My Monkeys

Gush....I love these two more than anything else.  I hope they know that I really do try to make the best decisions regarding them and give them everything I can.  

That tall young man next to me is 17 and still calls me Mommy, everywhere and in front of anybody.  That little girl standing in front of me calls me Mom, Momma and sometimes Mother.  Rarely does she call me Mommy anymore and it bothers me more than I really care to admit.  Christopher is even baffled by it. 

I ask you to please say some prayers for that young man above, prayers to make good decisions, the right decisions.  Prayers to study hard in school, try harder.  Prayers for responsibility and not bad judgement calls.  I am still so proud of this kid but dadgumit, he has made some choices recently that has left me completely disappointed, confused and questioning myself as a parent.  All I can do is continue to pray and talk to him.  I think and hope he has his head on straight now.  We shall see.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Leg Everybody!!!

I am extra thankful and grateful for all the many blessings I have received this year.  I am also thankful for some of the hardships that have come my way.  I have learned in my 44 years that they only help me to grow and indeed make me stronger.  Its not always easy to see it at the time, but I always find the lesson in it.  

I extra thankful for these guys right here...

I hope y'all have a wonderful day filled with lots of family, friends, food and fun!  Cheers!!

Dammit Doll

My boss showed me a dammit doll his daughter got for him.  He thought I'd get a kick out of it.  I told him I LOVE dammit dolls and have one of my own but she was much bigger.  His is just a baby one (wink).  I brought my beloved dammit doll with me to work today.  I was surprise at how many people didn't know what a dammit doll was but let me tell ya, once they found out, they were in love!

These things are wonderful.  My poor doll took a beating today by a lot of my co-workers.  She even got a beating from me earlier when I hit my knee square on the edge of my desk. Boy did that hurt!  

I think she's going to hang out with me at work the rest of the week, get some workouts in. If you don't have a dammit doll, you should get one.  You don't have to get a big one like mine (it was a gift) but the little ones work just as well.  :)

Fall Paint Party

I went to my second wood painting party Saturday night and just like the first, it was so much fun! The party was at a sweet little coffee shop in Sweeny called The Java Lounge.  I had a pumpkin white chocolate latte and it was so, so good!  I even like it better than an PSL from Starbucks.  Sure wish Angleton still had a coffee shop in town.  I know someone who would love to open a shop but can't make it happen.  Perhaps in the future, it will work out.

For the seasonal signs, we are allowed to use different colors.  I had originally chose a different saying because I couldn't picture this one in all one color.  I soon found out we would be allowed to use several different colors so I quickly switched to this one.  I love how it turned out.  

Getting there was a little more tedious than the last sign I made.  That pumpkin alone made me super nervous.  So much so that I ended up getting a little help with the stencil on that part.  I'm seriously considering a party in February or March.  I'm invited to another the day after Thanksgiving but I'm not sure I can make it.  Its another holiday party but this time, they'll be painting Christmas sayings.  I need to decide pretty quick if I'm going to make it or not.  

I also wanted to show y'all a leaf my sweet girl found Saturday morning.  

We were sitting on the porch enjoying the cool morning when she squeals....

"A heart-shaped leaf mommy, just because I love you"

Smokin' Hot

Y'all....I wish this was a post about how smokin' hot the guy was at the gas station I just came back from or how smokin' hot it is outside on this 7th day of November (seriously) but its not.  Its about how smokin' hot mac n cheese can get in a microwave without any water and set to cook longer than its supposed to.  I wish I were kidding, but I am not.  I decided I needed to document this event from last week.  Not that I'll ever forget, the lingering smell alone won't let me but the sheer panic on Bella's face will live with me forever.

Last week when I picked up my daughter from daycare, she announced that she was super hungry and could not wait for me to get supper ready so she was going to fix her a cup of mac n cheese when we got home.  No worries because she has done this many times before. We got home, I went to my room to change into my I'm home from work comfy clothes and then needed to make a quick phone call to Scott, aka honey or maybe its best friend now?  Anyway, I finished up and was coming down the hallway when Bella comes flying out of the kitchen screaming "its smoking mommy, its smoking".  I turn the corner to the kitchen and boy was she right, it was smoking!  I have never seen that much smoke POUR out of a microwave before but there it was.  I opened the microwave to find a black, charred, still smoking pile of what used to be a mac n cheese cup.  I closed the doors to the back rooms and opened up the windows and doors in the kitchen and living room because the smoke was thick and awful.  I texted my friend who just happens to be the Fire Chief to see if there was anything else I could do to get the smoke out of the house.  He immediately called me to see how bad it was and after a 5 minute discussion about my options, one that included sirens, lights and EMS, I opted for the less attention getting scenario which involved him and couple guys bringing a fan over to help suck the smoke out.  Mr. Smarty Pants thought it would be funny to pull into my driveway and flip his lights on for about 20-30 seconds just to mess with me.  No attention there however, when the firetruck arrived, that got my neighbor's attention.  We got the fan set up and was able to let it run for about 10-15 minutes before they got a real call and had to leave.  Those minutes really helped and I appreciated them helping me out.  We lit candles and I sprayed the house down with Febreze.  I left the windows open for as long as I could stand it-again its November and we are smokin' hot here.  This past Saturday was the first day we walked into the house and didn't smell the smoke.  However, if you open the microwave, that is a different story.  Eewww!  I want to take it out back, plug it in and let it run for a while to help get the smell out.  Its quite disgusting.  I have even looked at a new microwave, one that Bella can work a little easier.

Upon talking with my daughter later, I found out that she had already made one cup of mac n cheese and was on her second because she was just so hungry.  Not only did she forget to put water in the second cup but she set the timer for 5 minutes.  The current microwave has a dial, no buttons for setting the time.  Sometimes it can be difficult to get the exact time.  You can't even set it for 30 seconds because it won't turn on.  I've looked at microwaves off and on over the last few years but always talked myself out of it.  This one sister gave to us when we moved into the house because we didn't have one and she didn't need this one.  It has served its purpose.

My sweet girl laid down next to me later that evening....
Bella: Mommy, I'm so sorry for smoking up the house
Me:  Its okay honey.  The most important thing is that you are okay.
Bella:  But the house smells yucky now.
Me:  The house will be okay too.  We will all be okay.  The smell will go away in time with a lot of Febreze and scented candle.
Bella:  Okay (as she snuggles up into me)

For your viewing pleasure, my firemen in shining armor leaving for their real call.  I'm totally not making light of them having to leave to go on a call.  I appreciated them taking the time out of their evening to come help us out, and at their insistence. Kudos to them for all they do!

    

God Is Good

Yesterday was one heck of an agonizing day.  Leading up to this day was a week and a half of pure worry.  It tested my faith and my strength.  Both of which needed some nurturing.  A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I have taken many sighs of relief.  I love my kids and my family more than anything and I am so very thankful for this journey, this path of life I have been given and I am embracing it.  Yesterday was a tough reminder of how precious it is.  It was also a good reminder that all those little things are just simply that, little.  I had a scare and it was big enough to shake me up again.  I am grateful.  I am happy.  God is good.

  

Halloween 2016

Halloween 2016 is in the books.  That is very hard to believe. Even harder that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas is a couple streets over.  Time is a flying.

I had asked the kids if they wanted to carve pumpkins this year.  Christopher was an "I don't know, maybe" and Bella was a very enthusiastic "YES".  Friday after work, I had to swing by Kroger to pick up some prescriptions so when I picked up Bella, I told her we could pick out her pumpkin for carving, but that we wouldn't carve until Saturday.  My girl picked out her pumpkin and proceeded to tell her pumpkin how very lucky she was to be picked by her, that she only chooses the most beautiful pumpkins.  She also told her pumpkin that it was soon to become even more beautiful after we carved a very special picture out of it.  Precious.  Saturday came and my girl chose an owl for carving.  Mommy ended up carving because I just wasn't okay with her using a very sharp carving tool so much to Bella's excitement, her job was to scoop out all the seeds after I was done.  

I was pretty impressed with my work since this was my first "fancy" carving.  I've only previously been limited to the standard jack-o-lantern face carvings. 

We lit our carved pumpkin as well as all our other lanterns on the porch and enjoyed them all.  

It was awesome. Something about this time of year with lit candles and lanterns is just soothing to me.  Unlike most, I love it when the time changes and the days are shorter.  I feel totally justified changing into my pajamas as soon as I get home and lighting a candle.    

Monday I left work an hour early to get home and get to daddy's before all the trick or treaters made it out. His neighborhood is very popular place on Halloween so I wanted to get there before it got crowded.  

Bella went as a cat again this year...

Her cousin Brady went as a catcher.  God bless him, he wore every piece of that equipment through the neighborhood as we went from house to house.  He was a trooper.  He would take off the helmet every now and then but put it right back on when he got ready to walk up to a new house.

There were only two houses that scared Bella enough that she stood her ground at the end of the driveway and waited for Brady to come back. In both cases, the owners were kind enough to see she was scared and brought some candy out to her.  One of them had a mask on and took it off so she could see he was just a nice normal guy.  Good people right there.

Before we headed home, I had my niece take a picture of me with my sweet goblins.

One lucky mommy right there.