Monday Morning Musings - Q-tip Anyone?

So the other day, I watched as Addy, very deliberately drug a chair from the kitchen table all the way into my bathroom up to my sink. She opened the jar that is on the counter with Q-tips and took one out. Then she stuck the Q-tip up her nose and then put it back in the jar and put the lid back on. Then she took the chair and scooted it back into the kitchen. And the whole time I was standing there, eyes wide, mouth open, thinking to myself, "It looks like she's done this before". Uh, yeah. So I threw away all the Q-tips.

Steve and I and the whole gang went to IKEA today and we didn't buy one darn thing! Can you believe it? I couldn't, honestly. Steve had to go to a meeting semi-close to IKEA, so the kids and I went along. We were gonna go to his meeting, then on to IKEA. Well, we were almost to the place where he was meeting and the guy called and wanted to move it to later in the afternoon. So we went straight to IKEA. We were looking for a new bedspread and sheets and we also went to get the shelving and stuff for my laundry/craft room. It took us forever to do the configuration for the laundry room and figure out everything we needed. Then it took us forever to decided on a bedspread. Then we decided not to decided on one, that we wanted to look other places. So we went to get all the stuff we needed for the laundry room (if you've bought anything like that from IKEA you know how much fun that is, to try and find all 50 million parts you need). They were out of one of the major things we needed, but I wanted my laundry room done so much that I was trying to reconfigure it to make it work. Then they were paging me to get my kids out of the play place because I was 15 minutes late, then on the way to the play place Steve and I saw a bed set that we loved and wanted, but then it was time to leave right then or Steve would be late for his meeting. So we just left. It was very frustrating.

Saturday night, Steve was working all night, and I hate going to sleep when he isn't here so I stay up until the point of passing out. Well, I was flipping through channels trying to find something to watch on TV. I haven't seen Saturday Night Live in like, forever. So I stopped there for a minute. Uh, OK. Why is that show still even on the air? The one sketch I watched was not even slightly funny.

I'm just wondering...Can anyone remember when the last time throwing money at a problem solved anything? And more importantly, when was the last time greedy, self-serving politicians throwing money around like beads at Mardi Gras did any good?

Flashback Friday - Jump!

This picture of Zac and Emily was taken on Christmas Day 2001. This is the year we got the trampoline. I think Emily looks just like Addison does now in this picture. In fact, that's the coat Addison wears.

Oh, and I haven't forgot about my special Flashback Fridays. I am working on it. It might take me a few more weeks so, when you see it, you see it. Just know I didn't forget.

Stuck In My Head - Crazy Chester Followed Me

I heard this song on the radio about a week ago. I hadn't heard it in a while and after I did I thought, "That used to be one of my favorite songs, I really should listen to it more often". Not a problem, seeing that it has been playing on a loop in my head for the past several days. The other day I was singing it and I sang:

Take a load off Annie

Take a load for free

Take a load off Annie

Annnnnd...

And then Aubrey finished for me by singing:

You put the load right on me.

(stupid blogger won't let me type without making the space between the lines. what if i don't want the space between the lines?!? huh? did you ever think of that?)

Sometimes when I get a song stuck in my head for more than a few days, it really starts to get annoying. But this one, not so much. It hasn't bothered me at all. Yet. Not like this one, which became annoying after 5 minutes. Maybe that's how you tell a good song from a not so good song. No offense to Hootie. Or the Blowfish.

WebCam Wednesday - Tiny Dancer

When we were in Arizona, we went to eat at pretty much the only restaurant that is open in Page at this time of year. It was actually very yummy. You may have seen a picture, in my last post, of the flaming fajitas Steve and I shared. I will just say, they were probably the best shrimp fajitas I have ever had. And that's saying a lot seeing that I hail from the land of Tex-Mex. Anyway, that really has nothing to do with the video. Addison was really enjoying the music and it was very cute. As you can see. Just ignore what her brother says at the end.

Road Trip

Steve has been working out of town a lot lately. He was gone for almost four weeks. He wasn't gone like a full four weeks. He would be gone a few days, home a few, gone a few. Well, right in the middle of the four weeks he had been gone for a full week straight and we still had almost another week before he came home again. I woke up that Saturday morning missing him so much. I really wanted to get in the car and drive to see him. I looked up how far away it was (he was working in Page Arizona) and discovered that it was 7 hours from here. So all morning long I tried to talk myself out of a road trip. I called my mom and told her we needed to go and do something really fun that day. She was giving me suggestions and asking me what I thought. I told her that I thought I really just felt like driving to AZ to see Steve. She told me I should. So I finally realized that that is what I was going to do. An hour later the kids and I were in the minivan and on our way.

About an hour and a half into the drive I started to get sleepy. I thought, "AHHH! What am I doing? I can't drive for seven hours!" But I did it! The kids were great. Steve was very surprised to see us (I didn't tell him we were coming). We had a blast for the one day we were able to spend with him. We even got to be in AZ for that one thing. Uhmmm, ya know, with the football and the commercials.

(the slide show is really small. if you want to view the pictures larger, click on the slide show)

Monday Morning Musings - Norm!

Not exactly morning anymore. It's either do this or clean my kitchen, so I choose this.

We have all been a little under the weather here lately. I am getting really tired of it.

I was able to go on Aubrey's field trip with her today. I feel like such a horrible mother. When Zac and Emily were in Kindergarten, I used to go all the time to help in their class. I never go to help in Aubrey's class. I don't really know anyone well enough in my new neighborhood to dump Monster Baby off with them and I would be less than helpful if I took her with me. Aubrey asks me to go and help all the time. She always says, "But so and so's mom goes all the time to help!" Going on the field trip today helped to ease my guilt a little.

We had parent teacher conferences last week and we found out that Zac scored in the top 10% Nationally in Science and Reading on some standardized test. Yeah, he gets it from me....

We were watching old home movies earlier tonight. I had to explain to my children why we have 5 million hours of Zac doing pretty much nothing on tape and about and hour of Emily and 30 minutes of Aubrey and nothing of Addy. I told them that when moms and dads have their first baby they think everything the baby does is so awesome because it is the first time they are seeing one of their babies doing it. By the time you get to the 4th kid, they are lucky if they get their diaper changed every day. But moms and dads still love all their kids just the same. Even if it is hard to tell from the taped evidence.

Speaking of old home movies. WOW! I had some major mom jeans goin' on all over the place. And Steve, he looked like he was about 15 years old. And thank goodness he got rid of those sweats that were way too small.

I love my new house and my new neighborhood and everyone is really nice and all but I'm just really tired and.....

♪ Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, people are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name. ♪

trying...not...to...cry.....

WebCam Wednesday - Take A Chance On Me

Alright. I'm takin' a chance right now posting this here video. This is why. I don't know where the speakers for my computer are. So therefore I can't hear anything on the video. It has been deleted from my flip camera so I can't go back and watch it there and hear what's goin' down. I could upload it to my blog, save it, and go listen to it on Steve's computer, which happens to be equipped with speakers. However, his computer is turned off. I don't wanna turn it on and wait and go through all the hassle. I just wanna go take a bath in my nice big soaker tub. That's what I wanna do right now. So I'm just gonna be daring and post it. It could be scary. This was shot at my mom's house on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was a long time ago. I could be yelling at Zac when he is being obnoxious trying to cover up the camera. My children could be talking about bodily functions. You could be hearing them perform bodily functions. I don't know. But here it is. It's real and it's raw and that's just how it is.

WebCam Wednesday - I Wanna Know, Have You Ever Seen The Rain

I love the rain. I grew up in a place where when it rained, it rained. I now live in a place where when it rains, well, it just gives off a light misting. If you click on my "Everything you wanted to know about me" thig-a-ma-bobber on the right side there, you will see that aside from the ice cream and the people (not particularly in that order)(or maybe so) the thing I miss most about Texas is the rain. So when we were in St. Louis for Christmas and got caught in a torrential downpour, I was so excited. I had been so long since I had seen real rain. Steve and I were driving down the street loving it, while our kids were freaking out in the back seat. I turned back to them and said, "It's OK kids. That stuff there, that's called rain." Anyway, I just had to take a video to remember.

Gathering

When we were in St. Louis for Christmas, the whole family went to Steve's mothers grave. She passed away in 1990 from cancer. I never met her, but I know she is a wonderful woman because she left behind a great legacy. It was a special moment to have everyone gathered there together to pay tribute to her memory.

After visiting Myrle's grave, we drove around the cemetery for a while. I love cemeteries and this cemetery is beautiful. It is a National Cemetery and it is HUGE. All the headstones are alike an it is an awesome sight to behold. They go on for miles and miles and miles. It is a very historic place and there are soldiers buried there from the Civil War and every war since. For some fascinating facts about this cemetery you can click here.

Monday Morning Musings - Repeating Myself. Repeating Myself. Repeating Myself. Repeating - OK, You Get The Idea

Ya know how I said a few posts back that I haven't been blogging much because I say everything on Facebook and I feel like I would be repeating myself if I said it here? Well, I'm about to do some repeating. For those of you who refuse to join Facebook (Kristy) they have this thing called a status. And on your status you type whatever it is that you are doing and all your friends can see it and comment on it. Most of the things I put on my status are things I would probably be using for my Monday Morning Musings. So for my MMM today I am going to give you some of my past status....uhhh...statuses. For those of you interested in joining Facebook, you may do so by clicking here. Come on. All the cool kids are doing it.

My past status updates:

1/26/09: Allyson is aware that the jar says refrigerate after opening,but do pickles really need 2 b?Cause I ain't got no room n my fridge 4 this big ol' honkin' jar from Costco.

1/26/09: Allyson has a strange, unexplained desire to watch Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

1/25/09: Allyson has concluded that if she stops cleaning her house for more than five minutes at a time, it turns into a disaster zone.

1/24/09: Allyson finally has a mortgage on her house! WAHOOO!!! now i have to start making the payments....

1/23/09: Allyson is standing @ her fridge,eating green olives straight out of the jar,trying 2 decided what 2 eat 4 lunch.Maybe if I eat enough of these,I won't have 2 eat lunch.

1/22/09: Allyson just unpacked 2 boxes! The first boxes I have unpacked since the new year. I only have 587 more to go....

1/22/09: Allyson says as if it wasn't bad enough that the creators of Lost have drug out their cockamamie story for this long, but I find it very irritating that they filled my DVR with 2 hours last week and 1 hour this week with crappe' I have already seen before.

1/21/09: Allyson is staring at the pile of trash she just swept up in the kitchen and is wondering if all kids are this messy when they eat or if mine are just special that way.

1/21/09: Allyson is eating oatmeal and just looked on the side of the box and found out it is expired. How bad can old oatmeal be? Tastes pretty good to me.

1/20/09: Allyson says he can talk the big talk, now we see if he can walk the big walk.

1/20/09: Allyson is watching the inauguration because Zac has to for his homework. Oh and 'cause Aretha Franklin is singing.