A Few of My Favorite Things....

OH! Of course, Girls Night Out, my cute hubby and 2 precious girls, my sweet dogs, big bubble filled swim parties, cookouts with our dearest friends.....and let us not forget.......

are all TOPS on my list of favorite things...........

BUT let's talk products (just for the fun of it??).....



Being that I am the first to admit that our little Yorkie uses our game room as one giant puppy P pad...this is one of my favorite finds! URINE GONE! I came across this in the Walgreen's "As Seen On TV" aisle... A 24oz. bottle for only $10.99, so thought I'd give it a try! It really works!

Just spray it on the (you know) and Poof!...URINE GONE!

These are my oldest and best of my product favorites: my little clippy scissors!

I have had these babies for 13 years! I got them before Riley was born. I have lost misplaced them a couple of times and each time they have always turned up. I once lost misplaced them in a couch that we were selling in a garage sale and I made the buyer wait to take his "new" couch home until we gouged these jewels out of it!

They are perfect for cutting nails and those pesky little nose hairs!
I hope me and my little clippy scissors will be together forever!

I recently started "cheating" on my faithful silver Shark vaccum (shown on the left), with my new sleek CORDLESS purple Eureka (standing proudly on the right). I found her at Target for only $39.99 . She is great! No more cord to tangle with and can be used on wood and carpets both! I highly recommend this little battery-powered wonder for your everyday sweeping needs!

I love these Pledge products too! I hate love to clean and these 2 cleaning friends make it really easy and bearable. They also make everything smell really good...from the floors to the windows!

Finally, I had to throw in one product that I could do without! Good grief, orange streaks with a stinky smell is not a good look for me.....I will really be glad when my hands no longer look like a pair of Texas Longhorn pom-poms!

Jergans Natural Glow Express.....a DUD!

Got any favorites??

Mysterious & Wonderful Ways....

Is how you might describe it.

God works in mighty fine & mysterious ways!

Our friend Annie is an example of God's amazing work first hand toe! Our little friend, who came dang near close to losing her 2nd toe in a freak accident is doing so great! He heard our cries and prayers for this precious girl not to lose this ever so important toe and He had a plan!

Annie has been in class this year with a dear little girl, they play with each other, hang out, and her father "just so happens to be" an amazingly, wonderful, compassionate.....get ready now.....ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON! and.....on that Palm Sunday, when a bicycle fell smack on Annie's toe at a local sports store....she needed an Orthopaedic DOCTOR and fast!

Hello, God's Perfect Plan!

This Dr. worked feverishly to save her little digit, making house calls, ordering & keeping "bugs" on stand by if they were needed in the salvage, calling almost on a daily basis checking on sweet Annie, trying just about every trick in his "little black bag" to keep this toe attached. I can't help but think this particular Dr. is just who Annie needed on the case. House Calls?? Come on now, you think just any Dr. would make one of those these days?!

Here is the latest picture of this incredible restoration of this beautiful toe...(disclaimer: if you are eating breakfast, you might want to come back to this later :) just sayin...)

Annie's big sister, Emma said it reminded her of another one of God's great works........................................

I most certainly agree with her!!

How Do I Do It?!

I get this sometimes from my friends....

How do you do it?

How do you keep your house so clean?

How do you keep it picked up all the time?

Well, my house may look like this most of the time..........

But please....DO NOT OPEN THE CLOSETS!!

Or you just might discover the secret to my "well kept" mess!

Holy Crap Smokes! It is time for some .....

SPRING C-L-E-A-N-I-N-G!!

Crummy Week With A Side of Laughter.

Last week was kinda crummy. It was one week ago, today, that we kissed our Sweet Sally girl goodbye for the last time. We grieved our loss and our tears flowed at every reminder of her that we came across this past week. BUT FEAR NOT....we are the Cruson's and our crummy week did come with a side of laughter! It was actually Monday evening, when Glen came walking up with the mail, laughing his head off!! He had opened a certain letter up (that, may I add, was addressed to me...) on his way to the house and couldn't WAIT to read it to us all!

It stated that I (ME! Miss Midi Miss 1981!) had been invited to an "Open Call" for the "National American Miss Texas State Pageant"! They went on to say that I was "a candidate who may enjoy modeling, acting, learning stage techniques that will help empower and enable me to accomplish my future goals!" It would be "an opportunity to make new friends with girls from across my home state who have interests similar to mine." (I highly DOUBT that there are too many "girls" across the state who have the same "keeping ahead of the laundry on a daily basis, hoping that the bread does not have green mold on it when I go to make PB&J's for tomorrow's school lunches, hoping that I will get a shower sometime during the daylight hours, hoping to lose 20 lbs by June"....INTERESTS such as mine, unless they too are):

A 37yr. old.... Mrs....blessed with pounds of cellulite.....mother of 2.

I am almost certain that there was some kind of a mistake here......but then we went on to read:

"This pageant experience is designed for you, today's girl: that's why we do not have a swimsuit competition, no make-up rule, and you are not required to perform a talent."

Hey, if I hide my wedding ring and tape these thighs up, I just might be able to win this thing!

A Hodge-Podge of Not Alot Kind of Sunday!

That was indeed what kind of a day it turned out to be....


My Agenda included:

1. Sleeping 12 hours while both girls had sleepovers last night! (Can I hear a Hallelujah!?)

2. Apologizing at great length to my hubby for being such a cheap date last night, picking the kids up, and setting off for Walmart!

**note to self: Stay away from Walmart on Sundays!!**

(Can I get an Amen from the crowd on that one?!)

3. Having a hissy-fit in Walmart...... 1st because of the humongo crowd, then because of the woman who should have waited till MIDNIGHT to shop if she really truly needed BOTH a motorized cart and a regular cart to get her shopping done, followed by the woman who apparently thought we were invisible by the way she actually climbed into and over our cart to get her some Nilla Wafers!!

Patience my friend! Patience!

4. Tweaking my blog. "McKMama" (mycharmingkids.net) held a contest this weekend as her "blog hit counter" was approaching TEN MILLION! (Meaning...10 MILLION people have gone to her blog!) TEN MILLION--astonishing! I would be happy if 4 people enjoyed my blog....so it got me thinking?? Wonder if anyone besides me and Riley read this thing...so I added my newest "obsession" (over at top right) my very own "Crew Counter"!! I call it an obsession, because now along with Facebook, McKMama's blog updates on Stellan, and my other blogs that I watch....I check it like....oh?.... let's say?....hourly?!....so honestly, I should subtract like 15 from the counter, as those would be... uhhh??.....ME!

5. Watching our new friends enjoy a swim today. Are they not just so cute & adorable!! I hope they come visit often!

6. Watch as Glen starts on a new flowerbed, Help Glen start a new flowerbed, where our 2 sweet dogs, Sam & Sally are now buried. I had asked Glen if we could do something pretty over there and he said he already had it planned in that smart brain of his......so here is the before:

and I can't wait for the after!!

So the weekend is now over and we look forward to a happier week this week!!

Happy Monday Everybody!!

Meet Lucy!

Lucy is our 3,000 pound yellow Lab that I saw just a few days after our Sam passed away. She was in a cage in the parking lot of Petco waiting to be adopted. In a story that could be a "book" in itself, we eventually got the adoption "finalized" and Lucy became our new yellow Lab.

Just a couple of quick bits of advice:

1.) Don't adopt a dog from people that are really wacky!

2.) Don't get a dog only a couple of days after your other dog dies.

3.) Don't get a dog that looks like your dog that died, thinking it will be the same dog that died.

(Because it will not be the same dog that died! well duh!!!)

Lucy and Sally had the typical love/hate relationship. Sally (tried to) love Lucy and Lucy hated having to share anything with Sally.

But they "co-habitated" for 2 years. This was Lucy on the morning Sally passed away. I had to grin and think, "hmmm...looks like she is real torn up?!" ZZZZzzzzzzz!

I am thankful.......

.....that I am a Nurse....

and NOT a 2nd grade Math Teacher!

Hallie brought this "collage" home in her folder.

"What IS THIS?" I asked.

She whisked by me headed to play and replied, "my math work."

Wow! Whoa! Good Job!???

Happy......

Now go get your GREEN on!

In Loving Memory...

Our hearts are heavy and aching tonight.

We love you sweet, beautiful girl!

Sally Sue Cruson

November 1996-April 2009

"Gladys Kravitz" Has Been Shut Down!

I have a few names that I go by around here....."Trudy" the hairdresser, "Florence" the Nurse, "Mel" short for Melissa, "Hey you!", "Mama", "Big Mama", but mostly I just go by "Mom".

One of my other "alter egos" that the neighborhood knows me by is "Gladys Kravitz" the nosy neighbor. I started this name for myself, once the school district decided to place the new Elementary school in my front yard (well, ok not IN it, but close enough!) We are so close that I know when they have a fire drill, I can hear the morning announcements, and I always know when it's 10am after that 10am school bell rings. I do pride myself on my "Gladys" status though, and I love all of the windows in our home that allow me to see just about anyone at anytime.......

For example, (I mentioned the school).....out this window.....

I see this......

Out my kitchen window.......

I have a great view of this.........

But "Gladys" has been shut down on the North side, out her daughter's bedroom window......
Ahhhhh POOP! The neighbors have installed this.................

But don't think that'll stop this gal from lookin!!

Bringing Sexy Pirate Back!

Is it just me or are we learning more than we ever wanted to know about PIRATES? The Pirates in my dreams always looked like this...... not this!...

Recent world events have really put a damper on my view of "The Sexy Pirate"! I wish they would REname them something different other than "PIRATES", ummmm......the name "TERRORIST" seems to fit better. That way I can keep this yummy image in my brain......prrrrrrrrr........

and the long lived tradition of the 2nd Grade's PIRATE DAY, (which by the way, is scheduled for next Friday), wouldn't seem so creepy this year and then also maybe I wouldn't feel the need to go dressed as a NAVY SEAL!

Sharing a Little More Than Just Reading!?

Wednesdays in 2nd grade is "Share Reader Day". On this day, a parent comes into the classroom and reads to the kiddos for 30 minutes right after lunch. "Lucky" for us parents it's PIZZA DAY on Wednesdays! (Do you happen to know what kind of gas build up is in a 7 or 8yr old after a super-sized Pizza Wednesday)........Alot! Last Wednesday, after the Pizza Extravaganza in the lunchroom, we went to class to do some share reading.......I have found that if they are listening to a funny book with lots of pictures......we have less and less of this.... and more and more of this........

Which is a GOOD thing.

BUT if we are deep into a NO PICTURES, LOTSA WORDS, NANCY DREW MYSTERY novel....forgetaboutit! It's the longest 30 full minutes of your life that is filled with alot of poke this, pick at that, flick her, pinch him.....

Not to mention those sweet 2nd graders CANNOT get close enough to the "Share Reader", so I'm in a chair and they are at my feet each grabbing onto a toe or a piece of my pant leg. It does appear that the closer in that they gravitate to the reader, the harsher the gas pains get for these mighty little Pizza Monsters?! On this reading day, they were pulled in so close I felt as if I was a large sheet of metal and they all had magnets in their pockets. The smells they were expelling were so rough, they made my eyes water and practically made my mascara melt right off the lash!

I think on my next "Share Reader Wednesday" I'll be bringing something more like this to keep these nose-pickin little "stinkers" attention!

4/15

It is April 15th ...Happy TAX DAY!

Did you know that....the TITANIC sank on April 15th, 1912.

What a coincidence!?