Late to the Game...(UPDATED)

This contest is closed and I have closed the comments. Winner will be announced sometime tomorrow (Saturday)!


I knew it was coming, and I still didn't get it ready as early as I'd planned! I'm a bit late as there are already well over 500 participants.

What am I talking about?

So what am I giving away this time? This one is two parts.

Part one - this little package of some Scrapbook odds and ends:


"Friends" Magnetic Photo Frame
A Scrapbook Calendar from TLC
6 Laura Ashley Gift Tags
3-D stickers by K&Company
1 set of Studio G Clear Stamps
Birthday Stickers by The Card Connection

And the second part is a set of 5 classy-but-fun, black and white monogrammed cards (with envelopes) and a matching beaded pen by Me!
This is an example picture - they will be monogrammed with letter of the winner's choice.


So what do you need to do to win? It's easy - leave a comment on this post. That's it! I will close the comments at midnight on Friday, February 1st. I will randomly select a winner and announce it sometime on Saturday.

You do not need to have a blog to enter. However, if you do not have a blog, you will need to provide a valid email address so I can contact you. If your comment does not link back to you and you do not provide a way for me to reach you, it will not count.

And as much as I hate to do this, I will not be able to ship internationally, so U.S. addresses only please.

For more giveaways or to play along, go here.

Menu Plan Monday

I can't believe how long it's been since I participated in MPM. I've been a little slack on my diligent meal planning. There's been a basic plan, but I haven't done very well with planning out the entire week lately. So I'm getting back in the game.

Another reason I haven't participated in MPM lately is my computer is giving me problems accessing the host site. It takes forever for the page to load and locks up my entire computer in the process. And I know it's my computer, because I didn't have any trouble with the site from my parents' house. Anyway, because of this, I may or may not link up, but I'm still going to get back to posting my menu.

I'm also trying to get better about actually planning breakfasts and lunches. I will list them, but not on specific days, as the actual days may vary.

Here we go.

Breakfasts:

• Cheese Grits, Sausage
  
• Baked Oatmeal
  
• Cereal
  
• Eggs, Sausage, Toast
  
• Jam Surprise Muffins, Fruit

Lunches:

• Tuna Salad Pita's, Carrots
  
• Cheese Quesadillas w/ homemade tortillas
  
• Ramen Noodles, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
  
• Dinner Leftovers
  
• Pepperoni Bread, Salad

Dinners:

Monday: Chicken & Rice, Green Beans, Rolls
Tuesday: White Chili
Wednesday: Red Beans & Rice, Fried Cabbage
Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner
Friday: 'Whatever' night - leftovers, sandwiches, cereal - whatever!
Saturday: Vegetable Soup, Cheese Bread
Sunday: Corizo, Bean & Cheese Nachos


For more menus, visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Future Songwriter?

For some reason today, CJ began singing "The First Noel". Ruthi wanted to join in, be she was singing, "Oh-Well" instead of Noel.

Then CJ got crazy and started making up a song to the tune, but using oh well. He went to his room, and I could hear him playing the notes over and over on his keyboard, pausing every so often. I knew he was stopping to write the words down.

He is a 13 year old boy. A 13 year old boy who doesn't give too much thought to girls yet.

If a 13 year old boy is not thinking about girls when writing a song, what else is left? Bodily functions of course!

Oh dear.

So, if you don't want to think of bodily functions the next time you hear "The First Noel", you may want to stop reading here.

If however, you want a peek into a 13 year old boy's mind, then continue on.

Here is his "song".

Oh well, oh well
I just farted real loud
My Mother did say to
excuse my poor self.

Oh well, I said oh well
I did not really care
It wasn't real bad
It just stunk everywhere.

Oh well, How I was glad
I was not on a date
I would poison the food
And ruin the new cake.

Excuse me, excuse me
I am sorry I blew
It was so hard not to
And just came right through.


Future in song writing? Not likely.

If you have a son (or sons), you understand. If you don't - you now have a taste of what I deal with daily.

Oh yes. This is the life.

Has Anyone Seen It?

...My motivation, that is.

I seem to have lost it. And I can't find it anywhere!!

UGH! I don't know what my deal is. I have a long to-do list. Things I need to do and even things I want to do. And I just can't seem to find the motivation to get them done!

So if anyone finds it, please return it to me as soon as possible!

_______________________________________

Well, we did get a little bit of snow on Saturday. Not much - the ground wasn't even completely covered, but it was snow. The kids were excited. Ruthi kept looking out the window and saying, "The snow is here!"

Yesterday I took her out and let her play in it for a little bit. What little was left of the little we got! She really just wanted to run around in it more than anything.

And apparantely I'm a bigger wimp than I remember, because I was FREEZING!!! I had to beg her to come back inside!

CJ had taken off to the neighbor's to play when I took Ruthi out. Later, he and one of his friends were using a skim board to slide down the slope in the back yard. They were having a blast even though they kept getting stuck because there wasn't enough snow. Unfortunately, when they were doing this, my camera battery had died, and I didn't get in pictures.

But here are a few of shots of my little Snow Bunny.

I'm Home - and Alive!

I know I haven't been around. But yes, I'm still alive. I was at my parents' house all week. (Well, I came home Thursday.) I had fully intended to blog while I was there, but it just didn't happen.

On Thursday morning, CJ woke up not feeling good. His stomach was bothering him. I figured what he ate had just not agreed with him. My Mom took us to Olive Garden for lunch before we headed home. CJ didn't want anything. My son - turning down food - not a good sign.

He slept most of the home. He never ate anything on Thursday - not one bite! Before I went to bed, I checked on him one more time and he had a little bit of a fever, so I gave him some Tylenol. Thankfully, when he woke up Friday morning, there was no fever.

But he still wasn't feeling good. He slept all day yesterday. He ate a piece of toast, a couple crackers, some applesauce and a bite or two of chicken noodle soup. Poor guy - he was miserable.

This morning he woke up and came and sat in the living room for a few minutes. I knew that was a good sign. He said he was feeling a little better. He told me he was hungry - Yay!! He ate 2 pieces of toast and so far, they are still in him. I hope they stay put! I think this thing has taken a turn for the better.

Now, you want to know what is so NOT FAIR? Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE snow. And I envy everyone who lives in places where there is actual snow you can go out and play in. We haven't had "good" snow like that since 1993 - that year was awesome.

Guess what it did on Wednesday? It snowed. And I WASN'T HOME! I was 2 hours south, and there was only a little bit of sleet there. My husband decided it would be fun to torture me and sent me pictures of our snow-covered back yard. What a turkey! Of course there were absolutely no traces of it when I got home. Oh well.

But right now there is some white stuff falling from the sky again. It is beautiful. Will it stick? I hope so. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

I opened the door to show Ruthi. Then I said, "Let's close the door - it's cold out there."

She said, "Yeah, when it gets warmer, we can play in the snow."

Obviously, she's a bit young to understand that's not how it works. But I told her that if we get enough, we will bundle up good, and go play in it. Hopefully we will get to play. And hopefully, CJ will feel good enough to enjoy it too!

So yes, I'm alive and well, and now that I'm back home, maybe I'll get back to blogging without going a whole week again. But don't hold me to it! I've got lots of catching up to do, and a long to-do list. But I'll try not to neglect all 6 of my readers! I'll be backe with some pictures soon.

If You Believe in Prayer

I was just reading over at Teresa's blog and she linked to a family who really could use all the prayer they can get right now.

Nathan is the husband of beautiful Tricia who has Cystic Fibrosis. She was soon to have a double lung trasplant when they found out she was pregnant. Now they have given birth to a tiny baby girl, Gwyneth Rose. Nathan's faith is amazing and inspiring. Both his girls are in the hospital and he does not know what the future holds for either of them. But God is so amazing and Nathan knows what God can do.

I don't know this family. But their story is very near and dear to me. Their daughter was born at 24 weeks. Our son was born at 24 weeks. Those months in the NICU were not easy. We never knew what each day would hold. But we had the peace God had already given us...the peace the doctors and nurses couldn't understand. I pray they were impacted by our faith. And it's hard to believe it was that long ago God gave us the miracle of a beautiful baby boy who will soon be turning 14!

Those days were hard, and I was healthy and right there beside CJ most days.

Tricia has not yet met her precious little angel. I cannot begin to imagine the emotions Nathan is feeling. But I know that he will be able to handle whatever comes his way because of his incredible faith in God. And I'm praying that Tricia will recover fully and be stronger than ever so she may receive her double lung transplant. I'm praying Gwyneth continues to thrive and grow into a strong and healthy little girl. And I'm praying that this family will soon all be rejoicing together and looking back on these days saying Look what the Lord has done!!!

Please, if you believe in prayer, visit Nathan's blog and pray for this precious family!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

OK, so my new blog stalker friend Christy has pointed out to me that it's been a while since I've posted. And she's right!

And my Dad is out of town, so I haven't received any phone calls from him reminding me that I haven't posted any pictures of his precious grandchildren lately.

So, to make Christy happy, and probably my Dad too, I'm posting today! AND I'm including pictures!

I don't know why I haven't posted really - I guess I've been spending so much time READING blogs that I just haven't actually felt like WRITING on one!

So...about my title of this post. Nope, I'm not in need of a doctor. But I have a really cute one around.

This is Doctor Cutie.



And here is her patient.


All he needs is a shot.


And just in case you are wondering, CJ checked out ok!

Morning Breath

This morning when I woke up, my daughter, who was already awake, came to greet me. Then something upset her (something her brother did, though I'm not really sure what!) and she proceeded to have one of her fits.

She seemed overly agitated this morning. Everything was setting her off. And she was having some serious tantrums.

All of this was within 10 minutes of my waking.

I called her over to me. She climbed on me, and I tried to comfort her.

I asked her if she was feeling ok. She responded with a "No." I asked her what was wrong.

She looked at me, put her hand over her face and said, "You don't smell bery good."

Nothing says, Good morning, I love you" like good ol' morning breath!

And apparently it's not very comforting for a 3 year old either!

By the way - she's had a few more of those fits today. I guess it's because she's 3. Sigh.

But at least the offensive mommy breath is now gone!

Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating last night as the New Year rang in. It was quiet here. I thought Ruthi would hold out, but she finally crashed about 11:45. Considering she had not taken a nap, I'm surprised she lasted that long!

Apparently we are getting old. We used to throw a New Year's Eve party each year with a houseful of friends packed in and having a great time.

Now we enjoy a nice quiet night to bring in the new year.

Today is pretty much business-as-usual. Nothing too exciting going on. I have a pot of black-eyed peas and a pot of collard greens on the stove cooking. And I'll whip up a pan of cornbread in a bit. And really, that's the only thing that is signifying that this is January 1, 2008 today.

2008!!! WHERE did 2007 go? It went by fast!

I'm not making any resolutions. I've never been a big resolution maker anyway. Last year I set some goals. Some I met, some I didn't even come close. This year I think I will just to my best to make it a better year than the last. And I'll leave it at that.

May God pour his blessings on you and your families this year. I pray you have a fantastic year!