Wordless Wednesday—Marissa lost her first tooth

Pop Weaver’s New Microwave Popcorn Review

Last month we were sent some of the new Pop Weaver microwave popcorn.  Pop Weaver has been one of our favorite brands of microwave popcorn for years.  This new version is made with canola oil.  The canola oil makes it lower in fat and calories and also has the added benefit of providing Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9 fatty acids, which help protect against heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

My kids LOVE popcorn.  Microwave popcorn is great because Morgan and Maggie are old enough to make it themselves. It is hard to believe this popcorn has no Trans Fat and lower Saturated Fat, it tastes GREAT!  It pops up light and fluffy with just the right buttery flavor. 

One bag is the perfect amount of popcorn for my four youngest to share for a snack and since it is healthy, I feel good about buying it for them.

Where have I been?

I didn't actually GO anywhere, I just haven't had internet for a while.  I also started working.  For several weeks, I worked in a call center learning to provide internet technical support. Last week I was offered a better job and now I am providing inhome services for the elderly.  I've worked 3 days at the newest job and so far I am really enjoying it.

Music Monday

 
Well, I'm not a Working Man, but as of last Monday, I am once again officially a working Mom. Hubby has been out of work since the end of May and we made the decision for me to go back to work. He found out on Thursday that he will be beginning a new job on July 26th!!! We are very thankful for that, but we've decided that at least for a while we are going to need both of us working to get our finances in better shape. I'm hoping to still have time for blogging, but am prepared to take it one day at a time to see what I can fit into my day.
I LOVE Rush! They are definitely a band that you have to listen to the lyrics to "get" their songs. This is a GREAT video with tons of vintage Rush pictures.

Meet Me on Monday

     

Questions:
1. What is your favorite sandwich?  Ham & Swiss on Dark Rye
2. What is stashed under your bed/mattress?Nothing but dust bunnies
3. What is your favorite flower? Pink roses
4. What is your favorite magazine? I don’t read any magazines…no time.
5. How often do you weigh yourself?Only when I go to the Dr and can’t avoid it.  I have no desire to know my weight

I received 2 Awards this week!!!

Blog awards are a lot of fun!!  The first one I received was from Julie, the owner of Earth Angels Diaper Co.  She blogs at Mom Phenom.  Thank you so much Julie for giving me the Versatile Blogger award!!!  I feel very honored.
Here are the rules for receiving the award.
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.

1. I ALWAYS wanted to be a Mommy
2. Dolls were my favorite toy when I was a child
3. I dream of someday owning an American Girl doll of my very own
4. I have trouble remembering how old I am
5. Steak is my favorite food
6. I detest folding and putting away clothes
7. As of last week, I am employed full-time outside the house

3. Pass this award along to fifteen bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!
My 15 recommended blogs are as follows…

1. Mommy Matters
2. A Day with Two
3. More Than Words
4. My Silly Monkeys
5. The Adventure of Motherhood
6. Momedy
7. Mortensen Moments
8. Janette's Sage
9. XmasDolly
10. Personalized Sketches and Sentiments
11. See Foxes?
12. Harms Family News
13. A Beautiful Mess
14. Katie Talks About…
15. An Alaskan Family

The second one was from Tracey at A Mother’s Earth.  Thank you very much Tracey for this Substance award, I’m honored to receive it! I need to pass this one on to 10 blogs I feel have Substance.

1. Mommy’s Piggy Tales
2. Frugal & Focused
3. jendocino
4. Never Growing Old
5. RunDMT
6. Lemondrop Pie
7. Muthering Heights
8. Moore Blog Life
9. It’s Come 2 This
10. “How To” Homemaker

Friday Photo Flashback—August 2007

This is Melanie asleep in the back of the double stroller, she’s about 3 1/2 months old.  This was her first trip to the zoo.

Mommy’s Piggy Tales—4th Grade

 This is week 6 of a 15 week project. The object is to write a story each week about a different period of time from our childhood. I am writing this for my children. The first week was about my birth. The next week was about Kindergarten and the birth of my brother Allan. Next I shared some random memories about First Grade.  My Second Grade memories were mostly about our adventurous move to California. Third Grade was special because it was the first time I stayed in one school for the entire year.  This week will be about Fourth grade.
 
At the beginning of 4th grade, I went to the same school where I had gone to 3rd grade.  Even though it was the same school, it felt very different.  My teacher was a MAN and not only did we have our own desks, but we stayed at them all the time.  The only time we left our desks was for recess or lunch.  I don’t remember his name, but I do remember him seeming very strict.  About a month after school started, we moved.

Gramma had changed jobs and decided that we needed to move to Modesto to be closer to her job.  The lady we moved in with had a nice house with 3 or 4 bedrooms and a two car garage.  Instead of getting rid of all our stuff like she usually did, Gramma stored our stuff in the lady’s garage.  I really don’t remember much about the inside of that house, but I do remember spending lots of time hiding in a fort that I had created in our stuff in the garage.  When I would get home from school Gramma was at work and Allan was at a babysitter.  I would take my homework and a book to read and go hide in my fort until dinner time.  The lady we lived with had two teenage daughters who weren’t very nice to me, but if I hid, they couldn’t tease me.

The school I went to was called CF Brown.  It was a fairly new school and was unlike any other school I ever attended.  All of the inside walls could be moved to change the size and number of rooms depending on what was needed.  In the center was an area where we had assemblies.  When I started school there I knew how to write in cursive and they had not started cursive yet. I didn’t know my multiplication tables and they were about to start division.  It took me over a month to get caught up with them.  Just before Christmas we moved again.

This time we moved to a house. The house had 3 bedrooms, a one car garage and a fenced backyard.  There were a lot of firsts in this house. This was the first time I had my own room since Allan had been born.  It was also the first house I remember living in that had a garage.    We got our first electric clothes dryer, we had our first color tv and we got cable for the first time.

After Christmas break, I started going to El Vista.  This is the same school where Morgan went to preschool.  I don’t remember my teacher’s name.  But my favorite memory of her was that every day after lunch recess she would have us put our heads down on our desks and she would read to us.  She would only read one or two chaptesr per day, but it was my favorite part of the whole day.  I can remember her reading Island of the Blue Dolphin and Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing to us and I’m sure there were a few others.  This was also the year that I discovered kickball and tetherball on the playground at recess.

At the beginning of Summer, I went to Summer school at Rose Avenue.  At that time, anyone that wanted to go to Summer school could.  I walked to El Vista and took a bus over to Rose Avenue.  They would feed us breakfast when we got there, then we had 4 fun classes and then lunch before the bus would take us back to El Vista.  One of the classes I had that year was dance.  We learned “The hustle” which was a popular line dance of the time.  I’m pretty sure that I also got to fly to New Jersey again for part of the Summer to see my Dad.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday Mason and his friends painted as cows

Last Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A.  Everyone who dressed up as a cow got free food.  My 20 year old son Mason and some of his friends took it to extreme.  They painted their bodies to look like cows and went all over town in nothing but their paint and their undies.  Chick-fil-A is also having a photo contest on Facebook.  You can vote by clicking on the photo and then clicking LIKE on the contest page!

Take Me Back Tuesday…Summer 2001

This is Maggie from the Summer of 2001.  She was about 13 months old and very eager to be BIG and go down the slide at the park with the older kids.

Music Monday—Dennis DeYoung

 

Dennis DeYoung is one of the original members of Styx.  He is not currently part of Styx, but in my mind he was the heart of that group.  Last week when I was looking at Styx songs on YouTube, I discovered that Dennis DeYoung has had several solo albums over the last couple years.  One Hundred Years From Now is the most recent album.  If you liked Styx of the 70’s and 80’s you will probably like these songs too.  Listen and let me know what you think.  If you like these, you should also check out Desert Moon, I didn’t include that video, but it was a GREAT solo album too.

Winner of the JumpStart Get Moving Wii Game!

Random.Org has picked #9

misnomer said...


My kids love Wii Bowling and Wii golf!

June 25, 2010 11:58 PM
 
The winner has been notified and will have 48 hours to get back to me with their shipping info or I will need to select a new winner.

Friday Photo Flashback March 1975

These pictures are from my Mom's photo album. I scanned them for a project I am working on. This first one is of me in my brownie uniform. The little boy with the brown hair is my Uncle....he is 5 yrs younger than I am. The little boy with the blond hair is my brother.  The picture of the woman in the white cap and gown on the wall behind me is my Mom and the picture farthest to the right in the bottom row is me.  The other pictures are of my Mom's 7 brothers and sisters and a couple of my cousins.
This picture is of me and my Grandpop.  It was taken the same days as the one above.
Tomorrow is the last day to enter to Win a copy of the new JumpStart Get Moving Wii game!

Mommy’s Piggy Tales—3rd Grade

 
This is week 5 of a 15 week project. The object is to write a story each week about a different period of time from our childhood. I am writing this for my children. The first week was about my birth. The next week was about Kindergarten and the birth of my brother Allan. Next I shared some random memories about First Grade.  Last week was mostly about our adventurous move to California.  I’ve talked to my Mom about that move and her version is a little different than mine, but I’ll save that story for another time.  This week will be my memories from Third Grade.

Sometime before school started for third grade, we moved again.  This time into a 4-plex right across the street from the school where I was going to attend 3rd grade.  This school also had a children’s center (daycare) where Allan would be during the day while Gramma was at work.  In our new apartment, we had FURNITURE!!!  We had a couch, a chair and a TV in the living room.Allan and I had a set of bunk beds and a dresser in our room and we had a table with 4 chairs in the kitchen.  I assume that Gramma also had a bed in her room, but I don’t have any specific memories of her room in that apartment, other than she had one.  Our apartment was the last one, furthest from the street.  In front of the apartment was a strip of dirt that was supposed to be a flowerbed and the blacktop parking lot. 

That year was our first Christmas in California.  We didn’t really know anybody and we weren’t on visiting terms with Aunt Beverly and Uncle Gordon, so we went to Donelly Park and had a picnic for Christmas. We had a tree in our apartment and we decorated it with beads and cut out paper ornaments.  I got a bike for Christmas that year. I remember riding it at the school on the weekends when nobody was there. I also remember riding it down the sidewalk on West Main to go to a friend’s house.  Allan had a red tricycle and the entire time he had it, the wheels squeaked whenever it moved.  Gramma usually didn’t like things that squeaked, but she never oiled his tricycle because the noise made it easier for her to keep track of where he was. California was having a drought that year, so we didn’t get much rain and it stayed really warm, even for California winters.  Then in February we suddenly got 2 inches of snow.  Most of my classmates had NEVER seen snow.  It was such a rare event that they let all the kids out onto the playground to play in it for the rest of the day.  The next day there was still snow on the ground, so they canceled school.  That was 1976 and I never saw that much snow again in a place that I lived in California.

Allan’s favorite thing to do in that apartment was lay under the kitchen table “working” on the legs with his plastic pliers.  He didn’t talk very much and when he did, I was usually the only one who could understand him.  Around the time he turned 3, I had a game that I thought was really fun to play with him.  I would ask him “Are you a girl?” and he would say “NO”  Then I would ask him “Are you a boy?” and he would say “NO” Then I would say “What are you?” and he would get really mad at me and scream “I an ALL-NONE”  that was his way of saying Allan.  I would laugh and he would just look at me in confusion.  Sometimes I would lay under the table with Allan and watch him “work” on the table.  His tools were flimsy plastic and didn’t seem to be doing anything when he poked at the under side of the table with them, but one day a leg fell off of the table.
I’m pretty sure I only went to that ONE school for the entire school year, it was the first time since I started school that we didn’t move around Valentines Day.  I was in a combination 2nd/3rd classroom and we had 2 or 3 teachers and several aids.  We moved around the 2 classrooms in groups and didn’t have our own desks.  All our stuff was kept in cubbies.  There were several different carpeted areas where we would sit on the floor for various different things.  Looking back on it the set up seems chaotic, but I remember really enjoying it at the time.

When school got out, I went to a Salvation Army summer camp.  It was a camp for underprivileged kids.  We slept on cots in cabins and ate all our meals in a cafeteria. At night there was a campfire where we sang songs and played camp games. I think I was there for a week.  I made a bunch of crafts and I think we went swimming.  Gramma felt guilty about letting me go because when I got back from camp it was time for me to pack for a trip to New Jersey to see my Dad.  I hadn’t seen him in over a year.  I got to fly on an airplane all by myself from San Francisco to Philadelphia.  It was a 5 hour flight.  A stewardess escorted me into the plane and to my seat. She gave me a little bag that had a set of pin on plastic wings, some crayons and a mini coloring book. Every once in a while she would come by to ask me how I was doing. I couldn’t listen to the movie they played because I didn’t have any money to rent the earphones. I almost didn’t get fed because at that time they sold the meals and nobody had told my parents I would need any money.  The stewardess looked at my ticket and decided I had “probably” already paid for my meal with the ticket. The food wasn’t very good, but it was better than nothing, considering I hadn’t eaten for several hours before getting on the plane.  When we arrived in Philadelphia, I had to stay on the plane until everyone else was off, then the stewardess took me off and helped me find my Dad.  I got to stay with him for about a month and then I flew back to California.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tag Along

Tuesday Tag Along is a blog hop. Click the button to participate. I've found some great new blogs to follow from this meme.

Take Me Back Tuesday...Summer 2004

This is Maggie on a camping trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. It was the Summer of 2004.  I’ll bet you’ve already guessed that she was 4 years old.  It was our last camping trip before our move to Tennessee. 

Music Monday--Styx

Yesterday I was in the mood to listen to Styx. They are one of my favorite groups from the 70's and 80's. I also really liked their early 90's album Edge of the Century. I tried to narrow down what I wanted to share, but they have sooooo much good music I couldn't pick just one or two. Most of these songs are on Edge of the Century. They are one of those bands that you really need to listen to the lyrics, some of it is really powerful stuff.







The art work in this video is almost as stunning as the song.


I LOVE this song!  This is the only version of it I could find on YouTube, it is even better on the CD.

Bella Sara MoonFairies Winner!

Random.org has chosen #4 


Janet said...

I would give these to my daughters.

June 23, 2010 10:32 PM
 
I still haven't figured out how to do a screen shot.

Friday Photo Flashback

This picture of Marissa was taken in 2007, she had just turned 2 and was expressing her displeasure about something.  I LOVE This picture because you can really see her “attitude” in it.  I’m not sure, but I think this was an incident when she got caught getting into chocolate without permission, that is definitely chocolate on her cheeks and jammies.

Mommy’s Piggy Tales…2nd Grade

 

This is week 4 of a 15 week project. The object is to write a story each week about a different period of time from our childhood. I am writing this for my children. The first week was about my birth. The next week was about Kindergarten and the birth of my brother Allan. Last week I shared some random memories about First Grade.

Second grade was a very big year for me.  In the Fall, my Daddy and my Step Mother had my sister Kathleen.  My Step Mother already had 4 kids before she got together with my Dad. Her oldest son was 6 yrs older than me, her daughter was 4 yrs older than me, her next son was 6 months older than me and her youngest son was a year older than my brother Allan.  I liked spending time with them because there was always somebody to play with.  When I was younger, I had been very lonely, but now I had my little brother at my Mom’s house and all these new brothers and sisters at my Dad’s house.  I still got to see my Dad every other weekend and that year I’m pretty sure I spent Christmas with him too.

In the Spring, everything changed.  My Mom and Big Allan had been having a lot of trouble getting along and when my Mom’s Aunt and Uncle from California came for a visit, my Mom decided that we should go live in California with them.  Aunt Beverly and Uncle Gordon thought California would be the perfect place for my Mom to get a new start.  My Mom gave away all our furniture and most of our other stuff and we went around visiting all our family in New Jersey to say good bye. This is Allan and I with Grandpop (Gramma’s Dad) and Uncle Damien (he’s Gramma’s brother, but he is 5 years younger than ME).


In less than a week, we were in Aunt Beverly and Uncle Gordon’s van with them and two of their children headed for California.  The van had been upgraded for traveling, it had a mini refrigerator and a bunk bed.  I don’t remember it having seats, in my memory we sat on pillows on the carpeted floor.  It had one sliding door on the passenger side.  Aunt Beverly, Uncle Gordon and my Mom took turns driving and we slept in the van as they drove.  We ate peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter crackers all day and then would have lunch meat sandwiches for dinner.  We only stopped a couple times a day at rest stops to use the bathroom. On the 2nd or 3rd night, the van suddenly slid around in the road from ice and then rolled off the side of the highway.  Uncle Gordon was driving and I think Aunt Beverly was in the passenger seat.  My Mom, Allan, Mom’s cousins and I were all in the back.  The mattress on the bunk slid off and over the windows on the sliding door and when the van came to a rest, on it’s side, all of us in the back were laying on that mattress.  I don’t remember the police coming and I know we didn’t go to the hospital.  Somehow we got to a motel and I vividly remember being told that if anybody asked, my Mom was my sister….they didn’t want to have to pay for more than one motel room. 

The next morning I was very surprised to wake up and find that the Easter Bunny had visited while we were sleeping.  I had lost all track of time and didn’t even know that Easter was soon.  I don’t remember if we stayed in the motel more than one night.  The first night we were back on the road we drove past signs for the Grand Canyon.  Uncle Gordon promised me that someday he would bring us back to see it in the daylight. (he never did) Late the next day we pulled into the long driveway of their farm in California.

The Farm was an interesting place.  Aunt Beverly had a St Bernard dog who was absolutely HUGE and lived in the house.  There were lots of cats out in the barn and a horse and a pony.  There were also ducks and geese in the yard.  Allan was fascinated with the ducks and geese, but the geese were mean and they would hiss at him and chase him whenever he was outside.  I learned to ride a pony and started another new school.  Everyone thought I talked funny, but to me they all talked funny.  My Mom got a job as a secretary soon after we arrived and then started dating one of the men she worked for. 

About 6 weeks after we arrived in California, we left the Farm and moved to a little apartment in Turlock.  We had brought almost nothing from New Jersey with us.  I had my 2 favorite dolls, my baby blanket and a few clothes.  Allan had a truck, his baby blanket, a stuffed bear and his clothes.  My Mom had her photo album, 2 iron frying pans and her clothes.  For the first several weeks that we lived in the apartment we had no refrigerator and used a Styrofoam cooler to keep our food from going bad. We had no furniture other than a couple twin size mattresses that we slept on on the floor.  At first we had an old Mustang (car) that my Mom was buying from Uncle Gordon, but something happened and he decided he wanted the car back so then we didn’t even have a car to get anywhere.  Fortunately, my Mom had made some friends who helped us get to the places we needed to go.

Don’t forget the Rayovac Twitter Party tonight!

Have you ever been to a Twitter party?  I went to one last night and I WON something cool.  I had forgotten how much fun they can be.  Tonight’s party is the Rayovac Powers Your Summer Twitter Party.  Use #rayovac in the search box on Tweetgrid or Tweetdeck to see all the party posts.  Join the FUN from 7-9pm CST to win prizes!

Go HERE to see a list of prizes and RSVP for the party

Take Me Back Tuesday…June 2006

Four years ago at this time, we were on vacation at Norris Lake.  Mason was 16 and Marissa was almost 11 months.

Music Monday

Five for Fighting is one of those bands that I don't listen to all the time, but when I hear one of their songs on the radio I'm reminded how much I LOVE their music.

Of course I couldn't pick just one song.

What’s moving you today?

Happy 10th Birthday Maggie!!!

Today Maggie is 10!

We made this cheesecake this morning and drizzled it with melted chocolate

This is her birthday cake we made this afternoon with homemade butter cream frosting

In the evening, we went out on the deck and played Chubby Bunny!  It is a camp game, the object is to stuff as many marshmallows into your mouth as you can.  After each marshmallow you have to say "Chubby Bunny"

It is a competition to see who has the biggest mouth.

Maggie lost.  If Mason had been here, Morgan would have lost too.

Saturday Stumble

 I have had a VERY busy week of finding new blogs!!!  Here are a few of my new favorites:

Ma What's 4 Dinner I hear this 100 times a day at least, except my kids call me Mom
Never Growing Old I joined the Over 40 Blog Hop yesterday and am really enjoying meeting bloggers my age!!
If you haven't yet, you really need to check out Mommy's Piggy Tales.  Janna's story this week had me bawling my eyes out.
Yesterday I participated in a slew of Follow Friday Meme's. I found most of them when I was checking out blogs during the blog hop on Tuesday.

I've got a couple giveaways going on right now, be sure to click the links below my header to enter to win!