Oh Christmas tree

Now that we're all 10 lbs. heavier from turkey and all the fixings...which believe it or not the boys actually helped make this year.... it is time to get all ninja on this Christmas business. We are well on our way to giving Clark Griswold a run for the money. Outside lights are up... most of them anyway, Mr. and Mrs. C are in place, the wreath has been hung on the porch with care, and candy canes guiding you straight to the door. "The tree?" you ask, but of course it is up. We searched and searched until this beauty was found.....

The pickle took charge when it was time to cut it down..

The nugget supervised oh so well...

and everyone yelled timber as she fell to the ground...

Such wilderness men they've all become...


Hope you all have as much fun hunting for your tree as we did!

Pickle's new trade

Just when I thought life couldn't get any more hectic, the Pickle up and decides to join wrestling. Don't get me wrong... I'm very proud of him for wanting to try something new. Wrestling though??? Not sure where that came from. Keep in mind, I was just informed of this a couple days ago. Today the papers came home...
He will need a physical of course before he's allowed to practice... I knew that. Just didn't realize practices would be starting Monday. Nor did I realize that from that 1st day through a good part of March there will be either practice or a meet every single day but Sundays. hmmmm It seems he'll get the first week of Christmas break off but the second week there will be practices every morning. Not sounding like to much fun yet. The upside... well, he'll take the bus to all the meets. The downside of it is that I'll have to drive into town in the middle of the night to pick him up afterwards...20-30 min. depending on traffic and my utter fear of driving at night during blizzards. Same as with every night of practice and oh i can't wait till he has to be there by 5 or 6am to drop him off. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to drive so far... every day.... sometimes twice a day. This is the part that sucks about your children attending school in another town...hmmmmm Do you think there's time to move... a bit closer.... like across the street from his school...oh if only he could drive.
Pickle, I apoligize in advance for any problems that arise due to my lack of organizational skills that may hinder your future with the WWE.
Yes, I'm done whining now. I do wish Pickle the best of luck and I'm sure he'll have lots of success in his new trade.... that is if I get him there on time.

The ringing of the bells

There was some crazy cold wind outside the Kroger yesterday where the pickle and I stood for 2 long hours ringing bells for the Salvation Army. It was a service project for the boyscouts but of course they had to be supervised... that my friends is where I came in. There was never a dull moment with the constant foot traffic that goes through there and the actual bell ringing... not bad at all. It was that cold, cold wind that brought me to pure misery. I don't know what we would have done without the Starbucks, whose coffee and cocoa gave us a little bit of warmth... well, for 5 min. before it turned ice cold itself. Still... those were precious, very much appreciated moments. A few hours after I got home, as I was bundled up in my chair under 4 blankets and sitting on a heating pad because my back side was still cold to the touch... pretty sure my butt's got frost bite, I had the utmost respect for the people who do this. Every year you go in store after store passing these people, throwing in a little change if you have it, avoiding them if you don't... never really stopping to think about what they're doing or how miserably cold they must be at that very moment. You never really know until you experience it for yourself. So bell ringers of the world.. I salute you. Ring on!

Coming undone

The up coming holidays along with the hectic craziness of every day life has most of us running around like an energizer bunny ready to crash at any moment. So much to get done without any possibility of it all getting completed. This song kind of says it all....

Now that it's been established that I'm coming undone, I feel energized to atleast get 1/2 the things accomplished that I set out to do today:p

Holiday help

For any of you that are moms and live in the area, just wanted to let you know about a holiday contest going on with lots of give-a-ways. All you have to do is go to newsanchormom.com to enter. Hey it's worth a try and we could all use a little help this time of year. Good Luck

Cleaning out my drawers... no, not those drawers!

After making the decision to be a stay at home mom again and deciding to quit smoking... which I've unfortunately since taken up again.... I gained a ton of weight. For the past 7 or 8 months I've been slowly trying to take it off and get to a healthy weight. I've always been an eater. I will not starve myself for anything. If I want something, I eat it. So, the biggest obstacle for me is portion control. I still eat. I'm just more likely to make better choices and be satisfied with a smaller helping than I used to be. So far I'm down 24 lbs. and I feel alot better about myself. I feel better in general.
I decided to go through my clothes the other day. My drawers and armoire were packed so I figured I should weed out the stuff that didn't fit anymore. If I get rid of the stuff, hopefully I won't slip into those sizes again. Not sure if that's a good strategy or not but it seems like a good plan. When I was done I had 2 big boxes of clothes to get rid of. For one, I didn't realize I even had that many clothes until I started going through them and two, wow...it's a good feeling. Only one major downfall in all this... I now have no clothes. Mr. M would say that's totally ridiculous... there's still plenty in there. No Mr. M a person can not survive with only 3 pairs of pants! Well, not a girl anyway. No major shopping sprees for me, though. I think I'll wait and see where this thing takes me.

Definately not retro cool

The time comes in everyones life when you have to bite the bullet and buy a new heater for your home. Believe me, this is something we've been putting off for a very long time now. The cost of replacing something that is still technically working and costs so very much is enough to choke me. I say technically because although it still actually runs, it's a gamble every year of whether it will actually get us through the whole winter or not. It's so loud. I'm talking sounds like a train coming through, have to turn up the t.v. when it comes on, loud. Sometimes it even sticks... it'll run and run and never shut off. You have to actually go down in the basement to shut it off for a few minutes so it can clear it's head and begin to function properly again. Every time I'm walking down those stairs cursing I think of the dad in "Christmas Story".. I so feel his pain. Oh and the kicker... our highest bill in the winter months is usually around $400. Most things that have come out of the 80's are pretty cool... not a heater. There's no getting around it, it's time.

We also decided that while we were at it we might as well get air. It's cheaper to do it all at once than decide you want it later. No, this house didn't have central air when we bought it and we thought "Hey, who cares. We can live without it" We now realize that was all just crazy talk. We need it. We want it. We're getting it. The company we're going with takes 1/2 the payment now, and the rest when the job is complete. So today, I held back the incredible urge to vomit as I wrote that check. Hopefully the nausea will subside before I have to once again make that fateful walk to my purse for the check book.

Ms. Cup

Our precious little Buttercup


Why are you taking pictures of me lady...


Can't you see I'm sleeping?!


Fine... get your #*@! picture!


Now, go away while I sleep.

Thank you for being so cooperative Ms. Cup.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

It's a beautiful, 20 degree, autumn morning. Terribly cold yes, but the sun is shining and in our neck of the woods that's really all you can hope for this time of year. The older I get, the less I care about how I look during times like these and more about keeping warm. This being said, I began the process of getting ready to take Daisy dog out. The pickle offered to take out the Cup this morning so I have just the one to deal with. I wear my big ski jacket, snow boots, scarf, gloves, and a hat. Definately a sight to see... atleast I'm warm. Daisy seems to be rejuvinated by the crisp air...


I think she's smiling..

While she runs around I realize that the tree in our backyard has finally decided to shed it's leaves....it's always the last one. It's not even windy out or anything... it's like it just up and decided it was time.



The leaves were just pouring out of it and I had to laugh.... the sound. It sounded like someone was having a giant bowl of Rice Krispies. Snap, Crackle, Pop. This went on the whole time we were out there and I'm sure will continue until all the leaves are gone. It was beautiful and entertaining to watch. Now comes the bad part... we have to rake up all those leaves! The horror!

At your service....

You know that saying... always the bridesmaid, never the bride? There have been numerous movies and t.v. shows depicting the utter horror one experiences when being asked once again to be in someone's wedding. I, myself, have never experienced such horrors because of the simple fact that I haven't been in any weddings, let alone a slew of them to be horrified about. To me it sounds like a fantastic thing to be a part of. That's why I am completely honored that my little sister has asked me to be her Maid of Honor. Yes, yes, believe me I am fully aware that the proper term for a married woman, such as myself, is Matron of Honor. I ask that you refrain from calling me that though, because I think it sounds utterly awful. Something about the word Matron.... ewww.

I'm so very excited and can't wait until they set a date so I can do whatever it is Maid of Honors do. Oh, and if there's not an age requirement on the ordaining I'm sure the pickle would love to officiate. hehe


Me and my little sister.... twins separated 3 years apart

The popcorn chronicles

This, this is the current seen unfolding at mob central. We've been overrun by popcorn. Every kind of delectable popcorn imaginable.



Mud Puddles... mmmmmm

The pickle did a fantastic job with selling this stuff... $630 worth. This is the most merchandise sold in mob history! He did it himself too. Mr. M and I didn't sell it for him at all. Unfortunately, the poor guy wasn't even in the top 3 sellers. I thought the fella would atleast get an honorable mention... or even some of those cheesy prizes you get with everything else you do during elementary and jr. high. No such luck. Life as a child salesman is rough these days.

Now for the delivery... really wish we would have taken that into consideration before he sold so much. You may not hear from me for awhile.... unloading all this corn may take quite some time.

The people choose Obama

Here he is ... our President elect. Whether you voted for him or not, today is still a happy day for us all. History has been made and our country will change. We need a change, a change for the better, and after listening to the speech he gave in Chicago last night, I think he's exactly what we need right now. We need to put our faith in him and pray everything turns out for the best. He brings a kind of unity to us all that's refreshing and fills you with hope. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us all. For the first time, in a long time, things are looking up for us America.

The stress is rising..

I'm not sure why these things happen to me. It seems I have a big sign on my forehead that says ask me... I'm a nice lady who won't say no. The most recent being asked to organize a banquet. It was one of those things... caught off guard in the middle of the Walmart.. didn't see it coming. Not finding an escape route, I caved and said yes. I've never organized something of this stature before. Not without the help of others anyway. This, this will be all me. I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. I was told I would be contacted by the woman who did it last year to give me some pointers to what she's done previously. It sounds like it's pretty much up to you how you do it. I figured..OK, I'll just wait until I hear from her... hopefully she'll send me some check list of everything that needs to be done. As I wait patiently, I receive not an email from her but one from the guy doing invitations asking my approval. Does anything need changed? ummmm how the hell am I supposed to know???? Yes, now I am in a full fledge panic.
I haven't done anything and I'm guessing at this point, I probably should have.

I'll be waiting on my porch with my bag packed if someone would kindly come wisk me away, out of the country, until this hoopla has passed.

Tis the season...

Hard to believe it's time already, but we began our Christmas shopping today. Once Halloween's over it seems that there is no time to waste... Christmas is fast approaching. It's sad that Thanksgiving usually gets lost in the shuffle but honestly who can wait until after Thanksgiving to start their shopping? You'd never get everything done in time.. and if you did, you'd be in a mad panic the entire month of December. Not that most people aren't anyway..but still.

I have mixed feelings about the way we're doing Christmas now. With one side of our family, we all drew names. The other side.. we're just buying for the kids. This will make my shopping fairly easy this year and with the lists everyone made, there's nothing to think about... just head to the listed place and get the listed item....stress free shopping. On the other hand, it's so fun to watch people unwrap their gift and to see the look on their face when you surprise them with something you knew they'd just love. Having the lists though, saves alot of frustration of roaming around wondering what in the world someone doesn't already have. Not going broke at Christmas is a plus too.

So even if it's a gift card, my gifts will be boxed and wrapped. For my sake, please feign surprise when you open them 'cause I'm gonna pretend that I came up with it all on my own. Happy shopping! Oh and in case you didn't know.. 52 days until Christmas. Please don't throw things at me... just wanted to inform those who hadn't checked a calendar lately :p