Happy NEW YEAR!!!!

Hope your year was a wonderful as mine. We had our downs but much to be thankful for. Our business did so much better than we could ever have imagined. We are all together healthy and happy!

Josh got me a Thomas Kinkade print for Christmas and it was a gate opening into a garden. This a year of God opening his gates into many different blessings. (Funny because we heard that the prophecy about open gates is a big prophecy for churches in 2008...see Elijah's list for more about that).

HAPPY NEW YEAR MY DEAR BLOG FRIENDS!!!

Back to it!

I have been sick since Christmas Eve, and with getting the gifts uncluttered and finding homes for them, and playing with the the kids and showing them how to use all their new stuff, I haven't had much time to blog.

But what a better way to come back that with a Year in review Flaunt it Friday!

The year started off in JANUARY with Josh traveling a lot back and forth to Indiana to work on a huge job. We tagged along once for the weekend, and it was no fun being cooped up inside a small hotel room with 2 kids. Josh turned 29. While he was gone we had many play dates to keep us busy. At Ethan's eye Dr appt we were told his eye is doing better and he will no longer have to patch daily.

FEBRUARY brought us a new Nintendo Wii for a family Valentines Day gift. One Sunday, unknowingly our blog friend Drea dropped into visit our church, she was recognized as the famous blogging Drea and we introduced ourselves. She came back to visit us and we went to
JoAnn to get sling making material and have a nice lunch at Panera and afterwards a time to play at a friends house. Josh was still traveling back and forth to Indian a lot.

My birthday is MARCH 4th and I turned 26. We also went rollerskating with Merci's school. This is the first time any of us roller skated (or roller bladed) since Josh's horrible accident a few years ago.

APRIL brought Spring break for Merci and we decided to go back to Indiana with Josh. We brought my car this time so we could do some sightseeing. We ventured to the Indiana zoo and met the sweetest walrus ever. We also went to the 4 floor Childrens Museum, which was lots of fun! I guess this was a traveling month for us, because we also went to Pennsylvania to watch my cousins while my Aunt and Uncle went to Puerto Rico...3 boys under 7 means they deserved an nice vacation. It was fun to get to take my kids on their first airplane ride!!!

Finally after almost 7 years my daughter learns to ride a 2 wheeler in MAY. Merci also has her first small solo in the Spring concert. We also took the kids to see Shrek 3 in the theater, Ethan's 1st time to see a movie at the theater and he did great!

JUNE brought the end of 1st grade for Merci and Summer break!!!! My youngest brother also graduates from high school. We go camping for the 1st time without anyone else for Father's Day, it was fun. We also take the ferry to a day trip to Put in Bay. Merci attends her first Vacation Bible School. We are told Ethan needs to wear a patch on his eye daily or use dilating drops.

We got engaged 8 years ago on JULY 4th. Merci Rae turned 7 on July 9th. We go on our family vacation to Michigan and borrow a jet ski to take with us....SO MUCH FUN! We go to Geauga Lake and Merci rides the Double Loop, her first roller coaster. WE let Merci have her friend sleepover...the first sleepover for her. (It was horrible, they were up forever)

Ethan Chase turned 3 on AUGUST 10. Merci started 2nd grade. We find out Merci will need another hernia surgery on her belly button (her first was at 9 months old).

We took the kids to Cedar Point for the first time in SEPTEMBER. They were so well behaved, that we stayed later than anyone else we went with (no one else had kids). Merci rode the Magnum and Millennium Force. (2 of the biggest, fastest roller coaters there). We did lots of fun Summer activities as well.

Merci had her hernia surgery in OCTOBER. October 5 we go to the beach, because we had a record breaking 87 degree day in October (VERY unusual for here), Josh starts the biggest job of his career at a well known church in our area, we also went to the circus.

I give in and tell my husband to go buy the XBOX 360 that he really wants...he deserves it. Ethan's eye isn't getting better, so we need to be aggressive in treatment, dilating drops to his good eye, so his bad eye will work harder, DAILY. NOVEMBER also brings our 7th anniversary, and a weekend trip to Hocking Hills.

The last month of the year, DECEMBER, brings lots of shopping=) We need to fix our tub surround and end up ripping out the walls and tiling the tub surround (you haven;t heard much about this because it has been stressful, the tiling is done and we can finally shower in our bathroom and NOT the icky shower stall in the basement. I also get my iphone=)!!!

We all got spoiled

My kids got so much stuff, I don't even think I could list it all. They were very Thankful for all of it, and had good attitudes all day. I was very proud of them.

I got so much stuff, I kinda felt bad.

My husband spoiled me rotten and surprised me big time...are you ready...I got a Carrie Underwood CD, Rush Hour 3 dvd (I love Jackie Chan), I got a beautifully framed Thomas Kinkade painting, slippers, digital photo frame...and drum roll please....an iphone!!!!!!!!!!
My aunt had on when she was in for Thanksgiving and I had so much fun playing around with it, I whined that I wanted one, but not seriously. He said I could return it for a laptop, but I wanted the iphone, it is so fun, and I can e-mail and blog anywhere I want! How much more could I ask for??

So what did you get?

PS...we never spend this much money on one another, but with Josh starting his own business, we have kinda spoiled each other the past month.

It;s here!

Merry Christmas!!!!

My hubby did a great job, will tell ya the details later!

Christmas Fun

Today we went downtown to see



The Toy Soldier, Bruce the talking Spruce Christmas tree and the Fairy Godmother.

It was a fun time with the kids and my cousins.

It was so fun to see the kids getting along and having fun, it made me realize how much they are missing out by not having any cousins.



Gavin (5) and Merci (7)

The Toy Soldier is a family tradition, since Merci was a baby.
We do it for the kids, but mostly my Grandma who loves to go see him.


Merci, Ethan, Nanny, Gavin, My Uncle Marty, Spencer

He dances and takes pictures with the kids and it is just such a fun thing to experience.


I know I posted pics and the whole story last year, but I know I have new readers, and besides It is good to document our memories.

Here is the sideways video:

4 Real

I am truly finished shopping now=)
Got that darn webkinz, and kinda funny, 10 minutes after we got home the neighbors called to see if they could come over, needless to say the gift got thrown into a gift bag! Can't wrap every gift pretty!

We celebrated Christmas with y husbands family this morning.
It was so nice not to have to rush around to other places etc.
We took our time and enjoyed our time there.

It was so much fun watching the kids open their gifts.
Ethan is very expressive, so it makes things so much fun.

Ethan got lots of Spiderman toys and a transformer, and Merci got Polly's, High School Musical cd, makeup stuff and a new purse.

They loved every gift=)

It made me really excited for Christmas to get here.
Tomorrow we go downtown to enjoy some winter festivities with cousins from out of town.
Picture to come sometime next week.

Oh, one more thing. Let me vent.
I ordered a Fm transmitter (for Josh's ipod) off Ebay....the auction ended the 15th.
They said Priority mail (which is 2-3 days)...yep, NOT here.
I hope the post office is open on Christmas Eve, and that shipment BETTER get here, or I will be really PISSED.
I already realized a gift I got my brother won't be here until after Christmas, but I didn't realize it was shipping from another country, so that was my fault.

Oh yeah...we were driving on the east side a few weeks ago and saw a church that was named
4 Real Church. How ghetto is that???
But it made for a fun title to my post, anyway!

Done!!!!!

I guess I can say that I am officially done Christmas shopping. I was hoping to be able to say that weeks ago, but....it just didn't happen. I am going to try my hardest not to step foot in another store until after Christmas (unless it is necessary for groceries etc)! I will try my hardest NOT to buy anything for anyone else. Crap, I take that back, I still have to get Merci's friend a Webkinz, the little girl down the street always gets Merci something (usually really nice, so I get her a little something), just forgot, that I haven't done that.

So I guess the reason for this post was to say I was done, and I have now realized I am NOT=(
So BYE!

NYC

If you are planning on moving call mover NYC.
Don't stress, just give them a call and they can come and help you out!
We are lucky that we have som any friends and never had any problem moving.
Just buy the guys some pizza and they are here, it is that easy.
We are actually going to Dayton in January to help our friends move into their beautiful new home!!!
It is nice to have friends, and it been nicer that we have trucks to move with.
And I am not sure how I feel about strangers coming into my house and packing all my stuff, that makes me a little nervous. I think I will stick to packing and moving all by myself, if we ever move, that is.

What??

So when I checked my assignments I saw
Audemars Piguet and had no idea what it was, so when I looked it up I found that it is a brand of watches. Really, really expensive watches. More than a car watches. But I guess they are pretty nice looking.
If you are in the market to buy a 30K watch than check out this site, other wise march your butt to your local Walmart. That is what I would do!
Someday I hope to be able to have that kind of money, not sure I would spend it on a watch, but hey, whatever floats your boat!

::Pretty::

Just recently I have started wearing jewelry again. I stopped wearing it when I had young kids, because if you are a mom, you know that it will get pulled on chewed on an d eventually broken.
I pretty much just like necklaces. Bracelets, sometimes. And I rarely change my earrings, I prefer little studs...I have tiny ears.

I am liking that costume jewelry is in now, because it is pretty cheap! I like cheap! And I like that if it gets lost or broken I don;t have to get bent out of shape over it.

Oh, and hubby...really I don't mind nice, real jewelry for Christmas...I really don't;)

Families

Does your family have life insurance? We have a very small life insurance that we get for really cheap through our bank. But other than that we won't take out a huge insurance policy. I am sure you have heard my rants about how screwed up I think insurance companies are, so I won't go there. And since my husband has survived not 1 but 3 pretty deadly accidents, I think Gos will be keeping him around a long time.

Get your family insurance before you might regret it or if you don't think you need it that is up to you also.

Here again

So here I am, finding time to blog a bit even though I said I wouldn't.

I am still in my PJ's...for some reason if I don;t get up and get going I get more done...does that make sense?? I feel like if I stop to shower, I won't want to clean, I will want to go somewhere.
I do have a few some where's to go, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Today was Merci's first day of Christmas break! It has been going well.
We watched my friend Bek's 2 boys so she could finish her shopping (she watched mine on Monday!) They kids played really well, over an hour they all played play-doh together. I got to do some laundry and make cookies all while watching 2 extra kids!

We started to rearrange Merci's room, but had to take a break since we were being too noisy for E to fall asleep. Here we are down here and E is still not sleeping....RRRRR.

He is at that age of kinda not needing a nap everyday, only some days, and it is so hard to get him to nap that it might not even be worth it, but then again I REALLY need a break from kids, ya know?? Not sure what to do there (did I mention, he will go to sleep perfectly fine for Josh).

Anyway...I guess this is a boring post. But trying to keep myself busy.

Wordless Wednesday

Here are a few pics of the kids from a photo shoot I did of them in November.







I LOVE the faces!
Merci-a look of satisfaction
Ethan-a look of being annoyed by his big sis!


I sent this with our Christmas cards!

Update

Just a little update: I am still here! It feels like I haven't had a chance to sit at the computer for more than 5 minutes lately. I check my bloglines to see if my favorites have posted, I check my e-mail and I check the weather, then I am running around cleaning the disaterous home mine has turned into or finishing the odds and ends of Christmas shopping, and shopping for my MIL who injured here foot....AHHH. I think I may have a quiet few days. I still have to get my dad something and a few more groceries for the holiday meals, but other than that not much.

Not sure if I will be around until after Christmas, so if not Merry Christmas=)

My tree and another visitor!

Finally here are some pics of my Snowflake tree!

Some of my favorite snowflakes up close!
(I love, love, love the fuzzy ones!)

Some more up close snowflakes
(I made the glass one with the snow in the bottom and hanging snowflake this year!)

And, not only 2 extra guys living in our home, but my niece Callie is staying with us this weekend also. Isn't she adorable??

A Christmas MEME

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, has to be pretty!

2. Real tree or artificial? Real, you can't beat the smell, but I do think we will invest in an artificial this year(when they are on sale!) , for many reasons

3. When do you put up the tree? Mid December

4. When do you take the tree down? After new years

5. Do you like egg nog? Not sure

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A doll house

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No, but I really need to get one, we have a stocking holder nativity thing, and the hook fell off so I use it as a decoration.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad

9. Easiest person to buy for? The kids

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Don't think I ever had one that bad

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppets Christmas Carol

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I started in OCT this year, YEAH ME! Usually not so early

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yep

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? White!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Little drummer boy, or I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (just because Merci loves it and knows every word, and I love to hear her sing it!)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? I think so.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both, we have a party for my dads side of the family that night, we open ours as a family on Christmas morning...EARLY!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The people who steal and cheat t get money, I wish everyone had money so they wouldn't have to turn to this.

23. Favorite ornament, theme or color? Snow flakes!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham and cheesy taotes=)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nativity scene, bathroom towels, and something hubby thinks of and picks out all by himself.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Wendy

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? Angela

DONE!!!!!!!!!

I am officially done with this semester (it was a hard one!)

I will be around a lot more, I am sure.
I have posts that I have been wanting to do, that are just swimming around in my head, waiting to be published=)

You still haven't seen my beautiful, snowflake Christmas tree!
(The tree is still kinda funky, but I made it look the best I could).

So I will be back soon for a real post.

Green

Green is my favorite color, but when you here going "green" it doesn't mean anything about color, except that they are trying to keep our earth alive.

I love all the new environmental products there are to choose from to help us live a more efficient life in all aspects of living.



Greenandmore.com offers many environmentally friendly products, they also have a great blog (http://www.greenmusings.com/) where the public and employees can share stories and picture of their eco friendly living.

The have a toll free number to help you with product advice, they have been around for about 10 years and their motto is caring for tomorrows world.

I love it.

I do like to do a few simple things, like recycle to help our planet.
I think we all need o take part in preserving the earth we live on, or else it won't be here for our kids and grandchildren.

Do your part! It is easy, simply check out this site to learn a little more about preserving what we have now.
They also have some great ECO friendly holiday gift ideas.

They have many categories of products, take a look!

Fun Boots

I love that big fuzzy boots are in style!
I love my boots that I just got, they are so fun, comfy and warm.
I got a cheap brand but these sheepskin boots would be much better at keeping my feet warm!
If you don't have any fuzzy boots you should get some, they are so comfortable.
Once I put mine on I really don't want to take them off because then my feet would be cold!
Besides, they look so cute.
Short jean skirt, fun print knee high socks, fuzzy boots, down vest=totally cute!!

reception

Do you find it as annoying as I do when your cell reception isn't what it should be?
Our old apartment was the worst for our cell phone, you had to like stand in the corner of the kitchen on your tiptoes or it wouldn't work. (exaggeration, but you know what I mean.)
With today's technology there are some ways to get around this, but really for all the money we pay, we shouldn't have to deal with bad reception in the first place.
Oh well, guess there isn't much that I can do about it. Good thing I rarely use my cell phone, and don't rely on it as much as some people do.

Innocence

The innocence and simplicity of the child's mind cracks me up!

Today I had a few errands to run with Merci after school (E stayed with daddy).

We had to take some gifts to the local Marine base to donate to Toys for Tots, when we walked in the office, she asked if the soldiers live there, she said there were beds and lockers. ( I was nervous because there a bunch of guys standing around...so I didn't look up, just put the bags down and left.) And as we were walking to the car she saw all the hummers and camo vehicles and said,

"Oh, I guess this must be the place where they fight the wars."

After dropping off the toys we headed to the bank, which is in a strip of stores.
She saw the sign for Hollywood Videos and exclaimed

"Oh, Mommy, can we go to Hollywood...PLEASE"

I explained to her that it was Hollywood video, where you rent videos.
HAHA!

What a goof=)

Going better

Nothing bad to talk about=)

**The bathroom is being worked on (yeah for rain, so hubby can be home)

**I only have 3 more math problems to finish my final=)

**My Christmas tree is decorated and looks much better

**Might get a change to do a bit of Christmas shopping tonight (only 4 more gifts to get!!)

**satisfied my craving for pizza today!

**Entering for a $200 gift certificate to True Jeans
thanks to 5 minutes for Moms giveaway

And this little fun from Autumn

my hair is: up in a messy bun, showered last night at my parents, need to go back later for another.
my nails are: not pretty, most broken some long, need some TLC
my clothes are: black athletic pants with white tank and turquoise long sleeve hooded thermal...jeans will be put on before I leave the house.
my mood is: GOTTA GET STUFF DONE!
my spirit is: hanging in there.
my big To Do is: Finish algebra final
my fitness level is: there is a new ab lounger sitting here in my dining room, waiting for some attention
my worst habit is: avoiding what I know I need to do...me too Aut!
my house looks: a little less chaotic than yesterday
my marriage is: wonderful, no complaints!
my car is: Black 1999 Jeep Cherokee
my children are: cute!
my local weather is: rainy and overcast
my dream destination is: Too beautiful to be real beach.

What about you? (copy and paste to your own blog, then leave me a comment!)

More bad news

I was hoping to have a positive post today, but I can't.

1.) Found out our health coverage is ending Dec 31, we were still getting the kids coverage through the state.

2.) I had to take my old cat to be put to sleep=(

3.) And our bathroom is torn all apart from a supposed to be quick fix.

Pictures to come tomorrow!

I am proclaiming tomorrow to be a GREAT day!

CHAOS

My home has become complete CHAOS.
Since my BIL moved in I had to de-clutter the basement, which was nice and needed to be done, so we have been moving stuff out of the basement into the attic and from the attic to goodwill etc. Somehow there is still stuff everywhere!

Today we had to clean more out of the basement to make room for 2 twin size beds in my back room in the basement (the back room is nicer than the main room in the basement...not sure why, we only rent...don't ask me!) So now the basement is pretty organized and now my dinning/living room is NOT.

And on top of that my Christmas tree is NOT pretty.

What a weekend.
I need the chaos to go BYE BYE.

I did manage to get half of my algebra final done though.
1 good thing=)

Night Night!

So busy

I have been so busy doing this and that.
My head is spinning and I can barely stand still to think, let alone check blogs and update mine. Just wanted to let you know I probably won't be around much for a week or so. I just need to get my home in order and finish my 2 classes, just my finals left (that means an 8 page math test...YUCK).

I told you all that my BIL moved in last week, well since we are just such nice people with a huge (yeah right...being totally sarcastic here) house we will be welcoming 1 more person into our home for awhile, starting Monday, so I basically am forced to de-clutter the basement, and rest of my home for that matter.

Not to mention get ready for Christmas.
(God knew what he was doing when he encouraged me to get my shopping done early! Still have a tiny bit more, but my wonderful friend Bek is switching babysitting days with me so we can shop without our kids...how fun!)
Anyway...hopefully we can get our tree up before Christmas=)
Ans when we do I will show you some pictures of my snowflake tree!!

Ta Ta for now=)

This is what I want!

With an achy body I love to get massages. It can be from my hubby, my kids (yep I taught then how to rub my back!!) or just a few minutes in those chairs they have for demo at stores I just love to get my back...or anything massaged! Who doesn't?

Human Touch has introduced a new model to their line of Massage Chairs.
The new model is the HT 7450 Zero Gravity Massage Chair.
This chair has so many different features, it offers 4 techniques that are used by massage professionals on a regular basis such as Percussion, Rolling, Compression, and Kneading.
Another important feature is that it adjust to each individuals body, thus targeting the correct areas for each person.

Along with this top of the line massage chair human touch offers many other products for any need.
A full line of amazing Massage Chairs and products is available now at www.humantouch.com!

Overwhelmed

by everything I NEED to do. Gotta get out of here. My son is in a horrible stage right now and I don't know how much longer I can deal with it. He goes from sweet to evil in 3 seconds flat. I was reduced to tears today. It is so hard to control my own anger in times like those. I just am at boiling point. I don't know what I can do.

Good thing my Christmas shopping is almost done or no one would be getting gifts.
I am stuck to the house because of him.

Pray for me.

***Updated***

Back so soon, to say I was wrong. I was caught up in stuff that doesn't matter.
Worrying and anxious that I need to do this and that and the next thing..NOW.
I made gingerbread men yesterday. I decorated this morning and place in boxes (that they didn't fit right in...rrr). I put them on the kitchen table, since the counters are stuff full of dirty dishes and stuff I need to do. Ethan was eating lunch (after a 30 minute battle), he got mad and threw the boxes on the floor breaking half the gingerbread men and smudging the not dried frosting making them look not so beautiful=(
Does it matter if I don;t give each of my friends a box of homemade goodies tomorrow night? Nope...all it matters is that I enjoy the time with them. I am stressing over making chocolate covered oreos or pretzels or just molded candies.
What the heck?? Who cares.

Who cares that my house is a mess because I brought all the Christmas decorations down from the attic and they are now all dug through and all over the place.
I have half the mind to put them away and NOT decorate (gasp) I must be turning into a grinch like my husband.

Nope...I just want PEACE.
I want to embrace the season for what is supposed to be about and the reasons it has become about.

I came across an nice daily devotional blog
The message was exactly what I need to hear after the beginning of this post.
Yeah Ethan is stressing me out, but I mostly mad that I don't have time to do all the other stuff.

Lord help me to receive the Peace you have given to me
(John 14:27)

Off to have a better afternoon!

Insurance

Insurance is a touchy subject for me.

Really, I despise it.
Yes it helps us when we are in certain situations, but really it hurts us otherwise.

Josh and I were young when we got married and it was hard enough providing food and a place to live. And on top of that we had to pay car insurance...so you better believe we took time to compare car insurance quotes.

Just a few months ago i had an incident where a rock was thrown and hit my car, the kid ran away, but I was left with a HUGE dent that needed to get fixed if I didn't want a huge rust hole.
Did my car insurance cover that?
Nope
Because it wasn't much more than my deductible.
But why on earth do I need a deductible when I pay outrageous amounts a month and never claim anything. (Can you tell I am getting ticked??)

Good thing we don't own a home and have to worry about
home insurance...yet.

::The Winner::

Thanks to Ethan the winner is:

Flip Flop Mom

So if you can e-mail me your address I will get your gift out to you!

Last Chance

This is your last chance to win a gift from ME!
Leave a comment here or on the other post.

Me and Ethan will draw names in the morning and the present will be sent out tomorrow!

Good Luck!

Wordless Wednesday

A Little Gift for You...HURRY UP

COME ON AND SIGN UP!!
I will be picking a winner on Thursday Morning!!!

I am a gift giver. I love buying gifts for people. I wish I could send, you, my blog friends all a little something for a Christmas gift, but since I can't I decided to prepare a little gift with some goodies and give you a chance to receive a gift from me!

So If you are a regular reader, blog friend, go on and leave a comment!

The contents are a surprise, but I think they are all good gifts, so hopefully you will too.
It is worth about $15 in all.
A little bit of this and a little bit of that.



Please respond by Dec 5th.

***Also if you have kids or kids to buy for on your Christmas list go on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to win a great gift pack from
Parents® Magazine brand
It is a GREAT prize to win!!

Adding 1

Unexpectedly, we have Josh's brother living with us. We were heading that direction, but he moved in last night due to some unforeseen circumstances.

He's got issues, and it will be hard long road to get him back on track.

So please keep us in your prayers and thoughts.
We will need it.

I also wanted to take minute to congratulate myself for making it through NOBLOPOMO!!
Yeah ME!
It was fun.
I will try to keep up, but there will be days I don't post!

Like it

I really like that my daughter has a school uniform at her school. I never thought I would. It is so easy in the morning, she has 5 shirts and 2 pairs of pants, 4 skirts and lots of socks. She picks what she wants and, it matches, it is appropriate and we are all happy.

I have been having a some problems now that it is winter, she only has short sleeve shirts, so I have to find stuff to go under them. I have one long sleeve white shirt and a turtle neck, but she is pretty firm in not wanting to wear the turtleneck (which I can;t really blame her, I hate them too).

So needless to say when I was asked to pick a cool free shirt and do a review on it from Clothing for All, I was so happy to find a mock turtleneck. A white one, in her size! It will keep her warm at school and won't irritate her neck=) A win, win situation.

If you are looking for a specific kind of shirt, check out Clothing for All, they carry many style in every size. Their turn around time was fantastic!

Do you have any of these on your list?

Do you happen to have sunglasses, flashlights, telescopes, or binoculars on your Christmas list? Do you have to buy any of these for a friend or relative?

If you do Optics Planet is the place for you to start looking. They happen to be the leading seller of optics products on the internet. With a huge selection of the above mentioned items plus a whole lot more, and 100% satisfaction guarantee and FREE SHIPPING on order $29.95 or more, you can't go wrong!

They carry top name brands such as Ray-Ban, Nikon, Canon, Pelican, Bushnell and the list goes on.

They carry stuff for anyone who loves astronomy, birdwatching, hunters, outdoors men, or your beloved golfer.

They have a blog you can check out.

They have a Gift Guide
and
a list of reason why you should buy from Optics Planet.

If you have someone you have no idea what to buy for, you may want to check this place out and browse the wide range of items they have to offer.

Have a great time doing your Christmas shopping from the comfort of your home!

OK, I will play

I was tagged first by Victoria and then by Melissa

Instructions: When tagged, you have to link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules just before your list, then list eight random facts about yourself. At the end of your post, you must tag and link to eight other people.

1. My right thumb was ice skated over and I had to have the tendon stitched back together and plastic surgery...but you can still see the scar.
2. I used to love Michael Jordan, I had a life size cut out of him in my room...LOL
3. I dream of being a midwife
4. or and an adoption agent
5. I love snowflake Christmas decorations
6. I love to use coupons
7. My middle name is Rochelle
8. I remember my dad telling me he was going to put his turtle in my bed when I was young, I was scared and remember it until this day.

1.I like the Blue M&M guy
2. I love the movie Fast and the Furious, I always tell my hubby I want to goto CA and join the street racing scene..LOL I want a bright pink car that screams I am a girl and YES I have a sweet car.
3. We recently watch Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift and now I want to learn to drift, it is so sweet!
4. I like Metallica, and I like country music (total opposite I know)
5. I was the first to get married out of my close friends, I was 19
6. I don't like feet, I am very particular about whose feet I like.
7. I still wrestle with my 3 brothers, I can almost kick their butts
8. I want a kitten...SOON.

I am supposed to tag 8 people but I won't, this meme has been going around a lot, if you want to play go ahead and do so, i do like to read other peoples!

How I met my LOVE

I will try to make this short.

Josh and I both attended the same church for a long time. He was 2 years older so I wasn't really in youth group with him, since he rarely came and left before I started coming.
He knew who I was though.

Anyway, he began to come back to church with his friend Chris, who was my friend Shae's cousin/friend.

On my 18th birthday on March 4, 1999, me and Shae were meeting Angela at the mall to pick her up after she got off work. We were headed to dinner to celebrate my big 18.

Well Chris knew Shae was going to the mall, so he came too, and brought Josh along.
When we got to the parking lot they (Josh) were driving a Jeep Wrangler with a snow plow on the front...I though that was hilarious and ridiculous...I still laugh at that...but he worked for a company that plowed driveways in the winter and Jeeps can get into driveways easier so it isn't as stupid as I thought!
Somehow they invited themselves to dinner with us.
I immediatley thought Josh was a cutie (kinda long hair, jeans white shirt and black leather jacket).

I felt like an idiot when I kept having to complain that there was bacon in my food. I was not eating meat at the time (I still don't eat beef, but I do eat pork now).
So I left thinking he thought I was an idiot or something, but it didn't matter because he was cute, but he drove a Jeep with a snow plow=)

We ended up hanging out with Chris and Josh a few more times in the next couple weeks.
I started to have feeling for Josh.

I had Chris's cell phone number which was really Josh's and I didn't know that.
So one day I called and Josh asked why I never talked to him, since this was really his phone.
"UHHH...not sure hot guy because I really like you and not Chris", is what I was thinking.

So I called and talked to Josh a few times.
One day I went over to where they were living and hung out with Chris for the day, and then later Josh came home and Chris was going to go to a club...but I had promised Angela I would wait until she was 18 and we would go to our first club together.
So I ended up hanging out with Josh.

That night we talked and I asked if he would take me to my Prom.
And he sappily replied "Only if yo will go out with me?"
I said YES and we kissed and he replied "That was one hell of a first kiss" AWE!

That was the end of March (24th to be exact), and were joined at the hip ever since.
I then got pregnant at the end of October, Merci was born the following July and we got married in November 2000.

And we have been married for 7 years=)

I know he was the man I was supposed to marry, I love him more every day.
As Josh would say...
"We just fit"

And since I recently posted pics of our wedding I will leave you with
this picture of us while we were dating



and at my graduation!


(I am so thankful to have those memories with him)

Struck Gold

I have this bag I keep in my back laundry room, and when I come across clothing and other odds and end I don't want anymore I add them to that bag. Well I have been meaning to empty that bag and take the stuff to Goodwill for a LONG time.

Well, today, out of nowhere I decided to go through the stuff and put into smaller bags and put them in my trunk. Guess I am just sick of seeing th huge bag sit there.

Awhile back my mother gave me a big bag of stuff and I threw most of it in the Goodwill bag. (Who needs more junk) Today when I was going through the bag I found an old toy of my brothers....a TalkBoy. Do you remember those? From Home Alone 2? I left it out of the donation bags and thought I would look it up on EBay to see if it was selling.

They are...in the last few days there has been 4-5 sell b/w $60 and $115. I am excited to go buy some old school tapes and see if it works!

I love E BAY (sometimes...I actually just broke even on these toys I listed, and I should have made a good money on them...RRRR).

I will be sure to let you know what happens.
You can always check my auctions (the link is on my sidebar also) to see the auction

UPDATE*** The auction is up, it isn't selling for as much this week as last week***

Wordless Wednesday

From our weekend away.
We were at Old Man's Cave.
Josh's hair is fuzzy in the front, because this was after his massage, and his head was down.
His hair looks funny=)
Still a cute picture!

Things are going good here!

Some positive things from our house:

1.) My washer is finally fixed, after a wrong part and piles of laundry, I finally fixed it.
Yep, that said I, as in me, Donna. I picked up the right part, plugged it in screwed it is, and TADA, it is working, a load is in right now!

2.) My Christmas shopping is almost complete (and wrapped) I only have a few more things to get, and I have an excuse...we haven't picked names for one house yet and I am waiting for suggestions from Josh's Aunt.
I also want to grab a few more little things for my hubby, but really if I don't it is no big deal.
I won't tell you how much we have spend on him in the past week
(XBox 360, 4 games, 1 extra controller...well I guess that was for me, it is Pink after all)
**But he does make all the money and did just finish the biggest job of his career, so he definitely deserves it**

3.) I finished a math assignment and a quiz today, since Ethan actually went to nap on time without fight, and slept 2 hours!!!!
Only 3 more assignments and 1 more test and Algebra is officially OVER!!!!!!!

NOW off to figure out what to make for dinner and then off to help decorate our church,
Our pastor is getting married next weekend ( he lost his wife to a car accident 5 years ago).

FINALLY Flaunt it Friday

Yep, that is right, I am finally getting to the Flaunt it Friday task.

It stinks that those photos are from the stone age and I have to go through the trouble of scanning them to post them, what a pain.

And because I had so many wonderful friends and so many good times it would take a year to scan them all in, so forget about it.

My husband and I disagreed on the Hot vs. What the Heck pics, so I will post a few of my favs and you tell me!

So here the are:

Hot Hot Hot!


and

What the heck was I thinking:



So, I am the tomboy right up front sporting the Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket.
I thought if I was a tomboy the guys would like me. Silly me!



Her I am 17 an posing for a picture like this, come on!

This is where the disagreement comes in, my hubby thinks this dress looks horribble on me, I was only16, it was my first dance and I think I pulled it off. I think I look cute.



So it this a HOT HOT HOT picture or a What the Heck was I thinking.
I can take it=)

Sunday

Took Merci bowling today...should have gotten bumpers, for her and us! LOL.

Almost

Almost didn't post today...but I remembered!

Hope you had a good Saturday!

Another Friday

It was Friday, but seemed like a Saturday. Had no schoolwork to do, so I cleaned and then I got to shop without kids and then we went to a family thing at BW 3. Now I am off to bed...I mean to get a nice back massage from hubby. Night Night!

Great Day

We had a great Thanksgiving.
It is nice that the kids are a bit older and it isn't that hard to lug them to 2 different houses.
We got to eat 2 great meals and have fun hanging out with our families.

We didn't get home until 10:30 PM and the kids were really behaving, we did have melt downs when we got home, but that is to be expected.

I hope you all had a wonderful day also=)

And just in case you missed it here is the Thanksgiving picture of my kiddos.

Inevitable

It is inevitable that at one point in time you WILL have to get your car fixed. Car parts wear out and need to be replaced, just like everything else we use on a daily basis.

Why not take your car to AAMCO?
They have some great deals going on for maintenance on your car.

I am so grateful that my husband can fix most things on our cars. it is so nice to not have to pay the inflated prices to get things done on our vehicles. There are times though that is is just worth paying to have regular maintenance done. With owning a business and keeping up a house my hubby has very limited time, so we usually pay someone to do maintenance.

Since I am a coupon freak, you better bet I will find ways to save money on whatever work we do have done on either of our vehicles.

Doesn't a $29.95 Transmission Fluid change sound good? or how about $20 off any bill over $100, or what if your check engine light is on...they will check it for FREE!!

Check the site out and get your coupons now and why not check out
this great promotion they have going on.

But hopefully you won't have to spend much on your car until the holiday season is over.

Gobble, Gobble!

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

_________________________________________________________

Yesterday we went on a little photo shoot around our neighborhood. The kids weren't very cooperative, but I actually did get a few really good ones.
I have been meaning to do this for awhile now, but it gets dark so early and the weather is quite cold, so coordinating good times have been hard.
Merci was off school and the weather was nice, more sun would have been nice but, Oh well.

I was a lucky blogger chosen to review a wonderful fun software, called Frame my Photos.
It comes with hundreds and hundreds of photo frames that you can plug your pictures into.
They have ANY holiday you can think of and more.
You just pick your frame, plug your picture in and there you have it.
You can make a number of custom photo gifts and order right online. How easy is that?

I know this isn't as fancy as digi scrap booking, but if you don't have time for that this is the next best thing!

I created the above card in like 5 minutes, and it even flipped my picture for me, I originally took the picture with Ethan on the Left, but when I plugged it into the card he was kinda cut off. This way it looks so much better...with one click of a button!

I am excited to create my Christmas cards with this software.
I can save my finished product to a jump drive and get it printed right at the store and don;t have to wait for processing. (I always wait to the last minute, so this will be so great!)

Thanks Frame my Photos for giving me this opportunity!
I love your product and look forward to many more hours of creating fun things!

FUN WITH COOKIES

Spiderman Cookies for Ethan

This is what they were supposed to look like...Josh and I both tried...no artists in this house!

We all made these for a Thanksgiving treat=)

Gobble Gobble=)

Life Insurance

Life insurance is something I have a hard time with. Insurance in general is something I have a hard time with, but I won't go there. If your spouse was to die, would you really want the money from the policy. Yeah it would help you pay your bills and for the funeral, but wouldn't you feel just horrible using money from your spouse dying? I would, I would just cry when I was spending it knowing that my hubby was gone. I don;t know maybe I would feel differently if I was in that situation, but I pray that I will never be in it. So if you feel like you need something to fall back on you should probably get a few
term life insurance quotes.

He likes reading it

For some reason my husband loves to put the
closed captioning option on when we watch movies.
He likes to make sure he doesn't miss anything, I guess.
I used to find it really annoying because I would sit there and read along with all of the words, but I guess I have gotten used to it.
We just always turn it on, and it doesn't bother me anymore.

Who likes headaches?

I don't think anyone like having a headache, but many of us suffer from them.
It seems like migraine headaches are more and more common as time goes on.
I used to get headaches often, but I haven't got them very much in the past few years, until recently. Except I think I know what they are from lately, caffeine. I recently started drinking coffee and realized I have been drinking a lot more pop than usual, so I am being careful of what I drink.
There is a new treatment for headaches, Botox for migraines. I would like to read a bit more about it and do a little research to see what the effectiveness is.

Decisions, decisions

When re decorating any room in your house
light fixtures are a major decision.
You have to fond one that matches your decorating theme and then you have to find one in your budget. Light is necessary in every room, so you have to be careful and choose a light fixture that will do the job it is supposed to do.
Our dining room has awful lighting, and we are especially noticing this now that winter is here and it is dark for more hours of the day. I had to move a lamp into the dining room so I could work on my laptop in there. It just doesn't fit in that room, but that is the only option we have right now.

A close look

My grandma has one of those old
makeup mirrors that sits on the counter. When I say make-up mirror I mean one of those mirrors that has one side magnifying and one side that is a regular mirror. She loves it and uses it a lot, but it is kinds falling apart. I think I may look into getting her a nice one for Christmas. You can gt pretty ones that you can leave out on the counter in your bathroom, or they have hand held ones. I just gotta figure out which one she will like better.

What kind do you have?

If you have a Dell computer, I am sure sometime in the future you may need to upgrade your computer. Some people go out and but a new computer every few years, but it is really easy to upgrade parts to make your computer work faster and more efficient. Like Dell Memory, you just add some more memory to your computer,a nd there you have a quicker working computer. Sounds easy huh? It is!

Wordless Wednesday

I haven't killed them yet=)
These geraniums are so beautiful despite the cold weather. Everything else in our yard is drab as they await Winter, but these guys aren't giving up.
They make me smile every time I pull in my driveway.
I know...wordless Wednesday...but I just had to explain.

Icky Pain

I come from a family of so called hypochondriacs. But really we aren't, there IS something new wrong with us every day, and we have the smallest bladders in the world.

My father has played mens softball since I can remember. We would go with him and just hang out at the parks or play in the baseball dirt, which my mother hated. Granted my dad isn't that old, only 44, he has had to already give up his love of playing ball.



My dad is on the Right...sadly this is the only picture I could find of him.

He has a torn rotator cuff which he was advised to fix long ago, but who has time to take 6-8 weeks off of work? My father also has bad knees, bad cartilage, stiff joints the whole shebang. I am almost positive he has had surgery on his knees, or some kind of treatment, because I know there was a time he was wearing a big brace on it.
If you are ever at their house you will most likely hear my dad moaning in pain when he tries to get up from the couch. He isn't housebound because of this or anything but, I know how it feels to be in pain most of the time.

My mom just rolls her eyes when he complains about this pain or that, but ya know what I BELIEVE HIM, because I have it too! I am 26 and have had painful knee problems for 10 years or more. I also randomly have joint pains throughout my body. I guess I have inherited the hypochondriac trait, as my mother calls it.

I think my dad would greatly benefit from using Freeze it
and then my mom could hand it to him every time he whines and tell him to Freeze it!! HAHA=)

Awhile back I got to sample a wonderful product Freeze It Gel. It was so soothing and really helped ease the pain in my knees. I loved it, it lasted a good while and didn't have an overpowering odor as many of the like products do. You won't be disappointed.

Freeze it promises to relieve the pain of Sore muscles, Arthritis and any ankle, knee, hip, elbow joint pains.



Check it out for yourself:

Mashed potatoes

Anyone have a really YUMMY recipe?

I am never impressed with the ones I make.

I have been chosen to make them for Thanksgiving.

Help!

In my family the mashed potatoes are a MUST and if they aren't good I will hear about it.

Friday

Friday we had to leave our house by 2, because we had to check into the cabin right at 5 (weird but...those are the rules at that particular place). We were making god time and would have been there in 2.5 hours instead if 3 but then we hit some traffic, nonetheless we made it right at 5 only to find a note telling us she would be right back...25 minutes later. We were a little annoyed and starving, but we dealt with it.

The picture from a post I posted last week was the back of the cabin, this is the front.

We were impressed, the cabin was very clean and mostly nicer than our home. After we unloaded the car we headed out to find the grocery store, we brought food, but I never made it to the grocery store to get a few ingredients that I needed. When we were there we decided to just buy frozen pizza's and junk food=) and a little bit of wine.

We went back to the cabin to eat and then went to try out the hot tub. I was really scared I would be freezing...but boy did it feel good to be in the middle of the woods, looking up at the stars from the hot tub. Romantic!

Obviously this is the view during the day=)

We then headed to bed early, we were both pretty exhausted and Josh had hurt his back that morning at work=(

Exciting package

When I arrived home Sunday form our weekend getaway I found a package in my mailbox. I know we all like to get packages, but this one was so FUN! I new I would be getting a product to write about I just had no idea what it was. Well, I got 3 things. I got a package of candles that have colored flames, I got a big scented pencil, and I got a little package of "Insta-snow".

VAT 19 has some pretty neat holiday gift ideas like the above mentioned ones aw well as this fun item:USB Powered Desk Lamp.

I don't know about you but I like getting fun, interesting gifts for the people on my list. Between my sibling and my husbands sibling we have 9 to buy for and only 1 is a girl (they are the easy ones!) I know I will be checking out this site for some fun ideas!

The candles were really fun, I had to try them out. The picture didn't turn out well, but you can see that each of the candles has a color to the flame, they are much better in person!

I am really excited to make the "insta snow", I am sure the kids will make a mess of it, but I want to use it in the picture I plan of taking of the kids for our holiday photo cards!

I have heard their ambient dvds are really great also, I wouldn't mind trying out the fireplace one!

So I hope you enjoy VAT 19 and their very great prices for your holiday shopping!

We are HOME

We are back home.
Sad, but life must go on!
Excited to see the kids, not excited to finish my algebra, but that is what I must do...more detail and pictures to come!

THANKS WENDY for being my guest blogger! You are a gem=)

Had to skip it

I was very excited to go horseback riding this weekend, but Josh hurt his back pretty bad at work on Friday morning before we left so we weren't able to keep our reservations.
Saturday when we woke up he could barely stand straight up. I kept laughing and calling him an old man..LOL. Since we were far away from our chiropractor we ended up at a massage therapist. He was able to loosen up Josh's back but it is still not right.

We were both kinda bummed about it but it was OK, we had a wonderful day anyway.

If you know someone who loves to ride horses and needs some horse riding apparel, check out this link!

Happy 7th Anniversary Donna and Josh!!

Hello all!! Wendy here!! Donna is off on a weekend excursion to celebrate 7 wonderful years with her hubby. They are staying in a beautiful cabin without the kiddos...only each other. I am sure they are having a WONDERFUL time! Be sure to leave Donna and Josh some anniversary LOVE while you are here.

Flaunt it Friday

This week we are to reveal our working space.

I have 2 places I work.

My dining room table, where I am mostly so I can keep an eye on the kids, while I do my Algebra and get sidetrack by all of your blogs!



And my basement where I do all of our business stuff, bills, etc. The not fun stuff.
It gets really cold in the winter and I have to wear gloves or keep a space heater right next to me, so I am not down there much.




Both are a mess right now, because I am just a busy woman. School is really keeping me occupied to say the least.

For more Flaunt it Fridays, and to take part, please visit Flaunt it Friday

HINT for the Giveaway:



I am leaving in a few hours for a wonderful weekend with my hubby, so I will have guest blogger (woohoo, my first one!)
You already love her, so check back here tomorrow and make her feel even more special!

I will talk to you all on Sunday night, or Monday.
Don't miss me too much!

Credit Card Debt?

Hopefully you don't suffer from credit card debt, but lets face it, many of us do.
And Tis the season for racking up credit card debt.
We don't use credit cards. When we first got married we had a lot of bad a
Credit
so we weren't able to get approved fro any credit card, which ended up being a good thing, now we aren't dependent on them.

If you do have bad credit you should really look into some kind of credit repair
because you really don't want to live with such a burden over your shoulders, it causes way too much stress. Debt consolidation is a popular option.

Be careful this holiday season and do some research on your credit and how to protect it!

ConsumerCreditDebt.org is dedicated to helping consumers improve their credit rating and get out of debt. They are committed to assisting consumers and their families in finding customized solutions for debt elimination.

It is coming

I just got word that my giveaway shipment is on it's way!!

I got the stuff I ordered today, I will take pics and post when I get back from getting Merci from school.

Bye!

***Update***I lied, I never got a chance.
I had some shopping...actually returning to do, and a Pampered Chef party to go to.

So you will have to wait till tommorow.
I will give you a hint...Drea did a review on them at DE reviews in the last month or so.
They aren't for babies.

Anyone want to guess??

Soft and cozy

We have friends who spent the dough on a memory foam mattress, but they assure me it was well worth it. Mike has a bad back, he played football in high school and really messed it up, so they saw it as an investment in the health of his body.

Memory foam and Tempurpedic offer some of the best mattresses you can find.

Angelbeds offers these therapeutic mattresses, the best on the market, at a DEEP discount, and when I say deep I mean at a discount up to $3300. Now, that is a savings!

The foam used in these mattresses re NASA developed to bring you comfortable, contouring support for the health of your body. This revolutionary material relieves pressure and stress to your body that other mattresses cannot. To prove their top of the line quality, the offer a 90 day sleep trial and 20 year warranty. Shipping is free and there is no sales tax, unless you live in Texas. Check out their site to get all the detail and hear some customer satisfaction stories.

The website offers free chat so you can get your answers you want immediately. I don't think you will be disappointed, check it out for yourself!

If you have problems with your back, neck or other bones in your body, you may want to look into these great mattresses.