FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Time for Friday High Five!

Come join in the fun....please!

Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE!

To see my Friday High Five posts for examples, click here!

Post about it, linking back to me then sign Mr. Linky! Please use the Friday High Five URL post in Mr. Linky's URL section instead of your blog URL and here is how: write the post, publish the post, go to edit posts, VIEW the High Five post, copy the URL in the address portion at the top of the screen then paste it in the URL section of Mr.Linky!! Sounds complicated but it isn't too bad!

If you need help, let me know in the comment section!

Go view all the other High Five posts (IF anyone joins!) and comment away!

Have fun!

TOP 5 REASONS TO USE AMBIEN WITH CAUTION

5. If used more than the recommended 7 - 10 days, you can become dependent aka addicted to Ambien. This will make it even harder to fall asleep when you stop taking it. Some people take it for a week and their sleeping issues are over then there is me who has had sleeping issues since childhood. Instead of insomniac I like the more positive "Night Owl" ~ lol

4. You are not supposed to take Ambien unless you can devote a FULL 7 to 8 hours to sleep before being active again! If you don't devote that time, then you are left in a stooper when you "wake up". HELLO manufacturer ~ I am a busy Mom and I am lucky in fact EXTREMELY lucky if I get 5 to 6 hours but 7 to 8 is almost unheard of around here! Does this mean I should only take it about one a month because that is how rare 8 hours of sleep is for me? I have to be active first thing in the morning to get the kids up, ready and off to school so lets make one just to help me FALL asleep not stay asleep and in a drug induced state half of the following day!

3. Ambien caused me to talk in my sleep. I don't know what I say. For the most part, no one else does either. Apparently, I was hard to understand until I started yelling at people for not understanding me! Who knows what top secret information I revealed? For this reason, I am unable to work for the FBI! I can take torture but give me a sleeping aid and all secrets are revealed!

2. I sleepwalk while taking Ambien and never remember a thing. Actually, I did MANY MANY CRAZY things (or so I am told since I never remembered any of them!) when I would take an Ambien but it was the ONLY time in my life I have walked around while sleeping. This is one of the main reasons I haven't taken an Ambien since 1997! No telling what Hubs would think if he ever saw me under Ambien's influence!

#1

You find out who your friends really are and you may not want to know!! My friend Chaitra has trouble sleeping ~ not to the extent of my insomnia but still sometimes she takes an Ambien. We both joke about Ambien side effects we've experienced. I will no longer take Ambien but Chai stills takes it when she needs to. SO Chaitra calls with the schedule for the girls the next morning. At the end of the conversation she says chuckling, "If I show up beating on your door naked in the middle of the night, then just remember I took an Ambien." My reply, "If I slam the door in your face, then it is because you are naked while beating on my door in the middle of the night as a side effect of Ambien BUT remember it was for your own good so you aren't embarrassed in the morning when you wake up naked on my couch!" See I am a good friend.....right?! Bwahahaha!!

NOW it is your turn!!

PICTURE THIS.....ME AT THE BLOGGER AWARDS!

Picture this....

me in a beautiful gown that hugs my hourglass figure....hang on guys just picture it.......crying, shaking and hopefully not trippin on my gown as I walk to the stage to accept my second bloggy award at the 1st Annual International Blogger Awards ceremony.....

Now just to be sure ~ you should be picturing something like this.......

and NOT this:

Now that I have cleared that up I am accepting the

with great honor! No long speeches because with all the shaking and crying I don't want to end up on TMZ as a blubbering idiot so a short and sweet Thank You is all that eeks from my appreciative HOT mouth!

Just needed a moment when people actually thought I had an hourglass figure!!

If you only knew!!

Wow I got another award!

Thank you so much Kathy!

How sweet is she!

I have to nominate ten bloggers to pass on the award winning joy.

Let me see..................

I am going to have to wait until tomorrow b/c for some reason I can't get to the blogs I follow on my dashboard at this moment............just another thing to add to the last ugh post. Sorry Kathy I will try to remember to do it tomorrow but Thank you Thank you Thank you!!

UGH!

Some of you noticed I did not do an "I heart faces" post this week and emailed me to hurry up before I missed the deadline. I am a little upset with them right now! Don't worry it will not last long since I can't resist a photo post AND I already have next week's entry planned! I have no will power I tell you! I had almost 50 comments on my entry last week! That is more than I have ever had on any post. I know most of you out there can get over 50 comments on every post but that is rare for me! I thought my entry last week was really good and I didn't even have to win to be happy but I didn't even make the top ten or their picks! Really! Do you have to have professional editing skills and a two thousand dollar camera to get recognized? Oh well, I LOVED ALL OF MY COMMENTS and I will have to be happy with that but I just needed to vent! I love "I heart faces" and I will return on Monday......bright and early because I am addicted!!

While I am venting...............WHAT IS UP BLOGGER? Something must be up because I lost 5 followers then gained three only to lose four then gain one again! This must be some Blogger issue because surely my followers aren't that finicky or I have some serious issues I need to resolve. Please tell me it is Blogger and not me! I barely have followers as it is and I just made 25 last week........don't take them away! Come back my bloggy friends and "Follow me, follow me..." Not desperate, not desperate at all! HA! Hey and while I am at it ~ why do the ads on the sidebar only show up about 50% of the time? Huh? Huh? The ads have to appear in order for people to click on them ~ give a girl a break!

A THOUSAND WORDS THURSDAY: THE SECRET LETTER

Dear Tez,

Today you turn 15 years old! Wow how time flies! You will never read this letter since I am writing it more to get things off of my chest that I can not say to you at this age. We met a little over 8 years ago not long before you turned 7. You were so much smaller then and did not eat much at all. The only things you ate were macaroni n' cheese with sugar on it {{gaggaggagagag}}, corn dogs, hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. Before you met me, you hadn't even eaten a piece of pizza. You now eat an array of foods...well I guess I should say you have tried an array of foods although to hear it from you some would think you are allergic to vegetables. Ha! You are handsome with a beautiful and contagious smile like your Father. I love your smile when you get embarrassed and don't know what to say and I love your smile when you realize how proud we are of you. You came to live with us when you were almost 8 but your Mother got angry over some small matter and took you back. The State leans toward the biological Mother in custody issues. At the time, we had no money to hire an attorney to fight for custody and boy do we regret that now. Over the years you made your regular visits all the while you and your mother definitely had your issues.

About two years ago she decided she did not like the "label" the school system had given you since you started school. No one wants their kid to have to be "labeled" but you have to accept it and move on to get them the help they so desperately need. Sometimes the labels are a necessary evil. She yanked you out of the special needs programs you were in and put you into the mainstream classes without informing us. The only thing this did is prove the school system was 100 % right. Your grades dropped tremendously and you began to get into trouble since now kids were making fun of you because you were not on level. She also decided that if she was tired then you did not have to go to school. For several months, you only attended two to three times per week which only made your situation worse. Of course, she was not telling us all of this until the calls started from the school. The last call was them telling us you needed to be picked up because you had been suspended the day before so you were not supposed to be on school property. They tried calling your Mother who was only one mile from the school and she told them to call your Father b/c she was tired of dealing with it and didn't know what to do. Taking you to school and putting you where you needed to be would've been a good start but in her eyes she had done the right thing. Your Father called me in a seriously bad mood saying he was leaving work to get you from school. I knew he would not be able to talk calmly to the Principal simply b/c he was so angry with your Mother for letting it come to this point without us knowing. We had been lied to for a very long time! I told him to stay at work and I would handle the situation the best I could. Upon my arrival I learned that not only had you been yanked out of your special classes because of her ego but you were not suspended. You had been expelled and were being sent to alternative school the following week. I was so shocked because you are not a bad kid. You were put in a bad situation and were falling even further behind. At the time the alternative school was getting its fair share of bad publicity and I was not about to let you be sent there without a fight only to get lost in the system that probably would not offer the courses you needed. I asked to speak to the Principal, Vice Principal and Counselors immediately and I was not leaving until I had an acceptable resolution because I was not going to let you fall through the cracks. They heard me and I was so excited. I had a mere 24 hours to pull some major strings actually less if you just count the hours of operation of the places I had to go. I had to file guardianship papers with the courts, go to the courthouse, withdrawal you from one district, enroll you into another district AND get you into the special classes that you needed. If I could do this before end of school the next day, then they would totally erase the matter and you would be ready for a fresh start with nothing on your permanent school record. I was angry, sad, scared, proud and stressed but I was willing to this do for YOU! I explained this to your Mother who and I quote said, "You can have him, where do I sign!" Now some would say she was doing this for you but I will have you know this is not true. She did not want the responsibility anymore. Your Father should have fixed things when you were little and he would go to pick you up only to find you strapped in a car seat in front of the television. Alas, he was young, stupid and broke so he did not know what to do besides love you with all of his heart and try to make the system work. Don't even get me started on the system! I think the school agreed to the terms thinking I could not get every thing done within their time line! Wrong! I managed to get everything done by 11am the next morning and then you had to go back to her house when the huge ice storm struck a few days later and we were without power. I have been to countless school meetings, 3 IEP meetings (not fun!), dentist appts., eye doctor appts., many court hearings, meeting with the lawyers, we are still paying child support even though for over 15months WE HAVE HAD CUSTODY and I totally rearranged my schedule to make sure you get to and from school EVERY DAY ON TIME! While you were with her you had actually missed more school than you had attended and this was alright in her eyes. NOW you have missed a total of three days in two years!! I think you resented us for awhile believing we "took" you away from your Mother who you are very attached to but your Mother willingly and excitedly gave you up. She showed up saying, "Where do I sign?" and repeatedly asked when it would all be done like she could not wait for it all to be legally out of her hands. We never asked for a dime of child support FROM HER as long as we could just get you into a better environment and school. I am not saying this to get Mom of the year but I have a simple request ~ when people naturally refer to me as your Mother don't give them a dirty look and rudely say, "SHE IS NOT MY MOM!" I know you like me but it sure does NOT seem that way in the moment. I have never tried to take your Mother's place but I am definitely doing HER duties as a Mother and I believe I love you more than she ever could because I don't think I could excitedly sign away any child of mine even if it was for their own good. A Mother should never want to lose her child! It hurts me every time you do it! I am an adult and I have been silent but it kills me like you would be ashamed to be my child. I have never resorted to talking trash about your Mother to you or in front of you for the simple fact that I would never want you to resent me for it. At times I think you need the whole truth and nothing but the truth but not from me. I have faith that one day in the future you will realize I have been more of a "Mother" to you then she ever has or probably ever will. I have to have this faith so my heart doesn't break. I have faith that one day you will love me like I am your Mother even though I am not well not naturally. Most of the time she doesn't even want you on her weekends but I make excuses for her so you don't get hurt. I am tired of making those excuses but you hold her in such high regard that I know it would kill you to know the truth. I guess you will have to figure it out on your own. I think at times you know but you just are in denial.

I took you in willingly and I treat you like my own. You are earning all A's and B's now and I am prouder than ever of the young man you have become. You have never been a "bad" kid at least not around us and we knew you could do it if given the right opportunities, boundaries, environment and LOVE. We never had the problems that your Mother has reported but I know it is not all her because I am sure you had to act out to get attention. You are a good, kind, loving and RESPECTFUL young man. People compliment us as parents all the time because of how well you behave and how respectful you are. Yes, you get in trouble from time to time and you are extremely moody but find me a teenager that never gets in trouble or isn't moody and I'll give you a million dollars! Well you know far too well I don't have a million BUT you get the point. I don't necessarily need you to call me Mom or say to others that I am BUT I do wish you wouldn't get so offended when people naturally think I am your Mother. I do everything for you that a Mother is supposed to do and more just like I do with your little brothers and people do NOT automatically know your situation. I am proud of you son and I love you dearly! I just wish you could love me and be proud of me too!

Love always,

Angela

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TWO CENTS TUESDAY ~ INSPIRATION

OOPS!

If you are here for Wordful Wednesday, then I am sorry but I linked up with the wrong post and will link up again with the right post later!

Sorry!

Who inspires me?

My parents

My parents have been married for 45 years ~ need I say more!!

Yes they have had ups and downs but EVERY marriage will.

Although they are not perfect, they have made it through the good, the bad and the ugly and made their marriage a priority unlike others who put marriage on the back burner.

They are still in love even though they still don't love every thing about each other.

They fight like any other human who wants to be right but their fights are funny to me!

I know it might sound bad but I hope when it is their time that they will go to heaven together b/c I could not bare to see the pain of them being apart from one another!

I RIPPED MY LIP OFF ~ MY DUMB & DUMBER MOMENT!

You know what they say about Karma.........

WELL it sure came back to bite me in the butt!!

Isaiah loves ice cream!

I never buy ice cream because Hubs and I love it too much!

I promised Zay I would buy some so I did then went to scoop us some up!

Mmmmm.......

I told Hubs if he would go put Zay's pjs on then I would scoop us some ice cream.

He said, "Can I have some too?"

Sure!

Now knowing he has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and after sitting through the FIRST THREE HOUR diabetes education course I knew he could have some ice cream but not very much since he had eaten his carbs for the day.

I got the bowls out and they looked a little like this on the counter.............

...............staggering in size like the three little bears!

Thinking it was funny I gave Hubs aka Papa Bear the smallest bowl which was the size of a salsa/condiment bowl..............I thought it was hilarious and only put one scoop in the bowl. I couldn't wait to see his face. I pursed my lips as if sucking on a Popsicle to suck the ice cream off the ice cream scoop when low and behold I look a little something like this............

....our ice cream scoop which is an old, metal scoop had taken hold of the underneath (meaty part) of my lips ~ BOTH OF THEM!

I thought this isn't really happening and just tried to move it ...................OUCH!

I thought go slow....................DOUBLE OUCH!

I thought just rip it off like a band aid.................NOT MY BRIGHTEST IDEA!

It ripped off the entire underneath side of my upper lip. You know the red, meaty, thin skinned side that touches your teeth............OH THE PAIN!

While telling this {{not exactly sure WHY I admitted to or blogged about my stupidity in the first place}} to my friend and my Mom, they both instantly said, "why didn't you just put water on it?"

My answer: "At the moment I was a little panicked at the fact that my lip was stuck to a cold metal ice cream scoop and I didn't think about water. All I could think about was how I can't blame the creator of the King Size Snickers on single handedly (is that a word?) causing me to be obese if I have to walk around with an ice cream scoop stuck on my face ~ HELLO ~ as evidence that it is all a lie!"

HOW WE MET ~ PART 1

Several people have emailed and asked how Hubs and I met so here is the story...hang on....

We actually met in the Spring of 1997 when he came to my friend's parents' house with her then boyfriend. He was nice, polite and very smiley. At the time, we were both with someone else and nothing ever came about other than us meeting one another. Now I must note here that at that moment he drove a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme aka BIG old car and it was yellow. Apparently, we lived about 1/4 of a mile from each other and over the years we saw each other at the gas station from time to time. He ALWAYS recognized me but I could NEVER remember his name or how I knew him. He would ask how my friend and her son were doing then would say to tell them Hi and each and EVERY time I would see him he would smile from ear to ear! I could NEVER remember his name and felt bad so I would never ask. I would always call my friend and say, "Hey I saw the Smiley Banana Boat man again and he asked about you! He is so smiley!" She would always say, "I just love him. He is so sweet!"

Well come to find out the people we were in relationships with had been with each other in the past and behind our backs they were off and on still.....good thing we got rid of them. We both rid our lives of those scum buckets and moved on.

About 9 months after the breakups and almost 4 yrs since our original meeting, we saw each other again in late December of 2000. We were at a hole in the wall bar called Three Frogs where my friend and I were regulars (wow how times have changed!) who loved to dance. We were dancing and he kept staring at me. I kept trying to point him out to her because I did NOT recognize him at all and his incessant staring was beyond annoying to me. When she finally saw him, she screamed and ran to give him a hug saying "That is the guy you call Banana Boat man!" I kept dancing and she coaxed him out onto the dance floor to dance with us. Now I must say it is a good thing I was not looking for a man that could dance because this man could not catch a beat to save his life. BAD. REALLY. BAD. He still can not dance and I am almost positive he is tone deaf too. Man can not dance or sing and I have yet to find a rhythmic bone in his body but I love his body ~ missing bone and all!

By this time, he had longer hair. Not LONG but longer and in little twisty things ~ yes yet again this is a highly technical African American hair term ~ which I hated. I do not like guys with long hair. I do not like boys with long hair. I just don't. Personal preference so don't get all offended. NOW Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall.........I certainly liked him with long hair!!! Please hold while I drool over my current mental image..................

In my teenage years their were plenty of long haired rockers I fawned over but not now. My friend gave him my number without my knowing and insisted that we should be together. He would call and we would chat IF I answered the phone but I just was not attracted to him. He seemed very nice but I just wasn't sure. I had major trust issues at the time. I just wanted time to myself after being with a loser for over 3 years then with a hot guy with NO self esteem and major paranoia for 6 months. He still kept calling and asking me to go out but I had started some night classes and I always found some excuse. Eventually he asked flat out so I was honest and said "I am NOT attracted to men with longer hair AT ALL. You are nice but I just can't right now." My thoughts with this answer were (1) he could lie and toy around with me if I mentioned trust issues which could hurt me again and (2) what guy would chop his hair off for a date.

My friend and I were always together and somehow Banana Boat man would show up in odd places. Coincidence ~ I think not, he had a little birdie in his ear! We had been shopping and he had overheard us talking about a pair of shoes I wanted to buy so he secretly bought them. That evening he came over to her house, knocked on the door and the rest as they say is history......

...just kidding.......

....I opened the door to find him holding a present for me and he had CUT HIS HAIR OFF! Needless to say, I was shocked! WHO cuts their hair to get a date? WHO buys someone shoes to get a date? Now granted they were not the right shoes and I wore them only once but I could NOT BELIEVE he even THOUGHT about ME. And cutting his hair ~ who does that?!?! I was speechless which VERY RARELY happens to me! The only thing he said was, "Will you please go out with me now?" With tears in my eyes, I said a quivery "sure".............wow he was so thoughtful.....who knew......WHO cuts their hair just to land a date?!?!?

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO

ANGELA NEEDS.......

While over at my bloggy friend Jenners who I love because she makes me laugh OUT LOUD, I found this Google meme and thought it was a little too fun to pass up.

You simply go to google then type in "(insert your name) needs" and see what funny things pop up.

Here is what Google says "Angela needs....."

Angela needs diapers and stilettos.....if this is their way of acknowledging my need and want for a little girl then rock on otherwise I have no use for diapers and my big 'ol butt ain't even going to try to walk in stilettos!

Angela needs help.........why yes I do and thank you Google for noticing this tiny fact that I keep relaying to everyone and obviously they can't hear me. I knew my computer listened to me! There is a method to my madness after all.

Angela needs a cocktail.......right again especially after seeing my EX Aunt yesterday and having to practice SERIOUS restraint with my mouth. Actually I think a stiff one before the shower would have been amazing!

Angela needs a goal.....very true especially since Dad will be retiring and I will be jobless...goal would be nice and a quick, easy moneymaking goal would be even better. Does Google provide this goal for me or am I all on my own here?

Angela needs a new boyfriend....well pretty sure Google missed the mark on this one since I am married and don't need a boyfriend at all. Pretty sure Hubs would NOT go for this idea! Ooohh what if the eyes of Google are watching me and one of the computer techs has a secret crush on me! Crush away but I'm not free computer geek!

Angela needs a bass player....does this mean I will be a part of a band soon and get to travel around the world on tour??? Is this my goal? I am not musically inclined but I do love music. I love to sing but think I am horrific. I think my family just tells I'm really good to suck up! I really love the bass guitar so a bass player could be neat to have around so I will go with it.

Angela needs a break.......UH YEP! SERIOUSLY!

Angela needs to get away from her kids..........WOW it is like they KNOW me or something!

Angela needs a vacation......all right well I am a little freaked out now wondering who exactly is watching me....dodododo {{insert scary music}}.....or do I just look that stressed out?

Angela needs to relax and cool off and get a wardrobe for her new life........I can relax on the vacation but the cooling off....NO! I think winter has already done that! I need to warm up! New wardrobe would be great BUT could I possibly get a new figure first or have someone else do the depressing role of trying on clothes for me.

Angela needs psychological help.....do you really think so? I know most of us need some kind of help but for the most part I think I am stable; HOWEVER, if I am going to be trying on enough clothes to make a wardrobe, I will definitely need something for depression!!

Angela needs a plan for decluttering her home.....Now even though I know this is true don't you think this is a little rude. I am not as rich as the Google geeks and I have to actually do the work myself. So if you have the plan and all the helping hands to accomplish it, then bring it on baby! I would truly appreciate it. I started organizing awhile back then gave up when it got to the REALLY hard part.....BILLS! Here's an idea just go through the bills and PAY THEM then I would have a lot more free time to declutter my home AND keep it that way ~ NOW how's that for a "plan"!!

Angela needs our votes for modeling...............WHYTHANKYOUVERYMUCH!! I should go on America's Next Top Model because if they can make some of those butt ugly girls look great in photos then surely they can just edit out my fat, right!

So basically I need............help getting a cocktail and a goal so a plan to declutter my home doesn't lead to psychological issues requiring help BEFORE I take a break from the kids on my vacation to relax and cool off with my new bass player wearing my new wardrobe and to insure votes for modeling I will not be wearing diapers and stilettos...............phew did I get them all in there?!?!

FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Time for Friday High Five! Come join in the fun....please!

Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE!

To see my Friday High Five posts for examples, click here!

Post about it, linking back to me then sign Mr. Linky! Please use the Friday High Five URL post in Mr. Linky's URL section instead of your blog URL and here is how: write the post, publish the post, go to edit posts, VIEW the High Five post, copy the URL in the address portion at the top of the screen then paste it in the URL section of Mr.Linky!!

Sounds complicated but it isn't too bad! If you need help, let me know in the comment section! Go view all the other High Five posts (IF anyone joins!) and comment away! Have fun!

TOP 5 REASONS I LOVE MY VALENTINE'S PRESENT

5. It is a present and who doesn't love presents!

4. It came straight from the heart of one of my three loves!

3. It didn't cost a thing but was given with such pride! I love it when children learn the gift of giving even if it was found on the floor!

2. It is beautiful and who doesn't love jewelry!

#1

It is some major BLING about two inches by two inches and makes my pinkie look tiny which is major since I have fat fingers! Now I don't want you all to be jealous that you didn't get some big 'ol rock for valentines since normally a ring this size would be astronomically priced. HUGE I tell you! The shine on this ring is almost blinding and too much to handle so I am not quite sure if I should show you but here is the gem in all of its glory..

....wait...

...just making sure no one will be able to find where I live to steal the jewels....

....ok here it is.....

...wait...why don't you guys turn down the brightness on your computer screens so you don't hurt your eyes.............

NOW HERE IT IS:

I. TOLD. YOU!!

Now it is your turn!

PHOTOSTORY/FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Pride in toddlers is just the cutest!
Feb 2007 ~ (almost 2) I saw this and thought 'Now let's not notice the food all over his shirt, the one pants leg up, the untied shoe and complete ignore the fact that he is standing on the trunk in the living room and just go get the camera!' So I did just that! Although this is not allowed, he was so so proud of his achievement and his excitement was just too cute to pass up.

He showed off a little and looked oh so cute doing it! THEN what do you do when Daddy reaches his big strong arms out to get you...........
JUMP!!
Then over and over while laughing and Mommy taking picture after picture UNTIL...................

Mommy spoils all the fun and makes him stop! Look at those eyes ~ he was crushed! Now some might say I shouldn't have allowed it in the first place but he was irresistible standing there so proud but I needed to stop it so it wouldn't become a habit! Oh the joys of motherhood! I love this boy either way proud or with the boo boo lip!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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A THOUSAND WORDS THURSDAY

Feb 2007 ~ EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. for months I had to fight with Isaiah to be able to wear my own underwear. He would be dressed in his clothes then proceed to embellish his outfit by wearing multiple pairs of my underwear around his neck THEN refuse to let me have them back! A sign? Who cares although frustrating it was funny and you have no clue how many blackmail photos I acquired through his little fetish. Luckily, he has moved on to wearing his own underwear and leaving mine alone so I finally don't have to fight to wear MY underwear!!

Don't be trying to zoom in for my pantie size either you sick bloggy friends you!!

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WORDFUL WEDNESDAY

October 2008 ~ I love this picture! Elijah played his first season of tackle football last year and I love this picture because although he is running for a touchdown somehow he looked RIGHT at the camera ~ woo hoo Carolee! I can not believe I am about to say this but I can't wait for football season to start again! Yep you read that right! The self-proclaimed "not footbally" Mom who still does not understand the game, hated the practice schedule and was really sick of driving to far away games is missing football. Please hold back on the "I told you so" comments because I can always edit the post to delete the admission! I don't miss the game! I miss seeing my son play the game! I understand our boys first "fairytale" season isn't promised to repeat but wouldn't it be awesome if it did. I miss seeing him run his little heart out juking along the way and the joy on his face each time he got a touchdown. I miss seeing him use his amazing defense skills to plow down the other players. I miss watching him play from start to finish without complaining and never giving up when the score was down. I miss photographing him and his team from up and down the sidelines. I miss downloading all the pics to see if I got any good action shots. I miss the other parents ~ we got very lucky and we all got along. I miss cheering on our boys and getting them pumped up if they were down. I can't believe it and I never ever thought I would utter these words ~ I. MISS. FOOTBALL. (well at least watching my kid since I hate watching it on TV) I was the Mom that did not want her child to start tackle football yet. I was the Mom about to puke on the sidelines watching them in the playoffs and the championship game because I was just that excited and nervous for them. I was the Mom in shock when an opposing coach offered us money not to let our son play in a playoff game against his team. I was also the Mom who thought "you are kidding, right? This is 1st grade tackle football not the NFL but then wondered how much he would have been willing to pay since he was serious!" NO I would NOT have accepted just a little curious! I was the Mom who ran out after they won a very tough playoff game to scoop up my baby in my arms and spin him around telling him how proud I was. I was the Mom crying when they WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP!! I was the Mom who did NOT have a "footbally" bone in her body and hated the mere idea of her son playing but now I am the Mom who can't wait for it to start all over again! How crazy is that? I wish I could be the Mom who didn't worry though ~ good luck with that one! I have a feeling that instant "stomach drop" feeling when Elijah hits so hard that the helmets crash and my first thought is bones breaking might last his whole life or at least until he gets up safely ready for the next hit! BOYS!

THAT'S MY BOY!

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ZAY'S ADDICTION FOR HIS QT!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Better late than never!

Zay just loves my friend Shan's little girl Quinlynne who will be called Q in this post. He loves her even though she tattles when scribbles. He loves her even though she has learned to use her selective listening skills when he won't leave her alone. He is her Diego and she is his Dora. I know Dora and Diego are actually cousins but they don't have a clue! Even though lately they have not seen much of each other, it really doesn't matter in his mind. She is never far away from his thoughts!

Hubs has a mixed CD that he plays in the truck and Isaiah is obsessed with one song. It is Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson doing a remix of The Girl is Mine. Isaiah will listen to it over and over and over again while singing each and every word. Yes we could easily refuse to not put it on repeat but when he sings it well simply put it is just too cute! Elijah asked Zay who he girl is and in total Isaiah fashion he said, "Twinilwynne is my girl!" He can't yet say her name and that too annoys Quinlynne but he does not care. We laugh about them being betrothed and laugh at the torture they will go through once they have children and that my friends is our favorite part!

Oh I must add ~ when the part Paul McCartney says - Now Michael we aren't going to fight about this (or something like that) I like to add "because you know you really like young boys"! Sad but I think it is funny! You can play the song below if you want to hear ~ I just wish you could hear Zay sing it!

JUST KIDDING!

I added like a zillion different music players to this post. Although they all worked and showed up, they would screw up my sidebar each and every time. SO I played with the html for about an hour until I am so ticked off that I am just giving you the link if you want to hear the song I am talking about!

I HEART FACES! ~ WONDER

Week 6

Yes I know I have posted this pic (in color) and this same exact story before for a Wordful Wednesday post but I couldn't pass up the chance to use it for the I heart faces kids contest when I saw the theme was wonder! I edited the pic a bit but here is the underlying story of why I love this picture!

To most this is yet another picture of a beautiful little boy staring off into the world but to me it means SO much more. For the initial version of my son's hearing difficulties go here and I will try to keep this short and to the point. I had told everyone for a long time I didn't think Isaiah could hear me. I knew he wasn't completely deaf but I had to clap my hands of yell to get his attention far too often if he wasn't looking at me. Everyone had an excuse like he is stubborn (yep!), he is the second child and they don't talk as early (true!) or he is a master of selective listening (he's a pro now!). Like every Mother who doesn't want anything to be wrong with her baby, I chose to accept these excuses but my intuition told me otherwise. After a long struggle, I got him into an ENT who confirmed my fears. Isaiah had a BUNCH of fluid on his ears, needed tubes and he could not hear. They feared he would have permanent hearing loss because of the extent of his damage. The surgery went off without a hitch and I cried the first time I saw him wandering around the house trying to figure out each and every tiny noise he heard. You don't realize all the things you "hear" and block out until your baby boy is perched with his ear against the running dishwasher wondering what in the world is going on in there and you never even "heard" it running. Everything was new to him. Isaiah's personality and hearing was night and day just days after surgery. Six months post-op, many visits, two failed hearing tests later, he FINALLY passed his first hearing test and tears just rolled down my cheeks as he turned for every sound.

Isaiah always loved parades and was never scared of the loud noises but that was because everything was muffled in his world. The photo above is of him watching a parade just two weeks after surgery. He was in awe as if he had never seen a parade but it was because he had never truly heard a parade until this photo was taken. Every time I see this picture I think of all my little boy went through and how thankful I am that he can hear everything unless he is using his newly acquired selective listening skills, of course! At the time I was taking the picture, I was wondering if he could hear and my heart skipped a beat when the firetrucks came and I took another photo with him laying back with his hands over his ears ~ he can hear!

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WOOHOO! MY FIRST AWARD!

I got my very first blog award!

Thank you Kisatrtle!

First I would like to thank my parents for spanking me and not letting me talk back because now I have so much more to say about life and raising my children. I would like to thank Hubs for watching music videos (I know, right!), football, basketball and for falling asleep on the couch while watching TV so I have an excuse to carry on with my blogging addiction. I would like to thank the doctors who cannot cure insomnia because if I were cured then I would not be able to stay awake countless hours during the night to read blogs, blog stalk and ramble on as I tend to do. I would also like to thank my children for being one big giant ball of sweet, cute, ornery, crazy, funny and downright bad at times rolled into one so I have blogging topics when I have "blogging block". Next.......................

JUST KIDDING!

That was just warm up for someday when I am a famous blogger and the blog award ceremonies turn out like the Oscars! You know the day........when I actually have a bunch of readers!! Ha!

ANYWAY HERE IT IS:

Along with this award comes responsiblities!

Wow an award and more responsibilites all in one day! Can I handle this excitement? Of course! Let me see....who shall I choose.....I am going to TRY to narrow it down to three....hmmm......

I LOVE TO LAUGH SO.....

Georgie at Decisionally Challenged ~ She cracks me up even with a Tuesday Tidbit 3 word sentence. What is funny to me is after a few little chats we discovered we both live in the same state, then discovered we live in the same town and THEN discovered our children go to the same school which means we live pretty close and it's a small world after all! We haven't met yet maybe we fear we aren't as funny in person ~ just kidding ~ it is probably a small fear of blog stalkers ~ just kidding ~ or not! She is just too funny so go check her out!

I recently stumbled upon Jenners at Life with A Little One and More or she stumbled upon me ~ who cares right! If you read this post of mine and followed my linky love, then you know why her blog is a new love of mine! She is absolutely hilarious and willing to humiliate herself for the love of blogging! She is laugh out loud funny to me!!

Saundra who writes An Italian Mama Gone Crazy also cracks me up. I love sarcasm! She introduced me to Scrapblog and well that is probably a bad thing but I am sure glad. Her Bachelor recaps truly are funny, sarcastic and exactly what I am thinking most of the time. I leave her post sized comments well I guess I leave post sized comments all over blogger but I just love her blog so go check her out too!

Whew...that was hard work!

I read a ton of blogs so that was SERIOUSLY narrowing it down!!

I don't know if I could handle blog fame since posting, reading, stalking, lurking, searching, commenting and responding to comments has begun to fill up a lot of my time. Now awards! Wow!

JUST KIDDING!

I could totally handle blog fame especially if it came with FORTUNE!

How exactly do I start the fortune part of blogging?

Did you want to see it again?

I do!

ONLY IN OKLAHOMA!

NOTE: There is a video in this post that I cannot stop from automatically playing plus it has a commercial before the actual video and it repeats over and over! If you know how to fix this let me know or I will erase it tomorrow because it is driving me nuts! You may have to restart it when you get to it or until then be annoyed ~ sorry.

Only in Oklahoma where the winds come sweeping down the plains....

can the weather go from ICY one week..............

.........to 70° for a few days to 40° for a few more then back to the 70° with high winds and pouring rains THEN.................

{{I had a video here of the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma this past week and the damage from them however I could NOT remove the autostart feature so I deleted it!}}

Now as those families and the families in two other Oklahoma towns clean up what is left behind we are back to 70° BUT tomorrow in good old Oklahoma fashion it will be in the 40s once again! Early for a tornado and 70° weather but if you live here you know to expect the unexpected as far as weather is concerned. I have also learned after growing up here that a mobile home isn't the safest home to have when you live in tornado alley. Plus all of these weather changes wreak havoc on Oklahoma allergy sufferers, like me!

FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Time for Friday High Five! Come join in the fun....please!
Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE!
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Post about it, linking back to me then sign Mr. Linky! Please use the Friday High Five URL post in Mr. Linky's URL section instead of your blog URL and here is how: write the post, publish the post, go to edit posts, VIEW the High Five post, copy the URL in the address portion at the top of the screen then paste it in the URL section of Mr.Linky!! Sounds complicated but it isn't too bad! If you need help, let me know in the comment section! Go view all the other High Five posts and comment away! Have fun!

I know Valentine's Day is tomorrow but since I already did the sappy romance post on Tuesday I am switchin' things up today.

In honor of the fact that Hubs aggravated me last night I am going with

The Top 5 Things Hubs Does to Annoy Me

(I think some of them are on purpose!)

5. He is supposed to fold the laundry. I wash. I dry. The deal is he folds.

I ask you ~ What is the point of getting the clothes out of the dryer then bringing them in to sit in the basket for a few days? UGH! This only creates wrinkles which in turn creates more ironing. I don't have time to iron. Yes it would only take me 5 minutes to fold them too but I am cooking dinner, helping with homework, washing clothes, cleaning and very important things like blogging (hehe) while HE is watching TV. Plus, I did all that work and he can't take 5 minutes to fold. I am not the 1950s housewife! We both work outside the home so I am just as tired and busy as he is ~ actually I am busier. I eventually get mad, dump them on our bed and take the basket back out to the garage so he can't help but fold them. He'll remark every time, "Wow this laundry is never ending!" "YA THINK! Humans tend to wear clothes so unless you boycott, yes it will never end. You oughta try DOING IT for a change!"

4. Every night I get in bed it takes me a few minutes to get comfortable. Pillow has to be just right. Covers must be just right. Rolls of fat must be placed just right for maximum comfort. Now I am all for cuddling but AS SOON AS I GET IN THE BED if he is awake he instantly flips over to put his arm TIGHTLY around me. Now with tightly I mean ~ so tight it makes it impossible to move or sometimes breath. He can't just relax his arm. It's a strong hold ya'll! Then his knee comes up and stabs me in the butt. Now hello that is so not comfortable and for the life of him he doesn't get it. Eight years of sleeping in the same bed and he can't give me a few minutes to get comfortable before completely clobbering me. He says, "You are moving so much!" I say, "Yes I am and I have been doing this EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. for 8 years now so I think you would have seen some resemblance of a pattern here! Just give me a few minutes until I get comfy!" UGH!

3. Rarely do I get to watch TV in the evenings with all my cleaning, cooking and blogging that I do but there are certain shows we like to watch together once the kids have gone to bed like our crime shows and soaps. You heard it hear folks ~ Hubs watches soaps. If you need an update on All My Children, One Life to Live or General Hospital, he is your guy especially since he gets off at 1:30pm and instead of using it as laundry folding time he watches soaps. He is actually more up to date with them than I. This being said last night I needed to clear out some shows on the DVR and soaps are the fastest way. I love DVR! How we lived without it I will never know! We can watch soaps at lightning speed. Fast forward through commercials, boring story lines, stupid story lines and annoying characters ~ love it! So last night I was watching All My Children when he blurts out something that will happen like three shows after the one I am watching. He is a spoiler. No matter how many times I've asked him not to tell me ~ HE DOES! Or when I am trying to hear something and I've already hit rewind like 10 times due to him and the children I will say "Hold on one second everyone be quiet for JUST one second". Children = quiet! Hubs = NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!! OR he will flip it to a station then after two seconds say "What's this? What's going on?" "I don't have ESP and I've seen the same two seconds you have so why are you asking me?!?!?!?" UGH! So if he is in control of the remote, we watch 4 minutes of this, 10 minutes of that, 5 minutes of the other....so I give up and clean......ok really I just come blog!

2. His driving! This one could go on forever. We honestly don't fight much at all but we can both get upset if he is driving. I learned the fine art of nagging while driving from my Mother or so Dad says. My biggest concern is he constantly drifts into the oncoming lane. That is all I am going to say about that because I am sure you know how I feel especially if our children are in the vehicle.

Last but not least

#1

Do not under any circumstances lose anything around Hubs! Losing things is annoying at best but he will make it a surefire form of torture. For this reason, I will look and look, run around like a chicken with its head cut off then re look in every place I looked BEFORE even hinting I am looking for something. THEN AND ONLY THEN will I say, "Do you know where.......? Have you seen.....?"

His answer is always one of two things:

One ~"Somewhere!"

Ugh! REALLY?? That's all you've got! I know it is SOMEWHERE!

Two ~ "Where did you put it? Where is it?"

This one kills me!

SERIOUSLY! IF I KNEW WHERE IT WAS, DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD BE LOOKING FOR IT OR ASKING YOU!

This is truly bad when you are already aggravated and feel like your head is going to explode!

I know the reminders of this post are already coming!

Yes I still love my amazingly annoying husband ~ did I add he will only put 6 bowls on the top shelf of the dishwasher and call it full ~ but ~ oh wait and did I mention he smacks when he chews and slurps when he drinks ~ I don't want anyone to say I am one of those not "real" blogs and say I paint my life to be picture perfect because it is not; HOWEVER, I am happy as can be!

Was that the longest run-on sentence ever or what?!

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HILARIOUS MUST READ POST

Today I got a comment from Jenners at Live with a Little One and More and decided to go check out her blog. I am so glad I did because I read her Photostory Friday post from last week and it was LAUGH OUT LOUD funny. I was crying because I was laughing so hard plus I was at work where people wondered why payroll was so funny ~ oops! So funny that I read it three times and commented twice! It wasn't JUST the pics I found funny but the commentary to go with the pics HI-LAR-I-OUS!!!! Gotta go read this one if you haven't already!!

A THOUSAND WORDS THURSDAY

Feb 2002 ~ While searching through old pics for another post, I found baby pictures of Elijah showing his monthly growth using a stuffed bear from his Great Grandmother. Among those pics was this one from when he was a month old and oh how I love this picture! He used to smile ALL THE TIME in his sleep. My Mom used to get so mad because she could never catch it with the camera but I had better luck and soon became a pro at catching his dreamy grins. I know all babies do this but what can they be dreaming about besides milk and their parents. He loved to sleep and still does except now instead of smiling he just talks in his sleep.

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WRITER'S WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY

Time once again for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop Wednesday

Being that I am deciding last minute to go ahead with this post, I chose the easy way out and am listing my "Five Most Recent Favorite Things". Here we go:

#1

In my quest to become environmentally friendly as mentioned before and mainly to please a certain 7 yr old nagger nature lover, I began recycling when I noticed just how many plastic bags accumulate at our house. WOW!

Also while being an idiot and opening my big fat mouth starting a recycling program at his elementary school, I learned that sometime in the near future Wally World will no longer offer bags. WHAT? you ask. YEP, you heard it hear folks. Just like Aldi's you will have to pay for your bags or bring your own! Sad but honestly I think it will be a good thing.....maybe they can roll back some more prices once they are paying for bags! Yeah right! SO I decided to start buying bags periodically now!

Although the Aldi's bag is large compared to most of the cloth shopping bags and they have a great slogan ~ It's all about saving green! (earth and money if you didn't catch on!), I think they are too big. They get really heavy once they are full.

Wow I am really making this longer than necessary....too bad!

I took Elijah to Toys 'r Us because he had some birthday "change in his pocket goin' chang a lang a lang" and well I love to shop when I found these

little cutie patootie shopping bags! Aren't they cute! You wanna know what makes them even cuter........they are normally $1.49 to $1.99 and I got those little boogers for FIFTY CENTS a piece! So what did I do......I bought like 6 of them. Could've kicked myself the next day when I went to get some more and found out it was just a one day special offer! Next...

#2

Palmolive pure + clear

Sparkling fresh scent

This stuff smells so good! I rarely use dish soap but I am finding myself looking for things I can clean it with just so the wonderful smell fills the room. Sadly I am not lying! I find myself squirting it all over the sink just to rub around and clean even though it might be clean! Hey if I am doing that then it must smell good!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT hand wash dishes! Wet food is repulsive to me and if left sitting it will make me gag so every dish goes straight into the dishwasher. I hate it and only do it when ABSOLUTELY necessary......about once a month....well honestly if that! Telling you this because I do not know how it really stacks up to other dish washing detergents but it smells good so who really cares, right!

#3

My homemade cleaner!

Smells alright ~ fresh

Zay helps me clean because he is just weird like that and he says, "oohh Momma it smells dood!"

Super douper cheap

Cleans everything although I don't use it on glass or mirrors because the oils in it leaves streaks

I got this little bottle at Wally World for 99cents but it looks amazingly just like an empty water bottle with a squirter dealie and yes that is a technical homemade cleaner maker term there so don't feel bad if you don't what a "squirter dealie" is ~ it will all come in time!

I got the guts of the recipe from The Toby Show but I tweaked it and experimented with it until I got what I wanted. You can find my recipe here.

#4

I won't lie and say I love this book because I haven't actually opened it yet......hold on I am laughing at myself

..........still laughing.........

ok.....so I haven't opened it but the mere thought of sneaking vegetables to unsuspecting children sounds like fun to me so I am going to try it someday soon! I'll let you know what I think!

#5

By far my most favorite recent thing is

Hubs new 14 day avg blood sugar is 192 ~way down from his 60-90 day AVERAGE of 443! Did you see that.... his AVERAGE was 443 so that means he got into the upper 600s! Wow! But thanks to his amazingly smart, loving wife who nagged him for 3 months that she knew he had diabetes, he finally gave in and got checked only to find out his amazingly smart, loving wife was right yet AGAIN! Not trying to take credit here at all folks...........well maybe just a small pat on the back! Yes he still has some in the upper 200s but it is occasional tests like this

AND THIS

that are bringing my baby's life and glucose back down to normalville.....as normal as it can be in our household anyway!

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WORDFUL WEDNESDAY

I trying to find some good....well actually I was trying to find some bad funny pics of friends that I could scan....yep that's how I roll....when I came upon these pics of Elijah! He was by far the cutest baby boy I've ever seen! My Grandmother got him this giant bear to take his photo with every month to see how much he would grown each month on his birth day! Fun project and interesting but it go harder to do the older he got! Anyhow I found them, I fell in love all over again even after 7 years and here they are:

One Month ~ so tiny, sweet, calm, peaceful and cute as can be!

Four months ~ all smiles and still cute as can be and although his Daddy thought this outfit was girly it was a boy outfit ~ closest to a girl outfit I'll ever get!

Six months ~ so so happy, loved his thigh rolls! I love this picture because it captured his mini mohawk! He was born with a full head of thick hair but the sides and back just stopped growing. His hair was still thick and grew like crazy.....only on the top!! This was right after his first haircut in hopes that if we cut the top maybe just maybe the sides could catch up!!

Ten months ~ my little brown baby boy is so handsome and I just love his eyes in this picture!

OH THE MEMORIES!

NOW he is SEVEN and even though the baby/bear pics stopped six years ago he is still the cutest baby boy I've ever seen!

Not biased at all I tell you!

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