Surprise Christmas Blessings

So for awhile now Mr. Man and I have been wanting to get a double stroller for the kiddos but it has never on the priority list by any means. Yesterday some friends from church came to our door with this stroller for us! I think Ari is more excited than any of us. Last night she did not want to get out of the thing. I fed her dinner in it, I put Eli in too and we played peek-a-boo, then they watched Mommy and Me in it. Almost the same thing happened today. I'll get a picture up soon. I went searching for the manual and found it retails around $660!!!

Every year our church gets products that they donate to people who need them in the community. Usually they get things like clothes, food, toiletries, etc. This year they got a ton of baby stuff. I feel so blessed that we were thought of this season.

Then I won some pretty sock yarn from The Ninja Knitter. To cool thing about this advent giveaway is the winners need to pay it forward. We're going to donate some toys, books, clothes, and food. I'd love to make some things too. So, if you have any good ideas please let me know.

On top of all this I'm training at a job that I think I'm really going to like and could open some good doors in the future.

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

"Nothing Says Love Like Leather for the Holidays"

I saw this on a marquee on the way to work the other day. I don't know what to think about it. I also don't know what to think about it being 70 degrees today. Mr. Man and I also did yard work on Saturday. IT IS DECEMBER PEOPLE!!! My family is coming here for Christmas and I think I should tell them to bring shorts. I don't think I'll ever get used to no snow at Christmas.

Some good news...
**Mr. Man is done with school until February!
**As long as the cough drop I had doesn't taint my drug test I'll have a job working as a part-time bank teller! It's Thursday/Friday only and as many Saturdays I want. I can't wait to work and see people every day.

Some sad news...
**The kiddos have been sick:( I hate when they are sick. At least they don't have to go to the doctor.

Well it's time to make a TO-DO list of everything that needs to get done before the fam gets here.

TTFN!

Sewin Like Crazy

With my sewing supplies moved downstairs I have been able to get some work done. Here are some of the diapers I have made. This weekends goal is valances for the kitchen, and maybe the dress I started for Ari months and months ago.





After these projects I need to find a super easy pattern for kids pants. Both of the kiddos are running out of pants but they don't fit in store sizes. I hope I can figure out how to altar a pattern to fit them.

Nothing else is really going on. We're getting whatever bug is going around right now. Eli is getting some teeth and is starting to scoot around on the floor. We're just waiting for the semester to end and Christmas to get here.


The Ari loves being a big sister

Turkey Day is almost here!!!

The real countdown to turkey day has begun. We are hosting the "Stuck in Cleveland" Thanksgiving potluck this year! Sadly our house is still in semi-shambles but it will be looking great for tomorrow. Here's what's done so far...

*Turkey is thawing
*Brine for turkey is made
*2 pumpkin pies are made
*pecan pie crust is ready to go
*all other ingredients should be in the house
*I have all the recipes I need
*roasting pan is clean
*carving board is clean
*tablecloth is washed
*festive napkins are made

There's still a lot to do tomorrow but I can't wait.

I was really hoping to have one of our friends take a family picture of us with the beautiful fall leaves in the background, but sadly most of the leaves are gone. At least I am getting better at Photoshop so I'll be able to touch a photo up a bit. I'm just hope a semi decent picture will come out.

So I was a BIG IDIOT yesterday and accidentally deleted my blog. I was making some changes to it (as I'm sure you can see) and thought I deleted my test blog. Thankfully they got it back. Not that it would have been the end of the world, but I'd still like to have past entries ya know?

I don't have any pictures yet, but I've gotten a bunch of sewing projects done:) I really want to find a rolled hem plate for my serger. My friend might have it somewhere in her house, but if not I hope I can find one. I'm happy with the napkins I made, but it would be so much easier to serge them. The creative part of my brain is going a million miles a minute thinking of ideas for Christmas presents. I know I'll never get them all done, but I'm happy to be sewing again.

That's all for now. I hear Mr. Man starting to make air popped, buttered, garlic powder popcorn YUMMO!!! Have a happy turkey day everyone!!

Photo Update

While I do have a lot on my mind to say I'm too tired to write. I hate time change. Eli has been getting up at 5am. No one should be up then. Here are some photos of what the kiddos have been up to.


Ari played here for around an hour and loved every minute. Next spring/summer we will be getting the kiddos one of those table sandboxes to play with. That is my Mountain Dew to feed my addiction not the little lady's.


Ari is playing her favorite game called stack the movies and unstack the movies. She'll do this with movies, books, or anything else that will stack. Who needs toys?


I hate posting pictures of myself I decided to show the world I really do exist.

Look who is sitting up!

Dollar store hampers make great toys.

Blog Question

I redesigned my blog here. Does anyone know how to move that design here or all of my entries there? Please let me know.

My Personality

Do you think this fits me?

ICE and Random Chit Chat

I got an e-mail from a friend today and instead of doing a forward which I hate I decided to put most of the e-mail here.


ICE Campaign - "In Case of Emergency"

We all carry our cell phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our cell phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) Campaign. The concept of "ICE" is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name "ICE" (In Case Of Emergency). The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always cell phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. Therefore, he thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as "ICE."

For more than one contact name simply enter! ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, etc. A great idea that will make a difference! Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our cell phones today!

Sounds like a good idea to me.

We are back in the sick zone in our house. Nothing major just the sniffles and other cold symptoms. The hard part is when we all feel bad at the same time and the kids wake up at night. Mr. Man and I are tired!!! This is a major understatement to say the least. I was about ready to leave around 2 in the morning and just go somewhere for a while. Needless to say we need a vacation, and a new job situation. I would take a full time job just about anywhere right now so that Mr. Man doesn't have to work.

On a happy note the FlyLady has been helping me get our house in order. We have been able to see the kitchen table for 3 days now! Slowly but surely I'm making progress on getting things in order. Once things are in order I'll have some room to start having dates with Gunner. Between cleaning more and nursing I can fit in size 8 pants! I don't remember the last time that has happened. I wonder what would happen if I actually moved. More importantly than getting into smaller pants I need to regain some ab/back strength to help my back troubles. I just found a wonderful chiropractor and got my first adjustment in 3.5 years. I'm in some rough shape and I need to build some muscle to help what the chiropractor is doing.

I think the kids are finally sleeping so it's time to clean up the kitchen and get to sleep...maybe.

Current Project

Here is the current soaker I'm working on. We'll see how it turns out.

For all moms

Take a look this is hilarious! If you can't watch it here just click on the video and it will take you to youtube where it comes in better.



You can read the words here. Have a wonderful weekend y'all!

Yeah it's been a while

For some reason I've gotten out of the blogging groove. Maybe it's because there is nothing to write about. Life has been on the dull side lately. It seems all we have to talk about is work, diapers and poop. How can you find things to talk about when life is dull?

Anyhoo...Yesterday was Ari's 2nd birthday!! I can't believe the little lady is 2 already. Sadly we didn't do much since Mr. Man got stuck working :( Ari got a singing Little Mermaid card from my parents and I am ready to throw it out the window. I know they are just getting revenge. She got some other stuff too, but this was her favorite thing. I took the kiddos to have dinner at Outback so Ari could kind-of have dinner with daddy. We will be having a little party for her soon I hope.

Eli is 6 months today! He is rolling over now and is still cute as can be.

I am so excited because we will be hosting the annual Thanksgiving potluck at our house this year!! This means getting the house in order by then which is good because then it will be ready for when my parents and sister come for Christmas. Goal #1 is to find our kitchen table again. I want to start decorating too. I love fall, but in the south it is not the same. Somehow I need to bring fall into our house without being tacky. I really want to make some placemats and napkins for Fall and Christmas. The only problem with this is I need to relocate my sewing stuff to the basement because I can't sew in Eli's room, and he's not ready to move into Ari's room yet. Oh the trivial problems.

Along with getting the house pretty we need to start working on getting Ari out of diapers. Any tips for potty training/learning? I think the first thing I'd like to do is stop using any form of stay-dry liners unless she is sleeping. I don't think we will be doing any serious work on this until the semester is over, but we need to start thinking.

Here's a random sauce recipe I came up with the other day. I took a few different ideas from Betty and here's what I got...

1 c milk (You can use low fat but if you like sauce really creamy use less milk and throw in some heavy cream or half and half to make it equal a cup)
2 T butter
2 T flour
1-2 cloves garlic minced/chopped (I used the stuff in a jar 1/2 tsp)
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper (if you like it spicy)
Parmesan cheese (about a palmfull-Rachel Ray style)

Melt butter in a sauce pot with garlic on med/high heat. Let the butter start to bubble and add flour. Cook for a minute or so to get rid of the flour taste. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Slowly add milk stirring as you go. Bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and add Parmesan cheese.

This sauce is thick but if you want it thinner use 1 T butter and flour instead of 2 or just thin out the sauce with some pasta water. I put this sauce on tortellini but you could use it on any pasta. Throw in some chicken and/or veggies and you've got a quick meal.

One victory for the domestically challenged!

New Soaker

New Soaker
Originally uploaded by Sleepy Mama

Here's a new soaker I made.

You HAVE to Watch This

I was getting some Photoshop training today and when I walked in this video was playing. Please check it out! It was a drama done during a Lifehouse concert and it is AMAZING!

That's it for now.

Here are the lyrics to the song...in case you wanted to know.

Tile :Lifehouse - Everything
This is lyrics from www.lyrics007.com
Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place where I find peace again.

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want, You're all I need
You're everything,everything
You're all I want your all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want you're all I need.
You're everything, everything
You're all I want you're all I need, you're everything, everything.

And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

My Brain

Your Brain is 67% Female, 33% MaleYour brain leans female
You think with your heart, not your head
Sweet and considerate, you are a giver
But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!
What Gender Is Your Brain?

How to Clean Your House

Step 1: Leave something important (like your checkbook register) on kitchen table.

Step 2: Allow small child to run around the house with it.

Step 3: Keep letting kid run around with chosen item until they hide it.

Step 4: Start looking.

Step 5: Since looking didn't work start cleaning every single room they had access to.

Step 6: Now your house is clean, but you still don't have what you were looking for.

Step 7: Look in most unlikely place (in entertainment center, bottom shelf, back row of DVDs, on top of DVDs) again to find what you are looking for.

Yeah, it's been a fun few days.

Beautiful Day!

I think that fall may actually be coming to the Tennessee Valley! Today was beautiful. I was able to open the windows and let the breeze in. Ari got to play on the deck for awhile while Mr. Man was grilling and she was SO excited to be outside again. Fall in TN is not like fall in MI but I'm excited for it all the same.

Today was also one of the first Saturdays in a long time I have been able to say home all day. I didn't get as much done as I hoped, but it was a good start. As long as I can get the kitchen clean and laundry mostly done tonight I"ll be happy. I need to get more clean before I can start sewing again.

Some good news on the home front is that the ants are gone!!! I don't know if it was the grits or the ant traps that killed them, but I don't care they are gone!

Do Something Now

Mr. Man and I are starting to get involved with the College/Young Adult ministry at our church. There is finally a group where we feel like we fit into. Granted I feel so old and I very well may be the oldest person there (I'm going on 26), but Mr. Man says having the kids adds at least 5 years.

Anyway, last night was the first concert THIRST sponsored. The Peasall Sisters sang and were great. If you like bluegrass check them out. The goal of the concert was to raise money for the Blood:Water Mission to build a well in Africa. If you go to the website it explains the organization and how it came about. $1 can provide water for a person in Africa for a whole year!

One of the other leaders was moved during the planning process and said something like this:
It is so hard for us so separate from where we are here and now in America to imagine what it is like for people in Africa. It is sometimes hard to see past the idea of seeing Africa as just a continent over there or the people as just statistics. If you knew that one of your children, nieces/nephews, cousins, friends, or anyone you know didn't have water wouldn't you do everything you could to get them some? These people are our brothers and sisters too. God says that if you give someone a glass of water it is like you are giving it to Me.

I was moved. It always breaks my heart to know that there are people all over the world who don't have the basic things I take for granted every day. We are so blessed to be able to turn on the tap and have water whenever we need it, and yet then complain because it doesn't taste right or there's too much chlorine in it. It is so hard to break away from our cultural mindset to realize how good we have it even when it seems like we don't have anything.

How can you change how you see the world and then change how you live? How can you change your mind to be thankful for every little thing that you have? I know God has to be in it, but what can we do on a daily basis to be thankful for cold/hot water on demand, washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators/freezers, pantries full of food (even if we don't want what is in there to eat), a bed that's not on the ground, real floors, central heat and air, you get the picture.

Just something to think about.

Random Thoughts of the Morning

So one of the major things on my mind these days is what to do with my hair. It is driving me crazy and I think something drastic might happen. I would love to cut it super short and dye it, but I know that I would look horrible. So my next thought is to get a body wave to help it out. My hair is straight as can be and I don't have time to mess with it in the mornings because I cannot get myself out of bed early enough. I'm also scared to do anything since my last disaster haircut where I had way too short bangs. What is a girl to do?

I'm also trying to sell off some stuff to make money to buy more stuff. I have some shoes, jewelry, and bras. Where is a good place to do this? Can us sell used bras? Would anyone buy a used bra? I've been looking at some of those sell your gold here websites and I don't know if it's a good idea or not. I see no point to keep some old stuff sitting in my jewelry box when I will never wear it.

The ants in our house MUST DIE!! How do you get rid of the little black sugar ants? I really don't want to call someone in to take care of them, but it may come to that.

If you ever have the chance to go through a Beth Moore Bible study do it! I have gone through the first week of one at church and it is great. I just hope I can keep up with my daily homework. I am so bad at doing devotions and Bible reading. Maybe this study will help.

I'm still feeling great after Friday's prayer time...PRAISE GOD!!!

I was finally able to get some diapers posted for sale. I hope they sell so we can buy a diaper sprayer.

Pictures of the Kiddos

Overall things are going well for us. Mr. Man is sick of his job and we are just praying that the grant money goes through at work and I can go full time soon. The only new thing is we have a minor ant infestation by our kitchen sink that needs to go away NOW!! I've tried some natural remedies and these ants don't care. Now there are 4 traps around the sink. One way or another they will die.

For those of you wondering why Fred Savage was in the previous post I thought found it funny that they said I looked like him. There were some other men in the mix too, but let's not go there.

Anyhoo, enjoy the kiddos.

Making a fashion statement wearing my shoes and a hair tie on her arm...Have you seen Bruce Almighty?

He looks so happy here.

A great find on Craig's List. Sadly his legs are too big to really fit in his chair. Ari loves it though.

Just For Fun