Favorite Drinks

I have a new favorite drink. Well, it's not really new but I have been obsessed with it for the past few months, so it's my new favorite drink. Obviously, it is from Starbucks. Can you guess what it is??

OK. Fine. I'll just tell you.

Vanilla Rooibos Tea. Mmmmmmm.

And the best part is that I just keep buying tins of it, so I don't have to always run out to Starbucks to get it. Don't get me wrong, I still require my daily dose of espresso in the form of a grande nonfat one splenda latte, but I can drink vanilla rooibos all day long.

And I do.

What's your drink this winter?

Feeling A Little Purple Today

So I decided to go on blogger last night. Not sure why. I mean it was way past midnight and I probably should have been in bed, but I had this guilty feeling. I couldn't remember the last time I blogged. Or what I wrote about. I decided to check in on a few friends of mine.... hoping they hadn't blogged in a while either. But of course they totally have been keeping up with it... Not like how they used to, but at least once a week. Anyway, while reading through some of the blogs I've been neglecting, I noticed that a bunch of people changed their background. And since I was feeling purplicious, I decided to change mine too. Hope you all like it. That is, those of you who still bother to check if I ever blog anymore. :(

So, last night was a very big first. My little Alyssa, who is now 3, and is so cute and grown up, and can totally take care of herself, but is still my little baby, had a sleepover at my parent's house. And in case you were wondering why, it was because we went to a bar mitzvah that was ending really late, and it is easier for my mom to watch her at her house than ours, and cuz I am psycho and I like it better when my mom babysits than a teenager, and cuz Alyssa really, really, really wanted to sleep there.

If any of you know me by now, you know that I am a total control freak. I don't just leave my kids. Even with their grandparents. So this was huge. It's not that I don't trust my parents. I knew she would be fine and happy, I just like to see my kids and know what their doing. But I am insanely attached when they are little, like 3 years old....

The bar mitzvah was fine. I didn't worry for a second. Didn't check my phone, didn't wonder what time she went to bed, if she remembered to make on the potty..... It was when I got home with my other kids, that I started sweating a little. It was midnight. Everyone went to bed. And I sat downstairs and felt like my arm had fallen off. It was just sooo weird to not have Alyssa in the house with the rest of us. I called my mom. Everything was fine. "She was sweet, and cute, and went to bed so nicely...."

I finally fell asleep at around 1 am. At 7am I woke up in a panic. Alyssa always wakes up at 6:30. I went downstairs, and checked my emails, facebook, work contracts.... At 7:45 I called my mom. No answer. I started getting nervous. Alyssa had a cold and didn't eat very much on saturday. She should have woken up early, after all she went to bed pretty early.... The last time Alyssa slept till 8:15 she was sick and dehydrated and unresponsive. We ended up in an ambulance on Shabbat. She was soooo sick. I decided that I should just drive over there and make sure she was ok.

At 8:15 I walked into my parent's house. And was greeted with "Rayli, what are you doing here?" I think my parents thought I was totally nuts. My dad insisted that she was fine, that they both had checked on her throughout the night. I ran upstairs to see for myself...... and there all comfy and cozy in bed with 3 stuffed animals was my sweet little Alyssa. With all my psycho babble, I had started to wake her.... She sat up in bed, and said in the sweetest voice, "Hi Mommy, I missed you."

She was totally fine. She was so happy, and had such a good time.

I, on the other hand, was a total mess. What is wrong with me??? Why is it that when my kids aren't with me, every worst case scenario runs through my head?

Oh, and just wait, Jon is taking Jessica and Emily to Vail in a month.

Don't even get me started......

The Hangover...

I was home with Alyssa and Will last night. Jessica and Emily were at the Bull's game with Jon. I got the little ones in bed at 7:45, cleaned up a little, did some work on my computer, took a long hot shower (with no one around to bother me, it was a pleasssure!), went downstairs to fold some laundry, decided I was too exhausted to do it, and went up to bed at 9:30. Yes, 9:30. If you know me, that is very, very early. My girls don't even go to bed at 9:30. But I was physically and mentally exhausted.....

At around 10:30, I was awakened my a 12 year old girl who was telling me she didn't do her homework yet. She had basketball after school and then went straight to the Bull's game and she needed to do it. I dragged myself out of bed, said good night to Emily, walked Jessica downstairs and told her to go to bed after her homework. Not sure what else happened after that. I kinda remember blow-drying my hair, so it would be easier to iron in the morning, and crawling back into bed.

At 5:45 am, Will was up and wanted to go downstairs. I had a crazy migraine and felt like I was gonna puke my guts out. It was like having a hangover without having the fun the night before. I felt awful. I turned on the tv for Will , checked my email, and laid down on the living room couch. Shortly after, Alyssa woke up... and then the morning began.... Making lunches, giving kids breakfast (I think Jon might have done that), ironing hair, getting dressed, taking big kids to school, taking Alyssa to school, and then the slow drive up to northbrook to have a meeting at work. Why is it that everyone driving on the Edens had to slow to check out an accident, which wasn't even so bad, causing traffic to slow to 25 miles per hour! I hate that.

Anyway, about 10 minutes into the meeting my excedrin migraine finally kicked in, and I felt much better. I even signed another contract today. Yay!

Anyway, I think I am going to enjoy the beautiful weather and take Alyssa to the park. Gotta enjoy it while we can....

Hi. It's Me.

Seriously, I almost forgot my password!

It has been a while since I posted last. I think I totally lost my audience. Apparently my bloggy friends and I have been so chatty on facebook, that we have nothing left to blog about.

I also have been really busy with my job. That sounds so weird. My job. I have been working for a month and am about to see how it pays off. I work on commission so I have to wait for my deals to go online to see how much I make on them. Anyway, I am pretty excited.... I have 5 deals dated in the last 2 weeks of November and then 3 more (so far) in December. It is so hard to get these deals contracted because my day is so short. I only have till about 12:30 to work, because Alyssa ends school at 1. And usually you have to go to the place twice to get it all done. Unless you have an awesome merchant who wants to get it done right then and there (that only happened once so far). Or you hear a lot of "no" and "we're not interested right now." Sales are hard. But at the same time, feel really good when you get the contracts signed.

Anyway, while I was neglecting my blog, Emily turned 10 and Alyssa turned 3. We had 2 wonderful birthday parties, and I killed myself to make each one special. As usual.

By the way, I just checked out my last blog, about that nasty cat, and realized that it doesn't say the date anymore. And I was so expecting the blue sky, green grass layout. I totally forgot that I changed it!

Anyway, Emily had a cupcake decorating party for all her friends, and Alyssa had a cinderella family bday party. It was perfect except for the fact that Jon was sick in bed and did not get to see our baby girl blow out her birthday candles. Truthfully he didn't get to see any of it. I guess there is always next year.

I am so tired today. Can't really think of anything interesting to say, so I won't bore you any longer. Have a great day, and hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow...

Beware Of Cats

I was in my kitchen getting Alyssa a drink yesterday afternoon, when out of the corner of my eye I saw something black in my backyard.

I looked out the window and right at the steps of my deck a big, black, long haired (and this hair/fur was sticking straight out!), gross cat pounced onto a baby bunny.

It killed it.

And ran away with it.

Oh My God! I have never seen anything that disgusting in my life!

I went outside to make sure it wasn't eating it somewhere in my backyard. The last thing I wanted to see was little baby bunny remnants on the grass outside. Seriously, the thought of it makes me kinda sick.

Well, that's my story of the day. Hope you weren't eating lunch when you read it.....

Not Sure I Wanna Tell

I found a new blog with a million great ideas for making cakes and cupcakes and cookies even cuter! She has great ideas, and I think I am going to have to copy a bunch of them.

But you know when you find something really cute and you wanna use it for a while before you let everyone know your secret???

Adina, don't worry I will definitely share the link with you.

Ok fine, I will share the link with everyone...

the blog is called i am baker. She makes really cute desserts AND shares recipes. See why I didn't wanna share?!

Anyway, enjoy it. And if you make any of her stuff let me know.

Ok, who watched Oprah yesterday? Loved it. It was so hilarious. And you know, I kinda liked Dr. Phil on the show. I guess he's not as big of an idiot as I thought. And Dr. Oz, like him too. Anyway, the questions and answers were really fun to watch... especially with Jon, who will probably not admit it but he LIKED watching OPRAH!

WeDeal

Or at least we try to.

I just started working for wedeal.com. I am supposed to be contracting deals for them. The first day was a little tough, but I feel my confidence coming back and I am hoping to get some good ones contracted soon.

If any of you are interested in signing onto their website, I gave you a link above. It's free and they will send you their daily deal via email. They are mostly north shore (north Chicago suburbs) right now and are hoping to expand soon.

Anyway, I feel good dressing a little nicer on the days I work. Blowing my hair, instead of wearing a ponytail. Not only dressing in Mommy clothes (jeans and a hoodie) all the time. Kinda fun. I actually feel like a grown up for a few hours a day, instead of just running errands and doing stuff for the family.

I really like the guys at the office, and oddly enough one of them grew up on the same block that I did!!!! How crazy is that?!?!

Anyway, the girls and I have been using our DVR lately (my mother's day present that was finally hooked up about a month ago). I LOVE it. So nice to be able to dvr all our tv shows and be able to watch them whenever we want. I am still not sure how to watch it without commercials though. I can do it when I am watching it later, but I thought you could do it while it was recording. If anyone would like to fill me in on that secret... please do so in the comments.

The annoying thing was when I recorded the amazing race and later tried to watch it, only to find out that it was 60 minutes instead! Probably cuz of a delayed football game. That makes me hate football even more.

I had about 3 or 4 mini heartaches today while watching Alyssa swim at school today. She is fearless. She was holding rubber duckies and almost fell off the tot dock 3 times. One of those times I actually screamed, but she got her balance and was fine.

The teachers take the kids one at a time to swim after the ducks. They sometimes let their faces go a little into the water to let them get used to the feel of being in water and swimming in water.

But the crazy mother in me freaks out and can barely watch, thinking that she is gonna drown.

Even though they are holding her.

But I do trust them. And there are enough of them there taking care of our kids. But as most of you know, I am a total control freak and feel totally on edge watching it from a viewing room way out of Alyssa's reach.

So every wednesday morning that's where I'll be. Watching my daughter.... making sure she isn't drowning.... satisfying my crazy mind from going wild with "what ifs."