Voting

Yesterday morning I was watching the news while getting ready for my normal routine of getting kids on the bus and myself around when something they said caught me totally off guard.  Okay, get this, it was voting day and they were taking a poll to see how many people planned on going to the polls to vote on the issues at hand.  Well, get this, seriously this drives me bonkers and I can't hardly comprehend this, but more people said that they weren't going to the polls to vote.  That's not really what thru me.  It was the fact that they would vote online to tell people that they weren't voting, but wouldn't get off of their tushes to actually vote for something that would affect them.  Wow!!!  Are you kidding me?!?! 

That is what is wrong with the United States right now.  Everyone expects everything, but nobody wants to get off of their tushes and do anything about it.  Jeez!!!  Sorry, I am ranting, but really, are we that spoiled?!?!?  People in other countries are dying to get the right to vote and to help make these important decisions, but we actually have the right to vote and we don't?  No wonder other countries don't like us.  I don't even know if I like us. 

I did vote and there was only ONE question or issue on my ballot, so it wasn't a huge deal, actually it was.  But the fact that however many people taking that poll yesterday morning, over 48% said that they weren't going to vote just blew me away.   I guess it shouldn't surprise me, seeing as our country is in huge need of repair and don't get me wrong, I have no idea how to fix things and I am not saying that I do, but maybe if we looked at ourselves in the mirror more often we wouldn't be in the situations that we are  in right now. 

Okay, I am getting even more peeved right now.  I am done and will now get off of my soap box.  Sorry if this offends anyone.

Behind closed doors

I was on the phone the other day with my Mimi.  We were on the phone for a good 40 minutes or so and the kids were so good at being quiet while I was on the phone.  That is one rule that we really enforce in our household.

Well, I get off of the phone and I am walking down the hallway to put the clean laundry away when I catch a whiff of baby powder.  Hmm....I don't recall getting that out anytime recent.  Well, Lil sis had gone to the bathroom, I thought to poo, but apparently she had other ideas.  I slowly open the door and find that I can only open it about 6 inches.  I hear a giggle and then the door opens all the way.  Behind the door I find this...                                                

"Momma, I'm a spooky ghost!"  Yep, you sure are little girl!  How can you get mad at a face like that?!?!?!?

A challenge

One of the blogs that I follow is starting a new challenge for the month of November.  And since I have nothing else to do with my time, yeah right, I am going to join in on this challenge. 

If you are interested it is a recipe challenge.  You visit this blog site and she has three different recipes for you to try out.  You can try one, two or all three of them, but she wants to know how you liked them.  If you liked them and if there was any difficulties or what-nots. 

I checked out the first set of recipes and they looked pretty yummy, so I am going to join in.  If you are interested in it, check it out here.  The blog is called somewhat simple and the recipes look just that, somewhat simple.  I think I am going to try the banana sour cream cake.  It looks yummy.  Let me know if you check it out and if you try a recipe.  And while you're there, grab a button as well.

I'm Done!!!!

Okay, I know that it is after Halloween and that I haven't posted on here in what seems like forever, but I have been busy.  With the flu swarming my house, soccer games, bowling and MOPS I finally finished the costumes for Halloween.  YEA! 

Lil' Sis wanted to be Pebbles Flintstone, so Jeff and I were Fred & Wilma and CX did NOT want to be Bam Bam Rubble or Barney Rubble.  He wanted to be a Shadow Trooper.  Great, and I am sorry, but I am cheap and I was not about to spend $60 on a costume that he was only going to wear one night a year.  Holy smokes that is crazy high!

I made Lil' Sis's first and it was pretty easy.  No I didn't use a pattern, I just basically made the hand towel dress but tweaked the arm holes and neck line a little.  I also made her a little bone for her hair.  You can't be Pebbles without a bone in your hair.

Next, I made Fred.  Fred was pretty easy as well.  I just cut two pieces of material and sewed up the sides leaving room for the arm holes and then sewed the shoulders leaving room for the head hole.  Sewed a little felt collar onto the head hole and then I sprayed painted a few black dots onto the costume.  I already had a fat, blue tie.  And there you have it, Fred Flintstone.

I decided that I should probably work on CX's costume because mine wouldn't be that hard and his I really didn't have any idea how I was going to make it.  Well, I bought a black pair of sweatpants and a black long sleeve shirt.  I also bought a black beanie and a pair of black gloves.  I got all of this at Target for less than $12.  I thought that I would buy some shiny material that would make the pieces on the shirt and pants look like it was actually a shield.  And honestly, I had no idea what a "Shadow Trooper" looked like, but I know what a "Storm Trooper" looks like, so I basically pictured that but only black.  I cut out pieces of the material and sewed them directly onto the shirt and pants.  I thought that they would look more realistic if i put a little bit of stuffing under the material.  Well, apparently, I stuffed it too much because my poor little boy all of a sudden got a really good size package in his pants thanks to his momma.  Needless to say, I got rid of the stuffing and decided to just go with the material. 

Then came the fun part of his costume, the mask.  I new all along that I was going to do a paper mache mask but I had no idea how I was going to do it.  I bought some plaster material from Micheal's.  It is material that already has plaster dried onto it, so all you have to do is get it wet and then go from there.  I bought some balloons, even though I only needed one and blew it up.  I then took a cheap mask from Wal-mart or the dollar store and placed it onto the balloon.  Then I began applying the plaster.  After it dried, I added a toilet paper roll to tweak the mask.  CX said that it looked right, I had no idea, but if he thought it was good, I was okay with it.  Then I baked the mask to make sure the plaster was completely dried and spray painted it black.  I painted a little bit of silver details onto it and there you have it.  A shadow trooper.  CX thought that it was awesome, but didn't enjoy wearing it that much.  Said that it smelled funny and that little bits of plaster kept getting into his eyes.  Without the mask he looked like a cat burglar.

Then came me, Wilma.  I made it one night very late at night and man, if you have never sewn with fur (faux) don't, it is a furry pain.  I had white fur floating all over the place.  It was in my hair, my eyes, all over the place.  I kept trying the piece on, pinning, taking it off, sewing, trying on, pinning, taking off, sewing......You get the idea.  I don't think that I could explain how I did it, I don't even know that I was completely awake when I was working on it.  Anyway, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I hadn't made the necklace yet, but a friend of mine said that she had the perfect necklace for Wilma.  So, here is a picture of all of us.

 I was pretty pleased with the outcome and Lil sis is already talking about what she wants to be for next year.  Well, if she comes up with something soon I will have plenty of time to get it done before next year.

"Swine Flu"

Well, my family have finally gotten over the dreaded H1N1 "swine" flu.  I am just going to tell you all, that yes, I am that mom that let my kids get it.  If you can actually "let" someone get it.  And honestly, it was probably one of the easiest flues that we have ever had run rampant in our house.  Seriously!

Last Wednesday, CX got off of the bus from school and didn't want a snack and was tired.  Who the heck is this kid, is what I thought, but didn't push it much further.  A little while later he snuggled up to me while we were playing Legos and he felt hot.  Really hot.  Took his temperature and yep, 102 degrees.  Not a biggie....no school tomorrow and gave him some Tylenol. 

The next day, he got up into the 104's and was NOT acting like he was sick.  Seriously, running around like a mad man, wrestling with sis, playing, he was acting like it was a great day to play hooky from school.  I had to MAKE him take a nap so that he could get to feeling better.  "But mom, I feel fine.  My head just hurts a little."  Alright...but you still can't got to school tomorrow either.  You still have an outrageously high fever.  Called my momma, who is a nurse, told her the weird symptoms and she told me to all the kids doc.  Which I did and they didn't want to see him unless he showed other symptoms or had a fever for longer than 3 days.  Okay, not a big deal.

So, Friday rolls in, still running a fever, high in the morning but by afternoon, down to 100.  Cool, not going to be taking him to the doc.  Just stayed inside and had another day off.
 
Saturday daddio was home and slept the majority of the day.  Great, whatever CX had daddio has now.  He said that he felt bad for sleeping so much, why is all I said.  Obviously you are fighting something.  Sunday comes, and here comes CX's fever again.  No church for you kiddo and now no school on Monday.  Great we are going to the doc, now!

Monday, we roll into the doc's office and it is crazy in there!  Seriously, the doc was the one who called us back to the exam room and did all the charting.  Weird was all I thought.
Found out CX has all the signs of H1N1 and don't be surprised if the rest of the fam comes down with it.  Great, what do I need to expect to happen?  Fevers, headaches, coughs and possible GI problems.  (That means pooing, alot.)

So later that day, I come down with a fever and my head is killing me.  It feels like it needs to explode!  So, I have it, Jeff had it last week we just didn't know it and little sis never came down with it.  Not that she didn't get exposed to it, because she definitely did!  We are all healthy now and ready for our lives to get back to normal.
 
One thing that I did find out that didn't sit well with me.  The first two days that you have H1N1, you don't show any symptoms, but you are "shedding" it.  Which means you are sharing with everyone, everywhere that you go.  Nice.

If you do happen to come down with it, I hope that you have it as lightly as my family did.  I would much rather have it than the regular flu.  I would have gone on with my normal routine had I not known the symptoms to watch out for.

Stay healthy and remember to wash those hands!!!!