Fun Monday

Robin from Pensieve is our host for Fun Monday this week and here is the assignment she gave us:

"...please share words that inspire and motivate you--brief or bloviatory, silly or serious, from great world leaders to last night's Comedy Central...from a Hallmark greeting card to your favorite book. Choose one, choose many; let the quotes stand on their own or tell where you first read or heard them and how they affected you."

I just have two that I would like to share- and they are both about kids and how fast time goes. If you have ever been to my blog then you have certainly seen these before.

The first one I say to myself all of the time- when I'm getting busy and Hailey is trying to get my attention I think of this poem. Then I put down what I am doing and spend time with my baby toddler.

Cleaning and cooking can wait 'til tomorrow
For babies grow up as we've learned to our sorrow.
So, quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

The next one is something that my cousin Lisa shared with me last spring. It was during a time when I was having a really hard time with Hailey and her sleeping. I wasn't getting much sleep at all and was feeling overwhelmed with a lot of things. So I had shared some of my concerns and questions with her. She offered me some great advice and shared this quote with me:

The days are long but the years are short.

I love this quote so much that it's posted in the header of my Livin' With Me blog. It's something I think about daily- some days really do seem to drag on and on. And then I stop and think that it just can't be possible that Hailey will be 18 months old in a week. And then I think that before I know it I'll be saying that I can't believe Hailey will be 18, in years instead of months.

And so, those are the words that are inspiring me these days. Stop by Robin's blog to see who the other participants are.

Menu Plan Monday

I am so glad that I have joined the Menu Plan Monday group. While I have always made a list of all of the meals I plan to have each week, there is something about posting it on my blog that makes me actually follow through with my plans. So, here, once again- is my plan for this week.

Monday- Soup and sandwiches
Tuesday- Leftovers from Sunday (pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy & rolls)
Wednesday- Breakfast
Thursday- Peppy Macaroni (never had it last week)
Friday- Chili Cheese Hamburger
Saturday- Crockpot brown sugar chicken

Stop by the Organizing Junkie to see more menu plan participants.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What does the color dark green make you think of?
The only thing I can think of this dark green shirt that I have.

Soup
How many cousins do you have?
4 on my dad's side and 9 on my mom's side

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how honest are you?
If you ask me a question I will tell you the truth so definitely a 10.... but I won't volunteer information that might cause a confrontation.

Main Course
Name something that is truly free.
A child.

Dessert
Using the letters in the word SPRING, write a sentence.
Spring, Please Remember I Need Green (when I look out my window).

Stop by Friday's Feast to see more participants.

Thursday Thirteen #8

Some days it seems that I am very easily annoyed~ of course Rich would probably tell you that is every day. But, anyhoo- today is one of those days when I am feeling annoyed with pretty much everything. And since I'm in such a rotten mood, I decided to make my list about 13 things that annoy me.

1. Having to put away the clean laundry.
2. When Dottie (the dog) crawls out from under my bed in the middle of the night (she started sleeping there shortly after Hailey learned how to walk- I wonder why)... Anyhoo- when Dottie comes out from under the bed in the middle of the night and has to shake and make the tags on her collar jingle so that she wakes me up.
3. People who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. Yuck!
4. SPAM
5. Clutter
6. When the food on my plate touches each other. It must be kept separate.
7. Being late annoys me. I prefer to be on time, if not early.
8. Telemarketers who won't take no for an answer. I know people are just trying to make a living, that's why telemarketers in general don't annoy me. It's when I try to be nice and say "no thank you" and they just won't give up that I get annoyed.
9. I have this one friend who sends me at least ten forwarded emails every single day. I don't mind the occasional forwarded message, but at least ten everyday? That's too much. (And the person who does this does not read my blog- so if you send me forwarded messages I am not talking about you.)
10. People who want to argue about everything.
11. Going grocery shopping with Rich. I hate to go grocery shopping anyways and when he comes along it takes forever. He must compare the prices down to the penny of every product. And then he wanders off and I can never find him.
12. People who touch me when they talk to me.
13. The price of gas.

Stop by Thursday Thirteen to see more participants.

Tackle It Tuesday

My Tackle it Tuesday this week was technically tackled last Thursday and Friday. But, I'm posting it today anyways because it's my blog and I can if I want to.

I don't know if I'm the only one- but I have my regular weekly cleaning that I do. And then I have my company is coming cleaning that I do. And since my parents were coming to our house for the weekend for Easter, it was time for the company is coming cleaning.

So, last Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning my house and going to a few different stores to get groceries and other things I needed for Easter. But, for my post this week I'm going to tell you about some of my favorite cleaning products that I used while tackling my house.

I love the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. If you have ever found something that can't be cleaned by one of these I would be interested in knowing what it was. They are wonderful.

I know this might be considered odd by some, but I actually kind of like dusting. And give me a Swiffer Duster and I actually kind of love dusting. I think the Swiffer Duster is fun and I find myself looking for extra things I can dust.

Last, and most definitely my favorite, is a product I had never used before last week. I used the Mr. Clean Multi-Surfaces Liquid Cleaners in Lavender Vanilla & Comfort. It did a great job cleaning- which of course is important to me. But- it smelled sooooo good. I wanted to keep using it to clean because I love the smell of it.

Anyhoo- it was nice to tackle my house and get it all nice and clean. So, that was my tackle.

Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom to see what the other participants tackled.

Fun Monday

Here are this weeks instructions from our host Swampy:

"FUN MONDAY: ABC's

Back in my school teaching days, I used the A-B-C technique of making connections and remembering things. For instance, if we had studied Ireland, one assignment would be to list all 26 letters of the alphabet down the page and add words and/or phrases remembered about that unit of study:
IRELAND:
A - Antrim (County of)...
B- Blarney Stone, Belfast...
C - Cork, connacht, crystal...
D - Dublin... "

So, I decided to do my Fun Monday ABC list with foods that I like to eat. So- here we go:

A- Apples
B- Broccoli
C- Cauliflower
D- Donuts
E- Eggs
F- French Fries
G- Grapes
H- Ham
I- Ice cream
J- Jelly
K- Kiwi
L- Lasagna
M- Mashed Potatoes
N- Noodles
O- Oranges
P- Pizza
Q- Quesedias
R- Rhubarb pie
S- Strawberries
T- Tacos
U- ????
V- Veal
W- Waffles
X- ????
Y- Yogurt
Z- Zucchini

Click here visit Swampy to see more Fun Monday participants.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday- leftovers from Easter
Tuesday- Peppy Macaroni
Wednesday- Lasagna
Thursday- Chicken fingers and fries
Friday- Pizza
Saturday- Meatballs and gravy
Sunday- Pot roast

Stop by the Organizing Junkie to see more menus.

Photo Hunt- Metal

Well, you know that whatever the theme is for Photo Hunters I must make it somehow relate to a picture of either Brooke or Hailey. So, when I saw the theme for this week was metal I wondered how in the world I was going to come up with a picture. But- I did it! So, here are three pictures all from 2001 of Brooke.

Brooke on the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls, leaning up against a metal rail.

Brooke at Lake George, NY in August 2001, leaning on a metal fence.

Brooke having dinner on the lake in Lake George, sitting in a metal chair.

To see more Photo Hunt participants visit TNChick.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Given the choice, would you prefer to live in the country or in the city?
Definitely the country.

Soup
Who is the cutest kid you know?
Well now- my own of course!

Salad
Fill in the blank: I couldn’t believe it when I heard ___________.
Oh my goodness- I can't think of anything for this one. I'll have to come back later and fill this in if I can think of anything.

Main Course
If you could star in a commercial for one of your favorite products, which one would you want to advertise?
Probably one for Chip's Ahoy Chocolate Chip cookies- I LOVE those! (a little too much)

Dessert
What type(s) of vitamins and/or supplements do you take on a regular basis?
Right now I'm taking a pre-natal vitamin because I was still nursing Hailey up until a few weeks ago. So I figured I'd finish the bottle before switching back to a regular multi-vitamin.

Go here to see more Friday's Feast participants.

Thursday Thirteen #7

Since I am trying to lose some weight and I need to cut back on my snacking habit, I decided to make my list about things I can do instead of having a snack.

1. Take a walk.
2. Go to the mall- and avoid the food court.
3. Clean the house.
4. Run errands.
5. Pay the bills.
6. Work on my scrapbooking.
7. Plan a vacation.
8. Watch a movie.
9. Take Hailey to the park.
10. Call my mom.
11. Email a friend.
12. Do some blogging.
13. Make a list of 13 things to do instead of having a snack.

Stop by Thursday Thirteen to see the list of other participants.

Wordless Wednesday #52

I always this these signs are so hilarious. It just gets lost somewhere in the translation. I'm pretty sure I can figure out what this was supposed to say, but it's still funny none the less.

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.
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Tackle It Tuesday

Spring is in the air. Or at least, I wish spring was in the air. It's still definitely winter where I live. But, anyways- every year in December I get these snowman dishes out to use during the winter. I decided that since Easter is next weekend that it was time for me to put the snowman dishes away and get my regular dishes back out.

So, I had to put these dishes into their boxes where they will be stored until next December. And then I had to take my regular dishes out of the boxes where I have been keeping them all winter and put them away in the cupboards.
That was my exciting tackle for this week. Hopefully now that it is done I will be feeling a bit more cheerful when I see my plates with flowers on them instead of snowmen.

Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom to see more Tackle It Tuesday participants.

Activity Menu Challenge Update

Back in October Andrea challenged us here to come up with an activity menu to help keep those winter blues away. Today all of the participants are supposed to post about how it went and whether or not we followed through with our plans.

I'm not going to re-post my menu because it is a bit long but if you want to see my original plan you can see my menu here.

So how did I do? I failed, miserably. I started out pretty good with the activities I had planned for me and Hailey. We went to lots of story times, playgroups and other activities. I planned activities based on certain themes for the days we would be home. But then every time we went to an activity with other kids Hailey would get sick. Every single time. In the middle of December she got really sick and ended up on Nebulizer treatments because she was having a hard time breathing. So I decided that I had had enough of her being sick and I decided we needed to stay home more often.

I did keep up with planning activities at home for Hailey until a few weeks before Christmas. Then I was so busy doing things getting ready for the holidays that I stopped doing it. And I haven't started again.

When I look back at my menu is makes me feel like a terrible mommy- I had all these great ideas and I didn't do most them. And recently (for reasons I will blog about another day) I have had to spend more and more time on the computer. So I have been feeling incredibly guilty about that and feel like I am not spending enough time with Hailey.

We have started participating again in playgroups and activities with other kids and now that spring is almost here I know we will get even more involved. I am also going to start planning activities for Hailey and I to do at home again.

So, to wrap it all up- I did terrible with my plans and I feel incredibly guilty about it. I can't get that time back to redo it, so I am going to start fresh today with some new plans.

Menu Plan Monday

Over the last couple of weeks there have been some meals we never got around to having. Most of my plan this week is for those meals we missed.

Monday- Spaghetti Pie
Tuesday- Ranch Chicken
Wednesday- Pizza (homemade by Rich)
Thursday- Taco Salad
Friday- Raviolis

No plans yet for Saturday and Sunday because we haven't decided yet what we'll be doing for Easter. We may be out of town or we may have company here.

To see more Monday Menu participants click here.

Photo Hunt- I Spy

This weeks theme is I spy. You know I have to somehow relate all of my photo hunt posts to either Brooke or Hailey. It was tough this week, but I managed to do it!

I spy my little cutie pie.

Click here to see more participants in the photo hunt fun!

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how much do you like your own handwriting?
0- I hate my handwriting.

Soup
Do you prefer baths or showers?
Definitely showers

Salad
What was the last bad movie you watched?
We saw The Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy a few years ago and I thought it was the worst movie I had ever seen.

Main Course
Name something you are addicted to and describe how it affects your life.
I'm addicted to blogging and I spend all of my free time doing it. I don't have time to clean my house anymore- which I used to be really obsessed with doing. So now things aren't quite as clean as they used to be. Funny thing is- no one seems to notice.

Dessert
Which instrument is your favorite to listen to?
The saxophone or the trumpet. I can't pick between the two.

Go to Friday's Feast to see more participants.

Thursday Thirteen #6

I am sick and tired of winter and I can't stop thinking about taking a vacation. Our favorite vacation spot is Disney World. So, today I am listing 13 things we will do on our next visit to Disney World.

1. Float along and relax in the Castaway Creek at Typhoon Lagoon.
2. Enjoy the amazing experience of swimming in the Shark Reef, a tank with real live sharks and schools of tropical fish at Typhoon Lagoon.
3. Play with Hailey in Tike's Peak at Blizzard Beach.
4. Have a fabulous meal at Cinderella's Royal Table with characters from Disney's Royal family in Magic Kingdom.
5. Scream next to Brooke on Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom.
6. Speed along at 60 mph on Test Track at Epcot.
7. Take a cruise with Hailey on The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot.
8. Plummet down the Tower of Terror with Brooke at Hollywood Studios.
9. Check out the new Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios.
10. Conspire with Brooke to trick Rich into riding Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom.
11. Ride off into the Savannah on Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom.
12. Join Winnie the Pooh and his friends for dinner at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom.
13. Relax by the pool at whatever hotel we decide to stay at.

Stop by Thursday Thirteen to see the list of other participants.

Wordless Wednesday #49

This picture reminds me of how much time people spend on the computer. Now I would never do anything this bad, but I do spend way too much time on the computer and often negelect some responsibilities (like cleaning). Anyhoo- thought it was funny!

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.
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