Computer Withdrawals...

I had to come up to my parents house today to do some stuff on the computer. I just couldn't stand it anymore!

I also had to take my car BACK to the shop this morning because it was still leaking oil from the oil change on Thursday. I needed a new oil plug and they topped off the oil in my car for me and didn't charge me a thing :) I like those kinds of trip to the mechanic :)

Well, I haven't been able to take any pictures recently since I filled up the memory stick and haven't had a computer to load them on. How ironic is it that I was in such a hurry to get a new camera and now I have nowhere to put the pictures?????

Well, the girls and I are going to head out of here and grab something to eat before we have to go get Max from school. I can't believe his last day is next Friday! My baby boy won't be in Kindergarten anymore :(

I HAVE to get out of here now...the dog is in the room with me and is...um...having issues with gaseous emissions!

You break it you buy it...

Unfortunately, all the stuff that is breaking is stuff we have already bought...a few years ago! We just had the pleasure of investing $600ish in my car between an oil change on Thursday and a new radiator, new thermostat, and new cooling switch on Friday! I realized there was something wrong on Thursday afternoon when I was sitting in the carpool line at Max's school and happened to notice some puffs of smoke coming out from under the hood. I happened to look at the temperature gauge and it was sitting in the "red zone". I was a little stressed out trying to talk to the guy at the shop where they changed the oil and having to turn off the car every time I inched up in line. He advised me to take it straight home and not drive it the rest of the day and bring it back int he next morning. Great. Friday. Abby's class party at 10am. grrrrrrr.....

Got there Friday and "Joe" was right there popping the hood and looking it over. After we figured it was going to be awhile John came and picked us up (Max was with us as well because he wasn't feeling well so I kept him home from school). We dropped Abby off at school, along with the food I was supposed to bring for the party. The we drove John backl to work about 30 minutes away and straight back to Abby's school for the party. BUSY DAY!

Our next breakdown was the motherboard in our computer. This also happened on Friday...yeah, I know, bummer day! John took the CPU to visit our friends at The Geek Squad yesterday and that was their diagnosis. UGH!UGH!UGH! Either we invest in a possibly pricey repair or a new computer. We are thinking it may just be a new computer.

Fortunately, we were able to get "away from it all" for a day or so and come to Kiawah to my sister and brother in law's house to visit with them. Max and Abby and Lucy had a BLAST in the pool and playing with their cousins! John was a sweetie and took Max and Abby home with him tonight so I could stay and get a "hopefully" decent night's sleep. I still have Lucy here with me but I'm thinking she'll sleep good...she played HARD today :)

So, it may be a few days before I can post again. It's going to be strange not having a working computer at home. I guess you don't realize how much you depend on something until you don't have it available to you. Kind of like when you lose your cell phone or the battery dies on you.

One thing I am actually doing and it hasn't been that hard...realizing that they are only "things" and not that important in the grand scheme of things. As I told John, I'd rather my car, computer, phone, DVD player, etc. break down than one of us or the kids. We are healthy...and I'm thanking God for that everyday.

Mission accomplished (finally something was accomplished!)

YES!!!!!!!!!

I headed off to our local Target with the girls in tow this afternoon and spoke with a very knowledgeable, friendly, helpful salesclerk. He was VERY patient with the fact that I had to keep turning around and asking Abby to stop bugging her sister :) Anyway, I had it narrowed down to 3 and he gave me some very useful information which helped me make my decision. Unfortunately, this store was out of stock! UGH! The other Target store 30 minutes away had 6 in stock. So the girls and I headed to pick up Max then we all took a quick road trip. They had it...I bought it...I was (am) SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

Oh, sorry, did I forget to mention what I got?????????

I decided on the Nikon CoolPix S220! In the same beautiful plum color as the picture above!

It is about the same size as the "other" camera I had so I can still use the cool carrying case that it came with. My battery is currently charging as we speak...well, the camera's battery is charging...mine is actually running on low these days but that is for another post. Anyway, as soon as I get it charged up I am ready to go. I can't wait to get the kids in bed, make school lunches, get my comfy pj's on, and snuggle up with my camera and the owners manual...did you think I was going to say my husband??? HAHA!

I am looking forward to creating many happy memories with my new Nikon baby :)

**WARNING: A picture overload may occur soon on my blog so be prepared!!!!!!!!!!

On a Mission...

Today I have a mission...

No, not to wash and fold every article of clothing, towel, and sheet in the house...

Not to scrub my kitchen floors until we can eat off of them (Lucy pretty much does that anyway...YUCK!)...

Not to scour my shower floor and doors until they shine like a new penny (by the way I'm on cleaning item number 3 in that quest and still nada)...

My mission is not even to make sure Abby has a whine, fit free day (I don't have the energy or resources to make that happen right now, we're just living moment to moment on THAT one)...

Are you curious? Okay, my mission today, should I choose to accept it (and I do), is to find myself a CAMERA!!!!! I know, you're probably tired of hearing about it. That's another reason I plan to find one TODAY...so I can move on with my life people! I need to take pictures of my children and I already missed a great video opportunity. Last night Lucy kept telling everyone to "Shake Your Booty" and proceeded to shake her own in the process! So cute! When I asked her where her "booty" was she pointed behind her and said, "right hea"!

Okay, the mission has been accepted and a semi plan to carry it out has been formed. Definitely have to wait until I get a shower and get dressed. Also best if we wait until after Lucy's nap...I guess that will leave me some time to do that other stuff I mentioned above huh? grrrrr....

Not Me! Monday

Hey ya'll! It's Not Me! Monday and you know what that means...it's time for some free therapy. Go ahead, spit it out, admit your imperfections this past week. MckMama has posted hers and by the time I get mine posted there will probably be a couple hundred others over there aas well. See, you're not alone, we're all in the same "oops, I guess I won't win the Mother of the Year award this year boat". After you read about the things I DID NOT do this week, hop on over to MckMama's and check out some more. Who knows, it might inspire you to come clean yourself :)

This Week...

~ I DID NOT go all Betty Crocker on Wednesday and make a big dinner plus a casserole and various snacks for John to take on his golf weekend. I mean really, the kitchen was a wreck, I still haven't finished Max's thank you cards from his party, and the laundry...well, the laundry is always there.

~ I DID NOT stay up until 2 am Saturday morning painting my bathroom. I knew I had to get up early Saturday morning for the Turtle Trot at Max's school so I would not allow myself to get too tired since I had to take all 3 kids myself.

~ I DID NOT wish that the rain that started out on Saturday morning would continue so we wouldn't have to go to the race. I was not bummed when it stopped "just in the nick of time". I mean really, Max REALLY wanted to go and was excited about it and it was about health and fitness...why would I NOT want to go?... maybe because...

~ I DID NOT really believe deep down that Abby would not actually walk the whole mile like she swore she would. About 1/10th of the mile into the walk, she DID NOT start crying saying she was itchy. I DID NOT tell her to keep walking and she'd feel better. A few minutes later she DID NOT start saying her feet hurt. I DID NOT look at her feet to see a nasty blister on the side of her foot. I DID NOT feel horrible that I had made her keep walking. I DID NOT let her ride in the stroller and I DID NOT therefore have to carry Lucy about 3/4 of a mile.

~ I DID NOT put Lucy down for a nap when we got home and then let Max and Abby watch a video while I took a 30 minute nap on the couch!

~ I DID NOT enjoy a Girls Night Out Saturday night while my dad watched the kids. I DID NOT eat too much at the japanese restaurant we went to and then still have a caramel macchiato and almond biscotti at Starbucks afterwards!

~ I DID NOT realize at 8:30 this morning, as the girls and I were getting ready to walk out the door to take Abby to school that I had completely forgotten to make Abby's lunch for today! I was focused on Max's last night because he's going on a field trip today and I had to make it field trip friendly :) It just didn't dawn on me that Abby would need one today too! UGH!!!

~ I DID NOT have to put my kids in long sleeves, pants, and jackets today because it is not freakishly cold (48 degrees) and rainy in the middle of May. Where was all this rain Saturday morning when I wanted it?

All right, that's enough. Hey, I never claimed to be perfect! As a matter of fact, I should be balancing my checkbook right now instead of soing this. I am so NOT a procrastinator :) Click on the button above and head on over to MckMama's to read some more great Not Me's!

When the Cat is Away the Mouse Will...

...paint the bathroom?!?!?!? Yep, got a wild hair and stopped at Lowe's on the way home from taking the kids out to dinner. I bathed the kids and got them in bed then put on my comfy paint stained clothes and got to work. John interrupted me when he called to ask me to send an email and I got distracted with blogging. I only have 1 wall and the "toilet room" left so I better get back to it.

Oh yeah, of course John was "mad" at me (not really) for doing it because he was going to but what else was I going to do with my spurt of energy??? Fold laundry? I think not...that's getting old! I needed a new challenge :) I've always been the type to go ahead and do something if I knew it needed to be done...so I'm doing it. Yes, I know, the laundry needs to be done too. I wanted to do something tonight that would actually be FINISHED at some point...the laundry?...well, it will never be finished so as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "I'll just think about that tomorrow!"

(insert Gone With the Wind music here...)

UPDATED: I FINISHED painting the whole bathroom at about 1:45am. Got everything cleaned up...including myself...and climbed into my nice cozy bed at 2:03am. Why did I stay up so late to finish it instead of waiting until today you ask? I really just didn't want to have to rinse all the stuff out only to have to get it all messy again today...yep, pure laziness on my part!

Max was the first to wake up at...yep, you guessed it 2:05am, to say he couldn't sleep! I took him to the bathroom and then back to his room where he promptly fell BACK to sleep :) Abby then started fussing in her sleep at 2:38am. I had actually fallen asleep before this so I was quite disoriented. She fussed off and on until about 3:15ish. We are all up at 7:00 (Max and Abby had already been downstairs for a little while) to get ready to go to Max's school for the Turtle Trot! Normally, walking 1 mile would take me a little less than 10 minutes (I am a fast walker), this morning however I will be pushing Lucy in a stroller and having Abby walk beside me (Max is determined to run), and running (well, walking) on fumes. I may make this mile loop in about 45 minutes if I'm lucky :)

Max's Official 6 year stats...

Max had his checkup today and he weighed in at 61.4 pounds! My guess was 62 so I was close.

He was also 49 1/2 inches tall! My guess was 50 so I was close again :)

The dr. said he was growing well and everything was good. I brought up the sleeping issue (or the lack of sleeping...i.e. waking up in the middle of the night) and the dr. suggested to Max that he go to the bathroom and then go back to bed without waking Mommy and Daddy up...HA! If it works I need to get him to record a whole bunch of other stuff that Max needs to be doing now so I can play it whenever Max "forgets"!