We did it, we did it, we did it, hurray!

Whew! It was a long month! It was fun though. Thanks for coming along on the ride with me. Come back later, I'm sure I'll still have more to say/post soon. (Funny that I still keep thinking about all the posts I can do.)

Just some stuff

*We could get our first "big" snow accumulation in the next few days. YEAH!

*I'm hunting for Christmas gifts and not having much luck. I'm looking for some specific type of items I want for me (from my mom). For instance new flour/sugar canisters.

*Why can't I shake this little cough? It's annoying. I'm tired of peeing a little bit every time I have a big cough. And it makes my head and neck hurt. Go away already, I'm done with it.

*I am excited about spending a week at my parents' house from Christmas to New Year's.

*I have a few more movie reviews I need to do here. No giveaways for now. I'm working on that though.

*Zachariah needs to be potty trained. I think he's really ready now. We just need to push him a bit. Ugh, I'm not totally looking forward to it though.

*I've slipped a bit on my 15 minute a day workout...and my 10 minute a day devotions. Time to get back on track.

*I love my house all decked out in Christmas stuff. Love it!

*I woke up Friday morning from a dream about my fish/tartar sauce craving. And it sounded really good when I awoke. This is what I first craved with my pregnancy with Zachariah. I told Matt maybe I should take a pregnancy test. (He wanted me to take one when I was nauseous on Monday, but it went away and hasn't happened again. So I haven't tested yet.)

*Only 1 more day left of NaBloPoMo. It really hasn't been that bad. I've enjoyed it. And I only have about 20 more posts before my 500th! So, I'm hoping to hit that before the end of the year. That means more posting for me in December too.

Now it's Christmas-time?

That's the question Zachariah has been asking me for weeks. So finally, I tell him, "NOW it's Christmas-time." He's been running around saying "Thanksgiving is over, now it's Christmas-time."

And just to prove it IS Christmas-time at our house:

Happy Thanksgiving

We are here at my parents' house until tomorrow evening...at least that's the plan for now. So many things happening today. My dad's family has a traditional family dinner at 1:00 at my grandparents' house. Then Matt's mom's family has their meal at 4:00 at his aunt's house. Ahh, 2 meals only 3 hours apart. I just pick and choose a few things to eat from each place, and sometimes I end up taking dessert home. (Matt's mom makes the best pies.) No kidding, I usually eat less on Thanksgiving than a normal day, because I try to pace myself and don't end up eating much at all. Oh well, I'm sure it's better that way.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day filled with love and family! Enjoy.

We will leave you with a copy of the cards that Zachariah and I made for everyone. He had so much fun, and each one he did for those people. So cute. I helped him write his name inside too (after I took the photo of this one). So, just pretend your name is Aunt Rachel or Uncle Jared, and enjoy this little gift from us to you.

Winners of the Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears DVDs

I have one set of each DVD of Strawberry Shortcake Holiday Dreams and Care Bears Flurries of Fun. So there will be two winners.

Now to announce the winners from this contest, I will use the random number generator again.

And the winner for the Strawberry Shortcake set of DVDs is....

...............Carla!!


And the winner for the Care Bears set of DVDs is...
...............Mommy Brain!!


Congrats both of you. Please send me your mailing addresses, and I will get these out to both of you next week. Enjoy!

The rest of you be sure to come back for more DVD reviews and prizes!

Apparently I can't catch a break

I spent most of today on the couch. Last night I could not fall asleep. And just as I dozed off around 12:30, Zachariah woke up coughing. So I got up to get him water, then couldn't go back to sleep. I got up for a while and headed back to bed about 2:30, but it was after 3:00 before I finally fell asleep. But I slept like a log until almost 8:00 after that.

I woke up with a killer headache, light-headed, and a queasy tummy. Yuck. I could not shake it. I made breakfast for Zachariah and tried to eat an egg and toast myself. I got a little down and then had to lay on the couch for a while. About lunchtime I felt like I was going to be better. I got a shower, but then got right back into my comfy clothes. And I called my friend to let her know I would not be tutoring this afternoon.

I still feel generally icky tonight, but mostly it's been the stomach thing. I did eat a little bit for supper, but it didn't help or hurt. I sure hope this goes away quickly. What a way to spend Thanksgiving, huh?

Oh, but I did want to stick to my 15 minutes of exercise, so I pulled out the Yoga DVD today. It was relaxing for a little bit, and I'm glad that I did something.

Come see me...

Did you know that I'm blogging over at Losing it All and More too? I posted before, but I didn't know if any of you had a chance to check us out (or at least bookmark it or add it to your RSS reader).

SaLy got it started, and I haven't posted anything yet. Well, I just put up a fitness challenge there. I'm hoping some of you will join me. We can encourage each other.

Now this is the life

What other way would you spend a lazy morning? This was Zachariah's idea of living it up on Friday morning. We built a "tent", threw in a pillow and blanket, crawled in and watched a movie. Fun!

Just what the doctor ordered

I think today was just what I needed. We were lazy most of the day, and everyone enjoyed each other's company. If only all days could be like today.

I'm still not feeling great, but I've been able to rest a lot today. I think it's just a cold right now, and it's not terrible. I am hopeful that this is the worst of it and I will begin feeling better soon.

Score #1 today was Matt getting up IN THE MORNING with Zachariah. I was just waking up, but Matt popped up out of bed. That NEVER happens. Wow. He got Zachariah up, then told him that he was going back to bed. He told Zachariah to play quietly in the living room then crawled back into bed. I was awake and heard it all. I thought it was hilarious. Matt came back to bed with a smile on his face, he knew chances were slim that Zac wouldn't come in our room and get us. He didn't. I got up after about 3 minutes because I had to pee so bad. When I came out of our room I peeked into the living room, and Zachariah was standing by the couch coloring nicely in his book. He came over and said "Mommy? You supposed to be sleeping." SO sweet. But he was happy to see me. Then we all got up and Matt made breakfast (Score #2).

Score #3 was Matt going to the grocery store and getting frozen snacks to bake for "meals" today. We knew we'd be staying home and watching football all day, so he wanted something fun to eat. He got taquitos, chips and dip, boneless wings, and chocolate for me (Score #4).

Score #5 was getting to watch the OSU vs. Michigan football game. (OSU won 42 - 7) We expected that to happen, so it was good. And it was nice not to worry about the possibility of seeing them lose. Plus, you know, we had fun snacks to eat too. And Zachariah took a nap at about halftime, and Matt put him down (Score #6).

Actually Matt was generally very helpful with Zachariah today which was nice (Score #7).

So I really got to rest and relax and not worry about much today. That was so nice. There should be more days like this...when I'm NOT sick too.

Because it's NaBloPoMo and I have to post

That's the only reason I'm posting this right now. I almost forgot that I have to post today. I have a cold and don't feel the greatest. Matt even let me "nap" in the chair after supper and entertained Zachariah. Then he completely got Zachariah ready for bed while I vegged out. That doesn't happen very often, but I'm glad for the little bit of rest. And I'm happy that we don't have a ton of things going on this week.

Of course tomorrow we'll be watching the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Woot!

Sunday I will be at church early, because the choir is back on each week from now until Christmas. Then Sunday evening we have a community Thanksgiving service that our church is involved with. It's usually pretty neat, and we do a combined choir thing.

So, I need some ideas about what to post over at Losing It All and More. I was going to challenge myself to get moving at least 15 minutes a day each and every day for the rest of the year. Then I got sick. Ick. Well, I still want to do that challenge. What else would you like me to talk about in relation to exercise/health/eating better? Any ideas?

I hope the rest of you have a great weekend. Mine will be much better if I can kick this cold.

Shaun the Sheep Winners

This morning I'm not feeling well. I started crocheting a new scarf and relaxed in the big comfy chair for a while. Then I decided I better check my e-mails and other online addictions. I haven't read any blogs yet today, and I don't know how likely it is that I will right now (like I usually do). But I did remember that I have a contest to close. I also got 2 new videos to giveaway in the mail yesterday. Yeah!

So without further ado, the Shaun the Sheep DVD winners are numbers: 10, 3, and 11. Thank you random.org.

Congrats to
Tracy
Kelli at Big Fat Secret
and Carrie at The Q Collective!

Ladies, if I don't already have your e-mails, please e-mail me (mommydaisy at gmail dot com) and get me your mailing addresses. I'll get these out soon.

Thanks everyone for entering. Come back soon for another giveaway.

I'm It

I got tagged by Pam at Life with Our Lads for a meme. I'm supposed to post 6 random things about me (and I'm including my family). Then tag 6 people to do the same. So, here goes nothing.


1. I taught myself to crochet about two weeks ago. I'm doing well, and have made different scarves for family for Christmas.

2. My husband is so awesome! Seriously, I feel like I don't deserve him. (And I don't think I say enough nice things about him here.)

3. Zachariah has started calling my "honey" or "hon". It cracks me up each time he says it. That's what Matt and I call each other ALL the time. And sometimes I call Zachariah that too, but not often. I'm sure he's picked it up from Matt and I calling each other "honey".

4. My son doesn't pick his nose (I know some kids are bad about that), but he'll use a tissue or if that doesn't work I pick it for him. I know, eww, right. I promise I put it into a tissue and then go straight to wash my hands.

5. I'm taking part in a 4 week challenge with my small group. We are committing to 10 minutes a day of Bible reading and devotions. So far, so good for me.

6. If I can think of what to say I'll be blogging with some other great ladies at Losing It All and More.



I'm going to try and give the ones who are doing NaBloPoMo something to do. I tag Ashley at Splendid Substance (since she's having a hard time posting...maybe you can make this food related), Jana at Dress-up and Diaper Changes, Alli at Adventures in Imperfection, CP at 3 Giraffes, Cherish at A Girl and Her Blog, and YOU!

Anyone else who'd like to do this, go ahead. I don't know who else to tag right now, and I usually end up tagging the same people. Also, I can't think of who else is doing NaBloPoMo at the moment.

A "no toy" Christmas

So, Matt and I have been truly frustrated with the overwhelming toys in this house already. We were really starting to dread Christmas. We know that Zachariah will receive lots of toys. And we usually find a few things that we can't help ourselves and buy for him too.

Not this year. The more we talked about it, the more we realized that buying more toys will not help. (I mean, duh, of course buying more toys isn't going to help a toy problem.) What I really mean is this: we know he will get toys from grandparents and aunts and uncles who adore him. So why add to that mix.

Here are a few ideas that we have.
1. A big boy bed - It's about time for one anyway, and my sister got one from a friend that we can have for free.
2. Sheets for the new bed - Something fun that he'll love
3. New pillow
4. CD player for his room - His is done. And we'll probably get a shelf to mount this on too.
5. Storage shelves for toys - Hoping to help the clutter a bit
6. Books
7. CDs
8. Puzzles
9. Bubble bath - He loves it and I rarely spend money on it.
10. Stocking stuffers - Not sure what all to include...maybe some craft supply things.

So, what do you think? Any more ideas for me? I'd love to hear them. I am officially declaring it our Christmas with no toys. (Besides his birthday will be coming in a few short months after Christmas.)

DVD winners

For the 5 Preschoolers Learn Spanish DVD I used random.org to draw my 5 numbers. There were only 13 entries, so you have pretty good odds of winning.

Here are your random numbers:13, 8, 3, 12, 7
Timestamp: 2008-11-17 04:39:17 UTC

And the winners are

Alli at Adventures in Imperfection

Melissa at Complimentary Chocolate (it was the second entry that won :) )

Sarah at No Whey, Mama

Shelly at Scenic Overlook

and

Heidi at Mommy Doesn't Live Here Anymore!

Congrats everyone! I'm happy to be giving these away to my faithful readers. If I don't already have it (Shelly- I have yours), I will need you to e-mail me your address. I'll be sending you an e-mail about this too.

And if you didn't win this time, never fear, I have 3 DVDs here that I'll be giving away this week! Hurray! I love all these just in time for Christmas gifts!

Yes, it did!

This is what it looked like yesterday afternoon. Most of it melted today. But we got another small layer of snow this evening. We didn't even know it was snowing, and when our friends went to leave after small group Matt saw snow on all the cars. Strange.

Our forecast for the next 10 days shows a chance of snow for 7 out of 10 days. And the temperatures in the 30s most of the time during the day. Yikes. This seems more like Christmas. Now it will probably be 50 degrees for Christmas, and we'll be upset there is no snow.

Say anything

*It snowed today. I mean really snowed. I took pictures to prove it to you all, but I haven't loaded them on this computer. That will have to wait. I can't believe we actually have snow on the ground in the middle on November, and it has stuck around all day. Crazy. I kind of love it.

*My sister, Rachel, called me yesterday to tell me that she and her husband found a house. They have been living in a studio apartment (of you want to call it that) adjoining the pizza shop they own for the last 2 1/2 years. Their kitchen is the pizza shop. Their bathroom is through the pizza kitchen. It's pretty crazy. They have been looking for a house for a while now. They've had a really hard time trying to get a loan from the bank. They have 20% already saved up, but they have no credit therefore no credit history. And the way our economy is right now, it's been even harder for them to get one. Well, they heard about a rental house that an old friend owned...totally coincidence that they ran into him. And they saw it and loved it and just moved in today. I'm so happy for her to finally have a home. She works strange hours and really needs somewhere to relax and sleep when she wants.

Rachel didn't call me until Friday afternoon, because they knew Matt and I would want to help move them. Fortunately Matt already had plans, so we won't be able to help anyway. But they didn't want us to have to drive up there just to help move. They were supposed to have plenty of help. I'm hoping that we can get up there soon to see it, and maybe I can help arrange furniture and decorate a bit. She doesn't have much to work with but that's OK.

*Zachariah has been crazy and silly lately. Well, he always is but it's hilarious now. He'll run around a room just to run around. Then he announces "Zac's a silly boy". He has developed some crazy new dance moves too. The funniest is the "one two cha cha cha". Hilarious, I tell you. I wish I could capture it on a good video to share. So far I haven't. Today at one point he ran around in circles in the middle of the living room with his arms behind him. Matt asked what he was being. Zachariah said "I being a 'mingo, Dad"...a flamingo. So he did it over and over again telling us about him being a "mingo". Cute little guy.

*All our Saturdays and Sundays are now occupied with football. On Saturdays it's college football, then pro football on Sundays. I'm starting to get tired of football. Although I'll take that back after Ohio State is done for the season (only one more game and a likely bowl game left). I don't mind watching football. I guess what's getting to me is that it all starts at noon Saturday and doesn't end until Sunday night. Ugh. It does get a little old. And the sad part is when Matt goes to bed, I sit up and watch the exciting conclusions of the games.

*I loved all the popcorn talk. Now I want to try all your suggestions. And yes, I do like that popcorn is a healthier snack than, say, chips. And it IS a whole grain, so that's a bonus too. It's also funny that Zachariah doesn't get to eat popcorn that much, because I only make it in the evenings after he's already in bed.

*I have thought more about Christmas. Actually, I've got a great head start on things. I don't think it will take long to finish up gifts. And those that I need to get, I have a good idea for most. It feels much better now.

Snacking

Oh I know I should not be snacking as much, because I really need to lose weight. I can't help myself in the evenings. While I'm watching television I will often snack.



Do you have a favorite snack? Healthy or unhealthy, doesn't matter. What do you like?



Popcorn is probably my favorite thing to have. The problem is I can eat half a bag of microwave popcorn in one evening (or sometimes the whole thing). But I do like a bit of buttery popcorn.



The popcorn makes me want chocolate. So the best way to eat it is with M&Ms or some other little piece of chocolate. I know this comes from my family. My mom would often make popcorn and fudge when my grandparents were over. And I believe that it started with my great-grandmother. She always served popcorn with fudge when my mom went there as a kid. So I always crave chocolate with popcorn.



I don't really have a big favorite brand of popcorn, but I do really like Orville Redenbacher's and Act II. Have you ever had the Corn on the Cob popcorn? That's pretty good for something different. I haven't had it in a while, but I found it on our grocery store shelves again recently. I need to try some soon.



A few years ago Matt and I found cinnamon roll popcorn. Now Matt does not normally like popcorn, but he wanted to try this. It was really good. It had cinnamon in it and a separate little bag of icing that you pour over the top. We can't find it anymore, but it was yummy. I did recently discover buttery cinnamon popcorn. This is pretty good too, but I feel like I need that extra icing with it. So I make my own little dipping icing and just dip a tiny bit of the popcorn in it. Wow! I know it probably sounds odd, but it is great.



So now I want to know, if you do like popcorn what brand/kind do you like best?

In the last 10 years

In no particular order. Here are some random photos of myself over the last 10 years. Just thought you might like seeing another side of me.

Senior picture

About 5 months pregnant for Zachariah

Engagement photo

Just after Matt proposed to me on a hike

Thanksgiving, 6 months pregnant for Zachariah

42 days!

If you've started your Christmas shopping, you are better than me. I can't believe there are only 42 days left for shopping. I have a few small gifts bought/made for family members, but I haven't even really thought about what to get my husband or son.

Seriously though, what do you get a 2 1/2 year old who already has WAY TOO MANY toys? And you know that he will be spoiled by grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, and great-aunts/uncles. He is the only grandchild still in both my family and Matt's family. And I don't even know what to tell them to get him for Christmas. Eeee.

For Matt I think I will just let him pick out something that he'd really like. I do like trying to find something for him, but I don't want to waste money on something he didn't really want. Or let him get something he really really wants instead of just something he likes. You know what I mean?

Our Christmas budget is small, but it's enough to get a few nice things. Luckily we don't have a lot of people to buy for. And I have been crocheting scarfs for my sisters/sister-in-law.

I guess I need to get my act together and start watching ads. I hate waiting until closer to Christmas to shop, but it looks like that's what will happen this year. I don't like all the crowds and traffic and pushy people. I'm sure I'll get it all to work out with Matt's help.

Taking it easy

Can I just say, you all are cracking me up with your baby's first words comments. And the fact that some of you simply don't remember, makes me feel better as a mother. Sound strange? Well, my son's baby book still isn't finished. I don't know for sure what is in there and what is not. I know I added some milestones, but at some point I gave up trying to document everything. I hope that my son doesn't feel left out some day because of that. But you know the next child will have it even worse, so maybe it's OK that I didn't set high expectations with this first child.

How are gas prices there? I am loving being able to fill up my car for only $15.00 again. That feels great, and it sure helps our budget too. We're seeing prices at $1.87 near us, and my parents saw one station on the other side of town at $1.79 last Friday. Nice!

We were so spoiled the last two days. Matt's dad had bought a big gift certificate for a nice restaurant a while ago. It was a complete dinner for 8 people. It ended up being Matt's parents, Matt & I, his sister, my sister and her husband, and my mom (my dad was out of town), and Zachariah of course. We had wonderful appetizers, salads, expensive steaks and seafood, then delicious slices of pie and cheesecake. Zachariah enjoyed tasting a little bit off of everyone's plate. And I brought have of my meal home, so it will be a really yummy lunch some day.

We stayed overnight at my parents' house after that dinner, so we didn't have to drive all the way home. Matt had today off for Veteran's Day anyway. Then we helped my mom with some Christmas decorations this morning. And she needed some furniture moved around. (Yes, she's starting early because she's participating in a Christmas walk open house thing.) Then we went to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings with my sister and mom. Mmmm, and I brought half of that meal home and finished it for supper. Matt had eaten so much that he was never hungry for supper. Wow, I've had it easy.