Yay For Friends with Coupons!

The Hubster has been wanting me to pick up a couple baby gifts for some friends at work. I meant to get to it last week, but I never did. My friend, Bobbie Jo sent me a 20% off coupon for Gymboree in the mail around the end of last week.

So yesterday, I took the baby over to the mall while J was at school, and we did some shopping.

Momma got her favorite Caribou Coffee drink, and then we hit Gymboree. They happen to have just started a 50% off sale too. Not only did I find the gifts I needed, I picked up some spring outfits for the girls (mostly J).

Then Ava and I hit B&BW for some soap and wallflowers re-fills.

Ava was SO funny. We had been to Wal-Mart to pick up some boring essentials before we went to the mall. She was just chatting up a storm with anyone who would listen. She was the same way at the mall, and continued chatting to me when we got home.

Later in the evening, she pushed a little chair over to mine, climbed up on it, and decided to have a talk with me. I grabbed the camera and made a little video. :)

Reminder!

Don't forget about the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes For Mom this Friday!!!

Anyone Want to Take Bets?

On whether I am still semi-sane come Monday? LOL

It started snowing here, around about 11am. Just in time to be a huge mess in time to Get Johanna from School.

There's nothing I love more than driving around on sloppy roads, with people who drive like morons. :-/ I came close to not having to worry about what we do with my car when we get the van. Thankfully I was travelling in the left lane of a two lane road when this genius pulled out from a side street in front of me, and then realized she couldn't get stopped.

Anyway, they are saying we should get something like 4 inches of snow today. There's more coming Thursday and Friday.

Did I mention the hubster is home sick?

Stuck at home. All the rest of the week. With my FAMILY. auuuuggghhh! LOL Don't get me wrong, I love them, and there's really no-one I'd rather be stuck with, but I think by Monday I'll be ripping out my hair. LOL

At least we haven't started watching Season 7 of Charmed yet. I'm sure we'll be getting that watched over the next few days! LOL

Does it really work?

I'm always seeing ads on TV for Weight Loss Supplements like Hydroxycut, and I wonder, does that really work? Are these people for REAL, or did they just paste some gals head onto some other gal's body? Sure, you could head over to their website, but of course they are going to tell you it works, it's their site!

Supplement Judge is a great website devoted to educating consumers about supplements. They are dedicated to getting the supplement companies to be responsible, by providing useful, effective, and safe products.

They have a very user friendly site where you can search on all sorts of supplements, from the aforementioned Weight Loss supplements, to Body Building supplements, to your every day multi-vitamin. You can read reviews from people who have tried the product and also find the best place to find the best price on what you are looking for!

Late Night

I couldn't sleep. So I got up, I'm, finally tired enough to get my brain to shut off.... I hope.

This James Taylor song came to mind.... :)

Let It All Fall Down

Sing a song for the wrong and the wicked and the strong and the sick, as thick as thieves.
For the faceless fear that was never so near, too clear to misbelieve.
Well the sea is jumping salty and the porpoise has the blues,
my recollection's faulty and I cannot find my shoes.
And my wiring is misfiring due to cigarettes and booze,
I'm behind in my dues, I just now got the news.
He seems to tell us lies and still we will believe him,
then together he will lead us into darkness, my friends.

Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.
Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.

The man says stand to one side, son, we got to keep this big ball rolling.
It's just a question of controlling for whom the bell is tolling.

Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.
Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.

There'll be suffering and starvation in the streets, young man.
Just where have you been, old man? Just look out of your window, man.

Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.
Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.

Well, it ain't nobody's fault but our own,
still, at least we might could show the good sense
To know when we've been wrong, and it's already taken too long.
So we bring it to a stop then we take it from the top,
we let it settle on down softly like your gently falling snow
or let it tumble down and topple like the temple long ago.

Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.
Let it fall down, let it fall down, let it all fall down.

Monday, Again?!

Well, here we are and it's Monday again. I don't even go off to work, and I'm not a Monday fan. LOL Johanna looked at me this am and said "Mom, please don't tell me I have to go to school today!"

I said "You have to go to school today"

"Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom, I SAID don't tell me that!"

So yeah... It's Monday here. LOL

I'm trying to get my coat washed and dried before we have to leave. I was a bad Momma and didn't hang it up in the closet. I left it hanging from the railing post, and it got all furry. Imagine that... fur in a house with 4 pets. Really now, who would've figured.

I need to hit the grocery store. I should go to the MOMS Club meeting if I can. We'll have to see what time I get done at the store and whether or not Ava is awake or asleep.

Well, time to put the coat in the dryer and start our Monday. Bah.

Happy Birthday!

Our Niece, Natalie, turned 5 today!!

Here's a picture of Johanna and Natalie from when they visited this past summer!



Apparently she had a great time at her b-day party yesterday. She had it at the MN Zoo!

Sadly, our package didn't make it on time. I guess the blizzard had something to do with it. It's still sitting at the Fed-Ex facility in St. Paul. :( On the upside, it'll give her an extra day of opening gifts. ;)

Dilbert

My friend, Jilley sent me an IM with yesterday's Dilbert cartoon. It cracked me up!





I always forget I can look at the funnies online. I never seem to manage to read them on the days I actually get a Sunday paper.

Coming to a State Fair near you!

Apparently, there's going to be a BIG announcement at PayPerPost in the next few weeks.

I have a pretty good idea what it's going to be too.

Everyone knows that PayPerPost is in the business of online advertising. What you might not know is that they all lead a double life. That's right. Each summer they spend their weekends at County Fairs all across Florida. No, they are not in the expo building trying to round up advertisers. You can find them in the circus tent, putting on a great show!

Naturally, Ted Murphy is the Ringmaster. He wouldn't have it any other way. He's large and in charge. The lovely ladies in Customer love dress in pretty sequined outfits, with big feather hats all while they coax their big kitties to jump through fiery hoops. (ok, they are really overweight house cats jumping through hula hoops with paper flames, but they look pretty tough and they purr real loud!!)

I know that sounds really exciting, but the highlight of any circus is the clowns, and the entire IT team does a great job! My husband is an IT guy, and I know he does a lot more goofing off at work, not to mention, I've seen his entire IT team pile into one car to go to lunch, so that he doesn't have to lose his spot in the parking ramp!

It's really amazing watching them juggle! They seem to be able to do about 10 things, all at once! I really don't know how they do it!

The best part is when they manage to dump water all over the ringmaster! He thought it was just a bucket of confetti, but they sure pulled the wool over his eyes!

So, as for that BIG announcement? I'm almost positive that they've decided to take their show on the road. I think they are planning on taking the entire summer off, and hitting all the big State Fairs across the entire USA! I'm looking forward to their blog post, listing all their tour dates!


;-P

The Good, The Bad, and The Fluffy

Well, Somehow, Sioux Falls managed to escape the huge amounts of snow that were seen north and south of us. It looks like we got about 6 inches. Maybe 7.

It was wild watching the weather channel this morning and seeing this huge band of dark blue hovering over us.

Church was cancelled this am. Not that we've been lately, but hey.. LOL

I just sat down here after getting Johanna all bundled up to go help her Daddy clear the snow. She was pretty excited to go out and play. I get a reprieve from having to go out and use the snow blower, since the fumes trigger my asthma. Same goes for mowing the lawn in the summer. hehehe.. that's a good thing.

Ava's settling down for her nap, so there's no bundling us up to go out and play too. That's the bad.

I've been trying to work on wash. I've gotten three loads done so far. We've made the usual weekend calls, tho I still need to phone my Mom. We had lunch, I made more ginger cookies (yum!)

No it's time to sit here and catch up while Ava naps. I need to work on my QWERTY badge for Pogo too. That one is going to take a while. LOL

Oh, and I'm still excited about getting a new(er) car! I'm going to have new-fangled things in it... like windows that go down with a button, and a cd player!, and a car that locks and unlocks with one of those booper doo-dads! GO me! I'm stepping into the 2000's! LOL

The Ultimate Gift

Have you heard about this movie?? I comes out in the theatres on March 9. The premise of the book is this:

Red Stevens was a self-made man who gave his family everything. When Red dies, his estate of oil companies is divided among his greedy relatives, however, one family member is singled out in his will, Red’s great-nephew, Jason.

In order to gain his Uncle Red’s inheritance. Jason must go through a series of challenges, learning a different lesson each step of the way.

It sounds like a really great story. I may need to see if my library has this book and get it read before the movie comes out!


The movie stars Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Drew Fuller (from Charmed!!) and Brian Dennehy.

Like the book, the movie is based on the message that "The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.”

This is the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement its starting to help charities and give to others.To date, more than more 5 million dollars has been donated to charity.

Schools across the nation are incorporating the message into their curriculum.

The movie is even inspiring teens through the“Show Of Hands” site. It's always wonderful to see teens get involved in a great cause!

Have a sparked your interest? Here's a little sneak peek of the movie. This cracked me up!

Pretty Slick

The view from my window right now, looks like the inside of a snow globe!

We woke up this morning to Rain and Thunderstorms. By about 9am it was freezing rain. It did that off and on until about noon, when it started to snow. Last I heard they are saying we could get up to 8 inches of snow.

Snow is fine. Snow on top of frozen rain on top of a sheer ice slick, is another story.

Future Furniture

I'm a planner. I'm not an obsessive planner, I don't think, anyway... lol

I do like to start thinking about things, and looking at things long before I need them.

Take for example the whole situation with the girls, and are they going to sleep in the same room, or separate rooms. Right now, Johanna is wanting to share a room with Ava.

This has me looking at bunk beds, despite the fact that we won't be purchasing their Furniture for at least a year.

I really like the kind that can also be separated into two, individual beds, I know I want them to look more girlish. White and cute. lol

I'm not sure tho, what style I like best. I suppose I should let Johanna have SOME say tho, huh?

This one is pretty neat, despite the fact that it can't be seperated into two beds.



It's called "The Getaway". Johanna's room isn't huge and this would really help with that issue.

I also like a more traditional look like this one:



I found these sets at a site called Great Priced Furniture. They have all sorts of great kids furniture, from room sets to chairs to corner units (thinking we may need one of those too!) LOL I found their site really easy to use, and the selection is great!

Tired

I've been really tired the past couple of days. The kind of tired you are when you find out you are pregnant... only it's the exact opposite thing going on here. lol

The past couple months, I seem to get really exhausted right before my period arrives. It hasn't happened often enough for me to learn to recognize that that is what is going on. At first I think I must be getting a cold or something. Both girls have drippy noses, so I figured that was it, until WHAM! Ooooohhhh yeah....

So I haven't really been up to a whole lot the past couple days. I've tried to do a few things around the house, but then I just peter out.

I have a bunch of wash I need to do today. Hoping I can start that.

We have a winter storm warning here for the weekend. It's either going to just rain or we're going to get up to 10 inches of snow.

I was hoping we could go out and get some real shoes for Ava this weekend, but it's looking like it might have to wait another week.

Oh, and we've started looking more seriously for a mini-van for moi! YAY!!! I can't wait!

Funnest thing, EVER

Holy Cats!

Check out this cute little Box.net Widget I just made!!!


Get your own Box.net widget and share anywhere!

It was a snap to make! You just go to the page, upload 3 of whatever you want... be it a picture, music file, video file or podcast. It was really easy! I uploaded a picture of me, a Ben Taylor song (that I love)and this crazy piano video Eric had emailed me (that you want to watch while the kids are busy elsewhere... LOL)

Box.net offers unlimited bandwidth as well as hosting up to 1gb of files for you, for FREE! You aren't limited to just the three things, either. After you create your widget and put it on your site, all you have to do is click on "upload more files" to add more stuff!

I really like that you can customize it too! You can add a title and select from a few, basic colors.

So go-on, run over there and get one for you site, NOW! All the Cool kids are doing it! :)

Heat Wave!

Our high today was 45! yes, 45!! That's almost shorts weather in these parts! LOL

Spring is nice, but that also means the snow is melting and sooner than later I'm going to need to go pick up the back yard. ick. Fortunately it's supposed to snow over the weekend.

Not really much going on here. While Ava had her afternoon nap, I was all settled down to watch MTV's Monday night line up, on tape. What I discovered tho, was for some reason the VCR thought that Sunday was Monday. It didn't record what it should have recorded on Sunday and recorded nothing on Monday.

So instead of it recording FOX on Sunday, it recorded an hour of CBS followed by 2 hours of MTV.

How freaking bizarre is that? I thought, OK, maybe it's off by a day and then it recorded Tuesdays line-up on Monday so at least I'd see "The Hills" and "Dance Life"

nope. it recorded NOTHING. It recorded Tuesdays lineup just fine and dandy last night.

Oh and speaking of last night, let's not get me started on AI. (GAG) PLEASE let the girls be better than the boys were, PLEASE... something has to counterbalance the suck fest that was the boys' last night!!!

Rockstartup.com

If you haven't heard by now, PayPerPost started their own reality tv show. It's called, RockStartup. What better way to document the life and times of a startup venture, than with a reality show? At the very least, they can look back on it and realize where they went wrong... KIDDING guys, really!

It's been a lot of fun to watch the various episodes and see the inner workings of PayPerPost.

I always look forward to seeing what the next episode will be about! My only complaint is that they are not long enough! They always leave me wanting more!


My favorite episode by far was my friend Julie's wedding.

I had the pleasure of watching this via the chapels live web-cam and I about cried the entire time! LOL

The Rockstartup episode of the wedding was even better! It really made me feel like I was a part of the action.





I have known Julie for a very long time now. We've posted on various boards together for about 10 years now, I'd say. She's always there to lend an ear when you want to ramble on about something senseless. She'll listen to you and even reply with some kind of cute emoticon to make you believe she was listening... just kidding. I remember her always being there for me when I was going trough some tough times back when we were trying so hard to have a baby. She's a great friend and I was really excited when PayPerPost decided to have this contest and she and Micheal were selected as one of the three finalists!

Besides, it was just the kick in the pants those two needed to finally make it legal! hahahaha The slackers!

It certainly makes for a great wedding story for them to tell the grand-kids when they are old and grayer. ;)

Busy... sort of....

We were back to the grind today. I managed to get J to school on time this am. Ava and I grocery shopped and we came home after that and I put stuff away while she had a cookie and watched baby crack Einstein.

Yesterday or so, my board gals and I started up an old discussion. It's been quite refreshing. So I spent time this am, and later this afternoon chatting with them. Almost a year has gone by since there was a big change over there, and it's just nice to talk about it as a group.

We went out to Bk for lunch and then went to WM to do some additional shopping.

Ava fell asleep on the way home and after I brought that stuff in, I sat here, holding her and read my boards.

I hadn't even thought about checking in on PPP until now.

Eric came home and I realized I had totally forgotten about supper. LOL Looks like we're having fish sticks and fries instead of the chicken and rice I had planned on. He has a meeting tonite, so quick is good.

Ava's finally awake and wandering around. J's been doing classwork she missed when she was out on Friday.

AI tonite, and I'm pretty darn excited about it too!

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday!

A Credit Card to Remember

Why we don't have these here in the US, I don't know.... We have different types of cards, ones you can put your picture on, or your dogs picture on... but none that are a different SHAPE!

Isn't this cute?



Back in 2003 MINT first introduced the Mint credit card in the UK. They offered both a standard looking card and the "MC2" which is the cute looking one up there. :)

They are currently offering UK residents 0% financing on purchases until 1st December 2007, as well as 0% on balance transfers (2.9% fee) until 1st December 2007.

In addition to the typical credit card, MINT also offers a pre-paid gift card. I know that here in the US, pre-paid credit cards are the gift of choice for most teens. Heck, I wouldn't mind a pre-paid card I can use anywhere! Store cards are nice, but then you are committed to finding something you like in one particular store.

The MINT Gift card is available in amounts ranging from £10 to £250, and can be used at most worldwide retailers or wherever Visa Electron is accepted.

Bulimia Baby

Alrighty.

So Ava's been trying to see just how far she can stick her entire fist down her throat before making herself throw up.

Repeatedly.

Ick.

Gag.

Yuck.

WTH is UP with that, anyway?


Yeah, this is fun, lemme yak alllllllllllllllll over myself and then do it again.

Let's now PLAY in what I just yakked up after supper, since i'm still sitting in my highchair.

Better yet, lets try it AGAIN while Momma's trying to get me cleaned up from the first mess.

Then maybe I'll start bawling when Momma has the audacity to yank my fist outta my mouth while saying "NO!"


(GAG)

Hope you all were well done with supper... LOL

Losing Weight

These days, there seems to be all sorts of conflicting info regarding weight loss and dieting. Eat this kind of food, but not that. Take this kind of pill, drink this kind of drink. Join this program or that. It's hard to know what you should do.

It's nice to be able to find easy to follow common sense. Weight Loss Tips.

At a relatively new website called http://www.healthadel.com, their goal is to provide easy to understand Health information. They have topics ranging from the aforementioned Weight Loss Tops, to Sports Injuries and Skin Care Issues. So go poke around a bit and you'll see what I mean about their easy to understand articles. Like I said, they are a new site too, so be sure to check back as they continue to add more information.

Monday, Monday

So, I had plans to get out of the house today, finally. I was going to take the girls to Wal-Mart. Niece #1 is turning 5 next week-ish. We generally send an outfit and a toy. We got word yesterday that she is really wanting some Barbie stuff, and I figured J would like to have a say in what we send her cousin for her b-day.

We got in the shower a bit later than I had planned.

So we ate lunch at home.

Then J's buddy rang the doorbell. J went next door.

I had planned to run over there after an hour and a half to go get her or see if she still wanted to go with me or what.

Right about then was when Ava decided to nap. LOL

So now it's 3pm and the baby's awake, but I really don't feel like going out now, not to mention J's still playing next door. LOL

Ah well....

I need to try and make a phone call anyway.

Crazy-Monkey-Girl

Nothing will get your 5 year old to pose for you, more than claiming you are going to take pictures of her sister. :)

Here's the Big Monkey, hamming it up for her Daddy!

Sunday Ramblings....

Well we slept in until 7am again. Ava didn't go to sleep until we all went to bed last night. That was a lot of fun. She fussed a lot too. I ended up spending about half of the night with her sleeping with her head on my shoulder, and my sleeping without my head on the pillow. I was tired enough, I didn't really care. LOL

Eric went out and shovelled a bit. The snow blower needs to be looked at. For some reason it keeps cutting out on him, among other things.

I cleaned out the medicine cabinet. It was a wreck and there was a bunch of expired stuff in there, so it was good to get that cleared out. I do need to remember to buy come more children's Tylenol tho. Usually we just use children's Motrin, but I like to have the Tylenol on hand as well.

We had leftovers for lunch. I'm not sure what I'm fixing for supper yet.

Eric also started some laundry.

Ava had a big nap.

I heard from Jilley and Sindy today. Sounds like they had a fabulous time at the spa yesterday (insert jealous whining here)! Today they will be celebrating Marshall's birthday! It really seems like just yesterday when Sindy headed out there to watch the girls while Henry and Jilley went to the hospital to have him!!

I really need to pick up the living room so I can run the Roomba.

Ava's happily watching a Baby Einstein DVD and Johanna is wanting to play that Cinderella game that came packaged with the Cinderella 3 DVD, so maybe I should quit rambling here and get to it!

Easy Home Security

Here's a neat idea from Laser Shield Systems, Inc. They have created the world’s first "Plug N’ Go" Instant Security System.



This is great for homes, apartments, offices, dorms and vacation homes.

This is also an ideal solution for those Do-it-yourself'rs who would like a home Security System, that is affordable and easy to install.

All you need to install this system is a standard wall outlet and a phone jack. The unit is also Pet Friendly! It come with a unique Pet Shield that instantly snaps into place on the front of the units motion detector. It works by blocking different portions of the motion sensor making it so that your pet is less likely to set off the alarm.

What's great about this system is that it's available at many of your local stores. You can find it at Sears, Home Depot, K Mart to name a few. I love being able to actually go to the store and check something out for myself before buying.

There are many other great features with this system, like the Panic Button, the Instant Learn Feature and The User Call Feature, which allows you to phone into your system while you are away from home. You can even activate the hidden microphone to listen in on babysitters, children, or pets. How cool is that?

So if you have been thinking about getting a security system for you or your college kids or even your elderly parents, this is definitely worth looking into!

Ava's Camera

Isn't that a cute camera Ava has in here pics down there? It was a birthday present form her Daddy. I think it's by Gund. When you press the shutter button down, it makes this realistic shutter noise.

I keep trying to get her to hold it up to to her eye to take pictures of Dada, but she doesn't quite get it. lol

Just a few pictures

from earlier this morning....

Unsigned Bands

I just found out about this great site called Unsigned.

They feature a whole host of Independent and Unsigned Bands in a wide variety of genres. You can find everything from Club Music to Jazz Bands and more!

Whether like me, you are just a fan of Independent Artists or if you are a Band looking for some exposure, this is a terrific site! It's really great to be able to find a bunch of music, all in one place.

If you take a minute to pre-register with them, you can tell them what types of music you enjoy listening to. Then when you log in they will automatically show you artists in all of the categories that you selected. I really like that feature! It saves me from having to do a whole lot of searching around! Especially considering that my musical tastes are all over the board!

Another great thing about this site is that they've taken the time and listened to their users suggestions, and are developing some really neat New Features for the site. You have to love a place that takes feedback to heart and uses it to make their site even better!

Yaaaaaaaaaaawnnnnnnnnnnn

Ava was up most of the night. She's apparently caught J's cold. Imagine that. Sticking your fingers into your big sisters nose and mouth will result in your getting sick as well. Who'd have thunkit? :-/

We got up about 7am. Late for us. I thought for sure it was 5:30. I was way too tired for 7am!

We've dined on Drakes Cakes, started wash, talked with all the Grandparents and Eric's taken pictures.

Ava keeps thinking she wants a nap and then changes her mind. I think she's so busy with walking around, she must think that she's going to miss something if she goes to sleep. :-P

I saw over on Kat's Blog that Our Seven Qtpies is having a Birth Story Contest. I'm thinking maybe I'll work on doing J's Birth Story. She said no scary ones, so that kinda leaves Ava's out! LOL

Hope you all have a nice Saturday!

Quick!

someone remind me how cute and adorable my baby is!! It's almost 4:30pm. She's had NO nap to speak of.

I haven't managed to get a shower in either.

Hopefully Eric should be home in a bit.

Actually there he is now! YAY!

Get your game on

Just last week, the hubster and I were discussing our future plans for the Girls' room. Ok, I was discussing it, he was listening....sort of.

Johanna seems to be leaning towards having bunk beds so that She and Ava can share a room some day. That works for me. I'd like to get them a dresser as well, and I was telling Eric that I think a desk would be a good idea too. The kitchen table will suffice for doing homework for a couple of years, but I think it would be nice for Johanna to have a separate place to get it done once she gets a bit older.

That was when Eric piped up and said that we should get a card table! He grew up doing his homework on the game table that lived in the lower level of his childhood home.

I'm not opposed to the idea. We're a card game loving family. I just don't us being able to get one until the girls are a lot older tho. I'm hoping that we can turn the current play area into a game area when they get older.

If you are currently in the market for a Poker or Game Table, Cardroom Supply has a great selection of tables. They also sell chairs, poker chips, and card supplies.

While there, why not sign up for their Select Customer List and receive new offers, discount coupons(yay!)? They also offer free shipping on all orders over $100 AND they also take Pay Pal, as well as all the usual credit cards!

My Mother is evil

I love my Mommy, but she is EVIL!

I just brought a box in off the porch. It's filled with Drakes Cakes! Yodels, Ring Dings, Funny Bones, Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles, & Coffee Cakes. Pretty much everything but Fruit Pies and Sunny Doodles.

To add to the pure evilness of this, I _JUST_ took a HUGE batch of brownies out of the oven. I was feeling like a treat, so I whipped some up! ACK! At least the Drakes stuff will keep.

Well, I'm off to go gain 10lbs! If you don't see me for a few days, call a crane. I may need it to get out of the house. ;)

ARGH!

Ok, I know I'm several days late, but I just finished up watching "The Hills". and ARGH! Heidi needs to really get a clue. Is she really that dense? Spencer is a total player. I can't imagine having that low of a self-esteem to go running back to him like that.

Hopefully she's just going out with him to tell him it's OVER and to quit bugging her. Ya think? Probably not.

What Is beautiful to you?

Belisi asks, "What's Beautiful to You?"

Belisi has launched a new campaign, entitled "What's Beautiful to You?" Peter Belisi has said that there is more to beauty than just glitz and glamour. The most beautiful people he has seen are not models or celebrities, but everyday people, who make the world better. They've launched the "What's Beautiful to You" campaign with the hopes that others agree with his point of view.

My answer to this question? I see beauty everywhere. Beauty is my children. It's the way the care for one another and their friends. It's the frost covered trees, the animals at the zoo. It's the uniqueness of everyone and everything that surrounds me. Beauty isn't just a look, it's a feeling. It's how you feel when your husband looks at you, even when you are in your PJ's. It's how your daughter tells you are the prettiest Momma in the world, when you are frazzled from taking care of a crabby baby all day. Beauty is the everyday things in life that we sometimes take for granted.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Belisi brand, they manufacture beautiful high-end, ties, scarves and handbags.

To compliment this campaign, they will be giving away $100 Belisi gift cards for the best comments left on the Being Belisi blog.

So head on over to their blog, and tell them what is beautiful to you!

For some reason

I get the BEST ideas for blog posts, in the middle of the night.

I will wake up to nurse the baby, and think of some great, profound thing I have to say.

Then I wake up in the morning, fix breakfast get the girls ready and I have abosolutely NO CLUE what it was I had thought of the night before.

Hubby says I should just get up in the middle of the night and blog. I think he just wants to have more space in bed at night. LOL

Choo-Choo!

Growing up in the NY/NJ area, trains and train stations were just part of everyday life. It was nothing to hop on the train and go a couple of towns down the line to go shopping or go for ice cream. You could get on the train and ride into NYC. Many of my friends fathers commuted to work this way.

It never really occurred to me that this wasn't the norm for every town in America. My husband has NEVER ridden on a passenger train. I find that unbelievable.

Right before I got pregnant for the first time, we were planning a rail-trip out west. I can't remember now, how long of a trip we were planning. I got Pregnant and we decided to postpone the trip.

I think we need to revisit the idea again someday. What would really be nice, would be to plan a European Vacation and to travel around to the various countries by train. You can buy rail passes online these days. It's really simple to plan your trip. You can can search the schedules, buy tickets or multi-country passes. The Eurail Global Pass looks like a fun trip. With one pass, you can travel to 18 different European countries. You can visit Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, all on one pass!

I'm thinking this would be excellent for the "just out of college" set who want to backpack across Europe before settling into a career. At Railshopper.com they offer Youth and Student passes as well!

Railshopper is a great resource if you are thinking about taking a European rail trip!

Plugging along

I'm not getting quite as far along with the housework today as I would like. I'm on the 3rd load of wash. The landing has been scooba'd, the dishes done.

I ended up having to do an unexpected load of wash after the baby yakked all over the both of us. Not pretty! I think her tummy was just overly full.

At least I actually got a shower in today, tho! LOL

I've also being trying to catch up with MTV's Monday night line up. I've watched Super Sweet 16 and Engaged and Underage so far.

Ava's out cold now, so I may sit and fold some laundry and watch the other 2 shows here in a bit.

Been an interesting day, but like the hubster says "A bad day at home is better than a good day at work!" LOL

Big Money, No Whammy's!

Ever since PayPerPost rolled out thier new segmentation system, I've been seeing a lot of big money opportunities popping up on the main page.

I've seen $35 ones, $50 ones, $125 one and even $1,000 ones!! That's some big cash for those of you out there with high PR Blogs! Especially just for putting one sponsored post on your blog!

With PayPerPost you can make money blogging about things you know about or even enjoy talking about. I find that my best paid posts are ones where I am familiar with the subject.

Even if you are sitting at a lowly little PR2 like I currently am, there are still some great paying opportunites at PayPerPost. Just yesterday I was able to grab three, for a total of $24!

Sure, there are lots of other pay-to-blog sites out there. I don't think any of them have the reputation that PayPerPost has tho, and with the new segmentation system, they certainly are attracting a lot of big money advertisers! All this means that they offer more and better paying opportunites for bloggers.

Don't forget either, that PayPerPost requires disclosure from all of their bloggers. No matter whether you are a PR0 or a PR8! Everyone must have this on their blog. You can put your disclosure at the bottom of each paid post, stick it on your sidebar, or use that cute button down at the bottom of this post!

So go on, head over to PayPerPost and see what everyone is talking about! Sign up, make a few bucks, or make a ton of bucks! It's all up to you!

Well

We're home again today. Johanna woke up sounding like she swallowed a frog. We were supposed to hit todays lowest temp of -16 at 9am. Between that and her snotting around, I decided we'd stay home.

I think this is the most school she's missed all year!

Of course now she's acting OK. :-P Figures. I was up sneezing a bit last night myself and we were up a lot during the night. Not because of the baby, but the dog, and then hubster couldn't sleep after that.It was a long/short night here.

I'm planning on trying to catch up on housework today.. The girls' hamper is overflowing. My floors look like a fur-bunny desert. I have no clean mugs for tea.

Need to get this place whipped into shape!

Dental Implants

It's coming up on year since Eric had the first of his dental implant surgeries. It all started when he discovered that one of his molars had cracked. Thankfully for him, our dentist was able to see him right away. That was the good part. The bad part was that it was cracked all the down and needed to be extracted. Not really what he wanted to hear.

No one really wants a missing tooth. My first thought was, at least it's a back tooth. It's not as noticeable as a missing front tooth. Apparently, just leaving it alone isn't a great idea. Something