December Review

If I were a better blogger I would have blogged these seperately, on different days, taking care to relate the humorous story that went with each one, but lets face it, I am a much better blog reader than I am blog writer. So here are some pictures from our december.

Some decorations on our mantle... I scaled back to two barbies this year, I have dozens.

My kids opening presents from their aunty. My son did not get that you cant complain if its something you didnt really want. He told his nana, " I did not want this! I want action figures!" It was damn funny but we had to punish him because seriously that kind of stuff reflects badly on ME! LOL

Baby girl decorating our tree from Longs Drugstore... only 20 dollars. It was completely crooked and had big holes all over it but thats what I get for taking the easy way out and letting the hubs pick the tree out all by himself.

Baby boy at his singing program for preschool. Isnt he adorable? (He is the one in the red sweater vest.)

Just another way we celebrate the holidays...

Thats my hubby's head. I did the artwork. It was totally his idea! Then of course the kids needed reindeer too. They got them on their legs and tummies (since they both have a full head of hair)

Burning the Candle at both ends

Yup, thats what I am doing. I am totally exhausted and my list is still a mile long. The shoppings done, but not the groceries, pies to be made, relatives coming in from out of town, gifts to be wrapped. Sigh sigh sigh... I will deal with it tommorrow! If I dont get back on here before the big day, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!

Funny Old Photos

Too bad TKW doesnt play WBW anymore because I finally have some material. I scanned these old pictures in the other day. I found them in a tattered old envelope at my mom's . She wouldnt give me the originals.

This is me and my dad. I must say I look pretty cute. My dad? Well it was the 70's. Check out our couch? Did people really think that was attractive? My mom still has that crocheted blanket! Who would of thought of that color combo? My grandma actually...lol. She did beautiful work but really the colors leave much to be desired. In the way back on the shelf you can see the plastic statue of Michaelangelos David. That naked guy caused much laughing among me and my grade school friends as the years went by. I think my mother still has it in her bedroom.

Here we are at Disneyland circa 1980 or so. Dont you just love my dad's and brother's athletic socks??? Crazy! Those shorts I am wearing were hideous. You remember the ones with the little stripe down the side? Yeah, thats them.

Anywho I hope you enjoyed the little flash from the past. I just love looking at old snapshots.

New Kitty Update

Duncan decided to exit the bed at 12:30 last night! He hopped up on top of the bed and began purring loudly next to my ear. He would not go away and until I pet him for like 20 minutes in the middle of the night! Like having a toddler, I swear. Anyway he seems to be settling in. I am keeping him in my bedroom for another day or two because he is such a scaredy cat. My other cat Tiger is not amused with all the attention we have been bestowing on Duncan. Hoping those two will be able to come to terms soon. I promise pictures soon.... i have been lazy.

New Kitty

So I adopted a new kitty today. He is fat and gray. He goes by the name of Duncan and currently he wont come out from under my bed. I sure hope he gets over this crap soon. I wanted a cat to pet and love not sweep my floor clean of dust bunnies. Its only day one, so there is hope.... Pictures to come (as soon as I get him out from the bed! lol)

I should know better...

I let my husband buy the tree without me present. Oh it is a sad little tree, pathetic almost. Huge hole on one side. Where did he find such a sad little thing I thought to myself. Turns out Longs Drug store. Did you know they sold trees? Cheap too. Only 20 bucks. Well the kids are happy. The tree is about to fall over under the weight of the zillion ornaments the children put on. I will have to post a pic. Maybe tommorrow... tonite I need sleep.

Christmas Decorations

Well I have finally got the outdoor lights up. I did it myself. If I had waited for Mr. Iamderby I would have been waiting on Dec. 24th. So I got out the ladder and hoisted those things up myself. And then because babygirl was begging I went and bought one of those deer and stuck that out there too. Next I hauled out all the Christmas boxes from the garage and shed. And with two very eager children I started to unpack them. So lots of decorations are out, just not up properly. Maybe some pics once they look good.

Cookies...cookies...cookies!!!

OMG I am so tired. I ended up making 20 dozen cookies. Three varieties. Non stop baking from saturday to Sunday. CRAZY! Heres some pictures:

Blah Blah Blah

We are off to my father's this weekend to see my little brothers play. My little brother is in highschool....he is 19 years younger than me. He is in the 12th night. Not that I am biased or anything but I think he is a fantastic actor. I keep telling him when he makes it big in Hollywood he needs to save a spot on his staff for his big sissy. I am sure there is a job I can do thats way better and pays more than what I have now! We are coming back on Saturday because I have a lot of work this weekend. It seemed like such a good idea when I first thought of it... whats that? You dont know of my craziness? Ok here it is: I decided to sell my homemade cookies (not to be braggin but I bake fabulously) to raise money for a new digital camera for my yearbook students. So this weekend I will be making 16 dozen cookies... ummm yeah thats alot. like 192 I believe. I am going to be tired.

Another card and some whining

So I whipped out these bad boys tonite. I used some OLD supplies... that ribbon? yeah bought that for my wedding favors....12.5 years ago! That glittery paper? Dollar tree- 3 years ago! LOL Anyway I think they turned out nice. Papertreyink stamps, cuttlebug embossing folder, stickles glitter if your interested in that type of thing.

On to the whining... I miss my damn cat, alot! I think I may need a new one. Yah I know I have five others in the backyard but really only one likes to come in, one is a cat the neighbor abandoned and it hates me, and the other three are pretty much feral. We trapped and neutered them and they only want food... cant pet em. So today I am feeling all bad about my cat and what do I get in the mail? A sympathy card from our vet, signed by his whole staff. So I had to cry some more. Hoping I will get over this soon.

Sweet Baby!

It's babies like this that make people like me want more kids. This sweet little girl is so quiet and adorable. She just slept and slept. So peaceful. Yah I wanted another, but then I remembered my own spawn. They did not sleep and sleep. They screamed and screamed. LOL They were adorable but no sleep was had for about 4 years. Anyway this cute litttle baby is just a week old and she belongs to a very good friend of mine. She and her husband are the best parents. And I am so happy for them, that they got to add this sweet little girl to their family.

Christmas Cards Anyone?

I send them every year but this will be the first year I make them. I have gotten off to a pretty good start. This is my latest. I love the non traditional colors. Those stamps come from papertreyink.com I highly recommend them. Awesome service, reasonable prices, cute stuff.

New Project.... PHOTO FRAMES

This is my first attempt. It was oh so easy, really if you have never done it before you need to try it. Amazing all the cool things you could do to jazz up the photo frame. The frame starts as basic wood. I got mine at Michaels for a buck. Can't beat that price. Then I added some gorgeous basic grey paper, covered chipboard, paint and ribbon. Whole project probably runs about 5$ in price and an hour or so in time. This frame I made for my friend's birthday. Since then I have made three more, its kind of addicting actually.

Frank...in pictures

I was scanning these for my daughter and I thought well why not share some photos of Frank, in his prime. We ended up putting him down on Saturday. It was a hard day for all of us, but we know we did the right thing. Thank you to everyone who left me comments and sent me emails, truely it made me feel much better.

Frank put up with alot. This picture was from a photo session for Christmas cards in 2002
Frank was always a good sport about dressing up.
Frank was always on the lookout for a good place to sleep.
Frank also liked to sleep in our car when it was parked in the garage.
This is right after we first adopted him, most likely 1999. I think it was definitely pre-children.
We have dozens of pictures of him napping with our kids.

A Tribute to Frank

Frank is my cat. I love him. He was my first baby. When my husband and i bought this house it came with a cat. We didnt know it at the time, but we soon found out when he showed up each night looking for food. He waltzed right in the door and hopped up on the couch as if he had lived here forever. We thought he was a girl. We named him Drooly, because he would drool when you would pet him. I put a pink collar on him... oh the indignity of it all! Poor Frank.

After a month Frank was in need of medical attention. So we took our new pet to the vet. We discovered that Drooly was a boy. A neutered boy, but a boy nonetheless. So we took off the pink collar and we decided Drooly was too feminine. And so he became Kitty and shortly after that I just "knew" his name was Frank.

Frank is the best cat that ever was, and this comes from someone who adores cats. Frank has a heart of gold, Frank never once raised a paw to either of my kids although they both deserved it many times. Frank loved to sleep with us at night and lounge around on the couch during the day. Frank is picky. He would eat only dry food, his favorite was Wiskas. He wont eat now. He loved ice cream, especially mint chip. The kids loved to feed him. Frank kept me company while my husband was at work before the kids came along. Frank sat with me through my first Thanksgiving all alone. He had wiskas, I had spaghetti o's. Frank would be shoved into the cat carrier without complaining. Frank would be picked up by my son without a meow. Frank tolerated the irritating little dogs that our relatives constantly bring to our house. Frank is a cat beyond compare. Did I mention I love him?

Frank's kidneys are failing him. He no longer wishes to eat. He sits all day. He can barely walk. This happened so quickly that I still cant believe its my Frank that I am taking to the vet tommorrow. His bloodwork says he is in pain, his face says he is in pain. So tommorrow he is taking a one way trip to the vet. I am beside myself. I could cry all night and still it wouldnt be enough. I will miss him. My heart hurts. And everytime I think I am all cried out, I cry a little more. So tonite I will sleep with my kitty one last time, I will kiss him and pet him and see if he wants some mint chip ice cream. And tomorrow I will help him leave this world peacefully. And still I will cry a little more.

New Project... Christmas Baskets!

After the Halloween baskets....I dont know how many of these I will make. But these first two were lots of fun. I got the idea here: CambriaTurnbow I used my new nestabilities dies and cute papertreyink stamps. I love these little stamps, they are awesome! Everything at papertreyink is pretty awesome, I have another order arriving tomorrow! LOL, I love to shop almost as much as I love to make stuff.

I feel like I should post....

but honestly I have nothing to say! My life is that boring. I havent made any new projects, the Halloween baskets about did me in! It was fun for the first 5 or 6 and then after that it was a PITA!

Anyway no big plans, no fun projects, the kids have been fairly mellow, the job is moving right along. HMMMMMM.. Ok I have it! Book review time:

I am America (And so Can You) by Stephen Colbert



I LOOOOOVE this book! If you enjoy the tv show (on comedy central) you will love this! Even my republican husband likes it. It is so funny. This guy is so smart and his comedy is so good! Definitely a great idea for a Christmas present, I would think.

Things I thought I would never have to say....

When you become a parent you expect you are going to have to explain lots of things (such as: why you use a fork to eat, why you dont pull the cat's tail, why you shouldnt play in the street....) but there are some things I thought I would never have to explain. Some things, I thought, are self explanatory... I mean they are so flippin obvious even a monkey could understand them... And yet I find myself saying, all the time, things I thought I would never have to say:
* Don't lick the soccer cleats
* Don't put makeup on the cat
* Underwear is not for playing with (every stuffed animal was wearing a pair)
* Make up is not the same as watercolors
* You may not live under the dining room table
* You can not be a unicorn when you grow up
* Do not try to dig you boogers out with a fork
* You can not sit on the baby, even if he cries too much

What are some things you thought you would never have to say.....

My babies!

My witch and my Anakin. He was very upset at the people who called him Luke, Mace Windu, and Obe One. He kept telling people no no no I am Anakin! Luke is my son! LOL

Because I am cool...

this is how I am teaching today....

Plush Accomodations

So I took a trip this last week to the California Science Teachers Conference in Long Beach. It was amazing!!!! The hotel we stayed at? yeah, not so much. Below is our pool. This would be the view from our balcony. Beautiful, no?

And here is another guest....well I guess he was a guest...before he met an untimely death. He was relaxing at the pool when his time came. I guess I shouldnt complain since the trip was free.

RIP Microwave

UGH! You know its going to be a bad day when you have to actually get out a pan and boil water for your tea! Maybe I should have coughed up 3 bucks and gone to starbucks. Anyhow my Microwave has passed away. It just decided to stop working. Oh it turns on, it makes noise, the turn table turns, but no microwave goodness actually comes out! I guess it will be off to Sears for us in the next few days. Of course this stuff can never happen on a weekend when you have time to replace and install a new one. Actually I am thinking the microwave heard us on the phone talking to the mechanic about how much it would be to fix my husband's car and then thought "I will show these guys, I will die right now! Double whammy!! haheha!" Or it could just be my bad luck in general.

I have figured out whats wrong with our health care system....

and its called we think your 20 minute ER visit was worth.... get this.....
1,344.00!!!! Yes, you read that right, ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR dollars. For a 20 MINUTE ER visit (not including the 2.5 hours I sat waiting with my baby girl puking all over me and her tupperware bowl.) After the extremely long wait we were ushered back to the "bed" section. The dr. examined baby girl. Listened to me go on about her symptoms. He listened to her heart, gave her the once over. Gave her a pill to stop the nauesea. Made us sit for 15 minutes to make sure she could hold down a cup of water and then we paid our copay and left. That was it. Now granted we were at the ER (which I was told to go to by the Dr. on call at our pediatrician's office) so I understand it might cost a little more for after hours treatment but one thousand three hundred and forty four dollars???? I mean omg, WTF? This seriously makes me wonder what the charge was for my apendectomy with severe complications that led to a brief stay in ICU and a full seven days in the hospital. That must be what like several million I guess, if its 1300 every 20 minutes. I wouldnt even had known the cost if the ins. hadnt sent some letter about how they "knew" we must have other health ins. on our kids and we are holding out on them. Ummm no. We pay enough at my husband's job we dont need double. I guarantee this sad sorry health care system we have is going to implode....probably sooner than later.

YIKES!

Its been a week! I had so much time to waste on the computer over the summer, but now, jeez work is taking up all my time. And then after work my little darlings require alot of attention. Oh and then my blog reading....yeah thats work to keep up with! LOL...so that is my laundry list of excuses.

This weekend I have been making cute little halloween treat baskets. I got the idea from this blogcapture the moment She has some cool stuff, I could look at her projects all day.

World Card Day

In honor of World Card Day.... I give you my latest card.

Splurge Worthy??

I got this idea somewhere else...but I am old and the brain doesnt work so well and well I cant remember very well! Anyway here is my list of 5 splurge worthy items and 5 items that there is no way I am paying retail.

Splurge Worthy
1. Diet Dr. Pepper
2. Nice Trousers
3. Gorgeous scrapbook paper
4. chocolate
5. good art supplies

Unsplurge worthy
1. Shoes (why pay retail when there is always a deal to be found)
2. Purses (yes I am probably in the minority, but no way am I paying 200 bucks for a purse)
3. Milk (the store brand is the same)
4. Books (even the latest can be found at costco cheap!)
5. Water (the tap tastes fine to me)

Let me know what you find spurge worthy!!

Why I Am Fat... Part Deux

This is the remains of my ice cream sundae that I ate upon returning from my workout at the gym. I think if I didnt go to the gym the Discovery Channel would be coming to film me for one of their fattest people in the world shows.

OCTOBER!!!

I love october and all its halloween goodness! Of course I usually add several pounds to my already packed frame in October. Why oh why is chocolate so good??!! I dont even buy trick or treat candy until the very last minute because I know myself, and Myself eats chocolate when its in this house, whether its earmarked for another purpose or not! How many days will I last this year before I cave to the creamy goodness that is Halloween candy? Stay tuned.....

I am a creature of habit

Its Wednesday, on Wednesdays I like to play WCW. So um I think I am gonna play. Hoping that will be ok with TKW... ya know I dont normally hijack people's games but like I said I am a creature of habit and on Wednesdays I like to play WCW. So here goes.... oh wait... I pick F or P, either of those will work with my picture. You can play too... just make up whatever rule you want and let me know so I can come see your pictures!

These are giant pollywogs or frogs. They were huge!!! Like the size of your fist! Crazy big, I had never seen anything like it.

Theres a Reason I am Fat....

and its called I just ate a cheeseburger and order of onion rings from this awesome place called the Habit. OMG YUM! And I dont even like burgers. Can't be going back there or I will never lose an ounce, let alone a few dozen pounds.

Crying Buckets Over Here

My first ever blog read, my very favorite blog read, the reason I have this stupid blog, TKW has decided to ride off into the sunset (or snow drift...I am not sure which) and leave me without suitable reading material before work every morning. Now I know the world is full of bigger problems then what I am going to read...but wow... I am sad, sad, sad about this. It makes me kind of snicker at myself because I dont even know TKW's real name... and yet I feel like a friend is leaving. sigh. I read lots of blogs...I comment on a few... I have had "favorite" bloggers drop off the blogosphere before, I have even been sad about it, but not like this. This is depressing. Clearly I am too attached, but feelings are what they are. And so today...I am going to go off and sulk in a corner for awhile.

soda POP!

I dont know if I shared that I am a science teacher. I teach science grades 1 to 6. I love it...I mean LOVE it. I love sharing the need to question everything. Today we shook up soda and then opened it and watched it go everywhere. Kids LOVE this. I urge you to do it. Take your kids outside (or borrow some kids) get some cans or bottles of diet (less sticky) coke and go for it! So much fun. Oh and heres a tip. Get a bottle of soda, shake it up, open it....ooh...ahhhh. Ok now pour out a little bit, put the lid on and shake it again....now you will really get an explosion! Enjoy!

Wild Card Wednesday... Wayback style

I give you sorority fun. I believe this was some kind of serenade. Clearly we were all suppose to wear black. I am the idiot in the front, sort of squatting, wearing a hideous leather jacket (stolen from an old boyfriend) and an insanely huge black bow in my hair. Sad as I look in this costume, sorority life provided hours of entertainment! (and a multitude of reasons to drink!)

Soccer Saturdays

So I have officially, once again, become a soccer mom. Let me say for the record, that I HATE sports. Hate to play them, mostly hate to watch them (the exception being NBA basketball- Go KINGS!) I never, ever thought in a million years I would have a girl child who liked sports, I never thought in a million years said girl child would be any good at sports (after all she has half my genes and I suck at all sports, I even suck at walking in a straight line, I am a natural born klutz...even at the age of 34 I still fall down and I am not always intoxicated at the time!!) BUT I do have a sports loving girl child and she loves soccer. LOVES it. And she is good! I know she is only seven, but she is awesome. I am in awe. And so every Saturday morning I get up, dress the boy, and we head out to the soccer field to watch the girl play....and heres the thing... I actually enjoy it!

Joyous Bathroom Fun

My friend the comode.... I have been hugging him for the past two days. That is hugging him when I wasnt cleaning up vomit from my two children. God decided I wasnt having nearly enough fun and gave me and my children the stomach flu. ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!! Extra fun.... you get to throw up, then clean up puke, then console sobbing children, change bedding, puke again, then the kids puke again...then you repeat! Over and over again. Its been a long couple of days.

Rosemary for Rememberance

Hard to believe its been 6 years. My thoughts are with those who paid the ultimate price and their loved ones who are still paying. May God Bless America

MMMMmmmm Lovin' From the Oven!

These are my annual welcome back to the first day of school cookies that I make for the rest of our teaching/support staff. I had so much fun putting these together. Especially making the little tags because I got to use my new toy. It is a die cut machine called the cuttlebug. It works fabulously, a million times better than my big red sizzix!

Wild Card Wednesday

Whumph!!! Thats the sound of me hitting the floor when i saw these....

Mr. Iamderby bought me flowers....for no apparent reason! Flowers for no reason! Now this might be the normal way of things at your place. Maybe your Mr. writes you sappy notes, brings you flowers, buys jewelery. If that describes your Mr. than you are a lucky girl and I hope you are counting your blessings. My Mr. has not a romantic bone in his body. He deems jewelery and flowers a waste of money. Why did I marry him you ask? (Aside from the fact I was in LUUUUUVVV) Well he reeled me in with jewelry and flowers (Kinda like I lured him in with promises of homecooked meals and clean house) Yah none of those things continued on after the wedding vows were said.
Anyhow.... I came home from work and there they were, flowers for no reason at all. After I got over looking at him like he had grown another head, I thanked him profusely and moved those flowers to a prominent postition, where I plan to gaze at them until they are dried up little stalks, because who knows when I might get more!

September??? How did it get to be September???

So here we are, September! Time for me to go back to work and enjoy another year educating our nations' youth! I love my job, I love teaching. I just hate getting up for work everyday! Gone are the days of hard indecision...such as should I go to the gym now or after lunch? Should I take the children to the pool or just turn on the hose? Oh well, all good things must end sometime.

I leave you with some pictures from my pretty new calendar. This is the calendar I hang in my classroom. Its fairly small, 6x12. I love making these things!

Score at the Big Lots!

Are you all aquainted with Big Lots? This is a fabulous place...like a giant treasure hunt! Everytime you find something new, and its so cheap you simply must have it! I usually go there in search of scrapbook supplies. Currently I was looking for american crafts ribbon that was rumored to be there. (I hear these rumors at the Creating Keepsakes Message Board (CKMB) where I spend entirely too much time.) So anyway I had been to my local Big Lots where there was no ribbon to be had. I was sad! I kept thinking of the ribbon. It was so cheap! At the scrapbook store 10.75!!! But at Big Lots... 2 bucks!! So today on my way home from my work meeting I decide to stop off at the other Big Lots, this one in a rather scary part of town, but I am brave and of course I was on a mission! When I pulled up I ignored the cop car (engine running...pulled up on the sidewalk) I quickly walked the store looking for the craft supplies. I had gone through most of the store, getting more and more depressed. Then just when I was about to give up.... light shone down, angels begin to sing.... well not really but my heart did start to beat fast because there it was!! The object of my affection (ok, ok obsession!) I bought 6 rolls....because really people I am SAVING money here! I saved nearly 50 dollars by my calculations! Oh and as a bonus they had these little tins of felt flowers...regular about 6 bucks...big lots price: 3 dollars! So I had to get one of those as well. As I was paying the cops in the back of the store started shouting and it appeared some kind of arrest was about to go down, so I hurried to the car and drove off with my prizes!

Big Fun

The California State Fair! We imposed a no ride rule on the kids this year. This earned me a sulk worthy of any teenager from my seven year old. However once we got out of the ride area the kids had a lot of fun, and Mr. Iamderby and I had a much more enjoyable time. This year we had time to look at all the animals, hit the freebie kid stuff, do the jungle walk and see all of the exhibts. The girl enjoyed seeing a baby quail hatch. Well lets face it I enjoyed that too! It was amazing seeing that little bird peck its way into the world. The boy enjoyed sucking down a huge icee and eating an enormous corn dog. He also enjoyed petting the goats, sheep, and especially the chicken. The Mr. enjoyed parting with all his money... well maybe enjoyed isnt the word, but part with it he did. Someone is getting rich and it sure isnt us! The California State Fair runs through Labor Day, if you're in the area you should go!