Where's The Maid?

My house is a disaster area!!! I don't even know where to start cleaning! It's Totally-Out-Of-Control!!! Right now I am so envious of rich people who have hired help. Why can't that be me? I could handle being rich, living in a huge house, having maids and other hired help do my work for me!!! Oh and maybe since I'm rich, I could also handle having a nanny. Maybe just a couple days a week. Yeah, that sure would be nice!!! Now, back to my reality of kitchen counters covered in dirty dishes and other miscellaneous items, a never ending laundry mountain, toys scattered from one end of the house to the other and the list goes on and on!!!! Gotta LOVE it, right?

"Happiness is a mood...a feeling, not a destination."

skunk out

I HATE SKUNKS!!!! For the obvious reason.....they smell so bad!! I can handle the occasional instance when you come across one while driving and your car smells for a couple of minutes. But, for some reason they are attracted to the field next to my house. The smell instantly engulfs my house and lingers forever.

Earlier this summer, our dog got sprayed right in the face. I swear she must have been trying to sniff its butt!! It was soooo bad. It happened at 2am, so I had no clue what was going on. It was so strong I couldn't even tell what I was smelling. The whole house was filled with the smell and it was litterly burning my eyes. Crazy night!! Lola still smells slightly of skunk butt!! It took 3 weeks for the smell to completely vacate my house!!

That was about 4 months ago. Well tonight I was sitting in my room and what did I suddenly smell? SKUNK!!! I jumped up and said "Oh crap, Lola is outside!" I ran to the door to find her staring through the glass, opened the door and smelled her. She smells like skunk!!!! She didn't get directly sprayed this time, so that's a plus I guess!!! She must have remembered her close encounter last time and got the heck out of there.

So, Lola will be sleeping in the basement tonight. Jevin is not very happy, because she sleeps with him every night and she acts as his big stuffed animal. I will also be sleeping on the couch because my room reeks!!

Birthday

A birthday: - and now a day that rose

With much of hope, with meaning rife -

A thoughtful day from dawn to close:

The middle day of human life.

~Jean Ingelow

Yesterday was my 31st birthday!! I know I'm an "old lady" right? Where the heck did the 20's go anyway? I wanted to write to say that everyone should celebrate their birthday. It's your day!!!! I know some people just say "It's just another day." It's not; that's the day that brought you life and without that day, there would be no you! Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait till your birthday, it was right up there with Christmas? My children help me remember that feeling. They can't wait till their birthdays. The months leading up to the days are full of anticiapation and the day after their birthday party, they are already planning NEXT years!!! Most of us adults seem to lose that somewhere after 21. Nothing else to look forward to after that besides getting old, right? Why is that?

On your next birthday CELEBRATE YOUR DAY!!!! Be a kid again and LOVE your birthday!!! You don't have to have a party (or go for it, through a Big Huge one for yourself), do something you like to do, buy yourself something that you normally wouldn't, do anything that makes you feel good. You only have one birthday a year and the next one is not guaranteed.

Fall Pics

Our first trip to a pumpkin patch and corn maze.

Lola found a stick to chew on. It is bigger than her!

Jevin playing flag football.

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. ~ Charles M. Schulz

catch-up

I know the 2 people who read my blog are wondering "why hasn't Rachelle posted anything in such a long time?" Don't worry I'm back!! I know you are soooo happy!! Life kinda got a little crazy! Jevin started 1st grade, flag football and cub scouts. Elli started Pre-School and I started my classes, too. There's never a dull moment around here right now. Rich, also is now working locally and able to be home every night for the first time in almost 2 years!!! Yeah!!!!! We are so happy for him to be home!!

I Love GAP

I went shopping at my fav store of-all-time for a few fall pieces to add to the wardrobe. I had a 40% off everything in the store coupon. I saved $111.00!! Awesome, right? Anyway, I found this sweater (shown below), and it was love at first sight! I bought it in the oatmeal color. I am so looking forward to the first chilly fall day or night that I can wear it!

I left GAP that day with a bag full of clothes just for me, which is VERY unusual!! I go there with the intention of buying for my self, get frustrated, and go to the kids section. My kids never fail to come out of that store empty handed!! So, for once it was just all about me!! Thanks, to my Hubby for encouraging me to go and spend some money on myself!!

Lifeguard

The daily roles that I play consist of being a wife... mother... cook...maid...personal shopper and accountant (typical motherly duties), but today I also got to be a Lifeguard.

The kids and I went swimming today at the public pool and you are in charge of your own kids. Of course, there are Lifeguards there, but are you really going to put the life of your children in the hands of a couple of teenagers? Apparently, some parents do!!

The pool has steps as you enter and they expand the whole width. It's the perfect spot to sit and watch the kids and also get a little wet when it gets too hot. So, there I was sitting on steps, watching MY KIDS, when a one year old little girl gets knocked down and goes under the water!

My reaction time was delayed for several reasons. For one, the Lifeguard was sitting directly behind me, litterly 2 feet behind me! Two, this baby was part of a group of about 13 kids and 3 moms and one of the moms was STANDING RIGHT THERE!!!!

It only took me a couple of second to realize that no one was going to help her. My reach was abstructed by the handrailing, so my only option was to grab and yank her up by her foot. After I got her out, I yelled at the lady who was standing right there, who by then started to walk away! I screamed " This little baby was under the water!" I had to yell it 2 times before she came back!! She took her, with no "Thank you" and started yelling for the mom. Then she started yelling at the other little kids for not watching her!!! Seriously!!!!

The mother finally about 1 hour later came up to me and told me thanks. She told me she has 5 kids and she had the 10 year old in charge of the baby!!! Are you kidding me? A ten year old? Well, that ten year old is obviously just as responsable as the mother, because within the next hour one of the Lifeguards had to rescue yet another one of her kids!!!! She was 2 for 5! Not good!!

All I've got to say is: If you can't watch and take care of your kids, STOP REPRODUCING!!! It's as simple as that!!

Tooth Fairy

Horray!!!!! Jevin finally lost his first tooth last night!! Elli gave it a little nudge, by trying to pull it out! Jevin was not very happy about that! After that it was hanging on by a thread. Finally, when he was eating his nightly bowl of cereal, it fell out! He was so excited! He said, "Mom, do I really need to put this "thing" under my pillow? You know I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy." So, I gave him his $2 and all was good.

Friday

"Some of the greater things in life are unseen that's why you close your eyes when you kiss, cry, or dream...." ~ anonymous

Little Sis

My little sister, Melisha, came home this past weekend from Dayton to visit. Her visits are always to far and few in between and a whirl wind while she's here!! She brought along my little niece and nephew and the 4 cousins had a good ol' time playing together. Elliona (my daughter), always looks forward to the time she gets to play with Miciah and hold the baby.

(Here's the little rascals now! Miciah, Elliona and Jevin)

Melisha wanted me to take some pictures of her and her kids that she could hang on her walls at home. So, I was a photographer for the weekend. I think we captured some good shots. Here are some of the pics I love.

Thursday

"Never walk in the footsteps of others, or you won't leave any of your own." ~unknown

Watch Your Kids

Yesterday I brought the kids to the park that's near our house. On our way home, I was driving down a side street and only going about 15 miles per hour. As I looked ahead there were 3 little kids playing very close to the road and of course with no parents in sight!! As I keep slowly driving closer, the little girl who is about 3 years old decides to walk into the middle of the road and starts walking straight for my car!!! I immediately stop the car and put it in park and open my door. STILL NO PARENTS!!! However, there is 2 ladies taking a walk and I ask them if they know the children. They answer with a very brief "no" and keep walking. The first thing that pops into my head is, "seriously, I could be a child abductor and you guys are just going to keep walking!" The little girl then walks up to me and says, " Hi! My name is (can't remember it now)!" AGAIN, STILL NO PARENTS!! I tell her she needs to get out of the road and get back into her yard. Her brother then decides to come and get her and help her, but still he is only about 7. I didn't know what to do. Should I go knock on the door and tell the parents that they need to watch their kids or they are going to get hit or stolen? Do I call the police? Next time the little girl might not be so lucky. Finally, I just made sure she was safe and drove away. Now I'm kinda wishing I would have knocked on the door!!

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." ~ Robert Brautt

The Dentist

Let me just tell you how frustrated I am right now!! Over the last month between me and the kids we have been to the dentist 5 times!! Jevin's going to be 7 very soon and for some reason his baby teeth just won't fall out and his adult teeth are sick of waiting, so they are comin in anyway!! Great!!! He will definitely be needing braces!!! My left side of my face has been hurting for the last month like someone broke my jaw! My dentist said it was my wisdom teeth and sent me to an oral surgeon. I have been putting this off for many years now, but I finally broke down and I'm scheduled to get them out in 2 weeks. But sitting here today, I don't think it really is my teeth at all that has been bothering me; I'm pretty sure it's my jaw. It keeps popping out and making a clicking sound and I seriously feel like I was punched in the jaw!! Vicodin and Ibuprofen have been my best friends lately!! So guess what? Back to the dentist I go next week! AGHHH!!

HELLO

Thanks for reading my blog!! I make you no promises that it will be interesting and most likely it will probably be a lot of mumbo- jumbo and me ranting about something crazy that happened (things like that just seem to find me). So, maybe you just might get to read about some interesting things!!