stuff existed until today), just google "free photoshop elements actions" and you'll find TONS of stuff.

FREE PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS RULE!

Hair

2010-05-18T21:16:00.000-04:00

Today was Crazy Hair Day at school.

Below, you can see the crazy hair creations that my kids left the house wearing.

Greg designed and styled Elizabeth’s (many skinny ponytails and bun type things with two big flowers stuck on the top).

I did Alexandra’s (one ponytail on the top of her head, which I then made 3 braids out of, and clipped some clips on). Not very creative, but I knew she’d pull it all out about 15 minutes after I dropped her off so I didn’t spend too much time on it.

And…..we didn’t have any power this morning. Yay! So my pictures are ~~not very good~~ absolutely horrible. My apologies. I didn’t have time to change my lens and make everyone pose, plus despite what the pictures say it was really dark, so this is what I ended up with. I promise, I’ll do better next time!

**********************
Now, on to more important things: MY hair!

I hate my hair.

It didn’t used to be so bad – when I was young (very young, as in before puberty), it was long, light brown and nice and straight.

Then, I turned into a tween (I know we weren’t called tweens back then, but I liked the thought of using that word so I did) and my hair went C.R.A.Z.Y.

It got a lot darker and started to get really wavy. And not only did it get wavy, but it got frizzy. Really, really, really frizzy.

To make a very long, ugly and torturous story short, I have spent the last 25 or so years trying to make my hair do what I wanted it to do, rather than let it do what it wanted to do. Well, there was a time period in the early 90’s that I just said “whatever” and let it just be, but then someone asked me “are you ever going to do your hair again?” and I was low self esteemed into blow drying it straight and putting massive amounts of product into it again.

My latest phase, if you will, has been to use hair products without any yucky, cancer causing, skin irritating chemicals in them. I’ve been doing this for about….oh…..2 years now, and for the most part, things have been alright. I have noticed that my ends split really easily and quickly (which doesn’t do anything for the ever present frizz), but besides that, it still grows really quickly and I get the occasional compliment on it.

But then, last night, something happened.

I took Alexandra to get our hair cut, and without intending to, we ended up at a real hair salon. Remember? I told you about it here.

Well, the stylist washed and conditioned my hair with the yummiest smelling stuff, and then put some de-frizzing-more-shiny stuff in it and by the time she was done with me, my hair looked really good! Ask Greg – he’ll tell you that I spent a large amount of time brushing it, swinging my head around and saying “My hair looks really good!” last night.

Now, all day, I’ve been contemplating the return of chemical-laden hair products into my life. I mean, I’m old, and I’ve been exposed to that stuff for more years than I care to count, so it’s probably too late for me anyway, right? Plus, the bad stuff is a lot cheaper than the good stuff.

My plan right now is to continue on with the good stuff for the girls, since they’re young and have many years ahead of them and use the bad stuff on me again. As a matter of fact, I do believe that I have some left over Suave smoothing shampoo and conditioner in the closet that I never got around to throwing out when I switched to Burt’s Bees. I might just have to pull it out!

*******************
Lastly: I have finally discovered the show "Glee". I realize I am probably the last person on the planet to watch it, and it's probably done for the summer in a week or so, but all I can say is: What an awesome show! I mean, who wouldn't love a show that makes teenagers sing the song "Jessie's Girl"?

And if you don't - then yes. There IS something wrong with you.

Hey!

2010-05-17T21:21:00.010-04:00

How've you been? Me? I'm hanging in there. Been busy, as usual.

So, I went and got my hair cut tonight. I actually wanted to get Alexandra's hair cut because her preschool graduation is next week and she needed to have it done before then. But I thought that I might as well get mine done too, while we were at it.

We headed out to the cheap place, like usual, and when we got there they told us that it was going to be an hour and a half before they could get to us.

Hmmmmm. Have you ever sat in one spot and not done anything for an hour and a half with a four year old?

We left.

I headed over to the other cheap place and when we pulled up, I saw about 10 people sitting in the waiting area. We didn't even bother going in.

As we were driving to the mall, I passed an acutal salon....and since it was open, and there were no cars in front of it, we pulled up and went in.

Score! They got us right in. And let me say - I had forgotten how NICE it is to go to a real salon! Nice as in: They wash your hair for you! With really yummy smelling shampoo! And they dry your hair when they're done with it! I might have to go back again, and soon!

*************************
In other exciting Thornton news, Elizabeth has crazy hair day at school tomorrow. I will post pictures at some point, but to give you a hint, it involves strong hair gel, large flowers and some rubber bands. And it was designed by Daddy because as Elizabeth said "Daddy does hair really terrible".

Trixie likes to eat toothpaste.

I took the girls to Old Navy on Sunday to get bathing suits. They were playing some beachy sounding music and before I knew it, Alexandra was standing in the aisle doing a crazy hula dance and waving her arms around, totally oblivious to the people who were looking at her and laughing (in a nice way.....not mean). It was quite hilarious, to say the least.

We got a new TV last week.

Hi Aunt Betty!

I saw the movie "The Lost Boys" for the first time this weekend. I guessed that the mom's boyfriend was the head vampire.

Why is Johnny Depp so weird?

Don't let your husband let your four year old watch the movie "Jumanji". It will scare her.

I think that's it for tonight.

Talk to you soon!

Change Up

2010-05-13T22:25:00.000-04:00

Helllllooooo!

That was said in my best Mrs. Doubtfire voice, just so you know.

So, I've been thinking about changing up the old blog look. I'm just ready for a change, and want something different.

I'm also lazy and am sick of trying to fix little issues that come up with the template I'm using now.

And lastly, I'm cheap and will be looking for something free. I don't want to have to pay for something that I don't use every day.

I have a few in mind, but need to make my final decision and then load it up and work out all the kinks with the code.

Shouldn't take too long...maybe a month or two? Ha...just kidding. Sort of.

So, look for my cute new blog, coming soon-ish.

Meanwhile, have a nice weekend! After getting about 2 feet of rain here over the last few days (really - our yard is like a mud pit and my basement is damp) I am looking forward to seeing the sun again.

That, and the kids are spending the night at my mom's Saturday night.

Yeeeeeee Haaaawwwwwww!

My New Lens

2010-05-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

For Mother's Day, Greg and the girls totally suprised me with a new lens for my camera.

Wow! I was NOT expecting anything like that at all and was quite excited when I saw the box. And very impressed when Greg told me it was all Elizabeth's idea.

How did she get to be SO grown up? I mean really - she's going to be 8 next month. AHHH!

But, I digress.

So I got this lens - it's a wide angle lens. Once I know what I'm doing with it, I'm sure I'll take some totally awesome pictures, but I didn't have too much of a chance to mess around with it today. But so you can see what it does (captures a wider angle view of what you're looking at - hence the name, I guess!) here are a few pictures I managed to shoot today.

This is of the dogwood tree in my backyard; it looks mostly regular,

but see how big that front bloom is and how far away the fence looks?

The fence is really about two feet behind that front bloom.

This is a very exciting shot of the cooking island in my kitchen. I

put it up because of the angle - it looks like I'm standing really far up

and shooting down. I'm really just standing in my stocking feet, so

for those of you who know me, my face is almost level with the countertop.

OK....maybe not that close, but, I'm not tall at all, but the picture looks

like it.

This is looking out my front door. Not a lot of angle to notice, but...

you can see a lot more of the neighborhood than you would

be able to with a different lens.

So there you have it - an utterly fascinating look at my new lens. I know.....I know.....you're so excited you can barely contain yourselves. Don't worry. There will be more from where these came from, I'm sure.

*************************

On a related note: Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there (I mean that in the literal, not obnoxious sense). I hope that you had a wonderful day and were able to enjoy your children and families.

Thank you to my mom, for being a fantasic mom, friend and grandma......she still takes care of me now, even though I'm grown up, and she deserves the happiest Mother's Day ever. I hope you enjoyed our time together today, Mom!

And thank you to Greg, for making me a mommy, and to Elizabeth for suffering through my learning to be a mommy, and to Alexandra, for letting me be a mommy one more time. I love you all and I had a wonderful day.

Hugs and kisses everyone! XO

OK. The Honeymoon is OVER.

2010-05-06T21:17:00.001-04:00

We’ve had Trixie – our dog – for almost 5 weeks now.

During those 5 weeks, we’ve had our ups:

• Trixie obviously loves us – me especially
• We love Trixie – especially the girls
• It’s amusing watching Trixie and Quinn try to meet
• Playing tug of war
• Playing catch the ball
• Paying the girls to pick up dog poop in the yard means I’ve never once had to do it

During those 5 weeks, we’ve also had our downs:

• Trixie chews on stuff – A LOT
• Trixie likes to steal things – toys, trash out of the trash can, shoes
• Trixie poops a lot(ironically this is also OK - see above)
• Trixie has forced Quinn to stay in the basement and I miss him

Now that the “trial” period is over and I am pretty sure what every day with Trixie is going to be like, well, let me just say: the honeymoon is OVER.

I’m sick of finding my shoes laying under my bed, all chewed up. I’ve lost two good pairs and Elizabeth has lost one. And now one of my crocs has teeth marks all over it. Fortunately for me crocs are made of rubber and have actually held up pretty well considering the abuse they’ve suffered. But still. I’m sick of it.

I’m sick of being accosted every time I’ve been out of her sight for more than 8 minutes. I mean, it’s nice to feel loved, but come on – the jumping is excessive.

I’m sick of having to chase her down every morning to get her into her cage. Let me just say: I’m not the fastest person in the world, and when up against a dog, I will lose. Every time. Plus I feel bad having to shoo her out from under my bed with a broom and then putting a leash on her (making her think we’re going for a walk, when really, the walk is right into the cage, not outside).

I’m sick of our poor cat being too afraid of her to come up from the basement during waking hours. Poor Quinn. I think he’s going to have to live out the rest of his days in our basement. Although I’m pretty sure he comes up in the middle of the night (which is why I think Trixie was barking loudly last night at 2am…..).

OK. Now that I’ve said all that, I realize that those are pretty much the only annoying things about her, and really, they’re not all that annoying in the whole scope of things. She could be A LOT worse, right? And she’ll grow out of those things, right? Actually, she’s starting obedience school in a couple of weeks, so that will help with the jumping, I think. But we’ll see.

So there you have it - the real truth about Trixie, the amazing(ly annoying) wonder dog.

Cancer Sucks

2010-05-04T19:39:00.000-04:00

My friend Michelle at mypixiedreams got the news today that her youngest daughter who is only 16 months old has cancer.

Please pray for her daughter, their family and their doctors. I think they could really use them right now.

Chaos, Disaster & Destruction

2010-05-03T21:41:00.000-04:00

I had a meeting after work today and I didn't get home until 8:30.

I arrived home to chaos, disaster and destruction.

The following list is what I encountered between 8:30 and 8:45:

1. Tiny (could hardly see) red mark on Elizabeth's ankle and hysterical crying. Cause: She had hit her ankle on the door.
2. Lots of dirt on the floor and in all bathroom sinks. Cause: the giant hole the kids dug in the backyard and filled with water and then jumped around in.
3. A wet jumpy dog who smelled. Cause: See #2.
4. Tiny beads on the living room, kitchen and upstairs hallway floors. Cause: a broken necklace the kids were trying to put on the dog. And then it broke.
5. A new fan. Cause: Greg bought a new fan for Elizabeth's nightstand. He thought it was small. I guess the box that's 12" X 18" X 12" was not a clue to the size of the fan inside.
6. Dirty clothes, a chewed up dress-up shoe and a very messed up bed in my bedroom. Cause: The kids dinking around in our bedroom.
7. A very dirty bathtub. Cause: A bath resulting from #2.
8. Loud thumping sounds coming from under my bed. Cause: dog hiding and chewing the top off of a sippy cup filled with milk.....causing milk to leak all over the floor under my bed.

I'm going to go to bed now.

Elizabeth

2010-05-02T21:30:00.001-04:00

I finally took some time today to mess around with my photoshop.......I don't have nearly as much time as I would like to play with it!

What I like most is that you can take a good, but not great, picture and make it something special.

My repertoire is still very limited, and I have to push every single button to find out what it does (yes, I bought a book, but it's upstairs right now and I'm downstairs) so it takes me forever to do anything. And once I discover something, I tend to use it over and over. So a lot of my pictures have the same "look" to them.

Anyway, below you will see my beautiful girl. Can you believe she's going to be 8 in 8 weeks? I can't either!

I Wish.......

2010-04-28T21:50:00.001-04:00

That Greg would take the gum out of his pockets before I wash his clothes. Because picking small pieces of Big Red out of the washing machine totally sucks.
I had a Diet Coke machine (fountain, not bottle) in my house so I wouldn't have to go to the gas station or McDonald's every time I wanted a Diet Coke.
I wouldn't have lost my pink sunglasses.
I only needed 4 hours of sleep a night. I would be so much more productive.
I was skinny skinny skinny.
I had the willpower to get skinny skinny skinny.
There was good stuff on TV every night. Not just some nights.
That I had long, pretty fingernails.
The papercut was never invented. I have about 4 on my hands right now and they HURT.
My basement was clean and organized.
That I could throw things away. It would make the basement wish much easier to attain.
People used the term "rat farts" more regularly.
I had a nice singing voice.
I was a multi millionaire. Sorry. I had to say it.

She Did It

2010-04-24T17:11:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth made her First Communion today.

I didn't get many pictures because, well, I was busy making sure she was doing what she needed to be doing, but, here are a few:

During the mass

After giving her flower to honor Mary

Hey! We're almost done!

Back home, with her cake

Can't forget about Alexandra!

So all in all, it was a very nice day. And OH! We were suprised to find out: no more CCD! Well, until next fall, anyway. Her teacher said, well, this is what we've been working towards all year, and since we did it.....well.....we're done.

Congratulations Elizabeth! We are so proud of you XO

Checking In

2010-04-22T21:18:00.000-04:00

Hello, hello world of the internet!

Just a quick check in during this, one of the busiest weeks of the decade.

So......I have survived the First Communion Retreat (while having to endure only two arguments - one about where people would sit during the mass, and the other from a dad who was mad that he couldn't take any flash pictures during the mass).

I have survived work.

I have survived Science Night at school

And....I am still in the middle of my interviews. Today I had to do a presentation on myself and then I had three interviews. I also have two more interviews on Monday. At first I was really bummed out that the agony wouldn't be over in one day, but I'm sort of glad now because after today I have a very good idea about the types of questions I'll be asked and I have the weekend to come up with some awesome answers.

Oh, and Greg "broke" his foot. I say "broke" because after looking at the X-Ray for a while, the doctor thinks that the break they saw might actually be an old break that didn't heal properly. But of course, Greg was like "well, as far as I'm aware, I haven't ever broken my foot". Whatever the case, he's got this "post-surgical boot" thing on, and he's got crutches.

So, only four more days of running around with my head cut off, and worrying about how to answer questions like this:

"Tell me about a time that you had to make a quick decision without having any background information on the situation.".

Good times, my friends. Good times.

How To Be Expelled From School

2010-04-18T22:27:00.004-04:00

The following is a guide on how to be expelled from school, Grade 2.

1. Eat lunch and then head to the playground for recess.
2. Chase two girls around the playground (because, well.....you're in 2nd grade - that's what you do).
3. Let things get a little out of control and grab one of the girls' sweatshirt hoods.
4. Give up on the sweatshirt hood and grab the other girl that you were chasing. Put your arm around her neck. When she tells you "Stop it - it hurts", decide that it would be a good idea to try and choke her. She cannot breathe or talk while you do this.
5. When another child sees what's happening and runs up to you and says "Stop it! Leave her alone!", stop choking the girl and punch the other child. And knock one of his teeth out.
6. Bell rings. Go inside.
7. When other students tell the teacher what happened on the playground, admit to everything.
8. Be informed that you are no longer welcome at the school.
9. Clean out locker, leave.

Elizabeth is in the 2nd grade, and one of the kids in her class was expelled from school Friday for the above incident.

On one hand, I am shocked that someone in the 2nd Grade would ever do anything that warranted getting expelled from school, but on the other hand, I am very glad that the school handled the situation the way that they did.

How do you tell 7 and 8 year olds that it's OK to lose control, it's OK to try and hurt someone and that is's OK to actually hurt someone?

You DO NOT.

I am not glad that Elizabeth saw that stuff happen. I'm really not glad that someone got choked and someone else got punched and lost a tooth. I know these kids - and that's not cool.

But, I am REALLY glad that everyone knows what happened, and that everyone knows what will happen to them if they ever try something like that.

Thank you, school.

Excused Absence

2010-04-16T20:46:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to warn all of you (yes, I know......maybe 7 or 8 of you, but still), I am going to be somewhat absent for the next week-ish.

Here's what I have on for the coming days:

Saturday: Order cake for Elizabeth's 1st Communion. Buy new shoes to replace the ones that the dog chewed up for Elizabeth's 1st Communion. Go through all the junk I piled in a box to clear off the kitchen counter/table/baker's rack and find places for everything. Buy a new spring coat for myself. Prepare for interview*.

*More on this new development below.

Sunday: Church. CCD for Elizabeth. 1st Communion Retreat with Elizabeth. Prepare for interview.

Monday: Work. Prepare for interview.

Tuesday: Work. Prepare for interview.

Wednesday: Work. Prepare for interview.

Thursday: Work. 1st round of interviews. Science Night at school.

Friday: OFF! Clean house for 1st Communion Party. Kid's Fun Run.

Saturday: 1st Communion! Party at my house.

Sunday: CCD. Prepare for next round of interviews.

Monday: Work. 2nd round of interviews.

So. As you can see, lots going on. I do have ALL sorts of stuff to tell you about when I have a chance:

Elizabeth's Field Trip
Alexandra's Field Trip
The 2nd grader that was EXPELLED from Elizabeth's school (her locker partner as a matter of fact!)

As far as the interview goes: another position was posted at my work a couple of weeks ago. Unlike the other one I interviewed for, this one sounds like something I would be good at, and I think I would really enjoy it. So after hemming and hawing for a while, I decided to submit to it (that's what the process is called at my company), knowing that I would at least get to interview for it.

Well, I found out today that I will, and not only do I get to talk to about 8 different people on 5 different occassions (seriously!), I also have to prepare a power point presentation to tell about myself, my education and my experience. GAH!

I typically try to keep it G to PG rated around here, but: OH SHIT!

So, I will be spending my evenings trying to come up with something that's not too flashy and obnoxious, but also not too boring and dry. You know - like me!

I'll check back when I can, and thanks for hanging out till I do!

A Day in My Life

2010-04-13T22:00:00.032-04:00

I was going through my blog dashboard and cleaning out all the posts that I never got around to finishing or publishing tonight and came across this one - a day in my life. It's from a couple of months ago, but I gotta say, things are still pretty much the same today. Except now there's a big black jumpy dog in the mix!

Enjoy!

********************************************

January 19, 2010 - January 20, 2010

10pm: I decide I'm going to bed early.

2am: Wake up. Not sure why.....no one is crying. Was Greg snoring? Hmmm. Not sure. Decide to go to the bathroom.

5am: Wake up again. Not surprised this time - for some reason I seem to wake up pretty much every morning at this time. Lucky for me (har har), this is only 30 minutes before my alarm is supposed to go off.
Yay! Now I only have 30 minutes to fall back asleep before I am woken up again.

5:30 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button.
5:39 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button.
5:48 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button. Have a crazy dream about going to the mall and seeing a girl I went to high school with, but haven't seen since she moved away in the 10th grade.
5:57 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button. Continue weird mall dream.
6:06 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button.
6:15 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button.
6:24 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button.
6:33 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button. Groggily think to myself: I should stop hitting the snooze button pretty soon and just get up.
6:42 am: Alarm. Hit the snooze button. Suddenly realize I MUST get up now or we'll all be running late. Get up.

**This is where I have to "readjust" time. Because I hit the snooze button for so long, I have set my clock ahead by many, many minutes. So, rather then it actually being 6:42, it is in fact, only 5:56.**

5:56 am: Shower, brush teeth

6:20 am: Go downstairs, ask the girls (who Greg has brought downstairs a couple of minutes ago) what they want for breakfast. When they both ignore me, I say loudly: "I am making cereal for you Elizabeth and oatmeal for you Alexandra". This forces them to tell me what they really want.

6:27 am: Serve breakfast to the girls.

6:28 am: Go through emails on my phone real quick. Yay! The stuff we ordered from Barnes and Noble on Sunday has finally shipped! Boo! An email reminder that tomorrow is Chuck.E.Cheese night for Elizabeth's school. I hate that place.

6:30 am: Dry my hair.

6:39 am: Tell the girls to hurry up! and finish their breakfasts.

6:40 am: Fix lunch for Elizabeth, fix lunch for me. Pack Elizabeth's backpack: shoes, lunch, snacks, snow pants, mittens, hat, homework folder, water bottle. Backpack won't shut.

6:49 am: Tell the girls again to hurry up! and start getting dressed.

6:50 am: Make my breakfast, hurry to eat it before the milk makes my cereal soggy. Get stopped to help Alexandra get her tights on and her dress on the right way. Then I have to help comb hair.

6:56 am: Eat soggy cereal.

7:00 am: Greg and Elizabeth leave.

7:01 am: Go downstairs and get on the computer to buy "Party in the U.S.A" by Miley Cyrus for my iPod for the girls to listen to.

7:03 am: Let Alexandra listen to "Party in the U.S.A.", and watch her dance. She looks pretty cute, so I let her do it again.

7:10 am: Head back upstairs to get dressed. Get dressed, put some makeup on, put work (good) shoes in bag, make sure Alexandra's backpack has her white thing in it for white day at school.

7:25 am: Realize it's already 7:25. Rush to get all our stuff in the car, get Alexandra in her coat and into her car seat.

7:29 am: Drive to the babysitter's house. Listen to "Party in the U.S.A" again.

7:35 am: Leave the babysitter's house. Drive to work.

7:50 am - 4:30 pm: Have a quiet, peaceful day at work.

4:30 pm: Leave work.

4:45 pm: Get to Elizabeth's school to pick her up. Decide to go through the lost and found to see if I can find the glove Elizabeth lost the first time she wore it to school. Greg looked for it the week she lost it, but didn't find it. Dig into the lost and found, wonder "how in the heck do kids leave their pants at school?” Find the glove. Yay! Wonder: “How did Greg miss it? It's the only hot pink glove in the lost and found!”

4:50 pm: Get Elizabeth into the car and drive home.

5:00 pm: Arrive at home, haul all our stuff into the house and dump it on the floor in the back hall. Am immediately bombarded with "Mommys!" from the other end of the house. Yell at the kids to stop yelling!

5:10 pm: Stare blankly into the pantry, trying to decide what to make for dinner. There doesn't seem to be anything easy and quick. Decide to order pizza.

6:00: Eat pizza.

6:10: Help Elizabeth with her homework. Wonder if I did crazy fraction story problems like this when I was in 2nd grade? Figure probably not.

6:30: Let kids lay on the couch and watch TV. Get on the computer to do pictures, internet.

7:00: Wander upstairs to see what's happening. Nothing. Go back downstairs.

7:30: Get snack for kids. Watch some TV with them.

8:00: Get kids ready for bed. Argue with kids about who puts who to bed. Decide that it's my turn to put Alexandra down, and Dad does Elizabeth.

8:15: Fall asleep in rocking chair after singing to Alexandra. Wake up when Quinn jumps on my lap.

8:30: Rush downstairs to fold clothes, start a new load of laundry, pick out clothes for me and the girls to wear tomorrow and then go find something bad and completely devoid of any nutritional value to eat.

8:30: Channel surf and eat.

8:45: Hate self after eating above food.

9:10: Fall asleep on the couch while watching TV.

9:30: Wake up when a loud commercial comes on. Decide if I'm that tired, I should go to bed. 1/2 way up the stairs, realize that I didn't put the wash into the dryer. Turn around and head to basement to do that. Make it back upstairs, floss and brush teeth, take out contacts.

9:45: Get in bed. Feel wide awake.

9:47: Toss and turn in bed. Feel annoyed that I feel wide awake.

12:47: Wake up. Alexandra is crying.........

Blah Blah Blah

2010-04-12T21:35:00.000-04:00

I am pretty worn out today and don't have it in me to be entertaining, so all you're gonna get are the basics.

My dog buried a bone (rawhide stick.....close enough) in the backyard today. For some reason, I find that very amusing. I should have known, since I've caught her hiding stuff under piles of pillows, bed covers and other "diggable" areas and then pawing them out, but I was still surprised when I saw her doing it.

I need to cut my bangs.

We have two different school field trips this week.

I am so far behind on updating my photo blog that I am now dreading doing it. On top of the fact that I've been too busy to even take my camera out of it's case most days. So now instead of being something fun it's just another thing to stress me out. ARG!

We watched the movie The Hurt Locker this weekend. It was good. The guy who starred in it was much better looking with his shaved army hair than with his long civilian hair. I have concluded that I like very very short/shaved hair on guys.

Elizabeh has taken to to listeing to the radio every night when she falls asleep. She mostly listens to The John Tesh show. Ha! Intelligence for her life, right?

Elizabeth's First Communion is less than two weeks away. And the dog somehow found one of her new shoes and chewed on it.

I sort of want an iPhone. I do want an iPad.

I am out of thoughts for tonight. Heading to bed.

Thank You Very Much

2010-04-08T21:14:00.000-04:00

Well, it’s Thursday, and that means: FREE THERAPY DAY! Yes folks, that’s right, after an unavoidable haitus, it’s Thank You Very Much Thursday. And let me tell you, after the week I’ve had, I totally need therapy.

When you’re done listening to what I have to be thankful for, head on over to KMama’s to read everyone else’s Thank You’s!

To Trixie, my new dog:

Thank you very much for already knowing your name. Because Trixie is about my least favorite pet name in the world (no offense to anyone who does like the name Trixie – I just don’t happen to like it). And now, I will be saying it multiple times daily for the next 10 or so years.

Thank you very much for being the type of dog who slobbers and pants. A lot.

Thank you very much for escaping today as I was on my way out the door to carry all of our stuff to the car. It was great chasing you all over the wet yard in my high heels. Please make sure you do that again real soon, OK?

Thank you very much for jumping on the couch this morning, and then when realizing that there was an unattended glass of milk on the coffee table deciding that standing with your back legs on the couch and your front legs on the coffee table while drinking the milk was a good idea.

Thank you very much for jumping on me EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. you see me when more than an hour has gone by since our last encounter.

Well, I think that’s enough Trixie for one day……remember to run (don’t walk!) over to KMama’s for more Thank You’s!

Happy Thursday!

Dog. Day 4.

2010-04-06T21:17:00.001-04:00

Trixie has been our dog, and lived at our house, for 4 days now.

After a somewhat rough start (I admit - by the end of the 2nd day I was like "uh oh"), things are starting to settle in.

A short recap:

Day 1: We adopt our new dog, Trixie. I do NOT like the name Trixie, but she actually knows her name, so I think we're stuck with it.

The Good: Trixie is very friendly and the kids looooove her.
The Bad: Trixie and Quinn don't really like each other.
The Ugly: Trixie pees on my living room rug.

Day 2: After sleeping for about 2 hours last night because Trixie won't stay off the bed and I'm terrified that she will pee somewhere else, we take her to my mom's for Easter. She's really good. And we finally hear her bark. And after the horrible night before, I buy her a huge dog pillow to sleep on.

The Good: Trixie is doing well with the new leash we bought her.
The Bad: Trixie does NOT like her cage, which is unfortunate, since she will spend her days in it while we're at work.
The Ugly: Trixie poops on the stairs.

Day 3: Trixie slept all night (she likes her pillow!), but I did not because I was terrified that she would poop somewhere else. She actually does very well in her cage, and gets a short break at lunch when Greg comes home to take her out.

The Good: Trixie likes to learn and I think she'll do well learning commands and manners.
The Bad: Trixie likes to jump on people when she first sees them.
The Ugly: No ugly today!

Day 4: Trixie seems to be settling (did I spell that right?) in with our family. She's doing well in her cage during the day, and loves to play when we're home. She likes trash, so we have to be careful about letting it get to high (she'll grab it out). And, we all made it out of the house on time this morning - we are handling our new routine pretty well!

The Good: Trixie is not afraid of thunderstorms and lightening. Whew!
The Bad: Trixie is really getting into jumping on people. I am trying the knee in the chest tactic and I think she'll catch on pretty quickly.
The Ugly: No ugly today!

******************************

On a completely unrelated note, I got tagged in a photo game, but haven't had time to fninsh the post yet. I should have it up tomorrow.

******************************

On another completely unrelated note, I mentioned last week that I interviewed for a new position (within the company I work at). I went into it knowing that I would not be hired - I was not really qualified, but I wanted to go through the process because it's pretty rigorous (did I spell THAT right? Man.....I am not with it tonight) and I wanted to know what to expect for the next time. Plus, we haven't been hiring for about a year, and now that we are, I figure something will come along sooner or later.

Well, it was sooner because there's now another position that's been posted that I DO think I'm quite qualified for. But after my last experience, I'm not sure I want to suffer through it again so soon. I need to decide by Friday.........

******************************

Lastly: I am watching American Idol for the first time in about 3 years (really!) and just saw some young blonde girl sing.....and I think she's missing a tooth? What the heck?

OK. Off to check in on what others are doing on the internet and then off to bed!

Happy Trails............

Woof.

2010-04-03T19:20:00.000-04:00

We got a dog today.

She is not a very picture tolerating dog. Every time I get the camera out and point it at her, she walks towards me. So these are the only pictures I have right now.

Her name is Trixie. She came with that name though and I am lobbying to try and change it. So far I like Lucy best. Everyone is on board with Lucy, except for Alexandra, who insists that Trixie is the name she MUST have.

She is a Shar Pei Lab mix. We adopted her from the SPCA and so far (6 hours in), she's been really really good. I haven't heard her bark yet, so I think that's a good sign. She found Quinn about 3 minutes after she came in the house; I heard a very loud HISS and he's been in the basement since. Poor Quinn.

I am sure there will be more Trixie/Lucy stories as the days/months/years go by; she's only about a year old so she should be with us for a good long time.

Welcome Trixie/Lucy!! And in the words of Elizabeth: "It's super fun having a dog".

Five

2010-03-31T21:40:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to say it: I now have 5 followers. Wow.

Thanks Ally!

And thanks Mom! We'll have to show Aunt Betty how to follow so I can have six.

Thanks y'all. Seriously! You have kept me feeling like a complete and total reject (Which today, really means something since I was informed that I was not hired for a position in my company that I interviewed for last week. Which I knew I wouldn't get because I had zero experience for it and knew two other people who were interviewing for it did so I'm not suprised, or even disappointed, but still. It feels a little yucky to not be "wanted". Kind of like I wasn't picked for the kickball team. Wow - sorry.....did I just say all that out loud?)

THANK YOU!

Chicago!

2010-03-31T21:16:00.021-04:00

Well......so sorry this has taken SO LONG, but, well, you know. Once the kids are finally in bed at night, it takes too much energy to do stuff like pick pictures to show.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, my mom and I took the girls to Chicago last weekend to visit the AMERICAN GIRL STORE. Yes, I capitalized the name of the store on purpose.

If you have been to the STORE, you know that it sort of deserves to be called the AMERICAN GIRL STORE and not the The American Girl Store.

Not that I'm into that kind of thing, but WOW. That place was something else. Two large floors filled with nothing but....you guessed it....AMERICAN GIRL stuff.

The girls were in Heaven. They also wanted to buy everything. But we didn't.

So.....we took the train there and stayed right on Michigan Avenue - literally steps away from the AMERICAN GIRL STORE. Which was nice, because as I found out one day while walking 8 blocks to the Lego Store, a 40 pound girl is SUPER DUPER HEAVY.

We also went to the Sears Tower. Which I guess is actually the Willis Tower now, but I just can't call it that. The girls looooooved the glass rooms they had jutting out of the side of the building and thought it was awesome to stand in them and and look straight down. I, on the other hand, felt like I was going to throw up just thinking about stepping into a death trap like that. So I declined to enter. I took pictures for Asian tourists instead (really! I was asked a few times to please take pictures!).

So you will see below just a few pictures of our visit. I didn't edit any of them, so they're all straight out of the camera. Sorry.....no time to make them look fantastic.

Enjoy.

And oh, it's really good to be home!

Waiting for our train

Our train!

First cab ride!

Outside our hotel

Dinner at the American Girl Store Cafe

Playing with the 2010 Girl Lanie camper set (notice the price tag on the bottom right corner. AG!)

Buying stuff (notice the THRILLED look on both girls' faces)

Whoa

View from the top of the Sears Tower (I guess it's actually the Willis Tower now, but it will always be the Sears Tower to me, so that's what I am going to call it)

The girls laying out in the crazy all glass hanging off the side of the top of the Sears Tower room. I was too afraid to go in. Notice them not being afraid at all.

Tall buildings

Jumping between the beds

Eating Doritos in the train food car, heading home.

Momma Made Me Do It

2010-03-28T22:01:00.004-04:00

UPDATE:

Holy $&@!! I have THREE FOLLOWERS!

Thank you Momma!
Thank you Jodi! (are you my evil twin, the other Jodi Thornton?)
Thank you Traci C! (Traci? is that YOU?)

I heart you all!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

XOXOX

**********
Well, I have caved.

And for the love of God, if you are my friend and read my blog, I WANT YOU TO CAVE TOO!

I posted last about "following" and wondered what it was. And now, because Momma at mypixiedreams.com took the time to explain it to me (and even became my very first follower!!!!! THANK YOU MOMMA!!!!!), I am now a part of the phenom that is following.

I'm still not sure how I feel about this - I mean, I could come very very close to feeling rejected and unliked, but, I am going to try it. I suppose at the very least it will give me an idea of who the 6 people are who read what I have to say.

So like I said before, please, please, PLEASE! become a follower. I might cry if you don't.

And as you may or may not know, I do not cry pretty little tears like the cute girls in movies do - it's ugly. U.G.L.Y. Please don't subject yourself to that, OK?

All you have to do to follow is click on the "Join This Site" box under the "Help!" title over there on the right. It's down a ways if your screen is small........I also put it down low so that in the even of me not getting any followers it would not be evident to all.

***********************************

On an unrelated note - the girls and I went to Chicago with my mom this weekend. It was so fun! Once I get 15 minutes or so (ha!), I will post some pictures and the story of our travels. Actually, it might happen sooner rather than later- the kids are on spring break this week so I won't have all those annoying school related things like homework and lunches to deal with.

So....don't forget. FOLLOW ME.

***watch the swaying pendant***........you are getting sleepy.........very sleepy........follow me......follow me.....follow me......................

Following

2010-03-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

I have a stupid question:

What does it mean to "follow" someone's blog, and why should I do it?

I am just wondering....I mean, there are several blogs that I check every day. Sometimes I leave comments, sometimes I don't. But I read every day (or most days.....).

If I follow someone by clicking on their followers picture thing, does that mean that they'll follow me too? If people follow me, do I need to put one of those followers picture things on my blog? Or can someone follow me without one of those?

Just wondering. Plus, I am not sure if I put it out there (you know, for people to actually follow me) that I would actually get any followers, and I don't want to have to deal with the rejection. What if no one likes me? What if I get, and then lose a follower? It would be like middle school all over again. And even though it was a long time ago, I do remember that feeling insecure and nervous for three years was NOT fun.

So. Just wondering.

Completely Unrelated and Random Thoughts

2010-03-20T23:47:00.000-04:00

Right now I am supposed to be preparing for this big thing I have on Monday (more on that later), but here I am, telling you about how I should be doing that, instead of doing this.

Also, I am kind of watching the movie "Rush Hour 3" on TNT. Not a great movie, in case you were wondering.

Elizabeth and Alexandra are sleeping together upstairs in Elizabeth's bed tonight. They started out in sleeping bags in Elizabeth's closet, and ended up in her bed. Shockingly, they fell asleep pretty quickly. Well, after Alexandra complained that Sissy was touching her face, nose and hair and I threatened to move her to her own bed.

It's spring now, and it's snowing here. I am really sick of snow. Plus, I'm really cold.

I bought three new shirts and a new pair of shoes this weekend. All on sale!

We went to the Home Expo today with my mom. The kids got their faces painted. We had mom over for dinner after and we ate my totally yummy (if I do say so myself) beef and broccoli stir fry.

I am FINALLY caught up on laundry.

We leave for Chicago in 5 days!

We ate at Sonic the other day. Elizabeth said she wanted to work there when she was older because she's a really good rollerskater (she's not).

Everyone at Elizabeth's school, including her teacher, seems to be calling her "Lizzy" now. I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I named her Elizabeth because I like that name, so that's what I call her. On the other hand, she likes to be called Lizzy, so.....I guess that's what she should tell people to call her.

I have learned, through the miracle of TV, that most things magicians do involve trap doors.

Have a lovely Sunday!

It's Official!

2010-03-18T21:40:00.000-04:00

Weeeeeellllllll. It's official. My baby is going to "real" school next year.

Elizabeth goes to a charter school - a public school that can limit enrollment. So, each year, they have a lottery for new students. Today was the lottery for next year. And Alexandra's name was drawn!

Now, just to clarify, there were more spots in the Young 5's class than there were kids who applied, but still! I am excited.

Now I just have to decide if I want to request that she is in the morning or afternoon class.

Decisions, decisions!

Hmmmmmm........

2010-03-16T22:31:00.000-04:00

So. I went back to the eye doctor today. I picked up my new and corrected right eye contact lens last night and it just wasn't "right". As I was sitting, waiting my turn to see the doctor, I saw this happen:

Man sitting in customer chair at desk: "Whether or not it's the reciept you "need" (he used his finger quotation marks), it's a receipt and you'd better make it work!"

Lady working at the eye glasses place: "Well, I understand what you're saying, and our system here doesn't need the other receipt, but the other system does because it goes by the bar code on the receipt. Give me a minute and let me see if I can pull it up out of the register."

At this point I think to myself: Thank goodness I don't have to deal with people like that anymore. They are so MEAN!

The woman working was back at the register for a while and then comes back......

Lady: "I can't get past needing the barcode on the receipt that you don't have - all it will let me do is issue a store gift card."

Man: "I DON'T WANT A STORE GIFT CARD. I WANT CASH."

Lady: "How did you pay for the glasses?"

Man: "I used my flex benefits debit card."

Well.......and this is where the hmmmm part comes from, and my question of the day:

If you pay for something with your flex benefits debit card, and then get CASH back for something that you are returning, isn't that something like, oh maybe INSURANCE FRAUD?

I mean - if you have money in your flex account that you've earned without paying taxes on it....and then buy something with it that qualifies as a health item (like glasses), and then return that item and get cash back, you can technically buy ANYTHING with that cash. Like a CD. Or a new shirt. Or anything else that is not health related. How is that OK?

After much going around, the woman working called a manager, who came and got the guy a gift card, and then refunded the gift card for cash, and gave the man the cash he wanted. I don't know if it was $3 or $300, but either way, I am very much bothered by this.

I know that people do things every day that are bad, wrong and just plain illegal, but when I see it happening I get really upset.

So, what do I do? Forget about it? Write a letter to the store? Realize that there are some dishonest people out there and move on with my life?

Hmmmmmmm.

Since When Did the Teen Years Start at 7?

2010-03-15T21:42:00.003-04:00

As you all know (or most of you, anyway), I have two daughters. My oldest is 7. 7½ if you ask her. Because, when you’re 7½ those 6 months totally count. But to me, she’s 7. And I’m the mom and the one talking right now, so she’s 7.

Elizabeth has always (ALWAYS!) been a very very good girl. My mom laughs because even when she was a baby, she (Mom) would tell me how good she (Elizabeth) was, and I always acted like it was because of something I did. Then I had another baby and reality hit. Anyway, Elizabeth was just born as a good little girl.

Then, the 2nd grade happened.

What started out as sly eye rolling and quiet sighs has turned into the obvious eye rolling and loud heavy sighs when faced with some completely out of line request from Mom and/or Dad. That, or her looking at me like I am just…..well, STUPID. Even when I’m not doing anything* STUPID.

*Now, I realize that my definition of stupid is probably completely different from Elizabeth’s, so I do try to act “normal” when we’re around other people. And I think I’m doing an OK job because I have actually only gotten the “you’re so stupid” look at home.

Anyway, because Elizabeth has always been such a good kid, I started asking other people I know: “Does/Did your 7-8 year old act like a completely different person now?”. I was curious to know if it was just me, or if it’s something that happens to all kids, like pimples and crushes.

Turns out: pretty much everyone I know who has (or has had) a kid Elizabeth's age says the same things: "My kid has such an attitude now!"......."Yeah, he/she treats me like I'm an idiot sometimes".....and "Oh yeah. Been there done that".

How come I don't remember any of this from when I was 7? I mean, I can TOTALLY remember 1976 - I mean it WAS our country's 200th birthday that year. But I cannot for the life of me remember. So, I'm pretty sure I never acted like that. Right Mom?

So......the teen years have arrived much sooner than I ever anticipated. And the good news is: I have another daughter who's going to be 7 in 2 ½ short years.

Yeah!

Sometimes.......

2010-03-09T20:44:00.001-05:00

I just want a break from the constant "Mommy!" "Mom?" and "Mama." 's that seem to follow me around.

But then, I read this and my heart feels heavy for her family and then happy that I have two healthy kids who say "Mommy!" "Mom?" and "Mama." constantly.

Even if you're not a praying type of person, please think some good thoughts for Layla's family tonight.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink.......Updated!

2010-03-08T21:19:00.001-05:00

**Updated with pictures below!**

.........Also known as:

Everything in the kitchen worked - everything but the kitchen sink.

What you are about to read is the very true, and somewhat frightening story of how we replaced our kitchen sink.

Before getting to the story though, I must preface it by telling you: EVERY SINGLE HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECT WE ATTEMPT AT OUR HOUSE TAKES A REALLY LONG TIME AND ENDS UP COSTING ABOUT TWICE AS MUCH AS PLANNED.

All caps. Can you tell I'm bitter?

The faucet on our sink came with our house. It was very gold, very shiny, and had become very leaky recently. Which drove me BONKERS. I swear, I could hear that drip all the way up in my bedroom.

Besides the faucet, we didn't have any other gold stuff in our kitchen - we had replaced the drawer and cabinet knobs, the refrigerator is stainless, and the ceiling fan had silver on it too. So when the faucet started dripping, rather then fix it, we figured we would just get a new silver one to match everything else.

So last Sunday, it was off to Lowes. The girls ran amok (Elizabeth had brought her camera and took pictures of Alexandra RUNNING up and down the aisle) while we tried to pick out something that we both liked. After we (finally) accomplished that, Greg said "What do you think about replacing the sink, while we're at it?" I said, "Well, OK!".

Our sink was an ivory colored porcelain that had some chips and stains on it, so getting a new sink sounded like a good idea to me! That should have been my first clue.

So, after what seemed like forever, we finally left the store with a sink and a faucet. Hooray!

Greg decided to take Thursday off to install everything. Hmmmmm.....a Thursday? That seemed like a strange, middle of the week, day to take off to try and replace a kitchen sink to me, but whatever. (That should have been my second clue).

Thursday rolled around and the girls and I went off to school/work/babysitter's and Greg got to work.

At 10:15, I got a text message from him with a picture of the counter with a gaping hole in it where the sink used to be. Not a big deal - it was only 10:15. There was plenty of time for him to finish. Right?

I didn't hear back from him, so about 4:00, I stepped out of a meeting I was in to call him. I will spare you all the gory details, but I will say: he told me the sink was in, but there was no plumbing under it and no faucet on top of it. Rather than being upset though, because I could tell he was REALLY mad, I just kept my mouth shut and told him I'd be home shortly.

Well, I came home to WWIII - in my kitchen. Apparently, there was counter cutting involved in the day's activities, and my ENTIRE kitchen, along with EVERYTHING in it, was covered in dust. And there was a faint smell of burning wood.

Oh. My. God.

***Deep Breath***

Again, I kept my mouth shut. Because I didn't really want to get a divorce over the kitchen sink. But dang it, I was thinking really annoyed thoughts. I mean, come on! It's been almost 12 hours since the sink fiasco started, there are dirty dishes on the dusty counter, dust all over everything, no faucet on the top of the sink and no plumbing under the sink.

I will put you out of your misery right now and skip to the end: the sink was finished and the kitchen cleaned by 3pm on Saturday. Yes - 55 hours after it was started.

I will post some pictures of the silver beauty later.....right now it's got a bunch of dishes sitting in it, waiting to be washed. You know - doing what it's supposed to be doing!

Isn't it pretty? Water spots that need to be wiped away and all!

Check it! It's got one of those cool pull out sprayers!

Hey! And, The Office Is New Tonight.....

2010-03-04T20:20:00.001-05:00

Hey! My sidebar stuff is back. Whew.

All of those evil thoughts I thought about Blogger worked! I knew if I thought them hard enough they would. Nice work, evil thoughts!

And, I had big plans to give a fun update on us tonight, but then I realized that The Office is (finally!) new tonight, and even better, it's a one hour special! Woot! I think Pam and Jim have their baby. Whatever - I'm just glad real TV is on again.

Sorry Olympics.....I just don't like winter that much, and that means I don't like watching people out in the snow.

Anyway, I have a hugely busy weekend coming up:

Dinner with Debbie tomorrow
Trying to clean the disaster that came with Greg putting in a new sink in the kitchen (clue: he started at 8:30 this morning. It's almost 8:30 pm now and it's still not done)
Dinner with Keith and Kelly Saturday
CCD for Elizabeth on Sunday
Recovering from the last 7 days

I will update when I can. Don't miss me too much - I will be back!

Oh, and welcome back from Florida Aunt Betty. We missed you :)

A Boring Old Post

2010-03-03T21:56:00.001-05:00

OK, why is all of my stuff on the sidebar way down at the bottom of my page, where no one looks?

I am getting really sick of Blogger and it's craziness!

*******************************************
Well, as if you don't hear it enough already: I have been crazy busy. What the heck? Why does it seem to get worse and worse, and never better?

I have not gotten home before 7:00 all week long. I am So! Tired!

Monday I went to a meeting of a professional group I am thinking of joining. Thank God it only meets once a month, and the group meets about 3 miles from my house, otherwise, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to swing it.

Good thing about this night: when I got home, the girls were SUPER excited to see me. Alexandra was so flustered that she just kept saying, "Why were you long so gone?". How cute is she?

Tuesday Elizabeth and I both had eye doctor appointments. Mine was easy...just a check of the new contacts. Hers was pretty easy too, until the picking out new glasses part.

Elizabeth is not the type of person who sees something she likes and then picks it, and doesn't worry about all the other choices that she didn't pick. Nope. She has to look at every single thing and wonder about each of them.

I'm not mentinoing any names (cough cough **SELF!** cough cough), but I have no idea where she gets THAT ~~annoying~~ endearing trait from.

After that painful process, we went out for pizza.

And tonight.......I did a bunch of running around with my mom and Greg took the kids ice skating (how awesome is he?). Then, it was shower, snack and bed in about 20 minutes.

To top all of that busy-ness off, I am also So! Busy! at work. In fact, I should be doing work right now, but here I am, on the internet.

Tomorrow, it's Reading Night at school. Not sure what that means, except that I'll be going. And not getting home until late.

Friday night, it's dinner with a friend.

Saturday, it's dinner with another couple.

AHHHH!

Oh, I did manage to update my picture a day site.......and this week is a THEME! Things that move. Yay!

I should put a picture of myself there - it would certainly fit this week.

Have a happy night.....

A Little Sumpon Sumpon

2010-02-27T19:53:00.001-05:00

I added a little something new just a minute ago.

Over there -----------------------------------> under the picture.

The girls have been saying some really funny (and yes, sometimes gross) things lately, and when I remember/have time/have a good one to add, I will stick it over there (------------------------->)
so that all of you, dear readers, can enjoy them too.

:)

Just Another Saturday

2010-02-27T16:26:00.000-05:00

So, here I am, home all alone on a Saturday.

Greg and the girls did not go to see his parents yesterday, as the weather was really nasty, but things cleared up today and they went. They're actually on their way home right now, but I had a few hours to myself.

What did I do?

Swept and mopped the kitchen floor. Which really wasn't all that bad to begin with, but then I let the girls play with moonsand. Do you have moonsand? If so, you know, despite the claims on the infomercial, HOW MESSY MOONSAND IS. It was everywhere. But not anymore.
Did laundry. Took the $4 in quarters that Greg left in his pants. If I'm doing the laundry, I get the money.
Went to Verizon. Paid our bill. Looked at phones and decided what phone I'll be getting the next time I get a new phone.
Downloaded the software for my scanner (the original software was not compatible with our new computer). I tried to do it the other day but for some reason (probably because I had two small people running around screaming upstairs) it didn't work. Worked just fine today.
Wondered why the heck our internet has been so slow.
Logged onto the network at work to finish my goals for my next year's (well, 2010) evaluation. I've been trying to finish it by Monday (due date), but so have all the other 60,000 employees my company has, so the system was not working very well. Fortunately, it worked today and I am not late (like I was finishing out my 2009 one).
Thought about breaking open the bag of chips sitting in the pantry. Decided against it.
Looked at my toenails and laughed, which I let the girls paint this morning. It was the first time they had ever done it, so they look......well, like someone who didn't know what they were doing did them. But they make me laugh, so it's OK.
Bought "The Essential Journey" album from iTunes. Listened to and sang along with "Stone in Love" about 8 times in a row.
Listened to "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones, then listened to "Paint it Black" by U2. Can't decide which one is better.
Read a little bit of my "Photoshop Elements 8 for Photographers" book. So glad I bought it. I do not feel so afraid of it now.
Looked at the clock and realized my time alone was going to be over very soon and felt sad and happy all at the same time.

Happy Saturday all!

How To Do It All?

2010-02-25T21:45:00.001-05:00

So, I have been having a hard time lately, trying to get it all done. At home, at work, with the kids, with everything. There are so many things that I need to do, and so many other things that I want to do, and there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Work.....well, I'm not too concerned about that. We ALL have so much to do and everyone understands that it takes a while to get through the piles of work. Plus, I really like my job, so even though I get really annoyed and worked up sometimes, I usually just have to think "well, I could still be working at XXXX or XXXX" and things take an immediate turn for the better. And, it's better to have too much to do rather than not enough, right? Plus, the cafeteria sells fountain Diet Coke and I can go buy a cup of it whenever I need it. Which has been a lot lately.

Home though......a totally different story. I feel like I'm constantly running, trying to get laundry done, lunches made and packed, kids in bed, the house picked up, pictures taken and loaded onto the computer, writing on my blog, making sure everything is ready for field trips, trying to remember doctor's appointment, dentist appointments, people's birthdays, trying to work out......AHHH!

See? I'm just stressed out typing it.

I know I should try to lower my standards a little, but I don't really want to! I hate when my house is a disaster - that stresses me out more than just cleaning it. And all that stuff that I want to do? Pictures? Working out? Writing? Well.....I want to do them, dang it!

Now, I really do try and think "this will not last forever, and I need to be spending time with the girls while they still like me". And most of the time that helps. But not always. Like tonight.

Tonight, I am tired and bummed out and worn down. I know it will get better, but for today, I just had to complain at little.

Tomorrow, we hope to return to our regularly scheduled, upbeat and entertaining self.

Just For Fun!

2010-02-25T21:08:00.000-05:00

We had a busy (SO! BUSY!) day yesterday.

Elizabeth had a school field trip.

Alexandra had a school field trip.

Alexandra's preschool had a fundraiser in the evening.

It's always something (more on this later).

So, just for fun, pictures of our day yesterday.

Alexandra's trip was to the Library for a story and music. Grandma took her (and these pictures).

Elizabeth's trip was to the K Wings hockey game, along with 5000 other students (Really. there were THAT many kids there. It was super loud.). I took her.

Then, after having an exhaustingly good time, it was off to Jungle Joe's (place with many bouncy houses/slides) for a preschool fundraiser.

So.......here's to fun times, but hoping that they slow down and come less often!

We Actually Went Outside Today!

2010-02-18T20:21:00.001-05:00

It was really really sunny today. Which in Michigan, in the winter, is a minor miracle. We get about 6 days of sun all winter long. So days like today - when it's sunny and NOT snowing are really really nice.

After work, I thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk, and the kids wanted to play outside. So while I left for a brisk (read: really super cold and windy) walk, the girls got all bundled up. They were still outside when I got back and I managed to get some pretty nice pictures.

A good time was had by all.

Thank You Very Much - 2/18/10

2010-02-18T19:28:00.000-05:00

Well, because ~~I'm such a slacker~~ I've been so busy, it's been waaaay too long since I've done a Thank You Very Much, so I figured that it was time again. I mean, I keep starting them, and then before I finish, I end up going to bed (I typically do them the night before), and then when I remember again, it's Saturday, and way past Thursday.

But anyway, here I am again, so after you're done reading my Thank Yous, head on over to KMama's to see what she (and the people who have linked with her!) have to be thankful for!

To all you annoying people at work, annoying me with your annoyingness.....Thank you very much!

To the sun, who deceived me into thinking it would be a good idea to go for a walk after work because it was so sunny out, but didn't really warm anything at all and in fact made me VERY COLD.....Thank you very much!

To my scale for never lying and always making me feel bad.....Thank you very much!

To Meijer, for charging me twice for one transaction, and then taking 5 days to fix your mistake.....Thank you very much!

To Photoshop Elements, for being so darn confusing, and demanding so much more time than I have to give to you.....Thank you very much!

Well....there you have it! A pretty tame week, if you ask me. Remember, go to KMama's to read what she has to be thankful for!

Happy Thursday!

A Collage

2010-02-16T21:15:00.002-05:00

A very (very!) quick collage I made from Alexandra's school Valentine's Day party pictures. It's not perfect (some of the pictures aren't exactly the right size), but........I only spent about 15 minutes on it. Which for me, who had no idea how to do this a little while ago, isn't too bad!

I blurred the faces of the two kids who aren't mine on purpose, in case you were wondering why Alexandra was friends with kids who didn't have faces.

Off to bed now to hopefully get rid of the rockin' headache I'm sporting right now, courtesy of new contacts/glasses/sitting by a very bright window at work all day (not complaining about actually having a window seat at work for anyone that I work with who happens to be reading- just had very sensitive eyes today!).

Later!

Another Year Down, Another Year Older

2010-02-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

So. I had a doctor's appointment today. You know - THAT kind of doctor's appointment. My usual yearly check up. The one where I am constantly reminded of exactly how old I am getting.

I arrived a bit early and sat in the waiting room, looking at all the other ladies there. All of the young, pregnant ladies. I was the oldest person in the waiting room. OK. Sort of depressing, but, it is an OB/GYN office after all - what did I expect?

I didn't have to wait for long......and after I got called back, it was to the weighing station. Boo...hiss. While I was on the scale, the nurse asked me how tall I was. I answered "5'3"-ish". She said "Well, let's measure you, since you're getting to the age where you might start to stoop".

What?

I stood up nice and tall and found out that I am actually almost 5'4". Boo Ya! Take THAT stoop-age!

Then it was back to the exam room. Oh boy.

I have to interject here - I still see a midwife and I love her. In between having Elizabeth and Alexandra, the one woman doctor I knew in the office left, and when it was time to have Alexandra, the only women practioners there were midwives. And after discovering how much more I liked them and finding out they'll still see you, even if you're not pregnant, I stayed. So anyway, I love my midwife. And she doesn't get mad at me when I tell her "please don't take offense, but I wish I never had to see you". So, even though I love her, it's just no fun having to see her.

OK. I'm in the exam room. Midwife comes in and does her thing. And then we chat about old lady things like mammograms, perimenopause and hormones.

God. I can't even stand it! I thought getting gray hairs and having my hip hurt sometimes was bad. But that other stuff? Ugh.

But then it was all OK after I picked up my new contacts after work. And then I met Greg and the girls for dinner and while we were there, Alexandra squished up right next to me and said "I love you Mommy".

Maybe getting old isn't so bad after all?

Valentine's Day....And Other Stuff

2010-02-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know it's not for two days, but the way things have been going around here lately, I'd better say it now, while I have a chance.

I had a busy busy week again. Especially today - I took the day off work so I could:

Go to Alexandra's school Valentine's Day Party
Supervise lunch at Elizabeth's school
Go to Elizabeth's school Valentine's Day Party

Even though it was a vacation day for me, I left the house at the same time as I usually do in the morning (early!) and got home about the same time as I usually do (late!).

But it was worth it.

See?

It's always worth it with treats like this, right?

Oh......we also got to do this:

I don't think she's doing what it looks like she's doing, but.....I could be wrong. Really though, I think she was being shy, and when she's being shy she sticks her hand up by her face - like that.

Unfortunately, the only other pictures I have have other kids in them, so I won't post them. But please be assured - Alexandra looks super cute in all of them.

Once I was done at preschool......it was over to Elizabeth's school.

We had fun there, too.

See that thing on a stick that Elizabeth is holding?

Well......I made a bunch of those for both parties, and boy oh boy.....were they YUMMY! That is if you like candy, sugar and marshmallows. Which I do.

Here's what they looked like before the kids got their hands on them:

They were a hit with the big and little kids, and all the moms thought I was awesome for coming up with the idea. Even though I told them I didn't, because I accidentally found the recipie for them on the internet when I was looking for a recipie for the potluck at work. But whatever.

So that was it for the Valentine's Day updates. I know I said "and other stuff" way up there at the top, but now that I'm down here, I'm not so sure I have anything of interest to tell you about.

We have a busy weekend ahead: Elizabeth will be doing her first confession tomorrow.....we have a Valentine's Day brunch to go to on Sunday.....and although that's only planned two things, please know that they will both take up much of my time and energy. Therefore, making my weekend busy.

So, I apologize for the boring-ness of my post, and also, my general lack of posting lately. I always intend to get something up (because there's usually some sort of amusing thing happening at any given time that I would love to tell you all about), but by the time I have time, I usually end up going to bed.

Man. Am I OLD!

Oh, speaking of old, I went to the eye doctor on Tuesday and guess what? I need new contacts. Mine were warped, which made them a little too large (diameter), which meant they weren't staying in the right spots on my eyes, which meant I was blinking a lot more, which meant they were rubbing in places they weren't supposed to rub,which meant my eyes were getting very irritated. So, I ordered a new pair, which will hopefully be here soon because I am really tired of wearing my glasses. Two good pieces of news here though: I can't remember how old my current lenses even are, so I totally got my money's worth from them, and one of my eyes actually improved a bit. I asked the doctor why that was and he said "sometimes, when people's vision is as bad as yours, it will actually reach a point that the eye(s) start to go the other way". I asked him if that meant I wouldn't even need glasses anymore when I was 80. He looked at me like I was silly, and then said no.

Dang it!

Bah, Humbug!

2010-02-08T21:16:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah. I know it’s not Christmas, which is when the phrase “Bah, Humbug” is traditionally used, but you know what? That’s how I feel, so I’m gonna go ahead and say it anyway.

Why am I feeling Bah Humbuggy? Well, let me tell you.

First off, I know many, many people have it a lot worse than I do. I know that. But you know what? I think I deserve to be whiny and complainy every once in a while. It’s good for me. Kind of like doctor’s appointments. They’re good for you, yet oh so annoying.

Anyway, back to my whiny and complainy. To make it easy on you though, and to prove that I do realize I don’t have it that bad, I’ll try to balance the bad with some good.

Let’s see…….to begin with, I am pretty sure someone in my house has been sick constantly from January 1st until now. Literally. I have been to the pediatrician’s more this year already than the entire 2nd half of 2009. The girls are taking so many medications right now that we have “Mom’s pharmacy time” every morning and every night. “Mom’s pharmacy time” is where I line all the kid’s medications up on the counter, call them into the kitchen, and start administering drugs to them, assembly line style. Because of all this illness, I have missed a ton of work already this year, and so has Greg.

Insert good thing here: Fortunately, my mom and Greg’s parents are willing to help out when they can, but sometimes, only Mama or Daddy will do. And, thankfully, my work is very understanding and has not had any issues with my being gone. WHEW. Thank you Work!

Insert another good thing here: Fortunately, we don’t have sucky health insurance this year, so it hasn’t cost us nearly as much for all of these visits as they would have had this been last year.

**************************************

Okie Dokie…..moving on to the next thing……something is going on with my eyes. As you may or may not know, I wear gas permeable (hard) contacts because my eyes are SO BAD. For some reason though, lately my eyes have really been bothering me. They feel tired and sore all the time, and if I wear my contacts for more than a little while, they start to feel pretty uncomfortable. Now, I did get new glasses last year, and even though they’re trendy and stylish (yeah, right), wearing them is not the same as wearing my contacts. I can’t see as well as I can with my contacts, and I have to admit, I look somewhat dorky with them on. Is there something actually wrong with my eyes? Am I just getting old? What he heck?

Insert good thing here: Hmmmmm……sorry, there is no good thing here. Gotta be able to see…..need contacts (which hurt), glasses (which don’t work well enough) or lasik (too afraid of) to do so. So, I’m going with nothing good here.

**************************************
Lastly, I am so stinkin’ tired ALL.THE.TIME. Partly because someone is always sick at my house (see above!), partly because there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I need to get done, partly because there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to get done (so I have to stay up late to do them), and partly because no matter how well I plan and/or scheme, all of my time and energy is taken up by two small people who can be very draining. I swear – it’s impossible for me to start and then finish one thing at home. I am always redirected. And you know what? It’s exhausting.

Insert good thing here: I love my girls, and they are fantastic. They will be young for a much shorter time than they will be grown up, and I try very hard to appreciate them now. Before they won’t have anything to do with me as teenagers.

**************************************
Alrighty. I am sure if I thought hard enough, I could come up with more whiny and complainy things to whine and complain about, but you know what? I’m going to try and turn over a new leaf tomorrow. Enough complaining. Back to my normal, happy self.

Happy Day!

Darn *cough cough** It!

2010-02-05T16:42:00.000-05:00

Well....it has been another, shall we say......interesting week around here.

Alexandra was STILL coughing last night, so we made her another appointment with the doctor today. I took her in, and lo and behold: her lungs did not sound any better! Doctor said:

Well, if it was pneumonia, the antibiotic she's been on would have really helped with all the gunk in there.
So, you say that your other daughter has asthma.......?

So, Alexandra got her first breathing treatment today. Which didn't really help a whole lot. So after that, we were given an Rx for some steriods and a spacer for the inhaler that she needs to do until her cough is gone.

Funny......I feel like I've been here before.....Oh wait! I have! It was a couple of years ago when Elizabeth was going through the same thing! You know - the thing that ended with a daily inhaler, a rescue inhaler, and lots of coughing and throat clearing all the time. Yeah. That's it.

Insert good news here: she needs to use the same rescue inhaler that Elizabeth already has, so the doctor told me just to use that because she needs the same dose. I didn't have to buy another one (since I have 4 unopened boxes of them right now, due to new mail order Rx insurance that filled everything at the beginning of January....)! Yay!

Hopefully the steriods and inhaler will help. If not, we will return to the doctor's office the middle of next week to decide what our next step will be.

Tonight, I will spend my time cleaning the house - something I didn't have time to do last weekend when everyone was sick. So it's pretty gross around here right now.

Tomorrow, it is back on my healthy eating/treadmill walking/exercising ways (you would be suprised at how hard it is to fit exercise in when all you do is go to work and take care of sick children!).

Have a lovely Friday night! :)

I Got Me Some Elements

2010-02-03T21:25:00.001-05:00

When we bought our new computer last week (more on those fun times later), I also got Photoshop Elements. Yay! I had PSE4, which came with a scanner I bought several years ago; this one has PSE8. Wow!

I haven't had much time to play with it yet, but I did manage to do this tonight (a collage so far of all my red theme pictures from my 365v40 blog):

Aren't I talented?

Our Life Right Now

2010-02-02T20:17:00.004-05:00

I.Am.So.Tired.

2010-01-31T20:53:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been a rough few days here at the Thornton household.

Elizabeth was home from school Thursday because she had an ear infection. Again. So, we made another trip to the doctor. Again.

I have been to the pediatrician's office more this year (it's STILL JANUARY) than I did for the last 6 months of 2009.

Anyway, she was back at school Friday. Then by Friday night, Alexandra was coughing and hacking, and had a fever by Saturday. No big deal, I thought. I gave her some motrin and cough medicine before she went to sleep.

And then. All hell broke loose.

She was screaming for me at 11....we ran into her room to find the best gift a parent could ever get: she had thrown up! In her bed! And on herself!

So, we cleaned her up (she had to have a shower to remove everything from her hair), changed her bed (I keep more than one sheet/mattress protector on her bed specifially for this purpose - I can just tear the set off to wash and viola! There's another clean set right underneath) and put her back to sleep.

And then. We did it all over again at 3.

And at 5.

Of course, everytime I heard her coughing (which was about, oh, every 28 seconds), I woke up expecting to hear her calling for me. So today, I am very very very very tired.

Because I haven't worked an entire week since Christmas because either a kid or I have been sick at least one day every week, Greg's parents are coming to take care of Sicky McGee tomorrow. Yay! I get to go to work and relax! I can't wait!

So, please think healthy, feel good thoughts for us here. We need 'em!

Thank You Very Much 1/28/10

2010-01-27T14:22:00.030-05:00

Schwew! Finally! I am back just in time for Thank You Very Much! I apologize for missing a week (or two? or three?) but you know.....life's been pretty busy lately.

Anyway, in case you don't remember, Thank You Very Much is a fun blog carnival hosted by Kmama at The Daily Dribbles.......it's a golden opportunity to ~~genuinely~~ sarcastically thank those people that have recently annoyed you, made you mad and generally incurred your wrath.

Once you're done reading my thank you's, head over to Kmama's to see what other annoyances have befallen her and her readers!

To my iPod. For only working properly only when you feel like it, and not all the time, like I want you to.....Thank You Very Much!
To Blogger. For automatically saving my posts every 16 seconds, which causes the screen to refresh back to the top of my post and makes me have to stop and move the cursor to the spot I was typing on......Thank You Very Much!
To winter. For teasing me last week with your warm temperatures and sunshine, only to revert back to your old self this week with single digit temperatures and snow.....Thank You Very Much.
On a related note: To my skin. For drying out like a raisin every winter and causing my cheeks to flake, my finger to split and the rest of me to itch like crazy......Thank You Very Much.
To Quinn. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you know why......Thank You Very Much.

Happy Thursday!

All About ME!

2010-01-22T20:52:00.000-05:00

Hi All!

Man, have things been hectic around here. I swear - everything calms down for a few days, and than all of a sudden: BAM! We're hit with so.many.things.to.do. All it once it seems.

Things were finally sort of quiet here tonight; Greg took the girls to his dad's house and I cleaned (you would have been AMAZED (in a bad way) at the number of dirty dishes in my sink!). Usually, we keep up on the messes and laundry pretty well throughout the week, but not this week.

Things are in order again though, the sink is empty, the bathrooms and floors are clean, and I am feeling much better.

So you know how I posted about me the other day when I won my MAJOR AWARD from Momma Pixie? Well, I had a REALLY hard time coming up with 5 things to say about myself. The adoption thing came right away, but I had to really think for the othe 4. I wanted to be interesting and somewhat personal, but not too personal.

Of course, about an hour after I hit the "publish post" button, I thought of a whole bunch more stuff about myself. And since I don't have it in me to go through the entire last week, I am going to entertain you with more ME!

I am a cover stealing, kicking, thrashing bed hog. I like my space when I am sleeping, and I am not afraid to take it from Greg violently, if necessary. Of course, I remember none of this in the mornings and sometimes wonder why he looks at me like I am evil, but, I can't help it. Oh. Sometimes I snore too.
I cannot STAND to hear people chew their gum. Unfortunately, two of the three members of my family chew gum LOUDLY. When I hear it I want to rip the gum from their mouths. Thankfully (or maybe not? You decide.....) Alexandra almost always swallows her gum 3 minutes after we give it to her, and she does not chew it loudly. She does not get gum very often.
Bushy, unkept eyebrows bug me. Ask Greg: I will comment on people's eyebrows 10 times more than on any other part of their body or person, no matter what they're wearing or what type of crazy plastic surgery they've had. If their eyebrows are bad, I'll notice them first.
I am concerned about boogers - I check my own nose several times throughout the day to make sure I don't have any (I keep an old motorcycle mirror someone at work gave me in one of my desk drawers for this), and I will pick my kids' noses for them if they have them. My mom likes to tease me because even as I was in pain and not feeling well at all right after my c-section with Elizabeth, she had a booger and I picked it as soon as it appeared. Elizabeth - not my mom.
I drive too fast. Even though I've gotten more speeding tickets than anyone else I know. I got a letter from the State of Michigan one time telling me that I was in the top 10% of bad drivers.
I have known my best friend since I was 14 years old. We still talk and see each other pretty regularly. Fortunately, we only live about 20 minutes away from each other.
I loved the movie "The Hangover". I know it's juvenile and raunchy, but.........
I have a juvenile and raunchy sense of humor.
I swear way too much. Not in front of the kids though. Unless you count that one time when Elizabeth was about 3 and she dropped a completely full gallon jug of milk on the kitchen floor and it splashed so much it was even on the ceiling.
I am legally blind without glasses or contacts. I have worn hard contact lenses since I was in the 3rd grade and my glasses are so thick and heavy that if I wear them for too long my ears and nose ache.

OK......well, that's about it for now.....I will keep track of the other things I think of and let you all know more wonderful and interesting things about me at a later date.

For now, it's time to put the girls to bed and then sit on the couch and perhaps enjoy an adult beverage while watching some bad TV. Then it will be off to my own bed where I will kick and punch my husband and then steal all his covers.

Night All!

Life is Hard When You're Four

2010-01-18T22:55:00.047-05:00

Our youngest daughter is Alexandra. She is 4.

She's super cute, very energetic, and all around great. See?

Also, from the moment I found out I was pregnant with Alexandra, she has been a handful: some early pregnancy problems, a frightening birth and many day hospital stay after she was born, rolling over before she was 3 months old, crawling at 5 months, walking at 9 months..........you get the picture.

As per the typical kid development, she started the "terrible twos" right on schedule - at about 18 months. And fantastic news: she's still there! Not all the time, but boy oh boy, does she have her moments!

Take the other day for example: we went to church, then to Grandma's to visist. We returned home in the early afternoon, and Alexandra happily went upstairs and quietly and independently played with a bunch of mini plastic animals for about 45 minutes. Then she was done, and she went downstairs. And she left all the animals laying all over the floor.

Like the horrible mommy I am, I found her and said "Alexandra, are you done playing with the animals?" Her reply was "Yes". So I said "Can you please go upstairs and put them away?".

She ran off and I heard her feet going up the stairs, so I naively thought she was happily putting the animals away.

I know. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes.

A very short while later, Elizabeth walks up to me and says "Mommy, Alexandra is upstairs and she's mad because she has to pick up her toys and she's saying "stupid, stupid Mommy" ".

OK, so maybe she wasn't happily putting the animals away after all.

After telling Elizabeth that she should stay downstairs - I could deal with Alexandra by myself, thank you - I went upstairs to talk to my little girl. I found her laying on her bed with her face buried in her pillow. I guess she knew she had done something she wasn't supposed to do. Well....that's good, right?

I sat down and explained to her that 1) I knew it was hard sometimes to have to do things you didn't feel like doing, but that's how things worked; 2) I knew that she was mad and it was hard to know how to act when she was mad, but 3) it was NOT acceptable to talk about me, or anyone else, like that. We do not call people stupid. Ever. Then I told her that she needed to pick up her animals, and when she was done with that, she had to have a time out for a while.

Sometimes I feel sorry for her - I mean, she's the youngest person in our house, she has an older sister who pretty much bosses her around all the time, and man, her parents are mean - making her pick up her toys and stuff! But sometimes......well, sometimes she just pushes those buttons! I vaguely remember Elizabeth having troubles when she was four, too, so it's probably a developmental things, but see that I said "vaguely"....I can barely remember what I ate yesterday, so remembering anything almost 4 years ago? Forget it.

All I can say is that I sure hope life isn't as hard when you're 5!

When Life Hands You Lemonade

2010-01-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

OMG! Well, it's official! I. AM. FAMOUS. I knew it had to happen sooner or later.

OK, I suppose I'm not really famous, but almost!

Hey....don't blame me for overreacting. You know how I am.

Anyway, check this out: Momma Pixie at Momma's Pixie Dreams gave me and my blog a MAJOR AWARD! It's the "When Life Hands You Lemonade" Award. I am so excited, I could just wet my pants! Seriously.....I almost wet my pants at least once every day already (things aren't what they used to be on the old bod, you know), so this almost put me over the edge!

Thank you Momma Pixie!

So, here's what happened:

Momma was given this award by two other bloggers, Mama Cass at The World Through My Eyes and Becca at Drama for Mama gave this award to Momma Pixie, and then she gave it to me!

The rules for this award are simple:

Thank the giver of the award and link their blog.
List 5 things about yourself.
Link 5 new recipients and notify them.

So......here we go! 5 things about me........

I am adopted. I was adopted when I was a newborn, and I have never met the woman who gave birth to me. I have always known that I was adopted, and not only did I never feel strange or weird about it - I felt like it made me pretty special. When I was a teenager, I thought for a little while that I might want to try and find the woman who gave me up, but then decided against it, and I still feel the same way. I never wished that my parents hadn't adopted me - the only thing I would have changed was what they named me. When I was young, I would wonder if someone else had adopted me, would they have named me Tiffany? I know.....but that's what I wondered!
When I was younger (maybe 10? 7?) I won a coloring contest at Dairy Queen.
I love to read.
I have lived in or very near my hometown my entire life. My husband and I came thisclose to moving away once, and I chickened out at the last minute.
I have a degree in elementary education. I work at a "diversified power management company".

Well, enough about me. Now it's time for me to nominate some other fun blogs:

Julie at Foursons
Traci at The New Yorkers
Kelly at Random Kelly
*KMama at The Daily Dribbles
Christine at typeAchronicles

*KMama was also given this award by Momma Pixie, but that's OK.

So, thank you to all my fans. Without you, this MAJOR AWARD would have never been possible.

I love you all.

This One's For You, Mom!

2010-01-17T21:40:00.000-05:00

Hi Mom.

I added the link back to 365v40 back at the top :)

Just for you.

More *real* updates later.

Letters of Intent 1-15-10

2010-01-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

Hooray hooray! It's finally Friday, and we all know what that means: Letters of Intent! This is a fun blog carnival hosted by Julie at Foursons.

After you've read my (not-so-sarcastic-this-week) letter, head over to her blog to read some other fantastic letters!

Dear Elizabeth and Alexandra,

Even though I see you every single day, I still find it so very hard to believe that you are already 7 and 4. It really (really!) feels like just a couple of weeks ago that I brought each of you home from the hospital.

I am writing to ask you: please, please, please, please, please: don't grow up too fast.

Except, it's already happening. So maybe, please slow down a little bit.

I am asking you because a few years back, when I would be sitting with you, in your dark room, in the middle of the night nursing you for the 4th time that night, I would think to myself: "I can't wait to be able to sleep all night long again". But now? Now I miss those times. Because even though I was so very tired, you were so warm and snuggly and sweet. And now one of you is too big to sit with me in the rocking chair and the other one of you is almost there.

I am asking you this because even though, in the middle of hearing "Mom", "Mama" and "Mommy" for the one million-th time in 15 minutes, and listening to you argue over who's going to push who through the house on the Doramobile car makes me feel frazzled and tired and stressed, I now know that I will miss those times in 10 years when you're both teenagers and won't want to have anything to do with me.

So, let's make a pact: if you slow down with the growing up thing, I will make sure that I savor all of my time with you (even the less than fun times) because I know none of them - the good or the bad - will last long enough.

Love,

Mom/Mama/Mommy