{Bathroom Revamp pt 1}

D tends to start projects and not finish them. We put the new tub in at the beginning of the summer and although the tub got put in and 2 of the shower walls are up, the one with the faucet is still not up. D says he needs to do some plumbing and extend some pipes before he can put it up. That is just one thing that sits unfinished. We still don't have a sink in there because he has to add a board to mount the sink we bought to. There is apparently no stud where we want to move the sink. Not to mention there is a big hole down by the floor from tearing out the tub and the flooring we bought to put down is still sitting in a closet waiting to be put down. I'm hoping it gets done before Christmas but I doubt it will.
So today in an attempt to make the bathroom more done I painted. I needed a new shower curtain anyway so I went ahead and bought one and bought paint to match :).
I'm pretty happy with it and I'm also glad I got something done in there. Even if its half assed lol.

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{Another Vox Box!}

If you have known me for any amount of time then you know that I am ridiculously picky about what I give my dogs. I only want the best for them. I want them around for as long as possible. So when Influenster said they were sending me the Pedigree Stackerz for them to try, I wasnt super excited. None of those brands excite me. Most of their foods are full on nothing but byproducts and fillers. Which is basically feeding your dog McDonald's every day. But I figured a little bit isn't going to hurt them.

The package came in the mail today and I was very please to learn that the first ingredient was real beef. I was also pleased to see a $1 off coupon for both the stackerz and dentesticks.

The pups were very excited to have a new treat!

The both wolfed them down and loved them! The real test will be Boss's tummy though. If he can eat them without getting sick, then I will absolutely be purchasing them :).

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{Plans Change Bummer}

I hate it when D and I make plans to do something just the two of us and we have to cancel.

We were supposed to head back to Pere Marquette Lodge for their Halloween ghost hunt. We were so excited when we found out they do that there. But with just spending all that money on the dentist, we felt it might be too much to spend another large sum on one night for us. So I just called an canceled our reservations :(.

On the upside though, now I don't have to worry about if Owen is getting to go trick-or-treating like he wants to or not. My grandma said she would take him but that doesn't mean it'll happen that way. Gaige said he would walk up to the doors with him but that makes me uneasy. I don't know. I have a hard time letting go lol.

Now I'll be able to walk with him and its on a Friday I think so D will be able to go :). We can just walk around our town and get as much candy as they want.

Speaking of candy, Owen can't have anything sticky (suckers, taffy, gum, ext.) so that's another reason I was nervous about leaving him. No one pays as much attention to that stuff as the person who has to pay for it if something happens to his crown. I'm thinking of having him donate the candy he can't have, and letting him buy a video game or something. Just so he's not screwed out of the fun, and he will enjoy the game way longer than the candy will last. Do your kids turn their candy in for something else?

So yeah, that's happening.

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{A Day at the Dentist}

The dentist is always a stressful trip to take with Owen, actually taking him anywhere that people who are not a normal part of his life are going to touch him, is stressful. He just is not OK with it and normally I'm fine with it because it means he's not likely to just let some random person put hands on him ya know? But when he has to let someone touch him..I would rather he not scream like they're trying to kill him. Which is what happened at the dentist the last time we were there.

This time he was a little better. We prepared him and we knew they were going to give him gas so he would calm down some. Getting the gas in him was the hard part. Once that happened he was a little calmer. They did end up putting him in a blanket and velctoing him in so he couldn't swat away at them while they were working. He didn't know he was strapped in, he just knew they put a blanket on him cause he was cold :). It was a turtle blanket too so it made it all the cooler.

He ended up with a filling on one tooth and on the other side he had a tooth that needed a baby root canal.

Gaige also had a cavity filled but he of course handled it like a champ since he has had it done before.

$1,000 later and we are cavity free. No more sugary drinks and limiting candy from now on. I'll admit I was never one of those moms that worried too much about it, but now I am. And this will not happen again. They both have check ups in January (along with Dawn) and then we will get her referral for braces.

After we were done there we stopped at McDonald's for ice cream since they hadn't had breakfast and they couldn't chew anything yet (numbed mouths). And then they each got a game from the video store.

And all is well again, until the numbing meds ware off and then I expect Owen to have quite a bit of discomfort.

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{Parenting a child with ODD}

Dawn has always been my problem child. She has always been hard to handle. Throwing fits constantly, not being able to hear 'no' without flipping out on someone. She loves to drag you into a fight or to change the subject completely when you're trying to explain something to her. She also loves to try to manipulate the situations to make the adult she is arguing with sound like they're just being to her, and that she did nothing wrong. When in fact that is not the case. She "tattles" on me to my sisters in law and my grandparents and her grandpa (D's dad) telling them I ground her for nothing and she doesn't know why we take things from her. She has out right lied to D's dad before. I've never seen a kid play someone as well as she can. Well, I take that back honestly because I've seen Cassie do it too. So I'm betting she has ODD too.

For those of you that don't know what ODD (or Opositional Defiance Disorder) is here is a list of the symptoms:
-often loses temper
-often argues with adults
-often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults’ requests or rules
-often deliberately annoys people
-often blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior
-is often touchy or easily annoyed by others
-is often angry and resentful
-is often spiteful or vindictive

That describes Dawn to a T.

So because I know this now, I have to change the way I parent her. I've tried to reward her for being good with getting her nails done and such but that doesn't really work. If she doesn't get it one week she is pretty much done with the whole thing and won't participate the next week. So I'm going to have to figure out what I can do when she doesn't make her goal that week. Maybe some smaller reward for being close? I don't know. If anyone out there has any ideas I'm open to them.

I think I need to make a list of rules and our expectations for her and start there. And I also need to make sure I don't let her get me so upset that I punish her in the moment. She wants me to punish her in a way that makes me more miserable than her. I'm getting better at not doing that, I make sure her punishments don't affect anyone but her. But sometimes in the middle of arguing with her, I will blurt out a punishment that I can't possibly stick to and she lives for that.

I wish there was some text book way to help me help her. I will keep you all posted on what I decide on for consequences and rewards. And what we decide the rules and expectations are. I hope incan navigate my way through this.

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{Bored Kristin = Time for Survey!!}

A) What does the last text you sent say? And to whom? "Quit texting at school" I sent it to Gaige lol

B) What does the last text you recieved say? And from whom? "Hi" from Gaige

C) What time do you wake up most mornings? Since I have to get the kids up, usually around 630 and then I lay back down after waking dawn up. I get up for good about 715 to get Gaige out the door and then Owen gets up after he is gone. Makes for a much easier morning this way.

D) Are you afraid of walking alone at night? Nope. Not one little bit ;)

E) What do you do to relax at the end of a stressful day? I run a hot bath and watch YouTube on my phone lol. Sometimes I'll read if I've got a good book handy.

F) Where did your last kiss take place and with whom? Owen gave me kisses this morning :)

G) Do/did you get into trouble a lot at school? No. I rarely got into trouble at school.

H) Do you enjoy your job? If unemployed, are you content being so? I do enjoy being a stay at home mom thanks :)

I) Do you often pick up on double entendres and innuendos? Sometimes lol

J) Have you ever been offered drugs but declined? Um yeah. More times than I would like to think about.

K) Have you ever met someone who has completely altered your way of thinking? Yeah. I have.

L) Have you ever been offered drugs and accepted? No. Never.

M) Tell us something weird that turns you on. I don't think the things that turn me on are weird at all lol.

N) When did someone last admit romantic or sexual feelings for you? Was the feeling mutual? My husband and yeah. The feeling was mutual lol.

O) What is something you have given a lot of thought to lately? Dawn and how I need to figure out a different way to parent her. Clearly what we are doing isn't working.

P) When did you last swallow your beliefs to avoid an argument or confrontation? Never. My beliefs are mine and I'm not going to change them to avoid a fight.

Q) Do you usually initiate hugs? From my kids..yeah. Not from other people. I'm not a touchy person.

R) Are you a very affectionate person? With my kids yeah.

S) Can you roll your own cigarettes? Don't smoke.

T) What are you looking forward to? Halloween D and I are going on a ghost hunt!

U) Do you have any tattoos. Do you want any/more? Yes and yes.

V) Are you mentally strong? I feel like I am.

W) Are you physically strong? If I need to be yes.

X) Do you think you’re a good person?
I think I try to be. But no one is perfect right?

Y) Name one thing you wish you could change about your life right now. Drama. I wish we had none of it. We've gotten rid of a lot of it but it seems to creep back somehow and we just don't need that crap.

Z) What do you usually eat for breakfast? Sometimes I have a smart ones egg wrap or a bagel or a waffle.

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{Oh what a Weekend}

It started boring enough. Hanging out at home on Friday night as usual. Saturday morning however I was at 730am and at the gym by 830am. I didn't stay long, just half an hour and only did the bike. But I knew I needed to get some kind of burn in. So I did. Then around 11am we left for D's family day where he works.

To be completely honest it wasnt that great. They had 3 bounce houses, face painting, and balloon animals. Schwans was there with free ice cream and there was popcorn and snow cones. But there wasn't a lot to do. We did get to walk through his building though and see the machines. They did a demo of how they pour the iron into the molds (he works in a foundry) and that was pretty cool. In all we spent about an hour and a half there. They also had free food. I didn't get very many pictures. Dawn got her face painted but she refused to look at me like she was having fun to let me take the picture. So I didn't. And then there was just nothing more exciting to take a pic of lol. The boys bounced for a while but you couldn't see in there.

Sunday D left in the morning to go on the bike with his dad. Me and the kids headed to my hometown for the day for a family reunion. There weren't a whole lot of people there. I sat and talked to my brother and sister in law most of the time lol. But I did get to see my monkey and Soapie. I ate far too much also. My brother picked up my camera and took some pictures lol. I'll post a few here but the rest are on my Facebook :). So there we have it. My extremely exciting weekend ;).

How was yours?

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{Garage Saling & Bday Planning}

Owens birthday is just 2 weeks away. How can this be? How can he be turning 7 already? I told him today that I'm gonna have to have another baby cause he's getting too big lol. He said OK. But he doesn't want me to have a girl and when I told him the baby would get all my attention he changed his mind lol. He decided he's gonna be mommy's baby forever :)

I went Wednesday and got the party supplies. I chose an Avengers theme sort of. I got a table cloth with them on it and then I got blue, green, and red ones to go on the other tables to match it. I also got Avengers plates and regular white ones. I also got his new Spiderman bike! He hasn't ever had a new one before and he picked this one out a month or so ago. He's gonna love it!

Today I went to a church sale with my grandma, my sister, and my SIL. I was hoping to find Owen some jeans but they didn't have any. I did find Gaige a couple pairs though and a Mary Kay travel make up bag. The kind that folds up. I only spent $10! I thought I did pretty good. He needed jeans too. Not quite as bad as Owen but still needed them.

Then again, when do kids not need jeans or clothes of some kind.

And now I'm sitting here in the dark and comfort of my living room watching a movie I'm embarrassed to admit I like lol.

This weekend we have D's family day at work. There's supposed to be rides and bounce houses and food. Then Sunday is my family reunion. Its been a busy couple weekends. I'll be glad when we have a calm one again.

Stay tuned for our adventures :)

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{I have a TV addiction}

Being a stay at home mom makes it possible for me to watch a lot of TV. I mean, I even watch it at the gym lol. So naturally I've got a long list of shows that I need to watch..or I get cranky. I've also got several that are starting again soon which I am so ready for!

Lets do the ones that are still airing (or just started) first. Most of them are on OnDemand so you should be able to catch up on them should you choose. Or you can find them on Amazon :).

Witches of East End. This one is coming to an end soon I think but until then, amaze-balls!! I stink at describing shows so they actually sound good, so I'll just go ahead and copy/paste from imdb. But my advice is to just watch the pilot and I swear you will get sucked in so fast!

• Centers on the adventures of a mother and her two adult daughters, both of whom unknowingly are their family's next generation of witches, who lead seemingly quiet, uneventful modern day lives in Long Island's secluded seaside town of North Hampton. When one of the daughters becomes engaged to a young, wealthy newcomer, a series of events forces her mother to admit to her daughters they are, in fact, powerful and immortal witches.
  - Written by Lifetime

Naked and Afraid. D turned me on to this one in the first season, it reminds me of survivor but no one wins money, there are only 2 people, and they are actually in middle of nowhere. There's not a hotel across the street from where they're filming lol. It basically follows 2 people in the middle of nowhere, both naked, both supposed to be survivalists. Usually at least one of them is an idiot lol. They have cameras following them but they can't intervene unless someone says "I'm a whiner and want to go home" or someone is deathly ill or seriously injured. It's usually pretty entertaining.

• Each week, a new pair of total strangers are faced with the ultimate survival challenge: survive for 21 days together with no clothes or supplies in some of the most dangerous environments in the world. In addition to the landscape itself working against the duo, the local wildlife stalks looks to prey on them as well. Of course, the biggest complication for any of the couples might end up being their own clashing egos.
  - Written by Jiilo_Kim

Utopia. This one just started, there are only three episodes at the time of this post being written. So you can definitely catch up in a hurry, but I need to warn you each episode is about 2hrs long. So be sure you can sit and watch the whole 2hrs. Fox doesn't allow you to fast forward, learned this the hard way.

• Since the dawn of time, humans have always wondered: does a perfect world exist? Now, we get the chance to build one. Will it be ultimate happiness or utter chaos? Fifteen pioneering Americans leave their everyday lives and move to an isolated, undeveloped location - for an entire year - where they are challenged to create their own civilization from scratch.

So far, it has been crazy amounts of drama. And I already have found people I would like to see go. Which happens once a month, and someone new comes in. Can not wait to see a couple people GTFO.

I heart Nick Carter. You knew this one was coming right? I mean, how could I make a shows I love post without talking about my Nick? This show follows Nick Carter and fiance Lauren Kitt to the alter. I love it. A lot of people give her a lot of crap but as a fan for the past 21yrs I can say that as long as she's treating Nick right, who the hell cares about anything else? :) I heart her as much as Nick at this point.

• Growing up in front of the camera as the most popular member of the Backstreet Boys, Nick Carter has lived a charmed life. Known for being the only single member of the band, Nick was deemed 'America's Most Eligible Bachelor' and reveled in the title. But now, all that's about to change – after years of playing the field (and the occasional bad romance) Nick Carter has finally found love, and is getting prepared to take the long walk down the aisle. Nick's fiancée Lauren Kitt is a smart, self-possessed woman who has become the center of his universe. But no one said love would be easy. Lauren may be the apple of Nick's eye, but his devoted fans aren't too pleased to see their idol snatched away by 'another woman'. Add to the mix Nick's demanding career, as well as both Nick and Lauren's outrageous families, and suddenly 'happily ever after' seems a whole lot more difficult to achieve. "I Heart Nick Carter" will follow Nick and Lauren as they chart the sometimes rocky path to 'I Do'. Will their love prove strong enough to overcome all the obstacles that stand in their way?
  

This show just started also and the 2nd episode will be airing this Wed. For anyone that wants to watch it :).

I love a good ghost story! I don't care if it's real. As long as it's somewhat believable, I'll be glued to the TV. My favorite ghost shows are My Haunted House and A Haunting on Destination America. There's really no explanation needed, they both cover ghost stories. And sometimes they're both scary as crap lol.

Girls. This show is over. I don't know when it ended and I don't know when it starts again. But it's slightly amazing. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, but I got sucked in quick. I don't know why to be honest. I don't identify with any of the females on this show, at all. But they are all so awkward and get into such awkward situations (especially Hannah, the main character). I spend most of the episode going "what the hell just happened?" lol. I think you'll have to watch it to know what I'm talking about. I think this quote on imdb says it all.

• The assorted humiliations, disasters and rare triumphs of four very different twenty-something girls: Hannah, an aspiring writer; Marnie, an art gallery assistant and cousins Jessa and Shoshanna. Written by Anonymous

That's pretty much the only shows I'm watching on a regular basis right now. Besides the obvious Rich Kids of Beverly Hills.

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{Thats how you know it's Fall}

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The colors the food the good times being had. It also means my favorite season upon us...the Christmas season!!

Today D and I took the boys to the Morton Pumpkin Festival. Something I have been doing pretty much every year since I was little. Even if it was just to walk around and look at the craft booths. Which was always my favorite part to be honest.

Unfortunately it was freezing and the parade took forever to get started. Neither of the boys were into it so we skipped it and went right for the ticket line. They each rode a couple, and D and I even rode one together. I don't even remember the last time I was on a fair ride. I almost lost the tenderloin I had for lunch lol.

Speaking of food, when did the corn dogs shrink?? They were regular sized hot dogs, perfect for Owen but D ended up stopping somewhere else and getting some chili cheese nachos. I remember the fair food when I was a kid was a lot better and a lot more of it. What happened?

In all it was a pretty good day. The boys even scored a couple wooden swords :).

For those wondering, Dawn was not allowed to go because she received another detention on Thursday. I was kind of sad to leave her home because I wanted a family outing. But at the same time I can't condone her behavior. At all.

I of course got a couple pics I'm going to share with you :). For all of them you can head on over to my facebook :).

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{ #weightwatchers Getting back to it!}

It's no surprise that I've fallen off the weight watchers wagon. I haven't been going to the gym like I should be or watching what I eat. I haven't gained back all the weight I lost but I've gained back far too much. So I'm getting back to it this week.

I skipped the gym today because last night my back was giving me problems and I didn't want to risk it going out on me. Something it hasn't done since I lost some of this weight so I'm guessing the weight was a factor in my back problems recently. But tomorrow morning when I take Owen to school it'll be gym time! I'm only going to do the treadmill and I'm going to go as long as I can. The last time I did that I walked 3miles. I think that's pretty good for me.

I also decided to get some dinners together that are on the points system and not have to guess at how much each thing is. I've actually found quite a few recipes on pinterest. I'm kind of excited to try them.

I am also going to attempt a little working out at home. I have a whole board on pinterest devoted to getting fit. I have yet to try anything on it lol. So I'm going to pick out a few things and see if I can't give myself a little boost on the workouts. Wish me luck!

I think that's all for my plans. I need to get back on track so I'm not gaining everything back and letting all my hard work go up in smoke. I have to stick with this. I feel so much better about myself now that I've lost weight. I want to keep feeling better about myself. Plus, I'm determined to be in a pretty swim suit next year ;). Dare I say..a bikini even? We shall see. With hard work and determination anything is possible right?

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{Challenge Failed & I'm Going Crazy!!}

I know that I said I was going to keep up with this blogging challenge but I didn't. And I'm giving it up. I'm over it.

I don't know what I'm going to do with Dawn. I am so frustrated and annoyed and pissed off at her behavior. I can't stand that she refuses to learn from her mistakes. I know what's going to happen if she actually makes it through this year, she's going to get that "bad kid" reputation. You know the one. Every kid in school knows who they are and every parent tries to dissuade their kids from spending time with them. She's going to be that kid. Every kid in her class knows who she is, and girls are viscous. They're going to tell their friends and their friends are going to tell more friends. It's going to make her whole school experience hell. I was friends with a couple of those kids. I don't want her to go through something like that. But the road she's going down...she will. She had her first in school suspension today. I didn't have one of those until I was in high school. I'm pretty sure it was for not having my homework done or something. I don't know. I only got one though. That was enough lol. I don't know what to do to help her though. She refuses to acknowledge any wrong doing. Everything she gets in trouble for it's because of someone else. I just don't understand her logic behind never being able to take the blame when she did something wrong. Just like the other night, she's grounded for however long it takes to get her to stop getting detentions and she was upstairs playing on her DS. Her excuse was that it was in her room. What?! I don't even know what to say to that. And then again tonight, she got caught playing Owens DS, saying there was nothing else for her to do. What the hell kid?? Just what the hell??

So yeah. I'm going crazy. Beyond crazy actually. If I drank, I'd be drinking every night. But I don't. So I complain here.

Side note: Sonic ha the most amazing lemon freezes I have ever tasted. Like a lemon shake up from the fair :)

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