Thankful Thursday- Edition 1

This is my first attempt at a Thankful Thursday entry. I hope there will be many more. Please check out Sting My Heart for other Thankful editions to see what others are thankful for.

For a while now I have been thinking about how as a society we tend to complain a lot! I have been wanting to set aside some time to just be grateful. One thing I often complain about is housework. I'm not good at it and it takes me forever!

I am however very grateful for my house. The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful home in a very safe neighborhood that is very convenient to my children's school and our church. We used to live 4 hours away from family and now our family is no more than 15 minutes away. When I think about my house in this way, I have so much to be thankful for and I know that it truly was a gift from the Lord.

My husband hates this story!

The darling puppy in the Wordless Wednesday post from yesterday is the subject of the story that my husband most hates for me tell! His name is Jonathan. Jonathan Rashleigh to be exact. He is a 9 year old Yorkshire Terrier and the way he got his name makes the love of my life cringe.

You see, my sweet Jonathan was named after a fellow in a boy band. Can you guess who? I'll give you a hint. This week I got the wonderful news that this group was getting back together and had a new song! That's right, folks, he was named after none other than Jonathan Rashleigh Knight from New Kids on the Block. Do you sympathize a little with my hubby now?

When I was a young teen, I was a huge New Kids fan. Other girls were all about Jordan and Joey, but Jonathan was the New Kid for me! I decided then that when I grew up I would have a puppy named after him because his name was beautiful, and he was pretty handsome, too :)

Imagine my joy to hear about their reunion on the news week. I immediately went to their website www.nkotb.com. Sadly I cannot see anything because I do not have the appropriate up to date software nor is it available for my computer :( But soon, hopefully, I will once again be able to check in on my fellas from Boston and sing along just like the old days.

Fast forward a few years, and I now enjoy some Justin Timberlake music. Funny enough his full name is Justin Randall. I often tease my dear hubby that we should get another puppy and name it Justin Randall. Our dogs would have the same initials and both be named after boy banders! Sadly he disagrees! Don't you worry... I'm still hanging tough! I'll get my way eventually.

Wordless Wednesday- Jonathan

I hate housecleaning

Last week my one goal for the day was going to the grocery store. Today I really need to clean the house ... but I hate cleaning my house. Don't get me wrong, I love the way my house looks when its clean. I feel better when my house is clean. I even feel like I've accomplished something after I've cleaned. I just hate doing it! It seems to take me so much longer to do even the simplest things. Does anyone else feel like that?

I did a post a while back where I cleaned for hours but didn't feel there was any evidence of it (refer to The Worst Housekeeper). So now instead of actually cleaning, I am once again writing about needing to clean! Does that make any sense?

I need some accountability here people! I will post pictures later of the progress. Yes that will take away from the cleaning, but it will provide me with a break! See you back here later!

Updated to add: So after hours of cleaning I managed to clean one room of the house. But at least it's the main room of the house!

I spend so much time doing precleaning (cleaning the sink before I wash the dishes, etc.) that I don't get much else done. I also did 2 loads of laundry. Don't think for one second that either of those loads are actually in drawers (wink). We'll live out of the laundry basket for at least a few days!

The Never Ending Bladder Infection Update

Woo Hoo! It looks like I finally have a clean bill of health! I went to a different doctor last week and had a few more tests run and they all came back clear. Yeah! I am very grateful to have not suffered any kidney or bladder damage throughout this monthlong ordeal. Sadly, I am most grateful to have enjoyed my first Diet Coke in a month this weekend :)

Yankee Candle Love

I just recently discovered the store Yankee Candle. Not like Christopher Columbus discovered America. It was always there, I just never went in. I mean, what's the big deal about some candles that smell good, right? Then a sweet friend gave me this for Christmas:



This is the Christmas Cookie scented jar candle. I cannot describe to you the deliciousness of this candle. Every time I light it I seriously want to get a spoon out and eat it! It smells yummy!

So then my sister in law Christy asked for a gift card from Yankee candle for Christmas. Being the loving sil that I am I decided I would go pick her out something instead. I will admit that the jar candles are somewhat expensive, but I was looking around and a nice sales associate asked me if I was familiar with their tarts? I told him no and he educated me on them. As the tarts are only $1.79 I decided this was the way to go! I bought Christy this beautiful tart burner (I think that's what they were called) and 3 tarts plus the tea light to melt them for like $25.


Plus the guy told me I could register on the website for email updates and get a $10 coupon for my next purchase. I went back and bought one for myself! I think this is my new favorite store!

One Goal for Today

Do you ever start your day with just one goal and seriously not know if you will accomplish it? Today the only thing I really need to get done is a trip to the grocery store. Sounds easy enough, right? Of course before I can do that there are many steps I need to go through at home.

I have to make the list and check with hubby to see how much eating out he is planning on doing this week. He works from home so we also have to plan breakfasts and lunches at home. Great for the budget, tough for the planning :)

Then out come the coupons! There are the coupons that I have leftover from past weeks and the coupons from this Sundays paper waiting for me to clip. Not to mention my favorite website that I always check before I leave www.coupons.com. It's 9:45 now and I have to run my first carpool for Alyssa at 11:45 ... what are the odds that I will make it?

Update at 5:45... Got a call from school at 10:00 that Abby was not feeling well. Hair was still wet. Dried hair then picked up Abby. Did not have time to go before 11:45 carpool. Finally made it to the store after naps at 2:30- YEAH!

Works for Me Wednesday- Good Deals

So I have been reading several blogs and have noticed each week they have a post titled "Works for Me Wednesday." I have come to enjoy these useful tips and have decided to throw my hat in the ring with one of my own.

I am somewhat new to shopping online, but thanks to http://stylenotes.com I have become pretty adept at finding great deals at online sites and terrific coupons for some of my favorite stores. I saw this site featured in our local paper not too long ago and I have checked it everyday since. They have great information on some high end stores that I never dreamed I could afford like Marc Jacobs and L.A.M.B. as well as the places I shop all the time like Target and Gymboree. So go ahead and check it out. Add it to your Google reader. I know you will love it as much as I do!

Thanks to the blog www.rocksinmydryer.net for the great idea!

The Never Ending Bladder Infection

I apologize in advance for TMI but I have had a bladder infection since Christmas Eve. For those of you doing the math that equates to over 4 weeks and almost a month! I just got the news today that I am still testing positive for the infection after enduring a 3 day round of IV antibiotics that included 6 1/2 hours in the ER.

This is one stubborn infection and I am downright sick of drinking water and juice!!!! I am afraid to ask what else they can do me! We'll see when the doctor calls back.

For the Love of Snow

Yesterday our local weather forecasters predicted our first snow of the year. They hinted of a slight dusting earlier in the week but this time they were serious. There was talk of anywhere from 1-3 inches to up to 6 inches possibly! Now down here in the South we don't throw around the "S" word lightly. We don't see it often and we don't joke about it. There is no milk or bread to be found in this town!

My sweet children were so excited. We had to take them out of town last year so they could see snow for the first time. They were making big plans for the snow angels they were going to make in the yard this morning.

This morning, this is scene we woke up to! Notice there is no 1-3 inches of snow on the ground.


There is a slight accumulation on a nearby roof so naturally our cheerleading game was canceled and everything in the city is shut down for the day :)

Shortly after 9:00 this morning, we did start seeing some snow fall! I hope you can see what my children saw. My oldest daughter Abby came running into the room and yelled, "Mommy, it's snowing!" Can you see the tiny flakes falling? And we wonder why the north still hates us?

Woot!- I Scrapped Today!

I am so proud of myself. While my kids were at school today I successfully got my scrapbooking stuff out of hiding and dusted off and scrapped a 2 page spread from our Hawaii trip this summer. That may not sound like much but the task of organizing the pictures to decide what to put on the page took 20 minutes! Just dragging everything out to the table seems like a monumental task sometimes. Once I get it out I keep going back to it over the next several days. Here's hoping I can finally get this album done and get back to the family albums that are 18 months behind :)

John Black is back!

Woo hoo- John Black is back on Days of Our Lives! I have to say I was not too traumatized when he was killed off in the fall because he had been diminished to scenes where all he did was suck Marlena's face and make the classic Joey Tribiani fish hook face. If you watch the show at all you are very familiar with seeing both of those scenes rotated over and over and over. They had written his character into such a corner there was really nothing else to do with him but kill him off.

Sadly, his death had a hand in destroying my favorite couple Shaun and Belle as she turned to Phillip instead of Shaun for comfort. Of course she continues to do that on a daily basis for no good reason. But I am hoping they will eventually find their way back to each other as well.

The best part is that John has returned and is better than ever now that his character can actually do something! He has life again! He's feisty and I love it! I love watching Marlena fight to help him regain his memories. His scenes with Bo and Hope have been great. I am really looking forward to seeing him pretend to care about Belle in the next few episodes. This is such an exciting time to be watching Days! If those writers don't hurry up and get their junk worked out ... I don't want to miss an episode!

Super Thursday

What is Super Thursday, you ask? That is what I am now calling my Thursday afternoons! If politics can have a Super Tuesday, then I can have a Super Thursday. Every Thursday I pick my 4 year old up from school at 11:45. My 1st grader gets out at 2:20 but she stays at school and goes straight to ballet. That gives me a little break. She gets done with ballet at 4:00 and that is when the real race begins! We have to pick her up and get the 4 year old to gymnastics by 4:15. Luckily they are not far apart in distance. There was not another time that we could schedule the wee one's gymnastics so for now, the race is on.

Every other day of the week is pretty mild and manageable. We do go a lot of places, but Thursday is the only one with a real rush in between! It is time to go pick up my oldest, Abby ... On your mark, get set- Go!

Getting More Personal

I'm going to give this blog another run and try to make it a little more personal. There are tons of blogs I read every day, but I can't seem to get my act together enough to write one. So far, I've always tried writing about something. I think this time I might take the Seinfeld approach and write more often, even if it's about nothing (grin).

Sometimes my day is just hectic and crazy and I struggle to stay sane! Some days I feel like mom of the year. I want to be able to look back at both my victories and my disasters and know that in every case I did the best I could.

One small success I had this morning was with my youngest daughter Alyssa. She's 4 and 1/2. She was feeling particularly persnickety this morning and did not want to tell me what she wanted for breakfast or even what she wanted to drink. Well mornings in our house are very rushed. None of us are morning people so we sleep until we absolutely have to get up. I will admit I have been known to lose my temper when either of my girls gets in one of these moods. Not this morning! Today, I very calmly told her that she could pick her breakfast or I could but that was her choice. Then came the sass! I continued my unusual calm voice and called her into the kitchen and told her that she needed to watch her voice and speak with respect. It took a few minutes and a few demonstrations of what her voice sounded like, but we got there.

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This policy is valid from 01 April 2008


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