Wednesday, January 28, 2009

4 Times, 4 Days, 4 Items

The offense: Amber answering me back 4 times in a row in a debate style fashion.

The punishment: 4 days in exile. She was permitted to come out of her room to eat, bathe, and do chores only. 4 days. Not a minute sooner. Happened to be on a weekend too. OUCH.

The long term repercussions: She lost her 4 favorite items indefinitely. She has to earn them back through consistent respect and good behavior.

1. Her Uggs (she cried instantly)

2. Her IPOD and IPOD port. Counts as 2 you say? Not ova hea.

3. If you look at the photo, her cable wire that runs from her T.V. to her wall is sitting there. Bye Bye Television.

4. Her Nintendo DS.

She finished a book during her punishment. We did bible study. She did chores with a smile just so she could leave her room.

Do not make empty threats to your children. If you say you are going to do something, make sure you do it. Every bit of it. It will be what is best for you and them in the long run.

On a funny note...Amber said to me..."I would rather just get hit. Can't you just hit me, and then it would be over?" My response..."No baby, I have to hit you where it really hurts."

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My Peculiar Quirks

I was tagged by Stephanie to share 15 random facts about me. Since our series at church is about being peculiar/unique(in a good way, that is), I am going to try and think of some of my unique qualities.

1. I absolutely can not clean or do dishes without rubber gloves on under any circumstances. It just grosses me out.

2. I always sleep on my back, never on my stomach.

3. I sucked my thumb to an age that I would rather not reveal.

4. I set my clock 15 minutes fast, just so I can hit snooze.

5. 9 out of 10 times, once I sit down, I fall asleep.

6. I feel extremely un-cool that I don't watch television, and know nothing about the hottest T.V. shows.

7. I have my IPOD on as often as possible.

8. I have 5 books that I have started reading, and have yet to finish. (See #5)

9. I am a night owl. I rarely go to bed before midnight.

10. I always buy 2 of the same exact bracelets. One for each hand. They have to be identical.

11. I pray over my kids every night, even if I stumble on my words and sound kind of silly.

12. I have never made friends here in Charlotte like I have in NY, and I am here for 10 years with the exception of 2003-2005.

13. I am addicted to music. Severely. With no desire to seek help.

14. I do not wear shorts. Ever. Never. Ever.

15. I can not type without looking at the keyboard.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Our First Gift

We went to my sisters house last night for Mexican night/Wedding Planning. We had so much fun. We were laughing and fighting and teasing each other (the married couples that were there are married over a decade, so we were picking on their ideas, and they were picking on ours)-it was a good time. Who said I can't play Led Zepplin at my wedding (watch me) and who banned country music-who thinks a song by Incubus is appropriate for a first dance, and who said "Who the heck is Incubus?" We picked the menu....we accomplished a lot, and had a great time doing it. Then my sister and Joe gave us our wedding gift. A 5 NIGHT STAY at The Lodge Alley Inn in Charleston South Carolina. The place is beautiful! They got us a 1 bedroom loft suite with a full kitchen-all of the amenities. No children, no computers, no work, just us for 5 nights. This will be a first! We are so excited! There is no room in the budget for a honeymoon, so we haven't even thought about it! What an awesome surprise! Who has the best sister and brother in law on earth! ME!!! Thanks guys!!






Friday, January 23, 2009

Beyonce' is in the House

I got my shoes! Robert bought me my dress, slip, tiara and veil, AND Amber's dress, so all I am in charge of is shoes and jewelry. I found a necklace on Craig's list that I am picking up tomorrow, and here they are......my awesome shoes....they are so blingingly beautiful, aren't they? They are silver. I was going to wear red shoes, but when the bridal shop told me I had to bring my shoes to my fitting, I felt some type of discomfort that they were going to be RED. So I took that as a sign that red wasn't the right color. But SILVER....that's what I'm talkin' about. Plus I will rock these bad boys with jeans, or a dress, so I will get more use out of them. I keep hearing a fashion expert of some sort in my mind saying something like...."If your over age 10, you shouldn't be wearing white shoes." Has anyone heard that? Anyway....this is the only glimpse you will get of my ensemble.....When I showed them to Robert, he said "That's my J-LO"... and then he said "No..No...the other one...the one that's married to Jay-Z". I'm like "Beyonce'?" "YEAH...That's her." (bless him)




Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Perseverance

Abraham Lincoln

Failed in business at age 21.
Defeated in legislative race at age 22.

Failed again in business at age 24.
Overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26.

Had a nervous breakdown at age 27.

Lost a congressional race at age 36.
Lost a senatorial race at age 45.

Failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47.
Lost a senatorial race at age 49.

Elected President of the United States at age 52.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What a Sight

I walked into Amber's room yesterday, and this is what I found on her bed. I'm not sure exactly what she was doing, but I can surely say that this was a win win win win situation!!!!!!






Too cute!
The other morning I went in her room to wake her up for school, and this is what I found! What a Diva.....




Monday, January 19, 2009

Comical Conversation

Me: We should have put camping gear on our registry. I think I will go back in and do that online.

Robert: YEAH! We should that would be great! We can go to the mountains where the 'lions and tigers and bears' are.

Me: No. We will go to a camp site that is safe and bear free.

Robert: Are you afraid of bears?

Me: Of course I'm afraid of bears. Everybody is afraid of bears.

Robert: I'm not.

Me: Your afraid of me, how could you not be afraid of bears.

Robert: Colleen, being afraid of you, and being afraid of bears are two completely different things.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Engagement Shoot Part 1

Here is the first part of our photo shoot taken by the awesome Sean Lyon. This is where it all began. Periodically, I will post more photos of each place we took pictures on our special day. Enjoy!














Thursday, January 15, 2009

Cooking Dinner

I love cooking dinner for my family. I'm not an amazing cook, but I have compiled several dishes that I can make really well, and I change up some dishes that I can make (example: sub chicken for shrimp, and vice-verse) to give us more variety. I steal recipes off of Holly's blog, and take credit for them (Thanks Girl!). My children LOVE my meals. Every night without fail, my son looks at his dinner, and says "Wow Mom this looks good!". Then after his first bite, "This is a really good dinner Mom". I have 3 nights a week off from cooking (work/Daddy nights), so I feel it's really important for us to sit down as a family on those other four nights and eat dinner together. I grew up at a table of 8 seven days a week, so it is important to me to have that family/dinner time with my kids. I have said before I am not a short order cook, and kids are only picky eaters if you allow them to be, so my kids eat anything and everything-or they don't eat. So, here is tonight's dinner.

Orange Shrimp with Whole Wheat Linguine

It consists of sauteed shrimp, red bell peppers, sugar snap peas, and the Whole Wheat Pasta with an easy sauce made with orange juice, sesame oil, red pepper, chicken bouillon granules, s/p and cornstarch. I also squeeze some fresh oranges over the dish when it is all in the skillet for some extra flavor. It has 337 calories, 22g of protein, and 6 grams of fat per serving. Not too bad. If you want to try it out, email me and I will send you the actual recipe. It's delicious.

Tuesday nights dinner was delicious as well, and very simplistic. London Broil marinated in McCormick Montreal Grill Mates seasoning (in a package with instructions on what else to add), an Asian Vegetable Medley, and Velveeta Shells (one of my weaknesses). I cook the meat in the oven on a cookie type sheet (pour all marinate as well) on 350 for 20 minutes, take it out and slice it, and then put it back in on broil to desired red/pink/dead- however-you-like-it readiness.
Dinner was delicious......However.......
PA-POW!!!

This was right after the incident. It looks so bad, but really only stung for a minute. I finished cooking, ate dinner, and went about my business. I didn't think much of it.
Here it is 2 days later. That's HOT. I don't care who you are. I wish it would POP. I refuse to let Robert pop it, I want it to pop on it's own. It's in a 'leaning' spot, so it's annoying. It feels kind of neat.....In a sick weirdo way.....when you rub it. Okay, I'll shut up now.
I think I will steer clear of the oven and stick to the stove top for Saturday nights dinner. I'm a little scarred right now. Literally.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Feedback

This is a blog post that a Quest leader from our church wrote about my son. I loved it, I thought it was awesome, and I wanted to share it with you.



January 13, 2009...7:43 pm

Jesus is the best (oh yes!)


Today I was sent an email along with several other volunteers I serve with in Quest on Sunday mornings from our children’s director at church. The email was a forwarded note from a parent who has a son in Quest (pre-k through kindergarten). He just turned three not long ago and moved up to be with us in there. This little boy’s mom had a link to her blog in the email. Now, knowing his mother, I knew is had to be something to do with Alex. He is a hilarious, smart, polite little MAN with some SERIOUS rhythm. The boy can clap on beat and jump on beat better than some musicians! He brought a little guitar with him to church this past week and showed us how he rocked out.
Anyway, check out the link and watch the video his mom posted. It put a smile on my face. For being so young, having just moved into Quest not too long ago, he is catching on quick. It’s a joy to see such a young child pick up on a song with some great words for him to come to know. This kind of thing is what makes a long Sunday worth it. Haha, I love how he gets a little bit gangsta at the end.
http://colleencorbett.blogspot.com/2009/01/whos-best.html

How many kids DO I have?

I physically gave birth to 2 children. I am 100% sure of this-I did it with no drugs. These are 6 hours total between the 2 of them that I will never forget. Yep. 3 hours a piece from start to finish. Go ahead and sip your Hateorade. There was no time for drugs.

With the way my day went yesterday, I do wonder how many kids I actually do have. Let's see...

I got a text mid day from my nephew Devin that said "When you go to the store today, can you get me some deodorant?" Most nephews wouldn't dream of texting their Aunt during school hours. Go figure.

I picked my niece Mackenzie up from school, and wound up with her for the rest of the day, for dinner, and for errands that I went on that I didn't even have my own kids.

At 5:30, my phone rang. "Colly? Are you at work or are you home?" It is now my nephew Isaiah, who had a performance at school last night at 7pm (My mother and sister drove an hour in traffic to make it to his performance, but I had other plans, so my role was "meals on wheels"). "We are done with practice, and everyone is going to eat something, so can you bring me chicken tenders, a drink, fries and a soda?" Right smack in the middle of dinner time. "Sure babe, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Burnt my arm, shoveled down my dinner, and brought him his food. Robert and I went to my friends house (a little late, as usual) for dessert and coffee. After a nice conversation, he agreed to perform our ceremony at the wedding! I am so excited!

So back to the question, How many kids DO I have? 3, 4, 5? Whatever the number is, it's all good. I love them all.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I'm Just Sayin'.......


The giraffe looking purse. They are everywhere. You can get them at one of those little booths in the mall isles. They are cute, don't get me wrong, and if you have one, by all means-ROCK IT, but if you don't, don't get one. It's too late. It's over done. It's to the point of Stepford Wife-ish-ness going on. I'm Just Sayin'.....

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Dancing Machines

I am pretty excited to say that Robert and I have our first dance lesson next week! We are going to have our first dance as husband and wife in style! Sit down ladies...this was his suggestion! He's not exactly a 'dancing machine', so he doesn't want to disappoint. He doesn't want to look like the typical 'walk in place' kinda guy. I thought that was too cute. Although he has been a bit more opinionated than most men when it comes to the wedding. He killed my first color scheme(tan and white with lots of red accents), said I HAVE to throw a bouquet (wasn't planning on that-I think a lot of wedding traditions are cheesy.), so every time he has something to say, I say the same thing..."SHUT UP AND SHOW UP! THAT'S IT. THAT'S YOUR ROLE IN THIS WHOLE THING". I think when we register, we may have a fist fight. We shall see. A few things I won't bend on...there will be no chicken dance, there will be no "the bride cuts the cake, the bride cuts the cake..feeds the groom....blah blah blah...I swear I have man like tendencies. Luckily, he is compliant. I didn't even want an actual wedding cake, but my whole family was going to kill me for that one. As for my shoes-no one can tell me what to wear....snicker..snicker...

As for the dance-I wanted to start out with something traditional, and then have the record sccccrraaaaattcchhh..and then the music change to some old school disco, and bust out the robot, but guess what? HE KILLED IT. Party pooper. If I were able to orchestrate this whole wedding by myself, it probably would have been something you have never seen before. Maybe it's better that I can't. I know my sister thinks so. Right?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A Time For Everything

This is a great Classic Rock song. It was actually originally recorded by Pete Seeger in 1962, but the version most of us know was released by 'The Byrds" in 1965 and was #1 on the charts. Do you know who actually wrote this song? See below....


To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven
A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time for peace, I swear its not too late



Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 -Solomon's general observations

1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.

2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

As you were singing this song in the car, did you know you were quoting scripture? There are so many amazing things in the bible, don't miss out on it.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Past the Tears

I have always tried to think of creative ways to change some habits of my children through their personality traits. Some are sneaky, but they do work, and it's in their best interest, so it's all good. When Amber was still in a pull-up over night at 4 years old, something had to be done. I first tried to just quit cold turkey, and no drinks after dinner. I still found myself up every single night changing sheets and furious with myself. So a good friend of mine had this device that connected to her underwear, and then clipped on to her shirt by her shoulder. As soon as the device got wet, it would buzz up by her ear, and wake her up. In less than 2 weeks, we were pull-up free!

When she was still a thumb sucker at age five and was getting ready for kindergarten, I was concerned. Nothing I said was working. Even if I took her thumb out of her mouth after she fell asleep, it still found its way back in there. I never put yucky tasting stuff on it. Couldn't bring myself to do that. SO, just as I was losing hope, I went through her personality traits, and what would strike her cords enough to make her stop. Fear. Amber has fear in her. Fear of rides, strangers, the dark...she's far from fearless. I sat her down in front of the computer, and showed her photos of severely damaged teeth due to thumb sucking. These pictures were really bad, and her teeth were no where near this stage. But it worked. after that day, she never ever sucked her thumb again.

Past the Tears. Alex has gone to school 4 days with no tears since Christmas. WOO-HOO!!! I mean not even a sad face. He went from gut wrenching screaming and ripping my skin off, to "Bye Mommy! See you later!" This time, I took the "Big Boy" approach. Alex wants to "Big" so bad. Everything is...."When I get Bigger?" So when Santa brought him a 'Big Boy' Spider Man bicycle, after all of the hoopla of Christmas died down, I sat down with Alex, and told him how "Santa MUST think he's a big boy to bring him such a great new bicycle...a Big Boy bicycle. And you know what Alex? Big boys definitely don't cry at school-right my big boy?"

That was it. I think it's over. I am so thankful too. He was breaking my heart. When you want to persuade your children, think about what makes their wheels spin....what makes their eyes light up, and use it to the best of your ability. Trust me. It works.