Today I took a day off. That means I didn't do anything I didn't want to (aside from the necessary taking care of kids things like changing little man's diapers and occasionally feeding all three kiddos!)
My 13 year old sister spent the night, so once all the kids were up and the first diaper was changed, I lumbered off to bed. I was able to get an extra 3 hours of sleep! It was heavenly truth be told! Then I was up for about an hour before my 16 year old sister came over with a friend.
Now, here is what is great about a 16 year old sister - she drives. So I handed her 40.00 packed up the kids in the minivan, handed her the keys to it and sent them off to a McDonalds with a Play Place inside. They stayed out for almost 2 hours. I have to say, I fell a teeny bit guilty over how much I enjoyed the time at home without anyone around. But really, just a teeny bit!
I then spent the entire time working on my office/craft room. It was in serious need of help. Dh has been doing nice things for me all week - installing under cabinet lighting, spools to hold ribbon, hanging up thread racks and the place was very messy and disorganized. Now, it is merely slightly messy and disorganized. I think one more 2-hour kid-free time frame will be all I need to get it looking good (that and a few more correctly sized storage containers).
The munchkins returned. Little man, feeling all tuckered out from running around the Play Place stayed awake long enough to give me a great big hug and kiss, wave bye-bye to everyone and then promptly went to bed for a nap. I sat and chatted with the older of my sisters and her friend for a bit, then showed them my newest obsession: World of Warcraft. Mostly because when I was only talking about it to them, they basically made fun of me! But I showed it to them and they both said, almost convincingly, that it did look a bit fun.
After that I did a bit more work on my office, then little man woke up and demanded some attention. Then I played on the computer for a bit and dh was home! The day flew by very quickly, but it was a great day. Now it's only 7pm, we have cake for dessert and have the rest of the evening to do nothing, or everything - to do whatever I want to!
Dh admitted that the house did look quite disorderly, but he also said he didn't mind me doing nothing today, which is only one of a million reasons why I utterly and completely love him. That I literally can do nothing all day, he will come home, not bat and eyelash, start making dinner, and still give me a hug and a kiss! What a good day today was. And really, well, I felt like I needed it. I might try to do this again in a month or so ... have to find out when 16 year old sis has the next Friday off of school! LOL! I already told her she had to promise to do it several times this summer. ::sigh:: It was so nice. I loved it. I mean, I really really loved it!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Contest!
Okay, I'm telling you, I like my vacuum all right and everything, but a Dyson? Umm, yeah, I'd LOVE a Dyson.
So I'm entering this contest from 5 minutes for Mom.
I know my odds are quickly diminishing to win, but hey, a girl can dream. Besides, what would be better - a new vacuum for my new house! I'd be in heaven =)
I won't suggest you also enter, because, well, I wanna win! LOL! But really, if you want a new vacuum, this might be a nice thing to try.
So I'm entering this contest from 5 minutes for Mom.
I know my odds are quickly diminishing to win, but hey, a girl can dream. Besides, what would be better - a new vacuum for my new house! I'd be in heaven =)
I won't suggest you also enter, because, well, I wanna win! LOL! But really, if you want a new vacuum, this might be a nice thing to try.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Playing ...
The last few days we have been having gorgeous weather. I believe we broke a few records with our highs ... it has been great.
Sitting outside with the kids, watching them run around and play, getting up to chase little man away from the street, sitting back down, then chasing him through the neighbor's yard, sitting back down, getting up and chasing him away from the mud puddle, then finally giving up on sitting down and just chasing little man everywhere LOL!!
It has been fun to enjoy the time outside, but it is very tiring because I'm mostly chasing the little one around. But oh my, does he LOVE being outside. He loves it so much he screams bloody murder when it's time to come in the house. Which I'm sure has the neighbors wondering what is going on over here. But today it turned chilly and rainy. Blah.
We did go to a pajama party this am with some other kids/moms. It was a lot of fun. The best part was I could wear pajamas and not really worry about how I was looking LOL! I did though, put on some clean jammies when I woke up. I like the ladies enough to do that for them ;-)
Other than that, that's life around here. I have no big profound thoughts to share, no deep questions to ponder, no life lessons to impart upon my faithful few readers! Life here has just been pretty calm and even - which is good. We are unpacking a bit more each day. I have a futon coming for my basement tomorrow, couches for the living room arriving in 2 weeks and a dryer that is working a bit better than before. Life is pretty okay right now and that's a good place to be.
Sitting outside with the kids, watching them run around and play, getting up to chase little man away from the street, sitting back down, then chasing him through the neighbor's yard, sitting back down, getting up and chasing him away from the mud puddle, then finally giving up on sitting down and just chasing little man everywhere LOL!!
It has been fun to enjoy the time outside, but it is very tiring because I'm mostly chasing the little one around. But oh my, does he LOVE being outside. He loves it so much he screams bloody murder when it's time to come in the house. Which I'm sure has the neighbors wondering what is going on over here. But today it turned chilly and rainy. Blah.
We did go to a pajama party this am with some other kids/moms. It was a lot of fun. The best part was I could wear pajamas and not really worry about how I was looking LOL! I did though, put on some clean jammies when I woke up. I like the ladies enough to do that for them ;-)
Other than that, that's life around here. I have no big profound thoughts to share, no deep questions to ponder, no life lessons to impart upon my faithful few readers! Life here has just been pretty calm and even - which is good. We are unpacking a bit more each day. I have a futon coming for my basement tomorrow, couches for the living room arriving in 2 weeks and a dryer that is working a bit better than before. Life is pretty okay right now and that's a good place to be.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Life ...
Life has just been flying by this past week!
I feel for the last two weeks we have spent a lot of time in the car just driving places. I'm tired of driving around places frankly! Thankfully we have no where to go today.
In other news, I unpacked several more boxes today. Also gathered 2 boxes of donate-able items. And I gathered a few piles of things to put on Craigslist. It all feels good!
Tomorrow we will go look at furniture, which makes me giddy with joy! Hopefully we can get this house in ship-shape in the next month or so. I'd like to have an open house for friends and family, but we are not ready for it at this point. But we are getting steps closer each day which is nice.
Aside from that, not much going on. I have been, admittedly, playing World of Warcraft in all my free time this week. It's been fun and interesting. Yesterday I was playing with someone who asked me "what grade are you in?" I had to laugh a lot when I was asked that. I told him if he was in school still I was probably old enough to be his mother. The response "Oh. That's cool. I'll still talk to you." I was probably talking to some 14 year old boy home from school for the day.
Aside from that, I've been playing with some family members, which is fun since we've talked via this game more in the last week than in the last, oh, 3 months maybe? So that is nice.
My dh actually likes that I have been playing because before I play I make sure I have cleaned the house and gotten all my other tasks done. It's a good thing for me as I tend to, oh, procrastinate just a teeny-tiny bit. Okay, okay, I procrastinate A LOT! LOL!
Anyway, I'm off to make a cake to celebrate my dh's birthday tonight! What a fun time =)
I feel for the last two weeks we have spent a lot of time in the car just driving places. I'm tired of driving around places frankly! Thankfully we have no where to go today.
In other news, I unpacked several more boxes today. Also gathered 2 boxes of donate-able items. And I gathered a few piles of things to put on Craigslist. It all feels good!
Tomorrow we will go look at furniture, which makes me giddy with joy! Hopefully we can get this house in ship-shape in the next month or so. I'd like to have an open house for friends and family, but we are not ready for it at this point. But we are getting steps closer each day which is nice.
Aside from that, not much going on. I have been, admittedly, playing World of Warcraft in all my free time this week. It's been fun and interesting. Yesterday I was playing with someone who asked me "what grade are you in?" I had to laugh a lot when I was asked that. I told him if he was in school still I was probably old enough to be his mother. The response "Oh. That's cool. I'll still talk to you." I was probably talking to some 14 year old boy home from school for the day.
Aside from that, I've been playing with some family members, which is fun since we've talked via this game more in the last week than in the last, oh, 3 months maybe? So that is nice.
My dh actually likes that I have been playing because before I play I make sure I have cleaned the house and gotten all my other tasks done. It's a good thing for me as I tend to, oh, procrastinate just a teeny-tiny bit. Okay, okay, I procrastinate A LOT! LOL!
Anyway, I'm off to make a cake to celebrate my dh's birthday tonight! What a fun time =)
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Sucked In!
I have been completely sucked in by World of Warcraft. I will tell you I am a Night Elf Druid. My skills are skinning and leathermaking. I am practicing my skills each and everyday and enjoying them tremendously! I have also learned cooking and fishing =)
It's terrible just how much I am enjoying this game truth be told. But it is fun and I do enjoy it. I pop in here and there - okay, so I mostly play at night and stay up much too late - but it's fun and I am having a blast with it!
That is where I have been lately. On the computer playing the game.
I have also been trying to make some fun projects with the sewing machine and yarn and needles. My oldest has been playing with neighborhood kids a LOT, which is making her very happy and also making me happy too. I love knowing she can go outside and have several people to play with. ::sigh:: I love this neighborhood. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer as well, and so I'm sure we will all be outside, mingling with neighbors and running around and playing.
It makes me anxious for summer and warm weather. I have it feeling it will mean a lot of time being outside running around, playing with others! I can't wait =)
It's terrible just how much I am enjoying this game truth be told. But it is fun and I do enjoy it. I pop in here and there - okay, so I mostly play at night and stay up much too late - but it's fun and I am having a blast with it!
That is where I have been lately. On the computer playing the game.
I have also been trying to make some fun projects with the sewing machine and yarn and needles. My oldest has been playing with neighborhood kids a LOT, which is making her very happy and also making me happy too. I love knowing she can go outside and have several people to play with. ::sigh:: I love this neighborhood. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer as well, and so I'm sure we will all be outside, mingling with neighbors and running around and playing.
It makes me anxious for summer and warm weather. I have it feeling it will mean a lot of time being outside running around, playing with others! I can't wait =)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Shopping ...
Yesterday the kiddos and I hit the local Gap store to see if we could find deals. Luckily for us, summer tops were already on sale - funny, since it's a mere 30-some degrees outside right now.
Anyway, I was thrilled to see so many shirts on the sale rack and instantly put the two girls to trying them on.
Although we found lots of shirts we did like, we found lots of shirts we did not like. And by we, I do actually mean we - thankfully my girls see eye to eye with me on the idea of clothes shopping.
Several shirts were meant to be worn with the stomach hanging out. Now you may be thinking, your girls are 4 and 7, it won't hurt them. Probably wearing a few short shirts over the summer won't hurt them. But it will teach them wearing those types of clothing is okay and when they hit 13, or 15 of 16 they will not understand my change in tune.
Also several shirts had that cut where the top sort of looks like two triangles (I wish I knew the technically name and I wish I weren't too lazy to find a picture to show you). Again, the amount of skin on top it showed, was IMNSHO, appalling and gross. Seriously, if they were older than 7 and 4 they would have had major cleavage. Again, they haven't developed anything but I still vetoed them because I want to instill these lessons in them young.
I recently heard that a girl learns her basic idea of what is okay/not okay and about sexuality between the ages of 8 and 10. Yes, 8 and 10. And that it is during that time, we as parents, can teach them in age appropriate ways about what is okay and not okay. I didn't want to believe it when I heard it. 8 to 10 seems so young, but I also remembered learning quite a few years ago most kids know by the 4th grade if they want to go to college or not, and if you don't talk it about it before then, it will be hard to change what they think they want to do. I guess the same thing applies to this.
I'm not saying I'm raising my girls to think their bodies are bad. Nor do I want them wearing long sleeve turtle necks with baggy sweaters over them and floor-length thick skirts that give them the shape of the box and cover every inch of their skin aside from their face. No, not at all. We even bought ::gasp:: some tank tops yesterday, nice ones with simple scoop necks that looked cute and age appropriate on them.
What I'm saying is I don't want my girls at ages 4 and 7 (or at 14 and 17 for that matter) to walk around looking like mini-prostitutes. There is a line there. And I don't want them to cross it frankly.
The good news in all of this was they both said before I could even comment they didn't like the shirts and how it fit them (yeah!). One shirt my 7 year old did like a lot but on her own she thought of the idea of putting a cute tank top underneath it so that it wouldn't show so much. I was very proud of them for being able to know what was okay and what wasn't for our household.
I have to also comment on one other thing. While we were shopping I song came I - one I have never heard before - but the girl was singing "I want to spend the night with you - and it wasn't too another girlfriend about a sleepover. My 7 year old specifically asked me "Oh, are the people in the song going to have a sleep over mom?" I simply said yes and then got back to picking out clothes to try on. Why was that song playing in a Gap kids store? Can someone please tell me? At least every other song we heard (and let me tell you, we heard a lot of songs because we were in there way too long!) was fine and okay. But that one did irk me.
I bring my girls to a clothing store where half the clothes are far too revealing IMO and there is a song playing about spending the night with your boyfriend.
Call me old fashioned if you will, although I will argue I am not, but it really all just bothered me a bit.
The plus side, they did get quite a few very cute shirts for summer for about 6.99 each. And they each got a pair of cute capris and as a bonus my 4 year old got a very cute jean skirt that was actually more than an inch long (and I won't even tell you about how most of the jean skirts were so short I can't imagine girls wearing them without there butts hanging out). So we were happy with the day. And I was proud of my girls. And it was fun overall =)
Anyway, I was thrilled to see so many shirts on the sale rack and instantly put the two girls to trying them on.
Although we found lots of shirts we did like, we found lots of shirts we did not like. And by we, I do actually mean we - thankfully my girls see eye to eye with me on the idea of clothes shopping.
Several shirts were meant to be worn with the stomach hanging out. Now you may be thinking, your girls are 4 and 7, it won't hurt them. Probably wearing a few short shirts over the summer won't hurt them. But it will teach them wearing those types of clothing is okay and when they hit 13, or 15 of 16 they will not understand my change in tune.
Also several shirts had that cut where the top sort of looks like two triangles (I wish I knew the technically name and I wish I weren't too lazy to find a picture to show you). Again, the amount of skin on top it showed, was IMNSHO, appalling and gross. Seriously, if they were older than 7 and 4 they would have had major cleavage. Again, they haven't developed anything but I still vetoed them because I want to instill these lessons in them young.
I recently heard that a girl learns her basic idea of what is okay/not okay and about sexuality between the ages of 8 and 10. Yes, 8 and 10. And that it is during that time, we as parents, can teach them in age appropriate ways about what is okay and not okay. I didn't want to believe it when I heard it. 8 to 10 seems so young, but I also remembered learning quite a few years ago most kids know by the 4th grade if they want to go to college or not, and if you don't talk it about it before then, it will be hard to change what they think they want to do. I guess the same thing applies to this.
I'm not saying I'm raising my girls to think their bodies are bad. Nor do I want them wearing long sleeve turtle necks with baggy sweaters over them and floor-length thick skirts that give them the shape of the box and cover every inch of their skin aside from their face. No, not at all. We even bought ::gasp:: some tank tops yesterday, nice ones with simple scoop necks that looked cute and age appropriate on them.
What I'm saying is I don't want my girls at ages 4 and 7 (or at 14 and 17 for that matter) to walk around looking like mini-prostitutes. There is a line there. And I don't want them to cross it frankly.
The good news in all of this was they both said before I could even comment they didn't like the shirts and how it fit them (yeah!). One shirt my 7 year old did like a lot but on her own she thought of the idea of putting a cute tank top underneath it so that it wouldn't show so much. I was very proud of them for being able to know what was okay and what wasn't for our household.
I have to also comment on one other thing. While we were shopping I song came I - one I have never heard before - but the girl was singing "I want to spend the night with you - and it wasn't too another girlfriend about a sleepover. My 7 year old specifically asked me "Oh, are the people in the song going to have a sleep over mom?" I simply said yes and then got back to picking out clothes to try on. Why was that song playing in a Gap kids store? Can someone please tell me? At least every other song we heard (and let me tell you, we heard a lot of songs because we were in there way too long!) was fine and okay. But that one did irk me.
I bring my girls to a clothing store where half the clothes are far too revealing IMO and there is a song playing about spending the night with your boyfriend.
Call me old fashioned if you will, although I will argue I am not, but it really all just bothered me a bit.
The plus side, they did get quite a few very cute shirts for summer for about 6.99 each. And they each got a pair of cute capris and as a bonus my 4 year old got a very cute jean skirt that was actually more than an inch long (and I won't even tell you about how most of the jean skirts were so short I can't imagine girls wearing them without there butts hanging out). So we were happy with the day. And I was proud of my girls. And it was fun overall =)
I'm a ....
computer gaming nerd.
I admit it. I am. I love playing games on the computer.
Some of my favorites are Age of Empires, Ages of Wonder, Age of Mythology (yes, you might say I have a thing for games with Ages in the title). I especially love playing them with my dh, we network the computers, put ourselves on the same team and go out to defeat the other teams. Yes, I hunt animals in these games, I have farms in these games, I produce archers and cavalry, and wall knocker-downer-thingies. I go out and conquer other teams and other civilizations. I can't help it. It's fun. It's mostly fun because I am generally doing it with my dh. And it's also fun because it's a nice stress release. Frustrated with someone in real life? That's okay, go pretend you are an Elf in Ages of Wonder who must conquer the Orcs. I admit, it helps me to feel better!
Yes, I like playing computer games. I admit it. I realize it's not for everyone, truly I do, but they are fun for me!
Well, last night dh and I began to play a new game ... World of Warcraft (WoW). WoW is different from other games we've played, mainly because you play it on-line in a real time world. When it is 1pm here, it is 1pm there. When it 3:30 am here, it is 3:30am there. When I log off from playing, life in the game keeps going. There is no pause button, there is no restart button (although you can build a new player and begin again). It came with a manual on how to play, but it says in the book the game is ever-changing since it's all on-line.
And so last night dh and I ventured into this world (I bought him the game as an early birthday present) and I will admit, it is fun. We are still in the learning stages, trying to get money, earn experience points, level up, gain amour, etc, etc. Last night I ran around completing "quests" for about 45 minutes before I decided to let my character rest.
The only two downsides to this game are it currently only runs on one of our computers. Which means dh and I can not play together. And two, I can see where it might get a bit addicting. Of course if the game continues when you are not there, you almost have to sign on and play a few times a week to make sure all is well with your character, right? Well, we'll see how it goes. Dh is trying to make it run on a second computer ... it would be so much more fun if we could play at the same time.
I know it sounds weird to some, but playing games together is bonding time for us. So if spent 4 hours a week playing the game with dh, we'd talk as we played, we'd enjoy each other's company and we would love it. I suppose it would be like watching 2 movies together - so it can't be all that bad.
He did manage to gain more points than I did last night. So today, he is out running errands, so in a few moments I will be hopping on to "catch up" so if we can play together we are able to complete quests together. On one hand I want to laugh at that thought, on the other, hey, it's our thing and nobody better laugh at it LOL!! =)
In other news, my goal was 25 pages of my Bible a day. Yesterday, Friday, was day 4 and I finished at page 124. So far, so good and a bit ahead - which is good! I have lots and lots of questions. I think when I finish I will need to go back and read slower and try to get more than just the gist of the stories and the meaning. But right now that is my goal: read it through once, learn the basics of the stories and get a basic understand. Later then I can go back and uncover the deeper meaning or the double meanings or all the nitty-gritty stuff, because I will be able to place it in the contect of the entire Book.
I admit it. I am. I love playing games on the computer.
Some of my favorites are Age of Empires, Ages of Wonder, Age of Mythology (yes, you might say I have a thing for games with Ages in the title). I especially love playing them with my dh, we network the computers, put ourselves on the same team and go out to defeat the other teams. Yes, I hunt animals in these games, I have farms in these games, I produce archers and cavalry, and wall knocker-downer-thingies. I go out and conquer other teams and other civilizations. I can't help it. It's fun. It's mostly fun because I am generally doing it with my dh. And it's also fun because it's a nice stress release. Frustrated with someone in real life? That's okay, go pretend you are an Elf in Ages of Wonder who must conquer the Orcs. I admit, it helps me to feel better!
Yes, I like playing computer games. I admit it. I realize it's not for everyone, truly I do, but they are fun for me!
Well, last night dh and I began to play a new game ... World of Warcraft (WoW). WoW is different from other games we've played, mainly because you play it on-line in a real time world. When it is 1pm here, it is 1pm there. When it 3:30 am here, it is 3:30am there. When I log off from playing, life in the game keeps going. There is no pause button, there is no restart button (although you can build a new player and begin again). It came with a manual on how to play, but it says in the book the game is ever-changing since it's all on-line.
And so last night dh and I ventured into this world (I bought him the game as an early birthday present) and I will admit, it is fun. We are still in the learning stages, trying to get money, earn experience points, level up, gain amour, etc, etc. Last night I ran around completing "quests" for about 45 minutes before I decided to let my character rest.
The only two downsides to this game are it currently only runs on one of our computers. Which means dh and I can not play together. And two, I can see where it might get a bit addicting. Of course if the game continues when you are not there, you almost have to sign on and play a few times a week to make sure all is well with your character, right? Well, we'll see how it goes. Dh is trying to make it run on a second computer ... it would be so much more fun if we could play at the same time.
I know it sounds weird to some, but playing games together is bonding time for us. So if spent 4 hours a week playing the game with dh, we'd talk as we played, we'd enjoy each other's company and we would love it. I suppose it would be like watching 2 movies together - so it can't be all that bad.
He did manage to gain more points than I did last night. So today, he is out running errands, so in a few moments I will be hopping on to "catch up" so if we can play together we are able to complete quests together. On one hand I want to laugh at that thought, on the other, hey, it's our thing and nobody better laugh at it LOL!! =)
In other news, my goal was 25 pages of my Bible a day. Yesterday, Friday, was day 4 and I finished at page 124. So far, so good and a bit ahead - which is good! I have lots and lots of questions. I think when I finish I will need to go back and read slower and try to get more than just the gist of the stories and the meaning. But right now that is my goal: read it through once, learn the basics of the stories and get a basic understand. Later then I can go back and uncover the deeper meaning or the double meanings or all the nitty-gritty stuff, because I will be able to place it in the contect of the entire Book.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Rambling ...
Tonight I think I'm just going to ramble on a bit ...
First of all, I have been actively trying to get out of the house for a few days. Everything keeps conspiring against me though. Apparently, life doesn't want me to get out of this house. It could be because I should be cleaning, unpacking, organizing, etc ... but I really would rather get away from it all for a while.
Oh well. I have started a new undertaking. At first I wasn't going to say anything on the blog about it, mostly because it seems a little silly to come here and state it. But probably because if someone asks me about it in the future and I've already given up, I'll feel silly. And now I feel very silly that I have this much build up ... anyway, I have decided to read the Bible, cover to cover, in 90 days. This will not be first attempt. Last time I made it all the way to Proverbs. I have been doing it for 2 days. The way my Bible is laid out, I need to do 25 pages a day.
Which brings me to another point. I really need a new Bible. The Bible I have I bought in high school. It has sections on "why we should listen to our parents" and "being a teenager can be difficult." Well yeah, it's a life application Bible, but it's not really applying to my current life. So I need a new one. Also there are a lot of confusing parts in that Bible and I'm only on page 54. This is why it is difficult for me to get through. I hit parts and I think where in the world did this come from? What in the world does that mean? But none-the-less, I'll try.
In other news, things around here seem to be going pretty well. My friend and I are working on launching our business. It seems that our first big day is May 19 ... which is our first craft fair. I'm nervous but excited. I do hope it all works out for us. Soon we should be launching a website and going from there.
Today we went and got library cards for our new town. We also visited the park district and turned in our lottery sheet, which is due by Saturday. Of course we missed the softball registration deadline. My 7 year old is now on the wait list, but we in at number 5. They were pretty sure that something would open up and if the list hit a certain amount they might even throw together another team. I'm crossing my fingers for her. She was so bummed when she found out she might not be able to do it. But we did put in for golf and that excited her. honestly, I had no clue she even thought about golf but that was the one thing she really wanted to do from the park district catalogue.
That about sums up things around here =)
First of all, I have been actively trying to get out of the house for a few days. Everything keeps conspiring against me though. Apparently, life doesn't want me to get out of this house. It could be because I should be cleaning, unpacking, organizing, etc ... but I really would rather get away from it all for a while.
Oh well. I have started a new undertaking. At first I wasn't going to say anything on the blog about it, mostly because it seems a little silly to come here and state it. But probably because if someone asks me about it in the future and I've already given up, I'll feel silly. And now I feel very silly that I have this much build up ... anyway, I have decided to read the Bible, cover to cover, in 90 days. This will not be first attempt. Last time I made it all the way to Proverbs. I have been doing it for 2 days. The way my Bible is laid out, I need to do 25 pages a day.
Which brings me to another point. I really need a new Bible. The Bible I have I bought in high school. It has sections on "why we should listen to our parents" and "being a teenager can be difficult." Well yeah, it's a life application Bible, but it's not really applying to my current life. So I need a new one. Also there are a lot of confusing parts in that Bible and I'm only on page 54. This is why it is difficult for me to get through. I hit parts and I think where in the world did this come from? What in the world does that mean? But none-the-less, I'll try.
In other news, things around here seem to be going pretty well. My friend and I are working on launching our business. It seems that our first big day is May 19 ... which is our first craft fair. I'm nervous but excited. I do hope it all works out for us. Soon we should be launching a website and going from there.
Today we went and got library cards for our new town. We also visited the park district and turned in our lottery sheet, which is due by Saturday. Of course we missed the softball registration deadline. My 7 year old is now on the wait list, but we in at number 5. They were pretty sure that something would open up and if the list hit a certain amount they might even throw together another team. I'm crossing my fingers for her. She was so bummed when she found out she might not be able to do it. But we did put in for golf and that excited her. honestly, I had no clue she even thought about golf but that was the one thing she really wanted to do from the park district catalogue.
That about sums up things around here =)
Rambling ...
Tonight I think I'm just going to ramble on a bit ...
First of all, I have been actively trying to get out of the house for a few days. Everything keeps conspiring against me though. Apparently, life doesn't want me to get out of this house. It could be because I should be cleaning, unpacking, organizing, etc ... but I really would rather get away from it all for a while.
Oh well. I have started a new undertaking. At first I wasn't going to say anything on the blog about it, mostly because it seems a little silly to come here and state it. But probably because if someone asks me about it in the future and I've already given up, I'll feel silly. And now I feel very silly that I have this much build up ... anyway, I have decided to read the Bible, cover to cover, in 90 days. This will not be first attempt. Last time I made it all the way to Proverbs. I have been doing it for 2 days. The way my Bible is laid out, I need to do 25 pages a day.
Which brings me to another point. I really need a new Bible. The Bible I have I bought in high school. It has sections on "why we should listen to our parents" and "being a teenager can be difficult." Well yeah, it's a life application Bible, but it's not really applying to my current life. So I need a new one. Also there are a lot of confusing parts in that Bible and I'm only on page 54. This is why it is difficult for me to get through. I hit parts and I think where in the world did this come from? What in the world does that mean? But none-the-less, I'll try.
In other news, things around here seem to be going pretty well. My friend and I are working on launching our business. It seems that our first big day is May 19 ... which is our first craft fair. I'm nervous but excited. I do hope it all works out for us. Soon we should be launching a website and going from there.
Today we went and got library cards for our new town. We also visited the park district and turned in our lottery sheet, which is due by Saturday. Of course we missed the softball registration deadline. My 7 year old is now on the wait list, but we in at number 5. They were pretty sure that something would open up and if the list hit a certain amount they might even throw together another team. I'm crossing my fingers for her. She was so bummed when she found out she might not be able to do it. But we did put in for golf and that excited her. honestly, I had no clue she even thought about golf but that was the one thing she really wanted to do from the park district catalogue.
That about sums up things around here =)
First of all, I have been actively trying to get out of the house for a few days. Everything keeps conspiring against me though. Apparently, life doesn't want me to get out of this house. It could be because I should be cleaning, unpacking, organizing, etc ... but I really would rather get away from it all for a while.
Oh well. I have started a new undertaking. At first I wasn't going to say anything on the blog about it, mostly because it seems a little silly to come here and state it. But probably because if someone asks me about it in the future and I've already given up, I'll feel silly. And now I feel very silly that I have this much build up ... anyway, I have decided to read the Bible, cover to cover, in 90 days. This will not be first attempt. Last time I made it all the way to Proverbs. I have been doing it for 2 days. The way my Bible is laid out, I need to do 25 pages a day.
Which brings me to another point. I really need a new Bible. The Bible I have I bought in high school. It has sections on "why we should listen to our parents" and "being a teenager can be difficult." Well yeah, it's a life application Bible, but it's not really applying to my current life. So I need a new one. Also there are a lot of confusing parts in that Bible and I'm only on page 54. This is why it is difficult for me to get through. I hit parts and I think where in the world did this come from? What in the world does that mean? But none-the-less, I'll try.
In other news, things around here seem to be going pretty well. My friend and I are working on launching our business. It seems that our first big day is May 19 ... which is our first craft fair. I'm nervous but excited. I do hope it all works out for us. Soon we should be launching a website and going from there.
Today we went and got library cards for our new town. We also visited the park district and turned in our lottery sheet, which is due by Saturday. Of course we missed the softball registration deadline. My 7 year old is now on the wait list, but we in at number 5. They were pretty sure that something would open up and if the list hit a certain amount they might even throw together another team. I'm crossing my fingers for her. She was so bummed when she found out she might not be able to do it. But we did put in for golf and that excited her. honestly, I had no clue she even thought about golf but that was the one thing she really wanted to do from the park district catalogue.
That about sums up things around here =)
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Party Wrap-Up
Well despite the Ultimate Blog Party ending on March 9, I continued the partying until today. I have now visited all the blogs at the party! It was so much fun. There sure are a wide variety of blogs out there in blogland =)
I did not comment on each and every one I visited for a variety of reasons, but I did visit each and every one.
I can not point you to just one blog I found and loved and could not live without. Merely because I only added roughly 150 blogs to my bloglines account. :X
I will have to start a blog reading rotation here ... I can not keep up with all the blogs I have on my feeds. Well, not unless of course I start to ignore the house and the kids.
As it was, I only got through a majority of the UBP posts because my dh was not home for quite a few days last week/weekend and so I had my evenings completely free to browse on-line.
Besides, I enjoy blogging, but do not want it to become my life. I have a feeling in a few weeks I will have to remove some of those blogline feeds (since I had 100 before the UBP and now have 250).
But the party was so much fun! I loved participating in it. I know the point was never to visit every blog listed there, but it was just something I decided to do anyway, and it was worth it to see so many great people out in blogland! =)
I did not comment on each and every one I visited for a variety of reasons, but I did visit each and every one.
I can not point you to just one blog I found and loved and could not live without. Merely because I only added roughly 150 blogs to my bloglines account. :X
I will have to start a blog reading rotation here ... I can not keep up with all the blogs I have on my feeds. Well, not unless of course I start to ignore the house and the kids.
As it was, I only got through a majority of the UBP posts because my dh was not home for quite a few days last week/weekend and so I had my evenings completely free to browse on-line.
Besides, I enjoy blogging, but do not want it to become my life. I have a feeling in a few weeks I will have to remove some of those blogline feeds (since I had 100 before the UBP and now have 250).
But the party was so much fun! I loved participating in it. I know the point was never to visit every blog listed there, but it was just something I decided to do anyway, and it was worth it to see so many great people out in blogland! =)
The dentist visit ...
It went as well as I expected truthfully. Of course I expected it to be horrible and it was.
It's not my dentist's fault. It's not the hygenist's fault. It really is the fault of my old dentist. The one I had to leave after he freaked out my oldest dd and gave her an intense fear of the dentists and after he told me for a mere 30,000 dollars he could fix my jaw forever (which 3 consultations with other dentists all said, not hardly.
Anyway, roughly 7.5 years ago he fitted me with an orthodontic split for my jaw. He told me I would have to wear it for 6 months tops. 6 months passed, my bottom teeth began decaying at a rapid rate. He told me my jaw was not quite healed and I should wear it a bit longer and by the way, brush my teeth more. And then 6 months later, my teeth were worse and I had to still keep the splint on. Fast forward another year. He yelled at me for not taking care of my spilt well enough and told me I was ruining all my teeth. I explained to him very carefully how I was (what I thought) taking great care of my mouth. That's when he said "That's not how to to properly take care of your split." Umm, okay, could have used the CORRECT way to clean it 2 years ago when I first got it idiot. And yet, I still returned. The splint, I was told needed to stay on a bit longer.
And that's when he told me the splint had to stay on permanently unless I dropped 30,000 dollars and essentially had crowns put on all my teeth to correct my bite and teeth alignment and then my jaw would be fixed forever.
Crowns. On. All. My. Teeth. Even the healthy ones.
At first I was going to jump right in and let him do it. Dh and I discussed how we would pay for it and get it taken care of, and oh yeah, he never talked to us about getting my wisdom teeth pulled and shouldn't we do that first?
No, he said, let get started on the work.
And someone (on-line actually) convinced me to get a second opinion. I did. And a third. And a fourth. And they all said the same thing - what was this guy thinking. And they wouldn't let him do that to their mouths. And oh yeah, by the way, if you have impacted wisdom teeth, pulling them out can crack crowns so if I did go that route, get the wisdom teeth removed first.
So I stopped going to quack dentist and started seeing a new dentist.
He sent me to the oral surgeon to get the wisdom teeth out. He took care of the bottom teeth decay (some of which the old dentist didn't fill because it wasn't necessary despite the fact I complained of pain) and sent me to an orthodontist. Now here is where it gets fun. He looked over my stuff and said I used to have proper alignment but because of all the work old dentist did, my teeth bo longer were alligned and it would take extensive work to fix it. And on top of it all, he didn't think the standard treatment for TMJ would help my jaw anyway and thought I needed to go and see someone who specialized only in TMJ. And come to think of it, I didn't even have TMJ symptoms really, that I might want to get a CT scan so they could really see my jaw clearly.
And then I got pregnant, which makes everything even more complicated. And now, I am not pregnant and won't be, so we can really work on my mouth.
And yesterday I found out that truely, I need to wear the orthodontic split (which is like this big huge thing that sits on my bottom teeth and looks nasty and I'm commonly asked about what is on my teeth @@) for life or I really do probably need to crown all the teeth on the bottom if I don't want to wear it. :::sigh:::
And I have about 4 cavaties on the bottom. The top teeth look fine. The dental appliace I wear basically leaves it next to impossible for my teeth to stay clean for very long at all because since it sits on top of my teeth it literally holds bacteria on my teeth and I am supposed to wear it 24/7.
I almost burst into tears yesterday. I wish I could go back 8 years. I wish I had decided to see a different dentist. I wish I never had that thing put in my mouth to begin with. I wish I knew that taking that step pretty much locked me into it for life.
So really, the *best thing for me to do is get crowns and get rid of this split I wear. But as you can imagine, crowns will take time and money. None of which I have a lot of extra of. So since my old split is falling apart and at this point I cna't chew food without it in my mouth, I will have to pay for another one. Blech.
The only *good thing I heard was I can take it out except for when I'm eating and sleeping and see how my jaw holds up. The few other times we have tried this, I get a few days before my jaw starts locking up and back in it goes. I am praying that this time I can last longer. If I only had to wear part time it would help a LOT.
It's not my dentist's fault. It's not the hygenist's fault. It really is the fault of my old dentist. The one I had to leave after he freaked out my oldest dd and gave her an intense fear of the dentists and after he told me for a mere 30,000 dollars he could fix my jaw forever (which 3 consultations with other dentists all said, not hardly.
Anyway, roughly 7.5 years ago he fitted me with an orthodontic split for my jaw. He told me I would have to wear it for 6 months tops. 6 months passed, my bottom teeth began decaying at a rapid rate. He told me my jaw was not quite healed and I should wear it a bit longer and by the way, brush my teeth more. And then 6 months later, my teeth were worse and I had to still keep the splint on. Fast forward another year. He yelled at me for not taking care of my spilt well enough and told me I was ruining all my teeth. I explained to him very carefully how I was (what I thought) taking great care of my mouth. That's when he said "That's not how to to properly take care of your split." Umm, okay, could have used the CORRECT way to clean it 2 years ago when I first got it idiot. And yet, I still returned. The splint, I was told needed to stay on a bit longer.
And that's when he told me the splint had to stay on permanently unless I dropped 30,000 dollars and essentially had crowns put on all my teeth to correct my bite and teeth alignment and then my jaw would be fixed forever.
Crowns. On. All. My. Teeth. Even the healthy ones.
At first I was going to jump right in and let him do it. Dh and I discussed how we would pay for it and get it taken care of, and oh yeah, he never talked to us about getting my wisdom teeth pulled and shouldn't we do that first?
No, he said, let get started on the work.
And someone (on-line actually) convinced me to get a second opinion. I did. And a third. And a fourth. And they all said the same thing - what was this guy thinking. And they wouldn't let him do that to their mouths. And oh yeah, by the way, if you have impacted wisdom teeth, pulling them out can crack crowns so if I did go that route, get the wisdom teeth removed first.
So I stopped going to quack dentist and started seeing a new dentist.
He sent me to the oral surgeon to get the wisdom teeth out. He took care of the bottom teeth decay (some of which the old dentist didn't fill because it wasn't necessary despite the fact I complained of pain) and sent me to an orthodontist. Now here is where it gets fun. He looked over my stuff and said I used to have proper alignment but because of all the work old dentist did, my teeth bo longer were alligned and it would take extensive work to fix it. And on top of it all, he didn't think the standard treatment for TMJ would help my jaw anyway and thought I needed to go and see someone who specialized only in TMJ. And come to think of it, I didn't even have TMJ symptoms really, that I might want to get a CT scan so they could really see my jaw clearly.
And then I got pregnant, which makes everything even more complicated. And now, I am not pregnant and won't be, so we can really work on my mouth.
And yesterday I found out that truely, I need to wear the orthodontic split (which is like this big huge thing that sits on my bottom teeth and looks nasty and I'm commonly asked about what is on my teeth @@) for life or I really do probably need to crown all the teeth on the bottom if I don't want to wear it. :::sigh:::
And I have about 4 cavaties on the bottom. The top teeth look fine. The dental appliace I wear basically leaves it next to impossible for my teeth to stay clean for very long at all because since it sits on top of my teeth it literally holds bacteria on my teeth and I am supposed to wear it 24/7.
I almost burst into tears yesterday. I wish I could go back 8 years. I wish I had decided to see a different dentist. I wish I never had that thing put in my mouth to begin with. I wish I knew that taking that step pretty much locked me into it for life.
So really, the *best thing for me to do is get crowns and get rid of this split I wear. But as you can imagine, crowns will take time and money. None of which I have a lot of extra of. So since my old split is falling apart and at this point I cna't chew food without it in my mouth, I will have to pay for another one. Blech.
The only *good thing I heard was I can take it out except for when I'm eating and sleeping and see how my jaw holds up. The few other times we have tried this, I get a few days before my jaw starts locking up and back in it goes. I am praying that this time I can last longer. If I only had to wear part time it would help a LOT.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Tonight we snuck in ...
a bit of TV to watch THE SOUND OF MUSIC with my girls. Okay, okay, we watched about the first 15 minutes of it. And they both want to finish it tomorrow.
Let me first say, I LOVE Maria. ::sigh:: I fell in love with her the first time I saw it. I wanted her to come and babysit me, and sew me clothes from curtains and teach me to sing and take me out to climb trees and dance around fountains and all that fun stuff!
Today in choir, my dd learned the song The Sound of Music. She started to sing it with me and I began to sing with her. Well, imagine her surprise when dear old mom knew the song too! So it made me pull out the movie to show Maria singing it in the beginning. Then I let her watch the nuns sing "how do you solve a problem like Maria" and as I sang along I sang her name in Maria's place. She laughed, but truely somedays that is exactly how I feel about my 7 year old.
Case in point. Today she told her drama teacher she was "much too busy to practive the lines for my play." Um. Excuse me? I don't think so! ::sigh:: She didn't say it to be rude or snotty. She thought she was just explaining the facts to her teacher. But, she's so happy and really does have a kind heart. We just have to work on some of these other issues!
In other extremely exciting, and somewhat sort of related kind of way in that it involves music which is also in The Sound of Music. Someone my dh works with is giving away a piano. As in for free. As in the don't want money for it! No one else he worked with was interested. I jumped up and down, called him after I read that e-mail and told him "Go over there right now and tell him you want that piano! PLEASE!!!" Dh was surprised that I was so excited (I'm not sure why as I've talked about getting a piano for 7 years of our almost 8 year marriage). So Saturday I am getting a piano. It is an upright, about 40 years old, probably needs to be tuned and in the pictures the keys look discolored, but I an so excited about it I don't care. Although I will probably try to do something to clean the keys up and will definitely need to have it tuned.
I have an entire box of sheet music saved. I bought a ton when I was in my teen years because I was determined that some day I would have a piano. I am so glad I did that. Now I'll have a piano to play that music on!
The girls are also excited. They both asked if they could learn to play it. I'm sure Little Man will enjoy banging on the keys as well once it arrives.
Oh, what a great day.
Tomorrow, I have to go to the dentist. I am secretly hoping they will call in the am and cancel on me. I don't want to go. It's just for a cleaning! I am being so silly about this! But I am so scared to go anyway! I am a big girl. And I am brave. And I can do this. But, if they did call to cancel, I'd be okay with that too! LOL!
Let me first say, I LOVE Maria. ::sigh:: I fell in love with her the first time I saw it. I wanted her to come and babysit me, and sew me clothes from curtains and teach me to sing and take me out to climb trees and dance around fountains and all that fun stuff!
Today in choir, my dd learned the song The Sound of Music. She started to sing it with me and I began to sing with her. Well, imagine her surprise when dear old mom knew the song too! So it made me pull out the movie to show Maria singing it in the beginning. Then I let her watch the nuns sing "how do you solve a problem like Maria" and as I sang along I sang her name in Maria's place. She laughed, but truely somedays that is exactly how I feel about my 7 year old.
Case in point. Today she told her drama teacher she was "much too busy to practive the lines for my play." Um. Excuse me? I don't think so! ::sigh:: She didn't say it to be rude or snotty. She thought she was just explaining the facts to her teacher. But, she's so happy and really does have a kind heart. We just have to work on some of these other issues!
In other extremely exciting, and somewhat sort of related kind of way in that it involves music which is also in The Sound of Music. Someone my dh works with is giving away a piano. As in for free. As in the don't want money for it! No one else he worked with was interested. I jumped up and down, called him after I read that e-mail and told him "Go over there right now and tell him you want that piano! PLEASE!!!" Dh was surprised that I was so excited (I'm not sure why as I've talked about getting a piano for 7 years of our almost 8 year marriage). So Saturday I am getting a piano. It is an upright, about 40 years old, probably needs to be tuned and in the pictures the keys look discolored, but I an so excited about it I don't care. Although I will probably try to do something to clean the keys up and will definitely need to have it tuned.
I have an entire box of sheet music saved. I bought a ton when I was in my teen years because I was determined that some day I would have a piano. I am so glad I did that. Now I'll have a piano to play that music on!
The girls are also excited. They both asked if they could learn to play it. I'm sure Little Man will enjoy banging on the keys as well once it arrives.
Oh, what a great day.
Tomorrow, I have to go to the dentist. I am secretly hoping they will call in the am and cancel on me. I don't want to go. It's just for a cleaning! I am being so silly about this! But I am so scared to go anyway! I am a big girl. And I am brave. And I can do this. But, if they did call to cancel, I'd be okay with that too! LOL!
Monday, March 12, 2007
I have learned ...
Over the course of popping into 700 other blogs
1. I use eclamation marks far too frequently!! I'm pretty sure every comment has about a dozen of them!! Mostly two put together for greater emphasis I think!! I'm not really sure why I do, I just do!!!
2. I use the word anyway too often. I'm pretty sure about 80% of my comments have that word in them.
Anyway ... I have had a lot of fun visiting so many fun blogs out there! I have officially visited every blog listed at the Ultimate Blog Party to number 700. Now only 220 to go I think? It has been fun. I have been leaving as many comments as possible, which has also added to my fun. Some sites won't let me leave comments since I'm not a member. Some sites the java won't work on my computer (which actually officially died today. Apparently it was all parties out). And other sites, I'm pretty sure I just couldn't comment on due to my laptop. But I have visited a lot of sites.
I'm pretty overwhelmed with all that visiting. I still want to read them all, but may take a few days off!
And for those of you stopping by here, thank you, THANK YOU for all the nice comments! I am loving this. I do believe I have had more comments in the last few days than in the last few years LOL! I have read each and every one, even yours DeDee! =)
So thank you for coming to visit and saying hi. You've made me day and made me smile!
1. I use eclamation marks far too frequently!! I'm pretty sure every comment has about a dozen of them!! Mostly two put together for greater emphasis I think!! I'm not really sure why I do, I just do!!!
2. I use the word anyway too often. I'm pretty sure about 80% of my comments have that word in them.
Anyway ... I have had a lot of fun visiting so many fun blogs out there! I have officially visited every blog listed at the Ultimate Blog Party to number 700. Now only 220 to go I think? It has been fun. I have been leaving as many comments as possible, which has also added to my fun. Some sites won't let me leave comments since I'm not a member. Some sites the java won't work on my computer (which actually officially died today. Apparently it was all parties out). And other sites, I'm pretty sure I just couldn't comment on due to my laptop. But I have visited a lot of sites.
I'm pretty overwhelmed with all that visiting. I still want to read them all, but may take a few days off!
And for those of you stopping by here, thank you, THANK YOU for all the nice comments! I am loving this. I do believe I have had more comments in the last few days than in the last few years LOL! I have read each and every one, even yours DeDee! =)
So thank you for coming to visit and saying hi. You've made me day and made me smile!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Party Time!!
After much debate, I decided to jump into the ultimate blog party ...
I have joined the party a bit late, but well, better late than never!
So welcome to my blog! I am Brandie, wife to one very great guy and mommy to 3 darling children.
I also happen to homeschool the children, sometimes it keeps me pretty busy, but other times we take breaks from school and just play (although often times I find my kids learn more during those breaks than sitting at the table doing "work").
Pull up a chair and have a seat. We just moved, so pardon the mess. And as you can tell, my living room has no furniture in it yet. That's okay. I like to sit at the breakfast bar myself - my computer is there, I can watch the tv, and enjoy a nice can of coca-cola (my favorite drink).
Since this is a party, Imade bought a nice cheesecake to share. As you can tell, I have already sampled it - well, I had to make sure it was okay for comapny - and it tastes wonderful.
More about me ...
I enjoy reading and knitting.
I also like to sew, quilt, scrapbook, well, I'm not sure there's a craft out there I don't enjoy. As well, I love singing and often sing around the house ... these days you'd hear me singing this:
I love having this blog. I love having a place to come and write and talk about whatever I want to. I love having a place to go to where I can just write, and "talk", and ramble. And even more than writing in my blog, I LOVE reading other blogs. There are so many great blogs out there - ones that make me laugh, cry, think, etc, etc.
Welcome to my blog. Feel free to drop a note to me in my comments or via e-mail at Brandie185 at gmail dot come. And come back again soon!
I have joined the party a bit late, but well, better late than never!
So welcome to my blog! I am Brandie, wife to one very great guy and mommy to 3 darling children.
I also happen to homeschool the children, sometimes it keeps me pretty busy, but other times we take breaks from school and just play (although often times I find my kids learn more during those breaks than sitting at the table doing "work").
Pull up a chair and have a seat. We just moved, so pardon the mess. And as you can tell, my living room has no furniture in it yet. That's okay. I like to sit at the breakfast bar myself - my computer is there, I can watch the tv, and enjoy a nice can of coca-cola (my favorite drink).
Since this is a party, I
More about me ...
I enjoy reading and knitting.
I also like to sew, quilt, scrapbook, well, I'm not sure there's a craft out there I don't enjoy. As well, I love singing and often sing around the house ... these days you'd hear me singing this:
I love having this blog. I love having a place to come and write and talk about whatever I want to. I love having a place to go to where I can just write, and "talk", and ramble. And even more than writing in my blog, I LOVE reading other blogs. There are so many great blogs out there - ones that make me laugh, cry, think, etc, etc.
Welcome to my blog. Feel free to drop a note to me in my comments or via e-mail at Brandie185 at gmail dot come. And come back again soon!
In case ...
You didn't already know I was crazy, I would like to tell you I have visited the first 410 blogs at the Ulitmate Blogger Party.
I feel compelled to visit each and every site for some strange reason ... it's almost like having OCD. I don't want to skip anyone and couldn't figure out a good random system so thus, I'm trying to visit everyone.
Yes, I am in insane.
So far I can say I have left comments on 85% of the links that are working! Some I just can't leave them on (I think the java on my computer is not working all the time and preventing the comment box from popping up) and other sites I need to be a member of ...
I have to say, this is actually fun! I like reading about everyone and seeing what is going on with other people's lives. It is a lot of fun.
I do recommend you go look at the list and try to visit maybe a couple of them. I sure I will be adding a whole bunch of blogs to my blogroll next week! =)
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I am sure Monday will still find me reading all these new blogs!
I feel compelled to visit each and every site for some strange reason ... it's almost like having OCD. I don't want to skip anyone and couldn't figure out a good random system so thus, I'm trying to visit everyone.
Yes, I am in insane.
So far I can say I have left comments on 85% of the links that are working! Some I just can't leave them on (I think the java on my computer is not working all the time and preventing the comment box from popping up) and other sites I need to be a member of ...
I have to say, this is actually fun! I like reading about everyone and seeing what is going on with other people's lives. It is a lot of fun.
I do recommend you go look at the list and try to visit maybe a couple of them. I sure I will be adding a whole bunch of blogs to my blogroll next week! =)
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I am sure Monday will still find me reading all these new blogs!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Oh Dear
The Ultimate Blog Party is a lot of fun ... but there are so many blogs out there to read.
I have managed to stop by roughly 125 sites so far ...
I think to hit them all, I'll need to keep checking sites for about the next week. I really do want to hit everyone, but realistically, hitting 100 sites a day just isn't in the cards for me unless my babyboy takes a mega huge nap the next few days LOL!
Well, I'm trying to hit as many people as possible. I guess this is what happens when you join the party late.
I have managed to stop by roughly 125 sites so far ...
I think to hit them all, I'll need to keep checking sites for about the next week. I really do want to hit everyone, but realistically, hitting 100 sites a day just isn't in the cards for me unless my babyboy takes a mega huge nap the next few days LOL!
Well, I'm trying to hit as many people as possible. I guess this is what happens when you join the party late.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
No TV update ...
Can I just say that I should have done this a long time ago?
We said no TV on Saturday. The children grumbled when we said it. Sunday they asked to watch a movie and we said no - we weren't sure of content and so decided to say no.
Then we heard nothing. Tuesday morning I told them they could watch some of the cartoons on if they so desired. I heard "No thanks mom. We're playing Guess Who and it's a lot more fun."
Yesterday I asked if they missed TV, they both said nope, not at all.
How wonderful is that?
I think it's grand.
Now, I just wish the behavior we were trying to correct would move that quickly. But it isn't and well, it shouldn't. She is the habit of that behavior and it will take time for her to relearn what is okay and is not is okay. I will say I do see her making an effort and so that is grand. She really is trying and at this point, that's all I can ask. An honest effort.
I would like to also point out, both children have been helping clean the house a lot this week. I think that no tv is freeing up their time and they don't mind helping when they don't need to wait for commercials, or for this show to end, or for the good part to be over.
It is very nice. If things keep up like this, I imagine little tv will be our lifestyle from now on. I say little tv because I do watch some crafting how-to shows during the day, and they do enjoy watching them with me. And of course, I have primetime shows I like to watch (after they are in bed). But it is nice without the tv on I must say. =)
Also a big hi and thank you to those who are stopping over here to join in the party!
It's nice to meet you. And a HUGE thanks to MissKris who offered to babysit ... oh my, just the offer alone made my day! =)
We said no TV on Saturday. The children grumbled when we said it. Sunday they asked to watch a movie and we said no - we weren't sure of content and so decided to say no.
Then we heard nothing. Tuesday morning I told them they could watch some of the cartoons on if they so desired. I heard "No thanks mom. We're playing Guess Who and it's a lot more fun."
Yesterday I asked if they missed TV, they both said nope, not at all.
How wonderful is that?
I think it's grand.
Now, I just wish the behavior we were trying to correct would move that quickly. But it isn't and well, it shouldn't. She is the habit of that behavior and it will take time for her to relearn what is okay and is not is okay. I will say I do see her making an effort and so that is grand. She really is trying and at this point, that's all I can ask. An honest effort.
I would like to also point out, both children have been helping clean the house a lot this week. I think that no tv is freeing up their time and they don't mind helping when they don't need to wait for commercials, or for this show to end, or for the good part to be over.
It is very nice. If things keep up like this, I imagine little tv will be our lifestyle from now on. I say little tv because I do watch some crafting how-to shows during the day, and they do enjoy watching them with me. And of course, I have primetime shows I like to watch (after they are in bed). But it is nice without the tv on I must say. =)
Also a big hi and thank you to those who are stopping over here to join in the party!
It's nice to meet you. And a HUGE thanks to MissKris who offered to babysit ... oh my, just the offer alone made my day! =)
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Respect and Television
I love my children tremendously. I have lots and lots of things I could say to brag about them. I have many examples of how wonderful they are each and every day. However, today I will not be talking about the good things - no, I will not. My children are, afterall, human and they do not always behave 100%.
So my 7 year old. My 7 year old is struggling with a huge concept IMO. She as issues with respect. I am sometimes embarrassed by her lack of respect and I scratch my head and wonder how this happened? She really does sometimes believe and behave like she is the adult in the situation, which I think leads to some of her disrespectful behavior - not being disrespectful just to do it, but doing it because instead of acting like a child she is trying to act like an adult, and therefore failing at both. I cringe sometimes when she speaks to other adults. Granted, this does not happen all the time, not even half the time, but often enough that I am extremely concerned about it. When I feel she is being disrespectful, I pull her aside, I tell her she is not speaking respectfully and we discuss other ways she could have handled the situation, and punishments are handed out.
Unfortunately, I do not see any of this making a difference in our day-to-day life. Maybe I am not giving her enough time. Maybe she is not old enough to really get it. Maybe it's something she will outgrow. I am not sure I agree with any of those statements. And I'm not willing to sit back and wait for her to "get it" or "outgrow it" or just do nothing.
So, I've made a decision I've been thinking about for a while. I have told my children that they can not watch any television. It's not that television is the problem per se, but dh and I talked last night and in many of their favorite shows, the adults somehow usually end up as the idiots and the kids are the smart ones who save the day. I really feel that this is affecting my 7 year old a lot (on the other hand, I do not believe it is affecting my 4 year old at all). I remember when my oldest was younger there were shows I had to stop her from watching as she was repeating what she saw on them and somewhere along the way I stopped doing that and thought she was old enough to watch shows (however, I want to be very clear that I don't let her have free reign of what she watches nor do I let her watch adult shows or adult movies, etc, etc.) I guess my poing it is that I had some restrictions on the tv, but for her, not enough.
She wasn't oh-so-happy when she heard the news. In fact, she was down-right mad and upset.
Basically anything they watch on tv has to be approved 100% by dh or myself.
I told them they could still watch the diy shows they like to watch with me. However, a lot of their kids shows are now off limits.
I feel bad truth-be-told. I feel like I shouldn't have to tell them they can't watch children's shows! It's crazy really. But I do really think this is something that needs to be done for my oldest child and for our family.
I also need to figure out some ways to also help her understand and learn about respect - that I'm still not sure what to do. I do know what I am doing is not cutting it and not making an impact on her.
I surely hope we can figure this out and come out stronger on the other side.
So my 7 year old. My 7 year old is struggling with a huge concept IMO. She as issues with respect. I am sometimes embarrassed by her lack of respect and I scratch my head and wonder how this happened? She really does sometimes believe and behave like she is the adult in the situation, which I think leads to some of her disrespectful behavior - not being disrespectful just to do it, but doing it because instead of acting like a child she is trying to act like an adult, and therefore failing at both. I cringe sometimes when she speaks to other adults. Granted, this does not happen all the time, not even half the time, but often enough that I am extremely concerned about it. When I feel she is being disrespectful, I pull her aside, I tell her she is not speaking respectfully and we discuss other ways she could have handled the situation, and punishments are handed out.
Unfortunately, I do not see any of this making a difference in our day-to-day life. Maybe I am not giving her enough time. Maybe she is not old enough to really get it. Maybe it's something she will outgrow. I am not sure I agree with any of those statements. And I'm not willing to sit back and wait for her to "get it" or "outgrow it" or just do nothing.
So, I've made a decision I've been thinking about for a while. I have told my children that they can not watch any television. It's not that television is the problem per se, but dh and I talked last night and in many of their favorite shows, the adults somehow usually end up as the idiots and the kids are the smart ones who save the day. I really feel that this is affecting my 7 year old a lot (on the other hand, I do not believe it is affecting my 4 year old at all). I remember when my oldest was younger there were shows I had to stop her from watching as she was repeating what she saw on them and somewhere along the way I stopped doing that and thought she was old enough to watch shows (however, I want to be very clear that I don't let her have free reign of what she watches nor do I let her watch adult shows or adult movies, etc, etc.) I guess my poing it is that I had some restrictions on the tv, but for her, not enough.
She wasn't oh-so-happy when she heard the news. In fact, she was down-right mad and upset.
Basically anything they watch on tv has to be approved 100% by dh or myself.
I told them they could still watch the diy shows they like to watch with me. However, a lot of their kids shows are now off limits.
I feel bad truth-be-told. I feel like I shouldn't have to tell them they can't watch children's shows! It's crazy really. But I do really think this is something that needs to be done for my oldest child and for our family.
I also need to figure out some ways to also help her understand and learn about respect - that I'm still not sure what to do. I do know what I am doing is not cutting it and not making an impact on her.
I surely hope we can figure this out and come out stronger on the other side.
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