Works for Me Wednesday

Joining Shannon for Works For Me Wednesday.

Garage Sales...I love the money from them, love clearing out the junk, hate the prep work.

Here is something I do that helps:

I am always gathering for a yard sale. I always keep a medium size rubbermaid in the house (bottom of coat closet, top shelf of a closet, etc). When the kids try on something and it is too small in it goes, I come across something and think I need to put that in a yard sale, I put it in right then. When the bin is full I take it out and price everything then put the lid on it and out in the garage it goes to await whenever the yard sale is. It helps so much not to wait to the last minute to price things. Having the bin close at hand makes me get rid of more things as well.

In a circle

This is one of those weeks where i feel like one of those dogs that chases it's tail and never gets it. I just can't get caught up. This week between the kids and I we have 8 count them 8 doctor, dentist, eye doctor, etc appointments. Then Girl scouts, boy scouts, bible study, church, and getting the van in the shop.

I woke up at 3:45 this morning to get some things done for the two attorneys I work for so that I wouldn't have that hanging over my head as well today.

Also for a busy week I got a reminder that I am getting older...had an eye doc appt this morning. It went okay till the doc said "another few years and we will have to talk about bifocals"...what???...ugh...I am getting older.

Off to run in circles and try to get a few things done.

Dinner and a movie

I received an unexpected bonus this week so hubby and I had to go out and play with part of it. Dinner at Shogun japanese steakhouse...so yummy. Then we went to see the new Hugh Grant movie "Music and Lyrics". It was cute, not the best movie ever by any means but very cute. My favorite part was the first 4 minutes with the campy 80's music video by Huge Grant's "group". All in all it was a wonderful date night out.

Kids are expected home momentarily they had fun staying at their nana and papa's.
Today Britt will be trying Irish Dancing so we shall see how she likes that. It is a 2 hour dance clinic. The rest of the weekend plans are dinner at my parents, church, organizing Brae's room, and lesson plans!

Not to rub it in but....

It was 72 here today! That doesnt mean it won't be 40 next week but hey I will take it why I can get it. We had fun time at the park!

Work in progress

Soon to be bunkbeds....


well maybe.

Shopped till we dropped!

It's official I have shopped till I dropped!

This morning Britt and I headed out for clothes shopping! It was a must do.

So hard to find shirts that fit her she is so tall. Had to buy bigger sizes. Hit WalMart first found a few things there and got the socks and stuff there. Next Kohls found nothing there. Hit big at Old Navy they were having a great sale. I think I will try to shop there more. They have 1/2 sizes and a 12/14 shirt instead of a 10/12. The 12/14 worked well for Britt. The mall was next. By the time we met hubby and Brae for lunch I was wiped. Britt finally admitted to being wiped out too.

We had a few discussions about clothes and dressing her age and not trying to look older but all in all we are still in agreement on things...and yes I know that wont last!

Quick Break

Taking a quick break I have been up and cleaning since 5 this morning. I started last night. My daughter is a pack rat it is official...ugh I was ready to strangle her over that bedroom. She is actually a very good helper with keeping the house clean but the stuff she keeps stored and stuffed away in that bedroom! It is all cleaned and organized now. Took stock of what clothes she could still wear. Basically she couldn't wear anything. Her and I are going to go shopping on Monday because she will have to try things on. The closet and drawers are now ready for new clothes. Brae's room wasnt as bad he doesn't keep every paper he has ever drawn on like his sister. Both rooms are done. Brae can still wear almost everything from last summer since the length isn't a big deal in shorts and he hasn't gained around the waist.

At least those two rooms are done. Have tons to get ready for another yard sale sometime in April probably.

Still a whole lot more to do this weekend. This is hubby's last weekend at the part time job so that is great will be so good to have him home on the weekends again.

I have some work to get caught up on but after all the cleaning I definetly don't feel like it. Great news is that one of the big cases I have been working in settled this week so yeah for that. I have a different case going to trial in April which will still make things busy but not near as crazy as things would have been with both trials.

I guess I have put it off long enough back to the cleaning I go!

Inappropriate and Funny

Valentines morning hubby goes to WalMart at 5:30 am to get donuts, bagels and some balloons for Valentines. The idea was to get the kids a balloon to tie on their chairs.

He comes home and I look at the balloons. Look at him and say "You bought this for Brittney?". Hubby was like "yeah why?". Obviously my hubby didn't read the ballon. I asked him if he read it and he stated no it had two owls on it so I figured it would be okay.

Well of course Britt didn't get it but I did and I thought it was hilarious and it gives me something to tease hubby about.



In case you cant read it the first said says "What should I wear for Valentines Day" and on the otherside it says "Something tasteful" with whip cream on their strategic spots.

Poor hubby couldn't believe he picked it up but he hadn't even paid attention he saw a valentines balloon and grabbed it, Braden's wasnt anything with an underlying theme. I will still be teasing hubby about the inappropriate balloon next valentines too.

Unexpected

I guess I haven't been watching the news enough. I knew it was suppose to get cold, but this morning woke up to snow and school closings all around. Of course my kids still have to school which they think is terribly unfair..haha.

Very cold, not near the snow that Anne has been getting but still snow!

So I think we will snuggle in for a snow day, white chicken chilli sounds yummy.

Easy Fun Valentine Craft

Kids and I made these off of the Family Fun site. They are candy airplanes!
Need: One smarties roll of candy, two lifesavers mints, a rubber band, a stick of gum. I also used a piece of tape to make it easier and a heart sticker.
What I did to make it easier was to use tape to secure the rubber band underneath the smarties. The kids then took each side of the rubberband through a mint (the wheels) then you put the gum through the rubber band (securing your wings). We decorated with a heart sticker. Without the tape on the bottom it was too hard for Braden to do. This is a fun little valentine craft that the kids loved.

Popular *Updated*

Apparently I am more popular than I thought I was. Now a friend of my brother has found my blog too. Of course I have problems with my brother and have vented before. I also have issues with the way my parents deal with my brother. So someone took it upon themselves to take copies to my brother. I love my brother but I don't particularly like him or agree with his choices, and I have an opinion and use this as a place to vent my opinion.

It really is funny the incident last week, and seeing the hits on my blog and where they are from. I can't believe people care so much about what I vent about. At first it was upsetting now it is almost hilarious.

The issue with my brother does upset me, because he is my brother. But I also have to be honest and say that I don't agree with his choices and while my kids love him and I know he loves them, I still feel as a parent I have to limit his influence on them as I feel they need a different set of values. I also realzie how out of context things can be taken, I can mean things in a joking manner and that not come across, or I can be ticked off and spill more than I intended.

The situation with the "others" where we had to track back to find out where then found out it was during their work hours. That group to me is hilarious. I am proud to know that I bug them so much they go to so much trouble. Could care less about anything I say that would affect them.

I havent decided what I am going to do yet. I like to write too much to just quit writing and I love sharing recipes, etc. So I know I wont quit blogging, but I may change site names. If I switch I will let all of the ones of you I consider blog friends know the new address. For the rest of the bozos with too much time on their hands they can use their considerable time to search for the new one.

I wont delete this site because it is too much a part of me, and I am not ashamed of anything I write here. I have vented here when I am upset. I will use the next one to vent as well. I wont keep moving around to new blogs but I do think it is time to move and of course I will definetly keep the monitor on so I can see all the addresses of who is visiting...I have decided I really like that part of computers.

As for a quick weekend wrap up since I am so popular and I am sure all are waiting with bated breath on what my weekend was like: Friday was a long day, but I so enjoy my job and this case is particularly satisfying. Saturday consisted of cookies, cookies and more cookies...most of which are already delivered.

*Update* - I have decided to keep this site up and keep posting on it. Fun ideas I have with kids, funny stories, etc. If I am ticked off and need a good vent I will either post on a more private blog, or make a password protected post.

Tetnus FYI

In case the situation arises where your son steps on a rusty nail going straight through the shoe and into his foot, you need not fear apparently. According to the doctors response to this panicky mom. As long as they are up to date on immunizations you don't have to worry. Unless they are over the age of 12.All you have to do is antibiotic cream and watch for redness and warmth...thank goodness none of that was found. Apparently if he had been older than 12 a tetnus shot would have been required.

But yes my little guy found probably the only nail in a mile radius of our housing development and stepped right on it then pulled it out and came to show me.

I think I freaked out more than he did! All is fine now though!

weather yoyo

We had almost 70 degree weather yesterday and the day before.
Today it is holding steady at 38.
No wonder everyone gets sick!

Just quiet day here kids have done homeschool lessons. Preparing to go to a friend's house for tommorow. They are so excited.

We pick up the girlscout cookies on Saturday not looking forward to being buried under boxes and boxes of cookies, will be lots of sorting going on here this weekend!

Too much time on their hands

We live in a small town. This does not bother me. Things are gossiped about and most of it is untrue, I for one don't let it bother me.

Well apparently someone found my blog from our small town, and tried to use it in regards to my legal work.

Of course they "tried" to do it anonymously. Quite funny because they took so much time putting it together and I don't guess they once thought about the fact that computers leave fingerprints, two phone calls tracing the IP address and the information was found. Delivered where it needed to be and proper authorities notified since it was an attempt to interfer in a federal case (which is a no no in case they didn't know that).

It was nothing for me to worry about since I had done nothing improper and do not discuss details of the cases I am working on. So no problems for me, just for them, which is kind of satisfying. Nothing good comes from trying to do something bad to another. I guess some people just have too much time on their hands.

I wont say anymore on the subject just know that it was quite a day, but I will still be blogging and sharing like I always do, because it is my blog and I put what I want on it and I talk about what I want.

Some people need hobbies!

Valentines Fun

We make a whole fun day out of Valentines Day!

Breakfast is Pancakes with a little red food coloring and using a large metal heart cookie cutter as a pancake mold. We have fruit punch.

The theme for the day is hearts and lots of red and pink!

We play games:

Stack the candy hearts one or more kid can do these. Set a time and see how high they can stack their candy hearts.

Group games:

Cookie Snack Walk. Take a red construction paper heart taped to thefloor, play music kids walk in a circl winner on the heart whenmusic stops gets a Little Debbie heart shaped snack cake.

Circle Time Heart Match Game- All kids get a half of heart. Theyhave been cut before hand and they have to go around the room andfind their partner to make one whole heart. I use paper valentine platers and cut them with scrapbook scissors. You can also do this with one or two kids as well by cutting them and mixing them up and having the kids put them all back together.

Lunch will be sandwhiches of course cut into hearts!

Dinner I usually make mini meatloafs shaped into hearts, I use a sweet tangy sauce with ketchup and brown sugar to cover the meatloafs. The kids LOVE these. I have even gone so far to dye my mashed potatos before....the kids loved it. We have a family candle light dinner, turn off the lights put on music and dine by candle.

We exchange valentines with each other. We eat our yummy heart shaped cookies that the kids decorated.

We have also made love bug cupcakes before. Basically just have a lot of fun!

It makes it a fun family valentine day!

Shannon'>http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/">Shannon is having a Valentines themed work for me Wednesday!

Wonderful Movie!

We just watched Flicka. It was so good. I really enjoyed it.

It was a great family movie. I didn't notice any cuss words, Britt later pointed out that there was one. Hubby and I had both missed it though, of course she caught it. Other than that one word it was very family friendly. Good acting, good story, good songs. All around really good movie.

We all four enjoyed it immensly. I highly recommend it.

Basketball game

Here are two pics from Brae's game. He did such a good job I was so proud. Since Matt had to work and I was busy coaching Britt took pics. When Britt was playing Brae was going to take pics but he fell asleep on the sidelines so have to get pics from friends of Britt playing. I was very proud of Britt too, on the second game she scored half of the points.

Exhausted

We got to the gym at 9:00 am this morning and we left at 4pm. I have ran up and down that gym floor more times than I can count. Braden played 5 games and came in 2nd place. Brittney played 3 games coming in 4th place. Both got trophies and did very good. Braden played the best he had all year I couldn't believe how good he did. I called hubby and told him to pick up dinner on the way home that I was exhausted. So we are in for the evening and not doing another thing!

Date night

My mom called today and wanted the kids to spend the night. They used to spend the night alot but then my brother moved back in with my parents and because of how he is I quit letting the kids spend the night. He has moved back out, still not far enough out to suit me but with a few rules in place we have decided to occasionally let the kids spend the night there again.

So yeah date night! Since Valentines is on a Wednesday we know we wont get to go out then so we may go somewhere like Red Lobster or something tonight. Not quite sure of the plans yet but am looking forward to it.

This will be a busy weekend. Hubby turned in his notice today at his part time job it is just too much working during the week and then the part time on weekends. He has 3 more weekends left. I will be glad.

I will be coaching basketball all day tommorow. End of season tournament, first Brae's age division from 9-1 and then Britt's age division from 2-5. Going to be a long day. It is double elimiation so for sure they will play a minimum of 2 games each. Last year Brae's team ended up playing 6 games, I hope that is not the case tommorow, but I am sure we will have fun.

Winter day

We have all stayed in our pajamas all day. What a fun day. We didn't do homeschool today because the original plan for the day was for my friend to watch the kids while I went to a court appearance with the attorney I work for. Weather cancelled that so home we stayed. Hubby worked but had a very light day.

Braden has made one request though "No more soup"....I guess I have overdone the soup thing the last few days. I love having soup on cold winter days we have had chicken enchilada soup, tortilla soup, and baked potato soup so far, poor Braden he doesn't know I also have the stuff for chicken noodle, stew, and white chilli as well.

The kids and I did our Disney scrapbook and photo album today...yes from the trip in May of 2006, all the books, papers, photos, stickers, etc have been in a box in the closet. We took the morning and got it all done. Nice to be done and all the looking made us want to go back to Disney! I do so much better doing the online digital scrapbooking but the disney was done with all printed pics hence the long wait. But now I can mark it off the todo list. Literally it has been on my to do list always shifted to the bottom since late July. Oh well it is a long and detailed to do list so it often takes awhile to get things done. Next is the two huge rubbermaids of pictures...but I don't think I will even put that on the list yet.

Off to fix dinner and I am sure it will be much to Braden's dismay that it will be....you guessed it...soup.