Evil Chores

My laundry rm after ignoring it for 3 days...sigh...

One of my pet peeves is...

Early each morning, my oldest goes into the laundry room and opens the dryer. She digs, pulls, and sometimes she finds what she's looking for...sometimes. During this moment, I'm usually in the kitchen trying not to watch her while I make coffee and pack lunches. Little by little, my blood starts to boil.

So the conversation goes...

Me: "What are you looking for, M?"

Oldest: "Nothing, just checking to see what's in there."

Me: "Didn't you lay out your clothes last night?

Oldest: "Yes, but I was just looking."

Me getting annoyed, " What exactly do you need?"

Oldest with a pathetic look as if she only has rags in her closet: "Well, I was hoping you'd washed ________________(fill in the blank) last night."

I get it. Girls are choosy, picky and we change our minds often. I do it all of the time.

And I admit I get behind in our laundry easily. We are a family of five and somehow we must wear four outfits a day because I can't keep up. But, what gets me is the amount of clothes that cover my oldest's bedroom floor. It's like lumpy carpeting with various colors and textures. The sad thing is...I make her pick up her room several times a week. I just don't know HOW IT GETS SO MESSY SO FAST!

Plus, I've made it easy for my kids and husband. We have a main laundry basket in the hallway for the kids and one in our room of the adults. It's not hard to place dirty clothes in a basket that is conveniently located two to three feet from your bed, right? WRONG. Apparently it causes debilitating pain to walk the clothes to the basket and memory loss because no one remembers to put their clothes in it!

So this morning, my oldest needed a hoodie. After her ritual dig in the dryer she declared, "Mom, I don't have any clean." I told her I was behind on laundry bc of Halloween and I will tackled it today. "You must have something you can wear, M," I said. She returned minutes later in a light blue hoodie with no problems.

I went up to her room this morning. I found THREE hoodies on her bedroom floor. They were TWO feet away from the dirty clothes basket. Go figure...

SLSK

Boo! I See You...

Neighborhood Friends
Mario, Little Gypsy and Mama Kitty
Drac U. La
Pudding spider - yummy
The Trio at Trunk-o-Treat

We had a SPOOKTACULAR October. Our first event was Trunk-o-Treat at our church. A super safe, fun place to haul in some major candy. The kids met up with friends and we enjoyed a warm evening complete with pizza and a d.j. They were in heaven ;)

Then we had a fun evening with neighborhood friends on the 31st. Bonfires, music, hayrides...it was a blast! But...I'm voting for a permanent move to celebrate Halloween on the closest Saturday. Monday nights are torture and now I have to wait 5 more years until another Saturday night. (Oh there might me a leap year in there too.) Just give a Mom a break. School nights are exhausting.

Plus, the oldest was able to venture out with friends for the first time. She had a good time with wonderful girls. We weighed her bag of candy and it totaled 15 POUNDS! I need to buy a safe with a combo I don't know. My waist doesn't need any encouragement.

SLSK

Family Football Weekends

Our family loves football. Playing it, watching it, anticipating it. Here are a few pics of our latest football adventure.

G just finished another season of flag football through the YMCA (come on, sing it with me). We choose to keep him out of pads this year. We're kind of fond of his growth plates still functioning. Nothing against pads. He will get there...eventually.

Plus, we had visitors from up North. Family weekends are so important to us. Nothing but sunshine and a pigskin to make us smile ;-) Oh yeah...and great food!

Re-inspiried...

Yes, I found my blogger page again. With a little digging and reseting a password I've decided to dust off my keyboard and try this again...blogging that is...;-)

I walked away from blogging because I found that Facebook became my way of communicating with my family and friends. Why double-up? Why waste more time? I'm a big FB fan! It was a great way to be in everyone's business without actually trying. I'm always shocked at how much drama unfolds there!

Going back to my last post and trying to catch up on EVERY detail is a little daunting. So, let's keep it simple with a list...

1. We moved...into a new rental home. 45 days after we moved in we sold our MN home. Much to the dismay of our pocketbooks, but sold nonetheless. I never imagined we would be "renting" 10 yrs into our marriage, but I've learned a lot with the recession and the dip in the housing market. Have patience, be humble and move past other's judgements. And believe me...we've been judged.

2. We started the Financial Peace University program through Dave Ramsey. I must say...it has been a HUGE success. With a lot of hard work and a few set backs we can see the light at the end of the "debt-free" tunnel. More on this story in the days ahead...

3. My Dad got MARRIED! Yep, he's crazy enough to fall in love twice. His wife (my stepmom) Dian is a wonderful lady and truly compliments him where he is in his life today. We were ALL in the wedding and I will post pics later. Let's just say that spanx can be a girls best friend.

4. We've done a lot of car-trips with the kids. It's so much easier without diaper bags, pack-n-plays, bottles, etc. It's fun to discover new places in our country together. We are slowly expanding our travel circumference. My butt gets numb after about 15 hours and I'm not going to sell my body to Playboy or a TSA agent anytime soon.

5. The kids are in school full time now...YES ALL THREE ;) Even with the kids gone from 8:30 - 4:00 I find my days are crammed full. It's a new season of parenting for me, but darn it...I like it. Who knew running a household with three busy kids, a traveling hubby and a few volunteer positions would make me so tired? But, hey...I'm grateful ;) Coffee = GOOD.

This list is rather short, but honestly I looked at the clock and realized that I'm already behind today. C-ya!

SLSK

Confession: I've returned to blogging because the new layout of Facebook is too annoying to manage. And I like to write more than just a "status update" occasionally.

Something to think about...

Ponder this...

If you spent a MILLION dollars A DAY from Christ's birth until today you would have spent 733, 285, 000, 000. That is billions folks...

The government stimulus bill that just passed was 787, 000, 000, 000. So, do the math. I will wait. Let it sink in. And...

...a whopping 13.00 a week goes into your pocket! The is a whole 52.00 a month! 

So, what are you going to "spend" your extra cash on??? 

In our household, that won't even make a dent. I won't be spending it on new clothes, tv's, or eating out. I will be spending it on bills. That is it. With three kids, student loans, a house STILL for sale two states away (which is under valued for our current mortgage) and food to put on the table my basics are all that matter. 

SLSK

Kids are funny!

Man, oh man I love my children as they grow they are getting funnier and funnier...

The 3yr old to the 8yr old, "You're a rock star and I'm a rock star. Let me rock your world!"

The 3yr old and her hair, "Mom, my hair is all crazy! Fix it? I can't see anything!"

The 5yr old eating ice cream, "I don't have a brain freeze. I have an eyeball freeze!"

The 5yr old giving me a compliment, "Mom, you look pretty today. I like your underwear."

The 3yr old on potty training, "Good-bye poopie! See you tomorrow!"

The 5yr old beating Grandpa on a video game, "Pa, you're not very good. We have to find something easier for you."

The 8yr old after listening to music with her Dad, "Was that Salt with a little bit of Peppa?"

The 3yr old standing at the door ready to leave, "Let's roll Mom!"

The 3yr old crying in her car seat, "I want to go to church to see all of the animals! Not to be quiet!"

The 3yr old at the McD's drive-thru, "E, do you want a hot fudge sundae?" "Yes Mama. I want a hot dodge fun day!"

Now, this looks a little "3yr old" heavy, but I swear I can laugh several times a day at the clever and cute phrases from all of my children. There are more to come, but today the 3yr old happens to be in the funny zone...;-)

SLSK

I've been missing in action...for a long, long time...

So you're wondering, "where the heck is she?" Well, I don't have a good excuse. Other than I've been busy and trying to keep up with life. However, I must admit I found a new "online obsession"...FACEBOOK!!!

My, oh my...I'm addicted. Seriously, I've been a very bad girl. I log on several times a day to check on the "status" of others, add pics, update my "wall" and other things. However, I've really enjoyed finding old college and high school classmates. It is so fun to reconnect with them and see where life has taken them...careers, marriages, children, etc. 

However, during my hiatus I've come to realize that I miss my pathetic blog. I hope to update it more frequently and really trying writing something of substance. (We'll see...)

SLSK