Quiet as a mouse

Okay day 4 with the boys in Texas and well it is quiet. We had a nice relaxing weekend took a couple naps watched some movies, and well that is about all. I really enjoy the time away from my boys, time to relax and unwind, but wow I miss the noise! I miss the mess! I miss the chaos! I miss those boys! Crazy I know but that is my life. We will see how I feel tomorrow night when they return.

Christmas morning...

I was so excited to have my mom and Alan and Bob and Julia spend Christmas morning with us. The family gift that hopefully will get us all in shape, I know we could have just taken a walk and saved some cash but this should be more fun.

Alan looking excited about his work shirt even though I think he liked the Crown Royal and cigar more.

Okay 2 of these and not sure how to delete it.

Austin got his new Ipod but we had lots of fun tortureing him into thinking he was'nt going to get one, we had him going until his 2nd present he opened was the Ipod cover from Aunt Jenn.

Andrew got his flying V guitar from Santa. I think we all need earplugs!

My beautiful tree on Christmas Eve after a night of wrapping it is sad that it is over so fast. Well off to enjoy a day off from work and kids, love to all hope you had a great one!

Christmas Eve

Well its Christmas Eve and I am off to work. I was feeling a little sorry for myself and then I looked around at my house and my kids and that beautiful Christmas tree with all those gifts underneath and I realized how blessed I am! I am blessed to have a job, a family who loves me, great friends and a warm home to come back to. I hope we all remember how much we have and how many out there have so little, I know I do.

It was a Rock and Roll Christmas

The serious rocker...

The not so serious rocker...

After a day of baking we played some Wii bowling and then Jenn and Austin decided to play Rock Band. Watching Jenn play those drums was definitely a highlight of the day, wish I had it on video I have not laughed like that in a long time! A fun day all in all and just reminded me what I love about Christmas, hanging out with the people I love.

Christmas update

I had to post my two favorite Christmas pictures of all time don't tell Austin though since they are both of the little man, 2 different sides of his personality.

Well we went out my hubby and I this am and finished the shopping! I have to tell you all that trying to get out of debt has been the best thing I have ever done! This Christmas I spent probably more than most years at least on the kiddos but I cash flowed the hole deal and didn't even have to pull money out of savings, and I just paid my December bills on line! I know there are people out there that this is the norm for but for me this is the least amount of stress I have ever had at Christmas time, and not worrying about paying for it is the key! I can't wait until hopefully next year but probably the next to get to the holiday season debt free, what a great Christmas that will be! Hope you all are staying in your budgets and using cash and especially remembering what this holiday is all about. Love to all and Merry Christmas!

Christmas shopping update

Just returned from an early morning trip to Toys R Us I got the boys the big gifts they were wanting. Now just 14 people and lots of stocking stuffers to go. I did get Monday off and I will be spending the day power shopping with 2 of my favorite people my sis and mom. Wish me luck!

If a Christmas tree falls in the forest....

Okay it was'nt in the forest but we woke up this morning to the tree on the floor... not sure what happened but after some cussing, sweating and sticky fingers all is right with the world.

Christmas

Okay the big day is what 26 days away and I have done no shopping not even a stocking stuffer! Is anyone else out there feeling the pressure? I need to get the tree and decorate it put up all the Christmas stuff and shop! If anyone would like to do my shopping for me I will pay well!
I love Christmas it is my favorite holiday but I am a little stressed thinking how much I have to do.

The Firefighters Ball

Austin went with Jenn to the firefighters ball to work selling pop and ice. I just thought Jenn looked so nice in her Walmart dress and sensible shoes I had to post the picture.

The Tooth Fairy's day off

What to do when you fall asleep and forget that your small child has happily and expectantly placed his prized tooth under his pillow.... well you come up with a good story.

It all started inoccently enough this am with my beautiful toothless child stating first thing "Mommy something terrible has happened the tooth fairy did'nt come!". Of course my first thought was oh crap! then the guilt, worst mom in the world award coming right up! Then I stalled..."Mommy needs to go potty and I will see if I can think of a reason that she missed you."

Then of course the story...The tooth fairy is off on Wednesdays but the lucky little boys who lose their teeth on that day get extra speacial suprises on Thursdays! Luckily he is 6 so he bought the story. As for me I did some shopping and there will be an extra suprise with some cash under that pillow in the morning!

Monday Ramblings

I hate when you go to the doctor for the first time in forever and of course by the way you need a Tetnus shot, my arm is really sore.

My dog is blind, deaf and he really smells like he already has 1 foot in the ground!

I am so very thankful to be employed right now but I swear some days I just hate my job!

I love these gas prices, filled up for under $20.

Christmas is in like 6 weeks, where did the time go??

Oh and my arm is really sore!

Lenexa Chilicookoff...we won!!!

Steven and Barb looking sharp!

Dad and Manda I love the smile on my dads face.

The big winners Kenny won 1st in Homestyle chili, Jenn won 8th in Homestyle and 1st in Salsa (about time) and Austin won his first award 3rd in Salsa!!!

The head salsa chef doing her thing.

The happy group with all the awards, we had an awesome time even without the awards but they sure topped off the weekend!

Presidential Debate????

Oh my lord I have been watching for 20 minutes now and not once have either one of these yahoos even answered a single question! I asked Kenny if we could just move out of the country, he of course said no. I just want an answer, I will do this to solve this, etc.... I am my father's daughter and I should just take his lead and not watch!

The Shawnee BBQ

A little attitude from the "Heinekin Girl"

5 minutes after this picture was taken the small man

walked away from the awards ceremony crying and

screaming "but I wanted to win!"

The head chef doing his thing.

We had a great time at the Shawnee bbq we are not going to discuss our placement though.

The big boys off to LA

The big boys are off to LA for the Hot Wheels convention and Andrew and I are home alone. The only problem with being the only one home is I am the only one home. By the end of the weekend I may have to change my name from mommy as in mommy lets do this, mommy get me this, mommy, mommy, mommy!

Birthday in Arkansas

The weather was perfect just a bit of rain on Friday night and some big storms last night which knocked out the power, but during the day gorgeous! There was a great long walk and a short walk in the rain, cannoing, singing and of course a memorable Yatzee game. Thanks to my family for taking some time off and making the trip. Many more pics to post but this blasted blogger keeps logging me off!

Arkansas in the rain

For my birthday this year I asked mom and Alan and Jenn to go to the lake with me. So off we go and the forcast is rain and lots of it. My favorite memory of this porch was the year me and Jenn took Austin down he was 5 and it rained the whole time we sat on the porch drinking bloody marys and painted our nails. We laughed and talked it truly was the best weekend, even Aus had a great time. I will let you know how this trip stacks up when we return.

Happy Birthday to my rockstar!

Here is my now 16 year old with his new Dean electric guitar, rock on boy!

Is it still Monday?

Here I sit in front of this computer waiting for my hubby to come and hopefully start my car. "Granny's car" is a 1999 Saturn gold in color with a droopy headliner. I love this car due to the fact that I owe no $$ and there really is nothing like driving a car that is paid for. The drawbacks of course are the fact that I am losing wages as I sit, and I may need said wages to pay for whatever ailes the old gal. Will this little set back make me run to the nearest car lot and plop down 5 years of my life for a shiny, new, running beauty? Hell no!

Sick day already...

Andrew has been back in school for 3 days and already we are out for a sick day. This morning he was running a temp of 102.1 so daddy got to take the day off to take care of him. His fever is down to 99.5 now so we will see what tomorrow brings, could be a day off for me.

What's for dinner?

Okay as usual my pictures did not post in the right order I really hate Blogger! Anyhoo it is ham, green beans and potatoes prepared by me and my lil chef! This little man did all the prep except for cutting the onion and the ham, he tells me he will be a chef when he grows up, I am sure he will be concocting all sorts of vegetarian delicacies!

Life

I was going to post about how frustrated I have been at my job lately and bitch about the mess around my house, etc.... but I think I will just say I am blessed! I am blessed to have a family who loves me, a job that pays the bills and that I enjoy most of the time, healthy children, a great marriage, and enough money to do what needs to be done and most of the time what I want to be done. Why in this society do we all feel the need to complain and whine about the things we want and don't have instead of being thankful for the things we do have. I think as a country we need to quit looking for someone or something else to make us happy and successful and do what my grandparents did and get off our butts and take care of ourselves! And quit the whining out there!

Seizure??

Okay so we have had a normal CT scan and a normal EEG now the trip to the Neurologist. I must say that I remember about half of what he said, he had this great French accent that I was just crazy about! Anyhoo this cute pediatric Neurologist did'nt believe that AJ had a seizure, he went back to the heat, dehydration, possible viral infection theory that we started with. Now we are to just watch the little stinker and if it happens again contact le french physician. The one amazing thing is that my 6 year old is 4' 3" tall, his brother was only 6" taller at age 11, scary. Love to all !

My favorite place

The picture above is of my favorite place in the world Beaver Lake. This is the only place from my childhood that I can still go home to. My sister recently lost a great friend way to early and it got me thinking where would I want to die if I had a choice in the matter, I know that it would be at this beautiful spot sitting on the front porch with people I love.
I am so lucky that this place was purchased by my mother and stepfather and that they let us enjoy it with them and with family and friends. Every year we join with our best friends and cousins to reconnect with ourselves and each other, I hope this tradition continues on for many years to come and that the group will continue to grow. To the girls of Beaver, see ya soon!

Cheetah Update

For anyone who cares I am still fighting the big bad cheetah. I have been working my debt snowball now for about a year and am not making the progress I would like. I have to date paid off 3 credit cards and am on my way to #4 which should be gone by the middle of July if not sooner. I have taken my big 3 cards and combined them with a fixed rate of 2.99% I am planning on putting a minimum of $1000 a month on these while I still will be working on the 3 smaller debts. I am so excited about being debt free but still lose focus some when I see a cute pair of shoes or a great shirt on sale. I still need to get the darn budget in line, if I could get that done I could move a lot faster at this, oh well maybe a project for the day. Hope you all are well out there and if you haven't already cut up those cards already!

Andrew

15th in ribs baby!!!

The ribs

The Chef

The team, I think we all look a little red, don't ya think.

Tired

Very tired I am... lots to do there is... nap I would love.

The boys rocking out

Manhattan teacher suspended due to incedent on picture day!

Just me and the boys

Okay the hubby is off to Chicago for a Hot Wheels convention, and yes they really have such a thing. He is very excited and I am sure will have lots of fun and come home with some great cars. This does leave me home with the children and the dogs and I will finally get my payback for all those girls weekends over the years. I hope I don't sound whiny just the opposite I am married to the best guy, yesterday when he needed to be getting ready for his trip he instead took the boys to the park and stayed for over 2 hours because Austin's basketball team kept winning. What a great dad and husband! I will miss him these next few days.

3 months left!

Oh Big Trouble Ahead!

Look at this sweet innocent looking child could you ever imagine him doing something wrong? Well he is part Petty so don't let the look fool ya! This little 6 year old child got on his fathers Ebay site and put in a max $100.00 bid on a Dr Suess game that he just had to have. How the small child figured out to do this blows my mind. Luckily we won the game for $28 with shipping and said small child is grounded from the computer for 1 week and will have to cash in his coin jar to cover the expenses. I am in big time trouble!

Need your prayers...

No not for the Hawks even though I will encourage those. I have some families I have been working with that have been in my thoughts and prayers for the last few weeks and today I met a wonderful lady who is fighting cancer with such grace and we talked about the power of hope and staying positive in attitude and spirit the conversation moved me to tears I feel blessed to have met her. Due to HIPPA I can't say more about these families just know that they need the prayers of all. I love you all and am glad I have such a wonderful family and great friends. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

Trying

Okay I have started to get annoyed when people have not updated thier blogs I love to sit down at night and see what everyone is up to , well then I realize I am not doing my share either so today I commit to try to update at least once a week.

The darn car dilema...

Okay paid off debt #2 yesterday and am very excited until today when I hear this awful grinding noise when I push on the brakes in the Durango. So while I am attempting to pay off all my debts, and not under any circumstances accumulate more this is a list of items that will be needed before I am debt free:
tires and now brakes for the Durango
brakes for the pickup
lawnmower
dishwasher(could wash by hand but no)
Good thing for the emergency fund, I just need to add a lot more to it for now. By the way thanks for the budgeting advice (Donna and MUD) I will be trying to write down everything I spend during a month to track those wasted pennies.

Living without the Cheetah

My uncle Denny stopped by my blog and said I should post about becoming debt free. The goal I have set is 2 years to no debt except the mortgage, and if the kids would just quit eating and growing out of their clothes I just might make it.
The biggest issue I am having is the budget, I just can't figure out how to get it all on paper and have it make sense. I was using an Excel spreadsheet years ago but I got lazy and now I can't seem to make that work. I am tracking the debt I am paying off but I feel I could pay a lot more to it each month if I would just pay attention. Any of you have easy budgeting tips I would love to know.

Aaaaaarrrrggggghhhh!!!!!

Okay got through the holidays without the chetah, yeah! I am very excited about the debt free life I will one day live but the day to day life right now is making me crazy! Have you ever worked with one of those know it alls, been there done that kind of people? This new lady at my office is about to make me lose my mind! I am trying to be nice and just do my job and ignore her but it is very, very, very hard. Any suggestions? Come on people HELP ME!!!