Mary Engelbreit Monday

All the statistics in the world can't measure the warmth of a smile.
---Chris Hart

Today's forcast.....Crazy-Hectic!

My life seems to be crazy all the time. Maybe crazy is the norm for me, maybe there's a crazy-hectic, crazy-norm, and crazy-mellow.....I don't know, but I'm going to have to try and get a little more organzied, I think. Maybe a little more organization in my life would make it more crazy-mellow, instead of crazy-hectic. It's worth a try.

I have needed to cut out some of my computer time, so I've started to limit my time, which means I can't always read/comment on all the blogs that I want to. I'll have to divide my time between different days.

Since I haven't updated for a few days, I guess I'd better do that. There's really only one thing going on in our house that's worth blogging about right now. Apparently, since my life isn't crazy-hectic all the time, we decide to add a little more hectic to it, by adding another member........It's something we've been considering and talking about for awhile. The opportunity was there and the timing seemed right........

Meet Vanilla, our newest member of the family

She's a Pembroke Welsh Corgi
I'm sure you can guess that she is so loved and so spoiled already (we've had her for 3 days)! I'm not sure that she loves being packed around all the time, though, but she takes it like a pro.

You might not guess it from the picture, but she's a stinker, too. She goes around looking for trouble. She steals toys away from Nutmeg and chases her around. Secretly, I think Nutmeg likes it. They're total opposites of each other, but they're getting along really well.Nutmeg & VanillaShe sleeps at my feet while I'm at the computer, which is so cute.

So, there's the update, we're a family of 6; 2 parents, 4 kids and 2 dogs.

I told ya, it's crazy, crazy, crazy around here!

A Great Birthday.....

I had a great birthday. I did have to shovel snow, go grocery shopping, do the dishes, pick-up the house and do laundry....but really I do most of those things everyday, so, I won't complain.

That night Chad made me a lobster dinner.......

They were sooooo good! Look at the steam coming off of them. Yum Yum!
We had cake from Cold Stone Creamery. It was soo good, too. Mine was a raspberry cheesecake and the other one was a chocolate lovers....whatever (I obvisouly didn't pick it out!)
I bought myself a new Mary Engelbreit calendar. It's very cute I might have to post these, too. They're monthly ones, those.
Chad bought me this Willow Tree figurine-Promise---I love Willow Tree
Chad and the kids also bought me a new camera. I really like it, but now I'll have to figure out how it works. It has a better zoom than my last one, which is what I really wanted. My mom sent me a box full of lots of little goodies, my favorite was a bouquet of roses that are made of really thin wood. They're so pretty and you would never know they were wood. My in-laws sent me some money, which I spent on lots and lots of scrapbook stuff. It was fun and I found some really great deals! I got phone calls from my family, which I also love. It's always nice to hear from everyone and catch up on what's going on. It was a great birthday. Thanks for all your birthday wishes for me, too.

Snow and Rain, Go Away--Don't Come Back Another Day!

Are you tired of hearing about the snow yet???? Because I sure am tired of dealing with it!!!! Last week was pretty mild around here. Everything started to melt, except my backyard just turned to sheer ice. It's like a skating rink. If it wasn't set on a hill I'd get some skates and test it out!

Yesterday we were suppose to get a little snow and then have it turn to rain. We got 4 inches of snow and it rained just enough to turn everything to slush, then it froze overnight. Today, it's raining again, by this afternoon we're suppose to get some more snow......by tomorrow morning we're suppose to have 6-10 inches of snow..........then a little more snow on Friday, a little more snow on Saturday and a little more snow on Sunday! Ahhhhhhhhh You know, I knew that we'd have snowy winters when we moved to Maine, but this is crazy AND it doesn't stay snow around here, it turns to ice. You can drive all over this area and there's just yards and fields that are completely covered in ice. It's pretty wild. I know I've turned into a whiner about the snow and living in the south has made me somewhat of a weiny in the cold weather, so, I guess I should just "buck-up" and get over it, but I'm probably not going to.

To Me.....

Yep, today is my birthday. I woke up to McKaylie whispering "Happy Birthday" in my ear. Sweet isn't she! There's 2 inches of snow on the ground and still snowing, but it going to change to rain by noon! Like that's any better. I have to go grocery shopping and drive to Portland. It's going to be a crazy day!

Hee Hee Hee

I think that I should first start off by saying that I don't watch sports, it's not my thing. I really wasn't rooting for one team or the other. That being said.......Yeah Giants! I love it!



I was so excited when we turned the TV on just to see what the score was and saw that the Patriots were leading in the 4th quarter. We sat down and watched until the end. Now that was entertainment! What an ending! I loved it!



Everywhere I have gone for the last week, all I've heard, is how the Patriots are just going to demolish the Giants! The Giants have no chance. The Patriots are so awesome, it's a sure thing and on and on and on and on. It was ridiculous and it's one thing to have your team and root for them, but the people around here were just down right arrogant about it. They acted as if the Patriots were untouchable, to the point of being rude about it. That to me, takes all the enjoyment out the sports.



So, forgive me all you die hard Patriots fans, but HA! I think you needed to be knocked down a peg or two and it just goes to show, that no team is untouchable and that the underdog can win and I LOVED IT!

Promise Fullfilled.....

McKaylie had been asking for a Webkinz for a long time. Quite frankly, I wasn't sure why. I really didn't think that it would be that much more than a stuffed animal to her. I knew you could go online with it, but I didn't think that it would hold her interest for that long. However, Santa came through for her and brought her a Webkinz. She was ecstatic. I couldn't believe how excited she was about it. I was glad that Santa was such a smart, insightfull, well informed person. On Christmas day, we went online and gave her new Webkinz, a black fresian, a name, Black Mist. Then the world of "Webkinz" opened up to our whole family....... After you "adopt" your pet online, your pet will have a room of it's own that you can decorate and buy things for. You need to feed it, take it to the doctor, to the academy and so many more things. You earn money, Webkinz dollars, to do all these wonderful things, by playing games, taking quizzes (academic) and a whole list of other activities. McKaylie loved it. Noah loved it. Vance loved it (playing some of the games that is). Even I would play the word game and majongg on it (I had to help earn money for the horse to eat, right). Mckaylie knew right away that you can have more than one pet in your "house" and play with all of them at the same time. They would each have their own room and they can go in and out of each other's rooms, etc. So, of course, she starting asking for another one. ( Does the word "gimmies" seem appropriate, here???)

Now, McKaylie and Noah have developed a very bad habit of coming into my bed in the middle of the night and sleeping there till morning. I don't ususally notice them come in until they're already settled and pushing me out of the way. We have a king size bed, but when you get two adults, two kids and a dog in there, it's a little too much, no, it's a lot too much.

We've been working on fixing this for awhile. We tried shutting the doors, but they just open them and come in. I couldn't bring myself to lock my door for the whole night. It bothered me. So, finally, I bought two child gates (whatever they're called) and put them in their doorway, one above the other. Now, they both could take them down if they really wanted to. So, we told them that it was there to remind them when they got up in the middle of the night that they were suppose to stay in their own room. We were ready for some frustrating nights......they never came. From the first night, 3 1/2 weeks ago, they've stayed in their own room, all night, no fuss. I promised them if they could do that, that I'd get them something special as a reward and this weekend, they got it, Webkinz.....
Now there's 4 pets living in their "virtual" house and they've had lots of fun decorating the new rooms and playing. I'm sure you might be wonder why there's 3 new ones....one's Vance's-----don't ask!


















So, now we have:
Bluberry--the Koala Bear (Noah's)
Black Mist--the Black Fresian (McKaylie's)
Dewey--the Tie Dye Frog (Vance's)
Raki--the Raccoon (McKaylie's)

Remember that "gimmies" word, they're already talking about their "next" Webkinz. I've started an epidemic...................

A Little of This, A Little of That.....

Well, for starters, I haven't decided about Firefox and Internet Explorer. There are things that I like about both of them and things that I don't like.... Like this underlining thing that has started since I started using Firefox. I'll probably keep both and use both them for different things. Thanks for your comments!

Santa finally broke down this last Christmas and brought the kids a Play Station 2. We haven't had any of those games in our house before, because I don't think they're necessary and they distract kids from doing what is more important. And some of the games!!!!! WoW!!! In short, I think they can be a waste of time. Why did we get it then, you're asking???? I'm not sure I have an answer for that.

But since having it, I've learned that even a 5 year old can learn how to pick out a rifle and hunt polar bears, jump a motorcycle with style, find all the dragon eggs for Arthur and the Invisibles, and get Sully through the Scare Factory to name just a few. I've also found that the PS2 can be a great bargaining chip. They seem to really want to play it, so they're willing to do a little extra for it, sort of thing.

On the other hand, I'll had to listen to a few "just let me finish this part in the game first", a few "he's been on there longer than I was", a few "it's MY turn", and a whole lot of "please, let me play, mom, please". I can't say that I don't enjoy some of it. It's hilarious to watch the little ones play, because they move all over like they're there in the game. I've played a few times myself, but I don't feel a need to be on it, either. I guess as time goes by we'll see how things go with it.

I am finally feeling a little more organized at home. I managed to get my sister some of the pages I edited for her website sent, not as many as I'd hoped, but it's a start. I have several other small projects I'm trying to finish up, too. My house doesn't seem to be falling apart too badly either. It seems that every time I put my attention on one project, even for a little while, everything else explodes.....like if you clean the kitchen and it looks great and you go into the living room and it looks like a hurricane hit it......yeah, I haven't gotten to that point, yet.....knock on wood!

I feel like I have about a hundred errands to run today, things I've been putting off all week and here I am on the computer. My originally logic was.......I'm already on the computer taking care of stuff that had to get done and finishing a few other things, so, I mine as well update my blog........unfortunately it always takes longer to update my blog than I think it will, probably because I don't ever just update my blog!

Tonight McKaylie has a sleep-over at a friend's house, and Vance is having one of his friends over after school to play PS2 and have pizza. (I actually feel kind of good about Vance's friend coming over. He has such an awesome mom, who I know can be very picky about what her kids do and where they go. So, I feel pretty happy that she's comfortable with her son coming over to hang out at our house) Tomorrow, I have a visiting teaching conference, President Hinckley's funeral and a trip to the store(s) to fulfill a promise that I'll post about next week.

So, I think I'll stop rambling and tell you all to have a great weekend!