The Little Princess!

I have a little princess here! It's hard not to be when you are the only girl in a family with three brothers. What is so cute, and uniquely her-she is a tomboy princess! It would not ever be a surprise to find her playing in the mud wearing a tiara. That is just how she is. There is some really cute "blingy" items of wholesale fashion jewelry that I'm looking at for a stocking stuffer or two for her.

There is a cute bracelet with a heart lock and a little key. That is just her. Cute, sweet and all around precious! I'll have to show it to my husband to see what he thinks. It's a go for me!

Hubby Thoughts

What do you give the man that has everything he wants? It's not necessarily EVERYTHING, but there isn't anything that the man wants! I would love to find something for just him,whether it was clothing or one of those Victorinox swiss army watches. Do you wanna know my brilliant idea? A new PS2, a game or two and a locking toolbox to keep his stash away from the kids! We have had so many PS2's in our house, but each one has met it's demise at the hands of the little ones. So something that he can keep all his own, in perfect condition, that would be perfect!

Snow Already?

I drove home today in the snow! How cool is that? I told my husband yesterday that he may just come home to find that his house was all decked out for Christmas, but it just didn't feel like it was time. Now with the snow, I'm thinking the tree may just go up tomorrow! Sadly, I think I will have to spend that time cleaning out the garage so that we can get both of our cars into it. Otherwise, I'll need to invest in some car covers so that we don't have freeze our rear ends off cleaning off the snow every morning.

The one problem I have is that there is a love seat and two recliners waiting to go to the dump, sadly we've never gotten them there and two cars won't fit in as long as they are there. I'll have to see if a sticker will do for the trash man, otherwise we'll have to rent a truck to get them outta here!

Twilight Is Coming

Have you ever heard of downloadable audio books? I have actually never even listened to an audio book. But I've always been pretty intrigued by them. I just found out that the "Twilight" saga is being banned from being downloaded. Again, something just a little intriguing!

I LOVE the Twilight series, and even have a group of friends lined up to make it to the movie opening night. I just wish there were more books coming in the near future.

Hmmmmm, Maybe!!

Have you seen the billboards around talking about franchise opportunity? There is one I see everyday on my way home from the kids school. I've never been one to really think of myself as a business owner, but I have to say it's sounds so exciting. My brother in law runs a major restaurant here in the Chicago area, and honestly there is a ton of work that goes into it. I'm not sure I could handle one on my own, but how fun does a little family business sound??

Happy Halloween!

How was your Halloween? Ours here was pretty hectic! Four kids, four different costumes, four different ages. One group wanting to run ahead, while a 3 year old assumes he's finally old enough to cross the street on his own (without looking both ways!!) But along with four kids comes four kids worth of candy! There will be alli diet pills in the not too distant future...for all of us!

Although it was a hectic day...is there any other time when running around willy nilly in funny costumes ringing doorbells and collecting gobs of candy? What isn't awesome about this holiday? Especially with two little ones that can hardly wait to get to the next door. Too fun!

Halloween Thougths

Have you started thinking about Halloween yet? I would find that a foolish question, but it's only 2 weeks away, so I guess if you haven't...you better start! I'm still working on ideas for the kids. The youngest will probably be Handy Manny. My daughter would like to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. My 8 year old would like to be something gruesome--not my style, and my 11 year old is trying to decided if it's something he'd like to do or not. He has until Wednesday to make his final decision.

Do you, as the parent, dress up for Halloween to? Or leave it to your kids? I never really have. I've had much more fun dressing them up and parading them around than I would ever have putting my own large body in something. I'm not sure this holiday will be any different!

D'oh!!

A few days ago I wanted to take a picture of some of the upgrades we've done to our house. As I went to snap the photo the screen had a message that the internal memory was full. That could only mean that I was missing a compact flash card. I sooooooooooo didn't want to go all the way in the house for a card, and they aren't kept anywhere that my kids can find them easily. So I did the easiest thing I could think of, I cleared the memory and took my photo's.

It wasn't until much later that I realized I wasn't smart enough to get the dumb photo's out of the internal memory. We don't have the cords needed to hook the camera up to the computer, and I was feeling rather foolish for my laziness.

I had to call my husband and go through the owner's manual TWICE before finding one little sentence on page 18 that tells you that all you have to do is insert a flash card---and hit back up on the menu! Yes, it only takes about 10 seconds...and it took me about 2 hours to figure it out!

Growing Up Fast

The name of this blog is Wild & Crazy Ride. I named it because it deals so much with the ups and downs of family life in my house. It seems like just yesterday my oldest son was asking for Yugi-oh cards and Game Boy games, and now he's asking for MP3 players and Cell Phones.

It's not that he's too young for this kind of stuff to be intriguing, he'll be 11. I'm just wondering where the past 5 years went! They seemed to have whipped by in no time at all. Soon he'll have no interest in the new things, and be more worried about borrowing the car keys and borrowing money for dates.

It's nothing new that our kids grow up so fast, but it is new to me. I'm just not quite ready to see him heading off to college just yet!

Auto Immune Problems

The doctors are thinking that some of my head problems are being caused by an underlying Auto Immune Disease. One possible option is something called Ankylosing Spondylitis which has to do with the lower vertebrae in the spine fusing together. The reason this makes sense to me is because I have terrible pain in my lower back. Even when I'm just standing at the sink, slightly bending over, the pain is so great that I have to stop and rest on the counter top. Walking even shorter distances is uncomfortable and running is out of the question.

I keep wondering if a good pair of sturdy walking shoes would make a difference, but I wasn't so sure until I saw the new MBT shoes. They are called the Anti-Shoe, and they actually work to promote better poster and even help with some of the jarring that the joints go through in daily activity. No, I don't know that this particular auto immune problem is the one that I have, but if something could help that lower back pain when I'm standing at the sink or even pushing a stroller, it would be amazing to find!

Green Beans

Have you had green bean casserole? You know the one with mushroom soup and crispy fried onions. I LOVE that! But I've never really known the recipe to make it. I mean, I know the ingredients but not the amounts. I love that you can find easy green bean recipes online. Especially since I have so many cans of green beans--case lot sales and all!! But I need more than one recipe to try them out with! Who knows, I may just be back sharing another favorite really soon!

Protection!!

My husband and I have been arguing recently about the need the get a home warranty. They are something that we've had in the past and have been saved so many times from the expenses in replacing a garage door, an air conditioning compressor, even the washer and dryer were covered. But since we moved into this house, we haven't had one. Everything seems to be working really good for now, but you just know that the first time money gets tight everything is going to start breaking down! Who wouldn't want to be prepared for that?

Such A Strange Dilema!!

A friend of mine put out a survey to see what kind baby bedding she should use for her new baby. What struck me odd was that she has a four year old daughter who just can't seem to share her crib with the soon to be baby, so they are buying a second crib. Are you kidding me? Who does that? Step in and be the parent...at four she's hopefully not sleeping in the crib, so just let her know how the game is going to be played! I had four kids move through my one crib and it was still seemingly wasteful to throw it out before we moved out. It was in great condition and yet, out it went! Step up...no MOM up!!

Not On His Arm

Have you seen the beautiful Nautica watches? I would love to get my husband a beautiful watch that he would be proud to wear, but he's put his foot down since the day we got married. According to him...he will only wear a watch when he has purchased himself a Rolex! Four kids, a mortgage and weddings and colleges to pay for? I just don't think he'll ever wear a watch!

Bribery??

Yesterday was "Back To School" night for my kids. We headed over to the school a little late, and since everyone was calm I took the opportunity to bring up a bargain for them for their grades. I said, "If you guys get straight "A"s, I will give you..." and both boys piped in with an answer. Grayson threw out a PSP and Jacob threw out a PS3! I'm sorry...I was just going to offer full rights to a video game they hadn't quite earned yet, and they jumped straight to the big kahuna! It's not likely going to happen their way, I'm just hoping for good grades!

We Found Them All

Last weekend we went to Schaumburg to celebrate Septemberfest. They had an amazing firework display, but while we were waiting for it I had to think of a way to keep my kids occupied. We were sitting in the parking lot of a strip mall across the street and as I looked at the storefront signs in the front windows it dawned on me. We started looking for each letter of the alphabet in all of the different shops. I KNEW we weren't going to find all of the letters...what were the chances? But with shops with such neon names as "Boutique" and "Pizza" we were well on our way to finishing up the task. Until we hit "X"! Where in the world would an X be? Well, after a second or two my middle son saw an exit sign through the window of a Chinese buffet...what are the odds of that?

Vintage Fun

My in laws cleaned out the attic of my husband's grandmothers house. They found two antique espresso machines, or at least espresso makers. They are so cute, and she has them both sitting above her stove. They look like little tiny teapots on top of a metal cup. I don't know quite how they work, but they are from Italy and very important to my mother in law.

One looks a little like this one, and the other is shaped the same but looks more porcelain and it's painted with delicate flowers. Something nice for Ebay in my opinion!!

Sun Scars & Skin Problems!!

When I was really little I refused to let my mother put sunscreen on my face. Because of it I have a sun damaged line across my nose. Normally it's not a big deal because I can wear make up to cover it up, but the problem comes into being because I get a ton of nose blackheads right across the line. I have tried everything from cleansers to moisturizers and everything in between. I was thinking it was finally time to resort to the good old Elmer's glue to pull them all up! I'm getting desperate!

Philly

Philadelphia has been my favorite city since the first time I saw it when I was 12! I always wanted to visit, and I always wanted to live there. There are so many Philadelphia jobs available, that it wouldn't be too hard to find something, but making the move would be hard. This is the third state we've lived in in 11 years, and the kids are finally starting to put down roots. As much as I would love to have the opportunity to live in that beautiful area, if we are making any moves...I'm heading West!

Feelin' Sexy!

When you wear plus size lingerie, it's hard to get in that frisky mood with your husband! The poor thing! I would love to wear a little baby doll and look cute, but after four kids...it's not the best thing in the world! I would like to get healthy, and maybe if I start now, I'll be in the right shape to wear the sexy lingerie for Valentine's Day!