Sweet Deal

I was blog wandering one day and came across this blog. She sells the cutest things and has the best sales. For example, right now this thermal tote is $10.00 and you can have it personalized FOR FREE. I mean, how cute is this?!
And it's only $10.00! If Little Miss were a little older, I would order it in a heartbeat. Anyway, I had to share because it caught my eye. (I don't have any affiliation with this company. I don't even know the woman. I just LOVE a cute bag!)

Is there a meteorologist in the building?

I understand the concept of freezing rain. It's rain that freezes upon contact. What I do NOT understand is how it can rain when it is below freezing. Can someone explain?

Snow Day #2

Well, we are off today! Mother Nature pulled through and dumped a couple inches of snow and ice on us. Now, as much as I love a snow day, this needs to be the last one. Our district builds 2 days into our calendar. We have used them both now, so anymore snow days will be tacked on at the end of the year. THAT my friends would royally tick this teacher off. As it stands, our last student day is Friday, May 23. I can live with that. It sucks a big one that we the teachers have to go back the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Who makes this calendar? I have no idea. Clearly, no one asked me for my opinion.
Anyway, so I am sitting on my arse drinking my 4th cup of coffee. That's right. 4. Little Miss and Tractor boy are watching Dora and Animal Planet, respectively. The amount of clutter and toys and CRAP sitting around every single room of this house is enough to make me hyperventilate. BUT, what am I doing...pretty much anything but what I should be. The laundry is piled up so high I'm not sure I can find the washer. So after this post, I promise I will get my butt in gear and start picking up. I love a picked up house. Is my house ever truly clean? Um, no. Well, when people come over, but that's so rare. But, picked up? I try to zoom around the house every hour or so and pick up after these 2 kids of mine. It just makes me feel better when things are picked up. They are horrible about getting a bunch of stuff out, playing with it for 2 seconds then moving on. Should I make them do it? Of course! But that takes SOOOOO long. I do make them pick up at the end of the day. They have to pick up their clothes and put them in the laundry. But the massive toy pick-up during the day usually becomes my job just so I can keep my sanity.
I have only lost 3 more pounds recently. I haven't been walking as much. I was sick for a few days, then meetings and weather interfered. I resolve to get back to at least 3 days a week next week. I wish I could do more when I was home, but it's tough to make the time. I used to have a treadmill, but let my aunt borrow it. I wish I had it back. I think I would really use it. Might have to check into that.
We are having a surprise birthday party for my 2 great aunts on Sunday. One is turning 88 (a nun) and the other is turning 90. Doesn't that just sound like a good time?! :) I am sure it will be nice and there will apparently be a lot of family there. I won't know any of them, but that's okay. My sister and her fiance are flying out of Chicage this weekend to go to Utah. He has a seminar and she has a date with the hotel hot tub. So they will be missing out on the birthday festivities. She sucks. My mom and aunt have been baking turkeys and dressing and are taking care of the cake. The rest of us are to bring a side dish or two. Then there's the question of what to get 90 year old women? I am thinking a sweater. Old women are always cold, aren't they?!
Anyway, I guess I have rambled on about as much as I can in hopes of delaying the inevitable. The house. Let me show you what I am dealing with.

A mess of blankets and pillows.

Yeah. That's cereal. Where's the bowl? Hard to say.

If you look closely you can see Pop-Tart and my husband's towel. Why is it men can't put things in the hamper? I will never figure that out.

Can you see why I am putting it off? Yuck.

I have to admit, I took a picture of the laundry area but couldn't bring myself to post it. It's that bad. Which means it's probably time to get off of the computer!!!

Grammar Police

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Tractor Boy

My mom has been playing around with Photo Shop thanks to PW's how-to posts. This is an old pic of Tractor Boy. I think it was his 3rd birthday?! 2nd?! How awful I can't remember. Anyway, it is just about the most handsome pic ever. Enjoy.

Seriously?

My friend, Cupcake, hooked me into this silly thing. I totally thought I was going to be an exclamation point, but it turns out I am a comma too. As a matter of fact, none of those statements apply to me. Hmmm, I wonder if we are all really commas and the blogthing people are tricking those of us with too much time on our hands.

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic. You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything. You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests. You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time. Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to. (But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.) You excel in: Inspiring people You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Lord Have Mercy

My Men

Ambitious

For no good reason whatsoever, I have decided to make a delicious meal tonight, thanks to PW. I am making this, this, and this. I am not, however, making this because the idea of raw eggs creeps me out. This coming from a girl who used to sneak raw meatballs before my mom cooked them. But for some reason, I can't get past it in the cake. Anyway, wish me luck. I have seriously never made real homemade mashed potatoes before. To be honest, I was a bit surprised mashed potatoes actually came from potatoes. I thought they came from this box.


See, I am gonna need all the luck I can get!

AND after such a manly, satisfying meal, I am sure my husband will be expecting a little of this. ;) PW never mentioned that in her post, now did she?!

Happy Farm Progress Show Day!

I mean Valentine's Day. Not everyone recognizes a farm progress show as a National Holiday as my husband does. I did get a sweet card and a bottle of wine....not too shabby. The kids are high on their candy right now. Not only did they get a box of chocolates and Skittles, I did what every good mom does when Daddy isn't home and got Happy Meals for supper!

Speaking of healthy food...last night I was putting Girl Scout cookies on a tray for our school's Taste of Chocolate day in the lounge. I wasn't trying to fool anyone by putting them on a fancy tray; I just thought it would look nice. ANYWAY. Tractor Boy starts to open the cookies and I tell him they are for mommy's school and he can't have any. He immediately bursts into tears, then gets mad.

He yells, "I am telling on woo (you.)"

He then stomps into the family room and says, "Hey God! Mommy won't give me any cookies."

He proceeds to come back into the kitchen and say, "I told God on woo" with a heavy kind of neener neener attitude.

Needless to say, I am in big trouble.

Speaking of Tractor Boy...this afternoon we were driving home from daycare and pass a semi full of big logs. He informs me that a feller buncher took those trees down and then a knuckleboom loader put them on the truck. Then he tells me that a logger operates the equipment. And according to Tractor Boy, "Loggers knows twees are vewy precious and they plant a new twee evewy time they cut one down." Forget 5th grade, I think we need a show called, "Are You Smarter Than a 4 Year Old Country Boy?"

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love.

Tagged

My best city friend, Debbie, (how's that for a bff, Deb?!) tagged me for an archive post. I haven't been blogging very long, so thinking about archives is kind of weird, but here goes.

Here are the rules.
Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. But there is a catch:
Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be anything you choose.

Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.

Archive post 1: Little Miss

Archive post 2: Major Award (this one doesn't really fit the bill, but it's all I got)

Archive post 3: Thoughts of the Day

Archive post 4: John Deere Kid

Archive post 5: Redecorating


There. I will think about tagging others and get back with you.

Tae-Bo

Dear Billy Blanks,

You are kicking my ass. Hopefully you are also reducing the size of it in the process.

Thank you.

Here are a couple pics of Little Miss working out with me. She could use a little exercise. She currently weighs exactly what her 4 year old brother weighs. Poor girl. Sucks to have such genes.

These pictures were taken shortly after Tractor Boy was driving tractors and wagons through my exercising legs but shortly before I did a big high kick right into a pedal tractor that was NOT supposed to be parked behind me. They never show THAT in the videos.

Refrigerator Magnets

I have purchased set after set of cheap little ABC magnets for the kids. They have been lost, broken, chewed, etc. They never last well and really, what's the point? Do they do anything? Not really.

That is until I found this.

It is the best $20 kids' toy I have bought. Each letter is durable with a big magnet. You can put each letter in the "station" to hear (for example) "B....B says Bu, B says Bu, every letter makes a sound, B says Bu." That is Little Miss's favorite because she thinks it says, which she repeats in a fit of giggles, "B says butt." It will also play the alphabet song. All in all, it's a great little gadget. Tractor Boy will occasionally play with it. Mostly he uses the letters to spell words, but once in awhile will plug them in. I am considering buying another set so we will be able to spell words that require the same letter....like, mommy! :) Oops, that's would be 3 sets, I suppose. Anyway, if you have kids and want them to learn the alphabet, go get this! Unless of course you would rather sit down with them and actually teach them yourself. But really, who has time for that?!

Redecorating Update

I have removed all evidence of anything floral or lace from the dining room. Big improvement already. I have my walls planned out. Picked up a few white plates. I am going to attempt to take the border down as soon as Little Miss wakes up from her nap. I REALLY hope I put it on so badly 7 1/2 years ago that it just falls right off. I think I found a paint color I like that will look good with the white trim.

Next decision. The dining room has a really high ceiling. When I put the border up, I painted cream up to about 18 inches from the ceiling, then put the border on. That leaves white ceiling paint on the walls about 12 inches from the ceiling. When I paint, do I paint all the way up to the ceiling or just up to the white to bring the ceiling down a bit?

Here's what I mean:

Discuss amongst yourselves.

So Long, Starbucks

I have decided to give up Starbucks for Lent. I know. It's a big step. I had reduced myself to one or two non-fat, no whip pepermint mochas a week. That was still more calories than I needed and more money than I needed to spend.
I considered giving up cursing. I know I should. I RARELY do it anymore but apparently a word or two pops out on occasion. Case in point: Tractor Boy found a hairball today that the
&$%@ cat hacked up and promptly muttered, "Damn it." It's surprising how appropriately he used the word. That is EXACTLY what I would have said had I found it first!
Well, it's all of 9:32 and I am ready for a book and bed. 2 conferences left tomorrow. All in all, conferences have gone rather smoothly. I am glad they are over for the school year. Gonna go visit a new baby tomorrow afternoon, register Tractor Boy for preschool, then take Little Miss to the doctor.
Good night.

Woo Hoo!

So, I have been doing really well with eating smaller portions, better, healthier food, etc. I kind of follow Weight Watchers points and just control what I eat. The cravings have subsided. If I need something sweet I have a 1 point WW snack or a Special K bar. I have been drinking lots of water, walking (when stupid meetings and conferences don't interfere) and doing a bit of Tae-Bo at home.

I weighed myself today and was XXX.5 (I am not sure why that is underlined! I hope it's not a link to a porn site. So sorry if it is! I blame my husband.) So anyway, I called my Dr. because I had been weighed there on Dec. 6 but closed my eyes due to the horror of the digits that I knew would come up. The nurse told me that on Dec. 6 I had weighed XXX.5. Want to know the difference in those seemingly similar Xs?

Drum roll please...I have lost 16 pounds! Holy crap! Now, those are of you that see me everyday might be skeptical, but it's really true. So as soon as I lose, like, a bunch more weight and stop hiding in loose, non-form fitting clothes, you will be able to see for yourself! :)

Bring on the bridesmaid dress!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

Bored

I am bored with my house. Annoyed, maybe. When I moved in, I quickly redecorated every room to cover up the 60s decor leftover from Farm Guy's grandma. (It's her farm house, you see.) Anyway, 7 1/2 years later I am ready for a change. I need to change something. Our family room is okay. It's very lived in, always messy, but comfortable. The kids' rooms are adorable and will last awhile. Our bedroom isn't what I would like it to be, but with the layout, I don't think it ever will be. Even the bathrooms are okay. That leaves the kitchen, dining room, and living room. They are outdated, too old lady like (even though I redid them.) The living room is kinda sorta redone. We recently acquired some great furniture from my parents. New curtains were put up. Now I am looking to replace the border with a green ivy pattern. I have a sample, just can't find the darn stuff anywhere.

The dining room is just awful. Too flowery. Too much lace in the curtain area. I think I need to remove the border, maybe paint, and put more neutral things on the walls. I love the white plates that The Nester has in a bedroom. I think I will keep my eye out for some cheap white plates and redo a wall. That's a start at least.


Please disregard the hand chair and other assorted toys in the living room. The hand chair is usually in Tractor Boy's room but it scared him last night. The curtains in the living room are new. Clearly the floral border needs to go in both rooms. See all the floral?! Ugh. I will spare you the lace curtains. The wine rack, while cute, could go too. Wine doesn't last long enough in this house to need a rack.

Now the kitchen. The old cabinets are white. I need to repaint them, but will keep them white. I need new window coverings. I need new door pulls (I was very much into a blue and yellow phase when we got married.) I currently have blue checked wallpaper on the top and white paneling (I like to call it beadboard...it sounds much less white trash) on the bottom. I think it could stay if I found a more primitive, Americana border. I need a new light fixture and countertop. The floor is awful, but I think if I made some minor changes, I would be more content with it.

(Please excuse Tractor Boy. He doesn't seem to understand why I would want to take a picture without him in it. ) Oh, and the blue cabinet is new from Christmas. I love it. I do not love, however, the border and light fixture. And the plate rack could go too. Please disregard the floor. It is what it is.

It sounded like a big ordeal, but after writing it out, it doesn't seem so bad. Baby steps. After conferences on Friday, I am going to head North to do a little shopping. I want a large metal star for the almost rececorated living room. I might look for some white plates while I am at it. Between my mom's house and mine, I am sure there is a paint color I could live with for the dining room. Actually, it might be okay the cream that it is with a few changes.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I embrace the traditional/country design that is a 200 year old plain farm house. But, I need a bit more simplicity in my design. Help!

Super Bowl

I will watch the Super Bowl today...despite my Colts' absence. I am definitely rooting for the Giants. You can't find a better football family than the Mannings, and if Peyton is out, then I must support Eli. That being said, it wouldn't matter who was playing today, I would be cheering for ANYONE to beat the Patriots. It would be so great to see Tom Brady and his Brazilian model loving arse get beat, ruining his perfect season. Call me bitter. Call me jealous. I am. If only we hadn't lost to San Diego in the Playoffs. We very well could be playing today. Manning vs. Manning. How cool would that have been?


So, good luck Eli. May you and the rest of your Giant friends kick some Patriot ass.

Four Cornheads

This is one of my favorite pictures from this summer. I snuck out and took it without the guys even knowing.


It just goes to show there is always "important work" to be done on the farm.

Snow Day!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the sleet and freezing rain.

Amen.


Dear Superintendent,

Thank you for closing schools before it all turned back to rain.

Amen.