No, I've never been homeless and I shop at Ikea and Wal-mart...

....Does that make me a jerk or something?

***

So here is my story:

This was last week.

Superman and I have finally finished building our basement.

With all the extra space we were needing some items to aid with organization.

So I went to Ikea.

Now the closest Ikea located to our home, located in city "A", is roughly 60 miles away.

I'll call the city it is located in city "B".

I made the drive.

Naturally I spent several hours walking around and shopping in Ikea.

Thus it was late by the time I purchased my items and left.

Before I went to Ikea I had dropped my kids off at my Mom's house.

She lives in city "C".

City "C", is about 30 miles from my house in city "A".

When I dropped my kids off I was a little worried that Sissy would have a hard night as she had molars coming in.  So I decided that I ought to stop at Wal-mart on my way home to get some Tylenol in case Sissy needed it.

So driving back from Ikea I got off the freeway in city "C", to go to their local Wal-mart.

Incidentally, the Wal-mart is not located right off of the freeway.

In fact it is several twist, turns, and miles from the freeway.

It wasn't out of my way as this was the city my Mom lives in.

So I got to Wal-mart, and proceeded to shop.

Completely forgetting about the Tylenol and instead buying Thanksgiving dinner items I was going to be needing that week.

With all my items piled high in my cart I headed out to my truck.

It was already weighted down with Ikea stuff, it was going to be quite a task to load up the groceries I had, but I went ahead with it.

As I went about my business I was approached from behind.

"Excuse me maam?"

I turned around to see a young man standing about twenty feet behind me.

He looked to be about nineteen, with only a hoodie jacket on.

Hood pulled up.

His look was very reminiscent of my nineteen year old brother.

I listened to the kid as he forlornly explained the helpless state he had found himself in.

"Hey I was wondering if you might be headed to city "D"?

 (a city located a few miles south of where I was heading)

I was confused and asked him, "Huh?"

"Well," he said giving me puppy dog eyes.

"My brother, sister, her kids and I are trying to get home.  We are just on our way home from city "E" 

(a long ways away from city "C") 

and we've run out of gas.  We are just trying to get home.  We are just hoping to find a ride with someone heading that way."

I asked him where his sister and brother were.

He told me they were in the store keeping the little kids warm and that he felt so stupid going around asking for help but that they didn't have any other choice.

I asked him if they had a phone, he said they had a cell phone and had been trying to get ahold of family.

I asked him how old the little kids were, he said 3 and 1.

He had hold of my heart strings.

But still, I said to him, well how do I know that I can believe you?

You've got a questionable appearance and all.

Yes I really told him that, lol!

He just told me he knew how he looked and then reiterated how stupid he felt, 

but that they really needed help.

Now being me, being a woman all I could think about was that poor mom and her poor little baby kids.

It was freezing outside, and it was 10PM.

I took pity.

***

Stay tuned.

I'll finish this story tomorrow ;D

We are not homeless.....but boy do I have a story to tell...

Superman and I, we have different beliefs.

I think mostly because:

A: I am a Woman 

B: He is not.

I tend to get more emotionally involved than he does.

***

Today I want to talk a little bit about being homeless or helpless.

This time of year has a tendency to bring out all sorts of  questionable "Creeps" and "Weirdos".

Notice the quotations there, keep them in mind.

Anyway.  

You can't go anywhere without seeing some poor soul standing in the bitter cold with a sign that says something to the effect of:

-Give me your hard earned money because I am standing out here giving you puppy dog eyes-

Now first it must be said that I want to help EVERYBODY!!!!

No exaggeration.

I want to help these people, I would give them the coat off my back and the sandwich out of my hand.  But I hesitate to give money.  Money that may be spent in a manner that I don't see fit.  And yes I think I do get a say in how it is spent if it is MY (OR SUPERMANS) HARD EARNED MONEY!!!!!

But still I want to help and if I have an idea of where that money is going to be going:

Online everywhere you see that half the world needs a donation to pay for whatever tribulation they are facing (usually medical).  I have no problem with that and would like to donate to them all, but then I'd be the one asking for handouts wouldn't I.

Superman does not like me to give out money.

He does not like it when I donate to anything.

We pay our tithing (10% of all the money we bring in goes straight to the church of Jesus Christ of LDS), and not just that, we always pay extra.

Superman feels like that is doing our part, as far as cash and money goes.

(If you don't know, the "mormons" LDS are very charitable)

And when I am really thinking clearly about it, I agree, until I see those puppy dog eyes, 

or hear that heart breaking 

"We ran out of gas and we have no money and we just want to get home" 

sob story.

Then I have to refrain from emptying my wallet for a stranger.

I don't think this is heartless, I don't think I am being selfish.

Not in the slightest.

And I'll tell you why....

Tomorrow...

Boy have I got a story to tell.

A story that Superman HATES!!!

And that scares him to death!!!

And that I never should have told him, but did because I thought it was funny, lol!

So stay tuned for tomorrows story :D

And Lyon says...

"Is our house bigger than a giant?"

I'm grateful for such a little cutie :D

Family Photography

What can I say,

Superman has a nice SLR camera.

He is good at the whole family photography sort of thing.

Or at least the camera part.

I think I am pretty good at the whole family photography location and setup.

Together we take good family photographs.

That is of course my own opinion, lol, if you don't like em so be it.

You may have noticed that Superman is in a lot of these photos, and so am I.

So who did the family photography?

I already told you, Superman and myself.

He set up the camera and the tripod.

I organized (as best as can be done with little ones) then Superman set the timer,

ran to join me and the kids, and we yelled happy birthday, apple, and cheese at the camera hoping desperately that the kids would at least look in that general direction.

Despite the muddy (we were in an orchard and there was a whole lot of mud)

predicament that our shoes were in, and soon enough Lyon's hands were in.

I think the pictures turned out pretty good.

Notice the one in the top corner with me and the kids,

Bear is looking at his elbow.

He scraped it on the tree, it hurt, and it started to bleed.

To Bear blood means the absolute worst thing imaginable,

and thus was brought to all out bawling.

We finished as fast as we could and made a B line for the exit.

Wam, Bam, thank you Mam.

We got'er done.

Yay!

:D

The project

We've been working on a project.

Well mostly Superman has been working on a project.

Finishing our basement.

We are so close, just the last few touches left.

We are tired, hurting, and sore. 

The carpet is coming and Superman is having surgery next week.

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving is next week too.

We are hosting it for a few members of my family.

Yeah, those last few things left to do on our project need to be done like yesterday.

There is too much going on all at the same time.

Both Superman and myself are getting on edge.

Ornery, irritable, snappy, and did I mention we are tired.

It has been a long road to travel down.

And now as we have almost reached our destination we realize that the last stretch is a cliff that we have to climb in our injured sorry state.

My wrists are so sore from painting I can barely even type this.

So stiff and numb, though thankfully it is just my wrists that are numb 

and not a whole hand like Superman's with his  carpal tunnel.

I can see the finish line in the distance, and yet my will is wavering.

I keep wanting to say, "Eh, we don't really need to do that, we can live without painting that."

But we can't so I carry on.

I am not complaining, no no, just explaining.

Explaining why my house (the upstairs) has gone to hell.

Piles of dishes on every surface, mountains of papers, floors in desperate need of sweeping and vacuuming.

I've been putting all of the time, I would normally spend on those things, on the basement.

I've been washing paint spills instead of dishes, I've been mopping the concrete floor 

(so it is clean when we install the carpet) 

instead of mopping my kitchen floor.  

I've been vacuuming every crevice in the basement,  instead of vacuuming my living room.

I've been getting my workout by rolling paint instead of yoga and aerobics.

I'm telling you my back has never gotten such a good workout.

And with all of that,

I am thankful.

I am so thankful that we have the motivation (eh), determination, and ahem money to finish our basement.

We'll make it.

Though straggling, starved, and dehydrated, we will cross our finish line.

And I'm grateful ;D

Twizzlers

I like Twizzlers.

I prefer the original, strawberry licorice.

My kids saw these brightly colored Twizzlers and begged me to get them.

I gave in and got em.

I figured that these Twizzlers although full of artificial coloring, they would probably be tasty.

I thought wrong.

These Twizzlers were full of artificial coloring and tasted awful!

Like plastic, bleh!

Not only were the Twizzlers awful tasting, they ended up in some very awful places.

My paper shredder.

I don't know what my daughter was doing, do we ever know?

There she stood, bawling, because her Twizzler was stuck.

I was fortunately able to get the licorice out the next day.

In the mean time I vowed to never buy those yucky Twizzlers again.

***

For those of you that are worried about my baby girls tiny little fingers being so close to the opening of a paper shredder.  No worries.

My paper shredder will not turn on unless a certain light switch (located four feet off the ground) is turned on.  Not only that, my paper shredder has a special safety feature, it stops the second anything warm touches the silver lining around the opening.

Her fingers were quite safe and unharmed.

And I am grateful for that.

And Lyon says...

"Trick or treat if you don't I'll pull down 

my unerwear pants, ha ha ha ha ha!"

The picture was Supermans idea...

Bear saw a smaller version of this picture on my computer and asked me,

"What's that green picture of, are those germs?"



***


I'm grateful Superman pointed out something so pretty to me.

Indoor game to play: bowling

It's cold wet and rainy outside.

So we bowl.

It's a great indoor game to play when done right.

First get 12 24oz soda or water bottles.

Second fill them 1/4 of the way with rice.

Third glue the lids on.

Fourth decorate them if you want.

Fifth make sure you have a kick ball, if not buy one from Wal-mart or something.

Sixth set the pins up.

Now your ready to play your indoor game.

START BOWLING :D

To mix it up a bit I will often make the pins into the shape of a letter and have the kids tell me what letter it is and what sound it makes.  You know to make it edutainment and all.

Indoor bowling has been a popular indoor game to play when it's too wet outside.

I'm grateful for soda bottles for this exact purpose.

And Bear says...

"Knock Knock"

Who's there...

"Salsa"

Salsa who...

"Salsa butt poo.  Hahaha!"

Baby belly?

I'm young, I'm married, I'm thin and I have young children.

All these things lead people to wonder,

"Is that a baby belly?"

"Is Rose pregnant?"

That is just the way it is.

It's dangerous territory.

Because, in fact, I am not pregnant and do not have a baby belly.

But it is suspected every time I eat a large meal and then walk around with a rounder than usual belly.

ADMIT IT, YOU HAVE WONDERED AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE!!!

LOL!

I know I have.

NO, I haven't wondered if my own post large meal belly was a baby belly.

But I have wondered about others.

Sometimes, okay rarely, I am right and they are showing a baby belly.

It's all the other moments that give me reason to NOT ask,

"When are you due?"

Oh the humorousness that would be.

I am grateful that I have enough to eat to make my belly stick out.

Pumpkin

Well of course we carved a pumpkin for Halloween.

Bear and Superman went and picked one out from the grocery store.

(Sadly we didn't make it to the pumpkin patch this year.)

Not only did they get a pumpkin, they got a pumpkin carving kit as well.

I gotta tell you that those pumpkin carving kits are awesome!!!

The ones with the booklet and the tiny serrated carving knives.

I must admit I was very dubious as to how well they would even work.

Well, all doubts faded as Superman and I carved that pumpkin with ease.

Best Pumpkin I have ever carved.

Next years will be even better ;D

I'm grateful I gave something new a try.

Wordless Wednesday: Today I am at a loss for words, I am laughing too hard ;D

I forgot to wash her Kitty costume so little Sissy Fenix was a "bampire" too.

I am grateful for a camera to catch these moments.

And Lyon says...

"Come on Mom, get me ready for care garden."

I don't know what the heck care garden is!  It took me a full ten minutes to figure out that he was actually asking me to get him ready for Kindergarten so he could go with Bear.  

Lyon wanted to be a "bampire" for Halloween, just like Bear.

Hailing

It started hailing as I was on my way to pick up Bear from school the other day.

HAILING!!!!

Now had Superman not had the foresight to see that we would need a second car to protect me and our children from having to walk through such circumstances, well......

Of course when Bear saw that it was hailing, the first 

thing he asked me was if he could walk home in it!!!

I sat in my car so happy that I was NOT walking in it and that was all Bear wanted to do, lol!l

I didn't let him.

He rode in the car.

And I am grateful :D

And Bear says...

"I wish there was such thing as a air shower."

He was a "bampire" for halloween.

Halloween Candy

Fenix is a definite fan of Halloween Candy.

Whoppers

Candy bars

dum dums

M&M's

Smarties

Chewy Lemon Heads

(My personal favorit, sooooo good)

Yes, she liked all the Halloween Candy.

Perhaps she indulged, perhaps I let her indulge, in a little too much Halloween candy.

She had so much candy on her!

We found Halloween candy in some interesting places:

Yes that would be a Smartie stuck in her belly button.

I think she was saving it for later, lol!

;D

I'm grateful she got to enjoy it.