Cleaning

I have discovered the secret to this bloggin thing. I thought I had to wait for something important to happen or some revelation to share before I could post something...boy was I wrong! I can write about anything I want! Anything! So you guys want to know what I am thinking about today? Cleaning...yep...cleaning. How much I hate it. How much I wish I didn't have to do it. How much I wish there was some way I could afford to pay someone else to do it.

I keep thinking of an episode of Clean House I saw a few weeks ago where one of the houses they cleaned a lady said her house looked like that cause she didn't like cleaning and the reply was "Who does like to clean?". It still has to be done.

I like to watch Clean House and the BBC show How Clean Is Your House? because it always makes me feel good. I mean, my house has never been that bad! Yeah me! Still, sometimes I look around and just get depressed. I like it clean and I know I feel better when it is clean, but I get so aggrevated when I walk through the livingroom and someone has thrown their clothes in the floor. They don't even go to the bathroom unless I am standing right there when they start to undress and make them go!!!

Last...some pictures of the house we finally bought last year since I haven't posted them yet for some reason? I guess I have fuzzy brain syndrome because I just figured out how to crop and resize these!!! Slight oversight I am correcting...please forgive me. See the pretty blue skies? We miss them too right now!

Note, the nice green WEEDS?!?! They are nice and dead now! Our yard is mud! I can't wait to plant some nice grass!!! When we bought the house they were a bit taller than this. This is the picture I pulled off the appraisel. Trust me...they have been mowed!

Money

I was watching Good Morning America this morning and they had a segment about the tax rebates they are working on giving to Americans to help with the recession that "isn't a recession". Anyways, when I first heard about it, I was thinking...Great. We can get some help. Pay some of the bills that are piling up on us. I mean, we don't have any credit cards or anything, but we have the typical bills. Added to that is this house we bought last July and put all of our savings and then some down to get. So now we have a mortgage also. Needless to say, Tom's work has slowed to a crawl and some weeks it has stopped which means...you guessed it...no income. So this rebate would go a long way towards getting us through this rough patch. I am working on finding some kiddos to watch here at home and he is working on finding more work, but right now, we are stressing and everything is so tight.

He wants to stick with his current boss because when they are working they make great money (they build decks, shade structures, etc. onto homes). The winter hits us every year, but this one has been worse than any we have had in the past. God has always provided for us and made sure we have food, etc...but it's hard to make ends meet right now. That money would be our blessing.

I just don't think we will get it in time to really help. They are thinking it will be like May before any things is paid out. By then? Will we still have a home? Our car?

That's my vent for now...I am sure there are others out there in similar or worse positions than us so I try to remember that and be thankful for what we do have. It's really hard to do that sometimes though when our faith is tested and we are going through hard times.

Hammie the Hamster

Well, today is a sad day. Hammie the Hamster has passed on. He was looking rather ill late lastnight when Elizabeth took him out to play. So we cleaned out his cage real well, gave him fresh food, fresh water, and fresh bedding. I also fed him 1/2 a grape. He was looking better, but we could tell he wasn't feeling 100%. Tom and I discussed it and decided that since we couldn't call the vet lastnight I would call the vet this morning. He was alive his morning when Tom left at about 6, but when Elizabeth went to check on him later he wasn't. :(

Elizabeth is very upset since he was her pet. I read a lot of information online about the care of hamsters and will take more care with the next one we get (if we get one LATER). I didn't realize they could get a common cold and if so it is deadly to them. There is no treatment unless you take them to the vet. No over the counter or pet store remidies. Live and learn. I think we are all a little upset, but at least he isn't sick anymore.

I told Elizabeth he is playing with Katie's (a friend) hamster (also died). We are holding family visitation and a brief funeral service this evening if anyone would like to attend. Any prayers sent this way will be appreciated.

Zune!

So...This year for Christmas Mom decided that since we had sooo many family members we would all just draw names and buy that person a nice present. I got lucky and my 21 year old brother Ray drew ME! After much discussion he decided (since he knows I get the short end of the stick almost every year) that he would get me the MP3 player I have been wanting for awhile. So tonight I sat down and decided to buy a few songs to go on my new Zune! After having it for a few weeks, I had downloaded some songs, but nothing NEW! Anyways...I know EVERYONE wants to know what I downloaded cause all my friends are nosy like that:

FFH: One of These Days
Gary Allen: Her Man
Toby Keith: Love Me If You Can
Rodney Atkins: If You're Going Through Hell

I have other songs, but I want to get more country. I think one of my favorites right now is Stealing Cinderella by Chuck Wicks. If you haven't heard this one I would highly recommend you give it a listen. Anyone with a daughter will need a kleenex. It's a really good fuzzy feeling song. Makes me think. *Sniff* Here is the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtOy8R01fTA It's definitely worth the time.

Lots of New Pictures!

Okay, here are some pictures I recently got developed. I know they aren't too old, but I found a couple of rolls of film and had no clue what was on them...I know there are several people out there who know what I am talking about!

I noticed Colton was licking his honeynut Cheerios off his walker one day and when he looked up I had to grab my camera and take a picture! This was sometime last year obviously!

Colton before his first haircut...he's the only baby I have seen that grew his own mullet without any help from anyone's scissors!

Colton after his first haircut. Looking so grown up! *Sniff*

Elizabeth with her pet hampster Hammy.

Colton was a spider for Halloween this year!

Wyatt was a lion!

Elizabeth was basketball player and Melanie was a pumpkin!

Commitment Issues

Okay, so it's fairly evident to everyone that knows me that I have some commitment issues. I said in November I was going to blog more. Lets face it...I lied! So to anyone who actually visits my page...I will apologize. I know you look forward to reading my posts and I have been letting you down. I will try not to let it happen to often from now on, but as I just stated, I am not very good at logging in on a regular basis! I have some pictures to post. I don't think they are very recent, but I just got them developed! I will post them in a sec...once I finish this post...and then take a break...and then watch the news...and then check on the kids to make sure they are sleeping...and then...who knows? I'll get to it...