Goodbye 2009!

Goodbye 2009-Hello 2010

As I sit here and think about 2009 I always go back to the same thought, same rock, same "everything" and that is my husband. He is the reason I am able to be me. I am not one of those women that has to be me all by myself. I truly can't be me, without him. I fell in love with him when I was 18 years old and I truly do live in a fairy tale! There is good and bad in every story, but life is what you make it and I make every moment count!

My husband and I live by one saying, and one saying only!

"Heads we will, Tails we'll try again"

What does Family Mean to You?

These pictures aren't very clear or centered.
I was laughing too hard to really think about the pictures at all.

At Thanksgiving this year my grandmother and her sister put on a show for us and made my daughter and husband be the band.

Family means crazy fun to me!

Twilight anyone? (decorating ideas)

On November 19th I had a New Moon Party with some friends and my daughter of course!
I just wanted to share some pics with you of all the decorating we did to prepare for some "sparkly" fun!

The best part of it all is, that my daughter's room is Twilight themed so most of what you see was just taken off of her wall and placed around the house!

It is fun to share a passion with your "tween".

What to do with Necklaces!

So, necklaces all tangled up in my jewelry was a real pain in my neck! ;o)
This is my door hanger/everyday display from Southern Living at Home.

I just hung it on my wall in my bedroom and added my necklaces. The pictures don't do it justice, it really is like a decoration in my room now!

Hmmmm! What did I do with my Christmas cards this year if I now use this in my bedroom! Check back to find out! That will be answered in Monday nights blog!

This is me, Then!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May your holidays be full of blessings.

I will be back next week with blogs galore and to finish up my 31 Days of Just Me, Then!

Day 15 of Me, Then!

On Day 15 of Me, Then, I was touched beyond your imagination! I had a final that day and the end of the semester was moments away! Our class is small, it's an education class, so our professor asked us to meet her at a restaurant so we could eat and enjoy our last day. After lunch we would present our final to our classmates and teacher. You all know me, I was WELL prepared and ready!

What I was not ready for was what my teacher was going to do to end the semester. She read us a book, this book you see above and before she could finish page 1 I was crying. It doesn't take much to make me cry these days. School has me in one BIG emotional ball! No one person makes me feel sad or emotional, it's just the entire thing called school for me! I am in SUCH A RUSH to get to the finish line that I feel like I will never get there and it's just further and further away from me.

On this day I can't tell you my schedule, I can't remember what I did after that final. But, I can tell you that I will never forget Mrs. Askey reading us this book and then telling the class she wished she could have bought one for everyone in the class but she wanted to present it to me. I will cherish this book always and PROMISE you all, you need to pick up a copy.

You've accomplished your goals

And you're well on your way.

The future's tomorrow-

Cherish today!

Day 13 and 14 of me then!

Days 13 and 14 could read like a list from the queen bee of a 4 person hive! The running around I put on myself to make things perfect for my family is unreal, and yes, I do it all to myself. BUT, the little face you see above (from our last vacation as a family of 3 in 2005) is the reason I breath each day. My daughter is what is on my mind 24/7. The song from John Mayer "Daughters" is KILLER! She is everything, and I feel so insufficient in her presence. I feel like even at my best, she deserves more. This little girl, which from the picture below you can now see is a young lady, is everything I ever wish I could be when I grow up. Happy Birthday Taylor. I love you so much and can't wait to see the imprint you leave on this world, because you have left one on my heart already.

Day 13 and 14 of Me, Then! This time, my thoughts won't change! This is Me, Forever!

Day 12 of Me, Then!

On Day 12 I had one mission, to give my 11 year old daughter the best birthday ever! BUT, with that said, I was NOT letting her have the big bash she normally has every year. I wanted it to be small, just a few girlfriends, and some fun! No balloons, no nothing! She was actually quite excited because the sky was the limit as long as she kept it small!

So, what did she decide to do? She gave me a list of every sweet and junk food she wanted and first I took them to The Cheesecake Factory and to ride a boat to look at Christmas lights!



Then we came home and I helped them make homemade body sugar scrub! They LOVED it! It was easy, fun and very girlie!

All you need are mason jars, filled with one cup sugar, then add one cup of vegetable oil, then one drop of peppermint extract! Stir with a long spoon or fork, then close the lid tight and give it a good shake! AMAZING! It smells so good and works too! Found the idea on a blog I follow and I will NEVER buy sugar scrub again!

Now, if I can only find my camera cord to load the pics of them making it! Sigh!

This is Day 12, of Me, Then!

Help! (and a giveaway)

OK, I promise I want to blog. I do, I really do! I am going to buy a new plug for my camera tonight! It has vanished and I can't get any pics off of it and the memory card fits in NOTHING in this house!

Until then PLEASE check out the following blog for a giveaway and sweet post!

www.sarahlett.blogspot.com

Day 11 of me, Then!

First off! Take a look at this blog! GREAT IDEA!

www.planitorganization.blogspot.com

Ok, my day!

• I got the girls out the door and Cash settled in with my mom for the day while she worked in the office and watched him!
• I then picked up my future sister in law (did I tell ya'll my little brother is getting married in April and I am the Matron of Honor? Well, I am!) and we went to look at wedding dresses!
• WE FOUND IT! Its gorgeous and TOP SECRET!
• Then we had a great lunch at a little sandwich shop.
• Came home and made Taco Bake for dinner (see recipe in previous post).
• Settled in with my hubby to watch some TV and really just veg out for the night! OH and celebrate me passing College Algebra! WOOHOO!

Taco Bake

ENJOY!

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/taco-bake-63779.aspx

Day 10, of Me, Then!

Today, I did the usual running kind of morning and when I got out of school at 12:05 I ran to Spring to The Little Dutch Girl store for my yearly shopping trip!
I grabbed the kids chocolate letters that "Sinterklaas" leaves in their wooden shoes if they are good.

I also grabbed a jar of Sambal (Indonesian hot sauce) for my Dad.

And, some chocolate sprinkles for butter and toast! YUMMY!

My father, the kids Opa, was born in Indonesia to an Indonesian mother and a Dutch father. He moved to Holland when he was a baby and lived there until he was 8. He remembers the magic of Christmas and how he filled his wooden shoes with hay and left them outside his door for the reindeer to eat and you either had a shoe full of coal or your initial made of chocolate.

Traditions are wonderful! Find one in your background and start it up again!
*I also loaded up on the most amazing chocolates for the kids stockings! Dutch chocolate taste like milk. Its wonderful!

Day 9, of Me, Then!

WOW! Mrs. Claus looks so thrilled to see Mr. Cash get his bell! This picture is from a few years ago and it reminds me of how Christmas is such an amazing time of year. Your calendar is suddenly very full (unless you are one of those people that your calendar is full anyway) with holiday gatherings, parties, cookie swaps and more. Though at times I want to scream and pull my hair out, remember one thing that I remind myself of when things get a little rough around the holidays.

"Julie, At Least You Have So Many Places To Be. Some people have nothing on their calendars".

With that said here is a glimpse of Day 9, Of Me Then!

• Got the girls to school
• Camped Out in the house all day long CLEANING so the cleaning lady could come! I am very blessed to have an amazing lady come every other week.
• Made a Mexican Lasagna! (sorry I forgot to take pics, I am horrible at loading pics lately)
• Shut it down around 4:00 so I could start getting ready for a Christmas party.
• Had a FANTASTIC time at the party and got an AWESOME gift from my secret sister (which happened to be my best friend)!
• Came home and fell out on the bed to go to sleep!

See, I told you my life can be pretty boring!

This is Me, Then!

***Ok, Leave me a comment with a run-down of your day! I want to see what all of you are doing out there!

Day 8

Apple Dumplings for dessert!

Lasagna for dinner!

Ok, if you have never been to http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ go there now! Yes, stop reading this and click on the link and check out recipes! They are to die for!

I made her "Best Ever Lasagna" and my husband said it rivaled any "Authentic" Italian restaurant! The dumplings, well, I don't need to explain much more than it has Mountain Dew in it! I had these Apple Dumplings at a cooking class recently and they are melt in your mouth homemade tasting! We LOVED dinner last night!

1. My day consisted of the normal Monday morning running!
2. Me and the kids all had school.
3. Then met hubby for a Burrito Queso. OLE'
4. Grocery shopping.
5. Home to begin all the cooking!
6. HOMEWORK HOMEWORK HOMEWORK!
7. Daddy took care of the kids and the kitchen for me!
8. I had a college algebra final and then to bed around 11:00.

EXHAUSTED!

Pics are from www.thepioneerwoman.com

Days 5,6 and 7!

Lets See, Day 5 was snow, Day 6 was Pioneer Woman and Day 7 was a severe allergy attack! Day 8 is going to be school and a final tonight! So I will catch up on all my blogging tomorrow! It's been a wild few days!

Day 4 of Me, Then!

• House cleaned
• Kids loaded up and out the door to school
• Quick stop at Arlans for snacks for playdate
• Girls dropped off
• Home to quickly make the meat, cheese and cracker tray and set out drinks
• Cash's best bud arrives and we have an eventful playdate
• Over around 11:00, I leave Cash here with my mom and I go and do some Christmas shopping (she works in our home office once a week)
• Stop by Heather's to talk about her living room furniture setup for the holidays
• Back home by 3:00 to load Cash up
• Pick Taylor up
• Head to the Dollar Tree and CiCi's for dinner
• Home by 5:30ish
• I sit on my bottom in the den checking messages on my cell and just vegging
• Everyone bathed and in bed by 9:30ish
• Oh, and helped Tay complete her Music project and submitted Avon orders!

A busy but uneventful day!

Day 3, of Me Then!

NOT MY BEST DAY!

December 2nd!

This is starting to become a common theme around here. Let me walk you through what I am talking about.

7:00 A.M. I am up, asked Lance if he could start breakfast instead of me so I can get dressed for school and walk out to the shop to bring in a basket of clean clothes folded on our folding shelf. RED FLAG RED FLAG RED FLAG! Julie, DON'T CHANGE THE ROUTINE! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I get dressed and walk back in at 7:20 and NO BREAKFAST has been started. He is chatting with my brother about a job, which is very important I might add and I decide to help start the sausage with the words I was thinking suddenly flowing from my mouth like raw sewage, "this should have been started 15 minutes ago". OH BOY! It was on! Lance and I fought for an hour over what a witch I am and I turned it into a crying mess after I brought Tay to school about how no one appreciates me and I go to school and I do this and I do that and BLAH BLAH BLAH! Now, ladies, and maybe men read this, I have an AMAZING husband that I love dearly, but if I wanted the sausage in by 7:05 I should have done it myself. Would we die from sausage deprevation if the kids have to eat their's walking out the door instead of at the table? NO! Shouldn't I be thankful my husband even offers to help and is actually home when I am getting the kids out the door? Yes, I am so blessed and if I decide to change the routine then I need to remember the word I just typed, CHANGE!

-Daddy takes Bubba to school, I watch my DVR'ed Biggest Loser and cry my eyes out (thats another blog in itself).

-I head out to school, get into a little heated talk with my sweet teacher Mrs. Askey about my disgust with Tiger Woods and my love for Charles Barkley (can't exlain now).

-Then I meet a dear friend for lunch at Luby's, then some Target and Hobby Lobby time. Called hubby and asked if he could pick up Bubba so I could keep shopping, no, he was far away.

-I race to get him from school and on the way home he told me he not only pee'd in the potty but he "pooped" in the potty today and told me the size and number of each in the pot! WOOHOO my son is talking about #2!

-Got home and transfered Daddy's deer lease clothes into the dryer.

-Waited for Sissy's bus

-Showed my neighbor all my Avon samples and how to make invoices (her daughter sells too).

-Got ready for my brothers Birthday dinner at Salt Grass with my dad, mom and her new husband in attendence. It actually went very well. I am proud of my parents.

-Told Daddy goodbye, he's hunting for one day and night!

-Got dear daughter to run into Barnes and Noble to pick up the new cookbook from www.thepioneerwoman.com IT'S AMAZING!

-Came home, straightened the house, didn't get to the other end so I will be closing bedroom doors tomorrow for a playdate here with my son's best bud!

WOOSH! I'm tired! Going to bed with Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Remember, This is Me, Then! I may have changed by the time you read this!

Day 2 of me then!

I thought I would share some pics from Easter of 05!
This is the very day we told our families we were pregnant!

Look at the "lack" of landscape!

And my master bedroom was actually the living room I had always wanted! The one that people just looked at and never touched! Oh, how Mr. Cash changed all that! I love change!

Today! December 1st

-got up at 7:00 and did pretty much my same old thing, breakfast on the table, etc. Except, me and Cash had no school!

-went to Walmart while daddy kept Bubba!

-home at 9:00ish and I began my day! cleaned the entire den, kitchen, dining room and office. All decorations are finally put out as well! WOOHOO!

-Daddy came home around 3:00ish and hung lights across the front of our house!

-I cooked chicken and rice that my family LOVED!

-back up, Cash passed out at 6:00, no dinner, no nothing! He does this from time to time! He played hard all day long!

-Daddy, Sissy and I watched Four Christmases, Lance PASSED out about all the horrible things said in it and we all got in a huge fight about my moral compass vs his. It got a bit ugly and I am a liberal witch! HA!

-Sissy is now tucked in on my couch again because the rain scares her and Lance is watching Fringe and I am about to take a shower and blow dry my hair because its an act of God to plan to actually fix my hair nice for my brother's birthday dinner tomorrow night!

I will post decoration pics when I finish the other end of the house tomorrow! Having a playdate for Cash on Thursday! Gotta get it done!

This is me then, remember my boring days may change! HA!

Day 1 of Me, Then!

Well, tonights dinner only got a before pic, I forgot to take the after! HA! I had a WHIRLWIND of a day (I will explain below), but for dinner I had a pack of deer/hamburger meat out and NO IDEA what I was doing with it and I was NOT going to the store! I browned it, drained the grease off and stirred in two jars of Ragu Pizza sauce. Poured into the bottom of a glass baking dish, covered it in grated cheese (only had cheddar) and placed biscuits on top with butter. How long did I bake it for you ask? I don't know, about 30 minutes or so. I took it out when the biscuits were done, let it cool for about 10 minutes and my family LOVED LOVED LOVED it! Check 1 for mom!

What did I do today? Let's see:

-woke up a 6:00 A.M. hit the snooze until 7:00. Not smart, should have known then it was going to be a crazy day!

-7:00 A.M. Got everyone up, well, my son and husband that is. I screamed at my daughter until 7:30 when she finally decided to get up off of our couch in our sitting room (might I add its in our master bedroom).

-somewhere between 7:00 and 7:45 I managed to get dressed from head to toe and put a pony tail through a ball cap and start biscuits in the oven and flip sausage over as I walk past the kitchen getting two lunches ready and backpacks packed!

-7:45 the four of us sit down to breakfast at the table and might I also add that the juice glasses and paper plates are still on the table as I type and its almost bed time! HA! Who cares it smells like juice in here! Could be worse right? Pass out vitamins and we enjoy!

-8:05 I am out the door with my daughter and her best friend that gets dropped off daily and we are headed to school. Daddy offers to bathe Bubba (our son) and I leave Sissy outside with the keys to start the car so I can run back in and find his outfit for school. PANTS PANTS PANTS, where are any of his pants! Oh wait, all dirty from the fact that I haven't done laundry in a week!

-8:15 my son runs outside to pee off the back porch in front of the world and then runs back in to take a bath. I am off!

-8:37 I drive back up, my son is clean as a whistle and looking for his socks. I clean up all the "food" parts of breakfast, put the milk, butter and jelly away, and then I am back in the car. Gotta take my son to school!

-9:10 Home again! I will throw in here that my husband and brother (that works for us in our commercial landscaping company) are hovering around the house the entire time taking calls, doing invoices, and planning their day which was VERY rainy and slow. Now, I am putting some makeup on and decided to change clothes into something cute and "college" like! I have school Mondays and Wednesdays (hence the reason I am still at a junior college, I only take 1-2 classes at a time. This semester 1 online, 1 on campus) and I refuse to put my kids in daycare while they are/were young, SO here I am. The house is a TORNADO times 10 but who cares, I am out the door at 10:15 (supposed to be out the door by 10:00). Not too bad!

-10:50 I get right in front of the college and there are armed police officers everywhere! Stopping cars, moving traffic. I am freaking out! I suddenly see helicopters as well. I get re-routed around to my school and decide I want out of my car but the school is on lock down. A convict has overtaken officers transporting him to another facility and he is loose in the area. FAN-FLIPPING-TASTIC! I call my husband and he tells me to come meet him far away from there for lunch and some Christmas shopping. I then head to Bass Pro Shop and end up enjoying my mid day.

-2:30 Pick up my son from school and hear all about his day and peeing in the potty, standing up that is, and how he stayed on green. I get home and look at the wreck of a house and decide, forget it, I watch Mama Mia with my son. He LOVES it!

-3:45 Daddy drives up, hurries and gives me our daughters gifts to hide and I head out to get her off the bus at 4:00.

-4:10 after hearing about her day and that she needs new bras and tanktops NOW, I start dinner.

-5:30 We all eat everywhere! Hubby and son outside playing around in the shop, me in front of my DVR'ed shows and my daughter at the computer. This is not like us, but we are ALL emotionally drained from being with one another all last week!

It's 7:00, my house is HORRIBLE, my ovaries hurt (yes, I can tell when they hurt, I can tell which side hurts more because I have a cyst on one ovary), I am MOODY, I don't want to bathe, I don't want to even watch TV, I just want to be left alone with Christmas music BLASTING in the background!

It's 9:20, I have done NOTHING tonight! I am happy that my husband doesn't care that I've done nothing! He has kept our son outside watching football and my daughter has not left the computer. This would sadden others but I needed NOTHING tonight, a night of NOTHING!

This is Me Then, Remember I Change from Day to Day!