Shopping

Christopher and I went shopping today sans kids. A real rarity for us. But he's not a shopper, or a crowd-doer, so it was quite rushed. We accomplished our must-do's and came home. I'm much more productive on my own!

And of course, I left frustrated again. My goal was to get some new church clothes for myself. Didn't find a thing. Nothing. Nor did I find a top to go with my Easter skirt. I did find shoes, though. I can't get over how difficult it is to find clothes my size that aren't geared for juniors. It really makes me mad! I'm usually good at finding stuff at Loft, but I couldn't find anything that satisfied my budget. Nor did I find a dress for the wedding. At this point, I'd much rather stay home. It's easier than finding a dress. And what's frustrating even more is that Christopher found a whole load of stuff...

And finding Kate clothes is equally frustrating- she needed new church clothes, too. She can wear an XS juniors. OK, we're the exact same size at this point... BUT, everything made for juniors seems way too innapropriate. She had store credit for Abercrombie but their skirts (and shorts) are WAY too short for a 12 year old! And finding cute tops that don't have stripes or words across the chest is nearly impossible. She can't wear a junior size dress yet because they are too long- the exact same reason *I* can't find a dress that fits... But little girl dresses are too babyish. I did find her a dress and a skirt, but no top to go with the skirt, so I'm washing the dress as I type so I can have it ironed and ready for church tomorrow. I know, it sounds like she has no clothes, but she grew out of everything from last year and it's too warm to wear pants and her long-sleeved church shirts- 86 tomorrow!

We also didn't find a couch. Christopher is ready to get our old one downstairs ASAP, and really, I am as well. It's seen better days.

4 teeth in one week

I know, another tooth post! Last night, Preston lost another tooth, making this house's total at 4 teeth in one week! My children lose their teeth in extreme ways, and this one was no different. Preston was walking up to his room, wiggling his tooth when he ran into his door with his head and out it came! His first came out when he hit his toothbrush with a pillow, and the second fell out when he hit his mouth on a chair at school.

Kate is no different. I knocked one out with my elbow when she ran up behind me right as I swung my arm back! Thankfully, it was just about to come out on its own! One fell out and fell through the crack of Keith and Dee's deck. She insisted that Pa-pa crawl under it and sort through the pea gravel until he found it- and he did! Her first came out in a apple in Florida.

My kids are just funny like that!

Smile!

The tooth pulling is over (for now), so she's ready to smile. I knew it couldn't stay hidden for long!

The good, the bad and the ugly

So yesterday was the big day. Kate got her braces- at least on the top. I wish I could say that it went well, but clearly, it did not. This momma was stressed, to the max. And I'm pretty sure we've completely scarred her for life.

When she broke her tooth at school last fall and had to have it pulled, it went well. No fighting, nothing. And although for the past month and a half since the appointment was scheduled, she's been very adamant about NOT having two teeth pulled. She had her mind made up that permanent teeth would be SO much worse than baby teeth and got herself all worked up. Unfortunately, her dentist was on a long vacation and was unable to get her in any sooner, so it stewed. But what went forth yesterday could not have been predicted...

We got there are she was not happy. The girl hooks her up to the gas and 1. she refused to breathe through her nose, so she got no gas, and 2. kept taking it off. So after an hour, which would have been enough time to do the whole thing, they were still unable to numb her. In a fleeting moment of loopiness, the girl was able to sneak in and numb one side, telling her it was just the gel, but Kate opened her eyes and saw the needle and FREAKED OUT! So the other side wasn't done. After almost 2 hours, they decided to just go ahead and cut the braces on. She flips out again, thinking he's trying to numb her when he tried to use his mirror. By this time, I'd been praying MANY times repeatedly to just get this over with, and I was getting stressed. She still refused to willingly let them do anything to her, even the gel, so taking advantage of another loopy stage, the dentist just had to go ahead and numb her up, no gel, and by this time, the other side was no longer numb. Well, that didn't go over so well. I don't think she really felt it, or maybe she did, but she was NOT happy about it. They let her numb for a bit and then try to pull the first tooth. She immediately curled up in a ball and covered her mouth. It took two of us to hold her. Then as the dentist tried to move the bite block (because she refused to open her mouth), she BIT him... HARD! So then we had to repeat the process on the other side, and thankfully, he decided to just go ahead and pull the baby tooth that was right next to the other while he was at it so it won't be an issue later. She then spent the next hour crying- half of it at the office, and half of it at home. We were there for THREE hours. I couldn't get out of there fast enough!

I can tell you that it was horrible. Part of me feels horrible for having it done, but her mouth is so tiny that there was no possible way that the braces could even budge her teeth without them gone. She still has 2 more on the bottom that must go because one is completely blocked in and grown in behind all the others like it's in a cage, and it won't move without a space to go into. Those will be done at a later date and the bottom braces will go on then. Thankfully, he's prescribing her valium for next time. I doubt he'll prescribe one for me, too. But I do know that it will be scheduled on a Wednesday when Christopher is off and HE will take her. At this point, I'm too embarassed to go back!

Last night was pretty rough and she had some intense pain. I think a lot of it was made by her still being so worked up over the whole ordeal. We had some tylenol with codiene and I gave her some at 11 and she slept all night with no issues. She went to school and should be fine, although she is not happy and we can not get a picture of her braces yet. It will come, and she will appreciate seeing the progress she'll make once they're off. She's got some majorly wonky teeth!

So this weekend, I think Kate and I will be busy baking a LOT of cookies to take to the dentist's office, along with a nice apology note.

Braces

We have braces. And by we, I mean Kate. And after a 3 hour ordeal at the dentist's office, I think I need a valium. It was that bad...

I'll update later. I have no strength left in me.

Pretty pinafore

I was busy last week sewing this darling little pinafore and diaper cover. It was a lot of fun.
I even made a matching headband to go with it.
They're both up in my Etsy shop now! I'm getting ready to make some more headbands in different fabrics while I wait for some new fabric to arrive for my next creation. I can't wait!

Fun weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun! Saturday night we all went over to Me-Maw's for the March birthday party. My aunt and I share a birthday, her brother's is the next day, and my sister's is a week after mine, so we all celebrate together. We had the BEST meal! Me-maw makes the best mashed potatoes and I ate until I could barely move- total blow to my diet, but I didn't care at that point! Then there was my cake that I made Friday and it was good! Everyone gave rave reviews, so I'd say it was a success!

The kids had so much fun, too! Preston had a blast with my cousin Emily's boys, Kullen and Liam. Those three spent most of the night in a dog pile, wrestling each other, cackling like hens! All three were sopping wet with sweat by the time we left! Kate played with Glen all night (surprise, surprise). Her cousin Shelby was there, and they're the same age, and they are like night and day. Kate is still very much a kid at heart, while Shelby was much more reserved and spent a lot of the time with her phone.

It was really great to get together and see everyone. We usually only get together in March and at Christmas, so it's nice to see them when we can. Maybe someone will plan a party for Me-maw's birthday in May and we can gather again!

After all that playing last night, I knew trying to get the kids up early for church would be rough, so we all slept in. This afternoon we went to mom's for my birthday dinner. The kids ran wild outside since it was so nice after 3 straight days of rain. They should sleep well again tonight! Kate has already turned out her light, and it's only 9:30!

I'm going mushroom hunting with Pa in the morning. He thinks that after all the rain we got, they'll be up. People are already finding the black ones everywhere, but maybe we'll find a few morrells, too!

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Preston set his alarm to wake up at 6:00 this morning despite me telling him last night that it was too early to wake up. He said he wanted to do something. He was up at 6:00, and what he wanted to do, was to wish me a happy birthday! My sweet, sweet son wanted to be the first. Totally melted my heart!

I had a pretty good birthday. Granny and Pa did their annual signing over the phone call, a favorite of mine! The kids had an 11:30 dismissal today, so they joined mom and I for Mexican- and it was good! But the highlight of the day was spending the afternoon with Me-Maw and finally learning how to make her secret cake. This is the cake that has been made for every birthday, and every Christmas. A cake like no other. And I was glad, that she finally shared her secret and allowed me to bake it. It looks good, but the test will be tomorrow night when we all go over to her house again for the March birthdays. I can't wait!

I'm slowly inching my way to my mid-thirties. Even I can't wrap my head around it. But I can say with 100% certainty that my thirties are by far my favorite age so far- although it might be fun to be a kid again for a day!

I also got to thinking today about the similarities of my and Preston's birth. We were both born on a stormy, cold Friday afternoon. I was born at 4:17, he was born at 4:15. We also have the same disposition- a little slow to warm up to new things, but calm mannered and fun-loving. He's certainly a kindered spirit. Kate is so much like her father, it's not even funny! Sometimes I wonder how a child that came from me could be my polar opposite! But they're both pretty good kids!

Spring pretties

This past Saturday I had my first photo shoot of the year. We headed out to Sonnomon's cabin for our annual spring pictures with Abbie and Issie. This was our 3rd year and it's amazing to look back at the past two years and how these two girls have changed.

Sale!

Since I'm so happy that spring is here, I decided to have a little sale over at my Etsy shop! From now until March 31st, you can use SPRING10 at checkout to save 10% off your purchase! I just finished a CUTE ruffled pinafore that will be up as soon as the rain goes away so I can go out and take some decent pictures of it! It will be listed as a custom piece, so you can get it in whatever size you need!

Can I scream?

Things have been increasingly frustrating lately, dragging me down and pulling me to the end of my rope. It's something new every day. Some things linger.

Monday Christopher got a letter in the mail from the dean of admissions at the medical school he worked at. I'm thinking, "He's enrolled in med school and didn't tell me???" Well, apparently, someone hacked the computer and got the records of 4,100 students, faculty and personnel- Christopher's being one of them. Niiiiiiice... They offered us a year's subscription to a credit monitoring bureau, but we already have Life Lock. It's nice to know that some creepo has your personal info. Thank goodness he was caught and is in big trouble and all evidence confiscated.

Today we went to Effingham. I didn't really want to go because I had to bail on the Lenten Luncheon, but we're in desperate need of some spring church clothes/shoes around here. I should've known better and just said we'd stay home (wasn't my idea to go). Kohls had NOTHING, as usual. Nothing for me, nothing for Kate. Preston's good, as is Christopher. So we came home empty-handed and wasted gas when it's $3.99 a gallon. I need to go to Fairview- I KNOW I'll find clothes there, but really don't want to waste gas driving an hour there and back. Oh! And the shoes I ordered for Preston came today and are too big. Go figure. Too bad I didn't have them in time to take back and exchange...

My hearing is horrible. Christopher just flat out does NOT understand that I can't hear when we're in public places and there's noise. Nor does he understand that he can't speak to me if he's not looking at me. I just won't hear him. That causes him to get frustrated, which frustrates me. And it caused a big ordeal at Rural King this afternoon- an embarassing ordeal that left me in tears. I just can't get myself to go see my ENT, though. I can't fathom having something in my ears. I can't justify the cost of hearing aids not knowing if they will be more trouble than they're worth. Everyone I know that has them hates them. I know that something needs to be done, though.

I have so much on my plate right now, projects that have been started and I'm trying to finish. I have yet to start editing the photos from last weekend's photo shoot. I do have them narrowed down to the keepers, but the editing process still looms. I'm trying to finish projects for my Etsy shop, as well. Kate's birthday is in 3 weeks and I still have SO much to do. I don't even have the props made so we can take the pictures for her invites, which needs to be done this weekend. Did I mention that my birthday is this weekend and we have something going on the entire time? Not to mention that I still have not gotten any of our Easter stuff down from the attic. If the kids didn't care, I'd not even worry about it, but they do. I'll no longer have it down and we'll have to put it up, though.

Then there's the whole wedding deal. We already know that we're going to the one in Gatlinburg in June- we have no choice on that matter... But we most likely won't be going to MY cousin's wedding in Savannah in May. Christopher won't take off for it, he won't let the kids take off more than 2 days of school (he's very adamant about them missing any days at all), and the Explorer just isn't trustworthy enough for a 13 hour drive. So unless we're able to ride down with my mom and back with my grandparents, we're stuck at home. And I can't tell you how badly it hurts to even think about telling Granny and Pa that we can't go to our family's wedding that we've known about for a year, even though we don't ever do stuff like that with them, but we are going to drive 8 hours to see people we see constantly get married far from home when they could've stayed there. It's just wrong. In my opinion, it's either both or none. Unfortunately, someone in this house doesn't agree...

Kate is getting her braces Tuesday and two teeth pulled. She has been flipping out and stewing on this for a month now. I've tried to get her in earlier, but the dentist is on vacation until this Monday. It's going to be rough. ROUGH. I don't even want to think about that day. I need some major prayers for that day, and so does Kate!

Diet update

So it's been about 5-6 weeks on my little diet. I can't keep track. I spent the first two weeks absolutely starving when I started with smaller portions. I felt SO deprived. All I wanted was a FULL plate and cake- chocolate cake. After the two week adjustment, things weren't so difficult.

At the beginning, I cut out my orange juice and the rare soda. The only thing I've had to drink in the past 6 weeks is water- besides one soda at the movies (because it came with the admission price). My aim is to have my breakfast and lunch to be no more than 300 calories. Oatmeal and toast for breakfast, and usually a Greek veggie sandwich on whole grain sandwich roll for lunch with some fruit. Dinner is harder. I usually go over 500 calories, but don't feel that guilty since lunch and breakfast are less. I try to fill up mostly on veggies.

I'm so glad to be back running as well. Last week I went 6.5 miles for the week, which is almost a mile a day! Not back to my baseline from last year, but it feels nice to be out running again. I even ran a mile this morning, which is a feat since I'm not a morning person. Getting to the track some nights is impossible between dinner and bedtime, so I need to take advantage during the day. Plus, today's run gave me the chance to take a peek at this GORGEOUS craftsman house I've been eying for months. Let me tell you, it's even better than the realtor's website. Ahhhhh. If it wouldn't take at least $75,000 to update it to be able to live in, (100 years old, no kitchen, no a/c, old windows) I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

Anyway, back to the diet... I'm seeing a difference! Mostly in my face. I noticed it when I pulled my hair back to run the other day and almost didn't recognize myself! My belt is getting closer to the next hole, and it doesn't seem quite as flabby. A long way to go yet, though. But with my birthday this week, there will be lunches out, dinners at my grandparents', cakes. Then in 3 weeks it's Kate's birthday and Easter, and it's going to be rough. But I've seen progress and maybe that will be my motivator!

Dang it!

Today was another gloriously fabulous day weather-wise. Again in the 80's! I fear we'll have to turn the A/C on already. It's only March! I told Kate yesterday how when we were growing up, Grampy refused to turn on the air any earlier that May, no matter how hot it got. You better believe that on May 1st, Mom had it on! We got lots done in the yard today and it looks so much better! The burn pile finally got burned- it was over 7 feet tall from all of the winter's fallen branches. We even burned our Christmas tree, and they really do go up fast! The gumballs are swept up (and burned), etc. I even cleaned out the garage cabinets! Phew!

At the Lenten Luncheon today, my mom's friend Sue excitedly told me that Rick Santorum was coming to town this Sunday to speak. I was SOOOOOOO excited!!!!! Kate was excited! I just love my two little republicans!!! But I just got a call from mom saying that Sue texted her and said that he'd cancelled. BOO! He obviously didn't look at our town's track record. President Clinton came to town on the campaign trail and won, and so did Blagojevich (boo, hiss). I remember going to see Clinton/Gore, and my parents dragging me (I was a republican way back then, too). We stood forever, I paid NO attention to his speech, but I shook hands with Al Gore. Even though it wasn't exciting for me, it was still neat, and I can tell my children that I shook hands with one of the former vice presidents. I was really hoping him coming to town was a sign that he'd make it into office. Still hoping!!!

I logged 3 miles at the track tonight and am SO sore. I can hardly go up and down the stairs. I imagine I'll lay low tomorrow. Getting back into running is kicking my butt, but I have to do it.

Hello, daylight savings time!

I am beyond excited that daylight savings time is here! I was so anxious all week to finally change the clocks, and Saturday was almost too much to handle! I LOVE that it is light out longer. LOVE! It just makes everything seem that much happier!

DST brought with it an entire week of mid to upper 70's temps and I couldn't be happier about that, either! I love knowing that for the next week, I don't have to worry about ANY cold! Of course, the normal high for mid-March is 55, so I know it won't stay warm for long, but I'll take it while I can! My daffodils are all up and my forsythia has bloomed as well. I might go cut some of it tomorrow to bring inside. My apricot tree has big buds on it, so I imagine it will flower this week, and the rest of my trees will follow suit. Beautiful!!!!!

I'm also excited about getting to get out and run after dinner again! I ran 1.5 miles tonight (walked, maybe a 1/4 of it) and it felt so great! If I'd had more time, I would've went further. Last summer before the respiratory virus from hell derailed my running, I could easily run 2 miles in 30 minutes without stopping. I'll get there. Ultimately, I'd like to go at least 3, maybe 4 miles a day, but we'll see how that goes. ;) Baby steps...

Randoms from today

I've been making some fun fabric letters for my nieces the past two days and I've concluded that I 1. have the world''s most worthless pinking shears, or 2. they aren't meant for cutting through two layers of fabric and two layers of cotton quilt batting. My hand and fingers HURT! But they turned out super cute, so it's all ok!

Preston had his 6mo dental cleaning today and NO CAVITIES! The horrible reflux he had as a baby has wreaked havoc on his poor teeth. He's had 4 cavities, which the dentist does feel is more related to reflux than hygiene since they are all baby teeth. I worry so much each time we go, afraid of more cavities.

Tonight was the Methodist Men's pancake supper. Pa always gives us tickets and I so enjoy an evening of no cooking! We always get take-out since Kate has to have her dairy-free pancakes that I keep in the freezer. Preston watched as they put the pancakes, sausage, syrup, etc. in the containers. As we were walking away, he asked, "Did you get hamburgers with your pancakes, too?" The sausage did resemble hamburgers! Thanks, Pa, for a good dinner! Those men really make some tasty pancakes- for the record, Christopher and Preston both asked me if I could make my pancakes taste like theirs!

I was reading a book about Lent to Preston tonight before bed. Out of the blue he says, "I always thought God looked like Uncle Seth." I couldn't help but laugh considering my brother is bald and shaves his head! But hey, Seth used to look at the road map, find Effingham and exclaim, "That's where Jesus was born!" Seriously, one of my favorite memories of when we were kids!

Lent

Look who just reported for his first day back on the job!
I love this little guy so much. He holds so many memories from my childhood, always holding jelly beans for us to eat. I learned that I really liked orange jelly beans the best, and so did Granny. We always knew to leave the black ones for Pa- no one else ate them anyway! I was so happy when Granny sent him home with me last year after Easter. He now lives at my house and after a good bath, is ready to hold jelly beans for my kids.

The season of Lent has always been special to me. I've always enjoyed the special services leading up to Easter. But lately it seems to pull on me harder, and I know it's God's way of speaking to me. You see, I'm a displaced Lutheran.

I grew up Lutheran. I loved it and I know it was what ultimately formed my faith in the manner that it is. I also spent a good amount of time with my grandparents at the Methodist church, which still holds a special place. But Christopher is Baptist. There's a BIG difference between Lutherans and Baptists. Kind of like day and night. He doesn't like my church because it is so structured and scripture-based. He also doesn't like the idea of Catechism classes to be able to take communion and that he'd also have to take classes to become a member of the church. It also goes to say that I don't care for his church. Hand waving and clapping are fine for those who feel compelled, but I'm a little too conservative for that. I also miss reciting the creeds, the Lord's Prayer, etc. that his church doesn't do. I miss taking communion. We do go to the Baptist church, but I don't feel it's my "place."

What I miss the most, though, are Lenten services. I thought Lent was celebrated universally amongst Christian churches, but apparently not. I loved going to each of the services, espcially Good Friday (ok, I admit, I like that they turn the lights out). To me, they are an important part of the story of Jesus' final days, not just his Resurrection. Each year, I miss these services, and each year I can feel God pulling me back to my church. I need to go. I need for my children to go. Unfortunately, my family has since left the Lutheran church and went to the Methodist church. Also, Christopher would not want to go, and I feel that it is something we should do as a family. I know God wants me to come back to my home church. I feel this same pull every year during Lent, yet I always mull over it and never make it. I know that He simply wants me to believe and spread His word, but I feel that He is telling me that my place is in the Lutheran church.

I went to my first Lenten Luncheon yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I brought the demographic down by a good 20 years since most people there were at least my mom's age and older. They had a speaker that was probably only 20, and he spoke about encouragement, which really hit home yesterday. But more than that, I felt God pulling me closer again. I left feeling fulfilled and peaceful, and I look forward to attending the rest of the Lenten Luncheons over the next few weeks.

I would appreciate any prayers during this time. I know it's really as simple as saying, "Kids, were going to my church today," but the whole not going as a complete family is my stumbling block.

Product of the week- Seacret Spa

It's time to link up with Tiffanie again for her Product of the Week! This week I'm sharing the Seacret Spa nail care kit.

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My father-in-law actually got this for me for Christmas a few years ago and I immediately fell in love! I'll admit, my nails are less than perfect. I NEVER polish them, and I'm often too busy to take the time to keep them at just the right length (sometimes they get a bit witchy). But this kit is so great!

It comes with a file, buffing block, cuticle oil and a big thing of body cream (that I only use on my hands). It doesn't matter how long I've let my nails go, with a little time and the buffing block, they look fantastic and shiny! The cuticle oil really helps to soften dry cuticles, too. But my absolute favorite is the cream. It is heaven in a tube! It is so unbelievably silky and not the least bit sticky, and it smells wonderful- mine is the Ocean Mist. I don't know if it's the Dead Sea salts that are in it that make it so nice, but I do know it's set apart from anything else I've ever used!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love, love, LOVE!

I really want a vintage rotary dial phone to hang in my kitchen. We have an unsightly jack right as you walk in, but have a wireless extension sitting on the counter. Go figure! My Ma-ma had a yellow one, and I LOVE yellow. Granny and Pa had a red one, and I love red, too! Pa said he still has them somewhere in his garage. Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll find them this summer. Until then, I'm scouring garage sales for any I can find!

Maybe then when the power goes out, I won't have to run to the garage to answer the phone!

Oh, you can find those lovely phones here!

Really???

I hate to sound judgemental. And technically, maybe I'm not since I'm not making assumptions about these women, but merely stating an opinion. We're all entitled to those aren't we?

I recently came across a site similar to Pinterest and while checking it out, their main page was mostly women body builders. Now, these women are probably just normal women that happen to choose to look like they do, but do they really think that it's attractive?

I'm all for being fit. Being fit looks good. Muscles on women do NOT look good. When a woman has a six-pack that rivals a man, and biceps to match, that's not natural. Either she has a major testosterone imbalance or she takes steroids. Period. Women can't get that way on their own. Our bodies aren't meant to look like men's and for good reason. We're NOT men!

Everyone has the right to choose what they do to their body, I guess. I certainly don't want someone telling me what to do with mine, but I'll take feminine curves any day over muscles!

Fun,busy weekend

We had a really good weekend this week. The kids were out early on Friday so we had the entire afternoon at home. We had more severe storms and hail roll through that morning and between noon and 1, it went from 65 degrees to 45 and the wind was FIERCE! That's a recipe for a tornado, but thankfully we just had some major wind and cold. We went to the library and then came home to make some play dough which the kids love! I don't know why we even buy it when it's so much fun and easy to make!
Saturday was my nephew, Cooper's 2nd birthday party. They had it at the church's barn so the kids were able to run around and play. It was a fun time! Cooper's favorite gift was a pair of shoes which he insisted he wear right then. Then he proceeded to dance in a circle and run off! He could have cared less about the toys! He didn't like everyone singing to him and looked like he was going to cry!

After the party, we came home and finished repairing the Republic Frigate to put on Preston's new shelf. If there's one thing I hate about Legos, is that it doesn't take much for them to completely fall apart, but takes forever to fix! Then Christopher decided to install our new bathroom exhaust fan since our old one was shot. Try as we might, we could not find a round one that was less than $80, and even it was bigger than the one we had, so we settled for a $12 square one that meant cutting a hole in the ceiling. Talk about a mess! I regret not taking pictures because everything was covered in a thick layer of drywall dust. If you've ever been through a renovation that requires cutting drywall, you know that it goes everywhere and is not easy to clean up! But now we can take a shower without fogging up the entire bathroom, so I guess it was worth it.

Sunday morning it was off to church. During lunch, I asked Preston what he learned at Sunday school. This is what he told me: "We learned about a farmer that had two sons and one asked to have the money that he'd get when his dad died early. Then he went out and spent it on iPads and iPods and stuff like that." I had to laugh and tell him that I didn't think they had those back then! But the teacher was just trying to give them an example that they could relate to in regards to frivolous spending. It was fun, though!

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That afternoon we went and saw the Lorax. It was really good! I had my doubts since I hated Horton Hears a Who and saw that it was made by the people that made Despicable Me, which I also hated, but this was cute!

On the way to Hillsboro, it started spitting snow. At each bathroom/refill break, I noticed that it was getting heavier and by the time the show was over, we had an inch of snow! It was SO pretty! This is the second time that's happened to us when we saw a show in Hillsboro! It's too bad it didn't start earlier in the day because I would have gladly put off the movie for another day to have a chance to play in the snow- it made perfect snowballs! The kids did get to throw a few at each other, but that's the extent of our snow play this year! Too bad that it also didn't come in say, January, or February, even instead of March 4th!

Busy wednesday

Yesterday was a busy day. Mine started around 3:30 when a NASTY storm rolled through and woke me and Preston up. It was the same storm that leveled nearby Harrisburg with the F4 tornado. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. After having a tornado go over our own house and snap off the tops of all of our trees, I know that it can happen anywhere and no one is really safe. So thankful that we were spared. Although it brought with it all the furor a "spring" storm brings, it left behind GORGEOUS cloudless skies and 68 degree temps. It was a beautiful day!

With the kids in school, Christopher and I headed to Effingham. We'd been needing to go to Menard's for a LONG time. We picked up a lot of stuff we needed and our house got an unexpected happy makeover! We bought new doorknobs.
They look SO much better than the ugly gold ones that were there, but now they make the doors look ugly. That's the beauty I guess of being a DIY'er and an old house- there's always something to do! I wouldn't want it any other way, though. I like doing projects, even after the month-long oak floor renovation...

Preston also got a wall light for his room. He got the short end of the stick when we moved and got the smallest bedroom. His bed just fits inside this little alcove, and since there's no hope of him ever having room for a nightstand, we decided this would be good for reading. He LOVES it! We also had to get him a new wall shelf for his Legos. He built the Republic Frigate after Christmas and we had nowhere to put it and now it's fallen apart. He'll be busy this weekend putting it back together and on his new shelf.

Product of the Week- smoothing cream

It's Thursday again! Time to link up with Tiffanie and her products of the week! This week I'm sharing Suave's Sleek anti-frizz cream. Proof that you don't need expensive salon brands to have smooth hair!
I've been using this stuff since it came out and it works wonders for my hair. I'll share a little story with you...

Back in high school, my hair was flat out uncontrollable. This was back in the 90's when the choices were limited and there was no internet to shop around. Flash back to my freshman year book picture...
Yeah... It's humbling to share such a horrid picture, but this is proof guys. In my defense, it had rained on the way to school. We also had those nasty pics retaken, but it was someone's idea of a cruel joke to go ahead and use that in the year book.

Then there was the famous "triangle hair." Ooooh, how I HATED my triangle hair. Nothing I did worked.
Now, I have tried the Matrix line that this was based off of, and used it for years. It worked, and did wonders for my hair, but did little to my wallet. At $2.74 a pop, and available just about anywhere, this is something you can't afford to pass up if you have frizzy, curly hair like mine. I usually use it and let my hair air dry and then use my Chi, which looks nice but takes more time. The results are much better if I blow dry as well. No more triangle hair here, folks!

Thanks for stopping by!