If I was....

I hope Sandra from "Diary of a Stay-at-home mom" doesn't mind, but this is the best meme I've come across. I'll give her credit and go check hers out!

If I was a month, I would be... October

If I was a day of the week I would be... Sunday

If I was a number I would be... 13

If I was a planet I would be... Pluto

If I was a direction I would be... north

If I was furniture I would be... a big comfy couch

If I was a liquid I would be... sweet tea

If I was a sin I would be... greed

If I was a mineral I would be... graphite

If I was a metal I would be ...pewter

If I was a tree I would be... maple

If I was a fruit I would be .. peach

If I was a flower I would be... gardenia

If I was the weather I would be .. rainbow

If I was a musical instrument I would be...oboe

If I was one of the elements I would be... fire

If I was a color I would be... purple

If I was an animal I would be...tiger

If I was a sound I would be... baby cooing

If I was a song lyric I would be... Would I stand in your presence, to my knees would I fall, would I sing hallelujah, would I be able to speak at all, I can only imagine... I can only imagine.

If I was a song I would be... White Christmas

If I was a music genre I would be...the blues

If I was a perfume I would be... chanel #5

If I was a feeling I would be... love

If I was a book I would be… an adventure novel

If I was food I would be… lobster

If I was a place I would be ... Hawaii

If I was a taste I would be... sweet

If I was a scent I would be… peppermint

If I was a word I would be… mother

If I was a verb I would be… loved

If I was an object I would be… a tire swing

If I was a clothing item I would be… faded old jeans

If I was a body part I would be… hand

If I was an expression I would be… smile

If I was a cartoon character I would be… definitely Minnie Mouse

If I was a movie I would be… Christmas Vacation

If I was a shape I would be… oval

If I was a season I would be… fall

If I was a quote I would be… "to those whom much is given much is expected."

This was really fun, I tried to go with my first instinct when I read it, so that made it more fun!

Happy birthday to me!

Today is my birthday! I'm 42 today. Now, age doesn't really bother me, could be because I feel about 26 or so most of the time, that is when I'm not feeling 86!

I've had a great day, played handbells in two services at church, Bart got the boys ready and to church on time, then went for lunch and my mom and dad's house with my sisters and their families. All in all, a terrific day!

I got promises of 2 shopping trips for clothes, etc., lunch with my sister, a beautiful quilt book I had been wanting:



a really cool Disney Jim shore piece that I collect:




I also got a new Disney Movie, sleeping Beauty:



and lots of hugs and my oldest son Ryan made me brownies after I left for church this morning (I had to be there at 7:30, that's really early for a non-morning person!!) and that was really a great thoughtful thing to do! And my parents also bought me this really cool corduroy trench coat that I saw at Target. It's olive green and has a colorful white lining with all colored leaves on it

All in all, a great birthday!

Fave Five Friday

Hi, it's Friday again and since I think I missed last Friday, I'm going to do this today!

Here are mine:

1. Parent Teacher Conferences! My youngest two got raves about their behavior and their abilities and how much their teachers love them, my oldest one is in high school now and it settling in nicely with very good grades and my second son has been struggling, but his grades have taken an upturn and he is showing signs of being serious about school! YAY!!


2. The fall weather and beautiful coolness of the air now, with a great breeze and lots of falling leaves.



3. My birthday coming up on Sunday, handbells at church, lunch with my family and hopefully Bart will take over chores:) I don't really mind getting older, it's certainly better than the alternative, and besides, most days I feel about 25 anyway!



4. Handbell playing at church on Sunday. I dearly love to play and it exercises part of my brain that doesn't get much exercise, and it challenges me!



5. and Halloween! We have a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating and hopefully my sisters and their families will come and my mom, since it's her birthday!




That's all for today, but please visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and get your Fave Five button now and add yourself to the linky with your blog!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, Diane

Happy Birthday, Diane!




I know, I know, it was yesterday, but since I didn't know it was yesterday, then I'm telling you happy birthday today! I hope you had a great day, lots of fun with your hubby and lots of birthday greetings and gifts!

Oh, and also...

Here:


I baked it just for you and it's sugar free, too!

Oh, and one more thing:




It's my friend Diane's birthday yesterday, so won't you stop by and tell her Happy Birthday yourself! And it's her anniversary tomorrow, Saturday, so I wanted to tell her that in advance:)

Random Thoughts on Monday...

Just some random thoughts today... I haven't been feeling well (see below) since about last Monday, I'm just kinda getting over it now, but I had some funny things on my mind....

Telemarketers.....Don't you hate it when telemarketers call? I know, I've put my name and number on the "Do-not-call" list but it doesn't seem to bother some! Our phone doesn't ring much, but when I'm trying to work from home and it keeps ringing and you interrupt your work and walk over to answer it and then no one is there...... well, it makes me think very bad words!!!

Flu shots and allergy shots.... I got a flu shot last week because I had an appointment at the allergy clinic anyway and boy, it made me feel bad! Sore, tired and sleepy and my arm had a huge knot on it! I had to be allergy tested again last week, it's been over 5 years, and of course you have to stop your antihistamine 5 days before... which is a killer for me. So I dutifully stopped my Zyrtec D and started suffering immediately! Then I go and let them prick my back with those horrible little things and put all those allergens in my back which start itching immediately... and after they were done, they found out my allergies were better.... but of course not gone. I joked with the doctor and said, "Wow, only 20 more years of allergy shots and I'll be cured!" She laughed, but I was kinda serious! I've been doing shots for more than 5 years so I see plenty of those expensive shots in my future....

Parent/teacher conferences... I love talking with my childrens teachers about their progress and how they are doing, probably because I am inordinately blessed in that my kids seem to do reasonably well in school and not have problems. But what I hate about PT conferences is at the older grades when all the teachers just sit in the cafeteria and you have to line up to talk to EACH SINGLE TEACHER. It takes hours, it's noisy and hot in there and it really makes you want to give up! I have 2 older sons who have 7 teachers apiece. If you figure in just waiting 15 minutes per teacher and if you want to talk to each one....that's 210 minutes or 3 1/2 hours. WOW!!!! unbelieveable! I try to stay in contact with the teachers, especially if one of them is having trouble, the kid I mean, but does it look bad if I don't show up for the conferences? I can't decide.... and Bart is usually out of town for the conferences so that leaves me to deal with it. Fun, Fun....

Cleaning house... I had a 13 year old birthday party this past weekend and while they weren't any messier or louder than any other age, I hate cleaning the house for a party! And then you have to clean the house after it's over!! I also hate it when the kitchen (tile) floor is gritty to your feet. But I really hate vacuuming it! LOL I really like it when the house is clean, but really hate cleaning it myself:)

I guess that's all my thoughts for today... kinda disjointed which is kinda how I feel today! I spent hours yesterday ironing and cooking and other things so at least those huge tasks are taken care of, at least until I do laundry again!

Have a great day and may God bless you every one!

Monday, Monday

This has been a crazy day that funny enough, started out sanely! I knew I had a parent/teacher conference with one of my son's teachers, so I got that out of the way, then had the rest of the afternoon to get stuff done and plan dinner, etc., since I have handbells at church tonight.

But God said, "haha, no, it is not meant to be!" And when I picked up Kevin and Tyler, Tyler was CRYING because his throat hurt. Well, we all know what it usually means when our throat hurts that much! Strep, right? So I call the clinic and they can get him in at 5 which is great, although I do have to drive to Little Rock which I hate to do, but obviously not enough to change pediatricians! (The boys have gone to the same pediatricians since even Ryan was born. 15+ years, who can leave now?)

Bart gets home early; my dad is here because when we had the remants of Hurricane Ike the tree next door fell down. That is only a problem for us because all the roots are under our fence and in our yard, so when the tree fell, the roots jacked our fence up about 2 feet in one spot. And Dad was kind enough to come up here and take a look at it because, frankly, I'm afraid the tree is going to fall all the way down eventually (gravity will take over, right?) and the fence will be toast which means the dog will get out and probably get run over in the busy street behind us.

Tyler and I run to the car, drive the 45 minutes to LR, endure a strep test that turns out to be negative. But he does have a red and swollen throat, but it seems to be viral. As we're talking with the Doctor, Tyler asks if he can have a sticker. Doctor X says, "Of course you can," so Tyler looks and looks and then I hear, "AHA!"

Doctor X says, "Wow, that sounded like an epiphany!" And Tyler says, (wait for it) "yes, but it LOOKS like a bicycle!"

Don't you just love them! DOctor X looks at me and says, "And THAT'S why I became a pediatrician!"

Five year olds are the very best, they are so funny and so sweet and so adorable!

Hopefully that's your laugh for the day!

Tip for Tuesday

Oh, wait, it is Wednesday, isn't it?

Oh, well:)

In the past I had been buying laundry detergent at the warehouse stores because, well, with 4 sons, we go through a ton of it and I do a ton of laundry every week. Because I'm anal-retentive and can't stand to have laundry all piled up on the laundry room floor where you can't get to the vacuum cleaner or the under-the-stairs storage closet or whatever. That and we used to have a cat who liked to pee on the dirty clothes. Disgusting, I know, which is partly why we don't have said cat anymore! But anyway, it got me in the habit of doing laundry every day. I don't have room for tons of laundry baskets everywhere and when I had one of those three-partioned laundry sorter things, all it did was make a mess with too much laundry falling out... You know, one of these:




Anyway, I digress.

One day I came upon this website The Frugal Shopper and she had a recipe for homemade laundry detergent, several in fact. So I tried one, then I tried one of the liquid ones and really I liked the one that was just dry ingredients. So here it is, if you want to try it. That's my tip of the day. If you check her website you can find all kinds of tips on laundry softeners, etc., that save money.

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 cup grated Fels-Naptha soap
1/2 Cup washing soda
1/2 Cup Borax

Mix well and store in a closed container. You should use approximately 1-2 tablespoons per load.

NOTES: 1 cup of grated soap is about one bar, I think.
Fels-Naptha soap is not really hard to find, but I don't like the smell much so I've used Dove,Ivory, Palmolive and Pure and Natural. You can use deodorant soaps too. I like the smell of Ivory.
Washing soda is not baking soda. It does come in a yellow box, and it's with the laundry detergents, and it's usually made by Arm & Hammer, but make sure you get washing soda. Borax is most commonly called 20 Mule Team Borax.
You can double, triple, whatever, this recipe and it works wonderfully!


Good luck! This saves me a ton of money every month, I think I estimated once I was spending about $30 a month on detergent only, and I think this costs about $10 for the 2 boxes of stuff and soap. Well worth it!

ANOTHER NOTE: This will not make suds. They are not necessary for good cleaning, so when you look in the washer and it isn't sudsy, don't worry.

Another Fave Friday

Welcome to another Fave Friday! Suzanne got me started on this last week and I really think this is a great exercise, especially when you haven't had the best week, as I haven't!

And here's why I haven't had the best week: Last Sunday my great aunt Trudy passed away. We knew she had had another massive stroke, we thought, on Thursday, but she's spent the last 7 years going up and down and defying the odds when we thought she didn't have long to live. This time it was for real, she couldn't come back. She just got less and less responsive to my mom and then slipped into a coma and then died. My mom and my grandmother, who was her sister, were with her when she died. I had spent all morning at the church playing handbells in the 2 regular church services, just gotten home and had lunch and sent the older 2 boys and Bart off to the library for History Day research when my dad called. Since I have relatives in Michigan, we put off the funeral until Thursday when they could get here. Trudy was an amazing woman who fought back from an unbelievably severe stroke to have 7 mostly good years of life. She buried two husbands and her only son, most people couldn't have survived that, but she did. We loved you, Trudy!

#1 Trudy. The love and concern shown to our family members by others was a true testament to how much we all loved her. She was always my favorite aunt and she will be missed, she was loving and kind and fun to be around, even when she didn't know she was being funny!

#2 getting to spend time with my Michigan cousins even if it was for a funeral

#3 the long car ride to my grandmother's house with my 2 youngest sons that was both relaxing and interesting, getting to see the places I used to live and my different family homes

#4 The Amazing Race, I'm glad you're back!

#5 going grocery shopping. I know it sounds silly, but many people don't have money to spend or are cutting back, which we are too, but it's nice to be able to fill the pantry and fridge with food and not have to worry about what to cook becuase we have everything!