Sham's Life

the camping trip

2011-06-26T09:04:00.012-06:00

we went camping last weekend and we had a good time. we arrived at the camping spot about 11ish at night so the kids were ready to go to bed almost right away (they did wake up for a little bit and we had to set up the tent still). after less sleep than i should have had we all got up the next morning. the kids were ready to start fishing right away. with the assistance of grandma C, they both managed to catch a fish. i didn't do much the first day, just mostly relaxing...
the next day was about the same in the morning... just relaxing and such and then my brother in law decided that we should go for a nice afternoon hike. i should have known better when i asked where we were headed and he just pointed up. there was no trail, or even really a plan, we just got some water and went. a couple hours later we had managed to get to the acceptable top (the original top we could now see and it looked a lot more difficult than the original assessment). and there were rain clouds headed our way and we were completely unprepared for pretty much anything that may have happened (my scout leaders from when i was a kid would have been sooooo disappointed!). we headed back down and minus some scrapes on our legs from the brush, we were in pretty good shape.it rained a lot that evening and there was a lot of drinking and fun. the next day was just mellow again and we were getting ready to go so not a lot of action on this day for us. we had a good time and the kids slept for a decent chunk of the ride home.

now they wanna go camping again...

summertime!!

2011-06-07T20:16:00.004-06:00

it is finally summer!!! i really am getting tired of the cold in my old age!

all of the kids passed their classes and are moving on to the next grade. yay for them!! G will be in 4th grade (i can't believe this at all) amd M will be moving on to 1st grade. CJ will get another year of preschool which he absolutely loved this year and i am sure he will again next year as well. G has decided that he wouls like to play the violin next year in the orchestra. i tihnk i am going to invest in a nice pair of earplugs... i remember when i was a kid and my younger brother would play the violin. beginning strings instruments is not pretty!G went to visit his dad for the summer in hawaii again this year, but before he left we had a nice weekend of fun. we played at the park, had ice cream, went to the movies and played in the fountain downtown. we had grandma and grandpa over for grilling and uncle david came by for the day as well. we will miss him, but he will be back soon enough.
M & CJ have lots of fun planned for the summer. they have both started swimming lessons and they have many field trips to go on this summer with day camp. we are also going camping a few times this summer!
it's gonna go by way too fast - i can already tell. and then it will be cold again and i will return to grumpy once again...

2011-04-11T10:55:00.003-06:00

i had some extra time this weekend... the kids were at grandma's and the hubby had gone to work... so i decided to really get in and play some WoW.

now for anyone who isn't aware, i have been avoiding the dungeon finder. not avoiding in the way you avoid doing the dishes. "i don't want to do them right now, but eventually either the sink is going to be full and stinky or there are going to be no more dishes to eat off of." i have been doing everything else i can think of to do without going into a dungeon. i did all the quests in Cata. all of them. every new zone complete. i did the dailies out in deepholm. i am exalted with the big rock people (on 2 toons). then instead of doing dungeons i leveled my priest. and my hunter. and another Shaman (like completely 1-85 brand new toon on another server). i even did dailies out in tol barad even though i have no interest in pvp on this toon. i have been "geared" enough for heroics for a few months and still i would sit in stormwind and keep the daily quest givers happy by filling their requests.

well, i did it.

i queued for a heroic.

i was promptly ported to grim batol (a dungeon i had not been in on regular yet). i did the necessary look at your group and see what we have. i got a bear tank. not just any bear tank, but one with less HP than half the group. seriously.

...

he died on more than half the pulls. out of 5 or so that he lasted he died at least 3 times. i ran OOM on the very first pull trying to keep him alive and as i sat down to drink he ran ahead and pulled another group. seriously.

i was able to salvage that pull with almost no mana sacrificing only him. technically he sacrificed himself. after flying around on the drakes torching stuff he ran right into mobs and got himself killed again. during all of this he is the one saying "gogogo... i only have a few minutes to finish this." and on his last pull i see that he has targeted the pally in the group. he wasn't even targeting mobs anymore (curiously enough this was a pull that he survived as he had zero aggro). after that pull we figured out that he had put himself on follow and left.

seriously.

being the somewhat smart people that we are, we kick him for a real tank. luckily we got one and the rest of the dungeon was pretty easy.

so, with my new-found confidence i decide to run another one on sunday. we all get ported into halls of origination and we are buffed and ready to go. first pull, we have our cc up and the tank is all over the place as are the remaining mobs and just as he is about to die he leaves group. so we are sitting there with a trapped mob and a sheeped mob waiting for a new tank.

WTF Blizzard?!?!?! Why are you punishing me??? i would like to know what i did so i can promptly remedy this!

we got a new tank and all we had to do was re-sheep one of the mobs. and we were again able to make it through the remainder of the place with only a couple of deaths. i did get a mad mage on the last boss. he was yelling that he didn't get any heals. in my own defense, he was on the other side of the room and i did run over to that side of the room to heal him, i was just too late.

overall, i am pleased with the level of difficulty that the dungeons present. i couldn't put myself on follow and tab out to play farmville. i just hope that the tanks that shouldn't be tanking stop torturing me soon and go back to DPS.

2011-03-20T07:52:00.004-06:00

so... i'm 33 now. the party was fun, though the bar scene is just not the same as it used to be. i would rather just hang out at home or a friend's house any day.

so, both G & M got awards the other day at school for their writing skills. to anyone else this would be great news. but to me, this is just a sign of trouble. you see, i was reminded of my own writing skills in high school and how they landed me in the principal's office. maybe i will just have to teach them discretion as well...

in wow news, i have made a goblin shaman and i made my hunter into a blood elf and i have been playing the other side for a bit. i am up to level 83 on both and have really been having fun. i rolled on a PvE server, so the loss of world PvP has made it a bit quicker to level. i have also been leveling enhancement which is a completely new spec for me. i like it a lot so far, but it really is a lot different being right up in the action. the goblin totems are by far the most awesome of all the shamans.

not much else going on lately... just life i guess.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T16:28:00.003-07:00

wow... i have been online a lot and not so much on my blog. the cataclysm release has sucked up much of my time. and to think, i was bored with the game there for a while and had not played for more than an hour at a time for nearly 6 months. well, i hit max level 2 days ago i think and i still have several zones to quest in. i am quite pleased with everything so far, i have been having loads of fun!

the kids have made it through the first half of the school year and so far all is well. i am still marginally sane and since we are about to bake cookies - i will certainly be better after a few of those! all of the Christmas shopping is done and soon the kids will get to open their one Christmas eve present. Santa should be in tonight about 10 or so and we shall drink some rum together... after all he has a long night ahead of him!
Merry Christmas!!!

2010-10-31T09:31:00.002-06:00

well, here i am again... at work...kinda bored. i just looked and thought to myself, "Wow... has it really been that long since i posted on here?!?!?"

guess things have just been that busy. such is life i guess.

i guess mostly i have not been updating lately because i log in and then realize that i really don't have much to say. the kids are good. i am good.

i logged into WoW like 3 times since the big patch. so far i do not like the changes. probably has more to do with the fact that i have not actually played and therefore i am not used to the changes yet. after all, most of the time i was logged in the first time was spent figuring out what talents to take. and most of the second time was redoing my macros. the third time i logged in my unit frames were back and i actually played in a few BGs. it was fun and all, but i just wasn't feeling it so i logged out and played farmville.

i know. i know. i know.

the shame.

...

i let G make a facebook account. i realize this is not my proudest moment as a parent, but it will give him a way to keep in touch with his dad and that side of his family. now all he does is play farmville. and cafe world. and frontierville. and petville - i think you get the point. i guess he comes by that naturally.

i have been working on a quilt for a friend that got married earlier this month. i was a bit hesitant as the colors were not what i would have picked out to go together, but as i have been putting the blocks together, it is starting to really grow on me... i think it looks pretty great now. i will put a picture up when i have the top done.

guess that is all for now.

Happy Halloween!!

WoW....

2010-09-18T21:30:00.007-06:00

as i suspected i could not stay away for long. after about 2 months i think i started twitching and i just felt lost without my virtual world. so i started playing again.

now, i certainly don't have the time to commit to playing all the time, and after all the springtime drama i was left guildless. not really wanting to apply anywhere i was happy to get an invite from a friend. i also got to go right into ICC with them and pretty much start off where i left.

it really is chilly where the Lich King resides...

i haven't really had time to focus on raiding since the kids went back to school. i have 2 in scouts and i am the den leader for one. time is just something i have virtually none of. but i have managed a few fun things. i finally went back and did all the quests in Shadowmoon Valley earning me the Outland quest achievement as that was the only area i had done nothing in. while there i finally did Netherwing as well. i have always loved the green one and now i have my own.

i also decided to get the Frenzyheart rep so that i could get the achievement for getting to exalted with both... after buying egg after egg and getting no mount, i decided to take a short break and i got the Frenzyheart Brew out of my very first jar with them. it took me longer to get exalted than to get the best drop from them! i am now back up to buying the eggs again and still no luck.

still playing on the Lich King platform... with my baby oracle conveniently on a leash

i have been working on Bloodsail rep also. i figure that since i want the Hyacinth Macaw and am gonna have to kill a shit ton of Bloodsail to get that to drop, i may as well get the pirate title first so that i have another reason to be killing them... to get my goblin rep back.

other than that i have been working on PvP and playing in many BGs. i used to hate BGs but for some reason i now love them. i cant think of a place i'd rather be in game. there is always something happening, no one is being a jack ass in vent, i get loads of thanks for healing, and we have been winning as well! what's not to love about all that?!?

in the mage tower after killing some dirty horde that decided to camp here and kill some of my buddies. i dont think they were expecting all of us...

oh... and i really suck at 1 on 1 PvP, so killing me is still pretty easy. but am getting better. one day i will be able to kill someone without using my Fire Elemental buddy.

2010-08-29T18:58:00.007-06:00

we have been so busy lately that i have not had any time to post.

...

ok, that was a lie. but we have been doing a lot. G is back from Hawaii. he had a great summer there, although he came back rather un-tan for having had an entire summer in the sun. he got to learn how to boogie board and got to play in the ocean... i am soooooo jealous!

he came back right as Grandma Carol was visiting from Grand Junction for M's birthday. hard to believe she is already 5! i still remember when she was still a surprise in my belly. she had a great party with her two favorite people in the whole world. (Grandma Carol & Grandma Susie if anyone is wondering)
and only 3 days later, they got to go back to school. third grade for G and kindergarten for M. she cried when i dropped her off, so i am glad i got this picture of them before we left the house.

she has been doing well since then, she does a little better each day. as she was crying hysterically one morning that i left her there one of the other mothers commented that it must "break my heart." i admit that once upon a time it did, but now that she does it every time anything happens (even when grandma brings her home, she will cry like this for 30 minutes!) it effects me a bit less than it used to. i really do hope that it is just a phase and it goes away though.

G still loves school. he really loves anything that he gets to do. he is becoming more independent each day. i am glad that he seems to be a bit better at making friends as well. it is interesting trying to teach a kid that while it is not OK to lie, we really don't say everything that enters our minds either. not everyone likes to hear the truth about everything and sometimes it is OK to just keep our opinions to ourselves.
finally, this past weekend we went camping on the Platte River. M & CJ have never been before and everyone was excited. we got them all new outdoor sleeping bags and we had to get a tent big enough for all of us. we packed up the car and headed out and found a campground when we got up there. i guess that was kind of lucky though as we did not have a reservation. at least we know that for next time! we only went for the one night since it is the kids first time out, i figured that would be enough for all of us. they all brought their fishing poles and got to play in the river the next morning since it was only about ankle deep where we were.
it was a nice end to a fun summer.

2010-08-06T09:31:00.004-06:00

i cant believe the summer is almost over...

it seems like it just flew by. i don't really have anything to show for it, i don't feel like i got anything done. well, i did manage to go through all the kids clothes and toys and take out the old ones... but i did not manage to get any of that stuff into my car to donate it. so i guess i get 1/2 effort points for that.

CJ is now three... well, he turned three last month and i just haven't gotten around to putting up pictures from his party. his toy story party went well. there was a lot of excitement and balloons!
he got a bubble gun-toy and they had much fun playing with that outside one day.
now i have to plan another party because M is turning five next week... and then she is starting kindergarten a few days after that! Oh my does the time fly by! G is also coming back from a summer in Hawaii... i am pretty sure he is going to be disappointed in daily life here again after all that excitement. he got to spend a lot of time at the beach and i hear he has had loads of fun. we are having the party after he gets back so he doesn't miss it.

now i'm off to get something done... not sure what it is yet though! ;)

2010-07-05T16:31:00.005-06:00

we have had a lot of fun the past couple of weeks. last weekend we drove up to the summit. i had no idea that the hubby had never been up there, after all he has lived here for several years and we have gone fishing at the lakes on the peak several times. well, now he knows that i don't really like the drive up as i can see down the side of the mountain and apparently don't trust him enough not to drive off the side. he says if we ever go to the top again we are taking the train.
this weekend we went to the Renaissance Festival. i had many drinks and therefore didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few:
the kiddos had a lot of fun in the children's realm. it gave them some time to run off some energy since most of the day was spent chilling in the stroller. otherwise it is a lot of walking. we went with a bunch of people from my work and they all seemed to have a blast as well.
and finally yesterday, for the 4th, we went up to my good friend Amber's house. we got to relax, hang out and play games and her husband, Alex, made some great food on the grill. the kids were so worn out that they were asleep before we were even halfway home and they slept all night after that. it is always nice when i don't have to fight with them to go to bed.

this is one of Amber's daughters... isn't she adorable?!?!?

after all that, it is a blessing to have today off so that i can recover before i have to go back to work.

i need your opinion...

2010-06-25T13:21:00.005-06:00

i have some good news... through eating better and adding (just a little) exercise back into my life i have managed to lose 15 pounds in 7 weeks. i have a long way to go but this is a pretty good start. seems i got lazy after baby number 3 and just kinda gave up. and unfortunately with the hubby being out of work for so long eating right was just kinda out of the budget. don't let anyone tell you it is cheaper to eat better. yea, vegetables don't cost very much over all, but you actually have to buy MORE of them because they have so few calories. mac and cheese costs less than 2 dollars and i can feed 5 people dinner... that doesn't make it good for me though.

so, why am i telling you this? well, i have set up a reward plan for myself. i am going to start my sleeves (well, not full sleves, just 3/4) and i am getting close to goal number one. i was going to start at 20 pounds and i am almost there. i am really quite excited, but i dont have anything drawn up yet. right now it is kind of just an idea that i have had in my head for a while. for anyone that knows me i have the 2 dragons on my arms already. here they are:

(and before anyone mentions it... i know i need to get some of the sun redone as there was a lot of orange shading in it and i think that is not a color i hold well. i will need to figure something out for that as well...)

as you can see, they are opposites and i want to keep up that theme on my arms. i also want to keep with the "fantasy" theme as well. so here is my idea. i would like to put cute & good fantasy stuff on one side and ugly (well, not too ugly) & bad stuff on the other side. you know like fairies and demons. problem is i don't know which side to use for what. i have a color scheme going already (warm/cool colors) but i don't know if i should use the cool colors for the bad or good side and vice versa. so i need your help and opinions... please let me know what you think i should do and why.

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T13:30:00.005-06:00

i have been blessed in this life to have many father's in my life that have made my life special.

i will start with my own father. while i grew up away from him, he always made the time we had together special. i will always remember the times we went tubing down the river and that he would always take us to the organ pizza place even though i can only imagine that he tired of the food. i only wish i had more time to spend with him. it has been almost 6 years now since he passed away. i am comforted in that he was able to meet his grandson and take him to that same pizza place i loved so much as a child.

next up is my step-father. you has been in my life for as long as i can remember. you have watched me grow up into the woman that i am today. you ordered a limousine for a father-daughter dance i wanted to go to. you helped guide me through the throws of what will now be known as the high school experiment. you are there whenever i need you to be there or even just to talk about life. and last but not least, you take my children to the zoo when i need a moment to breathe. i appreciate that more than you know.

now for my husband, i know that you don't always feel like you are the best dad in the world and you have your moments of insecurity and doubts, but our children know that you are the best dad in the world to them. even though this thing with work has been difficult and we have had to make sacrifices to make it through, it has given them the opportunity to be home with you and learn from you and they know that you are great. we all love you more than you know.

for my oldest son's dad, you have never let our issues come between you and your son. he knows that you will always be there for him and to him, everything that you do is "awesome." i have never seen such adoration in a little boy's eyes, but when he talks about you i know how much he loves you. you are everything that he wants to be when he grows up and i hope that he is as great a father as you are to him.

for all of my friends that are fathers, i know that you are all wonderful men. you all do what you can to be part of your childrens' lives no matter what your situation and they will be better for it. i know it is important to have good role models while you are growing up and i am confident that you all fit very well into this category. if all the fathers in the world were as great as thee ones i know i think the world would be a better place. so to all of you, Happy Father's Day. each and every one of you deserve it.

Rockies Game

2010-06-13T10:38:00.006-06:00

We got to go to the rockies game on Thursday... my company has season tickets and i won the drawing for this game. Honestly i think i may have been the only one in the running for this game as i work a weird schedule and i have thursdays off... so i went through all the thursday listings and signed up for the ones with the lowest number of people wanting to go. we managed to get there in time and the seats we had were great! here's our view of the game.
of course the first thing the kids wanted was lunch... so of course we got hot dogs! (well, M wanted a hot dog until we got to the counter... then she wanted nachos, but the rest of us had a hot dog.) After the hot dogs the kids lasted about 5 minutes before they wanted something else to eat... cotton candy seemed to be what they wanted now. here they are before the cotton candy... and here they are after... overall, i think they had a lot of fun, and they were so tired after the game that they both fell asleep in the car before we even got to Dave and Buster's for dinner.

2010-06-03T19:47:00.003-06:00

Summer is off to a great start. the kids got to hang out last week and play since we had to take G to the airport on Tuesday to go visit his dad in HAWAII!!... lucky kid! here they are playing in the sun and having a good time...

(i don't think i was ever this comfortable in a bikini... i must be doing something right with her!)

and M had a HUGE cavity in one of her front teeth so they pulled them today... it certainly wasn't fun for her, but she got over it pretty quick and now she is all ready for a visit from the tooth fairy... i guess i should leave her something good since they had to be pulled and they didn't just fall out... no candy though! that is what got us here to begin with!

I quit WoW...

2010-05-31T15:12:00.001-06:00

My account expires tomorrow and i have decided not to renew... for the summer at least. i think i logged in twice this month... i just have other stuff i want to work on for a while. but in the interest of a good blog post, here are a few screen-shots from my time so far in Azeroth...well, mostly Northrend cause i really didn't take a lot of screen-shots before then...

my first whelpling... the red one. it took me like 5 hours to farm this and then i switched my main to my shaman and had to do it all over again!

Dancing as an ogre ... waiting for a raid to start... story of my life.Me and my orphan on KT's throne... 2009.Proof i survived Malygos! I can do vehicle combat!!Checking out the artwork in Dalaran... i wonder how many people actually appreciate the work put into this game??Hanging out with a friend in his secret spot... he plays horde now though, i wonder if he even goes there anymore.ghost wolf form in a tiki mask! trick or treat anyone??

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! I'm a Pirate!!my first ride on the gator - i have since done this chain 3 more times.
my priest riding on Rudolph... such merriness!

That's all i have for now... maybe after the summer i will have my personal life more in order and i will have the time to dedicate to playing again. if not, i am sure i will want to check out cataclysm. until then, Cheers!

2010-05-21T13:05:00.005-06:00

Well, this last week has been busy... the last week of school usually is, but since both G & M had stuff going on it was extra busy this year. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when CJ is old enough to join in on all the fun.

M got to graduate from pre-school twice... once for the daycare and once for the school. here are a few pictures of that...

G went up to Bears in Cub Scouts... here is a picture of him on the bridge...

and we all went to Garden of the gods last weekend... here are a few pictures from that...

G's class went on a field trim yesterday, but i forgot the camera.. :o( ... oh well, but we still had lots of fun and learned all about bugs. i even touched a millipede! EEEEWWWW!!!

We have one more week with G and then he is off to spend the summer with his dad in Hawaii... jealous anyone?? I sure am!

2010-05-09T18:41:00.001-06:00

Happy Mother's day to all the moms out there, and especially my own Mom, I love you!

2010-04-26T07:43:00.000-06:00

i have finished the quilts i started a while ago for baby Wyatt and Miss M. they are the same pattern of the two i did last year, i found that a pretty easy pattern to do and to add in themed novelty prints. so here they are...
we all went up to grand junction to visit family and relax this past weekend. it was nice to get out of the house and not worry about stuff for a few days. here's a few pics of the little ones playing outside... G was playing video games inside most of the weekend so i didn't get any new pictures of him. :(
i am starting a new quilt (even a new pattern!) that i found a kit for while we were in grand junction. it should be a fairly easy pattern to make and i just love the animals... so much that i have 2 other patterns for that same animal fabric. grand junction has the best little quilting store, i just have to stop by every time we visit and look at all the stuff and i usually spend way more than i should. i just found on this last visit that they have an online store as well!! now i can shop there anytime i want to!!

and what is up with the snow??? isn't it almost May?!?!? cant believe i had to scrape off the windows this morning before i could drive to work! Ugh!!!!

Happy Birthday G!! (better late than never!)

2010-04-19T09:55:00.000-06:00

my oldest son is now 8! he actually turned 8 last week on the 14th, but we had his party this past weekend and he had a lot of fun! i was glad a few kids from school showed up to celebrate with him... school friends seem to be the least likely to show up to birthday parties and i know he would have been sad if no one showed up.
we had delicious transformer cupcakes made by yours truly... and he got some new toys, legos, a couple gift cards, and stuff for his DSi...

overall, it was a pretty fun day for all of us! i was certainly glad when it was all over though... i need a bigger house so i have room for people to come visit... there is just not a lot of room in the living/dining/kitchen area that we have now!

This weekend we will be traveling to Grand Junction... the hubby wants to play paintball with his friends and i just wanted to get away from the house for a weekend. should be nice and relaxing for all of us. i may even leave my laptop at home and just take a book or 2... imagine that!!!

in WoW news... i have rolled a Paladin in the SAN Bloggers Guild for the US. Actually i did several weeks ago, but i got to level 50 this last weekend! who knew i could actually get a paladin this high?? i have attempted several in the past, but never even got to level 20 before. i haven't been playing on my shaman much lately... i left one guild because of drama and have heard that they have pretty much fallen apart after that. then the guild i joined while not really even looking also disbanded. i may start looking for another guild after we get back... i am even considering a server change and maybe even a faction change. there are a few friends i have at work that play horde and that is looking better then ever. but who knows... i will think about that later. of course i am also open to suggestions if anyone is looking for a shaman... ;o)

2010-03-28T20:11:00.001-06:00

ok, i have finally gotten back to my blog and i have a pic of the new tattoo... now this is the day it was done and it isn't completely healed quite yet, but here it is:

also here is a picture of the kids on my birthday:

i was going to go visit a friend in denver, but they all got sick so me and the kids came home. we did stop by the Capitol building for G's Wolf badge requirement and took the tour there. and then we went to the Downtown Aquarium and saw all kinds of neat fish and the tigers and birds that they have there... sadly since that was not in the plan for the day, i did not have my camera and so i do not have any pictures to share...but it was still loads of fun. i was going to take them to Casa Bonita for dinner, but after the tour and the walk through the aquarium, they were all pretty pooped so we just ate on the way home.

then on saturday, we all went to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was a great movie!! I think the kids liked it too! ;o) then we hung out at home for the rest of the day. I did get to working on the quilt i started last year for my nephew... i finally got the top done and will be finishing it next weekend if all goes well so i can get it too him soon! I also crocheted a hat for my niece that i was going to send her for her birthday...several weeks ago... but i forgot to mail it and so i hope that she can use it next winter.

thoughts on a new tattoo

2010-03-16T09:20:00.000-06:00

so... i think i want a new tattoo for my birthday... i have not gotten one in a few years and have been wanting one for a while... in honor of my birthday i was thinking of some sort of shamrock/clover... i like them anyways (i mean - look at the title of my blog, i call myself shamrockgirl on the internet!).
so here is the problem... there are just so many that i like ... i don't want to be COVERED in shamrocks, just one would be nice.

so here are a few that i like in general... let me know if you like any of them ... whatever i do end up getting probably wont be exactly like any of the linked pics, but just in general i want to narrow it down to a fun design...

this one has a cute ladybug

this one has Bat wings!!!

this one has sparkles - i would probably want stars instead...

here's a lucky pinup - i have always liked the idea of getting a pinup girl but couldn't ever find one i liked enough to do it

That is what i have found so far... it would be going on my calf i think... for those of you that know me - where Felix is, but on the other leg.

2010-03-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

i am hoping for a good birthday this week. i have taken the day off work and my only real plan for the day is to go downtown to the irish pub and have a few beers and maybe some well advised lunch to go with it. I hardly ever go to this place on st. paddy's day because the line is always all the way down the block. makes a good case for another irish pub... but so far there really isnt another good one. i am hoping that since i will not be working that day, maybe there will not be such a line during the day and i can get in there and have a good time for a few hours or so. Other than that - life has been pretty slow this month and not a lot has happened. maybe i can cause birthday drama and blog about that later in the week... let's hope not though!

2010-02-28T10:41:00.001-07:00

so, february is about over and i haven't said much all month... tbh, there hasn't been a whole lot to talk about. brandi did take up crocheting recently and she nicely decided that she would like me to do that with her, so i have made a few hats and a couple of scarves... here's a pic of M in the set i made for her.

we all (well me and the kids because the hubby was supposed to stay off his foot that day) went on a hike with the cub scouts earlier this month and i found out that CJ will not walk on a trail. of course i forgot the stroller so i ended up carrying an extra 30 pounds for the whole walk and i think at one point my arm actually fell asleep... I put him up on my shoulders (this is not a good long term option because it tends to make you strain your neck a bit) and he fell asleep up there so i had to carry him on my hip again so he didn't fall over up there. M was tired of walking almost immediately and i couldn't do anything for her as i was already carrying her brother. to make a long story short - it was a miserable hour!

so, i decided to start taking them out some more. they all have little backpacks so i got a book of trails that are good to take children on and we went this weekend. this time i remembered the stroller. we started off with CJ in the stroller and i think he was in it for about 1/2 the hike but he did walk all on his own for the rest of it. and M didn't complain at all for the entire time (until the end when i mistakenly asked how it was and she said it was the hardest hike ever!). so, forget the stroller - hear nothing but complaining... remember the stroller and push it around empty... ahhhhh kids!!!! i am thinking about taking them to the sand dunes this summer... who knows. i will definitely have to get over my dirt phobia if i decide to do that. LOL! it seems that once you become a parent you spend so much time cleaning up messes that you look for any way to avoid them. dirt has become something i avoid regularly.

LFD and all of the joys it brings

2010-02-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

So, like every blogger out there who talks about WoW at all on their blog has an opinion on LFD. Good, Bad, I have read it all. Some of the stories are horrifying and others are nice.

Overall, my own experience is not so bad. I have run into some "under-geared" players that have done exceptionally well. Was this because i looked at their gear and lowered my own expectation? Probably - at least partially. I think i look at my own skill level and what i was able to manage when i was geared similarly and i am often impressed with them. When i stop and think about it though, having one or two (or lets face it - three or four) "under-geared" players is not going to make the group fail. What matters is that everyone works together and no one does stupid stuff.

But my main issue with LFD is not the gear that others are wearing. I am doing fairly well gear-wise and can keep even the newest 80 tank alive as long as he has some idea of what he is doing. My issue is the attitude that people have. There seems to be this total disregard for common courtesy.

Some guildies and I were messing around and getting some of the heroic achievements for Glory of the Hero. We were all having a great time. One of us had to leave and no one else in the guild was wanting to do heroics so we queued up for the last spot. We got VH and one of the guys in the group didn't have the achievement for the voidwalker looking boss. We let the other guy know up front that if we happened to get that boss to just DPS the boss and not to do AOE. Then when we got the boss we reminded him "no AOE" and whaddya know the first thing he did was consecrate.

/facepalm

Of course - drama ensued. the guildies asked why he did AOE and that they were trying to get the achievement and instead of anything close to an apology (something along the lines of "my bad man, i forgot" would have been plenty) he decided to piss everyone off by saying "i don't give a F*** about your achievement, i am just here for my badges."

O.o (this was quite literally what my face must have looked like!)

Now, if it was a really difficult achievement to get and he was sure to die in the process, i may have understood not wanting to do it. but he wasn't the tank and it is a REALLY easy achievement. If the guys could have booted him right there - they would have. But coincidentally it worked out even better for them. They waited until they could boot him and did - just 2 pulls before the last boss. So he had to queue up again and wait for the DPS queue again for his precious frost badges.

Did i feel bad for kicking him? Maybe a little bit - but only because since the boss died so quickly that no adds died and the guildie got the achievement anyways. But his attitude after the fact quickly changed that.

2010-01-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

i can't believe that january is almost over already. time is just flying by - a bit too fast for me. i get to be a den mother for G's wolf den. the person that was going to be the leader seems to have dissapeared without word and since he was the only other boy, i am officially in charge. we are going to try and get a couple more 2nd graders to join so he doesn't have to do it all alone though.

today they got to launch soda bottle rockets that they made. it was pretty fun. Here's a couple pictures from that. most everything else is the same - not a lot going on these days. i have quit the awesome guild that is Cadia and gone back to the old one. even though some of the people grind on my nerves, overall they are still fun to play with and i missed them. i was also finding it hard to keep up with the other raiding schedule since i have school age children and they raid on only school nights. >.> oh well, i guess it just wasn't meant to be.

slowly but surely i am working on cutting out most of the junk food that i consume. i have a pretty substantial goal on fitness and i am going to start working on that any day now. i have been working on getting some things around the house organized first though. sometimes i just feel so overwhelmed and can't seem to focus when i feel everything is out of order.

hope everything is well with you all in the new decade. here's to the next 11 months!

2010

2010-01-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

so it is a new decade... 10 years ago i was quite the party girl and now i am a homebody with 3 kids and a husband. who'da thunk that would happen?!?!?

i am glad it happened that way though, i wouldn't trade my babies for anything. they bring me so much joy and their smiles are so pure and genuine. and boy do i hate it when they cry. CJ is not feeling so good today and i feel a bit bad for the little guy.

not a whole lot going on this week to blog about, just glad that the last year is over and i get to start a new one.

here's a picture from halloween last year that i forgot to put up... just a fun one of MJ and the kids.

2009-12-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

well, christmas was fun for all. the kids especially. they got to decorate cookies...

they practially passed out in their gifts for most of the day...

here is the tree before they got to it...

Here is CJ in a santa hat chillin' ...

And here they are last week after decorating the tree...

Hope everyone had a great holiday with Family and Friends. We are all blessed to have what we do and sometimes it is too easy to forget that.

2009-12-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

my daughter is an artist!! see this cute little picture here!

i think christmas is going to be fun this year... the kiddos don't know it yet but Santa has decided to get them a Wii. this excites me too because it means i get a Wii fit! we also found them a few games off the parenting site 's best games for kids list. G is also getting a DSi from his dad... he should be all set on video game stuff for a while i think. Of course this also means that we can pass the Leapster on to M because she likes to play with that too and it is more age appropriate for her as well. we will have to get her some new games for that because i think G lost most of the ones we had gotten him.

the kids are adjusting to daycare again. CJ has never been but he did pretty well last week. he had a small meltdown this morning, but i think that was more because he seems to have a slight cold and just wanted to stay with me. other than that they all seem to love being able to go play with other kids. the younger two don't really get to go out and play much where we live because it is a town home area and the front is mainly a parking lot and the back just isn't very big and they tend to wonder to the street a lot more than i like. so it will be good for them to get out more.

looking forward to finishing all the other christmas shopping i have to do... i didn't really want to resort to gift cards, but i am coming up blank on ideas... we'll see i guess.

2009-12-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

To my best friend... it is your birthday today. Happy birthday! I love you and I thank you for being part of my life, i couldn't imagine it without you!

Toddlers

2009-12-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

at times i think it is just me... apparently it is not!

2009-11-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

i know it has been some time since my last real life post. not a whole lot has been happening lately though. the big news is that the hubby is finally going to be returning to work. no more trying to live off my fairly puny paycheck. so YAY to the good news there. of course this means that i am going to have to figure out what to do with the kids during the day. i have been looking into the daycare that picks up from the school they are in but i was not really impressed. i was spoiled by the daycare i used to use before the hubby was not working and i would prefer to put them there but they do not pick up from the school. it is all pretty frustrating. i may have to have G do the after school program 2 days a week and put the other 2 in the daycare i like, but then i have to pick up from 2 places on those days and that just seems like a lot to do. i am already tired at the end of my 10 hour days so to add all the extra driving around in... i guess we'll see.

i have also been in the process of applying to a top raiding guild on my server. for my non gaming readers - i don't really think i can explain and have you understand why i would need to apply to play a video game... you just won't understand. to my gaming readers, i am sure you understand that this can be pretty time consuming, making sure you have all the right gems & enchants and that your gear is up to par. having them inspect and comment on every little thing and such... well, the good news is that they are interested in taking me on. i have to talk to one of the officers in game and they want to make sure they have room for me. they currently were not actively recruiting resto shamans and they have 3 main ones right now that are better geared than me, so even if they don't take me now, its pretty great that i look good enough for them to have interest.

so, better late than never, but here are some better Halloween pics of the kids. one is out of focus, but since i am at work that is as good as it is going to get. =P

**photos courtesy of Grandma Carol as i am too lazy to take my own off my camera.

**Edit: i was accepted to the guild i applied to. Yay!! I am now Khaelie of Cadia. My first raid with them will be on Tuesday, wish me luck!

Healing WoW Post

2009-11-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

so, i dont normally WoW blog, but there is this "circle of healing bloggers" going around and it looked like fun so i thought i would put in my own 2 cents.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer? Khaelie, Resto Shaman
What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans) She is pretty much just doing raids at this point... occasionally i will do a daily for some extra badges but at this point 5 man healing for her is just too boring (yawning and tabbing out to facebook are not good thinkgs to do when you're supposed to be healing...). She does mostly 25 mans, but ventures into 10 mans as well.
What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why? Riptide. it certainly isn't my strongest heal but it splashes and leaves little flowers on the floor.
What healing spell do you use least for your class and why? healing wave. even with all the haste i stack the cast time is just too long. the only time i really use it is with an "oh S***!" Natures swiftness.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why? we have big heals. Chain heal alone often heals the first target for upwards of 10K and then it heals 3 other targets for smaller amounts. that's a pretty big heal!
What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why? i think we could benefit with either a stronger HoT or instant. Ours is combined into one heal and everything else has a cast time, and those cast times are not little. I have a LOT of haste and still my LHW is about a second to cast (that is the fastest one).
In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you? this really depends on the fight and the other available healers. if the fight is so spread out that chain heal stops after hitting just 1 or 2 people it really isn't worth it and i would be more useful on a tank. if there is a Disc Priest on the tank my big heals don't really help unless the tank is taking boatloads of damage and i would be more useful on the raid. but overall i have become quite comfortable doing whatever i am assigned to.
What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why? I really enjoy a nice Druid. Maybe i am just spoiled with the one i usually run with, but we work really well together and even though neither of us is a "tank healer" (a fact i think is outdated) we can usually 2 heal 10 mans without any issues.
What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why? Disc Priests. it is a pretty selfish reason, but when we have a disc priest i never get tank duty. :(
What is your worst habit as a healer? getting too focused on grid and not seeing what is going on. Deadly boss mods has saved me from fire more than i like to admit.
What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing? I think all healers dislike when there are calls for heals in vent. all we do is look at health bars, so if one is lower than it should be i guarantee we know it before you say it!
Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing? I think all healing classes have their own special abilities and so in a perfect raid you would have one of each. So balanced, yes, in that you can have a successful raid with any combination of healers.
What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer? The fewer deaths the better! I admit i do look at recount, but mostly just to make sure i am pulling my weight in a straight healing encounter.
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class? lol shammys can only raid heal. in the absence of a disc priest of a holy pally, i think we are the next best choice.
What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn? i think most think that chain heal spam is the only way to heal with a shaman. i admit i use it a lot, but i also use LHW and Riptide all the time as well, depending on what needs to be healed. i think that most know that they need to keep Earth Shield and water shield up, but many don't keep track of it and it gets lost in the action.
If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)? it really depends on the fight being evaluated. if there is a lot of movement in the fight i am likely to be lower in the meters due to heals having long cast times. if there is little to no movement i can easily be in the top 2. i tend to have a lot of overhealing because i am almost always casting something whether it is needed or not, but until i have mana regen issues i am unlikely to change that.
Haste or Crit and why? HASTE!!! i am sure i have touched on cast times already, but i like to have enough haste to get LHW to about 1 second with my totem down.
What healing class do you feel you understand least? Holy Pallies. they have a beacon and a flash of light and that is quite literally all i really know about them.
What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing? I use grid & Clique. the only thing i use clique for is cleanse spirit. all my other spells are keybound. i really haven't even modified grid all that much. seems to work well for me.
Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why? for any shaman i would recommend stacking mana regen and intellect until you are comfortable with your mana and then switch to spellpower and haste. currently in 25man raid buffed i have about 3000 sp, 25000 mana and my regen is around 800.

I'm not tagging anyone since this isn't really a WoW blog anyways... i just wanted to share my opinion with anyone who wants to know.

2009-10-27T15:11:00.000-06:00

we made it to Boo at the Zoo this year!! we always seem to miss it for one reason or another, and with it snowing we almost missed it again! most of the animals were hidden away inside, but we still got to see the giraffes, monkeys, and all the other inside habitats. the hippos were making noise too and they sure are loud. as most years, the kids got to put on their carefully picked out costumes and then cover them up with a big coat. CJ was able to wear his coat under his costume only because it was that big. here are a few pictures of them all dressed up. maybe halloween will be a bit warmer and then i will be able to get a picture of them without the jackets on... i guess if it is cold i can take the picture before we leave the house too, we'll see what happens.

M as a Kitty

G as a Power Ranger (with a random Captain Jack)

CJ as Buzz Lightyear with G and M

2009-10-10T14:35:00.001-06:00

I am sick.
and it sucks.
:(

2009-09-20T09:36:00.000-06:00

i know, i know, i haven't posted in a few weeks now. i tell you, when school starts back up it just gets hectic. boy scouts has started and G is selling popcorn right now... which coincidentally if you are reading this and you would like to help him out, please call me and let me know. it is nice that if he sells enough that i don't have to pay for any of the planned activities for the year, but boy is it a pain in the you know what to walk around the neighborhood with a kid who does nothing but complain about how much his legs hurt. this being the same boy that will play outside for hours with no problem...

in other great news, M can write her name. by herself. she was the first in her preschool class to do that so now she gets to learn her last name. i don't think she even knows her last name (i am a bad, bad mom, i know) so i wish her teacher luck in teaching her both her last name and how to write it. a couple months ago i called her by her full name and she responded with a "who??" i guess i also have some work ahead of me.

and finally CJ is absolutely to no end fascinated by Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. the other day we were going to the store and he got in his car seat and was then like "where's Woody?" we told him it was still inside and he broke down into full on screaming... i guess Woody cannot stay home alone yet. so, we went back in to get him and, of course, he was no where to be found. we looked upstairs, downstairs, in the basement, searched the car... must have been about 15 minutes later that i found him and brought him out to the car. well, one of the neighbors got to see much of this and commented about how it looked like something she had to do for one of her kids when they were younger. now, i try to make sure he had Woody before we leave to avoid all of this.

2009-08-30T11:37:00.000-06:00

so, school has started and the kids have been out of my hair for a few days now... wait, that's not what school is about. let me start over.

so, school has begun!!! the kids packed up their new backpacks, put on their new shoes and headed off into the unknown. G has been very good about riding the bus, which is one less trip to the school each day since we have to take & pick up M from pre-school. apparently the bus is not an option for the 4 year old. G has yet again had some trouble adjusting to the social environment that is public elementary school. he seems to have very limited social skills in this type of fend for yourself setting. i am having some trouble understanding what it is that he needs in order to thrive here. i know that attention is very high on his list of priorities. he seems to feed off of any attention that he can get. good, bad, he doesn't really care. and, unfortunately, he has become a pro at getting bad attention if he doesn't get the good attention right away. i guess it will be off to a counselor with him this year because i am running out of ideas at this point. on a good note, they have looked at his scores for math and reading and for his grade level he is in the 89th & 99th percentile. the gifted program starts in 3rd grade, so if we can manage to get his focus where it needs to be by next year, the teacher thinks he would be a good candidate for that.

M has surprised me. i wasn't so sure how she would do around other kids or adults because, let's face it, she has made herself the center of her daddy's world and has been staying home with him all day for the last 2 years. but, she is becoming quite the socialite in school and has been playing nicely with the other kids. she also seems to really like her teacher.

well, here's to hoping everything works out and we make it through the year. G has decided he would like to do cub scouts again this year which means busy times for me. i think i am going to look into another activity for him to do as well, the more stuff he is doing, the less time he has to get into trouble at home.

the last week of summer...

2009-08-15T19:08:00.000-06:00

it is true... school starts next tuesday and the kiddos are all excited and stuff. i wanted to make the last week kinda special since we didn't really get to do a whole lot this year. so we started off in loveland for the weekend visiting james and solitare. we took the kids to the park and they played for a few hours there. CJ seems to like being dizzy as there was a thing there that you could spin on and he did not want to get off of it.

after that, we met the hubby in denver and headed off to grand junction. we got there about 8 or 9 and so the kids got to go to bed right away. on tuesday we went up to a place on grand mesa that the chipmunks are friendly and they will eat right out of your hand. the kids would have fed them all day if they could have. then we stopped for lunch and ice cream on the way back to town.

we decided to celebrate M's birthday on wednesday since that worked better for ed and rachel. we finally got to meet the baby and boy was he cute! all the other kids got to play in the little kiddie pool and also the sprinklers until dinner. after that they had cake and played until bedtime. it was a pretty long day for them but i am sure they would have stayed all night if we let them.

after coming home, we decided to have a picnic today and play at the park for a while. M got a kite for her birthday and G already has one so we thought we might try to fly them. unfortunately the breeze was not good at all and the kites did not fly. but we did get to play for about an hour and then the kids came home and packed to go to grandma and grandpa's for the night. after the last week... i needed a night off!

2009-08-02T13:02:00.001-06:00

YAY!!! G is back from his summer break with his dad!!! i am glad he got to go and visit and all, but it is nice to have him back at home. and since there are only 2 weeks until school starts up again, i have decided to take one of them off so that we can all go places for a week and hang out. we will be heading up to uncle james & aunt solitare's home this coming up weekend and then we will be off to grand junction to visit the grandparents there as well as uncle ed, aunt rachel and the ever-so-lovely cordelia... and we also finally get to meet wyatt!! this should serve for much fun on the last week of summer break.

when we return it will be all about getting ready for school. i did get them both new shoes and M is very excited about going to preschool. it is only a half day for her, but i am sure it will prove to be quite interesting. she's not really into the whole authority thing right now. G will be starting second grade. it is nice to see that the kid who managed to get suspended from kindergarten (not once, but three times!) is progressing quite nicely through the elementary school food chain. the only other thing i have to work on is getting them both in the same school... G doesn't go to the one he is supposed to go to because, well, i don't even know where that one is. i think they changed the boundaries again and now i think he is supposed to go to the one that M has been enrolled in, but i didn't really want him to have to change schools since they already kinda know him where he is now. so i am hoping that i can get M in that school so that we only have to take them one place in the morning.

2009-07-19T07:02:00.000-06:00

CJ is 2 today! happy birthday baby!!!

we had his party yesterday because i had to work today. it was only us and grandma and grandpa and brandi. we still had fun. he got some new toys and books and i made cupcakes with Elmo on them. after the festivities M & CJ watched his new Elmo video and fell asleep on the sofa. seems they had a good day.

the birthday boy with his cake.

M posing for the camera.

me 'n brandi.

me 'n the hubby.

CJ with his pile of gifts.

2009-07-15T13:41:00.000-06:00

i have been busy lately and for that i apologize. i will try to get more up here soon. i had jury duty yesterday and i am probably the only person in the world who will say it was great! i got there at about 8 and was out before 11. then i went home and took the kids to the park! what a nice easy day for me!

CJ

2009-06-23T16:22:00.000-06:00

as i was reading my moms blog i noticed she had a few pics of CJ just kinda crashing wherever he landed. i thought i would share a few of my own since he does this a lot.

here he is curled up under M...

passed out on the floor...

and sleeping under a couch cushion.

need a closer look???

how does he do this? no idea. but it is always a surprise to find him sleeping just anywhere. in fact, the only place he doesn't seem to want to sleep is bed. go figure!

2009-06-14T11:56:00.000-06:00

G, M, & CJ in May

wow, it has been a few weeks now, i guess i have been busy! we did get M's room finished and it looks really cute when it is all picked up and clean... the mirror isn't in yet, and i don't know where we will put it when it does come in... over the dresser will be too high for her for a while.

i managed to finish the two baby quilts and they turned out quite nice. i am now working on two more in the same pattern, one for my new nephew and one in pink for M. she wanted ponies on hers, and i found some farm yard material that has horses as well as cows, pigs, sheep and chickens... i think it will be cute.

the "bug" quilt for Amber's baby

the "robot" quilt for CJ

everything else has been going well. i do need to get G's room cleaned out so that i can sell that bedroom set on craigslist as well and then when those beds come in i will have somewhere to put them. i don't really know how CJ will take to sleeping in a different bed... i hope it goes well. the new position at work is going well. all the people in that department have been very friendly and helpful so far. i am still in training for a few more weeks, but so far it is all coming pretty easily.

yesterday, my mom & stepdad celebrated their 16th anniversary. considering they were together for about 9 years before they got married... that is like 25 years! we all went out to help them celebrate the occasion. it was a lot of fun. M & CJ got to spend the night out there as well. they sure do like grandma's house!

2009-05-26T10:41:00.000-06:00

in celebration of the holiday yesterday, i went shopping! well, i went to order all the new beds. the only one that we will be able to get until later in june will be M's... but hey, that was the plan anyways, right? so i should be able to pick that up on friday or saturday of this week as well as the dresser... i guess the mirror was backordered so she will get that later as well. i wasn't going to get the mirror for her at first, but since i was getting the other 2 pieces of the 3 piece set and the price to get all 3 was less... well, you do the math there. it just made sense.
we did end up going with the daybed since that is the one M wanted to get. we didnt get the trundle yet though, we will have to get that later. i like the dresser that this one has... if you see the one in the back it has baskets on the bottom shelf... totally cute! i am very excited to get this all set up for her. of course this also means i can no longer procastinate on all the other stuff i need to do. i am going to have to move the stuff that is currently in her room out and make room for it in the garage until i can get it sold on craigslist.

so that is what i will be working on this week... i have tomorrow before work and thursday to get it done... well, and friday if i need more time.

i have a lot more time for the boys room... i think the biggest hurdle with that one is actually going to have nothing to do with the furniture... it will be getting CJ to move out of our bed and into his own. that boy is spoiled!

2009-05-20T16:14:00.000-06:00

so i am quilting again... i am working on a quilt for amber's baby. she had this baby in march and i was originally supposed to have it done before then. i am a bit behind. but no worries, this quilt is quite easy to put together. i have only worked on it for about 4 hours total and i already have the top pieced and all i need to do now is add the borders 'n such. it was so easy in fact that i think i may use the same pattern to make CJ a quilt with some trucks on it. he likes balls, trucks and dirt - definately a boy all around. i was going to go pick out some nice truck fabric today... but it got late and i had to run to work. oh well, i will do that this weekend.

i havent made a lot of progress on the cleaning and organizing that i need to do in order to get started on the kid's rooms, but since this is my "friday" at work, i hope to work on that some more tomorrow. i have to get the garage cleaned up before i can really move anything around because i have to have somewhere to put everything. although, i think i will be working on M's room first since she is here and since her current bed is the bottom bunk to the other bed. otherwise i have to do them all at once. that would be quite burdensome to say the least.

in other great news, i got a promotion at work. i will be moving to our tech support area here at work to work with all the morons, er... i mean customers that are having issues with their conference lines. it will definately be an interesting change. but of course the most important thing is that it will pay better. and since i am still the lone worker in our house, every little bit helps.

2009-05-12T11:27:00.001-06:00

well, it has only been a couple days since G went off to spend the summer with his dad, and though it has been quieter, i still miss him. i know he will have fun though and that is important. i hope to get working on the kids rooms soon so that they are in order by the time he returns. my plan is to get matching captains beds for the boys and a nice girly bed for M.

the bed i found for the boys room

i think that will work nicely since they will be sharing a room for a bit... the drawers underneath will take away the need for a separate dresser for a while (maybe for a long while). i haven't totally decided for M... there is a cute sleigh bed with a flower in the headboard and flower shaped knobs on the dresser at the same place... but i was also thinking we could go with a daybed and trundle in her room so when she is old enough to have a sleepover there will be a place for her little friend to sleep. this was kind of my intention with the bunk bed set that G has now... but after having to move that thing 2 times and the fact that is takes up an insane amount of room... i think i will never do the bunk bed thing again.

in doing all of this i will have to venture into the world of selling stuff either online or via garage sale in order to rid myself of their current bedroom furniture. i am sure this will be a stressful event for me as i have little patience for such things. on the other hand... i guess if i cant sell them, i can always call the folks that take donations and give them away. either way, it will be a task that i am not looking forward to.

i hope all the mother's out there had a wonderful day on sunday... i was stuck at work. boo hoo. but i did get to spend all day friday with G... we went out to lunch and skating with grandma and grandpa. M & CJ also got to skate a bit.. i think i will take them to a few classes this summer since they seemed to have fun. i also got to enjoy a lovely dinner with M & CJ after we took G to the airport on saturday.

Quilts

2009-04-26T20:44:00.000-06:00

OK... i may as well get the quilts pics i took up here too so i can get it out of the way...

these first 3 are variations of the log cabin pattern... i gave them all black/gray centers to keep the theme, and each was 2 toned for the same reason. i liked how they all turned out so different even though the pattern was the same. the funky looking squares was probably the most fun to put together. you should never make 3 log cabins at the same time though as it gets to be pretty monotonous.

this one was pretty simple... just a 3 bar rail fence. i liked how it turned out though... very "Americana."

these were all christmas presents though, so they have all been given to their new owners to enjoy. i am now starting on a baby quilt for another friend of mine.

Pictures!!

2009-04-26T20:28:00.000-06:00

well, i finally got around to moving some pictures off my camera! so here it goes...

G with his birthday cake.

M being silly at the birthday party.

CJ at the birthday party.

CJ the day after he got stitches... *cry* ... this was a few weeks ago & he is all healed up now. I will get more up later... i have a long day ahead of me tomorrow and i gotta get the kids to bed.

2009-04-23T21:24:00.000-06:00

so, i have been touched by the eco-friendly bug. i guess i have always had a little inkling toward trying to do my part to reduce my consumption... but i no longer feel that i am really doing enough. i am going to change that. i have already started using reusable shopping bags. pretty much bought a full supply of them as soon as they were made available at my local grocery store. i do occasionaly forget them, but i know that by using them that i am off to a good start. i also make sure to recycle soda cans. unfortunately, that is about all i do. if you notice at the bottom of my page now there is a plastic bag counter with an insanely huge number on it that just keeps going up. i hope that will be a reminder to the people who see my page that plastic bag consumption is out of control and at the very least, if you do use them to recycle them.

i found some really cool stuff at www.to-goware.com and www.reusablebags.com and i think i am going to try some of it out. the most notable, in my opinion, are the little reusable snack and sandwich bags at the second site. i always hate using a baggie for some of the dumbest little things like tomatoes that i dont want to soggy-up my salad before i am ready to eat it. then, of course, washing a little plastic baggie is a lot of hassle so i end up throwing it away after just one use. these bags that they sell are machine & dishwasher safe! that pretty much makes it a no brainer for me - they took out the hassle! the other thing i am going to look into is more recycling options here locally. last time i looked into this it would have been a costly venture. i am hoping this time i will find different results.

in other news, G has turned 7 and we had a small party at the house for him. i even baked the cake! he got some new toys and books so i think he had a good day. he also got some money and decided to get a couple new video games. overall, i think he enjoyed it all.

the hubby and i have been working on our diet and i have managed to lose about 10 pounds!! he has also lost a few, though i am not really sure how much. my laptop is back from its second repair and i think this time it is fixed. that means i can start working on pictures again and finally get a few up here for everyone. hope all is well with everyone... i will attempt to get some pictures up this weekend... but no promises!

2009-04-07T21:47:00.001-06:00

so, we got some good news today... the EEOC has sided with the hubby and decided that there was indeed discrimination involved in not letting him return to work when his doctor released him to go back. that was 2 years ago in june. it has been a really long wait for this. i am not really sure what comes next, he has told me it will involve a lot of paperwork though. blah. but whatever is in store for us now has got to be better than trying to survive on just my income. i know that he would like to go back to work also, as much as he has enjoyed staying home with the babies, i think some adult interaction will do him good. i guess all we can do now is hope that everything works out for the best from here!

2009-03-20T21:10:00.000-06:00

so, i promised another update this week and here it is. i was all set to add in some pictures, but time is short in my life during the workweek and it just ran out.

G had his pack pinewood derby and did pretty good for a first timer. he managed to get the 1st place trophy for the tiger cubs (well, there was only one other tiger, but still...), and he was awarded "best roadster." he got 7th overall, which was very good, and his car will be entered in the district race since he was the fastest tiger. he has 2 more small things to do to get his tiger badge, so he should get that at the next pack meeting in april. and i have to plan a birthday party since he will be 7 next month. whew!

M still wont use the potty. i think maybe after we get back from grand junction next week i will just throw panties on her and keep changing her til she gets it. that worked for G in less than a week. i will be crossing my fingers.

CJ continues to pick on his sister. he has taken her woody and buzz dolls and claimed them for his own. i guess that is only fair since she did the same thing when those dolls belonged to G. i guess it really is true, what goes around comes around.

i am still coping with the aging factor. i plan on drinking all my worries away tomorrow night with some of my friends. LOL. i managed to get out of the house today and we all went to the mall. got some summer stuff for the kids... shirts, shorts, socks, sandals... nothing exciting. well, nothing all that exciting to me anyways, they were thrilled! i must say, i think M has actually grown though. i was sure she'd never outgrow a 2T and she officially has. 3T is still a bit baggy on her though. she has also gotten bigger feet!

spring cleaning will also be started next week. i am feeling awfully cluttered lately and just really need to go through all the stuff and sort through what we need and what we don't. i think i will be utilizing craigslist for some of the stuff to see if i can sell it, but i think for the most part we will be donating a lot of it. it would be nice to do a garage sale, but at this point i think that is just too much work. we will see though...

anyways, i probably won't really get a chance to update this again until we get back at the end of next week, so have a good spring break all!

<3

2009-03-17T22:19:00.000-06:00

yes... it is my birthday. i am 31. ugh.

if you ever noticed my birthday ticker ... right over there on the right side of the page ... you will notice that i have stopped progression celebration of my birthday. so today, technically i am 31, but i celebrated the anniversary of my 29th birthday. again. i like to believe this keeps me young.

i will post more later this week... i promise.

2009-03-11T21:29:00.000-06:00

so, it is getting close to my birthday. i usually don't do a whole lot for my birthday, and since it is on a tuesday this year that is unlikely to change. i have been pretty good about getting my lazy butt to the gym the last few weeks. i even found a pilates class i like to go to on thursday mornings. it is taught by this tiny little guy that has the same name as G. i am positive that if i keep going to his class that i will once again have a tight little middle... he gives a very good workout. it is only 45 minutes, but i can feel my core muscles working after about 3 minutes!

me 'n the hubby have decided that we are going to try doing a low-carb type diet since he is diabetic. i know that it will work for weight loss since i have done it before... and i figure that will help his blood-sugar at the same time.

the pinewood derby is this weekend for the cub scouts! G still has to finish his car. he has been doing better in school the last few weeks... i don't think we have had any calls! we decided to cut his hair as it was getting somewhat poofy and unruly. i was kinda tired so we buzzed it. he looks cute still though - he has a nice shaped head!

M is becoming quite a treat to be around (if you didn't catch the sarcasm in that statement, just know that it was there). she is quite determined to have things her way or no way at all. she pretty much refuses to potty train unless she is bribed (and even then she will just pretend to go potty by just sitting there for a few minutes and then saying she has gone). this is a huge source of frustration for me as she will be 4 (yes, i really said 4) in just a few months. i am convinced that she wants to be the baby still and probably wont really try to potty until we get CJ started. the good news here is that he will take off his own diaper when it gets uncomfortable, so he may not be too far off from starting!

CJ has also started talking. i know a lot of other people's babies start much sooner, but my babies seem to put off talking until it is absolutely necessary. they are practically (but not totally) speechless until they are about 2, at which time they begin to talk and never stop. being that CJ is not 2 for another 4 months... he is way ahead of the curve with his 10 words or so!

guess that's all for now...
^_^

2009-02-18T01:15:00.000-07:00

i know, i know... it has been too long. there hasn't really been a lot happening though, and my laptop is currently "on the fritz" which has prevented my previous plan to work on pictures to put in my blog for you all to see. G did have his blue & gold banquet last night which was fun. they arranged to have some star wars troopers (storm, clone, etc...) there for the boys to see and take pictures with. there were like 5 different ones and the boys - and unsurprisingly my hubby - were all very excited to see them. even M & CJ went over to see them. all in all, the evening was quite pleasant. G got another patch for the game things they did last month.

i have decided to take spring break off work this year, and since i work nights with only a few other people, there is no competition for the days off. i think every other place i have ever worked, it has been nearly impossible to get that time off unless you had been with the company for 10 years and had already given them your first born child. so, needless to say, it will be a nice change to have that week off work. i have not decided what i am going to do with the time, i don't know if we will be able to afford to go anywhere, but now that i know i will get that time, i will look into it some more.

and, after about a month of trying to fit it in, i have figured out that the only way i will be taking my happy butt to the gym is if i get it in right after i take G to school in the morning. i am absolutely too lazy to do this any other time of the day. in addition to my laziness, there are too many things at home to become distracted with later in the day, so this is my only option. i was talking with one of the other girls that i work with and this is the same time that she goes as she is in a similar situation with getting kids to school after she gets home in the morning. so, i am going to try that out this week and see how it works. while i am there this morning, i am going to get a class schedule and see if there are any classes at that time that i can maybe attend. i really need to stop coming up with excuses and get off my rear!

on another note, my taxes are almost complete (well, the only thing i need to do is file them). this as got to be the worst thing that i have to do every year, only because it has a deadline. i had a momentary "freak out" this year because the kids' birth certificates and social security cards were nowhere to be found! AAAAGGGHHHH!!!! but i did find them. they were right where i had put them - which was not where i should have put them. bad me!

2009-01-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

i know i have been slacking in the updates lately, i just haven't had anything new and exciting to talk about. the kids are all doing well as are the kids parents. i have decided that i will start bringing my laptop to work on fridays so that i can work on pictures while i am here... there's not a whole lot else to do on friday nights. that will hopefully encourage me to get more pictures off my camera and onto my blog. i am sure i will get no complaints from you! i guess that is really all i have for now... as i said, it has been a boring week.

2009-01-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

ahhhh to be back on the night shift. as much as i like daylight, i like the relaxing feel of working nights. i still get to see the kids every afternoon before i go to work and i don't have to deal with all the people who work during the day. i like to stroll in after dinner, hang out and talk to the other 3 or 4 people that i work with on any given night. i find it nice to listen to the accents of the overseas people who call in at night (especially the ones from ireland and austrailia!). i can bring in things to work on (like tonight i will be sewing G's patches on his boy scout shirt). i can ramble in my blog and catch up on world events online. tonight we have a new president. i'm not really sold on the man yet, but i suppose i have to give him a chance. tomorrow, i will again get to do it all over. i can only hope that i will wake up and there will be less chaos amongst the kids.

2009-01-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

my ears, my ears!!!
the kids have all learned to scream.
and they take turns.
G screams.
M screams.
CJ screams.
rinse.
repeat.
all day long...

i don't even think i could make that high pitched noise that emminates from within them.

they don't always scream just to play and see just how loud they can be. sometimes M will scream because CJ touches her. Sometimes CJ will scream because someone has a toy that he wants. G, well, he just likes to make noise.

since we have an age range of 18 months to 6 1/2 years... i fear i will be listening to these sweet noises for some time to come. i feel it is time to get earplugs....

2009-01-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

i know it is a bit past christmas, but the kiddos did get to sit with santa at our company party and we finally got the picture... i had to sit in cause CJ was just not having it and was in tears at the prospect of sitting with a strange old man!

2009-01-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

so, as most of you know, kids go through phases and little mini obsessions as they are learning new things and discovering all the different things they can do with their bodies. an example would be that CJ right now has figured out that he and everyone else has a nose. he will point to everyone's nose as well as his own as if it is a little game he has discovered. he does this over and over for as long as it will entertain you.
M, on the other hand, has discovered that you smell with your nose. she asks to smell all kinds of things. sometimes it is normal stuff like food or flowers, but also pretty random stuff like pillows and toys.
last night the hubby had taken a shower, and as they always do the kids had managed to wander upstairs. it was about bedtime anyways so we didn't bother shoeing them back downstairs yet. he dropped his towel so he could put on some underwear and M (she likes pointing out body parts too) said "daddy, that's your butt!" to which he simply replied "yes it is." and then out of nowhere she asked "can i smell your butt?"
i nearly died laughing.

2008-12-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

ahhhhh.... finally the madness is over!!! only 2 more days (not including today) until 2009!!! we're gonna make that a good year! i have been slacking in the exercise department, well, for a while now... so i know it is cliche, but im going to make that a priority this time around. i really would like to be able to go to the pool this summer and not want to cringe. i think i will start out lite... maybe a yoga class or something like that a few times a week. maybe if i ease into it, i wont give up so quickly. i do love to do yoga anyways.

i hope that it will snow again soon... M got some pretty pink snowpants and i am sure she would love to go play in them. i dont think she really cares if there is snow or not, i bet she would play in them either way.

i managed to use my days off to get some cleaning done around the house. it was a complete mess! but now all the laundry is caught up, i bagged and boxed up some stuff to donate... i even put in some of my (gasp!!) shoes!! i tend not to wear sneackers enough to have as many pairs as i do, so i figured that they would be more useful elsewhere. i am also starting to feel like there is just too much clutter about and i need to get it out!! i think the more stuff there is, the more i start to feel trapped by it all, so it is good for me to clean it out every once in a while.

i did manage to finish 3 of the 4 quilts... but to the future owner of the 4th one i have already apologized and she will be getting it soon. i will post pics as soon as i put new batteries in my camera... they ran out on christmas.

i hope that everyone has had a great holiday... the new year is just around the corner and i can't wait!!

hugs'n'kisses!!!
Sham

2008-12-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

merry christmas!!

2008-12-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

so, i am a little bit sad... i guess my brothers and sisters-in law are going to come down for the holidays tonight instead of next week. that being said, i am working odd hours right now and G has a pack meeting, so i guess i will have to miss all the fun. boo hoo. on the otherhand, it will be nice to be able to spend a nice quiet(er) christmas with my parents. i am thinking about even (gasp!!) cooking something to take over there. i guess we will see how much time i can manage in order to cook. maybe even bake! i think i managed to finish up all my shopping last night, and i have finished one more quilt. they seem to go pretty fast since i have the tops done, the rest is easy-peasey!
i thought i had more to say today... guess not. talk to ya later alligator!!

2008-12-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

one down... i may just pull this off! the others should go much quicker as i had to spend all day saturday getting material and stuff... didn't leave me much time to work on the actual quilt that day.

of course we have stuff to do this weekend as well... i have yet to put up the tree... i may put that off until next weekend though since i need the floorspace to put the quilts together. i did get most of the envelopes addressed so cards should be on the way soon. i should be able to get the kids gifts wrapped this weekend. and maybe i can even get the stockings up. it's gonna be busy... i may need a nice cocktail to keep things interesting! lol

2008-12-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

so, the official countdown to christmas has begun... i would like to go back a few weeks, i don't think i have enough time. i was sure there would be plenty of time to finish up gifts, but now i am not so sure. i have 4 quilts to finish... as that was my original goal... but i only have the tops of 3 done and the borders, backs and binding of none. that's right - NONE!!! boy an i going to be busy these next 3 weeks. i have all of my cards sitting very patiently on my counter waiting to be addressed and sent... who knows when i will do that. i had planned on putting a nice family update letter in each of them that just may not get done either. i remember a time, not too long ago - before i had children, that i would be all shopped out and ready for christmas before i even had my costume ready for halloween. those days are long gone now. i will be lucky this year if i am ready by christmas eve! i would like to put in a request early for next year... maybe we could all just relax in december 2009 and celebrate christmas in january 2010?? february?? oh well... hopefully i will be able to pull it off. if not, you will know because you will be getting your cards and gifts in january with a nice little note of my sincerest apologies.

2008-11-27T03:04:00.001-07:00

happy thanksgiving all!

2008-11-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

well, if there has ever been a case for "safe haven" laws for older children (like the one that is being corrected in nebraska), M has sure made her case in the last week...

i think it was monday afternoon... not sure where i went but i was only gone for a short time. hubby was in the same room, but apparently napping on the sofa. it seems that a sharpie was left within reach and M went to work... i arrived home to find a life size (for a 3 year old) family portrait on the hallway wall. she was so proud of her work, she even pointed out who was who in the picture so we would know. thanks M for that. on a bright note, at least she is drawing pictures and not just scribbling... that's progress on her part!

the week seemed to be pretty quiet until friday afternoon. again, i left to get G from school and the two smaller ones were in the basement with the hubby. i came back to find that M decided that the fish were looking a bit starved. well, she fixed that! she managed to pull a chair over to where we keep the fish food and then proceeded to dump all the remaining food into the tank. there was a nice thick layer of food along the entire bottom of the tank. well, i think they are full now! i have done two water and filter changes, and the water is still so cloudy that it is difficult to see the back of the tank. and it is not a big tank.

and then today, i was taking a nap since i work tonight, CJ was sleeping with me, and G was supposed to be cleaning his room. M took this opportunity to ... well, let's say play... in the bathroom. i am sure that if she had not fallen then things would have been much worse. she emptied two tubes of toothpaste onto the mirrors, and if the fish were not happy in their tank, they may have been able to find a nice home in the small pond that made its way to the floor. i realize that i tell G all the time not to tattle... but maybe he could have chosen this time not to listen to that.

i don't know what i am going to do with her... i think there are laws against duct-taping your children to a chair (and at the rate she is going, i'm positive she would escape that anyways...) so i guess i will just have to grow a pair of those "eyes in the back of the head" that i was sure my parents had when i was a child. here's to hoping this week goes a little better than last week did...

2008-11-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

what is it about food on a stick that is so appealing to children? is it the fact that their food now has a handle, so as not to further dirty those little fingers? this could be it, as we took the little monsters out to eat the other day and M had a corn dog and ate it right up. CJ had chicken fingers and he barely touched them until my dear hubby used the sticks from his own plate to give the chicken a handle. the chicken was gone shortly after that (even M ate one now that it had a stick in it!).
after some more thought on the food on a stick phenomenon, i actually think that even at their young age they have already figured out that all the good foods come on a stick. here are a few that i thought of:

cotton candy
lollipops
popsicles
corn dogs
caramel apples
candy apples

and for the adults who like to have a handle, the renaissance festival will serve you:

steak on a stick &
corn on the cob (on a stick)

as it turns out, people all over put all kinds of food on sticks. just a quick look on google and you can find pizza, cookies, fruit, a waffle dog (that looked pretty tasty...) and much more. it seems the fascination with the stick lasts much longer then i previously believed to be a fascination among children alone.

2008-11-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

it has been a long week. i am pretty sure i haven't gotten anything done. i know i forgot to take G to his boy scout trip to the police station. i thought it was on thursday - turns out it was on tuesday. oops. i did manage to get to the polls on tuesday and i drug my hubby along. i am dissapointed in the most of the results, but we did have this crazy amendment on out ballot that got shut down! lol. i suppose if you make it out and voice your opinion, that is better then nothing. there are still places in the world that you can't even do that, so i guess we are lucky in that respect. other then that, i got nothing done. i will try to do better next week i guess.
i did make it to G's parent-teacher conference last week though and i got some good and some not so good news. he is in the 79th percentile for math for kids his age and the 98th for reading. that's pretty good considering they seem to have just started doing math this year. he is still being disruptive in class, though not as bad as last year. he's a pretty smart kid, so i'm sure he will bring up that math score soon.
i have finished the third quilt top, just one more and then i will start working on finishing them up. it has been fun to get these together after not doing any for so long. i am just glad that it seems to be a skill that is not easily forgotten. the next one is another "log cabin" variation. it is neat to see how the same pattern can turn out looking so many different ways. and it certainly makes it easy to cut the pieces - other then the middle squares, all i need are strips! i have been doing all the cutting at work, we aren't usually too busy at three in the morning. gotta do something to stay awake!
well, after all that, i guess i got a couple things done...

2008-11-01T04:56:00.000-06:00

halloween was actually a lot of fun! i got up just in time for dinner, and then i got to get the kids all dressed up and go out trick or treating. the weather was perfect, we didnt even need coats! for anyone who has ever gone trick or treating in colorado springs, you know that is awesome! G is 6 this year, but every halloween before this we have either had to go to the mall or bundle up because it is always cold, blowy, snowy, or anyother condition that makes walking around outside with small children absolutely miserable. it could be 110 degrees out the day before (not that it has actually ever done that before...) and it will snow on halloween. it seems the curse was broken this year though.

the kids looked so cute in their costumes though. if the tops look familiar, just look at the previous post. :) CJ would not keep his patch on, but he left everything else alone for once. this is a kid that will put on a hat just so he can take it off!

candy-wise, they did pretty good. we were only out for about an hour (despite the good weather, their legs still got tired). we got to see a fox run across a driveway and a buck walking down the sidewalk! strange stuff always seems to happen on halloween... when we got home, they had some candy and read "how i became a pirate" and then watched a movie. i hope next year is this nice.

2008-10-31T02:19:00.000-06:00

one day i will in fact be organized again. it seems that even the most organized person (myself) is bound to lose her way when she adds a hubby and three kids to the mix. today i finally got some of those pictures off my camera. i still need to do some editing, but i got a few done. it is also almost 3:30 am right now, so it is pretty unlikely that i will do anymore tonight... these are from the renaissance festival that we all went to in june.

how nice of C to let me dress him in this get-up!

princess M playing in the fountain.

all day G wanted to slay they dragon... we never did do that!

2008-10-27T08:54:00.000-06:00

we now have fish.

the kids have wanted a pet for sometime now and i finally gave in. we found a lost dog a while ago and kept it overnight until its owner came to take it home. although that was fun for the night, i knew as soon as it left that we would not be getting a dog anytime soon. and due to the hubby's cat allergy, we had to think on a smaller scale. i figure fish are a safe bet. they stay in the tank; they eat there, sleep there, poop there... perfect! all i have to do is feed them and keep the tank clean. (i will be recruiting a plycostamus [sp?] to help me with this task at a later date.)

so far they are great. there have been no casualties. we got them each a fancy goldfish, but they are all different so i can tell them apart. they even named them. we have Vader, Princess & ObiWan. i guess this is my test. if i can manage to keep these alive and keep the tank looking presentable, maybe we can move on to a bigger animal in a couple years. of course, if i'm lucky, they will just love the fish and i will not have to take on the responsibility of cleaning up the poop of something that i did not give birth to.

2008-10-20T23:58:00.000-06:00

only 10 more days 'til halloween... i'm torn between excitement and dread. i am looking forward to the kiddos dressing up, they are all going to be pirates this year - how fun is that?!?! i don't think they are going to agree to do a common theme many more times. i managed to keep myself on a pretty strict budget this year and i did pretty well. all i had to buy was the eye-patches and a bandana for each of them. so $6. pretty darn good if you ask me. the rest we can just use what we have at home. i am debating getting some yarn to sew some "dreads" into their bandanas for hair... we'll see if i get to that before the 10 days are up.

i think i am learning a bit as a parent, i definately made some halloween blunders in the past as far as costumes go. i think it was 2005 that G wanted to be Jango Fett from Star Wars and i didnt even blink at the $80 price tag for the costume and 2 "blasters"! not sure what i was thinking there, but that is NOT going to happen again. i like the idea that they can make their costumes out of things we have, or at least with very few outside purchases. imagination is something that has gotten lost and needs to be found again. i don't know that my parents ever actually bought me a costume, i'm pretty sure we had to make them, or my mom made them for us (yes - i remember the clown wig you made mom!). maybe next year G will actually want to make his costume after he sees how much fun it can be... i can only hope i suppose...

we will be carving a pumpkin or 2 this weekend, that should be fun. i think i'm going to pass on the store bought kits for that too, and just carve some classic jack-o-lantern faces!

2008-10-17T04:12:00.000-06:00

the funeral was nice. it is amazing to know more about the life she led, i guess you only see so much of a person while they are at work. i am glad that her life was so much more than that. i knew she was artsy, but i found out she really made art, and she wrote, and loved poetry. it was all really great, and i got to see just how amazing she was in touching other's lives the way that she did my own.

i can only hope that i am ale to have such a positive impact on my own friends and family.

2008-10-15T21:25:00.000-06:00

well, i have been watching what i eat now for a few days, and sadly i haven't noticed much yet. i know it takes time and all, so i am willing to stick it out. at the very least, i am eating a more balanced variety of foods, and i am pretty sure that is a good thing...

the exercise has been hard to fit in though. i was going to try and do Yoga after i come home from work in the morning, but i have just been so tired that i have gone to bed. I will try harder to get at least a few days in next week (maybe as early as tomorrow morning...).

on another note, i found out yesterday that a woman i worked with at my last job died on saturday. i had heard that she was sick, but i really had no idea things were so bad. i will be going to her funeral service tomorrow evening. she was really an absolutely wonderful person to know. even though i hated going to work, she would always make me laugh. she always knew how to make the day go by in a more delightful way, and the days she was not at work just drug on to no end. i will certainly miss her dearly, i know she will go on to a better place.

i guess i will leave on that note...

2008-10-12T21:55:00.000-06:00

well, i have decided to start quilting again. for those of you that know me, you know that my short break ended up being close to five years. yup, since then i have managed to get a job, get a divorce, get pregnant, go back to school, get pregnant again, get married, stop going to school again and change jobs. needless to say, it has been a while. i was a little worried that i would have forgotten how to do it (why i thought this, i don't really know) but i seem to be doing pretty good. i started out pretty simple, i managed to piece a rail fence throw size quilt last week and i really like how it turned out. i will post a pic as soon as i have it all finished. now i am working on a two-tone log cabin. i've only gotten my "test block" done at this point, but i think it looks great! i cant wait to get this one together.

i did forget how easy it was to get consumed in a fabric store... one of the colors in this quilt is purple, and since the last quilt i made before my "break" was a king size purple and green quilt, my stash of purple fabrics was a little low. almost non-existant to be more accurate. as a true scrap-quilting kinda gal, i am a sucker for fat quarters. they're just the right size for me to put a few pieces of each into so many different quilts. so, today i packed up the family and headed to the fabric store. i did manage to find four great purples to use in this quilt. of course i found a green, and a red, and a pink, and a blue, and a yellow, and a really great orange with little pumpkins on it - but not so over the top halloweeny that i couldn't put it into any quilt i wanted to. i could have stayed in there all day and admired all the beautiful patterns. they have a little lego table to keep the kids occupied, which only made it easier to take my time browsing. i looked at all the cute baby prints, the great fall colors, even the true halloween only prints. i almost forgot i had brought the kids with me until i heard them yelling (playfully - but still yelling) in the back of the store. so i got my 10 fat quarters and a new square ruler and i was on my way.

everytime i get new fabric, i have to take out a small square and put it aside. i need 800 squares to make the charm quilt that i have had planned for some time now. once i hit 800, i will cut them all in half, send half to my grandma, and we will both make the same quilt pattern. i wonder if they will look at all alike, who knows. after i add the 10 i got today, i will be up to 650 pieces. i think i have a few more in my cloth stash that are set aside until i cut out of them too. 800 is getting closer and closer all the time. i get excited everytime i think about it.

so, i will get back to cutting out my squares and then my "logs" for the cabin!!

tata for now!

2008-10-09T01:20:00.000-06:00

so, here it goes...

a lot of people seem to like doing this so i thought i would try it out. i, like a lot of others, have been watching the election, wall street, and all of the other crazy stuff going on right now and i have beed wondering what it all means to me. my hubby and i have been together now for four and a half years now, and back then everything was all peaches & sunshine. since then, he has had two surgeries due to his diabetes, we have had two children (and i have another from my previous marriage), he is not working (though he is "technically" still employed - but that is a whole other story...) and i am trying to survive on less then i was making a year ago due to a job change.

all in all, things are starting to get worrysome.

i wonder if i will be able to keep my job, pay my rent, feed my children, pay my bills, i could go on, but you probably get the point. and my hubby's diabetes is not getting any better. i know that part of that has to do with his own self-esteem at this point. not working for the past two years, he has confessed that he has been feeling worthless lately. we have also both put on some weight with all the stress and babies that have come into our life, it just seems that there is no end to it all.

so, anyways, my goal with this blog (at least to start) is to work my way through all of this and hopefully come out a healthier, happier mommy & wife.

i have managed to get a small start in organizing my life, i have done some research on what diabetics should be eating every day and i have made us some charts so that we can keep track of what we are eating. i also made a chart to track our fitness as well. i think a good starting goal for me is to lose 20 pounds (the amount i have gained since i started this job in june...) and i think he can start there as well. i want all of us to get out of the house for at least 30 minutes a day as a family, and i think another 30 minutes of exercise as well will do. i think this is a lofty goal, but i think we can do it if we both try!

i guess i will be off for now - it is time do get started on our new life! i can worry about the economy and the election tomorrow...