Hellllloooooo!!!

Hey everyone. I've sucked at commenting around the blogosphere, but I'm hoping y'all haven't noticed because y'all have been having a great holiday! :)
My Christmas was great. I will probably write about it later. I don't have the memory card from my camera so I don't wanna post without pics. I am going to steal a few pics from my sister's blog. But some highlites were:

** I took a hip hop class on Tuesday at the gym. Yeah, I would just like to confirm once again that I am SO white. I actually asked 2 girls to dance in front of me so I couldn't see myself in the mirror.

** Kelsea and Karlea arrived on Christmas Eve just in time to open gifts and act out the Christmas story. (Thank you again to my Mom and Dad for the airline ticket!!) Tristan, Alec and Isabel were also able to come from the ex's for a few hours that evening too. It was great. :)

Acting out the Christmas story

(Mom, Dad, Swampbaby, Ali, Me, Woogs)

** Sei gave me a sewing machine. I've wanted one, but I don't have a clue how to sew. I can't even load the thread on it yet, but it came with an instructional dvd so I'm thinkin' I will be an awesome seamstress like Nancy and Chel just in time to sew Liv's wedding dress. (If she marries when she's 30...) I'm excited!!


** Santa learned he will never again bring big boxes of Nerds candy.


** Santa DID bring underwear to Taj (Ironman) and Livie (Little Mermaid) just to spite me for saying underwear was a lame gift. Serves me right I guess. Taj loves his. Liv refuses to wear hers unless they are OVER a diaper.



** I bought Sei and Alec "Kobe" jerseys. I seriously nearly throw up a little in my mouth everytime I see them in them. Yuck. I bought Tristan a Kevin Garnett jersey. I should have just got them all a neutral player- like Steve Nash. But instead everytime they put those ball hog, full of himself, makes me think of my ex, player's jersey on, they will think "Wow. My mom/wife really loves me."

** Liv LOVES Christmas lites. We could drive thru our neighborhood and she would yell, "It's amaaaaaaazing!! It's amaaaaaaazing!"


** I made Sei and the kids watch "It's a Wonderful Life" for the 1st time ever. Tristan's face was so classic when the stars are talking at the beginning. He was like "What the heck Mom?? This is stupid!!" They all held on and watched the show and loved it. Yessssssssssssssssss. I rule. And I could still quote at least 1/2 of it. "Is this the ear you can't hear on? George Bailey I'll love you til the day I die..."



** Sei is off for 10 days (he only had to take 3 days off!!) and then he will be on weekday day shift!! YAY!! We are all excited to spend time with him.

Magic Trick

Taj performed an awesome magic trick before he went to bed. He said, "I'm going to make a dice come out of my butt." Yes, you read that right- out of his butt. Abracadabra!!! A die from the "Scene It!" game magically fell right out of his butt. All he needed was a top hat and a tuxedo!! He'd been pinching it in his buttcheeks (with pjs on) in order to perform his trick. Then he did it with a candy cane and it just went downhill from there.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

Love to all!

Random acts of kindness :)

This is a recycled post from Dec. 2006, but I thought with the holiday season it would be a good reminder and a little challenge for everyone. I was reminded about this post when I read Mommy Snark's post the other day.
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Yesterday as I was leaving Walmart a saw a mom struggling with her 3 year old (I'm guessing) as she put her in the car. Her daughter was pitchin' a big ole fit. Anyway- the mom turned around to put her cart up when she realized there wasn't a cart return anywhere near by. I could tell she was trying to decide if she should leave the cart or leave her daughter... She probably would have left her cart if I wasn't standing there. (You know how ya feel weird leaving it when people are watching...) Anyway- I was loading groceries in my van and I told her, "I'll return it for you. I have 2 carts to put away anyway. Just hook yours to mine." She looked relieved and thanked me. She even waved and smiled as she drove off. It felt good helping her and it only took a minute. Just last week I was buying things for Sei's youth group home and I had 2 carts. Taj was walking with me as I pulled one cart and pushed the other. As we were leaving the store, things fell out of the back cart, so I let go of the front cart- with Liv sitting in the little baby seat. As I let go, the cart with Liv started rolling out into the parking lot/crosswalk. I didn't notice as I picked the things up that had fallen. This man chased the cart with Liv and caught it. Then he helped pick up things as I chased after Taj who had run off to a pile of snow. The man then pushed one of my carts to my van and made sure I had Taj in the van before he left to his own car. Thank you sweet man for helping and for not taking advantage of my vulnerability by raping or killing me!! I hope my "help" for the mom made her feel like the man's help made me feel.
A few weeks ago Sei was in Wendy's getting some lunch. After ordering the cashier, instead of giving his total, said, "Your meal has already been paid for." She said that to the next person in line also. Apparently someone had given the cashier an extra $10 to pay for the next couple of people in line. I thought that was so neat! I had seen something similar on Oprah when someone gave $20 to the toll booth and said it was for the next 20 cars toll. Anyway- I thought it was really cool. I wanted to do something similar, but with money being a little tight, handing over $10 or $20 at McDonalds wasn't really doable. Today I was in the drive thru at McDonalds and I heard the cashier tell the car behind me "$3.04 at the 2nd window." I thought, "$3.04- I can do that!!" So, I told her, "I'd like to pay for the next car too." Her face was hilarious! "You want to pay for the next car?!?" "Yeah. For uh, you know, for Christmas..." I sounded like a dork as I fumbled over my words. She rang it up and gave me the receipt. Then she said, "I've only had that happen one other time with an old, gross man paying for a cute girl behind him. You're really sweet." And ya know what, I was stoked!! I was so excited to watch the lady's face in the car behind me when she found out her meal had paid for already!

The point of this post is not to brag on myself. I should do a lot more to help people!! I just want to challenge everyone to do a random act of kindness for someone expecting nothing in return. It feels good. Really good.

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** Buy.com carries video cards at extremely affordable prices!!

Flowers!

I love when I receive flowers. I love daisies and roses and pretty much any other kind of flower. When my husband and I were dating and we were living in different states, my husband ordered flowers online. At Rosesonly.com.au you can order the most lavish arrangement or a beautiful, strikingly simple one. Flowers ordered thru Rosesonly.com.au can even be ordered and shipped OVERSEA. Their signature boxed flowers are "elegantly presented in the famous Roses Only box, nestled in soft tissue paper, with a box of delicious Lindt chocolates and a small scented candle." Sounds so classy and beautiful. Next time you are looking to order flowers, check out Rosesonly.com.au.

To balance out the bragging

I know I brag constantly about how smart Livie is. She can sing her ABCs, sign then in ASL, recognize them and even spell a few words. She also sings soooo many songs and is really a genius in a pint size body. All this before she's 3. But I don't want to make other parents feel bad or anything, so I thought I'd post this genius moment caught on film....

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Gotta love her!!

Saab parts

If you are cool like Edward Cullen and own a Volvo or maybe a Saab sometimes finding affordable parts can be hard to do. Check out swedishparts.net. They carry a complete selection of Volvo Auto parts and Saab Parts including many accessories. Not only that, they offer free shipping and have top notch service to compliment their huge inventory and low prices. Everything they sell comes with a full warranty so you have nothing to lose!!

A post to embarrass my dad

So, I had a random memory yesterday. When I was working at Pizza Hut like 15 years ago a woman that worked there with me named Cheryl saw my dad when he came in to eat once. This was her reaction:

"Girl, your daddy fiiiiiiiine. Look at him and his bow-legg-ed self. Mmm."

Nevermind that she was talking about my dad, but what does that mean exactly? "Him and his bow-legg-ed self"?? You know that song "Shoop" by Salt n Pepa? They say it too!!

"No, not you. You. The bow-legg-ed one. Yeah, whatch yo name? Da** baby. That sounds sexy!"

So, does being bow-legged make you hot or what? So are cowboys that walk like they just got off a horse hotter than dentists? Or soccer players are bow-legged a lot. Sei was a soccer player, but I don't think he's bow-legged. Is a bow-legged cop hotter than my husband? I think not. And for the record, my dad is a basketball playing C.P.A.

So, anyway.... does anyone know why being bow-legged makes you hotter? Do any of you prefer bow-legged men? (Or women...)

Men's Coats

I live in Texas, so for the most part it is rather warm. Our winter is usually no more than 8 weeks and it never is too unbearably cold. But when it does get chilly that is always when I realize I don't have a coat- especially a nice coat to wear. I usually am freezing at church because the jacket or coat I do happen to own is definitely not Sunday best! And it's not just me! My husband doesn't have a nice coat either. But at SanyoFashionHouse.com I know I can find a coat for my poor freezing husband. :)
This evening I browsed through their inventory and really took my time looking at the mens wool coats. They are so nice and durable. The inventory is big. There was several coat styles to choose from. Not only do they have wool coats, they carry cashmere, rainwear, outerwear, casual, business, Big and Tall. They really carry a coat for all occasions and all sizes.
The site was super easy to navigate with easy tabs to click on the side that led me right to wear I needed to be. I was, of course, attracted to the clearance sections. They had a 27" Blousen for under $200. If you are needing a coat for whatever occasion check out SanyoFashionHouse.com!!

OCD Tori style

* I apologize for my lack of commenting lately. I've been a lazy blogger this week- busy getting Christmas stuff ready and just being lazy.

* Yesterday the baby I watch and his mom were in a car wreck. She text me to let me know she was on the way. An hour later I was like, "Ok, this has taken waaaay too long." Then she called to let me know she had been hit, spun around and hit again. I saw pics of her car and it's totalled. I'm glad they were both ok.

* I am trying to make myself more cultured so I checked out "To Kill a Mockingbird" from the library. Someone please shoot me. Everytime I pick it up I fall asleep. I know there is a great story in this book. When do I get to it? I may just have to borrow the movie from my parents.

* I have decided I have a rare form of OCD. Or maybe it's not rare, but I'm the only person I know that has it. When I work out on any form of exercise equipment, I'll say the elliptical for now since that's what I've been using, I could probably end up working out all day on it if it wasn't for sheer willpower to get off of it. See, when I start working out I input a time, say.... 30 minutes. But when that 30 minutes ends I realize the "calories burned" amount is a weird amount, like 212. That bugs me, so I say "I'll work out til it's to 250." Well, when 250 comes around I'm at a weird time like 34 minutes. That's annoying. So, I say "I'll work out to 40 minutes." At 40 minutes the calories are at 306. Do you see where I'm goin' with this?? I like to end at 5 minute intervals and like my calories to be at 25-50 calorie intervals. I don't know why. Yesterday I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and had to force myself off because I was at 351 calories. Soooooo close. Thankfully I don't have OCD when I'm using weights or doing crunches other than that I have to do an even number, so after the elliptical I did leave the gym in a reasonable amount of time. This isn't new either. When I was pregnant with Alec I worked out on a stair-stepper religiously and it was the same deal. I'd be on it for an hour and a half trying to balance out the numbers. It's kind of like when I pump gas into the car. I have to end on an even dollar amount. Sei will get $20.01 just to bug me. Am I weird? Are you weird with me? Or is everyone else weird?

Find the address!

This Christmas I have been working hard to get out Christmas cards before Christmas. But several times while addressing the cards I realized I had phone numbers for friends, but not their address. I didn't have a lot of time and didn't want to have to call each and every person. Luckily I was able to use the Reverse Phone Lookup at NationWidePhoneLookup.com. You can just type in the number and the name and address pops up. It's that easy!

Busy Weekend and miscellany

* Friday nite Isabel had basketball practice and the boys had a birthday party to go to. I also had to run by the gym to get measured for my bootcamp graduation.

* Saturday Alec had a game a 8am. But he had to be there at 7:30am for pics. Suck. Anyway... they lost 20 to 13, but Alec scored and he did really well. I think he's definitely one of the best ball handlers on his team. Get your head out of the gutter. BASKETBALL handlers. Izzy had a game too. She scored the 1st 2 points in her game and considering they only got to 7 points, that's pretty good. I was the loudest parent there- of course.

* Bootcamp graduation- I got a tshirt and also learned that I lost 3% body fat and can do 14 more push ups in a minute than I could 5 weeks ago. I went fromo 24 to 38. They are full-body pushups and we had to touch our nose to a step riser so they were legit. Yeah, I'm pretty buff... ;) I didn't lose any weight or inches. I like to think it's because my HUGE muscles are pushing my fat out. I'm sure that's it...

* Church Christmas party- we decorated cookies to take to neighbors. Plus, Santa came. Livie pooped right before he came so I had to change her. As I was chasing her to change her she stopped and said, "Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping!" Nerd.

* Speaking of "Swiper, no swiping!" Sei used to think Dora said, "Swiper no swipey!" I was telling my SIL that and she goes, "Yeah, I used to think that too." Then a couple of minutes later she goes, "I actually thought that's what they said up until like 2 minutes ago when you said that." LOL.

* Sei called me from work last nite and when I answered he said, "Babe, I love you." That's not good. I mean, it's good, but not when your husband is a cop. That is a sure sign that something bad has happened. I guess a guy went into a restuarant with an AK-47 and was wanting to kill the manager or something. Sei was one of the 1st officers to respond. Why does my husband have to be a freakin' over-achiever? I've told him if it's a dangerous call to drive sloooooowwww. I know he was nervous because he didn't know what to expect or what the man was thinking. Anyway... the guy left like 20 seconds before Sei got there. They caught him. He was totally armed with tons of ammo and weapons. But he surrendered peacefully, thankfully.

* I had weird, freaky, possessed-type dreams last nite and I didn't even watch anything weird before bed. I woke up freaked out a few times during the nite. I heard a loud bump upstairs and I was too lazy to go check it out. It's like last weekend, Sei was working and it was just Taj, Liv and me, and I heard something bump into our trashcans outside and kept hearing noises. The cans are close to my bedroom window. I didn't know if I should call 911 or just wait to die or what. While I was pondering what to do, I dozed off. I guess I was too tired to mess with it. I'm hoping if anyone breaks in to attack me that they will just do it without waking me up. But I guess that's not possible since we have an alarm. Which reminds me- Sei had a short shift a while ago and got off at 3am. He totally set off the alarm when he got home. I heard it, grabbed my cell phone, looked at the clock and thought, "Oh, it's Sei." He turned it off fast, so I knew it was him, but then I thought, "I should go check on the kids..." I start walking up the stairs and for a split second I thought, "What if it's not Sei? I am so screwed..." It was Sei and he was upstairs comforting Liv and Izzy- the only people that woke up! Nice.

* That is all.

House plans online

When I was 5 or 6 years old my family had a new home built. But my mom is the one who actually designed the home. She made the plans herself. I can't imagine doing it all on my own. don't feel like my brain is set up that way! If you want a custom built home, but don't trust yourself with coming up with your own House Plans there's a really cool site you should check out. It's called HousePlansAndMore.com. The site lets you search thru their tons of designs, including log home floor plans , Colonial floor plans or even Country House Plans all by typing in simple information. You know how many bedrooms you want. You know the approximate square footage that would be needed for your family. And you know your budget. This is some of the criteria you can enter to help limit down the amount of plans you can check out. It's a cool little site full of great house plans.

Oh the thinks I can think

• I can't remember doing any assigned reading in jr. high or high school. I think we were suppose to read "The Scarlet Letter" but then we were watching the movie in class, so I didn't see the point. Plus, they talk funny in that book. I've never read "Tom Sawyer" or "To Kill a Mockingbird" or any of the other classics. I am uncultured. Oh- I did read the 1st 2 books in "The Little House on the Prairie" series until my sister bumped me while walking home and the book I was reading fell in the gutter/drain thing. I stopped reading it after that. Which book did that boy get stung by bees in?
• I can't believe how mean and hateful people can get about the "Twilight" series. Gimme a break. I mean, I love Jacob, I loved the series, but I'm not gonna get my panties in a wad if someone talks bad about Jacob. Good- less competition for me. Not to mention I have a REAL life to worry about.
• On the same note... Why do people treat blogging like high school? It's not a popularity contest. I don't get the whole "Follow me" thing in the sidebar. I didn't put it in mine because I thought it was like "Vote for Summer!" If you wanna follow me, good. Do. I use Newsgator, so I don't follow any blogs with the "Follow Me" thing, so don't be offended...
• Tristan had a basketball game last nite. It was GOOD game. They came from behind and with 9 seconds left it was tied. We got fouled and had a 1-and-1 shot. (That means they get to shoot one free throw. If they make it they get a 2nd. If they miss it then it's up for a rebound and the game keeps going.) Anyway... he made BOTH shots. Yesssss. We were up by 2. The other team chucks the ball down the court and this kid that had made 3 or 4 three pointers in the game takes a shot, the crowd holds it's breath.... MISS! We won by 2!!! I was so loud and obnoxious. My mom said my dad would have been proud. I may or may not have yelled things such as, "Ref- he's campin' in the lane!! He just pitched a tent...." "1, 2, 3... Ref come on. I'm at 10 seconds!!" "Come on Ref. They're gonna touch occasionally!!" "That was a lame call Ref. Lame." (It was really quiet when I yelled that... if I yelled that.) I had fun. ;)
• I don't know what to get Sei for Christmas. I make it easy for him- I tell him exactly what I want. 1/2 the time he doesn't take the hint and gets me stuff NOT on my list. Idk why. He's not as helpful. I think this year he told me he wants another set of handcuffs. Our set broke.... Kidding. Just checking if you're paying attention. He really did say he wants a 2nd set of cuffs though. That's an exciting present... not. That's like giving socks and underwear. Isn't that stuff you're suppose to buy your kids anyway? If you didn't buy your kids undies at Christmas would they be goin' commando all the time? I think not. How did I get on this subject?? Did I just offend a lot of people that give their kids undies for Christmas? My bad. That just made me think of this "Friends" episode:
  
  

Are you ready!?!?

Christmas is just around the corner. Are you done with your shopping? Is the tree up? What about Christmas cards? What- you haven't got your cards ready? You haven't even decided what cards to send? Don't give up!! Check out Gallerycollection.com. They have awesome, affordable, cute Personalized Holiday Cards ready and waiting for you to personalize and order. The selection is HUGE so I know you can find one that fits your personality and desires.
Another Gallery Collection is the way to go is because they just announced that they will be contributing items to the 400,000th care package being sent to US troops overseas through 'Operation Gratitude'. How can you NOT want to order from a company that is backing our troops?? The items being donated include 30 All-Occasion Cards Assortment Boxes and five $100 Gift Certificates that are good towards the purchase of their holiday cards, Christmas photo cards and birthday cards. Not only that, but they are also giving 2 airline tickets to the 2009 Army Navy Game in Philadelphia, PA. Isn't that awesome? That's what the "Christmas Spirit" is all about. Right?
So, go on. No more stressing. Go find the perfect card for your family!!

Tree up- CHECK!

So, we put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. It was fun- as usual. I'm not real picky about ornaments or whatnot. We have no set colors, or shapes. In fact, most of my ornaments are hand-me-downs from my parents. I found one from 1986. I think it was a gift at a school party- back when they were CHRISTMAS parties and not "Holiday" parties.

Livie bossing us around
Izzy cuddling "Speedy Gonzales"

Tajy putting the star on the treeFixing the star

This is what happens when you give Seiuli the camera:

Getting into the Christmas Spirit ;)

Christmas is in 2 weeks.

I have 7 kids.

Crap.

That is all.

Holiday flowers

I will be the first to admit that I am lame at decorating- especially for holidays. For Christmas I put up the tree and stockings, but that's about as far as I get because I just don't have a decorating gene in my body. But one thing I have discovered that can be festive and beautiful all at the same time... FLOWERS!

And at Christmastime what is more appropriate than beautiful Poinsettias? If you are making the holiday dinner this year check out 1800flowers.com and view their awesome, affordable centerpieces. Or if you are the dinnerguest, what a nice gift to bring your hostess! Check out this centerpiece:This centerpiece is beautiful with the traditional Christmas colors. You totally can't go wrong!! 1800flowers.com has so many centerpieces to choose from. And for a limited time you can save up to 30%. I know right now with the budget tight because of Santa gifts, saving 30% is awesome. Whether you're playing hostess or being hosted, visit 1800flowers for the perfect centerpiece.