Just being a Mom Lately

The last couple of weeks I've not had too much to post about. I don't think you want to see pictures of a sink full of dishes, a pile of laundry that needs to be washed (or folded) or my daily "things 2 do" list of the everyday household duties I'm responsible for.

One of my biggest challenges of being a mom lately is that of being a referee to Forrest and Sadie. Their hormones are driving me crazy! Sadie can't breathe without Forrest telling her to "STOP!" Forrest really can't stand his little sister these days. They argue over the most stupid things and nick-pick each other to death. Each of them must have to have the last word in the conversation too. And when I correct their behavior, the first thing out of their mouths is, "Sadie did it first" or "Forrest did it and didn't get in trouble", etc. If you have teenagers, you know exactly what I'm talking about! I'm 37 and haven't found a gray hair yet, but I'm positive that won't last much longer!

Jibber-Jabbering

I just love my Sadie-girl! She's at the stage where she can talk a hundred words a minute and make absolutely no sense at all! On the way to seminary this morning, she rambled the whole way there and the whole way to school. This is definately a girl thing because Forrest is totally the opposite. He has a one word vocabulary, as most teenage boys do. I really enjoy rambling myself and now I have a partner to just jibber-jaber with. Like mother, like daughter! Tonight, Dad was on the receiving end of Sadie's jibber-jaber as she kept him company while he worked on the garage.

Under Attack!

I arrived home from taking my father-in-law to his doctor's appointment to find that our house had been attacked! Attacked by paintballs that is. Exactly what you see in these pictures is what I saw but multiply it by thousands! A good friend of ours gave Forrest all of his paint ball equipment in exchange of Forrest painting his kitchen in the near future, however, the equipment made it in the house before the painting has even been scheduled. I knew something of this nature might happen when I noticed the box of paintballs still sitting on the table and more than a few purple paintball shells littering in the backyard. I told George to put the equipment up ASAP, but he forgot. It sat on the table a day too late.

Forrest and Sadie thought it would be fun to have a war against each other and looking at the damage, they had a blast! I really didn't mind them having the paintball war, but what I did mind was the huge mess they left behind! After they bragged to me about all the awesome details about the war and who got in the best shots, etc, I gathered up the cleaning supplies and told them to get busy cleaning and to not forget to clean the paint off the back door, the screen door, the patio, the hardwood floors (in the house!), the back wall of the house, the grill, the shop door, the picnic table and anything else that had became the target of their paintballs! I believe this will be in their Top 10 childhood memories to tell their kids one day. I know it is definately one of my Top 10 stories about raising my kids I'll never forget!

(thanks Jude! lol)

George now has a new nickname: "The Bread-Man". He has a co-worker who's husband is a bread delivery man and so when he pulls the bread from the shelf for that day, instead of throwing it away, he'll let the wife take it to work and give it away. THis is what was left after everyone picked through it today. This is the good bread made by Pepperidge Farm, the nine and 15 grain bread that costs $3-4.00 a loaf along with the fruit bread that I pass by in the grocery store because it is so expensive! George will come home several times a week with 8-13 loaves of bread and after he puts it on the table, he calls me in so that I can see his "bounty". You should see the big smile on his face when he shows off his bounty for the day. He's so funny! His "bounty" is shared with friends and family because there is no way we could eat that much bread!

Working on Being a Success

I'm taking a 10 day online class at Feeling Scrappy called
"From Mess to Success". It's a class to get me organized in all things pertaining to running my home successfully. To be honest, I haven't had time this week to fully participate like I originally planned to and that gave way for me to think that I couldn't possible change from the mess I am to success in 10 days, so why try? This was how I was feeling up until this afternoon, when I decided to give it another try. As I downloaded and printed out the documents this class has provided me in the past eight days, my attitude began to change. I can do this! I need to take full advantage of the vital information the very talented design team at Feeling Scrappy has to offer. I want to get organized so bad and I can't as long as I have a stinkin' thinkin' attitude. While Goerge and Forrest attend a youth Temple trip tomorrow, Sadie and I have plans to stay home and do a couple of projects from the class together. It's time to replace the mess with success!

My New Mixer

Ok, for those of you who know me, I hate to cook, much less bake. But for the past year, I have had a facination with the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Why? Because maybe if I had one, I might cook. (I use that same strategy with scrapbooking, why not use it in the kitchen? ) Well, I looked at all the models and questioned all of my friends who had the mixer and was convinced that I could use one. On Black Friday, I went to Walmart in hopes to buy on for $130, but they were sold out. I then went to Sam's and bought the professional model for $250. When I came home, I just wasn't feeling the love for it. Did I spend too much on a mixer? Would I use it enough to justify spending that much? Did I have false expectations of myself? After I decided that I paid too much and that I would buy the Classic model for $200 instead, my brother called me and told me to go to Sears.com. Sears was having a Black Friday sale on Hamilton Beach mixers. I checked it out and the mixer was reg. $200 and on sale for $99 with a $30 rebate. SOLD! I was able to get free s/h and with tax, I spent $75 on a new mixer! Although it's not a Kitchen Aid, I'm in love with it! I saved $175 and I now find eays to use my new mixer!

Red Rooster Results

I had a great time at my scrapbook retreat. I needed the "me" time and when I came back, I was rejuvinated! I am so thankful that my sister drove 3 1/2 hours just to be with me and to share this experience with me. Even though she doesn't srapbook anymore, she was able to tackle her preschool and seminary lesson plans. After drawing a blank the first night, I was able to do a few pages but not like last time when I did 51 pages! I can't wait till Septemeber when we visit again! I recommend everyone visit the Red Rooster at least once in their lifetime!