I recently stumbled across a blog entitled 100 Weeks, 100 Goals. The owner of the blog made a "Bucket List" of 100 things he wants to do over the next 100 weeks. Some of his goals are quite lofty and include extensive travel around the world. Others are quite simple and easily attained. While I have no intention at this time of making an exhaustive list of everything I would like to do before I die, I have decided to use his idea in a way. I am going to choose a goal every week and post it here each Wednesday. Then each week I will share how my goal was accomplished and share a new goal for the following week. By sharing my goals in writing, there is a sense of accountability, even if only to nameless, faceless readers of my blog. I would encourage you to choose a goal each week for yourself as well and I would love to hear what those goals are and how you accomplished them. HINT HINT! LEAVE COMMENTS!
So without further ado, my goal for this week is to download all the photos on my computer onto disk. I have been meaning to do this for over a year and if my computer were to crash without my having done this I would lose countless memories. I have been putting it off for far too long. This is the week!!
Happy goal setting and Happy New Year!!!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Anti-Christmas
I have always loved the Christmas season. I have always loved decorating and doing all the special stuff with the boys like baking Christmas cookies and making gifts and crafts. I have about 50 Christmas books that I usually wrap up before December begins. I let each of the boys unwrap one book each night and I read them aloud. When they are all gone it is Christmas Eve. We have our little manger scene that we set out on the hearth. We have a small tree complete with a bunch of mini ornaments that we usually put in the boys room. We bake a birthday cake for Jesus every year on the 24th and have a birthday party.
But this year is turning into the Anti-Christmas. As is always the case, My Honey was away on a business trip for the week following Thanksgiving. It is usually during this week that the boys and I pull out all the Christmas decorations and put them out, wrap all the books and generally prepare for the month of December. This year we were unable to do that. Some months back we started some home improvements and they are as yet on going. We have built in shelving and cabinets in our living room and we took them all apart to be painted. The big issue was that they were previously painted in an oil based paint so I had to use an oil base primer before I could paint them with the water based paint we chose. I managed to get one set of shelves partially done on my own but it was a HUGE job and I just couldn't finish without help. The other side of shelves is the side where all the electrical stuff is and I did not want to even touch it without My Honey's help. All the shelves and cabinet doors were out in the garage and we needed to set up tables and basically take over the garage as a workroom in order to get those painted. Because My Honey works so many hours and travels so often, a number of months have gone by with no further progress. This is why we were unable to decorate the week after Thanksgiving. I had no shelves in place. They were all still leaning out in the garage waiting for a weekend that My Honey could help me finish the job. Not that the week was wasted, mind you. I managed to get a load of cleaning done that week including my pot shelves, closets and cupboards.
This past weekend, it appeared that the weekend to get the painting finished had finally arrived. My Honey took Friday off and we had nothing but painting planned for the full 3 days. We further tore apart the living room, took down the rest of the shelves and got to work. We were making good progress but were still not quite finished on Sunday night. We figured we would finish Monday. On Sunday night we got a call letting us know that my mother-in-law fell and broke her pelvis. This is NOT a good thing. She is 86 years old and has very brittle bones. She was admitted to the hospital and will most likely be in a rehab facility for a few weeks. In the mean time my father-in-law is 90 years old, blind, and deaf. He is unable to care for himself. My Honey headed down to So. Cal. to help care for his parents along with his siblings. He will be gone until this weekend. Hopefully a live in nurse will be brought into the home to help care for him while MIL is in the rehab facility and also for at least a while when she returns home. I feel so bad for her having this happen at this time of year. I really feel it is time that they found different living arrangements, but that is a whole other topic.
So, not to diminish the severity of my MIL's injury, but lets get back to my pity party, shall we? So here it is, nine days before Christmas and although I have tried to finish the job by myself, there are things I just cannot do alone. Also, because it is so cold, the paint is taking quite a long time to cure and I am still unable to get the shelves back in place or set anything on them. Today I made the decision that all the Christmas stuff is going right back into the garage and not coming out again until next year! Oh, we have the tree up, and I am sure we will do some baking and what not, but I never did get all those books wrapped, or any of the other decorations out, and honestly, what is the point in decorating 5 days before Christmas? I am just not going to do it! I had a good cry today. I feel TOTALLY frustrated! My house looks like total chaos with shelf stuff piled all over in boxes and ladders leaning here and there. All the electronic stuff is piled in the living room and the pictures have all been taken off the walls. What makes it even worse is that I did spend the whole week after Thanksgiving deep cleaning the house and if anyone walked in here today they would not be able to tell.
So anyway, this is basically a pity party, rant. I just needed to get it out and say that I feel like Scrooge! Bah Humbug!
But this year is turning into the Anti-Christmas. As is always the case, My Honey was away on a business trip for the week following Thanksgiving. It is usually during this week that the boys and I pull out all the Christmas decorations and put them out, wrap all the books and generally prepare for the month of December. This year we were unable to do that. Some months back we started some home improvements and they are as yet on going. We have built in shelving and cabinets in our living room and we took them all apart to be painted. The big issue was that they were previously painted in an oil based paint so I had to use an oil base primer before I could paint them with the water based paint we chose. I managed to get one set of shelves partially done on my own but it was a HUGE job and I just couldn't finish without help. The other side of shelves is the side where all the electrical stuff is and I did not want to even touch it without My Honey's help. All the shelves and cabinet doors were out in the garage and we needed to set up tables and basically take over the garage as a workroom in order to get those painted. Because My Honey works so many hours and travels so often, a number of months have gone by with no further progress. This is why we were unable to decorate the week after Thanksgiving. I had no shelves in place. They were all still leaning out in the garage waiting for a weekend that My Honey could help me finish the job. Not that the week was wasted, mind you. I managed to get a load of cleaning done that week including my pot shelves, closets and cupboards.
This past weekend, it appeared that the weekend to get the painting finished had finally arrived. My Honey took Friday off and we had nothing but painting planned for the full 3 days. We further tore apart the living room, took down the rest of the shelves and got to work. We were making good progress but were still not quite finished on Sunday night. We figured we would finish Monday. On Sunday night we got a call letting us know that my mother-in-law fell and broke her pelvis. This is NOT a good thing. She is 86 years old and has very brittle bones. She was admitted to the hospital and will most likely be in a rehab facility for a few weeks. In the mean time my father-in-law is 90 years old, blind, and deaf. He is unable to care for himself. My Honey headed down to So. Cal. to help care for his parents along with his siblings. He will be gone until this weekend. Hopefully a live in nurse will be brought into the home to help care for him while MIL is in the rehab facility and also for at least a while when she returns home. I feel so bad for her having this happen at this time of year. I really feel it is time that they found different living arrangements, but that is a whole other topic.
So, not to diminish the severity of my MIL's injury, but lets get back to my pity party, shall we? So here it is, nine days before Christmas and although I have tried to finish the job by myself, there are things I just cannot do alone. Also, because it is so cold, the paint is taking quite a long time to cure and I am still unable to get the shelves back in place or set anything on them. Today I made the decision that all the Christmas stuff is going right back into the garage and not coming out again until next year! Oh, we have the tree up, and I am sure we will do some baking and what not, but I never did get all those books wrapped, or any of the other decorations out, and honestly, what is the point in decorating 5 days before Christmas? I am just not going to do it! I had a good cry today. I feel TOTALLY frustrated! My house looks like total chaos with shelf stuff piled all over in boxes and ladders leaning here and there. All the electronic stuff is piled in the living room and the pictures have all been taken off the walls. What makes it even worse is that I did spend the whole week after Thanksgiving deep cleaning the house and if anyone walked in here today they would not be able to tell.
So anyway, this is basically a pity party, rant. I just needed to get it out and say that I feel like Scrooge! Bah Humbug!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
My kid comes up with the most X-Rated funnies!!!
.........Or maybe I just have a really dirty mind. That is a strong possibility. But I swear, Muffin Man comes up with some of the funniest things and he doesn't even know why mommy is laughing so hard that she is crying. There have been a few over the years. Last year as we were driving across the middle of no where, which is what we call the desert, and looking at nothing but miles and miles of brush and cacti, Muffin Man suddenly asked me "Mommy, could you make a restaurant underneath a bush?" I proceeded to tell him that it would not be possible because you would need to have plumbing and running water, etc. He then went on to ask "Mommy, could you name a restaurant anything you wanted?" I told him that yes, within reason you could name it anything you wanted. He then announced that when he grows up he is going to open a restaurant and name it "The Big Bush"!!!! At that moment my Honey piped up and said "I'd eat there." Oh My Goodness! I was laughing so hard I almost wet myself. Of course neither of the boys had any idea what I was cracking up over and proceeded to come up with more names that were not even remotely funny but I was still laughing so they thought they were hilarious!
So anyway, the other night I told the boys that they could have a treat. Muffin Man asked for a scoop of ice cream and Little Man asked if he could have a Hostess Ding Dong. As they were sitting at the table eating their treat I shared with them that I had once created and worn a Ding Dong Halloween costume. I created the shape out of cardboard and covered it with tin foil and then wore black tights and leotard underneath. It was a REALLY cute costume if I do say so myself. So anyway, they were both getting a good laugh out of the visualization of their mother dressed as a Ding Dong when Muffin Man says "Did you and your sisters play eat the Ding Dong?" Insert dirty thought here. Right at that moment My Honey walked in and he heard the whole thing and just the look on his face was enough to send me into hysterical melt down. I literally had tears running down my face. Of course later that night My Honey had a new euphemism to add to his repertoire
Anyway, I guess I just had to blog this because it is the funny stories like this one that get forgotten. It isn't exactly something I will scrapbook (or maybe I will) but I still felt it was worth sharing somewhere.
Kids!!! They do keep me in stitches.
So anyway, the other night I told the boys that they could have a treat. Muffin Man asked for a scoop of ice cream and Little Man asked if he could have a Hostess Ding Dong. As they were sitting at the table eating their treat I shared with them that I had once created and worn a Ding Dong Halloween costume. I created the shape out of cardboard and covered it with tin foil and then wore black tights and leotard underneath. It was a REALLY cute costume if I do say so myself. So anyway, they were both getting a good laugh out of the visualization of their mother dressed as a Ding Dong when Muffin Man says "Did you and your sisters play eat the Ding Dong?" Insert dirty thought here. Right at that moment My Honey walked in and he heard the whole thing and just the look on his face was enough to send me into hysterical melt down. I literally had tears running down my face. Of course later that night My Honey had a new euphemism to add to his repertoire
Anyway, I guess I just had to blog this because it is the funny stories like this one that get forgotten. It isn't exactly something I will scrapbook (or maybe I will) but I still felt it was worth sharing somewhere.
Kids!!! They do keep me in stitches.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Family Vacation
Recently, the "Chaos" family went on a short get away. We jetted down to So.Cal. for a week of fun, family, and frolic. We spent a day and a half visiting with family before heading to San Diego to act like tourists. Once in San Diego, we spent a day at Legoland. They offer a generous home school discount as long as you visit on predetermined days. The normal price of admission is $54 and up per person. With the home school discount we paid only $17 per person. WOOT! How can you beat that? We also visited the new Sea Life Aquarium at Legoland. Not nearly as awesome as the Monterey Bay or Long Beach aquariums but the kids really enjoyed the many Lego structures incorporated into the displays and tanks. We had "kids enter free" tickets for the aquarium, so more money saved. WOOT again! We spent a day wandering around the wharfs and Sea Port Village area. We also took the 2 hour harbor cruise. The boys really enjoyed seeing all the naval ships and aircraft carriers. On our last day in beautiful S.D. we visited the San Diego Wild Animal Park. What an awesome place! Although it was super hot, the animals were all out and about and we were able to see so many awesome sights. The only drawbacks were the bees swarming everywhere making it difficult to sit down and rest anywhere and the park is HUGE, making it virtually impossible to view everything in one day. This is one place I would like to go back to simply because I know there was so much more to see but we just ran out of time. One big plus of the day was that, once again, the kids were free! WOOT, WOOT! On top of all the money that we saved at the amusement parks on admission, all our lodging was also free. My Honey travels often and he earns lots of points at those hotels. Because of this, we almost always are able to get our lodging free. Thank goodness, because we spent way too much on Legos at Legoland!
Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures of our family get away. Don't forget that you can click on any picture to enlarge it. Enjoy.
The Boys, Uncle Rob and Grampa.
The Boys, Uncle Rob, Grampa, and My Honey.
The Boys with Grama and Grampa.
Off to Legoland.................
The Boys at the touch pool at the new Sea Life Aquarium.
Pretending to be underwater.
The GIANT Lego pumpkin! These are all over the park right now.
The Boys on one of the rides. This one requires you to use your own strength to pull yourselves to the top of the tower. Notice who is putting in all the effort.
Goofing around.
Little Man with a Bionicle......His favorite toys!!!
Muffin Man with a Bionicle.
Mini Land........This is my favorite area in Legoland. They have so many awesome replicas of famous landmarks and EVERYTHING is made of Legos. I could spend hours just looking.
Here is the war memorial.
The Daytona Racetrack. Look at the detail!
Excalibur. The hotel My Honey and I stayed at when we got married in Vegas
The Freedom Tower.
The Harbor Tour of San Diego.
A Naval destroyer that passed us in the harbor. AWESOME!
The USS Mercy, one of two Navy hospital ships.
The Boys on the Merry-Go-Round at Sea Port Village.
Off to the Wild Animal Park.
The giraffes.
The rhinos.
Look at the huge expanse of area they have to roam around in. Just one of the things that makes this park unique.
A cheetah
Here are some pictures of My Honey and the boys feeding the Lorikeets. That was FUN! They were landing all over us.
Here are some STRANGE, unidentified animals that were loose in the park.
The birds are loose and just all over the park but they do not leave because they know a good thing when they find it.
Here is a beautiful bird in the tropical bird area.
The lions were just majestic!
And here is a cheetah we were able to see up close and personal. We were sitting on a bench looking at our map when a side gate opened and this woman walked out with this beautiful cheetah on a leash. She proceeded to do a talk about cheetahs and we had front row seats. We are literally 10 feet from this cheetah in the picture. It was purring just like our cats only A LOT louder. Too cute!
Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures of our family get away. Don't forget that you can click on any picture to enlarge it. Enjoy.
The Boys, Uncle Rob and Grampa.
The Boys, Uncle Rob, Grampa, and My Honey.
The Boys with Grama and Grampa.
Off to Legoland.................
The Boys at the touch pool at the new Sea Life Aquarium.
Pretending to be underwater.
The GIANT Lego pumpkin! These are all over the park right now.
The Boys on one of the rides. This one requires you to use your own strength to pull yourselves to the top of the tower. Notice who is putting in all the effort.
Goofing around.
Little Man with a Bionicle......His favorite toys!!!
Muffin Man with a Bionicle.
Mini Land........This is my favorite area in Legoland. They have so many awesome replicas of famous landmarks and EVERYTHING is made of Legos. I could spend hours just looking.
Here is the war memorial.
The Daytona Racetrack. Look at the detail!
Excalibur. The hotel My Honey and I stayed at when we got married in Vegas
The Freedom Tower.
The Harbor Tour of San Diego.
A Naval destroyer that passed us in the harbor. AWESOME!
The USS Mercy, one of two Navy hospital ships.
The Boys on the Merry-Go-Round at Sea Port Village.
Off to the Wild Animal Park.
The giraffes.
The rhinos.
Look at the huge expanse of area they have to roam around in. Just one of the things that makes this park unique.
A cheetah
Here are some pictures of My Honey and the boys feeding the Lorikeets. That was FUN! They were landing all over us.
Here are some STRANGE, unidentified animals that were loose in the park.
The birds are loose and just all over the park but they do not leave because they know a good thing when they find it.
Here is a beautiful bird in the tropical bird area.
The lions were just majestic!
And here is a cheetah we were able to see up close and personal. We were sitting on a bench looking at our map when a side gate opened and this woman walked out with this beautiful cheetah on a leash. She proceeded to do a talk about cheetahs and we had front row seats. We are literally 10 feet from this cheetah in the picture. It was purring just like our cats only A LOT louder. Too cute!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Summer Memories
Summer is over and tomorrow is the first official day of Autumn, although here in Arizona the Summer sun blazes on. We are still having triple digit heat and I am anxiously awaiting Autumn temperatures. We started our new school year back on August 4th and things are going really well. I switched to a new curriculum and I love it! Even better, the boys seem to really be enjoying it! P.E. begins this next Friday and I am looking forward to getting the kids out to the park early on Friday mornings. I am going to use the time to get a bit of exercise myself and walk the path while they are in class. Although I am glad Summer is over, I can look back fondly on all our activities. We stayed busy every day and really had a wonderful few months. We were so busy that I seldom made it to the computer to blog about any of our great adventure's. So without further ado, here is a synopsis..........
The boys and I made a solar powered S'more oven. What better way to cook s'mores than in the 120 degree heat of the sun! After about an hour in the sun, the chocolate was well melted, the graham crackers were toasty crisp, and the marshmallows were warm and soft. MMMMMM!
We spent quite a bit of time at the bowling alley this summer. Our bowling alley generously gives every school aged child in our city a summer pass that is good for one game and shoe rental per day for 100 straight days. Being able to get out of the house and into a well air conditioned building AND have something fun for the boys to do is quite a treat in the summer. Both Muffin Man and Little Man made great improvements in their bowling this summer.
We always met friends at the bowling alley.............
And we usually spent at least part of our time goofing off or acting like a super hero................
Sometimes we even dressed like them....................
And sometimes we learned lessons on why it is a bad idea to run while carrying a 7 pound bowling ball...................(if you can not see the photo well, just click on it.)
You have NO idea how scared I was when I saw Muffin Man go down face first on the ball! And the sound of that ball and face connecting was just sickening! I thought for sure he was going to have no teeth left, or a broken nose or jaw! God was looking out for my little guy that day and all he ended up with was that nasty bruise and a sore chin. AMEN! I think he learned his lesson about running in the bowling alley.
We had a wonderful visit from good friends from New Mexico. It was so fun to visit with them and see their little ones. The kids had a great time playing and we hope to visit them at their home SOON!
We celebrated both of the boys birthday's at home with family.............
And we had a slumber party in the middle of the month with friends......
We started taking Karate lessons and just love it! The boys are doing so well. Both have gained so many new skills over the summer and are working hard toward that yellow belt!
Along with all the activities shown above, we also spent many days lounging in the pool, playing with friends, playing with video games, and just hanging out with each other. And that about covers it. The lazy days of Summer have passed and we are back to the grind of school and schedules.......But honestly, it really isn't so bad!
The boys and I made a solar powered S'more oven. What better way to cook s'mores than in the 120 degree heat of the sun! After about an hour in the sun, the chocolate was well melted, the graham crackers were toasty crisp, and the marshmallows were warm and soft. MMMMMM!
We spent quite a bit of time at the bowling alley this summer. Our bowling alley generously gives every school aged child in our city a summer pass that is good for one game and shoe rental per day for 100 straight days. Being able to get out of the house and into a well air conditioned building AND have something fun for the boys to do is quite a treat in the summer. Both Muffin Man and Little Man made great improvements in their bowling this summer.
We always met friends at the bowling alley.............
And we usually spent at least part of our time goofing off or acting like a super hero................
Sometimes we even dressed like them....................
And sometimes we learned lessons on why it is a bad idea to run while carrying a 7 pound bowling ball...................(if you can not see the photo well, just click on it.)
You have NO idea how scared I was when I saw Muffin Man go down face first on the ball! And the sound of that ball and face connecting was just sickening! I thought for sure he was going to have no teeth left, or a broken nose or jaw! God was looking out for my little guy that day and all he ended up with was that nasty bruise and a sore chin. AMEN! I think he learned his lesson about running in the bowling alley.
We had a wonderful visit from good friends from New Mexico. It was so fun to visit with them and see their little ones. The kids had a great time playing and we hope to visit them at their home SOON!
We celebrated both of the boys birthday's at home with family.............
And we had a slumber party in the middle of the month with friends......
We started taking Karate lessons and just love it! The boys are doing so well. Both have gained so many new skills over the summer and are working hard toward that yellow belt!
Along with all the activities shown above, we also spent many days lounging in the pool, playing with friends, playing with video games, and just hanging out with each other. And that about covers it. The lazy days of Summer have passed and we are back to the grind of school and schedules.......But honestly, it really isn't so bad!
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