I am a winner!

I won (and already spent) a $50 gift certificate to Walmart.com. It was perfect timing!  I got a few things the kiddos want for Christmas that you can only get online anyway. The top prize was $300. Man, wouldn’t that have been nice? But anything helps right now.

I’m also plugging away at ChaCha to earn some Christmas cash. Luckily the kids don’t really want anything too expensive this year. And they already know that Santa only brings three gifts (tradition started last year). Plus, little things in there stocking and usually one gift for the whole family to enjoy. Last year was a Nintendo DS plus games that we managed to score (used) for only $50!

I have als been having an email marathon over some rebates I should have got months ago. Supposedly they will be here by mid Dec. now. So that is another $100 I can add to Christmas!

Rebates +  ChaCha money + the $50 I won + the things I snagged already = a rocking Christmas!

Let’s hope it all falls into place that way now!  I don’t want to give Dennis a train table with no train or tracks lol. Not that he would care. He’d just jump off of it.

What?  Where did I win the $50? Right here on the Totally Her message boards. Don’t worry, there are tons more awesome prizes to win. There are actually some gift cards, a printer, some movies, and other things up for grabs right now. Just in time for the holidays!

PSA Fords catch on fire.

It’s been a few weeks since this happened, and I can think about it now without wanting to sob. Our vehicle, a 2001 Ford Expedition, caught fire in our driveway. Thankfully it happened after we got home and no one was hurt. We had only been home about an hour, me and all four kids. We were in that car an hour before.

One of the firefighters mentioned that he has seen seven so far this year. Ford Expeditions just bursting into flames. He said we were lucky it wasn’t in the garage. Homes have been burned down by Expeditions randomly catching fire in the garage in the middle of the night.

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

I particularly like how the tire melted right into the driveway. We still have black melted tire goo where the Expedition used to be. No car in the driveway, oh no. Not us.

The vehicle was declared a total loss, but valued about $1500 less than what we owe on it. What!? That’s right. We have to pay $1500 for a car that caught on FIRE in our driveway, through NO fault of our own. Pretty damn cool huh?

As much as I loved this vehicle (not that I liked to admit it) I will NEVER be buying another Ford. It’s just not worth it.

Hug your babies!

Anyone who reads this, go hug your babies now! I’ll wait…..

Remember how precious they are.

Remember how fragile life is.

Look into their beautiful eyes and see how much they love you.

Feel blessed. Because you are!

And don’t ever forget it.

Can I be the Daddy tonight?

There are certain times during the day where I would rather have the daddy’s job.  Like all night long.  Daddy sleeps peacefully through screaming babies, vomit, urine, and many other fun things.  He doesn’t hear the children wake up with nightmares or wet beds.  He just snores on. (I don’t think he’d wake up if a car came crashing through the wall) I can’t even remember the last time I slept more than a five hour stretch.  Just that whenever I did, I woke up very very scared.

The last few nights none of the kids wanted to go to bed.  Guess who had to keep putting them back in bed?(sometimes kicking and screaming)  And poor Dennis has woke up screaming the last two nights.  I don’t know if he is having a b ad dream or maybe scared because we are in a “new” house.  The first night I could not calm him down.  He wouldn’t even nurse.  He stuck his cheek against mine and just hugged my head and cried until he passed out.  Again last night, well about 5am, he started screaming.  Then his diaper came open(stupid cheap sposies) and he peed on the bed.  I had to take care of that, all while not putting down the screaming one year old.  He finally nursed, but of course would not let me lay down to do it.

I know, I know. Someday I’ll miss it all. But at least I’ll have a full night’s sleep.

Moving Again

I hate packing and moving. But I hate living here more. We moved out of our house when they bank said they would foreclose. We started renting here. Since November:

Someone has tried to break into our car(resulting in hubby getting locked in).

The children keep finding broken beer bottle glass in the bee-infested playground.

Maintenance ‘fixed’ our AC resulting in a water leak and mold problem.

Cops have came to drag out the neighbor twice now; once banging on our door with guns pulled.

And those are just the bigger issues. On top of that, we just aren’t cut out to live this closely to others. Our house has not sold yet nor has the bank finished the foreclosure process. So, we will go back there for the time being and bank some mad cash. The mortgage company refuses to take any partial payments and will not work with us bases on our income/expenses. The main plan is to fund our emergency fund(Dave Ramsey!) then pay off our other bills, such as the car. After that, we will go back to banking money, hoping eventually the mortgage company will work with us. Maybe without the car payment and some other small bills, they will be more willing to work something out. As of right now though, they want a payment and a half every month to catch up what we are behind. Anyway, this weekend, we move! YAY for backyards! The kids are going stir crazy(since, for obvious, reasons I won’t let them go to the playground anymore).