I was random facted on facebook

1. I enjoy the quiet. A lot. I hate to have the TV on if it doesn't have to be because really, there is more than enough noise in my house. I mean, I have a Tyler...that's a lot of noise right there.
2. I used to dream of being surrounded by men. That backfired.
3. I like being the only girl in the house. I am always right.
4. I miss not having a daughter. I miss it especially when friends comment on a fun mommy/daughter thing they just did or will do.
5. I am fiercely protective. I may talk about you or get irritated, but if you are my child, spouse or friend I will defend you til someone bleeds :) But if it is friend versus family...watch out friend.
6. I used to want to do the F.A.C.E.S program at Louisiana State. I would LOVE to be a CSI or forensic anthropologist. However, too many boys and nowhere close enough to go to school.
7. I own a scrapbook store. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it.
8. I don't like it when someone tells me that I have not been through much in my life...exactly how much is much and why is what I have been through not that?
9. I love my sonic cokes. LOVE. Would marry them but my husband would get mad.
10. If I could drop everything right now (well, except those boys in my house) I would be a photographer or work in a nursery...like at Town and Country Gardens and make everyone's yards pretty...shhhh, neighbors, I know I need to take better care of my own flowers :) And yes, I would love more trees, try explaining to my husband who feels it necessary to have a sports complex instead.
11. I coached pitching machine for my boys the last two summers and will do it again this summer. I love it. The kids have so much fun and I enjoy getting to know the boys...they crack me up!
12. I love baseball. I am so glad that my kids like it and are pretty good at it. I like it a lot when we have nephews to watch play. (disclaimer...the only nephew we have watched is Cody and he is soooo good! Can't wait to see where he goes after graduation) I don't like football. I will suffer through it if a)I have no choice b) one of my kids is playing c) it's super bowl Sunday. Good news, apparently there is a spring flag football season. yay.
13. Sometimes, my son Tyler makes me want to pull out my hair...then his. I swear he would argue with a kidnapper on how to best tie the ropes.
14. I am good at explaining things. And I like to teach. Especially if I like what I am teaching.
15. I am a pretty good cook. And I LOVE it!16. I am a pretty good photographer.
17. I have a hard time with humility. I want to be the best at everything and so it's hard for me to be humble about something I am good at, even if I am not the best, but I will acknowledge if I know you are better. Oh, and by no means would I ever say that I am better than you...I would just think it...oh and I might tell Jeff, cause he agrees with me. I have stuff he likes. Like, food :)18. I can be very sarcastic. Sometimes inappropriately so. However, I am funny.
19. I am a freak about spelling. So if something is spelled wrong, it wasn't me.
20. If I were home more I would be OCD about my house. I know that right now I don't have the time...but once I am home again for good, look out. I hate being a disorganized, cluttery person. It makes me nuts. I know, my neighbors are shaking their heads, but it's either be a freak or jsut deal with it...right now, I deal.
21. I took 2 hours of art every semester in high school. My art teacher came to my wedding :)22. All of my boys have the name of a town or city somewhere in their given name.
23. I love lip gloss. And shoes. And purses or bags. but I really don't enjoy shopping so I mostly just admire from afar.
24. Someday I want to enter some of my pictures in the fair. And take photography classes.
25.My boys are truly my world. Even Jeff...I know that no matter what, having them in my life makes me a better person. I am so lucky to be stuck with stinky, sweaty smelly boys...and their lizards, and football gear, and baseball gear and soccer gear and bakugan and gameboys and tennis shoes and fishing stuff and well, you get it.

menu planning

So Jeff and I wee out Saturday night shopping. In between me getting off work and Jeff going home to shower I made a menu.
This is all because of Lori who used to post them every week.
As it turned out, preplanning was fortuitous because well, all my plans for the week went awry about 8:25 Sunday morning. (Thanks, Nancy, for watching our class after Jeff taught)
My poor Hunter had a talk on Sunday. Another fortuitous thing, he was called Wednesday night to give the youth talk in church...on virtue (he was like, mom, what's virtue...yeah, so any of you who don't have boys around 12/13, let me warn you...brain shut off happens around this time. It is scientifically proven that boys can either grow or think, so something's gotta go, it appears it's the brain) so he sat down Thursday after school and wrote his whole talk so he wouldn't have to worry about it later. Good plan :) As soon as his talk was over he and went to my grandma's to meet with my mom and uncle and try to get a few things worked out...do you know how many things must be done at the time of death? A lot.
So, because this post is supposed to be about meal planning and not so much my horrible day, here is our menu for the week:
Oh, and a disclaimer, we do eat vegetables, however, my kids will only three...so it just rotates between those three as to which boy is closest to the freezer or pantry when I say 'someone pick out a vegetable.'
Sunday: meatballs and mashed potatos
Monday: pizza (Hunter does a fantastic job of this)
Tuesday: Skabetti and garlic bread
Wednesday: rice and chicken
Thursday: hamburgers and french fries (although this may change as it is Q's birthday...which in fact throws another kink into our plans of a party Saturday night...not sure that will happen since the funeral is that afternoon...and the super bowl (eyeroll) is Sunday...)
Friday: tator tot casserole
Saturday???? funeral food?

Now to sort through the 80 years of pictures to make Grandma's tribute book :)

**edited to add tator tot casserole recipe
*disclaimer...I am REALLY bad about measuring, so most of this is a guess :)

Brown a pound of hamburger season as it cooks
While burger is browning, layer tator tots in either a 9x13 or 10x10 pan...I layer them end to end very orderly, yes, I know it's hard to believe but I am kind of OCD about a few things. My tator tots are one of them :)
Once the burger is cooked, layer over the tots (usually my tots are still frozen)
Mix cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup with a can of milk and pour over top of the hamburger/tots.
Scrape a bunch of cheese and pile it on top.
Bake at whatever the package of tots suggests.

I can only make it when Hunter is camping because of an unfortunate experience when he was younger.

I hate it

when things work out badly...but in a good way.
So I was supposed to go to CHA yesterday. Any one who has ever been with me knows how fun it is and most everyone else has heard how much I love it. New product to touch and feel, creativity overload...whew..it is a fantasy land of energy for me. Plus Disneyland is across the street.
I got a phone call this morning.
The kind of call you never want to get.
My Grandma passed away some time in the night. Her birthday is Friday. She would have been 80. She has battled cancer for about 5 1/2years, metastatic colon cancer, to be specific...last Tuesday she found out it was 'starting to wake up' so chemo was started on Thursday...
I am happy to say she is with my Grandpa. That she never had the typical pain of cancer and that she was at home. But it was a horrible shock and we will miss her dearly.
So, those prayers for guidance in regards to my CHA trip were well answered. I'm glad I could be here for my mom and uncle. That I have the privilege to help them remember this fiesty lady. And be with my family during an emotional time.

Nully

I decided to take Amanda up on her suggestion.

If you ever just see a random word in the middle of a sentence, just figure it to be a login word...or whatever they are called.

In other areas, I love snow. On my way in to the store today I was wondering who all the stupid people were out there...all of them but me, of course.

I love it when a truck, with no obvious weight in the back cuts me off. Cause um, my car is kind of heavy and there is a good chance an accident can happen. So don't cut me off and don't ride my tail...especially if Jeff is driving...he has been known to stomp on the breaks just to see what happens.

oh, and if you are wondering (which unless you are on facebook, why would you) I got this lovely last night...

I LOVE it.

With as much typing as I do all day I love that the keyboard is like a well, keyboard. It's makes my texting much faster and since Jeff and I txt all day, this is a really nice feature.

Otherwise, I have tons to do and no time to do it. Just like everybody else out there :)

You know

I kind of wonder a few things.
A lot of things.
But today, I am wondering who comes up with the word or letter combos you have to copy in order to post a comment on some blogs.
Like 'lumois' or 'cazikstan' or 'floober.' There are so many that crack me up.
Just wondering.

Garage Sale

Okay, so in case you don't read the blog for the store, and are interested, there is a garage sale going on today, tomorrow and Saturday.
I am still pricing and putting things out and I know there are others doing the same thing...

Guilt

The worst thing about owning a business (besides the financial issues) is the guilt that comes with it.
For instance, I am not home when my boys come running in off the bus.
I can't send my oldest to play at a friends until either Jeff or I am home.
I miss little day to day things. Like dusting or vacuuming or checking the mail.
I miss hanging out at the 'girl parties' on those summer afternoons while our kids play. Or even just seeing them all sitting out in their chairs :)
I miss things like primary activities and while I know that the kids in our class will be taken care of, I miss that I am not there to do my part to help.
And I hate it.
Don't get me wrong, I love owning this store. I love being here and being able to create everyday. I love that I can bring my boys and no one can argue. I love that I can call in sick and the boss won't get mad. I love meeting people. I love helping with scrapping emergencies...yes, there are scrapping emergencies...just ask the poor guy who was in last night after his three year old ripped up their wedding book while his wife was away...talk about look of panic. But we got it all worked out and this will be a story for his wife to enjoy (I mean seriously, he is REPLICATING these pages as closely as he can...I doubt Jeff would...he would just tell me about it so I could fix it later.)
So anyway, right now I am feeling guilty that my kids had to be taken to the activity by someone other than me, that I can't hang out with my class and play games, that I can't help Carson clean out his vivarium (fancy word for lizard habitat) since one passed away last night and get it ready for a new friend for Killer (the surviving one.)
Where is that chocolate? Heather???

Anatomy by Quin

So he is still attached...has been since his 'night mare' at 1am.
and we were talking again as he is sitting on my lap killing my legs because of how he is sitting...
and apparently I was squishing a rib while I rock him.
'Do you know boys have ribs? Cause they do.'
I asked 'how many'
He said '69'.
I asked how many girls have.
He said '1.'
He also told me some girls have two brains.
Smart boy...although I am just assuming he meant the brains in our head and not the 'other' ones.

Then he told he likes daddy best. Cause he takes him to movies...
huh.
And asked me to rock him again.
Sheesh. Jeff doesn't rock him.
Clearly we have to work on the who-he-likes more part.
But shhhhhh Jeff is my favorite too.

Conversations with a 3year old

So I have been talking to Quin a lot lately...all a part of that 'nurture' that I am working on...as a bit of an aside, I remember how frustrating it was for me to be telling my mom something and her to have no clue what I was talking about halfway through the story...so I am trying to listen better to my kids...they make me laugh.
A lot.
So, back to Q.
I was sitting down with him on my lap today (remember how he was always on my hip or in my arms as a baby? It hasn't changed...at all!) and said I was sad that he was going to be 4 soon. (yes, four!) he looked at me and said 'I'm not sad. I'm glad.' So I asked why and what did he want for his birthday...he rolled his eyes at me. (Yes, he is his father's son ;)) and said 'What I have ahways wanted...a lighter, you know the little kind wif fire inside so I can light candles.'
Yes, it does seem as though I have a mini pyro, doesn't it.
He isn't getting a lighter, in case you were wondering.
He is getting so big.
I love it.
I hate it.
Four is one of my favorite ages and I am sad to think this is the last time I will have it in my house. But, until the end of the month, I have a three year old and I will be enjoying (almost) every minute of it.

Going Private

I have been thinking about this for awhile now. Today I made the decision that this is the step I need to take. I love having a blog, I love sharing my thoughts, however, I have to have some control over who sees this.
In case you are wondering, there have been no issues, no weird comments, but I still feel it is necessary.
So, if you feel that you can't live without my bits o'wisdom, comment or email me and I will send you an invite (please be more than one person, pleasepleaseplease)
Thanks!