I'm so bored....

I've done NOTHING today. I haven't cleaned, I haven't straightened anything up around the house. It's a mess. I don't care. The weather is nasty and I have no desire to work out AT ALL. Maybe I'll do Flow tomorrow here at home. I feel icky when I don't work out, so that's probably why I'm in a bad mood. I just took a shower, so I guess I did SOMETHING. Maeve is napping and Kyra is watching tv, so it was nice to do that in peace. It seems like Kyra has a radar for when I'm in the bathroom and comes in there and says, "Mommy, what are you doing?" Um, what do you think I'm doing? Richard now locks the door. Lucky him. He claims she's "at that age". I wish I could lock the door. She understands when daddy's in there, but with me, she'd be banging on the door and wondering why it's locked. Ugh.

When Maeve is awake, I'm not bored. I spend my time chasing her all over the house. She loves to crawl in Kyra's room but completely ignores her own and the bathroom (which are also right there). Crazy kid!

Thursday Thirteen....

1.) It's a great week for TV! First there was Idol. The Grammy Awards were on last night. Tonight is Dancing With The Stars. Tomorrow night is the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics! So much TV, so little time! ;)

2.) I saw some pics of Maeve as a newborn the other day and really got all sad and teary-eyed. I told Richard that if we could have afforded it, I would have loved to have a 3rd child. He agreed. We also agreed that we are happy with our two girls though and look forward to watching them grow up.

3.) Richard's favorite thing to do when he comes home from work in the morning is play the guitar for Maeve. He sits there with it and she just stares at him in awe. It's so cute. She also wants daddy to pick her up. He does, and then he lets her bang on it! LOL!

4.) I've decided that North Austin drivers must be horrible. When listening to traffic reports on the radio, there are always wrecks in North Austin. I wonder if they really drive that bad. Susan, do you know? ;)

5.) We are going to the beach this summer! We are going to be photographed on the beach and plan on hooking up with the CC ladies! I can't wait!

6.) I feel like I'm getting old because I wake up in the morning with sore muscles and cracking bones. I'm sure the colder weather and the fact that I overexerted myself working out this week doesn't help things. :(

7.) Maeve is almost 10 months old and I still can't get over how blue her eyes are. It still hasn't sunk in that I have a child with blue eyes.

8.) Kyra is at MDO right now. I can't wait to pick her up in an hour. I'm really going to miss her in the fall when she goes to Kinder. *sigh*

9.) I really need to give Mia a bath. She doesn't stink or anything, but I've been putting it off and really need to do it. I like to do it when the weather is warmer. I guess today is my last chance because it's going to be cold tomorrow again.

10.) I was going to try taking Maeve and Kyra to the gym tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain, so I think we'll just stay home and I'll do Yoga here instead. :)

11.) Kyra told me that she wants to marry me. I think it's cute that she thinks so highly of me. LOL!

12.) Maeve is usually in bed by 7 and Kyra is usually in bed by 8. I love that. I get some "me" time.

13.) I think I'll watch Idol on the DVR now. I missed it last night.

Panic attacks....

Oh yes, they are soon on the horizon. Here's why I'm prone to having them.

-Maeve is mobile. She's not crawling on her hands and knees, but she's army crawling and if she wants to get somewhere, then she does.

-Today Maeve stared at herself in a mirror for about 30 minutes and tried to put up to kneel against it. Soon she'll be standing. And then walking. :(

-Speaking of standing, she stood up against her bed (with my help) and stayed there for about 30 minutes laughing and being completely happy. That kid WANTS to be upright. She's very independent and doesn't want my help with much. When she's on her own, we are so screwed.

-Have I mentioned that Kyra starts Kinder in the fall?

-Have I also mentioned that Kyra wants to ride the bus? *shudder* My BABY wants to ride the bus! Mommy doesn't know if she likes that idea.

-Today it hit me that it's February. Next month is March, and then is April. April means that Maeve turns a year old. Last night I was watching "Friends" and Emma had her 1st birthday and I just burst into tears (stupid hormones). My BABY will be a year old soon!

-With Maeve growing up, I'm sure that weaning is around the bend. I have mixed feelings over that. In a way, I'm ready for us to be done, but the other part of me wants her to nurse for at least another year or two. After all, she's my FIRST nursing baby, but also my LAST baby. *sigh*

This consistently cracks me up....

http://www.khou.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=9

This is a weather message board from a TV station in Houston. I was tuned into it during the impending landfall of Hurricane Rita. I kept it in my "favorites" and visit it from time to time....especially when I want a good laugh. Some of the people that post on it are obsessed with it snowing in Texas. Well, not just Texas, but Southeast Texas! Why are they so obsessed, you ask? Well, on December 24, 2004, pigs flew, shrimp whistled (you get the point), and snow fell along the Texas coast. My hometown of Victoria received a foot of snow. Yes, all of the folks down there woke up to a White Christmas. So, it's the mission of the people on this message board to take everything literally. When the temperature is predicted to be below 32 or rain or frozen precipitation is mentioned, they automatically think "snow" and start wetting their pants. They are obsessed with models and forecasts and predictions. It's hilarious! Go there and read some of the messages yourself. I've never come across people so passionate about the weather.

Self portrait #3.....

This was taken in May of 1990. The reason I know that is because of my little cousin Joshua on the left. He was an income tax baby and was born on April 15, 1990. I chose this picture because it was one of the last few taken before my mom passed away. My mom is just to the left of my Aunt Glenda, who is in the pink shirt holding my cousin Mark. My dad is just behind my mom. I am next to my Aunt Sandra in the red shirt. My sister Lisa has the white Texas t-shirt on. Just when I thought Lisa's smile was cheesy enough, I see Megan just below her! LOL! This photo was taken at a family reunion. This is my mom's side of the family. I've just missed my mom in so many ways lately and was happy when I found a picture of her. I know that a lot of you probably haven't seen a picture of her before, so I wanted to share and this was the perfect opportunity. Enjoy!

Cheap entertainment.....

This is why you have kids, right? LOL! This is what we had them doing tonight. Kyra was all for it. Maeve looks a bit scared, doesn't she? ;) Actually, she loved it. This went on for a good 10-15 minutes and then all of a sudden, Richard and I hear a blood curdling scream from Maeve. Kyra pushed her a little too hard and she fell over backwards. Maeve was crying because she was hurt and Kyra was crying because she hurt her little sister! Poor babies! They're no worse for the wear though!

Somebody stop me before I strangle him.....

Yes I'm talking about Richard. He came home this morning from work and for some reason he started rambling about guys at work and that turned into rambling about their kids. Then he has the nerve to say this gem:

"I thought that breastmilk makes kids smarter. There are guys at work whose kids are formula-fed and their kids are crawling and walking. I just don't get why Maeve isn't doing all of that yet."

Um, maybe because she's not ready yet, ya dumbass. Geez! Give the kid a break! She's just 9 months old. She could be doing all of that tomorrow! I went on to explain to him that all kids develop at different rates and probably part of the reason why Maeve isn't in a hurry is because she has a sister that does everything for her. Then I explained further that when Maeve is totally mobile (she's "scooting" or "army crawling" right now), his life as he knows it will be over with and he'll be chasing her all over the house because she'll be into EVERYTHING. I told him that he should be in no hurry for that to happen.

Then I told him to go to work tonight and ask his friends how many times their formula-fed kids have been to the doctor. I figured that might shut him up. Oh and I offered to buy a $20 can of formula and *try* to give it to Maeve if that would make him feel better. That REALLY shut him up.

I just wanted to hit him this morning. He's been nothing but supportive so far and then he comes home with this nonsense? Ugh!

Friday funny.....

(courtesy of Kyra, of course)

We had just pulled out of the driveway this morning, when I hear Kyra belt out this doozy:
"Mommy, I think I want to join a golf team so daddy can watch me play golf on TV. Then you and him can sit there and say, 'That's our little girl!'"

WTF?

20 truths to remember....

I got this in an email from my friend Emily. I highlighted the ones that I really like. ;)

1. Faith is the ability to not panic.
2. If you worry, you didn't pray. If you pray, don't worry.
3. As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.
4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.
6. Do the math. Count your blessings.
7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
8. Dear God, I have a problem. It's me.
9. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
10. Laugh every day, it's like inner jogging.
11. The most important things in your home are the people.
12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.
15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead. (OMG! I HAVE to send this one to Richard!)
16. We do not remember days, but moments. Life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.
17. Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it's just hear say.
18. Its all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.
19. Surviving and living your life successfully requires courage. The goals and dreams you're seeking require courage and risk-taking. Learn from the turtle - it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.
20. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others
think you are.

Let it go....

I got this in an email today. I love it!

LET IT GO......IN 2006
By T. D. Jakes

There are people who can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell you this!

When people can walk away from you: let them walk.

I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.

When people can walk away from you let them walk.Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.

The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not forus. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]

People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay. Let them go.

And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just means that their part in the story is over.

And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead. You've got to know when it's over.

Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it.

Stop begging people to stay. Let them go!!

If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to......LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains .......LET IT GO!!!

If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth.....LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you ........LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge......LET IT GO!!!

If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction......LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents LET IT GO!!!

If you have a bad attitude.......LET IT GO!!!

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better......LET IT GO!!!

If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him......LET IT GO!!!

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship.......LET IT GO!!!

If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves......LET IT GO!!!

If you're feeling depressed and stressed ..........LET IT GO!!!

If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying "take your hands off of it," then you need to......LET IT GO!!!

Let the past be the past. Forget the former things. GOD is doing a new thing for 2006!!! LET IT GO!!!

Get Right or Get Left .. think about it, and then. LET IT GO!!!

"The Battle is the Lord's!"

Self portrait #2....

I hope it's ok that I'm not in this photograph. I just love this one though, so I had to post it. This is my maternal grandfather, Leslie Getschmann, my mom (the baby) Delores Getschmann Brossmann, and my maternal grandmother, Evelyn Kiesling Getschmann (my Granny). There are a lot of reasons why I love this photograph. First of all, I never got to meet my grandfather. He died several years before I was born. I heard that he was quite a character though. And look at the baby! That's my mom. I think that my girls favor her a lot....especially Kyra. I see a bit of her in Maeve though too. My mom was a very chunky baby as well. My Granny just looks so happy and content. I think that she looks a lot like my Aunt Sandra (her daughter) here.

Thanks for taking a peek at my "Self Portrait Tuesday". I almost forgot to post one today!

Dental delight.....

Kyra went to the dentist today. This was her 3rd time to go. Boy has she come a long way since a year ago. The first time she went, she didn't let them do anything to her, so it was more or less just a "get familiar" visit. Then I took her last July and I sat on the chair and she sat on my lap and let them clean her teeth. Today, she sat on the chair all by herself and watched a movie with the special glasses that they have (which ROCK!) and let them clean away! She chose chocolate flavored fluoride because chocolate is her favorite. LOL! Then she even let them do x-rays! I was blown away by how well behaved she was. We're happy to report that she has no cavities! Her 6 year molars are under the gums and her permanent teeth are too! That was cool to see. The bad news is that she's destined for braces just like her mommy was. *sigh*

I was so proud of my big girl today.

"As The Trailer Turns......"

I thought it couldn't get any worse than my previous post, but obviously it does.

What a waste.....

The stupidest story of the day is awarded to none other than Britney Spears! This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've read in a long time.

http://www.celebworld.org/006britneynews2.html

WTF?

Cleansing of the mind.....

I woke up in a really bad mood this morning. Something, or should I say someone has been on my mind now for a while and I think I finally hit a breaking point this morning when all I wanted to do was cry. Richard knew it too. He kept asking me what was wrong. I told him, "Nothing." I just wasn't myself. I won't go into details, but I've been wishing that I could just purge or cleanse my mind of this person forever. It would make life so much simpler. But it hasn't worked out that way. If I verbally tell myself to forget, this person haunts me in my dreams. It's just not fair. I want to forget, but I can't. I guess tumultuous relationships that have a huge impact on your life aren't meant to be forgotten. They can exit your mind, but they can't exit your heart.

I honestly think that I just need a bit of closure and I haven't received that closure yet. I hope to one day come face to face with this person and hear how they feel. Maybe then the both of us can put the past behind us. That's so very important to me. I just want to emotionally be able to move on with my life. I think it's time for change and I hope the person on the other end cares enough about me to want to help me with this.

My birth month....

March
Attractive personality.sexy. Affectionate.Shy and
reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest,
generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and
serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve
others. Easily angered. Trustworthy.
Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant
and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to
dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves
attention. Hasty decisions in choosing
partners. Loves home decors. Musically
talented.Loves special things. Moody.

What Does Your Birth Month Reveal About You?
brought to you by

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition....

For those that watch this show (or those that don't), I just wanted to tell you a bit about what's coming up on it.

Tomorrow, January 29th, a local musician named Doug Moreland is probably going to be seen on the show. He does a lot of woodcarving, so that's what you might see him doing. I also heard that Robin Williams will be on this episode. I don't know if that's true though.

Then on February 12th, they are supposedly airing the East Bernard episode with the Kubena family. My cousin Mark was lucky enough to be there. If you see him on TV, he's playing the accordion in a yellow shirt.

The show airs on Sunday night at 7pm on ABC here. You may want to check your local listings for show times in your area.

Uh oh.....

Yes my friends, it's the year of the sixes. There's some scary movie coming out on 6-6-06. They say that Angelina and Brad's baby is due around that time and Angelina's birthday is June 4th. What if their baby is born on 6-6-06! Ack! Talk about being doomed!

Losing my sanity....

It's been one of those days. It's almost 4:00 and I'm finally getting a break (sort of). Maeve is taking her 3rd nap of the day because she doesn't want to nap for more than an hour at a time. When she is awake, she is not happy by herself for more than about 2 minutes. She has to see me at all times, but seeing me isn't enough. She wants me to pick her up. I pick her up and then she wants down on the floor again. I put her there and she screams in frustration because she cannot crawl anywhere. Then the entire cycle starts all over again. I'm exhausted. She's been wanting to nurse, nurse, nurse, so I think she's hit the 9 month growth spurt. Her teeth are through, but she's still fussy, so I bet it's the growth spurt. She's still got a stuffy nose doesn't seem to be getting any better, so when I try to wipe it, she gets really angry. She hates that. Ugh.

Then Kyra comes in here at 3 this afternoon and says, "I'm ready for dinner." WTF? This child has to be eating about every 30 minutes during the day. She's driving me crazy!

I think I need a drink....(j/k)

Sitcom nostalgia.....

Does anyone else miss the good ol sitcom? It seems like they've totally gotten away from the good tv of yore. Most of the shows these days are crime shows, reality shows (and yes, I'm addicted to a few....*blush*), or "comedies" that just aren't funny enough so they end up getting the good ol ax.

Maybe tv is just going through a cycle. Maybe some shows that are more "sitcom-like" will be developed and do well. One can hope.

I really miss shows like "The Wonder Years", "Kate and Allie", "The Cosby Show", "Different Strokes", "Gimme A Break", "Silver Spoons", "Charles In Charge", "Growing Pains", "Full House" (though Kyra watches this one on Nick At Nite), and yes, even the "Golden Girls".

How come there were so many good shows in the 80's? I'm not just talking about comedies either. Is there anything that compares to "Highway To Heaven", "Knight Rider", "Dallas", "Fame", "MacGyver", "21 Jump Street", or "The Greatest American Hero"?

I pray that in the future there is a channel or two completely devoted to taking me back to the shows that were so popular during my childhood.

Another daddy's girl.....

Maeve is shaping up to be another daddy's girl. Sure I'm the mommy and we are still nursing, but when daddy walks in the room, it's all over with. She wants him to pick her up. Today she was sitting on my lap and following him with her eyes all over the room. As he would get closer to her, she'd start waving her arms and giggling. She really adores him. He took her outside today and when he brought her back inside, she started crying. Then she didn't want to have anything to do with me. I was bummed. It was the first time that she hasn't wanted mommy. :(

I can remember Richard feeling so left out during the first month or two of her life. He said, "All she wants to do is nurse and be with mommy. She doesn't even know I'm here."

Boy has all of that changed in just a few short months. ;)

DADDY ROCKS!

Self portrait #1.....

Each Tuesday, I will try to post a pic of myself and tell a little story to go along with it. Melissa is the one who posted about it on our message board. I think it's a great idea. Enjoy!

This picture was taken when Kyra was almost a year old. It was my first Mother's Day and we were at my cousins' house for a birthday party for their kids. You can't see it, but I have a "Mothers Rock!" t-shirt on. I apologize for the low quality. The pic was compressed along the way.

Kyra hasn't been the most perfect little angel on the planet this week, so I needed something to take me back and make me realize how cute she could be! LOL! Since Kyra will be the "Star Student" at school soon, I went through some pictures today and tried to see what I could pull. My has she grown! I can't believe that I will have a kindergartener in the fall. *sigh*

Another tooth!

That's right folks....toofie #5 is here! So Maeve has 2 on the bottom and 3 on the top! I have a feeling that #6 is in the works because I can feel it right underneath the gum.

No wonder she (or I) didn't get any sleep last night!

Also, Maeve gets a stuffy nose right before she cuts a tooth. The stuffy nose came yesterday morning, so I knew something was up.

She's getting so big!

Oh how I've missed thee....

I woke up this morning (after a rough night with the baby) to such a welcome sight. It's raining! I even had to strain my ears, but I heard thunder too!

I LOVE weather like this. Since there's nothing better to do, I always get in the mood to clean my house. Either that, or I just want to crawl back under the covers (which I will do when Maeve goes back to sleep).

This weather makes me want to cuddle with my Mia too. I bet she'll come take a nap with me. :)

Argh!

I'm furious with the Body Flow gods tonight. I sit here reviewing tracks for tomorrow's launch and noticed that they made a "boo boo". The music for track 1 on the DVD and CD are different! How the heck did that happen? Crap. It's not too noticeable, but it's enough to throw me off. I swear that I sat here and played the CD and then the DVD over and over again. They *did* indeed goof. Now my brain hurts.

I'll be so glad when tomorrow is over with and I can work the kinks out. It usually takes a week or two to get everything "down" the way I should.

Password....

This is cute. Thanks Megan!

A woman was helping her husband set up his computer, and at the
appropriate point in the process, told him that he would now need to
enter a password. Something he will use to log on.

The husband was in a rather amorous mood and figured he would try for
the shock effect to bring this to his wife's attention. So, when the
computer asked him to enter his password, he made it plainly obvious
to his wife that he was keying in:

P...
E...
N...
I...
S...

His wife fell off her chair laughing when the computer replied:

"PASSWORD REJECTED - NOT LONG ENOUGH"

Well what do ya know....

I found this article in my hometown newspaper this morning.

http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/front/story/3273821p-3789683c.html

A few weeks ago, I blogged about uninsured motorists. This article brought up some good ideas on how to tackle the problem (which is bigger than I thought). I just don't think impounding is the answer. I like the guy's comment that "there isn't a wrecker yard big enough to hold all of the vehicles." So true.

And if you suspend a license because of no insurance, the person is going to find a way to drive anyway.

Anybody got better ideas?

Another odd prayer....

This is what Kyra said tonight in bed.

"Thank you God for all the fairies. And thank you God for the windows. Thank you God for Halloween. And thank you God for Santa. Amen."

This kid is crazy. ;)

Two for Thursday.....

Got this from my cousin Hilary. Yeah, I really need to dolly up my myspace page, but I'm too lazy to do it right now.

2 Things...

2 names you go by:
Kim
Mommy

2 parts of your heritage:
German (full blooded baby!)
Czech (I'm sure it's there somewhere and if it's not, then I can say that other family members have a Czech heritage)

2 things that scare you:
Being alone
Fire

2 of your everyday essentials:
Air
Water

2 things you are wearing right now:
T-shirt
Shorts (BTW, where is winter?)

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment):
Wade Bowen
Brandon Ryder

2 favorite songs (at the moment):
"Love Should" by Moby (favorite song in the new Body Flow release)
"God Bless This Town" by Wade Bowen

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
Sense of humor
Loyalty

2 truths:
I must make the bed before I lay in it (even after Richard leaves to go to work AT NIGHT).
My house is NOT clean right now. *sigh*

2 Physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex):
Smile
Hands

2 of your favorite hobbies:
Working out
Blogging ;)

2 things you want really badly:
Sleep
A vacation

2 places you want to go on vacation:
Hawaii
Germany

2 things you want to do before you die:
See my babies have babies
Travel

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick:
I love getting pedicures
I love makeup

2 things you are thinking about now:
Getting the kiddos fed.
Getting the kiddos bathed.

2 stores you shop at:
Target
Walmart

2 people I would like to see take this quiz:
Jen
Bri (are you out there?)

I was right....

I looked at Maeve today and marveled at how different she is compared to Kyra. This is what I wrote last year. I just had a feeling that this kid would totally take me by surprise. She sure has. Things are so different this time around. Here's what I'm talking about.

-Maeve does not like to sleep. She's a pretty good sleeper at night (getting up once to nurse), but she could care less about naps. Kyra was a 12 hour per night sleeper and required 2 naps per day. Maeve does not sleep 12 hours and naps for maybe 2-3 hours total during the day. Kyra's one nap would be 2-3 hours! LOL!

-Kyra loved to sit on my lap and cuddle. She still does! When Maeve is done nursing, she fights to get off of my lap. She wants on the floor pronto so that she can play. Little Miss Independent. Ack!

-Kyra crawled and pulled herself up to stand at 6 1/2 months. Maeve is nowhere near ready for that. She is so laid back about it....just taking her sweet time. She is pretty frustrated at times when she can't "army crawl" fast enough though.

-Kyra went through horrible separation anxiety around the 6 month mark. Either Maeve is late with that or hers won't be as bad. Maeve lets anyone hold her and always flashes a smile. The other week when we went to church, she was flirting with the people behind us. That's another thing. It was torture to get Kyra to smile. Not this kid. She sees a camera and goes crazy.

-And have you seen Maeve? ;) Not only are her eyes blue, but her hair is coming in blonde on top. WTF?

My daughter loves China....

Kyra is obsessed with China. I even wrote about this in a previous blog. I simply don't understand it. This is a conversation that I had with her tonight:

Kyra: "We should move to China."

Me: (sarcastically, of course) "Sure."

Kyra: "They have lots of good food in China."

Me: "Kyra, where have you been learning about China.....at school?"

Kyra: "I just made it up in my brain and thought about it."

Um, huh? This kid HAS to be getting her Chinese ideas from somewhere. I just want to know where.

Then I was putting her to bed tonight (she goes to sleep in our bed and then I carry her to her room). We were saying prayers and Mia was already in the bed. Kyra accidentally moved Mia a bit and she growled and I heard Kyra say, "But Mia, it was just a pisnake." Um, what? I asked her to repeat herself. She was trying to say, "mistake", but it came out "pisnake." LOL!

I love that kid.

Strip club boundaries....

I hardly ever watch the local evening news, but I caught a bit of it tonight. It seems that a strip club is supposed to be built off of Grand Avenue Parkway and I-35 in Pflugerville. Residents that live nearby are angry and held a protest because "they don't want their kids subjected to that." Imagine my surprise when the camera pans to a small child participating in the protest yelling, "No strip club!" OMG! I nearly fell off the chair. I guess they wanted to take children out there to make a point. I would NEVER, EVER let Kyra or Maeve yell something like that though. Ugh. I just thought it was so uncalled for. If you don't want your children subjected to that, then don't take them out to a protest in the first place. Surely if they are yelling, "No strip club!" then they would have to know what a strip club is in the first place.

Know what's funny though? This place is just across the street and closer to the neighborhood than the actual proposed strip club! LOL!

http://www.grahamcentralstationaustin.com/

Fun with 4's.....

Four Jobs You've Had:
1.) Aerobics instructor- DeTar Health Center, Victoria, Texas
2.) Faculty aerobics instructor- Victoria College, Victoria, Texas (those professors were wild and crazy and LOVED to let loose! LOL!)
3.) Aerobics instructor- World Gym and now Gold's Gym, Austin, Texas
4.) Dodd Studio- Austin, Texas

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
1.) Gone With The Wind
2.) The Polar Express
3.) The Breakfast Club
4.) Forrest Gump

Four Places You've Lived:
1.) Victoria, Texas
2.) San Antonio, Texas
3.) Austin, Texas
4.) Buda, Texas

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch:
1.) American Idol (starts this week! WOOOHOOO!)
2.) Supernanny
3.) Dancing With The Stars (*blush*)
4.) Friends reruns

Four of Your Favorite Books:
***I'm sadly skipping this one because I honestly haven't picked up a "real" book since HS (and don't remember what I read). All I read now are kid-related books. *sigh* I know, I suck.

Four Places You've Been On Vacation:
1.) Branson, Missouri
2.) Opryland
3.) Las Vegas
4.) Graceland

Four Websites You Visit Daily:
1.) MSN homepage
2.) June 2001 mommies
3.) My blog
4.) Jen's blog

Four of Your Favorite Foods:
1.) Pizza
2.) Taco soup
3.) Chicken spaghetti
4.) Lasagna

Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:
1.) Hawaii
2.) A log cabin in the mountains
3.) Anywhere where it feels like winter
4.) Sleeping in my bed

Four Bloggers You Are Tagging:
1.) Jen
2.) Lynda
3.) Krishna (because I'm still waiting for her to update her blog. Melly, go harrass her!)
4.) Scully (did anyone tag her yet?)

Happy Birthday Granny!

Today my Granny would have been 82 years old. I miss her more than words can say. It's the little things that I miss the most. She would send Kyra a card for every holiday. I miss the sound of her voice when she'd answer the phone. I miss how she'd almost curse when a train came by her house while we were on the phone. I miss her walking up to the front door when we'd arrive at her house. I miss all of the good smells that greeted us....for we knew that she always had something in the oven or on the stove. I miss watching her read passages from the Bible before bed. I miss the way that she looked at Kyra....her one and only great-grandchild. I miss watching her blow kisses as we drove away.

Kyra still asks about her. She knows exactly who she was. The other day while we were in the store, I told Kyra that Granny's birthday was on Monday. Kyra said, "Will she have cake and balloons?" I said, "Yes, she will. She'll have a special birthday in Heaven."

Free stuff....

I was at the gym this morning and caught a bit of "The View" while in the dressing room. Marcia Cross from "Desperate Housewives" was on there and they had asked her what she and her co-stars gab about. She said that they talk about men and about the free stuff that they get from appearing on awards shows. Huh? They get FREE stuff? There's something wrong with this picture. I know what the purpose is though. See, the makers of those products hope and pray that a celebrity will use one of the products and like it and want to endorse it so that WE will buy it. Ugh. Man that should be the other way around. Hey, if someone out there wants to give me free stuff so that I can pitch it to celebrities, then I'm all for it. I won't promise that they'll buy it, but if it means free stuff for me, then I'll give it a try. Us poor folks need some attention and pampering too ya know. ;)

Poop horror.....

My MIL is in town this weekend and on Saturday night, we decided to venture to one of our favorite restaurants for a bite to eat. The kids were so good. Kyra was eating some rolls before we got our meal and Maeve was eating her jar of sweet potatoes that I had taken along. Life was good until MIL pointed out that Maeve was making a funny face. That's when the trouble began. All of a sudden I hear Kyra say, "Mommy, it's coming out of the back of her pants." Yeah, sure Kyra. Then MIL leans over and nods her head. Lovely. I grab a few napkins and wipe off what I can off of her and the high chair she was sitting in. Then Richard and I hightail it to a restroom. It's a small, private restroom. It *is* the women's restroom though. LOL! As luck would have it, there's no changing station. Ugh. So, Richard holds Maeve while we strip her down and wipe, wipe, wipe. Then I have to put the new diaper on the child while Richard's holding her. That was a feat within itself. Luckily, I always pack an extra change of clothes in her bag. Boy did it come in handy last night. We got her dressed and I washed up and returned with both kids (yeah, by this time Kyra had to see what was going on and our entire family was in the women's restroom) to our table. Richard washed up after me and rolled the dirty clothes into two extra diapers and then got out of there. I'm sure he got some stares when he walked out of the women's restroom, but oh well.

MIL said that I had a look of horror when I had discovered that Maeve had exploded everywhere. She said that it was priceless. Yeah, thanks. After that, we finally got to enjoy our meal.

I will never forget that experience. Kids seem to pick the most inopportune times to do things like that. *sigh*

Draw a pig.....

Something fun and interesting to do on a Saturday. ;)

http://www.freaknfunny.com/files/upload/draw-a-pig.swf

Not your shoe size....

I think I've seen it all now.

http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes-anatomy.html

My happy bunny....

congratulations. you are the "you smell like
butt" bunny. your brutally honest and
always say whats on your mind.

which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by

I'm losing the battle.....

This time it's not Maeve, it's Kyra. Kyra is the pickiest eater on the face of this earth. I swear. You cannot get her to eat even the yummiest things that all kids love. For example, today I packed 1/2 of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch for school. Everything else was eaten except the sandwich. Fine. Tonight, I heated her some fajita chicken and made some macaroni and cheese for her. What kid doesn't like macaroni and cheese? Answer: MINE! She ate the meat, but threw a fit over the mac and cheese, so she went to her room crying and I was livid that this kid won't eat anything that I feed her. If it's not junk, then she won't eat it.

Now I have myself to blame because I think I could have had her eating better at an earlier age, but in more recent times, I blame Richard. Richard eats junk. I'm talking chips and salsa, zebra cakes, cookies, ice cream....you get the picture. That's ALL Kyra sees him eat.

So after things finally calmed down tonight, I suggested to Kyra that we make charts for her and daddy and that they have a "contest" to see who could eat the most healthy food. I wrote their names and Kyra drew the lovely horizontal and vertical lines and put them on the fridge. If you eat something healthy, then you get a smiley face. If you eat junk, then you get a big fat "X". Kyra swears that she's going to win and according to her the winner will get to go to Chuck E Cheese. Whatever kid. If this whole "contest" thing will put better food in your mouth, then I'm all for it.

These are the foods that I'm tired of Kyra eating:
-chips
-cheetos (sorry Emily)
-fruit snacks
-granola bars
-cookies
-ice cream
-popcorn
-chicken nuggets
-french fries

Ideally, I'd like to incorporate more fruit and veggies, but I'll take what I can get right now. She said that after she "beats" daddy in the contest, then we are moving to the "Big Guns" and we are challenging Maeve! LOL! (And you tell me how a kid that eats on the boob all day is going to lose?)

It *has* to be a fluke.....

Maeve took a 2 hour nap this morning and is working on a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon. Has God finally answered my prayers? LOL!

We are mobile!

I think Maeve is on the road to crawling. A while ago, I heard some noise and left the computer to find her at the side door messing with the blinds! ACK! Usually when she wants to get somewhere, she rolls over and over and over, so that might be how she got there.

Then I decided to put her on the carpet and just watch her from the kitchen. She *is* moving! I'm going to start calling her "inchworm" because that's what she looks like when she moves. She gets up on her hands and knees and then uses her legs to propel her body forward and ends up flat on her tummy again. It's hilarious to watch.

Last night I had decided that Maeve was going to skip crawling and move on to standing. But, I guess I was wrong. She really loves to stand against something (with help...she can't pull up on her own yet). Yep, she's happy as a clam in a standing position. She gets this delightful look in her eyes. Oy vay! We are in so much trouble!

Sweating in January....

This weather has to go. I hate it. It's winter for goodness sakes! I know that there's a itty bitty front that's here right now, but it'll be 80 degrees again in two days! Ugh. The girls got so many cute clothes for Christmas and they can't wear them at all. It's too darn hot. I'm also tired of running the a/c too. Please oh please let us have a cold, dreary day where all I want to do is stay in my jammies and drink some hot chocolate and sleep.

Oh and the 30% chance of rain that they threw in for tonight? What teases! I bet we got a sprinkle out here. Shame on them for getting everyone so darn excited.

Ok, rant over.

I need a drink....

I never thought that I'd say that, but it's true. Maeve is driving me bonkers. She doesn't want to nap for more than 30-45 minutes at a time and it's obvious that she's overtired. I'm getting tired of putting her down only to have her wailing just a short time later. Nights are better, but not much. She's still waking 2-3 times per night. Right now, she's crying in her crib after I've put her down TWICE for bed already tonight. Ugh. I hate this stage. Sleep is sleep and you need it! Kyra was a wonderful sleeper and still is. This kid is totally different. She thinks that there are too many exciting things happening and doesn't want to miss anything. Therefore she doesn't sleep well. I would say that it's teeth, but I really don't believe it is. I believe that it's either waking out of habit or having a bit of separation anxiety. She's never wanted to be rocked or nursed to sleep, so trying that isn't an option. Neither is co-sleeping. I want my bed to myself and so does she.

Think if I drank a glass of wine every once in a while it would help her to sleep better? ;)

The inevitable....

Maeve and I have hit a rough spot in nursing right now. She's VERY distracted and doesn't want to nurse. I don't think it's a full blown nursing strike or even a sign that she's weaning, but it's something that's bothering me a lot right now. I want her to nurse! I do not want to buy formula for the next few months! Hopefully this little stage will pass. She does nurse well at night (*yawn*).

I also realized something else tonight. Aunt Flo hasn't visited me since July of 2004! LOL! I know I'm probably jinxing myself by saying that because chances are with Maeve nursing less and less, she'll make an appearance on my doorstep very soon. Ugh. I dread that. I mean, I REALLY dread that. I wish she'd stay away!

Other than that, things are fine. I can't believe in a few months, we'll be celebrating Maeve's 1st Birthday! WOW! Time flies! Those of you with itty bitty newborns better enjoy it while you can!

Thank God they're ok.....

Richard and Kyra took my dad's truck to Cabela's earlier today to see the National Championship trophy. Richard said that there was a line "longer than the ones for the rides at Fiesta Texas", so they opted not to get out and wait in line. Richard wanted to go and take some old oil to the new Auto Zone in Kyle. He went back to Sonic to get Kyra something to drink and as they were pulling out onto the access road, a van tried to make a quick right hand turn FROM THE EXIT RAMP to get to Sonic and hit the drivers side doors of my dad's truck. Richard dodged the vehicle....otherwise it would have been much worse. Richard is fine. Kyra is fine. My dad's not mad. It was entirely the other person's fault. It's just lovely that they have NO INSURANCE, so my dad will probably have to pay a $500 deductible to get his truck fixed. Richard thinks that there ought to be a $1000 fine for anyone not carrying insurance and $500 of that should go to the other person to pay their deductible. I wholeheartedly agree. Richard stayed there and even had a witness that saw the entire thing. The cops showed up and gave the lady without insurance not one, but TWO tickets! Sweet! I think she deserves it. Richard said that she didn't try to beat around the bush and told the cops everything that happened and her story and Richard's story matched. Good.

I'm just glad that Kyra and Richard are fine. It could have been a lot worse. My dad took my car to the scene to get Kyra and when he brought her home, she was crying, but now she seems to be ok.

Pbbblllltttt to stupid drivers!

Another outburst....

I almost forgot that Kyra said something tonight that was totally random. We were in the bathroom brushing teeth and pottying and just getting ready for bed like we always do and she's going ON and ON about how she loves Papoo (my dad). Then she says, "I wish Papoo (my dad) and Grandma (Richard's mom) would get married!" O.M.G. I almost had a heart attack.

I came in here and had Kyra repeat to Richard what she said and he said, " Ewwwww Kyra, that's gross!" LMAO!

Again, how random is that? You never know what she's going to come up with. And just think, I will get to hear more funnies from Maeve in a few years! I say "Bring it on!" LOL!

Autobiography....

I heard on the radio today that if Britney Spears comes out with an autobiography, it should be titled, "You can take the girl away from the trailer, but you can't take the trailer away from the girl."

Just thought that was quite amusing.

Harder than I thought....

I was just reading Jen's blog and decided to search the Petfinder for chihuahuas in this area just for the heck of it. What I didn't realize is that most shelters will not allow chihuahuas to go to homes with small children. Ugh. Honestly, we would probably do the exact same thing that we did before and just look through the classifieds and buy a puppy. But I feel in my heart that rescuing a dog would be wonderful too. So, we'll see what happens once a year or two passes. We know that we want another dog. It's just a matter of when. I think we'll wait till Maeve is around 2 years old. By then Mia will be about 7 1/2 years old! Yep, I definitely see the baby fever hitting around that time and since there will be no more babies for us, we'll just get another dog! LOL!

Wishin I was there....

Well tonight's the night. It's the first official night of music at Musicfest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I'm listening on XM Radio right now. I signed up for my free 3 day trial. I'm so jealous. One year we ARE going. I knew that we couldn't go this year because I'd have an infant. But, there are many more Musicfests to come and no more babies in our future, so it'll happen. I absolutely cannot wait! Lisa told me that if we wanted to go next year, she'd keep the kiddos. Now if we could just pull it financially. Anyone want to contribute to our Steamboat fund? ;)

Another baby!

My friend Emily emailed me this morning that she was on her way to the hospital because she thought that her water broke. Turns out, she was right. Then I got an email from another friend of hers this afternoon that she had her baby around 1:30! Dang that was fast! Here's his stats:

Timothy John
Born at 1:37 pm , January 5, 2006
7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long!

Congrats Kent, Emily, and big sister Hannah!

Church sign.....

On the church marquee across the street from our house:

"May your troubles be as short as your New Years Resolutions."

Amen to that! Quirky church signs are the best!

Tagged again....

5 weird things about me.....

1.) I sleep with a pillow between my legs every night. I cannot have my knees touching each other. First it was a pregnancy thing to keep my back straight and to have something for my tummy to rest on. Now it's just a habit. Richard laughs at me because he does this same thing and I used to laugh at him for doing it. I guess karma is a bitch, huh? LOL!

2.) When emptying the dishwasher, I put all of the clean dishes on the counter first. Once there's nothing in the dishwasher, then I put them all up at one time. This drives Richard bonkers. He thinks that I should just put the dishes up in the cabinets as I empty the dishwasher. This is another pregnancy induced habit. When my belly got too big, I couldn't reach over the dishwasher to get to certain cabinets, so I put everything on the counter first. Then I would close the dishwasher and put everything away. Another reason that I do this is because I'm left handed and the cabinets are all on the left side of the dishwasher, so I stand on the right side.

3.) I love taking showers. I could take 5 a day. I love the clean feeling that you get after just stepping out of the shower. Also, I always rub my eyes in the shower. You know....where you rub your eyes till you're seeing those little circles. I only do that in the shower. Weird huh?

4.) I can't remember the last time I saw a movie at the theater. I bet it was way before Kyra was born. I couldn't tell you what movie I saw either. Gosh I need to get out more! LOL!

5.) I actually like watching football with Richard on a Sunday afternoon. I like seeing him get all fired up over a game. It makes me laugh.

Deadline met......

I took all of the Christmas stuff down tonight. So I made the deadline of January 6th.

Yay me!

Huh?

Two Kyra funnies (both came out of her mouth while she and Maeve were bathing together tonight):

-Kyra: (while "patting" the water with her hands) "This is how they say "Hello" in China!"

Um, WTF? Can someone enlighten me on this or is my kid smoking something again?

Then,

Kyra: "Deck the halls with trees and flowers....fa la la la la la la la la...."

I have no idea where that one came from. It's like she's trying to purge herself of Christmas and that's just what she came up with! LOL!

So you see, I don't understand my child, but it's fun to listen to what comes out of her mouth. When she says something really funny, Richard and I look at each other and then burst into laughter.

I heart my Kyra.

Portable DVD players ROCK!

I'm sitting here playing my Body Flow DVD in Kyra's portable DVD player. It's awesome! I can take this sucker anywhere!

Oh and kudos to Les Mills for putting an "Audio" selection on the DVD with the option of hearing voice over from the presenter OR just the music itself. Awesome learning tool!

Can you tell that I'm excited tonight? :)

A sense of normalcy....

Things are finally winding down around here. Granted my tree is still up (shut up Melissa and Alien), but it's coming down within another day or two. Today I went and did Body Step. I haven't done that in weeks. My achilles is still bothering me, so I'm glad I took last week off. It just felt good to sweat today and get in a good workout.

Kyra goes back to school tomorrow. Thank God. She's so bored here at home and needs some socialization. That's why I took her to the gym this morning. Richard took her to the lake this afternoon and ran the boat, so she was out and about all day long. She went to sleep in our bed tonight and asked me to carry her to her bed after she falls asleep. Awwwww!

I pray that Maeve sleeps better tonight. Poor kid is miserable with these teeth coming in. I gave her a dose of Motrin during her bath tonight, so we'll see how it goes. She's been doing this thing where she goes to bed early, but then she's up at 10, 12, and 2 and then sleeps till about 7 in the morning. It's wearing me out! Last night, I had Richard take a turn because I needed to sleep. I know that she can take a 6 hour stretch at the beginning of the night. I just pray that she does it again soon. She needs to realize that "Mom's Diner" IS NOT open 24 hours. We close around 10pm! LOL!

Richard is playing some obnoxious game online right now and the noise is getting on my nerves, so I'd better go now.

Toodles!

Greetings 2006!

So happy together....

My favorite picture thus far. *sigh*

Grrrrrr!

WTH is wrong with people? This literally makes me sick to my stomach.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10634256/

My new best friend....

Effin Mold and Cedar! Grrrr!

Christmas Recap 2005

Well folks, we made it. We're home. I finally get to sleep in my own bed tonight. YAY. I can't wait. The kids are in bed and I'm on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. Thank God I don't have a lot of things to do this week. I want to rest and take naps whenever possible.

Let's see. Where did the fun begin? Oh yeah. Richard worked Friday night. I was doing so good with packing and getting things ready for Saturday (even had stuff in the burb!). I was thrilled to get Maeve in bed and was hoping that Kyra would go to bed somewhat early so that "Santa" could come. I put Kyra in her bed and she said her prayers. I had just turned the light out when I heard the most gawd awful noise. Yep. It's Holiday Vomitfest 2005! It was everywhere. I put her in the bathtub and washed EVERYTHING on her bed. Mind you, it's about 10:00 when all of this happens. I put her in front of the TV and let her watch a few shows with a bowl and a towel right next to her. I then talked her into sleeping in my room on the floor in her sleeping bag. I PRAYED that it was a fluke and set out the Santa gifts and finally went to bed. I slept like crap because I was sick with worry that we'd end up staying home and not go anywhere.

Richard walked in the door on Saturday morning and got Kyra up. Santa had come. Boy what excitement! Maeve slept in (LOL!) and didn't wake up till about 30 minutes later. So, Kyra got to open up gifts on her own. I loved hearing, "This is exactly what I wanted!" Ahhhhh....pure bliss. You'd never know that she was sick the night before. A fluke! GREAT!

Maeve and Richard both had a morning nap on Saturday morning before we left. We packed up our house (I'm not kidding) and left for La Grange around noon. Between Bastrop and Smithville, Kyra pukes again. Luckily, I had the huge bowl and the towel along. No more cookies for that kid. I gave her strict instructions to eat crackers and bread for the rest of the day.

Christmas Eve was nice. Maeve was hugely fussy though because toofie #4 had just come through that morning and it was a top one. Ugh. She also had a stuffy nose (still does). Amidst all of the activity, she DID NOT want to nap. We opened gifts with my mom's side. We draw names every year, so it's always fun to see what everyone gets. The girls got the motherload of toys and clothes. We ate some pork steaks with delicious sides! That night everyone left early and even Richard, the girls, and my dad went to bed early, so Lisa, Nathan, and I chatted around the fire pit till all hours. *yawn*

Christmas Day came and it's also my dad's birthday. So we left La Grange around noon and headed to Victoria. Lisa and Nathan brought their washer boxes to my dad's, so they played that. Maeve took and nap and so did I. That evening, we grilled hot dogs and enjoyed the hot ass weather. Then we opened gifts. Again, the girls got too much stuff. That night my sister had a ton of friends over for what seemed like the St. Joseph class of 1998 reunion. LOL!

Then yesterday happened. It was a calm day till around noon. We were supposed to be at Richard's grandparents' house in Austwell around 1:00. It takes about 30 minutes to get there from Victoria. It's noon and I'm loading things in the car. The night before, I asked Richard to take the gifts out of the burban for fear of someone breaking in our vehicle and stealing them (I have a thing about vehicles being left unlocked at night). So, he does that. He sets the trashbags full of gifts in the garage (can you see where I'm going with this?). Well yesterday was trash pick-up for my dad. My doting father never thought to ask us what was in those trash bags, so guess what? Yep, he pitched them. The garbage comes and gets them. We were leaving and I ask Richard, "What happened to those bags with the gifts?" All of a sudden I hear "Uh oh." I started flipping out. I mean REALLY flipping out. I spent all of that time and energy on gifts for 5 people (Richard's nieces and nephews and his mom). I can't stop crying. My dad feels horrible and apologizes like 50 billion times. I cry more. Then my dad leaves the house. I am still crying and tell Richard, "Well, we can't go to your grandparents' house without any gifts." So Richard and I head to Target. We are there on the WORST day. It's jam packed. We buy some bags and in the meantime, my dad calls and says, "I found the garbage truck! I'm following it to the dump and will salvage what I can." O.M.G. Richard and I go back to my dad's and Kyra joyfully proclaims that indeed she got to open all of their gifts! LOL! The shirts were all fine. The photography and the calendar for Richard's mom were not. No biggie. We put the shirts in bags and headed to Austwell. Little did we know that there was more fun to be had!

First off, I must say that there's always been bad blood between Richard's dad and his grandparents. This goes waaaaaay back. I've heard stories. Richard's dad didn't make amends with his parents till he was on his deathbed. It was all very sad. Since then, it's been understood that we'd try to be nice to these people. A few suggested that we have Christmas at their house this year. Fine. I had to pull Richard's teeth to get him to agree to go, but we did. We get there a little late and were happy to find out that Richard's sister wasn't even there yet. Saweeeet! I walk in and immediately see the motherload of gifts and I SWEAR that I was thinking to myself, "We'll be here till tomorrow unwrapping all of this!" We ate and Richard was very concerned about what he was eating. He wanted to know who made what for fear of being drugged I guess. Also, this house was starting to freak me out. It's like NOTHING has been touched since 1962. Very weird. Very scary. I didn't want to lay Maeve down anywhere to change her. I would have gone back to the car to do that. I'm serious. Anyway, we start unwrapping gifts and we unwrapped Beanie Baby after Beanie Baby after Beanie Baby from Richard's grandmother. They were for us adults too. It was ridiculous. I bet we got 50 (no that's not a typo) Beanie Babies. Ugh. The kids got awesome gifts from Grandma Debbie, Uncle Jerry, and Aunt Marie and Uncle Matt. But the whole Beanie Baby thing really ruined the good gifts. Honestly, it was absurd. It took us 2 1/2 hours to unwrap all of that crap. Richard left some on the back of the boat for sale! PIMP! We packed up and left. Richard was driving and I was scared for my life. He was *that* ticked off. I mean come on! You have money, so buy some NICE gifts! And telling everyone to "Slow down!" was pitiful. We would have been there till 6 this morning if everyone would have unwrapped one by one. It was baaaaaad. Richard was making me laugh on the way home and said, "Give me a Beanie Baby." I asked, "Why?" He said, "Just give me one!" What did he do next? Yup. He started throwing them out the window! I bet that they saw them this morning. LOL! He kept saying, "What did they do? Rob a McDonald's to get all of these?" He told his mom this morning what he did and she nearly died she was laughing so much. That's Richard for ya.

We came back today with the motherload of gifts. I called the girls' Godparents to see what they were doing on the way back and they were about 5 miles ahead of us on the road, so they came back here to the house and gave the girls their gifts and Kyra and Jake got to play for a bit. I'm so beat and am ready to get back into a routine! My house is a wreck, but I don't care. My girls are happy. Kyra is extremely excited over the fishing pole that daddy got her and the portable DVD player that Papoo got her.

And I love the new Christmas Carol that Melissa made up on Alien's blog...."Oh holy shit, we have too many presents...."

Exactly.

A Christmas baby....

My friend Anna called me this morning. She had her baby yesterday evening. Little Jocelyn Grace was born by c-section around 5:30 last night. She weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was a little over 19 inches long! A peanut!

Anna sounded so great on the phone. I could tell that she's very excited. It looks like she'll be coming home on Christmas Day!

This isn't the end of the baby circle. Up next: My friend Emily in January!

My "niece" and "nephew".......

I got this in the mail today and had to take a picture of this picture with my camera. This is Calli and Raider. They belong to my sister, Lisa and my brother-in-law, Nathan. Cute, huh?

It's just a little crush....

For those that don't know the soap world, this is Tom Pelphrey of "Guiding Light". I found a banner with a picture of him that I liked, so I posted it here. Yummy huh? I've always thought that he looks a bit like Keanu Reeves, though I've never really cared for Keanu Reeves. Tom is different though. ;)

I am Prancer....

You Are Prancer

You are the perfect reindeer, with perfect hooves and perfect flying form. Why You're Naughty: Because you're Santa's pet, and you won't let anyone show you up. Why You're Nice: You have the softest fur and the sweetest carrot breath.

http://www.blogger.com/
Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

My ultimate Body Flow mix....

Jen, I thought you'd enjoy this.

If I had to choose my "perfect" class, this would be it.

Track 1 (Tai Chi warmup)- Center of the Sun by Conjure One (Body Flow 22)
Track 2 (Sun Salutations)- Dice by Finley Quaye & William Orbit (Body Flow 27)
Track 3 (Strength....Warrior Poses)- Love's Devine by Seal (Body Flow 25)
Track 4 (Balance)- Miserere by Paul Schwartz and The Joyful Company of Singers (Body Flow 24....but originally in Body Flow 16)
Track 5 (Hip Openers)- Gabriel by Lamb (Body Flow 18)
Track 6 (Pilates...Abs)- My Culture by Giant Leap featuring Robbie Williams (Body Flow 19)
Track 7 (Pilates...Back)- Last Thing On My Mind byRonan Keating & LeAnn Rimes (Body Flow 30)
Track 8 (Twists)- Who Wants To Live Forever by Dune (Body Flow 23)
Track 9 (Forward Bends/Hamstrings)- Think Twice by Groove Armada with Neneh Cherry (Body Flow 21)
Tracks 10 and 11 (Relaxation/Meditation)- The Velocity Of Love by Suzanne Ciani and Reprise: Spiritual by B-Tribe (Body Flow 18)

I've been tagged.....

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot.

Shelli
Mel
Lynda's Great Journey
The Houston Chronicles
Kim's Blog

Questions!
What were you doing 10 years ago? I was probably very grateful to have my 1st semester of college out of the way. Other than that, I don't remember much.

What were you doing a year ago? Still teaching 2 classes a week, working for a photographer, getting ready for Miss Maeve to arrive. My tummy was growing by leaps and bounds. On December 15th of last year, we found out that we were having a girl. That was very exciting!

5 snacks you enjoy? Cream cheese on crackers, popcorn, yogurt, peanuts, and the occassional chips and salsa

5 songs you know all the lyrics to: This is sad. The only ones that are popping into my head are the theme songs to children's shows. I know the ones from Dora, Dragontales, Cyberchase, Maya and Miguel, and Spongebob. *sigh*

5 things you would do if you were a millionare: Buy Richard the mother of all bass boats, pay off all debt, set aside a HUGE amount of $$$ for the kids for college, buy a house on the lake, and take a trip around the world.

5 bad habits: I sometimes drive with my knee (bad, bad habit), I snack in front of Kyra (Richard is also guilty of this....we are trying to get her to eat better), I've cussed in front of Kyra (again, Richard also guilty), I tend to clean up after two people (guess who?) that need to learn how to clean up after themselves, I wash things that are lying on the floor....clean or not (in fact, I'm obsessive about this)

5 things I like doing: Blogging :), exercising, eating out ALONE with Richard (did this yesterday as a matter of fact), giving the kiddos their baths and putting them to bed, sleeping

5 things you would never wear, get new or buy new again: I would never buy a movie. We now have a DVD burner. *gasp* I'd never wear anything from the 80's again unless I was dressing up for Halloween. I'd never buy a brand new computer with everything "top of the line" because Richard can build computers himself and save us $$$. I'll never buy a new car again unless I win the lottery. I would never buy any article of clothing that cost more than $100. I can't believe that I used to do that!

Tag 5 people:

Alien
Melissa
Denise
Mary
Krishna (because she needs to update her effin blog!)

Bling, bling.....

Richard took me to the mall today. Well that was a big mistake. I thought we'd never get to the place and then once we were there, I thought we'd never make it out of there. It was a zoo!

We dropped the kids off at Mona's and went in search for a ring for me. Maeve's birthstone is a diamond and Kyra's is a pearl, so I'm looking for a very cute ring that combines the two. No such luck. I hate the gaudy pearl rings with the itty bitty diamonds on the side. So, I came up with the idea that I want to find a band that combines the two (alternating little diamonds and little pearls). I'm beginning to think that no such thing exists and that if I want something like that, we'll have to go the custom route. Ugh. We didn't buy a thing at the mall and I was so upset and frustrated when we left there. All was better when we went and ate at Serranos! LOL!

I did just come across my dream ring though. This is it:
http://www.topazery.com/pics_database/pics.php?item=rg1441
How beautiful is this? Think I could win the lottery? ;)

Kyra funnies....

-This weekend Kyra told Richard that she wants to learn how to drive. She asked him if he'd teach her how. He said, "Yes, in about 12 years." LOL! I don't think she realizes how long 12 years is. This morning in the car, she mentioned it again. She said, "I really want to learn how to drive a car." We are in soooo much trouble.

-This morning, she drew her daddy a picture at the gym because "he was sick and throwed up last night." Lovely.

-She wants to leave cookies and chocolate milk out for Santa. She's never had chocolate milk before, so I thought that was kind of weird.

-She wakes up every morning and says, "Is it Christmas yet?" She's been doing this for the last month, so it's getting rather old. *sigh*

-She expects mail in the mailbox everyday for her. When there is none, she pouts. Boy will she be pleasantly surprised when she and her daddy get home this afternoon from running errands. There are cards from Grandma Debbie....one for her and one for Maeve. I didn't dare open them. That's her job.

-Maeve is now getting rather skilled at pulling Kyra's hair. Kyra says, "Stop it Maeve! You're hurting me!" I calmly tell Kyra that Maeve is just a baby and she doesn't know right from wrong yet. And so the sibling rivalry begins.....

-Kyra was playing a slot machine at Richard's boss's house last night. When she ran out of coins, she said, "I think this machine is broken!" LMAO! If she only knew.....

Christmas plans....

And so it begins. There's one week till Christmas. Let the hustle and bustle begin! LOL!

We went to Richard's Christmas party this evening. It was at his boss's house, which is just a neighborhood over here in Buda. Because Richard didn't make plans for someone to watch the girls, he suggested that we just go and take the girls for a while. We took two cars and I told him that if Maeve gets fussy, then we'd leave. Well, we got there around 3:30 and ended up staying till 6:30! Maeve was so good! Nobody even knew she was there! Kyra was in awe of the pinball machine and the slot machine that they had there. They were so well behaved! I was so proud of the both of them. Richard is still over there and I'm sure he's had a few brews. Good thing it'll take him like 2 minutes to get home!

As far as what we'll do for Christmas, here it goes. On Saturday morning (Christmas Eve), the BIG MAN will have paid a visit to the girls, so they'll open presents and then we'll head on out for La Grange later that afternoon to my sister's. We'll have Christmas there with my mom's side of the family and go to church. On Christmas Day, we'll head to Victoria! A first! We'll celebrate my dad's birthday at his house and open gifts between our immediate family. Then on the 26th, we'll head down to Austwell to see Richard's grandparents and celebrate with them and his mom, sister, and brother. We'll stay at my dad's that Monday night and then come back up here on Tuesday. WHEW! I'm going to rest up this week.

I've gotten everything wrapped except for a few things for the girls. I'll do that tonight. Then I'm waiting for two other things to come by mail either tomorrow or Tuesday. I want to plan what to cook this week and pack toward the end of the week. I want to relax and just hang out with the kiddos on Thursday and Friday. I hope that Maeve's 4th tooth peeks through soon so that she's sleeping like a baby again. *yawn*

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my family and friends....old and new. I hope that you find time to reflect upon your blessings this week and find joy and peace in your heart.

I'm going to write a "Reflection '05" post soon. It'll be long. Get ready.

I hate the phone....

I'm sitting here waiting for the SOBs at Lillian Vernon to get to my call. I tried calling yesterday, but finally gave up after having to wait forever. I called initially and they said that my wait was 12 minutes. Fine. After 10 minutes went by, they said that my wait time was 10 minutes. Then another 10 minutes go by and they said that my wait time was 8 minutes. Good Lord! By the time they'd answer, it would have been midnight! I told Richard that they must have 1 person answering the phones. He said that they are just busy because of the holidays. It's just freakin ridiculous to sit on the phone this long. It reminds me of that episode of Friends where Phoebe waits till the next day! LOL!

I'm calling because I ordered something for my sister and it was never shipped. Things were shipped in separate packages, so I thought it would come. It never did. Then they charged my credit card for it. That REALLY ticked me off. So here I wait. This classical elevator crap is making me want to bang my head against a wall.

I told Richard that I'm going to take a shower and then coming back to my phone. It's on speaker. I bet they still haven't answered my call after another 15 minutes. Ugh.

Stupid, stupid holidays! ;)

Argh!

http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=6464

This article really ticks me off. OK, if you were sitting on a plane with nowhere to go, would you rather sit next to a screaming baby or one that was happily being nursed to sleep?

Some people are so stupid and uneducated.

Her creative mind strikes again....

She put sunglasses on a Santa ornament on the tree and begged me to come look. She said, "I told you that Santa put them there!" Uh huh. Sure he did. LOL! Then when I told her that I wanted to take a picture, she begged to be in it too! Look at that smirk on her face. It just screams, "Guilty as charged!" LOL!

Once again I must say that there is never a dull moment around this house.

One more thing....

Geez we've been busy today. Fussy too. So I checked in Maeve's mouth and sure enough, toofie #3 is here. It's the top front one. Lovely. Hope she doesn't hurt me. ;)

My Christmas angel.....

Kyra's Christmas program at school was today. I knew that I'd be going solo with Maeve in tow, so I was hoping for the best. Maeve and I grabbed a seat off to the side and surprisingly, she was entertained, so I grabbed the camcorder to video the entire thing. I had to stop a few times because she was grabbing the lense cap, but I got the important stuff. I also got some cute pics. I just had to post one. Everyone in Kyra's class got to choose what they wanted to be for the program. Kyra chose an angel. She did so good! She stood up there and sang and did the hand motions to the songs. I was so proud. I was such a sap as well and my eyes filled with tears. I kept thinking to myself, "That's my baby up there!" Where did the time go? Oh and notice the spaghetti sauce sleeves that she has! LOL! Guess what they had for lunch? ;) After the program, we got to go to the reception hall for all kinds of goodies and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus. It was so sweet. Then we went back to her classroom to grab the motherload of goodies. Good thing her teacher put everything in a bag for me. I had Maeve with me, so I had my hands full already! I can't wait to show Richard the video when he wakes up this afternoon!

I heart my UPS man.....

I just love that guy. I don't know who he is, but God put him on this block for a reason! LOL! He must know that we have a baby in the house after I left the "Do not knock or ring doorbell, baby sleeping" sign on the front door over a month ago. He never knocked or rang the doorbell (unlike the other idiots that can't read) and just left the packages at the front door.

But guess what he does now? He leaves the packages at the SIDE DOOR so that when we get out of the car, we see them right there and can take them into the house! WOW! This also prevents Mia from seeing him at the front door and having her usual "barkfest". I feel like he really knows how we work around here. We never come in the front door anyway. We always come in the side door after getting out of the car. How does he know that? I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, but I'm just grateful that he's so kind! :)

Now I'm thinking that he probably has kids and understands. I really need to bake him some Christmas cookies. After all, he deserves it after delivering all of the crap that Richard orders off of Ebay! LOL!

Not to be outdone....

This is where we find Mia most of the time....on our bed under the covers. I swear this dog is the laziest one on the planet. She sleeps with Richard during the day and with me at night. Last night, she was in her crate sleeping till I went to bed. Then she discovered that Richard's electric blanket was left on, so she went to lay on that. Whenever I wash my sheets and I get them out of the dryer, she lays on them too! The other day I told Kyra that Mia doesn't need anything for Christmas because it's Christmas everyday for her. I did have a horrible nightmare last night about something happening to her though. It really freaked me out. I was glad to find her under the covers....laying right next to me. Oh, and Richard took Maeve for walks in the jogging stroller two days this week and let Mia go along. Richard said that she does pretty well with a leash. He needs to take a picture of that because I still can't picture it. LOL!

My angel.....

Mr. Sandman......

I'm exhausted tonight. Richard put Kyra to bed at 8:00 (we've been trying to get her to go to bed earlier) and now I'm sitting here waiting for Maeve to fall asleep. Then I'm heading to bed myself. I bet my little Mia is already there waiting for me. I went on a wrapping rampage last night and wrapped a ton of gifts. I finished up at Walmart today, but have no desire whatsoever to wrap a single gift tonight. I like to "space" my wrappings so that I don't get burned out. I did put a few things in gift bags today, so I did accomplish something. What's funny is that Kyra woke up this morning and said, "Hey, there are more presents under the tree." LOL! That kid notices everything.....especially everything under a Christmas tree!

My house is a wreck, but I don't care. Sleep is more important. I'll clean up in the morning.

G'night! Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......

50 random thoughts....

1.) I hope I make it to 50. LOL!
2.) Jen, I did see Top Gun.....too many times.
3.) I probably have most of the lines in the movie memorized.
4.) I've heard that there are a lot of scenes in the movie that break continuity, so it doesn't "flow" really well.
5.) I never noticed till I came across a website about it.
6.) Here's one: http://www.moviemistakes.com/film1312
7.) Another movie that I've seen waaaay too many times is Dirty Dancing.
8.) "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." LMAO!
9.) I don't understand the appeal of Tom Cruise or Patrick Swayze.
10.) But they were good movies at the time.
11.) I can't remember the last movie I saw at the theater.
12.) I bet it was before Kyra was born.
13.) I need to get out more often! LOL!
14.) I ate a bunch of junk today.
15.) Now I'm feeling guilty about it.
16.) I must work out in the morning!
17.) Maeve is finally asleep.
18.) The kid is going through a MAJOR spell of separation anxiety right now.
19.) She must be able to see us at all times.
20.) While it's perfectly normal at this age, it's also perfectly annoying.
21.) Kyra has 3, no make that 4, imaginary friends.
22.) I know that two of their names are Jackie and Nina.
23.) She won't tell me the other 2.
24.) My dad was in awe this weekend because he said that, "talking to Kyra is like talking to an adult."
25.) Well, DUH! She's my smartypants.
26.) Whenever Kyra wants something, she comes up to me and says, "You're the best mommy ever!"
27.) I always say, "What do you want now?" LOL!
28.) I'm not done Christmas shopping.
29.) The game plan is to finish on Tuesday while Kyra is at school.
30.) Kyra has asked for a Dancing Dora Doll, but I don't want to buy her one. She got one last Christmas and never plays with the damn thing.
31.) If I hear her mention it after Christmas, then we're just taking the money that Papoo gives her and we'll buy the damn thing.
32.) Don't get me wrong though....she'll have PLENTY of gifts under the tree.
33.) Maeve doesn't care about the gifts so much....just give her the wrapping paper! LOL!
34.) We left Mia by herself this weekend while we were gone.
35.) She did fine.
36.) The dog never eats or drinks while we're gone though and that worries me.
37.) She was happy to see us today.
38.) We didn't dare tell my dad that we left her here by herself.
39.) He would have had a fit.
40.) Richard wants to get another dog by February.
41.) I think he's crazy.
42.) Maeve is *this close* to crawling and pulling herself up to at least kneel against something.
43.) That + new puppy = crazy me
44.) I thought about my Granny a lot yesterday at the wedding.
45.) Her sister came up to me and talked about how much she misses her.
46.) We both agreed that we miss all of the letters, cards, and phone calls.
47.) *sigh*
48.) I need to start a new tradition with the girls and bake Christmas cookies.
49.) Thinking about Granny doing that totally got me motivated.
50.) Now if I could just do it. :)

Well, we made it!

Megan and Mike's wedding was yesterday and we survived! LOL! Actually, the kiddos were so good. Kyra sat up front at church with Papoo and daddy and was quiet. Maeve and I opted for the cry room because she's Miss Screecher nowadays. Ugh.

Kyra rode with Papoo to the reception. She was a bit bored there at first, but immediately perked up when her cousins, William and Kalyn arrived. Maeve got to play with cousin Nadia. They are only separated by 3 months (Maeve is older). They stared at each other. It was cute. Julie is nursing Nadia as well, so we had lots to talk about.

The spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread were so good! The idea of having that served at the wedding was so cool! Kyra kept bringing me more pieces of cake. I don't know what that was all about. I only had one piece.

My Uncle Gary and Aunt Sandra led the grand march and did an awesome job! Was there ever a doubt? ;) I got plenty of great pics that I'll upload soon. By the end of the night, William even "lost" his first tooth! Actually, his mommy pulled it, but still! How exciting! I'm sure he got a visit from the tooth fairy last night.

We had a great time overall. The decorations were beautiful. Megan and Mike are so adorable and will make a great married couple and parents. Everyone loved dancing to the Dujka Brothers and the kids loved doing the chicken dance. Kyra and Kalyn went up to the stage screaming that request, so John and Mark had no choice but to play it. Then they played the Bunny Hop! OMG! That took me waaaaaay back.

We stayed at a motel in La Grange last night. My dad got us two rooms. Of course, Kyra wanted to stay with him, so she and my dad took one room, while Maeve, Richard, and I were in the other. I heard that Kyra fell asleep after her hiccups subsided around 11:00. Maeve went down right away too and only woke up to nurse at 5 this morning. Richard was up at 7 and I heard this tapping on the window. It was Mike and Megan. They stayed 4 doors down from us! Lovely. Richard went to my dad's room with Kyra and they talked while Maeve and I slept in till 9:30! Baby was tired! Maeve didn't nap much yesterday at all.....too much activity.

This afternoon, we went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Glenda's to watch Megan and Mike open their gifts (with a little help from Kyra, of course) and then came home. We got home around 2:30 before the Cowboys started.

What a weekend! I'm pooped. I'm hoping to get to bed a little earlier tonight and work out lots this week and get my shopping and gift wrapping done.

Amen to that!

This is so funny!

http://www.illwillpress.com/xmas.html

Bitter cold.....

Baby, it's cooooooold outside!

Geez, we were at 85 degrees on Saturday. WTF happened? ;)

I realize that the hot-cold-hot-cold is probably the reason why people get so sick this time of year. The damn weather can't make up its mind.

Richard left for work tonight and oh-so-conveniently forgot to let the faucets drip outside. So guess who assumed that duty? Grrrrrrr!

I get very nostalgic this time of year. I miss my Granny terribly. She would have already started her Christmas baking. Her Christmas card would be one of the first that we'd get. We'd be making plans to all be at her house on Christmas Eve. Some of us would go to church that evening and some of us would wait to go to midnight mass. We'd all gather in her itty bitty living room for our gift exchange.

I'm glad that Mike and Megan live in her house now. At least it's being taken care of. I wouldn't have it any other way. They will now have a family of their own in that house.

Speaking of Mike and Megan, their wedding is this weekend! We are so excited! Kyra wants to dance, dance, dance to the Dujka Brothers! YAY!

I just listened to a kick ass version of "Little Drummer Boy" by Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. Sweet!

While we're at it, I have to wonder where the heck this year went. Good Lord. Maeve is 7 months old already! Richard was staring at her today and said, "I can't believe she's so big already." Yeah, me either. *sniff, sniff*

A few years ago while we were riding around looking at Christmas lights, I witnessed my first shooting star. May all of the stars shine bright for you this Christmas and may the magic of the season fill your heart with joy and love.

Billboard babble.....

So I'm sitting here watching the Billboard Music Awards and here are a few of my opinions:

1.) Will Mariah Carey ever wear an outfit that fits her? Good Lord. She gets bigger and her clothes get smaller. Ugh. I will never understand why my dear husband is so obsessed with her.

2.) I DO NOT understand the "talent" that is Ashlee Simpson. She sounds horrible. She looks like she has no idea what she's doing.

3.) Kevin Federline...aka K-Fed, is supposed to perform tonight. Lovely. Like that guy needs a bigger head. I hope everyone boos at him.

4.) Toby Keith looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Either he was drunk or stoned or he was having a bit of trouble with his earpiece. I don't like him anyway.

5.) I love how they throw in all of the Victoria's Secret commercials. And I say this sarcastically. Like I want to be reminded of what I don't and will never look like.

6.) LOL! R. Kelly is "playing" a guitar. WTF? At least he's not still "trapped in the closet".

7.) What was up with Gwen Stefani's outfit tonight? Girl used to dress so classy. Now she's just always in a bunch of rags just like the rest of them.

8.) I'm sure they'll be more to come. We've got another hour to go!

Everybody gotta get away sometime....

Today was one of those days that you wish you could savor forever.

I dropped Kyra off at school at 9 this morning and Maeve stayed with Richard. I headed for New Braunfels to see a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in over a year. I got to her house around 10 and we chatted for a while. We went to lunch at the lovely Huisache restaurant in New Braunfels. After that, we headed down to Gruene to do some shopping at all of the cool shops. What a beautiful place! I've been there lots of times, but there was something really neat about the atmosphere today. The weather was perfect and all of the Christmas decorations were beautiful. After that, we drove through Landa Park and headed back to her house. I left there a little after 4! WOW! An entire day full of ADULT conversation! I definitely needed it and I can't wait to do it again. Next time, I'll probably be done breastfeeding, so I'll definitely order that glass of wine. ;)

Richard took care of Maeve all day and picked Kyra up from school. Good daddy. :)

Word association....

I say ... and you think ... ?

1.) Amazing:: Today
2.) Delights:: Cookies
3.) Inspired:: Jen (because she inspired this post!)
4.) Disgusted:: Roadkill
5.) You:: Me
6.) Vagina:: Yes
7.) Palm:: Springs
8.) Sweetheart:: Kiddos
9.) Guilt:: Always
10.) More to come:: OK!

Walmart adventures....

You know this time of year it's always interesting to venture into Walmart and see what you'll come across.

First of all, EMERIL is going to be at our Walmart tomorrow evening! My mother-in-law would be here in a heartbeat if I told her. She LOVES him. I used to really like him, but lately he's such a cheeseball on his show that I quit watching it. I do, however, love the Food Network. I've just grown accustomed to some of the other personalities on that channel. And this is my favorite time of the year to watch it because of all the holiday food and decorating ideas. Last night, I watched a Gingerbread Championship. Damn I wanted to eat all those houses! LOL!

Anywho, I was laughing at the slew of gift cards they have at Walmart. They have one for every personality. There must be 30 different kinds. I just don't see the point though. OK, so Kyra gets a Disney Princess gift card from Walmart. She can't keep the darn thing. She has to take it to Walmart and use it. So then it's gone. What a waste. In my opinion, a gift card is a gift card. They all do the exact same thing. Ugh.

Walmart definitely isn't stupid. They have all sorts of ploys that work to make money. You go there shopping for a few things and end up with an entire basket full of stuff. They make everything readily available so that you don't have to shop anywhere else. I swear that adding a grocery store is the smartest thing that the store has ever done. People shop on one side of the store just to pick up the items that they'd normally get at Walmart and while they're there, they think, "I need to pick up some milk or bread...." and then they buy all of their groceries as well. Sure their prices are cheap, but that doesn't matter. You always end up spending over $100 anyway. Again, this is how they make their money. They are smart. We are stupid.

I have a rant about the checkout line though. Notice that they have those little turn-styles. When you check out, the cashiers bag your stuff and then turn it so that you can put the bags into your basket. I swear that the person that invented this is a wackjob. The person before me didn't check the entire turn-style before leaving, so guess what happened? Yes, she PAID for stuff that she bought and it got left there. Now this has happened to Richard before and he was TICKED OFF, so I know to make sure that I got all of my stuff. I came home today and told Richard about the lady in front of me and he said, "Well, you know that they just put those items back on the shelf and they've made a few extra bucks." Ok, so you take how many times that happens in a day and multiply it by all of the stores in the area and multiply that by all of the stores in the state and then multiply that by all of the stores in the country. Walmart is ripping all of us off! We are suckers!

I'm really beginning to think Walmart is evil. ;)

Warm and fuzzy....

We had such a great weekend.

On Saturday morning, I ran/walked on my treadmill. I haven't done that in a while. I've been busy teaching and taking other classes that I almost forgot my treadmill was out in Richard's room outside. Then Melissa called and we took Kyra and Jake to Budafest in the afternoon. They rode rides at the carnival, climbed on a firetruck, saw Santa, ate chocolate treats, and played on the playground. They had a blast!

On Sunday morning, the kiddos were up early, so Richard, Kyra, and I watched "Polar Express". Richard borrowed the DVD from a friend of his. Richard and Kyra went to see it on Tuesday at the IMAX theater, so Kyra knew everything about the movie and ruined a lot of parts for me. Grrrr! Richard is such a softy and cried at the end. He said that he wanted to cry at the theater but didn't for fear of being made fun of! Shhhh don't tell him that I blogged about that! LOL!

Kyra and I went to church and I wrapped a few gifts in the afternoon. I took a long shower and gave myself a pedicure this evening. It was nice.

I need more weekends like this one.

It's my turn....

10 Random things about me you may not know:
1.) I eat a salad everyday (or at least try to).
2.) I love watching the birthing shows on TLC and Discovery Health. There's just something magical about a baby coming into the world.
3.) I'm obsessed with grooming the girls....brushing hair, clipping nails, cleaning ears, etc. I must bathe them every night and soap them down so that they smell good.
4.) I can't stand when cabinets or closet doors are left open. It freaks me out.
5.) I read a book to Kyra every night and then we pray together.
6.) I love taking naps in the recliner. It reminds me of the newborn days with Maeve when she and I would cuddle for hours.
7.) I love the smell of cinnamon.
8.) I never had a dog before Mia.
9.) I get "sensory overload" very easily. I can't stand it when 2 tvs are on at the same time or the tv and the radio are on at the same time. When I talk on the phone, I must turn down the radio or tv.
10.) At night when I go to bed, I check to make sure that all of the doors are locked. I've done this for years.


9 Places I've visited:
1.) Las Vegas
2.) Grand Old Opry
3.) Graceland
4.) Santa Claus Land (it's in Indiana, I think)
5.) The Alamo
6.) Branson, Missouri (twice)
7.) NASA in Houston
8.) Schlitterbahn (probably a dozen times or more)
9.) Colorado (don't remember which cities though)

8 Ways to win my heart:
1.) Take me out for a nice dinner.
2.) Buy me a Texas Music CD.
3.) Love my kids as much as I do.
4.) Make me laugh.
5.) Bring me roses.
6.) Dress casual.
7.) Enjoy nature.
8.) Want to spend time with my family.

7 Things I must do before I die:
1.) Watch the girls graduate from HS, get married, have kids, etc. This one is VERY important to me since my mom didn't see me or my sister do anything of these things.
2.) Witness a vaginal birth (weird, I know, but since I had c/s, I feel like I missed out!).
3.) Learn to water ski.
4.) Learn to snow ski.
5.) Become a bone marrow donor.
6.) Wear a bikini and feel good about it.
7.) Reconcile with those long lost friends and tell them that I love them.

6 Things I'm afraid of:
1.) Fire
2.) Snakes
3.) Losing my husband.
4.) Losing my kids.
5.) Losing my dad.
6.) Losing my sister.

5 Things I don't like:
1.) Liars
2.) Watermelon
3.) Addictions
4.) Hearing about people that hurt their kids on purpose.
5.) Cats

4 Ways to turn me off:
1.) Lie.
2.) Pretend that you don't care when in fact, you do.
3.) Ignore me.
4.) Pretend that you're someone that you're not.

3 Things I do everyday:
1.) Hug and kiss the girls.
2.) Read my friends' blogs.
3.) Thank God for my health.

2 Things that make me happy:
1.) My family
2.) My friends

1 Thing that's on my mind right now:
I wonder how long Maeve is going to nap this morning.


***Jen, you've been tagged, so get on it sista!