I Ditched NaBloPoMo & Took An Unexpected Break

I am so not good with traveling and blogging.

I don't know how you all do it, expecially when you have little ones to tend to while on vacation. My little ones wanted to stay on the go Go GO.

 

It didn't help that I had caught a pneumonia/sinusitis bug the day before we got on the plane.

We were there for about a week and I enjoyed myself in the midst of my phlegm-hacking and nose-blowing (gross, sorry). 

When we got back I thought I would just take my over-the-counter expectorants and fever reducing meds so that I would be healthier and refreshed for the coming week but, my little illness really showed me.

 

Annnnnddddd, my husband had to go out of town for the WHOLE week for one of his projects.

That was last week.

 

At the end of last week when I realized that the boogeyman living in my nose and chest for 2 weeks wasn't going away, I went to the doctor and was prescribed 2 different forms of medicine for pneumonia and sinusitis.

 

Before finally going to the doctor, I figured I may have had 'walking pneumonia' because my chest and lungs physically hurt for several day with a fever to follow a few days after.

The kids at my boys' little MDO school just cough and cough without covering their mouths and wipe their snotty noses on their hands. Yuck. Last year, when RSV (the absolute worst virus for toddlers!) was shuffling around their MDO school, they were tested for walking pneumonia and strep throat before being diagnosed with RSV.

 

Just writing this is making me think about taking them out of that little MDO school until February, the end of nasty-airborne-virus-amongst-kids season.

And by the way, my oldest coughs into his elbow and wipes his nose with his shirt. He was even complimented by his teacher for it.....not the shirt part, lol.

 

Anywho....

My prescribed anitbiotics had the side effects of drowsiness and dizziness, so since taking them for the past 5 days, I've allowed myself as much sleep rest as possible.

What did my kids do while I rested you ask [this stay at home mommy]?

Sigh. Unfortunately they were snapped on pretty often, then ignored, but also fed all 3 meals.

Hey....at least they were fed.

 

There wasn't much....oh who am I kidding, there wasn't ANY learning, singing or anything going on. There was a lot of quiet time, tv watching and shushing with "Sorry honey Mommy's sick."

My poor kids.

 

They haven't seen any of their favorite shows since, haha. We're back on the go.

 

Oh and I also let them make a complete mess of their toys and my room.

Since my hubby was gone for the whole week, I never cleaned up.

 

But I did disinfect. {smile}

 

 Guess I should start taking all of the immune building supplements I give my boys. Duh.

 

 

 

But....I missed you guys and reading your blogs! I have to catch up on them like homework.

 

I'm going to be bombarding you with posts and bombarding your blogs with comments!

 

Hope you all are well and healthy!!!!!

I have had all kinds of intentions on blogging more once my son was out of his part-time preschool, but I just haven't been able to. Its going to be harder for me to get the free time I got when he was at school for those few hours a couple times a week, but I guess that means I need to start re-organizing my days.

Sometimes, I don't have anything to write. And then sometimes, I have something I want to share and then by the time I get a free moment [to blog], I have completely forgotten.

I'm sure some of you can relate......right?

Social Media Changes Suck

In life, the only thing constant is change.....

......but at least can the social media apps stay the same?!?

Sheesh! I can't find anything!

I've been a bit neglectful to my blog and all forms of social media.....still trying to stay somewhat active when I can, but apPAAAAREntly not enough because I really don't know where anything is.
Annnndddd, I've got to find a replacement for Picnik, wahhh!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whether you're single or boo'd up, ha ha, enjoy today with your sweetie and/or something sweet!
We don't really do much around this way but we did have a cute little date over the weekend.
Now, we won't have to be caught in the jam-packed restaurants with all the other couples.
We're so low-key now......babies do that. :-)

Let them eat cake! ;-)

Actually, I plan to have my favorite ice cream from my favorite spot. I've waited so patiently for it!

Its Been Forever!

Oh my goodness its been forever since I've blogged or read any blogs!

We found an awesome house and are moving at the end of this month. That means all of our "free" time has been filled with packing and showings for the place that we are living in now.
That part is the worst part about it.

Before our showings started, my boys came down with a serious case of RSV, respiratory syncytial virus.

This pretty much lasted three weeks.

My 2-year old got it at the end of January and my 1-year old got it that following week.

During those three weeks, they had fevers of 103 and 101 degrees and did breathing treatments all day everyday.

Since I am at home with the boys, I got it too. Bleh. I didn't have any fevers but some respiratory yuckiness instead. We have pretty much been RSV-free for a week and a half now.

Anyway, I am so excited about our move that I wish the 28th would hurry up and get here already! Well, since my kiddos are still sleep....for now....I think I'll catch up on blogs. Can't wait to read about your world!

Life Update

Well, we had a good holiday. No in-laws/out-laws drama. There were only one or two comments that annoyed me but all in all we had successful visits. My boys had fun EVERYwhere we went......which makes me miss "home" and being around family and dear friends. But for now, our home is in Tey-haas.

Anyway, thanks so much for everyone's lovely comments and thoughts and prayers! I didn't have real access and time to blog while we were out of town, so I couldn't respond back but I surely do appreciate the wonderful messages left. I think it helped give me a mental hmph to "fake til I made it" ha ha!


{More Randomness}
 - Our dear friends had their son on Christmas....which happens to be my oldest boy's birthday! How ironic is that?!? Two friends with boys born on Jesus' birthday. I'm still shocked!

- I got micro braids a week or more before we left to go home and took them out this past weekend. They were in for a total of 3 weeks and 2 days. I shouldn't have gotten them in the first place, but I was having HAIRCUT-ACCEPTANCE issues. Seriously.....what was I thinking???

-My oldest boy has been talking up a storm lately. Its usually clear words in the middle of gibberish-filled sentences.

-Literally a few days before Christmas, our camera broke, so we didn't take any pictures our whole holiday except for with our phone.....but our friends and family took some, so we still have it documented! We just bought a new camera this past Saturday, woo hoo! But really......2.5 weeks without a camera (on Christmas and New Year's Day) is NO BUENO!

-We got back from our trip on the 28th and did nothing but take out their toys cars, remote control cars and airplanes and play, Play, PLAY!!! My hubby took off a week and a half from work and now we are FINALLY back into our normal groove.

If we go home next year for Christmas, I think it should just be over an extended weekend period. That 'one whole week' stuff is just too long and besides there's nothing like being in your OWN house. Its a lot easier to get back into your normal routine from a holiday or vacation when it doesn't include traveling.

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day! Any random things take place for you over the holiday weeks?

One of Those Weeks.... & Halloween Costume Ideas???

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are so busy that you have NO time for anything? Yes...no? Well, I have ---- this past week and maybe a couple weeks before this last one, I literally have been busy all day and every day. I don't even know with what because I haven't done any fall cleaning nor early Christmas shopping. Its just been one of those weeks.

Tomorrow, my tot's preschool will have a mini costume parade and I'm going to volunteer for that. I 'm soooo excited! These little tots are sooo cute, even with all the extra work, stress and patience they cause. Right now, I'm in the stage of more unnecessary and ridiculous tantrums and being told "no" a lot. Sigh....is all that I do. I think I may start drinking a glass of wine every night and

Sidenote: in my down time, I catch up on my guilty pleasure shows....so though I'm busy, I still get my laughs in.

Halloween Costume Ideas????

So for Halloween, we're dressing our boys up as little puppy dogs! The costume suits are really cute...but now my husband and I don't know what to be. He wanted to dress like a bag of dog food, but I really don't know what to dress as. I'll come up with something I guess.

What are you guys going to be for Halloween? Are you dressing as a family or having your own separate costumes?

Bizzzzzy bizzzzy me!

I've been sooooo busy, that I haven't had time for anything! Goodness!

My hubby has a project, that he is the lead contractor on, that's located 3 hours away, so sometimes he stays the night where the construction site is.

That means I'm entertaining, yanking and feeding my two tots....by myself all day and night.

It is a lot of work and the time I do wind it down, I'm catching up on my DVR'd shows.

Whew!

I have so many blogs to catch up on, but hopefully I'll be able to do so tonight when he gets back.....but then he'll go back out of town again tomorrow. :-(

Talk about stressful......two babies under two....and not twins!

Fall Crawl Updates!

I hope someone has gotten "crafty" or tried or added a new recipe from these inspirational fall season diy - do it yourself - projects! I know I have and will be posting my easy to do craft tomorrow.

I've been extremely busy the past few days with pre-school pictures, mom group playdates and making a collage for my son's preschool class. It was his homework. :-) Annnnddddd, my hubby went to the Monday night football game at the Cowboys stadium. We are NOT Cowboys fans, but we ARE Cowboys Stadium fans! Anyway, that has all kept me very busy entertaining and occupying the time of my 2 tots under 2.

So...back to some Fall Crawl craft/recipe updates:
Monday's visit was to Chez Mukweto. Her fall craft were tres (french = very) cool decorative yarn balls!

They're easy to do, so visit her page for the tutorial!

Tuesday's visit was to Food, Folks and Fun. The recipe up for the day was Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!

This looks like a cool kid's party dessert. Good ideas for moms!

Today's craft takes us to Kim & Lars. They give a step-by-step guide in making your own photo notecards. Click on their name and see for yourself!

Fall Crawl Day 2

My area is a lot more 'vanilla'- meaning plain and boring than I expected. The closest Sally Beauty Supply near me have been out of the salon effects for quite some time and I finally asked if they would ever get any more shipments of the effects in and the store manager said probably not. Boo. They must not be too popular, however she said to check back closer to Halloween. Sooooo since I didn't want to find out how talented I am not by painting on my own zebra stripes (so much for DIY nails), I just decided to rock the crackled look. I tried it and I didn't like it. Hmmm, maybe I should try Ulta for the zebra print. Now, why didn't I think of that when I was there last week?

Today's FALL CRAWL stop today is with Kellie at www.happybabychronicles.com and its a yummy southern Virginian meatloaf recipe. Perfect for the Fall weather. I haven't made a meatloaf in forever so I am gonna be saving this recipe to try it out.
When you stop by, tell who sent ya and jot down the recipe!

Sunday Funday

Well.....only on Sundays





And maybe a few Mondays.




Oh and damn those Thursday games.




At least he's not married to college football too!

Identity Crisis much? Lol

Ok, so I think I've played around with the look of my blog enough. Ha ha. I'm having identity crisis issues....nah, I just get bored quickly I guess. Not to mention, when I was working, I did a lot of computer design....well CAD - computer aided design - so I guess I'm missing that type of work. Anyway, the hubby did great this weekend with football watching and fantasy football stuff. It didn't get too crazy in the house. He remembered where he was all day...which was NOT at any stadiums...but at home. I say all in all it was a good Sunday, aside from remembering 9-11-01. Everytime I think about 9-11, I remember the shock and try not to cry....though that can be hard.

This weekend, the hubby had a surprise for me, which I was not excited about at all. Luckily it turned out to be all that I needed. An hour long massage with the best masseuse known to man. I left there and felt so weird, because I didn't have any more tightness in my shoulders or back. She was a smooth $70, so I'm not sure how often I will be going to her....but I will be going back (I'm thinking every couple of months). I recommend everyone get a professional massage more often when feeling stressed. IT REALLY DOES HELP! My boothang's awesome. :-)

I also looked at some youtube videos and watch Meechy Monroe's video on her gorgeous, signature twist out. I tried it....didn't use the right product for holding and had another HAIR FAIL. I may try it again tomorrow or try a different style.

Vacation Over...Back to Reality

For the past week, we {the hubs and kids and I} went to the Carolinas for a family vacation. I didn't have too much access to computers because our time was taken up by family, waves and sand.

I learned some things while on vacay and most importantly enjoyed some awesome seafood! So upset I forgot to take pictures of my delicious crab, rockefeller oysters and coconut-crusted grouper, but....eh well. It was delicious! Oh and I got to load up on Trader Joe's conditioners! Today, we decompress and tomorrow will be back to normal.

Have you had your summer vacation yet? If so, did eat some good food or do anything out of the ordinary?

My Newest Guilty Pleasure.....

So, we all know cell phone games can be totally addictive! My old games of choice were Dominoes and Hearts, but that's because I'm a cards player....well a Bid Whist player mainly, but I can wreck a little shop and perform lockouts on dominoes if I need to. :-)

Anyway, I decided to try a new game recommended by the hubs....Mouse Trap. Its completely addictive though. The object is to move the blocks in a way so that you are able to move the mouse straight out. The mouse only goes forward and back not up and down. The blocks that are longer horizontally, ONLY move horizontally and the blocks that are longer vertically, ONLY move vertically. This makes it very difficult. At the top, is the game's suggested # of moves and time in seconds that it takes to solve the solution. For example, 12 moves in 00:12s. I can get that down in just under 00:30s. Right now, I'm stuck on board 2-58 (44 moves in 00:44s and I'm at 10+min) and I reFUSE to watch the solution. Soooo, I guess I'll remain stuck for a while. I don't wanna have the hubby solve it for me either (slightly competitive much? lol).

 

 

 



What is your favorite cell phone game?

And the winner is.....

Boston Rob from Survivor - Redemption Island

Ok I must admit, this is my very first season watching Survivor and I think the hubs and I are hooked. The season was pretty good but did 'Boston' Rob really just mentally bully the crap out of everyone?!? I mean, no one used their own brain at all. Except for maybe craaaaazy Phillip, but he was toooo crazy, lol. The most annoying person ever on this season to me was Natalie. She didn't do anything, didn't win anything and acted like Rob's puppet. Everything she did, she ran it by Rob or just never ever voiced her own opinion. Wtf?!? On the reunion special, she basically said she didn't care what people thought and at least she made it to the final three. I agree in part because she shouldn't care what people think, but what did SHE think of herself after watching the season? At 19, I wasn't that gullible and naive and I don't know any other friends of mine that were to that extent. Let's be honest here, this competition was about winning money, so making it to the final 3 doesn't mean anything if you aren't the final 1!

If Phillip had ANY sense, he would've apologized to everyone he offended and said that he strategically wanted to be the villain because everyone would want to take him to the end with the assumption of him, the villain, losing. He could've talked himself into winning more votes, but his never failing crazy side stepped in and told someone "The hell with you!" and another person "Well, don't vote for me then!" Lol....uh what? <sarcasm> Way to try and win the money Phillip, way to go!

Rob kicked everyone's hiney mentally and deserved to win the million $! Its just a shame everyone assumed Rob would go to the finals and played submissively to him instead of having enough courage and [common] sense to blindside him, vote him out and make it more of an individually thinking game.

Can't wait for next season of Redemption Island!

:-)

Dog-Sitting

Getting Dog-gone Played.....

So this is or was my first baby, I mean dog. I got him at the beginning of my super-senior year in college. FYI...a super senior year in college is your last year past the standard 4-yr mark. My duration was five years, thanks to my engineering curriculum and....*cough* partying.

Anywho, he is now 6 years old and no longer MY dog. Having two babies, back-to-back, does a wonder on your body AND your nerves. He is actually the best dog I could have ever asked and prayed for....but he is NEEEDDDDDYYYYY! I mean, sure I kinda helped him get that way, but he was born with a high maintenance personality. Fetch was never in his vocabulary, lol.

So, we move to another state, while preggo, and his constant whining and desire to be petted (which used to be cute) was wearing itself out quickly. Being a newbie SAHM, singing songs and having one-sided conversations all day is more tiresome than plugging math formlas! Fast forward a few months...boy #2 is born and all dog walking has vanished. He was clearly just as fed up from going from the center of attention to being nonexistent, as we were with his whining.  Sooooo, we found a buyer for him on craigslist and we sold him. :-(
For a few months, I was really torn up about it. His new owner kept in touch by sending pictures and updates, which was really nice. Then, last week, the new owner had an emergency and asked us to keep him for awhile. Since we missed him, we were like "Sure!" Well, now its been a week and a couple days and he gots ta go!!!! He's still sweet, but spoiled and probably moreso now! He follows you and stares at you in your eyes until you move and then when you do, he jumps up like he's going on a walk. Uh....did I mention that I had TWO babies?!? Stroller-walking is far different from dog-walking and stopping to pick up dog poop with a plastic bag every few steps. And no, you cannot sit on my lap with the baby. Cute...kinda, but no. 

Me to the dog: "Play with the oldest!"


The new owner was worried we wouldn't give him back, but now we're worried he won't come and take him back! Lol. Oh, did I mention he didn't give us any dog food and we had to buy a bag for the week? And he actually sort of was expecting us to make a 40 min. drive to drop him off like we did to pick him up?
As the week went by I said, "Yeah, we definitely got played.....'dog'-gone played!"