Mismatched Furniture and Dead Flowers

Believe it or not, I have struggled finding an appropriate question for this issue of Backwards Works-for-Me Wednesday! It's not that I have everything figured out. . .I guess I just have a lot of things that do work for me!

I am deciding between two things. One would be my mismatched furniture. . .my couches match each other, but all of the wood on my entertainment center, bookshelves, curio cabinet, etc. is mismatched. Any help there? I mean some of the wood is dark, and some is light oak color. Someone who is quite decorator saavy said that oak is kind of country. If the shoe fits, huh?! If you tell me to refinish it, then please tell me how or refer me to a site cuz this girl don't know nothin' about refinishin' no furniture!

The other dilemma is that I have this tree in my front yard is perplexing me. I planted verbena and petunias under it this spring and all of my pretty flowers died. The only thing that lived was this weed/herb called yarrow. Anyway, this area is mostly shade during the summer with all of the leaves on the tree, but during the winter and early spring it does not have leaves (I guess that would be called deciduous or something, right?) Any feedback would be more than welcome. I was thinking about planting tulip bulbs for the spring as well as pansies that would be in bloom now. What do you think? I guess one thing to note is that I live in the south. I would love for all of you with a green thumb to chime in!

Have a lovely day!

Menu Plan Monday

This is my first Meal Plan Monday. Of course, I have planned a couple of weeks worth of meals before. But, this will help me a be a little more proactive at the grocery store tomorrow. (argh, I have had a cold all weekend and have not made it to the store yet.) I am sad that I do not have half and half for my coffee and I do not have the ingredients for my Monday night dinner yet. Not a great way to start the week. . .but there are definitely worse things that could happen to a gal.

Ok, here goes.

Monday - taco soup
Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry
Wednesday - Breakfast for Dinner (pancakes, bacon, sausage and fruit)
Thursday - Monterey Chicken and Cauliflower Bake
Friday - Bratwurst/French Fries
Saturday- Buffalo Chicken Salad
Sunday - Taco Salad

Begin the week with taco and end the week with taco and you know it's going to be a great week! Next week, I am going to try to make my own spaghetti sauce like this gal with the tomatoes that I froze from the garden.

Update: After a very rough trip to the grocery store with my two kids after school and a hissy fit on the phone with my poor husband we saved over 40% on our groceries. They have this cool section in Kroger where they do not have room for the items on the shelves so they discount them to like 20 cents to a dollar. Like pasta, kid treats, mayo etc. Very cool stuff! Also, the taco soup is clearing my sinuses as we speak! Very effective medicine! :)

My Bankie!

On Thursday of this last week, my Motivated Mom's to do list said that I had to clean out the master bedroom closet. I gave Prince JM a head's up early in the week so that he would not have a panic attack when I asked him to help since a lot of it is his stuff. On Friday, we were finishing up Thursday's to do list (go figure) around the house and we got to the master bedroom closet. In rummaging through the various crap antique items, Prince JM came across Hansel's blanket from when he was born. It is the rattiest thing you have ever seen. He had and still has some type of oral fixation and his blanket proves it. He carried that thing around like Linus for at least two - three years of his life. When he was old enough to talk he named his blanket as well as various others he had collected. There was bankie #1, "White" and #2 and #3 "green and blue." Creative little guy! :) We called him in to the room to remind him of his younger years and he just stared at, "White" with big open eyes, and said "was this my blanket?" He grabbed it and swiped it across his face and held it for a long time.

Today, I was doing the dishes (on the Motivated Mom's list) and Hansel, now 8 years of age, looked at the comforter from his bed that he has now and said, "Mom, where did I get this blanket?" I replied, "It was my blanket in college and I handed it down to you for your bed." He said, "What did you call it?" I smiled and said that I did not give it a name, what would you call it? He said, "definitely green." Cute guy.

Regrouping Today in Every Way!

Hansel started regrouping in Math this week. He is so smart. He caught on right away. I'm always amazed at his concept of math. I assure you it has nothing to do with me. We even had an elaborate conversation at lunch about "if there were X amount of candy underneath X number of trees how much would you have and would you be able to divide that equally between you and and your sister." All of that over leftover beef!

As you can guess, and may be as well, we are "regrouping" after our Halloween adventures last night! No one wanted to get out of bed! We gave out a million pieces of candy from our church last night. Our church is located on Main Street of our historical downtown area and all of the downtown businesses hand out candy on Halloween night. We took the opportunity to join them, as well as, to invite everyone that participated in the trick or treating to a pancake breakfast that we are having on Saturday. Woah. . .if 1% of the people came who we handed out invitations to we are in trouble. What have we gotten ourselves into? I better regroup fast because more wildness is on it's way!

Honey Do List-Cabinet Organization

This is was on Prince JM's "please, please honey do list" for awhile, but when he made it we were all singing his praises. It is pretty self explanatory. I have an older home with big open cabinets that scream for organization. This really really helped!! Check out more Works for Me Wednesday posts at Rocks in My Dryer.

Update: I wanted to add my amazing hubby's comment in case you did not open the comment section. Feel free to add a comment to him telling him how cool it is that he does these great "honey do projects!" It might spur him on to do more! :)

"And I'd like to point out that it was pretty cheap and easy to make. Just used 3/4 inch and 1/4 inch plywood. Our home depot has these in convenient small sheets of 2 x 4 feet instead of the normal (and difficult to handle) size of 4 x 8 feet. The grooves hold the dividers in place. The corners are clamped and glued. The whole structure is made rigid by the backplate which I think I glued and fastened with finishing nails.

Technically, you only need a Skilsaw and sandpaper to make it, but you would have to have some sort of straightedge to make the cuts accurate enough. I'd recommend a tablesaw - that makes it much easier."

What's For Dinner?

Doesn't this look appetizing? So you know I have kind of been on a diet for like eternity a year. I was desperate craving spaghetti squash. My mom told me that this vegetable is a healthy alternative to having pasta so I thought I would give it a whirl. I called my mom to see if she could give me advice on how to cook the beast and there was no answer.

Out of ideas, I opted for the other best nurturing, thorough option. . . google! I googled "cooking spaghetti squash" and it came up with a website that said there were several great options for cooking this gaggy low carb alternative. It did say not to cook it too long or something quite eventful could happen. I do like excitement! So I popped it in the nuker for 10 minutes, came in and checked on it after the timer went off. I determined from the official spaghettti squash cooking test that it wasn't quite ready and I set it for another four minutes-plus that would give me time to finish playing with my gal. Prince JM came out to get me and said that I had a package in the microwave that the package blew the door open! Yay, I do love surprises!

The worst part of this was that my kids were pouring garlic on the squash to cover up the taste even after I baked it and added some other ingredients. Bad stuff that spaghetti squash!!

Doesn't it look like one of those play doh figures that you could squirt their hair out and give it hair cuts and stuff. Thoughts to ponder . . . until the next episode of Cooking Lite with Desiree'!

Motivated to Clean My House

I was very hesitant to do this because as my friends and family can attest to I am not on top of things. Things, like laundry piled on my dresser and dust all over the floor and shelves are the story of my life. It is genetic! :) Sorry, mom!

Working, as well as, homeschooling are kicking my tail and my house is a wreck. We had to stop having small group at my house because I could not have it "ready" for people to come over. A seriously sad state of affairs! I was reading a cutesy blog yesterday and how this adult chore chart was really helpful. I thought, "that is what i need, check boxes like I give my kids." So, I plunged ahead and sent my whopping 8 bucks to see if it could change my life. I think what I really need is a house cleaner! :)

We will see. . .the planner is printed out and bound with a loose leaf ring and stuck to the wall with a push pin. I am working hard on it. . .can you see! I am blogging about it. I will let you know if the chore chart changes my world and I can develop some good house cleaning habits from it. To read more Smart Habits check out the Lazy Organizer!

Update: Tuesday 10/30-two days out. . .I am tired from cleaning, sore from exercising and really motivated! Yay! It really is going great. The whole family is on board which is a rare occurrence. . .we're talking beds made before school! Groovy, huh!

Update Monday 11/12-Two weeks out. . .I love my list. It helps me to stay focused on what I need to accomplish little picture as well as big picture.

To date:

• I have cleaned out all of my pantry cabinets. . .I had another reason for this, but will post about that later. :(
  
• Cleaned my desk. . .boy that was a job
• Kept my laundry going for two weeks (1 load a day baby, 1 load a day!)
• Kids and I have made beds every day, most of the time before school starts
• Pampered myself a couple of times . . .on the list. . .
• cleaned out summer clothes and clothes too small. . .check!
• cleaned out master closet-woah, this is going overboard!
  

The Race for the Cure

Last weekend, I dragged myself for 3 miles jogged in my first Race for the Cure in downtown Little Rock. What an incredible feeling that was! The Race was jam packed with 45,000 women in pink t-shirts, pink hair and pink wigs. Many of the "3 Miles of Men" even wore pink hats wrapped with boas. There were bikers honking their horns as you jogged past as well as belly dancers at one corner. I thought I might join the belly dancers next year(Not!). . .they were having much more fun than me!

The reason that I decided to participate is still unclear to me. I remember last year one of our church members talking about it and I determined then that I was going to do it with her. There have been so many women impacted by breast cancer and I really do not want to be among the group. So I have decided to "be the cure" by knowing my stuff. My stuff is as follows. . .

Do you know what the best way to prevent breast cancer is?

PREVENTION. . .get regular breast exams!

According to breastcancerprevention.org "All women need to take certain precautions to prevent breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) encourages you to talk to your doctor about screening through clinical breast exams (a breast examination provided by a health care professional) and mammography (x-ray of the breast). In between doctor visits, you should do monthly breast self exams. You and your doctor can plan a schedule of breast check-ups that is right for your individual situation. The American Cancer Society guidelines are shown below."

Age	Breast Self Exam	Physical Exam	Mammogram
20-39	monthly	at least every 3 years	baseline exam age 35-39
40 +	monthly	yearly	yearly

You can take an online test on this website if you have risk factors for breast cancer. I was not a high risk candidate, but there is always a chance.

This just in. . .it is a time for a nap. Hope I am leaving you well informed and part of the cure! Have a great weekend!

Be A Publisher

Have you ever wanted to have your blog thoughts captured on paper? Have you ever wished for all of those stray recipe cards to be bound in a book? Have you tried Snapfish or Shutterfly's digital scrapbook publishing and found it to be time consuming.

Well, my hubby went to Guatemala this past summer and decided to make a digital scrapbook to capture his time there. I had published a digital family scrapbook on Snapfish and he loved it. He actually bragged to his friends about my scrapbooking!! Well, then he had to "one-up-me" and found blurb.

Blurb is really cool because you do not have to upload any pictures. You just download their program. There are lots of layouts and last night I downloaded their most recent version and it is way cool. You need to check it out. I think a copy of all of your recipes bound in a book would make a great Christmas present to me. The interesting thing about blurb is that after you make a book you can actually sell it at a different price and make money off of it. Look at those mom-making-money-wheels turning :)!!!

Check out more ideas like these at Rocks In My Dryer.

Socks, the Cat!

"Yeah, Socks, that's why I bought that basket, to let you sleep in it. Forget the napkins that I like to put in there. Go ahead and sleep on em'. The guests won't mind wiping their faces with cat hair on their napkins."

Monday, Here I Come!

This post is to celebrate the fact that my Monday blahs are over that I have had for the last two Mondays. Between homeschooling my darling son and working about 30-35 hours a week for AL, I have not been looking forward to Mondays. Ok, so I know that I am counting my chickens before they hatch, seeing that it is still just Sunday evening. (which just a tidbit of trivia "count your chickens before they hatch" is a phrase coined by that Aesop Fables guy who wrote, The Milkmaid and her Pail. Just read that one the other day with that cute home school kid. Also, in case you didn't know, I am experiencing culture and education on the backside of life by homeschooling my son. I am learning along with him and am perhaps a little more interested than him.)

You know the saying, "Failure to plan is planning for failure!" That phrase is at the bottom of my collaborating home school teacher's emails and it is nothing less than true. I have planned to the best of my ability tonight hoping for success tomorrow. Hopefully next Sunday I can look at this post and say "check, did that, did that, Yay!"

1. prepared lessons for the WEEK
2. grocery shopped and made dinner list for the WEEK
3. made to do list for work (Phone Interviews, Follow Up With, and Conference Calls)
4. the best thing that I did tonight. . . I called someone from my daughter's school and told them that Mondays were too difficult for me to do prayer group and she was so flexible and we changed it to Tuesdays! That relieved like 98% of my burden. I was filling bad about not being a prayer warrior for my kids and realized that I cannot fulfill my duties as a working mom and actually get out of my house an hour earlier than normal to pick up my gal. Just not doable, without me being frantic about my work.
5. figured out something simple to take to small group tomorrow night and something difficult if time permits (the something simple will be a watermelon that we are still growing! and the something difficult will be caramel apples rolled in nuts; oh my word!!!)
6. this was pretty close to the best thing.. .I cleaned out the litter box that is in the bathroom off the side of my office. Usually I have to hold my nose while talking on the phone because it stinks so bad. . .not tomorrow! :) I can talk on the phone in a regular voice!
   

The only thing I have not managed to do is go to sleep. . .so post unedited I am signing off.

Great Family Discussion Activity

Last year my daughter was starting kindergarten and my son was going to first grade and I was concerned that socially they would not know what to do in various situations. I had a thought (rare occurrence!) to type up some questions like. . .

What can I do to help my teacher?

Will other kids be nice to me?

What do I do if I have to go potty?

Will my mom and dad come and get me after school every day?

When I am done with my work what do I do?

A few weeks before school started, I put them in a pretty silver heart shaped jewelry box and put them on the dinner table. I told them that I had a secret and every night at the dinner table they would get to draw out a secret and we could discuss them. I thought this might work for a couple of reasons 1) they love secrets and 2) dad and I pretended that we knew the answers to the questions, but really we let them come up with the answers. We would say things like, "if I have to go potty I hop up and down and scream I am about to pee in my pants!" They would say, "No!! You have to raise your hand and let the teacher know that you needed to use the restroom."

My kids loved the "Secrets game." I ran out of questions and did not think much more about it until my kids kept saying at dinner, "When are we going to have some more secrets?" This year I typed up some different questions since I am homeschooling my son and my daughter goes to a little private school. I made home and school secrets where I asked them safety issues as well as things like,

What do I do if I do not feel like doing my school work? a. do it anyway!:)

Well, ya'll get the point. If you want me to email you the Microsoft Word questions I made up I would love to do that, just leave me a comment. My hubby took my camera this morning or I would post a pic of my box with the questions in it. This really works for our family! For more great ideas like this one, join Shannon and the gang at Works for Me Wednesday!

Rag Quilt Finished

Don't mind the messy room, but look at the cute rag quilt that I made for my gal! Now, I need to paint the room to match the quilt! Not!

My Girl

This morning my kids (7 almost 8 and 6), husband and I were debating who was going to cook breakfast. The kids told us that they did not know how to make anything for breakfast. My daughter who is the six year old said that she wanted gravy and biscuits. I asked her if she knew how to make it and she said well, "no!" I challenged her and she said "ok, just milk, flour and sausage and don't burn your self when you are getting the biscuits out of the oven." Wow, she is so young to have learned so much from me!!! Sounds like before long I'll be laying on the couch while she is cooking for me!

Jewelry Organization

I used to sell Premier Designs jewelry and I bought a fishing tackle box for about $5 or $6 at Wal-mart. It has four pull out plastic trays and in the tackle box are little plastic dividers that you can divide the tray however large or small that you need the compartments. So I put necklaces in large compartments and rings and earrings in the smaller areas. I toted around at least 100 pieces of jewelry this way. Another thing that I did so that my jewelry would not get scratched was to put cosmetic cotton pads down in the bottom to protect if from the plastic. Even though I do not sell jewelry anymore I still use my containers and I even slide them into my jewelry armoire. An organizer in an organizer. Visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer to find more helpful hints. Let me know by commenting if this was fun information and you would like more posts like this!!!

By the way, if you are a thief the jewelry is high fashion, not the real deal! Don't bother! :)

Home-schooling is Going Great!

Help for My Small Bathroom

I would pay top dollar to find a solution to this! My bathroom not only has a toilet and bathtub, but as a bonus includes a hot water heater as well as my washer and dryer. Impressive, eh! Listen, while it is wonderful to be able to drop your drawers in the same place that cleans those drawers, it is not an attractive place. I have added a splash of paint as well as some impressive and cute handles on the doors (which are not on these cabinets shown yet), but I need some separation somewhere. These are the things I have thought so far. . .

1. add closing doors, but will this make it smaller?
2. add a tankless hot water heater; better but expensive
3. take out the washer dryer and use a washboard and line dry, NOT!
   
4. add some material to make like a curtain, uhm like is that trashy??
5. add some decor to the hot water heater, maybe build a box around it or a screeen

It is just tight quarters and I really need a bathroom make-over. I have spent a lot of time on HGTV sites and their design ideas were a little pricey! Like I said, I have actually lost sleep at night over this and I would love some advice from you decorating QUEENS! for more posts like this, pop over to Shannon's at Rocks in my Dryer.

Rag Quilting

I learned this really fun way of making quilts this summer. I am not a quilter and this is as close as I will probably ever get. I am not finished yet. I have sewed all of the blocks and the rows together. I still need to go around the edges as well as fringe the sections. This was over 600 combined quilt blocks including the batting in the middle. Can you say, ouchy hands!! Fortunately, I have a rotary cutter and a lot of TV time under my belt! I will let you see the finished product hopefully by this weekend!

Challenge Update

That was difficult. I would call myself a Forgiven Failure! :)

I am so glad that I took the challenge because I learned a lot about myself. Mainly, that I need to guard my tongue and that I am a work in process! I hope you did better than me.

Issuing a "Talk Switch Challenge" to Myself and My Friends September 28 - 30

Phillipians 2:14-15 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world

Note: The image above is taken from google images and I thought it was very appropriate for the topic. You got it. . .for the weekend let's try not to grumble (complain) or argue. Actually let's do better than try, let's DO IT!!! This weekend I am going on a "Girl's Weekend" to do some crafty things and to shop. I started thinking about how when girls get together sometimes it can leave you feeling empty and down when it was really meant for fun. My heart asked me why and what I think happens sometimes is that when women get together we start complaining. Did you get that? I did not say they start complaining, but we! I am the biggest baddest whiner, complainer there is. I complain about my husband, my kids, my job, my car, my stinky birthday. . .well you know here I go again starting down that road again!

We pause to take time to remember Whitesnake, the band!! Going down the only road I've ever known, like a drifter I was born to walk alone. But I've made up my mind. . .I ain't wastin no more time. . .cause here I go again. . .screaming guitars in the background. . .did you hear them? Sorry I hate it when those old songs get in my head like that. . .I just needed to get that out. ahem. .anyway no whining this weekend!!! Like one of my roommates in college used to say "you want some cheese with that whine!"

We need a strategy girls; instead of complaining we will follow the plan. The plan is as follows:

1. I will swallow my whine and complaint and I will think of something I am grateful for cuz God gave me the thing I am complaining about
2. I will not only think of something I am grateful for, I will say it out loud!
3. I will try to think of something to change the conversation when those around me complain. . .the high road girls, take the high road!
4. I will do my very best to shine like a star in the universe. . .and if I don't do my best. . .I will become a falling star! Just kidding. . .read some verses or something if you feel a complaint coming on!
5. Last but really not least, pray and thank God for all you have and all that you are, because He deserves it!

Comment if you are taking the challenge. It's not fair if you start on Sunday and write and say you did great! :) See, don't give me nuthin to complain about!

Cheaper than Dirt!

Last spring was the first time in about three years that we have been able to plant a garden. My husband graduated from seminary in Dallas last year. While we tried to grow a nice organic tomato plant in a pot on our downtown Dallas apartment back porch, we failed miserably.

So when he graduated and we moved I was more than eager to try out my garden hands. The bad thing about gardening is that it can get expensive really quickly. We sold most of our gardening equipment before we left for Dallas. We borrowed a tiller from our neighbor, picked a square in our yard that would get plenty of sunlight and started to work.

As we were tilling, we realized that half of our soil was rocks. We paid our kids a penny for every rock and then realized after $5.00 later that they barely scratched the surface. Fortunately, while I was talking to my neighbor who loaned me the tiller (great reason to get to know your neighbors, by the way) that he worked for Wally World at night. He said that one of the ways that he got less expensive soil was to buy the damaged packages at half off.

So I am letting you in on my little secret, during the summer especially, Wal Mart gets a lot of damaged packages of potting soil, rocks, flower and garden soil by them either receiving them that way or by me tearing little holes in them as I walk by. . .just kidding. I think from all of the handling. . .over time the rips just happen. They are usually in a specific place. . .like under a shaded pavilion on some crates out in the parking lot. . .at least that is what they do at my hometown location. They load them up for you and give you a receipt for your half off products. Yay!

Now, I tried this at Home Depot and they said that they send theirs back to the manufacturer and get their money back. Good for them, but they are doing a lot of extra work for nothing. If they would just sell them to me I would take them off of their hands. Oh well, that's all she wrote this week on Works for Me Wednesday. Make sure to check out more tips with Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

Song Stuck in My Head

This song by Natalie Grant has been in my mind all day. Especially, the "o so crazy life has got me spinning around and round, hanging upside down." I love all of her music, but I can truly identify with these lyrics. Can you? I want my focus to be on today, not on the past and not dreaming in the future. . . but on today alone. Live for today!

Sittin' in my room staring at the wall
Wonderin' about the meaning of it all
Why is it this thing called life
Has got me goin' crazy
So I open up your word and let it speak to me
The purpose and the plan that you've designed
Is clear to see, and I believe

Chorus:
I'm gonna live for today
I'm gonna follow in your way
I'm gonna let my little light shine
Like there's no tomorrow
I won't worry about the past
I know my future is intact
So I'll choose to live my life one way
I'm gonna live it for today

You told me not to worry
About what lies ahead
So I am gonna focus on today instead
Making every moment count and counting
Every single blessing
I'm gonna set my mind on the
Here and the Now
This is what I want my life to be about
And this is How...

Yea

My o so crazy life
has got me spinnin round and round
hanging upsidedown
Taking one step at a time
holding your hand all the way
and it'll be okay
yea yea yea yea

Manners Candle

What works for us in a major way? The Manners Candle!!! The Manners Candle originated out of well you know. . .bad manners at our dinner table. I read something in Family Fun Magazine one time and then we elaborated on it. We have a four wick candle on our dinner table. When dinner begins we light the wicks on the manners candle and then the compliments and incredible atmosphere begins. If someone displays poor manners (burping, gassy conduct, complaining about my cooking. . .well you get the idea) including mom and dad then we blow out one wick. If we have any wicks left lit then we get to have dessert (or some form of treat, possibly a game night). If there are no wicks left then we forfeit our right to dessert or fun.

Also, my husband and son and their passionate love for bonuses (I think from playing too much game cube) came up with a bonus candle. We have added two candles to the edge and if there are extraordinary manners displayed then we light the "bonus candle!" Our kids immediately begin thanking me for cooking hot dogs for the fourth time this week. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but they really shape up at dinner time. We have been doing this for about a year and I can think of only a handful of times that we have not had all four wicks lit at the end of the meal. Impressive, huh!!!

We light the manners candle when we have special guests too, especially when other kids visit our house and even if the child does not like what I fixed I hear very little complaining. It more than "Works for Me!!" For more great ideas of What Works for others, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

Please comment if you found this in the least bit helpful!

Swimming with Purpose

Today, in the midst of getting ready for lunch with some friends and homeschooling my 7 year old as well as answering my work phone I was reminded of this poem. It was my favorite poem in college. I found it in a devotional book that I was reading at the time. It especially encouraged me to persevere through my senior year. Sometimes, I just get overwhelmed and I think the struggle is for nothing. I feel like giving up and I want to take the gloomy view!!! I am reminded today that I want to come out on the tip top of the butter!! Hope you enjoy the poem as much as I have! Don't forget to keep swimming!

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl;

The one was wise, and a cheery soul.

The other one took a gloomy view

And bade his friend a sad adieu.

Said the other frog with a merry grin,

"I can't get out, but I won't give in;

I'll swim around
till my strength is spent,

Then I will die the more content.

And as he swam,
though ever it seemed,

His struggling began
to churn the cream

Until on top of pure butter
he stopped, And out of the bowl
he quickly hopped. The moral you ask?
Oh, it's easily found! If you can't get out, keep swimming around!

The Stinkiest Birthday Ever

I have had the plumber at my house the whole day. Big bucks later, we find out that our septic system is clogged and it needs to be drained. I promise it has barely rained more than an inch in months and today it is pouring rain. So, the plumbers and I are out most of the day in the rain looking for a place to plug in the BIG POOPY HOSE to get out all of the stinks. Just FYI, when your toilet is gurgling that means that your septic system is about to explode. It is time to call in the big kahoona. The funniest thing about the day, is that the guy in the septic system truck pulls into our yard and he has a big sign on the truck that reads, "We are #1 in the #2 business!" These are my kind of friends.

Yep, a crappy birthday it has been! But, now that it is all over it is time to POTTY. . .Did I say POTTY, I meant to say PARTY!!!! :) Love, Your 32 year old friend.