Well I see that blogger is having template issues. Thankfully that would explain all of my headaches last night, I was starting to think that I was offline way too long and had forgotten everything! That's ok, I have to go to work anyway and if it is still down tonight maybe that means that I will actually get some laundry done!

Bill (stepdad) stopped by yesterday, he had to pick up some stuff but he also showed us pictures of him and Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby had a show at a casino not far from here and Bill picked him up at the airport and drove him there. He (Cosby) had two comedy shows and prior to that he did a special show for children. The casino is on a reservation and there are some serious educational issues there. Education is a serious issue for him so I guess he gave a wonderful talk to the children there, hopefully he was able to reach some of them. Bill (stepdad not Cosby) said that Mr. Cosby was very nice. The kids were excited to see the picture of their grandpa with Bill Cosby, Danielle especially was very excited, she watches the Cosby Show on Nick every day. Well, I'd better get my ass to work. One of these days I might actually have to get there on time! ROFL

okay, I actually had my layout, but could I leave it alone? Of course not, so here I am back to square one. I wish I knew if it was blogger doing this weird shit or if it is just something stupid on my end........I really, really have to go to bed so if you see some weird ass layout you know why........it is NOT what I intended, I promise! ROFL

sorry, I lied, I'm still trying to get this damn thing to work.......but this really is the last time........if it doesn't work I'm going to bed! I just wish I knew what the hell was wrong?!

Okay, I REALLY mean it this time! lol I am so tired, I have to go to bed, I don't know what is wrong, this stupid thing is taking my code and replacing it with one of it's own. I am too tired to mess with it but tomorrow I'll go over my layout to see if there is something wrong with it that would explain this. Have a good night and I'll see ya tomorrow, hopefully with my own layout! :-P

Okay, here goes with the new layout, hopefully I didn't mess it up too bad......
.....that was scary, let's try it again......(keeping fingers crossed)........
what the hell??........

okay, this is really starting to piss me off......sorry if you happened to witness the mess as I try to update things here....
still not working, I am either getting too tired or something is really wrong with my layout because this is NOT what this is supposed to look like. So if it doesn't work now I am just going to forget it, go to bed and try again tomorrow. :-P

I should be at work right now but I can't seem to get my ass moving. Yesterday I woke up with a cough and today I feel like total shit. I did spend yesterday working on a new layout but as you can see I haven't uploaded it yet. Hopefully I will have time to do that tonight. Yesterday was one of those lazy Sundays where you look back on Monday morning and wish you would have got more done. I still have laundry to do and my computer area looks like a disaster hit. Between empty coffee mugs and photo albums from where Brittany scanned in baby pics for her autiobiography, not to mention just the typical mess that usually seems to find its way here I can barely find my keyboard! My computer is in the basement of our new home and as the basement is supposed to be the kids playroom there are unpacked boxes of toys, books, and pretty much everything else we didn't know what to do with. Hopefully we will get this organized soon because it is driving me insane.

Do any of you wear contact lenses? Have you ever went to put your contacts into your eyes and open the case to find them empty? If you have, did you wrack your brain trying to remember if you took them out the night before. Maybe you close one eye and then another trying to see if things look blurry because your eyes are tired from wearing contacts all night or is it because you really just can't see. You might stand inches away from the mirror peering into it, trying to see if you can see a contact lens, maybe you push your finger into your eye to see if they might have stuck to your eye ball. You will probably squint into your contact case again, maybe you just over looked them, are they stuck to the top of the lids? As you rule out first one scenario and then another you notice stuck to the side of the sink a dried up remain of your contact lens. It suddenly hits you that you left the case within reach of a four year old. Pretty stupid of you isn't it..........or maybe it's just me.

I miss my brother. Somedays I wonder why it is so easy to go about my every day life as if nothing is wrong when in the back of my mind I can't get over the fact that our country is at war and my brother is on a ship further away than I ever imagined possible at the center of this war.

There are so many opinions about this war, I see the protestors on tv and I am thankful that I live in a place like Fargo, North Dakota where the only people protesting are college kids, and there aren't even very many of those. I can drive down the street and see people proudly flying flags, not burning them. I am thankful that I don't live in a place where I would have to fight through crowds due to people protesting a war that my brother and many others are risking their lives for.

I can't and won't believe that my brother is in danger for an unjust cause. I can't and won't believe that the American lives that we have lost so far are for nothing. I am not a republican but I am proud to support our President and I am proud to be an American and I am thankful that there are brave men and women who are willing to put their lives at risk for the safety of others. I don't think that anyone wants to go to war but I do believe that there are times when it is unavoidable.

So I go about my daily life, washing dishes, going to work, playing games with the kids. I wonder what life is like in Iraq, what is it like to be a mom in Iraq today? My heart is heavy for them because I can't even imagine the fear of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. But I have to believe that someday in the distant future, when my grandchildren are sitting in their history class, they will see a picture of the planes flying off of the USS Abraham Lincoln and they will know that their great-uncle was on that ship and they will be proud to know that he had a small part in helping to make this world a better place. Maybe someday women in Iraq will be able to spend a Saturday grumbling about how much laundry they have left to do and why on earth can't their children stop slamming the screen door as they go out to play without a fear of what tomorrow will bring. Until that day I hold in my heart the wish that my brother, and all of the men and women overseas will come home safe to a crowd of people, not protesting what they did but thanking them for a job well done.

This photo is of my little brother Gilbert
taken a few weeks before he left
on deployment July 21, 2002.

It is Saturday and I have so much to do. After a week of everyone going to work/school/daycare during the day and nights of homework, dinners, projects, etc. we are all ready to have a day of doing nothing. Of course that isn't possible because today is the day to do all of the other stuff that we didn't get around to doing during the week. You know things like cleaning! ROFL Our house is a mess, laundry has piled up, the bathroom needs a good scrubbing, and the basement has toys everywhere.

On top of that, Brittany is working on one of those school projects that seems to require more work from me than it does for her. Her class is writing an autobiography which will have to cover her entire 12 years of life and our family history. We have completed the first chapter. Notice I said "WE". I had to wrack my brain trying to remember her entire first year of life, thank goodness I kept a very detailed baby book.....well actually two baby books, I am a little nervous that Anthony will have to do this same project someday because I never did make him a baby book. Anyway, we had to scan pictures and put them into book style. I know that in the end this will be a wonderful keepsake but for now it is just a pain in the ass, it has been way too time consuming and time these days is something that I don't seem to have much of.

Danielle has to make an "invention" for the invention fair and I have a feeling that this will also be something that I will have to spend quite a bit of time on. To make things even more difficult my printer is broke so until we can get a new one I have to email everything I need printed to either my mom's house or to work so that I can print it out.

But of course things like printers go on the back burner when you have things like transmissions going out. That happened in January and if you have ever had to buy a transmission for a Town & Country minivan you know that they are not cheap. Thankfully, we work for a parts place because we were able to put it on an account and make payments. I hate owing people money so hopefully that will get paid off soon.

I think I mentioned that I have a lot of stuff to do today, notice that I am still here. Maybe if I keep blogging all day I won't have to go and clean the bathroom. Ha! As if that is going to happen. Actually, I have to get going shortly, Brittany is babysitting today. She had her first babysitting job last Saturday and she was really excited to be asked to babysit again today. She also had our neighbors call her last night to see if she could babysit for a few hours today but since she had already commited to babysit for someone else I told them that I would watch their kids because they had to go into work for a few hours. They have four kids so my house will be insane for a few hours and of course it doesn't look nice enough to send them outside to play. Well, I'd better go, it is getting late and I have way too much to do. I made a few visits to my favorite blogs but there are so many that I haven't had a chance to visit yet, so hopefully I will get a chance to do that later. Have a great weekend!

Last weekend it was so warm here the kids played outside in shorts and tank tops. Today I drove home from work with great, big, fluffy snow flakes falling down. Hopefully it won't last because it was really nice to send the kids out to play last Saturday. One of our neighbors came over last Saturday and we drank coffee on the back step while we watched our kids play. It was so relaxing.

Well, I was hoping to get a bit longer post but I have to get going because Anthony told the girls that we were going to have Chinese food for dinner (I have NO idea where he got that idea from!) and they were so excited about it that I couldn't say no! lol Everyone is upstairs waiting for me so I guess I'd better get running.

I am hoping to have time to work on a new layout here tomorrow and when I am done with that I will hopefully be able to visit everyone and say "hello!" Have a great night! :-)

Hmm....It has been quite some time since I've been here, I think I might have forgotten what to do. LOL

I wish I could say that I had a solid reason as to why I have been offline for so long, but I would have to say it has been a combination of things. First, my internet service was acting weird and would kick me off every time I tried to get online, second I still have this damn cable modem sitting on my desk but it hasn't been hooked up because my piece of crap computer doesn't have the right card which I have been too lazy to install. On top of that I guess I would just have to say that my real time life has been so busy that I just haven't had time to be here. I apologize for leaving you all hanging and just up and disappearing, I would completely understand if none of you ever came back to visit me......but I hope you do. :-)

There is so much to share and if you have read any of my blog you know that I can ramble so I will try to put this all in a nutshell. All is well with me and my little family, the kids are getting big, they all had birthdays in the last month or so. Brittany is 12 and is getting very nervous about going into the middle school next year, Danielle is now 9 and is making new friends in our new neighborhood, and Anthony is now 4 and is getting way too big! Work is going very well, I enjoy being back there and all of the problems that caused me to leave in the first place have been resolved. I am enjoying being married probably a little too much because I need to go on a major diet. Why is it that when I am unhappy and alone I am thin and look my best but when I am happy and content I get fat? How stupid is that? Anyway, I won't bore you with that but hopefully I will be able to get rid of this weight because I refuse to buy new clothes! lol

I am desperately missing my brother who is serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln. He left right after my wedding and was supposed to be home in January but if you have watched any news lately you know where he is. I am so proud of him for serving our country but I just want him to be safe and come home. It is hard for me to write about it without wanting to cry. I spend way too much time watching the news and thankfully I am still able to hear from him often via email.

Oh, I had a birthday. I am now 30! Can you believe that? I would say that I feel old but I don't, well some days I do, but for the most part I just can't believe I am 30. Where in the hell did my 20's go? Oh yeah, I was getting married, having babies, and getting divorced. Speaking of divorce, Jorge, my ex-husband and his wife had a baby girl last month. They named her Cassandra and the girls are excited to meet their new baby sister when they go to California this summer.

Well, I guess I shouldn't try to cram several months into one entry and I am having a hard time writing because Brittany keeps interrupting me to listen to a song she is writing. Their school doesn't have a "school song" so their music teacher told them all to write a song and I guess they are going to vote for the best one. So she keeps singing me her lyrics and I keep losing my train of thought so I will try to work on this tomorrow and will hopefully have time this weekend to get a new look in here, something that will help me clean out all the "cobwebs".

OMG...I can't believe how much has been going on and how long I have been offline! First of all, I just want to apologize for not being able to post for so long, I have missed you guys so much! Thank you for your warm wishes and for still visiting me! We are all moved into our new place and we all love it. The best part is that Anthony and I are finally doing better. I still haven't unpacked my digital camera, it's in the basement with the rest of my office which still isn't unpacked except for my computer. As soon as I can find it I will post pictures. It took forever to get a phone but we finally have a phone and now that we are in town I can finally get a cable modem which we just got except now I have to buy an adaptor for my hard drive for it to work. At least I think that is what we need?!

Anyway, I am driving the kids back and forth to their old school because I didn't want them to switch schools in the middle of the school year, they are both doing well in school and Anthony is excited to be starting preschool in January. I have also went back to work. With the new move and all of the extra bills we really needed a second income. I am working in the office where John works again, the one person I really hated is gone so that should help. I am also only working until three which gives me extra time to spend with the kids. Anthony is back in his old day care which he is really happy about because he really loved it there.

We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, which we celebrated in our new home, and we are trying to get ready for Christmas. The kids are of course very excited for Santa to come and we are busy with Christmas programs, concerts and plays. I haven't done much shopping but will hopefully have time this weekend. Due to a virus (or two?) I have lost just about all of my email and I still don't dare email for fear that I might spread something. I think I have cleared all of it out but you never know. I would rather be on the safe side. I do want to say thank you to the person who sent me the gorgeous bear ornaments for the Blog Ornament Exchange! I am so sorry you haven't heard from me in person but we were in the middle of moving when I received them and I can't find your card anywhere!! I am so, so sorry! I am hoping to hear from Jenna so that I can get your email address so that I can thank you properly! As soon as I can find my camera I will take pictures of them so that you can all see them. They are just adorable, they are bungee diving bears that bounce up and down on tiny little springs. My kids just loved them and they look wonderful on our tree!

Well, I know I have more to share but I have to get going. I have two kids to get in the bath, laundry to finish, and all kinds of misc. things that never seem to be done. :-) If you sent me a recent email and you haven't received a response I am so, so sorry. Hopefully it wasn't deleted with all of the other bad files but if it was please know that I am not ignoring you or being rude. You are all in my thoughts this holiday season and I hope you are all doing well. I'll be visiting your blog very, very soon to catch up on all the latest! ~hugs~

We got our keys to the new place yesterday. The kids made friends right away and I met our closest neighbor on the left side of us. She came out to introduce herself as we were carrying in boxes. I really liked her and I had already heard from Nathan's wife that she was really nice. She is a single mom with three boys. I am looking forward to getting to know her better.

Anthony told me yesterday that he is NOT going to move! He is going to stay right here by himself. Of course when I pointed out that there would be no one to feed him because his daddy would come with me he agreed to move with us but of course he is only doing ME a favor! ROFL

There is still so much to do so I have to get going, I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I haven't had much time to visit but hopefully later this week I will have done enough so that I don't feel so guilty sitting here. I did want to say thank you to Annette for her adorable blog award. :-) And of course thank you to all of you who keep visiting even though I haven't had much time to return the favor. I hope you all are doing well. I'd better get going, have a great day! ~hugs~

There has been so much going on here it has been crazy. The big news is that we are moving out of our small little town into Fargo. We found a townhouse to rent that we all really like. I am going to miss living here because it is nice to be part of a small community but I just hate sharing a house with my stepsister. We each have our own living space but they live above us and it drives me insane because we just don't like each other. On top of that we live in the basement apartment which tends to flood a couple of times a year which of course means that the walls have mold in them and it is cold, drafty and we are all ready for a change.

The place we are renting has less space but I really like it. I'll take pictures as soon as we are settled in. We just kind of made the decision to move at the last minute because as sick as Anthony and I have been we all think it is the house that is keeping us from getting better. The two of us spend the most time in this house and we are the most sick. We are both still not completely better so we are anxious to get out of here and see if that helps. I'll keep ya posted. :-)

I plan to keep the girls in their same school, I will just drive them back and forth from town. Next year Brittany will go to the same middle school as she would have if we didn't move because we are in the same school district but Danielle will have to switch schools. She is a little nervous about it but she will do fine. She always makes friends easily. In two years she will start the middle school and she will have all of her new friends plus all of her old friends.

We got the girls school pictures back last week, didn't they come out cute? :-)

Well, I have a ton of packing and cleaning to do. We get our keys for the new place on Monday. I am hoping to get most of the stuff moved over during the week in small loads while everyone is at work/school so that by the weekend John and I can move all of the heavy furniture and stuff. The only thing I am worried about is the piano. I think we might have to hire someone to move it for us. I do love moving though. It is so much fun to pack up all my treasures and find a new home for them. :-) The other benefit is that I am getting rid of a lot of crap that we don't need.

My kids are all packrats. I have to throw stuff out when they aren't home because they want to save EVERYTHING! The bedrooms are smaller in the new place so I have to be selective as to what we take. The girls will still have to share a bedroom. It is almost impossible to find a 4 bedroom to rent around here that wouldn't kill our budget! The nice thing about this place is that there is a basement which we can paint and fix anyway we want to and the kids are excited to turn it into a playroom. I also have a laundry room down there which is nice because most of the places we looked at had no laundry or you had to share coin operated machines. It is amazing how some people can get away with renting complete garbage! One place we went to see I opened my door and stepped on an empty vodka bottle! I was like....ummmm....no I DON'T think so! lol

After we found the townhome I was surprised to find out that Nathan (limo driver) and his wife live a few doors down! I talked to his wife and she really likes it there. They are both a fun couple and they have kids close in age to mine so I am excited to introduce our kids. OMG I don't post in forever and now I can't shut up! ROFL I do have one of those funny stories that could only happen to us which I of course have to share! So I will apologize for the extremely long post in advance. :-)

Last Thursday John and I went to sign the rental agreement for the townhouse. I had already seen the inside but John hadn't. He's a typical guy, if I like it he likes it as long as he has a garage! hehe Anyway, after signing the paperwork I asked if the rental agent could take us through it again so that John could see it. It was only a few blocks away so she drove in her own vehicle, John followed behind her in the used truck he had just purchased from work, and Anthony and I followed behind in our van. Before I could pull out a police car pulled between John and I. For the entire drive over there is a caravan of all four of our vehicles. The rental agent pulled into the parking lot, followed by John and I assumed that the police officer would keep going straight. He did not.

He pulled right behind John and before I could blink he was out of his car with his gun drawn! I stopped in the middle of the road frozen in fear. What in the hell was going on. I really don't remember what happened but the next thing I knew John was in handcuffs. John who usually looks likes this tough biker, looks ten times scarier when he is in his work clothes. I got out of my van to see what was going on and was informed that my husband was driving a stolen vehicle! I quickly explained that my husband had just bought the truck from his boss who sells used vehicles and offered to call over there to get it all cleared up. He refused to listen to me and the next thing I know there is another squad car along with a detective who took my drivers license. Now remember that all of this is happening in front of our rental agent and Anthony! I was freaking out. I called my mom and then my stepdad because at this time they had John still handcuffed in the back of the squad car. I finally got John's boss on the phone and made the police officer talk to him. Even then the officer didn't seem too impressed and even hung up on him! I was starting to get pissed! Finally they let John go but they had to impound the truck.

Here is what happened. The truck had been stolen and the original owners reported it to their insurance company. When the truck wasn't recovered after a certain time period the insurance company paid the owners for the value of their truck. Some time after that the truck was found on an Indian reservation and when the owners were contacted they returned it to the insurance company who were now the owners since they had already paid for the truck. To recover their money they sold it an an auction where it was purchased by John's boss who buys used vehicles who then sold it to John. The insurance company is supposed to file a report with the police department where it was reported stolen which they said they did.

Somewhere along the line the truck was never taken off of the stolen list and in a small county in Minnesota some dumbass sheriff (with obviously too little time on his hands!) insisted that the truck was stolen even AFTER it was explained to him by the police here what had happened. He didn't care and he still wanted John to be charged with being in possession of stolen property! Can you believe that shit?! It took some convincing but thankfully the officer who originally pulled his gun on John felt so bad about the whole thing argued with this sherrif until he agreed to let it go. John still had to pay to pay for the towing fees and to get the truck out of impound so now he is fighting with the insurance company because they should be the ones paying it not us. Since they knew it had been stolen they should have double checked that everything was clear BEFORE they sold it! Poor John was a mess all night. He was still freaking out about the gun thing when we went to bed that night. The only thing I am thankful for is that Anthony was in the van with me and he didn't see anything that had happened. He almost rode in the truck with John but at the last minute I decided to put him in the van! I was sure that the rental agent would NOT want to rent to us but she was very understanding and after they finally took John out of the handcuffs she showed gave us a tour! ROFL I seriously doubt if this would have happened to anyone but us! hehe

Another quick post here. If I could quit running for all of two seconds I might actually be able to catch up here. We are running out the door to a surprise 50th bday party for John's sister and yesterday was spent moving my sister and getting her settled in. Her and her boyfriend of almost 9 years recently broke up and she moved into a new apartment. Danielle and I spent the night with her last night so that she wasn't alone for her first night. We got everything unpacked and cozy and enjoyed a night of watching movies with a bottle of wine.

I also wanted to share a few Halloween pics with you below. I'll be by to visit everyone soon, I promise! ~hugs~ Oh and thanks to Danielle who found me through Blogtree.com who reminded me that yesterday was my 2 year blog anniversary! :-)

Danielle as a 50's girl

Brittany as a gypsy

Anthony as Spiderman

Happy Halloween! I hope you all had a safe and fun halloween. :-) The above picture is of all of the pumpkins that we carved a few days ago. I am so sorry for going so long without posting or keeping in touch. The cold I had a few weeks ago that I thought had went away came back and had me so sick I couldn't get out of bed. I finally got on antibiotics which has helped. I am feeling a lot better although I am still not completely well.

The kids had a great Halloween. Anthony and I helped with Danielle's Halloween party at school and then we all went trick-or-treating. Brittany went with a group of her friends (she was a gypsy) and Danielle who was a "50's girl" and Anthony who was Spiderman went with John and I.

We didn't stay out too long because it was way too cold. We all met up at my mom's house for a huge bonfire where we ate hotdogs and smores. I am so exhausted, I am heading to bed but I'll be back tomorrow to post a few pics of the kids in their costumes as well as just trying to catch you up on all that's new here and of course I will be visiting all of you to see what's new. :-) Thanks so much for all of the sweet visits and Halloween wishes! ~hugs~

OMG, Guess what we woke up to this morning?! SNOW!! I couldn't believe it so I of course had to go outside and take pictures. We usually have snow by Halloween, but this is really early. I wonder if this is any indication as to what kind of winter we are going to have here in Fargo, North Dakota? The pictures below were taken in our backyard, you can click for a larger image. It is so gray and gloomy outside and the kids had to pull out their winter hats and mittens before they headed to school. I still have my patio furniture outside! I guess I'm gonna have to get it into the garage tonight. Well, I need to go get myself some coffee and I think I'm gonna bake a cake, there's something about the first snow that makes me want to bake! Have a great day and I hope it is warm and cozy where you are. :-)

::50 Questions Survey Added Today at 11:15am::
Survey swiped from Liz

1. Your name spelled backwards. Asil

2. Where were your parents born? Pueblo, Colorado

3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Accounting software used for doing payroll for the limo company.

4. What's your favorite restaurant? Buffalo Wild Wings....their Blazin' wings are soooo yummy and very, very hot!

5. Last time you swam in a pool? John and I swam at our hotel pool on our honeymoon this summer.

6. Have you ever been in a school play? No

7. How many kids do you want? If I could afford it I would have six but as it is I think I'll stick with the three I have and maybe one more.

8. Type of music you dislike most? Country

9. Are you registered to vote? No, in North Dakota you do not have to be registered to vote

10. Do you have cable? No, my kids would watch too much tv if we had it.

11. Have you ever ridden on a moped? No

12. Ever prank call anybody? I hate to admit it but yeah we used to do it quite a bit. Stupid stuff which never would have worked if we would of had caller ID back then! lol

13. Ever get a parking ticket? Yes, once at college for parking in the wrong lot.

14. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? Never have and never would, I'm too chicken.

15. Furthest place you ever traveled. Alaska

16. Do you have a garden? No, I have tried but I am just not any good at it.

17. What's your favorite comic strip? I don't read comics.

18. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem? Yes and if I didn't know it before I would now for sure as Brittany spent quite a bit of time practicing it for music class

19. Bath or Shower, morning or night? Shower, morning

20. Best movie you've seen in the past month? Sweet Home Alabama

21. Favorite pizza topping? Pepperoni and mushroom

22. Chips or popcorn? Popcorn

23. What color lipstick do you usually wear? Revlon's "Lavender Smoke" or "Ultraviolet", I never ever wear red.

24. Have you ever smoked peanut shells? Huh?

25. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? No, although I did put Brittany in a baby one once. She won 2nd place overall and 1st place for her dimples.

26. Orange Juice or apple? Apple

27. Who was the last person you went out to dinner with and where did you dine? I went out to dinner with my mom, we ate at Friday's

28. Favorite type chocolate bar? Dove dark chocolate

29. When was the last time you voted at the polls? The last presidential election

30. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? About a month ago, my mom was given a huge box from a friend, they were so yummy!

31. Have you ever won a trophy? No although I won quite a few journalism awards and competitions in high school

32. Are you a good cook? Absolutely not!

33. Do you know how to pump your own gas? Uhhh...yeah

34. Ever order an article from an infomercial? No, although my kids have bugged me for quite a few things they have seen.

35. Sprite or 7-up? Sprite

36. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work? Yeah, I worked at a truck stop and we had to wear these weird black vests and then when I became the bookkeeper I had to wear these white shirts while I worked in a truck shop. It made no sense because they got so dirty but they had a laundry service so at least I didn't have to wash them.

37. Last thing you bought at a pharmacy? Wax for Brittany's braces.

38. Ever throw up in public? No, although in junior high a friend of mine threw up all over my books and purse. It was quite gross and I made him clean out my purse and I got new books.

39. Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love? Can't a girl have both? lol

40. Do you believe in love at first sight? Yes

41. Ever call a 1-900 number? No

42. Can ex's be friends? Yes, I think Jorge and I are better friends now than we were before.

43. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital? My father-in-law

44. Did you have a lot of hair when you were a baby? Not really although as a toddler I had a ton of curly hair.

45. What message is on your answering machine? A generic message that came with the machine, I haven't figured out how to program the darn thing.

46. What's your all time favorite Saturday Night Live Character? Mango

47. What was the name of your first pet? Mary Anne a cocker spaniel mix

48. What is in your purse? Makeup, drivers license, credit cards, a pen, about $50 in cash, tons of change, way too many receipts, bandaids, a tampon, cough drops, Certs Powerful Mints and vitamin C drops.

49. Favorite thing to do before bedtime? Read a book and share a bowl of popcorn with my sweetie

50. What is one thing you are grateful for today? A warm cozy house on our first snowy day.

She got in! Woohoo! :-) Whew...what a relief. I was prepared to deal with another night of tears. In case you are completely confused right now I am referring to my post from yesterday. Brittany is of course very excited and happy that not only did she get in but her best friend did too. I am happy for her and the other four girls who were picked but I feel bad for the girls who didn't get in because it just sucks when your child is disappointed.

I guess her music teacher talked to her today to find out why she was so upset yesterday. Brittany explained that she didn't do her best and that "K" had made a sarcastic comment about how she had did. Brittany did tell her teacher that maybe she had taken it wrong but that it had made her feel bad. Her teacher confided in her that other girls had complained about "K" making rude, sarcastic comments so I think that made Britt feel a little better.

And yes, "K" did get in too so it should be interesting to see how it goes with her and Brittany having to work together so much. Most of the other girls in school fight over being friends with this girl, Brittany is the only girl in her class who doesn't care that they are not friends. Last year "K" bragged and bragged that she was going to get a particular solo and when Brittany got it instead she threw a big fit to the teacher that it wasn't fair, she also went out of her way to make Brittany feel bad. No matter where you go there is a little brat like that and I'm thankful that it isn't my kid but it still bothers me that Brittany has to deal with her. Of course it will only get worse as she gets older so she (Brittany) might as well learn how to deal with it now.

Well, that drama is over. Not much else going on. I did a few more minor changes today to that webpage project which is still not live. Danielle stood home from school sick today and John has been working late just about every night in the limo shop. Yesterday Anthony and I went to Brittany's school for a baby shower for all of the sugar babies. We played games and had juice and cookies. It was fun to see all of the other babies. The boys had the funniest babies but did good at holding them as they were eating etc. Well, I've got to get running, have a great night and if I haven't visited you recently I will be by very soon! ~hugs~

Brittany came home in tears today. After school they had music try outs so that their music teacher could pick the 5 best 6th graders to be in a district wide choir at the end of the year. Britt has been looking forward to this for years and last year her teacher pretty much made it sound like Brittany would get in no problem. So Britt has had it in her head that she would get in and wasn't overly worried about it. Unfortunately, she got my cold and her throat is scratchy, on top of that she didn't practice much and when it came time to try out she didn't do very good. On top of that a girl who has always been upset that Brittany usually gets the solos made a big deal about Brittany not doing too good. Britt is pretty sure that she won't get in and my heart broke watching her cry.

We did have a long talk about how we don't always get what we want and that as she gets older she has to be prepared to sometimes be disappointed. We both agreed that she shouldn't ask to try out again because she would just seem like a spoiled brat but she is going to have a talk with her music teacher first thing in the morning and tell her that she was sorry that she didn't do her best due to being sick. Brittany is feeling like she let her music teacher down so she wanted to tell her that she was sorry if she did.

I so much want to call her teacher and tell her that Brittany was sick but I can't. My baby is growing up and needs to handle it on her own. But damn it, I don't want her to grow up! I want to be able to protect her from being hurt and make everything better. What scares me the most is that this is only the beginning! I think she did learn a lesson here, she realizes that she should never be so overly confident that she doesn't put in the effort that she needs to do to do her best. So tomorrow she will go to school and hopefully will be able to handle the disappointment with a brave face with her head up high because next time she will only do better.

With that said.......please keep your fingers crossed that she gets in! lol I know, I have prepared her for the worst but damn it I want her to get in! I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

What a busy weekend! We had way too much to do and so much that we still didn't get around to doing. I think I finally finished with that webpage project, they had a few more changes. I am going to be so happy when it is all done! The kiddies just left for school and Anthony is still sleeping so this means I just might get 5 minutes of peace and quiet! Woohoo! lol

Brittany is a "mommy" this week. They are doing "Sugar Babies" as a class project. The project goes along with this book that they are reading. We had to make her a "baby" out of a bag of sugar. We tried to find doll parts to add to the bag at the craft store but they didn't have anything that would work so we ended up buying a doll at Target and taking it apart. We duct-taped the hell out of it to make it stay together.

When we were all done she dressed it up real cute and wrapped it up in Anthony's old baby blanket. She has to carry it around and "care" for it for the entire week. She has to take it to school and every where else we might go in the evening, if she wants a break she has to pay someone to babysit.

On Friday the class had to randomly pick what they were going to have. Brittany had a baby boy, she named him Zachary. Two of the boys in her class had twins! That means they have to carry around two babies. Tomorrow they are having a "baby shower" for her class. Parents are invited to go, I wonder if I need to bring gifts? ROFL It should be a fun project although Brittany is so absentminded at times. I hope she doesn't lose my "grandson"! hehe

I can't believe it's already Friday! I drove limo up to the casino Wed. night and yesterday I spent the day with my mom. We went and bought decorations for Bill's 50th birthday party. He doesn't want a big party so we are just taking the 24 passenger limo coach and a few of his friends up to Fergus Falls to listen to one of his favorite bands. I am looking forward to it, I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. We then went to Fridays for a drink and something to eat and then a movie. We haven't done that in awhile so it was very nice.

We had a discussion about family traditions. My family has just never been one to carry on any traditions, my mom's mom has never been into anything that involves other people in her kitchen and I just miss that we don't have a family recipe or tradition to pass on to my girls. So I told my mom that we need to make our own damn tradition.

In so many Mexican families it is tradition to make tamales for Christmas every year. I remember sitting in the kitchen with my ex-husbands family and helping them make tamales. It was fun but I never really enjoyed it because I felt like an outsider. I wanted to do those things with MY mom and MY sister.

I brought it up to my mom and she said NO NO NO. No because she isn't the "let's stay in the kitchen and cook" type of grandma, No because it is a lot of work and No because she has no idea how. I told her that we could figure it out and damn it she is almost 50 so she might as well start learning how to be the 'ol grandma in the kitchen! ROFL Anyone who knows my mom knows that that will NEVER happen but for one damn day I think she can handle it.

I think I might have talked her into it. There is a Mexican woman who owns a little Mexican grocery store close to here and she once told my mom that she would teach her how to make tamales. This is something I really, really want to do. I want my daughters to have this tradition, I want to give them something that they will still carry on even when I am no longer here. My mom might hate the idea now and when my daughters are teenagers they will probably hate the idea too but damn it I don't care! Someday they will thank me! lol So this is my mission, to make tamales for Christmas this year. I'll keep you posted!

Just a quick post today. Not much going on. The girls seem to be swamped with homework and I still have a cough left over from my cold which is driving me nuts! Since I am coughing so much I have a horrendous headache and can't seem to keep an original thought in my head. So when all else fails follow the crowd. lol Here is my very first This or That Tuesday.

1. Heroines: Ariel (Little Mermaid) or Belle (Beauty & the Beast)?
Definitely Belle she has always been my favorite.

2. More heroines: Mulan or Pocahontas?
Pocahontas...although I must admit I've never actually seen Mulan

3. Princesses: Snow White or Cinderella?
Cinderella, I've never really card for Snow White.

4. Toy Story: Buzz or Woody?
Buzz mostly because he is Anthony's favorite.

5. Animals: Simba (Lion King) or Bambi?
Simba, Bambi always depresses me. I remember that movie making me cry and cry as a kid.

6. Naughty boys: Peter Pan or Pinocchio?
Peter Pan

7. Sidekicks: Sebastian the Crab (Little Mermaid) or Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio)?
Jiminy Cricket

8. Villians: Wicked Queen (Snow White) or Cruella DeVil (101 Dalmations)?
Cruella DeVil

9. Classics: Goofy or Pluto?
Neither

10. And of course: Mickey or Donald?
Mickey, Donald was always so grumpy.

Well I guess I should figure out what to feed my family for dinner tonight. Before I head out I just wanted to say thank you to my sweet friend Kay for her wonderful blog award! :-)

I love fall! Today (Sunday...I haven't gone to bed yet) we took the kids to a pumpkin patch a few miles from here. I had to share with pictures below, it is so much fun. The kids enjoyed picking their pumpkins and playing in the strawbale maze. John bought me a gorgeous fall swag I'll have to take a picture of as soon as I find somewhere to hang it. They also had a few baby animals in the barn for the kids to pet. We had way too much fun.

We ended the day by going to Krispy Kreme and finally trying one of their unbelievably yummy doughnuts (ummm......okay....we ate more than one! lol) for the very first time. The kids loved watching them be made. We came home to a house that smelled so yummy because before we left I turned the crock pot on to warm up a batch of apple cider. It was a perfect end to a perfect day. :-) Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I also hope you enjoy the pictures below. Click on them to see a larger image.

I still feel like crap but am thankfully getting better. I hate being sick! So far no one else has been sick so that is good. Thank you to all of you who sent get well wishes and virtual chicken noodle soup! :-) Today the weather is cold and dreary. We have had rain off and on all day. The weather hasn't kept the kids inside though, they are all out there riding bikes.

We had girl scouts today. One of the girls is moving and this was her last meeting so we had a small going away party for her. I had a call from Brittany's teacher yesterday. Brittany got her very first white slip yesterday. That is a disciplinary slip which means she is in trouble. She got the slip because she has missed turning in 3 separate assignments. What makes me mad is that out of the three, two were done and she just forgot to turn them in. She daydreams way too much and just forgot. She was very upset by the whole thing and cried for about an hour when she got home. She is grounded from going bike riding with her friends after school for a while and also has detention tomorrow for 20 minutes. Hopefully this will make her realize that she needs to be more responsible because there is no one else to blame but herself.

I still haven't had a Krispy Kreme doughnut. :-( I think I might have forgotten to mention that it was their grand opening on Tuesday. People don't normally stand around all day waiting for doughnuts! lol John tried to get us some last night but the lines were still way too long so I guess we'll have to wait awhile. I did get a "care package" from my sweetie since I have been so sick. I got an adorable, cuddly teddy, a cute teddy card, a book, throat drops and a huge bag of M&M's. Isn't he sweet? :-) I didn't even have to share my M&M's! lol

I guess they pushed back the opening date of that website. I'm not sure why, I got the graphics done so something else must be wrong on their end. I haven't really heard. I'll let you know as soon as it goes online. My email was down for two days on the 1st and 2nd. I couldn't receive or send anything and I couldn't FTP anything either. Thankfully they were able to fix it, they sent me an explanation as to what was wrong but it made absolutely no sense. I'm just glad they were able to fix it! Well, I guess I should get going. I have to go check on my kiddies and make sure it hasn't started raining again. Have a great night!

I am so sick. I feel like complete crap. My throat hurts, my head is pounding and every muscle in my body aches. I spent most of the day in bed wishing I could die. Because the girls didn't have school today they were able to keep Anthony busy playing outside which was a big help. I did go see "Sweet Home Alabama" with my sister yesterday, I really liked it. It was very cute and funny.

Not much else going on, we watched the Broncos lose tonight and if I wasn't so sick I might just be in line with the rest of the crazy people camping out to be the first to buy a Krispy Kreme doughnut tomorrow morning at 5am! Either these doughnuts must be really damn good or we need more entertainment here in Fargo, North Dakota! ROFL We tried to talk my sisters boyfriend into camping out to be the first person in line so that he could win a year supply of doughnuts but he didn't go for it. I'm sure tomorrow will be a zoo there so I think I'll wait awhile before I try my first one.

Well, it's late and I really feel lousy so I'm heading to bed. *nite*

Almost a whole week without blogging, I hate when I don't have time to keep up here. I am just about finished with my webpage project, just making a few changes and I will for sure give you the link here once it is officially "live". I'm sure that once the programer and site manager finish with it, it won't be exactly the way I designed it but that's kinda what happens when you have so many people involved with one project. I think I like designing and publishing my websites completely on my own because there are some things that have been changed which I wouldn't have changed but they are the ones paying for it so I just have to go along with it.

Not much going on this weekend, I drove limo last night and took tonight off so that I could hopefully be finished with everything by tonight. My sister wants us to go see Sweet Home Alabama with her this weekend and I have a zillion adoptions to catch up on. I also have a few graphics to change now that my new monitor has shown me that some of my graphics aren't exactly how I pictured them. If you haven't received graphics/adoptions requested from me recently please be patient, hopefully I will be caught up by Monday.

Speaking of Monday the kids don't have school so I will have to come up with something for them to do, to keep them busy and to keep me from going nuts. I told Brittany about all of your warm wishes regarding her "presidency", she was very happy and said thank you. Her little "friend" who lost the election hasn't been very nice to her. She has been complaining to everyone at school that Brittany gets "everything" she wants such as parts for their class plays, solos for their concerts and now this. I am so mad because I know that Brittany works very hard for every part/solo she gets and I also know that her music teacher has passed her up for solos because she wants to give everyone a chance to have one. She has outright said that she wanted to give Brittany a particular solo but had to be fair and give other girls a chance to have a solo. If Brittany was a little snot then I wouldn't worry about people talking about her like that, but she isn't. I know I'm her mom and I might be biased but anyone who knows Brittany says that she is so sweet and kind and it hurts me that people are so petty because they are jealous of her. She is always happy for the other girls who get the solos that she wanted and she doesn't make them feel bad or throw it in their faces that the only reason she didn't get the solo was because the teacher had to be fair to everyone else. I know I shouldn't get mad because this shit will only get worse as she gets older but I can't help it. When someone hurts my kids they hurt me 100 times worse.

OMG, I was just sitting here blogging thinking about how boring things have been around here when I heard motorcycles zooming outside the front of the house. There was honking and engines revving, I ran outside to find hundreds of motorcycles flying by as Anthony and his cousin stood in the driveway waving at them. Everyone was waving back and honking at them. It was so cute. All of the bikes were a rally for the Roger Maris Cancer Center 61 for 61. I wish I would have taken my camera with, it really was cool to see all of those Harleys zooming by. I completely forgot that they were doing the fundraising this weekend. There are a whole bunch of events going on this weekend, I think I'm gonna drag my family out of the house for a worthy cause, to donate money and to keep my sanity by getting away from this house! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

I think I am having graphic block, I just can't seem to focus on much of anything, particularly the project I am on serious deadline to finish. I did get a new moniter and lets just say there are a few graphics I have done that the colors are way off for. Ugh. I have some serious work to do to get everything changed but like I said I just can't focus so it will have to wait.

Brittany won the election and is now student council president of her school. She is very excited but at the same time she felt bad because she was running against a friend of hers and the friend didn't take the loss very well. I think she was just sad and didn't want to cry in front of anyone so she ran home but Brittany thought the girl was mad at her because they usually walk home together. Brittany went bike riding with her friends and found out that the girl wasn't mad just a little disappointed. I just feel bad that Britt couldn't be completely happy about her win because her friend was upset. Although she did admit that it was pretty cool to bang on the table with the mallet and adjourn her first meeting this afternoon. I just told her I was glad she won......and I didn't even have to bake cookies to bribe all the kids! ROFL

Anthony has suddenly become "too scared" to go to bed. I know it's just an excuse to not go to bed, but John is really worried that he is scared of something in his room. So the two of them have been going through his room (the mess is about the only scary thing in there!) looking for what could be scaring him. Last night Anthony's "Mr. Potato Head" game was put to rest because it was too scary. John removed the batteries so that it didn't make any more scary noises. I just rolled my eyes because I know that Anthony isn't scared he just doesn't want to go to bed! Men are so gullible! Yes dear, I'm talking to you. Don't get mad, you know it's true. lol

The weekend flew by way too fast. The Storybook breakfast was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time and won lots of cute prizes. Brittany is looking forward to when she will be the one dressed up as a character although I was happy to see her still having fun and not growing up too fast. I'm glad I was able to keep that imagine of her in my mind as we got her ready to go to her very first wedding dance without me there.

She has a new girl in her class and this girl's mom got married on Saturday. Brittany was invited to the wedding dance. She got all dressed up, she wore her bridesmaid dress from my wedding, and we did up her hair and a bit of makeup. She looked so grown up and so excited to be going to a dance on her own. I dropped her off at the reception and told her to call John when she was ready to be picked up. I had a limo run that wasn't over until 1am so I wouldn't be home. At 11pm I called John and he still hadn't heard from Brittany, I wasn't too worried, I figured she'd be calling any minute. At 11:30 I checked back in, still no Brittany. Finally at midnight when there was still no call I told him to go right there and find her and call me immediately. She is too young to be dancing till midnight! lol I guess she was having so much fun she didn't even realize what time it was, she had a great time and waited up for me to come home so that she could tell me all about it.

This morning Anthony and I went to the school again for Monday Morning Mom's and now we are just waiting for the girls to come home from school so that we can go into town. John is making me buy a new computer moniter. We had a small fire a little over a year ago and the side of my moniter melted. Amazingly the moniter still works but the colors are a little off which as I'm sure you can imagine makes it hard to do graphics. So with my new project John has insisted that I get a new one.

The girls are home so I'd better get going. Have a great night! :-)

I am waiting for John to get out of the shower so that we can go out and yes celebrate. The meeting went very well and thankfully I don't feel too overwhelmed. I have been hired on as a graphic designer/consultant but they thankfully have their own in house programer who will handle all of the technical stuff that intimidates the hell out of me. There is a looming deadline which has everyone stressed so I have my work cut out for me. I still don't want to say what it is, keeping you in suspense is half the fun! ROFL The web site goes live October 1st and I will announce it here for you all to see. I am not even going to think about it tonight, I am just going to go out with John and have a wonderful night.

Tomorrow morning I am taking the kids to a Storybook Breakfast. It is hosted by the high school drama class. They all dress up as fairy tale characters and the kids get to eat pancakes with them, play games, win prizes. We have gone every year since Brittany was in preschool. It is so much fun and the kids are really looking forward to it. Tomorrow night I drive limo's all night and Sunday I am going to get stuff done around the house and hopefully catch up on all of my adoptions. I am so behind so if you have ordered one recently and haven't received it please be patient, I really have a lot going on. ANNA K. - Email is on the way for you. I am so sorry I haven't responded yet. I will do your graphics for you early next week, I promise! :-) Hope you all have a great weekend!! ~::~HUGZ~::~

I am still trying to recover from my hectic day yesterday and I am trying to pretend that I am not nervous about my meeting this afternoon. The weird thing is that I'm not nervous that I won't get the account but rather I'm nervous that I will get the account and what if I'm not good enough or have enough skill/talent to do it right? Damn, I am so neurotic sometimes! lol

Tonight John and I have a date. We are going out to eat although I have no idea where. Someplace where there hopefully won't be a bunch of kids. For some reason when we go out without our kids and we are looking forward to a nice, quiet meal; we end up surrounded by little kids who are running and screaming around the restaurant. I am so picky about my childrens manners in restaurants that I have little patience with people who just smile sheepishly as their children get completely out of hand. I'm sorry it is not cute and it is not appreciated.

There have been times when I have wished that instead of a smoking/non-smoking section there was a children/non-children section. Don't get me wrong, my children aren't perfect and at home they are free to express themselves all they want (which they do VERY well!) but in public I expect them to be on their best behavior. So anyway, after dinner we are going to meet my sister and Jeremy to see "The Banger Sisters". My sisters pick, not mine. Hopefully it is good, I'll let you know.

I guess I should get moving and start getting ready to go. Before I head out, here is my Friday Five....

1. Would you say that you're good at keeping in touch with people?
No, I always feel guilty about it but I am horrible at keeping in touch. Guilt just never seems to motivate me enough to do anything about it.

2. Which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? Why?
Ummmm..... I would have to say email. It is easy, I don't have to buy stamps, and I can keep in touch while still wearing my pajamas with no makeup on.

3. Do you have an instant messenger program? How many? Why/why not? How often do you use it?
I have a few although the only one I use is AIM and I really don't even use that very often. I'm not sure why, I guess mostly cause I never seem to catch people online when I actually have time to chat.

4. Do most of your close friends live nearby or far away?
There aren't many people I would consider to be close friends, but those that I do have are far away.

5. Are you an "out of sight, out of mind" person, or do you believe that "distance makes the heart grow fonder"?
I never forget my friends/family, I'm just not always the greatest at letting them know I am thinking of them. I hope that they don't need me to tell them that I love them, I hope that they just know.

Oh, I almost forgot, don't forget to sign up for the 2002 Blog Ornament Exchange! :-)

This is my second time trying to make this post. The first time I was almost done when my computer froze up before I could save it. I hate when that happens now I have to try to remember what I was saying and it just never seems to sound as good the second time around! lol

I know that I was posting about my meeting tomorrow. I have a meeting set up with the account executive for the website that I mentioned on Tuesday. I am a little nervous and a little excited. I don't have the account yet but he did like most of my ideas and tomorrow we will be able to discuss it more to see where it is going. I am nervous because after a few conversations I still don't know if he just wants to buy my graphics/layout or if he wants me to maintain the site. I don't know if I have the skills needed to keep up with what sounds like, will be a huge, long term project. I'll keep you posted....

Today is our first Brownie meeting. I am excited to have a smaller troop this year. I think we will be able to do more activities/trips with only 8 girls because there will be less chaos as compared to the 16 girls we had last year. Brittany is running for president for the school student council. She is running against a friend of hers. I offered to make cookies to bribe the kids with but she wouldn't hear of it. ROFL I then offered to make posters on the computer with a big picture of her face on them and plastering them all over the school. You should have seen her face, it was so funny! She is so serious sometimes. She was relieved to realize I was joking. hehe

I have to meet with Brittany's REACH (her school's gifted/talented program) teacher tonight, kinda a back-to-school night and then after that I have a limo run. Somedays there is just too much going on, I'm never sure if I'm coming or going. Tomorrow night John and I have a night with no kids. I hate to be so excited about it.....but I am! lol...I love my kids but I am so ready for a break! :-) My mom is nice enough to take them over night so that we can enjoy some alone time. I can't wait.

I took Brittany to the orthodontist today and got my nails done. Not a very exciting day, but hey, they can't all be exciting, and with the way things usually go for me, boring is good! lol I did get a frantic call from my mom this afternoon. Her and Bill had met with a local radio executive to discuss their advertising contract and he had mentioned he had liked the website I did for them. He wanted me to call him regarding a site that needs to be done ASAP because the project is behind schedule. I can't talk about it much because it is all confidential but keep your fingers crossed that I get his account. :-) I talked to him this afternoon and I really think that it will be a fun project to work on so tonight I will put together some ideas and hopefully he likes them.

Not much else going on, I'm waiting for candles from Missy, I have a few things I need to work on to get ready for our first Brownie meeting on Thursday and I as usual have a ton of laundry to do. Oh and I started my period which means I don't have to think about being pregnant for awhile. I still have mixed feelings about it, logically I know that right now isn't the best time to have another baby but sometimes when I see how big my three are getting I want another little one to hold and kiss and love. I put away the pregancy test that I didn't use, maybe I'll take it out next year when things are more settled in our new little family. When the times does come, John and I already have names picked out, it felt kinda silly talking about it but it was fun and sweet and a way for us to commit to each other that someday soon we want to have a baby together, just not right now.

Anthony and I are headed out the door but I just wanted to stop in and say hi. Today is "Monday Morning Moms" at the girls school, something we both enjoy. Anthony gets to play with other kids his age and I get to visit with other mom's as we do projects for the teachers. Before I head out for the morning, I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to you! I hope you have a wonderful day today! ~hugs~

Graphic by MLL

My poor blog is so neglected, it gives me an evil look every time I log onto my computer, which lately hasn't been very often. There is so much going on here; I don't even know where to start. Most of it is just every day stuff, going to PTO meetings, Back-to-School night, Brittany's class had a car wash to raise funds for our local fire department the week of September 11th, Danielle was given a project to work on called "all about me" which is 50 pages long, Anthony is just Anthony driving me nuts. John and I are doing well, when we actually have time to spend together that is. I drove limo's all weekend and we are looking forward to spending the day together today. The girls spent the night with my sister and the morning was peaceful as John, Anthony and I cuddled up in our bed with a box of dry cereal and mugs of hot coffee.

So here's the thing, there is a reason why I haven't blogged. Amidst all of the normal everyday chaos of my life, I have had something on my mind that I wasn't ready to share because I didn't know for sure what if anything was happening and I didn't know for sure how I felt about it. Do you remember me posting recently about my major PMS mood swing? Well guess what? The PMS was there but it wasn't followed by my period. I hate to admit it but I have never really been very good at keeping track of my cycle. I don't write it down and as my life is always so hectic I completely forget when my last one was and just depend on my body to tell me when it is on its way. So with the major mood swings I assumed it was time to start and when it didn't I just assumed that I had estimated my dates wrong.

Another week passed and still no monthly visitor, suddenly I was feeling queasy and waking up in the middle of the night to go pee which I never ever do. I just knew I was pregnant and at the same time a little voice was telling me that I was only imagining the symptoms because although I am not on birth control pills John and I are always VERY careful because we obviously already have our hands full with three children. So for the next week I worried about being pregnant, we have discussed it and agreed that we are not ready to have a baby right now and really don't know if we want to have more children. To John, Anthony is his son and neither of us has felt the need to have more.

So I have silently worried about what would we do, how could we afford it, etc. Finally I couldn't take the stress anymore and I had John buy me a home pregnancy test. I took it right away and guess what? It was negative!! So what was my first reaction? I burst into tears! Suddenly I WANTED to be pregnant, I wanted another baby, I wanted to experience having a baby that was part of both John and myself. I couldn't explain my tears to John who thought I would be happy to not be pregnant. I still don't know how I feel about all of this and on top of all of that I still have NOT had my period. I'm sure that I will start soon, I mean those tests are hardly ever wrong. I have a second test hidden under the sink, which I will use if I haven't started in a week or two. I mean I couldn't have estimated my period that far off could I? Sheesh. I swear, once I start I am going to write it down every single damn month, this is way too stressful! lol

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend and on Monday I hope to be able to sit down and visit all of my daily reads which have been sadly neglected lately. Thank you all for continuing to visit me even though I haven't been the greatest of company!! Have a great day! *S*

I have so much to blog about but as I listen to the reading of names of 9-11 victims on the news, it all seems pointless and silly. I have cried countless times today as I watched the girls get dressed in red, white and blue in memory of the tragedy that will never be forgotten. I watch Anthony play with his fire truck oblivious as to the significant role firemen played a year ago today. I think of my brother, proudly serving his country far away from home, and I feel tears of pride and sadness overwhelm me. There are church services and community gatherings taking place this evening, I have decided to stay home and keep my family close in a safe little cocoon. It has been a sad year and today will be a sad day but through it all I have felt pride that I am a United States citizen. I can't explain how proud I am every time I say the Pledge of Alligence or salute the flag. I have always taken this privilege for granted but today as it has for the last year it takes on a special meaning and I hope that I never again take for granted how lucky I am to live in this great country. God Bless America.

Graphic by Susie's Graphics

Just a quick post today, I have a million and one things to do before I head out on my limo run tonight. And Grace I had to laugh at your comment as you pictured me driving limo's. Hopefully it's not that bad! ROFL

Last night was fun but I drank way too much and have a headache and queasy stomach to prove it. I only slept a few hours because I had to get the girls ready for school and although I probably should have taken a nap I don't dare with Anthony running loose!

Tomorrow is our little town's "Community Day". It is an all day event starting with a pancake breakfast at the community center followed by a parade which goes right in front of our house and then all day events for the kids with games, pony rides, pedal tractor pull races, and an airplane drop where prize certificates are dropped out of a plane in a large field and the kids get to chase after them and try to get a prize. There is also a family softball game and in the evening there will be a dinner at the community center followed by a street dance. Everyone is really excited, the dance will be fun and hopefully John's sisters will be able to make it out.

Not much planned for Sunday, I am going to go see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with my mom and that is about it. I will probably spend the rest of the day moving furniture around. I am going on a television strike, or should I say I am forcing my family to go on a strike. I am so sick of the kids watching too much TV and making a mess in the living room with popcorn and snacks, I am tired of the TV always being on during dinner and so yesterday I pulled the plug. I am going to move the entertainment center into mine and John's room this way I can better monitor TV use and so that John can still watch the news at night.

The kids are grounded from TV use for the next month. Their punishment for not doing their chores and for too much fighting. They can earn TV time by doing chores after that month is over. Anthony is already driving me nuts wanting to watch movies but so far no one has had any serious side effects! ROFL I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Hopefully my house will stay clean, my kids will be healthier from all of the fresh air they are sure to get now that they will be playing outside more, and we will have more quality time together as a family. I am also setting up a study area in one corner of a large hallway that is pretty much wasted space. I want a small table there with a floor length table cloth and compartments underneath where arts/crafts, puzzles, games can be stored. I want a place to be able to play a game or do a puzzle and not have it on our dining room table. It will also be close to my computer which means I can have some computer time while still monitoring the girls homework.

Since my living room will no longer have an entertainment center I want to set up a little music alcove in it's place with the piano and a comfy place for Britt to practice her saxophone. I'm sure my family will have a few complaints but I really think that after a month or two they will realize how much more stuff we will do when the darn TV is silent. Wish me luck :-) lol

Before I forget I want to thank Jana for her lovely blog award. It is my very first one. :-) I will find a home for it very soon.

Also thanks to Kay for our adorable blog buddies, I will also be finding a special home for them as soon as I have a second to hear myself think! :-) Your friendship has really brightened my days! Thanks so much for always listening and making me smile.

Ack, this was supposed to be short but obviously I don't know when to shut up! lol Also, I am really behind on email and adoptions, I had a virus which I have gotten rid of but I haven't wanted to email until I was sure it was gone so hopefully I will also find time this weekend to get caught up! Well, since I've already made this post longer than I wanted, here's my Friday Five.

1. What is your biggest pet peeve? Why?
Being lied to. It would take too long to explain but mostly it has to do with a person in my childhood who never kept promises. I hate when someone says they are going to do something and they don't do it. This issue can bring me to tears even when it seems like not a big deal. I am always as honest as I can be, sometimes to a fault, which makes me expect others to do the same. If someone lies to me once I pretty much never believe them again.

2. What irritating habits do you have?
Who me? None! ROFL Actually I am late all of the time, I never shut the cupboard doors in the kitchen, when I am working or reading I tend to tune out anyone who should happen to want to talk to me, I procrastinate, I'm sure if you ask John he can list more but those are the worst I think.

3. Have you tried to change the irritating habits or just let them be?
I have tried to work on being late but I just can't seem to be on time. As for the others I don't really worry about them, I mean everyone has to have a few bad habits right? lol

4. What grosses you out more than anything else? Why?
People who pick their nose and kids who do the same and eat it. Just thinking about it makes me sick.

5. What one thing can you never see yourself doing that other people do?
Burping. I never burp, I think it is so disgusting. John laughs at me because it grosses me out so much. Him and the kids sometimes have burping contests just to drive me nuts.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts here. It has been so busy between driving limos and spending time with John's family. His sister arrived and his dad is home from the hospital so we have been spending quite a bit of time over there. John's nephew also came to visit. He is about my age, John's sisters and I are going to take him out for ladies night tonight. He has been divorced for a few years now and his mother wants him to give her more grandchildren so it is our mission to find him a few prospects. lol Okay, it is actually just an excuse to go out and party but hey, who needs an excuse?

The girls have been keeping me busy, it is amazing how much homework they bring home. Brittany finally got her saxophone and it had to be repaired. It was a minor repair, there was a screw missing, but it meant I had to leave it at the shop overnight which meant she had to miss another lesson. She was not very happy. We picked it up last night and brought it home. She was very excited to put it together and play it for the very first time.

Have you ever played a saxophone? You can't just pick it up and blow, there is a way you have position your mouth or it just won't work. I have never played a sax so I wasn't sure what to do. Brittany was blowing for all of her might and no sound was coming out. She was convinced that it was broken. I hate to be gross here but do you have any idea how much spit goes into an instrument when you blow too hard? Ick. On top of that she wears braces which seems to make her spit even more. Not a pretty sight! lol Finally I took it away from her because I was afraid she was going to make her head explode not to mention she was in tears because it wasn't working. I took it apart, cleaned out her spit put in a new reed and gave it a try. The first time I didn't have much better results than she did but the second time I was able to make a sound which was a relief. I was starting to wonder if it was broken! lol Hearing me play a note made Britt determined to do it herself which she happily did for over an hour.

Note to self......set up saxophone practice area in the limo shop! lol

*NOTE* I made the entry below on the 3rd but couldn't get it to post, sorry about that.

I had a limo run last night that I swear could only happen to me. I will try to make this quick cause I'm tired and I want to go to bed. I had an airport pickup last night, which is pretty much the easiest run you can do. Pick them up from the airport take them to their hotel, no big deal. Except of course if you are me!

First their flight was delayed two hours which I didn't find out until I got to the airport. I was a little bit mad because I was told to just sit at the airport and wait. I was thirsty and bored and thought screw it, I'm going to get myself something to drink and then come back and wait for two hours. So I left the airport and went to the nearest gas station. This limo drives me nuts because you can take out the keys and the car will stay running and the ignition switch can work without the keys if you don't turn it all the way back. I pulled the keys out and of course it stays running, I thought about locking the door to the car and leaving it running since I had the keys. But I remembered someone saying that not all of the keyrings have a key to unlock the doors and I didn't want to lock myself out so I made sure the ignition switch was completely off but I didn't lock the doors since I was running right in and out. I bought myself a water and a magazine and went back to the limo so that I could head back to the airport.

I get in the car and try to start the car but although the key slides right into the ignition the switch won't turn. What the hell?! I took the key out, and tried again and once again it won't turn. Needless to say I freaked out especially since I watched the same police car circle around the parking lot looking at me parked in a no parking zone. I called John and he knew instantly what was wrong. My mom who had got my car ready, used the wrong set of keys to start the car. Since the ignition switch hadn't been locked it of course started right up and she just assumed that meant she had the right keys even when John told her that he thought they were the wrong keys.

So I had to sit there for 20 minutes waiting for John to bring me the right set of keys. For most people this stupid story would end here but of course this story happened to me so there is more. Do you remember that police car that I was nervous about? Well, he drove by again and this time he stopped right next to me. I get out of the car (the power windows don't work without the car being started of course) and wonder how I am supposed to explain that yes, I had one set of keys to drive here but that now that same set of keys no longer work! I said hello and asked if I could help him and he wanted to know how long I had been sitting there. About 5 minutes I told him and then he told me that if I saw a large sized man, of Native American descent, wearing a black jacket with a yellow logo on back to call 911 right away because he was dangerous and wanted for assault.

I smiled and said I would be sure to call and then got back in my car, where I am stuck in an empty parking lot, late at night alone with a freakin' car that won't start! John finally got there and I was able to head back to the airport without being assaulted or having to call 911. The rest of the night was boring as I spent two hours watching people come and go out of the airport. Finally a tall, good looking man starts walking towards me. I am about to ask him his name to find out if he is person I am waiting for when he starts talking......in French! Finally he said something about Microsoft which is the company name I have on my run sheet so I assume he is the proper person. He came back with 4 other men, none of whom speak English, and I take them to their hotel. I was a little nervous that I had the wrong group but found out later that my party did fly in from Paris, France. I wish someone would have thought to warn me! lol I mean how many people from France flying to the United States would go to Fargo, North Dakota of all places? lol

Why is it that the older I get the more bitchy I get when that time of the month rolls around? A few years ago I never even thought about PMS, for me it didn't exist but for some reason as I get closer to hitting 30 my body is filled with all of these hormones that make me unbearable to be around. It's a good thing my family loves me as much as they do. It's not as if I enjoy being a bitch it's just that about a week before my period I am moody and every little thing sets me off.

Take last night for instance, my mom asked me to take a casino run instead of doing the bar hop. Not a big deal, it gave me more hours and some quiet time to read while I'm at the casino. But instead of saying sure, not a problem, I made a big deal about it and was anything but pleasant to her although I did say grudgingly that I would take it after she practically had to beg.

Once I hung up the phone I started bitching about my mom to John, among other things, and he of course feels attacked. I couldn't just leave it alone as I was rushing to get ready (the casino run had an earlier pick-up time) I must have bitched about anything and everything under the sun. Finally when John couldn't take it anymore he told me that if it was that stressful for me to drive I shouldn't do it anymore. I immediately burst into tears giving him a guilt trip for not understanding, for being judgmental, and for only wanting me to drive to get rid of me. Where in the hell that came from I have no idea but once I started I couldn't stop.

I left for my run pissed off, I yelled at the girls for fighting on my way out the door and the only person I said goodbye to was Anthony. It was on my way to my pickup that I realized that my period was coming soon which immediately made me realize what in the hell was wrong with me. Of course I could have called John and explained and apologized but I couldn't, those hormones were still kicking in making me want him to suffer. Isn't that evil? And if I am this bad now imagine when I hit menopause?? Sheesh, I will be terrorizing everyone! Poor John, luckily for my kids they should be well on their way to college by then and won't have to deal with me often, but John will be stuck with me. Let's hope that for John's sake there is a cure for menopause before I get there! ROFLMAO

I felt bad all night for being so horrible to everyone and of course to add to my guilt, when I pull into the shop at 2:30am John is standing there in the rain waiting for me with an umbrella. He tells me that HE is sorry and that he was worried about me all night. I really don't deserve him but it's too late now, he's stuck with me. I did tell him that it wasn't him, it was me on a PMS rampage.

Do you know what really scares me? My mom is even worse than me, she not only has PMS for the week before her period, she is a bitch during her period and for the week after. She really only has one good week a month. Is this what I have to look forward to??? Somebody please shoot me and put me out of my misery! lol

We took the kids to see Scooby Doo last night, it was quite cute. Anthony sat mesmerized through the entire movie! He didn't even want to eat popcorn or candy, I don't even think he blinked! lol We also stopped to visit John's sister before we headed to the movie. Josef was there he is so cute! I can't believe how big he is getting. He will be turning one soon. John's sister from Florida will be visiting soon. She should be here Tuesday. Since I am the "baby" sister I have been elected to keep her entertained. I don't know her very well and the time I did spend with her was during the time John's mom was in the hospital, right before she passed away.

Let's just say that we probably didn't get a very good impression of each other, way too much bonding in my opinion. Maybe it's cause she lives far away and I don't know her as well as the rest, or maybe it's cause she's the oldest sister and bossy as hell towards John, or maybe it's just cause she is so much older than me and we don't have much in common, whatever it is I am not overly excited about the visit. But of course I am new to the family so I've kinda gotta be nice. Oh well, it can't be that bad. Everyone says to take her shopping and she should be happy.

I still have way too much to do around here and I spent way too much time playing "Sweet Tooth". Have you played it yet? It's way too addicting! Worse than Poppit! So now I have to get off my butt and get stuff done. I have a limo run tonight but not until 9pm. What's everyone doing this weekend? Anything exciting? I was thinking of heading out to John's family's lake cabin but it is supposed to be rainy and cold all weekend so we will probably skip that. Besides I have to drive Monday as well so that probably wouldn't work anyway.

We have this limo that so far I have refused to drive. It is a 14 passenger and really intimidates me. I drive the 12 passenger no problem but the 14 just seems so much bigger. Anyway, my mom has been bugging me to drive it because it gets better runs and even better tips. So Sunday I'm gonna have John take me out so I can practice. It is the newest and nicest car and I don't want to be the first person to put a scratch in it! lol Wish me luck! :-)

Not much going on today. Anthony and I hung out at home. We were supposed to go to the park but it started raining so we stood home until the girls got home from school and then we ran to the bank and then headed over to my mom's to get Britt's new saxophone. It is gorgeous, so shiny, it looks brand new. She was really happy, now we just have to take it over to the music shop to make sure it is working properly.

We are just waiting for John to get home from work so that we can head into town. We are gonna go eat and maybe go to a movie. I just want to get out of the house. It has been raining off and on since yesterday. We got water in the basement last night because it was raining so hard. John had to bring the rinse 'n vac down to suck it all up. I have so much laundry to do and I am just NOT in the mood to do anything. So I figure tonight I will hide from all of the messes that are waiting for me and I will get to them tomorrow.

While I am waiting for John to get his butt in the shower (he just got home) I'm gonna do the Friday Five. Hope you all have a great weekend! :-)

1. What's your favorite piece of clothing that you currently own?
My going out to party blank tank with a built in bra and a completely open back. I bought it for the street dance we went to last weekend.

2. What piece of clothing do you most want to acquire?
I would love to have a very nice leather jacket. I have a longer leather coat that was bought for me by an exboyfriend. It is nice but I want something shorter.

3. What piece of clothing can you not bring yourself to get rid of? Why?
I have a hard time getting rid of clothes, I have so much shit I know I'm never gonna wear and for some reason I keep hanging on to it. I finally brought myself to store most of it in the attic, now if I could only get myself to give it away. I really can't think of any sane reason why I do this.

4. What piece of clothing do you look your best in?
I would have to say jeans, only because I feel most comfortable in them and when I feel comfortable I am always at my best.

5. What has been your biggest fashion accident?
Ummm....I'd have to say just about anything that I wore in high school. I went through this phase where everything was black. I also had these pink and black acid washed jeans that were so damn tight, they were so tight around my ankles that I would have to call my little sister in to help me get them off, oh and the big hair! My hair was so big it was outright scary! Sheesh, how embarrassing! lol

I have a limo run tonight so I have to get going, I just wanted to post my new blinkie. Darylynn requested that I make one for my site because I am the only blog in her list that doesn't have one. So here ya go, my very first blinkie. It was actually quite fun to make so I'm sure I'll be doing more. :-) Just click below to save it. Have a great night......and guess what? Tomorrow is Friday! :-) I don't have anything major planned other than I get to sleep in since I won't have to get the girls up for school at the crack of dawn!

::EDITED:: I wasn't sure if I liked the blinkie above so I made a second one, I'll let you take your pick. :-)

Danielle got a 100% on her very first spelling test this year! I am so excited for her, she studied so hard. School has always came easy to Brittany, but it is a little harder for Danielle which makes me twice as proud because I know how hard she has to work to get an A. Marshall made us all banana splits to celebrate. They were very yummmmmy :-) I am half asleep right now but I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I've neglected my daily reads lately but I'll be here in the morning and I'll be by to visit you, I promise! :-)

It has been extremely hectic around here. The girls had a wonderful first and second day of school. Homework is already keeping them busy. Brittany is getting excited for her first saxophone (she will be playing the alto sax) lesson next week (Bill bought her one online, it should be here on Friday) and piano lessons start soon for both girls. My daily planner is filling up with appointments, lessons, practices, meetings. I am excited for fall and before you know it Christmas will be here, next thing you know this school year will be over. Time just keeps going by way too fast!

I spent the day running errands in town. I got my nails done which I really needed to do, they looked horrible, now they are a really cool purple. After picking up the girls from school we headed over to the grocery store when I saw Brittany's old preschool. The parking lot was empty except for one car so I took a chance that one of the teachers might still be there. Sure enough Brittany's old preschool teacher was there although for the life of me I couldn't remember her name! She remembered Brittany right away and I put Anthony on a waiting list for preschool. This year is already full but she told me to call her on Monday to see if someone maybe didn't show up for orientation or changed their mind. If he doesn't get in this year he will for sure get in next year. I wish I would have thought of stopping by there sooner, I just didn't think it was a big deal if he didn't go this year. But he really needs to do something other than being with me all day. He misses going to daycare and playing with the other kids. If he gets in it would only be a few hours two days a week, I know he would love it there so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I talked to Gilly today. He can't tell me where he is headed right now but his ship recently left HongKong. He said he can't even explain how huge it was there. We must have talked for almost two hours! Although it was more like a bunch of conversations because the satellite on his ship kept cutting us off so he had to keep calling me back. I miss him so much, I was so excited to hear from him. Well, I've got to get running. *NiTe*

The first day of school. Doesn't that bring back a lot of memories? I know it does for me, being excited, scared, nervous all mixed up wondering if my teacher would be nice, anxious to see if my best friend was in the same class, excited to see if any of the boys looked any cuter, where would I sit, who would I eat lunch with, so many things to wonder about.

The girls were so excited to get to school. The house is so quiet without them and Anthony is not very happy that I am his only playmate today. I remember when the girls were younger I would cry on their first day back to school. I don't cry anymore but Anthony sure did! He wants to go to school with his sisters. To make things even worse his cousin Kyle who he normally plays with is in Kindergarten so now there is really no one for him to play with. Next week the two of us will start going to school on Monday mornings to meet with other mom's and preschoolers. The mom's complete projects that teachers need help with and since we are working in the gym the kids have a fun place to run and play together. It makes a nice socializing time for both of us. :-)

I took a few pictures of the girls before they left for school. Danielle was not very happy! She refused to smile so I told her that if she didn't smile I would wait to take her picture until she was sitting in her class in front of all of the kids. Why do my kids think that I am the only mom in the whole world who insists on taking pictures on the first day of school?? Sheesh, they act like I was standing outside in a bathrobe and slippers just waiting to embarrass them! ROFL And just for the record I made sure that I was showered, hair and makeup done, and dressed in fairly cool clothes just so that I didn't embarrass them! If they are like this now can you imagine when they get to high school? I am in big trouble! hehe

Brittany - 6th grade - notice
the sunglasses and cool way she stands.

Danielle - 3rd grade - she
is not very happy with Mom right now.

You can see a school bus
in the background of Danielle's picture,

That is their school, we
are standing in our driveway, not too far to walk which is nice.

Do you know what I miss?

The days when I could dress
them up in cute little dresses and hair bows for the first day of school.
:-(

I had to stop doing that
after kindergarten.

Brittany & Danielle

Both were threatened to
smile before I REALLY embarrassed them! ROFL