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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Joys R Puss

I need to vent a little. I was going to share some of my resolutions with you, but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Today's post is totally dedicated to a certain toy store that for this post we will call Joys R Puss. My kids each received $20 gift cards from JRP from my husband's work during the annual kids party.

After much finagling, and after losing one gift card for more than 48 hours, we convinced the kids to wait till after Christmas to spend their dough.

Today was the big day. The long awaited trip to Joys R Puss. Three kids 9 and under. It's like taking an alcoholic to the liquor store and saying just pick one small thing.

We were there not even five minutes when everyone, including me, realized that we had to pee. So we all went to the bathroom and we found the dreaded AUTOMATIC TOILET. Nothing strikes fear in my toilet-trained children more than the automatic toilet.

I have dreams that include meeting the inventor of the automatic toilet and forcing him/her to take my children to the bathroom. Seriously.

My oldest and my youngest took turns covering the sensor so they could go to the bathroom. My middle daughter, who is by far our most stubborn child, was absolutely terrified and continued to refuse to go to the bathroom.

I was forced to use the dreaded ultimatum.."Either you go while I hold this sensor or we all leave and come back some other time to use our gift cards. Your decision."

Well you can guess what happened and we were finally free from the bathroom. Total time: 25 minutes. No kidding.

Next it was off to the baby doll isle, which is middle daughter's addiction. I told her to pick something other than a doll because for Christmas she received five new members of her ever growing doll family. She could not decide. Total time: 15 minutes.

My son now informs me that he has to go to the bathroom again...No. 2. No kidding.

Total additional time in the bathroom: 15 minutes.

Now we are headed to the Nerf gun section. My son is looking for a gun "Not hard to shoot."
On the way to the Nerf guns, youngest sees a motorized jeep and decides he's going to get that instead of a gun. Not a remote controlled jeep. The big one, that you ride in your yard. He proceeds to have a melt down when I tell him it cost $500 and that he only has $20. "It's not fair, all the boys toys cost $500 and the girls toys are only $20. I hate girls."

He caves and decides he wants a "Nerf-like" dart gun nearly the same size as him with "rapid fire action". None of these words sound good to me, but I've already been in the store for over an hour and really just want to leave.

Oldest wants a DS game. Joys R Puss is having a sale on DS games and apparently you needed to be there when they opened to find any. After, trying to barter an additional $10 out of me for more than 20 minutes, Oldest finally found a $19.99 detective game. The same game I tried to show her 19 1/2 minutes ago.

The electronics department has it's own cashiers so we have to check out the DS game there, but they won't ring up the gun. I have to put $1 something on my debit card.

Now it's back to the baby doll section. UGH. After unsuccessfully finding a doll with hair that you can take in the tub that is not a Barbie, Polly Pockets came to the rescue!

Mommy is now skipping towards the check out. Total time at Joys R Puss: 1 hour 40 minutes. Most of which was spent in the bathroom.

After all of that we returned home to find out that son's gun doesn't work. Are you kidding me? Am I being punked? No it really doesn't work.

Thankfully, dear husband agreed to take it back to the store and to help youngest pick out something else, cause I was about to lose it.

Number one New Year's resolution: To avoid purchasing anything from Joys R Puss for the remainder of my life.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

2008 Highs and Lows

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and a perfect time to reflect over some of the highs and lows of 2008.

My oldest daughter turned 9. Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that in a few short months I'll have been a parent for an entire decade. This year's party didn't go as planned. We had to reschedule it because of illness and then most of the family couldn't come to the rescheduled event. It was a little overwhelming without the help I was used to and the girls seemed to bicker a lot, but daughter seemed to be oblivious to it all.

Beach weekends are better than therapy. I had the opportunity to spend two glorious weekends with my sister and a dozen of our friends "scrapbooking at the beach" which is really code for hopeless drunk.

One Wedding, two funerals. We witnessed our long time friend, and sometimes roommate, marry his soul mate; we said goodbye suddenly to my cousin, Michelle's husband, "Tiny", who died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident and we said good-bye to Baby Ike.

"Bob" got a stay of execution. After waiting months for an appointment with a plastic surgeon to look at my middle daughter's "odd mole", I realized that even if this particular PS was the only PS in my county, I wouldn't let him touch any of my children. Rude. Ignorant. Bastard. Also, after finding out my middle daughter named her mole Bob it seemed rude to have him cut off. We decided to use the less evasive approach of monitoring his growth pattern and making sure he uses sun screen. So far he has not changed in nearly a year.

Camping and Dutchwonderland. We took the kids tent camping for five nights and I realized that is about 2 days too long for me. We also had the opportunity to spend a full day at Dutchwonderland, an amusement park not far from our house. The kids (and the grown ups) had a wonderful time.

A 7 year old's baby shower. Not really, but I did buy baby shower decorations for my middle daughter's birthday party. She wanted to have a baby doll party and believe it or not this isn't a popular party. Her guests and their babies all seemed to have a blast. Now as long as we don't revisit this theme in 10 years all will be right with the world.

ALS walk. For the third year, I attended the ALS walk in memory of my Aunt who died nearly three years ago to this date of this dreaded disease.

Scrapbook convention. My mom and I attended the CK scrapbook convention again this year. Unfortunately, because of work obligations my sister couldn't come this year. It wasn't the same without her, but we still had loads of fun. Pretty soon my mom will be coming to the"dark side" and scrappin' with us too. LOL

REBA and Kelly. My mom and I had the opportunity to see this concert and it was fantabulous! I never laughed so hard when "Barbara Jean" did the opening. Great memories for us both.

Zoinks! What a great party. My son had a Scooby Doo party, complete with a masked bandit that stole the Scooby treats. I'll never forget his reaction when he saw daddy in a Frankenstein mask trying to get away with the treats.

A houseful for Thanksgiving. We were blessed to have a houseful of guest for Thanksgiving, including my dad and step mom, my in laws and my sister and her family. We had dinner and then my sister and I got to shop on black Friday. It doesn't get much better than that!

Blessed. Going into 2009, I feel very blessed. My nephew is out of the hospital and according to my sister his blood sugar levels have remained stable. All of my children are healthy, though I'm a little under the weather. We still have three more days of vacation and we are waiting to hear word about weather a shelter dog will be joining our family. **more about that tomorrow**

Here's hoping that 2009 brings more laughter than tears to you and yours.
Monday, December 29, 2008

Weekend Update...I should be in the movie four Christmases





Raise your hand if you are just a little bit Christmas'd out!


WOW...I am so Christmas'd out it is not even funny. After spending the last three days without Internet access except for useless dial-up I'm also going through a little on-line access withdrawal.


We've been celebrating Christmas since the middle of the month starting with my dad's extended family and then celebrating with my mom and her husband last weekend, we topped things off by spending three days at my husband's parents house.


We had Christmas with in-laws (above is my father-in-law opening his socks) and then we had Christmas with my dad and his wife and then we had Christmas with my Grandma. I don't want to see my kids open another present for a very long time.
Seriously, how am I supposed to scrapbook that much Christmas. It's boring even to me. LOL Currently, my house looks like Toys R Us exploded in it and unfortunately the kids have not forgotten that they each have $20 gift cards. UGH.



Here's a picture of me, the kids and my grandma. I just got my hair chopped off and can't decide if I like it or not. Below is a picture of my family with my dad and his wife.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping Santa brought this much excitement to your house! He sure brought a lot of excitement to ours. We will be traveling over the next few days. I'll try to post, but I'm not sure I'll be able to tolerate my in-laws dial up.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Update on my nephew

I'm happy to report that my nephew was released from the hospital this afternoon. Now the real challenge begins. My sister and her family will need to learn how to deal with this and how to administer insulin and all the challenges that go along with that.

Please pray that she and her husband can keep their sanity and be there for each other. Right now there is a lot of stressors between them, which are only coupled by the timing of all of this.

Thank you for your concerns and Merry Christmas to all of you!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Prayer Request for my nephew


My nephew was admitted to the hospital yesterday and was diagnosis with juvenile diabetes today. Please pray that the hospital staff will get his blood sugar regulated so that he may be released tomorrow.


He is only 8 and no one should be in the hospital for Christmas.


Please also pray for my sister and her husband, as well as my niece, as this disease will take a lot of discipline on all their parts to keep under control.
Monday, December 22, 2008

Weekend update -- Christmas at my mother's

Here are some photo's from this weekend. We celebrated Christmas at my mother's house in Virginia. Thankfully, the weather cooperated. Here is a picture of me with my new Webkinz, Mistletoe the hippo. LOL



Here's my husband, who hates getting his picture taken. Shhhh, don't tell him that I posted this one. His hair is looking a little count dracula-ish...


My oldest was pretty jazzed about this Hannah Montana junior backpack. She's been carrying around her Webkinz in this.

Here's my mom with a new book that we got her. No her face doesn't usually look like that and she'll probably be annoyed that I posted this. About two weeks ago she had a terrible fall while walking her dog. She slipped on black ice and caught herself with her face. She blacked out and broke her cheekbone. Imagine what she looked like then...she's still black and blue 14 days later.


This is my step-dad and his new shirt and tie. He said he was just going to wear it to work and "look good all day"...LOL Hopefully it fits.




Here is my son with his new Webkinz. He got an elephant and a skunk. He named them Peanut and Stinky.



My middle daughter is a huge baby doll fan and this one makes all sorts of noises. Trust me, you don't want to forget to turn her off. She coos, laughs, makes drinking noises, sucks on her binky. Once she opened her, she never put her down.
Friday, December 19, 2008

A Letter to the Fat Guy

Dear Santa,

In five days, seeing as I don't have a chimney or a fireplace, you will be breaking into my house. To commemorate the occasion I thought I'd shoot you a list. Since we are in a recession and all, I thought I'd do my best to keep the cost down, so here is my grown up Christmas list.

First, can you help me to convince my five year old that the childcare center at the gym is fun. He has been picked on there repeatedly by one little brat in particular and Mommy is close to finding out just how much free weight little Timmy the bully can hold without a spotter. In your honest opinion, is it wrong to teach little G how to throw a left hook?

Speaking of bullies, there are a few mean girls my daughter has run into as of late and they too need a lesson. I'm secretly hoping that you will replace their shampoo with Elmer's glue. I know it is wrong, but they did give my sweet daughter a dog biscuit and tell her it was a graham cracker. I've always been a strong believer in what goes around, comes around. Don't you agree, Santa.

Another item on my list is a house elf. I'm really in need of someone to help out around here and it seems as if my family members can't be relied upon for anything other than complaints. Not a complimentor in the group.

Since you seem to have a plethora of elves, I thought there might be one up there that might not be the best toy maker but loves to clean toilets and make dinner. It wouldn't cost you a dime and I promise to take good care of him or her.

That about sums up my list. Feel free to slip some chocolate into the stocking.

Jingle all the way,

Me
Thursday, December 18, 2008

What I've been working on (I've got the burns to prove it)

Okay. I'm going to say it. I'm. Not. Very. Good. With. A. Glue. Gun. Wow, it feels good to get that off my chest, though it' still feels like I'm admitting some crafting failure. Every time I use one I burn my fingers and my thumbs. I'm not sure why, but my hands seemed drawn to the bubble concoction that come oozing from the gun.


Thinking that it would hurt less, I even bought one of those low temperature glue guns, but it still hurts like a bitch.


Why am I torturing myself, you ask. All to make this purdy wreath. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I love the paper. It was a new Christmas stack.


This one for my mom. I have one on my door and people always ask me where I got all the pretty ribbon. It's only paper and a Styrofoam wreath. Take a 12 x 12 sheet, cut it in half and then cut is in 1 x 6 inch strips. Fold the strip and staple the tip.


Break out the dreaded glue gun and get to gluing. Be sure to not line up your paper strips. You have to off set them or the wreath ends up looking odd.


Let me know if you try it I'd love to see it and to hear if you burnt you hand or if it is only I who is inept with a glue gun.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Frosty the Little Snowman had a plastic hat

My kids had a half day of school today.

Not because of the weather, just because of the constant need for teacher in service days. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for continuing your education. But this is the fourth or fifth in service day they have had in the last month. Seems a bit excessive.

But I digress.

Here is what they did when they got home. Couldn't resist posting them. They are just too cute!













Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Biggest Loser

This show is getting on my nerves. I'm trying to watch the season finale but I'm being bombarded by commercials.

Maybe it's not the show that is getting on my nerves, maybe it is NBC. "This episode is only about 45 minutes long," said the NBC executive. "Any chance we can put an hour and 15 minutes worth of commercials throughout it."

"How about a commercial after each contestant weighs in," says the other suit in the room, "People will just love the suspense."

What I didn't want was Heba or Ed to win and it is looking like they both might win. One as the eliminated contestant and one as the overall winner. UGH

Last year's contestants were so much more likable. Here's hoping that the new season which starts in January will offer more ...

Go Michelle!
Monday, December 15, 2008

Weekend update, sprinkled with a little lice


The Griswald family Christmas event at my aunt's house went off without a hitch.
We had a nice potluck lunch, did a $10 gift exchange and played cheesy games for cheesy prices.
It was a lot of fun.
This morning the fun was over as I was informed by my neighbor (whom I practically live with) that she has an infestation of lice.
Sing it with me...All I want for Christmas is no lice, no lice, no lice.
Our kids are always together, they ride the bus together, the preschoolers car pool together. If she has lice, we most likely have lice.
UGH. Even the stuffed version in the above picture isn't cute. Really, who wants a stuffed louse anyway.
Today I spent the day de-louseing the house, washing every ones head and every ones bed. It has been rather exhausting.
Here's hoping we remain bug free for the holidays.
Friday, December 12, 2008

Last night was my middle daughter's holiday concert. It was very cute and included the 2nd and 3rd grade. In the above picture, G is first from the right. The background was painted by the art teacher at the school. She is very talented and has the waist size of a 10 year old. Every time I see her I want to offer her a donut.


This is a picture from the grand finale; I'm pretty sure this is one of G's favorite songs. She appears to be singing quite loudly. LOL

Looking a little unsure of herself in this picture. I think she was scanning the audience for me and her sister.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Why I hate the dentist

Mama Kat's assignment this week was to write about your worst experience at the dentist. Just thinking about it makes my face hurt.

If you take anything from this story, take this: The difference between having a root canal performed by a dentist vs. having a root canal performed by an endodontist is hard to put into words. It's the difference between drinking an ice tea or drinking a Long Island ice tea.

Simple terms. Dentist + root canal = torture!

Our story begins with incredible pain, the ability to chew limited and anything colder than the inside of your mouth intolerable.

Seeking immediate help, I call off work and go to the dentist. Knowing that I'm in pain, the first thing the dentist does is tap on the tooth in question.

Why do they do this?

I learn that I'm going to need a root canal and a crown. This also means I may need a bank loan.

For those of you who have never had a cavity (I'm talking to my husband) or have never had the pleasure of a root canal, let me elaborate.

First, there is a lot of Novocaine involved. A lot.

Second, there is an incredible amount of drilling. A tooth being drilled smells odd. The tooth becomes a little tiny nub, just big enough to glue on your fake molar.

Then there are these little wires that get shoved down into the root. I mean aren't you just cringing thinking about it.

Finally, after hours of torture you get measured for a permanent crown and fitted with a temporary crown and sent home to become un numb and to find out just how bad this all really hurts.

Imagine my dismay when I came to realize that my tooth still hurt.

How? You ask.

"Looks like we root canaled the wrong tooth. They must have both been affected by the abscess. I don't think you are going to feel better until we get this other one taken care of," said the Dentist.

This is how I came to know an endodontist, simply because he has never uttered the above sentence.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Some of the coasters I've been working on


I just love this Santa Claus stamp. I got it this weekend at the world's largest craft show held at the a local farm complex. There were massive amounts of crafts there and, of course, I was drawn to the two booth offering supplies. LOL



These are stamped on regular bathroom/kitchen tile available at home depot with Staz-on ink and then I hand painted them with paint pens. Gotta love the paint pens.


Here is the new Rudolph stamp. It took me forever to find the perfect shade for the little guy. The first time I painted him he looked like a blob of poop. LOL. I'm finally happy with him.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Transcending

For all of the women in my inner circle and for all the women in yours. You won't regret spending five minutes with this women.




Today I felt like Ms. Turtle. I seem to have trouble telling people "no". I really need to get better at it because nothing is worse than feeling like you've been taken advantage of.

Today, my middle daughter was supposed to have a friend over for about an hour and 1/2 while her mom went to the gym.

This turned into almost two hours and her five year old brother became part of the package. He was not invited, and he is not my son's friend.

I had to work tonight, I had to feed my family and because I couldn't say no, I got stuck with all these kids. As you know, I have three of my own. I mean, seriously, who shows up with both their kids, (when the dad is at home I might add) and proceeds to tell the five year old to ask me if he's allowed to stay too.

Seriously, who does that?

Monday, December 8, 2008

Saying Good-Bye to Boston Legal



Here's a fact you may or may not have known about me.

I love the television show Boston Legal. Tonight, in about five minutes, is the series finale!

I'm curling up with my blanket and a cup a tea and savoring every moment.

My post will close today with a quote from William Shatner's character, Denny Crane. "One thing you sometimes forget is, no matter how hard your day, no matter how tough your choices, how complex your ethical decisions, you always get to choose what you have for lunch."

Sunday, December 7, 2008

My daughter's birthday scrapbook

My kids have their own birthday books. These pages are for my oldest daughters book. I'm trying to get caught up before her 10th birthday, which will be in February.


This book is only 8 x 8; so not many pictures fit per page. For her party my daughter had a Hannah Montana theme.


These pictures are of my daughter decorating her cake. She got sick for her party that day and we ended up having to move her party a week. Because of that we had to make another cake. LOL




Here are pictures of the guests and of my daughter blowing out her candles. Because we had to move the party, no family could attend and some of the guest couldn't make it either. It was still fun, but so much more work without help.




In these photos the girls are making photo frames. They were wooden 5 x7 frames that each of them painted and added some bling to.




After they were finished we took a picture with Hannah Montana. She came to the party as a cardboard cut out. I printed a picture of all the kids with Hannah to fit in their frames as part of their party favor.




These final pages are all about the presents. If your parties are anything like mine than present time is very chaotic. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me to have the guest pick a number. Then it doesn't become a popularity contest. Pick me, no pick me. You know what I mean.



Thanks for looking. If you click on any of the photos, they will enlarge.
Saturday, December 6, 2008

Daily Scrapper Challenge #1






Daily Scrapper is celebrating 20,000 hits this weekend and for her first challenge she asked those playing along to post about their favorite technique.

I wouldn't call quilling my favorite technique, but it is a fun technique that adds a lot of dimension to your project. Plus it is inexpensive, looks like you spent a lot of time on it, and is relatively easy.


All you need are 1/4 inch paper strips and a quilling tool. The tool is similar to a stylus, but is slotted at the top so the paper can slide in easily and then you just roll it, loose or tight spirals depending on your design.
Friday, December 5, 2008

Just a short birthday post...


My hubby's birthday was on Wednesday. I had to work that evening so we celebrated the day before.
Here he is with his cake and all the kids.
Little G and I made the cake and the girls put on the icing and the candles.
They were very excited! Can you tell?
Thursday, December 4, 2008

Friendship


I can remember being told that friends will come in an out of your life and when I was younger I never really understood that.


Even in high school, I was foolish enough to believe that I would remain friends with everyone forever.


As I aged, I realized that life doesn't always make that possible.
Don't get me wrong. With things like email and Facebook, staying in touch has never been easier. But we all know the difference between staying in touch and being friends.


I've been thinking about my friends from high school and I'm happy to say that I'm close with quite a few of them still. However, sometime I wish we were even closer.
It pains me that I haven't seen my friend Tracey's kids. They are not really babies anymore. This holiday season I'm going to try and change that.


My dear friend, Kate, my first roommate, my co-worker, and my buddy, lost her sister last week. I couldn't make it to the funeral.


I still haven't seen my friend Bobbie's house. She has been to mine a handful of times.


It's hard keeping in touch but I believe it is worth it in the long run. If you are one of the five people reading this post, stop right now and call a friend you haven't talked to in a long time.


Once your done catching up come back and post a comment. Tell me who you chatted with and what made you decide to call them.


Looking forward to hearing from you.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wordful Wednesday

Mama at Mama's Losin It had a unique assignment this week it was as follows:

Post and write about the 6th picture from (the 6th folder of?) your Flickr account and then do the same for the 6th picture of the 6th folder on your computer.



I don't have a Flickr account (gasp) so I had to use my snapfish account and this is the 6th picture. LOL I hope Kim and Roz are not regular readers of my blog. This is from our semi-annual scrapbook weekend. This time the fun was at Virginia Beach. Roz and Kim are sisters and this is about as good of a picture you can get of these two crazies.
It's such a fun weekend getaway that just looking at these pictures makes me want to go back. Of course, April will be here before I know it.




This is the 6th picture in the 6th file of 2008 on my computer. It's of my middle daughter with all of her baby dolls on her 7th birthday. She loves her babies! We were getting ready for her baby doll themed birthday.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Hurting for my friends and family



I made three of these cards today and it saddens me that I must mail them all.

My step dad's mother passed away last week. She had been suffering for awhile, so in the long run her passing will be a blessing. Still my mom and step dad will miss her terribly, as will her husband. It is always harder when the woman dies first.

My dear friend Kate lost her sister the day before Thanksgiving. Apparently she died of an undetected blood clot. Sudden and unexpectedly at the age of 40.

Also, I was surprised to learn that my neighbor lost her father the day before Thanksgiving. Though he was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, his death was also very unexpected.

As 2008 comes to a close, remember all of your loved ones. We truly do not know how many days we have and we shouldn't put off for tomorrow what needs to be said today.

Love you guys!

Monday, December 1, 2008

The first day of Buck - a national holiday in PA

Today in Pennsylvania is the first day of antler deer and it, literally, is a holiday.


My kids didn't have school.


This is directly related to the fact this is the first day of antler deer.


PLEASE NOTE: While I have no desire to shoot one, I harbor no ill will to those who find it enjoyable.


I grew up with a dad who didn't hunt. However, my mom's entire family hunted and now many of my cousins do, even the girls.

My husband doesn't hunt.

I'm secretly hoping my son doesn't want to hunt. I'm sure many of his friends will be hunters and perhaps he will find the idea fascinating, but I'm secretly hoping he doesn't.

Why secretly? Because if he knows I don't want him to hunt, then he will definitely want to hunt.

For now I'll leave you with this video clip.



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kisatrtle
I'm a 41 year old (gasp) freelance writer, school cafeteria manager, wife and mother. I have three children and one anxious and overweight beagle. I use my blog to make others laugh, to share some cool crafts, to document my lunchlady adventures and to lament about the challenges faced by us all on the journey called life. Thanks for visiting. Please leave some crack...um...I meant some comments.
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