What's for breakfast?!?!

You know the feeling, moms, when you are sitting quietly sipping your coffee, and the thought hits you, "Oh my gosh, the kids are going to be up any minute! I'm almost out of milk, I have two slices of bread (plus the heels- who eats those?), not enough eggs to satisfy three hungry kids before school...WHAT WILL I FEED THEM??" My heart begins to race, my head spins, then the heavens open and I hear a choir of angels singing, "AHHHHHHHHHH". Then it hits me...OATMEAL!!!! That requires NO eggs, very little milk, and a ton of brown sugar (which I DO have!) I arise from my comfy spot on the couch, and once again realize, I can do this thing called "Being a good mom" after all!!

Hard Water Woes

Since I haven't received any help from my FaceBook family, I thought I would pose my question here.

Does ANYONE have a solution (that actually works) for removing the nasty hard water deposits on my glass shower walls?!?!?

I've tried everything just shy of acid and a sledge hammer, and it is STILL refusing to leave! Just imagine what that water is doing to my insides when I try to get my 8 glasses in per day. Never mind, don't try to imagine that. I will take suggestions from housewives, men who clean showers, Hints from Heloise....I'm desperate!

Things That Inspire Me

Ok, there are two things that have inspired me this week. Number 1: a friends' blog about her "Laundry Stratagies" and Number 2: another friends' blog about weight loss.
Number 1: The Laundry Blues seem to constantly overtake me, unless I've just finished the 8-10 loads of laundry and have ONE DAY where everybody actually has clean everything, and the laundry room is empty. However, when I get up the next morning, I am saddened to find that my family actually WORE the clothes I just washed,(the nerve) which means that I will have to wash it all again very soon.
And so, my friend, Trish, who happens to have FIVE children and is extremely organized and efficient, was kind enough to blog about how she keeps up with it all. Now, granted, she has a laundry room to die for (complete with the cutest wallpaper!!), but Jarrod and I sat down on Saturday and discussed how we can implement her stratagies so that I do not throw MYSELF in the washer and call it quits! I'll let you know how it turns out...might be a few months, as I need to completely empty my existing laundry room, and start from scratch. I don't know...do you think our landlords would notice if we cut a big hole in our bathroom floor and installed a laundry shute? No, no, no... my boys would soon be putting themselves down the shute.

Ok, number two...weight loss. As so many of us do, we hit January 1st (or 10th) and decided enough is enough! No more fatties in this house! Well, this was my year! Jarrod's 20th HS Reunion is coming up in May, and we both made an oath that we cannot show up looking like "THIS". Now, so far I've lost 4 pounds!! I try to weigh every morning (before I eat); however, there are mornings I'm afraid to step on, for fear of the number I might see. I've been exercising about 3 days a week...until two weeks ago. Somehow I find more pressing things to get done before my piano lessons start for the day, or I have to run errands, etc. So, I just need the encouragement and support of anyone out there who happens to read this blog! I really want to live healthier! Now, that being said, I will tell you right off that I refuse to "diet". Why? Because #1-I love food...anything that involves sugar, butter, bread, or beef. #2-When I say, "No more of ___" I am scarfing it down by the end of the day. #3-I firmly believe that God put food on this earth to enjoy! So my solution? I don't have to eat the whole dozen donnuts to be satisfied; one will do. I don't need 2 Tbsp. of butter to eat one roll; eat TWO rolls...just kidding! I don't have to eat a whole loaf of my homemade bread! One nice sized slice will suffice! And as far as beef? When I savor each bite of steak (which is a rare occasion anyway), I find that a 6-8oz cut is plenty!! All of that to say, I need to get off my backside and get on my exercise machine that I swore never to hang clothes on!! Please pray for me, as I've never had to struggle with my weight until the third kid came along (thanks a lot Caleb - hee hee). My focus is HEALTH and caring for God's temple, not having a Skinny Model Bod. Thanks for listening...I needed that!

Cookie - Our Cocker Spaniel

Hey! After two years of promises to the kids, we finally got a dog today. Melissa and I went to the dog shelter today and there was this beautiful dog that had just been brought in about 20 minutes earlier. We looked around at the others, but our hearts were smitten. We put a reserve on him, and went to run some other errands. We came back and signed the papers. Since he's been neutered, he was half price! What a deal!

Isn't he a cutie!?! He is going to be a great fit for our family! I kept him at home while Melissa went to get the kids from school. They knew we were going to look, so of course they asked Melissa if we got one. She said, "Well, we looked but some just weren't ready to take home. But dad has a "Cookie" at home for you." Aren't we sneaky? Boy were they surprised when they walked in and heard him bark.

The Pit (click me for Pit virtual tour)

This afternoon the boys and I spent a couple of hours in the pit, I mean The Pit; The University of New Mexico Pit (Arena). We had some free tickets to see the Lady Lobos play the BYU Cougars Saturday afternoon. It was a very low scoring game, and unfortunately the Lobos did not win. They just weren't taking enough shots. Way too many passes. I know, Coach Holmskog, (my hs coach) we have to wait for the good shot, but man, they passed on several good shots!

Anyway, we had a good time enjoying Lobo Dogs, Nachos and Mt. Dew! Mmmmmm!Melissa has had to work all day and Anna was at a friend's for a play day. We've got some free Men's b-ball tickets too, so hopefully Melissa and I can go on a b-ball date. Yes, she likes going, I think.

Editor's Note: By the way, feel free to leave comments so we know who, if anyone, is reading our blog. Actually, I can see by the Clustrmap that there are a few out there, but I don't know who you are unless you let us know. Does anyone know of a visitor tracker like the Clustr map, that you can zoom in and see exactly where/who it is?

My Week Thus Far

This week has not exactly gone as planned. I DID have my piano recital, which was so sweet. Seeing 12 very nervous kids zip through their songs was a hoot!

But my sweet Caleb has had the Flu for going four days now. However, today he is becoming a LITTLE bit demanding, singing "I am hungry, I am hungry..." to the tune of "Goodnight Ladies"...not that he knows that song. This morning I decided to keep him home from school another day, and I am glad that I did. His fever is back to 102 deg. Hey, isn't there a key on here that puts that little "degree circle" after a number?? If anyone knows how to do it, please email me. It's a pet peeve of mine.

Anyway, after I dropped the other kiddos off, I had to stop at the store for the traditional milk, bread, etc. run. Caleb asked for a donut, so, being the good Momma that I am when my kids are sick I said, "Sure, Baby." We just pretended there was medicine in that donut. Seemed to make him feel better...until the sugar wore off. Oops.

He had to send this pic to Grandad (my Dad) to tease him, since Grandad LOVES donuts, and is NOT supposed to eat them. That was true Caleb form!!

State Holidays, Bunk Beds and Piano Recital

One of the great perks of working for the state is that you get a few extra paid holidays, so I enjoyed having another day off today. The kids were off of school too, so we spent the day just running around town together. It was a fun day.

Last week, I started working on some bunk beds for Anna's American Girl dolls, Josefina and Julie. Here's what's done so far. Now, I'm going to paint it a bright, deep red. I should've gotten it done on this long weekend, but somehow I didn't.

Anna loves it!

Well, the piano recital went well yesterday. We had an audience of 25 for the 12 students. The recital started at 3:57 and all 12 students had finished their 2 or 3 pieces and I looked at the clock and it was only 4:21! And that was with a brief introduction of each student in between! They were nervous and fast! But they all did great! Then we had a ton of refreshments for everyone. Here's a pic of Melissa's students and their beautiful teacher standing proudly behind them, er, physically beside them.

(HINT: She's the hottie in the leopard print)

Well, I gotta go back to work tomorrow, so I better close it down for tonight.