THE WINNER OF THE $25 GIFT CARD IS..............

And the winner of the $25 gift card giveaway is............

Chosen via: Random Number Generator

Generate random integers between and Open Sequence Closed Sequence Unique Values 1-21

12
Random numbers generated Oct 31 2009 at 23:51:7 by www.psychicscience.org
***************************************************************************
And......drum roll..........

Comment #12 belongs to:

Deanna - The Unnatural Mother said...
I had "WEIGH" too much fun on Sunday...winery, pumpkin picking... good for both adults and children... YEAH!!!! and posting it on my bloggity blog too!!!
October 27, 2009 1:19 PM


Congratulations Deanna!!!

Please email me at Mommassoapbox@aol.com and give me your mailing address and your gift card of choice!

*****Remember it's YOUR CHOICE OF A $25 gift card to either GAP, OLD NAVY, BARNES AND NOBLES, KOHL'S or HOME DEPOT. *****

Thank you sooooooooooo much everyone for entering and for visiting my blog! You guys ROCK!

I'm so pooped from this weekend, when I typed you ROCK my mind instantly went to...... I want to rocky MYSELF to sleep......

Rock-a-bye-baby in the tree top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock, when the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......snort......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......snore.....zzzzz...

Yawn........Oh sorry, Did I mention the huge Halloween party I threw last night? yawn.....stretch.......yawn..... It kicked my booty!!!

It is midnight now........NOPE, take it back, FALL BACK......it's 11:00pm again........ I just earned a second change and going to bed before midnight~

WOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

She shoots, she scores!

Good night friends!

Keep those pretty eyes peeled for my next giveaway contest. It is coming soon!

Ciao Bellas~

I'M A SURVIVOR.....5 YEARS!!!

I LOVE THEM!

I just had to share with you all cuz I'm just so very excited... and who better to share it with?

Five years ago today I was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma Cancer (many of you have been reading about my story here on my blog.... "My Cancer Story")..........

FIVE YEARS! I can't believe it! They gave me a 30% chance to make it to this very day....and here I am!

I just got off the phone with Hunk who is sad that he is not here to celebrate with me.

I told him I thought I would be walking around beaming with joy today......and I am but I also find myself very emotional and weeping at the drop of a hat. I don't understand why.

He said "They are tears of joy! Congratulation on your 5 years and I'm looking forward to 5 more with you. I love you".......now that didn't help with the tears!

Though I did love to hear the words from him...

I miss him....hunt it down, kill it and drag it home already cowboy.

My next scan is soon and as many of you know hitting a 5 year mark with LMS doesn't mean CURE but in my little world it is still a benchmark I feared I would never make.

So it's still a time to celebrate.

They didn't know how kick butt mean I can be, I guess.....well, I'm not usually.....but......against Cancer......I try to be very mean!

And here I am, typing on my blog, meeting new friends every day...

I'm so thankful for the last 5 years: things I thought I would miss with my Rugrats.

• Watching my oldest Rugrat get his license and learn to drive .
• Watching him go to Prom.
• Watching him graduate high school
• Watching my other Rugrat son start high school
• Watching him start wrestling and enjoy it soooooo much, he eats and breaths it
• Watching Miss Rugrat get her first "boyfriend" and watched them break up
• Watching her go to her first Jr. High dance.
• Watching Little Rugrat graduate Kindergarten.
• Watching her learn how to wake board.

There are too many things to list that I would have missed..... and I didn't!

I'm just so grateful.......... that really sums it up...... I'm GRATEFUL.....

So "cheers" everyone!Cheers to these last 5 years, cheers to 5 more years and cheers to new friendships.....which means "cheers to all of you"

Ciao Bellas~

WARNING......WARNING.....IT'S OFFICIAL

WARNING! WARNING!....THIS IS AN ALL POINTS BULLETIN......

There is a Teen Rugrat on the loose. He is DRIVING his mommas suburban or his white truck.

That's right my Rugrat son got his permit today. This may be all that really needed to be said..

If spotted please........Run! Run for your lives!

And if he is spotted doing something... ohhhhh..let's say.... DUMB.......call his Momma......

I will be setting up an anonymous tip line. You will be able to use this line to give us confidential and anonymous information about his driving or anything else you think we should know..... missing homework assignments, girlfriend status, etc.

The truth is ......I'm so proud of him! He got 100% on his written test.

When leaving the DMV (my favorite hang out) he asked if we could go out for pizza to celebrate.........

I had to think long and hard about that one.

A few problems came to mind:

• I wouldn't get to try to figure out what to cook after a long day.


• I wouldn't get to cook a lovingly made meal for my Rugrats.


• I wouldn't get to clean up after this meal.


• I wouldn't have to kill an hours time waiting for Miss Rugrat daughter to finish dance class after picking up my other Little Rugrat daughter.


• We would actually be able to eat dinner before 8:00pm.


• On top of this I would be supporting a friends pizza parlor by eating there.

Hmmmm......SOLD!........... Pizza it is!!......Tough call for sure....and the best part.....

I was able to say..... "Sure son! You earned it! Pizza? No problem! We can eat anywhere you like. I'm so proud of you and because you studied and got that 100% percent we are going to eat out and celebrate!"

So for being lazy tonight I got hugs and thank yous..... Can't beat that with a stick.

If you are wondering..... I didn't eat "WEIGH" too much tonight.

I just had one (huge) slice of pizza...... and most of my salad.......sighhhhhh....... maybe I did eat "weigh" too much..

At least I didn't come home and eat a left over mini cherry pie..... yet...

Maybe I'm kidding about that......maybe I'm not.......that is between me and my bathroom scale........

Ciao Bellas~

FREE GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY~ IT'S WAY TOO MUCH FUN!!

rulingcatsanddogs.com/.../page-3/large-files/

I had "WEIGH TOO MUCH FUN" baking with my Rugrats this weekend.... I wont admit to just how much

Now I want you to have" WAY TOO MUCH FUN."

Often when I have way too much fun, it involves shopping...ie: spending money.......

I want YOU to have "WAY TOO MUCH FUN" spending MY money!

Now that is fun! I want it to be somewhere you enjoy...... so you choose!

YOUR CHOICE OF A $25 gift card to either GAP, OLD NAVY, BARNES AND NOBLES, KOHL'S or HOME DEPOT.

All you have to do is....

Leave me a comment telling me the last time.....You had "weigh too much fun"....

Rules:

1 entry per person

(BUT....If you write a post about my giveaway on your blog you can enter twice!)

Contest ends on HALLOWEEN, Saturday October 31st at 11pm.

I will announce the winner on Sunday!!

Have fun and good luck!!

Ciao Bellas~

MY CANCER STORY~ Part 5.......

You guessed it!...... My little sister was in labor and headed to the hospital.



I hung up the phone and went into the bedroom where my mother was sleeping. I walked in just as she was laying her head down on the pillow.



I said "Mom, guess who is in labor and on her way to the hospital?"



She lifted her head back up off of the pillow, grabbed her clothes, she had just taken off and changed OUT of her pajamas back INTO her clothes......



Her and my dad headed out of town to the hospital, about an hour and 15 minute drive from my home, to meet up with my little sister and her hubby.



I went to go lay back down and I kept going between excited for my sister, to sad for me...... I had looked soooooooooooo forward to this day, and now I couldn't be there.



I kept thinking of how I might not see him grow up. How he might not ever know who I am. I planned to be the best Auntie I could be to him and now that may not happen. I may not have that chance.



Why God, why me?....... this was a question I asked here and there but I knew God hadn't done this TO me...... and what I needed was to rely on him to be with me through this..I couldn't do it alone.....I did know that much.......



I laid in Hunks arms that night and cried myself to sleep..... crying myself to sleep was not a habit I would allow myself to get into...... I needed to be strong...



When my nephew was born (the next day) my brother in law called me and he took a photo of my nephew and sent it to me. So though I wasn't there I was the first person he called and I was the first person "not there" to see a photo of him.

I will never forget that. I love my brother in law so much. He is not an "in law" to me. He is my brother....... I call him my brother from another mother.....and I say it to be silly but the truth is, I mean it.



And I must say... my nephew was (and still is) adorable.... HUGE....but adorable. He is a blessing that came out of one of the worst times in my life. He gave me reason to smile...



I couldn't wait to see him in person. To love, hug and kiss on him.....



I ,OF COURSE, got online the next day and immediately started surfing the web for information on Leiomyosarcoma.... BAD IDEA..... kind of......



I did find a support group online and a lot of information. A lot of the information I found was about how there isn't much information. But I found enough information to know that what I was dealing with was very serious.



I also found enough information to know that according to the reports I held in my hand, the GRADE that was assigned to my cancer was WRONG..... The mitotic count was VERY HIGH in my report and that was not equal to LOW GRADE as I was told.....



I started freaking out.... I thought, well if they got this wrong then what else is wrong......maybe it isn't even Leiomyosarcoma. Maybe it's something else. Maybe it's a different type of cancer. One with better odds.



OR maybe it's not a cancer at all. My gosh, do these people know what they are doing? I found this out online..... Who is doing the biopsies??.... Oh I think I'm going to faint...... I need to calm down....... I need......I need to turn this computer off. .....



But I couldn't......



I needed to make notes to take with me to my check up (for the hysterectomy) visit with my doctor. I would ask him about the mitotic count. He's not an oncologist, but maybe he will have answers.........



He referred me to a doctor in Southern California because Leiomyosarcoma is so rare that there are not any doctors prepared to work with me here........but still.....maybe he will know.



I don't think I can wait for answers until I get to Los Angeles.....maybe I should do more research....... my mind is spinning......I don't think this is really happening to me...... this happens to other people......... not to me......



How many times did I have to convince myself it was happening to me?



Ok, make notes Stephanie and then let it go.........deep breaths....... the kids will be home from school soon.



So I printed off a 5,968 pages of information and I turned off the computer and I made my notes...... I was as prepared as I could be for my doctor visit...



I wanted to barf.........and I hadn't even started chemo yet.....



To be continued........

I JOINED TWITTER~ stop laughing...

So I joined the world of Twitter.... I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to use it now.

Can you say LAME-O?

I accidentally sent a message from my cell phone last night to my twitter thingy.....and I had a typo to boot!.....yes, I'm one of those texters...

This is me...... the Dork-O, the Lame-O...... THE.......well you get the picture...

I can gab, I can babble, I can cook, I can be a momma and I can blog.......

I'm trying to make myself feel better here.....can you tell?.....help me out here friends.....

So you know how excited I find myself getting over my blog followers.??.... well, now I have to get twits, tweeties, twitters....tweetsters.....oh never mind.... followers on my twitter thing a ma jig....

I have two...... woooooo hoooooooooo baby! Stand back..... At this rate, I'm going to end crashing Twitters Server very soon.......One of my tweeter peeps I'm really excited about having cuz I just really love her blog and think she is a sweetie and the other one..........

Well, I'm not so sure, again maybe lame-o again, but I think she is following me hoping I will join her work from home plan.....

I just joined last night but if I don't figure out this fun world of tweets soon, maybe I should stick to blogging!

What's next? Mommas Soapbox on Facebook...hmmmmm... it could happen......stop laughing.... I can do that one....

Ok, as you can see I'm in a dork-o mood today! SHOCKER....Ok, that is pretty much ALL the time..... but ya know..........whatever........

No, I have not been sampling new margarita recipes ..........again... ... *hiccup*...

Happy Sunday friends!!!

Church and Nascar all in one day! What's not to like?..

Ciao Bellas~

SINGLE SERVING SIZE~ MINI CHERRY PIES ~

Yes........yes that is a lid to a soda that I got from the little gas station here in town...

You all know that I IMPROVISE.... I needed a bigger circle cutter than I had, and that lid was the perfect size.....

I could have driven 45 minutes ONE WAY into town in search of the perfect size cookie cutter, but ......ya, that wasn't going to happen today.....


Spray the pan with PAM........important, very very important.....

I bought these little "leaf and acorn cutters" at William Sonoma the other day.... LOVE THEM!

They were punching leaves like there was 5 million pies to decorate........

Look it's a martian!

Such a lovely shot of my blue lid "Pie shell cutter".........

I'm soooooooo embarrased........ kind of...

Do you still love me? Even with my oakie rigged circle cutter?

Put the pie crust circles in the cupcake pan..........poke holes with a fork......

don't be afraid, stab them good.....

This pie filling is also from William Sonoma.

I went in the other day looking for a pumpkin cookie cutter..... they didn't have one by the way....... but the SALESman showed me lots and lots of other things I might like......no that I NEEDED......

This pie filling was one of them. He informed me that it is better than Marie Calendars, better than anything I could get at Costco. In fact he said it is the best cherry pie filling he has ever had in his entire life..... and he looked to be at least 20 year old...... so this meant a lot.....
I had to have it..... I instantly grabbed a jar to try......

I wish he would have told me about a circle cookie cutter..... sighhhhh

When we left the store my 16 year old rugrat son said....."Wow, he saw you coming. He worked his sales skills on you. We went here for a pumpkin cookie cutter and you came out with everything else except that!"

I replied....... "Shame on you!....... he did not.... I WANTED and pretty much NEEDED all this stuff, he was just being nice and helping me out"

It's my story, I can tell it how I want to......

By the way......the left over cherry pie filling that was left in the jar......was delicious cold..

At least that is what I heard....... I would never take the spoon and scoop it out of the jar straight into my mouth....that is so beneath me...

But......if I would have done that then I could tell you that..... it was in fact the very best cherry pie filling I've ever had......

See he was just helping me out........he wasn't trying to sell me stuff I didn't need......

Little Miss Rugrat decorating the mini pies with the leaves and acorns they cut out of the pie crust...

So fun!!!

TADA!

It went a tad long in the oven........but the phone rang......... and well, I don't know how to run out of things to say........and I forgot to set the timer on the oven.....

I did run........didn't know I could still do that......to the kitchen and whip open the oven as if there was a blazing fire in there because I was afraid I had burnt cherry pies......

The way I see it......that little sprint burnt off at least enough calories for an extra leaf or acorn on my mini pie......

Aren't they B-E-A-UTIFUL?

I sent a text photo of these to Hunk, who is in Idaho hunting........ I just wanted to make sure he knew what he was missin'......

I told him that's what happens when he goes out of town......he misses out....You snooze you lose buddy.......sucks to be you........ better luck next time.........

OKAY...the truth is... I told him that I miss him and I love him and I am going to make more special just for him, when he comes home......so now he knows where he stands......You have to keep them in line..... I'm just mean like that....

On another note........ I think I gained 500 pounds from all the baking today.........that or my pants shrunk......ya, I'm running with that one.......

Ciao Bellas~

BISCUIT SUGAR DOUGHNUTS~

This is all you need! And YES if you have something the size of a turkey baster with the top off, that would be just fine to use to cut out the doughnut holes....

Living in the middle of nowhere, when you can't find your stuff......you make do......

I seem to "MAKE DO"......a lot......

Whatever........

Why do you make me look at you while I pour the grease?....I'm going to spill......

Where is that little tab you pull to open the can?......hmmmmmmmmmm

OH MY GOSH! Did you hear that pop?!?

Look how it's oozing out....... I didn't know opening the biscuits would be so entertaining.....

I crack myself up....... "Momma, can I open the next can too?"

I'm so good at stabbing them with the turkey baster.......this is fun......

Just look at them.......lying there so innocent, not knowing what we have in store for them......

I'm sorry biscuit dough, I know you are used to be baked, not having your guts poked out and thrown into hot grease..... but we thank you....we thank you from the bottom of our tum tum's.....

Momma, are you taking a picture of me getting the sugar??

Why yes I am lil' Rugrat........now turn around and watch what you are doing before what you are doing is cleaning up my floor.....

S'more sugar in the bowl.......

Drop her in to the big ol' hot grease pan........I know it hurts......just do it..........

Oh ya baby.....now we are cooking with gas.......and grease......

but we aren't talking about that right now......

And they are browning............now hurry......FLIP......FLIP.....faster ladies....FLIP.......not a moment to spare.......

Trust me the burnt ones get eaten too........ with enough sugar on them nobody will ever know........

Ah the sugar........you can add Cinnamon to the mixture also or frost them cake frosting.....

The calories you can add to these bad boys are endless.......sighhhh

Plop....Plop........Fizz......Fizz..... oh how delicious it is......

The doughnut holes...........cook quickly........ and they are also gone just as quickly.....

When Hunk is home, they never make it to the plate.......

And I may or may not sample as I cook......

Make sure to coat them nice and good in the sugar lil rugrat.... not a calorie to spare......

Droppin' some more doughnut balls (holes) into the sugar...... sighhhhhhhhhhhh

And we now present............Yummy for the Tummy.....doughnuts.........

Rugrats: "Hurry up and take the picture Momma we want to eat these not blog them!"

Aw man.......this is going to be good.

Hot off the stove Rugrats....be careful!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..........Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......GOOD!...

Lil Rugrat: "Look Momma.......one doughnut is left!......."

Miss Rugrat: "You got more than me....It's mine!...Oh I'm so hungry still...."

PLEASE!!!........ giggle......giggle..

And just like that they are gone!......... easy come.....easy go......

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Sugar Doughnuts!!

Ciao Bellas~

LAZY DAYS OF........FALL?

It is such a beautiful morning!


The sky is blue....The birds are chirping......

And I'm walking around in my pajama's with my coffee cup and a camera..... it's really good that I live back in here, if I lived in town I'm sure I would make front page news...... and it wouldn't be a proud family moment, it would be an "I'm not related to her" moment.....

This picture turned out funky but the grass on all the hills and in our meadow are turning green.... The sun this morning makes it glow..but not as much as it appears in the photo....as you can see my sister is the photographer in the family..

So much beauty to enjoy!!

And what is everyone doing around my home this morning???

Rugrat daughter #1.......... Fast asleep......

Rugrat Daughter #2...........Fast asleep..........

Old dog Nestlie...........Fast asleep........

Oh Nestlie, don't get up on my account......

Did opening the door wake you? I'm sorry sweetie I was trying to be quiet....... go back nigh nigh sweet girl......

Ball of Kitty Cats?........... Fast asleep...........

Momma Kitty?....... Fast asleep......

I'm starting to see a pattern here.........hmmmmmmm

Oh thank you Lucky Buck! Glad you can wake up and greet me....... I tried to sneak up on him cuz I knew he would still be snoozin'.... but no sneakin' up on this country watch dog....

haha....sorry, didn't mean to laugh Buck.......you do keep the coyotes away!....

I forgive you for pretending you didn't see the bear in the backyard....... and by the way, I also thank you..... would not want to see that go down......

As I make my way back to the front door.....

My sweet old Nestlie, does what she always does.....she brings me something.....

Well, she picks something up and brings it towards me.......she doesn't "let go" of it.......... I guess you could say.........it's more a gesture than a gift really.......

But isn't that just sweet???.....

By the way I'm going inside now to yell "GET YOUR LAZY RUGRAT BUTT'S OUTTA BED!!"....

That should make them happy.........

I'm just a kind, thoughtful, loving Momma like that......it comes natural to me...they like it......well, maybe not......but they will like it today....

Why today? Because...... I'm ready to do some baking!

Enjoy your day friends!!

Ciao Bellas~