Bankruptcy drama

So how is everyone doing? Me I am ok I guess. I have been dealing with the whole bankruptcy thing. We ended up finding a new lawyer because the last one ended up being an idioutt. This new one is great! He gave us some good news and some bad. The good news is we can claim chapter 7 which I am very happy about. the bad part is...well a little back story.

We borrowed some money from my MIL to help purchase our car after our last one was repoed. Well it turns out that the courts may go after her for the money we have paid her and slit it between my creditors. Our lawyer told us not to pay her any more money until after we are discharged. He said to tell her that if they do go after her that we will pay her back that money as well, which obviously we will but I am TERRIFIED to tell her. I am trying to get hubby to go have a talk with her WITHOUT me. I am afraid that she blames me for all of this and she is already not happy that we are declaring bankruptcy. We have no choice though. If we do not do the bankruptcy soon we won't be able to pay her back because they are going to be garnishing hubby's wages. We received notice that they entered a default judgment against for the car so it is only a matter of weeks before they start taking there money. We also have to figure out how to pull 1200 dollars out of our butt to start the process. I am not sure how we are going to do this. It is constantly on my mind and I am so stressed out!!!!! I guess asking my MIL to borrow the money is kinds out of the question...lol we are screwed. I keep trying to tell myself this will pass. Once we get through this hard part a lot of pressure will be taken off of shoulders but that just seems so far away right now.

We went and celebrated BIL's b-day today. My nephews were cute as always. We babysat on Friday and then I saw them yesterday but when I walked in today No.ah said to me " I missed you Aunt Shell". Aww that just melts my heart. I made the cutest recording on my phone of him saying his ABC's. It is the cutest ABC's ever. I listen to it all the time just to bring a smile to my face. I am trying to figure out how to get on my computer so I can share it here. When I figure it out I will post.

Well, that is pretty much all that is going on here. Hockey is starting and as many of you probably know it is my favorite time...hockey playoffs and my Red Wings are playing. Go WINGS!!!


If anyone has any advice on how to break this to my MIL PLEASE let me know. I can use all the advice I can get.

I hope all is well with you!

xxooxxoo

My cute Noah! (kids mentioned)

Today is my nephew Noah's 3rd birthday!



Isn't he so cute!!!



My cute little Noah. I can not believe you are 3. I wish I could keep you this age. I can not imagine you getting older... Everything you say and do is just so darn cute! No matter what kind of mood I am in you (and your brother) can always turn any frown to a smile. All I have to do is hear your voice.

I remember you being born. It seems like yesterday. It was one of the most exciting and beautiful things I have ever seen...you coming into this world. I love you so much! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and have lots of fun at your party!

I will see you there!

xxooxx

Aunt Shell

Adventures in Babysitting (kids mentioned)

This weekend we had my nephews overnight on Saturday. Well actually we went over there for the night and we had so much fun. My sis has a projector TV so we set it up in the living room and had a slumber party. We rented G Force but the movie was dark and the kids lost interest very fast so we put in Alvin and the Chipmunks.

My nephews were so cute. they were very excited about the slumber party. We first took them to the mall and they played in the play area for a while. they rode some of the kiddie rides and then we took them to A&W for dinner. When we got home we got everything set up and popped the popcorn and settled in for our slumber party. No.ah the youngest wanted to do pillow fights...so we did and then we cuddled and watched the TV.

I was worried that they might not sleep very well with all of us in the living room but when I said bed time they fell right asleep and slept through the night until 7:00 am. he nice thing about them being in the living room was I could always have an eye on them. When ever I watch them over night and they are quiet all night I always have to check to make sure they are still breathing. I know can you tell I am inexperienced at this?

The next morning we got up and took them to our house to see the animals. I remember a short time ago No.ah was scared of our dog who if you know him you would laugh at that but to a kid he does not know any different. Now Noah absolutely loves Sammy. He always asks me about him on the phone and wants to see him. So they played with him and gave him cheese, which is Sammy's favorite. Then we went back to their house.

Jo.ey said he wanted to take a nap which shocked me and they both laid down and slept for an hour/hour and half. They were so so good for us and there is nothing like a 3 year old saying "I lub you Aunt Shell" like 500 times to make you feel all warm and fuzzy all over. I just LOVE those kids so much. I wish they would stay 3 and 5 because they are the CUTEST!!!! I can not imagine them as teenagers.

No.ah's 3rd birthday is next Sunday and he is very excited! I told him I had a present for him and his eyes lit up.

They were a lot of fun and they tired us out so we crashed when we got home and that was our weekend. How was yours?

xxooxxoo

    

People watching

It has been a pretty boring week. The other day I had to go to the DREADED jury duty! I so did not want to go. In fact the night before I was looking up what would really happen if I did not show up. I could find nothing conclusive so I decided not risk it. Jail was not sounding like a good option.

So I went and let me tell you if you like to people watch jury duty has some real doozies. First, and of course I would not even be able to escape it here, the pregnant women that was about to pop at any moment! I mean I could not believe that she was there. We were in the bathroom together and I was imagining delivering the baby right there and what the hell I was going to do. Luckily she did not. BTW in my imagination I was a rock star at delivering babies in courthouse bathrooms due to all my television watching of such scenarios, I knew EXACTLY what to do. ;o)

Then there was the lady that never SHUT UP! She was far away from me in a room full of about 200+ people and I heard this ladies whole life story. Of course when my name got called to go to a courtroom to possible be picked for a jury...she was in my group so I got to hear more of her story as she would tell anyone who was within hearing distance of her...and that was everyone. She also had one of those voices that were more like nails going down a chalkboard. (I would not want her on my jury!)

There was the man that was wearing a...skirt. No not a kilt, like at first thought I must have seen, no this was a womans paneled skirt. Do they really let these people in? The woman that was dressed to the nines. I mean she must have thought she was going to some high class restaurant and not a Detroit courthouse or she had a real hot date after words. Then there was a women (maybe) who looked like she was no older then 12...SERIOUSLY! I chuckled thinking someone sent there child to serve in there place. and last but not least was the man sitting next to me who snored louder then my husband and that is really hard to top! I am sure there is more but I was distracted most by these people.

I did get called up to go into a courtroom and possibly get picked. We went in the room and this judge did like a full out comedy routine (our money put to good use here in the D). He was a really nice guy. He passed out candy which always gets you bonus points in my book. Then he said I have good news and bad. Everyone elected to hear the bad news first. He said I do not need you today and there fore you have to go back downstairs and maybe get picked again and this time maybe for a 2 week jury. Groans were heard throughout to which he said, "Oh sure now you like me and want to be here." The good news is, I kept you up here for almost an hour and hopefully now when you get back down they will have already selected all the jurors they need and will send you home within a couple hours. YAY.

We went back down and sat there for 30 minutes and then they dismissed all jurors. I was out of there by 11:30! I was so HAPPY!!! For this I made a whopping 25.00 - the 10.00 I spent for frickin parking! HA HA! I think I cam out on top ;0 So now I can stop looking for a job because I am retiring!!!

After seeing all these people in the jury pool...I really hope I never need to be tried by a jury of my peers...it is concerning!

We went and babysat the nephews last night. They were so much fun. We played and played and played! I made them dinner and Jo.ey even asked for seconds...UNHEARD OF! They went to bed VERY easily...probably because we ran around the house and did a whole lot of dancing. They were tired! Me TOO!

This weekend we have some major house cleaning planned...I let you know if it happens. I hope you all have a great weekend!

xxooxxoo

Funny conversations kids have

So we went to my MIL and then sisters house on Saturday to celebrate DH's b-day. We had a good time. DH was happy because he got his favorite in both places. At his moms German chocolate cake with mint choco chip ice cream and at my sisters chocolate cream pie. I do not really like either but I tried the choco cream pie my BIL made and it was so very very good. Then we played cards and had a good time. Poor hubby has got a pretty bad cold now. I am hoping and praying I do not get it but I think I am fated to do so. I have been feeling light headed and just over all crummy.

Anyway, when we were at my sis's house, she had put the kids to bed. They sleep in the same room and did not want to go because grandma and we were there. The kids were very excited about Uncle's b-day. They made mom stop and get balloons because as Joey said. Uncle D would be so sad if he did not have balloons. So she put the kids to bed and they are the ones that love balloons so they each had one with them. They had Grandma come in and kiss them goodnight and tie the balloons to their beds. About 15 minutes later I had to go to the bathroom and this is the conversation I hear coming from their room.

First I walk into the bathroom and I hear little feet running into their beds. Then

Joey (4): Noah, make some noise
Noah (2): Little noise comes out
J: I need my balloon it got away. Noah, go get Grandma
N: I am scared.
J: Noah, say I
N: I
J: Am
N: Am
J: Not
N: Not
J: Scared
N: SCARED
J: Good, go get Grandma now.
N: I am scared!!!
J: You just said you weren't!

This had me cracking up. Older brother is trying to get younger brother in trouble and being really smart about it. I just love how kids minds work. Too cute!

Coming Soon

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. Went to my sisters house and played cards. I bet you did not know that UNO can become a blood thirsty game. We were pretty viscious during the game but we had fun. Sunday DH and I just laid around and watched movies. It was a good day.

My sister usually gets these picture books made regularly. They are really nice keepsakes because the pictures are embedded into the page and they are made into a book. I really like them. So she got a couple made for the Summer and Halloween. No.ah said he wanted to tell me a story. So he brought me the books. The Halloween one he was very good telling me all about where he was and where all the pictures were taken but then he got to the summer book and he kept pointing out Jo.ey and saying "there is No.ah feeding the giraffe". I would say that is not No.ah that is Jo.ey and then he would look at me and say "then where's me?" while shrugging his shoulders and holding up his hands. It cracked me up. Also you should hear how he says patty cake. It is just the cutest thing in the world!

Now to the Coming Soon part...

Anyway, recently I was contacted by Ashley from CNS stores. They have a lot of online stores. Several of the choices are http://www.petsbycsn.com/, www.allmodern.com, or www.cookware.com.  That is not all. They offer pretty much everything from dining room furniture to to home improvement and everything in between. Well, they contacted me to do a review of something from one of their sites. It took a while since there were so many choices but I chose one and soon I will be posting my honest review of one of their products. So look for it on my blog and thanks Ashley and CNS stores for the opportunity.


Talk to you soon!

Thanksgiving, gross stuff, and funny things kids say

Well, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was ok at the in laws. Not as many children there. There were 2 babies and 1 5 year old. The youngest one is a few months old. He is the quietest baby I have every seen in my life. You barely even know that he is there. The dinner, as usual, always comes out cold. I do not get it. Last year they did good and everything was nice and hot but this year they went back to cold mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy that looks like water...YUCK! I really do not like going over there for dinner for that reason. Other then that it was nice.

My Thanksgiving morning however, was not nice at ALL! I woke up to my cat literally throwing up on my head! Yes, you read that correctly. She threw up on my HEAD!! I woke up at the last minute and tried to stop her and put my arm up to stop any more from hitting my head and then it went down my arm to which I screeched and shook my hand and then it went all over the place. It had to be the most disgusting thing I have ever had happen to me. She is a little cat but I can not even believe how much came out of her. It took all of me not to puke myself. So I ran and jumped in the shower while hubby cleaned it up from every where else. I know it is not her fault but she is lucky I did not instantly make her an outside cat. It was definitely not the way you want to wake up on Thanksgiving morning...or any morning for that matter.

So before I say good bye for today, I want to leave on a funny note and not on a disgusting note (even though you may find the above funny). So my nephew, No.ah, the other day is going around his house saying " I have boobies, I have boobies". My sis tells him to get on the phone and tell me what he is saying. He gets on the phone and tells me the same, "I have boobies Aunt Shell". I start cracking up. My sis says that the other day he was saying "I want boobies". They were laughing because they could not figure out what he was saying. So they asked Jo.ey. What he was really saying, "I want smoothies" and "I have smoothies". Meaning he had yogurt smoothies to eat. That is just too cute!

Anyway that is all I have for now.

xoxo

Show and Tell (kids pictured)

Here are a couple pictures from when I was babysitting on Saturday. They both thought it was so much fun to pretend like they were driving. Apparently, Michigan law has changed because jo.ey told me that he is getting his license next year when he "changes his number" to five. I told him that would be so nice because he can drive over to my house whenever he wants and he said "yep". I just need to make sure I am not on the road at the same time. If it is anything like when he rides his bike and stares at his feet we all might be in trouble. LOL.






To see what everyone else is showing at the front of the class go to Mel's place.

Busy weekend

Well, I FINALLY got some sleep. Thank God! Friday I think my body had finally had it and I think I slept most all day and all night. Now I finally feel better. Hopefully I can continue on a good sleep schedule.

Yesterday was moving day for my sis. Since I can't be much help with moving because of my back, DH helped with the moving and I took the kids for the day. We had a lot of fun together. I took them to my house for a little bit and we took Sammy for a walk. He was a pain in the butt on the walk. He did not want to cooperate which is so not like him. The kids were really good with him though. They took turns walking him and they loved it. I then took them to McD.onalds play land and we had lunch and they played for a while. I took them to show them the places I used to live and then I took them to the pet store. When they left they wanted one of each thing in the pet store. I have some cute pictures that i am too lazy right now to post so I will do that later. Last night No.ah came down with the flu. So pray he gets better soon. The poor guy is so sick. Also, pray I do not get it. I have not had a flu shot and I was hugging and kissing him all day yesterday. Please tell me I am not doomed...

This morning I went to meet Mel. She was in my neighborhood doing a talk about her book. I have been so excited all week and I am so glad that I got to go. My sis went with me and it was so great! She made me laugh, brought tears to my eyes, and I found myself nodding through the whole thing. thinking there was so many people I knew that should be there. Maybe they could get a little better understanding. Maybe they could see I am not crazy. Anyway, I also got to meet  Baby Shmaybe. She was so sweet! I love meeting bloggers. It is nice to put a face with all the blogs and the stories. It is great to feel a connection with someone you only know from online. Mel's book (what I have read so far)  is so so good so if you have not gotten one yet you should do so soon! Also, if she is ever in your neck of the woods go to meet her. She is just as great in person as you read online. I am so thankful to her and all she has done for this community I just can not thank her enough! I have pictures of this too that I will post but they are my sister's camera so I will have to wait until she sends them to me. As soon as I get them I will post.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a great weekend.

BTW I want to say a big thanks to my sis for buying poor jobless me Mel's book. Thank you so much!

I'm a slacker!

Wow I have been a slacker. It has been a week since my last post. Sorry about that. It is not because I have been very busy. I just have not felt very inspired lately. The last 4 days I haven't even wanted to really be on the computer.

The last few days here in Michigan have been absolutely gorgeous!!! I love it! I wish it would stay this way. Sadly, I know it will end. Yesterday, I watched my nephews. My sis is moving next weekend so they were trying to get some packing done so we took Jo.ey and No.ah at our house. They absolutely love Sammy! Especially No.ah who was scared of dogs not too long ago. Now, whenever I talk to him on the phone his first question is ALWAYS "how is Sammy?". So we took Sammy for a walk and the boys took turns with the leash. Sammy is the perfect dog for kids because he is so mellow. He does not drag you when you are walking. In fact he will stop if he feels he is too far ahead of us. Then we took them to Henry Ford Museum. my MIL works there so she has a free pass that we used to get in. They had a lego interactive display. They had a lego castle and places to build things and slides and places to dress up. The only thing was when Jo.ey figured out there were trains in there he really could care less about the legos. So we took them to see the trains. They had lots of fun but it was a whole lot of walking. All in all it was a good day!

Today has been a lazy day. DH and I went for a walk to enjoy the nice weather but other then that I have been cleaning and that is about it. Not much you can do when you are absolutely BROKE!! Anyway, I will be better this week. I hope you all had a great weekend.

Halloween night

We had a fun time with the nephews on Halloween. Jo.ey went as a storm Trooper and No.ah went as a pirate. they were so so cute! DH and I decided to join in the fun and dressed up. DH went as Jason (from Friday the 13th) and I went as his victim. I cut up a t-shirt, used fake blood, messed my hair and had makeup running down my face. The kids loved it. They were just enthralled with Jason. Jo.ey told Jason that he had to apologize to me and clean my shirt. LOL. Jo.ey and Noah kept saying they would save me. It was cute.

I made mummy dogs and they were very good. It was just hot dogs wrapped in a croissant so it wold look like a mummy. They were a hit. We all went trick or treating and then No.ah was excited and was running and he fell and smacked his head on the cement...HARD! We all heard it and he immediately had a HUGE bump on his head. At first it did not seem so bad but then No.ah started looking like he was drunk or something. he was then afraid to walk so daddy had to carry him. So my sis and I walked ahead and called urgent care to see if they were open. They were so we took No.ah. He was crying and we were telling him the dr would make it all better. Once we got in the car he seemed fine. He was so cute at the doctor. The doc looked at hime for a second and then just told my sis to keep him awake until 11:00 (every kids dream) and other symptoms to look out for. When we walked out of the office No.ah says, "did the doctor make me feel better." We said "yes" and he was good with that.

All in all it was a good and fun night. I hope you all had a nice Halloween and a good weekend!

Another pet gone. :(

One of my birds died on Friday. :( I wasn't a big fan of the birds. We have had several birds and they all died fairly quickly. I would like one that talks. We had one that talked a long time ago but because we over heated teflon in one of our pans the bird breathed it in and died. We did not know teflon was deadly. After that we have had 4 different parakeets. I did not want the last 2 that we have but they were my niece's and she was moving and could not take them with her, so we took them. They were OK. Because there was 2 of them they kept each other company and did not want to be bothered by us humans. Well, Thursday night DH was talking to them and said to me that the boy did not look well. He was losing his feathers. The next day he was gone. I am sad now. I feel bad for the other bird because that was her buddy. I imagine she is going to be incredibly lonely now. We have been paying a lot of attention to her lately but she does not really like it. I don't know...we are not having much luck with animals lately. Maybe my other animals should run far away from us. :(

I had lunch with a friend on Friday. We don't get to see each other much but it is so nice when we do. She came over and had lunch here. She used to live here. We bought the house from her. I spent all day Thursday cleaning because I always feel like the house should be xtra clean for her since this used to be her house. It was a very nice visit.

Friday night my sis brought the kids over and DH watched them while her and I did another round of double coupon shopping at Kmart. Which we both did even better this time. No.ah who is normally a little leary of dogs has become completely crazy over Sammy. DH said all he wanted to do was pet him all the time. Then yesterday my sis called me and said that Noah had been yelling my name into a fake phone and she figured maybe to get him to stop he could really talk to me. He got on the phone and his first thing was, "Is Sammy good?". Every time I talk to him that is one of his first questions. It is so cute.

I was thinking last night that I do not want my nephews to grow up. Talking to them on the phone just brings a smile to my face. Their sweet innocent voices. I have a couple messages from No.ah on my phone and I listen to them at least once a day. When he says "I love you" in his little 2 yr old voice...nothing is better!

Anyway, that is all that has been going on with me. It has been a pretty dreary weekend. I think Fall has officially begun in Michigan. I love Fall but I don't like rainy and dreary.

I hope you all have had a great weekend!

Back from camping (kids mentioned)

I am back from camping and I think now I am rested up. It was an eventful weekend and we had a really good time!

First off, Sammy is doing well. He is back to his old self and does not be in any pain at all. In fact we have not had to give him any pain meds in a couple days. Hopefully this just continues. MIL said he was very calm and seemed content the whole weekend. They have a sliding glass door that leads out to their deck and they usually leave it open in the summer. Sammy was happy because he could just come in and out as he pleased. I was so relieved that he did well.

Second, we came home curious to see how our cat, Mia, did while we were gone. This was her first time home alone for 2 days. So we get home and start calling her. She is not coming...we start looking around the house and can't find her and we do not hear her meowing or anything so it does not seem she is stuck some where. We look at her food and kitty litter and she has not touched either...now I am concerned. We start looking all over outside thinking maybe she got out. She is not an outside cat and she is a runt so if she was outside she probably would not have done well. We ask our neighbors and no one has seen her. Finally we get a flashlight and find her growling under our bed...the one REAL BIG problem with that...we shut the bedroom door while we were gone and she had been locked in there with NO food and NO kitty litter. She did have water from the dogs dish but NOTHING else. OMG I could not feel any worse about it and she was PISSED!!! and rightfully so!! I can not believe we did that. What terrible fur baby parents we are. I told her she could ask me for anything right now and I would get it for her...luckily that probably won't be a car or anything. :) I am happy to say that after a few hours and a can of tuna later she was back to her purring loving self. Next time I think I will check a million times before we leave.

Third, the trip...was fun! We got to the cabin and found out that we in fact DID have electricity. It was great. But since we did not know this ahead of time we did not have anything that required electricity. The site was in a great location. We stayed in a place that was set to look like a firehouse with fire engine and tower with a slide on it...which the kids loved! They have different sections. They have some that look like train cars, or teepees, wigwams, forts, tree houses... There was so much to do! We also had REAL bathrooms REAL close and the tram that took you around the park was right there. Could not ask for more.

Saturday my sis and I wanted to try one of the zip lines they had. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I was not afraid at all until I got to the top and had to sit down on the edge and then jump off. Your brain really does not want you to do that. We both did it and it was amazing. We did the medium sized one. They had one for 4-10 year olds which we thought was kind of crazy but Jo.ey wanted to do it so we took him over there and he got strapped in and sat on the edge but did not want to jump. I was so amazed he got as far as he did. My sis and I were having a hard time watching him while daddy and DH walked up with him. Jo.ey said he would try it again next year.

so the plan on Saturday was that we would do the zip line and then the kids would go to the farm and ride the ponies and then to the sprinkler park. This did not happen. When we were walking away from the zip line there was a tractor pulling a wagon full of people giving a tour of the park. I turned to look at them and I could clearly see this thing going way to fast. They came upon a turn which is where the kids and our hubbies were sitting just a few minutes prior, watching us come down the zip line. Well when it hit the bum the back wagon went in the air and hit a tree which made the wagon cover, that was made of steel, come crashing down on the people below and knocking the people on the end. Just typing this gets my heart rate up. It was so scary. My sister ran down there because she is certified in some things since she works with kids. Hubby ran down to see if it needed to be lifted off of anyone. BIL and I stayed with the kids. DH came back soon because luckily it was not on anyone but he said it was bad. When sis came back she was in tears. She said she had not seen that much blood in a long time. She felt bad because the 2 people that were hurt the worse were the mom and dad of a 4 year old. She said the dad was barely conscious and the mother was hurt and they would not let her move. She just wanted to get to her little boy and he wanted his mommy. Unfortunately the nearest hospital was almost an hour away so they had to wait a long time for the ambulance to get there. A lot of people were injured really bad. I wish I could find out how the mom and dad were. Luckily a relative was there to be with the kid and luckily the kid was not injured. It was so scary and so sad!

Needless to say we could not do anything else because the trams were not running then and a lot of things closed. We felt bad that the kids did not get to do anything they wanted to do but they took it well. A lot of things got shoved into yesterday before we left. The kids were so good. The 2 yr old, No.ah, was my little buddy all weekend. He wanted to be with me and hold my hand or have me hold him a lot of the time. It was so cute. I loved waking up to their smiles and little voices in the morning...well I guess not really waking up seeing as I only slept a total of 4 hrs all weekend. See, EVERY OTHER adult in the cabin snored! It was bad and they all competed to see who could be the loudest. My hubby usually wins the loudest and most annoying. That really sucked! The second night I went and TRIED to sleep in the car...not very comfortable! I will have to think of something to do if we do that again.

Anyway, we had absolutely PERFECT weather. Warm doing the day and cool GREAT sleeping weather. This camp is so nice. It is just filled with things to do such as, tubing, ropes courses, zip lines, rock walls, pools, lake swimming with castles, waterslides, and trampline things. They also had crafts, comedy, gyms, skate parks, eurobungy, paintball, canoes...and much more. It is definitely some where I would recommend going.

So all in all with a few bumps in the road it was a great weekend. I hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Nephews and their pics

Last night we babysat my nephews. First we had No.ah by himself because Joey was the ring bearer in a wedding and then I went and picked Joey up so mom and dad could go back to the reception. Jo.ey was so darn cute in his tux. He insisted he was ugly and wanted everyone to say so. It must start at a young age with boys not wanting to be dressed up. He received a toy rocket for his present for standing up in the wedding and he was so excited about that. When I got back after picking him up Noah who was half asleep when I left was now wide awake and running around having so much fun. he kept telling me he wanted to dance and would just run and jump on his but or something. He has no fear of anything. he can bang his head so hard and then get up like nothing happened. Jo.ey is such the complete opposite of that.

Anyway, No.ah was playing rough with his Uncle as usual. the next thing I see is he falls and he comes up crying holding his hand. He won't move his pinky finger and it is swelling up. I thought it was broken so I get ice and try to call mommy. He stops crying after about a minute after the ice and says "I feel better". so I say make a fist, which he does with the other hand. i say "do it with the other hand." He does (not with the pinky) and yells "I did it I did it!". I start checking it out thinking I feel bone and have DH look at it. he squeezes and No.ah starts crying again saying it hurts. I put more ice on it and he says it feels better. I call sis again and No.ah is in the background saying..."I not crying. I not crying." He was all smiles like nothing happened. I of course was still worried. Jo.ey says he is calling the dr and pretends to call and tells No.ah he has to go to the dr. No.ah was happy about that. I am thinking please Lord don't let it be broken. Anyway, as the night goes on he is off and on about it hurting and I try bending it when he is not paying attention and he does not react so I start to feel better that it is not broken. Basically I think he jammed it pretty good. He was just so good about it and so cute. He kept telling me he wanted a hug or a high five. I told him I would give him a great big bear hug and he said "No, I want an Aunt Shell hug." ...they just melt my heart all the time. Well, my sis let me know that she checked it out this morning and it is not broke so that is good news. I felt so bad.

We came home last night and Sammy was back to yelping. So after looking up info about his pain meds I gave him a little more and he finally went to sleep with DH. Today he seems ok.

Today, we went to MIL to help move furniture around after she had a bunch of people over for the last month. She needed help getting the house back in order. Then I went to a friends house that I had not seen in about a year and we went to a late lunch. It was nice catching up with her. Actually, the house I live in was hers. Her and I started work at the place I just left on the same day and we became friends. She moved and bought a new house and was paying 2 house payments. She knew I wanted a house so one day after she had left the company she called and asked if I wanted to buy her house and she would pay the down payment and closing costs. I was sold! The house was great because her husband was in construction and everything except the bathroom had been redone recently.

It was nice getting caught up. We can never get schedules to coincide because she is pretty busy with her 3 kids. So we have been trying for months to get together and today was like the only day we could get in. I had fun. I am home now and hubby is going to his friends now for a while.

Well, I am happy this week is over and I am hoping that next week goes a lot better.

For your enjoyment...and mine...Here are some great pics of my nephews...
Jo.ey

Noah

Both

Half a load off my shoulders!

I have had a very busy last few days. Friday I babysat my nephews all day. They were a little crabby but thats ok. I took them to the park and for a couple walks. They love going for walks! Then DH and I went looking at some cars. We could not find anything that would have lasted more then a day that was in our price range. UGH!

Yesterday we got up bright and early to go looking at some cars. I only got 1.5 hours of sleep the night before. It was horrible. Every time I would start to fall asleep I would have a sleep start. You know where you dream you are falling or something like that and then you jolt awake. Well I must of had this happen like 20-25 times. Some of them I would awaken like gasping for air. It was scary! So then of course, I started freaking out thinking like for some reason I was suppose to stay awake or I was going to die in my sleep. I then went and consulted Dr. Google and I think for the first time it did not tell me I had cancer or something. I swear no matter what symptoms you key in it always says cancer. Anyway, it said these were common amongst most people but most don't even know it is happening. It said it usually happens if you went around 24 hrs without sleep which I was up for 20 before I tried going to sleep and if you are under a lot of stress. Um that would be a double check for me with all I have been going through. So after reading that and then waking DH and telling him to check on me and make sure I am breathing once I go to sleep, I finally fell asleep. So needless to say I was a little grumpy yesterday.

Anyway we got up and went and looked at a person he works with car. It was 800 and it was clear why. It was mini van with only 1 seat in the back. No radio...that is a requirement for my car. So we decided if we could not find anything else we would go with that as a last resort. My MIL and my sis and BIL offered to help us with getting a car. I thank them so much because I am not sure what we would have done. They are life savers and I can't say thank you enough! Anyway we went to MIL to trade cars because our current cars tires are about to blow at any minute. You can see the steel coming through on the 2 front tires. I just am not about to buy tires on a car that is going to be taken away. We had seen a bunch of cars that were a little distance away so we went to trade cars with MIL and then we ended up like a mile from her house. LOL We stopped at a little place to see if they had any cars in our range and ended up talking to one of the sales people and he said that he could work with us. I said I don't think so. We have a car that is currently being repoed, our credit is bad and I will not pay any payments that are over 100.00. He said he could work with that. I doubted it. He did! We got a 1998 che.vy ven.ture that had 96000 miles and was in pretty much perfect condition only a couple minor dents and scratches but nothing you can see unless you are looking close. The inside was gorgeous, it only had one owner and it ran perfectly! We paid half in cash and then got the rest financed for 100 a month. I could not believe it! We got such a good deal! I am so happy! Plus getting in and out of a mini van is so much easier on my back and we are all ready for all the babies that we will hopefully have soon!

So now the whole car situation can be checked off my list and that load can be taken off my shoulder. Now we just have to worry about unemployment. I have thought about putting a bow on my other car for the repo man. LOL. Then last night we went to Ch.uck e chee5e for Jo.ey's 4th b-day. I have not been there since I was a kid. It is so much different then what I remember. Jo.ey had a lot of fun and they were both so cute. I went shopping yesterday for his gift. On Fr1day he kept showing me which trains from ge0 tra.x that he wanted (he is OBSESSED with trains). He showed me one and told me this is what he wanted and that is all he wanted. I said "what if I can't find it or can't get it." He said "you'll find a way". LOL if only I could have that kind of faith on things. So I went to the store and of course could not remember which one it was. I called sis and gave her the 3 choices. We narrowed it down and picked one (unsure if that is the right one). On my way to the party sis texts me and says which one did you get again. I said "smo.key and Jo.se". She says oh because Joey just all of sudden started saying, " I hope Aunt shell got me Jose. That is all I want. I only want Jo.se nothing else!" Phew I got the right one! He was so happy when he opened his gift. He carried it around chu.ck e chee5e showing everybody and almost losing it...thank God my mom scooped it up! Sis said today they went to a store to meet there guy that is fixing up their new house and Jo.ey says " I had a birthday party and my Aunt Shell got me Jose. Do you have Jose?" He is so cute and I am so happy I got the right one.

Today has been a lazy day. we cleaned out our old car and I have been cutting coupons and learning how to be one of those people that goes and buy tons of stuff for a little amount of money. Today I went to CV.S and the total before coupons and stuff was 58.00 and I ended up spending 20.00 and that is including buying a 2 razors w/ replacement cartridges and those are expensive. I am so excited about that! It takes a little time and planning but in the end it is worth it!

So over all this was a good and productive weekend. Busy but good! How was yours?

Fun times with the nephews

I had a great time with my nephews this weekend. We went a lot of places and just had a good old time. I got a taste, all be it a small one, but a taste none the less of what it feels like to be a mom. First of all it is EXHAUSTING. I was so tired out Sunday night I think I was in bed and asleep by 8:00, and if you know me at all you know I am a night owl. I am usually up to 1:00am on weeknights and who knows what time on weekends. But we did a lot of stuff. We kept them busy. We went to MIL's and took them swimming. I stayed out of the water but DH got in the freezing water and the kids and him had a blast. I watched and admired how easily it comes to DH to just be a kid and a "dad" at the same time. Kids just gravitate to him and he has so much fun. It is a shame he is not a dad yet.

We then took them to the pet store. Jo.ey loved the mice and No.ah loved the bunny rabbits. Just watching them run from place to place was so cute. Then we went to Mc.Dona1ds so they could play in the playscape. I was worried about No.ah because this thing is huge and I did not think he would be able to get up and around through the tunnels. I was picturing my fat butt trying to climb through these tunnels to rescue him and then me getting stuck and they have to call someone to come take thing apart. Not a pretty picture...LOL. Anyway I told Jo.ey to go and help him and then out pops No.ah from the slide. He was just fine and he ran around to do it again. They played so long in there that they were asking to go home. We went home and watched the movie Wa11.E. Jo.ey thought this was the most funny movie in the world! I was not crazy about it but I just watched him laughing so hard at it that it made me laugh. I just love to hear a kid laugh!

Sunday we took them to a graduation party which was in a park and they had a HUGE playscape. The kids had a ball. BIL did not even recognize us because we came with 2 kids. All day long Jo.ey just kept looking at me and saying, "I Love You Aunt Shell" and then he would give me a hug. Awww that just melts my heart. At the party I was thinking about how they both are at such a great age. You can talk to them and especially Jo.ey you can have a whole conversation with him. He has got the best memory. No.ah just says things so cute! Since there were a lot of teenagers there I was trying to imagine what these 2 will be like as teenagers and I just can not picture it. It seems so far away yet I know it will fly by fast!Anyway, we tired them out there and then took them home and they went straight in for a nap. Then mommy and daddy came home.

So it was a pretty good weekend. They were so good! I think next we are going to take them one at a time over night sometime this summer. We will let them choose what they want to do and have kind of like a Aunt and Uncle date night. Then the one who stays home can spend time with mom and dad. I think that will be lots of fun.

I had a good time this weekend playing "mommy". I hope someday soon I will be the real thing!

Short -n- Sweet

Whew! Finally I think I am feeling myself. That flu just wiped me out completely! I still have a cough but I am finally eating again and don't feel like death so that is always a good thing.

Not much going on with me since I have spent most of the week in bed. This weekend I will have my nephews Saturday and Sunday. I am trying to think of fun things to do with them. We are going to stop by a graduation party for a little bit but that is all that is for sure planned. My MIL told us about a free interactive museum for the kids so we are going to try to get more info and maybe take them there. We should have fun.

Thats all I have for now. I hope you all have a good weekend and if you have any good ideas for things to do with my nephews that isn't expensive let me know. Thanks.

The last month or so in pictures

So not much going on with me lately. It is finally starting to become nice her in Michigan on a consistent basis so I am liking that. Red W1ngs made it to the second round of the playoffs and I am excited. Work is back to normal and my older dog Katie jo has been doing really good lately and has been very playful. Since not much has been going on I thought I would share some photos from the past month or so. I hope you all have a great weekend!

This is Sammy. When it is nice outside he loves to stay out. When we call him to come in this is what he does...


This is No.ah's at his 2nd b-day...


This is Jo.ey puchig No.ah in the swing...


No.ah playing gu1tar he.ro at my house. Both of them loved it. Jo.ey came in and saw the guitars and said "I want to rock jam." and "Aunt She11 got me guitar lessons". Isn't that cute!


and finally Red W1ngs 1st round playoff game...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (kids mentioned)

Another day in paradise! More snow, more cold. It is just crazy all the snow we are getting here this year. We got about another 7 inches today. I am so sick of it! I guess at least today it is not -12 degrees like yesterday.

Anyway, went to sis's house this morning to help out a little. She is getting around a little better so that is good news. Hopefully it will just keep getting better and better. BIL's tooth is doing a little better too so thanks to everyone for the well wishes. My nephews were so cute today. I guess it would be no different then any other day. I just love them to pieces. I can't believe No.ah is going to be 2 in a couple months. He is at such a great age! He will just call my name over and over again and I just love it. Jo.ey is getting better at sharing unless of course you are talking about his trains and that would be a whole other story. He is so polite it is cute. When I was over there the other night my mom asked him to find his sippy cup and he said they were downstairs but he couldn't go because the light was not on. I told him I would turn it on and we could go look. So we go downstairs and they are not down their. So Jo.ey is walking up the stairs and saying "I.m sorry Gramma they are not down there. Im sorry I just don't know where they are." How cute is that?

Anyway, then we went to MIL's house to have some cake and ice cream for DH's b-day. We played some W.ii and had fun but I am glad to be home. Now we are just relaxing and trying to stay warm.

Nothing very exciting going on which I guess could be a good thing. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks to the readers who delurked. Again I love your comments so keep em coming.

Deep down in your soul

Last night I babysat for my nephews. I know I say it every time but they are so cute! They are always so good for us! They made me laugh and smile all night. They went to bed with no problems. The little one No.ah will not say his name. He will repeat anything you say and I mean anything but if you say No.ah he says "me". It is so funny. We try every way and he just won't do it. It cracks me up!

Anyway, Jo.ey fell asleep on the couch and one moment I was just staring at him, watching him sleep. Tears formed in my eyes because I thought to myself, will I ever know the pure and utter happiness that is having a child of my own? I mean I am sure I can be happy and enjoy life without one but not the deep down in your soul COMPLETE, nothing else matters happiness. The kind that makes you feel complete, like you have contributed something to this world. That when you leave it, you have left it better then when you came. I want a child so bad it hurts! I want a family! I know what the deep down in you soul sadness feels like and I want so desperately to feel the happiness. To think it may never happen makes me sad and angry!