What is that smell????

The first day of summer. I actually thought I was going to get to sleep in. 8am a telemarketer calls (they are horrible). Then I think ok I can go back to bed only to hear the doorbell ringing at 8:15am. So at that point I was up and running only to discover this smell wafing from the office door and an extra loud kitty meow. I'm thinking wth? I go to the office to find the neighborhood cat in there! (she is not our cat but somehow has adopted us and is always trying to come inside). At first glance I'm thinking maybe the kitty smelled the office up and am in a panic since the house is on the market. I put kitty outside and start "sniffing" around. I discover that in my hubbie's trashcan are food scraps including a banana peel. Thank goodness I found the smelly culprit! I threw the trash out, aired the office out, and now we are good to go...sort of.

I opened the garage door to find out that my hubbie took my van for the day and I have no extra keys for the other cars so i am so stuck at home today on the first day of summer. Oy vey. The kids are already going bonkers and there is nothing for us to do. I am seeking solace in my computer and trying to convince the kids to quit eating (I swear that is all they want to do when they are home) and go outside. I know its boring without a pool or a slip n slide but surely sidewalk chalk and bubbles work right? uh. no.

So here I am anxious about summer here with bored kids and no car to go anywhere. I can only hope for a better day tomorrow.

Distractions, distractions

Ok I adore my kids but by golly are they ever a distraction. Its funny it has gotten so bad. Poor hubbie has a new boss at work. He is terrible. Total stickler about time and wants to have "check In" meetings constantly. Well with trying to finish up our new home, hubbie is no longer able to just leave when he needs to to go talk with contractors or let them into the house. So...he calls me every 5 seconds to let contractors in to finish up over there. He is too funny. He will say, "hurry up and go over and unlock the doors because Electrician Ernie is there waiting or Painter Gabe is there waiting." Now for him, he can just pick up, get in the car, and be there in 2 minutes flat. Me? Uh. no. I have to pack up all the kids and that is where the distractions come in.

So today I have to go unlock doors at a moments notice. I tell the kids, "hurry up we have to go unlock the doors." Kids say, "I have to go potty...I can't find my shoes...I can't find my other shoe...now I have to go potty...I need to bring a toy with me in the car...I'm thirsty...I need to get buckled..." Do you see where I'm going with this? So what should only take me 5 mins to get there turns into 15 mins with the contractors very impatiently waiting on me...yep distractions. My life is officially full of them now that my kids are home for the summer.

I'm just hoping to get all the loose ends tied up at the new house so my distractions won't distract anyone but me lol!

Menu Monday

I almost forgot about Menu Monday today! I swear with it being a holiday today it will mess me up the entire week. Throw in the fact that my 2 older kids are finishing up their school year this week (Mariposa's last day was last Friday and Paloma is still home with moi) and you have a recipe for a crazy week!

OK here is what I think we will be eating...

Monday: This may sound weird but we ended up at Golden Corral today at 10:30am. They were in the process of changing over to lunch so we kinda ate breakfast and lunch together. Did that make sense? So, being that we ate so heavy, tonight we will be eating either a salad or a simple sandwich. (tonight is the premiere of Jon and Kate plus 8 and even though she drives me crazy I can't help but watch! plus Cake Boss is on and I love that show too ha!)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: King Ranch Chicken? I found the recipe, never tried it, will let you know...

Thursday: wow. the first thursday i don't have a soccer practice to go to...I can actually cook something...maybe I'll make spanish macaroni

Friday: look at someone else's menu monday and steal from theirs lol! Seriously I swear this week is messed up for me with so much going on...

Happy Eats!

Unsung Heroes

Happy Memorial Day to all our veterans, soldiers, and their families. As I sit here watching my flags blow in the breeze I am so proud to be an American. But more importantly I am so thankful for those who have fought for my freedom and for those families supporting our soldiers.

I used to be a part of a homemakers forum. It was there that I really became aware of military wives and their families. There was a section dedicated to military families and it was there that I "met" a few wives and learned what amazing, strong, courageous women they are. It was there that I realized that it is not just our soldiers going to war but the families of those soldiers as well. They hold down their homes and children. They go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning amidst the unknown. They move cross country at a moments notice. They welcome their husbands home after a 6, 9, or 12 month deployment and allow them to step back into their family lives with normalcy and routine.

These wives are truly our unsung heroes. Its sad to me that they often go unnoticed. Their courage is not acknowledged. Their dedication is not recognized.

I am writing this blog post to all you wives of soldiers and veterans. I honor your courage, dedication, and loyalty. I respect all that you do in supporting your husband during long deployments all the while caring for your children and homes.

I thank you all for what you do and for who you are. You are STRONG. You are BEAUTIFUL. You are INSPIRING.

That was FREAKY

Over the weekend I was at Wal-Mart doing some shopping. I had all 4 kids with me at the checkout line and was minding my own business checking out my groceries. On the next aisle by us (it was a self check aisle) a mentally disabled girl (around 11ish) was standing next to her parents. She then decided to stand next to my cart. I thought nothing of it and figured her parents would call her back to their cart. Well, I bent down to get a box of cereal out to put on the conveyor belt when this girl grabbed a chunk of my hair and held on for dear life!! I could not get her to let go of my hair. Believe it or not though I was as cool as a cucumber. I asked her to let go of my hair and she would not so I ended up asking the cashier if she could call out for her parent to help me. The cashier thought she was my child! Uh no. So she immediately called the Dad and the Dad immediately yelled out her name, "Bridgette let go of her hair!" Thankfully she let go and no harm was done.

But wouldn't you know that a slew of shoppers were around when this happened and could not believe the scene. The cashier complimented me on how well I handled it and how she would have freaked. I guess my years of working in nursing homes came in handy that time.

The worst part of it all though was how it freaked my kids out. They were so scared (even my 14yo). My 3 yo. is still asking me why my hair was grabbed. Poor kids. I just explained to them that God creates people in all shapes and sizes and that we are all children of God and to be thankful for our own health and well being.

Looking back on it I am pretty proud of how I handled things. I am normally the one to get hysterical and freak but for some reason I just knew that I needed to be calm and steady. God was with me as well as my angels. God is good.

Menu Monday

Why is it that every time I type in "menu Monday" Cyndi Lauper's song "manic Monday" comes to mind??

Anyways here is what I think we will be eating this week. This is one BUSY week as it is the last week of school for my kindergartner and the next to the last week of school for my 2 older kids. So I will be doing a lot of running around between the new house, this house, school activities etc. I'm hoping to NOT resort to take out this week but we shall see..

Monday: Rotisserie chicken, green beans, rolls
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Crock pot chicken, mashed taters, peas
Thursday: End of season soccer party at Chuck E. Cheese (not my fav. but I'll probably do the
salad bar)
Friday: Burgers and Fries
Saturday: ?
Sunday: Sunday dinner at my sister's to celebrate my nephew's 20th birthday.

Happy Eating Ya'll!

Realtor Woes

Finally, i am officially listed in the MLS. Since Monday I have almost fired my realtor 3 times! I am in a hurry to get my house listed and sold as it looks like I am moving into my new home either next weekend or Memorial weekend. (most likely Memorial weekend). I am so nervous moving out and trying to sell the house vacant. I have been reassured by many that it will show better vacant but to me I think my house shows better with my stuff in it.

On to my woes...I had a realtor picked out and ready to go when my hubbie suggested I use this woman. So I said ok I will give her a try. I met her this past Monday and just today (Friday) is my house finally on MLS. For crying out loud I'm used to more aggressive sales people. I'm used to having the realtor come out, list, take pictures and measure and get it inputted the same day. Is that asking too much? Maybe it is but I just feel like with today's economy wouldn't she be more anxious to get this deal going?

I swear this woman has 9 lives or just a heaping of angels watching over her. As a realtor I'm not too fond but as a woman of faith her conviction stands strong. I can appreciate that. Just as I would pick up the phone to fire her for her lack of gumption in getting my home listed she would call to say she had a client coming to see the house (no offer there. bummer) or she would say the key box is now on the door. She would say something that would save her butt from getting fired. UUgh.

The joys of selling your home. I am living in a fish bowl and h.a.t.i.n.g. it! My mom said it would just be better to get moved out and then show it as it won't be dirty! ha.

I'm trying to stay patient and hopeful but with a personality close to Eeyore its hard lol. My hubbie is such a Pooh. He is not worried. I on the other hand am making myself sick with worry. Literally. My stomach is a total mess. I can't sleep at night because I worry. I worry. worry. worry.

I guess this is God's way of saying let Him handle my worries and I just need to focus on what I can do: which is taking care of the home and kids and trying NOT to be such an Eeyore.

Back to Menu Monday

Boy has it been awhile since I have done a Menu Monday. Life has been hectic to say the least. Ok here it is...

Monday: Beef enchiladas, beans
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread
Thursday: Crock pot chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes
Friday: Sammies, chips, apple slices
Saturday: ?
Sunday: Sunday dinner at my sister's house

Happy Eating everyone!

Straddling the fence

Do you ever feel like you live in 2 completely different worlds? That is how I have been feeling lately. I love blogs, forums, the world wide web. I love what it feeds me, teaches me, inspires me. However with all that love comes a lot of differences and confusion.

See, I belong to 2 forums and read numerous blogs. The one forum I belong to is made up of my housewife homies. I love them to pieces and consider them my friends even though I have never met one irl. The other forum I belong to is a health and healing forum I joined when I was battling candida and my mom was battling breast cancer. Let's just the 2 are like oil and water. They just don't mesh. Throw in the blogs I read and that just further complicates things.

I'm a southern girl at heart. I love sweet tea, my sonic fountain cokes esp. during happy hour, casseroles (made with butter ya'll), decorating (love that), and just being an all around GRITS girl. For those that don't know what "GRITS" stands for its: Girls raised in the South. This is in stark contrast to the other side of me...the side of me that craves health and healing. The side that enjoys her green smoothies, taking her supplements, eating clean pure food. But let's be honest here...it is highly expensive to live that kind of lifestyle AND lets just say the kids would much rather eat one of my casseroles than raw kale lol.

This is what makes it hard for me and makes me feel like I am one foot in 2 worlds. I enjoy visiting my health and healing forum but I don't feel like I'm on that level of health. 1.) I can't afford it (when I was doing it to cure my candida hubbie and I fought like crazy over the expense of all my "foods" I needed). and 2.) it takes REAL dedication and I'm just not there anymore. But I truly admire those who really take their health seriously and aim to live their lives cleaning their bodies of toxins and crud. In reality though I go there for inspiration and so that I don't totally go over the deep side. I mean just because I am a southern girl with a liking for southern food does not mean I should be scarfing down bags of doritos and hostess cupcakes. I am much better than before but I am not as good as I used to be. I have made life changes that I have kept ie: using stevia for sweetener, avoiding artificial sugars, avoiding my doritos addiction but I do still enjoy my sonic coke daily, an occasional burger and fries and of course those casseroles I was telling you about.

I guess I'm just having a hard time identifying where I'm at in my life. Am I a health nut? Am a GRITS girl? What am I? But more important I ask myself why the need to categorize myself? Why can't I be comfortable knowing that I am who I am. Yes I take a bajillion supplements. Yes I avoid the really bad foods but I still enjoy my food much like Paula Deen does. And who does not like Paula Deen. That gal can cook but what I do notice is that she uses REAL ingredients and not some processed crap out of a box (who am I kidding? I have resorted to hamburger helper ie heart attack in a box when in a pinch).

I guess I just wanted to fess up. I'm not a total health nut snob but I'm not a junk food junkie either. I'm not a feng shui, asian style minimalist. Instead I am in love with decorating and love to have my candles burning, mini lamps turned on, and copies of Southern Living on my coffee table. I feel caught between 2 worlds but I'm thinking its what makes me who I am and as long as I'm living my life with the best intent possible then that is all that really matters. Right?

Stolen Property

This just sucks big time. 2 nights ago our home that we are building (almost done) was broken into. Some lame person jimmyed (sp?) the door to pop the temporary lock off and stole a bunch of stuff to the tune of $3,000 worth! They took my microwave hood, my instantaneous water heater, numerous tools, a radio, yada yada, blech.

I cannot tell you the ugly feeling I am feeling knowing someone broke in to my house and stole my stuff. Fortunately, our builder has insurance and we will be reimbursed but it will be a while for that to happen so we will most likely already be moved in before we see that check. In the meantime we are having to put these items that were purchased with our hard earned cash on credit. Horrible I say..just horrible.

The only comfort I have is in knowing that no good thing will come to a person like that. Yes they may be enjoying the profit of their stealing now but some day it will come back to them...in the meantime it just sucks.

I'm trying to look on the bright side though. At least there was nothing else...hopefully they have gotten what they wanted and will leave us alone...and we are installing an alarm system with motion sensors tomorrow!!!

For now we are trying to hurry as much as possible to get the house completed. We only need to finish staining the concrete floors, the plumber needs to install new water heater and we have a commercial cleaning crew coming out...so I'm holding on tight that its just a matter of weeks before we are done.

Eating out is muy expensivo

Last night Mariposa had soccer practice and we didn't get out till 7:30. I was content coming home to leftovers/clean out the fridge night. Let's just say DH was not. He suggested we go to our usual mexican restaurant. We had not been out in close to 3 weeks as I have been so sick so I agreed thinking it would be nice to eat out and not have to worry about messing up the kitchen when it was already late. So we got there, ordered, and got our bill..holy cow! Is it possible that the prices have gone up in 3 weeks? I mean we ordered our usual stuff, water to drink, yada yada and boom our bill was $15 more than usual. Yowza was all I could say.

I must say I have noticed that even at wal-mart they are slowly increasing prices as if I don't notice. What sucks is that I still need bread and milk and they know that and they know that I will just have to pay their inflated price because I need bread and milk on a daily basis. Uugh.

DH and I discussed that our eating out days may be over soon. Our version of eating out will soon be a take out pizza or the $5 footlongs at subway. Oh the joys of being on a very restricted budget.