Facebook

As I am new to Facebook, I have been finding all kinds of things out. About others and myself.

I was asked to take the quiz Which 80's movie defines you?. My results were the "Princess Bride", how fitting?

I've always liked Cary Elwes. One of my favorite movies of his is "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and who could resist him as the intolerable Dr. Jonas Miller in "Twister".

I've never seen "Kiss the Girls", but have heard that it is also good.

At least he is more "my age" right????

Hugh Who???

As an ode to Dodie's blog, I would like to point out that, yes, Hugh Jackman is VERY nice to look at, I'm not complaining.......

.....but please notice who was also on the cover!!! Granted, it's not a great picture of Zachy, but he's still yummy and I can raise him right!!!

Happy Holidays to You!!

This holiday season has been like any other:

• Trips to see Santa.
• Denial when children asked pertinent questions.
• Last minute shopping.
• House guests.
• Baking (well attempts anyway).
• Avoiding my blogging obligations.
• Taking pictures that need to be put on my blog.
• Holiday parties.
• Picking out cards for those whom we love and those we don't.
• Ordering picture holiday cards and writing a holiday letter. (The picture because there are those who get nasty if pictures of the children are not included. The letter because, why should I keep all this fun to myself?)

Barring all the above "complaints", I really do enjoy this time of year.
I can do without the nasty customers and clerks, the crowded stores, the endless search for THE present that always seems to be what my children want, and the late night wrapping sessions.

I do, however, love all the wonderful stories of the season. I love explaining to my children the joys of giving and not taking credit for it.

I love seeing friends that I don't get to talk to on a regular basis, because our lives get in the way.

I love seeing children's eyes light up when they see Santa and he actually talks to them.

I love being nice to those grouchy people just to see them give me a second look thinking I've lost my mind.

I love going into a store, see a clerk that has had a bad day and seeing the look on their face when I wish them a nice holiday season.

I also love spending time with my family.

I love that my kids are trying to get along so they can actually play with their toys (long story to be explained in a later post) come Christmas morning.

I love having my house decorated in my "Santa threw up in my house" motiff.

The best part of all of this craziness is getting in touch with those friends I haven't talked to since last year.

Happy Holidays to all of you!!!!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

For the last several weeks I have been having problems with my computer. Since I live with my technical support, I very rarely get the help I need. (Those of you that have your minds in gutter - get them out!!) So last weekend, we spent ALL day on Saturday shopping for computers. We (okay, he) decided on a laptop to replace my desktop. While transferring my data, we found out that my hard drive was failing. Thank heavens my tech support had the foresight to look for new hardware.

On my new computer, I have an awesome photo viewer. It is so easy to take care of red eye that I decided, since I had nothing else to do, I would go through each photo and take care of the red eye. As I did this, I found lots of photos that I have not scrapbook (because I'm 5 1/2 years behind) and spent a lot of time reminiscing.

This one is DD on Thanksgiving 2004. She was so cute and our sweet little girl.



Until the next February and her 3rd birthday. Looking at this photo, I should have known. However, it did make me laugh, because she still makes this face and I crack up every time!

I still helped her blow out her candles.

Not to be outdone, in 2/02 DS decided to draw a self portrait. I asked what the thing was between his legs and he proceeded to tell me that it was his penis. That's what I get for asking. DH grabbed his camera.

March 2005 - Getting along

December 2005 - Getting along, again.

March 2006 - The Little Ballerina

For those of you who think that my friend Jenn is a figment of my imagination, here is a picture taken and posted completely against her will.

Free-IQTest.net

You have to sign up for some free stuff, so be prepared.

Free-IQTest.net - Free IQ Test

Halloween

Halloween in our part of the world was unseasonably warm. The kids normally have to wear coats, mittens, hats, etc., and no one could see their outfits. This year was great, no coats needed!!

DD "had" to decide between three costumes. The first was a wedding dress that DH deemed inappropriate. He thought it was unacceptable to dress as a bride. I tried to explain that every little girl does this, much to his dismay. Her second costume is the one pictured, a princess. It was meant to be a generic princess, but turned out to look a lot like Ariel. Her third was a witch, which she wore to dance, because of course, the others were too long for dance.

She wore the princess costume to school and for trick-or-treating.

DS's costume was also a chore. He started out as a "Clone Trooper" , but when he put it on, it was too small and VERY see through. I looked high and low for white sweatpants. Little did I know that white sweats are impossible to find in October, unless you need Women's larges.

After three days of searching everywhere, I gave up and I convinced him to change his mind. We opted for a Magician that he insisted was a Wizard. I tried to explain the difference, to no avail. So he ended up being a Wizard Magician, whatever that is!!

Both children had parties at school. The kids love this, they get to dress up, parade around the school, and eat.

I was in charge of DD's class and DH was in charge of DS's class, hence only having pictures of DD's class.

HSM3

Yes, I went to the new "High School Musical 3" movie. It was worth the wait and the hype!!

I, however, did not go it alone. I am so glad that there are more "moms" (as Zac refers to the "older fans") out there.

We of course took kids with us!!

I just couldn't resist this one (sorry Nicole).

Love this clip of the gag reel.

Our Pumpkin Patch Trip/WW

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Gretta

Gretta is getting bigger and bigger. Look how she has grown!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I'm Dancing with Zac

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When Will I Ever Listen?!?!?!

My recent disappearance from blogging is mostly because of my friends.

I LOVE books. With our recent "home improvements" I have had to pack everything we own away, including all my books. As I have been unpacking, I have been going through, sorting, and purging all our belongings. Since I'm a little OCD in this area, I have been cataloging all of my books (900+ to date) and have nothing to read. At least nothing I can find.

As I was with Miss Marfa at a local bookstore, she pointed out the "Twilight" series. All she had to say was "vampire" and I was in!! Once I starting reading all of my friends blogs who have read this series, I was hooked.

I love these books!!! I would highly recommend them. But I do have one question, when I bought the books, the guy at the bookstore said something about missing car antennas. I still have no idea what he was referring to and I have read all four books.

Once these were read and put away for safe keeping, I was once again faced with what to read. I happened to be in Target and passed the book section (was that planned, I think not!) and saw a book that was recommended by Dodi in May. I didn't really think anything about the book then, since I was well equipped with books at the time. So now I'm looking for things to read, I figured, what the heck.

I bought the book, entitled "Such A Pretty Fat" by Jen Lancaster and thought I'd start reading it in my spare time. I had plenty of spare time in the car for untold hours so started reading.

All I can say is, I'll never be the same! I laughed until it hurt (really bad - a good bad of course). I am almost finished with it, because every time I pick it up, I can't get through it for the tears.

I so wish I had known so I could have met Jen with Dodi. So next time, Dodi, I'M IN!!! (And, I'll listen to your sage advice!)

Hip, hip, hooray!!!

I did it! I guess I'm just blog impaired. I now know how to manipulate the blog gods!!

The Summer of Thomas

Trips made by car this summer: 3

Days away from home: 25

Total meals on the road: 300

Miles driven: 6700

Being home and being able to send the children to their OWN rooms: PRICELESS

On Strike or Captive Somewhere?????

Yes, I'm out of town and have had limited (or no) access to DH's computer. The only reason I am able to post this is because I have commandeered it for a few minutes.

I have also be obsessed with the "Twilight" series and have been reading like a fiend.

Oh no, the warden is out of the shower, will write more later!!!!

P.S. Still upset about the cute background, will try more when the brats are in school next week!

Am I the only one?????

So many of you have cute blog pages from "The Cutest Blog on the Block" and I am having lots and lots of problems!!

Can anyone give me a hint. I've already tired what it says on the website.

It's a small world after all, it's a small world after...

I have been saying since the potential candidates started dropping like flies in April that I wanted to vote for Mickey Mouse for president! I have been seeing the campaign signs in all of my neighbors yards and am dreading the upcoming election. I was looking on the web, googled the fun loving mouse, and found this website.

It's nice to know that there are people out there like me. I've never been real political, and it doesn't look like I will be this year either.

I just think we need to make the US the "Happiest Place On Earth".

Kitty Crazies

Since I was chastised today about updating my blog, these are the things that happen in the Thomas household while the kids are off track.

The day started out like any other "off-track" day!!!

7:40am - DS (waking me out of a sound sleep) - "My head hurts and every time I take a step, it feels like it's going to fall off."
But somehow, he found his way to my room and my side of the bed. So he climbed in bed with his sister to soon follow. All the while DH is snoring away.

7:42am - DD launches herself onto me and exclaims in her oh so quite voice "Good morning!!!"
Me - "Keep your voice down, your father is asleep."
I might as well as said "Jump off a cliff and take your brother with you. " It was just about as affective.
Much to my chagrin, neither one were the least bit quiet as I was trying to go back to sleep.

7:55am - I finally ship the children off to the first floor with the promise of television and anything they want for breakfast. I did actually rescind the latter, since I didn't end up getting any more sleep.

8:00am - DH's alarm clock goes off. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

Sit around for a while then head up to the Barney room. DD's room has been in the process of being cleaned for several weeks. Oh, who am I kidding, a couple years.

10:00am - The renovation begins (again). For the next 2 hours we (Ha, ha, ha - I) put everything where it belongs.

12:00pm - I receive a phone call to go to Park View Park and spend time with friends at 1pm. But the problem is that we have not actually eaten. I ask DH if he would like to join us, to which I received a response of "I'll be up in a minute". Whatever!

12:30pm - We leave for lunch.

1:30pm - We arrive at the park and spent a wonderful afternoon with friends. Until, DS had a melt-down. Then DD also had a melt-down. So we left!!

4:30pm - We skip 2 of 3 dance classes, because DS was having anger issues (more to follow).

5:30pm(approx) - DH goes out to return Blockbuster movies we've had for going on 6 months. Luckily, they are the "Netflix" type so no late fees!!

6:30pm - DH & DS return with one quasi children's movie "Speed Racer"; one non-child appropriate DVD "Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles"; and one Wii game. They also came bearing pizza. Good thing too, since I was in no mood after dealing with the monsters all day.

Note on "Speed Racer", if you have not seen it, don't bother. I had a really hard time following it. Of course, it could have been because I was playing on the computer. It was okay, but didn't seem to follow the original cartoon.



9:30pm - The movie ends and the credits start to roll, then all H*** breaks loose. DH starts dancing DD around and doing the chicken dance. DS decides that he has flatulence problems and the "small" Great Dane puppy gets the "kitty crazies". Now those of you who don't know what the "Kitty Crazies" are, they are when late at night, cats run around like they've lost their minds.
Watching cats doing that is very amusing, but watching an 80 pound, 6 month old, Great Dane puppy literately fly through my 1600 square foot house is a bit disconcerting.

And so ends another day in the life...

Chelsea

There are times in your life, or at least in mine, when you contemplate the naming of your children. While writing the previous post I was reminded of this.

When we named DS, we had a girl's name picked out. We didn't know the gender, but figured it would be either a boy or a girl. Great insight, huh? But could not agree on a boy's name. DH didn't want a child named after him and he didn't like any names I suggested. Towards the end of my pregnancy, we were still debating on boy names for our child. While we were watching Tim Allen in "Jungle to Jungle", I was struck with DS's name. One of the boy's name on the show was the perfect name for our little boy. So we had it the day of his birth and have not regretted the name once in his eight years. The only thing is that people want to shorten it, but that's his decision when he moves out!!

With DD, it was a little more complicated. We knew we were having a girl and still debated on names. Several people asked why we didn't just name her Stephaine, which would have been DS's name had he been a girl. My response was, this one isn't a Stephanie. We struggled with this until we (HA, I) were in the delivery room. As I was in labor, DH pressured me for a name. I picked the name that I liked the best and decided that I could change it when I actually filled out the birth certificate the next day when I was relaxed and didn't have the pressure of birth on me. (No pun intended!)

After 6 years and countless callings of said name, I think I was mistaken. Let me explain!

One of DH's favorite comedies is "Carpool" with Tom Arnold and David Paymer. I have to admit I also like this film. It's fun and boy I wish I could drive crazy like that sometimes. I don't think it was ever a box office hit because when asked, most people have not seen this movie. I almost always feel compelled to explain it to them.

In the movie there is a little girl by the name of Chelsea. She moves at a snails pace and when picked up and carried, asks to slow down because the movement is making her sick. One of the best lines in the movie is: Chelsea "Can I just stay in the car. That way I don't have to waste time getting back in?" This is soooooo DD. The movies didn't fail us with DS, why did temp fate and not name DD after a fictional character.

In the clip below, pay attention to the little girl in the black and white. It's DD to a tee.

#1 Song Follow Up

Since it has been a while I thought I'd follow up with more #1 songs in my life.

Wedding - "Jump" by Kris Kross (I think I like Ganelle's better!!)
DS - "What a Girl Wants" by Christina Aguilera (I guess it's better than "Mrs. Robinson")
DD - "Always on Time" by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti (They just get better and better, because, no she's not.)
Hubby - "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & the Drells (No need to comment)

Can't you just tell it's a laugh a minute in the Thomas household!!!

Mrs Robinson?

I received an e-mail asking if I knew the #1 Song on the day I was born. Since I had recently been looking through my baby book I thought I knew this answer. Well, I looked it up anyway...

... "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel

Is this a forboding message? Or did this just fortell of my obsession with Zac baby?

Take a look to see yours!

The New Do

See what happens when my fellow bloggers and friends stop reminding me to update my blog. I leave to go to Utah and forget to update my blog.

So, now for the after pictures of he new do, remember this is three weeks growth, but you get the idea.

I also haven't given you all Gretta updates recently. As of 5 weeks ago; being 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days (I got that from my vet, I'm not actually keeping track), she was 58 pounds and is now taller than Belle, our Bernese Mountain Dog. She's so calm, Ms. Marfa invited her over for a playdate. She was much more behaved than the two-legged children and went to sleep on a bed Ms. Marfa made up for her.

Arachnophobia

To get a laugh like none other, read this blog by Yarnhog.

Funnies

As TZ as mentioned, I get TONS of forwards of jokes. I forward the ones I giggle at, but post the ones I roll on the floor laughing about! Even though it's not time for Freaky Friday Forwards, I couldn't resist this one! (And I'm procrastinating!)


AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

1. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.
2. (For Men Only) Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.
3. For High Blood Pressure sufferers ~ simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER
4. A mouse trap place on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
5. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. Then you'll be afraid to cough.
6. (Also for Men) You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.
7. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got and electrical problem.

DAILY THOUGHT:

Some people are like slinkies - not really good for anything but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.

I thought you'd all like to know...

According to DD my son now smells good. She said he smells like "clean soap". At least I now know that our soap is okay.

One thing that may have helped is that DS had his hair cut. All of it! He has been trying to get me to get him a "buzz cut".

According to Wikipedia: A buzz cut (sometimes known as a wiffle or crew cut) is the American name for a type of haircut named after the sound of the electric razor, which is used to shear the hair very closely to the scalp.

Now, we all know that people like, Brad Pitt,

Justin Timberlake,

and our Servicemen all look great with buzz cuts, but I wasn't sure how my only son would look.

After months of fighting with DS for either long hair (not quite sure how long) or a buzz cut and DD's statement, I decided that it was probably time to let it go to fate. I surprised him when we went to Lollilocks on Friday. He actually looks pretty good.

He was so excited, and I was very appreciative to the moms at the pool for making over him. He's much cooler and I'm happier without a stinky child.

However, the joking mom in me almost had her do the below to him. :) I'm evil, but not THAT bad!

The Cancan

Hopefully we're not this hairy!!!

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Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Rotten Rice Quandry

I know that you are all eagerly awaiting updates from our vaca, but I have a question for those of you that actually brave my blog. I don't normally ask for opinions, because I'm worried about the responses I will get, but this one was one I couldn't pass up.

A little background: With the start of school (hip hip hooray!!!), my children are now required to actually take baths every night. (It may not last for long, but we'll give it the old college try.) We are alternating days with who goes first because....... I have two children. If they aren't fighting to go first, they are fighting to go last, go figure.

DS was to go first tonight. I told him to go and was greeted with an "Okay Mom." That should have been my first clue that things are not always as they seem.

Okay, rewind to, oh..., 10 minutes ago and this is the conversation that took place.

DD: (coming down the stairs naked with the bath water running) "Mom, DS and I need to start using different..."
Me: "Yes, get a clean towel." (Very long story - don't ask)
DD: "NO, we need to start using different soap."

Now let me interrupt for a moment. I am a fairly intelligent person, tend to have common sense and don't count myself as completely insane, so I should have let the whole conversation drop, but NOOOOOO.

Me: "Why?"
DD: " Because DS came out of the tub smelling like rotten rice."
Me: "What????"
DD: "He does!"

The moral was that DS is now taking a second bath because, as I was informed by Jenn, boys think that putting soap in their hair constitutes bathing.

HOWEVER----

Inquiring minds would like to know: "Does rice rot and what does it smell like?"

I know that it can go moldy, but does it actually rot and smell?

A Laugh a Minute???

With driving for 10 hours the first day I didn't feel like taking pictures to document our horrendous, er I mean momentous, trip. But perked up on day two. Most are explained!

What a sight! The luggage, I mean. It looks like we're moving out.

As with almost anything concerning DD, the following pictures have to be explained. She had gotten a toy at McDonald's the first day and decided to call her ducky (she is actually a swan - again, do we see a theme and should I start saving now for therapy?). So everyone, except Daddy, because he was cursing at the luggage, had to take "Ducky Cheese" pictures with the swan (aka ducky). We all had to say "Ducky Cheese" and put the ducky (aka swan) to our cheek. It gets very confusing in our house unless you've lived there for an extended period of time!!

Now, since I was confired in a car with my family for an extended period of time, I did what any caring, loving, concerned mom would do. I pulled out pen and paper and wrote down some of the more funnier one liners from DD. There were lots that I was unable to publish. (Then my blog rating would have gone to PG - gasp!)

Walking to the car 2nd day:

DD: "Hear this 'Texaaaaas'."

Me: Trying to ignore her and get into the car. "Okay."

DD: "Does your voice only work in Coloraaaaado?"

DD writing a breakfast list for DS.

On paper is written "Sosh is wofl fot"
I said what is "Sushi is wofi fot?"

In an exasperated voice she said "IT'S Sausage, waffel, fruit. Can't you read?"

Me: "I guess not"

At breakfast while fighting with her brother:

DD to DS: "You're losing my mind!"

We did nothing but giggle which made her more angry.

Finally, our hotel. The kids are very excited about the pool.

I took this one night and thought it turned out really neat!