AND THE WINNER IS...

Yes thats right the big winner is Shannon over at The Extreme One! Congratulations!

Times Up!

Ok so I am assuming that I have all the entries for the give away. Stay tuned to see if you are the winner!

Wordless Wednesday (and dont forget the give away!)

100TH POST GRAND PRIZE GIVE AWAY!!!!

So here it is, my first ever GRAND PRIZE GIVE AWAY!!!

So because I have such a small blog an so few followers do not have a huge amount of resources but I am using the ones I do have.

So here it is!!

The Rules

1. You must list yourself as a follower in order to win this give away! I am trusting that most of the people who read this have already done so but all the same that is rule number one!

(And do not list yourself as a follower and then take yourself off after the contest, that would just be rude!)

2. You must post my give away either on your facebook page or your own blog.

(I could really use the advertising!)

3. You must leave a comment on this blog, telling me how badly you want to win all the fabulous prizes. (no begging!)

See that wasn't so hard, just three rules...

So here are the major awards...

My husband is a budding photographer so I will be giving away this beautiful picture in the size of your choice (up to 11x14 ) This lovely piece of art is currently hanging in my bathroom and it does look stunning! Available in sepia or other color tones as well!

Also I will be giving a lovely set of hand made jewelry to the winner. Made personally by myself. ( I know the picture is hard to see, sorry! If you win and you live close by you can come an choose for yourself what you would like. If you do not live close by you can specify a color choice and I will try to accommodate)

I am also giving to the lucky winner a Solitude CD by the inspiring up and coming artist Sherrie Shepherd! This music is absolutely beautiful!

And last but not least I am giving away a cute little needle felted pig hand made by my friend Jo. They are the most adorable things I have ever seen!!

Well there you go, let the mayhem begin!!!!

Randomness and music

I am grumpy today. I woke up after a rough nights sleep and that makes me very grumpy. I tried to go back to sleep after I took the girls to school but that never works for me. Why is it that when I desperately want to sleep I can't and when I need to be awake I am groggy. I have been groggy for about a week straight now. I put it all down to being drugged up on Benadryl. I did however figure out what it was that I am reacting to. I apparently can not take a certain kind of antibiotic. At least I know that now. I refuse to keep taking the stupid Benadryl however, because I am so tired of being tired, so I am itchy until the Prednison (sp) does its job.

Lucky me!

------

I have a big decision coming up. I can't work during the summer because I do not have anyone to watch the kiddos. So I have to decide if I am going to stay with my job and just work on Saturdays or if I am going to quit all together. The problem is that I need a job when they are in school and they are a little hard to come by these days. What I really need it a job that I can go to when the girls are in school and can leave when they get out. One that I can have summers off and all holidays. OK I know that it sounds like I need to be working at a school right... well easier said than done. S suggested that I apply to be a substitute but, I have serious issues that this state does not require substitutes to have any kind of training. Therefor I feel that it would be kind of hypocritical to apply for something that I have no training for. Maybe this is the time to go back to school after all.

Who knows?

------

I have been trying so hard to exercise regularly lately. I either use the elliptical (thanks to our neighbors that we are storing it for... Thanks Cassie and Paul, we will keep it for as long as you need us to!) for 20 minutes every morning or I go for a 2 and a half mile walk. I do feel so much better when I get regular exercise, but this morning I just couldn't convince myself to do it. Part of the problem is motivation and part of the problem is just exhaustion.

Tomorrow will be better... right?

------

Sorry about the boring post this morning... did I mention that I am tired?

Here are the tunes

1. Pure Morning- Placebo

2. The Resolution- Jacks Mannequin

3. Hollywood- Zeromancer

4. Electric Feel- MGMT

5. The Only One I Know- The Charlatans

6. Poker Face- Lady GaGa

7. Dani California- Red Hot Chili Peppers

8. Stay- Oingo Boingo

9. I'm Alive- David Cook

10. Crucify- Tori Amos

Bonus: World Full of Nothing (Remix)- Depeche Mode

Not Gifted, and bored.

I have decided that I am not meant to be a writer. Rarely to do have the vocabulary or the mental ability to be able to come up with witty prose. I read a lot of different blogs lately and some of these women have a true gift for putting what they are thinking down in type.

I

sadly

do not have this gift

If you are interested in those that do, I suggest you check out some of the blogs listed to the left of the screen.

So if you are reading this expecting poetry or even something that makes sense I suggest you go elsewhere.

If you are reading out of curiosity, then hopefully you will choose to stay a while and enjoy some of my previous blogs.

If you are a regular visitor then I am hoping that is because you have at some point found something to amuse you.

If you are just reading because we are friends and you feel obligated, well thanks for the support.

I have a fairly non exciting life, I will admit. I have a wonderful husband that works all day. I have two great kids that spend all day in school. I have a chintzy little part time job that I hardly ever have to go to. I have a gigantic load of house work that I neglect on a regular basis.

So you might ask...

"What is it exactly that you do all day Sarah?"

Well.... I do this a lot.

I sit at the computer and blog about my non exciting life. I check Facebook a lot... OK way too much. I do read a lot, but not of course as much as I used to. I seem to do laundry, and dishes at least a few minutes every day.

I do seem to ask myself the same question frequently.

What do I do all day?

So here is my question for all of you...

What do you do all day?

Donations

Hey Y'all, I am looking for people who want to donate to my give away. I would love to pay for whatever I am giving away if people insist on that but would be more than happy if you want to just give stuff away because it is good advertising. Either way just let  me know if you have any interest in being part of my 100th blog give away. 

Fridays Randomness

For future reference I will state right here that I like to sleep. In fact there are few things that I like more than sleep... OK... well... maybe eating. I am one of those people that need my eight hours of sleep every night or I don't function well. So the fact that I am up and writing this at 4:50 in the am will speak volumes to all of you. It does however, add to my randomness for the week so maybe I should be grateful. After all if it wasn't for bad night what would I have to blog about?

------

I am in the midst of an allergic reaction to.... something. I do this a lot. I cannot seem to use new products without having some kind of reaction to them. It used to be just products that had some kind of oil base to them, like hair products that make your hair shinny, or skin so soft. Now it seems to be other items that are giving me a bad time. I have started using two or three new products this last week so now we start the process of elimination. I cut one of the products out of the beauty regime, and wait a few days and see if the hives go away. If they do not then we try one of the others. In the mean time here I am like one giant hive, itchy, red and very irritable. I just do not think it is fair that I am not allowed to have any kind of skin pigment (fake or not), nice looking hair, or soft skin. All kinds of people I know use these kinds of products every day and when I try this is the result. Maybe it is a result of having what is essentially a red head skin tone (I know I am not a red head anymore, but I used to be and I still have the freckles to prove it). Maybe it is just the result of bad genetics that come as the result of being the walking recessive gene in the family (especially since none of my siblings appear to have the same problem) but, whatever it is...

IT MUST STOP NOW!!!

I am tired of being itchy and not sleeping because of it!

I am also tired of being drugged up so as not to be itchy!

-----

I had to attend a maturation class yesterday for The Bug. Let me just say, WOW! I was so surprised by not only what was said but by what wasn't. They glossed over what I thought was some pretty important stuff and emphasized some things that I thought were not all that important. I have been dreading this all year and I have to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe it is because we already had this discussion a few months back and most of what was covered at school was also covered at home. I think the hardest part for me was just the fact that I now have a child old enough to know about sex.

SCARY!!!!

(Don't worry I am not posting a picture for this one)

------

I am going to do a give away for my 100th post so make sure to keep an eye out. By the way you have no chance of winning if you do not list yourself as a follower. So there! I make some really cool jewelry that you want, and there may be some other items too...

SO GET ON THAT!

It is just a few posts away!

------

I decided to take my random tunes from my exercise list this week since that seems to be the only list that I have been listening to much.

1. Youth- Matisyahu

2. Black Tambourine- Beck

3. Inaction- We Are Scientists

4. Beverly Hills- Weezer

5. 5 4 Five Four- Gorillaz

6. Cobrastyle- Teddybears Sthlm &Mad Cobra

7. Sugar We're Going Down- Fallout Boy

8. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage- Panic! At the Disco

9. Crushcrushcrush- Paramore

10. Feel Good Drag- Anberlin

Bonus: Lights Go Out- Client

It appears as though I like angry music while exercising, well at least it gets me motivated!

Hey, I keep my promises... eventually. (E is for Asparagus)

So I promised to explain this picture. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago We had a visitor this last weekend. I decided to make a good Easter Sunday dinner to send her off. Pork Roast, (have you tried Harmons spoon roast... if you haven't, you should, they live up to their name) mashed potatoes, salad, and asparagus. Well here we all were sitting around eating. The adults in the room were conveniently ignoring the one child not eating anything and the other making a mess very much a kin to what little Randy did with his potatoes in A Christmas Story.

When all of the sudden the messy one yells, points at me, claps her hands, and covers her mouth with them. A look of anticipation that clearly says "I can't wait until you see what I have done!" Well this got MY attention if no one else. I looked over and she pointed to the table right next to her plate. I literally screamed with delight. My wonderful and beautiful (if a little messy) autistic child has managed to take her asparagus and form the pieces into the first letter of her name! The rest of the adults looked up and squealed with delight as well and ran to get cameras. This is the result!!!

This was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen her do!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Good weekend

We had a great weekend over Easter. In good part it was due to the fact that we had a visitor. Now that we have a house that has a decent spare room we have people come and stay more often. Our most frequent visitor so far has been Leah. I have known Leah since she was 14 years old. I taught her in Young Women's when we lived in New york. She lives in Arizona now and comes to visit every so often. We had a great weekend with her, not that we did anything all that spectacular, we just had a good time doing what we did do. So here are some of the pictures from her visit.

I will explain this photo on my next post.

I know how much she loves Thai food so I made a new dish for her first night here. I forgot to mention that Leah is a great photographer she makes my cooking look artsy!

She took yet another set of family photos for us on Easter Sunday.

The Bug hamming it up!

The one thing she really wanted to do this weekend was go to the indoor sky diving place again. So she and S went when I was at work on Saturday. This is a picture of her flying.

We went grocery shopping on Friday (Yes I really made her go grocery shopping, exciting... huh.) and we found an unusual item that neither of us had ever tried. This is a picture of Leah trying a kumquat. They were a little sour!

The Bug made her play pick up stick with her and the strategical placed the sticks that each of them won in their hair... see if you can tell who won.

Random stuff and tunes

So my kids are out of school this week... yes this whole week... yes that is 9 freaking days! I am a firm believer that ALL school should be year round. Not the usual year round crap that we have here in some of the schools either. Every day for the whole year. OK so they can have Sundays off... and maybe Christmas Day... OK Thanksgiving too, but that's it! I really do love my children, but I didn't have kids so that I could entertain them at home. That is what the teachers are for... right? (Those of you who are teachers, you are awesome, no one does better with my kids, not even me.) I just don't have the patience for the constant talking, or for trying to find things to entertain them. Lou in particular needs a much more structured environment, she has 5 teachers for heavens sake. I just can't provide that kid of structure. In other words I can't wait for Monday!

-------

We have a visitor this week. Leah is one of the girls that I taught in church when we lived in NY. She is like a sister to me. I love her to death. I am so excited she is here and I know we are going to bore her to death... again. We do this every time! Poor girl there just isn't that much to do in Layton. Especially with the above mentioned problem that my girls are out of school so we have to cart them around with us everywhere we go. Maybe she will enjoy grocery shopping with me today... HAHAHAHAHAHA!

-------

I am hosting my book club this next week. We are reading a sci-fi classic, Enders Game. I love this book but I know that the other ladies are scared about reading it for some reason. Maybe they are just nervous that they wont like it and I will be insulted. Not gonna happen. I have read a lot of good books lately. A friend of mine was asking for suggestions the other day and it occurred to me that I could make a weekly post with my randomness about books that I have read that I enjoyed. So here is my first suggestion.

The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. Every one should read this book it is amazing! So go.... do it... NOW!

-------

What is the deal with containers that cant be opened. I got a huge tub of laundry detergent the other day that had a seal on it that was so hard to get off that I almost broke a finger. It was laundry detergent for heaven sake. Not medicine, not edible in any way. What, do I have to be protected from someone poisoning my detergent? Really this is being taken way too far!

-------

Here are the tunes

1. Jane Says- Jane's Addiction

2. We Got the Beat- The Go Go's

3. Maybe Tomorrow- Stereophonics

4. Don't Know Why- Nora Jones

5. Like a Virgin- Madonna

6. Satisfied- Squeeze

7. The Whole of the Moon- The Waterboys

8. Devil Inside- INXS

9. Wild Boys- Duran Duran

10. Question of Lust- Depeche Mode

Bonus: Something is Not Right, I've Seen Enough, and Relief- Cold War Kids (I really like them)

Poker Face- Lady GaGa (Saw her perform on Idol and WOW... weird!)

WOW!

I cant believe my follower list has almost tripled in the last couple of months! Thanks all of you who have actually bothered to list yourselves it actually means a lot to me! For those of you who haven't, what are you waiting for?

Wordless Wednesday

The Power of....

I realized that my last couple of posts have been pretty negative. I have been sick lately but I don't think that is the reason. I have had a problem lately regarding the weather.

I HATE IT!

I hate the cold.

I hate the snow.

I hate the gray skies.

I hate the dead grass.

I hate the rain.

I hate everything about the weather lately.

This has made me a little grumpy. The last two days have actually had some semblance of being sunny and it has made me want to smile a little more, however before that I wanted to do anything but smile. If I had my way I would live right in the middle of Orlando, or Phoenix or somewhere that when you see the weather forecast in the middle of July you think to yourself...

"Wow I am glad I don't live there!".

I love heat.

I love the sun.

I love green grass.

I love playing outside with my kids

(OK sitting on the porch swing and watching my kids play outside).

I love taking walks at 9 o'clock at night while wearing shorts and a tee shirt. I love Summer and I can't wait until it is here in full swing. For now I guess I have to deal with the whole April Showers thing and pray that I can outlast the drizzles a little longer.

Hey you know... Positive thinking!

Heartbreaking

My husband called me last Friday to tell me that there was a shooting incident happening in Binghamton New York. Most people when asked couldn't identify where that is even with a map. We however can tell you exactly where that is. S and I lived in Binghamton while he was getting his Masters Degree. It is a small town about 20 minutes north of the Pennsylvania border. It has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. It is the home of IBM, and the comic strip B.C. and on Friday it was just one more place where too many people died because of one mans rage.
This particular incident hit home a lot harder for me, I think that is because for a while we called Binghamton home. It is hard to see something horrific happen in a place you have lived and at some times even loved. I just can't understand the rage that happens in some ones mind to cause them to go and slaughter strangers, or anyone for that matter. I was watching a news report on Friday that was talking about how these things are always happening in small town type places. Littleton, Binghamton, Salt Lake City. I remember when the Trolly Square shooting took place. Even just a few years ago it was pretty big news. When we turned on our local news on Friday all they had was a couple of minutes to dedicate to it after a story about someone who had too many cats. I realize that New York is a long way away from Utah, but when did 13 people dying become so common place that no one notices anymore. It is a sad world we live in!
To all of you in the Binghamton area... You are in our minds and in our prayers!

ANGRY!

There have been very few times in my life when I have actually felt like yelling at a complete stranger on the phone and have actually followed through with it. This is one of those times. We have a medical reimbursement company that we are suppose to send our medical receipts to and be reimbursed for our expenses. Keep in mind that this is our money, we have it removed from my husbands check so that we can afford all of the doctors visits and medical expenses that we incur throughout the year. We have had no less than 6 expense forms denied within the last month. These are for large medical expenses too, not just the usual $15 co pays. I have had to call them repeatedly and ask why they are being denied. This would not be as big of a deal if they had not already reimbursed us for the exact same things more than a dozen times already. I know none of this is making a lot of sense but I am so angry! I do not like yelling at strangers, I know that it isn't the fault of whoever happens to answer my phone call but that is just their tough luck. Of the three companies that we have had to work with, this is by far the stupidest one! I am literally yelling a banging my fists on the desk in frustration! I HATE THIS CRAP!!!! If anyone out there ever gets the chance to work with a medical reimbursement company called ADP benefits services... DON'T! They are not worth the effort and they are from HELL!

Fooled you!