Hi!

Ok, so I couldn't come up with a title. Did you know that I am hungry? I am. Ok, got that out of the way. After my post yesterday, I have to say it makes me smile a bit to hear that so many agree with me! Thank you for your comments, I read them all and appreciate them all.
Let's see. We don't have much going on really. Ethan started dancing yesterday. Its more of a "sway" to music, but it is still so adorable! It makes me smile every time he does it. I love it. I'm sure it won't last long, but while he is doing it, I am going to smile and encourage it as much as possible. He woke up a little late this morning so after breakfast we made a run to walmart for a few things. I normally dread going to that store because it is always so busy, and there always seems to be a special breed of rude people in there. This time though, it was dead. We got a very close parking spot and I was able to take my time. Dylan whined from the time he got out of the car, until about halfway through our shopping trip about having to walk. I had Ethan in the cart so that I didn't have to carry him. After a bit of ignoring it, Dylan finally dropped it. He moved on to whining about wanting to go home. You'd think that being home all day everyday would get to him and he would be happy to be out. Guess not. Even with the whining I got everything on my list.
When we all got home they were both, for some reason hungry. Ethan got the box of cheerios off of the kitchen table and brought them to me. Dylan again, started whining. This time, about being hungry. I made them wait. It was only 10:30. They survived. I didn't come home with much but still spent more than I should have. Things do not need to cost as much as they do. Its only getting worse. But that is another rant for another day. So no big plans for the weekend. Ryan has a few things to do this weekend and its supposed to rain. Again. We were really hoping they would be able to get in the fields to get some work done. Now it's not looking so good. Send us some positive thoughts that the rain stops and they can get the crops in the ground.
See our gloominess:

Rant!

I'm sure most of you have heard of or seen the show on TLC called "Extreme Couponing." Or something like that. From the very first episode I was beyond annoyed by the whole process. I don't care what people do with their time. If they want to spend 40+ hours a week cutting out squares from paper, that's fine. Whatever floats your boat. But when you turn that into rooms full of crap that you could never use in your lifetime is ridiculous. They call it a stockpile. 100 bottles of laundry detergent, 1000s of tubes of toothpaste. Insanity. They use hundreds of coupons each visit to the store. They clear the shelves at the store. They clear the shelves so that when the average Joe wants to come in and buy that product, just one, they can't. They can't because these product hoarders take it all. And they don't care. These coupon freaks go through dumpsters. They involve their kids in their dumpster diving. They move their kids out of their own bedrooms so that they can set up shelves for their stockpile.
To me they are taking advantage of a system. As a result of these people, some stores are already changing their coupon policies. When they change their policies they are hurting the average Joes who want to save 5 or 10 bucks a week. Some area stores are already saying "no more doubling on coupons." And some are saying that you can no longer use a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon. There are limits on coupons now. All of these changes are recent. They are hurting the average shopper. Thanks to a few people who need therapy for their addiction, the rest of us are going to take a hit.
Some of the extreme couponers do donate some of what they buy to charity, and that is fantastic. I applaud them. But they are still guilty of hoarding. I don't see the point or benefit to having a wall of toilet paper or toothpaste or a closet full of pasta. Why would you buy stuff that you will never ever be able to use? Personally I think that it is an addiction. They need therapy. It is greedy.
The food part of their stockpile is frozen, processed food that is junk. I guess that is part of what I don't get. Why would you fill your freezers full of stuff that isn't good for you? Why don't you spend some of those 40+ hours you use to cut paper, and spend it making wholesome meals? I am not saying that I am Martha Stewart here and that I cook ONLY healthy meals, because that is not the case. But I also don't feed my family junk all the time either. And I don't understand why they buy SO much of that junk. They are proud that they have 3 freezers full of frozen Banquet brand dinners. It is all about greed. They are addicted, and greedy. I have someone on my Facebook page that has recently started this insane couponing. As her stockpile grows, she has been taking pictures of it. Each week she posts the results of her shopping trips. It is extremely irritating. She is just like the rest of these couponers. Freezer full of frozen crap, and a stockpile of products she will never use. 20 Mr Clean Magic Erasers. Really? I think I have had the same one for almost a year! I wouldn't use that many. Ever. 10 cans of aerosol room freshener? Yeah. I'd never use that either. I guess it all bothers me because I see it as a form of greed. And this is my blog and I can talk about whatever I want.
I do use coupons. It's never much. But it does save me about 5 bucks here and there. I buy store brands a lot. And they don't give coupons for fresh produce, and rarely does the store give you coupons for fresh meat. When they do, I use them. The biggest part of my grocery bill are those fresh items. Even with them costing much more, and not having coupons, I still buy those fresh items. I wont buy frozen dinners, just because I have a coupon for them. Even if I could get them for "free" with coupons, I still wont buy them. Sometimes I will come into the store with a coupon, and then find that even with the coupon, that the store brand is cheaper, so I will buy the store brand and lay the coupon down on the name brand for someone else to use. I am all for saving money. But greed, I am not all about. That is my issue with most of this. Agree with me or not, either way is fine.
There is my vent for the day! Man it feels good!

Oh blah

Another day of crappy weather. Its been raining all day. And cold. And windy. Since April it has been raining almost this whole time. Yeah we get a few days of sun here and there, but not much. Its getting old. Well, no its been old. Ethan is grumpy today. He woke up early because I put him to bed early last night because he was so grumpy. Looks like we are going in circles with him right now. I am blaming this crappy weather for all of this.
I keep holding out hope for the summer time. And our vacation. A vacation in the sun and sand. I am so anxious and excited. I just wish the drive wasn't so long. Earlier today I resisted the urge to start making a list of things to take. If I start it now, I will just lose it, or make it so long that we'd have to rent a U-Haul trailer to take it all down there. Anyone else have plans for the summer?
Hey, guess what! The plant that I got on Mother's Day is still alive! Yay me! And the tree I got last year, yep its still alive too. Although, it has seen better days. I think the cat likes to munch on the leaves. But I am doing my best to keep it alive. Good thing they are both house plants, otherwise they'd drown from all of the rain. I have been wanting to frame the note Dylan wrote me. I just keep forgetting to get a frame though. I swear some days I can't remember anything.
Ok, focus is leaving me. How's that for a random post? I sat down to write with a purpose and most of the thoughts just flew out of my head. There's quite a few distractions right now anyway, so I should just quit while I am ahead.

An admission

Please note: This was a post that went missing last week. It just now showed up and if I want it to be apart of the blog, I must repost it. I apoligize. This is a result of Blogger's issues last week


I find myself struggling a little bit lately. Ok maybe more than a little bit. I think its a struggle with myself more than anything else. I feel overwhelmed, even though really, I shouldn't. I guess lately it just feels like there has been a lot. Sickness in both me and the boys, and with Ethan not feeling well off and on for a while, Dylan has been acting out, which tests my patience everyday. When I try to do things with Dylan it doesn't seem to work out very well for one reason or another. Each day I need a bit of time to myself. That is getting less and less with each passing day. I am having a hard time adjusting to that too. Truth is Dylan is getting older and doesn't need a nap anymore. Even though he stopped sleeping, I still have him go to his room for a little while in the afternoons. Downtime for him and for me. Unfortunately that doesn't always work out. So like I said, time to myself is less and less. In a way I get time in the evenings once the boys go to bed, but not really time to myself because Ryan is here. Now wait, don't get me wrong, I love having him here in the evenings. I need him here in the evenings. All I am saying is that if I don't get that bit of time in the afternoon, then it doesn't happen the rest of the day either. Doesn't everyone need time to themselves?

Like I said, my patience has been severely lacking. Its all a circle. One leads back to the other. Ethan is whiny and needy. Dylan acts out. I lose my patience for anything. Not everyday is bad, and I don't want to scream everyday. But right now I am having more of those "I'm going to scream" days than those "this has been a wonderful day" days. I do want to say one thing. These kids make me smile every single day. I could not imagine my life without either. Just because I am having a hard time with myself doesn't mean I don't love them or that I love them any less. I guess I am starting to get a little defensive aren't I? I am not happy with the person I am right now. Mainly the mom that I am right now. I just can't seem to find a good balance with the boys. I lose my patience with both too easily. I find myself throwing my hands in the air and walking away a lot. I know this all will pass, but RIGHT NOW, its here and its how I feel. After all of that, I know how lucky I am. I have a great family. A husband who I love with everything inside of me, who I miss daily, and who stands behind me no matter what. We share 2 beautiful, thriving kids together and we have a roof over our heads. I am thankful for so much. I am human though, and I make mistakes. I am not perfect. I am not right all of the time, I am not wrong all of the time. I have my own struggles and triumphs.  I am who I am.

Tornado Alley and Weekend Review

Dylan had a nice weekend with my grandparents. He got all of the attention he could want. He played outside most of the weekend. I think they had decent weather for the most part. We had off and on rain most of the weekend. We met my grandparents and picked Dylan up Sunday afternoon. He was tired. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. That hasn't happened in a very long time.
Saturday my Mom came over to stay with Ethan while Ryan and I went out. We went to see the imax film, Tornado Alley. In case you were wondering about the movie, I liked it. Seeing tornado footage on a giant screen is awesome. The movie itself was only about 45 minutes long. It was just like watching an episode of the series Storm Chasers. You got some of the back story of them chasing, and explaining what is going on, and then you got the storm footage. They told a little about the Vortex project, and why Sean Casey built the TIV. With the giant screen, it was really cool. I could have sat there and watched hours of that footage on the big screen. The end, or the build up to the end was a little disappointing, and not quite what I expected it to be. But I would pay to see it again. I was so glad we were able to go!
The weekend was nice. Both boys were in bed early Sunday because they were both tired and grumpy. I still had to wake both of them up this morning to get out the door. Dylan woke up in a good mood though. We also woke up to cold weather. The heat is back on in the house. It is only 40 some degrees out! And still off and on rain. I thought we were done with the cold weather. Guess not.
Ethan is officially off bottles now. He finally started taking the straw sippy cups. I can't tell you how much of a relief that is. I was so ready to be done with bottles. He was not. Until last week. I guess it finally just clicked with him. Now I just have to bring myself to toss out the bottles. This officially ends my life with bottles. Another milestone for me. Did you get my hint in there? I mean no more babies for me. Guess what the next big milestone will be for me. Yep diapers. But we are a good way off from being done with diapers. Thinking back, on Saturday we saw a couple with a tiny baby, who was fussing a lot by the way, and I told him that if babies stayed that small longer, and popped out sleeping through the night, that I would have another kid. But since they don't,  I am not.
I am totally slacking in the picture taking department. Its been a while since I have even picked up my camera. I feel bad about that, but there has been no motivation at all. I have also not seen any hummingbirds. Although I haven't been sitting and waiting for them either. I may have to move the feeder though. But if I were a hummingbird, I would be in a hole somewhere staying warm and dry in this crappy weather. I am not a hummingbird, but that is what I am going to do today. Have a good Monday.
(And I am asking again, to vote on the right hand side of the page) I like the exposure I was getting.

Busy!

Just a short update. I still am missing my Thursday post. It makes me mad because it meant a lot to me. It was a vent, and so many of you reached out to me in comments and emails, and it meant a lot. I don't want you to think that I deleted it, because I didn't. Blogger had issues, and they say its fixed, but its obviously is not, since I am still missing stuff. Thank you all for reaching out to me. It did mean a lot. I did NOT delete the post. It vanished into Blogger land somewhere.
We have been quite busy this weekend. In and out. I will do a more detailed post when I get more time to sit and write it. Ethan still has his snotty nose, and I still have my congestion. But neither one of us is letting it get to us. Dylan is enjoying his weekend. I am sure he will not want to come home today. But all good things come to an end, haha!!! Ok, back tomorrow I imagine with a real post about the weekend.
And I normally don't mention it here, but see that icon over there on the right with the lady juggling various things? Can you click it and vote for me? I was getting great exposure by being on the first page of that website. I fell off the first page since Blogger took a crap the other day. So can  you click it please? It will help! Thanks. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Not much

Well blogger has been having issues as some of you know, so who knows if this post will even show up. My post from Thursday isn't there. Hopefully it will come back.
So no Friday link up this week. I'm not even going to waste my time doing it with all of the issues Blogger is having. I haven't been taking many pictures this week anyway. The ones I posted on Wednesday were pretty much the extent of it.
My grandparents came and picked up Dylan for the weekend. He was excited to go. It will be good for him. I hope it doesn't rain all weekend. He wants loves to be outside when he is with them. I don't know if the rest of us will do anything this weekend or not. There are a few things that I want to do, but we'll see. Ethan still has his cold. And I do not know what is going on with mine. I have been feeling this same congestion in my face and ears for a while now. I thought for sure I would be over it by now. I really hope Ethan's doesn't last this long. That poor kid doesn't need that.
My grandma brought me a hummingbird feeder and a yard hook to hang it on. Right now it is off of the front porch. I have seen a few around here, so I hope they find it. I don't know if I will move the hook or not. We will see how it does. I just filled it up with the liquid stuff. If it works, you will see pictures of the little things at some point.
Well anyway, like the title says there isn't much going on. I just wanted to post a short update.