THANKSGIVING WEEK

I have had the most busy Thanksgiving week I have EVER had! It began Tuesday night. I was in charge of making desserts for our dinner at work. I wanted to please everyone so I made numerous deserts. One plain cheesecake, one cherry cheese cake, 2 banana puddings, one coconut cake, and one red velvet cake. Austin decorated the top of that one :)

I am so thankful that mom came over to help. She cleaned up behind me as I went. So when I dropped in the bed after midnight, the kitchen was spotless. Then I woke up at 4am to make the banana pudding so it would be fresh. That night I was exhausted, but still had to prepare for our family dinner. Sandy's company gave us a turkey check again and I got a HUGE turkey.He hardly fit in the pan.

The table was set.

Billy and Wes waiting to eat.

Granny actually sat down for a few minutes. That mom is a working machine!Wes was the first one to sit down to eat. Must be that hard working job of his. Makes him hungry.

The dining room was crowded this year because the den was emptied out due to remodling.

Time to eat. Thanking God for our many blessings.

No TV watching around this house. Time for family bingo!!

We had some gag gifts. Wes won a maze book.

Melissa got some snowman ears.

Granny got a stress buster.

And some funny man glasses.

and pap had to try them on.Pap got a bag of coal, but he got a big jar of candy too.We had some good prizes too including gift cards to Sonics, Subway and Big Lots. Billy won a cup of candy and a tin of candy. He was happy with that. He loves candy.

Sara won 10 dollars.

Last thing of the night....Austin and Tyler break the wish bone. Tyler won. And once again mom cleaned up everything. I want to know where she gets all that energy. Seriously.

So in the bed at 11 and out of bed at 3 am. Time for shopping. Austin and I headed to Target. He has never been out shopping early. He nearly killed me when we arrived there at 3:15 and he found out they didn't open till 5!! He thought they opened at 4. Hehe-mom got him good.

I never do the big shopping thing either. I have been known to go out early and get one or two things, but that's it.

Here is Austin using the free bag they gave us to warm his face. It was 32 outside.

This year I decided to save some money and do this black friday thing big. Oh my! Was I crazy?? Check out lines over a hours long, bathroom lines just as long, traffic like I have never seen. I covered 7 or more stores and got tons of great buys. I came home, covered my eyes.... and went straight to bed. CAN YOU BELIEVE I SLEPT 17 HOURS!!!! I told you I had a busy week!!
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING:

Wear hat, gloves even take a blanket for sitting. Dress to shed because later you will be hot and sweaty.

Do not carry heavy pocketbook. Your shoulders and back will not be happy in the morning....ugh
Take as many kids as possible. They can stand in line at checkout while you grab other random things.

I feel like I have been hit by a MAC truck.....but what a great week I have had......now to put up the tree today........

HAPPY 40!!

So my boys did a wonderful job at planning my big 40th birthday party. We had it at the skating rink with an 80s theme. Here is my best friend Lynn and I dressed in our 80s clothes! And my husband, Sandy looking like an 80s rocker!And Austin looking like--Michael from the 80s. I got so embarrased when everyone sang to me.


There I am out on the skating rink. I even had balloons.

Here is Austin, Tyler, Melissa, Aaron and Randy hanging out.
Everyone had a great time.
And look at this fabulous cake Austin made for me!!


It was so fun to have a party of my own! I think the last time I had one I was 13! What a fabulous time we had! And Lynn and I went to Walmart dressed like that. Most people didn't even look twice! LOL! One young girl said that those fashions are coming back in style. Maybe that is why we didn't look out of place :) Ok, but we did get a few stares......


And here is the other cake Austin made that weekend. It was for a man who was retiring from the Estes trucking company. I think with the right tools Austin could be great at this!!

This and That

Just a lot of random things going on here. Billy has moved out- again! I know this time it will be permanent. He will be living with his brother, Wes and a friend of theirs, Gary. I hope things go well for them. Here is Billy the day before he left. He was washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen up for me! Wow, that is a rare event!
Our baby kitten is growing fast. She is always getting into trouble.
We have spotted what we think might be the daddy cat. He will not let anyone get close to him at all. If you can zoom in on this picture you can see how mean and 'in charge' he looks. I love his big face.
Lost of Bulldog football games. Here is my niece. She is a senior cheerleader.

I think their uniforms are so cute this year. They have a little star cutout.
Hanging out with old high school friends. It doesn't seem like more than 20 years have past.
And Austin's been missing a lot of school due to the flu. He made him a little hideout under the stairs and behind his closet.
He has a small tv and his xbox in here. It is really dark in there, but with the flash you can't tell. I think it is so sweet that he still acts his age and does these kind of things. I know to many kids at 14 that are starting into much more grown up things. Gotta love this kid :)

And today I took my sweet Sandy to the airport. He is flying to PA for his company. I hope he has a great time.
And here is our mama kitty playing with a baby chipmunk. She did not hurt it :)

FLU

The flu has invaded our house. I am about to fumigate this place. I hope all my blogger friends have avoided this sickness.

TURNING 40!

I really do not feel like going into the fact that I just turned 40. However, I do want to share that my boys are throwing me a party. Check out this video invitation that Austin made.

UPSETTING

I am just so upset. I wanted to vent. So this is where I come to vent. We had just passed the one year mark in the tragic loss of the boy's grandparents. We had some beautiful large white crosses made to replace the wooden ones that were rotting. These were placed at the accident site. We asked the home owners if it was ok to place these larger crosses in their yard. They said that was fine. Well, a few days later- SOMEONE STOLE THEM!! Why would someone do such a thing?? I am just so distraught by this.........I don't even know what to say.........

Finally! Completion of my laundry room!

So months and months ago I talked about painting my laundry room in this awesome green color! I wouldn't use this color in my house but I love it so much, so why not the laundry room? Well of course other things have come up and it was put on hold. Then I was fortunate enough to get .....these! My new washer and dryer. In my 23 years of raising kids I have always had used washers and dryers. So this is a big thing to me. I LOVE these! Funny that I should get them now- I have less laundry. :)
Since the laundry room is not seen by everyone, I decided to put many of my favorite random things that really don't fit in my house anywhere. My strings of game lights- monopoly, scrabble, Mr. potato head and candy land. They are strung around the room.
Sandy's first tag. He had this tag number for so many years. This year they changed our tag design and it had to go.
This tag from my home state. I think this came off of my dad's car.
My kitty cat ironing board.
My "irish"?? girl. Not sure where I got her or what she is really, but now she stores my plastic bags.
My giant yellow crayon bank. If there is money in the wash, it goes in here.
Some of my frogs.Some more of my frogs.
Some more frogs hang out on the water heater. Along with some old irons.
I found this 'shelf' at a yard sale for a dollar. Not sure what it was designed for. I hot glued some of my tiny random items in it. Mom, I know you will recognize some of these.
Old clip on ice skates from my childhood farmhouse. My dad found these when he bought the house (I think that is what he told me).
A cup of marbles and my snoopy trash can. I have a lot of other snoopy stuff packed in a box and might add it in this room somewhere.
This green wallpaper was on clearance for $2.00 a roll. I used it on one half of the room. Last week I found this frog border on clearance for $2.00's as well.
This room actually used to be my back porch. Many years ago my dad closed it in so I had a place for my washer and dryer. You can see the old porch ceiling. I have had bare bulbs up there forever! Now....
I have real light fixtures!!

Wow, it really looks like a room in there now! It makes me want to do more laundry! I love that I have a spot where I can put all the random things I love! What a great space.