Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

7 Things You May Not Know About Me

I just read that I was tagged by Tammy Munson over at New Media VA for a meme. I've never been tagged before and am all choked up that Tammy thought of me. (Of course that might be the combo of Dayquil and Excedrin and the fact that I'm due for another dose of decongestant that is choking me up.)

Anyway...here goes:

1 - I've never been married.
2 - I'm a computer geek.
3 - I've lived in California, Washington, Utah, Georgia and back to Utah.
4 - I'm a very emotional person and cry a lot.
5 - My computer is usually organized to the point of being OCD...my house, not so much.
6 - I have fibromyalgia.
7 - I have a ferret.

Man, that was hard. I swear my mind went totally blank. Ok, so I guess I'm supposed to tag a few people. Tammy tagged three, so I shall also since I really don't know how this is supposed to work. LOL

I'm tagging:
Stefani Partin
Alyssa Advant
Dianne Fratscher

I won!

Remember a couple weeks ago when I posted about exercising with your child? Well, guess what? I won! Woo hoo! I guess that means it's meant for me to get off my rear and do something about my health.

Thanks Jen @ One Mom's World!

Library Books

When I picked Andrew up from school on Friday his teacher caught me in the hallway and wanted to talk to me. Oh oh. Never a good thing. At least in this case it wasn't a totally bad thing. Yet.

She wanted to let me know that Andrew had a library book checked out that he needed to bring back. They can only check out one book at a time, and he needed to be able to check out a new book in order to participate in the Accelerated Reading program. I told her we'd look for it over the weekend so he could return it on Monday.

We come home and begin the search. About 20 minutes into it, Andrew informs me he thinks he left it outside. So, here I am not really knowing whether to believe him or not. On the one hand, he knew I'd get upset and doesn't normally lie, especially when he knows it's going to upset me. On the other hand, he doesn't like "working" and was tired of looking for the book. Add that to the scenario in which he described to me how he ended up outside with the book, I'm not so sure about it.

I'm not going to spend my time looking for a book that might be outside, so I just tell him he can't play outside all weekend because I'm going to have to pay for the book. We have the talk AGAIN about how library books are to be kept in his backpack unless he is reading them on the couch. And never, never is he to be reading them outside without special permission. I didn't even know he had a book from the library.

I went to the school to pick him up this afternoon and talk to the librarian about our options. Obviously I'm going to have to pay for it. Thankfully it's only $8.96 and so I tell her that I will not be able to pay it until after the first. I ask her if there is anyway that he can check out books for this Accelerated Reading project in the meantime. Nope. Not going to happen. Instead she asks him to give up his last recess everyday to come and read in the library until I can pay for it.

Correct me if I am wrong in my thinking here. It's one book. It's less than $10. I have made the effort to come into the school and make arrangements with her. Would it really hurt to let him check out one more book? If he loses that one, I can understand, but give me a break.

Your thoughts? Am I being unreasonable? Maybe my cold is messing up my thought process and making me irrational.

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Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned 35 today. My mother mentioned "middle-aged" in the conversation many times. She thinks she's funny. Ha! I mentioned it on my Online Party Network group, and thankfully one of my members informed me middle-aged is closer to forty. So, I've still got several years to go Mom! :)

So what did I do for my birthday? Did I take the day off? Spend some me time? No. I spent the day dealing with car issues. See my car has been in the shop since August 3rd with a blown engine. They had it two weeks and called me to say it would be ready to pick up the next day. Well, the next day they call to say I can't pick it up because the new engine is losing oil pressure. It's going to be a while. So after a slight panic attack, they offer to get me a rental car. Well, 55 days later I'm told it's finally ready and I can pick it up. So, I turned in the rental car Tuesday night and picked up my car. I was slightly disappointed after driving it home because I just felt something wasn't right, but I convinced myself I was just being paranoid and needed to get used to my car again.

Oh, and by the way, the registration on the car expired while they had it and apparently they parked it on side of the road and it received two parking tickets while they had it, which they are taking care of. Ok, so back to my story.

So, Wednesday I try to take it to get the registration renewed. I get about half way to town and it starts making a noise, the check engine light starts flashing, I smell something burning AND it won't accelerate. Ummm, ok, so it's not totally fixed. I pull over and call the service center. "Oh well it drove fine last night. Bring it by and we'll check it out." I take it down there, they run a few tests and determine it's fine. The check engine light is off, it's accelerating just fine, blah, blah, blah. I go to leave, and lo and behold, the check engine light is on. So, I go back inside and tell them it's back on. They take it for another test drive and determine it's either in the intake or the exhaust. If it's in the intake, it's covered under warranty. If it's in the exhaust, it's not covered under warranty unless it's determined that it was caused by something they did when putting in the new engine. What's the chances of that? :)

They determine it's the exhaust. They send me down the road to find out what is causing it and if it's because of the new engine or not. They find that the catalytic converter has basically imploded. They also say it was an issue with the old engine and therefor my responsibility to pay for. :( Thankfully though they paid for it and then are going to let me make payments to them along with my regular car payment. Of course, I can barely afford the regular car payment, but that's another post for another day. Ha!

Obviously, I didn't get the registration taken care of yesterday. Oh yeah, and my driver's license renewed today. And did I mention I didn't sleep well last night. And I'm getting a cold, so I'm cranky and stuffy and have a headache all day. I go do the registration first thing this morning. Then I go get the driver's license renewed and get a new crappy picture. The old picture I actually really liked, but I couldn't convince them to use it again. Then I had to drive out to Salt Lake to pick up a check from a client. And what do you think happened on the way there? If you guessed the check engine light came back on, you would be right! I guess I'll be taking it back out to the repair shop tomorrow. Maybe I'll just give it back to them and by a bus pass. :)

I barely got home in time for Andrew to get home from school. We hang out for a bit and then Andrew took me to Red Lobster for dinner. (Thank goodness for MyPoints otherwise we couldn't have afforded it.) We had a nice time, and I was quite relieved that he was actually pretty well behaved. We've been having more of that lately, and I for one am enjoying it. And so to the end of a not so great birthday, is a very special time and a reminder that life's not all that bad.

Wordless Wednesday

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Optimus Prime Called Me!

Well, actually he called Andrew, but that was after he sent me a voice message through email. The Transformers DVD is being released tomorrow, and the powers that be came up with a great viral marketing plan to the word out.

You can visit http://optimus.transformersmovie.com/ and set it up for Optimus Prime to call or send a voice message to somebody you know. I had him call Andrew and now I'm kicking myself for not having a camera ready. Andrew's eyes became humongous and his whole face lit up when he realized who it was on the phone. Two hours later, he still has not stopped talking about it.

If you know somebody who would enjoy getting a call from Optimus Prime, be sure to to visit http://optimus.transformersmovie.com/ and set up your phone call. You can even set it to use your phone number on the caller id so that they will answer the phone thinking it's you. The call is immediate, so it might even be a good idea to make sure the person you are sending it to is available before clicking the submit button.

Hope you have fun with it!

Online Life Insurance Quotes

Since I no longer have a traditional job, I no longer have any life insurance coverage. I've been researching online insurance policies and tonight I came across Advantage Term Life. They offer insurance quoting services for all sorts of policies including whole life policies.

If you are looking for coverage for insurance, check out their insurance quoting services for affordable rates. I even saw options for employee benefit insurance packages. And the quotes seemed very reasonable.

The Significance of Dog Hair and Trash Cans and a little Potty Talk

I received an email forward this morning entitled Potty Talk. I read the article and laughed out load through the whole thing. When I enjoy an email forward that much, I usually Google it so I can find out if the author has written anything else and hopefully even find their blog.

Well, in this case, her name is Shannon Popkin. I did not find a blog, but I did find that she does some writing for Focus on the Family and MOMSense.

The Significance of Dog Hair and Trash Cans is not only humorous, but a reminder that sometimes "just being a Mom" is enough.

Potty Talk is downright hilarious and a reminder to be careful when you take children in the restroom with you in public places. :)

Choose Life

I came across this post today and found it inspiring. Hope you enjoy it too.

Click here to read In Memory of a Woman Who Chose Life

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Wordless Wednesday

Corn & Poop: What Do They Have in Common?

Disclaimer: I realize the headline is a little gross. My sister (who is the queen of too much info) thought it was too gross to use, but I figure sometimes being a parent means dealing with gross. Here's to hoping you don't thinks it's too gross to follow me anymore. :)

I try to ask Andrew what he wants for dinner each night. I like to make him feel involved with the process. So tonight I told him I had thawed out some hamburger meat and what did he want that could be mad with hamburger.

He loves sloppy joes so he asked if we could have that. I happen to not like sloppy joes that much, but that's what he wanted so I made it. And of course, I ate one anyway to show it's ok to eat something we may not like that much once in a while. :)

Anyway, during the course of dinner conversation, I did learn something interesting. I had made corn to go with them, but Andrew doesn't like corn. I told him to eat just one bite, then he could give the rest to Sassy, our dog.

Andrew says, "Yeah, because dogs will even eat poop, huh?"

After I finally stopped choking on my sloppy joe, I asked him if he was equating eating corn with eating poop. He said no, but what other conclusion could I have come to with the question?

Get Your Children Involved with Your Exercise Routine

Jen Houck of One Moms World recently announced her first contest. She'll be teaming up with Exercise with Mommy in giving away an exercise DVD and a $20 gift card to Target.

Although Andrew is not technically a preschooler anymore, he does love when we exercise together, and I would love to win a copy of Energize and Exercise with your Preschooler. Maybe it would finally get me off my rear and making a step in a healthier direction. :)

Because I said so. I'm the Mom.

I saw this somewhere a month or so ago, but the beginning was cut off. I was thrilled to come across the full version today. Have a good laugh!

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in Canada!

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Wordless Wednesday

My Karaoke Theme Song is...

I'm not so sure about the description, but I had to laugh at which song the quiz chose for me because this song is one of Andrew's favorites ever since he heard it on Charlie's Angels.

"Baby Got Back"

You're a total show off who is willing to risk looking like a fool to get a few laughs. In fact, you'll go for the cheap laugh if you need to... because it's better than no reaction! Your friends can count on you to get a party started, and you'll party hard until you can't remember their names. You're charismatic, charming, and a total character. With or without a few drinks in you. You might also sing: "I Touch Myself," "Oops I Did it Again," or "My Humps" Stay away from people who sing: "Candle in the Wind"

What's Your Karaoke Theme Song?

When I Struggle With Doubt

Somebody posted this excerpt on one of my Yahoo groups today. I hope it's ok to reprint it. I needed to hear it today. :)

Book of Prayers by Stormie Omartian

Lord, give me direction to know how to pray in every situation and for every concern. Make me bold to ask. Enable me to ask according to Your will. Give me faith to believe that impossible things can happen when I pray. Forgive me when I have any doubt about Your ability to answer. I confess all doubt in me as sin and ask You to cleanse me of it. Replace doubt with strong faith that all things are possible because I trust in You.

If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Mark 9:23

Have a blessed Wednesday!

Comcast Rant

So, I went to pick Andrew up from school. I was gone maybe, MAYBE, 20 minutes. I return home and there is a note on my door informing me that the cable has been turned off and leaving a number to call to get it turned back on or to arrange a pick up of the equipment.

Now, it is true that more often than I'd like, I pay my bill late. However, I not only paid my bill two weeks ago, but they told me I was caught up and that I wouldn't be due again until Oct. 8th. OCTOBER 8th! Ok, looking at the calendar, I clearly have 6 more days until it's even due. Hmmm...

Lesson in not having all your utilities with one company, not only does Comcast control my cable TV, but they control my internet and home phone also. So, I tell Andrew we need to go get back in the car because I'm going to have to find a phone to call and chew this guy out. :)

We get back down the stairs and the guy is still here and he's in the process of messing with things in the cable box. So, I say, "Are you Justin?" And of course he is.

So then I say, "Well, you just turned off my cable, my account is current as of two weeks ago."

Well, you know he can't take my word for it. He has to go call and confirm. And of course they tell him it's current. So, he turns it back on and I get, "They hadn't updated your account information. It's back on. Sorry for the mishap."

Excuse me??? In two weeks you can't update my information to show I've paid my account. What if he hadn't still been outside? I probably would have had to wait until tomorrow before getting it turned back on. And you know what? I still wouldn't have got more than, "Sorry for the mishap."

Sigh.

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Yes, I am a Helicopter Parent

helicopter parent n. A parent who hovers over his or her children. Also: helicopter mother, helicopter mom, helicopter dad. As defined by Word Spy

I picked Andrew up from school yesterday just because he wanted me to. I'm almost out of gas, and I have no money for more gas until I get paid later this week. He could have rode the bus home which would have saved me that 50 cents worth of gas, but he asked me if I would pick him up. So, I did. Now let me tell you, the smile and glow on his face when he walked out and saw me sitting there was worth the 50 cents worth of gas. I would have walked to pick him up to make him that happy.

Ok, back to my story. So, I was sitting on the bench outside the classroom door when the bell rang for the class to be dismissed. Several of the kids were holding plants in little flower pots. A couple of his classmates recognized me as Andrew's mom and promptly informed me that Andrew needed to bring a flower pot to school the next day or his plant was going to get thrown away. So, I asked Andrew about it and of course he was supposed to tell me on Friday so that he could bring it on Monday, but he forgot to tell me. Now, had he told me, I would have had the whole weekend to find one or borrow one or at least come up with a cup or something.

So, I decide to just send a cup or something, and my friend was going to bring me a flower pot from work to put it in. Of course, then the morning happens. And he's running late as usual and I forgot to give him the cup for the plant. I'm in the shower when I remember. So, what did I do? I couldn't stand the thought of how upset he'd be if his plant got thrown away, so I finished my shower. I then got in the car, after getting dressed of course, and drove down to the discount store and spent $1.05 on a plastic flower pot. Then I drove down to the school and dropped it off for him.

I guess that makes me a helicopter mom. And you know what? I'm ok with that. Feel free to share your helicopter mom story with me.

Helicopter moms of the world unite! :)

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Blessings,
Shannon