Vampires, Werewolves & Shifters.. OH MY!

I've fallen down the dark path.. Yes, sigh.. I never thought it would happen but it has, and I blame it all on Sara!! Wink

She kept on and on and on about these books. Twilight (*gasp* I know right!?). So I finally gave in and read them. I couldn't put them down. It was one right after the other until I came to book three and she had loaned it out to someone else! I ended up making my husband go find a copy for me somewhere. (He went to multiple stores and they were all out! ...talk about suck!) But now, thanks to both Christmas and my birthday I am the proud owner of the entire set!

So, what does one do after the Edward and Bella saga is over? Cry, mourn?! NO!! You find the next series of undead books to suck you! Luckily I had fallen for True Blood. It was a series that premiered on HBO this past year and as quirky as it was, I loved it.
While on a quest to the Library to find something good, I happened to stumble across the Sookie Stackhouse series, which.. YAY ME.. was the books that True Blood was based on!

So, 7 books later and waiting on the 8th to come into the library (-its on hold and I never ever imagined myself being one of those people that put a book on hold so as soon as the person checked it back in I could go get it! ....desperate housewife? or maybe just book nut!? I dunno.. but I've become that lady!)

I've happened upon a couple of other books that might peak that crazy undead interest but any other recommendations would be great! After all I am in this new "spoiling me with reading" phase! Wink

Life...

Life gets hectic and life gets crazy. It throws you around and drags you by your hair (sometimes..)
It can be great or it can be boring. (I've yet to find it boring, but I'm still waiting!)

My point of this post (well yes, I AM getting that I promise! Wink) I've been busy. Well OK perhaps busy is a wee bit of an understatement, or well on some days I guess that could be more seen as an overstatement- but I think you catch my drift. The twins are mobile in a BIG way.

The following is a statement from my tiny twosome=
We run , we climb and we never seem to go in the same direction. We don't sleep through the night, we are up about every 1 and a half hours (sometimes Mommy gets lucky and gets two straight hours of sleep- but that's rare especially now that we are teething- yep FOUR teeth all at once- each of us!) We worry mommy with our small size and well lately the lady can't seem to cook anything that even remotely seems appealing to us. (We just don't understand why she thinks we can't live on baby cheese puffs and bananas alone?) We like to play with each other, although we just learned how to push and fight. Thank goodness we have big brothers to watch and take notes from! Life for us... its a breeze! (especially now that we know how to pitch a fit and throw ourselves onto the floor kicking and screaming!)

So I guess you can see now why my posts have been lacking in numbers. I can't believe it has been a month now since my last one! I would love to say that for posterity purposes I would go back and post about everything that happened over the holidays and into the new year- but well.. I just don't think I for one, have the time, and two I don't know if I can even remember that far back! What was that.. My name you asked? Gees, I'm not at all sure I can remember that either! Wink

Onto a new future, One where I don't put as much pressure on myself to get everything done in the day. One that lets me sit back and read a book, or slack off on my blog and not feel amazingly guilty that everyone else seems to be able to write a bazillion posts (that I find the time to read by the way) and I write none. There is 24 hours in a day, somewhere in that time-frame has to be some time for me? I guess I just have to find where it is! SMILE

So cheers to the day and I'm raising my martini glass full of fabulous lemondrop goodness to you all- I welcome myself back to the blogging world- and here's to hoping I can find my 'me' time and stick with it!!

Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

S~N~O~W~

In Oregon! Its heavenly I have to say. Sigh.. I miss the winter snows of Montana, but it seems that this year it has come to visit us here! We got a couple inches the other day and now we are getting dumped on again- and the forecast says yet another storm is headed our way on Sunday! Needless to say this week has been a snow week for the kids- well yes it is only wednesday but I'm fairly positive they will be calling the nest two days as well! Looks like my boys will get a 3 week Xmas vacation instead of two! Wink




So on a belated note- I;ve been a slacker. I have had tons to blog about but by the end of the day it seems sleep has been more important! The holidays have not only brought stress and fatigue- as per usual they've brought all the yummy germs along with it! (I even got strep.. UGH!) So in my attempt to keep those pesky buggers at bay- I have now implemented the "Sanitize or I sterilize you rule!" I'm still working on that front door decontamination room.. although somehow I don't think it will be welcomed open armed by the public! HA HA

I will... attempt to do my best at keeping up with all the news as this year slowly winds down... as always.. Thanks for your patience! *cheers*

~From Trash To Treasure~

I am addicted.

Well, lets say I have a new obsession. Its treasure hunting at the Goodwill Outlet. Did you know they even had those? Its FABULOUS with a capitol F. (no.... seriously!!)

The first time I went I admit I was taken back, I walked in with my sons and noticed there was quite a few people with not only gloves, but surgical face masks. (I just about walked out.)
However, I'm not one to be frightened off that easily, so I took my time and walked around a bit before I dove in.

Dove in? Yep... Diving in to a table that is. The Outlet is filled with these extremely long table bins. A table bin?!- I guess you would describe it like the old cafeteria tables in elementary school, only instead of a table top its one huge long bin. The bins are random. (By random I mean they don't sort anything out other than shoes, books and clothes. everything else goes into catch all bins.)

I'm a bargain hunter. I dunno if I would call myself a diver, but I found my way.

So this last trip I took I made out like quite the bargain bandit! I've never been one to be huge into brand names, I just liked clothes that fit me nice and looked good and didn't break my pocketbook. Since finding this Diamond in the rough, I've become a brand name snob! (teehee)
Fendi, Banana Republic, Gap, Armani,BCBG, DKNY, Ralph Lauren, only to name a few!

I even found an adorable REI vest for one the of the twins and some North Face sweats for my oldest. (which he hasn't even taken off the past couple days!)

Long story short (I know too late right!) I brought home my loot and started sorting. Some of the clothing had tags on it from the regular goodwill stores.
This gave me an idea, a wonderful money saving show-my-husband-how-much-I-saved idea! I counted the items I purchased (which mind you was THREE huge garbage bags full) and then added up the total of each of the items that had tags and took that total to the Hub.

Now the Outlet charges you by weight.
Can you believe that?
AND its cheap!
Like 1.69 a pound for up to the first 10 lbs then the price gets cheaper for the more weight you have! So its a bonus to find more and save more! Wink

My totals were:

62 items (in the three bags)
Of those 62 items- 15 had price tags
Total of price tags: $90.85
How much I paid for my loot: $27.25
A Savings of: $63.60
~And that's just the total for the items that HAD tags! AMAZING!

Like I said, I am obsessed. Its a wonderful place, its a treasure hunt every time. Why go to a store and window shop for stuff I know I don't have the money for when I could go here and find other people's trash that I can make my treasures!
(and the best part- if the kids destroy it I don't feel so bad as I didn't pay an arm and a leg for it!)

Thank you Goodwill for your Outlet stores! Cheers!

SHOTS!

Flu season is yet upon us again... UGH
We have never taken part in the whole flu shot event. I have always believed that you would get sick from the shot, I mean after all practically every story I had ever heard about someone getting horrible sick had been after they had gotten the shot.
Our fabulous in home nurse assured me that you can't get sick from the shot. (possibly the new flu mist as it is live virus, but not the shot.. its dead. wink)
I agreed, after she told me how badly the flu could affect the twins if they did in fact get it. My kids are my everything, and the idea that one of them would end up back in the hospital was not an option for me. After a wee but of persuasion, the hub agreed too.
(and besides my good friend's family all got them and no one got sick-and they even got the mist!)

So.. we got the shot. It was free and she even did it in the comfort of my own home.
As a Mom, especially a scrapbooking Mom, I felt it only necessary to capture the moment. (granted not ME getting it done, just the boys! teehee)

And now the proof.. that we are in fact Flu immunized----

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WELLA!

My mother in law is an amazing woman.
Its not often that a woman can say that she truly likes her husband's Mom. (are you with me here girls?) From the very moment I met her she had welcomed me with open arms. I have known her since I was 15 years old. I recall the first time I met her, she had her long curly hair down to her shoulders and came into the room doing spins in her car wash dress. (as she called it because the dress had long strips cut almost fringe like that twirled out when she spun) She was going out on a date with a tall man in a cowboy hat. (but he wasn't much for me to remember)
She was, and is now still so full of life. She would do anything for you and always remembers the dates of everyone who had ever had a birthday, anniversary, or even their death. She is a woman of God and some days I truly believe that she has a phone line directly up to the big Man himself. If ever a prayer was needed, she is the woman to call and pray with.
She has always excepted me for who I am, even in my dark days-and I thank her for that.
We have been so blessed to have her in our lives.. so today.. Its her day..

Happy Birthday Mama-Lupita-Wella-Sticker-Babes..and every other name you go by!
When God made you.. he truly did break the mold! XOXO

...Being Thankful on our Early Thanksgiving...

Its been three years now that we have had an early Thanksgiving. My brother, who resides in Seattle, comes over when he can get away from school and work to spend it with us. (Seeing as he works in retail and we all know how big the shopping days right around Thanksgiving are.)
We had a wonderfully Big Turkey bird and all the fixing- most of which I only make once a year!
With the old we did have some new, in the form of a pumpkin cheesecake. ( I was informed only this year that my hub dislikes pumpkin pie.) It turned out great and I was sooo happy to get off my feet and enjoy the meal!
As the holidays get closer I start to reminisce about my childhood and all the wonderful memories I had around the holidays. I KNOW that sometimes I go above and beyond what is necessary for my kids but I just want them to sit back when they are my age and remember all the wonderful times we shared together. To me, its worth it. All the stress and all the Holiday Hub bub fades when I see my sons smiling with holiday glee! (but this all in itself is a whole other post... we'll get to it soon enough! Wink)

!