Another problem with moving?

Finding a place to live. It is expensive down there. Much more than here. I'm sure we will have to rent either an apartment or a house for awhile once we get there. That isn't a huge deal, but I would really prefer to have a house of our own. One with a nice fenced in back yard for the kids and the dog to play in. I wonder if I could talk my brother into buying a house and using it as a rental property investment. That would put to rest some of my worries. He could buy the house and we could live there for a reasonable rent. He is only in town every other weekend anyway and doesn't really need a house. Wishful thinking? Yeah probably, but a girl can hope can't she? ;-)

The moving discussion continues

I really want to move back home this summer. I love Nashville, but I need to be closer to my family. I miss my mom and my brother. There are problems with that though. It is going to cost us a lot of money to move all of our stuff and right now we don't have it. I like the change in seasons and moving to Florida I won't get that. Michael will be far away from his family then. That makes me feel guilty. Along with all of those problems.....................I hate moving. It stresses me out. I hate packing and loading the truck. If we do end up moving, this time I want to hire someone to do it for us. Too bad I can't call mover NYC. They could do it for us. Wonder if there is one in Nashville. LOL

Oh, I almost forgot!

The new book, The Sneaky Chef, is a hit!! In the past couple weeks my kids have eaten carrots, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, and spinach and they had no clue!!! The recipes are really easy and quick. Michael has even eaten some of them and not realized it. I made some 'breakfast ice cream' the other night and it is delicious. I made strawberry and banana. I think next time I'm going to try chocolate so Joshua will try it. I highly recommend this book if you have kids who refuse to eat vegetables. I'm feeling like a much better mommy now. Whew!

What do you wear to sleep in?

I'm having a discussion with some ladies at work. One is a little..............ummmm.........well, she is very nice, but she is a little 'uppity' if you know what I mean. Anyway, we were talking about shopping and she said that she had to go buy some new lingerie. Of course this interests us because well you know women do secretly enjoy talking about sex. Well, come to find out this wasn't for some fun with her husband. She only sleeps in lingerie. No t-shirts for her. What? Really? I live in my t-shirts. No chemises for me. Is it just me? Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy wearing lingerie on ocassion, but mostly I'm going for comfort. I can't stand for anything to be around my legs when I'm sleeping. It drives me nuts and I end up changing in the middle of the night.

Tell me I'm not the only one who sleeps regularly in t-shirts.

This no computer thing really is killing me.

I know that I have an addiction. I freely admit it. My question is.....................do they have computer rehab? They have drug rehab to help you get over a drug addiction. I've decided that they need to have something for us computer addicts. What did we do before the internet? I'm sure there was something. I do know that I've read more books in the last 2 weeks than I have in quite awhile. I've also gotten more done around the house. Not that it is incredibly clean, but it does look a little better than usual. LOL

Seriously though. I'm going through withdrawals. I walk around the house aimlessly trying to figure out how to pass the time. It's sad. *sigh*

I need a new recliner

Yep. I have come to the very sad conclusion that my living room furniture is on it's last leg. The couch is horribly uncomfortable, but I do have to say that it has always been that way.......unfortunately. Now, however, it is just dirty. Between the two kids and the dog there is just no hope for it. My recliner? Well, it won't even recline anymore. Looks like there are some screws missing or something. The cushioning has shifted and it kinda bows when you sit on the edge of the seat. I need one of those zero gravity recliners. Now that would be nice. Ahhh, heaven.

Where are you?

I'm sure you are all asking that question.

Well, our laptop died. Two weeks ago. Yep, I'm going completely insane. This is the first time I've actually been able to get to the library and get online. I can only do limited stuff at work and blogging isn't one of the things. I'm now patiently (or not so much) waiting on our taxes to come in so we can get another computer. I'm not sure how long that is going to take though. Until then I guess I'm stuck with the library. Only problem there is that I have to wait for Michael to be off work. I can't bring the kids here and play on the computer too. They would be running around wrecking havoc on poor unsuspecting library goers. We would be kicked out within minutes. LOL

Please cross your fingers that our taxes come back quickly and we can get back online. I don't know how much more I can take. ;-)

She cracks me up!

You never know what you are going to find when you go into her room when she naps or goes down for the night. The first pic was taken during naptime. She was all wrapped up. The next one was last night. She didn't go to bed with a princess dress and tights on, but when I checked on her that is what I found.

Did I find a solution?

As you know, I've been struggling with my children and getting them to eat anything remotely good for them. Heck, getting them to eat anything period. Well, I went out and bought a book. The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. I made up some purees and breading earlier today and tried my first recipe tonight. I made crispy chicken strips and macaroni & cheese. Both had pureed veggies in them and both were a hit!! Ari ate the strips without comment. She doesn't eat mac & cheese though so she didn't try that one. Joshua ate strips (this was a fight, but only because he didn't want chicken) and the mac & cheese without comment. I was most worried about the macaroni & cheese with the pureed veggies. I just knew that my pickiest eater was going to taste the difference. I didn't make it homemade tonight, but out of a box. I put in the puree and I added some extra shredded cheese (as advised in the book) to help cover the taste of the veggies. Well, apparently it worked. Joshua ate all of it. I tasted the mac & cheese and you really couldn't taste a difference. I ate the chicken strips myself and they were pretty good.

I'm very excited! Granted this is just two recipes, but they worked! My kids ate their normal dinner, but this time they had veggies too and didn't even know it! I'll definitely be trying other recipes out of this book. I'll let y'all know how they work!

I think I'm going to try to make some fruit popsicles tomorrow. I bought frozen blueberries, strawberries, and cherries yesterday and I'm going to make the juice from them then put them in some molds. Much healthier than the popsicles that my kids eat every night after dinner.

Ari's princess wardrobe is here

My daddy, Ari's and Joshua's Papaw, came over today. For Christmas he built her a wardrobe for all of her princess dresses. It's really cute. Ari loves it. She has been playing in it all day. So far we haven't had a chance to get her dresses in it though. LOL She's not out of it long enough. This could be a problem. ;-)

Electronically challenged

Yep, that's me. As much time as I spend on the computer and watching TV you would think that I'd know a little bit about them. They are, after all, my favorite forms of entertainment. Yet I know very little about either one. For example, just the other day I had to have IT come in and look at my computer at work. They told me that all I needed was a new Cat 5 cable. Ummmm, yeah........ok. Luckily they didn't need ME to actually go out and get one. LOL It being their job, they had one and were able to fix my computer. I'm just glad it works again and I didn't have to figure out how to do it. ;-)

I love jewelry.

*sigh* Yeah, I really do love jewelry. My favorites are rings and earrings. Okay, so I like necklaces too. LOL There aren't many forms of jewelry that I don't like. I've been looking lately for a Mother's Ring. I want one with Joshua's, Ari's, and Christian's birthstones in it. I can't find a design that I like though. I have, however, found several other pieces of gemstone jewelry that I really like! I prefer the blue sapphires. That is my birthstone, but it also makes the prettiest rings. I would love to get a new sapphire ring or earrings. I have to build up my collection again. All my jewelry was stolen last year.

I wanted to do that.

Not too long ago I went to my cousin's wedding. She got married outside at an old grits mill. It was gorgeous and the weather was perfect even though it was very hot. When Michael and I were planning our wedding we talked about having it outside at the beach. We got married on Amelia Island. We put a lot of thought in whether or not to actually do it. It was going to be in August after all and if you've ever been to Florida in August you know our dilemma. It was either going to be excruciatingly hot or a summer storm was going to develop at the most inopportune time or both. LOL I had a really nice dress that would have been okay for an August outside wedding. It was light and flowy. It was still hot though!! The dresses for my girls were light and flowy too so they would have been fine. The guys, however, did not have the correct beach wedding attire for such a hot day. They had regular ol' tuxes. They would have been much better (even in our church wedding.............it was HOT) with something like this.



They probably would have needed it in cream though to be cooler. I think I would have been barefooted as would my girls. The guys too actually. I'm sure it would have been great. If we had decided on the beach wedding. We didn't though. We had a church wedding and I don't regret it at all. It was hot hot hot and as I thought we had a summer storm earlier in the day. I would have been completely freaking out if we had gone with the beach idea. LOL As it was I just smiled and knew that we had made the right decision. Weather in Florida is so unpredictable it is better to be safe than sorry. LOL

I'm worried about my kids

They are just not eating. It's a struggle every night to get them to eat even a little bit. Even their favorites. I've tried to get them to at least drink some V-8 (the strawberry and kiwi kind), but it's not a favorite. Ari will drink small amounts and Joshua just flat out refuses to drink it. Joshua has me the most worried at the moment. He lost 6 pounds in about a month and he has dark circles under his eyes. This really really bothers me. What can I do to get them to eat? I've tried the whole cook and let them eat or not. They are more stubborn than me apparently. They refused to eat and I couldn't do it for more than a couple days. I just couldn't. Any thoughts or advice? Please? My kids need to eat!!!

This is a fabulous song

And then you put his voice to it and wow. Just wow.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Bon Jovi singing "Hallelujah."


You should really go check it out.


Here are the lyrics:

I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the lord
but you don't really care for music do ya
Well it goes like this the fourth the fifth
the minor fall and the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
you saw her bathing on the roof
her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
she tied you to a kitchen chair
she broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah.

Hallelujah,hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew you
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah,hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well there was a time when you let me know
what's really going on below
but now you never show that to me do you
but remember when I moved in you
and the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well maybe there's a god above
but all I've ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
it's not somebody who's seen the light
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah

It's BCS Championship time and I don't even care.

How sad is that? I couldn't care less about the game tonight. LSU. OSU. I have no interest in watching. And it doesn't have a thing to do with being bitter. I just don't care. It's really sad if you think about it. I'm a huge college football fan and I don't care who wins this game. Very unusual for me too.

Maybe I'll just go watch Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom to make myself feel better.



I ended up watching the 4th quarter. I just couldn't NOT watch some of it. I still didn't really care who won though.

LSU won (38-24). Did this surprise anyone? I know it didn't surprise any of the SEC fans out there. LOL

So for this bowl season the SEC is 7-2. Not bad for our conference.

Congrats to the Bayou Bengals!

Great! Just great!

The hits just keep coming today. *sigh*

Got a letter today saying that our personal information may have been stolen. Yep, we are Davidson County voters. I knew this from the news, but it just brings it home getting an official letter.

Of course I read this letter AFTER I have been on the phone with my insurance company and a local hospital disputing a bill. I was told in August by the hospital to disregard the bill. This after a 3 hour conversation between me, the insurance company, and the hospital. Well, now I get a letter saying that we owe them $758 and since I haven't paid them they are turning it over to collections. Of course I call my insurance company and they now say it is out of their hands and between me and the hospital. I call the hospital and they say they are sorry I was misinformed, but I do owe the money. Ugh!!! I'm ticked!! I was told to disregard the damn bill!!! Now they are not turning it over to collections and will set up a payment plan. Umm, whatever. I hate insurance companies and hospitals!!

Now I have a migraine from hell. I just want to crawl under a rock.

Michael said it best.

"Stupid Titans"

Not much more to say. Except maybe our offense sucked all year. VY definitely struggled in his sophomore year. I do expect better next year though.

Tattoos

I'm sure most of you know that I have one. It is the face of a white tiger. Recently I've been thinking that I want a few more. Yes a few. LOL I never thought I would say that. I have no idea of the designs though. That is were I run into problems. I want something for my Dawgs and Titans. I want something for Bon Jovi. I want something that represents my kids (no names, birthdays, etc). I also want a skull and cross bones (yeah, I've watched a lot of Pirates recently LOL). Anyone out there good at designing things like that?

Hello from the land of sinus infections

Ugh! It feels like I've been sick for forever. I went to the doctor on Monday to find out that I have a sinus infection. They put me on antibiotics and told me to take some Mucinex D and use saline spray. I did all that and I still did not get better. So, I went back to the doctor today. The gave me 2 shots (yeah that went over real well with the needle phobe!!). One was an antibiotic shot to boost the pills I've been taking and the other was a steroid shot. Ummm, can I just say that those hurt like a bitch!! It hurt going in and it still hurts almost 12 hours later. They also increased my oral antibiotics to 3 a day instead of 2. I have to admit that I am feeling somewhat better now. I can breathe a whole lot better already. We'll see how I do when I go to bed though. That is the true test.

Oh and not only do I have a sinus infection, but because of the antibiotics (I'm sure the women out there know where I'm going here and guys...........get ready for some TMI) I also have a yeast infection. Double ugh!!! Luckily the doctor had something for that too. I just hope that it starts working soon. These infections are incredibly annoying and it is driving me nuts at the moment.

Dawgs 41 Rainbow Warriors 10

Well, I didn't expect that. I did expect us to win, but by no stretch of the imagination did I except us to do it in that fashion. It was fun to watch if you were a UGA fan. Not so much if you pulled for Hawaii. I kinda felt bad for them. They were out matched really. I wouldn't call them "overrated" like some of the UGA fans were chanting (that ticked me off-------it was classless and undeserved. They are a good team for where and who they play. I mean heck their QB holds many many NCAA records and they were undefeated.......the only on in the nation. Give them some respect. I'll get off my soap box about that now). We were just bigger and faster. Our defense was one like they had not seen. Not many teams can hold up against an SEC team (we won't talk about the two SEC teams who have lost their bowl games this year...........Arkansas lost to Missouri [I thought Missouri deserved to be in next week's game really] and the Gators lost to Michigan [can't say that it REALLY disappoints me. They are the hated Gators after all.] ). UGA, Tennessee, Miss. State, Alabama, Kentucky, and Auburn all won though. I'm expecting LSU to win as well (do you realize that we have 9 of our 12 teams in bowl games?).

I really did feel bad for Hawaii though. I'm a sucker for the underdog. LOL If they had not been playing my beloved Dawgs I would have been pulling for them in their bowl game.

Let's move on to some of last night's stats:

1. Stafford was 14 of 23 for 175 yards and 1 TD (6 different receivers).
2. T. Brown ran for 73 yards on 19 carries and 1 TD.
3. K. Moreno ran for 61 yards on 9 carries and 2 TDs.
4. R. Brown had a kick return for 90 yards (that was fun to watch).
5. Coutu kicked 2 field goals (52 and 45 yards)

Our offense was not the story of the night though. Our defense dominated! They were swarming all over the field and in the back field more often than not. We sacked Brennan 8 times and we had 4 picks! We even recovered a fumble (Howard sacked Brennan and recovered the fumble) in the end zone for a TD. Marcus Howard won the MVP award. It's the first time a defensive player has won MVP since 1979. Way to go Marcus!!

Over all it was a great game for the Dawgs. I'm definitely looking forward to next year!!

Go here, here, and here to read more.

Well, it is 2008

Not a bad start so far. My house is clean, the kids are getting along, and I'm watching some pretty interesting bowl games. I swore that I wasn't going to watch any except for the Sugar Bowl, but I just can't help myself. I love football to much. Tonight is the big game though. My Dawgs and the Rainbow Warriors. I can't wait!!!

The one bad thing is that I'm still sick. I went to the doctor yesterday and I have a sinus infection. She gave me some antibiotics and a recommendation for some OTC stuff to help with the congestion until the other meds start working. I really hate not being able to breathe. It's incredibly frustrating.

I hope everyone had a great time last night and stayed safe.