Insight

I got this list from sister in law, Mimi's blog. I thought it gave some insight into who she is and want to do the same.

I live for peace

I work in mouths

I talk to myself

I wish on eyelashes

I enjoy a clean home and happy children.

I look for the silver lining most of the time.

I smell clean clothes

I hide my imperfections (probably just from myself)

I pray for forgiveness

I walk on sore feet

I sing very loud and off tune in my car with the stereo turned up.

I can do what I set my mind to do

I watch people.

I yearn to give my children all that they need.

I daydream about being financially set.

I want to live a righteous life

I cry when my hubby cries.

I read the ticker tape on the news

I love Max and cooking good food.

I wonder what the future holds for our country

I touch people when I talk to them, usually on the arm or shoulder

I hurt when I hear of children being abused

I fear God

I hope to someday fit into a size 10

I break an egg with one hand

I eat beef tongue

I quit when I am done.

I bathe my dog

I drink my soup

I save coupons

I hug people when they are feeling sad

I miss my college friends

I forgive quickly

I learned never to cook bacon naked

I have a warm home

I don't have cool cars

I kiss my children on the bridge of their noses.

Snow bunnies

Yes we are getting hit with lots of snow!!! It looks like 8 inches, by our ruler, and it is still snowing. We are in our warm home, playing the Wii, computer and watching movies. The girls decided to play in the snow... cute kids if I do say so my self.

Chloe found out that she can roll

down our front steps.

They loved the hot cocoa with whipped cream and marshmallows that greeted them when they were ready to come in.

Christmas Catch up!

I know it has been a while and lots of fun things have passed, so I will catch up as much as possible.

My Mom and Dad have returned home from their Cambodia mission. We enjoyed the early morning airport scene. They had a nice open house and enjoyed hearing about their experiences.

One Christmas gift was seeing Disney on Ice: The girls loved it!!!

They also enjoyed Santa's work shop:

We spent a lot of time with family this Festive Season, but forgot my camera for most of it. Besides sharing the flu with many, it was truly a wonderful way to celebrate the Birth of Christ.

I Love This Season

Things I am thankful for:
a great family
a loving husband
a warm home
The Gospel Of Jesus Christ
Scriptures
my husband having a job
a new school that helps Alta realize her potential
the spirit of Christmas
good friends
repentance
forgiveness
sweaters
my parents staying safe
my sister returning from Egypt safely
pre- lite Christmas trees
food, specially turkey dinners
chocolate
good advice
Life Lessons
cars

Things I look forward to:
Decorating our home with Christmas fun
Baking Christmas Wreaths
Decorating Christmas cookies
Christmas music
Cinnamon/ orange potpourri on the stove
Christmas pictures
Buying the perfect gifts
Wrapping and decorating these perfect gifts
writing a Christmas card-- hopefully sending them out
Greeting my parents after 18 months of having them in Cambodia
driving around and looking at Christmas lights
Searching for Santas
Teaching Chloe how to read
Kissing Max under the mistletoe
Teaching my children it is better to give than to receive
reading the Christmas story on Christmas eve

Thank You Pesticides

I appreciate all the responses in my flea conflict. I had googled what to do before anyone had responded, and it talked of soap and water. So I washed Lexi, letting the water get up to her neck, to drown all the fleas, I found 6 fleas in the bath water. I combed and blow dried her. I still had to quarantined her to the bath tub, because I still found live fleas on her after all that. She was not a happy dog not getting to go for rides in the car when ever we left, or play with her girls, or sleep with them at night. It was a hard time for her and us listening to her whelp. Max called the vet and they suggested Front line, to just pick up at the pet store. Max went and they were all out of Front line, but he picked up "Spot On"(a cheaper competitor) It is a chemical pesticide that is placed on the neck. I guess it worked because by the time I got home from work (because I don't work for the government and most people don't get Veterans day off), Max said he couldn't find any fleas on her. I had washed all the bedding and vacuumed all the areas she lays. So she is out of the quarantined bath tub, on her clean pillow, and we will see if there is a re infestation. I hope not. Only time will tell... approx 2 weeks. I wonder how safe these pesticides are for my family? If you have read my blog, or know me at all, you would know I hate bugs...not just fleas, not just spiders, any kind of bug. My question is will this chemical cause cancer in my children later on? I wonder if it is this like burning down the house to get rid of fleas, sure it does the job, but I wonder what I am left with? Just wondering.... in the mean time the girls are all back together.

Fleas!!!

Our cute Shih Tuz dog Lexi has fleas. Does anyone have a full proof way of getting rid of them?? I need help? Should I just get a collar, should I wash her with a special soap? What has helped anyone out there in the blogging world? What do I have to do to my home? I haven't noticed any around, just on her. She has a skin condition that makes her itch, but Saturday, Max saw a flea on her, so I don't know how long she has had them. My girls (or I ) don't want to play with her and her little doggie heart is breaking. What should I do to get rid of these nasty pests? This pic is before getting fleas.... they would sleep with each other all the time. Isn't this cute.

Now poor little Lexi is all alone.... actually she isn't allowed on any furniture or blankets or pillow except her own doggie pillow.
Having Lexi for 2 1/2 years and this is the first flea problem, isn't too too bad.

Picture Tagged

It was a few weeks ago that I got tagged, but I did not realize it. It was while I was away at a funeral in Utah. Sorry it has taken me so long, but I guess the rules of the game are this....Phyllis Kimmel tagged me and I am to go to my picture file click on the 4th folder and then click on the 4th picture and post it....

So here it is, one of my favorite pictures of Alta summer of '07

Isn't she a beautiful girl. I love her smile and the way she is looking at me. We were just goofing around with pictures one Sunday afternoon. Boy do I love this girl. She warms my heart.
Now I get to tag 4 others...
Mimi

Michelle

Shelly

Emily

Halloween Costumes... Finally

I know it took me long enough...here

Ghostly Ghost Craft

All one would need are a few simple things,
Cheese cloth cut into various sizes, depending on how big you want your spooky ghost.(you want the cloth to be bigger than the balloon, it needs extra length all around the balloon.)
Liquid starch... I looked all over and old faithful Walmart was the only store in the area to carry it.
Balloons- the size you would like your ghosts to be, I had a couple different sizes, I think a real small balloon/ ghost would be cute.
Sharpie marker, black preferable.
Newspaper-to protect the working surface
Time-about 8 hours give or take

All you have to do is.... 1st lay out newspaper, then blow up balloon to preferred size, I had a difficult time getting the balloon to stay still as I was working with it, so I got a canning lid hole side up and place the knot of the balloon into hole and slipped under edge of ring to hold it in place. Then the weight of the cloth will set it in place.
dump liquid starch into a flat container (a bowl was difficult to work with),
take your cut to size Cheese Cloth open it to full size, then drench the cloth into the liquid starch. Squeeze the extra starch out of cloth. Carefully open to full size again and spread out the wet cheese cloth.
Cover balloon, leaving fun floating cloth edges around the balloon on the table.
This edging is what the finished product/Ghost stands on and give the ghostly spooky appearance.
Then wait, constantly tell children to leave it alone. I did it at night time to minimize this last step and let it dry overnight.
In the morning, most of the cheese cloth was dry except for a thick part of the edging where it was folded. I then drew a face on the ghost with the sharpie marker. Cut the knotted side of the balloon (i did not want to pop it). As the balloon shrank, it pulled away from the cheese cloth and Voila! A Ghostly Ghost. Place around the house to decorate or Halloween.

We sure had a nice time at the haunted forest in the Carlyle Reservation. It is free of charge, and that means lots of people. They moved us along quickly, but there were some roadblocks. Especially at the pumpkin patch and the scary haunted houses along the path. It was really neat to see 300 carved lighted jack-o-lanterns suspended above a pond. The reflections in the water made it seem even more pumpkins than there were. There was also a spinning bridge called the Vortex. It gave such an optical illusion that even Chloe loved it and wanted to do it over and over. It was a bridge that went through a tunnel that was spinning, as you entered the tunnel the inside was painted with florescent paint and had a black light illuminating the decor. You seriously had the feeling the bridge was turning over. I had to hold onto the railing half way through. Very fun. Through out the trail were several haunted homes, some were "friendly" some were "scary" I was glad they let you know before entering to determine what child would enjoy. It seems Alta loved the scary, Chloe not so much, we kept her out of the scary houses. Chloe was a little nervous with the fluorescent hanging plastic skeletons along the trail. She held her daddy's big hand to keep her safe.
It was so nice spending some time with Christine and her kids. We were so excited to have them visit. I realize how nice it is to be with family and share time with them. Thanks for making the trip, and spending time with us. We loved it!!