Thank you Kmart....

...for doing SUPER DOUBLE COUPONS right after I decided to try to keep up with them again (with Sha Sha and NiNi's help!)

I saved $90 today with coupons and will not need to buy shampoo, soap, deodorant and feminine products for the next year!!!

Now to find somewhere to store the loot!!!

The boy got his hair gel too - as soon as he gets his haircut he'll have spiky hair!!!

What I'm thankful for

My God
My family
My Hubby
My wonderful children
My church
My friends
My many blessings daily
Turkey
Chocolate
Pumpkin Pie
Cranberries
An opportunity to stay in my pjs all day.......

It wouldn't be Friday...

The last two Friday nights One of my children have come home feeling poorly from school and running a fever.

Ick!

The good news is that we haven't had any major plans either weekend. So it's been okay to just hang out at home. More good news, no quick trips to the bathroom, if you know what I mean.

Just a fever and the whininess that goes along with it.

So nothing exciting for blog fodder will probably happen this weekend. Then again, who knows?

Stylish

My son has decided he wants "spiky" hair. I imagine he is wanting it because some of the boys at school have it. I have tried mousse and his hair doesn't respond - it goes back to flat in a matter of minutes. I guess hair gel is the next step. Anyway, Saturday after his bath he came down with spiky hair. I asked him what he used and he just replied, "Something in the bathroom". I asked him to bring me the bottle.



And yes - that is my tropical shave gel. Not only does it make your legs dramatically smooth and moisturized, but it also does wonders to spike the hair of 5 yr olds!!

Potty success?

GiGi is sitting on the potty some and asking to be changed right after she goes. I am hoping that is a good sign.

She has even filled the potty once.




No - her urine has not turned pink - that is the whole bottle of strawberry shampoo that she dumped in the potty on Saturday. It was all over her and the floor too. Boy do tile floors get slippery when covered in shampoo.

Upside - She knows to fill the potty with something - just not the right thing - AND the potty smells like strawberries!

Fooling myself

I am wondering if I start going to bed at 8 pm if I can fool myself into thinking its morning and time to get up when GiGi decides to wake at 4:30?

My Mother's Wish

I have to admit that this book was not what I expected. I expected a modern-day Tiny Tim and Scrooge story. What I got was more of a prodigal returned home via a dawning realization and divine intervention story. It is a very easy read but I have to share a passage and what was impressed upon me.

After a rough and tumble truck driver in a diner sings sacred music with the voice of an angel -

"It wasn't simply that Grandfather had sung these songs, but that he had had these songs within him to sing, and a voice that could charm snakes with which to sing them. He looked so much like the others that I had thought him ordinary; now I thought that perhaps each of the others might be equally extraordinary in his own way. I looked again along the line of Big Men and was surprised to see that each profile was now absolutely unique; each face bore its own distinctive road map of creases and wrinkles to track its journey. That was the precise moment I realized that they were not merely Farmers and Big Men; they might well be Heroes and Giants....."


Why can't we look at everyone this way, look past the exterior flaws and see them like Jesus does? Why isn't it enough to love and be loved and accept others despite the flaws?

An affecting tale, My Mother’s Wish by Jerry Camery-Hoggattt will remind you of the power of grand hopes and effect of impossible expectations. You’ll witness the influence every life has on another, and you’ll find new reasons to believe in the comfort and joy in an everyday, American version of the story of Christmas: being known and loved, just as you are.

I think I need to read it again. I'm sure I missed something good.

I also have a hard cover copy to give away. Leave me a comment and I'll pick a random winner on Friday, November 21! (Just in time for the holidays!)

Obviously I have linking issues....

http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2008/08/when-god-steps-in.html

We think we have it so bad....

Check out these posts and let me know how your attitudes change?

It made me appreciate my life and my God so much more.

Butcher or Baker maybe?

But definitely not a candlestick maker!

This is the result of my first attempt at candle making.
One only stayed together because I softened the wax with a butane candle lighter and stuck it back together. Unfortunately the other two were too far gone. For someone who loves her crafts, this is somewhat humbling. I guess we all need some humbling now and again...Don't we?

(Don't take the butcher thing too seriously, I won't even clean fish for hubby!)

Buzz Lightyear?

Sha Sha asked the boy how high he could count.

His response "To Infinity and beyond!"

Christmas shopping, er...Consuming?

I have always joked that I am a super shopper! I shop several stores and ads, I compare prices, I drive to multiple stores to skim clearance racks. So I have made Christmas lists for my 4 children (with their strong suggestions of course!)

Today hubby and I started our Christmas shopping. I frequently have done all the Christmas shopping in years past by myself, and I frequently do a lot of it on Black Friday. This year I decided it would be a good bonding experience to do it WITH hubby and start earlier. I am hoping this helps me keep spending under control!

So hubby and I visited our FAVORITE (yes being sarcastic) toy store today.

This is what I remembered. Hubby is a consumer! I am a shopper!

The distinction?

Hubby wants the list and wants to get the items put them in the cart, check out and go.

I want to peruse the aisles looking for the item the children didn't think of, but would love, compare prices with the other ads in my purse, ask the opinion of the salesclerk (which ironically today was her first day...), and then make sure we have the minimum purchase to receive the gift card for our next visit.

We did pick up a couple of items on The Boy's list. A new set of dominoes for us and the pink potty for Gigi (see Potty post earlier.) Oh yeah, and hubby bought a small nerf gun for the office.....

NiNi speaks....

In conversation recently -

"What language do they speak in Virginia?"

and

"That battery isn't dead, it's still alive!"

She makes me laugh!!!

POTTY TIME!!

Gigi went with us to purchase her first potty today. She loves it.

Of course not to sit on. Standing IN it is her favorite activity.....

Each of our kids has had a "Bribery" technique that has worked for them. Often we have had to try several different techniques before finding what worked with each specific child.

The first was easy. Reading a book or singing 10 little Indians (I never claimed it was a PC technique.)

The second was a rendition of "Oh, happy day!" that Daddy had a special knack for!

The third was McDonald's coupons.

I'm kind of hoping the 4th will settle for good old M&Ms and a rendition of "My girl wants to Potty all the time, potty all the time, potty all the TIIIIME!"

I'll let you know....

Acrostic FUN!

NiNi is really into acrostics right now. You know where you list a word or name down the side of a page and then come up with descriptive words and phrases to describe it or them? Come on - You know Junior High class elections for example -

Vote for

T - Tenacious
O - Obnoxious
M - ME!

Anyway she was coming up with acrostics for everyone's name in our family the other day -

My favorite words to describe me - Graceful (I don't know who she is watching - but I would not use this one to describe my clumsy self), Young (What 30something doesn't want to be called that!), and drumroll please.... Nothing Wrong???? (Snicker...)

My favorite words to describe her Dad - Merciful (she pegged this one!), Radical (I thought this went out 20 years ago.), Computer Worker and Opposites. When asked to explain Opposites, she remarked - "That's you and Dad, Opposites....". Hmmm...

Hit between the eyes.....

So Sunday morning I was able to sit thru a sermon for the first time in a month (Live is always different from CD listening with interruptions).

I went in with an attitude. I was miffed and offended by something that someone else had done. I admit it. I have a tendency to take things the wrong way, blow things out of proportion, read between the lines.... (I'm sure you get the picture).

Anyway, pastor spoke a message about how we aren't offended by people we don't know. It's not possible. We're not offended frequently by people that we CHOOSE as our friends, because we CHOSE them. Who are we offended by? FAMILY. Those that GOD chooses to put on our lives outside our control. That not only means biological family, but church family too.

It's time for me and the church as a whole to GROW UP and get over ourselves. Our commandment to LOVE our brother needs to be more at the forefront of our everyday. That will speak volumes to the world around us. They will know we are Christians by our LOVE for one another, not our TUDES, not our offenses, not our snide remarks.... By our LOVE!

Thank you GOD and forgive me....

Toddlerhood

I know most of you have seen this - but this is where my youngest child is right now -

Rules of the toddler

1. If I like it, it's mine. 

2. If it's in my hand, it's mine. 

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine. 

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine. 

5. If it's mine, it must NEVER appear to be yours in anyway. 

6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine. 

7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine. 

8. If I saw it first, it's mine. 

9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically

becomes mine. 

10. If it's broken, it's yours.

It's a good thing she's cute.