31 Things

1. Where is your cell phone? on the end table
2. Where is your significant other? Las Vegas
3. Your hair color? dark blonde
4. Your mother? Deb
5. Your father? Ron
6. Your favorite thing? my family
7. Your dream last night? don't remember, but it was probably odd
8. Your dream/goal? to raise my children without losing too much hair
9. The room you're in? living room
10. Your hobby? reading, scrapbooking, shopping
11. Your fear? losing my children
12. Where do you want to be in six years? in the nursing program (or working towards getting there) while all of my kids are in school
13. Where were you last night? home watching tiny football (Monday Night Football on a 4" screen on my laptop because we don't have expanded cable)
14. What you’re not? motivated today
15. One of your wish list items? nice digital camera, bigger TV with expanded cable,
16. Where you grew up? MN
17. The last thing you did? took a nap
18. What are you wearing?jeans/t-shirt
19. Your TV? is off
20. Your pet? 2 smelly goldfish that I am hoping will die soon so we can get some prettier, less smelly fish
21. Your computer? an IBM Thinkpad
22. Your mood? lethargic and a little crabby
23. Missing someone? my hubby
24. Your car? Dodge Grand Caravan. 2 of them. One grayish silver (or olive green according to the hus) one dark green. And a green Mazda 626.
25. Something you’re not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? Target!!!
27. Your summer? is gone:(
28. Love someone? YES!
29. Your favorite color? just about anything with brown
30. When is the last time you laughed? this morning
31. Last time you cried? 2 nights ago...shouldn't read sad stories about people losing their babies...

Food for Thought

I was reading through the many comments on one of the blogs I follow and found this there...I thought it was interesting and it did make me stop and think.

This is the list of "Cannots" oft quoted by both Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

"You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further brotherhood of men by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."

- Rev. William J. H. Boetcker

Apply that to candidates as you will . . .

Not Me! Monday Round 2

Over at My Charming Kids, it's time for another round of Not Me! Monday. If you'd like to join in the "Not Me! Monday" fun, click here for the rules.

Well, in true Not Me! Monday form, I did not (nor would I ever) almost forget that it was Monday and therefore did not almost forget to post my latest list.

I did not run over my son's bike which did not ruin the bike tire because it was not laying in the middle of the driveway.

I did not miss Ethan's chiropractic appointment because I did not forget to check the calendar.

I was not forced to throw away a sippy cup because it had not been in the toy room for at least two months and therefore was not growing a colony of mold.

I did not, while snuggled up in my bed at 10am talking on the phone, say to my friend that my life is too busy.

I did not spend most of the day on Sunday reading the archives of a new blog I thoroughly enjoy.

I did not watch my favorite NFL football team lose yet another game that they should have won.

Not Me! Monday

Okay. Yes I realize that it is not actually Monday today. However, I didn't learn about this fun idea until yesterday and while I didn't have time to post then, I also didn't want to wait a week to actually post on a Monday. So excuse my cheating, please.

This idea comes from MckMama, author of the My Charming Kids blog. If you'd like to join in the "Not Me! Monday" fun, click here for the rules.


In the last week...
I did not get frustrated with my baby who did not suddenly decide that he no longer likes sleep.

I did not waste any time on the computer when I could have been doing something productive.

I did not clean my bathroom for the first time in a month.

I did not drink a minimum of one coffee and one can of soda a day.

I did not cringe while listening to Brenna practice her violin and certainly did not spend more time correcting her than encouraging her in said pursuit.

I did not utter some less than choice words because I did not step on a very small toy airplane twice within five minutes.

I did not have to rewash a load (or two) of laundry because I definitely didn't leave it in the washing machine too long.

More Juice Please?

Ethan asked me to post this so everyone could see how well he can drink lemon juice. He was very adamant to say that other 2 yr olds shouldn't try this without their parents assistance. Note that he is 3.5 now and has fully recovered from this event in his life. Actually, every once in awhile he asks me for more lemon juice. I don't know if that is dain bramage or if he is now pulling my leg :-)


While adding this to YouTube Ethan and I watched it multiple times (laughing each time of course). Every time I played it he would say "Do you think I will like it this time?" LOL! Gotta love kids and how they think.

Shopping with Four

After dragging my lazy bum out of bed at 9 am, I decided it would be a good idea to take the kids (yes, all four of them) shopping. Before we left, I mixed up Elliot's bottle and fed and changed him. Asked Brenna no less than 5 times to get herself dressed and brush her hair. Poured some cereal for Maya (2 bowls, please) and persuaded her to get dressed (with my assistance, I wanted the task accomplished in 30 sec rather than 30 min) and allow me to fix her hair. Ethan was still wearing his clothing from yesterday which I deemed clean enough to wear again, and had already had his breakfast. Somewhere in the midst all of this, I decided to take a shower, only to discover that our hot water heater was once again on the fritz. So, instead of my nice, relaxing shower I leaned over the side of the tub and washed my hair in cold water. In the final moments before heading out the door, I made sure the diaper bag was stocked, tracked down Elliot's nuk clip and strapped him into his car seat, found socks for Ethan and helped him don both them and his "softball" shoes, located socks for Maya and put on my own socks and shoes. Once at the van I anticipated the usual arguments over who gets to sit where, but was pleasantly surprised when everyone found a seat to sit in and was happy with it. As we pulled into the Target parking lot I ran through my usual list of rules (which were, of course, made to be broken): stay by mom, no running, no asking to buy anything, no complaining. I put Elliot in the stroller and asked Brenna to push him and we were off. Once inside, I snagged a "roller coaster" cart for Ethan and Maya to ride in. As they fought over whose legs belonged where, we began our journey through the store. By this time, of course, Elliot was getting tired. We had just begun to browse the aisle of clearance toys when he started in on his "I'm tired" cry. So with a crying baby and 3 other kids running around like hooligans throughout the aisles (breaking rules 1 and 2) whining about all of the toys they weren't being allowed to get (breaking rules 3 and 4) I quickly filled the cart with 75% off merchandise to save for some of the many bday parties my little darlings get invited to. After corralling the three vagabonds, I took Elliot out of his stroller and carried him (while pushing the heavy "roller coaster" cart) through the rest of the store. After purchasing our items and bringing them out to the van, we reentered the store to find ourselves some lunch. While standing in line to order (Elliot was back in his stroller at this point, on his way to dreamland) Aaron called and wanted to know if he could join us for lunch. Not wanting to make the natives any more restless than they already were, I regretfully declined saying that we would be happy to sit with him as he ate later, but we were going to have our meal NOW. After we finished eating, we made our way into Payless to look for school shoes for the girls. While we were in the store, Elliot made his presence known once more and I decided that it was time to make our way down to the food court to wait for daddy. Pushing the stroller and carrying the baby, I encouraged Brenna to slow down and Ethan and Maya to hurry up right up to the point when I spotted our dining companion. At that point, all three made a mad dash to be the first one to give their daddy a great big bear hug. After Aaron finished eating, he took Ethan with him and I took the other three to Gordman's to allow Brenna to purchase a Webkinz. This may have been the worst idea of all. Once we located the Webkinz in the store, Brenna couldn't decided whether or not she wanted to spend her money on one and Maya was upset when she learned that she was not going to be getting one. We walked through the store for a bit to let Brenna think about it for awhile, but in the end she decided not to buy one. We left the store with Brenna sulking over the price of Webkinz and Maya complaining about the fact the I had not purchased a Webkinz for her. By this time I was completely DONE and decided that Walmart and Sam's Club would simply have to wait for another day. If I'm lucky, that day will not involve my four darling munchkins.