Life's a parade!

Just a reminder for everyone in the Lincoln area that the Star City Parade is on Saturday!!!!! WHOOO!! I love the parade though it is always soooo COLD!! Almost without fail!! ;D

Anyway, if you are planning on going I may see you there!! Have a great time!!! :D

DECEMBER 1ST!! :D Yippppeeee!!!

I have to say, I do love the Christmas season!! ***Happy sigh*** !!

The kids are in the room singing to Christmas music on the radio...!! Too sweet!! I'm all up~and~at'em since my friend Lisa and I are having a contest to earn points and ultimately to win free dessert!! We get bonus points if we get up, showered and dressed before 8 am.... ! It's a good motivator to get out of bed in the cold winter mornings!!

I hung our Advent Cups out last night and I LOVE them! They are so pretty! :D The children were thrilled to come downstairs and hunt for the first one and happily shared out the jelly beans!! Today's "event" is to go to Super Target (dun duh duh duuuuuuh!!) and get "Zappers" so the children can "zap" the toys and gifts they like and make an online list for friends and family. Part of me worries that they will be greedy and just blindly ZAP everything but whenever we have done this in the past, they always impress me with how considered they are and everything they pick is something they really like. Also I'm always surprised how they don't even think about it once the list is made... the best fun for them is simply the zapping! They hardly even think that they might actually get something afterwards!! ;D

Well I suppose I should get to work... lots of invoicing to do today, ugh... and it's bill paying day, just remembered.. : ( Boo. Ah well.... I'll get them done!! Also library van day....!!! Glad I got up early!! ;D

Only make this if you have company coming or will be giving some to friends!!!

Oh man!! I made this at Thanksgiving and I've made it before a few times, but honestly, if you don't have someone else to share them with… well, I'm just warning you, you will eat them all. You won't be able to help yourself!!!

 

PS….. Here I would usually add a photo….. but we ate them all…..!!! ( the bars, not the photos! Silly!!)

 

Merry Berry Cheese Bars from Eagle Family Foods, Inc.

 

2 cups unsifted lour

1 ½ cups oats

¾ cup + 1 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 ( 8oz) package cream cheese, softened

 

1 (14 oz) can Condensed Milk

¼ cup Lemon Juice

1 (16oz) can whole berry cranberry sauce

2 tbsp corn starch

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With mixer beat flour, oats, ¾ cup sugar and butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 ½ cups mixture, press remaining mixture on bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Bake 15 mins or until lightly browned.

With mixer beat cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth, stir in Lemon juice. Spread over baked crust. Combine cranberry sauce, corn starch and remaining 1 tbsp sugar. Spoon over cheese layer. Top with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake 45 mins or until golden. Cool and cut into bars. Refrigerate leftovers. The recipe suggests you cut these into large bars and serve with ice cream (!! Are you KIDDING me?!? ) but they are sooo rich that I cut them into 2" squares and we devour them unadulterated!

Christmas is coming… apparently!! ;D

Thanksgiving's over…. You know what comes next !! ; D

 

EVERY YEAR I am blindsided by Christmas !!! EVERY SINGLE YEAR !! Each year I VOW that this time I'll be on top of it, gifts bought, cake made, cards HOMEMADE, written and mailed by November's end. Um…. Have you noticed today's date?!? Yah. Have I done ANYTHING from my list yet??? Nope !!! LOL!! I guess I'll have to get cracking in the next ONE DAY I have before November ends. I don't know about where you live, but here in the Central time zone, the hours run three times faster in December!!

 

Anyway, griping over!

 

The children and I did have a super time recently building Babylon from a piece of Styrofoam and Lego pieces!! I wrote about it for the Online Examiner and included tons of pics….. Please feel free to check it out! I'm actually quite pleased with this article and we really enjoyed the project! It came up from nothing since Jack had this really neat piece of Styrofoam that reminded me of Aztec homes… I looked up images of Aztec homes and then realized that actually Babylonia was more like it!! I read more about Babylon to the kids and we remembered reading about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon…. And so it went on!! Bunny trails they call it!! ;D Anyway, if you read the article you'll see what I mean! ;D

 

So today is bright and sunny ( oh yeahy!!!! ) and 48 degrees outside!! I will no doubt be cajoled into a walk with the dogs and kiddoes before too long and I'm going to make the most of it whilst we still can! I keep threatening the kids with … you should play NOW…. It's going to get COLDER soon!! ;D But hey, it's the end of November and yesterday the temps were in the 70's….. WHAT is going on?!!?!? Here in Nebraska they have a saying.. "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes… it will change!!!" I have honestly seen days that have been 80 degrees one day and SNOW on the ground the next !!! CrrrrrAAAAAzy!! ;D

 

Well folks, I suppose I should get back to the chores… right?? The kitchen is a disaster, the living / dining / bath/ basement / bed rooms are ALL disasters…..and Mum is flying in two weeks today!!!! ;D Aie aie aie!!!

Hold on tight folks, it's a slippery slope from here!! ;D

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!! I spent the entire day prior and the entire day OF Thanksgiving in the kitchen, but luckily a) I like my little kitchen and b) I had Miss Jessie to help me! She made the cranberry sauce, helped make pumpkin muffins for breakfast, set the table for dinner and basically was a super big help today! She kept telling me " I LOVE Thanksgiving!!" Awwww!!! Jack was hilarious! Rex was taking a short video at the dinner table and Jack waved at the camera and said "Hello!! I'm eating yummy food!!" LOL!!! He'll eat ANYTHING but it's a great day when anyone compliments my cooking!!! So anyway, a lovely day was had by all, our Thankful Tree is full of leaves and our bellies are full of "Yummy Food!" ( The fridge is ALSO full of yummy food so I guess I won't have to worry about dinner for the next week or two..!! LOL!!!





We are thankful for so many things, big and small.... Jessie said "I'm glad we have a good home and a fair amount of money" !!! She cracks me up!!!





Jessie made this adorable owl to sit in our tree this year.... I LOVE it!!!!



Watch out folks..... we know it's full steam ahead to Christmas now!!! ;D Whoooo wooooooooo!! ;D

Another odd phone call today!! ;D

So this afternoon I answer the phone, this time thinking it's my boss, only to have a small voice ask "Is this the Guinness Book of World Records??" Being a pedantic so~and~so and having a suspicion that this might be a friend of my daugher's I of course answered "Yes it is!!" and this little voice said "What is the size of the World's Smallest Pencil?" LOL!!!!! I was a little flummoxed and had to admit I had no idea!! I asked who was calling and determined it was a little boy named Dillon. ( I don't KNOW any one named Dillon!! ) I asked what town he was calling from and he said a nearby small town in Nebraska. I then asked him how he got this number and he said "I just Googled 'Guinness Book of World Records phone number".....! And MY number was on there?!?!!? LOL!! Sure enough, I Googled the same thing and there it was ! My phone number!! Bold as you like!! ;D LOL!! I guess I need to brush up on my world records!!! He and I decided that the world's smallest pencil couldn't be TOO small or you wouldn't be able to write with it !!! ; D

Just a quickie! ;D

I just answered the phone thinking it might be my Mum since I'd just sent her an email with my First Online Examiner Parenting Post ( wow!! Subtle segue eh?!? ) and I was expecting she might be calling to heap on the praise!! ( Isn't that one of the reasons we love our Mummies??? ) but no... it was not. It was a recorded message from Windstream phone company asking ME to call an 800 number so they could try and sell me another phone package !!!!!!!! WHAT!?!? The NERVE!!! Now I have to TELEMARKET MYSELF!??!!? Talk about a troubled economy!! ;D LOL!!!

Update! ;D

Hello Folks! ;D

I'm making time for my writing amongst all the chaos and hoopla of daily life around here! A Quick Update for now and more later, of course! :D

Firstly, ... hmmm... where to start.... Well the good news is my Mum is coming over for Christmas!! I'm so thrilled as we had all thought she wouldn't be able to come this year and it really just isn't Christmas without family around. The children are excited too and my new British friends are also chuffed to bits as it means she can bring us a stash of goodies from home!!! ( chocolate, some chocolate, and more chocolate!! ;D )

We lost our sweet Minnie dog to a car accident a couple of weeks ago.... she was hit right outside out house and died quickly. I was amazed at the depth of our pain at her loss. What a sweet, sweet soul she had and what a great hole in our lives she has left. We have had her cremated and her ashes remain on the mantle for the time being. We plan to scatter them along the paths where we walked...but not just yet...

The children are doing marvelously! I've taken on a part time job working from home... only, as anyone who works from home knows, part time turns into full time in no time!! :D Jessie has declared more than once that she hates my job and Jackster sure knows how to pick his moments of mass destruction and mayhem to coincide neatly with any work calls I may be trying to complete! I have learned to share my time with my job and the children as much as possible and have taken the time to sit and watch re runs of The Gilmore Girls with Jessie as we eat our lunch. She loves the quality time we spend and it has become our little tradition to do together. The other day I was sitting staring at the small screen, pulling my hair and cursing through gritted teeth.... she walked up to the computer, turned off the monitor, took my hand and led me to the couch. "Gilmore Girls Time..." she said..... smart kid that one!

So basically, to sum up, life is rocketing along nicely! I'm STUNNED it's November already... what happened to the blazing summer heat?!? oh wait... yeah... it was in the 70's today....!! Nebraska weather... I'll never get used to it..!! We are all doing well! I'm planning on volunteering with the children at the Cat House in Lincoln...! We have orientation on Wednesday.... ahem...... we'll see how it goes, shall we!!?!?

Anyway, lovely to be back! Hope you are all fit and well and avoiding the dreaded H1N1 .... Can't wait to catch up again soon....


Mustache....!!! : )

xxxxxxxxxx

Hope is the thing with feathers.

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.


Emily Dickinson

This post is a little different from my usual posts. For a long time I followed the story of a friend's daughter's battle with leukemia. Her mother would post updates online, through the Caring Bridge Network. We journeyed together to the present day where Chloe is now finished with her therapy and is making great and positive strides to good health. Sadly this is not the case for many children and one little girl especially has become dear to me. Anika Wilke was diagnosed with leukemia at 22 months of age. After enduring more than two years of chemo she was free of cancer.....three years later it came back. Next Saturday will be Anika's ninth birthday. Her parents are hoping she lives long enough to see it, but they know the cancer has her now. The doctors have told her family that she will not survive. All they can do is try to manage her pain. Her family would love to have her come home for just one day but it doesn't look as if that will happen...

Anika's story is obviously heart breaking and the worst of it is still to come. It makes me feel so very grateful for the health of my own nine year old girl. Life is so fickle and so hard for some people. I'm so thankful for the life I am fortunate enough to lead and I wish for peace for Ani and her family. I can NOT imagine their pain.

Jessie and I want to send Anika a little something for her birthday. Apparently anything pink would go down really well with her! You can't go wrong with pink! If you felt so inclined, this is Anika's address.

Anika Wilke
c/o Banksia Ward, level 3 Woolworths building
Royal Children's Hospital
Herston Road
Brisbane Qld 4029
AUSTRALIA

Here is the link to the Caring Bridge Network for Ani.....

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/anikawilke/journal


Thanks for reading.

I am so AWESOME!! :D

OK, so I'm not so awesome at keeping a blog frequently updated but that's ok.... it's mine and I like it ....!! I AM awesome at this biking thing !!! My friend and I biked TWENTY FIVE MILES this evening !!! TWENTY FIVE !!! and I didn't puke!!!!!! LOL!!! This may not seem like a parenting post, but you know what, it totally is. This bike riding is making me a MUCH better parent. I'm getting two nights a week ( or two blocks of hours a week ) to myself.... I get to visit with my friend, get lots of exercise and amaze myself at my endurance!! This leads to me being a much calmer, happier and more patient parent.

We are working our way up to a goal of 100 miles in one day and 1000 miles by next June in time for the BRAN. It's so empowering to have a goal to work towards. I've started setting smaller goals for myself... some are worthy ( keep all the laundry out of the baskets and off my floor!) and others maybe not so much ( get a gold star in Bejeweled Blitz....!!) but by setting myself goals of various sizes I get to have something to aim at....and by setting smaller ones I get to achieve something quickly and easily as I am working on my bigger goals. It's very satisfying!! I read recently about a young girl who has chosen to set herself a goal of climbing 14 peaks of 14,000 feet by her 14th birthday!! What fun!!! I have asked Jessie to think of some goals she would like to achieve and am keen to hear her responses. Goal setting gives us direction, a focus, a point on the horizon to steer at without which we are just treading water, waiting for the tide to carry us wherever it may.

I can not end this quick post without mentioning my hubby and kids and their contribution to my efforts! Rex has been so supportive.... he readily picks up supplies for me that are indispensable for my rides... he's bought me books to read on cycling for women, he buys me all the Gatorade I can handle.... he has fixed my tires, helped me figure out trail maps, filed my brakes, but most importantly he has encouraged me to ride, he takes care of the children, he puts them to bed, he lets me sleep in. He's my SAG support and my kids are my cheering squad. I love 'em all to bits! :D