Never come between a woman and her cupcakes!

Here is a really cute story that my mom shared with me about Kaylea this morning:

"Kaylea is getting pretty tricky! She wanted one of those cupcakes you bought her. I told her she had to eat her breakfast first. I went to the bathroom while she was eating her breakfast burrito. Well, somehow, she managed to get out of her seat, dump her breakfast in the trash and went over and said to GaDa 'Gone-Gone! ... Cupcake?' "

"Well - after trying to stifle our laughter, we decided that we could not reward that behavior so I told her I was not happy that she did not eat her breakfast - and she would have to eat half of mine or we would do the same thing to the cupcakes - throw them away. She ate. :)"

Some cute pictures of Kaylea

Santa's Ho, Ho, Ho, No Mo, Mo, Mo!

OK, I feel the need to jump on a soap box for a minute.

(Disclaimer/Warning: You may disagree with some of my viewpoints I am about to share. If you do, oh well!)

I was recently alerted that the Santa Claus appearing at a local mall is not allowed to say "Ho, Ho, Ho!" What?!? Are you kidding me? Supposedly it is politically incorrect for them to say? And I've heard its happening all over the world....in Sydney Australia all the Santa Claus' are banned there too. Hmmm..... I'm sorry but since when did "Ho's" have rights?

In all seriousness though, picture this. A little boy comes up to Santa and he says, "He He He little boy what do you want for Christmas?" and the boy says "I want a firetruck!" To which Santa responds, "Ha Ha Ha!" The poor boy is going to leave there thinking that Santa was laughing at him and not sure if he is getting a firetruck or not! It would probably leave a permanent scar on the poor boy for life!

What is this world coming to? Just because a few people have perverted minds or whatever it may be - now Santa can't say Ho, Ho, Ho? Before too long the world will want us sooo politically correct that Santa won't be able to be fat (so then we lose the whole belly jiggle when he giggles). Then they will say he shouldn't be old (not that I would mind sitting on Brad Pitts lap, but still). Then they will say Santa can be a girl or boy and why not both? and of course there is always room for a drag queen Santa! (Which could be quite funny if in the right place at the right time don't get me wrong - and I have nothing against drag queens - but I think you get my point.) In 5 more years instead of the Jolly red cheeked belly jiggling Santa we've all grown up with, Britney Spears look-a-likes will be posed as Santa handing out Starbucks and Taco Bell to the children - really! Do we want that?!?!?!

Whew - ok....calming down a bit, but I just must say I am tired of things having to be "politically correct". Why can things just be reality.... said the way they are. We can joke about things with some people but can't say things in front of others? Life is life. There are white people, black people, asian people, gay people, crazy people, smart people, stupid people, funny people, sweet people, mean people, and HO peoples! Must we have to walk around on egg shells around everyone? Mean what you say and say what you mean - thats all that should matter. Not oh he can't say that because he's this, or its not politically correct to say this. Get over it people...you were thinking the politically incorrect thing that person said anyway! (They just had the balls to say it)

OK I think I went off on a tangent. Anyways.... Why take away our Santa! Keep him the Jolly Old Fat Man that we always loved! And let him say "Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas" (Not Happy Holidays!)

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this!

Elf Yourself! We did!

Here is a little something fun for you to do. Go to http://www.elfyourself.com/ and get elfed! To see our hilarious Elphmorphosis click the picture below:

Thanksgiving Weekend

Not alot is going on this week. Eric and I are both working all the way through till next weekend and then Sat. I finally have a day off! I think I will make a pot of Chili that day and maybe I can talk Eric into making Pumpkin Roll! Eric makes the best Pumpkin Roll! mmmmm......Yummy!

Thanksgiving was good...to me its really just like any other day - only you get better food on that day. It was much more exciting when you were a kid - especially since you got the whole week off of school! See when you are a kid you think life is tough and your parents don't understand how bad it sucks having to go to school till 3pm. I know I was one of those kids who couldn't wait to grow up.... wish someone had knocked some sense into me then cause I would pay money to go back to being "just a kid". As tough as school and kids can be sometimes - it was better dealing with that than having to work your life away! :-) That being said, I am glad to be out of that stage and have my own family now.

So what are my plans for the weekend - other than working? Well tonight I am going to work on posting more ebay stuff. I spent my Black Friday morning shopping at the Bealls Outlet. See while everyone else is out shopping at the malls and the Best Buys - I figured I could get more stuff for less money by going to Bealls Outlet and get designer stuff at 75% off the original clearance price - thats right! And it wasn't as busy in there - cause nobody thinks of that! So I came home with three huge bags of clothes and items for us and to sell on ebay, and I stopped by a yard sale on the way and picked up 5 Ralph Lauren men's shirts size XL and L (totally going on ebay). So I have my work cut out for me.

After doing some ebay posts I have some ads to post on Snowbirdy that just came in. If you haven't checked out my website Snowbirdy.com yet - you should! This was a website concept I came up with when I was pregnant with Kaylea. So we are going on 3 years in business. It doesn't pay the bills, but every now and then it buys us a nice dinner! :-)

I feel like that skit on In Living Color back in the 90's where the Jamaican family was on there and everyone had like 5 jobs - thats me and thats my family! (minus the Jamaican part of course) hahaha.... and on that note - gotta get back to work!

Four weeks till Christmas....Did you hear what I just said? 4 WEEKS TILL CHRISTMAS! Every year working retail it comes and goes so quick! Its the day before Thanksgiving and work is going to be crazy today. I'm sure I will be hearing "Code 1, Code 1!" all day long. (Code 1 means all available staff in the store need to come to the floor - which means that our lines are all the way back to the wine department which is the length of the store (which is longer than my house, not that THAT says much lol). Anywho we finally have some basic Christmas decorations up at work this year which makes it a little more bearable - and according to Sirius Business they are starting Holiday music on Thanksgiving. Woo hoo!

So, as far as Christmas shopping goes, Eric and I have pretty much already bought our gifts for each other (our main big gifts anyways minus the socks and underwear ya know.) I chose the camera I have been wanting for 3 years - the Canon Digital Rebel SLR. Wow - This camera is amazing - so be expecting lots of more pictures (mostly of Kaylea, but lots none the less!)

Eric chose the new Playstation 3. Now I'm not a huge gaming person so I can't really get too excited about it - except that if he is playing the playstation it gives me the chance to go online and do more ebay! (Its addicting....I swear ebay is like the computer geek / entepreneur's crack cocaine). Only it doesn't make you skinny...ugh. But anyway, I suppose the Playstation is pretty cool as everything is in High Definition on our High Definition TV (that needs a bulb replaced lol). He only plays basically two games on it - Madden and 2K8 Basketball.... but he loves the new PS3 - it even goes online! So I can see ebay on my big screen TV! haha.....and it doubles as our DVD player too so its an all-purpose toy!

How did we pay for such extravagant gifts you say? Well my friends it goes back to my addiction - ebay! :-) It is a great thing! Better than chocolate almost!

Now onto more Christmas Shopping Lists. Kaylea has asked that Santa bring her everything "Mermaid". She loves Ariel the little mermaid, but she also loves Dora's Mermaid movie and has asked that next Halloween her costume be a mermaid "with a real tail". (We'll work on that one!) And other favorite things of hers - Shrek and anything to do with Shrek. She knows the word to the movie Shrek 1 by heart. She also has Shrek 1, 2, and 3 at home. Her favorite is Shrek 3 because she likes the little Shrek Babies she said, but she watches #1 the most. But this year Santa might bring her a "tent" because another one of her favorite things is making tents and playing in them. I guess it will all depend on what Walmart has on Christmas Eve as I heard thats probably when Santa will finally get to go shopping! ;-)

Well, gotta get to my work now! Lots of customers wanting to buy stuff to toast the holidays!

Quotes from Kaylea

Well today is Sunday - and I am at work....as usual. It is our Grand Holiday Tasting (biggest wine tasting all year) and it is all hands on deck. Anywho, Eric and Kaylea have gone to spend part of the day with Gran'pa Wes - as it is his birthday today! :-) Happy Birthday!

So to brighten everyone's day I thought I would share with you some little "Quotes from Kaylea" this week:

Quotes from Kaylea!

1.) A song on the radio said the word "Heaven" Kaylea said, "God is in Heaven!" I said, "Thats right Kaylea and Jesus is too!" To which she replied, "Jesus loves me! And God loves me! And you love me too Mommy! And I love you too!"

2.) Eric and Kaylea were driving by a water fountain in a nearby neighborhood on their way home from work. Kaylea said, "What's that called again Daddy? A Flower Mountain?" hehehe she meant to say "Water Fountain".

3.) Kaylea and I met up with my parents yardsailing on Saturday. Mimi (my mom) was having trouble with her knee hurting so Gada (my dad) helped her to the car. Kaylea said, "Gada dat was soooo sweet of you to help Mimi to da car!"

4.) Kaylea made a placemat for Thanksgiving and some napkin rings at school. On her placemat were pictures of a turkey, corn on the cob, pumpkin pie a plate, spoon, fork, knife and what Mommy called "a boat". Kaylea corrected me, "Mommy dats not a boat dats a flower!" to which I said, "No I don't think so thats a boat." And Kaylea said, "NO MOMMY! Dats the flower boat!" (Well it is Thanksgiving - Its the Mayflower!) I don't think I'd pass "Are you smarter than your two-year old?" LOL

Really though its amazing to me how smart she really is. And her memory is sharp as a tack. She is constantly saying things she remembers, for instance rocking her to sleep last night she said, "Mommy member when me and Madison were running around like crazy bowlin'?" Then she remembered about going to Kentucky to visit Corey, Robyn and the kids. and she just kept talkin' (as she always does!) Then this morning I went to get her out of her crib and she said, "Mommy member they took my blood and I got a bandaid at da doctor?" ;-( aww..... and then she said, "but is ok it made me better".

Have a good day everyone!

Cars...and Houses...gotta love em

(If thats not the most precious face you have ever seen!)

Eric and I have been talking about getting a new car for him anyways, but our hope was to run the 2000 Ford Ranger into the ground until it took its last breath. Well, I think that time is just about upon us. It is old with hundreds of thousands of miles on it and it has one thing after another we are having to fix. Not to mention the wreck Eric got into a few months ago (And insurance will only cover the back bumper!)

See Eric was at a stop light (completely stopped) and a guy slammed into the back of him - causing him to slam into the back of another guy. Eric didn't really know what to do having not been in this situation before - so the cops were never called. The guy Eric ran into took off leaving him no witness and just his word against the other guys. So they exchanged insurance info and off they went. Well the other guys insurance will only cover his back bumper since there is "no evidence" that he was stopped at the light. WHATEVER! Hey at least they are covering that. But being that both the front and back are all tore up and mechanically its a piece of junk - is there really any point in fixing it? I don't think so.

Today Eric's car was terribly overheating, he had to get it fixed by a guy who works in the shop behind their store so he could get home. Good news is we just have to buy him a 6 pack of Coors Light! (Well and pay for the hose he had to put on.) So this weekend we will not only be yard saling, but car sailing (if you could call it that). Ugh - So all the extra money we thought we'd be saving - looks like will now have to go to a car payment! Guess that means more ebaying!

This weekend, my work planned a "Bowl Off". This year they have appointed one of our staff to be the "social coordinator" in an attempt to boost company morale during the holiday season. Which would be cool - except that - morale is low because we have to work 6 days a week Nov & Dec and we don't get paid holidays! So in effect they are trying to boost morale by taking more time away from us that we want to spend with our families! (They disguise it by inviting families - but come on I see you people every day all day and hardly see my daughter and husband - I might want some one on one time ya know!) But anyway - Kaylea and I obliged and we actually had a good time. Kaylea made a new friend (one of my coworkers little girls who is 3 named Madison). Here are some pics.

I think I might see if Eric and Kaylea and I can go bowling all together - I think she'd have fun. Oh well. I've been listening to Christmas music today - but so far behind on all my work at "work" that I just feel like I'm carrying a big moutain on my shoulders. Tis the Season!

Updated 20 minutes later: I just got home and we got our Mortgage Bill that says as of January 1st our Mortgage is increasing by $400 - there goes our car payment. When it rains it pours. Bad day.

Never a Dull Moment...

This weekend has been eventful and like our title reflects - There is never a dull moment in our house! First it started with Eric driving Kaylea back home on Friday night. They were sitting at the stop light and Kaylea says, "Daddy, You better drive ca-ful-wy dere is a policeman right over dere! No go fast!" Thats right our two and a half year-old is already aware of the driving laws and that Daddy needs to abide by them! A backseat driver just like her mommy! So then Friday night, Kaylea decided she liked living in the refrigerator....and believe it or not she almost fits! LOL Here are the pictures to prove it.

But of course the fun doesn't stop there! Kaylea all weekend has been saying she needs to go potty and taking her pants and diaper off and going into the bathroom to sit down. Now she has gone pee pee in the potty before - and once for a whole weekend...but I guess it was too much trouble so she gave up on it. One day we couldn't find her and were yelling "Kaylea where are you - please come in here!" We heard her say "No!" so we repeated "get in here now" a few times followed by "no" and so then we went to "or your going to time out" Then we heard a LOUD toot and in runs Kaylea's naked little booty and she says, "But I was tyin to go potty Mommy!" So cute, so sweet, I felt so bad! We checked the potty - nothing yet just a toot. But this routine continued all day of running to the potty. Finally last night (Saturday night) we go to the potty again before bedtime, and wouldn't you know she made a pee pee! We covered her with praises of course! Come to find out that her BF (Best friend) Alexander in her class at preschool already uses the potty and she wants to be like him! :-) So we are getting closer to the potty trained Kaylea!

So it has been an eventful weekend. We went to the park and we also went garage sailing as usual (Kaylea loves going to "Yad Sales"). And I found a few things that I have already listed on ebay. Just an update...my dress I bought for $3 is up to 19.99 right now....it ends tomorrow morning...All for now!

Ebay Take Me Away!

As most of you know we have all been pretty sick. Kaylea had two ear infections and bronchitis and Eric and I have upper respiratory infections. But we are all on the mend. Kaylea has been on antibiotics for a week now and seems to be doing much better although she still has a cough. Eric and I are on the mend too thankfully!

As far as the rest of our life goes - it is filled with work, work and more work. Eric is working full time for a new company and I have just started my 6 days a week holiday season. YAY! So that means we might see each other 1 day a week! In the meantime we have turned to a new project (that I am hoping one day may be able to turn into my full time job) - EBAY!

Yes thats right, I've joined the Ebay Cult! I started by selling some of Kaylea's old things and my old clothes, and now I've turned to Outlet stores and Garage Sales for more items to sell. Its really unbelievable! My mom told me a joke that Jerry Seinfeld said one day - "Now there's this thing called Ebay where we mail our junk back and forth to each other". That is sooo true! Get rid of junk and make me money? Wow, God Bless America!

So let me tell you about my latest junk/treasure finds. What we do is Eric and I budget $20 each of us for the weekend for our "yard sale money". Well I had already spent my $20 of course, and I saw this purse. It was a small purse made out of a license plate with some crystal looking stones on it. (The lady said they were swarkosky something or other.) She wanted $15. I haggled and got her down to $11. (It was a Sunday so she gave in. The day before people had offered her 12 and she didn't cave. Lucky for me!) So I begged Eric to borrow from his stash since he hadn't spent any. Eric was furious. He thought I had wasted his $11 and told me I threw it down the drain. (I kinda thought he was right but wasn't going to admit it.) Instead, I went home and googled "Little Earth Purse" which was the label on the purse. Come to find out the purse I bought retails new for $185! Ok so Eric was starting to take back his words. So anyways I posted it on ebay that weekend. It sold for $52.65 plus $10 for shipping. Uh huh - what do you have to say now huh! I tripled our profit! So this has become my new hobby! I love it! If you are on ebay let me know your screename! ;-)

Last week I found a Liz Claiborne dress new with the tags on it size 14 (classic black dress) for $3 at a yard sale. Original tag says $99! Let's see how it goes this weekend!

Welcome to the Life and Adventures of Summer and Eric

OK, so this would be Melanie's fault that I am starting a blog... (You have completely inspired me!) Now while our life may not be as interesting as having 4 kids, believe me 1 can cause enough drama on its own! So check back often to hear the daily drama of the Martin family household! Peace out!