Creativity!

I've been obsessed with Pinterest lately. There are so many links to crafts and stuff I want to try!

Alex got me a bunch of jewelry making supplies for the holiday, and I talked him into giving them to me early. I've been so tired lately that I haven't had time to play, but I have high hopes for the weekend. Especially since I've decided what I'm making every one for gifts this year. I'm sort of running out of time.

One of the things I found on Pinterest that I have tried is a recipe to turn a bar of soap into a ton of liquid soap. Since I have 7 children soap is an issue. We have to buy it by the gallon and it doesn't last long. So spending less than a dollar to make 10 cups of liquid soap is a great deal for us!

The recipe I used was from this blog. I already had liquid glycerin in my cabinet of soap making supplies, so I didn't have to buy that. I got it at Hobby Lobby but rumor has it you can get it at any pharmacy, you just have to ask for it. So all I had to buy was a bar of soap. So I spent less than a dollar.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, hopefully I'll have some more to say to you before the weekend is over!

Thanks for reading!
Kelli

Sleep deprivation!

So I thought I would stop in and tell you about my holiday weekend, so far. It's been an exercise in patience. I don't think I've been this sleep deprived since the triplets came home from the hospital. I woke up Thursday morning at around 9, and got the kids dressed and ready to go to my dad's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Things went surprisingly well with getting the children ready, they all found their socks and shoes with little to no effort. Maybe that should have worried me, because my van didn't start. We thought it might have been the battery but it quickly became clear that the issue was more than just a battery. Since the only other modes of transportation that we have between us is a small car and a scooter, obviously we had to call someone to help us get to our Thanksgiving destinations. I knew that I'd be up most of the night for Black Friday, so when we got home from the dinners we did manage to make it to at 4 pm, I went and attempted to take a nap. I didn't sleep well, but I did get a couple of hours of sleep. I made it to Wal-Mart at 10, where I finished shopping for Hannah and Sidney, and then went back home to try to catch a couple more hours of sleep before heading out to shop some more. That didn't work out. My friends arrived at around 1:45 am and put their kids to bed and we all left with Alex's mom to go shopping. There were five of us, Morgan, Thom, Sarah, Diana (Alex's mom), and me. Poor Alex didn't get much sleep after I left, because it seems the arrival of the other kids woke up my kids, and all of them had just enough sleep that they were fine being awake for the rest of the day. We got home from shopping at around noon, and other than a couple of cat naps throughout the day, I didn't really sleep. So I was more than ready to go to bed at 11 pm. Usually Sidney goes to sleep at 9 pm or so and sleeps through the night. So Of course on the night that I am beyond exhausted he wakes up for an extra feeding. I fed him, and put him back to bed and settled down for some much needed sleep. So I wasn't at all surprised when I heard a light tapping sound on my bedroom door followed by every parent's least favorite three words ever, "I threw up!" So I spent the next hour cleaning up that mess (Alex can't do it without adding to the mess so it falls on me). After cleaning up the mess I was afraid to go so sleep, so I ended up not getting to sleep until around 2 am. So in the past three days, I've had 10 hours of sleep. So I should be lots of fun tonight at my class reunion once I start drinking! LOL Thanks for reading! Kelli

A holiday rant...

Language warning!!!

There are a lot of things that piss me off about Facebook, but lately this is what pisses me off the most:


A status I've seen a lot recently:

I am sick and tired of every year when CHRISTMAS comes around, there are people who want to take CHRIST out of CHRISTMAS because it might offend someone. Well, how about all of the CHRISTIANS? What about offending us because you are taking our CHRIST out of CHRISTMAS!?!? CHRIST IS CHRISTMAS!!! If you aren't celebrating CHRIST then why are you celebrating? CHRISTMAS is about the birth of our SAVIOR! CHRISTMAS is one of a few holidays left that celebrate my CHRIST! Leave my holiday alone!!! And tell everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holidays! 




So I thought I'd rant about this, because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want! 


I think the reason many people say "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" is because hmm... I don't know, maybe it's because IT'S NOT THE ONLY FUCKING HOLIDAY IN DECEMBER! 


How can someone be so arrogant that they feel personally insulted by the fact that not every store greeter, acquaintance, or random Facebook friend feels the need to exclude EVERYONE but you in their holiday greeting?! Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Winter Solstice are all December holidays. 


Just because it's not YOUR Holiday it doesn't matter? Bullshit. 


Christianity moved their holiday from another time to December to take the focus off of the pagan holidays. Do you see Pagans running around demanding that everyone only say "Happy Solstice!" or Jewish people demanding that everyone use the greeting "Happy Hanukkah!" Why is that? Because they aren't arrogant! 


Not to mention the fact that people generally start saying "Happy Holidays" around November. So that in case they get to busy, they cover all the major things like Thanksgiving, whatever winter holiday you desire, and New years. Why do they do that? BECAUSE CHRISTMAS ISN'T THE ONLY FUCKING HOLIDAY IN DECEMBER! 


I think that's all I have to say. Unless the comments section heats up. 


Thanks for reading, 


Kelli

I'm thankful.

Everyone on Facebook seems to be doing daily posts about what they are thankful for. I assume it's because Thanksgiving is this month.

So because I'm a procrastinator, and forgetful I won't even attempt to try to think of what I'm thankful for every day. Besides, I feel like a list of positive things in my life is just what I need right now, so here goes:

(The first part is not in order of favorite. This section of the list is equally important, and should all be labeled #1 but I'm keeping total so they are not.)

1. Morgan - She is so smart and beautiful. Of course we argue, but I feel like we laugh as much as we fight. If not for the fact that I have to be her mother, she really is the type of person I'd choose as a best friend. Maybe when she's 30 we can be friends.

2. Eric - He reminds me so much of my brother Shawn, even though his twin is the one named after Shawn. Eric is sweet and caring but he is an all around crazy boy.

3. Josh - He is so protective of his brothers. Especially Sidney. He also loves to torment his brothers, and sisters, especially Morgan. Morgan doesn't understand it, but the reason he always harasses her so much is because he loves her so much.

4. Hannah - Hannah is so sweet and kind. She is so different than the other kids. She is hardly ever in trouble. She would give away everything she had to make another person happy.

5. Sidney - Sidney is the happiest, easiest baby I've had so far. He only cries when he is really really hungry, even then it's not so much a cry as it is screaming. Most of the time you can't tell if it's a happy scream or an angry scream because he goes back and forth so quickly.

6. Braydon - He has to be one of the smartest six year olds I know. He is reading at the same level as the triplets who are a grade ahead of him. He is so sweet and kind, especially to his younger siblings. He is so fun to talk to, although sometimes I feel he is smarter than me. LOL

7. Stormy - She is always so happy. Her world is all about fun. She doesn't care what is going on around her as long as she's having fun. She loves to talk, apparently I was the same way as a child, who knew? LOL

8. Alex - No one in the world knows me better than he does. He pushes me to do the things he knows I'm to scared to try, and is there to help me try again if I fail. He takes care of me when I need it, and tells me things I need to hear. I can be myself with him, and that feels good.

9. Shawn - my brother. He is my only full brother, and the only person in the world who knows where I came from. No matter how much we fought as kids we were always there when the other needed each other. In short, he is a great brother.

10. My family - I wouldn't trade any of you. Despite our differences, and troubles, I know that any one of you would be there if I needed you, and I hope you know the same goes for me.

11. Adam - He gave me three wonderful babies, and became dad to Morgan. Despite everything we have been through he still remains one of my closest friends, and is there when I need him.

12. Sarah and Tammy - Everyone needs that friend who gets their sick sense of humor, tells them when they are being an idiot, and shuts their mouth when they know that they should. You two are the type of friend I can talk to for hours and hours and not realize any time has passed. You two are my very best friends and I am so glad I have you in my lives.

13. Thom - No one makes me laugh the way you do. :)

14. Diana - I hope that someday she will officially be my mother in law but honestly I feel like she is more of a friend. I love spending time with her and talking to her.

I think that's all of the important people. Now I'm moving on to other things. If you are hurt that I left you out, comment, and I'll apologize profusely and then tell you exactly why I am thankful for you.

15. The Vanity Theater (and the family I've found there) - I am so thankful that I keep getting cast in plays there. I love the theater, the excitement of preparing for a show, the extreme fear right before going on stage, and the bond that forms between the cast.

15. Bacon - everyone who knows me knows that this belongs on my list. To be honest (don't tell the kids) it probably ranks right up there at number 1.

16. My kitties - Mitzi can be a bitch, yes, but she's so cute and fluffy. Bean is a great cat though. He was a housewarming gift from a friend, and he has always been MY cat. If I'm upset, he is right there trying to get me to pet him, and if I let him in the bedroom at night, he always sleeps in my arms.

17. My iPhone - yeah I know, I'm lame. I'm one of those people who can't sit idle. I always have to be distracted in some way. I seriously wish I had one back when I was on bedrest with the triplets, and stuck in the hospital waiting to have them. Though I imagine some of the statuses I might have posted at the time would have gotten me into the mental ward. That mag is some nasty stuff.

Ok. I actually thought this would take less time, and I have some homework to do, so I'm going to finish this later. (See, I warned you about the procrastination)

Thanks for reading!

Kelli

Fun with the kids!

This morning the kids and I took part in our monthly ritual of attending the "Kid's Workshop" at Home Depot. The kids REALLY love going there and building things on their own. We help them, with some of the things and supervise well, but it won't be long before I become one of those parents who stares at the floor while my kids produce a perfectly built picture frame, or napkin holder. We have been going there on the first Saturday of the month for about a year and a half. Home Depot gave the kids an apron when they first started going, and each project they complete earns them a pin to put on their apron. Each of the kids has approximately 15 pins.

This was the first weekend that Braydon and Stormy were gone at their mother's house on Kid's Workshop day. It felt really odd going without them. They said they were going to ask their mom to take them, but she might have had something else planned with them, so I don't know if they got to go.

Alex, the kids and I went to the high school last night to see the middle school's production of Mulan. I was so proud of Morgan. The whole cast obviously worked really hard on the show, and it was very entertaining to watch! Morgan isn't shy at all about getting up on stage and putting her whole heart into a part. I hope she never loses that bravery.

Sorry it was such a short post this time I guess I either don't have a lot to say, or I have so much to say I can't focus on enough to narrow down some topics.

Thanks for reading!

Kelli

Posting daily? Ha!

I was doing so well with the daily posting thing!

I guess I just have to accept my limitations. Between seven children, school for me, play rehearsals for three people, homework for seven people, dinner, house cleaning, and finding time for sleep, I really can't realistically find time to blog daily.

Maybe if I could trust my tablet to work the right way, or I got dictation software so I could blog while I drive. Blogging while I drive... I have a feeling it would go a little something like this:

"I took the kids Trick or treating in New Market this year... COME ON YOU STUPID F*#KER! THE SPEED LIMIT IS 55 NOT 35!!!!... Hannah was dressed like an angel cat... F*#K YOU! PULL OUT IN FRONT OF ME, I DARE YOU! ... Sidney was a happy baby the whole time."

Would you really want to read that? It could be entertaining.

I just got distracted by Dora the Explorer. I'm not sure the plot of this particular episode, but Dora's mom was giving some medicine to a chicken. Dora seemed glad that the chicken felt better. I thought that seemed a little excessive since she's probably going to get served that chicken for dinner lately.

I generally try to keep my personal drama off the internet. I feel like it's something most people should strive for. I also try really hard to avoid religious and political discussions as well. These are things no one can agree on, so it's pointless to argue because EVERYONE is convinced they are right. Back to my original point, I keep my drama to myself,  but it's been a crappy few months. It seems like stuff on top of stuff, so if you have a moment to send some positive vibes my way, it would be appreciated.

On a somewhat related note, some of my close friends are aware of this, but I get a bit upset when it gets brought up, so I'm saying to clear things up: I am not getting married on November 11th. Alex and I are good. It's just not going to happen.

Wow, this post turned fairly serious didn't it. Let me lighten the mood with a joke!

What do you call a deer with no eyes?

no-eye-deer!


Sorry. It's all I got.

Thanks for reading!
Kelli

Halloween fun!

Last night I took part of the family to dinner. Morgan and Hannah were spending the night with their dad, so we only had five of the kids with us. So after dinner I was waiting at the cash register, and a waitress approached a nearby table. I heard her ask the man who had just come into the restaurant a couple of times if her needed a menu. I kinda glanced at his table, and realized at once what was distracting him. He was staring across the room at the table where Alex was with the kids. The waitress asked the guy how he was doing, hoping to gain his attention, and her replied at once. "I'm doing a hell of a lot better than that guy! He's got five kids!"

So of course I had to say something. I went with, "Actually we have seven kids, two are spending the night somewhere else." The man sort of laughed and said wow or something, followed by "You know what causes that don't you?!" Alex had joined me by that time, and he laughed and I answered "Yeah we know! We should be ok now, we finally got a tv for the bedroom!"

After that the waitress asked about the triplets, and admired Sidney. As we left both the waitress and the man made comments about how I must be a patient woman, and how they couldn't handle that many kids and so on. The waitress did tell me that I had really well behaved children though. I always like hearing that from waitresses because I know they see a LOT of kids, and it's not something they are expected to say.

Today we took the kids to Wabash, the college I practically live on the campus of. The kids brought home fliers last week about free pumpkin carving on the campus mall, and the kids really wanted to go, so I took them.

Our sidewalk is now lined with 6 pumpkins, and Sidney's pumpkin is waiting to be carved, along with one each for Alex and I.

Before we went to Wabash we went to a costumed birthday party. Sidney was one of three babies at the party. He was of course a monster, and there was a 5 week old pumpkin girl, and a seven month old devil boy. The cake was awesome and decorated like a graveyard with candy corn fencing, a black licorice tree, chocolate gravestones and candy bones and spiders.

I haven't been feeling well today, I hope that I feel a lot better later, I had hoped to do something fun tonight.

Thanks for reading!

Kelli

Life choices!

Hello again!

 Look at this! Writing two days in a row! How crazy is that?!

 Monday is Halloween! I'm very excited about that because it's my favorite holiday! I was fairly disappointed at first because part of the family would be gone on Halloween with Morgan going with her friends and Braydon and Stormy going with their mother, but it turns out that we all had the custody guidelines mixed up so Braydon and Stormy will be with us after all. I've known for a long time that Morgan wouldn't be with us this year. For years now 14 has been the magical age we have told her she would be allowed to go with her friends on Halloween instead of going with the family.

 I've been trying to work my way through the stuff on my DVR. Since school has started, I've been so busy that my DVR has been close to full for quite a while now. I even had to reluctantly delete the seven episodes of Jeopardy that my friend Christopher was on to make room. Of course after I deleted them Alex told me there was a way to transfer them to a hard drive. Thanks Alex!

 School is really kicking my ass this year. I had to drop a class already because it just wasn't working for me, I have a feeling it will work out better when I take the same class next semester. Spanish class is going well so far. A lot better than it did the last time! Math class is borderline. Sometimes I know what is going on and the math comes easy, then it gets really difficult again. I'm holding on to a C in that class though and that's good enough to move on the the next level if I keep it until the end of class. I'm holding onto a C in Chemistry as well, but I'm completely lost in that class. I don't know if I'm cut out for Science, which is seriously disappointing since Forensic SCIENCE was what I wanted a degree in.

So I'm in the process of rethinking my end goal. My original college goal, back in high school was broadcast journalism, but I think that's a career you have to start earlier in life than 6 months shy of 35 years old. So I'm not sure what classes to sign up for next semester, because I still don't know what to do with my life! If you have any suggestions, let me know. As long as it's not anything that's working with children, I found when I worked at Head Start that I was so done at the end of my work day that I had very little patience for my own kids.

I would LOVE a job with food, but that's really not a practical career choice in this town. I would love nothing more than to join my friend Laney's cake business (as she's offered a few times) but that would require the family to move to South Carolina, and that's not so practical either.

Well, thanks for reading!

Kelli

Long time, no see!

I know, I know, it's been a while.

I find it a little humorous that the last post I wrote was about how my English professor (at the time) suggested that his students write on a daily basis (Hi Mr. Brewer if you show up here!), and then I follow that advice up with not writing a thing for the next 10 months.

In my defense, things have been fairly crazy in my house since then. I'd like you to meet: Sidney Gene Livengood!

He's wearing his Halloween costume here. He is a monster (obviously). He is quite adept at snarling and growling so the costume is very fitting. He is five months old, and by far the easiest of all the babies I've ever had. To be fair, individually the triplets were great babies, but the fact that they ganged up on me all the time makes them fall under the category of difficult babies. Morgan was just a crazy baby. She was so active, not to mention the whole sleep apnea thing. No one likes it when their baby forgets how to breathe while she sleeps. Sidney only cries when he is hungry. That's pretty much it. The rest of the time he is either asleep, or happily playing. He smiles so much!

I'll update more on the happenings of my life tomorrow, hopefully. I intend to try this writing on a daily basis thing.

Thanks for reading!

Kelli

Taking a joke too far?

Today in my English class, my professor was discussing the concept that most people can write, it just takes practice. He jokingly mentioned that one could even write about their toaster. Of course in my mind that set off a chain reaction, so today as my first blog entry in a while, you will get to know way too much about my toaster.

Now many people when they hear the phrase toaster, have an automatic vision of a box shaped object, likely to be white or silver, with slots on top that the bread fits into. Now anyone who knows me, knows that the average two slot toaster that you might have the vision of in your head, isn't going to work for this house, or this family. There are eight of us in this house, soon to be nine. Assuming we all had breakfast at the same time, it would take forever for me to make toast in a two slot toaster.

Before I tell you all about my current toaster, I feel like I can't tell you without describing the death of it's predecessor.

It was probably much like the toaster you imagined. White plastic shell, two slots on top, wide enough for a bagel. When I bought that toaster, there were only six people living in my house, and toast seemed much more manageable then. It lived happily in its home on my counter, providing us with toast and various toaster pastries in its all too short life. The demise of this toaster was very confusing at first. It took us a while to figure out what happened to it.

One ordinary day Morgan was being quite helpful and decided to make toast with breakfast. She dropped the toast in the slots and pressed the lever down that magically turns the bread into toast. Moments later the kitchen filled with a horrible smell. I told Morgan to stop using the toaster and throw the half turned bread away. I meant to check it out later and figure out the smell, but I puzzled over it in the back of my mind for the rest of the day. Later that afternoon, Alex walked into the kitchen for an unrelated reason, and promptly discovered the source of the smell. He caught my strange cat Bean hovering over the toaster...relieving himself into it. I'm still confused as to how my cat was not electrocuted. We disposed of the toaster, and took Bean to the vet. She said he had a bladder infection, and that cats will relieve themselves in unusual spots when that happens, but that she had never heard of a cat using a toaster for that purpose.

After that we were toasterless for a while. We wanted to make sure Bean was cured before we released another toaster into the house. We also took a long time debating over the type of toaster we wanted. Two slots was obviously too small for our rather large family, and four slots didn't appeal to me either. We ended up deciding on a toaster oven.

Our toaster oven has been good to us. Providing us with toast and other toaster items, as well as giving us a quick way to have some pizza rolls. But sometime in December some friends called with a very serious request. They wanted to borrow the toaster oven. Now a casual friend might have gotten the immediate no, but these weren't casual friends. They are the couple with kids the same age as ours, couple with the same interests, couple we love to hang out with, couple we always have fun with, couple we trust our kids alone with, best friends couple. You can't say no to them unless you have a really good reason.

So I sent my toaster off with them. They used it to make us really awesome Christmas presents, so I guess it was a good trade off.

But you know, I think I had the urge to make toast more times when it was gone than I ever did while it was here. Isn't that the way things always work?

A couple of weeks ago, They called, wanting to return it, I was about to leave the house so I had to say no. My friend informed me that my poor toaster had been in her trunk for a couple of weeks, and had been whimpering out of loneliness every time she opened the trunk. I felt bad, but I still left.

They were finally able to return the toaster over the weekend. We went to their house for dinner, and they had Morgan put it back in my van, and you know, I haven't thought about it since then. Until my English professor mentioned toasters today. That's when I decided that I needed to tell you the tale of my toaster. Well I guess this was closer to a tale of two toasters.

Thanks for reading.