The snow is falling again

We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow.  Everything that was dreary looking, is now pure white.  That is about the only thing I like about snow.  It covers everything drab up and brightens the outdoors.  The kids like snow for other reasons like: sled riding, snowball fights, igloo making, and snowman building. Mine have yet to go play in it this time around.  They did however, help dig their grandpa out.  Of course there was a reason.  They were grounded and Brian told them if they helped my father in law with his driveway then they could have the day to do whatever they wanted.  Oh yea, a good reason to shovel snow!  I remember as a kid my mom would make snow cream.  We would eat it all up.  I have made it for my kids, but I am thinking Zack was like 4 or something.  I am kinda scared to make it, with all the chemicals in the air.  I am unsure if it would be safe or not. What do you think?  I know one thing the stuff is so good!  If you have never tried snow cream, maybe you should!  Here is a recipe:

Snow Cream

• 1 Egg (beaten)
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Evaporated Milk
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 gallon Fresh Clean Snow

Combine egg and sugar; stir well with a wire whisk. Add milk and vanilla, stirring well. Place snow into large bowl. Gradually add milk mixture to snow, gently stirring with a wooden spoon until blended.

If "a cheerful heart is good medicine," as it says in Proverbs, you'll be as healthy as a horse after reading "Don't stop Laughing now!"  

 I just started reading it and have laughed so much.  There are some stories in there that you can't help but picture what happened.  I guess that is why it really tickled my funny bone.  Being stuck in the house with all the snow and ice on the roads brings on a urge to just read.  Curl up in a blanket, get some hot chocolate, and grab a good book.  Why not read something funny!  Bring some joy to your soul.

Oh to be young again

I look in the mirror and what do I see?  I see more and more gray hairs coming in everyday.  I see these lines at my eyes that some say are laugh lines, Ha!  I even have crinkles across my forehead.  I don't use moisturizers like I should.  I do have face masks that I use, but again not like I should.  I have threatened to go get a box of  Clairol, but Brian actually likes gray hair.  Men, they are no help when it comes to getting OLD!  In fact just the other night, Brian asked the "How old are you again" question.  The one question I most despise, well that and how much I weigh.  Those two dreadful questions will make me turn into a monster.  A green hairy monster!!

Here is my self portrait from the other night.

Like I said it is not a pretty sight, so why do people constantly ask those dreadful questions?  Do I need to be reminded that in August I will be 38 years old and in another two years I will hit the BIG 4-0?  No, I do not!  I mean 40 is even closer to 50, which is even closer to 60.  Do you see what is happening here?  It is a down hill run!  The numbers are passing me by like the second hand on a clock!  The adventure is gone.  I am all washed up, then again life as a mother can be exciting.  You know those floors need to be mopped by someone and those clothes have to be ironed!  Oh and don't forget the food does not get cooked all by itself!  No, no, no life is good!  It is real good and getting old is part of it.  The problem is facing it.  Telling yourself that no matter how old you are, you are beautiful.  You are a woman of virtue.  A woman that is loved by her family and will always be needed.  Now that is something to look in the mirror and smile about!

I no dumb baby

Last night we were all getting ready for bed and the lights were out and then I remembered I had not put a diaper on Isaiah.  I get up and got the diaper and he is saying no mommy, no mommy.  I told him I had to cause I did not want a wet bed to have to change. He still said no, then said I no dumb baby mommy.  That cracked me up!  I still insisted on a diaper and then turned back off the lights.  The moral: he is no dumb baby, for he woke up all nice and dry!!!!

With kids there is never a dull moment.  Isaiah has had NO mistakes for over a week.  My baby is growing up on me!  Boo Hoo!

Brian was off today so we took advantage of that and spent the day out together.This morning before we left, Brian decided to rearrange our bedroom some.  I was not a happy camper.  You see when he moves he makes more of a mess for me to have to clean up.  Right now there are boxes of stuff in his study and some other stuff still not where they should be in my room.  I did not feel like messing with it today, cause I have had a really terrible headache all day long.  I am having Brian pick me up some sinus tablets after church. Today he had to go out to work and get some packages to take to UPS.  In Sissonville there is a thrift store that is really nice.  I have been wanting a  potpourri pot for the living room, and guess what?  I found not one, but two!  They are like brand new and I got them for $2.49 each.(nice and BIG) I need to get some potpourri now.  We also stopped at a pastry shop.  I know bad, bad, but oh so good!  So you can my diet went out the window for the day!  Speaking of diet, I had been doing another blog all together for it, but I honestly DO NOT have the time to write in two blogs.  So I may post some stuff here.  Not sure just yet!
While out on our drive we decided to drive through some places in St. Albans.  All I can say is wow.  It amazes me how people can live the way they do.  I mean there was so much trash outside that they could not even get to their front doors.  I would hate to see what the inside looks like.  I am not talking one house, but an entire neighborhood!  Oh health inspector where are you?  Oh I see your head peeping out from all that garbage!  Get a dump truck people, seriously!

Did you know?

I was loading my washer and did not pay any attention to the contents I was putting in the washer.  I had separated my clothes so hey no biggie right?  Maybe!  I was taking the laundry out of the washer and placing the clothes into the dryer, when I came upon a pair of  Isaiah's pants.  They were quite heavy.  I am thinking, what in this world?  I picked them up and it was squishy.  I looked and there was gel!  There was a diaper inside the pants!  Ha!  It was totally full!  Luckily none of the gel got into my washer!  I normally check the boys pockets cause I learned that they put all sorts of different things in them (live worms, cars, nails, screws, etc.)  I have never had a diaper to end up in my wash!Okay so now I check to make sure Isaiah did not strip and leave a diaper in his pants!  With boys there is never a dull moment!

I finally got out of the house on Saturday night.  Brian took me out to dinner!  We ate at PONDEROSA!!  I had a ribeye that was cooked so good, a sweet potato, and a salad.  I did rather well for eating out!  My mother in law watched Zack and Logan for us.  She was going to keep Isaiah, but we decided to take him.  He ate like a little piggy!  After dinner we went to Wal-mart.  It was a fun evening!  A much needed trip out, I was really beginning to think I was never getting out of this house!

I have a lot of house cleaning to do.  I don't understand how a house can get so dirty in one day.  I deep clean on Saturday's and then come Monday it is like a cyclone has went through it.  What makes me so mad is none of the stuff is mine!





I could honestly scream!  I am sure there are other mom's that go through this as well.  How do you handle it?  I know I love time saving tips to get the job done in less time.  Here are some ways to save time that I do.

1. Get a plastic bag (Kroger) and do a clean sweep on paper stuff, in each room.

2.  Take a laundry basket and put all clothes, shoes and anything else in it.

3. Sweep each room

4. Dust, always dust last!

5. Go through laundry basket and put things in proper places.

Do you have any other time saving tips?  Let me know!

Don't mess with me

I am in a bit of a mood.  For the past few months it has been nothing but one sickness or another.  Here lately we have been dealing with vomiting and diarrhea. I thought we were done with it, but then Brian came home from work the other day sick and then Logan got it once again.  He missed Thursday and Friday of school.  I have bleached and lysoled everything.  I wish they made lysol bombs, like flea bombs, cause I sure would BOMB my house.  Get rid of this sick bug!

That bug may be happy staying around here, but I sure am NOT!   It has overstayed its visit.  It is high time it moves on out and finds itself another dwelling place!  Do any of you feel sorry for this bug?  Maybe you could take him in for a bit?

On a brighter note, the sun has finally decided to come out and play.  It has melted a lot of the snow away, but my driveway still has a lot on it.    I am hoping tomorrow it will all be melted off, so I can go somewhere!  I am tired of being cooped up!  The boys sort of packed the snow on our driveway when they went sled riding, so here is hoping the sun will come out and play some more tomorrow!

Just sayings

My baby boy is growing up so fast.  He is talking more and more and even making sentences.  He will pick up the phone (pone) and say Hi!  Go on for a bit, which you may or may not understand him.  Then he will say Mommy seep (sleep) which I am not, I am sitting right there.  I think he says whatever comes to his brain.  The other day Zack let a stinker and now Isaiah is going around saying "Zacky pooped his panties".  He even picked the phone up, while Zack was talking to one of his friends and blurted it out.  Zack's face turned a deep crimson red!  I was in the bathroom at Wal-mart one day, which I despise using a public toilet but when you got to go you got to go.  Anyway I had to pee, and Isaiah was standing there and says real loud, "Mommy go potty, yay!!" And then he proceeded with clapping.  The lady in the next seat over snickered!  If Brian had been there, Isaiah would have been with him, but alas I am always by myself on the norm.  So I sucked in my humiliation and opened the door and washed my hands, the snickering lady came out and said, "What a cute little man."  Yeah, and I have mud on my face!  The other day we were somewhere and he got something to drink.  I think the drink was water.  Anyway he took a big sip and looked at me with a disgusting look and said no mom it is ucky! (Yucky)  I need pop/tea.  If he does not have pop/tea he is in distress.  He even says ucky to koolaide.  Now he does like chocolate milk.  Who wouldn't right?  While eating dinner last night, he heaved a big sigh and said Mommy this is so ummy! (yummy)  Gotta love my little man!  Just a minute ago he was crying, well more like whining, so I went to see what was the matter and he had his finger stuck behind my dresser.  I looked at him and he said I stuck!  So I got him out and was getting ready to leave the room when he stopped me cause his car was stuck behind my dresser too.  Okay this is the reason his fingers were stuck in the first place.  I have no idea how the car got behind there, because there is no room between the wall and dresser.  Where there is a will and a way a child will find it!

Manic Monday

It's just another fun day.... Boy that is an old song going through my OLD head.  I was up late last night due to having some company.  We did not get to have church yesterday cause the lot had 6 inches of snow on it and the hill to the church was icy.  I kinda laid around most of the day, just enjoying not doing anything.  That was nice! While laying around Isaiah had some cute things to say.  I told him Brian was my daddy.  He got all upset and no he is mine.  This went back and forth for sometime and finally he said Fine, you can have him!  Then I called him a little booger and he said no, I monkey.  I said you are a monkey.  He said yes, I monkey.  I asked him what a monkey sounded like and he made this eeek eeek noise.  Too cute!   Later on we got a call from some friends from church and they came up for dinner.  Cindy made some homemade lasagna and I made a salad and some garlic bread to go with it.  It was a wonderful treat!  We never get company and so it was nice to have some adult conversation.  The boys were actually good and left us alone so we could talk.  Isaiah was a little ham as always.  He does not get enough attention people!  You come to my house and he will tell you to sit and then drag out all of his toys.  If you try to leave and he will stand in front of the door and tell you to sit again. He is the attention hog! 
Not much on my agenda today.  I do have the regular housework and laundry to do.   Have a funtastic day!

Snow, snow go away

I officially have cabin fever people!  This is NOT a pretty sight!  I feel like mother bear wanting to come out of her cave but is surrounded by guns!  GROWL!!!!  It is hard to tell how long I will be shut in this place.  It is like Antarctica around here.  I look for penguins to stake their ground outside at any moment.

I would love for the sun to come out and melt off what we got, so I can at least make it to church.  I have missed so much church due to all the sickness my family has had, and now it will be because of the weather.  I know the Lord understands but I am tired.  Ya know?

Maybe if I start singing along with Barney to "Mr Sun" the sun would come out and shine!

Read

Mr. Sun Lyrics

here.

Potty training woes

I think I am just getting to old for this business or my patience isn't what they used to be.  Hmm, I think patience and age go hand in hand.  I don't want to get OLD!  Zack is 12 and potty trained by 2 yrs and 3 months.  This included night times as well.  Logan was potty trained by 2 yrs and 6 months this too included night time.  Now Isaiah is another story. Right now he is 2 yrs and 8 months and has just started to want to have something to do with the toilet or the potty chair.  

We have an elmo potty chair that speaks in English and Spanish.  I suppose it is for those that want a bilingual potty broke child. (I just need the potty broke part)  It is cute and hey when the kid does the deed it congratulates in either language.  Isaiah stood there looked at him and walked off.  He prefers to go naked.  No diaper, no underwear.  I even got him some cute big boy undies, and he cried.  I think he knows he is the baby and it breaks my heart that he is growing up so fast.  On the other hand, I would like to save some money on pull ups!

The other day he was doing really well with the potty business then he decides to take a poo on his jacket.  I had some winter coats that I had to wash lying on my treadmill to hang up.  I was getting ready to hang them, but first I wanted to check my e mails.  All the sudden I got a whiff of some nasty poo smell.  I saw the cat go to the cat box, but this smell was like under my nose.  I checked my feet, I checked Isaiah's  feet, then I turned and saw the deed.  Why?  Why did he choose the jacket?  If he were a bull I would understand since the jacket was RED, but for the life of me I have no answer.  He thought it was  punny aka funny!  It punny mommy.  Then he laughed.  I didn't.  I gave him my evil look, and said you do NOT poo on the jacket, you poo in your potty.  He just looked at me and walked off.  Phew!  I gave up and sent him to bed, of course he had a pull up on!

Cat tails

I love it when my girl, Ms. Kitty Annie gets on my lap.  Petting her soft, silky, black fur is a stress reliever for me.  Yesterday I was petting her and then decided to rub her ear.  Big mistake.  Kitty electricity.  I suppose her fur had gathered some static electricity and when I went to rub her ear, snap.  She jumped off my lap, MEOWED, and hid under my bed.  I felt so sorry for her.  I tried to coax her back out, but to no avail she did not want to have anything to do with me.  About a hour later she came into the living  room and began to bird watch.  I have feeders in a tree near the window.  She began swinging her tail to the beat of the band.  I moved slowly beside her, and whispered get that bird Annie.  Her mouth began to quiver and her tail began to shake even more.  Then I decided to try and pet her again.  This time she allowed me.  Her kitty memory of the shock had left.  She began to purr as if nothing ever happened.

*If you have a cat, beware of kitty electricity!!!*

Procrastinator

Hello my name is Tina and I am a procrastinator.  There I feel much better now!  I finally got all my laundry folded and put in their respectable places.  Being without electric for a week really put me behind, and when I got the laundry cleaned and dried, into a basket they went.  Out of sight, out of mind so to speak.  Actually I saw it but just never got around to it.  Ha!  So today I deligently cleaned my house and folded clothes.  Time went by rather quickly and Brian was home from work. Uh-Oh... no dinner ready yet.  I had planned on making potato soup and corn bread, but he did not want to wait for that.  So here goes Tina the procrastinator.... what do I fix?  As I was cutting up potatoes, Brian said fried potatoes sounds good.  Okay easy enough, now what to go with it?  Tuna cakes and peas.  There, dinner is on the cook!  Not bad for a procrastinator huh?
I am not always a procrastinator.  It is just sometimes the clock speeds ahead of me and I just can't seem to catch up with it.  There are times I would love to set my clock back an hour or so, that way all the things that are on my to do list gets done.  It sounds awful I know.  But being in a family with all guys it is hard to keep up!  Oh fairy godmother where are you?  I would love to borrow your magic wand just for one day.  I promise to give it back.  Honestly!
Wow I could sit and daydream about the use of a wand all day.  Clean windows, shoveled snow, laundry completely done, etc.I may not want to quit this day dreaming. What a "Mother's Day"  gift to myself that would be.  *Snap out of it Tina*  Okay I am back to reality.  Hey at least my house is clean, the laundry is done, and the house smells like lavender.
Not bad, for one who has no wand!