Catching Up

Brrr... I'm so cold today. We've been having our share of winter storms lately and I must say that I'm done with the snow and the cold. Sure, the mountains look pretty - but I'm shivering over here. :p

Well, besides being cold it's been busy around here. I've been helping Kirsten with her first science fair project. I think she's really enjoyed working on it.
Brandon and Vern went to the Jazz game on Monday. The Lakers won, but they had fun anyway. :)
Elijah's been under the weather again. Poor little guy. I've been looking into vitamins and such - seeing what I can do to boost his little immune system so that he stops catching every little cold that goes around.
Vern took the day off work yesterday so we could do some running around. We needed to get some things notarized and he finally looked at the paperwork I've been filling out for my citizenship. I'm so excited to finally get that done.

See, like I said - busy.

I did watch AI last night. The guys did so much better than last week. I have my pick for the boys this year - Chris Richardson. He was my fave. There were some others that did well, but he stood out for me. Oh, and Sanjaya had better be going home. Ick.
Girls tonight! Yay!

Have a great day!

countdown

5 songs you'd recommend (Some favorites baby!):
I answered this one last, since what would have gone here went elsewhere. (We can just move my "makes you dance" list here.) I just ended up looking through my mp3s and picking 5. Some of these are way old - but they're all ones I still listen to.
Daughtry - Over You
Sara McLaughlan - Fallen
Nickelback - Someday
Low Millions - Eleanor
Barenaked Ladies - For You

4 songs that get you dancing:
Tell Me ~ Diddy & Christina
Irreplacable ~ Beyonce
Bizarre Love Triangle ~ New Order
Moving Too Fast ~ Supafly Inc

3 songs with feeling (sad songs/songs that make you cry): Far Away by Nickelback
Over and Over by Nelly & Tim McGraw
and an oldie - She Can't be Really Gone by Tim McGraw

2 songs that have been dedicated to you:
The funniest was Anthony S who dedicated "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" to me at a youth center dance when he finally decided that me and Perry liking eachother might possibly mean that him and I were not going to happen. Even if I hadn't liked Perry at that time, Anthony & I wouldn't have happened. The memory makes me smile though. Silly teenagers. :p
I'm Not Strong Enough to Say No by Blackhawk - I still don't know what to say to Dwayne about this one, even this many years later. :p

1 song that gets stuck in your head:
I've got to do a repeat here and say Beyonce's Irreplacable since it's been in my head for almost 2 days now. :p

Friday

Hooray for Friday! And pizza! And diet Pepsi! Mmmmm...

I didn't mean to concern anyone with yesterday's post. I really just wanted to blog about how proud I was of myself for having the guts to do something I usually avoid. I'm so grateful for my amazing friends (squirrels are the bestest!) and for their concern, but really - I'm okay. I promise. So, that said - today I'm going to keep things simple and upbeat. :)

I found a list of questions that I thought it'd be fun to answer. I haven't done a meme in awhile. If you read this & you blog too I'd love to see your answers. :)

Who was the last person to hug you?
Elijah
Underwater swimming or skydiving?
Both! But swimming every day and skydiving when I'm feeling adventurous.
Are you more likely to yell or give the silent treatment?
Um, I yell. :p I don't think I've ever given anyone the silent treatment.
I believe that ____ is _____ .
I believe that laughter is therapeutic.
Who was your first love?
It was Corey St. Luke. A really great guy. Yummy too. :)
What makes a good friend?
The ability to listen without judging & the courage to tell you the truth even if it's not what they think you want to hear. Hmmm... Could've said that in 2 words - unconditional love.
Thank you ___ for ___.
Thank you squirrely friends for caring.
What's your lucky number?
It's 13. Really.
When was the last time someone gave you flowers?
Um... It's got to be a bad sign that I have to really think about this. Maybe my birthday last year? Hmmm...
How high is your guilt threshold?
It's pretty low actually. Possibly too low. I'm notorious for apologizing to people thinking I've done something to hurt their feelings or whatever, only to have them look at me and ask what on earth I'm even talking about. I worry almost too much about little things sometimes. :p
How long is your fuse?
I think it's safe to say that it's pretty long, but if you've found the end of it watch out.

Happy Friday!

Rawr!

I'm proud of myself. I was brave today.

I've mentioned this before, but I can be really quiet (think silent) and uncomfortable when I first meet new people. I have a hard time trusting others, which translates to it taking me a little longer to relax and not be extremely shy around a new person or group of people.

Anyhow - Today I was playing WoW while in an unusual frame of mind. It's been a rough week for me. I've been up and down, constantly on the verge of tears and stressed to the point of nauseousness over something I don't understand and have no control over. I'd say today I was part angry, part sad and mostly hurt. Somehow though, I was brave enough to say yes to some random person who asked me to come to an instance. Normally I don't do pugs (pick-up-groups ie. random players grouping up) because of the aforementioned shyness issues, but something about my state-of-mind today had me saying "grrr...why not?"
Not only did I go, but I had fun. It did something for my hurting soul to have strangers say nice things to me. (Who doesn't need to be told that they rock every once in awhile?) After a decent experience in the first group I went ahead and said yes to a second pug invite. Once I relax I do have fun, and hey - I was able to help some different people out. In return the compliments & kind words cheered me up. I needed that.

I'd say that today was an awesome day. I ventured into the uncomfortable and came out a little happier and stronger for it. Go me!

Play by Play

I'm bored and am about to share the love. Woo! Yep, you've got it - a play by play of my boring evening right here. :p

~45 minutes on my treadmill
~20 minutes with my weights (shoulders and back today)
~Dancing with Kirsten & little Vern
~A much needed shower
Moooooom, pleeeeeease play WoW with meeeee....
~Spend an hour playing my bloodelf pally with Kirsten's warlock. We hit lvl 19. Yay!
Okay Kirsten, homework time!
~Make grilled cheese & tomato sandwiches for dinner. Make 'em quick! It's AI time! Hopefully the girls do better than the boys did yesterday...
~Kiddos fed, check. Homework going, check. Some WoW time for me now! Yay!
Wait, bathtime first! Kiddos clean, check.
~Hooray - I'm back in my computer chair!
Um, the girls are doing marginally better than the boys did on Idol. I'm not all that impressed so far.
~Make it to the WoW login screen right as Elijah starts crying.
Vern started yelling and LV went running. He accidentally caught Elijah's hand in a folding chair and squished it good. Owie. I consoled LV while Vern inspected Elijah's hand. It looks okay. Whew!
~Scoop up my pouty babe and comfort him. He hasn't been feeling well lately and its looking like he's going to cuddle with mom and cry himself to sleep. Kisses for my sweetie! Sadly playing WoW with my babe in arms doesn't work well. American Idol will get my full attention after all.
Hmmm... Well that was some interesting TV. There's always next week, right? :p
~Well, now it's almost 11:00 and I'm still holding Elijah in my computer chair. I am my babe's favorite pillow and he won't let me put him down for anything. There's nothing interesting on TV. Vern & Brandon are playing WoW and I'm typing one handed here - sharing the love. I'm about ready to pull out a movie to go with these cuddles and call it a night.
I ought to send B to bed as well. I hadn't realized the time. He'll have a rough morning.

Exciting, I know. :p

Once again...

I find myself without words.
So here's a picture instead.
I'm still in disbelief that he'll be two next month.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Happy Valentine's Day!
I must say that it's been a great day here so far. Elijah and LV have been wonderful, cuddly company. (I get to blog while they nap.)
I wasn't exepcting anything from Vern, but he surprised me. I had chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast. (From Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - My favorite. Yummy!) We have some of their tdf apples upstairs too. The apple pie and key lime pie ones are my favorite. I think there's even an oreo one for the kiddos. Soooo good. Treats from there were definately a thoughtful surprise. Thank you Vern. :)
Anyhow, how can you not have a great day when it starts with chocolate covered strawberries and involves cuddles and lovin' from 4 of the cutest kiddos in the world?
When Brandon & Kirsten get home from school we'll make cookies for Vern. I'm not sure what else to plan. I just want to enjoy the time with them, and make sure that all of my loved ones have the best day possible.
I'll have to get some pictures of our treats before they're all gone, but for now here's a picture of my silliest valentine, little Vern. (He needs a haircut badly, but man I love his silly little kissy faces.)
To my loved ones who aren't close - I hope you know you're in my thoughts. Hugs, kisses and lovin' headed out to all of you.
Have a great day!

A yummy treat

...for all of the ladies out there.

I was thinking that for Valentine's Day I'd find the video for Bryan Adams' Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman to post on here. It's an all time favorite love song of mine, and the first song I thought of to share for Valentine's Day. There were no Bryan Adams videos to be found on the net. (Well there was an okay live version and some Asian dubbed versions, but eeeeew...) It's all good - I found the perfect thing. Here's the video of when Chris Daughtry sang it on American Idol last year. *Swoon* Pure yumminess.

And in case you didn't already know this - I'm such a spaz. I almost deleted yesterdays entry last night when 2 different people mentioned that they were checking out my blog. In spite of the counter that tells me people stop by, I tend to live in denial that people actually come here. LOL So if you do and then tell me about it I just may spaz out and want to delete things like that icky picture. :p Maybe I'll just try to redeem myself by having someone take a better picture of me soon. I'd have B take one today, but considering I hardly slept last night I probably look even more zombaliscious today than I did yesterday. :p

I feel like I should say something about the shootings yesterday at Trolley Square, but I'm not sure what to say. It's scary when things like that happen so close to home. My heart goes out to the people who lost loved ones and those who were there - what a horrific thing to go through. The more I read about it the more sad it makes me. It makes no sense. I must also admit to being grateful that we weren't there. We could have been. I love that mall.

Oh, and I've been slacking on my sweethearts mesages. Here's one for today:
For B, who just got home from school and is already at work helping to get dinner started. I seriously don't know what I'd do without that young man.

Imperfect :p

I have been oh so tired lately.
Really. Just. Very. Tired.
In every way.

I've said it before, and it remains true - when I'm tired it shows. I swear I feel like it ages me 50 years. I tend to delete pictures taken of me at times like this. Ick. No girl wants physical proof of her less than perfect days. I must say that lately it seems like every day has been one. But you know what? My 5 year old wanted to take a picture of me today and I let him. Yep - it was a harmless request. I planned to delete the evidence at the time. lol
Then I showed him the pictures he took and he said I looked pretty. Thanks little Vern!
Thank you for loving me as-is even when I'm tired and not feeling up to par. For him I'll even be brave and share a picture he took. Ickiness and all. My hair was still a little damp from the shower, and I wasn't planning on being seen in public today so I hadn't bothered with makeup and such - but it doesn't matter.
One of the most important people in my life thought I looked pretty anyway.

Friday Night w/ Mom

Vern has to work late tonight, so my kiddos and I decided to have a Friday night party of sorts. Instead of me being on my computer like usual, we're cuddling, watching movies & eating the rice crispy squares I made last night. It's always fun to spend time with them. I'm so very tired though - the hard part will be staying awake. :p
I hope that whoever reads this is having a fun Friday night of their own!

Since this entire night is dedicated to my kiddos, my sweet heart message is for them too -

I love you guys! Thanks for the cuddles & smiles!

Hunk of Burning Love

My sweet little sister in law Lauren stopped by yesterday with Valentines day presents for all of us. She got Kirsten & Elijah t-shirts. Elijah's is the best - it says Hunk of Burning Love. lol There will be pictures... She gave me the softest cushiest robe. Love it. All the boys from LV up got basketball shorts. Good timing for B who needs 'em for fitness class at school.
Anyway, it was the sweetest surprise. Thank you Lauren!

...and just because it made me laugh - my sweet hearts message of the day is:

RandoM TueSday

I have so many things running through my head at the moment that rather than trying to write a cohesive blog entry on any given topic I'm going to just jot down some random thoughts.

I love making lunch with my kiddos. We usually make something fun and yummy. Today it was french bread pizza. Mmmmm... We need to do that one again.

I spent a chunk of my day working on a picture for Vern's grandpa. It was a 4x6 shot of his friend's house, on which they'd written in permanent marker across the front. He wanted it scanned, the writing removed and resized to print an 8x10. You know I couldn't resist doing some other clean up and such... lol Anyhow - it was a fun little project.

I mentioned not long ago that I'm loving Daughtry's debut album. After my first little sneak peek I immediately bought 3 songs from iTunes. Those choices were Over You, What about Now and It's not Over. All 3 of those songs have a spot on my current playlist. (I think Over You is my favorite though. Or maybe What about Now. Hmmmm...)
I'm impressed. Yummy. Both Chris, and his first offerings with his new band. :)

American Idol is on tonight. Is it just me or are the audition shows worse this year than in years past? I'm not even finding it funny at this point and so far even the people making it through aren't impressing me much. Last year I liked Taylor, Chris and Ace immediately. Not a single person has really stood out yet this year. :p

Kirsten's pretty face hasn't been posted on my blog in awhile. Here she is after playing outside the other day. It's been fun having her home these last few weeks. She goes back on track next week.

I need to go spend some time on my treadmill. I'm hoping that'll wake me up some, since I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done this afternoon. (You know - fun things like laundry, groceries and such...)

The sweethearts thought of the day is...
Because I believe that dreaming is an important thing to do.

Have a great day!

Proof that I'm a lost cause...

First of all, congratulations to my friend Nicole who's home from the hospital with her brand new son. Hugs going out to her and her sweet family. They named him Carson Blake - cute huh? I had my date wrong though, she had him on the 1st! I'm just glad that all went well and that they're safe at home. :)

And... Jody was kind enough to let me know that his birthday is on the 4th of Feb, not the 2nd like I had in my head, so um... Now that it's 2am Sunday - Happy birthday Jody! Muah! :p

I've been so out-of it lately but have been thinking about my friends and the things going on in their lives. I'm sorry I'm not great at remembering dates & such perfectly, but I want you to know that I think of you anyhow.

And with that, my sweet hearts message of the day is...
Just because. :) ...I'm too tired to come up with a reason why. ;)

A special day!

I woke up with the world's biggest headache, and am considering crawling back in bed. First though, I had to make breakfast for my kiddos, and I wanted to post an entry here while they eat.

One of my most favorite people on earth is having a birthday! (Don't be falling over just because I remembered. I know I'm bad at these things. :p I'm working on it.) Jody is 27 today. I have no idea where he is or what he's up to, but I hope he has the most fabulous day. He's such an awesome person. I'm so lucky to have him in my life - he means a lot to me. Muah! Happy birthday Jody!

My friend Nicole is scheduled to have her baby today. I'm not sure what they're naming him - but I'm thinking about her today and hoping that all goes well. Hugs going out to Nicole, Alan & big brother Cole today! I can't wait to hear the news!

The candy heart message of the day is:
Because everybody who means something to you deserves your undivided attention sometimes.

Well, the pain meds aren't working, so I'm off to *hopefully* sleep this headache away.
Have a great day!

Happy February!

February means that winter is almost over. It means candy hearts, love notes and for some lucky folks, romance. I can't claim to be married to a romantic man, but hey - I got my first love note today from Kirsten & little Vern. They're the cutest. I'm the luckiest mommy in the world. :)

In honor of February this year I'm going to share a simple mesage here daily. With the help of some sweet little candies that is...

Today's message: Smile!