It's me again.....Happy News Years

So it's 10am on New Year's Eve and I am reflecting on this past year which in my opinion was just not the best. I really let myself go mentally with this new job. It affected my family and my marriage. The best thing was they knew I was suffering and loved me in spite of. I am not saying everything is just great but it is getting better.

A new year is upon us and I already have something things to look forward too. Grad school is on the horizon and so is a new baby due to arrive this summer. I have made no resolutions this year. I am simply just hoping for God to shine an even brighter light on me, my family and friends.

On another note:

Oprah's OWN channel starts tomorrow! I am so excited! Inspiration all day long.......(sigh)

The TV show "The Game" is coming back on the air after 2 years and complaints by fans because of its cancellation

Income tax season is upon us.....$$$$$

Here's to hoping everyone has a great beginning to a new year. I have resided with the fact that hope what I am taking with me into 2011.

Happy New Year's Everybody!

I use to blog here

I guess I still do. When I get wrapped up in my feelings I tend to get lazy and eat. So obviously, I took a break from blogging and fattened up, almost re-entered grad school and I got a new job. Yes, ladies and gentlemen.....I finally found a new place to call my work home. Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for because I am not extremely fond of the new gig. I have learned quite a bit about myself through working at the new place. I like controlling my time. I don't like short travels. I LOVE MY FAMILY TO DEATH. I am selfish. I am a bit shallow and high maintenance. I would love to write for a living and just be mom. I love being heavily involved in the community. I love people. I would love to volunteer in stead of work because when i am done i can quit. I like quitting (I don't do it enough!)

Enough about me.....

I changed my oldest son's school and I am pleased about it....OVER THE MOON!

It was also extremely HAUTE here in central Arkansas, like 107. HOT!

Oprah is showing way too many reruns......

The summer is almost over and I welcome the school year. I miss my time alone after 9:00pm. I forgot all about that one hour I took for myself. The kids are starting bedtime early this week. I love it!

Until next time!

My Favorite iPhone Apps

As promised I said I would give away my favorite iPhone apps. Before I had an iPhone, I had a pretty basic phone. It took pictures but there were horrible. It had a speaker option but the quality of sound was not great. Let me not even speak on the texting capabilities. I'll just say I had them but they were limited. So without further ado, here are my iPhone favs:
 
Facebook -- this is obviously one of my favorite apps. I can look at Facebook at anytime, anywhere. It is safe to say I have not given up on Facebook but I have made some refinements.
 
AllRecipes.com's Dinner Spinner -- this app has helped me out on many days that I was not sure of what I was cooking. You simply pick choose what type of entrée you want to cook like Main Dish, appetizer, bread, etc. Choose a main ingredient such as beef, cheese, vegetable, etc. Lastly, select a time frame you want to finish your meal preparation. And just like that you'll have recipes at your fingertips. This is great for a horrible cook like me.
 
Shape Builder Lite -- My 3 year old uses this app. He can work my iPhone better than my husband. This app allows him to place shapes in contiguous sequences to form pictures of fun things like a violin, a donkey, letters and even kiwi. It really enhances his spatial abilities. When he gets a "puzzle" correct, he hears children cheering him on. The creator of this app really had kids in mind.
 
Walgreens -- I can refill prescriptions, upload pictures, look at the weekly ads and even find information on products they carry in the store. This app is a true gem. I can be at the park with my kids and fill a prescription or order pictures. Every retail outlet should take a note from Walgreens with this one. Good Job!
 
The Weather Channel -- This is app is self-explanatory. I can find out about the weather anywhere. I can look at maps and videos. This helps with travel plans.
 
OverDrive -- Now this is the newest app I've discovered. Did you know that you can check out audio and digital books from almost any library in America? With this app I can download audio and digital books from public library. I don't have to worry about late fees because once my time is up on a book it will delete itself. This is good for long car rides with family. There are only so many times you can sing "Yes, Jesus Loves Me"
 
I have become an iPhone junkie. I love finding out new ways to use new technology. I feel it enhances my life. I have yet to pay for an app. Each one I’ve listed here is free. So, I hope you will enjoy them and share your favorites in the comments below.

 

Oh Blog Dee Oh Blog Dah!

I have missed the land of blogs. I have had a great break but unfortunately the laundry won. It is still piled up but as of March 4th my Christmas Tree is in the attic! You'll never guess what else we are doing? Painting! It is very therapeutic to paint with my husband. Who needs to pay a therapist when you can get a gallon of paint for $24.99 at Home Depot.

I managed to get a much needed break from the kids for a weekend (Thanks to my mom and her husband), read all of two books (I know I said I was reading but 2 books was the best I could do). I really missed blogging and I missed visiting every one's blogs as well. My iPhone has been capturing pictures so of course I will end this post with some great pictures and notes on posts to come.


Future Posts:
Rethinking Facebook
Great iPhone Apps
The Public School System in Central Arkansas
Going back to School
Great Books

Here is a little bit of what we have been doing:


Easter came and my little man's school did their won rendition of Easter morning. it was cute. I was a proud mama! He, of course, had to make this silly face right before the picture. He's still cute though.


We make Oreo blast with my magic bullet. We call it being economical. Who needs Sonic except for the Route 44 Cherry Limeades during Happy Hour?



We had visitors for Spring Break - my husbands niece and nephews. I really enjoyed them. I was tired once they left (total of 5 kids for 4 days) but I must say I really enjoyed them. I hope they enjoyed themselves as well. The following pictures are of them climbing the mountain. They fared way better than my husband. I saved him the grief of taking his picture.

Heading to the top


Made it to the top


Almost back down - look at those tired faces!


Look whose playing soccer! My baby is growing up so fast!

I will be visiting everybody's blog. So please start back by visiting me.:)

It a bloggy blog world!

I'll be back in April

I am so sorry I have not held up my end of the bargain. You know the one I am talking about. I blog and you read. I have been overwhelmed with laundry, job hunting, kids and just life in general. I have taken up some book reading to calm my nerves and it is somehow working for now. I will get back to blogging but probably after I have had a much needed break from work and laundry. I am sorry. Come back in April when I am refreshed and back to my old witty self.

Come on SPRING!

Things I DID get done

I actually did knock some things off my to do list:


blog (not sure this post will count)I have been informed it counted!
finish a book
I started reading (it seems to be pretty good so far)This book is a good informative read.
get rid of these clothes I am consigning in an event by next Wednesday
throw away my VCR/DVD combo player (I don't know why I still have this)
drop off my Goodwill donation (Should have done this before taxes)
spend time on my twitter account --I am still trying to make sense of it.
watch my recorded Oprah shows (I have 18 episodes to catch up on)I have four more to watch and then I am caught up, thus my excuse for not blogging.
load the dishwasherThis has been done too many times since my last post.
find/buy a new cell phone charger (I am really hoping it turns up before $$$ is spent)Of course, I bought a new one and found the old one 2 days later. I couldn't take the new back because I threw away the box.
Get the Christmas tree box out of my hallway -- I don't want to talk about it.

I am late on the Crazy Weatherman--Jim Kosek

I have relatives on the east coast. One of my co-workers told me I should see this forecast to learn their fate.

This guy is too much!

Things I need to do but not today

I am in need of some rest and relaxation so I decided that the things on my to do list are not getting look at until this weekend:

blog (not sure this post will count)
finish a book I started reading (it seems to be pretty good so far)
get rid of these clothes I am consigning in an event by next Wednesday
throw away my VCR/DVD combo player (I don't know why I still have this)
drop off my Goodwill donation (Should have done this before taxes)
spend time on my twitter account
watch my recorded Oprah shows (I have 18 episodes to catch up on)
load the dishwasher
find/buy a new cell phone charger (I am really hoping it turns up before $$$ is spent)
Get the Christmas tree box out my hallway

We'll see what happens

I am little bit behind but I still have time.



Visit NaBloPoMo

Our Weekend Recap with the Ice Storm

We experienced icy, wet, slick, and semi snowy weather here in Central Arkansas this past weekend. We were all stuck in the house--husband, thing #1, thing #2 and me. It was actually really cool at first. I use my free time to get some clothes washed and put away. I cleaned the kitchen. I put away too little clothes and prep them for an upcoming consignment event. The kids played wildly. My husband played the Wii. Everything was all good.

That was Friday at 1pm. By 3pm we were all growing restless.

We began to do switch task. My kids played the Wii, my husband cleaned and I slept. This cycle went on until Sunday afternoon. The kids' cabin fever drove me crazy. All of the cleaning was starting to be done in vain and the laundry was never caught up like you thought it would be since there was more time to focus on it. After this weekend I have discovered the secret to laundry---go naked! I know. I know. It’s an unlikely solution but we can all dream. It’s clear, I hate laundry and even after this past weekend when we practically had the same clothes on for a couple of days, the laundry never caught up.

My husband had to get on Saturday for his business. I was left alone with the boys for most of the day and on into the evening. We watched movies OnDemand and finally opened one of my oldest son's last Christmas presents. It was a train set he received from my father-in-law. While it looked like a really fun and neat gift, it also looked like something my three year would destruct. There were some small pieces involved. I knew this from looking at pictures on the box. I made excuses from Christmas Eve up until January 31 for why it was not good time to open it. That is a record for me. I am usually the push over.

We put the set together and it was really great for the kids. They both loved it. It was a mock train of the Polar Express, so it had all the bells and whistles. We put it back in the box after we finished. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Once we all had the whole train experience, cabin fever set in again. Here is what Cabin Fever looks like in case you’re wondering:





And, no, it is not complete without lotion and deodorant.

I don't usually let them do this but when you are stuck in the house anything goes. Superman costumes and all!

Once Sunday came I decided we would get out of the house, no matter what. The roads outside my house looked safe, so I thought it couldn’t be too bad. I, also, discovered that the library was open. Great! Now, I just had to figure out whose accounts had the least amount of fines due. We each have a library card and we use them all. Sometimes if there are hefty fines on one and I don't feel up to paying them, we just move on to the next card. My husband says it is the equivalent of having a light bill in your kids names. I don't care. I think it is just an efficient way to gain the best experience of the library.

Once we got there, I found out we had these fines on each card: $9.70, $18.40 and $12.30. At our local library when you have fines you are allowed to pay them down to $5.00 and then you can begin borrowing again. I decided I would pay off the fines from the card with $9.70. The lady behind the counter tells me that all month long 100% of fines collected will go the UNICEF. I say, "That’s great! Here is my $9.70 contribution." Her face looked disappointed. She told me all my fines would make a great donation, as if to nudge me to pay them all off. I kindly responded, "I think this $9.70 will do just fine today." Once I paid the fine she kept making remarks about the children in Haiti and how our local library was so generous and how it patrons should be the same way. She was trying to pull a guilt trip over me. Can you believe that? I had to ignore that smug look on her face in order to let her finish checking us out. Sheeesh, lady! I don't have to prove anything to you!

We wrapped up our little library trip with a visit to Wal-Mart and the Golden Corral because mama was not cooking!

It iced, snowed and sleeted the whole weekend and we did not once get out and play. I was not interested. I didn’t even take pictures of it. I have decided after this past weekend that I am SO OVER winter.

Photography Skills at Their Best

Basketball is in full swing for my 8 year. I try to make it to all the practices to show him my support. I come late but I make it. While I am there, my three year old needs to be kept occupied. I occasionally let him play with my iPhone. I know it sounds crazy but he will sit still and (sometimes) not drop it. There are plenty of great apps for preschoolers.* He can work my phone so well. He knows exactly how to use this phone and where "his" apps are on the phone. These new age technology kids will blow us away ten years from now, I 'm sure.

I use my phone to take plenty of pictures. I barely take my "real" camera anywhere anymore. Many pictures on this blog are taken with my iPhone. I love to look at pictures of my kids so from time to time I look at them on my iPhone. I found great surprises in my photo album when I looked at it last night. You see my 3 year and 8 year old love to take pictures of random objects. My three year old seems to mainly take pictures while we are at basketball practice. Take a look at his photography skills:


What is practice without an unhealthy snack!




Got to get the picture of the team....or at least their feet.




Well here is a better one...you can see the coach (my husband's butt).




I guess he couldn't leave out his floor cleaning partner (they slide on the floor, a lot)and germ sharing partner (they share snacks). I am assuming she gets dragged along to her brother's many activities, as well.




I suppose my son has an affinity for her grandma, too, just not a very good angle!





*One day I am going to do a post on great apps.

Help Haiti

This is a simple request.

When Katrina happened I was angry. I wanted so badly to go to Louisiana and just help. I wanted the schools in Arkansas to shut down and house all the evacuees. I am having those same feelings now. So, I found something I can do.

Let's do our part:

The Clinton Foundation – Text “Haiti” to 20222 to donate $10 or go to clintonfoundation.org.

The American Red Cross – Text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10, visit redcross.org or call (800) RED-CROSS.

Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation – Text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 or visit yele.org.

The Clinton Foundation – Text “Haiti” to 20222 to donate $10 or go to clintonfoundation.org.

I keep staying with the times

Look up.

Look down.

Look left.

Look right.

Yep, I have officially joined twitter.

Now follow me.

What are little boys made of?

....Frogs and Snails, and Puppy-dogs Tails


I have boys. I have wild boys. They are messy, sloppy, wasteful, and dirty. It's an on going struggle to keep up after them because they are always on the go. They go to school, practice, (sometimes) church. They visit with my mom. They go visit with my dad, my father-in-law and my mother-in-law. We go to the zoo. We go to the museum. We go, go, go.

My oldest son plays sports all year round. This means I am constantly washing jerseys, and sports bottles, as well as packing bags and keeping up with mouth pieces. Let's not even touch on keeping up with his glasses or trying to make sure they stay in one piece. I think we can easily say that he keeps my husband and I ripping and running around town, a lot.

Then there is the little one who is by far the wildest one of the two. Did I say wildest? I meant to say rowdiest. My mom nicknamed him Tasmanian Devil when he was about nine months old. He is annoyingly destructive and loud. When we are running all over town for my oldest, the little one is being dragged along. It is mostly me who is there to mangle him while my husband (the usual coach of said sport) is working with the oldest son. I become a multitasking phenom of sorts while trying to watch the game, watch him and chat with the other "said sport" moms.

At home is where the rowdy activity festers. For some reason someone decided that the light saber would be a great toy.
Mr. Toy Maker, did you even think about my son's glasses? Did you think about
my laptop? And what about my TV? Exactly what did you think kids were suppose
to do with those? Swing them around and not hit a thing? Mr. Toy Maker, how
was my mother suppose to not walk out of the store with one for each of her
grandsons who love Star Wars?
Batman, Spiderman, Super Hero Squad, and legos rule the land at my end of the cul-de-sac. There is nothing like walking in from work, taking your shoes off and walking towards the kitchen and your foot meet Batman's motorcycle with one wheel. Ouch! While recovering from the encounter you come across the kool-aid infested shoe because the little one wanted to try his hand at pouring his own drink and for some reason or other thought that drinking out of his shoe would be the best idea. Oh, do I have boys or what!

When I look back at all the mess and noise, I wonder what it would have been like to have girls instead. I, then, step back and remember myself as a kid over analyzing and over reacting to everything and decide that my boys are okay. No, they are great! Spill something......walk around it. Break something.....keep it moving. Loose a toy....pick up another. I can learn some de-stressing strategies from them.

I love them!



What's in there?



Oh....Mr. Freeze.



Batman must have trapped him.



Probably because he made this mess.



With plenty of help from Buzz Lightyear, obviously.

Parents just don't understand

This post may open up a can of worms (later) but it's been stirring up in me for the past year and last night I have may shown the wedge that I knew and recognized existed between my father and I, that he didn't acknowledge. You see, we have a rocky past. It is mostly all his doing. As a grown child I still believe he is the reason our past relationship was rocky. However, as much as my mom hated him she always preached to us "Honor thy mother and thy father and thy days will be long." So, therefore, I have always had a constant struggle with my feelings about his past choices and lifestyle as I became older and more mature. At the age of twenty-one, after the birth of my first child I began to put those angry feelings aside and that open the door for my son to have a wonderful Pawpaw and later my second son. I thought I put quite a bit of it behind me, but the past has a way of creeping up on you when you least expect it.

I began to notice little things about him during '09 that just annoyed the hell out of me, like trying to give fatherly advice or sticking his noise where it was uninvited. I wanted to yell out to dude, "Just be the grandfather. Too late for Daddy."

He recently answered his calling to preach. I believe he was called but I don't believe there is much of a change in him except for his lifestyle but not his thoughts or beliefs. I don't even think he even acknowledges his past wrong doings toward others. I accept his calling but I don't kiss his you know what for it either. It is what it is.

He called me yesterday to say he was staying with me for 3 days while he attended a church conference. I didn't want him to stay but I never interjected to say he couldn't. So, he thought he could stay. I have to add that there have been some things that he has done to my husband in the past to make him feel uncomfortable but my husband tolerates him because he loves me and he knows the relationship with my dad is weird, at best. I knew my dad staying would make my husband uncomfortable in his own home and I just don't trust my dad to be that close to me in my life to stay at my house for one day, so certainly not three. The strange thing is I will let my kids stay with him. They love him and trust him. I respect their relationship. Something about him being in my environment bothers me. I don't mind going to his because I can leave or take my kids out of it. It probably has something to do with my childhood memories of him with his relationship with my mother and possibly something to do with him picking up with another family after he and my mom finally called it quits.

Well, I thought about those 3 days and decided I am not enough of a big girl to suck it up and let him stay. I gave him a BS excuse about it not being a good week for overnight guest, I hadn't discussed it with my husband and that we really didn't have a place for him to sleep anyway. It was obvious that it was BS but I wanted to be nice about it instead of bring up old horrible memories in which he probably has buried away but I for some reason this past year fought to push away. No sense in both of us being upset. When I gave him the excuses his response was a very dry, "Oh."

The man had the nerve to sound as if he was mad. I offered to help find a hotel and he dryly declined. This made my decision feel right. Still the same guy who thinks his kids owe him something.

Here it is 5 days after the New Year when I decided to take on NO STRESS and he unintentionally brings it on me.

All day I have been saying to myself WOOSAH! WOOSAH! Work through these emotions. WOOSAH!

I told my husband that the situation didn't bother me but obviously it does. He knew I was lying.

WOOSAH!

Back to Business

Christmas came, then went. I spent it with family. We relaxed, watched some basketball and played some serious Wii. My eight year killed everybody in Super Mario Bros. vs Sonic Olympic Games. His nickname for the day, given by my mother was "Little Nerd Boy". She called him this after he dusted her in table tennis. Can we say Sore Looser!?! He took this name with pride.

New Years came, then went. We spent this day with friends and family. The night was spent playing a major Connect Four tournament. We had a bracket and a $10 pot. It was good fun. The kids and adults had a great time. I am not a drinker but I am told that Connect Four was fun because it was mixed with Margaritas.

I am still alive and kicking. I still have a job. I still have Facebook. Life is in auto-pilot.

However, I did make a few resolutions for the year. None of them are major because my number one resolution sort of cancels them out:
NO STRESS! I am like a duck this year. You all can stand by and watch the *ish roll off my back, 'cause it's not staying with me. One more time: NO STRESS.

I did make a few fun resolutions like get back to being more fashionable, be more green, and try to get back to exercising again. Other than those, I am pretty much on an easy track, except for those new, oh so, minor life goals I created back in December.

So, therefore the new years resolutions are purely minimal as opposed to what I really need to be working on. Yet, NO STRESS is my theme in 2010.

FYI...
I was off from work for the past 2 weeks and loved every minute of it. The vacation led to the NO STRESS attitude. It was eye opening.

I researched blogs while I was on break, too. Got some changes in store for this site. Be on the look out. You may return one day and feel slightly refreshed.

one last thing-
Sadly these are the few pictures I took over the break.


The culprit on the left only helped clean the icing bowl...with his face.



Please don't dog my tree. I get better every year.



I love it when he plays copy cat. He loves to pretend to be his big brother. What do you think he's really reading?



Here he is again, seriously at it!

I must take more pictures in the future. I am usually better at capturing my useless time.