Wonderful Weekend

Remember the feeling of dating when it seemed that all of your man's actions were a result of feeling like his every thought was of making you smile? Remember feeling like he forgot your imperfections because he couldn't bare to live without your unique perfections? Have you ever felt like he payed attention to every little detail wondering how many surprises he could fill in a day and overwhelm you just to see you smile? That's what I've felt like all weekend. This weekend was one of my wonderful but few child-free weekends. Usually I take it upon myself to selfishly plan every detail of these weekends. I usually plan some sort of weekend getaway b/c I don't want to look at all the toys and clothing that need to be put away, the weekends usually turn out pretty nice but always fall just a little short of perfection. This time I left all the details up to my husband, and of course I told him in plenty of time, a week or so.....I've come to learn over the years that he really doesn't have that mind-reading thingy down so well, I've tried the whole subtle hint thing and that doesn't always go as planned either. Its so much easier to just be....CLEAR....rather than romantic and confusing when letting him know what I expect.

Well, he created a perfect weekend. Friday he planned a quiet romantic dinner at a wonderful local restaurant. Who knew I missed talking, and laughing...or giggling rather, while gazing into my hubby's eyes in a dimly lit room. Sat. a wonderful cleaning service came in and magically made all the dirt and clutter in my home disappear. It was followed up with a shopping trip for shoes....my favorite, a pedicure, dinner, and a movie, and DUTCH APPLE CARAMEL CHEESECAKE. All my favorite things. He has been listening all these years! Did I forget to mention that he gave me the pedi. Yes, my wonderful hubby dug out that expensive vibrating foot soak that I swore I would use all the time when I purchased it and prepared a bubbly warm foot soak, then massaged my feet, moisturized them, and he even painted my toes.......and toenails....hehehe. I hardly lifted a finger to do anything other than hide my grin all weekend. Ahhhhhhh, he's so wonderful.

Choice or destiny?

Life is choice driven, not destiny driven......I choose to take hold of my life and future. I choose to succeed. I choose to be happy. I choose to soar. I choose to overcome. I choose to love. I determine what I shall have. When I decide to leave things to destiny, I am no longer an active participant in the direction of my future. I shuck all responsibility for my mistakes and failures but I also release the power to create my successes. No matter what happened yesterday or what happens today, I choose to be happy. I can't always choose what situations will arise or what things I may endure, but I can always choose how I will react to them. I choose to remain sane and enjoy everyday of life that I am blessed with. I choose to go after all of my dreams until they become a reality. In a world and life of so many choices, I will not use destiny as a reason to sit by waiting for things to happen or come to me, I think I will do just as the good book says.........I will fill my mind with thoughts of the future I choose. I will speak life. I choose Life!

Unexpected Events

Today I fully intended to blog this awesome thank you message to everyone who stopped by to make my SITS Day so wonderful. I wanted to let you know how awesome comment love is. I planned to tell you how I could hardly sleep for the past couple of nights because I have been up reading and responding to all the comments. I am in Comment Heaven, but thanks to one little person in my house, I must write about something else.

Writing and sharing with you guys is my way of venting my frustrations and right about now I am about to explode! For months now I have been smelling this horrible urine smell in my downstairs bathroom. I scrub it just about everyday trying to rid it of the fresh smell of urine. It smells like a little boys restroom at a nasty daycare center. It has been horrible because it is the only restroom downstairs for guest to use and the upstairs is off limits to guest, so I always find myself explaining to guest that I'm not completely nasty. I do clean that bathroom nearly everyday and I just can't seem to get rid of the smell for longer than about 1 hr. I mean I scrub on my hands and knees and polish that toilet and I lysol the wood and wipe the walls down and 1 hr later the smell is back. Today I found the problem. I walked into the bathroom to find one of my precious little boys urinating in the heating vent!!! I thought I would pass out. Out of 14 years of mommying, I've never had this happen. I lifted the vent to find a horrible urine odor floating up into the restroom on the wings of that expensive gas heat. If I lived in a cartoon I would have seen the odors waving at me. How did I miss this? Who told him this was a good idea? And when I asked him why, he replied that he liked the way it sounded. What?!?!?! Breathe, breathe......now how am I supposed to clean that?

Welcome....I'm the featured blogger!

I'm so excited I don't know what to do! Whenever I have guest over I always find myself running around like a mad woman trying to pick up everything and stuff it in closets or behind couches or my favorite hiding place, in the washroom.....but not today because I am among friends. Friends who no doubt have laundry to be washed, floors to be vacuumed, and many other things that they should be doing instead of blog-hopping. If you are a true SITS lady you have spent time reading, laughing, and crying as you happily hop from blog to blog...addicted to peaking into the lives of other people at your own leisure. Me too!!! So Welcome! Kick your shoes off and spend some time getting to know The Artis 6. In case you don't know I am a mostly wonderful wife to 1 almost perfect hubby (I still can't get him to fold clothes, but he does wash and mop), and 6....yes 1,2,3,4,5,6 mostly wonderful little ones. On the first date my hubby and I had, he informed me that he wanted 5 boys. Well he got 3 boys and 3 girls, and I'm done. As you can imagine there is so much drama in a house with 8 people living under the same roof. There is more than enough material to make you laugh or cry. Feel free to re-visit some of The Artis 6's most entertaining moments.........let's see there was the time Sarah (age 3) encouraged me to go on a diet, "Its Official!", and after that I began riding my bike...briefly, and the time the twins got into my make up "Color that lasts and lasts", Sarah asking about Papa's Underwear, Little Ike's First Kiss, Sound Probation, oh, and this is what happens to toothbrushes in our house, and of my few serious blogs...."Thoughtful Nuggets" and my sweet Andrew's Cholesteatoma Story.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Start the New Year Right!

LeVive Juice

There are 25 reasons to take Le'Vive Juice every day!

1) Decrease the levels of harmful free radicals, the cause of aging.
2) Keep your skin and hair healthy.
3) Fight funguses, virus and bacteria.
4) Increase your energy level.
5) Feel and look younger.
6) Prevent cancer.
7) Maintain a healthy blood pressure.
8) Control your blood's sugar level.
9) lose weight.
10) Sleep better.
11) Improve your vision.
12) Enhance your sex drive.
13) Improve your digestion.
14) Prevent gastritis, reflux and ulcers.
15) Maintain a normal cholesterol level.
16) Improve your memory.
17) Prevent diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
18) Control inflammation and arthritis.
19) Prevent tumors.
20) Protect your kids' health.
21) Keep your joints flexible and healthy.
22) Prevent respiratory conditions such as tuberculosis, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma.
23) Improve your fertility.
24) Keep your liver healthy.
25) Maintain an overall state of good balance health.

Where does this juice come from? Le'Vive juice comes from the 5 most powerful berries on earth:

1) Pomegranate - (Egypt & Asia). One of the oldest fruits known to man. Rich in vitamins A, B & C, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, calcium, sodium and fiber.
2) Goji - (Himalayas - Tibet, Mongolia). Considered miraculous since ancient times. Rich in polysaccharides; with 18 amino acids, vitamins A, B, C & E, 21 minerals, proteins, fiber and Omega-3 and Omega-6 oils.
3) Acai Berry - (Amazon Brazil). Legendary fruit from the Amazon that contains 10 to 33 times more antioxidants than grapes used for red wine.
4) Noni - (Polynesian Islands, India). Used as a medicinal plant for thousands of years to cure different conditions. Contains polysaccharide-based nutrients, organic acids, vitamins and minerals.
5) Mangosteen - (Thailand). An Asian native that has caused a commotion with its splended flavor. Known as the "Queen of Fruits", possesses high levels of xanthones.

ORDER YOUR LEVIVE JUICE TODAY!

Holiday Special!!!

In the spirit of the holidays, I'm offering an awesome special on any and all of my products. I am offering everything at wholesale price until Jan. 1. Remember those awesome before and after pics HERE I have, well now you can have your own transformation for half the price. Interested yet? Sure you are! Skip on over to my website HERE and decide on one of my awesome reshaping garments or nutritional products and shoot me an email at courtneyartis3@yahoo.com and we'll get you set up with an order in no time. Have a wonderful holiday!

Creepy Crawlies for Dinner

Every family has a picky eater....you know that 1 child who has a grand total of 5 foods that they will consume. Well because we have about 2.4 times the number of children the average family has, we have 2.4 picky eaters..me and 1 extremely picky eater and 1 mildly picky eater. Drew is my extremely picky eater...we never chose what we'll eat for dinner based on what he eats. If we did, our diet would consist of french fries, hot dogs, chicken, fruit, and any kind of healthy, card board looking wheat cracker. What 3 year old, picky eater prefers fruit and card board crackers???? Well, to get on with the story, Drew went with my sister for dinner yesterday. My sister is an avid seafood lover...so for dinner yesterday they decided to have crab. The minute the waiter brought out the crabs, Drew felt the need to inform my sister, very loudly, that the things they were eating were nasty. She said he repeatedly protested to them eating the crabs and encouraged her to have a hot dog with him. He was concerned that the crabs were not dead, and even protested to the folks at the neighboring table enjoying their crabs. Upon returning home last night, my 3 year old came to me looking very concerned. He said "Mommy, Auntie was eating bugs." My sister had already told me about dinner, so I decided to play along and replied, "What? What do you mean Auntie was eating bugs?"

"She was eating some bugs with legs, that have hands, and it was orange, and it can crawl around, and it was nasty." I could barely hold in my laughter b/c he looked so concerned. He later told me that she was using a hammer like Papa at the table. "You're not supposed to use the hammer at the table, right? Only on the wall, right?" By this point I could no longer hold in my laughter. He actually wanted me to have a talk with my sister. And this morning he tried to convince his twin that they should talk to Auntie together, which normally would have been a great idea, except his twin is the child that eats and enjoys everything. She decided she was upset that Auntie didn't take her to eat bugs too.

Seafood and picky should NEVER go in the same sentence. As a matter of fact, I don't eat any seafood because I can't get past the way it looks. It always looks like someone just caught the animal and threw it on your plate...no dress up to confuse me, and convince me that I'm not eating my pet goldfish? Nevertheless, I've decided that maybe I should encourage Drew to try some different things....any suggestions for encouraging a picky eater? Drew and I could really use them.