I can drive again!

Well, $261 and some odd cents and my car is drivable again!

My hubby took a look at it last night and we decided to call a local garage to have it towed.

Later that night, a woman who participated in the sale I helped coordinate this weekend called to see about picking up her money. We got to talking and it turns out her husband is a mechanic!

He came over this morning, confirmed that it was the starter, and later this afternoon, he came back and replaced it. It cost a bit more than I was thinking it would but what can ya do?!?! We get so addicted to these little boxes on wheels, don't we?

Anyways, it turns out, the guy who fixed the car knew my hubby from high school.

Small world, huh?!

I'm just glad it's fixed.... of course, now my brake light is coming on at weird times.

Car Trouble

(Sorry about my hiatus! Last week was crazy, crazy, crazy getting ready for my moms' group kids' clothing and equipment sale! I'm sooooooo glad that it's over...)

Anyways....

About a month ago, my car started acting up. It wouldn't start on the first try but usually would on the second. It got to the point where it was taking 4-5 times of trying. Then the last week or two, it's started fine with no problems.

So I thought maybe it was a fluke. We hadn't had a chance to get it up to get it worked on but since it seemed to be ok, we'd forgotten about it.

This weekend, it started happening again. But it would start on the second try.

Cut to today.

I get J and C in the car, ready to take J to preschool. We were actually running a couple minutes late.

Go to start the car.... and it won't start. I seriously think I tried over 20 times! J was in the backseat almost ready to cry because she was going to miss preschool. Poor thing.... I couldn't disappoint her!

So, I called my next door neighbor. Thankfully, she was home and let me borrow her car (and kept C for me) so I could go pick up our carpool buddy and take her and J to school. We get to carpool buddy's babysitter's (where I pick her up) and out she comes, holding bags full of cupcakes!!

Today is her birthday! Could you imagine if I hadn't been able to go get her?!!? She would have been so sad!

As it was, I got them to school about 15 minutes late. I didn't have to worry about going to pick them up because our carpool buddy's mom does that! But I do need to get ahold of my hubby and figure out what we're going to do to get it fixed! I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a starter issue!

It sucks because I was planning to take the girlies to the mall tomorrow to spend my loot that I made from the sale this weekend! Just over $160, after my 10% donation to the cause!

Two cats.... free to good home

I have always been a cat liker. I've always enjoyed having cats as pets. When I first moved out on my own years ago, a friend gave me the cutest little kitten. I named him Jasper. A month later I met my husband. Several months later, I got another cat. She was black and actually from the same Momma Kitty as Jasper.

Now here we are, 12 years later and I still have the same cats.

(For you cat lovers out there, I apologize ahead of time for the next couple paragraphs...)

I want to get rid of my cats. I cannot stand them. The reason?!?!

Poop. Every. Single. Day. They have started doing their #2 business on my downstairs carpet. Doesn't matter if their box is as clean as a whistle. They still do it. I cannot even tell you how tired I am of coming down every morning to a pile of crap. As you know if you read this blog even semi regularly, I have two young kiddos. The youngest of the two doesn't get that you are not supposed to pick up a piece of the stuff with your bare hands. On more than one occasion, she has brought me a "trinket" that she's discovered. It's enough to make me want to barf! After we run to the bathroom and scrub her hands that is!

Currently, my cats are confined to a small room with a litter box, food, and water. They've spent the majority of the past week in there. The last straw for me was when I walked into my 21 month old's room a few days ago to get her ready for bed. I was greeted by a fresh pile of pure stink. We locked them up for two days. As soon as I let them out, the next morning, I went downstairs to TWO piles. And the black cat was standing next to one of them. She looked at me, walked closer to it, and started pawing the carpet to cover it up.

Back into the tiny room they went.

Obviously, I do not like the idea of keeping them locked up. They stand at the door and meow to be let out. I know it's a cruel existence to live in a tiny room with no interaction. But what do I do?!?! How do it get them to stop using my carpet as their litter box?!?!

Any suggestions?!!? And PLEASE, no flaming. It's not like I'm dumping them off on the side of the road in the country somewhere. Not yet at least.

Does you have any ideas that might work?!?! Or am I destined to keep cleaning up their piles daily?

(Sorry if you've just eaten before reading this post! ;) )

DOH! Stupid Mommy of the Day! ;)

Ok.... so I dropped my cutie pie off at preschool today then decided to go to the scrapbook store and have a look see! I always take forever in there looking around and deciding what I want! Spent about 45 minutes, bought less than $15 worth of stuff, then headed home.

There was a message on the answering machine when I walked in the door.

"Umm... Hi.... this is Mrs. Roth from St. John's Preschool. You signed up to be an aide today... blah, blah, blah (rest of message!)"

HOLY CRAP! I *knew* I was going to be an aide on the 16th. But for some strange reason, my mind was thinking it was NEXT Friday!!!

SO, I called her back, apologizing profusely. It was already 2:05 and preschool gets out at 3:00. They still needed me to come in though because one of the teachers needed to leave early and the extra teacher (who was taking my place as the aide!!) had to take her classroom!

SOOOOOO... I called a friend around the corner and LUCKILY she was able to take my little one. I ran upstairs, changed out of my sweatshorts and tee, threw a cheap dress on the kid (who was still in her pj's!! LOL), dropped her off at my friend's, and was AT SCHOOL by 2:20!!

I felt like such a dork. But they were right in the middle of snack time when I got there so I jumped in with both feet and before I knew it, it was 3:00 and time to pick up my kiddo and head home!

Next month, I promise I'll be on time... that is if they even schedule me to aide again! LOL

First Day

First day of preschool went great!

She woke up this morning and got dressed in a cheap little tank top and shorts I got at Walmart. Cute but not cute enough for her first day of preschool!!! LMAO Took some convincing before she would finally change out of her Wallyworld outfit and into her Gymboree stylin' outfit! .... but I did end up promising her she could wear her Wallyworld outfit to preschool Wednesday! Problem solved!

I know... I'm a bit obsessive, but what can ya do about it! ;)

Anyways, she loves her teacher and was so excited when we got there today! She and her little friend we carpool with stood at the door of the school with their noses pressed against the class until they let them in! Of course, I snapped pictures! Isn't she a cutie?!?!

Oh, by the way, the slideshow I did for the parent meeting was a bit hit... even got a couple folks teary eyed!

Back to (Pre)School! Finally!

Tomorrow, my sweet little almost-four-and-a-half-year-old starts preschool! Finally! Seems like everyone else went back weeks ago!! She is soooooo excited. We've been counting down the days for a couple weeks now. And it's finally almost here! She's in the afternoon class so we don't go till after lunch.... hopefully she doesn't go too stir crazy tomorrow morning waiting for lunch to come! She's already got her outfit all picked out. At least I think she does! Who knows what she'll come out of her bedroom wearing in the morning!

I have to go in for a parent meeting tomorrow too. You know, just to learn about the program. I already know what's up since she went there last year! This summer, her teacher (from last year) and I put together a slideshow to show at the meeting. We used pictures of the kids taken throughout the last school year and put it to music. Thank God for Kids by The Statler Brothers. Pretty fitting for a church preschool, wouldn't you say? At the end, there is some video footage of the parent program from the end of the year. The cuties are singing Skiddamarinkydinkydink! It's adorable! My J is probably in the slideshow more than any other kid but hey, I take lots of pictures! And since we did the slideshow on my comptuer, I had access to all my digitals! Hopefully no one will notice! LOL We're going to offer to copy the DVD very cheaply for the parents who want it!

I'll post tomorrow or Tuesday and tell about her first day back to preschool! And maybe I'll even share a couple pictures!

I can't believe at this time next year, I'll be sending my baby off to kindergarten.

Hey Survivor Watchers...

So today, the girls and I went to a Corn Festival in South Vienna. And guess who was the Grand Marshall of the parade!??!

Chris Daughtery from Survivor.... he won 2 seasons ago! He is actually from the area, about 10 minutes from where the festival is held!

Of course, I had my camera along so you know I had to get a picture with him!



Oh, and the white haired guy with his eyes closed... that'd be my dad. (but don't tell him I put his picture on the net! LOL)

And another oh.... you can see my new haircut a bit in the picture! I know you don't know what it looked like before but this is me now!

Like Father, Like Son

This past week, I got a haircut. I've been wanting to do it for awhile because as my hair gets longer, I tend to always wear it up or pulled back. When it's shorter, I can't do that as easily. Plus I tend to like it more when it's shorter.

My husband didn't want me to get it cut. He prefers for me to have long hair. That's fine but doesn't it matter what *I* prefer?!?! We "discussed" it. Well, I guess I should say, I talked, he ignored me. The end result was that I still wanted to get it cut.

So, I called my sister (who has her own salon) to make an appointment. The night before I casually mentioned it to my husband. His response? None. He just rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning, he was actually a little perturbed at me before I left.

I got my hair cut anyway. And highlighted.

That night when I got home, my husband looked at me and said, "Your hair looks nice."

No other comment and that was fine. Even if he didn't like it, he told me he did.

SO, the next day, I go over to my inlaws. And there's where I realized that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

His dad looks at me and says, "You got your hair cut."

Me: "yep."

Him: "That's not the way you're going to wear it, is it?!?!"

Ummm.... hello?!?! I'm sitting here, out in public, and that's the way I'm wearing it. So yeah, I'd say this is the way I'm going to wear it. He then proceeds to tell me he doesn't really like it and thinks I look a lot better with my hair long. He goes on to tell me that he tells my mother-in-law to keep her hair long and she does it because he says so. He said I should take his advice and keep mine long.

Yeah, I'll keep that in mind when I make my next haircut appointment.

I'll end by saying that all of my friends have told me that they think my hair looks better shorter.... and they love my new cut. Me.... yep, I'm liking it. My father-in-law did tell me a few days later that it looks nice. But he still preferred it when it was long.

Another Update on Lizzy

In case you've been checking in to see, my friend Lizzy continues to recover from her aneurysm... but she is having a very difficult time emotionally. She misses her baby boy like crazy and is a bit down in the dumps about the questions/concerns with her recovery. It just breaks my heart... Please continue to keep her in your thoughts.

An update...

My friend Elizabeth is doing well! Well, as good as you can expect after just having had an aneurysm.

This is the latest email we received from her husband...

~~
"Just wanted to give you all an update on Elizabeth. She continues to do well, but she has had a lot of visitors the past few days and is a little tired. She has been running a fever here and there, and it is a little concerning, but the doctor is not too worried about it.

For the most part, though, she is well beyond most patients at this stage, and has not lost her wit at all. Yesterday, she wanted an Icee and sent her sister all over Gainesville looking for one. When she finally made it back, Elizabeth gave her an "F" for taking so long. Then she offered some of it to me, with the comment, "Just taste it. Don't worry, you can't catch my aneurysm." So, at least she still has her humor.

I tried to log onto the board last night to answer questions and talk with people, but her password was erased and I do not know it. Is there a way for me to get an account, and if so, what do I do? I want to let everyone know what the outpouring of love and support have meant to all of us during this time. Thank you all so much. This is my email address, and I will respond to anyone who wishes to use it, if you would like to post it for me.

Thanks again for everything."
~~


I know she's still got a long road ahead of her but she's made a good start, wouldn't you say?

Prayers needed for friend....

I don't know if you're big on praying for people you don't know but if you are, please add my friend.

I've only met Elizabeth on an internet board that I post on but in the short time I've known her, she's become a valuable and dear friend. We found out just yesterday that a few days ago Eliz had a brain aneurysm. She was picking up her son at his daycare when she announced that she had a really bad headache and collapsed. They lifeflighted her to a hospital and performed a seven hour brain surgery. As of yesterday, she was somewhat alert and talking a bit to her husband. And she can move her limbs. But the next 10 days are very touch and go for her. She has a permanent clamp in her brain as they were not able to take the clot out. The road to recovery ahead for her is going to be long and hard, I'm sure.

Elizabeth has a little boy who is Cassidy's age. It breaks my heart to think how close he came to losing his mother at just 21 months old. I cannot even imagine....

So, if you feel inclined, please keep Elizabeth in your prayers.... I know her family would appreciate it.

Go hug your children, your spouses, your parents, your friends.... that's what I'm going to go do.

Shopping

Geez... have I been missing in action or what?!?! :)

I'm still busy spending my ebay money. I'm doing it nice and slow to savor the experience! LOL A friend and I are headed to the outlets this afternoon. And I don't have to drag my girls along... thank goodness! My wonderful mother in law is keeping them for me! She'll be at my sister in law's watching her kiddos so the girls will have someone to play with!

I have to admit.... I feel a little guilty driving 45 minutes to the outlets with the way gas prices are. It's about $3.09 here. But alas, I'm going anyways! We just got a brand new Gymboree outlet that I've GOT to check out. I'm a little nutty when it comes to their clothes! I'd say 75% of my girls' closets are Gymboree. It's a bit more expensive sometimes but when you look at my $300+ ebay sales, and over half of it was Gymbo, I'd say the extra money is worth it!

Ok.... I promise to post again before the weekend's up! But I need to finish getting ready to shop! Before I go.... Anyone need a link to a 25% off coupon for the Children's Place.... or a 30% off one item at the Gap outlet?!?! Let me know and I'll pass them your way!