Garrett is a TEENAGER!!

Hard to believe my "baby boy" is now 13....I miss his sweet & innocent days, but know growing up eventually has to happen....he's gone from a mama's boy to not wanting much to do with me most days (although from time to time he does still enjoy conversating with me or spending time with me, when he lets his "guard" down LOL) He does help me out alot, although most is begrudgingly....but I am so glad he is a part of my life & a part of this family....I hope he continues to grow into a wise & responsible young man & I love him with all my heart!<3

Let's Say Thanks!

Please take some time to send a free card to thank our troops for their service

What's Up in Our World

It's been quite a while since I have blogged anything, & most everything new or exciting for us has already been posted on Facebook, but for journaling sake I figured I should put something on here.....so, what's up in our world?


1) My babygirl turned 1 in September....we had a tiny little shindig at my mom's, after eating at Bob Evans (or should I say stuffed ourselves?!? ;) ) All in all it was a fun event & Brinley seemed to enjoy her pressies, especially the Little People SUV her Grandma & Grandpa got her & the Laugh & Learn table her Mommy & Daddy & brothers got her. The only thing that sucked was the poor baby got 4 shots at the doctor that day =( Looking back on it, I wish I'd asked for a different day for her doctor's appointment, but she was a trooper.


2) My hubby turned one year closer to 40....too bad he doesn't always act his age LOL He wants a big to-do next year.....I don't know how to pull that off considering I'm not a good party coordinator whatsoever, but guess I'll figure it out somehow.


3) Gabe started Kindergarten this year, and so far it seems to be going well, but I am not 100% solid on his teacher.....she's not bad, but not great, just "meh".....I really wish he'd have gotten the awesome teacher (Ms Keziah), but then again I think it's a good thing he didn't....they apparently put the kids with teachers based upon their testing levels, & the teacher he got was the "middle of the road" one, while Ms K is the "low end of the road" one, so in that aspect it's a good thing.


4) Garrett is months away from being a teenager! Oh my goodness & the attitude from this boy started a long time ago.....I don't know how I'm going to survive this time in our lives! He can be such a loving & sweet young man one minute, a stubborn & ornery punk the next! Yes, I love this boy, although sometimes I don't love the actions.....but that can be said for anybody, including myself LOL


5) Soon, we will have some adorable chihuahua puppies for sale! My girl is due around November 7th, & the puppies will be ready around the end of December. I am excited to find out how many she has, I am thinking 4-5.....all I know is they should be cuuuuuuuute! =) I am not posting this on Facebook till she has them, but wanted to write it down for memory's sake. Here's the poor girl's already swelling little pooch belly:

Bah for Exercise!!

Exercise, oh how I loathe thee! Exercise is evil, I say! But alas, a necessary evil.....woe to me! Today I wanted to see if I could accomplish something, so we went to a park with a nice nature trail that's 3/4 mile long. Run I did, for most of it (or should I say fast "shuffle" for most ;) ) until I reached the really big hill at the end of the trail, & dang that hill, it defeated me! Not completely, but mostly.....as in I had to quit my "shuffling" & go to a way out of breath slooooooooooow walk......but then! There is also a regular paved track on the other side of the park, that is 1/2 mile around, & Jerry wanted to see how fast he could run/jog/walk a mile (which my boo did in 9 minutes, wooooo!) I decided to run/jog/walk around there as well, & supposedly I did it in 11.5 minutes (although I don't see how, but J swears it's true!) What was most awesome about the whole ordeal is there were a few others out there in about the same shape as us, & every time one of us would pass by each other, there were words of encouragement which were so very very helpful to keep going.....one of the girls mentioned losing 53 lbs & her brother has lost 106 lbs! She walks/jogs 1.5 hours a day, & her brother walks/jogs 3 hours a day......I wish I was able to go to this park daily, but it's way up in Mint Hill (boo!) It sure would be nice to have that encouragement & someone to work out with like that. (Yes, there's Jerry, but we don't really have the opportunity to do this together =( )I'm really missing our old neighborhood right about now.....not only were we about 15 min away from this park, but we also lived on a circle that was so easy to go around & not have to worry about someone running over your kids, or dogs darting out from nowhere, or heck, if you got in trouble & needed help you would be easy to find & someone would spot you quickly, no matter what time you were out there (well, maybe not 4 am LOL).....our street now is so full of woods & neighbors who really couldn't give a rat's ass about you I am scared to be out there alone! That & you never know what kind of critters are going to make an appearance (& here lately there's been a few skunks in the area! P.U.! & for some reason alot of FAWNS, not does, not bucks, but BABY FAWNS!) Anyhoo, I'm rambling.....so now this will end.

I lied, as I have one more thing to say.....it stinks that every time we've had the opportunity to go to the park this week, about 30 min after we get there it storms! (not sprinkles or even just rains......STORMS with thunder & lightning =( ) It wouldn't be so bad if it was just rain, as none of us mind that (Brinley was even enjoying it when we got caught today), but we have to stop for the other junk (boo!) Really puts a damper on things......

Okay, now I am done.

A Shot in the Dark....

I know no one will probably do this, but I wanted to share anyways. On one of the parenting/pregnancy forums I belong to, someone mentioned a way to earn a few bucks as a SAHM, from the convenience of your home, with virtually no strings attached.....all you have to do is "read" mail from advertisers & you get paid per email read.....now the reason why I put "read" is because in all honesty I just open them up & wait till the little screen pops up saying I got paid ;) LOL They start you off with an automatic $10 & you get a check cut after $25.....so it's not a ton of $, but I figured if I could get ANY $ for doing basically nothing, I was willing to give it a shot! Now also, the reason I put virtually no strings attached is because you will unfortunately get spam sent to your email address, that has nothing to do with the website & is not pay mail......but I also covered that contingency by creating a new email addy just for this ;) No skin off my back, if it means I'm gonna get some $ for nothing! One other thing is, after you get your login set up & all, if you get others to sign up too, you also get paid when they read their emails! =) You'll get a url for your login, to share as I will with you in this post, so that if others do sign up it'll know to pay you for it. The url for me is http://hits4pay.com/members/howitworks.cgi?aliwoo

Like I said, I know it's a long shot, but figured it wouldn't hurt to share......

My Newest Addition....

to the exercise regime, that is! I've been wanting to enjoy the park, but it stays soooooooooooooo hot till late evening & I really don't want to expose Brinley to that kind of heat so much.....so, I got a DVD set of "Zumba" to try, which is sort of like a "dance aerobics" with Latin dance moves/music. So far, it's been pretty fun because I have always wanted to learn how to merengue/salsa/etc anyways & this teaches you those basically =) I'm still on the Beginners DVD, but hope to get to the Advanced one soon since the Beginners one just isn't long enough! I end up doing it twice, which is kind of annoying, but it's only 18 min long & I really want to get the moves down pat before using the next one. There's 4 in all, Beginners, Advanced, Abs/Buns/Thighs, & Power/Rapido. It really makes you break a sweat, but to me, sweating is good! LOL Well, when exercising, that is! I don't even sweat as much walking around for an hour at the park in the heat, so that's saying something! Now, to get my body to look like the peoples' in the video....heh!

I also got some 5lb weights to work with, to try to do some strength training along with the cardio. Hopefully the combo will cause something to happen for me.....eye on the prize.....eye on the prize.....eye on the prize! I'm so tired of nothing happening for me =(

Chimp Eden

I think I have a monkey in my house! I enjoy watching a program on Animal Planet, called "Escape to Chimp Eden", which chronicles the goings on of a chimp sanctuary in South Africa. I don't know what his exact position is called, but the host of the show is the guy who "runs" things (but is below the Director), & he often "talks" to the chimps in their "language" (grunts & hoots & calls & ways of breathing, etc.) Well, one time he was mentioning that chimpanzees have been found to be closer to humans than they were to primates. I won't say yea or nay on that, but I have found a slight resemblence between Brinley & the chimps on the show LOL She has been vocal for some time now, although not really saying "words" yet, but some of her favorite things to "do" now sound an awful lot like the vocalizations of a chimpanzee! I can't help but visualize the cute little infant chimps from the show as she curls her lips into a pursed oval & lets out an "oooooooooooooooo", an "oooo oooo oooo oooo", an "ohhhhhhhhhhhh" or an "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee", hahahahaha! It's kind of hard to explain, but if someone saw the show they'd know exactly what I'm talking about. It's too bad my camcorder is on the fritz =( Me & media tools don't seem to be on speaking terms right now ;) Well, at least this will be funny to me LOL =)