Ummmm...

Ok here's the deal, I have a rough draft of a Halloween rant, thoughts on a movie review (The Business of Being Born), or the option to do another shameless promo for one of my WAHM friends.


Guess which one won?


The thing is, I've actually already blogged about Tara's soaps before but that's ok, they are SO super-duper that they deserve another spot, especially in light of gift-giving season.


First off, these are home made soaps, not glycerin melt-n-pour from the craft store. They are made from goat's milk and are simply divine. They are good for your skin and smell good enough to eat--although, and trust me on this one, they do NOT taste as good as they smell.



Now, in order for this recommendation to carry the proper weight, you must understand that I am cheap beyond all measure and to pay $6 for a bar of soap.... it ain't happenin'. Except... that this soap lasts and lasts and lasts! I got five bars last fall to use as Christmas gifts... and then couldn't give them away (more on this later) and I just now finished my last bar. Now that is just me using them, not the whole family, but still.



So here it is, gifting season once again, and Tara has absolutely outdone herself. She has mini-gift sets of a soap and handmade wooden soap dish for under $10, and a full-on gift basket for under $25--get this-- INCLUDING SHIPPING!

I challenge you to think outside the box and instead of doing another Bath and Bodyworks gift, to go to Tara's shop and check out her goods. You will be buying American, supporting a Christian work-at-home-mom, and getting a very high quality product. Only one warning note... if this is intended for a gift, you may want to take advantage of her shipping directly to the recipient option. Everything she sells is packaged so carefully that it truly does not need any additional wrapping from you and I'm telling you, if you get it and smell it, you will have a HARD time not keeping it for yourself!
Tara's Store

Shameless Promotion

In case you haven't noticed, I'm big on supporting small home businesses (since I are one ;-P) and I'm very, very please to highly recommend my great friend Lisa and her graphic business called "UnOrdinary Life." Now, if you read here much, you know that I am into photo-editing and digital scrapping, etc. But I have to tell you, Lisa can do wonders. I was pleased to have her design our family Christmas cards last year, and I'm pushing for all of you to take advantage of her skill and get your personalized cards done with her this year.

I'll give the link in a minute, but first I have to gush some more. When I say "personalized", I don't mean pick from a list of premade templates, I mean totally custom. Your colors, your designs, your total choice. You describe your idea (classic, humerous, victorian, retro, modern, etc) and she will create it. I think what I most admire about Lisa's sense of design is that she can do such different work. My card last year--disembodied heads cleverly perched atop snowmen bodies--totally us, whacky and funny. Some of her customs cards from this year--totally classy, deep rich colors, formal designs.

Oh! photo editing. Anyone with more than two people in their family knows that it is pretty much impossible to have everyone's eyes open at the same time. Throw small children or babies into the mix and you are pretty much hosed. Doesn't matter. Really. Send Lisa the one shot of you and Sally looking nice, the other shot of Daddy and baby looking nice, and that final shot where the dog is looking at the camera instead of licking himself, and she will merge them together and create a perfect family portrait!

Lest you think that I'm getting a kick-back from this advertisement, let me assure you that I'm not, I just REALLY believe in her work.

Here's the website, her prices are extremely reasonable and all the printing is professionally done at one of the biggest professional labs in the country.
UnOrdinary Life

Election day

Today is voting day and I am still undecided. Well, I suppose I'll end up voting for the lady who's sign has been in our yard for several weeks, but I'm not happy about it.

I'm trying to find a balance and not be "Single-issue voter" but it seems like the candidate that I like very much in some areas I really do NOT like in other areas. It all comes down to voting for the lesser of two evils, I know that, but on which set of "evils" do I weigh my choice?

I have very little brain space to devote to this anyway, I am torn between doing my civic duty and the niggling thoughts that it all really doesn't matter anyway, the stupid politicos are going to do what they want to do anyway and I'm so far in right field (and to complicate matters, have a few ideologies that are distinctly left-field) that no one is going to accurately represent me anyway.

I think the thought that will actually be what drives me to juggle the kids and make it out to the polls tonight is the fact that for all our faults and inconsistencies, the USA is still the one country in the world that people are willing to risk their lives to get into. That motivates me to celebrate my freedom by doing my part.

And I do fully realize that I'm so far behind the Disney postings that I'll probably be finishing them in time for our next trip, planned for 4 years from now.

Happy Birthday Dean!

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Disney Journal in order to talk about Dean's 18th Birthday!

Dean celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday. It's amazing to think that he's been "ours" for nearly 2.5 years now.

He decided that he wanted Sushi for his birthday dinner and since the closest he's going to get to that in MY house is a can of tuna or a frozen fishstick, Jeff took us all out to dinner.

Here is Dean and his girlfriend, Erin. Joey had a ball. I couldn't believe how much he ate. He ate the tofu chunks out of my miso soup, he ate steak, chicken, veggies, shrimp, and rice. Jeff explained that he should bring his mouth to the food instead of the food to his mouth... to minimize spillage with the chopsticks. Joey took this to heart. Joy also enjoyed herself. She loves to eat. She's my smallest child so far, yet can out-eat them all. She also had tofu, soup, rice, chicken, and fish. We were mean though and didn't let her use her own chopsticks. That is Jeff's hand you feeding her.
Jessi moaned and groaned about being hungry (but would have no part of any of the appetizers) and when her food finally came, she ate more than I have every seen her eat in one sitting. Seriously. Chicken and rice, then some rice and chicken. To finish off, she had a bit more chicken, and a bit more rice. Deano got a big old platter of bait. I mean sushi. More power to him. I did that once, in college, in Baltimore, with Tom McCasland and (I think) Jason Miller. Once was enough.

We had mentioned to the waitress that we were here to celebrate a birthday, so at the end of the meal she brought him icecream with a candle and sang to him. She also brought ice cream for the kids. It was SO yummy, mango icecream.
I guess the one remaining part of his birthday fun is to go in and register for selective service. Hey, I wonder if he can just do it online? I'll have to check.

funny kids and disney, part 2 (townhouse, Medieval Times, Downtown Disney)

The other day I had some music playing and I knew I had put on my "kid stuff" playlist. Joey asked if a certain song was Jimmy Buffet and without even stopping to listen, I said no (since I knew i had put on the kids playlist, not a Jimmy Buffet playlist). Joey cocked his head, listened again and said, "Mom, I DO think that is Jimmy Buffet." So I listened and sure enough it was (I forgot that there are one or two JB songs on the kid's list) so I said, "wow buddy, you are right!" To which he matter of factly replied, "You know mom, I AM a parrot-head!"

Today we got a box in the mail and i opened it partway up to see what it was. I saw a package with computer stuff and the term "dvd" on it and told the kids it was just the new "cd-dvd thingy for the computer". Joey, without missing a beat, said, "I think you mean 'new disk drive' mom."

well, umm, yes, actually that IS what I meant.

Apparently he's a tech-head as well.

Ok my last Disney post talked about the train ride. In case I didn't make it clear, it was sooooo WORTH it. I should make a commercial. I wonder if I refer enough people if Amtrak will give me my next trip free?

We arrived in Sanford Florida on Friday morning, got off the train, visited the station's facilities (mustn't ever let an opportunity to go potty pass you by!) and I took the kids out to the play ground. We were only out there for a few minutes when I heard them announce our car number (they put a big magnetic sticker on the side when you turn your car over, then they use that as your call number later). We hopped in and headed for Orlando. Sanford is only about 20 miles or so to Orlando and it was still super early--the train had arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule and then our car had been unloaded rather quickly. We got to the outskirts of Orlando and decided to stop for a bigger breakfast at Denny's, something to hold us over until our big dinner that evening.

I will say that this was our first day and that we had not yet learned that while adults may be able to eat a lot at one sitting and save it for later, the little ones really just can't manage that. more on that later...sigh.

I was very grateful for making good time and for the fact that the touristy parts of Orlando are actually quite easy to navigate, but our problem was that we arrived way too early. Our check-in for our townhouse wasn't until 4 pm... and it was only 11 am. We went ahead to the realtor and did the paperwork for the townhome, went to the discount ticket place and got the disney tickets, went to the resort and located our townhouse and got our gate pass, tried the keycode (which didn't work since we were 4 hours early), drove past the Medieval Times place so we could know what kind of a trip to be prepared for in the evening, then went to Downtown Disney.

Downtown Disney is a place that I learned about while doing my research for the trip. Essentially, it's a huge shopping area, but it's very entertaining to just walk around. There is a humongous Disney store, a Lego store, a number of toy stores, and much, much more. It was a great way to get into the "disney mood" on arrival day since we wouldn't start the parks until the next day.

On Friday evening we went to the Medieval Times Dinner Show. It was pretty cool. If you have ever been to Dixie Stampede or the like, it is very similar, except themed around knights. The performances where very interesting, lots of horses and jousting and sword fighting. We were cheering for the Blue Knight. I have to say we got a really great dinner, the kid's tickets are less $$ than the adults but they got the very same meal, also, even though we had not purchased a ticket at all for the baby, the waitress (sorry, just can't bring myself to call her our "wench") brought out some of everything for her too, a whole serving of soup, bread, potato, and even a rib. The only thing Joy didn't get was a half a chicken. I don't really think she missed it though. From left to right- Dean (our oldest), Anthony (Dean's friend who we brought along so they could go off and not leave Dean stuck with the us and the under-six crowd), Joey, Jeff, Jessi, Joy, and me. You love the blue crowns, don't you? You wish YOU had some. There was a time when certain people reading this blog would have gladly worn these crowns to class or the dining hall. You know who you are.

Pictures of the kids getting ready to go out and swim in the rain (hey, wet is wet, and we are on vacation after all!). This was our little splash pool at the townhouse.

Joy is just so stinking cute in this swimsuit. She hasn't yet learned that horizontal stripes add unwanted inches to her figure.The resort had two big playgrounds, although we only ever made it to one. It was very neat, castle themed as you can see. Here is the entrance complete with a drawbridge and moat.Joy riding the dragon in the moat.Jeff and the littles playing chess.

I won't post pictures of the inside of the house, you can see them hhttp://www.floridasunvacationhomes.com/property_vh.asp?Rooms=3&ID=13365&AD=4/5/2008&DD=4/10/2008ere. and my fancy little link on the word "here" didn't work. oh well.

Ok, pics of Downtown Disney are we are done with this post.

The Lego store had so many neat sculptures. The kids riding a train.Joey. He's so serious. I wish the child would just lighten up sometimes.

Bye for now. next time it will be the first day in the parks--Magic Kingdom!

In Memory

Joyana Update and Disney Trip, part 1-the train

I have posted before about Joyana's bad teeth and how we found a new pediatric dentist that I liked and was going to work on her teeth. Then, right before we left I mentioned that Joy had fallen and broken her front teeth.

She fell over the weekend and I took her to the ER, basically because I wasn't sure what to do. All they did was wiggle the teeth and tell me that they should last until Monday and go straight to the Dentist (which I sort of already knew, Duh.), however, I was too chicken to wiggle those teeth at home, honestly, if they had finished breaking off in my fingers, I would have just flipped out, much better to have a professional (with an arsenal of pain-killing drugs at hand) to do test wiggle.

Monday: Went in to the dentist, he was upset, said that his whole plan on treating and conserving the teeth was now over, that three of the four top front teeth had to come out, and that we should consider taking all four out. We discussed our options and I asked him what HE would do (he's a father of four). He told me that the parent in him would cry, and the dentist in him would have them all out. He referred me out to an oral surgeon. I spent the rest of Monday calling the insurance company and oral surgeons. Finally found one that the insurance covered, that would take a patient under age 2, and that could see us the next day.

Tuesday: Had MOPS, arranged for Grandpa to take Jessi to Ballet, left Joey with Dean, and took Joy to the Oral Surgeon. I had thought they were actually going to DO it that day... nope. They were just doing an evaluation. After a bit of run-around, they decided they would take the teeth out on October 18th. Hmmm. 22 month old walking around with extremely broken teeth in her mouth. One of them on the verge of breaking off, leaving her with a choking hazard and raw exposed (and thus PAINFUL) tooth pulp in her mouth. Us leaving for vacation in two days.

Did ya'll hear my SCREAMS of frustration? Apparently my dentist did. I love those people. seriously. I called them from the parking lot of the OS and told them what happened and sort of wailed out a "what do I DOOOOO?" and they told me to come in the next day.

Wednesday: I am on standby for the dentist office and if they don't have a cancelation in the morning, they will work on her over their lunch break. I make arrangment with my neighbor that if I'm not back in time (jeff came home from work to watch the kids but had to be back for a meeting at a certain time) Jeff can take J&J over there. I take Joy in to the Dentist (explantion: he had sent me out to the oral surgeon so they could knock Joy all the way out, in the office they can only do local) and we start. They did laughing gas first and she responded ok, the novacaine shots didn't bother her at all. It was when the shots kicked in and her mouth and face went numb that she freaked out a little. The office was great, I laid on the chair with her while the dentist and two assistants did the deed. I won't go into the details, but it was rough. The drive home was rough, I was shaking when I got home. Jeff had to run out the door and get back to work so I was on my own.

Keep in mind that I had a sinus infection thingy going on and had planned to get into my doctor before leaving for Florida (that didn't happen!) and due to all this unplanned running from dentist to dentist I was WAYYYY behind on my packing.

We ended up getting packed up on Wednesday night and did actually leave on time on Thursday morning. Joy took a long nap after extractions on Wednesday, woke up that afternoon acting fine, and was fine from then on. It was a MAJOR blessing and healing... she was fine.

So now on to the fun stuff.

You already know I'm a bit weird, so here you go, more insight into my oddities. I use a lot of herbs and homeopathic remedies for medicine so on the way out of town we went to the "good" herb store (the one where the lady really knows her stuff, vs. the "close" herb store where they just read the label and go from there) and picked up some healing remedies for Joy and some sinus stuff for me. We went to the bank, and then headed up the road.

Amtrak Auto Train= quite possibly the best money we have ever spent on transportation. Amtrak has a train route that runs only from Lorton, VA (DC area) down to Sanford, FL (Orlando area). They load your vehicle onto the train and then take you and your car (van truck motorcycle) down to Florida (or back up to VA). I had done a lot of research for our trip and we decided to try this out for the trip down so that we could arrive fresh and ready to party. It was great. A few people teased us about going 2 hours the wrong direction, but wow, I'd rather drive 90 miles north to save 800 miles south!! When you have this many kids, that is a no-brainer!

We got a sleeper car for us and the littles, the two big kids (Dean and his friend Anthony) had to make do in coach. We got to Lorton after a very easy drive (less than two hours) checked in at the station, went to get some lunch, came back and turned our van over, then explored the station until boarding time. We boarded, got settled in, rambled over the train (lounge car, dining car, etc) and we were off. We had supper in the dining car, came back, the steward had turned down our bunks, we went to bed (you know how easy it is to fall asleep in a car--the train is even better), got up the next morning and had breakfast, the steward put our bunks away, and we were in Sanford--half hour ahead of schedule. We got off the train, went to explore the playground and heard our number being called to get our car.

That was it. No boredom, no stopping to go to the bathroom, no "are we there yet", no tiredness, no carseat bum-numbs, WAY less stress than flying. Awesome, wonderful, if you live within a few hours of the station (or if you would have to drive down the east coast to get to Florida) i highly recommend that you look into it.

here is Joy playing on the playground at the station (this is the day after her teeth coming out).

Joey playing at the station.Joey and Jessi playing "go-fish" in our sleeper.

Ok, next will be our fist day in Orlando and pictures of the townhouse.