Elfin' Around

Ok,
Seriously my favorite thing about this is that my husband and son have boobs and my daughter and I do not!

Check out these moves!

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1120586613
This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

What a way to send of NaBloMo whatever!

Fatty Friday - Philly Chocolate Cheescake

20 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed (about 2 cups)
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
4 eggs
6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted, cooled


PREHEAT oven to 325°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 min.


BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until blended. Remove 1 cup of the batter; set aside. Stir melted chocolate into remaining batter in large bowl; pour over crust. Top with spoonfuls of the remaining 1 cup plain batter; cut through batters with knife several times for swirled effect.


BAKE 40 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve. Store in refrigerator.

Not so thoughtful Thursday

I forgot this one last week, I must hav e posted something else...

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life."

-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign .



Genius!

Not so thoughtful Thursday

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

-- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.



Scary...

Almost done

I bet you were thinking I was talking about this National Blog Posting thingie, nope I am talking about school.

1 class finished, awaiting my grade. I think I got like 426/400... that's an A right?

Religion class: one final paper to write.

Music: One concert to attend and write about, 1 final on Monday.

I am in the home stretch, and I am sooooooo looking forward to a much needed break. I might even go visit my favorite old folks at the gym during my break... maybe... although, if I am going to be as perfectly fit as Rachel with her cute shoes I better get in there!

Thank you

Thank you Becca and Stefanie for a great Blog night. It was so nice to put faces to the blogs!

Cookies and Homework - UPDATED

I have six more questions to go and I am done with one of the three classes I am taking this term! WoooHooo!
I am going to take a much needed break to go bake these cookies for our Blogger Party tomorrow.
I can't wait!!!

Ok Ladies, THESE cookie are starting to make me crazy! They aren't solidifying. 10 minutes is way to little time. Hopefully I will have some for you guys. I am trying!

What a day...

My mind is numb from two things, finals and smacking my head on the cupboard door this after noon. It was no normal smack it was one of those, have the medicine cupboard door open, drop something squat down to get it, come back up and hit the corner of the door and momentarily black out on the floor kind of smacks.
Not to mention, simultaneously Little Man proceeded to lean forward in his toddler rocker and fall face first on the floor while still in the darn thing.
He and I are both fine.
I thought the night was finally winding down, princess was in the tub, things are good. I am at the mirror picking at my grey hairs, when I hear her say, "uhoh, poopoo!" Greeeaaat.
Now let me tell you that my sweet little daughter has the most sensitive gag reflex known to man. She starts to gag and I barely get her out of tub and out of the view of the floater just barely missing my time constraint before she pukes. (She actually HAS puked from the sight of poop, he little boyfriend Chandler (Christa's P's son) went potty in our bathroom one time, she saw it and proceeded to puke on the floor.)
So here I am tired, with a numb brain and a bad headache, but now I have to bleach a tub.
Needless to say I am soooo looking forward to Tuesday night!
Goodnight.

What Kind of Tree?

In a few weekends we will be getting our tree. Year after year Hubby and I go back and forth o what kind of tree to get. Any suggestions? I love the Nobles, but they are so spendy! Also, where do y'all go to get your trees? I would love to find a place that doesn't gouge the Christmas budget too much.
Our first tree here we found the perfect tree, cut it down and when we got up there to pay for it they asked for $60! I couldn't believe it. Where I grew up they were $25 up to 6 feet. Then last year we found a very reasonably priced place, but I swear it resembled a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
Anyways, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Fatty Friday - Mint Thins

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate


1/4 tsp. peppermint extract


1 sleeve RITZ Crackers (36 crackers)


1 peppermint candy cane (6 inch), crushed








MICROWAVE chocolate in small microwaveable bowl as directed on package. Stir until completely melted. Blend in extract.


DIP crackers in melted chocolate, completely coating crackers with chocolate. Carefully scrape off excess chocolate. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheets; sprinkle with crushed candy.


REFRIGERATE 30 min. or until chocolate is firm.

Whew - Again!

Happy Thanksgiving All! I am stuffed and looking forward to leftovers!

Not so perfect Husband...

So in order to not scream and yell at dear hubby, you all can hear about his oh so fantastic actions yesterday. I will start this with saying that on average he is fantastic, but yesterday... all bets are off on the fantasticness. I will give him a chance to redeam himself, and I am sure he will.

Let me give you a little synopsis for his day yesterday.
He went to work. Did some paperwork, finished some reports, talked to a few important people on the phone. After lunch he spent the remainder of the day at the shooting range. Tough day I am sure.

Here was my day.
Princess woke up to hubby leaving in the morning. She proceeded to cry because he was gone. I apparently looked like a climbing toy or at least a mother monkey because she wouldn't let go of me all day. Little man needed to take a nap but princess disagreed. So when I went to the bathroom the good idea fairy jumped on her shoulder and told her to go in and scare her brother half to death by waking him up. Lunch time came around and none of the 5 things she asked for would do. She discovered she knew where the juice boxes were and how to open them herself. She decided that she didn't need to take a nap and once again her brother didn't need to either. So once again, she went in and woke him up while I was peeing.
She then proceeded to get another juice box out but this time it was oh so imperative that she wash the coffee table with juice.
I was kicked, pinched, slapped and pushed. She got time outs and I remained calm throughout the day.
Hubby called to say he was going to be late and wanted to BBQ for dinner. BBQ? It is November for goodness sakes! Whatever.
Coals were lit, princess was mad, and I had just about had my limit.
I was trying to remain calm through dinner where she refused to eat anything, and she decided that uncooked mac and cheese is what she so desperately needed. I don't think so.

Bed time came around and it was like something from the Exorcist. 45 minutes of sheer terror. It finally ended with two fits, one from princess and one from my 2 year old in a 27 year old body (hubby), not helping the situation. After finally setting her in the shower and turning it on, she snaps out of it and apologises to Daddy.
What? Daddy gets the apology? What?!?!

So after she finally goes to bed he is sitting on the couch upset that it went one for the 2 hours he had been home. (Seriously?)

But here comes the icing on the cake, and I am actually quite proud of myself for biting my tongue and not completely losing it like I wanted to.

"You know honey that really isn't very pleasant to come home to. I was having a great day until I got home. I would really like it if the kids would be happy when I got here."

I didn't know whether to laugh or throw the recliner at him... I still don't think he knows just what he did to me with that. I will tell him when I am done wanting to shake him. So today, when he gets home, I am going to be showered, dressed, with make up on and a smile.

Not for his sake, but because I am going to leave the second he walks through the door, and go get my nails done...

P.S. Did I mention Princess was up until 1:30am? Yeah and by 11:30pm he was frustrated so he went out and slept in the man room.

I suppose people can't be perfect all the time but this one was a doozey! Needless to say I needed to read Alida's post yesterday. It calmed me down to the point where I didn't scream.
I love him to death but seriously....?
This is why God made mothers, because without us the world would be a scary place.

A Little Cup of Heaven

Money has been tight, and I have been restrained from drinking anything but a Hosmocha from my Senseo coffee machine, but this morning there was one problem...

NO MORE COFFEE PODS!!!

My next shipment comes in today, but the UPS man doesn't come until nap time (when he rings the doorbell and ends nap time!) so I needed some coffee. You know how you don't really appreciate something until you go without? Well hubby and I gave each other the go ahead for some guilt-free Dutch Bros.

Man I missed that place! It is a warm cup of chocolate goodness. I can now face the day. I fear that my princess is starting to get a pack a day cough.

Greeeeaaaaat....

Oh and I wanted to clarify a few things about yesterday's post:

1. $30 of the $34 went to the marriage licence.

2. That was only 3 years ago.

3. Yes I had braces.

4. No I was not 12.

5. And yes Valerie, I have aged, because I don't know that I have matured at all!

$34 Wedding

So I didn't post anything for our anniversary, it was in September, but I just found my wedding pics on my computer.

Here is a little background.

Got engaged on a Friday, found out we were pregnant the following Friday, got married the folowing Thursday, because hubby was leaving for 3 months. (He missed ALL of the morning sickness!)

So how do you throw together a wedding over the weekend?

You call friends and family, and your pastor, have them meet you at Bush Park at 9am, by flowers at Albertsons for $4, get married, try not to puke up your first communion as a married couple, live happily ever after.

Halloween Pics

I know, I know it has taken me forever to post these, but I couldn't remember where I put my camera!

Go Beavs!

WHEW!

I was laying in bed and realized I almost forgot to post!
So here is to the lamest post of the month, hopefully! Goodnight.

Fatty Friday - Marbled Chocolate Treats

8-1/2 HONEY MAID Honey Grahams, broken in half (17 squares)

6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3 squares BAKER'S Premium White Baking Chocolate

LINE 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Arrange grahams on bottom of pan, cutting as needed to completely cover bottom of pan; set aside.

MICROWAVE semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter in medium microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted when stirred, stirring every 30 sec. Stir until well blended. Pour over grahams; spread with spatula to cover completely.

REPEAT microwave melting steps with the white chocolate. Drop spoonfuls of the white chocolate over chocolate-covered grahams. Immediately cut through the chocolate mixtures with knife several times for tiger-stripe effect.

REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour or until firm. Use foil handles to remove dessert from pan. Peel off foil. Cut dessert into bars. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Not so thoughtful Thursday

So I received an e-mail from my sister that was a compiled list of stupid quotes from famous people. So from now unitl I run out of quotes, Thursday will be a laugh for you!




"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff." --Mariah Carey

And there you have it folks!

Cute Little Story Time

WET PANTS
Come with me to a third grade classroom..... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, 'Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.' He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered. As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap. The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!'

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie. She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you klutz!' Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once too.'

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good.. Remember......Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Each and everyone one of us is going through tough times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep the faith.

This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue to pray for one another. The Prayer: Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and those that I care deeply for, who are reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace. Where there is need, I ask you to fulfill their needs. Bless their homes, families, finances, their goings and their com ings. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Blog Party Homework

I took a break from my midterm essay on Buddhism to do some fun homework!

What is your motto?
Do what works best for you.

What superhuman power would you most like to have?
At first I thought I would want to be able to read people's minds, but then the movie What Women Want came to mind, and I decided against that. I want to be able to fly.

What makes you laugh?
My kids, everyday.

Cats or dogs?
DOGS, no litter boxes!

Would you rather be a little smarter or a little sexier?
Sexier. Come on, what woman wouldn't want to be a little sexier. I am already paying and working on the smarter thing.

What is the one thing you'll never understand?
MEN

My life would be simpler if?
I had a robot.

The big decision I'm currently wrestling with?
Hmmm, if I want to change Primary care doctors, yeah I know I'm lame.

The Name Bandwagon

Just because I couldn't come up with my own idea for today, here are mine and Richard's name game results; Mine is Pink, Richard's in Blue.

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Snowball Explorer / Boots Royal

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Snickerdoodle / Rocky Road Peanut Butter

3.YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K-Hos / R-Hos

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Pink Dog / Blue Dog

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Hoski / Hosri

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The") The Purple Mocha / The Green Coke

7. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Charles Frank / Dick Dick

8. STRIPPER NAME : ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Halo Red Rope / Hugo Snickers

9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Ann David / Gary Jean

My favorite is Richard's Nascar name.

A Blessing

I have wonderful news.

My friend Julie is now 100% cancer free, and she got her chemo ports removed on Friday. Here is to a wonderful lady who I love so much.

Thank you Lord for curing my friend. Thank you friends for you prayers.

Bloggers Unite!

Since I know you all have been checking my blog to make sure I am doing better I thought I would take advantage of that and advertise for the blogger's coffee party coming up.


You can find details on A May Flower's Musings blog, as well as Glory Laine's blog. I hope to see all of you there!

Fatty Friday - Best darn Chocolate Cookies In the World!

I will be bringing these to the Blog Coffee Get Together, Yummy Yummy!

So this recipe came form my old college roommate's mom. Kristen and I would make these and eat the whole batch in one night, and not gain a pound. Oh to be 19 again! I might as well lick them and them immediately tape them to my thighs just to speed up the process!



4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil

4 oz. baking chocolate melted

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt





Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Melt chocolate and oil.

Add to all wet ingredients.

Add dry ingredients.

Chill dough until hard.

Form into small balls, and roll in powdered sugar.

Bake 9 - 10 minutes



Yeah, these are yummy. That is all I have to say.

Thursday Movie Review

So I realize that Movie Review has no T's in it, but hey oh well.
Lately I have been getting these great promo codes from Redbox, for a free night of rentals. I signed up online and presto a free night! The rental boxes are at McDonalds and it is $1 a night per rental, and you return them by 9pm the next day. Much better than blockbuster!

Anyways, last night we rented Spiderman 3. I would have to tell you all to skip it, unless you are a diehard Spiderman fan. It got really cheesy, and the parts where it should have elaborated we rushed through. Thankfully, it didn't leave room for a Spiderman 4, I think these movies have ran their course!

Yeah, Umm No thanks...

So after a night filled with dry heaves over the toilet, not being able to fall asleep because I couldn't get the thought formed to tell myself to sleep, and feeling like I was drugged all day, I am going to stop the medication.

I am all for it for all of you that are on it. I must need to find one that works better for me. I think I am going to try to ease my load, walk outside more, get more sleep, and going to the gym first. If that doesn't work I might give meds another try.

Today was awful. It is 9:30pm and the meds have finally worn off enough to do my homework and for me to be a normal person.

Take Care!

An update

Hi all,
Wow, and thank you is all I can say. I called my primary care doctor for a referral, and due to the fact that our lovely military insurance takes 2 weeks for a referral, he insisted on seeing me today. Him and I both decided that I should start an extremely low dose of anti depressant, so we will see how it goes. I start my first dose tonight, but wont see any real difference for a few weeks. I took a nice hot bubble bath (thanks Priscilla) tonight and am getting ready for bed. '

Thank you ladies for accepting my challenge to reach out, not just to me, but to many other people out there. It is important for us to reach out as well. If everyone is waiting for someone to make the first move we will all just be waiting!

So here is to God, my loving and adoring husband, good friends, hot baths, and medication!

A Challenge For All of You

Thank you friends for the kind words and phone calls. What would a girl do without you all. God put it on my heart to air out my dirty laundry and now I know why. Ladies, we are a group that has needs that aren't being met when it comes to friendship.

I think there is something that needs to be discussed. We have people in our group that do not feel included in our group. Do we have a group? Is it ok to just leave comments on each others blogs and leave it at that? What about when we see them in person?

At the moment my kids are sick, so I can't invite people over or even go to MOPS tomorrow. But I have a job for all of you, we were all armed with the knowledge needed to set a nice place setting at the last meeting, now lets put it to use.

I know that many of you get together with ladies from church as friends, you have their families over for dinner, you get together for lunch, your kids play. I have a challenge for every one of you. I want you all to invite someone that you have never invited over before to hang out, to have dinner, to go shopping, to have a play date.

It is all to easy to fall into patterns of people that you hang out with, I am guilty of it. WE need to open our arms to new people. I have spoken with a few people that called me to support me only to find out that they are just in need of friends and support as I am if not more. Do we really want to lose some fantastic MOPS ladies just because we aren't welcoming on a personal basis?
We are not perfect, there is not a perfect mother out there. We all sin, if there weren't any sinners in the world there wouldn't have been a need for Jesus.

So I know that schedules get busy, things come up, but the next time you are heading to the mall grab the MOPS phone list and make a call. If they say they can't, try again another time.

I know I am on a tangent, and maybe it doesn't make sense, but there is no reason for someone who makes the effort to come to our group not to feel like they belong. Let's be more welcoming. Let's talk about our faults more. We should talk about how our marriages aren't perfect, that our children make us crazy sometimes, that on any other day than Tuesday morning you can find us in sweats and a t-shirt, and that we have no idea where our 2 year old ran off to with our make-up.

If anything I would want our MOPS group to be known as that group of regular old moms. We need to be approachable, including myself.

So there is my tangent and my challenge. I hope you all have a great meeting, I will be here with green boogs, and fevers.

Postpartum Depression

Dear Friends,
Since I seem to be putting it all there lately, I need some help.
I am a self-diagnoser. The Internet does not help this, but in this case, I think it may be a blessing.
Last night I came to the realization that I am suffering from postpartum depression. I have not been happy for awhile now. It takes a lot to get out of bed, in fact if I didn't have kids I probably wouldn't. I am constantly on my husband's and daughter's case. I have no motivation to do anything. I have been blaming myself for my son's cold by thinking that it is my fault because I stopped breast feeding. I am overwhelmed and can hardly focus during the day. Yesterday I was sitting on the couch and just started sobbing. It happened to me in church a few weeks back too, Becca was witness to that.
Anyways, the second I said it out loud to my husband I felt better. It was like a large hurdle. I know I need help from a professional, I just don't know how to pick one, who to go to etc.
My family is suffering along side of me, I need to get help.
Have any of you been there? I know sometimes it is hard to admit, and you don't have to comment, but please give me a call or an e-mail. Be prepared for tears, that seems to be all I do lately.
Please pray.
I love you all,
Kim

I am not a perfect Mother

I found it very interesting that my sister and I started off the morning yesterday with a conversation about how neither of us are perfect mothers. Then it got more interesting, I went to Leslie's blog and found this post.

I think too often us mothers don't admit our faults. We are not perfect. This conversation with my sister made me think of a Desperate Housewives episode, (now don't tune out now, there is some validity in this one particular episode) One of the mothers Lynette decides that in order to handle her I believe four kids and get everything done that she needs to she takes her child's ADD medicine. This leads to a huge breakdown where she finds herself sitting in the middle of a soccer field all used up. Her friends find her there and it isn't until then that they all start to admit their parenting mistakes.

It is all to easy to keep our mistakes to ourselves, but what affect does that have on our fellow moms who are friends? If we think you are perfect then we will judge ourselves for not being as perfect as we think the rest of you are.

So here is to admitting our regrets. I am going to name a few of mine, it is up to you if you want to comment with a few of yours.



I have spanked my daughter once, and felt so bad that I cried with her. Only later to call a friend and hear that she has done the same.



I have not noticed a poopy diaper and it caused diaper rash.



I have started my son on formula because I can't handle the pressure of keeping my milk supply up.



I have forgotten to make dinner only to send my daughter to sleep on a meal of cheese, milk and goldfish.



I have gotten in the car in the garage, put my 2 year old in her seat, get ready to pull out when I remember that my infant is happily strapped into his infant carrier sitting in the middle if the kitchen.



I have yelled.



Given, none of these are serious mistakes, but they are there. I am not perfect. I do the best with what I have to work with. I love my children, and I know they know they are loved.



90% of the time I do a great job.

Fatty Friday

So I am not one to be original whatsoever. So, I too am trying to make up themes so that I can get through this month. Fridays will be fatty Fridays, in which I bestow you all with yummy fatty recipes for sweets! Yay! And it just so happens that Friday falls on the cusp of the weekend where I use my extra Weight Watchers points (like I am really counting, you all know me...)

So this Friday's Recipe is:



Gramby's Pecan Pie



1 premade pie crust

1 cup pecans

1cup sugar

1 cup Karo syrup (the light colored stuff)

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

place pie crust in pie pan

pour pecans in crust

mix eggs, Karo, vanilla and sugar well

Pour mixture over pecans

Bake for about an hour



And that is it.



To make it a super fatty recipe, add 1 cup of chocolate chips (that is if you haven't eaten them all like I have!)



TO DIE FOR!!!!!

Kick Off

Hello Blogger Family!

I am officially kicking off my National Blogger Month. I really have nothing exciting to share today, but I will have to dig deep every day this month for some good stuff! Why not start it up with my favorite cuties!!!!!

I Love, Love, Love them!!!!