I'm Thankful for What????

I generally like this time of year. I almost enjoy Thanksgiving more than any other holiday, but this year was different. Last Sunday, we dropped my husband off at the airport so he could fly out to his new job 600 miles away. My job for the next week was supposed to be spent getting our house ready to put up for sale(stop laughing). We delayed putting our house on the market because the home prices are falling so far so fast around here that we weren't sure what to do. My husband was going to call our mortgage company on Monday. Well, he did, and they were pretty much no help. It looks like we may be joining the ranks of those who are said to be "underwater" in their mortgages, even though we put 20% down on our house and have been making the monthly payments in a timely fashion, we have nothing (or less than nothing) to show for it. So, that is how the week started out. The kids only had two days of school last week, so that was something to look forward to, I guess. On Wednesday, I finally went to get an overdue mammogram, and was greeted by two ogres at the front desk who ignored me and allowed me to sit for 30 minutes without even asking for my paperwork. When I finally decided to ask one of the ogres what was going on, she was extremely rude to me, even though she was the one who made the mistake. The next day, of course was Thanksgiving. My husband was spending the long weekend with his side of the family, and they sounded like they were having a pretty good time. The girls and I made the traditional dinner and enjoyed it, but it was still weird. We called my family, but they pretty much blew us off because their party was breaking up when we called and they needed to say their goodbyes. The next thing that happened was that some sort of large dog-like creature (wolf, coyote, etc.) decided to rip its fur out by the roots right in my front yard. That creeped our dog out as well as the girls and I. We cleaned up the fur and tissue and went on about the rest of the day, which turned out to be the pinnacle of the holiday. My youngest daughter had just washed her hair and I was looking at it, and saw a bunch of little white dots in her hair. . . you guessed it! Her head was infested with lice. I spent the rest of the day putting LiceMD and olive oil on our hair and picking out nits, vacuuming the furniture, and putting everything I could in the dryer on high to kill the little buggers (or at least make myself feel better). Then, last night as I was laying peacefully on my newly changed sheets with my damp, olive-scented hair, I hear what sounded like an abnormally huge mouse/rat???? crawling around the other side of my bedroom wall! Oy! Someone must be trying to tell me something. Or maybe my life is just supposed to play out like a Dr. Suess story (lice, mice, etc.) or some sort of modern-day bible-like story of Job. At any rate, I still have much to be thankful for, not the least of which are my children and my husband's new job. We are doing well, have food to eat, clothes to wear and , for now, a roof over our heads. What else could a person ask for?

Bolt, Twilight & Stephen Colbert Reviews

I like to keep things short and sweet. I took my two younger daughters to see the new movie "Bolt" yesterday. My two older daughters went to see "Twilight" since they are "too old" for kids movies, and I tried to stay awake for the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special that premiered on Comedy Central last night. First, the move "Bolt". The way I rate a movie (especially kids movies) is whether or not I fall asleep. As for this charming little movie with the cute dog, I give it a 3 1/2 stars out of 4 because I stayed awake for the whole, predictable thing. The animation fascinated me. The dog, cat and hamster movements were so perfect they almost looked like real animals. I have had all three kinds of animals as pets, and this movie really personifies the animals' characteristics to a T! The humor was great too. As for "Twilight", I personally did not see the movie, but my 15 and 13 year olds gave it 3 out of 4 stars. I have read both the first and second books in the series (Twilight and New Moon) and while the story is interesting, I was not all that into it like so many moms and daughters are. The writing is okay, but the main character, Bella, annoys me and seems to have some mental health issues. If my daughters ever acted like that, I would definitely seek professional help. No girl should ever put that much importance on a boyfriend! Anyway, the girls seemed to think the movie followed the book pretty well and added a few humorous elements that they seemed to enjoy. Finally, the Stephen Colbert thing. I had high hopes for this to really make me laugh. There were some pretty funny things on throughout the show, but nothing that really made me laugh out loud; and nothing that I can really recall this morning that stuck with me, so I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of four. I know People magazine gave it 3 1/2 stars, but what do they know anyway. It was funny, but not that funny. All in all, I would say our movie viewing for this weekend was pretty darn high quality!

Cheer Me Up, Stephen Colbert!

I've been feeling a little stressed out and blue this week. Lots of changes are in store for us starting this weekend and with change comes stress. Tomorrow we meet with our real estate agent to discuss how to market our house in this crappy economy. I know what the reality is, but the thing that is bumming me out so completely is that even if we sell our house here, we will not necessarily have any money to put down on a house back in Indiana. My husband is getting a promotion and makes an excellent wage, but we may not have any money to put down on a house which means that we will probably have to find someplace to rent. Finding a place to rent in the school district we want to be in and with the capacity to house all six of us and our dog seems like an almost impossible task. The other big change is that my husband will start his new job on Monday, which is great, but I will be here (600 miles away) with the girls trying to sell this house. The one thing that I have to look forward to is the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special that will be airing on Comedy Central on Sunday evening. I am looking forward to it. Jon Stewart will be on singing a duet with Mr. Colbert, the two sound pretty good together! I need a little Christmas cheer and this may just be the thing to lift me up. The show premieres on November 23 at 10:00 PM, and the DVD will be available on November 25. Cheer me up, Stephen!

Wheeeee! I Got the Wii Stuff

In my last post I was starting my quest for a Wii Fit and/or Mario Kart game for my girls for Christmas. I was not looking forward to running in and out of stores searching frantically for something that just isn't in stock--anywhere! I decided to take the easy route and get what I wanted from ebay. The thing is that I don't think I really saved too much money, but since I got to the ebay site through my sendearnings.com portal, I will get cash back for my purchase and the shipping was free. In addition, I purchased my games as a bundle, so that was much easier than trying to search around ebay for the two items separately. Yay, me!
Please see my sendearnings.com ad to the right of my posts if you are interested in joining. I got a check for $35.00 a couple of weeks ago from purchases and emails I had read. It is on the up and up, and for me, any little bit of money I can get is a help!

Wii Fit & Mario Kart Quest Begins

There are just about five weeks before Christmas, and once again, I am on quest for something that is going to be almost impossible to find. That's my kids for you! Anyway, my quest for either a Wii Fit and/or the Mario Kart game has begun. I keep looking everywhere I go, just in case there might be one lurking on a dark and dusty shelf somewhere. So far, I have come up empty. This year may be the year that the kids get a picture of the gift we will give them whenever we can get our hands on it. It could be that I will just be in the right place at the right time too; that has been known to happen once in awhile. Anyway, I'm off on my quest in earnest today!

Adele

I purchased the new Adele Adkins album "Adele19" last week and I simply love it! You may be wondering who Adele is. I didn't know who she was until I heard her song, "Chasing Pavements" playing on the radio. I simply had to know who this soulful singer was, so I checked her out, and she is a young gal (20 years old) who was born in North London. She is a jazz/soul singer and songwriter and I can't seem to get enough of her sound. If you have the time and like this style of music, please enjoy this video. We will probably be hearing a lot more from this young singer.

So Ugly Its Cute?

Yesterday, news broke that the country of Peru has offered the Obama girls a special kind of dog from their country; a Peruvian Hairless Dog. They were offered a four month old puppy named Ears. The little fellow is pretty cute, but sort of ugly. I did a search for other pictures of Peruvian Hairless, also known as Peruvian Orchid or, Pero Sin Pelo de Peru. Apparently, the dogs are an ancient breed valued by the Inca. The adult dogs look quite substantial; muscular and perhaps a little regal. They look like they would need sunscreen rubbed on them when they are out in the sun, and if one was living in Washington, D.C., I would bet it would need to wear a coat or sweater during the winter months when it goes outside. Anyway, it was a nice gesture for the people of Peru to offer their unusual dog. Hopefully, if the girls decide not to take them up on the puppy offered, the people of Peru won't be too offended. I am a dog lover, so pretty much any dog is attractive to me, but this fellow is pretty weird looking. Maybe this kind of dog is so ugly, it is cute.*

*This is one of many pictures of a Peruvian Hairless dog, this is NOT the actual dog offered to the Obamas.

So That's Why They Wobble!

Hey, I get one of those carts every time I shop at Target!

Chock Full Of Shopping Carts @ Yahoo! Video

Google Adsense

I find the whole Google Adsense program intriguing. I have been using Google Adsense for about a year now, and am amazed to see that I am actually earning a little bit of money on a consistent basis. My blog is nothing but the ramblings of my sometimes addled brain, and yet people read it and find some Google ad on the page that they are interested in, and ta-da, they click on it, and I get some money. I am not so much interested in earning tons of money (although if that happened, I wouldn't complain), rather I am just intrigued by the fact that people actually read blogs, and one can actually earn money by just entering posts on their blogs. It really does work, even for me!

Time for a Little Fun

I know this is a little bit late, but just for "shiggles" I was trying out the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator, and it was pretty funny. I kind of like my new name, Clip Dragon Palin! If you want to see what your name would be if you were born into the Palin family, you can go to http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html My husband and kids' names are hilarious. Taupe Armegeddon Palin, Puck Mule Palin, Spackle Camshaft Palin, Pistol Tanker Palin, and Froth Moonshine Palin. Enjoy!

Today Is The Day! Get Out & Vote!

Already voted this morning. In our tiny town, the polling places are very busy. Hope they are where you are too! Today is the day that we should all cherish. We are free to choose, so go do it! Vote today. Make your voice heard! God bless America!

Back to "Real" Time

Today is the first day of what my daughter refers to as "real time," that is we go back to Standard Time after observing Daylight Saving Time. Of course I'm from the old hold-out state of Indiana, where they only started observing Daylight Savings Time two years ago. Now, only Hawaii and Arizona don't observe it. I liked it when Indiana didn't switch times. It really doesn't make that big of a difference--even for businesses. It actually makes more sense for Indiana to go on Central Time, but who am I anyway? It doens't matter now either since we are no longer living in Indiana. So today, people will be all messed up when it comes to church services, and it will be pitch black when my older kids get home from school, from now until about March. I don't know about how much DST really benefits us. It just seems like a lot of messing around to me. Does anyone really know what time it is?