Post-Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I have to say mine was really great. I do always have a brief let-down period though, after the gifts are open. This year was no exception. Everyone loves their gifts, including me although I honestly get much more pleasure from giving at this time in my life. But every year I just have this sad moment when it's all over. I think it's nostalgia and realizing once again, that Christmas will never again be the way it was when I was a child. That's one thing my parents did really well.......not that they went overboard but we got what we wanted and had a lot of fun. Christmas was special.
I try to do the same thing for my kids and I guess I do pretty well. It's been a great holiday.
Tomorrow they go to their dad's house to get even more gifts. They are very fortunate in so many ways. They have so many people who love them!
Now I'm on a crazy hunt for a huge stuffed Spiderman. My stepson used to have one at our house, but it disappeared. We just found out from his mom, that he asked for one from her, for Christmas. For some reason, she got him an Elmo instead. Apparently he was pretty bummed, (I never realized he liked that particular Spidey so much!) so I said to Dh, "oh, I'll just find one online and get it for him." Much easier said than done! I finally found a couple on Ebay and bid on one, now I'm just hoping I get it. For one of them, the cost wasn't bad but the lady wanted $85 to ship it to me!! Now with my luck, as soon as I got that bad boy in the mail, I'd walk into a thrift store and find one for .85 CENT. No can do! I'd cry.
Alrighty, tomorrow we get the key to the new casa and arrange for the lights to be turned on, all that fun stuff. Sleep is elusive for me lately! zzzzzzz

The Truth about Puppy Mills

Dog Stuff

When I found Sasha at the shelter (through Petfinder.com), I was looking for a dog who would be a "Mama's girl". I have a female dog who I adore, she is my heart dog. But she's not a lap dog, not super-cuddly, doesn't devotedly follow me around.
I guess I should be careful what I wish for........poor Sasha is sooo attached to me. She has seperation anxiety when I'm not there. Even if the rest of the family is at home, she cries and watches out the window for me. My poor baby! I'm going to get a carrier and take her with me anywhere that it's reasonable for her to go.
Yep, I'm going to be one of "those" people.
While I'm on the subject of dogs, I want to talk about Puppy Mills. For many years I'd never even heard of them. Once I did and found out what they are, I was so shocked, and horrified. Now I want to educate other people about them, and plead with everyone to NEVER buy an animal from a Pet Store. Puppy mills are real, they exist, and in some cases they are even LEGAL. If you want more information about Puppy Mills, please visit www.stoppuppymills.com, and watch the videos.

Weekend blah-de-blah

This weekend turned out very well. Ladybug's birthday is on Wednesday the 19th and we had her party at a park on Saturday afternoon. (it's Florida, we can usually do outdoor parties even in December! LOL)
The party was great. That morning it was misting and afternoon storms were predicted! I almost cried! Of all the days and times.......but the weather mercifully held out for us, it was even sunny most of the time. We even managed to get a pavillion when some people left. And best of all, a bunch of her friends made it! I was so worried that not many would make it, because of short notice (my fault, I'm a bad planner), the holiday season, and the fact that she's in a new school this year and most of her friends went to a different middle school. But she had a great turnout, and a great party.....one of the least-stressful and fun parties we've had!Saturday night we went shopping for our Christmas Tree. We finally found the perfect one.
We did a little more shopping and then came home and put the tree up.The next morning, we decorated the tree. Then the kids made a Gingerbread House. After we were done, we took Tim to see the potential new house, then took all the kids' to their dad's house. Their neighbor's son was having his 2nd Birthday Party. While they were gone, we did some more Christmas shopping, and we also stopped by John's baby's grave. We had a little decorated mini-Christmas Tree to leave on his grave. My wonderful Niece, a.k.a. one of my best friends, came with us.
After all that the girls came home and then we finally relaxed a little!
Today I slept most of the day then after dinner, we all went out looking at Christmas lights. Came home and had hot cocoa.
Tomorrow night we're planning on going to see Alvin & The Chipmunks. My sister and niece are coming too.
Wednesday night Ladybug will be having dinner with her dad & stepmom.
On and on and on......lots of plans at this time of the year! Friday night we're going out for my sister's birthday, Saturday night we're going to Carrabba's for the clerk Christmas Dinner..........it just keeps going on! Hopefully, I'll have good news to post tomorrow about the house!
xxxcrossing everythingxxx I can't remember if I posted here about it, but we found a house a couple of weeks ago and we should find out tomorrow if we're going to get it or not. I'm praying!

Our Family Has Grown!

Last night I was looking through Petfinder.com and I came across this beautiful baby girl. We adopted a wire hair dachshund male over the summer, and he is the most awesome dog ever. We're always saying I need to find a girl wire hair, (Tater is a daddy's boy) but they're pretty uncommon to find in rescue so I doubted it would happen. (I don't buy dogs, ever) But there she was on the website, and located in a high-kill shelter too. It happened that today was hubby's day off, so when I got off work and showed him the picture, off we went. My hubby ROCKS!
She was in a town that is about an hour's drive North of us. We had a heck of a time finding the shelter, but we made it. Got there, and there was ANOTHER dachshund in the shelter! I could only get one, so of course I got my wire hair girl, but I contacted my rescue group and we're going to be getting the other girl if she doesn't get adopted by Friday, one of the group members will be adopting her. Yay! Two lives saved. Two hours of sleep today! Yikes! But it's so worth it. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have doctor's appointments right after work tomorrow AM, and then I have to work 7pm-7am tomorrow night. But I'm not complaining! It's more than worth it, and I'll get through it.
When I got her home I put her straight in the bath, she was incredibly filthy and covered with fleas. She seems to feel so much better now, and she is so happy and sweet. All she wants is to cuddle. I am totally in love!

I Caught It

I caught the nasty bug that's been going around my house. I feel like poo. I just want to go home (I'm at work), crawl into my bed and stay there all weekend.
This is what I look like.

Exploring the World

I have been exploring the blogging world a lot for the past couple of nights. It is so much fun, I just love reading other people's blogs and getting a peek into their world. It's interesting to see how they express themselves and what they choose to talk about.
Personally I am in a yucky funk right now. I'm usually a very positive, content person but for the last few days, I've been quite the opposite. I do have valid reasons for this......maybe I'll go into them sometime. Hopefully I'll shake my rotten mood; we have the kids this weekend (well, my kids, not SS) and if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. There's a Twilight Christmas Parade & Tree Lighting on Saturday night and at this rate, I'll be going as the Grinch.

From Sweet Little Boys to Wanna-Be Men

I can't even describe how much I love this picture. This is my son and his friend Cody, who is my best friend's son. They go to school together and hang out together. They like each other a lot.

They are now 14 years old. This picture was taken when they were about three.
They will be driving soon! They are in HIGH SCHOOL together. Can someone please explain to me how this happened? Because I'm positive this picture was taken only yesterday.

:::sigh:::
The taller one is Cody....he is HUGE now. He's on the football team and is probably around 6', over 250 #s. The little one is my son, he's short like his mama but is almost my height now.

They're in the 9th grade. They like girls and cars and weird music.

At least they still like each other, although they probably wouldn't go around hugging like this at school. ;o)

I'm Shy

In a weird way, I'm really shy. When I first meet people, I do a lot of observing and listening, and very little talking. Once I get to know people, I open up and my personality comes out.
But on a blog, that's hard, and I think it's holding me back. I'm being shy on my blog.....hesitant to really open up and show everyone my true self. I'm kind of polite and kind and quiet. I'm in that "I don't really know you so I'm shy" mode. But I can't do that here! Because how will I ever get to my comfort zone? I won't......because as long as I don't open up, nobody else will either and my blog will just probably fizzle out.
So, that's my latest project.....work on opening up and really sharing my life and my true, weird, sarcastic, goofy, dorky self.

Thankful Part II

I am not really into celebrating Thanksgiving in the traditional sense. I just can't buy the story that the Indians sat down with the Pilgrims and had a grand feast and said "THANK YOU! Thank you for stealing our land!! Let's all live in harmony!" It just doesn't ring true for me.
But, I do enjoy visiting with (some of) my relatives and most of all, reflecting on everything that I am thankful for.
My Husband (a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful)! The reason he is first is because without him, I couldn't be who I am and couldn't interact with everyone else in my life the way I do. He has brought me out of depression and made me look at things differently, enjoy life and relax. I can't even describe the difference in my life now vs. a few years ago. I can honestly say that I think of it all the time, it's almost always in the back of my mind, the fact that my life is so much better now and I am married to the best man in the world. He means everything to me and I am SO lucky to have found the love of my life! He is kind, loving, giving, understanding, everything I ever dreamed of and so much more. And he keeps me laughing all the time!
Then come my kids!
Princess is six and I can't believe that. I miss her being little! But I am so proud of her. She is SO smart, and has a very fun personality. She is stubborn and at the same time that it drives me crazy, I know exactly where she got it from so I'm smiling inside. She's her mother's child! She also has my smart mouth. =X She's very loyal......the people she loves, she loves completely and fiercely, and everyone else is just kind of there. She's picky about who she really lets in to her heart. She's outgoing and loves to dance, even if the dances sometimes shock me (she's great at doing the Superman that....um, yeah, you know....Dance. !! )
Ladybug is unique. She really wants to please everyone and make peoply happy. She worries too much but that's just her. She works so hard in school and her efforts really pay off. School is harder for her, but it doesn't get her down. She has such a caring personality. She thinks she wants to become a vet, and I hope she sticks with that. She'd be great at it. She is very giving, and has been since she was very little. She would often rather give than receive, and even when she receives she wants to make sure that everyone else does too. She loves everyone and everyone loves her. She is often in her own little world, and will walk right into a pole or say something that leaves you speechless........but that's just Ladybug.
T-bone, T-bone, T-bone, where do I begin? This child has given me the biggest emotional ups and downs of my life. My firstborn, when I had him I learned what a Mother's love was all about. I loved him so fiercely I would've fought to the ends of the world for him. I literally threatened to kill someone who rear-ended me while he was in the car with me. I missed so much work to stay home with him that I basically got fired. I didn't care! I hated working and leaving him. Years passed and he became a teen. O.M.G. We fight! We scream! He, too, is a LOT like me, but he's also a LOT like his dad. He even looks like him and talks like him. He challenges me and pushes every single one of my buttons. But he is getting a lot better. It is weird to look at him almost eye-to-eye. He is growing up. It's fascinating. His voice sounds like his dad's, when I call I have to ask who I'm talking to. He definitely has the same sense of humor as me. And the same taste in cars (Mustangs!!). He has big dreams and goals, and I hope he follows through.....he's very smart and totally full of potential.
Spiderman (my stepson)......I am really proud of him, and my role in helping him. He tried so hard to please everyone but he just couldn't. He was so smart but he just couldn't handle school work. He has come a LONG way and it feels good to see that. Talk about butting heads, OMG! When we first met I thought I was going to lose my mind dealing with him. But then things started to fall into place and I made it my mission to get him help, and that's what I did. He is funny, and such a charmer. He, too, wants everyone to be happy. If you stub your toe he's running over asking, "Are you OK???" He's so sweet with his baby brother. He stalks little girls from behind trees (lol). His favorite thing to do is just RUN and play. Give him a playground and he is as happy as can be.
I'm very thankful for the relationship I have with my niece, Reh-roh. She has turned into a great young woman and I love having her living here with us right now. She is a cool person and one of my best friends. And I'm glad she has her BF, who makes her very happy.
I'm thankful that my sister has found someone who makes her happy, and my brother and his wife are happy with their little family. My parents.........well, I wish they could be happier. I wish they didn't get mad over weird things, and could look at things in a more positive way. But I am thankful for Mom's health, and that Dad's current health problem should be fixed relatively simply and without a hard recovery for him. I'm grateful for my in-laws, except for StepFIL who is a big jerk. I do wish that MIL could find the strength to be on her own, but that is entirely up to her, and nobody else can help her with that. But they are cool people who accepted me and my children and are great to us; I'm very thankful for that.
I'm thankful that the relationships between me, Mr. Wonderful and our exes are peaceful (knock on wood). God only knows we have been through hell and it's so nice to have a drama-free life right now, I can only hope it stays this way.
One more thing, I'm glad that I have a job that I love. I think I'll always be the type who would prefer to be a SAHM if we could afford it, but if I am going to work, this is without a doubt the best job for me. I have too much fun most of the time, and I really like what I do.
I could go on, but this is long enough......I'm very lucky that I could go on though!
So very much to be thankful for in my life.

Family OFF!

Do you see this? DO YOU? This may well be the best thing EVER invented. FAMILY REPELLANT! I was introduced to it this Thanksgiving and was just thrilled! You know how those big family gatherings go. Some of the family is great, others.......not so much. Just break out the FAMILY OFF! As soon as you see those family freaks, start spraying! No more avoiding holiday parties, as long as you bring the handy-dandy Family OFF! A couple of sprays ensure a peaceful, fun time with the family of your choice. Available at stores near you!

Thankful

I'm going to post several "Thankful" posts, but I already did this one on my doggie myspace page and I wanted to share it here.

One of the things I am most thankful for in my life is my doggies. They give me so much; unconditional love, pride, satisfaction, joy, laughter, and life lessons.


Tater........Tater is a dog like no other. You'd really have to spend time with him to understand his Taterifficness. He is unlike any other dog I've ever known. He is not the slightest bit hyper, although he loves a good romp with one of the younger dogs. But with us, he's calm and gentle. He is not a kisser, so when you are blessed with a kiss from him you feel very, very special. He just seems very wise and sometimes solemn. He is very loving though, but instead of kisses he cuddles. He'll just press his face up against yours. Or just look at you with those soulful little eyes. He adores John, but he definitely loves me too. We sometimes compete for his attention. He gives it on his terms, when he wants to, but it's very frequent. But if you call him and he doesn't want to come, he simply doesn't. He is the closest thing to a perfect dog that I have ever seen.

Izzy.......OMGoodness. She is just Izzy and always will be, I believe. She's wonderfully Izzylicious. She is also very loving but NOT a cuddler. Her legs are long and stiff like a giraffe's. She is only totally still when she's sleeping. But she loves every human and every dog. She is affectionate and if you call her (or any of the other dogs), she comes running. Everything excites her. Everything. She is obsessed with balls, and flaying 'fetch' (but she's not that good at bringing the ball back). She is very smart, she picks up cues and is very observant. I adore her.


Then there's Tony. He is our old man. He is truly a sweet dog at heart, he just has very little patience with youngsters (canine version) and is quick to let them know it. Sometimes he needs a little break in the crate, and I think he actually likes that. His own space without rugrats bothering him. He is such a sweet dog though, truly. He has a spring in his step sometimes, and gets around much better than when we first got him. I am very glad that he is with us, and I would be very, very picky about letting him be adopted. I would be perfectly happy if he stays with us forever. (he's already at least 15 years old.) A potential adopter would have to understand him, and accept him as he is. He's so spoiled, I feed him right in his doggie bed. I mean, he's like 105 in dog years? Come on, he needs a break! But take him out to the park on a leash and you'd never dream he was that old. Dogs are awesome, and old dogs are very special.


We have Maizy the foster right now. She is 2½. She is adorable, and extremely loving (read: OBSESSIVE kisser!!!) She is very exuberant and loooves to play with the other dogs. She also loves to get into the trash and tear things up. Anything she can get her little paws on. She likes to jump onto the kitchen table if our backs are turned. She is always into something! She is so pretty and looks like a puppy, and probably always will. She will make a great family dog and I think (hope) she will be adopted very soon. I LOVE her. As a foster. =)

B to the Log

I haven't blogged lately because I just haven't felt like I had anything interesting to say. But I was inspired by another blogger tonight and I'm going to work on blogging more, and making this blog something different.................

Halloween

We had a blast on Halloween. We went to Boo at the Zoo, which is at the community college zoo. They really do an awesome job, the kids loved it. Admission is one canned good per person.

One of Princess's friends thought she was dressed as a Lunch Lady for Halloween. Princess Nurse was not amused (but I was...).

Back to Work

I go back to work tonight after a very relaxing FIVE nights off. Now it's back to working with people like this..............
























OK, OK, I'm kidding......I love my job and I work with some pretty cool people. But I would rather be independently wealthy. Or even dependently wealthy.......I'm ok with that, too.

Scaring the UPS Man

I have a Halloween door bell. It's a scarey pumpkin and when you push the button, a spider darts out and taps your finger, and it says "Did I get you? Dare you to try again! Muah ha haaaa!!" I never thought anyone would really get scared by it though, thought of it as more of a trick-or-treating novelty...........until the poor UPS man brought me a package yesterday. One of my many books I bought from Ebay arrived (it's an addiction), and when I opened the door the poor guy seemed a little distressed. Finally he said to me, "I don't scare easily........but your doorbell got me." Ba ha ha!!! Poor UPS man!!

Feet.

Those who know me well know that I HATE feet. I have a foot aversion. They are nasty, icky, disgusting and CLAMMY.


Some people don't seem to understand this aversion, so I decided to provide some images that illustrate what is NASTY about feet. Observe. Note that there are SIX toes per foot on picture number one!
I call the last one "WTH????"
Now seriously, does anyone STILL not understand my problem with feet??
I am going to go vomit now.
Have a fabulous day!

Pumpkin Carving Day

We carved our Hallowe'en Pumpkin this past weekend. We decided to get creative instead of doing the typical Jack O' Lantern face. So we attempted a dog face. It's....interesting!

Mr. Scarecrow

When I left for work this evening, lo and behold, guess who was standing up straight and tall, terrifying crows and all small creatures? My scarecrow!

Hubby??? Are you reading my blog?

:DISCLAIMER: This is not really my scarecrow, I didn't have time to take a picture of mine, but this one's awfully close so I just had to make do.

Unfinished Business

Is my husband the only man in the world who never finishes anything? Yeah right.
Now seriously, I adore this man and am not a man basher AT ALL. But I recently told him that I was going to start buying food, taking it all out and putting it in a pan, and just leaving it. He asked me, why? I reminded him of my fall scarecrow that fell down and he promised me that he'd secure it back in the ground. Mr. Scarecrow is still leaning on the front porch. Just chillin'. He'll probably still be there for Christmas. I guess I'll just stick a bow on him!
Then there's the picture I got that he promised to hang on the wall. It says "Live-Laugh-Love", my life motto. It's propped up against the wall, but somehow that just doesn't have the same effect as if it were actually hanging ON the wall. I mean, I'm no interior designer, but....I'm just sayin'.
He brought home a shovel to dig up the old mulch and clean off the front patio. Guess where the shovel is? Leaning against the wall out on the patio...........
I think tomorrow I will hand him freshly washed soaking wet clothes to wear to work. =D

Ack!

I just noticed there's a typo in the blog I posted last night. I don't know how to fix it and it's making me itch! So just FTR, it should say "than BUY fancy jewelery...." not BY. Anyhoo.....
That's something about me. I'm OCD about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. When there's an error it usually jumps out at me, like a flashing neon sign. It's not my fault! I can't help it! And it drives me CRAZY. If a business has a sign, truck, or whatever and there are errors, I will boycott that business if at all possible. It's just a HUGE pet peeve of mine. It's not my fault! I was born this way....or something....
My youngest child is 6 years old and she is my mini-me. She got her progress report today. First one in first grade. She got straight A's! And the comment was: "Princess is doing great! She needs to work on paying attention instead of talking during instruction time."
Woops. =D Yep, that's my kid!
Now my middle daughter.....she scares me. She is smart, but she's very scatter-brained and kind of.....ditzy. Tonight she was eating chips (bad mother dinner tonight) and asked Mr. Wonderful if there were any big ones because all she had were little broken chips. So he found a few big chips in the big and gave them to her. She picked one up and proceeded to crush it.
WHY? Tell me, why did she do this? I literally just sat there with my jaw dropped staring at her. I am fascinated by how her brain works.

The Beginning

I kind of think we represent the typical American family in 2007. We are what they call a blended family. I guess that's what it would look like if we were all stuck in the smoothie maker and someone pushed 'puree'? Hmmm....anyway, I got married 100 years ago and had three children. We later divorced and in 2004, I met my current husband. He had one son from a previous relationship. So we have four total. At this moment they are 14, 11, 8 and 6. We're always running a kid somewhere or picking up a kid or dropping off a kid. Not like, on their head or anything. Nooo, never.
We do the every other weekend visitation thing with the kids (2 girls live with us full time, 2 boys live with the 'other parents'). So this means, we have every other weekend kid-free.......just hubby and I. Let me tell you it is fabulous! If you don't ever go on dates, you need to start. NOW.
Then we try to think of fun stuff to do with the kids when they're with us for the weekend. We live in Florida so we hit the beach, springs, and pool a lot. This weekend we're going to Wild Adventures. With all four kids. It's SURE to be a wild adventure! =O
We're laid back parents in some ways. We like to relax and have fun. We yell a lot and we hug a lot. We laugh and we cry. We like to make good memories. I want the kids to experience all kinds of fun and interesting things, I'm not about sitting on the couch watching TV all your life. Our house is not perfectly neat and orderly, and we are ok with that. We'd rather be watching movies or playing games or out living life, than scrubbing the grout with toothbrushes. I'm not big on material things. We have everything we need plus more, and I'd rather give my extra money to pet rescue or St. Jude's than by fancy jewelery or a $500 handbag. I'd rather be happy in my mini-van than miserable in a Cadillac!
Another big thing in our life is dogs. We volunteer with rescue groups and foster Dachshunds. Right now we have four dogs in our home. Two are permanently ours, one is a very old dog who probably won't get adopted, and the other one will probably be adopted very soon. The dogs get tons of love and attention. We adore them. They are just a little spoiled. ;o)
My motto is COEXIST. I also try to live by, and teach my children, the Golden Rule.
So, that is the beginning. Stay tuned!

My Bloggy Bling