Chicken Little

That movie is so darn cute. I like the music in it too. Caleb laughs hysterically at that pig.

So, Weight Watchers starts tomorrow. I am mentally preparing. Wax on, wax off.

Can I just say that Camille is awesome at math? She is, she is. I don't know why that makes me so proud, but it does. She is a sweet young lady and I hope she continues to serve the Lord with her whole heart. She watched the TV special on the Duggars and said she wanted 16 children too.

Less than five weeks until we go to Disney World. We are staying here. I am mentally preparing (hmmm, that sounds familiar) so I don't get too stressed. Believe me, a Disney World vacation is not my idea of relaxing. Especially with Caleb in the mix. However, Olaf and I are praying that we are relaxed and calm throughout the trip. I certainly don't want the children remembering their mother an anxious woman the entire time. The tax return money is in the bank and waiting for us to buy the tickets. I guess we should do that soon. We found an awesome site for discounted tickets. If you buy four days they give you two for free. Not that I really want to go to the Disney parks all 6 days that we are there, but hey...it's free. Can you believe that it is going to cost our family $1,146 just to get in? That is a lot of jack. However, they will remember it for a long time. Praise God that our condo in Orlando only cost $200 for the entire week thanks to a very generous woman who gave us a week in her timeshare. We also have to see if our next door neighbor will be able to take care of our menagerie while we are gone. They are really good neighbors. He works at a bakery where they make Weight Watchers cakes. He brings us over some goodies every now and then. If they cannot, then we will see if our friends down the street can do it. I just feel bad because someone needs to come three times a day to let the dogs out. We'll keep the cats in the garage while we are gone, but someone is going to need to scoop the litter. The birds will need to be fed at least twice while we are gone too. We are like Noah's Ark...everything in two's.

So, peace out! (I love quoting Napolean Dynamite) Have a great day!

I went to Alabama last weekend

I couldn't post about my plans prior because I went to see Becky as a surprise. She will be celebrating her 40th birthday next month and Charity and I wanted to surprise her. We drove about 4 1/2 hours to spend the day with Becky and Ashley.

(Susan, Becky, Ashley)

Ashley let us stay the night in her parent's house while they were away and we had a wonderful time. On the way, Charity and I stopped in Birmingham to pick up a cake at Edgar's Bakery. Oh what a gorgeous bakery! Their cakes are not only tasty they are gorgeous too. I bought a strawberry cake, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and rugalach. We ate some of the cake for Becky's birthday and I brought the rest home for the family. It is yummy.


It was just plain old fun driving four hours with Charity. We talked about everything under the sun. Our lives, our childhood, our marriages, our children... What a blessing to have her for a friend. We had a fantastic time. Here is a picture of Charity in the car.


On another note, I start Weight Watchers this Thursday. I so do not want to weigh in.

Thanks to everyone who left me a comment. You guys rock!

And just for fun:

ESTJ - "Administrator". Much in touch with the external environment. Very responsible. Pillar of strength. 8.7% of total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

It's way too stinkin' early for this post!

It's Saturday. It is 6:10 am. Thank you Caleb. Thank God for coffee.

Today Caleb has a baseball game and he is excited as always. Olaf said that he did a fantastic job last week. (Remember I didn't go?) He said he played so well that he is sure it was just a fluke. We'll see...

I received the PASS Test to give to Camille. I looked it over and I am certain that she will not do very well in Language Arts. I am giggling as I write this because if I had to take that test, I wouldn't do so well either. The math section will be fairly easy for her. Reading should be no problem as well, except for the vocabulary section. She'll stink at that. (And so do I, hence the word "stink" in the previous sentence.)

Oh, I looked at my friend Tammy's website. She is a realtor in Bend, OR. Take a look at her listings! WOW! That's a lot of jack, eh? That first house wouldn't cost more than 100-110K here in GA! YOU GO GIRL!

Oh there goes that bird chirping again. I'm glad I'm not asleep right now.

Have a great weekend! And please, leave a comment. When I go to stat counter and I see all the people that come to my blog I am amazed. I'm international you know?:0) So please leave a comment and let me know who you. I would really appreciate it!

G.K. Chesterton

How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about
(arithmetic), and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.

My Space

Have y'all heard of it? Here is my site. Cheri made me join (well, she didn't make me) and today it was all worth it. I found a friend from high school. How fun! It was completely by accident how I found him. MySpace is mostly for the younger crowd. I mean, I'm really old for that site. But, I was trying to find people from my high school that were about my age. I went to a person's site who I do not know at all and the song that was playing on his site said the music was by none other than my friend, Scott Southworth. Tammy! Can you believe I found Scott Southworth?

On the homefront, I watched The Wedding Singer today. Loved it! Completely loved it. OK, I'll admit it. I cried. I really did. I graduated in 1985 so all the music was fabulous.

I am starting Weight Watchers next Thursday. Not tomorrow, but the following Thursday. Waiting for tax return money. Until then I am going to eat normally (like a pig) and drink normally (some sort of adult beverage at night.)

My little guy is sitting in my lap which is making this rather hard to type. I need to go love on him. Have a great night.

This, that, and the other

Nothing much to blog about. Except that it seems like everyone is pregnant. I called a friend last night that I haven't talked to for a few months and she is expecting (Ms. Martha, I'm talking about Sharalyn). This will be her second child and she is a high risk pregnancy. She has tachycardia and takes beta blockers for it. She cannot take them while she is pregnant and her heart just races and causes chest pain. Pray for her.

Camille is doing math right now. I ordered her achievement test and will give that to her in April. Since she took the same test last year it will be fun to see how much she has improved. I was looking through this catalog (on paper not online) last night. They have some great books and curriculum. There is a Children's Club for young girls called Keepers At Home Club For Girls. Their little boy club is Contenders For The Faith Club For Boys. It sounds like something I would love to do with Camille. I am going e-mail our local homeschool group to see if anyone already has a group going. If not, I just may start one.

I have been awake since about 3:00 am. You want to know why? Because some bird that obviously thought it was morning started chirping in my backyard and did not stop. Finally...finally, at 6:40-ish he shut up. The only thing I can think of is he spent too much time at the birdie bar and was looking for a date. I tried to find him but it was dark. I SO would have shot him with the BB gun. I would have pumped that gun up as high as my fat arm would let me and blasted the feathers right off him. I normally would not kill anything, but I would have taken great pleasure in shooting this bird. Maybe you can earn a badge in the Keepers At Home Club for shooting birds?? Well, maybe that would be in the boys club, but I bet you can earn a badge for frying it up in a pan!:)

Mmmm, all this talk of bird makes me hungry. I need to go eat breakfast.

Gracie Girl

Grace was watching Charlotte's Web today when Templeton the rat came on. (Remember his voice was done by Paul Lynde) Anyway, she says, "That rat is FATTER than Mama!" Oh my. It is certainly time to lose weight!:)

It's late

I just finished watching the new version of Pride and Prejudice. It was good but not as good at the BBC version with Colin Firth. Noone can do Mr. Darcy like Colin. I ate way too much while watching and right now, I really don't care.

Tomorrow is opening day for Caleb's baseball. He is so excited about it. He will ride at CORRAL from 12:30 till 1:00 and then he has to be at his game by 2:00. We'll be pushing it, but I'm sure we'll make it.

Today Cami had her riding lesson. The horse she rides now is spooked by the silliest things. Today she was rounding some barrels and this dumb horse starts sidestepping as if he is a dressage horse or something. It turns out the horse is afraid of his own shadow. He would be fine heading in one direction, but as soon as he rounded the barrel and saw his shadow he would start the sidestep again. It was the oddest thing. This horse has an extra gait, much like dressage horses do, so it was quite fun to see him doing this fancy sidestep. Camille wasn't happy at all because she couldn't get him to obey her. To be quite honest, this horse scares me a bit. I hope my mothering instincts are wrong on this one, but I am thinking he will eventually buck Camille off. And all I can think of is Christopher Reeve.

Caleb was home from school today. It was a teacher work day. I am going to try that. Hey honey, I need a day off this week. Teacher work day. Can you take the children and leave for eight to ten hours? Except knowing me like I do, there would be no work accomplished. Maybe a nice hot bath and a cup of tea. Ahhh, lovely. Especially after watching Pride and Prejudice. As a matter of fact, this entire paragraph has a British accent in my head.

Feeling sick right now. I think it is the three donuts and half a bag of Fritos. Why oh why do I do this to myself?? Have a splendid weekend.

Long Week

Olaf is in training this week and doesn't even get out of class until 6:30. He gets home somewhere around 7:00 which makes for long days for me. I don't know how you women do it who have husband's who work long hours. Like my friend, Charity. No thank you.

I went to my friend Becky's house today. It was the first time that we have ever went over for a visit. We had fun. She has a love of music that I think (I cannot believe I am going to write this) surpasses mine. The woman knows the lyrics to anything. Not to mention what artist died and when and how. Like the guy from Big Country died by suicide right here in Atlanta. She knew names of obscure people that I have never heard of. It was amazing. Of course all of that is totally up my alley so the three hours we stayed flew by.

When I left Becky's house, I went grocery shopping so I could feed my family supper this evening. Olaf is home now and it's almost bedtime for the children. I took a pregnancy test this morning which was negative. Sucketh. I'm getting used to it though. Oh, speaking of babies, it is so much fun to hear Scott talk about his new baby. He is SO tired and I think has a new respect for parents everywhere. Do you remember when number one came along? How it rocks your world? How everything used to be about you but now it's all about the baby. And the baby doesn't sleep when you want to sleep. And the baby cries... a lot! Yes, they are adjusting to that right now.

Have a good night!

Long, but funny.

Laws Concerning Food and Drink
Household Principles
Lamentations of the Father
by Ian Frazier


*Laws of Forbidden Places*

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea,
and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may
eat, but not in the living room.

Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you
may eat, but not in the living room.

Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of
the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color
and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living
room.

Of quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal
treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room.
Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in
sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room,
neither may you carry such therein.

Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room
carpet begins, of any food or beverage therein you may not
eat, neither may you drink.

But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching
something, then may you eat in the living room.


*Laws When at Table*

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such
as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below
you as they were.

Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the
table, for that is an abomination to me.

Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your
feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of
rebuke.

Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any
utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not
what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk,
and lick it off, you will be sent away from my presence.

When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the
table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth
hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding
like a duck: for you will be sent away from my presence.

When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you
have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or
your sister what is within; verily I say to you, do not so,
even if your brother or your sister has done the same before
you.

Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food;
neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the
raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you,
do not touch it, but leave it as it is.

And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a
marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend,
because we do not do that, that is why.

And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees,
do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do
not do that, that is why.

Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or
the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away.

Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into
the syrup.

And now behold.....even as I have said, it has come to pass.


*Laws Pertaining to Dessert*

For as we judge between the plate that is unclean and the
plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean,
then you shall have dessert.

But of the unclean plate, the laws are these:

If ye have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your
peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas
each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you
have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks,
both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then ye shall have
dessert.

But if ye eat a lesser number of peas, and yet ye eat the
potatoes, still ye shall not have dessert; and if ye eat the
peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, ye shall not have
dessert, no, verily I say unto you, not even a small portion
thereof!

And if thou tries to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas
around with a fork, that it may appear that thou hast eaten
what thou hast not, ye will fall into iniquity.

And I will know, and ye shall have no dessert.


*On Screaming*

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time.

If ye are given a plate on which two foods ye do not wish to
touch each other are touching each other, and your voice
rises up even unto the ceiling, while ye point to the
offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say unto
you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server,
that the server may correct his transgression and peace
shall prevail throughout the land.

Likewise if ye receive a portion of fish from which every
piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the
herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in
vileness, again I say, verily, refrain from screaming.

Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint
unto death, make not that sound from within your throat,
neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your
nose.

For even as I have made the fish, and it is as it should be;
behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die.


*Concerning Face and Hands*

Cast your countenance upward unto the light, and lift your
eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off.

For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your
head, and there is rice thereon.

And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie
of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a
manner beyond comprehension!

Only hold thyself still; hold still, I say.

Give unto each finger in its turn for my examination
thereof, and also each thumb.

Lo, how iniquitous they appear.

What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go henceforth
until I have done.


*Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances*

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time.

Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of the bath water
of any beast of the field, or any fowl of the air nor of any
kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the
package; nor rub your feet against cars, not against any
building; nor eat sand.

Leave the cat alone, for what hath the cat done, that you
should go forth and afflict it so and bindeth it with tape?

And hum not the humming in your nose as I read, nor stand
between the light and the book.

Verily I say unto you, you will drive me to madness.

Neither forget what I said about the tape.


[Ian Frazier, "Laws Concerning Food and Drink: Household
Principles, Lamentations of the Father," The Atlantic
Monthly, February 1997, Volume 279, No. 2, pages 89-90.]

We suck at bowling!

Olaf and I are pitiful bowlers. I mean gutter ball king and queen. My high score was 97 and Olaf's high score was 81. Woo Hoo! The children had the bumper pad things so they kicked our keesters. Grace won both games. It was a fun family day.

Today is supposed to be sunny and hot. I am not sure what is on tap for today. I'm sure we'll go somewhere or do something.

Happy Birthday Camille

Our trip to the mall yesterday was fun. We arrived at 10:00 am ready to shop. The first thing we did was go to The Picture People to get Camille and Molly's picture taken. They turned out CUTE!

Then we went to Cinnabon to eat a second breakfast.
After that we went to Bath and Body Works! What girl doesn't love smelly stuff??


Build-A-Bear was next where Camille got a cute outfit for her horse that we stuffed there exactly one year ago today!


Then we went to the movies! We saw "The Shaggy D.A." The funny thing is I saw the original Shaggy D.A. when I was nine years old at a birthday party too. It wasn't my birthday, but it was a girl in my class in the 4th grade. After the movie we hit the Disney Store, another store where Camille bought a horse Beanie Baby, and then my big girl wanted coffee (decaf) before we hit Borders.


She spent the bulk of her money on books. Good girl! She bought Phantom Stallion, These Happy Golden Years, The First Four Years, and A Felicity Mystery - Peril at King's Creek. I bought her The Rowan of Rin Series and the first two books of Deltora Quest. She checked out the first two Rowan books from the library and they were hardcover. The paperback versions have really scary monster looking things on them. Camille would have NEVER chosen those books on her own if the hardbacks had the same pictures on them. The books aren't nearly as scary as the covers imply. It's more of an adventure book, not a scary book. Then we went to Sonic for lunch (LATE) and got home somewhere around 5:00 pm. We all had a great day! Since today is her actual birthday the plans are to pick up her cake, go bowling, and eat dinner at Longhorn! Sounds like a fun day to me. Happy Birthday Cami!

Lessons in greed

Well, I just had an interesting (to say the least) learning opportunity with my almost 10 year old daughter. Olaf got home from work and Camille told him how she got $25 in birthday money in the mail today. She then proceeded to tell him that she has $45 in her purse now. Since Olaf wanted to go to Golden's (local restaurant) tonight he jokingly said, "Wow, Camille. You can pay for our dinner at Golden's tonight." Camille promptly replied with, "I am NOT using MY money for dinner!" (and she didn't say it in the nicest of tones either as you can imagine) Needless to say, that attitude ruffled this Mama's feathers. We already planned a shopping spree for tomorrow at the mall in lieu of presents this year. I immediately cut her spending money in half for the mall and took her into the bedroom and talked to her about greed and the love of money. We read the Bible together and I explained that loving her money more than her family and her God is just wrong. She cried and prayed, but I am not sure if she cried out of repentance or because half her spending money got taken away. Heavy sigh. And, the worst part of it all, we didn't get Golden's for dinner! I really did not want to reward her with dinner out after that entire scenario. Everyone loses tonight. Frozen pizza for supper.

Isn't She Lovely

Natalie Ingrid Jorek
March 6, 2006 ~ 9:11 pm
8 pounds even
22 inches

Natalie Ingrid Jorek

was born last night at 9:11 pm. She weighed 8.0 pounds. Daddy didn't know the length when he called. He was too excited to even stay on the phone for more than a minute or two. He needed to get back to that baby girl. It looks like I will be shopping today for baby GIRL clothes! WooHoo! I will post pictures just as soon as I get them. Ingrid is also my Gracie's middle name. It was Olaf's mother's name. She passed away in 1991 from breast cancer. She would have been so excited right now. Frances (the new Mama) goes by her maiden name so I am not sure if they intend on doing the hyphenated last name or not. I called the hospital yesterday trying to track them down to see how everything was going and it was hilarious listening to me explain that I don't know my sister-in-law's last name.

Me: Well, she is married to Scott Jorek but I think she goes by her maiden name. Can you check both names please? DOH!

Caleb is on the bus, it is 6:47 am, and Camille wanted Olaf to wake her up early so she could see the sunrise and journal. At her last riding lesson Lauren gave her a little Bible Study to do for the next week. One of the things it said to do was watch the sunrise or sunset. She chose the former rather than the latter. Don't ask me why. I think it's sweet that she wanted to do that. She really is a precious girl. This Friday is the big shopping spree for Cami's birthday. Molly's mom is coming with us which will be fun for me. We may go see that new Tim Allen movie that opens on Friday. What's it called? The Shaggy Dog or something like that. It just depends on what the birthday girl wants to do. TEN! She could be married in ten more years. I could be a grandma in ten more years! Our life really is a vapor. Go hug your babies.

I am going to be an Auntie today

Frances is being induced this morning. Hopefully today my new niece or nephew will arrive this side of earth. I will post a picture as soon as I get one from the proud Papa.

As I was getting my facial on Saturday morning, the skin care expert looked at my skin under a big huge mirror. She then asked me, "Would you like me to wax your eyebrows and your moustache?"

Me: Ummm, is it really that bad?

Her: Well, you can definitely see it and your eyebrows are very unkept.

Me: Well, I have a waxing kit at home. I'll do it later.

So today I waxed my moustache that I really didn't think you could see. OUCH! My eyebrows don't hurt anymore because I'm used to waxing them, but that upper lip hurt! And there is NO way you could pay me enough to do a "bikini wax." No. Way. I don't do bikinis anyway. The facial was nice though. I could see a difference in my skin when she was through. I got the "Calming Rosacea Facial" for sensitive skin.

We went to Callaway Gardens yesterday. I just love it down there. It is so relaxing a peaceful. So worth the $60 per year for the family season pass. Since we are considered a "local" family we get a break on the season pass prices. Just like you Floridians do on Disney. There are pictures on Flickr if you want to see them.

Today I have to take Caleb in for a psychological evaluation in order to keep his Medicaid waiver. I don't know how you do a psych eval on a non-verbal child, but it's required if the child has a diagnosis of "mentally retarded." So, I am jumping through all the hoops necessary; probably only to be denied Medicaid anyway. Olaf will be home from work super early so I can go get Caleb from school and be at the appointment at 1:00 pm.

My children are outside playing, but they come in about every 5 minutes for one reason or another. That drives me batty. First they need a towel to dry off the swings, then they need a broom to sweep off the trampoline, then they need a drink. All in the first 15 minutes of being outside! Remember when we were children? We HAD to play outside all day long. There was NO coming in unless you were bleeding. In the middle of that last sentence they came in again. Josiah wants to come in for good. You see what I mean? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE CHILDREN?

Laundry for dinner

Did I mention that my friend and I have a little bartering going on. I do some laundry for her during the week (this week it was three loads) and she cooks for us. Sweet. Today she made this fabulous chicken breast wrapped in bacon with feta cheese, olives, red onions and who knows what else on top. It was served with asparagus. YUM! All for three loads of laundry! I so got the better end of this deal! I do not like to cook, but I love doing laundry.

I wore my contacts today which just reminded me that I need to go get my eyes checked. I don't think my prescription has changed, but I'm out of contacts. I wish I could find somewhere to order contacts online without having a valid prescription. That is probably illegal though.

Josiah's cold has gone into his eye. He has conjunctivitis now. I am putting antibiotic drops in it and praying we don't have to go to the doctor for oral antibiotics too.

I need to go out tonight with Grace to buy her little friend a birthday present. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I am getting a spa facial at 10:30 am (thanks to Chantell giving me a gift card for being in her wedding). Then Grace, Josiah, and I will go to the birthday party while Olaf takes Caleb and Camille to CORRAL. Baseball starts next week, so every Saturday from now until July 22nd is officially booked. I hate that feeling. The feeling that I "have" to be somewhere every single week. Blech.

I booked a Pampered Chef party for April 11th with my PC lady. I haven't had a Pampered Chef Party in a long time. PC is her sole source of income and she does real well with it. She is a young single woman and is a really good consultant. I have been to several Pampered Chef parties through the years and she, by far, is the best consultant around here.

Tammy Settlemier, I loved the pictures that Tony posted on Flickr! You and your family look fabulous! And your mom and dad haven't changed a bit.

Please pray for this family. A woman went in to deliver her 5th child via C-Section and died on the table. Some amniotic fluid got into her blood stream and caused a blood clot. It killed her right then and there. I cannot imagine what this family is going through.

Mickey

This is my friend's baby! He is two months old today. He is in a size THREE diaper. Cute, cute, cute!