Home Sweet Home

What a day! It started WAY too early. Seriously. The kids and Brent were up past midnight last night playing Guitar Hero on the Wii, and I wanted to go to bed. But it was super loud. SO, even with the door shut, and 2 fans going, I could still hear them. SO, I put in my MP3 player and headphones, and listened to a bit of Eclipse as I fell asleep. I don't know what time they finally went to bed. I turned off my MP3 player around 1:30am. It had started over again at the beginning of the book, so I'll need go back and re-listen to the end of the book - LOL!

Anyway, I'm sleeping along nicely, and Brent wakes me up before he goes to work. Why, you ask? Was it something important? Life and death? Car wouldn't start? Couldn't find his keys? No, he wanted his College diploma. Yup. He wanted to know if I knew where it was, because he wanted to hang it on his wall at work. WHAT??? Why would you wake me up early to ask me that??? Couldn't you get it at noon? Or shouldn't you have looked for it last night? Like when you were playing Guitar Hero for hours? Men.....

If I'd have woken him up early on a Saturday morning to ask him if he'd seen the collindar, he'd be mad. I know he would. I'm just saying....

I tried my best to go back to sleep, but it wasn't working for me. I was up, as much as I hated to admit it.

I decided to clean my room a bit. I got these cool soft storage boxes yesterday, and wanted to use them for something. I decided to reoragnize my closet a bit. See, I don't have a dresser. I just use storage boxes. I know, it's ghetto. I don't care. I'm cheap, and I move a lot. It works for me. Anyway, I thought that if I put socks in one box, undies in one box, bras in one box, etc, I could line them on the bottom of my closet, and it would look nice. And it did!

I folded a whole bunch of laundry, and washed a whole bunch more. All while listening to Muse. It was an enjoyable morning.

At around 11am, I was ready for a break. It seemed liked forever since I'd been out, and I needed to get away :) SO, I made sure that they kids were happy and taken care of, and headed to the store. I wanted to check out Family Dollar, and see if they had any more of the storage soft boxes. They were 3 for $5. Similar to the ones that Target had on sale, one for $5.50. Anyway...

I got there, and scoured the store, but they didn't have them. I bought 2 new shower curtain liners, and a shower rod, and some light bulbs (did you know good old fashioned light bulbs are hard to find these days???), a power surge protected power strip, and some clothes for the little boys. Sweat suits for $5. That's a GREAT deal. I got 2 Lightening McQueen ones, one BMX one, and a Power Ranger one. The little boys would LOVE them.

Next, it was on to Fallas. OMGosh, they were having Winter sales! Coats for $3 or $5 or $10. Really, it was GREAT prices. I got Eme a purple coat for $3, a sweater for $3, and a sweat suit for $5. I got myself a fake black leather coat for $5. It's SO cute!

I found undershirts for the little boys, and more sweat suits. I got 3 or 4 more, and some Jeans/long sleeve shirt sets. For $5. Can't pass up jeans AND a shirt for $5. All totaled, I spent $72 at Fallas. I know, that's a TON of money, but I got a BUTTLOAD of clothes for the little boys. Jimmy mostly. Because he's a bigger size than Joe, and can't fit into the pants anymore.

Andrea met me at Fallas, and drug me away - ROFL! I put my bags in her Suburban, left my truck there, and we headed for Chili's on Transmountain. Did you know that they have a Soup/Salad/Chips lunch special? For $6.49, you get unlimited chips and salsa, your choice of 2 salads (house or cesear, unlimited refills), and you choice of 3 soups (unlimited refills and choices). They had a tortilla one, a creamy potato, and a black bean.

I was SO full by the time I waddled out of that restaurant. I'm going back on my diet on New Years Day, I think. I'm tired of feeling fat and nasty all the time - LOL! BUT, the soups were good. Not as good as Olive Garden, but still good. I'd do it again :)

After Chili's we went across the street to WalMart. Andrea wanted to get one of those wrapping paper storage containers. You know the ones. With a little storage compartment in the top to hold tape and scissors and tags and such. Well, they had one, but it wasn't the one she wanted. It didn't have the additional storage part. So we kept looking.

She needed milk and a few other things, but it was a very quick trip. I got a flavored water drink thing, and that was it for me. I'd more than spent my wad at the last store - LOL!

Then it was home. The kids were doing fine. They'd had fun playing, and were still happy and content. They LOVED all their new stuff. Joe and Jim especially, since they were the ones with most of the loot. LOL!

Andrea and I and Kim headed out about an hour later to Target on the Far East side. Kim said that they had the storage containers that Andrea wanted. But we struck out again. They had had them at one point, but they were out. Sigh. Andrea and Kim both got a different storage box, to put away the Christmas crap. Mine's still up. I'm not tired of it yet - LOL! I think because it's not in the way of anything. You know what I mean? It's tucked away, not to obtrusive. And the tree is pretty. How long can I leave it up before it's tacky?

I got home, and got the kids some dinner. I made pancakes with mini chocolate chips. TASTY. And another reason why I feel fat - ROFL! BUT, they were good :) Brent was home around then, and after getting all settled in after work, he and Jake got on Guitar Hero. We were being serenaded again - LOL!

I got on my laptop to get my blogging done for the day, and here I am. It's 8:41pm. My room is still "fluffed up" after cleaning. You know, where you pull stuff out, or make piles after folding, and you haven't quite got it put away yet. Sigh. It's on it's way to being organized, but not quite there yet. I've been doing laundry all day long. I did 4 load for Joe and Jim, and 2 loads for Brent and I. Jakes on his 2nd load now. And the dryer is broke-ish. SUPER squeeky. It keeps life real - ROFL!

Here's my WordArt Wednesday week 77 for ya! I thought it was funny. A facebook friend recommended the saying :) hehehe.

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to get the download. And remember, you MUST BE SIGNED into the gallery to get the download. Don't forget :) Otherwise it won't work.... And leave some love if you like my work :)

Have A Nice Day

Hey girls! What a day, what a day.... I woke up at 7:00am to go walking with Andrea, but after texting her, found out that she had sick kids. Poor Ben had been puking. SO, I went back to bed, and didn't wake up until about 8:15am. It was SO nice. Just to be lazy and sleep :)

Brent came home from PT around that time, and got ready for the day. The kids slowly woke up one by one, and went about their day off. I got ready, and decided to go do some After Christmas sale shopping around 9:30am. I had a TON of stores to hit. I left Jake in charge, and headed out.

First stop was the Sears repair shop to ask about a part for my dying washing machine. No dice, though, because they were closed until 11:30am. Next stop, the furniture warehouse store across from Target. Andrea and I have a friend who bought her table there for $5. Seriously. And it's big, and relatively nice. But they weren't open either. I was totally striking out.

I decided to give WalMart a try. They had practically nothing left. And it was only 50% off. That's not a great deal. I was looking for a pre-lit tree, preferably 7 foot or taller. They had 7 footer for $40, but it wasn't pre-lit. I didn't need that. They had a 6 foot something tree, pre lit, but it was $50. Didn't want that either. I left Walmart with nothing.

Next, Walgreens. I knew that they had trees at one point. But none that were tall and prelit. Sigh. I did get some lights, white, 100 count, for $2.00. I ended up with 2 packages.

Next, I went to Big Lots, but they didn't have anything good. Their stuff was on 50% off a few days before Christmas, so it had been picked over pretty good.

I went next door to Kmart, and they had a TON of stuff, but it was SO expensive. Their trees were 50% off, but when they start off at $300, it's WAY too cheap to buy and put in the garage for a year. That's probably why they had SO much left.

I went to Target, and they had quite a bit of stuff, but I wasn't gonna pay $68 for a 6 1/2 foot prelit tree. I thought it was still too expensive. Strike out at that store too.

But now the furniture store was open, so I swung by there after Target. I found a SUPER nice little man to help me, and I told him the kind of table I was looking for, and how my friend had got a KILLER deal last year. He explained that the new owner/manager/person didn't want them doing that anymore, so deals like that didn't happen anymore. I told him that I needed a table to fit 7 people, I didn't care what it looked like, and I didn't want to spend more than $50. He said that he'd look around, and ask the guys in the warehouse tomorrow, and see what he could dig up for me. So, while it wasn't really a no, I walked away with nothing again.

I went home, and was a bit disappointed in my shopping day. Sure, I got out of the house, but I hadn't really accomplished anything. My house was getting SO messy, but I wasn't feeling motivated to clean it.

Brent got home a bit after me, and I hung out with him for lunch. He was back to work by 1pm, and the kids and got ready to go to the store again. They had "Grandma Ida" dollars ($5 each) to spend, and it was burning a whole in their pockets. Jake decided to stay home and play Wii, but all the other kids wanted to come.

First dropped by the Sears appliance repair center, since it was now open. I asked the little man if they sold parts for an Admiral dryer, and he was like, yeah, but it's not gonna do you any good, because you don't know what's wrong with the dryer. You need to hire a repair man. Sigh. Not the answer I was looking for. My friend Kim had said, yeah, just go flirt with them, and they'll give you what you need. Yeah, my "flirt skills" suck, apparently. :(

The kids and I headed out to Family Dollar, and actually found some good deals. I could have bought a 6 foot prelit tree for $20, but passed. But that was the cheap deal that I was looking for. I just wanted it bigger :) Because bigger is better, right? LOL!

Tom found a HUGE aircraft carrier that he wanted, Joe found a skateboard, and Jim found a BIG car that played music and drove itself an such. They were happy with their choices. Goodwill was right next door, so we went there too. Eme found a new in the box Easy Bake oven, for $7, and decided to get it. Sure, she already had the oven, but now she has 4 pans. And you can't buy the pans online for cheaper than that. She was pretty excited to have 3 ovens now - ROFL! And we found a bike helmet for Joe for his skateboard. See, I'm all about safety - LOL!

After that, we headed over to the church. I was supposed to meet the Cubmaster there to fill out some paperwork. For about the 5th time. The Boy Scout council keeps loosing my paperwork. What's up with that? SO not cool. Anyway, I filled out a new application, and the Cubmaster said that he'd get it taken care of for me. He's a good guy :)

After that, it was back home. I'd been working with my Brother in Law Nathaniel (Fan for short) to find a new laptop for myself. Mine is having serious issues. It keeps overheating, and turning off at random times, or locking up, or what not. I can't be working on something important, and have it die on me. That's just NOT cool.

Anyway, he'd found a really good one for me around Thanksgiving, and I'd waited too long, and it was now $100 more than then. SO, I asked him to find me a different good one - ROFL! HERE's what he found for me. Looked good to me. I ordered it, and it should be here in a few days!

So my old laptop will go out to the kids, and we'll have another computer to add to the mix. I think that will bring our family total to 7. Sigh. See how big of nerds we are - ROFL!

SO, I spent the majority of the rest of the day transferring files from my laptop to my EHD. My digiscrapping file is HUGE, so I try and re-save it once a week to my EHD. Because I would be SO sad if I lost all of my designing files. All that hard work..... BUT, it's all backed up now, so while I don't want it to die, it can. But because I'd be fine with it dying, it won't. Murphys law and everything, you know :)

At 6pm, I got on the Wii, and played Wii fit for 33 minutes. Aren't you proud of me?? Never mind the fact that I ate anything and everything that happened to come within my line of site today. I Wii fitted for 33 minutes! Woohoo me!

Apparently I have good balance. Because my Wii age is 33. And I'm 34. How cool is that! Jake's Wii age is 27, and he's 12. Tom's is 28, and he's 10. Eme's is 28, and she's 8. Hmmmm, somethings wrong with this picture, I'm thinking. Brent was 39 on the Wii, and he's really 37.

Anyway, I played a whole bunch of Wii balance board games, and it was SO much fun. I raced 3 times, and played the step aerobics (LOVED it), did the tight rope walker game, some penguin on ice game, a bubble game, soccer ball game, ski jumping, and a few more. It was fun.

Brent got home a few minutes before I was done playing, and we made him get on the Wii and make a character. He enjoyed it! He picked a girl trainer, and had fun doing the strength training exercise. He thought it was SO cool when she kept telling him, "You're really strong". Should I be jealous??? Yes, he's really strong. And he's all mine. Go find your own strong guy...

After Wii fit, they moved on to Guitar Hero. At least there's some good music coming from the living room now :) I spent quite a bit of time online on Facebook, doing who knows what, and now I'm blogging. Then I have to make a freebee. I think I need to go to bed. It's almost 11pm, and my eyes are burning. Or maybe I just need to take out my contacts - LOL!

So because I was exhausted, and didn't feel like coming up with a saying/quote, I changed my status on Facebook to ask for sayings. And you girls really d come through for me! I got a WHOLE ton of ideas! I actually made one for Tuesday, one for Wed, one for Monday AND Tue of next week. See how good you guys are to me! Thanks, girls.

Anyway, I thought that this was just hilarious! Because you know, sometimes, I DO have other plans - ROFL!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNg file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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And someone was asking "How do you use this WordArt"? Well, think sarcasm. Find a pic of someone CLEARLY not having a good day, and scrap that picture. I'm sure you have those pics. I do. I don't know why I have a sick fascination with taking pictures of people when they're angry crying. LOL! I think i have pics of EACH of my children that way. I think it's because it makes them even madder, and I like to torment them. Sigh. Maybe I need to work on that....

Capable of Being

Don't you hate it when you get in a fight with your spouse. Especially over something dumb. Well, I guess that fighting over something dumb is better than fighting over something important, right? Apparently, last night when I got home from the movie and he was watching Kung Fu Panda, and I joined him on the couch, he thought that we were starting a "date night".

And he thought that it was SUPER rude of me to bring my laptop on our "date night". And true, if it were a date night, and I brought my laptop and "worked", that would have been super rude. But in my mind, I was just joining him in watching the movie he was already watching. I was planning on going in our room and watching a movie that I'd picked out earlier, just the two of us.

Sigh. It was a big misunderstanding. Then he got his feelings hurt, and I got my feelings hurt, and it kinda sucked. Why must things be so hard sometimes.....

He got up early to go to church, and by the time I woke up to get ready for church, he was gone. We didn't sit together at church, because he sits up front, and I sit in the audience with the kids (not because he was mad), and then he went home early because he wasn't feeling good.

The kids were mostly well behaved during sacrament (Jimmy needs to learn to whisper quieter - LOL), and besides the fact that a Junior Primary teacher, a Senior Primary teacher, and the music choristor didn't show up, Primary was good. Really, people. You can't just not show up and not get a sub. That's not cool. Don't you know that it puts everyone else in scramble mode. Sigh.

Anyway, we came home from church, and got lunch. Guess what it was? Go ahead, guess? Chili? You're right!!! I also made some fruit salad. I didn't have coolwhip, so I used light sour cream and splenda. I think I actually liked it better. I had a big can of light fruit cocktail, a can of light mandarin oranges, a can of pineapple chunks, a red delicious apple, and a golden delicious apple. And 2 bananas. All diced up, with a cup of walnuts. OMGosh, it was SO tasty. I ate WAY too much - hehehe. I guess eating too much fruit isn't a terrible thing, right?

After lunch, I can't remember what I did until 2:30, but at 2:30, I went in to take a nap. I told the kids that they could turn on the TV and watch a movie, AFTER they did their chores and cleaned their rooms. Needless to say, when I woke up at 3:30, the TV was still off - hehehe. They were coloring, and reading, and playing nicely with their toys. No TV days are a good thing!

Brent and I hashed out our feelings, and finally got on good terms again. I hate fighting. It's SO draining. But it's important to work though it, and get back to feeling happy and loving towards each other again. I know that :)

At 6pm, we went out to fix dinner. Yup, Chili. This time with crackers and cheese. And a bit of left over fruit salad. Original, I know :) We played a "family" round of Wii bowling, then sat down to watch the Dr Who 2009 Christmas Special, "The End of Time" Part 1. So so so so so so GOOD!!!! I can't wait for Part 2 on New Years day.

After Dr Who, Brent and I did our "date night" that we were supposed to do on Saturday night. We watched a movie, just the 2 of us :)

Brent has to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then has Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Should be a good week to come! I hope that everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas, and spent some good time with family and friends. I know that we did :)

Oh yeah, and just a random thought, but did you see that Ikeagoddess quit? I went to her site last night, after not having checked in almost a month, and discovered that she was calling it quits. How sad. She said that it just wasn't fun anymore. I can totally relate. I know when I first started, it was purely a hobby. Somedays, now, I find myself not wanting to design, or blog, or anything. Luckily, I look that the blogging as an "online journal", and I know how important journaling is. Hopefully that'll keep me going. And the designing? Well, honestly, that only takes about 6 minutes to get the WordArt freebee done for the day, so I think I can continue to devote 6 minutes a day to it - LOL! I guess what I'm saying is, I don't have plans to quit yet, but I can understand why she did.

This WordArt request comes from . Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Peace

Happy Sunday! It's the last Sunday of 2009! Hopefully it's a good one for everyone :)

Saturday, I slept in. Till after 9am. It was HEAVENLY! Sleep is SO nice :) hehehe. The house was still mostly clean from our cleaning on Christmas Day evening, which was nice to wake up to also. The kids were happy, and playing with the Wii and their new toys. What a great morning :)

Brent and Emeline got ready to go horseback riding, and I got ready to go to the store with Andrea. We both needed a few things from the store. Her, milk, and I contact solution. I only had enough solution to put my contacts in one more time. That's not good - LOL!

Brent left around 11am, and so did I. Andrea and I headed out to the mall. She needed to check on a video game exchange, and I wanted to stop by a clothes store. The trade in deal they were gonna do wasn't very good, so she decided to try her luck with amazon.com. The clothes? I found some CUTE stuff. I got a hoodie sweater (black, of course) with faux fur hood trim and pom pom strings (SO cute!) for $12.99, a leather looking green coat for $5.50 (SOOOO cute!), and a red button up dressy shirt for $6.00. I got it all for about $26 after tax. Almost exactly what I had left from Santa. I just love new things :)

After the mall, we headed to the West side of El Paso. There's this awesome Chinese buffet that Ryan and Andrea used to go to over there, and she wanted to take me there. DIVINE! I wanted to start my diet on Saturday, but we'll start it on Sunday - ROFL!

I had some white rice, some chicken broccoli, some beef with broccoli, ( i tried to stay away from the stuff with the dried red peppery looking things - I'm not good with hot...) a few noodles, some terykai chicken, and some coconut shrimp. OMGosh, the coconut shrimp was SOOOOO yummy. With just the plain rice. I lOVED it. We also got some crab legs.

Crab legs..... just not the same as fresh. The shell was harder to crack, the meat was a bit rubbery, and it just wasn't like my Dad catches. I know, I'm spoiled. Andrea said that it was really good crab. She's tried a lot at a lot of different restaurants, and had a lot of crab legs. Apparently they WERE good, if fresh out of the ocean isn't what you're used ot. Dad, can you get me some crab to share with my friend???

We got a bit of Mongolia grill, which was SOO awesome. There's this whole buffet table with different raw ingredients. You assemble what you want on your plate, add sauces and oils and such, then give it to the guy to grill. SO fun! I even took a movie...

I got some more coconut shrimp with rice, a bit of sweet and sour, and a YUMMY roll. Have you ever had rolls with cream cheese in the center? Anyone have a recipe for that? OMGosh, they were to die for :) My grill was pretty good. Needed more sauce, or some oil or something though. And, you'd be proud of me. No diet soda with caffeine :) Just water!

Next, it was on to Target, which was on the same side of the road. Andrea found her milk, and I got my contact solution. And hair dye. And a set of Star Wars playing cards. And a new slinkie for Joe, since Jimmy broke it yesterday.

We got home at around 2. The kids were doing just fine. It's amazing how well the kids get along when you take just one of the kids out of the mix - LOL! And it doesn't even matter which child it is. Go figure ;)

I thought about taking a nap, but ended up farting around on the computer instead. I used my new popcorn maker, and made popped popcorn for the kids and I, and Jimmy and I watched CARS in my bed. I almost took a nap. Almost.

I made some homemade Chili around 5:30pm. Kim had given me this MASSIVE can of chili beans, and I decided to turn it into Chili. There was a recipe on the back, and I followed it. After browning all 3 lbs of burger with 3 onions, I realized that I didn't have a pot big enough to handle it. Crap! What was I gonna do? I'd already opened up the can of beans, too.

I ended up getting our big galvanized bucket that we used for Civil War reenacting to boil water with, and making chili in that. SO funny. It was a TON of Chili. SO, anyone who wasn't to drop by for food tomorrow, just let me know! I'll hook you up with some chili :)

Brent was supposed to be back home at a decent hour, and we were supposed to go to the movies, but he didn't get home in time. SO, I decided to go on a date with Tom. 2012 was playing at the theater, and I thought it would be fun to go with Tom. He seemed pretty excited about it Eme got to go on a "date" with Brent, Jim and I had a "date" the day before Christmas Eve where we went shopping and ate breakfast at Target, and then Tom and I to the movies tonight. Just Joe is left. I wonder what fun thing we'll go and do?

We made some Carmel Corn right before the movies, and it was SO good. I think the kids liked it. Thanks, Andrea, for the new Popcorn Popper!

Tom and I left for the movies at 6:45pm, and got there just in time. I had Tom pay for the movie ($2 for me and $1.25 for him), and get our movie card stamped. We'd earned a FREE medium popcorn and soda! Score it for us! I had him go and redeem it, then we went and picked our seats. Andrea and Sam sat with us.

Sam had met a kid in line, and sat in front of us, and chatted the whole time. I sat by Andrea, and we chatted the whole time, but whispered better than the boys - ROFL! Tom sat by me, and we shared the popcorn/soda, and I kept him filled in in the parts that he didn't understand. He held my hand during the exciting parts, and he squeeled and just the right times. He's SO much fun to watch a movie with, because he gets SO excited.

After the movie was over, I turned to Tom, and I was like, "Tom, did you like it?", expecting a huge "That was AWESOME", and he was like, "Um, no, not really". What? How could you act like you did during the movie and then say that you don't like it. Strange child - LOL!

All in all, it was a nice date. I think that taking him to the movies, and showing him how to take a girl to the movies will be beneficial to him in the long run. How else can we expect our boys to know how to treat girls if they don't practice? And practicing on mom is the BEST way to learn :)

We got home at almost 10pm, and Brent was already home. Eme and him and Jake were watcing Kung Fu Panda. Jim and Joe were in bed. After about 20 minutes, we made Jake and Tom and Eme go to bed, then finished watching the movie together. He'd never seen it before, and laughed so hard I thought he was gonna wet himself a few times. Jack Black is HILARIOUS! Especially in kid movies, because he's not being dirty. Gotta love Kung Fu Panda!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Mess

I'm longwinded today. I really am. Just a quick warning. My mom and aunt and grandma will love me, but the rest of you? Sorry, girls.....

*shameless plug...*

I have an extra special treat for you guys for Christmas!!! I made up some more WordArt Bundles!!! 8 Christmas WordArt Packs in a bundle, all for a low price of $5.00. That's $0.625 cents per pack, or $0.15 per single WordArt. Now really, you can't beat that, right? $0.15 a piece? I'm practically giving it away - hehehe. Anyway, I have 3 different packs to choose from. SO, Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas 1 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 2 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 3 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

I hope that you all had a FANTABULOUS Christmas day yesterday! I know that my family sure did :)

First off, here's some pics from Christmas Eve. I was too tired that night to download the pic and post them on my blog for my mom. Sorry! BUT, here they are today :)

Jimmy :)

Jacob

Tom

Andrea

Brent

Andrea and I

Eme and Joe pestering Sam - LOL!

Joe and Ben coloring on their dry erase board presents

Tom had the MOST fun putting baby Luke in the giant bag. I think Luke had fun too - hehehe.

Brent & I

I can't be serious for too long without my crazyiness slipping through :)

Luke and his chocolate face mess - hehehe

Jimmy and his funny face :)

My alarm went off at 6:40am, because I forgot to turn it off. Drat! I half slept in longer, though. At 8am, the kids were "accidentally" bumping into our door a bit too regularly, so we decided to get up - ROFL! I thought it was good of them to wait that long for us - hehehe.

We went out, and found that Joe and Jim had gotten into their stockings. Jimmy had opened up a Hot Wheel trailer, and they'd both found their packages of Thin Mints. Sigh. Little boys, right? We had the talk about not opening up Christmas presents/stocking/stuff until Mom and Dad wake up. Hopefully they won't do it again next year. At least it was just the top layer of their stockings those two got into - LOL! It could have been a lot worse ;)

We made the kids eat breakfast, do a few quick chores, and then we were ready for opening presents. Let the fun begin!

First off, we opened the Wii from my mom. The kids were SO excited to get it! Because Santa was bringing Jake Wii games, it woudln't make sense unless we'd already opened the Wii gift. Hence the order - LOL!

The kids when they realized what was in the box - check out Tom - hehehe.

This about says it all - LOL!

OK, this really bothers me that they're not in order, but I'm just gonna have to go with it. See, we opened the Wii, then did stockings, then did one present per person from Santa, then passed out the ones from Madi, then the ones that we drew names for, then the rest of the stuff under the tree. But I divided it up unto Wii, each child, then Brent and I. So, just for my piece of mind, know that we didn't open presents in this order - LOL!

Here's the Wii Fit Plus

Wii Guitar Hero (only $40 at Big Lots!)

Wii Lightsabers (the ones I stood in line a Ross FOREVER for....)

Rechargable station. This oughta be handy...

Here's Jimmy on Christmas Morning. I forgot to have them open their new pajamas on Christmas Eve, so here he is, opening them.

See, much better! Lightening McQueen jammies!

Mini CARS cars from Santa

This car drives and plays music and is annoying....I mean fun...

Shake and Go Chick Hicks. He LOVES it! Thanks, Santa!

2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys from Santa

Shake and Go Sarge was from my sister Madi. Thanks, girl!!!

And the fake Nerf gun is from me! I drew Jimmy's name ;)

And JOE!!! Joe is such a fun kid at Christmas time. He likes the good old fashioned toys. He asked for Cowboy stuff this year. He's SO fun :)

Here's Joe before his new jammies...

And after...

Cowboys and Indians in his stocking

A cap rifle from Santa

And a bow and arrow set

He was SO excited about this. A Cowboy shirt, bandanas, and a leather vest and chaps. He was ONE happy kid :)

Here's the outfit so far...

Add some caps for his pistols...

and some new Cowboy Boots, and you're stylin'!

He wanted a Slinkie from Santa also

And a Cowboy Hat (although it's a foam one from the Dollar Tree, and I'm thinking it won't survive the weekend...)

Oh yeah, there's my little Cowboy!

He got a dart gun and a sword from Tom from the gift name draw thing...

Reach for the sky...

And here's Eme with her new Jammies

Eme looking inside of her stocking

Eme and the Easy Bake Oven (She was SO excited!)

And the "goodwill" Easy Bake Oven - she didn't even know - LOL!

The Tea Set

A horse

A fuzzy warm red blanket (I'm SERIOUSLY jealous :)

A mini Furreal Friend puppy

A nightlight

And with the gift from Aunt Madi

And with the Paint-Your-Own-Tea-Set from Jimmy

Tom with his stocking (and his booklight)

Tom with his Tommy Gun. Dang, that thing is powerful - LOL! It had batteries, and power shoots 20 bullets one after another. Steer clear of that child - hehehe.

Tom and his Star Wars Legos. He really really really really really liked it!

The 5th of the Percy Jackson books!

Tom with his present from Joe. A Star Trek action figure. Spock. Or Sylar, if you watch Heroes - ROFl!

And a cool Lego creation that he made :)

Jacob and his stocking. Really, he was happy. I just snapped the picture and he looked sad. Really.

He was pretty happy about the Star Wars Lightsaber Game

He didn't know he was getting this one all for himself, so he was pretty excited!

And some cash. Cash is good!

He got 2 shirts from his Dad for the gift exchange.

My sister got Brent and Jake and Tom "Legos Batman" for the Wii, but it was sitting in the mailbox as we were opening gifts- LOL!

Here's Brent with his stocking stuff. He got a tin with Civil War DVD's inside it - he was SO excited!
ROFL! It looks like I like the guy in the DVD, not the DVD - hehehe. Tay Diggs IS hot, but mostly I just like the show!
This is my present from my sister! Thanks, Madi! I almost bought it the day after Thanksgiving! See, you're just that good!
Here's Brent with his present from Emeline. A shirt from Fallas Parades.
Me with my present from Jake. From the Jewlery Box. I just LOVE my hat, but it's stinky. Smells like oil. I washed it with Woolite in the sink, so hopefully it smells better tomorrow :)
I give up, don't shoot!

Brent opening his gift from Santa. Horse tack for his Civil War impression :)
So, after opening presents for about an hour and a half, we were done. Seriously, 1 1/2 hours of presents. I was tired by the time I was done. And so was Brent. Do you know how hard some of these toys are to get out of the box? Dang!

So, we hooked up the Wii. Andrea had given the kids a HUGE TV a while back to use with an older gaming system (it worked, but every once in a while you had to whack it to get it to work - LOL), so we hauled it downstairs, and put it in the living room, on the desk. I think it's gonna work out fine. You can still watch TV, and have most of the living room, AND play the Wii.

Brent and the boys played most of the day. I watched on and off. I did go in my room with Eme and Joe (and a few on again/off again stragglers) and watch "White Christmas". It was SO nice. Such a nice way to spend the afternoon.

I went into the little boys' room, and helped them clean it. They had SO many dirty clothes. It's amazing that they even have clothes on - ROFL! I vaccumed, and straightened out toys, and shoes, and clothes, and everything. It took an hour or so. BUT, it looked SO good when I was done.

Then I looked at the rest of the house, and about had a cow. It was TRASHED. Remember, we opened presents for 1 1/2 hours. That's bound to make some mess. Then we just kinda pushed it to the side. Luckily Andrea had called and said that she was "ditching" me for Christmas dinner. Pfew. I didn't wanna cook or clean anyway. It's almost scary how we're on the same wavelength all the time - hehehe. A nice relaxing day at home was JUST what I needed!

At 6ish (or was it later?), I announced that I was going in my room to watch one of our new movies. Cloverfield. Brent came and watched with me, as did Eme and Jimmy. Man, there's a lot of language in it. Well, just one word. The poop word. I hate that word. Sigh. But I really liked the movie. Brent didn't really like the ending, but I won't give it away. By the time it was over, Jimmy was snoring.

Brent went and put him to bed (since it was SO clean - hehehe), and I made everyone else come and help me clean the house. Actually, I just grabbed a trash bag and started cleaning, and the big kids volunteered to help. I was pretty surprised. What great kids. Of course, they lost interest fast, but still. It's the thought that counts.

After about 20 minutes, Brent jumped in and helped out too. All the kids and I cleaned for about 30 minutes straight, and the house was spotless. Seriously, it looked good! By 9pm, it was looking nice!

After that, we all sat down on the couch, and did our Christmas Program. I was really glad that we did it. We read about the birth of Christ, and sang our hearts out. Eme and I sat next to each other and had so much fun singing. It's definitely a tradition that I wanna continue. If you wanna see our program (no, I didn't write it - I "borrowed" it from someone else), click HERE.

We got done at 10:30pm. The kids /Brent started playing Wii again, I started blogging and editing Christmas pictures, Joe fell asleep, Jim was already sleeping, and Eme went to the table to draw. It was gonna be a late night.

I spent HOURS blogging. Here it is, 12:36am, and I'm just now nearing the end of my day. Sigh. I guess this is why I usually don't take so many pictures - ROFL! I wonder if anyone is still reading? That's a lot to read. hehehe. You've probably had your fill of Hartys :)

In honor of the ginormous mess that my house was BEFORE we cleaned it up, here's your WordArt for today :)

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Merry Christmas Dec 2009

First off, I want to wish everyone out there a Very Merry Christmas! I can't believe that it's here already!!! Where in the world did the year go???

I have an extra special treat for you guys for Christmas!!! I made up some more WordArt Bundles!!! 8 Christmas WordArt Packs in a bundle, all for a low price of $5.00. That's $0.625 cents per pack, or $0.15 per single WordArt. Now really, you can't beat that, right? $0.15 a piece? I'm practically giving it away - hehehe. Anyway, I have 3 different packs to choose from. SO, Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas 1 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 2 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

Christmas 3 WordArt Bundle - $5.00

You know, I'm either running around like a chicken with her head cut off, or sick. Those are my two kinds of days. Have you noticed? ROFL! One of these days, I'll have a "not much happened" day. One of these days. It's bound to happen, right?

Well, Christmas Eve was a "chicken" day - LOL! I went to bed at around midnight the night before, and decided to sleep in my clothes (bra too) so that when I got up at 6:45am in order to leave the house at 7:00am to go to Target with Andrea to buy gift exchange presents for our families that it would be easier to get up and go. Dang, holy run on sentence, eh? LMBO!

Anyway, I woke up when my alarm went off, texted Andrea, brushed my teeth, and out the door we went. We looked around the dollar section for a while, and found cheap gifts for everyone. Let me see if I can remember what we got for people. Andrea got a GIANT magnet of the letter R (for Reay), I got a mini pot with "Forget-Me-Not" flowers, Brent got a calendar of Italy, Jacob got US State Flash Cards, Sam got National Geographic flash cards, Tom got multiplication flash cards, Emeline got 4 different colors of mini highlighters, Ben got a dry erase board for practicing your letters, Joe got a dry erase board of the Incredibles, Jim got a wooden train, and Luke got a board book. Pfew! That's a lot of people. SO, if you go to Target, you can see what we got - LOL!

Next, we went looking for a Birthday Present for Kim. We'd just found out that it was her birthday the night before from Facebook! I had the candles for Christmas, but Andrea needed something. It would be a combo b-day/Christmas gift. Even though I always hated it when people did that to me when I was growing up - LOL! Now I understand - hehehe.

The movie section had a BUNCH of cheap older movies. Andrea got a Civil War collection for Brent for $4, and I got him one for his stocking for $7. I also found the DVD collection of Daybreak, a really cool 12 episode series that was on CBS a while back. About a guy that has to repeat the same day (think Groundhog day) over and over. It was pretty good. It was only $4.

Next, we headed to Walmart. I'd mentioned to Andrea about this fake "Scensy" candle warmer thing at Walmart the other day. And that Brent said that I should get it for myself for Christmas, because I had nothing under the tree. Which is true. I was just planning on getting money. Borning, I know :) Anyway, she said that she wanted to get it for me for Christmas. Sigh. ANDREA, you don't need to buy me things for Christmas - LOL!

Anyway, we headed to Walmart. We got CoolWhip for the pumpkin pie, cherry pie filling for the pie for Christmas, undershirt for Eme, and black socks for Joe/Jim, walnuts for something that I wanted to bake (can't remember now what it was - LOL!), and a few other things. Andrea got me a "warmer", and I picked out a few of the scents that I liked. And I picked out a few scents that she liked to give to her :)

When we were in the small appliance isle, she was debating getting a popcorn popper, and decided to wait. I told her that I almost bought one the day before, and she said that she wanted to buy me one - ROFL! SO, I said let Santa buy me the Scensy, and she could get me the popper. Silly Andrea. If you wanna spend money on me, I'm not gonna stop you - LOL!

I got some popping corn to use in it, and am excited to use it :) I just LOVE making homemade popcorn (and caramel corn). We stopped at McDonalds inside Walmart and had Breakfast Sausage Burritos, then headed home.

I wrapped up Kims present and card, and Andrea did the same at home, and we quickly drove it over to Kims house, dropped it off, and came back home. My family was finally all awake, and happy to see me.

Brent finished up Breakfast, and we sat down to open presents from me. But first, we had the talk about WHY we do presents on Christmas. They all understood that Christmas was about Jesus, and vaguely understood the concept of Christmas is about showing love. We further explained that Heavenly Father gave us a precious gift, because He loved us SO much. He gave us the gift of his Son, and in turn, His Son gave us the gift of His life. Gifts given in love. That's what we do when we give gifts at Christmas time. We're trying to be like them.

We also talked about how gifts from the heart are the best, and that gifts with a lot of thought are even better. The gift of time is the best gift of all. We talked about how we should treat each other, and how you should act when you receive a gift. Hopefully some of that sunk in - LOL!

So, it was on to present opening. Jim and Joe went first, and they absolutely loved the set. Those cars were definitely a great idea :) Eme liked her Zhu Zhu pet, and played with it ALL day long, until the batteries wore out - LOL! Tom thought his car was awesome, and Jake was excited about the crystals. All in all, I did good, I think. Everyone was happy :)

I sat down for a while and made a "brag book" for my mom, aunt, and grandma for Christmas. I should have done it LONG ago, but I finally got around to it. I used the photos from Christmas Eve morning, so at least it was recent, right? LOL! I uploaded them to the photo department of my mom's local grocery store, and told her she could pick them up after work. That's SO handy.

I used a buttload of my own WordArts, and Happy Feet Brag Book by Ziggle Designs and Krystal Hartley. I think it's FABULOUS! You can buy it HERE.












At 2pm, Brent, Andrea, and I headed out to the hospital to visit one of the sisters that Andrea and I Visit Teach. She'd fallen and broker her hip, and had had surgery earlier that day. Poor thing! What a way to spend Christmas Eve :( Andrea got a call from Ryan from Iraq while we were driving there, and ended up chatting with him the whole time. Such is army wife life. You drop it all when your man calls, and chat. Wherever and whenever that may be.

Brent and I had a nice chat with Sister Montoya, and headed back toward post. We swung by Sonic on the way and got Happy Hour drinks. Diet Coke for Brent, Diet Dr. Pepper for Andrea, and Diet Lemonade for me. They actually had 2 Diet/Caffeine free choices for me to choose from. I'm definitely remembering that one :) Score it!

We dropped Andrea off at home, but sat in the car and chatted for about 30 minutes before she went inside. She's SO much fun :) hehehe. When we got back home, the Birds (from church) were there dropping off goodies at our house. Don't you just LOVE Christmas time? People dropping off sweets at your door. What a great time of the year - LOL!

Jake said that a package had come while we were out. I went in my room, and it was from my sister. Gifts for the kids. THANKS Madi! You're SO sweet. I wrapped them right away, and put them under the tree. The more that I do in the moment, the less I have to do late Christmas Eve night, right?

I then started cooking. We were supposed to be a Andreas at 5:00pm for Dinner. Yeah, we were gonna be late. I texted her and asked if we could do 5:30 instead. I made Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (FABULOUS!), rice crispy treats with chocolate on top, fruit salad, pistachio pie, and something else, it seems like. I can't remember now. Anyway, it took FOREVER, just to make those few things. I think I was still worn out from Thanksgiving - LOL!

Brent took Jim and Joe and headed to Lowes/Big Lots to pick up a few things. Lowes had the supplies to fix my broken table, and Big Lots had Hot Wheels. Because life will NOT go on without Hot Wheels, you know. Seriously....

We got to Andreas house about 15 minutes before Brent/Jim/Joe, and helped Andrea get everything situated. She'd made crock pot chicken, and cuscus, and rolls, and a salad, and "pink stuff", and brownies, and a pineapple upside down cake, and pumpkin pie. OMGosh, we had SO much food. And it was ALL so good. I especially loved the cuscus. I'm gonna have to get some of that :) I liked it a lot ;)

We watched "A Christmas Story" (1983) on TBS, and listened to Brent laugh hysterically. Andrea had never seen it before, and Brent just LOVES that movie. It IS pretty funny, you know :) LOL!

Before we came back home, we had the present exchange. Andrea also gave me a set of Christmas dishes that she'd had for a while. I told her a few months ago that I've always wanted a set of Christmas dishes, and never had any. She's so sweet. I felt bad taking her dishes, but she assured me that she had got them quite a while back, and had never used them. She wanted me to have them. Thanks, hon! You're the bESTEST!!!

Brent is still working on her prensent from me. I wanted him to make me a bigger earring/jewelry holder, and I told him to make one for her too. SO, once it's done, she'll get her present from me. And the fake Scensy stuff. I'll give it to her on Christmas Day.

We helped to clean up, and gathered up the food, and headed home. I'd printed out a Christmas program, but we didn't get around to using it. Maybe on Christmas Day. Sigh. That's 2 years now, that I've printed out/planned a Christmas program, and it hasn't happened. I hope it happens. I love sining Christmas songs and hearing the Christmas story. Although it is quite crazy with 11 people (8 kids) in the house :)

So here it is, almost 10pm. Kids are all in bed. Brent is working on fixing my dining room table. I'm blogging. I still have to design a freebee, post it, and then wrap. I've got a lot done, but there's still more. Then I have to "help" Santa put stuff out. Sigh. I'm tired. I wonder if I can get it all done by midnight. I sure hope my kids are patient in the morning. I'll have to tell them to go and put on a movie while Mom and Dad sleep......

Here's a fun Christmas Freebee for y'all! Hope you like it :) Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Christmas Eve

First off, just wanted to let you all know about our "Perfect Pairs" sale over at Scraporchard. I actually have a "collab" that I did with Annick Philibert when she was selling at the store last year. Anyway, go give it a look. It's only $1.25 (50% off) for one day only, and is not being included in my Christmas WordArt bundle that's coming out on Friday.... Anyway, HERE's the link :)


Another busy day in the Harty household! I got a good nights sleep the night before, at least - hehehe. Did I tell you that I went to help Kim clean our her flooded basement a few days ago, and that she gave me a few sheet sets that she was donating? King size? OMGosh - I washed them up and put them on my bed, and slept in them last night, and DANG, woman! Those are nice sheets. I think I must just always buy a super low thread count, because these felts SUPER nice. Like hotel sheets. Thick, and warm and PERFECT. OK, yes, I know. I'm easy to please. THANK YOU KIM!!!

Anyway, I was up at 7am with the kids. Brent was still at work, and not due back till around 9am from his 12 hour night shift for Staff Duty. Poor guy. I'd have a hard time staying awake that long. I fed the kids, got kinda ready, got Jimmy ready, and headed out the door. Jake has SUCH an easy babysitting time when I take Jimmy. The others practically watch themselves.

SO, Jimmy and I headed out on an adventure. We took the blender back to Target, and got our money back. I wanted to look for a folding table, since my table was in the back yard getting rained on. Sigh. It was a VERY soggy day in El Paso. And cold. Burrr. I thought this was supposed to be the desert :)

Anyway, while in Target, I found a Zhu Zhu pets. I'd heard of them, but hadn't actually ever seen one before. Funny, huh? I've never bought my kids the "cool" thing for Christmas, because it's always SUPER expensive. But this little toy hampster was only $7.99. So I got a grey one for Emeline.

And that got me thinking. I'd like to get a gift for EACH of the kids, just from me. Jimmy and I were off on a shopping spree (kind of - LOL!). If you really knew me, you'd know that it's TOTALLY out of character. I'm SO cheap. Really, I am. LOL!

First, though, we stopped in the little Target snack bar place and bought a Soft Pretzel and a soda. Diet Lemonade, thank you very much! No caffeine for me :) It was nice having a little "date" with him.

Next, it was on to Big Lots. It was a different Big Lots than we usually go to, and it wasn't as good. Not as many toys. Sigh. BUT, I still looked around. I found a really cool Matchbox set for Joe and Jim to share. It was a Power Scouts Adventure System thingy. A snake mountain one, or something like that. The little cars have an on/off switch, and move around. I got the set, plus one extra truck. I got both for $20, I think.
I also bought another Wii game, and a new keyboard for one of our many computers, and a new mouse too (the kids JUST informed me that a different mouse just died, so I may be getting ANOTHER one from big lots....). I think that's all I found at that store.

Next, it was over to KMart. Same shopping complex. They didn't really have anything that I couldn't live without, and their folding tables were SO small. Didn't need a small one. And their toys were super expensive. Nothing that Jake or Tom would want for under $10.00

Next, it was on to Fallas Parades. It was a different one than I usually go to, across town by the dollar theater. It was actually laid out much better, and still had a TON of good stuff :) I ended up getting Jacob as "Grow your own Crystals" set. It was pretty cool! I think he'll like it :) (It wasn't this brand, but it looks similar)

And I found a remote control car for Tom. I hope he likes it, and I hope it works. ROFL! I couldn't find a picture of it, and I already wrapped it, so it could not even be Hot Wheels. Yeah, it's a remote control, and it's a car. I'm sure you get the idea :)

I found some nice "unmentionables" for "Brent" for Christmas (yeah, not FOR him, but for me, but for him. Get some of those for you (for your man for Christmas and you'll make him REALLY happy - LOL)), and a gift for Kim. A candle set. I hope she likes it :)

Next, it was on to Wal-Mart. It was 10:30 by this time, and the crowds were starting to pick up. Walmart was super crazy busy. I looked at the folding table, but it was almost 50 bucks. I'd just let the kids eat on the floor a bit longer. Brents off work, and if he wakes up, he could fix my table, I'm sure. I did find some hanging organizers for the closet, though.

Eme has a problem with wearing the same thing EVERY day. And I don't wanna be an over controlling mom, so I figured out a good way to "trick" her into wearing something different each day. See, I get this shelving thingy, and have her stock it each week. A pair of socks, undershirt, undies, pants, shirt, on EACH shelf. That's 6 days of clothes. SO, all she has to do is put on a new "shelf". So I can just be like, Go put on a new shelf of clothes, sweetie. She doesn't have to pick anything out, because we already did that. WE'll see if it works. I got one for Jim and one for Joe, too.

I bought lunch at Wal-Mart, and took it home to the kids. An 8 piece fried chicken with Joe Joe's . I know, not healthy, but we don't do Fried Chicken very often. My kids ABSOLUTELY love it, though. Reminded them of eating KFC at Grandmas house :) I don't think we've had it since we moved from Oregon to here ;)

Brent had got home at 9am, and went promptly to bed. He was still asleep when I got home at noon, and I just let him sleep. I wasn't planning on seeing him awake until around 5pm.

I snuck in my closet, and wrapped presents like a madwoman. I wrapped almost everything in there. And I had the kids help me bring out everything that wasn't "Santa" presents. My tree is LOADED now - good feeling :) heheeh.

We hung out for a bit around the house, then went to the movies at 2:30pm. I found out that El Paso had 2 Dollar Theaters. Who knew? The one we usually go to, Montwood 7, has 7 movie theaters, and this other one, East Pointe, has 12. More selection. SO, we headed out to see "9".

Andrea and family came with us. I liked it. Andrea thought it was pretty weird. It WAS a Tim Burton movie, so weird was to be expected. It was all sci-fi, robots taking over the world, kind of thing. It scared Jimmy a bit, but the boys all LOVED it :)

After the movies, we came back home, and I woke Brent up. I was ready for a husband around the house again - LOL! We had dinner, and sat on the couch and hung out for an hour or so. It was nice to just hang and do nothing :)

Some friends came over to deliver a goody plate around 7:45ish, and then we both got on our computers, and the kids either got on theirs or watched a movie. We're supposed to be leaving to go and see a movie right now, but I don't know if it's gonna happen. He seems content to play on his computer, and I'm still blogging. I should get off, and go and get him. We need to go and do something together. It's just that it's SO windy and stormy and nasty outside, and it's SO warm and toasty in here - LOL! Maybe we'll go to the movie that starts at 9:35 instead of the one at 9:15. That gives me a few extra minutes :)

So, since it's Christmas Eve on Thursday, here's a nice Christmas Eve WordArt for y'all! Hope you like it :)

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Merry Christmas Baby

After staying up WAY to late on Monday night reading, 6:40am came WAY to early - LOL! I got up, printed out my shopping list, texted Andrea (half hoping that she'd still be asleep, and I could go back to bed - LOL), and got ready. She was up - hehehe.

We left the house at 7am, and went grocery shopping. My little ones were just waking up, and I put on some cartoons for them, and left Jake in charge, with my phone. I knew I had a few good hours of grogginess to shop through - LOL!

I think we were both half asleep, but we had fun! NO one was at the commissary at that time. It was a breeze! I got all of the stuff that I needed, plus some stuff for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Tacos, you know. On Christmas day. What? Doesn't everyone do Tacos for Christmas dinner? Hispanic? Nah, we just LOVE tacos. It's been a family tradition on my side for as LONG as I can remember. No, I'm not weird. It's called quirky, thank you very much! Besides, who wants to eat Thanksgiving food RIGHT after Thanksgiving. That makes no sense at all - hehehe. We JUST did that :)

Anyway, we got all our shopping done, then headed home. I had the kids help me put the groceries away, and I really wanted a nap, but it just wasn't happening. There were WAY too many other things that needed my attention.

At 11:15pm, Andrea and I headed out for lunch. I'd made my kids Homemade pizza, and they were SO excited about eating it, they didn't really care that mom was running out for a lunch date with her friend. See, you just have to present it in the right light, is all - LOL!

We did lunch at Applebees, having our favorite, Grilled Shrimp and Spinach salad. I HIGHLY recommend it. AND, I just ordered the water. See, aren't you proud of me? Well, you should be. I REALLY wanted a diet soda. Sigh.

After that, we went to get gas at the gas station (duh, like you could get gas someplace else.... sorry....) and look for Protein bars for Brent. He has Staff Duty again tonight, and asked for those. I looked at the commissary, but they didn't sell them there. And they were out at the gas station. Poor Brent. I did get his sunflower seeds (salted), Monster Drinks, and something else he asked for, though.

Next, it was off to the post office, then back home. The kids were doing fine, but my house was a little bit messy. We turned off the electronics, and cleaned for a bit. I fixed my products for the week, and got them all ready to go. I wasn't missing the deadline again this week - LOL! I am putting 3 bundles in my store, though. 3 Christmas Bundles. Each for $5, with 8 different WordArt packs in each. Here's your chance to score my Christmas WordArt packs at a very low price. Just a heads up for Friday :) Shameless plug over...

At around 3:00pm, Andrea and I and ALL 8 of our children headed off to the Bassett Center Mall. Ben and Sam wanted to buy Christmas Presents for each other, and Jacob still had to get a present for me (he drew my name). He was all grumbly about it. "Why can't you just take $6 and buy something for yourself". Sigh. He's SO much like me, it's not even funny.

SO, Andrea and I and our brood (ages 1,4,6,7,8,10,11, and 12) to the mall, and our first stop was Target. It was SO busy. We went to the toy isle, and it was a MADHOUSE. Good golly. People everywhere. Well, maybe it just seemed like that, because we had SO many people in our group - LOL!

Eventually, Sam found what he wanted to get for Ben, and Ben found what he wanted to get for Sam. I was starting to get really tired. And supervising kids wasn't a ton of fun. Next, we headed for the Jewlry box.

We decided it would be easier for just Jake and I to go in, and for Andrea to watch the kids at the "ride on machine" area. They LOVED it. I made Jake carry the basket (he was MORTIFIED) and look around with me. It was 6 items for $5.50, and after tax, it was 5 cents shy of my $6 limit. PERFECT! I picked out a hat, a winter scarf, a decorative scarf, a set of hoop earrings, a set of 2 fake hairs (LOL!), and a necklace/earrings set. Perfect! I made Jake pay for it (again with the MORTIFICATION), and we headed out. He quickly passed the bag to me, and tried his best to pretend that the "girl store" incident never happened. How funny. I didn't realize he was that "age" yet, where being seen in a "girl" store would embarrass him. How quickly they grow...

The kids were playing on the merry-go-round when we got back. Andrea put a dollar in, and ALL the kids rode it. It wasn't until after that we noticed the sign that said "135 lbs per rider, 3 riders max". Oops. We had Jake (175), Tom (125), Sam (125), Eme (80), Jim (55), Joe (50), Ben (45), and Luke (20something). I think we were over the limit..... AND, I got motion sick. From just standing NEAR the stupid thing. How is that even possible. I totally had to turn my head and look away.

When we got back to the truck, I knew it wasn't good. I felt just like I'd stepped out of Chuck E Cheeses. The noise and crowd and lights do it to me ever time. And so did the crazy busy mall with 8 kids and a merry go round. I know for next time, right? BUT, my Christmas Shopping is done. That's it. No more presents. If it's not here now, it's not happening :)

We got home, and Brents present was on the doorstep from the leather company. Part of his horse tack. He'll be pleased to know it came, at last. Now I can wrap it, and put it under the tree :) hehehe.

I tried to lay down and nap, but I'm telling ya, those kids are SO loud. Crazy loud! They were playing on the computer, and in the backyard, and running through the house, and who knows what else. Needless to say, the nap didn't really work.

I got up, and fixed the kids dinner. Some sort of Taco creation. Yeah, they're never quite sure what mom's gonna make next. I took 2 lbs of burger, ground it, added taco seasoning and a can of black beans, and simmered it . I diced 8 flour tortillas, added it, and stirred. Then I added a HUGE scoop of sour cream, 1 cup of salsa, and a 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Stir it all up, and serve. It was ok. Less messy than tacos. I also made some chocolate chip cookies. Those went over better than dinner, unfortunately. I used Mandi's recipe again, and FABULOUSNESS! They were SO good. I used Mint Chocolate Chips, and they were divine. We found the chips for $0.85 at the commissary, with a $1.00 off of 3 bags coupon. That makes them, what, like $0.50 a bag? Can't pass that up! I still have dough in the fridge that I'm gonna make tomorrow. We just did a small batch for after dinner.

At 7pm, we sat down to watch a family movie. I stayed awake for the first 1/2, but fell asleep for the 2nd half. I'll never know if it stopped raining food now - LOL! Tom enjoyed it, though. He was giggling like a little girl the entire time. He's the MOST fun person to watch a movie with. His whole body is happy or nervous or anxious or excited or scared or whatnot. It's the coolest thing to watch.

I woke up/movie ended at 8:30pm, and I put the kids to bed. I was supposed to go to Andreas house at that time and "play", but I was feeling like crap. She texted me at about that time and said that she didn't feel good, and wondered if we could cancel. PERFECT timing. Good friends are SO good to have. I just want to lay in my bed and go to sleep.

I took my decongestant, and my antibiotic, and 800mg of Advil, and my Tylenol, and I should be feeling better shortly. I hope. I think I overdid it today. Target DEFINITELY was overdoing it. A mistake that won't soon be made again, I can assure you - LOL! And it sounded like SUCH a good plan at the time. ROFL!

So as I was thinking of what WordArt to make for WordArt Wednesday this week, this song kept playing in my head, so I figured it was a sign - LOL! AND, I just have to say, that I LOVE this WordArt. Most of them that I make are ok, but I'm loving this one. I may even scrap something with it. Maybe. ROFL!

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and leave some love if you like my work. thanks!