Busy, busy, busy....

I have spent the past week busily trying to get things in better order around here. I spent Sunday...(sorry, but got the bug and worked even though it was Sabbith, dh had to work anyway, so I thought I might as well too)...working on my mess of a bedroom. I went through all the clothes that were taking up all the walking space, which isn't more than around one side and the foot of my bed. I got them all either in the laundry to be washed, folded and put away, or in a bag for give away. I now have 2 large black bags for Goodwill. I am still working on catching up the dirty laundry. Going through, washing, sorting out what isn't needed or putting up off season clothes now that it is 70+ degrees outside most days. I felt really good about the progress I made, but have kind of come to a stand still the past few days. I am hoping after Easter Holiday, I'll be able to get back into the swing of things.

Speaking of Easter....I took the kids today to Walmart and had pictures done at the photo studio there. I got the girls matching dresses. Caleb offered to wear a pink shirt....Shocked the heck out of me. I told him he didn't have to, but he said he wanted to, so he picked out a nice pale pink shirt with darker mauvish colour tie. He looked so handsome. I tried to get Josh to wear pink, but it was no go......Kid usually wears all black, so I compromised. He said I'd have to pay him to wear pink...I said, how about blue. He said that was fine. So I got him a baby blue dress shirt, and he wore one of his dads darker blue ties. They all looked so cute and while we waited on our appointment, we walked around the store. We were stopped several times for them to be ooooed and awed over how cute they were. The down side was that they put the pictures on a 3.5 flopy disc and our floppy drive is on the Fritz. So....I have to wait until Joshua can take it to his friends or school and email them to me before I can post the pictures to this here blog thing.....LOL. But as soon as I have them, I'll post them.

Well....It's after 11pm and I'm tired from running around all day, and Emma is into all kinds of stuff. I need to go to bed. Catch you Later Gaters!!! Kai

Potatoe Soup

It soothes the soul and is so rib sticking yummers. Everyone here loves it. And it is so easy to make. When I was a kid, and money was tight, there was always Potatoe soup. I thought I might start and post some of my recipes on my blog to share with the world so y'all can enjoy my brilliance in the kitchen...LOL, just kidding. Anyway.....here's

POTATOE SOUP

3 ribs of celery sliced
1 med. onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 Tbs. Marg or butter or olive oil....whatever you have on hand, or you like.
4 lbs pototoes, peeled and diced
3 Tbs. flour
3 cups of milk
Kosher salt, pepper, chyenne pepper to taste
pinch nutmeg

Ok...here goes.....
Sweat celery, onion in garlic until tender. Add diced potatoes just cover with water, add a couple big pinches of salt to season potatoes. Bring to a boil. Continue boil unitl potatoes are all soft and tender. Remove from heat. Using a potatoe smasher, smash tater chuck until as smooth or chuncky as you like it. Add flour and mix well. Return to a medium flame and add milk. Bring back to a boil. Add more milk if you desire soup to be thinner. Add you seasonings and taste. Simmer for 5 or so minuets stirring frequently, scrapping bottom to prevent scorching. Serve with grated cheese, bacon bits (I used real bacon that I fry up and crumble), sour cream, and/or sliced green onion. One or all these additions are wonderful. My kids love to top their own. I make the bowl then they put on what they want. I usually have some kind of bread, even if it is just some bake off fridge biscuits. Hope you try and like. Any questions, just ask. Later Gaters, Kai!!

Terry Goodkind

Something I failed to talk about is that I have been reading alot lately. I reread the last 2 current Harry Potter books and some other fantasy books. I haven't read this much since I was in High School. I was at the book store with Josh the other day and found a series of books by a guy named Terry Goodkind called the Sword of Truth series. There seems to be 10 books in it so far.....YIPEE. Gives me alot to read. I am about 1/3 of the way through the first book.... "Wizards First Rule". It's pretty good so far. I really enjoy the escape it gives me. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading. I am not too into reading informationg type books, but give me a good fantasy and I'm all over it. Anyway....just thought I'd give you an idea of a good read for me. Later Gaters, Kai!

:D....Hi again

Life has gotten the better of me lately. I have been having some very difficult times with depression, and because of it, inability to motivate myself to do much of anything. The house is a wreck and I feel like a major failure as a wife and mother and all around person. I have been trying to do a few things different, but it's hard. All I want to do is sit and watch TV or sleep. I also just don't know where to begin most of the time. It is all so overwhelming to me. Our bishop asked if I wanted some help, so he had the Relief Society president come over and we did a lot in the kitchen. Trouble is, I haven't kept it up. It isn't super bad and wouldn't take much to get it back to the way we had it.I just gotta get up off my butt and do it.
I am not going to bother updating on the past few months. I will just say, holidays were fine. Trip was fine. Everything went well. We got our tax returns in the middle of February and were able to get the things we couldn't do otherwise. We got some new livingroom furniture, a new dryer....that I did a happy dance for!!! And a new mattress. They were all very much needed things and we don't ever have the money to get "big" things like that. So it was nice to be able to take care of them. I took Caleb and a couple of friends to play laser tag and took Hannah and a couple friends to Build a Bear Workshop. They all had a lot of fun. Josh got a TV for his bedroom. Right now Josh is working for Braums Ice Cream and he is doing well there. They want him to work full time thins summer. I am hoping he will save enough to get himself some kind of vehicle. Mark is still working for Family Dollar, but he is looking for something else that will pay better. He is hoping for another bank job, but we will see what happens. Emma is growing by leaps and bounds both mentally and physically. She is really smart and as cute as could be, but also as onnery as can be. Her second birthday is in 3 weeks....I just can't believe it has been that long since she was born.
Well...I can't think of anything else to write about today. I am going to post my goals for the day and see how I do tomorrow.....

GOALS FOR 4/9:
Get dressed
Clean up kitchen
Mop kitchen
Work on my bedroom
Work on laundry
Get kids to finish their room
Make nice dinner
Get ready for tomorrow before bed

That's my to do's....we'll see how it goes. Later gaters, Kai!

I'm here.....

Sort of....LOL. Anyway....I have been off for a bit, but I am back now. Again...sort of. As I have said before....I suffer from depression, and the past few months have been particularily bad. I'm here, but not as good as I'd like to be. Hopefully soon I will be able to get on some medication and be alot better than this. So...please be patient with me. More updating soon....PROMISE! Kai

HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER!!!

NEED I SAY MORE!!!!! It opens today and we are all jazzed here!!! Or at least Caleb, Hannah and I are. We are going to the 6:30 showing this eveing. It's the first showing they have after school. I will be going at noon to get the tickets for me and for a friend of mine that is also going. I will return and report after I have seen it. Did I mention that I am excieted!!! LOL

Okay on to other news.....we are pretty much over the flu. For the most part. Hannah threw up again this morning, and I'm not sure why she isn't totally over it yet, but I think it may be her tummy just still being sensitive. I still have the other part of it a bit. Having to make some quick trips to the john, but other than that we seem to be past the worst of it. THANK HEAVEN!!! I sure didn't want a tummy bug to hamper or cancel our trip. Speaking of trip...we leave tomorrow evening for 9 fun filled days of visiting my family. Can't wait....To be honest...not looking forward to the actual traveling bit, but the visit I am anxious to get to. 18 hrs in a van with an 18 month old is not my kind of fun. But we have the dvd player and I wil bring some things for the kiddos to do, so we should be ok. Well, off to do some more preparing. Got a lot of time and not much to do! No...strike that. Reverse it! Later Gaters, Kai.

Puking Ickies.....

So I wake up at 5 am to pee...nothing unusual there. But I notice Caleb and Hannah's bedroom light is on. Very unusual for 5am! So I go in and find poor Hannah with her head in a bowl puking her guts up. And a pair of dirty panties on the floor. UGH!!! She has spent all day throwing up in an old ice cream bucket and wearing pull ups (that I went out at 5am to Walmart to get) so she won't make a mess. NOW....Caleb is doing it! Again...UGH!!! This is all I need. We are supposed to leave for Colorado on Saturday. I sure hope if we are all gonna get it, that we get it quick and get over it quick. I would hate to have to not go cuz we're ill! Or be ill on the trip. NOT FUN!!! Ok...time to pray and hope it all blows over really fast! Kai

***YAWN***

Ever wake up...thinking it's for the day...and just wanna go back to bed after about 30 or so minuets??? Well, that's me! Emma is still asleep and the middles are watching Saturday morning cartoons, and all I wanna do is crawl back in bed with E and snooze until she decides to wake up. Which would probably give me an hour or so. You know...that does not sound too terribily bad to be honest. Am I lazy? Is there something wrong with me?? Why can I not just get up at a decient hour and get busy on all the many things I need to do? I usually go to bed sometime between 10 and 12. It is usually right at 11 when Josh wants to watch that nasty South Park and I can't even stand to listen to the thing much less watch it! So...in bed at 11 and when I get up at 7:30 with the kids, that is 8 1/2 hours sleep. Why is it that it doesn't seem to be enough? Why is it that I can't get my butt up and going until after 10am most days? I just go back to bed after the kids go to school and don't get up until the baby does sometime between 9 and 11 usually. What the heck is my problem??? So...do I go back to bed for a bit or what??? And taking afternoon naps...that's another post all together!!! Kai

Thank God for Small Favors!!

So...we are leaving to have Thanksgiving with my family on the evening of the 19th. I am really excied about the trip, but I don't fancy traveling for 16+ hours with 3 kids under the age of 8. And one being under 2! SOOOO....as I did last year, I am borrowing a portable DVD player, kinda like the one to the left. It has 2...count em...2 screens that are detached from the base and can attach, via a strap, to the backs of the font seats in our van. Needless to say, this helped us ALOT last year!!! We actually didn't own any DVD's when we used it last year. We borrowed movies from a friend and Marks brother. BUT we bought a DVD player since and now own about a dozen or so films. Now...the kids have watched our movies a lot, but that's ok. I am going to buy one new one. Probably Robots or maybe Charlie and the Chocolate factory. Not sure which yet. Then I am also going to try to borrow a few others from my friend again. Anyway, I digress. The point I wanted to make was.... though having their heads stuck in the TV screen all the time isn't the best thing in the world.... having movies on a long trip is the BOMB!!! I would really like to get one of our own. I am going to look into maybe putting one on layaway at Wally world after Christmas, and finish paying it off with Tax returns. That way I don't have to borrow it whenever we want to use one. I think it would be well worth the investment. Peace and quiet goes a long way on an arduous journey!!! Okay, time for bed y'all! Later Gaters. Kai

Fall has fallen!

IT'S FALL!!! FINALLY IT IS FALL!!! It has been record heat here for more than a week here, but it is finally feeling more like autumn. And it puts me in the mood for PUMPKIN!! So this evening I made a pumpkin cake. It's a recipe that my mother inlaw gave me and it's a super yummy one. You use a cake mix and make up pumpkin like you would for a pie and after it's baked the cake is on top and the pumpkin is on bottom and it is to die for!!! I can't wait to dig in!!! I'm gonna get a big piece here in a minuet. I love pumpkin. I don't like it as a pie...Unless I can just eat the filling and not the crust....LOL. But this cake is wonderful and I make a MEAN pumpkin roll as well.

We are off to my parents for Thanksgiving here in about 9 days and I am VERY excited about it. We went last year and it was a lot of fun. I am hoping to get a lot of scrapbooking done with my sister and have the kids all do some crafting and just kick back and relax and attempt to forget my troubles for 9 whole days! God watch over us that we will be safe from harm.

Well....Survivor is on...so off for now to watch and snarf some cake. More later, Kai!

Update....and a bit more

Well..........It's over. HELLoween is over...LOL. I suppose I would probably enjoy it more if I just broke down and bought my kids their costumes. Instead of making them. But what fun would that be. I know that they don't really care where the costumes come from. But then I wouldn't have the joy of making them.....But then I wouldn't have the headache either. I suppose I will decide along time for school to start next fall what I'm gonna do. I am pretty sure I will at least make the Emma's. They had lots and lots of fun, though. They went trunk or treating at our church and at my inlaws. Then door to door trick or treating Monday night. I put all thier candy together in a big bowl and am handing it out a piece at a time. My MIL said she just let her kid have their bags and eat it until it was gone. But I don't really like them to eat that much at a time. PLUS I don't want to deal with a fight when one is out and the other has some left and won't share. She said that they have to learn to deal with it sometime. But (((I))) am not willing to "deal" with the fighting. Mommy is a whimp...LOL. I have enough of arguing and fighting without putting candy in with it as it is. But it's over. THANK THE LORD!!!
Now, Mark and I are painting the windows at Family Dollar for Christmas. It's lots of fun, but also lots of work as well. I had 2 people ask me if I would do their windows while I was working on them last night. I hope this will turn into a little side business. That would be way COOL. I could get money for Christmas and maybe some for our trip in 3 weeks as well!!!
Going home for Thanksgiving!! I'm really psyched!!! Can't wait. We had SOOOO much fun last year. 3 WEEKS 3 WEEKS 3 WEEKS!!! YEA!!! LOL....I know, I know....I NUTS!!! But at least I'm in a good mood today.
Off I go. Got lots to do. Need to clean and shop and maybe finish the windows today. Catch you later gaters! Kai

Lost in confusion....

I am tired and confused lately. Not wanting to do much of anything. Not really confused really, just frustrated and sad I guess. Lately Emma will do nothing but stand by me and cry unless I pick her up. I can't get anything done. And I have a lot to do. She is constantly pushing the computer tray in and saying "UP". It's making me crazy. I have 3 costumes to do in less than 2 weeks and I have no motivation to do them. I am stressed out about the up coming holidays. We are going to Colorado for Thanksgiving...and that'll be nice. But at this point I don't have a clue where Christmas for my kids is coming from. My house is a wreck all of the time and I find myself sitting on the couch holding the baby and wanting to just skip to January and forget about my birthday and dh birthday, Christmas and Caleb's birthday all in December. Just forget them and go on with life and not stress....but will that be possible...NO. Well...mine will be forgotten cuz it usually is. I'm sick of there being no money. Sick of not knowing when or how something is going to hit us and make things worse than they already are. OKAY...can you tell Aunt Flow hit this am? I was PSMing so bad yesterday I am sure my kids thought I was crazy. I ate a whole HUGE chocolate bar...you know one of those big Hershey ones the size of a small notebook? But it was yummy. It had Heath toffee pieces in it...LOL. Anyway...off to see if I can't at least get the Wendy costume made today. It's just a simple dress..... So it should be quick and easy. Then on to Peter Pan and after that the most difficult Tinkerbell for Emmaleigh. Off I go. Kai

Meat, Meat and more Meat!!!

Meat, meat and more meat. I am on a quest. I want to have my freezer FULL of meat. That way I don't have to worry about it. In actuallity I want a years worth of food storage here, at least. Wasn't very sure where to start, so I am starting with meat. Something I know I will use. Last week Alberson's had assorted pork chops for $1 a pound. So, I got 20lbs of it and seperated it up into double freezer bags of 6 chops each. Got 6 bags out of 20lbs. Buy for less had country style ribs for .99c a pound. I got 10lbs of that, 2 packages. So I just put one pkg each in the freezer bags. Now today Albertson's ad changed. They have boneless skinless chicken breasts and tenders for 1.69lb., regular price was $3.49. Almost a $2 savings per lb. So I got 10lbs of whole breasts and 5 of tenders. There are now 6pkgs of chicken in the freezer. It is now about half to a third full of meat. I want it stuffed to overflowing!!! On from there...I'm going to start on canned goods. Probably go to Aldi's for that. I want to get some cheap pvc pipe shelves from Walmart and put them on top of the built in dresser in my bedroom for canned goods. We are getting alot more money than we are used to spending on food from the state for now, so I thought it might be wise to start some kind of storage with it. Makes me feel good to know that we are starting to get things more in order. More later, Kai.

Crazy

Sometimes I really wonder if I'm not CRAZY!?!?! Here I am....up at 6am, but I've been awake since 4. I woke needing to pee, then couldn't get back to sleep. Just started to doze off when my alarm buzzed at 5, so I could wake Mark to be a work at 6. I started thinking about the Avian flu again, and couldn't get back to sleep. I have a HUGE weekend ahead of me, and I should be resting, but here I am sitting infront of this infernal machine!!! What the heck is my problem??? Why do I have such a hard time sleeping??? I guess if I cut out naps in the afternoon, that would help, but I wake up and my brain won't shut the hell up and then I can't get back to sleep. If I don't nap I can't finish my day. What am I supposed to do?? I hurt all the time, I'm tired all the time, and I have 4 kids to chase after and a household to run. I'm sick of worrying about things and sick of feeling so out of control.

Anyway...that being said....I'm off to start a VERY busy weekend. Monday is Miss Hannah's 6th birthday!!! I cannot belive it has been 6 whole years since she was born! She gets more and more beautiful every day. More and more smart each day, and more and more silly each day. She is the apple of her daddy's eye, and all she has to do is a little pout to get what she wants from him...LOL. We are having her birthday at my inlaws tomorrow evening. I am making dinner (fried chicken) for everyone, and I ordered a really nice Cinderella cake from Wal-mart. I know I'm getting her the Cinderella DVD, and one outfit for sure. But what else is up in the air at this point. We took her to the mall the other day and she wanted to look at all the clothes. She is such a little fashion plate! It's too funny. I asked her what she wanted for Birthday/Christmas, clothes or toys??? She replied with out missing a beat..."A little bit of toys and a lot of clothes!" Too too funny! I guess I will have to break out my sewing machine and whip her up a couple of new outfits. But not before her b-day....there's just not enough time. Anyway...I have to go shopping for her day this afternoon. Then I have to do the clothes at Family Dollar in the am and make chicken after that for dinner. Then off to Grandma and Grandpa's for a family birthday party!!!
I'm now going to go lay down for an hour or two and see if I can't get a little rest before I have to run around with my head chopped off. Later gaters, Kai

Rough night

I really hate it when I have to get up after a rough night! I was hoping to get a few extra minuets of sleep, but Emma woke earlier than her usual 9:30 or 10.....DANG! I don't wanna be up and I wanna go back to bed!!! I am not an early riser....or a morning person. Earliest I do is 7:30 when I have to get kids up for school....I try to stay up and get busy...that way I have about 2 or so hours before E. gets up to do things like shower and dress or a little quiet time or even a couple chores. But sometimes I go back to bed...I know that is naughty of me, but I just can't help myself if I had a bad night. I figure it Mark can sleep all day and get up just half an hour before he has to leave for work, why can't I get an extra hour or so if I'm tired. I also know that isn't the attitude to have as well..... Man am I bad or what??? Well...I suppose I should get busy. I need to get some dishes done and maybe go look at the dryer and see if I can't figure out why it isn't heating....YEP...just one more thing to add to my stress...the dryer stopped heating last night. I think it's the dial. That should be easy enough to fix. My father in law can help with it. But in the mean time...I am without! Well...........on to it I suppose.

Cutie Patootie

I have a very busy day today. Caleb has a birthday party after school, and I am going to have to do a bunch of driving around. I am tired and still sick. I sure hope I can kick this really soon.
Emma is getting so big and is just too cute. She says several words and learns new things every day. She says "Eeths" for Please. And "DaDoo" for Thank you. She also says, Josh, Dadda, Momma, Uh Oh, NOOO, and yes, GaKar for cracker and Up when she wants up. I love just watching babys learn and grow. It is such fun. She also "shakes a booty", waggles her butt with the music. LOL. She loves to sit on daddy's lap and listen to music he has on the computer. It is her favorite evening past time. Kai

Sick, Sicker, Sickerest.....

Last week was pretty rough. I have 3 of 4 kids on antibiotics now. I ended up taking all 4 to the dr last Wednesday and Caleb and Hannah both had Strep throat and Emma has an ear infection. I also have a sore throat, so I suspect that I, too, have strep. But there is no money or insurance so I can go to the dr....so unless I get super duper sick I am just gonna have to stick it out and try to fight it on my own. I have been taking Echinecea and that seems to be helping some. Caleb missed all week of school last week, and is behind in his homework....he is not a happy camper. Now he is crying at me cuz he can't go out to play since it is taking him so long to do his homework. I feel for the kid, but it shouldn't take him 3 hrs to do this work. He is too smart to sit here for so long. Anyway.........I am off to finish dinner. Later, Kai.

Deeper

My depression has gotten deeper over the last week. I have been having a hard time doing just minor things. I can't seem to get my big butt off the couch and do the things I am supposed to be doing. I can't stand the kids, I can't stand my husband, I can't stand myself. I am just so down and out at the moment. I am trying to pull myself up, but it is rough. Having sick kids doesn't help. Emma has a horrid runny nose and Hannah was home Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from school with a sore throat, and now her lips are super duper chapped and bleeding. Caleb is coughing as well. I am glad school is back in, but seems as soon as it starts the kids get sick. I don't think I can handle another winter cold and flu season like last years. I swear we were in the dr office twice a month. I have bought some disinfectant wipes to wipe down grocery carts and small GermX for hands to carry in my purse. I am going to take the kids to get flu shots next week. They have been saying on the news it is supposed to be a rough flu year. We are ALL going to get them this year. I have never had one, but I think I will break down and get one anyway. Emma is sooo suseptable to ear infections that I really want to keep her well if I can. If we got through this year what we did last year I am going to make sure they put tubes in her ears. I don't want a deaf child if I can prevent it at all!!!
Anyway, I have laundry going and am about to get the DW running. I may go through fabric and see what I can make for Christmas gifts. It will be a homemade year. Cash is in short supply, and will be for a while. Maybe if I do some crafting I will feel a bit better. I know I'd like to make pj's and robes for all the kids. I can even make a robe for Mark. That'd be fun! Well, off project hunting after I do the dishes and get dinner in the oven. Salmon...YUMMY! Your prayers are welcome to help me thru this. Thanks alot!! Kai

Oh so tired....

I am having a hard time lately. I have been really tired and I hurt an awful lot. The carpal tunnel in my hands is getting worse. It makes it really difficult to do alot of things. I have so much that I need to do, but no energy to do them. I have been striving to get the house in better shape and be a more peaceful place. The more I try the harder it seems to do. I am STILL behind on the laundry. I do it for a couple of days then get tired of it and stop for a couple of days. I know I need to keep doing it so it'll get done, but I just can't seem to keep going until it's done. I get one thing done then go back and find it a mess again just a few hours later. It's driving me NUTS. Josh and I are having run in after run in. He seems to think it is ok to only do half of what he is told to do, and then thinks being punished for not doing what he is supposed to is unfair.....UGH!!! I am not to fond of teenagers right now!!! Well, enough complaining. I am going to go now and try to get something done before I have to go get daddy from work. Later, Kai.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina has hit and has really done a number on the gulf coast! The city of New Orleans is devastated as is most of Louisiana and Mississippi. I feel so bad for these people and wish I could do something to help. I can't donate money, for we have none right now. I would like to give time and maybe some things we have around here, but not sure where to do that at. I feel so helpless. I pray so hard these people will be able to pull themselves up and build a new, better life. I sure hope to find something I can do to help. This I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!