My pond is getting a makeover!

The guys from Kingston Nursery just showed up to give my pond a facelift! After thinking my pond had a leak, I went and talked to these guys. Very nice people there! They came out and pointed out a few problems--the original installer put the skimmer in the wrong spot (and he's since moved of course). To remedy this, we're adding another smaller waterfall to the other side to help push the still water to the skimmer and get the whole pond moving. My fishies will be happy! They are also going to redo my current waterfall to make it more natural looking. I'll post some before/after pictures to this post when it's done. I'm very excited!

Before (you can click on pics to enlarge):

After (I need to get a better shot in the daylight):

I'm very excited with how it turned out! The pond is still all muddy from the new rocks. I also need to go get some plantings to finish out the job! Thank you Economic Stimulus Check! he he

Wordless Wednesday

Enter the Back to School Giveaway

Click on the picture and check out this fabulous Back to School Giveaway!! Lots of cool prizes up for grabs!! Good Luck!

I need some scheduled routines!

I really can't wait for the kids to be in school again. I need some sense of routine here! And I know the kids do too! Right now it's pretty much a free-for-all all day long and dinner seems to be the only constant. Well, driving mommay insane is pretty constant too. It will just be nice to have some schedules back in place....up by this time, ready for school by this time, home at this time, homework, dinner, showers......everything will have it's time for the most part! EJ starts 2nd grade on the 26th and Maddie starts ::sniff, sniff:: Kindergarten (full day I might add, yea!) on September 2nd.

And on another note....anyone have any good ideas on chores? It's like pulling teeth to get them to do their chores or help out around here! I read somewhere about a chore list on sticks in a jar but can't find it again! I knew I should have bookmarked it when I read it.....

My peace and quiet is about to end!

My good friend Anne called me around 11 and said her hubby wanted EJ & Maddie to come over and play with her Kyle & Grace. I had the kids in the car and there in 10 minutes! Drove home with a screaming 2 year old who wanted to "get out" and wanted "EJ & Maddie home". Got him in for a nap (yea right...it was playtime for him and no nap but he was upstairs so that's fine with me!). I enjoyed some peace & quiet for a few hours. Surfed the net awhile, made corned beef for dinner, vacuumed the livingroom, put some laundry in and swam in the pool ALONE for a bit. I even sat and read some magazines! But alas, it's all coming to an end. Dh went to pick them and will be home momentarily. Maybe I should disappear after dinner for more alone time???

My Kids are driving me INSANE!

We got up early today to go do some letterboxing. Lucas starts in right away with his crying and fits because he didn't get to do something his way. Oh joy. We got a few boxes in and decided Lucas just needed to go down for a nap. Then EJ & Maddie decided to plant their butts on the couch and give me the old "we're bored...there's nothing to do". I told them they weren't watching tv and to get outside. Now EJ is moping all over the place so we sent him to his room to read, hoping he'll fall asleep because I think he's overtired. ARGH! One month from today will be a party--school starts!!!

Blueberries, ice cream and tornados!

We had a fun filled day today! First, we got up and went blueberry picking as a playgroup. It was overcast so it was relatively cool! Last year when we went, we could have cooked the blueberry muffins while we picked because it was so darn hot! Lucas just ate them and put none in his bucket. Oh the diapers from that will be lovely later on! Maddie & EJ picked lots and lots. Now I just have to find some yummy recipes to use up all our picks! Have any to share??

After a stop for ice cream, we headed out and did a letterbox. It was planted at a cool place that raises alpacas! We watched the animals for awhile, did our letterbox thing and then headed home.While we were eating dinner, we were under a TORNADO watch! That was scary! I can't imagine having those all the time like they do out west. I was crapping my pants just watching the radar! We sent the kids down to the basement while we secured all the things outside like tables, umbrellas, chairs etc. And now, it's sunny and clear! Go figure!

I love naptime but wish it was MY naptime!

After bringing the kids to the movies this morning, we came back home and EJ tucked Lucas in for his nap. He hasn't napped in a at least 4 days so I'm very happy to hear nothing coming from his bedroom! I love the days when he naps...I can blog clean the house, blog do laundry, blog do some gardening or outside work or even blog read! Why is it that kids can't appreciate the fact that we want them to sleep for a few hours every day? Man..if someone made me go take a nap everyday I'd be so excited! The older kids won't nap anymore. Maddie might nap if I'm in the car around 3:00 or by some freak accident when she falls asleep on the couch. I can hardly get EJ to go to bed at night, never mind take a nap! Oh, those were the days when all my kids would nap and I could get in a quick snooze too. If only they would replace their missing naps with sleeping late in the morning...that I could take!

Where has summer gone?

Really! Where has it gone??? I feel like summer is almost over! I look at the calendar and see all these things planned for August and then EJ is back in school on the 26th! It's just crazy! Don't get me wrong...a part of me wants my kids back in school (and outta my hair!) but then I also think that they need to have more fun! And I need to do more fun things with them. It seems like we haven't even enjoyed the pool as much as we should have yet with central air July almost gone. So this week and next....we'll be in the pool every day and with NOTHING planned this weekend, we'll have to do some fun things like maybe a movie at the local drive in or do a few letterboxes or walk the beach after dinner. I might even make an ice cream for dinner night. That goes over big and gets me more best-mommay-in-the-world-points.

Mommay...thanks for everything

EJ: "Mommay? Where are you?"
Me: "In here.."
EJ: "Mommay....thanks for everything."
Me: "huh?"
EJ: "thanks for everything.... like taking care of me."
Me: ::dumbfounded look on my face::
EJ: "like thanks for everything you do raising me"
Me: giving him a big hug and holding back my tears "Do you want something?"
EJ: "no"
Me: "ok...you really are my favorite and I love you"
(I have a running joke with the kids that I tell them they are my favorite whenever they do something nice for me, lol)

Seriously....could I ask for a better 7 year old??

Keep your whole self fresh!

So we all know you use deodorant or antiperspirant on our armpits to stop the sweating/smelliness. But during the summer, I like to put it on my leg pits too....ya know where your legs meet your, um......"down there" area. It great...no more sweaty legpits when you're doing alot of summer walking, sitting for awhile or when it's just plain hot. It keeps you nice and um....fresh. Try it...you'll be thinking "why didn't I think of this before!" So that's what works for me this week....check out more tips here.

My oldest son is a lifesaver!

So...whenever I put Lucas to bed or in for a nap, it's a huge hassle! He needs to do everything himself and needs to have his room spotless, putting everything away. Not sure if he's a little neat freak or if he's just prolonging the inevitable bedtime. Last night was a huge meltdown when I put him to bed after reading him 4 books, getting two drinks, brushing his teeth and cleaning his room. Dh went up there and got him in bed and he went right....to....sleep. WTF? So today, I was leading up to naptime and getting the NO! comment. Well, EJ said he'd put Lucas to bed. I said, "sure why not!" EJ grabbed his hand, walked him upstairs, tucked him in and I haven't head a peep since! So I think EJ will be the new bed tuck-in'r for him and we'll see if that saves me the aggravation from meltdowns! The quiet right now is sooo nice. Thanks EJ....you're the best! Now if I could only get EJ to cooperate better at his bedtime.....

Can you name just 1 favorite song?

Jen over at Cheaper Than Therapy posed this question: What is your favorite song? I've been thinking about that all morning long. I don't know if I can give just one favorite song! It's so hard to narrow it down! Is it our wedding song, For the First Time by Rod Stewart? How about the song I heard on the way home from the hospital with my first born: Arms Wide Open by Creed? Oh What A Night by the Four Seasons is a great dance song and always makes me happy. Hurts so Good by John Mellencamp reminds me of my friend Kelly and our silly dances we used to make up in street when we were little. Any Candlebox song reminds me of my first college summer and the parties we had at Dan's house. Of course, you can give me any songs by Warrant, Poison, Cinderella or any hair band and I'm good to go. Even Keep Your Hands to Yourself by Georgia Satellites makes me want to sing (badly) at the top of my lungs. Baker Street or Right Down the Line by Gerry Rafferty or Heart of Glass takes by Blondie me back to our band in my dad's van . (Foo Fighters has a good Baker Street cover) And I can still picture dad singing "money for nothing and my chicks for free". I used to listen to the Ballad of Jayne by LA Guns over and over and over again in my 79 Camaro. Nirvana, Barenaked Ladies, Billy Joel, Nickleback, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Daughtry....oh how can I just pick ONE favorite song???? Can you??

No! No! No!

Ugh...that is practically all that I hear out of my 2yo's mouth lately. Come on Lucas...let's get your shoes on. NO! Do you want to sit and watch Diego? NO! Come on, let's change your diaper. NO! Want a kick in the a$$? NO! He's lucky he's so darn cute and he's pretty fun most of the time but I don't want to keep hearing NO! My other 2 never went through this "no" phase. Lucas didn't really speak for the longest time. After 18 months old, he only had two words. The doctor said to call early intervention and he was put in the program for his speech. That will teach me to try and get him talking! He's all done with EI now because he's up at an age appropriate level for speech which is good...I think. Tonight my husband was having a talk with him about being nice to his sister and his cousin (who he thinks are his own personal punching bags lately). NO! and then he'd roll his eyes. Is it just a phase? Please tell me it is....or do we have one of those children and more trouble to come?

Where oh where has the bottom sheet gone?

How often have you gone to make the kids beds but can only find a spiderman top sheet and a princess bottom sheet? You know that won't fly in boys room! Then you start tearing apart the linen closet to find the matches, creating a bigger mess to sort through! So now instead of making the kids beds, you're cleaning out the linen closet and making it harder on yourself. Well here's a little tip to get the kids' beds made fast! Take the clean matching sheets and put them in the matching pillowcase to keep them all together as soon as they come out of the dryer. Then, when you need to change the kids beds, you just grab the pillowcase and you know the matching sheets are inside! It works for me!! For more tips, visit Shannon's blog here.

Vote for my messy baby!

Jill is having a Messy Baby Contest! Please vote for Lucas #10 if you think he's the cutest. (And I KNOW that you do!)

While you're there....add your own Messy Baby!

Click here to vote. =)

God was President

The things Maddie comes up with sometimes is funny and sorta out there. This was our latest conversation on the way to the movies last night.

Maddie: I know who our president is.
Me: Who?
Maddie: George Bush
Me: uh uh
Maddie: And when he dies, someone new will be president.
Me: Well, we'll elect a new president before that happens.
Maddie: I know 2 other presidents that both died.....God and that other guy who's name is like George Bush's ::insert thinking pause:: oh.... George Washington.
Me: giggle
Maddie: I'm so smart because I know that. Katie & Allyson didn't...know...who...our...president was! I guess their mom's don't tell them that stuff.
Me: I guess not!
Maddie: and you tell me everything like....presidents...how to swim....about my private parts
Me: uh huh....

So I talk to my daughter about the important things in life apparently! lol

He's gonna be a boob man

Yesterday we were out at the pool having some fun in the sun. I was standing in the pool and Lucas was on the pool deck just staring at my, um, chest. I said to Lucas "what are you doing?" and he said "me ooking at mommy boobies!" I told him to stop looking and he said "no me like em". Oh boy! I just hope he's not telling all the girls he likes their boobies at our Hawaiian party in a few weeks!

Statcounter

I'm addicted. Yes, I admit it!

If you don't (gasp!) know what statcounter is, it's a nifty little thing you can put on your website or um, blog, and it tells you what visitors are on your site at any time. It even tells you where they are located. And how they've found your site...searching, linking from elsewhere etc. I've been checking it a few times a day since I started this little blog. Why? I'm curious...does anyone really like reading what I write? Does anyone care? Yes! Three people do dammit! Ok...so they may be friends and family but it's pretty cool to see that someone from New Jersey thinks I'm worth reading regularly. Or maybe they've just got nothing better to do. Obviously I've got nothing better to do than to guess who that person in New Jersey is so I can "label" them. "what should I do....pick up the house? do laundry? pay attention to my kids? Nah...I'll see how many people visited my blog today!"

But I know I'm not the only one since I can see on my statcounter that someone is coming to my site to see how I drove traffic to their site. Obviously I'm not the only one who's additcted curious? It's like some sort of guilty pleasure I think....just wait til I hit over 50 hits on a day....I'll have a smile on my face for hours!

Sunday Scoop: Recipes!

For today's Sunday Scoop, I'm listing some recipes I want to try! Came across these yummy recipes...mostly from the What Works for Me Wednesday posts. These are my favorites that I can't wait to try (and my lazy easy way for me to bookmark them) or recipes that I've made before and want to make again soon!

Fast, Easy Smoothies

Desperation Casserole

Another Crock Pot Recipe

Monkey Bread (I've made this before and it's soooo yummy!)

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Bacon Smashed Potatoes

Cucumber Sandwiches (these are good and you can fancy them up if you cook the french bread in one of those Pampered Chef bread tube things)

Mmmmmmudslide Pie

Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream Cake (this is so yummy!)

Crockpot Sticky Chicken

San Francisco Pork Chops

Honey Garlic Chicken Wings ...made these for a cookout this weekend and they went over well!

Now you've got the scoop...happy cooking!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th of July today. We ended up not going to the parade this morning...kids opted to stay up late last night and swim in the dark. We turned on the colored pool lights and did "disco diving". They had fun. We went to a cookout at my good friend Michele's house. The kids ate and swam and played and ate and swam and played all day. Thanks Michele!! I don't think we'll be hitting fireworks tonight...the little one pooped out and EJ & Maddie are watching a movie. Might try and hit some tomorrow night...we'll see!

Here's a pic of my three little firecrackers....can you see who is trouble???

The ABC's of Me!

How can I not do this? It's from Mindy's blog.

The ABCs of Me

A) Age-33

B) Burger of choice- I recently had a Bubba Burger that was really good!

C) Car-2007 Dodge Grand Caravan lease

D) Dog's name-No dogs here!

E) Essential item you use every day-The toilet.

F) Favorite TV show-Hmmm...I have so many! Law & Order CI, Nip/Tuck, How I met Your Mother, Gossip Girl.....

G) Favorite Game to play-Me & Maddie play Aggravation Alot. Yes, it's a real game, not just what my kids to do me.

H) Hometown-I grew up in Halifax, Massachusetts

I) Instruments I play-Um. None.

J) Favorite Juice-Cran Grape. yummy.

K) Whose whatnots would I love to kick? That's usually my husbands.

L) Last restaurant I ate at-Uno's with Maddie on Saturday.

M) Favorite Muppet-I like those 2 old men. What's their names???

N) Number of piercings-I only have my ears pierced.

O) Overnight hospital stays-3 for childbirth, 1 for meningitish, 1 for a mystery ailment

P) People I was with today-Just Maddie & Lucas. EJ is working with daddy today. Oh wait...and everyone who was at Shaws from 10:30-11:15 today.

Q) What do I do in my quiet time-You're looking at it!

R) Biggest regret-I try not to have regrets!!

S) Status-Happily married to Eric for 10 years this year, together for 20. Well, mostly happily until he makes me mad. ;)

T) Time I woke up-7 something

U) What I consider unique-my kids. It's amazing how they are part of me & dh yet are all so completely different!!

V) Vegetables I love- corn, beans

W) Worst habit-biting my gosh darn nails!!

X) X-rays I have had- My teeth, my neck, my back

Y) Yummy food I ate today-a half priced strawberry shortcake torte from shaws today!

Z) Zodiac sign-I'm an Aries.

If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged! Don't forget to leave me a comment if you play along!

Potato Salad

Since I'm sitting here making Potato Salad for the weekend (and 2 of the kids are in their rooms), I thought I'd share my recipe. First...make sure you have the right type of potato for the job. Have you ever made tried to make potato salad and have it all turn into mush? Most likely you used the wrong type of potato. All potatoes are not created equal! For my potato salad, I buy any type of round white potato. These hold their shape when boiled and do not create a mush when you stir them. Don't use any type of russet/idaho potato! These are best for mashing, making homemade french fries or baking. Ok, got it straight?

Potato Salad

1 5lbs bag of round white potatoes, peeled & cut
1 vidalia onion, chopped into pieces
5 boiled eggs, chopped
3/4 c. mayo
dry mustard
salt & pepper to taste

Boil onions & potatoes until potatoes are cooked through but still a little firm. Let potatoes cool. Mix onion/potatoes, chopped eggs, mayo together. Use more or less mayo depending on how mayo-y you like it. Sprinkle dry mustard over salad along with salt & pepper. Stir together. Add more of these to taste. (Sometimes I add some ranch or italian dressing (wet or dry) to it to give it some added punch.)

I like my potato salad cold, dh likes it warm so he usually eats some right away before I stick it in the fridge!


Tips:

This little gadget is great for cutting the potatoes! Makes them the same size and makes cutting a snap. I don't even know it's official name...my mom got it for me for Christmas a few years ago.

Beside it is a pastry blender. That works great for chopping up the eggs into little pieces!

And to cool the potatoes superfast, I usually spread them out on a cookie pan and stick them in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Toffee Dip for Apples

I went to a friends house last Wednesday for an Usborne books party (and those books are great!). The host Kelly was serving some oh so yummy Toffee dip with green apples. It's just so, so good! Thought I'd share for Works for Me Wednesday's Five Ingredients or Less Edition.

Toffee Dip

1 8oz pkg of cream cheese softened
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 pkg skor toffee bits (Kelly says make sure they are softened!)

Mix all the above together and serve with apples (or strawberries)


A great summer dip! Enjoy!

So gosh darn annoyed right now....

We have a pond & waterfall in our backyard. The pond has fish, frogs, snails, a few cats that drink from it (ours) and a neighbors dog that likes to swim in it! This dog was in the pond yesterday. When I saw him, I ran out and got him away but this morning when I went out to feed my little fishies, the water was superlow. It's never gotten that low before so now I suspect that neighbor's dog's claws poked thru the liner somewhere and there's now a hole in it. Grrrr.... Actually it made me want to cry because I LOVE my pond and it's only been in the yard for 2 years now. And, it wasn't exactly inexpensive to install either!
I read online about finding a hole and it says to shut it down and let the water drain and see where it stops....just above where it stops will be where the leak/hole is. I'm just afraid that the hole will be at the bottom. Then I'll have to find a holding place for the fish while we drain and fix the hole. My husband has this idea about blowing air under the liner and watch for air bubbles to pop up. Good in theory but I don't think it will work. So, I'll wait for my husband to get home and do his thing. But I suspect that we'll be draining the pond this weekend and trying to find the hole. I guess it will be a good time to give my pond a thorough cleaning???