Gogoz place

Buglegs

2008-03-17T05:55:00.001-07:00

Check out this great new esty store, Buglegs.

Buh-bye Holidays, Bu-bye

2008-01-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

So the Holidays are over. I have to say it is a relief. School starts back on Monday January 7th, and I am glad and sad all at the same time. My babes have the tendency to drive me nuts, but I love just being with them. No schedule, no drop-offs or pick-ups... The routine that school gives is a nice, but this vacation from it all has been great. The pic is of my 8 year son (baby a) Adam holding a turtle he made.

My Life is sucking right now

2008-01-02T13:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am in a pissy mood. This volunteer job I have is sucking, or should I say I am sucking at it. My dd Hannah, is painfully thin. I have been worried about this for YEARS, but now people are noticing and reprimanding me for not noticing! I am crabby and cold and hungry.

Enough, even I am sick of my bad mood.

The New Year

2008-01-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

Have a happy one folks!

Blog 365 2008

2007-12-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am officially crazy, but here it goes.

Family Foto Friday

2007-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

This weeks theme is love. I posted this one earlier, but I love it. (Click the image to make it bigger.

My boys

2007-06-13T10:31:00.001-07:00

It seems like I have so many pictures of Hannah on here and not many of the boys. So here are a couple I snapped this morning. Click the image to make it bigger. The one on the left is my favorite one and a total accident. I wasn't even looking, I snapped too fast and that is what I got. John is kissing Adam's shoulder. The one on the right is more of what I was going for but Adam suddenly started climbing on and tickling John. John loves horseplay put on this huge smile. My guys! Aren't they cute!

Glamour Puss

2007-06-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here is my girl Hannah all dolled up. We were playing with makeup. She loved it!

Paris Hilton

2007-06-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Poor girl is going back to jail. Now I mostly despise Miss Hilton, and I did cheer a bit when this all went down in the beginning, but it seems cruel at this point. If she really has a bad psych disorder, it could be veerryy bad for her to be locked up. Also, I have read over and over that changing the terms of a sentence midstream is not unusual at all especially when extenuating circumstances are taken into account. I'll say it again, poor girl.

Cool today

2007-06-08T11:45:00.001-07:00

I guess a picture is worth a thousand words. My poor guys, no swimming and they are boooorrrreeedddd. They want to swim so bad, but it is not even 70 out in our neck of the woods. It is so bad for them that they made up a game which involved one of the girls losing her shoes in the mouth (!) of some very dense bushes we have. Uh... I don't know either. I did find them though and I have the scratches to prove it. Oh well!

The Information Age

2007-06-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

I am going to make an admission here, I am an information junkie. I need to know everything about whatever is tickling my fancy at the time and I need to know now. I have always been this way. When a boyfriend told me about a group he liked, I read everything I could find about them in the library and listened to every record they had. When I was in love with football, I checked out every book my college library had on Walter Payton. After watching Eight Men Out I actually wrote a paper on the 1919 Black Sox. This habit has only gotten worse with the advent of the Internet. I am constantly looking someone or something up on google, testing out theories I have...I am a little sick, I know.

Where I am I going with this? I'll tell you. I couple of years ago I was watching something about Bob Hope. They were talking about how he entertained the troops for all of those years, from WWII to Vietnam and beyond. Now I am not all that old, 38, so I only remember Mr. Hope from all of those specials he had on as I was growing up, and I had no sense of the kind of man he was. I assumed he was a good man because he really put himself in harms way to entertain the troops, especially during WWII. Then they (whatever show it was) showed a pic of him with Frances Langford, a singer in his show. Something about it made me think that ol' Bob had more going on than met the eye. I researched and found a book The Secret Life of Bob Hope by Groucho Marx son Arthur. I had suspected that Bob was a bit of a philanderer and Arthur confirmed it for me. However, instead of being happy that my hunch was right, and that I found my answer, I was disgusted. With Bob... why no. Arthur Marx quite obviously hated Bob so much that everything he (Bob) did was somehow nefarious. EVERYTHING. He only entertained the troops so he could screw around, in Arthur Marx's opinion that is. A few of the women that he messed around with met bad ends YEARS AND YEARS after their involvement with Hope, but somehow it was his fault. He did well with realestate investing, that means he's evil! I recently picked this book up again and was mad all over again reading this smear job. Now I will say that if half of the things Arthur Marx says about Bob is true (and probably more than half are true), then he was a bastard in many ways. It's just that the book was written in such a mean spirited way that instead of changing my high opinion of Bob Hope, it has soured me on Arthur Marx.

Okay, vent over.

Sumer Daze

2007-06-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today it was warm out so the kids had a blast. Lots of swimming and scooter riding. It was supposed to hit 90 or 91 today, but it was so windy that it was hard to tell. I love days like this because my littles spend most of their time outside. Let me tell you 5 kids stuck inside on a rainy day really sucks! Outside is much easier, funner for the kids, and makes for less drama all around.

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum, summertime

2007-06-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

Yay! Summer is officially here. No more school! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!! Today is the first day of summer for my troops and I hope it is a fun one. I am watching two classmates of my trio for the summer for a little extra money. They are good sweet girls and it should be a good time!

For Anna H

2007-03-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

I thank you so much for the update.

Family Foto Friday - a past challenge

2007-03-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Profiles!

I have been thinking about this older challenge for awhile and I finally found these photos of Hannah when she was itsy for it.

Prayer

2007-03-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Do you pray? Praying is not the same as being religious. My mother is NOT religious, but she prays all of the time. I am religious and I pray constantly, but I am getting off point. Do you pray? If you do, there are so many things in the world to pray about now-a-days. Like the end of war, poverty, addiction and the obliteration of Bratz Dolls, but I would ask you to add one to your long list.

These poor people were skipped while waiting for a referral to adopt from China. It is so sad and disheartening for them because they have been waiting for something like 16 months. This was their turn, but something went wrong and they recently found out that their file had been sitting around incomplete for months and months. The problem has been resolved now, but their file remains in limbo and could be there for a long time. She is asking for prayers, and I am trying to help. So, if you are the praying sort, please pray for them.

Reality Television

2007-03-09T16:19:00.000-08:00

Until this year I would've told you that I mostly despise RTV (reality TV), then I took a long look at my viewing practices. Here are the shows that I watch

Mondays: Heroes, Australia's Next Top Model, Engaged and underaged
Tuesday: American Idol, PussyCat Dolls: The next Doll, The Agency
Wednesday: America's Next Top Model, American Idol

All but one are reality TV .... I am such a tool.

America's Next Top Model

2007-03-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

Stop looking Tyra, I have found her. Hannah thinks she is so fierce in these photos!

Hands!!!!

2007-03-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

Hands! For Donna's challenge here is my post. Two of my kids being hams showing us their hands. I found the baby pic after I had already posted this one. Looks like Hannah just loves this pose. Such cuties!!

Heroes

2007-03-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Does anyone watch Heroes? That is the best, freakiest show out there! I am sitting on the edge of my seat during every episode, just waiting to be scared shitless. Good times, good times.

Sleeping Beauties

2007-02-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

I have never done this before, but I thought I would post for Donna's photo challenge. The lovely lady in pink is my nearly 9 year old Hannah at one month taking a snooze on the couch. The tightly swaddled babes are my twin sons on the day they were born just over 7 years ago. Those are my hands around their heads. I love the sleeping pics! Thanks Donna.

2006-12-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

Six random things

2006-08-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

Appropriated from Chicago mama:

1. The dick that owns the dog who attacked mine still hasn't paid. He

2. I love the show Felicity even though it is about a college girl and I am so beyond that stage in life.

3. My favorite book is Gone With the Wind and I find new reasons to love it every time I read it.

4. I love coffee and drink several cups a day, but refuse to make more than one cup at a time.

5. I DO NOT eat leftovers. I stole this random thing, but it is true of me too. Even the most wonderful food makes awful leftovers.

6. I watched a little boy named Vince over the summer for extra money.

I am sad

2006-08-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I posted, but whatever....

I am very sad right now. For a few reasons, most have to do with my squishy little dog, Bella. I really love her as if she were one of my kids, almost... I suppose I wouldn't lock my children in a cage to stop them from pooping in my office... Not unless it was a really bad day. (Kidding people, the day wouldn't have to be that bad.)

I am not sure if you can appreciate how small Bella really is from this picture... Poms only weigh about 3-7 lbs fully grown (Bella is 6lbs), she is tiny. Despite her size, she thinks she is a big dog. She is the ruler of her little area and if another dog, no matter the size, tries to usurp her, watch out.

Last weekend I was watching my sisters 5 mo old German Shepard, Grendel. Despite the fact that he is named after a man eating monster, Grendel is a sweet dog.

On Friday (8-11) we (hubby, twin sons, Bella, Grendel and I) went for a walk around the block. We passed several houses with dogs all barking furiously at us, but that is the norm, there are a lot of dogs in my neighborhood. At one point we stopped and let the kids run around while the dogs (still leashed of course) got to know each other. Suddenly this HUGE rottweiler came running at us. I am not sure why, but we were sort of frozen for a moment and then the dog had Bella in it's jaws and was shaking her around. My hubby jumped on this dog and got Bella away from it, but the damage was done. Bella suffered broken ribs and a minor puncture wound to the belly, not too bad considering she could have been that dog's lunch.

The vet bill was 400$. I don't know about you all, but that is a big chunk out of our budget right before school starts. Turns out the dog was being watched for a friend, just like Grendel. This guys little kid saw us and wanted to take the rottweiler for a walk too but the dog got away from him. At first the dog-watcher, R, said he would pay no problem, then he had to talk to the owner. I was pissed, I knew we wouldn't see any money, but Scott, my dh, said R was a good guy, just to wait. R did come up with 100$ and said we would get the rest this past Tues, then Fri, then Sun, and now Mon.

I am so fed up! The police wont do anything because it was a dog on dog attack. FUCK!!! I hate this crap.

Scarlet Red

2006-01-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

Your Birthdate: May 30

You have the type of personality that people either love or hate.

You're opinionated, dramatic, intense, and very outspoken.

And some people can't get enough of you - they're totally addicted.

Others, well, they wish you were a little more reserved.

Your strength: Your flair

Your weakness: If you think it, you say it

Your power color: Scarlet red

Your power symbol: Inverted triangle

Your power month: March

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Tag I stole

2006-01-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

I got this from a great China adoption site that I visit.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was living with my boyfriend, soon to be fiance - now husband, and loving it.

What were you doing one year ago?
Dealing with the pneumonia that all 3 kids had.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Veggies and Dip
2. Cheese and crackers
3. Chocolate w/peanut butter
4. Candy (!)
5. Cheddar Cheese poppers

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a vacation home for my mother.
2. Pay off all of my bills and my moms bills too.
3. Remodel our attic into a huge master bedroom.
4. Adopt a child from china.
5. Set up trust for the best college educations money can buy for all of the children in my life.

Five bad habits:
1. Leaving half full pop cans around.
2. Playing with my hair
3. Being messy.
4. Being a "know it all"
5. Eating too much!

Five things I like doing:
1. Reading
2. Spending time with my family.
3. Cooking
4. Reading blogs!
5. Caring for my littles.

Five things I would never wear, buy, or get new again:
1. Leather mini skirt.
2. Super high heels.
3. Earings that weigh more than a small dog.
4. Jackets with shoulder pads.
5. Cowboy boots.

Five favorite toys/games:
1. Tradewinds2
2. Dinner Dash
3. Bookworm
4. Leapster
5. Zuma

Here's the deal; remove the blog in the TOP SPOT from the following list and then add YOUR BLOG to the bottom spot.

http://www.teagueadoption.blogspot.com
http://gogozplace.blogspot.com/

Then select FIVE PEOPLE to TAG!
I know of no one who reads this, so...
You
You
You
You and....
You

Why am I doing EVERYTHING?

2005-12-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

~Or the tale of the perfectionist.

It took me a long time to figure out what a true perfectionist is. It is not someone who is perfect, but someone who wants things the way they want it when they want it.

This Christmas I have done everything. The buying, the wrapping, the cleaning, the planning, the cooking, the toting... all of it. My husband has done very little. As I was bitching at him about it, he was saying that he liked to wrap, he could have wrapped. Of course the wrapping is done now, so whatever. When I stopped to think about it, I didn't and don't ask for his help for a reason. He doesn't do it right. LOL If I asked him to wrap, he would ask me for the paper and the tape and the scissors and the gifts...who gets what...where are the labels.... Do you see the direction I am heading. Asking him to do it takes 10 times longer than doing it myself.

I do wish that if I have to do it all he would just let me grouse about it and not get all hurt and stuff. geesh

Christmas

2005-12-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, I do, but it is so much work! This year it has been much better for me because I finished everything early. I am wrapped and ready to go! This is a huge (and much needed) improvement over past years where I was buying the bulk of it on Christmas eve and wrapping that night at midnight.

You might think I would stop bitching since I am done and all, but no. I am having some people over for Christmas Eve, so I have dinner to worry about, it has to be perfect. Why perfect you ask? Good question! I am not the perfect mom...My kids love me to death, but I make my fair share of mistakes. I am FAR from the perfect housekeeper...That is why I pay someone to clean my house. Speaking of paying, I am terrible with the overspending, oy! However, there is one thing I am good, no great at...Throwing a dinner party. I can cook fairly well, my presentation is nice, and people usually leave with a full belly and a happy disposition. So...being the one thing I really excel at, this dinner has to rock!

Have wonderful holidays to anyone who may come across this.

Mom...I think I'm getting coal for Christmas!

2005-12-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

That is what my little six year old Adam just said to me. I ask him why and he tearfully told me that he had been bad 3 days in a row. This is true, Adam has been on a hot streak lately, but I have never, ever told him that he would get coal for Christmas. I have told him that Santa is watching, that he had better straighten out soon because Christmas will be here before we know it. Let me clarify that Adam is a wonderful child, but these past few days, mischief has been his middle name. So I tried to explain that while he would not be receiving coal that he did need to be a good boy at school. I hope I calmed him down, the poor child was so sad!

Something has to be done about....

2005-12-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

the cost of heating ones home. I complained about this in an earlier post. I now have the bill for a month of freezing my ass off even though it was not that cold out. $217.00! No folks, that is not a mis-print. I kept my heat between 60 and 64 degrees, even turned on electric space heaters to help out, but still, my bill was $217 fucking dollars. That was before it got cold like it is now.

When I got my bill, I also got an offer to be on budget billing for $232 a month. I jumped at it. Budget billing is when they bill you a set amount per month to average out your bill over 12 months. Over the summer my budget billing was $150, they re-evaluated in Nov to $358. I was so happy to see the change that I was literally yelling and jumping for joy. There is something seriously wrong when someone is that excited over a HUGE-ASS heating bill like that. The first thing I did was turn my heat up from 60 (where I had banished it) to 66. Let me tell you, 66 is still cold, but I will have to pay the bill eventually so I didn't want to go too nuts.

However, last night I was laying in my bed under 3 comforters with sweat clothes on as jamas freezing my considerable ass off. I was sooo cold. I stomped over to the damn thermostat and turned it up to 68 - oh you big spender! It makes me so angry that I have to freeze all winter so that I will not go bankrupt. Time for regulation people!

Amelia Bedelia

2005-11-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

My daughter, Hannah, is a poor reader. I have lots of excuses for this, missed school, lazy mum, blah, blah, blah-did-dee-blah-blah. The bottom line remains the same no matter how I qualify it. My daughter, so bright, so talented, funny, beautiful, is struggling with reading.

This makes me so sad because I love reading so much. I just love it.... I read 1-3 books a week. I had been praying for my girl to find this love of reading, and she has found it. She loves Amelia Bedelia books. She read one for class and since then will read nothing else. We have had to do two book reports this year and both have been Amelia Bedelia books. She still struggles, but, I hope that love of reading will help her.

Crap

2005-11-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Too much is going on.

Since last Thurs (11/17) things have been nuts. On that particular day, Hannah made her first confession, or as it is known now, first reconciliation. It was fine, went fairly fast, and the boys were good. That is about all I can ask of any occasion. LOL

Friday (11/18) was dress down day at Hannah's school. She goes to a Catholic school and every Friday is a day that children who follow the rules and complete homework can wear "street" clothes. Hannah put on this ridiculous dress, way too summery, and I pulled it off of her. Imagine my surprise to see her covered in spots. Well, not covered really, 35 or so. Off to the doctor we went. You have probably already guessed that she had chicken pox, but I was utterly surprised when the doc told us this. You see my girl has been vaccinated against chicken pox, and has already had them. I have been told this can happen if one does contract c.p. after vaccination, very rare, but not unheard of. So. Fine. Great. Hannah missed a ton of school in K and 1st grade due to re-occurant strep, and now this. She missed the entire week. Now she is struggling to get all of the homework done.

Not only that, I was supposed to host Thanksgiving for 20 yesterday. I had to back out. My grandmother has had shingles twice, and the second bout nearly drove her crazy. Chicken pox can cause shingles, so... No Thanksgiving at my house. Well, at least not for 20.

We had Thanksgiving here, and it was nice. I cooked a 12 pound turkey with all the trimmings. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie .... The works. I made everyone dress up, and after dinner we walked around the block despite the bone numbing cold.

So, here I sit, typing as my turkey soup simmers, smelling wonderful. I hope you had a great one.

Worst. Invention. Ever.

2005-11-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

Detactable hoods. I hate them. My daughter leaves hers alone, but my boys...oy!

Harry Potter

2005-11-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, I will admit it... I am a Harry Potter addict. I love the books, I love the movies.... I just love it all. My hubby and I took our chillins to the show yesterday, and it was awesome. The only problem with watching movies that are based on your fav books is that the movie feels like the book on fast forward. So much was left out, but it was already fairly long, so...

Whatever, I still loved it. I have so many theories about the next book that I will bore you all with at a later date.

Heating my effing home

2005-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

I live in IL and my gas company is NICOR. Over the summer I signed up for the budget plan in hopes that I could alleviate some of the huge winter heating bills we have all been expecting. My budget plan bill was $150 monthly. This seemed high to me, but I thought they (Nicor) were getting ready for high winter bills. The budget amount is re-evaluated every 4 months. Mine came up in November.

I don't know what I was expecting, but definitely not what I got. My new "budget" amount was $358.00 per month. AND I had a credit of over $200. Shocked, I canceled the plan, and will keep paying as much or more than my bill to build up my credit and dip into it if need be.

At this point we have been keeping our heat set to 60. Things are not looking good people, it is not even cold out yet and we are freezing in here. My hubby is putting plastic on the windows as we speak, I hope it helps.

My boys as babies

2005-11-14T20:42:00.000-08:00

They were just born in this pic. They are 6 years old now.

Kiddos

2005-11-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

This is my little H. Hannah Marie. She will be 8 years old this coming March. This pic was taken this past September in Disney World. She is posing with Nellie of American Girl Doll fame.

Lost in Space

2005-11-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

I just posted about Thanksgiving and it is not showing. :(

There it is!

Thanks- for -giving

2005-11-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

That is what I used to call Thanksgiving when I was a little. I am hosting this year and I am so nervous. I bought the Turkey today, along with a Turkey breast. I am having different family members bring different things...I hope I dont fall flat on my wide rear end.

Stupid Spammers!

2005-11-13T16:21:00.000-08:00

This is a new blog, my first attempt. I was so excited to see that people were commenting on my posts...only to find that they were spammers. I hate that! I know people need to make a living but geesh!

College

2005-11-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

Not mine, my sisters. I did not graduate college, I was too busy partying and having sex with my no-good boyfriend for serious study.

My sister is enrolled in an online U. I have been "helping" her here and there. Yesterday was the last day of the term and she is 4 big assignments behind. It is eating at me like a bad headache. I want so much to call and bitch at her...but I know that I should butt out. Still....

AJDASKL;DFJHSKL;H;DLSFJSKLA;JFKSDLA;!!!!!!
Okay, glad I got that out of my system.

Picture Day part 2

2005-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Well, we did it! We got Christmas pics. The kids did fairly well and the pics are cute, but it cost me a fortune. We went to Walmart, they had a great deal, all for $9.98. So how did I end up spending $75 you ask?

Very simple the photog was great at his job. He posed the kids in different cute poses with props, and... well... I am weak, very weak. LOL Not only that, I just spent $96 on school photos. sigh

Oh well, the gps and the ggps will love them.

Picture Day

2005-11-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

This year I am doing something that we have never done before. I am getting Christmas pics taken of the kids. I have twin 6 year old boys with ADHD, so this should be fun. I wanted to go all cutesy and have John in red, Adam in Green and Hannah in red and green, but it was not to be.

I looked everywhere (okay 2 stores) for cute red and green sweaters for my guys, and I found them sized - for 6 month olds. Then I started looking for something for Hannah... shudder... Why, oh why must we insist on dressing our 7 year olds like trollops? Spaghetti straps? Really?

So I gave up on the cutesy Christmas theme and went with a cutesy striped theme which I am not sure you will be able to tell is a theme. LOL I am going to look into some sort of free pic hosting to post them.

Wish me luck! I will need it.

Lace

2005-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

Does anyone remember this book? Lace was the first "adult book" I read. Recently something reminded me of it and I bought the thing from Amazon used for two cents or something ridiculous like that. I loved the book. Reading it again I still love it, not because it is such a great book but because it reminds me of when I thought it was great. After reading it I really wanted to see the mini series as well, so I searched EBay and found it.

Although I remember loving it, the miniseries blew. lol Phoebe Cates stared as Lily. Her answer to a French accent was talking like a 6 year old with bad diction and yelling a lot. Whenever she had a yelling scene I began to wonder if the camera cut away just before the actor she was yelling at wiped the spit off of his/her face. lol

Ah well, it was still money well spent. In fact I think I will pop Lace in as I fall asleep tonight.

Night all.

My life...

2005-11-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

So here we go.

What can I say about my life... I am a 36 year old mother of 3 kiddos all under 7. I am a stay at home mom or SAHM (a rambling post about way we all feel the need to give ourselves acronyms to follow). They (my children) are my life.

I know that my last statement will either induce a warm fuzzy feeling or vomiting depending on who is reading this. For me it induces pride as well as a little saddness. I am proud of being a mother, I am proud of my kids, but... well... Is this it? Is this my whole life? Really? As I ask this question the guilt just floods in. Isn't this enough? The stern voice of my conscious asks. My life could be so much less... How can this not be enough?

I am not sure of the answer to that question, and I am not sure if I really want it answered. I just want to ramble and vent and bitch and whatever else I need to do to work things out in my own head.

Anyway more to come...I hope all of you out there in the void have strong stomachs.