Funny Story

I thought I would share with you one of the drawbacks of my chosen career path.

Joel was telling me a joke, only I had no idea it was a joke. I won't say the joke here because it was extremely dirty (although quite funny).

Anyway it went a little something like this.

Joel: "What do you call a __________" (it referred to a part of the anatomy).
Me: ____________(giving the actual medical term).
Joel: "It's a joke, Karla. You're supposed to say "I don't know, what?".

Oops. I almost screwed up the punchline for him, except it was so funny it was almost impossible to screw it up.

Calm before the storm

I start one job tomorrow (I think) and one job Monday.

I had some free time today and I was freaking out about what to do. I felt I should be doing something "semi" productive, yet I never seemed to find what that was. I did do go to Wal Mart and Albertsons to pick up some things we needed. Who knows when I'll ever make it back to the store again?

I got a call from the school nurse today. Maddie had an incident at recess and got a frisbee to the head and got a bump. They take head injuries very seriously, and I don't blame them. They are serious.

We got some other news. Apparently Dylan's picture never made it to state. It was assumed that it had because when the entries came back from district, his was not with it, which supposedly meant that it was sent on to state. HOWEVER....he got it back today with a note that said it was accidentally sent to Vinland. Oh well, we framed it and hung it here in the computer room. It's so beautiful and we're so proud of him.

WATCH IT

Tonight on FOX at 9:00 right after American Idol there is a new TV series on called "Lie to Me"

If you watch it, pay special attention to the opening theme music, because that's my boy Ryan. :P

I can't wait.

Well, well, well....

First I'm laid off. I have no job.

Then I get word that I may get my job back, but days go by without any word.

Then I get offered a new job, which I take.

Then I get called that I get my job back.

Now I have 2 jobs.

My head is spinning. I'm going to keep them both for now. I'm going to be so busy and probably more than a little overwhelmed, but I am excited. I think.

Thanks a lot, Nick.

Thanks to Nickelodeon and their stupid 30 second infomercials my daughter has become the queen of want, need and have to have and I'm not talking Barbies.

The most recent incident was thanks to a little commercial called Cash For Gold. I'm sure you've heard of it. Maddie was being very secretive looking through stuff and when I asked what she was doing she said "Looking for jewelery". When I asked her why she said "I'm going to mail it to that place to get some money."

After a lengthy discussion with her she came out with this beautiful little gem "I just wanted to do something nice for my family because you always do nice things for me." Awhhhh too bad. You're not selling my jewelery so I can have the money.

Another incident was some other infomercial that I cannot recall the name of but it was something meant for older people and she said she wanted to order it because "They never said you must be 18 to call". Oy. Spongebob be damned. I'm going to need to teach her to use the fast forward button and skip the commercials.

Just for the record...

As you can probably guess, I took the job. I am nervous about it because it is so far out of my comfort zone, but I feel confident in it. If everything goes as planned I should start on Friday.

Thanks everyone for their prayers and well wishes. I am blessed to have such supportive family and friends, especially the ones that forsake phone calls from their husbands for me. LOL

Ponderance

I was offered a new job last night with a new company - a local one. There is a lot of pros and a lot of cons but in the end I think I'm going to take it. With that job I'll be an independent contractor so if my old job comes back I can do both, which would be sweet.

The job of an 11-year-old boy.

I was arguing with Dylan yesterday about his constant attitude problem and I said "is it really that difficult to be an 11-year-old boy" and it hit me like a tidal wave....yes it is. He's at a difficult age. He's right on the edge of becoming a middle schooler. Half of the time he's expected to act like a boy and play and do kid things and the other half he's supposed to act responsible and act more grown up. It's confusing. Although I've never been an 11-year-old boy, I was once an 11-year-old girl and I remember fighting it every step of the way.

That being said, I've figured out his role in my life. I swear at times he does things to purposefully make my head explode. I'm trying to teach him to stop putting things off. For example: School. He knows he has to be ready for school - dressed, hair brushed, teeth brushed, everything in backpack - by 8:30. When do you think he starts doing this??? NEVER. I have to jump down his back every 30 seconds from 8:15 until 8:30 and he can't start one task without forgetting the rest. I'm trying to get him to have all this done right after breakfast so he doesn't have to worry about anything else for the rest of the morning and when it's time to go....WE GO. That doesn't seem feasible to an 11-year-old boy apparently. Silly me, what was I thinking??? I'm trying to teach him to be responsible for himself but either he doesn't want to be responsible for himself or he's 99% successful in his job of making me lose my freaking mind.

25 on the 25th

Yesterday I watched Titanic for the 200th time in my life and I cried AGAIN. That got me thinking about all the movies I've seen multiple times. Since I'm bored today anyway and it's the 25th I thought I'd put a list of 25 movies I've seen at least 10 times. I probably missed some because it is only 25. It also doesn't include Christmas or Children's movies. They aren't in any special order because I'm not that bored.

1. The Doors I won't lie. I've seen this movie probably more than any movie in the world. I obsessed over it at one time. I watched it recently with Joel and I could still recite most of the movie and I still remembered all of the little tidbits and facts about the movie and Jim Morrison.

2. The Breakfast Club "Screws just fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place"

3. Sixteen Candles Hellooooo Jake Ryan.....????? swoon.

4. Romeo and Juliet This refers to both versions, 1996 and 1968 versions. I've seen them both numerous times and sometimes back to back. Once I even watched them while reading along. Yea, I'm sort of a dork.

5. Footloose Which is better: the movie or the soundtrack? Tough call. "What is this I see? I thought this was a party? LET'S DANCE"

6. The Lost Boys I'll be a loser and admit I even watched Lost Boys 2, which sucked. I've always been a big fan of the Coreys and have seen everything they've touched, which includes "The Two Coreys". Go ahead, flame away.

7. Singles This movie defines the 90s for me. The music. The city. The attitudes. The clothes. The soundtrack brings back memories like a tidal wave.

8. Titanic The movie that prompted this list. I tried to get the kids to watch it with me, but to quote my son "I don't care about old movies about boats". Old movies. Sniff.

9. Pretty Woman Does anything really need to be said about this movie?

10. Dumb and Dumber Jim Carrey was and is one of the funniest actors in Hollywood.

11. Dirty Dancing Nobody puts baby in a corner. Another great soundtrack.

12. Terms of Endearment "You're gonna need a lot of drinks." "To break the ice?" "To kill the bug you have up your ass." Laugh, cry, laugh, cry, laugh. It's a vicious cycle this movie is.

13. Savannah Smiles I've seen it dozens of times and I really want my kids to see it, but I can't find it.

14. Giant JAMES DEAN. Love him. Another secret past obsession of mine. This movie is so long, but totally worth it. If Dylan thinks that "Titanic" is old, he'd be in for a shocker.

15. Rebel Without a Cause. Same as above.

16. Forrest Gump. I always forget how much I love this movie until I watch it again.

17. Heart and Souls. It's not a well-known movie, but I fell in love with it.

18. Adventures in Babysitting. We actually own this movie because my kids love it. Despite all the language.

19. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Heather and I spent many days watching this movie.

20. Dazed and Confused "The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin', man. L-I-V-I-N."

21. Grease Another great movie with a great soundtrack. Until you've watched this in the theater and stood up and sang every song along with the rest of the crowd - you haven't truly lived.

22. Sound of Music I wish my kids loved this movie like I do. I know every word to this movie. Every word.

23. Wizard of Oz Everyone loves this movie. EVERYONE.

24. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Although I love the new one, the old one is a classic. We recently watched a version of it that had little tidbits and facts on the bottom of the screen and it was really interesting.

25. Castaway Another classic. I made Dylan watch part of this with me but he was bored. Apparently he doesn't like "old movies about people on islands" or something.

blast from the past

I along with 2 other girls I know LOVED this TV Movie and the short-lived TV series that followed. Man I miss this.

Soap Dork

I'm a huge soap fan. I watch All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital and have for years. I love to watch the mvids people create on YouTube, which makes me a huge soap dork. I think the only other person I know who even watches soaps is my sister Tara and I already sent her this mvid, because it's my favorite. Maxie and Spinelli are my favorites on GH and I sometimes fast forward through everything else, becuase their scenes are the best.

Whoever created this video is a genius, it was very well put together. Even if you don't watch GH, you might enjoy this video so watch it.

Another walking lesson

Well, I walked yesterday...3.5 miles. I made a mistake though. I bundled up so I wouldn't be cold but halfway through the walk I was obviously sweating both from the exercise and the massive weight of clothes I was wearing. Then I started feeling bogged down and heavy from all the clothes.

Lesson learned: Even if you're cold...you won't be for long. It explains why I see so many people walking and running in shorts this time of year. I think they're crazy, but really, maybe they're not. I however, will not be wearing shorts; just plain old pants.

Today I'm walking again even though it's foggier than hell out right now and that is kind of a little freaky. I think Rachel's coming to walk with me so I won't be so scared of the boogie man in the fog.

I've got a bad case of....

....out of work OCD.

Whenever something in my life is out of place, my house is impeccable. I am constantly straitening and cleaning and organizing. I'm really itching to get my hands on the spare bedroom right now, but that is a chore better saved for a Joel day. There are 2 old dressers in there that need to go to the dump.

I'm on day 2 of not working. Yesterday was hard but I reinstalled the Sims 2 on the computer, which ended up keeping the kids busier than me.

The kids go back to school today, which gives me 4.5 hours of quiet alone time. I really want to take a walk today...a long one, but it's just so darn cold. I've got my treadmill moved in a better more "usable" location (in other words, we're no longer using it as a coat rack), but the combination of my "out of work OCD" and my aforementioned "treadmill ADD" will add up to very little treadmill time. In order to get any walking done today I'll have to actually GO outside and freeze my ass off while walking.

I hope everyone else is having a better week than I am.

My 2 cents, for what it's worth

It's inauguration day. If you read my blog you know how I feel about Obama. However, this post isn't about him. This post is about respect and human kindness, which seems to be something that is seriously lacking in this world. I don't agree with many of Obama's policies and plans, but as he steps into office today I will offer him my respect. For the next 4 years he will be the leader of our country. It remains to be seen what he will do with that but he will be the most judged, critiqued, and criticized human being on the planet. I have a feeling he will disapoint many, many people, mainly those people who think he's there specifically to benefit them. They obviously need to pull their heads directly out of their ass.

The respect I am talking about here is for George W. Bush, our 43rd president. He's been criticized and disrespected openly and publicly about every move he has made and through it all he has stood tall and proud and never once tried to counter their attacks. George Bush has made mistakes, that is clear and undeniable. However, the man is still deserving of a little respect. If you do not respect him, you can do as the democrats have said to the republicans since Obama was elected and that is to just sit down and shut up. Showing blatant disrespect shows really poor character.

Today as Obama comes into office, I will silently show my respect and pray for our future and hope that the "change" he is offering will be a good one (not so much so far in my case, though, lol). I will also show my respect for the exiting 43rd president, George W. Bush. If you have nothing nice to say, do not post it here - I will delete it.

ARGGG

I got a call from my supervisor this afternoon and I am "temporarily released from work". How long? I don't know, she said maybe a week, but I'm not putting my eggs in that basket.

I'm not terribly surpised, they've been doing some restructuring to put it nicely. I've been applying at other jobs similar to the one I'm doing now so hopefully something else will come up or they'll find another place for me in this company. Either way, I'm trying to be positive and not freak out.

weekend rewind

I didn't blog all weekend, what a weird thing.

On Friday I went out to lunch with Tara and Mom at Red Robin. Then I went home and attempted to put my house back together. I had furniture everywhere. Eventually I got most of it, or at least what I could do alone. Our room is the only one that changed a lot. We got a new headboard, 2 new side tables, and 2 new dressers. Our room looked like a brand new room. I don't have any before pictures but let me put it to you this way....our old room had a bed, that was just a bed, no headboard or anything. We had 2 really gaudy nonmatching side tables, but before that we were using TV trays. We had 1 dresser that we shared and a broken old bookshelf that only had 2 shelves out of the original 4 left. Anyway we were admiring our room and thinking that something about it seemed weird though, and then it hit me. We had the ratty old, ripped comforter on the bed and blue curtains that never matched anything anyway. So we decided to go to Wal Mart. My mom had graciously come to pick up the kids earlier. At Wal Mart we bought a new bed set and new curtains for our room. Here's the outcome....

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We've never had anything hanging on our walls, but now I feel the need. I've got my eye on a few things. I also need to work on Joel getting and keeping his crap off the floor. That's a chore for sure.

On Saturday Joel had to make a dump run anyway so I spent the morning before the kids came home doing another cleanout (yes, I did just do this and I could probably do it again). The rest of Saturday was spent with Joel doing odd things around the outside of the house because it was sunny. Maddie was boorrrrrrreeedddd so we invited the neighbor girls over, which seemed like a good idea at the time but I realized on my walk back over with the girls that I was an idiot. I had a perfectly clean house and I am inviting 3 little girls to tear it up. They didn't completely destroy it though.

Yesterday was just another Sunday. I had work and the kids just hung around the house with Daddy. They went up to the wrecking yard at one point to drop something off to grandpa and then came home. I had been craving a good steak for weeks so Joel went to the store and bought a couple and we grilled them up and they were so good. We haven't had a good steak in a really, really long time. I am glad we did that. We didn't really want to share our steak (I know, we're bad parents) so I made the kids whatever they wanted to eat and Dylan had clam chowder and Maddie had some Goldfish Soup. They both had corn on the cob and rolls too. They both ended up eating all their soup and corn and rolls and then started eyeing our steaks. So we let them have some and then more and more. So much for that.

Friday

As you can tell from last night's post, we're over the moon about Dylan's accomplishments. I was on the phone screaming about it when Joel is on his cell phone next to me talking to his parents about the death of his grandma. I felt bad but I was just so freaking excited!!!!

Maddie got upset this morning about the death of Big Grammy. So far, she's taken it really well. Dylan has been really concerned about how Grammy and Grandpa are doing with all this, which is sweet.

Anyway, Maddie started crying this morning and said she missed Big Grammy. So I told her if she wrote her a letter and drew her a picture (she always brought her pictures) then we would hang it from a tree and maybe God would see it and take it to her. She felt better about that.

We're getting some of Big Gram's furniture from her apartment at Montclair. 2 dressers, 2 end tables and a bed frame with a head board. It means Dylan finally gets a dresser though. Anything that isn't hung in the closet piles up on his closet floor because he doesn't have a dresser. Now I have to find room for this dresser. sigh.

Bursting with Pride

Dylan's photograph has now been chosen to move onto the state competition!!!! I am so proud of him.

Death and the Mexican Drug Smugglers.

Joel's grandma passed away this morning. She was "Big Grammy" to the kids, which is ironic because she's very small. Most of the members of Joel's family just call her "Mom", which I wasn't comfortable with my kids doing so since they call Joel's mom "Grammy", it was just natural to call Joel's grandma "Big Grammy". Joel has been close to her all of his life and would take the kids to visit her at least two times a month, although over the last few months her memory has been failing and she sometimes wouldn't remember the kids so he scaled back on the visits. The last time we were there was on Christmas Eve and she was sharp. Well, pretty sharp anyway. We gave her a picture frame with the kids picture in it and she was grateful for that and the time we spent there.

This will be the first "real" death that Maddie will have to deal with. Since she has been born we have had 5 family deaths but none of them did she actually "know", or at least remember knowing.

Off that subject, a funny thing happened last night. Joel and I were watching TV and the kids were upstairs in bed, or at least we thought. I heard a noise and I turn around just in time to see a folded up piece of paper fall down the stairs. I go pick it up and read it and it says "Can mom please come up to my room? Thank you, Dylan"

So I went up there and he said he had a question. When he was doing his homework the news was on in the background and he overheard bits and pieces of a news story or 2 and he was concerned about drug smugglers from Mexico. He asked if they would make it all the way up here. It took me awhile to explain the truth about this and that we were in no danger. I had some flashbacks to my childhood though because I took everything like that to heart as well and it would keep me up at night too. My poor little boy, he takes everything very seriously.

Reading Rainbow

I love to read. I mean LOVE it. I always have since I was little. I will probably be found on my death bed with a book in my hand. I like to read all kinds of books, but I've made no secret of my love for Jodi Picoult. Her books are beyond phenomenal. Her new book tour comes out in about a month and a half and on March 23rd she'll be in Seattle and I will be there and I might cry. I'm a bit of a literary stalker. I've read all of her books - some of them twice - and seen all of the TV movies.

Since there are no new Jodi books right now I read any and everything I can get my hands on. I usually go through 2-3 books a week on average. Granted, that's average. I have been known to read a book in a whole day and if a book bores me I've been known to spread it out a little longer.

I used to love horror and true crime books until I became a grown up and had responsibilities and my wild imagination would keep me awake at night holding vigil at my children's bedside so that the evils will not get in there.

Anyway, I couldn't let my brother hog up all the posts on my blog for the day so I thought I'd share my love of reading.

I just finished "A Woman's Place" by Barbara Delinsky and am starting HRH by Danielle Steele tonight.

What are you reading?

It's my brother's birthday!

Today is my brother's 31st birthday. We're only 2.5 years apart but growing up it seemed like 100. Now that I'm grown and have kids of my own that are almost 6 years apart in age and I look back and realize that we were really actually quite close in age. He's the polar opposite of me in just about everything, especially our looks. He's tall, I'm short; he's blond, I'm brunette; he's got blue eyes, I've got brown. Over the years he's grown from being my pesky little brother to being a friend. He's proven to me time and again that if I needed someone, he would be there for me and I would do the same for him. He's my only blood-related sibling and the importance of that is definitely not lost on me.

Happy birthday brother!

District!

Dylan's photograph was picked for the District competition.

I'm so proud I could burst.

Monday Miscellaneous

The weekend is over. Nothing too spectacular. The kids got to see their Grandma and Grandpa for the first time since Christmas and they were excited about that. He took them to K-Mart and let them pick either a toy or clothes and they both picked clothes (YES! VICTORY!).

Yesterday was a very blah day. I worked and the kids and Joel just lounged around the house. Maddie was sleepwalking last night. It was the first time she's done that. Dylan does it and I do it, but she never has. I was just going to bed at 10:15 and I turned the corner on the stairs and there she was just standing on the stairs with a very blank looking-right-through-me stare. It was a little creepy, but I've seen this enough to Dylan to know what was going on so I picked her up and carried her to her room and laid her down. She was snoring before I left the room.

I had originally planned to start back up on my walking routine tonight after work but I have something I have to do now. I can't do it tomorrow either because my shift is altered so I can go to Dylan's award ceremony. Maybe Wednesday. Maybe not, lol.

We watched the Golden Globes last night, of course. I had a lot of people I was rooting for and some I was rooting against. I can't believe Burn After Reading was nominated for anything other than Biggest Waste of Time.

We watched Pineapple Express this weekend. I was looking forward to drooling all over James Franco, which did happen but mostly because I was ASLEEP. zzzzz snorefest. Now we have Righteous Kill to watch in the next 2 days, we're 2 for 3 so I'm a little skeptical.

PMS

I'm so cranky today. I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to play Monopoly with my children today. That was the bad idea of the century. I've been so distracted today by my bitchiness that I made a roast beef sandwich with BUTTER instead of mayonnaise.

The children are going to spend the evening with grandma and grandpa while Joel gets to stay home with the queen of cranky. Isn't he the luckiest SOB on the planet?

My Award-Winning Photographer...Dylan

Dylan entered this contest through his school a few months ago. I got an email from his teacher today that said his entry was one of the ones chosen from his school and he has a chance to move onto the state competition.

I get to go to his school on Tuesday and watch him accept an award and a certificate. I'm so proud.

This is the picture he took and submitted. Doesn't it just say "WOW"?

Call it what you want

...but it's Maddie's 5 1/2 birthday today. She insists we celebrate it. So I'm making her a cake and we're singing happy birthday. I think she's expecting presents, but she's going to be sorely disappointed.

She was upset that I forgot to say "Happy 5 1/2 birthday" to her first thing this morning. After about 5 minutes she said "Uhmmm Mom don't you have something you want to say to me?"

Our little diva princess. I feel sorry for her future husband.

Today's post is dedicated to....

**RYAN STAR***

It's my favorite rock star's 31st birthday today and I am sending him birthday wishes from across the country. His album is coming out soon and his tour will be starting up and I'm really excited about it. This definitely could be the year of Mr. Star. Happy birthday Ryan!

Yesterday was an odd day. Dylan came home sick. He had a headache and a stomachache and his teacher sent him to the nurse twice because he was pale and finally the nurse made him come home. I think I'm catching something too, maybe it's just a virus but I was freezing cold all day yesterday. The odd part is that I was cold even though it was the warmest day in the last month.

I had a really crappy work day yesterday. Almost all the dictators I had were foreign and had a very heavy accent and the ones that weren't couldn't formulate a proper sentence to save their lives. I barely hit my quota yesterday and I usually crush it. Most of the accounts I had yesterday were also out of my primary, which meant I had to study many client profiles yesterday.

Nothing exciting or funny to report, I wouldn't want to overshadow Ryan's birthday, lol. No seriously, just boring today. Let's just pray that my day gets better today.

New Years Resolutions...or not?

There really are downsides to working from home. They also can be considered upsides though.

• In the past few months I have found myself not wanting to get dressed. Not that I run around naked - that would traumatize my kids and neighbors and make my husband completely nonfunctional. I just don't ever seem to get out of my sweats. Sometimes I make myself put on a pair of jeans, but lordy they are uncomfortable compared to sweats.
• I sometimes will go days and days without leaving the house for anything other than taking the kids to school - and I'm okay with this. I feel like a hermit or an agoraphobic, which I am not. The thought of going to the store for a gallon of milk is somewhat of a feat at times.
• Putting on a bra sometimes feels like a chore in itself. I have found myself bartering with myself about whether or not I could go without in public (obviously, I cannot and have not been able to in 20 years).
• I hardly ever wear my contacts anymore. I will go to put them on and think to myself "I just have to take them out later, so why bother?"
• I eat more. My desk is 4 feet from my refridgerator. Lunch no longer consists of what I packed myself, it's whatever is in the house.
• When it snows a foot and a half and everyone I know is stuck home and can't get to work, I still have to work because I am already there (also an upside, though).

So as you can see, I have turned into a lazy, braless, housebound slob. The upside to that is that I LOVE it and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I really should work on the above as my New Years Resolutions, such as making myself get dressed every day, put my contacts in and eat less. eh....maybe next year.

An Open Letter

Dear Mother Nature:

It's obvious that you hate me. I respect that because those feelings are greatly reciprocated. You see, you heard the excitement in my voice all weekend long about how the snow was finally melting and that my kids were finally going back to school and that I could finally start driving places by myself.

I heard a little rumor yesterday that you were sending your friend "Snow" to visit for awhile. It was originally reported that it was a "possible" visit with a chance that she'd stick around for about 2-4 hours and then "Rain" would take her place for the rest of the night.

*cough*liar*cough*

I can hear you laughing. Just for that I am going to stop recycling for a week. I am also going to throw one of those six pack rings in the garbage without cutting them. Who's crying now bitch?

Hatefully yours,

The Snow Hater.

Eating my words

This should probably go with the last post because most people don't know this about me. I can't STAND Tom Cruise. I hate all of his movies (I don't count Rainman as a Tom Cruise movie because I do like that movie, but I hate him in it).

I watched Tropic Thunder last night despite the fact that I knew Tom Cruise was in it.

He totally stole the whole movie. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't.....

watch this YouTube clip.



I'm still not a Tom Cruise fan, but holy hell....I am still laughing.

10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

Some may surprise you; some may not. Either way, don't judge - I'm still a human, no matter how awesome.

1. I love top ramen. I could eat it every day for every meal. My kids could too. My favorite flavor was Sesame Chicken before they stopped making it.

2. I love to color. You know, crayons and coloring books. Maddie and I color together at least 3 times a day. She's always enraptured at what a great job I do, which helps a little with the ego.

3. I am cold 98% of the time, even in summer. I hate to wear things on my feet, which doesn't help with the cold thing at all.

4. I'm semi-dependent on Tylenol PM. I can sleep without it, I just chose not to. I don't know why I do either, it's just a habit now. I've forgotten and slept fine. I guess I just don't want to take that chance.

5. I love my pillow. It's probably an unhealthy kind of love because I take it everywhere. Not like, to the grocery store but I do take it if I spend the night somewhere and I usually have it downstairs with me when I am watching TV or something.

6. I have a Facebook account but I just can't stand it. I guess I'm just so used to MySpace that Facebook is completely foreign to me, and you know I can't stand it when I don't understand things. I keep the Facebook account because there are people on there whom I would not be keeping in contact with otherwise.

7. I collect coupons but I never use them. Ever. I just forget.

8. I love scratch tickets. I have gone through winning streaks and losing streaks. I usually buy one every time I'm at the grocery store, usually only a $1 or $5 one depending on how much cash I have on me, but never more than $10.

9. I plan on getting back into my daily walking routine on Monday once the kids go back to school. Ever since it started getting really cold and snowing I stopped. It will still be cold next week, but I'm going to do it anyway.

10. I don't really like coffee. I'll drink it, but I don't particularly like it. It is usually a last resort type of thing.

Parenting School

Yesterday I made a smart ass comment to Joel about needing to go back to Parenting School. I didn't think the kids were around to hear, but apparently I was wrong.

Maddie said something about Daddy going to school for grown ups. I thought she was talking about college, and I kept telling her that daddy wasn't going to college, blah blah. She said "No, mom, that one school about being a parent that you told daddy about last night."

Uh......oops

I told her I was just kidding.

She said "Well, don't say it if you're kidding because I don't understand that."

You also weren't supposed to hear it.

Another year another beer

Well maybe not beer, but that rhymes.

Our party was fun of course, was there any doubt? The Rogers can sure throw a party. Tara and Brad, Ryan and Amanda, Kevon and Meghan and Jay were here. Sorry, Rachel I did not take any pictures.

We played Phase 10 (Tara, me, Amanda and Meghan) and I won (although we didn't actually finish the game).

I heard Ryan Star on ESPN again (yes, why wouldn't ESPN during our NYE party?) and had a squeal moment.

Lots of food and drinks and music. Everyone had fun I think. Everyone stayed until after midnight. It was almost 2:00 before I got to bed and I have to work today so I am wiped the heck out.

If you read my mom's blog you'd see that my kids had fun at their party too and also stayed up late so I think it's going to be an early night for our whole house.