Last week of March???

How could it be the last week of March??? This month has flown by----yet it seems like the folks' big party was a long time ago--that weird space/time uncontinum thingy, I think.

Anyway, I'll glad to report that I'm no longer coughing up green chunks, and my eyes are just dry crusty, instead of wet, gooey itchy. So progress has been made with the help of modern medicine. And yes, M was WAY sicker than me,,,blah, blah, blah.... A week without contact lenses AND NO mascara certainly does humble a poor gal. :)

Our poor van needs a good shot of meds, or a transmission transplant. It clunked on us on our way to church last night and wouldn't shift. So we came home and took it in today. The guy said he'd try to condemn the transmission (a rebuilt under warranty) so we could get a newer rebuilt (and start all over again.....) I'm tempted to ask him about the evaporator replacement, b/c if we don't get a different van soon, it will be very HOT in MO WITHOUT AC!!!!!!! Yikes---its' always something.... Luckily some friends are going on their annual pilgrimage to DisneyWorld and have offered the use of their van for the week, so I may not be stuck sharing the truck with M. Nice!!!

I certainly have enjoyed watching all the NCAA games these last 2 weeks. Sorry about choosing your Longhorns to win it all, Pattie---the KKS kiss of death.....I was rooting for Geo Mason yesterday (NOT against Wichita ST) and they won. so maybe I'm not totally cursed!!! Poor MU sports--SUCH an embarrassment---a KC sports writer suggested everyone should write the Gov and making him sort out the mess at MU. Shouldn't the Gov have better things to do than wrangle with the Wal-mart heirs (the REAL chancellors of MU) over MU sports???? Maybe, maybe not!!! My dad would be having a COW over this whole mess!! Bless his heart!

All for now. Think I'll work on some choc. chip cookies for the school girls. That will make them so happy!!

Spring Break!

Here it is--the first day of Spring Break!!! H and I went downtown KC to the chiro. She is doing really well. The other 3 cleaned their rooms. So we have vacuumed, started the laundry and will be ready for real fun tomorrow. I have been down a little bit with a virus, so am glad to be up and around again, as usual.

Jess got back to HU on Sunday. We are thankful that she was headed south before the bad weather came. But the 6-12 inches of snow predicted for Mon-Tues, never happened--yay!!! It is a bit cold, but better than digging out the boots again. As I was saying, I miss having our big girl around. She didn't get alot done if you don't count sleeping, shopping and reading (non-academic). But it was nice to have someone to talk to and laugh with around here. Jess has this big ole annoying laugh that I miss a lot. The summer will be a new adventure---college girl returns home to try to live compatibly with paretns and sisters. Another chapter for the "Parenting for Dummies" series that I'm experiencing first-hand, then will be writing from my fuzzy memories.

All for now---the laundry fairy did not come by while I had a cold. Nor does Spring Break apply to laundry. Whatever!!! :)

MD update

The news is no news. Abby doesn't have strep, mono or the flu. This is the same rx's as on Sat. She did get some steroids for the swollen throat. Dr. M said if it had been menegitis, she wouldn't have been able to move her head at all and would have been so sick, that I wouldn't have hesitated to take her to Children's Mercy. Her fever is better today, she is off the couch for now and there has been lots of giggling and arguing up in Polly Pocket world.

Mark says he is better and doesn't need a chest xray. Hope that he is accurately RXing himself.

There's the medical news from here.

CITY CHAMPS!!!!

Yes, we have a champion in the house!!! The undefeated 4th grade girls Blackburn Bobcats won the Championship tournament on Sat am!!! They came out slower than usual, took almost all of the 1st half to get in their "groove". But they finally settled down and started making their shots. It was our lowest scoring game all season 17-6. Kat even scored, also had several turnovers, but "whatever". The girls were really tickled and so were the parents, as you might guess. We get to order a banner for the Blackburn gym with their names on it---so cool!!! They all are planning on wearing their t-shirts tomorrow that are marked "Champions" on the back!!! I can't imagine how nerve wracking to have a high school star, professional athlete or Olympian in the family. The 4th grade championship was pretty exciting!!

Unfortunately Mark missed the game. He had to take Abby to the dr at 7:50 am. She came home on Fri with a 103.5 fever. This was particularly odd since she had been on antibiotics since Monday and her double root canal. Plus M was coughing his lungs up so he let Dr. M look at him. He is on new meds and hopefully will feel better soon. Abby is still down, testing negative for strep, the flu and mono. I had a paranoid moment and thought about taking her across KC to Children's Mercy in the tornadoes tonight. Sometimes the internet has too much info. I will call the dr in the am and see what he thinks. I'm thinking M will be home too--yay.

Jess came home Fri night in time to watch the Harry Potter 4 with us. She still has PILES of laundry around. Don't know what she plans to do this week. It's good to have her "big ole laugh" around here.

The severe weather is gone now. Will Lysol some stuff before I go to bed. I'll update if Abby has mono or meningitis :( or whatever.

Ah, the good life!

Ah, it's hard to decide which is better, an expectedly NICE spring day in February OR a rainy day in March. Today I'm picking the rainy and gloom. It may have something to do with having warm chocolate chip cookies, Rascal Flatts singing, and the cutest 5 year old Uno shark this side of the gambling boats... :) oh, I also have a book to read, so got to go.......

Yes, I HAVE recovered, or will have by 4:05 today when the troops roll in. :) Did I mention coffee too? Nice!! :)

Recovery time

We are back. We have almost recovered from the whirlwind of the folks' 50th anniversary weekend. The laundry has recovered yet, but will even out (hopefully before College Girl come in with her PILES this w/e).

We had a LOVELY time. The folks were totally over-whelmed and appreciative of all the good wishes and slathering of praise. We got there LATE Thurs nite so we could help decorate and do the odds and ends on Fri. Mark ended up golfing on Fri with Dad, bro-in-law Scott and Larry, Scott's boss. They didn't have a balmy March day, but made it thru bravely. The girls had most of the decorating done, so we had to clean stuff up, vacuum (one of my strengths) and make sure we had everything ready.

We took the folks out for supper on Fri nite (It was also Dad's bday and their 50th). We had a nice time just the folks, the 4 Stinnett kids and their spouses. We took them by the building, so they could see our video with just us. They loved it!! Then Amy's sweet husband, Eric, read a tribute to the folks that he wrote---so wonderful. Then Joy K gave them the scrapbook that she put together with cards sent by tons of folks with memories and good wishes. By now, the folks were getting the idea that this 50th stuff is a "big deal".

On Sat am we had a nice morning sitting around and chatting. We went to the building early for pictures. Then folks started coming. We ended up with about 150+ guests. We had them sign a huge, framed mat of the invitation that Amy made---so nice! We had lots of cake, mocha punch and pineapple punch, plus cheese and crackers. One of the ladies' from church ran the kitchen and worked HARD all afternoon. We didn't have to think about anything at all. There were a couple other good workers. It was so nice to be able to enjoy the party without pouring punch or serving cake ourselves. We had TONS of family members come--so fun! Everyone enjoyed seeing our video, and we successfully made many cry---so hurray!! After the reception, we fed about 70 of our family and friends there at the church building. Scott had smoked ribs and chicken and lots of the family brought stuff. So good!. Then we sat and sang---like we do at camp--such a good time. We all helped clean up, and were still keyed up when we got back to the folks'. We sat and talked with them about it all and who talked to whom etc....The folks TOTALLY enjoyed the day.

At church the next day, people were still talking about what a nice party it was. Lots of people want to see the video again, so Mark will have to get the DVD done and sent to them soon. Mom said yesterday when I talked to her that folks aren't used to seeing a"functional, loving family" and it makes an impression. That's why the friends were amazed at how nice everything was done, how much family we had there and how much fun it all was. A nice, nice weekend!!


We got home about 7:00 on Sun nite. On Monday am I got to take Abby downtown KC on the Plaza for her root canal. Yikes! We found it ok, even a parking place. She turned out to be their best patient, child or adult ever!! We go back in a month ot finish. She hasn't been in much pain, so that's good.

Last night we had the School Board's Academic Awards for 8th graders. Hannah won this in 5th and now 8th (along with 249 other 8th graders), hopefully she will get it again in 11th grade as one of the top 50 in her class. Kat played in the Championship tourney, the semi's. We were going to split up and go one to each, but M's truck died at 4:45 pm yesterday, so we barely got it to the mechanic before it closed. So we will cheer for Kat's team in the finals of the 4th grade girls on Saturday. So COOL!!!! Of course she scored last night b/c we weren't there. That's the way it goes.

Em and I went to our dr this am. I had my first ever TOTAL physical. I have had parts done, but never the whole thing on one day. YIKES!!! She was a trooper and so was I. Now I'm back on laundry and dish duty and glad to be on both. Mark and I have been to Hogwarts the last 2 nights catching up on Harry Potter and gang so we will be ready for #4 out on DVD yesterday. We never got to the theatre to see it, so have promised the girls that we will get it this week. Jess will be here on Fri nite for Spring Break!! We got to see her last week at Grandma's but weren't done seeing her.

All for now.


PS Amie don't tell Wayne he was the HIT of the party. (I thught I was the hit---M thought HE was the hit, but it really was Wayne) .....everyone thought he was so funny and charming---yes we were only serving mocha and pineapple punch. lol. We try to put the FUN back in dysFUNctional. Nobody can "work a room" like Wayne. So glad they came!!!

Back again

I'm here again in Blogland. I was lost in Torino for a few weeks. I always LOVE the Olympics. I get misty eyed at national anthems, good efforts and amazing efforts. I am also sorry for the poor sports and the bad luck that some of the athletes experience. It is good to have our life back.

We have also been preparing for Mark's folks 50th anniversary reception. I'll have to tell the details later, not that Dad reads the blog, but you never know. We anticipate a great time and are very excited about it.

The biggest event of our recent life has been a once in a lifetime (we hope) event. Last Wednesday we drove home from church and watched our odometer on the van turn over to 200,000 miles. We were 9 miles short when got close to home, so Mark drove home the long way and we got to watch it turn over. So fun to see all those 00000000000000's. Hopefully we will never experience this again. We are always thankful to get home after a trip out anywhere. :)

The warm weather has been so great! The kids are already clamoring for shorts and tshirts. argh! May as well wear shorts as all the knees are gone in their jeans. Hannah has gone out for track and learned how to run the hurdles today. Tomorrow she learns the high jump. So cool. We went to the high school to get her scheduled today. I am such an old pro, I didn't even emotional. Plenty of time for that.

More laundry to get ready to head south. Anniversary details next week!

Long weekend

Here we go. One day down of a LONG weekend. The girls got out early yesterday and are out until Tuesday. Today we babysat a sweet 4 month old baby boy. So the girls were THRILLED to get to hold Henry. He is so sweet and tolerated all their woggling around.

Tomorrow we will shop for the birthday sleepovers that H and Kat are planning on attending. Kat has a scrimmage in Blue Springs tomorrow night. She said, "Cool! What is a scrimmage?" It is supposed to be 7 degrees in the am. Glad they don't have to wait for the bus in those temps. I wanted to go to Searcy to see Jess, but opted out due to a predicted ice storm on Sunday. They don't have ANY snow removal in AR at all. lol. We could have been stuck there for the rest of the semester. We also have a TON of stuff to do around here since Mark has been sick for 2 weeks. I am very READY to see Jess, but will have to wair 2 more weeks until the folks' 50 party.

Hannah and I were watching the men's skating tonight. She cracked me up BIG TIME. When the skater does a triple axel (or whatever---who can tell the jumps apart?) it really bugs her that they "swing their leg out." Then on another spin or jump, one leg is higher than the other. She is so annoyed, "why can't they just keep it straight?" She couldn't get it that the skaters use the leg to push them on the ice!!! So funny.

I'm waiting for my JC friends to roll in to sleep before their early flight out of KCI. Here they are.

What a shocker X 2!

What a shocker! The girls and I were having a "Survivor" party with a hot pizza. Except I messed up the tape and it wasn't there---argh! Anyway the bit of the news we heard/saw had H's Middle School on it. They were telling about H's Soc. Studies teacher who had been arrested for 17 counts of child porn and destroying evidence. We couldn't believe it. Mr R was so nice, so funny and seemingly competent. So SAD, SAD, SAD!!! Mark came home and said his boss called him for the cd with the staff pictures on them, so they could supply a picture to the tv. SO SAD!! Hannah has a friend spending the night and they are both upset and shocked. Just can't believe it.

Then we found out the our MU Coach Quin quit today. We figured it was coming, but just yesterday he had a big thing about "never quitting" his team. In light of our middle school drama, it really is meaningless. But we began as Coach Quin fans, who wouldn't chose seeing him on the Tiger's bench after 40 years of looking at Norm Stewart. We had the hottest coach in the NCAA, too bad he couldn't "getter done."

On a lighter note, Kat's undefeated team plays their last game tomorrow. Then we begin the championship tourney. I did check to make sure that the finals won't be the same weekend as Mark's folks 50th bash. Jess is missing 3 functions for the anniversary, H is missing a Band festival, so Kat missing the final would have been tough, but not to worry. We will all be at the reception to smile and shake hands, eat cake and celebrate 50 years of wedded bliss! :) There will be other functions and other band festivals, but we can't repeat this celebration, so thanks, girls, for your cooperation, we love ya!!


Will be tuning in to Torino!! Love the Olympics!! A different drama than I'm used to witnessing!! :)

Scary Super Bowl Sighting

There it was right in the middle of the Stones' 1/2 time show.......Mick Jagger had an underarm waggle!!! It was the scariest, greatest thing I could have hoped for. I've seen my grandma's jiggle and Oprah's, but who would have guessed that the scrawny, old-timer MICK JAGGER would have a jiggle under his arm!! I love it!1 Anybody else see it?

We were not emotionally involved in the game. We are trying to detach ourselves from the MO teams---easy when they are such losers!!! Our Truman High School Patriots are 19-3, which is AMAZING! Go Pats!! More importantly the 4th grade Blackburn Bobcats are undefeated!! Only 1 more game left in the season, then a tournament of champions!! I can already see Kat's name on the banner in the gym with all the other winning Blackburn teams! Kat even got to shoot a free throw and made one!! She usually is sending someone else to the line, instead of standing there herself. Of course I thought about bringing my camera, but didn't go back in for it.

The weekend has gone by without much fanfare. Mark came home from work at noon on Friday. Yep, that means he's SICK!! He even conceded to go to the dr on Sat am. He was unlucky enough to get Abby strep. He is feeling better today. YAY!!

All for now. Talked to Jess, she is still alive and well in AR!!

Another smorgasblog

Here's a bit of background info. We accidentally had some name brand cereal. Mark and the girls were having a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles on Sun am. They all prefer the generic brand and were discussing the differences.

Mark: "Wonder why they taste so different?"

Emily: "Probably it's the iron."

Mark almost died laughing, then came and told me. Meanwhile Emily is warning Hannah about the cereal.

Emily: "They taste weird because of the iron."

Hannah almost dies of laughter. That Em, who knew she could read the labels on the boxes or listened to boring commercial info. So funny. Hooray for generic cereal!!!



On another note, I ended my sedentary ways today. I went for a little jog. Of course this has been the warmest January on the record books in KC. Tomorrow is supposed to be 62. Yes, I WILL jog again. And of course, real winter weather is due to return this weekend. Too bad I didn't take advantage of the warm days, but I will NOT allow it to sidetrack me again.....Hannah is trying to drink more water, so I'm joining her. That's the news around here.

Back again

Here I am, back again after another whirlwind. We had a LOVELY weekend with our cousins from Branson, Joy and Wayne. They had to go to a wedding at Union Station in KC on Sat night, so they rolled into our neighborhood on Thurs night. We stayed up too late every night. We ate too much good stuff and visited and laughed and hated to see them leave. If anyone was wondering if we played any dominoes, thanks for asking! YES, I beat them them all by a very small margin, but I was the winner before they creamed me good at golf. At our last round of golf, I was winning when they all quit, scared probably. It was fun!!! We took them to Kat's bb game. OF course, Wayne ran into someone he knew. One of the girls has grandparents that served on the retirement board with Wayne. Such a small world. Joy and Wayne has always treat us so special and we gain so much encouragement from them. They are role models to us in so many ways. Always fun to have them around.

Today I'm hanging out, doing a bit of laundo and will take H to the chiro later. All for now. If you are a regular reader who has their own blog, feel free to update yourself.....that means you, Pattie and Joy K...... :) Amie, ask Joy about Dick Cheney's hearing. Such a Joy moment.....

A Mini Lesson and a mini Wow!

Sometimes it's good to be reminded of facts you already know to be true. Such as only calling the drs office AFTER one has gotten ready for the day. Hmmmm. I think it was 8:05 am when I called for some meds for Kat, thinking that they would call in a RX for us, since we had 2 cases of strep last week. WRONG!!! They wanted to see her in at 8:40, Em was still in bed. Amazingly we were rolling down our street at 8:31 after a quick shower, blowdry, makeup and clothes. We got there at 8:42 and waited in the waiting room for 1/2 an hour. Thankfully Kat was really sick, it's such a bummer to take a well kid to the dr. As we were waiting for the strep test to come back, Em said, "I hope you have strep, Kai (her nickname for Kat) so you can stay home and play with me." Em got her wish. Kat is good at vegging on the couch either with her Harry Potter book or the remote. She will prob stay home tomorrow and be ready to play ball on Sat.

The big event of the weekend is the baby shower for a young lady at church on Sat. Alissa is the daughter of my local, Indep friend, Donna who is also Mark's twin sister of another mother. (Mark and Donna were both born on Aug 15, 1958). Anyway the shower is at the Patek's house. Freddie Patek is a former shortstop for the Royals. I have been to their house once before and couldn't get enough of Freddie's amazing collection of baseball awards, pictures, trophies, etc. It's so COOL!!! Their house is beautiful too, so it will be a lovely place to honor Alissa and her baby Ava, due next month. (Side note: Mark performed the wedding for the oldest daughter last summer, and will perform the 3rd daughter's wedding this July---I am learning TONS about weddings from Donna---did you know that you can get brand-new wedding dresses on e-bay for less than $50? Amazing!!!

Mark is reading out of the grim Grimm's Fairy Tale book. Must go listen!!

Survived Parts 2, 3 & 4

Here I am, back at the computer again (the font is very small on this blogger-deal). When I last blogged, we were wondering if we were headed home for a couple days. We left after a minor adjustment to our fuel line. I guess a clogged line would have stranded us somewhere near St. Louis. We had a lovely, whirlvind visit with the Stinnetts. We got to meet our new baby nephew, Joshua, born on Labor Day. He is as cute as his parents think he is. There is always lots of fun and food. We got to visit with our Texas friends, Dale and Lesa. We always take a picture of our kids sitting together on the front pew at the building. Our big ole kids fill the whole pew now--all 9 of them. Lees and I always wonder how this could happen to two such nice girls.

We raced home to have company for New Years. Adam and Amanda Bledsoe came from Conway, AR. They used to live in KC until Aug and we adopted each other at church. They had things to do, shopping and friends to visit, plus lots of cards and fun here. We picked up Jess' friend, Kyle at the airport, and ran into our college friends, Matt and Pattie Blake, Rachel and Joanna, too. We took them home with us and enjoyed a great day, visiting and laughing etc. We let the teenagers loose in Indep. and went to Red Robin. Such a treat to get to see our old friends and still like them as friends and people.

We had a few couples over for New Years. We had a ton of good eats, played cards and dominoes. Hannah and Jess rang in 2006 by running up and down the street barefoot, yelling Happy New Year. So crazy.

We enjoyed meeting Jess' friend, Kyle. Mark and I totally don't understand the semantics of modern relationships. They looked like a couple, but I hear that they are "just friends" which is ok with us. Even though we are confused, we'll take it---the 19 year old young man, must also be confused, but I can't help......He was very nice, even folded up his bedding. He played endless games of Dora Uno with the girls and let them vall him crazy nicknames. Bless his heart.

So the girls went back to school last Wed. Abby was home on Friday with strep. I think she was sick earlier in the week and didn't have anyone to take her to the dr. Kat played ball on Sat. We got Jess's clothes washed and her sent to AR yesterday. Her friend, Erin, drives a Mitisubishi Spider (sports car) and it was packed FULL when she pulled up, not realizing that Jess had filled the back of our van herself. But they squished it here and there and off they went. I was glad they left yesterday as today had winter weather between here and Springfield.

So today was the first day that Em and I had to ourselves since Dec. 16. We goofed around some, went to Story Hour and did our volunteering at Blackburn. Nice. I still have all the Xmas decorations up in the living room and kitchen. Hope to get those done and those rooms put back in order soon. (The tree is down---that's the biggie).

I have a bunch of newly learned lessons from my life's experiences this last month. I'll share those later. Just thought I'd catch everyone up on the Stinnews. I'm headed to the kitchen now to put some cornbread in the oven for the Mr. to go with his pot of beans. Even sounds good to me! Need to referee in Polly Pocket world, too. Argh!

Survived Part 1

Hi! I've been sitting here with Keith Urban (don't tell Mark or Nicole) lol. Hannah got his new CD and we downloaded the new Xmas tunes on the "computer across from Mom's" (that's what the girls call it), the one we use for our music as it is connected to the stereo speakers. So I have been enjoying a moment of quiet with our kiwi pal, Keith. Jess and H went to see "Cheaper By the Dozen 2" with some friends from church. Mark was reading to the little girls. He found his REAL Grimm's Fairy Tale book and they have all been enjoying them. Some of them are very gruesome and gory, not Disney versions at all, and they LOVE it. :)

We had a lovely Xmas day, in spite of Em's hurling and Kat's other stomach ailment. Mark took the other 3 to services, we had brunch then opened presents. I tried so hard this year to make everything come out sort of even and was worried that I shortchanged Abby, but I did ok afterall. Mark got the new bikes out for Kat and Abby after church and Abby's face lit up, and she smiled all through the meal and afterwards. Em LOVED the Dora Dollhouse that she talked about all month. I thought it might be a one day toy, but they all were playing with it. Silly girl, opened all her presents first, like the furniture for the dollhouse, then the big one. She was so TICKLED and giggled like it was a big surprise after getting 5 packages of accessories. So funny. I went back and forth whether or not to give Kat the baby doll that I got for each of the younger 3---she is such a little athlete and acts like a jr teen agree sometimes, but she is 10 and I LOVE dolls at Xmas so I gave her hers. Wouldn't you know, she carried it around all day and slept with it, like a little bitty girl. Made my day to see her still be "little enough to love a babydoll". They are adorable dolls and the little 3 all loved them. So sometimes Mrs. Santa still knows how to score. :) We watched the new Willy Wonka movie---love that Johnny Depp as WW. Then later we stayed up late and watched Star Wars 3. Not nearly as happy as Willy Wonka, but Jess and H hadn't seen it, and they were glad to put it all together. Sort of.

We planned to head to SE MO to see the Stinnett clan today. We had feared that Mark's software problems would keep us here, or the girls' stomach virus, but we didn't see the wrinkle that our 200,000+ mile van might bring. Yesterday on the way to church, M said it really didn't want to shift at 50 mph. We are transmission experts since we have put about 5 or so in cars of our lives. Of course, nothing was open to check it today, nor were there any vans to rent or even all the rental places open, so here we are. Who knows what tomorrow holds, but today our laundry was done and we were ready, even if the van wasn't.

In spite of our change in plans, we had a nice day. It was sunny and about 55 degrees. Kat and Abby both got to ride and ride and ride their new bikes. Kat tried out her new skates, so Ab and Em skated too. Then they got out the old scooters. Nice!! They opened the new Polly Pocket girls and introduced them to all the other PollyWorld friends, all over Abby's formerly clean room. If we would have left today, it would still be clean for company. sigh......The girls got some bead craft deal that you design and then iron, so everyone got to play that today, even Dad. I think all I did was the ironing, how did that happen??

We about finished the leftovers tonight, so if we don't leave, I'll have to cook again. Life is exciting here in StinnWorld. Stay tuned.

The wildness continues

I find that I might be too old to blog, as yesterday, or was it? Yes, it was, I was going to update and I couldn't remember my password and didn't have the energy to "jump thru the hoops" to find it. So today was better luck.

The house is temporarily quiet. The big girls went shopping. I hope Jess doesn't have trouble in all the holiday traffic. The younger girls are all outside. It's a gorgeous day, almost 60 degrees. I was out early with Abby to finish her 2 items. Then went to the grocery store. I don't think I've ever seen it so crowded, except on the "flu shot" day, but then the old people don't all stand in the baking aisle. ARGH! It was nuts. And I forgot nuts and oil. But Jess is brave enough to tackle Wal-Mart, a college learning experience. So she will help me out. She made me go there this week, and broke my record of NOT going there between Thanksgiving and Xmas. Our store is very hard to get to and get in and out. So I send the young, inexperienced driver. Works for me!

Today I'm happy to report that we are vomit-free. Katherine woke up feeling better. She was the 4th to get Abby's Birthday Bug. Abby started throwing up on the night before her birthday, and shared with H and Em then Kat. Mark, Jess and I are planning on being immune. I got enough of my stuff done that I could give directions from the bathroom or bed, if necessary, just hope NOT!!!

We decided to have our Xmas dinner tomorrow for lunch. Jess workds 4-7 tomorrow night and Sunday will be BUSY with church and Santa, so no time to cook and clean up. So I'm off to finish the cookies for the neighbors, dip a few more pretzels and start the wrapping. I drive myself crazy when I leave ALL the wrapping to the end, but it's such a mess to get it all out a bunch of times. Will work on that tonight.

We'll head to SE MO next week. Mark's big problem at work will have to wait until the break is over. He was glad to hear his software rep say "take it easy, we can't help." M is growing a GREY goatee, we'll see who breaks down first, me with a real haircut, (I haven't had a real one since July) or Mark to shave. The contest will continue in 06, to be sure.

Time to move on and finish getting some clean sheets around. Lots of bedding to do this week. Jess had 2 guys drop in earlier this week. They were in the St Loius area and thought she was in the Cape area, so they drove 2 hours farther than they planned, They aren't Geography majors. :) They were very nice, and prob are sharing Abby's Birhtday Bug with their families. We like to share!!! All for now.

Muffin recipe

Here is the new greatest recipe that we are LOVING. (Amie, you might already know this one b/c I got it from Joy via Sherry).

Pumpkin Muffins

1 box Spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin (approx. 16oz)
1/4 can water (pumpkin can)

Mix together and bake in muffin tins or small loaf pans, appropriately greased. Bake @ 350 for about 18 min for big muffins and 15 for small. I made 5 dozen small muffins out of one batch.

You can also use a yellow cake mix, or chocolate. I haven't tried the choc. yet, but I heard that they don't taste pumpkiny, just moist. Will add choc chips when I make them. Mark wants raisins in the next batch of pumpkin.

This a Weight Watchers recipe and a big muffin is only 2 points, not much, and the pumpkin is so full of fiber that you think you've had a really big treat. They are so tasty and so EASY!!! Kudos to Joy and Sherry! Enjoy.

Woo Hoo!

Can't believe it! Danni won!!! We were so surprised and so excited!!! The first time someone that we liked a lot had won and to be from KC, even KCK, is GREAT!!! With all the important things going on in the world, how crazy to be excited about Survivor. Whaddya gonna do? So fun!! Of course Danni was prob bummed before the show that the Chiefs lost to Dallas by a field goal (that was MISSED). Maybe that $1,000,000 check made her feel better. :) Hooray!! If the local media digs up some dirt on her now, I DON'T want to know. :)

Lots to do, Out for now.

K

Survivor Weekend

Talk about Survivor Weekend. We don't just mean the show either. Altho we are BIG fans of the show and are TOTALLY rooting for our KC gal, Danni. We will watch tomorrow night with our fingers crossed, but with fairly low expectations, b/c our fav rarely wins.

On another note, we got 10+ inches of snow on Wed and Thurs. It promptly got COLD, below 0 so we missed 2 days of school. I am wondering how MN moms cope with wet clothes all the time. I think I did 400 loads of laundry in one day, well maybe only 10 but it seemed like more. There must be a trick to it that I don't know. It did make this mom pretty CRANKY. I did play nice mom and let them play in the Xmas stamps and they had fun stamping and stamping. BTW Oxiclean will get out red ink from a 5 yr old's nice shirt if promptly dealt with--argh!! We watched some Xmas tv and they played a ton of games.

I got almost all my Xmas greetings ready to mail with the good help of my main techie, Mark, and a good stamper, Kat. Kat was in from the sledding as Abby ran over her with the sled on Thurs. Abby was going down the hill with her eyes closed--to see how it felt. Kat has been on a heating pad, but did make it to ball practice last night and to her game today.

On the final Survivor note, Hannah, Abby and Emily and I went to the nursing home for the annual Xmas party. This makes 5 years of Xmas at the Alzheimer's Unit. Yikes! Mom was dressed in her Xmas duds and they did a really good job helping everyone get their hair fixed at the salon and a bit of makeup. Mom had lots of smiles for us, and watched Em and smiled. She even tried to sing a few Xmas carols and smiled at my singing. (totally normal reaction. lol) She recognized her fav, White Christmas. I only teared up a couple times, and was glad we went. It's too hard to think about her sitting alone with everyone else having some family there, not that she would know the difference, but I would. I missed Kat's Sat ball game, but will get to see them tomorrow and Mon night. Always another game. :)

Tonight H and Kat and I are going to see The Nutcracker at Ray S High School. Our friends, Haylee and Jillian are dancing. Jilly is Clarissa and we can't wait to see her. :)

The whole month of December is about Surviving. :) My shopping is at about 1/2 way done. Our Xmas travel plans are making us and not them, will have to break the news to M softly. :) Time to stir up some Hamburger Helper, another Survivor food, and wash some heads before we go. Go Danni!!! Hang in there everyone!! Later I will post my new fav recipe that I feel burdened to share!!! So GOOD!!!

SNOW!!

If we believe the weatherman, then tomorrow this time we will have about 7+ inches of snow on the ground. We thought that 8 degrees was too cold for snow, then we remembered our Aunt Pat in MN and they have snow at that temp all the time. Emily and I ran a few errands (Hannah forgot her lunch) and it was fun to be out in the falling snow without bad roads--yet. I really thought it was too cold and too slick for all the senior citizens to be out at the weekly Kohl's sale. I don't mind the oldtimers, it's just they take all the carts and Em has to walk and they don't even have any little ones. That's my whine for today. Where's the cheese to go with that whine? Anyway we got our stuff done. The school isn't letting out early yet, but I'm watching for it. Will begin looking for the boots and ski pants. Know they will want to be out in it asap. If tomorrow is a snow day, maybe we can catch up on some of the Xmas movies that we have been taping or maybe they can help me with the Xmas mailing. Good goals, we'll see how it works. The first big snow is always exciting!!