Merry Christmas Dec 2009

First off, I want to wish everyone out there a Very Merry Christmas! I can't believe that it's here already!!! Where in the world did the year go???

I have an extra special treat for you guys for Christmas!!! I made up some more WordArt Bundles!!! 8 Christmas WordArt Packs in a bundle, all for a low price of $5.00. That's $0.625 cents per pack, or $0.15 per single WordArt. Now really, you can't beat that, right? $0.15 a piece? I'm practically giving it away - hehehe. Anyway, I have 3 different packs to choose from. SO, Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas 1 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 2 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 3 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

You know, I'm either running around like a chicken with her head cut off, or sick. Those are my two kinds of days. Have you noticed? ROFL! One of these days, I'll have a "not much happened" day. One of these days. It's bound to happen, right?

Well, Christmas Eve was a "chicken" day - LOL! I went to bed at around midnight the night before, and decided to sleep in my clothes (bra too) so that when I got up at 6:45am in order to leave the house at 7:00am to go to Target with Andrea to buy gift exchange presents for our families that it would be easier to get up and go. Dang, holy run on sentence, eh? LMBO!

Anyway, I woke up when my alarm went off, texted Andrea, brushed my teeth, and out the door we went. We looked around the dollar section for a while, and found cheap gifts for everyone. Let me see if I can remember what we got for people. Andrea got a GIANT magnet of the letter R (for Reay), I got a mini pot with "Forget-Me-Not" flowers, Captain America got a calendar of Italy, Jacob got US State Flash Cards, Sam got National Geographic flash cards, Tom got multiplication flash cards, Emeline got 4 different colors of mini highlighters, Ben got a dry erase board for practicing your letters, Joe got a dry erase board of the Incredibles, Jim got a wooden train, and Luke got a board book. Pfew! That's a lot of people. SO, if you go to Target, you can see what we got - LOL!

Next, we went looking for a Birthday Present for Kim. We'd just found out that it was her birthday the night before from Facebook! I had the candles for Christmas, but Andrea needed something. It would be a combo b-day/Christmas gift. Even though I always hated it when people did that to me when I was growing up - LOL! Now I understand - hehehe.

The movie section had a BUNCH of cheap older movies. Andrea got a Civil War collection for Captain America for $4, and I got him one for his stocking for $7. I also found the DVD collection of Daybreak, a really cool 12 episode series that was on CBS a while back. About a guy that has to repeat the same day (think Groundhog day) over and over. It was pretty good. It was only $4.

Next, we headed to Walmart. I'd mentioned to Andrea about this fake "Scensy" candle warmer thing at Walmart the other day. And that Captain America said that I should get it for myself for Christmas, because I had nothing under the tree. Which is true. I was just planning on getting money. Borning, I know :) Anyway, she said that she wanted to get it for me for Christmas. Sigh. ANDREA, you don't need to buy me things for Christmas - LOL!

Anyway, we headed to Walmart. We got CoolWhip for the pumpkin pie, cherry pie filling for the pie for Christmas, undershirt for Eme, and black socks for Joe/Jim, walnuts for something that I wanted to bake (can't remember now what it was - LOL!), and a few other things. Andrea got me a "warmer", and I picked out a few of the scents that I liked. And I picked out a few scents that she liked to give to her :)

When we were in the small appliance isle, she was debating getting a popcorn popper, and decided to wait. I told her that I almost bought one the day before, and she said that she wanted to buy me one - ROFL! SO, I said let Santa buy me the Scensy, and she could get me the popper. Silly Andrea. If you wanna spend money on me, I'm not gonna stop you - LOL!

I got some popping corn to use in it, and am excited to use it :) I just LOVE making homemade popcorn (and caramel corn). We stopped at McDonalds inside Walmart and had Breakfast Sausage Burritos, then headed home.

I wrapped up Kims present and card, and Andrea did the same at home, and we quickly drove it over to Kims house, dropped it off, and came back home. My family was finally all awake, and happy to see me.

Captain America finished up Breakfast, and we sat down to open presents from me. But first, we had the talk about WHY we do presents on Christmas. They all understood that Christmas was about Jesus, and vaguely understood the concept of Christmas is about showing love. We further explained that Heavenly Father gave us a precious gift, because He loved us SO much. He gave us the gift of his Son, and in turn, His Son gave us the gift of His life. Gifts given in love. That's what we do when we give gifts at Christmas time. We're trying to be like them.

We also talked about how gifts from the heart are the best, and that gifts with a lot of thought are even better. The gift of time is the best gift of all. We talked about how we should treat each other, and how you should act when you receive a gift. Hopefully some of that sunk in - LOL!

So, it was on to present opening. Jim and Joe went first, and they absolutely loved the set. Those cars were definitely a great idea :) Eme liked her Zhu Zhu pet, and played with it ALL day long, until the batteries wore out - LOL! Tom thought his car was awesome, and Jake was excited about the crystals. All in all, I did good, I think. Everyone was happy :)

I sat down for a while and made a "brag book" for my mom, aunt, and grandma for Christmas. I should have done it LONG ago, but I finally got around to it. I used the photos from Christmas Eve morning, so at least it was recent, right? LOL! I uploaded them to the photo department of my mom's local grocery store, and told her she could pick them up after work. That's SO handy.

I used a buttload of my own WordArts, and Happy Feet Brag Book by Ziggle Designs and Krystal Hartley. I think it's FABULOUS! You can buy it HERE.












At 2pm, Captain America, Andrea, and I headed out to the hospital to visit one of the sisters that Andrea and I Visit Teach. She'd fallen and broker her hip, and had had surgery earlier that day. Poor thing! What a way to spend Christmas Eve :( Andrea got a call from Ryan from Iraq while we were driving there, and ended up chatting with him the whole time. Such is army wife life. You drop it all when your man calls, and chat. Wherever and whenever that may be.

Captain America and I had a nice chat with Sister Montoya, and headed back toward post. We swung by Sonic on the way and got Happy Hour drinks. Diet Coke for Captain America, Diet Dr. Pepper for Andrea, and Diet Lemonade for me. They actually had 2 Diet/Caffeine free choices for me to choose from. I'm definitely remembering that one :) Score it!

We dropped Andrea off at home, but sat in the car and chatted for about 30 minutes before she went inside. She's SO much fun :) hehehe. When we got back home, the Birds (from church) were there dropping off goodies at our house. Don't you just LOVE Christmas time? People dropping off sweets at your door. What a great time of the year - LOL!

Jake said that a package had come while we were out. I went in my room, and it was from my sister. Gifts for the kids. THANKS Madi! You're SO sweet. I wrapped them right away, and put them under the tree. The more that I do in the moment, the less I have to do late Christmas Eve night, right?

I then started cooking. We were supposed to be a Andreas at 5:00pm for Dinner. Yeah, we were gonna be late. I texted her and asked if we could do 5:30 instead. I made Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (FABULOUS!), rice crispy treats with chocolate on top, fruit salad, pistachio pie, and something else, it seems like. I can't remember now. Anyway, it took FOREVER, just to make those few things. I think I was still worn out from Thanksgiving - LOL!

Captain America took Jim and Joe and headed to Lowes/Big Lots to pick up a few things. Lowes had the supplies to fix my broken table, and Big Lots had Hot Wheels. Because life will NOT go on without Hot Wheels, you know. Seriously....

We got to Andreas house about 15 minutes before Captain America/Jim/Joe, and helped Andrea get everything situated. She'd made crock pot chicken, and cuscus, and rolls, and a salad, and "pink stuff", and brownies, and a pineapple upside down cake, and pumpkin pie. OMGosh, we had SO much food. And it was ALL so good. I especially loved the cuscus. I'm gonna have to get some of that :) I liked it a lot ;)

We watched "A Christmas Story" (1983) on TBS, and listened to Captain America laugh hysterically. Andrea had never seen it before, and Captain America just LOVES that movie. It IS pretty funny, you know :) LOL!

Before we came back home, we had the present exchange. Andrea also gave me a set of Christmas dishes that she'd had for a while. I told her a few months ago that I've always wanted a set of Christmas dishes, and never had any. She's so sweet. I felt bad taking her dishes, but she assured me that she had got them quite a while back, and had never used them. She wanted me to have them. Thanks, hon! You're the bESTEST!!!

Captain America is still working on her prensent from me. I wanted him to make me a bigger earring/jewelry holder, and I told him to make one for her too. SO, once it's done, she'll get her present from me. And the fake Scensy stuff. I'll give it to her on Christmas Day.

We helped to clean up, and gathered up the food, and headed home. I'd printed out a Christmas program, but we didn't get around to using it. Maybe on Christmas Day. Sigh. That's 2 years now, that I've printed out/planned a Christmas program, and it hasn't happened. I hope it happens. I love sining Christmas songs and hearing the Christmas story. Although it is quite crazy with 11 people (8 kids) in the house :)

So here it is, almost 10pm. Kids are all in bed. Captain America is working on fixing my dining room table. I'm blogging. I still have to design a freebee, post it, and then wrap. I've got a lot done, but there's still more. Then I have to "help" Santa put stuff out. Sigh. I'm tired. I wonder if I can get it all done by midnight. I sure hope my kids are patient in the morning. I'll have to tell them to go and put on a movie while Mom and Dad sleep......

Here's a fun Christmas Freebee for y'all! Hope you like it :) Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net

Christmas Eve

First off, just wanted to let you all know about our "Perfect Pairs" sale over at Scraporchard. I actually have a "collab" that I did with Annick Philibert when she was selling at the store last year. Anyway, go give it a look. It's only $1.25 (50% off) for one day only, and is not being included in my Christmas WordArt bundle that's coming out on Friday.... Anyway, HERE's the link :)


Another busy day in the Harty household! I got a good nights sleep the night before, at least - hehehe. Did I tell you that I went to help Kim clean our her flooded basement a few days ago, and that she gave me a few sheet sets that she was donating? King size? OMGosh - I washed them up and put them on my bed, and slept in them last night, and DANG, woman! Those are nice sheets. I think I must just always buy a super low thread count, because these felts SUPER nice. Like hotel sheets. Thick, and warm and PERFECT. OK, yes, I know. I'm easy to please. THANK YOU KIM!!!

Anyway, I was up at 7am with the kids. Captain America was still at work, and not due back till around 9am from his 12 hour night shift for Staff Duty. Poor guy. I'd have a hard time staying awake that long. I fed the kids, got kinda ready, got Jimmy ready, and headed out the door. Jake has SUCH an easy babysitting time when I take Jimmy. The others practically watch themselves.

SO, Jimmy and I headed out on an adventure. We took the blender back to Target, and got our money back. I wanted to look for a folding table, since my table was in the back yard getting rained on. Sigh. It was a VERY soggy day in El Paso. And cold. Burrr. I thought this was supposed to be the desert :)

Anyway, while in Target, I found a Zhu Zhu pets. I'd heard of them, but hadn't actually ever seen one before. Funny, huh? I've never bought my kids the "cool" thing for Christmas, because it's always SUPER expensive. But this little toy hampster was only $7.99. So I got a grey one for Emeline.

And that got me thinking. I'd like to get a gift for EACH of the kids, just from me. Jimmy and I were off on a shopping spree (kind of - LOL!). If you really knew me, you'd know that it's TOTALLY out of character. I'm SO cheap. Really, I am. LOL!

First, though, we stopped in the little Target snack bar place and bought a Soft Pretzel and a soda. Diet Lemonade, thank you very much! No caffeine for me :) It was nice having a little "date" with him.

Next, it was on to Big Lots. It was a different Big Lots than we usually go to, and it wasn't as good. Not as many toys. Sigh. BUT, I still looked around. I found a really cool Matchbox set for Joe and Jim to share. It was a Power Scouts Adventure System thingy. A snake mountain one, or something like that. The little cars have an on/off switch, and move around. I got the set, plus one extra truck. I got both for $20, I think.
I also bought another Wii game, and a new keyboard for one of our many computers, and a new mouse too (the kids JUST informed me that a different mouse just died, so I may be getting ANOTHER one from big lots....). I think that's all I found at that store.

Next, it was over to KMart. Same shopping complex. They didn't really have anything that I couldn't live without, and their folding tables were SO small. Didn't need a small one. And their toys were super expensive. Nothing that Jake or Tom would want for under $10.00

Next, it was on to Fallas Parades. It was a different one than I usually go to, across town by the dollar theater. It was actually laid out much better, and still had a TON of good stuff :) I ended up getting Jacob as "Grow your own Crystals" set. It was pretty cool! I think he'll like it :) (It wasn't this brand, but it looks similar)

And I found a remote control car for Tom. I hope he likes it, and I hope it works. ROFL! I couldn't find a picture of it, and I already wrapped it, so it could not even be Hot Wheels. Yeah, it's a remote control, and it's a car. I'm sure you get the idea :)

I found some nice "unmentionables" for "Captain America" for Christmas (yeah, not FOR him, but for me, but for him. Get some of those for you (for your man for Christmas and you'll make him REALLY happy - LOL)), and a gift for Kim. A candle set. I hope she likes it :)

Next, it was on to Wal-Mart. It was 10:30 by this time, and the crowds were starting to pick up. Walmart was super crazy busy. I looked at the folding table, but it was almost 50 bucks. I'd just let the kids eat on the floor a bit longer. Captain Americas off work, and if he wakes up, he could fix my table, I'm sure. I did find some hanging organizers for the closet, though.

Eme has a problem with wearing the same thing EVERY day. And I don't wanna be an over controlling mom, so I figured out a good way to "trick" her into wearing something different each day. See, I get this shelving thingy, and have her stock it each week. A pair of socks, undershirt, undies, pants, shirt, on EACH shelf. That's 6 days of clothes. SO, all she has to do is put on a new "shelf". So I can just be like, Go put on a new shelf of clothes, sweetie. She doesn't have to pick anything out, because we already did that. WE'll see if it works. I got one for Jim and one for Joe, too.

I bought lunch at Wal-Mart, and took it home to the kids. An 8 piece fried chicken with Joe Joe's . I know, not healthy, but we don't do Fried Chicken very often. My kids ABSOLUTELY love it, though. Reminded them of eating KFC at Grandmas house :) I don't think we've had it since we moved from Oregon to here ;)

Captain America had got home at 9am, and went promptly to bed. He was still asleep when I got home at noon, and I just let him sleep. I wasn't planning on seeing him awake until around 5pm.

I snuck in my closet, and wrapped presents like a madwoman. I wrapped almost everything in there. And I had the kids help me bring out everything that wasn't "Santa" presents. My tree is LOADED now - good feeling :) heheeh.

We hung out for a bit around the house, then went to the movies at 2:30pm. I found out that El Paso had 2 Dollar Theaters. Who knew? The one we usually go to, Montwood 7, has 7 movie theaters, and this other one, East Pointe, has 12. More selection. SO, we headed out to see "9".

Andrea and family came with us. I liked it. Andrea thought it was pretty weird. It WAS a Tim Burton movie, so weird was to be expected. It was all sci-fi, robots taking over the world, kind of thing. It scared Jimmy a bit, but the boys all LOVED it :)

After the movies, we came back home, and I woke Captain America up. I was ready for a husband around the house again - LOL! We had dinner, and sat on the couch and hung out for an hour or so. It was nice to just hang and do nothing :)

Some friends came over to deliver a goody plate around 7:45ish, and then we both got on our computers, and the kids either got on theirs or watched a movie. We're supposed to be leaving to go and see a movie right now, but I don't know if it's gonna happen. He seems content to play on his computer, and I'm still blogging. I should get off, and go and get him. We need to go and do something together. It's just that it's SO windy and stormy and nasty outside, and it's SO warm and toasty in here - LOL! Maybe we'll go to the movie that starts at 9:35 instead of the one at 9:15. That gives me a few extra minutes :)

So, since it's Christmas Eve on Thursday, here's a nice Christmas Eve WordArt for y'all! Hope you like it :)

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

4shared (I'm sorry, but I can't get the site to work.....wait, maybe it's working....)
box.net

Merry Christmas Baby

After staying up WAY to late on Monday night reading, 6:40am came WAY to early - LOL! I got up, printed out my shopping list, texted Andrea (half hoping that she'd still be asleep, and I could go back to bed - LOL), and got ready. She was up - hehehe.

We left the house at 7am, and went grocery shopping. My little ones were just waking up, and I put on some cartoons for them, and left Jake in charge, with my phone. I knew I had a few good hours of grogginess to shop through - LOL!

I think we were both half asleep, but we had fun! NO one was at the commissary at that time. It was a breeze! I got all of the stuff that I needed, plus some stuff for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Tacos, you know. On Christmas day. What? Doesn't everyone do Tacos for Christmas dinner? Hispanic? Nah, we just LOVE tacos. It's been a family tradition on my side for as LONG as I can remember. No, I'm not weird. It's called quirky, thank you very much! Besides, who wants to eat Thanksgiving food RIGHT after Thanksgiving. That makes no sense at all - hehehe. We JUST did that :)

Anyway, we got all our shopping done, then headed home. I had the kids help me put the groceries away, and I really wanted a nap, but it just wasn't happening. There were WAY too many other things that needed my attention.

At 11:15pm, Andrea and I headed out for lunch. I'd made my kids Homemade pizza, and they were SO excited about eating it, they didn't really care that mom was running out for a lunch date with her friend. See, you just have to present it in the right light, is all - LOL!

We did lunch at Applebees, having our favorite, Grilled Shrimp and Spinach salad. I HIGHLY recommend it. AND, I just ordered the water. See, aren't you proud of me? Well, you should be. I REALLY wanted a diet soda. Sigh.

After that, we went to get gas at the gas station (duh, like you could get gas someplace else.... sorry....) and look for Protein bars for Captain America. He has Staff Duty again tonight, and asked for those. I looked at the commissary, but they didn't sell them there. And they were out at the gas station. Poor Captain America. I did get his sunflower seeds (salted), Monster Drinks, and something else he asked for, though.

Next, it was off to the post office, then back home. The kids were doing fine, but my house was a little bit messy. We turned off the electronics, and cleaned for a bit. I fixed my products for the week, and got them all ready to go. I wasn't missing the deadline again this week - LOL! I am putting 3 bundles in my store, though. 3 Christmas Bundles. Each for $5, with 8 different WordArt packs in each. Here's your chance to score my Christmas WordArt packs at a very low price. Just a heads up for Friday :) Shameless plug over...

At around 3:00pm, Andrea and I and ALL 8 of our children headed off to the Bassett Center Mall. Ben and Sam wanted to buy Christmas Presents for each other, and Jacob still had to get a present for me (he drew my name). He was all grumbly about it. "Why can't you just take $6 and buy something for yourself". Sigh. He's SO much like me, it's not even funny.

SO, Andrea and I and our brood (ages 1,4,6,7,8,10,11, and 12) to the mall, and our first stop was Target. It was SO busy. We went to the toy isle, and it was a MADHOUSE. Good golly. People everywhere. Well, maybe it just seemed like that, because we had SO many people in our group - LOL!

Eventually, Sam found what he wanted to get for Ben, and Ben found what he wanted to get for Sam. I was starting to get really tired. And supervising kids wasn't a ton of fun. Next, we headed for the Jewlry box.

We decided it would be easier for just Jake and I to go in, and for Andrea to watch the kids at the "ride on machine" area. They LOVED it. I made Jake carry the basket (he was MORTIFIED) and look around with me. It was 6 items for $5.50, and after tax, it was 5 cents shy of my $6 limit. PERFECT! I picked out a hat, a winter scarf, a decorative scarf, a set of hoop earrings, a set of 2 fake hairs (LOL!), and a necklace/earrings set. Perfect! I made Jake pay for it (again with the MORTIFICATION), and we headed out. He quickly passed the bag to me, and tried his best to pretend that the "girl store" incident never happened. How funny. I didn't realize he was that "age" yet, where being seen in a "girl" store would embarrass him. How quickly they grow...

The kids were playing on the merry-go-round when we got back. Andrea put a dollar in, and ALL the kids rode it. It wasn't until after that we noticed the sign that said "135 lbs per rider, 3 riders max". Oops. We had Jake (175), Tom (125), Sam (125), Eme (80), Jim (55), Joe (50), Ben (45), and Luke (20something). I think we were over the limit..... AND, I got motion sick. From just standing NEAR the stupid thing. How is that even possible. I totally had to turn my head and look away.

When we got back to the truck, I knew it wasn't good. I felt just like I'd stepped out of Chuck E Cheeses. The noise and crowd and lights do it to me ever time. And so did the crazy busy mall with 8 kids and a merry go round. I know for next time, right? BUT, my Christmas Shopping is done. That's it. No more presents. If it's not here now, it's not happening :)

We got home, and Captain Americas present was on the doorstep from the leather company. Part of his horse tack. He'll be pleased to know it came, at last. Now I can wrap it, and put it under the tree :) hehehe.

I tried to lay down and nap, but I'm telling ya, those kids are SO loud. Crazy loud! They were playing on the computer, and in the backyard, and running through the house, and who knows what else. Needless to say, the nap didn't really work.

I got up, and fixed the kids dinner. Some sort of Taco creation. Yeah, they're never quite sure what mom's gonna make next. I took 2 lbs of burger, ground it, added taco seasoning and a can of black beans, and simmered it . I diced 8 flour tortillas, added it, and stirred. Then I added a HUGE scoop of sour cream, 1 cup of salsa, and a 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Stir it all up, and serve. It was ok. Less messy than tacos. I also made some chocolate chip cookies. Those went over better than dinner, unfortunately. I used Mandi's recipe again, and FABULOUSNESS! They were SO good. I used Mint Chocolate Chips, and they were divine. We found the chips for $0.85 at the commissary, with a $1.00 off of 3 bags coupon. That makes them, what, like $0.50 a bag? Can't pass that up! I still have dough in the fridge that I'm gonna make tomorrow. We just did a small batch for after dinner.

At 7pm, we sat down to watch a family movie. I stayed awake for the first 1/2, but fell asleep for the 2nd half. I'll never know if it stopped raining food now - LOL! Tom enjoyed it, though. He was giggling like a little girl the entire time. He's the MOST fun person to watch a movie with. His whole body is happy or nervous or anxious or excited or scared or whatnot. It's the coolest thing to watch.

I woke up/movie ended at 8:30pm, and I put the kids to bed. I was supposed to go to Andreas house at that time and "play", but I was feeling like crap. She texted me at about that time and said that she didn't feel good, and wondered if we could cancel. PERFECT timing. Good friends are SO good to have. I just want to lay in my bed and go to sleep.

I took my decongestant, and my antibiotic, and 800mg of Advil, and my Tylenol, and I should be feeling better shortly. I hope. I think I overdid it today. Target DEFINITELY was overdoing it. A mistake that won't soon be made again, I can assure you - LOL! And it sounded like SUCH a good plan at the time. ROFL!

So as I was thinking of what WordArt to make for WordArt Wednesday this week, this song kept playing in my head, so I figured it was a sign - LOL! AND, I just have to say, that I LOVE this WordArt. Most of them that I make are ok, but I'm loving this one. I may even scrap something with it. Maybe. ROFL!

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and leave some love if you like my work. thanks!

The More You Serve

Hi again! Happy to report that the migraine went away :) Yippee!!! I did notice a bit of sinus pressure or headache going on, but it was on the other side of my head, and only happened when I bent over, or made sudden movements. Completely different from a migraine, and totally do-able.

Anyway, I was texting Andrea when I first woke up, and she said that I should call the appointment desk at the doctor to schedule an appointment. I was supposed to go to my doctor 2 days after the hospital visit. SO, I called, and they got me in today at 3pm. They had no appointments 2 days after. OK, that worked.

I spent from 7-8am cleaning my bedroom. The repair man was supposed to come between 1-5pm to fix the bathroom fan, fix the kitchen drawers, and fix the molding on the hardwood. SO, I needed to get some cleaning done.

I told Andrea that I'd watch her 2 youngest kids at 8:30am while she took the oldest to his Physical. Joe and Ben are almost the same age, and have SO much fun playing together. Emeline and Jim had fun playing with "baby Luke", as they call him :)

I made homemade fry bread, which was SO yummy. In the middle of 7 children running around my house and fry bread in grease on the stove, the repair man comes to the door. WHAT? It was SO not 1pm. 9:30am. Sigh. So much for having a clean house....

He came and took the drawers, installed the fan, and said that someone else was gonna call me about the molding. That's fine.

Andrea came back at around 10am, picked up her kids, and headed home. She had an appointment for Luke at 10:50am, and an appointment with CYS later in the day. Busy, busy, busy. Me? Not so busy - LOL! I spent a great deal of the late morning responding to my emails. I was nearing 500, and got it down to a bit over 400. That's not too bad. OK, so it's not great, but it's better than it was before :)

I fed the kids lunch, and they had the neighbor kids come over to play for a few hours. I showered and got ready for the day at 2:15pm, and headed out to my doctors appointment at 2:45pm, after sending the neighbor kids home.

The doctor asked about the migraine, and said that I had a low grade fever. She said that it sounded like I had a sinus infection, and that that was why the migraine was SO bad. So she put me on antibiotics, and gave me a decongestant, and sent me to the pharmacy. After I picked up my perscription, I went to the "wellness center", and asked about my "Pharmacy card". If you take a short, 30 minute class, you can get free over the counter drugs, twice a month. Lots of different stuff to choose from.

So, I go to the desk, and it's gone. Seriously, they've taken everything out so they could clean and vaccum. I found someone in charge, and ask about the card, and the class, and the video. He said to wait, that he'd be right back to help me. He comes back with the card, and said to just fill it out BEFORE I took it up to the pharmacy. NICE. So, I guess that was cheating, but honestly, I'm not gonna be abusing the drugs. I'm good :)

I went and filled out my card, and picked up some Cough medicine, nose spray, and some anitbiotic cream. Along with my decongestant and my antibiotics. I was all loaded up with drugs and ready to head home - LOL!

Andrea texted me and said that she was over at Kims house, helping her clean out her basement. Over the past 3 months, it's flooded 4 times. Sigh. Poor Kim. Since they started putting a new water main in near her house, it keeps flooding. This time, she was in Oklahoma at the time, and didn't realize it had flooded till she got back. SO much stuff was ruined. POOR Kim. I helped out for about 30 minutes, then had to get back hom to my kids.

I cooked them some soup, and found a new Twilight Fan Fiction to read. It's my guilty pleasure, I guess. Probably not what I should be reading, as they get a bit racy sometimes (I try and gloss over those parts - I know, I know, it's still not good for me - hehehe). I spent the rest of the day reading.

I put the kids to bed at 7:30pm (and the big ones to bed reading), and Captain America got home at 8pm. Here it is, 12:37pm, and I'm just now getting done blogging. I'm not done with my FanFic, but I can't keep my eyes awake. Tomorrow. I'll read some more tomorrow. And grocery shopping. I'm going with Andrea early tomorrow. Crap. And I'm staying awake late tonight. That's not so good. I think I just realized that as I'm typing this. OK, definitly no more FanFic tonight. I need to re-set my alarm clock, and go to bed :) hehehe.

This WordArt request is from Jeanette. I just loved the sentiment. Not because we sure to get things ,but when we serve, we make ourselves more worthy to receive, if that makes sense. The whole Golden Rule, Karma, kind of thing.

Anyway, 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

Bah Humbug!

Dude, I could SO totally just DITTO yesterday's post, and make it todays. Not much changed. Except for sending the kids off to Christmas Sunday with Captain America, and heading out to the ER because my head hurt SO bad. As I waited in line at the ER, it progressivly got better. They gave me some drug to spot the nauseousness, which was said to have a side effect of taking away headaches, and an IV, and I felt even better.

I got home at about the same time that the family was getting home from church. I felt a bit better, but still took it easy. Mostly laying around in my bed. Lots of nap. A hot bath. And I progressively felt worse the rest of the day. Sigh.

Here it is, 8:19pm, and my headache is mostly back. I took another Imitrex, because it's only my 2nd for the day. HOPEFULLY it works. Hopefully.....

Not that I want you to think that I'm a Bah Humbug. Because I'm not. I LOVE Christmas - hehehe. This was a request from one of my CT girls, Charmaine. LOL!

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

Layout by Charmaine

The Prince of Peace

Migraine.......headache.......hurting........light........sound.......sigh. At least it's Saturday, and I didn't have responsibilities. Except of wife and mother. Sigh. Sorry, family. I wasn't of much use today. Hopefully by Sunday it will be better. It's 8pm, I've taken 2 Imitrex during the day, and I'm still in pain. I feel like if only I could gouge out my left eye, all would be well. hehehe.

Anyway, I managed, somehow, to design something for you. Hopefully there's not spelling errors. Cause I wouldn't be able to fix it until my headache went away anyway. :(

TYPO NOW FIXED (just not on the preview)

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

4shared
box.net

Rockin' Around

One more time, I just wanted to remind you all about my WordArt Bundle. It's all old stuff, but maybe you didn't grab it the first time around :) Click HERE to go and check it out. It's only $5.00, making each of the 10 WordArt packs only $0.50 a piece. GREAT deal, I know ;) hehehe.


Hi all! Man oh man was I tired when I got up at 7am this morning! I managed to get the kids dressed, get the teacher presents all together, get Toms gift exchange gift wrapped, get Jim and Jake situated, get myself dressed, and get out the door by 7:45am. I dropped the kids off at school, and walked them to their classes even.

I came back home, and was SO tired. I turned on Cartoons in my room, climbed into bed, and let Jimmy watch (and Jake do school). I slept from 8-9:15am when my Mom called. I woke up, and felt a little better. A little bit. I had time to shower and get ready and drive on up to the kids' school.

They were having Christmas parties for each of the kids, and I got to come! It was the first time. I'd always had little kids at home, and it's always distracting (to me at least) to have to bring small children while trying to spend time with the older ones. So I never went. But now with Jacob old enough to babysit, I was able to go.

I got there right at 11am, and the guard was JUST unlocking the gate. Score it! I didn't have to park in the front - yeah! I went to Joe's classroom first, but they weren't quite ready to start the party. I found Tom at the playground, and he introduced me to a few of his friends.

I wandered down to Eme's classroom, and their party was in full swing. I went and sat by her at her desk, and she showed me all of her stuff. She'd made a snow globe out of a baby food jar, glitter, baby oil, and a small toy. It was SO cute. She had some coloring pages, and I helped her color for a little while.

Her teacher always has such nice things to say about her. Eme really is a good student, and a great little girl. I think I'll keep her :)

Next I went to Toms class. They'd just had their gift exchange, and were passing out all the treats. SO many treats. Dang, treats everywhere. Tom was building his toy that he got from the gift exchange. A hot wheels track. He was SO proud of it :) He introduced me to a few more of his friends, and I wandered down to Joe's class.

They were playing a "musical chairs" type game. They passed around the stuffed animal, and said a little rhyme about it as they went. If you were holding it when the rhyme was over, then you were out. The kids were having SO much fun. Only in Kindergarten - LOL!

After the game, we gathered up all their stuff, grabbed his goody bag, and headed out with all of the other Ft Bliss kids. I gathered up all my kids, and we headed home. The kids were SO nice to share their goodies with Jacob and Jim, since they didn't get a party. Such nice kids :)

Captain America was home when we got there (about 12:30), and said that the blender broke. Crap. Good thing I had a fund called "Household repairs" with about $40 in it. At least I had money to replace it.

I was still tired, so I went into my room, and took another nap. I know, I know, story of my day, right? It's nap day, apparently. Maybe I'm getting sick, besides being tired.

At around 2pm, Andrea texted me and asked if I wanted to go to Walmart with her. She had to get some distilled water for the humidifier, and diapers. I needed a blender, so I went! The kids were doing their chores, and then were gonna play the computer. They were all settled in :)

We went to Walmart, and it was pretty busy. But we found what Andrea needed, and I even found the things that Jake/Tom needed. Undies, black socks, white socks, and deoderant. And tissues for Joe. I forgot that Joe wanted black socks too. Next time, Joe!

No blender, though. They had some weaker ones, but I wanted to get a powerful one. Captain America's milkshakes have ice, and it needs to be able to cut through it. Andrea said that we could stop at Target and look. It was kind of on the way home.

And they did! And it was on sale. $30 for the same one that Wal Mart was out of. And the same price. And Captain America would be happy because it was not from Walmart. ROFL! We headed home, and all was well.

Oh yeah, I'd bought a frozen lasagna, brown and serve rolls, and bagged salad at WalMart for dinner, too. I didn't feel like cooking....

So I got home at 3pm, and guess what? I took another nap. I woke up at 4:30pm, ad put the lasagna in the oven, and went back to lay in bed. Jimmy and I put Ratatoullie in to watch, and I dozed, and he watched. I don't think he's feeling terribly well either. He's usually not so snuggly.

We had dinner at 5:30pm, and I made the kids do their chores again. Captain America got home at around 7pm, and went to make his shakes on the new blender. I was excited to try it out. And it didn't work. Dang. What's that all about. Well, come to find out, the old blender wasn't broken. The outlet just needed reset. Crap. SO, we pulled the old one out of the trash, washed it all up, and it worked just fine. So we boxed back up the new one, and will take it back to Target. Or save it for when the old one finally does die. I'm not sure yet. I guess they'll always have sales, right? What's that saying "The universe will provide"??

We were thinking about going out on a date, but I was tired (and had bad cramps), and he was tired. We wanted to go and see Avatar, but it was sold out. "Did you Hear about the Someone or anothers" looked good, but was gonna be $12. And our budget for entertainment for the rest of the month is only $15. The Vampires Assistant was only $4, but it wasn't until 9:20pm, and we were both tired. We decided to skip the date, do what we needed to do around the house, and go to bed early. Sounded like a plan to me.

Even with all the napping, I was STILL tired. Definitely sounds like I'm getting sick. Sigh.

So here it is, 9:15pm, I'm done blogging, I'm gonna make a freebee real quick, and I may watch some TV on the internet. Lie to Me, or Fringe, or Medium. Those are my favorites. Saturday is our Wards Christmas Party. Should be a good time. I'm not sure what we're doing the rest of the day. Sleep will probably be high on our list - ROFL! All of my kids are still out in the living room, playing and having a good time. Pretty soon, I'm gonna have to be the bad guy and break up the party. Do you suppose that they'll sleep in? The big ones, possibly. But probably not the little ones.....

So Saturday is the day that I wanted to take the Old WordArts, and re-do them. Funny thing is, though, that I may like the old one better - ROFL! Not that I don't like the new one. I do think it's cool. But I just REALLY like the old one. So, click HERE to go to the old one, and click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file.

4shared
box.net

Christmas Party

OK, so I don't have new stuff for the week. Well, technically, that's not true. I have 5 new WordArt packs, 3 of which are Christmas themed. BUT, because of my extremely long day the other day, and my very poor math skills that night, I missed my deadline, and posted my products a few hours too late. SO, nothing new can be released this week. :( BUT, I think I've come up with a way to still sell some stuff - ROFL!

Here's the deal. These are all OLD WordArt packs. I don't want anyone misunderstanding. This is NOT new stuff. They're all in my store right now, for $2.50 a pack. BUT, if you buy the bundle, you'll get all 10 WordArt packs for only $5.00. That's $0.50 a pack. I KNOW! That's cheap. AND, I tried to make it a true variety. A little bit of everything. So, do you like? I thought it would be the perfect way for someone who didn't have anything from me to get a taste of stuff. Anyway, click HERE if you wanna go and check it out :) It'll probably be available for about a week or so. So get it while you can!


OK, so hopefully disaster averted - LOL! Anyway, busy busy day on Thursday. Again, I don't know why I keep looking for them to be less busy. Silly me :)

When I got up at 7am, I went out to see how far along everyone was, and noticed Tom laying on the couch, fully dressed. I was like, um, come on, go get breakfast, get moving, and he was like, "Mom, my foot is KILLING me. I didn't sleep at all last nigth". Sigh. It was gonna be one of THOSE days.

Of all the kids, Tom is kind of a drama king. And I know that sounds harsh to say about your own kid, but call a spade a spade, right? He's got a low tolerance for pain. He just does.

SO, I knew that there was nothing wrong, but I called the appointment desk, described how he was acting, and they got him right in. 8am. So, I threw on some clothes, took the other kids to school, left Jake with Jim, and headed to the doctor. Captain America had taken my truck to work, since his wouldn't start again (even after the new battery - must be something else wrong with it), so I took his Saturn. Good thing we all fit!

We got RIGHT in to see the doctor. She looked at Toms foot, and said that it probably wasn't broken, but that she'd order some xrasy.

So we hobbled over to Xray, and got those taken, then hobbled back to the patient room again. She came back in, and nope, no break. She showed me how his feet were flat, and if it wasn't an issue now, that it would be in the future. He needed inserts. She said the fact that he's overweight doesn't help. He's 95% for height, and 105% for weight. I know that 105% sounds horrible, but really, it's only 10% off his height. So he needs to cut back and play more, but that's it, I think.

She referred us to the Brace Shop at the hospital to get the inserts, and to a nutritionist. Cool. I've always wanted to talk to a nutritionist, honestly :) Now I'll get the chance! Oh yeah, and a prescription for Motrin. Because that's what Army doctors prescribe. Motrin. I was kind of excited, because I didn't have any Army Motrin yet. Woohoo!

We were 15 numbers away from being called, so we sat down and read for a while. I'm reading the Cassandra Claire book, City of Bones (or something like that). Just started it. Seems promising. I've heard a lot of good things about it :)

We finally got the Motrin, and headed to the hospital. I was a little stressed about it, since I had Captain Americas car, and the hospital sits on a hill. Why is that a problem, you say? Well, Captain Americas car is a shift stick. So I roll when I stop on hill, and it about gives me a heart attack. BUT, I managed. I slowed WAY down when the light turned red, and by the time I eased my way up to it, it was green again, so I didn't have to start from stop. I'm sure the people behind me thought I was dumb. LOL!

We had to park CLEAR in the back, because they're building a parking garage, and theres construction EVERYWHERE! One bad thing about living in the warm weather. No season off for construction. It's year round. Sigh. SO, poor Tom was limping and hobbling all over creation looking for the Brace shop. He got his inserts, and we headed back on post.

Captain America texted around that time, and wanted me to switch over vehicles. So we dropped off the Saturn at his work, and took the Suburban. I SO love my truck. Wouldn't trade it!

Next ,it was on to Toms school to sign him back in. While we were there, the Vice Principal called me in to talk about Joe and Speech. Yeah, the kindergartner can get speech, but why not Tom, the 4th grader, who REALLY needs it. Sigh. Anyway, I signed paper after paper after paper. He was really good about explaining all the stuff that I needed to know. Mr Vasquez is a GREAT guy, I think :)

I finally got home at around 10:45am. Long morning, all ready. I came home, changed my clothes (or did I. No I think I had the same hooded sweatshirt on - LOL), made sure that the kids were still alive and well (ROFL!), and headed out again. I'd made plans the day before to go to lunch and get my eyebrows threaded. The Tom thing threw me off. Sigh.

Kim and Andrea and I went to lunch at Olive Garden. Mmmmm, soup and salad is my FAVORITE. I like the potato/sausage one. Can't remember what it's called, but it's SO good. We had fun eating and chatting and laughing. Andrea and I ALWAYS make Kim laugh - hehehe. I think it's because we're naughty - LOL!

After lunch, we headed to the mall to get threaded. The chickie said that she needed 15 more minutes, so Andrea and Kim headed to Sears, and I headed upstairs to Game Crazy. Only it wasn't Game Crazy, it was Game Stop. And they didn't have the same sales. They had a PS2 plus 2 games for $50 at Game Crazy. And Jake had the money. I was supposed to be looking for him. Sorry, Jake.

I headed back downstairs, and the threading girl was back. But there were 2 girls in front of us. So we waited. And chatted with each other, and the people who walked by. Andrea went first when it was our turn, then me, then Kim. Yeah, it hurts. The inside part of your eyebrow worse than the outside part. But it's SO worth it. They look fabulous when they're done, and it lasts SO much longer than plucking. Thanks, threading girl! I love you :)

After threading, we headed back on post. We dropped Kim off at her house, then headed to the school to pick up the kids. Luke had fallen asleep in the Suburban, so I stayed in the vehicle with him, and Andrea went in to pick up the kids.

We got home, and Jake and Jim were SO happy to see me. Poor kids. It'd been a long day. I didn't mean to be gone so long. LIke I said, the Doctors appointment really threw me off.

We got a snack, then did our chores, then watched a bit of Night at the Museum 2. Jimmy just LOVES that movie. Too cute!

I finished designing my "teacher gifts" for the kids teachers, and sent the finished product to Walgreens. They looked pretty good! I ordered 8 of each (6 different prints), and 3 pages of tags. It was coming together nicely.

We had fried egg sandwiches for dinner (well, it's better than cheese and crackers, right?), and I headed to Walgreens to get the photos. But first I stopped at the gas station to fill up. Captain America had been harping on me ALL day long to get gas for the truck. Really, for the last 2 days. So, I finally went. I also filled up the little tank for the lawn mower. See, I'm just that good :)

Next, on to Walgreens. Tom needed a gift for the gift exchange in his class, so I spent a lot of time looking around the toy isle. The toys all cost about $7. BUT, they were having a deal of 3 for $14. SO, it would only be $4.33 if I got 3. So, I spent more money to save money, if that makes sense. I got a present for the exchange, and some lip gloss/body glitter for Eme, and some cars for Jimmy. They didn't really need another present, but I was feeling generous :)

I got home, and started making cookies. Andrea and I and Laurie were all going in on the idea. We were each baking a few types of cookies, then putting them in little tubs, then giving the teachers a framed Christmas saying. Pretty cool, eh?

I put all my scrapped pages into the frames, and tied raffia around it. I made "cake mix" cookies, and roll out sugar cookies. I felt like it took FOREVER. And I was super tired, on top of that. Not a good combo.

The kids helped a little but, but lost interest quickly. We were supposed to go to Scouts, but we skipped. I needed to get the teacher gifts done.

Captain America got home at 8:30pm, and helped Tom with his inserts. Thank goodness. I didn't know what to do for it :) I was still baking cookies.

After I got done with the 2 different kinds, I realized that I was supposed to have treats/snacks for the kids classes too. Sigh. I really didn't wanna make more cookies. REALLY didn't. So I grabbed my big boxes of Nutri-Grain bars, and decided to let the kids take those. I'm so bad - LOL!

At around 10:30pm, I went over to Andreas house to trade cookies. Laurie was there too. OMGosh, we ended up staying and chatting until 1:30pm. And I told Captain America that I was coming right back. Oops. Sorry, honey! I really meant to come right back. They sucked me in. It's all their faults - ROFL!

So here it is, 1:42 pm, and I'm just finishing up blogging. And I need to design something for y'all. Something. Preferably something without typos. But that's a lot to ask, since it's after midnight. OK, be right back!

So, in honor of all the crazyiness we've had over the past few days trying to get ready for school Christmas parties, here's a Christmas Party WordArt for ya! I hope you like it :)

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

Helping

So it was another long day. I was at home most of it. Thanks to setting my watch right last night, I was up at 7am getting my kids ready for school. They were all dragging a bit. I think, over vacation, we'll all sleep a lot - hehehe. Well, at least that's what I wanna do :)

I straightened up a bit, and my Visiting Teachers came over at 9ish. They taught a nice little lesson, chatted with me for a while, and left a GINORMOUS plate of cookies/chocolates/goodies for us. OMGosh, they were SO good. When they left, Jake, Jim and I tasted them all. SO good. Kayley and Chelsie, THANK YOU!!!

Jimmy and I laid down on the couch to relax and watch a movie. At one point, I asked him to go and get me a soda from the fridge, and he did, and dropped it over the couch, into what he thought was my lap. But really, it was my EYE! It hurt SO bad. I instantly started crying, and tried to hide my face from Jim, but he noticed. He felt SO bad. We're quite a pair - LOL!

Luckily it didn't leave a mark. But dang, it still hurts and is tender. I was afraid that I'd end up with a shiner :)

At around lunch time, Andrea and I were both on the computer, and were Skyping. Yes, she lives down the block. I know it's kinda pathetic, but we like it - LOL! At about the same time, she got a call from Ryan, and I got a call from Laurie. We both went our separate ways - hehehe.

Laurie wanted me to drive her to the airport (about 3 minutes away) so she could run in and pick up a camera that her niece had left there earlier in the day. She didn't wanna pay for parking. I can totally relate - LOL!

So I went to Lauries house with Jimmy, and picked up her and Rowan. We dropped Miss Laurie off at the airport, and circled it once. On the 2nd time around, she was out. It was such a quick trip :)

Jimmy and I ended up staying at Lauries house to play until the kids came home from school. It was a good time. Except for the fact that Jimmy was wearing his jammies and no socks. LOL! I didn't know that he'd be leaving the truck - hehehe.

At school, Andrea went in to gather the kindergartners, but since I had Jim, and Jim had no shoes, and there's no way on Gods green earth that I could carry that child for an significant distance (he's 55 lbs), I decided to just wait for them all to come out.

The moms chatted, the kids played, and eventually we gathered everyone we needed, and headed home.

The kids did their chores, and I worked on Cub Scouts. I had some papers to print out, some parts to cut out, some badges to make, and a few activites to plan. All in all, it went pretty fast.

So as I'm sitting in my bedroom, on the floor, working on Cub Scouts, I hear this SUPER loud crash. Great, I think. What did they break. I went out to investigate, and this is what I found.

Apparently Jake and Tom were looking at a funny part in a book at the table, and Joe coudln't see. So he climbed up on the table, and was sitting on it. Well, true, he's the smallest Harty kid (by 5 lbs), but still, the table wasn't designed to hold a 50lb child. It really wasn't.

There were splinters of wood everywhere. I don't know if it's saveable or not. Jake, Tom, and I carried the pieces to the backyard, and figured that Captain America could work on it over the weekend. And if it's broke, well, I'm not sure what we'll do. Probably buy a folding card table at Walmart. Until I can decide what to do for real. Not so cool. Lets just hope that it's fixable.

I didn't really feel like cooking, so I cut up some sausage (precooked) and cheese and crackers, and we did that for dinner. I know, bad. But it's Wednesday. And some Wednesdays are like that in my house :)

About 20 minutes before we had to leave the house, Jacob informs me that he's having a white elephant exchange at church, and that the gift needs to cost under $5.00. Are you freakin' kidding me? And you didn't tell me this when we were at the store because......????? Sigh. OK, make it work. Find something.... Scramble mode.

I found a package of M&M's (the big ones, Christmas themed), and a box from Amazon.com, and the wrapping paper, and some filling fluff, and I make it work. The gift looked pretty nice, anyway. And really, who wouldn't be happy with a WHOLE bag of chocolate? I'd like that- LOL!

We left for church at 6:15pm, trying to get there at 6:30pm, in order to set up the gym. We got there at about 6:27pm, and the doors were locked. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And Joe puked. It was nasty. He has this cough, and it's gotten worse as the day went on. So he was hacking and coughing and, well, puked. Poor kid.

Most of it got on his coat. Which I took up, wadded into a ball, and put in the trunk. I passed him a whole bunch of napkins that were in the truck (no one had taken them inside the house yet), and had him wipe up the small amount that got on the seat.

And we waited some more. And more. 30 minutes worth of waiting in the truck. Luckily, I had my MP3 player, and my cord that goes to my CD player. We listened to the final battle in Eclipse. Only Jacob and I knew the story, so it was pretty entertaining to the kids.

Someone finally showed up at 6:55pm, and we rushed in and set up. It was a pretty good pack meeting. SANTA came! Our Cubmaster wasn't there (hint hint), so Santa filled in. The kids LOVED it. Well, the siblings LOVED it. The scouts kinda had a I'm too Cool for you look. Or maybe that was just my son, Tom. Maybe...

Tom received his Citizenship badge, and we were so proud of him. Way to go, Tom! And thanks, Andrea, for being such a great den leader for Tom!


Santa had a TON of presents in his bag, and we played a game with them. Everyone sat in a circle, and we passed the presents either left or right, as Santa read a story. When the word Left was said, we passed Left, and Right when Right was said. It was SO funny. The presents kept bogging down around the little kids. At one point, Rowan (3) had about 8 presents in his lap. ROFL!

After the game, we opened our Candy Canes and ate them. Santa then let all the kids come and sit on his lap, and tell him what they wanted for christmas. And, it was SO cute, but Santa told the kids with dad's who were deployed that he'd talked to them earlier in the day, and that they said "I love you and miss you". OMGosh, it was the most cutest, most adorable thing I'd seen in a long time. Santa, you rock! Those kids really needed to hear that from you :)

We closed the Pack meeting, cleaned up, and headed home. I was tired, and a bit fried from man handling kids all evening.

Jake was pretty excited when he got back from his meeting. He'd scored a glass chess set. He was SO stoked about it. Way to go, Jake!

As we were entering the gate on Post, we were stopped for a random inspection. Really? I was cold, I had 5 kids in the truck, and I was grouchy. Not so cool. Jimmy tried to run into traffic, I couldn't figure out how to get the latch open for the hood, I had to point out all the puke areas so that the guards didn't puke themselves. OMGosh, it was crazy. Joe was FREEZING, because his coat was covered in puke. I must admit, I wasn't having very nice thoughts.

The one lady (out of 4 guards) kept giving me looks of utter pity. As she should. ROFL! Let that be birth control for anyone thinking of having children. I loaded the kids back up, shut all the doors, buckled in Jimmy, went around to buckle Joe, who was afraid to touch the place where the puke used to be, got situated, and headed off. I'm sure that about 3 or 4 people were spared inspections because the of the sheer amount of time it took me. So there. You're welcome, people. I took one for ya! You owe me :)

I was even more fried when I got home, but luckily Captain America was there to help me. I quickly put the kids to bed, and sat down for some "quiet time". I downloaded a few of the new Christmas kits from Scraporchard (OMGosh, their amazing), and started to design a framed picture for the kids' teachers for Christmas gifts. I did 3 before I got real tired.

Captain America was in the room too, watching his new Dukes of Hazzard episodes, and reading something or another to do with work. It was a relaxing hour or so.

Then I designed, and blogged, and now it's only 11pm. And I'm tired. I'm going to sleep early (well, for me :)

So this comes from a song that we sing with the kids in Primary. When we're helping we're happy and we sing as we go, for we like to help (insert adult - Mother), for we all love her so. I find myself singing this to my kids often. Because maybe if they *think* they like to help me, then, well, maybe they *will* like to help me - LOL!

I thought this WordArt would be perfect for pictures of little kids helping out. Don't you think?
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

Ho Ho Ho!

Heavens! I'm mighty tired right now. It's almost 1am, and I'm just getting around to blogging. Sigh. Why? Why do I do this to myself? I've gotta say, though, I didn't get a moments rest today, it seemed. It was go go go all day long.

I bought a new watch at Big Lots this past Saturday, and set the alarm to go off at 7:30am for church on Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't re-set it for 7am for the rest of the week. So, 2 days in a row now, I've woken up at 7:10am, in a panic, scrambling to get kids to school on time. As I type, I'm gonna take a short pause to fix that.

*pause*

Thanks for waiting. OK, now I should be good to go for Wednesday :) Anyway, I got the kids off to school, and got Jimmy dressed, and to Jake started on school, and got Captain America off to work, then left with Andrea to go stocking shopping. The kids stayed home, since you can't really take kids along. Well, not without a lot of sneaking around. And really, who wants to sneak around :)

We went to the Dollar tree, and were there WAY too long. I think we looked down every isle 3 or 4 times. BUT, I got most of the things I needed. A few food type items, a bag of peanuts, some toys, some coloring books/calendars, I'm gonna put in fruit and granola bars later. Pretty good stuff. I tried to make them "even", if that's possible. It's just that it's easier to please a 4-6 year old than it is a 10-12 year old, know what I mean?

So, after the Dollar Tree, we headed to Wal Mart to get the candy. Because as good as the Dollar Tree is, Walmart is better on candy. I'm sorry, but it is. I may not hold Walmart in high regard right now, but I can recognize that much, at least :) hehehe.

We got candy, then went to the toys. I needed Hot Wheels. But then decided to just give Captain Americathe money, and let him pick out which Hot Wheels. Because you KNOW that I'd pick the wrong ones. I just don't have Hot Wheel Picking as one of my talents. Sad, but true.

We met up with Laurie there, and hung out in the Transformers isle for a while, chatting and chatting and chatting some more.

After getting everything we needed (well, except for my foundation, because they were OUT!!!), we headed back onto post. Andrea dropped me off at my house, and I picked up the boys, kissed my husband hello/goodbye for lunch break, then headed off to Taco Cabana, where I was meeting Andrea/Laurie.

It was a fun lunch! Cabana bowls are definitely good :) After lunch, Andrea went to the school to pick up one of her kids for their physicals, and Laurie and I headed across the street to Ross. Do y'all have Ross where you live? It's fabulous!

So, we walked around for a bit (dang, it was crowded), and found a few things. I found Wii Lightsabers. A 2 pack for $9. OMGosh, that's a good deal. I found similar ones online, but they were 30 bucks. $9 was perfect! Lauire got a few things, and we decided to go pay. We had about 30 minutes before we had to be at the school, and it was only 5 minutes away.

Holy line, Batman!!! I seriously almost fainted when I saw the line. It went from the front of the store, all the way to the BACk, then turned and went down the isle, and started to loop back to the front. What did people think this was, Black Friday? WTHeck? Because I REALLY wanted the lightsabers, we got in line. And waited. And waited. Oh yeah, without a cart, because there were none in the store.

And with 2 3-4 year olds, and 1 12 year old. And wait. And wait. And inch our way painfully to the middle of the line. With 15 minutes before time to get the kids, I was starting to panic. Laurie said that I could go with Jake and get the kids, and that she'd stay with Jimmy and pay. I gave her money, and headed out! It was going to be close.

There was quite a line of traffic on the way to the school, since the middle school had just got out, but I got there on time. I went and helped picked up the kindergarteners, since Andrea was at a Drs appointment, and she usually does it.

I told Lauries kids that they were coming with me, and mine were coming with me, and Leslies were coming with me, and Andrea's son Sams backpack was coming with me (he has an after school PE class) and we headed for the truck. Except for Lauries son. He kinda freaked out. I guess they'd had a talk last week or so about riding home with strangers. And how there's a code word that the stranger had to give him before he could go in their car. Somehow he miss the fact that I wasn't a stranger. Sigh.

So he was bawling and freaking out at his little sister (kindergartener) and big sister (5th grader) happily piled into my truck. He started to walk home, and I called and explained the situation to Laurie, and she said that she was almost there, to no worry about it. Sigh. Yeah, SO not a stranger. I see the kid every day. At church. At school. Socially. Heck, I was at his house on Sunday for dinner. NOT a stranger. I had the talk with my truck full of kids on the way home that mom's give "code" words to prevent kids from getting stolen by strangers, or people that mom's dont trust. Mom's "best friends" don't count as strangers....

So, I "ghosted" behind the kid, which seemed to panic him too. Lauire eventually got there, picked him up, and followed me to my house. She collected her kids, gave me my "item", Leslies kids continued walking home (2 houses), and we all went inside.

We decided to switch up the chore chart. Sometimes it's needed. Sometimes. I think this one is going to work out. Jake is now in charge of putting away the dishes, washing/clearning the counters, cleaning the stove top, sweeping the kitchen floor, and doing the upstairs bathroom. Tom is in charge of the DVD's, the computer area, the dining room floor, and the trash. Eme is in charge of the living room floor, the VHS's and the laundry room. Joe and Jim have the backyard, the kitchen table, and their room.

In an hour, the house looked pretty good. Great job, you guys! Andrea dropped off Luke at around 5pm, so I could babysit. Sam had an orchestra concert, and taking a 20 month old little boy is NOT the most fun thing in the world. He had a TON of fun at my house :)

Also while she was gone, I wrote a note to Katy and Adela. If you notice, I'm not doing a lot of stuff with them, as of late. We've kinda had a falling out. Remember the brunch on Monday to fix it? Yeah, well, not so much. It came out that they had issues with our husbands. And at first, Andrea and I weren't really sure what to think about it. I think it took a few days to sink in. For the ramifications of what that meant to hit home.

Did we really wanna be friends with people who thought so little/poorly/negatively about the men that we love, the men that we chose, our best friends? No, we didn't. So, I composed an email to them both, telling them that it just wasn't gonna work out as friends That I was sorry about how it happened, but that I'm sure that if the situation was reversed, that they'd do the same thing.

And I sent it. And I got back a response, all defensive, and saying "well, if your upset about it, then maybe your husband IS those bad things that we said about him" from one of the girls, and a "sorry it didn't work out, no hard feelings, best of luck" note from the other. Sigh. I guess it was to be expected.

It really put a bad feeling in my stomach. You know me. I don't like confrontation. Or contention. Or bad feelings. And here I was, with all three. Sigh. So I kinda felt sick the whole time.

I went in the kitchen and made pizza dough from scratch, trying to keep my hands busy, even if my mind couldn't be. I just love homemade pizza. The last pizza just came out of the oven when Andrea and Sam and Ben got here. I invited them in for dinner, since Captain America wasn't home yet.

Andrea and I read the "response" emails, and the original emails, and talked about it at length. Honestly, I think she's afraid to send an email to them at this point, for fear of what they'll say about her. Sigh. Why must life be so hard sometimes.... We unfriended them on Facebook (as well as our children), and that was that. It's really unfortunate that it's come to this.... But I refuse to be friends with someone who thinks that my husband is a racist. You can't just throw that word around and expect people to be OK with that. That's kind of a deal breaker, don't you think?

OK, ok, I hate airing dirty laundry on here. I haven't said anything about it before, but I just can't keep it in anymore. So there. It's out. I feel better. Sigh. Kind of.... Give it time, right?

So Andrea and the kids went home at around 7:30pm, and Captain America got home 10 minutes later. Dang, early for him! We let the kids stay up a little bit later, and played a family game of Uno. And I even won! I never win at Uno - LOL! It was pretty fun.

Captain America read the little boys stories, and I helped the kids who needed Vasiline get all lathered up. Tom's elbows are SO gross. Seriously, dry, cracking, and black. It's nasty. I've been putting MASSIVE amounts of Vasaline on them, with the cut off top parts of socks around is elbows. I asked him if kids at school make fun of him for it, and he was like "No, mom, they think that it's kind of cool". ROFL! Me, the fashion starter - ROFL!

Joe has chapped nose SO bad, it's extending all the way across both cheeks. Like a mustache. Poor little guy. I lathered him up pretty good. And he's got super dry hands, so I put it on thick, and put socks on his hands. That ought to help. Dang the dry El Paso air. LOL!

I stuffed stockings after the kids went to bed, and sorted some more presents. I'm about 70% done wrapping presents. Not too bad, for more than a week out, wouldn't you say? And the stockings look good, too! They're crocheted, so they're really stretchy, and TONS of stuff fit in them. I don't know if that's good or bad. Good from the kids' point of view, but bad if your the elf filling it.

Oh yeah, and I told the kids that an Elf came to pick up the stockings, and that they took it to the North Pole to fill it, then Santa will deliver it on Christmas Eve. Don't you wish you knew an Elf?

And then I had to design another WordArt pack, and load the store for the week, and design something for a Store project, and design my freebee for today, and here I am, blogging. It's now 1:30am, and I'm tired. And my throat is starting to hurt. I really hope I don't get sick. I don't have time for sick. I've got stuff to do. Fun stuff. Super fun stuff. hehehe.

WordArt Wednesday again! Click HERE to go to scraporchard to grab the zip file, and remember, you must be logged into the gallery in order to get the download :) Thanks!

Choices

Morning, girls! How's your week going??? For being only Monday, it's sure started off busy - LOL! I got up a few minutes late, but still go the kids ready and out the door on time. I worked on my shopping list, and left the house to go shopping at 8am-ish. Jimmy and I went with Andrea and Luke. Laurie met us there. It's always more fun shopping with friends :) You should really try it - LOL!

We stopped at the post office on the way home, so that Andrea could send a package to Ryan, and I sat in the car with the kids. Another good reason to take a friend along. A baby in the post office the week or so before Christmas is NOT fun, any way you look at it - LOL!

We got home, put away the groceries, cleaned the kitchen, and Andrea and I headed back out to the store. We had a baby shower to go to later on in the day, and needed to get a present. We went to Fallas Paredes, and found some nice gifts!

We headed home, I fed my kids lunch, and I headed out to the baby shower. It was at an Italian Restaurant, Dominique's. Off of Montana. For Leslie's friend, Morgan. It's her first baby, coming in January. Henry.

I had the soup and salad bar, and Andrea and I split a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. Thanks so much, Leslie, for the invite, for the company, and for the lunch! You rock, girl! And Morgan, good luck with your baby, and your trip back to Tennessee!!!

After lunch, we headed back on post to pick up the kids. I brought Leslie's kids back to their house, and spent some time with the kids. Tom played with the neighbor kids for a while, and Eme and Joe played outside. I chatted with my neighbor Leigh for quite some time.

Later, Jimmy and I laid down on the couch, and he fell asleep. I must have dozed a bit, but eventually got up, and fixed dinner. Well, if by apple slices dipped in carmel sauce, rolled in peanuts, ranch and carrots, and bologna sandwiches you mean dinner - ROFL!

At around 5:30, I went with Andrea to take her kids to piano, while my kids watched a movie at home. We were back close to 7pm.

I finished off a movie with the kids, and put them to bed. I designed 2 WordArt packs, and blogged for the day. Busy, busy, busy. BUT, I think I accomplished everything that I needed to do today. That's always a good thing.

I put the big kids to bed at around 9pm, and I headed down to Andreas house. We watched a movie, and I came back home around 11:30pm, when Captain America finally got home from work. Poor guy, her really does work a lot... ;(

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