Blog Construction

I know I haven't blogged in quite some time now. I seriously need to update my blog layout, etc. Hopefully that will happen sometime this weekend.

Doing okay here. Staying busy with Caleb and Claudia after school. I am no longer keeping the other two kids I had been keeping after school. Long story short (if I can) I would call and their mom would give me a three day a week work schedule to keep them and then it ended up only being one day. This went on for about a month. I told her last week from now on, IF she needs me to call me, but I won't be calling her to check anymore. She was really bad about forgetting so I just did that so I would know. I told her it really wasn't worth it for me to only work one day a week. She then calls me a few days later to tell me she had been terminated from her job. So, it worked out that I sort of quit anyway. There was always some drama with those kids anyway and I really got burnt out on keeping them. I felt like I had to plan my life around whether or not I had to work for the week or not. Now it will just be so much easier having Caleb and Claudia. I may or may not take on keeping another child next school year, but for now I'm just going to enjoy my kiddos. Claudia is preparing for the LEAP test, so I really need to focus on helping her out. It is a crucial year for her.

All of the kids are doing well. Today January 15 is my niece Addison's 2nd birthday. She has changed so much in a year. I can't believe the kids aren't babies anymore. They are all growing up so fast. We're having Addison's birthday party at my sister's house on Saturday. Not sure what kind of cake yet, but my sister is thinking of doing a Winnie the Pooh cake since Addie loves Pooh Bear. Should be a fun time.

I haven't been getting out much at all lately due to the cold weather. It really doesn't bother me as long as it's sunny outside and I can open the blinds and door. I'm ready for Spring to get here. I know we have a few months to go and I'm trying to be patient. I have been enjoying watching movies, playing games online and doing some other things to stay busy.

I'm so glad American Idol is back on again. I am so looking forward to the upcoming season. Even though the auditions just started this week, there are some really good potential people who might get on there. I hope so anyway.

I am cutting this short because I have to get up early to keep the kids tomorrow since school is out. Tomorrow is a teacher in service day. Monday they are out as well for Martin Luther King day. I won't be keeping them Monday because their mom is off of work. Anyway, as soon as I get my blog updated, I'll post again. Until then, I hope this finds everyone doing well and enjoying the new year.

Saturday after Christmas

I know I haven't blogged in a while. Just not much noteworthy to write lately. I spent the month of December preparing for Christmas, finishing up those last minute gifts I had to buy, wrapping gifts and also did some baking this year. In between all of that, I continued to work keeping the kids after school. I even got to keep my younger niece and nephew a few times during the day and some extra nights which was fun for me.

Christmas Eve my family and I always go to Mass and it was beautiful as always. The Christmas songs were beautiful. One even teared me up a bit...What Child is This....such a wonderful song. After Mass I went to my sister's house to eat traditional spaghetti and meatballs with her and her family. We had a really good visit. My nieces were so excited to be able to track Santa Claus on the computer with their dad. Once the girls were in their beds sleeping, my mom came back over to my sister's and we all started preparing things for Christmas day as far as breakfast and dinner goes. I got home around 10. Had a good time.

Christmas morning my parents and I went to my sister's house around 8 AM to see what Santa brought the girls. They racked up and were so excited. We then had a wonderful breakfast casserole, cheese grits and an apple currant strudel for breakfast. It was yummy. After breakfast we opened gifts. Amelia my older niece ripped through hers like a pro. Addison the youngest, took her time and opened one in maybe 30 minute intervals LOL It was a hoot watching her. Then it was time for the adults to open. I got a Brita water pitcher, some glass mixing bowls, Bath and Body Works lotions and some other small things. I also got my traditional Hallmark collectible ornament.

The highlight of opening gifts was my parents. My sister and brother in law gave each of them a small gift to open. My mom's was a grill brush and her expression was priceless...like what am I supposed to do with this. My dad got a grill cover and to him that's fine. He loves getting stuff like that. Next came the surprise...in between opening, Mark excused himself and went to put their big gift out on the front porch. They got my parents a VERY nice gas grill to cook on. It was a thank you for letting them live with my parents for a year while in transition of settling back here in Louisiana from Alabama. My parents were so excited. I have pictures and will post them in another entry tomorrow. I'm still working on editing photos and taking them from my camera to the computer.

The rest of the day was spent playing with the girls and enjoying each other. My brother in law's mom came in from south Louisiana for the day and we enjoyed her visit. I stayed until about 2 then came home for a bit. My parents went to my brother's and delivered gifts to my other nieces and nephews. I wanted a little down time so I rested for about 2 hours.

Christmas night my sister's father in law and his wife came over and had dinner with everyone. Mark's mom was still there too so everyone had a good time. My brother in law prepared a wonderful beef tenderloin on the grill and we had hash brown potato casserole to go with it. Also carrots and green beans which were good along with other stuff. Great meal. The cake for dessert that my sister made was a caramel cake with heath bars all over the top and around the sides she put sliced Dove dark chocolate almonds. It was all so good! After dinner the girls opened gifts from their other grandparents and that was a lot of fun. After that, the night winded down and everyone went home soon after.

Yesterday my mom brought my brother's children over to see me so I could give them their gifts from me. They were exited about them. My nephew wanted to stay with me and play for a bit, so my mom took my niece back to her house with her. My older niece Claudia was at my sister's house, so I didn't even get to see her. I just sent her gift by my parents when they came to get Cayden yesterday.

Today I'm working on editing Christmas photos and also putting photos on CD's to clear off my computer a bit. It is supposed to start storming later in the afternoon, so I won't be getting out today. I'm also watching movies on Lifetime Movie Network.

That's about it for me. Just getting through the holidays and now ready for a new year.

Hope you all have a good day.

Black Friday

I'm not doing a thing today. It it pouring down rain and has been since early this morning. My mom and dad went at 5:00 AM this morning to get a deal on a flat screen TV they want for one of the rooms in their house. I don't go shopping the day after Thanksgiving ever. I decided years ago, it's just not something I want to do. I don't do crowds anyway. I slept in until 9:30 or so. I get up to check my messages and see there is a message from my mom at 5:30 AM, YES people, my mother calls here wanting to know which kids I still have to buy for. I call her back to remind her that I mentioned last night I only have the two boys Cayden and Jacob to buy for. My ex sister in law is taking care of her older son for me. I'm so glad I didn't answer that phone that early to that conversation. I wouldn't have been too pleasant. Yes, the kids are the most important, but NOT at that time of day. At any rate, I will get their gifts taken care of. I put a $10 limit on each child because there are 8 of them to buy for. I still have several weeks. I have 3 adults to buy for and I will be finished. I certainly don't stress over gifts. I know what everyone likes, so it's not a hassle.

Right now I'm watching LSU vs Arkansas on TV. I hope by some miracle LSU can pull this one off. We'll see. Not holding my breath just yet. They may get a bowl game and that would be good.

My sister called to see if I want to come over to their house later this evening. I told her if the weather continues like it is doing now, no thanks. I do want to go over at some point this weekend though. I know they are planning to put up their Christmas tree and decorate this weekend.

Thanksgiving with my family was wonderful yesterday. I got to see my cousin and his wife who drove in from Plano Texas. I hadn't seen them in a year. It seemed like it had been longer. It was good to be with the rest of my extended family as well. The food was wonderful as always. My aunts and mother out did theirselves on the cooking. Everyone else chippped in and brought stuff. Nothing was turned down by any means. I know without a doubt that my favorite thing yesterday was the cornbread dressing. I told my mom if I had nothing else, I would have wanted that. It was so good. I ended up bringing home a gallon ziploc bag of turkey, some ham, some leftover casseroles, salads, dressing,and the remainder of the brownies I made. I have so much to eat on for the next several days. I told my sister earlier, there is so much turkey that I may make a turkey, sausage gumbo this weekend for us. Sounds really yummy.

My brother and his children came. There were no issues with him picking them up from their mom's on time or anything, which is rare. Somehow there is always drama involved with that situation, but not this time. My 10 year old niece Claudia came up to me and informed me that their mom took them to the mall and she picked an angel from the Angel Tree. She has to purchase something for a 3 month old baby girl. I told her that's a wonderful thing she will do and give that baby something she might not otherwise have. She is happy about getting to do that. My nephew Cayden was my shadow while they were at my aunt's. He stayed pretty much around me except for when they went outside a few times.

I plan to hopefully get my Christmas tree and lights on it this weekend. I will let the kids help me decorate the house next week. We'll see how that goes. I know Thursday I have to keep Caleb, Claudia, Cayden and Carleigh while their mom goes to her work Christmas party. I am planning to tell the lady I work for that I can't work that day. I don't want the stress of dealing with that many children. I'm sure she will understand.

I hope each of you had a great day yesterday and are having a nice Friday. That's all I have to write about for now. Have a good rest of the day.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all have a blessed day with family and friends. I'm so thankful for many things. My family, friends and so much more. Today holds a special but sad place in my heart. My grandmother on my mom's side passed away 10 years ago today and Thanksgiving was always so very important to her. I just talked to my mom and wondered why she sounded down. Then it hit me, today is 10 years ago, we were at the hospital just waiting patiently for our heavenly father to take my grandmother home. Today will be filled with memories and fun times as I spend the day with my mom's brothers and sisters and all of my cousins. I will remember my grandmother on this day and how much I cherished her and all of the memories we shared for 30 years. I am so blessed to have such a close family.

For the past week I have been going through a box that was found in my grandmother's attic filled with old photos of our family. There were things in the box that dated back to the 1800's. I was able to get a few things out to keep for myself. It was fun for me to see these people I had heard about, but never got to meet. There were documents that I found of great interest. Today we will all sit around after lunch and go through this box of very valuable things to us. We can all get what we want out of it and share with the younger children what the pictures are.

I haven't blogged in a while. I have been sick with upper respiratory stuff and it kind of threw me for a loop. I'm doing much better now thankfully. I have also been busy with kids and also going to my sister's new house. Today my sister and her family have traveled to a small town about 1 1/2 hours from here to be with her husband's mother for the day. I'm hoping they will have a nice day over there.

I don't plan to go black Friday shopping. I don't like doing the crowd thing especially on that day. I only have to buy for my nephews, my parents and my brother in law and I will be finished. I know what I'm getting, so the task will be easy. I plan to put up my Christmas tree this weekend and let the older two kids help me decorate my apartment next week after school. They helped last year and did a great job. I don't take my tree down until after Mardi Gras because I decorate my tree for that occasion as well.

Yesterday I spent the day making two batches of homemade brownies and deviled eggs to take to my aunt's for lunch today. I was so glad to be out of the kitchen. I don't have a dishwasher, so everything has to be washed by hand. That can get very time consuming. I dread that part of the process. The brownies turned out delicious.

Anyway, off to get ready to go spend the day with everyone. Have a great day.

My Halloween Night

The past two days have been very long days here. I ended up having to keep my youngest niece Addison yesterday and today. She has an upper respitory infection and has been running fever off and on with it. My brother in law took her to the doctor yesteray and she got a shot. She seems better today than yesterday, but with fever of course, she can't go to daycare. I'm the main person to help with the kids if they are sick. My mother is sick with the same stuff as well. I had it a few weeks ago, but I'm over it for the most part, except for some lingering nasal stuffiness.

Yesterday, along with keeping Addison, I had my four regular kids I keep after school. The two that are not family didn't leave until almost 7:30 last night. I wasn't ammused at all. I charged them double for being so late in getting their kids. The dad had some sort of class then kept on working afterwards. No one bothered to call me. I was exhausted yesterday (Thursday) after doing that. I told them IF this happens again, I will no longer be able to babysit for them. My cut off time is 6:15, which allows him plenty of time to pick up his children.

Today was a better day, just a long day. My sister brought Addison over about 9 then went to work at their new house. They closed on the house Thursday afternoon and started moving today. Today I spent the day just playing with Addison and doing stuff here. She has discovered how to climb on the back of my power wheelchair and ride around now. This was the first time she had attempted it and wanted to do this all day long. We made many trips around the apartment. I enjoyed my one on one time with her.

Tonight we went trick or treating around the neighborhood behind my apartments. The girls dressed as purple butterflies and were precious. They got their fair share of candy, that's for sure. I made homemade chili for everyone then we went treating. There were lots of kids out today, but I found it odd that there were alot of adults out too that were actually trick or treating. I found that odd. I just left a note on my candy container that said Happy Halloween and by the time we got back most of my candy was gone. I didn't buy all that much because I knew I wasn't going to be home. I told my sister I may not even buy any next year and just continue to go with them.

Tomorrow I'm going to keep both Millie and Addie so my sister and her husband can get their furniture moved into the new house. Later in the day she is going to come get me and we'll go over there. I am very anxious to see the new house. I was so excited today when she called me from their new house phone. Actually seeing a phone number made it so real. I'm so happy they are living back here. It will be nice to have another place besides my parents house to go play with the kids. My brother in law even said as soon as they get settled enough, he plans to widen the bathroom doors so I can get in and even stay the night whenever I want to. He said I won't have any problem getting around in the house at all other than that for now.

Anyway, I guess that's it for me. I'm about to go get some much needed sleep. I'm exhausted. Have a good weekend.

Sunny Saturday

It was a very nice sunny Saturday here today. I was awakened at 8:30 am to the "wonderful" sound of apparent carpentry next door (hanging pictures). Oh joy! I was none too amused. I love to sleep in on Saturdays too! I decided since I was not going to be able to go back to sleep, I would get up and call my sister to wish her happy birthday. In the background, I hear the two sweetest little voices saying "open it Mama, open it!" meaning her presents of course. And the older angel starts singing happy birthday to her mom. How sweet! It put a smile on my face for sure. This is the first time in five years my sister has been home for her birthday, so I'm happy they are living here now. My mom is cooking her favorite meal tomorrow for dinner. She requested Manicotti and cheesy garlic bread. Yum!! My brother in law bought her a cookie cake. I think my mom was a little disappointed because she always bakes us our favorite cakes for our birthdays. I said just let him get her the cookie she wants. Anyway, we'll have dinner and more gifts tomorrow.

I went to vote today. Not much exciting to say on this topic. I'm ready for the big election in November. I was gone and home in 10 mins.

I started a new book today. I decided to start the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber. I'm reading 16 Lighthouse Road. I have heard these books are very good. I hope I can get interested in them. So far so good. I have the first three books, so I won't have to buy any for a while. I did order an amazon.com gift card with a points program I do, so I'll be getting plenty of free books.

My friend Tina called me from St. Louis today. It's always nice talking to her. She was telling me all about a big bbq she and her husband are hosting for the employees where he works tomorrow at their house. I hope it turns out really well. From the sounds of it, she has worked hard on TONS of food prep. I know if I were there, she would feed me. Her daughter who I absolutely adore, just lost her first tooth and is about to lose another. I can't wait to see pictures of that! HINT HINT...yes she reads my blog to keep up with me.

My friend Dawn sent me this wonderful award today. It's just so pretty! I love getting these. I thought I would answer the questions that came along with this. Thanks Dawn :)


1. Do you have the same friends since childhood? One of my best friends Tammy and I have been friends for over 30 years, so yes. I also have a friend Alice who now lives in Rhode Island who I stay in email contact with that I have known since we were little.

2. What do you value most about your friends? The fact that they are loyal.

3. Are your friends your sounding boards? Yes, we are for each other!

4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends? great conversations, blogging, dining out and shopping with some of them.

Pretty Fall Saturday

It's a nice day out today. I slept until before 9 then got up. My niece Carleigh was supposed to come over for the day to have one on one time with me, but her mom forgot about a family reunion. We'll just do it another day. Today I'm going to finish my book I got from Amazon last week. I started it earlier in the week and read half way through so far. No plans other than that. I think the LSU game will be televised tonight, so I'll be watching that as well.

I recorded the Debate for my sister last night because she knew it would be coming on during getting her girls down for the night, so she would have only seen an hour of it. I'll just watch it sometime this week. Last night I didn't feel good at all. I went to eat fish for lunch with neighbors and ended up getting sick. I was fine before I went, so I know that's what did it. Today I'm fine.

I have sort of a funny story to share. First grade at the school where my sister teaches was doing a unit on Johnny Appleseed. Well, earlier in the week she asked me to get a video about Johnny Appleseed, so I went to the libary's website and put it on hold. Didn't know which one, so I picked at random. Anyway, when I went to the school to pick up Claudia yesterday afternoon, my sister started telling me it was the wrong video and went into hysterics laughing. Apparently, she didn't take the time to preview the tape and it had a guy putting a noose around another guys neck, etc. I don't have a VCR any longer so I wasn't able to watch it. Anyway I laughed and said leave it to me to send violent films to school. The lead first grade teacher said don't feel bad because we ALL know these kids have seen worse at home. Next time I'll know to call my friend who runs one of our local branches and tell her to research it for me on their mainframe computer so I'll be sure to get the right material.

I have to say I'm quite disappointed in my niece. She came home from school yesterday saying her day was great, etc. so she spent the afternoon playing. Well, her friend who sometimes stays with us after school was at her grandmother's, so Claudia wanted to go down and play. I said that's fine. It's just directly behind my apartment. Well, they decided to wander off and take quite the stroll around the neighborhood behind us. Claudia's mom was here to get the kids and asked where Claudia was so Caleb told her what happened. Anyway, she gets back to my house and immediately starts this crying fit. Mama, I got a D in this and in this, etc...I was jaw dropped in shock! Had I known what kind of day this child had, she wouldn't have left my house. She LIED to me! Her mom and I decided she is grounded for a week from doing anything outside of homework and reading. She can't play on my computer, watch TV, play outside or anything because of her dishonesty and behavior in school. I told her if her friend coming over here and her going to her friend's house is going to be a problem, then it stops if necessary. There was some sort of note about several students in the class not passing AR reading and meeting the required points. After Chrissy read this note, Claudia raised her hand really big and said MEEEE!! like she was proud of that! I was in shock once again. I told Chrissy if her reading book doesn't come home or a required AR book isn't here, I will personally go to the library myself and get some books that I know she can read and make sure she does read them. It won't be anything of her choice either, such as these really easy books. What a week it's going to be around here next week. I told Claudia I was very disappointed in her for hiding this from me and that I don't lie to her. I expect the same respect from these kids. Oh, and to top things off, Claudia had the nerve to ask her mom if she could go back to her friend's house and play. Of course the answer was no. Caleb was down there playing with the girl's brother and Claudia tried to tell her mom Caleb had to come home too! Since when do kids make rules for parents?! Gray hairs are going to start multiplying around here lol

Ok, I've rambled enough. Hope everyone has a good Saturday