Friend Makin' Mondays

So I'm hopping on the wagon and joining Friend Makin' Mondays, which is hosted by Amber. It is 20 questions, for the nosiness in us all. So here are the questions...

1. DO YOU COOK EVERY NIGHT?

Unfortunately, yes. I really don't like to, but if I must.

2. WHAT KIND OF LAUNDRY DETERGENT DO YOU USE & WHY?

I seriously had to go to my laundry room to find out the answer to this question..I use ALL. I don't really have a specific reason...maybe the packaging was pretty!

3. DO YOU DO LAUNDRY EVERYDAY OR LOADS AT A TIME?

I do laundry as needed. When I have enough for a load of colors, then I do them, etc.

4. HOW OFTEN DO YOU EAT OUT PER WEEK?

Well that varies, depends on what I'm out doing and if I'm out long enough. I'd say it's approximately 2x per week.

5. WHERE DO YOU USUALLY EAT OUT?

If it's fast food, then we do Taco Bell, Mcdonald's, KFC. If it's a restaurant, The Olive Garden, a really yummy mexican food restaurant called Valle Luna.

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RETAIL STORE?

I guess that would be Target.

7. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DRINK?

That would be some tea with my sugar please. Reeeeaally sweet tea.

8. DO YOU TAKE VITAMINS? WHAT KIND?

I really don't like to take much of anything, but sometimes I take the sublingual (under the tongue) vitamin B-12 for energy metabolism....I'm tired an awful lot of the time.

9. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE HOUSEHOLD CHORES DO YOU DO?

I'd say about 70% or so of the inside chores...and my husband does about 50% of the outside chores...I don't know who's responsible for the other 50%.

10. DO YOUR CHILDREN DO CHORES?

Umm, yep. I'm not doing it for them. They make the mess, they clean it up. They are each responsible for their own rooms. Alyssa does the dishwasher and washes what can't go into the dish washer and she does the dusting part time....we both have bad allergies, so we split this task. And she also takes the garbage out. Taylor is responsible for cleaning the sink in the kids bathroom and for keeping the table in the kitchen washed. And Jayce washes the kitchen chairs and helps put away the cans and boxed goods after grocery shopping.

11. DO YOU GO TO CHURCH?
No.

12. DO YOU HAVE A HOUSEWORK SCHEDULE?

No. I clean it as it gets dirty. The only spot in my house that has stuff piled/not taken care of, would be my computer desk usually has a small stack of papers/books/whatever piled on it, and my scrapbook desk is kinda in a disarray also. Other than that, I don't like messes, so I keep it clean as we go.

13. DO YOU KEEP A WORKING BUDGET?

No. I don't have anything that keeps track of the budget. Most of the time try to spend as little as possible. Try to always "pay ourselves first" by putting into savings. We spend a little, save a little and pay the bills on time, so it works for me.

14. WHAT DO YOU DO AT NIGHT AS A FAMILY?
I guess we don't specify night at family time. By the time my husband gets home from work, it is time for the two youngest to get to bed and the oldest stays up for 1 hour more. Each night they say their goodnights' and then they take their books to their room and read (in Jayce's case, look at the pictures) until they feel they've done that enough, and then lights out. So it's pretty much, homework, eat dinner, baths, goodnight and reading. When it's not so hot we go for walks.

15. HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A NEW WEEK?
I celebrate! While some people dread mondays..I celebrate them. That's when everyone goes back to school/work, and I get some me time. LOVE IT!

16. WHAT DO YOUR MORNINGS LOOK LIKE?
They look early to me. You see, I am NOT a morning person, so I like to be able to sleep in, atleast until 8 a.m., that would be good enough for me. But..here's the reality of it. I get up at 6:50 a.m. to get my oldest off and going. She has to leave the house at 7:20 to catch the bus. So I make sure she's done everything she needs to do. When she leaves I get the youngest two up and going to get them off to the bus at 8 a.m. Once they leave, there's always something different that I'm doing...either off to run errands, or relaxing at home and blogging, or cleaning house, or visiting shortmama, or cursing at my exercise video while working out...the list goes on.

17. WHAT TIME DO GET UP IN THE MORNING?
I get up at 6:50 on weekdays/school days. And I can only hope to sleep in until 8 a.m. on the weekends. You see, my husband is an EARLY morning person. I. Hate. It...but atleast he's nice enough to try to go back to sleep so I can sleep in.

18. WHAT TIME DO YOU GO TO BED AT NIGHT?
Anywhere between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. And then I lie there and read for a while before lights out.

19. HOW DO YOU MANAGE ALL OF THE PAPERWORK THAT FLOODS INTO YOUR HOUSEHOLD? (Bills, School Work, Magazines, Ads, etc.)
Well I have a bill holder on my computer desk to place all of the bills that seem to keep finding their way to us. School work, I look through their stuff, throw out their days work unless it's a memorable drawing, etc. and have them get started on their homework. Any school activity letters that get sent home, I mark the dates/events on my calendar and throw the papers out. I don't like clutter. Magazines I read through as soon as possible so I can get them thrown out too. Hmm, I'm starting to sound like a clean freak here...did I mention that I don't like clutter? I do have a filing system, and while it is set up pretty good, there is definately room for improvement, I'm just waiting on myself to buy a 4-drawer filing cabinet to replace the 2-drawer that isn't enough.

20. HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZED? (Calendar's, Chart's, etc.)
I mainly have everything on the calendar. My computer desk has an erasable white board attached to it...that's where my honey do list is located. And I have to say that my honey do pretty good at getting it done...well, most of the time anyways. No charts or anything like that. Just a do it and get it over with mind set. Cause' ya know if I let it go for too long, then it escapes to that far away distant place in my brain that says "what are you talking about, I don't remember that".

Family Funnies

Everyone has some crazy funny family moments hidden in there somewhere.

Oh how I remember when...

Umm, something's wrong with mah teeth

Umm, naked here! I know I still look like my brother, but I've still gotta hide em!

Quit chasing me with the camera!

Oh fine, if you must have a picture of me!

But grandpa lets me pee outside at his house...

Sure Jayce, get off the couch and do something crazy like this out of the blue, no problem!

"He gets that from you Rose..that's all you"

Vacation Dreams

So I know summer is over, but I am still dreaming of the vacation that we didn't really take. While we can't really afford an expensive vacation, I always dream of the expensive places.

So here are a few of the places I dream of going on vacation to...

The first place is Bora Bora



That just looks like heaven to me. I'm not sure I would ever return home if I got to go there. So besides the finances, there's one little issue...my husband doesn't want to go there. And why not? He says because it's. in. the. middle. of. nowhere. A tiny spec in the middle of a vast ocean. He says one bad storm could wipe us out. I'm ok with this, atleast I would've died happy!

And where else do I want to go? I want to go to Atlantis in the Bahamas.




Again, another piece of heaven. I think I'd go clean hotel rooms just to live there.


And the third place that I like to dream about would be Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

This place just looks absolutely beautiful.

And then there is this place that I heard about and figured the kids would just absolutely love it..

This is a tree house hotel. It would be the tree house the kids never had all packed into a vacation adventure.

If I got the chance to do atleast one of these in my lifetime, then it would definately be Bora Bora. I'll just have to figure out a way to get a prescribed medicine for my tough husband so he will be a willing participant...

And Today..I Really Have Nothing

So I don't really have much to talk about today...there was a family tragedy and I had to go and be there for my dad. Other than that..I have nothing today...

Where has summer gone?

So I have been wondering where my summer has gone. All the things we do each summer have been absent from this summer. Camping? Haven't gone this summer. Boating? Haven't done that either. Ok, so that is due to our boat being broken down since last summer. What's a summer without camping and boating and swimming...and of course my favorite, roasting marshmallows by the camp fire at night.

So my husband doesn't want to go camping anymore until we get a travel trailer...I may forget what camping even is before we get one of those. I can't say I blame him much though. We can do the whole tent thing, but it really does feel like we're moving our whole house each time we go. Add to that a bad back for my husband, as he is a veteran. Our kids say they miss camping too, but really, I just have to give them THAT LOOK when they say this. I think our kids don't know what to do with themselves when we are camping. They tend to whine and complain and drive us crazy and end up just sitting there staring at us. It's like they don't know how to run around and play and have fun.

So, I'll just reminisce for a moment about our past camping and boating/swimming occasions, and maybe that will make it better for now...

Here is our boat. I call it the dragonfly since it likes to bounce and flit across the water.

This is when my husband and I camped overnight on the boat.

I slept as snug as a bug in a rug.

My husband on the other hand...he didn't think we needed to bring the other sleeping bag..he was gonna fish all night you know...so sometime in the middle of the night I woke up and heard a loud crinkling noise..I think he changed his mind, but now had to use the tarp to keep warm..I'm not so sure that he slept so well..

I miss the view..

I miss the serenity of being on the lake..

I miss taking the kids for walks in the woods while camping.

Front to back: Taylor, Alyssa, Siara

And Taylor and Alyssa learning how to fish..

And Mr. Jayce learning how to fish..

And looking back on the boat and seeing the kids giddiness..

Oh yes, those were the days...

My Husband Drives Me Batty

I think my husband may have his priorities bass ackwards. This past Sunday morning it was just myself and the kids home, my husband left out early in the morning to go out quad riding with my great friend shortmama's husband.

So I get up in the morning and everything is just fine and normal. I'm up and dressed, the kids are up and dressed, breakfast is done and the kids are outside playing. So I start to clean up the kitchen. One of my husbands cowboy hats is sitting on the counter so I go to take it into my room. And what do I come upon when I get into my room? There's a freakin' bat flying around all over the place in there.

So I calmly, yet quickly, shut my bedroom door. I head out the front door and around to the back door, which leads into my bedroom. I open the back door and see the bat still flying around like crazy. So I close the door again and get into a better position instead of standing right in front of the door and right in the path of its exit. I open the door again and see the bat hanging on the recessed lighting in the hallway. It sees its exit and goes about its business.

So of course I have to call shortmama and tell her what happened.

My husband got home around noon and I met him out back to tell him about our visitor. My first words to him were "Guess what I had to chase out of the house this morning?". He said "a bat". I said "Yep, you must've talked with shortmama already". And he said yes. But then it took him a few more minutes to tell me that the bat was actually in the house this morning before he left. He said that he didn't know how I didn't wake up because he had all the lights on in the room and was trying to catch the dang thing...with two of his cowboy hats. Oh, to only have seen what he looked like while doing this.

But...he couldn't catch it...and he didn't want to be late meeting up with shormama's husband...in which shortmama's husband was still in deep slumber anyways at home and was late for their meeting by 1/2 hour...so he left the rabid bat in the bedroom with his wife whom he loves so dearly...and that's when the fight started...

What Will I Be When I Grow Up?

Holy sheeet, sometimes I drive myself crazy when I can't make up my very own mind. So what would be my dilemma this time? Well, it's actually one that I've had for a while now. Now that all of my kids are in school I am trying to determine what my career choice will be.

Let's start with what I have already done. I have been a sales associate/supervisor for a few different retail stores, such as Carter's Childrenswear, Docker's, Nine West, etc. I have been an emergency medical and fire dispatcher/supervisor, and for a short period of time was a volunteer EMT. I have been a police dispatcher. And then my career got put on hold when I had a high risk pregnancy with my last child, my son. So this is what started my stint as a stay-at-home mom.

I love how I got to watch my kids grow and didn't have to place them in someone else's care. For placing them in someone else's care I have learned can really piss a mom off. You know, like when the sitter isn't home when you arrive to drop your child off, but all her little kids are home and one of them offers to watch your baby for you. Right. Or when you go to pick up your child, obviously from a different sitter cause the last one didn't work out for some crazy reason, and when you arrive you find that your baby has just been given a hot bottle straight out of the microwave. Some people really should come with "I'm stooopid" tattooed on their forhead, save the rest of us the trouble.

Yet on the other hand I have missed the working world. I know, it may sound crazy to some. My friend shortmama says I'm crazy to think that way...but she says it's probably because I actually found a job that I loved. I guess I have to agree with her. I LOVED being an emergency dispatcher. Loved it...miss it.

So, my dilemma is that there are two career choices that I am seriously considering. But in order to do them, I feel my kids need to be a bit older. I would like to either go back to being an emergency dispatcher...or I would like to go to school to be a nurse. If I were to be a dispatcher then I would just have to sit tight for a few more years until the kids are older that way I don't have to worry about the hours that would be required of me. They would be more capable of taking care of themselves and my oldest would be in high school by then and would be able to help more. As for the nursing, I would atleast be able to start the schooling now, something to help fill the day now that all the kids are gone. I love to learn also, so that would be a benefit. But I don't know how interested I am in incurring a bunch of debt from school loans. This option would allow me to atleast be working toward my career option before I have to start working the hours of a nurse.

So this has been my internal conversation with myself for a while now...and it will probably continue to invade my thoughts for a while now until I decide to make a move.