I figure this tour is good until the New Year begins right?

Due to the brilliance of Boomama's bloggity brain, I bring you "The Locastro Casa" bloggity tour at Christmas time and of course a little late.

First we have a 'half' shot of the front of the house. I have lights on the gargage too but I couldn't get it all in one BIG shot. The little reindeer move their heads and everytime we back out of the drive Sugar yells, "bye, bye wanedeer"!


And when you walk in the house we have this lighted wreath. This was given to me by some good friends of ours who moved to Australia so I look forward every year to putting it up.
Since we don't have a fireplace this year, the stockings were hung on the stairway with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas can find them there. :-)
This is our Christmas tree in the front living area. The angel on top was given to me by my mom and it's was used to go on our tree when I was young. I just love it!

Now for one of my favorites! I found the train we use to have when I was younger on Ebay and got one for my girls this year. It's considered a vintage now...isn't that funny? Anyways, it runs perfectly, smokes and has a light. The girls absolutely love it and we play with every day.

This was another great vintage find this year and I just adore it. It sits on the back of my stove.


This is the girl's Christmas tree in the media room. You can't see from the picture but it has bubble lights, popcorn garland and their Christmas link chain we made.
This Santa hangs on the girl's bathroom door downstairs next to their playroom. It was made for me about 10 years ago from a friend and the face is made of all yarn.
This is the last picture I took, I bought this Christmas hanging for dirt cheap a few years back and I just love it. I added the door swag over top this year since I had no where else to hang it.

Well that's all for our Christmas decor...head on over to Boomama's to see more!

Happy New Year!

Twas the night...

Twas the Night... for Moms

The Night Before Christmas for Moms
Author Unknown

Twas the night before Christmas, when all thru the abode, only one creature was stirring, and she was cleaning the commode. The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds, while visions of Nintendo and Barbie flipped through their heads.

The dad was snoring in front of the TV, with a half-constructed bicycle sitting on his knee. So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter, which made her sigh, "Now what's the matter?"

With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand, she descended the stairs, and saw the old man. He was covered with ashes and soot, which feel with a shrug. "Oh great," muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."

"Ho-ho-ho!" cried Santa, "I'm glad you're awake. Your gift was especially difficult to make." Thanks, Santa, but all I want is some time alone." "Exactly!" He chuckled, "I've made you a clone."

"A clone?" she asked, "What good is that? Run along Santa, I've no time for a chat." The mother's twin, same hair, same eyes, same double chin. "She'll cook, she'll dust, and she'll mop every mess. You relax, take it easy, and get some real rest."

"Fantastic!" the mom cheered. "My dream come true! I'll shop. I'll read. I'll sleep a whole night through!"

From the room above, the youngest began to fret. "Mommy?! I'm scared… and I'm wet." The clone replied, "I'm coming sweetheart." "Hey", the mom smiled, "She knows her part."

The clone changed the small one, and hummed a tune, as she bundled the child, in a blanket cocoon. "You're the best mommy ever. I really love you." The clone smiled and sighed, "I love you, too."

The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal! That's my child's love she's trying to steal." Smiling wisely Santa said, "To me it is clear. Only one loving mother is needed here."

The mom kissed her child, and tucked her into bed. "Thank you, Santa, for clearing my head. I sometimes forget, it won't be very long, when they'll be too old for my cradle-song."

The clock on the mantle began to chime. Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time." With the clone by his side Santa said, "Goodnight. Merry Christmas Mom, you'll be alright."

* I got this via email several times from some other mommies and thought it was cute. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Hello to all my dear friends that read, lurk and comment,

Well tomorrow morning, the girls and I are off to see some family in a much colder climate. I actually had to buy us some winter clothes since we haven't needed any in oh. about. two. years!

Maybe, just maybe we'll see some snow. Because you know it's fun to see it for about a day or two this time of year and then I've had enough. :-)

Since I'll be without the Internet for a good chunk of time (I know I'm twitching already), I probably won't post again until after Christmas. So until then, I hope all my bloggity friends have a blessed Christmas and may we remember the reason for the season!

In Him,

T-Lo

Our Jesse Tree

Last night we finally purchased our Jesse Tree to start a new family tradition. I have learned lots about this topic over the past few months here in bloggityville. And I must say it's and excellent idea! I learned first about this tradition from here. Since then, I have been collecting more and more information to create our own.

Like so many of you, this year I am doing the paper ornaments for each Bible story. Plus, Sissy LOVES to color so this is a good time to let her make them. Also, we attached them to colored construction paper like they did here and they look great. (Thanks Ad for the tip!)

Below is a snapshot of our first four ornaments. I do believe next year's ornaments will be a little more creative but this will have to do for now. You can get more information about this idea and see more samples of others here and here.


I'm looking forward to doing more devotionals and watching Sissy learn. Sugar is still a little young to understand but we always show her what we made when she wakes up from nap. :-)

Below is the passage where the idea of the Jesse Tree all began...

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

Isaiah 11:1-2

I swear, I don't starve my children

This past month or so I started doing projects again with Sissy during Sugar's nap time. We have made turkeys, Thanksgiving sugar cookies, PB brownie cups, Christmas pine cones, bells, stockings, a gingerbread house (our first time) and the most famous of all...

Popcorn garland! Which by the way takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to make. It's a good thing it's makes for a tasty snack too.


Anyways, Sugar woke up from nap yesterday and I forgot to lock the door to the media room which is where the girl's tree resides. I walked in to find this...



Then followed Smokey the dog...















Once Sissy came in the room and saw first-hand what was going on, we had a very upset preschooler crying, "it's ruined, the whole tree is ruined!"

I think this is the part where I was supposed to stop laughing... :)

Holy cuteness and fun!

Woke up at 4:00am to do my annual "day after Thanksgiving" shopping and I'm all. done.

Yes. I'm. all. done.

I just love all the craziness and fun things that go on that day. Not to mention picking up a few things for myself while I'm at it. You see ladies, if you get up early enough to go, you can actually try. on. clothes. with. no. kids. And eat uninterrupted. And go to the bathroom alone. And browse every aisle. And carry just a purse. Oh yes... the day after Thanksgiving shopping is always a good day.

And I think that is the first time I ever arrived at Starbucks BEFORE they opened. :-)

Now onto holy cuteness! I got the girls "Christmas dresses" this past week. So Saturday while hubby was out doing his fun day of shopping I got the girls dressed to take a picture for our Christmas cards.
I first tried indoors but the pictures kept coming out all blurry. So then I thought since this will probably be our last Christmas in Arizona, I would take it in front of a Saguro cactus.

No such luck.

All the cactuses were too far and the sun was WAY to bright. Plus the girls kept squinting their eyes in every picture. But, I did have some fun playing with iphoto and I perfected the art of 'cropping' some pictures. Below is a glimpse at a couple of my faves.




















In addition to a lovely turkey dinner and my shopping, the girls and I spent the day before making our Christmas chain and wrote 25 things we were thankful for on each link. I love to see how much Sissy (especially) has grown over the past year. We moved from thanking our toys to thanking people.

I love this time of year!

The Big Weekend, Part 2

The moment you all have been waiting for...the dyed/highlighted hair. Let's just say I haven't seen my sistor in over a year and when we get any time together it's usually...

lots of talking, giggling, late nighters, chocolote eatin' sistor-time!

So in the moment of all sistorhood she says.... "hey, let's dye our hair." And, of course with all sistorhood worthyness I agree.

Oh did I agree. I haven't had my roots touched up since my last bloggity trip to Savannah - oh did I just admit that? So without further ado, we headed to our local Walgreens to pick out just the right color! LOL!

Sistor recommended that I use the platinum color to lighten my roots and she chose the caramel color kit. So, the adventure started at 9:00pm and ened after midnight.

RESULTS: I had orange roots and she had orange/blonde hair. There was no "caramel" color anywhere to be seen. Of course the problem was with the hair highlighting kit and not with the person who was applying it, right? :-)

So here are the said color results! The picture was taken around 12:30am so the lighting was not very good.
However when it came to the toes we left it up to the professionals. And as you can see we have the prettiest toes in AZ!


As for the hair...sistor called and said she is all brown now. She actually got up the nerve to fix it herself. I on the other hand had an appointment first thing Saturday morning for what they sytlists call a 'Color Correction'. Well, let's just say 4 1/2 hours later I came home looking somewhat normal! :-)

*The word sister is misspelled intentionally because this what call each other sis-tor!

Thinking out loud

I just hung some Christmas lights on my garage this afternoon...oh my!

Ya'll... is this way too early?

The Big Weekend, Part 1

Well Part 1 will have to start on Thursday when my Dad and sister arrived. The girls and I picked them up from the airport. They arrived an hour early, can you believe it? We finally met up in luggage and the first stop was at In and Out Burger.

Yes ma'am the best burgers EVER.

Once we arrived back home, my Dad and I busted out my most recent Ebay purchase. Oh yes, the train that we had going around the Christmas when I was younger will now be parading around our tree this year. CHOO CHOO!

Check it out...Dad got er' up and running, uncoupling and smoking!
This is a vintage Marx Big Rail Work Train.
A little later in the afternoon I decided to go out and get our mail. Below is what I saw in our front yard on the way out!
YES, that is a giant pile of busy bees trying to make a hive. I'm sure the queen is under there somewhere.

Note to readers: If you live where I live, this is how to take care of the bees: :)

1. Call animal control because it will ring the police department.
2. The police department will tell you the "Fire Department takes care of bees".
3. They will give you the fire dept. number and the operator will say it's out of service.
4. Next, call the animal control services back - read 'police department' to get a new number.
5. They will rudely question your intelligence and then try the number themselves.
6. Then, they will sound like they're sorry and give you a new number.
7. You will finally reach the fire department and they will tell you they don't handle the bees...unless they are hostile and stinging people. They will tell you that the bees are very transient and he "guarantees" said bees will be gone in a few days.
8. You will share your concerns regarding littles one in the house and kids being dropped off at the school bus stop near your home in 45 minutes.
9. The fire department will THEN tell you, "unfortunately they don't know kids are allergic to bees until they start dying on us".
10. Said fire department will "suggest" you patrol the area while the kids are walking home to be sure none of them bother the bees. OR, call a bee keeper and pay several hundred dollars to have them removed.

Here is what WE did:

1. Waited almost three days for bees to leave.
2. They were still there (surprise!) so we called our friendly neighbor Jim who owns a Pest Control company.
3. Said neighbor comes over to check out bees that evening.
4. The next day he was out there spraying them.
5. We paid him $20 bucks and the all the bees were dead in about three hours.

Luckily, no one got hurt/stung but Dad did say that he saw Jim running down the street because the bees started to chase him. Yikes!

Hubby paid him $30 bucks instead... :-)

Stay tuned for more adventures and pictures of "The Big Weekend..."

My Big Weekend

I had such an awesome weekend that I'm still trying to absorb it all.

In a nutshell, my dad and older sister came in town to visit. And, boy did we have a blast. There are so many stories to share I guess I'll have to post in parts. We climbed mountains, dyed (read tried) our hair, pampered our toes, road some trains, chased away some bees...oh the fun.

But for starters, at the request of my sister I am posting pictures for her and all her friends at work of Sissy and Sugars playroom. It's kind of hard to get pictures of the ceiling and the floor in the same shot so I took a few of each area.

"Hi gals, here you go...don't work too hard!" Enjoy! (Claire is waving Hi Aunt Nese!)

Thank you Coffee-mate

Oh yes...it's that time of year again where my all. time. favorite. coffee creamer is available. I swear, if I could get them to send me an email to a product review their sales would blow through the roof! But seeming how they didn't respond to my email I sent to them at this time last year, I don't think I'll be seeing anything in my inbox anytime soon.

Anyhoo, if you haven't tried it yet you have got to get the Coffee-mate Peppermint Mocha creamer. And, I emphasize this...

while supplies last!

Because I'll tell you what, I'll find it at Wal-Mart one time and then they never have it in stock again.

So this year I got smart.

I knew it was going to come out around November 1st, so I headed to my local Wally World and bought myself EIGHT bottles! Yes, you read that right. There were only nine left and I felt bad buying them ALL, so I left one in the case for the next lucky soul.

I know this sounds extreme, but trust me...once their gone they're GONE. Now Coffee-mate will come out with three other seasonal flavors, Pumpkin Spice, Gingerbread and Eggnog. But none of them will compare to the Peppermint Mocha!

If you haven't tried it all ready...Go Get Some Right Now! You'll love it!

And if you don't...send it to me I'll drink it. :-)

My blogiversary

Late as usual...but just over two weeks ago I had my one-year anniversary in bloggityville! Wow, it's hard to believe it's been a year since hubby hounded me to start my own blog.

I can't say I've become a better person or that blogging has made me a better mother but there are a few things I can say...

I've made more friends then I could ever imagine. I've mirled some of the best women in the entire blogosphere. I've learned some great SAHM tips, acquired some great recipes and received prayer and support from so many I can't count. And, if those aren't good enough reasons to blog then I don't know what is.

Looking back, this little blog has gone from "Thoughts with Theresa" to "Bullfrogs and Butterflies". It's gone from posting pictures just for family to sharing them with the world. It's gone from sharing silly stories to asking for advice. It's gone from 3 readers to over 500.

It's gone from fun to fascinating.

Overall, this little blog that I thought only my close family and friends would read has become a true support network for me. And, I know those of you who don't blog (but read) truly do not understand that last statement. All I can say is that I am blessed to be a Blogger and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Blog-O-Lantern results are in...

Wow! This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Hubby and I have been looking at pumpkins for the last hour. I thought it was only fair that I have a unbiased judge help with the winner. So after numerous debates the winner is...


WINNER: Jack Benny
by Jules over at Everyday Mommy.

(Jules make sure you send me your address so I can send you your prize!)



It was so hard to pick just one, so I wanted to give you a few honorable mentions...

1st Honorable Mention: Curious George
by Stacy over at Just Me and the Guys (y'all she did this WITHOUT a pattern!)




2nd Honorable Mention: Spider
by Jennifer over at The Wilson Six (hubby really liked that spider!)



Thanks to everyone who participated. This was a whole lot of fun and I enjoyed looking at all the pumpkin carvings. So if I'm still around bloggityville next year, plan on this contest repeating...and if you didn't participate this year make sure you start getting your ideas going for next year.

May the best Blog-O-Lantern win!

Product Review...huh?

Okay I'll bite... about a week or so ago I got an email from the lovely folks at Clorox. Yes, the bleach one. As if there were someone else with that name? They kindly asked if I would accept a free sample of their new Clorox UltimateCare Premium Bleach and then post my review on my blog. So of course they twisted my arm and I said yes. And, yes, this type of coercion does happen through email. *smile*

Did I mention it was free?

Anyhoo, I read through all the papers and ads to see what was so special about this new bleach. See being OCD and all, we do these kinds of things even though we know what bleach is for. But for your information, I DO use the regular Clorox bleach so I needed to see why I must switch to THEE premium bleach.

So off to the laundry room I went with a day old onesie outfit covered in chocolate ice cream. After reading through the materials it seemed to me the selling point of this new bleach was that you can pour it directly on the fabric.

So that's what I did.

I covered all the soiled chocolate areas and tossed it in the wash with my other whites. For some reason I was a little distracted by a toddler pulling at my leg and I may have poured a little more than I should have. :-)

Nonetheless, we were going to see if this stuffed really worked!

So last night I'm pulling out my load of whites from the dryer and they did look pretty bright and white. Oh, and the little areas on the onesie outfit that I covered (read drowned) in bleach was, drum roll please...

CLEAN! There was not one chocolate stain left of the entire outfit! Sold!

So after using (read abusing) the premimum bleach, I will definitely buy it. Quite frankly my friends, it does work and here is what I liked most about it:

1. You can pour it directly on the fabric (if you don't have said toddler pulling on your leg)
2. It's thicker than true liquid bleach so it's easier to pour (if you're paying attention) :-)
3. I love that fact that when I touched the bleach directly with my fingers, they did not smell like bleach all. day. long. Now that's a bonus!

Finally, I believe a product review is not worthy without seeing proof. So, since I knew I was going to do a review about this product I took before and after shots...

Because truly seeing is believing!

Here are the results...L@@k at the top left sleeve, middle, and bottom left - awesome eh?


*The first pic is a little yellow because I took it in the laundry room.

Thanks Clorox!

* Note to readers: What you can't see in the picture was that I obviously poured WAY too much bleach directly on the fabric and it slightly faded the colors in some spots. Now I'm talking it was very minimal fading and I was surprised it didn't come out completely white! This obviously wouldn't of happened if the product was "used as directed".

In my eyes, that's a plus for Clorox, because even a goof like me couldn't ruin an outfit! :-) I just wanted to be honest.

Halloween Open House

I know this is a day late, but I told Chilihead I would share my pictures...at least the few that we have. I kept it super conservative this year since we have the house on the market.

With that being said, here are my little touches of fall around the house. I also included of picture of hubby's haunted garage but I couldn't capture the full effect on camera. Let's just say there were lots of strobe lights, fog machines, scary music and some good old scary costumes and kiddos! :-)
Alright, either blogger is being stubborn or our connection is on a frenzy because it would not let me load any more pictures - Arrrr! Anyhoo, there's a couple to look at...I'll try again later.

"Tink" or Treat...Meowww!

Here are the girls in their costumes tonight. What troopers! We got lots of candy and Daddy had fun scaring all the neighbors in his "haunted garage". You can't tell from the picture but he was playing scary music with four strobe lights, four fog machines and him dressed in a black costume with a Jason mask. We had a great night!

And, it's not too late...if you carved/painted/colored your pumpkins tonight, make sure you enter in the Blog-O-Lantern contest below using Mr. Linky. The winner will be announced at the end of the week. Happy Halloween!



UPDATED TO ADD: If you like this contest head on over to Jennifer's at The Wilson Six to win some free toile stationary! (I'm a sucker for contests...hee hee!)

Blog-O-Lantern contest begins today!

Are you ready? I'm so excited because it's finally time for the contest to officially start today! Our family pumpkin is below...would you have thought it would be anything different with TWO little princesses running around the house? I actually wanted to carve Ariel because of the big DVD release and all, but "slacker mama" was not on the ball this year. Okay, okay "sick mama" was unable to get it done this year. :-)

So, for the first Blog-O-Lantern Contest I bring you Disney's very own Cinderella!

To participate in the Blog-O-Lantern contest please use Mr. Linky below and add your name. I can't wait to see what you've done. Happy Halloween and happy carving!!

Are you a pumpkin?

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff -- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.

This was passed on to me from another pumpkin. Now, it is your turn to pass it to a pumpkin. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Cell phones, realtors, jets and pumpkins

Here I am! Thanks everyone for your recommendations on the coffee makers.

The sad thing is I haven't bought one yet. I know I know.

But here's the thing. The day after I posted that, Sugar dropped my cell phone on the hardwood floor and you know what happened next? Yes, it came apart in TWO pieces. And, I'm not talking about a separated battery pack!

So this weekend's shopping was for a new cell phone instead of the coffee maker. So for now I'm using my current coffee maker since it's technically still working.

Onto other news...
We had a super BIG weekend. A couple of showings, the Goodyear Balloon and Air Spectacular, a trip to Schnepf Farms and the best part... my SIL and nephew were in town.

So Friday night was spent doing some massive house cleaning in preparation for the showings and then Saturday we went to see the Blue Angels fly at the air show. The girls absolutely loved all the planes and the big jets. We had perfect seats in the shade. We got the last spot right under one of the wings of a parked plane that was displayed for the show. And, you know that's a big thing in Arizona...finding shade! The girls also enjoyed some pony rides and jumping in big bounce houses.

Finally on Sunday we headed to the pumpkin patch to meet up with my nephew and SIL. We had a super time...

We spent the day going on the carousel, a hay ride, pony rides, bounce houses, slide shoots, a train ride, visiting the petting zoo and giant playground. We also enjoyed it sipping homemade lemonade and snacking on old-fashioned kettle corn.


We rounded out the day going to the pumpkin patch and picking out our pumpkins for the this week's Blog-O-Lantern contest!










Oh yes folks it's time. I will go ahead and set up Mr. Linky starting this Friday. And, if all goes well this week I plan on posting the first carving (mine) to officially kick off the contest so be on the lookout!

*I would have posted pictures from Schnepf Farms but Mommy left the digital camera on the chair at home! (I'm still kicking myself) Luckily, SIL had a diposable with her so I can post some pictures when we get them developed.

Calling all coffee drinkers

Thanks to BM - The Blawg for reminding me that I need to ask for some advice from all my blogging buddies about an important purchase I'm about to make.

My poor old Mr. Coffee pot is dying a slow death. First, my house doesn't smell like coffee anymore in the morning when it's brewing, the hot plate paint has peeled off in three different places and most importantly, it doesn't match my kitchen. ;-)

I was hoping all you die-hard coffee drinkers can help me select my new coffee maker. I make coffee almost every morning and I grind my own beans of Serena Organic Blend by Starbucks. So to help with the decision, here are a few things I would like for my new toy to have:

1. 12 - cup (at least)
2. Use round coffee filters (I get twitches from the cone shaped kind)
3. Programmable (so it's brewing when I wake up at 5:45am with my 4-year old)
4. Preferably in black or stainless steel
5. Easy to clean

And for pete's sake...I want to smell it brewing in the morning like my old one used to!

So am I a "coffee snob" yet? Well join the crowd, and tell me what you recommend in my comments section.

Oh, and as far as price goes, I'm totally open. I just want a good cup of joe!

Thanks y'all!

Friday's Random Thoughts

1. My Grey's addiction continues with only six more episodes to watch.

2. Back to the doctor today because my incision decided to open back up and bleed. No worries though, the doctor got it taken care of and I'm back home.

3. I've been ebaying a lot this last month and finally found two lp's from my childhood that I've been looking for over three years now.

4. Also, I recently purchased on Ebay a train that used to go around our Christmas tree when we were little. It's a Vintage Marx Electrical Train Set with an engine that smokes.

5. I've been spending a lot of time doing crossword puzzles and word searches. I think I'm an expert at them now.

6. My mother-in-law has been a total life saver during this whole surgery thing. She cleans my house, does the laundry, feeds my girls, takes them to the park and bathes them. I'm going to be so sad when she leaves us on Sunday.

7. The temperatures here in Phoenix have been dropping pretty good. In the mornings it is actually cool outside and you can open the windows.

8. Due to number seven, my allergies have spiked quite a bit. But during my stay in the hospital my doctor gave me a prescription for an inhaler and it seems to be helping a lot! Thank you Dr. S.

9. The girls are growing so fast. Claire went 'tee tee' on the potty today and Victoria is figuring out that 10 minutes is longer than 2 minutes. She also learned how to read some new words this week.

10. Don't forget the Blog-O-Lantern contest is coming up in two weeks. I can't wait to see the pictures and carvings y'all have done. Also, it doesn't have to be anything fancy just take a picture of whatever you carve and make sure you post it.

Well that's all for now. I have to get to Grey's Anatomy...Mere just got thrown to the floor from a bomb going off...oh my! This is good stuff!

The Great Physician

I went to the doctor's today and the staples are officially out. I'm still taking quite a few meds but I'm feeling much better. I can get up and down the stairs now, but I still can't drive or pick up the girls.

But by far the best news today was that the mass they tested is benign! Thanks so much for all your prayers.

I must admit I was a little shocked today when the doctor admitted that he was SO relieved it wasn't cancer. He was practically throwing his hands up in the air and cheering. He said when they see a "solid mass" they get very worried (now he tells me.) Anyways, he said that he has seen two solid mass cases so far this year (me and another gal) and the other girl's came back as cancer. I know I will need to pray for her because this so easily could have been turned around.

So again, thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. I know a lot of you have emailed me directly asking for an update and to see how I was doing, so I thought I would just write a quick post about my status.

Once again, The Great Physician comes through. He never fails to amaze me.

How do you know when Grey's Anatomy becomes an addiction?

1. When you watch episodes on DVD from your computer until you go in reserve power with your battery...and then it goes dead.

2. When you sleep in your daughter's cinderella canopy bed with MacBook in hand so you don't disturb others in the house while watching.

3. When your hubby goes out and buys you a brand new DVD player for your bedroom JUST so you can watch episode after episode without running down the battery on your computer. Oh yes he did!

4. When you let out a loud screeching noise at your 19-month old daughter who almost touched the buttons on the DVD player.

5. When you pause the show every. single. time. someone comes in your room so you don't miss a thing.

6. When you rewind at any time to hear something over, because you're not quite sure what was said behind those little gas masks.

7. When you laugh out loud and look around to see if any else is laughing? Then, realize you're the only one in the room.

8. When you turn up the volume because the air conditioner kicked on or the dog's snore gets a little too loud.

9. When you start dreaming about McDreamy and dream the rest of the cast are actually your friends.

10. When you've watched 16 episodes in four days . . . seriously!

Thanks Addie, Julie, Robin and all you other die hard fans! You've turned me into a Grey's Monster!

Home at last

Can you believe it? Since the last update things got a little worse. My EKG was normal but my chest x-ray showed I had pneumonia. My worst nightmare...more days in the hospital - ugh! Just as my doctor was saying, "I'll check the x-ray, but I've never had a patient get pneumonia after open surgery".

Leave it to me to change that little statistic.

I'm trying to recover now with somewhere between 15 - 20 staples in my stomach, sore arms from all the IV's and blood level checks and enough prescriptions to open my own pharmacy.

I'll probably be living in my bedroom for the next two weeks but there are some good things to look forward to...

I'm home now, in my own bedroom, with hubby, my girls, TiVo, the MacBook and DVD player at my disposal. Plus, I have two family members in town taking care of me, the house, and my children. And ya know what? That's whole lot better than where I was yesterday!

So what was suppose to be a same day out patient surgery, turned into a six day hospital day with open surgery. But, I am thankful to all my friends and family (and yes YOU if you're reading this) for all the prayers and love that were sent my way.

Some say blogging is just a hobby but y'all were the ones that help me through that last hump in the hospital when I thought things couldn't get any worse. Oh, and thank you Lord for inventing this crazy thing we call technology - especially PDA's! :-)

I'll right more when my big, bruised belly can handle sitting up more than 15 minutes at a time.

update

i'll do the best I can from hubby's pda.

I'm still in the hospital. They had to remove my right ovary. I started to have internal bleeding so I went back to have open surgery to stop the bleeding. I ended up having my fallopian tube removed on the same side and needing a blood transfusion. Right now my blood pressure levels will not remain stable and I still need oxygen. I've had a few fainting spells and shortness of breath. I'm going this am to have an EKG and a chest xray. I'll let you know what we find. Thanks for all your prayers that's all I can do for now. T-Lo

No food after 11:00...

No cash, credit cards or jewelry.

Bring photo I.D. and insurance card.

Be at the hospital at 5:30am...


...and go straight to the surgery entrance.

After my pre-opt yesterday and a phone call from the hospital today these are my instructions. So if God willing, I will be in surgery for an hour then, recovery for an hour and hopefully getting ready to head home. I will let you all know how it went as soon as I'm able.

Here's my guess... at home recovering in bed with absolutely nothing to do but watch TV and blog, I'm guessing the update should be sooner than later.

And a quick thank you to Julie the Desert Diva for suggesting "perfect surgery recuperating material" for me...Seasons 1 & 2 of Grey's Anatomy on DVD!

Oh, yes she did!

Right now, I have in my hot little hands Season One with 19 Exclusive Unaired Scenes AND Season Two - The Complete Second Season UNCUT!

Oh, yes I do!

Come to think of it, blogging may be on the back burner after all. If I get too involved, I'll kindly let hubby post and give you the scoop! :-)

P.S. If I didn't get to you directly - thanks everyone for all your prayers!

The Best of WFMW

Looks like were having the 'Best of WFMW' so I just happen to pick my very first one since I got lots of comments on it - and really many more people have joined since this was posted. Enjoy! (Look it's the old logo!) *smile*

I decided to join in with Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer to her new column idea of it Works-For-Me Wednesday. I was contemplating doing this since I didn't think anything I had to share was worth a good tip. But, I thought I would give it a try. Even if your not interested in participating, I would highly recommend you visiting her blog - she Rocks! (pun intended) :)

So here is my Works-For-Me Wednesday tip for today...

Do you hate taking out the trash? Well her is a tip that will hopefully make it a little easier. After removing the trash from the trash can take a handful of new trash bags and put them in the bottom of the can. Then, put in a new bag. Now, the next time it's time to take out the trash a new bag will be waiting for you.

I know restraurants do this a lot because the trash bags are normally stored far away from where the trash can actually resides. It also makes this dirty job much easier and cleaner for the nearby guests who are dining in. Enjoy!

Back in Business

After 6 months of an inexperienced realtor, unsuccessful marketing plan, and crazy housing market we are back in business! How you ask? Let's just say it started last week during my quiet time when I was asking God to give me some answers about how to handle this 'house selling' situation. I had many questions that needed to be answered and God has slowly started to reveal his answers to me.

Well to save face of said realtor, I will not mention which company we were dealing with but, I will say that we are no longer under contract with them. Oh yes! We are back on the market tomorrow with a wonderful new realtor who works for a very reputable company. And, how do I know this? Well, I know this because in the past month, I have been interviewing several different realtors and companies and she my friends, has passed the test with flying colors! Not only is she honest, but she is looking out for our best interest and she knows her business like nobody's business!

Most importantly, she is a woman of God.

So this is a quick and BIG thank you to my good friend Stacy over at Just Me and My Guys for putting this person in our life.

Let the house selling journey begin...again!

Blog-O-Lantern Contest

Well the contest officially has it's own button now. This was designed by my new, awesome friend Sandra over at A Diary of a "Stay at Home Mom". At first I wasn't sure about having one created because honestly, I didn't know how many people would want to join in.

But, then I decided who cares...Sandra already made the button and darn it I want to use it! :-) Now obviously, you don't have to put this in your sidebar to participate but hopefully it will be a reminder to all those who want to participate and help pass the word around.

So, a BIG huge thank you to Sandra for taking the time to do this. I just love it!

The word is out...

A few months ago I posted this and this about some "female issues" that were going on in my little body. Then, after having the cat scan done and getting the automated message on my machine that Saturday morning that everything was "normal", I thought I was out of the woods. But, I just found out three weeks ago after talking to the doctor face-to-face that the cat scan was not exactly normal.

In a nut shell, the radiologists report said that they did see something on my right and left ovaries but it was "umremarkable". Which I'm going to guess in medical language that means they can't tell what "it" exactly is.

After finding this out, you could say I was a tad upset. In a matter of months it went from your okay to oh, there really is something there we just can't tell what it is from the images.

Next step? Well it was to run more follow-up tests to see if there had been any changes in these so called "nodules" that they were seeing.

Then comes along this new doctor (an OB/GYN that I tried to get in to see months before) says it's a solid mass on my right ovary and "it needs to be removed."

That was three weeks ago...and now today, I am one week away from going into surgery.

Of course, it gets a little more complicated. Since I have had two prior c-sections the doctor says he may have some trouble reaching it. Which means laparoscopic surgery may not work! And, according the the radiologists reports the mass is embedded in my ovary (hence the reason they were having trouble seeing it from the tests).

We won't know until I'm in surgery if he can reach it laparoscopically and if he can't, then I will have open surgery and the ovary will have to be completely removed. *sigh*

So, why am I telling you all this personal stuff? Well after mentioning this on a few blogs, people were slowly figuring it out and a few starting commenting on my own blog about it. Sooooo, I felt a little obligated to my bloggity friends to share my news.

Plus, I know y'all are some serious prayer warriors! I have seen God do his work in this blogosphere many-o-times. And, let me tell you, it's amazing stuff! So tonight when you're saying your prayers (for all those others that have way bigger issues than I) can you add me to your list?

Please pray that next Thursday the surgery will be the easier of the two and that whatever they are removing that it's benign and all my little female issues will go away.

Thanks y'all and good night!

Are you getting any R&R?

Have you heard about the new show on CBS? I'll give you two hints: she can cook and her initials are RR.

I will admit, I was a little skeptical about the whole thing. I just thought "here we go another celebrity is getting their own talk show". Then, I got my little remote control and scheduled my TiVo to record Rachel Ray's new show! :-)

And, I'm SO glad I did...ladies if you're not watching or not a fan yet, you just might be after watching her show. I just finished watching the first three episodes tonight and it kicks some tail!

So of course, here are my
Thirteen Reasons Why You Should Be Watching RR:

1. Her set is absolutely fabulous! It's set up like an apartment with a kitchen, garage, terrace, etc.

2. The audience floor moves! It turns to face her based on what room she is in on the set.

3. She has great guests on her show to eat and cook with her! So far, Diane Sawyer and Oprah Winfrey. Oh yes she did!

4. She talks about shoes, kids, dogs, etc. anything her little mind wanders too.

5. She goes from sky diving out of a plane then back to her kitchen to eat.

6. Instead of 30 minute meals she makes SEVEN minute meals!

7. Actually, it was 5 mins. and 52 seconds and it looked awesome.

8. She plays a funny game called "Stump the Rach" that was just down right hilarious.

9. Did I mention she was a hoot? She tells stories of her childhood that will have you on the floor rolling!

10. She is so cheerful and funny you can't help but be in a good mood when you're done watching.

11. Her show covers a lot of topics that keep you suckered in.

12. She is still young, so the show is hip, fresh and definitely unique!

13. She brings the meaning of talk shows to a whole new level...so go watch it already!

Works-For-Me-Wednesday

Happy Fall Y'all! I thought since Halloween is approaching and I'm hosting a "Blog-O-Lantern" online contest I figured I would share one of my tips for carving pumpkins. Okay, maybe two tips!

First, sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves on the bottom of the lid. Then, when you light your pumpkin...ta-dah, instant fall air freshner!

Second, try cutting the lid from the bottom of the pumpkin instead of the top where the stem is located. This makes it much easier and safer to light your pumpkin.

Now get your thinking caps on and start strumming up your ideas for the "Blog-O-Lantern" pumpkin carving contest and win a prize here from Bullfrogs and Butterflies!

And most importantly, don't forget to stop over at Shannon's to get more awesome tips!