Ha!

I win this round....cuz I'm gonna beat HIM to it today. LOL!

10 Positives - Day 3

1. I got to go scrapbook today.
2. I took the K-man with me, and he was an absolute angel.
3. I was super impressed with his behavior...he even laid down in the living room right where we were all scrapbooking, he did it right when I told him to, and I covered him with his blanket and gave him his jaff (giraffe) and he laid still right there and fell asleep. Slept a good hour and a half in the midst of everyone talking and laughing....good as gold. I was SOO impressed. Shocked, yes, but definitely impressed.
4. We got to grill out again last night.
5. Got another load of rock put down the bank last night, so we're that much closer to being finished.
6. Most of the laundry is finished...just a few small loads that I can finish Monday if I don't feel like doing it today. What am I saying....of COURSE I don't feel like doing it today. LOL. No worries....I'm still being positive. Let me rephrase that....I'm positive I don't feel like doing it today. ROFL!!!
7. I did three scrapbook pages today. *sigh* I guess that's positive. Better than zero. LOL.
8. I got the dusting, vacuuming, litterbox & trash duty done before I left to go scrapbooking, so I came home to a mostly tidy looking house.
9. Held a baby kitten....aw. Six days old....and SOOO cute! Don't worry, honey, I'm not going to ask for one...hehehe. Now if it were a PUPPY, on the other hand.....*grin*
10. I'm looking forward to going to lunch with KC this coming week. I'm really liking the opportunity to meet KC on his lunch break now that I'm not working. It's kinda far to do it very frequently, but every now and then....it's really nice.

That's ten....gotta hop off now and finish the Saturday housecleaning.
Later!

Ya know that drumming thing I bought today?

LOL!

(Sorry for the sideways picture...I can't get it turned.)

Friday

Well....I got up early this morning and got a bit of a late start b/c I couldn't find the truck key, so I had to spend extra time searching, but then we found it and took the truck to get more rocks, then came home and changed vehicles and went back to the place I used to work and ate lunch with mom and Susan. Oh yeah, before lunch, I took the munchkin to the library b/c the library in that town is SOOO much nicer than the local library, and since I still have a card, it's worth it to do that when we go visit mom every couple of weeks. Ran some other errands, too, but I think I'll save that for the positives list. LOL.

Okay....so he beat me again, but my excuse is that I was out and not at my computer at all today. *grin*

10 Positives - Day 2

1. KC blogged two days in a row. And I didn't have to harrass him about it either....actually, I didn't even REMIND him! WOW.

2. I found an electronic drum set for $1.75 for the K-man at the thrift store half price sale today. It's really nice and the only one of the little drum heads doesn't work....the other 7 work fine. I just have to find something for him to use for drumsticks. He's gonna love it.

3. I also found a few other cute little things at the thrift store that were great deals. I took some pictures but I'm gonna have to come back after the list is posted to put them on here. I'm trying to finish before KC gets home and makes me go outside and work. LOL!!! (I'm kidding....sorta...HEHEHE) *Edited to add pictures....this shirt and pants were altogether $1.79...woohoo...like new!*

4. Got to see Mom and Susan and some of my other friends at the old job today....it was a very brief visit....but still nice.

5. Munchkin has not pushed the limits far enough to need consequences very often in the last two days (knock on wood). She's pushed the limits, but with small reminders, has not made choices that lead to consequences very many times. That is SO nice.

6. Oh yeah, and she's doing much better about whining, too! Hallelujah!

7. I think we're almost halfway done with the rocks down the drive way....I will be SO glad when that job is finished.

8. Oh, but I've gotten tan from being out there working on that project, so that's another positive...hehehe.

9. I've got a good handful of new books from the library, and I love, love, love having new stuff to read.

10. I found a really cute skirt at the thrift store, but I was able to remind myself that I didn't need to spend the money b/c I have plenty of skirts and just b/c it's cheap doesn't mean I need it. That is HUGE for me, people!!! I spent $6.30 total at the thrift store today and I ONLY bought things that we NEED. Well, okay, so the drumset probably wasn't a need, but K-man has definitely got a thing for drumming, and I want to encourage his musical abilities, so that kinda makes it a need. Oh, and the tracing plates for munchkin are to encourage her artistic abilities, plus they will occupy her for at least a few hours....so that's a need, too. HEY. I PUT THE SKIRT BACK. That's progress! LOL! *Edited to add pictures...note that they were $.19 each....that means I got them for 9.5 cents each at the half price sale....double whoohoo!!!!*

So there's my list. I'll try to come back an post some pics later. *edited to say....I JUST DID! Yay Me!* LOL!
=)

Deal or No Deal

So we made a deal last night (I'm sure you probably figured out what my end of the conversation sounded like based on my recent blog post....LOL). One week of trying to focus on the positives. He has to be positive about work and church and I have to be positive about the kids and house. Yeah. So now he's adding on to the deal....now I have to make a list like he did. And I have to blog it. Ten things. Not only that but ten things a day. Blogged. Boy.....he's feeling ambitious, huh, since if I have to do it, you better best believe I'll be making mister slacker blogger live up to his end of the deal.

Anyways.....since he's already beat me to the first list, I guess I'll get going. By the way, honey, I know you're reading this and I'm adding a new rule....can't repeat a positive. Except, I'll allow you to repeat the first one you used. I kinda liked that one. LOL!!!! Anyways, I'm kidding about the exceptions...so no repeats. *GRIN*

Ten Positives (Day 1)

1. K-man pooped in the potty tonight.

2. I have a really cute hubby on my computer desktop. (Oh and by the way, I got that really cool desktop here if anyone else wants to do that. You'll just need to know a bit of some photo editing to add your picture to it.)

3. My really cute hubby writes really sweet things about me on his blog. And as an additional fun thing, my really cute, sweet hubby has a sense of humor that just cracks me up. Regularly. I love that. Like just now, while opening a can of diet pepsi (a caffeine habit that we are both trying to break and are rationing out the small remainder of liquid heaven), he says in a very mournful Ice Age manner, "The latht diet pepthi." (you know....like those little birds playing football or whatever with the last melon? LOL) Anyways....so maybe only I would appreciate that, but hey. LOL.

4. Today I took lunch into Munchkin's room and we had a picnic on the floor on her little dishes where she was playing pretend camping.

5. Me and Munchkin got all the rocks out of the back of the truck this afternoon and put in the drainage ditch down one side of the drive.

6. I noticed when we were putting down the rocks that there is a LOT of new grass coming up where we tossed it out in a desperate attempt to keep the fresh topsoil we put out from washing away.

7. I took a 20 minute nap with the Munchkin when she laid down today and it felt really nice.

8. We have had some really really good services at church recently.

9. We grilled out on the grill for the first time tonight. KC burned it b/c he wasn't used to regulating the temperature. (No, really, that's a positive b/c I LOVE my hotdogs black. In the future, he'll get used to the grill and cook them normally, so I have to appreciate it for the moment. LOL)

10. Munchkin and I have started the Father's Day gifts from the kids to the Poppa, Pawpaw, and Daddy. We're doing wooden this year, so we got the base paint on the objects and now they are dry on the table and I need to get the rest of the projects completed. LOL.

Really, that wasn't TOO hard. The hard part was not adding in the rest of the story....like the fact that I just happened to be checking K-man's diaper when I saw a little something starting to appear, and it wasn't...um....juicy, so I rushed him to the toilet in time for him to go on the pot. Or the fact that KC took the keys to the truck with him to work, so we had to use the wheelbarrow and buckets to move all the rock from the truck all the way down the driveway b/c I couldn't move the truck any closer to the work area. Or that Munchkin only slept for about an hour instead of her usual 2+ hour nap....and that was after arguing for 15 minutes about wanting to keep playing.......well, you know. I'm like Paul Harvey...I just have a hard time not giving the rest of the story. HAHA.

Anyways...I'll quit for now....before I get negative again. LOL.

Later!

WELL.

My husband blogged. AW. Yay!

I'm sure I should do a list, too, but I have a diaper to change, a dirty kid who needs a bath, and plenty of other stuff to get done right now. *grin*

Anyways.....random conversation from today while unloading rocks from the back of the truck with Munchkin.

Munchkin: "Let's just do these buckets full, and then when daddy comes home, he can do the rest."
Mommy: laughing "Don't count on it."
Munchkin: "One, Two, Tee, Fow, Five. There, mommy."
Mommy: Turns her head so munchkin doesn't see her laughing because that was just a figure of speech and totally unexpected for her to take it that way.....and deciding to overlook the fact that mommy just said DON'T do something and munchkin DID it anyways.

Ugh. But it was still very funny.

Balance

bal·ance n.

1. A weighing device, especially one consisting of a rigid beam horizontally suspended by a low-friction support at its center, with identical weighing pans hung at either end, one of which holds an unknown weight while the effective weight in the other is increased by known amounts until the beam is level and motionless.
2. A state of equilibrium or parity characterized by cancellation of all forces by equal opposing forces.
8. The difference in magnitude between opposing forces or influences.

I've been thinking about it. You know about me trying not to be negative all the time. I think being positive all the time is just as wrong a picture. I've said before, "I'm not being negative, I'm being a realist."

I'm thinking though, the true view of things is really a balance between the two. Facts don't lie and I'm sorry....sometimes the facts are not positive. To ignore the facts b/c they are negative in order to only focus on the positive, well, it just doesn't work for me.

Granted, sometimes the focus can be so on the negative, that all the positive is just overlooked. I don't think that's quite the picture that should come across either, but I think the key is to find the balance between the two. I don't know....it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to be either one way or the other.

And let's face it....which conversation would last longer?

"How was the doctor's appointment?"

"It was great, everything checked out fine."

"Great........."

versus

"How was the doctor's appointment?"

"Well, he said I need to exercise more often and eat more bean sprouts and I'm not real keen on eating bean sprouts. And when do I have time to go to the gym?"

"Did he give you any suggestions for what time of day to eat the bean sprouts?"

"Yeah, he said to eat them on your ice cream, preferably right before you clean the bathroom mirror."

"Oh that sounds fun. What about the exercise?"

"Well, he said even going to the park and walking a mile would be preferable to sitting on the couch with a box of twinkies all day. Imagine that! So you wanna go walkin with me sometime?"

"Yeah, sure. Speaking of walking, did I tell you the other day that............"

Anyways....as you can see, straight up positive is a real conversation killer. Sheesh...that was negative, huh? LOL.

Oh well. I'm trying. Seriously.

Ten on Tuesday: Time Wasters

This week is Ten Favorite Time Wasters and somehow, I don't think I'll have trouble coming up with a few of my favorites off the top of my head. LOL.

1. Inspirational Novels (not necessarily romance, actually I prefer suspense and sci-fi, although from time to time I can enjoy a "fluff" book that's full of all kinds of sweetsie romantical stuff that I know does not happen on an everyday basis in real life....hehe...well, maybe in a perfect world....but not mine...HA!)
2. Yahoo Mail....I could read all those daily digests from flylady and photography tips and recipes and freecycle and digital scrapping--well....you get the point--for hours.
3. Blogger....especially on those times when I get in the mood to redecorate the old blog or design something for someone else.......hours....I'm tellin ya.
4. Yahoo Word Games (especially Literati and Text Twist)
5. Myspace (whoa, do you see a trend toward internet??? YIKES)
6. Doing the dishes. Oh wait...oops. Wrong list. Sorry....teeehehehehe!
7. Petting the cat.
8. Photoshop.
9. Magazines.
10. Eating Chocolate....mmmm.....I think I have a mini hershey bar stashed up over the fridge that is right this very minute calling my name. Hey....what a coincidence...that's ten....I'm outa here. Three guesses where I'm heading next and the first two don't count!!! HA!

Later!

Photoshop Fun...

Hmmm. I thought these should have showed up bigger than this. Phooey. Anyways, so maybe I'll hit post and then see if they get bigger when you click on them. If you can't read the text on the pictures, sorry. I tried...and I don't feel like going back and doing it all over. (Edited to add: the second set of edits will enlarge if you click it...don't know why the first one won't....oh well)

So anyways, for what it's worth. In talking to my friend, Casey, regarding what I do in photoshop, and after salivating over the cool before and after stuff on Pioneer Woman's website, I decided to play with a few myself. So here's one of Vi that I don't think made my cut on my editing choices....although it is still a good pic.... So I pulled it out and did the routine on it. This is the average amount of changes I do to any of the portraits I edit....most of the time a few small tweaks can make all the difference in the world.
Course, my life got 10 times simpler using Pioneer Woman's action set that she offers for free. It has most of the little tweaks that I did before plus a few new ones, but I can just hit play and it does them without me having to manually do them. It's great.

So then I decided to find something besides portraits to play with edits and actions on.....so this old pic (which isn't great, but alright) came out of the old pic files. Anyways, pretty neat stuff!

And just for the fun of it, here's a before and after of one of the edits I did yesterday. Not a huge difference, but it does make a difference. *grin*

What Have I Been Up To?

Well....kids are off with the grandparents until tomorrow morning before Sunday School, so we've had a weekend with no little ones.....

And so we spent it working our tails off.....I am SO sore. Started putting rock in the ditch down the drive, mulching the landscaping, putting in flower beds, you name it. Sheesh I'm tired.

This morning I went over to Kel's and we attempted a yardsale. Rained in the middle and dampened everything...including our prospective shoppers....made about $10-15. Oh well...had fun hanging out with Kelly anyways.

Came home and back at work on the landscaping stuff.

Oh yeah...and I've worked on a few more of Vi's pics....here are the ones I just did. I think these are some of my favorites.

And as in the last few...Pioneer Woman gets credit for those actions again. I am TOTALLY loving those actions!!!! Woohoo!

Today's Photo Session

More edits from today are posted on the Always Faith Photography blog. I think they turned out very well....it took awhile, but I finally got what I was looking for. *grin*

(Credit to Pioneer Woman for the photoshop actions used.)

Rare

Not very often do I find myself with time to blog.....naturally, when I find myself with this gift, I wouldn't have anything in my head to blog about. ROFL.

Figures.

Anyways....I scrapbooked this morning for a couple of hours....talk about being uninspired. That seems to be the common denominator of the day.....I put pictures on 5 pages.....but I forgot that I didn't have the doublesided tape refills that I needed, so I used a glue stick to temporarily hold them until I can actually scrapbook for real....so I didn't do anything except pick the papers and lay them in semi position. Oh well...will make my job easier next time I get ready to do some work on it. *grin* Maybe next time I'll be inspired to do some REAL scrapbooking. *sigh*

However, if I have time...I'm sure the inspiration will be in short supply. Murphy is not my friend, but he sure hangs around a lot. LOL.

Well....off to eat lunch and take pictures.....

Random (FUNNY) Conversation

Sitting in church tonight, I'd already taken Mr. Potty-Training-Dude to the bathroom once and it was about time for him to try again so I nudged KC and said, "hey....he's not wearing diapers, pull ups are kinda like underwear.....heh....YOUR TURN!!!!"

So KC takes K-man out and a little while later they come back in.

Me: Did he go?
KC: Yeah. All over my SHOE.
Me: Um...you should have experience in the aim department, how did that happen?
KC: Well, HE obviously doesn't have aim.

Then he sticks his leg out and there's like sprinkles on his pant leg right above his shoe.

I almost busted out laughing right there in the middle of a serious part of the service. BWAHAHAHAAHAAAA!!!

Me: Laughing: Yeah, HE'S two. You kinda have to HELP him aim.
KC: Disgusted shrug

ROFL!!!!!!

Don't Know How I Feel.

Well, I got a phone call for an 8 year old girl and a 2 year old boy (2 out of a 4 sibling set but there is nobody in the county with place for all four) and they are currently in care and their other two siblings are also in care. These two are needing to be moved b/c their current foster parents are not cooperating with all the parties involved (the other parties being DSS, the foster parents with the other two kids, the visitations).

It's a complicated situation, but we know the foster parents who have the other two and I even called them and chatted for a little while to get a few details about the situation in order to make an informed decision. I know we could have worked with it, but we're just not sure that we're ready to be a family of six. The kids don't have any major issues with behavior or health or anything, so we could have done it, but it all boiled down to KC and myself not feeling "ready" to go from a two kid family to a four kid family right this minute.

So I called the social worker back and said no. I did tell her though, that if they couldn't find other placement, to please call us back. And then I called the other foster mom back and told her our decision. She completely understood.....which made me feel a little better.

Now I'm just not sure how I feel about it. I wonder if it might not have been a selfish decision not to take any more kids right now so that it doesn't inconvenience our life now that things have somewhat settled down. Then again, maybe it was the right decision that we really might not be able to handle having another kid in diapers and one that has to be transported to a different school district in another county (court ordered for the rest of this school year)...... Then again, maybe I just don't like telling people "no." LOL.....I should clarify....I don't like telling people over 4 feet tall, "no." LOL!!!!

I just don't know. Except that if they call us back I'd say yes. But for the time being...we're still a two kid family. And I'm cool with that.

Oh....and I haven't told KC yet, but I told my friend a few hours ago that, "yes, I'd ferret sit again for the weekend." LOL. He hates that ferret smell, but I don't mind it....I like the ferret. *grin*

Monday Messages: The Abbreviated Edition

Dear Munchkin,
Whining? Has got to stop. Yesterday. Thanks.
Love you.
Mom


Dear Mulch,
Moving you, tired, made me.
Sincerely,
Sore


Dear Self,
You need to buy a back brace if you are going to keep doing this manual labor thing. And don't forget to wear the work gloves.
Honestly,
Your Brain


Dear Life,
Can't figure out how I got all this done and worked full time. Cuz I still haven't found time to do anything fun....like scrapbook. Yuck.
Sincerely,
Still Don't Have Time


Dear K-man,
Hitting people is not nice. Thank you very much.
Love,
Mommy


Dear Eyelids,
Just a few more seconds and I'll allow you to close for the night. Just hang on.
Thanks,
The body connected to you


____
Kay that's it for that, but just to record this random conversation from today before it slips my mind......

As I was folding laundry on the bed today and munchkin is sitting on the bed petting the kitty.....

Kitty reaches out a paw and touches her hand.....

"AWWWWW.....bwess youw wittew hawt, kitty!!!! Bwess my wittew Jango's heawt!!!! Mommy, he patted my hand!!!!!" (Translation: Bless your little heart, kitty! Bless my little Jango's heart!!!)

I had to turn my head so she wouldn't see me cracking up.

Help. Me.

I really cannot decide which picture to use. I like them both for different reasons. Oh yeah and credits for the photoshop actions used in these pictures is Pioneer Woman's Action Set....which I LOVE....they are all awesome and best of all, includes a "Start all over" option for when I decide I don't like the direction it's going.

Anyways.....I guess I could print one on a card and then frame the other for his gift....but which one? HELP!

Camping Pictures....

Are posted on Myspace & Ringo.....they're both set to private so you have to be my friend to see them, but I think that most anyone who would want to see them IS my friend on one or the other, so that should work perfectly. LOL.

And here's a really crummy picture to whet your viewing appetite...ROFL!!! She wasn't quite in the ham mood this early in the morning.

THIS?

I don't know how yet....and I don't know what......but this?

is going to be a father's day gift.....shhhhh....pretend you didn't see that, KC. =)

This is the totally straight out of camera version....I'll keep ya posted when I do some Photoshoppin' tweaks to it. =) =)

A Partial List of Camping Gear

So let's see here.....to take the family out for one night of camping:
(Astericks beside the items that I have NOT yet procured)

Tent
*Tarp
*Rope
*Mat for tent entrance
Sleeping bags
Blankets
Sheets
Air Mattress
Pillows
Flashlight
Electric light
Lighter (actually, I think we may have one of these -- according to KC -- however, i have yet to locate it, so I may need to "procure" another one --- never mind...found it!!)
Bottled Water
Camp Chairs
Kids folding chairs
Kids Bike Helmets
Kids Bikes
Kids Water shoes & clothes for playin in the creek
Frisbee
Insect repellent
Couple of towels
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Soap
Comb
Toilet Paper
Aleve
Newspaper
Matches
Mallet
*Bungee Ties (have some of these but need more)
Broom
Camera (with a cleaned off memory card)
Extra battery and charger for camera
Video Camera
*Tiki torches
*Citronella candles
Extra batteries
Plastic Trash Bags
Plastic grocery sacks
*Plastic Dish pan (for washing up little people or dishes)
Dish Soap
Light Jackets just in case
2 changes of clothes
Diapers & wipes
Jammies for all members of the family
Flip Flops
Cooler
*Ice
Storage tote of food (all junk....like marshmallows and chocolate -- side note here that I should NOT have shown KC the coconut covered marshmallows....now I fear, I must add this to the items I must "procure" again. LOL!!!!!)
Skewers
Aluminum Foil
Paper Towels
*Canned Drinks
Pot Holders
*Tablecloth
Spatula
Knife
Can Opener
Plastic Tableware
Paper Plates
Napkins

What am I forgetting? Ah yes. The kitchen sink. LOL. Anything else???? Help a poor girl out here......

Random Conversations

Munchkin: "Can I have some much (mulch) in my cup?" (while "helping" me unload a truckload of topsoil in the front yard)
Mommy: "It's DIRT, Munchkin, NOT mulch."
Munchkin: *shaking head despondently* "You are SO right, mommy, it's dirt. I am SO wrong."
Mommy: *cracking up*



Mommy: "Will you please go get your cup?"
Munchkin: "Nooooo. I don't want to."
Mommy: "I didn't ask if you wanted to. Go get it."
Munchkin: "Whatever, mom."
Mommy: "Don't you whatever me, young lady."
Munchkin: " Sorry, mom."



Munchkin: "When's daddy coming home?"
Mommy: "Tonight after he gets done working."
Munchkin: "But I don't WANT him to come home tonight. I want him to come home toDAY!"
Mommy: "Sorry chicka, not how it works."
Munchkin: "Oh mannnn."

Ten on Tuesday: Talented?

10 Things You’re Really Good At

1. Worrying.
2. Folding Laundry (Note that this is things I'm good at, not things I enjoy.....ROFL!).
3. Having Weird Dreams.
4. Waking up grumpy.
5. Organizing things.
6. Scrapbooking.
7. Being inspired and never following up on it.
8. Feeling guilty.
9. Getting distracted.
10. Reading (I'm not a speed reader, but I'm pretty fast with pretty high comprehension).

Well....okay....there it is. My ten things....not all things to be proud of being good at, but certainly honest....hahaha.

Monday Messages: Uneventful Edition

Dear Monday Messages....
If my Monday's continue this uneventful trend, in which there is nothing catastrophic or unusual to gripe or complain about, then I shall be forced to find something different to do on Monday's besides writing messages. Because I'm having to dig rather deep to find anything interesting to write about now that I'm not in a state of constant aggravation on Mondays, and do you know how impossible it is to have any kind of deep thought while hanging out with a 4 year old all day? Yeah. Hence the reason I haven't blogged in like 5 days. So don't feel bad, my dear messages, it's not just your messages that have suffered.
Mourning the loss of intense thought-provoking topics/think-time,
Always.Faith


Dear Munchkin,
Really. You were already in your birthday suit and the bathtub is RIGHT BESIDE THE TOILET. Did you HAVE to have an "accident" of the brown kind in the bathtub? It's not that difficult. Come on already. *sigh*
Love you anyways but NOT happy about the dirty water problem,
Mommy


Dear Cashier at the Grocery Store,
Honey. You could totally be friendlier. I mean hey. It's your job to be nice. I'm sorry I inconvenienced you by purchasing groceries in your line but hey....get over it. On a scale of 1-10....I'd say you were pretty close to -5. Good thing nobody asked me to rate your service today. Then again, I tried not to be too irritated about it b/c I've sure woke up on the wrong side of the bed more often than I care to admit. Just ask my husband.
Sincerely,
Trying to be Patient


Dear Stay At Home Mommy Position,
I find I am adjusting rather well to not going to a "paying" job every day. Several things I have noticed are: 1. I work harder for less pay. 2. I am not minding in the least that if I want to lay down with the Munchkin for half an hour at her naptime and end up snoozing myself....then hey....I CAN! HAHA. That's LOVELY. 3. I check my email maybe twice a day if I'm lucky and I'm not constantly thinking about stuff on the internet....except on the rare occasion when I've decided not to do anything around the house and end up surfing the web out of boredom.....but most of the time...I've been too busy to think about it. That is amazing for me. LOL. 4. I am TOTALLY understanding what I've always heard about needing some adult conversation after a full day of conversing with a four year old. The days when I don't get out of the house are ten times worse. 5. I don't miss the deadlines....it's great to be able to just say...hey. Didn't get that done today....oh well...maybe tomorrow. LOL.
Anyways....all things considered, I haven't gone crazy yet and I'm pretty happy with the situation.
Sincerely,
The Domestic Diva
(only occasionally a desperate housewife....ROFL!)


Well....that's it for now....catch up again later....hopefully will do better about the occasional posting problem. Maybe.

=) Later!

Thursday Thirteen: BK (Before Kids)

Thirteen Things That Should Be Done Before Having Kids(Not that I would know or anything.....)

1. Wake up in the middle of the night and pause for a moment to savor the thought of not having a little feet pounding down the hall to join you in your bed, or to wake up a few minutes later with those same little feet jabbing your rear end.

2. Enjoy a really long shower without listening to see if little people are up and into everything yet.

3. Have a cookie. Or five. Without having to share and/or being a bad example of what NOT to eat for breakfast.

4. Carpool in five different vehicles to five different places and transfer an empty car seat to the new vehicle with each changeover. Oh yeah and you have to properly install carseat each time..... Imagine that times....oh say FIVE (since that happens to be my favorite number in this post) and consider yourself semi-prepared.

5. Eat ice cream. See #3.

6. Same goes for chocolate, candy, everything UN-healthy that you can think of, and appreciate not having to sneak around to do it so THEY won't want it or see how naughty mommy is being.

7. Private....romance time.....NUFF SAID.

8. Go to the bathroom without an audience announcing that "mommy is....."

9. Take a really long vacation. Enjoy the fact that you only pack for yourself (well...and hubby).

10. Also on that vacation, appreciate the fact that you can fly on two tickets instead of four and it's half the price. And quieter. No. REALLY appreciate that.

11. Go to more theme parks. Enjoy riding the big rides without having to take turns with the other parent watching the kids and having to ride the rides alone.

12. Take a long car trip....stop every half hour and find a restroom. Sanitize it completely, then use it. This is only a small taste of what it will be like and you will love it only because it means you are buying WAY fewer diapers.

13. Spend more time appreciating the moment you're in instead of wishing to be somewhere else. Actually, this works for after you have little kids, too....cuz mothers of big kids could probably make a list of things to appreciate before your little kids grow up into big kids. LOL.

Anywho.....I don't generally do this often enough to really go the whole mile with it, but here's the rest of the code anyways even though I probably won't go over there and link up. LOL.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Later!

Ten on Tuesday: Travel

10 Places You’d Love to Travel To (That You Haven’t Gone to Yet)

I think I posted something like this a while back but I cannot find the post....oh well. Maybe I'll come up with some new places since this is just dreaming and and I'm not even going to be frugal in my dreaming. HAH.

Kalmar Castle (Sweden) - Kalmar Castle, located near the site of Kalmar's medieval harbor, has played a crucial part in Swedish history since its initial construction as a fortified tower in the 12th century. Today, it is one of Sweden's best preserved renaissance castles. (Source: Wikipedia)

Sydney (Australia) - Australia’s oldest and biggest city, gateway to Australia, set on one of the world’s most stunning harbours, which extends either side in a golden chain of easy-to-reach, inner-city beaches....sounds great, right?

A Treesort (USA - West Coast) - Oh....the kid in me is SCREAMING over this one!!! Particularly the kid in me who absolutely adored reading the Swiss Family Robinson and dreamed of living in a treehouse........

Italy - I'm not sure the part of Italy that my ancestors are from, but I'd love to find out and then go there and see it. Just for fun.

Hohensalzburg Fortress (Austria) - Salzburg, where the hills are alive...

Grand Canyon - What can I say....I loved the Southwest when we visited Vegas and I was really bummed that we didn't make it out to the canyon while we were there.

Disney Cruise Cozumel - cuz I really wanna go there and what kid doesn't love Disney, so they could tag along, too. LOL!

Puerto Vallarta (photo right) - yeah....this sounds like where I want to spend some anniversary trip....know what I mean?

Montana Ranch Vacation - yeah, well, what can I say? sounds like fun.....plus a sore rear end....LOL.

Austria - the ultimate ski vacation....this one just sounds like something out of a really good romance novel....LOL.


Okay....I think that's ten. Wow, that was tough. I love Google. And Flickr. Wow. Now I really want to take a vacation. *sigh*

Monday Messages: First Monday At Home Edition

Dear House,
Why do I feel like you are going to require a LOT of my time now that I'm home? How in the world am I going to fit everything in.....I'm already wondering how I managed to keep everything juggled in addition to the full time job b/c without the job it's still a juggling act. EEK. This is definitely going to be a learning process.
Love,
Somewhat Panicked New StayAtHomeMom




Dear Munchkin,
Just cuz Mommy's home with you all day now, doesn't mean I can play games with you all day. I'm really sorry, I'd love to do that, but we've all got to do some adjusting here, and you're gonna have to learn to play on your own some. So please, stop asking me to play a game every five minutes. I'm still getting used to this....work with me here, okay?
Love,
Mommy


Dear Blog,
Not that anyone would notice, but part of the adjustments I'm making include starting draft posts on here in little spare moments and then working on them later before posting b/c if I wait until I have enough free time to do an entire post, that may never happen. I feel somewhat scattered by doing this, but I also feel much more inclined to hop on and post something if I know part of the work is already done. That makes me feel less of a slacker blogger.
Love,
Always.Faith
PS Speaking of pausing in the middle of posting, Munchkin just woke up from nap, so this blog post is now going into draft save....hehehee.


TO BE CONTINUED!
....and now I'm back. 6 hours later....LOL.


Dear Self,
You are going to have to not be such a perfectionist if you want to succeed at this stay at home business. I can see that RIGHT NOW. Cuz you are going to go insane trying to get everything done and this mommy guilt is going to drive you batty on top of it all. Good luck with that.....HA.
Honestly,
Knows better but Perfectionist Anyway


Dear Pediatrics Office....
Sorry for my wild screamin young'uns. I'm really not raising (un)holy terrors....even though it may have sounded like it. Trust me when I say that they spent their due time in the timeout chair when we got home. Perhaps next time will be quieter. Oh and by the way, it also makes it easier and much less irritating for all involved if things moved a little faster....although I'm well aware that sometimes it isn't possible to expedite these processes....it would be nice.
Sincerely,
That Mom


Dear Mom,
Did you miss me at work today? I think you might have called, but when I called you back I didn't get an answer. I hope you're not crying too hard. I miss you, but I sure don't miss work. LOL.
Love,
Your daughter and ex-coworker


Dear Arm,
OW. Stop being so SORE. It is completely unreasonable that you should wait a full week after I got that crazy shot in the arm at the doctors office to finally get sore. I mean, they said it would get really sore, but come on. A WEEK LATER? And you didn't hurt at all until just today. How dumb. Get over it already. Stop being such a whiner.
Sincerely,
The Body Connected To You


Dear Dreams,
I would really rather have crazy dreams than to dream all night long that I'm awake and can't go to sleep. Because I get confused really easily and I can't figure out if I was actually awake all night last night or if I was dreaming that I was awake when I was really sleeping the whole time...and then I am confused b/c I'm not sure if I'm opening my eyes to look at the clock b/c I'm still awake to see what time it is or if I'm dreaming that I'm checking the clock and I'm really still sleeping. And I don't know if I'm tired because I didn't sleep or if I'm tired cuz I've been busy all day. You've really got me all mixed up. Please don't do that. Okay? Cuz I'm a confused enough individual without adding stuff like that to the mix.
Thanks a ton for your understanding and cooperation!
Sincerely,
Fully Expecting a Great Dream to Make Up For the Confused State You Left Me In


And on that note, Always Faith is off to hopefully meet some happy dreams when she hits the sack tonight. =)

The Queen Mother Has Been BUSY!!!!!

Yesterday was Munchkin's 4th Birthday Party......and let me just tell ya. THIS thing over here on the left?


TOOK FOREVER!!!!


Mental note to self....

No more castles.


Anyways.....for a few more pictures.....

The princess and her castle....she liked it.

And the one below....is another little princess from church. Total sweetheart!

And a few more party guests playing....Lil Man (aka Bouncer that was with us last summer) and Baby G who is not such a baby anymore. *sigh* But STILL as CUTE AS EVER! And of course, Princess Munchkin....





For a few more pictures with K-man in them, see my myspace album which is private since I still can't post any pix of him on here.


Will try to come back and post more of what I've been up to, but not right now...gotta get the kids a snack before we leave for church.


So.....LATER!