A Day Outdoors

On Monday, the weather was nice. It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't super warm out either. David decided to take Clarie and Grayson out into the driveway to ride on their new tricycles, Claire's being an early birthday gift. I decided to head out to play with my new camera (which, by the way, is FABULOUS!)

Of course, the only one that would allow me to photograph them having any kind of a good time, was Grayson, who was all about learning to be a biker...

Until I caught Claire, not looking at the camera of course, but she was also enjoying her new trike.

And made a great subject to test out the way the camera catches his blue eyes.

Then, they took a walk with Daddy.

Want to see some other pictures I've taken with my new camera? Well, I'll post those tomorrow..Pinky promise.

Hello 28

This week, Thursday to be exact, I celebrated my 28th birthday.

David, the wonderful guy that he is, bought me a great Nikon D5000, as I've already mentioned, and he also got me a camera bag and The Walking Dead on Blu-Ray.

On Thursday, he made it so I would have a whole day where I didn't have to cook. He really knows how to treat a birthday gal. He took me to breakfast at a tiny restaurant not too far from our house...Mmmm...French toast. For lunch he went into town and bought me some Chinese food. For dinner, we went to the next town over and had some not so great Mexican food. I keep trying to find a Chile Rellenos that is as good as my Great Grandmothers, but none of them live up to my expectations. And, Grandmason is almost 91 and in Arizona, so I'm pretty sure I won't

be asking her to make them anytime soon.

After dinner, we came home and had some cake that David "baked" himself. See, David likes to buy precooked desserts and food and then bugs me about thanking him for "making" me a delicious meal. Still it was a great cake, and to make me feel old, he filled it with 28 candles.

Grayson was very excited about the cake.

(By the way, please excuse the background mess. I was also not cleaning on my birthday, and when I don't clean, that small counter becomes the dump ground for David and the kids for....Well, pretty much everything.)

Claire was more excited about the candles.

Ethan could care less. He just wanted sugar and to go back to playing in his room and asking us repeatedly about his slumber party that took place on Friday.

In all, I had a really great 28th birthday. I received lots of phone calls, lots of happy birthday's and felt really loved. I can't wait to see what year 28 is going to bring to me!

Writer's Workshop: Daydream In Progress

It's Thursday and I'm back on the Writer's Workshop grind. It's been a few weeks. We've been busy. Shopping here. Spring cleaning there. Good times.

Today I chose the prompt I often daydream about....

I often daydream about winning the lottery. Who couldn't use a few extra million hanging around? Here's the difference though.

When people when the lottery, they go big. They buy huge, empty houses. They buy dream cars. Personal chefs. Clothes they'll never wear. I don't want any of that.

I don't want a huge, fancy house. I'm sure David's dream is to have a home with it's own movie theater. I could really care less. I want a home. I want space for our kids to run, play and grow. If it happens to have a view, that would be nice. If it has a roman tub, I'll take it. I want enough room to have our family stay with us when they visit. It doesn't need to have big windows or long driveways, it just needs to feel like a home.

I don't want a fancy car. I want a van. Yes, you read that right. I want a minivan. Something that is reliable and gets us from one place to another.

I would pay for our children's college educations. I didn't go to college, and I want them to get a great education.

We would take a great family vacation. We've never taken a family vacation. Right now we are planning a trip to Disney World in a few years, but aside from that, we've never been anywhere as a family. We took a trip to Bisbee, AZ for David's grandmother's 80th birthday party, but that's as far as our family trip goes. I'd also take my dream vacation...Paris. And, I would love every second of it.

The rest of it would be put away for the future.

And that is my daydream, and I have it every single time I hear what the powerball is up to.

Me And Reading? We're BFF's. And When Your Son Ruins A Birthday Present.

So, for Christmas, my wonderful hubby gave me a great gift. A Kindle. I was giddy when I opened it. I plugged it in and I immediately searched the Kindle store for my next great reading adventure.

I downloaded Water for Elephants and pretty much devoured it in less than a week. Great book by the way. I highly recommend it. Anyways, now I'm at a loss. I have no idea what to read next.

I've been searching book club picks on various book store websites. I've browsed for as long as David will let me in a bookstore before he reverts back to the age of 5 and whines about "being so bored and why did you bring me here and how come I can't leave and blah blah blah". We've been together 9 years (10 years this year) and he still doesn't know that when I step foot in a bookstore I lose all track of time. If Barnes and Noble allowed it, I would let them lock me in and just spend the night browsing. They wouldn't have to give me anything. I would just browse, content, all night. Except, now I don't know what to read....Sigh.....

In other news, my birthday is next Thursday, March 24th. I will be 28. So far, I've received 2 gifts. My first gift was my dream camera. Yes, David bought me a Nikon 5000. I couldn't believe it. He got it a screaming price. He called me because he wasn't sure if it was the camera I wanted. He also felt a little sorry he was ruining the surprise. I didn't feel bad at all. The camera takes amazing pictures and now I can catch my kids super happy grins faster than ever. Nikon and I are still getting to know each other, but it's starting out to be a beautiful friendship.

My second gift was The Walking Dead on Blu-Ray. It's a TV show about zombies. Yeah, I'm a little bit zombie crazy. I like zombie movies. I like zombie video games. If there is a zombie in it, I'll probably play it/watch it/read it. Unless it's the book Dust. I couldn't even force myself to ready 10 pages of that. And it was given to me on accident.

You see, David hid an ad from me that had the release date of the show. He ordered it in secret. It came in the mail on Saturday. On Saturday's, Ethan checks the mail. Well, this day, Ethan had a friend over who went to the mailbox with him and told him to open the mail. Ethan did. Ethan walked in the front door, said to me, "Mom, I opened Dad's mail. You got The Walking Dead!" I looked at him and I said, "What? Why did you open your Dad's mail? What if that was a birthday present for me?" As it turns out, yeah, it was a birthday present for me. David felt horrible because he wanted to surprise me with it on my birthday. It wasn't his fault though, and it was nice of him to get it for me, because now I can watch the special features and zombie fun all I want.

So, happy early birthday to me!

Apparently, I Look Like An Idiot To Cashiers

I'm just going to say it. I'm going to put it out there right here, right now. I hate Wal-Mart. I believe that Wal-Mart is where good days go to die. I don't like their prices. I don't like their clothes. I don't like their store brand diapers. I DO NOT like their employees. There have been a few who have been fabulous, but apparently, not many of them work at the store I go to.

See, a few months ago, I called Wal-Mart around Christmas to ask if they were open on Christmas Eve. We needed to run in to exchange something really quick before heading to my SIL's house to enjoy dinner and presents with our family. A woman answered the phone, and in and unfriendly voice said, "Thank you for calling your New Richmond Wal-Mart, how can I help you?" I very politely asked if she could tell me what time they'd be closing on Christmas Eve. She answered with an exasperated grunt and an even ruder tone, "We're open 24 hours a day 365 days a year." Then, she hung up on me. Christmas Eve rolled around, and we pulled into the parking lot of Wal-Mart to be met with them closing down at close to 7 for the evening and the following day. Apparently, they are not open 24 hours a day for Christmas.

But, to just top it off, I had a terrible experience with a cashier the other day. Now, the Wal-Mart in my area did not price match for a long, long time. I called the corporate office many times demanding to know why they said that price matching was their national policy for all stores, but then left it up to a store manager to decide to price match. If that's the case, it ISN'T a NATIONAL policy. They just started price matching last year, but there is only one other grocery store in town, and it's a very small kind of mom and pop place. They also have pretty expensive groceries, so, although I hate to, I price match their ad at Wal-Mart. This week, they were having a great sale on Tuna Helper. We don't eat a lot of it, but when I can stock up on something that is quick and easy to throw together after a long day of being out and running errands, it's nice to have on hand. The sale was 5 for $5. That means they were $1 each. Much cheaper than the almost $2 price tag. To top it off, I had 3 coupons for 75 cents off three boxes. So, while shopping I threw 9 boxes into my cart to put into the pantry for later use. I get to the checkout and I say to the cashier, "Hi, I'm going to be price matching today." She LITERALLY rolled her eyes at me and grunted as she started opening bags to put my items into. I opened my ad to the page the Tuna Helper was on and pointed to the price and said, "These are 5 for $5." She rang up 5 and then said to me, "OK, those are 5 for $5. I'm ringing the rest of these up for regular price." I said, "Why?" She breathed an incredible, I'm-completely-annoyed-by-you sigh, and said in a tone that told me she thought I was an idiot, "Because you only have 9." I said to her, "The price is 5 for $5. That makes them a $1 each. I don't have to buy 5 to get the $1 sale price." She looked at me, ROLLED her eyes again and said to me, "FINE! WHATEVER!" And rang the rest of them up for a dollar, muttering to herself and THROWING them into bags.

I mean, really? REALLY? If Wal-Mart was not the only store around that I could get groceries at for a reasonable price, I WOULD NOT be going there anymore. EVER! I can count on one hand the number of employees I've met at my local store that have been nothing but helpful and pleasant. ONE HAND! That is not good, at all.

To think that I have to go back into that hell hole on Tuesday to get more food, is not really something that appeals to me. On Monday when I went in, I was in a great mood because I'd gotten out of the house early to get my groceries and I made it to check-out in about 30 minutes. That's a record for me when shopping with 2 toddlers. But, that good mood died when I had to deal with that cashier.

You see, Wal-Mart is where good days go to die.

When You Work Out, You Should Be Force Fed And Sat On

I'm sticking to my resolution that I need to take pride in my body and myself. I try not to eat after 8PM. On Monday's that's little more difficult because I wait to have dinner until David get's home from work, which is usually closer to 8:30PM. I just prefer to eat with him so we can actually spend some time together and talk without being interrupted by tiny people chatter. I drink more water. I haven't had pop (soda, whatever you call it) in years, so that wasn't hard. I still eat most of the same foods, but I eat them in moderation. Smaller portions, healthier snacks. Carrots and celery and fresh fruits are just as good as the potato chips I was snacking on before.

Another part of that is I've been working out everyday. Right now I'm doing the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Today, I did day 7 on Level 1. My plan is to do all 3 levels for 10 days each. On day 1, I thought I was going to die. Today on day 7, I feel great. I really wish the weather was warmer and the snow was melted because I'd be talking daily walks with Clarie and Grayson in the stroller on top of all of this. Another thing I'm excited about? I went to the doctor the other day and I have lost 6 pounds and I've noticed my hips are getting smaller. I think I might invest in some of those shape-up shoes and get myself out walking every day (or every day it's not raining) this summer.

The bad parts of working out? Whenever I do push-ups, Claire decides that I am all of a sudden a great place to sit. She climbs up onto my back, forcing me face down into the ground, giggling the entire time. When I do jumping jacks, she runs around me in a circle yelling, "Come on guys! Come on guys!" Cute? Yes. Concentration breaking? Yes.

But when I do crunches, that's where the real fun begins. Before I start my work out, I get the kids snacks. I get them water. Then I start. Then, the crunches come. I clear things around me real quick, and then I lay down. Claire has sat on my stomach, twice, forcing all the air out of me. But Grayson...Grayson is a pro at this crunch thing. See, when I do crunches, Grayson feels like I need food...NOW.

A few days ago, he shoved animal crackers in my mouth. Today, he tried shoving Cheez-It crackers in my mouth. Good thing about animal crackers? They don't crumble. Bad thing about Cheez-It crackers? They do crumble. So, this morning, I did crunches. Grayson happily tried to force feed me a Cheez-It. I shook my head. He pushed it into my upper lip, where it crumbled and then promptly went up my nose, making me choke.

I like the occasional Cheez-It. I do not like the occasional Cheez-It hanging around inside my nostril. I didn't want to give up on my work out, so I had to leave it alone and sneeze a lot. I only had 10 minutes left, so it wasn't terrible, but it sure was irritating.

I wonder what he'll try to shove down my throat tomorrow.

What I Learned In The Check Out Line

Today, I went grocery shopping. It wasn't my usual grocery shopping day. I usually go on Tuesday's, but we were pretty busy this week, and since gas is pretty expensive ($3.54!) I held off until I went to town today to take Ethan to the dentist.

At the dentist, Grayson was pretty much hellbent on destruction. Whenever we come in, the receptionist usually brings out a toy bin for Clarie and Grayson to play with. It's got little toys, books, coloring books and crayons. Grayson discovered the pencil box full of crayons and spent a good 10 minutes just opening and closing the lid. Then, he got bored and decided that throwing the crayons was even better. I fished crayons out from under chairs, under tables, out of the toy bin itself and yes, even out of my purse. He giggled, he threw some more. I sighed, said "No. No, Grayson." Claire piped in and said, "Yeah, Grayson, no. No touching. No." Such a little helper. After a good 20 throws, Ethan was finally done with his dental work and we were able to head to the grocery store.

We got to the grocery and I realized that I had forgotten my grocery list and all of my coupons. Damn. Time to shop cheaply from memory. This is gonna be a good time. We headed inside, where I was actually pretty surprised. The kids were well behaved. Nobody tried to grab the bread and smash the hell out of it, forcing me to hide it and get more. This was one of the best shopping trips, EVER...

Or so I thought.

I got to the check out. I unloaded my groceries while answering about a million questions being thrown at me by Ethan. The woman in front of me hadn't moved yet, so I inched forward a little bit to wait. When it was my turn, I said my casual hello to the cashier. I pulled my wallet out. I turned my head a little to the left to do one of the side eye kid counts parents do when they are checking out with a handful of kids, and that's when it happened.

Grayson's arm stretched to the right. His fingers laced themselves through the holes on the top of the egg carton. It lifted up and then there was a blur of white and then a crack and a floor full of yellow.

A full dozen eggs. The cashier and I both stared at the floor, mouths open. And then all I could think to do was grab my face and say, "Oh dear Lord, this shopping trip was going way too well." Apparently, whenever an outing with my kids is going just great, the universe sees fit to knock me down a peg. Case in point, the Sears Poop Plop.

Today was no exception.

Grayson happily played with the egg carton, smiling at everyone while he did. He's lucky he's tiny and cute.

Apparently the universe also likes to watch employees clean up the impromptu makings of scrambled eggs off the floor of their store.

Never a dull moment with my three.