The Comeback of the Apron!

I LOVE aprons!!

I have a weakness for them and I want to own several to match special occasions, holidays, seasons, etc.  Aprons seemed to be so much a thing of the past but they seem to making a comback in today's society.  I made my first apron a few years ago because I was tired of ruining my shirts while cooking, baking, and cleaning.  The original purpose of the apron is what inspired me but it has since evolved into another way to express myself.

I plan to expand my apron wardrobe in the next year so that I have an apron for everything.  I do tend to prefer the full body aprons simply beucase I am messy and I need something over my shirt.

Searching to the land of Blogosphere I have come across some absolutely amazing designs and creations for aprons.  I don't know where to start.  My original idea was to make another one of my own but there are just too MANY cute ones out there that I might just have to buy one from a fellow crafty blogger and help their addiction as well. 

Here is a pic of an apron design that I absolutely love.  I love the coordinating colors also.  $30 just seems a little steep for my budget.

Maybe I can just leave some OBVIOUS hints to my husband since it is the holiday season.  If you are looking for apron inspiration you will not find a shortage on the web.  A great site to browse is http://www.girlyaprons.com/index.html

Elf on the Shelf - Nicholas

This is something that I had never heard of before but after Brian's cousin in the Ozarks started it for her children, Brian's mom bought one so that we could start the tradition here.

Nicholas (this is what we named our elf) comes around Thanksgiving time and stays until Christmas Eve where he goes to the North Pole until next year.  You place the elf on a shelf, mantel, in the tree, where ever you think of so that he can watch over your children.  Every night the elf goes to the North Pole and reports the days findings to Santa Claus.  Then when the children wake up the next morning the elf has taken residence in another spot to keep an eye on them for the day.  There is a book that goes along with it so that the kids know exactly what to do.

There is only one rule: children can not touch the elf.  This will make him lose all of his magic.  Now I must say that when we got this and James knew he couldn't touch it, it devastated him.  He cried so hard because he didn't think that he could resist and he didn't want to be the reason for the magic being gone.  We assured him that all would be well and the elf just has to make sure that he is in good hiding places that are well out of reach.

I have to admit that this is neat for the little ones.  James might be getting a bit old and next year we might not be able to pull it off but it will be a lot of fun when Parker and heaven forbid grandkids come around!

Ramblings...

**Today is a snow day and the kids are home from school.  James had a friend come and play and this is not turning out to be the quiet day that I had planned.  Maybe I can sneak in a nice bath this evening but I doubt it.  Everyone has tried out my new bath but me.

**I am blessed to have the wonderful home that I do BUT having a hill for a driveway makes getting into the garage a booger!  I didn't succeed last night after many attempts so my car was left out in the cold.  I am going to have to buy stock in rock salt so that I can park inside on nasty days like these.

**The other day I was cleaning the garage to make room for my car and I noticed mouse droppings on some of our furniture.  I haven't bought any mousetraps yet.  Today my son goes to the garage to get his boots on and they found the little rat inside of the dog food bag.  That would have scared me to death but my children want to adopt him as a pet now.  I guess I shouldn't take them to the store with me when I buy the mouse traps.

There you have it, the reason for my moodiness lately.  Hopefully tomorrow will turn out better.

We had a busy, fun-filled weekend.  It seems I haven't posted in forever but it just seems that the month of December seems to fly by in a wink.

Friday night Alysia was in the Madrigal Feast with her choir.  The entertainment for the night was wonderful and it was well worth the $15 ticket.  This is a big production that the high school puts on every year and I am sure that it is one that I will be attending for the next few years.  The yummy food consisted of wassail, DELICIOUS homemade whole wheat bread, ham, almondine green beans, fried potatoes, and spiced apples.  The dessert was a strawberry tart.  From what I ate of my meal it was yummy.  My daughter didn't get to eat before hand though so she kept coming up to the table as she was serving and getting bites of food for her and her friends.  The choir teacher's eye caughter her once but she survived the evening on little food and lots of singing.  Her friends were glad I was there too to share the food.

Saturday I spent the day cleaning the house and runnign some errands and then had the company of Ashley and Brenna that evening.  Brenna brought over a gingerbread train for them to do and I bought a gingerbread house.  There were a lot of laughs for sure.  The train ended up crooked somehow and my chimney kept falling off my roof no matter how much icing I used to try to get it to stay.

Today I spent the day cleaning up from the mess we made last night and then did some more Christmas shopping and clothes shopping for our Christmas card pics.  It is my goal to get the pics of the family done this week so that I can get the cards done and in the mail.  I'm just trying to decide on the best spot to take them.  We are going to take them at our new house and I am deciding on the front porch, although I need it to look a little more Christmasy or in front of the tree.  We may do both and see which turns out best. 

It looks like this week will prove to be busy like the past few.  We have a birthday party to plan for a 15 year old and all of the other obligations that seem to pop up during this month.  Somewhere in there I'll get some baking done.

Happy Holidays!

This Is The Only Wire Hanger Allowed In My House, Seriously

I am sure that all of you know the famous Ms. Crawford  thanks to "Mommy Dearest".  Call me a little crazy but I have to admit that I really liked that show when I was little.  Maybe I see a little of her crazy in my when I don't take my little white pill :)  To this day I DESPISE wire hangers and my daughter never understood why until she watched that movie.

Anyways,  I found this Eddie Ross wreath thanks to a friend of mine's blog and I have to make it.  I think it is adorable and seems so easy to make.  Go to http://www.eddieross.com/eddie_ross/2008/12/no-wire-hangers-well-maybe-just-one.html for the instructions

I am going to go to the local Dollar Store tomorrow and attempt to make one.  I will post a pic of mine when I am done.  I only hope it turns out like this pic!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

This has been one long day.  We bought a 12', yes a 12' Christmas tree last night from Hobby Lobby.  They only had one left and it was the display so that is the one that we got.  We brought it home and got it up and there were some electrical issues with it and not all of the lights would work.  I'm not kidding when I say there were about 50 that were sporadically burnt out.  So we decided, after a lot of contemplation to take it back and get another smaller one.  There was another one that we really liked but the kids and dad REALLY wanted a BIG tree.  So this is the tree that we ended up with and I have to say that I couldn't be happier.  This picture does not do the tree justice!  It is absolutely beautiful and it isn't even decorated yet.  It has real looking snow on it with berries and pine cones.  I absolutely love it!!!  I can't wait for Santa to visit!!

Lollipop Lollipop!

I couldn't resist posting these photos of Parker trying out his very first sucker!  I was very cautious with this with him being in his high chair with me RIGHT beside him.  He absolutely loved it!!  Parker doesn't eat candy so this was his first taste of heaven!  My oldest son eats too much candy and so I have made it a point to limit what Parker has.  It's hard to break once they are addicted.  None the less a lollipop every now and then never hurt anybody!!

Thankfulness - My Cup Runneth Over

WOW - our family has had an amazing, crazy, busy two weeks.  First we started with the selling of our home and our move into our new ABSOLUTELY, FANTASTICAL, WONDERFUL home!  Can you tell I love it?  Brian has said soooo many times how comfortable he is in our new surroundings.  After having him fight a move out of Kansas City and into Tonganoxie for a long time, those comments are very accepted by me.  I am relieved that he is as happy as the rest of us.  First off my drive to take the kids to school couldn't be any easier.  We are only two minutes from the schools.  No more driving for 20 minutes each way.  I will have so much more time to do other things during the day.  We are so thankful that God blessed the selling of our other home and the purchase of the new one.  I don't think the process could have been any smoother.

Our daughter Alysia has been practicing her little tush off for the Beauty and the Beast play at school.  They have been practicing for 6 weeks sometimes until 10 or 10:30 at night, almost every night of the week.  I even think James was beginning to miss her although he wouldn't admit it.  This past weekend all of the kids' hard work paid off in four performances.  I must say that the kids of Tonganoxie High School are a very talented bunch.  I give kudos to the drama department for putting on such wonderful plays and also to the students!  They put in hard work but had a blast putting it all together.  Alysia is sad to know that she will not get to hang out with her new "family" after school anymore.

My hubby has had an amazing week to say the least.  He has been reunited with his long lost daughter whom he has never met and is 16 years old.  She pursued looking for him and his family and succeeded. Needless to say Brian has been on cloud nine.  He has waited for this day for so long and it seems Brenna has too.  I am soooo thankful that they finally got to meet and pray that their relationship continues to grow.  She seems like an amazing young woman and I can't wait to meet her also.

Parker is a little fire ball that is always on the go.  He is so close to walking I know it will be any day.  He has been such a happy baby lately and I love how he can make himself laugh.  The other day when he was playing by himself, he would fall back and hit his head on a pillow and crack up.  It was one of those moments though where I didn't get my camera quick enough.  Hearing him laugh brings a HUGE smile to my face.  I can't wait to see his personality emerge as he grows into who he will become in the next year or two.  They change so much during this time and I can't wait to cherish each moment as it comes.

Poor James through all of this has been fighting sicknesses.  When we moved he had a fever of around 102 for about three nights straight.  Crazy thing; it was only at night.  During the day he was completely fine and there were no other symptoms.  Then that got better and then he started having to use his inhaler because his asthma started acting up.  He hasn't had complications with that for a couple of years so that caused some concerns.  A trip to the Dr. showed that he was fine though.  Then when the kids were out of school last Friday, poor James was home vomiting all day long.  He laid on the couch and didn't do anything for 2 1/2 days.  I didn't know my cannon ball could sit that long and sleep so much so I knew that he was really sick.  He missed school yesterday and I think enjoyed hanging out with Mom and Dad that this morning he tried to pull the old "my throat still hurts" line.  Needless to say he is on the mend and back at school hanging with his buddies as we speak.

There you have it; an update since I haven't been on in a couple of weeks. The next few weeks will prove to be more exciting as we move through the holiday season.  Brian and I will be having Thanksgiving at our house this year with the family and I can't wait!

Need Some Extra Christmas Money?!

I get a lot of people that ask me about what kind of work I do out of my home, therefore I have posted the links on here to direct you to some of the work at home sites that may or may not be hiring.  I have been doing transcription for about three years now and I love it.  There is no medical transcription that I do but if you have experience in that field then there will be more demand for your services.  It provides a little of the extra income I want or more that I may needed depending on the situation.  I can work as little or as much as I want.  It truly has been a blessing for me and I encourage you to check it out if it is something that you may be interested in.

Each of the links to the right that lists work at home sites are legitimate.  They have all been researched and I have applied for many of them myself.  My advice would be to apply to as many as you can.  When you start getting calls or emails back you can see what fits your schedule the best and decide who to contract with.

Best of luck and if I can answer any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

You've Seriously Got to be Kidding!

Did you know that there is a movement among psychiatrists to recognize internet addiction as a mental disorder.  Well haul me away to the psych ward then because I have a full blown case of it!

In today's age many people look to the internet for a million things.  Let's see what I use my handy dandy computer for.  I'll give you clues and you can decide if I have the "INTERNET MENTAL DISORDER" (said in a deep voice).  It's like we'll be playing Blues' Clues except there will be waaaaaayyyyyy more than three clues and I will be using this computer as my Handy Dandy Notebook.

(By the way we don't watch TV on the internet so by me knowing what Blue's Clue's is about shows that I am not on the computer all the time).  Okay, shall we proceed.

• Of course we have the proverbial Facebook whom almost EVERYONE is on.  This is how I connect with people simply because talking on the phone with a baby, a 6 year old and a teenager around isn't necessarily practical at all times.  Besides if I want to talk, I can and if I don't want to be bothered then no on bothers me :)
• Online banking and bill pay - need I say more!  Who wants to sit down every payday and write checks to a million different companies and then have to get stamps to mail them and get them to the mailbox and HOPE that they get there on time.  Remember I am a stay at home mom so MANY times I pay those things on the day they are due.  I say online bill pay saves my sanity!
• Read the news - who has time to sit down and read the paper only to throw all of it away.  I get to read what I want and there is no waste.  I am being environmentally friendly here.
• iTunes is the only source I have for music.  I love to have music playing in my home all the time and having iTunes (or Limewire - but shhhh...I don't want the internet police on me now) gives me the ability to get any music I want in all different genres without having to buy a CD where I will never listen to any of the other songs.
• Google - remember when you were younger and you had encyclopedias?  Well that is my Google!  I search for anything and everything on there and no it does not take away from me knowing how to spell and look things up.  I am perfectly capable of doing that!  Google has not contributed to the demise of incompetent children.
• Scrapbooking - I love doing all of my scrapbooking and purchasing of my photos online (just remember to save them to an external hard drive - read prior post).  I cherish my photos and having the ability to do even more with them is awesome!  My kids will appreciate it someday.  They won't have to look back like I do at pictures of people I don't even know from who knows when.  Heck my parents can't even remember what the pictures are sometimes.  How does that tell your story to your future generations.  Scrapbooking on the computer is also a lot CLEANER than buying all of the stuff and doing it manually although I do make a random manual scrapbook every now and then.
• The fun one that my teenager hates is that I can check on her school work at practically any point in time and know what is going on.  I am not one of those parents who is ever surprised by anything that may, or may not, come home.  The administrators provide this as a resource to us so by golly I use it to the fullest.  If you're not, you're a fool!
• I also work at home on the computer.  Being a stay at home mom I get to set my hours and work when the kids are at school or they are sleeping.  Granted I love typing but what better way to make a little bit of spending money to make the hubby happy and be able to do it in your PJ's.  Seriously!!
• Blogging - okay so there are a million blogs out there but this is my outlet.  I enjoy it and you can't take it away from me.  If you don't want to read it, just move on but don't tell me that I am looking for something to fill a void.  Are you kidding me!  Can't I just like to write and share?!?!

Okay, there you have it!  A condensed list of everything that I do on the internet or computer.  Now you be the judge!  Is it an Internet Mental Disorder or me just being a normal person looking for better ways to be a better wife, mother, friend, daughter, and sister.  Take it from me, I have learned some amazing things from doing what I do AND it's a lot cheaper than therapy!!

Happy Surfing!!  See you around on this information highway!  I'm not pulling over anytime soon....

Wordless Wednesday

This is Alysia and I on one the rare occasions that she gets along with her mother.

These are few and far between during the teenage years!

Artist In Training

I am really trying to come up with the best way to do this blog since there are so many things that I want to do here and not enough time.  Bear with me as I decide what my plan of attack will be in this endeavor.

I have been a stay at home mom for about 6 years now and have been in the rut of just doing what needed to be done to get by.  It's so easy to just let the children entertain themselves while you get everything else done that needs to be done.  My purpose in being a mother is spending quality time with them and my 6 year old son convicts me of that the most.  So tonight when his little brother was asleep and his older sister was rehearsing for a play, I took the time to sit down with him and do some painting.  This was an idea I found on the internet and decided I would do it with him.  He thought it was the coolest thing.  Just spending alone time with him with no other interactions made him the happiest kid on the block.  I have to admit that I enjoyed the stillness in just not worrying about anything other than what color to use next.  These simple things are so easy to forget in our daily lives but yet so easy to do.

I am vowing to try to make more time with each of my kids so that they know how special they are to me and they never to a back seat to anything else that I am doing.

I started out by tracing some circles on a piece of paper with a cup.  James wondered what I was doing at this point and kept asking what we were going to do.  When he found out that we were going to do watercolors he was so excited to be able to do his and show his art teacher at school.

James thought that the water in the cup looked really neat so he insisted that I take a pic.  He kept trying to put red in there because it looked like "blood".  He is such a boy!

Save Your Sanity and Your Money

My greatest weakness is going to Walmart or Target "with a list" and coming home with a million other things that I never had any intention of buying.  I IMPLUSE shop to the greatest degree anyone could.  If my husband is with me he makes me stay to the list as best I can but I still HAVE to have one thing!  I don't know what it is but I always get more than I came for.  I am sure that a lot of people deal with this to some degree but it is a great weakness for me.  My husband could kill me sometimes because of it.

So I came across this site called http://www.alice.com/ and I think it is sooooo cool!  I joined - it was free by the way - and I stocked my shelves with stuff that I normally buy by the brands.  They had everything that I could need.  You can log in when you need your items and they will ship them to you AND it's free shipping.  So I am not spending any gas AND I am not buying anything extra hopefully.

You can set it up so that it reminds you when you might be running out of products so that you never run out.  You set up when you want to be reminded.  How much simpler can this get?

Check it out if you can and sign up.  We can save money and our marraiges together!  The less I go into a store the less money I will spend.

WARNING - Don't do what I did!

Okay, so two days ago while working at 10:00 at night my computer kept locking up on me.  I was so frustrated so I ran a disk utility on it and it told me that I needed to reinstall my operating system.  Okay.  So I went through the boxes I have packed so that we can move and I found the disks to reinstall it.  Not a problem.

So I insert the disk and it warns me that I need to back up all of my data or it will be lost.  It tells me how to stop the installation so that I can do that.  Went through the steps that it told me and then it proceeded to not want to do anything.  At this point it is about 11:00 at night and so I call Apple and they have the audacity to be closed at night.  I can't believe they aren't open all hours of the night so help me when I need it.  Go figure that they need time off.

So I went to bed and called Apple the next day.  They walked me through about three different ways that I could get my computer started to no avail.  They told me that it was a hardware problem and that I needed to call a technician.  AT LEAST I bought the three year Apple care protection to protect me!! 

So I called and found a guy that could come to my house that was authorized by Apple.  I have to use the people they want since it was under warranty.  Anyways he couldn't get anything more than I had done to it and told me that it was probably my hard drive that went bad.  So he took it back to his office and ran diagnostics on it and said that he could see all of my data and so he would install a new hard drive and then just migrate my data from one to the other.  AWESOME!  This was starting to look like it was going to turn out okay.

In the meantime I had to use my hubby's laptop while he went out of town so that I could finish the work I had in order to meet my deadline.  He was not happy about leaving it at home.  I thank him soooo much for that.  Now her just gives me a hard time because he thinks that I really bought him a computer just so I would use it.  Not!!  I actually love my computer and prefer to use it rather than his laptop.

So toda my computer comes back home all new and the technician proceeds to tell me that he couldn't get any of my data!  I swear I thought he was joking!!  What - - 4000 pictures, GONE!!!  I can deal with the music I don't have and work but the pictures I can't ever get back!  Four years down the drain!!  I am sick!!  He said that he could see all of my files but when he actually went in to recover my data that there was in the files!  ARGH!!!!!

SO....I got my computer back but now I have to spend a lot of time getting it back to where I want it installing all of the programs I need, etc.  I lost all of my email account addresses, the 100's of websites I had on my favorites menu, just to name a few.

So what did I learn this week that you can learn from me..

GET AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!!  No matter how much it costs it can save you a lot later on.  Don't learn the hard way like I did.

Don't have your home office in the same room as your dryer!  The whole reason that this happened in the first place was because of my dryer.  You see, my computer desk is always dusty and I never thought anything of it.  Well seems that the dryer creates dust in the air even though it is vented well and so where can that duct go other than in the back of the computer wherever there is an opening.  Every where there was a vent fan was an entry point for dust, and lots of it!  The technician said that he literally had to vacuum out my computer because there was so much dust in there.  Go figure!  Who would have guessed that having it in the same room would have created a problem like that.

Last but not least, if you do chose to not follow my advice, make sure you buy a warranty of some kind if you are getting a new computer.  That was my only saving grace during this whole ordeal.  $100 a year and a half ago when I got the computer is paying off right now.  I didn't have to pa a dime for the service or the part.  That's good considering I am going to be paying for a long time coming because I don't have my cherished pictures.

What are you eating?

Do you ever have days where you hear the dreaded question "What's for dinner?" only to remember that you don't really have anything planned so you throw something that isn't the healthiest meal you could have planned if you only took the time to do so.  Another option might be to just go out and grab something to satisfy your hunger because nothing was planned or you have a million other activites to do so there isn't time to cook dinner at home.  These nights are PERFECT for pulling the slow cooker out!  There are limitless recipes on the web anything you are looking for.  Whether you like making things from scratch or quick dinners; taking the time to do a little planning will save your sanity, checkbook, and the mindless nights of trying to figure out what you are going to do.

First and foremost you need to tailor your grocery list based on the weekly circulars.  This is where you will get the most bang for your buck.  Combining coupons with the circulars will put even more money in your pocket!!  Check out http://www.couponmom.com/ for tips and tricks on getting the most out of your shopping trips.

Here is a list of what I plan on making for the next couple of weeks.  I encourage you to take a look at what you're making too!  Post what your plans are to help other people get out of the rut of making the same old thing.

Potato Soup
Fish Tacos
Meatball Sandwiches
Creamy Chicken Casserole
Carbonara - this is Alysia's pick.
Chicken Quesadillas
Enchiladas
Bacon, Chicken, Tomato, Alfredo Pasta
Salisbury Steak - this is James' pick.
Talapia
BLT
Sauerkraut and Polish Sausage

What do you have planned for your upcoming menu?