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Happy Homemaker Monday...

On my bedside table: "Elsewhere, USA" by Dalton Conley.

On my TV: Nothing now. Usually if it's on during the day it's on the Fox Business Channel

On the Menu for tonight: Shrimp Alfredo, salad

On my To Do List: Work, steam the grout on my tile floors (this will be on the list a while - very time intensive)

In the craft basket: Gift tags to make.

Looking forward to: Hockey this afternoon w/ my daughter - the semi-warm fresh air while she is practicing.

Homemaking Tip for this week: Steam clean your grout - it is so gratifying and it will look like you have a new floor.

Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other): Putting my husband first by Monica @ The homespun heart. Wonderful post and great comments!

Favorite photo from last week: My daughter enjoying her new scooter.

Lesson learned the past few days: Keep the kids' birthday parties small. We had way too many kids at the party and although it was fun it was quite chaotic. Next year, we'll remember..

On my Prayer List: My family. We travel Thursday for my great Aunt's funeral. I pray that everyone travels safely.

Key Verse: "Over all other virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Christ's peace must reign in your hearts, since as members of the one body you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness." Colossians 3

Join Sandra at Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Score...

We went to Kmart today (breaking my 'no shopping on weekends' rule) so my daughter could spend her gift card from her birthday. I wanted to bow out and just send Little Miss with her dad but he wanted me to go since he was gone all weekend. Very sweet. Well, who knew they STILL had Christmas items lingering among the shelves? For $6.14 (regular retail value: $34.93) we are now the owners of this cute vinyl kids Christmas table cloth, curling ribbon, the oh-so lovely tree skirt for the tree in my daughter's room (only a 7 year old would love that one!) and the finger tip towels (which I think will be cute in gift baskets next Christmas). Christmas wrap was 90% off!!! It was hard to resist but I bought some at 75% off and just couldn't see getting more as I still have some wrap from 2 yrs a ago. Please excuse the blurry photo.

My daughter ended up getting a Hannah Montana doll which came with a locker and provoked the question: "Why don't we have lockers in elementary school?" Don't rush things I say...

I'm not too proud...

to say that I LOVED Michelle Obama's dress she wore yesterday. You know that I voted for McCain but style is style whether you are a democrat or a republican! Love the dress, love the Jimmy Choo's. Now if I were to be lucky enough to have somewhere to wear the dress I would order it in navy as yellow is not my best color. Are you reading this, Isabel Toledo??

The ball gown from last night was lovely but I wasn't totally wowed by it. I felt there were too many pleats on the skirt for my liking. But it was very pretty.

And the little girls looked too cute in their colorful coats.

I spent inauguration day in my DKNY jeans and Eddie Bauer t-shirt. Hmmm....

PTA...

We had a PTA meeting today at 3 pm. Our school superintendent was scheduled to be there so I thought it would be standing room only. Boy was I wrong. With the exception of the 3 board members I was the only parent there. Yikes. I am glad I went but really disappointed with the turnout. We were given a presentation about the override renewal which is up for vote this November. They want to get the word out that it's not a new tax, just renewing the old. The override pays for all day kindergarten, music, art, PE, nurses in every school -things like that. It was defeated 5 years ago and then passed 4 years ago. I was unaware that it needed to be renewed. I am hoping that come November people will pass the renewal. I am not totally sold on the need for all day kindergarten but the other things are nice to have and important, in my opinion.

I also found out the we have yet another fundraiser coming up next week. We are selling See's candy which will be ready for delivery right before Valentine's Day. ugh. I cannot ask anyone I know to buy anything else . We had poinsettia sales in early December, Girl Scout cookies now and the See's fundraiser next week. Does anyone else do this much fundraising? I need to get Little Miss involved in activities that don't involve fundraising (piano lessons, possibly?)

Little Miss turned 7 on Saturday. Her party was a hit with a great turnout. We just did games at the house - outside since the weather was nice. We did a three legged race and balloon toss. Our friends brought over their bouncy house which was a hit. We had pizza for lunch, cake and a little craft (a foam picture frame from Oriental Trading). It was a really fun time. A good number of parents stayed (thankfully, as they were all a huge help), even some dads which made my husband happy.

My daughter received an MP3 player from my friend "J" for her birthday. She is the first one in our house to have one. She loves it. Aren't we on the cutting edge???

Simple Salsa...

I have recently started making my own salsa thanks to a friend who made it for my husband's birthday party. I watched her make it one weekend and thought "I can do that!" It is soooooo much better than even the best jarred, bottled, containered salsa you can buy at the store and you can just taste the freshness.

2 tomatoes (regular old tomatoes - use 5 or 6 if you are using romas.)

1/4 - 1/2 onion

handful of fresh cilantro (to taste)

handful of banana peppers (in the jar) with a little of the juice added

salt to taste

Chop the ingredients to desired size, mix together and you're done. You can add or subtract the amounts of the ingredients to taste.

It is the yummiest! The other benefit is that I find the chopping process theraputic. I try to make it when I have to time to enjoy chopping. And like with anything homemade it's a nice feeling to serve something healthy to your family and friends.

This post is taking part in Living Simply Saturdays at Keeper of the Home. Go visit!

Why...

• does Starbucks coffee taste so much better when purchased already brewed at Starbucks than it does when I brew it at home (Starbucks brand)?
• can I not seem to keep a white shirt clean? In 2 days I have worn and gotten dirty 3 white shirts (dirty as in I needed to pretreat them before washing them). Yesterday's shirt got dirty when the dog fell out of the back of the car (poor dear, she is fine) into a puddle after getting a bath. Lovely. Today's shirts got dirty with coffee (home brewed Starbucks, see above) and the cheese mixture from Aunt Annie's shells and cheese.
• are bakery cookies so expensive? I took Little Miss to order her birthday cake today and pick up some cookies to take to school for her birthday tomorrow. She has 27 kids in her class (don't get me started on that) so I would have to get 3 dozen cookies at $5 a pop. Not likely, so we are now the proud owners of 'gingerbread donut holes' purchased for $6. Still way too much but better. I just wasn't with it enough this week to make cookies for class. Next year I will freeze some Christmas cookies to use for this. I bet they have never had donut holes for a birthday celebration.
• do I tell people "I will be home all day Thursday"? The phone rang off the hook. Thank goodness for caller ID. :)
• do people think it's just ok to spend your time at the park texting and talking on the phone while your toddler plays and other moms tend him/her?
• am I not 25 and single so I can stalk David Cook since he broke up with Kimberly Caldwell? (A joke - I would never want to be single and dating again and I love my husband. But DC is a cutie. And I would never stalk anyone. Really.)
• am I so much more productive when the internet is down? Don't answer that. Our internet was down for a day and a half. I got soooo much done. It ended up being a problem outside somewhere. I did not break it as my husband suggested. :)

Just some observations from my life lately...

Cookies, anyone?

My daughter's mother (me) is selling Girl Scout Cookies. Yep, it's that time again & really at the Daisy level it's the parents doing the selling. She does ask my parents and our friends but I do the majority of the asking. Luckily these things sell themselves. I have gotten a little flak about the $4/box price but for the most part people love these cookies. You know "when I was a kid they were $1 a box."

We had the 'cookie kick-off' on Saturday - a little pep rally type thing for the girls. A lovely idea but the main presenter was a real downer talking about the poor economy and how it might be hard to sell them & we needed to give them reasons why they needed to buy them, etc. Really! The Daisys and Brownies looked confused as she babbled on. Yes, I should be running this show, too. Haha. No thanks, I'll just sell them...

Go Cards...

The Arizona Cardinals are 'this close' to going to the Super bowl. Yahoo! It has been a long, hard haul but they have finally made it this far. We have never been huge Cardinal fans but when in Rome... We are Rams and 49'ers fans but since Curt Warner was once a Ram and we now live in Arizona we are on board.

Luckily, the NFL realized that my daughter's birthday party is on Saturday so the Cards should play on Sunday. How very nice of them. Looking forward to a good game. The Eagles should be good competitors so it should be fun to watch. Maybe some good football food is in order for Sunday. Nachos, anyone?

Little Miss will be 7 on Saturday. She requested her 'theme' to be 'The Dog'. I jumped at this right away because I was dreading the Hannah Montana or High School Musical theme. We are going to have the party at the house with some friends. We'll have pizza and a craft and the kids can play. Pretty low key. We got her a scooter and new helmet. She has been asking for a scooter forever so I think she'll be surprised.

Speaking of the dog. Our little pup, who will be 16 this year, is now using the house as her potty. Yes, it's like having a baby again without the diapers. Poor dear. I have a call in to the vet to see if he has a different medication to help with this situation. I don't know how much longer we have with her. Is this a sign? I am going to try to get her in for a bath tomorrow, too. The vet just called. Bath on Wed. and I pick up new meds today.

Due to the above situation I need to be cleaning the floor and not blogging so off I go. Luckily, we have more tile than carpet...

No...

I am going to piggy back on Stephanie's post topic for Living Simply Saturdays: Saying 'no'. As I made this one of my new year's resolutions, I figured this would be a good time to talk about it. I think we all stuggle with saying no. If you don't, I would love to hear how you do it.

I have always been the type that when asked to do something I quickly reply 'yes' without giving it too much thought if the idea sounds remotely enticing. When I need to look at logistics, I often realize that the event I have committed to is not practical or sometimes even desirable. And there are times when it's just something I really don't want to do. I am trying to give myself time to digest the request and see if it really fits in with my current priorities. Saying "let me look at my calendar" or (my favorite) "let me check with my husband" gives me time not only to check but to think about what 'yes' entails (getting a babysitter, cleaning the house for company, buying something, etc.) Although I do have to make an extra call to give my answer I have given myself time to really think if this is something I want to do. And often, it's just not how I want to spend my time.

Now if it sounds like I am a pro at this, I am not (otherwise I would have not made the resolution). It's hard to practice what you preach sometimes. It took me a year, one year, to quit my Bunco group because I just couldn't say no. I only ever wanted to be a sub but I got talked into being a regular. While it was fun it just wasn't something I wanted to do every month. I finally quit in August . And everyone tried to get me to stay - very flattering but it was really hard to say 'no' to 11 other people.

When I remember my priorities: basically my family and my home (in a nutshell) it's easier to make decisions. I have a friend who decided that she was giving up anything that didn't directly benefit her children ( she would say 'yes' to a storytime but 'no' to being on the board of a mom's group). That was her way of categorizing requests and it works for her. We all have our own categories and once we know what they are we are well on our way to saying 'no' to all the things that take up our time and don't add to the joy in our lives.

Please check out Living Simply Saturdays for more simple living ideas...

Feeling old?

This morning I was waiting for Little Miss to go into the classroom and some of her classmates were talking about how old their moms are. You can probably see where this is going.

'C': "My mom is 28."

'A': "My mom is 28, too."

'J': "My mom is 32."

Little Miss (to me): "How old are you mom?"

Me: "Older than them."

My friend was standing listening to this also and she says to me "Well, I guess I am the oldest." (Bless her, you see why she is my friend.)

Me: "You know I have you beat."

28!?!? Yes, I felt old. I guess I should let Little Miss know how old I am, don't you think?

Well, this hardly ever happens...

I called the phone company today to see about getting wireless internet here at home. I was expecting a big jump in the bill but instead the service rep informed me that we have been overcharged for the last 16 months to the tune of $95 and would see a credit on next month's bill. Yippee. And the wireless is available, they would send us a new 'box' (I know that is not the technical term) and there would be no extra charge for it, our current service covers wireless once we have the new box. Wow.

The first day back to school went of without a hitch. I think Little Miss is happy to be back amongst her friends. There was no hockey today - we start a new session on Thursday so we had no practice today. So after CCD we got to come home. Today was my day to drive the kids to CCD - four of them. I have to admit that having four 6 year olds in the car makes me appreciate the quietness of having one child. :) They are good kids, just a bit noisy when cooped up in the SUV. It is only a 5 minute drive to church so I try to pay attention to the road and David Cook and tune out the screeches and chatter in the back rows.

Tomorrow entails a drop off at school, a drop off at the library to return books and a drop off at the Goodwill to donate a few bags of stuff. Oh, and a stint on the treadmill. Is it too much to wish for some fat to 'drop off'?

Let the games begin...

Tomorrow Little Miss goes back to school. That doesn't bother me TOO much, although I do wish Christmas vacation was a little longer. What makes everything crazy is all the other things that go with going back to school. Namely, the extra curricular activities (she didn't sign up for these things herself, I know). I have just really enjoyed having very little scheduled for the last couple of weeks. We could do what we wanted when we wanted for the most part. OK, back to real life now. Tomorrow we are back to CCD and hockey. We get home about 6:15'ish after the day's activities to have dinner, do homework and get ready to do it all again (some of it anyway) on Tuesday. Ditto for the rest of the week. Sound familiar?? I shouldn't complain. I am glad we are able to do everything and that we have the resources to get too and from activities safely, that my daughter is healthy enough to play hockey, our church has such a wonderful religious ed program, etc. I just need to wrap my head around it all again after our little break.

I got 2 new CD's for Christmas. Am I the only one who still gets CD's? Are we the only family without an Ipod?? Remember Darius Rucker, the voice behind Hootie and the Blowfish back in the day? I was thrilled to see he had a new album (yes, that term certainly dates me!) And he is now a country artist. Who knew? It's a great album and I love his distinct voice.

And I also go this one. LOVE IT!! Love David Cook... Oh, to be 25 and single again... and the music is good. I liked him on Idol but I wondered if his music would be too 'hard' for me. I don't think so- I like it.

So if you are in the market for some new tunes this new year check these out.

And speaking of American Idol - it starts again on Jan 13. So I tell my husband, 'please don't let me watch the tryouts-no, don't let me watch it until the top 6.' I get too attached to these singers and I can't let it go when America gets it wrong (like Chris Daughtry and Michael Johns). Plus, it is such a time zapper. So, I add to my resoulitions: NO AMERICAN IDOL until the top 6 - unless David Cook is performing, of course. But only to watch him...

Resolutions...

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

~Oprah Winfrey

Well, it's that time again. Time for resolutions, if you make them. I know many people who don't make them but I usually do. So here's this year's list:

• Lose weight (very vague but I would be happy with 10 lbs & prefer 30). My daughter will be 7 so it's time for the 'baby' weight to go...


• Get more orgainized. Visibly organized. I know where it all is (well, most of it) but I don't think you could find it if I asked you to get it - mostly this is the case in my office. The rest of the house isn't too bad (excluding Little Miss' playroom). Again, a vague resolution but it's a big job that I need to break down into chunks. I think 'purge' is the name of the game here.


• Say 'no' more. Pretty easy, don't you think? And not vague - just say no. I should have no problem keeping this one. I hope.


• Remove the word 'busy' from my vocabulary. Really, aren't we all busy? If we are lucky to have people in our lives we care about, jobs, a home, a car, etc. we are all busy. And if we are lucky enough to be able to take care of these things, we are busy. It's a good thing.

I think that about covers it. If I can keep those I will be in good shape. If not, there's always next year...