Our New Friend...kinda'

This is the Harness Buddy. I'm introducing him to you because he has become my new best friend...not so much for Isabelle. :o) I swore, before I had children, that when I had children I would NEVER put them in such a contraption. Then along came Izzie...and she became mobile. It is virtually impossible for me to shop by myself with the girls in tow. A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I were at Target doing some shopping. Izzie refuses to sit in the cart, so I let her walk and "help" push. That seems to be fine for a few minutes, then she slowly turns around to see if I'm looking at her and if I'm not she takes of in a sprint. By the time I realize she's gone, she's 50+ yards away. Now, I don't know if you've seen me lately, but I am in NO shape to be chasing after kids in a dead sprint!! After that happened a few times, I stomped over to the ailse where I knew the Harness Buddy would be waiting, snatched it off the shelf and marched to the checkout counter. Oh no, I wasn't done shopping yet, but I was also winded and pissed after chasing after a 2 yr old. I slammed the item on the counter and told the girl that I needed to pay for just that one thing...NOW..oh, and can you please cut it out of the box :o).

So, Izzie's Harness Buddy is a puppy. It fastens in the front, and the puppy is on her back like a back pack. She thought it was great fun at first, until she realized that I was controlling her with the tether. After that, she thought it pretty much sucked! Not only did she not want to ride in the cart, she no longer wanted to walk anymore, thus ended our shopping spree. The moral to the story, never say never...again!

Not As Easy As I Thought

When I started this blog, I thought, "hmm...if Kerrie can do it, so can I". Guess I was wrong :o) I find myself wanting to post, but then either not having the time, or not having anything to say. So, my resolution is to try to do better. I got this cute little dress for Evie the other day. It's red with white polka dots, and it's a halter style dress. She wanted to wear it to school yesterday. Partly because it's new, mostly because there is a little boy at school that she tries to impress on a daily basis. "Mommy, Tami painted my nails today. I hope Nicholas loves it.", "No, I don't want my hair in a pony. Nicholas likes it down.". Um...y-e-a-h. She was convinced yesterday that Nicholas was gonna love her new dress, and whether he did or not, I don't know. But, the simple fact that she's all of four years old and hopelessly in love with little boys gives me a heart attack. Tami (our daycare lady) told Evie that she looked beautiful in her new dress. Little "Miss Thang" quickly responded, "no, not beautiful...distinguished". Oh, well...thanks for that clarification. Isabelle continues to try our patience on a daily basis. She's cute as a button, but has her daddy's temper and patience, God bless her. When she wants something, she wants it yesterday, and if you don't get it for her immediately, then her eyes roll back in her head and the arms and legs start flailing. Who knew that two children from the same two people could be so completely different. I mean, I know people are different, and I know that siblings are different, but holy cow!! Ok, even though she sounds like a monster, she has a good heart. She says "hi" to just about anyone we meet (mostly older people. Evie did that too) and she loves most people she gets to know. But sometimes, OYE!!

Ummm...

So, I really don't have much to say today, but I thought I should just log in and say hello. The kids are well, but I'm having a hard time getting Evelyn to go to sleep. I suppose that's our own fault for letting her get into some bad habits. We leave the TV on when we go to sleep and rather than letting that help her to sleep, she has to watch the entire program, movie, whatever. Last night it was close to 10:30 when she finally got tired of us raggin' on her. Needless to say, waking her up in the morning is far from pleasant. We usually get an "I'm tired", or "My tummy (or some other body part) hurts", she cries when she has to brush her teeth and hair...It's frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I take complete and total responsibilty..I just don't know how to fix it. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any...PLEASE .

Still here...

Well, I'm still here, in case you were wondering :). I started to post Thursday, then got busy with work and had to shut it down...without saving, of course. Since then, my days have been nothing but hectic, so trying to remember what I typed is useless.

In the days since the flooding, the whole community has pulled together to help. Not just the community of Aberdeen, but the entire county, surrounding areas and the eastern side of the state as a whole. Thursday evening we (the radio station) co-hosted a telethon with one of the local TV stations. It was on the air for two hours, but pledges were being taken for 24 hours total. After the two hour show on tv and radio, the total was around $50K. By ten p.m. the total had risen to $70K, and yesterday at 5pm, the grand total was just a little over $92K!!! Incredible. Yesterday they started marking homes as condemned, which is a little sad. It puts the devestation into perspective, I suppose. Please keep all those affected by the storms in your thoughts and prayers.

Last weekend we went to a birthday party. Of course there was cake, and of course Evelyn had some...then some more :). She complained the next morning of a tummy ache and a cavity. I asked her if she knew what a cavity was and she told me that "a cavity is when you eat too much birthday cake.". Well, um, yes I suppose that is true. Out of the mouths of babes.

Since the flooding last week, we have not been able to wash clothes at home. **sigh** I really hate doing laundry at the laundromat. Our washer and dryer is a big reason we moved into this house. It's just such a pain in the ass hauling clothes and detergent there, waiting with nothing to do while they wash, then paying a freakin' FORTUNE to dry them. Holy cow! And, it takes forever. I took some clothes to wash on Tuesday night at about 7:30. I got home at 11:35!! That's ridiculous. I absolutely can't wait to get back to some sort of sence of normalcy.

There's not much on the agenda today, except trying to get stuff cleaned up. There is still a bunch of work that needs to be done in the basement, but until we hear from the landlord we are kinda at a standstill. Have mercy!!

That's Enough, Thanks!

Ask and ye shall receive...and receive...and keep on receivin'. Late Saturday afternoon it started to rain. Then it just kept comin'. I think in the Aberdeen area, we ended up with 9-10". Needless to say, there is some severe flooding goin' on around here. Unfortunately, our house was not spared. We ended up with about 6-8" in the basement. Jim was able to find a couple of sump pumps late Sunday evening, but the water seems to still be seeping in. **sigh** I guess we're in for a long week of cleaning up. Even though we got alot of water, we were lucky compared to some people in town. I'm going to try to attach some pictures so you can get an idea:


The picture above was taken on the north end of town (we live on the south side). The cars are parked at a curb, on a sidewalk that goes in front of an apartment building. The railing is leading to the front door.

Here is another one of someone's basement. The caption on this photo said that these people got 5 FEET of water. Um...I think I'll stay with the 6-8" that I got, thank you! These pictures, by the way, are from keloland.com.I don' t really have much else to report. I do have a couple of cute kids stories, I guess, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow. See you then!

Well, here goes nothing...

I always thought.."I'm not gonna start a blog." Not because I don't like it, but because I didn't think I had anything to say. Then my sister, Kerrie advised one of her friends to just take the plunge and do it...If you start it, thoughts will come :) So, here I am.

I guess I'll start with a little game of "catch-up", for those of you who have lost touch or are new to my life..welcome :). I work at a radio station..wait, I work for a...how do I say it..I do work for a radio "station", for lack of a better word for the building. We house six radio stations with all different formats ranging from ESPN radio, to country, to rock. My title is "Traffic Manager", but I do a bunch of different things. Traffic Manager means that I'm responsible for making sure that the commercials are produced and in their proper spot in the computer system. I also answer the phone, help walk in clients and customers, and I have two radio shows. One is on our country station (103.7 FM, if you're ever in the area) and another on our smooth AC station which plays adult contemporary stuff from 70's - today (97.7 FM). I work alot...ALOT...but I really enjoy my job, and all the perks that come with it. (It's how Kerrie and I got to meet Keith Urban).

My husband Jim and I have been together for..holy cow, 11 years, and married for almost 6. We have two beautiful girls. Evelyn Margaret is 4, and Isabelle Marie will be two on the 27th of this month. They definately keep us on our toes. I know people are different, but I never imagined that two people with similar DNA could be so opposite of one another. Evelyn is shy and a little reserved, but Isabelle is "hell on wheels", as Kerrie likes to say. I'm sure you'll get to know them well. They are the joy of my life, even though I wonder why somedays, HA!

So, that's a little bit of background. I look forward to meeting all you bloggers out there. Feel free to visit anytime.