don't ask!

so after years of putting up with my co-leader for Girl Scouts' snide remarks she finally resigned yesterday, during our meeting...with a few more jabs at my expense.  She claims that her girls want more badges and activities and SHE can't be leading all the meetings with them.  I know this, I do a load of the meetings too...unfortunately they all tend to be the general upkeep of the troop type.  Registration, Ceremonies, Cookie Training.  Because my child isn't thrilled with being at the meetings any longer (her BFF quit) I've decided to resign also.  Being a leader is tiring and my only help without complaints was BFF's mom.

Then we had the costume parade today.  Unfortunately, I had planned to get a lot of things done this morning before the parade instead of finishing them last night...unfortunately because........

This morning hubby wakes up with symptoms of pneumonia.  He's been sick for a few days and doing fairly well (still going to work) but this morning after a rough night he felt dizzy and had some other signs that we needed to take him to see the doctor.

(note: we were both pretty skeptical about taking him to the doc because the last time he got pneumonia we took him to the ER, they ran tests and didn't find pneumonia.  Took him to the doc, confirmed diagnosis from ER and said he could fly.  Got to Michigan and was in the ER 2 days later near death with full blown double pneumonia!)

So I rearrange my schedule to fit hubby in.  Luckily, I had loaded the car Friday night with as many of the costumes as I could fit into it and I was able to drop them off when I took the girls (we had 2 extra with us this morning) to rehearsal.  My original plan was to take the second load when I returned for the parade.  But instead of finishing the labels on clothes and hangars, I was only able to reload the car...

Then I took hubby to the urgent care.  No appointment necessary... but that means waiting about 15 min in the waiting area, then about 20 min in an exam room, and then another 15 min for the x-ray and another 10 or so for the doc to say that it looks like it could be pneumonia, here's a scrip and come back in a few days.  The good news is that since hubby has a history of pneumonia the doc wasn't as lax as they were last time.  He went ahead and started treating him for pneumonia even though he doesn't have a confirmation of the diagnosis.

Well there went my chance at getting lunch!

Since the rehearsal location is right across the street from the doc office, I drove the second load of costumes off at the rehearsal and then took hubby home.  When I got back the costumes were pretty much ready for the parade.

The parade went FAIRLY well... I could have done without a few of the kids who didn't follow directions.  none of the boys seemed to be able to locate their ties or tuck in their shirts!  But otherwise not too bad.  We managed to do some alterations right there and get out by 2:15 or so.  YAY

Then I picked up hubby's scrip and finally got some food!  Hubby still  feels the same though, but I figure we're gonna need a bit more drugs before he feels any better.  sigh!  I just hope that we caught this early enough to avoid another trip to the ER.

Oh all the costumes are still in my car and will stay there until after Church tomorrow!  That is IF I make it to Church.  The doc said if Hubby started feeling worse to take him to the ER.

SUNDAY UPDATE:  Hubby says he feels 10 times better!  YAY!  Hopefully this works.  I'll take Darly to Church and see how he feels later.

WHAT??!?!?!???

So today I sent an email out with the following...

All children should have either Jazz shoes or Ballet Slippers.  Children’s sizes of these can be found at Payless Shoes and larger sizes can be found at the Dance supply stores here in the Our Area.  Because dancing shoes are not sized the same as street shoes I would advise trying these on in person before purchase.

All girls are asked to wear either a white or light colored camisole or tank top with form fitting (non-denim) shorts.  This is to be worn under all costumes to facilitate costume changes with modesty in the dressing rooms.  With the exception of a few girls (noted below for your child) girls will be able to wear whatever stockings or socks they are most comfortable with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~I hear back...
Rene,
I am a little confused you asked that all children should have either jazz shoes or ballet slippers.  Then in the last paragraph you said girls will be able to wear whatever stockings or socks.  Can the girls wear either ballet slippers or socks?  Can you please clarify?  Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~I write back...
or shoes they can wear either Jazz shoes or ballet slippers... for leg wear they can wear stockings, tights or socks.  They do NOT want to wear socks without shoes on the stage as it is just painted plywood and prone to ripping up clothing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm still curious to know what in the first email suggested that the girls could wear just socks???  I would like to hear your thoughts cuz I need to hear something different.

ARGH!!!!

I recently bought Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel http://www.walmart.com/ip/Scrubbing-Bubbles-Fresh-Clean-Gel-Discs-Toilet-Cleaning-Gel-6-ct/11045773 for our bathrooms.  I had tried them out before and was happy with the results.
I cleaned the master bathroom and put a "dose" of the gel in our toilet.  I left the applicator with the remaining uses on the shelf in the bathroom.
Last night I went to speak to my husband as he was getting ready for bed and he mentions that he can't get that "thing" on the shelf to stop smelling.  I rush in there to find the applicator sitting on the shelf with gel oozing out of it.
Much high pitched talking ensues as I try to clean up the mess DH has made and I try to comprehend why on earth he would squeeze out what appeared to be the entire contents of the applicator but was actually just one dose.  I kept asking why he didn't ask me.  I asked "Didn't your mother teach you to not mess with things if you don't know what you're doing?"
*sigh!*  See the problem is that DH is very sensitive to smells...so much so that if he doesn't like the way something smells...well he doesn't think too properly. 
He says he thought the applicator was a rather ugly air freshener that I had left open and he was trying to close it...he didn't realize that the smell he was smelling was coming from the toilet, not the applicator. 

I suppose that I shouldn't have left the applicator where he could see it, but it didn't occur to me that this would be a problem.  And the very sad part of all of this is that I had planned to use these in all 3 of our bathrooms which will make the entire house smell (note: I find the fragrance to be very NICE!).
I guess I better hurry and get the other two bathrooms cleaned and put the gel in them so he gets blasted with the smell.  LOL! 

forgive me while I rant

I needed a place to get a few things that are bothering me off my chest.  This may seem random.

I set up a book club for my daughter through our homeschooling group.  The book is rated for kids 12 and up.  One of the moms signed up her 14y/o AND her 6y/o!!!!  At first I wanted to just wait and hope that mom would catch a clue that the book is not appropriate for a 6y/o...but this particular mom doesn't catch much...except for more kids.  (sorry, that was rather catty of me)

another topic...
good news: the folks in charge didn't bend the rules for her.  the bad news: she TRIED to get them to bend the rules for her!  Well I guess part of it is that she always gives her princess whatever princess wants.  So when princess changed her mind and even after saying no she didn't want it, she now wants it...really bad.  So momma tried to get the rules bent so princess could have it. 
Just hope momma doesn't throw a fit about it.

mad at myself for not working on sewing my dress sooner.  I've been nervous about messing it up, so I've been putting it off.  now I only have 4 days to get it finished.  and one of those days isn't a full day as I have to be gone for a huge chunk of it.  sigh  The good news is that I've cut the material all out and sewed part of the lining...and that went quickly.  however, for the outer layer I need to make french seams...for the first time ever.  YIKES!

also mad at myself that I only lost 7 of the 15 pounds that I wanted to lose by next Wednesday.  Course if I lose 1/2 a pound I'll make half way.  LOL!  if I could just pick where that half a pound comes off that would be great.  The good news is that I can see a tiny bit of results...and I can hide what I'm still not happy about.

oh here's something to be grumbling about... how can one be expected to order things online if the sizes don't match what's in the store???  I ordered a product the exact same size as what I bought in the store, but the online version is too big!  what gives?  Luckily this place has awesome customer service and an exchange should be fine.  fingers crossed that this one fits.

to be continued....

Birth of a Dream

Recently a friend of mine posted some pictures on Facebook of her 4th of July celebration...it included her family and neighbors spending the day at a pond near their house.  And that triggered something in me...  a longing to be near water.

Actually I wanted to spend the 4th on some form of water, but alas there is no Gulf of Colorado so a trip to the beach was out.  And all the beaches we do (fresh water) were going to be way over packed.  If we had a beach it would have been packed too.  But this private pond thing... Hey!  That's an idea!

Well, how do you get your own private pond?  Well first you need some land.  So I started looking for a place to stay near here on a lake... which got me on the path of looking for a cabin to rent on a lake.

And I found one!  It was really nice too.  http://mooselake-lodge.com/woolly-house-cabin-rental-on-lake/  Now one might think that hubby would be rolling his eyes at me on this idea...but he actually was very much in favor of it!  He allowed me to get more info.  But the problem with this cabin was that it was booked until mid September.  And hubby couldn't get away then.  SIGH!

So that led to thinking that in order to get a cabin to stay in, we might ought to just buy one.  So I started researching that...and guess what...I found one of those too...actually quite a few but most of them were too big for us.

That was a problem with the rental cabins too, most of them were too big.  One cabin wasn't huge, but it had been set up to sleep 10 people!  Um we don't need something that big.

So I found a cabin that was nice and small... I was looking at first at two bedroom cabins, but ended up finding and falling in love with a little one bedroom cabin.  It's so cute!  Now I can't be sure, but it appears that the one bedroom is actually the entire length of the cabin and therefore might be large enough that we can fit two beds in there... a full size for me & hubby and a twin for Darly.  And while that might not be ideal, for a vacation it works. (note: hubby is not rolling his eyes!)

Then my mind turns to furnishing this place... (yeah, I'm that crazy!)  And I start thinking about what we have in our house that we aren't using.  We have a couch in the basement that Darly keeps piling her toys on.  We have a coffee table that right now is covered in plants in the kitchen.  We have a kitchen table in my sewing room that I use for cutting fabric on, but hubby is gonna make me a new cutting table that is the right size, so this one won't be needed there.  We have beds in the guest room and sewing room that aren't getting used cuz no one visits us.  All that we'll need is chairs for the kitchen table...one garage sale or trip to a thrift store and we're all set!  (note: hubby is still not rolling his eyes.)

Then came the question of how do we go about affording a second home...a vacation home?  And I got to thinking that we wouldn't possibly be able to go to the cabin all the time, so there would be a lot of time where it would just sit empty... and loads of people like to rent cabins, evidenced by the lack of availability of that rental cabin we found.  Why not rent the cabin?  Hey!  This is sounding awesome.  Rental rates in that area are higher than most hotels charge (okay, I've never stayed at anything above a 3 star that I paid for!)  And that rate even with paying someone to manage the place for us, more than covers the mortgage...maybe a bit of profit?  and if no profit, if it just pays for itself then it's totally worth it.  And the bonus of a rental management company... they make sure the pipes don't freeze in the winter!  YAY  (hubby is still for this!)

oh, the cabin I want isn't actually on a lake or pond.  There is a creek though...and maybe we could build a pond like my friend's neighbors did?  maybe.  (*hubby rolls eyes*)

So I get this all figured out and I'm ready to make the appointment to see the place and drive up there, when Yahoo News puts out this story about how housing prices are expected to continue to fall and will probably be 20% lower in the next two year.  TWO YEARS!  :(  That means we'll be waiting on this dream...and I'll be checking the website to see if this cabin remains available... but even if it doesn't there are others.  oh well, I can wait...I think. :D

House Rules Revisited sigh

Okay, I'm quite aware that the way I run my house isn't the same as everyone else.  (God makes us all different, our parents raise us all different...so we are all different.)  I have a plan and it works for us...most of the time.

I feel very blessed that my loving husband was well trained by his parents and isn't a slob who leaves his dirty clothes all over the place.  He also doesn't leave dirty dishes all over...or even leave the toilet seat up!  I am hoping and praying that Darly will be equally blessed when she finds her soul mate. 

Some rules we have around here are:
There are TWO acceptable locations for dirty clothing.  1) a clothing hamper (locations in each bathroom and in the child's bedroom) or 2) the laundry room.  Clothing left in any other location will result in severe nagging and or the clothing not being washed.

If YOU are the one to use up the last of an item that needs to be replaced, YOU must write that item on the grocery list.  You cannot tell the MOM that you are out of said item.  She has too much to do to remember that you ran out of said item.  (that reminds MOM that she should post a separate list for items that we don't buy at the grocery store.)  If you don't put the item on the shopping list, don't expect for it to magically replace itself...unless YOU would like to make a trip to the store for it.

If YOU take something out, return it to it's original location...and DON'T expect the MOM to know where it is that you left it.  MOM has a great memory, but she isn't psychic!

The reason we are revisiting the rules today is because of a conversation that began last night.  When hubby returned home from work last night he noticed that Darly was doing laundry and asked if I had washed jeans.  When I informed him that I wasn't doing laundry and that yes he still had plenty of time to get his jeans in the wash, he let me know that he wanted a certain pair of his jeans washed.  I let him know that I would not be washing jeans that evening.
So today I decided that I should probably go ahead and wash our clothes as hubby had that pair of jeans he wanted washed.  I collected the hampers and proceeded to start the wash...I always do the whites first as they tend to have the most items that need air drying and the heat from the dryer tends to speed this process along.  However, upon sorting the clothing I realized that hubby's jeans were NOT in the hamper.  Hummm?  Where are hubby's jeans? 
So I call him...he answers on the first ring.  I ask where his jeans that he wanted washed are.  and he informs me that they are hanging in the closet...along with all the CLEAN laundry!  I question the thinking of hanging up the dirty jeans that he wanted washed.  He explains that he didn't know when I would be doing the wash.  Um I just don't get it!
Then he asks if I'm also washing towels.  uh yeah, I don't save up for a special wash day for each item...if it's in the hampers, it gets washed.  Taking that as a yes, he asks if I can go and get two towels out of a cardboard box in the garage and wash them also.  He isn't sure which box.  Wash day should NOT be a scavenger hunt!  Oye!  I shouldn't have called and just let the jeans wait until genius remembered to put them in the hamper...it isn't as if that's his only pair of jeans.

The other two rules I posted are just there for your amusement today...no one in the house has broken them recently, so there's no humorous story to go with them.

it pays to whine!

recent advertisements for a company that provides Cable services (they provide internet & phone services as well) in our area are trying to make folks who subscribe to the land line phone provider nervous because they're switching names (being bought out or some kind of merge).  I wasn't nervous about the switch, but it did get me thinking that it was time to look at my bill.

See we have the phone/internet bill set up for auto-pay.  So I never look at it...it just gets paid.  I looked at the bill and it seemed to me that the rate I'm paying was higher...and I had signed up for a Price for Life package.  So I went online and checked out the current rates for my internet & phone package.  Turns out that I'm paying more for my deal than what they normally charge folks for the exact same service!  So I got in an online chat session and asked what was up.  Turns out that my bill is not any higher than I remember...I just hadn't payed it any attention.  However, I was correct in that I'm paying more than what other customers are paying for the same service.

And they have a deal where I can upgrade my internet and phone service and pay LESS than I'm currently paying...even after the 5 year introductory rate price.  Wow!  I can have faster internet, more phone services and pay $10 less than I'm currently paying...AND at the end of the 5 years I still won't be paying what I am now???  um YEAH sign me up!

So I did! :D

And as for the advertisement that caused all of this.  The cable company is saying that our phone company will be taking away our choices since they're switching to the new company.  Ummm isn't this the same thing as when they switched from being AT&T to Comcast to Xfinity???

Access Denied!

I'm having with drawl today folks.  Due to site maintenance my Facebook account won't let me in!!!  Horrors!

I can get into everything else on my computer...a start.  Darly can get to her Facebook... grumble!  But my account won't let me in!!!

ARGH!!!

Dinner?

So Darly & I went to see a play this evening and afterward we needed to eat...

Me: So what would you like for dinner?
Darly: I don't know... something crunchy?
Me: What's that?  Popcorn?
Darly: ummm no. 
Me: Tacos?
Darly: ummm no.
Me: what???
Darly: I think I want that pizza at the mall.
Me: umm that's not crunch...and I think the mall is closed.
Darly: well what do you want?
Me: anything
Darly: okay I'll eat just about anything too.
Me: okay how about Wendy's?
Darly: no
Me: Subway
Darly: no
Me: oooh!  I know... how about those little pizzas at the grocery store...in about 20 min we'll have pizza AND crunchy.
Darly: no

I suggested a few other things and she said no to them all...so
Me: FINE!  We can just go home



After passing all food possibilities and are walking distance from home...
Darly: What about Quiznos?
Me: NO!  We are going home!


We get home and I make myself a bagel.  Darly pouts on the couch.
Me: are you going to eat something or just starve because you're mad at me?
Darly: Starve.
Me: okay fine!


about an hour later...
Darly:  Okay, you win.  I'll go eat
Me:  I didn't realize it was a contest. 

well no wonder! - Rant!

Today a friend of mine posted on Facebook a rant about this article http://www.wfsb.com/news/27846498/detail.html?source=hart

Basically some kids had a contest to see who could ask a girl to the prom in the most creative way and the boy who won is now banned from going to the prom because he trespassed and vandalized the school to do it.

The reason I'm ranting is that my friend and her friends don't seem to think what the boy did was trespassing (one said because our tax dollars pay for the school therefore making it our property) or vandalism because the letters were just taped to the building.

Um this is why our country is such a mess folks...if we don't all agree on the laws that we agreed upon then we have a problem.

I'm a bit torn about if the punishment fits the crime.  I mean typically if you vandalize something, they make you clean it up and do some community service...and if you trespass you usually get a fine and more community service.  However, I can see the school's perspective that if the parents didn't bother to teach their child that putting words up on a building you don't own is called vandalism then perhaps keeping the child from the activity they are vandalizing over is the right thing to do.

I think that I may have to show this to my child and see if I've raised her up right.  I sure hope so.

Money for nuthin - FARCE!

sigh!  I re-learned that nothing in life is free.  I should have known better...but alas I got sucked in.

recently a friend of mine posted a link on her facebook for free air line tickets.  I knew better, but I need air line tickets, so I clicked on the link...and happily gave them my contact info so I could get the free tickets they said I had won.

Then on the next page I learned the horrible truth!  It was a page that told me to get the "free" tickets I had to sign up for some more great offers.  you know the ones... "Try Netflix!" "Bookclub of the month!" "check our lower insurance rates!"  blah blah blah.

I immediately closed the window but of course it was too late...they already had my email address.  And soon enough the spam started hitting the fan.  UGH!

Since I also foolishly gave them my real address, I'm sure I'll start getting junk mail galore too.  Time to renew my subscriptions in the "Don't send me junk mail!" lists.

*hangs head in shame and leaves the room*  http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm

Happy Resurrection Day!

The beginning of the end?

Could this really be it?  I think I've been waiting for this time of my life since I was 13 and first got my cycle.

Auntie Flo has never been my friend.  I can barely remember the "excitement" about becoming a woman when I was a tweenager because when Auntie first came to visit I was like "WHAT THE???  Who in their right mind thinks this is a good thing?  OYE!"  (note: I've tried to put a better spin on things for Darly.)  But honestly, what is good about this?

So when I started noticing some signs of peri-menopause, I was THRILLED!  I couldn't be more happy about entering this time of my life.  I was ready to start singing

But then things started going back to how they were before!  What was going on???  and then I figured it out...seems that lovely Darly was sharing her hormones with me.  oh boy!

Luckily that only lasted a few months and it seems I'm back on track for menopause again.  w00t!  Although there are some symptoms that I'm having that I would rather do without.

One thing is that I don't want go through menopause on hormone replacement therapy.  My mom and mother in law both used HRT and did okay, but I think that I'm pretty well informed about the pros and cons and it just doesn't seem to me that HRT is the way to go for me.  So I've been looking into products like Estroven.  

Estroven® products are herbal supplements made with all-natural ingredients to provide natural menopause symptom relief. Black cohosh plus soy isoflavones are combined with essential nutrients like calcium, folic acid, and B-vitamins. These work naturally in the body to help reduce hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopausal symptoms. Hundreds of thousands of women trust Estroven® products every year, and pharmacists recommend them 3 to 1 over other brands of menopause supplements.†

Estroven has different menopause formulas to help combat symptoms, so I'll be grabbing the one that looks right for me.  I'm also going to make more of an effort to get to the gym (swimsuit season is coming up fast!) so that should help too.

I'm also liking Estroven on Facebook so I can keep up to date on savings.  Just looking at their wall I'm learning all kinds of great stuff. :D

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Estroven and received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.

I don't blog enough

sigh...it seems that my life as a product reviewer is over.  I don't blog enough, I don't have enough of a following.  Oh well, it was a nice gig while it lasted.  I got to try out some really neat things.  I hope that if you tried any that you liked them.  The new thing seems to be twitter and I just refuse to do that seeing as I already spend way too much time on Facebook.  (see I can't even give it proper respect by capitalizing the name :p  )

I'll try to post my longer notes over here so that those of you few loyal folks who still follow me here can know what's going on.  My shorter entries will be on Facebook.  If I think it's important I may cross post.

Bummer, I was really looking forward to trying out that new thingamagig.

Yes, My Grown Homeschooled Children Are Odd — And Yours Will Be Too!

Yes, My Grown Homeschooled Children Are Odd — And Yours Will Be Too!

Ya gotta be kidding me! Really?

So after all this time...after all the hard work DH has done getting MIL's house ready...oh wait, I should show you.

When the house was originally put on the market we had a lot of showings, but it just wouldn't sell.  One of the main comments we kept getting was that the buyers wanted the kitchen already redone.  I don't really understand why someone would want to buy someone else's idea of perfect, except that it seems they don't want to spend the money to do it themselves.  Hummm don't they realize that we up the price of the house when we have to add improvements?  I guess not.


Here's the before...

And here's the after...

DH put in the tile himself and we paid to have the granite put in.  So after many hours of hard work the house was put back on the market and had 7 showings for it's first weekend out.  Everyone LOVED the new kitchen.  (okay?)  and on Monday our realtor called to ask hubby a question from one of the folks who came to see the house...

The want to know if he would accept an offer with a contingency...  They need to sell their house first...And (get this) they haven't even put their house on the market yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When DH told me this my reaction was ____NO!  and he didn't even get upset with me about the expletive...apparently his reaction was very similar.

Ya gotta be kidding me... after all this time and all this work they expect us to take their offer and just wait for their house to sell???  Yeah RIGHT!  I don't think so pal!  you want the house, you sell yours first...then you go find a house.  Unless of course you want to pay the mortgage on our house while we wait.  :p

oh and what's with all these folks 1 leaving all the lights turned on in the house when they come to see it and 2 using the bathrooms???  They've used up all the toilet paper in one of the bathrooms and hubby has had to clean the toilet...cuz who knows who might get turned off from someone coloring in there.  ewwe!

Hubby always makes the plan bigger

After YEARS of sewing little hobby projects, I've decided that I'm finally ready to be a bit more dedicated to it... I think it was trying to cut some fabric for my latest project

with scissors that were already toast that did it for me.  Don't worry, I'm not gonna start sewing my own clothes...well unless I can't find what I'm looking for!  :D

Luckily I had gotten some coupons for a local sewing place and was able to purchase new sewing scissors...GOOD ones for half price.  YAY!  I love a good deal.  I also looked for one of these. 
At first I looked for it at the same store that I bought my scissors...they had one online (that I can't find now, perhaps because when I looked yesterday it was out of stock?) but when we were at the store they were completely out of them.  So I decided to try my local Wally World.  I knew it was a long shot, but totally worth a try...right?

YES!  So worth a try!  Not only did I find it, they had it for $2 less than the sewing place!!! :D  *happy dance!*
The only problem I now had was that the table that I'm currently using to cut fabric on is 30"x40" and the board is of course 36"x60" (the size of the largest yard of fabric you can get). 

So I think I should just have hubby make me a cubby hole shelf to make up the difference in size and I'll just put the extra 6 inches in width to the back so I don't put any weight on it. :D  I drew up the plans...

When I showed them to hubby, he balked at my idea.  He didn't like that it is a book shelf but since the middle shelf could be one piece it would require that the back of the shelf a sturdier piece of wood so it can support the middle shelf.  He tried to talk me into just a regular book shelf...but I didn't want that.  So after learning why I wanted the shelf to look like this he suggests just building me a new table! 

As it turns out we have the materials to just build a new table...he could even make the legs on one side be  storage shelves for me.  And it wouldn't take that much more work.  So now instead of getting a new shelf, I'm getting a new table...one day.  I told him I wanted it for Mother's day.  I wonder if I'll really get it by then.  LOL!

Different shoes

Today I ordered new jazz shoes for Darly.  She needs these for her dance class and they're a royal pain to get.

If you buy them locally they cost more, but at least you know they fit.  But if you order them online you can find ones that are much cheaper.  They're a knock-off brand but considering how quickly she's going to outgrow or go through them it's worth it...IF I get the right size!

See these shoes don't run the same size as street shoes...the manufacturers tell you this.  (then why not change the number on the shoe???  ah to keep us confused and make most of your money on the restocking charges when we are forced to return them!)  GREAT

So I found Darly some shoes a few months ago and ordered them without checking her current shoes that we inherited from a friend (BTW:  Thanks friend!  those shoes came at just the right time for us!  They've been a life saver!)  back to the story... so I'm online and find the shoes and order based on her current street shoe size and the website's recommendations on how much larger to order...only to get the shoes and find out that they are the EXACT same size as the shoes we already had that are tight!  ARGH!  The bad part they charged a $15 restocking fee.  phoey!

So I didn't return them.  I found someone in her class with smaller feet!  I'm selling them at a discount, but it's way less than the $15 restocking fee.  So we're all happy-ish.

Then I found these shoes today that I've just ordered.  All the reviews are glowing and I've ordered the right size...maybe a tiny bit bigger?  Hopefully they last the rest of the year, and even more hopefully I can then sell them to someone with feet smaller than BIGFOO... er Darly.

Slowcooker!!!

As I mentioned in my first Shoe post...I found a deal on a crock pot that I was looking for online!  So I placed my order...got my confirmation and waited.

Then the day that I was to get my slow cooker I get an email from Fedex that they BROKE my slow cooker right here in my very own city!  They were less than an hour from my house in bad traffic and they BROKE my slow cooker!  ARGH!

And then I hear nothing!  *chirp chirp!*

So I email the company...they assure me that yes I will be getting a new slow cooker as soon as possible.

And they thanked me for my patience too.  LOL I thought that was quite ironic since I wasn't being very patient about it, however they could have thwarted my impatience by simply emaiing me when they were notified that the slow cooker was broken...AND if they had sent out the new slow cooker as soon as they knew the other one was broken...but alas...I had to make contact.

Finally Fedex tells me my replacement slow cooker is on it's way.  Of course the day it is due to arrive, I have a bazillion things planned, but I didn't want to miss the delivery...so I canceled those plans (no trip to the gym) and waited.

Fedex finally shows up at around noon!  and my slow cooker arrived in one piece...of course it was in a box large enough to ship a PERSON!  It's here and it looks fine...I've yet to clean and use it though...wish me luck!

Internet Safety

Darly is fast approaching the age where most social networks will allow her to have an account legally.  I know I'm a really mean mom for not allowing her to have an account early like so many folks that I know.  But then I see this article and feel justified in sticking to my guns.

So since Darly is almost old enough, I want to make sure she's smart enough. 

She seems to be.  My niece who is too young for an account and has one anyway recently posted this meme...
1. Who knows you best?
The message reads:
Can you do this? My middle name __________, my age ___, my favorite soda _______, my birthday ___/___/___, whose the love of my life ______, my best friend _____, my favorite color ______, my eye color _______, my hair color ______ my favorite food ________ and my mom's name __________. Put this as your status and see who knows you best.

Note:  I copied this from this Yahoo Article on Biggest Facebook Security Threats  I showed Darly the post and she rolled her eyes and was able to tell me why it's a bad idea.  I told my niece that she should pull it down, and niece said it wouldn't hurt anything because no one she knows would know all that info.  I told her that I knew all that info but I'm smart enough to not post it.  When I tried to go now to copy it from her wall I wasn't able to find it...so either she pulled it, or her parents did.  Whew!

A friend of mine set up a class on Internet Safety that we attended today.  The guy heading up the class has many different social network accounts and poses as young children to catch pedophiles.  He catches a lot, but there are a whole lot more that he can't catch.

He started off the class showing the kids just how easy it is for a predator to find kids.  Then he showed the kids how he catches them.

He gave tips on the dos and don'ts of internet safety...one huge tip was to not be online friends with anyone you haven't met.  (I guess that should knock out most of my blog readers!)  But it so totally makes a ton of good sense.

I guess the best part of the class was that Darly took it all very seriously.  She even reconsidered if she really needs to have a Facebook account.  I'll let her have an account, but I'll be keeping a close eye on it...and of course her first friend will be me.  I'll make sure her account is totally closed and I'll be a mean mom at every turn.

:( shoes

I have this one pair of shoes that I like to wear to Church.  They're black and very basic, but they go with everything and they are so comfortable. 

If you know one thing about me, it is that I am NOT a slave to fashion!  I don't care how in something is, if it isn't comfortable, then I ain't buying it...I learned my lesson a long time ago with the 2 hour shoes.  (btw: I tried to pawn the 2 hour shoes off on Darly cuz she's my size now, and even she wouldn't go for them!)

So my very comfortable shoes are of course now showing their age and are in need of replacement.  And of course they stopped making this shoe "eons" ago...so I've been searching for something close.  I figured first I would try with the same brand of shoes.  I have no idea where I bought these shoes, so I look them up by brand online.  They're Mushrooms btw.

I find the Mushroom shoes website.  They don't sell the shoes there.  You have to go to one of three retailers for them...One of the 3 I've never heard of.  The other two are Famous Footwear & Mervyn's.  And of course neither of them really carry the shoes either.

More Googling and I find that Kmart actually carries the brand, but of course not my shoe.  Bummer!  And when looking at what they do carry, the ones I might try...not my size!  Double Bummer!  My size only comes in barf or sandals.

I then started shopping around for other comfy shoes...I'm still looking.

In other news: I got an email that Darly had put something she wanted on my ebay watch list and the auction was almost over.  Instead of bidding on that I bought myself a slow cooker. :p

Wrong Mommy

has this ever happened to you?  You are in a location and some small child who is focused on other things (toys, animals at the zoo, etc...) grabs your leg and finally looks up in total shock because YOU are NOT their parent.

I've had this happened more times than I can remember.  It doesn't seem to matter what you say to the poor child...they are just horrified at the mistake.  The latest time I was shopping at some place with a friend and while looking at some items a mom with her 3 very young ones came near to look in the same section.  I did notice that one child was rather close to me but chose to not say anything...I probably should have though because next she hugged my leg and looked up to ask me a question.  Her real mom was only 2 feet away with the other kids.  But I kinda felt bad having to say to the child "sorry honey, wrong mommy."

Real mom looks over, smiles and holds out her arms for her baby to come running into.  I smile at mom and walk away.

I think the funniest time this happened was at a Girl Scout meeting.  Mom was with older kiddos and the youngest runs over to me, grabs my leg and hollers at me that she's ready to go home.  I look down and tell her she's got the wrong mommy and she recoils in horror.  poor kiddo.  Luckily for her I wasn't a stranger.  But it has happened several times with kids I don't know too.

Usually the only resemblance I have to real mommy is that I'm wearing the "mom uniform" jeans and shirt for the season.  but at knee height I'm the right looking mommy. ;o)  I wonder how long this will last?

Fiddler on the Roof Jr!

Darly's next play!  Come & see if you can! :D

Window crap continues

today after waiting since December to get this window replacement finished I find that we are yet still tied up in this drama!

After installing the windows I called the city building department and had an inspector come out to finish up the project...only we couldn't because one of our windows was ordered wrong and didn't meet fire safety codes.  Turns out when the guy ordered the window he forgot to mark that this window needed a special hinge on it so that it would open up all the way.  And so the window that was installed in December only opened to 19 inches and needed to open to at least 20 to pass.

So we waited for a new window to be made.  I was told this would take only a few weeks, but as you can see it took much longer as I was only called to make the appointment to install it last week.

The guy gets here and first off he never showed me the window before ripping out the "old" window.  I didn't notice the new window didn't have the decorative grids that we ordered until he already had the window half installed.  OYE!  So I called up hubby, who isn't pleased at all...we paid extra for the grids.

I mentioned to the installer that the window should have had grids and he says "did the one I pulled out have grids?"  I'm ready to smack him.  Then he says "well it's always something!"

I've got an email into the sales guy...we'll see how long it takes to get this resolved.

taking Granite for granite

so DH has been shopping for granite counter tops for MIL's house...as only granite will do for a kitchen makeover to sell the house for someone else.  oye this still doesn't make any sense.

He called up and set two appointments to have someone give him an estimate for the counter tops.  One was going to be at 2:30 and the other for 4pm.  He went to work for half the day and then after lunch went over to MIL's house for the appointments.  It took him a bit to get there due to traffic...and once he did get there the driveway was nice and high full of snow thanks to the snow plows.

Meanwhile back at the ranch er house, I get a call at about 1:20 telling me that contractor #1 can't make their appointment and will have to reschedule.  I try really hard to get the message to DH, but he had already left work and had his work cell phone turned off (he doesn't carry his own cell).

DH gets the snow shoveled in time for the Realtor he's been working with to show up and they go in the house to get ready for the first contractor to show up.  They wait and wait and he's a no show.  So the Realtor who recommended this granite place calls them up...the guy is no longer with the company!  But they can send someone else out at 5.  So that's arranged and the Realtor & DH go over some paperwork.  The Realtor also went back to her office for a few things but was back by 4pm...the second contractor was no there.

He didn't show up until about 5pm!  So DH & the Realtor are with contractor #2 when...

Back at the ranch er house again, I get a call from contractor #1 (only I didn't realize that it was #1, I assumed it was #2 since #1 canceled)...only he tells me that he's outside the house and sees that there is another contractor there.  I'm confused but tell him that DH did schedule a few contractors to come out so he could get a few bids.  I tell him to go ahead and knock on the door since I don't have any way of contacting DH.  The contractor doesn't want to do that...so he'll just wait outside.

DH ends up with two bids.  For some odd reason even though DH gave everyone his work number, they insisted on calling here at the house after to send the bids and confirm that we got them.  You can have granite done at the normal thickness or now they have a granite overlay that you can get that costs less.  The one bid came in quite a bit less than the other one for thicker granite.  ???  confused?  so are we!  We decided to go with the thicker/cheaper granite.  However, I keep getting calls from the other guys (DH promises that he'll call them tomorrow and let them know they didn't get the job.)

We're hoping that these folks do a great job and that perhaps we'll use them again for our kitchen (although I still don't know that I want granite...I've never wanted it before!)

What are they thinking? - house selling woes

Hey folks.  Did you miss me?  Sorry for neglecting you so badly.  I was seriously considering giving this blog up entirely...but sigh, alas I cannot.

Darly and I had a great time doing CYT Cinderella, so much so that I've already committed to doing the next play Fiddler on the Roof...I even get to go to the production meeting. :D  Now I just have to be a good girl and just listen.  Pray for me on that one!

can I just say that I'm not a fan of whatever they're using on blogger here for posting.  the formatting while I type is driving me up the wall!

First a PSA here... a reverse mortgage is NOT what you think it is...or at least it isn't what I thought it is.  I thought that the reverse mortgage is the bank buying your house, paying you the equity and then when you die or move the house is theirs.  That's how they advertise it.  So when MIL got a reverse mortgage I was relieved that we wouldn't have to worry about selling her house. 

WRONG!!!!

What a reverse mortgage REALLY is is just another loan.  Yeah they finance the house for the entire amount that it is worth and give you the equity, but you still "own" the house and you still have to sell the thing.  UGH!

So MIL has been in heaven for a year now and the house is still "ours"  ugh.  It seems that no matter what price we set the house at that buyers want the kitchen and basement to be redone and finished.  Even when we had the price set at a ridiculously low price these folks wanted the kitchen redone.  We just don't understand why a buyer would want to have someone else pick out the kitchen when they can do it themselves.  But apparently that's what it is going to take to get this house sold. 

Now Dh is interviewing kitchen counter top installers to get prices for a brand new kitchen counter.  I DON'T EVEN HAVE MY KITCHEN REDONE!!!!!!!!!!!  But we are paying to redo MIL's kitchen...so that we can sell it.  This so totally stinks!  Now my kitchen has to wait until her house sells because all our saved up money is going to fix her house for someone else!

I'm also hating getting comments when people look at the house about how the house doesn't work for them.  They complain about things that the MLS clearly states...things their realtor should either be pointing out to the buyer or just not bothering to take them to if it won't work.  Like the house has a REALLY small yard.  I used to call it a postage stamp sized yard.  The MLS also clearly states that the house has stained glass windows, the pictures for the listing show the windows with the stained glass...yet these people still come through the house and complain that the house has stained glass.  I'm like DUH!  ugh!  I knew that this house was going to be hard to sell and I'm tired of this house.

Reasons I wouldn't buy MIL's house...
small yard - there's maybe 15 feet from the back door to the fence
on a road with heavy traffic - there's a high school down the street.  honestly when my inlaws bought the house they had no way of knowing this as the school wasn't built yet.
tiny master bedroom closet - no idea what the architect was thinking there
crazy neighbors - the one side has two bachelors who collect and park junk cars in front of the house, the other the woman is just crazy - but most folks won't find that out until it's too late.

So wish us luck folks as we really do need to sell this house.  DH is meeting with counter top folks this week and hopefully we can get that done quickly and sell!

 

a note to my body

Dear Body:

You are much too old to still have zits!  Zits are for teenagers, not for someone who is in her ...er... what anniversary of my 29th birthday is it this year?  hummm  well that's beside the point!  The point is I am too old to still have zits!

So clear up!

Don't make me go all Proactive on you!  Cuz I will!  That Katy Perry says it works so it must work!  And I'll get some and scrub til it's raw if I have to!

getting wrinkles and zits sucks!  Big time!

The window installation

I was gonna title that the window finale, but I'm not quite sure that it's all over yet.

Yesterday our long awaited windows came and were installed into my house.  Of course that was not without more drama.  (why can't anything ever go right???) 

We were greeted right off the bat with yet another change to our widows due to our lovely city and their stupid building codes.

As you may remember from last time Window Drama we had to change our order to take out 6 double hung windows and put in 3 2 panel slider windows instead because our local building code requires us to have windows that allow very huge people to escape from our second story windows. 

Well yesterday we learned that that same building code considers my main floor office a bedroom because "it has a closet"* and also requires that I replace the existing 2 double hung windows in the office with another 2 panel slider window...again for very large people to escape through the window, when the front door to the house is only 2 feet away.
*the office shares a closet with the foyer.  the said closet has a door that opens to the foyer and another door that opens to the office.

So I first called up the city's building dept and begged that I be able to keep my double hung windows.  The guy I spoke with was able to look up the permit and know exactly what I was talking about...but unfortunately the only way he was going to let me have my windows was for us to wall in the back side of the foyer/office closet.  So I called up my hubby and he was livid!  There was no way that he was going to close up the back of the closet just to keep the windows.  Luckily the window company had built the window that we needed to keep to code.  So they installed that.  I was very bummed...at least the window isn't that bad looking.

When the building inspector comes I will very much voice my complaint that 1) there are 8 blooming smoke detectors in this house so there is NO CHANCE of anyone getting trapped by flames in any of the rooms.  (okay, maybe if the furnace were to explode...but what are the chances of that happening???)  2) if they were trapped they would never consider jumping out a window from the 2nd story because they would surely die from the fall. I would rather get burned a bit running down the stairs than jump and break most of my bones and possibly my neck.  3) if they were truly that desperate to get out they wouldn't be at all concerned with breaking the window to get out...and these window frames pop out very easily.  4) my office, even though it has a closet would never in anyone's right mind be considered a bedroom...besides if you really needed a home with more bedrooms you would go buy one...not a 4 bedroom house.

I was just chatting with Darly and we mentioned that if she gets any more dolls that she'll need a bigger bedroom...I joked that we could take out the closets between her and the guest bedrooms and then she could have a super sized suite.  She loved that idea, but I'm sure hubby won't go for it.  However, we just gained a bedroom downstairs  LOL!

Today the window guys are working on the outside of our windows...they'll then present us with the bill.  stay tuned for that drama!

Merry Christmas!

Window Drama

who knew that what we thought would be a simple thing back in October would in fact turn out to produce such headaches?  oye!

We ordered the windows at the beginning of October but they weren't able to come measure for them until closer to the end of October.  

But it took another two weeks for them to realize the first issue...my order had been sitting on hold because changes were made when they took the measurements.  We finally got that taken care of and it would take about a month to make the windows.

Then I'm expecting a call any day now to tell me the windows are ready and set up the installation.  but NO instead I get a call telling me that my city won't allow me to put in 7 of the windows that I want.  AND to add to the stress, the guy didn't return my call!  The following is copied from my facebook.

• • STILL WAITING! I've called and left 3 messages for this guy. I called and emailed our sales rep (who did get back to me) and I called the main office. seems no one can find this bozo!
    
  • well it is FINALLY resolved. and I'm grumbling.
    

    
    
  • the problem: in bedroom windows the building code requires that the opening when you fully open a window to be at least 20w by 24h for escape during a fire.
    

    
    
  • the crux: the windows we ordered are only 15 3/4 h.
    the window are all 2 & half stories up...there is NO WAY anyone would use those as a fire escape!
    we have 5 smoke detectors on that floor and 3 more in the house...there is NO WAY that we ...wouldn't have enough warning to get out through the front door with our animals too! 

    
    
  • the solution: I have to put sliding windows in 3 of the bedrooms and a casement in the other bedroom to meet the required code.
    

    
    
  • why I'm grumbling: I hate slider & casement windows...that's why I ordered double hung windows! AND our window order was due at the end of this week...now we have to wait some more! My Christmas decorations are still not up yet.
    

    
    
  • apparently we have to install windows for the next owner's escape.

    Now I'm still waiting for the window folks to send the addendum paperwork for ordering the sliders and casement window.  I should email the guy or my order will get held up again.  I DID ask if instead of holding up my entire order if they would install the windows as they are finished so that we could get our tax rebate.  We'll see, the guy I spoke to seems to think that they can finish the new windows the same time as the rest of my order...which makes me wonder if they haven't even started my order yet.  (can you see my eyes rolling?)

    The biggest pain in the butt about all of this is that for the installation we have to have the areas around our windows clear of everything...no curtains, no blinds, no furniture...you get the idea.  Well it's Christmas time and I can't put up any of my decorations yet because I'm waiting on these bozos.  Grumble!

    Hubby wants to cancel the entire order.  LOL!  He is just saying that cuz he is having buyers remorse and doesn't want to pay for them. 
    
    UPDATE:   I got a call at about 12:30 from our sales guy.  He said he needed to meet with me to go over the changes for our window order.  Luckily he was nearby and offered to meet me at the house...I was at first panicked about trying to drive all the way to his showroom...ack!
    
    So he went over the changes with me and I signed all the necessary paperwork...AND they did reduce the price by the difference of ordering fewer windows.  The sales guy asked me to call my hubby a few times to make sure he knew that the price had been reduced...so I believe that DH must have called him and chewed his ear off.  LOL!  and YES, I see from my email that DH did have a discussion with him about a reduced price.  he he 

      

my extra frig!

I've been wanting an extra refrigerator forever.  There are just so many times when it would be handy to have some extra room for food here.  However, my hubby says NO!  and probably with good reason.  :(

See I have this tiny problem.  I buy things food when they're it's on sale.  I had to scratch out the things part cuz I'm really good at controlling my spending when it comes to just things.  However if it is food and it's on sale...well WE NEED FOOD!  But the reason this is a problem is there is usually some food on sale nearly every week...and I tend to fill up the freezer and keep buying more food...CUZ IT'S ON SALE!  sigh!  Hubby thinks that if he were to allow me to have an extra frig, I would fill it up to the brim and then forget about my stash...and continue buying.

and alas... he is probably right.  sigh

However, when the holiday season approaches...I NEED the extra space that having an extra frig would give me.  I mean you can't find anything in our frig when it is full of a turkey and all the trimmings.

BUT we live in Colorado.  And in Colorado, most years it gets darned right cold around the holidays.  Which means my garage is as cold as a walk in refrigerator!  ding!  ding!  ding!  ding!  ding!  

So in years past and this year too, I've used my garage to store all the extra food we have.  And it is awesome!  This year I used the garage to cool down my turkey brine quickly by setting the pot directly on the concrete.  I don't think that the frig could have done that.  I also am able to put our turkey in the garage while it sits in the brine.  I could never fit it in the frig.

And this year, instead of filling up the frig with still warm food (and possibly spoiling the milk) I put all the left-overs in the garage!  Hubby was so happy about this...as he doesn't like spoiled milk for his cereal.


I suggested that we put some shelves in the garage for me to put the food on...and hubby agreed!  (course, who knows how long it will be before I can actually get my shelves.) but one day I will have shelves in the garage for extra food storage!


and now I've just come up with an idea for what to get hubby for Christmas!  woot!  He is getting shelves for the garage!  he he

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Today is prep day for Thanksgiving...usually where I pull out all my supplies and realize how much stuff I forgot to buy.

I've already started roasting the pumpkin and butternut squash.  I found a great new trick for getting those seed cavities cleaned out...don't know why it has taken me this long!  I grabbed my melon baller that I never use and it worked wonderfully!  woot!  Have to remember that for Halloween too. :D

Then I went to go make my turkey brine and realized that for all these years I've been making it with not nearly enough vegetable broth.  I usually just grab 4 14oz cans and go with that...and the bird has always come out just fine...but this year I decided that I should attempt to make it right.  Of course I didn't decide that until today so I only have 4 cans of veggie broth.  So I decide that it can't really be that hard to make veggie broth...I've made chicken broth, should be close.  But remember this is a house where 2/3 of the human inhabitants are picky eaters, so it doesn't pay to have many "normal" things on hand.  sigh

Your typical veggie broth calls for things like onions (I had some frozen onions!), carrots (check), potatoes (oops, I forgot to add one of those, brb!) (check), greens (ummm will these brussel sprouts do?) (toss em in!), zucchini (ummm I have a bag of mixed veggies that have zucchini in it) (toss it in too!), and celery... well I don't have any celery.  But I do have celery salt!  so I put some of that in and let 'er rip! note: although the recipe calls for salt, I didn't add any cuz of the celery salt...I figured I can add some later...and there is salt in the brine.

I'm sure it will be just fine as the broth is for the Turkey's brine and I have about half of the broth I need...this is just flavorful filler.  I suppose it is a very good thing that cooking is an art and not a science like baking is.  

after this simmers for an hour, I'll add the rest of the ingredients for the brine and then let it cool.  Hopefully I can get the bird swimming by this evening.  

Here's the rest of my list of chores for today:

make dessert

make dessert for pot luck at Church tonight

make brine for Turkey & get turkey ready to brine

clean cooler to brine turkey in

make sure all dishes I need for tomorrow are clean (not hiding in the frig)

laundry - but okay if I put it off

mail bday gift for mom - but okay if I put it off

feed kittehs

clean kitchen countertops so I have room for all this

I guess that means I should get off the computer and get busy.  I'm also going to ask Darly to see if she would like to help make dinner and learn how to do it.

We're having:

Turkey (of course!)

stuffing substitute -sauteed mushrooms (I'm the only one who will eat stuffing and I don't need it, so I'm subbing with something equally yummy but less fattening!)

Gravy (Darly won't touch this!)

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans (steamed) (hubs will eat green beans but not gb casserole, Darly won't touch this!)

Corn

Yams (I won't eat the yams, so I'm having see below)

butternut squash (DH & Darly won't eat this!)

Rolls

Pumpkin Dessert - a family recipe that we like better than just pumpkin pie

I hope that you and yours all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with plenty to be thankful for.  I feel so blessed to know you all.

Shameless plug!

We signed up for and Darly prepared her audition. She was really excited and worked really hard... The song she chose to sing for the audition was Impossible!

and she got it! :D

Darly has an ensemble part in CYT’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella! Woo Hoo!

Of course this means that Darly & I are now busier than we ever imagined. The play will be at the end of Jan & early Feb. If you’re in the area, please come see it…these kids put on an awesome show!

Harry Potter #7!

I have to admit that I avoided the Harry Potter series when it first came out.  I just didn't see what all the fuss was about so I didn't pick up any books until the first book came out as a movie and was aired on TV.  So yeah, very late in the game.  But one day we were at my MIL's house and the first movie came on and I got hooked.
I didn't even get to see the entire movie that day because we went home before it was over.  So I quickly hopped onto my local library’s website and reserved a copy of the movie so I could finish watching it.  And then I also checked out the second movie.  It was during the second movie…checking out the deleted scenes that I realized that I was missing parts of the story and it was time to read the books.  And so I started reading the books.  And I loved the stories.
Soon I got to be a book snob and hated what they were doing to the stories when they turned them into movies.  I guess the worst was in Goblet of Fire when they deleted major portions of the story (Dobby the house elf!) and put in stuff that wasn’t in the book (Harry’s flight scene where he is hanging off the roof of the school with the dragon in hot pursuit.)  For the other movies I had to remind myself that the movie was not the same as the book.  I still get upset with the liberties that the movies take.
However, I’ve been watching the trailers for the HP#7 part one movie and I have to say that for at least one scene that I’m happy with a change that has been made.  I just grabbed my copy of the book and checked it to see how different they’ve made it…but yes, I’m still happy.  I won’t spoil the scene for you here…Let’s just say that I’m looking forward to seeing the movie and I sure hope that any other changes make me just as happy.
Oh and one more thing…they sure are showing a lot of sneek previews for this movie…wondering what we’ll see when it’s all together.

I need to be at the gym.

Here I sit, in my workout clothes...yet instead of going to the gym, I'm procrastinating by blogging.  You know it must be bad if I'm blogging because I hardly ever blog anymore.  sigh!

Going to the gym really isn't that bad.  I like it once I get there.  I can even do it solo.  It is just getting me out the door that seems to be the problem.

I think a huge part of the problem is that with a few tiny exceptions I like how I look now.  Sure it would be nicer if I fit into my old jeans better...but the newer jeans are all loose.  kinda weird being between sizes there.  I'm sure its that "value sizing" thing, where my larger sized jeans are really two or three sizes bigger than the old jeans.

Sigh, I don't want to go buy new smaller sized jeans which are really larger than the smaller sized jeans in my closet.  Are you confused?  lol

I've even considered taking in the larger sized jeans.  Crazy huh? 

Okay, okay...I'll go.  Check the widget on my sidebar to see if I really went or not.