4everMom

The Christmas Program PSF

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:00:00 +0000

We had the holiday Sunday School program at church in December.

Julianna is just made for things like this...the music, the dressing up, the rules. She loves everything about it.

Jacob enjoys performing tremendously and can enjoy things like this. He was a little off this night however...the kids weren't as prepared as they could be, he wasn't feeling as well as he could be, the program went longer than it should have.

He hung in there and did his best, but you can see him starting to crack...

the eyes are shining...

something tremendously fun is going on over there. Something that has nothing to do with the program honestly. I should mention they're on risers at the front of the church.

Seems like the perfect time to do reindeer ears on your little sister.

Okay, not fun, just long.

Is this ever going to be over? I think I'm dying here.

I've got nothing. I've no idea what's going through his little head right now.

Hey, at least he wasn't the little boy that steadfastly unraveled his entire sweater during the program. I kid you not. He rolled the yarn into a ball and everything.
Like I said, it was a little long.

Hosted by Cecily and Carrie

365 Project--Week 1

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:58:00 +0000

Well, I'm still not positive I'm going to do this...I've never been the kind of girl to keep a daily diary, it overwhelms me. To me, this is a diary of sorts. Also, my world is physically very small. I'm home all day long most days. Is there really a photo to be had there 365 days? We'll see.

January 1, 2010

A local company has been displaying a beautiful, large, huge really, outdoor nativity for many, many years. It's an annual tradition to go downtown during the holidays and enjoy it. This year, it was moved to an area where you could no longer drive by it, you must park your car and walk through it. We went downtown to explore it on Christmas Eve, but it was cold, and drizzly, and Mark really wasn't feeling well, so we all decided we did not want to get out and walk through it. January 1, Julianna gave us the push we needed and we braved the bitter cold to go check it out.

January 2
I probably say this every year, but this year our tree seemed like the prettiest ever.

January 3
Our newest Menorah. I absolutely love it. It's completely not my style and yet I think it's beautiful. This picture really does not do it justice, I may attempt to recapture it again later, but I love everything about it.

January 4
This is what makes my crazy Tuesdays worth it. I am so thankful that my children have gotten to experience the blessing of music in their lives. I thank God that He led us to a teacher who was willing to make an arrangement that would allow them to take piano lessons.

Jacob and Julianna practice faithfully and it's wonderful to hear music in our house.

January 5
Lemon Poppy Seed Angel Food Cake. This picture's symbolic for me of my turning off the little voice. A lot went wrong with this cake. It did not turn out like it should have and I was able to acknowledge that the fault of that did not lie with me, but with the recipe. I was able to still serve it without apologizing constantly. I was able to enjoy it for what it was, flaws and all, and it was a great feeling. For whatever reason, I'm truly learning to let a lot of things go.

January 6
Toys everywhere at our house, all kinds of toys, and what Quinn wants to play with most is the broken basket that holds them.

Seeing Double WW

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:59:00 +0000

There's nothing better than spending time with family at the holidays.

Check out more wordless wednesdays.

Resolved

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:52:00 +0000

Getty images

2010 promises to be a year of change for me--Rebekah going off to school, financial changes, and I'm sure many others I don't have the ability to see in advance. Unfortunately, I don't deal with change well. It's that knowledge that prompted me to resolve to live in the moment this year. I'm going to do my best to not worry about the future and not look longingly to relive the past. Be here. In the moment and find the good that it offers.

Still, change is coming, change is hard, and what's hard for me about change is that so much of it is out of my control. I've decided to be proactive and make some changes of my own. Much needed changes that will positively impact my life.

In 2010, I'm going to:

Lose 25 lbs. In truth, I need to lose more than 25 lbs., but 25 is an excellent start. Honestly, 20 lbs. is a lot more in my comfort zone of do-ability, but 25 it is. I saw a great I-phone or I-touch app that lets you track calories, exercise, etc., but I have neither. If anyone knows a great website that truly helps with weight loss I would love to know about it. How do I hope to accomplish my weight loss goal? I'm going to start drinking water with most of my meals. I'm going to do my best to eat when hungry, not when stressed. I'm going to try and practice more "conscious eating". Choosing what I want to eat and when I want to eat and not doing either just because I'm not paying attention or the clock says to or all the other reasons I tend to eat. I'm going to pay more attention when I meal plan to building healthy meals into our schedule. That's not to say that every meal will be healthy, but hopefully I'll get to the point where more are than aren't. Those are the changes I have planned right now. My weight loss goal puts me at a 1/2 lb. per week pace. I'm confident that's doable, I will be watching my weight and making adjustments where needed.
I am going to begin an exercise program. Not only will it help with my weight loss goal, it will also help with my overall health. My blood pressure is way too high. Part of that is heredity, part of that is stress, part of it is weight, part of it is lifestyle. There's not a lot I can do about some of those components, but lifestyle I can change and this year I will. We belong to our local rec center. In an ideal world, I would go there 4 days a week, mid-morning, and work out for 30-40 minutes. In this working-mom real world, that's just not possible. Our rec center's childcare does not allow children under the age of one year so that leaves the rec center out of reach during the day. I wish they would open at 5:30 AM to accommodate real-life schedules of today, and I'm going to write city council asking them to consider that change. In the meantime, I'm lucky enough to have a treadmill gathering dust in my basement family room. The situation's not ideal, I literally have to move furniture to use it, but Melissa's got me thinking a lot about priorities and how we make happen what's important to us, and I've decided to make my health the priority it should be and make exercise happen in my life.
I'm going to get back to enjoying hobbies. I love to sew, knit, crochet, read, all sorts of things. I always feel like there's never time or money to pursue my hobbies. This year, I know it's important for me to find my way back to doing the things that make me happy. Chris, from Life...or a Reasonable Facsimile Thereof, has inspired me to consider taking part in the 365: photo a day project. I'm not 100% committed, I'm still on the fence about whether or now I'm truly going to do it, but at the very least I'm going to be taking more pictures this year. I'm not a particularly good photographer; Chris is, you should definitely check out his site, but it's something 1. I enjoy, 2. I want to get better at and 3. serves as a good distraction, potentially making this a good addition to my schedule this year.
I'm going to learn how to get on top of keeping my house clean. I'm not talking straightened here, I want my house to be clean. Sometimes I feel like there's a secret formula out there that I just never learned the code to, this is the year I'm going to figure out a system that works for me. I'm not up to FlyLady's rigidity, but I'm going to try and find a schedule that is doable for me and my family that will keep my house the way I want it to be. I'd really appreciate any tips or schedules that work for you.
I'm going to reduce our grocery budget. Honestly, I haven't quite figured out how that's going to happen, but it has to so I need to make it work. Again, any tips would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to spend less time on the computer. Shocking I know, but these wonderful little contraptions literally eat time. If I'm going to have the time to make these changes happen, I have to stop spending so much time browsing the internet.
I'm going to focus more on my relationship with Mark. We're both under a lot of stress, there's a lot more stress inevitably in our future. Neither one of us deals with stress particularly well. I'm smart enough to know that he is one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and I'm going to make more of an effort to live that. Money's definitely going to be tight this year, and come the end of August we'll lose our go-to babysitter, but date nights are going to become a regular event around here. We need to have more fun together and spend more time remembering what drew us together in the first place.
I'm going to turn off the little voice in my head that constantly runs negative thoughts about me through my brain. I'm ugly, I'm worthless, I'm not good enough for my family, they're all in there rattling around and they're absolutely doing me no good. I think accomplishing the other items on my list will go a long way to countering the negative thoughts in my head--the rest of the time? I just need to learn to push the off button.

Well, now you know my secrets. I'm far from perfect, a year from now even meeting all of these resolutions I'll still be far from perfect, but I do think I'll feel a lot more in control of my life, and that to me will be priceless. If you have any tips on helping make my life changes happen I'm all ears, and if you have any life-changes/resolutions you want to share I'd love to know those too. I'll be posting updates around the first of each month to keep on track of how I'm doing.

2010 Meal Plan #1

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Well, here we go, 2010 is off and running. Back into routine and for me, that means back to meal planning. Hope all of your new year's get off to a great start.

Check out more meal plans at organizing junkies'.

Luckily for my grocery challenge, this week's meals involve almost all leftovers or freezer items. It's a doubly good thing because I don't have the $225.00 to shop on this week, it's more like $65. :)

Monday--Pork and Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes
Tuesday--Chicken Enchiladas, refried beans, cookies
Wednesday--Stuffed Cabbage, bread
Thursday--Sloppy Joes, potato skins
Friday--Roasted Asian Chicken Wings, fried rice

Take care. have a wonderful week. xoxo

Challenges

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:16:00 +0000

One of the resolutions I have made this year involves getting a grip on our finances...definitely born out of necessity seeing as how things are going to be dramatically different around here financially.

Our grocery budget is crazy. Insane. Way too much. I budget $250.00 a week and I almost never stay within that. Now, before you judge me too harshly, keep in mind that is for five people, each of whom eats two meals here every day, and three to five of which also eats lunch out of those groceries every day. Additionally, I do home childcare and that budget includes lunches and snacks for the children I watch. I also include all toiletries, cleaning products, pet food, laundry supplies, paper products, in short, anything and everything I spend at grocery stores, Walmart, Target, etc.

Still, it needs to change. I will be thrilled if I can whittle it down to $225.00 and truly stay within it. Now, I'm not putting this out there to be obnoxious, I'm sure many people make do on much, much less. I'm putting it out there because I'm accepting a challenge from Erin of The Many Days of the DiCarolis Family to set a budget and keep to it. She's also giving away the book Family Feasts for $75 a Week, something that would definitely come in handy as I try to truly make some necessary changes in the coming year. I look forward to following Erin's Back to Basics challenge each week to hopefully help me learn what I'm doing wrong and how to make permanent changes for our future.

What changes are you making in your life this year, if any? How are you going about it? I've got a couple of other changes I'm working on, I'm sure they'll be popping up around here as subjects in the near future.

January 1, 2010

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:09:00 +0000

Happy New Year!!!

Tomorrow's Mark's and my anniversary. Twenty six years. I'm very proud of that. I'm looking forward to many, many more years together, if we're allowed that. Things are hard right now, that's certainly true, but even when he's driving me crazy, I know I'm very lucky to share my life with him.

It's the time of year for resolutions, and I certainly have my share of them, but most important of all I want to try and live in the moment. Not long for the past, which I'm lucky enough to know was wonderful, not to worry for the future, which I'm exceedingly good at doing. Live in the moment. It will be work, but I'm hoping to succeed.

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2010. Thanks for the support, it's made a huge difference in my life.

Christmas...life...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Snippets

I don't feel capable of putting two thoughts cohesively together. Sorry.

Christmas was wonderful...and yet...

Christmas Eve is Mark's birthday. He developed Bell's Palsy. Not what anyone would want for a birthday present.

Jacob and Julianna had "our best Christmas' ever!!!!" Yeah! I'm trying to cling to that memory right now because things are hard. Mark's just plain not feeling well. Thank goodness he has this week mostly off, because he definitely needs to put energy into healing, but he's just completely wiped out.

Wednesday Rebekah and I have an appointment where I fully expect to be told she needs knee surgery...possibly on both knees. *sigh*

I had a doctor's appointment today. It didn't go as well as I would have liked. Not terrible, but I definitely got the "if you don't take care of yourself you can't take care of anyone else" lecture. I know that's true, but it's very, very difficult to find time and energy to exercise right now.

Jacob's still coughing. Not as much, not as frequently, but still. He's been on antibiotics, steroids, and he's still barking. The doctor's starting to talk about seeing a pulmonary specialist or an allergist. For right now we're trying Zyrtec. Hopefully that will make a difference. I'm still not convinced that there's anything really wrong, a lot of people are complaining of colds that have hung on forever. I don't know if that's right and rational or if it's just a massive case of denial.

Julianna's eczema is acting up to the point she's having difficulty falling asleep at night. It's not horrible, but it's a bad flare and nothing I'm doing is helping. The first available appointment with her dermatologist is April 2. Seriously. Crazy. And, no, they won't call in her Aclovate which would clear it up in literally hours. *sigh*

I know I'm very, very lucky. I think about so many people I know who have things so much worse. Still, it's stressful right now. I'm putting all my energy into treasuring the good things that are happening, and there are many; and not worrying about the future, which is very difficult. That's why there's not much posting going on. Thanks for your understanding.

Christmas

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Please join us at Linda's for a Christmasy Random Dozen.

I saw this at Living to tell the Story and had to steal it. Too much fun.

1. Gingerbread: For or against? Discuss. For. My kids LOVE gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies, gingerbread houses, gingerbread gingerbread. Of course that all means more work for me, which I'm desperately trying not to think about right now, but it's worth it to build the memories. Right? Right?

2. Is it important to you to always stay (live) close to family? Yes. I'm two hours from my parents, which is fine. Closer would be nice, but we each have our lives and it works. I'm five and a half hours from our son and his family and I will be very happy if we're never any farther than that. I would absolutely love it if he could land his dream job at a University two hours from here.

3. Which holiday pretend character do you wish really existed? Santa from Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street.

4. Which holiday movie best represents how you feel about Christmas or life? Not sure what this means really, but I love Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street.

5. Is there a particular Christmas song that you're enjoying now? Any that you're tired of?
Songs I love:
I Saw Three Ships by Sting, Children Go Where I Send Thee by Natalie Merchant, Little Drummer Boy by Bob Seger. I also love the version with David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid. Mary Did You Know? is a fairly new favorite of mine. Baby It's Cold Outside by Lady Antebellum. I could go on and on and on. I love Christmas music. I also must confess to really enjoying I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake and John Lennon's So This is Christmas.

Tired of? Anything barked by a dog. Really? We had to do this?

6. What is your favorite way to remember those less fortunate at Christmastime? I love Operation Christmas Child and Toys for Tots. Anything that helps a child have a brighter Christmas. For me, it's all about children at Christmas.

7. Does it upset you to see "Xmas" instead of Christmas? How about "Happy Holidays" etc., instead of "Merry Christmas?" I hate Xmas. Hate it. Happy Holidays works for me as we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.

8. How many Christmas programs are you attending this month? Four

9. Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Any chance of that dream becoming a reality? Yes, as long as it melts the next day...all right the day after. ;) It could happen, we'll see.

10. Tell me about a Christmas present you received as a child. Pics are always nice. Sorry Mom and Dad, I don't remember any particular present...aside from contacts one year. I do remember the year I found my presents (sitting on the steps I might add), and totally ruined my mom's Christmas. Oops!

11. How many Christmas parties are you attending this month? One, and I'm looking forward to it when my natural social shyness doesn't threaten to overwhelm me.

12. How do you keep yourself centered on the significance of Christmas? I try and try and try to remember what's important. When I start to panic about my to-do list I think about what's really important. I also try to focus on making things nice for the kids. They're not going to enjoy things if I'm completely stressed and crazy making it happen. I want Christmas to be special for my kids--not the presents, the traditions, the coziness, the security, the warmth, the love.

My morning...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:46:00 +0000

You only wish you were me. While my morning trip to Wal*art thankfully does not top Anymommy's, it was, in it's own right quite an event.

I've needed to go to the grocery store for days. Seriously. When we have baked potatoes one night and Kraft spaghetti the next for dinner, things are getting low around here. Between Jacob being sick, and the car being broken, and life in general, it just kept getting put off and put off and put off. Tonight when I'm done working Julianna has a show in dance and Rebekah has a quick Jazz band concert so I had no choice but to take the kids I watch and go. I don't usually shop at Wal*art, I don't particularly like Wal*art, but I knew this was going to be a big shopping, and saving money's kinda important right now, so off we went.

Well, an hour and a half of shopping later, we ended up at the check out. An hour and a half with a baby, a terrible (at times--not often) two year old and a bored five year old. We go all through the process, and let me tell you it takes quite a while to ring up and bag several hundred dollars worth of groceries, and I put my credit card in and *crickets*. I do it again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. The line's building behind me, the kids are way past restless, it was not pretty.

I step out of the way and call my credit card company, fairly frightened at this point because I have no idea why my card's not working. A few weeks ago we had an unauthorized charge in our checking account, seemingly an innocent mistake, but it definitely concerned me when this charge would not go through.

When I got through to my card issuer it seems they had put a security hold on my account. Okkkayyy. There was a charge from a particular company for $62. Yes, I ordered anti-virus software yesterday from them. Well, today there was an additional charge of $62. They recommend that I cancel that software and felt it was a situation where I had agreed in fine print, to be charged every day so they put a security hold.

Thankfully, it's all straightened out now. I appreciate my credit card company watching out for me, but to freeze our account because of two charges? Really? The worry and embarrassment was pretty intense for what it turned out to be. Thankfully, one charge was a verification, one was the actual charge, I won't be charged anymore, the Wal*art charge went through. The back of my van is full of my groceries, but let me tell you that was not what I needed today.

WWYD??

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:10:00 +0000

It's time for my favorite question...what would you do?

Mark got a cortisone shot in his thumb last week. He was supposed to get a shot in each thumb, but he passed out after the first one and they wouldn't do the second. Go figure. He had to go back today.

I wanted to go with him and hold his hand and give him moral support and be there for him if he passed out again.

I asked Rebekah to stay home from school this morning with the little ones I watch so I could go and not have the financial zing of missing a day of work. She said yes. It was set, but I was uncomfortable with that plan because I didn't like having her miss school.

Yesterday she found out she was going to have a quiz this morning in a class she might possibly miss if I was gone too long, so I asked the boys' parents to make other arrangements so she could go to school and I could go with Mark. They said no problem (they are awesome people to work for), and we were all set. Now, the fly in the ointment was that Jacob was home sick yesterday. If he was still sick this morning, I'd have to deal with that.

He woke up better, not great, but better and I took him and Julianna to school this morning. I came home, putzed around with installing new anti-virus software and was running a teeny bit late to get out the door to go be with Mark. I put the baby I watch in the car, get in, go to start it, and...nothing. No lights, no buzzing, no turnover. Nothing.

Realize it is just not meant to be for me to go with Mark today. Call him. Call the boys' grandparents who are watching them while I was going to be gone, explain the problem, arrange for the boys to be brought to me. Again, an awesome family to work for.

Call around, get an idea that it's my battery, not the alternator. Good news. :-) The Honda dealership tells me the battery will be $125.00 installed. I figured that's worst case scenario, most expensive option we'll face.

I call the repair place at the end of our street. I explain what's going on, tell them where we live, they offer to bring a jumper to the house. They're here within a half hour, put the jumper on and get the car started. They offer to take it to the shop and put a new battery in. Great, I say, that would be perfect. Three little ones here and no running car, I'm not seeing a lot of options. No problem, he says, that will be $160-170. Is that okay?

What was I supposed to say? Beggars can't be choosers I figured, and they're even bringing the van back to me when they're done. Their service truly can't be beat, but boy! do you ever pay for it. I'm trying to beat down the little voice in my head that's telling me I could have bought a battery at a car parts store for under $100 and installed it ourselves. I certainly don't know how, and I don't think Mark's hands are up for it. But expenses like this are really hard to take, especially during the holidays.

What would you have done?

Postscript: Well, this place is truly awesome. They just returned my van, I realized the radio probably wouldn't work because the battery had been removed (a Honda safety feature). The guy sat out in the cold, bitter weather and leafed through my paperwork (including embarrassingly lots of oil change and tire receipts from other places), found my radio lock-out code and fixed the radio. Very much above and beyond. Very.

I won't claim I'll always go to them, unfortunately I can't afford that, but I will refer people to them and go as often as I can.

Bleh

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Even in this mood, this always makes me smile. :-)

I don't know what my problem is, but I can not seem to get in the holiday spirit. There's just so much "real life" yuck going on right now that it feels like there are black out shades over my holiday spirit. Not good. I have two little ones (do I still get to call them little ones?) who are very excited about Hanukkah and Christmas. They want their traditions, they want their excitement. They deserve those things, I just don't feel like I have the time or inclination this year.

Oh well, I'll do what grown ups do and fake it till I make it.

Mark's definitely not in a holiday mood either. His mood? Grim. Work's definitely not good, and that colors everything. Not only for him, but for me as well.

Bleh.

Well, tonight's the first night of Hanukkah. Jacob's wanting presents! and Latkes! and candles!

So, I'm off to the grocery store. Presents are bought, I just (?) have to locate them and wrap them.

We'll have a wonderful Hanukkah meal, eaten quickly before Rebekah has to rush off to be at the play, then we'll watch The Rugrats Hanukkah and play dreidel, and hopefully at least Jacob and Julianna will have fun.

Sorry this was a downer. Hope your holidays are off to a much jollier start. This weekend should help me get in the mood. Hanukkah's always fun, we'll be getting our tree and decorating it this weekend. The kids and I are going to see Julianna's dance studio's version of the Nutcracker...lots of fun stuff, I just wish it was December 1st instead of December 11th.

Meal Plan...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Busy, busy week ahead. Jacob's sick again...still...who knows. Hopefully he'll bounce back quickly, right now it's not looking so good. He's well on his way to missing two weeks of school this year. Wow! It's crazy, but what can you do, if he's sick, he's sick.

Monday (ballet/tap): French Toast

Tuesday (piano/jazz band): Meatloaf, parsleyed potatoes, brown sugar roasted carrots, cut out cookies

Wednesday (jazz): Chili, chili dogs

Thursday (jazz band/sax lesson): Chili spaghetti

Friday--last night of Hanukkah: Brisket, noodle pudding, latkes, sour cream, applesauce, challah, salad, rugelach

Plus, there's all kinds of stuff going on with each of the kids at school and in their extra activities. Why does December have to be so crazy???

Hope you all have a good week. Check out more plans at Organizing Junkie's.

Meal Plan...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Friday--Mark and I out to see Rebekah's play, kids get pot luck
Saturday lunch--Club sandwiches, chips
Saturday dinner--Roast Chicken, roasted brown sugar carrots, roasted new potatoes
Sunday lunch--Meatball subs, carrots, fruit
Sunday dinner (Sunday School Christmas program)--spaghetti w/meat sauce, garlic bread, salad
Monday (ballet, tap)--Spicy Orange Chicken Lo Mein
Tuesday (piano, rec center class, band concert)--Kung Pao Chicken, rice, sugar snap peas
Wednesday (scouts, jazz)--Free Wendy's for Julianna and I...cool story, bad service + really good, apologetic manager = free dinner for us, free replacement Frosty, free kid's meal toys (several), plus a free little something extra for Julianna to make up for the shabby treatment. I LOVE when people really try to make things right.
Thursday (jazz band, sax lesson)--eggs, potatoes, fruit

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Ack! Why did I do this?

Rebekah needs a winter coat for next year...a WARM winter coat. She currently wears her marching band jacket, and while that is awesome for now, she realizes you don't wear your high school letter jacket in college.

Sidebar: Do NOT go out and buy her a coat Mom and Dad. Yes, she loves you dearly. A 17 year old is not going to want to wear the coat that her grandparents picked out, not because you picked it out, but because your tastes are just too different. Sorry. Nothing personal.

Anywhooo, I took a chance and ordered her a coat I had found at Kohls.com. I honestly did not expect her to like it. See sidebar above, it's not just a grandparent thing, it's a mom thing too. I figured it was a long shot, but it was a great price and I'd rather find a coat this year and know that it's all settled. Welll...I showed her the coat and she loved it. Could.not.wait. for it to get here. Of course that meant there would be a problem, don't you know? The coat came last night. She absolutely loved it. It's heavy, it's her favorite colors, it's perfect...EXCEPT, it's too small. Why oh why did I not order the size I got and the next size bigger so we would have options? Now, it's all sold out except for a small.

I have a feeling every coat is going to be 'okay' after this. Nice, but not as nice. I hate that. :-(

Check out my giveaway.

Awesome Pineapple Upside Down Cake

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:13:00 +0000

This is truly my favorite Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. It tastes delicious, and it has 180 calories per slice, not too shabby.

It has the traditional ooey-gooey, caramel-ly pineapply topping...

There's no fat in it, just a really, really light cake.

It bakes up nice and golden, then invert and...

Voila!
Yummy, traditional goodness, but no guilt. :-)

Luscious Caramel-Pineapple Cake
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. fat-free caramel ice cream topping
7 or 8 canned pineapple slices, juices reserved
7 or 8 dried cherries or cranberries
2 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9" cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread brown sugar evenly over bottom of pan and drizzle with caramel sauce. Top with pineapple slices and cherries or cranberries. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons pineapple juice.

Beat egg whites and salt in large bowl until soft peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar until whites are stiff but not dry. Sift flour and baking powder over white mixture. Gently fold into whites with rubber spatula. Fold in 1/4 cup pineapple juice.

Spread over fruit in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes until pick comes out clean. Cool 2 minutes in pan. Invert.

Enjoy. :-) 8 Servings

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.

Planet 51

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:27:00 +0000

We went to see Planet 51 over the weekend. Rebekah chose to go ~~have fun~~ work with her calculus group, but Jacob, Julianna, Mark and I went. I should have known we were in trouble when the movie cost $26.00. Isn't there any such thing as a matinee anymore?

We bought our tickets, and proceeded into the theater. They've completely ~~screwed up~~ changed the concessions at this theater. Now, it's all self-serve, fancy-shmanzy, fru-fru concessions. A big treat for J&J has always been to have an icee at the movie. They no longer have kid's sized icees. Now, the icees are $5.00 and $5.50. No thank you. The prices, and the offerings, were truly ridiculous. They don't even have movie-sized boxes of candy anymore. It was crazy. I quickly made a deal with Jacob and Julianna that they could get an icee after the movie at Auntie Anne's. They were good with that, and both icees together cost me the same as one would have at the movie. I don't think we'll go back to that theater, which makes me sad, I've always really enjoyed this particular theater for movies, but I do not enjoy being ripped off, let alone volunteering for it.

So, concessions settled, we went in to the movie. It completely stunk. Really, really bad. None of us enjoyed it. It was too intense for Julianna, too preachy for Mark and I, and too not-fun for Jacob. There are maybe three funny scenes in the movie, it was not the fun experience we were hoping for.

As we left, it was a fantastic feeling knowing we had just spent $35.00 (Mark always gets popcorn) and two hours of our lives we'll never get back, seeing a terrible movie no one enjoyed. I can't change that for us, but I can warn you.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.

My First Second Giveaway!!!

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:49:00 +0000

Times Up! Scottsgal is the lucky winner. Thanks for all the entries, hopefully I'll have another giveaway soon.

If you've been reading me for any time at all, you probably realize we do a lot of reading around here. As a matter of fact, one of the posts I'm most proud of if one detailing our favorite childhood books.

I've reprinted it at the end of the post, it's definitely timely as people start choosing gifts for children.

I was very excited to be part of MyBlogSpark's participation in the Cheerios 100,000 Book Giveaway. Cheerios, First Book and author Jon Scieszka are joining together to deliver 100,000 books to community-based programs serving children in need. You can go online to www.FirstBook.org/Scieszka to test your knowledge of Trucktown trivia and start voting which states should receive 20,000 books. Five states will win.

MyBlogSpark sent me an assortment of five children's books, a box of Frosted Cheerios and a $25.00 Barnes and Noble giftcard. We've really enjoyed reading the stories together as a family, especially, Tea for Ruby. We'll definitely enjoy the Cheerios, and the giftcard will be very fun to spend.

The best news? I have a prize pack to give away to one of my readers. Leave a comment telling me your favorite childhood story. I'll choose a winner by random number December 10. Good luck. :-)

Edited: Please make sure I have an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. Thanks.

These truly are wonderful picture books that shouldn't be missed. The 10 picture books every preschooler should hear
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
Me First! by Helen Lester
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
There's a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

5 picture books for older kids
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
The Graves Family by Patricia Polacco
Math Curse by John Scieszka
The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg
The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra

5 Classic Picture Books
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

New and Wonderful...
The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman
John, Paul, George and Ben by Lane Smith
The Kiss That Missed by David Melling
Seventeen Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach

5 for Starting School
Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner by Amy Schwartz
The Berenstain Bears Go To School by Stan and Jan Berenstain
The Kissing Hand by Audray Penn
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

New Baby Stories
A Baby Sister for Francis by Russell Hoban
Berenstain Bears' New Baby by Stan and Jan Berenstain
I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy
Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes
A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

5 Bedtime Stories
Bedtime for Francis by Russell Hoban
Can't You Sleep Little Bear? By Martin Waddell
Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Happy Birthday Moon by Frank Asch
Peace At Last by Jill Murphy

Not to be Overlooked
Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct by Mo Willems
The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord
The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood
Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman
Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

I highly encourage you to begin a tradition of reading chapter books to your children also. They will likely be ready much earlier than you may have imagined. Here are some wonderful ones to get you started:
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Ramona the Pest Beverly Cleary
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Most of all read to your children. It really can't be overstated the permanent, positive effect it will have on their lives and their academic success. There really isn't a better gift you can give them.

Are you ready for this???

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:15:00 +0000

So, the new sofa cushions arrived. Yeah! They arrived last Thursday (the one before Thanksgiving). By Friday morning, the old cushions were out in that day's garbage, and our couch problems were behind us.

Yeah, you know where this is going.

Not so fast...these are pictures of our 6 day old cushions.

I should mention none of these pictures are of the same spot. Awesome.

As I sat on the loveseat Thanksgiving night, I glanced over at our "new" sofa. What was that fuzziness? I could not believe what I was seeing. The cushions are falling apart.

We decided to wait until today to contact Kittles, we weren't sure if top people would have been working Friday or not. Hopefully, this will get resolved quickly and to our satisfaction. I'm really, really not happy.

Ideas, pretty please.

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:01:00 +0000

So, Santa comes to our house. Faithfully. Definitely. With a 9 year old and a 7 year old fan in the house, he's definitely here every year. Obviously he comes for Rebekah also, how could he not?

He may need a little help this year with ideas of stocking stuffers for a 17 year old. Since Santa is also suffering from the same recession everyone else is, please keep that in mind with your suggestions as well. I could suggest an awesome stocking if Santa wanted to spend $100-$150. Not going to happen though. So, if anyone has an reasonably priced, practical or fun stocking stuffer ideas for a 17 year old girl, Santa's all ears. :-)

Do you do this???

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:40:00 +0000

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was tiring, but it was great too. We spent a lot of time together as a family, the food seemed to be enjoyed by all. We all spent it in a blissful too-much food coma. The thing is, I have no pictures to share that shows you all the wonderful times we had.

See this one? It's the adorable Miss Lily, just on the verge of walking. She's at that super-fun stage where she's thisclosetobeingabletoletgo and can't quite bring herself to do it yet.

See this one? It's of Julianna playing with Grandma for hours on end.

See this? It's Rebekah and Jason laughing and kidding around.

Oh look, here's the super adorable Matthew having a very fun time playing cash register and doggie and super heroes with Julianna and Jacob.

Here's my dad falling asleep. ;-)

Here's one of Lori and Jason cuddling.

Yeah, you get the idea. I'd love to have the pictures to fill in the blanks, but I can't seem to master the successful juggling of taking pictures and also living in the moment. I can take pictures, but then I'm sort of standing back, observing. Or, I can be in the thick of things, holding Matt or Lily or Jacob or Julianna, laughing, taking part, but then I can't seem to capture the moments with pictures. How about you? Can you do both? What's your secret?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:55:00 +0000

Help!!! Aside from video games (check) and legos (check) what does one get a 9 year old boy for Christmas and Hanukkah? I'm super stuck. Problem is, so's he.

He's asking for several lego sets and between my mom and dad, Jason and Lori and us, he's covered. But, we still need to find a couple more fun somethings for him. We give presents for the first and last nights of Hanukkah and Christmas. Of course Santa also comes Christmas morning and needs direction on what to bring. Not made of money...especially this year (I don't even want to think about next year), but still looking for a few reasonably priced ideas.

I'd love knowing what Works for You.

Thankful

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Yesterday, I had an experience between errands, that will stay with me for quite a while and definitely make an imprint on today. I was putting a few dollars worth of gas in my tank when a woman approached me. This woman was obviously a little down on her luck, outwardly. She spoke quietly, politely, it was hard to hear her completely, but the gist of it was that she had her father in the car, they were going somewhere, and they were out of gas. Her father's VISA card would not work and they were stuck. Could I help?

I was uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable because I didn't know if I was safe. I was comfortable because I had never seen her approaching me until suddenly she was right beside me. A lot about the situation made me uncomfortable, but I felt the truth was she needed help. I was thankful I was capable of helping. I got my credit card and walked over to their car. Her elderly father was sitting in the driver's seat, rigid, it seemed, with embarrassment. He said they only needed $5.00 worth to get where they needed to get to. I put $10.00 in their tank. She told me they couldn't repay $10, I told her that was fine, just pay it forward someday.

When I had left the station, I called Mark and told him what had happened. He scoffed and said I'd been scammed. I don't think so. The thing is, I really don't care. Like most situations when we help someone, it's not really about them, it's about us. I don't want to be the kind of person that's so afraid of being scammed that she doesn't help people with legitimate need.

If I was scammed, I'm out $10.00. They're out a lot more. If I wasn't scammed, then I showed a tiny bit of kindness, of human decency, that just might make a real difference, at least for a short time, in their lives.

I'm thankful I'm the kind of person I am. I am thankful I could help that person. I'm thankful for all the true blessings in my life.

Michelle at Scribbit recently wrote "This time of year we're given a paradox: Thanksgiving is the season for gratitude yet before the turkey is even cold we're bombarded by advertisers telling us we can't make it through the holiday celebrations without buying things. Lots of things, and the more the better." So, so true.

Julianna has an assignment over break to find 4 pictures of things she needs and 4 pictures of things she wants. I think that will be a bit of a challenge for her to understand.

I'm going to do my best this holiday season to hang on to the lessons of needs vs. wants. To hang on to the knowledge that even in our struggles we have so much more than so many other people. To be happy. To be satisfied.

Happy day of Thanksgiving everyone.

Notice.

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:28:00 +0000

Yes, we are not going away for the holidays. No, that does not mean my children are available for activities as usual. Family is visiting us. Our time is as precious as if we were going away. Family has come to see us. All of us.

My daughter is doing lights for a play in two weeks. Correct that, my daughter is now doing lights and student-directing a play in two weeks. Correct that, my daughter is now doing tech, lights and student-directing a play in two weeks. Correct that, people have dropped out of the chorus. My daughter is now singing in the chorus, doing tech, lights and student-directing a play in two weeks. Correct that. My daughter is now teaching someone else to do lights so she can do sound, do tech, sing in the chorus and student-direct a play in two weeks. My daughter has rehearsal Saturday and Sunday evenings of our Thanksgiving break.

NO. My daughter can not come in and do more during the days over break. Enough.

We have the best, bar none, drama department I have ever seen in a high school. The director gives and gives and gives and I truly, truly appreciate her. She is simply the best there will ever be. They average 9-12 extremely high quality products per school year. We are very lucky. I know that.

However, the kids whose families go away for Thanksgiving are excused from tech and practices for break. It's understood. I'm just asking for the same consideration. we may not be going away, but we'll be just as busy building memories and relishing our time together.

To do...

mom24.4evermom@gmail.com (Mom24) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:32:00 +0000

I think I've figured out why I'm having bad dreams...stress.

My to do lists are a little overwhelming. :-) I can't seem to let go and accept help though. I want things a certain way, and I'm willing to do the hard work to make things just so. Even though my to do lists are overwhelming me right now, it's much worse when I don't have a list. Then I feel so overwhelmed I can't function.

What about you? Are you like that? If not with Thanksgiving or other holidays, with other things? Are you a glutton for punishment control freak as I'm beginning to suspect I am, or are you more of a laid back, whatever, type person?

Do you completely understand this to do list and have a similar one when you're hosting occasions, or are you shaking your head and unable to relate at all?

Tuesday

~~Make meatballs~~
~~cook bacon for mini quiches~~
~~Prepare pie crusts~~
~~Dessert for piano teacher~~
~~Assemble and deliver piano dinner~~
Laundry--not going to happen, hopefully tomorrow.
~~Drop off Mark's shirts~~
~~Go to bank~~
~~Take Rebekah dinner at school~~

Wednesday

Haircut
Put pop in fridge
Laundry
Dust and vacuum family room
"Once over" bathrooms
Sweep hardwood
Mini quiche prep
Whole Foods--Milks, ~~Bagels~~, peanut safe pecans
Andersons--breads for sandwiches, coffee, pears, grapes, bread for dinner, garlic
~~Chex mix~~We'll make this at Christmas instead.
~~Brine turkey~~ Oops!!! My cheapy turkey is already injected with salt and chemicals...no brining this year.
Prepare crockpot green beans
Make jell-o salad
Saute celery & onion for stuffing
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Chocolate pecan pie
Make dressing for salad
Grill chicken for salad
Prepare Salad & cut up veggies
Fry tortilla strips
Shred cheese for salad; broccoli, caul. cass.
Broccoli, cauliflower cut up,

Thursday

Bake mini quiche
Cut up bagels, fruit
Make cinnamon rolls
Make cranberry sauce
Prepare Stuffing
Stuff Turkey
Roast Turkey
Sweet potatoes
Broccoli Cauliflower casserole in oven
Mashed potatoes
Cornbread
Crescent rolls
Whip cream

Someone, anyone, please tell me you understand this!

I'll be striking things as I accomplish them...it helps me feel like I'm getting things done.

Check out other Tackle it Tuesdays