The end of 2007 is upon us

Another year has come and gone! As I am sitting here getting ready for the New Years Festivities, I find myself thinking about the many wonderful things that 2007 brought...

1. I have a growing lia sophia business! In 2007 I not only signed on my very first team member in January, but actually signed on 6 throughout the year! I currently have 4 active on my team and I could not be prouder of all of them!

2. We made our annual trip to Wisconsin Dells in March. This, as always, was a perfect winter break! One of these years we will make it there in the fall to enjoy the many mini-golf courses.

3. Darrin made it through 3rd grade. This was a very trying year in school for him and after a lot of hard work and patients, he was successful.

4. John surpasses the 11 year mark at SNI - some days better than others, but it was an over all productive year.

5. John's brother and Jenny are pregnant! Their baby boy is due in May. I am sure that this is going to be yet another spoiled child in the family!

6. For John's Birthday this year, Michelle and Richard flew for the week! We were able to spend a whole week with them, exploring all sorts of attractions in Green Bay as well as Door County! Next mission, a trip for us out to Arizona!

7. We bought new living room furniture! Now this might now be a huge deal for some people, but this was the first time in my life that I actually got to pick out NEW furniture! Everything that I have had, has been hand-me-downs recieved from various family members! I guess the next puchase on the list for the living room is a new (bigger) TV.

8. One of my student loans and my car is paid off! I can honestly say that this has been possible as a result of my lia sophia business! If it were not for the extra income each and every month!

Over all, it has been a super year and I have many great things to look forward to in 2008!

End of the year is drawing near!

WOW Where did this last year go??

I just held my last lia sophia show of the year! I ust have 3 shows to finish closing out and I am done until January 3rd! January is started to look great! I have 7 6 shows on the books and at least 1 more to get a date finalized! I am planning on taking the next few weeks to get caught up on paperwork, clean and organize the office and start working on getting my stuff ready for doing my taxes so that I am ready come February.

Ok, I SAY that I am going to start getting all that stuff ready... that does not mean that it will all get done ahead of time! But it is a good place to start!

The next few weeks are going to be CRAZY!! We ahve a scout meeting tonight, dinner plans for Wednesday, leave for my parents on Friday and won't be home until Sunday afternoon (that also means I have more shopping to get finished before Friday too!) I have a lia sophia meeting on Monday, Scout Father/Son Bake-off Wednesday and then we leave Friday morning to drive up to Michigan to John's parents! We will actually be at home for Christmas so that will be nice!

New Years we are just planning on spending at home and 4 of our friends are coming over for the evening. We have done the same thing the last 2 years and it has been fun! Last year it was a Wii Bowling tournament, year before that was Poker Night. Who knows what we will decide this year - have to find out what everyone is up for this year!

Wow, I jsut re-read what I jsut typed - I think I need a nap after reading how much we have to do in the last few weeks!

Well, I guess I need to get back to the list of things to do! And then take a nap!

Another Monday... Gotta Love 'em

Why does the weekend never seem to last long enough? But at least this was a fun one! Maybe that's why it went by so quickly!

Friday night we went with the Cub Scouts to the Gambler's Game. I don't' mind the events like this because the parents usually stick around (unlike the other pack events where parents come, drop the kids off and leave. Meaning that those of us parents that do stay are usually trying to keep at least some sort of order!). Even though the Gamblers lost the game, we all still had a lot of fun! One of the dad's was selected to take part in the 3rd period Trivia Contest. If he answer just ONE questions correctly, he would be invited back in March for the finals. The question that he ended up with was "In the 1991 NMU played the Championship Game against which Boston School?" I KNEW the correct answer because I remember breaking my toes watching that game at my Uncle's house! I yelled up to him that the answer was D - Boston University. But apparently hecould not hear me over everyone else that was yelling that it was A - Boston College. So he went with A. Oh well. At least he did win a $10 gift certificate for Marty's Boston Crab Restaurant!

Saturday by lunchtime, the snow started falling. We were forecasted to get 4-8 inches of snow by midnight Saturday and a total of 8-10 by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around. It was nice light, fully snow that was falling so shoveling it in the afternoon was not too bad - 10 minutes and the entire driveway was done! By evening, we had some nice accumulation, but that did not stop us from going out for the evening. We had plans to go with Chad and Beth out to dinner and then to Slap Happy at Comedy City. Driving there was oh so fun! Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive! None of the roads were plowed until we were about 2 miles from the Club! Due to the snow, we opted to have dinner at the restaurant kitty-corner from the comedy club. None of us had even been there before, but we will definitely go back again! There was basically no one else in the place (go figure - the weather was bad and no one was out to eat!)! The Martini's were super (drink special of the night) and the food was good too. Great company makes any meal even better. I forgot how much I enjoy getting together with Chad and Beth. We had some great fun just hanging out like we use to do all the time!

After dinner we tromped through the piles of snow to head across the street... there was not a lot of people at the club! Granted we ended up getting there before the early Improv show even started, so people were still arriving. By the time the show started, the theater was almost full - not sure how busy the Improv show was, but Everyone made it to see Slap Happy! Another great show! Now, this was actually the 2nd time that I was seeing the show. I went Thanksgiving weekend with the rest of the family - John ended up getting sick so he didn't go with us. I told him that I would pay to see the show again! So we did! Just as good the 2nd time! We have never been disappointed with any of the stage shows there. (they write all of their own shows). We stuck around for the "late show" - they were having a Miller and Mike Show afterwards (Miller and Mike are Professional Clowns that use to work with Ringling Brothers!) So we stuck around for that too... definitely worth the time and $$!!! John and Darrin have seen some of there shows before but I never had. They are great! Ever seen anyone blow bubble by dipping their hands (wearing rubber gloves) into a bucket of bubble solution, then blowing through their fingers etc? Yup, it works!

We drove home laughing so hard that it kinda made you forget about the wintery weather that we were dealing with! At least by that time it had stopped snowing and the plows were able to catch up! The only roads that were not plowed was the backroads going to our house!

Sunday was another quiet day around the house - got some Christmas cards done, most of the rest of the holiday decorating and some baking done. Never did get to the grocery store... guess I better to that today!

Weekly random thoughts - what are some people thinking???

Another week is here and gone! Hard to believe that December is right around the corner! Darrin actually asked if he needed to take his snow pants to school today - there was a dusting of snow on the grown, bearly enough to cover the grass!

Um... no, don't' think you need those yet! Yes we are expecting snow over the weekend. I know kids like playing in the snow, but don't rush it! In a few months you are going to be complaining that you HAVE TO wear those same snow pants that you WANT to wear today!

Yesterday I saw the funniest thing when I was leaving the video store... A lady was in the parking lot with her poofy little white dog and she was wiping it's butt! Ok, now I can understand animals being part of the family and doing everything that you can for your pets (remember those kittens that we spent all that $$ on and they didn't make it). But wiping your dogs BUTT!?! ok, maybe the dog just went to the bathroom, maybe she had leather seats in her huge SUV, but I have to draw the line somewhere! Does this dog also have it's own wing of the house with his own butler? Oh wait, that was the lady wiping his butt!

SO to all me friends out there, never buy me a dog that I will have to wipe it's butt! I have a kid, 3 cats and a husband to clean up after already!


Sometime I really have to wonder about some of the new products out on the market... my mom just sent me the link for this one today.... It is a tray that can be used in the car. Fine and dandy for kids in the backseat who want to munch on their Happy Meal. Or any other passenger in the car that has some need for a table.... Just don't picture it attached to the STEERING WHEEL of the car!

I can see the headlines: "Man killed in highway accident... using his laptop while driving"

Do marketing people not think when they are creating some of these ads? Then again, this is exactly why there are warnings on microwaves: "do not place pets inside" or on electrical appliances: "not for use in bathtub". Because you know at some point that somebody already did just that!



Well, Christmas has officially "thrown up" in my living room - at least that is what John calls it. We started hauling out the totes of Christmas decorations last night. Darrin put together the tree so that I could start on the lights. For the first time in the 8 years that I have had the tree, I had a dead string of lights! So with having one less string, that meant spacing the lights just right so they made it to the top.... Didn't work. I have a tree with no lights on the top 2 feet. So now that means a trip to the store to pick up one set of white lights (with green wires please) so that I can finish the tree! I have all kinds of other lights in the garage, but no white with green wires! Have green lights with green wire, blue lights with green wire, white lights with white wires.... ARGH!! Ow well, 8 years for a set of lights, no complaints from me!

Now to just get that tree done and all the rest of the decorations up so we can get rid of all the totes!

Yesterday came back to haunt me!

Yup, those resistance bands came back to haunt me last night! My arms were so sore that I coudl not sleep! It took getting up TWICE during the night to sit in the hot tub, rubbing them with Icy Hot PLUS a muscle relaxer. I think I did manage about 4 hours of sleep. Today was definetly one of those days that I would have much rather just stayed in bed, but dity called and I had to go into work this morning. At least I was home about 1pm.

Never did get the nap that I was hoping to, so I guess it is time to find some sleep here before it gets too late!

That Wednesday morning workout will be calling my name! I need to get back into my routine after falling off at Thanksgiving. Not getting the the gym for a week really hit me hard after yesterday!!

BTW - why is it that Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds are so irresistable? Could not pass them up today, but I better make that workout tomorrow that much better!

Monday Workout Summary

Today's class was a challenge, but I made it through without too much difficulty! 30 minutes of cycling - 15 minuets of which were alternating between cruising and sprinting, lower and higher levels of resistance. Very similar to that which would be in a spinning class. It was tough, but maybe I will have to try out one of the spinning classes in the near future!.

After that it was back to the paired exercises - do one of the machines and then go over and to the corresponding floor exercise to go with the machine. Today we were using resistance bands to work out upper arms and chest. Those were tough! Lisa and I decided that those are going to hurt tomorrow! At the end of class we took 10 minutes to work our Abs as a class. This time I made it through the whole series of reps without having to stop!

So far this class has been super! It is giving me more options on what I can and need to do on those days that I cannot get to the gym!

Wednesday... after class I will do 3 miles on the treadmill in less than 45 minutes (working to improve that time from the Wyld Turkey Race on Turkey day!

Round and round we go!

Well, it is officially the end Thanksgiving weekend 2007...

What a crazy week! I say week because my parents rolled into town on Tuesday, my Uncle on Wednesday. So the office was turned into the Guest Suite again, my dad claimed the couch in the basement and everyone was happy. It was really odd this year to only have 6 people at the house for Thanksgiving! My brother, his girlfriend and daughter were spending Thanksgiving with her family and Dan flew out to California to spend the holiday with his family (first time in many years - his trip out there was a whole different adventure!).

Darrin and I started Thanksgiving day with the Wyld Turkey Run/Walk at the local YMCA. A 5k walk to get you moving - make you feel not so guilty about all the food you are going to eat later! He set the goal of finishing in 50 minutes. We started out at a jog - easier to go wtih the flow of runners at the beginning to wait for them to spread out.
Over the 3.1 miles, we walked, we jogged, we ran. I knew that we were keeping a good pace and it was going to be close to finish at his goal. There was one guy that we saw out on the course that had his 4 year old with him. That was so cool to see. The first time we saw this guy, he actually was jogging with his son on his shoulders! Now that's some good added resistance!
When we left the park trails and got back to the main road, Darrin knew we didn't have much further to go and he got his second wind! Once we reached the corner of the parking lot, Darrin said it was time to run. Strong finish to the line! As we got closer to the line, her realized that we were at about 48 minutes - he was going to beat his goal!

Once we finished the course, we headed inside for a small snack and find out our offical results...

48:08 !!

Now that's our time to beat for next year!

Friday morning was shopping... alarm went of at 3:45! We were at the stores by 4:35. 4 hours later, we were able to get just about everything that was on our list - after visiting the 4 stores on our list! We even got my Uncle up and out the door by 4:30 (who usually would just shake his head at us for getting up that early to shop!). He was on a mission to get a new CHristmas tree to go in his new house!

Friday night we went to the local comedy club/theatre for the stage show that they were running. One of the best shows I have seen there in a long time! John ended up not goign with us becuase he got sick at the last minute and I told him that I woudl pay to see it again so that he could go too! Maybe next weekend...

Now part of the Christmas lights are up outside, will start hauling out the reast of hte holiday decorations tomorrow and by next weekend they will all have a home again in the house.

It just seems like every year, we start seeing CHristmas decorations earlier and earlier. Not only in the stores, but in people's yards! Christmas trees on sale right next to fake spiders and goblins. Then as soon as some people take their Goblins down from teh house, the CHristmas lights go up.

Now I can understand putting hte lights up when it is still nice outside, but please don't turn them on until at least after Thanksgiving! Enjoy each holiday as it comes - we dont' need to see your Christmas decorations up at Easter!

Time to update!!

I guess it has been longer sine I have been here to post than I thought! So much has been going on the the last month and that means that I have not been able to get here to post anything!

Business is going great. My promotion when into effect November 1st. I currently have 4 active ladies on my team (two of which have started in the last month). They are all doing well! In fact, they are all doing so well that it looks like I will be able to earn a trip to Hawaii!! I will only earn the trip for one, but still it is a great accomplishment. The next decision is going to be, will I take the trip and go with the girls, will we buy in John and him and I go with the rest of the winners, will I opt to take the cash buy out and use it towards a vacation for John and I at a later day? Such choices!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year! We decided to volunteer at the zoo for their annual Zoo Boo. Darrin loved that! Instead of going to collect candy, he was passing it out to the little trick-or-treaters that were wandering the zoo. When we left the zoo, Darrin asked if we can do it again next year. It was really a great experience for him. It was really a fun night! The funniest part was, only a handful of kids actually knew who we were dressed up as! But the adults all knew - apparently kids these days have no clue who the Addams Family is! We did get some photo's from Halloween posted so feel free to check them out!

In fact that photo site listed above is a great site that John found not too long ago that we have been using on a regular basis! It is fast and easy to upload pictures and create your own albums! Be sure to bookmark that site and check back frequently because we add new stuff - especially with the upcoming holiday's!

We also have found a really cool ScrapBlog website. Here you are able to create your own Scrapbook blog! I started doing a few pages and am probably going to do more. Very easy to do, we are just trying to figure out is there is any way that you can print out your pages after you finish them! Here you can find our adventures at the Pumpkin Patch this year and then our Halloween adventures. I am still working on the cover page for the Halloween Album and still need to add the photo's from trick-or-treating, so check back for those later!

The Holiday Season is right around the corner and everyone is busy getting ready. Thanksgiving once again is here at our house. We Will actually only have a small crowd this year. Brian, Brenda and Dessa are spending Thanksgiving with Brenda's family (there drove here last year to be with us). Dan is actually spending Thanksgiving with his family in California. This is the first year in many years that he will not be with us for Thanksgiving! So there will only be 6 of us this year. But we have 35 pounds of turkey to cook!

Yes that's what I said! 35 pounds and only 6 people! My uncle decided that he wanted to do a deep-fried turkey this year. Now I have tried DF turkey before and it is ok. Better fresh than reheated, but only ok. John thought the same thing... we want good leftover turkey! SO I bought the 10-12 pound turkey that will fit in the fryer and then a 24.5 pound turkey for the oven! Hard to say just how much will be left over! I just know that everyone will be able to have as much as they want and then some!

I am also trying to make the other side dishes as health friendly as possible. Last year I made many of the dishes with low fat and fat free products and no one noticed the difference, so I am going for it again this year! We are also trying some different recipes... onion, herb and chive mashed taters in the crockpot, stuffing also warmed in the crockpot, a new recipe for cranberries. I will post the recipes later if they are worth making again!

Time to get back on the wagon and stay there!

I just finished a 6 week Group Express fitness class at the Y last week and today was the first day of a new one. It was a really good class - 30 minutes of continuous strength training in the gym. No weight machines to work with! Everything was weights, stability balls and your own body. I had contemplated taking the same class again with the same trainer, or taking a different class at about the same time that was a combination of cardio and strength - this was also an hour instead of just 30 minutes

I opted for the new class. So far I am thinking that I am really going to like this class! She told us that each class is going to be 20-30 minutes of cardio and then each day would vary somewhat in what we did for strength training. Very cool! When it is something different all this time, it is harder to get bored with a class!

I think this class might be just what I need to get myself back on a regualr workout schedule! I have been doing pretty good about getting to the gym Mon/Wed/Fri, but need somesort of motivation to get there other days! I seem to always find some excuse not to go! Taking this class might give me the boost to really watch my food intake too. The trainer told me that I was welcome to bring in my food journal once a week or so and she would go through it with me. Very cool!

Kittens catch their first mouse!

We knew the day was finally coming that our kittens would catch their first mouse! Today was that day! I got home from the gym to find the kittens both in the kitchen. Fozzy with a guilty look on his face and Silver was sitting on the floor in an odd position. It was after I started walking toward them that I realized that SIlver had a mouse in her mouth (realized it when she decided to drop it and it attempted to scamper off). Silver promptly poundedon it again and proceeded to bat it around the kitchen like a hockey puck. Fozzy sat there with a look on his face that said "but I wanna play with the new toy too!"

They must have caught it in the basement and hauled it back upstairs to play with it. We very rarely see mice upstairs so that was the only logical place where the mouse came from!

I managed to get past them, avoiding the mouse (I really do not like mice on bit!!) to call John to let him know that our kittens were officially mousers. It was at that time that I also decided that I would try and get a picture of them with thier mouse (probalby not the smartest thougth of hte day). As I was standing in the living room, leaving John a message, and picking up the camera, I turned around to find Silver prancing into the living room, proud as can be, with that little mouse hanging out of her mouth by it's tail! She was bringing me her prized to me to show it off!! I looked at her and told her to get away from me with that mouse and she decided to drop it!!

Apparently the mouse was nto dead - it managed to get away from Silver and scurried under the couch! THe cats tried getting under there any way they could to get that toy back! Unfortunatly I did not have time at that moment to try and find the (most likely) wounded mouse... I had someone coming over for some computer training in 15 minutes! I still needed a shower!

After Pam left and Darrin got home, we turned to couch over and there was no sign of hte mouse. We are hoping that it was not really wounded, just in shock and would be able to find it's way back to the basement. I am just hoping that it was still alive and I don't start smelling it pretty soon!!

At least we know that the kittens can catch those mice!!

A new school year brings great changes

As many of you might remember, last year with had some issues with Darrin in school. We were curious as to what we were going to find out when we went to Parent Teacher Conferences this year. Last year was very trying for all of us, including his teacher!

Last night marker the first Parent Teacher Conference of the year. Darrin had some incentives riding on how this conference went! He kept telling us that he was doing good, but we wanted to wait to see for sure (we learned the hard way last year that what he said was not always what was really happening!) Grammie has bought his a really cool pirate ship to paint, but he was only going to get the ship and paints if we got good reports! So now was the moment of truth!!

The conferences were actually Student lead, so Darrin was in the hot seat! His teacher and student teacher were both there to add their input but the first half of the conference was all him! He showed us some great work that he had completed and then shared what he THOUGH his grades were going to be. This is where his teacher stepped in and filled us in on what his actually grades were...

WOW... big differences from last year! All A's and high B's at this point! His was only missing ONE assignment! This was a huge improvment from last year (missing assignments, incomplete assingments and more!). We were expressign some of our concerns about what we had been dealing with last year (the talking in class, daydreaming, missing assignments, incomplete work etc). Both his teacher and the student teacher looked at each other, looked and Darrin, then at us as asked if we were talking about the same kid!

They have had NO issues of talking or other class disrutions, all his assignments are finished (with the exception of the one that we knew he was missing) and he is participating in calss discussionsn regularly! He is actually at a higher reading level than they look for by the end of 5th grade! He loves math and science and is always eager to learn more.

WooHoo!! The old Darrin is back! Now we are just hoping that he continues the great work! It will be a while yet before we get that first report card (not til after Thanksgiving) so we are anxious to see the results!

How things can change so quickly!

My business has been cruising along nicely, without too many bumps in the road! It has been really great to not have to worry about the little extras each month! My calendar as been consistently full for the last few months and that has been a great feeling! My biggest goal has been to build my team a little more so that I can bring my business to the next level.

And how things can change so quickly!

I found out a few weeks ago from a friend of mine that her mom has been seriously thinking about starting her own lia sophia business. And she wants to sign up under me! Very cool! I just met with her (and her daughter who is going to be doing alot of her computer work etc) and she is very excited to get started! She wants to do enough shows each month so that she can switch to working only part-time at her other job.

Then Last weekend I also got a call from my hostess the day before her show to tell me that she just lost her job! She wanted to turn her show into a starter show! Her and her best friend are signing up together and sharing the business!

Now the training begins! With the added new teammates, I am hoping to be able to promote to Unit by for November 1st Now I am just keeping my fingers crosses that as a team we will be able to make the numbers each month!

If two years ago someone would have told me that I would be successfully running my own business and building it each month, I would have told them that they were crazy! But here I am, doing just that! This has been an exciting ride that I hope to continue! It has given me the opportunity to provide things for my family that I would not have been able to do, working a normal 40-hour a week job! And I can work at home in my pajama's some days!

I suppose I need to get back to work now! No one really knows what tomorrow will bring, but let's hop on and enjoy the ride!

Apples Apples and more Apples

Definitely a sign that fall is right around the corner! Cool crisp mornings, light breezes and... The Apple Orchard is open! We "discovered" the local Apple Orchard last fall and have been regulars ever since! I say "discovered" because John has lived in this house for about 9 years now and the orchard is only 2 miles away! He never knew it was there before last fall when we saw one of their ads on a local coupon shopper! They offer ready picked apples as well as pick-your own! We always do the pick your own because you can't beat the price! Last weekend when we were there we picked almost 60 pounds of apples and it was only $28!!

This place is awesome! I can't even keep track of all the different varieties of apples that they have! It seems like each week when we go, a different variety is ready to be picked! They just opened for the pick your own last weekend and we had our choice of Mac's and Cortland's. We actually picked some of each. Darrin loves being able to go up to the tree and pick an apple, wipe it off and eat it right away! He always had to eat one whole apple before he starts picking.

It says something about a business, if when you go there, they recognize you! The one lady that was always there last year was working again and remembered us from last year! And this is a busy orchard, so for her to remember her customers from one year to the next really says something! When you walk in the door, they are ready to help! You tell them what kind apples you like and they will point you in the right direction to find what you want!

This past weekend Patty was in town for the day with her daughter, granddaughter and her granddaughter's friend. She thought that the girls would enjoy picking their own apples, so we decided to meet there Saturday morning! The girls had a ball! And Darrin had just as much fun helping them find the perfect apples and fill their bags. I was not able to stay the entire time, but John and Darrin stayed to help them! By the time they were done, they had over 100 pounds of apples! Yes, they were picking for 3 different families, but that's a lot of apples!

I now have other friends of mine from the Weight Watchers message boards that want to go to the apple orchard too! We are all trying to find a day where we can do a family day at the apple orchard so we all can get together and go pick apples!

I think with all the business that WE are bringing to the orchard, we deserve some free apples or something!!!

I have been going through all my cookbooks and online to find new apple recipes too! I have my favorite apple salad that I make all the time, but sometimes you just need something different....

baked apples
apple crisp
apple stuffed pork tenderloin
apple bars
apple pie

man, I could go on forever! If anyone has a favorite apple recipe that they would like to share, let me know!!!

A day in the life of a 9 year old

So, DS has been at Grammie and Papa's house all week. (Quiet time for us yah!!).

My mom calls me this morning. Apparently last night DS mowed my Uncle's lawn as payment for my uncle taking him out on the boat tubing the other day. DS had a blast (mowing the lawn and tubing) and even THANKED my uncle for letting him mow the lawn! Go figure. We as adults really dont' care for mowing the lawn, but tell a 9 year old to do it and he is all over that! I guess we know a new job for DS to do around the house when he gets home!

Well, then she proceeds to tell me that they had just picked up one of DS's friends and they (My mom, DS and his friends Angie) are going mini-golfing. I guess Angie has never been mini-golfing before. (The poor child! We go mini golfing at least once a month when the weather permits!) So they were heading to one of the mini golf courses about 40 minutes from her place.

Before they head out of town, they have to stop to see Angie's mom at work so she can get some money. Then a quick stop at Wal-mart to pick up eggs and a few other things that they need at home. FINALLY it is time to leave....

One the way out of town, they had to stop so he couldput gas in the car - yes, he - my 9 year old! They pull up at the gas station and he jumps out of the car, as does Angie so she can help. So now we have 2 9 year old putting gas in my mom's car. He then proceeds to tell her that he needs a credit card. The pump said "to pay by credit card, please swipe card now". Once he is convinced that since he is paying by cash, they start pumping the gas. My mom then informs the two of them that if they go over what she told them, then it was coming out of thier lunch budget... so they are going very slowly, trying NOT to go over. Needless to day, they went over by .22 oh well, at least it wasn't too much over! Meanwhile, as they are pumping gas, my mom said she HAD to get a picture of them, in all thier glory, putting gas in the car.

So now they are on finally on the road....



Now I am just awaiting that phone call to see what other adventures they found today!

The FlyLady is my new friend

I have decided that I need a new friend! her name is the FlyLady (http://www.flylady.com/)She is going to try and help me get my house clean and organized! Several of my friends have already started using her tips to get their homes and lives organized. It is my turn!

I just spend this morning getting caught up on the daily missions for the week. I have also started trying to get into my morning and nighttime routines! Doing 1 load of laundry a day is definelty much mroe tolerable than doing it all at one! I have folding laundry and if I have 5 loads sitting there staring at me that need to be folded it is just too much! Now throwing in one load each day is much more reasonable! Now why didn't I think of doing that years ago?

The next big project is to get my weekly cleaning schedule somewhat figured out...

I am realizing that if I tackle smaller parts of the cleaning list on different days of the week, I am more likely to get it done! No one wants to spend the ENTIRE day cleaning... I can deal with a short time each day instead! I am hoping that this will help to make sure that all the cleaning is done before the weekend so we dont' have to spend our family time cleaning!!!

Today's list of stuff finished:
Kitchen swept and mopped
living room dusted
all trash cans empty
downstairs bathroom swept and mopped
Chili simmering in crockpot to take up north with us this weekend
Kitchen table cleared of everything except what needs to be packed in car tomorrow

A Perfect Evil

Just finished reading A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava....

WOW! I actually started reading this book last week, but unfortunatly, I didn't get much time to read it in the last week. Last night I decided that I wanted to sit down and really start in on the book.

5 hours later (at least Midnight) the book was finished. Now it has been a LONG time since I have read a book almsot completly cover to cover in one night. I just could not put it down. I HAD to find out what happened. I actually did stop reading at one point so that I could go to sleep. That lasted about 5 minutes! I was back into the book again. It was like sitting down to watch a movie and 15 minutes from the end, turing off the TV. It was not happening. My mind needed to know the outcome. There was no way that I was going to get to sleep without knowing...

I would have to say that is has been a long time since I book really did that to me. I usually can read part of a book, but it down and come back a day or two later to read more. Not this book! It was like I was under some sort of spell. It was a superb blend of good and evil. One's twisted view of what is right and wrong. Another's fight to overcome the issues of the past.

Now I am not going to devulge anything that happened in the book for those of you who want to be read it and find out for yourself. I will say that it did not end like I had expected... and I will be looking onto her next book to read soon! VERY soon!

Next read: Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson

The list grows and nothing gets done

Why is it that when you have plenty of time to get things done, we alway manage to get nothing done?

This week, as DS is off visit Grandma, I have plenty of time to get caught up on that cleaning that I never seem to have time to do... mopping the floors, getting the blankets and such washed... you know - all that stuff that needs to be done but we all hate doing! I did my usual Tuesday morning run at work, came home, ate lunch and had every intention of hitting the bathroons and kitchen and getting some of that list done...

here is is, the end of the day and the trashes are emptied, the kitchen table is cleared (for anyone who has been to my house before you know - that table is never cleared off unless it is Thanksgiving Day and dinner was finished an hour ago!) and that is about it!

Where did the day go...

Granted there was the 4 phone calls from hostesses, trying to get shows closed, answered questions from past hostesses regarding exchanges etc, time spend laughing at the cats running through the house like their paws awere on fire. Did I really spend 4 hours on that? I guess I did!

Tomorrow is a new day... The list must get done! I hate leaving town for a long weekend without getting it done. I prefer to come home to a clean house so that I can relax after that long "relaxing" fun-filled weekend!

Which brings the next questions... if a long weekend is a "short vacation", does that mean I can take Tuesday off from work so that I can take a vacation from my vacation and rest before going back to work?

Back to School, Fresh Start for everyone!

Any parent knows that Labor Day means Back to School. This is a joyous day for parents, who are ready to the house to be quiet again, but kids dread the day as the new "imprisonment" begins. I just never really understood this view, because I recall as a child actually looking forward to school starting! I remember looking forward to seeing all my friends again because during the summer I hardly got to see them! Call me a nerd, but I actually liked school!

Now, as a parent, I look at the start of school differently! There are many things about back to school that are great, but then there are the not so great things! Like school shopping! Now I do only have the one child, but sometimes I feel link I am shopping for 5! I swear the list of Back To School Supplies grows each and every year. And the items on the list are getting more and more expensive. I am just glad that I have a few more years before I have to buy him a calculator for school! Those things are getting scarier as the years go by! What happened to the simple calculators? Now they have more buttons on them that my laptop computer! But I am sure that will change before long and I will be out buying him one of those!

As far as the rest of the supplies go, I guess it could be worse, but it just seems like it is never done! As a mom, I am always out save a buck or two, but back to school shopping is a nightmare! You check the store sales flyer's for the sales, but NEVER can get everything you need, on sale at one store. If you want to get all your shopping done in one day, AND save as much money as possible, you are required to drive to 4 different stores in 3 different parts of town, only to find out that half of the stuff that you need to sold out already! Each year it is the same thing... at what point does all the running around become more costly than the school supplies that you are buying! Especially with gas prices these day!

I think we finally have all the items on the back to school list!

Clothes shopping is an entirely different story! I swear each year I have to buy a whole new wardrobe! It will be nice when Darrin actually stops growing as fast as he is now! I will probably save a small fortune each year! The first order of business this year... go through the entire closet to see what actually still fits and what needs to find a new home! This entails trying everything on to see if it really does fit, sorting the too small stuff into its own pile/box/bag and taking a good look at what we are left with....

TWO days later, we finally are through everything. Now keep in mind that Darrin has a Grandmother that buys him clothes all the time when she finds stuff on sale or clearance. He has ALOT of clothes! By the time we are finished going through everything, we have 2 garbage bags PLUS a laundry basket FULL of stuff that no longer fits! Some of the pants were still BRAND NEW with the tags still attached! I have already had one friend go through the stuff for her son, but unfortunately there was not a lot in there that she found would fit her son - he is growing just as fast as Darrin! So now I have 2 other friends that are going to come over and go through the stuff! I need my laundry basket back! I was thinking about doing the ebay thing with his clothes again, but I just don't have the time to do it right now, and I would much rather give them to friends, who I know can really use them! Some will probably end up at Goodwill once all is said and done!

Ok, so the closet is gone through... What is left? Well, after pulling out all that stuff that is too small, we are left with a closest that is still have half full of nothing but shirts! Dress shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, long sleeve, short sleeve, you name it, it's in there! Notice anything missing?? Yup, you guessed it....

Pants!

My child has no pants that fit him. Well, almost none. He is left with 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of jeans (none of which are going to fit him much longer) and a pile of sweatpants and wind pants. I guess we are going shopping for jeans..... oh yippee! And shoes... he has 1 pair of tennis shoes that are ok, but who knows how long they will last.

Shopping for jeans would be fine and dandy, but finding ones that fit him... not so easy. We can never find ones that fit everywhere. thankfully I have a mom who is a seamstress, but she lives 2+ hours away! Shoes.... I just refuse to pay $75 for a pair of shoes for a 9 year old that will look like they have been through the war within 1 week.! It is going to be a fun day!

We actually got really luck this year with the clothes shopping! We hit 2 stores (and the first one we didn't even try anything on so does that really count?) Gotta love Wal-Mart! An hour later we were walking out the door with everything we needed! 1 more pair of shorts (living in WI you know you can't wear shorts to school to long after school starts - just gets too cold) and 3 pairs of jeans! Now granted all the jeans will need to be hemmed, but that is what Grandma's there for! But we found shoes too!! Everything in one place and I didn't have to break the bank!

Back to school... yes, as a perent I look forward to it, but next year can we just skip the "Getting Ready for Back to School" part of it??