OPERATION POTTY TRAINING Pt 2.

If I'm not mistaken, this week makes our 5th week of potty training. Wow, such torture.  I know where every bathroom is located from here to E-town.  I can tell you which is the quickest bathroom to get to from any location.  I also know which bathrooms are clean and others not so much.  I know which bathrooms that are stocked with toilet paper and handsoap.  You would be suprised at how some public restrooms don't seem to mind the empty soap dispensers.  Amelia has done fabulous with the pee part.  She is doing so well that she even gets up in the night to go pee by herself.  This should be the part where I say we are diaper free.  In a way, we are because I'm not putting diapers on her or pull-ups, she is full-time wearing underwear.  But she will not and has not pooped in the potty yet.  Therefore, that explains the pics of the outhouse and porter potty because that is what my house smells like right now.  I am so sick of playing in poop.  I don't have her BM's routine down-pat yet.  I think I about know when it's time for her to go and then she don't go until a weird time when I least expect it.  Last week her and Titus were outside playing on the swingset.  Amelia came in and said, "I pooped."  So I told her to go on in the bathroom.  When I went in there I didn't see her poopy underwear anywhere.  So I asked her where they were and she said, "Outside."  I left her sitting on the toilet and went outside to find them.  Before I got out though I seen Titus in the kitchen with a trail of footprints behind him.  "TITUS, WHY DID YOU WEAR YOUR SHOES IN THE HOUSE?"  I immediately yanked his shoes off to smell what I already knew it was going to smell like.  Yep, poop.  I walked in the living-room and seen all the lovely poopy footprints leading to the front door.  As I looked down, when I opened the door, there at the front step was poopy underwear with poop balls (some smashed, some still intact) all over the front steps.  I had to drag out the carpet cleaner again.  I need help, ya'll.  I don't know what to do.  I don't want to use pull-ups because I'm afraid she will quit peeing in the potty.  Is she afraid?  Too lazy?  I don't know.  I've always heard boys were harder to train than girls, but so far I have to disagree.  Sugar Cookie tarts don't completely hide the smell of an outhouse, ya know!!  Any advice???

Great Deal For Locals!

Sorry to disappoint some of you, but this blog will not be very exciting.  I just wanted to give some of you a heads up on a really good deal.  If you shop any at all at Krogers, you should be familiar with the back of your receipt being filled with coupons from local businesses.  Dino's Italian restaurant is offering a coupon for a large cheese pizza for only $5.  Normally this coupon says "carry out only", but now they don't.  Must be a typo, but to our advantage.  The advantage is you get free breadsticks and sauce when you dine in.  I ate there today for lunch with my kids.  We had a great luch, drank water, and our total bill?? $5.30!!  We had half our pizza left because we filled up on breadsticks.  Our server brought us fresh breadsticks along with our box for our leftover pizza.  We took the leftovers to Maynard for his lunch.  Oh, and I did leave our server a tip, but I thought this was too good a deal to keep to myself!  The manager accepted the coupon when I paid so its legit. Ya'll can thank me later.  

Sorry Melissa if I bored you.

Harvesting Peanut Butter n Jelly

So, I realize that this a busy time of year for people with gardens.  Everyone is busy with putting away veggies for the winter.  This year I decided to only put up what my kids will even eat.  That would include apples and peanut butter n jelly sandwiches.  Yep, I cut, peeled, and cored apples until my fingers refused to move any longer.  I do have intentions of freezing corn too, I'm just waiting to get it here from a preacher friend that is selling it.  Ok, back to pb&j sandwiches.  My kids love the "pb&j samwiches" you find in the freezer section at walmart.  We go through them way too fast and they cost a bit much in my opinion.  Josiah has to take a snack and his lunch to school everyday so I have to keep plenty of stuff on hand for him.  Also, Titus and Amelia want snacks throughout the day and I hate telling them, "no,  that's for Josiah's lunch."  It reminds me of my mamaw n papaw hiding coke under their bed for my cousin Bj while we had to drink koolaide.  (sorry, I still have a hard time with that and just had to say it, lol).  I was given a pampered chef catalogue by a friend to look through.  I was hoping to get the PC ice-cream scooper, but they went and changed it on me and I was so upset!  Ya'll ever notice I give you way more details than you need???  Anyways, I seen the crimper thingee and thought, "pb&j sandwiches, how perfect!"  So, ya'll should know by now how I like to save a dollar and I ordered that little gadget and I'm so glad I did.  My freezer has the cutest little pb&j sandwiches you ever seen.  So now for lunch and snacks, the kids can just grab a sandwich out of the freezer.  It takes 30 mins to thaw.  While everyone else has beans, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and other veggies canned or in the freezer, we have peanut butter & jelly in our freezer.  You know, for hard times.  Happy Harvesting!

How was I supposed to know what OPAC meant?

*This may be a little different than what Kelly had in mind, but this is really, honestly, truthfully, a picture that I will be embarrassed of forever. You will have to read in down to understand why.  #myembarrassingtbt *

This is probably going to be added as one of my most embarrassing moments.  So be prepared to laugh at my expense, once again.

I noticed in the paper and even heard it on the radio that OPAC AND HSBC was having a block party in the area nearby where I live.  It said itand was open to the public and free.  They were having a fish fry and games like ring toss, balloon bust, cake walks and ect.  Sounds fun don't it.  So I had a plan for a fun filled day.  It started around 10:30 and me, Titus, and Amelia headed to our consignment sale to shop for fall clothes.  Of course we are as poor as Joe's turkey right now, but I had some money put back from my last sale.  I was so proud of how well behaved Titus and Amelia were.  I only had to threaten Titus once so I think that's great.  I found a few deals, but not like I had hoped.  We got back to our car around 12:30 and I put my purchases in my van.  Well, I had remembered that the paper said they would offer public transportation to the block party and pick-up would be at the fire station.  Which also happened to be where the consignment sale waa held.  So we walked over thinking the trolley would be there, but it was nothing but a couple R-tec vans.  I don't know what that stands for either, but they are these white vans who transport either the elderly or handicap people to work or dr's appointments and such.  So I asked if we could ride and they said sure.  So Amelia and Titus were ecstatic to be riding on a bus/van.  The driver took us to the party.  As I stepped  out of the van I quickly realized that I was at a party intended for OLD PEOPLE.  Of course I had wondered why it was from 12-3.  Didn't these people know that kids are in school at that time?  Me and the kids walked around a minute.  I was so glad to see 2 older ladies that I knew and quickly went straight to them.  My plan was to pretend I was with them or something, (Unbeknownst to them, of course).  They instructed me to go get a dinner ticket to eat.  As I wrote my name down the lady also gave me tickets to play some games.  She said, "Here are some game tickets for you, but the kids can't play."  I was like "ok. thanks," but knowing I'm not going to play games when my kids can't.  So we got in line for our free lunch which was fish, fries, hushpuppies, and coleslaw.  I got tickled when the options for drinks were sweet or unsweetened tea.  I mean I like tea, but Titus and Amelia were not too happy.  Luckily we found a water pitcher on the table.  We ate our food which I tried my best to like, but it was kinda gross.  They gave us free ice-cream sandwiches for dessert.  (and they wasn't even sugar free, lol)   Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that my 2 old lady friends were gone.  They disappeared.  Do you think I embarrassed them? Ha I kept my eye out for the r-tec van to come back be cause I never felt so out of place in my lHaife.  It would be the same as my white family being in an all black church kind of feeling.  We waited for about 15 minutes and it never showed so I told the kids we would just walk back because it was only about a mile n half away from our vehicle.  The problem was it was 99 degrees out and I had 2 small kids with me.  At least I had my stroller for Amelia with me.  We stopped and bought us a water bottle at the store and continued to walk.  I had several thoughts going through my head, here's a few, 1) We are actually closer to my house than to my car, should I just go home? 2) But what if Maynard can't pick Josiah up from school and I won't have my van to go get him. 3)I could call someone to come get us. 4) I hate to do that because they would have to drive several miles to only take me a little over a mile. 5)  Will Titus really walk a mile and a half?  6) Dear God, please don't let anyone I know see us, 7) Dear God please let someone see us and pick us up, Ha ha!

We continued to walk on towards the car.  The walk didn't bother me because it wasn't too long ago I was walking 3 miles a day, but I was wearing dressy flip-flops so "ouch".  We walked about halfway.  We stopped to look at a creek, flowers, and even got to stand in front of the railroad tracks and watch a train go by.  As we continued to walk, Titus hollered, "there it is.  There's the bus."  I looked up, but of course it kept going.  Not too much longer, Titus hollered again, "there it is again and it's stopping for us, Mommy."  I looked behind me and there was our driver waving at me to get on. I was thankful yet once again even more embarrassed because here was a handicap van stopping in the middle of a busy road for me.  My kids jumped in and I had to struggle with the stroller to get it closed up and inside.  Then I had to get my kids buckled before she would drive off.  Let's just say we had quite the line up of traffic behind us.  It sure was one embarrassing day for me.  I learned what OPAC stands for today, Older Persons Activities Center.  I apologized to my kids over and over again.  As soon as Josiah got home from school Titus said, "Guess what, Josiah?  We got to ride on a bus and walked on railroad tracks."  Josiah's reply, "Mom, did you really? No fair!!!  Ha ha!  So even though it wasn't that special day I envisioned, Titus still enjoyed something and Josiah thought it was unfair.  It worked out ok after-all.  So in about 30 more years, I have found myself a place to go "PARTY".

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch

Soapbox Sermon!!!

I am vexed.  I refuse to accept that homosexuality is okay and part of the "norm" in today's society.  I hate the fact that no matter how well you shield your children from wickedness, they are still going to be exposed to evil.  We do not have a t.v. in our home and I am so thankful for that.  I realize that there are educational and religious programs on there that help educate our children, but there's also alot of crud too.  I know this is controversial and it's not really what I even want to discuss.  I am angry that I was reading library books last night to my kids and came upon a book that shocked me.  I had started reading them a book with a picture of 3 penguins on the front cover.  It looked like a cute book.  It was called "and Tango makes three."  I got about 3-4 pages into the book when I realized what this story was actually about.  I was sitting on my couch, in my living-room reading my kids a book about two gay penquins who longed for a child of their own.  I immediately stopped reading out loud and looked through the rest of the book.  Two male penguins stayed together like the other male and female penquins did.  They hugged and were very happy and in love just as the other couples were.  Then they noticed that all the other couples were laying eggs and they wasn't able to do that. AARGH, DUH!!!  It ends up there is an orphaned egg that the zoo-keeper placed in their nest.  The egg hatches and there you go.  The first baby penquin to have 2 daddies.  I am disgusted that they put this junk in children's books.  What if Josiah was trying to read this book and I never knew what it was about.  At the end of the book there was a special page about how this was a true story and how Mother Nature really knows best and how that all kinds of love can create a family.  I am just upset at how this snuck in my house and was almost read to my kids.  It's out there ya'll.  I fear for our kids, especially in the public school system.  It's untelling what is in their textbooks everyday. 

DEAR GOD, PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM THE EVIL IN THIS WORLD.  HELP 

US AS PARENTS TO TEACH THEM RIGHT FROM WRONG.

My first grader on his first day of school.  He was a little excited, but yet a tad anxious at the same time.  He isn't too happy about being gone the whole day.  Last year in Kindergarten they only went until 12.  He has a new teacher this year that he got to meet at open house last Friday.  He is a little worried about breaking a new teacher in, but I'm sure it won't take him long. Ha!  Ever since I explained to him about PE class this year he has accquired a new pain in his leg that keeps giving him trouble.  Even this morning he said, "If my leg hurts me during PE they might have to rush me to the nurses office if we had one, huh mom?" Ha  He is so dramatic and cracks me up.  He was excited when he realized his biggest buddies were all around him.  His new teacher has his desk right in the middle of all his buddies.  I just had to mention to her that I bet that wouldn't last long.  He has missed his friends this summer for sure.  I am excited that Maynard will be dropping and picking Josiah up alot this year.  His schedule has changed and it works out perfectly for us.  It will save us gas money and I won't have to wake up Titus and Amelia in the mornings.  Last year it was quite difficult getting 3 kids ready to go out the door to school and especially during the freezing weather.  Poor Titus was upset this morning when he woke up to find Josiah missing.  He ran in my room with his lip trembling, "Mom, I woke up and Josiah wasn't in his spot."  I consoled him and he said, "Well, can we go out to eat then?"  Ha ha!  Oh no! I hope I haven't taught my children to eat when they are feeling sad.  Well, it's going to be a long day.  I need to start the backhoe and get my house cleaned up from our weekend.

Let's all remember not to just pray for our students, but to also pray for the teachers and staff as well.  I am praying my little guy will get saved this year and maybe his teacher can help lead him.

That's it, I'm moving.......

Yep, that's right.  I am moving to a germ free bubble.  My poor kids.  They are getting sick again.  Titus must have croup.  He has that familiar barking sound when he coughs.  He is so miserable.  Amelia is pale and sneezing apx every 30 seconds.  Not only am I too embarrased to take my kids to the dr again, but it always seems like a wasted trip.  I mean they holler, "VIRUS" as soon as you walk in it seems.  My medicine cabinet is running over with motrin and cough syrup, which their dr prescribes every visit.  I wonder if he gets commission off of motrin thatprescriptions? Hmmm..... I have decided to treat them at home with what meds I already have.  If Titus isn't any better by Monday then I will take him on to the dr.  I am giving him a breathing treatment right now.  I can't remember how it effects him since it really belongs to Amelia when she had rsv as a baby.  I'm sure he will get hyper out of his head.  Let's just hope this helps.  He is coughing so hard I'm afeaid he won't sleep well.  Josiah starts school on Monday so I hope he doesn't get sick.  I will feel so bad for him to not feel well his first week of school.
So yep, I think it's best to move to a bubble for the time being.  Have I mentioned my ceiling is leaking in the bathroom?  I went off like a wild woman on Titus yesterday.  I went in the bathroom and water was all over the floor. I just knew Titus had had a field day in there. I mean why not blame him, right? After screaming his innocence, I had Maynard come check it out. "it appears to,be leaking from the ceiling, Amy." "Water on the ceiling? TITUS?" I must add how hard it was raining during this time. It was pouring the rain. It wasn't hard to figure out then that "WE HAVE SPRUNG A LEAK, YA'LL!" Ya'll remember that old song Claude Ealey sung, "There's a leak in this old building?" ha! So anyway, today the roofer dude (roofman), roof repairman)., (roofer), came by to check the roof out. Looks like it's time for a new roof. Evidently, the 199 storms we've been having has rearranged some of our shingles. I think I would like a tin roof. I love to hear rain falling on a tin roof, but Maynard wants shingles. I mean he wants shingles for the roof. Yeah, I'm kinda sure he doesn't want "shingles". I've had that before and it was kind of painful. Ha ha! But really, it doesn't matter because I'm miving to a bubble, remember?

Operation Potty Training

I have to say that so far my least favorite  part in parenting has to be potty training.  I loathe that task with every child so far.  My boys were all potty trained 3 months before they turned 3.  I was always happy with that.  I think if they were 3 already and still wasn't potty trained then I might be a little intimidated.  My problem with Amelia is that she is as big as some 4 yr olds.  So needless to say, I get some dirty looks by people as to say, "you haven't potty trained her yet?"  "What a sorry mom you must be."  This is wearing on my nerves being that she just hit the 2 1/2 mark.  I did try potty training her right after her 2nd birthday.  She did great for aweek and then she just quit.  She would cry so hard to wear her diapers instead ofpanties that she would throw up. So I just quit. Now we are on our 2nd week. I don't use pull-ups. They have never really helped my kids at all. It feels like a diaper so they forget about going to the potty. Christy gave me a huge back of panties and we have been going through them like crazy. I am proud to say we have had very few accidents. Well pee accidents, but she has not pooped in the potty not one time. Poop doesn't seem to bother her hanging around in a big clump in her panties. I also have to constantly ask her to go pee. She only has told me one time she had to pee and that was while we were out eating. I think she just wanted an excuse to get up from the table. I'm just getting aggravated. I wonder if she really don't get it or if she is a tad on the lazy side. So if you come over to my house and smell carpet cleaner, you'll know we are still not successful. I'm not quitting yet. I'm gonna have to buy depends for her too much longer. Size 6 is getting a bit small. I will keep you posted on Mommy vs Amelia!!

S

o do you all remember the post about how we had bought a camper and I would no longer have to sleep in a tent? Well, guess what? Wrong! We never have used our camper yet because the cables are broken and it needs to be repaired. We didn't get it repaired yet because we are hoping to sell it and get a better one we found. So in the meantime, it's back to the tent scenario. First of all, I think you should know that I love the great "INDOORS". I am not an outside person at all. You may catch me out in the fall though. I love the fall and hearing the leaves crunching as you walk. School is about to start back and we haven't done much this summer besides the kids playing outside or swimming a little bit. Plus, it seems like they have been sick all summer. Hopefully, they get all their sicknesses out this summer and they will all be well during the school year. We decided on a Friday afternoon that we were going to go camping. In a matter of a couple hours we were packed and setting up tents at our local state park. We got a great tent spot that was across from the playground and also right across from the bathrooms. Yay! It could have not have been a better spot for us. My kids were able to ride their bikes all around the big circle around us, play on the playground, and even walk to the bathroom while I was able to watch from my campsite. I brought lots to do that I don't usually let them play in the house. They just got to be kids this weekend and it was nice. We roasted hot dogs and marshmellows for supper. Do your kids actually like roasted marshmellows? Because I noticed my kids just want to do the roasting, but really don't want to eat any. Weird. I mean, I can only eat so many roasted, dirty, burnt marshmellows. Ha! The kids were so dirty that I took them down to the bathhouse and they all took showers. I didn't have soap, washclothes, or towels. I improvised by using a little blanket and hand soap from the sink. Then I got them ready for bed and we read a little bit of Junie B Jones by flashlight and we headed for our tents. The "guys" slept in one tent and me and Amelia slept in the smaller tent. She was not happy when she realized we were really planning on sleeping outside in that tent. She absolutely refused to take her shoes off. Which is funny because when she was smaller she would do that when we stayed all night at my mom's. She was fine with me putting her pj's on, but when I went to take her shoes off she always realized she wasn't going home then. That is what she did camping too. Too funny, so I just let her sleep with her shoes on. She finally drifted off with a lot of crying. She would wake up and start smacking the sides of the tent trying to find the zipper to open it up so she could get out. I layed there feeling so good and relaxed. I was beginning to think that this wasn't too bad afterall. Then it started lightening. Then a little rain. Then a lot of rain. Then more rain and thunder. I was getting spooked, but according to the internet it was only going to rain and storm for no more than an hour or two. Boy was they wrong. It rained all night and we got soaked. We had big puddles of water at our feet. Our blankets and pillows were soaked. I tried my best to keep moving Amelia around so she would stay dry and warm. I layed there and prayed all night that it would stop raining and that we would be safe. Next thing I knew it was morning and the sun was shining bright. Maynard said, "What's for breakfast?" Camping makes a person so hungry! I had brought my griddle along and we had pancakes and sausage links for breakfast. Yummy! The kids had made them some friends and rode bikes all morning. Amelia found her a hill to ride her tricycle on and she loved flying down the hill all by herself. We stayed around until almost noon and then we went and hit the pool for a couple of hours. We picked up a pizza and headed home. Here is the best thing ever that happened this weekend. MY kids went to bed at 5:30 p.m. and did not wake up until Sunday morning for Sunday School. Do you believe that? Camping absolutely wore them out. We had a great time with no major disasters except for the getting wet part, but it could have been worse. Please pray that we sell our camper and we can be able to get a better one. I really don't want to sleep in a tent again, but I will if it means my kids will got to bed at 5:30 the next night! Ha!!

Amy's really rotten, no good day.

I can't handle stress.  At all. None, zilch.  I admire these people that seem they can handle anything.  They have been dealt with problems I never even dreamed of happening.  But yet, they just keep right on trucking.  Me? I stop in my tracks, lay face down in my bed, have a really good cry, then eat whatever is left in the freezer and pantry.  I keep thinking food is gonna bring me happiness, but its funny how it makes me even more miserable afterwards.  Lets just say I have gained most my weight back since May.  I have been a mess.  I can't handle stress or pressure.  I also can't deal with change.  It seems you get comfortable with the way things are going and then BOOM, it all has to change again.  Have ya'll realized you have been invited to my pity party yet? Ha!  Today I had another breakdown.  It all started yesterday when I ran over a huge rock in the middle of the rd and my van started making a horrible noise.  Then I got a certain phone call from a business establishment with some disturbing info I did not need.  Today I got up and returned the phone call and asked to speak with a supervisor.  I treated like an idiot and even got hung up on.  So,  I took to my bed again and squawled like a baby.  I thought I had my crying out so I called my hubby to explain the situation.  I was trying not to cry because I get embarrased when I cry in front of people or even on the phone.  I couldn't help it.  I started crying all over again.  Maynard tried to assure me it would be ok and it would all work out.  I really wasn't so sure, but guess what?  It worked out.  My van ended up having a bent bracket on the exhaust pipe and it was a quick fix, no biggie. Hallelujah!  Then about 3 hrs later I got a call that everything was gonna be ok.  Not only that, but with an extra bonus that I never dreamed would happen.   I know I am being shady about what is going on, but somethings you just can't share.  All I know is that things were looking bleak this morning and now I have some hope.  We still have some things we are trusting God for, but it is all in His hands.  If I could just learn to trust the Lord instead of trying to handle everything on my own I would do a little better.  I just want to praise the Lord for working some problems out for me.  He didn't have to, but he did.  What a Mighty God we serve.