Happy Halloween!!!

From Buzz Lightyear, Jango Fett and Little Miss Pink Princess!

I have said countless times how incredibly difficult it is for me to get a great photo of the three of these monkeys together. (As you will see from the goofy look on my daughter's face! LOL) But this will have to do!

Hope you all have a fun & spooky day!!!

Defending the Galaxy Makes Me Mad!

Have you ever seen a Space Ranger looking quite this angry??

I am not sure why he's mad. Possibly because he is sick of me taking pictures. Or perhaps it's the fact that he's wearing a hand-me-down costume -- or the fact that I made him wear a costume at all. Or he may just be tired out from defending the galaxy. Who knows. All I know is that this mad little face cracks me up -- so I had to share. (and please excuse the chocolate chip cookie stains left on his face!)

This poor child -- he makes this face whenever he's angry and it always makes the rest of us laugh. I don't want him to feel like we're laughing at him -- but look at him -- is that not the funniest thing?

This photo was taken at a Halloween party at church this weekend. The kids had fun and we are always happy to find a reason for them to get more use out of their costumes. This year I have Buzz, a pink princess and Jango Fett (from Star Wars). I will have to share photos of all of them next time.

Today we are back to our regular schedule after a week of Fall break for my two oldest kids and a visit from my in-laws. We had a great time during the break and I think the kids enjoyed a chance to sleep in a bit last week. Today we were back to getting up in the dark and it was actually COLD in the house this morning. We even turned the furnace on for the first time. I think Fall is finally here.

We finished up soccer this past weekend too, and after our end-of-season parties this week, I think our schedule will be just a little lighter. It's a good thing because wow -- the holidays are quickly approaching and I feel the need to get a better handle on that.

I guess I should post a Random Act of Kindness prompt, since I skipped it last week. So let's see...how about sending a card, handmade or store-bought to a friend or family member. It can be for a birthday, anniversary, or how about just because. I know for me, email is just so darn convenient that I have gotten away from actually writing to people and sending cards by mail. I personally, love to get fun mail as opposed to the usual junk & bills -- I am assuming other people feel the same way.

Okay -- enough rambling from me. Enjoy the week!!!

Sometimes it's amazing...

what can happen when someone USES THEIR BRAIN!!! Oh my -- I am such a dork! I am so glad I can laugh at myself. After a little playing around, I FINALLY figured out how to do proper links in the text of my blog.

Spare me your pity -- but feel free to laugh at/with me!!!

That's all -- I had to share my exciting news for the day! LOL Happy Weekend to all!!!

I'm here! And I have been tagged...

My friend Suzy tagged me on her blog (her link is on the side -- I still can't make a link work in my text because I am link-impaired!). It's a "seven random things" tag.

I have done this once before (in my April archives if you are interested), but I am going to attempt to come up with yet another seven items. Because I KNOW you are just itching to know seven more highly important facts about me! *hee hee*

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged.1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Here goes --

One: I try to keep my kids' movie collection in alphabetical order. It makes it so much easier to find the movie they want when they want it. It seems a little over the top -- but it saves me and them a lot of frustration!

Two: I used to LOVE cotton candy and would have to get it if we went to a carnival or festival of some sort. Couldn't resist it. Then one time my hubby got me some for my b-day and it just made me kind of ill -- I couldn't figure it out. I found out a few days later I was pregnant with my youngest child. I can hardly eat the stuff anymore! (a good thing I guess!)

Three: I am an only child of a single parent. My mom and I lived with my grandparents until I was seven.

Four: I grew up with mostly boys for friends. Once my mom and I moved out on our own, there were primarily boys in our new neighborhood. The only girl I knew was a bit wild -- she did mean things like cut the feet off of my Barbie dolls. (ha ha -- that just cracks me up now!)

Five: I once had a poem published in a book of poetry and thought it was the coolest thing ever -- until I got the actual book and realized even though it was a large, hardcover book -- they probably published EVERY poem submitted to them to get people to spend money on the book. I was seventeen and very naive!!!

Six: I am a pretty good bowler. I'm not sure if this makes me proud or embarrassed. LOL! I grew up in Northern Illinois -- my family didn't ski, swim or surf -- we bowled darn it!

Seven: I love old cheesy musicals -- one of my favorites is "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" which I own on VHS!

Okay -- many of my friends have been tagged so I may accidentally repeat names, but I will try these seven and see what happens -- Alice, Jeanne, Carolyn, Dawn, Scott, Jayne and Nancy.

And just a side note -- I have been neglecting all of you lately -- I have lots of blog reading to catch up on. My in-laws have been visiting and I have been busy! But I'll try to visit all of you very, very soon!

Taking A Break...

from my Random Acts of Kindness prompts today -- but I'll plan to post one next week. And I know you all are kind without my help anyway! :)

This past weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch. I don't know what it is, but I love going to the pumpkin patch. I never went as a child -- I don't even know if they were around or popular when I was little. But since having my oldest son, we have gone every single year and it's always a great day. And somehow, I manage to take a ton of pictures every year as well.


It was a gorgeous day when we went -- almost too warm, since I was able to wear capris. I equate the Pumpkin Patch with sweatshirts and a chill in the air. But trust me, I'm not complaining -- the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun was shining, so the pumpkins seemed even more brilliantly orange and the fall colors were wonderful.

This photo is my oldest and I'm so glad to see I got half a smile. He is going through a "not going to smile or pose for your darn camera" phase. In fact, he's just going through some phase in general that is making me a little crazy. He is negative about many things -- If I had a dime for every time I hear, "I don't want to do that" -- "I won't have fun" -- "I don't like it" -- I would be a rich woman. And usually, he'll say he doesn't like something, but if we do it anyway, he seems to enjoy himself. I don't know what is up. I try to be patient, but with him in particular, I have a very hard time. He can really push my buttons and I have to work to keep my cool. He is a good boy, but pretty tempermental. I think God knows I need to work on my patience and he gives me lots of opportunities to try and do so! It's probably payback for any stress I caused my mother when I was young!

On another note -- can you believe Christmas is just about eight or nine weeks away?? That just seems so crazy! Where does the time go?? (I know there is no answer to this question!)

Well -- I need to get moving. Hope you all had a fun weekend. Enjoy your week!!!

They Say It's My Birthday....

And it is!

There are 38 candles on my cake today -- how in the world did that happen? I am not one to stress out over getting older. I never have been. But it sure does feel like 40 is just looming in front of me now and although I am not worried about it....it really just feels impossible. How can I be 38???

Honestly -- I am thankful to be 38. Thankful that I have three beautiful, amazing children. Thankful for family and friends that are blessings in my life. Thankful that God has given me 38 years on this earth filled with a lot of happy times ~ as well as plenty of hardships, that I hope have only made me stronger and wiser.

I still have a multitude of things I want to do in my life -- and that's when I get a little stressed about my age. I have those moments of "Wait a minute! Another year has passed? I haven't done enough -- I need more time!" But it just reminds me that life is short -- life is a gift -- and I need to be working each day to do more -- to become better -- and to share kindness with as many people as I can.

THANK you to all of my wonderful friends who have sent me emails or e-cards with warm birthday wishes. You all are just amazing and I am so grateful to call you my friends.

I wish I could celebrate with each of you in person, but since I can't -- go have a drink or a treat of some sort for my birthday -- and enjoy the rest of your day!!!

Random Act of Kindness Prompt - Week Five

Good Morning (just barely -- it's nearly noon!)

Life is crazy busy here -- our house is in complete disarray from painting and rearranging, I have been cleaning out closets, I'm *sort of* considering a garage sale in a few weeks (which means I have piles of JUNK everywhere), my in-laws will be here in four days -- my head is really spinning. In addition to this, I have two soccer parties to plan, Cub Scout popcorn to sell and miscellaneous kid stuff to do. There truly is not enough hours in the day right now.

So -- I almost forgot my prompt today. But -- here it is...

At my old job, we used to have a fun tradition that one of my managers started. It sounds so silly, but it was really fun and everyone got a kick out of it. When one of us would travel somewhere, we would buy "totally meaningless" gifts for each of our co-workers in our department. They were usually some really bad souvenirs -- the dorkier the better. (Is "dorkier" a word?) Sometimes, they were just some cute trinket -- a pen, a pencil, a magnet -- inexpensive, fun little gifts.

So my prompt this week is to give a little gift to someone (or several someones!) -- something unexpected and fun. Nothing big -- just something quirky or sweet to brighten their day.

I am not sure how often I will blog this week -- as you can tell I'm just a little stressed out. (taking deep breaths!!) So -- have a GREAT week!!!

Things I Am Not...

There are SO many things I am not...and we don't need to go into all of them, since you all have lives to get to...but let me just say...Martha Stewart, I am NOT!

I have been painting our kitchen and living room and I have discovered that although I THOUGHT I liked to paint -- I really don't like it much at all. I like the finished product (hopefully!), but the prep work, the mess, the time it takes away from everything else -- don't like that one bit. And being the brilliant human being that I am (ha!), I chose a dark color for the kitchen -- kind of a reddish brown (it's called "Wine Barrel") and it is quite difficult to make it look nice. Red is not an easy color to work with. So wish me luck on making my kitchen look good! :)

The living room on the other hand, is halfway done and I love the color. We actually are doing two colors -- one is called Egyptian Nile (it's a warm sagey/olive green) and the other Harvest Brown (a khaki-like color). If you're bored, you can check out all of these colors on the Behr website. (I would put a link here for you, but I am link-impaired -- I can never make them work right -- I know, I know -- pretty dumb -- maybe some kind soul can help me figure it out....)

This painting project is also giving me incentive to update the family photos I have displayed. I don't do that often enough. And my hubby gave me three shadow boxes (one for each child) for Christmas I have yet to do anything with -- I cannot decide what to do, but now I really want to figure it out.

And as promised in my previous post...I have drawn a name from my fellow "Annie" loving blog readers and the winner of my mini prize is....(drum roll if you please)....Mary Jo!!!! Woo Hoo! I will get something off to you soon my friend!

Alright -- enough rambling -- have a FANTASTIC weekend!!!

It’s the Hard Knock Life….

It’s not really the hard knock life…but I have had the songs from the musical “Annie” playing in my head for two weeks now. It’s like I have my own little soundtrack as I go about my day. I may just have to title all my posts with song titles from “Annie” for the remainder of the week.

In case you are wondering why these songs are playing in my head, I took my two oldest kids to see the musical – and they BOTH loved it! I did not think my oldest son would even be interested, but he fell in love with the story and we of course, had to go buy the Broadway soundtrack on CD. So needless to say – it has been playing a lot at our house. My kids have been singing the songs (with a little acting out of the scenes with props courtesy of my daughter!) Luckily, I enjoy the songs. I remember having the same CD (although I think it was an album – gasp! LOL) when I was maybe 10 or 11. Loved it. But at the same time – having the same songs playing over and over in your head does get tiresome. I catch myself adding commentary to the songs….you know, like “The sun will come out, tomorrow….YES I KNOW THE SUN WILL COME OUT TOMORROW, I’VE HEARD IT 652 TIMES NOW!!!!….."

Moving on to equally unimportant things…

Do you ever feel like you’ve run out of all your toiletries/paper products all at once?? I swear – today is that day for me. I am usually a stock up and try not to run out kind of gal. But this week – I need about 20 things – paper towels, soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste – that kind of thing. Goodness knows I visit Target often enough for this not to happen, but nonetheless it has. I guess it’s an excuse to visit Target yet again. Because you all know I avoid Wal-Mart like the plague!

And since I am apparently feeling a little quirky and silly this morning – how about a little fun. Anyone who can name THREE songs from the musical “Annie” in a comment will be entered in a drawing and get a little prize from me. And no cheating by looking it up online – okay, okay, if you absolutely need to look online, you can, but I’ve already mentioned two songs in my post. The prize winning is a piece of cake!

Have a happy hump day!!!

Random Act of Kindness Prompt - Week Four

This one has to be quick today -- we've been painting all weekend and my house is such a mess! I need to go try to clean it up somewhat and put it partially back together -- we still have LOTS of painting to do. I also MUST do laundry -- the pile is about to take over my bedroom. Ack! :)

SO -- on to my RAK prompt for this week --

I have quite a few friends and family members in my email address book who I rarely keep in touch with. I always have good intentions, but seem to not always get around to calling them or writing. So this week I challenge you to send THREE short emails to family or friends you have not communicated with in a while. It will likely be a very nice surprise for them!

Enjoy your week!!!

Bored, Unmotivated, blah, blah, blah....

What in the world is up with me? I am not really down in the dumps or particularly unhappy. And usually, this time of year is very motivating to me -- the change of season, the getting into a routine -- but lately, I feel very unproductive.

In my head, I'm thinking about the sixteen thousand things I want to accomplish and would love to be doing. And then I don't do them. OR -- I spend one or two crazy days doing a bunch of things and then three or four days doing the bare minimum.

Now, as all of you who have kids know -- the bare minimum still keeps you pretty darn busy. On top of the usual daily chores and errands, we have activities every night of the week except Friday -- soccer on Saturdays -- church & Sunday school on Sundays. We're pretty busy. But as far as other projects I'd like to do -- where is my motivation??? No idea -- it's on hiatus and I need it back!

It's all good though -- I'm sure this boredom or lack of mojo or whatever the heck it is will pass.

I have not shared a quote in quite a while, so I decided to share this one with you -- it is from one of my very favorite books (possibly, my all time favorite), "The Count of Monte Cristo" --

"Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--'Wait and hope'. " ~ Alexandre Dumas


Happy Wednesday!

Random Act of Kindness Prompt - Week Three

Good Morning!

As most or all of you know (and I just mentioned it in a post recently), my kids are at a new school this year. It was not too big of a deal for my daughter, who is in kindergarten, but my son is in third grade and although he was kind of looking forward to it, it is still very hard to be the new boy in class.

Quite honestly, we knew very little about this new school before our transfer. All we knew is the school we were at was not a great environment and we needed to make a change. We requested three different schools that apparently could not accommodate us -- we were offered the school we are now in. And it has turned out to be such a blessing.

I am so extremely thankful for the people at our new school who have made the transition so easy and really wonderful. My kids love their teachers. The principal is great. The school secretary has gone above and beyond from day one -- she's awesome. The atmosphere is just so positive and upbeat.

This week's kindness prompt comes to me based on this experience. Often, there are people we come in contact with who make things easy or pleasant and we don't always get the chance to thank them or let them know how much we appreciate their efforts. Isn't it a great feeling when someone goes out of their way to let you know they appreciate you? Especially when it's someone you don't really expect it from? So I encourage each of you to write just one thank you this week -- to a dedicated teacher, an understanding boss, an online friend who brightens your day, a secretary/receptionist who always has a smile or goes the extra mile. And if you want -- write more than one! I know I have plenty of people in my life who deserve a thank you.

Happy October everyone -- enjoy your week!