Fincher's Funny Farm

Last Post

2010-03-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

I will not be using this blog anymore. Family life right now is crazy for us. I am going to focus on a new blog that is all about being creative and expressing yourself through crafts, sewing, and cooking. Positive things, things that improve us, things that are FUN!! If anything happens with Addison's health I will update on the new blog. The new blog is called- Sew What. The address is: http://mycreativecrap.blogspot.com

Hazardous

2010-03-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

Addison has started her next step in her treatment plan. Since the steroid she had been on is only helping to heal her esophagus and not her stomach or colon her Doctors decided we needed to go to the next step in her treatment. This step is the first of three options. This is the easiest and we are hopeful it will work. She is now on a new medicine along with all the other medicine that she already takes. This new medicine is a chemotherapy drug that has also been shown to work on diseases in the GI tract. It is called 6-Mecaptopurine, or 6 MP for short. The medicine bottle actually says: Hazardous drugs require thorough hand washing after handling. Pregnant women are not even suppose to handle or breath in the dust from this medicine. It also has some very serious side effects. Addison so far has been blessed to still feel pretty good while taking it. We hope and pray that will continue. This is how I understand that it works. Normal cells stop dividing when they come in contact with like cells. Cancerous cells continue to divide rapidly not being able to stop dividing when they are suppose to. This medicine belongs to a class know as antimetabolites. Antimetabolites are very similar to normal substances found in the cells. When the cells incorporate these substances into the cellular metabolism, they are unable to divide. I guess this medicine works on the Eosinophil cells like it would the cancerous cells. Eosinophils are white blood cells that are one of the immune system components, along with mast cells, they also control mechanisms associated with allergy and asthma. Eosinophillic Esophagitus and Colitis are allergy related. It is the allergens in foods that react with and cause the white blood cells to release toxins that attack the body. It will take about 3 months before this medicine will start to really effect the EE. After that time the Dr.'s will then re scope everything and do biopsies and determine how successful this medicine has been. If for some reason this medicine does not positively effect Addison's EE throughout her body the next step would then be Intravenous feeds. The Doctors are still somewhat stumped as to why the special formula has not helped her stomach and colon to heal. By not eating ANY food her esophagus looked great and there were hardly any eosinophils there. We just have to get the rest of her body healed. Her Dr. never did tell me what the 3rd step would be. I guess he was very hopeful that the first 2 steps should work.

2010-03-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a blog and love the idea. Who doesn't have gobs of ribbon all tangled up in a bucket somewhere in their house? I know I do. What an easy and fun way to not only display your ribbon but to be more functional too.

http://pregnantpower.blogspot.com/2010/03/spice-jar-ribbon-dispenser.html

Brownies

2010-03-10T17:07:00.001-08:00

Jarom loves brownies. Addison and I have been struggling to make good brownies in our townhouse oven. For some reason they are really challenging to make them turn out right. We have tried different pans, temperatures, baking times, and recipes. They would never turn out good. One of Addison's YW leaders has 2 of these and loves them. I decided to give it a try.

This was very easy to use and clean up afterward. Jarom gave them a total thumbs up. Clint said they were the best brownies he had ever eaten. I have to agree. We still had to work with the time for cooking. Our oven is kind of crazy. It took an extra 8 minutes for them to be done. I have to say that this was worth the money. It makes baking brownies so much easier.

Update

2010-03-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

We are still alive. We moved again at the end of November. We found a townhouse we love that was still in the same ward. We are renting it for the next two years. We are loving renting. We decided that owning your own house is a little overrated. Heaven knows how many homes we have owned (just count how many times we have moved over the last 16 years), but you can't beat calling up the landlord and needing something fixed and not having to fix it yourself. Now that is nice.

I am still home schooling both kids. There are many challenging things about doing this. There are also many nice things as well. We are looking into a charter school for next year, so the kids will be able to get out of the house for a couple hours a day. We will see if we can find something that will work for our kids.

Addison is still not doing very well. After many more scopes and lab work the Doctor found that her stomach and colon are the worst that they have ever been. It is very frustrating because this feeding tube was suppose to heal her body enough that she would be able to start adding some foods back into her diet. It was also only suppose to last 4 months. We are now on our 11 month. Addison is very frustrated to say the least. Her Doctor is going to try her on a different medicine and we are all hopeful this will help her body to heal.

Jarom has been doing Karate with Clint for awhile now. It is the only thing we could get him to do that doesn't involve video games. He is such a great big brother.

I want to be better about blogging. This is the only journal that I will have to look back on and know what happened throughout the year. I think this is easier than actually writing in a journal so I should be able to post at least once a week. That will be a goal for me.

I look forward to reading about all my friends and family. I enjoy seeing new crafts, new recipes, and new adventures that you all do.

2009-10-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

We took a quick family trip to Willcox, AZ and Tombstone. We went to Willcox to a farm that had a pumpkin patch, sunflower patch, and tons of vegetable patches. We went through their corn maze too. We ended up picking 2 pumpkins, a red bell pepper, a hot pepper, some black eyed peas and a funking looking summer squash. Yes we took the dogs on our trip. Rudy is a traveling man. Bella shook and was terrified the whole time. All in all they did good and we had a great time together.

We saw a show before we came to Tombstone. It was called Ghost Lab. It was all about the ghosts of Tombstone. It was interesting. Needless to say the kids enjoyed it and it gave us some locations and things to do and look at while we where there. I think that the Boothill Graveyard was the highlight for us.

Anniversary

2009-10-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Clint and my 16th wedding anniversary. It seems like only yesterday, but it seems like 40 years ago. How does that happen? I guess it is the same thing with your kids. To have two teenagers now is pretty scary. It means that I am getting really old. I never thought that I would be 36 years old. I remember when I was younger we threw a big party for our neighbor that was turning 30. She seemed SO old. Well that was 6 years ago for me now and boy I feel old. Life has been full of ups and downs for us and I am sure it will continue to be full of them. But here's wishing for many more years together.

Fry's shopping trip

2009-07-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find my camera charger so my son was savvy enough to take a picture with his cellphone. It's not very clear but I wanted to post a picture anyway. Before the Fry's card savings my total was $200.00. After the Fry's card, the buy ten deal, and all my coupons my total was $76.09. It was still more than I wanted to pay but I did get a lot of stuff. Almost 2 full cases of Smart Water, 22 bottles at .49 cents each. A 24 can case of Mtn Dew for $4.97. You could get it for $3.97 if you bought 3 cases of Pepsi products, but I didn't want that many. Toilet paper was $5.oo. I ended up with 78 items and my balance was $76.09. So $1.00 an item wasn't too bad, but I still think I can do better.
Thanks to the guidance of my sister Moira-Lin I may perfect this coupon thing one day.

2009-06-27T02:03:00.000-07:00

We are moving tomorrow. We will be in Tempe with Clint's mom and dad for awhile. We are so grateful to them and the sacrifice they will be making for our family. They will be gaining 4 people and 2 dogs. We are looking forward to this new adventure. Our old adventures weren't too hot. Last night as I was sorting the medicine cupboard a roach decided to climb up my leg. So done with them!!!! Our address and phone number are going to be changing. You will still always be able to get a hold of us on our cell phones. Our address will be: 122 E. La Jolla Dr. Tempe, AZ 85282
For the new phone number send me an email and I will email it back to you. We will be sharing a phone with mom and dad so I want to be sure I know who is calling. When we get settled I will write about how life is going. P.S. We are meeting with our Lawyer next week about the Insurance issue.

2009-06-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

We just met with our Realtor about selling our house. We bought this house in 2000 for $107,000. In 2006 this house appraised for $250,000. Today it is selling for $89,500. And no I didn't forget to put in a 1. When I heard this my stomach did this weird twisty thing. A little bit of shock, little bit of anger, a little bit of well this IS OUR life. Things are still up in the air about a couple of things with our move but we continue to move a little bit of stuff each day. The storage shed we rented is filling up fast.

The Answer

2009-06-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

We received "The Letter" in the mail today. Our Insurance had already denied our request for them to cover Addison's formula for her feeding tube. So we appealed. We sent out letters from Addison's different Dr.s stating why she needs the food. We jumped through hoops and finally heard the answer for our second appeal. The answer is.... DENIED!!! They also let us know that because they are only the administrators of the Insurance not the actual funders of the insurance that their answer will not change. And because Southwest Gas is "Privately Funded" insurance they are not affected by the law that the State passed saying that this kind of food has to be covered. So now we will get back in touch with our Attorney and see what we can do from here. This was a very frustrating blow for us. I think we felt positive that they would cover it. I guess all we can do now is to keep trying. That is starting to be one of the motto's for our family. The other motto is "Life is hard, suck it up".

MOVING!?!?!?!?

2009-06-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

We just heard that the short sale of our home is finally recorded and finished. That only took about 9 months. I could have had a baby in that time. Heaven help me, but still. I will just say the buyers could not have been any more difficult to work with. Even Clint finally got fed up when they made the WHOLE sale contingent on us returning the dishwasher. Were they not getting a good enough deal already? So his little stick it to you was when he returned the dishwasher (remember the LITTLE roach problem we have?) there was a dead roach on top of it and he left it there. He really wanted to add a big bow but couldn't find any ribbon. My stick it to ya was keeping the garage door opener remote (valued at $75). Addison loves to play with it. Say La Vee ( spelled my way).
Well we have come to the conclusion at our house that we need to make a drastic decision. We are going to go through the whole awful process of another short sale. Between the Insurance being butts and all the other bills that we have our best choice is to move in with the folks. Clint's mom and dad have a tri-level house that they are so generously going to let us live in. We will have the top floor, they will have the basement, and we will share the main floor. Keep in mind that we are also bringing 2 dogs. At least we had already given away the frogs, turtles, the other 2 puppies, and the rabbit. Oh, heck. And I wonder why I am stressed. We have also decided that we are going to try a Distance Learning program for school this next year for the kids. I will not send them back to their Jr. High because it totally sucked!!! So we will see how that works out. We are keeping our fingers crossed on that one. We are still anxiously awaiting word from the Insurance co. So that is life as we know it here on the funny (and stressed) farm.

Blessings!!

2009-06-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the GI Doctor for a check-up on the Feeding Tube. The Dr.'s are still concerned that she is losing weight. She has not been as nauseous lately. She seems to be tolerating her feeds better too. She still complains that she is hungry. The Dr.'s went ahead and upped her food from 1600 calories a day to 2200. She is feeling less hungry already just after a couple higher feeds. As long as she doesn't get worse with feeling sick and nauseous we can try to shorten the feeds from an hour to 30 minutes. The insurance is still refusing to cover the cost of the special formula that Addison survives on. Her Dr.'s have been helpful with letters to our Insurance. We have a Lawyer waiting in the wings "just in case" the Insurance denies our appeal. Our parents have been very generous helping out with the cost of the food. At $1225 a month it has been stressful for us. Today Addison's GI Dr. gave us some formula. It was almost three whole boxes. There was 17 cans @ $35 a can = $595 worth of formula. (She needs 35 cans of formula a month now that they upped her calories. So every little bit helps.) What a testimony of tithing this is for us. I have been a little bitter lately with the way our life has been going. I have never questioned paying tithing, but lately I have been thinking when I write that check out for tithing how much food that would buy for Addison. But I still write it out knowing that is what I am SUPPOSE to do. What a blessing this was for us today.

Addison's Feeding Tube Journey

2009-05-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Addison posted her journey on her blog and did such an amazing job I didn't need to post it. Go to sassafrass on my Family blog list to see her journey!

Playing Catch Up

2009-04-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be fun to bring two new puppies home to join Bella and Rudy. They are super cute and bundles of energy. We wanted to just get the little girl but when we saw her and her brother together we just could not separate them. The kids fell totally in love with these puppies. Everyone fell in love with them except for Rudy. He would attack them whenever they got to close to him or his things. After trying diligently for a week we just couldn't deal with that anymore. We were able to give the puppies back to the vet that we bought them from. It was a very devastating day at the Fincher house.

We thought we had our Roach problem taken care of last winter. But as soon as the temperature started to rise out came the roaches. Our bug man is awesome and spent a long time with us looking behind cupboards and the dishwasher trying to find out where these little buggers were coming from. We found a huge hole that we thought had been sealed up but over the years had opened up again. It was pretty disgusting. So we thought we had it fixed again. I have to say that we have gone from finding 2-3 roaches a day to 1-2 roaches every 3-4 days. I guess that's good. It still is not good enough for me, but what you gonna do about it?

Addison has still been struggling with her health. She went through another colonoscopy and endoscopy. Her eosinophill counts were really high still and the sores in her esophagus and colon were still pretty bad. So we finally decided to go ahead with the GTube. Which is a feeding tube that is surgically put into her stomach. That will take place on the 28Th of April. We are hoping and praying that this will help Addison to not be so sick and in so much pain anymore.

We also took Rudy to the vet. He had this big bump on his head and the hair around it starting to fall out. I have to admit that it took me way longer to take him in then it should have but when you hardly have time to pee making a vet appointment is not a priority. Anyways they took a scraping of the bumps (which buy this time had now spread to his ears and face) and came back with the diagnoses that they are mites. YUCK!!! So he has been on an antibiotic for 2 weeks and is also on this horrible medicine that I have to squirt into his mouth that smells like some kind of bug spray. He totally hates it and it's a fight to get him to take it everyday. He will have to be on it for one month total. His bumps are finally starting to look better.

I have been pretty overwhelmed to say the least this last month. We are also in a constant battle with the Jr. High about Addison. I thought getting a 504 plan would help me hold the school a little more responsible for helping Addison. Boy was I wrong. So we are now debating whether to send her to a different school next year or stay at Carson. If we stay at Carson I will make darn sure that Addison gets another counselor. Hers this year is a total Beeyatch.
Hopefully I won't be such a slacker and try to stay up on my blog a little better.

MY Bed

2009-03-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is how my bed looks every night. It starts out with 1 dad, 1 daughter, & 1 dog. When I go to bed there is 1 dad, 1 mom, & 2 dogs. I move daughter to my floor. So last night I was trying to go to sleep and Clint is one of the loudest snorers I have ever heard. I usually have to kick him a few times to get him to roll over so he will stop snoring. Last night was no different. I reached over and was kicking his leg and I thought I heard something. The snoring never stopped. So I reach back over and kick him again and I hear the noise again and then I realize what it is. It is Bella growling. Bella had moved down by Clint's feet and I had been kicking her and she did NOT like it. I had to chuckle to myself. A song started going through my head: There were 5 in the bead and the little one said roll over, roll over. I feel like this most nights as I am kicked out of my bed by 1 daughter, 1 Bella, & 1 Rudy.

Do you have a Green Thumb?

2009-03-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

This gives new meaning to "Green Thumb".

Rudy loves to dig in the freshly mowed grass.

HAIR!!!

2009-02-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

Miss Addison was ready for another hair-cut. We had been taking her to Lolli Locks. A fun hair salon especially for kids. It was also pretty pricey. So I had a go at her hair this time. She loves her hair short because it is so much easier for her to take care of. Plus it is a whole lot SASSIER. I just think she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. After a couple hours of cutting, evening, and trying to get the style just right~ here is the end result. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Valentine Day Treats

2009-02-14T14:51:00.001-08:00

This is from Clint. He knows I Love chocolate and the movies. He also knows that I love Rosa's, so we went there for lunch today.

These are some SWEET TREATS from my wonderful Addison. She home-made these all by herself. The first are her hand prints. She put them in a shape of a heart. Then wrote a cute note in the middle.

This is a box of conversations hearts that she painted pink, added two pieces of ribbon with Dove chocolate wrapped in tin foil. Then she made the cute signs for the front. LOVE IT!!!

Trash Man

2009-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

I sure wish the Trash Man made house calls!!

Night Out

2009-02-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

Clint & I went out to dinner tonight with my mom & dad. We went to Olive Garden & had a good time. They gave us some good ideas on things we can do to make our family run smoother. I am just so tired from all the many things that I am in charge of to keep our family& home running. We came up with a plan that will hopefully give me more free time, Clint more "fun" time with the kids, & give the kids more time to (hopefully) entertain themselves. After our delicious dinner we were walking to the car when I get this frantic call from home. Addison is upset and I couldn't really understand what she was saying, but I heard something about Jarom being trapped in the bathroom. I get all worried and ask her to slow down and tell me again what is going on. Finally I understand that she was telling me that there is a big roach in the hallway in front of the bathroom & Jarom is trapped inside because he doesn't want to open the door in case the roach gets him. Meanwhile the dogs are trying to eat it until Addison starts to really scream and then they go hide under the table. My mom tells them to go get some hairspray and spray the roach so it won't move. Then we tell Addison (because Jarom won't come out of the bathroom, all we hear is him screaming) to get the vacuum and suck it up. Addison tries to suck it up with the vacuum but it won't move because it is now stuck to the floor. They had gotten Aussie Sprunch spray and boy was it stuck to the floor. I told her that she has to scrape it a little with the hose so that it will come up. She says, "nuh - uh". So I say $5.00 to whoever sucks it up, cause I don't think the kids will move until that thing is gone. So out comes Jarom and he sucked that roach right up. I think that $5.oo is a small price to pay. When we got home the kids showed us where the roach was. You can see where the sprunch spray went all around it. I took a picture so hopefully you can see it. Just squint your eyes a little and turn your head this way and that. It was so sad to hear their screams but once I knew they were safe it was kinda funny. Thanks for the fun time, we love you mom & dad!

25 Random things about me

2009-02-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

I did this on Facebook along with many other people. So I thought that it would be fun to share it on the blog for all those non-facebook people. So anyone that has already done it- tag you're it. Here is an easy post and a fun way to let all of us get to know you better. All those that haven't done it yet- tag you're it. It really isn't hard and it is super fun for all of us to read some fun little tidbits about you.

1.I was suppose to be twin boys. No ultrasounds when I was born so Dr. went by how big my mom measured and heart my rate.
2. I worked in the Mall for about 2 years in a frozen yogurt shop.
3. I worked in a movie theater for 3 1/2 years during High School. Met some really great people working there. It was a fun job. I quit when I was getting married. At the time I was an Assistant Manager.
4. When I was growing up I would get up really early in the morning to watch TV. With 6 kids, there wasn't many other times that you got to watch what you wanted to watch.
5. I was the "peacemaker" growing up in my family until I turned 13. Then all bets were off.
6. Grew up on a really great street. All the kids would play outside and the moms always did fun activities with all of us.
7. When I was growing up I wanted my own room so badly that I took over my mom and dad's bathroom. I hoped to make it my own room. The shower was too small for me to sleep in though. I only made it one night. Back to the bedroom with 4 girls!
8. I did gymnastics and clogging for many years growing up.
9. I did shot put and discus in High School.
10. I was obsessed with Patrick Swayze and all things "Dirty Dancing" when I was in Junior High.
11. I actually loved High School.
12. I love Movie's. I still try to go once a week.
13. I got married when I was 20. Met my husband in Courtship and Marriage class at GCC Institute.
14. I am a Certified EMT (about 20 years ago). Love to learn about how to fix, treat or save someone.
15. I would love to go back to school and do the EMT class again. Would like to become a Nurse or something else in the Medical field.
16. Had my first child when I was 21. It was not an easy first couple of years.
17.Had my second child when I was 23. She was 5 weeks early. She weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces. She was healthy enough to come home next day. (This was way back when you only got to stay one day.)
18. Had a Hysterectomy at the age of 29. That was tough, but now I am glad it's done.
19. I love to read. Novels, mystery's, but nothing to deep doctrine-y. Boring!!!
20. I love shopping. My daughter loves it even more than I do. Scary!
21. I love to shoot guns. And I love archery. That was my favorite part of Girl's Camp - the archery part.
22. I spend many hours watching my son play gruesome horrible games on X-Box. It is the one thing that he loves to do. So I do it because I'm a mom.
23. I would love to move either to Southern Utah or the East Coast. Hate the heat. I love trees and having 4 actual season's. The leaves just started falling off the trees here. For about 3 days. There are already new leaves on the trees. Weird!
24.I love Mexican food. It has to be really good though. Nothing worse than bad Mexican food. For those East Valley people, Rosa's is my favorite.
25. My sisters are my Best Friends.

I look forward to getting to know all you bloggers a little bit better.

How could you not love dogs?

2009-01-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

One day when Addison was home from school she was in my room reading some American History for school. I went in to check on her and found both dogs had found her and decided to take a nap by her. She loves her dogs!

Bella has fallen in love. Since Rudy has come to our family she is a totally different dog. She has found a soul mate. Bella and Rudy truly do love each other. Rudy has taught Bella how to play like a dog (instead of like a human baby). They love to wrestle with each other. They love to snuggle together for naps. Bella knows that Rudy is in charge and when he tells her to back off boy does she know it. He is so gentle with her. He truly adores Bella. He follows after her like a love sick puppy. You often see them giving each other kisses. These dogs have enriched our family more than I ever thought possible. I thought this picture was so sweet. Addison found them laying like this one day. It looks like an upside down heart.

2009-01-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

I thought that my Hysterectomy was hard. Don't get me wrong it was, but this last week I have taken care of someone who's was even harder. This last week Bella was spayed. I knew it was going to be hard but I had no idea how hard it was going to be. Clint dropped her off the morning of and when the Vet checked Bella out she realized that two of Bella's baby teeth had not fallen out and her two new teeth had already grown in. So she was not only spayed but also had two teeth pulled. We also had her micro chipped. Addison and I got to pick her up when she was all done later that day. It was horrible. She kept dry heaving and drooling everywhere. We were really concerned about her. She had to wear a cone because she would not leave her incision alone. The cone was so big she could not reach her food or water. I cut her cone down so it was a little more manageable for such a little dog. My sister Marni decorated it with some vinyl polka dots. Thankfully the next day she was a little bit better. Then the next day I was showing my mom her incision and commenting on how high it looked and my mom asked me, " What's that?" I looked and there was a huge gross sore on her side. So I take her back to the Vet the next day and they think the clippers burned her when they were shaving her hair off to spay her. I had not know it was there and that she could reach the sore with her back feet and had made it pretty bad. So now not only does she have to wear a cone on her head I also have to bandage up her sore. If you even go near the sore with neosporin or anything she just cries. So I have to hold her down to take care of it. I am glad to say she is up and playing around and seems to be feeling better. So as hard as my Hysterectomy was I am grateful that: 1. I did not have to wear a cone and 2. That my feet didn't reach my gut because I probably would have been scratching and bugging my incision also.

Our New Addition

2009-01-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

This last week we had a new addition to our family. His name is Rudy. We found him through the Chihuahua Rescue program. His is such a sweet little guy. We are hoping he will be a good friend for Bella. She has become a little too possessive and serious. So far he has her playing and not being the boss anymore. She follows his lead and enjoys spending time with him. He is a year and a half old. He has one leg that he cannot use. So he walks on three legs. He can run, jump, and do anything else a regular dog can do. His only problem with me is he is not potty trained. I thought he was because he was living with a foster family for the last while and the lady said she never had a problem with it. We are diligently working on that. It's no fun to wake up in the middle of the night to diarrhea all over the house. One night of that and I learned my lesson. He is now sleeping in his crate until he masters potty training. He is still spraying in the house and yard even though he is neutered. I am hoping that is just because Bella's scent is everywhere. He just takes careful watching, but is worth the trouble.

Pushy People!!!!

2009-01-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

*I was told I was too harsh in my original blog so I revised it the best I could while still getting my feelings across. I don't tolerate pushy people. I am all for serving, visiting, and helping other people. But right now in my life my children, my family and me come first. It has taken me many years to be able to say no to people. I try to be kind when I do it, but if I continue to get badgered or pushed in a corner I guarantee I will push back. I know the Gospel is true, but it's dealing with the people in the Church that is so annoying. I feel like the members of the Church get lost and left behind sometimes because we are so focused on the "Inactives" and "non-members". Well sometimes the 99 need help too. If we help the 99 think how many 1's we will be able to find and help.

Movie Review

2009-01-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

I have two movie reviews for you today. The first movie up is.... Bride Wars. I had really high hopes for this one. I have to say that it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. I think if they had not built this movie up so much it would have been better. From all the previews it seems like it would be really great. I am still glad that I saw it but I won't be buying it. The second movie up is... Mall Cop. I took Jarom and Addison to see this today and I was really looking forward to seeing it. Well I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. I laughed out loud many many times. The kids liked it also. Keep in mind that I absolutely love Napoleon Dynamite, Church ball, The Hometeachers and all those other cheesy but goody movies. I don't think you can go wrong watching this movie. And I will be buying this one. Enjoy!!!!

So Addicted

2009-01-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

Is anyone else addicted to ... Cutest Blog on the Block? I was so sad when their site wasn't working. It still doesn't work all the time, so when it does I have to try new backgrounds out. I can have as many as 3 different ones in one day. Some people move their furniture around (I'm too lazy to do that), some people go shoe shopping (my feet are too Ginormous to do that), and some people go clothes shopping (my body is too fat and my wallet too skinny to do much of that). So I get my kicks out of changing the background and colors on my blog. I get to sit around on my booty, eat ice cream if I want too, pay zero moolah, and make my blog pretty. Can you beat that?!?

They're Back!!!!

2009-01-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

I had thought that since I hadn't seen any for a month they were all gone. I had hoped they had picked somewhere else to live. I wouldn't miss them. I didn't miss them. Well I guess they missed us. Jeesh a little warm weather and they come running back. Just one more reason to get on top of my organizing and cleaning. Because you never know when they will pop by and if all the clutter is put away they have no where to hide. The unwanted pet ~ Roaches. This time I am going to have Clint call City of Mesa to hopefully come out and spray the manholes. They are the BIG sewer roaches, but so far the city wouldn't do anything when I called. I guess call the bug guy is back on my TO DO list. But why oh why pick us!!!!

Yuck!!!!!!!

2009-01-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

Is Sunday a Hard day for anyone else? We all finally made it to Sacrament meeting after months of being home with Addison. I was hoping for the whole church experience but Sacrament meeting was as long as the kids lasted. Addison's tummy hurt and Jarom has these horrible planter warts on the bottom of both feet. I have put off taking him to the Dr. because it seemed like I just could never find the time. Needless to say we are going on Friday. Hopefully the Dr. will be able to help him out because he can hardly walk on them for any long amount of time. ANYWAY, yesterday was my mom's birthday and my sister planned a surprise b-day party at her house for mom. Every one came and we had a great time. Until... Jarom had a teenager moment and we decided we better head home. So after sending Jarom to bed when we got home and everyone had finally calmed down Clint, Addison, and I sat down to watch Happy Feet. I had gotten myself a big glass of ice water, YUM, and was watching the movie. Bella loves to sit on the back of my neck when I am on the couch. OK no big deal until... She started hacking and coughing. And out comes a little BB (one that goes in a Air Soft Gun- Jarom has them all over his game room). I didn't see where it went but because we are talking about my luck here I figured it went into my Ice water that was sitting on my lap. Clint and Addison both said ,"NO it rolled down onto the floor". OK whatever. Later after I had finally gotten everyone, but Bella (she is worse than a kid trying to get her to go to bed), and was reading a book and finishing up my ice water, I got to the end of my water and was crunching on my ice when guess what I found? The stinkin BB Bella had hacked up earlier. Sure enough it had rolled down right into my water cup. Ain't life grand!!!

Movie Review

2009-01-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

Just a couple movie reviews. I have not had much time lately to see many movies so one is from when I took my kids and one is from Addison. The kids and I went to see Bedtime Stories. SIGH!!!! I thought is was cute, but was pretty disappointed. I had high hopes that it would be hysterical~ Adam Sandler and all. I think that if you see the previews on T.V. you have definitely seen the best and funniest parts of the whole movie. The second movie, I dropped Addison and 2 of her friends off to see Bride Wars. They all ranted and raved about it. They absolutely loved it. I hope to see it sometime next week and will write my thoughts on it then.

She Did It!!!!!!

2009-01-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

She did it!!! Addison went to school today. It is her first day back in months. We met yesterday with her teachers and counselor. We were able to get her 504 all set up. She is going to her 4 basic classes. Math, Science, Social Studies, and English. She is staying for lunch as well, as her Dr. felt it was good for her to be there to socialize during lunchtime with her friends. I was a little bit worried if she would make it to school today because she had a really bad night last night. But she woke up this morning ready to go to school. She has missed being well enough to go to school and visit with her friends. I am so proud of her as this is a very big step for her. Hopefully it will continue for weeks to come!!!

Have to Post!!!

2009-01-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

Nothing has changed much since I last posted a week ago, but I can not stand to see my blog slipping farther and farther down the list of most recently updated blogs. School has started again. Addison is STILL home. Her Homeopathic Dr. had us start a new diet. It is extremely hard and time consuming but we are hopeful that it will start to help Addison feel better. Jarom is being a trooper through all of this. He gives me the time I need to spend with Addison with out any complaint. He is such a good kid. We meet back again tomorrow morning with all of Addison's teachers and her counselor at school. We are going to try to find a schedule that will at least allow Addison a shorter school day. We are still trying to get the 504 in place for her too. So hopefully everything will become "Legal" and we will have more options for her. I am still trying to find the time to get all the Christmas buckets put away. My house is a wreck and I still have not gotten my Christmas cards out yet. They will get out, I am just not sure what month.

New Year

2008-12-29T22:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas is over and a New Year is upon us. I can't believe how fast time flies by. I haven't been able to get my Christmas cards out yet, but rest assured they will come. I am looking forward to 2009 and hopefully it will see improvement in Addison's health, finances, peace in our family and the World. I am going to be positive that as we continue to do what's right the Lord will bless us. As we start this New Year I wanted to express my gratitude for : My family- all of them!, for our friends that continue to extend friendship and goodwill to me and my family. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for all those people out there whether of my faith or not that are good examples to me and my children. I am grateful for a home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear and a body that lets me do all the things that I am blessed to be able to do. I am grateful that my husband has a job that is secure and I am able to stay home to take care of Addison. I hope and pray that this New Year will find us all a little better off then this last year left us. May we all work together to make this a better and more successful Year.

Christmas Handouts

2008-12-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

I wracked my brain this year for something to give to neighbors and friends. I wanted something different then the norm. I thought about things we had received and things we had given out. I had my mind set on giving out the yummy Gourmet homemade popcorn (see "Life is to be enjoyed blog"). Then when push came to shove that idea didn't really hit me. Addison and I were at Big Lots the other day and came across miniature Christmas Trees. I decided to do a handout about the meaning of the Christmas Tree. The trees were $1.00 each , but on sale for 1/2 off. So for fifty cents even better. We loaded up our cart. All we needed was a trip to the scrapbooking store for just the right paper and wha-la, a Christmas Handout.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

2008-12-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

This has been a very stressful Christmas for us this year. I haven't even gotten my Christmas lights up outside and probably won't this year, Sigh! I have fallen behind on housework, Christmas shopping and Christmas wrapping, just to name a few things. Thank Heaven for little girls, or should I say big girls. Addison has wrapped every single present for me this Christmas. She has spent many hours and spent lots of time thinking of just the right wrapping paper for each person. I feel a whole lot of stress off my shoulders. I of course will get to wrap her presents. I will have to make sure they are wrapped extra special for her.

Movie Review

2008-12-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

I have two movies to review this time. The first one is Bolt. I took Addison and my nephew Jackson who is 7 yrs. old. We watched it in 3D. I have to say it was pretty entertaining. I think if you watched it on a regular screen that it would still be great. So I give it a total thumbs up. The next movie is Australia. I went by myself to see it and it was totally worth the 2 hr and 45 min. I thought it was a beautiful movie. I don't think I would normally describe a movie as beautiful but this one qualifies. If you didn't like Hugh Jackman before you should watch this movie and it will change your mind. He is so sexy. I thought the acting all around was terrific. It was well made also. So make sure that Australia is on your list of movies to see.

Nine words women use

2008-12-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

I "borrowed" this from one of Clint's cousins blog. I just think that this is hilarious, but so true. I am going to print this out for Clint so he can have it to refer back to at any given time. Men always say they are confused by what we say or they don't know why we are so mad. I think this is right on the nose to help them with a few of the secret messages and meanings that women have. It is so funny because another women knows exactly what you mean if you say one of these, but men still have NO clue even after 15 years, duh!!!!!

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

1. FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. FIVE MINUTES: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. NOTHING: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Argume nt s that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. GO AHEAD: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It! (<- LOL!!! This one is so me... I say it's ok, but it's more of a test then anything. I'm so bad :)

5. LOUD SIGH: This is actually a word, but i s a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. THAT'S OK: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. THANKS: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').

8. WHATEVER: Is a woman's way of saying a bad word to you!

9. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Christmas Tree

2008-12-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

I finally was able to decorate MY tree. I have had it set up in the kitchen by the front window for about 2 weeks now. The Christmas buckets sitting in the kitchen finally got to me enough for me to take some time to decorate the tree. I always have my own tree. I started this a long time ago when my kids were little. That way they can decorate theirs how they want and I get to do mine all by MYSELF. Every year I do a different theme. I choose between: Santa's, snowmen, silver and white, red and gold, a last year after Christmas I stocked up on red and green. I am still hunting for a bigger tree after Christmas but I have not found just the right one yet. So I still get the smaller tree which is fine because then I don't have to buy quite as many ornaments. I love to use anything weird or different. No traditional Christmas decorations for me. I absolutely love everything about Christmas. We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

Guitar concert

2008-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Last night we were able to attend a guitar concert put on by Jarom's guitar class. He loves his class and really enjoys learning how to play guitar. I am so grateful that something has caught his attention other than video games. It was fun to see him play and he did a great job. He is such a good kid and I am so blessed to be his mom. I enjoy spending time with him (even if it is watching him play gruesome, gory, violent video games). We usually end up having a good talk together.

Addison Update

2008-12-11T08:31:00.001-08:00

Tuesday was a very busy day for us. I started out at Addison's Junior High at 7:45am. I met with her counselor, nurse and all her teachers. We finally decided that at least for the rest of this quarter the teachers are going to fail Addison (because she is SOOOOO far behind in her work). But combined with her first quarter grades she will end up passing all her of classes. So we are all hopeful to start out fresh next semester. Then it was off to her G.I. appointment. The GI nurse was concerned about Addison not eating or drinking (because it really made her stomach hurt). So her feeling was that we should admit Addison into the hospital to give her fluids and nutrition with IV. She wanted to reconfirm with the GI Doc. so we waited to hear back from her. Then we were off to the Psychologist that is helping Addison try to cope with this illness and everything else that goes along with it. We heard back from the GI Doc that yes they want to Admit her into Phx. Children's Hosp. to rehydrate, etc. and also re-scope. Well Addison was not too happy about that. Then we were off to see the Allergist. We were hoping for some good news about the results of her patch test, but with all that is going on with her the Doc. doesn't want to add anything back in right now. Sigh!!! He didn't really agree about re-scoping Addison, but didn't feel like he could really go against the other Doc. So pretty much another wasted trip and co-pay. Yesterday we were able to meet with the Homeopathic Dr. It was about a 2 hour appointment and she asked all kinds of questions. She has a Bachelors degree in Psychology as well as a MD in Naturopathic (?spelling?) medicine. She seemed hopeful that she will be able to help Addison, but said it will take a long while to get everything functioning right again in her body. We feel pretty good about her and Addison liked her and was comfortable with her so we are going to give it a shot. We are going to hold off on the whole hospital thing for right now, unless Addison gets worse again. We go back to see her again next week and she will ask more questions (after doing research for this week) and do a little physical on Addison. Well Addison is in the bath again, getting impatient for me to come get her out. Better go because she is "freezing". SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long night

2008-12-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

We had a really long night (or REALLY early morning) at our house today. Addison woke me up around two in awful pain. After many baths, lots of prayers and plenty debate around 6 am I finally called Phoenix Children's Hospital and talked to the on call G.I. specialist. His opinion of what we should do is wait until the Dr.s office opened and talk to our own Dr. OK!!! Why do they have Dr.s on call to help when they are about worthless. So we waited until 9 am and left a message, of course, and around 10:15 the nurse finally called me back. "Go in for another x-ray" she said. Then she managed to find a nurse practitioner to fit us in tomorrow. That helps!!! Maybe you have to become callus when you are a Dr. but when a mom continues to call the DR. about their child being in terrible pain and they send us for another x-ray and a Dr.s apt. days from now, what else is a mom to do? So we finally decided it's time for the Homeopathic route. Clint's brother takes his little boy to one that they like so we are going to try it out. Hopefully they will be able to help us.

Patch Test

2008-12-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

Addison went back to the Allergist yesterday and had the patch removed. They looked at her back to determine what food reactions there were. The big scab is where the garlic was and burned her skin and made a sore. So for sure no garlic. The other ones that were irritated were: almonds, beef, turkey, and cinnamon. We went back again today to have them look again and all but the garlic ( of course), almonds and the cinnamon were better. We go back again next Tuesday for the final look and the results. Last time she had this done wheat, potatoes, corn, etc. showed up. So we are hopeful that since these didn't show up this time we may be able to add some back in slowly. I guess we will find out on Tuesday.

Patch Test

2008-12-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

Today was filled with Doctor appointments for Addison. Yesterday she had an x-ray on her belly. Today she started the patch test. A patch test is done at the allergist to see what foods you are allergic to. She had one done last year to determine all the foods she couldn't eat. This one was done on the rest of the foods that are on her SPECIAL diet, which aren't many. We included onion and garlic among many other things, and let's just say you don't want to get to close. I can't image what the chicken, beef, onion, and garlic will smell like two days from now. So she goes back on Thursday for the Dr. to take the patches off and read the results. Then back again on Friday to read again. Finally she will be able to shower after that. Then we go back again on Tuesday for the finally reading and results. We are trying to figure out what is causing her so much trouble and pain. If too many more foods are restricted she will have to go on a hypoallergenic liquid diet. Not too much fun. Hopefully she will get good news and she will be able to add back in something. We will just hope and pray for good results. then back to the GI doctor in a couple weeks to try to determine what else we can do for Addison. She is going on missing 3 weeks of school this week. It makes it a little tough when you are in seventh grade to catch up.

Tag

2008-12-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

One word tag: (tagged by Natalie)

Where is your mobile phone? purse
Where is your significant other? sleeping
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? wonderful
Your father? generous
Your favorite thing? family
Your dream last night? scary
Your dream goal? wealthy
Room Your In? kitchen
Your hobby? reading
Your fear? sickness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? vacation
Where were you last night? sisters
What you're not? patient
Where you grew up? Maryvale
The last thing you did? sewed
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? nothing
Your pets? sleeping
Your computer? awesome
Your mood? exhausted
Missing someone? no
Your car? parked
Something you're not wearing? shoes
Favorite shop? Target
Your summer? flaming
Love someone? everyone
Your favorite color? red
When is the last time you laughed? today

If you are not sure what to blog today- do this tag. It's easy and fun.

Bella

2008-11-30T11:20:00.000-08:00

Bella enjoyed helping us decorate the Christmas tree. She especially loved the Christmas balls. She is such a blessing to our family. We just love her to pieces.

Christmas Spirit

2008-11-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

We caught the Christmas Spirit at our house this weekend. We had a wonderful time together putting up the Christmas tree. We went out to dinner as a family then came home and watched a movie. We had a really good time together as a family. I treasure these times as they are sometimes hard to come by in this crazy world!! We are so excited for Christmas to come and be able to spend more time with our family.

2008-11-26T08:23:00.001-08:00

This is about the only kind of snow man you can make in Mesa AZ. Whether you draw it with crayon, marker, sidewalk chalk, or make it out of clay, etc. it will probably never be made with real snow. Addison made this today with Logan. You just need chalk, a patio and a little bit of white sand. Draw your snowman and sprinkle with sand for that freshly snowed look.

P.S. My picture keeps disappearing. I have no clue why. So if you are looking at this and there is nothing there to see, that's about what a Mesa AZ snowman would look like also. Sorry!

D.I.

2008-11-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gotten a phone call from DI (Deseret Industry's) telling you they have some of your stuff? Well it happened awhile ago when we were moving, a box got taken to DI with some legal papers by mistake. They called us and Clint went down and picked it up. How embarrassing. Since then I have been pretty careful to go through stuff before I take it there. Well I guess Clint found a box of books the other day and decided to drop it off at DI. How helpful!! Well, today guess who called me? DI. This lady called and asked if someone had just dropped some stuff off to DI. I said I didn't, but maybe my husband did. She asked me if there was a M'Liss Inman that lived here. I said that's me. She then let me know they had a journal and P-blessing that had my name on it and that I could come down and pick them up. OK how mortifying!!! So not only has DI seen my legal papers they have now read my journal from when I was 17 years old. Who knows what kind of stuff is in there. Now I have to go down there and see this lady that has seen my private feeling from when I was too young to know any better.
Just a lesson out there for all of you that take stuff to DI for donation. Just be sure to go through everything you take because you really don't want people at DI reading your things that you thought no one else would ever see.

Twilight Movie Review

2008-11-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

It is done. I was finally able to see "the" movie. Can I just say a couple words about it--
amazing, wonderful, great, terrific, fabulous, incredible, my list could continue on. I thought it was totally worth the $7.00 that I paid!! I would even pay the non-matinee price to see it. I plan on going and seeing it many more times. Edward was even better in "real" life. I think Bella did a pretty good job. I couldn't quit thinking about her in "Catch that Kid" though. I think all the others characters were portrayed pretty well too. I still wanted to smack Rosalie. What a brat. It was also helpful to read the blurb on the 5th book that Stephanie has online. All in all I think it was worth the time and money spent. My friend got an email saying that New Moon is in the works. Let's all cross our fingers that does happen.
GO Team Edward!!

Movie Review

2008-11-21T12:34:00.001-08:00

You probably thought it was about Twilight, alas I haven't been lucky enough to see it, yet. Just thought I would catch up on the movie reviews before I do see Twilight and write one on that. I have seen a couple lately. The first is- Max Payne. I always see movies Jarom wants to see first just to make sure they are OK. This one was just plain weird. It would be worth seeing at the discount theater if you are into weird and weirder. The next one was the new OO7 movie. I was looking forward to seeing this. I wish I could say that I enjoyed it. I was disappointed with it. It pretty much just dripped cheese. This new James Bond was way better in the last one. Lots of shooting and no one EVER gets hit. Totally unbelievable! The acting wasn't that great either. So another one for the Discount theater. Hopefully my review for Twilight will be totally different then these.

Twilight

2008-11-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

I went by the movie theater this afternoon about 4pm and there was already a line for the midnight showing of Twilight. I am just as excited about it as the next person but that's like 8 hours in line, outside. I can't wait to hear tomorrow from all those who were brave and waited it out to be some of the first to see it. I am so excited!!!

Thankful Tag

2008-11-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

My sister started this tag and I thought that I would participate. I think it a great way for us to remember all the many things that we are thankful for.

My Husband
My son
My daughter
our dog
our home
my friends
my mom and dad
my sisters and brothers/in-laws
my nieces and nephews
Clint's job
the Gospel
Christ
Christmas
Thanksgiving
sleeping kids
sleeping husbands
sleeping dogs
quiet time
Target
movies
books
Sonic
Olive Garden
Chick-fil-A
Our Ward
Cars
medicine
bedtime
school
computers
video games
dishwasher
washer/dryer
vacuum
chocolate
Dollar store
Joanne's
Hobby Lobby
Walmart
being able to see, hear, walk, talk, etc.
My sister for starting this Thankful tag.

Some Garage Sale Finds

2008-11-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the garage sale finds I have found the last couple of times out. The table was at our last house when we moved in, so it came with us on our move. The chairs were $2.00 each at a garage sale in the ghetto (sorry mom). A little spray paint and new seats (made by me) and they look a lot better. The pot on the table was $2.00 at a garage sale and the flowers in it were on clearance at Walmart for $2.50.

Up and Running

2008-11-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

Our van is up and running again. Thanks to mom and dad who picked it up from the mechanic so I wouldn't have to drive as far to get it. It runs a lot better and smoother. The only problem with it now is of course the problem we took it to the mechanic in the first place for. If you are first starting the car and happen to be backing up, when you go to put it in drive it stalls. It doesn't matter if you have not driven it for awhile or have driven it all day it does not like to start out in reverse then into drive. But at least it runs and sounds better. Hopefully we will get better gas mileage. We were getting about 10.5 mpg in summer and about 11.5 now that the weather has cooled down some. Go figure. I am just hopeful it will last us another year and then maybe we will be able to get another new-to-us used car. New cars are just too much stress for me. If you buy a used car it already has dings and stuff. Waiting for that first ding or scratch on a new car that you are paying a ton of money for is way too much stress for me.

How we spent Veteran's Day

2008-11-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

We started the day off by Addison and M'Liss going to grandma Carla's house with Marni and her bunch. While we were there the mechanic called and said our van was ready. Since we live in Mesa and the mechanic is in Peoria (about an hour drive away from Mesa and 15 min. from mom's house), my dad was kind enough to take me over to pick it up. While I was driving back to my mom's house the van kept doing this jerking thing. I thought maybe it needs gas, so I fill her up. Well it still does it so I call the mechanic and he says bring it back and we'll look at it. Well they look at it and cannot figure out what is wrong. Since they fixed the problem we took it in for it created a new problem because that is how cars are. So After two hours of dealing with car troubles my dad comes back and picks me up and we leave the van there again. He says let me think on it for awhile. Now we have to hurry back to mom's house to get back home to go to the Dr.'s in east Mesa by 3:15. It is now 2:30. We make it back to my house by 3:05(thanks to Marni's great driving). We jump in our other van and take off for the 20 min. drive to the Dr.'s. We make it close enough.
Now for the Dr's. Addison was diagnosed last October with Eosinophillic Esophagitus. Which is severe food allergies. It is where her body attacks itself with toxins trying to get rid of the allergens in her body. It makes sores in her esophagus and she also has sores in her colon. She also was diagnosed with IBS, so she is in a lot of pain most of the time. Her diet is rice and any rice products- rice milk and rice ice cream, rice noodles and rice crackers. She can also eat cooked broccoli and green beans and salad. She can have apples, grapes and bananas. She can also eat meat sparingly. So basically she doesn't eat much. She had many tests and procedures last year along with being on a the very strict diet. But she is still having problems. She has already missed a ton of school. So the Dr. wants to do more testing (which Addison is against) and x-rays to see what her colon looks like when she doesn't feel good. Along with going back to the Allergist for more testing. We are hopeful that as we take another look at all her health issues she will be able to have a better year in 2009 than she did in 2008.
So our day wasn't quite like we hoped but we are looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend and spending time together as a family and with our extended family. We are so grateful to all those Veteran's and people in the Military now who are dedicated to protecting and serving the country we live in and the freedom we enjoy.

Mormon drive-by

2008-11-11T22:56:00.000-08:00

Mormon drive-by: going by a garage sale without stopping and getting out. You just kind of cruise on past looking, looking, looking, and see ya. Why waste valuable garage sale time getting out of the car if there isn't anything worth stopping for?
I went out garage sale-ing(couldn't figure out how to spell it) with my mom, two sisters, daughter and daughters friend. Us girls also had a man tag-a-long. My sister almost made her husband drive all the way from Avondale to Mesa by himself in his own car because it was suppose to be a girls morning out going to garage sales. But he is always welcome to come with because no one makes deals like he does. I could not believe the stuff he got for a buck, when the people were asking 3-5 bucks for it. We all found some really good stuff for some really good bargains. Don't you just love a good garage sale!!

Holiday Boutique

2008-11-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

Marni had a Holiday Boutique in Gilbert last Saturday. I went with her to help her load and unload. She has some amazing things that she made. These are some pictures of what her booth looked like. She also has stuff left over so if you see something you are interested in go to her blog- choosethewriting.blogspot.com or give her a call.

Forgot to add picture

2008-11-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the picture of Jarom, Addison, Jackson and their friend Raychelle. I forgot to add it when I added the other one. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. So glad it's over. Looking forward to Christmas!

Death by Sonic

2008-10-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

Marni represented our devotion to Sonic. It took me, Marni , Miche' & my mom about 2 weeks to save enough Sonic cups to decorate the back of the van with. Miche' used the Sonic lights for her trunk or treat, then Marni used them for hers, and tonight we are going to use them again at Miche's house to decorate the driveway for her neighborhood trick or treat night. Can you all tell that we LOVE Sonic!! There just isn't anything better.

Happy Halloween Again!

2008-10-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

We went to Aunt Marni's Trunk or Treat party. So fun! Jarom dressed up as a dead monster thing & Addison was a nice witch. Here is a picture of Logan and Jackson both snacking on french fries. It is hard to tell them apart. There is also of picture of Addison, Jarom, Jackson and Raychelle(friend). Cute Kids!!

Addison's room

2008-10-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of Addison's bedroom. We did not do any extra messing up it was like this for about 3 weeks. This is how it usually looks. I was having a really hard day last week and I went out to see a movie. When I came back Addison had a surprise for me. She had worked all by herself for almost 2 1/2 hours on her room. How come it is that a 12 year old girl can figure out what to do to help make her mom happy, but husbands are clueless. She was the only one who went out of her way to do somethng nice for me. Daughters are such a blessing.

Halloween Party

2008-10-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

I got some really cute pictures of some of my nieces and nephews at my ward's Halloween block party. I just had to post them and show what cute kids they are. I am so grateful to a wonderful family that is always willing to support each other. My family genuinely loves to be together. We always have such a great time together.

Addison's Halloween Costume

2008-10-27T19:26:00.001-07:00

Addison saw this costume in a magazine and wanted to make it. It is a gnome sitting on a mushroom. Originally it was a boy gnome, but we changed it to a girl. It is made out of two pool noodles, material and felt, lots of hot glue, and a dress and shoes from D.I. It was more expensive to make this than it would have been to buy a costume. It also took a lot of time but Addison and I had a lot of fun making this together.

Shop-a-holic

2008-10-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

It's been said that I am a shopaholic. Can you believe that? I don't shop that much. Maybe I hit a couple stores a day. It's not like I am addicted or anything. Seriously!!! I do need help. If it wasn't for all the great deals out there I wouldn't have a problem. Not to rationalize, but when you move you have to change up the decorations a little. And to do that you have to research different stores. I have to admit I found some really good stuff for really great prices. When I can find my camera again, clean my house, and hang up the decorations (have to spray paint some first), I will take some pictures and show you that I really did need to buy all of it. Even if it doesn't match my decor if it only cost $2.00 it was a great deal. Maybe someday it will match.

Bedhead- what a night

2008-10-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

You know how you can tell what kind of night you had by how your hair looks in the morning. Well last night was one of those. Anyone who has had a puppy can relate. Bella has been sleeping through the night for about one month. Well last night she had other plans. She was up at one pooping. Back to bed (she sleeps with Addison). 45 min. later Jarom wakes me up, " mom Bella is in my bed bugging me." I had no idea she could get out of Addison's bed, it's pretty far off the floor. So Clint gets up this time. Out to pee. While washing his hands Clint discovers Bella has been busy while we were sleeping. Poop on the kitchen rug. Clint has too inform me that the poop smells so bad that he just put the kitchen rug in the front yard. He almost threw up. PLEASE!! You can tell he doesn't clean up after her very often. Back to bed with Bella in her kennel in the living room. She keeps barking. So I am back up again. Out to poop AGAIN. Back to bed with Bella in her kennel. She starts to bark again. OK I have had it. I finally figure she has to be about empty by now so in the Laundry room she goes. That's how you get bedhead. It was a rough night for everyone, but Addison won the prize for best hair.

Tagged

2008-10-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

8 is Great!
Tagged by Marni

8 T.V. shows I love to watch
E.R. (this is the last season, sigh)
CSI anything
House
Any morning show
Dancing with the Stars
Kitchen Nightmares
Top Model
Survivor

8 favorite restaurants
Olive Garden
Rosa's
Macaroni Grill
Applebee's (best Oriental salad)
Panda Express
Cracker Barrel (best breakfast)
Chick fil' A
Chili's

8 things that happened yesterday
went to Marni's and hung out with mom and sisters
laundry
watched Jarom play video games
watched Dancing with the Stars & Biggest Loser with Addison
went to Olive Garden with Clint and Jarom
went to Home Depot
took care of animals
unpacked more stuff

8 things I am looking forward too
Quiet time
reading a book
fixing our bathtub
finishing unpacking
paying off bills
getting rid of the OTHER house
Addison feeling better
Twilight Movie

8 things on my wish list
Addison being healthy
kids be strong in the Gospel
second coming
another book series as good as Twilight
a million dollars
to go to New York
a new car
to be skinny

I tag who ever wants to tell us about themselves.

Can't Wait!!

2008-10-15T22:43:00.001-07:00

SERIOUSLY!!!!
I can't wait for Twilight the movie
Are all us girl's going to the very first showing of this totally wicked film? You all better be in. Who's going to be better (hotter, cuter, wickeder, etc.), Edward or Jacob? Edward, duh!! Let me know who is in so we can start making plans NOW.

Still Unpacking

2008-10-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

Here I am still unpacking. This is the longest it has ever taken me to unpack from a move. Usually within two or three days I am unpacked and settled in. We have been here a month and I am still not done. My sister Marni is coming over tomorrow to help me hang pictures etc. I am so excited. I can't wait to feel settled in. Every day my husband and I work on getting some project done around the house and a little more unpacked. Yesterday was a big day for me. I hung up curtains in my bedroom and on the living room door (there is a small window in the door that shines into my son's gameroom. We have had a high school movie swimming towel over it for about three weeks now. From the outside it looks so ghetto. So it was time I fixed it). I switched the door knobs on my bedroom and my daughters because our lock was broken and my husband kept bugging me about IT, so I finally switched them (cause you have to have a lock on the door). I was even able to take Bella to the Vet. for her last shot, YEH! and I went to Walmart. Today I went to Home Depot to get two plants for outside our front door. My husband and I took Jarom to Olive Garden (had a gift cert.), Addison couldn't eat anything there (more on that in another post to come) so she stayed with her friend. Then we worked on the game room and laundry room. Boy I'm tired. If I ever say "I want to move" again, someone please slap me. Thanks to ALL the family and friends that helped us with this move, cleaning both houses, painting, unpacking and everything else you all helped us with. Could not have done it without you. This move has been really good for our family. So it is all for the best.

Movie Review

2008-10-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

My mom requested I review more movies. I usually see one a week. After working in a movie theater for 3 years you get kind of addicted. Plus no kids bugging you, bonus. Clint and I went to see An American Carol on our anniversary. Since we never see movies together because he so does not like what I like, I figured sure why not. This is only my opinion but, I absolutely hated it!!! I actually feel asleep during it. It made me so irritable that I paid money and wasted 2 hours of my time on this stupid movie. Clint thought it was OK. So if you have 6 bucks and 2 hours that you don't know what to do with, go buy some new lipstick, go to Sonic, put in towards a pedicure, go to the library and then go to Dairy Queen after, or go see a different movie. Sorry to anyone who liked it , but that is my review.

Chihuahua Movie

2008-10-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

Addison and I just saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua. It was very cute. Having a Chi-wawa made us want to go right home and give her loves. Then we got home and she had pooped on the rug. Oh well. Take your kids and go see it.

The Fincher Farm

2008-10-09T08:10:00.001-07:00

I wanted to introduce you to all the Fincher animals. We have two tortoises, one rabbit, and our baby Bella. These are all Addison's animals. She loves animals. The tortoises are Pistachio and Pebbles, the rabbit is Snowball and our puppy is Bella. We had two tree frogs but then we had to keep crickets. That was more than I could deal with. A friend of ours is a teacher so he took the frogs and the crickets to his classroom.

Happy Anniversary Clint!

2008-10-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

Today is our 15th! It has been a struggle at times but we made it. I thought when I was younger that you get married in the Temple and life would be easier. Boy was I wrong. Satan in so strong. He does not want eternal families. We just need to remember through the hard times that it is worth (easier said than done). This was the only picture I had on my camera of Clint. I need to start taking more pictures.

Soooo Frustrated!!!!

2008-10-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have just spent the last two and a half hours getting the two sets of pictures on my blog. In the end it was my fault. Remember I know nothing about blogs. My son Jarom was able to show me how to download the pictures from my memory card unto my computer. Then after some trial and error of editing the pictures I remembered my sister had mentioned picnik. So, needless to say I blogged my first pictures. I guess after some practice it will become fun. Right now it is just frustrating. But remember quitters never win and winners never quit.

Trying to figure out the whole Blog thing!

2008-10-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Still working on my Blog. My sister Moira-Lin gave me some instruction on how to blog, but I had to drive from Avondale to Mesa and completely forgot all that she showed me. I will continue to try because quitters never win and winners never quit. So be patient with me. All my sisters out there that can help a do-it-yourselfer that can do many many things, BUT blog feel free to come on over and give a sista a hand. You are invited anytime. Just be ware of our friends the roaches. Can't seem to get rid of them. Our renters didn't like to clean so we are trying to house train our roaches to live outside. No success as of yet.

2008-10-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to jump on the band wagon and start a blog. I will have to wait for my sisters to help me put pictures on. So be patient. I don't know much about computers. I know how to check email and how to shop.