The Mercy Date

Tomorrow is my hubby's birthday and in his honor, I am retelling the story of the 'Mercy Date' which happened on his birthday 14 years ago. We met on Jan. 1, our fist date was on Jan. 15. SInce his birthday was coming up, I wanted to take him out for his birthday, my treat. Years later, I found out he referred to it as the "mercy date' thinking since he paid for the first date, I was going to return the favor so we could be even and then I would dump him on his birthday! Now, that would be mean.

I remember what I wore....a white shirt with a brown vest, black blazer, jeans and brown suede shoes. I also wore a black hat (one of the few times I wore a hat) and It was making my forehead itch the whole time. We went to a place called the Prime Quarter where you grill your own steaks. I remember I had a really nice time....so, no dumping occurred on his birthday.

The next date happens on Valentine's Day which I will tell on the 14th.

Still have not found the cds yet, so no happy dance. But, Happy BIrthday, Hubby!

Sunday Sunday

While hubby and daughter went to have pizza at our church and then swimming at the local high school, the five year old and I had our own pizza. While waiting for it to bake, we made puppets out of paper lunch bags and had a puppet show. After pizza, we painted on paper plates (I made one, he made five) and he hung them up on the entertainment center. Then we read a bunch of books. All in all, a good day.

Tonight (Monday) I am watching Supernanny because the family is from our area. I watched it a lot last year but have not this year because I did not want the kids to see what other kids were doing to get into trouble and get ideas.

Still searching for the music cds. Tomorrow I am going to personally look for them while everyone is at school or at work. Then when I find them, and I will, I will do the happy dance!!!!

BYE!

Good day

We had a good day today. We got to sleep in a little bit. The kids wanted a big breakfast so I made scrambled eggs, toast, potatoes and ham. Hubby smelled the food and woke up in time to eat.

I had to get something in the mail and then we headed to visit the in-laws. We dropped the kids off and the dog and went to a store to find a bathing suit for the daughter who has a swimming party tomorow. We went into the store to buy a suit (quick trip right?) and came out with about 12 items. THey were haviing a sale on all their winter clothes at 70% off so I had to get some things for the kids and hubby got some new pants. I bought a Christmas outfit for the five year old which has a vest and a tie along with a shirt and pants. He says he wants to wear it for Easter. Of all of us, he is the snappiest dresser.

Then back to the house to visit. It is so nice to have them close so we can visit them like this on a regular basis.

Back at home, we are still looking for the music cds....the hunt goes on. Hubby found one under the tv in his office....one down, 29 to go.

We are on a mission

Ok, our family is known for misplacing things but now it really has gotten out of hand. Hubby thinks we are missing about 30 music cds. We think they are all in a binder somwhere but we cannot find it. Of course, these are the ones we listen to the most so we must have left it somewhere but we cannot figure it out.

So, tonight he is tearing through all the storage bins to see if we put them in there somewhere. It really is a mystery. I just hope they were not stolen out of our car or we left them at a hotel or something.

Not much new on the family front. I did accoomplish some things today so I feel a little better about myself. i always have a hard time with the winter blues and not getting out of the house this time of year so I try to accomplish at least one thing a day around the house. Today I put flannel sheets on the bed, paid some bills, and cleaned the family room.

Proud of my son who helped pick up the family room without me asking....who-hoo!!! Tonight he made puppets out of paper lunch bags. (We had to buy two packs, one for his lunches and one for his projects...pretty cheap projects if you ask me!)

I'll let you know if we find the cds....my guess is they are in the garage, the basement and some in my daughter's bedroom...like we would try to go into her room....only as our last option.

And now it is time for...

....a conversation with Luke.

We have been talking about taking the kids to Disneyworld because the five year old has not been there yet. I said if we win the Powerball, we could live at Disneyworld.

Later, when we were in the car, Luke asked, "Are the beds comfortable at Disneyworld?"

Family Day

Today was one of those great family days. In our family, it always involves going out to eat at one of our favorite places where we only go a couple times a year because it is a little pricey. This place is called Pasquales...,hubby and daughter love the ribs. It is located in one of those old, two story brick buildings that run the entire block and there are like ten businesses which are all long and narrow. They are on one end of the building...you can enter from the back or front door. There is a long bar that runs down one whole side and on the other side is a long row of tall tables that only seat two people.

By the rear door and the front dooe are two tables that seat four or five. These were all full with the exception of one table which had two middle aged men sitting there even though there is a sign on the table which says 'Reserved for four or more'. The five year old suggests we sit at the bar and we agree we are fine with it.

The floors are black and white checkered, the ceilings are high with the tin decorative sections with lamps hanging from them. The walls are covered with WWII memorbilia including some old Coke stuff which I collect. We all sit at the bar on vinyl covered stools with the chrome legs.

Now there is only one waitress but she does the best she can and is not even frazzled. It all takes a long time but the kids do a better job of waiting than I do.

We are so full after we leave we do not have supper. But I did make chocolate shakes when we all sat down to watch a movie (The Empire Strikes Back) before bed.


All in all, a good day.

I Need To Go Back to School

At the risk of embarrassing my friends and family, I have to tell this story.

We were watching Jeopardy! which I have not watched for a couple years but I did not want to watch any more news, so I turned it on. The category was 'PHOBIAS" and the answer was, "If you have monophobia, you have a fear of this state." to which I answered out loud, "Montana!"

Ha ha....I feel so silly especially when hubby answered at the same time, "Being alone" which of course was correct.

It was so silly I had to call my mother who watches the show every day and we had a good laugh.

What is really sad, is my first thought was "Monopoly".

I need to get out of the house more often.....

The Week So Far

This week has been a strange one. Hubby has been sick and is trying different medication but we do not know if he is having side effects or what. Daughter came down with an asthma attack-like symptoms further aggravated by when the dog escaped (we got him back). I had a parent teacher conference for the five year old and we are stll dicussing possible ADHD issues. I am torn because I think he is too young for medication especially if we do not know if he is just immature or if he really has it. We have been to the doctor(who wants to wait three months) and the teacher herself has three adult children who have ADD. I went on to say I want to read more about it but she cautioned me not to read too much into it because the books say things such as "most of the prison population is made up of ADD/ADHD."

What?????

I did learn some things from the books from the doctor which mentioned these kids usually do well one on one but once in a situation where there is a lot going on, then they act out. I always thought these types would be difficult at home as well but I guess that is not the case. I also learned the medication is like what glasses are to a person, it helps the person to focus.

There was some good news to report...he has improved since the beginning of the year and is doing really well in some areas such as knowing all the letters, upper and lower case and also knowing the sounds each make which she said will be great when he starts to learn to read. So, we continue on and do more research and do what we can to help him.

This week will end much like a soap opera....will Mimi have fun at the wedding dressed in chocolate and periwinkle and not break her ankle? What logo will make it in Dr. John's blog? Will the heat return to Quilldancer's classroom?

Tune in next time....

Does CLUE Equal Crime?

Recently in the news there was a report that violent crime is up across the country. One guy said it was because of the generation that grew up on violent video games. I do not know if this is true but just because I did not grow up playing violent video games does not mean these games did not exist.

For instance, my favorite game to play growing up was called CLUE. Today it would be considered a violent game but then it was a 'mystery game'....ooooooohhhhh. But it definitely contained violence. You had to try to 'solve the mystery'of who killed somebody in what room with what device. For instance, it could be Col. Mustard used a rope in the billiard room or Mrs. White used a candlestick in the ballroom or perhaps it was the beautiful Miss Scarlet who used a knife in the conservatory.

This was my favorite game and we played it often in our house. As far as I know, I have not killed anyone. Now excuse me while I go clean up the blood in the library.

Buying in Bulk

My husband is so funny. Because I do not drive, he has to do the the shopping. Every once in awhile, he stops in at Sam's to buy things in bulk. Most of the time, we think this is a great idea but every once in awhile we buy something in bulk and five years later, we are still trying to use it up.

For instance, a couple years ago hubby went on the Atkins and was eating a lot of soups and desserts so we were always running low on spoons. He came home with a GIANT box of spoons and we are still using them. I have tried everything to get this box emptied....sending a bunch to hubby's work for their Wed. lunch, using them for mixing paint, taking a bunch and tnrowing them up in the air to see where they land but they are still here. I think they are multiplying.

Yesterday, I asked him to pick up some ziploc sand. bags because my son takes a lunch to school. He came home with a bulk box, inside were five boxes of 100 bags. By my calculations, we will have these bags until my son goes to college. But, we will never have to purchase them again!

He did buy some other stuff in bulk which we will defintely use up in a month....Nyquil for me, diet drinks (again for me), fruit roll ups, juicy juice and cereal.

Well, time to go clear a space for the ziploc bags right next to the spoons....this could take awhile....do not know when I'll be back.

The Alphabet

I have nothing to post so I am going to write the first thing that pops into my head for each letter of the alphabet. Any shrinks out here, feel free to leave your professional opinion but I already know I need help.

A - Answer - I thought I knew a lot but I hardly know anything
B - Beautiful (nickname my husband calls me)
C - Cinderella - my favorite story as a child.
D - Dog (favorite animal)
E - Evolution - it was the first thing that popped into my head
F - Freedom (for all our soldiers)
G - God
H - Hello
I - Illusion
J - Jumping bean - what I call my son
K - Kaliedascope (sp?)
L - Love
M - Money - I wish I had more but it is not the answer to happiness.
N - Nap
0 - Onamotapia (sp?) one of my favorite words
P - Patience - I wish I had more of it
Q - Quilldancer-represents all teachers who are underpaid and unappreciated.
R - Ranting and/or Raving - I am always doing one or the other
S - SHHHARRRKKKKK!! Run, people, run!!!!
T - Today - do something today rather than tomorrow
U - Ugly - I wish we did not have this word in our vocabulary
V - Velvet - one of my favorite materials.
X - Xceptional - not spelled right but I am not picky
Y - Yams because my daughter loves them
Z - zip because I told my son today to "zip his lip" when his teacher is talking,

Have a good one!

An Awesome Day

After a rather drab week. it ends rather well. We have my son's kindergarten teacher send home daily notes and today his note said he had "An Awesome Day!' so we went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate....on a Friday night, too! It was pretty painless...we sat in a booth by the door where we could still see the kids but away from the stage and the noise.

Hubby and I had a nice chat where we discussed what we were going to spend the gifts card we got for Christmas. We both decided we could get what we wanted at Best Buy so we headed over there after the kids were done playing.

I have not been out of the house since last Sunday for church and have not bought anything for myself in two months at least (make that three). I spent my card on the second season of Nip/Tuck. I would never buy this with our own money. We started watching it this year and I wanted to see how it was before so I got the first season for Christmas and we just got done watching it so I was ready for the second season.

Hubby got a new boombox for his office.

I started on the treadmill today....did not get very far but it was a start. I am keeping Quilldancer in my thoughts picturing her working out and being dedicated to her workouts.

Yesterday I took down most of the outside lights, the tree is ready to go outside and all the other decorations are put away until next year. So I did accomplish something this week.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Love is in the air!

According to the note the teacher sent home for the five year old, love is in the air. All the kids got assigned new tables and he is sitting at a table with a little girl and apparently they cannot concentrate on their work. His teacher said she is giving them two more days to work it out otherwise she will have to move one to a different table.

On another note, the other day we were at home talking about President Ford. My daughter asked if he was a good president and I said, I thought so but she should ask her dad. The son says, "Dad was the President?"

ha ha....

What Year Was It?

I never got into resolutions because I do not think of things that happened "in the year of...." or "this year I am going to...."

I always think of things in terms of where I was or what was going on in my life. For instance, I was in high school when Reagan was shot, I was in a restaurant when O.J. was in his white bronco trying to get away. I can't tell you what year it was, but I can say I was at work when the Oklahoma bombing occurred, at a friend's house when the Challenger exploded or at home sick when I heard about the death of a friend of the family.

Sometimes, I think of things in terms of when we were living at the other house or in the house we are in now. I stopped driving when we were living at the other house. Or, I was still working so that must have been when we were at the other house.

THen there are the memories that are connected to the ages of my kids. I cannot tell you what year the Packers won the Super Bowl, but my daughter was 18 months old. She was four when we went to Disney World and she was five when we moved to the new house so she could go to a better school.(This means we were at the other house when we won the Super Bowl and went to Orlando).

Same thing with my son, he was a baby when I bought the new dining room set, was four months old sleeping in my arms as I watched the towers fall on 9/11, six months old when my husband was one of thousands laid off due to the company going into bankruptcy, and he was just over a year when my father-in-law was in the hospital for five long months. I remember it was during the fall and over the holidays but I do not know what year it was when it happened.

Things happen when they happen whether we like it or not, whether we are ready or not so the year does not seem to matter in my life.

Now after saying all that , I just remembered my previous post where I started out saying "New Year's Eve 1992". Ughhhhhh....can't I get anything right?????

Have a good day, people!