3, 4, Knock at the Door

Good day in the Harty house. Parts of it were tense, but alls well that ends well, right?

CPT was up early going to early morning PT, and I heard him when he was coming back home to get ready to go to work the second time around.

I got up and got up with the kids. We did some chores and had some breakfast. CPT went off to work, and and Eme and Paul and Carol and ago got ready for a trip to the beauty college. And we decided that we couldn't really leave Jake at home with Tom and the little boys. That wouldn't really be responsible. So he had to come with us...

He wasn't thrilled about it, but Jim said that Jake could play on his DS, so that was good. I showered and got ready to go, and soon we were out the door. We got there, and Paul and Eme and Carol were soon taken back for their hair cuts. Jake and I hung out in the lobby. I'd brought a few Miche catalogs, which I placed in the magazine racks! Go me :)

Jake played his game, and we were done and out of there in under an hour! Sa-weet! They all looked good after their trims :) Can't beat a dollar hair cut plus tip! After the hair cut, we loaded up in the Suburban, and headed over to Bassett Center to the Jewelry Box. Carol still hadn't been there! And Eme was SUPER excited to see it :)

We looked around for WAY too long. I found 3 things, and Eme found 3 things, but then we were there too long, and I found MORE than that... Sigh, I almost got out of there with 6 items - hehe. While we were still looking around, Jake had taken Paul and Carol next door and conned them into a Sonic Screwdriver from Fye. He had $12 at home to pay them back...

As I was in line to pay, the texts started to fly in from home. CPT was at home for lunch. And he had been talking to Tom. Who had been telling on his brother. And rightfully so. Jake, apparently, had cut out the screen in his upstairs bedroom window, and had crawled on top of the landing on the garage, and had been hanging out there during the night.... Um, NOT COOL JAKE!!!

Jake had confided in Tom this morning, and Tom had told his Dad at lunch. CPT, needless to say, was NOT amused... He was going on about making Jake pay to replace the screen. It's hard to communicate through text when there is a LOT of info to cover, so I said that we'd just come home, and I'd talk to him there.

I asked Jake about it, and he got all downcast, and fessed up to it. I promptly confiscated the Sonic Screwdriver until further notice. He was sad. We talked about the screen. He said that his window DOESN'T have a retractable screen. It's built into the window. Because it's NOT designed to be removed. Hence the cutting. So he destroyed it. That's a no no. Which means he has a pocket knife. Those need to be confiscated. And I need to child lock the window.

We talked about crawling out onto the roof. He said that he'd seen the workers do it before. We talked about how they walked on BEAMS. He didn't realize that. We talked about falling thru into the garage. And replacing Dad's car. Not good.

And then when we got home, he had the SAME conversation with his dad. Who was SO not happy. CPT wanted Jake to sell off ALL of his Video games that were worth anything to pay for the cost of fixing the window. There's a game exchange place in town. Jake was fine with that. He knew which ones would be worth money. And Grandpa said that he didn't have to pay him back the $12 for the Sonic Screwdriver. So he already had $12 in his fund, too. That helped.

CPT was pretty upset about it. I knew how he felt. He had the look on his face that I had when I first realized that Jake was Autistic. How it feels when you first realize it. How it feels like someone dropped a ton of bricks on you. How you feel like your treading water, and you don't know how much longer you can make it. It's a horrible feeling. A sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Something is terribly wrong with your child. They are NOT like other children. They are NEVER gonna figure some things out. Simple things that other children get. Like why it is wrong to cut out a screen in their bedroom window, crawl out the window onto the space over the garage, and hang out at 2am.

And he wanted to punish Jake. To make him suffer. He wanted him to sell off all of his possessions to make him pay. I knew it wasn't gonna work. But I agreed to take him. CPT went back to work, and I made lunch for everyone at home. After lunch (soup, biscuits, and left over chocolate cake (EVEN better day 2!!!)), Jake and I headed out. He took his 6 best games. And we headed to the Game Exchange place. He was a little hesitant, but did it. And was pleased with the $4 per game that he got. Now tell me that a neuro-typical 14 year old boy would be happy with that!

Anyway, I drug him to Fallas with me after that. He SO wasn't happy about that. hehe. I wanted to get a suitcase for my Miche stuff. When I went to my Monthly meeting, I learned that I needed to streamline my presentation kit. And get it to fit into a suitcase. So I bought a big one. And a cute one at that. Hehe. And I knew that Fallas had big AND cute ones! Jake helped me pick one out.

And we found a CUTE mini pool table set for $8, and a mini Air Hockey set for $15. Then we paid, and headed to Big Lots. I got a few things there, then we headed back home. Joe and Carol helped me re-tool my Miche kit, until it was JUSt right. I only have a few more things to purchase until it's Perfect! I can't wait!

CPT got home around 5:30pm, and by 6pm, we were ready to head out for Date night. Paul and Carol were holding down the fort for us. We went to Carinos for dinner. It's right next to the Comedy Club, where we were going for the 8:30pm show. My friend, Chrystal, had birthday tickets, and had gotten some for CPT and I! Thanks, my friend!

CPT and I only had to wait for about 10 minutes before we were seated. We ordered, and munched on SUPER yummy bread while our food was cooking. I LOVE Carinos bread. I would go there Just for that. hehe.

He got the chili, and I got the house salad. LOVE their croutons. He got the steak and veggies and angel hair pasta, and I got the chicken something or another. It had chicken and ham and provolone maybe bacon? I can't remember... It was DIVINE! And fettuccine Alfredo on the side. OMGosh! I was in heaven. But I could only eat about half. I was gonna take the rest home, but CPT wanted to finish it off, so I let him... Of course, I was hungry when I got home. I ate a PBJ... Not quite the same. ha!!

After dinner (which we were very slow, since we got there at 6:30, and we didn't have to be to the show until 8 to get the tickets), we headed over to the Comedy Club. We'd parked in the middle, so we just walked. And we met Chrystal outside. She introduced us to all of her other family/friends, and we went inside.

And the show was SUPER funny. Naughty, yes, but funny. Sometimes, the acts are just stupid. Like the one girl that we saw from the Northeast. She was REALLY bad. Like left the stage after about 5 minutes bad. But these guys that we saw tonight were really good. And it was JUST what CPT needed. And night of laughing. I haven't seen him laugh that hard in a REALLY long time. Laughing so hard he was almost crying. I think he felt a LOT better by the time we left.

Thanks, comedian dude! You lifted our spirits :) We headed home, and it was only 10pm when we got back. The little boys were playing Wii, Grammie was sleeping, and the big kids were playing cards with Grandpa. The poor dog was TRYING to not have to play cards. That poor dog is a SAINT. But I did notice that he had a dealt hand at the table....

We hung with the kids for a while, then after about 30 minutes, we put everyone to bed. And hung for a while ourselves, then it was time for CPT to go to bed. He wanted to get up in the morning and go Lift. Me? I wanted to blog. And watch a show. But seeings how it is 12:19am right now, and I'm feeling sleepy, I'll probably skip the show. And just go to sleep.

At 11am, we are going to "Mandatory Fun" for the BTN. It's at a park, and is a picnic. For the whole family. Should be interesting. After that, we wanna hit a few museums. Maybe I can talk everyone into doing a movie after that? We shall see....

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNg file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net

1, 2, Buckle My Shoe

New goodies FRESH in the store this week!!! Aren't you excited! Form and orderly line, and click HERE to enter. Remember, no pushing and shoving. There's plenty of room for everyone. No need to cut... hehe :)





It was a pretty calm day in our house today. We slept in, and the kids played a lot of cards. Go figure there. hehe. Jake was banned from electronics today, so he ended up playing a lot of cards. Even teaching the dog how to play. ROFL! That was freaking hilarious!!! Justin (Kari's oldest) came over for a bit too, so you have Tom and Jake and Justin trying to teach the dog how to play cards. Yeah, DEFINITELY hilarious. Poor dog was a sport....

I spent most of the day trying to crank out my weekly designs. Sharon is on vacation in FL at Disney, so no layouts this week. Plus, I'm slow. Had I been proactive, I could have gotten them to her early. But, alas, I'm not, so here I am.... hehe :)

Anyway, I chatted with Aunt Sue on the phone a little after lunch ,and we closed out her Miche party. She ended up with $40 worth of product credit, 2 half price shells, and 20% off of the rest of her order! Pretty good, huh!!! Let me know if any of YOU wanna host an online party! I'll hook you up!

Then, I helped her get signed up as a rep! She'd started the process, so I had to call the regional field office to complete the process. We got it all figured out, and she's legit now! Woohoo! I have a rep under me! I'm big time - hehe :) Well, ok, so not really, but I kinda feel that way :)

At 3pm, I made the kids turn off whatever they were doing, and we headed the the pool. Paul and Carol decided to stay home, and took a break from the kids. I think they are "carded out". ha! I sure would be!

I used that hour to FOCUS on designing, and got the last of my WordArt packs designed. The kids swam, and we came home after an hour. The kids got their chores done, and I got my store all loaded.

CPT was home from work because it was Family Day, and he and his dad took the Washer and Dryer (the good ones that broke part way thru the deployment) up to get them fixed. And here I am. My store is loaded. The freebie for tomorrow is loaded. My blog is almost all written. And it's not even 5pm yet! Sure, it's 4:53pm. So it's ALMOST 5pm. Shhh, don't tell. hehe :)

I should have the evening off. No work! When the guys get back from the Washer/Dryer place, we can do whatever as a family :) Hopefully we have a nice evening, work free! Wish us luck!

This is a series that I'm doing. Here's the first part! Enjoy!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. thanks!

4shared
box.net

Making New Friends

**Sorry about the download link, it's fixed now! :) **

Hola, peeps! Another day gone by in the Harty household :) I woke up early to CPT getting ready for his early morning. I promptly fell back to sleep, of course. hehe. And woke up again a little after 9am.

We thought about going to the beauty college at 10am, but decided that tomorrow would be a better day. The kids had dentists appointments today. We didn't wanna be too rushed.

We hung for a while at the house, then Eme and I ran to the grocery store and to the post office. I wanted to send some Miche catalogs to Aunt Sue. I've only been telling her FOREVER that I wanted to send those to her - hehe. And I wanted to send some to my sister too, but I waited too long. Her party closes in the next few days. Kinda a moot point now... So I asked my friend Laurie in California if she wanted to do an Online party, and sent her the package of catalogs instead!

We mailed the envelopes (cheaper in a flat rate mailer than the manilla envelopes from home!) then went to the commissary, and got stuff for a YUMMY oriental salad. And some soda. And a few other things. And back home we went!

It was a mad dash, but we managed to get lunch ready for everyone. 3 different types of lettuce, spinach, diced ham, diced chicken nuggets, cranberries, sunflower seeds, mandarin oranges, crunchy noodles, and I can't remember what else. Super yummy things :)

And I put it in separate bowls on the table so people could pick what they wanted in their salads, and we feasted, I mean ate. hehe. But we had to hurry. Because the kids had dentist appointments at 1:45pm. And it was clear across town on the West side. I wanted to leave at 1:15pm. But yeah, we were a bit late in leaving.

Paul and Carol said that they'd clean up for me, so we got out of there soon than later, but still, it wasn't soon enough. We were a bit late for our appointment. I did call, and say that we were running behind. That I'd miscalculated how long it would take to get there, and that we were behind. They were cool about it. We should up closer to 2 than 1:45pm....

The kids had a good check up/cleaning. Tom and Jim both had new teeth, so they got new sealants. The kids who had a lot of dental work done in the summer got X-rays done, just to be sure that everything was still good. And it was. No new cavities, so that was good! All in all, it was a PERFECT check up! Thank goodness! I think we paid between $1500-2000 last time we went to the dentist. So $0 was fine with me this time!

We were done and out of there by 3pm, and we headed back home. We had just enough time to get back to post, get kids situated, get Eme ready for piano, I changed clothes and got ready for my Miche meeting in Las Cruces, and ran out the door with Emeline. We headed to Piano at Logan. She had her lessons from 4-5. I put on a fresh layer of make up in the car, and I texted everyone I knew, trying to find out where to go to pick up the Young Womens fundraiser dinner tonight! I knew it was someone over on the North East side, but past that, I was lost...

Finally, Maria texted me back. She said come to her house, and she'd take me. Thank goodness! Eme came out a little before 5pm, and we headed to the North East side. We went to Maria's house, picked her up, and headed to Sister Peterson house. She lived like 1 minute away! We got Maria's 6 dinners, and our 7 dinners, then dropped Maria back off at her house, and headed back home.

I dropped Eme off, and the dinners off, and the kids were being SO naughty. At this point, it was 5:45pm. I was supposed to be in Las Cruses in 15 minutes. A 60 minute drive. Yeah, NOT gonna happen... I still wanted to go. Barbara knew I was gonna be late. Jake was having problems. He was being rude.... I didn't know if I should leave or not.... CPT was due home anytime, though...

I made the decision to leave, though. I headed up 54, and took transmountain to i-10, then on to Las Cruces. I was about 35 minutes late for the meeting, but it was SO much fun! I'm glad I went! I learned a lot, and met some super nice ladies!

They had some great give-a-ways, and great food. I stayed till around 8:30 chatting and getting to know the ladies. I really liked Barbara. She's awesome :) I headed back home, and talked on the phone with my Dad the whole way! Love ya, Dad! Thanks for keeping me company!

I got home, and the guys were playing cards at the table. Joe was sleeping in Grammie and Grandpa Harty's room (really, Joe and Jim's room). Jim was asleep upstairs. Apparently, when I left, I took the electronics closet key, and no one could have electronics privileges, even though they'd cleaned their rooms and such.

I guess that Jake wanted to have them the second I walked in the door. And CPT wanted him to continue playing the game, since it would throw off the game. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. But I sure heard the yelling from Jacob that ensued after. Grandpa Harty tried to talk him down. I think he eventually got him calmed down. I don't know. Sigh. It's not a good thing.

Everyone went to bed, and I ended up blogging on the couch. I chatted on Facebook with Aunt Sue about Miche for quite a while. I told her about how if you sign up as a rep (the $50 option) and have one $200 party, that you start getting 25% back on all of your sales! That's really a good deal!

Then I started back to blogging. It's now about 12:30am. Yeah, I'm a bit sleepy. I may watch a show before I sleep, though. Maybe. I haven't decided... We shall see :)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared (being stupid, and it won't work tonight...)

box.net

Playing Cards

Hi! So, I remembered to blog today - Yeah me! LOL. It's 11pm, and my house is almost quiet. CPT is getting all ready for bed. He's back to work early squirly in the morning. The kids are already asleep. The in-laws have gone to bed. I'm out here on the couch blogging, and then I'm gonna watch a show on the laptop, I think. Then it's off to beddy bye for me :)

Anyway, the house was up super late last night. I went to bed at around 11:30pm, or midnight. I don't quite remember. It was late. And I was out of it. I think I heard that it was around 2 that they all went to bed. They were playing darts when I went to bed. I think it switched to a rousing game of Uno. hehe. They were all having fun.

When I went to bed, the plan was to wake up early and head to New Mexico to Ruidoso for Sight Seeing. Well, I woke up at 10:20am. That's not early. And CPT wasn't budging... I was confused. I crawled out of bed, and went to see what everyone was doing. And the people told me that the NEW plan from last night was to skip sight seeing. Because of the lateness of last night. Works for me. Plus, Jake had a therapy appointment at 11am. So now we can make it! I cranked it into high gear, and got ready!

Jake and I headed up to the Therapy appointment, and were a bit late. I called to let them know, but we still made our session. We talked about what was going well, and what needed improved on. It was a good transition point. From 2 weeks meetings to 3 weeks meetings. I really like this lady as a therapist. She's pretty good with Aspergers kids!

We finished up, and headed back home. CPT was awake and getting ready to go and lift. It was noon, and we got Hot Dogs on the grill and cooked for everyone. After lunch, I spent some time designing and hanging out with my Mother in Law. The kids played cards with their grandfather, and there were a lot of electronics played today.

After CPT lifted, the guys did a project in the backyard where they cleaned it up. It looked SO much better when it was done! It took a few hours, though. I'm not sure what all I did, but the afternoon eventually passed. hehe.

I know that my Miche order came today. I'd bought a Classic bundle for my Mother in Law, and the replacement bundle came in the mail. I'd given her 2 shells from my collection, and replaced one of them with an Ashton. I didn't have her, but LOVED it in the catalog. And she didn't disappoint in real life! What do you think???


Beautiful colors, huh? We had creamy spaghetti with sausage for dinner, and corn, and homemade breadsticks for dinner. Then, in the later evening, we had a bonfire. And all sat around, and CPT read the kids a book. Last time, it was an owl book. This time it was a book about Turtles. I think Eme was in charge of picking the books. LOL. We learned all about the life of a turtle. So sad, that that mama turtle had hundreds of eggs, and only one made it.... Not good odds....





We roasted marshmallows, and ate the whole bag. Super yum. That's the only way that I like marshmallows. Roasted to a nice, crisp light brown color. Preferably with chocolate. We didn't have any (bummer), but it was still good :)

We came back inside, and started up a game of Rummy. The little kids played on electronics for a while, and the older kids and the adults played Rummy. Soon, it was bedtime for the little kids. And the rest of us played Rummy until bedtime. We really did have a good time.

I'd like to say I won. I'd like to say that I finished with my hand in the positive. Sigh. I think I ended with a -15. ROFL! I've never lost that bad before. hehe. Oh well. It was fun :) I was playing for Jake who had a head cold, and took a Sudafed. It made him a bit loopy. hehe. It was comical :)






Can I just say how much I LOVE having my in-laws here. They are the most AWESOME. They enjoy EVERYTHING that we do. They are truly grateful for everything. They love every second that they get to spend with their grandkids, and are content to just be here with them. Paul spends most of his time playing cards with the little ones at the table. And Carol would be content to lay in the bed and get snuggles from them all day long. It's the most precious thing I've ever seen.

I wanna be JUST like them when I grow up. Humble, and patient, and loving. Just like them. Thanks, you guys, for being a GREAT example, of what a grandma and grandpa should be :) Love you guys!!!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the pNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks1

4shared
box.net

Coming Soon.

Yeah, so, I woke up on Monday morning, and took a decongestant. And it wasn't a non-drowsy Sudafed. It was something else. It worked. Oh yeah, it worked. Boy did it work! But it made me SUPER drowsy!

I don't remember much of the day - hehe. We wanted to go to New Mexico and show the in laws Old Mesilla. And Ft Stanton. And a few places. Mostly a driving tour. But didn't wanna take ALL of the kids. And knew that Tom could handle most of the kids. But not Jake. So we dropped him off at the Youth Center. And took Jim with us. It could be his One-on-one time.

We loaded up, and headed out. We dropped Jake off around 1pm. And Jake took Carol and Paul on a tour of the Milam Youth Center. Then off to New Mexico we went. I tried to stay awake, but may have dozed a few times on the trip.



I know that Jim fell asleep. But he still smiled for the picture. hehe.
We got to Ft Stanton, and there were some really pretty cacti there!





Me, feeling SUPER tired! Wishing I'd stayed and slept in the Suburban - ha!
Jimmy by the cannon
The dude there let Jim dress up! Isn't he handsome!


Carol LOVED these bottles :)
Jim like this LITTLE cannon.

We drove to Old Mesilla, but didn't have time to eat at La Posta like we'd hoped. We got too late of a start. We did drive around the town and show the in laws. It's a SUPER cool town. We had to be back to pick up Jake by 7pm. That's when the Youth Center closes. It was kinda messing up our plans.

On the way home, we stopped by the Rio Grande so that Carol could see the river. She was SO sad to learn that it was NOT like the Mississippi....
We drove back to town, and stopped at a gas station to get everyone a drink and a candy, then headed to the Youth Center to pick up Jake. Then went to Rudy's for dinner. And it didn't make me sick this time! I was SOOOO worried! Cause I had stomach cramps last time. I really really was having misgivings about going! hehe :)

My MIL was super impressed about the tin doors in the bathroom - hehe.

And the last stop for the day was to Walmart. Paul and Carol stayed in the car with Jake, and they watched a movie, and just Jim and CPT and I went inside. Jim had $6, and he gave it to his dad for safe keepings. AND, the dollars had BABIES!!! it was the cutest thing. CPT had been saving his change for the longest time, and he had Jimmy do some dumb little job around the house to earn whatever was in there. Yeah, he should have counted up the money FIRST, because he did the job, THEN counted. It was $20!!! hehe. So, Jim ended up getting to spend about $25. He was SUPER excited :)

We found this, and I just HAD to text a photo to Carol and Jake. I thought they would appreciate it, being afraid of the sun - LOL.
Mmmm, hot chocolate! Can you imagine!
Hunger Games!!! I can't wait!
And, finally, to the toys!







These pants CAN'T be comfortable... I don't know how they even stayed up...
CPT ended up staying in line and paying, and Jim and I went to the Suburban. We headed home and I hung with Carol and the boys played Uno well into the night. I went to bed around midnight and was dead to the world. Meds will do that to you. Luckily, I had regular non-drowsy sudafed for today! hehe.

My Miche wallet DID finally come, though! I was super excited! It's so soft and pretty :) I just love it. And now I have one to promo for the parties. Yippee!





Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net