Oh Vena...

I need to get a little irritation issue out of the way. I'm sure all of you know I can't read music. I'm OK with that. Seriously.. I've been dealing with it for 20 years, I don't mind it. Well, I finally got my music proofed (the one I managed to print and will try to publish) and the lady I got to do it was my mom's friend Vena. Don't get me wrong, Vena is a nice lady. She was very willing to help me and was very nice about it. Here's where the irritation comes in though... she is insisting that I learn how to read music. Rather than work on making sure my song was right, she spent most of the time trying to find ways that I could learn to read the music. I DON'T CARE! Reading music is as big of a deal to me as finding a penny on the ground. Anyway, she called me to ask if I was practicing my [her] technique. I tried to explain to her as I had done at her house, that reading music just doesn't come to me. I have tried. While I was taking lessons for 6 years my teacher couldn't make me learn. I've never been able to teach myself, I just can't do it. I've developed a way to play the piano that doesn't require me to read music, and I'm HAPPY. I don't mean to boast, but I can play better than a lot of people who can read music. This is what works for me. But Vena being the kind of person she is, refused to accept that and just said, ok well keep trying it and let me know how you're progressing. Sigh... have any of you ever had someone like this who just can't take no for an answer? I know I shouldn't complain, she's just trying to help. But I just don't need (or want) another piano teacher.

Cry, Cry Again

Connor had his first taste of cereal last night. (except for the little bit my mom fed him before) He loved it! Well, up until he was done and supposed to finish a bottle anyway. He SCREAMED and SCREAMED!! I think something about the cereal made his tummy hurt. He was so sad! I tried everything to calm him down. Nothing worked. I mean how do you help a baby with a sore tummy? You can't give him medicine, he wouldn't take his bottle, or anything else to suck on, he wasn't happy just being held... I felt awful and completely helpless! Poor baby! I didn't know if I needed to take him to InstaCare. I decided to take him for a drive around the neighborhood. If he still wouldn't stop crying after that, I'd take him in. So I put him in his car seat.. still crying. But no joke, as soon as I picked up his car seat and carried him out, not one peep! He fell asleep in the car and became the perfect little angel he usually is. Then when we got home, he woke up just long enough to take a bottle and went right back to sleep. But here's the best part.. he slept until 4!! I can't tell you how much of a relief that was to me! Lately he's been getting up every 2-3 hours in the night. I can't even remember the last time when he slept for more than 4! Then last night he slept for 7!! HOORAY!!! I have a feeling though that we're in for a struggle to get him to sleep for a while. He's been putting up another fuss today. I know he was tired, but he just would NOT sleep. Finally I put him in the car seat, and what do you know... he was asleep before we even got out to the car. Tired boy! So I guess I'll be driving around a lot for a while. Hopefully this stage won't last long though!

CRAP!!!

I could kill our dog right now! She has a thing for chewing diapers. That's so gross! Well, I left with my mom for a while today and the door to the nursery didn't get closed. I came home to poopy diapers ripped to shreds all over my carpet!!! There was POO rubbed into my carpet!! ARGH!! Then I get a look at the dog....COVERED IN POO!!! She had it all over her face and paws! I am so mad at her right now!! So I've been trying to scrub the carpet and my mom cleaned the dog a bit, but there's still so much more that needs to be done. I'm grossed out! Does anyone know of some good ways to clean poo out of the carpet? I've been using a carpet cleaner and a sponge, but it doesn't seem to be working that great.

Happy Birthday Kortney!!

Today is Kortney's birthday! She's 29!! She has to work today which is really stupid, so I'm taking her out sometime this weekend when she has a day off. That's one thing I HATED about serving. You can't get time off easy for even your birthday! How LAME!! Well, we'll make up for it! So Happy Birthday to my "little" big sis!

Love,
Your "big" little sis

Is It Hereditary?

I'm sitting here watching Connor try to devour the sleeve of his shirt. Mmmm...tasty! It's funny because I pull it back so he can suck on his hand instead (that's his new favorite thing to do. He even prefers his hand over his binki) and he gets this disgusted look on his face like "ahh mom! What did you just give me?! That is GROSS!" Then he manages to pull his sleeve back over his hand and he goes at it again. Hahaha...who would have thought that his shirt would taste better? He must get it from John! John will eat anything! I bet Connor is just practicing for when he can too! I hope he doesn't want to try things like cat and horse though! YUCK!...don't ask..

Blah Blah Blah Blah.. it's a lazy day. :)

Oh No! LICE!!

I found out that Sierra had head lice today. EWW! Well, since Alex had been around her last weekend, we didn't know if Alex had gotten them too. So, we did a treatment on her. Just in case. It's always better to be safe then sorry, right? I don't think she had them. I didn't see anything anyway. But then again, I've never seen lice before. I don't really know what they look like. I'm assuming I'd know though if I saw them. It's kind of hard to miss bugs crawling through your hair. I'm kind of paranoid that maybe she did have it, and I didn't do a good enough job getting rid of them. I guess if I didn't, we'll know in a few days. She's going with her mom tomorrow until sunday, so I'll check again when she gets back.
I almost want to check my scalp really good. Ever since I heard about it, my scalp has been itchy and I'm freaking out! I'm sure it's just me getting the creeps, but what if it wasn't? EEEEWWWWWWWW!!!! I don't want them!!!

Sweets 'N Treats

Black Forrest Chocolate Mousse

Occasionally I get the urge to bake a lot. Desserts in particular. I make things like peach cobbler, rhubarb cobbler, black forrest chocolate mousse, baked blueberry pudding, etc. This is really bad. Although they're yummy and everyone loves them, they're not the best thing to have around when you want to lose weight! And I have NO self control to make them but not eat them! I enjoy the "fruits of my labor" a little too much! So what do I do? Do I just stop baking? Or force myself to exercise frantically after I eat it? It almost seems like a losing battle. How do you all stay so thin? Jessi makes yummy lemon scones, and Kortney cooks all the time and weighs about as much as a cotton ball... what are your secrets?

My little sailor :)

Mommy and Connor

He has the biggest cheeks!

One fromn our Vegas trip.. John in front of our hotel

We're Back!

Vegas was so much fun! We had a really good time, and we're so glad we got the chance to do it. Thanks to Kortney and my mom and dad for taking care of the kids for us! Of course the pets too!
We got there friday night, and just wandered around our hotel for a while. Saturday, we got suckered into going to a time share presentation.....BIG mistake! It was the biggest waste of time EVER! The lady who was giving us the shpeal was really mad at us after we told her no too. It took almost 4 hours to do it. We got a free dinner out of it though, and $50 bucks. The only thing was that the money wasn't actual money. I thought I was going to get handed cash I could just stick in my pocket and be on my way. Nope. We got funny money. After we found out that we couldn't even cash it at our hotel like they told us we could, we walked 3 miles (the lady told us it was only 1 1/2) to the Casino Royal to cash it. There the lady gave me chips. I asked her if I could just get cash, but she said no. So I had to use them on a table and I couldn't take them to a different casino. For those of you who have ever been to Casino Royal, it's really small and dinky and it's not very good. So I chose to play blackjack. It's pretty much the only one I know how to play. But I'd never played on a table before, and I didn't know the rules. Like how you're supposed to scratch the cards towards you when you want a hit, or put them under your bet when you stay. So I'm getting yelled at by the dealer (she was a real piece of work) and these nice ladies sitting next to me are trying to help me. I felt so dumb! Finally I just lost my money so I could leave! I wasn't planning on winning anything, I just wanted to get rid of it since they wouldn't give me cash. At our casino, I found a penny machine that I won $20 bucks off of. I couldn't go to Vegas and not even try a penny machine. I mean c'mon, it's a penny. And it payed off!
We did some shopping too. We didn't really buy anything since it's so expensive, but we had fun wandering through the shops.
So that pretty much sums up our trip. We had a lot of fun, and we're hoping we can go again soon!

Viva Las Vegas!

Tomorrow John and I are leaving for the weekend for some much needed R & R. We've really been looking forward to this! John hasn't had a day off work in 3 weeks, which means I have been the only one taking care of the baby and we're both exhausted! So we're driving to Vegas for the weekend. It should be a nice little get-a-way. I can't wait to hit the shops!

He's The Best Husband Ever!

Tonight at school, John got offered a job with the FBI as a special agent. No joke! But he didn't take it. This is why I think he is the BEST husband ever! He has talked about wanting to work for the FBI for a while now. I have always been afraid of this knowing that John has a love of danger (his childhood is proof of that) and I know he would want to be doing the most dangerous thing out there that he could. The FBI made it clear that he would be doing dangerous things too. Anything from storming houses, going to raids, storming the front line, and so on. I have a constant fear that he'd go to work and not come home again. So I've been against him working for them. I know, I'm selfish. But in my mind, I think I have a pretty good reason. Anyway, so he was offered this job, and he turned it down. Mainly because he knew how much I would be worried about it. Plus, they wanted him to go to Louisiana for 6 months straight for training. John is a family man. He knows he can't be away for that long. Then after training they told him that he could be flown out at a moments notice to anywhere in the world on missions. They could last for a few days, or a few weeks. He would be there until the job was done. That's not to mention we could also be relocated to wherever, whenever. But John is so sweet and so considerate, he knew how that would be so hard for me and chose not to do it. I love him so much! He sacrificed this great opportunity for his family. I have never been more proud of him than I am right now! Thank you honey! You are the BEST!!!

EWWWW!!!!

John ate bugs today! He had snails for lunch. I really don't like bugs. Especially nasty slimy ones that look like little congealed snot logs with retractable eyes! Eww! And he put it in his mouth! Yeah, they were cooked, but I still think it's the grossest thing ever. I couldn't ever eat them.

What are your bug stories? Could you eat snails?

Wide Open Spaces

Shelby is proving to be quite the escape artist. She's dug her way out of our back gate now. We've been trying to stop her digging by putting bricks down where she has been, but she still manages to find another way. She wants to be a free range dog. Umm..... no. Not happening.

New Things Coming

When I worked at Famous Dave's I knew this guy Mike who had started in a business pretty much building his own business. I'm sure some if not all of you have heard of Primerica. That's what Mike got involved in, and he's doing extremely well in it for only working 25 hours a week. John hates his job, and is going to school to get out of it, but he's still a long way away from graduation. He doesn't want to wait that long to get out of where he is. We ran into Mike a few weeks ago, and I asked him to come over last night and talk to John about the opportunities at Primerica. John is actually really excited about this! Mike has been working there for a while, but over the last 2 years has recently gotten "back in the game". He's making upwards of 80 thousand a year working PART TIME! That's a nice chunk of change for not doing a lot of work! So, John has decided to let Mike train him and give this a try. I'll be doing it too, but not the business end of it so much. I still need to be home with the kids. So if this takes off, we're going to be pretty happy! We can get out debt, get a lower payment on our mortgage, and consolidate on the time it will take to pay it off. We could end up being completely paid off and debt free in the next 10 years! That's really good considering most american families are well into their 60's, 70's, and 80's before getting out of debt. And that's not including still having money for retirement. The average person needs to earn 1.5 million between the ages of 25 to 60 in order to have enough money to retire with. That's over 6 hundred dollars a month that has to be saved. Well, luckily, there IS a system that can make that happen! I'm not trying to do a sales pitch, but I do think it's cool!

Jail Break!

I discovered this morning that Shelby was no longer in our backyard when I let her out today. Then I saw how. The neighbors have a little mini pin that likes to dig and has managed to break a hole through the fence. Then our dog made it into a bigger hole and got out. I found her trotting around the neighbors backyard. Of course they wouldn't answer their door either so I was stuck with the dilemma of how to get her out without having to go back there without permission. Luckily I was able to get her out through the back gate, and I didn't have to go get her. So now I've got to figure out how to block this hole right? Well, I found some stuff that I think will work until John gets home to fix it. But here's the thing... I locked her inside while I go out to block this hole, and she is so freaking smart, she figured out how to open the door! So here comes Shelby running down the stairs to me with this look like I MADE IT OUT! I MADE IT! It was kind of funny, but bad timing cuz I hadn't blocked the hole yet. Sigh... she is too smart!

Just Like Home

The first day here Shelby took to John like she's known him all her life. It was so cute. He sat down and immediately she came over and plopped down with him. She craves attention from him, and LOVES every minute of it! John didn't want me to put this picture of him up, but I had to. They look so comfy together! Don't mind the sheets on the couches, I know they look horrible but with the cats, we had to have them on.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 1 year anniversary! Happy anniversary hun! We've made it this far so let's keep going! You are such a good husband and I am more than blessed to have you in my life! You are a great friend, father, someone to confide in, and a shoulder when I need one. I don't know what I'd do without you! Thank you for all that you do and sticking with me through the hard times! I love you!

Love, me

Let's make this work another 60 years!

Here She Is!

"Are you crazy?!" that's what my mom LOVES to ask me. And the answer..yes. Though not in the same way as my mom is refering to. Crazy about Shelby! She's an Alaskan Malmute and a beautiful one at that! We LOVE her! She's so well mannered and such an awesome dog! She's house broken, sweeter than sweet, very mellow, she doesn't bark, or lick, or chew, or bite. She's amazing! She does get excited when you play with her, and she's big enough that she's bowled Alex over (haha she's fine though) but other than that she's so sweet and adorable!

A Mozart In The Making?

Alex came to me a few days ago and said she wished she could goof around on my high-tech keyboard. Well, of course I said no. She has a keyboard of her own for that. Well, then she asked if I could teach her an actual song. Thinking once she knows one, I'll let her goof around on my keyboard. While I'm still not going to let her do that, I did teach her a song. I think I've heard "Mary had a little lamb" more times in 2 days then anyone ever has in a lifetime! It's good though because she's had her keyboard for a year and barely touched it. Now she has a reason to play. I told her once she gets this song down (which I think she pretty much does) I'd teach her a new one as long as she'd practice. And boy has she been practicing! She doesn't want to take lessons though, that's too much work. She just wants me to teach her a few things she wants to learn. So what do you guys think, is she up for being my piano partner?

This Little Piggy Went To Market..

I was playing with Connor last night, and for the first time he actually laughed! It was the cutest thing! He's made little noises before when he smiles like he's trying to laugh, but just never could quite get it. But this time he did! I died laughing too it was so funny! He's becoming so aware of things now. It's so fun to watch him be amazed by everything. He's much more responsive now too which is fun. He'll smile just at the sound of your voice. He's definitely our little "chunk of love"! That's how Shana put it. Ha ha ha! I thought that was funny!

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It's such a nice day today! Days like this make me happy. I also got to catch up on some much needed sleep this morning (thanks mom!) so I feel extra good! I had the weirdest dream though! It was so crazy! There was this giant octopus in a swimming pool that was right by this road, and it was trying to grab cars as you drove by. It was like watching a video game or something... Weird!
Alex went with her mom last night. Not only was she a half an hour late picking her up when she'd called 45 minutes earlier to say she'd be there in 20 minutes, but she looked like CRAP! She did not look like someone who is clean in my opinion. I think she's still on drugs. She hasn't given us any drug test results, which says she could still be using and that's why she hasn't gotten one. I made John tell her that she owes us one still and we'll pick the date of the next one. She shouldn't even be allowed to take Alex over night, since her getting drug tested was contingent on that and she hasn't done it. But John keeps telling her ok. He thinks that because she lives with her dad now, she can't do drugs anymore. I say an addict WILL find a way if she wants it bad enough! And she looked like CRAP!! Maybe she is getting clean, and the detox is making her look like that. Or maybe she isn't. Either way, I still don't trust it.
But lets not let that ruin our day today!

Smart

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-I guess he don't know
that three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickles for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickles to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head-
Too proud of me to speak!

The Sharp-Toothed Snail

These are so fun, I just have to post more...

Inside everybody's nose

There lives a sharp-toothed snail.

So if you stick your finger in,

He may bite off your nail.

Stick it farther up inside,

And he may bite your ring off.

Stick it all the way, and he

May bite the whole darn thing off.

Also, I'm really excited because I think we may have found the PERFECT dog for us! I'll let you all know more when I find out for sure!

In Addition To The Pest..

I just found out that little punk is responsible for breaking the bricks on our patio in our backyard! His parents should have to pay to replace those! On top of it, he just tried to steal Alex's scooter! I really really hate that kid!

I'm 3 Months Old!

My little boy is growing up!

What A PEST!!

K, so there's this neighbor kid that comes over a lot to play with Alex. I gotta say.. I hate this kid. He is the most annoying, disrespectful, little brat ever! Before I said he was no longer allowed to play at our house, he used to try and mess with our sprinklers and reprogram everything. He'd try and push all the buttons and make a mess of things. Alex would tell him not to, but he wouldn't listen. Then he comes over one day while Alex is getting ready to eat dinner and she tells him she can't play because she has to eat first. He just keeps bugging and bugging her and asking stupid questions and won't let her shut the door without giving him precise directions on where to meet. Alex said I don't know, I'll just come find you. This kid won't take that as an answer to save his life! So she finally shuts the door and she goes up to the bathroom and here comes Tyson again literally POUNDING on my door and ringing my doorbell like 9 times in a row! I was in the middle of feeding Connor so I was pissed!! I'm sorry but that is just way uncalled for! So I go to the door and I'm telling him Alex has to eat she'll be out when she's done. And do you know what this little punk does... he sasses me!! He starts giving me all kinds of attitude and says real snotty "well I need to know where to meet her" so I get right back in his face and I said "I don't care what you want, she'll be out when she's done!" Then I told him not to pound on my door again or ring my doorbell that many times. But do you think it ends there? NO!! HE CAME BACK!! But this time, he just comes and turns on our hose out front and just lets it puddle on our lawn! ARGH!! I feel sorry for this kids' parents! So needless to say, he's not allowed to come play at our house anymore!

I feel like poems today. So here's a couple I hope you enjoy!

They've Put A Brassiere On The Camel

They've put a brassiere on the camel,

She wasn't dressed proper, you know.

They've put a brassiere on the camel

So that her humps wouldn't show.

And they're making other respectable plans,

They're even insisting the pigs should wear pants,

They'll dress up the ducks if we give them a chance

Since they've put a brassiere on the camel.

They've put a brassiere on the camel,

They claim she's more decent this way.

They've put a brassiere on the camel,

The camel had nothing to say.

They squeezed her into it, I'll never know how,

They say that she looks more respectable now,

Heaven knows what they've got in mind for the cow,

Since they've put a brassiere on the camel.

Wild Strawberries

Are Wild Strawberries really wild?

Will they scratch an adult, will they snap at a child?

Should you pet them, or let them run free where they roam?

Could they ever relax in a steam-heated home?

Can they be trained to not growl at the guests?

Will a litterbox work or would they leave a mess?

Can we make them a Cowberry, herding the cows,

Or maybe a Muleberry pulling the plows,

Or maybe a Huntberry chasing the grouse,

Or maybe a Watchberry gaurding the house,

And though they may curl up at your feet oh so sweetly,

Can you ever feel that you trust them completely?

Or should we make a pet out of something less scary,

Like the Domestic Prune or the Imported Cherry,

Anyhow, you've been warned and I will not be blamed

If your Wild Strawberry cannot be tamed.