Bittersweet doesn't even come close.

Whew, what a week. With 2 Thanksgiving dinners and my daughter turning 10 tomorrow it has been busy to say the least.

Wednesday we did our "family" Thanksgiving at my mother in laws house. I was in charge of all the deserts and made blueberry crumble, peach crumble, banana pudding and a lemon pie. My mother in law did the rest of the cooking and everything was yummy. I enjoyed the company of my husbands 2 younger sisters, my brother in law and his wife and the numerous nieces and nephews running around. I especially enjoyed seeing Mo and Po my husbands grandparents. They're wonderful people.

Thursday I got up and started my cooking. Our menu was as follows: Turkey stuffed with onions and garlic, herb stuffing, giblet gravy, sauteed fresh green beans and carrots, mashed potatoes, rolls, and broccoli rice casserole. For dessert I made a fruit salad with macapuno, pumpkin pie and a friend brought irony cookies. Inside joke, sorry. SHe brought homemade white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I did 99% of the cooking and enjoyed all of it. My husband invited his friend and his family over, and another friend who has no family here to join us. It was nice and quiet. THe food was delicious and the company was good.

Friday morning I headed out around 11am to get a few things. Target had really nice crock pots for $19.00 and easy bake ovens for $16.99 so I had to get one of each. Then Hastings had $8.99 bluray's. Wal mart had the whole Miley Cyrus collection on sale and with KB's bday Sunday I had to get a few things for her. I also picked up some great movies. Some were $2, others $3.99 and one was $10. I'd hate to say what I bought since KB reads this and she'd def spill the beans.

So now my vacation is ending and it's back to work Monday. This vacation was such a tease. Really, it was. Tomorrow is KB's 10th birthday and it really makes me sad. Sad that my baby girl is really growing up, she's in the double digits now and before Iknow it, she won't want to spend time with me like my little one does. It's all downhill from here. Not really but 10, come on! I wish I could freeze time for a little bit and not have my daughter grow so fast.

Ok now that my rant is over, I did allow her to have a slumber party tonight. Hana and My neice Sam are here and they girls are having a blast. I can her Miley Cyrus "Party in the USA" blaring from my iPod so that's a good sign. I'll have to send them to bed soon becasue we have a date to see NEw Moon at 11am. My girls are so excited to see it. Tomorrow evening we're having a small get together here with Pizza and Cake. It should be a good time.

I hope everyone had a wondeful holiday, Christmas is just around the corner!

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

New Moon was awesome! I knew going into it that it would be different from the book as all books to movies are, so imminent disappointment aside, I loved it. If you haven't read any of the Twilight saga, give the books a chance before you hate on the " Twilighters" out there. If you can get through the first wanting more, then you'll love the other 3 in the series. They just keep getting better.

Have a wonderful Sunday. I'm off to Thanksgiving shop and afterwords I'll be tackling the mountain of laundry in the hall.

So sue me!

I am so happy right now! Today starts my Thanksgiving vacation, I can seriously hear the bells I'm so happy. Vacations with pay are one of the few perks of working for the school district. These are the times when I love my job, because just when I need the break from the monotony of my everyday work life, the holidays give it to me.

Tonight I'm finally going to see New Moon!!! Yes, I am a Twilight fan, and yes, I have read all of the books. I've read them ONCE and have watched Twilight a few times. In the first book I was reminded of what falling in love feels like. The author is so descriptive that reading the book actually made me feel butterflies when the characters did. And when Edward finally kisses Bella in Twilight, It was ABOUT DAMN TIME! The second book broke my heart when Edward left Bella to keep her safe, and I was pissed. But then Jacob Blacks character comes in and like Bella, the absence of Edward wasn't as unbearable as before. The books keep getting better, but I won't bore you with my love for Twilight anymore.


Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I'm almost ready for it. I just need a few groceries like fresh veggies and rolls, pie ingredients, and cool whip and I think I'm set. We are having a Dinner with my In laws on Wednesday where I'm cooking the turkey and desserts. I'm still not sure what desserts I'm making for them but pumpkin pie is definitely on the list. Thursday I'm cooking a small lunch for us. Turkey, stuffing, giblet gravy, sauteed green beans and carrots, rolls, pies, rum cake. I love cooking thanksgiving dinner for my family, and my husband says that my turkey is AWESOME. That always makes me feel good.


The kids are off all week with me so I have a few things planned. Cleaning house and catching up on laundry is numero uno! THen KB is turning 10 on the 29th so she wants to see New Moon and have a slumber party. Money is tight, so I bought the kids Christmas crafts at the dollartree and I plan on decorating the before I go back to work on the 30th. Right now theres a heavy TV where my Christmas tree usually stands so my husband will have to move it before the tree can go up. Here's hoping that gets done. I did want to do some black Friday shopping but honestly, I don't think I'm in the mood for it this year. The deals on clothes and movies are great, but the crowds are a real turn off.


I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I can't wait!!!

Twilight,Twilight pictures,Twilight fansite


GET THIS COUNTER FOR YOUR PROFILE!

Miss me?

I can't even remember the last time I posted a blog entry! Pathetic I know. So much has been going on though, so surely the 3 people that might be reading will forgive me... right?

The last few weeks have been a real pain with deadlines and work drama. Add my other full time job as wife and mother and I'm surprised I haven't packed my bags and pulled an Ashley Judd in that movie " Divine secrets of the YaYa sisterhood". I could never do that, but that doesn't mean I don't dream of peace and quiet.

Work has been more dramatic than it's worth. In a nutshell, I am a salary employee who is now being forced to clock in and out everyday, because "someone" spent a lot of money on this clock system and wants to see it utilized. Usually I'd be ok and say fine, I'll work my 40 hours and skrew you if you need me to stay late, I don't work for free. But... I'm not given the opportunity to earn comp time. Which translates to if I have to leave to pick up a sick child, or if another emergency arises to where I have to be off campus I now have to clock out and make up that time or lose my leave time. It sucks. I would be less upset if everyone at my school had to clock in, but it's just the office staff and the 3 aides totalling 5 of 65 people on campus that have to clock in and out. It's stupid, stupid, stupid.

But enough of that, I'm trying to enjoy my weekend! I signed both of my girls up for Girl Scouts and they are loving it! KB attended her very first camp in last Friday and had a blast!!! They made smores, sang songs, played hide and seek and wore their troop leaders out! All the things I remember doing in girls scouts! Lil Miss is really enjoying Brownies! HEr troop leaders are so awesome, and are great with the 20 brownies they have every Monday! They even recruited KB as a helper and it really boosts her self esteem having 20 little girls looking up to her and turning to her for help. I love seeing her light up and I love the pride Lil Miss shows when she tells the other girls that KB is HER big sister. I'm so happy I signed my girls up. I think it is so important to have an outlet other than school.

Halloween was a fun night. Lil Miss was Wonder Woman and KB was a Punk Witch. Both of the girls looked great. KB has a school friend originally from Japan who has never trick or treated or even celebrated Halloween before so we did the American thing and invited her and her family to join us for pumpkin carving and trick or treating. Hana already had a Ninja costume and we gave little sister Momo an old Lil Miss costume to wear. She ended up picking LM's Mulan costume and she looked adorable. Pumpkin carving was new to them, but mom Tomoko really enjoyed it. Her husband took great pictures of her first Jack o Lantern. We headed out to trick or treat at around 6:30pm and little Momo was so cute running to the door saying " Trick or treat trick or treat me too me too me too!". She kills me she's so cute. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get them off my phone and on my computer.

Report cards have already come out and LM got Straight A's! I was so proud of her. KB got A's and B's and 1 C. I realize 4th grade is hard, so I'm just encouraging her to keep up the hard work and always try her best.

Lastly is anyone else as excited for New Moon as I am? I already have a date with my friend Janine since my husband refuses to subject himself to a crowd of Twilight fanatics and sparkling Vampires. I can't say I blame him, I'm one of those Twilight fanatics. Just 12 more days, I can't wait!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, I'm going to head to bed. Hana is spending the night and I know I am going to have 3 hungry girls knocking on my bedroom door at first light!

Domo Arigato!

Whew! What a week it has been. Between kids, my husband, my mother, work, school and girl scouts, this week has been a chart topper. Not bad, just busy. This week at school we had 3 events that spanned 4 days. Magnet Show-Offs on Tue and Wed, then Fall Production on Thurs and Fri along with dance marathon Fri as well. For those of you that don't work at a busy performing arts elementary school, that equals parents coming to the school by the masses! Parents that have to come to the office to sign in first, and always want to take their kids home after they watch the show. This also means that we in the office, don't get anything done because we're on crowd control. Luckily, even with shows galore, I was able to meet a huge deadline ahead of schedule. Unluckily, as soon as I closed the door on that deadline, another one came a knockin. October is a very busy month for the school district so don't be surprised if I don't post again until November. I will probably be sick of typing and looking at a computer screen.


Last night after dinner I decided to go to my favorite getaway, Target. I LOVE Target! The dollar bins and clearance racks delight me to no end. I spent over 2 hours, by myself just looking at everything. I'm such a bargain shopper and get excited every time a see a red reduced price tag. I found so many great deals and got some great holiday ideas for the girls.


This morning I headed out early to mail a package, but the post office was closed. Is it just me or does anyone else remember a time when the post office was open until Noon on Saturday's? Sine that plan was thwarted I headed to hell, I mean wal-mart for groceries. I was able to find a few items on sale, but not many. Damn economy, seriously! I would hate to go several different places for groceries, but I think I'm going to have to. Lowe's has the best meat prices, where Wal-mart has the best prices on fresh fruits and vegetables, and HEB has some insane combos where you buy one item and get 8 other items for free. I could give that a shot, and maybe expand our menus in the process.


This afternoon KB's friend came over. She's a very sweet little girl. Her mom is japanese and her father is malaysian. We enjoy our friendship with this family so we were all looking forward to her visit. THe girls made brownies while I started a pot of beef stew. The girls played barbies, ate popcorn and watched TV. After dinner I let them each have a brownie for dessert. H has never had beef stew before and she loved it so much she had 2 bowls!


Tonight will be quiet.... I hope. I also hope everyone enjoys what is left of the weekend. Sayonara!

A random act of kindness and an update.

My co worker and I have been planning a random act of kindness for about a week now. We decided to buy lunch for one of our less fortunate students, who also happens to have health problems. The child decided that he wanted chicken strips, and we were happy to get him some. I went to pick up his lunch at Bush's Chicken and the manager happened to be the person taking my order. When I told him I was buying lunch for a child at my school he just smiled and told me how nice he thought that was. I thanked him and drove on up to the window to pay and get the food. The manager totally outdid our random act of kindness and gave me the boys lunch plus lunch for the office staff, a gallon of tea and free meal coupons, all for FREE. I asked if I could at least pay for the child's meal but he wouldn't hear of it. He said we inspired him, and how touched he was to hear of us caring for a child enough to make sure he has a good meal. He continued to tell me how much teachers and school staff are under-appreciated and he wanted to show his appreciation. I was truly humbled. My co worker and I didn't think anything special about buying this baby lunch, but were touched to know that we inspired another person to commit a RAK. Giving is contagious, and I hope that in some small way I can encourage others to give selflessly.


And now an update. KB unfortunately did have the flu and spent a week out of school per doctors orders. a couple days after her diagnosis my mom came down with it making the flu toll count 4. Luckily my husband never caught the flu, and I hope it stays that way.


This week the girls are both back in school together, and life is almost back to normal. Yesterday Lil Miss's Brownie Troop met at the fire station in honor of Fire Prevention Month. She was able to Get in the driver seat of the fire truck and test out the thermal camera. She had a blast! Her troop leader took some pictures and plans on sending them into the newspaper. I hope she does, how fun for Lil Miss! KB had girl scouts tonight and her troop is planning a camp in for Oct 30th. She's excited to go, but as a over protective mom, I'm not sure yet if I'll let her go. Is that bad of me? I don't even know her troop leaders last name, so leaving her in her possession overnight scares me. We'll see, it's still a couple weeks away.


I guess that's it for now. I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying the beginning of Fall. Please remember Fire Prevention Month by talking to your kids about fire safety, what to do in the event of a fire, and escape routes like doors and windows. Also, it's good to let your children know that firemen are there to help. Did you know that 80% of kids that die in fires, die because they hide from the fireman trying to save them? It's sad but true. Also October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I'm proud to say my Mother in Law is a breast cancer survivor and I will do what I can to support the cause. Click the "My blog cares" Button to the right to get the button for your blog. For every button placed on a blog, Diets in Review.com will donate $5.00 to breast cancer research. It's worth the copy and paste!