A Future New Camera and New hair style.

Hey guys,

It has been a long day.  I have gotten on the computer a couple of times but have been booted off by children wanting there computer time.  Or a husband that needs the computer. 

Let’s See….Today, I made homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Icing.  And they were so rich yet so lite.  This was my first time making them.  I alreay have request for this to be a birthday breakfast dish from a couple of my children.

I should be getting my hair cut sometime at the end of next week.  YAY!!!!  I am so excited.  Yet, I have changed my mind just slightly on the style I want….

This is it…

This hair style covers up most of the forehead which is what I need.  I can’t wait.  Eric is not so sure about a haircut this short.  However, I am looking forward to a change.  I have kept my hair at shoulder length or longer for the last 15 years.  And Change is good. 

And I have picked out a new camera for myself.  And I don’t think it is going to cost over $150.  Which is good!  I searched for one that is compact, yet takes decent pictures.  And I found it last night.

It is the Canon Powershot SD1100IS.

Hopefully, I will be getting this soon as in next week.

Oh, and to top today off….Eric is off today.  Right after Zachary eats his breakfast we give him his meds.  I thought Eric gave it to him.  And he thought I gave it to him.  When in reality….he had not been given his meds.  And you could sure tell it.  Gosh, was he hyper today.  We are talking a sugar high times 10, hyper.

I hope you all had a great day.

Take care!

Blast from the Past????

Hey Guys!!!

I hope you all have had a fabulous start to the new week!  Today, has actually been quite nice at our Tennessee home.  All of the kids are getting along.  I better bit my tongue now! Because I probably just jinxed myself.

First note of business—-My nice Camera Broke.  I guess I wore it out!  I couldn’t even take pictures on Christmas morning!  I was/am SO upset!  However, Eric thinks it would be cheaper just to get a new one.  YAY, ME!   So, hopefully before the Middle of Jan. (hopefully sooner than that) I will have a new camera.  I have to look at reviews on some cameras.  This time.  I want a compact camera.  The camera that broke is a big camera.  That is difficult to lug around.  Any suggestions??? 

Now for a Blast from the past??????Maybe not.  Eric brought these home 3 days ago from work.  A Co-worker of his made Root Beer Cookies (Yes, they are DELISH!!!!!) And yes, I am getting the recipe!  With the cookies she included Dad’s Root Beer Barrels.  They are nostalgic Candies.  I had never seen them or heard of them until Eric brought them home.

And they are SO SO SO yummy! They taste just like Root Beer!  And just one takes away the I want Caffine craving.  I have to find these to have on hand.    Which leads me to this idea.  On My new Blog— “Let’s Get Cookin’” I might try to post some Blast From the Past Candy post.  Maybe once every 2 weeks or so.  Might be fun.

Speaking of my new blog.  I spent a good hour designing my header for my new blog.  Which That blog will launch on Jan. 1st, 2009.  And this is what I came up with.  Not a lot going on….just really simple.  Tell me what ya think?

I also made the new header to this blog as well.  It is going to be interesting keeping up with two blogs.  We shall see how it goes.  I love having both blogs though. 

New years eve is not far off at all.  Any Plans?

I hope you all had a wonderful day.

Take Care.

A New Look for a New Year….

Hey Guys!

Can you believe that it is almost 2009???  Where did the year go?  This year has been filled with a lot of ups and some downs.

Daniel started middle school this year.  Aimee is in her last year of elementary school.  Zachary was diagnosed with ADHD.  And David had a tooth pulled.  Being a Mother is one of the worlds BEST job titles….if not the best.  I just wish my kids wouldn’t grow up so very fast.

My kids and Husband are everything to me.  I wouldn’t change being a mother and wife for anything.  My kids have moved around a lot.  And it looks like (for the time being) we are finally settled in our home.  We love living in Tennessee.

However, with all the stuff going on….I have forgotten about myself.  I put my kids and husband first.  Which is how it should be.  There needs are greater than mine.  However, I believe it is time I do something for myself.  Which in turn my kids will benefit from.

1.  I am in great need of a hair cut.  For the last 6 years or longer.  I get it cut but somehow it ALWAYS ends up back in a pony tail.  Which is not good on hair.  My hair is very fine and VERY thin.  My hair doesn’t do well with perms.  Because it is so thin.  And for the last 6 months or so my hair has been falling out by the handfuls (I know gross!!!). 

For the last couple of days I have been searching online for a good SHORT hair cut and I found one I just love.  I have a round face, and a HIGH forehead (thanks to my daddy and his side of the family) so I need some sort of bangs. This is the hair cut I chose. Tell me what you all think of this hair cut.

I will also need some highlights.  My hair is a light brown with some AWESOME shades of GREY!!!!!!  Yeah, I know….Grey!!!  I have had some grey hair since at  22 years old.

2.  I am going to start taking vitamins.  I need them.  I think I am going to take centrum.  I believe this is the multi-vitamin my mom used to take.  Maybe a women’s centrum vitamin if they have that.  I do know I need a muli-vitamin.

3.  Going to the Dentist and Doctor.  This will be hard since we only have one car.  And Eric needs it 100% of the time and I can’t drive a stick shift.  However, I think it is important.  Plus, I need that annual complete physical that I haven’t gotten in oh…..4 years!!!!!  Yes, I know get onto me now!

4.  I am going to continue exercising at least 3 or 4 times a week.  When it gets warmer, I am going to start walking either in the mornings when the kids go to school (this will probably be the best time for me to walk) or in the evenings. 

I need to lose this baby weight that I have been carrying around for the last 9 years….I didn’t loose all my baby weight with Zachary and now I am paying for it.  It does get a LOT harder to loose weight as you get older. 

And hopefully before 2009 is out I will have a tread mill. 

I am thankful, that I don’t have any huge health problems (that I know of).  And I am thankful that I have a family and extended family that support me 100%.

Maybe after I get my haircut I will be a little more confident in my looks and I can start taking pictures of myself.  I just don’t like the way I look right now.

This is not a New Years Resolutions.  Because those never hold any amount of time for me.  However, this is something that NEEDS to be done for myself.  If I see a NEED for it, I will get it done.  And I see a Need for this. 

I am hoping that sometime during the first week of 2009 to have my new haircut.  And I have to say that I am quit excited about it.

Now a little off topic….but this weather is just weird for this time of year.  It has been pretty nice for the last couple of days.  Yesterday we even hit 70 degrees!  And on Christmas it was around 65 degrees.   However, this evening we are suppose to be getting a big storm.  And right now as of 11 am, the winds are starting to pick up.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Take Care

The Day After….

Hey Guys!

Well, it is the day after Christmas.  And I am wore out!  And, I think my kids are as well.  We all had a pretty good Christmas.  With lots of laughs and smiles.  The kids received what they wanted from Santa.  Okay maybe not EXACTLY what they wanted but close enough.

Daniel received a Skateboard. (Which we found on sale at Toys R us)
Aimee received a Pink Guitar.
Zachary received a Star Wars Game that plugs into the television and he is having a blast with that.
David received a Big Optimus Prime Transformer.

I didn’t make a big Christmas dinner. We just had meatballs on hoagie buns with a side of Mashed potatoes and Gravy with Green Beans. And it was very good. Something Different. Eric and I are just tired of Turkey by the time Christmas rolls around. And So are the kids.

We played games with the kids yesterday. We played Monopoly Here and Now world Edition. And if you think the ‘regular’ monopoly game is long….then you haven’t played this version of the game…..We spent 2 hours playing it and that was just until all the property was bought. And there were only two houses on the board. We were not even close to being done.

And we also Played Apples to Apples. This has got to be one of the funniest games I have played. And it goes FAST! We played at least 10 rounds within 30 minutes of this game!

Eric spent the rest of the day putting Lego’s together. And we watch a Christmas movie with Nancy McKeon in it. It ended up being a extremely nice yet exhausting day.

The kids still have 10 days left of there ‘Winter Vacation’. We don’t have much planned. Other than to relax, watch movies and play board games. Hopefully, I will get some baking done in between all of that.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I hope Santa brought you all that you wished for.

Take Care.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I just wanted to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Fifty Things and stuff…

Hey Guys!

We have been a house full of sickness.  However, the only person left that is still sick is Eric.  I should rephrase that. Eric is still sick and I am just working at about 95% healthy.  So, I am on the mend.  Eric has to go into work today.  I am thinking he is going to be home early.

Now for the stuff…

Next year, Starting on January 1st. I plan on blogging EVERY week day.  And hopefully maybe even every Saturday.  I will more than likely take Sundays off from blogging.  Blogging is a good relaxing outlet for me.   And I love it.  Somedays, I just need a day away.  So I think will work out great.

Secondly, I am starting a new recipe blog.  Not only will I post recipes.  I am going to be posting pictures of the completed recipes that are prepared by me.  Also, I am going to post pictures of the ‘how to’ stages of certain recipes. Besides my family, Cooking and baking are two of my passions.  And I would really love to build up a neat recipe blog.

For now, my old recipe blog Kitchen Table Chat Recipes is still up and active.  However, I will be working at getting that blog down to nothing and those recipes over to my new blog.  The new blog is called “Let’s Get Cookin’”.  I am hoping to post on it at least 3 or 4 times a week as well.

And now for Fifty things.  I stole this from another blog that I read.  And thought I would post it here.  Maybe there will be something that you didn’t know about me.

1. Do you like cheese?  Yes, But only on sandwiches or pizza.  Not just to eat.

2. Have you ever smoked?No, Never even tried it.  YUCK!  I have had two many Uncles and one Aunt whose health was greatly diminished by smoking.  I think watching them taught me a good lesson.

3. Do you own a gun? No, I don’t but my husband does.
4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? Yes, I could listen to it all year.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?  It depends on what I am going to the dr. For.  If I think it is serious than yes, I get nervous.  But more so for my kids.

6. What do you think of hot dogs?  I really like them.  When I was in High School we were allowed to go ‘Up Town’ to eat our lunch.  We had a 35 minute lunch break and it took us about 5 minutes to walk ‘Up Town’.  And there were 3 places to ‘eat’.  One place served hot dog and hamburgers and such.  And there hot dogs with Mustard and relish were delish!  There is nothing quite like a small town hot dog.

7. Favorite Christmas song for all time?  Little Drummer Boy.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?  Tea

9. Can you do push ups?  This is almost laughable.  If I were still in High School, the answer would be yes!  However, since having 4 babies.  Ummmm, NO not in a million years could I do a push up now.

10. Who is your favorite Grey’s Anatomy Character? Miranda Bailey
11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?  A bracelet my kids made me for Mother’s Day.
12. Favorite hobby?  Blogging, Cooking, Baking, Decorating, Crafting with my kids.
13. Do you eat “exotic” foods? No.

14. Do you have A.D.D.?  No.  however, I have a son who is afflicted with A.D.H.D.

15. What one trait do you hate about yourself?  I worry to much at what other people think.

16. Middle Name?   I am named after my mother, who is named after her grandmother.  My great grandmother.  My middle name is Jane.

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?  1.  I wish Eric’s Car ran correctly and wasn’t breaking down all the time.  2. I wish my oldest would complain as much as he does sometimes.  3.  I hope we have a Good Merry Stress free Christmas.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday?  Groceries, stocking stuffer, and Candy
19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?  Water, Tea, and a occasional Dr. Pepper.

20. Current worry right now?  Getting my husbands car running so he/we can go places and not worry about being stranded.

21. Current hate?  Crankiness’s

22. Favorite place to be? Anywhere my husband and kids are.

23. How will you bring in the New Year?  A nice peaceful evening at home.  I usually make finger foods, brownies, cookies, and popcorn.  And we rent a few movies and we watch movies.  Daniel and Aimee are allowed to stay up until mid-night. 

24. Where would you like to go? To Texas and Oklahoma.  To see family.
25. Name three people who will complete this?hmmm, don’t know since I am not going to be tagging anyone with this.
26. Do you own flip flops?  Yes, a few pair.
27. What shirt are you wearing?  A blue USA shirt.

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?  I don’t know that I have ever even slept on satin sheets…so I don’t know.

29. Can you whistle?  Yes, I sure can…

30. Favorite color? My favorite color changes….I always like Pink.  However, my other favorites are shades of Blue, Peach, Yellow, Silver,  and brown.

31. Would you be a pirate?   no
32. What songs do you sing in the shower?  I really don’t have time to sing in the shower. 

33. Favorite girl’s name?  Aimee of course.  However, I also LOVE Olivia, Claire, and Grace!

34. Favorite boy’s name?  Daniel, Zachary and David.  However, I also love Kane for a boy!
35. What’s in your pocket right now? Nothing.

36. Last thing that made you laugh? David singing his changing song.
37. Best bed sheets as a child?hmmmm, I don’t remember.  I don’t think I had favorite bed sheets as a child.  My mom would be better able to answer this.

38. Worst injury you’ve ever had?  hmmm, Getting about 20 stitches in my left elbow and arm after a wreck, just a few weeks after Eric and I were married.  Either that or when I had a fish hook stuck in my thumb and I thought I was just going to loose it.  OR, when I pulled my earring straight down through my ear lobe one night.  But nothing major at all…..Thank Goodness!

39. Do you love where you live?  Yes, Actually I do.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2
41. Who is your loudest friend?  None of my friends are really ever LOUD.  However, I did go to school with a girl who was a year younger than me named Carie who was quite obnoxious and loud.

42. How many dogs do you have? none at the moment.

43. Does someone have a crush on you? I hope my husband does.

44. Do you get embarrassed easily? yes I do.
45. What is your favorite book?  It is not really a book but a play.  I love Hamlet!
46. What is your favorite candy? Snickers or Butterfingers.

47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? No, it took me a while to remember the Television show.
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? no comment.
49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Washing a comforter and wrapping a gift.

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Time to make the COOKIES!

I hope you all have a excellent week.  Filled with lot of  Love, Joy, and Laughter.

Take Care.

A Little Christmas shopping….

Hey Guys!

  Sorry I have been absent from the blog.    Daniel (whom never gets sick) came down with the common cold about a week ago.  It only lasted about two days for him.  Then David and I caught it.  David is almost over it, I am not….still have a horrible cough.  Hopefully, by Christmas we will all be healthy.

Eric and I (and David) managed to go and do a small bit of Christmas shopping today.  We left around 8:20 this morning and were back at 11:49.  We hit Hallmark, Target, Toys R Us, and of course Walmart.

Here is a few things we bought.  We still are not done.  I am hoping that we will be done by at least Tuesday of next week.  We just have to get stocking stuffers and a few odds and ends…

I think this is the first year we have ever cut it THIS close to Christmas.

For Daniel A Monopoly Here & Now World Edition. He has been wanting this game for a while now.

For Aimee a Pig Webkinz and a Webkinz Cat ornament.  Although, I think it looks more like a dog.  Still cute.

And for David, Well he absolutely Loves Wall-E.  It is surprising because he doesn’t really care for the movie.  He just LOVES  Wall-e.  And he also loves transformers.  And what a better combo than a Wall-e that Transforms!

We purchased him for $21.00.  I came home went on eBay and they want $44.00 for him!  Highway robbery, I tell ya.

And for Zachary we purchased a few Star Wars Figures….(Imagine that, he LOVES Star Wars)!

The kids are getting excited about Christmas.  Today, the elementary student’s had there ‘holiday’ party.  Aimee’s class didn’t have a gift exchange.  However, the teacher did give the kids some nice gifts.  Aimee received two Littlest Pet Shop animals a fish and a octopus I believe.  She love them.  The teach also gave each student a whoppie cushion.  Aimee didn’t like it so she gave it to her brother Daniel.  And Daniel is having a Bawl with it.  Although it’s not a very pleasing sound to a mother’s ears. 

And Zachary, they had a book gift exchange.  He received a Star Wars Book.  Seeing a trend here? I really liked the idea of a book exchange.  The teacher put a limit of $3 to $5. 

The kids have a half day of school tomorrow for the Big ‘Winter’ Break.  I hate that they call it winter Break.  It is Christmas Break.  Good Grief!

It is time for me to get my 4 year old to bed.  I just wanted to post something to my blog.  I hope you all have had a great few days.

Take Care!

A quick “Howdy”

Hey Guys!

  I thought I would get on here real quick.  It is FREEZING here.  My heaters (we have two in this house) have tripped the breaker today.  Both of them at the same time.  The heater downstairs did it about a week ago.  Hopefully, it is just the fuse that needs replacing???  I don’t know.  The heater’s are working after I go and make sure the breakers are in the on position. 

  We are suppose to be getting freezing rain this evening.  Knocking on wood it hasn’t happened……..”Yet!” If it wasn’t for Lois I wouldn’t have been aware of it at all, I don’t think.  I feel so scatter brained right now.  As of right now, there is still school with No delays.  The county just above us has a 2 hour school delay as of right now.  Just praying it passes by or never passes at all.

 I did add three recipes to my recipe blog.  That blog I am going to be changing up with the New Year.  And posting on it a lot.  With more photos and such.   I put my sugar cookie recipe and my royal icing recipe up.  I also put up my meatball recipe.  And a picture (yes, it is my picture) of the cooked meatballs.  I feel like such a loone taking pictures of food. 

And just for the heck of it….here is the picture of my yummy meatballs I made last week.  They are so good.  The sauce isn’t too sweet.  At least for my husband it isn’t.  However, I can taste the sweetness which I love!  Anyway, here is a quick picture of the meatballs…

I hope you all had a wondeful start to the week.  I received several Christmas Cards Today.  Thank you to my mom, my sister Shawna, my Grandma C, and my adoptive grandma Dixie.  Thank you all so much for everything!

Stay warm and take Care!

****Here I thought this was going to be a very short post!   I guess I am a talker!****

Sugar Cookie Fun Day

Hey Guys!

    Today, David and I made Sugar Cookies.  And boy, did we have a great time. David got a little carried away with his dough at some points….and became a little messy while frosting them.  And got a little crazy with all the colors of ‘icing’ on his cookies. 

  It was a fun busy day today.  Eric and David didn’t go see the movie “Bolt” last night.  Instead they went a mid morning showing today.  That gave me a few hours to get some cookies baked.  I think I made around 6 dozen cookies today.  And it was just because.  I haven’t made sugar cookies in a while and wasn’t sure how they would turn out.  I think they turned out okay.

 Here are a few of the decorated ones.

These next two pictures are not very good.

My kids have already asked me to make sugar cookies for Santa.  Which brings me to this.  When did you stop believing in Santa?  Daniel stopped the year before last.  He actually helped us last Christmas put up all his brother and sister Santa gifts.  The reason I ask is because Aimee is 10 and she still believes.  Eric says that after this year she is going to tell him.    I can’t remember when I stopped believing in Santa as a kid. 

Making Sugars Cookies (at least these) is a very long process.  So I might try to talk the kids into Chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter cookies or maybe even brownies.  I don’t know if  I will have ANY luck at all in changing there minds.  We shall see.

Oh, the Doctor called today, Zachary does not have MRSA.  Which is so wonderful.  He just has an infection and the antibiotics he is on should take care of it.  Thank goodness.  I was sort of surprised that it was actually THE doctor and not a nurse or something.  I really like Zachary’s Doctor!

I hope you have all had a wonderful day.  And Stayed warm.

Take Care.

A New School….

Hey Guys,

  I hope you are all doing well.  It is a COLD frigid day  here in my part of Tennessee.  Two days ago it was raining none stop.  Yesterday, it rained a good portion of the day.  And today, it is windy and down right cold!

  Today, was Zachary’s first day back to school.  Yeap, you read that right.  He stayed home of Monday.  On Tuesday, he had his doctors appointment.  I blogged about his ankle hurting him.  And he was having trouble walking.  Well, he actually had a HUGE boil on his ankle.  That had swelled to a little bit bigger than golf ball sized.    And it was RIGHT on the ball of his ankle where the bone sort of sticks out.  Anyway, I am very familiar with Boils.  Since David had then a lot last year. 

  As soon as the doctor looked at it…he said those dreaded four letters….MRSA!  Yeap, he squeezed it so hard to get the ‘junk’ out so he could test it.  And put Zachary on heavy antibiotic.  The doctor gave us a note for the school.  And told us he had to stay home on Wednesday because it was draining (sorry TMI)…..and it still sort of is.  We will know the results of his MRSA screening in about a week.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.  It has to be covered at ALL times because they spread SO SO Very fast!  He is feeling much better and for the first time in 6 days he is walking without a limp.

We received Aimee’s school pictures back two days ago.  I was starting to get agitated because we ordered them the beginning of November.  And I really wanted to put them into Christmas Cards for our family.  Don’t have to worry about that now….they just took an extremely long amount of time to get here.  Aimee wore her favorite shirt and the necklace that she made that day for pictures.  For school pictures I really like them.  We didn’t order any of Zachary because his were just awful.

And for the topic at hand.  My kids will be going to a different school district next year.  And No, we are not moving.  You see, our town is growing by leaps and bounds.  New schools are being built just to accomadate our growing town.   They re-zone the school district EVERY year.  And I am not kidding.  It upsets all parents.  Because they shop for houses in good school districts, only to find out that there children will go to that school maybe one year and the next be sent to a different school.

Anyway, we have lived here for 3 years and my kids have not been affected by it yet.  Since we only live 5 miles away from the school.  Well, this year is our turn.  And it is a turn that my husband and I applaud!  My kids go to an okay school right now.  Not bad and not just overwhelming good either.

They will go to the BEST school in our School district Next Year!  And they are in the process of building a BRAND new elementary school for the middle and high school.  Since right now this school district only has a middle and high school.  And Zachary will get to attend it. 

Granted it is about 6 to 7 miles away.  But we will take it…..and we figure we will be in that district for at least 3 or 4 years if not permanently.  We thought that Daniel and Aimee wouldn’t like it.  Ther mascot at there present school is an Eagle.  Which my kids love.  In part because my school mascot was an eagle.  Now, it is a Hawk.  And Aimee said, well, at least it flys!  It is Zachary that is worried about changing schools and friends.   But we truley believe he will benefit the best from the move!  We are so excited about this.  And it is set in stone.

And they have a awesome football team!  Great academics.  Something all my kids need…every child for that matter….What is going to be hard is saying good-bye to all there friends at this school at the end of the year.  I am thinking of making something crafty and giving them at least a email to reach the kids at, or our phone number.

Eric wants to take David to see the movie “Bolt” tonight.  It is SO cold though.  We will see. I know David really wants to go and see it.  And on a last note.  The Semester is OVER for Eric.  He took his last final this morning!  I am so proud of him.

I hope you have all stayed warm today.  It is supposedly snowing in Houston, TX.  Can’t imagine snow there….but it is…don’t know if it is sticking or not.

Have a great day and take Care.