Four Words

Vanilla Creme Hershey's Kisses!

Pretty Pathways

Spring has Sprung here! For us that means time to think about yard work. It's not my favorite thing in the world, but it needs to be done. When I was out in the backyard the other day, I noticed that the area on the west side of the house was looking a little bare. Last year, the grass was always shorter in that area, I think because the dogs are always running back and forth and barking at the neighbor kids. lol

I've been trying to think of a way to make that area look a little bit better. I like the idea of putting down some Stepping Stones. I think they'd spruce up that area and help it to look a little less bare. It would make a nice pathway leading to and from the fence gate as well.

When I was looking around over at Online Discount Mart, I saw this great stone that I think my friend Jilley NEEDS to have! She lives on a farm and owns peacock. I think she needs this one! They have a great selection of really unique Stepping Stones. I had a lot of fun browsing around over there!

Wordless Wednesday

Custom Template Contest!

Thinking your blog could use a new look?

Lindsay over at Splat Designs is having a contest!

The big winner gets a custom template with colors, textures, sidebar catagories, a signature and added to their blog. A collage header will be included, if you want... but if you are hoping for a special illustration or image (from istockphoto or similar) you will need to purchase those yourself and email them to Lindsay.

Interested? Head over to her site and sign the Mr. Linky, and follow her other instructions. She will pick a winner on April 1st!

Of course if you don't head over there, you increase my chances of winning! ROFL!

How's the weekend going for everyone?

Yesterday was pretty busy. I took the girls out to the Washington Pavillion. It was AG day there, and our 4-H group was meeting there instead of the regualr venue for our meeting. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids. Johanna got to make butter and rope (both activities about wore her arm off LOL). There was a puppet show and puppet making and coloring and learning and lots of free stickers too. They even had free lunch.

Just as it was time to stand in the lunch line, Ava had the mother of all meltdowns. That was fun. Of course She was overtired and had pretty much had enough of being in the stroller.

It was POURING out when we left. Thankfully I was just parked across the street, and it wasn't cold our or anything. It WAS great tho, to stand inside the van and strap the girls in. No more half hanging out of a car to get them buckled in while I get soacked! YAY!

I made some cookies later on in the day. It was a nice treat on a rainy afternoon!

Ava fought her nap ALL day, until about 5pm. It was then I IM'd the hubster (I didn't dare yell out to him) that we should order pizza or something, cause there was NO WAY I was going to move and risk waking her up, just so I could cook. LOL

Today's been kinda lazy. I've been working on laundry and picking up... but we havne't done anything outside the house. It keeps trying to be nice out, but then it gets cloudy and looks like it's going to storm. I vegged on the couch and watched some VH1 while Ava had her am nap.

JOhanna decided to put on a "Fun Carnival" for us today. There were games and activities and we got ziplocs to put our treats in. LOL We also got to taste her "Secret Smoothie recipe" Thankfully I helped her make that one. We used a couple bananas some mandarin oranges some pineapple juice and some ice.

That's pretty much been our weekend here. It's supposed to be 72 here tomorrow! I'm gld I bought a few shorts outfits for the girls last week. They might need them!

Wordless Wednesday

Toothpaste

Ok, I've been meaning to write this for some time now, I just haven't seemed to manage to find the time.

I grew up using Crest Toothpaste. When the hubster and I got together, he was a Colgate guy. In the interest of saving $, as I was a SAHW I went ahead and just started using Colgate. No need to buy 2 different kinds of toothpaste. Toothpaste is Toothpaste, right?

This went on for years until I was PG with Johanna and I couldn't STAND Colgate. In fact I ended up using Crest Kids Toothpaste, cause it was the only thing that didn't make me nauseated.

Afterwards, I went back to Colgate. Until I got PG with Ava. Then I just wanted to use Crest. Of course I could barely stand to brush my teeth with her either.

So A while back, I bought the hubster a 4pk of Colgate at Sams Club. Later that week I was in WM and they had it for $1/tube. You could buy 5. I had a coupon. So now we are at 9 tubes for him. At the same time, I bought myself a 2 pack of Crest.

I can't remember excatly when all this was, but I can tell you that since then, The hubster has gone through the 4 pack I bought at Sam's Club, and I am STILL using the same tube of Crest.

HTH can he go through 4 tubes when I haven't even gotten through ONE? I'm not brushing any less. There's the same amount in each tube? Is he just a wasteful slob? Probably!

I'd also like to add, that I enjoy having different colored toothpaste than he does. It is now GLARING obvious which one of us is spitting all over the sink/faucet/counter when we brush, and I will give you a hint here, it's NOT me! LOL He used to try and say how did I KNOW it was him. Well now I know, and he can't dispute it! Muahahahahahahaha

Anyway, that's my Toothpaste story. LOL

Do you guys have a brand you like better than the other? Is it the same one your spouse prefers? Is it the kind you used as a kid?

Discuss....

Memory Lane

Sometimes, I love the fact that things on the web are archived forever. Kelli was sending me links via IM to her old blog, thanks to way back. She had a lot of pics of S as a baby.

That got me looking for my old website from when we lived in MN. Pretty funny to see that and my Tom Eplin Fan site. I wish I could remember my URL for that stuff from before I moved to MN. Owell.

Then I remembered that my Old blogspot blog is still around. LOL So I looked at that. I started there when I was pregnant with Johanna and then moved to my Xanga Blog. I've had a lot of fun reading those old entries. Even more fun reading all the comments. It also makes me a bit nostalgic.... not just because it was my first PG and an exciting time for us, but because there's so many people who commented that I've lost touch with, or don't talk to that often anymore. :(

Friday's Feast

Appetizer:

Name two things that made you smile this week.

My silly girls playing together. It's so much fun to watch them interact and play.
My new ride! I smile whenever I look at it!

Soup:

Fill in the blank: Don't you hate it when ________?

Fill in the blank: Don't you hate it when people are rude? Of course you do! Rude people stink!



Salad:

When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland?

I'm not really very good at this. lol Sometimes I try to clear my mind of the 9 million things I'm usually thinking about when I can't sleep. Sometimes, I'm successful. Other times, I end up getting back up and surf the web for a while until I get sleepy.


Main Course:

What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer?

I often wonder what attracts certain people to one another. Some people, it's just obvious why they are friends. They get along, the seem similar, but why DO opposites attract. Especially ones that are so totally different?


Dessert:

What is your favorite pasta dish?

My Grandma was Italian, so I'm not sure this is a fair question! LOL Probably Pasta Bolognese, of course I also like a nice Chicken Marsala, but usually the pasta is just an accompaniment.

What does it mean?

I frequently hear the term Search Engine Marketing. Either on the PayPerPost forums or just on various website. I have an idea of what it entails, but I never really looked into it all that throuroughly.

Search Engine Marketing is simply the marketing of one's website through a search engine. This can be through paid search or via search engine optimization. You will often see it abbriviated on the web as SEM.

Apogee Search has a great SEO Glossary. There you will find a great glossary of terms commonly heard, well, seen in the SEM industry.

It's a great little cheat sheet to help you figure out what everyone is talking about when it comes to SEM or even to make it look like you know what you are talking about! LOL

They also have a great blog, with lots of news, info and helpful tips.

New Ride!

There I go being MIA again!

Vans, Vans and more Vans! I was Vanned out!! We spent the weekend looking at Vans, We spent Monday looking at Vans. We went to dealerships to look at Vans. We went to small, used car lots to look at Vans. We got online and looked at Vans. I DREAMT about looking at Vans.

Tuesday, we drove an about an hour away to Madison, SD. We got an email from a guy at Cars For Les up in Madison about a 2005 Town & Country they had. I emailed him telling him how much we had to spend and if he thought that was doable before we hauled both kids an hour away or not. He replied and said "it was close" we took that as salesman talk for "yes". LOL

So after an hour or so of the usual cat and mouse games, we left my grand-am with them, and brought home a van!

YAY! I'm SO glad to be done car shopping, at least for maybe another 10 years or so. LOL

So, I now have a Mom-mobile! Isn't it purty? Go Me!!

Wordless Wednesday

Duuuuuuuude!!

Are you looking for a good deal on a new Dell? Look no further than Cheapstingybargains.com There, you can find some great Dell Coupons and hot deals!

You all know how I love to find a good bargain, and this site is just chock full of them!

They have an extensive list of great Dell Deals, from Notebooks and Desktops to MP3 players and home audio systems.

You can also find a great deal on a digital camera through Dell. I know that quite a few of my friends shopped around for a good deal on a digital SLR only to end up buying one through Dell, because the price was amazing!

So if you are in the market for a new PC, MP3, Camera or even home audio system, be sure to stop by Cheapstingybargains.com before you buy!

Date night, according to Johanna

So J tells E he should ask me out on a date...

the following is the play-by-play I'm giving to Kelli on IM as they talk.


Cynthia Merrill: j trying to set me and e up on a date

Cynthia Merrill: she's telling him car dealers aren't romantic

Cynthia Merrill: she's suggesting he get me chocolates

Kelli: So she knows all about romance, eh?

Kelli: Good girl!

Cynthia Merrill: he has to take me to a diner

Cynthia Merrill: not a food court

Cynthia Merrill: perkins is not romantic

Cynthia Merrill: cause he had "messy sloppy food" there last night

Cynthia Merrill: he got sausage gravy

Cynthia Merrill: ice cream is romantic

Kelli: I agree

Cynthia Merrill: oh and he has to feed me a cherry

Kelli: :sorry, mind wandering:

Cynthia Merrill: she says

Kelli: :reeling my mind back in:;:::::

Cynthia Merrill: "put the cherry in her mouth and tell her to shut it"

Kelli: WTH has she been watching?

Cynthia Merrill: i'm in tears

Cynthia Merrill: e says so i take her out and shove ice cream in her mouth?

Cynthia Merrill: J says no you don't shove it

Cynthia Merrill: you say"oooohhhhhh honey"

Cynthia Merrill: he says you have to be romantic and wear a tie

Cynthia Merrill: and no ripped clothes

Cynthia Merrill: :dying:

Kelli: Craig wants to know whats wrong with ripped clothes+
Kelli: ?

Cynthia Merrill: lol

Kelli: C & I are rofl

Cynthia Merrill: he has to tell me he loves me and gives me a smoochie

Cynthia Merrill: oh

Cynthia Merrill: whats a smoochie

Kelli: If she tells you to Woohoo, then you need to cut off her MTV

Cynthia Merrill: she says

Cynthia Merrill: laughing too hard



at that point, I can barely see through the tears I am laughing so hard, so I call Kelli to tell her the rest of the story.

A smoochie, according to J is when a boy and girl get naked, in bed and kiss. Oh and then he's supposed to wrestle me. ROFL

Colds, Car Shopping, and Cats, Oh MY!

The girls are still snotting around. Fun times. LOL Thankfully the weather's warming up, and I've even opened a window or two during the day. We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground that needs to melt, but it's getting there.

Since it was so nice out yesterday, the Hubster talked me into going out to look at cars. It was less than successful. I seem to have champagne tastes on a beer budget! LOL I'm sure we will find something at some point, even if it means pitching in my PayPerPost money to help out! LOL

We also FINALLY got Ava to Stride Rite for her first real shoes. She's less than impressed. Oh and since we had to take the girls' seats in and out when test driving, when we put Ava's back in my car, we put it in forward facing. She was NOT dealing with all this change very well. By the time we headed home from supper last night tho, she seemed to be enjoying her new perspective.

We stayed up way to late last night. I was chatting with Laura and looking at cars online (I even dreamt about cars... UG!) There was some sort of big scuffle between the Dogs, and Wolfgang. The end result was a fluffy, wet cat, and two fluffy dogs. Wolfgang spent the night hiding out under our bed, despite the fact that the dogs are locked up in their crates all night.

We may go car shopping again today, if anyplace is open. I'm not sure if they are ot not. At the very least, Eric will be getting a Sunday paper when he heads over to Walgreen's to pick up a few pictures he had printed there.

I've got a good case of spring fever and decided to break out the girls' spring clothes. I've gotten Johannas' out so far, and am working on washing them. I weeded out some of her size 6 stuff, and put it a bag to bring to OUAC when they start taking Fall clothes. I'm sure she has more things I can weed out too, I just haven't caught up on her regular wash yet. lol

Hope everyone's having a good weekend, and I'm going to try and work on the Blog Party post too! I hope they plan on making it an annual, or even semi-annual event! It was a ton of fun!

Lots'O'Stuff

First off, thanks for all the great comments, everyone! I've read them all via email, and I need to go and visit some blogs still. I'm hoping to get to that before the party is over. :)

Wednesday, I stayed in and worked on cleaning up down here. I had intended to do it Tuesday as part of Tackle It Tuesday, but that didn't happen. I was even prepared to humiliate myself and take pics to show you all of just HOW bad it was down here.

Let's just say I ended up with several trash bags and 3 bags of toys and clothes and shoes to take to GoodWill.

I still need to do so minor picking up and run the Roomba and the Scooba. I'm hoping to do that tomorrow.

Sadly, we still have way too many toys down here. We seem to have fallen into a vicious cycle that is thrift store shopping and garage sale hunting. "Momma, can I have THIS?" Oooh, look a cute barbie car for $1. "Sure, why not" and before you know it, you are drowning in stuff.

At least, buying used toys, it seems more like recycling or at the very least a cheap rental. LOL I buy them something for a few dollars or less. They play with it for a while, and then it goes back to be resold again to someone else. :)

The bad side is there's just too much stuff and I think they get overwhelmed and there seems to be a certain lack of respect for the toys happening here. I'm thinking that if there's only 3 barbies instead of 30 (not that we actually have THAT many, but it's probably close.. LOL) that she will take better care of them.

So that's where I've been. That and dealing with snotty-baby. She doesn't seem to have a fever, and overall, she seems less congested. She's in that gross snot stage tho, and I'll be happy when she's feeling better!

Today I ran errands, and picked up pictures of Johanna with Clifford for her school journal. She's bringing in a special treat (suckers) for the class tomorrow. I may attempt to go in and read the class a story too. She really would like me too, I'm just not sure how well that will work with Ava running around.

Hope everyone's had a good day, and if you've made it through all this, thanks for reading! I'm off to watch the rest of Idol!

Where's Cyndi??

Yeah so I was kinda MIA yesterday. Ava had a bad night on Monday, and I got little to no sleep. I was pretty much a walking zombie on Tuesday.

I finally chased the pounding headache away thanks to 3 ibuprofen and 2 diet cokes. Most of the afternoon was a blur of trying to keep sick-girl happy. She finally had a late nap, but then didn't go to sleep until almost 9pm.

So ya, it was a loooooooooooooooooooooong day.

I was going to post more about today, but someone is screaming at my feet, and I need to make supper.

Wordless Wednesday

Quiz Time

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

PostieCon!

Have you heard about PostieCon? It's a blog conference that the PayPerPost team is putting on in Florida. The dates have been set for May 31st-June 2nd. This conference isn't just for Posties, it's for ALL bloggers!

The theme of PostieCon '07's is "You're A Rock Star" and the goal is to educate bloggers on how to build up traffic and their readership.

The conference is going to be held at The Ballroom at Church Street in
Orlando, FL.

I think Florida is a great place to have PostieCon! You could take the whole family and make a summer vacation out of it! OR you could just plan a little getaway for yourself. Leave Dad home with the kids and hop a plane for some fun in the sun! Meet fellow bloggers, learn a few things, make new friends, pretend you are a rockstar for a few days!

Curious what the Schedule looks like for PostieCon? Look here.


Robert Scoble of Scobleizer.com will be the Keynote speaker. Other PostieCon speakers to date will be David Ponce of ohgizmo.com, Michelle Madhok from SheFinds.com, Sherry Heyl of empoweringconcepts.net, and Jim Kukral of JimKukral.com. You can find more info about each of these speakers on the PostieCon Speakers page.

Sickie Baby

So Ava has a cold. So does Johanna, for that matter, but at least she can get up and get herself a tissue. Ava, on the other hand, not so much.

The poor thing has been miserable half the day with a stuffed up head. She woke up a few times during her nap, and I was having a hard time settling her back down. She didn't want to nurse. Plus her head was stuffed, so that made it hard. I think she just wanted to be able to breathe out her nose. I ended up with her napping with her head on my should while I sat here and read boards and blogs.

Hoping she's feeling better tomorrow and I don't have to deal with flying snot-sneezies.

Oriental Trading Company

The Oriental Trading Company has been around forever it seems like. I can remember being a young teen, and my cousins wife and and her SIL's would all go in together on an order to buy birthday or holiday supplies for the kids. I used to have a lot of fun looking through the catalog, in fact, I still do! By going in together on the order, they were able to save quite a bit on shipping costs. Thankfully today we have online coupons! There's currently a great Oriental Trading Company deal where you get 15% off AND Free shipping on orders of $60 or more. Seems like a lot to spend, but if you buy some Easter bunny supplies and maybe some birthday things, you'll be up there in no time! I also love how you can get a complete birthday party themed kit there, for a lot less that shopping at some of the better known party supply places. They usually even include a pinata too!

Our Star

Well, Johanna is BESIDE herself. She's star of the week this week. Generally, they find out on Friday, that they are the star for the next week. Since school was cancelled Thurs and Fri. we are just finding out now.

She gets to bring their school mascot home (Clifford) He comes in a red backpack, along with 2 books and a journal. We need to write a pic of Clifford's adventures at our house and include a pic.

I had to ask Johanna some questions to fill out the Q&A sheet for Star of the week. I also quickly uploaded some pics to Walgreen's online. They should be ready to pick up in an hour. lol

She also gets to use the computer at school , and gets some other privileges.

Currently, she and Clifford are watching Blues Clues. Apparently, being a dog, Clifford is a big fan of Blue's. lol

Anyone Seen

My motivation? I think maybe I lost it on someone else's blog this am. LOL

Maybe it just took off cause it was disgusted with me, since I haven't managed to get much done around here lately. LOL

So yeah, it's Monday again. LOL Got up, did all the usual weekday things. Ava and I did the grocery shopping. Now we are home for a bit. I have floors to clean, trash to collect, toys to pick up.

So what am I doing? sitting here, surfing the web, drinking some earl grey tea, and eating choc. covered pretzels. LOL

Photo Tag!

What's Mom Blog Party without some Pregnancy pics?

Go sign the Mr. Linky over at Stephanie's Place, and show us your baby belly!


Here's one from when I was pregnant with Ava.






I'm re posting this with one of my favorite pictures of me from when I was PG with Johanna.




Eric took that one hot day at the zoo. I love it.

I suppose I should throw in a painted belly pic too! This was done the end of Aug, and J didn't arrive until the beginning of Oct. To say I was HUGE would be an understatement. LOL

Sunshine!

Well the sun came out yesterday and the wind died down. YAY! It was nice to look out and see something other than white! The Hubster went out, twice, to clear off the driveway.

Thankfully, the sun did a good job melting the remaining snow on the driveway and the sidewalk. Hubby said we had a few 5ft drifts out there. Craziness!!

I stayed in and made Brownies. Today, Hubby cleared away some of the killer icicles that were hanging off the gutter.



Did anyone happen to catch the lunar eclipse last night? We tried, but weren't terribly successful.

We were scheduled to go to a friends house, but he needed to go help his FIL with snow removal, so we had to reschedule. I was actually looking forward to getting out of the house.

We thought about going somewhere, but instead opted for staying in and doing laundry. Oh and getting Chinese Food delivery. YUM! :) I'll just consider it part of the party celebration! :)

We've been watching Charmed, season 7, as predicted. I think we are almost done with the 3rd disc now.

In fact, I think I'll go get hubby and tell him it's time to watch some more. Ava's about ready for a nap. There's nothing like a snuggly baby and your favorite show! :)

Party Quiz!

Take this Quiz, and let me know what your results are!!

You Are Smores

Unusual and unconventional, you make your strange ways work for you. You've got personality - no one's denying that!

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

March Blizzard

So, we've been having a Blizzard. You know it's serious when the close the school here in the city. They hardly ever do. In fact, I think the last time the kids had a snow day here, was Fall of 2005. There's only been 7 snow days in the last 10 years.

We've now had 2! lol

We have a 6ft fence around out backyard. There are drifts back there that are a good, 3ft high. The dogs think it's great fun. I'm just hoping they don't get any higher. We don't need them hopping over the fence!

Yesterday am, I was IM-ing with my friend Laura. She lives here in SD too, just about 45 minutes north of us. I was telling her that I was putting some country ribs in the CP for supper. I bought them on Sale this week, and needed to cook them.

The purchased part of a cow (I can't remember if it was 1/4 or 1/2) this fall, and so she was inspired and grabbed a pkg of ribs to put in her CP too.

Now, Laura make THE BEST beans, EVER. So she starts blabbing about making beans, which has me wishing there was no blizzard so I could drive over there and get some. So I start wondering if I have a can of baked beans. Nope. I did have about 1/2 pkg of dried Pinto beans tho.

So I go to my favorite recipe site, and I find this. Ummm, YUM!!! it took most of the day to make them, but that was ok, cause it took the ribs that long too. They were REALLY good. so much better than canned!!

Then Laura starts blabbing about Banana Bread, so since I was already perusing AllRecipes.com, I looked one up and found this one.

Banana Banana Bread



again, YUM!!! I made a few modifications. I used 1C whole wheat flour and 1 C All Purpose. I added vanilla to the sugar/butter/egg mixture. I added Cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of ginger to the flour mixture, and I threw in a pkg of chopped walnuts.

This bread won't survive till supper. LOL

I really don't know what it is about being STUCK at home that makes me bake/cook/try things from scratch. Normally, I'd be opening up a can or a box, but it's kinda like a challenge to see what I can make with what we have around the house.

The Ultimate Blog Party

My blog wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the tiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeee..........


Ok, I probably didn't sing that any better than Eddie Murphy did either. :)


Welcome Party Goers!!!

The 5 Minutes for Mom Ultimate Blog Party has begun!

My name is Cyndi, I am a SAHM and I live in Sioux Falls, SD. We are currently (still) under a storm watch. They extended it through tomorrow morning, and looking out the window, I can see why. Earlier this morning, my husband commented that it was a good thing for all the houses in the neighborhood, otherwise it would be a total whiteout.

I keep telling him, that is exactly why they used to tie a rope between the house and the barn back in the prairie days. :)

St any rate. My husband, Eric and I have been married going on 10 years now. We have two daughters. Johanna is 5 and in Pre-K, and Ava is 13 months. We have 2 dogs. Dottie is going on 4and a Springer-Basset hound mix (yes, you heard me.. LOL) and Buddy is going on 2 and a German Shepherd. Buddy's currently in that annoying teenager stage for a dog. I'm REALLY hoping that come this summer, he passes out of that stage, tho I know it may not happen until he hits 3. lol We also have 2 cats. They are going on 15, and are brothers.

I grew up in NJ. Lived in NH for a while, and then moved to MN. Eric and I were married in MN and we moved here to SD after Eric was offered a job here in the City. We really love it here. It's considered the "Big City" but after living in St. Paul for many years, this is more like a big town.

I tend to mostly blog about my daily life. You know, those things I want to say, but then I look around and realize the girls really aren't all that interested in hearing it, and Eric is at work, so I just tend to put it all here. LOL

I've recently begun doing some paid posts via PayPerPost. It's a nice way to make a few extra $. (we're currently discussing getting TiVo or something now.. LOL)I really try to just take paid opportunities that fit me, my blog or things that I find interesting.

Well, thanks for stopping by my party! I hope you all have as much fun with the blog party as I am having.

If you just happened to stumble over here and are just reading about the party now, hop on over to 5 minutes for Mom and sign up! There are some great prizes to be given away!!