Mama's Girl

I'm afraid I might have a mama's girl on my hands.  Tonight was Zumba and for the second night this week, Kiki cried most of the time I was gone.  I made sure she was VERY fed before I left, and even left a bottle for Mark, but she wasn't having it.  When I walked in the door, she stopped crying and just started smiling and laughing.  This is horrible!  I feel like I can't go anywhere.  The worst part is that Mark's cousin is watching the girls tomorrow night because Mark has a work Christmas party for us to go to.  What if she cries the whole time!!!  This could really be horrible.

This was never a problem with Monroe because she went to daycare at 3 months.  She didn't mind other people at all.  Poor Keeks sees pretty much Monroe and I all day long.  I'm praying that she's good tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.

I'm so excited because the girls' Christmas dresses came today.  They are so cute.  I can't wait to see them in them!  We got them from Crazy8.  I sure do miss having one of those close.  They have the cutest clothes!

 The front

The Back

The girls don't have a ton of things alike yet.  It's kind of hard to find them alike when Kiki's so small.  It will be fun as they get older.  I'm sure they are going to hate it, but I think it's just so cute.  I remember when Laura Ashley used to make Mother/Daughter dresses.  I'll have to look into that...just kidding.  I promise to NEVER take it to that level.

All day today I have been craving cornbread.  Not just any cornbread.  It's cornbread that I haven't had in like 20 years, literally.  It was from a place called Tippins.  Do any of you remember that place?  They were known for their pies, but I particularly loved their cornbread because it was almost like cake.  It was perfectly sweet.  I found a recipe online that seems similar, so I'm going to try it out very soon...probably on Friday.  I think I'm going to make some of my friend Kelsey's chili to go
along with it.  I've never made her chili before, but it is so good.  Thanks for sharing, Kels!

Here is the cornbread recipe I will be trying out.  I can't vouch for it yet, but how can you go wrong when you add cake mix to anything?  I don't think you can.

Tippin's Cornbread

1 (8 1/2 ounce) box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 (9 ounce) box Jiffy golden yellow cake mix
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cold water

Directions: Combine both mixes together. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until smooth. Bake at 400 degrees in a greased pan for 15 to 20 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

I've never been so excited for a month to end.  I'm not going to lie, NABLOPOMO (National Blog Post Month) has completely worn me out.  It's really hard blogging every day--rain or shine, sleep or no sleep-- but guilt kept me writing!  It's amazing what guilt can make me do.  

It's kind of the same with Zumba.  Normally I am horrible at doing exercise videos and stuff like that.  When things start to get hard/intense, I give up.  In Zumba, however, I keep pushing myself because I'm with a big group of people.  I don't want to be the person who throws in the towel.  I wish I knew about this years ago!  I would be in much better shape.  I guess this is one of the times that peer pressure is a good thing.      

Well, I should probably shower.  My husband chose to sit on the other couch and I'm starting to wonder if it's because I stink.  Goodnight, friends!  

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

Well, my day didn't go quite as planned.  Due to some sick kiddos, our day at Maria's got cancelled.  Rosie was pretty disappointed, but this gave me the chance to put our Christmas stuff up.  I look forward to this every year.  There is something about a house decorated for Christmas that just makes everything seem right with the world.  It feels so warm and cozy and I just love it!

As you know, I'm a pretty big Pinterest fan.  Well, I wanted to show you an idea that I found there, that pretty much made my day!  When Mark and I first got married, I bought us each stockings and stocking holders.  It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the stocking holders are snowflakes.  I remember thinking at the time that I should at least buy four, for the future, but I didn't because kids seemed like an eternity away.  Fast forward to now, and I still only have two stocking holders.  I knew I wouldn't be able to find identical ones, because I bought them almost eight years ago.  I hated to buy four new ones, but I knew I had to.  That is, until I saw this idea...

 You hang a curtain rod from the stocking holders using ribbon!  Then you can hang as many stockings as you can fit!  

 Closer View...I didn't have to buy a thing!  I just used an old curtain rod I had in the garage.  Pinterest, you've done it again! 

Monroe really loved helping put the tree up!  I knew she would, but I was so surprised by just how much.  There was a lot of dancing around the room, uncontrollable laughing and songs sung at the top of her lungs.  She was just plain giddy.  

The Tree

I love getting the chance to look at each and every ornament when we put the tree up.  Mark thinks I'm pretty nuts, but the whole thing is so special to me.  I love remembering where each one came from.  I just adore every ornament.  

We got this after Rosie was born.  I still need to get one for Keeks.  

 This was given to me by one of my students.  I have quite a few "teacher" ornaments.  I will always treasure them.

 I love getting ornaments from places we visit.  This is from one of our trips to Maui.  It's from 2005! 

 I love this "M".  It's probably my favorite ornament just because it represents our little family.  

As you can tell, I prefer more of a traditional tree.  I enjoy looking at more stylized trees, but I just don't think you can beat a tree full of memories.  I can't wait for the days when Monroe and McKinley bring home ornaments that they have made at school.  Do you have any extra special ornaments on your tree or do you prefer your tree a little different?  I'd love to hear about how you decorate!

Here are a few more areas I decorated today.  I did some other spaces as well, but I don't want to completely bore you! 

I went a little nuts with the white lights.  I've pretty much put them on everything.  

The dining room.  Not quite done in here yet.  

I found some yellow things today!  I've been looking for quite awhile now and when I saw these, I knew I had to have them.  I don't know exactly how I will work them into my room, but I'm sure I'll figure something out...hopefully.

Now to something that I've been meaning to post about for the longest time.  I think only those people with kids will completely get the significance of what I'm about to show you...

This is the toilet seat in Monroe and McKinley's bathroom.  It has a built in children's seat!!!  It's amazing.  You just pull it down and it's the perfect size for little kiddos.  I just think it's the greatest thing ever and so does Monroe.  We haven't ventured into hard core potty training yet, but I know this will be coming in handy pretty soon.  

Well, time to sign off.  Wishing you all the very best.  

mmm...French Bread!

I've made some Christmas progress.  I ordered our Christmas cards today!  I'm glad to have that done.  Can't wait for them to arrive.  Hopefully, they will turn out okay!  I'm still contemplating writing a Christmas letter this year.  I used to do them every year and I absolutely love getting them from other people.  I just need to muster up the creativity to do it.  We'll see how it goes.

Today we headed to the Health Adventure again.  I am definitely getting my money's worth.  Rosie still loves it!  Maria got a membership today, so now I'll have someone to go with.

The weather has been nuts here.  It hasn't stopped raining all day.  I'm talking really pouring!  There's been a flood warning since last night.  I'm not going to lie, flood warnings concern me quite a bit.  I've seen the news reports with people standing on the roofs of their houses waiting to be rescued.  That's not cool.  I'm praying that nothing like that happens!  I guess there is a log jam on the French Broad River (not to be confused with the French Bread River) that might cause major flooding.  Yikes.  Keep that in your prayers if you don't mind.

Tonight was Zumba and it majorly kicked my heiny (not completely sure how to spell that).  The teacher definitely took it up a notch tonight.  It was still very fun even though I feel like I was moving in slow motion.  Jackie joined us tonight, so that made it even better.

I still haven't put up the Christmas stuff.  I was gone all afternoon and didn't get to it.  I still might try tonight, but my body is hurting pretty bad.

Tomorrow, we are getting together with Elizabeth and her kiddos at Maria's house.  We are going to try and do a little craft with the kids.  Being a former teacher, I know that crafts with kids can either go really well or really horribly.  It will be fun to see how it goes.  I now need to figure out what craft we should do, so I better run.  Have a great night!

Planes, Trains and Banana Cream Pie

So, my last few posts could hardly be considered posts.  I apologize, but with all of the Thanksgiving fun, I didn't have a lot of free time.  We had so much fun with Mike, Melissa and the boys!  We truly had a blast. We were so sad to see them leave this morning.  I'm pretty sure that Monroe will be talking about this visit for weeks to come.  She just adores Max and Mason.  It's pretty hard not to.  They are the sweetest little guys.  We are so used to everything girl around here, so it was really refreshing and fun to have a dose of all things boy.  We talked all about trains, planes, trucks and dinosaurs and I really loved it.

Here are a few pictures from the visit...

 The kiddos, enjoying their breakfast. 

 Mason! 

 Keeks and Auntie Melissa 

Showing off our dessert handiwork!  Melissa made an absolutely perfect Banana Cream Pie.  I made Lori's Pumpkin Surprise/Heaven/Delight/...any appropriate adjective works.  Mark would probably call it Pumpkin Hades, as he hates anything that includes pumpkin (not including Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte).  

Melissa and I had a great time being together and even took up a new creative hobby.  We are now stampers:)!  The project we conquered was a very cute, but super functional one.  If you know me, you know that remembering birthdays is not my forte.  I just recently misplaced my little purse calendar that had all of my birthdays in it and I really needed something to keep myself more organized.

Melissa and I both pinned the same birthday calendar idea on Pinterest and thought we would change it up to make it suit our needs more.   We ran to Michael's for a few supplies and got started on our Family and Friends Birthday Calendar.

Some of our supplies.  Have you ever used cling stamps?  They are so fun.

This is our finished product...

All of our family and friends' birthdays are included.

 It's super easy to add more birthdays.

All in one place and in order so you always know who's birthday is coming up.  We are talking about adding additional information on the back (addresses, phone numbers, emails, clothing sizes, etc)

Melissa and I both fell in love with stamping and we can't wait to think of new projects to do with them.  We even went and got more stamping supplies to add to our loot.  I'm sure you will see more projects on both of our blogs! 

I wanted to show you my favorite birthday gift ever.  I just love it...

It's hard to tell, but it's a great sized bag.  It fits everything I need and more!

I think houndstooth is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread.  The sections are removable and you can position them any way you want.  Very handy! 

It's a new camera bag from Mark.  I have had my eye on it for over a year and now it is mine and it is just amazing.  If you are a woman in the market for a camera bag, Jo Totes  is definitely the way to go.  They are extremely well made and have such cute designs.  Love, love, love it!

Also, look at this adorable gift that came for me this week from my bestie, Kaylee...

I haven't framed it yet, but it's a little anniversary print.  It's such a special and meaningful gift.  Thank you, Baughman's... your thoughtfulness is just so wonderful.  

Kiki is definitely going through a growth spurt.  I guess I should be glad that she's growing, but boy does it take a toll on a girl's sleep.  I ended up taking a two hour nap this afternoon.  It was amazing.  I feel so much better and am praying for a better night tonight.

Have you decorated for Christmas yet?  I took down all of the fall decor tonight and we plan to do it tomorrow.  I'm excited to see what Monroe thinks of everything.  I think she's going to LOVE everything about Christmas this year!!!

I'm already so behind!  I haven't even started on Christmas cards yet!  They might end up being "Holiday" cards again, as I wasn't any better last year and didn't get them out until New Years-ish.  Oh well!  My Christmas shopping is coming along, though.  I just have a few more gifts to buy.  I've decided that Dads are absolutely the hardest people to buy for in the whole wide world.  If they really need or want something, they are practical enough to go get it themselves and they don't seem to need/want much.  I am really scratching my head trying to come up with gifts for our dads.  If you have any great ideas, do share!

Well, it's been good catching up.  I'm so relieved that November is almost over.  This blogging every night thing is really quite hard!  Thanks for reading and love to you all!

Can't touch this...

I am writing this in the car on the way home from game night at the Nudd's.  We played one of my favs, the Game of Things.  I have a lot of hilarious memories from playing that game with different friends and family (you know who you are) and tonight was no different.  So sleepy though!  Goodnight!

Just so I can say I blogged...

I'm really tired.  It was a great day.  I have a very fun craft to tell you about that Melissa and I worked on this evening, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  Love to you all and goodnight:)

So thankful for 31 years!

I truly couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving!  Great company, great food, huge blessings!  I don't know why I was so worked up about making food.  It went so smoothly and it was completely stress-free.  It helped that I had a whole team chipping in!

I sometimes get overwhelmed by how blessed I am.   As I celebrate my 31st year of life today, I can't help but spend some time contemplating all of the wonderful things God has given me.  My family and friends are amazing.  Mark and I have both been blessed with careers we have loved and wonderful coworkers.  We have a warm home and not only food, but good food.  I am just so happy and just so blessed.  I pray that each of you has had a Thanksgiving to remember and that you are enjoying some special moments with your family!  Love to you!

Thanks

So our other Murrill half arrived around one this morning!  We were so glad they made it here safe and sound and that they also got to cross paths with the Nudd's on their journey here, which worked out great!

After breakfast, the guys took Mason, Max and Monroe to Health Adventure.  Mark ended up getting us a year pass, so I'm so excited to get to go anytime we want.  Monroe just loves it there.

Melissa, Kiki and I went to do some light shopping.  Melissa and I have pretty much the same taste in clothes and we usually end up veering towards the same items.  Today was no different and we came home with matching shirts.  We'll be sure to get some pictures.  We had a light lunch because we were going to have dinner with the family, but somehow the wires got crossed and the guys ended up going to Papas and Beer without us!!!  Of all places!  They promised we could go back another time this weekend.

Tonight, we started making some of the food for tomorrow.  Somehow, my Jello Pretzel thingy did NOT turn out like it normally does.  The consistency was so weird.  Hopefully, it will still taste good.  I have to admit, I'm pretty excited about our lunch tomorrow.  I think it's going to be pretty amazing.

Tonight, I have forced everyone to watch a four hour long Christmas movie with me.  It's in the "Love Comes Softly" series, which I love, but the acting is a little rough, to say the least.  We will probably need to spread the movie out over the weekend.  They are all very sweet to humor me, though.  There's something about a poorly acted Christian Western Christmas movie that gets me every time.  

Well, I'm thinking something pretty terrible is about to happen on the movie, so I better pay attention.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!  I'm truly thankful for each of you.  

Lunch Surprise

This morning I got up and decided to get some more Christmas shopping done.  I actually accomplished quite a bit and knocked five people off of the list!  I still have seven more people to go, but at least I am making progress.

When I got home Mark called and said he was going to come home for lunch.  I always love for him to come home, although it doesn't get to happen too often.  We had just gotten off the phone and I was trying to figure out what I would make him, when the door opened and Mark and another man walked in the front door.  I was surprised that he was there that quickly, but more surprised that there was another guy tagging along.  Then I realized who that other man was...it was the guy we test drove the van with!

He was there to have me sign some papers because Mark BOUGHT US THE VAN!!!  I'm so excited.  Actually, I'm in total shock.  What's even more shocking is that he traded in his baby, the Avalon!  Wowza!  I guess pigs do fly:)

So anyway, I'm sitting here, still in disbelief that I am now the proud owner of a minivan!  I never would have dreamed in a million years that I would be so elated about a van, but I sure am.  It's perfect for kids and traveling and it's really just a big relief!  We were crammed so tight in the CX7 when we went on trips.  This is the best birthday gift EVER!!!

No Monday Morning Blues Here!

I knew right away that today was going to be a good day.  I turned on the Today show and who was having a concert but my favorite band in the whole wide world, Rascal Flatts.   Then they went and sang my favorite song.

After that my day has pretty much flown by.  I've been working on getting the house ready for our company coming tomorrow.  I had a lovely chat with one of my besties, Kaylee.  I also pumped for the first time in two months.

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise pumping with a passion?  Well, I do.  That's what I did to feed Monroe for a full year, 6 times a day.  I never wanted to see that pump again, but the benefits to having a few bottles around, just in case, won out.  We have some holiday parties that we need to attend and I'm not so sure that a nursing baby is the cutest of holiday accessories.

Mid-morning I dropped Monroe at a friend's house and headed to the grocery store for the mother of all shopping trips.  I've mentioned before that I'm nervous about hosting Thanksgiving.  I've hosted before, but I've always had one of my moms there to be kind of the "ringleader" or rather the "ringcooker".  I've wisely delegated a few items to everyone to cut down on some of the stress.  Hopefully, it all works out.

I rocked it out at Zumba tonight.  Actually, I didn't rock it out....I fumbled along at Zumba tonight.  I get going and totally feel like I'm doing awesome and then I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I think, "Who's that uncoordinated, disabled person wearing the same outfit as me!"  Then I realize that person is me.  I feel like this picture pretty much sums it up.

It was still fun and I can't wait until next week.  Sadly, Wednesday night's class is canceled.  

Well, I better run.  Hope everyone is doing well!  

Cakey Pumpkin Cookies

When living in Florida, we spent Thanksgiving with our great friends, the Heinrich's.  We always had wonderful food and had even a more wonderful time.  I had a lot of different favorite food items, but Pumpkin Cookies were definitely high up on the list.  They were so incredible!

I got the itch for them this weekend and whipped up a batch.  They are very easy to make and taste oh so good.  They are a very cakey cookie though, just to warn you.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Cookies

Cookies:
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Icing:
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tb butter
3 Tb milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.  Beat sugar, shortening, and egg with mixer on medium speed until creamy.  Add pumpkin and vanilla.  Beat until just mixed.  Reduce speed to low and add 1/4 cup of flour mixture, beating until well combined.  Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Drop generous teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.  Bake until barely brown.  (15 to 20 minutes)

For icing, combine the brown sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.  Heat in microwave until sugar melts (about 1 1/2 minutes).  Remove and stir in powdered sugar.

Let me know what you think!  

Hair today, Gone tomorrow

As you all know, we are extremely wealthy, so it should come as no surprise to you that Mark has found us another property to buy.  Okay, so I'm totally kidding.   At least about the first part...we aren't wealthy, but Mark has found three acres that he loves.  He has a dream of living there when we retire and he thinks we should go ahead and buy this land now.  Yes, now.  It's really close to a lake, is on rolling hills and is beautiful.

I have to admit, I'm not completely sold on this idea.  Those that know me know that I am extremely conscientious when it comes to money.  I have been known to walk around a store with a cart full of items and end up leaving with nothing.  I always talk myself out of things.  I'm also a HUGE bargain shopper.  I got this from my mother who always buys on sale and has such a knack for finding the cutest things at a fraction of the price.  So, the idea of buying a house, a van, and a piece of retirement property in two months just doesn't set right with me.  I'm going to need some MAJOR convincing.  

Kiki is really something.  She is rolling over from her front to her back and is seriously close to going the other way.  She laughs and smiles and coos.  She seems to just love life and we all just love her.  We frequently find Monroe kissing and hugging all over her and has now started saying, "This is MY sister!"  She's very proud.

I was talking to my mom today about how much I love having a second child.  It was pretty scary and overwhelming at first and I'm not going to say it won't continue to be hard at times, but it's so amazing.  The first time around I was so scared, unsure, and worried about everything.  I never knew if I was doing things wrong and as much as I adored being a mom, I didn't feel confident at all.  This time around, I feel so much better about things and really feel like I enjoy every moment with Keek's.  It really is phenomenal.

In hair news, I have found a new hair product that I really love.  It's called Uplifting Foam by Aquage.  I have noticed a real difference in the volume of my hair and that makes me very, very happy.  I would definitely recommend it!

On the subject of hair, I'm losing mine.  This past week I have started noticing that all kinds of hair is falling out in the shower!  I've never had an issue with this before and it's kind of freaking me out.  I've been told that this can happen after pregnancy.  Have any of you experienced this?  Hopefully, it will stop very soon.

I would love to say that I will hit my ten pounds in a month goal, but sadly I will not.  I am very excited that I have found an exercise regime that I enjoy, though.  I'm so pumped to do Zumba again tomorrow.  It really is a blast.  I'm also going to start watching what I eat again (not counting Thanksgiving).  I really want to hit it hard.  I did go to the gym today, so hopefully I will keep it up.

People weren't kidding when they said it gets harder and harder to keep weight off the older you get.  Getting old is just tough in general.  I've recently really started noticing my wrinkles, my age spots and my occasional gray hairs.  I guess you have to focus on all of the great parts of getting older.  I have a deeper understanding of love after having kids and weathering storms with my wonderful husband.  I have gained wisdom from wrong turns and decisions I have made.  I feel like I know who I am, although it took years to figure out.  Oh, and my face has finally cleared up...so worth it;)

Lovely Day

It has been a lovely day.  Sabbath School was good.  Church was good.  We ate lunch at potluck, which wasn't good, but it was fun to meet new people.  

We had good naps in the afternoon and then tonight we went to the grand opening of a place called Heath Adventure.  It's a really cool place for kids to play and learn.  It's an extension of Mark's hospital, so I think that employees get a discount on a year membership.  I really think we might join.  Monroe had so much fun! 

After we left there, we headed to Papas and Beer for dinner.  It was so good.  It is truly the best Mexican food ever.  I just love it. 

Well, I'm gonna hang out with Mark.  Here's a picture of Keeks before church.  Love to you all!

Mama wants a van

We just got back from test driving a 2008 Toyota Sienna, better known as the "Swagger Wagon," and I fell in love.  The room, oh the room. 

When Pizza Goes Wrong

Look what came in the mail yesterday for Rosie and Keeks...

Isn't it the cutest thing?!   Auntie Kaylee and Uncle Brandon (or Uncle Kaylee and Aunt Brandon as Mark accidently said tonight) sent it to the girls just because and let me tell you, they LOVE it!  Rosie has played with it since it came.  We had fun talking about Thanksgiving and the pilgrims and the Indians.  Love it!  Thank you for taking such good care of us K & B!

Today was a pretty normal day.  I had to go to the hospital to get a health assessment for our insurance.  I always enjoy being weighed and measured in big groups of people.  These are a few of my favorite things.

The girls came along and we had a fun time seeing daddy in his element.  Mark loves to show the girls off and that makes me happy.  We got to eat a late breakfast with him as well.

I ran a few errands and then spent the afternoon figuring out some of our hospital bills and the such. When Mark got home we made homemade pizzas.  We decided to get crazy and tried making one of the pizzas with a sauce made with tofu.  Yeah, it didn't turn out too well.  Not our best work.  In fact, it was really awful.  We won't be doing that again.  

Here is a picture of our bedroom after we hung our picture...

I still haven't been able to find any yellow accents.  So for now the room is still just grey/silver and white.  I really love it, though.  It is so calming and I love being in there.  I've never felt like that about my bedroom before.  I've heard of people calling their room a "sanctuary" and I really didn't get it until now.  I'm glad you can't see our bedroom furniture too well.  I bought it before we got married and the years have been pretty hard on her.  Pretty hard indeed.

I'm really looking forward to Friday for a variety of reasons.  First of all, it's Friday for goodness sake.  Who doesn't look forward to it?!

We are also test driving a minivan tomorrow!  It is really tough fitting all of us into our car.  The idea of having more room sounds incredible.  We really need it before we make the long arduous drive to Oklahoma and Kansas in December.  Am I ready to take the plunge into complete adulthood?  I realize that once you go minivan, there is no turning back.  I think I'm ready.  I really do.

Dancing Queens

Guess who got brave and went to Zumba tonight?!!!  Yes, ME!  I finally pumped myself up and I brought a friend who was just as nervous as I was.  Luckily, Maria agreed to join me and that gave me just enough confidence to go.  Jackie is going to try and join us next week.  

When I walked in the room, I was relieved to see that we were the youngest of the bunch and surprisingly there were no young hip dancers, but rather a group of middle age to older women.  The teacher was very good and really kept the room energized.  Did I get all of the moves right away?  No.  Did I look like a complete imbecile?  Yes.  Did I have an amazing time?  Yes, yes, yes!!!  I loved it and can't wait until Monday.  Some of the ladies told us that we did really well for our first time as we were leaving.  That felt pretty good:) It doesn't matter that those compliments came from 80-year-olds.  I will definitely be working on my sultry shimmy and hip shake before I go back.

In other news, Monroe said"her phrase" three times today which ultimately resulted in "cold water" by her daddy.  If you are wondering what cold water is, then let me tell you.  It was the punishment of choice by my mom when I was little and now has become our BIG punishment now that I am a parent.  When a child is throwing a fit or has done something really terrible, they are put in a cold shower, clothes and all.  It sounds pretty extreme, but it really wakes a kid up and sticks with you.  We've only had to do it once before and it really made an impact, so I hope it does this time as well.  I have a lot of friends and family who have also used the method and they swear by it.  My mom was originally told about it by a chaplain she was working for at Shawnee Mission Medical Center many, many years ago.  I would still recommend it today.  It beats spanking any day.

Here are a few pics of the little potty mouth I took yesterday...

Look what I'll be doing tonight and every night after for the next few years...

This is Monroe's butterfly mobile.  The movers took NO care when packing it and I found it in a box in a tangled mess.  I have been working on it all day and I only have those three in the front completely done.  Yeah, I'll be doing this awhile.  

So anyway, I'm really exhausted from my hard core "moves" I did tonight.  Have a good one!

Scam me twice?

I had a different scamming friend contact me today.  Apparently my hutch is a very hot item in the scam market.  At least this one was fun to read.  It's not often you get to email with a Marine Engineer away at sea.  My favorite part was the "surprise promise gift".  What kind of promise are you making with an oversized outdated piece of furniture? None of my business, I guess.  I hope you enjoy the email as much as I did!


Great. am glad to read from you ,will appreciate more pictures... i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now.I am buying this as a surprise promise Gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payment, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet,you can set one up at  www.paypal.com  it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payment has been sorted.  l will be waiting for your reply asap

Fall off the wagon? No way!

So, I came so close to not posting today.  We had a full day and I didn't walk in the door until about an hour ago.  But, I couldn't not post after coming so far!  I had to push through.  Although this will probably be very short and could possibly make little to no sense.

My mind is pretty numb, so I can't really think of much to write about.  Monroe had a hard time this afternoon and tonight, but it was completely my fault.  She didn't have a nap and boy did it show.  Poor little thing was exhausted.  We did have a breakthrough today! She went the whole day without using her phrase of choice.  Remember the one I mentioned this weekend.  Well, she's been throwing it around quite a bit lately.  I just don't get it.  We are trying not to freak out about it so she doesn't keep using it as a shock factor, but I also have let her know how serious it is.

A lot of my friends have said that it's a short little phase.  I sure hope.  It's very stressful to not know what going to come out of her mouth next.  I really can't complain though.  Even on her worst days, she is still a wonderful little person.  She's so thoughtful and she's so sweet to her little sis.  I am very blessed.

I did have something kind of weird happen this morning.  Remember I mentioned that I was putting some things on Craigslist?  Well, I got an email last night about my hutch asking if it was still available.  I emailed back letting them know that it was and I got this email in return...

Hi,
I'm glad it's still for sale. I'm going on a vacation to London but I
will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail you your payment which
I'm sure you will get it in about 4-6 business days. I'll add $20
extra for the delay. Money Order is the means I can pay you with. If
this is acceptable by you, Send me your info i.e full name, mailing
address and your phone number so payment can be mail out immediately.I
will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must
have received and cashed the Money Order.

Awaiting your info
Thanks


I could tell right away that something wasn't right with this.  I mean who is getting ready to go on vacation to London, but just has to look on craigslist for furniture before he goes?  Also, if you have your own assistant, than you can probably afford to buy a new piece of furniture.  He also never asked the dimensions of the hutch and as I have mentioned before it's GIGANTIC.  


So anyway, I plugged his email into google and the exact email, word for word, came up on a scam warning website.  I figured, but it was good to know for sure.  I was so angry at this dude.  It's hard to swallow that people actually make their living ripping other trusting people off.  It just gets my blood boiling.   I ended up sending this email back:


Oh, so sorry "Scott Davey", but I only accept legitimate offers.  Thanks for trying to scam me, though!  Have a great day conning people.   


I had written more, but my husband advised me against it.  Thank goodness I have a level headed man in my life.  I would be lost without him.


So, I tell you this, just so you will be careful.  I truly think that most people in the world are good people, but there are some sketchy ones out there and you really can't be too careful.  


Well, I'm headed to bed.  Love you all and remember, be careful out there:)

Zumba Pansy

So all day I have been gearing myself up to go to my very first Zumba class at my gym and all day I have been finding myself getting less and less confident.  So unconfident that I started having horrible visions of what would happen while I was there.  I saw myself in a room with shapely young dancers and I, the one frumpy almost thirty-one year old trying to keep up.  I could see them all snickering and laughing at me.  It was terrifying and that is why I did not go to my first Zumba class tonight.   Maybe next time.  Maybe.

I am so exhausted tonight.  I was busy all day cleaning/organizing/etc.  I did muster up enough energy tonight to do a little project that has been on my list for quite some time.

I purchased this wooden "M" awhile back from Michael's, fully intending on making it more interesting. But true to form, I never got around to it and it hung very boringly in our wall collage of pictures.  Tonight, I looked up at the pictures and I noticed the plain old white "M" and realized something really needed to be done.

It's a super easy project to do.  All you need is:

Wooden letter of your choice

Scrapbook paper of your choice

Mod Podge

Scissors

Pencil (not pictured)

 Trace the letter onto the back of the scrapbook paper.

 Cut out your traced letter.  Add a layer of ModPodge to the wooden letter and carefully place your cut out piece of paper onto it.  Add a layer of ModPodge to the top and let it dry!  

 

 All done!  Not the greatest picture.

Something I also wanted to share about is this stuff...Carbona Ceramic Cook Top Cleaner

If you have a ceramic cook top, this stuff is a must have.  I thought I was going to have to live forever with the burnt areas on our ceramic cook top.  It drove me nuts, until a friend mentioned using a ceramic cleaner.  I got some tonight and tried it for the first time.  It's a miracle worker!  I would definitely recommend it.

Have a great night!  See you tomorrow.

I'll take Two!

It's a tiny bit late, but I completely forgot to wish one of my sweet nephews a happy 2nd birthday!  Max, you light up everyone's life that you come in contact with and I can't get enough of your boyish good looks!  Love you very much and can't wait to see you in just a few days!

De-cluttering Our Lives?

It has been a full day.  You wouldn't think we would have a lot left to do on the house, but we still have quite a few boxes in the garage and there are a few closets that need to be organized.  One room that we weren't very pleased with was our bonus room.  We had put this big black hutch in there, because I desperately needed storage for my crafts.

I hated it being in there because it was not only hard to find my stuff, but it blocked a lot of the windows in the room.  I finally decided it was just too big and Mark and I moved it out today.  I ended up putting all of my crafting stuff in a closet we have under the stairs.  I think it's going to work our pretty well.  We moved a love seat we had in the garage in it's place.  Much better.

I'm going to try and sell that huge piece of furniture on craigslist.  I'm also working on selling the desk we fixed up last year.  It will be so nice to get rid of some excess that is really just taking up space.

Now onto something completely opposite of de-cluttering.  I really need to stay far away from Pier 1, because I always end up finding things I love.  Today was no different.  We came home with this:

I just really love it.  It really is perfect in the space and provides us with much needed extra storage.

We were also looking for something to replace the thing that went above our bed but got lost in the move.  We found two pieces that we loved, but couldn't decide which one we liked better, so we got them both.  We thought it would be easier to choose if we could see them in the space.  

Option #1

Option #2

We have ultimately decided to go with option #1.  I really love it.  I'll have to take pictures after we have it all hung.

Well, I better get off here.  I hope you all had productive weekends.  See you tomorrow.

A few more things...

I totally forgot to add some pictures from last night and today.  

I also wanted to wish Grandma Murrill a very Happy Birthday!  We love you so much and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, generous, lovely, Godly woman in our lives!  We can't wait to see you at Christmas!

 Grandma Murrill and Mason