Domestic Zen

I do believe I've discovered the secret to happy housekeeping. Multi-colored plates!! Just look at that loverly dishwasher(ohhhhh ahhhhhh woooow). Yes, I know you're thinking, "How lame are you to take a picture of your plates?", but deep down you're thinking, "Ya know, I suddenly feel like breaking out in ABBA songs". That's right, it's the power of the Happy Plate!

New Toys!

While shopping the other day, I found food coloring markers on sale for $.75! Therefore, lunch of course consists of happy star grilled cheese sandwiches. Who knew a dollar could bring so much joy to my life? WHEEEE!

Sam Speaks

For a year and a half now, we've been anxiously awaiting for baby Sam to move beyond pointing and grunting. Although, I must admit that he's made an art of it and has us well trained to respond correctly. Last night while changing his diaper, we did our usual "who's that on your diaper? Can you say Elmo?". To our shock and amazement he actually said "ELMO"! So here's his vocal debut for all to enjoy. Sorry about the poor video, we had the lights dimmed for bedtime.

Munchkin Mania!

I was just looking through some pics on the computer and couldn't resist sharing!


Some kids smile, mine show you their tonsils.


This was “Cow Appreciation Day” at Chick-fil-a. If you dressed like a cow you got free lunch! They had little cow tails and ears, and Danielle even had a cow mask, although, they were quickly lost once we hit the playground. My oldest son informed me, as I was making MY cow ears, that I’d probably have done it even if we didn’t get free lunch (and yes I would, hee hee).



Miss Danielle enjoying her Easter Peeps. For some reason she won’t eat the whole Peep, only the heads. Hmmm maybe I should seek therapy before she ends up on tour with Ozzy Osbourne.



The visual of a day in my life: Danielle screaming and Sam happily shoving some nonfood item in his mouth




Need I say more?

Mel The Dog

This is pretty much the theme song in our house. WARNING: This song is made of glue and will stick in your head for days!

Step 2

Ecclesiastes 7:21
Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you

Step Away From The Axe

1 Peter 3:9
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Sam and Pooh

Litte Pooh Bear has been out of batteries for several weeks now and today during snack time we finally brought him back to life. I think baby Sam missed him!

I love Danielle's comment at the end "Not on his face". Spoken like a true big sister.

The Great Commision

My hubby just had back surgery last Monday which you can read more about on his blog Dansclan. It’s been a challenge, but he’s a tough cookie and he‘s getting better with each day. I’m trying my best to make it an easy recovery for him, but with toddlers running about and our bedroom upstairs, it hasn’t been very easy. We visited a new church the Sunday before he had the surgery and fell in love with the people there and immediately decided it would be our new church home. Tonight I finished putting the kids to bed, checked in on my hubby and the phone started ringing. I ran downstairs to grab it and it was one of the ladies from High Pointe Church. During their Sunday night meeting they arranged for the congregation to bring us dinner every night this week! All I could do was cry, as a matter of fact, I’m still having a hard time typing through my teary eyes. I’ve grown up going to church and I’ve been to just about every denomination out there, from Catholic to passed out in the isle Holly Rollers. I’ve never seen a group of people more focused on showing Christ’s love with no expectations of return. They simply do what the bible tells us to do in Matthew 22:36-39

Bill This

My awesome hubby bought me a cell phone for mother’s day and knowing what a freak I am about contracts, he got service from Cricket, which is contract free. Well, after having several problems and consistantly having to spend 20-30mins on hold BEFORE even getting to talk to a person, just to find their accent was so strong that I couldn’t understand them, we decided to tell them to bugger off. One month later, they charged my account for 2 months service. Needless to say I was ticked. After jumping through hoops that you wouldn’t believe if I told you, they said it’d be credited back to my account within 48 hours. This was a week ago and it hasn’t been done yet. Thankfully, my bank rocks and they are going to help me fight it. We are now with T-Mobile and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them, contract and all, lol (Thanks Boo-boo!).

After dealing with the Cricket issue, I continue on with paying the bills. When I see my ATT bill, with whom I have home phone and formerly internet, I find that they have charged me for the entire month’s internet after I had cancelled it. When I called to have it fixed they informed me that they would have to wait until the next billing cycle to adjust it and I should call back next month. Ummmm, don’t think so. After we finished our conversation, I called and started service with another company that is $10 cheaper per month, no connection fee, and they’re giving me the first 3 months free. I then joyfully called AT&T back and told them that we were done doing business with them. Amazingly they offered to INSTANTLY credit my account for the pro-rated internet and give me $5 off our home phone for the next 3 months.. I guess we were suddenly sucked into some black hole that gave them the ability to make adjustments before the billing cycle. Unfortunately, it’s too little too late and I’m going to spend my extra $10 victory money on a new oven mit! Whooo hooo!

Mini Meaty Morsels

Today I ran across one of those things that are so completely obvious, you couldn't help but continuously overlook them, leaving you to feel like the brainiac of the year. Today mine was the "Mini-meatloaf". My hubby is a carnivore's carnivore (hmm, does that make him a cannibal?) and he likey meatloaf. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Oklahoma is doing it's impression of Hell and the thought of having to cook a hunk of meat for an hour and a half makes me want to gouge my eyes out with an hors d'oeuvre toothpick.

To the rescue comes the "Mini-meatloaf"!!! You simply fill muffin tins with the meatloaf and cook away at 375 for 30 mins. Presto, muffin's made for a man. Serve it up with a ham omelet, a slab of bacon, and a roll of sausage and I've got one happy hubby. FYI, I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER feed such a meal to my husband. Actually, I'm pretty sure that eating one such breakfast would instantly make you uninsurable by most major insurance companies. Anyhoo, I'm in love with these little guys. Thank you Meatloaf King!

Duck and Cover

Well, I figure the message from the sermon Sunday must've been a really important one because boy howdy has it been battle after battle the last couple of days. You know when you have that overhang of yuck everywhere? We had a double dose of it. Boo and I have been about ready to pluck each other's eyes out. I find it amazing how one can be so unbelievably mean to one's spouse (and this is a TWO way street). If you've had a bad day, you just vomit angry words at each other, or try to disintegrate each other with the "lava stare of doom". I sometimes wonder if this is just a test of security. Maybe subconsciously you're trying to see if they're going to bugger off if things get ugly, just so you won't be caught off guard at a time when you really need them to be there.

release valve

While at church this morning I thought of lots of things that I would like to blog about. After coming home and having a screaming match, I simply would like to say...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Thanks, I feel better.

Happy Joy Joy!

I now feel like the coolest chick EVER!!!! Anyone who's been around me knows that I love to bake and one of my favorite things is COOKIES. I make delicious UGLY cookies. You know the kind where you have 1/2 doz jumbos, 1/2 dozen minis and all of them have an extra "leg" coming off one side or another making them look more like The Blob than nummishious treats? I have tried and tried over the years to make uniform pretty cookies, but even when I try rolling them into little balls I end up with a plethora of odd sizes. Maybe it's a depth perception thing (guess I'll never get to fly with the Blue Angels). Anyhoo, I finally broke down and splurged on a cookie dipper. Owooooo. It is the coolest thing since sliced bread and I just made the most beautiful batch of uniform cookies. I will confess that I didn't make them from scratch though. The store had Valentine cake mixes on sale for $.30 each and with my coupon they were $.05 each and they don't expire until June 2010 (had to brag about that one). Soooo, I changed the liquids a bit and made the cake mix into cookie mix. Aren't they loverly? Go ahead, you may lick the screen, I won't tell.