I was tagged by  onevoice1 to say 8 things about myself, so here goes…….

1.  I cant get up in the morning until I have laid in bed and snuggled with hubby for 10 – 15 minutes. 

2.  I have a tattoo on my right wrist of a Sun/moon and 7 stars that represents me, hubby and my 7 kids.

3.  I have lost 21# in the last few months!

4.  I spend wayyyyy  too much time on the computer!

5.  I love to read and can spend hours in a bookstore looking thru the books.

6.  I love going on spur of the moment motorcycle trips with Hubby..

7.  After 27 years of cooking I really prefer to have someone else cook now, and most of the time I dont cook. 

8.  I am thrilled to death to be a Grandma 

The Rules
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people (or less if everyone else you know has already been tagged!) to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog

I tag: SherriLynns, LusciousRedLips, PhantomOfHappiness, Tinkerbell_1986, bananar00, Gilybeany, …………………….No retags please!

If you have already been tagged, please disregard.

I got busy and forgot, that’s what happened.  Mondays and Thursdays are always busy days for me because that is the day before TSG new release day in the store.  I have to get all the last minute kits ready to go in to the store and that takes some time.   Add in going to physical therapy first thing in the morning, driving my bus route, doing laundry etc, chasing around after Miranda, and you have a very busy day!  No wonder I forgot….  

Well,  all the new releases are in the store, physical therapy for today is over, Miranda has had lunch so now I have a few minutes to post.    I got some very good news last night.  Two different sets of kids are moving off my bus route and today is their LAST DAY!!!   I am so tickled, mainly because I have had nothing but trouble out of these kids for the last 3 yrs.  It seems like one or all of them are in trouble every single day.   The news that they are leaving has caused me to break out and do the happy dance!   Cant you hear all the commotion??  That’s me having a party!     Ok,  enough of me expressing my delight over those kids moving

Hubby was able to get a good portion of the walls sanded in the living/dining room area.  When he gets home tonight he is going to get it finished up and then we should be ready to prime the walls.  We went to Menards last night and bought a handy dandy paint sprayer, no more rolling paint on the walls for me!   After the primer is good and dry we will be able to spray the texture on the walls.  Of course all the windows need to be taped first so no texture goes anyplace we don’t want it.  Then once the texture dries it can be primed and then painted.  I cant wait to get it done…..

Tomorrow I have to get Thanksgiving Dinner ready since we are having it on Sunday.  The kids will all be over with their families so it will be a full house.  On Thanksgiving Day, hubby and I and baby and Sara will be making the 8 hour drive to Columbus, Ohio to visit Hubby’s mom and sisters.  So this weekend will be our Thanksgiving celebration, and I will be darn busy! The 25# turkey is thawed and waiting.  I will get the fruit salad and cranberries done tomorrow,  Hubby likes to make the stuffing so he is in charge of getting that ready tomorrow night so Sunday morning all we have to do is get up and pop dinner in the oven…   And wait for the hungry horde to descend

It’s about that time again…   Time to drive my afternoon route and say goodbye to the 5 troublemakers!     Darn!!   What on earth am I going to do for excitement on the bus now??!!!  

Have a great Friday everyone   Ohhhh   and I was tagged so hopefully I will be back later to do that post

This is going to be a quick post since I have to leave and drive my afternoon bus route in a few minutes…    I wanted to let any of you that are interested in Digital Scrapbooking know that there are a few quickpages(stickits) that I am giving away over on TSG Blog  if you would like to go get them while they are there.  I am hosting a challenge on the blog this week.  Everyone who downloads the “Maryann” quickpage  and makes a LO and then uploads it into TSG Blog Gallery will be entered into a drawing for the December Mega Kit from the designers at The Scrapping Garden.

You can find the beautiful kit, “Maryann” , designed by Linda Cumberland, that this quickpage was made from HERE

I hope a few of you will join the challenge and be entered into the drawing for the mega kit which will be held on Saturday.

Hubby has tomorrow off, Well,  all but a couple hours when he has to go in and give the guys a lunch break.  I am hoping there is much more prgoress to report on the living/dining room.

Our Thanksgiving dinner is going to be this Sunday since we will be out of town on Thanksgiving Day.  I think I really need to get to the store and get some groceries bought. 

Ok,  I need to run now and drive the bus.  Have a great Wednesday everyone

for another day of driving the school bus.  I got a phone call about 6:30am from the girl at the bus barn.  Calling to let me know that 2 of the girls on my bus route finally moved up on top of the hill.   Normally this wouldnt be a problem, but it makes a 7 minute difference in my bus route since I no longer have to go all the way down to the river to pick them up.  They were SUPPOSED to let me know at least a week in advance of when they were moving so I could let the other parents of the kids this would affect know about the time change.  Well, needless to say I was let know early this morning, about 20 minutes before I was ready to leave to start the route.  I called the parents of the kids this affected, (4 families) and let them know the new time I would be there to pick up their kids.  Everyone was understanding about my early morning phone call..   Now we’ll see how it works out in the afternoon. Since I no longer have that road on my bus route I shouldnt be going down it.  BUT I have 2 other girls who go to their grandparents house in the afternoon and the grandparents live down there.  I am hoping the grandparents will drive up to the stop before there and pick the girls up.  That would cut about 15 miles and 35 minutes a week off my afternoon bus route. 

Hubby got the living room half of the living room/dining room area sanded and mudded again.  Hopefully it will be ready to prime and texture soon.  

I need to get my Thanksgiving groceries bought sometime in the next few days.  We are going to have our family Thanksgiving this Sunday.  On Thanksgiving Day we are going to make the 8 hour drive to Ohio to visit with Hubby’s mom for the holiday weekend.   Miranda is so excited.  She loves going to visit Grandma.  I got her calendar all made up and posted on the refrigerator so she can check off the days until turkey day and then until time to go to Grandmas.  She was up early this morning asking me if she could make her check   She is such a sweetheart

Well,  I better get a move on.  I have a ton of things to get done.  Re working my bus schedule is one of them.    Have a wonderful Monday 

to host The Scrapping Garden Blog  I hope some of you will pop over there and say hi…   Hubby had to go in to work for a few hours this morning.  Then he said he is coming home and get the remainder of the mudding and sanding done on our living room/diningroom.  Hopefully we can get it all done soon.  

We went to Menards last night to pick up a new water line that goes from the sink to our icemaker.  A MOUSE had chewed thru our other one and water was spraying everywhere!    I hate mice, and I really hate when they cost me money     We have had poison out since it started getting colder, but now hubby is talking about getting a mousing cat.   Now just HOW do you know if a cat will be a mouser or not?   Our luck will be to get a cat that turns out to be destructive and has no inclination towards catching mice of any kind…   Sometimes it feels like there is no winning….       Back to Menards though….    We got our water line, picked up a new furnace filter…   ($30 for that filter  )    and then went over to find a texturizer sprayer for our walls.   We found it and right there was the display of all the Christmas lights and trees…   I should have ran in the other direction…   but I didnt…   I looked up and saw a beautiful white tree with blue LED lights on it.   I have never been one to like white xmas trees, but this one really was beautiful..  I showed hubby who promptly pointed out one of those white tress already decorated sitting in a display on the floor.  it was absolutely breathtaking…   I imagine I really dont need to go on do I??   I am sure you have figured out by now that we spent over $500 buying a white Xmas tree and a whole new set of beautiful blue ornaments and lights to put on it!   I cant believe we did that…  Talk about impulse spending!   We got home, baby took one look at all the xmas decorations and now all she wants to do is decorate….   Forget Thanksgiving, she wants CHRISTMAS!!     So now I need to make her up a calendar that shows her when Thanksgiving is, then our little trip to see Grandma, and then when it will be Christmas time.  There is nothing more determined than baby when she sets her mind on something   

I have seen houses already with their Christmas lights up and burning.   We will wait til after Thanksgiving when hopefully the living room/dining room will be finished…  So what about you?   Are you ready to start decorating and getting into the Christmas spirit???

Have a wonderful Sunday

today.  So I cancelled my Physical Therapy appt for this morning.  I have 3 more of them set up for next week.  I might get a couple appts in during Thanksgiving week, but hubby and I are taking the girls and going to Ohio to visit hubby’s mom.  We’ll be gone a few days and get back home Sunday night.  Well, that’s it for now…  I am off to relax awhile….

out the door for the first of my 2 appts. today…    I’ll check back later when I finally get to kick back    have a wonderful day everyone

physical, and the Marines lost no time in swearing him in.  Its all official now.  Once he graduates he becomes the property of the US Government, (actually according to his recruiter he already is).  I have to admit that a small part of me was hoping that for some reason he would fail the physical and they wouldnt take him.  I know, I am a selfish, scared to death something will happen to him, mama.  So now he needs to finish his senior year of High School and work on his physical conditioning so he will be ready for the 12 weeks of boot camp he will need to go thru.  He already has a military ID thru my hubby but I guess he will be getting his own.  Then he will be expected to go to the gym at the arsenal and work on the exercise machines etc.  His recruiter will walk him thru every step. Ok,  enough of Alex…

Baby is much better…  I thought the “terrible two’s” were bad…   Now we have hit the “fantabulously fiesty fours!”   I cant believe how much trouble she has gotten into since she bounced back from being sick!   in just the last few days she has emptied her toys all over the floor, pulled the cargo net down from the wall that holds all her stuffed animals, wrote on the flat screened monitor that she just got passed down to her from daddy with fingernail polish    I am sure there is more it just isnt all coming to mind right now.  She has been going non stop the last few days…   I just want to put her out of MY misery!      I am hoping she clams (that too! )  CALMS back down real soon   Sara is home sick from school today.  She got up this morning with a headache, upset tummy and sore throat.  She seems to be doing much better now.  At least she felt well enough to cook some chicken nuggets for lunch,  and now she is sitting on the couch folding clothes and watching a movie on tv.  We dont have school tomorrow or Friday since it is parent/teacher conferences so we will be getting a 4 day weekend.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

Well,  my ankle is finally doing better.  It is still swollen, but at least my foot doesnt look like a balloon anymore.  My ankle does hurt though, I dont know if it is the metal plate in it or the bones, but I have figured out that the cold really bothers it.  I have managed to hurt my knee on the other leg now. I know..  I am falling apart     Actually I think all the stress I put on it while I was only able to use that one leg and crutches was just too much for it.  It has been bothering me since about the end of August.  I went in and saw my family physician who told me there was nothing she could do for me since I am already taking anti inflamatories for the Rheumatoid.  So she sent me to an Orthopedic Dr and I saw him last Thursday.  My knee has been so bad I havent been able to walk without a lot of hobbling and going up and down steps was almost impossible.   He took some xrays and did an exam, said my knee was doing alot of grinding as the joint moves.  I ended up getting a cortisone shot in my knee joint and he wants me to go BACK to the physical terrorists as my friend Shirlann would say… I have the appointments all set up although I am not crazy about going back, so tomorrow morning (on my day off) I will be at the therapists office at 7:45am.  Then I need to get my yearly schoolbus physical done and out of the way. Maybe then I can relax, at least until Friday morning when I have to go back to therapy.  If the therapy doesnt help out with the pain and discomfort the Dr mentioned surgery.  So it’s a wait and see thing.  The cortisone shot has already helped with some of the pain, but I also know that cortisone tends to “mask” the symptoms while the damage continues on…  Like I said,,,  it’s a wait and see thing.

Ohhhh  I almost forgot.  Last night my daughter Sara had a show choir performance.  I wish I could have recorded the song she sang.  She sounded so wonderful, and that is not just me saying that as a proud mother.  She sang “Colors of the Wind” from the Pocahontas movie.  When she finished singing the entire auditorium was quiet and then everyone broke out in wild applause!  It was great!  I just wish I could have recorded it….  She has always loved singing.  As a little girl she would sing all the time and even made up and wrote her own songs.  She still does that.  I am seeing a musical career in her future.

I got a phone call yesterday from a sweet friend of mine.  He checks in every so often.  He was calling to check on me and my family and he mentioned he was recovering from major surgery.  He had one of his hips replaced and is finally able to get up a little bit and move around.  He doesnt have a Xanga acct but I wanted to send him all my best wishes and love and ask all of you to keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery  We love you Bryan

Alright,  I have 1 hour before I have to go drive the bus.  That gives me enough time to get a load of clothes folded and put away and get a few other things done.  It’s Wednesday!     Happy Humpday! 

  An extra hour of sleep for me this morning    I kept thinking this day was never gonna come.  It helps me tremendously now that we get sunshine a little earlier in the morning.  Driving the schoolbus in the mornings the last few weeks has been hard cuz it is so dark when I begin my route that it is hard to see the kids standing at the ends of their driveways.  Now It will be daylight when I am leaving and the only complaint I will have is the sun is shining directly in my eyes and I cant see!  LOL  Sometimes you just cant win!

Little Miss Miranda or “baby” as we still call her has been so sick the last few days       Running a fever, and then she started throwing up.  All she would do is lay on the couch or lay tucked into momma and daddy’s bed all day and night.  She is finally better today and asked for some breakfast    The poor little thing, I hate it when she is sick, but boy! it sure is quiet around here when she is!

My youngest son, Alex, turned 18 on friday.  I find myself wishing I had my little boy back.  He was such a sweetheart, (not that he isnt now, just a different kind of sweetheart)  I think I just miss my baby boy…

In a few hours he is driving to the Armed Forces Recruiting Office.  Then he will be taking a 3 hour trip to DesMoines, Iowa for the big military physical.  If he passes all that my little boy will be enlisting in the Marines…   I am proud but yet scared to death.  Sobbing is what I feel like doing about now.  I am happy that he is growing up and doing what he wants to do, but scared to death that something will happen to him.  Like millions of mothers all over the world I try not to think of what I would do if I didnt have my son….     He is still in his Senior year of High School.  He graduates next June.  So I have from now til then to enjoy him still being here.  After that it is anyone’s guess as to where he will be.  Of course he has to complete 12 weeks of boot camp.  Then he will go in for his training, what he wants to be is a diesel mechanic.  So he will be doing some kind of mechanicing.  Could be anything from aviation to big tanks and Humvees.  He is pretty excited.   Now if I could just get as excited….

The remodeling is progressing.  We have moved our remodeling back into the house.  We still have a big section of our privacy fence to get up, but at least the entire back fence of our house is up…   That was quite a job.  Alex and my son in law, Ben, got all the individual boards screwed up.  We just need to finishe the sides and front now.

So we are back inside the house.  The living room needs another coat of mud on the seams, then we will be ready to prime and  get the texturing sprayed on and then we will be ready to paint!  The dining room and living room are one big area so we will be doing the entire thing at once.  We also bought some beautiful oak laminate flooring that we will be putting down on the floors in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and down the hallway.  I cant wait til everything is finished

Well,  it is time to get some other things done so I will check back in later    Have a great Sunday everyone