Happy Birthday Olivia!

My best friends welcomed their 2nd baby into the world yesterday.  Olivia Catherine was born on 09/22 at 9:22.  How neat is that??  She is the younger sister of a fabulous big brother, Kaleb who is 3 1/2.  I am writing this blog in honor of my BFF and her very lucky children.  

Christi and I have been great friends since high school, and have grown even closer as adults and mommies.  We were 2 of the few girls among a lot of wild boys in high school and beyond.  Our group has stayed friends for over 15 years and it is so fun to see all of us have little wild children of our own.  My mom always said I was ok as long as I was out with Christi.  We will not share all those stories on here for the world to see :) I was there when she was engaged to another guy and her now husband and I would spend hours on the phone talking about her.  I was there the night she got engaged (afterwards), I was in their wedding, she was the matron of honor in mine, and have been there to see the births of both of her babies. She knows more about me than anyone else and still puts up with me.  I am so lucky to have her in my life!

Here are some cute pics of the new baby!!!  Maybe I can dig out some old pictures of all of us for a good laugh.

Olivia and her mommy

A close up of baby.  She cannot help her that her parents have bad taste in football :)

The big brother!

Decorating

I love to decorate...Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays!!! You may never know it from looking at my house the rest of the year, but starting in the fall I am just another Martha Stewart. Now, I cannot even begin to make the things from scratch that she makes, but I can certainly buy them and thanks to my Holiday shower given to me for my wedding, I have enough decorations for the best of us. It is never too early to start with the next given holiday, so I decided to get a jump on Halloween this weekend. We are going to be busy the next 3 weekends, so I decided to haul it out tonight. Ben was eager to help at first, but that quickly changed (more about that in a minute). We got the boxes out of storage and I let him decide , at first, where everything was going to go. Now, I might let him have some toys on the floor or some dirty clothes in the basket but the decorations have a specific place and I quickly had to intervene on proper placement. We now have a house full of pumpkins, skeletons, spiders, leaves and other "scary" treats. One day I will have this and the best darn Kids Halloween party in town.





I asked Benji to smile and pretend that he loves decorating

Ben helping daddy with the lights


Back to Ben. Normally, the little one is not scared of anything. He wants to jump off the highest places, touch the creepiest things, and run around the house until he is out of breath. He loves to run into the kitchen and into the foyer and hide. He just laughs and laughs thinking that I cannot find him. Anyway, I have now found the perfect thing that will stop him in his tracks and make him come running back to mommy. Meet Mr Bones




He is motion activated and shakes when something makes him move. Ben does not like him and told me to "take the scary man down and put in closet". Of course, I told him that it was not real and only a decoration. but he refused to go into the kitchen. Now all I have to say is "You better______ or Mr. Scary Bones Man will come and get you" and he immediately minds. What??!! Just kidding (sorta). I did not take him down, but turned him off so that he will not shake!
Once I get everything up, I will post some more pictures!

Tuesday Tirade

At lunch, I am watching some reports reporting from Houston, TX. They are at a food pick up point and are interviewing the hundreds of people that are waiting for food and water. The one lady they interview got me thinking. **WARNING** Most readers to this blog are not going to agree with what I have to say about this topic!!
The one "chosen" to be interviewed could not understand or speak English. The reporter (Fox News) had to repeat the questions several times. The woman was in line with several children and was obviously upset over the way the food pick up was being handled. She was very angry with FEMA because she had to stand in line to get water and no one was showing up at her house to fix the hole in the roof and she had no gas and....on and on and on!! She was also quick to mention that only Hispanics and Blacks were in the line.
Now, before you mistake me for someone with no empathy on mankind, please know that I do sincerely care and are concerned for those in the hurricane's path. However, I believe that it is your own responsibility to make sure your family is taken care of in the event of a disaster. The hurricane was predicted for approximately 2 weeks before it hit. That was ample time to prepare. Some people financially could not leave, I understand that, however being prepared is the key to survival. Why is she waiting on a federal agency to come and fix the hole in her roof?? Is that really their respsonsibility when entire neighborhoods are gone? Get a tarp! Better yet, get a hammer and some nails and fix it yourself. Stop complaining that all you are getting is ice, ice can go along way. Maybe you should have filled up your car before the storm came through "in the event" that something would affect the gas lines and prices. Come on people, use some basic sense. Around here, people panicked so much that they were filling up their cars, lawnmowers, cars that have not been driven in years, and coffee cans. No wonder there was no gas!!! I filled up on Wednesday for the low low price of $3.39 and am still driving around on that same tank. I wanted to honk at all the people waiting in line for hours on Friday. Just a small honk and little friendly wave.
Anyway, I guess I am heartless and mean. For a living, I counsel unemeployed and underemployed people on proper career choices. The majority of the people I deal with always have an excuse about why they are in the shape they are in. Some are legit, the companies are not hiring, I need more skills to keep up, etc. Some of the people just have bad attitudes and there is no wonder they are where they are. The last few are always blaming others on their misfortune and these are the people that I have so sympathy or empathy (as my boss likes to use) for. No one wants to take responsibilty for their own lives!!! Why??
I have made my share of my mistakes in my life and am still paying for some of them. But I know, that I am making decsions based on what is right for my family. I am a law abiding, working citizen who does her best to make the world a better place.
The post has been a ramble and an apparent display of my ADD, but I feel better now.

So, for the last year or so, we (mainly Benji) have been wanting a new TV. Ours went out a while back and we moved the one from the bedroom downstairs. It has been working fine for me. I could live without the TV anyway, but Ben needs his cartoons and Benji needs...well. The only thing I look forward to watching is The Young and the Restless. Call me crazy, but I have watched this show since I was small and live vicariously through the characters in Genoa City. A month or two ago, I got settled in to watch that days episode on Soapnet, only to find out that soapnet was not on. Benji (who publicly loves Y&R too) immediately got on the phone with Charter to express his anger that there was an apparent problem with that particular channel. The lady on the other line (bless her heart) hardly spoke English and said that she had no clue why we were missing only that channel and she would need to send someone out there to check the lines. We would need to be home the following saturday between 3 and 5. Ok, great! We did our errands, arrived home before 3 and opened the door for the repairmen at 4:58. There was no need for them to check the lines because our problem was not there, but in the fact that we no longer receive Soapnet because we do not have the cable box. However, we could get the box for $10.00 more per month. We already pay way too much for the basic crap that we have now (we only have Charter for the internet). I told them no thanks and I appreciated my whole day being wasted when the lady on the phone could have told us that to begin with.
Fast forward to this past weekend. Benji mentioned that CC was having a sale on tv's and maybe we should go take a look at them. I was planning on getting him one for Christmas anyway, so I thought that at least this way he could pick out the one he wanted. We go in planning on a nice 40" flat screen. Anyway, thanks to the great salesman (even though we had several heated discussions on the old Tiger/Gamecock rival) and the fact that CC is offering no interest for 4 years, my credit card is now maxed out and we are the proud owners of a 46" flat screen TV. To most of you, this is probably old news and you already have one. However, for those that really know me and how I have to justify everything I do and spend, this was a purchase which took a lot of planning. I can now play my Wii in style, Ben can watch cartoons in an in-home theatre, and Benji can watch everything. I am pretty sure his fingers are cramped from hogging the remote. Since we bought the TV, the salesman has my number and should be holding me the WiiFit when it comes in. I told Benji that it is the only thing I want for Christmas. The best news is that once we got the TV programmed, guess what magically appeared???? The 5 hour marathon of Y&R. I don't need a $10.00 box...just a $2,000 TV.

We have been wanting to get a family portrait made. Glamour Shots has always been my favorite picture place and we finally saved up enough to get a package.

Today was another day of open houses and neighborhood stalkings :)  I know one day we are going to get stopped because "there is this white tahoe that keeps driving really slow up and down the street".

We got a late start, so we did not make it into actual open houses, but we rode through a few neighborhoods in Moore and Roebuck.  I actually dislike the open houses because the realtors completely change their tone when you tell them that you actually do not want that house, but maybe one similiar and ask who the builder is/was!  Yes, I may be wasting their time, but how else in the world am I going to know what we really like.  As soon as I figure out how, I will start posting some pictures and thoughts on the houses.  This blog will be temporarily renamed "The L's are trying to build a house and are going crazy".

In addition, we have been planning on building behind my inlaws.  That way we are on the same side of the road for simple trips between the two for the kiddos (both big and small) and I love the land and trees behind there.  After much thought and the fact that the driveway and joining on for power, water, etc will be most of our building budget, we have decided to look into other possibilities.  As you can tell, we are in the beginning planning stage, but I want to be in a new house by Christmas 2009.  My white columns and front porch will look fabulous decorated for the holidays.  :)  

I have spent numerous hours researching builders and plans and have found that I like a few local builders.  I am planning on meeting with them soon to discuss this plan that I have in my head.  Any suggestions on builders is appreciated!!!   

Today has been one of those trying parenting days.  You know the day when you said right, and the sweet babies go left.  You say No, and the sweet baby says "yes, I do not like you!"  Somewhere in the midst my sweet baby left and was replaced by Mr. Way too Independent I want my Way and I want it Now.  

I am not sure where he picked up the phrase "I do not like..." but it is being used way too much lately when a certain someone does not get his way.  I have developed a lot of patience in the last 2 years that even surprised myself and I can totally ignore a meltdown and tantrum by a 2 year old.  However, coming from someone who rarely has them it is a bit of a shock and causes a little anxiety in a certain mommy.  It is sweet to hear a few minutes later "I'm sorry mommy, I love you and you are my favorite friend :)".  Charm will only get you so far little one!!!

Tonight as the little mister is being tucked away by daddy, I am posting some cute pictures.   Mostly as a reminder that this is a phase and he will (eventually) grow out of it.  Just know that as I post these, I am also having a much needed drink and will soon get some much needed sleep.