May God bless and protect this country.

Now and forever.

Misk-ellanious.

Get out and vote!!------------->

The picture (below) is sideways, but you get the idea.

If you don't, I really can't help you. Sorry.

That's a whole 'nother set of issues.

Now I just hope your monitor is adjusted so this green doesn't come out to funky.

Also, I hope your monitor isn't adjusted so that it

looks like my house has random items laying around.

I hate when computers do that. So. Anyhow.
I start school next week! Wahoo! Time to go out and buy
new jumps and a new outfit. And a backpack. ;) They are on clearance right now.

Other than that...
My windows are supah dupah clean. If you need a guy, I got a guy for you.
Seriously. I have 30+ windows in my house. And two sliding glass doors. He charged about
$100 less than I was expecting, as this wasn't my first rodeo.
FYI, I don't do windows. Because I can't make them disappear like I want them to.
So, yeah. You need a guy? I got a guy.

Aimee, you can come here now. Hurry up before Kaija touches the window.
She's getting tired of wearing gloves. ;) Oh. Wait. Never mind.
She just licked the window.

Oh. And.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION MONTH TO MY
WONDERFUL FRIEND AMY!!!!!!
May you be blessed with rain in Texas. Raining Converse, that is. Or at least ONE pair.

Your choice.

Is it weird that I want to stand in my bathroom and twirl?
I painted it the other day and all I can scream is: LOVE!!!!
It's fabulous. Green and fabulous.
So that leaves me with my next tackle: the laundry room/mudroom.
I've picked some color schemes over there to the right.
Vote on what I should do. Thanks. You're nice.

Wishing,washing.

And that's how it goes. I find out that I'm going to have overnight guests and it's all systems go. Suddenly, it's imperative that the dust balls underneath my bed are gonzo. Because, duh! That's exactly where people look when they come over. Always.


I worry about the wrong things. I remember one time, a friend of mine came to visit and I tackled the apartment with gusto. I had everything spit polished. Or so I thought. She sat down and jokingly ran her finger across my candle holder. The tip of her finger resembled a furry little mouse. Duh. Dust the stuff you see, Mindi, don't waste your time organizing your pencil drawer.


Thankfully, I have relaxed since then. And, it's my family that is coming. They already know what kind of mess I am capable of. After all, they lived with me for a lot of my life. It still is, however, a very good excuse to clean the nooks and crannies that are overdue for TLC. So, if it isn't done by Friday, it isn't going to be done for a while. Had these visits not coincided with my kids going back to school, I would have been more lax. In the past month, I've been twitching over the deep cleaning this house so desperately needs. Kids home 'round the clock = more cleaning for me. And so the combo of the two put a very hot fire under my rumpus.


Disclaimer: Just because I blogged about this doesn't mean my house is going to be immaculate when you come. It will hopefully be cleaner than it was. And you will never know what kind of a yardstick "was" was, will you?

On another note, we made the hard decision (any decision that Zztop and I need to make together is hard. We wish and we wash.) that we will be unable to make it to MN for Christmas again this year. There's a lot that went into it. Part of it? We will be there for Logan's pins and plates removal later in the winter. So. For now, that's the dealio. You know how we operate. Wishywashy, squishysquashy.

Speaking of hard decisions, I *think* we have really figured out, in our heart of hearts, where we really want to be. I'm not announcing it here to jinx it. But I think we know. I feel really at peace about it and have not second guessed it since, which usually happens when I really do come to a decision. That being said, it is still mostly out of our control, so... Life can change.

For the record, I like it here at the moment. Zztop and I balance each other out on this. When I hate it here, he likes it. When he hates it, I like it. Right now, I'm the happy one. It might have to do with the change of the season. There isn't much I hate at the moment.

So, here's to making decisions that hopefully stick. Just not on my clean walls, thankyouverymuch.

Counting on my dreams

Ooh, my quality of life just improved. The kids get on the bus later than last year. Much later. That means we get to sleep in. More sleep = a happier me. This, however, may mean that I won't be getting up a half an hour earlier than the kiddos. Because they will probably wake up on their own with this new schedule. Earlier than they need to. And I'm not waking up a half an hour earlier than early. Sorry. Not happenin'. Trust me. I'm down with this new plan. (is that last sentence still cool?)

Also. I realized in the commotion of switching to a new bank that I made a $137 oversight. In my favor. Ha! Even better than finding a $20 in your pocket.

Which sort of makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing by going back to school for Tax Preparation. Oh, yes. And I'm really excited about it. If I like it, which I'm 99% sure I will, I am going to go for my Accounting degree. YAY! This is kind of a huge thing for me, but I'm really happy to do this for myself. My history has shown that when my baby gets to be this age (over a year), life gets easier and I start looking for something for myself. I've never dared to take this step in the past. Which is weird, because I've done other things- like the Fitness Instructor thing- that weren't necessarily a long term goal of mine. I guess the things that you really want just hold so much more value and therefore the chance of failing at them is a greater risk. But greater risks also mean greater rewards. So why not do what I really want to do? That being said, I'm incredibly nervous and excited in equal portions. It's kind of life changing for me, if you can understand that. I'm really allowing myself to do something that I've wanted to do since high school. Kids to raise or not. I've realized that if you don't embrace your opportunities for happiness, who will?

So here's to fulfilling life's dreams and ambitions! And getting more sleep in the process.

It's been a long time since anything has made me laugh as hard as this did. My favorite office people (T-bag, A-game and Kristy) take note. My shoulders are still shaking from the aftershocks.

Color me healthy. No, seriously. Try to.

I did one thing today that I pretty much swore I'd never do. No, you weirdo, I did not healthify chocolate chip cookies, thankyouverymuch. I told you I would never do that and on that, you have my word. I made homemade crackers. Not that I have anything against it. Certain circumstances, like dietary restrictions, make it reasonable to make something like that. It's just not something I was ever planning on doing. But. I did. And they were pretty good. The kids helped me cut them out with miniature cookie cutters, so it was a fun thing to do with the girlies. Heaven knows I have enough girls to include in things.

Oh. And a second thing. I made healthified popsicles. Hoo boy. I didn't make them in a these-are-just-as-good-as-ice-cream-sandwiches way, I made them in a these-are-a-funner-way-to-eat-your-veggies way. And I told my kids as much. They have the choice to take 'em or leave 'em. The girlies all claim they are delicious. Logan hasn't taken the plunge. Hey, if they are falling for it...

Plus, a third thing. I healthified dessert. Well, it goes like this. I love dessert. And I rarely reward myself with (homemade) dessert. That being said, I'm not against a cookie here and there. Or Dove Dark Chocolate. Anywho, healthified homemade dessert = less guilt. And, it actually was good. If it wasn't, I wouldn't waste the calories. Trust me. Win, win. It included my two favorite fruits: nectarines and raspberries. So why not? Of course, this is coming from the lady who decided, halfway into the abs challenge, that two months of really healthy eating was over the top and proceeded to make up for lost time with two varieties of Oreos and pizza. Heh. Hey, if it isn't good- don't waste your time putting it in your mouth. (When I Z suggested we invite someone over to share this dessert, I quickly vetoed him. I'm not pushing health upon my guests. I will feed them the sinfully delicious variety. Plus, it didn't make a big pan and I wasn't against cleaning out the remainder myself.)

The links that I included are from two different websites that I've stumbled upon. The eighty twenty website is new to me. LoVe. I love her concept. It suits me well. As a matter of fact, it's like she stole thoughts from my head. And the other one? Well. She doesn't buy snacks for her kid(s). She makes them all from scratch. Which is great in theory, but something tells me that she doesn't have as many kids as I do. But it got me thinking, maybe I could be a little healthier with my kids meals during the school year.

And I've set some goals for myself.

1. Wake up a half an hour before my kids, to enjoy the calm before the storm. Idea taken from Molly Shannon. Great idea. On the rare occasion that I do this, I never regret it. I'm hoping that over the summer I've learned to love waking up to an alarm clock. Heh.

2. In that time, I can start on a real breakfast for my kids. Cold cereal will be for weekends. I need to keep those bellies full. Some grades eat really late and I don't need my kids to be distracted by their bellies screaming from hunger. I'm ahead of the game and have been baking things like muffins and pancakes in excess and freezing them for an easy breakfast.

3. Pack healthier lunches. A water, good sandwich, something healthy (yogurt, fruit, string cheese, etc.) and healthier treat (dark chocolate or something).

Hoo boy. This is a lot of goals and I'll probably crash and burn two weeks into it. And my kids will be waking up ten minutes late because the snooze button has become my friend and they will be trying to shovel as much cold cereal as they can into their mouths before the bus comes and grabbing a Lunchable on the way out the door. Actually, scratch the Lunchable part. For the same price, they can eat an equally questionable, but warm school lunch. But you get the picture.

Picture. Oh, picture! That's right. Isn't my cayenne pepper beautiful? I can't wait to try it in my Migas tonight. YUM-O. I should have waited until it was completely red, but I got ahead of myself. It's just so pretty with all the different colors it is wrapped in.

So. I can't talk anymore. I have an Oreo in my mouth.