Surviving the Holidays

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! -Sorry been a little MIA a lot of stuff going on here...

First a couple days before Thanksgiving my grandma called and was concerned about her health issues and wanted to know if as a back up plan we could do Thanksgiving over here?! - *Panic!* As I had mentioned to my husband I always see and thought about buying 1 of those fold-up banquet tables on sale around the holidays but, haven't - it seems I might need to get 1! Later after talking with my mom and grandma again it was decided that we would go ahead as planned to meet at my Gma's house -We were already planning on helping her out -everyone brought a dish and everything. And my mom and her boyfriend took care of most everything else. Thanksgiving worked out ok then. Later...

When we got back home we started to clean and get ready to to put the Christmas tree up -(we have an agreement that we'll wait at least until Thanksgiving is over ;) In the midst of doing that I got a call that luckily I answered it was from "Life Alert" and my other grandma (who lives out of town) had fell and possibly broke her leg. I figured my dad and uncle were just over there for Thanksgiving I tried to call my dad but he didn't answer. Luckily I got ahold of my uncle who was with my dad -I let them know I got a call and sounds like they were taking her to the hospital -They went on their way to see her then. I got a couple more calls from the life alert people and my other uncle -etc. At least we got some clutter cleaned up-We didn't get the tree up yet. Oh! and also before I went to bed -late. I got an email that for my upcoming cousin's wedding they want to hold a bridal shower and looking for a venue. It's kind of hard to explain but my cousin lives in Seattle but, they are having the wedding in this part of the country (I think mostly because it's near the bride's and groom's grandma's) So, since not a lot of bridal party live near here they were looking for someone who lives close by -*Ahem-Me* as a possible venue or other suggestions -I did make some suggestions for places but, since it will be a small event and my family agreed to take care of the food-etc. It seems the bridal shower will be at my house -Jan 1st -Yikes!

Friday...
I was hoping we could get the tree up but, we also needed to do our normal grocery shopping and some other shopping. So,after we got ready,ate lunch,got the shopping list done. We went out shopping. We 1st stopped by Kohl's because 1st I need a fancy-ish outfit for my husband's upcoming holiday party for his work ,2nd I also needed an outfit for the wedding, and 3rd my daughter needed a new dress for the wedding too. Luckily after what my husband would call "excruciating" shopping time I got an outfit that I'll wear for both the holiday party and the wedding and my daughter got a dress. Then we went on the great book hunt shopping -you see my daughter got a book awhile back for her birthday but, she didn't read it yet. But,when it came time for her to read a book for a book report at school she finally decided to read it.-Finally! after I said I wouldn't buy a new book when she has other books here we bought that she hasn't read yet. But, of course before she finished reading the book -she lost it! And she needed to finish it before today-Monday. So we 1st went to Barnes and Noble they didn't have it-but could order it-Hmmm. We decided to continue to look other places -Since we were nearby we stopped by Woodland Hills Mall -Wha? they don't have a bookstore anymore? -Weird! Since my husband in particular was getting tired of our shopping fiasco I had my sis call Waldenbooks in Promenade Mall to see if they had it -they did! We went and got it- My daughter had to pay for it since she lost it! Then we did our grocery shopping and finally got back home for the evening. We at least got the tree put up -but, didn't get it all decorated yet.

Saturday...
We finally got the Christmas tree decorated! We got the outside Christmas decorations/lights put up. And we decided to go to the Philbrook Musuem of Art's free Christmas lighting "Garden Glow" event.

Sunday...
Called to check on my grandma-didn't hear back until later that she was still in the hospital would've tried to make the trip out that way but,since it was kinda late didn't try to go out into the rainy cold day. Instead finished up the inside decorations,cleaned,and had a good Sunday spaghetti dinner.

Whew! So, that was my Thanksgiving weekend -How about you?

Christmas Lights in Tulsa

One of my favorite parts of Christmas are all the holiday light displays! What about You? And I know it's not quite Thanksgiving yet but, the Christmas lights are coming on all over Tulsa -Starting Tonight!

Click HERE for a list through my latest Examiner article. And if you're too excited and can't wait to see the lights -Be sure to see my slideshow of Christmas light pics :)

The Friday Five - Twilight Saga Edition

Twilight Saga!- Ok so you are probably either doing an excited happy dance reading those words or rolling your eyes ;)

I know, I know I was reluctant to get in on the whole "Twilight Phenomenon" but finally got into it - So, in honor of New Moon - Here's the Friday Five...

1. So, as I mentioned it took me awhile to get into the Twilight Saga - I was at my in-law's and my sis/brother in law were so excited to get their copy of the Twilight movie so,we all watched it. I was curious about the whole thing anyways. I thought the movie was ok -But, then I wanted to read the books. So, my sis in law let me borrow theirs. -From there I was "bitten" as some might say ;)

2. It seems just about everybody says the book was better than the Twilight movie. And from what I understand the 1st movie was kinda thrown together and put out there -Without knowing how it would do. So, now that they know how successful the whole thing is they have gotten a different director and New Moon has more special effects-etc. The director of Twilight was Catherine Hardwicke and the director of New Moon is Chris Weitz.

3. As you probably know the author of the Twilight saga books is Stephenie Meyer. I just love how she was a stay at home mom and had this dream which inspired her to write the books. Similarly to the author of the Harry Potter books -J.K. Rowling. I think as all stay at home moms and especially those interested in writing -would all dream of having some kind of almost divine inspiration to write something like that! Some people have criticized Stephenie and may not even understand how so many people love the books -like "Twilight Moms" . Which yes she may not be "the best" writer I did notice a few mistakes myself - I know I'm interested in writing but, not always grammaticly correct. But, I guess that's why I'll never be too much of a "grammar snob" =D But, really isn't that the point of reading/movies -etc. is to find yourself immersed into a different world? And that's probably why so many people like the books-etc. Say for instance a mom like myself may like just being able to pick up a book and escape the housework-etc. for a little while :)

4. Another reason -I've been getting so excited lately is because I've been playing a game/puzzle online for New Moon prizes -1st you could win a ticket to the premiere -But, now of course that is passed. Now, you can play to win a new Volvo car!! Basically there's different puzzles you have to solve and the 1st one to complete all of them -Wins! Have you heard of this? Anyone been playing? You can go HERE and play! If anyone is playing maybe we can help each other out :)

5. Ok unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard...

New Moon is out -Today! Are you going? I am -later -Can't wait!

Feel free to leave a comment are you excited? Or rolling your eyes about it all? Why?why not?

Hope everyone has a good weekend! - until next time :)

Thanksgiving is almost here!

Thanksgiving is a week away! Do you cook? Go eat at a certain family member's house? Are you ready?? I must admit I've only cooked a turkey once and it was for Christmas one year-and I had a lot of help from my MIL. We usually eat at a family members. It's kinda hard to fit everyone in around the holidays as it is -I've got my mom's side, dad's side, and in-law's side. So, we kinda switch around Thanksgiving/Christmas between them all. Like this Thanksgiving we'll be at my mom's side and we'll all bring a dish and help out.
I could understand how it can get stressful in the Thanksgiving kitchen! But don't fear! You should check out this Thanksgiving Guide! -Including my latest articles -Thanksgiving tips and tricks and Thanksgiving crafts
-Happy early Thanksgiving :)

The Friday the 13th -Friday Five...

Happy Friday the 13th! How many out there are superstitious? What superstitions have you heard of or believe in? There's plenty of superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th - So, I'd thought I'd share a few things on that subject -Today's Friday Five...


1. My birthday comes on a Friday the 13th -Ok so not every year and I wasn't born on a Friday the 13th -But, it does happen every few years. I can't say they were particularly unlucky except I remember being kinda sick once when my birthday was on a Friday the 13th.


2. People that have a morbid,irrational fear of Friday the 13th are called Paraskevidekatriaphobics

3. Why do people think Friday the 13th is so unlucky? There are a few reasons -it's mostly rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.

4. Many places skip the "unlucky" number 13 -Such as: More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor and many airports skip the 13th gate.

5. While typing this the program was not responsive and I had to restart my computer *que scary music* -Oooh -Friday the 13th!! =D

Well, until next time hope you have a not too unlucky day and weekend!

The Friday Five

1st I hope everyone had a good Halloween and all. Did you dress up? Your kids ? -What did they dress up as? My kids were a Cowboy and Cowgirl. We had a fun Halloween it was nice weather so we actually went Halloween afternoon to Boo Haha (an annual Halloween tradition here) And in the evening went trick or treating of course :)

Well, onto the Friday Five -I love music! And similar to what I've done before I have just added some new songs to my Ipod so here's some tunes from Ipod for today's friday 5...

1. I just added Kings of Leon - "Use Somebody" I think it's also cool that part of the band is from Oklahoma! :)

2. I also just added Owl City "Firelies" My daughter also got this song -it seemed pretty clean -I'm hoping there's no hidden meaning that I don't know that would be inapproriate for her.

3. I also added -Black Eyed Peas "I gotta feeling" My daughter wanted that song too -But, didn't think some of the lyrics were good for her so I said no. We looked at some of the other "clean" version but, she didn't want those.

4. Continuing with the Black Eyed Pes -Gotta love em! "Boom Boom Pow" - It's so funny -My son loves to sing the "Gotta get that -Boom Boom" part -He's so cute when he does that.

5. And now for a completely random -shuffled song from my Ipod -Regina Spektor "On the Radio " I love that song-I'm glad it went to that I haven't heard it in awhile.

Well, that's it for today's Friday Five - Have a good weekend!!

How's this for some mom mayhem...

So, I guess there's some things that can happen with kids that seem pretty awful and yet kinda common like kids writing on walls,or them cutting their hair(both have happened here), or say kids locking themselves in somewhere -Yep that's what happened here yesterday! ...

So, let's set the stage it's been unusually warm for November here-which is great to have some outside play time. So I took my son out to the backyard and we played outside for awhile. I then noticed that he was taking in his outside bikes and other toys in the house. And since it was about time to come in and get ready to go get my daughter anyways I just said "No it's time to go in and bring the bikes-etc. back outside." I grabbed a couple of the toys and told him to grab the others and bring them back outside. As I walked outside and put the toys down I turned back around and he was being defiant and said no and closed the door and then proceeded to lock the door too!! I still can't believe he did that!!
I of course tried to find a way in but my paranoid self has the house really locked up! I then spent awhile trying to tell my son how to UN-lock the door which up until that point was glad he couldn't unlock it and go out without my permission. But, alas it is much easier to lock than unlock and he just couldn't do it. I tried another door even thinking -Ok I've seen people jimmy locks on tv -I'll try it -Yeah definitely not as easy as they make it seem like on TV! And of course 20/20 hindsight -I usually grab the portable house phone in case someone calls but, didn't yesterday. I thought about trying to climb the fence and use a neighbor's phone but, I was pretty much blanking out on my husband's new phone #-Dang technology and not remembering numbers anymore! So, I just kept trying to get my son to unlock the back door which is a sliding glass one. One thing I did notice was when I tried to open the door the top would open a little gap not that it was much help -Or was it ? ...

If I could get the phone through the gap maybe -Nah the home phone was too big! But, my cell phone might fit! -Aha! I coaxed my son to get my phone and push it through the gap -it worked!! I called my husband who luckily was not very far away and he got home and let me in then he rushed to get my daughter. All in all it worked out and although it seemed like forever luckily it was about 30 minutes that my son was locked in the house by himself -Oh the mom mayhem! And believe me he got a good talking to and time out -He promises to never do that again-He better!