{DOH}

Last night I actually got to climb into bed at a decent hour. I had the dishwasher loaded and I even set up the coffee pot to go off automatically this morning. Lately my days have been so busy, I'm so exhausted that I have neglected getting the coffee ready the night before. So, last night I was able to get it ready. Well, it's been awhile since I've done it that I had never changed the clock from when the time changed. So, instead of it going off at 6:10 it went off at 5:10. Our bedroom is right off the kitchen so I heard it noisily brewing. I went into a total panic at first because I thought everyone had overslept. Nope. Whew. I was wide awake by this time. So, I debated whether to get up and get my started or lay there like a slug until it was time for me to get up--I usually get up at 6:30. I recently started reading the Twilight series books. My girls swear by them. Liz even has her ticket to the midnight showing of the movie coming out soon. I debated if I should get up and read while the house was quiet. Finally, I gave in and went back to sleep. That was dumb. Because when I needed to get up I was dragging. I was wide awake an hour earlier. DUH. I am really getting into the book though. I may just have to see the movie as well.

We are working on Mark's science fair project. Have I mentioned how I hate them? After 4 kids you would think that I would be used to them. I even went into our science fair "library" to see if there was anything that we could "recyle". Nope. So, we are trying to do a project that is geared toward a 3rd grader that isn't way above his head. Why we do these--I don't know. It's a parent project. They don't get it. They don't care. I love going to the actual science fair. You cannot tell me that elementary schoolers do these projects. I'll just be glad when it's over. Then it will be another year until the next one.

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away. I think we are going to put our Xmas tree up next weekend. With Thanksgiving being so late this year, we lose a week before Xmas. So I want to enjoy my tree. The Christmas tree is my favorite part. I love turning off all the lights and sitting in the dark just staring at the lights. Add in a glass of wine and the Christmas music and I am set.

I can't wait to hit Disneyworld up next month. We have been going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party since we moved here. No lines, no crowds. It's great. I know the kids are getting older but as long as they still want to go, we will. The first year it rained but that didn't stop us. Every year since, it's been kind of warm. I just hope it gets cool enough this year to wear our "winter" sweatshirts. Have I mentioned how much I love the lights? You haven't seen lights until you have seen Disney all decked out for Christmas.

Well, time to get a move on. Lots to do on my To Do list. Lots of running and the day will fly by. I'm actually looking forward to sitting in the car pool lane just so I can read my Twilight book. I'm having a hard time putting it down!!!!!

Have a wonderful hump day!

{Favorite Time of the Year}

They're here. Starbucks has their holiday coffees out! Oh happy day. I've been putzing around the house picking it up after a very busy weekend. I have the Xmas music on the satellite and I decided what I needed was a Starbucks. I am now sitting here typing this entry with a Venti Egg Nog Latte. YUM. The pumpkin and egg nog are my favorite. Oh and the Peppermint Mocha. I am totally starting to get into the Holidays. This morning I actually picked up my Turkey for Thanksgiving. This is the time of the year though where I wish we lived back in Utah. I miss the snow capped mountains and the smell of the fireplace burning. However, on December 26 when everyone else is freezing their behinds off, we usually flip on the pool heater and swim.

Had a wonderful weekend with Elizabeth home. She got home Friday night. On Saturday she and Mark went and saw Madagascar. They loved it. I went to a Stampin Up workshop and as usual had fun. I wish I could shut myself away from the word and stamp, scrapbook and craft. Luckily, the kids are off school tomorrow so I may just do that. I have so many idea and projects to do. We were supposed to go up to the Community Center and take pictures in the woods for our Xmas cards. We didn't. So, I told the kids that we would do it over Thanksgiving for sure when everyone was home. Then I got the idea to take beach pictures. We live so close, so why not? The last few years the pictures have been from our trip to Disney. My friend Patti and her daughter will be here so I plan on dragging them along and taking photos of them as well.

Mark is finally himself. He still occasionally coughs but he is bouncing around and back to his old self. I don't recall in his 8 years, him ever being so out of it. Now Emily is feeling crappy.

Guess what I saw while coming home from Starbucks?

Yep. That is a coyote. I was just driving along and he darted out in front of me. There was a car coming from the other direction and she and I just stopped and stared. I saw one back over the summer but this one I got to see up close. I have heard that there were some around the neighborhood. Scary. It was beautiful animal. Living in Florida you never know what you are going to see. A few years ago I saw a some kind of cat--a panther like one. He actually was really close to our house. That one freaked me out. We also have deer, racoons, gators, snakes, racoons and lots of armadillo's. This is the worst part for me living here.

I have dinner in the crock pot so now it's time to tackle Mt. Washmore. It just doesn't seem to go away. I don't even remember what it was like when it was just Steve and I. Now it's just piles and piles.

Have a wonderful Monday.

I'm feeling like a bad mom today. Mark started feeling bad on Sunday and was running a slight fever and basically just laid around. If you know Mark, he doesn't just lie around. I kept him home from school on Monday since he was still coughing and running a slight fever. Yesterday he woke up and was himself and his fever was gone. When he got home from school, he just "crashed and burned" as I call it. By dinner time, his fever was up to 102. When I was putting him to bed, I realized I was out of his cough medicine so off to CVS I went. He's been sleeping great though. This morning, his fever was still at 101. So, I kept him home. My "mom instinct" kept telling me to call the doctor and make him an appointment. They got us in pretty quick. His fever was still up and he was "wheezing". The doctor said he has bronchitis and gave him a breathing treatment there in the office. This was our first breathing treatment with four kids. Pretty good. He was still wheezing after the treatment so we could have done one of two things.......get a machine through our insurance or do the inhalers. We are now back home with an antibiotic and an inhaler. Oh and most important of all to Mark...........he should stay home one more day (possibly two) from school. I'm just glad I went with my gut and took him to the doctor.

I'm loving my new IPOD. I love that it's just mine! I don't have to share with anyone. It's my music and mine alone. I actually found my wedding song from 1987 in the Itunes library. I'm also hooked on a song that Tina, Just a minute of my time..., mentioned on her blog. It's called "The Story" by Brandi Carlile. I love this song and what the words say. I'm a huge scrapbooker. I started scrapbooking in 1997 when I moved to Utah where I was introduced to it by a mom that I met at the kids school. I've been hooked ever since. The albums I make tell "our family's story". Unfortunately, I'm the one doing all the telling and taking all the pictures. I'm not in very many pictures. So, I decided to make an album of me and "my story". I recently started a yahoo group where we make an album about "just us". So, when Tina told about this song, it was just perfect. If you are interested in making an album about you, shoot me an email and I will send you an invite to the group. We've started off slow but hopefully we can kick it in gear.

I'm finally getting some time to play with Photoshop. I've had the software for awile but have never had a chance to really do anything with it. Right now, I'm working on organizing all the pictures on my computer. It's a mess. I want to get them organized and backed up to CD. I'm also playing with my Canon getting more familiar with it. I love it!

I just got home from Publix and they were decorating the parking lot light poles with their Xmas decorations. They were also hanging all the lights inside. Hard to believe that Christmas is next month! This year flew by. The school year is going way to fast too. Hard to believe that next school year, I get to do the "senior" thing all over again. I'm glad Liz went first because she was so easy and "in touch" with everything that went on. She made it so easy for us. Greg's a guy and they just don't care like the girls. He gets to spend his Xmas break studying for the ACT and SAT so that when he goes back in January he will be all ready for the test. Still no word from him on where he wants to go to school. I am hoping he will join Liz at UF but I'm not that lucky. With our luck he will end up at Florida State (Gators rival) or Univeristy of Central Florida in Orlando. That's a neat school too. It will just be weird having my kids so far apart. And, with any luck, move in week will be at the same time! Heck, I'm still trying to get out of him what he wants to do. Gotta love the boys!

Time to tackle Mt. Washmore as Jolene calls it. I may even get some scrapbooking in this afternoon. Oh happy day!

One more Day

Only one more day (hopefully) of political ads. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of ALL of them. I'm sick of the ads on TV, in my mailbox, on the radio and the phone calls. I'm not a political person. I have my personal views and I know who I am going to vote for. I will cast my vote tomorrow and be done. Hopefully my candidates will be victorious. If not, it is what it is. I won't leave the US and live somewhere else. To those who say they will leave is a certain person is elected, I wish you safe travels. But, regardless of the outcome, I will support whomever is elected. If I don't like the way things are run, I will vote again in 4 years. Enough said..............

Today Mark is home sick. He was coughing and hacking all day yesterday. He is constantly clearing his throat. His temp was only 99.7 but it was enough for me to keep him home. I probably could have sent him in after a swig of cough medicine and Tylenol, but there is nothing worse than listening to someone hacking and coughing all over everyone. That is one of my biggest peeves is when parents send their kids sick to school. Keep them home! Right now, he is on the couch chilling. This is how I know he isn't feeling well. He's laying down. So, I figured I would let him rest this morning and then we can work on his science fair project.

Had a great visit with Elizabeth home for the weekend. It was her first time driving home without Steve or I with her in her car. She got out of Gainesville late so she had to drive in the dark. Yesterday she left in the rain. I was worried but she made it safe and sound. We checked out the new mall that opened 10 minutes away. We were in heaven . We have no good malls around here so it was a drive to go shopping. Not anymore. We certainly did our part this weekend helping the economy.

Emily has her oral surgery scheduled finally. We have to wait until January when our benefits roll over but I can get that crossed off my "to do" list. She has to have a baby tooth pulled and then they have to go and grab the permanent tooth (which is impacted in the roof of her mouth) and put a bracket on it so it can come down. Oooh. They have to knock her out to do this. This is a job for dad. I don't do well when they knock my kids out. When Mark was 11 months old, they had to knock him out to do an MRI. I was terrified. I hated every minute that he was out and couldn't wait for him to wake up. Even though Emily is 14, the thought of her being out makes me nervous. On a happy note though, her teeth are already looking great. Her teeth weren't that bad but she had a gap in the front which is totally closed up. She is thrilled.

I love to listen to the satellite music stations on my TV. I love the selection. I was scrolling the channels yesterday and they have the "Sounds of the Seasaon" on. Yep, Christmas music. I flipped it on and Steve thought I was nuts. He's old fashioned. He doesn't believe Christmas starts until after Thanksgiving. Not me. I want to enjoy it all because it just goes too fast. I have already decided to put my tree up the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving since it's so late this year. I've got a good jump on my Christmas shopping. Good thing too. Liz handed us her dorm bill when she came home this weekend. OUCH.

Well, I'm going to get sign off here and go snuggle with a little boy not feeling so good. Hopefully he will start perking up soon. Have a great Monday! Don't forget to get out there and vote tomorrow.