Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving today! The last of our guests just left and now I need to finish the kitchen... but I'm procrastinating instead. =P We only had 17 people this year. I'm so used to hosting big crowds that 17 feels like my family with just a few extras.

This is one of my favorite days of the year. Not so much because of the turkey but because of the.... SHOPPING!! Ahh yes... all those fantastic sales that are just calling my name! I spent a good part of yesterday shopping with Hannah at the outlets. Then this morning I went shopping with Drew for about 2 hours inbetween cooking. And tomorrow Brooke and I will be at Walmart at 4am! I find it very important to bond individually with each of my children. What better way to do it then shopping. haha

Last year after only 2 stores we had to come back home and unload the truck and the Envoy! I'm fully prepared to do just as much damage this year too. ;) I just need to sit down and figure out my game plan.

I'll report back tomorrow with all my great finds!!

2 days....2 major events

I'll start with the first one. Drew FINALLY gave up his paci... on his own! I had decided that I would take it away at the start of Christmas break... Dec. 19th. But he had other plans I guess. Last night he took a bunch of his pacis and started cutting the nipples off of them. I about freaked when I saw him do it... because frankly I was tired and I knew that we would have a long night ahead of us if he didn't have a paci. As he was cutting them up he said, " I'm not a baby anymore and I don't need these". Sigh... I know you're not a baby... but you're MY baby.

See... everyone else was bothered by the fact that he still had that damn paci. Frankly... I just didn't care. I took the bottle from him right at a year ( just like all the dr.'s recommend). He was potty trained right on time. And he slept through the night.... oh yeah I forgot.. he STILL doesn't sleep through the night. =P Anyways... his paci just didn't bother me. It was a comfort item to him and to me for that matter. haha I could actually get him to sit for 5 minutes if I gave him that paci. ;) And frankly I was thrilled that he had used a paci and not his thumb ( or his wrist like my silly little nephew :) ). I knew that eventually he would give it up... I just wasn't quite prepared for it to be last night!

So night time rolls around and we begin the 3 hour saga of trying to get to sleep. This poor little guy was MISERABLE... and so was his poor mommy. =P He cried and cried and begged me to pull them out of the trash can and tape them up. Little did he know that I still have a dozen of them hidden! I was soo close to caving and giving to him... but I knew it was time. At one point he begged me to give him my finger. I asked him why... he told me he needed something to chew on. Um yea... not happening. lol I finally got him to sleep by rocking him like an infant... I told you he was still my baby. ;)

He woke up this morning all excited to see what the paci fairy left for him. Brooke had told him last night that he would get a present for giving up his pacis. Oh SHIT! Guess it's time to pull out a christmas gift and plop it on the counter. He happened to run downstairs while I was in the shower and I knew he was going to be one very upset little boy. Instead... he comes running into the bathroom to tell me that the paci fairy left him a Spiderman! Huh? Maybe there really is a paci fairy... and if so maybe there really is a Santa too. In which case... I'm going to save a lot of money this year. lol Then it dawns on me... Matt went into work for a few hours this morning. He confessed that he went to Walmart at 4am to get him a Spiderman. If that's not the sweetest thing ever. :)

Our 2nd major event! Hannah got her braces on today! She insisted on getting the kind where you can get the different colored bands with them.. so right now she has pink bands. =P She definitely looks like quite the teenager with them on. She's not liking them so much right now... but I know from experience that they are sooo worth it in the end! She wanted to eat Skittles today and was none too happy with me when I said no! Talk about wrecking them in no time flat. I just invested 6 THOUSAND DOLLARS in that kid's mouth! Do you know how many Vegas trips I could take for that kind of money? haha She had better take good care of those suckers!!

I think I got it!

After spending entirely too long messing with this damn thing... I think I've figured it out.

Now of course I won't remember how to change it so it will be dots for the next 6 months. lol

Gaah... I've screwed it this thing up!

I'm trying to mess around with some different background and such. So now I have a different background... but don't know how to change the rest of it. lol

So bare with me while I try and figure out how to do all this crap. Not that anyone reads my dumb blog anyways. lol

Mommy, I did the laundry for you!!

Yep... this is what Drew came running to tell me the other day. He was sooo excited that he did the laundry. Which immediately tells me that I probably have a HUGE mess to clean up!

I walk into the laundry room and don't see anything out of the ordinary. Then Drew showed me exactly what he did. He dumped half a bottle of liquid detergent all over the dryer... and all the laundry that was in there. AHHHHH!! I got to spend the next 1/2 hour wiping detergent out of my dryer. Thanks for the help Drew. =P

A new look!

Thanks Sara for changing the background! I had to giggle when I saw it. We all know how much I hate snow.... and I have a whole page of it. lol

And speaking of the dreaded S word.....we're supposed to get some tonight. Blech! Can I just crawl in a hole and not come out til Spring break??

And the quest continues...

I had a meeting with an advisor at Sinclair today to see if they could help me decide what I want to be when I grow up. I've been running a few ideas through my head like Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, etc. Turns out all these programs have wait list that are YEARS long and are eventually going to bachelor's degrees anyways. So basically... I could spend 5 years getting an associate only to find out I have to go back for even more! Um no... not happening. =P

So now that I have the whole "I'm going back to school" thing out of my system.. I'm trying to decide what other avenues I might like to explore. I asked the kids at dinner tonight what they thought I would be good at. Hannah thought anything with cleaning would be great...because I obviously must love doing it since I do it so much. Brooke said a school bus driver ( why is it I keep coming back to this haha). But then she recalled the unpleasant event of me ramming Jess's dads truck into our neighbor's mailbox last year even though it had beepers telling me I was too close. She said that back up over small kids might get me in a bit more trouble than it's worth. And my sweet boy said um... you want to get ice cream? Not sure if that means I would be good at scooping ice cream, eating ice cream or what?

So there we have it folks! I'm going to use ALL my talents! I'm going to drive a really clean school bus while eating ice cream! Hell yeah.... if that's not eveyone's dream job!

Okay....

You people suck! I should've known better than to think I could get any actual ideas from you guys. Although I now know what you all think my strong points are...

Jess said: Larry has an open position doing laundry at work.

I can do kick ass laundry.... but damn have you seen the size of some of those women that work the laundry room. Yikes!

Sara said: I'm looking!! Gonna find you something fantastic!

Look a little harder Sara... I've been begging you to find me a job for YEARS now. ;)

Dad said: You can take care IN YOUR HOME,your father as he gets OLDER.fEED HIM,TAKE HIM FISHING and what other fun things he would enjoy. NO MALL SHOPPING PPPPPLEASE!!!!!!

Hmmm...this one might be a possibility. Taking care of Dad all day long. I'll just do the same thing he did to Hannah when he watched her 1 time.... leave her sitting in a poopy diaper for 2 hours and pretend he didn't smell it. lol And I can just leave him in the fishing dept. when I go to Target/ Walmart/Meijer on a daily basis. ;) It would have to be a pretty good hourly rate though!

Julie said: I'm thinking the pageant circuit. You could start training for Mrs. America.

Um yea... that one was quite amusing! Last I checked Mrs. America didn't have boobs down to her knees, drive a minivan and list her volunteer work as wiping poopy butts and runny noses.

Misty said: You can join a direct selling group! ;) No explanation needed. You know what I'm talking about! Hehehe! I will take you on my team! :)

Now Misty... if I start selling what you sell... I'd be giving a whole lot of explanations!! haha

Bill said: You could be one of those sun glass vendors out on the curb at an outlet mall. Who needs sun glasses when it's over cast or you could always go back to being a life guard. At least you'd have the winters off !!!

I think Bill came closest to finding my dream job... a lifeguard again. But sadly I think my butt is just a bit too big to fit in those lifeguard chairs these days. I'm sure with a little grease on the thighs I could get in and out of that chair... but I feel sorry for anyone who has to view that. =P


Thanks guys for giving it a shot. But here I am.... still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I'm contemplating the idea of going back to school... but only if I can take all online courses... that way Hannah can do the work for me! ;)

When I grow up...

I remember being able to list off a million different ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Most of them involved working with kids... teacher, mom, school bus driver. Yes... I was dying to be a school bus driver! After my 5 year stint of driving a 15 passenger van for the Jewish Center I no longer long to drive an actual school bus. =P I've been a preschool teacher ( closest thing I can do without getting a degree) and I've been a mom for a looong time ( that job has enabled me not to grow up lol )

As Drew is approaching school age I'm debating with myself on a daily basis about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I need some ideas!! I would like to work part-time, on cloudy days only, preferably close to a major shopping mall, flexibile to take off whenever I feel like it. Can you think of any jobs that may apply? haha

Seriously though... I need someone to point me in the right direction.... what do you think I would be good at?

Can't wait to see these responses. ;)