Dentist and Costumes

   Well I haven't blogged in almost a month so  let me catch you up a little on what has been going on. I had a tooth that was really bothering me, one I had had a filling put in 6 years ago, apparently the filling had come out and the tooth was now abscess (ouch) so after a week on antibiotics I had to have it pulled, I was hoping it was fixable but the dentist informed me it needed to come out, so that is what he did. Now I am usually not nervous about going to the dentist, I have had my wisdom teeth pulled and filings done before, but this visit was nothing like before. My tooth was stubborn and didn't come out easily. The Novocain didn't completely numb me and I felt the dentist pulling the tooth (ouch again) The dentist was pulling on the tooth so hard in one direction I thought my jaw was going to pop out of place and after prying and pulling with no results he decided he had to saw the tooth into pieces to get it out, now this is where the worst part happens, in the process of sawing my tooth he manages to cut the gum of the tooth in front of that one, cut the tooth on the top of my mouth above the one he was pulling, leaving it rough and sensitive and also cut up the inside of my cheek from where your cheek connects to the gum to above where the top of the tooth was. I was miserable for a few days and then the pain seemed to get worse not better so I went back to see the dentist and sure enough there was an infection where the tooth was pulled and also where my cheek was cut up, so another week of antibiotics, so here I am 3 weeks later and my mouth is finally feeling normal, except where my cheek was cut, I have scar tissue there now and it feels like I constantly have something shoved in my cheek on that side. Other than my cleanings I do not ever want to see a dentist again as long as I can help it!

   Now on to something fun, my older boys got their Halloween costumes a few weeks ago and of course they are the usual scary costumes (a bleeding skeleton and a scary clown) but we still needed to get Peanut his costume. Originally we were going to get my husband and Peanut costumes that go together like we did last year (Peanut was a gorilla and my husband was a banana) so this year Peanut was going to be an elephant and my husband a peanut lol. Peanut has been on an elephant kick ever since we went to the circus in the spring time so these would be the perfect costumes, just one problem, we couldn't find an elephant costume in Peanuts size except a political elephant but that wasn't what we wanted. So in our search we decided to look at back up costumes and found him the cutest most adorable white tiger costume. Peanut tried it on in the store and it fit him perfect and he loved it (he didn't even want to take it off) So this year Peanut is a white tiger instead of an elephant. Now here is our delima, what in the world is my husband going to dress up as? Peanut still wants daddy to dress up with him but what do you dress up as to go with a tiger costume? we are running out of time and I am thinking that my husband is just going to have to dress up as something that doesn't go with Peanuts costume, I think Peanut will still be happy because at least daddy is dressing up. We are running out of time, so hopefully we will find something soon.

   Well that is all for now but as always I hope everyone has a wonderful day and something to smile about!

Diaper cake and wreath pics

   Well here they are, pictures of the diaper cake and diaper wreath I made for my friends baby shower. They looked even cuter once I wrapped them in clear cellophane and pretty ribbon but of course I never took a picture after that lol. I just wanted to share these with everyone.
            

                                         
   As always I hope everyone has a wonderful day and something to smile about!                                          

Quickie

   Just a quick post here. The diaper cake turned out great, in addition, I had enough diapers left over to do an awesome diaper wreath! My friend absolutely loved them both and as soon as I get my pictures uploaded I will post them for you all to see.
   I hope everyone has a great night and something to smile about.

Procrastination

   My sister will be in town again tomorrow for the shower so I am excited about that, but here I am one day before my friends baby shower and I still haven't finished the diaper cake I started. I am such a procrastinator at times and this is one of those times. So I will be spending my Friday evening finishing that. I got some really cute stuff to put on it and before I take it to the shower tomorrow I will be sure to take a picture to show off the finished project. (fingers crossed that I don't mess anything up because I won't have time to fix it) I hate it when I wait till the last minute to finish something but I have been so busy that it just kept getting put on the back burner. Wish me luck!
   I hope everyone has a great day and something to smile about!

Today I am reminded

   I didn't really intend on blogging today but as I sit here in the quiet while my family sleeps I feel the need to share just how grateful I feel right now. As I watched the memorial this morning on TV I felt sad and I cried for the families who lost their loved ones ten years ago today, and as I watched tonight the stories of individuals who survived that day it made me realize just how very blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband, healthy children, a great big family and at least a handful of true life long friends. I am truly grateful for the life I have been given and it shouldn't take a day like today to remind us all to sit down look around and realize what true happiness we have right in front of us. Now I'm not saying my life is perfect and that I will never again complain, but I am saying this, the next time something isn't going my way or I feel like I've been dealt a bad hand I am going to try to take a few minutes and remember how I felt today and how lucky I am to be here surrounded by so much love.

   God bless the people who lost their loved ones ten years ago today and the fallen that now fly with angels.

   I hope everyone has a wonderful night and please take a moment to look around and find something wonderful to smile about!

Shopping with my sis!

   Well my sister was in town for a few days and we shopped till we dropped! I know I know I was just complaining about my husbands shopping but My sister and I had so much fun and found so many amazing deals I just had to share. I got some awesome deals at a store called Charming Charlie's in the mall where I got a purple wallet to go with my Coach purse my husband got me for our anniversary, it was originally $15 and it was marked down to $5 and rang up at $1 (how awesome is that!!) I also got another purse there for fall, kind of a greenish yellow color but really cute, it was originally $30 marked down to $20 and rang up for just $5 (yay again!!) and another wallet now to go with that purse which was originally $10 and marked down to $5 (this actually rang up at $5 though my fingers were crossed  that I would get another surprise at the register lol) Now that was some great shopping, 2 wallets and a purse for $11, even the dollar store couldn't have beat that deal!
   I also had my first shopping experience with TJ Max. I always hear good things about them but for some reason I had never been inside there, until now, I will definitely be back to that store. I got 2 awesome shirts and a great pair of pants for $27 (not bad at all especially since they were on clearance and originally would have cost me $57) Okay so I won't keep naming off every single thing I purchased but you get the idea. I love to shop but I love it even more when I find deals like this, probably because I have become so cheap with my money (more so when I am buying for myself) I can see something I really really want at the store but before I even think about buying it I think about the price (can I get it cheaper somewhere else? Will it be going on sale soon?) then I think about how much I need it or will use it and does the need and use justify the price? If so I purchase it and if not I will gladly walk away from it. I think my sister was a little surprised to see that it's not easy for me to just spend money on myself, I look for the best deals and end up passing up some great items and I never used to be like that, if I saw something I wanted and I had the money to buy it I would and not think twice, but I'm not like that anymore and I think it comes with getting a little older and a little wiser with my money.

   Well I just wanted to share my wonderful shopping experience with everyone and I will try to have a new topic for you when I return. As always I hope everyone has a great day and something to smile about!

Shopping with my husband

   So my husband is always teasing me about shopping and saying that I can't just go into a store and get what I need and leave, that I have to look at everything and always come out with extra stuff, well guess what this weekend it was all him and I will remind him of this next time he says anything to me about shopping. It started Friday when we went grocery shopping and with all the extra stuff he put in the cart we spent nearly $75 more than what we usually do. Now lets go to Saturday, I needed to go to Office Max and pick up just a few things (maybe $5 worth of things thanks to the amazing deals they were having) but by the time my husband yet again added to the cart (because he had to look down EVERY isle in the store) the bill was over $25. Next we went to Michael's craft store where I was only planning on purchasing a couple of items maybe totaling $15 but nope my husband had to look all around the store and we ended up spending $87, he drove me so crazy with his shopping this weekend between the extra spending and the extra time in the stores I literally had a headache by the time we got home Saturday. I now feel very bad for all the headaches I have probably given him over the years from my shopping but I think I will be more likely to shop alone or with a friend next time lol. 

   Well I just wanted to share that little story with you tonight but I will be back soon so as always I hope everyone has a great night and something to smile about!

Sleep deprived and diaper cakes

   Well my husband is on midnights again, only for a couple of nights this time because he has to take day classes for work this coming week. (by the way the body pillow was of no help last time) So here I am after midnight blogging and enjoying my peace and quiet and hoping Peanut sleeps in a little in the morning. I haven't been sleeping well lately anyways or at least not getting enough sleep, I actually took a nap yesterday in the middle of the day while Peanut was napping (I never take naps) and I have to admit it felt great to take one. My mom keeps giving me a hard time about taking vitamins and getting more rest but I guess I never got rid of all the teenage rebellion inside and a little is still there telling me "don't listen to her you don't need vitamins, you can go on 4 or 5 hours of sleep and still take care of everything" but the truth is maybe I do because I can't! (but I can't admit that to her lol) Seriously though I don't think it would hurt to ask my doctor about some mild sleep aids and woman's vitamins, I just hate taking anything that isn't medically necessary, I don't know, I think I just talked myself out of it again lol.

   So on another note, one of my good friends is having a baby shower in 2 weeks and I am attempting to make her a diaper cake decorated in all kinds of cute little baby goodies. I have never made one but I looked it up online and I think I can pull it off. They are so adorable and I like the fact that I'll be giving her something useful in such a cute decorative way. I can't wait to buy pink ribbon and pink little girl stuff to put on it, since I only have boys I look forward to the rare times I get to shop for baby girls.This is my crafty side coming out, I haven't done much crafting lately so this will be fun to do. I will make sure I do an update on how it turns out and maybe even upload a picture of it when it's completed.

   Well that's all I've got in me tonight, finally starting to feel like I might be able to get some sleep, so as always I hope everyone has a great day/night and something to smile about. By the way don't frown because you never know who might be falling in love with your smile!

  

  

School again,comfort for my husband and a quote I love

   So it is that time of year again, my two older sons went back to school today. One started 7th grade and the other 5th, I think my 7th grader was more nervous than his brother lol but in the end they both had a great first day! Peanut was a little bummed when he woke up and asked where they were because he wanted to go to school too, I tried explaining to him that he wasn't big enough for school yet but he just replied that he is big now and seeing as how his daddy and I keep telling him what a big boy he is I knew that argument was lost so I simply told him that he is 2 years old and when he is 4 years old he can go to preschool and that answer seemed to satisfy for now. Then of course when my husband got up Peanut had to recap our conversation for him in a way that only a 2 year old could, all I could do was smile and think to myself I am in no hurry to send him off to school and I will cry like a baby when I do.

   My mother in law's condition is getting worse and I have no idea how to help my husband deal with this. Nothing I say or do can make her better or make it any easier for him to see her this way but i can't help but want to comfort him and reassure him that everything will be ok, but I am not sure I believe he will be ok. It is a hard thing to watch someone you love and care about be taken over by such a horrible illness but when this is your mother, the woman who raised you alone, the only parent you ever really knew and the only one you have, I can't even imagine his pain. He seemed to be in a state of denial for a while but it is finally sinking in that this is really happening and I can see the hurt in his eyes every time he goes to see her or even talks about her and I just hope in some way I am able to help him through this. He has been a rock for me when I needed one and I want to be his rock for him, so I will smile and try to remind him of all the wonderful memories he has and will always have and be a shoulder when he cries and a quiet ear when he vents about how unfair life can be and hope it is enough. 

   One of my favorite quotes :  "Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no one's watching, and live like it's heaven on earth" - Mark Twain

   Well that is all I have for tonight but as always I hope everyone has a wonderful day and something to smile about.
  
  

Should be sleeping

   I should be sleeping right now but today is my husbands first real day on the job (after 9 days of orientation and 1 day of training) and yep you guessed it he is on the midnight shift tonight. So after checking out e-mails and facebook, here I am. Hopefully I start feeling tired soon and get some sort of sleep tonight, Peanut will wake up early ready to take on the world and I need to be able to keep up with him (or atleast try)
  
   On another note, I just found out that Desperate Housewives (one of my favorite television shows) will be going off the air after it's next season which starts in September. I know lame topic, but I do absolutely love that show and will miss it so much! What a great group of actresses, I can't wait to see more of them in something new!

   Next lame topic for the night.....new shoes!!! Yes I am one of those woman! I love my shoes and I just got 2 new pairs today (I could have easily came home with 5 pairs if it weren't for my hubby being with me and limited funds) So I was good and only got 2 pairs. I owe my little shopping spree to my children, well and Kohl's lol. Last weekend we did the kids school clothes shopping and bought a few things for Peanut and in the process earned $110 in Kohl's cash, so today my husband and I decided to use that and get a little something for ourselves, hence the new shoes. I have actually cut back on my shoe shopping since Peanut was born and I no longer work away from home but today I could not resist, of course that could have something to do with the fact that they were free lol. Either way I can't wait to wear them and just had to share that with you all.
   Well it's getting late and I really should try to get some sleep, so as always I hope everyone has a great night and something to smile about.
                                                 

They grow up fast

   Well Peanut has been wearing pull ups and it hasn't changed things much on the potty training. He does sit on the potty a little more often and has went pee pee in the potty a few times but mostly just goes in the pull up like it was a diaper. I am beginning to think maybe I am rushing him, maybe he just isn't ready yet. Hopefully it will happen soon and until then I will try to be more patient. We have however reached another milestone with Peanut. We were planning on moving him into a toddler bed this summer but decided to save our money and jump into a big boy bed (a.k.a. by middle son's old bottom bunk bed that he is no longer using) so the night before last we took the crib down and moved in the big bed to his room. He loved it!! Then came bed time lol, it didn't take him long to realize that he could easily get out of this bed when ever he wants and play with his toys. It was midnight before we got him to sleep and we started at 8:30. Last night how ever went much smoother and he didn't get up once to play. I think daddy's threat of time outs and a baby bed again made him more inclined to go to sleep instead of playing lol. He definitely loves having his big boy bed just like his brothers but for me it was just one more thing showing me how fast my baby is growing up and it makes me a little sad knowing he is my last baby and yet he is no longer a baby.
   I have more I want to share but I am out of time for now so as always I hope everyone has a wonderful day and something to smile about.

More of the same and a little bit new!

   Well my DVD from Netflix is still on the counter collecting dust. I truly wasted this months subscription so next month I need to watch a lot of movies to make up for it lol.
   My husband got yet another job offer last week from a company he applied at a while back and has been wanting very badly to get into, so as nice as the newest job is he has to go where his heart leads him and so in a little over a week he will be changing jobs again. This will put a temporary strain on our finances again (waiting for the paychecks to start coming in) but this is a temporary issue and my husband is thinking long term this will be a better choice for him and our family. On a selfish note this new job means my husband will go back to rotating shifts (something he has not done in almost 4 years) I will truly miss having him home at night every 3rd week. I may complain from time to time about him hogging the bed and covers and cuddling too tight at times but I hate to sleep without him next to me, so I have already prepared myself a little and bought a long cuddle pillow to put next to me on his side of the bed lol, we will see if this helps.
   We bought Peanut a pack of pull ups today and explained that these are big boy pants and that if he is going to wear big boy pants he has to go potty in the potty chair, he seems super excited about it so starting tomorrow we will try it and see how it goes. I am so ready to be done with diapers.
   OK so this next sentence might sound odd to some of you but I am homesick! As a child we mostly lived in Florida with a few moves to Ohio and then back to Florida. (my mother could never decide where she wanted to be) When I was 17 I moved back to Florida without my mother to live with my sister and a year later when I was pregnant with my first child I moved back to Ohio to be with my mom (I think every girl wants to be close to her mom when she is going to have her first child and I was young and a little scared) So getting to the point here last year made 12 years since I moved back and I hadn't even been down to visit my family and friends, which by the way are some of the best and truest friends I have ever had. Some of us kept in touch from time to time with letters or pictures and the occasional phone calls and some of us lost touch for quite a while, my sister had been up here for visits by herself but I hadn't seen my niece or nephews since I moved. Then last year my husband did the most wonderful thing and gave me a vacation by myself to Florida to see my sister and my friends (it was my sisters 20th wedding anniversary and his gift to her was me) It was just a week but it was the most wonderful week!! And even after all that time had passed I felt at home, more so than I have in a long time. Seeing my sister and her family was wonderful and with my friends it felt like no time had passed, like we picked up right where we left off just a little bit older and wiser lol, but it has been a year now since my vacation and today I am homesick! I want to be there so bad it makes me want to cry. But Ohio is where my husband has always lived and this town we live in has been his home for 30 years how could I ever ask him to leave. So I will suck it up for now and hope that someday I will be home again with my husband by my side and it will be his home too.
   Well that is all I have for tonight so as always I hope everyone has a wonderful day and something to smile about.
  

Playing catch up again

   I can't believe how much I have been slacking on my blog. To catch up a little here, soccer is over, my oldest son's team won their finals and became the league champions (YAY) and my second son's team made it to the semi finals but unfortunately didn't make it to the finals (still YAY) I am so proud of both of them for making it so far and doing so great this season!

   My husband started his new job last week and loves it! I am so happy for him and happy for our family that once he starts getting a paycheck from the new job things should get a lot easier for us financially.
   There is no progress to report in the potty training of Peanut, hopefully there will be very soon. The potty prizes were a miss, he honestly couldn't care less about a prize so I need to find a new way to interest him in the potty again.
   I have been getting alot of stuff done around the house that I have been putting off due to our busy schedule and my procrastination, going through things and uncluttering my home and getting new pictures hung up. Now I just need to find more "me" time. I seem to have lost that somewhere along the way and I need to get back to reading, blogging, crafting and doing things I enjoy for myself, because as it says in the title of my blog, I am not just a mother and wife but also a woman. For example I have a movie I received from Netflix 2 weeks ago sitting on my counter still waiting to be watched, lol hopefully I will find time to watch it soon.
   Well that is all for now so as always I hope everyone has a great day and something to smile about!

Our anniversary and potty training Peanut

   Where to begin again? Well my husband and I had a wonderful anniversary, we celebrated by going out to dinner ALONE! That doesn't happen too often and it was so nice to sit and be waited on and not hear mommy mommy mommy and daddy daddy daddy the whole way through dinner lol. Then we came home picked up Peanut from our friend's house next door, put him to bed and watched a movie together. My wonderful husband got me a beautiful card, a dozen long stem purple roses and yes he got me the Coach handbag I wanted. (I didn't think he would actually get it for me, I was as excited as a little kid getting a toy I had been wanting for years lol) He liked his gifts too. I replaced the bottle of Cologne Peanut had broken last month and even upgraded it to the gift set, then I decided to do something different this year and I had a good friend of mine who has been getting into photography take some pictures of me in a Steelers jersey and holding a football, then I put one in a Steelers frame for him and the rest on a disk to be printed out later. My husband is a HUGE Steelers fan and has managed to transform me into one too (although I will never admit this to my father who is a life long Browns fan) Anyways my husband really seemed to like the pictures so I guess I did good.

   So Peanut went pee pee in the potty again last weekend. Potty training him has been a little harder than it was with the first two boys and I thought I would be a pro at this by now but apparently it's not up to me lol. We've tried doing something a little different now. When he goes potty in his potty chair we give him a potty prize (I actually got this idea from a friend of mine who did this with her son and it worked for her so I figured why not) It's nothing big or expensive just a little hot wheels car or something small like that but hopefully it is enough to bribe him back to that potty chair. When we first got his potty chair he was so excited he sat on it all the time, he didn't really do much but he tried, now here lately he wants nothing to do with it at all so hopefully this prize idea works, although we may have to resort to stickers or something cheaper like that when he begins to use the potty more frequently. If anyone has any other advice to help with potty training please feel free to comment and let me know, it doesn't matter how many kids I have I am always open to advice. 

Well that is all I have for tonight, so until next time, I hope everyone has a great day and something to smile about.

Busy Busy Busy

   I have been so busy lately I haven't had much time for blogging. I have so much I want to share so I will share some tonight and promise to blog again soon to catch up on the rest. First off, our soccer season is coming to an end, 9 more days. I truly enjoy watching my children play soccer but will be glad when our lives are back to normal. This soccer season has been unordinarily hectic and chasing a 2 year old around at the soccer park night after night makes for a very tired mommy. The kids teams did very well this year and both teams placed 2nd in their league. Next week is the Dragon Cup tournament and I am excited to see how they place, no matter what I am extremely proud of the both of them and my husband as well who as it turns out is a natural at this coaching thing and plans to coach again next year.
   Another reason our lives have been so hectic lately is that my mother in law was moved into a nursing facility a few months back and is not doing so well. She was diagnosed with dementia last year. They attempted to put my mother in law on several different medications to slow the progression of her illness but she had bad side effects from each one and was eventually taken off any medications that could have helped. From that point on the dementia got worse. It first attacked her memory and then her speech and it eventually got so bad she began having seizures and lost so much of her muscle control in her legs that she now needed a wheel chair and 24 hr care. That is when the hard decision came to place her in a nursing facility that could give her the care my father in law no longer could at home. My mother in law is not able to feed herself anymore and needs help but does not do well with the staff at the home feeding her so family members take turns going up there to feed her meals to her. My husband works a lot of hours at work and with the soccer we were usually going up just on the weekends but my sister in law went on vacation for ten days and we needed to take over her dinner schedule while she was gone, we were more than happy to help and actually enjoyed spending every evening with her, but this also made for an extremely hectic schedule. There were days when I was cooking my family dinner at 8 o'clock at night and my husband and I barely saw each other but we made it through and things are finally getting easier at home. For anyone out there who has a family member with dementia, this is a very tough disease on the person who has it and on the family who loves them and my heart goes out to you all. I pray for my husband and his family every night. It breaks my heart to see the pain they are in every day and I hope that some day someone finds a cure or a way to prevent this.
   Okay now that I have gotten all sentimental on you I will share some happier news. My husband got a job offer he could not refuse the other day. He will be working for a great company making more than $5 more an hour, better hours and better benefits and we couldn't be happier! Over three years ago when my husband lost a great job of almost 10 years we were devastated, I had just found out I was pregnant and soon after loosing his job I lost mine. It was a tough time for our family but we manged to make it through. After 7 months of looking for a job he finally found one working for what he thought would be a good company but turned out to be a very selfish company who works their employees dry and does not compensate well, but it was a job and he needed one so for two and a half years he has been there dreading every work day, but grateful to have a job he rarely complained, and now after all this time he can finally kiss that company good bye and in just a couple weeks start this new adventure.
   Okay well that is all I have time for tonight so as always I hope everyone has a wonderful day and something to smile about!

Time to catch up

   Well my two older sons spent Memorial day with their father so it was just my husband, peanut and I. We cooked out on the grill and took him for a beautiful outing at the park where we got married almost 4 years ago. It was very nice to walk around the rose garden, even though most of the roses have not bloomed yet and the lily pond was even better ( since it was 90 degrees out and there are more shaded areas there ) Peanut really got a kick out of all the baby geese he saw, along with turtles, fish and even a crane. He tried several times to go right up and touch the "babies" as he would say. Trying to keep him back a bit wasn't always easy but we definitely enjoyed our outing. 

   The soccer season is going good. We have been super busy with games and practices especially since this year my husband is head coach of one team and assistant coach of the other team. It gets hard to pay attention and watch every bit of the games while chasing a two year old around by yourself but I am making it to the games and cheering them on so that is what matters. Peanut is loving all the trips to the park, he loves being outside just like his brothers. Every game he asks me if he can go out there and kick the ball. I keep telling him he is too young to play but he continues to ask at every game ( I think we have another soccer player in the family already ) Which is probably a little discouraging to my husband who was hoping for a football player lol. 
   Now last but not least, yesterday was my oldest sons last day of school and today is my middle sons last day, then it is officially summer vacation. I have mixed feelings about summer vacation. I love the extra time I get to spend with my kids but will miss the "me" time when Peanut takes a nap and the house is quiet. I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in a little but not the bickering between the kids when they get sick of each other day after day. We don't have any big vacations planned for this year but we are taking the kids to the zoo, swimming, maybe to the water park, and who knows what else we will do for a fun filled summer in Ohio. 
   Well that is all for now, I just wanted to catch up on what's been going on here, and as always I hope everyone has a wonderful day! 

Extreme couponing

   Okay so I have watched the show Extreme Couponing a couple of times with the hopes I could learn a thing or two about saving money. Notice I said a couple of times. That's because while I did learn a few tricks to better couponing I really think this show is unrealistic. Who has 40-60 plus hours a week to devote to clipping,printing and searching online for coupons. Paired up with the 1,2 and sometimes up to 4 hours these people spend in the check out line to make the multiple transactions they need to make to save the big bucks. This is definately extreme alright and not very realistic for most people. I am a stay at home mother and do not have that much free time on my hands. Not to mention who in this world needs a stock pile with over a thousand tubes of tooth paste? Sorry but I am begining to think this is glorified hording. Some of the stock piles I saw on the show had so much food I am wondering how much of it will expire before these families can use it, and if they have to throw some away in the end due to spoilage then isn't that just a waste? I'm all for getting the items you need for as little as possible and if you can get hundreds of dollars in groceries for little or no money go for it and who wouldn't want a stocked pantry and some extra supplies tucked away just in case but this is beyond that. I know there are a lot of people out there who are going to disagree with me on this but this is just my personal opinion, and after all, isn't that what my blog is all about. Now just to make myself clear I do think couponing is a good thing. I myself clip coupons and look for special store sales to save as much as I can at the grocery store and any other store. I have been known to grocery shop at multiple stores in one day depending on their circulars but it has to be worth the time and drive, I won't make a stop at a second store just to pick up bananas to save 5 cents a pound, I will spend that savings driving there so it wouldn't be worth it to me. Now one tip I did pick up on from the show is to watch the store ads and try to find coupons to match those products on sale so you get the best possible deal you can but I will not be buying products I do not use or need just because I may get them real cheap, unless I know someone who can use it. I am hoping as I get better with couponing I will be able to save more and more money at the stores without putting all the hours into it that these people do. i will let you know how it works out and if anyone has some realistic couponing advice I am always open to suggestions.
   Well that's all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and happy grocery shopping :-)

Trying to get here

   I don't know if it is Blogger or Internet Explorer but I am so frustrated today. I spent an hour trying to log into my blog today and it wouldn't let me, it just kept refreshing the log in page. After trying all the different suggestions from Blogger and cleaning out my browser I ended up having to download another web browser to get on here. This is crazy, I want to be able to do everything I do on the Internet from one browser, I hate trying to get used to something new after using the same thing for years. Oh well life goes on. 

   So moving on, my husband has been asking me what I want for our upcoming anniversary, honestly anything he does for me will be special and appreciated and I really didn't have anything specific in mind until yesterday. I have been wanting to get a nice coach hand bag, I am a purse fanatic lol, and I knew we just couldn't afford for me to go and spend $300 or more on a new purse right now so I decided to look up the coach outlet online and check it out. Oh My Goodness!!! I found it right away, so beautiful, in my favorite color ( purple ) it was just screaming my name. To make it even better it was marked down 70%  which made it even more beautiful because now it is affordable, well kinda lol. So I tell my husband all about it, like a kid who just spotted the hottest toy at the toy store and just needed a few more dollars to get it. He of course thinks it is ridiculous to spend more than $20 or $30 on a purse no matter who makes it or what it looks like but he's not a woman he doesn't get it. Now normally I don't ask for much, my husband works very hard to support us and I never want to take that for granted, but I want this purse like nothing else lol. So I will keep my fingers crossed and who knows I might just get it  :-)

   On another old topic, mother nature has decided to compromise with me on the weather. We have been having lots of sunny warm days but very stormy nights. We finished our soccer game last night just in time, there were tornado warnings just as we were finishing and they were cancelling the games that followed. So far we haven't had anything too bad in our area. And the kids are enjoying the taste of summer we are getting during the day.
   Well that is all I have for now but stay tuned for your next Ohio weather report lol. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

   

   
   

posting, deleting and reading

   Yesterday afternoon I posted something that had been bothering me and after I posted it I realized maybe I wasn't ready to share all of that with everyone so I deleted my post this morning. I would however like to share a shorter version of what was bothering me right here in this post.
   I have 3 sons and a step son, no daughters. I wanted a little girl with my last pregnancy but it just wasn't meant to be. I am however very blessed to have beautiful healthy boys. When I was pregnant with my youngest son, my husband and I picked out what we felt was the perfect little girl name. It meant a lot to us because it included my husband's mother's name. Obviously we did not get to use that name because we had a boy. A friend of mine is pregnant and a few months ago we were talking about baby names and I told her what we would have named our daughter if we had one and why that name meant so much to us. After a few weeks of going through names she informed me that they were naming their daughter, you guessed it, the name I had told her about. Now I understand that I have no use for or any claim to that name but it does bother me that they are using it. Is it selfish to wish they would pick another name? Probably! But guess what I really wish they would pick another name. I'm not sure if it is so much the name or the fact that I know I will never have a little girl to give that name to that is bothering me the most, either way it is out of my hands and I am done posting about it.
   Moving on now, I started reading "the secret life of Damion Spinelli" and I am really hoping it gets better as I read more of it. I am finding it hard to continue reading it, it is a good read if you don't watch GH, but since i do watch it I am already very familiar with the characters on the show and the dialog they give them in the book so far does not fit the characters I am used to watching on TV so I am finding it hard to really get into the book. I will however continue to read it and finish it and hopefully be able to give a better review when I am done.
   Well that is all for now, so as always I hope everyone has a great day!

Our sunny weekend

   I have so much I want to share this time and I will start with the fact that I am finally starting to feel so much better. My symptoms have reduced to just a little nasal congestion and occasional cough. To breath and feel normal again, yay!! Also no one else in the house seems to have caught whatever this was so that makes me even happier.
   Now on to more good news. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, I was able to take Peanut and my oldest son to the park to watch their brother play soccer, our team lost but they played so hard so we took the team out for ice cream at DQ after the game ( is there anything better than cold ice cream on a hot sunny day?!) After ice cream I met up with a woman who sold me a little four wheeler power wheel for Peanut for $20, what a deal! He feels like such a big boy riding a whole 2 miles an hour along side his brothers on their bikes. It's funny how a child's smile can make you forget for a while all the wrong in this world! So after picking that up for Peanut we enjoyed the warm Saturday evening with friends over for a cookout. What a great way to end a beautiful day.
   Then came Sunday, another sunny and actually hot day (we had to run the air conditioner) I was beginning to think that day was never going to come lol. Sunday was a relaxing day filled with visiting family and enjoying the weather outside.Oh how I hope this weather is here to stay.
   There are a few more things I had intended on sharing in this post but they are not the happiest of things and I think this post should end on a happy note, so I will save those for the another time, maybe during Peanuts nap time I will post more.
   I hope everyone enjoyed hearing about our family's happy sunny weekend in Ohio and may this just be the beginning of more warm sunny days to come! Have a great day everyone! 
  

The sun came out to play

   Well, after weeks of nothing but clouds and rain, we have sunshine in Ohio today! Well, at least for this afternoon, I won't count on it lasting quite yet but this is definitely a wonderful break from the gloomy days we've had lately. Peanut won't even take a nap today, my guess is he sees all the sunshine outside and was too excited to sleep and who can blame him, we have waited far too long for this sunny afternoon to finally come, but we will definitely pay the price for no nap this evening when mr.cranky shows up. Now if only I were feeling better I could take Peanut to the park later to watch his brother play soccer, unfortunately we will have to enjoy this weather from home today as I am still paying the price for going out and about in the crappy weather earlier this week. I do hope this passes soon, no sick days and no calling off work for Mommy's, but give me a daddy who is sick and it is like having another kid in the house. At least that is the case with my husband, I love him dearly but when he is sick he is the biggest baby there is lol.

                                                       
                                                       

   Well this was just a quick post but I hope everyone has a wonderful afternoon and something to smile about!

Sick but not sick of reading

   So far this week no soccer games due to the rain, no surprise there. Ohio weather can really drive you crazy sometimes. Which brings me to this, yesterday I wake up sicker than I have been in years ( chest congestion, cough, sore throat, body aches, the works ) and I think to myself at least I am getting the worst of it out of the way right? No such luck. I woke up this morning and in addition to my previous symptoms I now have sinus congestion, sneezing, and a sinus headache. This weather is now not only taking it's toll on our soccer season but also on my body!

   Now on a happier note, Monday I went to Borders to use my wonderful 40% off coupon they e-mailed me, to get a book I have been wanting, and came home with three great books, or so I hope they are great books. I love to read anything from romance to biographies to science fiction, if it catches my attention I can loose myself in a book very easily and have even gone as far as to read right there in front of the stove while I am cooking. The main book I went to Borders to get is titled "The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli" now if any of you are familiar with the soap opera General Hospital then you already know all about the book as they have promoted it a lot on the show. This book should be very interesting, it is written to be a collection of stories and somewhat of a biography of a fictional character on the show. Seeing as how I am completely and absolutely addicted to General Hospital and never miss an episode thanks to dvr, I just had to read this book. I am hoping to start reading it tonight and will let you know my review when I am done. The other books I bought are "Water for Elephants" and "Not My Daughter" I will let you know how they turn out. One more great thing about going to Borders Monday, a good friend went with me and picked up two different books so we will be doing some book swapping after we read our own.

   Okay well that's all for now, I hope everyone has a happy healthy Wednesday!

Rain Rain Go Away

   I am so tired of all this rain. The meteorologist said last night that we have only had one clear sunny day since the first day of April, there is something wrong with this picture! The soccer season for my boys just officially started 10 days ago and already they have cancelled several of the games due to rain and looking at the forecast there is a good chance they will be cancelling several games this week as well. I am so grateful that it is not flooding here like it is in other parts of the country. I pray every day for the families who have lost their homes and had to evacuate due to the flooding. My two year old is getting a bit of cabin fever, he just looks outside and is so upset he can not play out there with his outside toys. Oh summer we miss you so much! I want swimming and fishing and picnics outside and I really want to plant some flowers. Although I must confess I am really not looking forward to putting on a bathing suit this year.                                          

   I told myself all winter long I was going to loose weight before summer and all I have done is gain weight. I really need some will power to stay away from all the pop and sweets and make myself exercise more. On that note I am 3 years Mountain Dew free ( yay!!!) but now it seems I have replaced Mountain Dew for Pepsi and Sunkist. Time to kick them to the curb too.

   Well time to go but I hope everyone out there has a great day and somewhere may your day be sunny and warm!

Every good thing has to begin somewhere

   So over the past few months I have been wanting to start a blog. I have thought of all the many things I would discuss,write and give my opinions about. Yet here I am nervous and my mind a total blank. Where do I start? What if no one reads it? Is this just a waste of time? So before I spend a minute longer second guessing myself and debating if  I should delete the whole thing and forget it,I am going to tell you a little about myself. For starters I am a mother of 3 boys ages 12,10 and 2. I am a wife of almost 4 years to a husband 12 years my senior and last but not least I am an opinionated, loving, forgiving, generous, passionate and sometimes moody woman! At this particular time in my life I do not work outside the home. I am a chef, a maid, a teacher, a barber, a couseler, a referee and a book keeper just to name a few. I have to admit there are days when I miss going to work outside my home and bringing home my own paycheck but for the most part being a stay at home mother is a wonderful thing for me, and on that note I am ending this blog for now thanks to my 2 year old,we will call him peanut ( a nick name his father gave him before he was even born ) anyways peanut is in need of my attention right now so I am off to enjoy our mommy and me time, I hope everyone has a great day.