It's Getting Crazy Around Here!

Hi Friends!  

I thought that I would write about some things that are going a little crazy around the McLean household.  

One thing that has happened is that I am out of Rosehip Seed Oil and my routine is way out of whack.  I have used Rosehip Seed Oil for years and we have never ran out before.  I knew that my bottle was getting low but I really thought that David had a bottle somewhere.  He really likes it too.  My closest friends are reading this and are shocked right now. 

Another thing that happened is that a huge bag of dog food arrived at our house yesterday from Chewy  but I did not order anything from Chewy.  It's the exact food that we usually order so I'm not sure what's going on.  I mean I did browse Chewy but I didn't place an order.  It's kind of creeping me out. 

In other news Rosie the Chinchilla gave us a challenge trying to get her out from under the couch in my office this morning.  We let her roam my office so that I could clean her cage and she wouldn't come out for anything.  David had to block her and herd her out then when he caught her she squirmed free.  She is a little rascal.  

Another Rosie situation is that we have felt really good about putting up the dog gate in our front hall and letting her run and play.  I noticed Sunday evening that she would get a running start and jump up the wall and she almost runs across the wall and when she does she can go higher than the doorknobs.  I foolishly thought that she couldn't go above the dog gate because she doesn't have enough runway, so to speak.  Well, I was wrong!!!  Kambree was in the hall with her and I was watching from the living room and the next thing I know there is Rosie standing on top of that dog gate!  I screamed a really loud scream because I was afraid Rosie would jump into the living room and we didn't have our dogs put away.  When I screamed Kambree got very scared and it took her several seconds to pick Rosie up and put her back on the ground.  So, now we have to come up with another plan to block off the area above the dog gate.  

Yesterday morning we couldn't find our dog, Tiffy.  She was no where to be found and I worried that she got out of our yard.  We have a dog door so the little dogs go in and out as they please.  I knew her running off was unlikely because we had a downed fence situation once and she was the only one that didn't run off.  After searching and calling her for about ten minutes she appeared in the living room.  She was walking all cowered down like she was in trouble.  She probably got into the pantry and stole some snacks and was hiding eating them.  

So, these are a few strange happenings.  I'm feeling a little out of whack - surely it's the Rosehip Seed Oil.  

I'll be back tomorrow with Friday Favorites.

Have a great day!

Happy Wednesday!

Hello friends!  

How is Wednesday treating you?  Everything went really well at our house this morning.  I woke up and the dryer was going and another load was washing which meant that David was helping me with laundry.  

I mean there is a chance that he dried something that I wouldn't dry, but I'll just buy new clothes so that I can encourage him helping with laundry.  

Kambree has been making some great progress with reading.  She is in a reading intervention program at school and she brings home books to read a few times a week.  Last night she had two books to read and she did really great on both of them.  I think sometimes she gets lazy when trying to read but when she slows down and pays attention to the words and the letters then she will do really great.  I was so proud of her and I told her that I was going to give her 745 kisses, but she only let me give her about five.  I told her that I would give her the rest while she is sleeping.  She said that she knows when I give her kisses while she's asleep but she just lets me because she really likes sleeping.  

Kambree was playing with one of her little friends Monday after school and her friends Mom braided her hair.  I thought she looked really cute!

I put a headwrap on her at bedtime and the braids kind of survived until the morning.  I tidied up the back and she was happy to wear her braids to school yesterday.  This morning she said that she wanted to take the braids out and go with the crimped look.  

I'm beginning to wonder if David is up to something.  He just called me to remind me that it's Wednesday and that means that it's Enchilada Wednesday at El Fenix .  We are going to meet there after work.  Grandma is picking Kambree up after school so we can get her after we enjoy El Fenix.  It will be nice to have a little time sitting together talking.  

Well that's all I have for today.  I'll be back tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Tuesday Talk - January 2019 Edition

Hello Friends!  Today I am linking up with Ashley and Erika for Tuesday Talk.  Once a month we talk about anything and everything.  It's like we're having a conversation with a girlfriend.

Let's talk about things that remind us of our childhood.  Just yesterday I was walking through a store and I heard someone say, "go ahead".  I remembered that when I was a kid my Dad would respond to "go ahead" with "did you just call me a goat head".  That may not sound funny as a grown up but as a kid I thought that it was hilarious.  

Right after Christmas my co-worker brought me a Lifesaver book and I was instantly reminded of when my Dad would put a roll of Lifesavers in my shoe when he worked crazy hours.  

Most every morning Kambree will ask me to help her put on her socks because there is a bump when she does it.  So, I use my magical no sock bump skills and put her socks on her little feet.  I remember asking my Mom EVERY SINGLE DAY which foot my socks went on.  I don't know why it took me so long to realize that socks weren't left or right foot specific.  

One of my favorite Christmas memories happened EVERY YEAR on Christmas Eve.  My Mom would suddenly become ill and she'd be in her room all day.  My Dad would keep us occupied and he'd check on Mom from time to time.  My poor Mom would be ill the entire day but miraculously when it was time for the Christmas Eve festivities she would make a turn for the better.  My Aunt Rita and Uncle Bernie would arrive and Mom would emerge looking fresh and healthy as ever.  A real Christmas miracle, y'all!  I think of this every time that I also let my gift wrapping fall way behind and I have to pull a disappearing act.

During the summer or school breaks me and my brother and sister would sometimes stay home alone.  We would eat pot pies and bologna sandwiches for lunch.  We probably had more variety than that but I mainly remember these two things.  On some days, however, if we were feeling particularly fancy we would make a fancy meat and cheese tray.  We would have bologna, american cheese, and saltine crackers.  The bologna would be cut all fancy in little triangles and the american cheese would be cut into little rectangles.  I remember one time that my brother delivered the meat and cheese tray to the living room in his Little Tikes truck.  Whoever made the meat and cheese tray would be in charge of making sure that the proportions were correct - there should be meat and cheese for every cracker.  So, as a grown up any time that I see american cheese I think of our meat and cheese trays and just laugh to myself.  

I have enjoyed this walk down memory lane.  Do you have anything that triggers childhood memories?  I was blessed with great parents and a wonderful brother and sister.  There are so many sweet memories.  

Thanks for chatting with me today.  I'll be back tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Sleepless Nights

Kambree making her friend laugh like crazy.  

Y'all it's Monday.  I fell asleep last night and slept the sleep of angels until 3am when Kambree climbed in our bed.  She likes to lay on me - well not her whole body but her upper body all over me.  While she's laying on me Tiffy likes to lay glued to me on the opposite side of Kambree.  Eventually Kambree falls into a deep enough sleep and I can roll her off of me but then she wakes up a full twenty minutes later and thinks that she must have accidentally fallen off of me and gets right back on me.  

Fortunately she doesn't do this every night, some nights she'll just climb in our bed and not lay on me.  She gets in our bed so often that on nights that she doesn't I have a few moments of panic.  I think back to when I was a child and there were these stickers on some bedroom windows. 

I always thought that it was so odd to have these stickers that told others where there was a child's bedroom.  I can see the need on a larger home but not on our little three bedroom 1,500 square foot home.  I don't think we had them growing up and we sure don't have them now.  I'm not sure why I have a moment of panic, it doesn't last long and I very carefully peek in her room and she's laying cuddled with Sammie all safe and sound.  I guess until she's a little older I don't really mind her crawling in our bed.  

On a Monday morning with very little sleep this is my to do list.  

I'll be back tomorrow with Tuesday Talk.  Have a great day!

Friday Favorites - January 11, 2019

Hey there!  Happy Friday!  I am coming at you late today because I fell asleep when I laid down with our little cutie last night.  When I woke up it was as if I had been asleep for hours but it had only been about 1.5 hours.  I just hate it when I fall asleep with my makeup on so I washed my face and fell back to sleep one minute later.  

Let's run through a few of my favorites for this week. 

1. Being back into a routine and that we made it to Friday.  There were some rough mornings!  The week started strong but then fizzled in the middle and this morning it was just plain hard.  Kambree lost her will to cooperate this morning and we left for school a little late but it seems that other households were having the same Friday morning dilemma.  As we pulled up there were lots of kids being dropped off almost late just like Kambree, 

2. I worked from home on Thursday and my friend, Norma, called me after school drop-off to see if I wanted to go have coffee.  She came and picked me up and we went to this cute little coffee shop in Talty called Kingdom Growers .  I had no idea there was a coffee shop in Talty and this was a real treat.  While we were there a Talty police office came in.  We let him go ahead of us because we were still deciding and then he bought both of our drinks and a blueberry muffin.  We tried to tell him that it should be the other way around and we should treat him, but he insisted.  It was a great way to start the day.  I had a Haystack, which had a very Fall vibe to it.  It was delicious!

Later that evening they were having a special event that evening and we thought that it would be fun to go.  We took the kids to McDonald's first hoping they'd get their wiggle out 

Here we are in denial that bringing our kids was a bad idea.  Let's face it Thursday night on any week is rough but the week after a long break - our kids were done by 7pm.  Our kids weren't bad but they were not into sitting listening to the praise music.  

Apparently this group doesn't have a name, but they sure play well together. 

Like I said, our kids weren't bad they just weren't interested in being at a table listening to music.  Norma and I felt like one of the owners was staring at us and talking about us - haha I'm sure he wasn't.  We didn't stay too long though and the kids were glad.  The kids had hot chocolate while Norma and I had some of the house coffee.  This pic is before Kambree spilled some of her hot chocolate all over her shirt.  She told me that I should have had an extra shirt with me and she was so upset but then Norma suggested that she wear her jacket like a shirt.  Kambree thought that was the best idea and Norma saved the day.  

3.  Last Sunday we celebrated the six month birthday of Avarae.  She is the daughter of my friend, Melanie.  Have you ever heard of a six month birthday?  Me neither, but it was very special.  One of the fun things we did was color a bib and write a message on the outside of a diaper for Miss Avarae to wear.  Here she is wearing my bib creation and apparently she has on the diaper creation of my friend, Lisa.

Melanie and I have been friends for years.  She is one of the very first people that ever actually prayed over me.  I was going through a very trying time in my life and Melanie pulled me close and spoke a prayer in my ear.  

4.  Being reunited with my co-worker, Chris, has been so great this week.  Chris just works part-time and we were in the office together on Wednesday.  We did get some work done but we had a lot of catching up to do and we shared some of our spiritual intentions for the year.  I guess just being in the office after a couple of weeks out was great too.  Here we are at our company Christmas party.  

5.  Y'all don't laugh but this post - my gift guide, that I published early December has been viewed 104 times!  I have been watching the numbers climb and I have been waiting on the post to hit 100 and it happened just yesterday.  I hope one day that I'll look back and laugh at my excitement over a post hitting 100 views.  

Well that's it for today.  We have a low-key weekend ahead and I hope you do too.  See you next week!

Ten on Ten

Hello!  

I thought that I would share ten random things today on this tenth day of January.  

One

My co-worker left one of those Lifesaver books on my desk and I can't stop eating Lifesavers.  When I was a little girl my Dad would occasionally leave a roll of Lifesavers in my shoe so that I could find it in the morning.  

Two

I have started cooking an egg for our Chiweenie, DD.  We have noticed that the hard food is a little hard for her to chew so I will make her a soft scrambled egg most everyday.

Three

I like to keep Saturday morning completely free anytime that I can.  By Saturday morning I mean until noon or after.  I really like a slow Saturday morning.  

Four

We use an old-school coffee maker everyday.  We have a Keurig but very rarely use it.  We pre-set our coffee maker every night to come on in the morning.

Five

We have four dogs, two on purpose and the other two we didn't look for but we're so glad we found them,  

Six

There are several relationships that I pray will be restored in both mine and David's family.  

Seven

My favorite food is Mexican food and my favorite variety is tacos.  I annoy my cousin, Cristy, because often if we eat out I will order two crispy tacos and that's all.  

Eight

I like all white walls in our home.  We do have a pretty color on our bedroom walls but I want everything nice and white.  We use Sherwin Williams Shoji White

Nine

My first job was a soccer linesman which led to a very steady babysitting gig.  Not too long after becoming a soccer linesman I became a referee.  There was one game that I must have made a very bad call and after the game several players from one of the teams chased me with sodas that they were shaking and spraying on me.  I specifically remember orange soda being sprayed on me.  

Ten

I am 4'11" tall but you better believe that I tell everyone that I am 5' tall.  

Well there are ten random things that you might not have known about me.  Thanks for reading today!

Let's Look!

Hello Friends!

Today I am linking up with A Little Bit of Everything Blog and Mix and Match Mama.  This month we are taking a look at the coziest spot in our homes.  

Look at the fun "Let's Look At..." posts that are planned for this year.

There are two spots in my home that I find the coziest.  First would be my bed!!!

The best feeling is relaxing in bed at the end of the day.  I like to have at least four pillows behind me at all times, even though that leaves David with only two.  I really like the bed to be made everyday but I don't make it.  David makes the bed and then our Chiweenie, DD, lays in our bed all day.  One of the things that makes me crazy is for my bed to be all disheveled.  Sometimes Kambree will get all crazy on our bed and totally destroy it and you wouldn't believe how crazy that makes me.  David made the headboard and I really like it.  Right now I am sitting up in bed typing this post and I'm watching Chopped.   This is the life!

The next coziest spot would be on our couch.  

The spot beside Kambree is my assigned seat.  Look at that tired girl!  When I sat down she leaned on me and fell asleep.  We are in need of a new couch but for now this one will do.  The ends recline and it's really comfortable.  When I'm taking some time to relax during the day this is where you'll find me.  

What is the coziest spot in your house?

Thanks for reading today!