Sick Kids

Devin and I were at the bus stop waiting for Contessa and then we were going to a flooring store, since it is going out of business tomorrow. Just as the bus pulls up, Collin throws up. Everywhere. The smell was horrendous and I couldn't get anywhere near the car without getting sick. After a few minutes doing the best he could, Devin got us all back in the car and we drove the 2 streets home.

He helped Collin get a bath and cleaned up while I set off getting the car cleaned up. I still can't believe I did it. I was able to get the smell out and the stains.

So we spent several hours rushing to the restroom and cleaning up when he didn't make it. Then Contessa gets sick, but luckily she was complaining about a sore throat. So here we are, it is 9:40pm, I have 3 more articles to write tonight, plus one tomorrow and Contessa is wide awake after taking a 3 hour nap.

I am exhausted. Today was not a good day for sickness! I was hoping to get the articles done (I have already writen 4 today) before the evening so I could focus on cleaning up even more. Oh well, that is the life of a mother. Thankfully, Devin was home and helped out a lot. I just wish he didn't have to work tomorrow!

Blogging for Money

If any of you are interested, there is a website I am going to start using called Blogvertise. Basically you sign up and once your blog is approved by the admin, you are given assigments to blog about various websites and products. You get paid for it! THe best part is that for most of the assignments, you don't have to be positive, you can complain and be honest. Of course, if you love the website or product it is better! So if you are interested in making a bit of money on your blog, you can check them out.

My Articles on Ehow.com

If anyone is interested in supporting me a bit, you can read a few of the articles I have written for www.ehow.com, my user name is AmyU (I know very original!) I get paid extra for page views and votes, so if you like it, give me some stars! Thanks everyone! Oh, and I still have 11 more to write this week, so they should all be up there in another week or so too.

And I also just started blogging for a natural beauty site, so check that out too if you want some great tips on natural products. http://www.hernaturalbeauty.com/ My first post on that blog was on beauty uses of Olive oil.

My mom's blog...

I was playing around on the internet (instead of working!) and found a very cute shirt that reminded me of Jessica & Lexi. It was a baby shirt that said, "My mom's blog is better than your mom's blog."

I had to laugh. So which one of our kids should be wearing this??

My First Homemade Apple Pie!

I just had to share with all of you, that I made my first homemade apple pie. I was going to take a picture of it, but forgot! dang it. So I guess I will just have to make another so you can see how pretty it was! So anyway, it was a Paula Deen recipe, so you know it was good! You can read the whole recipe here.

It was really easy to make, and only took about 10 -15 minutes to prepare, even with chopping the apples up! I used 2 different types of apples, granny smith and gala. We took it to our ward Thanksgiving meal and it went pretty fast. I was just happy I didn't ruin it! I'm always afraid of trying something new for other people, but since I had never made an apple pie before, I did it anyway without trying it first.

I'm just glad it came out great. And Devin wants me to make it again sometime. So if he wants it again, I must have impressed him!

Dang Jessica Tagged me! (Love Ya, Jess!)

4 or more places i have been on vacation......
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri (Was that a vacation Lexi? I still haven't decided!)

4 or more places i have lived.....
I haven't lived in 4 cities, but here are the houses: East Mesa with Mom & Dad, West Mesa, Phoenix, Ely rental (or dump as we prefer to call it!), Ely home where we live now!

4 jobs i have had....
Babysitting, Rockin R' Ranch (who hasn't worked there in my family!), Papa Kelsey's, GM Proving Grounds clerk, legal secretary, account clerk, Mommy (my favorite job!), freelance writer (second favorite!)

4 foods i love....
Peaches, chocolate, lasagna, lemon chicken, anything we can't get in this small town!

4 hobbies i have....
blogging, traveling, watching movies, photography, scrabooking, camping, reading, decorating house

4 things you probably didnt know about me....
I failed English my sophmore year (and yes, I am a writer!), I am a mail decoy (companies send me stuff to see how long it takes to get to my zip code), I can't sleep past 6:30 even if the kids happen to, I order my Thanksgiving meal from a grocery store (well, its just us for Thanksgiving and my kitchen is tiny!), I want lots more kids (probably won't happen, but I can dream!!!)

4 things you would do if you were a billionare....
- Pay off my parents house and set up an account for them to live off the interest so they can retire and travel if they want.
- Donate to the church
- pay off all my debts and build our dream home (which wouldn't cost much, we already have a basic design!)
- Pay off my brothers & sisters houses (or buy them a reasonably priced/sized house)
- Adopt several kids



Well, I guess thats a bit about me.

I think I will tagging....
I don't know anyone else with blogs that haven't already been tagged!!!!

Organized...Amy???

If you know me, you know I am NOT an organized person. Far from it. The house is cluttered and in disarray way too often. I have many corners filled with stuff because I just can't figure out what to do with it.

Why do I bring this up? Well, because I participated in a blog contest and won...a home office organization package! I am working with a professional organizer to get my home office organized. Because my office is in the living/dining room area, we are working on the entire room.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled I won. I love talking with this lady and she has already been very helpful. But this requires me to actually work! You KNOW I don't like that!

Oh, and the sad thing...Devin asked what I wanted for Christmas. I said a DESK! What is wrong with me? I could have asked for anything and I asked for a desk. The desk we had bought for my craft stuff was taken to be used for our computer desk. So I want a desk to use for my stuff again. By WHY did I say I wanted it for Christmas?

I guess I really am becoming too frugal. Instead of just buying the desk I need and getting something else for Christmas (thus spending more money) I am combining the two. Oh well, at least I didn't say the shelves I need, so I can get more organized, are my Christmas gift!

My other motives

I confess, I often have other motives when I do things. Such as the kids halloween buckets. If you noticed, the kids were carrying decorated paint cans for their halloween buckets. Yes, they were cute and worked well with the costumes - Collin's matched his Robot costume, and Contessa's was a Hershey's Syrup container to go with her ice cream theme.

But, there was another reason I choose to use paint cans...I wanted them. I admit it, I have now taken the kids trick or treat cans and am using them. I cleaned them up so they are shiny again, and I am going to decorate them with scrapbooking materials. One will hold all my pens and pencils. The other I am still debating, I might use it as a Christmas gift - so obviously I can't say WHAT I want to do, although I think the idea is pretty good.

I thought Devin wouldn't be working quite so much

They just hired a 3rd person for his department, so he won't have to be on call and working quite so much. It will affect his overtime, but will be much easier on his body. It will also be easier to take care of all my doctor's appointments, since there are more people to cover for him. Maybe we can even get a holiday off! Not Thanksgiving, but MAYBE Christmas. We will see.

Yeah, so anyway after I posted this (seriously, less than an hour later!) she calls and tells Devin's boss that she got a better offer and hung up. So it looks like they are back to just the two of them again. Like Devin said, at least she did it before they got the schedule figured out. So if anyone needs is looking for a Respiratory Therapist job, call us!!!!

Contessa's Parent Teacher Conference

I had a parent teacher conference with Contessa's teacher a few days ago. She is doing well. They took computerized tests to see the level of each kid, and she tested off the charts basically. The average child had a score of less than 100, but hers was 197!

So they are trying to create a program for her to keep her challenged. We could request to have her moved to 2nd grade (she tested at a 3-4 grade level) but since she is the youngest in 1st grade, we don't know how wise that would be. So we will see what they come up with. (they have talked about teaching her spanish, she already is learning keyboarding since the computer games are too easy) But for now, her teacher is encourging me to take her out of school occassionally to visit other places and learn about them.

So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Halloween Fun

Here are a few pictures of the haunted house Contessa & Collin were making until it fell apart!

Halloween party!

I had to share these pictures. Some people are very creative and talented when it comes to pumpkin carving!

Halloween!

Here are a few pictures of the kids costumes. Contessa claims she didn't like wearing her costume because people kept saying, "Your an ice cream cone!" although she was smiling while saying it. She did love the attention! Collin looked great as a robot and Cameron of course was cute as a puppy, even if he refused to wear the hood very long.
We attended our 3 ward halloween party, where we got tons of compliments on the costumes. People just don't make them anymore. While I don't think I did a great job, the kids liked them and that is what matters.

Oh, and Devin makes a fantastic chili!