havocandmayhem.com

since Monday menu - 2 laziness - 4 We went out 3 times. Thursday was date night. DH & I went to Bavarian Chef,the boys had PB&J. Friday the boys had fishsticks & spinich salad. I had spinich salad (still full from the previous night). Saturday we went to Waffle House and tonight we had KFC because my allergies gave me a screaming headache. This is not good. Tomorrow night DH won't be home for dinner, so I'm going to do the squash mac & cheese (DH is not a mac & cheese fan). Tuesday I will make the turkey roll ups I was going to make today before the allergies made me cry. The rest of the week is open but we have gove over & above the dining out budget so we MUST stick to the menu.

One of my favorite scrap sites has closed down. Traci decided to close Scrapmommies after another hacking a few days ago. I don't blame her in the least. She's had to rebuild the site several times in the past 6 months due to server problems & hacking issues. But that leaves me without my main source of scrapping challenges. They had about 40 or so a month. They were not designer or kit specific. I love DSP's challenges but I'm not always interested enough in the kit or word art etc required to buy it. I generally like everything but don't have the budget to buy it all so I get picky. So I have been roaming around looking for something new and I came across 2 things. One is over at Jen Wilson's site . She is doing an 8 week long challenge/contest - A Meaning*ful Contest . More details can be found here . She is giving out some cool prizes. The other is at The Digi Dares Blog . It runs every week, though this first dare runs for 2 weeks. They are giving away

Best: We live in the middle of nowhere. There are nothing but farms around us, low population, no traffic. Nothing Least: We live in the middle of nowhere. There are nothing but farms around us, low population, no traffic. Nothing. These things are great when you want to be able to let the kids out to run around & play in the yard. They can strip naked & play with the hose, scream, yell, and have plenty of space to do whatever they want with no neighbors to disturb. I don't have to keep my lawn mowed unless I feel like it. I can paint my house any color I please & if I want to leave a well worn statue of the Muses on my roof for 6 years there is no one to complain about it but the cows. Sound does carry so I can't host a rock band nightly, but apart from that my restrictions are few & far between. These things are not so great when you need milk, or your kids would like to play with someone other than themselves, or when they want to do something besides

Did you receive your education somewhere other than school? My favorite subject has always been history, followed by English and any language classes. I should probably clarify what I mean by "English". I mean the writing part and some of the reading. I did not enjoy dissecting novels for their subliminal messages or the hidden meanings behing a character type. I'm a straightforward person. Please don't ruin a perfectly good story for me by telling me what the author was 'really saying' I read Animal Farm years before I had to for English class. Great fantasy story about pigs taking over a farm. Imagine my surprise that is was all an indictment of communism. Wizard of Oz, apparently about the evils of the gold standard. Then there was some really boring 'great literature' we had to read. Plus nuns never tell you the more salacious meanings behind some of Shakespeare's quips, so you miss the intended humor. I've never been able to joi

DS1 starts school Thursday. His school is 40 minutes in the opposite direction from the grocery store, so it is important I get back on the ball with the menus. Groceries now require more effort & planning. I got 365 No Repeats by Rachel Ray recently & am going to try out a couple new recipes from it. Broiled salmon with cousous salmon cakes or fish sticks pasta to be determined veggie soup & sandwiches Scotch eggs & spinich salad calzone/deep dish pizza or PapaJohns Squash mac & cheese (365 No Repeats) braciole with 'oven fried' zucchini apple cider chicken (365 No Repeats) Chicken salad meatloaf w/hidden veggies Turkey roll ups (365 No Repeats) I've been going through my pantry to make my grocery list & have discovered that I need to keep up with rotating my stock. I am making veggie noodle soup for dinner (not on the menu) & need 2 cans of broth for that. I grabbed 2 from the shelf & then as I was opening them I glanced at their '

I'm going to have to do this in reverse order 10. read a couple chapers of SPQR 9. put away clean laundry 8. took sleeping pill 7. brushed teeth & aligners 6. filed down rough spots on new aligners 5. changed clothes 4. cleaned up snack mess 3. watched Mythbusters 2. had a snack 1. put the kids in bed

We had a really good time visiting my family, despite the car woes. My folks rented a cabin at Oglebay Park The boys got to know their cousins again. We only see them once a year. The girls are each about 5 months younger than the boys. Plus they have an older brother who DS1 just adores. DS1 was shy at first but warmed up as time went on. I was able to mostly convince my family to just leave him alone & let him decide in his own time to say hi. They are all outgoing people & think the shy just need lots of 'encouragement'. I hated that as a child & am doing what I can to shield DS1 from it. Yes, Grandma thinks DS1 should give Uncle a big hug but Uncle is really a stranger to DS1. Would you encourage a child to hug a stranger? Grandma seemed to get the point, kinda. But left alone DS1 warmed up just fine to everyone within an hour. We took all the kids to the Zoo on Saturday. They saw the new kangaroo exhibit, got up close to deer, pet the goats, saw t

this is the list I took to the store today...just stuff I need to fill in until my big grocery shop on Sunday, plus stuff I have to take to DS1's school orientation tomorrow. fish sticks buttoni ravioli alfredo sauce veg - random spinich milk yogurt bananas grapes peaches? 4 pack of toilet paper Paper towels 2 pumps of antibac soap 2 things of baby wipes coloring book

It was a nice vist with my family. I'll write about the nice stuff later. First lets get the stress out. Almost $1500 to fix my car, plus an hour spent just hanging around the lot of the repair place because even though they said "Yes it is ready" when we called, it was not actually ready. Fortunately the boys were napping in my folks car so we didn't have to keep them out of trouble. Car evenutally is actually ready, we pay the money & drive off. As the boys napped for an hour before we ever left town they naturally wanted out to run around about an hour into the trip & didn't fall asleep again until 10pm. So it was a long, slow, whiney drive that ended up being 90 minutes longer than it actually is. Then there was this point about 2 hours from home where we kept hearing a metalic rattle coming from the front of the car. It sounded like a loose chain occasionally banging against something. Naturally it is well dark and we are on a lonely stretch

And no, I don't mean that there is an internet signal in the cabin (very poor often times out, but an unexpected blessing) What is unbelieveable is this...we drive 6 hours to get here, cross the Appalachian Mountains, get to the bottom of the very last hill that we have to drive up to get to the cabin & suddenly the engine starts making a whining noise & the car won't get in gear. Due to past unfortunate experience with my previous car I know what is wrong - tranmission. We get the car up the hill. The whole time I am swearing because not only am I going up hill with a car that won't stay in geear (and therefore drifts backwards from time to time) and not only is the road well travelled enough I am sure I will either hit someone while drifting or they will whack into me as they round a blind bend, and not only because the road is too narrow to actually pull over, and did I mention it is midnight?, but mostly because I know this is going to cost me $1000!!! Pardo

The laptop. I'm assuming there is electricity and a super fast internet connection already available (after all this is paradise:D). The 21 yards of cotton fabric I have in the sewing room. I can make clothes, sheets and shelter out of it. (I am making a set of quilts) My current cross stitch project. Maybe I'd actually finish it. Assuming no electricity I would swap the laptop for a box of books, chosen at random from my bookshelves. We're going to a resort cabin for the next 5 days (no internet so it isn't paradise:D, but the food should be ok and the insects minimal). I'm bringing the laptop, my camera, clothes, some toys for the kids & a book. This sounds like hardly anything but somehow fills 2 suitcases, a dufflebag and 2 laptop cases (DH & I are each brining our own laptops) and takes up the entire back end of our car. DH complained we were taking as much stuff for 4 days as we take to FL for a week. That is because we are. There is a washer

When I have been sick or just through an operation the one thing I need to do to help me feeling I am healing is take a shower. I need to wash away the illness, the hospital scent, the 'icky' aura that lingers around me. That was really the hardest part of my c-section. They wouldn't let me shower for almost 3 days because I had a reaction to the waterproof pressure bandage. It made me all grumpy & out of sorts that I couldn't wash the 'ugh' feeling off of my skin. My appendix & gall bladder were removed with laparascopy & I was able to shower in 24 hours. A nice hot shower with some good smelling soap & a loofa works wonders. I remember I was always shopping for the 'right' bath scent in 2004. Being sick & sweaty so much I wanted to smell good, even if only temporarily. I went through a lot of loofas too, scrubbing myself off so often. what is my ISP doing today? everything is timing out on me. I finally bought the case to

It just occurred to me! I'm going to have to spend 4 solid days with no internet! we're going to visit my family Sat-Tues. They have rented a cabin at a local park for everyone to stay in. I'm nearly positive there is no internet in those cabins. Maybe at the main lodge but our cabin is no where near that. Sure, I will want to spend time with my family but I know how that goes. There will be chunks of time where everyone but me is napping or reading or in pursuit of other solitary activities. Time I could spend on the internet. I suppose I will just scrap. That might be nice.

I've been blessed, there have been very few serious illnesses among my family & friends. The worst illness I have ever had hit me about 7 weeks after DS2 was born. It started as a cold. Just a slight cold, but then I had to go into the hospital to have my gall bladder out. While I was there I must have picked up something because three days after the surgery I had bronchitis & walking pneumonia. I also had anemia from blood loss during DS2s birth & my immune system was weak. The pneumonia cleared up after a week but the bronchitis lingered, and lingered and lingered. I'd feel better for a week or so & then be floored again with coughing, an inability to breathe deeply, chest congestion, & fever, for couple weeks. I couldn't sleep, which made things worse. Nothing seemed to stop it. Various meds would work briefly but it would come back. My doctor kept insisting I needed plenty of rest to let my body recover. I had a newborn & a 1.5 year old.

I met my future MIL about a month after I started dating her son. His family was having a 4th of July party & he brought me with him. (He needed a ride) My first impression of them, remained a lasting one. They were *loud*. He has 3 older siblings, all were married & had 5 kids between them. It was a lot more people than I was used to at a family gathering. They were nice, a little distant & a bit tactless, but decent people. I liked them on our first meeting & they seemed to like me. I was just DH's latest girlfriend, not that he had had a bunch but no one attached any significance to my being there. I liked his mom. She was a very nice, down to earth person, who chain smoked & drank endless cups of coffee. It was a nice time

what would we be wearing if someone dropped by? Well, at the moment nearly everyone is in shorts & tees, but that is unusual. Normally I am weaing PJ bottoms. They are the only pants I own besides my 501s that fit me properly & it is too hot to wear jeans. My shorts are all too big, most of capris fit in the hips but not the waist or are too tight in the waist. So I wear drawstring PJ bottoms most of the time. Loose, cool, comfy. DS1 is normally fully dressed but often is only in his underwear beacuse he likes to play in the sink & if a drop of water gets on his clothes he *must* take them off. DS2 is usually missing his pants because I am lazy & never put them back on him after changing his diaper, unless we are going out. DH is almost always found in his 'business casual' work clothes - tan pants & polo style shirt with company logo.

If you could tell the story of your life by taking someone to a half dozen places, where would you go? First to the house I grew up in. My parents lived there for over 25 years & I lved there for 18. It was the center of everything for me growing up. Second to the park. The local park in my hometown is a large place with lake, miniture golf,a playground, a pool, tennis courts, etc. They do daycamp every summer for ages 3-12 and hire kids starting at age 13. I spent every summer there from ages 3-19, (minus the summer I worked at DisneyWorld). Some of my best childhood memories are of that place. I grew up there. I love taking my own kids there when we are in town. Third to WVU. So much happened to me in college. I loved it. I saw & did & learned so many things in the 7 years I was there. Fourth to my last job. I grew a lot at this job. It was not my first 'grown up' job but it was the one where I felt most mature, capable & confident. Fifth to the hos

Right now my indulgence is solitude. Time alone to read. I can be on the computer withthe boys around but it hard to sit & read a book with them underfoot. So whenI am feeling indulgent I wil shut myself in the bedroom (lock the door) with some chocolate & a good book. How would I like to indulge myself? well, this is only partly for me, mostly it is for DH. I would love to have a night nanny. Someone who works midnight to 8am and deals with all the middle of the night wakings and the up for the day 5:30am wakings. DH does it now because I am drugged to sleep & am usually too groggy and out of it to cope, though I have staggered back to the boys room a few times & blearily changed a few diapers, mostly it is all on DH. I would like us both to be able to sleep in together. So my big fantasy indulgance is a night nanny.

I don't remember playing specific games when I was a kid, apart from things like hop scotch and jumping rope. I played with dolls with the other little girls, making up stories about them. When the boys played we played with Weebles or those plastic army men you can buy by the bag, or with cars. i remember having a lot of adventures in the woods behind our houses too. There was an old tree that fell over and created a sort of bridge between 2 small hills. Lots of action went on there. It made a great pirate ship and was perfect for "None Shall Pass" (1972 I saw my first Monty Python episode. None Shall Pass was from a skit that later appeared in the Holy Grail as the Black Knight) The fall was relatively short from the tree & the dirt was as soft as loose dirt can be to land on. Most of our non-all girl games invovled some sort of physical risk. I think a lot of mom's I know today would freak out if thier kids were playing a game that involved deliberately