Twenty-First

Well, it was an interesting day. Ever have a day that is crappy, but you make the most of it. And still have some fun, but just kinda sucks. Yeah, that was today. See my face. Grr/hum. Yup.But, they can't all be stellar awesome days, so we put on a smile and a happy disposition, and we make the best of it, right? Who wants to be around a grump. Lets get on with things. ha!
We had the typical morning of getting kids ready and out the door, and this time, CPT America had to be gone around 8 something, and I had a meeting at Tom's school at 8:30am. So I got ready (hence the nicer clothes for so early in the AM- ha!), and headed out.

Tom had won Sweepstakes, and was moving on to District in the Science Fair. I guess there were about 8-10 6th graders who were also. Good job, Tom! They had a little breakfast for the parents, and it was in the library. The students got out of class, and were recognized and received certificates and medals. Tom was SO proud of himself, as he should be!

It was a short and sweet meeting, and I was on my way. It started at 8:30am, and I was back through the Jeb gate before it closed at 9am. That's what I'm talking about! hehe. I hung at the house for a bit, and Kari texted saying that her morning thing had fallen through, and that she could come to Big Lots with me to spend my 20% off discount! Sw-eet! Shopping is always more fun with a friend! And I was excited to get my Christmas tree for cheap. Because it was 75% off of $180. For a 7.5 foot, Deluxe pre-lit tree. And my 20% on top of that.

But, when we got there, ALL of their Christmas stuff was 90% off! That made the tree $18. And 20% off of that made it $14.40!!!!! I was so super excited. We kinda went wild in the Christmas clearance. Lights for $1.30 a box. Wrapping paper for $0.28 a roll. Super nice Christmas cards for $0.64 a box. We had fun filling our carts!

I got a bunch of other stuff that I'd been waiting to use my 20% off reward for too. Like a HUGE cast iron skillet. And another dock for the phone. And a curling iron. And some speakers for CPT Americas computer. And whatever else was on the "list". It was a fun shopping list.
And yeah, my receipt was taller than my head!!! Holy cow :)

Kari helped me unload her car, she head off to her FRG function, and I grabbed my car, and headed to the school for lunch with the kids. All I had for a treat this week was Wheat Thins. Yeah, not the coolest snack, but it was great for dipping in the Mac N Cheese sauce. ha! I ate with Jim's class, then Joe's class came in. Then Eme's class was early. I did get a chance to eat with everyone, though!

After lunch, I headed back home. And since CPT and I were grouchy with one another, we'll call it, I decided to spend some quality time with my hair. I don't know how those women do it, who fix their hair with a curling iron EVERY day. It took me a whole hour!!! But I thought it looked good when it was all finished!




I took down all the Christmas stuff outside, and put it in new totes that I'd bought at Big Lots. I put away all the new Christmas stuff I bought, and straightened up a bit. The house looked a lot better :)

Oh yeah, here's my ladder and my star. I moved my hay, too. Just think, I've had it since Halloween, and it hasn't overly nastified - ROFL! Mom, imagine what it would look like in the Pacific Northwest!
Oh yeah, I got this too :) It was for plants, but I thought it would be good to put on my counter. To hold breads and fruits and stuff :)
At 3:30, I went to the bus to get the kids. Kari asked if her kids could come over at 5pm. She had to go to a work party, and Brian was supposed to pick up Josephine and Jimmy for their basketball game at 5:45pm. Sounded good to me. Then I was taking Leo and Joe to the 6:30pm game. It's good to have friends, you know.

I reheated the left over tortilla soup stuff from last night, and made up a pot of rice to go with it. I was gonna have corn, but the freakin' can opener decided to crap out on me. I wish I had known that earlier. Like at Big Lots! Sigh. Oh well. Look at sweet Jim and Josephine :) So cute!
And the mess in the dining room. It's never gonna go away, is it.... Hmpf.

5:45pm came and went, and soon it was 6pm. Then 6:05. Then 6:10pm. Kari didn't know where Brian was. Finally, I had CPT change (he was working on his truck) and take the little kids. Brian called right as they were leaving, and said that he would be there in about 20 minutes. I said that the game would be over by then, but that he could pick up Josephine at the Main SAS. What?, he said. I told him that the game stared at 6. He told me that Kari told him 6:45. Oops. hehe. Mistakes happen, right?

So, CPT took the kids, and I loaded up with Joe and Leo, and off we went. We had snacks, and I'd already bought them, so it was easy squeezy! I sat and visited with Deborah and kids until her man showed up, then I Facebooked messenged with my sister. I bought her a Miche base the other day, and we chatted about shells. Wish she lived closer, cause we would TOTALLY share!

Me and Deborah's little one. He kinda freaked out when she had to take another kid to the bathroom. I watched him, and the phone's camera kinda kept him entertained. I swear I used to have babies... hehe :)
See, this small child likes me!
Go, Joe, GO!!!
Leo scoring a point! WOOHOO LEo!!!
Isn't Joe cute - hehe ;)
After the game, Joe and Leo passed out the snacks, we loaded up, and we headed home. I stopped by Leo's house to drop him off, and he asked if I could wait outside for a minute. I thought he was gonna ask if Joe could spend the night. Sa-weet! One less kid! He ran inside, and came back grinning from ear to ear! He dad had said YES!!!! To Leo spending the night a my house. Say what? hehe. OK, that works too :) I guess I should pay more attention to what's going on in the truck, right? Silly boys.

We headed home, and CPT was making some Homemade soup for his diet. A big dutch oven full of it. To save for the next several meals. With sausage and ground turkey and beef and veggies and broth and garlic and herbs and all sorts of stuff. It looked ok. Maybe I'd try some when it was done.

I hung out with the family for a bit, and continued to text with my sis. And mess around on pinterest for a bit. The kids were watching some dumb show on TV, and everyone seemed occupied with something else. So I figured I might as well do something productive.

I came and put my jammies on, then sat down and designed the next 5 days worth of freebies. And started blogging. Then CPT remembered that when he and Tom had taken the old truck out for a spin (they'd finally gotten it started), it had died at the shopped (while gassing it up and airing the tires). Oops. And it needed a jump. I wasn't available earlier, because I was driving kids to games. So they'd walked home. It's only like 8 blocks.

Anyway, we loaded up in the suburban, and headed on over. And, of course, a bored MP had to stop and see what we were doing. But he was easy to get rid of ... We got the truck started back up, and headed home. I finished up with my blog, and here it is, 11:36pm. I'm sleepy and tired tonight.

Night, all. Here's to hoping that tomorrow is a better, more happy, day than today...

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Twentieth

It's Friday, and you know what that means! New stuff in the store! Luckily, I got it all designed before I upped my dose of Topomax. hehe. I've lowered it again, so I'm thinking clearly now, too. Ha! At least these meds seem to go in and out of the system fast!

Anyway, click HERE to go to my store!

By Sharon

by Sharon

By Kimberly

By Sharon (RIP her doggy this week, BIG hugs for her!!!)

by Sharon

By Sharon

Hey there :) I was sleepy when Captain America's alarm went off this morning. And I knew that mine went off 37 minutes after his, so I kept on snoozing. Only mine DIDN'T go off, because I forgot to turn it on. Oops...

Luckily, he woke the kids up. I got up about 10 minutes before Tom left for the bus. And helped everyone else get ready. We had family prayer, and out the door he went. Then Captain America went jogging. He had a later start work day. Almost 9 instead of 7.

I got the kids off to the bus, then came back home and got Jake off to the bus. Then started a load of laundry for the little boys, and moved a big area rug into the little boys' room. And put away the little Cardinal's X-mas tree, and the Cardinal's stuff around it.

And texted with my peeps for a bit. Maria (the other Joseph from Scouts) and I were supposed to go shoe shopping. But she forgot that she had a 9:30 appointment. And I had to be back on post by 11:30am, so we didn't have time. Kari and I would have gone hiking, but I thought we were going shoe shopping. And by the time we figured out we weren't going, it was too late, Kari had made other plans. Drat.

So I spent the morning facebooking with my sister. And it was a good time. She's wanted to get a Miche for a while now, and I pushed her over the edge. hehe. She found a few cheap shells at Ft Hood yard sales website (like $6 cheap!), and I told her that as a special present, I'd buy her the base! Cause I'm just that nice - ha! She was super excited. Amanda was having an online party, and I figured that since she bought from my party, I owed her a sale from her party :)

I took pictures of all my shells, and showed Maddie, and I wanna eventually write the names on the pictures, and get it organized. So I can remember what the names are. And I've been kicking around the idea of becoming a REP. Because it just sounds like fun. And like a good idea. Especially since I like them so much... Something to think about... Would any of YOU buy from me? With online orders being the way they are these days..... My girl Leslie is in Hawaii! And I buy from her, and it comes right to my door. So see, you COULD buy from me, right? hehe. Anyway, I'm considering it....

Eventually, it was time to get ready for my lunch appointment. Julia and Kari and I were meeting Julia's oldest sister at a downtown restaurant for lunch. I was excited :) And CPT was meeting us there too! He was gonna be a bit late, since he was coming from work. I figured that I'd just order for him, and then, if the other girls had to leave, I'd just wait, and go home with him.

Anyway, I changed a few times before settling on an outfit, and ended up putting on boots and socks in Julia's van. Ha! I was running behind. We drove downtown, and luckily her navigation knew where to go. Poor CPT. It was gonna be rough for him to find it, I was afraid.

We parked across the street, and walked to the restaurant. It was pretty upscale. I liked it!

I ordered a steak sandwich and tortilla soup (soup of the day) for him, and a chicken sandwich and soup of the day for me. SUPER good food! They make their own pasta from scratch, and bake their own bread. I was SUPER impressed with the food!

CPT's food
My food
Julia's sister was super nice. There was an 18 year difference between her and her sister. WOW! Her mom was having kids forever - hehe. Her family grew up here in El Paso, and so did her hubby's family. So he knows the city very well. It's like being in an El Paso history lesson each time we go out with her. hehe. I lOVE it!

We ate, and chatted, and ate, and chatted some more. It took CPT forever to come. In fact, everyone was done eating, and the waiter had already came with the check. He brought a box for CPT's food, even. I kept telling him that he was coming. I think he thought it was my pretend "man". Yeah, whatever. Just because I ran out of time for makeup doesn't mean I couldn't get a man. hehehe.

Finally, CPT texted and said that he was almost there, and asked for further directions. The place really WAY tricky to find. After another 5 minutes, he was inside. Julia's sister had to leave, but the other girls stayed and chatted. We were there for about another 20 minutes.

And then the school called, and said that Emeline was in the school nurses' office, and wanted to be picked up. Hmpf! She'd caught a cold, and had been coughing a lot. Because she is slightly asthmatic, she coughs a TON when she gets a cold. And sounds like she's dying. She didn't sleep well last night, so I told her that if she didn't feel well (or too tired) at school, to call and we'd come and get her.

It was 2pm by the time we went to pick her up. And the office didn't know where she was. They lost her. LOL. OK, so they didn't just loose her, the lost the whole class. Yeah, that makes it better. What happened was, after their state testing (or something like that), her teacher had the kids (and him) step outside for some fresh air. So he couldn't be reached by intercom. So someone had to physically walk down to find them. But she eventually came.

Since she was feeling ok, but just had a pesky cough, and said that it was just annoying for class, we decided to go to Big Lots and see what they had. Because I wanted to spend $20 to get my 20% off reward! I know, I know. It's a gimmick to get me to buy more! And it totally works... hehe ;)

I found a HUGE box of slim-fast bars for $4 (instead of $8). And 2 MASSIVE bottles of NiQuil for $4. And BIG bottles of Hand Sanitizer for $0.50 a bottle. And then a few household things that we needed. Like soup mixes for dinners. Cause those are just so STINKIN' easy and the kids will eat them. The Bear Creek ones. LOVE those!

And CPT got some soup of his own. And some other stuff. And we found some 75% off Xmas boxed set stuff. Like Hot Sauces. And BBQ sauces. And decorative cookie mixes (for Eme to make).

And, once I get my 20% reward, I'm coming back to get a new Xmas tree. Regularly $180. 75% off. So it's $37.50. 20% off of that. Making it $29.90ish. For a 7.5 foot, pre lit FULL tree. Yeah, it was MASSIVE. I'll get rid of the one that I have now, and this one is all ready packaged up, in case we move! For $30, I can't hardly resist!

We also want a new BIGGER dutch over. And CPT wanted some new hair/nose/ear clippers. And a new docking station for the iPhones for the garage. If we were gonna buy it anyway, might as well wait until we got the 20% off, right?

Here's Eme sporting the St Patty's day stuff :) She sure looks sick, huh? hehe.


Amanda had bought some of this at the $ Tree one time, and brought it to a movie. And Kari and I LOVED it, but could never find it again. So when I found it at Big Lots, I just HAD to buy it. So now Kari and I need to go to the movies and eat it - hehe :)

We came home after Big Lots, and Tom was already home. His bus had just gotten there. We unloaded our stuff, then I walked on over to pick up the kids from the bus. And Tom and CPT changed into Skating clothes.

And we all headed to the skating rink. 4pm on Thursdays is Military kids skate night! CPT has fun helping to teach them to skate. The other people who are teaching them are the lady figure skaters, so our boys are SO grateful! ROFL!

Kari and I sat and chatted, and soon the hour was up. We headed home, and I only had about 15 minutes before I had to run off to church for the Relief Society Visiting Teaching conference. I was signing with 3 other ladies. Had to be there early to practice.

I had enough time to start some dinner (Tortilla soup with tomatoes and chicken) and leave CPT with directions on how to cook it. And who needed help with homework and who had practice and who needed picked up from where. Then I headed out.

And had fun SINGING all the way there! hehe :) Haven't done that in the dark and taken a picture in a long time, now have I?

I got there, and we went thru the music a few times. We had a GREAT pianist, and it made all the difference. We sounded SO much better than last time we practiced. After about 4 times through, we were good.

The program started at 6:30pm, and we played a getting to know you game, then Sister Plotts spoke, then we sang, then the Stake Relief Society President spoke.

Check out our sweet breads that we got to eat during our meeting. They were SUPER yummy. I couldn't eat it all at once sitting, because my full body girdle was doing it's job - ROFL!








It was a good time, and nice to hang out with the "sisters" from church. I need to do that more. I had one of them tape the song on my phone, and I'll try and see if I can get part of it on Facebook. It was really very nice :)

I headed home, and helped CPT get the stragglers to bed around 8:30pm. I had to load my store, AND blog tonight. I watched an episode of Chuck, and CPT is ironing his pants. I've never seen someone be quite so methodical where ironing is concerned.... hehe :)

Tomorrow, Tom's school is having a special Breakfast for the parents and students who got "Sweepstakes" in the science projects. So I'm going on up there. Then I wanna go and redeem my Big Lots reward before they sell all of the trees. ha! Jim and Joe both have games tomorrow night, also. Busy times, busy times. hehe. But then, aren't they always :)


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Nineteenth

So, I really just wanna crawl into bed and go to sleep. But I"ll try and do a quick blog. It's already 10:25pm. And I'm sleepy. I guess that's a good discription of it. Not exhausted. Not drop dead tired. Sleepy. The meds do that to me....

So I woke up at 6:40, and was SO tired. I guess we're still not doing Seminary. I really should. But I didn't do well driving sleepy last night. Don't wanna risk it today. I got the kids up and going, and Captain America left, then Tom left, then I got the kids on the bus, then Jake got ready. And I went back to lay in my bed.

I knew that I was supposed to walk with Kari at 8am, but I also knew that we were supposed to go to lunch around 11am, and that had gotten postponed. So maybe the walk had too? hehe. It was worth a try. So I snuggled with my blankie, and went back to sleep.

But, around 8:15, she texted asking if we were walking. OK, fine, I'll walk. I knew that if I napped, I'd still be just as sleepy. That's how these meds affect me... Good to know, at least. So I threw on some different clothes, and some shoes, and off we went. And it was good to get out, get some exercise, and some fresh air, but most of all, some girl time with Kari! She's the best! I don't know what I'm gonna do when she moves away to snowy South Dakota!!!! Grrr, lets not talk about that....

I came back home, and felt sleepy. I got an early lunch of leftovers and a toasted bagel with butter and jam, and watched an episode of Chuck, then napped on the couch. And was out. Totally out. Captain America came home at 12:30pm, and I didn't even hear him text. LOL.

He thought I must be sick, but I told him it was just the meds. To wake me up and make me get ready when he went to make lunch. So that we could go to Lowes and get supplies for Cub Scouts. Cause there again, I'd be just as sleepy with or without sleeping all day long.

We headed out around 1:30pm, and went to Lowes. We got some supplies for a backyard project, and found these COOL fire pits. The kids have been wanting one forever. CPT? Yeah, not so much. But I twisted his arm. We picked the best one for our family together. This one was very sturdy, and had a medium sized pit. There were some that were more sturdy, but had too big of a fire area. And others that were super cool looking, but weren't good for roasting marshmallows. And others that looked cool, but were not sturdy or didn't have a big enough fire area. So this one was perfect for us :)

For Cubs tonight, we were gonna have the boys make a hat board. And have 3 pegs on it. CPT was gonna cut a board in 3 lengths, and pre-drill peg holes. Then, the boys would sand it down, sand down the pegs, attach the hangers on the back, glue in the pegs, and we'd spray varnish it. Sounded pretty simple.

So we gathered up all the supplies we needed. And, of course, since Lowes is a pretty cool store, we found a few more things that we "needed". hehe. A cool area rug for $40, that included a bonus smaller rug was a COOL find!

After we paid, and got our 10% off military discount, we dropped by Walmart really fast. I ran to their craft department, and got a wooden letter for each boy. With the first letter of their name. For their boards. And some paint and foam brushes. I thought it would look pretty good!

We headed back towards post, and had Tom pick up the kids from the bus. We were just a few minutes behind that. Kari took Joe with her to the downtown library craft program, and CPT and Tom and Jake (eventually) helped to cut the boards. I grabbed Eme, and we headed off to Piano at 4pm.

Here's a few pictures that Kari texted me of Joe doing the simple craft. Apparently, the regular lady was gone today. Kari was worried that the boys wouldn't enjoy the simple craft, but they had fun "messing" with Piglet and Tigger. They gave him a beard and angry faces and enjoyed every minute of it. hehe.

While at piano lessons, I wrote down some ideas for new Wordart packs. Then got Eme re-signed back up for February lessons. She got bumped up to a higher level! She was proud :) And I found out that lessons were canceled last week because Sister Horton had to go in for Gall Bladder surgery! Ouch! She seemed to be doing SOOO much better this week.

Once we got back, we had about an hour and a half before Scouts. I asked Kari if she would take Jim at 6 to his practice, and leave Leo with me. So that we could go to Scouts early. She said that was fine. CPT continued to work on prep stuff, and I got the kids ready.

And reheated leftovers for dinner, and a snack for the Cub Scouts. It was a S'More, or sorts. Kind of what was on hand, snack. LOL. Pizza dough calzone type thing. Stuffed with marshmallow, chocolate chips, and coconut. Looked tasty. Too bad I only had enough for JUST the boys...

Soon, it was time to go. We got to church about 10 minutes early. We set up 4 different rooms in the primary room (patricians) for our stations. One for sanding, one for pegs, one for painting, and one for screwing. And we had 2 dads helping, and CPT, and me. With 4 adults, and 6 boys, it worked out perfect.

We started our meeting, split the group into 2 groups of 3, then started. CPT helped 3 of them power sand their boards, and the other adults helped them hand sand their pegs. Then I helped them paint their letters. Then we switched.

Here are a few pics from the evening. This is the peg sanding station. That's Charlotte's hubby!


CPT helping the boys sand. He even makes overalls look hot.... Just saying...

Leo telling me that his board is SUPER smooth...

Joe painting his letter. Oh yeah, I asked Tom to bring me 6 shirts that he had earmarked for donation before we left the house, and I used them for Cub Scout painting smocks. PERFECT! I'm a freakin' genius! LOL :)

After we screwed the fasteners on the back, we finally glued the pegs in. Here's Dave helping Matthew. SO cute! Charlotte would be SO proud!
After that, we had closing prayer, and the kids had their snack. Unfortunately, on of the boys accidentally on purpose drooled on 2 of the treats, so one of the boys didn't get his treat. I wasn't too pleased his that particular Cub Scout.... He'd been a bit rowdy/misbehaved all night... We'll work on him.

It took forever, but we got it all cleaned up and put away in the back of our truck. We decided to take all their projects home, put a finishing spray on it, attach their letter, and bring it back next week. The boys REALLY wanted to bring them home with them tonight, but they needed finished. Patience, my young padawans.... hehe.

We got the Primary President to push back the Pinewood derby, too. Because no one (well, 2 families - not my den) were ready. We wanted a few more weeks to work on it. To plan a few "car clinic" meetings on Wednesdays. I'd had at least half of the parents in my den text me in the past 24 hours to ask for help. Yeah, that's a sign that we needed to postpone. hehe. We hadn't even started yet! LOL :)

Anyway, it's now at the end of February. And we're moving the Blue and Gold to March. I know, I know, we're moving the Birthday of Scouting. But haven't you ever moved a birthday celebration to fit your needs? I moved Christmas one time. I did. No lie. I say, it's our pack, we should be able to customize it any way we want. The reason people do Pinewood derby in January is to be able to get into district competitions. Well, we don't really care about that. We just wanna be able to pull off a Pack one. ha!

Anyway, we headed back to post, switched out Jim for Leo, and went home. I got the little boys to bed, and hopped in the shower. I'd walked in the morning, and then gone to sleep. Yeah, it was DEFINITELY time for a shower. hehe. I felt much better after.

So here it is, 11pm. That only took about 30 minutes. Not too bad. But I'm tired now. It's moved from sleepy to tired. So, good night, y'all! I'll see you in the morning!


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