All Stories
and I couldn't be happier! 

Why is Elle so happy you may be wondering (or not)????

Well, this week has been a week from
 H-E-double-hockey-sticks to say the least!  
Last Saturday was going nicely with Em on a Girl Scout hiking field trip with her troop, Kaye playing outside with the neighbor boy and Jay and I doing some cleaning in the garage and outdoors.  Then Saturday night we FINALLY watched FROZEN!  
(Insert f-u-n-n-y video for parents here.....)

There was A LOT more singing than I anticipated and my husband turned to me and gave me an 'eye roll' at about 4 songs into the movie. 
 Yeah, he enjoyed it 
THAT much!!!!

Cut to Saturday night at say 2am.  I hear Em in the bathroom crying.  I get out of bed and see what is wrong and she tells me she threw up in her bed.
So I get her cleaned up and situated and then I do my vomit cleaning and laundry duties.  Kaye had this twice this season and this was Em's second bout with this nastiness.  For some reason the muck went through the waterproof mattress pad, so at 3am I'm online trying to get ideas of how to get the smell out of the mattress.  I found this forum:
Mommy Savers and went to work!  I sprayed and wiped that mattress with peroxide at least three times.  Then I sprinkled baking soda and let it set for about half an hour.  I brushed it up with the dustpan and brush and then sprinkled some more to set overnight as the air cleaner ran in her bedroom.  Em had to sleep out in the living room.  In the morning I was exhausted, but I got up and vacuumed up the baking soda, dried the dampness with the hairdryer and it DID NOT smell!  Thank You MommySavers forum!
I moved Em back into her room because I did not want anyone else getting sick.  Ahem.  I drank some water with a few teaspoons of ACV (apple cider vinegar) which I do a lot during the winter months and allergy season because it helps balance your PH levels and when your body is sick it is searching for that balance and also helps allergy sufferers.
I was bummed because my daughters and I were going to go shopping for a Spring outfit to wear for picture day and their Easter dresses. 
 Put that on hold!
Em stayed home from school Monday because she still hadn't really eaten anything, but as the day wore on she was better.

Flash forward to Monday night (really Tuesday at 3am.)  I have excruciating stomach pains and cannot get back to sleep.  I spend about 2.5 hours in the bathroom.  With the opposite problem of Em.  Yes, the Big D.  Uggggh.
The next morning I have to take the kids to school, so I take 2 plastic grocery bags in the car with me in case I throw up and I walk them across the parking lot and not all the way up to the school because I knew I just couldn't.  I come back home and get back in my pj's and get in bed.  Miserable day.  Prepare myself to pick them up from school and succeed.  Have aches and chills by the time evening comes.  Didn't much at all.  Day two and I am a slight bit better, but still not walking them up to school.  Take a shower and spend the day in the living room.  Eating soup and Gatorade because I am done with the ginger ale.  The aches, tiredness and nausea are finally subsiding.  Day three (yesterday) I walked the kids up to school, ate a bagel for breakfast and started in on ALL the housecleaning that has been piling up since Sunday.  
This is when it hits me how much I really do around the house.  
I've been a stay-at-home-mom since 2001 and sometimes I feel like I don't do enough.  But when I return from being ill (which by the way IS NOT often) I totally see how much I contribute to the family (unpaid as we all know.)

So on my return from my illness I did 3 loads of laundry, put laundry away from the weekend (as well as said 3 loads), changed bed sheets, ran the dishwasher, vacuumed, hung out the comforter to air out, started on Spring Cleaning lists and a non-food item shopping list.  I'm sure there are more things I did yesterday, but I was such a tornado around here I just kept going from one thing to the next.  It felt nice just to be moving around!

So here I am today, on a Friday morning taking the time to blog because it is a RAINY day and I do not want to be brought down after the week I have had.
I am looking forward to going shopping with Em and Kaye this weekend and have high hopes for finding outfits for school pictures, Easter dresses, sandals, and maybe even something for myself!

So whatever you are doing this last weekend of March 2014, be thankful that you are with family and/or friends and that you are healthy!!!!  
Whenever I am as sick as I just was, I always seem to enjoy my days just a little more than I normally would.

It's FRIDAY & I'm HAPPY after a HORRIBLE week!!!!!!!

and I couldn't be happier! 

Why is Elle so happy you may be wondering (or not)????

Well, this week has been a week from
 H-E-double-hockey-sticks to say the least!  
Last Saturday was going nicely with Em on a Girl Scout hiking field trip with her troop, Kaye playing outside with the neighbor boy and Jay and I doing some cleaning in the garage and outdoors.  Then Saturday night we FINALLY watched FROZEN!  
(Insert f-u-n-n-y video for parents here.....)

There was A LOT more singing than I anticipated and my husband turned to me and gave me an 'eye roll' at about 4 songs into the movie. 
 Yeah, he enjoyed it 
THAT much!!!!

Cut to Saturday night at say 2am.  I hear Em in the bathroom crying.  I get out of bed and see what is wrong and she tells me she threw up in her bed.
So I get her cleaned up and situated and then I do my vomit cleaning and laundry duties.  Kaye had this twice this season and this was Em's second bout with this nastiness.  For some reason the muck went through the waterproof mattress pad, so at 3am I'm online trying to get ideas of how to get the smell out of the mattress.  I found this forum:
Mommy Savers and went to work!  I sprayed and wiped that mattress with peroxide at least three times.  Then I sprinkled baking soda and let it set for about half an hour.  I brushed it up with the dustpan and brush and then sprinkled some more to set overnight as the air cleaner ran in her bedroom.  Em had to sleep out in the living room.  In the morning I was exhausted, but I got up and vacuumed up the baking soda, dried the dampness with the hairdryer and it DID NOT smell!  Thank You MommySavers forum!
I moved Em back into her room because I did not want anyone else getting sick.  Ahem.  I drank some water with a few teaspoons of ACV (apple cider vinegar) which I do a lot during the winter months and allergy season because it helps balance your PH levels and when your body is sick it is searching for that balance and also helps allergy sufferers.
I was bummed because my daughters and I were going to go shopping for a Spring outfit to wear for picture day and their Easter dresses. 
 Put that on hold!
Em stayed home from school Monday because she still hadn't really eaten anything, but as the day wore on she was better.

Flash forward to Monday night (really Tuesday at 3am.)  I have excruciating stomach pains and cannot get back to sleep.  I spend about 2.5 hours in the bathroom.  With the opposite problem of Em.  Yes, the Big D.  Uggggh.
The next morning I have to take the kids to school, so I take 2 plastic grocery bags in the car with me in case I throw up and I walk them across the parking lot and not all the way up to the school because I knew I just couldn't.  I come back home and get back in my pj's and get in bed.  Miserable day.  Prepare myself to pick them up from school and succeed.  Have aches and chills by the time evening comes.  Didn't much at all.  Day two and I am a slight bit better, but still not walking them up to school.  Take a shower and spend the day in the living room.  Eating soup and Gatorade because I am done with the ginger ale.  The aches, tiredness and nausea are finally subsiding.  Day three (yesterday) I walked the kids up to school, ate a bagel for breakfast and started in on ALL the housecleaning that has been piling up since Sunday.  
This is when it hits me how much I really do around the house.  
I've been a stay-at-home-mom since 2001 and sometimes I feel like I don't do enough.  But when I return from being ill (which by the way IS NOT often) I totally see how much I contribute to the family (unpaid as we all know.)

So on my return from my illness I did 3 loads of laundry, put laundry away from the weekend (as well as said 3 loads), changed bed sheets, ran the dishwasher, vacuumed, hung out the comforter to air out, started on Spring Cleaning lists and a non-food item shopping list.  I'm sure there are more things I did yesterday, but I was such a tornado around here I just kept going from one thing to the next.  It felt nice just to be moving around!

So here I am today, on a Friday morning taking the time to blog because it is a RAINY day and I do not want to be brought down after the week I have had.
I am looking forward to going shopping with Em and Kaye this weekend and have high hopes for finding outfits for school pictures, Easter dresses, sandals, and maybe even something for myself!

So whatever you are doing this last weekend of March 2014, be thankful that you are with family and/or friends and that you are healthy!!!!  
Whenever I am as sick as I just was, I always seem to enjoy my days just a little more than I normally would.

Posted at 10:51 AM  |  by Elle

WordLess Wednesday #6

Posted at 10:49 AM  |  by Elle
Here they are 5 years ago on GMA:
                 
30th Anniversary gifs of The Breakfast Club HERE!

Happy 30th Anniversary 'Breakfast Club'

Here they are 5 years ago on GMA:
                 
30th Anniversary gifs of The Breakfast Club HERE!

Posted at 8:20 PM  |  by Elle
Be AWARE of this SCAM!!!!!!

Jay went food shopping at Giant Food Stores this afternoon. 
He was helping bag the groceries with the cashier. The person behind him somehow SCANNED their BONUSCARD before he paid the bill and he obviously didn't know this.
 He paid the bill, loaded the groceries and went to get gas. He scanned his BONUSCARD and there were NO POINTS!
 He went up to the gas attendant booth and she saw that the BONUSCARD number on the receipt DID NOT match his!!!! She told him this is a SCAM and that he had to go back into the store to get his points on his card.
 This took about 20 minutes more and he was NOT amused to say the least!
I've n-e-v-e-r scanned my own BONUSCARD @ the cashier lines, only @ the self-check lines. It's not that there were a ton of points, but it's the principle behind this. Also all the points we accumulate also help donate money to our kids elementary school! Be mindful of this!

My sister-in-law shared an incident that happened to her at
  Redner's Warehouse Markets  a few weeks ago.


 "A couple of weeks ago something similar happened to me at Redner's with gas points. I have a bunch of little cards on my key ring, and I happened to check the receipt right away at the store, which I never do. I had no new gas points and knew I should have, so I questioned it. The cashier said maybe I scanned the wrong card. We compared numbers and here I had scanned the Weis card instead of the Redner's card. They were able to straighten it out, but now I have to be extra careful because it's easy to get the wrong point card, the scanner is gonna pick up the first number it sees!"


And another story from an online friend.

"I had that happen at a Pathmark when they were doing one of those spend so much money and you get a free turkey things. 
After the cashier rang everything up I saw her grab a card off the register and beep it. Now, I don't normally shop there and was n
ot trying to get a free bird BUT...I was curious so I said, "I didn't give you my card...here." and she mumbled, Oh it's o.k. I said, "Did it come off?" and she said, Yeah, the store coupons all came off. I said, but you didn't have the card yet. I waved the card over the scanner and it didn't beep. So I said, "Can I see the receipt?" The girl got all huffy and pointed out where the coupons came off. I said, "Where does it have the card number?" and she got all nervous and I said, "Can you call a manager over?" She calls the manager and as she's coming over I see her grab what looked to me like several cards from the side of the register and pocket them. The manager comes and she looks at the receipt and my card and as she's doing this the cashier says, "I scanned her card but it went to another account maybe cause her bar code is all old and messed up?." 
I said, "No, when I gave you my card you said it was already off and I'm wondering if the account on here matches one of the cards in your pocket." The manager locked eyes with her but said nothing. She just took my receipt to the service desk and then gave me and adjusted bill that had my points. 
In the meanwhile I'm thinking, is all this time and energy worth the fact that I have milk getting warm and my shopping trip time has doubled? 
I wonder how many free birds she managed to get for her friends before I mentioned this."

Not loving point-of-sale computer technology at the moment!



Public Service Announcement: Giant Food Stores BONUSCARD Scam

Be AWARE of this SCAM!!!!!!

Jay went food shopping at Giant Food Stores this afternoon. 
He was helping bag the groceries with the cashier. The person behind him somehow SCANNED their BONUSCARD before he paid the bill and he obviously didn't know this.
 He paid the bill, loaded the groceries and went to get gas. He scanned his BONUSCARD and there were NO POINTS!
 He went up to the gas attendant booth and she saw that the BONUSCARD number on the receipt DID NOT match his!!!! She told him this is a SCAM and that he had to go back into the store to get his points on his card.
 This took about 20 minutes more and he was NOT amused to say the least!
I've n-e-v-e-r scanned my own BONUSCARD @ the cashier lines, only @ the self-check lines. It's not that there were a ton of points, but it's the principle behind this. Also all the points we accumulate also help donate money to our kids elementary school! Be mindful of this!

My sister-in-law shared an incident that happened to her at
  Redner's Warehouse Markets  a few weeks ago.


 "A couple of weeks ago something similar happened to me at Redner's with gas points. I have a bunch of little cards on my key ring, and I happened to check the receipt right away at the store, which I never do. I had no new gas points and knew I should have, so I questioned it. The cashier said maybe I scanned the wrong card. We compared numbers and here I had scanned the Weis card instead of the Redner's card. They were able to straighten it out, but now I have to be extra careful because it's easy to get the wrong point card, the scanner is gonna pick up the first number it sees!"


And another story from an online friend.

"I had that happen at a Pathmark when they were doing one of those spend so much money and you get a free turkey things. 
After the cashier rang everything up I saw her grab a card off the register and beep it. Now, I don't normally shop there and was n
ot trying to get a free bird BUT...I was curious so I said, "I didn't give you my card...here." and she mumbled, Oh it's o.k. I said, "Did it come off?" and she said, Yeah, the store coupons all came off. I said, but you didn't have the card yet. I waved the card over the scanner and it didn't beep. So I said, "Can I see the receipt?" The girl got all huffy and pointed out where the coupons came off. I said, "Where does it have the card number?" and she got all nervous and I said, "Can you call a manager over?" She calls the manager and as she's coming over I see her grab what looked to me like several cards from the side of the register and pocket them. The manager comes and she looks at the receipt and my card and as she's doing this the cashier says, "I scanned her card but it went to another account maybe cause her bar code is all old and messed up?." 
I said, "No, when I gave you my card you said it was already off and I'm wondering if the account on here matches one of the cards in your pocket." The manager locked eyes with her but said nothing. She just took my receipt to the service desk and then gave me and adjusted bill that had my points. 
In the meanwhile I'm thinking, is all this time and energy worth the fact that I have milk getting warm and my shopping trip time has doubled? 
I wonder how many free birds she managed to get for her friends before I mentioned this."

Not loving point-of-sale computer technology at the moment!



Posted at 4:59 PM  |  by Elle
 Last Day Of Winter by Anna Armona
Last Day Of Winter by Anna Armona


WordLess Wednesday #5

 Last Day Of Winter by Anna Armona
Last Day Of Winter by Anna Armona


Posted at 9:43 AM  |  by Elle








































Evening Stars (Blackberry Island, #3)Evening Stars by Susan Mallery
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the third book in the Blackberry Island trilogy. The story focuses on Nina Wentworth, who was also in book two.

Nina works for Andi's pediatric office as her nurse. The book focuses on how Nina has always been a caretaker for her family. Nina's mother is flighty to say the least, so Nina's always taken on responsibilities for their family. She helps keep their family antique shop, Blackberry Preserves, afloat even though the shop barely makes any money.

Nina's sister Averil is having trouble moving forward in her life. Averil and her husband cannot agree on starting a family and Averil has been saying she is going to begin writing a book, but has stalled on it. Her husband Kevin just wants their life to move forward and Averil isn't sure what she wants. Her solution is to take a break from her life and go back home to Blackberry Island to think things through. Her husband isn't overjoyed by her solution, but is patient with her.

Nina hires a new part-time employee for the antique shop after the employee her mother hired steals from them. Cindy, the new hire, turns out to be a great addition to the shop and helps them become more profitable. Through most of the book Nina and Averil's mother Bonnie, is off on a road trip with her life partner Bertie, looking for merchandise for the shop.

Nina deals with the return of her former high school boyfriend Dylan returning to the island. She also is the attraction of a younger man named Kyle whom she babysat his sister when she was younger and he reveals he always had a crush on her. In her eyes she views Kyle as a fun fling and Dylan as a friend to lean on during stressful times with her family.

Although this wasn't a terrible book, it definitely wasn't my favorite in this series. I did not like how Nina's character was made out to be so responsible for everything in her mother and sister's lives. The fact that Bonnie's life partner Bertie did not step up and make Bonnie take more responsibility in her life angered me. It was also upsetting that Nina felt she had to be the one to be in charge of so much in her family at such a young age. As for Averil, her character just seemed selfish and lost to me. In a lot of ways Averil was more like her mother and Nina was the total opposite. My favorite parts of the book were Nina juggling her relationships between Kyle and Dylan. I felt the writing towards the end of the book was more intriguing than the writing throughout the story as a whole.

This video from author Susan Mallery, wonderfully describes where she got her inspiration for the book 'Evening Stars.' 
  I love her description "every good quality inside of us has a dark side.  If you take any good quality too far it becomes the opposite of an asset.  It becomes a detriment to you and it can start to destroy your life.  If you take care of others too much you lose yourself."
I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I did!



Book Review: Evening Stars by Susan Mallery









































Evening Stars (Blackberry Island, #3)Evening Stars by Susan Mallery
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the third book in the Blackberry Island trilogy. The story focuses on Nina Wentworth, who was also in book two.

Nina works for Andi's pediatric office as her nurse. The book focuses on how Nina has always been a caretaker for her family. Nina's mother is flighty to say the least, so Nina's always taken on responsibilities for their family. She helps keep their family antique shop, Blackberry Preserves, afloat even though the shop barely makes any money.

Nina's sister Averil is having trouble moving forward in her life. Averil and her husband cannot agree on starting a family and Averil has been saying she is going to begin writing a book, but has stalled on it. Her husband Kevin just wants their life to move forward and Averil isn't sure what she wants. Her solution is to take a break from her life and go back home to Blackberry Island to think things through. Her husband isn't overjoyed by her solution, but is patient with her.

Nina hires a new part-time employee for the antique shop after the employee her mother hired steals from them. Cindy, the new hire, turns out to be a great addition to the shop and helps them become more profitable. Through most of the book Nina and Averil's mother Bonnie, is off on a road trip with her life partner Bertie, looking for merchandise for the shop.

Nina deals with the return of her former high school boyfriend Dylan returning to the island. She also is the attraction of a younger man named Kyle whom she babysat his sister when she was younger and he reveals he always had a crush on her. In her eyes she views Kyle as a fun fling and Dylan as a friend to lean on during stressful times with her family.

Although this wasn't a terrible book, it definitely wasn't my favorite in this series. I did not like how Nina's character was made out to be so responsible for everything in her mother and sister's lives. The fact that Bonnie's life partner Bertie did not step up and make Bonnie take more responsibility in her life angered me. It was also upsetting that Nina felt she had to be the one to be in charge of so much in her family at such a young age. As for Averil, her character just seemed selfish and lost to me. In a lot of ways Averil was more like her mother and Nina was the total opposite. My favorite parts of the book were Nina juggling her relationships between Kyle and Dylan. I felt the writing towards the end of the book was more intriguing than the writing throughout the story as a whole.

This video from author Susan Mallery, wonderfully describes where she got her inspiration for the book 'Evening Stars.' 
  I love her description "every good quality inside of us has a dark side.  If you take any good quality too far it becomes the opposite of an asset.  It becomes a detriment to you and it can start to destroy your life.  If you take care of others too much you lose yourself."
I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I did!



Posted at 12:28 PM  |  by Elle

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