cookin' in the new year....

I guess the cooking/baking bug hit some time today. after a $150 trip to the grocery store I have made dinner (shocking in its own right! lol!) and brownies. dh is baking cinnamon rolls right now and I have beans soaking to make soup tomorrow. I am debating whether to put the leftover pork or ham in it. I am thinking pork but have the option to change my mind, right??

I would really like to plan ahead more often and eat at home more frequently than we currently do. I am not making this a resolution for 2008 but more like something to focus on. I am realistic in knowing that we don't always have time to make and eat a nice meal at home. that is just the way our lives are. but if I can try and be prepared to make meals when we will have time then I will consider myself successful!

happy new year friends! thanks for visiting my internet ramblings.

time's they are a changin'

used to be that J was always the hot one. he would throw off the blankets at night at freeze me out. but when I woke up last night/this morning for one of my middle of the night potty trips I noticed dh was all huddled up under the blankets and quilt. I, on the other hand, started sweating the minute I pulled the blanket up to my shoulders. perhaps his metabolism is slowing down? perhaps I am starting to have those famous heat flashes?? either way it caused me to chuckle a little......and realize I hadn't blogged yesterday!

and now for something completely different......

in stark contrast to the past 2 months where I have just LOOKED at my scrap stuff......I actually completed a layout today! only one......not for DT work......not for anyone else but me.......based on a sketch......but a layout nonetheless! a memory that will now be shared with my children and their children and their children.......assuming someone chooses to lug all my scrapbooks away when I am old and senile!

and yeah, I usually don't post layouts on my blog......maybe I am feeling especially proud of having scrapbooked or maybe it is the start of something new. don't know........my blog......I can do what I want! lol!! hey, look.......I even managed to use one of those 13 cups of buttons I sorted the other day! it was so easy to just grab the right colored jar and dig through it! (and the button is green, btw, not brown like it looks in the scan) I tried to figure out how to sneak some ribbon in there too......I thought a line running under the title might be nice. can you believe I didn't have any that would work? shocking! sheesh! lol!!

I do notice that in the scan you can tell the pattern of the gaekkebrev much better (it is Danish for "joke-letter" and the "a" & "e" should be smooshed together.....I don't know the function key to do that). isn't it gorgeous though? a friend (uh ahem.....C) sent it to me from Denmark last Easter. I knew I had to save it in my scrapbook.

well......before I get too crazy and possibly start another layout I think I might rest. this was hard work!!

and here is a resolution for 2008.....

we are watching AFI's Top 100 Films of all Times. there are a few movies that I am embarrassed to say I have never seen. there are a few movies I really don't WANT to see.....but overall it is an amazing list. I told J I think we should try to see the movies from the list that we haven't seen. obviously if they are on this list they offer SOMETHING worth seeing, correct????

the list has 100 films on it and I am not sure how many of them I have seen.......so I am not sure I can realistically expect to see all of them during 2008. but I think seeing 1 or 2 a month should be realistic, shouldn't it?!?!?

what kind of quirky goals do you have for next year?

I can see clearly now.....

okay, so I could see before too!

we had eye doctor appointments today. the boys didn't want to go but I couldn't see the harm in taking them though neither has complained about vision problems.

anyway.....of course they came through with flying colors. I still have crummy vision....but no crummier than it was in Sept of 2005! lol!! because my insurance will cover it, I ordered another set of glasses. they are funky frames. (they are a spring green kinda color) they won't go with most of my wardrobe, but honestly nothing was too exciting. so I will wear my current pair most of the time and have the new weird ones to wear when they match. I can get another pair next year (yeah........next week). I wish they had something in a bright funky pink. THAT would have been fun!

J has his appointment tomorrow and with either get a new prescription or a second pair with his current prescription. then it will be off to the drug store to spend the rest of our medical pre-tax withholding money before it is forfeited. I see lots of first aid kits, bandaids, Claritin, Sudafed, Aleve, Tylenol, etc in our near future. I wonder if ear plugs are covered??? probably not.

and a frothy Christmas to you too!

aaaaah! the day after.......toys and such scattered around. RockBand already acting up! uuugh! well....atleast the boys were in good spirits today. I got nothing memorable accomplished other than some buttons put in pretty jars and some ribbon wound around little cards. I am not done yet and my scraproom looks worse than when I started but I am enjoying myself. wish I had more than 7 more days off from work! wish I had taken a nap! lol!!

so I started reading Nora Griffin's blog through Moriah Bettencourt's blog. I found her blog through Lisa Damrosch's blog. Lisa teaches at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I have taken a few kick butt classes from her and love her patterned paper work. it is just AMAZING!!! so anyway.....I am getting off track here............on the 20th, Nora mentioned a hot chocolate frother from Williams & Sonoma. having not purchased my gift for J yet.....and his continuing love of hot chocolate......I thought this would be perfect! R and I snuck over to the mall on Sunday morning bright and early and pre-hoarding masses and picked one up.

tonight we tried it out. in our enthusiasm I think we (read: he) over-frothed!! it makes even 1% milk hot choc taste pretty darn good!! I can't wait to have some with the GOOD chocolate!!

so......have a little indulgence yourself. yeah, probably not that you needed any encouragement this time of year, huh!?!??! but do it anyway! better yet.......share your indulgence with someone else. I sure am glad that J did tonight!

I'd like to order the double carb dinner.....

with a side of tryptophan please! and if that weren't making me sleepy enough......reading the Wikipedia entry for tryptophan would definately do it!

Christmas morning rocked....in many more ways than one! not only was Santa's pressie a big hit (pun intended) but everyone was excited and surprised by the tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs! J was rather speechless.....I finally had to tell him I won the tickets. lol!!

the boys spent a good portion of the day playing RockBand. wow! it is difficult.....either that or I have lost my sense of rhythm! maybe it was luck but the microphone doesn't work so we didn't have to listen to either of them butcher the lyrics to any of the songs. I already ordered the replacement microphone. later in the day R found out that it locks up when he tried to play drums only on a particular tune. he can't get past it until he plays it. I am hoping I can just exchange the disc portion of the game tomorrow locally.

other than that, I was hit by an organizing bug. I sorted all my buttons by color. I can't find anything in the house to store them in nicely but expect a trip somewhere tomorrow (I know....I am insane) to solve that problem. until then they are being kept nicely in my Tupperware veggie dish. yes.....THAT many buttons! I also sorted my Primas by color and they look SOOO pretty! I am trying to organize my scraproom a little more creatively. right now it looks like a cluttered warehouse. I am also hoping to get myself some more actual room on my scrap table. wish me luck!!

dinner, while not our normal holiday spread, was quite enjoyable! the turkey was delicious and juicy. J thinks I did something special.....nope! after begging a Pampered Chef friend to e-mail me a recipe I had forgotten, the stuffing was excellent and it has already been request that I make it again next year. wow! just don't tell my dad, okay?!?!? J made crescent rolls and we had steamed carrots. like I said.......I am full and ready for a nap!

so in many ways our day was full......full of fun, family, and food. I hope yours was the same!

waiting for Santa.....

I love that the boys still believe in Santa....... or perhaps they believe in the magic possibility of Santa?!?!? either way today has been filled with Santa updates courtesy of Norad and discussions about what we should be leaving out for him and the reindeers. a mother's heart was touched when R suggested that we leave an extra candy cane for him to take home to Mrs. Claus because she does all that work to help Santa out!

other than that.......a wonderful afternoon with the in-laws. my headache is still in full force and has been joined by that always unloved relative Aunt Flo. but praise the makers of Aleve and Sudafed, I have managed to avoid cowering in a quiet and dark room. though I did tell J that the boys will NOT be staying up late tonight. I still have 1 pressie to wrap and he needs to set up Santa's score.

but back to the in-laws......there are obviously not enough children in the family as all the kids were totally beyond spoiled! I guess J knew beforehand that his brother was buying D a new bike. WOW!!! I think R was almost as excited as it means that he can ride his bike to pick up D at school and we might be able to start our bike rides to the library again. I told the boys to enjoy all the pressies as it was a lot more than they were getting tomorrow morning! the pile WAS really big!! in addition to the pile, J got a Magic Bullet.....the box for that itself was enormous! I am looking forward to some tasty treats.....let me know if you have some good recipes in case we run out of good ones in the recipe book that came with it! lol!

if you are taking a moment out of your life to read this tonight.....I wish you and yours a very merry!!! (the same even if it isn't Christmas Eve! lol!) I started the stuffing so I can have a little more relaxation tomorrow......a little more time enjoying the fact that my boys still believe!

Sourdough English Muffins

for Stephanie....

King Arthur Flour Sourdough English Muffins

does this count as a post for the day? lol!

let the puking commence....

should I start this of by stating I can handle any bodily fluids other than puke?!?!? okay....now that we have that settled......J started getting sick shortly after dinner. and please, no comments from the peanut gallery! everyone was fine....though I am a tad queesy from the just the idea of puke.

is it bad that I really hope it is a combination of the fact that he didn't eat well after donating blood today and the chili from yesterday's office potluck and NOT the flu?!?!? I don't want to spend my time off work (not to mention Christmas) with a flu bug in the house........AND J made 4 batches of dough for english muffins today. he has enough dough to keep him cooking all day and maybe into Monday. I would hate to see it all ruined......and us english muffin-less Christmas morning!

so I am sleeping downstairs. he went to bed about an hour ago after not getting sick for almost an hour. he is under our normal covers plus 2 thermal fleece blankets and says he is still cold. please send us healthy vibes for Christmas, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve Eve......

btw.....I DID manage to get some presents wrapped this evening. R helped me out. I was even able to do the family traditional trick where you get the kid to wrap one of his own presents! lol!! my mom still complains about my grandmother doing it to her. I am sure it will make her year to know that the tradition has continued. and boy won't R laugh when he finds out Christmas morning! lol!!

it's after 5:30 pm...

and I pretty much haven't done a darn thing today! well......maybe we can list what I did:

1. bought quart sized freezer bags and double sided tape at Walgreens
2. got turned down for blood donation due to low iron (again)
3. played on Webkinz for several hours off and on
4. watched half of Boston Legal with dh.
5. walked around in circles in the scraproom thinking that I didn't want to scrap.
6. started dinner.
7. oh, I took a shower before all this too.....

don't think that qualifies for much but I am sure there are a few more hours to waste before bed tonight! lol!

yes Bergs.......there is a Santa Claus!

and he arrived at the local GameStop at 12:03 today in a big brown truck!!!

the gift above all other gifts finally showed up today. (RockBand bundle for the PS2) the guys at the store were so apologetic for things beyond their control.....all I cared about was walking out of there with my big ol' rockin' box!!

so if you want to buy me something for Christmas but haven't done your shopping yet......might I suggest ear plugs?!?!? lol!

guess I am not the only one (bonus post)

and hey.......quality not just quantity! lol!!

guess I am not the only one getting confused and turned around dealing with Christmas this year...... atleast they make it look cool!

today is a good day!

not only did I get THE CALL.......(aaah! a voicemail message I may never ever delete! lol!!) but I also got a really strange e-mail. almost deleted it because there was no subject line but something about the name of the sender rang a bell for me (no clue why even now that I opened the e-mail)......but I won tickets to go see Walking With Dinosaurs!!! I am going to have three VERY excited boys come Christmas morning!!! (or two if dh reads the blog between now and then! lol!)

in not as exciting news.....I got my haircut and will be washing that gray right outta my hair in just a few hours!

the injustices continue......

while I shall spare you the saga of being lied to by Target......I will tell you that I believe I must have been a very bad person in a former life!!

I am the kiss of death for haircoloring products. other than the short period of time where I paid someone a whole lot of money to give me so many highlights that I started to feel like a blonde I have always colored my hair at home. prior to this week....... I have seen 3 totally different favorite hair colors discontinued. THREE!!! on top of that are the several times I can't seem to remember the color I used the last time and sit there staring at all those somewhat familiar looking faces trying to remember what color I want. so earlier this week I went to go grab a box of color. I was so excited for myself.....I had actually cut the tab off the box and taped it to my bathroom mirror so I could remember what it was. anyway.......over the course of the past 3 days I have been in 5 different stores.......NONE!!! several of them didn't even have a spot for the product!! oh.....they all carried the brand.......but not the color I wanted!!

how said is it to spend 30 minutes on the phone calling places to find out if they have a box of haircolor?!?!? it is enough to give a person gray hairs!! (needless to say I finally found a place that has 2 boxes and will hold them for me....... I am buying both)

no phone call....... (updated)

and 39 minutes until the store opens.

UPDATE 10:08:
now it supposedly SHIPPED today and will BE here on the 21st. I know it isn't the poor dude on the phone's fault but this is ridiculous!!

worse than waiting for paint to dry (bonus post)

bonus in quantity......not quality.

just sitting her waiting for glue to dry on a layout I need to scan. I have cruised all my regular blog stalkings to see if there is anything new to read. I have cruised the message boards I frequent. I have even cruised iTunes and bought songs I really didn't need (okay....sure....I NEEDED them! lol!)

I should wrap presents or something.....but instead I am waiting for glue to dry and boring you all with this post.

today is........is NOT the day!

today is the 18th and is the *release* date for RockBand. so I patiently waited (patiently.....HA!!!) until all of 10:23 before calling the store I have it on pre-order at. adding to the stress was that Amazon massively screwed up and sent many, MANY people e-mails stating that their games weren't going to be shipped on the 18th, but on the 28th! 28 is greater than 25 and therefore BAD BAD BAD!!! so event hough I have gotten several reassurances from GameStop that I am okay, I still called.

according to the weary sounding employee, I should get a phone call tonight confirming my game will be there tomorrow. (and yes......you know the next thing that came out of my mouth: what if I DON'T get a phone call???) so I asked, and he said to call him about noon-ish. obviously this man doesn't realize that this is IT. this is the latest and the most needed of all Christmas gifts and I plan to BE at his store at noon-ish.......

maybe I can call from my cell phone in the parking lot?!??!

taking my share of the blame.....

being as J is my first husband I will admit that I have made some mistakes.

the first and largest of the mistakes was allowing him to sleep through the night when R was an infant. my rationale at the time was that I was off work on maternity leave and he needed to go to work in the morning. right......sure.......made sense THEN!!! but once I went back to work the problems began. he STILL slept through R's nightly feedings. it got to the point where I would be exhausted and tell him that it was HIS night to get up. still.......when R started crying I would end up having to wake up to wake up J! I will admit that I fell back asleep pretty quickly (remember.....I was EXHAUSTED) but it was still irritating.

the second mistake was being Super MomWifeChristmaspersonextraordinare. I did it all and looked darn good doing it! so now.....the past few years........when I have needed help I have pretty much been ignored. why not? I trained him to think I could handle it all on my own. I guess what put me over the edge (other than the fact that 7 days before Christmas I STILL do not know if/when/where we are having Christmas dinner) is the pressies for his family. we see these people once (golly.....maybe twice) a year and yet I am expected to find the most perfectest presents for each and every one of them. well......this year I am feeling unconsumerish. (do you like all the words I am making up here?!?!?) I don't want to just give people stuff to clutter their homes. so.......we bought a simple ornament for everyone along with a gift cert for dinner at a casual family place that we like. this way they get a present, they get fed, and I am not stressing. anyway.........J looked rather disappointed in this. did he offer alternatives? NO!!! that was when I told him that next year he WILL be more involved in this whole thing.

anyway.......I can still be mad at him but I do need to take my share of the blame. the next husband I won't make those mistakes. (joke.......JOKE!!!!!) and thanks Hatter, my dear friend, for the offer. but if you DO make a trip out here we will be doing more funner stuffs than dealing with J!

(grammatical and spelling errors contained in this post were purposefully on purpose)

thoughts on this....

the most wonderful time of the year.

I can almost guarantee that whoever wrote that song was: a) a man, b) married, and c) spending most of this season in his lazy boy watching football on tv while his wife ran around freaking out because she has less than 9 days to get everything done!

I'm just sayin'.

dang! can't believe I didn't blog!

I was online several times. even read a bunch of other blogs.....but totally spaced on posting! aaargh! maybe I can post twice today and make up for it?!?!?

yesterday I worked on scrap stuff for various deadlines. got quite a bit done. I will hopefully get everything finished today as I am once again running out of time! lol!!

last night we checked out Christmas lights. instead of going to our normal haunt (Dovewood Court) we went to a few new places. the one neighborhood was great!! we walked around an entire circle where more than half the houses had really gone all out. obviously someone who lives there has fun with a jigsaw because a majority of the home had wooden Disney displays. after that a quick stop at Starbucks for some warmness and then home to watch National Treasure. figured we needed to see it before #2 comes out!

I'll post later today.......can't BELIEVE I didn't post yesterday!!

and now back to your regular blogging....

lol!! having 12of12 and the year end recap really saved me from having to......well...... blog! lol!! it is now the 14th of the month and I am posting my 14th blog entry for the month. WOW!!! they say it takes 23 days to form a habit. I wonder if this will become a habit?!?!?

so......last night R and I went to ANOTHER concert!! another local radio station had their Christmas mega concert last night. yes, I did check into tickets when they first announced the concert. how could I not when they had Blue October and Lenny Kravitz?!?!? Lenny is the first artist that R was able to identify. but when I priced out tickets (and that it would be a late, late night on a Thursday) I just couldn't do it. taking 4 peeps to a concert is EXPENSIVE!!!

anyway.....the radio station put tickets on sale for 50% off on Tuesday......and J had a meeting (twice postponed I believe) that he couldn't miss meant that not only would tickets be a lot cheaper but we would only be buying 2 of them. since J wasn't going I couldn't see keeping D up that late. I took R so that R could see Lenny. $52 for 2 people to see Natasha Bedingfield, Matt Kearney, Pat Monahan (Train), Blue October, and Lenny......Lenny Kravitz. I figure it cost us less than $1/song/person...... right?!?!? 5 groups each playing 5 or more songs. yup!!

the concert was at the Memorial Auditorium. if you aren't familiar with Sacto you won't know that this is an amazing old building that is really perfect for a concert! there are really no bad seats in the house!! because we bought our tickets so late, we had to get them at will call. I worried about HUGE lines at will call so we got there early. actually.......we got there right on time! I had worried about downtown parking and the closest garage was 2 blocks away. I didn't want to be walking to a car with a kid in downtown Sacto by myself at 11pm. BUT.........after 6pm you can park at the meters FOR FREE!!! with NO TIME LIMIT!!! so, dude......we parked on the side of the auditorium........40 feet or so from the exit!!! (insert that silly dancing smilie here) after picking up our tickets, R was excited beyond belief to see PF Changs across the street. that boy has a thing for pot stickers! lol!! the biggest decision of the evening for him was when he saw the Mikunis next door...... pot stickers or sushi?!?!?! lol!! we ended up getting pot stickers, calamari and won ton soup. other than R leaving our leftover soup on the kitchen table over night, it was an EXCELLENT meal!

so.....my unrequested review:

• Natasha was great! she did accoustic and played the piano. great voice!
• Matt was great as well. a little funny......before he sang "Breathe In Breathe Out" he said he wanted to write a song that doctors would make-out to. if you are a Greys Anatomy watcher you will think that is funny!!
• Pat did an AMAZING job! I hold a grudge against the lead singers of groups that go out and do solo projects. I think it is unfair to their bandmates. that being said....he did sing some Train songs. but the BEST was when he played a song of his own.....that I had never heard of before......without a microphone. SERIOUSLY!! he asked everyone to be quiet (you know....all 3,000+ of us) and then sang. it was really the best part of the evening. SOOO cool.....and a testiment to what an amazing place the Memorial is to hear a concert!!
• Blue October shocked me! I had this mental idea of the lead singer: tall, freakin' HUGE, bald, with lots of tattoes and piercings! lol! well.......he isn't! it was kinda like if a frustrated punk rocker had mated with Brian Setzer! lol!! short, a little chunky......LOTS of dark hair. and from my nosebleed (but excellent view) seating I couldn't see if he had any piercings or ink. other than THAT whole thing.....wow did those guys give it all!! I would love to see an entire concert with them! SUCH energy!! oh.....and R and I totally cracked up at how one guy played so many instruments: electric guitar, electric violin, and keyboards. THEN the dude popped up with a tamborine! lo!!
• Lenny Kravitz.....by the time he came on, R was TIRED. we didn't stay for his full show, but what we did see was terrific!! he really rocked the stage. I can't figure out why he alone didn't sell out the show. and I feel that he is one of the artists that decades later we will be glad to be able to say that we saw.....

that being said.....OMG! I am SOOOO tired!!! and I think R is going through a growing spurt (yeah, ANOTHER). he couldn't stay seated last night. we had the same problem at the last concert we went to. his legs get uncomfortable. and I noticed earlier this week that he is eating in funky weird spurts again. I am SOOO glad I didn't buy him oodles of jeans when school started. he finally wore the one pair I did buy him earlier this week......and they are small. they were huge when I bought them!

sorry for the long post! hope it didn't put YOU to sleep!

2007 12of12 recap

aaaah! another year gone by!! here is 1 photo taken from each month's 12of12. I didn't have any rhyme or reason for picking each one.....though I did think about posting my odometer or the price of gas photos from each month......but that last one would just have been too depressing!

January....the start of the year.....the boys lived in these hoodies. you really can't believe how many people thought this University existed and told us how cool it was to have one with our name on it! DUH!!!!
for February I chose the funny stuffed animals we gave the boys for Valentines day. it was either that or the horrible self portrait of dh and myself! lol!!


March brought on Picklegate. I was SOOOO excited to get this shot and it seemed to crack up everyone else! I got more comments on my blog that day than ever before or since. this was also the first month of posting my 12of12 on Blogger! how could I leave Mr. Pickle out of my 12of12 review?!?!?

for April it was a toss-up. I seriously debated using the photo of dh looking up directions on the computer. after all...... that photo is rare, right?!?!? but I had to give in and post the shot of all the potato parts being dried in the sunshine.....now to get the boys to pick them up, right?!?!?

May 12th was a horrible horrible day!!!! that was the day that I found out my Starbucks had run out of Valencia syrup. they had ordered an extra case when they found out it was being discontinued and were helping me stay happy in my grande non-fat decaf mochas with extra Valencia. guess the good thing is that my Starbucks consumption has fallen off since May 12th! lol!!
really I should have used a photo of the boys for June since both of their birthdays are in that month. but I didn't! I love my Buzz Lightyear doorstop and had to use the photo I took of him instead. it also shows off our comfy adorable carpet that had just been installed!

don't these bears look like they stole clothes from J and I?!?!? well.....probably not since I don't think either of us own belts like that. but otherwise I thought they were rather adorable and fitting. I bought them while at Bradley House and J came home from Scout camp to see them kickin' it on our bed. perfect for July!
for us, August means back to school.....and back to school shopping. neither boy really needs much but they ALWAYS seem to need shoes!! in fact, I don't think either of them still have the shoes from these pictures anymore!
oh Stubbs!!!! while this photo is fuzzy there is NOTHING fuzzy about this little guy!! thankfully he is still alive.........R's track record with pets isn't the greatest! don't have a clue why I decided to use his photo for September...but I did! lol!

I really like this picture......even with the extra chin! lol! couldn't pass it up for my October picture. tee hee hee......every November it seems the boys all of a sudden get interested in raking leaves. don't know why......don't care! it gets the leave raked up and gives me too happy boys.....well, when they aren't yelling at each other about who is or isn't doing his share.....

we wish you a Merry Christmas! we wish you a Merry Christmas! we wish you a Merry Christmas.....and a Happy 12of12! lol!!

AND......if you have actually read this far.....I would like to take this moment to THANK YOU for reading this far!! I have LOVED reading everyone else's 12of12 and getting a glimpse into other people's lives. and THANK YOU CHAD for giving us the opportunity month after month to share these bits and pieces of ourselves with each other!

believe in the 12of12.......

so.....can you guess what our bonus picture is supposed to be about this month?!?!? lol!! if you are clueless as to what I am talking about.....please check out Chad Darnell's blog.....he IS the 12of12 man!!

my traditional odometer/thermostat photo. still packing on the miles!! though less than 700 this past month. probably because the boys were off school for a week. and yes....42 degrees! we have had frost on the cars most mornings......bbbrrr!!!

$3.19/gallon for gas. I checked last December's 12of12 and gas was $2.36........TOO insane!!!
Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats.....the breakfast of champions........or women who want something tasty for breakfast but are embarrassed to eat Fruit Loops in the office! lol! I actually keep a box in my cupboard and have breakfast at my desk whenever I get hungry in the morning.
today was the annual office building Christmas shin-dig! they have a caterer bring us ooodles of desserts......as seen in this photo. this year's selection was much broader (and much tastier) than previous years!! please know that I did NOT eat all of these! one of the girls in the office was out at a meeting so I grabbed enough to share with her. on the paper under the cookies is my list of what photos from each month I think I want to use for the annual recap Chad asks us to do. my intent is to post that tomorrow afternoon.
in addition to tasty treats........they hire a local high school choral to come sing. these kids have SPECTACULAR (spectacular..... no words in the vernacular can describe this great event ) voices!!! they always have the same school sing so we have watched these kids grow up (atleast 4 years of their lives.....) someday I expect to see one of them on Broadway or the Grammies!
and the latest obsession in our household......Webkinz. I hopped on a little this afternoon and earned R's bulldog, Winston, a couple hundred W (their version of money). also bought him a new outfit and a skateboard. I am SUCH a cool mom! lol!!
racing between R's afternoon bowling and his band concert, we cruised Taco Bell's drive thru for dinner. J was peeved that he was trying to order and I was trying to frame a shot. it wasn't like I could take a photo of my burrito while in a moving car! sheesh! lol!!
band concert........R is rockin' the trombone! funny since he has no rhythm! lol!
on the way home we picked up dinner, breakfast, and lunch for Stubbs.........disgusting gross live crickets! blech!!!!
aaaah! the lights on the house! I am surprised that I really like the larger bulbs. guess things go in and out of fashion. notice no big blow up penguin on the front lawn. it has been rather windy here and J hasn't put him up yet. somehow I don't think he will be up this year!
Tessa.......not a planned shot......but she was there and I had the camera! cool because I can rarely get a reasonably decent picture of her adorableness!
sniff.....sniff.......tonight was the very last episode of Pushing Daisies......though I actually believe I can see myself watching it in reruns until I had it memorized. LOVE the titles for the episodes as well......from the Pie-letter to tonight's Corpsicle. come ON!! PLEASE settle the writer's strike....I am SOOO going to miss this show! this and Ugly Betty......
and finally.....I can't believe I took a photo that includes ME in my pjs! lol!! can you see the cute little penguins on the bottoms??? this is our bathroom (obviously) and that is my adorable penguin glittery-candle night light. it comes out at Christmas.
well......sorry I don't lead a more exciting life. but, oh well! and now it is 10pm here! off to bed!

and NOW I need a nap......

today was the office/company Christmas party. we checked out a new restaurant in town, Paul Martin's American Bistro. and no matter how light I plan on eating, I always come away from office lunches STUFFED and in serious need of a nap! today was no exception!!

one of the guys in the office ALWAYS does the honors by ordering appetizers......this time was no exception: artichokes, clams, calmari, shrimp, and spinach dip (you can look at the menu on the site for specific into) along with the greatest bread!! J would be happy just eating bread there! lol!!

prior to going, I had planned on Clam Chowder (because I love it and rarely get it because the family doesn't like it) and a chopped salad. well.......in what would have astonished J, I actually ordered it. but......in what wouldn't have surprised my dh, I changed my mind before the waitress left the table and ended up ordering the Cedar Plank Salmon. (the link is to a review blog so you can see what it looks like!) I loved the spinach! I loved the mushrooms! I loved the salmon! I didn't love the bacon and onions on top or the broth type sauce. that was too salty. so....is it really too salty or am I just a picky person where salt is concerned?!?! probably a combination of both. but overall it was YUMMY!!!!

so after the appetizers, several pieces of bread (OMG! the bread! lol!!), and my meal, I still managed to eat dessert. in normal life I wouldn't have had dessert, but it is kinda tradition that we have dessert. so I ordered the banana cream pie. it was good. it was too big of a piece......... and looking back I kinda think I wish I had ordered the devil's food cake with sour cherries. but really....I can't complain! except that now I need a nap! lol!!

oh.....and as a side note......in case you don't check out the link to the restaurant's site......I will tell you that everything was organic. all the meat, produce, etc is organic and supposedly pretty much locally grown. I would say that they hold truer to the organic versus the local part as it looks many things come from other parts of the state and even some meat from Arizona. but it is a start, right?!?!? continuing on that side note......I read an article the other day about how organic fruits & veggies have MORE (significantly more) vitamins, antioxidants, nutrients, whatever than produce grown using pesticides!! that makes me feel even better about us trying to buy organic.

and now it is beddie bye time for me!!! (I wish! lol!)

today's excuse.....

I am trying to get these all postal........

afterall.....it IS the 10th of the month!! it is embarrassing enough that I did photo cards instead of handmades this year........how much MORE embarrassing would it be if people didn't even GET them before Christmas?!?!?
(like the scarves?!?! we got them at The Gap. I didn't suggest buying them for all of us AND no one has complained that we all having matching ones! I have these guys trained, don't I?!?!? lol!)

oh yes...... and 12 of 12 reminder....

this month's bonus picture is "believe." check out Chad's site for all the info!

can't blog right now......

too busy playing on Webkinz.......oh yeah! welcome to my new addiction! lol!!

oh.........but I did forget to mention yesterday.......when Santa asked R what he wanted for Christmas R said "Magic cards." not magic, but Magic the Gathering. so what does that mean for the RockBand game???

oh Christmas tree.......

2 years ago we bought an artificial Christmas tree. we bought it on Christmas Eve and got a really, really, REALLY good deal. so of course we already had our tree for that year and didn't put it up. then last year we were in Hawaii so we didn't put it up. finally this year........we get to put it up! J and I were both a little anxious about how to do it and stuff since we hadn't done it before and it was 2 years ago when the salesman had explained everything to us.

it went up nicely!! it leans a little bit but looks BEAUTIFUL!! the tree is pre-lit but there are 2 strands out. J was worried about figuring them out now but I thought maybe when we were taking it down would be a good time to play around with all that stuff. so we put it up and covered it with ornaments. I think this is the first year we were able to use all of our ornaments! the tree is TALL and FULL! lol!! and after all the ornament were up you couldn't tell that there were any lights out. the tree is GORGEOUS! (IMHO) I took some photos of the tree and will try to post one later.

oh yes.....and many of the ornaments were handmade by 2 little boys. made mostly of felt, they are falling apart. I am obviously raising 2 very sentimental boys as they were both extremely concerned about fixing their ornaments. therefore currently our kitchen table is an "ornament hospital." lol!! I am going to pull out the felt glue later and fix them! hopefully I can find room on the tree for them.

this morning we did our Breakfast with Santa. an odd thing happened. the boys got their presents and were unwrapping them. they were getting Webkinz and I had packed them in Scout popcorn boxes. it was funny! both boys unwrapped their popcorn and then put them down........ like they thought they were getting popcorn for Christmas! lol! then R noticed that the boxes had been taped back together and opened the box. silly boys!! but both boys were okay with just getting popcorn. maybe I will wrap up some mac & cheese for Christmas?!?!

and even funnier........even after seeing that the presents were wrapped in Scout popcorn boxes, both boys thought that Santa had picked out and given them the gifts. not me.....Santa! now......whether they meant SantaattheNorthPoleSanta or Santathedudeatthebreakfastwhoisn'treallySantaSanta I don't know....... either way it was rather funny! guess today has been a humorous day!

can Santa give an IOU????

that isn't a rhetorical question.

the boys don't have much on their lists this year but they both agreed to ask Santa for Rock Band for Christmas. Rock Band is a video game that lets you make and be your own Rock Band. Guitar Hero let you play guitar in a band......but Rock Band lets you sing (heaven help us, have you heard my boys sing?!?!?), play the guitar, and play the drums! you make your way through songs earning the ability to play more songs and play in larger venues (you know.....like a real band would work their way up).

well......it was due to be released on Dec 11th. cutting it close in my books. I prefer to have presents purchased, wrapped, and well hidden way before now. but.....they really wanted this (or a Wii......yeah, right! like even if I could FIND one I wouldn't want yet another gaming system in my life). so I figured no problem! went to the local Game Stop and put a deposit down on the game. I did this all at the end of October! I know how these things are and wanted to make sure I had MINE!!!

I have called them twice just to confirm that they still show my order in the system, that they will indeed be getting enough games for my purchase, and that it is due on the 11th. well, yesterday........I checked online and saw that the release date was the 18th! WHAT?!??!?! so I called and talked to the guy at the store. no clue why it was pushed off but yes they still have my deposit, yes it is for the PS2 bundle. he doesn't think it will get pushed off again because they really want to capitalize on Christmas sales but if they do I can come get my deposit back. UUUUUGGHH!!! I don't WANT my deposit back!! I want the one thing that my boys really want for Christmas to be under the tree on the 25th!

so......what do I do??? can Santa leave the boys an IOU??

it is better to give than to receive......

and if you are going to give......give in style!!!

this week the LM DT is doing a feature on All Wrapped Up!


as you can tell, I had a blast using the Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked Ornaments! these things are so much fun that even R likes making them! SERIOUSLY!!!! I am going to start using the monogram ones for birthday packages!

$3.08 a gallon....

and the worst part was how EXCITED I was to only be paying $3.08 for a gallon of gas!!!

Safeway has a promo going for December. normally if you spend $50 in the store at one time you get 10 cents off a gallon for your next fill up. right now it is 15 cents! so when I went to fill up yesterday I only paid $3.08!!! I realize that I only saved $2.25 for the whole purchase......but I just like being able to day that it was $3.08 a gallon! lol!!

we normally get our gas at Safeway or Costco. we used to get it at AMPM until they started charging 35 cents for ATM....and now I hear it is 45 cents! Costco is usually the same price as AMPM or 2 or 3 cents less......before the fee. Safeway will always give you 3 cents off if you scan your Club Card and that will bring it in line with Costco. so J and I will use whichever one is more convenient at the time. Safeway usually for me and Costco usually for him.

I know some people don't like the idea of scanning a card to get a deal. they have some idea that their moves and purchases are being tracked. for me, I don't really care. if it helps them keep prices lower (especially on the things I buy regularly) then more power to them! (so to speak)

I just paid $3.08 per gallon!!!

S-ology.....

Wendy had this indirect tag HER blog……and since I thought it would save you from having to listen to me ramble on about dreams or something, I decided to try it! you are welcome to consider yourself tagged! Let me know so I can go read your answers!

MOUTHOLOGY
Q: What is your salad dressing of choice?
A: Hidden Valley Ranch (though once in a while nothing can beat 1,000 Island)

Q: What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A: Taco Bell

Q: What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A: I don’t have a FAV….I pretty much like anyplace where I am not doing the cooking!

Q: On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A: 20%

Q: What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
A: Taco Bell, Top Ramen, or Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats.

Q: What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A: pepperoni, black olives, and mushrooms

Q: What do you like to put on your toast?
A: butter and jelly

TECHNOLOGY
Q: What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A: home is HeroScape courtesy of R. at work nothing but ugly icons.

Q: How many televisions are in your house?
A: 3 but we only use 2 of them.

BIOLOGY
Q: Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A: right handed

Q: Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A: wisdom teeth, a nerve in my foot, and some boob-age

Q: When was the last time you had a cavity?
A: junior high school?!?!?

Q: What is the last heavy item you lifted?
A: last week I helped carry the fake Christmas tree down the hall at work.

Q: Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A: nope.

BULL[CRAP]OLOGY
Q: If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A: no thank you!

Q: If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
A: maybe Elizabeth….lots of fun nicknames. Or something Gaelic or uncommon.

Q: What color do you think looks best on you?
A: no clue.

Q: Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A: not that I am aware of.

Q: Have you ever saved someones life?
A: nope. But I know CPR so atleast I might be able to.

Q: Has someone ever saved yours?
A: nope.

DAREOLOGY
Q: Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A: depends on WHO! Lol!

Q: Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A: no.

Q: Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A: sure…….

Q: Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
A: like I could FIND someone willing to pay me to pose naked! Lol!!

Q: Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
A: no. can I pimp out J for that task?!?!?

Q: Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A: no.

DUMBOLOGY
Q: What is in your left pocket?
A: Nothing.

Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A: according to dh it is, but he is wrong.

Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A: both.

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A: stand. That IS a dumb question!

Q: Would you live with roommates?
A: I have in the past. I wouldn’t have a roommate in the house with my family.

Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
A: a lot…….a whole lot.

Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A: I have never had a “run-in”…….but I last got a speeding ticket in 1994.

Q: Who is number 1 on your top 8?
A: top 8 WHAT?!?!?

LASTOLOGY
Q: Last Friend you talked to?
A: Carol from Minnesnowta.

Q: Last person who called you?
A: a co-worker

Q: Last person you hugged?
A: ds before bedtime last night.

Q: Last person to stick their foot in your face?
A: gee…..you would think you would remember something like this?!??!

FAVORITOLOGY
Q: Number?
A: 4

Q: Season?
A: sweater weather

CURRENTOLOGY
Q: Missing someone?
A: yes.

Q: Mood?
A: stressed…..about work, about money, about Christmas.

Q: Listening to?
A: stupid credit union commercial.

Q: Watching?
A: not much. It is raining outside so no birds or anything fun.

Q: Worrying about?
A: see “mood?”

RANDOMOLOGY
Q: First place you went this morning?
A: the bathroom.

Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: read my new book.

Q: What's the last movie you saw in theater?
A: “Enchanted” on Thanksgiving

Q: Do you smile often?
A: Yes

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: I think so.

now go forth and be tagged.....and be thankful this post isn't about dreams or something! lol!!

an argument for quality over quantity.....

with the challenge of posting daily throughout the month of December, I realize that some of my posts will not be of the highest quality. I just didn't think it would get so bad and so quickly.

with that...........

my dh snores. this is resolved in several different ways: poking him so he rolls over, one of us sleeping downstairs, and/or me wearing ear plugs. I really dislike ear plugs but some times it is the best solution. I really don't like him sleeping downstairs and he really doesn't like me poking him.

other than the fact that ear plugs bug me and are uncomfortable, they make me sleep heavier. which is a good thing I think. on normal mornings dh wakes up 30 minutes before me, takes a shower, and gets ready. while I sleep through it, the sounds alert my body to prepare to wake up. with ear plugs I miss those signs.

but something must have stirred me this morning because I woke up having had the weirdest dream. I dreamed that I was teaching scrapbooking (or something scrap related) and that somehow someone stole my car! they took the keys out of my purse but left everything else and just took my car. in the dream I wasn't crying or extremely upset about it......kinda like "bummer dude, someone stole my car." in the dream I remember calling dh and telling him but no talk of him coming to pick me up or how I was going to get home or anything. and that was it! maybe I would have finished the dream but I was woken up by dh.

exciting, huh?!?!?!

as a side note......if you post comments anonymously because you don't have a sign-on, please leave your name in the comments so I know who you are! and if you are posting anonymously so that I don't know who you are........then don't leave your name I guess! lol!!

parties, lights, and hopefully pictures

last night was dh's company's Christmas party. it isn't actually very Christmas-y as they have a Monte Carlo night and none of the food is very holiday-ish. but....it was a nice night out until it was cut short by R getting scared at bedtime. so we came home.

other than that, yesterday was filled with running errands and buying the most cutest of scarves at The Gap. I would give you a link to them but when the website runs out of them they just delete the info from the site. anyway......hopefully we will all be wearing our matching scarves in our Christmas picture.......which we will hopefully be taking shortly.

this morning J and R put up the house lights. it has been super windy today so the large inflatable penguin didn't go up yet. but atleast our lights are up!! I finished reading The Golden Compass. honestly, I don't see how there can be so much controversy over the book. I really must have missed something in there. I saw where they talk about the church's power, but it is such a minor point in the book. perhaps it is more central to the other books in the series? I plan to read those as well.

oh yes.....and I find this part rather funny. I have been wondering about getting the boys Webkinz. they do still like stuffed animals but I keep thinking that is going to end soon. and I wasn't sure how they (well atleast R) would feel about the online games since he has been so caught up in Runescape. so a friend let me borrow her ds' sign on to check it out. course the boys caught me playing and are all now excited about this new place. I tell them that we can't be there when the actual owner might be trying to sign on, so that has fired them up to want Webkinz of their own. (tee hee hee!) needless to say R starting tracking down where they sell them locally.......even asked if one of the stores wasn't one of the places we went yesterday. I lied and said no. how could I not? I had bought one each for he and D for the Santa breakfast next weekend! lol!!

well.....day 2 down for me! off to go do some scrappy stuff while dh watches football.

Dec 1 - its beginning to look a lot like......

blame it on Lisa D!!! I am taking a BPS class from her and this morning she sent us a link to a You Tube video of Perry Como singing this song. but golly.....how could I pass on the slightly intoxicated karaoke singing cowboy Santa?!?!? if THAT doesn't say "HEY it is December and Christmas is coming fast" then I don't know what does! lol!!

in other news around the globe.......or more precisely......my house....last night was the Cute is What we Aim for, Plain White Ts, Gym Class Heroes, and Fall Out Boy concert. um.......to summarize.....Cute totally missed. Plain White Ts ROCKED....but not long enough. and I have decided that Deliliah isn't even close to one of my favorite songs from them. Gym Class was weird. they have potential but I doubt they are heading in that direction. Fall Out Boy was good. we left mid concert but I enjoyed what we saw.

hoping dh is going to put up the Christmas lights today. hoping I get a nap!

a post a day....that's all we ask!

lol! supposed to be a take off of the Blue Diamond almond slogan: a can a week...that is all we ask. anyway...... a couple peoples' blogs that I read (Lisa D and Moriah) are challenging themselves to post every single day in December. I think it is a great idea!! kinda like that whole picture a day for the month of December from last year.....but without photos! lol!

I am going to try it. yeah....I have been totally horrible about my blog posting recently so maybe this will get me going?!?!?

so be forewarned.......I can't guarantee anything close to exciting....but there will be something new here every day next month!

the writer's strike.....then & now.....

then would be 1988. the time of the last writers' strike. I remember it like it was yesterday......if I had total amnesia! honestly......I don't remember a darn thing about it. didn't know it happened. didn't notice shows disappear....though how can anyone miss all the reality tv that has been credited to being born during the strike.

now would be 2007 and the current tv writers' strike. talk about hitting close to home. R asks almost daily how many weeks before there is no tv. this is the kid who would gladly watch a rerun 10 times. but he is sitting there almost in tears at the end of Ugly Betty or Pushing Daisies wondering how much longer until they are gone. reminding him that he survived the summer hiatus does little to console him. he is like the walking dead.

and for myself.....yeah, I am paying more attention. the Grey's Anatomy writers haven't updated their blog after the past few shows. it wasn't a requirement but a really fun read. they blog as well as they write the series. but almost more so......a break with room for a few reruns wouldn't upset me too much......afterall we did miss a few of the early episodes of Reaper and Women's Murder Club. and I could always use a little more free time during the Christmas season.

so.....am I more vested because there is better tv on now? because I am more tired at the end of the day and want to veg and watch it instead of pshing through my massive homework load from college?!?!? who knows! my most memorable tv experience from the late 80s was watching a football game with J (while doing homework) and making a correct statement about a player's position. truly remarkable! lol!!

but at the end of it all.....give me a freakin' break!! how can you NOT think that the writers aren't being cheated if they don't get paid when we watch their shows online?!?! aren't you getting paid for those ads running along side them and in between scenes?? heck, I can't even fast forward through them like I can on my Tivo! and what about when you actually make us PAY to download them from iTunes???? I realize with an unknown future no one wants to give away the farm (or residual)......... but I have read lots of legal documents. why not include renegotiation clauses or something if you are feeling worried about a particular situation?

sheesh! give me back my tv!!!

the grateful 12of12......

yep! it was the 12th again. funny how that day rolls around about the same time every month! this month's bonus picture is based on *grateful.* but how does one really limit being grateful to just one photo?!?!

courtesy of all those who served in the military and the merger of my employer with a company that recognizes Veteran's Day.........I was grateful to sleep in to 7:53. J wasn't so lucky and had to work. the boys didn't have school and slept in even later than me.

at a little after 8am the temperature was 48 degrees. not bad but made me grateful to be able to walk back in to the heated house! lol!!

D wasn't grateful to have to do homework. but atleast he was grateful that it was being done at home instead of in detention.

and I am grateful to be the mother of two able boys. notice I didn't say willing! lol! but they raked both lawns and R mowed them both. I guess J should be grateful for this too......without the boys this would be his job!

R actually enjoys raking leaves. I think he gets a sense of accomplishment seeing a big pile of leaves emerge from what doesn't look like much across the backyard. I am grateful that he doesn't complain (most of the time) about doing work around the house.

I taught this weekend for Cosmo Cricket and one of the things we used were their Buck Naked Ornaments. I decided they would be perfect for a project I was working on so made myself a few. and since I am using the Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper line......I sure am grateful that these match!

almost forgot to take this picture! can you believe it?!?!? 1100+ miles last month! UUUGH! looks like that is my new norm. guess I should be grateful that I have a running car and that R is smart enough to go to a special school even if it DOES take on the miles, right?!?!?

the Scouts were doing a fundraiser at a local pizza place last night (see next photo). we got there early and R found a couple playing the game Magic. course he got himself invited to sit down and join them. by the time he came home that evening he knew all about the game and wanted to play himself! he should be grateful that they were so nice and helpful!

the Scouts were really there to bus tables, deliver food, etc. R did a good job taking around pizzas and cleaning up after people. but there were atleast 2 Scouts per customer so things were slow most of the time. the nice thing was that Round Table donated 20% of the take for the evening to the Scouts. talk about something to be grateful for! gotta love companies that are really willing to do things like this.

here is my own personal Primo Supremo! lol! do I really need to say why I am grateful???

croak! gag! blech!!!!!! this is killing us.........seriously killing us! AND this is the price at Costco. the regular stations were at $3.44 a gallon. that is 19 cents per gallon of being grateful for joining Costco! lol!!

when I brought D home from our pizza (and gas fill up) we had a little friend waiting for us on the front porch. D didn't get a chance to see it because the frog had hidden himself before D got close, but I grabbed a couple photos. I asked the frog to turn around and pose, but his butt was about all I got! lol! it was a nice reminder to be grateful that our area isn't so developed that there aren't frogs to happen upon once in awhile. that frog is probably pretty grateful that I have a remote for our garage door so that Tessa didn't pounce on him the minute I opened the front door!

finishing up my project tonight I actually went so far as to play my iTunes Christmas mix and drink some egg nog. I had gotten it for our mock Christmas with Cecilie but had forgotten to bring it out. it is the *light* version and you can definately tell the difference......but after drinking 2 mug fulls I am grateful it wasn't the regular full fat version! lol!

and finally........I am darn grateful that Chad has this monthly challenge! so many things that might have slipped by.....every day generic dorky moments that are caught because one day a month I have a goal to take 12 (or 13) photos.

been awhile......

tomorrow is 12of12 so before that happens I thought it would be a good idea to do a 10 second tidy on the blog and catch everyone up to date.

on the 26th, C arrived from down south and we started our whirlwind celebration of Halloween with a little Christmas thrown in. if you check out her blog (linked in the Oct 30th blog entry) you can atleast see some photos of what happened.......even if you can't read Danish! lol!!

we went to the pumpkin patch, visited a haunted house, had dinner at Weiner Works, L&L Hawaiian BBQ, Big Joes BBQ, had a merry little Christmas (little being the operative word), saw Nightmare Before Christmas, took a mini Christmas album class, carved pumpkins, went to the Jelly Belly factory, went to the zoo to see the penguins, ate at the Hard Rock, had lots of Starbucks, Trick or Treated, made Halloween treat packets, volunteered at R's school, ate breast cancer awareness bagels at Panera (actually VERY tasty!!), and of course met some LM friends for dinner at Chevys! whew! even just typing it wore me out! lol! we totally had a blast while she was here but I think we wore her out a little bit.

then C and I took off for Detroit for the LM crop. what a BLAST we had!!! we were lucky enough to sit near each other......so it kinda extended the feeling of her visiting a little longer. I roomed with Peggy and it was SOOO great seeing her and Stephanie (and everyone else too) again.

I flew home late Sunday and had Monday off. I pretty much spent it on the couch watching tv and almost napping. Tuesday I woke up to go to work and was sick. my head was so clogged that I was getting dizzy just looking side to side to drive. so back home I came and into bed for a majority of the day.

this past weekend I taught again for Cosmo Cricket at the Sacramento Scrapbook Expo. it was fun! I only taught 2 different classes each day so I felt a little repetitive........ but it was easier than teaching 4 different classes. R had a band event in the afternoon so I went to see it and then brought him back to the crop to help with Make & Takes. as always the women just thought that a scrapping boy was the cutest thing....... and let me tell you........ that boy is a serious salesman!!! I really wish I could have videotaped or even tape recorded his spiel. he was selling Buck Naked Chipboard like there was nothing more grander!! at one point I just started busting out laughing because he was s-m-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-t-h!!! he sounded like he had been a scrapper for the past 11 years! really!!

to finish off the weekend......I actually cooked! lol! I cooked yesterday but it was just a soup mix and crescent rolls. today I made chili (lots and lots of chili), cornbread, and pineapple upside down cake. I was in the mood for the cake when I made it but by the time we had it after dinner I wasn't in the mood anymore. but it was still good!! I really loved the chili. J thought it would be too spicy for me but I thought it was terrific. good thing too because there is enough leftover for 2 more meals! good thing because I doubled the recipe and there was 4 lbs of meat in there! lol!!

tomorrow is 12of12 and Veteran's Day observed. not sure what I will have to take pictures of except atleast a photo of R working at a local pizza place to raise money for his Scout Troop. if you live in the greater Sacto area and want to come support them, drop me a line and I will give you the info!

also.....take a moment today or tomorrow to say a prayer for all Veterans and those who are actively serving now. while we may not agree with the war we should all support the soldiers and their families!

bad blogger reminding YOU to not be a bad blogger! lol!

aka.......2 day reminder for 12of12

what has Susan been up to????

sorry! I have been way to busy to blog. BUT......wanna know what I have been doing??? check out Cecilie's blog! course.......you are going to need to understand Danish!

the state of the state......

it seems, from a Nor Cal perspective, that the southern half of our state is on fire. I realize that isn't the actual case but it is an ever present thought on everyone's mind. today I e-mailed constantly with a friend who was under constant wait for *the call*. the reverse 911 call (which I didn't even know they could do) telling them to move out. her kids were home from school and her car was packed to go. they just waited.

this got me thinking. yes, I know we are not in a huge fire hazard spot. and yes I know that we didn't buy a house in a flood plane like many have. but hazards happen. you just never know! so tonight at dinner we had a few heavy conversations. after discussing the car that followed a girl to school this morning and reviewing what the boys should do in that situation we talked about disaster preparedness. the big question: if we had 1 car and 1 hour to pack up and go, what would we take? we talked about what was replaceable and what wasn't. R pointed out that we were taking a lot of *mom* things. he thinks the photos are for me. I didn't correct him. but I have had a friend lose her childhood home and all her family's photos. I watched her sister cry when I gave her my copy of our sorority photo.....the only one we were both in because we were a few years apart in college. those photos are for D and him!!

anyway......we talked about what we would take. what we should remember to take. and what we are going to do to be prepared in case we do need to go. in an hour. in just one car.

what about you? consider what is happening in So Cal as a fire lit under you. talk with your loved ones and do a little planning. pray you never need it, but be prepared in case you do!!

another fun and goofy project.....

Chad Darnell....the 12of12 man is celebrating all those great t-shirts we have collected over the years.......he has declared Monday the 22nd T-Shirt Appreciation Day. I'm gonna do it. will you?!?!?

and while we are having fun......check out MacDaddy's discussion about the differences in places to live. I have to agree with everything said in regards to the places I have either lived or have reasonably decent knowledge about. but ALL of them are funny!!

maybe I should start *Finger Friday* where I point to things on other people's blogs?!?!

ain't no sunshine when HE's gone......

yeah, I know.....I took liberties with Bill Wither's song. cut me some slack! lol!!

so dh and R have been at science camp all week. I talked with J briefly Monday night and got a text from him yesterday morning. that is it! heck, I had more communication when they were at Scout camp last summer where there was supposedly NO cell connection! whatever! lol!!

anyway......last weekend the weather was beautiful. this entire week it has been rainy and overcast. just plain ol' yucky weather! sure enough....they come home tonight and this weekend is back to beautiful weather! so sometime yesterday I started humming that song. funny, huh?!?!?

while I have missed them, I have spent most of my non-work time being a bum. D goes to bed so early that I really have a lot of free time in the evenings. instead of being productive.....which I really needed to do....I instead watched tv and went to bed early. and I slept......a lot!!! I woke up 30 minutes later than I need to when I have to take R to school and I didn't have anyone snoring and waking me up. I even fell asleep on the couch yesterday! obviously this weather is making me think it is time to hibernate. hopefully when the sun returns this weekend I will come out of my cave and get some stuff done! not too much time until the C's visit.....Halloween.....and the LM crop!!

12 of 12 - the ORANGE edition!

this almost could have been called the FORGOTTEN edition!! we all know I am not a good weekend blogger.....I just try to not be on the computer as much. and today was a day of running around in circles....I'll explain more as we go through this entry.

so......this is what it looks like as we get ready to leave in the morning. 2 boys and a big ol' pile of stuff! lol!! it takes us 5 minutes to get from the house into the car! crazy, isn't it?!?!?

R always gives T a treat when he puts her collar on. it is how he has trained her to come when he calls her so he CAN put her collar on! lol!! look how attentive and patient she is for him! she doesn't even care if Mommie is taking her picture! lol!!

traditional odometer photo. can you believe we were running late and I forgot to take it in the driveway like normal? so this is at about 7:15. a bit warmer than when we walked out the door. and look at me pile those miles on my car! uuuuugh! lol!!

Starbucks is giving away a free download every day through November 7th. each day is a different artist. there have been some that I don't like at all and some really great ones. the place I normally get my Starbucks at isn't a full service store so they don't have a sign like this. but I didn't stop there this morning and instead grabbed a mocha by work (I had thought I wasn't going to get one and changed my mind!). that store had a sign so I took a picture of it!

Sharon sent me a book she had read. this is it (obviously). it is slow getting in to and is told from various points of reference. I am enjoying it but not enough to have it take over my life! lol! it did, though, keep me good company at lunch today.

I had rented Fantastic Four for J & R to watch. was given the dvd case to return sans the actual dvd. so on my way home from work I stopped by Blockbuster to give them their dvd. check out my creative self-portrait! lol!! not the greatest photo but it isn't like I am going to use this for our Christmas cards! lol!!

one of the things that sucked up my time today was going to get tickets to a concert. I could have pre-sale bought them online 2 days ago for full price however starting at 10am Saturday you could use a $5 off coupon (the one in this photo). anyway.......I had to stop by the coffee shop to get the coupon. this morning (Saturday the 13th) I had to drive R to a Scout event. it was less that 5 miles from where the box office for the concert venue is. dropped him off and headed home in time to buy the tickets. THEN found out (because no one had mentioned it) but the coupon is only good for a few selected rows in the way way back of the arena........AND those tickets weren't released yet! so after dinkering around with the lady at Ticketmaster and then calling the arena, poor D got stuck back in the car and we drove to the arena to buy the tickets directly. they said if I bought the rows they would refund the difference when the promoter gave them the directions to open up the discount. but the lady at the arena and I went through and picked out the possible seat locations available and I ended up getting us some rather nice seats (you know.....for a family of 4 who didn't buy their tickets when they first became available aaaaaarrrrggghhh!!!!). anyway.....by going to the arena I saved Ticketmaster's fee so the tickets ended up being $10 cheaper than they would have been with the coupon.......and were better seats......but cost me 2 hours of my life! I still am happier now with the end result. oh and the dude at the coffee place gave me a coupon for a buy 1 get 1 free yesterday!

so......now back to actually what happened on the 12th and not just the aftermath...... NO!! we did NOT get flu shots! BUT this sign has been up for about a month. every time we drive by or go to the chiro we joke about getting our flu shots. honestly, I am not really sure why anyone would get a shot and how they are supposed to benefit you. figure they are based on the previous year's major strains of flu.....which WON'T be this year's flu. so what are you really protecting yourself from? anyway......we are not old or immune deficient so we don't get them.

J hates our staplers.....period.....end of sentence. a stapler can work fine for me for a long long time and then J gets it and it doesn't work. don't know why. and frankly don't care. so we went to Office Max to get some manila envelopes for R and J picked himself out the exact stapler that he personally wanted. let's hope this solves the whole stapler issue!

because our morning routine is all different and I am not quite used to it, I forgot to get a gas price picture. so on the way home last night I took one. it is dark and fuzzy because it is after 7 and it is dark! for the record, AMPM was 10 cents a gallon cheaper!

seems R has a new Crush at school. seems Crush has her e-mail addy written in her lab book. seems R or a friend had to check Crush's work Friday. seems someone wrote down Crush's e-mail addy and sent her a note. this is R replying to the e-mail Crush sent back!!! (insert the smoochie kissie noises Mommie was making while R was typing this out! lol!)

the bonus for this month was ORANGE. I took a really great picture of this obnoxious ORANGE pen that the FedEx/Kinkos sales rep brought us, but decided that I wanted a photo of my favorite Halloween candle instead. it doesn't take a good picture (obviously) so I will tell you that it is a gel candle. you can see through it......like Jello.....and there are things IN the gel. when lit, the whole thing glows! rather cool.

and last but not least............D getting his treat from the Halloween countdown calendar. the boys take turns and D gets the even days. (they split the 31st so don't worry.....it is all EVEN!!!) today's treat was stretchy body parts! D got an ear and a hand. I can't remember which day R will get his stretchy body parts but he has a foot and a nose! lol! so gross.......SOOOO boy!!


with that I big you adieu until next month!!!