Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Few and Far Between

I know that is how my posts have been recently. I haven't really felt too much like blogging here lately.

Guru and I got sitters for our kiddos Friday night and went out with some of his co-workers. We had a blast and stayed out all night! I haven't done that in SO long! We got home around 5:30 am. I took a shower and went to bed just to get back up again at 8:00 to go help coach my daughter's cheerleading squad. After that, I came home and went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Saturday afternoon, I got back up and went to my oldest daughter's basketball game. I hadn't eaten anything yet because of sleeping, so I was starving! We ended up eating an early dinner at Fazoli's. It was pretty good. We came home and I started watching a movie, but it wasn't extremely interesting to me, so I ended up falling asleep before it was over.

Sunday, guru and I were both on PT, so we were at church for both services, then we went to lunch the family for my dad's birthday. After lunch we came home and got ready to have Alex and his family over for dinner. They came over and we ate pizza and wings and hung out for a while. We rewatched some of the last A.I. and laughed at the suckiness. Good times.

That's about it. Not too much interesting stuff going on around here, hence, the few and far between.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Minivan Review

First of all, I love minivans. I always have, for some reason. When I was in elementary school, my parents got their first minivan, and I was so excited about it! I love the extra room to spread our family out and seperate the children, if need be! It's great!

I am currently driving my second minivan. My first one was a dark purple 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager. (Similar to this one):
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It was nice. It had a roomy interior, dual sliding doors, plenty of leg room in the back seats and a decent amount of space to climb into the 3rd row seats.

Our current minivan, is a 2004 Ford Freestar. Like this one, only ours is tan.
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It looks nice on the outside. And even ok on the inside. However, while still having the dual sliding doors (which are nice) they are very heavy and sometimes difficult to open and close, especially for the kids. I really wish my van had the power sliding door feature!

The back seats sit very low to the floor, so if you're taller than, say, 4 and a half feet tall, it's not very comfortable! The third row seat is nice in that it folds into the floor for added room for moving larger things. But, again, it's very low to the floor, and is the same width as the middle (2 seater) seat, but has 3 seatbelts. The middle seatbelt comes down from the ceiling of the van, so if it is in use, it is kind of annoying going down the middle of the back window.

There is also a very small space in which to climb through to get into the back past the middle seat. Our 9 year old is almost too big to get back there easily.
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The middle row is a bench seat (it would probably make it easier if they were bucket seats so you could go between them, but, alas, they aren't.)

Our van did score well in crash tests, so, at least that's good! But all in all, I can't wait to trade her in. I know right now, with all the negative equity, we wouldn't be able to get anything nicer. But our next one is going to be WAY better!!

Friday, January 12, 2007

Almost Time!

I'm so excited that there is less than a week left before the premiere of this year's American Idol!

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I have been hooked on this show since the first season! I called Kelly as the winner the first year when she sang Respect.

Clay totally got hosed and should have been season 2's winner!

I did NOT like Fantasia at all! I hated the whole "yeah, yeah" she put at the end of practically all of her songs! Super annoying!

Carrie was a good choice for season 4. Definately her over Bo! I couldn't stand his nasty messed-up-from-smoking teeth! Yuck!

Last year, of course, there was Taylor Hicks. He wasn't my first choice for the winner (Chris Daughtry was!), but he was good. I found him extremely annoying at first with his quirky movements when he sang. He just looked like he needed to take a dump or something, and really uncomfortable. But, he stopped doing that so much, and grew on me a bit.

I always love watching the auditions. I like hearing the people that can sing really well, and laughing at the reactions of the judges to those who are tone deaf, but think they're awesome! So, Tuesday night is the 2 hour Premiere! Is anyone else going to be watching this with me?

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Procedure Done

Ok, first off, I have tried switching over to the new blogger, but it keeps telling me it can't switch me. I'll have to let guru figure it out.

So, yesterday was the day I had my upper endoscopy done. I was pretty nervous before hand. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never been put under anesthesia before, so I didn't know how I would react to it. I was mostly nervous about knowing what was going on during the procedure. Everything I read said that I wouldn't be completely out, so I could cooperate with the doctor, but would not remember anything after it was over.

Well, they gave me pain meds through an I.V. and also some med. to make me sleepy (and forget after). I think I slept through most of it, but I do remember being aware a couple of times of something in my throat and gagging! NO FUN! But, it did go by really quickly, and when I was done, I woke up pretty fast. I was very tired for the rest of the day though. I took a 3 hour nap when I got home. It was kind of nice.

It turns out I have a hiatal hernia. They also took a biopsy or two of some red spots they found in my esophogus. The Doc didn't seem to be too concerned about them, just that I may need to take some antibiotics. I'm not sure what is going to be done about the hernia condition. She didn't mention anything about needing sugery for it or anything. At least yet.

So that was my day yesterday. How about you?

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Delurk yourselves!

Ok, so apparently, it did not work when I attempted to update to the new blogger thing. Guru was supposed to help me fix it, but we both keep forgetting about it when he's home. So, if I decide to keep this blog going, I will get it changed soon.

Anyway, I read on another blog today, that this is National Delurking week.

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Since, I check my statcounter on occassion, I know that I still have people who check out my blog regularly. However, I haven't been getting comments. So, if you stop by this week (or ever) PLEASE leave me a comment. Even if it's just to say "HI", to let me know you were here.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

I did it!

I took down all the Christmas decorations yesterday. I was right in that the living room looks so bare without the tree in there. We will have to do some rearranging of the couches to make it look a little better.

My younger daughter has cheerleading practice tonight from 6-7, which I have to be there for of course, since I'm helping coach her squad. Then immediately following that, guru and I both have to be at praise team practice from 7-9. Should be a tiring evening.

Upward games start this coming Saturday. My younger daughter and I have to be there at 9:00 a.m. every Saturday for the next couple of months to cheer. My older daughter is playing basketball, and her game times will vary from week to week. This week she plays at 4:00 p.m. So, this should be a fun season, going to and from the church at different times every Saturday.

And obviously, on Sunday, guru and I are both on PT, so we will have to have all the kids up and ready and be at the church from 8:30 a.m. to around 12:30 p.m. So, looks like we've got a busy weekend ahead of us.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

2007 Is Here!

We hosted a New Year's Eve party at our new place this year! It is definately nice to be able to have the extra space again so we are not stepping on one another or tripping over something every time we turn around.

G and Trin and their boys came, my dad, and two of my single mom friends with their daughters. We had some yummy meatball subs, a cheeseball and crackers, frito scoops with my friend's homemade chili-cheese dip, and tons of other snacks! We played catch phrase, scattergories, and some cards (hand and foot....great game).

It was a good time, but you could tell we are all getting old because by 11:00 p.m., everyone was yawning and trying to stay awake. Meanwhile, all the kids were still running wild with sugar highs.

At midnight, we paused our game of cards and grabbed our glasses of sparkling grape juice and headed down to the family room to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Then, we promptly headed back upstairs to finish our game and everyone headed home.

Yesterday was a pretty laid back, lazy day. Guru had the day off and we sat at home and pretty much did nothing all day. It was great! I really should have taken down my Christmas tree and decorations yesterday, but I really didn't feel like it! I don't want to take them down. The living room is going to look so bare and simple without the decorations.

Today, I am watching my friend's daughter. I may start watching her every Tuesday, as she is in need of someone to keep her on that day every week. She recently withdrew her from a private school, because she was having trouble keeping up with the fast pace. They are living in probably THE worst school district around, so she is homeschooling her for at least the rest of this year, or until she can move to a better district. So, I would be helping her with her schooling on Tuesdays as well. Fortunately, it is all done online, so that will help.

Anyway, that's how we brought in the new year. How about you?

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Christmas

We had a good Christmas. Gathered with family, ate way too much, opened presents, played cards. Good times!

Since guru got a nice bonus this year, we were able to get some things we need for our new place. We got the girls their bunk beds, so now they don't have to share a queen bed anymore (now that bed belongs to our son). They were really excited to finally get them. We have been talking about getting them bunk beds for a long time now.

We also got some new couches for our extra living room:

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Probably after the beginning of the year, we will be shopping for a new computer desk and new t.v. armoire for our bedroom (right now, we're using rubbermaid tubs since our old rickety one got thrown out)...classy!

If we have enough left after those purchases, we may look into getting an HDTV. We'll see. I really want one. More than guru does. So, I guess we should leave him some of his bonus money to buy something he really wants. *Sigh*

How was your Christmas?

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

What's up?

Well, today, I finally got the last of our things out of our old apartment. It has been a slow process. I have a few more things I need to get put away here at the new place still though. That will be done by the end of the week (hopefully). Next step will be shopping for the furniture we need. Our problem there is finding time to do that, since guru has been having to work super late every night lately. If he doesn't have any obligations at church, he has to stay at work late. I am hoping that we will be able to go out this Saturday and do some shopping.

We are planning a New Year's Eve party here at our new place. I'll probably make up some yummy "balls of meat" and some other snacks and ask everyone to bring their favorite games. We did this a couple of years ago when we were still in our house, and it was a good time. Hopefully it will be just as fun this year.

Other than that, I am officially all done with my Christmas shopping and wrapping (well, guru still needs to get his dad's gift, and I suppose I'll wrap that for him). I even got some gifts wrapped up and mailed to my young cousins in Virginia, since they won't be able to make it in for Christmas.

So, that's what's new with me. Oh, and I also switched over my blogger to the new blogger thingy. At least I think it worked. I'm not completely sure. We shall see!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Good Weekend!

Friday night, the kids and I went over to my dad's to help him put up his Christmas tree. Our family Christmas gathering is always at his house, so he HAS to have a tree. Then, I helped him wrap some Christmas presents. This is a nice change for him. My mom used to do all of the shopping and wrapping and since she passed away he has just given us money for Christmas. Even the kids. So, at least he took the time to go shopping and pick out gifts himself this year.

Saturday afternoon, we picked up G and Trin's oldest boy and took him with our kids to my grandparents' church where they were having a children's Christmas party. We dropped them off and headed out to guru's work holiday party.

The party was fun! It started out at Dave and Buster's for drinks and appetizers and a corporate challenge. Then we headed off to Stoney River for a brief presentation on how the company is doing by the big boss, and more appetizers and more drinks and then dinner. The menu was awesome! I got a coffee cured filet (no, it didn't taste like coffee) topped with crab cakes and guru got prime rib, both with a huge side of yummy garlic mashed potatoes. We also got started with a salad (guru did not partake of that option) and then, of course, dessert was very delectable as well.

After the dinner was over, a lot of people went home, but some of us stayed and hung around the bar area and chatted. I have met a few of guru's coworkers before, but it was nice to be able to meet (almost) everyone in his office and their spouses or significant others and put faces with names I hear so much about.

Sunday, guru and I got up and got ready for church all by ourselves since G and Trin kept the kiddos overnight and dropped them off at our church for us on their way to theirs. After church, we took home the daughter of a friend of mine who's brother is in the hospital (my friend's brother, not the daughter). We took the kids to the McDonalds playplace to eat lunch and burn off some energy. We ended up staying there for a couple of hours. Then we came home and my friend came and got her daughter.

After they left, we headed over to Alex's house for homemade pizza and to put together a gingerbread house. (Is it still standing, Alex?) The kids had fun drawing on the doors and windows in icing and sticking on all the candies. His wife and I had a difficult time getting the thing to stay up. It kept collapsing.

Overall a good weekend! We definately need more like it!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Doctor Appointment

I went to the Doctor's this morning for my overall health check-up with my new family Dr. I had a complete physical done earlier in the year with blood work and everything, But since I have issues with a couple of things, like my terrible acid reflux, he wanted to see me to go over everything.

So, since I can't even miss one day of my Prilosec or I will be suffering from extreme reflux by evening, he wants me to go in for an endoscopy. That, of course, was not a surprise to me. I figured he would want me to. And while I do want to find out what the problem is and fix it if possible, I just cringe at the thought! The Dr's office is scheduling it and will call me to let me know when and where.

He also mentioned that my blood work from earlier in the year (that I was told everything came back normal on) showed that my white blood count was a bit low. He said it could have been because I was sick at the time or something incorrect in the lab, but he wanted to take more blood and test it again. So, I got more blood drawn today. Hopefully it will come back normal. I tend to worry about things like this.

On another note, one of my friends told me they thought I should use one of my Christmas picture "outtakes" as my card photo:

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Yes, my son is licking his sister's face. He was pretending he was a puppy! It would be pretty funny and a pretty accurate portrayal of my kids, but I think I'll go with the first choice. :)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Second Attempt

I tried again last week to get a good picture of the kids for our Christmas card. I took about 40 pictures, but got only a few worth using. Here are the 3 finalists...

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One of these will be on our card. What do you think?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Another Year Older

Well, my birthday was yesterday. I woke up to breakfast in bed of waffles and cinnamon rolls and apple juice. Then, I got presents! First was this cute little purse from Old Navy:

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I had made a list a couple of weeks ago per guru's request of a few things that I would like. The purse was one of them. As a bonus, I also got a matching checkbook/wallet that my oldest daughter picked out. My younger daughter picked me out a nice basket of "goodies" made up of lotions and shower gel and things of that sort. So cute!

Then, my dad took the girls overnight. Then we took the boy to my grandmas and headed up to the Polaris area. Guru had some gift certificates for the movie theatre up there that we needed to use. First we stopped for dinner then went to a movie. Then it was back to pick up the boy. On the way home, we stopped and checked out the Picktown Lights.

All in all, it was a good day. After church today, we met my dad and my grandparents for lunch and came home. My son and I got a good nap this afternoon too! (Even though, I should have been moving boxes around and unpacking! Oh, well!)

Friday, December 08, 2006

New Bed?

Last night, I was sitting here blogging and looked over and saw that my sleepy son had found a comfy spot to go to sleep:

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Then, just now, I looked over and saw this:

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Who needs a big boy bed when you have a trampoline?

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Scatterbrained!

Yep, that's me! Yesterday, I missed dental appointments for my younger daughter and myself. It was just for a regular cleaning, but it totally slipped my mind! I even had it written down in my planner AND on my calendar on the fridge. I guess it doesn't really do any good to keep a planner if you don't look at it! So, I had to reschedule, and they didn't have 2 appointments on the same day and same time anytime soon, so I had to schedule my daughter for one day and me for the next! What a pain!

Then, tonight, I completely forgot that I was supposed to take my younger daughter to cheerleading practice. Have I mentioned that I'm the assistant coach of her squad?! Sheesh! After a phone call reminder that I was supposed to be there, we made it there, with 15 minutes to spare. Seriously, where is my freaking brain? I am so annoyed with myself for all of my forgetfulness!

Ok, moving on... I got the pictures of our tree put on the computer now, so in case you're interested, here it is:

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I don't know if our ceilings are higher in the new apartment, or if I just notice it more because the room the tree is in is so much bigger, but the tree looks so short and small! I think this gives me a good excuse...er...reason to go out after Christmas and try to find a taller, bigger tree at a discount for next year, right? And maybe some more ornaments too (looking back at the picture on here, it looks kind of bare, so a bigger tree would look even more bare).

And our stockings hung by the chimney (fireplace) with care:

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So, now, if I can just get all of these boxes unpacked and everything put away, I'll be doing good.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Moved

Well, for the most part at least. We still have a few things at the other place that we need to move over. I've been taking my time this week by moving over one van load a day. Just today, I got all of the boxes we've brought in so far put up. Then, I went back over and brought another load over so there are now more boxes sitting in my living room. More for me to do tomorrow.

We still don't have our internet hooked up. There was a problem with our phone line and we had to have the phone company come out and fix that today, so now we have our phone set up, only 5 days late! We are currently borrowing a neighbors unsecured network, which is how I am able to post this now.

I did manage to get my christmas tree up this weekend. I took some pics, but I can't post them until our computer is hooked up (using the laptop right now). But, that's what I've been doing this week. I still have a lot more to do before I can finally settle in completely. We also need some new furniture for our added living room, a new computer desk, a new t.v. armoire for our bedroom (our old one didn't survive the move) and a bunk bed for the girls. My goal is to be done by Christmas! Here's to hoping guru's year end bonus is a nice one! We shall see.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Chaos!

Our home is in complete chaos right now! We are moving in 2 days and I have been packing like crazy! This is what our table looks like (and has been this way for the past week!):

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The storage room is all in boxes too:

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Last night, I packed up the girls' room. There was a pencil box left on their dresser, and this morning I went down to find this:

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I packed up my son's room last week. That was pretty much a waste of time because, today, it looks like this:

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Actually, it looks worse than it really is. Once I get all of his toys packed back into the toy box, it won't be near as bad. That is the downfall of trying to pack with kids in the house. They just go right behind me and unpack things. This happens with cleaning too. I hate spending my time cleaning a room just to walk out for 2 minutes, then turn around and go back in the room I just cleaned and find it in disarray! That just frustrates me to no end.

Anyway, it is supposed to be snowing Friday so that should make for an interesting move. Hopefully we will get it all done quickly and I can get my Christmas tree up this weekend!

Monday, November 27, 2006

Out of hand?

No pun intended. (Ok, maybe a little.) Has this whole thing with Clay Aiken and Kelly Ripa gone a bit extreme? I see Kelly's point, but is she blowing it a bit out of proportion? I also think that the whole thing with Rosie O'Donnell thinking that Kelly's remark (about not knowing where Clay's hand has been) was homophobic is just absurd! I don't think it had anything at all to do with that. I believe that it was truly just about germs. Your thoughts?

Stupid Acid Reflux!

Good grief! I miss one day of my Prilosec and by bed time, I am feeling the pain! Something is not right with me. This is not normal! I have a Doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks with my new family Doc. to assess my overall health. I'll definately be bringing this up. I have brought it up in the past. My previous Dr. said that it should definately be checked into if the problem doesn't go away.

It has been going on for years now. It seems to have only gotten worse with each baby I have had. I fear I will soon have to have an endoscopy to figure out what is causing my problems. Just the thought of having a camera shoved down my throat to view my stomach makes me sqirm! Ugh!

That is the main reason I am even up at this hour blogging. I cannot lay down. I can literally feel the acid sitting in my esophagus. It is horrible! It's bad enough when I am sitting up, let alone if I attempt to lay down. Anyway, I guess I will go give a try to sleeping propped up on pillows. I did that a lot when I was pregnant.

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Saturday, November 25, 2006

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was a good one. I made a corn casserole, green bean casserole, and my friend's recipe for sweet potato casserole. The sweet potatoes turned out awesome, if I do say so myself! I think I'm going to have to make that again for Christmas!

Two of my dad's sisters and their familes weren't able to make it to town this week, so we only had 22 people there (including two very cute little babies). However, they are both supposed to be coming into town next week, so we should get to see them then.

Tomorrow, neither guru nor myself have any responsibilities at church, so we may or may not sleep in. Maybe we'll make it to one of the services. Too bad this day "off" didn't come next Sunday, since we can start moving next Friday and will probably be busy with that all weekend. But, since we both need to be there next week, we'll have to take a break from moving Sunday morning.

Anyway, I'm still keeping myself busy getting ready for this move. I am anxious to get moved and settled. Usually, I get my Christmas tree and all the decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I have to wait. I'm getting ansy!

I also realize, it has been quite a while since I've posted any pictures on here. So, I will try to do that sometime soon. That is if anyone cares to see. I don't know if anyone even visits here anymore other than guru, but that's ok. I still visit all my reads. Well, enjoy the rest of the weekend!