Sunday, November 30, 2008

Black Friday in Tennessee!


Boy, Black Friday is a whole different experience down here in Tennessee. I think it's because the area is larger therefore attracting more people. The shopping experience was pretty much the same - the crowds, the thrill of the hunt, chatting with strangers - but the rest was very different. The lines for instance. In Walmart we stood in line for over 1.5 hours. I am NOT kidding you! They had a very poor set up. We waited in line only to get to the front to see it was basically a free-for-all. No fair!

We did have 2 bright spots while waiting. First, as you all know I am 20.5 weeks pregnant. I've had insomnia the past 2 nights plus this awful chest cough & cold. I was feeling rotten. At one point during shopping I literally had to sit down on the floor in the grocery aisle. Sweet Pea ran up and got me a bottle of water b/c I was feeling overheated & thought I was going to be sick. After my break we battled the crowds a little more asking where pretty much everything was. They had things set up so strangely. Shortly after I got in line to check out, (the line by the way started near the back of the store), I looked over at a clothing rack to spy a folding chair hidden in the clothes. You didn't have to ask me twice! I brought it over to my cart and promptly sat down. I took that precious chair with me all the way to the front of the line at the end of the aisle. I had to say good-bye when we reached the main area in front of the registers. I can't express to you what a blessing that chair was! We waited again for about 30 minutes in a line at the register. Of course the line didn't move one bit. Argh. There was a family in front of us and eventually the husband went to look for a shorter line. I'm guessing he found one b/c he came back for his family & they left our line. Then about 10 minutes later the second blessing happened. This family's children came back to tell me that there was a very short line down on the other end of the store. I hesitantly followed them, (hesitantly only b/c they spoke mainly Spanish & I wanted to make sure I had understood what they had said to me), and then hurried. Sure enough there was a line with only one other person in it! I thanked them over & over again. They smiled and walked away waving off our thanks. Now how nice was that! We finished up our Walmart shopping & then headed to Toys R Us. Oh my goodness! Another LONG line! At least this one was organized. After that Sweet Pea & I went out to breakfast at IHOP. I was amazed & impressed at the super speedy and kind service we received. I swear we were served our food in about 10 minutes! And they were packed full of people with more constantly waiting. Impressive!


Overall it was a great experience & one both Sweet Pea and I are looking forward to again for next year. We learned some tricks to use and some things to avoid. I'm thrilled with the bargains we found too. It was fun to introduce Sweet Pea to the wild world of Black Friday. Let me tell you she was one surprised girl! Lol! She had a great time.


Saturday, November 29, 2008

Fill-In Friday

I'm a day late but I wanted to try this anyway. Crystal clued me in on a neat blog where they have "Fill-in Fridays". The writer writes a sentence but leaves a blank or 2 for you to fill in. Neat, huh? I decided to try it out. Pretend it's Friday with me okay? Here goes!

1. My stomach is happily filled with a homemade turkey, Swiss & bacon sandwich. My favorite after Thanksgiving treat!

2. Mashed potatoes & gravy is what I ate the most of on Thursday.

3. The yard was raked today by the-one-and-only Davey-Boy.

4. The beach on vacation is where I'd rather be at any given time.

5. The smell of turkey cooking reminds me of Nana's house on Christmas.

6. A handful of Double Stuff Oreos & a glass of milk are what I need right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to recovering from Black Friday (I'm sore!), tomorrow my plans include buying stocking stuffers at the Dollar Tree & Bugs a Christmas surprise at Big Lots and Sunday, I want to surprise the kids with the Kung Fu Panda DVD I bought on sale yesterday!


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Counting Blessings


HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A Visitor for Thanksgiving

We have a visitor this week. Darin is away for Thanksgiving week and we are dog sitting. Her name is Sedona & the kids LOVE her. She spends most of her time outside. It's been nice outside & she has plenty of room to run in the fenced in yard. She sleeps in Sweet Pea's room at night. The kids think it's pretty neat that we have a dog for the entire week.

Sedona

Posing?

It rained most of the day but by the time Sedona arrived it had stopped. The kids enjoyed playing outside for awhile in the fresh air.

His new "strong man" pose. Cracks me up!

Sweet Pea & Sedona hang out.

I think this is his "monster face" Complete with sound too! LOL!

The kids found a climbing tree.

Monkeys
Our fall weather has returned and we are loving it! So nice to be in the low to mid 50's! We are getting spoiled!



Plans

Can you believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving? WOW! Time certainly does fly. I don't know about you but the older I get the faster it flies. We have tons to do here and I'm looking forward to it all. Well, maybe not the laundry & scrubbing the bathrooms. Lol. The kids will be making pies with Daddy tonight. A Thanksgiving family tradition in our home. There are lots of other dishes to prep too. I did my grocery shopping early to beat the rush so we'll be sitting pretty at home today. =)

And don't forget my Black Friday game plan! Yes, I am one of those crazies who venture out before the day has dawned to run like the wild thing I am and catch those deals. I haven't even started my shopping this year due to everything that's been going on for the past 6.5 months. Usually I have a nice stock of yard sale treasures and some clearance items. This year I'm starting from scratch. Yes, I'm a little panicked. But thanks to some terrific sales & creative ideas we should do fine. Plus we are keeping it more on the simple side this year b/c of budget & moving.

So what are your plans? Anyone else running alongside me on Friday?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Cute Crafts

Bugs is really enjoying his new Sunday School class. He has been there 2 weeks in a row. I am impressed b/c he has stayed all by himself. Even in our old church one of us or one of the girls would have to stay with him at least 1/2 the time. I think he is feeling secure now that we are back as a family again and settled into a routine. And he is of course 3 years old now. This week he went right in and sat down with no looking back! They have lots of activities too which I think makes a huge difference. It's not just babysitting where the kids occupy themselves the entire time. They teach the kids about Jesus, have crafts, go outside (weather permitting), sing & play.

He was so proud when I picked him up this week. When I got him he was happily playing. He had papers to show me and 2 crafts. Here are his crafts:


A Sun Catcher
An Apple Turkey
This is the one he was most proud of. I loved hearing him say what it was. He says it fast and all one word.....appleturkey. Lol! When I saw his turkey I broke out in a great, big smile. I knew it was his right away as it was the only one with a bite out of it. That's my boy! LOL! Too funny!




Monday, November 24, 2008

Halfway There, Baby!

Baby With Bear We hit the 20 week mark today! We're halfway there now! Wow!

Christmas Comes Early!

Friday morning was exciting here. We had our new couches delivered! This is Dave & my main Christmas gift(s) to each other. We decided we'd much rather have these for the new house than some other things for ourselves. I'm super excited! They are very comfy too. These are to be the "formal" couches. They are not for playing around and definitely no food or drink are allowed on them. It sounds a little harsh but we have the Family Room upstairs for all those "fun" things. *Big Grin*

There was only a $20 difference between the love seat price & the couch price. So we went with 2 couches as we get another seat for everyone. Pretty good deal, I think. =)

I simply LOVE the dark red! (The true color is on the couch on the right . The other looks lighter b/c of the flash.)


There is now a little corner for a few of Bugsy's toys.

The other wall.

The kids were bouncing off the walls with excitement! They love them!

And won't the red look extra nice at Christmas?





Sunday, November 23, 2008

Stomping Fun

Friday we did some more unpacking downstairs. Sweet Pea was a big help putting things away. The boys favorite job was to smash down the paper once it was folded and placed back in the empty boxes. Bugs did it a couple of times and then because he & Elvis kept bickering I sent him outside to play with Boo.

This is fun!

Jumping up & down!

Big Sister helps him into the tall box.

Smash! Mash! Smash!


I think we got 4 or 5 more boxes unpacked on Friday. Yay!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

How Low Can You Go?


Gas prices have been dropping steadily ever since we arrived in Tennesse. Dave & I are always excited to report to one another the latest lowest price we have spotted. Today's lowest price was $1.66/gal! WOW-WHEE!!!!!!!! I paid $1.77/gal on Thursday and now on Sat. it's already droppped 11 cents! When we arrived in Nashville last month it was $2.87. When we left MA it was $3.25. At the beginning of the summer, (and most of the summer), it was around $3.89 - $3.99 up in MA. On Thursday when I filled the van tank I was tickled to see the pump price state literally 1/2 the price that I was paying a few months ago. Some say these prices are not good becasue they equal recession but I say bring it on! Any break we struggling families can get right now is more than welcome.


What are you paying where you live? Your feelings about it?


Coming Along Nicely

There was a lot of activity upstairs Thursday night. The kids & Dave moved all the boxes to one side of the room. Then I did the vacuuming & it was time for the sectional couch to come upstairs. We were getting new couches delivered the next day for the living room. It is fun watching the house come together into a home.



Working Together


Piece by piece the couch comes upstairs.


The shelves all set up with toys & books.


The sectional all in place.



Dave moved one shelf to the corner. I like the little play area.

Last night we all watched The Clone Wars upstairs in the Family Room. It's so cozy!



Good for My Soul

I hope you don't mind seeing all these pics of the kittens but I just can't help myself. They are super adorable & my babies right now. =) They are growing so fast that I want to keep a sort of journal on them. They have also been a joy & distraction during this move & all the adjustments. The kids are enamored by them and I've become a surrogate mama to them. So sweet!


Pixie was cracking us up this afternoon. For some reason all the kittens like to dive into my tissue box and go after the tissues. Well, today there happened to be an empty box and Pixie took advantage of this new toy. An adventurous cat indeed!



Kitty-in-a-Box


Popping Back Out Again


Wresting with Sky

Playtime!

Sweet Pea & Sky

Kitty-in-a-Basket
Gift ideas perhaps?

Smooshed Kitty

Ready to Pop

Playing with Papa

Doesn't she look hilarious?

Oh my goodness these kittens are good for my soul! =)


Friday, November 21, 2008

Bathroom Renovations Continue

The bathroom is coming along. Dave put in the new wood Wednesday night. He also caulked and is waiting for that to thoroughly dry. Bugs enjoyed watching Daddy at work.

New wood for the floor base.

Caulking the tub and floor edges.

Bugs watches and asks lots of questions.
It already smells tons better. Yay!


Prayers for Sky Walker


Please pray for poor little Sky. Bugs flung him down to the floor this morning and he landed on his leg wrong. It looked twisted at first. How the poor kitty cried! It looks normal now except that he is holding it high and won't put any weight on it. He keeps crying whenever anyone is around. It is so sad. I'm praying it is not broken and will be better by tomorrow. We will take him to the vet if no improvement is seen tomorrow.
Pixie did this last week which is why I'm waiting to see if he is just sprained. She jumped off the bed by herself and must have landed wrong. I saw the whole thing. She cried & cried and held up her injured leg. By the next day she was barely limping and now is just as active as ever. For both kittens it is their back leg that is/was injured.

It's so heartbreaking to see him trembling & hear him crying.




New House

Some more pics of our new home! I warn you the kitchen & laundry room are not up to par yet. There is still lots of unpacking & organizing to do. But baby steps, right?


The Living Room

From the Other Side

Still a few boxes to unpack but we're making progress!

The Kitchen
See our new stove? Love it!

The Other End
When we moved in there were boxes right down the middle of the kitchen piled almost to the ceiling. What a relief to be able to walk in the kitchen without that wall of boxes to squeeze around!

My Laundry Room
I am beyond thrilled to have this room! And the cabinets are a wonderful bonus! Dave is planning to put up some high shelves on the right side over the pantry. And I'm LOVING our new washer & dryer! They are amazing!