The perfect shade of green

Remember me??? lol

2012-02-03T20:58:00.002-06:00

Does anyone read my blog anymore? Has anyone even noticed that it's been nearly 4 months since my last post?

So, we LOVE our house!! We've been here for almost 10 months. Had our first Christmas in a real house. And Santa even had a chimney to come down. No more leaving a key on the front door knob.
We had a wonderful Christmas with so many blessings.

My brother Ben and his wife Stephanie had their 3rd daughter on Dec 7th. Abbigail was born on her sister Jillian's 2nd birthday. I am so proud of Ben and the family that he has.

How about this weather?? We didn't even get a real winter this year. My trees are already budding, and my flowers are blooming. I hope we don't get bad weather now.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'll post pics next time. I'll try to do that within the next week.

2011-10-10T13:36:00.003-05:00

I'm gonna make a bunch of these. :)
http://www.bakerella.com/mix-things-up/

Cowgirl Cookies

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Stir all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add

1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use the back of a large spoon to work it all together. You may even need to use your hands to get everything incorporated.

Then roll the cookie dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. I got about 26-28 cookies out of these.

I sell AVON

2011-09-26T12:30:00.001-05:00

Check out my AVON page and see what's new!

http://carriehill.avonrepresentative.com/

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!

2011-09-26T08:46:00.005-05:00

Today is my wonderful husband's 37th birthday. We celebrated yesterday with football, good food, cake and presents. His Chief's didn't win the game, but they did play a good game.

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog. And every time I do, I have good intentions of doing it more often. All I can say is, I'll do my best.

We've been in our house for 5 1/2 months now. It's definitely "home".

The kids are growing like crazy. Morgan is 4' 9.3/4". Orin is 3' 9.3/4".
Morgan is only 4.1/4" shorter than me. And speaking of her crazy growth, she is also wearing size 9 women's shoes. I'll be getting her hand me downs now. lol

I also want to brag a little on myself. :)
I started losing weight. Between July 2010 & Sept 2011, I've lost 33.5#.
I've only got 6.5 to go before I reach my target weight!

Happy Spring!

2011-03-21T10:42:00.004-05:00

Here I am....4 months later. Spring is here and I thought I'd give this blogging thing a fresh start.

Lot's of things going on lately. Almost all good.

The blue house didn't happen. But the white one that is just two doors down from the blue one did! We close on it on the 31st of this month and we will take possession April 7th. Moving will hopefully start the 9th.

Click on the collage for bigger pics.

My dad will be moving into our trailer when we move out. So he will be saving some money each month, and after 10 months, he won't have to pay anything except lot rent to the owner of the trailer park.

The kids are both doing good in school. They're getting taller and smarter.
They're both sick right now with sinus/respitory junk. But they're both on meds for it. Hopefully they'll both be better soon.

Here I am!

2010-11-30T10:12:00.004-06:00

I know my posts are few and far between, but that is a reflection of how busy things have been recently. In a good way. :D

We got approaved for a home loan through the USDA!! We've looked at roughly 10 houses, and finally found one that is perfect. We're going tomorrow for our 2nd walk-through of this house. If everything looks good, we're going to put down an offer!!

Front of house

Newly remodeled kitchen

Living room and dining room

My scrapbooking room!!!

Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

I'm finally losing weight!

2010-10-22T07:49:00.002-05:00

July 27th was my first day of getting up at 5am. (I get up at 4 on sundays because I have to go to work early.) I've gotten up that early every single day (except for 2 where I was feeling sick, like this morning. But I still did my morning routine when I finally got up.)

I was 180 lbs when I started. I'm down to 165.3 now! I've lost 14.7 lbs!!!
I've gone down 2 pants sizes and I've lost 7 1/2 inches off of my hips!

According to my wii, I have 83 more days to go to my December goal. And I only need to lose 1 1/2 lbs by then.

I completely stopped eating dairy because of digestive issues.
I quit drinking soda.
And yesterday was my first day of drinking only water. I'm shooting for a month of this.

I may be signing up at a fitness center. I really want to. And it's right across the street from my work, so I could stop in there after work and get in 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before going home. It's a 24 hour place.

I'm just so excited about all of this! I've been a steady 180 since a couple of weeks after Orin was born. I never thought I'd see 165 again.

We're in the 2nd quarter of school already!

2010-10-20T12:41:00.003-05:00

Where did the time go? We've already finished with the first quarter at school.
Morgan did awesome! She got 4 A's and a B+. She's reading at a 5th grade level (5th grade/7th month to be exact). Her teacher said Morgan is an absolute doll and she'd give anything to have a class full of Morgan's.

Orin's teacher said that he is so smart and polite. And she's sure that he is smarter than she is. lol

Fall pics...

afternoon at the park

2010-09-30T10:58:00.003-05:00

I took Orin to the park after school on tuesday to have a picnic and play. He really hammed it up for the camera.

And he had a great time playing. He'd never been to this park before. All of the equipment looked like dinosaurs.

Busy Busy Busy

2010-09-22T07:59:00.003-05:00

Life has been busy for us.

Both kids are in school now. Morgan is in 3rd grade and doing excellent. Orin started preschool. He goes on tuesdays and thursdays for 2 1/2 hours a day. He LOVES it. And he was so upset when he had to miss yesterday because he was sick. He had a fever monday night and then tuesday the fever got even higher.

I've been getting up at 5am every single day for the last 8 weeks to exercise before the kids wake up.(except for 1 day where I decided I needed to sleep in, but I exercised when I got up.) Makes it easier to do without them arguing. I've lost 7.4 pounds in these 8 weeks. I've also lost 5 inches off of my hips in the last year!
Only 32.6 pounds to go till I'm at my goal weight.

Saturday's trip to see Grandpa in IL

2010-08-02T13:55:00.008-05:00

Wow, can't believe I didn't blog in July.

The kid's and I took a trip to IL on saturday to see my grandpa. We had a great visit and also got to see my Aunt Mary, Uncle Rick, Laura and Aunt Iris.

After that, we went out the the cemetary where mom is at.

Then we went to the big rock again @ the Lewis & Clark memorial site.
We also discovered that there is a museum down there too. Awesome! http://www.greatriverroad.com/lewclark/campriverdubois.htm

My GPS is so funny. I asked it to give me the fastest route from Granite City to Rolla, and it took me THROUGH the residential areas of St. Louis. Interesting drive though. Once we got to Sullivan, we HAD to stop for spicy tacos at Jack in the box.

We had a great time. And believe it or not, I've never made the trip to IL without another adult in the car to guide me. I did it all by myself (with the help of my handy-dandy GPS system). We'll have to do this again soon. I want more tacos. lol

My bff Jenny came to visit!

2010-06-29T16:34:00.010-05:00

I haven't seen Jenny in over a year. We don't see each other nearly often enough.
We had a great time "playing tourists" in my own town. lol

First, we went to see the stonehenge on campus.

Then we went to lunch @ McD's.
From there, we went to the walking bridge by the courthouse that goes over the RR tracks. And we took pics by the Phelps County Museum.

After that, we went to the Millinneum Arch. This was pretty cool. In the 15 years that I've been here, I've never stopped to see it.

We also hit the park for a while and let the kids run off their energy.

Lastly, we finished off with some icecream @ DQ. What a great day.

My hair is so short!

2010-06-22T13:59:00.003-05:00

I know, I was supposed to wait until after September. That way it would be a year since I've gotten it cut. But seriously, it's freakin' hot out there. So I got it cut. Since my hair was layered, the lady put it in 3 pony tails so that the layers would be seperated. The shortest layer was 8 inches long. The longest was 12 inches long. And I got a cute cut out of it. :D

Perhaps you didn't know...that my daughter is a genious!

2010-06-02T09:03:00.003-05:00

In case you were still in the dark about her genious status....

Morgan got straight A's on her report card again for second grade.
And on her end of year AR (Advanced Reader) report, it says that she reads at a 6th grade level.

She makes me so proud!

I am so happy that it is summer vacation. No getting up at 6am every weekday just to have to fight with the girl to HURRY UP or you're never gonna be ready for the bus.

God help me, 'cause this fall I will have to get BOTH of them ready for school. 2 different busses, 2 different locations. The head start bus won't pick up out this far, so we have to drive him to K-mart parking lot and they pick him up there.

I will definately enjoy my 4-5 hours of quiet time though. :D

9 years of wedded bliss

2010-05-26T13:53:00.003-05:00

Yesterday marked the 9th wonderful year of marriage for Chad & I.

It's hard to believe that it has been that long.
We've been through so much these last 9 years.

The best part has been bringing our 2 beautiful children into this world and watching them grow into amazing and smart kids. They complete our lives so perfectly.

I couldn't have asked for a better family.

I couldn't have asked for a better life.

Wish us luck

2010-05-06T08:45:00.004-05:00

We go tomorrow to look at a house. It's 4 bedroom, 2 story, plus a basement!
4th room is mine for a scraproom! Basement is Chad's play room. lol
Here's the outside.

I like Mondays!

2010-05-03T15:01:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I know that I'm the odd Mii out (and yes, I just made a wii reference!). But I DO like mondays. Especially when I'm off work. :D
But what made this an even greater monday? Well, that would be the new girl at work agreeing to bring me some Jack-in-the-box tacos on her way to work. She..Is..Awesome!

And yes, I did save some for Morgan. :)

Sick again

2010-04-29T12:53:00.004-05:00

My baby is sick again. GI bug and an ear infection.
2 days off of school.
She feels better today. She's up playing baseball on the wii now. Yep, can definately send her back to school tomorrow.

This was at the dr. office yesterday afternoon.

April has been a busy month

2010-04-26T09:55:00.005-05:00

Easter was great! I love knowing exactly what I work on Sundays so that Easter can be planned out perfectly. And this year, the weather was beautiful. We live in Missouri. The weather is always wacky in MO. And always cold and/or rainy on Easter. But this year, it was in the 70's and no rain. The ground was dry and the kids were in summer clothes. The egg hunt was perfect.

The pollen around here is horrendous. It's been so dry, and no rain for 2 weeks, that the pollen is looming in the air like crazy. And Orin seems to be more allergic than all of us combined.
Poor kid.

The last couple of days have been much better though because we finally got some heavy rain. The rain helped pull that pollen down out of the air. I didn't even have to give him his medicine yesterday and he slept without the cold mist vaporizer on. Hope it continues like this. I hate seeing him so miserable.

Morgan has learned to ride her bike without training wheels. We bought her a new bike for her birthday in December, but she hasn't been able to ride it yet, because the seat is a little too high on it's lowest setting. Chad is gonna use his dremmel to saw of maybe a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the post so that she can sit on the seat and still reach the ground.
So we've had her new bike stored away since December. I decided the other day to take the training wheels off of her old bike so that she can practice riding without them on a bike that she can definately reach the ground on. She's way too big for this bike, but it was helpful to her for learning to ride.
Chad helped her start out in the yard. He only held on for about 10 seconds, and then she was doing it on her own. About an hour later, she was walking her bike up the hill and riding it back down. She never crashed once.

Can't believe it's April already!

2010-04-02T10:15:00.004-05:00

Where did the last 3 months go? They just flew by!

So, Orin can write his name now. This is the first time he's even tried, or shown interest in writing anything.
He is also sounding out words and can read a lot of 3 letter words.

Tuesday I took the kids for a walk. We ended up walking the entire mile and a half trail, round trip. 3 miles of walking with two crazy kids. We all had a great time.
(Click on the collages for bigger pictures).

Nice trip to IL

2010-03-16T09:44:00.006-05:00

We had a nice trip to IL on saturday. It was just the kids, my dad and myself. We went to my sweet cousin Peggy's memorial service. What a beautiful service it was too. You could feel how much she was loved and how much she will be missed.

After that, we went to the luncheon at the church.
Went to the cemetery. It was pretty muddy and washed out, so we didn't stay long.

After that, we went to show Morgan where I used to live when I was 10. That place looks so different. I almost cried. Our's was 2nd door from left.

Then we hit the Lewis & Clark Expedition site in Granite City, IL. I have pics of Mom sitting on this huge rock from 1988. I don't know why I've never been down there before now. But we did it. And I have to say, I don't know HOW she got up there. lol. We don't have that kind of energy or desire, so we just stood beside it while my dad took the pic. (Orin was asleep in the car. Wish he could've been in the pic. Next time....)

Then we headed home, but not before stopping at Jack-in-the-Box in Sullivan, MO. lol Gotta get those tacos!

I have a new nephew....and a couple of great kids.

2010-03-09T13:46:00.004-06:00

So this is my newest nephew Caleb. He was born on Friday evening (the 5th). He's just so stinkin' adorable. And I get to see him again tonight. :-D

And here are some new pics of my kids.

She certainly doesn't get it from me.

2010-02-22T13:17:00.004-06:00

So, in my previous post, I said that Morgan's as tall as the hamburgler.
See those pants that she's wearing in that pic, well, they're about a 1/2 inch too short now. What the heck? She grew that much in the last 2 weeks???

I measured her on our "measuring wall" yesterday. She's now 4 ft 5 1/2 in tall.
I'm only 9 1/2 inches taller than her??

I was watching her from the window this morning while she was waiting for the bus. When the bus gets close, the teen girls from across the street come across to get on. Morgan is as tall as them. (She's only EIGHT!).

And yesterday, I got her some new tennis shoes. (With Cindy's help.) They're size 5, and there's just about 1/2 inch growing room.

So, are we absolutely positive that she's mine? She's gonna be taller than me by the time she's a teenager.

Morgan's as tall as the Hamburgler!

2010-02-16T10:09:00.003-06:00

lol. We went to McDonald's on Super Bowl Sunday, to get out of daddy's hair. We ate and then I let them play for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. I demanded a pic before we left. Orin was completely against it. He was afraid of the Hamburgler. So Morgan told him he could stand on the other side of her, and he was good with that.
So, Hamburgler is pointing to the 4 foot mark here. My kids are tall!

Missing my mom and grandma

2010-01-26T13:25:00.003-06:00

This saturday would've been my mom's 56th birthday. Each year I wonder what she would've been like. What would we have done to celebrate her birthday?
I daydream about how her and my children would interact with each other. I'm sad that they didn't have the chance to know her.

And 6 years ago, on mom's 50th birthday, my grandmother (her own mother) passed away. I wasn't able to be there with her. But my Aunts all told me that after her being so quiet and sleeping for so long, she just woke up and started talking. They listened for a little while and then one of them said, "Mom, who are you talking to?"
She said, "I'm talking to Gail. And she wants to know where her G** D*** birthday cake is!"

I hope that they have some delicious cake together in Heaven. I will be making cupcakes for her this year.

I love you mom. And I love you grandma. Miss you both so much.

Mmmmmm...smells good in here.

2010-01-14T08:16:00.003-06:00

This is currently cooking in the crockpot right now for Chad. Really simple to make.

And I'm making this for myself.

2010-01-09T10:31:00.002-06:00

I love Max & Ruby. It comes on the tv and they all stop what they're doing, it gets quiet, and they are being good. Love it when the tv gets their attention like that.

New year...new resolutions

2010-01-08T09:29:00.005-06:00

Last year I gave up alcohol and biting my nails. I succeeded. It's been more than a year since I've drank or bit. :D

So, my 2010 resolutions. If I can quit drinking alcohol, surely I can do this.

~No soda. Period. None. I've been drinking mostly water with a really watered down lemonade here and there just for taste.

~No eating out while I'm working. This is a big one. It's dinner time, we go get something to eat. Problem? I eat too much and spend too much. I'm figuring this is gonna save me more than $1500.00 this year alone.

~I will eat breakfast everyday. A bowl of oatmeal and toast is my current thing. I'm not counting calories or anything, just eating better, and less.

~I WILL get on the wii fit at least 5 days/week. I was shooting for everyday, but I've already messed that one up.

~And finally, if I can do all of the above, then there's no reason why I can't lose at least 50# this year. Right?

Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken

2010-01-04T12:37:00.007-06:00

Yep, I'm cooking and freezing it in meal size proportions for myself.

I cut the chicken into chunks though and I'm not gonna use the cornstarch to thicken it up. I like it a little thinner to mix with the rice better.

It won't be done until 7 tonight and I won't be home until around 11 tonight, so I'll report back on how it turns out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I made it. It is delicious! I did end up adding the cornstarch though beause it was thinner than I was expecting. I separated it into 6 servings and froze each serving in a seperate ziplok bag. Served over 3/4 cups rice and it is the perfect meal. So delicious!

Welcome Jillian Denise!

2009-12-09T08:24:00.003-06:00

I have a new baby niece! She's so beautiful. And the perfect combination of her mommy and daddy's looks.

And here's me with my other beautiful niece, Hailey.

My baby girl is EIGHT!

2009-12-09T08:16:00.002-06:00

These are from her birthday (dec. 2nd).

These are all from her party (dec. 6th). She had "the best birthday party ever" according to her. Can't believe she's 8!

Thanksgiving was great!

2009-11-28T10:04:00.002-06:00

And I ended up being able to take the day off of work to spend with my family. I gave my double pay day to a co-worker/friend who is going out of town next weekend. He needed the extra money and I just took a vacation day.

I love thanksgiving dinner! Turkey (the best part!), stuffing, mac&cheese, corn, bread, cranberry sauce, taters. Oh, and Pumpkin Pie (the other best part!).

I miss going to my Grandma & Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I always looked forward to that when I was younger. Now we live too far away to be doing that all the time.
I think I'm gonna try to get Christmas off next year and beg Chad to go to IL for Christmas day. It's only a 2 hour drive.

As for this year, I'm off on Christmas Eve for Christmas at his mom's house. And I will likely have to work the evening on Christmas day.

Ah, the holidays!

2009-11-17T08:12:00.004-06:00

Ok, so here are some Halloween pics:

And now Thanksgiving is coming up. This is one of my favorite holidays. I love spending the day with the family and having good food (TURKEY!) and watching movies. But I don't know what time I have to work that day yet. I don't ask off of work because I get paid double time to be there. I just take what I get and hope I'm off in the evening.

Shhhhh....don't tell anyone, but I've already broke out the Christmas cd's in the car. Lmbo, I've been listening to George Straight's Christmas album. Man, I just love his voice, and he sings my favorite Christmas songs....Silent Night, Joy To The World...etc. I can't wait for Christmas!

Fun at the pumpkin patch!

2009-10-21T08:23:00.003-05:00

We went to the pumpkin patch a week and a half ago. The kids had a lot of fun. Too many pics to upload, so I made a slide show. :)

Boys being boys

2009-10-06T08:22:00.004-05:00

This is my son (in white) and my nephew (in red). They are 4 weeks apart and the best of friends.

My cousin got married this weekend!

2009-09-21T12:43:00.005-05:00

Congratulations to my cousin Laura and her husband Steven!
I'm so happy that I was able to join them for this beautiful ceremony.

Today's the day that Brittney moves away

2009-09-14T06:50:00.002-05:00

Morgan is so sad.
They spent every spare moment together this weekend. Got lots of good pictures of them together.

Morgan's better....Orin's worse

2009-09-04T09:51:00.003-05:00

Now he has the pink eye. When will it all end??? If she gets it again, I'm gonna FLIP!

Home sick from school

2009-08-31T10:49:00.001-05:00

First time this year. We were trying for perfect attendance since she hasn't been sick since Christmas.
She has pink eye.

:( Morgan doesn't know yet...

2009-08-29T15:34:00.003-05:00

...but one of her closest friends is moving away in 2 weeks. :(
She's gonna be about 1 1/2 hours away. Leaving her with just one friend left in our trailer park.

I guess I'll do a little photo shoot soon. Stay tuned for more pics of the 2 of them.

I'll let the picture do the talking.

2009-08-27T13:39:00.005-05:00

Let's just say, I am so proud of my little girl. She's so smart!
(Click pic to make larger)

We didn't get that car.

2009-08-15T08:50:00.003-05:00

We got this instead!

http://www.westchrysler.com/AutoDetails2.aspx?ID=3225567
The seats aren't that color though. And the car is Inferno Red.

We went up to sign the contract today, and they told us that the in-house rebate ($4500) was no longer available. It ended Friday. BUT, they had a new $5500 rebate on the PT cruiser, and I've always wanted a PT cruiser. We bought the PT cruiser!!!
It's a $20,000 car, and we got it for half that with their deal and the cash for clunkers deal.

PLUS..... a lifetime warrenty with $100 deductable.

We just paid off the Grand Am this month. And the PT cruiser is $110 cheaper per month.

The seats are not orange though. They're grey.

1st day of 2nd grade

2009-08-13T08:37:00.004-05:00

Can you believe she's in 2nd grade??? I sure as heck can't. This is unreal to me.

2009-07-29T08:37:00.002-05:00

I ♥LOVE♥ this picture of my husband and I so much that I decided to change my blog header.

I love my husband so much. He is my rock. He is my strength. He makes me so perfectly happy and makes me feel better when I'm not feeling that great.
He is a loving, devoted daddy to our two children, and the only man I can ever imagine growing old with.

fun fun fun

2009-07-17T09:06:00.003-05:00

Holy crud, these have been some busy weeks.
4 birthday parties, 4 consecutive weekends. Morgan has been one busy friend.
Tomorrow is my niece, Hailey's, 4th birthday party. Today's her birthday. Happy birthday Hailey!
And NEXT saturday is my great friend Niki's babys' birthday party. Cooper and Sophia will be 2.

After that, we're gonna take a break from fun and then the following saturday, we're gonna go to six flags! Morgan doesn't know. We're not gonna tell her until that day. She's gonna pee her pants when she sees the collussus. She thought the ferris wheel at the carnival was huge.
This will be her first trip to six flags. Don't know what we're gonna do with Orin yet.

Update: Orin is gonna spend the day with Hailey when we go to six flags! He will have a blast. AND...Stephanie has a free teacher's ticket that she's not gonna use, so I can get in for free!!! Bonus!

Some exciting news!

2009-07-11T08:51:00.004-05:00

I just realized that December 22nd was the last time that Morgan has thrown up....6 1/2 months ago!
She felt nauseaus last month for a few days, but when we took her to the dr they said she had tonsilitis. She was probably nauseaus because of her tonsil being swollen.
But no actual throwing up!

And....I took her off of the prevacid a month ago and she hasn't said anything about it or about feeling sick.

Fingers crossed that it stays this way for my little girl.

This is what she looked like days after the Dec. 22nd hospitalization. She was so pale and super skinny. :(

But, she's back to a good weight now!

It's saturday!

2009-07-11T08:19:00.002-05:00

I love saturdays because I generally don't have to work that day.
And luck would have it that this is one of those NON work days for me.

We have plans to do our 4th of July celebrations (aka: bbq and fireworks) at Chad's mom's house today. But we have a 50% chance of thunderstorms all day. Mother Nature sucks sometimes.

And another thing....
I wish Orin's internal alarm clock could get on a different schedule instead of him waking up (and subsequently waking ME up) 2 minutes before my alarm goes off. I set the alarm for 8am because I like to get up at least 20 minutes before the kids so that I can have some time to wake up before they start whining for food and nickelodeon. Right after school got out for Morgan, they would both sleep til 8:30 or 9:00, so the alarm time was perfect.
I don't wanna have to start setting it earlier. :(

4th of July

2009-07-06T11:00:00.002-05:00

I was actually off of work for the 4th. I asked....and I received. I got to spend the entire day with my children.

We had dinner AT Wendy's. That was a treat in itself because we normally don't eat AT the restuarants. We generally take it home to eat.

Then we went and picked out fireworks. Grandma gave them each $10 to pick out their own. They were so excited.

And then it was off to the carnival. Played some games....rode some rides. Ate some funnel cake, well, I did anyway.
Orin's favorites were the carousel and the big slide.
Morgan's favorites were the ferris wheel and the fun house.

My favorite was the funnel cake! :D

We stayed about an hour and only spent $30 there. That was Chad's favorite part!

I only got pictures before we left because my camera battery won't hold a charge anymore so it's pointless to take it.

We're not doing our fireworks until next weekend because Chad's mom just recently had neck surgery and isn't feeling up to the festivities yet. So I think we're doing the bbq and fireworks on the 11th at her house. She lives outside of city limits so we can do fireworks anytime we want there.
I will try to get a new battery for my camera before then.

Hippie kids

2009-06-24T08:39:00.002-05:00

My friend made these shirts for the kids for 4th of July.
I think they look awesome, and the kids are adorable.

2009-06-18T08:30:00.002-05:00

Updates:
Morgan's tonsilitis is gone. She was better the next day, but we continued the antibiotics for the full 10 days. Her allergies/coughing are getting better too, so we told her she could stop taking her inhalers for now. That made her happy!

Orin is Orin. Banged up and bruised and no idea how these things happen. For instance, the inch long scab on his forehead. There's no way he fell and smacked his head, we would've heard screaming at some point. So we're thinking rug burn.

Kids' pictures came in. They look so much better in person than they do on the computer.

Can you believe how hot it's gotten out there? It was 90ºF yesterday, and so humid. It was like a brick wall. Hard to breath.

Tonsilitis?

2009-06-08T12:47:00.002-05:00

Yep, that's what Morgan has now.
Fever spiked to 103.4 on Friday afternoon. It finally went down with motrin. Fought the fever for nearly 24 hours and then took her to Urgent Care on Saturday afternoon. He did a strep test (came back negative).
He said he's giving her antibiotics for tonsilitis. 24 hours later and she is so much better. Fever completely gone. Tonsil still swollen, but she feels like a new kid.

I have the most beautiful children ever....here's proof!

2009-06-04T13:05:00.004-05:00

BTW, I LOVE Picasa for the collages!

8 years of wedded bliss

2009-05-30T13:23:00.006-05:00

Yes folks, that's right. Chad and I have been married for 8 years now.
Our anniversary was Monday (Memorial Day). I got him an awesome poster of the KC Chiefs stadium, packed in all it's glory. He LOVED it!
He got me this beautiful necklace. And I LOVE it!

We're celebrating tonight though. My awesome sis-n-law is coming over with my niece Hailey, and they're baby sitting for us.

We're going to Licking, MO to this castle restuarant called the Black Forest Grille.

And tomorrow we're all (including kids) going to Springfield, MO to get the kids' pictures taken @ Penny's and then we're having lunch @ Chuck E Cheese.

Fun filled weekend.

AND....I don't have to work!!!!!

I am so sad

2009-05-27T12:46:00.003-05:00

I just got word today that my dear sweet friend Ruthann passed away last week.
I don't know how or why, but I know that she's not in pain anymore.
I know that she is happy and healthy in Heaven.

Ruthann and I met online on a scrapbooking board. Several years later, even when we weren't both a part of the same scrapbooking board anymore, we were still friends....keeping in contact through email, facebook, text messaging and an occasional phone call.

Her super soft voice surprised me when I first heard it on the phone. I knew how sweet and reserved she was, but the softness of her voice really stopped me in my tracks.

I will miss Ruthann so much. She was such a dear friend. And she had an impact on hundreds of people around the scrapbooking world.

Ruthann, I will see you again someday. Save a place for me at the scrapbooking table in Heaven. Love ya!

Forgot to say

2009-05-18T14:08:00.002-05:00

Check this out! It's my newest addiction!
Have a ton of fun. I do!

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/

2009-05-18T12:45:00.006-05:00

So, Morgan's school pics came in. Who is this child that is supposed to be SEVEN? She looks like a teenager.

Tomorrow is the last day of the school year. We are SO EXCITED that we don't have to get up with an alarm anymore on the weekdays. Well.....I'm excited anyway. lol

Yesterday was my 5 year anniversary of working at the place that I work. And I got to celebrate by working a double shift! Well, an extra 6 1/2 hours anyway. But you know what? That 6 1/2 hours of overtime is gonna put nearly $100 extra in my pocket next week. And with that extra money comes a brand new hair style. Yeah baby! I am desperately needing to get my hair done. Can't wait!

I got a new stove! A flat top range with a see through door and an oven light. Yes, it's the little things that make me happy. But the best part? It is a nearly brand new GE stove that we bought from a friend who had it in storage. It cost him $1100. He sold it to us for $300! Yeah, we jumped on that one!

Recap of recent goings-on

2009-05-02T08:57:00.006-05:00

There's not a lot going on in our happy little lives, but here's a recap of sorts.

~Morgan only has 18 days until her last day of 1st grade. She's sad about it because she has so much fun in first grade that she thinks that 2nd grade won't match up. She's such a worrier.

~Orin is now wiping his own bottom when he goes potty. This is exciting! He's 3 years and 4 months old and he's completely potty trained (he's now wearing undies at night too instead of pull-ups). He knows when he needs to go, and he goes. Hasn't had a daytime accident in well over 4 months. And in the past 3 months, he's only had 1 or 2 accidents while he was sleeping.

~23 days until our 8th wedding anniversary! Can you believe it's been 8 years?
Can you believe that Morgan will be 7 1/2 in one month?

She just recently lost 3 teeth (which brings the total to 7 lost teeth). Look at that smile!

~Because our anniversary is ON Memorial day this year, we are gonna celebrate the following weekend. Licking MO has a restuarant called The Black Forest Grille. It looks like a castle. Chad and I are going there for dinner on Saturday, and then we are taking the kids to Springfield, MO on Sunday. We're getting their pics taken at Pennys and then going to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll post again when we get Morgan's school pictures in. Should be soon.

Wanted to share some pics

2009-04-15T08:50:00.003-05:00

This was the easiest and fastest way to get so many pics in one post. :)
Just click on the collage to view larger.

Wanna play an addicting game?

2009-04-10T09:18:00.006-05:00

Click the link... www.games.allmyfaves.com/frogger/
Not the pic.

Edited to add, you might have to copy and paste the link instead because it's not "linking".

Nothing life shattering, but...

2009-04-09T08:44:00.008-05:00

Holy moly, the tooth fairy is gonna go broke.

She lost 3 teeth in the 15 days. All top front teeth.
One was on 3/24 and the other 2 were yesterday and day before.

Not much going on, hence the reason for me not posting often.
Morgan is still doing great since they put her on prevacid. It's been 3 months since she's gotten sick. 2 1/2 months since starting meds. It was 1/2 a pill twice/day. But we've just recently started just giving her 1/2 a pill before breakfast each day and that's it. She's still doing good. The doctor said we could take her off the meds when school's out for the summer, and see how she does. If she starts being sick again, then they'll put her back on it. It's just an antacid though, so not that big of a deal if she has to take it for long periods.

Did I mention that Morgan is an artist?

That's an apple, cat, spongebob, pineapple and watermelon. lol

And Orin is such a hamm!

Updates and random stuff

2009-02-19T13:16:00.003-06:00

First, and most importantly, I want to mention that Morgan hasn't been sick in 8 1/2 weeks (knocking on all the wood I can find). I guess the prevacid is working. (YAY!)
You have no idea how helpless I feel when my baby is uncontrollably sick. It kills me to see her in such misery. And now she is healthy. :)

Chad has his court date in 8 days for his disability case. Please keep us in your thoughts on this. We need all the good thoughts that we can get.

We measured Morgan this morning. She has grown an entire inch in the last month!
Holy crap, her size 8 blue jeans are beginning to be too short. Thank neptune for those adjustable elastic straps that they put in jeans now, or we would never be able to clothe her because she's so dang tall and skinny.
For the record, she's 4 ft 4 & 3/4 inches tall! I am only 5'2" tall (I shrunk an inch). At this rate, she's gonna be taller than me by the time she's in 3rd grade.

And Orin's right up there with her. He's 3'3" tall (at 3 years old).
I'm glad my kids got their daddy's tall skinny jeans.

It's been a while....

2009-01-27T22:12:00.002-06:00

...since I've been sad over not having my momma here.
I think that this year is gonna knock me on my butt. I'm trying to keep it together, but I'm getting a little sad here.
January 30th is my mom's birthday. She would've been 55 this year.
That same day also marks the 5th anniversary of my Grandma passing away.

I miss them both terribly.

But I'm picturing them in Heaven, drinking iced tea, and sitting around a card table putting together puzzles and eating birthday cake. :) Makes me smile.

Update on hospital visits.

2009-01-21T08:11:00.002-06:00

We went to STL yesterday for Morgan's test. They did the scope, and said that her stomach and intestines look normal. Her esophogus though does not. It is supposed to be smooth and pink, like her cheek, but instead, it is wrinkled like her hand after a bath.
They said it could be because of all of the vomitting, but it could be what is causing the vomitting too.
So they put her on prevecid. He also took cells from her stomach and intestines to look under the microscope more closely. He's supposed to call with any findings.

She says her chest hurts quite a bit, but they said that was normal. Her muscles are sore.

Anyway, my dad's doing better. Still in the hospital, but much better.

Tuesday, Jan 20th

2009-01-19T23:36:00.001-06:00

Please keep Morgan in your thoughts. We're leaving tomorrow morning (tues) to go to STL to Cardinal Glennon hospital for her to have the endoscopy done.

Also, my dad's in the hospital here in Rolla. He's fighting pnemonia.

I will update tomorrow night or the next day.

December came and went.....

2009-01-12T12:48:00.006-06:00

...and we're half-way thru Jan. already. {shock!}

December was a month of madness. Morgan's birthday, Morgan being sick, Christmas, Orin's birthday. (Madness I tell ya!)

Anyway, Morgan was sick the night of her party. She had been sick for about a week, every other day. We got her on medicine (prilosec) the following monday, and she was to take that for 21 days. If there was no more vomitting, she could stop taking the med.

On the 21st day, she took her medicine that morning and started vomitting again a couple hours later. Non stop. Couldn't keep anything in, not even water. She was so dehydrated that the next morning, she couldn't flex her foot. It was stuck in a ballerina pose (toes extended out).

I took her to the doc on monday morning and they admitted her to the hospital. That was 3 days before Christmas. They put in an I.V. and administered fluids for the whole day. She got better. They also drew blood and checked for a variety of things. All came back ok. Except she had an elevated white count and said that it looked like she had a UTI. They gave antibiotics through the i.v. and then found out there was never any UTI. (itiots!)
They couldn't figure it out, but after having the fluids all day, she was better. And she has been since. It's a mystery.

So they finally got her an appt. with a GI doc at Cardinal Glennon in STL. We went on the 5th of Jan. They drew another 7 vials of blood and did a short physical exam and history. And they scheduled an endoscopy for the 20th of Jan. (for those that don't know, an endoscopy is where they put the scope down your throat and look inside your esophogus, stomache and intestines.). They'll put her under anestetic for that.

In between all of that, we had Orin's party on his birthday (the 28th of Dec).
It was a blast for the kids. They had a lot of fun.

Soon, I'll post pics soon....
Please keep Morgan in your thoughts. One week from tomorrow...

A 7 year old girl's birthday party

2008-11-30T11:52:00.003-06:00

This was a totally girly party, featuring Hannah Montana.
2 girls got to stay all night, one had to leave at 6:30 pm.
They had a blast!

Halloween kids

2008-11-04T15:56:00.002-06:00

Here are the kids all dressed up for halloween.
Morgan was a witch.
Orin was a fire fighter.
Hunter (my nephew) was a dragon.
And Hailey (my niece) was a beautiful princess.

My daughter the artist

2008-10-24T13:48:00.003-05:00

OMG, I forgot to post about this.
Morgan drew this for me. It is supposed to be me.
Can you believe how well she drew the face. I'm just amazed at her artistic abilities.

Oh, and she got straight A's (and S's = Satisfactory) on her 1st quarter report card!

Trip to Illinois

2008-10-07T08:09:00.004-05:00

We went to see Grandpa Main on saturday. We had a great time.
It was me and my two kids, and my brother and his daughter.

Got some good pics. Then, on the way home, I got some much needed quiet time.

Daisy's update

2008-10-07T07:56:00.002-05:00

Here's Morgan, wearing MY blue smock from 23 years ago. It's kinda on the small side for her. When I wore it, it went past my butt. lmao. She got her tall jeans from her daddy.
Anywho, she should be getting her very own smock in 1 week, at our next g.s. meeting.
For now, here's a general idea of what she will look like, and I have no idea what's up with the smirk on her face.

She's joining Daisy girlscouts!

2008-09-23T13:30:00.002-05:00

Morgan is going to her very first daisy girlscouts meeting tonight.
And this reminded me that I still have my oh so stylish blue smock from 23 years ago, hanging in the back of the closet.
So, I pulled that sucker out and thought I'd share it here. lol

September 11, seven years later

2008-09-11T09:48:00.006-05:00

Seven years & 1 day ago, I was pregnant with my first child. I was over the moon with joy. There was nothing wrong in my world.
I went to bed that night reveling in the joy of the precious little girl that was growing inside me.

I woke up early that day, and went in to watch some tv. What came on the screen scared me to death. I was shocked. And scrared. And wasn't completely sure what was happening.

I got my husband out of bed. We watched as they kept showing the same footage over and over of the plane hitting the tower.

Then, we realized that it was a second plane that they were showing. A second tower. A second crash.

This was all so unreal.

I didn't know what was happening. And I was scared for my little girl that wasn't even born yet. Would she BE born? Would we be okay? What about down the road? What did the future hold for us?

I'm happy to say that I have a beautiful 6 1/2 year old daughter now. But I'm so sad for all of the lives that were tragically lost that day. I'm sad for their families that lost them.

And not a day goes by that I don't think about that awful day. Something always reminds me. Like when I see the police/fire trucks/ambulances here in town with 911 on the vehicle. Or when the clock says 9:11.

My heart goes out to all of you who are missing someone today.

stinkin' allergies

2008-09-08T11:19:00.003-05:00

Have you ever done an allergy study?
I signed up for one. I have a horrible allergy to ragweed. So they are gonna pay me $225 to be in this 4 week study. For the first week, I had to suffer. This has to be the worst sinus/allergy infection that I've ever had. I'm freakin' miserable.

Tomorrow I get to go and get the medicine that they are studying. Hopefully (and I've got my fingers crossed) they give me medicine and not the placebo.
I need some relief, and I'm not allowed to take any other medications or I'll be booted from the study.

ABC's tag

2008-09-03T18:24:00.004-05:00

The rules? answer each question, and tag 4 (or more) friends.
Leave a comment on friends' blogs letting them know that they've been tagged.
Have fun!

A= Attached or Single: married 7 years to the love of my life
B= Best Friend: Jenny/Jody/Lona
C= Cake or Pie: Apple Pie
D= Day of Choice: wednesday, cause it's half over.
E= Essential Item: sandals
F= Flavor of Icecream: chocolate
G= Gummy Bears or Worms: worms
H= Hometown: Granite City, IL
I= Indulgence: root beer floats
J= January or July: January
K= Kids: Morgan and Orin
L= Last movie I saw at a theater: Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the ware rabbit
M= Musician: I don't really have a favorite.
N= Number of Siblings: 3
O= Oranges or Apples: apples
P= Phobias or Fears: my biggest phobia is trains
Q= Quote: Live like you are dying.
R= Reason to Smile: My life is good.
S= Season: Spring.
T= Tag: Stacy, Georgina, Lori, Cassandra
U= Unknown fact: I have 20 moles on my right upper arm
V= vegetarian or oppressor of Animals: I'm a meat eater.
W= Worst habit: biting my nails
X= Xray or Ultrasound: um? Ultrasound.
Y= Your favorite food: chicken
Z= Zodiac sign: Gemini

Somewhere, over the rainbow

2008-09-03T13:52:00.002-05:00

Everytime I come to my blog, and I have my volume on, it always takes me by surprise because I forget that I have music set up on here. {lol}

I love, love, love this song. I love the music, the lyrics, this guys voice.

It also reminds me of E.R. This is the song that was playing when Mark Green (played by Anthony Edwards) passed away from his brain tumor. So I always think of that when I hear the song.

I could listen to this all day.

Little boys and pull ups

2008-09-03T10:03:00.003-05:00

So, Orin is less than 4 months from being 3 years old. I was kinda worried that he was gonna take forever to start potty training.
But today, he has pee'd FOUR times so far, in the potty. ZERO times in the diaper. So, we went out and got him some pullups. It's still dry.

I'm asking him every 10 to 15 minutes if he needs to go potty.

He's such a big boy and very proud of his Cars pullups.

{Oh, and there ya go Jenny....now it's not neglected. ;) }

Tagged by Lori

2008-08-26T12:24:00.002-05:00

Here are the rules:
*If you are tagged, you must firstly post the rules:
* Write 7 strange characteristics about yourself. They interest us all!
* Tag 5 other people at the end of your Post.
* Visit everyone that you have tagged and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they have been tagged.

So here are mine.
1. I like to paint my toenails, but hate my fingernails being painted.

2. I won't eat potatoes unless they're deep fried.

3. My hair hasn't been past my bra strap since I was 6.

4. I've been dying my hair for 12 years now. I started because my dad would always make stupid blonde jokes and it really pi$$ed me off. So I got rid of the blonde.

5. I have 6 toes on my left foot. (just kidding. just trying to see if you're really reading.)

5. (the real #5) I swore I'd never EVER have a cell phone. I got one in December '07 and have already used 1765 minutes of talking (that doesn't even include my TEXTING!)

6. I wear 2 rings all the time (except when sleeping/showering). I have my wedding ring on left hand and a pretty black topaz ring on right hand.

7. I was told on Sunday, by family members that I haven't seen since 1998, "Oh my, you are the spittin' image of your mama." Made me smile.

I tag......
Oscar
Jennifer Sizemore
Lesle M
Georgina
Deanna

1st grade

2008-08-15T07:44:00.006-05:00

Today Morgan finishes her 1st week of 1st grade.
She is loving it. Except having to write every number from 1 to 100 all in one sitting. lol
So, here is her picture from Tuesday (that's when school started).

She is so excited because her bff from Kindergarten is in her class this year too, and a couple of her other friends from K are in there too.
And she loves her teacher.

Here's me...same age, 1st grade.

My brother's wedding!

2008-07-29T11:21:00.005-05:00

My baby brother got married yesterday! I took 97 pictures! I can't upload all of them here, but here are some of my favs.

My baby brother is getting married!

2008-07-12T12:44:00.002-05:00

In just over 2 weeks, Ben will be a married man. Good luck Steph!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

He loves to read

2008-07-07T13:15:00.002-05:00

And I snuck in and got some great pictures before he even knew what was going on.
His favorite book? "I went walking" written by Sue Williams. http://www.amazon.com/I-Went-Walking-Sue-Williams/dp/0152007717
If you've never heard of this book, you are missing out. It's a simple, but great book for toddlers.
It says, "I went walking", "What did you see?", "I saw a black cat looking at me".
And it goes through 6 or 7 different animals. Orin just giggles and giggles everytime we read this. And we read it every nap and every night.
Sometimes we substitute people we know for the animals. (I went walking, what did you see?, I saw DADDY looking at me!) He LOVES IT!
So anyway, the pics....

4th of July

2008-07-07T12:58:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures of the kids on the 4th of July.
(left to right) Hunter, Morgan and Orin.
We spent the day out at their Grandma's house. Well, I spent the morning (and then went to work) and they all stayed all day and evening and got to see fire works. I missed it all. :(
Got these pictures before I left though.

I had twin sisters

2008-06-30T08:40:00.004-05:00

Yep, that's right. I did.

Let me start with saying, that I wanted to post this on Saturday, but never had time to.

In early 1978, my mom got pregnant. Later she found out she was having triplets. TRIPLETS! Can you imagine? Naturally.

At 4 months pregnant, one of them miscarried. They got her stabalized and were certain the other two were gonna be fine.
At 5 months pregnant, she went into labor, from what they believe was complications due to the first miscarrage.

She gave birth to two little girls. She named them Sara and Tara. Sara was born first. And then 3 minutes later Tara was born.

They were so tiny. Sara was 6 oz and Tara was 5 oz. Together they weighed less than a can of pepsi. They were so tiny. My dad says they were smaller than his hand.

Sara lived for 35 minutes. And Tara lived for 19 minutes.

It was less than 3 months later that she got pregnant with me. My dad said she called me her miracle girl. She was praying I'd be a girl.

Saturday, June 28, 2008 would've been their 30th birthday.

Happy birthday Sara and Tara! I wish I could've known you.

The new do!

2008-06-21T09:00:00.004-05:00

OK, so we were gonna wait until December, AFTER her birthday party, to get her hair cut. But we got to thinking about that. If she wanted to have Hannah Montana hair for her Hannah Montana party, we'd have to cut her bangs. And I was NOT going there.
So I found her a Hannah Montana wig, and it's not a trashy wig. It looks like the real deal.
SO, she got her hair cut yesterday. 13 inches were taken off and donated to Locks Of Love! I am so proud of my little girl.
(Click on the picture for a larger view)

Long overdue update

2008-06-15T13:32:00.001-05:00

I meant to post sooner, but as some of you already know, I got a promotion at work. Yeah! I am evening shift manager now! Got a 45 cent raise, guaranteed 40 hours per week and guaranteed mondays and tuesdays off every week.

Just had a birthday. I'm 29 now. The closer I get to 35, the more scared I get. I don't wanna discuss why right now, but I don't wanna be 35. If I could just skip it and go straight from 34 to 36, that would be perfectly fine by me.

Going to IL next weekend. Gonna visit my Grandpa, and a cousin on the other side of the family. Then heading to O'Fallon to visit some friends.

Not much else going on right now.

Morgan got her ears pierced!

2008-06-04T12:32:00.004-05:00

Well, she did it! She actually got her ears pierced.
She sat perfectly still. Didn't even flinch...until it was done. She jumped. She let out a scream. And she cried for about 10 minutes. But then she was done.
She actually went through with it.

Next mission....she wants to get her hair cut and donate her pony tail to Locks of Love. { http://www.locksoflove.org/ }
I've convinced her to wait until she has her birthday party in December, because she's wanting to have a Hannah Montana party complete with the long blonde hair.
Right now, she's got a 13 inch pony tail, imagine what it will be in 6 months.

This was her idea...not mine.

Orin's a big boy now!

2008-05-24T13:11:00.002-05:00

No, he's not potty trained yet.
BUT...he's sleeping on the bottom bunk of Morgan's bunk beds at night now. No more baby bed. We took it apart.

Last night was night #3 of sleeping on the big boy bed. He's doing great. BUT, there's too much light in there during the day, so he won't nap in there.
So today, we decided to let him nap in OUR bed, because it's so dark in there. He was out within 10 minutes!

My job situation got better!

2008-05-24T12:53:00.001-05:00

Same place of business, but it suddenly got better.
A LOT better. Will post more about it next week, when I can.
But wanted to update y'all that I am happy at my job now.

4 random facts

2008-05-21T09:15:00.002-05:00

I've been tagged by Stacy.

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 4 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 4 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

My Four Facts

1. I miss my mom.

2. I have 20 moles on my right arm alone. I think they are breeding because they keep multiplying.

3. I have only been to 4 states in my life. Illinois, Missouri, Kansas & Kentucky.

4. If it weren't for my husband, I wouldn't have the great life that I do. Yes, there are some really bad things that have happened in my life, but I am happy where I am today because of him.

OK now I tag....

Georgina
Vanya
Nancyroo
Kristin

Morgan is talented

2008-05-15T10:02:00.003-05:00

She is so smart and talented, she never ceases to amaze me.
On their first day of kindergarten, all of the kids did a self portrait. It stayed in the classroom until a couple of days ago, when they flipped them over and did a new self portrait on the other side. WOW! What a difference in the way she sees herself and how well she can draw. This is going into a frame and will hang on our wall forever!

Baby turtle

2008-05-12T09:14:00.003-05:00

Morgan found this baby turtle this weekend at Grandma's house. She kept it inside all weekend and then brought it to our house and set it free.
Morgan, Orin and Hunter all had fun watching it. The boys were leery of touching it though.

My {soon to be} new purse/tote

2008-05-08T10:01:00.003-05:00

Chad's cousin makes these awesome totes! And I saw one on there that I LOVE, so she is making it for me with a few alterations to the one listed.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5578312

I love this

2008-05-06T22:28:00.003-05:00

Orin climbed up on Morgan's lap yesterday morning when he woke up and he didn't want to stop hugging her.

He loves her so much and is gonna LOVE sharing a room with her in a couple of weeks.

Almost Mother's day

2008-05-05T09:55:00.003-05:00

It's 6 days away. So I decided to make yet another slide show.
This one is 95% of the pics that I have on the computer of my mom.
And I LOVE this version of this song. SO it's perfect!

My hair is...

2008-05-03T22:01:00.004-05:00

...no longer brown!
And I LOVE it! I've never had this color before.
I think it rocks with my skin tone!

The day's getting better already

2008-05-03T14:07:00.002-05:00

I don't feel as bad as I did this morning, so when Chad got home from work, Morgan & I went out to find yardsales after all. We only took out $15 so we wouldn't go overboard.
We went to 5 sales, then at the 6th sale, on the way back to the car, I found $40 laying there by my car. It wasn't mine, and there was nobody else near, so I kept it. I couldn't exactly yell, "Did anyone lose $40?" because they would've all piped up.
So, finder's keepers!
AND, we didn't even spend all of the $15 that we started with either.

Now, if I can just win the powerball tonight, I'll be set!

Morgan's school play

2008-05-03T10:54:00.001-05:00

Morgan's kindergarten play was on Thursday.
The pictures didn't turn out great, but another mom is gonna burn me a copy of the video that she recorded.
Here's another slide (I'm loving the slides!) of the pics that I DID get.

Mmmmmm....smells so good!

2008-05-03T10:30:00.002-05:00

I love the smell of banana bread baking.
I decided to use up the last 5 bananas (should've been 6 but Chad gave one to Orin last night...grrrr.)
Here's the recipe that I use all the time.

Banana Bread

1/2 C. butter/margarine (I use margarine)
3/4 C. sugar
3 bananas, mashed (=1 1/2 C.)
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar; add bananas, eggs, & dry ingredients sifted together. Mix enough to moisten flour. Pour into ungreased bread pan and bake for 60 min. at 300ºF.
OR, pour into muffin tins and bake for 30 min. at 300ºF.

I actually think they taste better when cooked as muffins. And they don't stick to the pan.

Day isn't starting off too great

2008-05-03T08:28:00.003-05:00

So, we had a big day planned.
We were gonna go yardsaleing, and then to the Old MacDonald's petting zoo at the fair. Then we've got Morgan's carnival this evening from 4-7.

But, I woke up, and my throat is raw. It hurts to swallow. It hurts to breath. It hurts to talk. And when I just sit here and don't do anything but breath, my ears hurt too. (ugh)

So, I've decided that I'm not doing the yardsales or the petting zoo. I'm gonna rest and feel better so that I can be able to take Morgan to her carnival tonight.

6 word memoirs

2008-05-02T08:01:00.006-05:00

Challenge to all my friends. I borrowed this from a friend's blog.
Watch this:

Six-Word Memoir book preview from SMITHmag on Vimeo.

watch it. then think for a bit and leave me a comment. what would your 6 word memoir be?

I've thought of one for me: Living the life I've always dreamed.