One thing about me all my life is I LOVE books... I wish my children have the love for reading that I do, but they don't.

What is on my shelf this month???

I was at the library the other day the following are what I am currently reading...............

 Easy enough book to read.   Kind of a feel good sort of book.  But enjoyable for the most part. 

  I am listening to this as an audio book as I drive to work each day.  I can get about a tape a day done, jsut driving to and from work. 

Other items on my reading table???   Call me weird but I always love to see what others are reading...so bear with me!

The Barefoot Contess, Parties! - ok, but some of the dishes are way too complicated and some of the ingredients I didn't even know what they were. 

The Cake Mix Doctor - I liked this one, thanks Kimmiesmommie for mentioning it.  I might actually look to purchase this one on half.com.

The Naked Chef - I haven't read much of this one yet...still working on it.

How to Cook Everything - hmm....not so impressed, not to cook everything I wouldn't want to cook so far...LOL!!!

And of course I page through a number of magazines: Parents, Parenting, Woman's Day, Taste of Home, Quick Cooking.  A good night of insomnia always gets me caught up on my magazines...ROFL!!!

Well I am off to rocking Tommy to sleep and listen to his lullaby CD and then head to bed and read!    Night Everyone!

Our mail today was fun...........I received the Children's Book of the Month Club monthly flyer.   I actually ordered two items this time.  

I ordered  for Tommy.  It is a rhyming book about Mommy returning from work at the end of the day. 

For Erik I ordered the following two books, even though I only need one of them.   They came in a set.   He really needs to work on fractions so I was sure this book would inspire him since he LOVES Hersheys!!! He has addition down, but I am sure we will do the book anyways so he can eat the chocolate..LOL!

There were a number of other educational activity books I am going to check out at the library that were in the flyer.  I will let you know what I think of them!!  Activites for babies and stuff!! 

Well I am off to quickly bake cookies before Tommy wakes up from his nap.  

Disappointing news............

Every since I became pregnant with Tommy, we had planned on him going to daycare at my SIL's.  We just found out that she is going to discontinue doing daycare after this school year.  ARGH!!    I can certainly understand her desire to have employment outside of the home and reclaim her home.  Just disappointing to us.

So now we will need to begin looking into finding daycare for Tommy.  I cringe at the idea.  I hate the idea of anyone other than family taking care of him.  I have two ideas, one is the lady down the street, she does daycare and I know her vaguely.    The next idea I have is a lady that is in our Wednesday night group at our church.  She is a licensed daycare and I admire her input in class, etc.   but I still don't feel I know either one of them enough to have them take over the care of my baby.

Still very scary to us, to say the least.  How do you pick a person to care for your most precious thing in the whole world?   How do I know they will be good to him?  Which is better center based, where I know others will be around or homebased, where he is alone with the caregiver and other kids.   It scares me to death..................I just want to stay home with him.    Many of tears will and have been shed over this one.

I am spending Tommy's nap time reading magazines, cookbooks and my novel.  I saw this in Parenting Magazine Dec/Jan 2002, thought I would share.

New Year, New Realities

Resolutions are hard to keep.  Here, a less guilt-induing approach:

Last Year:  I will not give in to my kids' tantrums.
This Year:  I will not give in to tantrums on odd days of the week.

Last Year: I will keep the car free of all wrinkled wrappers, corroded juice boxes and gnawed-on playthings. ( laughing to self - yep that is my car, but it is me that does it.   Tommy is too little!!!  ROFL)
This Year:  I will keep the stroller free of discarded Cheerios, dirty sippy cups, and old toys.

Last Year: I will keep the house cleaner and get more organized
This Year:  I will expend my junk drawer so everything doesn't pile up on the dining room table.

Last Year: I will wear something other than sweats and a T-shirt every weekend.  (looking down at my old sweats.....give me a break, they are comfy!)
This Year: I will buy new sweats.

Last Year: I will set aside one night a week to have uninterrupted phone conversations with friends.
This Year:  I will use one of my sleep-deprived night to send some long e-mails.  ( Yeah right.........)

Last Year:     I will not fall asleep before 10p.m. so my hubby and I can enjoy some "us" time.
This Year:  I will not fall asleep before 8 p.m.

Last Year:  I will give my kids a hug every day and tell them how much I love them.
This Year:   I will give my kids a hug every day and tell them how much I love them.  (Smile   Isn't that the most important!!)

hello.........

Well today sure flew by, but I actually feel like I got a few things done.   We slept in today till 8:30...ahhhhh...that was nice.  We got ready and headed to the library.  I had a huge number of cookbooks on reserve that all came in.  I plan on spending tomorrow and Monday thumbing through them.  One of my favorite passtimes. 

We also stopped at the bread thrift store for bagels, toy R us for bigger socks for Tommy, and lastly at the grocery store for a can of Spaghetti sauce.  

We got home and realized that Paul had forgotten to take Erik to his Karate lesson.  His ex-wife called about it.  OOOOPS!!  He wanted to go to the library with me and totally forgot about it. 

For lunch the kids made their own mini pizzas on english muffins.   I actually got two sewing projects done this afternoon.  I made one of the towel bib I wanted to make.  I could not for the life of my find a store that sold finger tip towels so I bought a solid color kitchen hand towel and cut it in half.  I hemmed the raw edge and seems to be ok.  I will wash it once and see how it does.  If it works fine I have 5 more towel bibs to make.   I made on hooded towel as well.  It has been ages since I have sewn.  It was nice.

I also made Sandwich for 12 for supper.  So I made a foccacia bread today for that.  I also made a Cream Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake for dessert for tomorrow night.  If it tastes as good as it looks I will share the recipe tomorrow.  

Well I am tired, so I think I will head to bed.   I hope everyone hada great Saturday! 

Hello..............

Sorry I haven't typed at you in a few days here.   Just tired, stressed and busy.   Valentine's Day was nice...Hubby and I made supper together.   Erik was jumping up and down when he found out what we were having!  He loves shrimp, crab and lobster. 

Tip for the day!! A tip for anyone that loves to eat crab legs, but hates the work of cracking the shells, etc.  We discovered the best thing for the kids is a pair of Fisker school scissors.  This way they can do their own and we actually get to eat.  Hubby and I eveen switched to using the scissors since it is soo fast and easy!!   

The kids enjoyed their goody bags and books.   After our feast I played a couple of hands of uno with Erik and then Josh and I played Cribbage.  

Today, Hubby stayed home with Erik, since he didn't have school and Tommy.  I was off to work.  YUCK!   They went to the library and Erik checked out some movies about dinosaurs and books about rocks. 

Tonight for supper we had creamy alfredo seafood pasta.  I bought a jar of the 5 brothers sauce and added the leftover crab meat to it.  The kids really liked that a lot! 

Tommy is growing soo fast!!  I need to go through his dresser again this weekend.  He is needed to move up to size 6-9 months now.   He also was crushing his bouncy seat when he sat in it.  LOL!!  It was really funny.   He is weighing in at about 18 pounds right now.  I went to Once Upon A Child (gently used kids stuff) and bought him the infant to toddler rocker fo $14.00.  Sort of like the one below............

He sits in this one fine and enjoyed sitting in it while we ate supper.  It doesn't have the toy bar, but that is ok.   It is big enough for him at least!  It vibrates like his other one, so that is nice. 

Tomorrow I am going to try sewing Tommy some towel bibs.  We got some great ones as gifts, but I can't find them in the Toys R US anymore.  We really use them alot, plus they wanted like 7.00 a bib.  Excuse me???  I do sew so this isn't a huge stretch, but I don't have a pattern for these I am just making it up.  I also found some nice Winnie The Pooh towels on clearance so I will made hooded towels out of them.  WHEW...plus I promised I would try my hand at making this chocolate cheese cake recipe we saw.  Hmmm....should be interesting.

Monday since it is a holiday I don't have to work!   Paul is taking Erik and Josh to the Science Museum so Tommy and I will be spending a quiet day home alone.  I am soooo looking forward to that.  I hope to have all my chores done so I can read my book and new magazines all day Monday!

I hardly ever send forwards, but this was kind of cool so I will just share it here.    And yes, my mom *did send this to me.  She is the QUEEN of forwards.  ROFL!

Hey.........

Glad this day is over.  Wish my work week was over, some weeks I hate my job and it seems to take everything out of me emotionally.  ARGH!!   But each crisis seems to eventually pass.........

On a happier note.......last night was a very bitter sweet night for me.  We went to high school orientation.   It is incredibly hard for me to believe my baby is going to high school next year.  Only 4 years of school left.   WOW!!  Seems like only yesterday it was Josh and I leaving my parents home to conquer the world together.   What a great kid he is!  I love him so much.   

What a weird time in my life.  I am working on teaching one son to roll over and discussing college plans with the other.  WOW!   Josh missed one of his basic skills test last week when he was sick so I have to make arrangements for him to take it this summer.   I truly like how they are running the schools now.  You have to pass the basic skills tests and graduation standards to graduate.  If you can't pass the test, then you don't graduate.  No more graduating kids that can't read, etc, just to move them on. 

My baby grew up so fast.  I am lucky as he still loves me and never goes to bed without giving me a hug and kiss.   What more could a mother ask for???

Well I am tired, so I think this will be it for tonight.  Hope everyone has a great night and me a better tomorrow!  

Raising our kids...........

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition!

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 a day...or just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is "Don't have children if you want to be rich." It is just the opposite! Here's what you get for your $160,140:

• Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
  
• Glimpses of God every day.
  
• Giggles under the covers every night.
  
• More love than your heart can hold.
  
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
  
• A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.
  
• A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
  
• Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to keep: reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets, and collect spray-painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand-prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.

You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal.

You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God.

You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

ENJOY YOUR KIDS!