the back door

so yesterday, like i had said, i met dear friend for coffee. this turned into a let's go resale shopping together. there is a new place in town we decided to check out. next door is another new place in town. we meandered and were just about to leave when the shop owner made an appearance. she started talking and we kept moving closer to the door. not wanting to be rude, i'm sure, we both commented on her tea assortment. i believe it was the skinny tea that caught friends attention. after a long explanation on that i, for whatever reason, asked about tea for high blood pressure. well, goodness gracious did the flood gates open!! she had tea for everything she said. tea cures all sorts of things. fibromalgia, hbp, cholestoral, weight, hormones, etc....friend makes a sly comment to me about the lady really being a picture of health. do you hear the sarcasm???? it is a little hard to promote tea as the healthy drink when...well, i'm sure you get my drift! so anyways..the owner...

i started my laundry last night. i washed and first load and put it in the dryer. i folded that load and went to put in load number 2. there i realized that i had not thoroughly inspected hubby's pockets where a pack of gum was hiding. the sticks were now unwrapped and clinging to the walls of my washer. hmm...frustrated. i gently reminded hubby how much i would appreciate him checking his pockets. so i stuck the load in the dryer and then cleaned the washing machine out and stuck in load #3! as i was getting ready for bed i heard that load 2 was done in the dryer...but SURPRISE!! a few stray gum sticks were also in the dryer! oh yeah...and stuck all over the dryer and the clothes! oh joy! so by now i was aggravated to say the least. hubby knew it and offered to clean the dryer in the morning. so fast forward to this morning. i met dear friend at starbucks. my mom showed up as well. she was buying bug spray which for some odd reason reminded me of my dryer dilema and the messy laun...

last night was the only night this week that we were all home as a family. i can tell that the in and out of mom and dad lately has had an effect on my kiddos. so we were all looking forward to a quiet evening here at home. well, i'm not sure it was quiet but we were all around. first, i got home late after school because i was stuck at wal-mart. can i tell you how irritated i am that they have 50 check out lanes and only keep about 5 open. i had produce so i couldn't self-check, which frankly those lines looked just as bad. i digress... so i got supper started. thursday night is soup night around here. hubby requested white chicken chili. i don't like beans so i make mine without. while i was sauteeing the onions i knew i needed to be cutting the chicken up, but i also had dough ready to be made into breadsticks. i was a bit insane in the kitchen...but managed to get it all going. then i sampled the soup and quickly realized it was hot - way too hot for my kid...

about a year ago my SIL told me she had heard that when your child has a bad cough and coughs at night that you should rub vix on the bottom of their feet and put socks on. have them sleep this way. weird huh? that's what i thought. but she had tried it on her son and it worked. a few weeks ago, princess had a cough. it tends to keep her up at night. i've always done vix on her chest only to have reapply again in the middle of the night. so this time i decided to try the foot thing! i gotta tell you...it worked!! she slept like a baby all night. i don't know what it is...but try it next time one of your young ones has a bad cough. it made princess happy and mommy happy too!!!

so in an effort to keep trying to find ways to cut our budget i've decided i need to let my hair grow out. this has been quite an ordeal for me. i've never really had a hair style. i just had the shoulder length layer thing going on. but my sweet sis-in-law talked me into trying a cute style and frankly i love it! easy to do, and trendy and fun. but it requires a hair cut every 5-6 weeks. well, that adds up pretty fast. i use to go every 3-4 months. so i've decided that is one way i can help cut our budget. but, how one earth do i grow this out without looking incredibly weird. i have it shorter in back and angled to my face. once the bottom back startst to grow out it flips out - no matter what i do to it...argh....i just feel frumpy and weird. then i realized that it reveals my heart. it reveals to me how much i do care what others think of me. that i want to look pretty. that i don't want people to give me odd looks. i've also decided that i don...

so this is week 4 of my training. i was all psyched up for it this morning. woo hoo!! so this week my run looks like this: 5 minute walk, jog 1/4 mile, walk 1/8 mile, jog 1/2 mile, walk 1/4 mile, jog 1/4 mile, walk 1/8 mile, jog 1/2 mile! oh yeah!! i did it! they also put times next to each mile amount with how fast to run/walk those distances in. i managed to bring my runs in under time, but ran the full amount of time just because i know this is only 1/2 miles and i have to run over 3 by the end. i feel really good when i'm out there. i feel a sense of accomplishment. ironically, i've gained a lot of weight. but i don't eat anymore. oh well...such is life! so are any of you out there taking the challenge on??????

my mom forced me to take piano lessons. for the most part i liked them, but in late jr. high couldn't stand them anymore. i wanted to play and sing - not just learn the classic stuff. she agreed to let me quit. i continued, however, to play through out the years. i love it! i love to sit and play and sing to my hearts content. i usually do it when alone, but the kids enjoy it too. unfortunately i had not bought a book since my freshman year of college. even that was only sheet music to the old song "the rose" (which i love to play and sing) anyways....i have been craving a good worship book. one that i could sit down and play and sing and worship my creator. a few weeks ago i needed to go to the family christian book store looking for curriculum. i decided to just browse their piano music. well...although i should have gone for the more challenging book, they had a medium level worship book that had several songs i love. so i bought it! and i have to say i...

so tonight i was tucking my sweet little guy in to bed...i was tickling him and he was giggling...then all of a sudden he looked at me with his sweet eyes and said, "mom, are you growing a mustache?" oh yeah...i'm feeling pretty good right now!!!

i have been blessed with great friends over the years. i've always had that one friend that you just can't live with out. over time, they have changed of course. some have moved away and others have been for just a season. there is of course a great friend of mine that, for a brief time i decided i didn't like, and am thankful for forgiveness in that friendship. most of those friendships have stood the test of time and are still dear friends today, however, they live all over the place. some in california, some in michigan, some in ohio, some in georgia, wyoming,illinois, texas...the list goes on. it was because of always having to say good bye to those friends that for a brief time (although my husband i'm sure thinks it was a long time) i more or less refused to make friends. then i decided to try again, and well, that friend is currently in wyoming. so i once again went on a friend ban. about that time, a man in our church married this girl. she seemed to have it all...

this morning we were getting breakfast finished and shoes on. hubby came down stairs and started playing on the computer. princess was putting on her shoes...i commented that hubby was wearing something studly - (pajama pants and a tank top) not that i looked much better - not showered in old clothes. anyways... princess states, "now daddy can go to work in his pajamas!" hmm.....well, yes, he can.

isn't he cute????? let me tell you about this guy... his name is chubs and i got him in the 7th grade. i loved this bear. i like to cuddle so i started sleeping with him. i took him everywhere i went. he went to college with me. he was greatly loved there. then i took him to camp. he loved camp life. he loved the teepees, the wagons, the fort. he loved the kids that would be nice to him. he even really started to like the sweet friend i made there. until she kidnapped him! yes, chubs was the victim of a horrible crime...horrible. for several days he was held hostage by the oklahoma wagon girls! i was beside myself. thankfully, they were merciful, and my wagon load was helpful, and he was rescued and safe in my bed. then came my trip to europe. well, since he wouldn't fit in my bag with everything else he needed to stay home. i was worried about him. my hubby, fiance at the time, took great care of him. chubs resided on his bed for 3 months. i was eager t...

so week 1 has come to an end. i have done my 3 days and put in a mile and half each day on a combo of run walk. mostly walking this week. i'm tired today. we also walked the green ways trail as a family. what i have learned...i have a long ways to go. it really does feel good. i'm much more hungry all of a sudden. i enjoy the solitude. did i mention it really does feel good? did any of you join me???? it sure is fun!

i despise politics. i never liked it, but i married a man fascinated with it. a man who wanted to be part of it all...and was, briefly. boy were our eyes opened... anyways...it seems like this election has several hot button topics. one of which is universal healthcare. my cousin started a blog called politics for mom and there have been several heated debates going on. i was reading several comments on healthcare. and frankly i was bothered! now, i don't know that a strict universal healthcare is the answer, but i do know that we have now doesn't work for the average person. here is our story.... hubby worked in a small business - 3 employees at the most that i can remember. we paid 1/2 our insurance..until it came to the point where our half each month was twice what we would pay if we were on our own. but for the owner it saved him money. so he agreed to cover ours in full. we were very grateful. i also know at times, that because of the healthcare cost, it was a struggle f...

i'm just a little competitive. hubby might disagree with that, but i am! so several years ago in an effort to lose my baby weight after princess and get healthy i started running. our pastor gave me a training program and i did it! the whole thing...loved it. but then winter came and out went my running. while i have still continued to exercise fairly regular, okay, from time to time i don't, but for the most part i stay active - i usually need a boost of competition to keep me going. so hubby took up running when he quit his job. so of course i couldn't be outdone and started back in. then a friend of mine was talked into running a local fun run with her family. she decided she liked it and maybe we could do a 5k together. i said sure!! then she told me she picked up info and the date is nov. 1! yikes!!! then i watched tons of people i know run the 5k this weekend. soo.....i came home and printed off a training schedule! over the next 9 weeks i am in training to run a 5k o...

it was once again blueberry festival time this past weekend! there is always much anticipation in our small town when half a million people make their way here. by about mid-week the carnies roll in and the tents start to go up. it really kind of baffles me - this blueberry craze!! now it is always fun. i go and have a blast. hubby prefers to stay home so i leave him here. this year, mapboy and princess were very eager. i'm not sure why. i think it has to do with the pep-rally the mayor hosted at their school. oh yes, we have pep rallies for the blueberry! weird? definitely! this year blue went green so we were all about recycling the billions of coke cups, water bottles, food containers, etc... hubby had to work at a youth event on friday so the kids and i ventured in for county only night. we went with my parents. princess and i had ice cream made by local dairy farmers (bought off my cousin this year!). mapboy had a taco from a local latino church and we listened ...