Good things & Bad things...

Good thing--I got to go and see Kamryn's preschool Halloween program
Bad thing--I missed the boy's Halloween parade

Good thing--I was able to help out in Kaden's class for his party.
Bad thing--My eyes were opened to the kids in his class. Not fun to see what your kid is exposed to everyday at school

Good thing--I walked to Wendy's for lunch with Kam.
Bad thing--...while our car was in the shop.

Good thing--they ordered the parts to fix the car and I only had to wait for 3 hours.
Bad thing--what they thought would fix the ABS system didn't so the quick $100 bill won't cut it and the other part we need is $1,037.00. So now we have just regular brakes-not the anti-lock good ones.

Good thing--Russell saved us $200 by installing new shocks
Bad thing--now we need new tires......

Good thing--I didn't have to make dinner tonight.
Bad thing--When I went to the freezer to take out the frozen meat loaf it was already defrosted....so was everything else in the freezer.

Good thing--we were able to salvage just about everything in the freezer--minus popcicles and some soggy bread
Bad thing--the freezer drain is broken and not able to be fixed.

Good thing--tomorrow is Halloween--then it can be over.
Bad thing--we didn't ever carve pumpkins--wait-that's a good thing!!

I'm so glad i have days like this--it really makes me appreciate the other ho-hum laundry, run errands, play taxi driver, cook, clean, down to earth regular ol' just being a mom day!

I'm standing my ground...

Sleepovers. What a controversy. Are they ok? Should they be allowed? I have debated this question many times. When my kids were just little, I was under the impression both Russell and I made the decision to not allow our kids to have sleepovers at friends houses. Now he denies it and says it was my decision and of course--again--I'm the bad guy.

I loved sleepovers when I was young. I lived for Friday nights, and summertime just for the sheer enjoyment of getting together with my friends and laughing the nights away. True--I was exhausted and grumpy all the next day--but it was great fun. Then there were times that some not-so-good-things happened at some sleepovers....now know that I was a pretty good kid--but there were those times we got into trouble, snuck out of the house during all hours of the night, and even other unmentionable goings on. We didn't steal cars or vandalize things, or even smoke or drink--but I know so many who did. I could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and really suffered badly.

I know I can't shelter my children from all the bad things that happen in the world. I can only protect them from things when I am in control of their environment--or there to help them make good choices while they are still young. Is it bad to protect them? Is it wrong to keep them in my control a little while longer. I know when they are old enough to make those choices they will--and they will probably make some bad choices--like everyone does. And that's how we all learn. But I think I will try to prolong that day as long as I can.

My kids can have late nights. They can go to friends houses and parties--but I will go and get them before I go to bed and make sure they are safe and snug in their own beds. (not that they wouldn't be safe at their "approved" friends' houses--but just so I can be in contol) As I was told when I started dating--"Nothing good happens after midnight--so be home before then".

So for now I will stand my ground and be the bad guy and say no to sleepovers.

Be back soon

My fun time away is about to end.

I've been in Denver at a Children's Oncology Conference, along 1599 other people who work in the cancer field with kids from across the world. It's been a good conference--I wish there was more nursing influence--I guess cuz that's what I'm interested in. But overall it's been pretty good.

The best part (by far)about the trip was meeting up with Russell's cousin (I guess she's my cousin too...) Marni. We hooked up and did some walking down 16th street, ate at a great Indian resturant (dot---not feather) YUM!!, looked at her amazing digital scrapbooks--(I soo need to get into that), and saw Secret Life of Bees--which was fabulous (which was funny-because i didn't love the book). What fun--a little girls night out. We talked and talked and talked. mostly about great books and i guess lots of other stuff.. it was great fun. Thanks Marni for showing me the town. Wish it was a little warmer--we picked the coldest day ever to get together.

So I've skipped out of a presentation on Advances in Pediatric Cancer imaging--and have a little spare time before check out. Hmmmmmm an hour and a half in a quiet room, big pillows, and a book... what am I still doing on the computer? ...

Then off to the airport for another groping session with the airport security gal....we're pretty tight now ya know.....

Yet another reason...

OK--I've just about had it with my hoo ha's, chee chee's, girls, whatever name you wish to call them--they are way too big!!

Do any of you know how embarrassing it is to get stopped at the metal detector in the aiport because your underwire bra has set off the alarm for containing too much metal?

This is the second time it has happened. I've had to be patted down and searched by a female security officer in the airport, in front of 689 other people, with a wand beeping loudly when placed in the thoracic region on my person....


Mam, do you have any jewelry on? No
Could you step over here please...

Do you have any sort of metal wrapper in your pocket? No

Beep!

Do you have anything at all in your pockets? No

Beep Beep!

Are you sure? Yes

Do you have a belt on? No

Beep Beep Beep! pat pat pat

Do you have buttons or metal on your pocket? No

Beep beep beeeeeeeeeeep! pat pat pat

Um, it's probably my bra.... it's an underwire....

No, I've never seen one beep like that before.

Beeeeeeeep beeeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeep beep beeep beeeeeeeep! pat pat pat

Mam, do you have something in there? Nope--just what God gave me....

pat pat pat pat pat beeep beeep beeep!

What about up here? Still the underwire

Up here? Yep, up here.

Okay maam, you can go now.

Thank you............oh how humiliating!! Good thing I got to the airport 1 hour early.

I foresee a reduction in the very near future...

What? No room for movie snacks?

So we went to the $ movie today...Journey to the Center of the Earth. Way cool. Everyone loved it--except Kam--she got bored 15 minutes into it. The boys couldn't stop talking about it. So anyway--we went to the movies and I was trying to sneak in some treats in my purse, like everyone does--right? But I couldn't squeeze them in. I tell you my purse was so full of crap--I couldn't get them in and had to take out a bunch of stuff to bring in the contraband. So I decided it was time to clean out the ol hand bag. This is what I found:






Unbelievable that all that can fit into 1 purse!

So I decided to itemize everything so I can be even more embarrassed. That's what we bloggers do....evidently. Here goes:

• 6 fruit snacks
• 1 fruit leather-apple flavor
• 1 bottle mini M&M's
• 5 stray milk duds
• 1/2 box tic tacks
• 1 bank sucker
• 2 lonely skittles
• 1 menthol cough drop that is stuck to it's wrapper
• 2 cherry-limeade crystal light single serve packets
• 4 alcohol swabs
• 1 after bite anti-itch pad
• 1 antibiotic ointment packet
• 1 bandaid
• 31 cents
• Ibuprofen in an empty prescription bottle
• purel hand sanitizer
• 1 pkg wet ones
• a silver thingy I have no idea what it is
• designer facial tissues and 1 regular tissue in a different wrapper
• prescription sunglasses
• a huge pile of old receipts, store lists, and directions written on scrap papers
• a bracelet
• a key chain my cousin Gregg made me at our Baker family reunion
• 2.0 gb SD card for the camera

It keeps going....

• a reading light
• a Tide to go pen
• 1 purple twix it clip
• 1 nylon pan scraper
• 2 bobby pins
• 1 pkg hair things
• warm vanilla sugar bath & body lotion
• 1 pink barbie shoe
• 1 yellow princess ring
• 2 broken toys
• 3 chapsticks-(Burt's Bees, Lip Schit-pomegranate, and Jack Black (the very best!)
• 1 pink mango splash Victoria Secret lip gloss
• 1 brown sparkle soy lip goo-that's almost gone, but I don't want to throw it away yet
• 4 AA batteries that still work
• 1 watch battery
• and 1 dead 3 volt battery
• 1 super mega and 1 mini tampon
• 5 dental floss sticks (4 green & 1 white)
• 1 Jiffy Lube coupon book that expired in 12/07
• i-pod nano with ear buds and cases for each
• 1 wallet
• cell phone

WOW!

no wonder I couldn't fit the contraband in. Well I threw away a lot, put away even more and placed securely everything else back in my purse where I'm sure I'll need it sometime or other. Now wouldn't you be glad to be stranded on a desserted island with me and my purse?? We'd be set! (I'm sure that barbie shoe will come in handy one day)

Frankie Baby

So I totally LOVE Kamryn's preschool. They do such an awesome job. She goes to Children's Discovery with Jorgen. The two of them have also developed quite a cute relationship too. Zalia and I carpool--which is good cuz it's about 15-20 minutes away. Anyway, they do the greatest stuff. Kam always comes home with adorable pictures--why do I think they are adorable--cuz she really hasn't quite developed her artistic talent ... yet, (color blobs and lines is all up until now). Now she brings home masterpieces like,

"Frankie Baby"

and

"Autumn Leaves are Falling"

See--they are so cute! I love kids' artwork. So fun. Here's our collection so far on our kitchen wall. Yes I do need to take it down, but she loves to show off her art gallery to anyone & everyone who comes over.

It's been a fun girls weekend so far. The boys are hunting down south and it's just me & Kamryn. We've watched movies, painted nails, been to the zoo, went out to dinner, read stories, and painted pictures. Sometimes it's nice just hanging with the girl.

We met my good friend Barbara and her kids at the zoo today. The company was great the zoo itself actually wasn't too bad. It was a gorgeous day and we just took our time and saw the things we wanted to see. The fall colors were spectacular. Here are the kids on the train. Kamryn & Liam, Eilish, Heather, and Abby. Thanks guys we had a great time!

Well, must go for now, Barbie Fairytopia and the Island Princess is calling my name, wait--no it's Kamryn calling my name to watch that lame movie....again.

It's not Halloween without these...

So tonight for YW we decorated cookies--not your typical cookies--Halloween cookies. Well they really probably aren't even considered cookies....maybe treats would be a better word for it. We had lots of fun things. Too bad there were only 3 girls there to enjoy it :(
(pretty frustrating when you plan some really fun things and no one shows up... but that's a different story... )



So Halloween treats. These are some of our family's favorites. Only I didn't take photos of them all. Bummer.



Witches Hat's- made with fudge stripe cookies, hershey's kisses, and frosting. Place the cookie, striped side down on waxed paper. unwrap kiss. put a dollop of frosting on the bottom of the kiss and stick it on the cookie. pipe a line of frosting around the kiss and make a bow if you want. Orange frosting looks great, but green or purple work too.



Ghosts - made with nutter butter cookies, almond bark, and mini m&m's. dunk the nutter butter's in the melted almond bark and place mini m&m's for eyes.



Mummy's - make ghosts --then when firm, wrap fruit roll ups (sliced into strips) around like a mummy.



Spiders - made out of chocolate rice krispies, chocolate bark, and chow mein noodles. Make your rice krispies & form into balls. Dip chow mein noodles in melted chocolate. Place into sides of balls for legs (spiders normally have 6 legs) then put either frosting dots or m&m's for eyes.



And the best for last.....



BLOODY FINGERS!!

(A must for Halloween!!)

1 cup peanut butter
1 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs
1 cup melted butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 pkg. stick pretzels
½ cup seedless raspberry jam
1 pkg. sliced almonds

Combine peanut butter, graham crumbs, butter and powdered sugar. Form a small amount over the stick pretzel in the shape of a finger. Dip one end in raspberry jam. Place sliced almond at the other end making a fingernail. Serve on platter with all the bloody fingers together. (you can even draw lines on fingers for knuckles with a toothpick) EERILY DELICIOUS!!









I make these every year for home & work and it's so fun. People are seriously freaked out..and then--they taste so good!! When you bite into it--you get a crunch like a bone (the pretzel)
he he he.

what should I have for dinner?

I hate those days when I come home from work around 7pm tired and hungry. (most days) The boys are practically starving before my eyes, and Kam is whinning yet again. I look in the fridge, freezer, cupboards. nothing sounds good. Then I see the best thing to come out of Costco--Birds Eye Chicken Garlic Pasta. YUM! This is the one thing my family all agrees upon. They love it. But there is only enough for 3-4 people.... So I do the typical mom thing....sacrifice....

but I definately got the best end of the deal here. As I scope out my meagar options. I notice a zuchini (thanks Lauren), a few fresh tomatoes left from my puny garden--just a few tomatoe plants really, and I think of my sweet neighbor--Lola Jensen.

Every summer Lola brings me lunch or dinner--she makes this dish--that I love. She shares with me cuz Harvey (her husband) doesn't like it. I'm the only one in my family that likes it. Oh was it good. Here's the recipe.

Zuchini a la Lola?

1 onion chopped
1 TBL butter (or olive oil)
1 -2 cups chopped zuchini
1-2 tomatoes chopped
1/2-1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1/4 tsp garlic salt
parmesan cheese

Saute onion in butter, then add zuchini. cook for about 3 minutes. Add chopped tomato and corn. Season with garlic salt. Cook until heated through. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

This is a perfect ending to any summer/fall evening. Add a breadstick or roll and I'm in heaven. Mushrooms would be great in it too--but I didn't have any. The only thing that could have made it better was if I could share with Lola--but by then it was 7:45 and they most likely ate at 5:00 and are in bed by now. I love my neighbors!!

Look what I did

So, after "encouraging" my husband yet again to go through all of his junk piles, I thought I should maybe do something with mine. So, Saturday I worked on this....

Kamryn walked by after I was finished and said, "wow, where did you get this?"

If you know me well--I tend to collect clutter. There have been times, well most of the time really that this is totally covered in papers, toys, books, coins, coupons, and miscellaneous items everyone in the house just sets there for a minute... Well I really should have taken a before and after photo so you can really appreciate what a feat it was. I love my china hutch. Russell made it and gave it to me for Christmas about 6 years ago. It nearly doubles the storage in my tiny "ghetto" kitchen. I should really keep it clean.

Next I will tackle the kitchen cupboards. Does anyone have a need for 14 vases or a beautiful set of glass ice cream sundae cups that have never been used since we got them for our wedding??

snow. I love snow. I love the big fluffy flakes drifing down. today is the first snow of the season--and i am in heaven!! Most people don't like the snow too much.... well too bad for you. love it!

aaaaahhhhhhhh

A nice hot shower. So lovely. The boys are in bed, Kam's at Gramma's house. After a weekend camping in the cold and rain and mud.... I decided to treat myself to a hot shower. I was begining to offend myself and those near me...it was time. so, have you ever done something you've done a lot and then one time you do it and it turns out allllll wrong? Well--I did tonight and I'm paying dearly...
Nair--its really a good thing for those of us who have sensitive armpits. Yes there is something sensitive about me --- i admit it... it's my pits. Can't shave them without getting a rash. ever. So I've been using Nair for the last several weeks. Works great--except tonight. I finish with my shampoo, soap, and other needs, then move on to the pits. I slather a large amount onto those sensitive skin zones and wait the alloted 5-7 minutes--cuz they are never done in 3 minutes like the label says. I got the washcloth to wipe off the mess and lo and behold--nothing happened, so I did it again, and again, and again. Still nothing. so I used force. Never use force when scrubbing off Nair. It just so happens to take the first --and maybe second layer of skin off. This causes much pain and burning. Hot water really is not a comfortable companion of chemically removed tender, sensitive skin. It hurts like crazy!! They are on fiyah!!
So now I have an even larger rash than I would have had if I had used a razor, a chemically enhanced new layer of skin.....and measurable (about 1/4 inch long) hair remaining in my pits. Oweeeee. Have you ever tried to do anything with your elbows up and out so as not to disturb the pits...yah...it's fun.