100th Post, Interrupted

I meant to make my 100th post a presentation of my new blog, as well as my "100 Things About Me" list. But something more important has come up, so those things will have to wait.

Our good friend, JB, got terribly sick this weekend. He went to the local hospital, where he was admitted. After running some tests, a blood clot was discovered in his brain and he was rushed to a larger hospital. Now apparently they have found that there are actually clusters of blood clots on his brain. It's very serious, and one wrong move by a clot could have deadly results.

If all things go well, the blood thinner will shrink the blood clot and it will go on its merry way. Even with those results, he would be in the hospital at least two weeks.

DH and I have both spent time at the hospital the past two nights, but we have been unable to see him due to the amount of pain he's in right now.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He's had a rough few years, with major negative changes to his personal life. He NEEDS to recover. His young children NEED him to recover.

I-I

DH's grandmother passed away last night peacefully. We will miss her, but we know she's in a better place! She was in her mid-90s was ready to go. Thanks for everyone's comments and emails. They are much appreciated.

Grandma I-I

We are close to losing the matriarch of DH's family. Grandma I-I, as she is affectionately known as, is in her last days. She has not been eating or drinking for 2+ days. Please pray that it goes quickly and painless for her.

School Board Update!

I know some of you were following my school board election this fall, so I’ll give you a little update on how things are going so far.

I placed my first “nay” vote at the last meeting. I stood my ground and argued my point for 30 minutes, to no avail. The item passed 3-2 which was a total bummer, but at least my “nay” vote is on record for if – I mean WHEN – this decision backfires and people are screamin at the board.

I never thought I would say this but I LOVE LOVE LOVE being on the board. No, neighbor Tom, not because I love the power it gives me. Well, ok that kinda rocks, but I really feel like I’m going to make a difference to the district. I have a ton of ideas that I’m sure the board will be “on board” with. Most of my ideas involve saving money while increasing our services. How can they disagree with that?

My husband is on the city council. My god, who the hell do we think we are? Anyhoo, the one thing we’ve noticed is that people expect you to be available to them at all hours of the day. Got an issue? Oh, by all means interrupt our football game in the yard with our two sons FOR AN HOUR to tell me all about your problems. And calling me at 7:00AM – totally ok. Same for calling me at 10:30PM – that’s sweet.

Our board members really do have a good relationship with each other. And also with the school administration. I’ve heard horror stories, so I’m very thankful to be in the position I’m in.

Technology is a major thorn in my side. OUCH, there it goes again! And our school is a Mac school. What the hell can you do with one mouse button? And is anyone aware that only 5% of the population uses those things in the real world? If you are a Mac fan, fine – just don’t bother me with the details. I make a pretty good wage thank to Bill Gates.

A school board convention may sound totally boring, but I thought it was awesome. I guess that means I’m holding the right public office?

I move to end this blog entry.
Green3? YES
Blog adjourned.

Family N Vegas

We made it back! And my left ear finally popped yesterday, so I'm good to go. I won't bore all of you with our exciting Vegas trip, but I will offer a few "golden nuggets" on doing Vegas with the kids.

1. Take LOTS of money, or at least be willing to pay the $5.00 ATM fee each time you withdraw money. It takes a lot of dollar signs to keep kids happy in Vegas.

2. If you have never been there before, it's good to have someone with you who knows Vegas like the back of their hands. Without my parents along, we would have wasted many hours just looking for stuff. Kids are happy when you can go directly to the place you want to go.

3. Skip Circus Circus. No matter what. Even if you have kids, this place totally sucks. It's filthy, half the rides don't work, there really aren't that many rides, and it's expensive. We spent $40.00 for the kids to ride 2-3 rides. Even they were bored with it. NEVER GO THERE and for the love of God, I can't image that you'd ever want to STAY there! Yuck.

4. Find a broken basketball game at ESPN Zone and go nuts with it. It will save you tons of dollars and will waste a good 30 minutes.5. If you prefer to shelter your children from all things bad, you'd be better off staying far, far away from Vegas. Examples: Green kicking a piece of paper down the sidewalk, only to realize that it was one of those "hooker" cards. 3 tried to take a picture of the Bellagio, when a truck passed in front of him while he snapped the photo. When the picture came back, it was a lovely picture of the Bellagio with the words HOT BABES in the center of the picture.

6. It's just plain stressful to have kids in Vegas. You have to keep your eye on them at ALL TIMES or they will disappear into the crowd. And I hate that. Kids + Crowds + 3 Days = STRESS.

Overall, we had a great time. We'll be going back, if we can talk friends into going along. And if we can talk the grandparents into staying here in Iowa with the kids!


Celebrity Sighting: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff. They were leaving ESPN Zone as we were going in.

We're Home

We're back from our Vegas trip. I'd love to tell you all about it, but my ears are still plugged from the trip home so I'm a miserable mess. Check back tomorrow - I'll post a recap of our trip!

She's All That

One of my dear friends has joined the blogging community. I'd love to tell you a little bit about her, but I'd rather do it...dramatic pause...with song:

Oh wait. I can't sing worth a crap.

Maybe these artists could help me describe my friend by singing a few of their favorite hits.

Hips Don’t Lie..................Shakira
Promiscuous....................Nelly Furtado
Crazy Bitch......................Buckcherry
American Idiot................Green Day
Over My Head................The Fray
Crazy................................Gnarls Barkley
Looks That Kill...............Motley Crue

So go. Visit her. I'm sure you'll love her as much as I do.

luvthebearcats

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Does anyone really care? Apparently not. Here are pictures of some clocks in my home, all taken at approximately 12:40.

The saddest part is, I took these pictures about a month ago and they are still like this. So no, nobody cares.

WFMW: Christmas Idea #2 - Christmas Organization

I have this tip thanks to a friend at work. Sears has a Christmas planner that you can download from their website. It has everything you could need to keep the chaos of Christmas under control.

This planner is in xls format, which means it's a spreadsheet. It helps you keep track of:

• gift lists
• christmas card lists
• budget
• November and December calendars

It will even walk you through printing out labels for your Christmas cards.

Click here to go to Sears website to download this today!

See my other Christmas Works For Me Wednesday tip here.

For more Christmas tips, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

WFMW: Christmas Idea #1 - Perfect Gift for Your Sports Fan

Note: Yeah, I know this formatting is all horked up. But I'm tired of trying to fix it!

If you have a child who is a sports nut like my Green, then I have found the perfect Christmas present for you!

Click Here ==>>>That's Me Sports

Ok, here's the deal. You can purchase a CD with 10 minutes of play-by-play action of your favorite sports and they use your child's name as the star of the game! I encourage you to listen to the examples on their website. They sound AWESOME. My son throws a ball around every free moment he has. He's always doing his own play-by-play commentary. He is seriously going to go nuts when he hears this and he can play it while he's throwing the ball around. I know they have done some CDs for college teams, so if you don't find the team you are looking for on their website, I encourage you to ask if they have it.

Iowa State Cyclones and Iowa Hawks (football) can be found at Sport About for Kids at Valley West Mall. They have pre-made ones with just a first name. They are around $15.00. So if first name is ok, then go for it. If full name would totally ROCK, then get the custom one from their website.

So GO HERE NOW and order yours today so it gets here in time for Christmas!

See my other Works For Me Wednesday Tip here.

Check out other Christmas tips at Rocks In My Dryer.

Nine Weird Things About Me

Cousin Chilihead tagged me for this crazy meme. It took me awhile to come up with a list because, really, if I thought something was weird then I wouldn't do it. But alas, I was able to think of some things that I think are totally normal but that you people may think are weird. So here goes...

I get wads of infection in my tonsils and dig them out with a toothpick. Not something I like doing, but it gets rid of my sore throat in a second.

I regularly check the website www.findagrave.com. Yeah, I think it’s interesting looking at graves. I love cemeteries. So dammit, when I’m dead you all better be visiting me.

Speaking of cemeteries, I’m terrified to be buried underground. I’m going to make my boys take out a second mortgage on their homes to pay for an above ground vault to stick me in.

My favorite books, and what fills up my bookshelves, are in one of the following categories: personal development, real estate, true crime, and politics. I wonder why people don’t ever want to swap books with me.

My wardrobe consists almost entirely of black and brown.

Thanks to my husband, hotel room comforters gross me out. The minute I walk into a room, I whip off the comforter and stuff it into a corner of a room. I also can’t go barefoot in a hotel room. Sick.

Sock seams drive me nuts. The seams have to be in exactly the right place when I put my shoes on. I sometimes have to take my shoes off and put them back on a few times in order to get them just right. Side Note: This is not as bad as it used to be. I'm a recovering sock seam-aholic.

When I shop, I touch all the clothes. Even ones I’m not interested in looking at. I don’t think this is weird, but it drives my husband insane.

I’m not always very good about responding to emails. But I H.A.T.E. it when people don’t reply to mine.

So there you are, folks. Judge away, my friends, judge away. Now I tag Momof4GreatKids and An Iowa Mom. Actually I tag Momof4 to just post something. Anything. Throw us a morsel here, girlfriend.

Blawg Updated

In case you haven't noticed, I have updated my blogroll to be blogs that I actually read. Imagine that concept, wouldya? As you can see, I really don't read all that many compared to some of the bloggers out there. Not because I wouldn't like to - I simply don't have the time. No Pasa Nada is worth your visit - she's a great writer and hilarious! She's the newest addition to my blogroll.

I'm also going to post the book(s) I'm reading. I would post the books on my "to be read" list, but they are home and I'm not, so I have no idea what's on there. But you can be sure that they are all non-fiction and about either politics or financial investing. I'm such a dork. Aren't you glad I don't blog about politics or financial investing? And if I did, would you read it? Yeah, that's what I thought. That's why I don't blog about that crap.

And I'm sure you are anxiously awaiting my blog redesign, as I am! Susie is a tad behind, but I'm sure my wait will be well worth it! SO tired of the lighthouse...

WFMW: Useful Websites

Here are some websites that I use all the time:

Bloglines - bloggers are well aware of this site. I have my account up all the time. For those of you who don't know, you can setup an account and it will check all of your blogs and websites for you, alerting you to when one has been updated. Then you don't have to check them all individually. It rocks.

Club Mom - If you are a mom (or dad, I suppose), this site has loads of information.

Hungry Girl - Nutritional facts about all kinds of foods. Don't use this site as much as I should.

Low Carb Friends - Helps me figure out what I can eat and what I can't.

Online Conversions - Convert anything!

Site Meter - I have several different websites, so I use this free service to track my web traffic. It's totally free, so if you are currently paying for your web stats, dump it NOW!

Froogle - A division of Google, this search engine does all the price comparison legwork for you. You can sort in price range and it has quick and easy links to the stores.

All Recipes - Tons of great recipes, but the best part is that all recipes are rated by the website visitors! So something may look awesome, but you can read through the comments and find that it's actually a horrible recipe. Keeps me from wasting my time.

People - I'm too cheap to buy the magazine, so this website gives me my People fix!

Check out other useful tips at Shannon's website!

Brit and K-Fed Divorcing?

Say it ain't so! I never saw this coming. Oh, the horrors!

Vote

Because you can.

Goals and Dreams

Quote of the Day:

I can accept failure. I cannot accept not trying.

I’ve got pretty big goals and dreams for my family. My husband is aware of all the things I’ve got drummed up. He’s ok with them. Ok, so maybe I’m dragging him kicking and screaming along for the ride. My goals are ambitious. My goals will take money and resources. And we’ll have to work our rear ends off to get the amount of money and resources we will need. But you can’t have ambitious goals and dreams and sit on the couch at the same time. That math doesn’t work.

Rewind a few years ago. We used to just fumble along, day by day, going through the normal routine of family life. I really didn’t know what our future held, and didn’t really much care. I just knew that we were happy and had enough resources to live comfortably. Things were good. But when I hit 30, I realized that I want much more out of life. So I started to make a mental list of the things I felt we, as a family, needed to do. In general, the things on my list were to make a difference in the world – even if only in my small town – and to be financially secure. Not unique goals, you say? Maybe not, but they are ours. And we are actively doing something about them.

Hubby and I work hard. We have multiple things on our plates at all times. But are reaching our goals. We are excited about our future because we have fun and exciting goals and plans. Some of our goals can make us a bit nervous and we sometimes wonder if we have what it takes to reach them. But I can accept failure. I cannot accept not trying.

Green3 and Adriana...Practically Twins

Hey Chilihead, apparently your cousin is pretty hot as well.