It's been crazy. Crazy. I tell you...

Highlights of my crazy week

-Mike asked me to stop and buy a new toilet seat...you can imagine that I really didn't want to do this particular job but taking the little girl with me made it worth doing! I didn't realize how badly saying "toilet seat" embarrassed her... she wouldn't walk near me while I carried it or paid for it. On the way out the door I saw someone I knew and took that opportunity to really embarrass her as I pointed out to my friend what I had bought and we kept talking about the 'toilet seat'... It was big fun!
But after getting it out of the package, Mike informed me it was the wrong shape of toilet seat. I have to admit, I did not take it back. Even though it was brand new, never been used, I just couldn't bring myself to return a toilet seat out of it's package... Though trying to get the girls to go with me might have been fun!

-Mike got a speeding ticket. I called to find out the price of this error and what to do. The nice lady on the phone, she told me how much it would be and what his options were along with a big long story about about her son and how he failed a drug test and he hadn't really taken drugs and on and on and on... I seem to be a magnet for strange people, even on the phone.
I hung up the phone and called Mike to tell him he owed me for checking on his ticket... he then told me he had just gotten a second ticket... it was at this point that I hung up on him and really thought he might be giving me a stroke.

-I had a few very small cracks in a a couple of the kitchen tiles that the builder came to replace today. It caused an unbelievable amount of dust, it was like a construction site in here.

As soon as they were done I ran to the grocery store... came back and my little girl 'Pigpen' had cleaned for me. And I mean cleaned. She dusted everything. Can't clean her room but cleaned up a LOT of dust for me... crazy...

Misery thy name is laundry

Laundry, laundry and more laundry, that is what my weekend has offered. After wondering why the girls never can find clean socks or under ware -when I know I have bought it and bought it and bought it, I made them clean...

Big Girl - she gives off the impression of a clean room but don't look under the bed, or as I learned today, in her closet... The piles around her are all clothes off the floor of the closet. The under ware and socks have been located and the after picture is much better!

She has a new monogram on her wall she picked out.. turned out cute...

The little girl - she doesn't even try to disguise her room as somewhere fit to live in... it is a constant battle... she is my own "Pigpen"...a cloud of clothes and misplaced items are always left behind her...

Her 'before' picture is actually a 'middle' picture as she had been working on it for awhile before she got the this point. I knew it was time to do something when she started moving her things she wanted to play with to the guest room to play.

She made some progress today... I finally let her quit, saving the closet for next weekend...

The new words above her closet have her motivated! She picked this out and it is soooo her! If only her clothes and shoes were able to get themselves to her closet...

Strep, if it doesn't kill us it may make her learn to swallow pills

Now that the whole family has had strep throat, both girls have it for the second time...
The doctor accidentally called in capsules for the little girl who refuses to try and swallow pills. Of course I didn't find this out till after the doctor was closed on Friday afternoon. You should have seen or better yet heard the screaming and crying when I told her about this. I tried to explain that I could put it in pudding or applesauce. I did explain that I was going to dump the powder from inside the capsule into the pudding but she thought I was just going to give her the whole thing in pudding... I swear I have never seen a fit like this. When she finally realized what I really was talking about it was pretty funny. The yelling stopped and she said "why didn't you tell me that?" Oh, sorry, I didn't think to tell you or maybe you didn't understand for all the screaming and falling to the floor...
Tomorrow - buying all new tooth brushes for everyone in the house! Again.
Lysol-ing everything that doesn't run from me.
Going to do some projects in the craft explosion that is currently in my dining room and maybe clean it up...

Elvis got in my spot this morning and wouldn't get up, even for his breakfast... can dogs get strep?

Oh, the romance....

Valentine's day highlights:

Some people are getting married on this day of love...

I know this because the lady with the "gator Pitt bull" dog asked my opinion of the sweater she was buying the dog to wear in a wedding later today...

I for some reason attract any odd person near by...I don't know why the lady decided she need to tell me of the wedding in Petsmart, but she did.

My girls and I stood there looking at her not knowing how to respond... My first thought was, if you are having the dog in the wedding, wouldn't you pick out his outfit before the last minute? I mean really, what if the store hadn't had a "black, red and white" outfit that she needed? What then? If you plan ahead you could have it specially made with the bridesmaids dresses, right?

Mike gave me a new charm from James Avery for my bracelet today, very cute!

He told me for valentine's he wanted some sort of fishing thing that I know nothing about... so we went to the outdoor store today...after about 5 minutes of looking in the women's clothes and shoes I informed him I was done and ready when he was... He said that's how he felt in James Avery...that's when I got to spend the next 20 minutes in the stinky bait and fishing stuff section wishing I wasn't the sweet wife that agreed to go...

I really don't think the jewelry store has a stinky section so he got the better end of the deal.

Oh sweet romance...

We picked up pizza and are going to all play games tonight.

The only thing better would be if we could go to the wedding with the dog.

Soup and vintage goodies are all I needed this week!

This week has been long and a bit of a blur... I seemed to have fallen prey to the virus of the week at my school... I've sent a million kids home with it and they seemed to have shared it with me on the way out the door. And it wasn't for lack of hand washing, hand sanitizer, Lysol, anti-bacterial wipes, etc.

I realize I'm a little less sympathetic when I have the same thing the kids do..

'yea, my throat hurts too' did not seem to make them want to stay at school and endure the day together.

So glad to be feeling a little better today. And just in time, tonight I have made cute little cupcakes for the office staff for valentine's, helped with cards and treats for the girls class, friends and teachers.

And speaking of Valentine's day, my kids seem to be under the impression that Valentine's is the new Christmas. I have heard "you can get me that for valentine's" over and over lately...

My kids have enjoyed my feeling bad because that has led to them eating out every night this week. I haven't felt like doing anything and have been willing to go anywhere that offers a good bowl of soup!

Tonight we did Pei Wei and my fortune confirmed what I already knew- that God will always provide everything I need. Big girl's said 'you find the silly in the serious'... Confucius was right on tonight...

I had wonderful package when I came home today... It is from Mary Jo from another swap I did, Bits and Baubles... The idea was to swap a baggie of goodies you would use in crafting.

Mary Jo sent me a whole box of vintage, trinkets, papers and crafty goodness! I moved the beautiful piece of vintage wall paper to see a page from an old hymn book and it was one of my favorite hymn's! There are vintage bingo cards, jewelry and spoons! I LOVE old silverware! Don't know yet what I'll do with all the wonderful goodies, but it will be fun finding projects for them. Oh, and pages out of a vintage cookbook... She really did a wonderful job - I can hardly wait to find projects for everything!

Mary Jo provided what I needed today, a little pick me up!

Mother of the year, that's me!

A couple of weeks ago both of my girls were sick... the big girl got better but then got a rash. The little girl kept feeling bad off and on...
After two weeks of the rash, which I was certain was a viral rash, I finally took her to the doctor...only to find out they both have Strep!
They have both had strep a million times and have always had high fever, head ache, etc... I would have never guessed they had strep.
I'm not sure if I feel worse as a parent for not getting the rash checked out sooner or as a school nurse for not thinking it looked like a strep rash... The doctor did make me feel better...
Her words were "never underestimate the power of strep...it never looks like you expect" Noted....
The funniest part of this has been that the doctor told the girls they had to stay home from school today. They both felt fine and had been going to school with it already but she said stay home...
The big girl cried, fussed, begged, and bargained trying to get us to let her go to school!
I just don't understand. If my mom would have said you have to stay home even though you feel fine, I would have celebrated!!! But not my type A, first child. She did not want to miss school. Her sister on the other hand, she was just fine with it... she knows a good idea when she hears it!

Quote of the day... "wow, I was blind"

The little girl had to get glasses. They came in today. She's not very happy about it but tonight when we turned the t.v. on she remarked "wow, I was blind"... she even thinks it makes things look brighter...

The funny part of this is that she used to take her sisters glasses (she has actually lost them) or my glasses and want to wear them all the time. She even told me that she thought she looked better in glasses... that was until she needed her own... I think she's afraid of what kids at school will say tomorrow...

She was very, very particular about her frames... they had to be very fashionable and trendy and a designer frame was her first choice... If I picked a pair up to show her she would not even consider it... I really didn't know about the black frames that "everyone has now", but they are cute one her... the pictures don't do her justice, they were taken without her permission... did I mention she is mad...

Favorite Things

I played along in the fall when Mamarazzi did a favorite things swap and it was big fun!
I've only done a few swaps and this one has been my favorite!

You can find the details at www.ourdandlionwishes.com . Check it out. Nothing better than getting goodies in the mail!

If you enjoy giving and getting little treats come play along!

Of fun, family and a good weekend

After a very LONGGGG week of enormous amounts of sick kids at school, my own two being sick and the husband, the weekend has been a very pleasant treat.


Jennifer came Friday afternoon late. We had a little impromptu birthday dinner with her when she arrived. Her birthday is in March but last week Mike started telling me he was ordering Jennifer a birthday gift.. and "oh, when is her birthday?"....He loves his niece. Maybe more than me...he never thinks up something I need 3 months before my birthday...but after her college team won the championships he decided she needed a real championship jersey with the number of her absolute favorite player and then got on line and found it. Of course, when he gave it to her, he said it didn't really have to be her birthday gift, it could just be a gift so we could still get her something else. And of course I didn't think to get a picture of her wearing her jersey...


Sat. morning we got up and did a little shopping.


We checked out the scrapbook store where they were having a 'garage sale' and we got wonderful, wonderful bargains of crafty goodness.


We left there and went to the restaurant supply store. I had never been to one before but I believe it may be the mother-ship for me! It was cooking heaven!!! I can't tell you my love of shiny metal tongs in every size known to man, mixing bowls the size of my coffee table, and ramekins of every shape, size and color! I bought an industrial sized pizza slicer and red plastic baskets like at the burger joints and the perfect size ramekins to bake Flan in. Also scary, is that my girls were excited about these purchases. I think the big girl felt a special bond to the plastic baskets. There is nothing she likes better in life than eating burgers, chicken strips and fries in a restaurant so having the real thing to eat out of at home, it made her happy--this may be her fine china one day!

We went to a very, very good gift shop then joined my other niece and other family for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon in antique shops and the little girl joined us. I think I'm glad that she likes it....she however, could find something she would like to buy no matter where we go!!!

We ended the day with the whole family going to see "New in Town". Love me some Harry Connick, Jr.... Cute movie... unusual that the whole family can enjoy the same movie...

We hated for Jennifer to go home today! Wish she could have stayed for the Super Bowl fun.

So as our weekend winds to an end, we have just our little family at home, hanging out, enjoying the game and commercials and some good snacks. What a peaceful evening.

I have to tell you of the "Steak Bites" I made for us to snack on... I read about it on Pioneer Woman and she was on the money in saying that these are bliss. If you like steak, oh my heavens, it is perfect.

Melt your butter

Let it brown

Sear steak pieces (seasoned with salt, pepper and a little garlic) on each side for about 30 seconds in a very hot pan

Pour the remaining browned butter over the steak

My pictures aren't as good as Pioneer Woman but I'm pretty sure mine tasted as good!

Yummy goodness plus some pizza rolls for the kids... one won't eat shrimp and the other won't eat steak...weird kids...