Meaningless rantings of a cabin fevered Mom.

More wordless wednesdays HERE

More wordless Wednesdays HERE

Yuh, no New Years resolution here, just an idea, and three people acting on it before it gets away. Im talking weight loss people, getting in shape, more energy, more ability to actually play WITH our kids, not just watch and wish we were 3 again. So my two friends and I were talking about this subject, and we were NOT ALLOWED to go home until we had all agreed on a "game plan" something, anything to get us up moving, exersizing ..... sooo .. some smart person says ..."Well the best time is early morning before hubbys go to work, before kids wake up, good way to start a day don't you think? Um No wait! Remember me? I don't get up before sunrise unless its a VERY good reason that involves LOTS of coffee. But alas ..... I want it ... i want that body back i used to have ... that size i used to wear ..... How bad do i want it? Bad enough to crawl out of bed at 445am ..... drive 15 minutes to my friends neighborhood ..... walk for 45 minutes, in the cold, snowing win...

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So, I have a streak of OCD in me...i'm pretty sure it's an Atkins thing, just watch my Dad pack a suitcase, or car or string lights on a tree, yup deffinately an Atkins thing. I never noticed it till i got married, and i now live with this boy, who leaves socks in the living room, shoes in odd places, and doesnt rinse the sink after brushing his teeth, oh and puts the TP on the roll the wrong way :D well i've worked on it, and the TP i let slide, because after all, isnt it true, if the man actually PUTS a new roll ON the thing thats a miracle in itself? But then, i had kids, Crumb snatchers, rugrats, call them what you will, they are MESSY! UGH My house is NEVER spotless, I like spotless, i LOVE spotless, i CRAVE spotless, but i have learned to be thankful for vaccumed, dusted and reasonable organized :) Then, i went to make my first ever gingerbread house ...... thinking this will be a fabulous project for Grant and i to do, and he will get to use his little creative min...

December 1st! the real countdown begins :) I finally finished my advent calendar, im VERY happy with the results :) every night we will put up a figure to tell the story of Christ's birth. It's so fun to think of passing it on to my kids :) As i reflect on this time of year, i am sad to see so many people "turned off" by the holiday. I mean i know its commercialized, but what isn't? Halloween sure is! But im pretty sure wiccans and worshipers of other type gods NOT associated with my God keep that peticular holiday pure. Couldn't we do the same? Why do we have to spend the holiday begrudging those who ruin it? Why can't we be the candles in the windows, offering hope, showing others that there IS a place for CHRISTMAS and the TRUE meaning of it in this crazy mixed up rush rush rush world. I was thinking about CHRISTMAS through the ages, and you know not alot has changed through the years, even though we like to rant and rave about how its worse every ...

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Oi, what a horrible statement. For someone who wants to bring their children up with minds and opinions of their own, and wants their children to know God and embrace their own deep relationship with Him, and who wants their children to be imaginative, to be able to create worlds of wonder and amazement that dwell in their minds eye .......... for that person, that statement may be pure Irony ... (im sure my sister will tell me yay or nay on that point) So WHY do i say it :P Arrrgghhh! I just want him to LISTEN ...." just DO what MOMMY says" .... thats not a whole lot better ...... how about .."Stop asking why! jUST DO IT!!" *LOL* None of it is very good grounds for imagination, or forming one's own opinions of the world .... but ... maaybe ..it will teach him to just obey, and ask later? BLEH! Who knows .... i need coffee :P

Happy Thanksgiving! Erm, well Black friday ... but whatever :P Im eating my FAVE lunch in the whole world ..... turkey on mom's BIG yeast rools, with mayo, cranberry and stuffing ..... It's insanely yumeh! We had a fabulous day ... spent it at my parent's house with my brother and his family, we were only missing my older brother and crew, but it was pretty crowded! We deep fried the turkey to perfection .... got to ooh and awww over the new princess of the family, and fun was had by all This pic is how ALL our family gatherings end, Grandpa on the floor reading stories ..... VERY cool! ..... HERE are MORE pics .... :)

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It's possible someone reading my blog may not know that im a Writer. I mean not published or anything, but it is by far my best and favorite form of expression. Recently while cleaning up my hard drive i ran across this jewel, it made me cry *lol* So i suppose it has some sappy, nostalgic, holidayish properties to it :) Hope you enjoy. A Spoon and a cookbook I was sitting in a metal folding chair, tugging at the new pink skirt and double checking that the practice wedding “do” wasn’t coming undone. My cousin on one side writing down what gifts and from whom as my sister (on the other side) was handing them to me. The next one was a garment box, pretty wrapping, but to tell the truth I’ll never remember what it was wrapped in. The gift itself, well, it transported me .. to another time, another place. It took me back to small country kitchen with red brick linoleum on the floor, and handmade café curtains at the windows. Three anxious children stood on stools and chairs, around ...

What a weekend :P To start it all off, our cable provier Adelphia, switched over to Comcast ... yay fun, BUT We lost internet for 3 days, now we also have Vonage ..VoIP ... meaning ... no internet, no phone :P Not terrible, but terribly annoying to not be able to call anyone, and email anyone ..... or check my mail, or look at my bank account :P and of course, chit chat with my friends. I did however unearth all sorts of treasures in Rearranging many random areas of my kitchen. LOL Friday night, we,(my hubby and I) chaperoned a teen event called superbowl. We leave at 430pm,on a large premiere bus, head to a hockey game 2 hours away ..... after the game they hold a big youth rally, where they play games and hand out prizes and throw stuff into the stands for the kids .... its fun .. then at midnight, we head back towards home an hour and stop to go bowling, and eat PILES of pizza and unending soda for several hours, then we head to a rollerrick/ laser Tag spot to top it all off. we le...

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shhh! Migriane city here, i can't see my self getting much done today :P UGH! However, yesterday, i got ALOT done :) i went to see my new neice ... OH i have a NEW neice! She is SOoooo cute ... and i grocery shopped after 9pm :P i replaced the ironing board my son somehow killed *lol* But the real accomplishment .. i finished one set of sheets for one of my nephews. Isaac, he and his brother Aiden have the new little sister, so im making them fresh new bedding to make thier room feel new, since little sister gets all the new blankets and stuff :) I'm really happy with how it came out, they have toddler beds, so i modeled it with my daughter's crib. I did finish a child size mitten for a neice in Washington state, however it feels too loose to me, the cuff is waay off, so im hunting another pattern. Samantha seems to be getting into the crochetting thing too, which tickles me pink :D

more wordless wednesdays HERE **Breaking silence** i found this pig the other day and had to take a picture and i must say, this is an accurate picture to explain my feelings post-election 2006 :P

Happy ... Tuesday! :) No i don't "Celebrate" halloween, it isnt a day or reason i care to "celebrate" BUT, i DO love seasons and festivities, and being in dressup. So, we carved a great big lovely pumpkin yesterday, My first time doing that actually, it was alot of fun, Grant LOVED the " 'cooping out th e ucky messy yuck" part the best :) My hubby's family has always celebrated Halloween, this is my last year not making a stink about it, my kids are still kinda young to go out and trick or treat, so i will dress them in thier costumes we got for our annual "Creation Celebration" at church, and they will go see MaMaw and hand out candy to the neighborhood ghouls. Next year *groan* Next year i must say, No, we do not tric k or treat, BUT we will still come over dress up and give out treats. Af ter a ll, we c an learn lessons from the Joy of giving :) Our Party at church was a blast, I dressed the part of Princess, after all, I am ALW...

It's called cabbage night here in Vermont ...... i have heard its not called that everywhere :P But none-the-less, this guy is inside on my counter to keep him safe from those cabbage people. :) More on George the pumpkin tomorrow. :)

I saw this on Heth's blog and liked it ... so i took it :) 9 Weird things about Yubby I go by my nickname "yubby" more often than by my given name of Sara. My family rarely calls me by that, my hubby calls me by it, my nephews call me by it, only my in laws insist on the Given name :) Even my DJ name is Yubby :P I can memorize drama scripts and movies in mere minutes, i walk around with a Smithsonian of movies quotes ranging from nearly ever John Wayne movie ever made all the way to Disney classics, New Disney, pixar, STar wars, LOTR, ..... oh it's CRazy.....BUT ask me to remember what time Church starts? Or when my next dentist Appointment is, or why there is an extra 30$ in the Checkbook......... couldn't tell ya :P I LOVE socks! SOCKS rock my ... erm... socks :) I collect them, I almost have them for every major holiday we celebrate, and of course for every season. I think the weirder twist of this is, I got this Sock SIckness from my Dad. :) He is the origin...

so this week has been just nutty and busy busy busy ... but one fun thing was saturday .... we had no power all day ..and camped out at our church to bake some stuff, and so my hubby could get some videos made for sunday. In all the wind and rain and sleet and snow .... this is how one of our trees ended up :P Poor thing didnt even stand a chance! :P

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Traditions that is .... Passon traditions .... and the one's that get passed to you, take them and mold them to your own character. This is what i've been trying to focus on this year as we slowly make our way toward december. I Have christmas on the brain, and a budget, and trying to make special things that will last, and have fun memories attatched. One such tradition is something that has been in my family since i was born. It's our Advent Calendar. Yes there isnt anything original about the idea, but the one we had in our home was unique. The first one was Green, with a large tan barn, and simple firgures, it had red brac brac trimming with red pompoms i LOVED the trim :) My mom redid our in the early 90's to a blue color with silver trim and more detailed characters, even a 2Dimentional barn. This year, im making my own, for our family to carry on the tradition. :) I've posted some pics of the calendar so far and a few of the characters i've done. I LOVE ...

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*lol* we have a new house! and a new street! :D lemme 'splaiin .... no taes too long, lemme sum up .... Grant got a new playhouse, yesterday i went out to play with him some, and to clean it up, it has lots of cobwebs and dirt, so i cleaned and he "cooked" and i kept kneeeling on something hard, so i dug it up ...... *loL* and it was an old Cell phone! Yuh, with no battery, burried in my lawn, and we just happened to plop the house over THAT spot on the lawn, and the cell phone, to which Grant said "Oh! THERE"S my phone! I lost it so long ago!" He takes it from and sits it in the phone hanger on the wall, which was missing it's toy phone ... o.0 Meanwhile. we are getting new road. Yup, they DO pave roads in Vermont, and occasionally they even RE-pave them! It was pretty fun to watch Kept grant VERY occupied, he even got to talk to the wacky flag lady *lol*

:) Do you remember when summer NEVER ended? Then when Fall showed up, it was glorious, and lasted FOREVER. The smells everywhere, new clothes smells, new boots smells, new pencils, new notebooks, new tape :D Pumpkin spice, dried leaves under a crispy misty morning dew. Apple orchards, apple pies, apple sauce, apple cider, pumpkins everywhere, and on a quiet fall afternoon in the country, the sound of dried cornstalks shivering in the wind, almost like they anticipate the coming of winter. This weekend i got a peek into my past. It was GLORIOUS weather all weekend. Bright clear crisp and Peak foliage. On saturday an old friend dropped off a new toy for Grant, well, new to us, well loved by many already, but has LOTS of use still. A Large plastic playhouse for outside. It's so cute! He LOVES it, I even ran out and got a little set of play food to use in the mini kitchen. I got to play with him some, and it was fun! Sitting in that little house, playing with the plastic food, making m...

Yuh I like socks, and i still buy the clothes so ... yeah *lol* soo cute :)

"You know, it seemed like a simple idea at first..Grant is up from nap .... they are both cranky .... a snack! fresh chocolate chip cokies .... THAT made them happy! ...and then ... i remembered ..... chocolate is messy :P UGH! Oh well makes for cute pictures :)

"Live like no one else........so in the end...you can LIVE like no one else!" soo .. umm yeah this whole money thing has turned me into a full fledged multi tasking NERD! I have just finished my budget for November, and was exstatic about how much im able to save for clothes, and for christmas ..and still pay bills and pay stuff off! :P I never thought to buy clothes for me! until i went out somewhere and realized how grundgy i look :P So, im getting a bit happy about maybe having new jeans :) So, here is the fun thing :) My hubby did a TAxes booboo for a couple years now(aka DIDNT file ), and he spent most of this summer fixing it, and we have waited to see if we were getting refunded, or if we would pay. The other day, we got notice, saying they were refunding us ..... about 13oo$!!!! :D weehee. So i sat down and plotted out the money ... and la la ... then a dentist bill came UGH! Always something. I would eventually get around to fitting THAT in :P Well. today, after doi...

Yesterday we celebrated Grant's third birthday. I TRIED to keep it small, but My family plus mike's family can't really EVER be small :) then my hubby kept making food! *lol* everyone left happy to not need dinner heehehe this is my cake Yup, RED RED RED and BLACK :P Not so tasty most of the time, but hey, grant LOVED it, and the boys ate alot of cake, so thats what matters :) He got some really cute gifts, some FAST gifts :) and ummm an odd one :) LOL my sister is crazy :P Here is the whole pictoral stoyr of the day :) http://www.yubbyd.com/Pages/Albums/gbday3/gbday3.html

Well ,its a big day here ...:) 4 years ago .. we looked like this all dandied up and ready to start out on a journey. :) We went to SanFransisco for our honeymoon, which was a gift from very dear friends :) More PICS HERE And then one year later ... our lives centered around this little bundle :) Little stinker had to be born on our anniversary *lol* no probs though..... we'll never top THAT gift to each other :) more boy PICS HERE So yeah thats our September 14th ...... hope yours is happy! :)

That morning, i was at work. I worked in the sporting goods department of my local Sears store. It was myself and one other person that day, and it was SLOW. We couldn't belive that not one person was shopping today. My co-worker, Emilio, called his girlfriend while i cleaned off the excersize equipment. Then he said the strangest thing. "Im going over to electronics, something on the news about the world trade center falling, or another bomb or something." How odd, I remember the last ime the WTC got bombed, that was kinda scarry, not as bad as the Oklahoma city thing i had thought, but how sad if that was true. Maybe i should call my mom? "Hi Mom, are you okay? I heard that something happened in Ny?" I couldnt understand why my mother was crying, she was so lost ... not talking .... then i heard ..... "Oh my GOD! Sara have to go" Thats when i ran, I ran to electronics, my first thought was, huh, this is where everyone is. EVERYONE, employees, c...

5 years, innocent people working hard .. maintaining livleyhoods, innocent people flying aircraft, going to see family .... working hard at defending our country ..... senselessly KILLED with no reason, no provacation ..... in the middle of a beautiful September day. I will remember the pain, the terror, the feeling of vulnerability. The knowledge that I would have many soldiers going to war out of my circle of friends ....... and the immediate feeling of PATRIOTISM ....... of wanting to wear our colors and scream U.S.A!! I WILL NOT let that fervor die. we should be PROUD to live here, PROUD of our freedoms PROUD of our duty to other to help them find those same freedoms. I am PROUD to be an A M E R I C A N .

Winter is on its way. Well we havent really hit fall yet, but here in vermont, as soon as it's cool at night for 3 weeks in a row, we start pulling out winter mindsets, buying heating oil, wood, movies, and new snowsuits. Winter is my favorite season, but im starting to think it's probably not for all the best reasons. :P I LOVE cold, the colder the better. I LOVE fall the leaves changing, the crisp air, walks in the woods. SNOW! Snow is awesome, snowstorms, sledding skating. skiing, snowmen, snowball fights. Hot Cocoa afterwards. Flannel sheets, warm slippers, CHRISTMAS! Yup those are all good reasons, but the not so wonderful reason, is that i like to Hermit in the winter. I like to stay in my house, stay away from lots of people. I feel more comfortable pulling away into my shell and not feeling the need to socialize. Dunno if thats ok or not, but i feel it coming on every year. Just about now. It's better this year though, i cant really stay in that much with kids, so i...

:( Steve Irwin died. That's sad. Not all that suprising really, but still none less sad. He was killing by a Manta Ray sting to the heart. His wife was backpacking in the mountains at the time. HERE is the article I hope i go down doing what I love! :)

ahh thursday :) I love thursdays, well every other one anyway. It's payday .. payday is GOOD! i sat down and figured out how much we have been able to save this summer, for various things, emergency fund, to by a beater car, mission trip gift .... in all we have saved nearly $2000 so far. :) AND ...in just catching up and paying things off, we have shaved off $660 in debt .... that's taken care of 3 payments we have been making every month, adn has mae our utilities ALOT smaller :) Today im organizing all my junk for the Labor Day Tag Sale. I've never done one :P we shall see how it goes. I've done them, but they were my Mom's and her's were legendary, we had 6-12 families involved, on a huge front lawn off of a main road with 2'x3' plywood signs to get people there. So, you can see why im a bit intimidated. :D But i have some good items, furniture and NICE baby clothes .... hopefully it goes well :) 'Hot Dogs are burning :) gtg :P