Call the paramedics...

No, I am not being lazy. And I am not just vying for your attention. (OK...maybe a little bit!) I am a MESS today! So, yesterday afternoon we were all outside - all 5 of us. The big kids were playing hide and seek with the neighbor girls and our little guy was just running behind everyone trying to look like her knew what he was doing. It was sweet and they tolerated him! Then he got bored and was riding his big wheel. I decided I was going to throw all caution to the wind and tell him I would race him. I try not to run in front of anyone older than 6 but I was in one of "those" moods. I didn't care. So, I started shuffling alongside of his Diego big wheel pretending to run...I may have even squealed, "I'm gunna get you...I'm gunna get you!" In an attempt to look "hot" to my onlooking hubby (who is older than 6), I did the ole' "hot chick hair flip." And with that, my hair flung in front of my eyes, I couldn't see where I was going and my right foot went off the side of the driveway and DOWN I WENT. Just call me Grace! There was NOTHING graceful about it. When I hit the ground, my right knee took the brunt of the fall and smashed against the same black-top edge that I had just turned my ankle on. I tried to do a delicate roll out of my body-hurling escapade but I am sure it just looked like I hit an invisible wall and collapsed head over heels. My husband quickly asked if I was OK and if I heard a pop. On his way over to me (I wasn't even TRYING to stand up, I have had this ankle injury MANY times and ya just need to sit it out) he was sincerely concerned but I am not sure in an "I hope you are OK" way. It may have been more like a "Could you have been skiing or running a marathon instead of chasing a big wheel when you break your legs?" way. My ankle was sore and there are a couple chunks of my knee missing. There was even a blood stain on the OUTSIDE of my jeans. I can't remember the last time THAT happened! So, I didn't sleep very well b/c I had an injury on BOTH sides of my body. I have a bad back so there are only a handful of positions I can sleep in that won't leave me crippled in the morning. Unfortunately, all of those positions require a bent ankle or a knee touching a sheet. Grrrrrrrr. So, this morning I woke up with a sore back, a stiff ankle, a very tender knee and (weird) an ulcer on the tip of my tongue! WHAT THE HECK??! Mr. Monkey decided that TODAY was the day he would teach himself to climb the gate to the laundry room which leads to this... So, I raised the gate to save me the headache (because I didn't need ONE MORE pain in my body) of wrestling him every 10 minutes. Quite honestly I was in enough discomfort, he may have won!

So, we took the big kids out to the bus and on our way back in and over the gate....

I forgot I raised it and jammed my right forefinger into the wall at the same time my right big toe got stuck in the lattice weave on its way over....

...tonight I found a deer tick on my arm (not IN my arm, just climbing on it)...

I am not going to even count the number of injuries that was in a 24 hour time frame. Disgusts me!

I am just gonna wheel on over

to some other blogs and see what is happening over on NaBloPoMo! Come join me...but no I am NOT racing you...walk slowly, I hurt!

Monkey Munch + a cardboard box = time to READ!!

Our mailwoman brought me a special surprise on Thursday so I fed the kids some sugar, lead them outside, gave them a box and I sat at the picnic table and grinned from ear to ear....

This is MONKEY MUNCH (as seen on Jon & Kate + 8). This is what I fed them.

So, I (with the help of my two boys) made a huge batch of it. It is SOOOOOOO good! All my kids are addicted to watching Jon & Kate on Monday nights and so they have been craving Monkey Munch and we have never made it.

Here is the recipe:

Put 9 cups of chex cereal (we use wheat for the extra fiber and vitamins) in a large bowl

Melt 1 cup of choc chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup of butter in a saucepan.

Mix in 1/2 tsp of vanilla into pan when you turn the heat off.

Pour chocolate/PB mix over chex and stir thoroughly.

When all chex pieces are covered empty bowl into giant ziploc bag.

Pour in 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, zip bag and shake.

VOILA!

MONKEY MUNCH!

This is the CARDBOARD BOX (as seen in the aisle of any LOWE'S). This is what gave them.

Isn't it funny that you can have $14,000 worth of legos, Wii games, books, bikes, jump ropes, skateboards, balls and a neighborhood filled with friends and still they are "BOOOOOORED!" But you take a box that your new mailbox post came in, rip the ends open and throw it to the middle of the backyard and they are happily occupied for HOURS!!!

Perfect because that is JUST what I needed on this day!

This is what the MAILWOMAN BROUGHT (as seen on Amazon.com 2 days prior). This is what I did until they lost interest in their box!

This book has gone everywhere with me in the last 3 days (except church...there's a bigger book there!) and I have grabbed every second I could to read a few more words. I have cried, smiled and laughed out loud the whole way through. I LOVE IT!

And when I see Kate on November 14th at the WOMEN OF PURPOSE conference, I am going to have her sign it....right after I hand her 8 NAMESAKES personalized for her 8 angels!

Cheerleading and Deer Peeing...Really?

BEE-A-YOU-TEE-FUL!

Happy November, faithful followers! This is the view out of the front door of my house! LOVE IT! Pennsylvania has welcomed fall's warm palette with open arms and so have I! I love it! Yes, the girl who would LIVE on the beach year-round admits, she loves the changing of the leaves...not-so-much the falling, but the changing...ahh the colors!

While most of you were out scouring your town for sugar and bypassing the houses that give out raisins and popcorn balls, I was trying to get three kids to sleep in a double bed in Hamburg, PA.

We were staying over only 40 minutes from home because we had to be up bright and early so we could chant... LET'S GET FIRED UP! (clap, clap, clapclap, clap) That's right. The Berks County 2008 Youth Cheer Competition! READY? OK!

I was a cheerleader...for a VERY long time! I was one of those girls with the forever ponytail, forever spirit fingers and a forever tilted head and open mouth grin! I clapped a lot, too! So, this was just WAY TOO COOL for me! My daughter (my ONLY one) was following in my footsteps wearing RAIDER GREEN AND WHITE! Yes, even though we have moved around since getting married, we have settled in MY HOME TOWN! My children go to MY school!

Here's my girl after the competition! Yes, I cried! Of course I cried! I cheered and chanted and looked like an almost-forty-40 lbs-too-heavy-cheerleader-mom!

Now, what did the boys do, you ask? My 11 and 3 year old and my husband (all boys) bit the bullet and cheered along. Although my husband played the part well, I saw him raising an eyebrow at the dads with the "CHEER DAD" shirts. Oh, and I think I saw an all out eye-roll when the dad dressed in full cheer gear pranced by. If he knew what it meant, I think he would have said, "WTF?"

How do you get 3 boys/men to spend a gorgeous fall Saturday in a crowded, sweaty, loud, make-up-smeared-ponytail-flipping middle school gym? With a trip to Cabela's the night before, of course. This be-kind-to-animals woman and her girly-girl patiently walked through the ZOO of DEATH inside the walls of this Hunter's Paradise. The boys oooohhed and aaaahhed at the "big game" and the "big racks" (not a lot of women in this store so I am pretty sure they were talking about the elk).

We ate in the restuarant where this vegetarian wannabe searched a menu of braised elk and broiled ostrich to find something that would not seem cruel to eat while being gazed upon by the

many DEAD EYES that surrounded our picnic in the woods. I had a BLT...yes, I know the B is for bacon. And yes, pigs are the reason I originally became a vegetarian...but there were no pigs watching me...no farm animals at Cabela's. Lame. I know.

Then we headed to the archery section. Joy. Love the smell of urine on a full stomach. You can actually walk through the aisles of the hunting section and smell the pee that is in the potions that hunters use to attract their prey. Gross.

My daughter and I giggled at one of these potions...called "C'Mere Deer!" Are you kidding me? Only a man.

When I was searching the internet for the image of "C'Mere Deer" I landed on a message board where one hunter, let's call him Chuck, spoke highly of another method of getting the deer's attention. He "couldn't say nothin' bad 'bout BUCK BOMB!" Yes. MY curiousity got the best of me and I had to Google it! You would. You know you would.

I read the fine print on the website... I kid you NOT! It said this...

Available: Doe Pee, Curiosity Scent, Dominant Buck, Doe Estrus.

And look at the label, it is 100% PURE...urine, that is. Yuk!

OOOhhhhhh....and.....I almost forgot the sign. Saturday at 1...Flashlight Clinic...Stop in our Camping Department today as they will demonstrate our full line of flashlights. From small to large, we will cover them all!

Aw shucks. Cheerleading calls fellas. Won't be back tomorrow. Have fun with that.

I'd rather spend my Saturday with these

instead of these!

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I have joined NaBloPoMo this year and I am excited!

NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Post Month! 30 days, 30 posts! YEEHAA! I may NEVER sleep!