KSHIPPYCHIC

GRANDBABY - 7 MONTHS OLD!!

2012-01-10T05:29:00.002-06:00

SEEEE!! I HAVE TWO TEEEF!!

My sweet sweet Izzy!! We had fun at Gramma's house on Sunday night. Family time and taco salad - not for Izz of course, but for the rest of us. Izzy is eating baby food already, and on her way to crawling. I think she likes to practice walking more than crawling though!
For years now, I thought I really missed having a baby of my own, with mine half grown already, and I know if I could have, I would have had another. Yeah not. I forgot how much they leak, how much they scream, and how they have to be attached at the hip non-stop! I am good with this whole Gramma thing! Spoil them and send them home!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-01T10:44:00.003-06:00

RESOLVE:

To let myself be who I am. If people don't like it - oh well. I am so done trying to "fit" into people's lives who clearly don't want me there. I resolve to do a better job at reading between the lines, and will do my best to keep to myself. When it comes to family - that is so easier said than done - but oh so necessary.

I resolve to keep my eyebrows plucked, my hair dyed, and to look more like a girl. Even when it means I have to wear my "good bra" more often.

I resolve to stop worrying about losing weight. I'm gonna be what I'm gonna be. This doesn't mean I don't have to eat healthy, but I have been working on that one for years. Why set myself up for failure?

I resolve to take more pictures, do more storm chasing, and find more adventure in life. Oh, and create a secret stockpile of dried fruits and beef jerky, just in case.... you know.....

Life has changed so much over this last crappy couple of years, and I find myself so bored and fed up with so much. I should resolve to be more positive, but I will probably just end up being a bigger bitch. If that is even possible......

YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN I COULDN'T KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT FOR LONG.....

2011-12-01T05:30:00.002-06:00

Before you slam it - understand it!

The last photo I viewed - soldiers with a sign saying something along the lines of "Quit yer bitchin' and get back to work!" Well that was the last straw for me. I am sure a lot of folks would love to get back to work - if there WERE any work! This protest in the USA is about the 1% who control the 99%. It's about corporate greed run rampant, controlling the government with large stacks of cash, deciding everything in this country from who has to die from lack of healthcare, to who gets to eat supper tonight. People who earn "high incomes" aren't the target here. If you work yer ass off, make $500,000 a year - good for you - you deserve to keep your money for yourself as much as the rest of us. Believe it or not - YOU are included in the 99%! What we are talking about are the folks who earn millions of dollars in "bonus" money for sitting on their asses, for doing absolutely nothing but committing a terrible fraud on this country! The insanely gross amounts of money being used for the benefit of the very few, who are the true powers in America. The system of Democracy has been eroded and corrupted by greed, and if you can't see that - then you probably still believe the lie that we have been fighting in Iraq against terrorism too. (Yeah cuz we don't care about the oil really....)

What do the majority of the 99% seek? Well let me tell you what I want....

Health insurance. I want every single person in our country to be able to go to the doctor, to be able to afford life saving medications, and oh - I want to stop having to shell out HALF of my net paycheck to get it!!

I want to be able to work at a job that pays me what I am worth. A job that pays my bills, my basic bills, and leaves me enough after that to put GAS in my car and food on my table. We need wages that enable people to survive! Christ!

I want to be able to go to the grocery store and not stress out over the price of hamburger for shits sake. What is it like to be able to shop for groceries without an assload of coupons, and the hopes that 5 meals can be made from 1 pound of hamburger?? When you wonder why everyone is so fat around here - have a look at what a fucking ingredient list for a nice family salad will cost! Oh - then have a look at what they feed our kids in school. Yeah - cuz french fries is vegetable...... so sayeth the government.

I swear I don't know why I bother even writing this. It's the same shit I have been bitching about for years. But the truth is - it just sickens me. People are sick and tired of watching this crap - big money being bailed out by our money - but then who is bailing us out? The costs keep going up, but our wages stay the same. Our friends and family have to die because they have no money to pay the doctors. On an on it goes, and yet there are some who say "quit yer bitchin".

You know, I don't want a private jet to take me to lunch. I don't need 14 cars in my garage. I don't want a house so big that I can't clean it myself, and I don't need a personal chef to cater my every meal.

I want a house I can afford. A car that is reliable. Groceries that provide nutrition for my kids, and the ability to seek medical help when necessary. I want to heat my home in the winter and put gas in my car without going bankrupt....

I know - way to much to ask.

HALLOWEEN

2011-11-01T05:46:00.002-05:00

I totally spaced getting pictures of the kids in their costumes. Loser.
But I did get the baby - her was a punkin!
The two up there were completely grossed out by the punkin guts - too funny!
We had a house full of company, I cooked dinner that the kids wouldn't eat because they only wanted candy, and now I am so tired but still have to go to work. Gag.

TAKE MY BOOB OUT...

2011-10-23T10:39:00.003-05:00

(That's waht she said....)

But I didn't feel like fucking with it.

Ahhhhh to be free and uncensored once again......

So - another pic from the punkin patch. (Holey Christ I don't even have to spell right if I don't want toooooooo!! Maaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!)
Yes - it is I - the potty mouthed gramma!!

Oh AND - I am taking my remaining home living children to see the "Paranormal Activity 3" movie in a couple of hours. Horrid I tell you! But they begged me to be scared shitless. SO I am obliging them. It is Halloween time afterall. Plus they are too young to take to the bar..... no no rum and sprites for youuuuuu my little hethens!!

AND - before you ask - no I have not lost my freakin mind. I simply do not give two shits anymore. Thank you.
That is all.

SIX YEARS....

2011-10-02T06:58:00.003-05:00

I just realized the other day, that this silly blog is over 6 years old now. How life has changed huh? My kids have grown so much - got a grandchild. Graduated college - got a job. This ol' blog sure has seen a lot of life. Though it's now neglected for the most part, I still can't seem to just let it go.....

GRANDBABY!!

2011-08-31T05:37:00.002-05:00

My little Izzy Wizzy!! LOL! Three months old today!! Happy little birthday my sweet leaky lovey baby granddaughter!! (I seriously can not remember seeing this much drool in forever!)
I still can't believe I am a gramma.
Holy Jeebus.

Like - at some point - this child is going to walk up to me - and call me Gramma.

Yeah.

Sooooooooo. The boy. He wants to take the free high school level classes from M.I.T.
I would love to see him go there. We looked at the cost - and almost peed. $55 thousand bucks PER YEAR!!! And - I think both of my youngest kids would do well there. Here's to hoping! I would have been happy with Network Engineer Jobs - but my kids - engineers period. Architects. Builders of the future!

SO here I am. A Gramma of one, looking at colleges for two kids. Truthfully, if they want to go to a good school later - they have to start preparing for it now. And the way it looks - they will need big scholarships. Really BIG scholarships....

INCREDIBLE!

2011-08-19T04:26:00.003-05:00

Incredibly expensive. Er um, I mean, Incredible Dave's! This was another fun stop on our week long vacation to Tennessee. We took a day to go exploring, and ended up in Goodlettesville. We found a huge mall, with this place on the inside. Looked awesome, had a bar and a place to eat good food, almost like a Chucky Cheese for grownups in a way. The kids were all excited and so were we, until we were told what everything cost. Holy mother. They had 3 little jumpy houses/obstacle course things for the kids to play in, but you had to buy them each a wristband. $7 bucks each. Ok. They were pretty cool though, each having music piped through wireless speakers, lights and all kinds of activities inside them so the kids could burn off a little energy. So we bought them. Then there were the myriad of games. We all wanted to play the games. First though, you have to buy a card for each person. $1.09 each to be exact. THEN you have to load it with money - like a credit card. Ok - $15 bucks on each one. Fine. They apparently thought that tokens got lost too easily or something - I dunno. Off we go to play the games - OH MY GAWD REALLY?? Every stinkin game in there just about, COST $1 to play!! And I am talking about the stupid ones that spit out tickets when they work. Jeebus. The fun games were $2 each - the ones that you ride - like the bumper cars up there, or the big arcade games. I was shocked!! I could see paying 50 cents a game or something, but really? They also had bowling for more money, a harness jumpy thing for $5, and of course both the kids tried that out. Needless to say, the money was gone in no time, and all the kids got for their 800 tickets was a few pieces of nasty bubblegum and some hairy balloons. But they did have fun - and they fell asleep very quickly that evening! Still - GAH!!

LAMBERTS CAFE - SIKESTON MO

2011-08-14T18:14:00.003-05:00

We ate at what I have to say was the most awesome restaurant I have ever been to in my life! It's called Lamberts Cafe - Home of the Throwed Rolls. Literally! We barely sat down when a gal came up to our table with a pot of fried okra, and asked if we would like some. We were all like - sure - but we haven't gotten our plates yet! She told us to lay out a paper towel - and voila! Okra on the table baby! Soon after that, the roll throwing began. These boys actually have carts of hot, fresh rolls, and if you put your hand in the air - they will throw you one! A couple of ours ended up on the floor, but that was ok. They threw us more. And brought us fresh apple butter to go on them too. Right on the napkins! They also came around with pots of fried potatoes, macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, and other goodies. All that stuff was free too. The plates of food we ordered off the menu were HUGE - and yummy! That - was some down home good ol cookin right there!! The best we ate the entire vacation for sure. Of course the best part was the price - VERY reasonable - less than a lot of nasty eat ins. If you ever get the chance to eat there - you have to try it! You will have the best time ever!!

IN MY OPINION....

2011-08-14T18:07:00.002-05:00

I don't know how anyone can afford anything these days without using coupons. Seriously. We just spent a week away on vacation, and everything was so insanely expensive. Two hours at an "arcade eatery" cost us $75 smackers. A mediocre meal at a hamburger joint for 4 - another $35!! I went to a store looking for school clothes for the kids, that I usually shop online at - uhhh no way. At least from the comfort of my own home, I can use online coupons, and usually get a huge discount too. I know I will be using toys r us coupons very soon, as the Christmas shopping begins for my darling grandbaby. I thought a full time job would make life easier - but the price of goods has gotten completely out of hand.....

WEIRDO TEETH

2011-07-16T07:52:00.003-05:00

My children can not lose their teeth. Every single time someone should be losing a tooth in this house - the big adult tooth comes in right behind the baby tooth, and they have to end up going to the dentist to have the baby tooth pulled. The teeth never really even get loose. Not only can they not lose their teeth - they don't even have some at all. Neither one of the youngest children have any wisdom teeth at all. This is a good thing I am told. BUT - each of them have a missing adult tooth on the opposite side from one another - on the bottom - in the front. They must keep the baby tooth in place forever. Yeah - thank god we have dental insurance - because as stubborn as the ones are that need to come out - I bet a million bucks that the ones that need to stay in will just fall out in their sleep....... Jeesh.

WHY IS IT SO HOoooooooooooooooooT?!!

2011-07-13T05:14:00.002-05:00

The garden is officially dead. It's been so incredibly hot here, and too expensive to water it as much as it really needed. I can barely stand to go outside in this nasty heat. It seems like summer came one day with a vengeance, and has decided never to leave again. No need for weight loss pills in this state - just go outside and 20 pounds will melt off in 20 minutes! Seems like we can't get a break from it either - no rain - no relief! Plus it's not just a little hot - it's been over a hundred degrees for weeks now, and most days my car thermometer is reading 112 or better. YUCK!!

Come on rain!! We need you!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOO BUSY!!

2011-06-30T04:45:00.003-05:00

Baby Izzy - just shy of one month old!!
(I think she looks like her Daddy.....)

So let me tell ya - I don't know how all you Mommies out there do it! Working full time and still finding time to do everything else! It's proving to be quite a challenge for me. When I get home from work, I feel like passing out in bed and just staying there. Ugh.
I do love my job though. It has been a little frustrating for me lately, but I hope this will pass when I get better at doing a few things. I find myself taking a few more smoke breaks than I probably should. I wonder if they would let me puff an ecigarette in the building? LOL!
So basically what I do is make signs. Big signs, little signs, teeny tiny vinyl signs.... did I mention hugemongous signs? Those are kicking my butt. I use Corel to design and print out images on very large sheets of vinyl, 4 feet wide by 8 feet tall. That's the easy part. After they cure for a day, I have to apply them to sheets of plastic cardboard stuff called Coroplast. Trying to do that without getting wrinkles and bubbles in it is killing me. This stuff is bigger than I am, and I don't really know how to get it done. I keep trying, but I also keep screwing it up. And the stuff is NOT cheap. My bosses are very kind about it though, and just tell me to keep trying - that mistakes and such are part of the learning process. I really do work for some great people. Some days I am just so afraid I am not doing good enough. I guess that is normal. Friday will be one month for me on this job. The most awesome thing about it is my paycheck. Holy cow. I got my first one last week, and it would have taken me 2 and a half months at my other job to make what I did in just 2 weeks!! Very cool!!

Yeah. I love it!!

TIME WITH FAMILY

2011-06-20T05:26:00.002-05:00

Awwwww.... Great Gramma with Baby Izzy. We had a nice visit for Fathers Day, and got to eat the most delicious chocolate cake I've ever had! Happy Anniversary Mom and Butch!!

Yesterday evening, the kids came over with the baby for supper. They made Grampa Shane a t-shirt with Izzy's footprints on it for Fathers Day. Too cute! She's starting to be awake more now, with her little eyes open for longer periods of time. She is so cute - the photos just don't do her justice. I could spend all day just holding her in my arms. Of course I'd never get anything else done, but she's just such a joy! My mom says she thinks she may have some red hair, and her skin is already proving to be quite sensitive. She sure does look like her Daddy to me! I hope Izzy gets his curly hair!!
It's weekend over back to work for me this morning, and I think it's finally time for me to have my degrees and some family photos hung up in my office. I love showing photos of my grand-baby to people, but I have none printed out yet - it's always just the ones on my phone. I think a blackberry playbook would be better - then the photos would be BIGGER, and I could have more than just 2 or 3 to show off! Still waiting on that first paycheck though, so we shall see! Hope everyone has a great week!!

THIS GRAMPA IS IN LOVE!

2011-06-15T05:03:00.002-05:00

I don't know what it's like to be adopted, or to have a Dad who walked in and out of my entire life. I don't know how it feels to know that I have a "bio" Dad that constantly rips my heart out. My Dad was the best Dad, and Halie has a pretty damn good Daddy too. But then there is the "bio dad" person, who claims to care and love and blah blah blah, but never shows up unless there is something in it for him. Well, our precious Izzy is now TWO weeks old, and Halie's bio dad has not even bothered to come see the baby. He lives a few blocks away, but says he can't afford the gas. He has a phone, but hasn't even called her. Yet he's been out to the lake, and the bars in Wichita with his sluts. Then he had the nerve to call one of his skanks the babies gramma!!Hellllooo loozer! You would have gas if you hadn't of lost your job because you are a freakin drug addict. Buy a tooth for that nasty mouth and pick a treatment plan - there's a hundred drug and alcohol treatment centers around here - so go. Learn to be a human and treat your kids right! Gah it just makes me soooo mad!

In the end - it just really doesn't matter to most of us anymore. THIS Grampa right here would lay down his life for any of his children and this little angel baby too. I just wish I knew how to take away the pain that Halie feels right now.....

JUST RANDOM....

2011-06-11T08:19:00.002-05:00

My god I hope that thing on her head goes away.....

Are you really THAT stupid?

I can NOT believe they are paying me to do this....

I gotta do WAHT?

Yes, I really get up that early in the morning.

No - you can not have ice-cream for breakfast. I don't care if it's summer time.

Bullshit your way through it. Um Ok then.....

SEARGANT IZZY FROG

2011-06-06T05:08:00.002-05:00

Heehee! We were trying to take Isabella's newborn photos yesterday. This is what we got! LOL! There are a few more that are pretty cute, but she's so wiggly, and keeping her awake is another thing. Such a sweet pie this baby is! She's already growing so fast. Gramma loves her little Izzy Frog!!

So today I start my new job!!! EEeee!!! I'm a little scared, but mostly excited. I picked up my "professional" looking clothing items and the dark circle eye cream, so I will go in looking nice, and refreshed! No more smart alecky t-shirts and jeans for this working girl! No more lots of things really! No more stinky people, no more crack heads, no more baggies of pennies, no more worries about getting shot, getting stole from, or molested! Yeah. I am gonna love my new job!! LOL!!

Shane Michael is off to Band Academy this week, (I always want to call it Band Camp) so it will make for some insanely busy mornings around here. Halie is going to start watching the kids for me next week, just for a couple hours a day during the transition period of when I go to work, and their Dad gets off work from his job. It will definitely be a challenge at times, and my hat goes off to all those working mommies out there who have done this for years! My kids are older, but I still worry about not being with them all day. Especially since it is summer time. I will miss them, but I know we will all love Mommies new paychecks!! :)

MY GRAMMA STORY

2011-06-02T22:31:00.002-05:00

The very proud "Uncle Shane"

The new "Grampa"

"Auntie Rye" holding a baby for the first time ever!

The insanely YOUNG "Great Gramma"

(We will have photos taken of the also very young "Great Great Gramma - 5 generations - this summer!!)

She had 15 and a half hours of hard labor. She dilated to a 4, then the labor stayed hard, with no progress. Until shift change that is! The new nurses had new ideas, the new OBGYN said he would give her a few more hours to make some progress. The baby was looking good and so Halie gave it her all. She didn't want an epidural, but she got one to see if it would help. Let me just say that she was a WAY happier camper when the pain was gone! The nurses got her in a few different positions, I went out to have a smoke, and Halie texted me - "Mommy I need you now!" I ran back to the room and was expecting them to tell me she needed an emergency c-section, but lo and behold she had dilated to a 7 and a half!!! About 90 minutes later, she was ready to push, and she only had to push about 10 minutes before the baby was born!! It was the most incredible amazing beautiful thing I have ever seen! My baby had a baby!! I will say that the baby was much smaller than I had expected, but perfect in every way. I can not even describe in words how full of joy I am, happy and full of love, so proud of my new grandbaby and my daughter. There is absolutely nothing like it!

ANOTHER MAY BABY GIRL!!

2011-06-01T09:53:00.002-05:00

Isabella Rayne
6lbs 9oz
18 Inches Long
Born at 9:39 PM
May 31, 2011

LOVE!

WHAT'S HIS NAME AGAIN???

2011-05-30T18:28:00.003-05:00

Apparently - the Angry Shane, Shane Melton - has tried to change his name for his last round of web design scams he's been up too. This time - it's William Shane Helton. Or Billy or Shane or William or... How creative.

Check it out.....

Apparently his last known address - or place of scamming was:
10033 Reindeer Way Ln, Charlotte, NC

And of course - he's got another website - notice the "Angry Beaver" okkk then..... he's got a new "Flickr" account lasting the last uploads as 2010, under the flippin name "Dankeshane" "Shane Helton" OMFG this asswipe has some balls don't he?! Check out page 2 of his flickr - Va-JJ - seriously?!!!! Makes ya wonder if those other girls are victims of his as well!? He even has an ad on the website for hiring people. Good Gawd. http://fusiondesignfirm.com

Does he really think he can get away with this shit forever???

Yeah.

AND..... NOTHING.

2011-05-28T15:10:00.000-05:00

Erg.

That is all.

BABY UPDATE

2011-05-25T23:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, so the kids have gone off to the hospital!! It's almost midnight, the 25th of May at this moment, and I am sitting here all coffeeeeed up, waiting for word..... Her contractions were coming about 6 minutes apart, so hopefully they will keep her. And break her water or something! I am so excited!!! I wanna take a little nap, but I am afraid to go to sleep. If they keep her, I will be on my way up there as well. Doooodeeeedooooooooo OMG I AM GONNA BE A GRAAAAAAAMAAAAA!!!

Hold Me.

COME ON STORMS! BRING US A BABY!!

2011-05-24T19:21:00.002-05:00

So - Halie has been having contractions all day. They even got as close together as every thirteen minutes. Plus, she has been having really crampy back pains that have been coming and going as well. Grrrr. We have tried every natural remedy, every old wives tale, jeebus - everything but cissus quadrangularis extract. Maybe..... ok or not - but it is also very stormy here. Like tornadoey stormy. I always heard that babies come during the storms. At least it always happens like that on the TV programs and movies. We have been having quite the weather day today - we even ran off to take cover at one point. Now a new set of storms are headed this way, and the TV is beeping like crazy. So far it's just a severe thunderstorm warning though. Wind and hail is nothing much really - unless the hail is big enough to poke holes through the roof!! Up top there is a photo of what the sky looked like about an hour or so ago, after the very first round of storms had passed and the second one was on the way. Round three = here we go!! NOW BRING US A BABY!!

SHANE MELTON FINALLY ARRESTED!!!! HAHA!!

2011-05-19T11:44:00.008-05:00

O.M.G.

So. Shane Melton finally got busted. And just guess what for? Ohhh yeah - he got paid to do something, but never did the job - only spent the money. FINALLY someone caught him in the act and he went to jail. This all happened in Charlotte NC - he get's around doesn't he??

Sadly, it's only a misdemeanor so far. He'd have gotten more time if he would have stolen a honda lawnmower. Sad sad sad. But I am sure he's probably done that at some point too. It's also sad that they can't seem to gather up all the charges against him in all the different states - then let all the people he ripped off line up and kick him in the nuts. OOoooh wait. He hasn't got any nuts. The cancer ate them up. Yeah. Such lies he told eh?

So this is for my beloved friend. She deserves to be the first in line for the game of kickaballsack.....

EDIT!!

Check out these links - Mannnnn O Mannnnnnnnn!!!

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/shane-melton-c441461.html

http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/nc-mcso/2011-04-13/billy-shane-melton-1491347-404300

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/fusion-multimedia-design-firm-c427977.html

HAY HAY HAY!

2011-05-16T05:33:00.002-05:00

And..... Still no baby - for those that are wondering. Gah!

I do however, consider my garden plants my babies, if that counts for anything! It is coming along nicely so far. This year I decided that mulching everything with wheat straw would be how I kept the fungus away. Hopefully it works. It's going to be a pain in the hiney to weed. I also greatly reduced the number of tomato plants. I had 65 last year, and I am down to 14 this year. I would like to do some sauce making you see! So anyhow, my potatoes are up and looking great, and everything else is growing as well. I will probably be harvesting my broccoli in the next few days, and hopefully I will have enough for at least one great salad, and one awesome batch of soup! Oh yeah yes - I have once again been fighting with the gophers. A lot of my garden plants are in buckets this year thanks to them silly animals, but some things really couldn't go in buckets. Soooo once again, we are at war......

I didn't do much of anything yesterday but lay in bed and watch movies. Now it's time to get up and around, and I have yet to make a trip to the gas station. I have been avoiding it as long as humanly possible, but now it's a must. I suppose I better pay the price at the pump now, before I run out and have to call roadside assistance. It's just so expensive and totally ridiculous to have to pay this much for gas - especially when there's no reason for it to be this high....

But I'm not walking 6 miles to take the kids to school. So I guess I'll pay. At least I have a coupon!! (Seriously - I do....)

GAHHHHHHHHH STILL WAITING......

2011-05-10T06:01:00.002-05:00

No baby yet. Today is Tuesday the 10th - which is what I ordered when I found out she was pregnant. I don't think I am going to be getting my order filled...... :)

Yesterday I succeeded in pissing off my brother. Great. But too bad. I was not put on this earth to serve him. Sorry things suck buddy - grow up and do something about it.

I have been doing everything I can to save money - the coupons, the switching around of the bills to different providers, and I found this site - www.wholesaleinsurance.net - to even have a look at changing up the insurance. I think I screwed myself on the phone\cable\internet thing though. It's all on one bill now, but they have confused me to the point that I don't even really know what the hell the bill is going to be every month. My goal was to go cheaper, so I got a package deal. Now I have a million channels of TV that I don't watch, and a DVR I don't use. When I called about the bill, they said I locked in for a 2 year contract. Jeez.....

On the upside, my air conditioner broke. I never have any kind of good luck with the air conditioning in this house. This was a window unit I bought a couple years ago. I had a guy from work come by and look at it last night, and I am going to order a part and see if that fixes it. I hope so - it was 101 degrees here yesterday. Tooooo hot for May!!

My garden has not been liking this heat either. I lost a couple zucchini plants already to the heat, but there is still plenty of time to start them over again. I do have some great and awesome heads on my broccoli - which makes me completely happy with joy!! I think I may get to actually eat some this year!! Broccoli doesn't generally like the heat, so I have been babying these as best I can. You would think they were gold or something!!

Oh yeah - and I already have a sunburn! One one side of both my legs! Ow - and go figure!!

HAPPY TIME GARDENING

2011-05-01T07:42:00.003-05:00

I am one tired old lady this morning. All my muscles are aching, I feel like I have been eating dirt all weekend, and my face is sunburned and so broken out from all the gunk, that I might actually have to invest in some acsonix for all the pimples living on it!! BUT - I feel GREAT at the same time!! Most of my garden is in, and I have finished preparing the rest of it for planting. My taters are coming up nicely, and I think I have finally found a way to outsmart all the gophers living in my yard! BUCKETS!! LOL!!
My herb garden up there is all in buckets, except for the lone tomato plant. I don't think a gopher can eat through plastic - so I am hoping this will work. I have broccoli heads already, and the rest of that little area up by my porch is intended for making salsa. I have my cilantro, the tomato, onion, garlic, and the jalapeno all planted right there. I've also got some dill close by, sweet basil, parsley, and rosemary and sage, and a few little cabbage plants. I won't get as many veggies from the buckets, but maybe this year I can at least get a few!
Out back I have prepared 5 gallon buckets for all the vine veggies. I will be putting in cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers, and yellow squash in those. In the big garden area, I have my potatoes, radishes, spinach, peppers, carrots, peas, green beans, and of course my tomatoes. Everything out there is planted and seems to be coming on nicely. Of course most of that stuff can't really be put in buckets so much, but I did put one pepper plant and one tomato plant in some to see how they would do. I just hope it all stays safe from the gophers. I did everything I could think of last year to try and get rid of them, even right down to bonking a couple of them on the head. I think they laugh at me.... as a matter of fact, I think they wait till I go to sleep at night and have a big ol' gopher gathering to poke fun at me. The moles probably show up with beer.....

ANGRY AND RELIEVED - ALL AT THE SAME TIME....

2011-04-30T09:33:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I had gone on vacation, and came home to a house full of fried electronical items. The one that killed me the most was my desktop PC. I had taken it to the PC ER, (Sanford's Computer Works) here in town, only to have them tell me that it was DOA. They said my motherboard was fried, and that there was no way they could even order parts to fix the poor thing. Well guess what?

They lied.

They lied straight to my face and charged me money to do it. Then they wanted me of course to purchase an external hard drive from them, and ohhh they had lots of "refurbished" beast monsters of PC's they could sell me. I ended up buying the external hard drive from Wal-Hell at about $50 cheaper than they tried to get me to pay. I passed on the whole used PC thing and had to go get a dang laptop. I also filed a claim with my insurance company - and we all know how much fun THAT is.... Well, guess what I am typing from right this very minute?? Oh yeah. My non fried beautiful little baby who only needed a new power supply and CPU fan. Uh huh. Cost me a whole $40 to have it fixed by a friend of a friend, who obviously has no reason to want to rip me off. Funny huh? My motherboard is fine. The whole thing works just as good as the day I left it. Those people made me believe that I had lost everything - including over 7,000 pictures and videos that could not be backed up. I am livid. If I had the money - I would send out direct mail postcards to everyone in this town with a PC and tell them to avoid that place like the plague. What gets me even more is that they claim to be "Christians" and the whole "Do unto others" philosophy is part of their deal. Whatever. It makes me wonder if I should file a claim against them in small claims court, or just leave it alone and take it as a lesson learned. At the end of the day, I did manage to recover something more precious than any amount of money could ever buy, and that is all the photos of my kids growing up over the last 6 years. The photos and videos of my Daddy that I thought were gone forever are also now safely stored in a little box, and I have learned to back it up if ya wanna keep it.

What would you do?

ALMOST TIME FOR CAMPING!!

2011-04-20T06:32:00.002-05:00

Finally I have two whole entire days off!! Never on the weekends when I need them to be of course, but time off nonetheless..... If the weather doesn't get too cold or wet, my plans are to start cleaning out the house and garage, and getting together all of my camping gear. Camping will be our only source of fun this summer really, so I really want to get everything organized and ready to go. We may even get to go next weekend if everything goes right! I know I have most everything that one would consider a necessity, but I have been looking through the Backpacker Magazine Gear Guide 2011, and there are a TON of things I would LOVE to have. Of course I haven't done a lot of hiking in the past, but this year I am in better shape, and ready to take on something a bit more challenging. I plan on taking my camera out with me, and we all know that the best shots take a little effort. So that is my goal for the summer. Get the shot! The kids could use the challenge too, but they might not be so happy about that part. I figure with plenty of fishing and smores, they can be talked into most anything! LOL! Now my wish is that this stupid wind would quit blowing for a few days!!

THE BABY SHOWER!!!

2011-04-10T20:46:00.002-05:00

Oh my gosh we had so much fun!! We packed the little room to the point that there wasn't even one single chair left over!!! I think everyone had a fun time, and I would love to thank everyone who came to celebrate with us. I know so many who would have loved to be there with us, but live so far away - but we know in spirit, you were....

We played the game "Don't say baby" - where everyone was given a strand of beads upon arrival. Then, if you are caught saying the word "baby" - you have to give your beads to the person who caught you. Of course - I lost mine right off the bat, and then Gramma Kristie lost hers right after I did! Aunt Danni ended up with the most beads at the end. LOL!

No baby shower is complete without a nice game of "Guess That Poop" either. We used baby food to make "dirty" diapers, and invited all to smell and taste the poo to decide what it was. So gross - but sooooooo funny!!

The last gift of the night was sent by her Bio-Daddy. It brought a few tears to some of our eyes. When Halie was born, her Daddy ran to the Harley shop to purchase her a pink Harley Davidson T-shirt to wear home. He wanted to carry on the tradition with his first Granddaughter too. I thought it was very sweet, and Halie really was touched by it as well.

Halie ended up taking home a car seat, stroller, bassinet, swing, bathtub, pack and play, bouncy seat, boppy pillow, clothes, shoes, bath items.... so much stuff that she actually HAD to have a TRUCK to get it all home!! Throw in some HTC accessories, and she would be able to blog the birth as it happens! LOL!

I spoke with her tonight after she had gone home, and she was happily having Nathan put things together. I am thinking she will be spending the next few weeks just nesting to her little hearts' content!! I remember those days so well, going so far as bleaching the walls to make sure no germs could live in my house when I brought my little baby girl home. Now my baby girl is going to be bringing her own little baby girl home......

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

I DON'T GET IT - DO YOU?

2011-04-09T06:05:00.002-05:00

I think every single last member of our Congress should be fired.

We the taxpayers of the United States of America, hired these people to do a job. Instead of doing their job, they have mucked things up so badly, that us "common folk" can't even understand what the hell is even going on anymore. Balance the damned budget and stop bickering already. If ya'll can't do it - get out - and let's get some people in there who can.

All we hear is lies. Lies about government money going to fund abortions. So the fuck what. Even if that were true. Truth is - NO money from our tax dollars goes to fund abortions. I do not believe that it is our governments job to decide what my moral values should be. If I want to have 57 abortions - that is MY choice. It's between me and whatever maker I believe in. (I would not do this - it's just an example...) It is not my right, or my governments right, to decide what is moral for another human being. We have the right to disagree, but not the right to dictate. This should NOT be an issue EVER. I absolutely CANNOT believe that in this day and age, these self righteous idiots still believe they have the right to dictate morality.

This whole "Eleventh Hour" bullshit - seems to me to be just a big ol' show being put on to induce fear in us "common folk". All for what? So we can turn around and do it all again next week? This crap should have been taken care of already anyhow. Oh and don't forget that all of this is somehow contributing to presidential campaign funds. WTF???

There has got to be a better, more simple way to handle things. Seriously. Simplify taxes - the more you make the more you pay. No more tax credits of any kind. Just create a simple and fair tax scale. Then - figure out what kind of money we have generated from this tax, and spend that on real life needs of the country. Good gawd how hard can this be??? I mean come on - I go to work, I get a paycheck, and I have a budget based on that pay. When that pay runs out - I have nothing more to spend. Simple. Maybe I am just tooo "simple minded" but that's what happens in my house....

But then there is the whole "Obamacare" that everyone is so inflamed about. Republicans want to repeal it, Democrats want to require it.... the only change I have seen is that my insurance company must now LET ME PAY to have my 19 year old daughter on my policy. I STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. Nothing has suddenly become free - they are simply required to let me include her SO SHE CAN ATTAIN HEALTHCARE. What is the big fucking deal about THAT? The only issue I have with this reform is the whole "REQUIRING" every single person to purchase it. If it is not affordable to everyone, this simply can't be done. More dictating. Gag.

When are we all going to wake up and see what is going on around us? Huh? We have the super rich, we have the super poor, and then the majority - us werkin peoples who gots too much to be poor but nots enuff to be gettin by either. The poor don't matter cuz they don't understand nuthin anyhow. The rich control everyone and everything because well - they are just better than all of us and they really don't give two shits about anyone but themselves. They just say they do while opening their wallets to pay off the next member of congress. Then there's us again - can't get a straight answer about anything, gotta live paycheck to paycheck, wondering if the prices of gas and groceries are going to sink us all, meanwhile watching the rich and the poor being unaffected by any of it.

I can not say I agree with anything any one political party is all about. There's some good and some bad in all of them. I can't support any one of them 100%. Seems to me this whole country is going to hell in a hand-basket, and no one gives a shit.....

But - let's all go out and enjoy those cherry blossoms ok???

ALMOST EXTREME COUPONING!!

2011-04-07T09:56:00.003-05:00

This was my gaggle of groceries yesterday after a really awesome coupon shopping trip. What is on the table would have cost me $154.20 had I payed the regular retail price. Thanks to my coupons, I only payed $40.26!!! That is a savings of nearly $114.00!!!! I'm not quite as good as the folks on Extreme Couponing, but my goal is to get there!! I know one thing for sure, and that is I will never pay full price for household or grocery items again!!
One thing I really need to do very badly is organize my stockpile. I started out with just the hall closet, and it has filled up faster than I realized. Nothing in it is perishable, so all of it will be used by our family. I am hoping to be able to save enough money to get out of debt - though this will certainly not be easy, and will require a very very strict budget. I think it will be totally worth it in the long run, but finding things for a family to do for free, or very cheap, is not so easy. I think we will be doing A LOT of camping this summer!!!

HORRIBLE DRIVING

2011-04-01T06:50:00.003-05:00

This is how the folks in Arkansas "repair" their roads!!

Sadly, it's more than what the folks in Oklahoma do to fix theirs. We have to of course drive though Oklahoma to get to Arkansas, and those roads, including the toll turnpike are some of the most awful roads I have ever had to drive on. As much money as the turnpikes collect, you would think it would be smooth sailing, but no - it is full of pot holes and cracks and bumps, one of which we hit so hard I thought the tire was going to fall off!! On a bridge no less..... WTH??

ALL IS RIGHT WITH MY WORLD

2011-03-30T11:40:00.002-05:00

(A very old photo that was rescued....)

O M G

I just got my old computer and new external hard drive back from the repair shop. At first I had a little panic attack, because I couldn't find ANY of the photos or music. I called them and asked if they could help me out, and right over the phone the guy guided me to my heaven again. There they were. Relief. I really have to give a shout out to the folks who have helped me out over the past few days. I really thought I would be out a lot of cash too, but all their work and help only cost me a grand total of $35.12!! If anyone lives around the Hutch area and needs ANYTHING done to a computer - call SANFORDS COMPUTER WORKS!! They are the nicest folks you could ever meet - fast - affordable, and a blessing!!! For the first time since we got home on Saturday, I finally feel like I can breathe again. My world feels like it is getting back together enough so that I can actually go back to the normal stuff. I take Halie to the doctor tomorrow, gotta look at some Easter gifts for sale for the kiddo's, and get this flippin house clean!!

Thank You Sanford's - from the bottom of my hard drive!!!

VACATION FROM HELL

2011-03-29T08:19:00.004-05:00

It all started because we had a spring break. Perfectly innocent right? We wanted to take just a couple of days to drive out to Arkansas to visit some family. Maybe have a bit of fun in the process. Yeah. So our drive there consisted of going through Kansas, Oklahoma, and then on to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Only about 6 hours, nothing to tedious. Until we hit all the damn road contruction in the universe. And the toll roads. Yay. We get to the hotel - the Super 8 of course - which is not much to speak of. I asked for some towels and washrags for the next days' showers, and they tell me they are out of washrags. How can a hotel be out of washrags??? Seriously? We go and have dinner with the family, then go to sleep for the night. Next day, we decide to do a little sightseeing. They have a neat little train that you can take a 2 hour or 4 hour ride on, so we decide to check it out. $66 per PERSON!!! Um - PASS!!! So we go to a museum and discover that there is a real old fashioned electric trolley that we can take a ride on. It only cost $8 for all of us, so we hop on. The conducter is a cute little old man, full of stories and history lessons. He tells us that the trolley system made it's own electricity to run on, and out of that system, the power companies were born. Neat! THEN WE HIT A TRUCK!! Yes. Now - there are no seatbelts on a trolley just so you know. The trolley runs through back alleys as well as the street sides, and there are big red lines along the route to let people know how far back to stay when they park. Well, some idiot didn't pay attention to the red line, and the bumper and hitch on his truck was sticking out over the big red line. First the front of the trolley hit it. The driver kind of looks back at it, and goes forward again. This MOVES the truck sideways. He stops a second, then goes forward AGAIN! SMACK!! We hit it a third time, but at least the trolley breaks free of the truck. The owner of the truck just happened to come around the corner as we were smashing into it, and - HE GOT IN IT AND DROVE AWAY!! His truck was all jacked up! Apparently if there were any damage to the trolley, he would have had to pay for it. It was kind of like a reverse hit and run!!! GOOD LORD! The trolley seemed to be fine - I guess they made things to last back then as the thing was already 80 years old and still going strong. We finished out our ride, and the conductor took the trolley back to the station to have a better look at it......

That night, Rye, Halie, and I went with my sister in law for a girls night out poker party. We ate some really good food and gambled with nickles. Course all three of us lost all our money, but that was the last thing on our minds by the end of the night. The lady that was sitting next to me - FELL BACKWARDS OUT HER CHAIR, and smacked the back of her head on a concrete floor!! She had a concussion and went to the ER. Let me add - all the women at the party - were nurses. GAHHHH!!! Halie spent a good part of her time taking photos, and back at the hotel we were trying to look at them all. She pushed a wrong button - deleted all of them. Sadness. I think I am going to have to look through some camera reviews to see if we can find her something a bit different before the baby comes. It would suck to accidently lose those pictures too. We also had numerous "close calls" in the auto wreck department throughout our trip. People - are insane. I don't like all that traffic, and I could never live in a big city. Ya'll drive too fast and too close together for me! It's like a gamble with your own life everytime you get into a car! I am so glad to be back home to my smaller little boring old town. There really is something to be said for small towns with a slower pace of life. I love it. The last night of our trip we were sleeping peacefully at the hotel when it started to rain pretty hard. Then came the hail. Pretty good sized hail too. We still haven't fully inspected the truck, but it was looking like it was going to be totally screwed by watching the stuff come down out the window. Hail. Go figure. When it was time to go home, we decided to take a "Shortcut" around Tulsa to avoid all the traffic and the tolls. Uh-huh. It took us EIGHT friggen hours to get home. Then of course when we get home, all I want to do is call my mommy and let her know we arrived safely. OHHH NO. The phones were out, the internet was out, and my computer was FRIED!! Of course I learned later that we had a lighting storm and all that. Soooo today will be fun, dealing with the insurance company. They never want to pay a claim, they only want you to pay them the premiums. Fun times I tell ya. I don't think I will ever leave town again.....

LIGHTNING IS BAD.....

2011-03-28T17:24:00.004-05:00

Well, here I am - back again. At my own house this time instead of Halie's. Apparently while we were gone to Arkansas, there was some kind of horrid lightning that came through and crackled my house. My phone is now restored, plus I now own a cell phone. I never wanted one, but it suddenly became a necessary item over the weekend. I do not like not having the ability to communicate with the outside world. My 7 year old Dell computer is also toast - DOA when I took it in to the repair shop. Because I do a lot of work from home, online, I am now also the owner of a new laptop. Never wanted one of those either, but it was cheaper than buying a new Dell PC. I am holding out hope that the guys at the shop can recover most of my data, but I don't know if they can. At least now I can breathe easy, knowing I can continue to read lipozene reviews , and check my facebook 400 times a day. Not to mention recipes and phone numbers - the looking up of them online anyhow. I mean - who uses a paper phone book anymore anyhow?? I'm still sad about the loss of my beloved "Dale" (Dell), but I think I will live. Needless to say - AT&T is now fired from my house, and come Monday morning - my whole house will be connected with the cable company. Good Gawd.....

EFFING REALLY???

2011-03-26T20:13:00.003-05:00

I just got home from visiting family in Arkansas. Upon arrival - I find that my telephone doesn't work - my internet is down, and my computer is fried anyways. The hard drive wont even turn on. SO - I NEED SOME HELP!! I need a computer repair guy! I need like a million people with tech jobs to come over to my house and fix all my stuff. I think I am going to barf. All I really wanted to do was come home and blog some of the photos. But I should have expected this - the way the entire vacation went anyway. I will explain more later - but we got in a TROLLEY wreck. And everything was pretty much down hill from there. Makes me NEVER want to leave my house again. At the moment I am at Halies' house just to leave this little note. If anyone out there is or has tried to call me - I wasn't home, and now I will be home with no phone. Halie says I should join the world and get a cell phone - but ummm - I don't know how to work them. GAWD!!!

NESTING!!

2011-03-22T07:37:00.002-05:00

Here's my baby girl!! Just about 30 weeks along now!! That is totally my grandbaby girl in there!! I can't believe we are so close, but it still seems like it is taking FOREVER!! LOL! I have been a nesting fool, and have been couponing to my little hearts' content with the baby stuff. I finally sent home most of the stuff with her the other night, just because there is no way I can haul all of that to the baby shower.....

Speaking of the shower, I think we have finally settled on April 10th at 3pm. I have to call the restaurant today and make sure the room is open. We have a few games picked out, and really the only thing left to do is order the cake and send out the invitations. It's going to be so much fun!! She's so lucky, as she is getting TWO showers thrown for her. This way she can see what she has, and then what she still needs to get - before the baby arrives. Honestly though - I think all the relatives have pretty much covered everything!! I know I have acquired enough diapers and wipes to last at least a month or two, the bathtub, the bouncy seat (A total lifesaver....) a stack of clothes, and some other assorted items. It is insane what we think we need just to bring a baby home! I can only imagine my Grandmother bringing her babies home to cloth diapers and a dresser drawer lined with blankets!! LOL!

I just can't wait to be able to hold this precious gift in my arms. Halie has gotten a lot of flack from various people - relatives, total strangers - you name it - for being 19 and having a baby. Unmarried, only part of a college education - and young. People never cease to amaze me with their harsh words. I agree that these two are kind of young and a little dumb at times, but I know they will be fine. As a matter of fact, I truly believe with all my heart that Halie is going to be a GREAT Mommy! I also believe that this child is a blessing - and you can't argue with a gift like that! This child will have a fortress around her, a huge family full of love and support, and in the end - that's all that really matters I say!!

IT WASN'T THE SHOES???

2011-03-09T16:18:00.003-06:00

Here's a completely unrelated photo of a big ol' kitty kitty. I took it at the zoo this past weekend. Rye wanted to pet him and love him and squeeze him. Yeah no.

Today was a doctory kind of day for us. My usual - her not so usual. A few years ago I wrote about all the trouble she was having with her legs. She would cry in pain, and would get to the point that she could not even walk. We took her to the doctor and it was dismissed as being caused by those stoopid plastic princess shoes that all the little girls love to clomp around in. Life went back to normal. Until a few months ago. I started to realize how often Riley was falling down. She could be running along, or just walking, then her knees would give out, and she would fall. It got to the point lately that it was happening 4 or 5 times a week, and when I had to go out into the back yard and pick up her crumpled little body - I'd had enough. So today we went to have it checked out, and sure enough, she's a weirdo child! She has something called Patellofemoral Syndrome. I don't know a whole lot about it yet, but her knee caps are funny shaped, so they don't support her like they should. The treatment plan includes knee braces and strength training, so at least it's not some horrible scary surgery or the like. She was very relieved about that, and at the moment, the braces are sort of a novelty - so she doesn't seem to mind. And - they aren't like the Forrest Gumpy kind of braces either - no metal involved. I'm not really all kinds of freaked out about it, but I do worry a little about what it might mean for her when she gets older. Like - will she have chronic pain? Right now, she doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain, but ibuprofen is the current aid for that if she does need something....
I didn't take her back to school after the appointment. I took her for ice cream. Sometimes it just sucks to be a kid!!

WE WEREN'T HOME.....

2011-03-05T21:03:00.002-06:00

Oh my gosh I am TIRED!!! I actually had a Saturday off work today, so we threw caution to the wind and decided to get out and do something FUN!! Normally, a weekend around this house consists of napping, complaints of boredom, housework, yard chores, or other mundane things like searching for life insurance with no exam online. NOT today though!! We packed up the car and drove to the big city to go to the big zoo!! The last time we were there, Rye was just a baby, still in a stroller even. She didn't remember any of it. Shane had a few memories of the place, but there were so many new exhibits this time. The weather was kind of cool, but I can handle that a lot better than hot. I don't do hot. So this time, I actually made it through the whole zoo without whining about needing an ambulance. It was great fun, and some of the things my kids said - like "Oh my gawd mom - that monkey has a REALLY BIG butt-hole!!" - courtesy of Rye. We also saw a rhinoceros take a pee - which Shane thought sounded like someone having a shower. We saw 2 parrots mating - trying explaining that one to a 3rd grader - and deal with the insane giggles coming from the 5th grader. More than anything else, I think I spent the most amount of time explaining all these bodily functions and such. But - hey - it was educational right?!
After the zoo we had to stop at the go-kart track and do some racing. We have never been able to do this before, as the kids were too little. This time, Shane was able to drive the big go-karts, and Rye got to drive the pee-wee ones. TOO MUCH FUN!! Of course I was Jimmie Johnson, and Shane was Tony Stewart - and sadly - he whooped my butt!! On the way home, we were all talking about how much fun it would be to have a race track at home. I bet a million bucks the kids would never play video games again - unless there was a foot of snow on the ground! LOL! It's been a very long time since we have had the chance to have some fun like this - and now I must go and recover from all of it!!

Happy Weekend Ya'll!!

WHAT'S TO COME??

2011-03-03T06:54:00.003-06:00

I wonder how much worse it's going to get. Can it really ever get better from here? It feels like WWIII is on it's way. Everything is upside down and violent and confusing. We have completely insane people in charge of entire countries. That Qaddafi dude. Holy hell what a loon! Slaughtering all those people - the people he is supposed to be ruling over. I guess he is eh? At first I thought that maybe we should go - you know - we as a nation seem to butt into every other countries business - so why not go and help these innocent people. But then I hear with my own ears, the people of Libya who are right now living in this, saying that they want to take care of this themselves. They don't want our help. They believe we would only care because of the oil. So I guess we should really stay out of it. Then I see the gas prices jump. Hmm. Are we really THAT dependent one the oil supply of one country?? Just wow.
I also have to wonder about the whole breaking up of the public unions issue. Really? Who in their right mind would want to be a teacher or a cop or a fireman if we reduce their pay so much that it makes no sense? Why aren't we talking about reducing the pay of our politicians?? They only work half the year, and all they do is push papers and go out to dinner on our dime! Why do they deserve $175,000 a year?? Cut THEIR pay in half, make them pay for their own health insurance and retirement plans ect.... Let them see what normal people have to live by. That would be a start. That would show me that our government is serious about cutting costs. No free housing, no free cars, no no no. Cut your own costs before you cut the pay of the people who actually make a real difference in this country. Does our government even have a clue what our teachers do everyday? How much money they spend out of their own pockets for OUR children? You couldn't pay me enough money to try and deal with a room full of 25 kids for 8 hours a day. Much less get them all to shut up and learn something. Good gawd. I have seen teachers reduced to tears over these kids. Why? because it's already a stressful job just in being what it is. Then you have to deal with bitchy parents who think their kids are entitled to act like assholes and receive good grades without putting in any work. Oh and - THEY CARE. Yeah their are some teachers who should NOT be teaching. Fine. But in my experience - most of them actually care about the kids they are working with. So no, I will not go along with what is trying to be done about public unions. I think - it's bullshit.

COUPON TIME!

2011-02-28T06:58:00.004-06:00

If you are a Walgreens shopper, then you can catch a really nice deal on M&M's this week!! They are on sale 2 packages for $4 (The large bags) and there is a $1 off 2 bags in the Walgreens booklet that you can find at the front of the store. They will scan that one, and then you can use the $1.50 off 2 bags that was in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago. This makes one big bag of M&M's only 75 cents!!! A really good opportunity to stock up for Easter!!

If you want to get a great deal on the opportunity to make someone elses' day, you can add a Proflowers coupon of your choice, at checkout. The site is offering everything from 10% off your entire order, to 2 dozen roses for $30!! (Buy one dozen, get one dozen free!) No code is necessary, just go to the page and click on the one you want to receive the discount.

If you got the paper last Sunday, there was a coupon for $3 off any one Gain Fabric Softener in it. Use it at Walmart to get an 80 sheet box of dryer sheets for only 11 cents plus the sales tax, for a grand total of only 36 cents!!! If you have access to more than one newspaper - now would be the time to stock up!! I was able to get 6 boxes for $2.16 - which is almost a dollar less than what I would have paid for only one without a coupon!

If you have a Dillons store near you, you can snag some Colgate Toothpaste for free. Use a 50 cent or more valued coupon, it doubles to a dollar, and the Colgate is currently on sale for $1 - so pay nothing but the sales tax! You can also check out some of the links to the left for more coupon deals and free items. I can not even begin to tell you how much money I have saved just in the few short months I have really gotten into this. Give it a try!!

HEY LOOK!! IT'S EARLY!!

2011-02-27T07:56:00.003-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACKEYDOODLE!!!

I hope you have a great day today, that there is no snow falling out of the sky at your house, and that it is at least fairly warm out!! And looky - I remembered in the morning time! LOL!

I love ya woman! Have a big ol' happy birthday!!!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

2011-02-26T06:17:00.003-06:00

Yeah - that's my redneck refrigerator. You know you want one too! All that snow is gone now, but it made flurries outside all day here yesterday. And of course it is freezing cold again. I really just want spring to arrive soon. Really.
So the weekend is the only thing that is here, and mine will be ever so exciting. I have to work today until 2, so that means cleaning up the mess that was left behind from last night. Fun. Then I get to go grocery shopping, and of course I am still on my quest to find the best diet pills for women too. More fun. After that - cook dinner, maybe get to play a little guitar hero (Aka drum practice) and go to bed. I don't think there is even anything good on TV tonight. I know I will certainly do my best NOT to watch too much of the news programs. Now - if I could have had the day off today, I would be in Topeka. They are having rallies at the capitol, and I would have loved to go. But - a Saturday off work is not going to happen for my anytime soon. I just hope tomorrow is better - and more relaxing. The race will be on, and I might even get to take a nap.....

WHAT A PISSY DAY

2011-02-25T15:51:00.002-06:00

Today has not been my day. Makes me wanna go get drunkkkkk. But I can't. So instead I am going to stay home and have a plate full of diet pills for supper, take a hot bath, and go to bed. I ran into an old friend after work today who used to own a business here in town. Turns out that his business partner was embezzling money the whole time, skipped town, and left the burden of the debt with him. Now he's lost his house, had to file bankruptcy, and is trying to figure out how in the world to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to the irs. Good gawd. To top it off his daughter was born with an extremely rare medical condition, and they have medical bills out the yang. We are talking about good people this is happening to. Good hard working people who go to church, give back to the community, and are honest folks that a person can always count on to be there if needed. It just isn't right at all. Worst of all, there really isn't much that can be done. So I can complain about my day - but not that much.....

HAVE A RECIPE....

2011-02-25T08:10:00.003-06:00

Last week while I was photographing some friends of mine, my son went fishing and caught himself a couple of catfish!! I never get tired of seeing the smile on his face when he brings home dinner for his family! :)
Sooo I thought I would share the recipe for some really good eatin' - so long as you are brave enough to give it a go. Obviously you must first go fishing - and actually catch something. Now, this is something my parents and grandparents used to do quite often when I was a kid. The fish would all be cleaned and frozen, until we had enough to feed our entire family. Then we would all gather together for the fish fry. I will warn you though, the best weight loss pills in the world aren't going to help you out if you partake in the festivities with this recipe. It's all fat - fried yummy goodness, with just a hint of healthy. (That would have been the fish....)

You need:

Buttermilk
Eggs
Flour
Cornmeal
Morton Seasoning
Cleaned Catfish Fillets
A Deep Fat Fryer or Skillet with LOTS of Crisco
LOTS of Paper Towels

Mix together about 2 cups each of the flour and cornmeal in a large bowl. Clean and pat dry your fish fillets. In the other bowl, beat about 4 eggs and 2 cups of the buttermilk together. Now, dredge your fillets though the flour first, then dip them in the egg mix. THEN again dredge them in the flour and get them quickly to the deep fat fryer or skillet with hot oil. Let those babies fry!!! When they are golden brown, (Fish don't need to cook long....) place them on a stack of paper towels to drain some of the grease, and season with the Morton Seasoning. Can you say YUMMY?!!! Now, we tend to serve the fish with home canned green beans, fried potatoes or potato salad, ALWAYS a piece of bread in case ya get a bone, and then something yummy for desert. You can actually do this with just about any kind of fish, but catfish and walleye are just THE BEST!! Plus it brings family together that you just might not get to see as often as you would like! Enjoy!!

SNORNADO ANYONE??

2011-02-24T05:05:00.004-06:00

It's 5:05 in the morning - and it is raining ice. Or hailing. I can't really tell. And there is thunder and lightning!! The storm spotter meeting got canceled due to sucky weather. Gotta love Kansas.....
Speaking of Kansas - seems we have been in the news a lot lately. Rachel Maddow had a full show on the abortion issue, focusing mostly on our State. I caught some of it last night, and she was talking about how the abortion protesters have basically made it impossible for any new doctor to come in and take Dr. George Tillers' place as a provider. For a group who is supposedly against murder, and full of "christian" values, their death threats and judgmental attitudes sure do make me laugh. Another reason for me to never be a part of any organized religion. Hypocrites. The newest crazy law that some political idiot wants to have passed would require any woman who had a miscarriage to prove that it was an "accident" - or she would be charged with murder. All I can say to that is "Screw You." As a mother who suffered through 2 miscarriages myself, this is just absurd. The pain of losing a baby in and of itself is enough to break a person down, much less then having to try and prove it was spontaneous. I am not the doctor here - read the damn report from my doctor and leave me alone so I can grieve.
All these new "laws" that these politicians are trying to pass just seem so stupid - like they are just wasting time and taxpayer money on bullshit. Do they have nothing better to do? Shouldn't they be spending our money on something a little more sensible? With all the "we are running out of money" talk in the government - this is just too much. Don't even get me started on the union issue. That pisses me off, and if it does make its way to Kansas, I will be making a trip to Topeka to join my Union brothers and sisters in protest. Gah.....

IT'S ALMOST TIME

2011-02-23T06:25:00.002-06:00

I want to get back out to my dirt.

It is time to put the peas in, but I haven't gotten very far preparing my garden space yet. I should have tilled while the weather was warmer, but I didn't. Of course the weatherman said something about snow and ice coming on later this week too. Groovy. There are actually only a few more weeks before it will be time to put the potatoes in the ground too, so I guess I really need to get a move on. I have been spending some time reading sensa weight loss reviews, wondering if it's something I should try. Then I think - why spend the money when picking up a shovel and getting to work outside would be just as good. In all reality - I have actually kept off all the weight I lost last summer just by working in the gardens. That in itself is a small miracle!!

I am planning on putting in a little less than I did last year. For one thing - way less tomato plants. Maybe only 20. Last year I started out with 65. It didn't go so well. I want to get a better variety of the tomatoes as well, and I hope to experiment with some heirlooms as well. Ooooo come on spring!!!

WHAT'S UP WITH THE BUDGET???

2011-02-21T16:12:00.002-06:00

So there has been and still is an awful lot of talk going on lately about how the USA will be broke in March. I have an idea. Don't yell at me, but I think we should do away with the Earned Income Credit. All this is, is giving a ton of money to people who never earned it, much less had to pay any taxes. Why are we rewarding people with low paying jobs and stacks of kids? I have to go to work to earn my money. Shouldn't any healthy able bodied people have to do the same? I have three kids. I don't get $10,000 at tax refund time to go and blow on crap. Yeah, I know it puts money into the local economy. That's great. But when I have to work for two hours just to afford a pound of hamburger, a package of cheese and some buns, it get's me a little pissy when I see people who get a huge tax refund and spend it on a CRUISE. Or liquor. I'm sorry, but if you can afford to buy coogi clothing and booze and ginormous TV's - I should not have to be a part of the millions of other taxpayers helping you pay for it. If I want stuff like that - (Well I can't afford it...) I would have to save for it. For a long long time. Do you know how many billions of taxpayer dollars could be saved by getting rid of the Earned Income Credit? Lots. End Rant.....

WE MISS YA DALE

2011-02-20T12:36:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it's been 10 years.

Still makes me cry.

We miss you Dale.....

BOOGITY BOOGITY BABY!!!!

2011-02-20T08:43:00.002-06:00

Wooooohoooooooooooo!!! Today is the day baby! The Daytona 500, and everyone knows where I will be!! Glued to the big TV in the living room, with a pile of BBQ ribs on a plate in my lap!! I can't say I am all that impressed with this new style of racing going on, but I think it sure is going to make for an interesting race today!! I say GO JIMMIE!!! But half my heart is hoping Dale Jr. can pull this one off today too. By the time this is all over, I'm gonna have to find a way to get rid of dark circles under my eyes - cuz there won't be any napping for this race day!! I've been waiting patiently since the Superbowl, for my turn to enjoy a sport - and by golly today is finally here! No one has the flu, the weather is supposed to be around 70 degrees, and it's all lining up to be PERFECT!!! Hope ya'll have as much fun today as I am gonna have!!!

Let's go racin boooyyyyyyyyyyssss!!!

SAVINGS = 100%

2011-02-15T08:49:00.004-06:00

I finally did it!! I have already been out doing a little coupon shopping this morning before work, and I finally saved 100% on my Dillon's bill!!! They had Colgate toothpaste on sale for 98 Cents each, and I had coupons for 50-75 cents off, which when doubled, equals a dollar off! Soooo I got 16 tubes of toothpaste for a grand total of 75 CENTS!!!! (You always have to pay the sales tax....) But even my sales tax burden was eased a little bit by the extra 2 cents per tube I got! (32 cents) I think this has to be my best score ever!
I also made a little stop at the Walmart for some Gain fabric softener. They sell 80 count dryer sheets for $3.12, and I had 6 coupons for $3 off 1. That made each pack only 12 Cents! Yay for coupons!!! If the rest of my day goes this good - I just might have to buy a lottery ticket!!!

SHE CANT BE SERIOUS?!

2011-02-14T06:01:00.002-06:00

Sometimes, I am blown away by the sheer stupidity of the things I read about in the newspaper. This weekend, an article was published about this woman, State Rep. Melody McCray-Miller, D-Wichita - who wants to make it a LAW in Kansas, that every new mother, father, and baby - should have their DNA collected and tested for paternity. She claims it will make sure that no woman can falsely accuse a man of fathering her child, and that it will make things easier when going on to collect child support. This would apply to EVERYONE - including MARRIED people - even if it's their second or third child!! Hello what??
So if this law passes, the government will begin collection of DNA of all it's citizens basically. You would only be safe if you have already been born, or are done having children. For the time being that is - until they come up with another way to collect. I think this has to be the most outrageous thing I have ever heard! If a man thinks he's not the father - he can get a test on his own - this is so not the way to go about things - taking a giant step towards some weird 1984 like big brother movement!!
I don't know why I kept reading the article, as ridiculous as it sounded. I'd been better off reading lcd tv reviews and going back to my peaceful consumerism. This however, matters to me, and if this law actually passes - I am so moving out of this state....

What do you think?

YAYYYYYYYY!!! NO SCHOOL TODAY!!

2011-02-01T06:26:00.002-06:00

Do the super happy jumpin jacky dance of no school joy!!!

I got a PHONE CALL from the school at a little past 5 am this morning - to tell me there would be no school due to the extreme cold temperatures. According to the weather channel, it is only 3 degrees outside, but with the wind chill - it is MINUS TWENTY!! The winds are gusting at around 30 MPH and it's snowing a little.

I can hear the Canadians laughing!! :)

MAR IS FoRDeeeee NOW!!

2011-01-29T06:19:00.003-06:00

My Marny had a little big birthday on Thursday!! She turned the big 4-0, and we couldn't let the day go by without a little celebration of our own! We hit the town, in the middle of the afternoon, sober, going business to business wreaking havoc. (As usual.) I think by now that most people in this town try to run away and hide when they see the two of us coming - but they couldn't escape us this time!!!!!

We started out at the Carlos O Kelleys' for some lovely Mexican food, which was insanely good. Mar got her free fried ice cream cuz it was her birthday. I don't like cornflakes..... Mar likes things in her nose, so that is where the cherry ended up. See. Just because we are old now - doesn't mean we have to act that way. All the time.....

Just so you know, because we have such horrid behavior in public - we tipped the poor waitress well. (And yes - I soooo had a coupon for this place HA!!) From there, it was off to the mall where we pretended to be 15 again and tried stuff on at the Deb Shop. We noticed that everything is so totally going back to the 80's clothing wise. Like - Oh My Gawd! I totally love it! Mar got a pair of birthday boots, which we scored off the clearance racks for under $20 bucks!! Totally.

Ohhh AND we found this lonely CHiCkEn just sitting around at the restaurant. We smiled.

So my Mar Mar, Marny, Marsupial, Marlena - we didn't win the lottery that day - but we did have each other. I hope you had a great day, and a LiKe TOtaLlY HapPy BiRtHdAy!!!

HAIR TODAY..... GONE NOW!

2011-01-27T06:07:00.002-06:00

I wish I could say we have the whole head lice thing fully conquered. Unfortunately - that's probably not the case. At least not for Rye. But for Shane Michael - uhhh yeah. I think he's good. Cuz he has no hair left. All of that long beautiful hair - gone. *sniffle*

I am glad to report that there are no more live bugs, but we have been combing the heck out of Rye's hair every day. On Sunday, both the kids will have to have treatments with the chemicals, just to make sure that we destroy the little suckers' life cycles. It all really sucks. What sucks the most though, is that it is now against the law for the schools here to check all the kids for it. When we were kids, they would line us up, and the nurse would pick through our hair, checking for any signs of nits or bugs. Now she can only do it if we ask her to, for our own kids only. The school can not notify parents of a head lice outbreak, and kids can also be sent back to school even if they have eggs in their hair. I'm just wondering how an outbreak is supposed to be stopped? If they know my kids have it, I think they should be checking out all the kids in the same classrooms. But no - it's up to me to go to each one of the parents and let them know? They say they can't do it anymore because it's too embarrassing for the children. Puhleese. They didn't get it because they are dirty kids - they got it because - they go to school. They have friends that they play with, and well - they usually have pretty clean hair. Lice love clean hair. So now my kids will BE dirty headed from now on - gunked up with as much product and goo as I can find. Hair washes every other day, and braids for Rye.

Sometimes, I think I would rather just home school these kids. It would mean a lot less mean people, and a LOT less contagious diseases!!

ABSOLUTELY FAN-FLIPPIN-TASTIC....

2011-01-23T02:32:00.005-06:00

It's 2:30 in the morning and I am still awake. You wanna know why? Of course you do, or you wouldn't be reading this right now. Well let me tell you why. Because. I just had the most fantabulous day ever. Yeah. Can you feel the sarcasm in my type?
The day started out great. A Saturday off work for me, being lazy and laying around the house in my jammies.... ahhhhh....
But that never lasts long does it? Oh no. Not here. Not in this house.
I decided to take the kids and do a little grocery shopping in the late afternoon. We are on our way out the door, and I smell something very foul. Like doody. But I can't find any cat doody. We get out to the car - still smell doody. No doody on anyone's shoes. Hum. We arrive at the store, Rye is walking in front of me - when I see it. DOODY on her BRAND NEW birthday COAT!! On the back - right in the middle. OMFREAKINGGAWD!! I tear it off of her, turn it inside out and throw it in the car. GROSS! I know this means that back at home, somewhere, there is doody on the floor. So along with the few groceries I needed, I was on a mission for Febreeze too. Thank God I had a coupon. So we are walking along in the Walmart, on our way to the checkout, when again, Rye is in front of me and I notice there is something in her hair. I'm like, "Girl - I don't think you got all the soap out of yer hair!" She swore she did. We pay, get halfway home and she pipes up from the back seat, "My friend BlahBlah came to school with head lice last week."

OMG. Panic. Full blown manic panic. I pull in the drive, throw the groceries in the house, and set out on the quest for the pile of doody I know is in there somewhere. Found it. A LOT of it. In the corner of Rye's room. Because someone had the door shut to the room with the litter box in it ALL DAY LONG! (Shane Michael) So I set about cleaning up the doody and all the coat stuff and the new bath robe that got the doody on it - gagging the entire time. I really hate cat doody. I'm cussing and gagging and starting loads of laundry and I'm at the same time listening to Rye, who is gagging and telling me all about how cats will search for a new place to make doody if the original one is not available and then I remember. Her head.

My head starts itching. I sit Rye down in a chair, grab my flashlight, and proceed to making the discovery that HOLY Christ she has HEADLICE!!!!!! My head is now itching even more. I remember that we share a hair brush. I am now in an even bigger panic. I can NOT have this. Not in MY house!! Soooooo out I go to the drugstore on a new mission. But not before printing a coupon for Rid. It didn't help much. $65 dollars later and I am home again, armed with big combs, lice combs, shampoo, egg gel, shower caps and furniture spray. I am so NOT EVEN screwing around with the mayonnaise remedy today. I get the shampoo on her, call PPHead and inform him of the situation, and then I remember - I have another kid. A boy with really long hair. Jeebus. So I sit HIM down in the kitchen chair - which is at this point the salon chair, and start checking him over. OF COURSE - HE HAS IT TOOOOOOOOO. GAH!!!! Not only did I find eggy little nits in HIS hair - but BUGS! Big Big BUGS!! GROSS times 12 or 57!!! Shampoo number two.

At this point - I am bawling, calling friends on the phone whose children have close contact with my children, when PPHead arrives with yet another $40 bucks worth of shampoo and furniture spray and the whole nine yards. Thank god. Kid number one is ready to be "Nit-Picked" so to speak. I thought maybe PPHead could help with kid number two. Yeah no. All I hear coming from the kitchen is screaming and crying and "Ooooooowwwwwww". Seriously. Two kids with headlice, my head is itching like a muther, and I now have 12 loads of laundry that need to be done ASAP! Shoot me now.....

So the reason I am up this late - or early depending on how you look at it - is that I finally finished combing through the kids hair about 30 minutes ago. Normally they would be more than thrilled to stay up this late - but tonight - all they wanted was to go to bed. They are both soaking in lice treatments, tucked into clean shower caps, and complaining from their rooms about how uncomfortable they are. My head still itches. I had PPHead look at my hair - he said he couldn't see anything. I don't think I trust him so much. Halie is coming over in the morning to give me a treatment just in case. My hair is like 57 feet long, and I do NOT have time for this.

I was up at 2:30 in the morning yesterday, working on my taxes while the house was all quiet. It's the only time I can ever get any quiet. I neeed that to do taxes. I also need to get someone who provides document scanning services to scan and save all my receipts I have yet to finish gathering so I can actually FINISH my taxes! I don't see this happening anytime soon now, as I am going to be too busy cleaning doody, doing laundry, washing hair, and picking lice eggs out of everyone's hair for the next 12 years!!

I am starting to wonder if I am EVER going to get any sleep!?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY PRINCESS GIRL!!

2011-01-20T05:15:00.002-06:00

Awww look how little you were!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY RILEY!!

Bubby has always been your protector. (Hard to believe as much as you two argue these days - but he wuvs you!) I can't believe my baby is NINE today!

AND - what an awesome way to start your birthday - with a SNOW DAY and NO SCHOOL!!! Yippeeeee!! Except now I have to figure out how to guard all those cupcakes we were supposed to take for your classroom party! LOL! Oh and your birthday morning present just won't be the same since you aren't going to be using it - a new coat - more giggling!! Those snow boots will sure come in handy though!! I can't wait for you to open those! I love you my Riley bug!!

My poor kids and their birthdays - Bubby's is right before Christmas, and Rye's is right after - so both of them always end up having birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper. I don't think they care though. Hopefully they have the roads salted and safe for us this evening. Rye wanted "Ken's Pizza" for her birthday supper, so that is what we had planned. We got all of our running around done yesterday, just in the nick of time, as the storm moved in and started coating everything with ice. I was amazed that our school officials actually watched the weather and canceled school last night! I could have slept in this morning, but my internal clock just won't let me. So here I am, coffee in hand....

I think about how little time has passed since the birth of my youngest baby, only nine years, but it seems like soooo long ago. I do think I am the luckiest mom in the world - three gorgeous and healthy kids, all so smart and loving and kind, and now a new granddaughter on the way. Sometimes life gets me down, but then I look at these kids - who could ask for anything more?

AWESOME DEALS!!

2011-01-18T05:11:00.004-06:00

This week at our Dillons Grocery Store, they have a HUGE General Mills sale going on! The new Cinnamon Cheerios and Chex, plus other GM cereals are on sale for $2.49. Plus when you buy three participating products, (The cereals are included) You get one box of the Cheerios or Chex for FREE! So last night I picked up 4 boxes for a total of $4.47, making them about $1.12 each, plus sales tax. I used $1/1 coupons for 3 of them. Also included in the sale are granola bars and nut clusters, same thing - buy 3, get a box of cereal for free. Who needs the best diet pills when you can eat healthy stuff like this all day long?! I was actually caught off guard, and without my full load of coupons, as I just ran in to pick up milk and some hamburger. I will be going back to stockpile these items, as soon as the kids taste it and give me the ok. I usually can't go wrong with anything cinnamon flavored!!

Sunday evening I had to run to Walgreens to pick up some cold medicines. They had Nyquil and Dayquil on sale for $5 - and if you buy 4 of them, you get a $10 Register Reward. So I did, and of course I had coupons for money off the Nyquil totaling $6 off. When I got up to the checkout, I noticed an entire display full of generic laundry soap marked down to $1 a bottle (Big Bottles) and right beside it they had Lysol Wipes on clearance for 75 cents!! In retrospect - I should have grabbed up all of it, but I didn't. I did buy 4 bottles of it though, and 6 canisters of the wipes. I also threw in a box of Thermacare heat wraps, which was also on sale for $2.50 with a $2.50 Register Reward attached. I used my $10 RR from the Nyquil for the second order, so my grand total for 4 bottles of Nyquil, 4 bottles of laundry soap, 6 canisters of Lysol wipes, and 1 box of Heatwraps - before tax - was $15!! Plus I got the RR for $2.50 - making the whole thing $12.50 plus sales tax!! I can not tell you how happy this made me, although I did end up dreaming about the laundry soap that night. :)

WEEKEND DID WHAT?

2011-01-17T01:45:00.002-06:00

I can not sleep to save my life. It's almost 2 am, and I have just been sitting reading fat burner reviews here. Not even THAT can put me to sleep! I feel like just getting up and making a pot of coffee and pulling an all-nighter, but I do have to go to work in the morning. The kids are out of school though - and guess what? They fell asleep at a decent hour....
I spent the weekend that I did have (today really) cleaning the house and going grocery shopping. The only fun I got to have was watching the movie "Dinner For Schmucks" and it was kind of funny I guess. More stupid than funny. But then stupid can be pretty funny. Getting delirious a little over here??? I wonder how long a person can go without sleep before they just pass out? This is seriously getting old.....

10 YEARS AGO

2011-01-15T23:18:00.002-06:00

Shane Michael was just a baby, a little over a year old at the time. I remember hearing the loud thunder, or at least what I had thought was thunder, only it was a sunny day, and not a cloud in the sky. Halie was at school, and I was home alone with the baby. Soon, the police scanner was beeping wildly, and the urgency of the situation was clear in the voices that rang out from it. Daddy called and asked if I had heard what in the world was going on. All I could seem to decipher was that the whole world was on fire, and I had nowhere to go....
A building had blown up on main street, but they were unable to put the fire out. Geysers of water were shooting up out of the blue in what seemed like random spots across town. Then there was a sinkhole. It truly felt like the end of the world was here.
I rushed across town to get Halie from school, afraid that at any moment it would go up in flames too. I had to have my babies close to me. I had never been so glad to see my husband return home from work. I wished he didn't have to go the next day either. Chaos continued the next day, and I kept my oldest home from school as a precaution. I remember sitting on the couch, watching the baby playing, and staring out the window. Was it over? What next? Then the trailer park exploded. It shook the windows of my house, and it wasn't long after that we heard of the man who had died in it. His wife was also victim, and passed away more than a week later.
I can't tell you how scared I was for those days and weeks that followed. All around me, people were even being evacuated from their homes. It turned out that natural gas had been leaking around in old salt brine wells across the city. My house just happened to be located on top of some of those old wells. Thankfully, my home was not affected at the time, and our lives eventually returned to "normal" so to speak. Those few days though - it was a lot of just waiting for the next explosion, the next sinkhole, the next plume of water to just start shooting up into the sky.
Just last year, that very neighborhood I lived in was condemned for the most part. A new sinkhole to show up some years after the gas explosions has the potential to affect the area, so a good sum of it has been bought out and taken down.

I guess that it was a good lesson. What we do to this earth today, will surely affect what happens to it in the future. On that day, it felt like my little piece of earth - was getting revenge.....

Click here to read more about January 17, 2001.

GROCERY SCORE!!

2011-01-12T14:34:00.002-06:00

I have been a very busy girl today! Shopping is not my favorite thing to do, but when I spend a lot less money - it's not too bad! On Monday I was able to snag 10 leftover Sunday newspapers from the trash can at the convenience store. Sooo that gave me a nice stack of coupons to take with me today. I do think that the stores all see me coming now, and have their security cameras focused on me the whole time - "Oh my gawd she's taking all the toothpaste!!" is I am sure their biggest fear. I did not deplete the inventory, but I did pick up 10 toothbrushes and 10 large tubes of toothpaste for a grand total of $1.60!! My entire table full of groceries up there ended up costing a whopping $39.79 - but had I paid full price - it would have cost $108.53. I think I did pretty dern good! Now if I could just find my Hot Pockets coupons, I could go back and get them for less than 50 cents each.....

I shopped at our local Dillons store for this sale, where they are having a "Buy 10 - save $5" on frozen foods sale. Also if you have a coupon for the Colgate toothpaste, you can get them here for 8 cents a large tube. (That's the sales tax...)

FREE NOODLES!!

2011-01-09T04:45:00.002-06:00

So. I am really getting this coupon thing down!! This week, I got 11 boxes of these Yakisoba noodles - for FREE!! They are great for me to take to work - just add water - pop in the microwave - LUNCH!! The kids love them too, so yay!! Our Dillons store had them on sale for $1 - and I had a coupon for 50 cents off. They double it to $1, making it free. Well almost. The sales tax still had to be paid, so that made it 88 cents for 11 boxes. Not too shabby eh?! On another shopping trip, I got two packages of toothpaste, a package of toilet paper, and a bottle of mouthwash for $5. And on another - 8 full sized bottles of Dawn dish soap for $4!! I normally would have paid almost that for just one! Needless to say, I have been one seriously stockpiling mama. So far I have collected a two year supply of toothpaste, a 6 month supply of dish soap, a years supply of razors, a years supply of bath soap, and at least a two year supply of toothbrushes. All for very little out of pocket. My little hallway supply closet is full, and if anyone were to ever look in there - they might call the hoarders hotline on me! But - in this economy - every penny saved counts. Heck I might even be able to save money to buy cool things later - like a big ol' LCD HDTV!! Or fund a vacation! And I don't like feeling desperate about money to the point that I don't know how I will buy things like that. So now I don't have to worry. One less stress on my shoulders. Gas prices for us have gone to just about $3 a gallon, so that is not helping things either. Seems like I spend half my paycheck on just getting to and from work. One thing I have started doing, is going to the convenience store and getting all the newspapers they throw away on Sundays. I pull out all the coupons, and that is how I can get so many of the same items. I know - I have no shame......

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

2011-01-06T13:56:00.002-06:00

SHE HAD THE SONO SCAN TODAY!! AND IT'S A GIRL!!!! You have to click the picture to see, but YES!! She's a SHE!!! We will have a baby Isabella!!! (Or as Grammy will call her - Izzy!)
The little turds called me, told me they were coming over, but wouldn't tell me what. Halie asked me if I needed any "bananas" and then that she was eating a doughnut on a "stick" - so I was all assuming that it was a boy. Oh yeah - plus the fact that she handed me a present wrapped in BLUE paper when she got here! But when I opened it up, there was a little ruffly purple onsie inside!! I'm like OMG!!! Is it a girl???!!!!!!! Stinkers!! GAH! I am so happy I could pee! Now there has to be pink and bows and ruffly socks and froo-froo under-britches and tights and little black patent leather shoes and PINK!!!!!!!!!!

This was Halie on the phone telling the "GREAT GRAMMY" - lookit her little baby bump!! She is according to the sonogram, 19 weeks and 4 days, so just about halfway cooked!!

I. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

YAY!!

HAPPY 2011!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-01T08:07:00.004-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I hope everyone had a great celebration last night!! I know I did! A little tooo much of the bubbly stuff, loud music, long Yahtzee games, and then there was all that swinging from the ceiling fans!! LOL! I had a great time with the kids, and I know they had fun too! We watched the fireworks from the front door - while freezing our hineys off of course! Fun times...
As much as I would have liked to sleep in late, make a big new years breakfast, and hang out with the family, I unfortunately have to go and open up the liquor store. I have no idea who in the world could possibly want beer today - I mean - isn't everyone still drunk from last night??? I suppose we shall see. I just hope the time goes fast so I can get back here and make a decent supper. I hope the new year brings good things for all of us, and a nice fresh start to things is so refreshing. Only a few more weeks and I can start back in with the garden!!! YAyyyyyyyy!!

ABOUT THAT DRUM SET......

2010-12-30T07:49:00.003-06:00

Santa. We need to talk.....

I am glad it came with headphones. But I am not sure I see the point! It keeps out the music, but that banging!! LOL! Let me just say that the boy is hooked!

"Iiiii don't wanna work..... I just wanna bang on me drums all day...."

Totally describes the scene at my house the past few days. On the upside, I love that practice time has now become fun fun experiment time, and hey - he's not bad! LOL! Since I have left bedtime up to the kids while out on Christmas break - they don't go to bed. They play. All - night - long. On the drums. And the DSi. I now have photographs being taken of me while I sleep, eat, and I had to ban the thing from the bathroom!!! My kids - crack me up!!

I go back to work today, and no more breaks for me until Sunday. Not looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a complete madhouse for sure. Sooo the kids get to drive their Daddy crazy for three days straight! Oooo and also today, Halie has a Dr. appointment!! Hopefully she will be able to schedule her sonogram scan, and soon we will know what the baby is going to be!!! Eeeee!!! I think it's a boy. I have had dreams, and he was a little thing with lots of dark hair. My Mom thinks it's a boy as well. We will see!!!

I THINK IT'S SAFE TO SAY......

2010-12-27T15:20:00.003-06:00

....that my kids had a most awesome Christmas!!! Santa was very kind to the kids this year, and made some Christmas wishes come true. Rye had only asked for the LPS thingy in her letter to Santa, but on Christmas Eve, there was a note tucked under the cookie plate, asking Santa for a Christmas miracle. (AKA - a DSi) As you can see, she was moved to tears. My son - was speechless. THAT NEVER happens!! LOL! I have never seen so many tears on Christmas morning, but these were tears of JOY!!!
So SANTA CLAUSE - (You know who you are....) I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making wishes come true, and keeping magic alive this holiday season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS BALLS!!

2010-12-22T07:37:00.002-06:00

My first batch ever of "buckeye balls".
They are a total PITA to make - but man they taste sooooooo good!! My neighbor always makes them for us at Christmas, so I decided to give it a try this year. Some for the goodie boxes, and some to take to dinner at my moms. I think they will disappear pretty fast. You want some don't you..... :)

I don't know if I will have time to say it in the next few days, so I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas! I have to work Thursday and Friday, and both days will probably be insane, as everyone will have to get enough booze to last the weekend. I just can't wait to spend some quality time with my family. I miss my Daddy of course, and it makes this holiday especially hard emotionally, but I know he's been working some miracles in my life lately. I hope everyone can get a few Christmas miracles this year, and that the new year will bring spectacular things!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

I'M A STALKER.....

2010-12-17T17:36:00.002-06:00

..... of Lowes' facebook page that is. I have been stalking for hours now, waiting for the off chance that I might be able to snag a NINJA (Kitchen Tool) for less than $8. Yes, I know. Some girls ask for gold necklaces and black diamond rings. Some girls want cars and $500 pairs of shoes. Me - I want things I can actually use. Like kitchen things. Frying pans and packages of socks are what I call awesome Christmas gifts!! I tried to get in on the whole Kitchen Aid Mixer deal for less than $15 - but apparently so did about 100,000 other people. I, like many others, have been wanting one of those things for years and years. But at around $250 - it's just not something I would ever spend my money on, unless of course I won the lottery. Of course then I would have my Viking Stove and my stainless steel refrigerator with ice and water in the door and......... Ok - I'm awake now. Socks I say!! Socks!!

OH GO ELF YERSELF!!

2010-12-16T13:33:00.002-06:00

I have been addicted to this Christmas tradition, ever since my Canadian friend introduced me to it some years ago. This year there's an added 80's groove - right up my alley eh? I love that I look like I have been on the worlds most effective diet pills - sooooo incredibly skinny! LOL! I can't wait for the kids to get home from school so we can play with this site together. You know you want to do it to - just go HERE and elf yourself already!! While I am waiting, there are more cookies to bake. Again. I don't think I am going to want to look at another cookie until at least next Christmas at this rate! Anyhow, I am enjoying my day off, got the house cleaned and had a nice visit with my Mommy. Have a fun weekend ya'll! Tomorrow is back to work for me!

TIME TO MAKE THE DOUGHNUTS!!

2010-12-15T05:53:00.003-06:00

Well, ok, not doughnuts really - but cookies yes! In between my ritualistic Wednesday housecleaning chores, grocery shopping and looking at car insurance quotes for Halie, I will be mixing up enough cookie dough to insulate my entire house. (Probably not a bad idea, except for that whole mouse thing...) Hopefully with getting the dough ready in advance, the kids can help bake and decorate, then deliver! My co-workers really seem to like my cookies, so more needs to go to them. I have awesome neighbors, and some family members to deliver to as well. I think for the ones who live close, its just nice to be able to give a small gift and get to visit for a minute, rather than just send a card by itself. Speaking of cards - I haven't sent any this year, and I feel bad for it. I doubt I will even get the chance to either. This cookie thing though - it's just been a tradition in my family since I was a kid, and I remember my Mom being in the kitchen for weeks before Christmas, baking and listening to Christmas music. Good memories! At least my house should smell really super good for a while - nothing better than fresh baked cookie smell wafting all over the place!!

2010-12-08T17:57:00.004-06:00

My kitteh weighs 12 and a half pounds!! I know this because I had to take him to the vet. Why? Well because while I was cleaning the house, I FOUND A GD WORM on the bathroom floor. A worm. Gross and puke already. Thank gawd my vet is awesome, and I took him in for a looksy. He has tapeworms - hello and he is overweight. Fleas be the culprit sayeth the vet. Sent me home a couple of bombs for the house, shoved a few pills down the cat's throat, and gave him a SHOT for the fleas. I have been cleaning and vacuuming and spraying and holy hell I am exhausted. All for the cat. And now I have a $120 vet bill. At Christmas. Like I said - thank gawd my vet is awesome. He also said if my cat is this big with tapeworms in his body - he needs to go on a diet. Groovy. Let me just say that it has been a very very long day. I seriously want to watch a little TV tonight, but I know as soon as my head hits the mattress I am gonna be out like a light. I still have to finish up supper, and wrap up the cookies I made for work. Gah. So. Tired.

NOT MILEY - IT'S RILEY!!!

2010-12-03T06:17:00.002-06:00

Last night was the Christmas play at the kids' school! My darlin' Rye was Mrs. Santa Clause - and I have to say - she left me in complete shock!! She has been practicing her little heart out for weeks now, but she would never sing for me. She would get all shy and quiet, and I was starting to worry she would die of stage fright on the big night! But - she didn't. She was amazing!! She is a total natural, which shouldn't really surprise me so much. Music is in our blood in this family. It is a part of everything we do, and our heritage. I am just bursting with joy over her performance last night - she totally sang her little heart out! As a matter of fact, that whole group of kids just did so awesome! It was one of the greatest little musicals I have ever seen!

Rye's big sissy and brother-in-law bought her roses, and she was just in heaven. My sharp looking son was even floored by his little sis, and came home from school yesterday talking non-stop about the dress rehearsal performance she gave. He dressed up in a TIE for the very first time in his life - just for her! It was so much fun, and afterward we met up with my Mom for dinner. What a great day it was!

At the start of the day yesterday, I got to take Halie to her pre-natal appointment in Newton, and we got to hear the heartbeat again. Going strong at 161 BPM!! It was also nice just to be able to spend some one on one time with my oldest baby too. Now THIS is Christmas - what it's all supposed to be about! Spending time with family in whatever is going on, having the BEST time ever, just being together!!

ALL FOR A DOLLAR?

2010-11-30T19:04:00.002-06:00

I got all this. For just a little over a buck. One. Dollar. And twelve cents. Two rolls of Hallmark wrapping paper, a roll of scotch tape, and two Yankee votive candles. YES! As a matter of fact, I have scored 13 rolls of wrapping paper this year FOR FREE, which will totally cover any gifts I have to wrap, plus some left over for next year! Woooo!! Last night took the cake on coupon shopping however. I went to Walgreens and scored..... 1. A Christmas Tree 2. Two boxes of Pampers Wipes 3. Two packs of SOCKS (YAY!) 4. Six Russel Stover Coconut Santas and 5. Two buckets of Christmas Balls for the tree - all of that - ALL OF IT - for $19.57 - Oh Yes.
I have totally been needing socks for like ever - and they were BOGO Freeeee! Plus I had coupons and register rewards, so it made for a really nice trip to the store. I can not believe even still how much money you can save if you really put a little effort into it. I am almost certain there is a coupon out there for just about anything. Now I am off to look for a good deal on some tanzanite rings! (Hey a girl can dream can't she?)

SORRY - I'M OLD......

2010-11-30T06:30:00.002-06:00

This picture was from Journey's birthday party - oh like way back in ..... uh.... September? I dunno - I can't remember anything anymore. I kept meaning to post it. I need memory help. And glucosamine sulphate for what seems to be arthritis setting in. Jeesh. Anyhow - look in the box. Seems even from the great beyond - my Daddy always seems to find a way to show up to the party!!!

It's been a bit rough here without him. Last year was just shocking, trying to just survive through the holidays knowing that he was gone. This year it's just heavy on my heart. No Daddy picking at the turkey before it's ready. I can't believe he's not here to decorate the cookies, or eat the little snacks or, well, anything. It's been a year, and I still can't wrap my head around it. Life goes on, but it doesn't seem fair. How can there be a Christmas, without Santa Clause?? *sigh*

IS ANYONE AWAKE OUT THERE?

2010-11-27T06:45:00.002-06:00

Has anyone else out there been watching this? Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura? I haven't ever watched it until last night, but some of it of course is old news to me. Some of the things he had to say made me want to learn more though. If you haven't ever heard of it, you should check it out. Very interesting about the things happening on Wall Street. Seems like it could get much worse than what it already is really. He got together with some of the "big boys" and I loved it when he started asking them "HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU NEED"!! Really!! How much money DOES one person need before is really does become nothing more than obscene? Why do you need so much? I know it must become an issue of power, but then why? Why would anyone in their right mind want to rule the world? Why? I dream of nothing more than being comfortable in this life. For me, that does not include houses so big I need a taxi to get to my bedroom. I don't care to tell everyone else what they can and can't do. I don't understand any of it. The gross excess and the need for power and control. Just why?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING YA'LL!!

2010-11-23T08:36:00.003-06:00

What Are You Thankful For This Year?

I - am thankful for my tar tar kitteh - for showing up a year ago at my doorstep, and becoming a part of our family. It's amazing how this creature can turn sad into happy, and give you the kind of unconditional love that makes your heart melt.

I am thankful for my amazing children, who teach me something new everyday. All three of them are so awesome, and if I could have chosen them out of heaven, I would have picked each one of them. They all have their moments, like all kids do, but I am so proud of the people they are becoming.

I am thankful for my whole family, my awesome friends, and my health. It's not always easy, sometimes it all makes you wanna rip your hair out, but really, it feels so good, even on bad days, just to be alive. Living is good, and I cherish every single day I get to keep doing it!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and may you all be full of turkey and pie!!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE OLD WHEN.....

2010-11-15T07:11:00.002-06:00

....the best part of your day was this photo of your cat...
He looks like he was laughing hysterically at something. The sad part is that I just stood there snapping photo after photo of him. He's getting so fat, that we might just have to look into getting some of the best fat burners for cats for him. He plays all the time, but he eats more than he plays. Last night I laid down to go to sleep, and he just plopped himself right down next to me and put his big fat arm over my neck - like snuggling with me. I swear he knows when I am feeling icky, when my blood sugars are low, and when I just need a little company. His hair sheds all over the place, and sometimes I can't stand the whole litter box thing, but I couldn't imagine life without him now. I luvs my kitteh kitteh!!

NOT GOING TO SURVIVE....

2010-11-13T18:54:00.003-06:00

This child. And clothes shopping that is.....

We spent 4 hours, went to 3 stores, looked at 5 more stores online, and nothing. I just wanted her to have a Christmas dress. We found one pair of shoes for her school play at the Goodwill, and another pair of shiny shoes we managed to score for $5 bucks at Wallyworld. But no dress. Because everything is either too old, too sexy for a 9 year old, or just "ewwwww Mom I can't wear that!" ..... OMG! If it is this difficult at age 9, I cannot even imagine... no I don't even WANT to imagine what she will be like at 15!! We had a total meltdown at the Wallyworld, and we couldn't even agree on a simple pair of tights! Gah!!!! Halie was NEVER this picky about her clothes - never! Whyyyyyyyyyyyy??!!! I really thought since I had it so easy with Halie, that all I would have to deal with for Rye would be the boy stuff and the acne scar removal cream and pimple nightmares, and the occasional girly fight stuff. You know - the easy stuff. Clothes shopping - no. It should not be this much of a PITA at this age!!! Someone shoot me, because I don't think I am going to live through this. Just a dress..... that's all I wanted.....

WHERE IS THE REFORM IN HEALTHCARE??

2010-11-10T08:09:00.002-06:00

I just got our health insurance booklet for re-enrollment yesterday. It left me stewing. All these seemingly great rules on health care have started going into effect now, but in doing further research on the whole thing, it really just leaves me scratching my head, and screamingly pissed off. First off all, our Aetna Health Insurance policy has been "Grandfathered" in, so none of the new "Consumer Protections in the new Health Care Reform Law" apply to us. To top it off, Aetna doesn't believe they have to cover my 19 year old, because she is not living here or a complete dependent. She has no job and no health care insurance available to her through an employer, but Aetna refuses to cover her, stating the "Grandfather Clause". And of course our rates when up again. So now we are paying $100 a WEEK for health insurance, deductibles, co-pays at every visit ranging from $15 to $25, plus the 20% of the bills after the deductible is met, and deductibles and co-pays on every prescription. All in all, this leaves us paying close to $10,000 a year for health care out of pocket. THAT is with NO major health issues such as surgeries or the like.

SO - what I really want to know is how in the hell this new law is helping anything, and who the hell is it helping? I mean, it all SOUNDS great until you start talking about "grandfathering" and really look at what the details are. If anyone out there is being benefited by this new law, I would love to hear it. I would like to think that someone out there is. Anyone?

Now. Before anyone gets up my ass about things, I have debated this in my head for weeks. I actually can not stop thinking about the world and the screwed up things going on in it. I change my mind, go back and forth, can't really agree with one side on anything. Some people think we are leaning toward everything socialist. This is what scares them and we don't want that right? But aren't we really a socialist country already in some ways? I mean, welfare is a socialistic kind of thing right? Isn't paying taxes in the first place a little socialistic as well? Correct me if I am wrong, but everyone pays taxes (well most people) and the government takes that money and uses it for "the greater good" of all people that live here. Isn't that what they do? Seriously. Help me out because I just don't understand. We already pay taxes on everything we buy, everything we sell, everything we already own, on money that is already ours, so where is all this money? Why do we even have to pay for health care in the first place? Why isn't all that "Greater Good" money used for it? Why do I have to pay for enrollment and fees at my kids' school every year? Again - use the "Greater Good" money. Why is it that in Canada, the tax money goes to pay for these things? Why can't the USA do the same thing? Someone tell me why. What is the big stinking hairy deal? I was talking to my good Canadian friend who tells me that she figures she pays about the same in taxes as we do here. She rarely if ever pays out of pocket for medical necessities. Sure, there may be some time waiting if your situation is not urgent, but they also have walk in clinics for minor things that a person can use anytime they would like. For free. So here is a scenario. My kid has an ear infection. I can't get into see our regular doctor for 2 days because he's full. My only option - emergency room. That means waiting for 4 hours to be seen. Same thing for my friend. She goes to a clinic, waits a while, gets seen, gets the meds, and goes about caring for her child. I see no difference here except that my bill is going to be $750 and her bill will be $0.

Why can't we get our shit together here? WHY?

SO DONE WITH KMART!

2010-11-07T13:11:00.004-06:00

I got up early. I got my newspaper, and read all of my sale ads for the week. Oh Kmart sure did look good! They advertised a two day only sale on kids' puffer jackets for $8 each. Adult sizes for $10 each. AND it was "customer appreciation day" as well. I was to get an EXTRA 20% off (but only on regular or clearance price merchandise, not SALE priced items..... which everything in the store just about was marked as being on "sale".....)

Need I tell you that they had NO kids puffer jackets whatsoever, and I was told by the associate that they never even got any. They did not have any for men either, which is what I was looking for - for myself. They had a few for women - if you like lime green or a black size medium. Give me a break already. The management even told her to tell me that I was more than welcome to drive an hour away to another Kmart and "check there".....

Why advertise stuff for sale, that you never intended on having in the first place?

So uh Kmart? You won't be getting any more of my business. Or I am guessing from the other people that were there for the same thing. Merry Christmas. You suck.

EDIT: I left a comment about my experience on the Kmart Facebook page, which was mysteriously removed only hours later. So I felt compelled to write to the "Social Media" person for the company.....

"Hi. My name is Becky Bridges, and today I left a comment on the poor experience I had shopping at Kmart. It was removed, and I would like to know why? If Kmart is so up on using social media, maybe they should actually listen to what people have to say instead of trying to hide the truth. I went to my local Kmart in Hutchinson, Kansas, first thing this morning to take part in the "customer appreciation day" and the "Two day only Sunday and Monday Hot Buy" of women's, men's, and kids puffer jackets for $8 and $10 Respectively. When I asked the associate where they were, she informed me that they never got any, aside from around 8 for women only. She also informed me that the store manager was late for work, so I could not speak with him, and that there would be no rain checks or substitutions. I was then told that I was more than welcome to drive more than an hour away to "check and see" if a Kmart in another town had gotten any. There were several other angry people who had come for the same items, and what I would like to know is why do they advertise something they never intended on selling in the first place? If it were the first time this had happened, it might be forgivable, but sadly, it is not. Every time the Kmart here has an advertised sale, they never have what is advertised. Or if they do, they have 2 or 3 items in one size. Take last week for instance - the so called "double coupon" event that was advertised, the wording in the ad was unclear. Once you got to the cash register you were told only your first 5 coupons would be doubled, and only if you spent $35 or more. I for one am finished giving my business to Kmart, which with the Christmas season here, well - it won't be counting my money as part of their profits. I am reasonably sure that I am not the only one who is fed up either. I am disgusted with the false advertising, the horrific customer service, and the obvious trickery that is used to try and lure people into the store. With the economy in the situation that it is in, Kmart should be ashamed of themselves. Now, this leads me to wonder about Sears as well, as they are part of the same company. My question is, what, if anything will be done? On an end note, I am an avid blogger, and I plan on sharing this experience with my readers. I have decided to make it my mission to go to my Kmart every week to compare the weekly advertising with what is actually there, and share it as well. I really hope these deceptive practices come to an end soon."

Thank You
A VERY Angry-Now-Ex-Customer

So, I guess it's a good thing I get up early in the mornings, and don't have to work on Sundays. I'm so sick of deceptive business practices, that yes - I am going to go to Kmart every Sunday and see if they actually have the things they say they do on sale. But - I won't be buying anything. So sad.

FOUR DOLLARS BABY!!

2010-11-03T18:59:00.003-05:00

Have I mentioned lately how much I love coupons?? Well I got this load of loot for FOUR BUCKS!! If I were to have paid full price, it would have cost me $45.00!!!
I'm tellin' ya - these coupons are like cash in your pocket! One of these days, I WILL walk into the grocery store and pay nothing but the tax!! Yes......

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2010-10-29T07:17:00.002-05:00

Our front yard "grave yard" this year! Since Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, the kids will be getting to trick-or-treat on Saturday at a few places, and then on the regular day as well. This weekend looks to be insanely busy! Riley has opted to be a kitty cat - again - and Shane is a dead monk. Go figure. Pics later. LOL! So off we go to start the celebrating!

Have a safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!!

PRODUCT REVIEW!!

2010-10-29T06:29:00.003-05:00

I was recently given a sample of this sealing tape, and asked if I would try it out and give it my honest review. As far as tape goes - I give it two thumbs up. It works, it held my box shut, and well, it's good for more than just taping boxes closed, as you can see from the video! :) It was also pretty easy to tear off, or take the scissors too, but I wish I would have had a dispenser to go with it. I had one somewhere around here, but couldn't find it. The best part about the whole thing was that you can buy it online. Anyone who knows me - knows I would love it if I could buy EVERYTHING online instead of having to go out and deal with shopping in public.

Now - for information purposes:
I was asked to give an honest opinion about the product I received. I got it for free, I used it, I liked it, and that's the truth!

PARTY TIME!

2010-10-28T05:15:00.002-05:00

Rye and I had a great time last night doing a little chef work. We baked and decorated the cupcakes for her classroom Halloween party, while the boys went fishing. Of course we got all of our work done, but they didn't catch a thing! LOL! We were going to attempt to have a little weenie roast in the back yard, but the wind was atrocious! So we had to settle for cooked in a pan hot dogs with pickle and chip sandwiches. Tonight for me, will be round 2 of cupcake baking, since Shane needs them for his class party as well. The rest of this week will certainly be busy! Friday will be all of the parties, Saturday will be pumpkin carving and dinner with the whole family, and then of course Sunday brings trick-or-treating! Fun! The weather has finally cooled down now, so it's starting to feel like fall. I can't wait to break out with the hot apple cider and pumpkin pies!! YUMMM!

ANOTHER SCORE!!

2010-10-27T17:27:00.003-05:00

Another successful shopping trip! Today I scored BIG BIG BIG on cereal, paying only 95 cents per box! I purchased 8 boxes, had a $1 off coupon for each one, and our Dillons store is having a promotion that if you buy 4 of certain boxes of cereal, you get an extra $6 off. So I got $12 off on top of my coupons, taking the cost down from $27.62 to $7.62!! That is TWENTY BUCKS OFF!! My kids are HUGE cereal eaters, so this stash will only last 2 to 3 weeks tops. Heck-uv-a-good-deal!! I also got 6 Colgate for Kids Toothbrushes for FREE, a pack of Crest Flossers for 99 cents, and of course I got my hotdog buns off the day old rack for 69 cents. Overall, I saved just about 60% on my grocery bill today. I know this way of shopping can be a little time consuming, but for people on a fixed budget like social security disability, or a tight budget like mine, it really does help. It is worth every single second it takes, and my Gramma always said "A penny saved is a penny earned!"

Happy Saving Ya'll!!

ROCK STAR!!

2010-10-27T06:40:00.004-05:00

This child never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes you would think that she is a pretty shy kid, and other times she's just so outgoing and not afraid of anything! I thought she was perfectly content performing karaoke in her room with no one watching. But No. She came home and informed me that she was trying out for the lead of "Mrs. Santa Clause" in the school play! She seems very dedicated and totally excited - even though she will have to memorize quite a few lines and be up there in front of all those people! LOVE IT!! I had always hoped that one of my children would have a love of theater, but my oldest really never showed any interest. Rye has definitely gotten into the most so far. I loved loved loved performing in the musicals when I was in school, so this is right up my alley! I hope she gets the part - or a part - whatever she can handle!! This is going to be SO much FUN!!

LOOKIT MAH GARDIN!!

2010-10-25T16:26:00.002-05:00

Holy crap look at this caterpillar!! It's HUGE! I am thinking it must be a tobacco or tomato hornworm, since it was eating off a tomato plant. Gak!! That is going to be one GINORMOUS MOTH!!!

These photos were all taken today after the kids got home from school. With the weather staying so warm, my tomato plants are still producing, and the tops of them still look pretty healthy. My peppers have put out more than I can keep up with, and some of my eggplants are still flowering even!

Those are jalapenos that have turned red! HOT!!

It's amazing to me how what I thought was really just going to die, has seemed to awaken from a long nap and spring back to life! It was sooo incredibly hot this summer, and now this last month has just been so mild - perfect for the garden. I even have some cantaloupe still trying to grow! When I should be tilling the ground for next year - here I am still harvesting! I wish I could do this all year long, and I have even wondered about the hydroponic systems folks use for "other things" sometimes. I just don't have enough room in the house for 6 foot tomato plants!! It would be absolutely groovy to have a garden room - and fresh vegetables in the middle of winter though!! *Come on Lottery* :)

WANNA SWAP?

2010-10-25T16:18:00.002-05:00

Oh gawd. Not like that. Noooo. Coupons yes! I meant to say, wanna swap coupons? I'm wondering if anyone out there is interested in this, as I have a TON of coupons for dog food. I don't have dogs, so I don't need those, but feel like I can't throw them out. I also have a card for $10 off ink cartridges at Office Max. I am looking to save some money on the best vitamins for men (For my son, who needs some immune boosting this winter...) and cat food. I don't think anyone is willing to give up any Gain or Dawn dish soap coupons right now, but if you are...... So basically, if you clip coupons and want to trade the ones you don't use, for some that you need, let me know! The price of a stamp is pretty cheap compared to the coupon services, so this could be cheap and fun!

Thanks! :)

I LOVE COUPONS!!

2010-10-24T13:51:00.005-05:00

Can I just say - I love you?! Our little fellow blogger Sarah - has given me back the love of coupon shopping again. She has been keeping us all updated on Facebook, about free samples, and where to find the best coupon deals on the planet. Soooo I have been doing some shopping lately! Check. It. Out. Everything up there on the table - I paid a grand total of $62.68 after coupons. If I hadn't had them, it would have cost me a whopping $146.41! That is a savings of almost $84 BUCKS BABY!!

This is what I ended up with today!!

6 Packages of Halls Cough Drops = $2 ( VS $7.19 Reg. Price)

2 Bottles of Dawn Dish Soap = FREE (VS $2.98 Reg. Price)

2 Tubes of Mentos Gum = FREE (VS $3.38 Reg. Price)

6 Balance Bars = $3 (VS $8.34 Reg Price)

2 10ct Pkgs Schick Razors = $1.68 (VS $13.18 Reg. Price)

1 Pkg Frozen Ream Noodles = FREE ( VS $3.19 Reg. Price)

1 Tub Athenos Hummus = FREE (VS $2.99 Reg. Price)

2 Cans Spot Shot Stain Remover = $5.79 (VS $13.58 Reg. Price)

GRAND TOTAL $12.47 (VS $54.83 Reg. Price)

I SAVED: $42.36!!

Now, you probably want to know if I actually need, or will use this stuff. My answer - YES!!
The cough drops - oh we will get sick - just like every winter. Now I am more prepared.
The dish soap - I AM the dishwasher.... Dawn is my regular brand.
The gum. I buy gum all the time.
The nutrition bars - I have been looking for something quick that I can take to work. Since my blood sugars drop so quickly, I need a protein snack after taking the rescue wafers. Perfect!
Razors - yeah.
Noodles - mmmm chicky noodles!
Hummus - H.E.A.V.E.N. - with Stacy's Pita Chips!!
Stain Remover. I have children. And carpet.

As soon as Walgreens restocks their shelves with the Nivea Body Wash - I will not need to buy bath soap for a full year. And I will have paid less than $10 for the whole year. I used to spend around $6 per month on bath soap. I think this was a SUPER good investment! I have also acquired a year's supply of razors and toothpaste, and I am working on the dish soap. So far I have gotten 5 free bottles, which will last me about 2 months. I am really excited about this whole couponing thing. I think I deserve one of those really cute little name badges that says "Coupon Queen" on it! With glitter and stars. It really is like having cash in your hand, if you know what to do with it!!

I GOT IT! YAY!

2010-10-24T07:48:00.003-05:00

I DID IT! YAY!

So my mom gave me another lesson. This time - I actually caught on! I have re-done it about 3 times so far, but now I am actually well on my way to making an actual blanket! MUCH easier than the whole sewing ordeal! Check-mark another item off the Gramma to do list! Now if I could only find the best eye wrinkle cream known to man - I would be doing even better. Right now the black bags under my eyes are soooo dark. I haven't been sleeping very much. I don't know why, but I think it's because I feel like there is too much to be done, and if I sleep - I can't do it. Plus if I am doing one thing, I tend to try and do another at the same time. I need four arms and quite possibly two bodies to get all my work done! *Sigh*

FEELS LIKE SUMMER!!

2010-10-21T15:04:00.006-05:00

Well - it WAS nice and chilly when I opened up the front door today.

I just took out all of the air conditioners in my house this morning and got the electric blanket out of the closet. I cleaned up the space heaters, and set them out around the house. All the doors and windows are open, I can see leaves on the ground, and all my pretty fall decorations too.

AND - I am sweating my butt off. It is 81 flippin' degrees outside. Again. It's like summer is just never going to end! I want to be cold enough to sip some hot apple cider and not feel like my insides are on fire! I want my house to feel like it should smell like pumpkins and cinnamon!

Instead, I am debating throwing the little AC unit back in my bedroom window. This - is just not right! It's supposed to rain tonight - so maybe we will get some kind of a cool down.....

YACK ON THE MONDAY

2010-10-18T07:59:00.003-05:00

Well. I didn't win the lottery. Again.

Mondays suck.

BUT - I did FINALLY learn how to crochet last night!! My Mom came by and gave me another lesson, and this time, something clicked in my tiny little brain, and I "got" it!! So far I have made what looks like a little baby scarf. It's not pretty, but it's more than one knot at the end of a string - which is about as far as I got last time. Mom is coming by to look at it this morning, and then I am going to pull it all out and start over again. Hopefully I can keep going and end up with a blanket for my grandbaby. *Grandbaby!* Holy shite....
I am also hoping that sometime after work, I can actually make it to the salon to have my eyebrows waxed. If I don't get it done, and at least dye my hair sometime this week, I really am going to start looking like a gramma.... or the wicked witch of the west..... Add all that to my granny pills for blood pressure, the weight loss supplements, the diabetes pills, and the cholesterol meds - hell - I guess I was just destined to be a gramma in the near future anyhow..... Now where did I put my keys......

NEWS FOR THE WEEK

2010-10-17T08:49:00.004-05:00

Yay it's finally Sunday. The day of rest. Ha.
So here's the news as of late....

The police cut down close to 3000 mary-jew-wanna plants in a field outside of town. The paper said they disposed of them, but I always wondered how many cops got stoned while standing too close to the fire.....
Halie seems to be doing ok for now. She's been to the hospital and the doctor, had more blood tests than was really necessary, and all of it was really in vain. She finally did get to see my doctor that delivered all my kids but her - and he told her that there isn't anything we can do right now but wait. Whatever is supposed to happen - is just going to happen. Thank you to everyone who has sent prayers for her. The next few weeks are just going to be spent on pins and needles I think.
In the mean time - my Mom is coming over tonight to once again show me how to crochet. I have my own little hook thing, and 1 camo-pink fluff of yarn. If we get a boy, then I will just start over.....
I am still trying to recover from the side effects of diet pills, rather the diet shake thing I had at work on Friday. I am thinking that if I have one of those every day - I will be at 120 pounds in 6 weeks!! Probably not so healthy though.....
Today is cheerleading for Rye, and other than that, I guess I am stuck at home cleaning the house. I had a full week at work, so this place is a disaster. Then I need to do the whole grocery shopping thing. I despise that. I remember a time when I used to love going shopping. Now I wish I could just put in an order online, and have it delivered to the house. Gah!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

DEAR WHOEVER LISTENS TO MY HEAD......

2010-10-14T17:21:00.002-05:00

I don't have to win the Powerball. I seriously would never be able to spend that kind of money anyways. Though it would be nice to walk around handing out cash to everyone I know. But - I'm not greedy. I'll take the KsCash and be totally thrilled! I would still be able to share a little even! For the meager $900,000 I am begging for - I could be out of debt, buy a house, 2 little cars, a boat and a camper - and even go on a great vacation. I could put money away for old age, and feel like going to work every day is actually worth my time. Gah! Every week I buy a ticket, and every week it's "close - but no cigar" for me. If the number called was a 2 - I have a 3. Every time!! What does it take to get some good luck?

2010-10-13T07:07:00.000-05:00

SO UN-MEKANIKALLY INKLINED

2010-10-12T05:48:00.003-05:00

So I figured if I am going to be a gramma, I should probably learn how to do some gramma-like things. Like crochet. So there are my Moms' nimble hands, flying at ninety to nothing - as she tries to show me how it's done. She showed me over and over. Sat next to me and pretty much held my hands and showed me. Slowed waaaay down and showed me. Wrote down instructions for me even. Before she left, I kinda got how to do the very first line. The attempt was going to be at a blanket for the baby. I'm thinking we should have just settled for a really weird pot-holder!! Actually it is something I am determined to do, but I need a lot of help. It seems like anything that has to do with mechanical types of things just gives me fits! Remember the "I'm going to learn how to sew." incident? A simple pair of running shorts made me want to pull my hair out! They are supposed to be easy - but the crotch thing just didn't compute in my brain. Please - Don't ever ask me to put a bicycle together. You will end up with an ashtray!!

FUN ON THE FARM

2010-10-07T13:03:00.004-05:00

I meant to put these up last weekend, but life has gotten busy and complicated lately. I know it happens to everyone, so I am sure I will be forgiven....
So the first picture is the toting away of our chosen pumpkins. That whole wagon full only cost about $10 bucks! By far the cheapest place to get punkins - plus you got the fun of picking them right out of the patch yourself. Upon arrival at the farm, you could pick out a wagon and a pair of clippers - and off you go!!

This was the big maze! We actually got a little lost, even with a map in our hands. Silly me - didn't eat before we went in, took no snack with me, and started to get low on the sugar. I was so scared we wouldn't make it out in time. I have never been in one of these before, but it was fun. I think it would be way creepy at night though. Not sure I am that brave!

This was a view of just some of the pumpkin patch. They had acres of them, and the owner told me that they hoe this by HAND!! Can you imagine the kind of work that went into this?! I just think it is so neat that they open up their home/farm like this for people to enjoy. We were actually on a horse drawn hay rack ride when I took this photo!

This was one of a couple giant slides that they had for the kids to play on. I wanted to go down it soooo bad, but I didn't. Too many grown-ups around LOL!

They had a lot of neat little cut-outs like this around the farm to take photos in. I think this one was actually a bean bag toss, but Riley wanted to be a giant punkin! Too fun!

We had a blast, and plan on going back next year. It was affordable, and there was so much to do. The folks out there were so friendly, and you could see that they were having a good time watching all the people having a good time. I would love to have a farm like this one. I could sell all my little jellies and all kinds of stuff! Part of my dreams I guess. The kids had so much fun just picking out their pumpkins - I love doing stuff like this with them. I know I only have so much time left to enjoy it too. Soon enough, life will become all about driving permits, boyfriends and prom dresses, and the teenage years will be upon me. Days like this one are what I cherish..... Plus the perfect fall weather!! It was just a perfect day!

So yesterday was 10-10-10 and I totally missed it! LOL! Not lucky in any way for me - just another day here. BUT....

Today is Thanksgiving for some of my dear friends!! SO:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANADIA!!

PLANNING A SUPRISE TODAY!!

2010-10-03T07:16:00.003-05:00

I am going to suprise the kids today with a trip to the punkin patch!! They are sleeping still, but when they wake up, I am going to make them eat some breakfast, wash up, and get in the truck. I'm not going to tell them where we are going. Haaa. (I so love things like this!)
It's a little drive, but not too far, and if any of you Kansas folks want to visit, we are going to go to The Sunny Side Pumpkin Patch that is just outside of Salina. They have a printable coupon for a dollar off each admission posted online, and you only need to print one for the whole group. As an added bonus, for every non-perishable food item you bring, you will get a free mini-pumpkin or gourd. They donate all of these to a local food bank, which I think is very cool! Their website says they have a couple of different corn mazes - (I have never been to one....) and all kinds of other stuff to do which is included in the price of admission! Most of the other places around here want you to just keep paying and paying.... you get the picture. We have never been to this one before, but it looks like a day of fun is ahead of us, and I hope to post a lot of photos when we get home!!

Have a great Sunday Ya'll!!

I HAVE SOME HAMBURGER....

2010-09-29T17:56:00.002-05:00

Today has been a really good day. Till now. It's time to cook supper, and all I have left in the freezer (Well now defrosting in the Micro) is a package of hamburger. I suggested "Shit On A Shingle" to the children, who promptly began whining and yelling something about Taco Bell. I am fresh out of Macaroni, so I can't make goulash, and we had meatloaf last night. There are only so many things you can do with ground beef. I hate suppertime around here.....