FYI

In case you didn't notice the Light the Night link to the left I thought I'd post that it is that time again! Our local walk is on the 16th and is coming up fast. If you would like to sponsor me in the walk this year you can click the LTN Logo and it will take you to my donation page :) No donation is too small

4 is the new 2

Terrible 4's, Freakin' fours, frightening fours, fearful fours, effin' fours... There has to be a name for it. I have heard the term fabulous fours. Nope. Not in my house. There are parts of her personality that are fabulous, don't get me wrong but I spend way more time yelling at her than laughing. She had begun hitting and kicking, stomping her foot, telling me no, not listening to a word I say, making evil faces at me, she doesn't ask for things she demands them, Oh I could go on and on. Unbelievable how much of a brat she can be. Tonight she was nothing but. She lost TV for 2 days and her ponies for a day. next Step is she looses her trip to the pumpkin patch Saturday. Driving me INSANE!! Pray that I can handle this behavior without losing it and that it is short lived.


In other news... My carpet is finished! Woot! They came yesterday and got it done. I am so happy to be through with that process.

I called Lowes today about my dishwasher and told them how unhappy I was about the entire situation. They told me they will swap it out for me!!! So now I am waiting for a phone call from the liability department from the dishwasher company to make sure I am able to do that without messing up my case for them to fix my wood damage on my floor. Oh I hope so. I would love to have this done and over with!!

I got my dad's 50th birthday gift done and mailed out today!! I made him an exploding box filled with pictures of his life. It is WAAAAAY to hard to describe so if you are curious you can see photos of it on my scrap blog. It turned out really good if I do say so myself. I hope he likes both that and the travel coffee cup I made :) Hopefully he gets it on time, his birthday is Friday so he should get it on his birthday!

Watch me now

Like the new fall background? Did you notice the leaf in my url? I did it! I did it!

I am so excited for fall! We have our first playdate planned for the pumpkin patch in a week!! Can't wait! Now if we could just get the temps in the 70's all would be good :)

How small can they go?

Is it just me or are all the toys coming out these days getting smaller every year? They have teeny tiny Barbies that come apart in three places to swap out pieces making them even smaller. Tiny animals (by Bratz, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony,ect) that are already small but then they come with a million tiny accessories. Great for storage purposes,not so much for the mess factor. I have tiny toys all over my house, and they just keep coming out with new ones and making them smaller! Too bad the price doesn't go down with the toy size, that is the only thing getting bigger.

Life

Nothing exciting going on right now, just every day ordinary life. We had our carpet installed on Monday. It was an 8:30am-6:30pm process. After they left Travis and I found a spot in the master bedroom that looks like it is melted. We called home depot but the people who deal with that kind of thing were already gone for the night. I called back in the morning and left a message. She called back before 11 and was at my house by 11:10 to look at it. New carpet(for the entire bedroom) was ordered the next day (Wed) and today I got the call that the carpet is in and they will install it on Monday. I would highly recommend Home Depot for flooring, everyone I dealt with was beyond nice and even with the issue it has been handled quickly and efficiently. The rest of the carpet looks really good and I am really excited to have stain free carpet!!! I don't have my house put back together yet but will have all of it except the bedroom done by Saturday afternoon. My Father In Law is supposedly coming into town Saturday night and leaving Sunday morning. Joy. At least it is only 1 day though, right? He has said he was coming before and cancels so I am not holding my breath.

Today I finally went shopping totally ready and prepared to buy an end table for my living room. I have been saying I am buying one for like a year now, at least it seems like it. Of course I found NOTHING! We may have to go back on Saturday because I have a coupon and Travis told me they have a ton in the stockroom, we may try a different one instead though.

Kaylee's eye is healing nicely. I hope it doesn't leave a scar and if it does that it isn't too noticeable.

Anyone want to come clean my house? Worth a shot right? Ahh well.

I feel the need to clarify

Lately I have felt attacked for my views (by several people not just one) on abortion. So I feel today the need to clarify something, I AM NOT PRO ABORTION!!!! I am not an advocate, I don't think we should all rush out and have one. I don't encourage others to do it. I do believe in CHOICE! I can Totally understand the other side of this argument, believe it or not I was on the other side for a good portion of my life. I used to get into arguments with people about how wrong abortion was and that there was no way anyone should ever have one. Then I learned a few more things and heard people's stories and situations and began to realize, well yes, if a woman's life is on the line she should choose her life over that of an unborn baby. Or if you are raped you should have that option. Then I realized, wow, well I guess if I am for the choice in those circumstances then I really am pro choice not "pro life" (I hate that term, because as I just said Pro Choice does not equal Pro Death)

If you don't believe that you should be able to have an abortion, do you then believe that you should not be allowed to use birth control pills? Guess what it is the same thing just at an earlier stage. What about other forms. I mean maybe we should just all have unwanted babies, put them in an over crowded foster care system with people who are only doing it to collect the paycheck and give these kids a really wonderful life.
Then you run into the issues of being allowed to permanently alter your body to prevent pregnancy (ie. tubal or vasectomy)
What about In Vitro? Maybe that shouldn't be allowed either. And then if there are extra embryo's should they be forced to have those babies as well?

I realize that people have religious beliefs that make you feel like this is murder and that is fine. I am in fact a believer in Christ Jesus myself (though most of you will condemn me to Hell for believing this way, God and I chat and we know where I will be). You can not however presume to know what 1. every one's religious beliefs are 2. to be able to understand the situation unless you are in it yourself 3. pass judgement of people (I think it talks about that in the good book as well)

So to wrap it up.... I am not pro abortion, I think they should be limited by educating all people (including middle and high school students) on how to effectively prevent unwanted pregnancy should they chose not to abstain. I believe that a woman should be able to chose based on her own personal situation as to whether or not she can continue a pregnancy. I hope and pray that the woman would choose life for her baby even if that means giving it up for adoption but it should be her choice not our governments. Regardless at the end of the day she has to live with it and find peace and should be judged by God and only God since he is our Savior not the President or anyone who claims to be Pro life.

Oh and 1 more thing. I think that it is completely irresponsible and stupid for this 1 issue be what determines how you vote. This is not the major issue facing our country right now. Not even close. I love how to have an abortion is horrible but fighting a war that is killing our soldiers and innocent civilians (including children, btw) is ok. Or not closing loopholes to prevent people from obtaining assault weapons, that is ok too because after all it is our right to own a gun. Yeah ok. Lets talk about REAL issues like how our housing market is out of control and people are losing their homes, or how the stock market is falling and our country is now 900 billion dollars more in debt because of our financial situation. Or maybe about how we are paying record high gas prices because our reliance on foreign oil and the fact that no one will try and find an alternative fuel source even though they knew this would happen for years. Yep, I think there are more important things out there. Even though I feel strongly on the issues of abortion and gay rights these are not the real issues that are important in the grand scheme of things for this election.

Who is telling the truth?

Interesting

Got this from a friend today. I love it and wanted to share :)

White Privilege, White Entitlement and the 2008 Election
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Sat, 09/13/2008 - 3:44pm. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTIONby Tim Wise


For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.


White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin’ redneck," like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.


White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.


White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re "untested."


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."


White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Under Construction

Ha! This is the state of my house right now! The first two pictures are of my dining room, if you look really close you can see the table. The last picture is of my loft as seen from down stairs. You cant get into the room at all, it is blocked my mattresses so no picture of the actual room. However every piece of furniture from the bedrooms is in there. My carpet better look awesome cause this is a horrible nightmare.

*Kaylee Update* She woke up this morning with a headache but her eye isn't too swollen. She doesn't seem to be traumatized by last nights events and Mykenzie has gotten over being upset too. They were back to their normal selves this morning fighting at 6:30 am.

Kaylee's night in the ER

Kaylee had her first trip to the Emergency Room tonight. We were trying to get the loft ready for our carpet install tomorrow and somehow she fell off the couch. On the way down she managed to hit her little eye on the corner of the metal filing cabinet. We debated for a minute but then decided she definitely needed to go to the hospital. So Kaylee and I headed out and Travis calmed down a freaking out Mykenzie and put her to bed. We were there for about an hour and a half but it felt like they got to us pretty quickly which was nice. She ended up just needing some Dermabond instead of stitches because of the length of the gash. Plus location made that the better option. So she thinks it is kinda funny that they glued her eye together. She was an excellent patient. She always does really well in doctor situations. You wouldn't think she would with all the drama she normally has, but she is. Never even flinches when she gets a shot. She was excellent. Poor kiddo, I am hoping that her eye isn't too swollen when she wakes up in the morning. This was the 3rd trip to a doctor this week. Hopefully we are done for a bit now. I joked with the doctor about how in 8 years of being a parent this has been my very first ER visit for one of my kids which is pretty impressive, however, I doubt it will be her last.

Can I please be 13 again!

Remember when you thought life was so hard as a teenager? You thought when you were an adult life would be some much better, so much easier. Well it isn't. Making your own rules and doing what you want is pretty great I have to say but that is the main perk of being an adult. Especially being a parent. It is really hard to know what to do in situations. When you make plans to be somewhere and work and money has been spent for you to be there but your kids are HORRIBLE all day long leading up to it. Do you still take them even though you have repeatedly told them to straighten up or they can't go and they haven't? Isn't this just rewarding the bad behavior? But then on the other hand you have already made a commitment to someone and they have put money into something so you can be there. Is it fair to them to back out last minute?

I feel like I am beating my head into a brick wall trying to get my kids to listen and do what is asked of them. I am at a total loss as to what to do. I have spanked, put them in the corner, taken away a TON of privileges and still they do whatever the hell they want to. I realize they are kids and test boundaries and don't always listen but this has gotten out of hand. And the blatant disrespect for anything I say is absolutely unacceptable. I am so so very happy that we made the decision when we did not to have anymore children. I love my kids, but I am about 5 minutes away from a total mental breakdown and I may have to be put in a white padded cell. Wow, that actually sounds good to me right now. Please someone lock me up for awhile, at least then I would have some peace.

Cardiologist update

Kaylee went today and her heart checked out perfect. She does have an "innocent murmur" but she spent time looking and listening to each chamber and vessel and artery of her heart and she said they are all perfect. She told me I did not have to worry about it and to just forget about it.

Give me a fu@*ing break

McCain. Grow Up. Seriously? This is all you have to talk about? The fact that Obama used a saying referring to your horrible non-plans for our country. You spin this and say he is talking about your running mate? I have heard the speech. No where in it does he call Sen. Palin a PIG. PLEASE! OMG. Did you not, Mr McCain, say the same saying while referring to something about Hillary Clinton's plans? Hmm. Did the Democrats jump all over you and say you were being sexist and calling her a pig? Nope. Not at all. This is ridiculous! Even Republicans have to admit that this is a ridiculous notion.

THIS is why people hate politics. Because politicians behave like 6 year olds on a school playground.

He also has ad's out saying that Obama wants to teach sex ed to 4 year olds. For God's sake. What kind of shit are you people trying to feed the American people? The bill was to teach kids how to protect themselves from sexual predators. You know, like teaching kids that they have parts of their body that are private that we don't show people and allow people to touch. If someone does or tries to they have to tell someone. That's right, Republican's don't talk about sex because really it only happens when people are married. No one else does it and there apparently aren't bad people out there wanting to hurt children. So, don't vote for Obama because that is just shameful to teach children at 4 years old not to let someone touch their penis or vagina! Wow! This election is just a shame. And you would hope that the American people would be smart enough not to eat it up, but nope they aren't. It is all so absurd.

Girl Scout camp!

We had a great time! We did a horse program where we got to groom horses which was really cool. I had a favorite horse who's name was Bonnie. She was so sweet. We went hiking and walked across a long swinging bridge. Camp was different this time because there were several cabins instead of one big one. I had five girls, of course the loud girls (well only 2 really) but it was fun. The cabins only had screened windows and door so it got COLD at night. I am glad we knew ahead of time that it was going to get into the 50's so Mykenzie and I at least brought warm clothes to wear, some of the girls only had shorts and tank tops though. Next time I will grab a couple extra sweat shirts or something in case it happens again. We didn't have any appliances this time, which was new to us. We had some trouble getting our fire started because it had been raining the day before and the wood was wet but we got it going and roasted hot dogs and made smores and it all worked out, just took a little longer than we would have liked. All in all it was a pretty good trip.

Girl Scout camp

Busy Bee

That's me! I have been busting my hump trying to begin the long process of getting crap out of the way so that my entire upstairs can have carpet put in. I clearly did not think this whole thing through. From about 8:30 until 1 I was in my bedroom moving furniture to sweep up and clean out any junk that has been dropped under never to see the light of day again. Plus scrubbing baseboards, cleaning out and boxing up all decorative items not attached to the wall. I have no idea what to do with all this crap, I guess take it all down stairs but I can't do that yet cause I don't even know when they are coming to install it. So anyhow I waste my whole day in my room and closet going through stuff (ended up with a bag of trash, bag of good will crap and one of recycling! yikes!) all to walk downstairs and realize that the downstairs looks like a tornado went through and the dishwasher guy is coming for take 2 tomorrow! So I start cleaning up that. Pick Mykenzie up from school walk into Kaylee's room for something and clean out her closet while I am there, found a bag of stuff for Chandra, bag for trash and another for Once Upon a Child/Goodwill. So I basically have my room done (except my scrap area,reason why to come) and Kaylee's room is about done. Tomorrow hopefully the dishwasher doesn't take to long so I can hit up the loft and Mykenzie's room. I really just want to get most of it done so I don't have to worry about it anymore. I at least have to get the rooms to appear clean cause the carpet man is coming to measure on Friday!

Now the reason my scrap stuff has to stay. Well 1. cause I want it to. I don't know how long this process is going to take and to tell me I can't do something makes me want it even more! 2. and more importantly I am working on a project for my dad for his birthday. His 50th is this month! He is not looking forward to it at all. Hopefully he will like my creation (and that my grandma sends me some pictures so I can finish it) I will post pictures when I am done, well if it turns out ok ;)

We have girl scout camp on Saturday. Kaylee is so bummed that she can't go. A couple more years. Should be fun, we get to do the horse program (shh don't tell Kaylee) so it will be different and a good time. Must remember to charge camera battery!!

September's calendar is filling up so fast! I love having things to do as long as they don't cause me stress. Thankfully most things are fun. Kaylee's cardiologist appointment is next Wednesday though so I am quite a nervous wreck about that one! Prayers and fingers crossed. I am off to shower, 9:30 PM and I haven't done that today. I am sure anyone who comes in contact with me will appreciate me taking the time.

You have got to see this.

If you already have, I am so sorry. This was just on my tv and I had to share it. You will laugh but you will never be the same. OH MY! I have always thought this show was so so so stupid. Granted it has good messages but awful delivery. This though my friends, all I can say is WOW! Keep watching, you will want to turn it off but stick it out. My favorite part comes toward the end after the line LETS GO CRAZY! Watch it. I know you will laugh out loud. There is a link to think on the sidebar in My Favorite Links as well



Seriously it takes some balls to wear that outfit and go on tv. Holy crap! I can't wait to hear what you think of this :)
OMG I just saw what the person who put it on youtube named this video! That made me laugh at loud again. I pretty much think that sums it up.

Long Labor Day Weekend/Making Plans

We managed to do a few fun things for the girls and a fun thing for us this weekend. Yesterday we went to the pool, played out side and made snow cones for the girls. Today we went to Home Depot and ordered carpet for our entire upstairs for us!! Yay!! We have builders carpet in the entire upstairs (hardwood all downstairs for those who have never been here) and it is crap! The house is 6 years old now so you can imagine. The only place I really care about is the steps, oh they are soooo bad! They are nasty in a week of cleaning because the dirt is so down in there and the carpet is crap. I don't know what got into Travis but he decided to go buy carpet today, we haven't talked about getting new carpet for quite some time now. I have learned to jump on stuff when he is in the mood! lol They will be coming to measure on Friday at some point and hopefully start installing next week!! Yay!

I have all these new big plans for my loft. The plan at income tax time was to move our plasma upstairs along with all of the game systems and get a new tv downstairs. This way I can have the tv when T gets home from work and wants to sit and game all flipping night. So we are getting rid of all of the furniture up their. For now we will be keeping the love seat and purchasing a black slip cover for it. The armorie (that I hate) will be painted black (this works out wonderfully that we are getting new carpet cause now it won't matter if I get paint on the carpet!) We will be purchasing a new desk (if we move the one we have it will fall apart, no joking, can we say blue light special?) and hopefully a flat monitor (we have a dinosaur monitor) I am putting new pics on the wall and we will be doing a whole black, white and red theme! I am super excited about it! I don't have a clue why I haven't thought of this in the past. About a year ago I was talking about loving those colors together but could only think of how to do it in the kitchen! MORON! My Loft is painted RED! We want to get either a new couch or a couple of chairs (think black club chairs) but those will come later, I still don't have my end table for my living room for pete's sake! I am in the mood to shop and accessorize my house! I was telling that to Travis today and he was like, what do you want to buy, where do you want to go and I didn't have answers to those questions! I just want to buy stuff! lol
This is starting early this year, I usually don't catch this bug until the end of October thru February. So many things to buy, with so little budget. I guess I should check out good will for some good deals and refab some stuff myself. I have been looking at too many crafty blogs these days. Wish me luck ya'll, I am gonna need it!

Can a girl catch a break

Seriously, this is ridiculous. I woke up Tuesday morning with some leg pain. I don't know how it happened but somehow I pulled a muscle in the back of my knee and my calf on my right leg. After days of whining, Travis went to the store and got me some Icy Hot sleeve's as well as some Ben Gay (yes, I am old, whatever) I put the second icy hot of the pack on yesterday afternoon. It helps the pain. Well the having the actual sleeve holding that muscle tight helps more so I left the thing on. Before bed I put some Ben Gay on and put the icy hot sleeve over it. I now have a horrific rash, seriously I look totally diseased it is nasty! Of course it also itches. Lovely. Oh and my leg, it still hurts, though it is feeling a little better.