Thrift Stores Galore

A couple of weeks ago, I decided maybe I would like to have some cowboy boots. I will not wear them a lot, so I do not want to spend a lot for them. So I decided that I should try some thrift stores. Well I have been a thrift store junkie ever since. I still have not found cowboy boots or a bike that I was look for for my grandpa. But I have purchased a glass bowl, a computer, a desk and a wall hanging.

I used to go into thrift stores/flea markets in the past & I never had any luck. I guess because I always had something specific in mind & I could never find it. Well now I go in with an open mind & if I see something that I like, then I try to find a place in my house for it. That's probably not a very good idea because I have been buying too much stuff. And I don't do "stuff". But I have been happy with all of my purchases and they all have served a purpose.

This weekend I did get to spend a lot of time with Holly!! We hung out, scrapbooked & got to spend some time at the Landing.

Friday Theoden came over & spend the night. We had fun. He enjoyed Brayden's bed/slide. We colored & watched Spiderman. He is a lot busier than some of the other little ones that I have babysat lately!

Friday I took Theoden to school! We went to school with Bray to have lunch. It was fun.

Cody's 14!!!

This is Cody & me 14 years ago. He is about a month old in this picture. His birthday was Sunday. So Saturday he had 7 friends over. We had dinner at the house then they went to a game place to play video games. They had a good time.

This is one of his friends Josh.

This boy Austin spent the night. He goes to our church.

Cody with his cake, Zane & Gavin - Gavin has been his best friend since 2nd grade. Sunday after church we went to a Japanese Steak house for Cody. We all love those places. And it went without incident this time.

We also saw Monsters Vs. Aliens. Another movie that I liked but a lot of my friends did not. I must be easily amused. Oh, I am easily amused. And I guess I never have that high of expectations for movies.

There were so many movies that came out around Christmas that I missed some that I wanted to see, so I am glad that they are starting to come out on DVD. And so far I have 3 free Red Box rentals!!

Willis Tower

A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the Sears Tower will be renamed the Willis Tower. After the new major tenant the Willis Holding Group take occupancy.

I understand this company wanting their name on a building, but they should find another building. Companies should be allowed to put their name on a building if they are paying enough money, I guess. But they should not change the name of US Landmark. And to top it all off the Willis Holding Group does not even own any part of the building - they are just renting the space.

News reports stated that many Chicago residents may never make the adjustment, but I'm sure sooner or later they will. I guess I will have to take the boys back & take a new picture with the new name. So off to the Willis Tower.

Saturday Road Trip

Saturday the boys, my mom, Grandpa, Grandma & I all loaded into my mom's mini van & hit the road to Tulsa. It was quite a day. We got a lot in, but it was pretty fun.

After sitting in some traffic before Tulsa we stopped to see some long time friends of my grandparents Tony & Linda. I enjoyed the visit too.

Then we headed to lunch and met my cousins BJ, Larry and my friend Mollie. I really enjoyed my visit with Mollie as the "adults" visited with BJ & Larry.

The boys sat in the very back of the mini van & they enjoyed watching the DVD. I think Grandpa enjoyed it too but he did not listen much because he did not want to miss out on all of our girl talk.

Marvin was doing a job in Tulsa so we stopped by that job before heading to Richie & Sarah's new place.

Here is my mom with her grandsons!

I had a more "normal" picture of my brother & I but I guess this is the "normal" picture of my brother & I, so I chose to post this one.

And Sunday in church adoption was mentioned and I realized that so many people in my life may not even know that I am adopted. I also thought about all of my family picture and how people might question why I do not look like any of the people in the pictures. I guess since I have

been an adult I either was around people that knew I was adopted or people that never saw my family. But now on the WWW people that know me are seeing pictures of people that they do not realize are my family. What was the point in all of that? None really, just a thought that I had in my head that I decided to share. And I guess the realization and reminder that things that are obvious to others are not always to obvious to us.

Volunteer Story

This is not my tale to tell, but I'm going to tell it anyway. One of the other volunteers today told me about something that happened to him yesterday & I thought it was so funny I have to share. Now remember that most of the volunteers that I work with are over the age of 65 - this man included.

He said that a lady came into the hospital yesterday carring a "big" child & the child was sick. So he offered to help her carry the child. She said no & he asked if she was sure. She said yes she was sure, she could do it BUT she did need him to pull her pants up for her!!

I'm not exactly sure how he got out of it, but he did not help her out.

S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E

I was never a big fan of Scrabble, mainly because I can't spell. But recently I have been playing it and kind of like playing. I appreciate the challenge. Today on Yahoo there was this article about changing the scoring system due to the addition of some words. Three words to be exact. The 3 words are Za (slang for pizza), qi (something about a bodily function or urban dictionary said like a spirit around your body) and zzz (like sleeping). And since these words were being added and used what used to be unique letters that the scoring for those letters should be lowered.

1. I have not even heard of 2 of the 3 words, so would never even know to use them.
2. I probably will not remember the words again to use them the next time I play.
3. I hope I never become so crazy about Scrabble that I care that z's & q's can be used now so the score should be lowered.
4. I am happy that there are more words for Z & Q, I always felt like they were not pulling their weight in the alphabet. Now for that crazy X!

Have you used these words, in life or Scrabble?

Kid Update

The boys are on spring break this week. But before Spring Break Brayden had move to music week. Friday was 70's day - that is why this teacher is dressed the way she is. That is not her typical look. Brayden is eating cow tongue in this picture. The rotten banana looking thing next to the teacher is dried cow tongue. Then she had some for the kids to try. It looked like dried chuch roast but it smelled disgusting. Brayden said it tasted like steak but he stunck after he ate it.

Cody is doing distance running in track. He has been training this week to. He recently switched to contacts. So this is an updated picture of him glasses free. I'm pretty sure he likes it.

Happy St. Patty's Day

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Bearack Obama

As many of you know, I volunteer at the hospital. Well I have recently moved to the gift shop. This is one of the musical plushes that we have in there. I think it is funny (funny odd). This is no reflection of my political beliefs. This is just for "entertainment".

Baby News

Congrats to my cousins Ryan & Katie on being pregnant!! I am very happy for them. While they said they did not want unsolicited advice, I feel I have to warn them about doing the following. The following is a no-no:


KETTERING, Ohio (March 3) - Police in
Ohio say a woman has been charged with
child endangering after another motorist
reported she was both breast-feeding a
youngster and talking on a phone while driving.
Police in the Dayton suburb of Kettering
say the caller told them he saw the woman
Thursday.
Officer Michael Burke says authorities used
a license plate number to track down 39-
year-old Genine Compton.
He said the woman told officers she was
breast-feeding and wouldn’t let her child go
hungry.
Burke said the legal concern is that Compton
had a child in her lap while driving, not
that she was breast-feeding in public.
He said the child was under 2 years old.
Police say the woman faces up to 180 days
in jail and a $1,800 fine if convicted of the
misdemeanor.

What A Guy

Saturday I had a Home Interior Party. I told my friends that they could bring their kids because mine would be home too. Well Cody ended up spending the night with a friend but Brayden was home. So Jeremy ended up taking all the kids downstairs and keeping them entertained. AND he did this without even being asked. WHAT A GUY! He played with them, put in a movie & even fed them. He had the following ages 9, 8, 5, 5, and 2.

He did a great job. I was very impressed given that fact that I'm not really sure he has ever technically babysat before.

Hermit Crab Update

Each one of the boys has had a Hermit Crab die. Brayden's died first at the beginning of last week & at the end, one of Cody's died.

I believe that both of them got too big for their shells & would not move to the bigger shell. None the less, dead Hermit Crabs are more disgusting than live ones.

They each have one left.

Bird Brain

This must be where that phrase came from. This is the THIRD year that this bird has come back. Every year it bangs into the widow several times a day, through the whole spring. How does this bird fly away in the winter & then know to come back to MY house. I am pretty sure it is the same bird too. I have tried everything to get this bird to not run into my window. We will be moving toward more drastic permanent measures this year.

For some reason it does choose a different window every year, but the same side of the house. This video is in Cody's room downstairs.

It never gets old

These type of stories never get old - to others. They get old to me, but to be expected so I enjoy sharing.

Today at Wendy's I ordered a side salad. She asked what type of dressing I wanted. I asked her what my choices were. She said, "we have Oriental." (pause)

Then I ask, "well, do you have Italian?" She replies, "yes and we have ranch."

31 and counting...

One full year of my 30's down and 9 more to go. Last year was pretty uneventful & my 31st birthday was less than uneventful. Here is what I did yesterday to celebrate:

8:15 woke up & laid in bed
8:30-9:00 took a work conference call
9:00-11:00 played on the computer & answered some great birthday wishes
11:00-11:30 decided to wash face & brush teeth
11:30-12:30 went to rent a movie, tried to go to gym, came home
12:30-1:30 made grilled cheese sandwiches & chicken noodle soup
1:30-3:00 watched soaps, played on computer some more
3:00-5:30 played guitar hero
5:30-6:45 cooked & ate a ham dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing & green beans
6:45-8:15 watched Igor with boys
8:15-9:30 watched TV & went to bed

NOW please contain your excitement about what a funfilled day I had. Where did my day go??And even with all that I had to do I could not manage to blog, but I did manage to throw some laundry in there. So my next post will be about how I've gotten tickets to the Oprah show. For now, I hope you all will strive to have your birthday as exciting as mine!

Oprah Take 2

I got the opportunity to go the Oprah show again. The first/last time that I went was 2 years ago in January. My trip this time was not as much of an adventure.

Matt & I drove up on Thursday for the Friday taping. We did not know the show topic but knew it was her Oprah live taping. Usually there is a panel there and we were excited for that, but since they had just been in DC, the panel did not come back for this week's live episode. Caroline Kennedy was supposed to be on there but she canceled & Garth Brooks was going to perform but he couldn't make it. So they were just going to show an already taped episode. Then they remembered they were going to have a live audience there. So, they had one guest from the Chicago Sun Times scheduled and they threw the rest of the show together. And it showed.

Jeremy's mom came with us. So the 3 of us went to the show. It was a good experience just like last time, but again, I felt like I got ripped off on the show. Last time they changed the show to the boys that were kidnapped in Missouri and I was disappointed with that show because it was so sad. This time they just threw the show together & Oprah was so tired & it seemed very blah. During a taping of a regular show there are not any commercial breaks. Well on this one since it was live (in Chicago where it airs at 9:00 am there only) there were commercial breaks and Oprah was not very social during the breaks.

Since it was Oscar week they did discuss the Oscars and tired to Skype some of the Oscar nominees. They had problems with Skype Friday too.

Oh well. We got a Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. And Oprah is helping promote the volunteering/giving back agenda along with Starbucks. So we got a pledge card from Starbucks for a free coffee if we pledge 5 hours of community service and the whole audience received a $20 Starbucks gift card. I was pretty excited about that. And since I already volunteer then the pledge was easy to do.

After the show we managed to find the Oprah store, which Holly and I did not see last time. We even commented on how it was weird that Oprah did not have a store. So I bought something for Holly this time, since she could not make it this year.

Tomorrow I will post on how I got tickets both times to the show.

Hair Dresser's Nightmare

I guess that is me. I have had short hair for about 3 months now. Including the first time that I moved to my new do, I have had it cut 5 times. I am not going to post new pictures because I am sure it is just my own "issue", but you can refer to my original post to see the major difference. Although now it really doesn't even really look like the last picture. OH well.

But after 5 haircuts I'm still not very happy with my hair. I cannot decide if I like it short because I am not 100% happy with the style. I have gone to 3 different people & none of them have done it the way that I have asked. The first time it was too long, even after I went back a 2nd time to get more cut off. Then the next person cut it too short & stacked too much in the back, then the next person made it lop sided. Today it is ok, but I had to ask her to keep doing little cuts like 10 times. Then I came home today & whacked on it myself. Now I think it looks ok, but again maybe too short. I feel like just giving up!! I think I should just go back to longer less difficult hair.

I am really not blaming the hair people, maybe I need to realize that my hair just will not do what I want. I have come to that realization with several other hair styles. Let's just say I do not have white girl hair. My hair seems to be pretty difficult to "style" & cut. I know this so I try to not be too difficult, but I want it to look the way I want it to look. Is that too much to ask for? My "regular" stylist is my friend & she told me today that if we could still be friends after today's visit she must REALLY like me! I really don't obsess over my hair more than the 15-20 minutes in the morning that it takes me to do it, but that whole time I analyze exactly what is wrong with it.

What do you think, should I give up or keep pressing on to the goal of a perfect "short" cut?

My Grandpa

I went to visit my grandpa today in the hospital. He has been in the hospital off and on for the past 3 years. When this all first started I went through a lot with him so I thought nothing would be shocking to me when it came to him. Well...

Some might call him a cranky old man, even I might call him that. But I love him, he is his own person and he always makes me laugh. He wears his hospital gown backward so the gown will open in the front. He likes to leave it open when he gets hot. Today a nurse asked if she could do anything else for him besides leave him alone & he replied no, that should to it.

But the best part of our visit was that instead of going to the restroom (where he could actually make it to) he used the port-a-potty in the room. My grandma, mom, two boys & I all just sat there with him while he tried to have a bowl movement. Then my mom & two boys decided to leave while he was still on the toilet (he was constipated today) and they all hugged him good bye while he sat on the port-a-potty! Brayden didn't seem to mind to much but I think Cody thought it was a little odd. I just looked at my grandma & we both laughed.

I am happy that my boys get to have their Great Grandfather around life has been fun with him.

Sopa

I'm not sure if you have ever had my Grandma's Sopa but it is one of my favorite dishes. I am not really sure why except I love corn and this is just a good mixture of pasta, spice, crunch & cheesiness. She has been making if for YEARS & I have only attempted to make it a handful of times. It never seems to turn out as good as hers (except for the time she used cinnamon instead of chili powder that was not a good time). And I have tried all of her techniques.

So, I am going to post the recipe and anyone that would like to try it - go ahead & let me know what you think. Some tips would be that she just slices onions (doesn't chop them) and she adds a small can of tomato sauce to it.

Sopa De Fideo

1/2 lb. Vermicelli, broken in small pieces
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
2 cloves garlic
2 c. onion, chopped
2 c. chopped celery
1 1/2 c. chopped green pepper - I usually leave out - which could be the problem but doubt it
1 can whole kernel corn with liquid
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2/3 tsp. chili powder
1 lg. can tomatoes
1 c. water
Grated cheese for topping (or sliced cheese) - Grandma uses sliced - it's better

Saute Vermicelli (watch carefully-burns easily) with ground beef until brown. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook gently for 25 minutes. May need to add water if too dry. Uncover and cook 5 minutes.

Family Pet

I am not a fan of pets - for myself. Sometimes I think I want a dog, but then I realize not really. Growing up I had LOTS of pets. I like animals, I just do not want to take care of them.

I feel bad for the boys because I know they really want pets, as do most kids. I have thought a lot about getting fish, and I did get Jeremy a Beta fish to test it out. Fish are ok, but he has to clean the tank every week or two, still seems like too much for me. But still a possibility.

So, this is the best solution for now. The boys got Hermit Crabs. They really gross me out. The top crab in the picture below is totally brown & looks like a spider when it comes out of the shell. So I really dislike that one.

The crabs are really low maintenance. They do get bathed 2 times a week which only takes about 5 minutes and the boys can do that without supervision. They just put some water in the sink & put them in there for 1 minute. Then they air dry.

The Hermit Crabs love bath time. That is the only time I see them out of the shell & very active.

Brayden decided to spend some of his Christmas money on the Hermit Crabs. Cody lucked out because they were buy one kit get a kit free. So, Cody & Brayden split the cost of 1 kit (one kit comes with 2 crabs) and they each got two. Brayden named his Stripes & Pinchers and Cody named his Home Slice & Home something else.