Did Someone Say Chocolate?

LAYERS

Layer one
Name: Michelle Birth date: March 19, 1972 Birthplace: Berwick, Nova Scotia Current location: Texas Eye color: Blue Hair color: blonde Height: 5'3" Righty or lefty: Righty Zodiac sign: Pisces

Layer two
Your heritage: Canadian The shoes you wore today: socks Your weakness: diet caffeine free pepsi Your fears: snakes, death Your perfect pizza: wieners, green peppers, bacon, hamburger, onions, pepperoni, mushrooms and lots of cheese – homemade

Layer three
Your most overused phrase on AIM: I don’t “chat”, but I do use *laughs* Your first waking thoughts: "Ghrrrrrrr" Your best physical feature: I don’t really have one, but thanks anyway Your most missed memory: Our Halifax trip

Layer four
Pepsi or coke: Pepsi all the way! Mcdonald's or burger king: Hmm we do McD's more often. I do like Whoppers though Single or group date: single Adidas or Nike: Rebok Lipton ice tea or nestea: No tea anymore, thanks Cappuccino or coffee: Neither, thanks.

Layer five
Smoke: Quit ten years ago in January Cuss: Way too often Sing: to myself or to Daniel Do you think you've been in love: I am in love Want to go to college: Once upon a time Liked high school: Social aspect of high school, yes Want to get married: I am. Two years this coming January Believe in yourself: Usually Get motion sickness: No Think you're attractive: No, but I’m not horribly elf like or anything Think you're a health freak: No, but I should be Get along with your parents: My mother, yes Like thunderstorms: Yes I do Play an instrument: I wish

Layer six in the past month...
Drank alcohol: No Smoked: No Done a drug: Birth control and Tylenol Made out: MEOW Gone on a date: No Gone to the mall: Yes, for portraits Eaten an entire box of Oreos: Not in one sitting =) Eaten sushi: No Been on stage: No Been dumped: No Gone skating: No Made homemade cookies: Yes, chocolate chip Gone skinny dipping: ha ha, just in the shower with my hubby! Dyed your hair: Got my foils re-done Stolen anything: Just kisses from Cody You sound boring: Then don’t ask! Heh.

Layer seven ever...
Played a game that required removal of clothing: No If so, was it mixed company: N/A Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: Yes Been caught "doing something": Doing what? Been called a tease: I’m sure Gotten beaten up: Yes Shoplifted: Candy, younger years Changed who you were to fit in: At one time or another

Layer eight
Age you hope to be married: Was married at 29 Numbers and names of children: Four – Justin, Sarah, Cody and Daniel Describe your dream wedding: Nice dress, great food, professional pictures and family How do you want to die: In my sleep Where you want to go to college: Didn’t have a preference What do you want to be when you grow up: Still trying to figure that out What country would you most like to visit: Home to visit. NS, CAN

Layer nine
Number of drugs taken illegally: Oh gosh you don’t really want to know do you? Number of people i could trust with my life: 2 Number of cds that I own: Not many, 15?, hubby owns a LOT though Number of piercings: Ears done, once Number of tattoos: Ick Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: three times, two birth announcements and one school award. That’s all I remember Number of scars on my body: One under my chin, one on my hand and a few surface ones that have faded away Number of things in my past that I regret: I regret many decisions I made in my life. Poor judgment on my part and the guilt is hard to live with sometimes

*Borrowed from other blogs out of pure boredom.

Seven Deadly Sins

Stolen from Echo who stole it from Rebecca.

ANGER (wrath)

Who did you last get angry with? I’m pretty sure that would be Sarah. Yesterday when it was time to leave Doug’s Mom’s place, we told all the kids to make their rounds and say good-bye to everyone. I found out in the van that Doug had to get after her because she said “Bye OLD LADIES” to Doug’s elderly grandmothers. GAH. I’m so embarrassed!

What is your weapon of choice? Guilt.

Would you hit a member of the opposite sex? Depends on who and what they did. I have in the past, but it was fear and self defense.

How about of the same sex? No, that would be embarrassing. However, if I ever caught someone messing with my husband, consider her face mush!

Who was the last person who got really angry at you? Hmmm…good question. My first instinct was to say Doug, but he’s not gotten really angry at me (that I know of), I’m sure he’s been miffed once or twice… I guess I don’t know.

What is your pet peeve? As in singular? Oh please. Stupid drivers. Double clickers. Spam.

Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily? Depends on who and what. I keep trying to write out an explanation for this, but I give up. Next question.

SLOTH

What is one thing you’re supposed to do daily that you haven’t done in a long time? Exercise.

What is the latest you’ve ever woken up? Supper time? That was a long time ago though.

Name a person you’ve been meaning to contact, but haven't? Krista.

What is the last lame excuse you made? Waiting for Daniel to go to sleep, so I can bath the pugs. Yep, lame.

Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through (one of the long ones…)? Riiight.

When was the last time you got a good workout in? A couple of weeks after Daniel was born, then everything went all to hell.

How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock today? The alarm clock is on DH’s side of the bed. If it was on my side, it would go through the window.

GLUTTONY

What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice? Smoothie, I guess. I hardly ever drink them, but they are stupidly expensive for what they are.

Meat eater? Unfortunately yes. I wish quite often, I could give up meat. I love veggies, but not enough of them to keep me satisfied.

What is the greatest amount of alcohol you’ve had in one sitting/outing/event? Quart. * shudder *

Have you ever used a professional diet company? No. Ha ha I guess I should!

Do you have an issue with your weight? Yes.

Do you prefer sweets, salty foods, or spicy foods? Sweets… thus the issue with my weight. Duh! Funny though, it used to be salty. I’m not sure what happened.

Have you ever looked at a small housepet or child and thought, "LUNCH!"? WHAT?!

LUST

How many people have you seen naked (not counting movies/family)? I care not to reminisce, thank you.

How many people have seen YOU naked (not counting physicians/family?) Gosh. SAO

Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a member of your gender of choice during a normal conversation? Ummm… no. I’ll sometimes gawk at what women are wearing, but I think that’s pretty normal. (I hope).

Have you "done it"? Geesh.

What is your favourite body part on a person of your gender of choice? My hubby’s legs. Furry, sexy goodness!!! MEOW.

Have you ever been propositioned by a prostitute? Hardly.

Have you ever had to get tested for an STD or pregnancy? Pregnancy and routine STD tests.

GREED

How many credit cards do you own? I think we have 2 right now. One for interest free carry over debt and one we use daily and pay off monthly.

What’s your guilty pleasure store? I’d be horrible in a lot of stores if I took the time to shop.

If you had $1 million, what would you do with it? Buy a bigger house and completely furnish/decorate it. Send some money discreetly to a few family members. Invest. College. Then go on as normal.

Would you rather be rich, or famous? Rich.

Would you accept a boring job if it meant you would make megabucks? Megabucks is tempting. Probably would. I could be bored for awhile.

Have you ever stolen anything? I stole gum from a restaurant when I was really little and didn’t know any better. I also remember taking candy from a grocery store when I was 13 a few times, then I almost got caught and never did it again. I remember doing it to show off in front of friends. Stupid stupid stupid.

How many MP3s are on your hard drive? 1042 on iTunes right now, but that doesn’t include what was on my iMac.

PRIDE

What one thing have you done that you’re most proud of? Went back to school when I was 25.

What one thing have you done that your parents are most proud of? Probably me going back to school or maybe leaving my ex. It’d be a toss up, I’m sure.

What thing would you like to accomplish in your life? Contentment.

Do you get annoyed by coming in second place? I don’t compete much now. It used to annoy me a lot when I was younger if I knew I stood a chance for first.

Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors? No. I don’t really have any skill to speak of.

Have you ever cheated on something to get a higher score? No, not that I remember. I’d maybe cheat to end a board game with my brother or something when he was too young to know any beter.

What did you do today that you’re proud of? Not a damn thing, but hey the day’s not over.

ENVY

What item (or person) of your friends would you most want to have for your own? A lot of people in my life are very creative and I’m not. I want nothing material from them.

Who would you want to go on "Trading Spaces" with? No one. I don’t like that show.

If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be? My husband.

Have you ever wished you had a physical feature different from your own? LOL. Is this question serious? Don’t even get me started.

What in-born trait do you see in others that you wish you had for yourself? Musically gifted. I'd kill to play the piano or guitar or heck even sing!

Do you wish you’d come up with this survey? No thanks.

Being thankful

I'm thankful for a lot of things. I don't just pick one day a year to get all wishy washy over what I'm grateful for. I know Doug is thankful every day too because he tells me how happy he is a lot. Sometimes I have to kick myself as a gentle reminder to count my blessings (or Doug will do it for me), but generally speaking, I'm usually pretty grateful and I try not to take my life or my hubby for granted. When you've been treated how I've been treated before, just being loved by someone and being free is a huge deal!

Yesterday we went to Doug's Dad's place for dinner and his Mom's for supper. The kids were really good. I don't think they got into trouble at all. Reminders to keep the noise down some, but really what are holidays without all that kiddie noise eh? We didn't quite get our fill of turkey at either place, so I'll be cooking our home meal on Sunday. Poor Doug went to Walmart to get some odds and ends of groceries earlier today and ended up going back a couple of hours later to get a turkey and stuff after our grand idea to cook one ourselves.

You would have thought Walmart would have been packed today. Doug said he got right up to a cashier right away, no huge lines at all. He said the line up was NUTS for layaway though. It circled out and around through the store. Sillie boy got all the way out to the car before he realized he forgot to buy the turkey. *giggles*

Family shots

As I posted earlier, we went to Sears and had our family portraits done. These proofs are downloaded images from the webpage, so they will appear as crappy quality. I could pick each one apart in one way or the other, but I'm just not going to waste my energy on it. I spent enough time the other night tossing and turning over it. I hate disappointment, but I'm just going to have to suck it up. My expectations were set too high and were unrealistic considering we have four kids and were an hour and a half late starting the process. Better luck next time. Enjoy and remember the quality issues!

Lessons learned

Baby learned how to spit...

meanwhile Mommy learned she should always use a bib.

Just shoot me

Let's see, on Friday, Daniel's teacher had to call me at my office to come pick him up early because they couldn't get him to settle down. When I ran down to get him, the poor little guy was hysterical. I picked him right up, snuggled him closely while the teacher told me her tale. Just about every baby in that room were crying their eyes out. I couldn't even hear myself think. I took Daniel to the hallway for some quiet snuggle and calming down time.

When he quieted down, I looked at his face and it was all broke out in red welt/rash marks! I was shocked. I'd not seen any sort of rash on him before. I went to his teachers to ask about the red marks all over his face, they hadn't noticed it, so they had no explanation at all. I took him to a co-worker's office so she could look at him too. His little face looked all scratched up and awful. I looked his body over, nothing, then he got all upset again. I finally had him asleep by the time I got back to my office. He was SO exhausted.

A nurse on staff looked at him and she said she thought the redness and swelling was due to being left too long crying. She figured once he slept a bit, it would go away. Sure enough, after an hour of resting in my arms, his face went all back to normal! I was so upset to think my baby was left long enough crying that it made his little face break out the way it did. This has NEVER happened at home. He just doesn't have any need to cry for any length of time. I tend to his needs immediately.

It's things like that that make me question even working. Sigh.

Saturday, we went to Ton's to eat. We hadn't been there in awhile and it was yummy! Then after dropping me and Daniel off at home, Doug took the kids for their weekly outing, while I stayed home to clean and bath the pugs. I managed to get quite a bit done.

Today I had the bright idea to call Sears and make an appointment for our family portraits. ha ha ha ha ha ha Our appt. was for 4:00 and we got there, others had already been waiting for over an hour. We decided reluctantly to wait it out knowing anytime later would be just as crowded anyway. Plus, I had spent the majority of 4 hours getting us all ready to go. Let's just say we waited for about an hour and fifteen minutes and were probably that long ourselves getting done. I'm not very happy with the pictures.

Sarah is a pain in the ass and once again it was a bad time of day for the baby. He got TIRED and CRANKY. We couldn't even get him to smile and he mostly just cried the whole time we were there. He's a baby though, at least he has an excuse. What the heck was wrong with Sarah, I don't know. God forbid she have to stand close to her brother. The lady would try to move her in position and Sarah would continually resist her movements. She wasted about 5/20 of our shots just trying to get a half decent one of Sarah. She'd smirk, squint or roll her eyes. Why is it so hard to just smile at the freaking black box?

By the time we got around to re-trying the family shot, what little of my hairdo that the wind on the way in didn't destroy, the sweat and frustration took care of. I'm really disappointed in my own appearance considering I spent so long getting ready. Three out of four kids in the family shot, look strange and the shot of the four of them together, well, I considered not even buying any. Sigh. I'm just disappointed. I had high hopes for these photos and I can only hope once printed, they aren't so bad.

No likey!

Baby Daniel has turned four months old already! *waah* Where has the time went? We introduced some fruits and veggies a short while ago. He loves his carrots and opens his mouth eagerly for another bite!

However, bless his heart, he NO LIKEY peaches at all!

Just as a side note to this, he's actually tried pears, applesauce, peaches and bananas so far as his fruits and the poor little guy doesn't like any of them. He'll eat his veggies like there's no tomorrow, but put fruit in his mouth and he gets really really upset. His worse yet is bananas oddly enough. I've given up on those. He can even detect a little in his cereal. I figure for awhile, if he doesn't want any fruit, then fine, I'll continue to offer it and if he refuses, oh well. I'm sure he'll eventually like them.

Tap Tap Tap

Hello? Is anyone out there? I think I've lost my audience.

And he wonders why I post more on the forum...

Big boys are gone!

Doug has the two boys out at the star party with him, so it's just me, baby and Sarah home. Oh and of course, the pugs. Doug was treating the boys at Dairy Queen, so he called home to make sure I got something for Sarah too so she had something to respond back with when they came home bragging about what they got. She had homemade brownies and chocolate ice-cream! Yum! I also made this for supper! Doug thinks I'm crazy for liking weiners on my homemade pizza! He just doesn't know what he's missing is all!

I also had to go get Daniel some more clothes at that re-sale shop KidtoKid. This is 4 times in three months. That child has got to stop growing. He has such long legs that he needs size 12 months already. His chest and arms still fit 6/9 months, but they are too short in the legs depending on the style. Sleepers that size are definetely too small now.

I saw a woman at the store and she asked how old he was. I told her almost four months and she gasped. Her daughter was almost seven months and weighed 18 pounds. Daniel is at or just over 17 pounds already. She thought he looked the same size as her daughter and they both wear the same size clothes! Ironically, she also has three much older kids like I do. I think there were eight years difference between her youngest and the new baby.

I got ten articles of clothing for Daniel and a hat for sixty dollars. Three of the items still had their store tags on, one retailed at 22.99. I got it for five bucks! Not bad, I'd say. Notice the little blue Cowboys jacket/pant set? hehe.

Now if I could just bring myself to sell some of his too small stuff, we'd be doing good.

Oh joy oh joy oh joy!!

The carpet installers from Home Depot are coming tomorrow to measure our rooms for new carpet. I'm very excited. I know it's going to be a total pain in the ass to have this done with all the furniture having to be removed and what not. GAH We are told they will move everything for us, we just need to do any computers. Well, let's see, we got five of them for god's sake. Oh well, I know it's going to be a mess, but geesh it'll look sooo much better afterwards. I'll be sure to take before and after photos.

Doug's dad and step mom are coming to visit on Sunday. I have to work until about 4'ish, so they'll come around then and stay for supper. Any ideas as to what I should cook for them? Doug suggested ordering pizza. They've had that for us when we've went up to their place before. I know they aren't expecting any elaborate meal or anything, good thing too because they won't find anything elaborate here LOL. I so suck! =D

Daniel is finally attempting to roll over. It's such a relief to see him showing interest in that. I had been getting worried about his lack of interest in moving around, but I think he's doing just fine now. He twists his little body right around now and all he has to do is move his arms and he'll roll! He's also reaching, grasping and holding things much better and is actually gaining control over his hand movements.

He's such a happy baby. He grins so big sometimes that I'm sure it must hurt his cheeks. It's very comical! I can make him laugh really good now too! He loves to play patti-cake and he ALWAYS laughs when I get to the "mark it with a B" because it tickles his palms. He is also pretty ticklish just like his daddy. Doug says "that's all you needed was someone with my DNA to tickle all you want". He he, not true, I still like to nail him whenever I can! =D

Okay time to eat my brownies and ice-cream (I need it like I need a hole in my head, oh well MUST have it). Night.

What do they think I am?

Okay, I have a new pet peeve! What is it with people that assume my older kids are neglected and left out now that Daniel has been born? Yeah, okay, babies require a lot of maitenance, but that doesn't mean there isn't time for other things too. I mean there are all kinds of people in this world that have more than one child. I do not make assumptions about their oldest child being ignored or forgotten about, so why do I get so many comments from people...I don't think I've done anything to give them that impression either. I really believe they are just assuming things and not thinking before speaking!

Just today, I'm in my office minding my own business...a woman walks in (I won't bother saying who) and says "So, how's baby Daniel doing". I say "he's growing and doing really good!" She notices the new pictures on my desk and makes comments about them. I made small talk about the pictures and mention that the other photos are home framed. I also shared with her that we will be going to get our family shots done this weekend and that I'm excited about getting the three older kids done due to the fact that I haven't bought their school photos in the past couple of years. Well, she says "mmm yeah, good idea, I'm sure they feel long forgotten about with the baby around". WTF?

Doug, especially, goes OUT of his way to make the kids not feel jealous. This was something we discussed often before Daniel was born. I don't feel the dynamics of our home has changed all that much since the baby's arrival. The kids love the baby. It's really neat to watch them interract with him and make him laugh and stuff. He's an addition to our family, not the entire center of it. I'm sure there are times perhaps one of them may wish they were a baby again when Daniel is doing something sillie at the table and making us laugh, but crap who doesn't wish they were a baby once in awhile? =) I really think the kids are genuinely happy over Daniel being part of the family!

This is not the first time I've gotten comments like that either, it happens a lot. Very similar to the whole "nurse the baby" thing too. I mean, god, it'd be pretty hard to just "FORGOT" about three living things in your household that require feeding and regular cleanings, let alone all the drama and entertainment that comes from them too! Geesh.

Someone got a new toy recently...

and Mommy and Daddy love it too!

All about nothing.

Happy Birthday Mom! She's old today! I can say that because she's not here to slap me!

I tried hanging some pictures up last night. Stupid mistake. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to make them hang straight. Geesh.

Doug is sick again. I think he's caught what I had last week. He's never really gotten well from the last boat of sickness he had. Him and Justin are at the store right now picking up some odds and ends. I offered to go, but I think he knows a) I'd spend double what he would spend and b) I'd take at least two hours longer too. I'm horrible in the stores. I don't do it intentionally, but I walk around and around LOOKING at EVERYthing. It doesn't matter how many times I go into that store, I always go up and down all the isles. So, anyway, he went and should be back pretty soon.

Cody is at his friend's place until supper time. They normally alternate back and forth once a week. I'm glad Cody was able to pick up his friendship with this kid. After everything that had happened over the summer, we were kind of worried the parent would decide that their kid shouldn't hang out with Cody. But it's been good. They picked right up where they left off!

Mmmm house is quiet right now. Baby is sleeping and Sarah is doing homework in her room. I've made marshmallow squares and two batches of muffins. Sweet smelling peace!

Shit and Jam

Daniel's pictures came in and Doug went and picked them up for me on Saturday. They turned out pretty good. We are going next weekend to get our family pictures done. I'm anxious for those ones. We'll have six poses, so I'll get one of all of us, one of Doug and I, one each of Justin, Sarah and Cody alone and one of just the kids. I hope they can get some half decent shots. It's so hard with so many of us in the picture.

We've been invited to both of Doug's parent's places for Thanksgiving dinner. I told Doug I might as well cook it myself so we don't let anyone down. His dad wanted us to come up to visit this coming weekend. We had plans on Sat. to get photos done, plus Doug has an Astronomy thing he has to go to late afternoon/early evening, so that shoots that day all to heck. I normally don't work Sundays, but one Sunday per year they ask me to work because of pledges coming in and needing to be entered. So, of course, it just happens to be this Sunday. *roll eyes*

It's easier for others to travel then for us. We practically have to pack everything he owns just to go and I'm so anal about his evening schedule, I tend to get bent all out of shape if I think we aren't going to get home on time to get him to bed properly. I love visiting family, but it's been sucking lately trying to plan visits. It'd be nice if they came here more often. I guess I need to get off my ass and decide what I could cook that is fit for company!

I never had a problem before cooking for company, but I sure feel like I do now. I think part of it is they all eat differently here than back home. I remember I used to cook for the ex's huge family. They'd all come for New Year's Day or something, I'd bake two hams and go to town on desserts and trimmings. No big deal at all. Now I fret thinking about what I could make for his parents if they came to eat. Silly really. We could always have shit and jam!

Bawk!

Well we got Mom's plane ticket booked for Dec. 9. Woo Hoo! She'll stay through until Jan. 1. We are very happy to have her over the Christmas holiday this year. It'll be nice because the kids are still pretty young and it's fun to watch them open gifts. I think she'll enjoy it, but either way, she'll have her computer back and the pugs, so she'll at least be giddy for a little while! *snicker* Her birthday is also coming up soon. Oh my! We won't go there.

Daniel is finally starting to show some signs of interest in rolling over. I've been a bit worried about him. He has what I call a "lazy baby body". He hardly ever tries to push himself up on me to stand, never even turned his body to attempt to roll until this week and only recently started reaching sucessfully for toys. He's been just a laid back, enjoying life in the easy lane type of baby. He's usually a pretty happy going guy!

I came home with a fever from work on Wednesday. I had woken up with a sore throat, but wasn't sure if it was going to amount to anything. It did. I spent a few hours in bed sweating out my fever. I got the shakes, then the sweats. Nasty crap. It's spreading all through the employees at work. I went in on Thursday long enough to run payroll, then came home. I feel okay today. Still got a sore throat, but am hoping that'll pass over the weekend.

After the baby was sick with his fever last week, we thought it was teething. Now I am wondering if it is what I just had. I showed no other symptoms accept the fever and sore throat. If he had a sore throat, I wouldn't have known it, but it would explain why he refused his bottle for so long at times. I just don't know. I'm just glad he seems to be pretty well back to normal (accept for the waking up to eat at 4 a.m. routine again).

Oh well, that's the update at grand cental station. I have found it difficult to find things to write about here lately. It's boring as ole hell. I'll try to find some inspiration over the weekend, but for now, I got chicken in the oven that is screaming for me to come baste!

So, ya...here you go!

Okay we've had 4 total doses of tylenol between yesterday and today. It's a persistent fever he's been running. Pretty sure it's teething related. He has no other symptoms of anything other then pure discomfort. It's been a routine of sleep, cry, fever, tylenol, orajel, cry, eat, sleep since yesterday. I feel so bad for the little guy. At times it seems I can do nothing to soothe him. He's not interested in sucking on something cold. He did enjoy his cool bath earlier to bring down the fever. I suppose if the fever persists, we're going to have to take him to get looked at. Might be something hidden like an ear infection (god forbid). Right now though, we're calling it teething.

The kids had fun last night trick or treating. Here's our crew:

Annoyed the hell out of me to end up with so many teenagers at the door with no freaking costume on last night. I don't get it. It you are going to be an idiot, the least you can do is put some effort into it. You have no idea how pissed off I get when I see some punk ass come up to the door with a grocery bag; wanting candy AND with no costume on. I want to simply refuse, but Doug won't let me. He says it's not worth property damage if they go away pissed off. I hate the fact these stupid kids know they can get away with it. It's ridiculous. I have a plan for next year though that will give me satisfaction! Thanks to some mommies I chat with, they said some people they know always have non candy treats waiting for these kind of kids. Soooo, you know those trick or treat candy bags that you can't see through? I'm seeing chopping broccili and a little note telling them to grow the hell up! Sweet satisfaction! *insert cheesy grin here*