A GREAT WEEKEND AHEAD!

Free Christmas Countdown

First of all, I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my American blogging buddies! Hope you all have a great day with your family!

This week is flying by.... I have been working longer shifts since Sunday which hasn't allowed much time to get things done around here. Hubby was off on Tuesday so we spent the morning Christmas shopping (picking up layaways), had lunch than came home and got a lot of Christmas wrapping done! :0) Yesterday I was off so we got our monthly grocery order done early before hubby went to work, after that I have no idea where the time went. I got Trinity off to her Dance Power class then home to get the kids in bed. The first time I got to sit back and relax all day was at 10:00pm when me and hubby curled up on the couch and watched Trinity's new DVD...."Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes!" What a show!!!!!! anyway Today I have tons of things to get done, My parents and sister are coming tonight and won't be here until midnight but that is no big deal because I work tonight from 8-12 so I should be getting home the same time they arrive. I think my sister and her boyfriend and kids are coming also to visit with his parents that live near us so I'm sure that at some point this weekend it's going to get crazy! Ok I guess I should go for now I have lots of bedding to get washed and a messy house to clean.

Trying to make my goal

I have been working all year on getting back to my pre kid body, it has been a challange and I must say I have a weakness for take out but I am getting pretty close to my goals looking for another 5-10 pounds but I am hitting a slow down period that is making it harder to lose weight and my biggest enemy is around my belly. I began to search for information on how I can better target my problem area and came accross information on the Flat Belly Diet. This program is designed to teach you the right foods loaded with disease fighting "good fats" to accellerate your fat burning metabolism. It's important to find the right balance of these fats with every meal to get your maximum burn. In an exciting offer right now they are offering a limited number of free books to people interested in winning back their stomachs. If your interested in the program and are willing to blog about your progress with others you can be eligable for the free book. If you successfully complete the program you will be eligable for a 1 year membership to the flat belly website and could also become eligable for the "success story" club.

Free Christmas Countdown

Here it is! I finally took a picture of our tree! We went with the blue and silver again this year because of all the extra dance costs this year I couldn't really afford to buy all new ornaments. Maybe next year we will change the colors to Burgundy and Gold????

We just got in from watching the Santa Claus Parade. It was short but that was a good thing because it was sooooo cold outside. No rain or snow but just cold. This year there was three times the cartoon characters that we had last year which was pretty exciting for the kids! I just heard from Jay a few minutes ago...they got their butts whipped again today at their basketball tournament but with any luck they will do better tomorrow!

Well that is it for now I have lots of cleaning to do and then get myself ready for hubby work Christmas party! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Getting back into the workforce

Now that I find myself with kids that are going off to school it is time for me to start thinking about what I can do for a career after being a mom. I am just getting back to work now but long term I am going to look into going back to school so I can make more of a career. I am starting to look into Beauty School to find out what options I would have after completion. I have found a lot of information online to help me and have even been able to locate some schools that are not too far from where I live. I think it would be exciting to help people feel good about themselves while making a career for myself. The first step is to get registered for Beauty School and then we will see what else will happen.

Free Christmas Countdown

Things keep getting better and better everyday when I go into work. We were offered a bonus incentive for verbiage calls to make them sound more positive and for every "back ordered item" which we aren't allowed to call it back ordered...anyway if we said it in a positive manner we would fill out a ballot for a draw. Well looky here, it paid off and my name was pulled for a $100 gift card to the mall! Once again, hard work pays off :0) Ok enough about work, I have today off and also got tomorrow off WITH pay for working Nov 11th so I will be going to the Christmas party with hubby!

I spent the morning going to parent teacher interviews, I just got home...the kids are doing well and I noticed Jay's name on the honor list at the school. I am soooo proud of him. His phys ed. teacher told me that he had the highest mark in phys.ed from all her grade 7 students! Trinity is a bit chatty in class but that doesn't surprise me one bit so that is something along with her math that she will have to work on. She has mostly B's, 2 A's and 1 C(in math). Kohl is doing super this year and his teachers only complaint about him is that he NEVER puts his shoes away at the end of the day. LOL no surprise there either. He had 7 A's and 2 B's. what an improvement from last year!

So as you can see I go none stop even on my days off and I still have lots more to do today. Jay has bowling at 3pm then off for a basketball tournament for 5pm which is over 30 minutes away so we will go and watch his first game!

I should take the next few minutes and try to get some cleaning done before we head out once again.

have a great Friday!

SHE'S UNDER THE WEATHER :0(

Not much new here today. Trinity is home getting some much needed rest. She has been complaining about a sore throat and was up throughout the night. She is just waking up now and it's 9:30am. She is going to have breakfast then go back to her room, curl up in bed and watch a movie then have another rest this afternoon. she has dancing tonight but we will wait to see how much rest she gets today. Well that's it for now so I think I might take a lazy day and curl up on the couch with everyone else/

Life in Denver

Looking for all kinds of information on the exciting events in the Denver area you can turn to the experts at The Denver Magazine which has been developed to help people find all sorts of information quickly and easily. Every part that brings to life the special events in the Denver area can be found in this resource. In a community that is filled with so many different activities including many major league sports teams including the Rockies(MLB), Rockies(NHL), Nuggets(NBA) and many more for you to enjoy. What goes best with a great game is some great food so to help you find the best Denver Restaurants to hit before or after the game there is a resource section in the magazine that will recap the different restaurants.

Hubby had the morning off from work so I went and got my hair cut and we spent the rest of the morning walking around Walmart. I put a few little things on layaway and picked up something for hubby for Christmas. I finally got started on the stocking stuffers , one kids at a time so I got Jay's done today and will to another one maybe tomorrow on my supper break at work. I got through my training yesterday. Pretty easy....I guess the hardest part to all the training was getting out the opening line LOL what a laugh that was. Anyway I'm not going to stress over this permanent position for now and see how things play out. I have many other things to focus on right now.

The weather here is miserable :0( it is raining and raining hard....at least it's not snow because it would be quite the storm. I can't wait to pick the kids up at school. Today is report card day. I know they are all doing well. All the kids got off to a great start to the school year and I hope that this continues. I have never seen the kids so happy!

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES...

We are another day closer to Christmas, only 38 days and I'm not getting any closer to being ready. I haven't started Christmas baking yet but will probably get the baking good next week with our groceries! Payday is this week so what ever is left from paying for dance competitions (if any) I will pick up a few more things and hubby gets paid next week so we will get a lot picked up then. I still have no idea what to get the parents????we wanted to get them electric fireplaces but that was before dance started costing us an arm and a leg LOL(but it's worth it) I'm sure we will think of something!

Work is at it again.....I have MORE training this afternoon for ANOTHER account, so here I go again, out of my comfort zone and they still can't promise me a permanent position. I'm sure it will end up that way considering I noticed that only 2 of us from my temporary training class are on with a full time permanent supervisor not the temp. supervisor. Fingers crossed that things will work out after Christmas.

Matt has his staff Christmas party on Saturday but unfortunately I have to work and Saturday is also the kids Santa Claus parade BUT I just remembered that work owes me a day off with pay for working Nov.11th so maybe I will see about getting Saturday off then I can do both, the parade with the kids then the party with hubby ;0)

well that is all for now I have to go get ready for work!

have a great Tuesday to you all.

SICK BABY?

Blake woke up this morning not feeling well and looking a bit white in the face, luckily so far that is as far as it has gone. I hope he isn't coming down with the flu bug because that is the last thing we need around here. He is still being a royal pain in the butt so I think he will be fine and we will probably go curl up on the couch with a movie. I think I will forget about the popcorn for today.

****I just checked on him wanting a picture for this post and looky here, all smiles. I guess today is going to be better than it had started ****

Last night was crazy with the really high winds we had, I missed out on all the excitement of the blowing trees and rain because I was working and when I was off it had calmed right down. When I got home I found things blown around the backyard, the basketball net was down, what a mess ;0( so I will have to find time today to get things cleaned up around the yard, thank God it's warm outside, a bit windy but yet warm and I have a feeling that we aren't going to have snow this year for Christmas, but what can you do???? This Saturday coming is our Santa Claus Parade so I will have to finish the Christmas decorating on the front of the house. The days are going by soooo fast!~

Can you believe that there is now only 39 days left until Christmas!

I am so proud of Trinity! She has been working hard fundraising for her trip to New York next summer and Saturday she sold 4 cases of bars at hubby's work and has been collecting pop bottles for recycling. My work has been great with giving me the bottles to bring home to her and she spends her time counting and sorting the bottles to take in to the recycling depot. So far she has collected over $100 in bottles in the last month. Every little bit helps! She has fund raised over $700 for her trip since October. She's off to a great start!

CAMERA CRITTERS

It was a rainy day yesterday so we didn't do much other than stay in the house. My husband took our daughter out to sell chocolate bars for her dancing at his store so I stayed home with the boys and watched a movie. When I came back into the room from getting them a snack this is what I found on the couch! Kohl and Breigh having cuddle time! Our puppy is really starting to fit in with our family and she is getting more freedom to roam through the house which is so much better than being on the chain or in the kennel. We have been finding her at nights curled up sleeping in the kids beds, last night I found her in Blake's bed all curled up under is blankets. God only knows where we will find her sleeping tonight!lol

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LOL!

Aids Warning

SENIOR CITIZENS ARE THE NATION'S LEADING CARRIERS OF AIDS!

HEARING AIDS

BAND AIDS

ROLL AIDS

WALKING AIDS

MEDICAL AIDS

GOVERNMENT AIDS

MOST OF ALL, MONETARY AID TO THEIR KIDS!

Give me the grace to see a joke, To get some humour out of life, And pass it on to other folks.

More Education

Now that the kids are starting to get a little older, my youngest starts school next fall, I am beginning to look at options to upgrade my education. Now it's still important for me to be able to be available for my kids when they need me to so to find a balance of the right thing for me and them weighs on my decision. I have discovered online university courses that allow me to be flexible with my education. Capella University is an exclusively online university helping students all around the world to improve their education. Offering Degree programs in business, technology along with many other areas as well.

This (or “the following”) blog post was (or “is”) based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.”

DEAR SANTA,

The kids have been busy getting their wish list ready for Santa and Kohl my 6 year old son has been asking for dinosaur named Kota! Well I thought he was talking about the one he had seen in the Sears Cat. but I was mistaken. The other day while at hubby's work I noticed on the shelf this huge dinosaur that a child can actual sit on, it roars, moves and so on but this thing costs $300. I hate to spent the money on it because I know that it would be just a matter of time before it was forgotten then sold the following summer in a yard sale. I hate to break his heart Christmas morning but that is a lot of money. I think he thinks that the dinosaur really walks while he is on it but it doesn't. I am hoping that he will come up with another idea that is just as cool only less expensive!

WHAT A MISERABLE DAY

It has rained her all day which means that we didn't get our outdoor Christmas lights hooked up :0( I love my Christmas lights and can't wait to turn them on but it will have to wait until tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Not much going on here, just the usual work, work and more work followed by basketball, bowling and lots of dance classes. Trinity has been busy selling chocolate bars for her trip to New York next summer and she sold 4 cases of bars this afternoon at hubby's work. Hopefully by next weekend she will have all 300 bars sold then we can take a break from fundraising for a bit. (yeah right!) So I am now home from work and will head off to bed really soon to try to get some rest. I am feeling really tired lately and all I want to do is sleep ZZZZZZZZZZZ Where is all that energy I use to have?

Getting the extra nudge

With any workout program eventually if you don't mix things up your body will start to slow down in weight loss. I am looking for options to jumpstart my program again and began to look into products and ideas I could use to help to my program to the next level. I do a lot of walking/running on my treadmill so the extra help I was able to find are weight vests. These vests are designed to add extra weight to your body for your workout increasing your calorie burn, and rising your metabolism. These vests are designed to adjust to any size and can be used for a variety of workouts, yoga, walking, running, arobics, or even just to wear during your daily activity to increase calorie burn.

IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

It is hard to believe that we are already November 13th and Christmas is just around the corner! We got a head start on the gifts so we thought but with the few number of paychecks left I am starting to panic. We have all the kids big gifts purchased and most of their clothes with leaving some of the smaller things they are wanting and then our parents, we have no idea what to get them...ok we have lots of ideas but they are all expensive...and... OMG the kids still haven't written their list to Santa. Next weekend is our Santa Claus Parade which was fun last year and we didn't have to go anywhere but our front yard to see it so the parking was great! Then after the parade I am off to work then later off to hubby's work Christmas party! Yay!!!! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! :0) I am hoping to have the decorating finished over the weekend and the house clean, my parents are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks and we are all looking forward to seeing them! Well no snow here yet! (other than the snow at the first of the month) The weather has been really nice and pretty warm for November.

Ok I am going to try to set me a goal for my weight loss once again. Hopefully with Christmas coming I will get motivated to get a few pounds off. My goal right now is to lose 5 pounds by Christmas. Wish me luck because my all time favorite burger has returned to Wendy's AND my daughter has 10 cases of chocolate bars here in the house to sell for her dance trip and they are really really gooooooood!

REMINDER TO SELF.....get family pictures done for Christmas cards......you are running out of time!

Stuggling with addiction

Struggling with addiction isn't something that you have to suffer through alone, once you are prepared to realize that you have a problem with drugs or alcohol you can turn to professional rehab facilities that are designed to help you with the support and guidance you need to reclaim your life and be the person you want to be. The Promises Treatment Centers have been in the business of helping people recover from all sorts of addictions for 20 years and have specialists available to answer your questions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It can be intimidating to ask for help but once you've made that first step to ask you can begin the path to sobriety and happiness.

FAMILY TIME!

Today the kids had the day of from school and hubby had the day off from work so this afternoon we decided to take the kids to see Madagascar 2! It was a fantastic movie that had us laughing through the whole movie ;0) The next movie on our list is going to be Marly and Me which comes out Christmas day, it looks like it is going to be really funny and is all about a dog, The kids are excited to see this one.

So here I am doing up this quick post before I head off to work for the night. The nights seem to be going by faster now that we are finally getting busy and tomorrow I have the day off!!!!!

SAY WHAT?????

I have been fighting this cold for a few days now but I think it's going to win the battle. It's all in my throat and yesterday when I woke up I couldn't talk but got better in time to go to work. Well this morning I woke up the same way only my voice doesn't want to come back so I am going to turn on a movie for Blake and go back to bed for a bit hopefully come 4pm I will be able to talk and go to work to answer the phone until 11:30pm. Other than the throat thing I am feeling fine with bit of the sniffles but I'm determined to beat this thing before it gets me down completely.

Have a great Monday!

Moving around

It can be frustrating moving, with my husbands job we are forced to move every couple of years and that can be hard on not only the kids but us and our finances. It's hard to co-ordinate the sale of one house and buying another one so we can get moved quickly. A few years back was a disaster when we couldn't get our home sold fast enough and my husband had to back out of his move after a couple of weeks. It was very frustrating, we decided that we had to be more prepared and searched for a service that could sell house fast so the next time we have to move we have a service that will come in quickly, view our property, make a fair offer within 48 hours and look after the completion of the deal for us. The next time we have to move it will be that much easier as we will only have to worry about finding the new home and not selling our current one. That's more fun for sure.

BUTTERFLY AWARD!

Jenn gave me this great award! Isn't she the greatest? So are her blogs and that is why she received this award also. Thank you Jenn :0)

So here's the rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs
6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool

I don't have time to list 10 blogs so this award is for you if you are here visiting because anyone who has and finds the time to blog in my eyes deserves this award!

CAMERA CRITTERS

Last weekend we drove home to visit with our family and to celebrate my son's 4th birthday. It has been a few months since we have travelled so we were sure how well our puppy would be???? She was great and just sat or curled up on her bed between the kids. She didn't seem to mind it at all! It was a great trip and we are looking forward to my family coming to visit in a couple of weeks!

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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Selling it online

I used to save up all my unwanted stuff in my basement and eventually in the summer I would have a yard sale and sell it all off for basically nothing. I discovered Selling on eBay and now I get to turn the basement into a great new workshop for my hubby because I don't have to hang onto stuff anymore. It's so easy to sign up and use ebay and I can sell my unwanted things for what it's worth instead of giving it all away. The things I have learned as I use the ebay service are that it's important to have a good picture of the product you are trying to sell. Along with that other important things are to have a realistic price that you want for your items and do your research to know what is an appropriate price. If you price it too low, yes it will sell quickly but you are not going to maximize your profit, price it too high you will be waiting forever to sell your product. Another important tip is to give a very good discription of your product you are selling and be sure to be honest about the condition of the item. Take your time and be sure to put some thought into your ad and you will be able to sayiSold It on eBay.

Well all the hard work that I have been doing at work and all the training on extra accounts has finally paid off. No I'm not getting more hours yet, no I haven't been offered a permanent position yet but I am heading in the right direction. After having 3 days off from work I went in for my shift last night with everyone congratulating me, for what I wasn't sure and was completely puzzled????? I was given a comfortable leather computer chair to use for the month of November along with a gift certificate (ok I will be getting that tonight) then was shown the certificate on the wall that said EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH! I guess I have had pretty good success for my first month at work! Now I will have to work on getting more hours and securing myself a permanent position with the company :0)

Christmas Shopping

The days until Christmas are counting down and my shopping list isn't keeping up with the disapearing days. I am finding it especially hard now that I am back to work to find the time to get out to the mall and shop. Also trying to balance my bank account with my purchases is becoming more challangeing this year with all the raising costs we are all facing. I am banking on getting some of the great thanksgiving deals that all the retailers will be offering. I am hopeful that with the tough economic outlook this season that the offers will be more generous than normal and I will be ready to take advantage. One of my favorite ads every year is the Toys r Us Big Toy Book the kids love to take this and circle out all their biggesst Santa wishes. Many years the toys r us book has helped me bring great smiles to my kids faces on Christmas morning. Using the Black Friday website allows me to make the purchases I want at the deals I want to pay and I can do it all from the comfort of my home without having to stand in line, fight my way into stores and not get what I want in the end. It's a great alternative and allows me to save time and money in my Christmas Shopping Adventure.

I'M BACK!

What a weekend! It was busy but lots of fun and now it's time to get things unpacked and caught up on much needed sleep. Maybe Blake will cooperate today and we will curl up in bed and watch tv (I mean sleep LOL).

It was a rough drive home last night once we hit Cape Breton, it was snowing and apparently it snowed the day before as well. We hit a lot of hail storms which made the visibility near impossible so we took our time and it was a looooong drive home. We came across a fairly bad accident not long after we hit the snow and just minutes later came across another one, by then we were a bit uncomfortable driving home in the weather. Hubby wasn't worried about his driving it's always not being sure about the other drivers. For example....see the first picture with the snow covered road? Well that little car in front of us we think panicked when an on coming transport truck with a line of cars behind it was approaching us, it put on it's signal light to pull off the side of the road so hubby slowed down as we were approaching to pass the car then all of a sudden it cut back in front of us, put on it's brakes and slide. Well that obviously caused hubby to put on his breaks (and yes it was slippery). Luckily everyone kept the vehicle in control enough to prevent an accident which a good because with a transport truck, a line of cars and the two of us it would have turned out to good. After that hubby slowed right down even more and let the car ahead of us go ahead to leave a good distance between us. Matt didn't trust their driving. Once we got closer to home the snow had ended! I was never so glad to be home :0) and have everyone safe!

I have lots of pictures of the weekend so I will be spending my time on my family blog trying to get them posted for my family. Feel free to visit!

WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY BLAKE!

The weekend isn't over yet but so far it has been a great weekend visiting with family! Last night the kids had a great Halloween which finished off visiting a great haunted house not far from my mom and dad's house. The kids were great and all participating and touring the house, now mind you some were a bit hesitant but not my little Blake (4years old) he was totally amazed with the whole thing! He shook hands with the live skeletons, witches, goblins and even the HULK which was his favorite. Now besides the Haunted House my favorite part of Halloween was the CANDY APPLES! MMMM :0)

This morning came rather quick and quite early but Blake woke us up with excitement! Today is his birthday and my baby just turned 4 years old! We celebrated with a family birthday party with lots of fun. Visiting with family can be tiring but it's so nice to be home to visit. Tomorrow we will be heading towards home with a stop to visit with hubby's parents then will hopefully be on the road back home just after supper. It will be another four hours from their house so the kids will change into their pj's then fall asleep during the drive.

I know I haven't been keeping my blog updated lately but I have been visiting! Things got sooooooo out of control this week with work and family life that I was at my breaking point and if it wasn't for having this weekend to look forward to I think I might have had a break down. The break was and still is much needed but I now realize that I have to get our family life into some kind of routine and with any luck my work will stop training me on new accounts. I am only hired on for a temp. position (for now) so why take on more work than I need to?.

Ok so enough rambling on here lol I just wanted you to know that I am around and reading and looking forward to getting things some what back to normal. Well I see that my mom is asleep on the couch so I think that is a sign that it's bed time.

I have lots of pictures and I will try to get them posted when I get home!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.