Why are commercials so loud?

Ok I'll admit I like TV... especially on these cold winter months when there is really nothing to do but be inside with the kids. Sometimes you can only do so much coloring, reading, playing... whatever.... and then you need a little break. And I especially like to watch a little TV when Bubba is down for a nap and Ceej is still awake. He's too young to know what I'm watching so it doesn't matter if its inappropriate for children. So I'll be sitting there... nursing Ceej and he'll almost be asleep... when BAM! One of those annoying, LOUD commercials comes on?! I mean what the crap right? It is beyond annoying. I can't tell you how many times he'll be out of it and then he'll wake up and be alert because of the loud interruption.. It has forced me to put my TV on mute and have the Closed Captioning on too. I may not be deaf but I have used that plenty of times!

And then I came across this article.... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/15/politics/main5982822.shtml

Its basically saying someone came up with a Bill to end loud TV ads! I know there are probably more pressing items out there... but I would think this would please alot of people... and I know I'm excited about it! I'd vote for the person that came up with it!!

Now if they could just do that in movies as well.... I swear JDub had a TV that would adjust the volume... but maybe I was just dreaming that one. I know at certain times its good to be a little louder... for suspense or whatever, but I'd rather not have to turn the volume up and down and up and down all the time...... You'd think they'd be able to control that with all the technology out there! Not to mention I know my Mom wishes her TV on the porch would have done this... she might not have busted her lip and hurt her knee back in the day :) (that's a VERY funny story if you haven't heard it you should ask me sometime)

World's strongest babe...

So the other day I'm upstairs doing something... can't quite remember what but I'm sure it was cleaning or picking up... b/c well that's ALL it seems like I do! JDub was downstairs with the boys. All of a sudden... Ceej starts crying. And its not that, I'm fussy cry, its the something awful happened, not normal cry.... So I rush downstairs and I'm like "What is going on down here?!"

Apparently he had crawled over to my 3 lb weight, picked it up, rolled on his back and then dropped it on his head.... Now I can't get too mad at JDub b/c yesterday I left Ceej alone in the living room and he apparently got poked in the eye with something.. what I'm still not sure... but yea Ceej is freakishly strong... And the funny thing is I try to warn people how strong he is... Just because I want to be nice. But its like they think I'm bragging or something. The don't believe me... its like that friend that you have that over-exaggerates everything! So you never know how serious something is you just assume they're over-shooting it. But really I'm not... Ok I know the title of this entry was a bit much... but that was just to be funny. But he is really strong.. For example I have a nice chunk of hair that is just now growing back b/c he ripped it out of my head... not just one little hair... it was a nice handful. He's ripped out Bubba's, and Mangos... you think oh cute he's grabbing my hair and then next thing you know you're in pain and he's putting the stray hairs into his mouth!

So just another warning... If you happen to hold Ceej and he grabs on to your hair... get it out of his hand as soon as possible or you will lose it....

Coupons

Coupons are great right?! Well sometimes they are.... I thought coupons were suppose to be nice incentives to buy a product! But then there's the fine print..... you have to spend $25 before you can use this coupon.... you can't use it on sale or clearance items....

I mean is it really worth the headache to cut them out, then remember them at the checkout... sometimes I wonder! So my mom and I went shopping at Gordman's the other week. It happened to be one of those days where you got the chance to scratch off and see if you won $10, $20, or $30 on your next purchase of course... Its NEVER for what you're buying right then. Its always nope, sorry! You must pay full price for everything you're buying now... and then come back and spend more money just to use this coupon! Oh and the fine print on these puppies?.... You can't use your "free" $10 on shoes.... which is totally what I wanted to buy!

So anyway, JDub and I end up going back and getting some more little Christmas stuff and a new sweater dress for me! Mom ended up giving me her $20 that she won so I had $30! Now of course... could I use both of them together on the same order? NO!!! And then the lady at the check-out tells me she's not suppose to let the same family use 2 coupons. What are you?! The coupon police? I could easily make up a name and address and write it on your stupid coupon... not to mention I could leave and come back to a different line with a different cashier and you woudln't know! I tried to hand JDub some cash to pay and she freaked! So he had to spend $5 on his credit card... ridiculous......

I mean I love the items they have at Gordmans... but honestly their coupons SUCK!

I use to be a member of the Dairy Queen Blizzard club or whatever too... They'd send you coupons for buy one get one blizzard every once in a while and then a free one for your birthday too! But any time I'd try to use them at the DQ's around here... they'd tell me they don't participate in that promotion! Well how come when I signed up they specifically asked me what DQ I would be going to and your store was an option?! Can you tell me that?!

Ok so I rarely go to Panera... just because its not that close to where I live and its not that convenient to have to get out of my car and go in with kids... But they had those punch card things... ya know you buy so many specialty drinks or bagels and you get some free! Or at least they use to... of course I've been saving this card up for years.... and when I finally get it full and want my free drink they deny me and say "Oh we got rid of those a few months ago...." Seriously?! Can a girl get a break... apparently not!

I know... I should just learn to pay full price for things... its just sooo annoying though! Why even have the option of coupons if you're going to make it practically impossible to use them hassle-free?!

cloth diapers update

Ok so when Bubba was younger I decided I wanted to be green and get cloth diapers... I even posted about it waaaaay back in Aug '09. I was super excited and ended up going with gDiapers. Ya know in genereal they worked really well... But Bubba complained about them... he hated wearing them, and well I got lazy so I stopped. And he's potty-trained now anyway!

Then came Ceej... Now I'm sorry but newborns go to the bathroom ALOT! And well, breastfed babies seem to poop alot more too. It seems like every hour you're changing a disposable diaper... So the thought of doing cloth (which you pretty much have to change every 2 hours...) when he was just a teeny lil babe did NOT interest me at all. But once he got a little bit bigger (and was sleeping better so that meant Mommy was sleeping better and a little less lazy!) I thought I should get them back out.

I was disappointed. It seems that the gDiapers liners have broken down over time, or from being washed alot... I dunno. I'm sure they'd blame me on the type of detergent I was washing them with too (apparently 'free and clear' is not really free and clear of everything...) But anyway. Instead of just having to change out the cloth insert, I was not only having him soak through the liner and diaper, but his clothes and pants were getting wet too! No thanks... That's way too much laundry for me. So I thought about giving up on the cloth all together.

But then I found econobum cloth diaper covers :)  These are great! No worrying about snaping liners in and out... its all one piece. Another nice thing is its a one-size diaper. With gDiapers they have small, medium, and large.. but with econobum they have one diaper with several snaps that you can adjust to size your babe just right!

I was a little hesitant about the snaps. But they are working very nicely. I like it even better than the velcro. When I need to wash them I don't have to worry about the velcro getting attached to everything else in the wash! OMG I hate it when I'm switching the laundry over and velcro from bibs and the gdiapers would be attached to a shirt or blanket and just shred it to pieces!

Now I know this might sound a little gross... but I dont even have to wash these every day! I can use these 2 diaper covers all day long. I start with the green, then switch to the blue and let the green one air dry. By the time Ceej needs a new diaper the green one is ready to use. And while I didn't have much luck with the gDiapers... the gCloth inserts work great with these econobum covers! So I didn't have to go out and purchase a bunch of cloth inserts.I still use disposable at night. And usually when I'm out and about... But I'm able to use them during the day while we're at home! So while I'm not fully green... at least I'm doing a small part :)

"I need to Pray Mommy"

Bubba has tried every stalling technique in the world when its nap time or bed time... "I need to go potty"... or he needs a special animal to sleep with. "Cover me up again... I need to kiss Ceej or Daddy or Mommy or Mango"... "I need a kleenex"... and the list goes on and on. Its a little ridiculous... I mean its sad at 2 he already knows how to do that! But my favorite stalling technique of all... "Mommy I need to pray" he says!

I started praying with him a few nights and he got the hang of it. I'll tell him to start and he says "Dear God, or Dear Lord... Thank you for........." Now I'm not sure where this all came in... but everytime he prays lately it has to include all of the kitties he knows... It usually starts with my sister's cat Mr. Flakers.... I wish you could hear how cute it sounds when he says it too! Its more like Micker Fwakers... anyway. Then he moves on to Mango, Charlie, Hobson, Guillermo, Tucker, Sasha... these are all relatives of mine, whether its aunts, sisters, grandmothers' you name a cat he's met, and he will pray for it! So just FYI if your cat needs prayer let me know.... send a pic... and I'll be happy to have Bubba pray for yours as well!

snapfish vs shutterfly... and SHUTTERFLY WINS!

Everything seems to be done online these days.... which is convenient and a little annoying at times. But one really cool thing I like having online is a place to store my photos. I am not the best at taking photos.... or even remembering to bring my camera to certain events, but once you have kids taking pics is very important! You want to make sure to catch those "first" events, and other funny events along the way. Especially when you have family that might want to see them as well!

So when I first heard of shutterfly and snapfish I couldn't decide which one to go with... I'm sure you've heard of them... its an online database where you can store your photos. They also have cool gift ideas and other resources for your photos. I've used both of them to share photos with friends and family, make photo-books, mugs with photos on them for all those coffee drinkers out there, and calendars all as different gifts for different occassions. I made a photo book for JDub for our 3 year anniversary. I gave one to my dad for Father's Day. I also do my Christmas cards every year on them. JDub and I didn't do Christmas cards until there were kids in the picture. I mean who really wants to see a pic of just us? I didn't! But once we had our cute little red-headed Bubba we just had to do a photo!

Last year's Christmas Card was by far my favorite! We bought them from Shutterfly. It was a simple design that didn't take too much way from the stunning photo we had a friend take. Bubba looked like a little ceramic china doll he was sooo cute. It was super easy to upload the photo and order them. They came straight to the house, envelopes included! We got so many compliments on them too. This was last year's design stirling snowman card '09

So when thinking about Christmas cards for this year I was wondering where to turn....then I got a notice in my email the other day........ Snapfish said if I didnt make a purchase this month all of my pictures would be lost forever. What the crap right?! I was a little shocked. So that pretty much made my decision final! BUH-BYE Snapfish... HELLO SHUTTERFLY 24/7! I mean I just read on another blog how I can get 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly for being a blogger! That sounds soo much better than having all of my photos gone forever..... What do you think?!

Pyro? oh yea!!!!

Ok so JDub is really the fire pro around the house... mainly b/c I am constantly attending to a child in need (or in "want" really...) which can make it hard to attend to a fire as well. We were fortunate enough to have a very generous family at church who gave us a bunch of free firewood!! And I mean a bunch... his entire truck bed was full of the stuff... He even made a holder for the wood out of 2x4's and that thing was overflowing! So while it looks like this outside.....

It looks feels like this inside :)

Bubba is doing very well with the fires too. He knows he needs to stay away or he'll get hurt. I still find him messing with the ashes or wood when the fire is not lit... but he's learning. He is only 2 after all right?! Ceej is a rolling machine these days. He's not really crawling, but he does manage to get halfway across the room just from rolling around. He is sitting up very well which is great. Soon I think I'll be able to move him up to the next car-seat and not have to lug that heavy thing around anymore! You'd think I would have built up my arm muscles enough... but no. I am weak!

On another note... I cannot believe Christmas is almost here! I'm excited to see Bubba open his presents this year. He was still kind of out of it last year... but seeing him on his birthday was too cute. We really didn't go nuts with the presents though. He has soo much stuff already. I am almost done shopping! So that's exciting... I just need a few stocking stuffers and a couple more little presents for people and I think I'll be done. I even have most of them wrapped! Not bad for December 4th :) 

Seamstress? who knew?!

Ok so I've dabbled in sewing a little bit over the years.... as mentioned... I made Bubba's 1st official halloween costume..... (a candy corn)

I even helped make my beloved t-shirt quilt (with help from my mom!!). We cut and sewed all the squares and black material in between... I left the batting, backing, and quilting part to a professional...

So when I got wind of this website.... http://www.newdressaday.com/ I thought hey maybe I can do that?.... If you haven't checked this girl out you really should. It is pretty amazing what she can do with a little TLC.

So I decided to try out my skills the other day! I wish I would have taken more pics along the way... I started cutting and then thought, OH wait maybe I should document this! So yea.. Anyway I got this shirt when I was still working in health insurance. An XL... what am I gonna do with that right? I mean JDub's smaller than I am...and I was swimming in the thing.

I cut up the sides of it also cutting off the sleeves. I still wanted sleeves but knew I'd have to adjust them b/c they were pretty big! After that I ended up cutting the sleeves to size (w/o measuring..) and pinning them back onto the shirt and sewing them on. Then I gathered the sides with pins along with the edges of the sleeves and sewed those as well.... I really should cut off some of the length.. and well the shirt is a bit tight at the bottom I guess I should have tried to make it less of a straight cut and have it taper out at the bottom... but at least I know now for future reference... for my first try I'm pretty happy with it!

What do you think?!

Doggy doo is a big Don't!

I like dogs... don't get me wrong! They're cute, fun to play with, and nice to snuggle too... but when you don't have a dog you shouldn't have to worry about dog poop in your yard... right?! Well you'd think so anyway. But not if you live at my address! It is sooo frustrating. I am about ready to set up a video camera to catch the culprits. OK I'm sorry, but isn't it proper etiquette to clean up after your own dog has done its business... especially if it is in someone else's yard?!

I know, I know... you're thinking "its probably your neighbors..." Well I know for sure its not my next door neighbors... One has a toy poodle... and the poop in my yard is way too big to be hers... and also I've seen the owner specifically come and pick up her poo when she did one time.... and Two... the other neighbor barely even lets their dog out ever! And when he does its always on a leash thing in the back yard.

My neighbors across the yard... God bless them they are wonderful people... but they are busy-bodies! I am about ready to ask if they've seen any dogs going in my yard... or seen who's walking their dogs and letting them! If anyone knows it would be them...

Have you seen these signs... or a variation anyway...?

I think they're pretty tacky... but it is getting ridiculous around here. When I'm raking leaves or out playing with my boys I don't think about watching out for dog poop b/c I DONT HAVE A FREAKING DOG! So I'm getting upset when I almost step in it... or see Bubba about to step in it... its really not cool. I might have to invest in one and see if it works to make people be more responsible.....

For-ev-er....

Bubba takes the LONGEST time to eat.... every meal... 3 times a day.... and it drives me crazy?! I've tried bribing him with candy if he hurries.... I've tried setting a timer and making him finish by a certain point... I've tried leaving the room and just playing with Ceej until he finishes... nothing seems to be working. It is ridiculous... If you try looking up online about speeding up your ridiculously slow eater they just tell you to calm down... because its "good" for you to eat slow... you digest your food better and don't eat as much blah blah blah!

The other day he literally took 2 hours to eat half a banana and a bowl of oatmeal.. It would have taken him longer too if I hadn't gone over constantly to tell him to eat a bite. Or just shoving a bite of food in his mouth myself! OMG it is just so frustrating. Three times a day I have to deal with him and I'm really getting warn down by it. All he wants to do is talk... or sing songs, or ask me what I'm doing every five seconds. I've tried being nice... and I've tried yelling and being mean (yes I know it was a dumb idea but I just couldn't take it one day!). Oh and don't even get me started on how many times he has to get up and pee during a meal either... Ok ok.. I know that I don't have a life. Or at least my life is to stay at home and raise these boys... but I didn't think I was going to have to spend 6-7 hours in the kitchen a day waiting for my oldest to eat.

Good Deal!

Who doesn't love a good deal right? I love getting compliments on something and then saying "oh thanks... I got this shirt from Wal-Mart for $7!" JDub and I (and the little boogers too) went shopping at Target last night. It was one of those trips where JDub said he needed something for his new Droid phone..(don't even get me started on that thing......) and he had already looked online at Wal-Mart and they didn't have what he needed... or at least he didn't think they did. So we made the treck across town. No biggie really. I had a few grocery items I knew I needed so I mainly looked for those. He didn't end up finding what he wanted either...

And then there was the clearance Halloween aisle!!! It looked like a lot of stuff at first... but it turned out to mostly be pet costumes! Dog ones really. They kinda made me wish I had a dog to dress up! But I picked through and ended up finding a scally-wag pirate kid costume! It was a shirt, pants, belt, bandana, and skull and cross-bones sticker... all for $.70! Oh yea baby! I mean I'd still like to get a sword, eye-patch, maybe even pirate hat.... wouldn't mind a cute little pirate to sit on his shoulder either! But yea... at least I have a good start for next year's costume.

I want what I paid for....

I like brand name things... not in everything I buy... but certain things.. Take Lay's Potato Chips for example. They are just sooo yummy. If you buy the off-brand they just aren't as good. So one time when I opened up my bag of Lay's to enjoy some chips and found them burnt to a crisp... Yea... I was a little upset. See normally I'm very happy with my purchase. So I did what any decent person would do... I called and complained! JDub thinks I just like getting free stuff. But honestly who doesn't like getting free stuff? And its not like I'm playing the system or something. In instances like that I feel like they should know I wasn't a satisfied customer ya know? A week or so later I got some coupons in the mail to get a free bag of chips and even some other coupons for $1.00 off my next purchase and what not too.

Being a breast-feeding mother, keeping my extra milk stored properly is pretty important. When I'm not home and Ceej needs some milk I want to make sure there is some on hand. So recently when I was storing the extra milk in some of those Lansinoh bags I noticed it was leaking out everywhere! This was NOT cool. I mean it takes a lot of time and effort to pump out that milk only to have it go to waste. So again.... I emailed and let them know their product was failing! They again did what any decent company would do for a consumer... they sent me replacement bags!

Bubba thinks he has to have popcorn any time we watch a movie these days.... I guess it could be worse so I usually let him (and myself) indulge. I had bought some Orville Redenbacher kettle corn so we've been eating that. Once again... it wasn't up to my standards the other day... Somehow one of the kernals had burnt a whole in the bag which meant only half of the kernals actually popped into popcorn. I kept the bag on top of the counter b/c when I got a second I was going to call and complain....... but somehow it got thrown away! JDub had ruined my plan... oh well I guess its not the end of the world, but I wanted them to know it was faulty! Call me crazy I guess....

Just for fun!

Here's my manicure I gave myself :) I have to say I was pretty impressed, usually I'm not able to paint the fingernails on my right hand that well. I think my thumb nail was my favorite :)

DIY Halloween Costumes....

So as long as I can remember I've pretty much always made my own Halloween costumes..... mostly b/c they didn't have that many options when I was younger..... and nowadays it seems like everything has to be "naughty" a.k.a. slutty.... No thanks! I remember growing up one of my favorite costumes was when I was Pippi Longstocking! I don't remember the exact outfit... it was overall-shorts of some sort and different colored socks.... plaid shirt under it... but I remember getting a wire hanger and cutting it and sticking it in my little pig-tails to have them stick out! That's one good thing about already having red hair... you don't have to wear a wig!

One time in college I was Avril Lavigne too! I thought it was pretty good... and several people could tell who I was (I did carry around a blow-up microphone for a hint!) I've been Ginger from Gilligan's Island too! (Once again the red hair really came in handy :) ) If I ever have my own Halloween party I'd love to try Jessica Rabbit... I don't know if I could pull off making my own dress like hers though....... and that might be a little too "naughty" for me......

Last year I made a Candy-Corn costume for Bubba. I thought it turned out very cute! I had alot of fun picking out the material and figuring it all out too. This year I came up with a Banana costume for him! I just took an over-sized yellow sweatshirt... seam ripped the armpits to make holes for his arms to go through... safety-pinned the arms together in back to look like the peel..... put black electrical tape on the end and took a white hood I kept from my quilt project and put that underneath! I'll post pics on facebook... I think its pretty cute... but then I saw a commercial.......

Have you seen the Target commercial where the mom is making her son an Iron Man costume? Honestly I saw it for the first time and that "Wow that's good!" and then the light thing falls off and they show you a costume for $20 you can buy. I was a little disappointed... I guess its a good thing my kids are so young and they don't know the difference between "good" costumes and home-made ones... right now Bubba is getting a kick out of running around in his little banana costume! He could care less if I made it myself... I know that day where he wants to buy one from the store is just around the corner (sniff..... *tear*). Baby's going to be a monkey! That costume I acquired from a nice co-worker of JDub's! So I didn't have to whip one up or buy one which was nice :)

Side note............
Baby is getting sooo big... I feel like I have to come up with a new nickname. He won't be a Baby much longer!! So... without further ado..... I will call him Ceej! (Thanks sis)

crafty creations!

I don't know why... and I don't really have much to show for it. But I have been a busy little beaver around here lately. I feel like I have no time to do anything! Whether its clean the house... pack for my upcoming vacation, upload photos on facebook, and write on this blog... I just haven't had the time... but here is something I did manage to find the time for.......

Aren't they cute?! Ok so my "spiders" looked more like octopus... and my Frankensteins just looked like monsters in general.. but hey I came up with the pumpkin idea all by myself! They were a hit at my church's chili cook-off. They were pretty yummy too...even if it was pure sugar.

Seriously though... I'm not sure why but I feel like every day is non-stop madness... Today I did manage to do laundry and clean the toilets... I still haven't packed for our trip to TN!!! But I am soo pumped. I haven't seen my nephew for almost a year! And alot of our family down there hasn't met Baby either.. So it should be a good trip. Hopefully after we get back from our little vaca... (14 hour drive... please pray for the sanity of me and the rest of my family......) I'll have more time to get some things down around here...

Whatever happened to its JUST October?

I miss the days when it was just October... a month that came after September and is in the fall... its when you should go buy pumpkins and carve them for Halloween! Instead... its Breast Cancer awareness month... National Popcorn Popping month... even National Sarcastics Month.... I mean its ridiculous! Don't get me wrong... I love cookies.. but does October really have to be Cookie Month? And wouldnt it make more sense to have Cookie month in December anyway? Afterall for Christmas most people bake cookies...

October 1st is apparenlty World Vegetarian Day... like really they need their own specific day? Why not have "Pick your nose and eat it day!" or "Tell the truth no matter what day!" Oh that would be some day huh? "Oh honey do I look fat in this......" "Um yea... actually you do... please get rid of that outfit you'll never fit into it again!"

Aren't we all pretty aware of Breast Cancer... and Vegetarians? I mean I'm aware they're around... I've even learned a few people I know are vegetarians... why in the world they wouldn't want to eat meat I have no idea... I know some meat-eaters are a lil weird. JDub was talking about some guy he works with that squirrel hunts. Really? Poor, little, cute, furry, squirrels? You'd want to eat THAT?! No thanks... but than again... I guess you could say pigs and cows are cute too (I really dont think chickens qualify at cute...  or turkeys for that matter....)

October 2nd is apparently "Name your Car Day".... what if you've already named your car... are you suppose to rename it? What if you're like most normal people and you have your car for more than a year... are you suppose to rename it every year and then remember what you've named it over the years? Its pretty stupid. I want to know who's job it is to come up with these little "holidays" and overall months... cause it seems like they could be putting their time into something more worthwhile.