HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I hope everyone has at least one thing to be thankful for this year. For the Princess it's Scrapbooking. For me it's my family & our health. You know you're getting old when you are thankful for your family & health. Not exactly sure when THAT happened. I used to be thankful for fun stuff. Like a new sweater or some other article of clothing that I managed to snag on sale. But now that I'm old, I mean now that I'm a Mom I'm thankful for every healthy day we have & the fact that we are all together & safe.

This Thanksgiving I hope you are all able to eat til you can't move. I know I'm gonna do that. And we get to eat a really large meal twice!

I'm off to get all my flyers together & plan my Black Friday strategy.

Oh yea, & this year I'm gonna be thankful for scrapbooking too. :0)

Bad weather vs shopping

We have snow coming. It's the first snow of the season & it is all over the news. You would think this kind of thing never happens from all the publicity it's getting. Because Pookie plows snow & is on call all winter we pay a lot of attention to the weather channel around here. If it's gonna snow we know he won't be home. When it's really bad we don't see him for days. Then when he does come home all he does is sleep. Plowing snow for hours at a time is hard work & you can't sleep while you are doing it. That's what he tells me anyway.

I have to go to WalMart today. Because the snow is coming I'm sure WalMart will be packed. People will be trying to get all their shopping done before the snow comes. I know that' s what I'm gonna do. I hate the cold sloppy weather that winter brings. Nothing is more fun then trying to push a full shopping cart through a sloppy nasty parking lot. I really should move someplace warm but then I would have to deal with more bugs. I don't do bugs. Especially big bugs. So I either stay here & freeze or move & be warm but deal with big bugs. What to do, what to do.

This nasty weather is gonna mess up travel plans for a lot of people. Lucky for us we don't have to travel very far on Thanksgiving. Only about 20 miles. At lest we don't have to fly anywhere. The airports are a mess with all kinds of delays. That really brings out the thankfulness in you doesn't it? Glad I'm not going to be stuck in an airport for Thanksgiving. No one plans on that but you know it will happen.

I just hope all the nasty weather doesn't mess up my plans for Black Friday. As much as I hate cold & snow, I love Black Friday more.


Neither rain nor snow nor black of night will keep me from shopping on Black Friday!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I'm thankful for......

It's almost thanksgiving. I remember when we used to go around the table & say what we were thankful for. It was always health or family. Not real original, but so true.

When Spike was in preschool they always asked each child what they were thankful for & then they put it all the answers next to the kids name on really cute(suitable for hanging)paper. Like adults most of their answers were family related.

I'm thankful for my Mom/Dad/Grandma/grandpa, ect. One answer stood out. I can't remember the little girls name but I do remember what she was thankful for. Pretty shoes. She was thankful for pretty shoes. It was the best answer on the whole page. And the most memorable too. I still remember her answer 14 years later. Spike & Queenie got the same things but I can't remember any of the answers on their papers.

Today I asked the Princess what she was thankful for & she said Scrapbooking. You know what? I'm thankful for scrapbooking too. I went to a crop the other night & I had a blast. I'm grateful that I can do that.

This Thursday please be thankful for your health & family but don't be afraid to be thankful for pretty shoes & scrapbooking too.

shopping alone

Black Friday is coming! Black Friday is coming! Oops I meant to say, Thanksgiving is coming. Aren't you excited? To me Thanksgiving means spending time with family. All the women get together & pour over the Black Friday ads. We spend quality time together deciding who is gonna get up at what time to get the best deal. I love getting up at before the crack of dawn to shop. Any other day of the week I would only get up at that time because I had to pee. I don't care if I get any good deals that day. I get to go shopping ALONE! Without kids! I tried taking Queenie 2 years ago. She didn't have as much fun as I did. She doesn't do morning well. Especially that time of morning. When I asked her if she wanted to go this year she said no. Oh well I'll just have to suck it up & go alone. **grin**

I usually meet up with one of my Sister-in-laws for a snack at some point. We go over our lists to see if either of us got a great deal. Last year the best deal I got was for me. I went to Michaels (because I was alone) & I looked in their clearance isle. I had been looking at the Crop in Style P3 rolling tote. It was retailing for around $130.00




I found it on clearance! And with the turkey bucks they had going (because I was there at an obscene time of the morning) I got it for around $60.00. That was my best deal. I love it when I get all the good stuff!

Pookie just doesn't understand why I will get up at the crack of dawn to shop. Especially when I don't come home with EVERYONE on the list done. No matter how many times I explain it he just doesn't get it.

I GET TO GO ALONE! That's why I do it. :0)

It's official. It's Winter

It's cold. Now I remember why I hate Winter. Carseats. Yep, that's why. Yesterday the Princess wore her winter coat to school. I got her in the carseat & started to buckle her up.

Princess: Mom, I can't breathe!
Mom: Hang on, it's not far to school.


Did I really say that out loud? I really gotta work on thinking before I talk. What if DCFS was just around the corner & heard me? I gotta be careful. This could get ugly. (If they showed up right now they would see the Princess running through the house naked wearing a Princess cape & carrying a feather duster & a magic wand. She is hunting for a skunk. Well..... what do you wear when you go skunk hunting?)

Seriously I was having a hard time trying to buckle her into her seat. She is bigger this year & with a poofy winter coat on it is almost impossible to get her in the seat so she can still breathe. Breathing is overrated isn't it?
I am going to have to take the darn seat out of The Tank(I HATE doing that) & see if there is any way I can lengthen the straps. If I can't find any way to do that I'm going to have to switch her to a booster seat. She is old enough & weighs enough but I wasn't going to do it until she out grew this seat. That time is coming. What a good time too. With Christmas coming I have that never ending supply of money. Ha, I wish. I should of planted a money tree when I was little. It would be really big by now.

I did the only thing I could to get my kid to school still breathing. I took off her coat & buckled her into the seat. After all The Tank is in the garage so it's sorta warm. I put a blanket over her & drove to school. I just put her coat on before getting out of The Tank. I'm gonna have to work on this problem though. I don't think it's going to go away. I think she is gonna get bigger. Although it's not a guarantee, but my other kids grew. In fact Smitty is about 6 feet. So it's probably a given that she will grow.

I'm going out to The Tank to wrestle with that darn carseat. If I don't post in the next few days, it was nice knowing ya. The carseat won.

I'm not the "Cool Aunt" any more

While at my niece's baby shower this weekend it was brought to my attention by a sister-in-law(close to my age) that we are no longer the "Cool Aunts". We used to be the ones making the cute counted cross stitch wall hangings for all the babies & weddings. The torch has been passed. Now we are now shopping at WalMart along with everyone else. We don't have the time or energy to make the counted cross stitch any more. We used to never travel anywhere with out a project. All enclosed in it's cute little quilted zippered case of course. Back when we were all first married most of our friends & family played on the church softball teams. Most of them played on 2 teams which meant ball twice a week. No one had any kids yet but we all cross stitched. The husbands played ball & the wives all sat & watched them while we cross stitched. That's when we were the "Cool Aunts". We had the time to make all kinds of stuff.

I am trying to get back into crafts. But with a 3 year old it's hard to find the time to do it when she isn't up. It doesn't seem to matter how quiet I am getting it out. She seems to smell it & come running. I did manage to sew 3 burp cloths for my niece's baby shower. It only took 1 nap time to do it. I also want to make a quilt & a few other things. I guess I will have to muddle through them 1 nap at a time.

The fact that I don't sew well could pose a problem but I do have about 42 naps before Christmas so I could actually pull it off.

44 days til Christmas

Christmas is coming!! Do your have your kids Christmas lists yet? I don't. I get a new toy catalog almost everyday in the mail. I save them all. They tend to keep the Princess busy when I need to get stuff done. And there is always stuff to be done around here. So far she wants EVERYTHING. Not really a problem for her. She thinks Santa is great & can bring her anything she wants. I am having a hard time getting Chirstmas ideas out of my kids now that they are older. The Princess is no problem. It's the older ones that I am having a problem with. Pookie actually gave me an idea yesterday so I went & got it right away. I NEVER get good ideas for him so I had to get it right away so I wouldn't forget it. Now if I can only remember that I have it when it's wrapping time..............

I had lunch at Olive Garden yesterday. I had never eaten there before. It was yummy. I love the bread sticks. I could of made a meal of just those. I have a good friend who is moving to another state far away from me. This was a goodbye lunch. We all had a good time chatting & eating. One thing women are good at is yacking up a blue streak. Lunch was at 12:30 so I wrote on the calendar that it was at noon. That meant I could leave the house earlier. **grin** It was about a 1/2 hour drive. I got there is plenty of time to hit the mall & get Pookie's gift. We didn't leave until around 3:15. I was in no hurry to get home. I was kidless! On the way home I decided that I would hit JoAnn Fabrics. After all I was alone. But I forgot about my sense of direction. Or lack of it. I don't have one at all. How hard could it be to find JoAnn's? So I drove. And drove And drove. I was thinking that I should be seeing it soon. Then I saw my turn off for home. I missed it. I guess I zigged when I should of zagged. How sad is that? I was really looking forward to a shopping trip ALONE. I don't get those very often.


One thing I love about Christmas is all the shopping that I HAVE to do. I am one of those people who LOVES to get up at the crack of dawn & go shopping on Black Friday. I think I like it so much because I go alone. I took Queenie with me 2 years ago & she said never again. She doesn't DO 4:00 am. I have a lot of people on my list & I like to get started as soon as I can. If it means I have to get up at 4:00 am so I can shop alone then that's what I do. I gotta get my alone time when ever I can.

This year I have gotten crafty. I am actually making a few gifts. I have a big project that I want to do. I want to make a quilt. We'll see how that goes. A lot of time I have great ideas(usually while in the shower) but they never pan out.

Tonight the Princess is going to bed early because she didn't get a nap. I might actually get some crafty stuff done tonight.

I'll miss you Celina.

My Vacation

My loving hubby has taken a few days off from work. I hate it when he does that! It really messed up my schedule. I mean how can I lay around on the couch in my robe all day eating Bon Bons? It just loses the effect when you have your darling hubby in full hover mode over the couch saying things like:

Are ya gonna do this all day? Duh, this is what I do all day

Can I have the clicker? No way. Touch it & die.

Aren't you going to feed the kids lunch? No, they can snack on what ever they can reach.

Can I have a Bon Bon? This question could get your arm taken off.

Seriously the kids have a few days off because of Conferences & don't go back until next Tuesday. Pookie goes on call very soon so we thought we would go to the Dells for 1 night & stay in a fun hotel with a water park. Sounds like a great plan right? We thought so too. It was decided that Thursday was the only day we could go. I have things going on over the weekend that I can't miss & I had all the conferences scheduled for Wednesday night. We were good to go. Then the kids messed it up. Gotta love 'em. Queenie joined an after school club. Their first Bowling meeting was last Wednesday. I thought nothing of it. She came home & told us they were meeting next Thursday. It still doesn't click. I may have lost a few brain cells over the years. Kids will do that to you. Then over the weekend I am sitting in front of the computer trying to pick a good hotel (within our budget that will still be fun), & that's when it hits me. CRAP! We can't go, Queenie has bowling that night. Now I know you are thinking why not have her miss it. Well we thought of that but since this was only the second meeting & they are just starting to get it going we didn't want her to miss it. Another fun thing ruined by one of my kids.

Someday & I know it's a huge possibility that I'll be old & gray, I'm going to go on vacation when I want to. It's getting old planning my vacations around the kids schedules.

I know, I know, I should of realized this BEFORE I had 4 kids. But no one told me they were gonna mess up my VACATION SCEDULE. I might of had 2nd thoughts then.

Last night was Halloween. The Princess went as herself. A Princess. Very original don't ya think? But having her go as herself in her royal gown meant I didn't have to buy anything for her to wear. We had it all. After all you never know when the occasion will arise & you need to meet your adoring public. It helps to have the appropriate Royal Wear on hand. We walked with friends around the block & then we were done. It was cold! She would of done more but her little hands were like ice cubes & her Mother(what was she thinking?) didn't give her any mittens. They didn't go with the outfit. She was content to answer the door with Spike. Between Bailey the Wonder Dog & the Princess we always knew way ahead of time when a Trick or Treater was coming up our walk. She would start to yell & then the dog would bark. The dog should have a sore throat from all the barking she did last night. It's important to bark EVERY TIME someone rings the doorbell. Even if there is only a few seconds between rings.

Queenie had to make a bumper sticker for school. Of course it was due the next day. Since I scrapbook we have all kinds of stuff to work with. Good thing too. I love it when they thrust a "due tomorrow project" in your face after dinner. I haven't scrapped in months. There just hasn't been time. Plus the Princess is not fun when I get all the stuff out. It's like Christmas for her. So much stuff to get into, so little time. We got out all my stuff after dinner was cleaned up & the Princess was busy playing in her room. We were very quiet getting everything out but I think she smelled it. She came out as soon as I got the first wheelie tote in the kitchen. After that she was a HUGE pain. Into EVERYTHING. Nothing was safe. I finally gave her some markers to play with. Really stupid move on my part. I was thinking that she would just color nicely while we worked on the bumper sticker. WRONG! She colored everywhere but on the paper. Her legs, arms, face, table & yes the kitchen floor. Well the floor was sort of an accident. While trying to pick up a bunch of markers she dropped on the floor, it got colored on.
Where was I during her little "artist moment" you ask? Well I was sitting right next to her trying to pick individual letters off a stack of letters. Those little suckers did not want to come off without ripping. My conversation with the Princess went something like this:

Me: (finally pealing off a "D" without it ripping.) Princess stop coloring on your arms. Only on the paper.
Princess: Ok Mommy.
Me: (Trying to find a red "U".) Please put all the lids back on the markers.
Princess: But Mom they are my finger nails.
Me: Wonderful but now your hands are all covered with marker. Please put the lids back on.
Princess: Can I color on the table?
Note: When they ask this it is already to late
Me: no you may not. Crap you already did it.
Princess: Crap Mommy?
Me: What I meant was , oh no.

Well you get the idea. It wasn't a pretty picture. And is spite of all the "Helping" the Princess did I realized how much I miss scrap booking. I am actually going to a crop with a friend this month. I'm excited. I really liked getting out all the stuff & playing with it even if it was for a school project.
Some day I am going to have all my pictures in a scrapbook. And not the "awful, dangerous" magnetic one either. I am going to take all my pictures out of those horrible albums & put them in acid free ones.

And some day I'll be rich too.