They're Too Cute To Strangle!

Today I had one of those moments when I have to think back to when our dogs were tiny and cute....that way I won't try to sell them or give them away. I happened to be the first one home today, which is unusual. Our dogs are locked in the kitchen when no one is home so as soon as I came through the door, I started calling to them and I could hear their nails clicking excitedly on the kitchen floor as they started doing their happy dance. This continued until I got to the kitchen entryway....then I stopped in horror and grimaced as my lower jaw hit the floor. My dogs do not generally steal stuff and chew it to bits, they do not gnaw on our table or chair legs, and I like to think that at 5 1/2 years old, we have seen these habits all but disappear. Maybe that's why I was so shocked to see tons of tiny, empty, silver tins in various crushed positions...all over the kitchen floor....along with a complete coating of crushed wax pieces. My dogs ate a bag of 50 tea light candles. There probably wasn't 50 left in the bag, maybe 30. They didn't eat the wicks b/c also lying among the wreckage was a ton of wicks with the little metal circle at the bottom of it. But the wax....it was everywhere...and stuck to the floor when mixed with enough dog drool. And in case you are wondering....the wax is passing through their system nicely.....so I'm just trying to remember back when they were little and cute and you couldn't possibly get mad at them:





These photos are actually from the night we brought them home...I think Bethany was 2yrs old and those puppies! Mike certainly couldn't resist...


These almost look like the faces they were giving me this afternoon!

It's All About The Price....

I know it's hard to believe, but when I'm not blogging, playing with my kids, yelling at my kids, working full time, reading a good book, etc....I like to read magazines. All kinds. Funny thing is, I really can't afford to subscribe to them, so I get a lot of my Mom's cast offs. Somehow she got a whole bunch of free magazines from points from one of her credit cards, so I now get Money and Entrepreneur as well. This is great, except I don't have time to read them all, but I can't throw them out unless I have at least leafed through them cover to cover. I will actually get anxious if I have to put one in the recycling bin without ever having opened it...I mean there could have been a really good website in there, or a great tip on how to get the stains out of something I don't even own...or at least not yet! Anyhoo, the magazines are always the same, Woman's Day, Money, Family Fun, Entrepreneur, Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Kraft Food (which is really good and free...sign up at their website!)....but somehow an "In Style" magazine made it's way into my house. I'm not that familiar with the magazine, but it almost seems like a "Glamour" magazine for adult women...yes, ladies, Glamour is for the teens! So, of course I have to read through it, although there is more looking than reading. After reading through it, I can see why I don't read these kinds of magazines. They are meant for the female millionaire, or wife of a millionaire. I'm not kidding...clothes that cost what I take home in a week, or a month! Then I came across this page:


You probably can't see the fine print, so I'll tell you all you need to know. The black spider web ring is $1200, the gold circle pin is $1500, the green flower ring is $6600, the raven ring is $7750 and the gorgeous lizard and pearl ring...................$17,400! Seriously. I won't even tell you what percentage of my yearly pay that is. AND it gives a phone number after each price in case you can't wait to call right now and order yours! I really think that even if I had a ton of money I would buy this type of stuff. People are going hungry, yet somewhere, someone right now is saying to themselves....where is that phone? I need one of these for the country club dinner this weekend! I won't go into the article about designer Robert Cavalli's yacht and all the REAL fur he has just laying around to snuggle up in. I thought real fur was a no-no and had been for years...but apparently the rich still buy it secretly by the boatloads...no pun intended!

In all fairness the magazine did have 2 pages with 17 ideas to help out different charities. I'll list some here:

Pantene Beautiful Lengths (www.beautifullengths.com) - donate your hair and they create wigs for women undergoing cancer treatment.

Keep A Child Alive: Text 90999 with your mobile phone and you pledge $5 to help keep children of AIDS alive in Africa.

Lance Armstrong Foundation: The reason I personally like the whole "Livestrong" line is because the proceeds benefit all types of cancer...you don't have to pick one or the other. This particular article was highlighting a new line of Livestrong active wear coming out. (www.livestrong.org)

Volunteer at a local ASPCA shelter or actually adopt a pet.

I think I'll stick to my low-cost mags in the future!

Barefoot Is A-OK With WalMart....

Since we are on a serious budget at the moment, and Walmart...excuse me, that's "Super Walmart" has the cheapest prices on a lot of items, I have been there quite a bit in the last month. The problem is, the only time I can make it there is during my lunch time from work, after work or on weekends. It is just so crowded all the time! Even driving in to and out of the parking lot gets me anxious. My husband got me to start parking way away from everyone else, and it does help.

So tonight we needed to go to Walmart. This was a special treat as all 4 of us were going - me, Mike and the girls. Special treat means I will be aggravated within 10 minutes of being in there because of all the stupid people I know I will encounter, Mike will be aggravated within 20 minutes b/c the girls will have started either arguing or competing about something. Then it will escalate to one of us yelling at the girls in the store, and there you have it, we have now turned into the exact people we wanted to avoid at Walmart. The minute I get in that store, though, I want to just crash my carriage through all the "clutter". (For those of you who like politically correct baloney, you might want to stop reading.) By "clutter" I mean, people who feel it is necessary to wear their pajamas, along with their slippers, to Walmart. I guess in a way, it's a good thing. Almost like a uniform for the stupid people; they might look normal but then you look down at their fuzzy slippers and "oh, I'll just go around the other way". Tonight we had an extra special visit as we saw a woman, with a family, walking around in the grocery aisles, barefoot. Now before you go saying maybe she is homeless and can't afford shoes, I think if they pawned some of the gold they were wearing, she could go and buy at least a $5 pair of Keds knock offs in the Walmart shoe section. Now after getting almost everything on my list - I don't know why I thought I would be able to get Edamame at Walmart? - we headed for the register. The line was particularly slow in moving - we probably waited about 20min in line and there were only 3 people in front of us - and Mike says, "Is this where people come when they don't make it as cashiers at other stores?", which is when I gave him my "don't be rude" eyes. For the piece de resistance, while waiting in line, we got to watch 3 shoplifters get read their rights, handcuffed, banned from Walmart and thrown in the awaiting cruisers. When Mike mentioned they would be banned from Walmart, Bethany looks at me and says, "Mom, you should steal something because you would love it if you were banned from Walmart!" Hmmmmm.....

So What If You're Late...Take Time To Enjoy....

Every weekday morning I have to drive my genius across town to her smart school. No bragging, just the facts...ok maybe a little bragging. The next street over from ours happens to dissect a lake at one point and it's right there, every morning that the sun is out, we get to enjoy a wonderful view. It's just very serene and peaceful...all the ice has melted, the sun is just getting into the sky and lately there is steam coming off the water. What a treat. Especially when the swans are in view as well. Yesterday there was a very large swan that was just coming out of the water by the road when we were driving by. There were no other cars so I stopped. He stretched his body and neck up tall and spread his enormous wings out wide. Only for a second or two, but he was magnificent. Unfortunately for me, I had no real camera and my cell phone had died so I didn't even have a cell phone camera!

So today I decided I would never leave the house again without my camera. Again we had great views so today I was prepared. We actually stopped, turned around, I got out, took photos, turned around again, took more photos. Nothing compared to yesterday, but it reminded me to stop and enjoy once in a while...so what if it makes you 5 minutes late?

I would have liked this photo if it wasn't so centered but I was trying to focus and make sure no other cars were coming at the same time.

I love this photo for the reflections.

Java Time, Unwind Time, Me Time....

This here is one of the things I miss most about being home on furlough last week....and one of the things I look forward to every weekend. Brewing some coffee and making myself a nice, big cup in my favorite coffee mug with raw sugar (partially seen in the background). We bought a pair of these mugs at one of our favorite stores called, "Santa Fe North" located in North Conway, NH. I love unique Southwest items, but particularly the character shown here, Kokopelli. He is a mythical, flute-playing and somewhat mischievous character of the Native Americans. I always thought he was specific to the Hopi Indian tribe, but not too long ago I believe I read something saying many tribes had Kokopelli in their stories. So I guess I'm not really sure since I'm not an expert. No, I don't suddenly want to play tricks on my family after using the mug, but something about the mug itself relaxes me...weird, huh?