I would love to be able to tell you that I have mastered the skill of being patient. That I'm calm, cool and collected when necessary and that almost nothing can ruffle my feathers.
I'd also love to tell you that in 15.2 minutes Ed McMann is going to knock on your door and give you a giant cardboard check for 98,709,898,745 dollars. However, they are both lies.... Unless, Ed does show up in which case, I'm happy for you and I'd like you to pay me one million dollars just for telling you so that you won't be the one answering the door in your towel and hair curlers. Just sayin'...
Anyway, back to the subject (stop distracting me with your hair curlers! =), patience. I'm working on it. It seems everyday I'm presented with a gagillion opportunities to work on my patience. I guess that's part of God's sense of humor. A cup of freshly poured ice tea that ends up all over my carpet, a peanut butter sandwich that is peeled open and finger painted onto my cabinets etc... I could go on, but I'm sure you have a good idea what I mean ;).
Somedays, all of these opportunities to practice my patience nearly drive me to the nut house! However, I'm trying to focus more on the love I have for those that test my patience rather than on the 5,768,798 (Pssh, no I don't exagerate EVER!) clorox wipes I have to use a week. At this rate I should buy stock in the company... and you should too!
So today, I pledge that whenever my Firecracker looks up at me with Desitin all over his face, or an open bottle of soap turned upside down on my carpet etc... to remember my love for him. Because people are more important than things.....
Have a good day!
Ms. T
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Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
My 3rd Favorite Day of the Year
I know we reveal a lot of our favorites on 5 Question Friday, but I seriously doubt that we are going to get the question, "What is your 3rd favorite day of the year?". So, I thought I would answer that one for you today. I mean, a lot of people might want to know what our most favorite day is, maybe even our second most favorite day. However, not you guys. I can tell that you don't care about that. The 3rd favorite is what you are just dying to know.
So my 3rd most favorite day of the year is (drum roll, please) Black Friday! I absolutely love it. I look forward to the hustle, the bustle, the craziness, the great deals, the people, everything! A lot of people that I know think that I am absolutely insane for even venturing out on the busiest shopping day of the year. I, however, think that they are crazy for not venturing out. I have gone Black Friday shopping every year for as long as I can remember.
I remember one year, I convinced my mom and sister that we should all wear crazy hats so that we could spot each other easily from a distance. I didn't not realize that there would be two very large scary women chasing my sister and I at the beginning of our day because we found a door unlocked near the main entrance and went through that door rather than being trampled in the main line. Our hats only helped them recognize us throughout the day.
Another year, we let my husband go out with us. I must say that my husband is a fabulous BF shopper. He is not afraid to stand in lines. He understands exactly what our agenda is. He moves quickly, and even grabs extras of things just in case we realize we miscounted. That first year though, he made us laugh more than anything though. We had carried two way radios in order to communicate a little easier (don't worry, now we just use our cellphones). We crossed radio waves with other people several times. One of those times a woman had found an item that her husband wanted, and asked him how many he would like to have. Well, apparently her husband wasn't within range, but mine was. I really hope her husband wanted a dozen sets of jumper cables. Oops!
Yet another BF memory of mine was just a few years ago. My mom had recently had a complete knee replacement and was in a wheel chair. She refused to stay at home, so I said that I would be her driver. That was a bad idea. I ran her leg into so many displays and got us stuck in several tight spots. The lesson learned there is that I should never be in charge of a wheel chair. I have other experiences that should have made us realize this before causing Mom a little setback with her recovery, but those are for another day.
Last year, we started shopping at 10 pm on Thanksgiving evening. I know a lot of people that hate BF, think that the stores should stay closed and let us spend time with our families. I thank them for opening sooner, because we have some of the best memories from that night. My mom has a lot of health issues, and it was such an accomplishment for her to say that she spent all night and most of the next day shopping. (We were in a town an hour away from her home, so I had gotten a hotel room in case she needed to rest.) I was the one in the end that needed the rest. I actually ended up causing both of my ankles to swell and bruise from the strain. Oops!
So, we are a mere 19 days away from my 3rd most favorite day of the year. I have already started printing coupons, scanning ads that have been leaked, plotting my path of destruction. So whether you are a BF shopper or not, I challenge you to make the most of your Black Friday this year. Whether you make your memories at home or in a store with thousands of people, Happy Black Friday!
Ms. L
* If you're having a problem commenting there is a way to fix it. If you have the "keep me signed in" box for your personal email checked it will not allow you to comment. Simply uncheck the box and then you should be allowed to comment.
So my 3rd most favorite day of the year is (drum roll, please) Black Friday! I absolutely love it. I look forward to the hustle, the bustle, the craziness, the great deals, the people, everything! A lot of people that I know think that I am absolutely insane for even venturing out on the busiest shopping day of the year. I, however, think that they are crazy for not venturing out. I have gone Black Friday shopping every year for as long as I can remember.
I remember one year, I convinced my mom and sister that we should all wear crazy hats so that we could spot each other easily from a distance. I didn't not realize that there would be two very large scary women chasing my sister and I at the beginning of our day because we found a door unlocked near the main entrance and went through that door rather than being trampled in the main line. Our hats only helped them recognize us throughout the day.
Another year, we let my husband go out with us. I must say that my husband is a fabulous BF shopper. He is not afraid to stand in lines. He understands exactly what our agenda is. He moves quickly, and even grabs extras of things just in case we realize we miscounted. That first year though, he made us laugh more than anything though. We had carried two way radios in order to communicate a little easier (don't worry, now we just use our cellphones). We crossed radio waves with other people several times. One of those times a woman had found an item that her husband wanted, and asked him how many he would like to have. Well, apparently her husband wasn't within range, but mine was. I really hope her husband wanted a dozen sets of jumper cables. Oops!
Yet another BF memory of mine was just a few years ago. My mom had recently had a complete knee replacement and was in a wheel chair. She refused to stay at home, so I said that I would be her driver. That was a bad idea. I ran her leg into so many displays and got us stuck in several tight spots. The lesson learned there is that I should never be in charge of a wheel chair. I have other experiences that should have made us realize this before causing Mom a little setback with her recovery, but those are for another day.
Last year, we started shopping at 10 pm on Thanksgiving evening. I know a lot of people that hate BF, think that the stores should stay closed and let us spend time with our families. I thank them for opening sooner, because we have some of the best memories from that night. My mom has a lot of health issues, and it was such an accomplishment for her to say that she spent all night and most of the next day shopping. (We were in a town an hour away from her home, so I had gotten a hotel room in case she needed to rest.) I was the one in the end that needed the rest. I actually ended up causing both of my ankles to swell and bruise from the strain. Oops!
So, we are a mere 19 days away from my 3rd most favorite day of the year. I have already started printing coupons, scanning ads that have been leaked, plotting my path of destruction. So whether you are a BF shopper or not, I challenge you to make the most of your Black Friday this year. Whether you make your memories at home or in a store with thousands of people, Happy Black Friday!
Ms. L
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Saturday, November 5, 2011
Clutter
I have many pet peeves in my life. Some of them silly others not so much. Well, today I must share the most obnoxious one with you. CLUTTER! I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, double hate and loathe entirely (name that movie =) clutter.
It seems no matter how hard I fight it clutter seems to win. You don't have this problem? It's only me? Oh well, in that case good for you, and you're never invited to my house =). You might be nodding your head and saying, "but Ms. T, you have 2 little kiddos. It's bound to happen. Especially since little babies could fill a 13x13 storage unit with just the items for them." Well, thank you for the encouraging words, but they're really of little consolation.
You see, my Daddy is a clutter hater also. (see it's in my genes). His solution to this problem was to throw it all away. I grew up thinking this was normal. Every couple of months you have a nice ol' spring cleaning and get rid of anything and everything you didn't need, or wasn't nailed down. However, the Hubs did NOT grow up this way. So he thinks I'm absolutely insane when I see clutter and it drives me nutty.
Clutter is an area that we have to agree to disagree on. You see to Hubs if it's organized neatly, say in nice little piles, it's fine, no problem at all. He can't stand it when it's all over the place, but little piles are his thing. So to keep a happy marriage I endure his piles BUT every now and then he just has to deal with me going on a rampage and throwing things out. It's good for the soul. I promise.
So you might be wondering how I handle all this clutter if I'm not disposing of it. Well, I'll share a little secret with you. I hide. That's right, friends, I hide! I always have one room of the house that is completely clutter free. (don't ask which one, because it changes daily). And when I'm stressing, I go to that room for a few minutes and breathe it in. It's a beautiful thing. Then I go back to the chaos that is the rest of my house. It's not a perfect system to be sure, but this frazzled Mommy needs all the stress relief she can get.
I have big dreams of someday being clutter free.... However, I'd probably have to live in a room all by myself..... Not such a great dream when you think about it like that ;)
Wishing you all a clutter free day!
Ms. T.
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It seems no matter how hard I fight it clutter seems to win. You don't have this problem? It's only me? Oh well, in that case good for you, and you're never invited to my house =). You might be nodding your head and saying, "but Ms. T, you have 2 little kiddos. It's bound to happen. Especially since little babies could fill a 13x13 storage unit with just the items for them." Well, thank you for the encouraging words, but they're really of little consolation.
You see, my Daddy is a clutter hater also. (see it's in my genes). His solution to this problem was to throw it all away. I grew up thinking this was normal. Every couple of months you have a nice ol' spring cleaning and get rid of anything and everything you didn't need, or wasn't nailed down. However, the Hubs did NOT grow up this way. So he thinks I'm absolutely insane when I see clutter and it drives me nutty.
Clutter is an area that we have to agree to disagree on. You see to Hubs if it's organized neatly, say in nice little piles, it's fine, no problem at all. He can't stand it when it's all over the place, but little piles are his thing. So to keep a happy marriage I endure his piles BUT every now and then he just has to deal with me going on a rampage and throwing things out. It's good for the soul. I promise.
So you might be wondering how I handle all this clutter if I'm not disposing of it. Well, I'll share a little secret with you. I hide. That's right, friends, I hide! I always have one room of the house that is completely clutter free. (don't ask which one, because it changes daily). And when I'm stressing, I go to that room for a few minutes and breathe it in. It's a beautiful thing. Then I go back to the chaos that is the rest of my house. It's not a perfect system to be sure, but this frazzled Mommy needs all the stress relief she can get.
I have big dreams of someday being clutter free.... However, I'd probably have to live in a room all by myself..... Not such a great dream when you think about it like that ;)
Wishing you all a clutter free day!
Ms. T.
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Friday, November 4, 2011
5 Question Friday!
Once again a big thank you to Mama M. for letting us link up!
Much like Ms. T, I love movies. I think my favorites to quote though are probably, While You Were Sleeping, Sabrina (with Harrison Ford), and unfortunately Monty Python And The Holy Grail.
No. Will I? No. My husband would love to have a motorcycle, but I have put the big Kibash on that one. I have seen 3 accidents involving motorcycles almost immediately after they happened. Only one of those riders survived, and he has extremely severe injuries. So, I prefer not to die right now, so no!
3. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
Ok, Here again, Ms. T and I are almost the same person. I love to read, sleep, watch movies, and watch Investigation Discovery. I am a murder investigation junkie.
4. Do you prefer a bunch of small gifts, or one really big, (expensive) gift?
See, I love expensive gifts, but our budget doesn't normally allow for them. I always feel guilty if someone spends much money on me. However, I like getting nice things. So I okay with either equally.
No. I am a details junkie as well. I always think that I will forget something so I check and recheck details for everything. I will look at a reminder/flyer/schedule multiple times a day, because I convince myself that maybe I read it wrong. I am terrified of missing and/or being late for something that I am incredibly anal retentive about checking the details about a hundred times. For example, yesterday The Boy brought home a flyer from school about an awards ceremony that he has next week. I have already looked at it about 10 times. Wednesday, the 9th, at 9:45am, in the school cafeteria. Don't judge but I also memorized what order the classes are presenting in. The Boy's is first, so I definitely cannot be late.
Alright, ya'll! Have a great weekend!
Ms. L
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1. What movie do you love to quote?
Hmmm… that’s a hard one. You see I’m a movie person. I love to quote movies. Before the munches arrived on the scene it was not uncommon to find the Hubs and I at the theater at least twice a month. Yeah, lots of things change once the little blessings arrive… like movie money goes to diapers…. Hahaha! Anyway, some of the classics would be Dumb and Dumber, Elf, A Christmas Story, Finding Nemo, While You Were Sleeping, You’ve Got Mail. I could go on, but I won’t because we all have other things to do with our day!
2. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?
Yes. Did I like it? NO. Will I do it again? Not unless I have NO other mode of transportation and my destination is more than 5 miles away. Will my children ever ride one with my knowledge before they’re 18? NO. Motorcycles = death on wheels. Thanks for asking.
3. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
Sleep or curl up on the couch with a good book and read til I fall asleep. Either is awesome, and neither are exceptionally likely in my world.
4. Do you prefer a bunch of small gifts, or one really big, (expensive) gift?
It all depends on if I have something I’d really like to have. If I do then just one gift is perfect. If I don’t then little gifts are just fine!
5. Do you ever lose track of days and show up somewhere wrong?
Hahaha…. Have you been following me around and decided I needed to make this public? In short, yes.
Hope you all have a great day!
Ms. T
1. What movie do you love to quote?
Much like Ms. T, I love movies. I think my favorites to quote though are probably, While You Were Sleeping, Sabrina (with Harrison Ford), and unfortunately Monty Python And The Holy Grail.
2. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?
No. Will I? No. My husband would love to have a motorcycle, but I have put the big Kibash on that one. I have seen 3 accidents involving motorcycles almost immediately after they happened. Only one of those riders survived, and he has extremely severe injuries. So, I prefer not to die right now, so no!
3. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
Ok, Here again, Ms. T and I are almost the same person. I love to read, sleep, watch movies, and watch Investigation Discovery. I am a murder investigation junkie.
4. Do you prefer a bunch of small gifts, or one really big, (expensive) gift?
See, I love expensive gifts, but our budget doesn't normally allow for them. I always feel guilty if someone spends much money on me. However, I like getting nice things. So I okay with either equally.
5. Do you ever lose track of days and show up somewhere wrong?
No. I am a details junkie as well. I always think that I will forget something so I check and recheck details for everything. I will look at a reminder/flyer/schedule multiple times a day, because I convince myself that maybe I read it wrong. I am terrified of missing and/or being late for something that I am incredibly anal retentive about checking the details about a hundred times. For example, yesterday The Boy brought home a flyer from school about an awards ceremony that he has next week. I have already looked at it about 10 times. Wednesday, the 9th, at 9:45am, in the school cafeteria. Don't judge but I also memorized what order the classes are presenting in. The Boy's is first, so I definitely cannot be late.
Alright, ya'll! Have a great weekend!
Ms. L
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Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Paranoia
I think Ms. T might be trying to kill me.
Okay, maybe she isn't trying to kill me, but I am blaming her anyway.
So, if you are an avid reader, you will remember Ms. T's post about her Super Famous Ribs.
Well, ever since I read this post, I have been wanting ribs. Craving them. Like a pregnant woman craves pickles and ice cream. Although I have never craved pickles in my life. I would disown myself if I did.
So, today was my shopping day, and I went down the road to Winn Dixie, because they had ribs BOGO. I got my ribs, and dang it, they were some pretty ribs. I came home, put them in the crock pot, and left it. Because Ms. T said it was that easy. Ha! She doesn't know me that well apparently.
Fast forward 3 hours. The house was smelling so good, the ribs were cooking, and the kids and I were on the couch reading a book. What luck that I was actually doing something motherly! I mean, if this had happened any other time, I would have had to type that I was surfing the web, watching TV, maybe, just maybe, hiding from my kids in the bathroom. Anyway, the hubs walks in the door, and was home for about a good 60 seconds, when we hear a POP!
"Wait, what was that?"
The hubs looked over toward the kitchen, and said, "Hmmmm. . . Your crockpot just shattered."
"What???!!!!????"
It wasn't actually my CrockPot. It was the lid. Completely shattered. Shooting glass down into my sweet, succulent, precious ribs. Ugh! The tragedy! I was devastated. Well the lid was barely holding together, with several large pieces of glass now floating with my dinner. Well, we couldn't lift the lid off, so we ended up turning the CrockPot sideways, and using a fork to flip the lid into the sink.
Note to self: If I ever have to do that again, make sure I move the faucet out of the way. Because if that were to happen, and I flip the lid into the faucet, glass would fly everywhere. But that is just a hypothetical. It's not like I know from experience or anything. Really.
So, I call Ms. T, blaming her for all of it of course. I loudly proclaimed that I would NOT throw these ribs away. I was going to strain and pick out every little sliver of glass and finish cooking them. Eventually, I remembered that right now we don't have health insurance, and the last thing I need is a trip to the ER. So, I trashed the ribs, and started a big pot of Potato Soup instead.
Ms. T recommended that I have a burrito, but who knows, she probably buried a shiv in it.
Have a great Thursday! Maybe I will survive til the weekend!
Ms. L
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Operation Christmas Child
Every year my church participates in a program called "Operation Christmas Child". The way this program works is that volunteers fill shoe boxes with little toys, pencils, toiletries, candy etc. Then the church sends the boxes to a ministry called Samaritan's Purse. This ministry then sends the boxes to children all around the world.
We have participated in this for the last several years. Every year I find it fun and special that we get to help children who have nothing.
Recently I heard you could watch videos of the children receiving these boxes. What?! I get to see a kid get a box that has been so lovingly prepared for them?! Oh baby I'm there! Isn't that one of the best parts of Christmas? Getting to watch the recipient of the gift open it and the joy on their faces when they are looking through it?
So here is one of the videos I watched it's a little bit grainy, but I think you'll be just as touched by it as I was.
I must say that after watching these videos it makes me feel guilty. My kids have toy boxes filled with toys and these children have next to nothing. It really puts things in perspective for me.
Have a good day!
Ms. T
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We have participated in this for the last several years. Every year I find it fun and special that we get to help children who have nothing.
Recently I heard you could watch videos of the children receiving these boxes. What?! I get to see a kid get a box that has been so lovingly prepared for them?! Oh baby I'm there! Isn't that one of the best parts of Christmas? Getting to watch the recipient of the gift open it and the joy on their faces when they are looking through it?
So here is one of the videos I watched it's a little bit grainy, but I think you'll be just as touched by it as I was.
I must say that after watching these videos it makes me feel guilty. My kids have toy boxes filled with toys and these children have next to nothing. It really puts things in perspective for me.
Have a good day!
Ms. T
Try It Tuesday - Shaving Cream Paint
Happy Day After Halloween, Ya'll!
I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Trick or Treating Day. I know we did. I had a Ninja and a "Tangled" (she refused to be called Rapunzel) that got way too hyped up on sugar and enjoyed their first year of door to door trick or treating. I have to give a shout out to the complete stranger that was laying in wait in camouflage to scare unsuspecting children! When I whispered that I had an easily scared child, he said he would remain still and not scare her! Way to go, nice stranger! Even when other kids came up behind us and kicked him in the head, because they thought he was fake, he kept still. Of course that may have been because he had a concussion. In that case, Sorry for that, nice unconscious stranger!
Anyway, back to Try It Tuesday. Today was a fun craft time for the Little Miss. We are at the end of our pay period and needed to keep today's project super cheap - aka - Free! We took things from around the house to create a fun time for all!
We just added a couple of drops of food coloring to some shaving cream, and used a cheap paint sponge. We had all of these items in the house and didn't have to buy anything. This is shaving cream that we got for FREE using a great coupon that was out a couple of months ago!
The Little Miss had a blast! At first she was a little tentative in her painting, but then she really got into it.
She had Mom paint a rainbow.
After that, all nice pretty painting was out the window. Colors got mixed, brushes didn't get rinsed, and our pretty picture of a man on a sailboat got obliterated.
This also gave us a great opportunity to talk about how mixing colors works. It ended up being slightly educational, moderately messy, but mostly fun!
I think that this was a hit with the Little Miss. She loved it. It was cheap, easy, and fun. Clean up was easy as well. The shaving cream rinses right off with water. The food coloring did stain the grout on my tile just a bit, but a quick spray with some bleach cleaned it right off. I would imagine if the Little Miss wasn't so picky about getting dirty, the food coloring might have stained her just a bit as well, but we didn't get messy.
I think that even The Boy would like to play around with this. I even think I know some teenagers that wouldn't mind getting to paint with some shaving cream! :) If you have little toddlers that like to taste things, you can substitute the shaving cream with vanilla pudding! Fun to paint and safe to eat!
Have a great Tuesday!
Ms. L
* If you're having a problem commenting there is a way to fix it. If you have the "keep me signed in" box for your personal email checked it will not allow you to comment. Simply uncheck the box and then you should be allowed to comment.
I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Trick or Treating Day. I know we did. I had a Ninja and a "Tangled" (she refused to be called Rapunzel) that got way too hyped up on sugar and enjoyed their first year of door to door trick or treating. I have to give a shout out to the complete stranger that was laying in wait in camouflage to scare unsuspecting children! When I whispered that I had an easily scared child, he said he would remain still and not scare her! Way to go, nice stranger! Even when other kids came up behind us and kicked him in the head, because they thought he was fake, he kept still. Of course that may have been because he had a concussion. In that case, Sorry for that, nice unconscious stranger!
Anyway, back to Try It Tuesday. Today was a fun craft time for the Little Miss. We are at the end of our pay period and needed to keep today's project super cheap - aka - Free! We took things from around the house to create a fun time for all!
 |
| Don't judge me for my ugly muffin tins! |
 |
| This is the kid/hubs bathroom. Marvel at how clean it is! Ooh, aahh! |
 |
| Don't marvel at the water spots on the fixtures! |
 |
| The slight drunk look comes from last night's sugar buzz. |
She had Mom paint a rainbow.
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| I know. I have the artistic ability of a two toed sloth. I got it. |
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| Man in boat |
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| I know you're looking at my muffin tins! |
I think that even The Boy would like to play around with this. I even think I know some teenagers that wouldn't mind getting to paint with some shaving cream! :) If you have little toddlers that like to taste things, you can substitute the shaving cream with vanilla pudding! Fun to paint and safe to eat!
Have a great Tuesday!
Ms. L
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