Young Impressions

If you have any tween kids in your house, Jamie's post is a great one.

Go and show your kids that celebs are people just like the rest of us.

I sure wish I would have found this when I was a teenager. It would have saved me a lot of self-esteem and heartache.

Go! What are you waiting for?

Fixing the unfixable

When you buy an old house like ours there are things that need to be changed and things that we want to change.

But we are a one income family. We try to do all of our projects on a budget with cash only so we don't go into debt trying to fix up our house. But sometimes things happen. Like the hot water heater starts on fire. Or the roof starts leaking through the 6 layers of shingles.

And then you have to start looking at other ways to get something fixed. We have used our credit cards a few times to help during these emergencies. Thankfully we have Low Interest Credit Cards so the impact is not huge. But it is still important to use a Credit Card wisely. Everyone has a different opinion on what an emergency is but if you start taking out your Credit Cards all willy nilly soon you will have huge payments and no extra cash to use for home improvements.

If you must use a credit card to finance these emergencies, it is best to know the terms and conditions of your cards. Thankfully all consumers are getting wise to the ways of credit card companies. Even the folks in the UK are putting the pressure on. Check out this article about Credit Card UK for more information.

Hopefully we will be able to continue with few emergencies so our house will get done before all our kids move out.

No word

I still haven't heard from the court or the social worker or my SIL so I don't know what is going on with the boys.

I am on pins and needles. Maybe no news means they aren't going to terminate. Or it means no decisions were made yet.

I am not good at waiting.

P.S.
I just wanted to share the reason for all these ads and advertisements in my blog is for the money. I have to support my kid addiction somehow. Total money I have earned to date is 320.00. And if you don't like the ads I created a blog just for you. It is the same but totally ad free.

Bahama Mama

I have lived most of my 32 years in South Dakota. Which I love. Except for the 8 months of winter. I don't think it is any secret that I am not fond of cold weather. I am pretty sure I should have been born in Hawaii and not South Dakota. But since work and school have pretty much ensured that we will not be leaving South Dakota anytime soon, I can only daydream about other places.

As I have never been outside of North America I would really like to go somewhere exotic with my husband someday. My SIL spent her honeymoon in Cancun and was not impressed. So I suggested maybe we should take a trip to the Bahamas. After all they have great food and great weather.

Of course being the anal person that I am, I have to research everything before I will act on it. So one day when I was avoiding doing laundry, I hopped on the computer and did some searching about the Bahamas. I found out a lot about the islands. For instance did you know there are over 700 islands that make up the Bahamas? I had no idea. And I learned that the atmosphere on each island is different and so making a match to what you are looking for is important.

And I read how wonderful the weather is.

And I read about the beaches, and sun, and sand, and exorbitant amounts of time I would have to lay in the sun on the white sandy beaches.

And then a kid came in the room and informed me they had diarrhea and didn't make it to the toilet on time.

Reminiscing

Today, at the request of my children, I made peanut butter balls. They love them. Me not so much.

My mom was a health freak. She took it to the extreme. Sugar did not pass my lips until I was 12 and able to sneak to the store and buy my own junk with my babysitting money.

And one "treat" my mom used to make us were peanut butter balls. Only she ruined them. She added raisins and nuts and protein powder. I am sure if I was a kid in today's world they would have also been loaded with olive oil and flax seeds. Blah!

For my kids, I dipped them in chocolate. Still when I ate one and had the same reaction my Dad had when we had cornbread with our chili. Too many yucky memories tied to that food.

What food do you remember eating as a kid that you don't eat now?

Furniture shopping is fun!

Not too long ago we were in the market for furniture for our living room. Our couch had seen better days. We knew we wanted the microfiber fabric that wouldn't stain. With five kids, that is a must.

So we did some comparison shopping. I found many many websites online as I was doing some looking but never came across this one, Furniture From Home.

This is the type of site I appreciate. I spent many hours on other site's looking through pages and pages of sofa's because many websites list "Sofas" as a category but give you no way to search for a specific one. This site gives you those options so you can find what you are looking for quickly. For example you can shop by room so if you are looking for bedroom furniture you click the bedroom link and ta-da! you get a page full of beds, dressers, and such.

One option we looked at for our living room was sectionals. Unfortunately, our living room is just not designed for this type of furniture. I sure drooled over the Sectional Chaise though. Maybe in my next house.

The room in my house most in need of organizing and some decorating right now is our office so forgive me while I drool over these pages of home office furniture.

With an easy to navigate page and reasonable prices, this is a good site to find some home furnishings in.

How does thou garden grow?

Where did summer go? This morning it is in the lower 60's and I am freezing! Brrrrrr.

Our strawberries are gone again already. We got about two gallons of them this year. Not bad considering we moved half of them to a new bed this spring. I think I will get some everbearing ones for the other half of the new bed so we get them more than just in June. Now they are making runners so we should have even more plants next year.

My rhubarb is done too. I picked it all and chopped and froze it. I am looking forward to rhubarb crisp this winter. mmmmmmm.

I never did get my vege garden in this year. Too lazy. Next year I will do it again.

I have been more focused on my flowers and bushes this year. I planted some climbing clematis to hide our garbage cans. I also planted a variegated weigela for the third time. Hopefully it will make it through the winter this time around. I also put in lots of carnations. I will try to go outside and get pictures today for you all to see.

What did you plant this year? How is it doing?

Pets

With five cats and one dog, we have our fair share of animal illnesses and injuries.

One of our cats, Sandy, who is the newest member of our family, I found on the side of the road one day last year. He was an itty bitty furball at the time, maybe 6 weeks old. I saw him three times as I drove that road and finally the last time I stopped and grabbed him. He was a minature hissing ball of fur. I figured he must have been someone's farm cat that had wandered too far from home.

Because of this he had some medical needs. Thankfully he didn't have fleas or ticks but he did have ear mites and worms. I did some searching on the internet and found many articles about flea products, de-worming medicines, and ear mite solutions. I contemplated buying some of the medicines at Walmart but due to his young age, I ended up taking him to the vet to be de-wormed and get some medicine for his ear mites.

Now he is a happy healthy kitty approaching his first birthday.

Weekend Recap

We took off outta here on Friday night after Billy got home from work. We had no particular campsite in mind so we headed south. Then Billy decided it would be fun to go camp by his sister so we headed east, about 2 hours east.

We pulled into a campsite at 9:30 p.m. with just enough sunlight to get our tent up before it got pitch black. We attempted to start a fire but the mosquitos were out thick. If we looked up we could see a large black mass and we could hear them buzzing they were so thick. We decided to ditch the fire and head to bed. Our tent was about 30 feet from the lakes edge so we were lulled to sleep by the waves hitting the beach.

We awoke at 7 the next morning because the kids saw sunlight and they were way too excited to sleep. The got up and put their swimming suits on and hit the lake. They stayed in all day. It was a blast. The only downside was I had bought the spray sunscreen and for whatever reason we just have no luck with that stuff. The first time we used it we had spots where we burned. This time we all burned, badly. Marea has huge blisters on her cheeks and her nose is so swollen you almost can't see her eyes. I will NOT be buying that stuff again. The old fashioned lotion just seems to hold up better.

So by Sunday everyone was burned and cranky so we spent a few hours at my SIL's house and then we headed home.

At our dinner prayer last night Megan said the prayer and she thanked God for allowing us to go camping and for having a great weekend. I guess that means we were a success. :)

Police

After I did my last PPP on the Police 2 disc compilation that was coming out 6/5 I was one of the lucky posters who received the set of cd's for free. Mine came in the mail and I ripped it open. I listened to both cd's in full. Some of the songs brought back memories and I was surprised at how well I remember the words of songs I haven't heard for almost 20 years. And some of the songs I didn't recognize at all. I was excited to have new Police songs to listen to. And as if the music wasn't enough there is a really cool vintage poster included with the cd's. Mine will be staying in the case as I think I am past the "poster-on-the-wall" stage in my life but if I was still a teen it would be right up there next to The Coreys. :)

Here is a really cool advertisement for the Police CD that is running in the UK. Now because of PPP, we Americans and Canadians get to see it too.



If you are an 80's fan this cd set is really something you should look into. I know I am loving all this resurgance of 80's music. I could listen to it all day.

Billy

14 years these rings have been on my finger.

It seems like yesterday when you reached over and slid the ring on my finger. I heard the minister say, "I present to you Billy and Jodi. Man and Wife."

They still have sparkle. And so do we.

Together we have grown.

No matter what comes at us, I know we can handle it together.

You are my rock, my foundation. Together we are impenetrable.

I love you with all my heart and soul.

I eagerly await many more decades as your wife.

Happy Anniversary Billy.

Back Me Up

I have always had this fear that blogger would crash and suddenly my blog would be gone. I have had nightmares where I go to login to blogger and they tell me I don't have a existing blog. I have 3 years worth of stuff resting in the hands of the people at blogger. Which makes me nervous. Once many moons ago I asked them how I could back up my blog. Basically it involved lots of technical terms and a temporary crashing of my blog. That didn't sound like something I wanted to attempt. So when I saw an ad for IBackup on another blog I jumped on it. It will backup your entire blog for free and store it for free so instead of having it in one place I will now have it in two. I immediately downloaded the software and backed up everything. Now I have my own personal Online Storage.

And the best part is, when I go back to look at my files they are so easy to access. Everything is laid out much like my computer. I can drag and drop files and it has the same familiar format. That is my kind of program. I hate when I use a program that zips everything up and then I have to unzip it and figure out where it all is and where it all went.

No more nightmares for me.

Commercial Free

I have started a "new" blog that will be exactly the same as my old blog. Except there will be no PPP and no ads. I am still not comfortable with the ads all over my blog and it is taking some of the fun away.

So to make me feel better I have made two blogs. They will have identical posts except for the PPP's in between. Feel free to bookmark whichever you prefer to read.

The commercial free blog is now at http://jodisorganizedchaos.blogspot.com/

and the orginal PPP and ad blog will remain at http://www.jodisorganizedchaos.com/.

Let the blogging begin!

Online Shopping

One of my favorite ways to shop now is online. I buy everything from plants to clothes online. For me it is a win-win situation. I can shop for competitive prices without driving 30 miles to the nearest town and then driving from one store to another to find the best deal.

I have a few favorite online stores that I stop at regularly. One of those is The Children's Place. With five kids, clothes are in a big demand here most of the time. And new clothes are waaaaaay better than any hand-me-downs. But in order for me to shop at expensive stores like TCP I have to find online coupons. These are awesome because you can use them like you would a coupon at store to save money on your purchases.

On my last big online purchase I used The Children's Place coupons and saved mega bucks. I got 10 pair of jeans for two of my girls for 20 bucks. That cannot be beat.

But it is not always easy to find these online coupons. I have had to do searches sometimes to find one for a store I am shopping at.

Now websites like Keepcash.com make finding these coupons easier and easier. They have them sorted by stores. So next time you go shopping online, find yourself a coupon code and save a few bucks.

Letting Go

Knowing you screwed up and are facing losing your kids into the foster care system must be heart wrenching.

My SIL has had her kids back for 2 weeks and got a DUI with the kids in the car on Thursday and now they are gone again. For good.

Now we truly must decide if we want to adopt two little boys. Court is Wednesday.

Mortgage Woes

I mentioned awhile back that we were in the process of redoing our mortgage so we could add on a garage.

While we thought it would be a good option for us we discovered that because of location, location, location our house is not worth enough to make mortgage refinancing worthwhile. I even tried several of the larger lenders on the internet. Most of the people I talked with did not seem to think we had enough equity to make it worth our time. But I am still on the lookout for a good deal.

There are several webpages devoted to mortgage refinancing. I even found several dedicated to South Dakota mortgage refinancing. Although they are mostly dedicated to two larger cities. Again with the location, location, location. I am sure people in larger cities and more populated states have much more luck than we have with these kinds of deals.

Eventually we will find something that works for us. For now we will just remain garage-less.

In love

I pink-puffy-heart these pills someone invented for us poor sufferers of UTI's.

When I was a teenager my Mom had a prescription for them. Now they are available OTC. I bought a box this morning after my trip to the doctors. I got a prescription antibiotic but as most of you know, it doesn't provide any relief from the symptoms for several days.

These Azo pills provide relief almost immediately. Of course it also makes me pee a neon orange color but it is a small price to pay for relief from the pain.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.....

Up and Running

Billy and I have always talked about starting our own business. When we were in college we fell into that whole "Be Your Own Boss" mindset. It was touted as the best job ever. But what they didn't tell us was HOW to be your own boss and what that involved.

As we have gotten older (and mostly wiser) we have realized that starting your own business is not simple. There are rules, and laws, and guidelines, and procedures that are imposed on a new business owner. The city, county, state, and federal entities want to have a foot in the door of your new business.

As we researched starting our own business, I quickly became overwhelmed. How on earth was I ever going to understand all the rules and regulations and the TAXES, dear me, the taxes. And each state has different laws that must be followed. Now if I lived in Texas, I could use the information they have for Texas LLC. But since I live in South Dakota, I will use this information more.

I did eventually find one website that does a lot of the work for you. They even give you the prices up front. That is the kind of help we need if we do ever decide to make our ideas more than dreams. Otherwise I may stuff them in the bottom of the garbage can and run away screaming.

And if all else fails, I will check out their affiliation program.

Ugh

Not a happy ending to a fun weekend.

Saturday I realized I was not feeling tip top. I felt the need to pee much to often for the amount of liquids I was consuming.

I chalked it up to the fact that I had to pee on a disgusting outhouse toilet that was covered in spiderwebs. I was peeing as fast as possible to get off that toilet before something bit me in the butt.

But by Sunday evening, there was burning. Damn. I haven't had a UTI for well over 4 years. And I was happy with that.

Off to the doctor on Monday. Thank goodness for antibiotics. And thank goodness for Walmart's 4.00 generic prescriptions.

Camping

Today we are going camping for Mr. Bill's birthday.

Cake and Ice Cream at a campsite in 90F weather.

And lots of swimming. Lots and lots of swimming. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

See you Sunday.

Disneyland or Disneyworld?

I have mentioned before that we are planning a family vacation in 2010. We are waiting that long so that all of our kids will be old enough to enjoy it and remember it. It will be a once in a lifetime trip.

So in our list of places we want to go we have Disneyland or Disneyworld.

I have done some online research on both places. Either sounds promising. But in my research I have run across several blogs from families who have been there. Many of them are larger families like us who cannot book a "travel deal" because there are too many of us.

One suggestion I have read over and over is to not stay at a motel/hotel but instead rent a condo, cabin, or house for a few days. I have checked into these and agree this may be the way to go. Afterall, there is a kitchen and laundry room so we don't have to visit a laundrymat every other day and we can eat cheaper by making one trip to the grocery store rather than 3 meals out each day.

Of course, also on our list is a trip to Hawaii. The kids are more excited about this possibility I think than I am. In order to make this trip a reality we are going to have to find some great Maui vacation rentals. I have seen the going rates over there.

No matter which trip we go with I do think a rental will be a better match for us. If you have been to any of the above places let me know what you think? If you have any tips please share those as well. We are open to any help and advice.

Anniversary Thoughts

Until we met I didn't know
How light a heart could be;
How, chained to one by bonds of love,
I still could feel so free.

I didn't realize that my dreams
Could ever be so real;
Or when I had all I could want,
Exactly how I'd feel.

This year of love has brought me through
A long-awaited door:
Were angels parked along our skies,
I could not love you more.

Our anniversary is coming up quickly. I can't believe it has been 14 years this month. Sometimes in our marriage it seems as if it is never going to work out and other times I cannot imagine life any different than it is now. I am glad those good times out weigh the bad ones. Whoever said marriage is easy, wasn't married.

Time flies when life is good. :)

Sandcastles

Ever since the invention of the internet and email I have lost my passion for writing letters and mailing them snail mail. Sad I know but, I mean, when you can send something in 2 seconds versus 7 days what are you going to choose?

And then some genius came up with e-cards. Now not only can you send a letter by email, you can send your friends and family e-cards. Pure Genius. Just think of all the birthday's, anniversaries, holidays, graduations, and other special events that won't be missed because it takes 5 minutes to sit down and type in your thoughts and pick out a beautiful card for your loved ones.

And now in honor of summer there is a new Build a Sandcastle e-card. My kids have been having a blast playing with this. And I enjoy listening to the waves and seagulls as they play on it. And when they are all done they can send their e-card to whoever they wish. This is much better than dragging 5 kids to the store to look at cards, pick one out, sign it and then take it to the post office to mail it. The internet was made for Mommies. Yes it was.

5 Years

Happy Birthday to my little man! My little guy is 5 today. How time flies!

It is so amazing to watch you grow and change every year. I look forward to many many more years with you.

You are so sweet with your sisters. And you have such a big heart. You are always making sure everyone is okay. Your shyness and sense of yourself are way beyond your years. I hope as you get older you find a way to let go of some of that.

Happy Birthday my big guy!

Safe Heat

Living in South Dakota has its ups and downs. One of the biggest downs is that it gets cold here in the winter. Sometimes very very cold. And we are not a rich state. We have quite a few low to no income families who somehow have to make it through winter with little to no heat. Many of them install woodburning stoves or use their one little fireplace to heat their house. And if they don't have either of these as an option many of them buy the portable heaters and use them to heat their house.

The sad thing is these are not always safe heat sources. The portable heaters often tip or get to hot and start the house on fire. And the fireplace and wood stove require upkeep and maintenance every year or the family risks a fire in the vents.

But now people are starting to find vent free heaters. These appliances provide the heat these families need but do not require a vent or chimney to be safe and effective. And they are extremly energy efficient. When there is little money coming in any savings from an energy efficient appliance is welcome.

If you are building a new home or remodeling, think about adding a vent free heat source. It will save you money during installation and operation.

Now maybe I can get my hubby to agree on a fireplace in our living room.

Monster Jam

We spent part of weekend making ourselves deaf by going to see some Monster Trucks.

Captain's Curse flying! He was our favorite truck.

The little RC cars they were racing while we were all waiting for the broken monster trucks to get fixed. You can see one on the cement in the center of the picture.

Rolling Thunder! This truck died at the very beginning and apparently they couldn't get it fixed as he was not in any of the show after the intro.

The kids in front of Grave Digger down on the track. They were allowed to walk around the trucks before the show.

Grave Digger's Engine

Captain's Curse (side one)

Captain's Curse (side two)

Kaptain Insano

Billy taking my picture from the front straightaway.

Overall it was a great time. The kids each bought a flag for $5 and had all the drivers sign it.

Drat!

I was all ready to share some photos and tell you all about our weekend and the monster truck races where we saw Grave Digger!

And then I realized my hubby took the camera with him to work.

So I will go outside and putz around in the garden and post when he comes back with my camera. ;)

Romance

Billy and I met when we were young. He was 13 and I was 15. We dated very un-seriously for many many months before things got more serious. And it was then that I knew I was in love. It was a just a feeling. I couldn't describe it to anyone. I just knew he was the one for me. At that point nothing would have made me consider a breakup would be in our future.

Unfortunately because I was young I foolishly thought love and romance went hand in hand. After all I had read all the romance novels. The guys are supposed to worship their women right? They are supposed to bring flowers home every night, make us feel like the world revolves around us, tell us we are right all of the time, and basically put us on a pedestal and romance our socks off.

4 years later when we married I still had this foolish notion in my head. And I almost ruined a very good thing. I was angry when my husband didn't go all out for my birthdays, anniversaries, or "just because". I let him know what I thought of his pathetic attempts at romance. But I never ever considered that perhaps I was being unrealistic and extremely ungrateful.

Not until we were 7 years into a marriage that for all reasons should have been great. Except my unrealistic expectations. I happened to be watching a popular talk show one day and suddenly the couple on the show made a light bulb go on for me. What gave me the right to judge and be so critical? That day things changed for us.

Now, we are about to celebrate our 14th anniversary and I have seen the light. I figured out many many years back that romance books are NOT like life. They are fiction. And I have come to appreciate my husband for who he is. So he doesn't write me poetry and sing to me. He does love me and shows me that everyday. He can't wait to come home to me and the kids, he loves to spend his weekends hanging out with us, I am not picking him up from a bar drunk off his rocker, and he loves me and tells me so.

Now we both put more effort into our marriage and the romance aspect of it. After all, aren't you more willing to try when you feel like your efforts are appreciated?

I may not have a romance book boy, but I have the most loving husband on earth. That is the best kind of romance.

Changes

Well here is one of the big changes!

I went and bought my own domain name. I know I am so cool. ROFLOL!

So if you are coming here by linking to http://jbsides.blogspot.com/ please change your links!

My new blog address is http://www.jodisorganizedchaos.com/. So easy to remember, right?

I will leave the old one active until the end of the month. After that you may lose me so change your links asap! :)

Security

When we first moved to our small town and bought our big old farmhouse we were rather surprised to discover the only lock on our exterior doors were the 100 year old skeleton key locks. Yes, the realtor had the original key that came with the house to let us in.

We quickly went and bought dead bolt locks and installed them. Not without repercussions. Our neighbors laughed at us. "Why do you need a deadbolt in this little bitty town? Nothing ever happens here."

And then we got home insurance. And we laughed. Because of our deadbolts on each exterior door we got a discount on our premium. Of course we could have gone one step better and checked into Security Systems for our new home as well. That would have given us a bigger discount and helped us to feel safter in our home.

Especially after the neighbors who laughed at us had their house broken into just a few weeks later.

Housework

Housework Can Wait
Come in, but don't expect to find
All dishes done, all floors ashine.
Observe the crumgs and toys galore.
The smudgy prints upon the door.
The little ones we shelter here
Don't thrive on a spotless atmosphere.
They're more inclined to disarray
And carefree even messy play.
Their needs are great, their patience small.
All day I'm at their beck and call.
It's Mommy come! Mommy see!
Wiggly worms and red scraped knee.
Painted pictures, blocks piled high.
My floors unshined, the days go by.
Some future day they'll flee this nest,
And I at last will have a rest!
Now you tell me which matters more,
A happy child or a polished floor?

...Author Unknown

Stranded

What would you do if you were stranded in an unknown city with no money and nothing more than the clothes on your back?

That is a scary thought isn't it? But it is also challenging. If I was in a familar city I imagine it would be easier. Survival would not be impossible though. My first thoughts are meet the basics: food and shelter. The first thing I would do is go looking for a job. Afterall without money, there will be no food or house. I imagine I would go looking at a fast food restaurant or similar place where I can make money and also get food. Of course I would be looking at at least a few days before I got paid. So until then what? Hopefully there is a shelter or other such facility where I can crash until I have saved enough money. If not I guess a cardboard box would have to suffice. Preferably near a campsite with showers. It would be hard to hold down a job when you are dirty and smelly.

And clothes. Hopefully the job doesn't require a uniform. I would have to keep looking if it does. Or see if the shelter has any kind of program that would provide the correct clothes. Hopefully people would be kind and helpful to me.

If you want to see this happen in real life, (without me of course) check out USA Network's Burn Notice to watch Michael Weston, a CIA Operative try to survive in a strange city with nothing.

Make sure you tune in to USA Network on June 28 to see if he makes it.

Happy Birthday Megan

By this time of day 10 years ago I had a four hour old baby girl. She weighed a hefty 8 pounds and she was a week late.

Now I have a very independent and shy tween girl.

She is an entire decade old now. It is so hard to believe.

Happy Birthday Meggie!

Laptop Battery

My laptop is about 2 years old. And I have never used the battery once. It is always plugged in to the wall because I discovered early on the that the battery only holds out for about an hour and then the computer shuts itself down.

Then the other day a nice little window popped up everytime I turned on the laptop to inform me that my battery's life is slowly diminishing and while it is still working I would experience less "play" time on my laptop. What could be less than an hour? 5 minutes?

So it recommended that I go and purchase a new battery for my laptop. Ummmm. Okaaaay. I check the Dell website for a new battery. Let's just say gas is still cheaper than this new battery would be. And um, remember how I said I don't ever use the battery? So I started doing some searches online for other laptop battery suppliers. And I found this one.

They have low cost batteries for everything imaginable. You can get camcorder batteries, laptop batteries, cell phone batteries (might get one of these too!), and Apple Laptop Batteries even. Basically if it uses a battery you can get one here, for a lower price.

I am so glad my Momma taught me to shop around.

Packing, Mowing, Scrubbing

I must have sent the rain packing because today it is sunny and hot here. My favorite kind of weather!

Today (and all weekend) is going to busy and chaotic here at the OC household. This morning I dropped my two oldest off at a Kid Kare seminar where they learn to be the best babysitter's ever. I have discovered that babysitters are a hot commodity here in our small town of 100 people (half of which are young kids). My girls will be making more than me in a few months time.

And can you guess what else happens today? Huh, huh, canya canya? IT IS DATE NIGHT! Billy and I are going out alone again. I am so thankful for our babysitter. But to prepare for her arrival I have to get the house cleaned and figure out what to make for dinner. So I spent the majority of the afternoon scrubbing toilets, both ours and the cats. And per my husband's orders, I also mowed part of the lawn (the largest part might I add.) Since you know HE has to work and all, I must be responsible for the mowing of the green stuff. Perhaps buying a cow is in order. Free mower and free milk. Hmmmmm.....

And big, HUGE changes are coming to my blog soon. Just keep watching. Once I figure out how to get it all done of course.

Guity Pleasure

When I was a kid I love to read teen magazines so I could find out what my favorite stars were up too. And because they always had great posters of the hottest guys.

As I have gotten older I find I read more on the internet about my favorite stars than I do in magazines. One of my newest guilty pleasure's is Perez Hilton's website. He can be crude and rude but he is very quick with the newest news so I frequent it often.

But now there is an even better way to get your celebrity fix. Celebritygossip.com combines all of the good stuff on one site. You can find out who's pregnant, who's in trouble, and other juicy celebrity gossip. What more can a girl want?

It's Raining, It's Pouring

It has been raining off and on for the last two days.

Which makes it very hard to keep the kids energy levels under control.

So last night we all went for a walk after dinner. It turned into a 4 mile walk. Yep our kids walked 4 miles and for the most part enjoyed it all.

We all slept like babies last night. :)

Lower your Rate

I know when we bought our van in 1999 the interest rate was almost 20%! I was livid but since we were a young married couple who were considered high risk, we had no other options. Thank goodness that van is since paid off and gone but if we were paying that kind of rate now I would seriously consider doing a car refinance on the loan.

Thankfully there are companies now who are willing to help people find the lowest rates for them. Check out RateGenius to see if they can help you save a little money.

Blog Of The Day

He he he he! I am so excited! For all of today I am the Blog Of The Day at PPP (Payperpost)!

Woooohoooo!

Here is a little screenshot for those of you who don't have a ppp account and can't login to see me.

*bowing* Thank you, Thank you very much.

This hasn't gone to my head. No not at all.

Oh and please say hi if you are popping in from PPP!

Dear Teacher,

Dear Teacher,

When the summer rec schedule says class will be from 9:15 to 10:15 it is very unethical (or something) for you the teacher to decided that is not enough time and add an extra 30 minutes to the class.

Especially because you did not make any kind of announcement but just told a few parents and left the rest of us standing around for 30 minutes wondering if you had lost track of time and didn't realize your time was up.

Because you know, the summer rec people in all their ingenuity scheduled other classes to immediately follow yours. And when you keep the kids for an extra 30 minutes they miss half of their next class.

Sincerely,
A group of frustrated parents

Game Shows

I have always been a big fan of game shows. I can remember watching The Price Is Right and Let's Make a Deal as a teenager. I was always astonished at the weird things the people had in their pockets and purses. I was really sad when LMAD went off the air, and while I haven't had time to watch TPIR for many years I am saddened that it is ending as well.

Of course there is always the internet though. And not wanting to be left out of the game show market, someone got the brilliant idea to start an online game show. And the best part is it is free and does not increase the spam making its way into your mailbox.

Want to play? Go check out whogets.com and see how much fun you can have!

To Quit or Not to Quit

For many months now I have struggled with my blog.

Many days I feel so inadequate when it comes to posting something worth reading. I am not witty like Dooce, I am not funny and sarcastic like Chris, nor as entertaining as Carmen. I have pretty much accepted that I will never reach their heights.

Yet I post. At least 5 times a week. Why? Because I feel the need to write something, anything to keep my commenter's and fans reading. But in reality I am probably boring everyone. After all how many times can you write about your kids silly antics before it gets dull. And I write to write. It is very therapeutic to write something down. And to be honest with you all, 99% of what I write gets posted for the world to read. I am obviously not very discriminatory.

I am a very down-to-earth woman and my writing, I think, reflects that. Occasionally there is a funny post I can share but those are rare. I just don't have a big sense of humor thus my writing doesn't either. I tell it like it is. Sometimes I think that perspective makes my writing really boring. Does anyone want to hear the truth, straight up with no humor attached? I don't know.

And then I went and signed up for PPP and that threw a whole new loop in my blogging issue. Now I wonder if I am realllllly boring you because while I don't mind them on other people's blogs they really bother me on my own. Perhaps the novelty of making some money will wear off soon and my blog will go back to its down-to-earth, commercial free goodness it once was. Or perhaps not. At this point it is hard to say.

One thing I do know is that I enjoy writing in my blog everyday, even if it is boring. And I am happy to have met so many wonderful and kind people through my blog. I know we all struggle with our blogs once in awhile. Today I am doing that.

Hot and Sticky

We have finally hit summer-like weather around here and while I am soaking up the heat, not everyone in my house is happy that it is so hot out. And it is not just the heat. The humidity is high up there especially tonight as we are expecting a huge storm. This is all good for summer activities but not so good for my basement. It is a cement basement that stays relatively cool but is extremely humid.

My hubby has been bugging me for many months now to buy a dehumidifier but I look at the prices and run the other way. And how do I know which one to buy. They are more technical than a computer. Thankfully Dehumidifiertips.com has a website with all the information a person like me could need. Just check out their dehumidifier size guide.

After much discussion about how SOMEONE would have to go down into the icky basement and empty the dehumidifier regularly we thought maybe it would be better to get a whole-house dehumidifier. That way the water would be removed automatically.

Either way, I am sure purchasing one would end a lot of griping and whining by my kids who find it difficult to sleep when they are hot and sticky.

Fleeting Summer

I am already planning end of summer activities and the summer has barely started. Our kids go back to school on Aug 22 so I have a lot to squeeze in.

Today I scheduled their dental check-ups for Aug 21. Let's hope no one has cavities or they will not be too happy on the first day of school.

And Mr. Bill goes to the doctor next month for his kindergarten check-up complete with shots. Oy.

I don't even want to think about the end of summer. I love the heat.

Debt

Debt is something almost everyone deals with. In today's society we are all about instant gratification. And the best way to get what we want is by using credit in one form or another.

Not all credit is bad. But it is important to know the difference. When Billy and I were first married we were young and naive. We didn't know what a budget was much less how to make one. It only took a few months of trying to live in an apartment and pay bills for us to figure out we had no idea what we were doing. We racked up a lot of "bad" debt, like credit cards and miscellaneous loans. It was an uphill battle to get our financial lives under control. After many years and many mistakes, we found a method that worked for us.

Now we have acquired some "good" debt and are plodding our way through what "bad" debts we have to get them paid off. We are also in the process of trying to get a better and better credit score. For a long time though we were considered high risk. There is some good advice here about high risk borrowers.

And many many of us have seen and maybe used those companies that promise to help you pay off your debt quickly so you can get back on your feet. Apparently these companies are use IVA's or Individual Voluntary Arrangement's to help to get rid of your debt quicker. While they are a great alternative to bankruptcy they aren't the only option.

These companies are also a great way to stop collector's from calling you day and night. Here is more information about collector's and how to avoid being caught in their lies and traps.

Each day is one baby step but I intend to be debt free soon.

90's

It is 91 degrees here today and guess what I am doing?

Baking oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies.

Because they sounded so yummy.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Educa-shun

I haven't made it a secret on my blog that one of our daughters suffers from a disorder called Reactive Attachment Disorder. Basically it was the result of neglect, abuse, or frequent changes in her short little life. That is the basic definition. For more information about RAD check out my favorite support group, TLP.

One problem that many RAD children face is "fitting in" at a public or private school. Their symptoms and behaviors can sometimes make it impossible for the child to be successful in a classroom environment.

Thankfully for us this hasn't been an overwhelming issue yet. But I take reassurance in the knowledge that their are facilities like Score Learning Centers that provide individual help to students who are struggling. Our daughter is only in 1st grade but I can forsee she will need Math Tutors if things don't start clicking in her brain soon. It only gets harder from here on out.



THIS IS A SPONSORED POST.

Don't throw rocks

Sunday we spent the day at the beach.

So I packed a picnic lunch and about an hour after we got there we all sat down to eat. To our surprise a flock of seagulls joined us for lunch. I had bought a family size bag of Cheetos and so we shared a few with the seagulls. The kids ran about 5 feet from where we were sitting and set out a few handfuls of cheetos then came back and watched.

First one seagull would drop down and almost hover over the pile of cheetos, all the while keeping an eye on us. Once they realized we weren't going to hurt them about 12 more flew in and they ate the cheetos in a big hurry.

Then they would all fly out to the lake and get a drink while the kids would run out and replenish the pile on the beach.

This went on for a good 20 minutes until the people around us started noticing the birds. A kid in the water came over and picked up rocks and started throwing them at the birds. And if that wasn't bad enough 4 full grown men walked out of the bathrooms and each of them picked up a rock and threw it at the birds.

Needless to say the birds left. And my kids were disappointed. And so was I. It was fun to watch the majestic birds fly and hop around. I don't care if they were only seagulls. They are very pretty birds. And they serve a good purpose. They keep the beaches and surrounding areas clean.

Please don't throw rocks at the birds.

PPP Success

The more I do PPP, the more I like it and apparently so do millions of other bloggers. We are all getting paid to advertise on blogs. And now PPP has announced they are doing great, financially. That is good news for those of us wishing to make some money. I know they have big plans for that money but I hope they up the amount they pay for each post. That would be awesome. I also realize they have plans and goals to expand and make the program even better. That is okay with me too.

Here is the press release announcing the big news. I feel like a proud Mama. LOL

The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored
Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company's Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

Did you make it through all that technical stuff. If not, don't worry. All you need to know is PPP is doing well and growing and adapting. If you are looking for some income and don't want to have to leave your kids at daycare to do it, PPP may be for you. I know I am enjoying it more now that the money is starting to come in. What could be better than being at home taking care of your kids and making money at the same time? Not much.

Use your muscles

While we were at the lake on Sunday Mr. Bill had fun playing in our little inflatable boat.

After a few hours a storm brewed above us and so we decided to pack up all the inflatable toys so they wouldn't blow away in the wind.

While we were all collecting the toys Mr. Bill was holding onto the rope tied to the boat. He started getting scared because the wind was too strong for him to pull it in.

I said to him, "Use your muscles!"

He says, "I can't they are in my backpack."

"Why are they in your backpack?" I wondered.

"Oliver keeps them there and so do I," he replies.

Because, you know, all men keep their muscles in their backpacks. Duh!

Coloring Pages

I don't know about you other parents, but at my house we go through a ton of colorbooks and crayons. When Becca and Megan were little they would sit at their minature table for hours coloring and scribbling in their colorbooks.

And then we discovered the internet.

There are literally millions of Coloring Pages that can be printed designed just for kids who like to color. What could be more fun than finding pictures of Dora and My Little Pony and then printing them out?!

Well I will tell you. There is a new coloring activity on the net. You are presented with a picture and you get to use the paint tools to color in the picture. But that is not the exciting part. This site allows you to UPLOAD your own pictures that you have drawn and color them. Given my hubby's artistic skills, this will be a huge hit at our house. They even have a gallery area so others can view your art.


Get coloring!

Head in the Clouds

Our date was amazing! Our babysitter had a horse show and so was late getting home so we didn't leave our house until 7 p.m. so we didn't have much time but we made the best of it. We went out to a mexican restaraunt and ate in the peace and quiet you cannot get with 5 kids at the table. And not once did either of us whine or complain that they put ONIONS in our burritos.

Then we went to Walmart to go birthday shopping for Megan and Billy. Megan's birthday is June 17 and Mr. Bill's is June 21 so we took the opportunity to go and buy presents TOGETHER for them. That was nice because for the last 10 years it has been me shopping alone and Billy being as surprised as the birthday child because he has no idea what they have gotten.

By then it was time to go home. We got back and the babysitter said the kids were all great. Billy took her home and then I got the real story. The kids all did pretty well. Except Marea. Many of her RAD behaviors returned, which was one of my fears. But I know I cannot stay home with her 24/7. She has to learn to adjust.

So I had my head in the clouds for about 3 hours while I was on a date. Then the rain came crashing down when we got home. All day Saturday Marea made us pay for leaving her alone. Normal behavior for a RAD, not that it makes it any easier.

But we are doing it again next Friday. Oh yes we are!

Credit Cards

When I graduated from High School, my Mom said I needed a credit card. "In case of emergencies" she said.

So she took me to the bank and she co-signed for my very first credit card. It had a 1000 limit.

And by the end of the first month my credit card was maxed and I was making a monthly payment without a job.

Hmmmm.... some education about credit cards could have been helpful you think?

Nowadays teaching kids to be responsible with credit cards is so much easier. They have new cards that are controlled by the parents. You can control the amount the kids have access to and see where it is going. Visa Buxx are the perfect way to teach a teenager how to use a credit card properly.

I will be sure to teach my kids a thing or two about credit cards so they don't end up with a huge debt and little idea how they got there.

Giggling like a school girl

Today is the first day my husband and I get to go on a date. A real date with no kids. They are staying home with our new babysitter.

*giggle*

I can't stop thinking about it. I think I slept for about an hour last night because my brain would not shut off.

*giggle*

Of course I am running through the million different scenarios that could or will happen. We have one child who does not deal well with change and I suspect that she will cause some problems. I am doing my best to think OH WELL and move past it. I can't supervise her 24/7, 365.

And did I mention we are going on a date!

*giggle*

A date! With my hubby!

*giggle*

It is so sad that a date with my hubby makes me so giddy. We should have done this a long time ago.

*sigh*

Seeing Stars

Billy and Mr. Bill were outside finishing up mowing the yard (Well Billy was anyway. Mr. Bill was playing in the playhouse.) Apparently at some point they got into a discussion about the stars and how they make different shapes and figures. Being extremely excitable lately over knights and warriors, Billy tried to show Mr. Bill Orion.

It must not have been too much longer that they came inside talking about Orion and Mr. Bill kept saying "There was nothing there!"

So Billy tells me to look them up online to see if we can find a picture that shows what Orion looks like. The pictures we found were either realistic pictures that showed us nothing more than we saw in our own sky or crappy drawings like a kindergarten trying to do a dot-to-dot.

This meade my sky sure would have come in handy. Next time we may have to try searching the stars with one. Without is just too complex.

My Talented Hubby

Looky what my ever-so talented hubby has been up to! He modeled Optimus Prime's head on the computer and submitted it to the Transformer's Movie website.



http://www.transformersmovie.com/fanart/index.html

Just look for the art by Billy Sides in the list on the above page. If you are so inclined you can rate it for him too. I don't think he gets anything except bragging rights but that would be cool.

Break Day

Today is a break for us here at the Organized Chaos household. No summer rec activities, no babysitting, and so we intend to hang out and be LAZY today. Aaaaaaah.

I finally got up the nerve to hire us a babysitter. I know my kids are 11, 9, 8, 7, and 4 and I finally feel they are old enough to leave them with a teenager for a few hours. You can call me overprotective, its okay. I am used to it by now. :) I am extremely excited at the thought of going on a date with my husband on Friday. I can't even remember the last time we went out together just because.

I got my clematis flowers in the mail yesterday but they had shipped on the 23 of May so they were quite dead. They must have gotten tied up somewhere in the mail. I called Springhill Nursery right away and the customer service lady was so nice. She ordered a reship immediately and so I should have my flowers next week. I cannot tell you how much I love Springhill Nursery. If you haven't checked it out you should. (And this is not a PPP). LOL

Speaking of PPP, tell me what you think. Does it drive you nuts or do you enjoy the posts? I am still wavering on whether or not I want to keep doing it. I have made 143.00 as of today doing the posts. Not bad for a few minutes making a post eh? If I did more, I could make more. But I feel like I sort of sold out my blog. Talk to me people.

Paintball

Paintball sounds like so much fun! I know I may be weird but it has always intrigued me. My husband has played a few times with his co-workers and I have always wanted to give it a try. Of course with five kids and no babysitter it hasn't really been a possibility. And the site of him coming home with large welts where he got hit don't look all that appealing but I still would like to give it a try. I have seen the guns on sale at Walmart and have contemplated buying one but Billy says they probably aren't very good quality. So the next logical place to find one is on the web.

Here is a site that sells an awesome array of paintball equipment. There are many many different brands. One of the top sellers is Smart Parts Ion. You can get a Smart Parts Ion paintball gun and this site offers FREE SHIPPING. Anyone who shops online knows sometimes the amount of shipping can be a deal breaker so it is always refreshing to see a site that ships free. If you are looking to gear up completely you can purchase a Smart Parts Ion package. The packages contain everything you need including mask and pads so you I will be well protected when venturing out on a paintball field.

I might give it a try with just my husband first to see how much I like it. Then we can get a game going. Anyone wanna join me?