Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Too cold to play outside...

Have you ever bundled your kids up so they could go play in the snow and they are back in the house in about 2 minutes!?! I got really tired of that, so when my oldest was 1 I started bringing the snow inside!
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I use my biggest bowl, and fill it full of snow. I set it on towels or a tablecloth on my kitchen floor. Then I find cooking utensils (spoons, forks, bowls, cups, measuring spoons, etc.) for them to use in the snow. They absolutely love it!! They will play in the bowl of snow for at LEAST an hour...they never last that long outside. So if you don't feel like bundling up your kids, just bring the snow inside!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

1 Resolution Complete...

I completed one of my New Year's Resolutions on Saturday. I finally broke out the pressure canner and bottled 14 quarts of pinto beans. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it sure did take a long time.
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Now that I have that resolution taken care of I can move on to another one. I have been wanting to do better at menu planning. I cleaned out my freezer a month ago and I found all kinds of good things that I ended up throwing away because they had been in my freezer FOREVER!! So I am trying to do better at menu planning so I remember to use up those things in my freezer before they go bad. So I am looking for a few suggestions. How do you plan your menus?

Thursday, January 18, 2007

A Happy Birthday Wish!!

Today is Nettie's (from Singing A Verse Of My Song) birthday. I was trying to think of a cute picture I might have of her when we were little, but I don't have any. The only picture that I could find of her is one when she is about 9 months pregnant with her first child, and thought she wouldn't want that posted here. So here is a big birthday wish to you Nettie. I hope you have a great day. Thanks for being such an awesome sister (she use to do cart wheels with my friends and I when we were younger...I thought that was so cool). I have looked up to her my whole life. Link over to her site from my side bar and wish her a happy birthday.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Explanation...

After my last post I had several requests for the stories behind the lessons I had learned....so here they are.

1. Things in your mirror are ACTUALLY closer than they appear.

If you missed my previous post this was because I hit my garage with my side mirror on my car.

2. The makers of appliances never EVER cleaned them....or why would they have put vents and dents and grooves in all the wrong places.

I spent about 2 hours cleaning my kitchen from top to bottom. There are so many little areas on my stove...I don't think I will ever get it completely clean.

3. "Mom" is the cutest word in the world when it comes out of your baby's mouth for the first time. When it comes out of your baby's mouth for the 13,752 time in one day it ceases to be cute.

My baby was sick for 3 days and cranky for a whole week. She would constantly say, "Mom, Mom, Mom." Even when I was holding her. I was extremely tired of hearing that word.

4. You can take your child to the doctor, have them run all kinds of expensive tests on them, and leave not knowing any more than you did when you went into the office in the first place.

My baby was running a fever of 104 for 3 days. I thought she might have an ear infection so I took her into the doctor. She didn't have an ear infection so they checked her for strep, also negative. Then they did some Q-tip up the nose test to check for flu, also negative. Then they took a urine sample to see if she had an internal infection...do you know how they take a urine sample from a baby? I didn't, but they use a catheter...poor baby! That test came back negative too, so after all that they told me it was probably just a virus...thanks!

5. You can use up a whole Mr. Clean Magic Eraser in one day...oh the wonders that thing can perform!

This goes back to cleaning my whole kitchen.

6. It takes 1 year olds, 3 year olds, 6 year olds, and almost 30 year olds several times before they finally learn their lesson.

It is probably obvious for most of these...I am constantly repeating things to my 1 year old, and my 3 year old. I found my 6 year old stealing crayons from Kindergarten. I had her take them back to her teacher and tell him she was sorry. A couple weeks later....there were more crayons in the pocket of her backpack. This time we made apologizing a bit more painful, and hopefully she has finally learned not to steal things from her classroom. And as for me (the almost 30 year old) I seem to always need to be reminded to do what I am supposed to. I also have a problem that relates to one of my other lessons, so I will explain that in a second.

7. On some things it is better to wait and purchase later so you get exactly what you want. I wish I would have waited....

Here is my other lesson I never seem to learn. BUY WHAT YOU REALLY WANT! I always have a vision in my head of what I want, but when I get to the store what I want is usually more expensive. So I settle for something that isn't what I want, but is okay. I have done this a million times in the past, and I never seem to remember that this is a bad idea. So I usually end up with something that I hate, is poor quality, or is a guilt gift (something I got from someone else and feel guilty if I don't keep it, when they probably would rather have me just take it back and get something I will be happy with.) So here is my latest dumb purchase that I instantly wished I hadn't bought (after they were already hanging on my ceiling!). Of course they were on sale, so I thought I would save some money...it was definately not worth it!
 
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Now don't get me wrong, these lights are okay. They just are not quite what I had in mind. They were silver when we bought them and we spray painted them black...which I wanted, but now there is no way we can take them back. I just never learn!

8. It takes a lot more time to clean up from Christmas than it did to get ready for Christmas.

I am still cleaning up from Christmas. After everything is finally put away I have no remaining energy to clean up and dust everything. That is why my daughter's dresser still has pine needles all over it.

9. My husband is remarkable handy....okay, I already knew this, but he always surprises me with what he can do.

My husband installed all my new lights...including 6 can lights. He always can jump in and do things without ever having done them before and they work out wonderfully...I wish I had that gift.

10. Sheetrock is not as tough as it looks...and I have the hole to prove it.

I don't know if you can see it in the pictures of my lights, but my husband stepped through our ceiling when he installed the lights. He patched it up very nicely though, so he is forgiven.

11. Spray paint is magic....I have performed some great tricks with it already.

Besides my spray painted lights, I have spray painted a bucket for my kitchen utensils, a plate rack that I got at a thrift store for $1.50, a basket for my magazines, the numbers on our house (and I am waiting until it is warmer to do the outdoor light fixtures), and a few other decorations. It is so fun!

Well their you have an explanation of the lessons I have learned already this year. I hope that satisfies your curiosity!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Things I have learned in 2007

It looks like it will be a learning year for me. Here are a few of the things that I have already learned this year:

1. Things in your mirror are ACTUALLY closer than they appear.

2. The makers of appliances never EVER cleaned them....or why would they have put vents and dents and grooves in all the wrong places.

3. "Mom" is the cutest word in the world when it comes out of your baby's mouth for the first time. When it comes out of your baby's mouth for the 13,752 time in one day it ceases to be cute.

4. You can take your child to the doctor, have them run all kinds of expensive tests on them, and leave not knowing any more than you did when you went into the office in the first place.

5. You can use up a whole Mr. Clean Magic Eraser in one day...oh the wonders that thing can perform!

6. It takes 1 year olds, 3 year olds, 6 year olds, and almost 30 year olds several times before they finally learn their lesson.

7. On some things it is better to wait and purchase later so you get exactly what you want. I wish I would have waited....

8. It takes a lot more time to clean up from Christmas than it did to get ready for Christmas.

9. My husband is remarkable handy....okay, I already knew this, but he always surprises me with what he can do.

10. Sheetrock is not as tough as it looks...and I have the hole to prove it.

11. Spray paint is magic....I have perfromed some great tricks with it already.

So there you have a few of the things I have learned this year already. It could be an interesting year!

What have you learned during 2007?

Monday, January 8, 2007

My new pants...

My husband gave me this pair of pants for Christmas.
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Isn't he clever! He even folded cuffs on the bottoms! I actually got two pairs of pants with the money. One pair was on clearance for $5.74. The legs were HUGE, so I am in the process of cutting them down and re-sewing them. I hope they turn out well. I have never done fitting work before. I figure for $5.74 it is worth a shot though. If they turn out to be funny looking pants I can always turn them into shorts! Hopefully I will have better luck with my pants than I do backing out of my driveway.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Bad Luck for the New Year...

Every new year I get excited to have a fresh new start to life. To become the person I really want to be...the perfect housekeeper, the best mother, the most fabulous wife, a better neighbor, a wonderful friend, more spiritual, etc....etc....etc.... I always have a million goals and usually never complete any of them. This year I am going to do my goals differently. I read an article by Ellen Degeneres (No, I am not a fan, but the article had some good points). She said to set goals that you knew were attainable. A few of her examples were....Never finish beauty school, and Don't quit smoking. So I decided instead of setting "ideal" goals for the new year. I would set smaller more attainable goals and set them more often. So here are a few of my new goals for the new year:

1. Learn to Pressure Can beans (I've had that pressure canner for over a year now and never had it out of the box!)

2. Finish organizing my craft room. (This was actually my goal for last year, and I am happy to say that I am almost done doing it. I will give you all your own private tour when it is completely done.)

3. Gain 25-30 pounds this year. (Weird goal I know, but hopefully it will be attainable anyway).

4. Be more positive with my kids. (I will be the first one to admit that I have become kind of a crank this year, and I need to stop.)

Yesterday was a great day. I was already working on a few of my goals and trying to get the Christmas decorations put away, and my house cleaned. The children were happy, and I was a good mom. I talked nicely, and positively. I played games, did pre-school, read stories, and encouraged my 6-year old to do the right thing. It was turning out to be a wonderful day, and a perfect way to start the new year.....and then.....I broke a mirror. I wasn't paying quite enough attention when I was backing out of my driveway, and tried to rip my side mirror completely off of my car.
 
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The mirror is still usable, but badly cracked. It will definately need to be replaced before our car will pass inspection in a few months. I am sure that it won't be cheap since it has the signal lights in it. What a way to start a new year! I really hope that breaking the mirror will not invoke the curse of 7 years bad luck. But it is looking today like it might. My kids are grouchy and fighting with each other, I have a horrible headache, we all have colds, my house is a complete disaster, and my baby was up all night screaming. Does anyone know how to fix a curse so I can have a good year afterall?