night time

At night, it always seems that time slows down. Some nights seem very long and slow.

rrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzz

This morning is too early for a morning and actually i'm late getting up. Is that coffee calling my name?

I have my heart on my plate.

For breakfast this morning, I made whole wheat HEART shaped pancakes. Awwww.

Does your morning ever start like this?

Upon going upstairs this morning to see how my children are coming along with getting ready for the day, I find this:














Me: "Tie your horse and tiger up to the hitching post and get ready for school."
Big Kid: "It's not a tiger. It's a Baby Unicorn Puppy."


AAAAAAAHHHHH!!! Who am I to argue? And how were they not tardy, I will never know.

Houston, We Have Contact...Paper.

It is finished, well except the linen closet, which will take me 5 minutes tops.

I have gone through EVERY drawer, closet, pile, shed, garage, hidey hole that we own and cleaned out ALL of the extra. Now, we still have quite a bit of stuff, but I was just AMAZED at how just removing one or two items from each spot adds up.

I now have 1/4 of my game room and the walls around my dining room loaded hip high in treasures that will be leaving my house. WHEW!

And in my cleaning out spree, I put new contact paper on all of my shelves in my kitchen. Have you ever worked with contact paper? Let me say, it takes a steady hand and an even steadier temperament. Thankfully, that is over and my walls don't have to hear the curse words muttered under my breath or just shouted out loud anymore. (not to worry, I put down contact paper while my children were at school ;)

So, now my task is figuring out what to do with my treasures...one problem solved creates a new one. But, trust me, I am definitely not complaining.

Happy Wednesday!
later-cb

me and my

me and my big mouth...brag, brag, brag...and then only 5 hours of sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night, coughing and gagging. I seriously thought oh, no. M's not here and I might not be able to breathe again. Rats! I guess I could get someone to watch the kids while I run up to the er. But, then I finally was able to get over it and suck in some air. Whew! It was seriously weird. Then I just rolled around all night.

And to all a good night

Well, it's been a good couple of days. I must say that I have really enjoyed my children. What a pleasure it is to be able to hold real dialogues with them that are both serious and humorous. How about a review of this evening:

• Went to Shogun's for supper and had a great chef that did all the tricks, even the flip an egg in his hat!
• Had good conversation at dinner with my children.
• Little Bit brought home all A's & B's, making the honor roll!!! YES!
• Little Bit wanted to read tonight and insisted upon it!
• Went through all of Big Kid's clothes and cleaned out those that no longer fit. Can we say growing spurt?
• Went through half of Little Bit's clothes, then got to late and she still wanted to read.
• Talked with my grandparents. They sound, well, not so great even though they were upbeat. I think I should and will call them everyday, just to give my grandpa time to rest.
• Talked with my parents today. My mom sounded as tired as my grandpa. Hope to hear whatever results are the best to hear.
• Wore my hubby's t-shirt that Little Bit got him for Christmas. I really liked the shirt and finally just decided to wear it. As London Tipton would say, "Yea, Me!"
• Got a facial today. I don't do this very often, the last one was two years ago. It felt like going and laying down through an hour and a half infomercial. But, my face does feel nice and smooth tonight.
• Rode my bike and went to the gym, thus getting a 50 minutes of exercise. Now i'm tired.
• Had a delightful leftover lunch of black beans and rice. Living here is rubbing off on me, because it was GOOD.

Well, sweet dreams. later-cb

saving the world- one cat at a time

So, yesterday after Brownies in the park Little Bit and I were walking to the car. On the side of the parking lot beside the woods we saw a beautiful stray fluffy cat. We called to it, yet it ran away. As we approached the wooded area, we saw other cats, three more to be exact. "Ohhh, can we bring them home? They look hungry?" "I don't think we can bring home 4 cats, Little Bit, anyway they are wild." We tried calling them up to us. But, none came closer than just right out of arms length. Yet, there was this empty old plastic bowl that they all kept standing around. Of course, I felt like taking everyone home, but we just couldn't. So, after supper last night, Big Kid, Little Bit and I went out to the woods and poured out a big bag of cat food. We didn't see any of our friends last night, but when going through the park parking lot this morning, we saw a couple of them.

New Year's Resolutions for 2010

I resolve to:

1. As in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, & 2009, loose weight and be more healthy.
2. not classify chocolate in the fruit & nuts category.
3. only count riding my bike as exercise if i leave my cul-de-sac.
4. not to count getting up out of bed as a sit up.
5. not to count getting up out of bed in an awkward manner as a push up.
6. not to eat only 50 calories on my own plate, yet "clean up" after my children's 500+ calories of left over chips and candy.
7. To give up my "liquid diet." It just makes me hungry for junk food and naps.
8. To not dress my boy dog up in Build a Bear clothing, even if the gold lame skirt is pretty funny on him.
9. To get my dog to forgive me and quit acting out his aggression on my carpet and floors.
10. To let my fish just be the predators that they are and stop trying to make them all "get along." But, I'm not promising that if Nemo & Peaches eat Blackie, that it won't be a live flush funeral.
11. To give my children opportunities of independence.
12. When i say to allow my children more independence, i mean letting them take more responsibilities like remembering to take all their homework to school. I am not saying I'm allowing them to break more stuff.
13. To be less negative.
14. When I say to be less negative, I mean that in all things. Like more positive attitude, more positive bank account numbers, more positively fun times.
15. To have more adventure like canoeing, camping, rock climbing, swimming, tubing, flying, spelunking, hiking, biking, etc...
16. To stay out of the er with all these plans of adventure.
17. To do instead of plan.
18. To keep my big mouth shut more. I may need some staples.
19. To stomp in the puddles and make a catapult, and make an optical illusion picture and maybe a homemade sling-shot too.
20. To go out and enjoy the day!

what?!?

Oh, no. I've run out of things to talk about. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Relax, pigs don't fly yet.

wise words

change is good in moderation. Says the pessimest in me....aunt chelle

Dear Aunt Chelle-
Wise words. I agree.
later-cb

The year in a word

If I could describe the year of 2009 for me in just one word, it would be Acceptance.

I think the word for me in 2010 is Change.

The Great Wall of The Woodlands Has Come Down

Well, The Great Wall of The Woodlands has come down. I would say it was Nemo and Peaches fault. But, noooooo. Blackie and the Silver fish kept swimming back and forth between the crack on the sides between the fence and the fish tank. Until eventually, they made the crack big enough for Peaches. Peaches the smaller and less menacing of the goldfish, started swimming through and making the crack even bigger, until eventually I found Nemo on the other side happily digging holes in the gravel at the bottom of the tank. Little graves, I like to call them, for when he finally finishes munching one of these big fish to the point that they give up. So, I tore down the wall. And now all the fish live together again. I think I saw one of the fish save a piece of plastic fencing to pass down onto his baby fish to remind them all of the time of the Great Divide.

________________
Mommy Magee said...
I had a similar problem with a calico goldfish named Tiger. I thought my fish were just dying off until I just happened to come into the room when he didn't see me and he had chased a fish into a small spot by the filter. Then when he realized I was there he kind of was like, "ohhh, this isn't really what you think... dodododoooo"

Dear Mommy Magee: You're post made me laugh and thus, I had to tell you the outcome of my tank. later-cb

Big happenings in 2010

Well, I have some meany Goldfish who liked eating the fins off of my silver dollar fish and sucker fish Blackie. In a final attempt to save my other fish, I built a big fence. It only took me an hour. Oh, I need a life.

A Great Christmas Gift

In honor of the end of the 2009 Christmas photo journal, I leave you with this video of Big Kid rockin out his new guitar shirt. May all your presents bring such joy!

Merry Bright Christmas

A Bright Christmas

What? You found another piece of decoration that didn't get put away? me too, a Christmas picture...

Christmas is not finished! more to come!

did i mention Christmas pics for the next month?

1 & 2. Starbucks before the movie.

3, 4 & 5. It snowed! It snowed!!!

Christmas at Mamaws

are you tired of Christmas yet? Not me!

1. Cousin and Big Kid/Little Bit.

2. & 3. Sledding in the Snow.

4. & 5. Snowballs in the car.

Christmas card warm ups

it is 31.8 F right now. oh so cold and dropping.

• my yard is covered in sheets.
• my neighbor Jim let me use his trash can and his neighbor's trash can tonight. i filled them both as well as our own.

You will be looking at December all of January.

1. M received a bust of the Pope from his good buddy. M will be putting it in his Pope Room (aka dining room). Yes, we copied Buca.

2. Dinner at friends. And I must say I do love some mashed potatoes in compotes with all the fixings. And Kareoke is fun, too.

3. Why Bark turned to the bad dog lifestyle.

4. Christmas Band Concert. Go Big Kid!!!

5. Before the Christmas Band concert. Amazing how much was learned in 3 months time. Big Kid is great with the trumpet.

today

Things of note:

• Daddy tickling Little Bit makes Little Bit push Big Kid off the bed.
• I got an old dried up bananna in the mail today...literally...yikes...and yet mail art is still cool.
• my family is watching wrastlin' (a.k.a. wrestling) and they are cheering for the undertaker. fantastic.
• i got a hair cut and everyone noticed.
• we took down 1/2 of the outside lights to help out M today and he noticed and appreciated it.

more december

1. parent involvement day.
2. Soup lunch at a friend's house. yum!
3 & 4. Big Kid and Little Bit before school one day this month.
5. Full December moon.