Where Have You Been All Of My Life????

OH MY GOODNESS, this stuff is sinful! I cannot believe that no one thought of this before. I am normally a creamer and 1 Sweet n Low and 1 Equal in my coffee girl, but not anymore. With the Coffee-mate Italian Sweet Creme Creamer everything is taken care of in this one little jug from heaven. Oh, and the best part is that it makes your coffee taste like it has melted whipped cream in it. YUMMO! I do believe that this is going to have to be added to The Ever Growing List of Things I Love! And, yes, Life is Good with my new found friend.

Oh, and by the way, when I dumped my photos from the camera I found lots of others that were suppose to be posted on Blog entries, long ago. So, today will be catch up day on both this blog and Curiously Kaylea. Sorry, I have been a slacker.

Drum Roll Please..........

I know everyone has been sitting on the edge of their seats to hear the outcome of my first party.......well............. it was a HUGE success. I am proud to say that with my first party I was able to make enough commission to pay for my start-up kit and still have a little somin somin in my pocket. Because I love to have my friends over and cook for them, this was me in my element. Miraculously, I wasn't even that nervous.

I still have so much to learn about the products, but luckily I had Lara here to guide me through, and take over the presentation when I needed her.

Thank you to everyone for their well wishes. It means a lot to me to know that I have so many family members and friends that are supporting my decision. I love you guys!

Happy Mother's Day

I just want to say Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in my world. God has blessed me with not just one mother - but four.

First, I have my Mom. She gave birth to me and has loved me and watched me grown for 40 years now. She was a single hard working mom for many years. Looking back on those years, I see how Mom struggled to make ends meet. To put it very simply, we were poor. The amazing part, though, is that sis and I didn't know that we were. Mom made sure that we always had a comfortable home; had food on the table; and basically had most all things that we desired. Mom knew how to budget and stretch a dollar, which she inherently passed on to me. Thank you, mom, for all that you did, and continue to do, for me. I'm not quite sure how you did it. I love you, Mom!

Second, I have my Mom, Fris. God bless, Friss. She married Dad at such a young age and inherited his two kids, one twelve and one eight. I love Fris with all of my heart. She has been a role model to me in kindness, forgiving and acceptance. Fris instinctively knew not to try to be my "Mother". She felt her way around and found what was a comfortable balance for both of us. Through this respect for me and my feelings our relationship has grown through the years. Today, I am proud to say that she is one of my Mom's. I love you, Fris!

Third, I have my Mom, Wanda. This poem best describes our relationship:

You are the mother I received the day I wed your son.

And I just want to thank you, Mom, for all the things you've done.

You have given me a gracious man with whom I share my life.

You are his lovely mother and I his lucky wife.

You used to pat his little head and now I hold his hand.

You raised in love a little boy then gave to me a man.

Wanda has become another Mom in my life over the past 11+ years. I know that she is there for me anytime I want to talk or need advise. She is a blessing to me. I love you, Wanda!

Last, but certainly not least, I have my Mom, Sis. You see, my sister is a Mom to me. We are only separated by 4 years; however, she played the Mommy role to me most of my life. Because we were home alone while Mom was working, Sis was left in charge. She was responsible for keeping me safe; helping me with my homework; cooking my meals; and basically just being the boss of me. There were many things that I confided to my Sis that any other child would have shared with their Mom. Sissy gave me relationship advise; taught me how to cook; taught me how to drive and many other important things that kids learn as the grow into adulthood. I'm sure I was a huge burden to my sister when she was a teen and I don't know how she can help but resent me today. With all of this said, I hope you understand why I can't let Mother's Day pass without acknowledging my Sissy. I am doubly blessed that she is a Mom and Sister to me. I love you, Sissy!

Another Crazy Week

Wow, where has my week gone? So much to do, but so little time!

Monday, sis and I went to Dollywood so she could visit the International Festival. She had never been and wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. I tried to warn her that it wasn't the be-all end-all of International Festivals, but she wanted to take a looksee for herself. Well, needless to say, she was totally underwhelmed. For a girl that is a regular at Epcot's World Showcase, she had mighty high expectations. Upon leaving, she was quite sure that Disney was not worried about Dolly putting them out of business.

Tuesday, I subbed at Kaylea's school. I am certain that I chose the wrong major in college. Instead of Elementary Education, I should have majored in Physical Education. What a life! You get to play dodge ball or kickball all day and you get paid a pretty good salary. Once again in my adult life I find myself saying, "Hind sight is 20/20."

Wednesday, I had a blast. Sis and I met Paula from Overtly Trite and Anna from Life with the Retro Moderns for lunch. When I say, "met", I am speaking in the literal since of the word. We have been reading their blogs for awhile and thought it would be fun to finally meet face to face. We all shared stories, had many laughs, and got to know one another better. I'm quite sure this will become a regular lunch date for us.

Thursday, was just LONG. I subbed all day and then stayed after school to help hand out cookie dough with the Parent Support Group. Kaylea and I didn't get home until almost 7:00. WHEW!

Friday and today, I have working in the house and trying to get it ready for my launch party on Monday evening. I am still working on the laundry (is it any surprise that I have left that chore for last?)

Hopefully, I will be able to watch my training DVD and get the grocery shopping done, tomorrow. We'll just keep our fingers crossed on that one. Don't give up on me, hopefully I will be able to write a little more frequently once the whirlwind passes.

Let Me Entertain You

I want to share with everyone a decision I have made to better myself and my family. I have signed on as an Independent Consultant for Taste of Home Entertaining ("TOHE").

Last month, I attended a TOHE party at a friend's house and was blown away by the product offering. I love to cook, and I love to entertain friends and family in my home. This company offers products that cater to both. I am so excited and can't wait to serve as both hostess and consultant at my first party.

For a while now, I have been soul searching and trying to figure out what I want to do with all of my free time. I really think this is the answer for me. I will still be able to substitute teach; volunteer in Kaylea's classroom; and be home with Kaylea in the afternoon. All while making a little extra spending money.

Please keep me in your thoughts as I begin this new adventure. Also, if you would like to attend a party, just let me know. I will be having a couple of launch parties and I would love to have you attend :) Here is the link to my webpage.

Just A Question

Why do Schnoodles' breath smell like a**??????????????? No matter how many doggie mints or teeth cleaning chews Angel gnaws on, her breath still smells like she just got through eating a turd sandwich.

Now, Angel, don't get your feelings hurt. You know your Mommy loves you, but dang dog, layoff the skunk poopsicles.

It's All or Nothing

Do you ever feel like your life either runs at full speed or stays at a standstill? Well, that seems to be the norm for me lately. Most days, I have nothing much to do. Of course there is always housework, laundry and running Kaylea around, but I am talking about stuff that is majorly time consuming. Those type things just don't happen that often. However, when I have things to do, they all seem to come at once. This week has been one of those weeks.

A few weeks back, I decided to put my name on the sub list at Kaylea's school since I had requested that her old school remove me from their list for the remainder of the year (another story for another post). Well, apparently her school is in need of subs and appreciates my education and training, because they booked me for three days this past week. In addition to my sub days, I chaperoned Kaylea's class field trip on Tuesday and Barry was out of town on business Thursday and Friday. With all of this going on, I was also on the hunt for Bub and myself a new car.

Unfortunately, Bub's car, the Malibu (kindly referred to as the "Bubbabu") decided to get a little temperamental last week and we weren't sure just how much longer it was going to decide to play nice with us. We knew this day was coming, but had hoped that we could make it through the summer before having to put the Bubbabu out to pasture. Well, I guess the car had other plans. Every evening I was scouring the Internet looking for a decent used car that didn't have 100k+ miles on it AND was priced within our price range. This was not an easy task seeing as we weren't wanting to spend a ton of money on the car. Tuesday evening I thought I had found the perfect car, but when Bub called about it on Wednesday he was told that it was no longer available. DRATS!!!!! So the search continued. Eventually, we had to face the facts and admit that we were going to have to spend a little more money than we had originally anticipated.

After expanding our search, I located a few possibilities and we were off to the car dealership last night to look around and do some test driving. Lucky for us we liked the first car we drove and we were able to work out a deal that was agreeable to us and the dealership. So, as of 10:00 pm last night, we were the proud owners of a new car (well, new to us anyway).

So, for those of you that thought I had quit this whole blogging thing, have no fear. It just seems that life gets in the way of me being able to post sometimes.



P.S. Yea for me - I also have two days booked to sub this coming week. I love making extra money!!!!! Life is good :)