Monday Messages

Dear Monday,
I'm so tired and worthless today that I don't even feel like writing. But I will. Because I'm not a quitter. Even though sleep is really sounding good right about now.
Truly,
Sleepy

Dear Hair,
I think it is interesting to note that you are still falling out at a rate that is...yes...still alarming. Considering that I emptied the animal from my trash can last week and a new one is rapidly forming, I am giving serious thought to another doctor visit. I will wait a few weeks while I keep trying the other things that my wonderful blog readers suggested. I think I've reached the end of all the suggestions, so now I guess I'll wait and see if any of them worked. Changed shampoo - CHECK. Taking hair and nail vitamins - CHECK. Get a trim (actually they layered it to make it look fuller but it still feels really thin even though it looks a little better now) - CHECK. Possible iodine deficiency...read a book about it and taking supplements to see what happens - CHECK. Taking a multivitamin - CHECK. So come on now, hair. How bout sticking around for a few more years, huh?
Sincerely,
The Head You're Supposed to Stay Attached To

Dear Camera,
I will get all those un-downloaded pictures off of you very soon. I hope. And maybe they will even make it to the blog. Maybe.
The Shutter-Bug

Dear internets,
I found lots of fun stuff this week....for instance....did you know that if you subscribe to a bunch of blogs in Google reader, you can put a 'next' button in your bookmarks at the top of your browser and every time you hit it, it goes to the newest post in your subscriptions? Not only that, but directly to the blog post so no more having to click over to make comments. AND it marks it as read in your subscription list. How cool is that? Here's where I found out about that nifty little trick...they can tell you how to do it, too! And get this...when you hit the 'next' button and you have no more new posts to read, you find the end of the internet!!!!! I didn't even KNOW there was an end to the internet. Hahaha. Pretty funny, that. Then I spent more time reading about home management notebooks on one of my new favorite sites (simple mom) and thought about the fact that I should totally be more organized. *SIGH* THEN, I checked my email and found one of those cooking newsletters with a yummy sounding recipe. So I added it to this weeks menu and tried it tonight. And it was so good, that I'm going to add it to my recipe box as soon as I publish this post. Oh and yesterday I spent a zillion a few hours checking out a top quality free blogger template site (at least I haven't found any secretly downloaded viruses attacking my computer YET) and then picked one out for KC's friend because KC asked me to....and then I re-wrote (or copy/pasted, as the case may be...hey, that STILL REQUIRES TALENT, let me tell ya!) about half of the code to make it blogger fonts & colors compatible so that KC's friend could just "plug and play." Yes...I'm so nice.
And really....I could go on forever (wanna hear about worm farms? surfed by some interesting posts on THAT, too....LOL!)...the internet has been SOOO intriguing this week. But I'll stop. Sleep calleth. So, my dear internets. Go forth and click.
Love,

Menu Plan Monday

Trying to get back on top of this again...

• Monday: Ranch Chicken Tacos (nts: need lettuce, taco shells)
• Tuesday: Meatballs in the crockpot, spaghetti (nts: need garlic bread)
• Wednesday: Chick-fil-A  (lol)
• Thursday: Taco Salad (nts: need ground beef)
• Friday: Sandwiches or Frozen Pizza (nts: need bread)

My Hubby...

Has a new love interest.  Lucky for me him, it's a blog and not a person.  I'd hate to have to hurt somebody, ya know?  LOL! 

Anyways, he's making me a little sick, because his new blog?  Well, he's got the traffic in one week that it took me about six months to pick up.  HAHA. 

Yeah, I'm not jealous. 

And really, it's not him making me sick...it's this stinkin' cold.  So I guess I'll forgive him and say lots of nice things.  Like how professional his blog looks and how he did a really good job of tweaking the code to make it look awesome.  And then there's his posting.  Brilliant guy, my hubby.  Now for anyone who is bored by the stock market, it's probably not the blog for you (I confess, unless he's telling me how much money he's making, I sometimes fight the yawns, myself) but since I love him and everything almost everything that he is interested in, I try to be supportive.  In all aspects....including the learning process (note Rule#6...LoL)

....and yes, what he said in Rule#6 was kind of a big deal for me to wrap my brain around, but he has learned...and after about six months hours, I forgave him.  Naturally, forgiveness is much easier when I see him applying what he's learned to bring some of that money back...haha...but I kid...really....after seeing how bad he felt about learning the hard way, I couldn't really be mad.  It also helped that I tried not to think about it.  Maybe I should start a blog about how to be the wife of a stock fanatic...hahaha.

So I figure I'll blog about him now so that I can say "I knew him when" because that may come sooner rather than later. 

Oh, and if for nothing else, go to his blog and check out his blog header....because yours truly was his bloggy technical assistant and header designer.  By bloggy technical assistant, I mean that I answered lots of questions like: where do you find the code that makes this letter bigger?  And how do you get this box to move over there?  Can you change the color of this graphic and design me a header? .....and you get the point.  I'm not complaining though...he's finally as interested in blogging as I am.  Haha!

Want To Know A Secret?

Alternate Title: How To Get Kids To Think Your Car ROCKS.
Alternate Title 2: Want To Hit The Jackpot Every Time You Do Some Funky Driving?

Curious yet? 

Well, this past Saturday was the Sunday School Class Trip of the class in which I am teacher's assistant to an awesome teacher (who also happens to be one of my all-time best-est friends -- which made everything much more fun...or funny as the case may be). 

Fifteen kids between the ages of 8 and 13, so we ended up taking three vehicles.  We both brought our hubby's to help chaperone, so we made them each drive a vehicle and us girls (who were in the minority) rode in my Pilot. 

We had a good reason though, besides being in the minority, which was that K needed to count out the token rewards that each of the kids had earned over the last 6 months of class.  The tokens we had previously purchased from Chuck E Cheese's where we were taking the kids for an afternoon of fun and games. 

So we stopped to get gas in all three vehicles before heading to the town down the road with the 15 kids, and K ran into the store to grab a box of baggies so that she could separate each kid's tokens.  I finished pumping the gas and decided to pull around to the side so that the tanks would be open while I waited for the rest of our crew, so I pulled slowly around the parking lot. 

As I turned, the token cups started sliding across the dash.  I thought they were bagged (and 400 of them were) but unfortunately, I didn't realize that 2 cups were not in bags.  I caught one cup but the other one dumped.  100 tokens scattered. 

So here's a secret.  Let me just tell you.  If small thin objects fall in that crack where the windshield meets the dash, you may never see them again.  But you will hear them.  And if you bang the side of the dash with your hand, it will earn you about 3 dollars worth of tokens and a bruised hand (poor K).  Also,  if you use your car as a stunt mobile, one or two may come dropping out near your feet. 

However, if you open your hood and peer all around the wheel wells, you will only get funny looks from random passers-by.  And trying to remove the glove box will not reward you with anything other than a scraped hand.  But they are all in there, you will hear them.  And if your driving earns you a token or five, kids will be so impressed!

The good news is, if my car dies today, I know it will be worth at least $15.

Ten on Tuesday: Vacation Activities

Ten favorite things to do on vacation: official site here

1. Relax (yeah, I know...that's kinda the whole point of vacation)
2. Sleep in (although it doesn't happen much when you vacation with kids)
3. Go shopping
4. See the local tourist attractions
5. Go shopping
6. Lay out on the beach
7. Stay up late
8. Go....swimming (I almost said shopping....haha...I really do love shopping on vacation because we always put shopping money in our vacation budget so I always feel like I can splurge a little when we're on vacation...LOL!)
9. Have donuts for breakfast
10. Take sightseeing walks

CAN WE FIX IT?

YES, WE CAN!!!!!!!

SORRY...you missed the pictures.  They are now only on the private photo blog where I post pics that show the kids faces(email me if you don't have access to that one but you want to see the pics). 

KC took the day off work today and rented this digger and he and a guy from church finished the filling in behind the wall (my back is ever so thankful) and now it's done.  When I got home with the kids this afternoon and saw the tractor sitting in the yard, it immediately made me think of Scoop from Bob the Builder.

So what's a mom to do?  Yep...you guessed it...she went and got the Bob the Builder costume that someone gave K-man, the Bob the Builder hardhat that she found at the consignment sale for $1.00, put her son into them (no bribing required...isn't that surprising?? LOL!), grabbed a camera and plopped him in the driver's seat.

And then of course, doctored the picture in Photoshop to say SCOOP instead of the brand of digger it actually was...LOL!

He was happy as a bug in a rug....until it was time for him to get off.  "NOOOO...MY TRACTOR!!!  I'm BOB!!!  NOOOOO!"

Funniest thing was, though, of course Munchkin wanted a turn, but she's all posin' on the thing and could care less that it's a tractor...LOL!  She's so girly. 

See the pictures HERE!

Hello Monday

Dear Monday Messages,
This will be a short edition because my index finger is not feeling so hot.  I jabbed it on something sharp in my purse, right under the nail (OW!), and after it stopped bleeding profusely, has been painful and throbbing ever since.  Kinda makes it hard to type.  Or to do much of anything, actually.  You don't realize how much you use your index finger until it hurts to use it.  *sigh*
Sincerely,
Pained

Dear Backyard,
It's nice to see a little progress.  And fortunately, I remembered to take a few pictures today so that we'd have a "sorta" before shot.  Although it's kinda in the middle of the backyard project now.  Anyway, we moved the pile of lumber to a neat stack in the woods tonight, where it shall remain for who knows how long...probably until it magically reforms itself into something resembling a playground.  And since we all know that those things just don't magically put themselves back together, it's anyone's guess as to when it will actually look like a playground again...especially since it is now not such an eyesore and therefore not such a priority to fix...haha.  But thanks for your patience, my dear backyard.  We will have you all nice and livable before summer (hopefully).  =) 
Yours Until We Sell (whenever THAT might be)
One of the Homeowners

Dear Giant Rocks,
Whew.  Too bad I couldn't back the truck all the way over to the hill where you needed to be in order to unload you....instead I was forced to employ child labor (LOL) for the little rocks and haul the big ones myself -- all the way across the yard about fifty zillion times.  And then you had the nerve to only cover a pathetically small part of the hill.  Ohhhhh...well. 
Seriously,
Tired

Dear Double-Stuffed Oreos,
I am very truly grateful for your therapeutic (albeit slightly fattening) qualities....off to eat you now...
Love,
A Cookie Monster

Dear Fellow Bloggers,
Any interest in joining me for your own set of Monday Messages???  I'm contemplating making a button if anyone else wants to participate...just let me know!
Sincerely,

A Hairy Sitch-ee-a-shun

Remember how I mentioned that I'm having issues with my hair these days?  Well, I'm not sure what's causing it, but something is definitely going on.  I counted yesterday afternoon when I was combing out my wet hair (very very very gently) and in two strokes, approximately 35 hairs were no longer attached to my head.  Considering that it takes at least 20x to get my hair combed out after a shower, well...that's a lotta hair.  And my hair was thin already!  KC says he feels like he's going from being married to Cousin Itt to Uncle Fester.  I said bad comparison.  LOL!

If it was only falling out right after a shower, it wouldn't be so bad, but it's coming out at an alarming rate and at any given moment, I can produce around 10 strands.  (Who needs to buy dental floss??  I'm KIDDING).  But seriously! Come on...not counting everywhere else in the house or car that you can find various strands of extremely long hair, JUST in the bathroom trash can, it looks like this little guy is sleeping in the trash can. 

Of course, he's not.  But I would feel much better if he WERE.  Because the alternative to something that cute....is totally gross.

Hopefully giant hairballs don't gross you out.  If it did, I'm sorry...but at least you have the comfort of knowing all that hair is not missing from your head.  I'm laughing.  Really.  =)

But I'm also taking Hair & Nails (giant horse pills, so that should help my mane, right?), eating lots of extra protein, taking my vitamins, and switching shampoos.  And let's not forget LAUGHING about it...laughter is the best medicine, I've heard.  LOL!  Hopefully SOMETHING will help.

If it doesn't, my head may soon more closely resemble Dopey's than that of Snow White.....  

Would'a Could'a Should'a

In other words...I really need to post something but I'm not really feeling it.  Nevertheless, the laundry is in the washer and I can sit down for a moment without feeling too guilty, but while I'm sitting, I figured I should post so that would be one less thing to feel guilty about not getting done.  LOL.

I REALLY need to get busy on some of my computer work but the weather is so nice I haven't done much on the computer to-do list.  *Mentally pushing away the pricks of guilt over what isn't getting done*  Yikes. 

Last night was the volunteer night of the consignment sale in the next county...I volunteered a four hour shift for next week and all who do that get to go in a night early but I was a little disappointed because they didn't really have the specific items I was looking for although I did find some cute dresses for Munchkin to grow into (I'm sure she'll be in them by summer).  Maybe if I run out of things to take pictures of (which is not likely...but who knows), but maybe I'll just put her in them and take a few pics.  LOL.

Other stuff...let's see.  LOST was a bit interesting last night (well, actually it was Wednesday night but we can't download it until the next day...LOL).  Every week, I read the LOST recap that Rocks In My Dryer does (of course, I have to force myself to not read it until after I watch it) but honestly, I'm not sure which is funnier...her recap or the actual show.  My favorite part this week was in the time warp when Sawyer told Jack, Kate, and Hurley that they were now in 1970-something and Hurley was like...."Uh...HUH?"  Classic...oh and the Hurley line, "I vote for not camping."  So funny.

Trying to think....huh, it's not working.  LOL. 

Oh, I actually have like 4 draft posts started but I don't know when I'll get around to finishing and posting them.  They're tougher because they actually have a point....unlike the random blathering posts like this one.  Which means that I have to actually formulate more than one paragraph about the same topic....or collect my thoughts to make random things flow together to a point.  Obviously, I can't do these on a regular basis because if I did that, I most definitely wouldn't post very often...haha. 

ANYWAYS. 

Well, before I go, here are some pics of the dirt pile I've been working on....only I haven't been on it this week though.  No, this week I found OTHER ways to kill my back (read: steam cleaning carpets...oh, and think giant rubbermaid tote full of books for storage and a pull-down attic stair....uh...yep...that was painful). 

Anyways, you can see from these pictures that this was a pretty good sized dirt pile...there are still a few little lumps on the very top level that I need to level off and throw down in the hole but then we'll have to use fill dirt to finish it up.  The whole pathway area was as tall as the top level when I started and I dug it down in a slope so the kids could at least walk up it instead of having to use the neighbors yard to get to the playset...haha. 

Kay...that's it -- I'm leaving.  This should be enough random to keep you going for awhile, right?  Haha.  Catch'a later!

PS Mom, I did better today...I ate 3 eggs and toast for breakfast this morning, green beans & taters for lunch, and a chicken sandwich for supper.  Three square meals.  Are you proud?  I knew you would be.  I promise...yesterday was not a normal occurrence...I generally DO eat something before 5pm.  That only happened a couple of days this week....things just get so busy...but I'll try to make myself stop and eat.  Kay?  

A Little Humor

You know, I just LOVE Garfield, but strangely enough, I find myself relating to Jon in today's comic.  LOL!

Chill Pill

Plus a few other random bits of useless information.... (what else is new, right?)

So today I did the ol' scrubbing of the carpets to KC's "racecar" (as K-man calls the black Honda) before I took the rug doc back to the rental place.  That helped my back feel so much better.  (please note the sarcasm)  However, the racecar interior is sparkling clean (because I also armor-all'ed the dash and used leather polish on the seats) and smells like a new car.  I LOVE THAT!  Note to self, rent a carpet steamer more than once a decade. 

Then I decided I deserved a break actually I just couldn't get up after I sat down and spent a couple of minutes hours on the couch trying to convince myself that I didn't have time to take a nap (the little angel on my right shoulder won that arguement but the little devil on the other shoulder talked me out of finding something productive that could be done sitting down, so the time was still rather useless). 

After that it was a committee meeting that lasted a little longer than intended because some of us were having a little too much fun.  And speaking of, here's a pic of what I think might be a "handful of weeds" that my nephew (okay, so not technically, but at the current rate of reproduction, I may NEVER have a TECHNICAL nephew, it's okay though, I'm happy being a kinda "aunt") ever so sweetly brought me while we were in the meeting. 

They had little teeny tiny flowers on them, but when I zoomed in with digital macro, they look big....and REALLY PRETTY.  Awwww.  "G" was off playing when I took this pic or I'd have included him in it.  Anywho. 

Ended up with another night in which I did not cook.  Also had no groceries since I haven't yet gotten them for this week and last week I managed to find recipes using only what was in the pantry.....

BUT THE MUNCHKIN HAD A GOOD DAY AT SCHOOL.  So we went and got a little chicken and took the kids to take a walk in the park.  YAY.  And I had a bit of fun with the camera.  Oh, happy day!  

Okay....this might be picture overload but hey...making up for all those times I was a slacker, right?

Anyways, here we go....

It's All About Perspective....

K-man on the move...typical!

 
Ahhh...this picture just makes me feel relaxed.

"Comin', Mom?"

 
DUCKS!

K-man -- taking a closer look at the ground....hehehe!

 
From the Munchkin's point of view
(sidenote: it should be interesting now that Munchkin knows how to use a camera and I am able to hand off the camera to someone other than a random stranger to get pictures of me and KC...LOL!  She didn't do half bad either...I only had to straighten it up and do minor cropping/editing in photoshop)

This one didn't turn out so hot.  But oh well.  Win some, lose some.

These totally crack me up...especially the exasperated KC look (K-man didn't want to turn around and come back...he wanted to keep going)

And then a couple more shots while we were on the little pier.  I like the big picture here but the little picture is kinda funny...hehe.

This is it for the park pictures (well, the ones I uploaded and websized anyway).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One other thing while I'm thinking about it....you know that Bloodborne Pathogens class we had to take last Thursday?  Well, I didn't anticipate using that training in less than two days.  A guy chopped up his fingers at the church workday and left a bloody trail behind him when he left for the ER.  And while I'm certain that he's a healthy guy with no infectious diseases, these days you can catch anything (hello buffet bars - scary) without ever doing anything wrong, so we took precautions and put on gloves to clean up.  Dear heavens, it was a mess, too...in case you don't know this, a skill saw throws blood everywhere when it runs over fingers.  Yikes.  Makes my stomach a little queasy thinking about it....and if you REALLY want to get queasy, go look at his pictures of it....HERE.

Okay...that's it.  I have to go.  KC has already hit the sack and I am pretty tired myself...

Ten On Tuesday: Songs

But not just any songs, songs you HATE.  Hum.  This should be pretty easy.

1. Anything Jimmy Buffet is singing
2. Particularly Margaritaville....(EW)
3. Friends in Low Places (dumb song)
4. Dust On The Bottle (another dumb one)
5. Before He Cheats (this one totally irritates me)
6. Here Comes Santa Clause (cuz it gets stuck in my head and it's dumb)
7. Goodbye Earl (so WHY did Earl have to die?)
8. I Want It That Way (I'm not sure if this song irritates me more because I listened to it way too many times when I was a kid or just because it's just plain irritating)
9. My Humps (I've never actually tried to listen to this song or figure out exactly what they are talking about but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know)
10. Barbie Girl (I think it was the voices....but really the song is kinda silly, too)

Wow...I could totally keep going.  That was the easiest ten list yet, I think.  Good thing cuz I really don't have the time to be here even now.  LOL.  Official site here if you want to see everyone else's lists.

We're gonna go take a chill pill for the evening and take a walk in the park, I think (we're waiting on another someone before we can leave the house --UGH).  Hopefully it will work out because I could use a chill pill. 

FYI and possibly TMI: Midol takes wonderful care of lower back pain even if your back pain is more related to the fact that you are abusing it and not related to being a girl.  Not that I would ever abuse my back.  Ever.  (HA!)

Good Heavens

This week is not getting off on a better foot.

Other than the fact that the majority of carpeted things on our property have now been rug doctored, math has been tutored, and there are about 500 less spots on the carpet at the church (that was thanks to Sis. T.M. and the Rug Dr, I just helped), there hasn't been much gone good today.

Letssssss seeeeee.....

The weekly menu?  Well, let's see...KC brought home pizza (thanks, hun) so bad me on supper tonight.

Munchkin's terrible week last week that she promised her behavior would be better today?  Much worse. 

Laundry?  Still needs folding...currently around 3 baskets on our bed.

Dishes that were piled in the sink?  Well, if it wasn't for my sweet honey...they'd still be there.

Blogging?  Uh...well....

Everything else on the mile long to-do list?  Unchanged.

My back?  KILLING ME.

My efforts at providing myself a slow and painful death?  Well, those are going quite well. 

But at least when I die, maybe the dirt will all be behind the wall, the carpet in the house may still be the slightest bit damp, and the carpets in the car will be all fresh, clean, and aromatic (and also slightly wet).

If I'm still alive and I happen to finish my to-do list in the next few hours, I might come back with pictures.  Since both of those options are looking slightly iffy and one a LOT more iffy than the other, I don't know that I would count on seeing pics tonight.  LOL!!  But hey...miracles could happen, right?

Another Crazy Week

Okay, I'll have to come back later and update this post with more than just this paragraph, but this week was no better than last week (as evidenced by the fact that I haven't posted since Tuesday....sheesh...I have GOT to get going again!!!)

Anywho....to be continued...

Kay.  I'm back.  A few quick highlights of what I've been up to since last posting...

Wednesday: Tried to kill myself filling up the ditch behind the retaining wall with the dirt piled up behind it.  Got the kids and worked on laundry and housekeeping.

Thursday: A second math session with my tutoree, ended up having her little sis tagging along as well while her parents went out of town (little sis had math, too, but she didn't need any help with hers), picked up the munchkin and took her to the doc around lunchtime (she was perfectly healthy, just apparently full of drama in all her health complaints), then headed to the town down the road with all the girls and did a little shopping and took munchkin to a speech evaluation at a Therapy Center to get a second opinion on where she's at with her speech (she's doing good, there, too).  Got back into our town and met up with the girl's sister for her to take them back home and then KC and I had a Bloodborne Pathogen's class for foster care (I'd already had it, but I went with KC anyways because he felt like he shouldn't have to go through that alone...lol!).  That was kinda a long day.

Friday: Dr appt for me cuz I have a knot on my finger (dr said it's a wart, but it sure doesn't look like it to me....guess he's the expert though) and my hair is falling out like crazy.  Never had it fall out like this before but anyways, it was worrying me.  But doc said it's probably stress related from when I was sick a month ago...guess we'll see.  I guess I must be where munchkin gets her health drama from, huh?  LOL!  Anyways, did a little more shopping therapy after dr appointment and came back home to work on parental consent forms for our sunday school class trip next weekend.  Finished that, and went with KC to re-finance the house (dropped our house payment by $150/month) and even if it goes up in the next couple of years, it will be four years before we are even at the percentage we were before today, so we're good for awhile.  Came home, got the kids, got some scrappy stuff together, took Munchkin to my cousin's to scrapbook.  Computer went on the blink, got it running again and now I'm downloading every last thing onto discs in case it doesn't recover from the next blink.  Can't handle losing any more pics or data....and every blink takes a little longer to get going again...not a good sign.  I got a feeling there is a complete system wipe in the near future, which is why I am in a panic and backing up all my stuff.  Not to mention I gots lots of scrappy stuff on my computer with the digital scrapping stuff I've been doing and I'd REALLY really REALLY hate to lose all that.  *cringing*

I think that's the last few days in a nutshell. 

Hopefully I'll do a better job of staying on top of the writing stuff sooner rather than later.  LOL!

PS do you have any idea how many discs it's gonna take me to get this stuff backed up?  Me either.

PPS a blog post I thought was funny today....Dr. B's Secrets To Longevity (the part that really struck me: "I am not certain why some people live so long, but it seems most of them are sweet little old ladies or farmers.  For the most part aggressive and hostile chain smokers don’t seem fit the profile, although I guess there are a few."  LOL!  Guess it pays to be sweet, huh?  Teehee)

PPPS while we're on age and getting old, I was reminded of this funny email forward....so I dug around a bit and thought I'd share...have a lovely evening (what's left of it)...=)

One day, God created the dog and said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.”

The dog said, “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?” So God agreed.

On the next day, God created the monkey and said, “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.”

The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?” And God agreed.

On the next day, God created the cow and said, “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.”

The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?” And God agreed again.

Then on the next day, God created man and said, “Eat, sleep, play and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.”

But man said, “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay,” said God, “You asked for it.”

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you. Go live.

Randomosity

Well, I'm bummed out.  I was all productive (well, for part of the day I was) and then tonight around 8:45 I realized I totally missed SNO (Sister's Night Out) with the girls from church.  And I was soooo looking forward to it, too. 

But, no use cryin' over spilt milk, I reckon, so I'll just move right on.  At least I did get to visit with a Sister today when I went over to her house to go through her grandson's outgrown clothes.  And K-man is set for summer shirts now, so that's a double blessing.

I woke up this morning with a splitting headache and after I took the kids to school, I came back and was so sick on my stomach I could hardly even stand the thought of taking migraine medicine, but I made myself take it, and then laid down on the couch and pulled a blanket over my head to block out the light (which helped quite a bit).  Only I fell asleep.  And woke up around 11:30 with only a slight trace of the headache.  Thank God (and Excedrin) for that, at least, even if the day was half gone.

You know, I have some thoughts on that medicine business.  I've heard people say that you should trust God to heal you and not take medicine.  I've heard others say that you can trust God AND take the medicine because God is the one that allows the medicine to work.  And then of course there's everyone else on the "if you don't have faith to believe God is gonna heal you, just take the medicine" wagon.  I'm not sure which wagon I'm riding in...but I was thinking the other day that saying you can take medicine but God allows the medicine to work or not is kinda like saying you can take illegal substances and if God doesn't want you to get high, they won't affect you.  Which is obviously not a good theory at all.  Know what I mean?  Anyways.  I DO think that God gave man wisdom to create the medicine and if it makes my headache go away, I can thank God that the medicine exists.  LOL.  In a round about way, if God hadn't created man, then medicine wouldn't have been created either, so therefore God is responsible for all of it.  However, that would make God also responsible for the EVIL things that man has created also and this is making my head hurt again. 

Moving on.

I took this picture of myself in this new shirt a friend got for me.  LOL.  Anyways, I forgot to post it earlier, and since it fit with this post, I figured why not?  LOL!  Please excuse the snake of wet hair on the right and the brief appearance of my double chin at the top of my neck.  I tried to chop it off but I missed a little bit.  And since it's hard to take a picture of the entire shirt while I was wearing it, it says: Randomosity (random flower) on the first line and then on the next line it says: Because you just NEVER know!!  I love the shirt, it's super comfy (I think that's cuz it's a guys shirt, but that doesn't bother me...comfort is priority...LOL!), and of course the word is rockin.  Not that I'm prideful or anything.  Tehehehe. 

In other news, there's a new addition to the recipe box in my sidebar.  I made the variation so I named it the way I cooked it.  Crock Pot Dr. Pepper Ham.  LOL...go check it out.  It was heavenly.  The bottom of the ham got a little too done I think but that was probably because I left it on high a little longer than I was supposed to.  But of course it still turned out good...anything with Dr Pepper simply COULDN'T taste bad. 

And I did have a Dr Pepper on my birthday.  I've done a little bad over the month of February, so now the number of DP's I've had this year would probably take 3 or 4 hands but that's still good considering we're in month THREE.  I just wanna know who made Dr. Pepper.  They put a little too much addictability in it. 

Addictability: the addictive property of an element.
-Dictionary of Faith

Anyway, this has been your weekly dose of random, hope it wasn't TOO boring.  If it was, you can watch this video and I'm sure your boredom will magically disappear.  Oh and you might want to use the bathroom before you hit play.

Have a pleasant evening!!!  =)

Birthday Flowers

Highlight of my birthday morning (although the awesome weather was pretty high up there, too).  But then I finished the afternoon with two kids who refused to lay down for a nap and wore themselves out and were grumpy the rest of the night. 

Happy Birthday, me.  And for the record, it was yesterday.  Today was better.  I need to see if I can get my birthday reassigned. 

Dear Monday,
You totally whooped up on yesterday.  What's up with that?  Highly unusual for you.  Leaves me with no messages for you today.
Thanks anyway.

Random Picture Challenge

This week's challenge

February 2009
or 1st folder

FIRST picture of something other than your kids!

 

A freshly painted red door.  (this is the second time it's been a home project...I should branch out in my photography...lol)

One of Those Weeks

Sorry....I know I've been absent this week.  Please forgive me.  The weekend isn't looking any less busy, but I will hopefully return to the usual bloggy schedule on Monday.  Thanks for your patience.  LOL.

Purty A Miracle

Looking at this on my computer screen, Munchkin gasps in wonder....

Pink Purple

"Click purple, mom! Ohhhhh, that's sooo cool!  Look a rainbow!  That's purty.....a miracle!"

 

***AHEM****

I've been informed that while clicking on all the different colors, one may come across some photography that may not be quite rated G....I think the photos are randomly selected and change every time you click, and while I saw nothing of the sort, please be forewarned....(thank you, Wendy, and sorry I didn't know in time to forewarn YOU...haha)....LOL!

This is the end of this public service announcement.

***********

Happy Square Root Day!

Square root day is a humorous holiday celebrated on dates where the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits in the current year. For example, this square root day is March 3, 2009 (3/3/09), and the next square root day will be April 4, 2016 (4/4/16). The final square root day of the century will occur on September 9, 2081. Each century it is the same nine dates that are square root days.

Happy Square Root Day!

And while we're on the topic of calendar days and events, my hubby informed me last night that this weekend is daylight savings time.  Spring forward.  So on Sunday morning, I'll lose an hour of sleep.  The injustice of it just amazes me.  What kind of rotten birthday gift is THAT? 

Monday Messages: Lions and Such

Dear March,
Well, you know all the old wives tales about thunder in winter and the size of the snowflakes and all, but if all those come true like the one about how you come in like a LION, then I guess in around 10 days we'll get another set of snowflakes.  Hopefully they will be little flakes b/c big flakes mean it's not gonna do much.  Right?  (Munchkin says yeah...and you know...she's the boss. LOL)
Sincerely,
A March Baby
PS Since I was born near the beginning of March, is that why I occasionally have trouble containing my roar?  Too bad I wasn't born near the END of March, because maybe THEN I'd be a little more lamb-like.  LOL!

Dear Munchkin,
Why are you making me read everything I type out loud to you?  (She says "CUZ").  Well, I'm getting ready to write about your tantrum.  Do you still want me to read it out loud?  (She says "YEAH")  Humph.  I guess I'll have to be nice then.  HAHAHAHAHAH.  Can I post the picture of you having your tantrum?  (She says "Yeah" and she's giggling....a side note here to Munchkin's future teenage self....YOU GAVE ME PERMISSION TO POST THIS).

 

Well I'd much rather you act like the NEXT picture instead of the LAST picture!!!!!

In case you didn't catch that, that was your snow "angel."  And you know, even if angelic behavior isn't involved, happy smiles like the NEXT picture are also pretty satisfactory!!!!

 

And then she disappears.  Anyways, Munchkin, as I was saying (now that I no longer have to read what I type out loud), my apologies on my bad mommy quality of laughing and taking a picture of you when you started whining about the hill.  I told you you were tired.  And you wanted to go again...it's a good thing I didn't listen to you.  Teehehe...I can only imagine the tantrum you'd have thrown the NEXT time we'd have come up that hill.  LOL!  At least the first hour was fun!  And on the bright side, not that I'd ever tell you this in real life until you're old enough to not take it as a challenge, that little fit was NOTHING compared to the fits you used to throw...you're getting better.  LOL!!!!
Love,
Mommy

Dear fellow hill riders,
Sorry if we caused you any undue snow eating....I'm only one adult with two completely inexperience sledders...and okay.  I'm not all that experienced myself.  Not to mention I'm a terrible driver and add to that two kids throwing everything off balance....we weren't intentionally zigzagging through your paths. 
Sincerely,
Hoping we were the only ones who had to eat snow due to my sled steering skills

Dear Hill,
Great ride but someone should TOTALLY install a lift here.  My legs are incredibly tired.
Sincerely,
Sore All Over

Dear Place In Our Town Where Hill Is Located,
I'm sure I speak for all the sledders out today, and definitely for my family, thank you for hosting the best sled hill in our town.  I love that the hill on your campus is open to the public.  It rocks!  Um, but maybe you could consider installing a ski lift...I'd pay to ride it!
Sincerely,
One of the Plastic Sled Riders (or Crashers, as the case may be)

Dear Bloggy People,
In case you were wondering, I am pretty sure that posting on the weekends drives up weekend traffic.  Now this is based on only TWO weekends of weekend posting, but it appears to be directly related.  Try it.  I'd love to know how it turns out for you.  And for you friends of mine in real life who...ahem....rarely blog....forget the weekend posting and JUST POST already.  *GRIN* 
Sincerely,
Your Fellow Blogger

While we're on the subject of traffic, more apologies for un-intentionally stopping traffic (well, more precisely, ONE car...since there wasn't many folks out this morning) when I was trying to take some pictures on my way back from sledding.  And to the white car who came up behind me when I was trying to get a cool shot of the snow-covered mountaintops that were visible in the distance, thanks for making me miss that shot.  NOT.  It's not like there was no way to go around me or something.  (rolling eyes)  See?  THERE ARE NO SNOW COVERED MOUNTAINTOPS IN THE BACKGROUND HERE!  UGH.
Sincerely,
Missed The Shot

Dear K-man,
You were SOOO adorable this afternoon.  After we got back this afternoon and had a warm bath and dry clothes and ate lunch, as you were enjoying your hot chocolate and getting ready to fall asleep, you ever so sweetly (and sleepily) said, "Thank you for my drink, Mommy." And when I said "You're welcome," you said, "Thank you for playing in the snow."  No, really, thank YOU, buddy, that just made all that effort totally worth it!
Sincerely,
Wiping Up The Puddle From My Melted Heart


Dear House and Yard,
You look totally different today than you did here.  Thanks for the hours of temporary hiding the mud. *GRIN*

Sincerely,
Needing To Sow Grass

Dear Rochelle, 
Here you go....a Monday Messages.  Since you requested it, I hereby dedicate this Lions and Such (the "such" being mostly snow related) edition of Monday Messages TO YOU - one of my favorite fellow bloggers!  Have a LOVELY day!  *grin*
Sincerely,