and the worst-mother-of-the-year award goes to...

me!! my little one has been coughing (pretty bad) for about 3 weeks. she has had NO other symptoms (no fever, no sore throat, no lack of appetite, no feeling bad, etc.) - her only other complaint was that she sometimes felt itchy. well, everything that i have seen on the news about the flu said if you have a fever that it's a good sign of the flu and to go to the doctor, but if you are itching (with a cough, runny nose, etc.) it is probably just allergies. i was so afraid that if I took her to the doctor she might catch the piggy flu from some other sick kid so i had just been loading her up with allergy medicine! i finally took her to the doctor yesterday and she has strep throat!! even the doctor was surprised that it's strep because her throat isn't even red and she has no fever. i feel so guilty, but i guess that's part of being a mom!

12th anniversary

today the hubby and i are celebrating our 12 year anniversary! in those 12 years, we have had:

12 years of marriage (we got married at the base chapel on October 17, 1997)
11 years of going to nascar races together
10 jobs (for me - as a legal secretary at a law office, the accounts coordinator at an eye doctor's office, a housewife, a stay-at-home mom, babysitting "my weekday baby", and PTA president/treasurer and for brent - an air conditioning technician for hawk, tom's, air rite, and msi)
9 kids birthday parties that we have hosted at our house (6 for the 1st grader, 3 for my little one)
8 times that we have been in weddings (me in stacy's, kim's, and amber's, brent in jake's, kent's, mike's, james', and jason's)
7 pets (4 fish - kobe, albert, mickey and minnie and 3 dogs - scooter, kitty and anni)
6 cars (saturn, honda accord, dodge durango, chevy trailblazer, chevy 1972 pickup truck, and a dodge journey)
5 been to mexico (4 to cancun and 1 to cozumel)
4 trips to the beach with the girls (3 to port aransas and 1 to lake michigan in chicago)
3 houses (on langley avenue, on longmont trail and on vista way)
2 kids (the 1st grader and my little one)
and finally
1 imperfect couple who learned to enjoy their differences

I LOVE YOU HUBBY!!

-ing

The -ING game:

Reading: the Sunday paper

Drinking: unsweet iced tea (my usual drink of choice)

Listening: to my husband gripe at all of us that "it's clean-up day"!

Feeling: overwhelmed (with everything that needs to be done)

Watching: Fox NFL Sunday Countdown (I love Howie and Terry)

Snacking: I'm actually not eating anything right now - I ate too much at breakfast!

Humming: "Little Sally Walker" chant that my daughter sings at cheer camp. "Hey girl, do your thing, do your thing, now switch!"

Wearing: a big Jeff Gordon sweatshirt and yoga pants - COMFY!

Cooking: Brent has a brisket on the smoker right now for dinner tonight

Paying: bills (that's what I need to do after posting this blog)

Dreaming: of winning the lottery (I guess it would help if I actually bought a ticket)

Smelling: the brisket on the smoker - our whole house will smell like smoke by the end of the day!

Loving: my family

Anticipating: our anniversary next weekend

Okay, your turn!

"what the hell?" wednesday

have you watched the show "toddlers in tiaras"? what the hell? these "pageant moms" start these kids out early - some of them at just a few days old - the "late bloomers" at 10 months! i just don't get it! the natural pageants might be okay but these glitz pageants are nuts! by "glitz pageant", i mean fake teeth, fake hair, fake nails, fake tan, fake eyelashes - on a five year old. these girls are being told "you're so pretty but" ... you need fake everything!

then these little girls get on stage and make crazy faces that are supposed to look cute. i have never seen anyone in real life make faces like this! the funniest part is watching these overweight moms that are living their dreams through their child making the faces to prompt their "little darlings"!!

another thing that i don't get about why they do these pageants is the families spend thousands of dollars "preparing" the child for it and then the maximum prize is $600 - $1,000! I don't think it takes a math major to figure out that you are spending more than what is possibly coming in! they say that they are doing it for college money but if they would just take the money that they are spending and put it in a savings account they would have plenty to put their "little darling" into college!

hey pageant moms, what are you teaching your child? that being beautiful is the most important thing in life and to be beautiful you have to completely change yourself! of course, i think that my girls are beautiful but i have absolutely no desire to put them through all of this pageant crap! and really, these girls are cuter before they are all "made up" because they end up looking like freaky little dolls by the time the moms are done with them!

oh, and in case you want to watch, it will be on tonight on tlc at 9 pm - i'll be watching!

to yoga or not to yoga

first let me say, i am a multi-tasker. i don't do anything by itself - except sleep (and if i could figure out a way to get something else done while sleeping, i would). i never just watch tv while laying on the couch - i'm either folding laundry, clearing out the dishwasher, clipping coupons, etc. i make phone call while cooking meals. the only time i have to read my magazines is when i'm working out. i even say my prayers while i'm taking a shower. i can never "turn my brain off" - i'm always thinking of things i need to do.

with that said, i'm thinking about taking a yoga class. i took a yoga "mommy and me" class once before and i thought it was the biggest waste of time! the whole class i was sitting there thinking "i could be lifting weights or running or something - i mean, i'm not even sweating"! it about killed me to sit there for a whole hour and do these "silly" exercises when all i could think of was all of the things i need to be doing! but you know, maybe that's what i need to do to slow down and learn how to relax. i have absolutely no patience and i'm always stressed out and irritable. i recently saw an article that said yoga may actually help me in other aspects of my life to destress and relax, so maybe i should give it a try! i'll let you know if i end up doing it.