Rusty Chevrolet

Okay, if you read my Christmas Tunes blog, you will see that I dedicated the song Rusty Chevrolet to Nate, my husband. Now it is time to tell the story behind the song. (It helps if you listen to the song.)
On the twists and turns we call Life, Nate and I ran into some hard times. To help matters, we sold both of our cars and bought a 1990 Bronco. Megan and Sammy were little, 3 and 1 if I remember right. I wasn't working, it was really important to us that I stay home, so we were willing to make sacrifices. Well, my brother approached us and said that his brother-in-law had parked a truck in his driveway and it wouldn't start so he just left it there. If we could get it started, we could have it for free! Well, we got it started. It was a 1978 Chevy Luv. This truck was such a piece of crap. It had a realty sign for a floor on the drivers side so we wouldn't get our feet wet. The battery was held in by a wire hanger. There was a tin can under the hood for the overflow bottle for the radiator.
This being said, we loved this truck. It ran like a champ, was cheap to run, and it got us where we needed to go. Lo and behold, one day it died and we donated it to the Kidney Foundation. Nate called it our little LubMachine and that is how I got my screen name of lubmachine78. It is a great reminder to me of how far we have come, and how the hard times brought our little family closer together. Every time I type my screen name, I think back to those times and I remember how great I have it. Thank you Lubmachine!

Careful what you ask for!

It's that time again. Time to set up the Christmas tree. I love our Christmas tree. I love having a tree. I just hate setting up the tree. Our tree takes about 2 hours to put together, branch by branch, fluff by fluff. As I was taking it out of the box I was begging Nate to buy a new, easier one. But then the girls started putting it up for me! They got about halfway done when they pooped out and then I finished it. Then Nate was nice enough to do the lights. And he does them way better than I do, so I like it when he doesn't mind doing it. So he is just finishing up the lights.......when the tree stand snaps!

Ooohhhh noooo. It's a treetastrophe! I kind of like the idea of the Christmas shrub. Hate the idea of starting over. Nate to the rescue! He managed to rig it together somehow, and we are praying it will last through the season, then I can buy a really great one on clearance after Christmas! The girls had to be really careful not to nudge it as they put the ornaments on, and I couldn't fluff it really well for fear of killing it, but I think it turned out great!

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!

It's 3a.m.! Get up! Get up! I LOVE Black Friday. I had so much fun this year. I haven't gone the last two years, and I think I forgot how much fun it can be. I went with my sister-in-law Brandy, and my very good friend Samantha. We lasted from 3:30 until 12:30. And then I stopped only because Kristy was taking us to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I will stop anything to eat there! Here are some pictures of our bargains!


Ahhhh, but it didn't stop there! After lunch we all headed to the new mall. We were there until about 4:30. And then it stopped. We went home and I grabbed a shower, (finally) and I was sitting on my bed watching t.v. when zzzzzzzzzzzz. I finally reached my limit. All in all, a perfect day!

Giving Thanks...for a great weekend!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we Woodards had! I wish I had blogged as we went along, but my wireless keyboard died, and I was too busy to get a new one. So I will try to get all the good stuff in.
We were soooo lucky to have all the Woodards come down from Salt Lake. Nate's parents, his sister, Amy, and her three kids, and then his brother Brian and his wife Brandy. We were sure a full house, but I thought it was great.
Everyone got into town on Wednesday evening after enjoying a few hours of the lovely Phoenix rush hour traffic. We had a fun night at Barro's Pizza and had a good time rehashing the stories from when Nate and Brian were kids.

Thursday dawned absolutely heavenly. Nate spent all day cooking, and spoiled us with a beautiful dinner. It was delicious! I love having a husband that can cook. And kids willing to set the table. And of course, we were all thankful that the Cowboy's won that day:)
We had an early Christmas present from Nate's parents, they gave our family a Wii. Talk about addictive! We bought the Guitar Hero to go with it, and now my kids keep singing Alice Cooper and Poison songs. (I think Nate likes that, seeing how these are the songs he grew up with.) Thanks Jim and Kris!



I do believe Kristy is the only grandma I know that can Guitar Hero with the best of them! How cool is that?!?

Christmas tunes

Okay, I literally couldn't help myself and I had to put Christmas music on my playlist. It is considered a sin in this house to rush the Thanksgiving holiday, but I have to make the most of the music. First of all, Rusty Chevrolet is dedicated to Nate. I would like to dedicate White Christmas by Bing to my dad. He'll know what that means;) and I'll be home for Christmas is dedicated to our parents because we are staying here all winter. HO HO HO!
And, I really like this picture, because the Grinch's dog looks just like my dog! Only my dog is cuter of course.

Tooth Fairy

Sammy lost another tooth. But she doesn't put it under her pillow that night, she always saves it for a couple of weeks and then decides it is time to collect her dollar. I'm always a little nervous that she won't let me know when the time has come, so I taught her to ask the tooth fairy to come in a really loud voice.
Well, when I woke Sammy up on Thursday, she popped up and said, "Oh, she didn't come." Whattt????? So I tried to cover my tracks by saying maybe she was really busy last night, with our last name starting with W, she might not have had time to come yet, yada yada. So while Sammy was eating breakfast, she came! She left a very nice note apologizing for being late, she had 1,000,000 teeth to pick up the night before. Sam was amazed that she was awake when the tooth fairy was in our house, and she didn't even feel her prescence. Whew!

Soooo frustrated

Do you ever get so frustrated with your kids, that when you try to talk all that comes out of your mouth is a series of grunts? Eh Uhhh mej, sigh. I'm trying to say things in a positive way, but it is so impossible, these are the only sounds to leave my mouth. Perhaps it is better this way.

Veterans Day

What a great country we live in to have so many willing to sacrifice everything to ensure our freedoms and peace of mind. I feel so thankful today to all the men and women of the armed services. Thank you!

Running on empty

I was driving with my girls yesterday when I noticed a car broken down in the lane next to me. As I got closer, I realized this poor woman had run out of gas, literally 100 yards from the gas station. Luckily, some guys in a work truck stopped to help her and they had a gas can and filled her up. I had total sympathy! She was driving a Suburban, and it was full of little kids, from the front seat to the back.

Anyway, I do have a point. I looked down at my gas gauge, and realized Nate had filled my car up. He always puts gas in my car when he takes it anywhere. He has tried to tell me that there is actually no law prohibiting women from putting gas in their cars. I don't think this could possibly be true! But I just want him to know how much I appreciate everything he does to make my life lovely and pleasant!

Just a side note. I officially started Christmas shopping today. Here we go!
Oh yeah, went to Chick-fil-a tonight. The service was right on. But no lemonade! :(

Customer Service

I am not one to ususally complain about good customer service. Maybe because it is so few and far between, but my experience the other day was so over the top, I had to write.
I'm out running errands, when I realize I am starving. Hey, there is Chick-fil-a! That sounds good. So I head toward the drive thru and I notice there are 3 employees in the drive thru, standing about ten feet apart from each other. Weird, but okay. The first lady hands me a paper menu and asks if I have any questions. I don't, so she has me pull forward to the next gal. Who takes my order and writes it on a 3x5 card. And has me pull forward to the next lady. Who then figures out my total in her head and writes it on my card. And during this time it is "my pleasure" this and "my pleasure" that. Then, I pull forward to the window and I have to give them my card. I am the only customer there at the time. I guess if there was 15 cars backed up through the drive thru. But give me a break. I had to deal with 4 employees to get my nuggets. I hope once they are open for a little while they will calm down.
It was my pleasure to get this off my chest! Have a nice day!

Where best friends are made!

Well, we finally had Megan's birthday party. We decided to postpone it a week because of the Fall Festival at school. We headed over to Build a Bear of course! Everyone had a great time!
After the party we all headed over to Nate's softball game, (including all the party girls.) I got too cold, it must have been down in the 70's!
Saturday was busy. I hosted Bunko, so I was able to get everything clean :) Love a clean house! Nate and the girls headed over to the new mall for dinner and then they saw Game Plan. The girls loved it. They came home all excited and they were telling me their favorite parts. Kidding, I asked Nate what his favorite part was and he said it was at the end when our girls were boobing because of a sad part in the movie.
I'm happy tonight. I have been suffering this week from dry socket from having my wisdom teeth out. I think I am just about healed. Which is good. I'm tired of going to the doctor to have them pack it full of gauze and clove. Gross! So, we have a new week ahead of us! Only 2 1/2 weeks until Thanksgiving! I'm excited to have family here!