Learned Something New 2/2/09

Today I learned:
1) That time really does fly when you're having fun.

I cannot believe that I have not made a blog entry in over a month! This month has just flown by and when I looked at the calendar, I mean really looked at the calendar, I realized that it was already February. And though I have been busy with work and fundraisers and "mom" stuff I guess time just got away with me. I don't feel overwhelmed at the time so I guess it is safe to say that I am now just enjoying day to day life and keeping busy with everyday things.

Learned Something New 12/27/08

Today I learned that:
1) About a really cool digital photo frame called the CEIVA Digital Photo Frame
I first heard about this experience that involved uploading a photo of yourself or a loved one and getting to participate in what is called "sit on Santa's lap". Yes, I know, Christmas is past, but hey, it's never to early to start my wishes 2009, right? It was so cool that not only did I upload my first photo, but I kept on uploading other photos and even changed my wishes a few times. It asked for my name and what I wanted and I put in my name and asked for a BMW! My name and my gift wish showed up in santa's book. It was so real and it was a hoot to watch! This was all part of an experience that is available by purchasing the CEIVA Digital Photo Frame. This photo frame is like a digital photo frame, except it takes the digital photo frame experience one step further. You or anyone you know can instantly upload their photos to your frame via Internet or mobile phone. How cool is that? Think of what a great surprise that could be! You're sitting at your desk and there is a photo of you on your most recent vacation and then BLAM! The photo changes and it is a downloaded photo of your friend that she just sent to you via her mobile phone while she was in Hollywood and just got a photo of her with Brad Pitt!! Or something like that LOL! And it will receive photos from anywhere in the world. You just never know what they will think of next. Check it out by going to got a wish

There is also an optional contest that they are having - 1 random entry selected for each day of the contest; cash prize of $500 per winner. Good luck!

Learned Something New 12/21/08

Today I learned:
1) That the Dallas Cowboys LOST to the Baltimore Ravens last night.
I forgot that the game was on Saturday night this week, so of course with all the Christmas stuff we had going on I didn't watch it. I guess I was a little more confident in the Cowboys than I thought, but lo and behold, they could not pull it off and lost! And to top it off it was their last game to be played in the Cowboys Stadium in Irving and instead of going out with a bang, they went out with a dud! I have been a Cowboys fan since I was a little girl growing up in Hawaii. Then I REALLY became a true fan when Troy Aikman became a cowboy. Nowadays, there is not much for me to look forward to with this team, but one of these days I am hoping that they will be playoff team material again!!

Learned Something New 12/20/08

Today I learned:
1) That My kids used all their anytime minutes on their cell phones!
UGH! So instead of being in the Christmas spirit I am now a pissed off scrooge mom! I let my son go out to play with his friends on Friday after school since it was the beginning of Christmas break. It was getting dark, so I called him on his cell phone and I get this message that my call cannot go through. So I am thinking, WHAT? Then I try and call my daughter on her phone to see if there is a problem and sure enough both of their cell phones will not accept my calls because they went over the 700 anytime minutes that they both share. now how this happened when they have night and weekend minutes and they also have Fave 5's I do not know. So of course now they are both grounded until we can figure who is the one who put those minutes over the top. I am truly upset about this. So now my son is absolutely dying because he cannot talk to his friends on the phone during Christmas break as I told him I am not paying for new minutes and he has to wait until his new cycle begins at the end of December. He is even banned from using the house phone to call his friends as part of the punishment. My daughter is in 3rd grade so I am sure she is not the one who used all the minutes because she hardly ever used her phone. Anyway, I will update this saga as we find a way to get my son to stop talking on the phone so much or to choose his Fave 5's more selectively!!

Learned Something New 12/18/08

Today I learned:
1) That my Christmas Tree is dying
I have been watering my tree everyday, but today the tree is 3 weeks old, so of course it is starting to look a little crispy. I say to it everyday, hang in there buddy. And I know he is, but time is not on the tree's side. I love having a fresh tree every year and this year we got our tree the day after Thanksgiving, so naturally it was a whole week earlier than I usually buy it. I just want it to hang on until Christmas and then it will be coming down. Usually I leave it up until after New Year's Day, but I know for certain this tree will not make it until then.

Learned Something New 12/17/08

Today I learned:
1) That people just aren't buying fresh Christmas trees like in the past
I remember when we went to get out tree the other week, the man at Home Depot made mention of this as well, but I didn't really thing about it until I heard a story on the news the last night. When we went to look for our tree I couldn't find the type I wanted in the size I wanted and the man told me that they were expecting new shipments every Wednesday. He told me that this year they are only shipping in 500 trees as opposed to the 800 they had shipped in last year. I asked him why that was and he said he wasn't really sure, but it might have to do with the economy or the fact that more people are buying artificial trees these days. Then I saw a story on the news last night and this story alluded to the fact that many people are downsizing when it comes to spending money on Christmas and there are stories of families who are going without a real tree this year and buying small, artificial tree or just foregoing a Christmas tree altogether. That was a sad story to think that there might be some children out there who will not have a tree this year.

Learned Something New 12/16/08

Today I learned:
1) That we are under an ice and fog advisory
So today schools were canceled and the kids and I stayed in. I turned off the phone ringer and we drank hot chocolate and watched the movie "Elf". It was wonderful! Now the news is broadcasting that we are in for a fog advisory tonight. The roads have been treacherous, but one think I am completely thankful for is the fact that I quit my job earlier in 2008 to go back to being a stay-at-home and work-at-home mom. I remember last year driving to work after dropping my kids off at school and worrying if I would make it there without getting into a car accident. Now with that worry off my mind, it sure felt good to be able to stay home with my kids and just do nothing and not have to worry that I was one of those drivers stuck in early morning traffic with all the pile ups from the ice on the roads! And tonight my PTA meeting and basketball practice have also been canceled, so it really is going to be a stay-at-home kind of day! Yippee....

Learned Something ELSE New 12/15/08

Today I also learned:
2) That it's snowing in Las Vegas
Can you believe it? I am here in North Texas where the temps have been below freezing all day. There is ice on my Christmas yard decorations, but no snow! And then my husband calls to tell me that there is snow all over his vehicle in Las Vegas! I can't believe it!

Learned Something New 12/15/08

Today I learned that:
1) One of my fellow bloggers is hosting a contest
and giving away DVDs. What a cool idea and just in time for Christmas.
You should check it out and enter! Here is her blog site:

CrAzY Working Mom: A Give Away Times Three!

Good luck! I'm hoping to win the Shrek DVD!!

Learned Something New 12/4/08

Today I learned:
1) That my daughter wants an i-Phone for Christmas.
Okay, so I'm sure a lot of kids have that on their list, but I am sure that most of those kids are not in 3rd grade. We bought her a cell phone this summer because between her and my 6th grade son and all the activities they are in it's hard for me to be in 2 places at once since my husband works out of state. So for my own peace-of-mind, we got both kids phones. It has been a life saver for me many times, I will not argue at all about that. But now my daughter, having had her phone for all of 4 months, wants to upgrade to an i-Phone. NOT HAPPENING!! Which are the exact words I told her when she handed me her list. To this she replied, "Well, that's okay, I will just asked Santa for it then." Dang that Santa!!

Learned Something ELSE new - 12/2/08

Today I also learned:
2) How to hook up Christmas lights
My husband was home for the week of Thanksgiving. That was a good thing because his honey-do list was growing so long since his last trip back home in October. Because he was home for 5 days the main thing was for him to decorate the yard and outside of the house with our Christmas lights because he is not going to be home again until Christmas. So he worked all week...and he worked and he worked. All the lights were up by Sunday night and he had the timers hooked up and all was good in our world of Christmas. Until Monday morning when he decided to add a few more things. His flight was at 5:00 pm, but I had to take him to the airport early because it's an hour away and I wanted to make sure I was back home in time to pick the kids up from school. So we left home at 1 pm. And again all the lights plus the new lights he put up were ready to go...So I thought....Then 5 pm came when it was getting dark and the timers were supposed to kick on. Nothing happened. Half the lights came on and the other half did not. It was too cold and too dark for me to go out and fiddle around with this stuff, not to mention the fact that I am not one for playing around with electricity. So my husband calls me and I tell him that the lights aren't working and he responds by telling me that we must have blown a fuse in one of the strings of lights. So this morning I had to go out and retrace all the cords back to the source and try and figure out which string was making the lights not work. I ruled out that it was not a blown fuse because everything else was working. Then he told me that I probably blew a fuse in the string of lights -- he was correct, but what good did that declaration make when he is Las Vegas working and I am here in Texas with Christmas lights that don't work! Anyway, I figured out which lights they were, replaced the fuse with his helpful directions by tele-conference and proceeded to move a bunch of the strings one to different extension cords and outlets so as not to repeat the blown fuse problem every night for the next 23 days. Whew...I hate dealing with electricity, but when it comes to Christmas lights I will make an exception and I am glad that I learned that today!

Learned Something New 12/2/08

Today I learned:
1) That we are in a recession (officially)
Okay, so we all "knew" that the U.S. has been in a recession for a year, but only yesterday was it officially announced that we are in a recession. Okay, I am confused about that one. But that being said, this is really affecting our economy and in turn will be affecting many families and their Christmas season. I did hear a piece of good news the other day on the news stating that children's wish lists to Santa seem to be reflecting these tough times that everyone is facing. Many kids know that things are tight in their family and in turn when they send their wish lists to Santa they are not asking for big ticket items, but instead asking for things like a better job for their parents or smaller priced items.

Learned Something New 12/1/08

Today I learned:
1) That time flies when the holidays arrive!
Boy I cannot believe that today is December 1st already. I have taken a break from my work-at-home job for the holidays (one of the perks I love about working at home) and it seems that I am busier than ever with holiday "mom" things like decorating, baking, running around and most of all shopping. I can't seem to stop. It all started with Black Friday (see my next post on the GREAT deals I got on Black Friday!) and now I am hooked. I have been to Wal-Mart at least 8 times this past weekend and this morning I dropped the kids off at school and instead of making a right-hand turn to go back home, I made a left-hand turn to go to Wal-Mart. $100 later.....well you know the rest of how this story ends. The deals this year seem so much better to me or is it that I just have this need to have these things more! I don't know, but I am having FUN! I am so excited about this holiday season and hope the weather gets colder here in Texas!

Learned Something New 10/14/08

Today I learned:
1) That is takes a village to raise a child
I have a friend who says this to me and others all the time and I used to think - phhhhtttt, baloney. But today I made myself sit back and take a look around me to see how the people in my life depend on me and how I depend on them to help with the day to day things that are needed to raise a family. I quit my full-time job this past February and started working at home doing transcription. It has been the best thing I could have ever done. I was lucky that I had my husband's backing and his financial support in the interim while I got myself established with various companies. As my husabnd works out of state I often tag myself as a "single parent" case in point being that he came home last week for a whole week after being away for 6 months and no, he is not in the military. I have always prided myself on being able to get my kids where they need to be and take care of my family which is the main reason I quit my job because once I started to have to lean on others to watch my kids after school it became painfully clear to me that my time was needed elsewhere and an office was not one of them. I love the fact that I am home when the kids need me and can volunteer at the school and go on field trips as my work is pretty flexible. But some of the moms that live around me are not so fortunate that they either need to work or want to work, which their decisions I respect. But I have lately become the chauffuer of many kids and the person who's house is open to them when they want a place to hang out and play or for a snack. It's a double edged sword for me because I love knowing where the kids are and what they are up to, but I am now to the point that I am always watching people's kids after school or taking them to school or picking them up after school and working around other people's schedules. My husband thinks that I am crazy and reminds me all the time that I did not quit my job for to make life easy for everyone else. It's hard for me to say no, especially when others know that I am home in the first place, but sometimes I find it disconcerting that they are so easy to ask can you watch my kids after school for a whole month or can you take my kids to school so they don't have to walk? I take my kids to school anyway and am going that way, but wouldn't it be nice to just have to worry about my own kids and no one elses? Well, last night I sat and thought about it and realized that I need to shut my mouth and go with the flow because everyone has challenges in their lives that require them to have to lean on others and maybe one day I may be in the same situation where I will need to lean on others to help me with my kids. I would hope that if it got to the point where I was depending on others to watch my kids everyday that is when I would make my husband come back to working in state. I also told myself to stop complaining about this situation as I put myself here by not being able to say no and that it is showing my kids a bad example. As I always try to preach to them that if someone needs our help, we have to do our best to help out, but then there is the other side of me that says, but where do you draw the line to those who take advantage of that? Well, in the end I decided to shut my trap and blog about it instead...

Learned Something New 10/11/08

Today I learned:
1) I was right, my son is on an awesome football team
As of today with only 2 games left in the the season, they are undefeated. Today's game was a tough one. They lost their momentum from early on and it got a little scary for a while because it looked like they were not going to score at all. Every game up to this point, we have been the first team to score and the ending score has always been a blow out like 44-0 or 28 -0, but today, it was 6-0 in the other teams favor and we didn't get any points on the board until the 4th quarter. We squeaked by with a win by getting an interception and scoring which brought the final score to 12-6. WHEW!!! The boys learned a lesson today as well. Just because you put the jersey on doesn't automatically mean that you are going to win the game. You got to work to get the win!

PS -- Practice this week is going to be pretty punishing for them :)

Learned Something New 9/6/08

Today I learned:
1) That my son is on an awesome football team!!
Today was the start of the fall 2008 football season I am sure in probably every city in the United States. My son's team had an awesome first game. They won 30-6. This is his first season playing tackle football. He is in 6th grade and though this is not his first time playing football it is his first time playing tackle football. He has played flag football for the past 5 years. So of course I was a little nervous, but being that he is one of the biggest boys on the team I know I should have not worried so much, but anything can get a football player hurt, so I was on pins and needles through the whole game. Plus they played at 3:00 in the afternoon when it was almost 100 degrees. But they fared well and won! Congratulations Titans!

Learned Something New 9/5/08

Today I learned:

1) That Tori Spelling is NOT on the new remake of 90210 on the CW.

Okay, I have to admit that I have been a little out of it when it comes to watching some of the new shows that have come on TV in the past week. I am in love with Tori Spelling's show on Oxygen Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood and have followed it all season, but I have neglected to follow-up on what is going on with the progress of her return to 90210. The last I heard in the tabloids she was going to do it. Today I was watching the 2-hour premiere of the show that I missed on Tuesday night and was wondering where she was. Well now I find out from one of my friends Kathy today that she is NOT going to be on the 90210 remake because of something to do with $$$$. I was SOOOO disappointed to hear this. This was the main reason I was even going to tune into the show at all. She has had a total comeback in her career and I have so enjoyed seeing her make success in her life and career. Well, I for one am a VERY unhappy fan that wishes and hopes that maybe something will change and that she will eventually be included on the show. It just seems weird because it was her Dad's show, you know? Maybe her mom had something to do with this???? JMHO....

Learned Something New 9/4/08

Today I learned:

1) A new recipe from Kraft Foods called Banana Cream Cheesecake.

I received the recipe in the Kraft Magazine that is mailed out quarterly. It was delicious and so simple to make! I made it for some of the volunteer workers that were helping me with the PTA fundraiser kick-off at the school. Everyone said it tasted great. It was the first time I had made it. Here is the recipe if you want to try it (and did I mention it is really easy to make?)

Prep Time:15 min Total Time:5 hr 5 min Makes:24 servings, 1 piece each

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix, divided
4 eggs, divided
3 Tbsp. oil
2/3 cup packed brown sugar, divided
2 bananas, sliced
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1-1/2 cups milk
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

HEAT oven to 300ºF. Reserve 1 cup dry cake mix. Mix remaining cake mix with 1 egg, oil and 1/3 cup sugar with mixer. (Mixture will be crumbly.) Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of greased 13x9-inch baking pan; top with bananas.

BEAT cream cheese and remaining sugar with mixer. Add reserved cake mix, remaining eggs and lemon juice; beat 1 min. Blend in milk. (Batter will be very thin.) Pour into crust.

BAKE 45 to 50 to min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with COOL WHIP. Refrigerate leftovers.

Enjoy!

Learned Something New 9/3/08

Today I learned:

1) How to put together a fundraising packet in the most efficient way.

This Friday our school will kick-off it's fall fundraiser. We are selling Entertainment Books (you know, the books with all the coupons in them) and since this is our PTA's first attempt at this particular fundraiser, I have been working closely with the company in trying to get this organized and off the ground. Well, they sent us an army of workers today who were very fast and efficient and I learned a lot from them. Though I had put together fundraiser packets in my previous years as fundraising chair, this one went fast and it was the little things like 2 labels (one for the book and one for the envelope so we know who's book are who's) and organizing them by teacher/grade that although obvious, made it go by faster and will make it easier for us to distribute the packets to all the students on Friday.

Learned Something New 9/2/08

Today I learned that:

1) Nothing ever happens on Wednesdays

It's true....Nothing ever happens on Wednesdays. I took a look at my calendar for the next two months and with all the football practices, cheer practices, scrimmages, games, bowling league games, softball practices, gymnastics, boy scouts, girl scouts, concessions, camps, PTA meetings and school events I have nothing scheduled on a Wednesday. And of course that is the one night that there is nothing that I like to watch on TV either. Is it a sign or something? I wonder why that is? Maybe people try to cram everything in at the beginning and end of the week and then there is Wednesday. Maybe one day I will figure out why.

Learned Something New 9/1/08

Today I learned that:

1) Wasps do not belong in my house!

Me and the kids are locked up in my office because get this -- there is a WASP flying around loose in our house! I just want to die because you know that means I need to kill it. The kids are sitting by the doors looking out into the living room keeping watch for it to land. I have gone out twice to try and swat it, but it comes and flies towards me so I run like bloody heck out of there. I hung two fly strip traps, but no bites so far and I just made a liter bottle trap that I found the instructions for online, but still nothing. We might be in here all night if I don't kill it soon! I can't have the kids sleeping with a wasp flying around. And I have Texas brisket in the oven waiting for me to finish it and I am too scared to go to the kitchen and open the oven! UGH! How that stupid thing got in here I will never know!!!!

Oh my god, the kids are the worst! I thought there was a rabid animal or something in the house when they started screaming. And of course my son locked himself in the bathroom at first and shoved a towel under the door so it couldn't "crawl" in. I was like --it's not a snake!!!!!!! I am trying to put out a bowl of sugar and water which my sister says will attract it, but then that means I need to leave the office and go into the kitchen and I have no freaking idea where this thing is now. A little while ago it landed on the stair wood banister so I went out there and started spraying it with my Raid and of course wouldn't you know the dang narm Raid spray didn't reach it!!! UGH!!! So I got Raid all over the carpet and the stupid wasp flew away. The only bug spray I have is for ants and roaches, I hope that works on it. Wish me luck. I am going to run to the kitchen with my fly swatter and my raid in hand. I feel like I am in Iraq or something looking around corners to see if the thing is coming towards me and then running like heck to get into the kitchen!

Ding dong the WASP is dead the wicked WASP, the wicked WASP, ding dong the wicked WASP is Deeeeeaaaaaaaadddddddddddddd! I feel like a fool......remember when I said I sprayed it with the Raid and the spray didn't reach, well I guess it did reach because we haven't seen it for a couple of hours even after I put out the sugar water and plate of sugar, so I go out to the combat fields to check things out and I don't see it anywhere, well I look on the floor below the stairs and there it lay!!! Dead from the Raid! We could have come out of hiding 2 hours ago!!! So I sprayed it with hairspray, just to make sure, you never know those wasps, could be a trap! And then I picked it up with the flyswatter (or shall I say waspswatter for today) and flushed that thing down the toilet -- I flushed twice just to make sure!!!!! Ding dong the WASP is dead the wicked WASP, the wicked WASP, ding dong the wicked WASP is Deeeeeaaaaaaaadddddddddddddd!

Learned Something New 8/31/08

I have always used the saying, you learn something new everyday and I told myself that I should start a notebook of things I learn on a daily basis. You would be surprised how much you can learn in just one day from something very small and trivial to something that is eye-opening and life-changing. So this is my blog which is a compilation of all that I learn and it is way for me to realize that there is a lesson to be learned everyday.

Today I learned:

1) My kids know more about blogging than I do:

• When I told my kids that I was going to start a blog of my own I thought I would have to go into a long, drawn out explanation about what blogging is. To my surprise, they already know a lot more about blogging than I do. In fact, my son asked me if I wanted his help in getting my blog up and running. And he is 11 years old. My 8-year old asked me if I needed any help in what I was going to write about in my blog. That's when I learned that my kids know more than I do about blogging (and probably a lot more about the Internet, too!)

2) How to paint a room all by myself:

• My husband works out of state and I have been trying to take on the "honey do" projects that he no longer has time to take care of. If I wait until he gets home all he wants to do is relax and enjoy the surroundings of his home. So I either have to hire a handyman, which why should I when I can do it myself or get into what I call "he-man" mode and do it myself. I am finding that it is much more rewarding and a lot cheaper to do it myself. The sense of accomplishment that I feel when I finish something is awesome to me. Anyway, today I took that gallon of blue paint that has been sitting for the past 4 months waiting for him and painted my sons bedroom -- all by myself. I learned the importance of being patient so as not get paint all over the carpet and I most importantly learned to cover the carpet well. I learned how to tape the walls so as not to get paint on the baseboards, etc. and even though I am afraid of heights, I went up on the ladder to get the high spots. I have blisters on my hands, but I think it came out awesome and I did it all by myself!