Migrating to Wordpress

I am migrating my blog to wordpress as I type this. I hope everything goes as smoothly as possible. I have used blogger for years with a few different blogs, but I hear rave reviews about wordpress every day. Bear with me as I fix any broken links and images on the way.

Thankfully, I am still small enough that this won't be any issue as I grow in the blog world. Thanks for reading and leave me a comment so I can follow your blog too!

Product review--Monkey tshirt

<a style="display: none;" href="http://www.tomoson.com/?code=TOP30e6355ebe79c734f71b7d26ef81432f"><span></span></a> Recently, I received a complimentary tshirt to review from www.tshirtprinting.net .This monkey tshirt was grey and the printing on it is great. It has held up through several washes and wearings and still looks like new. I would definitely recommend this company for anyone needing custom tshirts made. The size did run a bit big, however. Keep this in mind when ordering.

Overall, this was a great product and I will be wearing it for a long time to come.
I did not receive any monetary compensation to review this product. I did, however, receive the tshirt free.


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Easter Eggs of "Spring Spheres"?

Where are those pesky eggs?

Today was the Easter egg hunt for first grade at school.At least at my kids' school, they are still Easter Eggs. This year...Who know what they will decide to call them next year. Hopefully, there won't be an issue about this but, with the way things are, you never know...

The kids had a great time. That's Megan there with her back turned, intently looking for eggs with her name on it. They are very smart at our school. Each egg has a child's name written on it. That way every child gets the same amount of eggs. No fighting over who touched it first.No "I got more than you" fights.

Megan with her basket of eggs

Megan found her eggs and was a happy camper. She got candy after all. What kid isn't happy with candy? After that, they had brunch. Lots of good food! Sausage biscuits, pigs in a blanket, casseroles, bagels, and fruit. Then, of course, there was cupcakes and carrot cake. Megan got fruit and a sausage biscuit as well as carrot cake and a cupcake. She says "Most of my food is healfy, right Momma? Except this cupcake, it's pure sugar!"

My health conscious kids, LOL. I was bit embarrassed because she said it in front of the mom that brought the cupcakes. Oh well, it  was true. 

The teachers kind of encourage you to take your kid home early on days like this. Not that I mind. It's more one on one time with one individual child. There is never enough of that to go around. Especially when they are small.

Well, it seems that the neighbor kids have all gravitated to my yard. Not a big deal. I can watch them better over here anyhow. They seem to have fun with each other. They were "tearing up the yard" across the street. They are renters and grass is a big deal in Florida. It is impossibly hard to grow. You don't want to replace it. Costs a fortune. So they are tearing up my yard, LOL. I don't care. Kids are only little once. My old people neighbors already hate MY lawn. can't get too much worse than it is. 

Kids playing Duck,Duck, Goose

Such is life for us today. How are you?

I've created a Monster

It's true, I've created a monster. Or maybe a few monsters, I don't know...

Today was eye doctor appointment day for 2 kids. I told them that I was going to go start the truck so we wouldn't have to take the bus...and they REVOLTED LIKE BIG TIME!

They wanted to walk to the public bus stop and then ride the bus across town. "We get more exercise that way, Mom!"

"It's Healfier that way too," says the other one. She still doesn't say "th" too well.

"I like to walk," chipped in the first one.

Ugh, so much for mom being lazy, I guess. I shoved my laptop in my purse (that's why i have a Dell Mini, LOL), put a smile on my face, and said, "Let's Go!"

Riding the bus is always a unique experience. You never know what kind of characters you will find on a public bus. Thankfully, its generally a normal trip for the most part. It's not a big city here, so no big city public transportation issues. No homeless old men sleeping in the back seats.(had that happen on a bus up north) no young guys with drugs offering to share either.(don't ask!)

We got to the eye doctor about an hour later. Would have been a 5 or 10 minute car ride of course. Not a big deal. They enjoyed the trip over. Almost $300 later we paid for the glasses that they picked out. Then it was off to Steak and Shake. They love to eat there. After that, we went to JoAnn Fabrics and Target. Then it was back on the bus. The return trip takes almost an hour and a half! Long bus ride!

Megan fell asleep. I nearly did too. Okay...I did...fall...asleep...until my head bobbed to my knees. ; } How embarrassing!

All in all, we had a good, albeit expensive, day. More quality time with the kiddos than I would have had while driving, that's for sure!

My monsters  uh kids love to walk. They are exercise Monsters!

I'VE CREATED MONSTERS AND I'M  PROUD OF IT!

Life Gets in the Way

I always seem to intend to blog daily but then life gets in the way of blogging. Not that I can complain much because it's just, well, life.

My blog calendar is full of these great ideas for posts. So much so that I could blog twice a day for the rest of the year and still have ideas left over. I just don't seem to sit down and write out all these elaborate posts that are already written inside my head. My head is a busy place LOL

You see, it's FCAT time here in Florida. For those of you not in Florida (lucky you) the FCAT is this be all and end all test that our kids take every year. The magic years are third grade and 10th grade. Fail the FCAT and fail the school year. No matter what your report grades were. Needless to say, my third grader has been panicking.

I've assured her that she'll do fine, but the pressure is incredible for a kid her age. She's only 9!!! It's as if she is taking the SAT to get into college! It's 3rd grade! Fail the FCAT in high school and you don't get a diploma until you pass it. No matter what your grade point average is.

About a month ago, some kids moved in to the house across the street. This is the first time in 10 years that we have had neighbor kids. It's always been old, cranky people. It is Florida after all. Lots of retirees in our area. My kids are enjoying the pleasures of playing tag as I type this. Being the overly cautious parent that I am, I am sitting out front watching them.

While sitting here, I realized that I kind of stagnated in developing this blog properly, so I will spend a little time tomorrow figuring out how to make it look better. I may migrate to wordpress. I don't know. I've heard good and bad about both. At the very least, I need to figure out how to add tags to my posts so that I can sort them into categories. I'm open to suggestions...


and by the way...TAG YOU"RE IT!

Are you prepared?

It's amazing how easily we can let our guard down without even realizing it. It isn't hurricane season yet here in Florida. It doesn't usually even rain in the morning here. Just the afternoons. So I was definitely caught unprepared. It was raining when I woke up. Well, not just raining but Storming BADLY. I woke to no power.

Had no idea where the flashlights were other than the ones we keep in the car and I was not about to go outside.No power meant no tv or radio reports. Which means that I did not hear about the tornado watches and warnings until an hour later. NOT GOOD.

Not good at all!

The NOAA radio that we used to have is no more. A NOAA radio, for those of you that don't know, is a weather alert radio that will activate if the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues an alert. They have a battery backup so that they will still work if the power is out. I will be purchasing one as soon as I finish this post. 

These are a must have for anyone that may get severe weather. 

Also this morning, 4 out of 6 of the cell phones in our house were dead. Made me realize how much we take having electricity for granted. That is not a good thing to do. You never know when an emergency may arise. Like the Boy Scouts say, BE PREPARED!

This reminded me to start getting this season's hurricane kit together.Since we are in Florida and the threat of a hurricane is very real, we need to be prepared to survive on our own for at least a week with no electricity.  I thought I'd share with you what goes in our kit.

For the most part, our supplies are generally scattered throughout the house because we will mainly "shelter in place". That means stay here and wait it out. This is only advisable if you are out of the flood zone and you are NOT in a mobile. We live in a cement block home,so we are a little safer. Also a big caveat, DO NOT EXPECT EMERGENCY SERVICES OF ANY KIND! If you are in doubt, evacuate to a shelter.

The first thing that you need is food and a source of clean water. 

When you know a storm is coming, bleach your bathtub and fill it with water. Your water supply may be compromised. If nothing else, you can use that water to flush your toilets. Purchase a few gallons of water as well. You can never have too much water. We have an inground pool and I keep bleach on hand to convert that water to drinkable water just in case.

Purchase food throughout the year that is shelf stable. Cans of soup, pancake mix, boxed potatoes, a few boxes of shelf stable milk. , peanut butter, jelly. etc. anything you would put in the pantry is good.

Don't forget to have a manual can opener! Very important because, uh, duh, the electric won't work!

Now you gotta cook...

a propane stove or grill is best to have but charcoal will work as well. Make sure you use it outdoors! You do not wan't to die from carbon monoxide poisoning! It Happens! Way too often! Wait until the majority of the storm passes before you go outside to cook. Eat things like granola bars or sandwiches until then.

Since this has already gotten so long, tomorrow I will explain what you need next. 

I Like It Just Fine

It started out of necessity. His car broke down AGAIN. He needed to get to work and walking 30 miles, or whatever it is, was out of the question. So he took the SUV. "Only temporarily," he assured me. The kids still had to get to school. The bus stop is only3/4 of a mile from the house. So we walked.

 And I liked it.

 No arguing over who was sitting where. No fighting over who got in the car first. No excess energy to deal with when we got home either. I was on to something.

You see, we own 3 vehicles. It used to be 4. I had a van to use as back up when the SUV was not available to me. The van had a flat tire and we just didn't find the time to fix it. So we walked. Then a dead battery. We walked again. Eventually,I saw the van as a money hog. Insurance, gas, upkeep yada yada... I gave it away. Someone else could benefit from it. We really didn't need 4 vehicles with only 2 drivers in the house. We could walk...

I like the fact that we walk to and from the bus stop. It helps with the kids' energy level. They are more focused in school. They fight less. They are healthier.They fight less. It saves us money. And...they fight less.

I like that..ALOT.

Going to school can be a stressful thing for kids. Any kid actually. Not just ones that are picked on or bullied. Not just the kids that struggle in school. All kids get wound tighter than a top sometimes. That energy needs a release somewhere. I have found that walking home and talking about things on the way seems to help. They all walk at a different pace. The ones that need to talk about something with me tend to hang back a little.The others walk a bit ahead. By the time we get home, the problem is usually dealt with. They are more relaxed and can focus on other things once we get in the door.

I won't lie. Some mornings are crazy. Even crazier than if we drive to school. Some mornings the girls are brushing their hair as we walk. Forgotten things need to be just that...forgotten. No going home to get it. On occasion, someone has fallen, or stepped in puddle, or something to that effect, and gotten dirty. I still will send them to school like that. I hate to, but school is too important to miss.  The school is only 2.5 miles from the house, so we can walk all the way there if need be. Thankfully, that rarely happens. Only once last year and not at all this year (knock on wood). I can only imagine what the teachers think of me when the kids come to school on a bad day. (Sorry teachers!)

I like the cost savings of only using one vehicle so much that I now try to plan appointments to coincide with the public bus schedule. Yes, that means that dentist appointments require a longer time out of school. But the benefits far outweigh the negatives here too. All of my children can safely navigate their way across busy streets. They all are familiar with how to ride a public bus. They can read a bus schedule. They even know the importance of being somewhere on time.  After all, the bus won't wait on you, you have to wait on the bus.

We do use the small cars on rare occasions. But most of the time they just sit idly by, gathering a layer of dust.

 I like that just fine.

Lazy Girls Bread recipe

I love the smell of freshly baked bread! There is nothing else like it to make a house feel warm and cozy. I haven't made bread in quite a while but as I was wasting time surfing the blogs, I came across a few posts mentioning baking biscuits.I decided that I need to start baking bread regularly again. I dusted off my bread baking recipe just for y'all. I call it Lazy Girl Bread because, well, um, I'm lazy...LOL

The recipe that I use to make bread is so easy...It is just 4 numbers...

6-3-3-13


Thats all you need to remember to bake some delicious bread, rolls, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls whatever it is you may want.

6 cups of water     (room temp or slightly warmer)

3 tablespoons of yeast


3 tablespoons of salt ( I prefer sea salt)

13 cups of flour


Mix all of the ingredients together. NO kneading required. I prefer to use a plastic dishpan for this dough. A new one of course. Let the dough rise on the counter for a few hours and then loosely cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. Cut off a piece of the dough whenever you want bread or rolls. Allow it to raise up some and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on what you are making.

This dough will keep for two weeks in the fridge although I usually use it up in about a week. No need to clean your dishpan either. Just scrape down the sides and mix up more dough. The leftover bits act as sourdough starter! How easy! No wait... How Lazy!

First impressions of EASports Active 2

Well, I just finished my first workout with EASports Active 2 for XBOX 360 and I must say, I'm impressed! It was an excellent workout for this older out of shape mom. Unlike the videos that are the market today or the tv shows that are out there, you are actually accountable for doing the reps required. No skipping a few or waiting until that part is over. Gotta do em to get to the next part.

The only time that this was a problem is when it was time for the floor exercises, namely push-ups and sit -ups. The Kinect sensor just doesn't seem to read correctly. Maybe it's just me or the way we have the Kinect positioned in my house. I'm not sure. But I think that this is something that Microsoft will need to address eventually.

I love the heart monitor too. Great for instant feedback. I'm looking forward to the next 9 weeks. If you are looking for a challenging workout and don't wanna pay for a personal trainer, do the next best thing. Buy a personal trainer in a box from EASports!

My false body image...

Normally when you hear people complain about a false body image, you think larger than they are. My problem is the opposite. In my mind's eye, I am still 19 and in great shape. NOT! I still see myself as that 114 pound wonder that I was, not the 41 year old 190 pound blob that I have become. You wouldn't think that it is much of a problem to view yourself as thinner than you are, but boy is it a problem!

I have a hard time buying clothes that flatter my shape because I don't know how to work with my shape. It's obvious that I can no longer fit into a size 6 or 8 or even 14. But when online shopping, those are the types of clothes that I gravitate towards. I have gotten better about it lately though. It helps that I've also lost 25 pounds in recent months.

I can now wear a 16 in most things. This is a big deal because most manufacturers stop at 16 with clothing lines. Then it is into plus sizes which are hard to navigate. I am really short legged which makes it hard to find bottoms that fit right. Believe it or not, capris usually fit me perfectly as long pants. Occassionally they can be just a little too short making it look like I have floodwaters on.

Petite clothing is not made short enough in the larger sizes to fit me right. They are actually too long. Why is that? I know I'm not the only 5'1 size 16 or 18 in the world!

The best solution for me? Lose some more weight. I would like to get down to a size 12 or even 10. I don't expect to get to a lower size than this. Age and body type pretty much dictates that. I just wanna look like I feel.

In my mind's eye, I am still an athlete. I used to run. Haven't tried that in 18 years now. Scared of what would actually jiggle if I did run. LOL I would love to run a 5k.. Thought about trying the couch to 5k program, but (insert lame excuse here)

To get started in returning to a healthy lifestyle, I have been eating better, and walking a lot more. I even try to take the public bus instead of jumping in a car to go places. This requires walking to and from bus stops to get where I am going.

I also purchased EASports  Active2 for XBOX 360. I'm gonna start it for the first time as soon as I finish this post. It's 9 weeks long. I'll update along the way. 

Today I am 190 pounds. I haven't measured inches in quite a while and quite frankly, I am too lazy to find the tape measure today...I will start doing that soon though. I'll update all that info weekly to keep myself honest...
Anyone else wanna join in? Make this a challenge? Work together?

Time for me to go workout...see ya tomorrow!

The last time..

I had an interesting conversation this morning.Another mom and I were lamenting our babies growing up. How we are going to miss certain things from when our children were little. It seems like as parents we are always focused on our children's firsts. The first word, the first tooth, the first time they crawl, walk,smile, go to school etc

In the day to day of life, we never stop to really think of the lasts in our children's lives. Sometimes they seem more important than the firsts. The last time you changed a diaper, do you remember? I don't... The last bottle that you held for your baby. The baby so gradually takes over holding their own bottle that you don't really notice until you haven't held that bottle for so long. 

I can't remember the last time  I swung a toddler up onto my hip to carry her. I never thought I'd miss those days, but I do. It doesn't seem like a big deal at the time, but it really was.

I know that there are so many first to look forward to, but there are also so many lasts too. I just hope to live each day with the awareness that every moment is important not just the dramatic ones. You never know when it will be a last...

Savor every moment...yes even those times that you wish that they would just grow up already. Because they will..and you will miss it.

How old is old enough?

I got one of those phone calls yesterday that every parent dreads. The school assistant principal called. My 11 year old 5th grader was in trouble. His crime? He visited an unapproved website while at school. The website in question www.google.com. He and his friends were looking up Boa Constrictors. If he was in 6th grade, he would be have been allowed to visit google. K through 5 are too young for any website other than the 3 websites that the school approves of. He received a day of in school suspension. I understand the need for this and have no complaints about it but...

This got me to thinking, how old is old enough? 

The same day that this happened, my 13 year old, 7th grader wanted to know if he could start a facebook page. My rule has always been not to allow things like this until high school. No email, no facebook, no myspace...nothing that can be identifiable to a particular child. I want to know that my child will make good choices on his own before I allow him to be in that situation.

After much discussion and thought on the matter, I finally allowed him to start a facebook page and email address. My husband assures me that 13 is an okay age for these kinds of things.  I will be vigorously monitoring all of his online activities but I'm still very torn though. Is he really old enough? Should I have made him wait? 

The hard part is the knowledge that you can't "unsee" what you saw by mistake. The internet is a great place as long as you are careful. 

When it comes to the internet, how old is old enough?

For the Love of Chocolate..

Yes It's true...I freely admit it... I LOVE Chocolate...not just a little... a whole lot...like um...don't make me chose between my blog and chocolate...oooh I know... how about a chocolate blog!


Today I wanted chocolate soo much that I had to make SOMETHING....course I didn't know what.. Cake takes too long to get that chocolate fix. No candy in the house either...soo

I made pudding...yep good ole chocolate pudding. Homemade of course

. Oh now you know why I have a bit of a weight problem.

Weight problem?

 I don't have a weight problem!.... I have a height problem!

 I am the perfect weight...if only I was 7 foot tall.... tee hee

Okay, okay.. I 'll share my recipe... just cause y'all asked so nicely...


Nancy's HomeMade Chocolate Pudding

1/2 cup  sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

mix together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch until its well blended

stir in the milk until its smooth

microwave for 3 minutes

stir

microwave for 30 seconds  stir again

continue microwaving and stirring until thickened

add in the vanilla stirring well

cool and eat!

This is so much better than boxed pudding too. Quick, easy and uses things that most everyone has in the pantry. Just don't eat too much...LOL goes right to the hips ...I should know...


Of course, you can always add in some whipped topping to make it more mousse like. or add in bananas or brownie pieces or whatever you got. Yummy!


Hope you all enjoy!

I lost my hair!

On a whim, I went and got my hair cut today. I donated my dreaded ponytail to Locks of Love. 11 inches of hair gone in one quick snip of the scissors. I feel so much lighter! I look better without all that hair too. I went to Extreme Hair in Spring Hill. They just opened a week ago on 19 in the Target Plaza. I would recommend them for your hairstyling needs.

I hope to eventually get rid of the glasses too. They never seem to sit straight. Did wear contacts for a while but got too lazy about it. I need to go get new ones.

Need new clothes? Enter the giveaway over on A Taste of T's blog  She is giving away two $100 gift cards to APART STYLE

Stop on by and take a look...www.atasteoft.com

Say It Ain't So...

I don't know when it happened. I blinked and my babies grew up. Son number 2 gets his driving permit on Monday. I know he is a little older than most of the kids just getting his permit, but he is still my baby. Son number 3 is also old enough for a driving permit. I have 4 teenage sons and three elementary age children.Where did the time go?

I'm not ready to be a mom to adults! I'm not old enough. Okay, maybe I *am* old enough chronologically but I don't *feel* old enough. I still wanna be that 20 year old with no cares and worries. Oh to be young again...

I still haven't even decided what I want to be when I grow up... Is there a time limit to that kind of decision? Like shouldn't I have *some* idea by now?  Maybe by the time I'm 50, I'll know what I wanna be. In all honesty, probably not though. Did Donna Reed have these kinds of problems? Wonder what June Cleaver wanted to be when she grew up?

Oooh, can you tell I grew up watching too much tv? Wonder if Carol Brady would have any advice on teenage drivers?

Gonna get my Sh!t together...

 Today I signed up to Sarah Robinson's "28 Days to Getting Your Sh*t Together" http://bit.ly/28DaysBlogSeries

This is going to take place in the month of February. When the month is out, I hope to have my sh-tuff together. I tend to be a bit (oh,okay alot!) scatterbrained when it comes to getting things done. Formulating ideas I'm great at. Getting started with said ideas, no problem. Sticking with it through the tough points, uh not so much...

If I can write it down and schedule it out, I will do a lot better. I can get sidetracked doing the simplest of things. Forget about the tough stuff. I always seem to have an excuse. Usually its a time factor that I have a problem with. You know the standard excuse? It'll take too long so I start later. Usually, I find that it takes less than half the time that I've anticipated.

A good example of this is dressing well and putting makeup on. Now that I do this more or less regularly, I know that it doesn't take much time at all. Maybe 5 minutes? What was the big deal?

Since this is my year to renew and re-invent, I'm looking forward to many more changes in my life. All of it starts with one small step after another. Will you join me in Sarah's "28 Days to Getting Your Sh*t Together"?

I'm looking forward to it!

How I feed my family of 9 on the cheap

My food budget for our large family used to be outrageous. I'm sure you can imagine. The USDA says that a thrifty family of my size should spend $1241 every four weeks just for food! That is soo much money! And that is their thrifty plan! Can you imagine what Their liberal plan would be? I don't even want to calculate that! I tried to keep it under $200 a week but it was a challenge. That is still $800 a month just for food. Wow!

I started using Angel Food Ministries about 6 months ago. They are great! I buy 4 of the Bountiful Blessings Boxes.

What a great deal! I spend $164 on four boxes and then I only have to supplement this with bread, milk and fixings like seasonings, and a few other things.My budget is actually closer to $400 a month for a family of 9. Yes only $400!!!

Angel Food is not just for poor or needy either. Think of it more like a food co-op. The more people that buy from them, the better discounts that they get from their suppliers. That, in turn, leads to more and better quality of foods that they can provide in the boxes. Definitely a win-win for everyone!

Of course, I do spend a little more than that some months, especially if we order pizza or something like that. I do use a lot of coupons as well. My favorite coupon site is  A Full Cup. I love being able to match coupon and sales with such ease. I have saved literally thousands in the 18 months that I have using couponing sites.


I hope some of these ideas help you to reduce your monthly grocery bill too. I'll post more ideas whenever I think of them.

The miracle of YouTube videos!

Wow! You can literally find a video on anything via YouTube. I posted last week about how badly I have let my personal image slide. Well, after spending the evening looking at videos, I found some new ideas on sculpting my once wayward eyebrows. I look like a girl again! No more Abe Vigoda in the mirror. I am still trying to deal with the extremely dark circles under my eyes. Nothing has ever worked to conceal them. I choose to wear glasses instead of contacts just to help hide how dark they are.

How dark are they, you ask? Well, when I was a teen, my younger sister got into my makeup. She drew lines under her eyes with mascara because she thought that is where it went. Uh no, it doesn't go there, sis.

I want to try the new Hard Candy Glamoflauge Heavy Duty Concealer to see if it will help. I saw a review for this on Nouveau Cheap's Blog. Looks like it may help at least a little. I'll let you know next week.

I also spent the week doing some online shopping. Gotta love the convenience of the modern world. I admit to being an impulse shopper at 2 am. I ordered a pair of those slimming jeans from JcPenney. They are Lee Slender Secrets. Being short and plus size, it can be hard for me to find jeans that fit. These say that they are plus size petite. I wonder if they will be petite enough? Ordered a lot of other things too. I love to shop from JcPenney, Sephora, and Kohl's.

It's definitely worth the little extra effort to feel like a girl again. Just because I'm a mom of many, it's no excuse to be a bag lady. (not that being a bag lady is bad, mind you) Now I need to think shoes. Any suggestions?

Thoughts from the Garden

Here in Florida, it's entirely possible to garden almost year round. Except for the few day of freeze that we have, there really isn't a dormant period. I love to get the seed catalogs in the mail so that I can dream up the perfect garden. My family can tell you that I'm far from perfect, however.

My new favorite catalog is from Garden's Alive. It comes with a $25 gift certificate to use on your first purchase. Nothing like free to get your garden growing.

I will be getting some tomato seeds from Tomato Bob's as well as some various vegetable seeds from Heirloom Seeds. I love the planning stages of gardening, it's the actual doing that I sometimes have trouble with.

I've already picked up a couple of grape vines from Walmart. They were only $5 each. Of course, the kids want to know when they can have grapes fresh from the vine. I had to tell them that it may take a few years before there are any substantial amounts of grapes growing. They weren't too happy about that.

The rototiller is ready... The day is approaching.. Wish me luck!

Time for a new camera

Well it finally happened. Yet another camera has decided it will no longer be subjected to the torment that is my family. Cameras don't last long in my family. They just tend to quit. Don't know why...Too much for them to take after a while, I guess.

My last camera was a KODAK Easy Share C813 8.2 mp and 5x zoom.

It worked wonderfully for a few years but then just wouldn't power up any more. Maybe it's all the sand ,who knows? Took good pics though.


I think this time I want something with at least 14 mp. Maybe 7x zoom?  I would like something that is easy to upload to Facebook and YouTube with as well.  I've seen a few that are waterproof as well. That may be a good idea. I will be researching more this week and decide by next Wednesday. I'll let you know...

Lazy Saturday afternoon.

 I've been busy all day doing nothing. Six of the kids went to their grandparents house for the weekend, leaving just Jim, my husband, Sean, my 16 year old and me, home. I had planned on a run to the laundromat to get some of the laundry overflow done but I was too lazy I guess. Being a family of nine, laundry is never done. About once a month or so, I take the excess to wash all at once.



I need a set of 2 of these to help get through Mount Washmore...Definitely in my Vision Book. Page 2, right after the hired help to actually do the laundry.. 


For today though, I will ignore the wash that needs done and continue to enjoy the quiet that is my lazy Saturday afternoon.

Who is that in the mirror?!? Abe Vigoda?!?

It seems like once we become moms, we learn the fine art of making excuses for ourselves. Being the mom of 7, I have become an expert at it. Using the kids as an excuse is in and of itself unexcusable. Time for ourselves is as important if not more important than time for the kids. After all, if we don't take care of ourselves, eventually we won't be able to take care of them either.

I had a total wake up call this week with the discovery of Audrey at www.momgenerations.com My sense of style, what little there was, died a little more with the birth of each child. By now, I wear my husbands old t-shirts and the same type of pants that my mom has been wearing since the 70's. The only difference between my mom's pants and mine is the hers are still polyester and mine are cotton. My pants may feel better but hers definitely look better. Can you say wrinkles?

Shoes? I only wear a pair of those exercise shoes. You know the ones with the funny looking heels? Supposed to lift and tone? Uh not really doin' much for me... and can you say ugly? Haven't worn heels in years. No place to wear them. Occasionally I will wear flats but again that hasn't happened in at least 6 months.

Stopped plucking my eyebrows too. Why bother? No longer working a “real” job so I don't have to see many people in a day. Looked in the mirror earlier this week and saw Abe Vigoda staring back at me! Huge bushy eyebrows and no makeup at all. Can't remember the last time I bothered with makeup either. Why? Lazy? Tired? No time? All BS excuses! I no longer feel good about myself so therefore I let myself go. Because I let myself go, I no longer feel good about myself...See the catch 22 forming?

I finally decided to get my hair out of the perpetual ponytail and into a style yesterday. Thought about getting the old lady mom-style hair cut. You know the one? Short no muss no fuss? No style either! Gonna leave it long and style it the way that I've seen done on videos online.

Got my teeth fixed finally last July. I put that off for years. I hate getting dental work done. Still need some more things done this year but I can now smile without feeling like hiding my teeth. I have hated getting pictures taken of me because of the way my teeth looked. Now I don't mind the teeth, it's the rest of me that needs fixed!

Here's to renewing and reinventing my image this year!