Twas the night of Thanksgiving

*'Twas the night of Thanksgiving ~ *

*But I just couldn't sleep, *

*I tried counting backwards ~*

* I tried counting sheep ... *

*The leftovers beckoned ~ *

*The dark meat and white, *

*But I fought the temptation ~ *

*With all of my might ... *

*Tossing and turning with anticipation *

*The thought of a snack became infatuation *

*So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door *

*And gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore *

*Gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes *

*Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes *

*I felt myself swelling so plump and so round *

*'Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground! *

*I crashed through the ceiling, Floating into the sky *

*With a mouthful of pudding, And a handful of pie *

*But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees *

*Happy eating to all! Pass the cranberries, Please! *

*May your stuffing be tasty, May your turkey be plump *

*May your potatoes 'n Gravy, Have nary a lump *

*May your yams be delicious, May your pies take the prize *

*May your thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs! *

*May your Thanksgiving Be Blessed!*

Blue book blues

One of the things I really strive for in life is SIMPLICITY. With 4 kids it’s pretty difficult to achieve, but that doesn’t stop me from trying! : )

Ever have times in your life that everything seems to be crazy-hectic though? That’s where I am right now. The new baby, refinancing our home, car shopping, plus all the regular sports/social/girl scouts things that my kids have going on. Of all of those the one that’s really getting to me is the car. I have a 99 Toyota Sienna that I love. I bought it at the end of 1998, after months of research and driving the opposite extreme ( a 69 Volkswagen van, with no heater!) It was the perfect, PERFECT car, but it’s a decade old now and things are starting to wear out. Sigh. I wish I could just keep it forever, but the hubby insists that now is the time to replace it. I hate car shopping. I’m willing to do the whole Consumer reports thing and research the models and safety and all – it’s the car lots I dread. Some people like it, but to me, I’d rather get a tooth pulled with no Novocain! I hate the high pressure sales, the tactics, the outright lies! The reason it disturbs me so much is that it’s in direct contrast to my general opinion of people in the world – I think that people are generally honest and caring. Most people in this beautiful world are good. True there are ‘bad’ people, but usually they are mixed up or selfish, not truly evil. The thing about Car dealers is; it’s their job to steal from you. They are paid to manipulate you into spending the most amount of money they can. They don’t care if you can afford it; if they get you to sign a contract for more than you can pay – they still get their money from the bank so they don’t care if you loose your shirt and hurt your credit. And they are really good at the whole manipulation thing. I’m not a really socially savvy person and I’m a bit naïve, I’m the first to admit it. People and how their minds work are mysterious to me, so I’m a sitting duck for these salesmen! Luckily my hubby is the opposite of me in this regard. He gets people, understands them and can see right through the manipulations. Lucky for me or I’d never own a new car in my life! Anyway, I’ve done the research part and picked out the kind of car I want and hubby is going to do all the negotiations, so I don’t have to do anything. Whew. Man is he a keeper!

The Holidays are coming, the holidays are coming!

yikes! Halloween is come and gone and November is blazing by already. Sigh. I'm just not ready! I love fall and the cooler weather, but it seems that it just started - which is the usual for where I live in northern California -we have only had one chilly Halloween since my kids started trick or treating, so that's about 10 years now. Usually Halloween is hot during the day and mild at night. This year the night was a bit wet and rainy, but still not cold. Anyway I know that having a baby this year made october zoom by (my fourth child was born on October 13th, 2008) so I'm not surprised about that month being an eyeblink, but by this time last year I was DONE with my Christmas shopping. Yup. D O N E! I haven't even started this years yet. Each year I use my Christmas Control Journal (If you want one, check out flylady.net - she's a great resource)and I start prepping at the end of September. If I do it that way, I actually get to enjoy the christmas season, so it's important to me. I'll have to dig out my CCJ and get to work! Maybe head over to Big Lots and do a bit of shopping! LOL! bet you two bucks I do the shopping and not the organizing part today!

Stupid Halloween candy

Ugg. Stupid Halloween Candy.
I can't resist it! - I have no will power! I ate some on Halloween of course, some on Saturday (a lot, actually) enough to feel sick enough that I didn't really want to eat any on Sunday, but did anyway. LOL How sad is that? I was sick from eating candy, didn't WANT to eat candy and then I did anyway. See what I mean about addiction? It's like an addict that knows what they're doing is hurting their body and they do it anyway. Well today I'm back on the wagon so to speak and I have bundled up the leftover candy

Frugal Tip for Halloween candy - I took one gallon ziplock back and put together my 'Gingerbread house Kit' That's all the little candies that the kids will use next month to decorate gingerbread houses. I do that every year. Then I gathered all the candy bars and Reese's peanut butter cups and put them in another bag. I'm going to have the kids make 'gift in a jar' mixes for their teachers for christmas and we'll cut up the Reese's and the Hershey bars, etc to add to those mixes. I did this a few years ago and they were really cute and yummy, plus it's a good use of the leftover candy. Everything that was left; lollipops, gum, etc. I gave to my hubby to take to work so now, to my brain, the candy is gone and I no longer have that temptation. I had oatmeal for breakfast and I will have a healthy salad for lunch to try and clear my body of all that junk - sigh. yummy, tasty junk :)