Shelli’s Stuff

Hey to all!  It has been a LONG time since I have posted or updated or anything else on Vox.  Which is really too bad since I do enjoy it.  Life just gets busy, you know.  Not to mention that I am the kind of person that once I get out of the habit of doing something on a regular basis, I tend to forget about it.  Of course with my schedule right now, I will be doing good to remember my own name.  Right now my poor calendar is so marked up with scribbled date and times and places that it may take a rocket scientist to figure it out!  December is the month to juggle several family Christmas celebrations, all at different times, dates and locations, of course.  Then there is also Savannah's third birthday party, Elizabeth's basketball schedule, and two different Christmas programs at two different schools.  Oh did I mention that I am going slightly insane at this point?   Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Holiday Season, and especially love seeing all of my extended family.  But at what point will I get to slow down long enough to actuallly enjoy it?  By the time I lay down at night, I have SO many things going through my head, making mental lists, wondering if I am remembering everything that needs to be done and so on, that I am actually having trouble getting to sleep.  Now for anyone who knows me, that is saying alot, since I have always LOVED TO SLEEP!  Then again, that luxury passed when I started having children.  I suppose I will get to sleep in when the kids are grown and gone.  Hmmm.....that is only 15 to 19 years away!  Wow, I will have alot of catching up to do at that point.  I may not wake up everyday until about 3 in the afternoon.  Ok, ok, now I am just dreaming, I had better log off and get go to sleep!  Take care everyone!!!!

Well, my New Year's resolution is to lose weight.  Yes, I know, such a common one, but for me being good reason.  I am heavier now than I have ever been in my life.  And at the age of 30 my metabolism won't be kicking into overdrive any time soon!  That is not to say that I am some huge person that can barely fit through a doorway.  However, being only 4 foot 11 inches in height, my weight tends to show if I have too much of it!  I am not attempting any crazy "crash diet", or starving myself, or trying the ever popular Adkin's diet.  My main goal is just to quit eating junk food, not eating after 9 pm, and trying to eat some low fat foods.  Also, when the weather will cooperate (which in Missouri it is hard to tell when that will be!), I plan on walking every day.  I think the walking will also get my spirits up, since I am in the house with my very mischievious 2 year old every day.  I am coming to realize that if I do not concern myself with my weight and general health now, that at 40 or 50 it will be alot harder to get a grip on it.  So I might as well start now!  Besides, I REALLY need to have the energy to keep up with Savannah!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!  I am WAY behind on posting, aren't I?  Well, Andy has gotten called out for a storm, for the THIRD time in a row!!!!  He made it home for Christmas, but had to leave on New Year's Eve.  So instead of toasting with champagne at midnight with my husband, I toasted with 7-up with my Grandparents.  OK, Wesley, if you are reading this, you can stop laughing now!  :-P   Anyway, he is in Dodge City, Kansas, and I can not wait for him to get home.  The kids are driving me a bit crazy, ok, ok, a lot crazy.  Savannah gets totally off-schedule when her Daddy is gone.  She had been going to bed at about 1 am or so.  I have not felt like doing one bit of housework.  Needless to say, just about every room of my house looks like a tornado had been through it.  Oh wait, a tornado HAS been through it, and her name is SAVANNAH!!!  But anyway, I am in better "shape" than my husband and my Mom.  Andy is just completely exhausted at this point and ready to come home.  My Mom is having problems with pain in her neck and shoulder right now.  And no, Wesley, I am not the "pain in her neck"!!!!  :-P  Right now, by no small feat, the kids are both asleep, (*wishing I were asleep also*).  I am up getting laundry finished.  I have been working on typing out a very long post I have been planning on doing for quite some time now.  It is about my little nephew.  I am almost finished and will be posting it very soon.  Everyone take care, and stay warm!!

What's something you did when you were younger that you still haven't confessed to your parents?
Submitted by Bizz.

I really have to get a big laugh at myself possibly answering this QotD considering that my Mom is in my "neighborhood" on Vox!!!!  So the title of "I Hope My Parents Aren't Reading This..." for me would be, "I Wonder When My Mom Is Going To Be Reading This"!!!

OK, I can't really remember if I ever confessed this to my Mom, but you can bet that if I did, it was well after I had moved away from home!  First of all, my Mom was a really cool Mom.  My friends all loved her, she acted "goofy" along with all of us teenagers.  However, coming home late was a BIG "no no"!  (I think mostly because that was time that my Mom was up worrying about me.)  I would be grounded for even being 5 minutes late.  Anyway, one night me and a bunch of my friends were just hanging out at our local park, which I have to tell you was only like three blocks from my house.  We weren't causing any trouble, just sitting around and chatting.  Anyway, I looked down at my watch to discover that I had missed my curfew by about 15 minutes.  I started really freaking out because I knew I was going to be in deep T-R-O-U-B-L-E!  Then suddenly one of the guys had an idea.  (please note:  this was NOT my idea Mom!!!!!!)  His (Chris) idea was to actually break the leather band on my watch and claim that I had lost it in the park and did not know what time it was.  Then he would return it to me the next day, knowing that it was mine.  Very rarely did I even ATTEMPT such a thing, but I have to say that to my great surprise, it worked!  My Mom thought it to be a very believable story.  You would think I would try something of the sort again, seeing as how I had "gotten away with it".  But not me!  I was so scared over the whole thing that I didn't try anything like that again!!!!!!

What's the best present you gave this year?

The best gift I gave this year was to my husband, who by the way, DID make it home for Christmas Day!!!!! (yeahhhhhhhh)  Anyway, before I say what it was, I have to say that EVERY year he ends up finding out what it is before he gets it!  Either I accidentally give it away by little comments, or he finds it, or he knows where I got it therefore figuring out what it is, and so on.  This year, I FINALLY surprised him BIG TIME!  Three years ago we were in a pet store with our children looking around.  To my knowledge, the only pets my husband had owned in the past were dogs and cats.  To my great surprise as we passed all of the lovely birds in cages, he promptly stopped in front of a pair of doves.  He looked at them and said that one day he would love to have a pair of doves.  Like I said, this was three years ago, with him mentioning the doves a few times since then.  On Christmas morning, I explained to him, before giving him his gift, that this year I wanted his gift to be special, unique, and most of all, a total surprise!  He had such a puzzled look on his face.  I knew his mind was going 90 miles an hour trying to figure out what I had gotten him.  I carried out two diamond doves in a cage and sat them on his lap.  For the first time ever, my husband was speechless!!  (I do not look for that to happen any time again soon!)  Anway, he LOVED the gift.  We had to run out and buy extra things for the cage, only the best bird seed, and even bird treats!

Since I just "survived" yet another one of my kids' birthday parties this last Saturday, I thought I would post some pics from some past parties.  Also, I thought I would tell the people who don't know, what a "nut" I can be about planning these parties!  I have always thought that the best thing to do is to go all-out and have a big themed birthday party for the kids each year.  Of course, each year I wear myself completely down physically and mentally trying to get them planned and put together.  To me, it is all worth it though when the day of the party I see my kids having the time of their lives.  When I was young we usually did not get to have great big birthday parties, because my Mom and Dad were raising 4 kids on my Dad's Sherriff salary.  Honestly, I do not know how they did it!!!  Therefore, since I have the ability to give my kids the big parties, I figure, why not?  They are only kids once.  I have heard on more than one occasion though, that sooner or later I should have the parties come to an end because they are "too much".  What exactly is "too much" when it comes to your children????  Anyway, in my collections I have Brittany's 9th birthday which was Mardi Gras.  They kids had a great time wearing feathered masks, Mardi Gras crowns, and tons of shiny beads!  Also is Brittany's 10th birthday which was 70's disco.  We had little disco balls everywhere, the kids wore big fro wigs, and we played all kids of funky disco music.  Then there is Elizabeth's 10th birthday which was her "Birthday Fair".  We played carnival games with lots of fun little prizes and had a petting zoo.  Next is Savannah's 1st birthday which was Tinkerbell themed.  We played "Pin the Star on Tinkerbell's Wand", decorated blank wooden wands with markers and glitter, and had fun dancing to "The Hokey Pokey", "Cha Cha Slide", and "If You're Happy and You Know It".  Then most recently was Savannah's 2nd birthday with a Cabbage Patch Kids theme, because her favorite baby doll is her CPK Naomi.  We played "Pass the CPK" (sort of like Hot Potato), had a tunnel and play house made of cardboard boxes, and her older sisters did a puppet show.  I haven't posted either batch of Savannah's birthday party pics yet, I will do it tomorrow.  For now I think I will be going to bed.  Good night to all and I hope you enjoy the party pics!!!

Show us who you'd like to kiss under the mistletoe.

I would like to be able to kiss my husband under the mistletoe, especially on Christmas day.  However, he was called out to Washington to help in restoring the power (he is a lineman for PAR Electric).  So, this will be the first time the kids and I are without him on Christmas day.  We will call him on his cell phone while the kids are opening their gifts.  We miss him!!!!

Andy 7-06

What's on your holiday wish list?

If your talking about sentimental, it would of course be to be able to see all of my family during the Holiday Season.  And to wake up Christmas morning to see the HUGE smiles on my children's faces and to hear their squeals when they open their big gift!!!  We do this every year.  First they dig into their stockings, unloading all of their fun little stuff all over the living room floor.  Then they open a few small gifts we have gotten them.  Then my husband goes and gets their BIG gift.  Last year Elizabeth and Brittany both got a scooter and a guitar.  It was so funny because first he just brought in the guitars.  Well, both of the girls were totally thrilled.  They squealed at first, then they were anxious to strum a few notes (yikes!).We waited about five minutes, then Andy snuck out of the room.  We he came back threw the doorway, he was wheeling in two Bratz scooters with matching helmets.  He said, "hmmm....I found these in the other room, are they yours?".  I swear that people across town could have heard our girls SCREAM!!!  The look on their faces were priceless!  I can't say what their big gifts are this year, because my 10 year-old sometimes sees my entries, so I will have to post it after Christmas!!

OK, so it is almost midnight here, you would think that I would be getting ready to go to bed.  Especially considering that at 11:30 am tomorrow I have our 2 year-old's birthday party here at my house.  But noooooooooo...........instead I have clothes in the washer and dryer, I am still cleaning on the kitchen, I only have one room decorated, and have yet to finish the games.  Oh, and let's not forget that I have to also get the casserole made for tomorrow.  Yes, I am the ultimate procrastinator!  I am either doing everything at the VERY last minute, or I am late getting to wear I am going.  (can you say poor time management?)  I am the person that everyone SWEARS that I will be late for my own funeral.  (scary to say I have actually heard comments among family members about arranging for my body in my casket to arrive at the funeral late just so that their years of this comment can be proven true!!!! hehe)  So,  suppose that I should take my "weary bones" and get all this stuff done so that I can go to bed at 3 am and be up at 7 am, only to still be scrambling around at the last minute wondering what I have forgotten!

What are your top 5 movies/DVDs of 2006?

Happy Feet - I just took my kids to see this movie and it is GREAT!  Also, very enjoyable for kids AND adults (that's always a plus for the parents).

Pirates of the Caribbean:  Dead Man's Chest - This movie, as well as the first one, is always great for adventure and comedy.  Johnny Depp does a great job as the "famous" Jack Sparrow.

High School Musical - This movie has kids and teenagers all over the world going crazy.  I have to admit, I have seen it AT LEAST three times with my daughter.  I love the idea of a musical that young people of today will actually like!  Thumbs up to Disney on this one!

Click - ANY movie with Adam Sandler is going to automatically be a plus.  Besides that, the movie really is great.  It allows you to have a good laugh, but also some emotions about how you view your own life and being thankful for it.  It is the kind of "feel good" movie that makes you want to go home, hug your kids, kiss your husband, call your Mom and Dad, and just flat out tell someone that you love them!

Narnia:  the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - I love two sets of DVD's that we own; Lord of the Rings series and the Harry Potter series.  That being said, I had told my husband that we HAD to see Narnia.  Well, it was even better than I had expected.  This is a great "fantasy world" movie!