September Acres

...and the countdown begins. Hard to believe that New Year's Eve is tomorrow! Where did 2008 go? In some ways I am glad to bid it farewell. It has been a rough year with family illness and death so I am glad to see that end and pray for a healthier, happier 2009. At the same time it means my little girl will be 7 - I really don't know where that time went. Each day I realize she is growing up -and away from us. Sometimes she still seems like such a baby and others I look at her and see this grown up girl. I have to say I like the 'baby' times alot. We had a really nice Christmas with my sister visiting and my parents here. We seemed to spend a lot of time eating together (I guess that's part of the holidays, right?) We played games ( namely the 'Wii' - a family gift which was a hit), watched movies, talked & walked. My sister goes home today but it seems like she just got here. By Friday we will all kind of be back in our little routines. It is nice s

This is the view outside of our camper since we moved it up to the mountains. Beats the neighbor's vacant lot view we had at home. We headed up on Saturday morning to visit our friends. There was about 18 inches of snow but by the time we arrived the main roads had been plowed and it was easy driving. The kids spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning sledding down the driveway, which makes the perfect sledding/tubing hill when it snows. It was a fun, relaxing time amid the hustle and bustle of Christmastime. You kind of forget all you have to do at home when you are up there. It was nice having the camper up there as we had our own 'space' (not to mention beds) & all of our 'stuff'. We did spend most of the time in our friends' cabin when we weren't outside - after all they do have the TV and we are heading into NFL playoff time. We got some sad news on the way home that my great aunt died yesterday. She had just turned 87 and had been in the hospital

I heard that today is 'National Free Shipping' day for alot of online retailers. I guess it's the last day to get your merchandise in time for Christmas using ground or regular shipping methods. Oooh - free shipping with all the discounts out there. Doesn't that sound good? Now, I don't need anything but if I have a free moment maybe I will just look. Can't hurt. Of course, with my schedule today there will be little time for shopping of any kind. I am off to my daughter's school in about an hour to help with the Christmas festivities. School is out at 1 today and they are off until Jan 5th. It is kind of nice to have a week to just do fun things. I still have a little wrapping to do but I usually do that at night after Little Miss is in bed. If you have a Safeway near you and you are in the market for a Gingerbread house kit run over there today to see if they still have them for $6. Yes, that's right. Marked down from $12.99. They were

Yes, it's even cold in Arizona. The above photo is from Flagstaff which is about 3 hours away. They had a foot of snow yesterday and are expecting more today. As for my town, we have had rain for 2 of the last 3 days. Very unusual for us. And when I was coming home this morning from taking the dog to the vet it was 43 degrees. Now I know some of you would love to see 43 but that's really cold for us. This will likely be our cold spell for the winter. I have to say that I enjoy it being a little cooler sometimes and the rain is always welcome since we get so little (I think we average less than 3 inches a year - yes, you read that right. Crazy, isn't it?) We are really getting into the Christmas spirit now. We have moved our camper up to the mountains - about an hour from here. It is on the property of our friends who have a cabin up there. We plan to go this weekend and I am so excited. They also have gotten snow up there which will be really fun for the kids

Here's our big tree in the living room. It has all white lights, hard to see here. I will try to take some pictures at night to show off the lights. Makes it all a bit more festive. There's a reason for the snowman on top of the tree... I have not been able to find a star or angel that will not fall off. I kind of gave up since the snowman is kind of cute and it hasn't fallen off yet. I surely cannot be the only person who has this tree and this problem Well, maybe I can... My daughter's Christmas pageant was last night. The kids did a great job. It was a really nice production and all that practice really paid off. Tomorrow we start practice for the Children's choir for Christmas Eve mass. It's a good thing Little Miss likes the stage. This will be a busy week with 'last minute' baking for teachers and friends. Hard to think it's last minute but with school out on Thursday this is crunch time. I am making Chex mix as I write this. I

" Punctuality is the politeness of kings" Louis XVIII I am resolving to allow alot of time to get places this time of year, in hopes that it spills over into the new year (a good resolution). The roads are busier. Stores are busier. People are busier. It just makes good sense to start the journey a little earlier than you usually do or than you think you should. When you leave yourself a little extra time you just feel calmer knowing you're going to make it. Every day on the way to school my daughter and her friend ask 'are we going to be late?' Why they ask I don't know, since in the year and a half we have been car pooling they have never been late. But it's nice to know that they are conscious of the fact that they need to get to school on time. Plus, I think they like the time to play on the playground before the bell rings. This weekend is a crazy, busy weekend for us. My daughter has her last play practice tomorrow from 8am - 11am.

Is it really Thursday already? I have been BUSY! I am sure everyone else is in the same boat. I am thankful that I am busy and able to do everything that I need to do. This is the small tree I have in my daughter's room. It has white lights although it is hard to see that in the photo. As I was placing ornaments on the tree I decided that this should be the 'teddy bear' tree since we have so many teddy bear ornaments. Little Miss was very happy with that and now every night she finds a bear on the big tree to move to the little one. Umm, not exactly what I had in mind... Tonight is Little Miss' last Thursday night play practice. They practice again on Saturday and then the play is Sunday. Tonight while she is out I am going to try to purge her room and play room to make space for the things that Santa will bring. Can I do it all in 90 minutes? I'll let you know. I need to check on some cookies but hope to be back soon...

I am a little late in posting my Simply Celebrating Christmas which is part of Living Simply Saturdays but I wanted to take part in it and even though it's Monday I want to share my Simple Christmas ideas because it's never too late for that. I was decorating the tree and inside on Saturday with my family which is why I didn't post this on Saturday (and Friday can be a post of it's own - crazy day). I think that's the biggest idea for a simple Christmas: spending time with your loved ones. Instead of blogging, instead of shopping, instead of cleaning. INSTEAD OF ANYTHING. Spend time with your family. You won't regret it. Your computer will still be there, your cleaning will still be there and really, do you honestly need to shop for anything right now? Your kids will remember the fun time they had decorating the tree, making cookies, reading a book, playing with you outside, watching a movie together WAY more than they will remember one more plastic to

Please check out my new blog and enter my giveaway. Just leave a comment and you are entered. Contest ends on Tuesday, December 9 so hurry on over! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We have our tree up and the inside decorating done. I'll post pictures soon. Everything looks really nice. But I can't believe how much Christmas decor I have. And I always want to buy more... I refrained this year though with the exception of 2 ornamants for my daughter. My daughter and her friend helped decorate yesterday. They concentrated their efforts on the same 2 square feet of the tree so I just kept taking some things off the section they were decorating and moving them where I need to (like the back). Worked great. We made gingerbread cookies yesterday and it looks like I'll need to make more as my husband is enjoying them. No need to post that recipe - they are from the Betty Crocker gingerbread mix. I have always hated using mixes for Christmas cookies (I don'

fifty (or so) to go. I mailed my first card today - to my cousin in Canada. I know those need to go early so I sent it today. The rest should be ready to go by the end of the week (I hope!) This morning while getting ready for school Little Miss 'mentioned' that she has the 'worst life ever!' Why, you ask? She was getting dressed and wanted to wear her dress shoes to school today. I told her I didn't want her to wear them on the playground and besides, she has PE today. I suggested her Skechers and she twists up her face and says 'no, they are too tight and 'H' has them.' Well, apparently 'H' (who is her friend) is not as fashionable as some of the other girls in class. She continues, saying that 'M' has the best clothes & lots of 'glittery scarves' & 'straps' (I happen to know for a fact that 'M's mom spent $1000 on back to school clothes for her. Not gonna happen here. Am I just cheap?)

that my daughter's enrollment in CCD meant an automatic slot in the Children's Choir which preforms on Christmas Eve? Of course that means practices (3 to be exact). Luckily this all starts after the Christmas play is over. What a great way for me to get my husband to church on Christmas eve, too. Whatever it takes, I say. . Any feedback on this new Christmas background would be much appreciated. It really caught my eye but I am wondering if it's too bold? What do you think?

Well, not really but hopefully by the weekend it will. We arrived home from our trip to Utah this afternoon. It was about 34 degrees when we left this morning and when we pulled into our driveway this afternoon it was 77. Oh yes, it's Christmastime in Arizona. We had a really fun trip. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, spent time with my sister and cousin, my daughter spent Friday at ski school , we watched a local production of 'Music Man' & shopped a bit on Friday (note to self: don't do this again.) We had pretty nice weather. Actually kind of warm but we did have some flurries on Thursday night. As you can imagine, after being gone 5 days, I have oodles of things to accomplish this week. Tomorrow appears to be the craziest schedule of all: Take daughter to school, a dr. appt at 9, Stamp club at 9 (who knew that last year when I made the dr appt that it would coincide w/ my fun time - please make the appt go quickly), pick dog up from vet after stamp c

And that is why we are leaving town for Thanksgiving for the first time in 10 years. :) Well, that's not really the reason but that Maxine is a hoot. I hope I am not that cynical when I get older. This will likely be my last post until Thanksgiving for various reasons so I wanted to take a chance to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all get to spend some quality time with your loved ones making some good memories.

Looks like 'People' got it right this year, don't you think? I am looking forward to seeing his new movie, 'Australia', too.

Yes, it's been one of those weeks, already. My plans to rein in things here at home have yet to come to fruition. I don't even remember all the details (that part might be age related) but I have been running around more than planned. Monday's a busy day anyhow since it's my carpool day to and from school. When I arrived to school on Monday my daughter's teacher said she couldn't meet with me after school on Wed to discuss my daughter's progress report but she could meet me at lunch on Monday. So at 11:15 I headed back to school. Went home when done - came back at 2:30 - took Little Miss and 2 friends to CCD - took car pool friend home - @ 4:30 picked up LM from CCD and went right to hockey. Home from hockey at 6:30'ish. yippee! I love my car. :) Today I get into the car to take the kids to school and a light comes on that says 'check tire pressure on left passenger tire'- no tragedy but these things always scare me. So I drop of kids,

I thought I would get a jump on Living Simply Saturdays I am not sure what the rest of the day and certainly the weekend will bring so here I am. I think we all feel like we should say 'no' way more than we do. Is it a mom thing or a woman thing? Who knows for sure but it is something that I sure struggle with. I think we have all said yes to some project, committee, party, playgroup, job, etc. and wondered 'what have I gotten myself into?' Yes, that was the story of my life for a while and now I am tired and ready to say 'no'. I hate that it has gotten to that point but whatever it takes, I say. I am ready. Ready to be the 'slacker mom'. I hate that saying but it's what I feel like these days. Yes, I have friends who are proud to be slacker moms. Why can't I be like that? I still feel guilty saying no or not volunteering for something. It has taken me a while but I realized that I can't 'fix' everything and I can't h

Two words: Hydroponic Tomatoes! My mom came over yesterday for a bit and with her she brought a bag of grapes. How nice, I thought. The reason she brought the grapes is that she asked my dad to pick up '2 medium bags of grapes'. He thought she said 3 bags, so he bought 4. Makes sense, right? That made me think of the last time I sent my husband to do some shopping (other than pick up a bag of chips or some ranch type of thing). It was 11 years ago - the New Year's right after we got married and we were having a party. So I gave him a list of things we needed for the party and asked him to pick them up since he was off and I was working. Give him a list - no problems should occur, right? One would think it was an easy thing. Well, he brings everything home, puts it away, I come home, start fixing stuff for the party. He gives me the receipt and I don't remember the total but I do remember saying that it was an awful expensive trip for the amount of items on

Asks the dog? I know this is blurry but it's the best I could manage this morning as Little Miss tortured, I mean played with, the dog. She printed the mask, id card and dog collar and literally held the poor dog down to tape the collar on (no animals were harmed - the tape is not on her fur, it is holding the 2 ends of the collar together). Please note, if you can, that Montana has a mask on, too. This is why you need at least two kids. :) Just think if Little Miss had a brother or sister she could 'play' with them... and the dog could be napping leisurely on her pillow dreaming of dog bones. Oh, school is back in session tomorrow, Montana...

This was uttered by a little girl at 4:45 am on Saturday morning as she pulled open the curtains of our hotel room on the 12th floor, filling our previously dark and quiet room with all the lights on the strip. Now I was up, too. 'What do you mean'? I ask, as dad contined to sleep. 'Look at all the cars out there.' Sure enough, Flamingo Road was hopping. Should these folks be driving, I wondered? We met my husband on Friday night in Las Vegas for the evening. He was there for a trade show and then off to CA for a race so we wanted to spend a bit of time with him. Saturday he left and we headed to Target and the mall. It was a productive shopping trip - too productive some might say. But I did get more Christmas shopping done and I am 'this close' to being finished. That is mainly because I am doing alot of baking this year - especially for the grandparents. As I am walking through the Christmas section in target I just kept thinking, do we really ne

I was tagged by The Rockin' Wife so I figured I would post my answers now since tomorrow we leave to go for an overnight 'trip' (AKA: shopping). Were you named after anyone? No When was the last time you cried? Does Tuesday night count (NOT tears of joy)? Other than that it would be when I watched 'We are Marshall' a couple weeks ago. Do you like your handwriting? It's okay. What is your favorite lunch meat? Oscar Meyer turkey Do you have kids? Yes If you were another person would you be friends with you? I think so. Do you use sarcasm alot? Umm, yeah!! Do you still have your tonsils? Yes Would you bungee jump? Not likely What is your favorite cereal? Raisin Bran Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Not usually Do you think you are strong? Yes What is your favorite ice cream? I am not picky but coffee is my fave What is the first think you notice about people? Their eyes Red or Pink? Pink What is the least favorite thing about yoursel

What a nice surprise I received from Laurie ! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Blogging has been a nice and surprising way to make new friends. It's amazing how we just 'find' these ladies with whom we have so much in common. I would like to pass this award on to Kellie & Carie , who is also a friend in real life. I look forward to making many more blogging friends as I continue to do this. Thanks again Laurie!!

I have always thought that November arrives silently: after the hoopla that is Halloween and before the festivities that surround Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a quiet time with quiet surroundings- the foliage still turning in most parts of the country gives us beautiful and tranquil sights as we go about our everyday chores and duties. It's a time to enjoy and savor before the non-stop activity that will take us in to the new year. I am glad that the first day of November falls on a Saturday this year. Most of us enjoyed a fun filled last week of October with candy, pumpkin carving, costumes, parties and just plain fun. Having November 1st fall on a Saturday gives us a chance to refuel and regroup before the first Monday in November arrives - when we will be back to school and back to work and the silence slowly starts to give way to holiday time activity. Maybe some of us can even get away with savoring the first couple of weeks of the month before really gearing up. As the m

We carved our pumpkin last night. When I say 'we' I mean my husband carved and Little Miss and I dug out the pumpkin seeds. I love the way the pumpkin turned out. We got one of those little kits you can get at Kmart or Walmart that has the templates to trace your design. Whoever thought up that idea is brilliant. I remember many years that I had to use a toothpick (or 2) to keep the pumkin's teeth in. And this is the 3rd or 4th year we have used the kit since there are many templates to choose from. $4 well spent. Tomorrow night is the big night. We are heading to our church for 'trunk or treat'. I don't know if that's something that they do in other parts of the country or not but people fill their trunks with candy and hand it out to the kids - mostly in church parking lots. Our church has a really good trunk or treat and this year they are adding games booths for the kids. Our town puts on a trick or treat event on our Main Street but we have never been

Well, here goes - my post on Sen Obama's redistribution of wealth idea per the request of Europafox . I orignally wrote this on Oct 20 and since then there has been more talk about this in the mainstream media. I still think there are alot of folks out there who just don't get it. Otherwise intelligent people who find nothing wrong with this idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor (hence the Robin Hood reference). I find it scary that he is talking about 'change' & this is one of the things he has in mind. I didn't get all technical with stats and details because that's not really what I intended to do. It was a post on my thoughts about this aspect of Obama's campaign and this one issue that I strongly disagree with. Here you go... Please tell me I am not the only one outraged... I am hearing more and more about Sen. Obama's plan for 'redistribution of wealth'. I have heard quite a bit today and it really makes me sick to my sto

Literally. My husband's birthday party was on Saturnday night. It was a fun, casual time. I was a little worried we wouldn't have a good turn out since a few people who said they were coming couldn't make it due to illness. But it ended up being a great time with fun friends. My husband had fun and that's what matters. I didn't go too crazy with the cruel 'over the hill' related decorations. I did have black and silver balloons which looked nice. Having a birthday so close to Halloween means the real 'bargains' in paper goods are either black or orange. So I usually switch it out. Plus, I am the queen of re-using things so black is pretty versatile. My husband's actual birthday is the 29th but he claims he already feels older. ha. I never really felt that way at 40. But he says he can notice a difference. It may be that he has started playing hockey 3 nights a week now and his muscles and bones aren't quite used to it yet. :) I have mentioned

If you have read this blog for any time you know of my dislike for Walmart. Well, I am having my husband's birthday party on Saturday and decided I would head to Walmart for the supplies and some of the food. Mainly I was going for the beer and wine as they have the best prices in town. They also have the best prices on paper goods (plates, napkins, etc.) I was happy with what I got and the prices. I actually came in almost $5 under budget. I have a couple small things to pick up at the grocery store on Sat. morning which may put me a tad over but if I hadn't trekked out to Walmart I would be WAY over. The thing that made me the happiest was my big pumpkin shown above. $3.98!! They are $6 at Safeway and I kept thinking that was alot. I guess I was right. :) My friend is being kind enough to make a big pot of chili for the party. She is a great cook and it will be one less thing for me to do. I am making homemade mac 'n cheese. Kind of a comfort food type of party. A

It's just about Halloween. Above is the cute page I made yesterday at my stamp club. It's hard to see the top that says 'spooky'. I just love this page. Love the colors and patterned paper. I wish that my daughter had a more spooky costume this year. She will be Sharpay the golfer (photo to the left) - not too spooky. The school is having a pumpkin carving contest which Little Miss would like to enter. I will look for a pumpkin for her tomorrow. We will carve it tomorrow night and I pray that it will still be presentable by Friday when we take it to school. Each class picks one pumpkin to enter into the contest at the Fall Festival on Friday night. My husband & I generally don't dress up for Halloween. I do have a Halloween t-shirt I will wear to show a bit of spirit. The last time my husband dressed up he was Bill Clinton (complete w/ mask) and I just don't want to go there again. That was before kids. I was a hockey player last time I d

visited 35 states (70%) Create'>http://douweosinga.com/projects/visited?region=usa">Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next'>http://douweosinga.com/projects/thenextpresident">next president have you been? Check out the above website to see what % of the country you have seen. I thought this was interesting and a fun little 'project'. I had a whole post written that I saved as a draft about Sen Obama and the redistribution of wealth issue. I realized after writing it that no one really wants to read my 'opinion' - I mean that in a nice way. It felt good to just write it and no one really needs to read it. I won't sway anyone's opinion & that's what I wanted to do. :) Only 15 days until the election. Yippee. A busy week is underway here. I am getting ready for my husband's birthday party on Sat, the 25th. I think we will have about 20 people at the party. Not too many but a nice cro

It's that time of year again when the Christmas lists are going around. I can only imagine that this will be a tough year for a lot of folks and the lists will have to be cut - a lot. Personally, I know that there is nothing I really WANT this year. Things I would like to have, sure, but nothing I really want. Thank heavens, since a certain little girl has a list a mile long. I work on trying to explain wants and needs to her and I think she somewhat gets it but more still gets added to the list. My husband and I decided to do a 'family' gift this year. My parents went in with us and we are getting a Wii. We bought a package and some of it will be from my parents and some of it will be from Santa. I feel a huge weight lifted off of me as my shopping is done this a year, save a couple of stocking stuffers that won't be missed if I can't get them. I am hoping this turns out to be a hit with Little Miss. I think it's important to teach our kids that we can't ha

Yes, please give me a call if you need my services and I will fit you in. I have felt like a taxi cab the past few days. Thursday is a busy car day for me since I take to school and pick up (I car pool with a friend and this is the day I do both). Then we have hockey at 5, church play practice at 6. I stay at hockey but come home for the 1 1/2 hr play practice. It's a 5 minute drive to church but sometimes it feels longer. Monday is busy too but Thursday's a biggie for me. I know that all the other moms out there feel the same way (times 3 or 4 for some of you) & frankly I wouldn't change it for the world. Today I worked at my husband's office since his secretary is on vacation. Lots of help I was - here's my day - Drop kids at school Stop at Starbucks (priorities!) Stop at Staples and get some office supplies for hubby's office Arrive at office about 9:25 Leave at 10:55 for daughter's 'no tardy picnic' (kids eat out on the grass if they

Heard at our house this morning while getting ready for school: Little Miss (with hands on hips): I can't wear this shirt today. I didn't realize this is the one I put on (??). Me: What is wrong with it? LM: I don't like it. Me: Why? LM: I don't like these orphan flowers. Me: Oh..... Someone please, please let me know if you know what an orphan flower is... (the shirt is white with lots of pink flowers all over the shirt. It really is cute, in my opinion.)

Tonight is the last presidential debate. I am interested in watching it and I hope it is a real debate and not just an opportunity to blame the other guy. I can only imagine how hard it is for these men to debate and not blame. But don't you want to know just exactly WHAT they will do as president?? I have to say that I am not quite sure on either side. I know that the things Sen. Obama wants to do are against what I believe (ie. 'universal healthcare', taxing the 'rich', etc.) and I hope that Sen. McCain can get across his plans & ideas clearly. Oh, and don't you just hope they can actually really answer a question they are asked? That is the one thing about most politicians - they don't answer the questions. How many of us would keep our jobs doing that?? Only 3 weeks and this election is over...

Well, I finally got the Cutest Blog on the Block template to work. Yippee. I am so glad as the old green template was kind of irritating. This is a bit more soothing. Little Miss is off to school today after a week long fall break. She didn't want to go to school today since she thought she would miss me. Very sweet. We had a fun week and she was so good - even without alot of other kids to play with. She got straight A's on her report card (if I mentioned that already, I apologize) so this Friday she will get to have donuts with the principal along with the other kids who got straight A's. I think it is nice (although not necessary) to acknowledge the kids since they do work hard to get good grades. I only wish they didn't have donuts. But I guess 'Oatmeal with Mr. Davis' doesn't have the same ring to it as 'Donuts with Mr. Davis'. I bet there wouldn't be as many kids striving for A's either. :) My husband and I celebrated our

netted me this cute square plate ($3.99) (the square bowls are from Walmart, last year) and this darling sign for the front porch ($4.99) I don't think I have been to Marshalls in about 10 years. I forgot how cute and cheap things were. We have a new Marshalls near Target so I will probably try to stop there when I go to Target. Target netted me some papertowels, moisturizer and other boring but practical things. Oh, and some teacher gifts and stocking stuffers from 'the spot'. I love that place. I am slowly getting the house Halloween ready. Should be done by the 31st...

We have spent the past two days at a state park on the Colorado River about 20 minutes from our house. Our friends were camping here but we went down for the day. My husband thought he was going to have to work all week but was able to take this afternoon off so he joined us today. The weather is great. The kids were able to play in the water all day. Our friends have jet-ski's so we spent some time on those. We decided that this is definitely a great place to camp. The campground is really clean, with hookups, a fun play ground for the kids and all the sites are within walking distance to the beach. We ate dinner out there this evening and Little Miss was pooped. I think she was asleep before we hit the highway. Sometimes I forget that we live in such a great place. Twenty minutes from home feels like a world away. People come from miles away to vacation here. I know my husband enjoyed being outside today. Although he may have the jet-ski bug now. Yikes.

Well, I have wanted a new look for my blog and have looked around and this will work for now. I want a 'free' change of course. I went to The Cutest Blog on the Block & they have really cute backgrounds but I have a headache trying to do it and I have given up for now. I know I am doing something wrong - just haven't figured out what. So for now I will live with this and maybe re-visit this at another time. I have thanked my husband for giving me his cold. I don't think it's going to be too bad - I am at the 'blowing your nose a hundred times an hour' stage which is my least favorite. This could also explain the headache I have. My husband got it pretty bad but he seems to be on the mend now. Thanks to the cold I was up at 4:30 today. I am not tired yet but I know it will hit me soon. Probably at dinner or some other inopportune time. Since I was up at 4:30 I got the OJ verdict news bright and early. I have to say that the first trial (when

Today was the first day of my daughter's fall break. It started out a little rough - I think she got up on the wrong side of the blow up mattress. We let her sleep in her playroom on the blowup mattress last night as a treat. She is not a morning person (gets that from her dad) so most mornings are a struggle at the beginning. Things, thankfully, got better as the day went on. We had a parent teacher conference at 9 am. My mom came over to watch Little Miss (thank you) and I met my husband at school. It was a good conference. She got straight A's. The teacher says she is well behaved and that Little Miss gets visibly upset when other students interupt the learning time. I am thrilled she is doing well. We went out to Walmart today (yes, I know I went last week, too). I needed a couple things and we had the time so off we went on our journey. They had these little bead kits - to make necklaces/bracelets - for $3.50. Quite the bargain but they were hidden on an end cap

No extracurricular activity is more important than the family having dinner together. Enough said. Enjoy dinner with your family tonight. (Quote from Life's Little Instruction Calendar Volume XIII)

I was wearing my new Donny Osmond t-shirt yesterday when I went to pick my daughter up from Daisy Scouts. It is black w/ a silhouette of Donny. One of the little girls in the troop said "I love your shirt. Is that the singer Elvis Purse-ly?" Too cute! I worked on the invitations for my husband's 40th birthday party yesterday while at my Tuesday scrapbooking day. I just have to fill in the details and make a nice note on the bottom that it is adults only. :) We have done the kids before and it's just too crazy. My daughter doesn't get to bed anywhere near on time and it's just chaos. I think the parents end up having a better time too. We'll see how it works. So far I haven't had anyone balk about it. I started a 3 day detox today. It is a plan I got from Body & Soul magazine a year or so ago. I try to do it every 3 or 4 months. It is long overdue right now. I feel horrible - guess that's what all that candy corn does to you. It basic

Yes, the calendar says it's fall but in Arizona it still feels like summer. It is supposed to be 103 today. Saturday it is 'only' supposed to be 97. Yippee. I love looking at all the fall-like things on other blogs. The fresh picked apples for applesauce. The changing leaves. The pumpkins. I have gotten out all my Halloween decor and will post some pictures soon. I have some fall things I still need to get out. Hopefully this will all get me in the fall mood. But I have to say it's just not the same making applesauce from the apples found at the grocery store. Come Saturday though, I just may do it to try and get in the 'mood'. That and a crock pot full of chili may do the trick. My treadmill is calling me so I must run...

Oh yes, I am STILL beating that dead horse. I open my daughter's folder she brings home from school and I see a flyer saying that Monday (tomorrow) will be the start of the Fall PTA fundraiser. Nice that it coincides with the Girl Scout one. Let's just call it 'How to lose all your friends and family in 10 days'. I am loving the idea that Laurie says their school is doing this year for a fundraiser: a walkathon. Love it!! I will probably bring it up to the PTA president and see what she thinks. Let's end this craziness already! It has been a good weekend but I am kind of glad it's Sunday night. I feel like I was fairly productive this weekend which is a change for me. I usually get most of my 'work' done during the week and take it easy on the weekends. My husband was gone most of the day Saturday putting faucets in at my parents house so when my daughter's friend went home on Saturday after the sleepover I did some things around here which I think

Yes, I just love to beat a dead horse. I was going through the fundraising stuff for my daughter's Daisy Scout troop and noticed that the items they are selling (nuts, chocolate, etc) will each net $1 for the troop. So, the cranberry nut medley (which looks yummy but I need like a hole in the head) costs $5 with $1 going to the troop. Now wouldn't it be better for the troop to get the whole $15 if I just wrote a check for $15 to them? Something to think about I guess. I considered getting the nuts for gifts but we just don't have a ton of gifts to get this year. When cookie time rolls around I know it will be a different deal. Oh, I need cookies like a hole in the head, too. My daughter is being super sassy tonight. She didn't feel well last night so didn't sleep great and then was up at about 5:30. I think she is tired but it doesn't make it any better. Her friend L is spending the night and up until a few minutes ago she was being a crab to her, too.

Tonight I made meatloaf for dinner. We were all dying for something different, something 'fall-like'. It is just too hot in the summer to cook in the oven so we do alot of grilling. Yummy as it is sometimes you just need some 'comfort food'. Now it was about 106 today but it is officially fall so I made meatloaf. It was yum-o and I think my family really enjoyed it. I have a super quick and easy 'recipe' - about 1 1/2 lbs ground beef, one pack of onion soup mix and one egg. That's it. Easy peasy . I also made sweet potatoes (one sweet potato in the microwave for about 6 min, remove skin, mash with butter and brown sugar) and mashed ( Idohoan package - too much sodium but oh so quick and yummy). Two potatoes you ask? Isn't that too much starch ? Why yes it is but Little Miss doesn't like white potatoes (yea!) and my husband won't eat sweet potatoes unless they are adorned with marshmallows. We also had steamed broccoli. Tomorrow Little Miss is h