You can't spell "families" without "lies". Try it!

Well I survived Thankgiving at our house! So that's a plus, I figured if Thanksgiving didn't do me in, Christmas surely will do the trick. Guess we'll have to wait a couple more weeks to find out. Anywho after some severe anxiety attacks Thanksgiving dinner was (dare I say it) a success (minus a slight gravy emergency)! Actually the gravy turned out DE-lish, but I was getting worried for a little bit on it. It would! not! thicken!...wtf. Finally I called in reinforcements. My MIL. She worked some magic and voila! Yummy gravy!! Matter of fact. It was sooo good we had to make another batch to eat with the leftover taters! Anywho I though I'd share some of my fave recipes! Feel free to try them out and let me know what you think!

Moist Turkey

1 thawed turkey, junk inside removed and reserved for gravy makin'
Butter (lots o butter)
Desired Seasoning (I used McCormick Sweet Smokey Pepper)
Roasting Pan
Turkey Baster
Oven

Easy as pie. Preheat oven to 325. Stick turkey in roaster. Rub down w/ a stick of butter butter. Throw the rest of the butter stick in cavity. Sprinkle seasoning on turkey. Put roaster in oven. Check periodically I did at about 20 min intervals. Baste and follow with repeating the butter maneuver and more seasoning. Allow 15 minutes of baking per pound of turkey. Let meat rest atleast 20 mins before carving!!! Very important for juicy meat! Try it w/ a whole chicken!


Pumpkin Roll

For cake:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin

For Frosting:
1-8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
6 Tbl butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla

Misc. things needed:
Tea Towel
Jelly roll pan
LOTS of Powdered sugar
Waxed Paper
Plastic wrap
Quasi level oven
Rubber Spatula

Now Pumpkin rolls can be a little tricky as with any roll. First preheat oven to 375. Grease jelly roll pan and line with waxed paper (I let mine hang a little over the edges). Grease paper. Take tea towel and dampen just a teeny bit. sprinkle with powered sugar. Let towel lie flat on counter or table or other flat surface. Combine cake ingredients throughly. Spread EVENLY into pan. It will not level out on its own, use a rubber spatula. Hope you have a level oven. I thought mine was level until I tried to do this the first time and had a disaster of a cake. If the cake isn't reasonable even it won't roll, it will crack and your pretty pumpkin roll is non-existant. SO Bake the cake 13-15 minutes or until cake springs back when touched (use this trick!!) IMMEDIATELY! Turn cake onto tea towel!! Peel back the wax paper and roll towel and cake up together LONG WAYS. If you try the short way it will crack. Don't roll it too tight or it will crack! Use your best judgement. Let cake cool for 20 minutes. While cake is cooling mix up frosting ingredients. After cake is cooled for 20 minutes, unroll slowly, spread on frosting (rubber spatula really helps) and reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour. I made 6 of these for thanksgiving and they were a hit. They were kinda rich, but that's how we like 'em. Feel free to make your own adjustments and let me know what you changed and why. BTW, my recipe is Libby's recipe off the can of pumpkin puree with a little motification here and there.

...................................

Its monday

Count your blessings

Well after looking back at my previous posts I came across my "Routine". That routine is no longer valid...since then a lot has changed, like having a baby! Anywho, I decided that I would give a run down of my day yesterday just for those of you who care to know. Take a deep breath, here we go:

@ 430AM Haelie wanted to eat. This is fantastic b/c it gave me about 6.5 hours of straight sleep!!! She's such a great baby for as young as she is and she's been like this since almost day 1. I dozed off while feeding her. After Haelie got done eating I got up. Put my robe on and started the coffee pot. I have a programmable coffee pot...why don't I just program it you ask?? B/c then I won't get my lazy ass out of bed...k! After the coffee is started I set out the hubby's clothes, which are usually sitting folded on top of the dryer (okay not always "folded" per-say). Mostly b/c I didn't get around to putting them away the night before. I attempted to wake him up. After I was sure he was "awake" and not just talking to me in his sleep, I go pour the coffee in his cup. Keep in mind, we have a dozen coffee cups, but he will only drink coffee out of 3. He's an extremely picky person....(understatement of a lifetime I'm sure). I sat the coffee down on the dresser as he came out of the bathroom. He went outside and I started packing his lunch and I realize his lunchbox is still in the truck from the day before, so I went to get it. In his lunch he requires 2 sandwiches consisting of 4 pieces of bread, 4 pieces of cheese and 4 pieces of meat...all having to be layered to precise standards. Bread, cheese, meat, meat, cheese, bread. Ugh...Then next goes in the pop. 6 new cans and then I traded out his ice pack (b/c I never get to anything the night before). There's usually always a few cans left in the lunchbox from the previous day so I trade those out for cold ones. After his lunch was packed I carried it to the truck, I grabbed my wallet and went to Casey's. I pulled up to the gas pumps and filled the truck up. Pulled forward to put air in his driver rear tire...b/c he refuses to get a new valve stem put in...*sigh* I went inside to see what the damage was with the gas and two packs of cigs...$67!!! Holy crap. I about cried making out the check. I got back in the truck and drove home. When I got out I grabbed his coffee-to-go cup from the day before. I brought it in the house and washed it and filled it up. By this time Haelie thought she was hungry again and squirming in Scott's arms. I took her and fed her while finishing up things to get Scott off to work, such as...finding wallet, keys, phone, copenhagen, etc...Scott then pestered the boys as he tried to pry hugs and kisses out of them before he left. He told Haelie bye and left. At this time I started a load in the washer (so it could be done by the time I picked Dakota up from school...not exaggerating).I hopped in the shower, got dressed and woke up the boys. They got bathed and dressed. While they took 5 hours to get dressed *ha* I packed their lunches. Sandwich, chips, drink, cookie, sandwich, chips, drink, cookie...*sigh* After the lunches were packed I found Dakota still not dressed...(big surprise). He does everything in slow-mo. I got their backpacks ready then I read Colton his library book. Thursday is library day and he had to return his book, he wanted it read one more time. Dakota still didn't have shoes/boots on. *ugh* At this point I started the car to warm up, changed Haelie's diaper, buckled her into her infant carrier and had the boys get coats on. They loaded up into the car and I snapped Haelie's carseat into the base. Off to school we went. While dropping them off at school I realized it was Thursday the 5th...crapola! Colton was supposed to bring snacks...*ugh*. The snacks they have to bring for kindergarten have to be store bought, not homemade...I decided I would go to the store later and drop the snacks off at the office before "snack time". We said our good byes and the boys walked into the school. This is the quietest part of my day. After the boys go to school and before I pick Dakota up from Prek. 3.5 hours of mostly quiet. I came home, worked on some laundry, ate breakfast, got the trash ready to haul off and screwed around on the net for awhile. You wouldn't believe how fast 3.5 hours goes by when you're enjoying them *ha*. I went and picked up Dakota, went to the store and got a few groceries and snack items for Colton's class. Snacks for 14 kids. 2 Boxes of Capri Sun and one package of chewy chips ahoy cookies, at Colton's request. We then went to the school and dropped the snacks off in the office and came home. I cleaned up the house a bit and fed Haelie and cleaned and folded laundry etc. This part of the day is usually a blur. 1130-300 goes quick. I tried to keep Dakota occupied but he wanted to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather, so he played. We made a turkey wrap for a snack, which was my lunch. It was time to get Colton from school. I texted Pat and asked her if she still had her bread machine. I got a box of Italian Herb bread mix at the store and wanted to make it for dinner: Spaghetti. She said she had it and would dig it out for me. After we got Colton, we came back to the house and I picked up more of the mess that we call our house. After Scott being home all week, it looked like a tornado had came through, ugh. I loaded the dishwasher and the boys called Pat and asked her to come over. She came over and visited with me while I finished up on the house and started the bread machine and she watched the kids so I could haul off the trash. Scott called and said he was on his way home. I came back home, fed Haelie, and we went on a walk. I strapped Haelie on me via the Snugli and Dakota got in the stroller and Colton walked along side us. We walked 7 blocks and came back home. I was getting ready to start dinner when M&D showed up. They visited with the boys for a bit while I got dinner going. Spaghetti doesn't take long to make and was ready when Scott walked in the door. M&D left and we sat down to eat...the bread machine was still kneading and rising...poop. We settled for Wonder bread with dinner. The Green Giant Super Sweet Corn Niblets or whatever are great. I love 'em and so does everyone else. After dinner was over Pat went to her house to grab the rest of the pumpkin pie she made for us and some whipped topping. She dropped it off and went home. The bread machine beeped at me to come get the bread out and we snacked on it for awhile. Scott and I started a movie and ended up heading to bed right before it was over. Scott took a shower while I fed Haelie and set the alarm clock and we crawled in bed. Finally a night in bed at a decent time after a relaxing evening......

Well yeah yesterday was boring, but that's a run-of-the-mill day for me. After reminiscing about yesterday it makes me truly appreciate my life. I've been blessed with 3 wonderful children who are very sweet, a close family, and many other things. Granted, most of my day consists of cleaning up after everyone, the little smiles and giggles when we do have fun makes it all worthwhile.

Today is yet another wonderful, beautiful day and to top it off its a FRIDAY! which means the boys have two "stay home days" as they call 'em. Tomorrow M&D are moving to BM. The weekend weather forecast is supposed to be gorgeous! Lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s! I love this weather anytime of the year esp NOVEMBER! :)

Google Analytics

I've recently stumbled upon Google Analytics....it's pretty darn neat :)

Short and Informative

My goal for today's post it to cram as much information about recent events as possible yet still keep the post semi-short. Let's see how that goes. Well last weekend as you know was Halloween. Saturday morning we carved pumpkins and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I got my little ones all dressed up in their costumes and we went trick-or-treating. The boys got a buttload of candy. We went out and visited a family friend and SIL/BIL for some trick-or-treating fun...got home late. Scott came home from work early on Friday for not feeling well and he moped around all weekend making it hard for us to do anything fun. Sunday we played in the leaves and enjoyed the beautiful weather some more. This week has been a blur. Scott has been home all week except today. Talk about driving me crazy! I like him being around but when he's home all he does is trash the house, sooooo very annoying. Needless to say, after nearly a week of him not working, the house is trashed! We spent a lot of time over at MIL's putting puzzles together, cooking, and watching tv with her. Wow we've turned into old people. There was some SIL drama last night, but just your run of the mill bitch fest, nothing out of the ordinary ha. There was some unusual drama over Halloween candy with my M&D though...very weird things have come from this stupid full moon, obviously. But they returned the candy and all is well :). Wow, I think I kept that pretty short considering... I hope my 2 followers like my new layout and new addy. THANKS SHERIDAN FOR YOUR HELP! :) *big shoutout* Anywho, so this is it...I plan to do some different things in the near future with this blog and I hope to increase my "followers" and eventually become a web-sensation with a book deal offer....ha we can all dream can't we!?? Stay tuned for more.

Excuses, excuses...and a recipe!

Okay, well I haven't been a very good blogger as of late. As you know, I had a baby a month ago and since then my life has been crazy hectic. She's a great baby, however, everything else in my life has required a lot more of my time and attention...plus the caring for her. I've had good days and bad, all of which were blog-worthy I'm sure...yet I haven't. I started reading a new blog which is FANTASTIC. It's great and has given me several ideas for posts...so I'll leave it to the reader(s) (ha) what would you like to see posts on?!??

To close out this post I'll share a recently found recipe that was a family FAVE!!

Annie's Quasi Venison Cordon Bleu

Cube steaks (or round steaks that you've beat incredibly thin, doesn't have to be vension, use beef if you wish)
Egg
Milk
Flour
Breadcrumbs
Swiss Cheese
Toothpicks, optional
Yummy seasonings
Oil

Okay so ya take a steak place an appropriate size piece of swiss on it...fold to cover it (I had to tear my cheese in half..). Being very talented like, take the folded meat and dip in flour, flip to coat well. Be careful or you'll lose the cheese! Throw that little puppy in a egg/milk mixture (heres where the toothpicks may have been handy, hindsight is 20/20). I would have skewered the meat closed with a tooth pick rather than get my fingers all covered in gunk...but not necessary. SO! You've got the meat floured, dipped in the milk/egg, NOW dredge it seasoned breadcrumbs. I put some crushed red pepper flakes in my breadcrumbs with some other seasonings, use your IMAGINATION (in the SpongeBob voice while imagining I'm drawing a rainbow in the air...) Okay, so at this point you've coated the meat...then if you're like me, you forgot to preheat the skillet and oil...SHIT...just put the meat on a plate and stick it in the freezer for a bit while the pan heats...(helps keep the breading on while frying learned this with fried chicken hehe). Go ahead and preheat the oven to 400 while you're on a roll. Once the pan is at optimal temperature for frying thus things...don't be shy, throw 'em in. Brown 'em nice and pretty and flip 'em over until that side is nice and pretty...pull them out of the skillet and put them in a baking dish and stick them in a 400 degree oven overed in foil, to get the insides cooked through and melt the yummy cheese. This would be the prime opportunity to make GRAVY! Hurray, everyone loves gravy!
I, however, did not make gravy the first time I did this...your choice. I served with seasoned garlic mashed taters and green beans.

I was kind of skeptical about this recipe, but was desperate to find new recipes for cube steaks (being we have a shit ton of them in the freezer)...this is a family fave now and has been requested again! Let me know whatcha think!

FYI: My little sis is engaged!!!! Hurray. Her and Colby are stopping by tonight to drop off Halloween "Tandy" for the kids :) :)

Well...

One of these days I will post again...

More Pics!

Stuff...

Well here's come pics of Haelie...finally I know. She's already 10 days old...omg. Time does fly. The following video I thought was funny....Scott decides to go down the slide at the park. Well it's an old metal slide that's dented all to hell...so it's kinda boring. Pat suggests we try some Waxed Paper....this is what happens :)

Haelie Mae Wallace

Well as you could guess I've had a busy last few days!

Thursday Scott shot a doe early and we spent all day messing with it. Cleaning, skinning, processing meat. We eventually got it all ground up into burger and made some breakfast sausage out of part of it. Thank goodness it's all in the freezer now.

Friday morning we all wake up early after not being able to sleep well...in anticipation. We had to get up at 4:30 to be out the door by 5:45. Well it seemed like everything was going slow. Things kept getting added to the to-do list before we could leave. Scott and I had asked Pat to go up with us to take care of the boys while I was in labor. She loads up in her car and we load up in the truck ready to head to the hospital. After what seemed like a very quick drive we arrived at the hospital at 6:55am. I immediately get checked in by the admissions staff and get taken to my room where I met my nurse, Heather. Heather was a fantastic nurse. I loved her!!!! She was pregnant too...due in 3 weeks. She checked me, only to find out I was still at a 4. UGH frustrating. She hooked me up to the IV for fluids, ran my vitals, put on the monitors, and all that good stuff. Then my mom and dad show up! Fantastic. I had told dad NOT TO COME until I called him.....I was SOOO pissed. At around 7:30 she hooked me up to the pitocin. There I was hooked up to the IV, in bed....with 4 adults and 2 kids watching me, waiting. Staring at the monitors, watching Haelie's movement and my lack of contractions even on pitocin was frustrating. Around 8:30 My grandma Donna and Dinah show up! WTF. I about flipped the fuck out. I did not want anyone there but the boys and Scott...we had asked Pat to come to watch the boys, so having her there was fine....but the rest of 'em!? NO. If I heard "can I get you anything" or "are you in any pain" one more time I was gonna fly off the wall. I have a nurse, if I need anything I'll ask her. NO I'm not in any pain, look at the f-ing monitor...NO CONTRACTIONS. That goes on for quite awhile....I attempted to tune everyone out by watching random tv shows. Didn't work, they still annoyed the hell outta me and Scott too. The dr still hadn't gotten there, he had had a c-section to do also. No Contractions.....and being stared at like a zoo animal, it was all getting on my every last nerve. After some time, and lots of stress, I started having some regular contractions. Nothing painful, 2-3 minutes apart lasting 30-40 seconds. Then like a sign from above, the dr shows up at a little before 10. I kicked everyone but Scott out! HA. They check me again and I had made it to 4.5! WTF. I was getting really worried. Dr talked to me a little and decided not to wait any longer to break my water (thank the lord)...so at 10:17 he broke my water. Knowing my history of fast labors they were afraid to leave me...so they sat there and stared at me for a little while talking about hunting and etc. At 10:30 the dr checked me and Haelie had moved to 0 station but I was only dilated to 5.5. He said it'd probably be a couple hours to get me to a 7 or 8 then after that it would go fast. Ugh...more waiting. The dr said he was going to get some coffee and would check back in on me in a few minutes. The nurse stuck around for a few more minutes and decided to do the same. At that point I started feeling the contractions. Not extremely painful at first, but hard to talk through. Dr and nurse show back up at around 10:45. At this point I was uncomfortable and in pain. I knew it was only going to get worse and asked for some Nubain. Nubain is an IV pain med. The nurse gave it to me and checked me again. I was at a 10!!!! Thank the lord. I went from a 5.5 to a 10 in 20 minutes! The Nubain pissed me off. I felt drunk but still felt EVERYTHING. It didn't do ANYTHING for the pain or the discomfort, just made me dizzy and groggy. Close to 11, I was feeling an extreme amount of pressure and sudden urge to push. While the nurse and Scott were trying to roll me over from my side to my back and legs into the stirrups the dr was putting his gloves on and had me start pushing. After 4 contractions, lots of screaming and pain, and what seemed like forever, Haelie was born at 11:08. They put her on my chest for a second, until I asked them to take her. I did not feel good. Feeling drunk, extremely tired, and still in tons of pain and waiting to pass placenta, I did not want her on my chest when they could be cleaning her up etc. Scott cut the cord and the nurses went to work on her. Her APGARs were 9 and 9. She demonstrated her healthy set of lungs and got handed to Scott. Meanwhile the dr was trying to get me cleaned up after the placenta came and noticed I had tore in two places. Not where I had torn with the boys....My whole body throbbed in pain and requested more Nubain before they even touched me. They gave me the Nubain and dr stitched me up. 2 stitches each tear, 4 stitches total. By this time I had lost a lot of blood, which wasn't helping the woozy feeling...not to mention I was hungry! Scott had Haelie and I could hear her screaming in the background. He was trying so hard to console her. The nurses and dr didn't give her back to me until around 1 to nurse her b/c of my state: losing blood and weak. Sometime during all this the boys came in to see their sister. They went back out to Pat and all the "guests" went to eat lunch. I ordered lunch for myself. Meanwhile I tried to rest. The nurses didn't want me up moving around a lot at first for fear of losing more blood so I tried to sleep and couldn't. Eventually I felt a little better and the guests came back in. They all admired Haelie, 6lbs 8oz, 18" long, and a full head of dark hair. She was/is beautiful. I know I'm biased but She is just a gorgeous baby. Shortly after the guests came in, they all left. wtf. They came and annoyed me so early only to leave when I felt like having people around!?? I felt like taking a shower, hoping to make myself feel better. The shower helped and I tried to catnap in between feeding Haelie. The nurses were in and out poking at my belly and checking vitals on Haelie and I both. It was hard to rest. After that it went pretty fast. Pat went and got us Chilis-To-Go for dinner and we ate. Scott's cousin Michelle came by with her two kids and my dad showed back up...(why dad!? He had annoyed me enough in the morning, why come back so soon). I think he was jealous that Pat had the boys...ugh. We also tried to watch a movie but felt like it needed turned off due to the profanity lol. We didn't sleep well, none of us, well except the boys. They slept like rocks. Morning came quick. The new nurses came on duty and came by to annoy me with blood draws, vital checks and etc. I was ready to go home. A few hours later my dr came in and talked to me and gave his authorization to release me. He also told me that I was losing too much blood still and not to be running any marathons anytime soon. Okey dokey doc. We still couldn't leave until Haelie's doc came in to check on her and release her. So we waited. Pat took the boys to some garage sales and Scott worked on getting Haelie's carseat all fixed up, while I tried to pack. For 1 night in the hospital and no gifts...we had a lot of stuff. That's something else that saddened me...no gifts. Not that I expected anything for me...but not one thing for Haelie. For as much as I've been bugged about "when is she coming" and all the excitement over Scotts family and mine...no one brought her anything. That made me sad for her sake. Oh well. It's not like she's going to remember that when she gets older, but still sad. Haelie's bilirubin finally got checked and the pediatrician finally came and checked her out and my nurse gave me my discharge papers. We left the hospital at 1:30. Haelie wasn't a bit jaundice, she was keeping her temp up, she didn't lose hardly any birth weight, she's perfect. We stopped by walmart on our way home, I ran in quickly for some snack food and some misc baby things I needed. I started feeling really weak at Walmart. Got back in the truck and came home. Colby and Audrey came by a few minutes after we got home and checked out baby Haelie...then they left. I did some minor things around the house and we watched a movie. Sirena came by briefly to check out baby Haelie. I went to the grocery store with Pat and got some hotdogs and brats for dinner, quick and easy. The weather was sooo nice we didn't want cooped up inside, esp after the poor boys had been stuck in the hospital. they needed their play time. I showed Haelie off to the Starks, we ate and went to bed. Everyone slept well. Woke up decently early Sunday morning, got dressed, and went over to Pats. We hung around there for awhile and I took a little nap. We went to FS out of boredom. On our way to FS we drove by Guy and RuthAnns, they were home so we stopped to show off Haelie. We stayed about an hour and left. A trip to FS middle of the day and not going to El Charros would be a crime, so we had lunch. After El Charros we went to Walmart to do some looking around and etc. Scott whined about spending an hour at walmart only to buy a few things, but atleast we werent bored. Eventually we made it back home and turned on a movie. Terry, scott's grandma, and Scott's great-grandma came by to check out Haelie, while Pat went on a walk. After they left, Pat came back over to finish the movie. She had talked to Nick a few times and he wanted to see his niece. We got on Skype and he got to see Haelie and talk to the boys and it was enjoyable. We were all tuckered out as you can imagine and hit the hay. Now it's Monday......

So far, Haelie is a great baby. She doesn't cry unless shes getting a diaper change or I'm taking too long to get her fed. She's beautiful. She makes funny noises (which the boys think is halarious). She loves her hands being by her face and sometimes she tries to stick her hands in her mouth...with her pacifier. lol. I have to take her back to the Pediatrician today to do a weight check sometime, BUT i intend to take bunches of pics of her and get them posted ASAP.

-*-*-*-*-Blah*-*-*-*-

Sorry to disappoint but it's not going to be a drama filled post this time. If that's what you were looking for than skip this.

For the rest of you:

I had a pretty good weekend. The weekend really started on Friday, b/c Scott didn't have to work. The boys still had school, but we got to enjoy the day together. We rearranged the living room and cleaned up some of the house. It was nice getting to spend the day with him at home. After we picked Colton up from school he was whining about his tummy hurting. He took a short nap after school and guzzled some gatorade. Come to find out, it was muscle cramps. I guess he did a lot of running during recess and p.e. Friday that caused him to cramp up. Poor thing. After Colton's little nap, we headed to Paola to meet our dealer. That sounds bad but he is our dealer lol gun dealer that is. We got an email from him earlier in the week saying a gun we'd ordered in MARCH was going to be coming in on Thursday. Friday evening was the only time the dealer could meet with us. Just so happens that this gun is Scott's Christmas present this year. Anywho, after picking the gun up and heading home, we made a detour to Scott's moms to show off his new "toy". We still hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we came home and ate dinner...at 9pm. I made some quick Shake n Bake pork chops and Pasta-Roni noodles. It was very very good for being such a quick and easy meal. Saturday we got up and Scott called his mom to see if she was feeling better. Luckily she was and said she'd shower and get around and we'd go do something shortly after. We arrive and try planning out the day and then Becky shows up and camps out. Her doing this caused Pat to feel like she needed to stay there and entertain her. So frustrating. Pat hasn't felt good and finally when she does feel good, on a nice Saturday, she can't go do anything! B.S. Not to mention Becky was being a bitch! Scott and I get frustrated at the whole situation, come home and Scott decides to put up our Christmas tree....yeah, in September. After the Christmas tree went up we went back over to Pat's to re-assess the Becky situation. Thank goodness she was leaving as we showed up, which I'm sure pissed her off HA. Pat decided she wanted to get out of the house so we go to Dollar Tree and to the Bass Pro in Independence for a change. Scott got a Christmas village...what a dork I married. I wanted to get some Halloween decorations and that didn't fly...weird. We get home around 8:30 and still hadn't eaten dinner. I made some more shake n bake pork chops and Scott made some weird mashed potatoes. I wasn't feeling good and didn't eat much. We turned on a movie and went to bed. Sunday I woke up pretty early, I couldn't sleep. I felt like crap. I thought it was all allergies, now I realize its more of a head cold. Pat came over and helped us wrap the Christmas presents we had already gotten to put them under our tree. Afterward we dug through Pat's attic and garage to find our Christmas shit. Ugh. I like Christmas just as much as the next person, and don't completely disagree with putting the tree up early...but in September...with all the decorations, NO! Scott wanted to put ornaments on the tree and we compromised with just lights. He wanted to put stockings up and we compromised at letting him keep his stupid Christmas village up. Anywho, Sunday we went up to Louisburg and went to the Cider Mill. The boys picked out some pumpkins and we got a few things from their country store, including 10#s of apples. Scott wanted me to make him an apple pie like RuthAnn's. I slept the whole way back and we came home, cleaned up the kitchen and started making the pie. While the pie was baking, I lit the grill to grill some steaks and made some more Pasta-Roni noodles (on sale this week :)). We all ate dinner and then dug into the pie. Afterward we sat down to watch a movie and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I encouraged Scott to lay down in bed with me while I slept and he could still watch the movie. He fell asleep before I did lol. I slept pretty hard through the night and woke up feeling like crap. I got the boys off to school and came home and slept until it was time to pick Dakota up. Scott and Dakota watched a movie while I slept on the couch next to them. I woke up with just enough time to pack Scott's lunch and send him off to work before getting Colton from school. ...After picking up Colton, we all came back to the house and talked about their day at school and here I am. I'm hoping to feel like doing something before it gets real late. My sickness and the weather really isn't helping the situation out much. It's been crazy stormy here all day. Great sleeping weather, but not great weather if you need to get something done. We'll see how it goes..........

FYI: Haelie comes on Friday!!!

8 days left...

After todays dr. appt. I realized I only have 8 days until I'm induced....8! I don't have very many prego pics of myself so I thought it'd be a good idea to try and get some snapshots...They're not the best, but hey, can you blame a four year old for trying!? Dakota did his best taking the pics and I tried to edit them to make them look a little better, without success. So here's whatcha get!

A bad dream I can't wake up from

The title to this post is a vague summery of how the last week has treated me. Of course, I'm exaggerating a little. The last week hasn't been ALL bad, just most of it. Last Thursday I had my routine dr visit which went well. Friday, didn't do a lot. I tried to rest some and didn't really succeed, but that's how it goes. Saturday, Pat, the boys, and I went to KC and did a bunch of running around. We got a lot of stuff for Haelie. I feel a lot better about Haelie's arrival with the purchases made on Saturday. I feel more prepared now. I still have some stuff that I would like to get done before hand, but atleast a lot of the shopping portion is taken care of. Now it's just getting organized and preparing. Saturday while I was shopping, Scott was working on a nightmare of a side job. Sunday, he needed my help, so I go help. This side job consists of hanging sheetrock, finishing, and everything ready to paint. This is an old house we're talking about. The area to be sheetrocked was an old rock-walled basement....double fun. Scott had gotten most of the basement hung Friday and Saturday. Sunday I learned how to "spot screws" and "wipe down". I'm an amateur drywall finisher now! Hurray for me?! We worked 12 hours, while I had several contractions...nice huh? I didn't really want to help again Monday, but wanted to help Scott get the job done faster so we could both rest and not be so stressed. So Monday we worked 10 hours. In the midst of all this, more work got added to the list. For example, hanging and finishing the entire attic/loft area! 1160 ft of rock to hang! All of this, the homeowner wants done by SATURDAY. Scott has a regular job too, ya know. OMG. Talk about stress. So Tuesday, I stayed home most of the day. Getting the kids to school, doing misc neglected housework, etc. By 2:30 Scott called and said he needed me to come up and help him in the upstairs of this house after the boys got out of school. So I arranged for Becky to keep them for us to get this stuff done. Drove up and got to the place at 5:30. Scott was going to be there at 8. I was going to get started and do some misc things before he got there. Well that turned into a nightmare and nothing was going right. Of course. Scott and I get into an argument on the phone about how he was tired and wasn't going to come over to the house to work at 8. He was going straight home. This irritated me. I'm 36 wks pregnant and have been working to help him, busting my ass, and he's tired and wants to go home?! After senseless debating on the phone I head home. I get home and we have a talk about the whole side job thing. The deal with the side job isn't even for CASH...the guy is broke and is a general contractor and friend of Scott's regular boss of which Scott has worked with several times prior to this. The method of payment for this labor and materials is Guns. The guy is giving Scott guns in trade for labor and materials. Okay, what kind of guns you ask? Guns that aren't worth as much as the labor and material!!! Not to mention this guy thinks Scott's screwing him!!!!! Scott cut him a deal on the guns traded to give the guy a break 1) b/c hes a GC and knows people, 2) b/c hes a friend of Scott's boss, 3) b/c the guy is broke. It's one thing for Scott to offer to do all this work for the guns. Its a completely different thing for Scott to do all this work for guns that arent even valued at what the labor and materials are, and on top of that to still have the guy thinking Scott's bending him over!!!!! I about told the guy to shove the whole job up his ass. There is other misc. bullshit with this job also. For instance, nothing being ready. This guy was supposed to have everything in the basement framed and ready to hang...nope. Scott had to spend 90% of Day 1 on the job, framing! Okay, can handle that...next, he wants the job done ASAP so he can put up trim and paint and lay carpet. It's not Scott's fault the job isn't done due to lack of organization by the homeowner. That's how this whole deal is going. Nothing is organized and ready, yet the guy still wants it done in an unreasonable amount of time, considering the circumstances. The upstairs for example is current living quarters for the homeowners teenage kids. He wants another wall framed up and it hung and finished by Saturday; ready to paint. Scott did not agree to frame up a wall. Scott also cannot hang and finish a wall that doesn't exist. wtf!? Not to mention the kids' shit is still in our way. Anywho, I go up and help Scott again Wednesday, which was against my wishes, but did it anyway. Things actually went pretty smooth Wednesday, lots of progress dispite having contractions most of the day. I was so preoccupied with everything else I didn't bother to time them. We get back into town around 7 and pick the boys up (who had been with Becky since 5pm the day before). I felt sooo guilty leaving them. They were really missing us. We hadn't seen them hardly at all since Saturday so we decided to let them skip School Thursday. They were actually okay with this idea, b/c they were gonna go help Daddy at work. lol. At Pat's that night, I had mentioned having contractions etc in casual conversation and mentioned I was curious to see how dilated I was at my appt Thursday. That was the end of the conversation. Wednesday night I did not get any sleep. Contractions like crazy, actually keeping Scott awake b/c he was worried. They weren't painful, just annoying. We finally got to sleep after midnight and woke up at 5:30 Thursday morning. I drove my car to the city, following Scott and the boys. We get to this stupid side job and start in doing stuff. I had to make three trips to Home Depot for more materials Thursday, ugh. A lot got accomplished in the few hours we were there, but not as much as there should have been. My dr appt was at 1:40, so I left the job at 1 to head to the dr office. Scott decides he is gonna go with me until he had to be at work downtown at 4. We get to the dr office and check in. Shortly after the U/S tech comes to get me and prepare me for the weekly BPP. I told her I'd like to wait on the BPP until after the dr checked for dilation (considering the amount of contractions I had been having). I didn't want to do the BPP at $180 and then have the dr check my dilation progress only to find I'm in labor. The dr was actually at the hospital delivering so we had to wait about 30 minutes. Finally when he got back, they checked me and I'm fully effaced, 3cm dilated. Kinda disappointed I was only a 3 but oh well. They proceed to do the BPP, which Haelie scored 8/8 again. The BPP checks and scores baby's functions on 4 categories: breathing, heart function, activity and fluid level. Two points per category=8 pts possible. After the BPP I hopped on the scale for the nurse and was shocked to see I had gained 3.5 lbs in 1 week! Holy shit!! Now I'm up to exactly 20lbs total this pregnancy. The dr met us in his office where we talked about when to call as far as labor goes and future appts and things of that sort. We decided on 9/25 at 7am to induce labor if she doesn't decide to come before then. We're gonna do another BPP next Thursday and then that's it for those. Finally, light at the end of the tunnel! Scott and I were sharing our thoughts while walking out of the dr office at 3:15 (long appt with all the waiting) when we see Becky's van parked next to my car. Wtf!? Pat, Becky, Nick, Dreyton and Connery all came up b/c they thought I'd have Haelie yesterday. Dontcha think that woulda been something I would call them about!?? I had texted them earlier in the day telling them that I'd let them know what the dr said about the appt afterward...why show up without a call!? Scott and I were pissed. Makes us not want to call them when I'm in labor. Then they all act disappointed that I wasn't having Haelie...ugh! I was pretty worked up on the way home. I get home to a messy house with no food in it and that instantly made my mood worse. I tried to relax a little by surfing the net, but that didn't work b/c the boys were holy terrors. They decided to mop the bathroom floor with Gatorade, crunch up an entire bag of shell covered peanuts on the porch, etc...I was about to lose it. Not to mention I still had to figure out something to eat for dinner! Scott only had a couple hours of work before he'd be on his way home, so I decided a relaxing evening on the couch with snacks sounded perfect. I went to the store and got stuff for his Nachos, chips and dip and some corn dogs. Soo easy. During a movie, while snacking, Pat comes over and informs us of all this drama with Nick and his ex gf. Ugh...ridiculous. Then shortly after she leaves, Nick comes over and visits for awhile, then Terry shows up. Scott and I were exhausted beyond belief and didn't have the energy to listen to all this bs drama. Nick got pissed off at the situation and was going to go make an ass out of himself by calling and bitching someone out...so when he left, we promptly got into bed. Ahh, relaxing. I was out in about 10 minutes. Scott had taken the laptop to bed and was reading some articles and info on the guns we're getting for doing the stupid side job. I guess he was explaining different things to me but I was out. I slept pretty good until the alarm went off at 4:30 and I got up to hit snooze and couldn't hardly move. This is typical right when I get out of bed, but the fact that it's 9am and I still can't move very well is annoying! I hit snooze for an hour and finally got Scott up and sent him off to work. Got the boys around and off to school. Came back to finish this post that I've started about a thousand times and hadn't finished. I feel a little better after writing this but I still need some R&R which hopefully I will be getting this weekend. Scott is going to work a long day today to try and get things squared away with this side job and only go back for a couple hours tomorrow and Sunday. Youth season opens tomorrow and he needs to be free to take Colton to the woods. This should give me a relaxing weekend, hopefully. I plan on resting a lot of today with some minor housework duties thrown in. The rest of the weekend is going to be organizing and finishing up house cleaning. I need to get Haelie's stuff all organized and put up where it's going to be easily used. Anywho, I'm exhausted from typing all this and want to take a nap while the boys are at school so I'm gonna draw this to a close. Its been pretty hard to explain my emotions the last few days. I figured this post will help you all understand why I'm feeling the way I am...now off to try and take a nap!

A bad dream I can't wake up from

The title to this post is a vague summery of how the last week has treated me. Of course, I'm exaggerating a little. The last week hasn't been ALL bad, just most of it. Last Thursday I had my routine dr visit which went well. Friday, didn't do a lot. I tried to rest some and didn't really succeed, but that's how it goes. Saturday, Pat, the boys, and I went to KC and did a bunch of running around. We got a lot of stuff for Haelie. I feel a lot better about Haelie's arrival with the purchases made on Saturday. I feel more prepared now. I still have some stuff that I would like to get done before hand, but atleast a lot of the shopping portion is taken care of. Now it's just getting organized and preparing. Saturday while I was shopping, Scott was working on a nightmare of a side job. Sunday, he needed my help, so I go help. This side job consists of hanging sheetrock, finishing, and everything ready to paint. This is an old house we're talking about. The area to be sheetrocked was an old rock-walled basement....double fun. Scott had gotten most of the basement hung Friday and Saturday. Sunday I learned how to "spot screws" and "wipe down". I'm an amateur drywall finisher now! Hurray for me?! We worked 12 hours, while I had several contractions...nice huh? I didn't really want to help again Monday, but wanted to help Scott get the job done faster so we could both rest and not be so stressed. So Monday we worked 10 hours. In the midst of all this, more work got added to the list. For example, hanging and finishing the entire attic/loft area! 1160 ft of rock to hang! All of this, the homeowner wants done by SATURDAY. Scott has a regular job too, ya know. OMG. Talk about stress. So Tuesday, I stayed home most of the day. Getting the kids to school, doing misc neglected housework, etc. By 2:30 Scott called and said he needed me to come up and help him in the upstairs of this house after the boys got out of school. So I arranged for Becky to keep them for us to get this stuff done. Drove up and got to the place at 5:30. Scott was going to be there at 8. I was going to get started and do some misc things before he got there. Well that turned into a nightmare and nothing was going right. Of course. Scott and I get into an argument on the phone about how he was tired and wasn't going to come over to the house to work at 8. He was going straight home. This irritated me. I'm 36 wks pregnant and have been working to help him, busting my ass, and he's tired and wants to go home?! After senseless debating on the phone I head home. I get home and we have a talk about the whole side job thing. The deal with the side job isn't even for CASH...the guy is broke and is a general contractor and friend of Scott's regular boss of which Scott has worked with several times prior to this. The method of payment for this labor and materials is Guns. The guy is giving Scott guns in trade for labor and materials. Okay, what kind of guns you ask? Guns that aren't worth as much as the labor and material!!! Not to mention this guy thinks Scott's screwing him!!!!! Scott cut him a deal on the guns traded to give the guy a break 1) b/c hes a GC and knows people, 2) b/c hes a friend of Scott's boss, 3) b/c the guy is broke. It's one thing for Scott to offer to do all this work for the guns. Its a completely different thing for Scott to do all this work for guns that arent even valued at what the labor and materials are, and on top of that to still have the guy thinking Scott's bending him over!!!!! I about told the guy to shove the whole job up his ass. There is other misc. bullshit with this job also. For instance, nothing being ready. This guy was supposed to have everything in the basement framed and ready to hang...nope. Scott had to spend 90% of Day 1 on the job, framing! Okay, can handle that...next, he wants the job done ASAP so he can put up trim and paint and lay carpet. It's not Scott's fault the job isn't done due to lack of organization by the homeowner. That's how this whole deal is going. Nothing is organized and ready, yet the guy still wants it done in an unreasonable amount of time, considering the circumstances. The upstairs for example is current living quarters for the homeowners teenage kids. He wants another wall framed up and it hung and finished by Saturday; ready to paint. Scott did not agree to frame up a wall. Scott also cannot hang and finish a wall that doesn't exist. wtf!? Not to mention the kids' shit is still in our way. Anywho, I go up and help Scott again Wednesday, which was against my wishes, but did it anyway. Things actually went pretty smooth Wednesday, lots of progress dispite having contractions most of the day. I was so preoccupied with everything else I didn't bother to time them. We get back into town around 7 and pick the boys up (who had been with Becky since 5pm the day before). I felt sooo guilty leaving them. They were really missing us. We hadn't seen them hardly at all since Saturday so we decided to let them skip School Thursday. They were actually okay with this idea, b/c they were gonna go help Daddy at work. lol. At Pat's that night, I had mentioned having contractions etc in casual conversation and mentioned I was curious to see how dilated I was at my appt Thursday. That was the end of the conversation. Wednesday night I did not get any sleep. Contractions like crazy, actually keeping Scott awake b/c he was worried. They weren't painful, just annoying. We finally got to sleep after midnight and woke up at 5:30 Thursday morning. I drove my car to the city, following Scott and the boys. We get to this stupid side job and start in doing stuff. I had to make three trips to Home Depot for more materials Thursday, ugh. A lot got accomplished in the few hours we were there, but not as much as there should have been. My dr appt was at 1:40, so I left the job at 1 to head to the dr office. Scott decides he is gonna go with me until he had to be at work downtown at 4. We get to the dr office and check in. Shortly after the U/S tech comes to get me and prepare me for the weekly BPP. I told her I'd like to wait on the BPP until after the dr checked for dilation (considering the amount of contractions I had been having). I didn't want to do the BPP at $180 and then have the dr check my dilation progress only to find I'm in labor. The dr was actually at the hospital delivering so we had to wait about 30 minutes. Finally when he got back, they checked me and I'm fully effaced, 3cm dilated. Kinda disappointed I was only a 3 but oh well. They proceed to do the BPP, which Haelie scored 8/8 again. The BPP checks and scores baby's functions on 4 categories: breathing, heart function, activity and fluid level. Two points per category=8 pts possible. After the BPP I hopped on the scale for the nurse and was shocked to see I had gained 3.5 lbs in 1 week! Holy shit!! Now I'm up to exactly 20lbs total this pregnancy. The dr met us in his office where we talked about when to call as far as labor goes and future appts and things of that sort. We decided on 9/25 at 7am to induce labor if she doesn't decide to come before then. We're gonna do another BPP next Thursday and then that's it for those. Finally, light at the end of the tunnel! Scott and I were sharing our thoughts while walking out of the dr office at 3:15 (long appt with all the waiting) when we see Becky's van parked next to my car. Wtf!? Pat, Becky, Nick, Dreyton and Connery all came up b/c they thought I'd have Haelie yesterday. Dontcha think that woulda been something I would call them about!?? I had texted them earlier in the day telling them that I'd let them know what the dr said about the appt afterward...why show up without a call!? Scott and I were pissed. Makes us not want to call them when I'm in labor. Then they all act disappointed that I wasn't having Haelie...ugh! I was pretty worked up on the way home. I get home to a messy house with no food in it and that instantly made my mood worse. I tried to relax a little by surfing the net, but that didn't work b/c the boys were holy terrors. They decided to mop the bathroom floor with Gatorade, crunch up an entire bag of shell covered peanuts on the porch, etc...I was about to lose it. Not to mention I still had to figure out something to eat for dinner! Scott only had a couple hours of work before he'd be on his way home, so I decided a relaxing evening on the couch with snacks sounded perfect. I went to the store and got stuff for his Nachos, chips and dip and some corn dogs. Soo easy. During a movie, while snacking, Pat comes over and informs us of all this drama with Nick and his ex gf. Ugh...ridiculous. Then shortly after she leaves, Nick comes over and visits for awhile, then Terry shows up. Scott and I were exhausted beyond belief and didn't have the energy to listen to all this bs drama. Nick got pissed off at the situation and was going to go make an ass out of himself by calling and bitching someone out...so when he left, we promptly got into bed. Ahh, relaxing. I was out in about 10 minutes. Scott had taken the laptop to bed and was reading some articles and info on the guns we're getting for doing the stupid side job. I guess he was explaining different things to me but I was out. I slept pretty good until the alarm went off at 4:30 and I got up to hit snooze and couldn't hardly move. This is typical right when I get out of bed, but the fact that it's 9am and I still can't move very well is annoying! I hit snooze for an hour and finally got Scott up and sent him off to work. Got the boys around and off to school. Came back to finish this post that I've started about a thousand times and hadn't finished. I feel a little better after writing this but I still need some R&R which hopefully I will be getting this weekend. Scott is going to work a long day today to try and get things squared away with this side job and only go back for a couple hours tomorrow and Sunday. Youth season opens tomorrow and he needs to be free to take Colton to the woods. This should give me a relaxing weekend, hopefully. I plan on resting a lot of today with some minor housework duties thrown in. The rest of the weekend is going to be organizing and finishing up house cleaning. I need to get Haelie's stuff all organized and put up where it's going to be easily used. Anywho, I'm exhausted from typing all this and want to take a nap while the boys are at school so I'm gonna draw this to a close. Its been pretty hard to explain my emotions the last few days. I figured this post will help you all understand why I'm feeling the way I am...now off to try and take a nap!

Step-by-step

Amber and I were talking about morning rituals or routines...so I thought I'd post a step-by-step of my day...mostly out of boredom ;). The following is a "normal" weekday for me:

4:30: Alarm goes off, I waddle out of bed and hit snooze
4:35: (above)
4:40: I finally waddle myself to the alarm and turn it off, then bathroom.
4:42: hop in shower, get dressed
4:50: start coffee pot
4:51: attempt to find Scott some clothes.
4:53: set clothes out on bed for Scott
4:54: bathroom again
4:55: pour coffee in cup, bring to bedroom and set on dresser
4:56: start up the computer, check weather
5:00: get scott out of bed
5:05: pack Scott's lunch
5:10: meet Scott on porch and chat
5:20: refill Scott's coffee
5:21: Casey's for gas in Scott's truck
5:30: refill Scotts coffee
5:31: chat with Scott while he checks e-mails and surfs the web
5:40: carry scott's lunch and travel mug to the truck
5:41: say goodbyes
5:45: Scott pulls outta the driveway
5:45-6:15: surf the web
6:15: get clothes out for boys
6:20: start bathwater for boys
6:25: start waking them up
6:30: they get in bathtub.
6:40: i get them out and dry them off
6:42: they get dressed while i get breakfast going
6:45: we eat breakfast
7:00: they play while I clean up from breakfast
7:10: i start a load of laundry
7:15: i chat with the boys and play a little
7:45: round up school stuff
7:50: in the car
7:52: drop off at school
8:02: back home
8:02-11:30: various household duties with lots of facebook and bathroom breaks in between
11:30-pick Dakota up
11:32: back home and talk about his day
11:45-3:00: various errands, household duties, playing with dakota, bathroom breaks and facebooking
3:00: go to school to pick up Colton
3:17: back home and talk about Colton's day
3:30-5:00: other misc duties, playing with the boys, etc
5:00: start dinner
5:45: serve dinner
6:00: clean up from dinner
6:20-8:45: relax, chat, play, watch movie, etc
8:45: lay kids down, tuck in, goodnights
9:00: chat with scott, set alarm, crawl in bed
12:00: bathroom
2:00: bathroom

Repeat!

Naturally, I'm sure I forgot some things, but that's a rough idea...crazy. It's gonna change soon with the arrival of Haelie!

Progress!

Well I had my routine prenatal checkup yesterday. It was a great appt. No drama, got to see my little girl movin' around on the "TV" (as the boys call it), etc. The u/s tech did the BPP and Haelie got 8 points out of 8 points! I lost a pound, but they didn't seem too worried about it. So this puts me up to 16.5# total for the pregnancy. I told the dr about the problems I had been having with my jaw, etc. He agreed that could be affecting my weight gain. I got the wonderful Group B test and got checked for dilation. As of yesterday around 3ish, I was 100% effaced but had no dilation. After today if I go into labor, he won't stop it. Wow...amazing to believe or what!? It's almost that time! Soooo exciting. I've yet to completely pack my hospital bag...which I'm sure I'll be kicking myself for real soon, so that's gonna be my priority for today; Atleast getting everything washed and dryed and picked out. An empty suitcase and good intentions just aren't gonna cut it. :)

Update on the little boys: They LOVE school! I'm sooo glad for it too. They come home with all kinds of stories and new songs they've learned, its great. Today is Colton's class' "Show n Tell"...he hasn't decided what he's taking yet, but will have to figure out something. I believe today is the day to make snacks in Dakota's class, which he has been raving about since last Friday's muffins. :) They grow up sooo fast.

Again, this wasn't an exciting, drama filled post, but I'm sure there will be a good one soon. :)

Time...

I know it's been awhile since I've posted. This won't be a ranting/raving post like usual, but more of a philosophical post. Last night I was lying in bed. not being able to sleep as I get kicked in the bladder and ribs. While laying there, quasi-dozing off, I realized Time is a funny thing. I wondered why it's felt like a lifetime since I found out I was pregnant with Haelie...yet at the same time it feels like yesterday. The fact that Scott and I have been together for 8 years today baffles me. 8 Years! In which I confuse myself by thinking "Already?" and "That's it?" Feels like 1 year but also feels like several decades. The boys growing up is another conundrum like this. I can't believe Colton is 5 and Dakota is 4....they should either be older or younger than that by my whacked out internal clock. I don't know if its just ranging pregnancy hormones or if I'm going even more crazy than I was before, but this "TIME" topic really confuses me. Time can fly, Time can drag...how can it do both!? Anywho, this isn't making much sense, so thats all I'm gonna say about that...

FYI: Today is another Dr. Appt. At which I will get a BPP, Group B test, and be checked for dilation! Wish me luck, it's almost time!!!!! btw: I'll be 36 wks tomorrow!??! Scary!

A Mix Tape of Emotions Vol. 2

First I'd like to thank my two readers for being loyal, supportive and understanding. Without you guys I would be seeking therapy and a room at Osawatomie. Thanks! I know how you guys love hearing my crazy stories of drama and chaos so I won't let you down with this post....

I love my husband and he loves me, I know this much. I however HATE some of the things he says and does and his constant bickering about certain things. The phrase "No one realizes what you do, until it isn't done" has became my motto. It's frustrating. Anywho, Friday afternoon Scott calls and we argue slightly over money. What a fantastic start to the weekend, I thought while crying and hanging up the phone. I was certain the weekend would be a disaster. He gets home and has a headache and isn't in the best mood. Great! Eventually he started to get into a better mood and we head over to his mom's to try and get some brush piles burnt for her and to cut down a small tree. We get there purposely after 6pm (when Dreyton has to leave to visit his dad every other Friday). Of course, Becky is there with Connery cooking dinner for herself and Brian at Pat's house...? Scott looked around for a suitable fire starter and got to work on the brush piles. After hearing several times we don't do anything around Pat's house and she does everything, I get severly annoyed, as does Scott. What really took the cake is when Becky kept saying "well Brian would do this" "Brian said do that"...Is Brian fucking here right now!? NO! Is he gonna light these piles up!? NO! Shut the fuck up! Typical behavior though, no surprise. Scott then decides hes going to cut down a small tree growing in the middle of a large cedar in Pat's yard. This must have been the first time Scott had ran a chainsaw b/c of the comments I heard, he didn't know what he was doing. After the little tree was cut down, something was mentioned about trimming the lower branches of the cedar so no one could hide in it?! I have a few things to say about this: 1.) If you've ever tried to climb into a cedar tree, it isn't much fun and would find a more comfortable spot to hide in instead...such as a barn, a shed, 4' tall grass...the list goes on, but no we're worried about this fucking cedar!? 2.) Cedars that are mature and have branches touching the ground generally don't have grass under them and have many years worth of needles below. Trimming the lower 4'-6' of branches, as suggested, would look fucking retarded. Scott made his point by giving a "you're a lunatic" look and walking off to put the chainsaw up. After this, I'm sure there were plenty of unrealistic things said between Becky and Brian about Scott and I and doing stuff around Pat's house. There was this pan of random crap thrown together cooking in the oven that Becky called "Lasagna"...I don't want to get started on her cooking abilities...none the less Pat ordered a pizza for Scott, the boys and I, mostly out of refusal to eat the cobbled up shit called lasagna. Becky can take an awesome thing and completely ruin it by changing it to make it her own, which should be a crime in all 50 states. Dakota was hungry while waiting for the pizza and goes into the kitchen to see what Becky, Brian and Connery were eating. He takes one look at the pan, gives this strange look and says "I want pizza". Priceless! My boys arent stupid, they know good food from bad ;). I'm not saying that I make a perfect meal everytime, but I do try my damnedest! Eventually Becky and Brian left and Pat, Scott and I played Phase 10 Master's Edition for a couple hours....then it was home to bed.

On Saturday, we slept in. I was in desperate need of some decent sleep, so this was most appreciated. We got around slowly and went to Grandma Bettys to check on the deer feeder. After realizing the deer had not touched our corn for two weeks, Scott decided to move the feeder and dump a few piles of corn on the ground. We left and came back into town so Colton could practice shooting some more before Youth Season started. While driving around town we found my mom and dad. They followed us to our house and Dad dropped Mom off with us for the day while he went to help my uncle Larry. Normally this would have irritated me to no end, b/c my mother does not get out and about. She is a couch potato for lack of a better term. TV and Couch all day long. Well, it was too nice of a day to sit at home and cater to her usual routine, so we continued preparing to go shoot. Mom went with us! My mom's health isn't the best. She has several mental disorders as well as serious heart problems among other things, but I think getting out and enjoying fresh air and sunshine was good for her. We went out to Becky and Brians to shoot and Colton did such a great job! Scott spray painted a "deer" on a large piece of cardboard and Colton hit vitals at 100 yrds with the SKS every time!! We were so proud. Dakota shot his 22 at 30 yards and did okay. I feel bad for Dakota, he's getting really jealous of all the hype on Colton going hunting, etc. :( Anywho, after shooting we came back into town and I went to the store for dinner ideas. I decided I was going to do Caribbean Jerk chicken, Roasted potatoes and corn on the cob. Dad had said he'd be over to pick Mom up shortly, so I wanted to have dinner ready. Well, it didn't turn out the best. The potatoes were crunchy, the corn was overcooked and the chicken was alright. Oh well...shit happens. By this time, Mom had spilled a pepsi on my living room carpet and dropped her hotdog (she won't eat dark meat) while falling asleep with a mouthful of food...this is Mom's usual behavior or her "crazy" moods as I call it. Dad put Mom in the car and immediately left after eating...that pissed Scott and I off. Can'tcha stick around a little while!? Out of boredom I text Pat to see if she felt up to playing another round of Phase 10 Master's Edition...she did! We trucked over to her house and played cards for the rest of the night. It was nice. I didn't win...but it was still a pretty good time. After the game, it was time to hit the hay.

Sunday we got up and around and went over to Pat's to see what she was doing for the day. We ended up helping her do some shrubbery work. Her shrubs were out of control before yesterday, but all is well now. After a couple hours of that, we all, Pat included, hopped in the truck to go to Grandma Betty's to check on the piles of corn and the recently moved feeder and to grab a tree stand. Come to find out, it looked like the deer had already found the piles of corn! 2 weeks with a feeder sitting out there, there was no signs. 1 day of corn piles and they'd been attacked! Funny huh? Anywho, we grabbed the tree stand and headed to Raymonds to put it up out there. We figured having another stand at Raymond's would be a good place to hunt Youth season for Colton. After that, we came back to Pat's house where we found Becky's van in the driveway...Doesn't she have her own house!? We all walk inside and Pat instantly ran to the bathrom. Colton and Dakota were excited to see Connery so they run into the living room to find him. Big mistake I guess. They got their asses CHEWED. Connery was asleep and the boys were diliberately trying to wake him up....Becky couldn't hear her movie...fucking ridiculous!!! Scott went outside on the porch and Pat, unaware of what had happened, followed. I run outside and Scott asked where the boys were. I said in the toy room and he said to get them! I go inside and god forbid they play with anything that makes any noise half the house away, b/c they were getting chewed out again!!! I grabbed the boys' hands and took them outside. They asked what I was doing and I said "preventing you from getting your ass chewed anymore" right in front of Pat. Scott and I were like FUCK THIS. If Becky wants to lounge around all day and nap and watch movies, etc....she has her own fucking house to do that. And then to act like she owns the place in telling the boys they're being "inconsiderate" of Connery's napping. WTF! It's not her fucking house. Granted Scott and I spend a lot of time at his moms, BUT we don't act like we own the place. I don't go to the grocery store and buy stuff for dinner and then go to my mothers house to cook it, b/c I don't like going home!? Grow up! She is on some fucking high horse and someone needs to dismount her! I get tired of everything revolving around her. The world stops for her. She's always in charge of EVERYONE. Fuck this shit. I know I'm hormonal and everything with being pregnant, but I know I'm not crazy in saying I have a right to hate her. She treats everyone like shit unless she wants something. I don't understand how a person who pretends to be so nice can be so hateful and rude. After we load the boys up and come home I cleaned out Scotts truck and my car. Pat came over to use our shop vac to vacuum out her car...while leaving Becky at her house. HA. Scott decided he was going to go sit in the recently moved tree stand to scout deer so he left. Pat brought over some shears and an electric trimmer so I could try and tame the tree covering most of the front of the house. She stuck around and helped for awhile...while Becky was at her house. Thanks Pat! It's about time she showed a little backbone and quit trying to please her daughter all the time. She has two other kids plus 4, almost 5 grandkids....! UGH After Pat left, I started dinner. I grilled Lemon/Herb chicken and baked potatoes. This actually turned out not too bad. Of course when I'm not cooking for anyone but us 4, its awesome lol. After dinner, I was BEAT. I turned on a movie and within the opening credits I was dozing off. I encouraged Scott to come to bed. I was out like a light....until 3:30 when I woke up sneezing, with a headache and Haelie dancing around. I've been up since....makes for a long day, but I've already gotten a lot accomplished, so that's a plus. I'm exhausted and in need of a nap already, which is sad, but oh well.

I know you guys will appreciate this weekend summery of mine lol. Let me know what you think!

Mutton Bustin' Videos

Dakota riding a sheep




Colton riding a sheep

Just a little while longer...

I've been slacking on my blogging duties, as usual. You shouldn't be surprised though as this is my norm. As far as recent activity for us, it's been a whole lot of nothing. Nothing extremely exciting to report. It's Monday and I have lots I want to get done this week. I don't have any dr appts this week, so that leaves me home this week. Colton starts Kindergarten on Thursday so that is exciting. Dakota will start preschool next Thursday, the 27th. This week I have many goals with housework, organizing, etc. I want to get a thorough cleaning done on the house, plus rummage through closets and get rid of old, worn out apparel. I'm so anxious! Haelie will be here before we know it!! I'm 33 wks now, which I'm figuring about 4-5 weeks until shes here....wow thats only a month! I plan on packing bags for the hospital this week, picking out a "coming home" outfit, as well as getting the 3rd bedroom fixed and uncluttered...along with all my usual housework duties. Wish me luck. Hopefully I can get everything accomplished.

Well it's been awhile since I've written a venting post about my crazy family so...here goes.

Friday was a blah kind of day for the most part. I wasn't in the best of moods. No reason in particular just overwhelmed with the stupid lawnmower, preparing of the boys' birthday parties and anticipating the drama to come. As you probably know I've been budgeting like crazy to build up some cash for baby Haelie to come....this is not as easy as it seems. This problem also added to my stress on Friday. While in the middle of completing housework, I received a phone call from MIL. She wanted some company on her quick trip to the city, where she needed blood drawn. Her blood had been drawn Thursday, but I guess there was a clot in it and it couldn't be tested. This was important blood work, for it decided whether or not her trip to Oklahoma for Chemo was going to take place today. So, I quickly rounded up the boys and went to KC with her. We ran around a little after her blood was drawn and Scott met us at Chik-Fil-A after he got off work. FYI: Colton and Dakota LOVE Chik-Fil-A for some reason....esp ones that are close to a Target..? After getting a lunch/dinner snack we headed to Walmart for a few things. MIL bought two cakes for the boys' birthday parties...THANK YOU MIL! I would love to be one of those creative moms who can turn a bowl of batter into a piece of art, but I'm not. My idea of a birthday cake are cupcakes or a simple 9x13 cake with a simple layer of frosting. So I was very thankful and appreciative of her purchasing their cakes. After Walmart we headed home and tried to go to bed early.

Being that my day of cleaning got cut short by the surprise trip to KC Friday, I woke up bright and early Saturday to do the rest. I cleaned the house top to bottom Saturday morning and it felt so good. I was completely exhausted, but it was worth it having a clean house. Scott made sure he and the boys stayed out of my way: I was on a mission. We weren't expecting any guests until after 3, so nearly a full day to get everything "presentable". I went to the store and got everything needed to make a quick, easy, cheap meal for all of the party guests. The menu was Drive-In themed. We decided to make thin burgers and homemade french fries. As I was getting ready to peel potatoes, SIL shows up with her boys.....this instantly put me into an anxiety attack. She walks into the kitchen and sits all her shit on my clean counter while I'm trying to peel potatoes. I, irritated, moved everything out of my way and continued. She comes in a few minutes later, after being in the living room supervising child play, and gets mad I moved her things, and put them back on my counter......I was nearly irrate at this point but let it slide, and politely moved everything out of my way AGAIN. I started frying and Scott started the burgers on the griddle. As things were finishing cooking, people started arriving: perfect timing. My mom, aunt, FIL and GMIL showed up but we were still waiting on my sister, her bf and my dad....This angered me. We put off opening presents until they arrived, which seemed like forever. While waiting on the, my nephews got in their "moods" which meant everyone could see why I have some gray hair at 23 years old and dreaded the entire party to begin with. The the three older boys were out in the yard and Dreyton did something, not sure what. Scott saw him out the window, rushed out there and spanked all three of them. I was instantly jealous of the satisfaction that he received from that. It was completely frustrating hearing SIL bitch constantly about minor things while still waiting. Finally, the three we were waiting on showed up. Colton and Dakota opened their presents, which consisted of trucks and cars. We had a talk with Colton and Dakota about not telling everyone you want the SAME THING. They did also get a gift card (they called it a debit card, but whatever haha) to Target, which they were happy with, as long as it went to the Target by Chik-Fil-A, ha. Knowing how things would turn out if the presents were actually removed from original packaging with my two nephews still there, we waited for that and decided to cut cake. I wanted to make my boys feel equally special on their "party day" so we sang Happy Birthday twice and they blew out their candles in their own spotlight. I was passing out cake when it came around to Dreyton's turn....I turn to SIL and ask her if it's okay if he has a piece of cake. I wasn't just going to give him a piece and then have my ass reamed for giving him sugar, so I asked. I was given the okay to give him a piece of cake, as what Colby described it was "as big as my thumb"...with the frosting scraped off, of course. You know he's "hypoglycemic" and can't have sugar.....................makes perfect sense to me? After eating cake my boys picked out one new toy to have opened to play with before getting ready to go to the Demo Derby. Dakota picked a truck/horse trailer combo and Colton picked some Hot Wheels. Connery was playing with a little old tractor, but wanted what Dakota had. Dakota was trying to be nice and still defend his birthday gift by pulling it away. I happened to walk into the living room at this very moment. I said "Connery no no" simple, non-threatening tone to get his attention to leave Dakota the hell alone and play with what he had. Becky jumped in and said he had Dakota's new toy first. I stormed off while she was mid-sentence and screamed silently in my head. Poor Dakota. Connery is two now and should have some basic fundamentals learned about sharing, but he doesn't b/c he's still a "baby". Colton and Dakota can't even defend themselves while Connery is beating the living daylights out of them, b/c they're nicer and don't want to hit a "baby" back. This pisses me off to no end. Thank the heavens for Becky buying a living room set and needing to head home to unload part of it. She loaded up her kids and the dense air left with her. After smiles and laughter returned we wanted to take the boys to shoot their Chargers, which was part of their birthday gift from us, but it was no surprise to them, since we've had them since March and they've been shooting them haha. Their other gift from us, which we hid in the wrapped Charger boxes were new boots. The rest of the party guests travelled over to MIL's to watch the boys shoot their "new" guns. My family has reservations on letting the boys shoot .22s, but after watching them, they all got excited to see they enjoy it and they're pretty good at it. They show knowledge of firearms and safety that I couldn't expect out of typical 4 and 5 year olds. I know there are those that will disagree, and to each one their own, but I believe that proper knowledge of safety and handling will prevent accidents you hear about on the news. Colton and Dakota know the difference between a fake/toy gun and a real one. They play with their toy guns and they are serious about their real ones. They take pride in hitting a target or making a pop can jump; having fun, but also being safe. Needless to say, everyone rooted the boys on as a Coke can bounced from here to there and as another hole was added to the target. My aunt had never shot a gun before, so I was determined to get her to. I helped her shoot the boys' chargers and she instantly fell in love with it. She may not go out and buy a new gun to be able to do this again, but now I think she has a better understanding of why we do what we do and of who we are. After emptying alot of .22 rounds down range, it was time to get ready for the derby. Dad thought it was important he return home as soon as possible, which meant Audrey and Colby had to go with him, instead of attending the derby. This hurt the boys' feelings and mine as well, BUT my mom and aunt decided to stick around for the derby. MIL had reservations about going b/c of the sickness in the air and the large crowds of people, but she decided to go too. She had purchased advance tickets, which for some reason SIL decided to hold hostage. We get to the derby 30 minutes early, but 30 minutes too late for good seats, while MIL had to wait outside the gate for SIL to arrive with her ticket. SIL didn't get there until the first heat was lined up. Scott and I had found a few spots to squeeze into, afterward MIL, SIL and her two boys joined us. My mom and aunt sat in a lower row b/c of my moms lack of not being able to climb bleachers. SIL sat directly in front of me with a huge ass diaper bag in my knees. I didn't even bring my purse; I shoved my phone and some cash in my pocket and called it good. Why bring a huge diaper bag to a demo derby thats only gonna last 2 hours to accomodate a 6 and 2 year old???? Makes sense to me? I got frustrated after the first few heats of not being able to breathe without SIL and the damn diaper bag getting in my way, not to mention the bleachers were killing my back, so I moved down to enjoy the rest of the derby with my mom and aunt. Scott and the boys followed. We couldn't see as well, but it was roomier. My mom and aunt had never been to a derby before and thought it was fun. It was nice to be able to share my redneck obsessions with them. I wish I could have taken them to the tractor pull, which Scott, the boys, and I enjoy more. After the derby was over we start walking to our vehicles, my mom and aunt mentioned how nice SIL looked and she just kept walking....what a bitch! Can't even acknowledge a compliment!? So walking back to the truck, I informed my aunt of the situation with SIL and why we get along oh so well. She mentioned there were several times throughout the day where she would have liked to slap SIL....hahah! After traffic let out we dropped MIL off at her house and went home. Scott and I had a nice long conversation about the day's dramatic events while we unpackaged the boys' new toys. Shortly after, we crawled into bed for some much needed rest.

We woke up Sunday not having anything planned but to help SIL move MILs couch out and SIL's old couch into MIL's house...follow all that? We get around slowly and head over to MIL's to see what she was up to for the day. Scott shot his bow a little and the boys played and played. We all went to the store to grab stuff for lunch, when we returned we found SIL was at MILs house....no big surprise, she practically lives there. MIL, Scott and I cook lunch while SIL bitches at the kids for being kids and sitting on her ass....no big surprise there either. We eat and Scott and I went outside with the 4 boys to watch them play and to enjoy the beautiful weather while MIL did somethings around the house. Where was SIL? Who cares, she was leaving us and the kids alone. While Scott and I were refreeing the kids, Dreyton was on his bike with helmet, Connery was attempting to sweep the porch and Colton and Dakota had a few toys they were playing with. Scott then witnessed Dreyton run Colton over with his bike...Scott told him firmly to knock it off or else...a few seconds later, he does it AGAIN...this time Scott flipped out and slapped Dreyton's helmet. This caused Dreyton to lose balance on his bike and tip over. He wasn't hurt, just shocked that someone actually disciplined him. Scott told him to get up and play nice. Dreyton ran in the house, certainly to tell his mom or something, b/c Scott looks over to me and says "atleast I won't have to move a couch today". Sure enough, Becky storms out of the house, loads Dreyton and Connery into the van, without a word to us and proceeds to tell her mom that she'll move the couch by herself sometime this week. Ha I'd like to witness that and Scott was right. I felt overwhelming satisfaction in Scott sticking up for our boys. They get treated like shit 99% of the time by SIL, it was nice to see SILs kids see a little of that action when they're sooo deserving. I know I sound cruel, like I don't love my nephews, but I do...I also love my own kids and worry about them. I'm sure we'll get some kind of court order for child abuse here soon from SIL, but all I can say is FUCK HER. I'm sick of being treated like shit in my own house. I'm sick of my kids getting treated like shit in my house. I like the fact that Dreyton and Connery are close to my boys, but most of the time it isn't worth putting up with SIL for them to play together. Anywho! When SIL left...the thick air left with her...I think she's followed by some dark and demonic cloud of insanity. MIL didn't say one word about the incident with Dreyton and Scott...I'm glad she didn't too, b/c I would have had a lot to say in return about HER DAUGHTER. Dreyton and Connery are NOT bad kids, they're good for anyone when SIL isn't around...which is rare, but still. Obviously its a parenting issue. A little while later Scott, the boys, MIL and I decided we were gonna take the boys to Target so they could pick out something with their gift card. It was an enjoyable trip to the city. Target was a little stressful trying to help the boys pick out something with their "debit card", but we left with a Hot Wheels Track and some Hot Wheels cars. MIL wanted to go to Best Buy for a wireless router, so we went there and helped her pick one out. We bought the new Fast and Furious and headed home. After getting home we assembled the race track and sat down to watch the movie. It was relaxing. After the movie was over we crawled into bed, to hopefully end the long day.

Today is Monday and it's arrival is bittersweet. The stress of the birthday party is over, but new stresses have gained priority. School enrollment, Mutton Bustin', and many other things require my attention this week. SIL drama should be minimal due to Sundays events so that's fantastic. Anywho, I know this is a depressingly long post, so I'm going to end it now.