What's happening? Nothing much!!

Just a quickie!

2006-08-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

'Cause my back is bloody killing me!!

beginning of August got back ache - 1 week later finally broke down went to the Doc's - he said I had a 'Bulging Disc'! Got meds - pain went away to a degree - the shooting pains down my legs certainly stopped for the most part - but yet I still today get a lot of discomfort and if I sit in a chair too long I get all stuck and bent up. This chair - the computer chair - is one of the worst - if I sit for too long - ie more than 10 mins or so - I need to lay on the floor or bed just to straighten out and recover. Needless to say just checking Where's George, t's blog and writing this is well over my limit!

I am considering going back to the docs real soon - just been busy with school - boys dentist appointments and everything else life has to throw at me.

Maybe a specialist bone and joint clinic this time - but I have to make sure the insurance covers it! *sigh*

Well I'm going before I end up laid up all afternoon!

Back later!

Birthday Cake & Heat 'n' Humidity!

2006-07-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

My #3's chocolate fishie cake!

Chocolate cake, vanilla icing and Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate M&M's for decoration (the scales)!

#3's birthday was on the 14th but we celebrated on the 15th so everyone could attend and no one was rushed to get home from work.

His presents included a 3 wheel scooter, push along - not electric - and a fish tank. #3 loves fish and on Sunday we let him pick out his very own goldfish! It's a Black Moor! He's enjoying it a lot - likes to feed it (supervised of course) and watch it swim.

The weather is crazy - how about this heat?!! If I hear one more person as me "Is it hot enough for you?" I think I will scream!!!LOL!!

Right now according to NOAA - we're sitting at 94oF but the 'heat index' is sitting at 106oF! Sheesh........way too hot! This week I have let the boys play outside until 11am and then they come in and don't go back out until after tea-time when the sun is on its way down. Even so at 11am they come in red, hot and sweaty - even with plenty of water breaks.

I've never liked the heat in this country - in the UK it would get up to the high 80's - maybe low 90's for a few days in the middle of summer - of course the UK isn't big on A/C so these temps feel hot BUT they only lasted for about 6-8 weeks tops.

Then you've got humidity...........you welcome the odd storm that comes through because things cool down briefly - but once the rain stops and the heat picks back up things are unbearably humid for a couple of days or more. Oppressive!

This week - I've done my shopping in the evening - leaving the kids at home with Hubby - saves us going out in the heat and saves a bit of fuel too - which my goodness seems like it will never go down in cost. Tonight we're going out to eat with MIL - I promise to be on my best behaviour! This weekend we have to clear out our bedroom - we went ahead and brought a new bedroom suite - I can't wait to have something nice in there - it's a real treat!! BUT it's going to be a lot of work - our bedroom seems to have always been a dumping ground for everything we had no other place for! Being a couple of Pack Rats we also have a lot of stuff we really shouldn't have kept - so we look forward to trips to the garbage, trips to goodwill and maybe make a pile to sell on eBay! Hopefully sell a few things to help pay for the bedroom suite!! That'd be nice!

Better go - dryer finished again! More laundry to fold!!

Back later!

Happy Birthday my little one.

2006-07-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

My #3 is now 4 - well actually I've still got another 2 3/4 hours before his actual birth time - but hey who's counting!

I still have heaps of housework to do - but all I seem to be able to do is spend time with my boys and hug on them - no harm in that right!!

The air is thick with the smell of birthday cake - #3 wanted a chocolate cake - something that looks like a fish! I will try my best - it won't be decorated until tomorrow morning.

We will be having presents, cake & ice cream tomorrow. One good thing is MIL will be coming by herself - her husband has to work - shame!! LOL!!!

Back later!

Best wishes - proud mother of 3 BIG boys!

Tuesday 11 July .....

2006-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Happens to be the 13th anniversary of Hubby and I getting engaged. A good milestone!

This afternoon's lunchtime TV was Deep Space Nine. Episode I'd forgotten about even though I really enjoy it. 'In The Cards' - an episode where Jake and Nog attempt to get a baseball card for Capt. Sisko and in the process have to perform tasks and favours for a lot of other people. The only person who wasn't happy at the end was Leeta because she ended up without Kukulaka (Dr. Bashir's teddy bear!) A heart warming episode which of course is just before the Cardassians and Dominion take back DS9 - the start of the war.

Laundry treasures: The things you find in the washing machine. None of the dreaded tissues today - that will happen once or twice come winter! Even though I check pockets before things go in the wash I still find things - go figure - in yesterday's wash I found:

A button from #3's shorts - will be sewn back on before ironing
A 'Battleship' peg - *Miss*
13 cents - Dime + 3 pennies (my wages for doing the washing I suppose!)

Recent trip to the Space & Rocket Center:

Saturn I & Saturn V (replica) in the background, the Saturn V was much bigger just a lot further away!

Field of Rockets: Featuring (and forgive me if I'm off a little) Jupiter rocket, Juno 11, Redstone Engine & rocket, Jupiter C Rocket.

A most impressive sight to be sure!

Where were you?

2006-07-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

We recently tuned in to our HD channel HDNet and watched the launch of the space shuttle - WOW that was such an amazing sight - one day I hope to see that in real life - although being in HD with surround sound it was pretty darn close!! We had tuned in the previous two launch day attempts only to be disappointed when it was postponed - maybe disappointed was a bit strong, I really did enjoy watching and listening to all the preparations etc. Our whole family including the three year old were glued to it watching the rockets ignite, it take off from the ground, seeing it break the sound barrier, all those different camera angles - including the cameras attached to the fuel tanks.........simply amazing! I won't forget that in a while! My #3 wants to be an astronaut.......maybe one day who knows! Maybe one day I'll go to space - but I'd be pretty old I suppose.....hey it could happen.....I'd be like Bones (rest his soul) tottering along the corridors of the Enterprise at a grand old age of 137!! Well, maybe not!

Anyway, got me to thinking how many 'world' events I could remember exactly where I was at the time. Seems like everyone in my parents generation can remember where they were when Kennedy got shot (both UK and USA) .........of course not me, not in my time. Have there been any 'big' events in my life time? Of course there have..........

Most obvious being 9/11.............I remember exactly where I was.....I had driven Hubby to work that morning and so was driving my #1 to Kindergarten when I heard on the radio about a 'bomb' blast at the World Trade Center - the radio station had people calling it in - it was new to the broadcaster - that station didn't do news - only rock music! By van the school is only 2 minutes from home - so I ushered #2 son into the bedroom to play with legos and then went straight to the TV - parked myself on the coffee table just in time to watch the second plane hit. Sheesh that was a helluva day. Do you remember how they used to have the death toll scrolling along ticker on the bottom of the news channels? It started out in the 10's of thousands only to go down and down over the following week - thank goodness of course that the death toll wasn't higher - but it shoves in your face how the news agencies exaggerate things.

My next two events - being from the UK are Royal family based.......I know where I was when Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got married - doomed of course - now not together! They weren't high enough in the family to warranty a public holiday so there I was in a dental surgery office in Bury St. Edmunds getting a tooth pulled out!! I was put under with gas and I remember as I came to - the first thing the nurse told me was - Andrew and Fergie were married now!! Second Royal event was the accident causing Princess Diana's death in Paris. My #2 was about 4 weeks old then and still waking up for feedings every 1.5 - 2 hours! So I remember one feeding they announced the crash.......I went back to bed telling Hubby Diana had been in a crash - the next feeding she was in a hospital seriously injured. The next feeding after that I heard she was dead! I admit I was shocked....even though I've never been a follower of the Royals - I grew up with my mother doing so - she had books, teacups and thimbles etc!! I woke Hubby again when I went back to bed the third time - of course being American it didn't really phase him!!

That's about it for me.......Hubby can remember when John Lennon got shot and remember when the space shuttle Challenger exploded - the differences between UK and USA maybe - he told me how his whole school stopped to watch the Space Shuttle taking off - can you imagine having all those kiddies watching the launch only to have it explode right in front of their eyes.........shocking. I'm sure these events were covered by the BBC and ITV but it just wasn't something I dwelled on.

So how about you? Do you remember where you were when something big happened in the world?

Weekend was good - today is going to be a housework filled day - stopping for lunch and homeschooling for the boys. Highlight of this week will hopefully be the purchase of a new bedroom suite for us!! WOWWee - we may actually spend a little money on just us - how extravagant!

A week of reminiscing.

2006-07-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

With my #3's birthday coming up quickly, next Friday he will be 4, I find myself thinking about my pregnancies and all the years since.......#3's due date is actually tomorrow - he was late - all my boys were late.......#1 & #2 were both four days late BUT #3 was 6 days late - guess he wanted to be different.

My thoughts this week in history:

1995: Weight 128lbs: Had some amazing leg cramps - they seem to mostly happen at night but for the rest of the nest day my legs ache like crazy. I'm dreading my boss's return from holiday - things have been so peaceful at work! His presence causes a lot of unnecessary stress! Belly = 36.5"!! Friends say all my extra weight is baby - apparently apart from my tummy I've gained no weight - and my belly isn't even big - they say! Friends up at the Grove held a baby shower for me - a lovely cake with a bear on it. We painted the walls of the nursery, the battle was long and hard but we won and it looks lovely now! We also brought a lovely set of drawers - the best piece of furniture in the whole house!!

1997: Weight: 143lbs + 39.5" below the belly button! I had an appointment with Jill, everything was okay with baby - the gap was smaller.....I'm 36 weeks pregnant and the baby's height is now up to 35 weeks! Hubby was off work for independence Day - the fireworks on Base were great. On the 5th and 6th we went to Cadbury World and Warwick Castle it was very exhausting but great fun - I'm so glad we got to relax and have fun as a family before the baby comes.

2002: Weight: 150lbs - On Sunday we BBQ'ed and made our usual call to the UK - after that we all got ready to Men In Black 2 at the movies - they had a preview of the new Star Trek movie - WOW: Dec 13! Can't wait! I had normal type contraction pains - nothing extra though so afterwards we walked around the nature park for a bit before coming home. Monday - DUE DATE: Lil' Fella not arrived yet. Took it easy today. It's payroll day for Hubby so it would have been bad timing anyway! Started sewing a new quilt - what have I done!!! Tuesday Doc's Appointment: Fingertip dilated - Non favourable cervix. Lil'Fella still a boy!!!! Fluids fine. Booked in Friday for another U/S! Wednesday - took a trip to Walmart! Just Hubby and me though so no stress!! Friday: Doc's Appointment: U/S - everything was fine: Non-Stress test caused me stress - but the baby was good!! Internal not so bad - no spotting this time. 1cm dilated. Saturday - lazy morning & afternoon. We went out for tea though @ Logans Roadhouse and went for a walk around the neighbourhood afterwards.

That meal at Logans was the last full meal I ate before #3 was born - I woke up the next morning with proper contractions - now that was a heck of a day. #3 was born in hospital, as were my first two - but unlike with my first two - I went to the hospital so late that there wasn't anytime to get any meds - so #3 was my only totally natural birth! WOW was the the scariest thing I've ever done in my life!!!LOL!!

My #3 - 24 hours old - he was a little jaundiced but he didn't need any medical help for it - we just let him nap by the window - getting a little indirect sunlight - it was gone very quickly.

My gosh it melts my heart to see these pictures - I'm quiet sure I don't know where the time has gone!

What movie are you?

2006-06-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I have never seen this movie! I will have to run a search for it on the cable TV listings.....maybe on TCM?

Been gone for a bit.

2006-06-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

No real excuses......been wondering how/if I should come back.......do you really want to re-cap on the last few weeks? I dunno - it's not like my life is really that interesting! Since we got our new TV - we've had the pleasure of catching some older movies in HD or at least in better quality and Widescreen format. I was just recently rewatching Taxi Driver - what a good movie - excellent performance by Robert De Niro. Anyway one of his lines totally summed me/my life right up....

"The days move along with regularity.........one day indistinguishable from the next, a long continuous chain, then suddenly - there is change."

Of course I'm still waiting on the change - I'm quite sure mine will not be anything like Travis Bickle's!

A quick synopsis of my recent life:

School let out - May 12th (one reason for my lack of computer time)
Mother's Day - May 14th - as expected. My 'DAY' lasted 3-4 Hours - I enjoyed breakfast, pressies and watching Telly for an hour - then it was over - I cleaned house, left to eat with MIL, came home with MIL & husband, then went to their house gave her presents and hung out for a while. We came home - DAY OVER.
Favourite shows over for another season: Lost, Survivor:Exile Isle, Sopranos, Big Love, CSI's (all of them), The Unit.
Favourite shows started up: Deadwood, The 4400 (which I know is very corny but I like it for some reason!)
Baseball games attended: 2 - both firework nights (one with Hubby/one without)
Big Blue (the minivan) in the shop getting fixed - maybe home today, maybe tomorrow - I will call them at lunch time.
Been playing Sims 2 - more than I should - gets me away.
Birds in our yard - Mockingbirds hatched and flew - although one didn't fly far enough and the Hound caught it - didn't eat it - he just killed it. Robins lost one batch of eggs - but laid another and they are doing well - almost ready to jump out of the nest - Hound will go on his chain when he's out there over the next couple of weeks.
Where's George hits: 5 - nothing exotic - TN, AR & MS.
5 visits with MIL - including as I said Mother's Day & she came over for Lost finale - we HAD a better TV than her to view it on - I say HAD because once her Husband came over here on Mother's Day and saw our TV - he went straight out and purchased a 50" Plasma TV!! Oh well - not that I give a shit what they do!

That's it in a nutshell! Been doing things with the boys - making treats, playdoh, puzzles, slip N slide, walks outside etc. And of course we've been doing a little homeschooling during the highest heat of the day - keeps them busy indoors and their minds a little sharp - they hate it - but it does them good!

Upcoming....Father's Day.......I have to be big and not bring up how I shared mine with MIL - I HAVE TO!

My brother's anniversary.......7 years. We were in the UK for the wedding - 5 months later we moved away. I'm glad I was there for it. Can't believe its been that long - I wish they would have a child......they fell pregnant once but lost it because she didn't know she was Rhesus Negative. Of course now they know there's things they can do BUT I don't know what's going on being so far away - maybe they don't want a child at all - maybe just not yet - all I know is my brother would make an excellent Dad - and he's not getting any younger (my oldest brother is about 7 years older than I am) although his wife is about my age so she's still got a while!! Our mother would love another grandchild - especially one in the same country! I just wish it would happen!

Not my business though really!

I'll go for now........be back this afternoon? Or be back tomorrow? Not sure which BUT I WILL be back! It's like falling off a horse - gotta jump straight back on........right!?

I aim to get to the blogs that I love to read today - I will go back and read the few weeks I missed - of course not much point in adding comments - I know it's Better late than never - but that really doesn't work for blog comments! Unless of course there's something I simply HAVE to say!

See you later!

Post for Doug@'The Blog of Me' to see!

2006-05-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

Maybe you've figured I'm not one of those people that posts hundreds of pictures of my kids on the internet - too many weirdos out there - but everytime I see your little tag image Doug it reminds me of my #2 son!!

This is an older pic of my #2 he was about 1.5 years old here (he's going on for 9 now!) - but he still has these huge big brown eyes and perfectly smooth hair except it now always has a wisp sticking up in the back! Of course he doesn't have glasses and hopefully he won't.

I just had to finally get around to showing it to you - your little Anime character image is my #2!

Back later!

Not a good day.

2006-05-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Can we start it over again?

Starting with last night. I told Hubby that we should invite his mother along on Mothers Day to eat with us. I suppose I had hoped in the back of my mind that he would say something along the lines of 'I wanted to let you spend the day with your sons and enjoy a nice meal and then we'll take my Mom her presents etc' . He didn't say this....instead we ended up calling MIL and inviting her out - me and my big mouth! In addition of course her husband will be coming too - I can't stand this man - so there goes my Mothers Day lunch. Whooppiddydoo - I get to spend what is supposed to be my day sharing my sons with the grandparents and my meal with them too. I suppose at least I should be thankful that no-one has suggested that I cook a roast dinner.............

Today, the weather has been really crappy so that hasn't exactly brightened my mood from the night before......then Hubby calls from work - someone just backed into our Minivan - Ugh! Thankfully it's drivable, and thankfully the driver that did it owned up and has full insurance and isn't contesting anything - so hopefully it will go through the insurance ok enough. Big Blue now has a dent on the rear passenger side wheel arch thingey and the paint work is screwed. I am waiting on the Claims guy to call me back now.

What else can go wrong? I dread to think.

I have to go.............it's lightening and storming outside like crazy AND I'm getting so down about everything that if I don't get busy with housework or something I'm bound to raid the treat cupboard and then I'll have something to regret too. I did weigh in yesterday and so far I have lost 2.4 pounds since last Monday - one thing to be happy about - I just wish I could hold onto it instead of how miserable Sunday is going to be.

Back later.

A normal weekend!

2006-05-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday's Snail Mail was just as quiet as the rest of the week! Two bank statements and one piece of junk - a personal loan offer for between $10 - $50,000 - yes please - oh boy what would I do with $50,000?!

Saturday was a slow day for us - but hey I got all my ironing done - that was a good thing. We only left the house to get a new lottery ticket and pick up fresh fruit from the grocery store. I was strong and made sure the family came home for tea - even though we left at about 4pm and would have been out about the right time. Sticking to my diet isn't so hard this weekend because I know next weekend, with Mothers Day on the way - I will not be sticking to it then!!

Sunday was a bit of a bust - we did get to speak to Mum & Dad in the UK which was nice since we had to skip last weekend as they were out. #3 actually participated well and spelled his name out for Nana & Grandad and sang the ABC song. I know they absolutely love it when they get to hear the boys more than me!!

Sunday was screwed up the moment I suggested we get the boys room sorted out. The boys did well and cleaned their room - but what I want to do is to get rid of some of their toys. They currently have too much in their room - and that's not even all of their toys. I have two big boxes in the garage which I trade out ever-so-often. I know that half of their toys they don't play with - but Hubby had a real hang up about throwing things away (I should be saying throwing and giving to Goodwill). He has a bad childhood memory of when his Mom and new Step Dad threw away toys to make room for his new Step-brother. Now I'm not heartless and I do understand this - but I also know that my sons don't play with half of this stuff anymore, there's a bunch of junk in there like BK & McD's toys and usually they only really play with legos, hotwheels and gamecube. It about kills me to go in there half of the time! So Hubby and I argued somewhat and came to an agreement that the two older boys would be included in deciding which ones went out and which ones stayed. BUT in the end Hubby said he had a headache and went to lay down - so nothing was done about the room.

That said though I did get the boys toy dartboard hung up in there and a framed poster of the Enterprise D layout with a cutout section. So it wasn't a complete loss!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing little to nothing! I got a little Sims 2 in while Hubby played Baseball on the XBox, then followed by tea and showers for the boys, then bed for them and HBO's Sopranos/Big Love for the adults!

We were happy again with each other by bedtime - though I do regret not getting more done!

Today has been spent doing the usual chores plus placing an order in at Snapfish - got a cheque and a Direct TV offer in the snail mail today (we go through our local cable company so I'm not interested).

I've got an Enterprise on the DVR to watch - not sure which one - didn't watch it because Spike was showing 'Darmok' at lunchtime! One of my favourites! Always end up wishing Dathon doesn't have to die - it's a real shame - Damn you LaForge and your transporting efforts!

Back Later!

Friday's Snail Mail:

2006-05-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Penny Black the world's first sticky stamp! What a great idea - from England of course!!

Day 5: Seem to be having a slow week so far - maybe the post lady is saving up all my junk in the back of her car!!

Mortgage Statement for June. My first bill due in June! Where has this year gone so far?!?!

Credit Card offer for me, so many people want to give me money! Don't they realise I don't earn any!?!?!? Different company from earlier this week!

That's it! I really need to order something fun - problem is fun to me right now would be a big slab of Dairy Milk Chocolate! That's no good! Ugh..........I'm starting to get bored of the dieting thing.....I would really like to go out for tea and have a big plate of Spaghetti and sauce with a lot of cheesey garlic bread. Mmmmmm. Not going to happen though - must be good!

It's Friday - thank goodness - things I need to do today so that I can relax the whole weekend (some are done - most are not).......

Make beds up
Check for Laundry
Wash/Dry/Iron all laundry
Clean Kitchen
Sweep and mop kitchen and bathroom floors
Clean Bathrooms
Restock Fridge with sodas/drinks
Vacuum/Dust house
Pay bills + enter in MS Money
Clean up after hound
Clean Microwave
Clean Fridge
Sort out the junk drawer
Polish the sink

Doesn't seem to hard - in there I will fit in potty trips with #3, colouring with crayons, playing on VTech, and fetching milk and snacks.

Back later.....

Thursday's Snail Mail Box:

2006-05-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Not a lot in today's box! Good thing I suppose because that means no bills right!

Day 4:

Magazine from my electrical company! Pretty dry reading except for the State Park section - they usually feature a State Park (from our state) I like to read this in case it's close enough for the Average Family to visit - also it gives me five minutes to think about pretty places!

Postcard from a local car sales place - the Dodge Dealership! Can't stand them - we've vowed never to buy from them ever again after they tried to say that damage to our 'new to us' van was done by us and not like it when we brought it a week prior - even though the thing had an oil drip from day 1. Actually the story is a lot more involved than that but for the sake of my sanity I'll let it go!! Oh well, when it came time to replace that van we went out of town and brought one there instead. This postcard says I can get $100 off 'your best deal' on any new or used vehicle!! YAY! Great..............*tears card into a million pieces*!

That's it! Quiet day for the AveragePostBox!

I am just back from the school - actually that's a lie - I just got my fat arse off the couch after a low fat muffin and a cup of tea which I ate while watching Enterprise: Observer Effect. It must have been on Sunday night/early hours of Monday - the DVR caught it. What a good episode that was! BUT before that I came home from school from the Awards Ceremonies!

*Here comes that bragging part*

My #1 son walked away with Honor's Roll trophy, a President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence (signed by George Bush - printed but still cool!), and a certificate of Achievement.

My #2 son came home with Honor's Roll trophy, a Certificate of Achievement, and a medal from his Science Club teachers for outstanding work.

Very proud Mum - #3 behaved as well as #3 does....ie not bad for a 3 year old being made to sit in a stuffy gym listening to teachers and one very boring principal drone on and on thinking they are funny!!

Well - must get on - dryer has stopped again - so I have more laundry to fold. Other house work to get done including tea to make get everyone fed and everyone to get ready for the start of the baseball match tonight at 7:05pm. Fingers crossed the rain hold off so we can get some baseball in.

Back later!

Another busy day today!

2006-05-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

After not getting most of the stuff in the house done that I wanted to, I need to get busy with that - after the blog of course!! This is especially because I have to go up to the school after lunch today. It's Awards Day today at school. Luckily they are doing 3rd and 4th grades together - so I can see #1 & #2's ceremonies at the same time this year. Both my boys will be getting Honor's Roll (which means they got all A's & B's this year) we know this because they brought home letters allowing them 2 free baseball tickets each for a special Honors Roll/Prinicpal's List game at the park tonight. These are the tickets I picked up yesterday (to beat the rush tonight). So that's at 1:30pm - I will try to get up there for 1pm and get better seats than we got last year - in which we could barely hear a thing! My only hope today is that #3 behaves himself - I will stock up on treats and little toys in the hopes to keep him busy if he's not having fun watching his big brothers.

TV last night was crazy - that's one thing I did manage to squeeze in my busy schedule *wink*! Lost! Oh my goodness! Of course if you don't watch it - you aren't going to give two hoots that Michael shot Ana Lucia and Libby and has freed Henry and has shot himself to make it look like Henry did it! From the scenes of next week we know Ana is dead for sure and we don't know about Libby But I'm suspecting the worse! It was a real shock! We also find out the reason Ana Lucia was in Australia in the first place was because of Jack's Dad - who was there to try to see his Daughter......Jack's sister who obviously Jack knows nothing about at all!! I'm left in shock that Michael has obviously been 'gotten to' by 'The Others' and is doing their bidding so he can be with his son Walt - and looking at the scenes from next week Michael isn't done - Mr Eko maybe in trouble. I feel badly for Hugo - he's finally found love and is able to be comfortable with someone and he's probably going to lose her - I just wonder if he will finally remember that he knew Libby in the mental hospital - maybe we'll get some more of her background in flashbacks next week!

Man I love Lost and can't wait for the Season 2 DVD release. They put a whole bunch of stuff on them and watching the episodes a second time you really pick up on a whole lot of other stuff!

A good episode of CSI:NY last night - it touched on Polygamy something the HBO series Big Love seems to have brought into the light.

If some states allow gay marriage - why not polygamy? And for a Country that allows freedom of religion - how come the Mormons aren't allowed to have more than one wife? These things I wonder about........but then I'm not smart enough to argue with people about so don't worry about getting into it with me!!!! :P I'm pretty much of the mind 'each to their own' .

Something for you to see if you get Showtime channels. Penn & Tellers Bullshit. This Monday their show was about Ground Zero and if you haven't seen it yet and have a way to - you really must see it. I love the series BullShit and often come away knowing things I didn't - I had no clue about all the crap going on about the rebuilding of Ground Zero in NY. I mean I know they haven't started yet and I knew the Politicians don't know their arse from their elbow and couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery! I couldn't believe how much the families of the victims are being ignored. Shame on the NY politicians. Even as an English'man' in America - it makes me mad.

Well, things to do..............lots of things to do!! So I'll be back later - when the mail has been delivered!

Not much time - a quickie!!

2006-05-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't our mail boxes be happier places if everyone used the picture stamps. I always try to pick up a book when I'm in there - right now I have seeds and vegetables - never been lucky enough to find Star Trek ones there.

Day 3:

Cable bill - Eeek - all that for one month of telly!!!

An offer to consolidate my debt!! Gee thanks - but NO thanks!!

*The shining star* of my mail box - an intriguing little brown box. I received a free Glade PlugIns Decorated!! Not often you get something for nothing - nah skip that I know these people at Glade sold my name and address off to a bunch of people - they owe me!!! Its pretty and blue and has the sun and moon on it - and has one fragrance refill!! Sweet! Also in the little box was $4 in coupons for various SC Johnson family products!! YAY!! This kind of thing is fun to a Stay At Home Mum!!

Well best be off - still got things to do:

~~Drop rubbish at skip~~
~~Pick up baseball tickets for Thursday~~
~~Pick up new glasses~~
~~Spend Voucher at JCPenny~~
~~Wash 'Big Blue' the Minivan~~
~~Go to lunch - think healthy thoughts~~
~~Shop at Walmart~~
~~Put Groceries away~~
~~Check bookbags x2~~
Wash sons hair
Tidy Kitchen
Take boys for hair cuts
Pick Up Hubby
Come home clean house
Make Tea for all
Iron stack of laundry
Sit and watch Lost!!!!
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Back later

Busy Tuesday!

2006-05-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

I'm usually going to Walmart today but that has been put off until tomorrow.

Instead I mowed the lawns - back and front! I so need to do something about my flower beds but I must get some inside work done first!

While mowing #3 and I had some fun following the bunny I scared out from under the shed with the mower!! We've had a bunny under our shed since before Easter - did I mention that here?
We had baby bunnies - they disappeared - possibly under the shed I don't know! Here's a picture of the babies - while we still had them around!

While we're talking of outside - here's the latest news from the AverageBackGarden! We are about to have more babies!! Baby Robins that is...........maybe they are the Robins from last year - who can tell - but they refurbished the broken down nest left by 'Robins' last year - put another inch of nesting up the sides and laid a new brood of eggs!
A very beautiful shade of blue! Mum bird was keeping a close eye on me as I mowed around the flower bed her tree is in!

My early Clematis has flowered and is full of bud so I expect the display to be very impressive this year. It makes for a nice backdrop for the hummingbirds that visit the feeder in that area of the garden.

Well best get busy with that housework - I'm starting to think about chocolate - and that's not a good thing of course!!! #1 will be home soon so I need to get the folded laundry off the table for him to get his homework done at and #2 needs picking up earlier from Science Club - their end of year party ends at 4:15pm - so we'll be walking up to the school to collect him from that. HEY!!! That's more exercise - does that mean I can have some sweets?!?!? *Bad Girl*!!!! LOL!!

Back later

Tuesday's Snail Mail box:

2006-05-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

I went American yesterday figured I'd throw a little UK in for you today!

Nothing exciting in today's mail.....I don't think I'm going to keep any of it!

Day 2:

Sears 'Home Collection' leaflet - does have coupons which I may keep cause you never know when your washer is going to breakdown!!
PetSmart advert for a PetsHotel with Doggie Day Camp - it's got a magnet on it - YAY I can stick it on my fridge!!! *that was sarcasm*!
Columbia House DVD Club catalog - I really must cancel this!
Credit Card Offer (same company as yesterdays!!) to Hubby.

Monday's Snail Mail box:

2006-05-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would keep a track of my mail this week. Seems like I've been getting an awful amount of junk - figured this was the best way to keep up with it rather than keeping it in a box - I definitely have enough junk in my house without keeping this stuff!

Day 1!

Telephone book
Legion Mag
Medals of America Catalog
Water bill
2 Credit Card offers - 1 for me/1 for Hubby (Same Company!)

Last week didn't slow down for me!

2006-05-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

It was a busy week during which I didn't find time to come and post. Actually I don't really have time this morning - but decided to bring my mug of tea here and take five minutes!

Last week as well as the normal stuff, we had school sports day - referred to as May Day even though we were still in April. This was the first year that #3 and I walked up to the school to watch. Looked like all the kids were having so much fun - of course this was torture to #3 because he wanted to join in with his brothers! I took him to the swings for 10 minutes to make up for it!

Early hours of Thursday Hubby left for a business trip to set up a new location in a nearby state - a 5 hour drive so he wasn't coming home - we didn't see him again until Saturday afternoon. I don't like it when he's away but was determined to have some kind of good Mum/Son time while he was gone. As a general rule - I'm the strict parent! I hate it to be that way but it's true. I'm the one that makes them tidy their rooms, brush their teeth, get ready for school, get their homework done etc etc and when I'm not on their backs about something it's usually because I'm getting housework done or cooking their meals - there's not a lot of fun times spent together. Whereas Hubby comes home from work and because all the work is done and I'm busy in the kitchen he gets to mess around with his sons and be good ol' fun Dad! *I'm trying not to sound too bitter here - I really need to change things up a bit - but its a hard habit to break!*

So anyway - wasn't much we could do on Thursday since it was a school night but on Friday I decided I would take my 3 sons out to the ballpark and watch a baseball game!! Being English I don't have a complete grasp of the game - I still refer to it as a pitch which gets on my hubby's nerves, admittedly though this is one reason I still do it! LOL!! We have a Minor league team 'AA I think' quite close to us - so we went there a little early in order to have our tea. There's nothing like a hotdog in the ballpark!! Although getting all this food and getting situated in General Admission with 3 kids in tow was a bit of a challenge! But #1 is getting old enough to help out with #3 and we all got there together and without incident!

The game was fun - I really do enjoy watching Baseball - more so in real life than on the telly. Although I started to worry when a couple of the balls flew our way - all I could do was scoop up #3 and hope the other 2 would have sense not to try to catch the balls!! #1 & #2 kept me up to speed on some of the rules! Our local team won 3-2 - a really exciting game. After the match all the kids were allowed to run the bases and although it was already 9:45pm I let the boys do it - heck we had nothing to rush home for! They had a blast!! #1 held #3's hand all the way around - the looks on their faces was priceless!

I really enjoyed not having to be the overbearing mother for a change! I will definitely do this again! Hubby will be going to this new location again some more so I know I will get a chance!

On Wednesday afternoon I broke my glasses - Ugh! Talk about timing! I had to make an appointment for Thursday - of course taking #3 in with me because hubby wasn't around BUT he was well behaved and the Doctor didn't mind having him in there. I came out after spending about $370! Eeeekk! We should get about $50 back from the insurance company - which I'll get what I can - spending $300 was a bit of a shock - but hey it was completely necessary - I need my glasses! Right now I'm sitting in my old pair - thankfully I always keep my previous pair for just this kind of time. I went to Lenscrafters BUT because I wanted the coatings etc they had to send them away because the lenses would be thinner than their machines could do. So I'll have to go back sometime before the 11th and pick up my new specs! I just hate costing the family this kind of money since I don't bring money in the house.

This week, starts the end of school...........#2 has his end of year party for Science Club and #1 will have his Good Behaviour Field Trip (always at the end of school year) AND on Thursday we have Awards Day. Fingers crossed the boys maintained their grades enough to get Honors Roll - we know they didn't get Principal's List this year. The last full day of school will be Thursday 11th - although we have to pop in to school on the 15th to pick up report cards.

Also this week is going to be my first week of my newest diet. I've been trying to lose my extra weight after #3 for the past 3 years! Always failing and giving up too easily - one excuse after another! Well, now the Creme Eggs are all gone and summer is nearly here I'm determined to be able to fit in my shorts as opposed to squeezing in them!

Starting weight for this diet 133.4lbs - Ugh! My pre#3 weight was 121.5lbs - so I'm aiming for 120lbs. Just 13.4 lbs - shouldn't be too difficult right!?!?!?!?!? :o}

Back later.

I'm mentally wiped!

2006-04-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Just back from an afternoon with MIL - I feel like I've had enough for the day!

Time to put the kettle on and chill out for what's left of the evening.

Just one thing..............ever heard of anyone putting butter on spag noodles?

I swear - I know I'm in red-neck-ville around here - and I felt like I was in trouble when MIL was making apologies for her Spaghetti before the meal (although this is often just a way to get more compliments).........

She was saying how she hadn't made it in ages and proceeded to list off this wild list of ingredients - and although some were a little scary - none of this really surprised me! What did catch me off guard was how she prepared the noodles..................

They were cooked well - not over done at all. I was happy, this meant at least I could heap a bunch of noodles on my plate and not go hungry!!!! Ahhh but NO this wasn't good enough - she then grabbed for the Country Crock 'butter' took a huge scoop - which was getting on for about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of butter and tossed it in the pot of drained noodles!! UGH! Of course the reason she weighs almost 300 pounds is hormonal!! Watching this I about threw up! Thankfully a salad was served first and I feigned how I filled up on that so I didn't get a lot of the main course!

Of course I run the risk of offending anyone that does this to their noodles - I apologise if you take it personally!

But to me - slopping butter on spag noodles is simply............. not necessary!

Back later - if my poor clogged arteries allow me to! :)

Thursday 20th April.

2006-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

These birds are killdeers..........in our time here at this house we've had them nest in the front garden and in the back garden (that was before we got our hound). This year the Killdeers are/were nesting in our neighbours front garden.

This pic was taken Easter Sunday - I caught them both together while we were letting the kids do their egg hunt. I love these birds - the way they strut across the grass and if you appear to be getting too close to their eggs one of them will act all distressed and pretend it is injured - trying to draw the predator's (YOU) attention away from the nest - quite brave really, willing to risk it's life for the sake of the eggs.

Tuesday night hubby heard them shrieking - something was out there bothering them. We couldn't see anything but if it was a wild animal after them we wouldn't have seen it. In the morning (Wednesday morning) they were gone! Completely gone. No egg shells, no feathers - nothing.

In the past one of the nests we had in the front lost eggs one by one over the course of a couple of nights - but we'd never seen the whole thing just disappear.

Mother nature is cruel sometimes but it's something I can get over.......but then it crossed our minds that maybe it was our neighbours........maybe they couldn't stand one more night of the killdeers shrieking and maybe Mr Neighbour took the eggs away and destroyed them. Now the thought that this could be true even in the slightest makes me go crazy. I hate to think they could be so mean. I keep trying to think maybe it was a raccoon, possum or some other weird creature they have around here - but always in the back of my mind I will wonder if my nice next door neighbours aren't really so nice.

It's a real shame - I was really looking forward to seeing those eggs hatch and watching those little fellas (they're fluffy and long legged when first born) plod about the garden. They don't hang around long after the whole brood hatches but I enjoy the time they are around.

*Sigh* Back later!

Updates.....

2006-04-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

My #1 son had to get glasses - he'd been squinting for a little while so we went to Lenscrafters. He needs glasses all the time. He's happy with his glasses, he got to pick out the frames and he picked well, I think they make him look very smart, they actually suit him. His friends all seem to have had a good response to them - he quite popular in school - I think that helps, plus some of his friends have glasses too.

Hubby and I both wear glasses - Hubby since he was really young and he was teased a lot in school - I only got them in late middle school and didn't have to wear them all the time and I wasn't teased at all. I think that attitudes toward glasses have changed - with the help of things like Harry Potter and also with technology changing so lenses aren't so thick and frames are more fashionable for kids too. I couldn't believe all the brand names available to my #1. Thankfully though the ones he liked were reasonably priced - although if he wanted the more expensive ones we probably would have let him.

My #2 son had a field trip that I was able to go with him on. It was nice to spend the day with him alone - I left #1 & #3 at home with hubby. Since I volunteered to drive I had 3 other boys my sons age in the van - Ugh! What brats! I can't help wonder if these kids are just acting up because their parents aren't around or do their parents allow them to ride in the car without a seat belt and jump all over the place! I probably seemed like a mean-old mum because I made those little buggers sit in their seats and with their belts on the whole time. I would not have rap music on in the van - much to their dismay! Although 1/2 an hour into our 1.5 hour drive home I had to put on some Foo Fighters - four 8-9 year old boys in a mini van only have one volume and that is annoyingly loud! Sheesh! I'm glad I never had quads!! The only hope I am left with is that my son doesn't act like this when he goes on field trips that I can't attend. Ugh - surely not!

My #3 has been enjoying the nice weather and although he is better than last year - it's still a pain in the arse to get sun cream on him! These are the trials of a parent I suppose!

I had my hearing checked last week. I had my right ear operated on last June (Stapedectomy). I am pleased to say my hearing is working really well. Doc says I'm hearing at a normal level in that ear. I am so pleased with the results and so is he. I do have some Otosclorosis in my left ear too but it isn't as bad as it was in my right ear but the Doc said when I am ready he will be happy to do the left ear for me too. The only second thought I would have about that is that I lost part of my sense of taste on the right hand side of my tongue. It was caused by having to move a nerve in my ear to do the surgery. The Doc says this can still come back up to a year post surgery - so I still have a little hope. It doesn't bother me that I can't taste on that side - I still have the other side of my tongue and heck being able to hear as well as I can now is an acceptable trade off in my opinion. BUT all that said I'm not sure I'd volunteer to get the other ear done and possible lose all my sense of taste completely unless my left ear got awfully bad.

Nothing on the calendar this week - hubby was supposed to travel to another state to set up computer systems for a new branch his work is opening BUT that's not happening on schedule - they've put it off for a whole week. Other than a trip to Walmart and the usual housework and gardening - my life should be pretty routine.......should be!!

A tour of my garden.

2006-04-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

My new favourite flower is the Phlox - I picked it out last year - it was cheap and cheerful and I decided to plant up some perennials as opposed to the usual boxes of annuals which of course don't come back (not great value for money but we always buy anyway!) The phlox was nice last year but THIS year they look super - I'd put it underneath my stone bird bath and it looks beautiful there.

Tulips are so very pretty although they never last half as long as I would like them to - especially since they come out during our 'storm season' the amazing flowers get battered by the wind and rain pretty quickly. Still I love Spring bulbs can't help but plant them up.
These white and red tulips surprise me every year with their amazing colours - they just jump right out at you as you look over the flower beds - I really should put some more of these bulbs in ready for next spring.

Bleeding hearts: such an appropriate name looking at the amazing flowers.........how in the heck does nature come up with this! I love bleeding hearts although they never reach the full size they should in my flower bed - which is probably a good thing since I know they can get pretty big. At least I get some flowers to enjoy.
Daffodils always make me smile - they come out ready for my wedding anniversary both here and in the UK. The week hubby and I got married all the daffs in the church yard and the rest of the village opened up - it was an amazing show of colour and it seemed like it was just for us! Of course I have many sorts of daffodils - these ones are miniature ones - I know they have a different name but to me they are simply baby daffs!

Other things - my clematis is about to flower - it has several buds on it - I have a trellis with three different clematis plants on it - one early flowerer, one mid season and one late season flowerer....this way I always seem to have flowers from spring to autumn. The azaleas in my front garden are about to bloom too. I have 3 shrubs and all are full of buds. They always look amazing.

I've been pruning the bushes in the front this morning and once the sun goes down a little I will clean up the beds ready for annuals and fresh mulch. I love to look at it when it's done but it sure is a pain in the butt to get it to that point!

Sunday's storm..

2006-04-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year again - cold fronts coming from the north and warm humid ones coming from the South - Thunderstorm/Tornado season. I have to admit if I didn't have the kids I would be sitting out everytime we had a storm, I love to watch it all. But with kids you need to re-evaluate and make sure their minds are at ease and make sure the bath tub is ready to be a quick shelter when the sirens start up.

After a delicious BBQ for tea on Sunday we noticed the back garden was a weird shade of yellow! We all piled out there - everything looked yellow except for the most amazing blue sky and orange clouds! I tried my best to get good pics but of course you really had to be there!
The wind picked up and we tuned into the local news stations - sure enough the storms were coming - we were already in a Tornado Watch area.

Red sky at night shepherds delight - so they say - what happens if the sky is completely golden? It was an amazing sight to see.

As the night went on the winds got worse and the lightening came. I often try to get a picture or two - it was difficult on Sunday because we'd already put the boys down (being a school night and all) and every so often the Tornado sirens went off and I had to close the doors for fear the kids would be woken up. Usually we get the kids in the tub when the sirens go off BUT it was 10:30-11pm and we had NOAA on the computer and the local weather man was keeping us up-to-date as to where the tornadoes were supposed to be. Our county is pretty big - they were spotted north and south of us - we were in a storm cell sandwich! So the torches were in the bathroom and so was the wind up radio - and Hubby and I knew which kids and blankets to grab if we needed to!Two pics where I managed to catch the streaks of lightening.........sorry they are blurry - I never said I was any kind of photographer! It still tickles me when I get a little more than just a dark sky or a lit sky. The bottom one show just how powerful the storms were since it was taken at about 11pm - the sky looked like it was daytime!

Thankfully, the storms missed us - sadly though there was loss of life in counties north of us. Turned out pretty bad. We had our worst storms here in May 2003 when we were hit with an F4 - at least that's the worst I've experienced in my 6/7 years in the USA. My adrenaline/excitement didn't give way to fear until the huge hailstones started pounding the house - the noise was deafening.

Still none of that on Sunday at least not here at the AverageHousehold. *Touchwood* we'll stay safe this year - no more insurance claims for a while at least! This said though - we're under Thunderstorm watches now and the kids are being sent home early from school this afternoon because tornados are in the forecast for this afternoon/evening.

Hope you stay safe of the weather isn't good with you.

Back later.

The girls!

2006-03-30T09:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not the only female in the house - this is Sniffer and Jezzabell (names picked by #1 and #2 sons). Two female gerbils. Do you know how hard it is to find female Gerbils? Very hard - that's how! We've only owned female Gerbils - they get along better as a pair better than male gerbils. This is the third pair we've had in our family. Marg and Butterhead - Hubby and I had before #1 son was born. Tiny and Fluff were my #1 & #2 sons gerbils before #3 son was born and my parents got Sniffer and Jezzabell for my boys mainly for #1 & #2 but my #3 son enjoys them more than the older two do for the most part. We got them about this time last year - Gerbils usually last 2-3 years.

#3 tells me Sniffer and Jezzabell have red eyes - just like tree frogs! What a clever little fella he is!

Don't have much energy for a major post - been visiting down my blog list this morning reading and replying to everyone's posts......now all I feel like doing is putting the kettle on! Maybe after lunch I will get those flowers pics down loaded (or is it uploaded?) as inspired by t at Scrape The Windows I don't even know if they came out ok - it's difficult to tell sometimes on the little one inch camera screen!

We'll see - be back later!

Maybe it's the weather....

2006-03-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I've been unwell again! Just a cold this time and I'm almost over it although I sit here feeling like my head is being squeezed from the sides - did you see the episode of Voyager "Scientific Method" - the aliens are not visible to the crew (except Seven) and are sticking instruments and needles etc into peoples heads..........well that's me this morning - Ugh! Not conducive to getting my housework/laundry done today! This is the second time I haven't been well this year and it's only March - this is someone who never gets sick! Perhaps I've said "I never get sick" once too often and now someone somewhere is trying to let me know not to be so cocky about it!!

I give in - I won't say it again - I promise!!

I suppose I should just be thankful that no one else in the AverageHousehold seems to have caught it off me. *Touch wood*

Kids were off for Spring break this past week - the weather was crappy so they spent most of it indoors! Everyone (except my #3 son) is happy to go back to school!!

Watched a few movies lately..........

Crash. Which won the Oscar for best movie and frankly I hadn't really heard of it until it did so. I wasn't sure I'd like the movie - thought it was some artsy fartsy stuff that the Oscar folks pulled out of their arses BUT shocked to say - this was a REALLY GOOD movie - one I would recommend to all. The message was a little shocking but of course you have to admit that it was quite true to life. In my opinion it was a very well written story. I realise some people didn't like the movie but I did! It was a well spent couple of hours.

Jarhead. I expected more shooting scenes - but surprisingly our Marines didn't actually shoot anyone! It was a very interesting look at the situation these troops were in during the first conflicts with Iraq. The movie had crude scenes and of course the language to go with it but it's a good movie to watch if you can get the kiddos our of the room for a couple of hours.

History of Violence. A good movie - although something wasn't right with it - seems to me like they had a bunch of good scenes and stuck them together the best way possible - the movie seemed to move quickly in places and really drag in others. I enjoyed it none-the-less and liked to see Viggo and Ed Harris - well acted by both.

Sunday was my 12th wedding anniversary and so on Saturday we allowed Mother In Law to take care of my sons and Hubby and I went to see V for Vendetta. Now I have to say I wasn't really looking forward to seeing it - it didn't take my fancy when I saw the interviews on various TV talkshows and the adverts didn't strike me as something I needed to see in the cinema - I could have waited for the DVD to come out. BUT since Hubby and I don't get to go on a 'date' very often we HAD to see something - and this was really the best choice on. What a good movie - I never read the comic that this was apparently based on - there are some differences apparently. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the characters in it - Natalie Portman did a good job - although her English accent left a lot to be desired - although who am I to say anything - my English accent is down the toilet now and I'm British! I have to also say I REALLY enjoyed seeing the Houses of Parliament getting blown up at the end to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture - an evil sparkle lit up my eyes!! In the beginning I sat wondering if most of my fellow movie goers even knew who Guy Fawkes was - but realized that everyone in that cinema could appreciate the political message in the movie - especially in this day and age. I drew my own conclusions and opinions from it and am certainly not going to get into it - this is a simple blog not one filled with political views! ANYWAY - I would recommend checking this movie out too!

Today is my parents 41st Anniversary - I of course wish I could be over there with them........not going to happen though. *Note to self: must check lottery draw numbers from Saturday*

Hubby and I chose to be married on March 26th because Mum & Dad were married on March 27th - seemed like a lucky time of the year to get married! Afterall, they're doing pretty good! Of course when I told Mum our chosen date - she asked why, then she told me that her and Dad chose the 27th because her mother and father (Grandad and Grandma Oakley) were married on the 26th of March! I had NO knowledge of this. Grandma O died before I was old enough to know her and my Grandad passed when I was in middle school. It was a nice feeling to know that this happened by coincidence...............

12 years of marriage - a good experience (some highlights):
1993 we met and got engaged.
1994 we got married
1995 #1 son born
1996 Hubby TDY to Saudi Arabia
1997 #2 son born
1998 Hubby TDY to South France
1999 We moved to USA
2000 Bought our house
2001 #1 Started school
2002 #2 Started school & #3 son was born
2003 Found hound at Humane Society
2004 Went back to the UK for holiday
2005 Went on a cruise!
2006 Off to a good start!....................

Lots to do today! Be back later.

All is good here....

2006-03-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

My hound! Looking pretty handsome today! He always freaks out when I get the camera out - so pretty surprised I got this........maybe we'll go for a walk today!

Report cards came home and they were great. #1 Son had all A's - he'd even brought up his B in math to an A. #2 son had A's and just one B - he says he will have that up to an A for the last report cards in May! I believe he probably will too! We took the boys out last night to Pizza Hut for tea and Baskin Robbins for dessert, get some ice cream as a 'congrats on your good grades' treat - which they loved! #2 son bumped into a girl in his class there......he played it coy - he's such a ladies man! Most of the girls in his grade go all googlie over him when we're at school functions - he denies it but we see it - they all flirt with him! It's his eyes! BIG deep brown eyes - very cute! We will have trouble with him when he gets to high school and college! Same with his older brother - although his eyes are crystal clear blue! Don't ask me where they came from - both Hubby and I have green eyes!! Just so you know, to complete the picture, #3 has slightly brown/green eyes, more like his Dad's than mine!

Weather around here has cooled down and we get occasional showers - but it's nice enough for the boys to play out and my flowers beds are blooming - Hyacinths, daffodils and tulips all coming out!

Lots to do around the house - taking a quick break right now to check blogs after cleaning out the fridge - ugh hate that job - checking dates on things and cleaning the sticky bits off shelves - least I can say it's done now, until next time!

Well, #3 is freaking out - he wants some milk and Mum's not jumping to attention! I'd better go!

Be back later!

Report card day today....

2006-03-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

so the fun will begin when the boys come home today (parent teacher night so there's no science club, both boys will be home together). Their weekly grades have slipped a little so I'm not expecting all A's - but of course I'd prefer to see nothing lower than a B. Fingers crossed neither son slipped to a C on anything.

Saturday was an easy day - basically waited in all day for Mother In Law to grace us with her presence - I had made Southern Style white beans on Friday and she was going to pick up the leftovers for her and her hubby - she didn't turn up until about 6pm (we expected her about mid-day) man I was a little annoyed.

Sunday we ventured south to a State Park we didn't even know about, the highway people put new signs up on our interstate with the name of this park on it - figured we'd go scout it out - check it for trails and camping. Looked nice for camping - maybe we'll give it a go in place of our usual camp ground. It was a fun day for the kids - breakfast at a restaurant before we headed off and plenty of walking and playing on the playgrounds there.

Sunday night after tea, baths/showers and kids in bed - Sopranos restarted. A pretty good episode and who would have guessed the ending (won't give it away just in case). I enjoy Sopranos although it isn't my most favourite HBO series. We also tuned in for Big Love. Which looks to be a promising new series, I look forward to more episodes to learn about the characters. While the show makers make it plain that Mormon Church banned polygamy - they also state that the Attorney General says that 20-40,000 people practice it. VERY interesting to see how these people may live their lives. Personally I don't think I could share hubby with two other women...............and frankly it doesn't look as heavenly as you would think for the bloke either!! I think I will enjoy this one as it continues!

Monday night we watched - The 40 Year Old Virgin which was an amusing movie - a little crude in places but the kids were in bed so things were fine in this AverageHousehold! Good to see Steve Carell in a movie he was great - thought he was so funny on the Daily Show. I'm yet to watch CSI: Miami this week - still on the DVR (I hope!).

Bummed out that LOST is going to be a repeat again this week........it's a fantastic show that I won't give up on but I would bet that it loses many viewers because they are stretching out the episodes so much with repeats - "Come on ABC get on with Season 2!

Well, got groceries to put away and some stuff to get packaged up for Mum and Dad in the UK (UK Mother's Day on the 26th) and the boys are about to walk in the door - so I'm off!

Be back later!

Info about me!

2006-03-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

I love things like this that go around the blog world......

[a is for age:] 33

[b is for booze of choice:] Bahama Mama (enjoyed many on our cruise to Nassau!)

[C is for career:] Stay at home Mum

[d is for your dog's name:] George (Rat Terrier mix - I've shared my hound in previous posts)

[e is for essential items you use everyday:] Kettle, TV, Microwave (now there's a telling list!)

[f is for favorite song(s) at the moment:] DOA - Foo Fighters (although the whole In Your Honor Album is fantastic)

[g is for favorite games:] Monopoly (Board) & The Sims 2 (PC).

[i is for instruments you play:] Nothing really - I would love to learn the piano properly. (I can't read music though and I don't think I could ever learn.)

[j is for jam or jelly you like:] Strawberry jam.

[k is for kids:] 3 - all boys (Ages: 10, 8, & 3)

[l is for last kiss:] 7:40am sending hubby to work.

[m is for most admired trait:] Honesty, also I prefer people to be real (I can't stand people who put on an act instead of being themselves - like they have to pretend to be something they're not) I know there's probably a single word for that but I'm no Dr.Phil - I hope you know what I mean!

[n is for name of your crush:] I'm guessing this means in the celebrity world......Movies: Gosh - Brad Pitt.....Edward Norton......Patrick Stewart! TV: Jon Stewart (Daily Show), Anthony Edwards (ex-ER), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood). There's probably more that are easy on the eyes - but those come to mind right now!

[o is for overnight hospital stays:] Only 3 times in my life - and only 1 night each time....birth of my 3 sons. They don't give you the choice - you have to stay in for 24 hours - although with #2 I managed to get out about 6 hours early. Even my ear surgery was outpatient.

[p is for phobias:] Dentophobia, Arachnophobia.

[q is for quotes you like:] "Let's make sure history never forgets the name...Enterprise"

[r is for biggest regret:] Not traveling more when we lived in the UK - I mean Europe was right there! I would have loved to seen Pisa, Germany, Spain, taken Hubby to see the cemeteries in Northern France. We were newly married though not a lot of cash!

[s is for sweets of your choice:] Candy: Cadburys Creme Eggs (plentiful supply at Walmart now) Dessert: Rice Pudding or Treacle pudding and custard.

[t is for time you wake up:] 6:30-7am weekdays - 7:30-8am on the weekends

[u is for underwear:] Gosh! I didn't read this far ahead! Hi-Cut panties if you must know! I'm more of a comfy practical kind of gal!

[v is for vegetables you love:] Veggies and love don't go in the same sentence for me. If I have to choose one........grean beans. That's assuming the potato isn't in the choices....which people don't usually count potato as a veggie when they're choosing veggies.

[w is for worst habit:] Nail biting.

[x is for x-rays you've had:] Bitewings at the dentist of course, Chest Xray during my aplication to come to the USA, had a CT scan before my ear surgery (I know that's not an XRay!).

[y is for yummy food you make:] Spaghetti, Chicken soup, Roast chicken, Chicken Roll-Ups (for tea tonight actually)

[z is for zodiac sign:] Sagittarius - I'm not big into the stars - but will read them in the paper every once in a while just to see!

It's been a long time!

2006-03-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

What's been going on:

Oven messed up - fixed now.

#1 son ill for 4 days.

#3 son, Hubby and ME (which is totally not normal because I never get sick) for 3-4 days.

#2 son sick for less than 24 hours!

#2 son science club field trip to Petco!

New crown put on - that's over until the next check up now.

Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) - didn't have pancakes until Friday though - I've never been able to do it on time!!

Turned the calendar!! March already - goodness gracious!

Mother-In-Law's birthday - went well - no hard feelings about anything strangely enough!

Hubby had dental check up - again no work needed - lucky!

Took kids to Chuck E Cheese - fun! Loud but fun!!

Helped MIL put up her chandelier - I kind of enjoy doing stuff like that - it's the satisfaction of stepping back and seeing it created.

Yesterday had technical difficulties - hopefully I won't today. Fingers crossed.....

Be back later.

Nuts!

2006-02-16T13:00:00.000-08:00

Since Hubby was out of town today and I wanted to get some of my 'Georges' out and about I decided to take my littlest one out to McDonald's for a spot of lunch - of course McDonald's wasn't my choice but #3 enjoyed being allowed to pick where we went.

On the way to McDonald's via the bank we of course got stopped by the traffic lights. On the main bypass there are 8 sets of traffic lights - if it's a bad day the same trip can take you about 15-20 minutes longer than a good day (it's insane) we'll soon be getting cameras at the traffic lights to catch the red light jumpers - but that's another story entirely!

Anyway there I am sitting behind a Jeep - an eye catching license plate - seems to think he's a River Rat (had a letter missing of course but that's what it was meant to say!)! Anyway, the light went green - no movement from the Rodent in front..........even my #3 son was saying 'Green means Go!' Something he's learned from me in my moments of road rage - thank heavens he doesn't copy all the words his Mummy says!! *Looks around innocently whistling*

I'm almost at the point of tooting the horn - sure I'll curse but I don't like to honk - you never know who's armed these days!! Mr River Rat decides to pull forward slowly - I'm sure the people behind me were blaming the silly cow in the mini van!! Mini Van drivers get a lot of flack - we're not all slow drivers ya know! Wouldn't you know it the light now in front of us was turning red - so he's drifting slowly toward it - thankfully my turning lane started to merge out so I pulled along side my Ratty friend - there he was typing away on his mobile phone/emailing device! Ugh!! I have a certain amount of patience for this since Hubby uses his all the time - and it's amazingly handy for an IT guy BUT Hubby never types while the vehicle is in motion! Sure while he's sitting at a red light - but never moving. I fear my River Rat buddy will be in an accident one day - hope he doesn't lose his tail.

When mobile phones looked like bricks and cost a fortune - all you had to worry about was someone gnawing on a cheese burger as they drove - at worst spilling coffee in their laps! YES, it was a good thing when mobile phones became small and affordable for everyone very handy for emergencies - but then again everyone is using them........seems like 1 in 4 cars you see driving by there's someone chatting away - that's more than were eating burgers and drinking coffee! Who are these people anyway? Why are they so important that they need to talk NOW? A few years ago that call would have waited until they got home - why can't it wait now while you're in charge of a motor vehicle going 50 miles per hour down a busy highway? You're not trying to tell me these people have their minds on the road - least not as much as they should?

*Raises hand* I do have a mobile - emergency use only though - occasionally hubby will call me - but I rarely call out and when I do I'm certainly NOT driving.

I absolutely dread to think that maybe one day the Blackberry or other product like it will be affordable to every Tom, Dick, or Harry on the road - then every 1 in 4 cars will be driven by people like my River Rat chap today............housewives will be getting their emails and checking weatherbug or lordknowswhat.com or good grief chatting on their web forums or blogs inbetween red lights! Can you imagine............*Sigh*

Grumble over........for now!

One last thing......getting back to McDonald's.......OK so I treated myself to a Caramel Sundae (I know I shouldn't have!). It came with nuts.........you'd think that if there's one thing that didn't need an allergy warning on it, it would be a pack of peanut bits right? WRONG. Warning: May contain Tree Nuts! What the heck...........seems like everything today 'May contain Peanuts'!! Well McDonald's Peanuts may contain Tree Nuts! Who'd've guessed!

Back later

In Rememberance...

2006-02-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

Andreas Katsulas (18.5.46 - 13.2.06)

My sincere condolences to the family and friends of Andreas Katsulas..
He will be deeply missed by many fans of Star Trek.

The article on the Startrek.com website lists the great Next Generation episodes Mr. Katsulas appeared in as the Romulan Commander Tomalak - an amazing character!

One of many memorable lines and moments in Next Generation.........from 'The Defector':

Tomalak: "You see, Picard, after we dissect your Enterprise for every precious bit of information, I intend to display its broken hull in the center of the Romulan capitol as a symbol of our victory. It will inspire our armies for generations to come. And serve as a warning to any other traitor who would create ripples of disloyalty."

Of course it wasn't long after this line when Picard gives the order for 3 Klingon warships to decloak and tip the advantage back in Picards favour! Tell me that didn't give you goosebumps or make you shout our 'YES"!

Of course Mr Katsulas had a long and full career in TV and the Movies (The Fugitive with Harrison Ford being one of my fav's) but to me he will always be Commander Tomalak (maybe at a stretch Ambassador Tomalak!).

The snow fell!

2006-02-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Friday afternoon about 2:30pm the snow fell - a good amount too! Much to the dismay of my children it was clear enough to go to school on Monday!! We had a fun morning on Saturday - got the kids all buttoned up in their layers of clothing and winter jackets, hats and gloves, we all went out to plod around in the snow and throw snow balls at each other. Not the right snow for a snowman which was a bit of a shame but fun was had none-the-less. My #3 son didn't seem to enjoy getting right out into the snow - he much preferred to stand on the driveway sucking on an icicle which he found on our shrub! Seemed a little gross but as my Nan always said "We'll all eat a peck of dirt before we die"! At least he was getting the ice from the plants and not from the back of Hubby's car (caught him just in time) which were filled with road grim! Ugh! My #2 son seemed to always be eating snow too - what's up with that?!?!? We warned him of course about yellow snow! Everytime I looked his way he was chomping down on a handful!

My hound enjoyed the snow - went crazy trying to get his tennis balls out of the snow in the back garden!

Today the crazy weather is supposed to reach mid 50's so what's left of the snow should disappear - looking in the back garden as I sit here, we still have some snow tucked in the shadows of the back fence. During the winter the sun doesn't get high enough for long enough to touch the whole yard. Even that though will be gone tomorrow as our temperature is due to shoot up to mid 60's? I know I said mid 60's! Snow on Saturday and Sunday and mid 60's on Wednesday!!! Go figure!

Happy Valentines Day BTW! Almost screwed up this morning....about 5 minutes before I was about to shove the boys towards the bus stop - I realised they hadn't written their cards for class!! Eeek! Luckily the school gives us a list of the student....we had a well oiled assembly line going. #1 & #2 signed their names on the cards and I would write the other students name in the 'To:' box - tear them and fold them then #1 & #2 stuck a sticker on to seal them! Phew! They left for the bus-stop about 10 minutes later than they usually do - I stood and watched to make sure they hadn't missed the bus - about 2 minutes later the bus pulled up! Never cut it that close before. I hope we didn't miss anyone - but hey the kids get so many of these little cards - I don't think it will be missed.

Hubby and I are trying to make a big effort in 2006 to get rid of our credit cards - therefore we will be doing cards only - so no flowers and no meal out (I'm more ok about no flowers than I am no meal!!!) I usually enjoy a nice steak or pasta at my fav. Spag house! BUT it's for the greater good - get free of the credit cards and we will have so much more spendable cash for the family - it will be nice to be free. We'll just make do with cards and hopefully a nice candle-lit bubble bath together when the kids are down for the night!

Sending warm and fuzzy thoughts - hope you get to be with someone you love today!

Back later!

Waiting......

2006-02-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

waiting for the snow to come and waiting for my hubby to come home.

Of all the days his boss arranges to fly to a meeting in the East of Tennessee and Georgia and take the IT guy it has to be the day that we are threatened with heavy snow fall - the first real snow we've had in the 05-06 winter period! Sod's Law - Murphy's Law - whatever you want to call it!

So here I wait - knowing my hubby got on a small prop plane flying towards bad weather and knowing when he comes home the little local airport could be getting snow/rain/freezing rain or any other ugly weather you can dream of. *Sigh*

At least with Hubby being an IT guy and having the latest technology - he was able to let me know using his Blackberry that he's landed safely! Got to love Blackberry - such a great piece of technology/software. Hubby tells me about all the legal crap that's going on right now with the Blackberry people, which I won't pretend to understand for fear of making myself look even more stupid than I am - I hope they get it all sorted and Blackberry still offers it's services to the general public and not just those 'special' people in government who are trying to say that even if it's taken off the market for the public they need to have it for themselves - what kind of crap is that!

The usual stuff going on for this 'average housewife' - chores, chores, chores......this weekend we have an open house at my #1's Intermediate School - he's excited to go check it out! Probably the only day he'll be excited to step foot in there - I'm sure most of the time we'll have to force him to go!

Just got a phone call.....the pilot is eating lunch then they will be heading home..........this is great news - they should fly in before 3pm (which is when the weather is forecasted to start to get bad) YAY!! I am very relieved!

Anyway, I will be back later.....life is starting to get back to normal....whatever that is!

Been a while.......

2006-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

My apologies to my New Years Resolutions which I have now completely busted! *Pfft* I really should have know I couldn't keep up with a regular blogspot! Ah well!

THANKS to my two visitors!! It was nice to see replies when I got back in today and a new name in my comments box!!

Life here has been really messed up. We had a sleep over last Friday which went good! There's quite a difference between 8 years olds and 10 year olds - something you don't notice when it's my two sons playing together all the time but when you have another persons 10 year old and another persons 8 year old over it really is a big gap - maturity wise and how they play alone or together! Anyway, glad it's over.....I've had about enough Pizza and Dunkin Donuts for one month!!

Sunday we had scheduled a trip to the zoo - even called my parents early so we could get there before midday. Unfortunately Sunday morning Nana B passed away. Once the phone was put down from my Mum and Dad, MIL called to say he had passed. Just a quick explanation - Nana B has been suffering from Alzheimers for many number of years and since her husband died about 6 years ago has gone from nursing home to nursing home as her level of care needs changed and when she had a bad spell at the last home occurred (and led to a lawsuit by MIL against them) MIL took her mother in and arranged home help for Nana B. As her money ran out MIL has had to take over more and more of Nana B's care - ending up with MIL caring for her nights and weekends for the last 9 months. Nana B hasn't really been able to recognise us for the past year she had slipped so badly within herself. SO, all that said, although it is sad for us as her family to lose her - it really is a blessed relief for Nana B to finally go. Something we've thought would happen for years now but she's hung on all this time. Sunday Hubby went over to be with his Mom until the funeral people came to take Nana B away. Then when he came we talked and decided to take the boys to the zoo anyway. We had promised them and there was nothing more we could do at MIL's house since MIL had her siblings visiting etc.

Monday #3 son and I had a drive to the big city to pick up Sister In Law and her son - who flew from down south for the funeral. That was an adventure for #3 and nice for us to spend time doing something different - he stayed awake most of the way there - checking out cows and trees and trucks along the way - we stopped at a McD's which he thought was so cool......who knew a McD's somewhere else would be such a treat!!

Tuesday was Nana B's 'viewing'. Something I am still not used to................I prefer to remember how people are when they are alive and not made to look like a wax work museum piece. Still it seems to be the thing to do in this country. Of course the boys were there but I kept them in the lounge where they played with their toys and cousin. Most of the relatives turned up and it just turned my stomach to see how some of them acted - these are people who had barely anything to do with their own mother once she needed caring for and just left it up to MIL. Ugh! It is definitely good to know that pretty much all Nana B's money has been spent these past 6 years on the homes and carers etc. And while it has been a burden on MIL - she's had to spend some of her own money on Nana's care.............It is absolutely fantastic to know that these money grabbing vultures won't see a penny of it - MIL said Nana had about $120 in her checking account when she passed and that was going to be spent on the obituary notice in the paper and flowers for Nana and Gandpas grave! Of course there is still the furniture to fight over BUT at least it's not tens of thousands dollars like there would have been if Nana passed sooner as expected.

Wednesday was the funeral.......everyone behaved - aside from a few snide comments from Nana B's youngest daughter - she's a crazy bitch. A few snide looks from Nana B's oldest daughter who is wickedly crazy and has a mean streak so wide - eek - I hate that woman! I have to admit feeling sorry for myself at points during the funeral........I wasn't able to make it to my Nana's funeral......I miss her and I hate the fact she never met my #3 son.

Thursday I went back for my dental appointment - given the choices of a filling which could last 1-2 years OR go for the crown now and be done with it. It was tough - but I went for the crown - I realise this means two appointments instead of one BUT I prefer the thought of getting it over and done with instead of getting work done now and then a crown in Jan 2007! I felt awful after my appointment - my throat got sore - irritated by the chemicals I think. By bed time I was in such pain.

Friday - oh hey that's today! Throat feels better but now my sinuses and the bit where my nose joins my throat hurts. Ugh! At least I have little to no discomfort from my tooth - the last crown I got ached like a bugger for days when I got the temporary and the real one put on.

Tonight we have to visit MIL - it's her husbands birthday. That should be..............fun. I don't really like the man. BUT he is good to MIL and did have Nana B in his home for all that time so he has some good points!

I had better go......lots to do to catch up from the past week.....I really don't feel like it but it needs to be done.

The one bright point of the week.........tis the season!! Not so good for the diet but wonderful for the soul!

It's Tuesday....Gosh!

2006-01-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

Friday night's sleep over was a success and we're ready for my #2 son to bring his friend over this coming Friday! The boys were still at it at midnight and the were already up at 7am messing around - my boys were walking around like zombies all day Saturday after their friend went home and they wound down a little! That's ok - made for a peaceful day for me!!

We had Mother In Law over Saturday night - she finally saw our new TV and walls - Ugh! I can't bear the way she stands there and says to me - 'Oh don't you just love it A.H.?' Like I didn't have anything to do with it - like Hubby chose the paint - like Hubby did all the prepping and painting - like I went out one day and Hubby surprised me with the whole bloody lot - Yeah of course I like it - that's why I did it! Ugh! That woman drives me nuts!

An uneventful start to the week - bad news being my #2's weekly report came home - he's been slacking on work and homework - hope this is not the start of a new trend - he's always been very studious. Good news - Mum and Dad have already booked tickets to come over this year - they will be here for Christmas again - December 14th until I think January 6th! That should be fun and if this year goes as quickly as 2005 did they will be here in no time. Once off the phone, Hubby and I spoke briefly about us going over there next year and I've been giving it even more thought without talking to him. The one time we went Mum & Dad paid for us to go and we only went for one week since that's all Hubby could spare from work. I'm giving serious thought to us all going and maybe Hubby coming home by himself after one week and the boys and I will stay one more week after that. It will be difficult being apart and it will be an adventure traveling with 3 boys BUT my #3 will be almost 5 and easier to deal with and of course #1 will be (or almost be) 12 so he can help out. I really do think I might do it!! We'll see - I'll probably just wimp out later but maybe not!

Back later!

Offline while..

2006-01-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

we painted behind the computer desk etc.

We're finished, thank goodness! New rug in the dining area and painted walls look great. Oldest son is bringing a friend over tonight for a sleep over - so lots to do to get the house fit for guests - even if they are 10 years old!!

Pinching a blog idea from 't' at Scrape the Windows : Friday Fours!

Four jobs you've had in your life:

Mushroom Picker
Insurance Clerk
Petrol Station attendant
Grocery Store Cashier

Four movies you could watch over and over again:

Any of the Star Trek Movies BUT most of all - The Undiscovered Country "Fly her apart then!"
The Empire Strikes Back
Sleepless In Seattle (got to have one chick flick!)
Fight Club

Four TV shows you love to watch:

ST: Next Generation (still tune in every now and then even though I have the DVD's)
Lost
Deadwood (can't wait for the new season)
ER and Curb Your Enthusiasm (close tie)

Four places you've been on vacation:

Fall Creek Falls (TN)
Nassau, Bahamas
Istres, South France
Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest

Four websites you visit daily:

eBay
WheresGeorge
Ramblings Of A SAHM
Scrape the Windows

Four of your favorite foods:

Spaghetti (meat Sauce)
Roast Lamb (with mint sauce)
Treacle pudding with custard
Ambrosia Creamed Rice Pudding

That's 3 days without a post!

2006-01-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

This is the new colour - although very difficult to get it just as you see - I had to use the flash which seems to give a slightly different look to it - but still you get the idea!

No excuses really.... Saturday was prepping and painting all day, with a two hour break to get #2 son to a birthday party (which was fun) and back again to get more painting done. Sunday we woke up and headed to Lowes for plug thingies - things to plug the rear speaker wires into rather than just have them come out of the back of the cable plug-in. That looks much more professional now. I was hoping to pick out new shades for my ceiling fan lights - but all I ended up with was new bulbs for it! This failed mission took us on to Home Depot too which happens to be past our fav Mexican Eatery and we just so happened to be going past when it opened - YES OK - so we went in for lunch - I admit it. I had my favourite Lunch Special #6 (not #5 as previously mentioned) - Beef Fajita Nachos with Onions (no peppers) and cheese sauce - Oooooo YUM! Not so good for the diet - BUT it was the first naughty food in two weeks! Hubby went over board and ended up regretting it! We continued painting the rest of the afternoon but it was obvious the paint fumes were making Hubby feel unwell - we stopped about tea time. Hubby ended up spending the night with diarrhea and on into Monday which is why I didn't post - he didn't go to work which means no computer time for me (that and the boys had no school)!

So here we are and my Tuesday feels like a Monday - I'm even getting my laundry done today so that's going to confuse the heck out of me by Thursday. Thursday is a dreaded day for me this week - Dentist check up day - got a feeling I will need to get a little work done this time - one tooth back there doesn't feel completely right - Ugh - I hate dentists! Friday this week - we will have our first ever sleep over. Not sure how we got this far without having one I count my blessings - My #1 son is bringing his friend home after school Friday and he'll spend the night and go home Saturday at some point! Sounds like a good night for ordering pizza! Must be strong and stay on my diet though! What for breakfast - I don't know!!

Oh well - I'm putting off getting back to my chores! I'd better go!

Back later!

Friday the 13th.....

2006-01-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

and I'm still here! Nothing happened yet *touch wood*!!! One more trip out of the house this evening which will be around knocking off time for everyone in the town AND it's raining/windy - not a good mix since no one around here seems to know how to drive in rain! So wish me luck on that one!!

Ate lunch at Subway again today - had a sandwich as recommended by the one and only *Jared* although it's still a lot bigger than any sandwich I would make for myself here at home so I'll probably just have something small for tea tonight. Still it was nice to get out for lunch with hubby.

While at Subway I spent some of my WheresGeorge bills there - been 'Georging' since October and I love it - I've had 11 hits so far but it's been a good number of days since my last hit so I'm getting impatient for the next one! Maybe these bills will be lucky for me!

Something to investigate today - you can find everything on the internet right: I need to look up Pez! Actually I need to look up how to load a Pez! I was never into these things as a child - so maybe I was thinking there's a secret to loading the blasted things - my #3 got one when we were out today and I got him a bunch of the packets to keep refilling it - but it's a real pain in the arse to take the little things out of the packet and into the machine. Sometimes they go in straight sometimes not - often I have to start all over.......surely there's an easy way? That will be my mission tonight....how to load a Pez thingey!

On the schedule this weekend.....more painting! The older two have a B-Day party to attend. Been hoping the weather would improve so we could get to the zoo - but that isn't going to happen.

Back later.

Not a lot going on!

2006-01-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

Got the usual housework to do - BORING!

Yesterday was my #3's first trip out in big boy pants! AND he came home dry! I was prepared with extra clothes etc ready for an accident but there wasn't one. We went to get Hubby for lunch, then to the bank, then onto Sams Club (forced him to pee there) and fill the van up with petrol - we came home and #3 was pleased as punch when I gave him a hug and a sticker for staying dry!! What a big boy! Bitter sweet though knowing my last baby is almost potty trained. Oh well, there are lots more things to enjoy - it's not only the baby stage that is fun!

Today we have to leave the house to pick up craft supplies - more school projects to complete. The boys are working on 'inventions' in their gifted class and #1 has invented Skateboarding Skates and #2 a self repairing teddybear! *We* have to create these for a 'convention' they are having at the end of the month! Ugh!

Hubby is out of town today - so we won't be having lunch together.......I must remain strong and not eat out somewhere naughty in his absence!! The diet is going OK up 'til this point - I must not visit Arby's and ruin it all!!!!

OH ONE LAST THING: No one told me the price of stamps went up!!! Yesterday #2 son got an invite in the mail and it had an extra 2 cent stamp on it - since when did postage go up two cents - previously it's only been 1 cent at a time. That aside - what happens to the two bills I mailed off on Tuesday? They only had 37cents on them - hope they get there - I'd hate to face late fees. THAT SUCKS! Time to go buy 11 2cent stamps for my remaining book of stamps.

Back later!

Oopps - missed a day!

2006-01-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

So much for new years resolutions!!

But I suppose one day isn't too bad - it's not like a week or two which I was missing last year!

Newest additions to the 'Averagehouse' - my Season 1 of Lost came in the mail yesterday - WOW that's a good set to have and boy do they look great on the new telly. Can't wait for new episodes on HDTV tonight (they've been off since Christmas - starting back up tonight with 2 hours worth). Did I also tell you on Monday my newest Star Trek addition came........Voyager Season 1. I already own Season 3 & 4 (got good deals on ebay). Just didn't seem right watching them though without the first season. Now my boys can see how Voyager ended up in the Delta Quad. and it will make sense to them. It's nice that the Voyager shows are brand new to them - they were tiny when we originally watched them, we've never caught them being rerun on USA tv - it's fun to watch their reactions to the 'new' episodes!!! Got that box set in a good deal from one of the Amazon stores - very pleased with that.

The final and more practical addition to the 'Averagehouse' is something called an ODL Enclosed blind!! Which although I'm not being paid to advertise, I will highly recommend this to anyone who wants to put blinds on a door!! We got the 22"x64" version for our back door which we're always going through to let the hound out. It was really simple to install and looks far far better than the blinds we had up there AND there's no swinging - no excessive noise when you open and shut the door - it's just amazing and I wish we'd found this product before we'd installed the blinds we just took down - 'cause boy were they always a pain in the butt and ended up looking a mess. Hubby is considering getting one for my kitchen door window BUT I kinda like my half curtain at that door so I will say no more to him about it!!

On the list today - heading to the bank, SamsClub, maybe back to Walmart since yesterday they had some great deals on toys like whole Bionicle sets for just $3 - so I will check to see if anything else got marked down. Lots to do here at the house too so I'd better get to it!

Back later!

School is back in full swing!

2006-01-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

My poor boys.......so much homework and they're still in Elementary school! What is up with that - don't the teachers teach them stuff in class. The poor buggers sit here for a good hour - hour and a half slaving over homework and then of course I have to check it before it goes back in their bags - which is a real pain - we've had differences with the teachers over so much this year - things we've known are correct but the teacher marks it wrong simply because it's not the answer in the teachers guide.

Other school related news - my oldest son moves from his Elementary school up to an intermediate school for 5th Grade this coming school year - I've been filling in all the paperwork for that............it's quite a bus ride to get there BUT luckily it's half way between Home and Hubby's work - so if he needs to come home Hubby can bring him (being a one car family has it's trials at times!) On the bad side - I was told the bus picks up in our street at 6:15AM!!!!! My goodness!!! That's just crazy!! This means my #1 will have to get up at about 5:30am just to get ready for school - the poor little mite will be knackered by the end of the day! Sheesh!! Oh well. That's going to be fun for 2006-2007!!! #1 doesn't worry me so bad - BUT for the 2007-2008 #2 son will be going to the same school and of course probably getting up this early too and he's a REAL BEAR when it comes to getting up in the morning and being tired in the evening!! That's going to be awful trouble!

Oh well, more work to correct! Back tomorrow!

No going back now!!

2006-01-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

We've started painting!!! YAY!!!

Yesterday we painted our entrance hall and since this is joined with out living room and our living room is joined with our dining room - we can't stop now!! It's all got to be painted!

BOY does it look good! I knew it would look better BUT it looks far better than I thought! I have a wall where I have my 3 sons 24 hour old pics hanging........before they looked good but the light colour wall made them all washed out - Now on the green, the frames look wonderful and the pictures look amazing........can you tell I'm pleased!?!

Hubby had some Christmas money to spend from my folks and decided to pick himself up a new Harmony remote......I hadn't heard of them until he showed me online - this thing is amazing! You go to the website and tell them which components you have and them plug the remote into your computer and it programs the remote for you. We have the TV, DVD player, VHS/DVD recorder, AV Receiver, Radio - soon we'll have the XBox on it and Hubby said if we got remote controls for the light and fan we could work them on it too!! Of course we're not quite as lazy as that!!!! Our last attempt at going down to one remote was something called a Kameleon which was a total waste of money - so I was worried this would be the same but since Hubby was using his Xmas money I didn't say anything. I have to admit this thing is amazing and well worth the money especially if you have as many remotes as we did - we are truly down to just one remote - something that has never happened in this home before - it's wonderful not to have them all cluttering the table!! Remote Freedom!!! You should definitely check into it if you're tired of too many remotes!!

Back later!

The paint is purchased!!

2006-01-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

We actually made it to Lowes yesterday and picked out a colour for the living/dining room and entrance way. 'Green Bough' is the chosen colour! It's going to be a big job - hopefully we'll make a start on it today depending on what kind of mood Hubby wakes up in!

Looking forward to making a change in this room - although after almost 6 years of being the same very neutral/bland colour it's a little un-nerving to make such a big change. I'm sure it will look great when it does get done - wish us luck!

Back later.

Christmas is over.

2006-01-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

As soon as all the gifts are opened and all the wrappings are bagged up, the meal is eaten - cold turkey leftovers in the fridge, guests have gone and kids are off playing with something that Father Christmas brought them.........you finally get to sit down for 5 minutes and realize that Christmas is now over for another year - quite depressing really - I do enjoy Christmas it's just so much fun watching the kids as they count down the days until the 25th and their eyes as big as saucers when them enter the living room and see all the gifts - pure delight!

The second ending to Christmas happened here in the 'Average' household. The twelve days of Christmas is over and I took down the decorations, boxed them up - now I just need Hubby's help to get them back into the attic until next November (we put them up the weekend after Thanksgiving)! My living room - still in a bit of a state, fake pine needles on the ground and furniture out of place - now looks very much bigger than it was yesterday - very bland too. *Sigh* doesn't help that the weather is lousy today - very gloomy outside - making it very gloomy inside. We actually had snow flurries this morning - only enough to torture the boys - not enough to lay on the ground!!

I did get my hopes up this morning as the postlady brought a package to the doorstep - thought it was the Lost Season 1 DVD box set I treated myself to with money my parents sent me for Xmas - but instead it was battery power packs we had to order for the boys R/C toys from Grandma AKA Mother-In-Law! At least the boys will be happy when they get home - although it says they need about 5 hours to charge initially so the boys will get to play with them about 6pm onwards tonight - that's okay though - being Friday no need for an early bedtime!

Well lots of clearing up to do. Hopefully I will report this weekend on what colour paint we picked - I'm not going to hold my breath on that though!

Back later!

You haven't seen Star Trek.....

2006-01-05T08:22:00.000-08:00

...until you've seen it on a 50" screen!!! WOWWEE! I about popped out of my seat every time the saucer section of NCC1701D flew past the screen!! That's just great!! Watched 'Cause and Effect' (Season 5) last night and although I had to put up with Hubby fiddling with the settings every so often it was still a pleasure! If we don't go out this weekend you know what I will be doing!! It will be a Next Gen weekend!!

On the list today - need to get the accounts fully up to date - soon be tax time, hopefully we'll get something back this year although with hubby's raise and the overtime, we'll just have to wait and see.

We had a plan to buy the TV and all that goes with it and anything left would go towards a bill or two - Hubby mentioned maybe we'd paint the living room instead - I hope he's serious about this - I've been dieing to get some colour on these walls for a couple of years now. I'm thinking a light olive or sage green - it'll go nice with out rug and curtains and the darker wood furniture.

We'll see though!

Better go get a start on things - #3 is peacefully watching Toy Story so I had better make the most of it!

Back later!

What a treat!!!

2006-01-04T12:53:00.000-08:00

We finally made a new TV purchase.

Hubby was actually given a decent sized end of year bonus this year and after all the research and hunting we finally picked up a TV last night. We got it at Sam's Club. They had it at a good price and it included a stand. It's a 50" Sony Grand WEGA 3 LCD Rear Projection HDTV. While I haven't been particularly happy with rear projection TV's in the past - this one looks pretty good from a wide range of angles. Plus when you throw in the cost of the stand it was a good bargain. Oh and the warranty on it was pretty good price compared to other places Hubby looked - SO we got it and set it up last night. Still got some bits and bobs to sort out, wires to connect but it looks and sounds great. Oh course Hubby also needed a sounds system/DVD player thingey - I don't know what that is really called - a means to hook everything together!!! That's really smart - 5 CD/DVD changer also made by Sony - now we can put a whole set of Lord Of The Rings DVD's in at once - or even most of a whole Season of TNG!!! Lazy or what!!!

Can't wait to have time to watch some Star Trek on it - that's right - it's already 3pm the following day and I haven't watched any Star Trek on it yet!!!LOL!!!

No rest for the wicked - I have all the usual house stuff to do PLUS I have to regain the house after all the boxes and packaging were thrown all over the place and all the furniture was moved - what a mess!

I'll be back later!

Cinderella Man!

2006-01-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

What a good movie!

I do enjoy watching the odd boxing match with hubby every now and then - although since Lennox Lewis quit I don't get quite so excited!

This is why I didn't mind watching a movie that had Boxing as a theme - BUT turns out there's a lot more to the movie than just boxing - it's a really good story as well as good boxing scenes.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it and will recommend it to anyone! Very touching story.

On the schedule for today.......going to Walmart! Ugh! Then we will attempt to eat a healthy lunch out today. Sounds like a good day for Subway sandwiches - although the kids won't eat it so we'll have to suffer the delicious smell of 3 happy meals while we eat our low fat sandwiches! Oh well - all for the greater good!!

Kids are back to school tomorrow! Yay!!! *Smirk*

Back later!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

2006 already - WOW!

Took a short hiatus from blogging - with MIL moving (YES I actually helped her!) and then my boys and hubby were all sick at one time or another - then Hubby's birthday and my own and Christmas - thanksgiving of course was in there too - there was too much real life going on to get here to write about it.

New Years Resolutions:

1. Stop biting nails (that's an every year one and with dental check up in two weeks - it will last about two weeks!!)

2. Lose about 20-25 pounds. My dieting stopped over the holidays and now I am back at it - starting today!! Starting weight 133.6! Ugh! Can't believe I got that high!

3. Write to blog each day - nothing too deep and hopefully nothing too long - depends on the day I suppose.

4. Be a nicer person - to those that deserve it *smirk*!

5. Make more time for fun things with my boys - loosen up about the little things!

Sounds like a good start to me!

Bye for now!

A red letter day.

2005-11-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

An important anniversary for our family - although as pointed out by hubby I do tend to remember a lot of things that happen to our family and we can't 'celebrate' them all. This day though sticks in my mind of course for more reason than it does my hubby's!

It is the 6th anniversary to our family moving to America. We moved on Remembrance Day/Veterans Day of 1999. We have lived here (in America) for more time than in England during our marriage. When we were in the UK we visited the USA for a total of 5 weeks during that time - so far in the past 6 years I have been to the UK for 11 days (3 of those were for my brother's funeral). Of course for the trips to the USA the US Air Force paid the plane tickets - and the first time we traveled it was just Hubby and me - the second time we traveled it was just us with son #1. Now we have to come up with the cash ourselves and of course there are 5 of us. Gets expensive.

I have watched the dates go by as I could say each of my sons have past the point where they lived here more than the amount of time they lived in the UK. My oldest son past that point in January 2004 when he reached the age of 8 years 4 months, since we left when he was 4 years and 2 months, did I warn you I think about this too much!! I have to admit it rubs salt in the wounds to think that they have spent more time here with MIL than they have my parents. BUT I know that they are better off here - if only for the fact that my Hubby has a far better job here than her could ever expect to have in the UK - heck this is how I get to be a stay at home mother. BUT then I say all that but we never gave it a try in the UK - who knows what could have been if we'd stayed.

Thankfully, my parents have been able to visit us ever since we came here. 2 weeks in 2000.....2 weeks in 2001, 2 weeks in 2002, 2 weeks in 2003 - we went there for 8 days in 2004, then they came here for 3 weeks this year. As for the upcoming years - I don't know - I will be on tenderhooks each year. My father who will be 67 next March - of course retired in 2004 and as soon as my mother reaches 60 years old in December she will retire too. I worry that they won't be able to afford the visits. I also worry that as there health slips I won't be able to be there. I have a brother over there - he will of course be able to help them out - but you know how it is - daughters are better at that stuff. Which reminds me that MIL actually made some comment to that fact during their last visit - since her daughter is in Florida - it made her sound like she was saying that she had me to take care of her when she got elderly - but my own parents don't. Ugh!

Anyway - trying to focus on the good things..............Hubby had a job here in the USA about 5 days after we landed in this country (and still has it today). This was a good thing since living with MIL wasn't working out - so 2 weeks in country we moved into an apartment. 4 months later we purchased our lovely new brick house. I love my house - I do often wish we'd been a little more thoughtful to the future and looked at 4 bed houses - but - our boys get along fine and love to share a bedroom. So much so the older 2 are looking forward to #3 getting old enough to share their room so they can all bunk together and have the smaller bedroom as a toy room. The house purchase was in 2000 - we finally conceived our #3 in 2001 - he arrived of course in 2002. We found our hound at the Humane Society in 2003! We have a good life - certainly not one that I should complain about. For the most part it's great. Sometimes though I wish we could all live in one country. Although at least we don't have to argue over whose parents we go over for Christmas dinner!!! My brother has to alternate with our parents and his In-Laws, spending Christmas Day with one and Boxing Day with the other each year and swapping them the next year!! For me it's pretty cut and dry!!

I've rambled on.....Happy Anniversary me and mine!

Back later.

Not feeling very talkative!

2005-11-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

Hubby has gone away for a few days - work has taken him to a neighbouring state................... I do miss him!

Maybe I'll feel a bit more like talking later when the boys go down for the night and I get some surfing time.

Although tonight is a good TV night and I still have a few things on the DVR to watch.

Highlight of the day:

Getting the chance to just sit on the carpet and play legos with my #3. Nothing like the look on your little boys face as he admires your creation - today's favourite happened to be a castle I made!

Sure I don't get to play with dollies and kitchen sets BUT I do love Legos, climbing trees and playing with rocks and sticks and I never have been good with hair, bows and matching outfits - it's a good job I'm a Mum to 3 boys and no girls.

Back later.....

Fall Creek Falls - November 05

2005-11-09T15:37:00.000-08:00

Amazing! It was just the best time to be there - the colours were vibrant when the sun broke through the clouds!

There were so many places to stop and take pictures - makes me wish we didn't have to come home to our boring little 'brown' town!

This is ME!! My self portrait - in pine!

You wouldn't believe how close to the edge I was taking this one! Hubby got mad - it was that close!!

Wednesday 9th already!

2005-11-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

It will be Remembrance Day before you know it and then of course Thanksgiving and my Hubby's birthday. Once those are over with it's one great big slippery slope to Christmas!

These past couple of weeks have been thankfully uneventful - we did however go out for the weekend - to Fall Creek Falls to see the Autumn foliage. Very pretty, I will try to upload/download (which one is it anyway?!) pics to share!

The boys had a good time - all that fresh air and plenty of playgrounds to play on - plus we had some great family time in the evening - since we took Monopoly Star Wars with us.

I've let my Blog slip - mostly because of all the exploring on WheresGeorge.com I've been doing - way too much fun. Most of my available computer time has been going there lately. I hope to maybe find some balance soon!

Back later...

Happy Halloween!

2005-10-31T06:24:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a safe and dry 'trick or treating' night tonight... don't eat too much of that candy all at once!

Here are my 3 son's pumpkins this year - in order left to right - #3 wanted an angry pumpkin - #1 drew a happy pumpkin - #2 did a sad looking pumpkin!

Of course Hubby did most of the carving BUT this year he let the boys handle the knives and little pumpkin saws to help out and do some of it themselves! Made me a nervous wreck - I had to leave and let hubby handle them. I felt for sure we'd be headed to the ER BUT thankfully no such visits were needed!

Tonight #1 son will be Darth Vader - #2 son will be an Evil Wizard - #3 son will be Batman (the original not Batman Begins although that was a great movie!). Hubby has gone to work today with a pumpkin shirt on and green hair - for tonight I have a red wig with horns sticking out - makes a change from the witches hat I wear most halloweens! Just hope it stays dry tonight for trick or treating - NOAA is saying we may get rain - that will be no fun at all.

How'd you like this giraffe? A picture from Saturday! Even though I would like to forget that day forever - I do like this picture! The silly giraffe was licking the rusty fence! Must have tasted good to him! My favourite animal of the visit was the Bats - they are just way too cool - eating on the fruit by the windows we got a really good view of them. In the face they looked just like rats with wings! They look very soft - I would love to pet on one - see if that fur is as soft as it looks! And who knew they like broccoli? The Bats were chowing down on some broccoli crowns!! Strangest thing I've ever seen!

I've always wanted a rat for a pet - we have two gerbils right now - and I love them dearly - but I've always heard rats make such good pets and will sit on your shoulder and be very sociable. I wasn't turned off by the movie "Willard". I enjoyed it and wished I could have that little rat - very sweet!

Anyway - day includes getting everything done before my boys get home from school so I can help them get any homework done quickly and we can get in costumes before other trick or treaters start turning up at the door! It's a real pain in the backside to get 3 boys dressed up while constantly stopping to answer the door!!

Back later!

Feeling plain old down.

2005-10-30T05:08:00.000-08:00

So we thought it was a great idea to take the kids to the zoo yesterday...........I should have known to return home and wrap myself in a big quilt when I spilt my coke at a restaurant we stopped at on the way. BUT we didn't we carried on. The zoo was fun - although with hubby's back aching - it wasn't as fun as it could have been - we got on each others nerves somewhat. Then because of the backache I offered to drive home. Of course with the day going as crappy as it was - can you guess what happened next? I ended up getting a speeding ticket! I was caught doing 45mph in a 40mph zone. This so sucks and I am so upset with myself. Of course hubby thinks this is a great source of amusement and I probably won't live long enough to live this down with him. I just feel so BAD. It makes me feel bad to think I have cost the family money on this - although I still have no idea how much since it's not on the ticket and I can't find it on the city website yet. Hubby has already joked about how HE has to pay my ticket - another thorn in my side of course because I hate it when he draws attention to me not bringing cash into the household. Maybe it was just a slip on his part - nothing malicious BUT I'm just hyper sensitive on this right now.

This is my first ticket in the USA - I did get one in my 'youth' in the UK - about 13 years ago now. I felt deeply ashamed of that one too - hubby was there for that one too - although that was when we were dating - not even engaged.

He's calling me a 'Little Law breaker' which will probably be a cute name in a month or so - now it just rubs me the wrong way.

Not that I feel like it - today I get to speak with my parents..........carve 3 pumpkins (yeah I left it to the last minute)..................... a basket of ironing from hell.......................go shopping at Sam's....................and pop by Best buy to look at LCD TV's. Today is going to be a strange day for me. I so do not like myself right now. Just hope this doesn't screw up our insurance costs too.

Back later.

Sorry about that!

2005-10-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

Seemed like time ran away with me - and when I did finally sit down to this infernal machine my mind went blank! But that's okay because life has been pretty standard around here. I thank goodness that the only thing weather related I have to complain about is the drop in temperature - jeez it's chilly out there - going from a standard temp in the 80's to a chilly high of 50's. I so wish it would go down gradually giving my blood chance to get used to it!! My SIL is down there in Pompano Beach dealing with far worse than most. Picking up here life after Wilma. She's lost all her outside structures and the shingles off the roof - but luckily has her windows and the interior of her home is still dry. They have no power and no decent water - but they are counting their blessings. Her, her hubby and little one are all safe and sound and that is what counts.

TV: currently craving a new episode of Rome - I have to wait a couple of weeks for that though. Lost too....ugh - what is wrong with these TV people....they can't make you hang on like this - it's just not fair. The last episode of Lost was a good one - hubby disagrees - I think it was more 'chick' oriented - flashbacks showed how Sun and Jin met. I loved it. All 3 CSI's that I keep up with have been great - especially enjoyed the Vegas episode 'Gum Drops' - I'm a sucker for the kiddie episodes - it was good to see the little girl survived - but now she has no family - very sad.

MOVIES: 'Saw' - we finally saw 'Saw' we decided to watch it after seeing the commercials for 'Saw 2' - boy oh boy was that a disturbing movie. Not so much scary as it was simply disturbing - phew!! 'Alexander' we got a few freebies for PPV movies from the cable company and decided to finally watch 'Alexander' I thought it was a let down............OK so Alexander was a Bi-sexual - I get it - it was getting old. The movie dragged on and on - I suppose it was an Oliver Stone movie - what was I expecting! I enjoyed 'Kingdom Of Heaven' and 'Troy' so much more than this one. I finally got around to watching Napoleon Dynamite' I realise I'm a little slow on that one - BUT what a funny movie!! Strange BUT funny. My kind of humour!

Speaking of my kind of humour..............Of course I realise that everyone has different cable companies and I'm sure the listings are different all over the place BUT if you have HBO On Demand - you need to check out HBO One Night Stand and check out 'Flight of the Conchords' basically two New Zealand blokes with guitars singing funny songs - oh my gosh they are funny! If you get a chance - check them out!! (Listed as HBO Specials:Comedy Specials:One Night Stand 59 - on my cable)

Latest Fad for me on the internet...........www.wheresgeorge.com !

Boy is this stuff addictive! You enter dollar bills in the database and you can see if someone else has entered them before and seeing how far and quickly they travel. I've only had one bill come back as being entered before - but that's enough to have me hooked and entering my bills each time I get a new one!! Like I don't have enough to do without getting into this!!

I did have something else to add - but my mind has gone blank again!! Time for Cornflakes and a cuppa tea!

Back later!

Hope you had a good weekend?!

2005-10-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

Weekend went well - nothing in either extreme to report. Just a nice relaxing weekend. Oh two good things did happen that I will report.....first thing - we watched Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

This was a good movie and whilst I found it hard to allow myself to enjoy it at the beginning - some form of trying to remain faithful to Gene Wilder I think! I did think Johnny Depp played a pretty good Wonka. The story was different from the original movie BUT still good. Definitely a go see - quite possibly a DVD for the kids to have for Xmas or some other gift giving occasion!

Another good thing that happened - we picked up the first of the kids Xmas gifts. It was for #3 son - I have been wanting to get him one of these for a year now - each time we go in Toys R Us he bee-lines for them and a couple of the local bookstores have them set up in the kiddies' area and #3 loves it - so we finally broke down and got him a Wooden Train Table.

It was a great price - the table is on sale right now anyway and I had a $10 off coupon AND the sales person had an additional coupon for an extra 20% off - by the time all that was rung up the final price was about $105 - I was thrilled. This is not only a table but it also includes a bunch of train set and pieces too. #3 is set now - this will be his gift from Father Christmas. I now only have to pick him up a few items of clothing and a couple of small toys (easy stuff - like hotwheels etc) and he is done with. I'm so happy about the table and the price.

Back later........

Not so good for the diet!

2005-10-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Not since my third son was created has there been such a fantastic combination of British and American resources!!!!!!!

If you haven't had a Krispy Kreme Mini Cruller (or two, or three) then DON'T!! Those little suckers are wicked!!

Combined with a cup of English tea - it's a perfect pair!!

English tea by the way not Lipton's or some other American brand claiming to be English tea or English breakfast tea - that's just no good! If you do drink hot tea - do yourself a favour and run a google search for English tea and hunt down a store that imports real English tea brands!

If I get my self organised - and IF I remember how to add links to the side bar of my blog - I may add some of my favourite stores for you to try!

Back later!

Another fantastic episode of Lost!

2005-10-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

What a great show - it hasn't disappointed me yet. I had even been thinking about buying the first season on DVD BUT as hubby says and I agree - once we find out the whole truth about the island the shows probably won't have much replay value - much like The X-Files - by the time that show had done explaining itself all the luster of the show had vanished. I'm hoping this won't be the case with Lost but I will hold out on buying the Season 1 box set - stick to getting my Voyager collection completed.

Last nights episode revolved for the most part around Hugo - the day he won the lottery, losing his best friend was very sad - planting gnomes in his ex-managers front garden was very funny! The ending scenes where he made the final decision to just let everyone eat the food supplies and enjoy themselves for the evening......just perfect - he was right of course - the supplies weren't enough to last for any significant length of time - be more of a torment than anything else - so the group were allowed to enjoy the food and each others company and forget where they were for a few hours - Bravo Hurley! Another subplot was Rose and Bernard - what a heartwarming story - Rose sure her hubby was still alive but yet sneaking a bar of chocolate for him when he came back to her. Bernard not knowing if his wife was still alive and finally getting the chance to ask Sawyer and Mike if they knew her - tears in his eyes when he asked and even more when they told Bernard that Rose was okay and back on their beach. Just so sweet. Bernard played by Sam Anderson - who I have previously enjoyed watching play Dr. Kayson on ER and plus he also appeared in a small part in ST:TNG episode called The Royale - it never was one of my most fav episodes. Data was great once again - but I always though Riker's part/lines were very lame. Anyway - off topic......another great episode.......no news on Desmond though - could have used a little on that - at least to know he hasn't been eaten by sharks!!

Tonight of course.....Survivor and CSI. We have a Parent teacher night with #2's teachers at just after 6pm so that may throw us off a little on schedule BUT that's what TiVo is for right!! Just means we will watch it without commercials and who doesn't like that!

Speaking of TiVo - I noticed this morning I have a CSI: NY - I guess it was on Wednesday night?! I do enjoy the show - just not so much as the other two CSI's Gary Sinise is great - but most the other actors except Hill Harper really rub me the wrong way!

Watched Invasion last night - you know it's good enough to keep me watching but I don't know - it is a bit lame really - suppose it's good enough fluff to watch once the kiddos have gone to bed! Fav Actor here: William Fichtner (played a great part in Black Hawk Down - fantastic movie) in Invasion he's obviously an alien - this whole show is some kind of modern age invasion of the body snatchers - the real people are being replaced by aliens - from the water. I say it out loud and I think why do I watch it? But then each week it comes around and TiVo catches it and I watch the next episode!! Guess I'm just weird!

My day today - maybe do a little shopping - not got much on the old shopping list - but I might as well pick it up. General house stuff. #3 and I are going to play with the trainset once I get off this infernal machine and as I said tonight we have a Parent Teacher conference - so wish us luck on that one!

Back later...........Oh and we did get to see Kingdom of Heaven just the other night - but I'll save that for another day.........train set time is calling!!

Wednesday already!

2005-10-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

I have just about recovered from our weekend - although going to bed before 11:30 - midnight for a few nights would probably do me the world of good. I did about 7 loads of laundry on Monday - washed 1 and ironed 2 loads on Tuesday and this morning I see my basket is up to the top again! Such is my life!!

#3 son is doing okay as far as a fever goes - it dropped back to normal as Monday went on - but now he has a bad cold - stuffy nose slight cough caused by the congestion. I so have to find a cold medicine that tastes good - we had a real struggle last night trying to get him to take some.....Unsuccessful - I gave up because it felt like he was going to gag himself to throwing up. That would screw up his nights sleep worse than the stuffiness. So I made a judgment call.

Watched CSI:Miami last night....good episode - wondering how long it will be before Cal goes back to weapons - she seems to be having a had time dealing with other peoples methods.

CSI:NY - not even sure when I watched that episode - it was ok - they lost a member of the team - I wasn't exactly keen on her anyway - BUT watching the preview for the next episode I think I'll like her replacement even less!

Most exciting thing is Lost tonight - I so look forward to the new episodes.......we will I think get more about Sawyer,Jin and Mike and their new 'friends' - I'm figuring they are all from the back end of the plane rather than 'The Others' I'd like to find out about Desmond tonight too - hope he doesn't get killed off!

Today - get a few things done around the house - maybe tackle a section of the pile in the garage - that's the camping stuff we dumped after our rush to get home with #3 sick. Then I hope to visit hubby to pick up wages cheques and maybe take him to lunch!! Fingers crossed!

Back later.....

A good Weekend?!

2005-10-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yes and no.......Friday was very very busy for me - we had arranged to go camping but before I could make a start on packing for it I had and appointment to get my hearing checked - all is well - my hearing is improved since my stapedectomy back in June - boy was it that long ago?! I'm all healed apart from I still have a lack of taste on one side of my tongue - I'm hopeful that will return one day.

When I got home I started straight away with gathering things to pack in the van. WOW we had a lot of stuff. The Grand caravan less one row of seats was jam packed with stuff. Thankfully hubby was able to get off work at lunch time to help and to fetch lunch when we needed a break (Arby's what a darling he is!!) As soon as #1 and #2 came home from school - they changed their shoes and we left for the campsite. We couldn't believe how busy it was when we got there considering we got there before standard end of work day time. BUT we got a good spot not too far yet not to close to the bathroom block and not too far yet not too close to the playpark - the boys could play and we could see them from camp but there were no children running through our camp. The nights were a little on the chilly side for me - but we set up a nice big fire both nights and enjoyed burning many different things!! The kids spent the whole of Saturday playing on the park with their new friends. Hubby had a sore on his foot that prevented us from going on a hike BUT we still enjoyed hanging about the camp - collecting firewood etc.

Campfire pics:

Burning things - cup with ice - hard to believe how long the ice held out!

Don't you just love fires - beautiful to watch.

The hound enjoying the warmth of the fire - although he got a bit close at some point because his tail hair is a little singed on the tip!!

All good so far, well the early hours of Sunday - very early talking 4am or so - I heard a gurgle coming from #3 son, what I though was him treatening to throw up - so I rushed him out of the tent and to the bathroom - he had in fact spit up a little - it was in his hair - by the time I got back to the tent hubby had cleaned up in the tent - only a little on a pillow and lit a fire outside. BUT #3 was still in a distressed way so hubby started up the van and we sat in there staying warm - found a pot for #3 to spit up in. We eventually decided that we would pack up and go before breakfast. We packed as much as we could without waking #1 & #2. Thankfully I'd been packing most of the food and kitchen stuff back into the van each night and keeping all the clothes ans stuff pretty well organised. The hound was acting a little freaked out but was not barking too much. Once the tent was the only thing left. I got the older boys up and we took down the tent - not that easy to do in the pre-dawn darkness and trying to be quiet so as not to disturb our tent neighbours. I think/hope we managed! By the time the sun was starting to come up (about 6:30am) we were all in the van heading home.

Not quite the way we thought our weekend was going to end - but this is the way things go when you decide to become a parent - expect the unexpected. All the boys even #3 had a good time - all having good memories about the playground, new friends, camp fire and campfire food (my #1 likes my 'wobbly' eggs when we camp out). It's a shame that #3 got sick but I don't regret going and will go again.

My #3 son by the way - hasn't thrown up since last night and his temperature has slowly been going down all day - it's now hovering at about 99oF which is very low grade in kiddies. He's acting quite normal and hasn't had any meds since last night. I have no clue what caused it - maybe a bug from one of the other kids at the playground - there was one little girl that had a fair old cough, maybe #3 caught this - I'll be waiting for a cough/congestion this week.

Today is filled with laundry, laundry and more laundry - you would not believe the amount I have stacked up!! Who would believe 5 people could make so many dirty clothes in such a short camping trip!!

Is it Autumn yet?

2005-10-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

We have a cold front coming through right now and it's been cloudy all day - although still a nice temperature out there we are due to have a drop in temps from tonight onwards- according to NOAA.

So my boys will be wearing Jeans for school tomorrow and our planned camping trip will be nice and dry but a tad on the cooler side - this is okay though - nothing a good campfire and an extra layer of clothing won't sort out. As long as we're not expecting frost or rain - I don't mind camping!

Like the pic? It's my little spot of colour in the back garden right now - my late blooming clematis decided to brighten my little flower patch. Oh we have Marigolds there - but they never really got to any decent size and my Mum's don't bloom like everyone else - they're late starters since all my flower beds don't get much afternoon sunshine. Oh they're nice when they DO eventually bloom BUT they just take their sweet arse time about it!!

"Lost" last night was very good - we got more info about the hatch and the procedures done down there - Desmonds ran off - probably end up being caught by the 'Others' or maybe eaten by a polar bear or something - hope not though - I like to hear the British accent on the telly!! Good to see the rafters aren't hung, drawn and quartered straight away.............next week looks to be exciting for them and us because we all know we heard Jin speaking English in the preview!!

Tonight - Survivor AND C.S.I. Vegas! Such a cool telly night!! I still have CSI: NY to watch on the DVR but that's a show that I enjoy but it's not a 'must see right now' kinda show for me!

Back later.............

My hound...

2005-10-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Adopted October 2003 - my hound is such a good member of our family. He's a mix of a few breeds - mostly a Rat Terrier we think. We found him at the humane society when my #1's Scout group went to do some voluntary work. We picked him up on the 18th of October - we need to make sure we take some stuff to the Humane Society to celebrate it. He so well behaved - he loves the boys and they love him too. The hound also tolerates all of #3's pulls and heavy petting!! We couldn't ask for a better pet. This first picture is our hound the first day we brought him home - still got his Humane Society collar on!

This is him now - turned out handsome didn't he!! He developed spots under his fur as he got older - we had wondered whether it was a sign that he has dalmation somewhere in his heritage..........I doubt it though because of his size.

Grateful.

2005-10-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

This is what I should be for the life I have.

My oldest two sons give me attitude when I ask them to do things..........the only time I see anything near what my hubby sees from them is if I'm giving them desserts or treating them to something like the arcades. If I try to befriend them and have a relationship like hubby has they walk all over me and don't do a damn thing they should - like homework, tidy their room, brush their teeth all that other mundane stuff that I have to make sure gets done and hubby shows no form of responsibility over. This is the point where you say - it's your job - you're the SAHM. I know, I know.

My youngest, well he's 3 I don't expect anything from him - he does say please and thank you which warms my heart and even hugs me unexpectedly - yes this I should and AM grateful for. Someone who makes me feel like I'm loved unconditionally.

My hubby - reminds me I should be grateful for my life and the way it is. Part of having a good life surely is not being told periodically that I should be grateful? Call me crazy but if someone's telling you to be grateful for what I have - there's something wrong with that. It almost seems like a 'Shut up and sit the fuck down' kind of comment. This said before he drives away seemingly waving goodbye forced with great effort - didn't wait for a hug or proper goodbye or pause on the driveway for a kiss through the car window. Sure this again must be my fault - because I 'make' the kids walk down to the bus when he decides to go to work. This isn't just bad timing of course - I'm sure somehow this is my fault - my being bitchy at him and not wanting to stand on a certain spot in the kitchen waiting oh so patiently to give her hubby a hug and 1950's style farewell - as all 'grateful' SAHM's should do for the provider of all that comes into the homestead. So as I watch him drive off without a goodbye or kiss - I lower my head to come back to the home. Do you have any idea what kind of loneliness it makes me feel. Sure my #3 is there - already asking for his cereal....my boss is very demanding. Sure my dog is there - he gives me unconditional love too. He's a good hound. He's with me at me feet right now. As the garage door closes with a resounding clunk and I close the kitchen door. I start to feel very very alone. The house was quiet - the TV wasn't on yet. Very very alone.

Of course by lunchtime if I'm not over this - hubby will see me as being bitchy and in a bad temper.....................if I'm sad to the point of tears - he will see that as me being manipulative - turning on the water works as some feminine ploy........................so where do I stand? Get over it - sink those feelings low within myself and damn well get over it. Get on with the housework - get on with life in general - hope that maybe some one will phone so I can have adult conversation - even if it is hubby getting pissy at me - it's something. Hope that maybe I will get something other than junk or bills in the mail....................all ties with the UK seem to have faded slowly but surely - other than periodic expected cards for birthdays etc.

Be grateful for your life Average Housewife.................I have it good. I was given 3 children, I was given a nice brick house, I have a hubby who comes home in the evening and doesn't go to the bar first, I have a hubby who doesn't beat me, I have a hubby who allows me to stay at home and doesn't make me go outside the home to work.

Be grateful for your life..............

Where did that week go?

2005-10-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

I have no excuses for my lack of posting - I could come up with them but it's nothing exciting so I won't bother sharing!

Only exciting thing that happened was my oldest son turned 10 - phew! It's hard to say that - makes me feel old!

We had a nice evening on the actual day - went to the bowling alley - we didn't bowl - just played mini golf/arcades and ate their reasonably okay food. On the Sunday after (this Sunday just gone) we had MIL and her DH over for gifts, food and cake/candle blowing. She was pretty well behaved and I am still trying to behave myself too.....I'm actually sticking to my guns - I know it will bite me in the arse eventually - but hopefully at least that day will show it's her and not me.

Been to Walmart tonight - by myself - gosh it's so much more relaxing going without #3! It's a good thing though that our Town's Arby's are not by the Walmart - I sure was fancying a Cherry Turnover tonight - ugh - not good for the diet!

Speaking of which - I didn't weigh myself last Thursday - I felt Fat - I wasn't going to depress myself for the rest of the day by making it official! I'll weigh back in this Thursday.

Back tomorrow!

A foot note to this morning........

2005-09-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Feeling a little less lonely and a little more loved!!

My hubby is the sweetest thing ever - instead of going out to have lunch with his work friends - he called me up and told me he was coming to pick me up and taking me to the Chinese buffet for lunch! I swear sometimes I think we are joined mentally! I mean as with any married couple we are always thinking the same thing and often finish each others sentences. But sometimes it's like I know what he's feeling and he often knows how I am feeling and we will know just when the other needs a hug or hand to be held.

I love my hubby!

BTW: gave some thought to my earlier thing about MIL - decided to be as pleasant as can be - I will attempt to let her know when I think she's out of line with me or my kids - as and when it happens. I already started with a phone call to her today. Discussing her new house purchase and my #1's birthday celebs.

I'll let you know how that goes as time passes!

Back later - probably tomorrow! BTW: My #1 turns 10 tomorrow! Eeeekkk!!

Better by a little bit....

2005-09-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Not quite so depressed as yesterday - so not so much moaning this morning you'll be pleased to know.......

I do feel quite alone today though...........I've never found it easy to make friends.....My lack of hearing until recent months never made it easy to hear people and join in with conversations. And now that I can hear I don't even go to the school anymore because #1 & #2 ride the bus - so now I can hear the conversations with the other parents - I don't blooming well go up there! Sucks Hey!! As much as I hated having to walk along that road and all those crazy parents that drive too fast in a school zone - I do miss the little chit chat that happened as I waited for the kids to be let out.

I have been thinking something over and while I realise no one reads this silly thing - I think I will sound it out here and mull it over as the day goes on. I was thinking that maybe I would try to make more effort with MIL..........Now I know what you're thinking....All that crap she has said about her MIL being so bad - why would she bother? Well, to be honest I want to make sure that if she wants an excuse as to why she isn't seeing her grand kids - that the excuse isn't me! I have said this before - try to get on with her - make more effort. The difference I would have to make would be that I will have to make sure I say something if she puts her foot in her mouth, and I need to say it when she comes out with it - not leave and stew on it and then get mad and not speak with her for days/weeks and get mad at hubby for not seeing the things I do. If I say what she's done when she does it - hopefully it will be obvious to everyone else too. I run the risk of making her mad - I run the risk of sounding like a bitch - but I think this is the only healthy way for me to have a relationship with her. Problem I guess being - I'm not good at confrontation...........but I did manage it on the phone on Sunday. She was saying how she missed the boys so badly - she hadn't seen them in 3-4 weeks. I made it clear there was nothing stopping her coming over before now - of course she used her mother as an excuse - but since she's talking about coming over this week - that really doesn't hold much water and I probably should have said that too. I need to be more upfront and I need to be more assertive.

Is this possible? Time will tell!! I will think this idea over today and maybe October will be the start of a new me!

Got lots done yesterday - lots to do again today - got a huge pile of receipts to enter into the accounts - wish me luck on that!!!

Back later!

Don't feel like saying much.

2005-09-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

Once again got that awful sinking, sick to my stomach, I hate the f*cking world feeling today.

The day will be an average one.........4-5 loads of laundry to wash, dry, iron. dishes and kitchen to clean, vacuum & dusting, bathrooms to clean, beds to change and make up, fridge to clean out, cupboards to sort, Gerbils need cleaning out too and the bushes out the front could do with pruning.

All this is the norm - and doesn't normally get me down. I feel down because I had a disagreement with the rest of the world this morning...........can I say that if hubby had asked #1 to do something and instead of doing it he walks away and does something else then hubby would be mad at #1. But no when #1 ignores his mother hubby gets on #1's side and makes me out to be the bad guy. I don't care what it's about - it doesn't matter how trivial one parent may see it as being compared to the other parent - we should be a united front. Since I felt it was important - hubby should have been there to back me up and not show #1 that hubby thought I was stupid for acting the way I did. I've completely had enough of being the asshole parent. COMPLETELY HAD ENOUGH. Also plus - I think that if it was #2 son that had ignored his mother and gone to do something else then hubby would have been on his back. Why does #1 get to be so bloody special.

This kind of shit really gets me depressed. Of course though I don't have the right to be depressed and down about anything. If I'm acting down when hubby comes home I will be accused of be bitchy and on his back all the time. Guess I need to get over it quickly. But I do this then shit sits with me and builds up until I AM bitchy to everyone.

To make it short.........I can't win for losing.

High lights of the day will be wrapping up #1's birthday presents and getting giftbags ready for #1's school mates. Of course this is all the idea of the nasty bitchy mean old mother.............no one remembers it's me that comes up with this stuff. Somehow, somewhere it will either be completely forgotten OR somehow hubby will get the praise for it.

I AM TIRED. Tired of doing what I do for little or no thanks. Tired of only being remembered for the disciplining parent. Tired of being the bitchy wife.

Case in point - I get mad at hubby for reminding me it's time to get up every 3 minutes. When I do get up he lays in bed for an extra 5 - 10 - 15 minutes every morning. Would it hurt for him to get up and put his coffee pot on or just get motivated so it's not such a rush when I get the boys out of the door for school. So this morning I got angry about it. I knew I screwed up and I made every effort to make it up - offered to make lunch - forgetting about the left overs he was going to take in. I put his left overs in a carrier bag and added a fresh roll with it - asked if he needed water and sodas for work - got those added too. Put the coffee pot on for him - smiled whenever I spoke to him. BUT all that said and done, all that effort towards making up for being snippy - all for nothing. When we have the disagreement about #1 - that's the first thing he brings up - how I woke up mad - got out of the wrong side of the bed - completely disregarding all the times I tried to be nice since.

Why do I bother?........Somedays I truly don't know. I suppose I will get on with life as normal as best I can. When #1 and #2 come home they will have forgotten and I will get walked all over again by them. When hubby comes home he will have forgotten and if I'm still mad I will be seen as the bitch.

Still.......my day goes on. I'll be back later.

Thank goodness for Friday!

2005-09-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

Although this is my busiest day for housework - I'm looking forward to having my Hubby home for two days and not having to get the kids to and from school. Strike me down though because while sorting through the laundry I caught myself thinking maybe I should call MIL and say we'd come over this weekend if she wanted us to.........what the hell am I thinking?!?! Why should I do anything to make her world more pleasant - I had decided not to put forth any effort toward that because when I have any contact with her she always seems to put her foot in her mouth and say something that I end up disliking her for. Why the hell am I trying to do something nice for her? Heck if she wanted to see her grandkids she would have called herself or come to visit them or invited us over. I'm just a fool.

Wednesday night was the first episode of the second season of Lost. What a great show! I really enjoyed it - although it answered a couple of questions - the biggest being who was below under the hatch......it made more questions - like how come Jack bumped into this guy some 10 years ago - more than just a coincidence I think! We'll have to wait and see until next week I suppose - Jack did recognise him though - so I think the answers will be heard quickly - unless of course the second episode concentrates on the survivors that left on the raft....we didn't see hide nor hair of them this week - ugh!

Survivor was on last night and I was glad to see that the only vomiting was restricted to recaps on the previous episode.......I couldn't stand it if Mark Burnett went with more of a Fear Factor style show - I hate to see people throw up etc. Not Nice - especially when it shows around mine and hubby's teatime. Good episode - glad to see Morgan voted off instead of Lydia - I think Lydia has more to offer the team AND she has more personality for us as viewers to watch - there's plenty of other T&A on the show - we can lose one blonde bimbo!!

I DVR'ed the first episode of the new season of CSI (Vegas) - I look forward to watching that tonight - same goes for new Season ER - I will probably get to watch that tonight too. I love the DVR (ours is Moxi but it's just the same as TiVo) You get to watch these shows much more quickly since you can forward the Adverts. Oh and I also taped the Pilot episode of Invasion - so I'm not sure if I will like that though - I will give it a fair shake!

Yesterday I did leave the house...........went to the Bank - moved the kids savings into higher interest bearing accounts.......went to Davis-Kidd - picked up a copy of Charlie and The Chocolate factory for my oldest two - they needed a copy each to take with them to school for their gifted classes. Also got #3 a Jay Jay Jet PLane dominos set. He doesn't quite understand the rules but we had fun none-the-less. We had tea at our favourite Mexican restaurant last night - we even caught some of their live entertainment - it is so much fun! I had Nacho Steak Fajitas - oh my goodness they were so good AND I ate the whole blooming plate full!!! *SHOCK*

This morning I got on the scales - 128.6 - a little lower than last week I suppose it could have been lower if I'd just had baked chicken and rice BUT oh man those nachos were good last night!!LOL!!

Today - cleaning the fridge out and the oven - in fact the main oven is on self-clean right now - Ugh can't stand the smell in the house! Might turn off the AC and open a few windows......laundry - looks like 4 loads. Bathrooms to clean - vacuuming and dusting - I want to get around to sorting my medicine cabinet - checking for out of date meds and sorting it out so I can actually find things!! Now that would be novel!!

Anyway - lots to do - best be off! Catch you later!

Like British Rail.....

2005-09-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

I'm getting there!! Slowly but surely!!

Can you see what I did? I taught myself to add links to the sidebar!!!!!

Of course now I'm a bit worried about what the real etiquette for this is - do you have to ask permission to add links to other peoples blogs? I suppose I will find out when I get a mean email from someone complaining - but the way I see this whole thing is that these blogs are public anyway unless guarded by a password - so I don't see the harm in it - my apologies to anyone who doesn't agree - if I make a link to you - send me a comment and I will take it off if you want me to!

Good intentions always.....

So you watch TV right?

2005-09-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

For me TV is my means of relaxation. Some like to read and just sit in a quiet room - me......I escape in the TV. Of course my favourite means to escape is an episode of Star Trek Next Gen. Anyway - it seems with the new Autumn TV programming TV's getting good and I don't just mean HBO and the upper channels - I must confess to watching a bunch of regular cable channels - like the single digit ones!!! I used to swear that everything on the single digit channels was a bunch of crap - not so these days!

So I will start to post a little about these if you don't mind! Well on Sunday's we watch Rome - a really good show - it's been on like 3-4 weeks now - and we're finally starting to 'feel' for the characters and their problems etc. It's still not quite to the level that Six Feet Under was - but it's a good show and I will stick with it!

Monday started CSI Miami - a great show! Glad to see it back. Still a little confused as to what they are referring to about H's trouble in New York - I'm going to check out one of my favourite TV chat rooms and see what others are saying about that!

Tonight is the first in Season two of Lost - a fantastic show - I was a late started with Lost but hubby downloaded the missing episodes for me and I'm well ready for the start of season two! Can't wait - come 7pm tonight the kids will already be bathed and fed and I will be parked in front of the TV. Can Not Wait!

On Thursday will be CSI (the Vegas one) and Friday is the new shows Threshold and Invasion - which I will give a few episode to get good before I give up on those. Oh and ER starts up at some point soon - THANK GOODNESS FOR DVR!!!

My agenda today..........Housework of course - get to the bank...... maybe. See how it goes. Thing is if I go out there is a strong possibility that I will want to eat lunch out somewhere and I really do want to start on my diet - truly I do!!

BTW - my hubby - love him dearly - allowed me to buy a birthday pressie for myself - I will be getting an ornament that I've been looking for - found it on eBay. I love him so much for spoiling me so much!!

Almost too big of a break!

2005-09-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry - I don't know why I didn't post yesterday.............

The weekend was really really good - even with my period in full swing I enjoyed myself! Saturday we got motivated and replaced our sad old coffee table. It's way long over due. The new one still strikes me as looking strange - it's a little taller and has a little bit bigger surface area than the old one. It's really nice though - glad we picked it up. I wish we could have picked up a TV Table or an end table too but it just wasn't meant to be.

We finished off the weekend with a lovely meal at Logans - a trip to the park for the kids and then dessert at Dairy Queen - I know I know - not good for the diet but hey - I'm on my period - I need those treats!!

Speaking of period!!LOL!! I watched a really neat show on National Geographic - In The Womb. Showed new 3D ultra sounds of babies and ones that were enhanced with Computers - it was simply amazing. Made me all 'eggie' again though. Why do I do it to myself? Hubby asks 'You don't really want another baby do you? It's just something you say right?' Well actually I would like another. I'm not sure which is stronger the 'want' for just another baby, the 'want' for a girl or the 'want' to give hubby a girl. I know he would adore having a little girl. I also would love a girl - I see the connection hubby has with the boys - I wonder if I would have that connection if I had a little girl. I hope you don't get me wrong - I love my boys with all my heart and would give my life for them. Like I said - I get Eggie! Sure there are times when I feel too old for the ones I already have - but I know if we had another we would be ok...........I do love being pregnant - I think I'm good pregnant - aside from the early morning sickness - I'm pretty good and active pregnant. I think I look good too - sure the vein thing I got with #3 was ugly - but that was hidden anyway. Often I wish hubby would get snipped - then I know there's no chance of another and I can move on. He says it seems so permanent and moves on with a different conversation...........What's so permanent? He's told me a thousand times - he doesn't want another child - no way - not ever - he's done - so what the f*ck?! I would like to get off the pill - This would mean I wouldn't have a period but every few months or so (I'm not a regular person) plus with my mother's history of problems down there - it would probably be best for me to get off them anyway - rather than spend all this time putting fake hormones in my body.

Oh well - sorry to spout on about that - the day today......Walmart, go get hubby for lunch, come home to do some housework. What a super fantastic day hey!?!

Going for now - lists to write - back later!

I DID IT!!! YEAH!!!!

2005-09-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

I just figured out how to use the spell checker!!

WHOOOOPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!

I can't believe it - lil' ol' me! What was wrong? I wasn't allowing pop-ups - the spell checker is a pop up! I have allowed them for blogger.com - and it worked!! I just checked the spelling on my last post. Now this of course doesn't mean I'm going to make any more sense and I refuse to go completely American with my spelling - so yes - colour is spelt correctly!!!

But I can now check for really obvious spelling errors!!

YAY me!!

What's wrong with me?

2005-09-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

I just feel so blah! I am trying trying trying to get motivated........just isn't going too well. I think #3 is picking up on it too - he's being a bugger now, since we picked up the older 2 from the bus stop.

I had a pretty good morning as far as a diet went - got hungry mid morning but drank some low sugar Koolaid (away from the keyboard today) and ate a couple of the fiber tabs I have. I then had a reasonably low fat lunch - had a few doritos that I shouldn't have eaten - must get back into the habit of eating those fat free crisps instead. BUT then when I was getting #3 some pudding - I decided we'd split a bag of brownie bites. Well I ended up raiding my English stash and having not one ....not two fruit pastilles BUT the hole bloody packet. Crazy thing is I barely remember the taste - I inhaled the things so quickly! Now where's the fun in that. Of course now I not only feel down but I feel down AND guilty! Can't win for losing.

I try and try to be a good mother to my boys - but I usually end up losing my patience with them......I hate that I do it. I always wanted to be more approachable to my kids than my parents were to me - but most days I see I'm just the same as them. I know my boys are afraid to ask me for things - I just hate that. Why can't I just drop and accept the fact that my #2 son will ruin his book bag quickly - why do I have to keep lecturing him on it. Why do I have to keep nagging #1 about his handwriting and writing his full name on his papers.......why don't I leave that to the teachers to deal with. Why do I always have to make myself the bad guy all the time. You know at times I really do feel envy at the relationship that my hubby has with the boys - most of the time he seems like he's so cool and he's their friend and here I come charging in and telling them off for something or other that really if I'm honest with myself really doesn't matter. 'Choose your battles' Dr. Phil says..........I just have a real inability to do that. What the hell is wrong with me. My kids will end up hating me and I hate that. I do try some days - but on those days - when I'm easy going with the boys they end up walking over me and not doing things they should be doing and of course that makes me angry and then we're back to square one again. I simply can not win. Perhaps I need to get a Dr.Phil book - see if there's any other tips for me! Sad case hey!

Not sure what's planned for the weekend - definitely not camping - will post if I get the chance - but if not........see you Monday!

Wow you should have seen the rain!

2005-09-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

It was like someone tipped a bucket over on the planet today - it came down quickly and hard too. The lightening this afternoon has been fun too - very bright and very loud thunder to follow too.

#3 son and I took a trip to Target.....did I tell you this is my favourite store? I'm pretty easy to please. We skirt around the end of the isles and check out all the sale items.....picked up a couple of nifty serving dishes - which will be great for parties etc (cuz you know we are always entertaining LOL!! *sarcasm all the way*) but they were only $1.74 each AND I found a cute little computer USB larva lamp - only $1.48 - what a find!! I also picked up a bunch of sales things like pencils etc to make up some goodie bags for #1 son to take to class for his class mates on his birthday day. Just so you know I also picked up a coffee pot and some other clothes for #1 that weren't on sale.

Today I picked up #1's main B-Day pressie - a Razor Scooter - which he is going to love - I hope!

Did have lunch today with DH........this even in the light of my weight this morning........129.2 lbs - OMG - did I just say that out aloud! Sheesh! I think I get to the point where I do want to lose weight but when I'm not losing it I get down and what do you do when you get down? I eat - I raid the kids snack cupboard............so basically my diet is non-existant most days. Maybe I should have a cereal only week next week.....or maybe for a few days next week......although next week is my week to be on my period so you know how that goes - I'll either be craving salt or sugar - neither of which means good for the diet!!

Point is though - I enjoyed my time with DH - even though the first 10 minutes of our time at the restaurant our #3 was hell bent on making a scene and trying my patience every which way!

I usually try to deny that I suffer from any form of PMS - although I'll admit I'm a little more quick to anger during that time of the month - BUT today - maybe it's the rain but I feel DOWN. I think this evening after I get the kids tea sorted out - I think I will get in some comfy pants, put the kettle on for a cuppa tea and sit watching telly under a blanket - then maybe a hot bubbly bath too. A slow and easy evening.

MSN'ed MIL today - actually she instigated it...........made some comment about how 'she just came online and saw me and thought she'd say hello' - yeah right she just came online - that's 'guilty speak' for "I just took the block off you and decided to say something". You know - she said a bunch of things that got my nerves tore up - but you know I'm really over that - I mean it really is just more of the same old shit we get from her - why does it always catch me off guard. I'm starting to get to the point with it though - that says in my mind 'why do I need to hear it in the first place......why should I let it make me mad and wait for her to make some feeble apology about how she can't help herself..........why not just have little to do with her.......why don't I just avoid her unless totally impossible to do so'. So this will be my new leaf. I will be civil but this is all. She is not my bestfriend - she is only the grandmother to my children. I've had enough. Anyone else and I would have nothing more to do with them. The next time she says something out of line - I will say so and leave. Enough is enough.

Must go - back later......

Walmart today - need I say more!

2005-09-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

That time of the week again - time to stock the cupboards.

Actually I had a pretty good day today, as long as I ignore the fact my hip joints are absolutely killing me. I don't know what is wrong with me - it's either shooting pains in my hips or in my butt (don't laugh) or it shoots down from my hips to my knees or even sometimes all the way from my hips to my feet. Whatever the hell it is - there are days it's really not there and there are day's like today when it's hard to find a comfy position to sit or stand.

Like I said - asside from that problem - today has been great!! It all started this morning when I decided to take hubby to work - let him pick up the company car to use for the mext 2.5 days. He surprised me and asked if I wanted to get breakfast! What a treat - we stopped at McD's - he had a McGriddle, HBrowns & Coffee, Me: 2 (yes I said 2) Sausage McMuffs & Coke. #3 son enjoyed pancakes and bacon!! Why don't they call pancakes 'pancakes' in McD's?! It was a yummy treat and NO i know it wasn't the best thing for my diet - which I should have been back on since last Thursday!! Oh well - I only have myself to blame! It was a nice a pleasant time with hubby - that's what counts!

After that #3 and I came home, I wrote out the shopping list, then we left for the Big W. Blooming place - doesn't get better - like I've said before - a necessary evil! Still #3 was pretty well behaved so that made the job a little easier!

After that we took hubby to lunch at Chinese Buffet - nice as always - again not great for the diet - but I guess having cereal for tea tonight will equal it all out a little!!

So all in all it's been a good day - picked up #3 son a new booster seat *BooHoo* - he's getting so big! My youngest is now going to be using a booster rather than a full 5 point seatbelt car seat. Where'd my baby go?

Well, plenty to do - still got homework to check through....

Back later!

Yesterday and today......

2005-09-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Same old stuff.

I'm gonna be brief though since I've already typed a post once here and I just lost it all.....can't be buggered to type the whole thing out again! GGggrrrrrrrr!

Tent - I got it down and it's airing in the back garden - I had thought I had cleaned it up after our last trip - BUT obviously not - I've got the pine needles and the dead cricket to prove it!! Plus the smell of fire smoke it awful - I forgot how we were set up down wind of the cub scout camp fire last time - Ugh! Still I've had it out there over 24 hours so it should be helping. I've also re-sealed the seams - now if I pack it up this evening when the sun has gone down a little and it's stopped being so bloody hot out there - we will be ready for our camping trip - whenever it is we decide to go!

Keyboard - Did you know that Koolaid and Keyboards don't mix?!?!? I found this out the hard way! Yesterday I spilled a whole glass of Koolaid on the keyboard - Cleaned up right away and thought I'd got away with it - all the keys still do what they are supposed to do BUT this morning some of the key down the right side are sticky as hell! you really have to stab at the return key - which is a major pain in the arse. Oh well - mayb it's a sign that we need to get a wireless keyboard after all. since we got our wireless mouse - I've been thinking how neat it would be to have a wireless keyboard too. That's it.............it's a sign!!!LOL!!

Today - I have to admit to doing little of nothing! #3 and I have been amusing each other all day - housework list is still uncrossed anywhere. Bad Girl!!!

My hubby broke the stale mate with MIL. We haven't spoken to her since our visit while my parents were here - her behvaiour and attitude sucked on several points and to several levels. She hadn't called us - I had imagined her trying to play - 'phone chicken' see who called first - 'we'll just see - they need me!' that kind of thing! I think she aslo had me blocked on MSN all this time too because there's no way she didn't go online with it all that time - it's one of her main forms of communictions with her daughter. Didn't care - still don't! BUT I wish it wasn't my hubby that broke the stale mate. I would have liked to see how long it lasted.......never know now.

Well, best get on with life......my #2 has science club tonight - his very first! I pick him up in about half hour or so - I know he's probably had a great time!

Back later!

Wot no spellchecker?!

2005-09-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

Still can't get the bloody thing to work! And yes I'm bloody well using Mozilla Firefox as my browser!

Come on people - in the help it says it's easy - when you're ready just click spell check - it's not blooming well working people!

Help me here!!

Weekend round-up!

2005-09-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Good weekend - Saturday was lovely and lazy - as described in the previous post. SUnday we had a slow start - called my folks at noon. I have to admit it depresses me to speak to them now. The last visit made me realise just how older they have got since we've been out here. My father isn't in great shape....he's never needed medical attention that I can remember growing up and now he seems to be having problems with his leg - I know he's in pain but Dad doesn't go to the doctors - just take standard pain meds..........there's nothing we can do about that - he's old enough to know when he should go to the docs and he certainly isn't going to take well someone else pointing out the fact. Anyway - I never thought he seemed his age before BUT now he really does seem 66 years old. My mother - well she's always had ailments of some kind - but this past year she really seems to have gone down hill. It underlines the fact I won't be there for them when they get old - something my ever subtle MIL pointed out right there in front of everyone when we visited with her during my parents visit - thanks MIL! What a cow! So now when I speak to them - I am reminded of the thousands of miles between us and how short my time really is to spend with my parents. Nothing I can do about that though.................................................................

Once we got motivated on Sunday - we went out to eat - Ruby Tuesdays for a change - expensive but nice! Had a Blondie for dessert - very nice - you have to check one of those out if you go yourself! We went to Office Max and picked up a new office chair - which I am current sat on - very comfy and luxurious feeling after the old one!! After that - it was onto Lowes - for yet ANOTHER toilet flapper thingey - we're not having much luck with those!! trying to find the perfect one for our loo!! If this one works we will buy a few - for replacements - it's just been such a chore. Also got some draft excluder stuff for the doors/windows - a job long over due since we've been in this house 5 years now! It's not overly bad - but being able to see some dyalight around the front door has always bugged the life out of me. That stuff is still in the carrier bag as I type - maybe hubby and I will get around to it at some point!!! Maybe 2006!!LOL!! I hope that's a joke!

On the list for today..........laundry - a shit load of laundry to be precise!! Plus I have a whole load of other stuff to catch up on!! SHouldn't have had that lazy day - this is the price I pay for that!! I was thinking about bringing down the tent - to air and seal it ready for a trip - it's due to rain Wednesday though so I'd have to put it up and get it back down in 24 hours - I'll let you know if I bother to do that!!

Back later!

Lazy day!

2005-09-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

Phew, I pretty much did nothing today!!! How did I get away with that?!

Friday I did a fair bit of housework but not as much as I should have done! The day ended really well - I had to pop to Sams Club since I ran out of detergent - with 3 youngsters you can't run out of detergent - you never know when you'll be washing bedsheets *touchwood* I don't have to! Anyway we went there - after hubby came home from work - that was late but it still didn't ruin my shopping plan. We got done with Sam's and stopped by Fazoli's for tea - which was really really nice. I think that since it was so late, the tea-time crowd had died down so it was basically us and a bunch of college girls. The boys enjoyed their Fazoli's toy and we didn't mind when Jared was being a bit loud or got out of his seat. Like I said - really really nice!

Once we got home my darling husband asked for a list of Lost episodes that I had missed and he proceeded to 'download' them - from where? I don't know!! How? I don't know that either!!! He's the IT manager not me - he sure is handy to have around though!!

So today, from lunch time onwards - I had a Lost marathon!!! It was good to catch up! And like I said it made for a very lazy day!

It's good to have a lazy day every now and then - especially with the Gas prices as high as they are.....why is it we feel we have to 'do something' each weekend anyway. I love my house - I love my boys - I love my life - why would I need a break from that?!

That all said though - it's likely we'll do somthing tomorrow. I'll let you know!

On a small parting note - hubby and I seem to be having a good spell right now - I hope it lasts.........is it me being more relaxed - is it both of us putting forth more effort? Which ever the answer - or any other reason - I hope it lasts - I do like it when we love each other outwardly as well as inwardly.

Back later....

I'm back........

2005-09-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hopefully as I have said many times before - it will be on a more permenant basis.......

The last 3 weeks were good - good to see my parents - good to see them with my boys - we had a few ups and downs - but for the most part everything was good!

How'd you like the picture? I thought I would just try my hand at adding a picture - looks like Blogger folks have made it quite user *read as idiot* friendly. Now if I could only get the speel checker to work!!! LOL!

How do I feel now....alone! Nobody here - I find it hard to get motivated - if I could I would curl up under a blanket on the couch and stay there all day. No such luck - the world is still spinning - I've got the house to get under control and a 3 year old that is constantly in need of something, anything!! All day long!!

My number 3 is such a sweetie though - we're trying to wean him out of our bed right now - over my parents vacation he got into the habit of climbing in with me everynight. Now we want to get back to normal - well last night he DID stay in his own bed. While I enjoyed the peace and quiet and full nights sleep without 3 year old feet kicking me all night - I woke up feeling a little unwanted!! Go figure - guess I'm never happy! Anyway, when I was putting my #1 & #2 sosn lunches in their book bags this morning #3 came up to me and gave me a hug and told me he loved me! WOW - my heart melted! That boy knows the key to my heart. He's adorable!

One of the past 3 weeks most noteable events........the end of Six Feet Under! How about that for a big ol' WOW! What an amazing final episode - I have never ever seen a series finished so well. What an amazing job - I was telling DH just the other day we should watch it again soon - it was just way too good. Amazing! Did I say that already?!?!

Rome has started in place of Six Feet Under - which is really interesting - but yet to gain my full appreciation - these things take a little time though!

A new favourite for me is 'Lost' - I'm a late starter but thanks to ABC I have been catching up on Season 1 with their repeats - Season 2 starts in just a couple of weeks. I must say I really enjoy this show and look forward to the next season - our TiVo is already set!

Actually we don't have a TiVo anymore - we went with the DVR offered by our cable company - it's a Moxi?! Not that I expect that to mean anything to you!

Well - time to get started on the housework - I have so much to do yet so little motivation to do it with! I'd rather be watching movies! Return of the King is calling me even now! We'll see just how much get's done today!LOL!!

Pretty good day so far.......

2005-08-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

although lords knows I have a lot I should be doing instead of sitting here typing and watching/listening to and old episode of ER.

The start to the day wasn't great - bad dreams - do you have them? You know I DO know that it's not real - but when I have a bad dream - mostly about DH being unfaithful to me - I know it's probably a sign I'm insecure - this is nothing new to me! Well when I have one of these bad dreams it leaves me feeling off for the first hour or two of the day. This morning I was woken up by the dream and it made me feel like I just didn't want to lay back down. Which sucked because it was Saturday and my sons didn't have school and #3 was happily snoozing next to me. Oh well, I got up - did a little laundry and sat eating my cornflakes in front of Troy. Now that's a good movie!

DH mowed the lawn and I cleaned our bathroom top to bottom - sheesh I hate that job I mean I LOVE our tub but it's so bloody huge and awful to clean properly. We loaded up the rubbish and the stuff for Goodwill and headed out. Dumped the garbage - WOW that place stinks this time of the year - I don't know how the men that work there do...phewie!!!

After then we went to take the van through the car wash - the kids love the automatic car wash - especially the coloured foam. After that place we went to the Goodwill Store - dropped off two huge bags of clothes and a bag of toys. We then went to for lunch at Arbys......2 regular roast beef sandwiches, a regular coke and a cherry trunover - if you don't eat those things - make it a new habit - yummy!

We then went to Sams - milk, Nanas, bread rolls, dino nuggets, hot wings, cheesie poofs - now how about that for an insite to my life!!!

Bank for cash and head home!

Tomorrow - I have to clean through the house and organise for my parents' visit. We leave for the airport at about 3pm - their flight is due to land at about 5:20pm. Very exciting - they will love seeing the kids again. We have a few things planned. It's unlikely I will be posting over the next few weeks - but as I said somewhere below I hope to make this blog a more regular part of my life!

Bye for now!

Just so you know.....

2005-08-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

My older two sons are back from school! My #1 had an uneventful day as far as feeling unwell - so that's definitely a good thing! NOT a bug - just drank his milkshake too fast. Very relieved since we have a busy weekend ahead of us.

Now - what to do with a 9 nearly 10 year old who can't resist drinking flavoured milk too fast - surely I can't ban him from them until he's 18?!?! Maybe I will give it some thought!

One of those BAD nights....

2005-08-12T06:08:00.000-07:00

phew - I hate it when my kids are sick......my oldest has always had a problem controlling the speed at which he drinks flavoured milk! We went to Steak N Shake last night for tea and the oldest two have milkshakes. My #2 drank his slowly after he ate - didn't even need to bring it home. #1 though he's such a slow eater that he had to bring his home. Well as soon as we got home he must have virtually inhaled the bloody thing - then after having some of his Dad's cola and messing about like 9 year old kids do - he ends up throwing it up! I'm sure he's not actually got a bug - even though he ended up barfing a few more times - I just think that was the initial throw up that upset his tummy.

So he finally ended up falling asleep on the loveseat last night at 10pm and I decided to make up a bed on the couch so I could be with him incase he woke up unwell during the night. He didn't thank goodness! The sofa was quite comfy for me until my #3 son came in to join me - a bit of a squeeze to say the least! This morning #1 ate some toast and was quite perky so he's now off at school.......I'm sure he's alright BUT it still leaves me here today with the phone on my belt loop waiting for a phone call saying my oldest isn't well - come pick him up! Oh well, all I can do is keep my fingers crossed that isn't so.

Yesterday up until that point wasn't too bad......DH took me out to the Sketti Store for lunch and even though we had to wait a while to be seated - the service was good and the food was great so that more than made up for it!

#3 and I went to Walmart - he started off really bad tempered but thankfully eased off by the time we got past the clothing section.

On the list today - clean both bathrooms, the living room - maybe even get the bedrooms organiseed for Mum and Dad to stay.....I know they don't get here until Sunday BUT why leave everything until the last moment? #3 often comes to sleep in my bed anyway - so why not put his toddler bed in my room no rather than later.

Well, lots to do and #3 and I still haven't had breakfast - best go!

Talk to you later!

A whole pound!

2005-08-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday again and weigh-in day.......one whole pound since last Thursday - that's gained not lost! Arrrggghhhh!!! And this is even before my parents are here - I'm going to be big as a house when they leave! Good job most of my jeans have Lycra in them! What a great invention!!LOL!! Problem is this extra weight gain is depressing - and what do you do when you're depressed? Yep - I eat!! Every decreasing circles!

On the schedule for today - book rooms for trip with parents, housework and some garden work - scooping poops and weeding - joy of joys! Trip to Walmart on the list today too. Maybe DH will want to treat me to lunch out today - that would be nice - though I don't need the extra fat grams! I need to sort out my #3's toys - he has so many and hardly plays with them - usually plays with his older brothers' things. So I will gather a bunch for Goodwill - I've already got a bag full of toddler clothes to take.

My oldest son lost a tooth yesterday - we put it under his pillow last night and of course the 'tooth fairy' came to visit - left a dollar! Do you think he really still believes in that OR does he just act like he does because we expect him to - maybe he's keeping up a pretence for his brothers' sake? Seems like he's getting old enough that he wouldn't really believe. I know last Christmas he said that his friends at school say there is no Father Christmas.............it's hard to ask him of course because if he is still 100% innocent to it and DOES truely believe in it all then us questioning him would put the question in his mind - it would be a shame for him to loose that. I don't remember when I knew it wasn't true. Oh well, maybe he will come out and say something this year then he and I can have a private conversation without his brothers in listening distance.

See you later!

Been a long time.....

2005-08-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

...but I've decided to come back for a quick post......

We're doing well as a family right now - schools back in so the boys are happy and being kept busy during the day - coming home happy to play with each other and their little brother after not seeing him all day. Since the last post - my youngest turned 3 for goodness sake and my middle son turned 8!! Who could believe time could fly so?!

Speaking of flying time - this weekend my parents fly in......seems like only last week we were saying Mum and Dad will be here in a few months!! Now they'll be here on Sunday - better get cleaning I suppose!!

'Money Pit' van........well that's gone!! We got the work done on it and it didn't cost us any more over the next 3 or so months BUT it was starting to seem ragged out and there have always been noises in the front end that just recently have made DH and I feel more and more nervous. So last week we traded it in (we were in the hole on it - shouldn't have made our loan so long) BUT we got a fantastic deal on a 2005 Grand Caravan so the extra monthly payment on the car loan is about equal to DH's last pay raise - so we're really not that much worse off! YAY for us! He's a beautiful van - very comfy to drive. Look forward to driving somewhere further than Walmart in it!! Guess the first long trip we will be doing is to the Airport and back on Sunday!!

My weight - least said the better!! I've stopped making progress! In fact I'm putting it back on!! I did get down to under 124 but last Thursday I weighed 126.4lbs WTF! Plus with my parents in town I don't stand a chance of losing any weight - in fact I'll probably be 10lbs heavier when they leave! Ugh!

Six Feet Under - WOW what a show - it's really getting good - can't believe there's only two more episodes left. They buried Nate last weekend phew - I wasn't too keen on him when he was alive and I hated the way he broke up with Brenda after he woke up from a coma BUT come on - WOW that was sad!

Posts will be a little erratic over the next few weeks - but I'm hoping once my parents go - I will make this a more regular part of my life!

Be back soon!

The Money Pit? I hope not!

2005-04-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

The van finally came home to us yesterday costing a gnats whisker over $1000! Yep $1000!! Thats almost as much as the car dealer would give us for trading it in!! Still, saying that, I still think we did the right thing - a little more to pay off on our credit card rather than continuous extra to pay on a car payment and probably a maintenance schedule to follow as well to keep a warranty in order. Just got to hope nothing else goes wrong anytime soon.

My eldest son had a sleep over last night at a friends house - we pick him up at 10am - hope this went well for him - they had a huge bunch of kids there I'm sure he was fine. We did have storms last night though - just hope he wasn't too scared.

Still haven't been to Walmart - and although my house is better off for it - having 5 days at home this week rather than four - still I need to go today since there's not a lot in the cupboards. I hate to go to Walmart on a Saturday - now I'm having to go and do a weekly shop there - I will be insane by the time I get done!

It's bloody raining again!

2005-04-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

AND they're thinking we may have the chance of tornados and severe thunderstorms tonight and the up coming days. I suppose it is that time of year!

The van - well it's still in the shop - but dude there said it should cost about $400 plus labour - of course labour at these places is often more than the parts! So I'm not going to hold my breath that this will be anywhere near cheap!! I just want my van back! We're a one van family and I haven't been able to go shopping for the groceries this week - I feel like Old Mother Hubbard!! Saying that though if we don't get the van, DH will have to drive me in the car he's borrowed from work - he's gonna hate that - he hates Walmart! Of course he'll probably be mad at me for it - what's a gal supposed to do?!?! After breakfast this morning we will be completely out of milk.

Yesterday was a pretty good day for housework - got quite a bit done - although I even got a little Sims play in too! I did well.

Talking of doing well - my weight is now down to 126......my goal is 120 and to get there slowly so I stand a better chance of keeping it off. I feel pleased to be down to this - it's where I started after my youngest was born. My goal is set at 120 though because that's where I was before I got pregnant with him. Truth be know I'd like to get down to my pre-kids weight 105 but DH has made me promise not to go that low. It's a little too little for someone who's 5'7". We'll see though.

Today we have an appointment at the school to see my second son's gifted teachers - we have paperwork to sign to say he can be in the classes. I hope my youngest behaves himself! Wish me luck on that one!

Enterprise & Deadwood!

2005-04-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic episode of Enterprise last Friday (In the Mirror, Darkly) - the strangest coincidence was that DH and I just watched an Original Star Trek episode called The Tholian Web in which the Enterprise saw a sister ship phasing in and out of this dimension and eventually disappears. Anyway - now we know where the USS Defiant went!! It went back in time!! The Tholians had distrupted the space/time continuum and now the Defiant is in their possession - and they are stripping it of all the futuristic technology!! Talk about funny - seeing them introduce the old stuff from TOS and saying it was futuristic. So now we're left with our main characters on board the USS Defiant - just having seen the Enterprise NX-01 being destroyed!!

Have to also mention the begining of the episode too - using scenes from the Movie First Contact they made it look like Cochran shot the first Vulcan instead of welcoming him!! Amazingly cut - then of course the titles had change to show the more military style progression of Earth's history!

WONDERFUL episode - can't wait for part two - just wish there was going to be a lot more - can't believe they're ending this with this season! A sad day!

Deadwood - another fantastic show!! Definately a girls night - Alma got into it with Mrs Bullock AND Mis Issrenhausan (excuse spelling). Trixie got into it with Bullock and Star. Jane got into it with Mr. W - thankfully not enough to have her throat slit. Joanie got into it with Mr W too - even slammed him up side of the head with a bottle of Whiskey! Feeling sorry tonight for Charlie - he's missing Wild Bill a lot AND he's trying to take care of Jane, which is not an easy job. Al is way back into the swing of things although he's being a little loopy about an indian head that he keeps in a box. The Doc showed amazing strength of opinion about the oriental ladies - offering to give the medical care for free. We've also got a new side story about a man who just shot his brother in order to sell their mining rights. We'll see how that pans out.

Deadwood - this is a show that you have to watch - one of the best around right now!

Rain Rain Go Away!

2005-04-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Gosh I hate mornings like this - the kind where you have to put the lights on because it's just too darn gloomy outside. Makes you feel gloomy on the inside too.

Did I tell you I don't have a good sense of resolve! My youngest did take his nap yesterday - he started it at about 4:45pm - and didn't wake up until about 6pm - therefore he was up again last night until about 11pm! I must like sleep deprivation or something because this is the third night in a row we haven't gone to bed before midnight - Ugh! Add that in with the fact my youngest is still getting in our bed each night (been happening since he got his Big Boy Bed) and so wakes me when he gets in - so what sleep I get is broken sleep. I'm knackered!

Still..... the little one is STILL asleep right now as I type, since my DH took the older ones to school - maybe with a sleep-in this morning he won't need a nap and will go to bed at a reasonable time tonight? Maybe?!

The van. Yes we're mini-van drivers and proud of it! Our van has had an oil light coming on here and there and DH finally took it to the garage - It's going to cost anywhere rom $300 - $1000 to fix depending on whether there are scratches somewhere or other - I am by no means a mechanic! We tossed around the idea of trading it in...............do we charge up our credit card by getting the work done and hoping the van lasts us at least until we've paid it off OR do we get higher car payments - bite the bullet a little on trade in and end up with a 'paying out the arse' maintenance schedule? We were that close to getting a new van - BUT we've decided instead to get the work done - roll the dice - and hope that with this work done the van won't become a money pit! Wish us luck!

I am a member of a board......a chat board I mean - no surprise there - I would think most people who do these blog thingies are into the online scene. Sometimes I wonder why I bother - I never feel like I fit in - I try my best - try to have input but sometimes when I make posts people don't reply..........for one instance I mentioned my son had fractured his arm and only one person wished him well. Now sure they could have been having problems logging on or something but the next week I saw posts by practically everyone - so they've been on at some point.....am I the only one that checks previous posts and tries to answer them? Maybe I'm just paranoid? Either way - it doesn't boost your self esteme.

What the heck is wrong with my printer? I've been trying to print a calendar and it's stuck on the last page *Grumble* maybe I should direct my full attention to that. Back later.

It's still blooming cold!

2005-04-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

BUT my annuals made it through the weekend - even though we have a record low last night! Fingers crossed once we get into May the weather will behave itself and remember it's supposed to be Spring/Summer!

Yesterday we did this and that - not a whole bunch though - we certainly didn't get the shed put up since it was so darned windy!

I have so much housework to do today since I did a bunch of website stuff this weekend instead and ironing which will probably take me the best part of the day. Oh well, this is my life!

My youngest was up until 11:30pm last night which has pretty much done my butt in today - I'm about to go get my second mug of tea to hoefully warm me up ad wake me up too. I'm going to try my best not to let him nap after lunchtime today. If he doesn't start by 2pm then he's not napping at all! I'm tired of not getting some ME time in the evening.

One last thing before I get motivated......I think my bluebirds changed their mind about the bird box. Which is a big disappointment to me because they are such beautiful birds. Oh well, maybe next year. Now all I can do is hope that the sparrows will use it. It maybe just too close to my kitchen window - I may have to move it. I'll decide that in a week or so.

Where'd the weather go?

2005-04-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of weeks of sun and warm weather and my oldest son even managed to get sunburned on Thursday!! Now it's blooming freezing out there and we have a Freeze Watch issued! I guess that will teach me to actually be organised enough this year to get my annuals in! Usually I'm such a slow poke about it I end up buying the last dregs that Walmart and Lowes have to offer - all those plants that sane people don't buy!! This year I thought 'NO' I was going to buy the good looking plants!! Well of course they might be dead by morning!! Can't win for losing!

So yesterday went well, got a bunch of stuf done - well I got my website updated with pictures of my boys and forwarded it on to family. As for housework - well I did a few bits here and there - enough to make it look fairly reasonable. Of course we were at the Ballpark by 6pm - although it was evident that as the sun was going down it was getting colder by the minute. I always bring a cardigan - I feel the cold quickly and I brought a long sleeved shirt for my youngest. The older two and my DH, however, were in short sleeves and were feeling the cold once the park was in the shade. We ate hotdogs between the 2nd and 3rd innings which warmed us up somewhat BUT by the 4th inning my oldest two obviously weren't happy. We ended up leaving for home.

All is not a loss - according to the paper this morning our team won!

This morning I have been working on yet another website - we're changing over to another one! The only thing I like about it really is the extra space - but I'm sure the other bits and bobs will grow on me as I use it over time.

My middle son had a birthday party to go to today and I had to confirm that my oldest will be attending a sleepover next week. I still have a problem with speaking to people - I always feel awkward. I don't think it's because I'm still self concious about my accent - heck I put on a pretty good American one when I put my mind to it. I don't think it's because I don't like people - I like them well enough once we get talking! I'm just not good at coming up with things to say. I think people think I'm snooty because of it - PLUS add to that I can hardly hear things another person says to me unless we're close and they're speaking clearly (which people around here rarely do). I can't wait to get my ears fixed. One less thing to keep me apart from the world!

Cancelled appointment!

2005-04-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Not me! I didn't cancel it! I got a phone call yesterday morning - the morning of my appointment with the ear specialist to say the Doctor was cancelling his appointments for the day and could I reschedule? Did I have a choice - I don't think so! Heck it's not like one week will make a huge difference to the amount of time I've been putting this off.....

So I have to wait until the first week in May before I can see the Doctor who will hopefully book me in for scan which will then tell him whether me hearing can be fixed by surgery or not. I suppose I would like to know one way or another. I'm tierd of all the extra noise I can hear inside my head.

Anyway, it's a pain in the arse since I had already got my self psyhic'd up for it, dropped DH at work and planned my day around it. Oh well - what can you do?!

So I spent the day after a quick go on the Sims 2 cleaning house ready for MIL to come over. Least said about that the better - I mean who gets you a present and before that day is over starts saying how she wants us to use it for her? Doesn't seem right - I mean.....did I insist on a cup of tea the first time I came over after her birthday? I don't think so - I brought the electric kettle for her to enjoy - not so it made things more convenient for me!

Must.....stop....harping.....on!

Good episode of Survivor - Janu dropped off on her own accord. Things are going to be a little bumpy back at camp the next time we watch. What is it with Janu? Seemed like Jeff was doing a Jedi Mind Trick on her - are you cold Janu "I'm so cold Jeff" are you starting to panic Janu "Ugh, I just started to panic Jeff" That girl is nuts - and no thanks Mark Burnett - don't want to see people throwing up - lets leave that to Fear Factor.

One more new episode of Enterprise tonight.....hope our TiVo catches it - we're supposed to be going to a baseball thing with the scouts tonight. My two oldest are enrolled in cub scouts and DH is a den leader for the Wolves. Hope my youngest behaves - I would like to go to a few games this year - especially firework nights. The little one just wasn't well behaved enough last year. Fingers crossed he's a little more patient for it now!

Got some yard work done!!!

2005-04-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

I got even more mulch and even picked up some perennials for my island flower bed which now looks pretty spiffy!

Yesterday was a good day - a new bird box I have already has the attention of a pair of bluebirds! I hope they stick around although the box is pretty close to my kitchen window so I'm not holding my breath!

Not much time for an update right now - will catch up on today.....tomorrow!

Gosh I dislike Walmart!

2005-04-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

I've had my usual Wednesday trip tp Walmart today. My youngest was in a bad temper before we even stepped in the place - not a good sign! Still I calmed him a little with a toy and the usual bribes that fill my purse. He had a moment over by the cheeses section but nothing that wasn't put an end to with a bag of Smoothies! I couldn't believe the amount of sticky-beaks that thought they should share their two pennies worth. Either when he was grumpy or when he was happy and having fun. I had about 5 different people who had something to say about my so today.........Piss off people - don't need your help or your comments!

After Walmart - it wasn't 2 minutes before the little one was out like a light - this was the problem all along - something I knew BUT I have to do Walmart - not my fault! Luckily he was asleep the whole time I put groceries in the house and then as I drove on to DH's work to pick him up for lunch. We enjoyed Mexican for lunch - don't know what you call those chips they give you at the table but they're just so darn yummy!!

After lunch we stopped by a car dealership - time to get a little depressed at what we can't afford!! Actually we have no idea what we can afford - we just know that this the final year on our current car loan we thought it would be paid down quite a bit - but it seems most of our payments so far were going on interest so the loan amount remaining is STILL more than the worth of the van - sucks to be us I guess.

The little one and I then went to the Pet shop - the dog needed food and My youngest loves seeing all the animals especially the cats they have for adoption. After that I went back to Walmart - sucker that I am!!! I had to get some plants for the flower beds and some mulch to complete the job I started two weeks ago!!

Well gosh - look at the time - time to go and pick up my oldest two from school - more shopping and odd chores after that. Hopefully the kids won't have too much homework tonight!

Suncream, now there's a challenge!

2005-04-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

If you've never tried to put sunblock on a two year old - you've got to give it a try!! It should be one of the immunity challenges on Survivor! Phew - my youngest hates having to be 'creamed up' and acts like I'm rubbing glass shards all over him!! It doesn't get a whole heap better as they get older - my 7 year old still huffs and puffs as I'm applying it!

My laundry basket went down a bunch yesterday but I see it's already filling up? Where are these nasty dirty laundry fairies and please won't they send their cousins that wash the laundry for a change!?!

We had a pretty pleasant afternoon - the boys had a good day at school - tests went well for them. We spent the afternoon in the back garden - I sat enjoying the hummingbirds for 10 minutes after tea - what a pleasure that is.

Today I have mowed the back garden and whilst I welcome the little extra exercise I know it won't be long before the temperature gets unbearable out there - gosh I hate the summers around here......way too blooming hot - even by 10am in the morning it's just so hot and humid - yucky!! Still, nothing I can do about it except enjoy these brief few weeks of Spring while they last.

Strange dreams again last night - but at least I slept! I hope I don't get the same dreams tonight - lets just say they weren't at all pleasant!

Let me know if you stop by - I would enjoy chatting with someone.

Yesterday was okay...

2005-04-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

We only had minor disagreements during construction of the foundation!!!

Whew though those things are tough going! We managed to get the floor frame and floor foundation kit as level as we think necessary - it's pretty close!! :o} We also go a whole bunch of sections pre-assembled. Now the instructions suggest that we only complete from now onwards if we're sure we can get it done in one day! So we are now 'on pause' until next Saturday - so wish us luck and good weather!

It really was a nice day again yesterday - managed to top up my sunburn a little yesterday - although it still isn't at the painful stage - guess I need to be as careful with my skin as I am my boys!

At the end of the day Dh and I enjoyed a relaxing moment in the garden - watching the boys play, the dog rn about like the crazy animal that he is and we had a quick drink before tea - I have to say I finally felt so relaxed!

After tea we took the boys to Dairy Queen for dessert - which my eldest about drunk himself sick on Strawberry Milkshake - I hate it when they do that - no amount of telling them 'drink it slowly' is going to prevent it either!

Once back home and kids in bed, we watched the Contender - which I have to admit to enjoying - seeing these guys who have so much heart trying their best to make it in the boxing world. Can't wait to see how it ends up.

Also on last night was another GREAT episode Deadwood! That show is simply fantastic!! We were surprised as little old Charlie Utter kicked Mr W's butt all the way down the thoroughfare!! WOW that was great - didn't know he had it in him. Great to see the Swearangen has pretty much come back up to speed on the Camps comings and going - and is making a speedy recovery. Bullock now knows that Alma is pregnant and did the slightly honourable thing of offering to leave camp. We haven't yet any more knowledge as to whether Trixie has suggested Alma marries Elsworth! Wait and see on that.

Can't say I slept much last night and when I did I had nightmares - woke up feeling completely drained and not in a good mood whatsoever. I felt like DH wasn't being nice to me - but then that could have been my being on edge - making me imagine things. It also rubbed me the wrong way when he spent time lounging around having his breakfast, then watching the news - only to say he didn't really want to drop the kids off at school, did I mind! What do you say to that? "Yes I mind - I'm a lazy good for nothing who wants nothing more than to sit and eat her own breakfast" Nah you can't say that - I'm a SAHM and my job is to get the boys off to school - even if I have a crappy night and feel like a turd! Plus add the fact it was 5 til 8 and my littlest was still in his PJ's - so I had 20 mins to get him dressed, myself decent enough to face the public and then walk the boys to school. This day being the first day of their major tests at school so they shoulnd't be in later than 8:15. Ugh I felt like my world was crashing!

I have to admit though that I did manage to get the boys there by 8:15 and the fresh air, sunshine and brisk walk probably did me the world of good! Cleared the cobwebs away and cheered me up to a point.

So now I have to get on with today - full list of chores to do - you wouldn't believe how high the laundry basket is stacked!!! So time to get on - I'd like to get it all done before the sun sets - so I can enjoy a little more fresh air!!

Forgot to mention!

2005-04-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

One more great episode of Enterprise!!

Why the heck are they finishing this series?

The male crew of the Enterprise NX-01 were being seduced by 3 beautiful Orion women - the female crew menbers were being sedated and complaining of headaches!!! Archer almost lost his ship and his head too, he would have been delivered to the Alliance by the Orions. Thank goodness for T'Pol with her Vulcan immunity to these things and Tripp who is currently sharing this immunity through some kind of bond with T'Pol! Finally we see the two of them kiss and we know it's not some kind of dream! Maybe their relationship will develope over the last remaining 5 episodes!!! Waaahhhhh!

What a day!

2005-04-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

We've been having some beautiful weather and we finally were advised by Sears that our shed had arrived! This is great news because our garage is so messed up and we need the extra storage so badly.

We had opted to build our own so the fence wouldn't need tearing down and so we could afford to buy other things and not just pour about 2 grand into a shed.

Turns out these things are not as easy as the instructions say. Either the guy that invented this thing was a genius or a blooming sadist. You should see the size of the bag of screws and the bag of bolts were going to have to use!! Crazy.

Now, I have no doubt that DH and I will be able to manage this - we're not stupid - although we're not hands on people either! As you know DH does computers for a living and could strip a computer and put it back together blind folded!

So far we have the floor frame done - plus we have a foundation kit partly made up. We're having a lot of problems getting the blocks level to set the floor frame on! Jeez what a pain in the butt! Oh well! We'll get there in the end I suppose. Hope the weather today is equally as nice and wish us luck on our sanity remaining by te end of the day!

I did manage to slice my thumb yesterday, which is very sore this morning and I did get sunburned on my back too - but that isn't causing any pain, thank goodness!

At least tonight is another episode of Deadwood! One of my favourite TV shows right now! Will Alma have the baby? Will she marry Elsworth? Will Bullock try to get out of his marriage to his brother's widow? Will Cy and Mr W come to heads? Lots of exciting stuff!

Spring has sprung!

2005-04-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

It's rejuvenated my soul to a point - I love this time of the year! I have hung my hummingbird feeder back outside and already had a few busy males visit. We did have a very miserable wet day on Tuesday but this didn't stop one little tough guy - he sat clinging to my Clematis and guarding the feeder! Guarding from whom - all the other birds were smart enough to be sheltered from the rain somewhere! I love those little blighters.

My tulips are out in full force - the front garden looks somewhat respectable! I am a little jelous (as usual) of others in the neighbourhood - my azaleas are usually the last ones to bloom since the front flower bed gets very little direct sunlight. Oh well - at least they're less likely to get caught by a late frost.

My boys.......the eldest brought home a 'B' on his report card - not such a big deal - we knew he couldn't keep up with the A's forever - he's very bright, he's even now part of the Gifted Children classes BUT he does have to work at the standard academic stuff. I hope he doesn't take it too hard if his younger brother keeps getting A's. At least he will still get a trophy for Honor Roll - though it may not be as big as Principal's List.

.......my middle son.....now free of his cast - I do worry that maybe he's not using his arm as much as he should BUT the Doc did say it would take time - plus we have to book an appointment for about 3 months from now for an additioanl check up - so if he's not better by then I will mention it to the Doc.

......my youngest.......cheeky as ever, has a temper though - guess that goes with being 2! Last night he shoved a Danimals off the table in a temper tantrum! Gosh - the other two never did anything like that - shocked me that's for sure! He's a darling though - inspite of me spoiling him rotten - he charms everyone he meets! Latest 'Oops' is that he's learned the 'F' word - says it quite plainly! Guess DH and I need to watch what we say in future!

ME..........have good days and bad ones. Today after sitting in the sun taking pictures of the hummingbirds - I'm in a good mood! Did I mention my attempt to lose some weight - only lost about 6 pounds so far - I figure 'slow and steady' is the way to go - so I don't gain it back and more later. I'm still getting pains in my hips - sometimes it's plain unbareable - not sure if mentioning it to the Doc will do any good - it's not a constant pain - it comes and goes. Maybe I'll mention it at my September/October appointment. I have started the process of starting getting my ears sorted out - tired of being so deaf. I have an appointment in one weeks time - then I should get put in for a scan....keeping fingers crossed.

DH is doing well - he's also on a diet with me and loosing far more than me. He still seems happy at work which is definately a good thing since I'm a SAHM - and he's the sole provider. The past few days I've noticed we've been on a shorter fuse with each other. If things go to normal schedule we will be like this for a week until something big crops up and then we will have an all out arguement to clear the air.............what a funky life we lead.

Yesterday........the oldest two had an Ancient Greece thing with their Gifted Class. They had so much fun doing things for the school during the day - then at night all the parents were able to watch their children do their parts. It's good to see when a teacher cares enough to do something extra-curricular like that. Seems like a lot of them just can't be bothered to do more than is needed of them.

Oh well, as always I have a bunch to do today and it's alread 11:30. Laundry, dishes, lunch for Little one. I was hoping to get a little redecorating done in the bathroom today - I've been putting it off - I'm not so confident about my ablility to do it! Oh sure I could DO it BUT can I make it look good? I certainly wouldn't bet on it!!