Another side

I have read many Christian blogs, mommy blogs, secular blogs, so many different blogs and blog reviews. Reviews saying to stay away from the secular blogs talking about "bed buddies" and using profanity and then secular reviews saying that "christian" blogs are preachy and boring.

Where do I fit in, I often times find myself stuck in this position in real life, the mom, the wife, the friend, the lover..hey reminds me of that song "Im a b!tch.." lol. But really, I'm liberally conservative'(isn't that an oxy moron) and I have strong faith in God and Belief in Jesus Christ, but I stumble and have my moments and I swear at times too, more often than I'd like to admit. I am a Christian, but even that word has such negative connotations because of so many people not living in a Christ like manner yet claiming to be. I'm not perfect in anyway shape or form and don't pretend to be but I have been through alot so far in this life and I'm just trying to learn and grow as I go.

I don't know. My blog doesn't need to have every aspect of my life in it but its who I am more than another side of me. I don't want to have to open a blog for each aspect, one for cooking, one for health, one for education, one for kids and so on. I actually know some who have, guess I'm not as good at multitasking or keeping up with one blog let alone several. I have many times started a post and just deleted it or saved it as a draft because it didn't fit in with just mundane funny. Ah...Any how I read a poem once and came across it again recently so I thought I would repost it here.


When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not shouting, "I've been saved!"
I'm whispering, "I get lost! That's why I chose this way"

When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't speak with human pride
I'm confessing that I stumble-needing God to be my guide

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak and pray for strength to carry on

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging of success
I'm admitting that I've failed and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't think I know it all
I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible but God believes I'm worth it

When I say, "I am a Christian," I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name

When I say, "I am a Christian," I do not wish to judge
I have no authority--I only know I'm loved


Copyright 1988 Carol Wimmer

For the birds

So we went shopping yesterday for a play house, super cute. But then when we got home I walk into the house and as I walk by kitchen the silver collecter spoons fall from the wall where there is a spoon shelf. Odd. Then I turn around right as my husband yells "Bird, theres a bird in the house!"

WTF?

Sure enough it swooped over head knocking spoons off the wall and smacked into the window above the kitchen sink. This wasn't just any bird. This was the road runner..

on miracle grow

crossed with a red robin

and mean

I think I seen teeth

Seriously, this thing was as big as the yorki dogs we have. Who apparently had fun chasing it all over the house before it probably pecked at them till they retreated and coward in the bedroom.

Holy cow, how the heck did it get in the house?? And why didn't my cat take care of it? Hes fired.

So we rush the kids into their room and close all the bedroom doors, then open the front and back door and proceed to shoo the bird out while waving a hat at it.

It flew the "coop" but not before leaving quite the mess.

I never knew a bird could crap so much, Our big picture windows in the living room, kitchen and dining french doors, and china and curio cabinets all had big greasy birdy prints on them. The bird knocked himself silly and left a mess of nasty everywhere.

I cleaned it all up (gag) but where did it come from? Of course find out this is not the first time a bird has come in the house. Somethings going on...

So while we went outside to put together our kids new play house the bird sat perched on the neighbors roof just waiting to dive bomb us.

Creepy.

The plague

Some how we recently caught the stomach flu.

We took my son into the DR because it seemed the mucus he was gagging up was from his lungs and with the nasty chest cold we recently got we needed to be sure. Thankfully his lungs are clear but found out it was the stomach flu instead.

Great. That big smothered breakfast burrito I had eaten before his appointment didn't seem to be agreeing with me any longer.

My littlest one had just got done being sick all night a couple days back so it makes since. So we got home to my baby and two year old with their grandparents just in time to be puked on by my two year old. Someone call Hazmat. I stuffed listerine soaked tissue up my nose just to keep me from joining him.

So I will spare you the horrid details but the flu took us all out, all but the older people. They have stomachs and intestines of steal. Probably from years of eating junk. We thought it pretty risky of them to be eating spicy beef stew while we sipped gingerale but okay. Poor hubby was sicker than a dog with the kids but I thankfully avoided vomiting myself, pleading with God for the craps instead as I gagged for hours. My prayers answered, no vomiting but I need a butt cushion. TMI? Too bad this $h!t is real.

But a bottle of Clorox spray, a bottle of frabreeze, two boxes of clorox wipes, 7 loads of stinky laundry and three days later we seem to be much better. THANK YOU JESUS. I will never complain of the sniffles again.

My kids are back to normal but as for me and my hubby well were hungry, really hungry, but afraid to eat. This may be the best diet yet...

Goings on

So I have a weight loss blog, its brutal to read at time for me but eh. Gotta do it but thinking of just merging it here. So heres some things that have been going on lately round these parts.

Joined a Gym, not officially just used a trial pass and went, kicked my booty, sweated buckets, limpped outta there, caught a cold from heck, all on the first day of dear aunt flow...TMI? Too bad, if you only really knew what a wench AF is. Big accomplishment for me, so now I must go back and kick my but again for real

Regularly

Wheres Jillian Michaels when I need her.

Just kidding, she'd like me too much

I'm fat and know better

I have great muscle memory from past athletics, the kind a trainer would love to whip into shape till I'm just a puddle of cellulite on the floor.

Not pretty

I'd be a sweaty crying mess, but I almost welcome the challenge. Thought about trying Biggest Looser but who'd watch my children? It would be so hard to be away from them so long.

So for now I remain, jiggly, saggy, and kicking my own butt but the will to make that butt a nice one ;)

Be healthy~

Heeeeeelllllloooooooooo

Heeelllllloooooo Blogggggggggggerrrrs

Quick take a guess what language that is?

Can ya huh huh huh.

WHALE!

Yep, its become a favorite recently.

We introduced the movie Finding Nemo to my kiddies and they love it. Complete Silence when I first turned it on and for the entire film, but now they have the attention span of Dori because they're more excited about seeing the sharks and whale.

Great, lol

But its made for lots of outdoor fun, the sky looks like the ocean and the clouds look like whales and leather back sea turtles (thanks Diego) Love this preschool age where make believe is almost real.

Nothing like kicking back and watching the clouds roll by in the ocean sky and soaking up some good Vitamin D.

Goooooddaaaaaaayyyyyy ;)

Its official...

I'm getting old.

Not only did this cold kick me where it hurts, but I have actually looked forward to watching the academy awards and am doing so.

Yep

I think I spot a wrinkle.

Sure lots of people younger than I watch them but I have never took interest, its the sorta thing the old ladies in the family get together to watch.

And recently my baby boy turned two.

I think I see a white hair.

Okay so its white blonde...but still...

My babies are growing up, my body is not what it once was and I'm watching a show full of face lifts and botox

Oye vey

But you gotta love Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin

Happy Sunday hope all had a great weekend!

To smell or not to smell

Oye, were on antibiotics for ear infections and green sputum. Its been oh so "fun". I haven't taken an antibiotic in years, havent had a chest cold in years, wth? Good news is were almost better, yay! Bed news is I can smell again.

I have had a super smeller since I got pregnant the first time just over 4 years ago. I can smell a mouse fart a mile away.

Seriously

Its bad how good my smeller is. I smell things I don't want to that others can't smell .

So yesterday we took grandma to the store after church and left papa at home...Big mistake. He clubbed a skunk in the backyard and flooded its nest(?). The thing lunged at him from its hole under the shed.

I know it had to happen, I mean we have two small dogs that my cat is bigger than and I have three small children that play in the backyard. Last thing I need is the dogs to be attacked, my kids bit or any of them sprayed (which has happened in the past...dumb dogs, try catching two long haired dogs covered in skunk, without getting it on you and when deusche and vinegar dont work, lathering them up in tomato sauce...yea no thanks).

Oh but the odor, you can smell it all the way to the street and the darn thing didn't even spray, it just oozed after it was clubbed. So now the house smells like skunk.

Inside and out.

Ewwww

I hope its not like bees and the smell attracks other skunks from all over to come and nest in our yard under the shed. Guess this is what happens when you leave men alone, they get all hunter and gatherer.

Come to find out it didn't take one club, it needed several. WTH? So my husband likened it to the big cow scene from Me, Myself, and Irene. Hilarious, in anti PETA way. So now we sit and stink, I hope we don't smell like skunk from the air permiating everything. Because that would stink.

Big time.

RIP Pepe le peu

Recap

Time for a week long recap

Holy Moly, We been bite by the cold bug/flu bug, ugh. Thank you (person who shall reman nameless) for sharing the nasties with us. Cough cough achoo your way~~~ I haven't had a chest cold in like almost 6 years, wtf? Thankfully I think (PRAY) its just about gone and we can get back to normal, I sound like I been hitting the bottle, like a mix between Janice Joplin and Marge Simpson, be nice to have my old voice back.

We missed church this morning because of our lovely germies and on this Sunday of all Sundays, the Sunday the topic was going to be about S E X, yep not the how tos but the spiritualness of it all, part of a two part marriage series in honor of V-day this last week. This topic always starts a fire with some couples. Bet it was intersting ;)

My kids just finished week two of lets wake mommy up all night and then for the day before 5 am to have party party. Thank GOD they slept past 6 this morning and yesterday morning, of course I had a date at 3 am with Dr. Robittusin DM and been up ever since.

We went to dinner and a movie for date night, we had some great cajun food (that I couldn't hardly taste due to this cold but it was good... I think, everyone around us was enjoying it and without reservations you had to wait in line for three hours to get in, thankfuly hubby called away in advance so it better of been good, lol) and then we seen a hilarious movie called "It's complicated", very funny. I nearly hacked up a lung during the awkward web cam "big fuzzy closeup" scene, great stuff!

And now I actually get on my PC for the first time in like three days and BAM outta nowhere I get bombarded with virus alerts, can't even use IE or anything (I'm using my MILs computer at the moment to check things and change passwords). Seriously bugged, so now I get to pay a ton of cash to get my PC back. Great. All well hope its not too much.

Heres to hoping we can sleep in (LOL, I can dream right?) get over this cold (please) and have my pc fixed for cheap without problems. Time for some couch time with hubby now that our babies are snoozing :)

A day of Love

Happy V-day yall!



Wonder what everyone does for v-day if anything.



We went to church, renewed our vows, and then went to lunch with our kiddos. It was a good day. Then we brought home some flowers for grandma, kind of also a peace offering (long story), were surprised by out of town drop ins and came home to a house full of smoke. Yep you guessed it, the...




Pellet Stove!

Grrrr, all well. Its almost spring, its almost spring...

I hope.

Hope everyone had a lovely V-day, now remember its v-day for our men folk on March 14 ;)

Fee Fi Fo Fum

I smell a candle yum yum. I love candles, good smelly ones that smell like Christmas or baked goods. Something that smells like spices and cinnimon and apples or sugar cookies and hazelnuts. I am NOT a fan of candles that smell like old lady perfume.

No offence

I love old people but certain scents are discontinued or sold by the gallon for 10 bucks for a reason, they are not exactly good scents anymore. Reminds me of makeup. Some makeup stinks and people think gee my face smells guess I'll spray more perfume..Umm why not take the gunk off (mini rant) any how....

The smell of cotton scented candles should be clean and odorless, not smell like deoderized fem. products. I have allergies, sinus gunk and severe gag reflux so guess how my afternoon with the lovely ladies candles has gone.

Yep its an all out war, do we really need three of those plug in candle melts, they are on..




ALL



DAY

Along with the pellet stove, my senses are being asaulted. So I have the door open, window open, fan on and a pot of tea brewing.

Muahahahaha

Victory will be mine! ;)

Froggy take two

Its official. I have become

The

FROG

My husband comes home from work the other day and apparently it was so hot in here that it felt like a sauna. I believe it now. See I woke up feeling perky and ready to take on the day, then zap. I felt like a toasted marshmellow stuck to the couch. I couldnt move, no energy. The heat zapping all I got. I told the dear older folk here that my insides were now well done and it was time to turn off the pellet stove.

They gave me a look.

Hubby is currently looking at ways to "accidentally" dismantel the thing

*ribbit*

Privacy

7 people(4 adults, 3 children) + 3 bedrooms=none

So we decided to switch around the rooms. Originally gma and gpa in one room, the boys in one, baby girl in another and my hubby and I in a living room made into a bedroom. Its worked all right. Untill dear ol mother inlaw takes the dogs out in the middle of the night right as your

*ahem*

so to stave off embarrassment we combined the kids into one tiny room, made the make shift bedroom/spare living room, into a play room and reclaimed our bedroom.

Yay for privacy...kind of. I mean when you have this many people in a small house you still lack privacy but at least I can frolic in the nude in my little 10'x 12' space.

Hubby is definately happy.

Nanner bread

Okay I have tried many banana bread recipes and all have been good but this takes the cakes, seriously you'll go bananas for it. HA HA

Okay so here goes (thanks to my online bud Misty for this recipe)

"The recipe goes in this order...
Beat (with mixer on low to med) together:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Then add & beat:2 ripe bananas - mashed
Then add & beat:1/4 cup & 1 TBS of whole cultured buttermilk
In a seperate bowl, mix together:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups plain/all purpose flour
Add to wet mixture and beat.
Fold in 1/2 cup of chopped nuts (I use walnuts, any will work).
Grease and flour large loaf pan. Pour into loaf pan no more than 3/4 full.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan.

Here are a few tips that make this recipe even better. Make sure you follow the steps in this order instead of just throwing it all together and then beating it. Won't turn out good. Use WHOLE cultured buttermilk - fat free or reduced fat will make a difference and doesn't turn out as good. Make sure you don't use self rising flour in place of the all purpose with baking soda and salt. Most recipes it doesn't matter but this one it does. It definitely turns out different and not near as good. Start checking doneness by inserting a toothpick into center after about an hour since ovens do vary so much. You don't want to cook it too long and dry it out. If you use a small or medium loaf pan, you will have extra batter. Instead of throwing it out, spray muffin tins and bake for about 17-19 minutes on those."

I dont have any pictures to share, we ate it up that fast but we make this often here now. Thanks again Misty from NC!

*Buttermilk makes a huge difference in this recipe as opposed to others so if you dont have buttermilk and can't find any you can make your own by curdling your milk with 1 tblsp fresh squeezed lemon juice to 1 cup milk. Let sit 10 minutes before adding into your recipe. Enjoy!

Ca c'est bon

Means thats good in cajun.

We took my son and neice to their first movie theater movie recently. The princess and the frog. It was awesome. It was the old traditional illustrations of Disney with the classic ellements of movies like Hercules, Emporers New groove, and Cinderella all in one.

The message of how important love is over all else and hard work. Very nice. Also refreshing to see a darker complected Disney leading lady.

About time Disney, good job.

It was great, the kids sat with their snack packs staring in awe the entire time. How cool, now if only they still had drive ins around here for them to experience. Now those are good memories, sitting in the ol' blue hatch back, in my jammies with a tupperware of home popped pop corn and the little speaker hanging on our drivers side door, good times....ca c'est bon!

When were happiest

Is when were naked. I think, I mean not when I'm standing naked in front of the mirror to see where I put away all those Christmas goodies, but we sleep better naked, do *ahem* some things better naked, and nothing makes a baby happier than being well...

Naked.

I remember the first time I gave birth I was super modest. They told me to put on a gown and I left a tank top underwear and a bra on underneath. They chuckled and I had to eventually remove the underwear...well after 50+ hours of labor and being felt up by several doctors there was nothing left but a gown and even that was mostly off.

Something about giving birth causes you to loose your sense of modesty. Everyone knows that when they come over to our home those first few weeks after we come home with new baby, to expect to see a boob while we establish nursing. Dont like it then stay away.

I swear God made me chubby for a reason, because if I looked half as good as the next top model then I'd be wearing next to nothing.

ALL the time

Any how, one of my kids is King of nude, he likes nothing better than dropping trou and sprinting through the house. Its cute when he does it.

Apparently not so cute when I do ;)

Im dreaming..

Of flip flops and koolaid. No really I'm so tired of this cold weather, sure a couple weeks ago I was stoked about snow but these super summer sun shiney days with a wind chill of 18 degrees is frosting my arse. Not to mention the kids need to run and running in the house is just not a good idea with two tiny dogs a cat and a baby crawling on the floor, let alone a napping grandpa.



So I put on some capris, sluffed my heals, repainted my toe nails, made a jug of koolaid, put on some lotion and walked around the house like its spring. Then bundled the kiddos up and pushed let them outside. We played soccer in the back yard and I stood shivering in my flip flops, but I sported a darn good pedicure, got a dose of vitamine D and in my mind I was on a beach somewhere sipping a fruity drink getting a tan.



It worked *sort a*



So let the countdown to summer begin, only another 150+ days

Hello my name is...

Momma squirrel. No not really but thats what I named the blog and this is why.

My kids love Elmo, mostly my youngest son, he adores Elmo and because hes still a baby his speech is such that hes says Melmo, lol. Anyhow Elmos theme song is la la la la la la la la, Elmos world, la la la la la la la la Elmos world, da da da da da, la da da da, Elmos world, Elmos world. Or something like that. Anyhow my older preschool aged son thought it was Momma Squirrel, lol. Like do do do do, momma squirrel, lol.

So his new go to word for some time has been momma squirrel, whether hes being silly and having a barrel of laughs or trying to be serious and give you the big buzz off in toddler talk...momma squirrel holds the ultimate insult or pickme up, lol.

So thats how I got the name, for now. Altho he thought the other day momma squid was funny too, given the choice between cute and cuddly or slick and slimey I'll stick to momma squirrel :)

Feeling froggy

Okay so let me explain my living situation. We are two houshold merged family home, in this economy and with the elderly grandparents needing more help at home it just made sense. With that...

OMG its HOT in here!

They like it HOT, sure its an icy 27 degrees out and the heat needs to be up but its so hot in here I'd be better off running around nude, I long to prance around naked so my jiggly bits can cool off, ugh. At least I might melt some fat this way.

I guess something happens when you get old. It can be 90 degrees outside but a warm 75 degree breeze going a snails pace of 1 mph and they get a chill. I'm sure if they moved more they would get warm, and maybe thats why you age, you sit and freeze so you crank up that heat and then sit and cook, ugh... My husband calls it the frog theory, that if a put a frog in boiling water they will jump out. But put them in a pot of cool water and slowly heat to boil they will just sit untill, *Croak*

At this rate I'll be so used to it I'll need a sweater to go outside this summer, So I sit here in my living room with the ceiling fan buzzing above me cooling off but there might be hope, I here the pellet stove is on the fritz. Cooler indoor days may be near ;)

Getting friendly

No where else in this world will you find more competition than mommyhood. Its all like highschool.

But on steroids...

Armed with butt creme, baby wipes, and shots of mylicon.

Its a tough world out there and when you first enter you better hope you have someone to go with. Perhaps thats why they say pregnancy comes in threes. Its like this secret society you dream of being part of then BAM your there and without a clue. Your adorable new sidekick is a great conversation starter but doesn't mean immediate friendship with others.

I have few real life nearby mommy friends at the moment, I have a lovely group of online friends great for support/advice, fun games on Facebook (crack book), and things like that.

Been awesome.

But nothing out there can replace what you can get from real life interaction, with real people. But when your shy and have a small army to take to a playdate its harder to make those friends than you might think plus remember that whole "it's like highschool" bit? Not only are wondering does my butt look big (and OH, it does) but does my babies butt stink? and horrified that it might just be you that stinks and then whole competition and clashing of parenting styles.

Its like when some become a mother they think they know it ALL.

I mean I do, lol ;)

But really its hard out there. So I signed up for an online registered, in real life playgroup in my area. They meet for coffee, picnics, and other play activities with their kids. The introduction you fill out sounds like a personal ad. "SAHM seeking friendship, loves long walks, strolling through the mall, all the fine dining gerber offers". So I hope to make some more mommy friends soon. Wish me luck, hope they play nice.....

The kids too ;)

New blog...

Welcome to my New Blog, a new year, a new blog.

Seemed fitting. I started my older blog a couple years ago and long story short I didn't like it, have time for it, and had messed it up. I tried to salvage it but after I got some googles stats of some of the FREAKS out there landing on my blog, let me repeat...

FREAKS

I thought it was time to close it. Seriously all you need is a few posts about breastfeeding, nipples and potty training and you'd be surprised what kind of things people are looking that just might land on your blog looking for some triple X things, I will now be more careful with my pics and names but dang.. Doesn't mean I wont mention things like that and share pics and things in the future because this blog is afterall my thoughts and stories; written by a mother, a wife and a woman. There are somethings I have learned about blogging in that time is you have to spend time at other blogs and participate in bloggy things to get people interested in you, or moi. People dont want to read anything monotone, preachy or long (there goes my blog, lol). So I will keep this short and oh so exciting.

I hope :)

So welcome to my blog, a place for me to decompress, have a time out, sip my chai and relax...enjoy the ride.