Meaningless rantings of a cabin fevered Mom.

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

September its coming .... it's an emotional month ... if you let it :P With Katrina, and 9-11 and My wedding anniversary, AND grants birthday. :) I love september :) I get happy, and reflect on the amazing human spirit! The grit of Americans in dark tough days. Its really an amazing month .. if you let it. :) Today i was watching the news, i HATE NBC news ..so blatently bias, so ridiculous ... :P BUT it's all i get for now except CBS, who isn't that reliable either *lol* well yesterday i watched a non NBC special on Katrina, and they were talking about hope, how the new FEMA director had turned things around dramatically, proving the other guy ... whatshisname Brown, had mucked it all up in the begining. Ray Nagan was an idiot .. sending away empty trains willing to take people out, turning away busses willing to take people ...... ...BUT NBC? All they talked about was how bush let us down again ... how the government lied. like always, how it shattered our faith in the g...

OI VEY!! what a week :P soooo we got the van back on Friday afternoon .... after i had a small meltdown *lol* yes a REAL meltdown :P but! Mike had agreed to buy the extended GM warranty or 1000$ (which i thought was dumb) turns out, the two days of work, and 1300$ worth of parts, not to mention the rental ..... we paid ...... 50$!! yup! FIFTY bucks :) AAANDD! We had that much CASH in our "Car Maintenance" envelope. :) So i went, "paid the guy" drove away in my fully operational van, and decided after the HEdoublehockeysticks of a week i had, we were getting McDonalds! so i spent the rest of my grocery cash on McD's for me and the kiddos. got an iced coffee i didnt need, and put it in the fridge when i got home. Yesterday, i put the coffee in the freezer, and 4 hours laster .... it wasn't frozen ... 0.o and the rhubarb was squishy ... and the bread was all thawed .... um yuh ... the whole thing was DEAD. so now ... we have a beat up OLD fridge downstairs...

So today i saw something interesting ... one of my pet peeves .... Misquoting someone ..then taking that misquote and making judgements about that person, when you yourself can't even quote them properly .. Case in point==. Im chatting in my IRC chatroom, while building a website for someone ... and one person comes in the room and makes this statement .... " Bush: Katrina recovery will take time" he responds ... MEH! and someone else says ... "duh! ... im NOT a fan of the W" so that gets me thinking, and then i hear the ENTIRE speech on the radio .... and look it up online ... and find this ... "It's a time to remember that people suffered and it's a time to recommit ourselves to helping them," Bush said Wednesday. "But I also want people to remember that a one-year anniversary is just that, because it's going to require a long time to help these people rebuild." o.0 interesting .... a whole new outlook on it eh? Oh yuh ...and...

for a day :P Yup our van went into service this morning to get checked for the overheating thing .... or nearly overheating anyway *lol* Soo the good part is .... i get to drive THIS until its done XD Muaahahahahahahaaaa! c'mon its the closest ill get to a new RED car in a LOONG time :) I gotta have fun with it ... even if i cant drive very far cause i dont have the money to fill the tank again *lol*

I went to a women's confernce recently the theme was "Contagious Joy" one of the things that stuck with me was Luci Swindoll's talk about looking for the little things that make you smile ... little "pops of Joy" through the day ...... which is why i got this mug to remind me while i drink my coffee. This morning is horrid, last night Grant was up till 1 playing in his room. Samantha kept waking because she is sick and can't breathe :P Mike was gone overnight at work putting in a phone system. Sooo im feeling a tad hungover ..(not that i know what hungover feels like! *cough snort*) Im brushing my teeth thinking ... "God, help my attitude, help me look for happy, I need pops of joy, help me see pops of joy.." and the whole time im thinking how weird my toothbrush is this morning ....... and i look ...... and it's Mikes! :o HAAHAHAHAHHA *pop* that helped alot! lol i got my new layout from that book and mug btw :)

Soooo i got this ottoman off of a friend for free, and had the intent to cover it. It was blue damsk, OLD and nasty with a pleated skirt. Soo i pulled off the skirt and was amazed that the legs are identical in size shape and color to my tables! Yay fun! :) Then i choppped the thing to bits .... as shown here :) Then i took the lovely chocolate colored Velvet i bought and started the re-cover process ...... but .. i duno it's EH .... like i wanted "Wow look at how nice that looks now!" and i got ... eh .. :P Oh well .... i'd love imput if anyone browses by *lol*.

Ho hum here we are .. on the crux of another week. I feel VERY unready for monday :P Been a tough august. Along with random craziness, there was the little gas sipping toyota that died .... and the Van that keeps overheating, oh yuh, and me running .... err putting about town in a big ol' pickup with two car seats and NO ac. Now i know ... better than most, that ANY vehicle willing to run and get you from place to place without exploding, is something to be VERY VERY thankful for, but ... i have new respect for my parents everytime i get in these kind of situations :P We just got 1000$ saved up, and were about to start tackling the debts, but .. now we need to find a 'Tag Sale" car .... as Dave Ramsey puts it. Oh BTW if you don't know .... we are currently in a Financial class, trying to re-build our financial life the right way. The way God wants. The course we are following is "Financial Peace University" by Dave Ramsey. Its been alot of fun, well after ...

I survived Family Camp for one more year! :) This year we took 2 kiddos, it was crazy and stressfull, but fun .... and the kids were really good! It rained alot :( Pretty much every day it rained, except today, but this morning when we needed to dry all the towels and drenched clothes .... it was warm and sunny, but time to pack *lol* Matt looked like he was having a Tag Sale on the beach this afternoon, he had so many clohes laying out to dry. We had campfires, and s'mores, made new friends, re-connected with old ones ...... had LAUGHS, a few tears, LOTS of life lessons, just like always :) Today we were able to swin and enjoy sunshine, so that was nice, then we all drove home tired and burnt, and ready for sleep in our own beds! Here are a few pics i snapped this weekend ... im waiting to see Matt's! XD

A year ago this July my daughter was born. She wanted be born on her cousins birthday, NOT on the next day (as scheduled).... it was messy, i nearly died from rapid blood loss, thankfully she was healthy as a horse, but for me it was a long tedius recovery, including over 4 blood transfusions, but i'm not sure on the number. 2 Weeks later, i had an infection and woke up one morning in so much pain i litterally had to be picked up out of bed. i spent 2 weeks in the hospital, one pre-surgery, and one post-surgery. Yes, two abdominal surgeries in one month >_ SEE IT HERE Now, Her name is Sammi, her and i have gotten to know each other well, very well. She is a Christian, more recently converted than I, is a mom, single, trying her best to make life as good as possible for her son. I have to say that I'm proud of her. She has been through so much, and sees life now from an eternal perspective, which i think really gets her through the days. I find myself thinking of her alot...

Well yeah Okay .. so its been WARM to say the least here in VT .... and of course being good mommy and daddy, we gave our kids the fans, Grants is in his window, Sam has the standing one ... leaving us with the ceiling fan that isnt too helpful when the house is cooking and the outside air is 15 degrees cooler, and your windows are too small and high to bring in the air .... and we have dedicated ourselves to a strict tight budget ...... soo .. my hubby .... who was REALLY hot one night ... 'McGyvered' a solution to our problem ... and now, we have a fan in the window, drawing enough cool night air to hit the ceiling fan .. and thereby cool off the room ..... :D he's soo smart .. umm BTW , thats the top to our Cool Air Humidifier! XD