Angela's Blog

My daughter, Angela, now has a blog. Check it out at http://angelapaparazzo.blogspot.com/

Random Paparazzo Activity

Yay! It's almost bedtime. My favorite time of day. When the kids go to bed. Of course, I'll probably go to bed early tonight myself, because I'm kind of tired. Of course, that might change after my stomach full of potatoes digests. Angela says I'm always tired, but that is because she always wears me out. Mostly Angela, but also Chloe and Jeremiah. But Angela definitely requires a lot of energy. She gets so excited about my blog. She always wants to help. So funny. They're going to bed now. Yay! Boy is this a random blog post. I told you I'm easily distracted. Having three kids is a definite distraction, but a fun one. I doubt if I'll actually go to bed early. I always say that, but it never happens. I'm just a night person by nature, plus with all the kids in bed it's so pleasantly quiet in the house at night.

Winter Break Fun (When does school start again?)

Well, the kids are driving me crazy. They fight all the time and keep doing things like bouncing my body ball, which they know they're not supposed to do. The body ball just landed on the desk a few minutes ago, knocking a bunch of stuff down. Ugh! Jeremiah spent his money from his Wal-Mart gift card the day after Christmas. He got a nerf gun and a remote control car. A starter piece for a Tech Dek build a park set, and some extra darts for his nerf gun. He promised he wouldn't shoot his sisters with the nerf gun, cause I knew that would cause fights, but apparently Chloe likes being hunted, so she asks him to shoot her with his nerf gun, while she runs from him! LOL. She is so funny! Jeremiah is now squishing a bunch of little marshmallows together to make a big marshmellow for his hot cocoa. He is so strange! I certainly can't accuse my kids of not having imaginations!

Christmas Presents and All That Drama

For Christmas Angela and Chloe got new Webkinz and they both screamed, at the same time, because they both happened to open them at the same time. One's called The Pucker Fish and it is Chloe's and the other is called the Clown Fish, named Nemo, which if you hadn't noticed is what almost every clown fish is called since a certain movie came out! And Jeremiah got Tech Deks. They're small finger boards and they have tiny little bolts. Josh got a new coat and he pulled the strings and covered his face. He looked really funny sitting there. I got a Scentsy warmer and a few scents to go with it. I was thrilled about that. I've been wanting one for a long time, but never could justify the expense. I must have mentioned that to my mother at some point, cause she got me lots of Scentsy stuff. Angela and Chloe got Snuggies For Kids. They wear them while they're playing on the computer and making puzzles. They like to cut and make puzzles. Angela got roller blades and kept roller blading all over my mom's house and she would go too fast and crash into things. Angela also got a Discovery Kids video camera, which I am afraid she might use to blackmail some people since she was recording all the time. Chloe got a new coat that is very cute and fuzzy. She looks adorable in it. Angela wanted one, too, but Uncle Dave (my brother) has a thing about kids getting clothes and/or books for Christmas, because he didn't like it when he got those things. So he wouldn't let Aunt Sheila (his wife) buy one for Angela, too. He didn't even want her to buy the one for Chloe. She also got a book about baseball for Jeremiah tha he had a fit about, but he got it anyway and he loves it.

Those are not all the things we got, but they are the main things. The kids had a good Christmas, other than Chloe's allergies.

This was mostly Angela's post, as she was telling me what to type, but I added my own commentaries in a few places, so I will say it was authored by

Angela and Shellie Paparazzo

itunes

Hey, I found my itunes gift card I had lost last year, so now I have a playlist on my computer! Only 12 songs, but we all have to start somewhere right! I discovered that my ipod no longer works, so I lost all the songs my husband had put on that, but oh,well. Now, I can put my favorites from my computer onto my new ipod, when I get one (if I get one). I only got this one because my daughter misbehaved for the last time and got her ipod taken from her. I never had one, really. So, the songs he put on there were for her. Otherwise I'd be more upset about losing them. As it is, they weren't my favorite songs to begin with. They were convenient that's all. Not the one's I would have picked. Considering how long it took me to figure out how itunes works, it will be a miracle if I figure out how to get the music from my computer to an ipod, if I ever get one, anyway.

Our Christmas Turmoil

Well, Christmas went fairly well. Chloe again had problems with her allergies while at my parents house. I don't know whether we'll ever be able to go to their house. Between her and I, we are allergic to every animal they have. I am allergic to both cats and dogs and who knows what else. I survive at Josh's mom's house, because I am only there for brief periods of time and I have prescription allergy meds that cost us a lot of money, that I have to take a ton of when I'm at my mom's. I give Chloe lots of her over the counter stuff, but it barely touches it. She's always so miserable down there with all there adorable long-haired cats that she can't resist. Of course, my extremely rude sister got on my case about having a cat when my daughter's allergic to them. Never mind that she never has this problem at home, except on the very rare occasion that Jewel sheds and Chloe packs her around. If she leaves her alone, she's fine. And Jewel's so big, she's hard to carry, so Chloe never does. Why does she think we were leaving mom's house to go to our own house with our own cat? Because our cat doesn't cause her problems. Maybe Jill should get rid of her dogs, so I don't have to pay so much money to go see her! Anyway, we headed back yesterday, partly because I was sick of everyone's judgmental jerkiness (sometimes I wish I was an orphan), but mostly because of Chloe's allergies.

A Need For Interaction

Okay, I know it's Christmas and everything, but some comments would be nice! I'm going to be leaving in a little bit. I'll be back Saturday and I expect to see some comments. I'm a social person. I require interaction in everything I do. Sorry about that, but it's a need that I have!

Genesis 1:26

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Now, many of the policies in this country are trying to put animals in a position they don't belong in. They are treating them as either equals, or in some cases as higher than humans, but they're not! We are to rule over them. Now, does that give us the right to abuse them? Certainly not! I'm just against abusing animals as much as anyone else, but I don't think they should be as valuable or more valuable then humans. If my cat got a terminal disease I'd probably just have her put down. But I wouldn't do that if it was one of my children. I would look at and weigh all of our options and choose a good, aggressive treatment plan for him/her. What's the difference? I'm not going to make my family suffer financially over a cat, but my children are worth it. They are a higher value than my cat. I love my cat very much and I feed her and water her and I give her love and attention, just not at the expense of my children. If it came to that I would find another home for her. I would not neglect her or make her suffer further in any way. If I can't take care of her, I'll find someone who can. If she's ill and is probably going to die anyway, I believe putting her down is the most merciful thing I could do for her.

Now, this will probably be my last post in Genesis before the new year, since this is the last day of school for my kids, before break. I'll probably be on here a few times to update you on the holiday happenings, but no more in Genesis for now. We'll pick it back up in January.

Lord, help us to keep the right balance in knowing how far to go in caring for animals. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,
The Paparazzo's (Shellie, Josh, Jeremiah, Angela, Chloe, and Jewel...the cat)

A Busy Week of Christmas Celebrations

It's been a good week, so far, other than Chloe throwing up last night. She stayed home today, even though she was fine. I just wanted to be sure and was worried about her being tired since she didn't get a lot of sleep. I didn't have any trouble getting her to go to bed tonight, let me tell you! Anyway, Tuesday was sort of a nice lazy day at home. Wednesday was Jeremiah's AWANA Christmas program, which was fun and had lots of yummy food afterwards, mostly cookies. That morning I also had a cookie exchange sort of a thing at my bible study, so I enjoyed that and then went and looked at the thrift stores to see if they might still have some stuff I could get for my kids for Christmas, since we're really broke this year. They have a few things. Hope they still have them this weekend, the next time I'll probably be able to shop, after I take my kids tomorrow to show me what sorts of things they are even interested in. I also went to the food bank to get a few things. Oh, yes, and I baked cookies Tuesday night for my bible study, and decorated them. That is very unusual for me. I never bake! I usually just buy cookies for these sorts of things. Today, we went to a friends to sing carols and eat more cookies. (I'm starting to sense a theme here. No wonder Chloe got sick!) We'll see how tomorrow goes, with our window shopping adventure after school and then Celebrate Recovery.

Genesis 1:24-25

Genesis 1:24-25

And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Now, I really don't care too much for the "creatures that move along the ground", but I love all the other creatures that God created! Although, hippos aren't all that attractive. What in the world was God thinking when he created those? Have you ever seen one in real life? They're hideous. I don't know why they bother with them at zoos. You'd think they'd be detrimental to their numbers! Nobody wants to see that. Especially not after lunch! I did noticed something interesting just now for the first time that I'd never seen before, that I find a bit odd. Maybe it's just me, but did God just say to "Let the land produce" these things. Are you picturing apes and giraffes, and cows and sheep, and snakes just suddenly growing out of the ground like I am? Some deer and elk maybe? It was a quite a funny picture in my mind. You have to wonder what it looked like. Did they just suddenly appear? Or did they literally grow out of the ground like a flower only a lot faster to where you could actually see it growing? Or did it just pop out of the ground like I pictured earlier? I have to admit the growing out of the ground picture in my mind was even stranger than the first. Maybe I'm just weird to wonder about these things, but I like wondering about the things no human has ever seen with their own eyes.

By the way, I have one of those lovely creatures that God created. A cat named Jewel, and I love her very much. I'm glad God created her. I thought I had four before we got her, but they tell me they're human, which we'll talk about in the next post. I think I'm glad God created them, too. Sometimes, I have my doubts, like when they try to ride their new electric scooter through the house at 15 miles an hour, thinking I won't notice. That's another story for another time. Anyway, I love giraffes. They are just so surprisingly graceful with those long necks and spindly legs. They are amazing creatures. Have you ever seen one drink. They have to spread their legs way out, even with those long necks. They are incredible creatures! What a mind to think that up! That is amazing! There are a lot of other creatures I love as well, but the giraffe has to be my favorite. Of course, I love deer and elk as well, but mostly on my dinner plate! I would love to here about any of your favorite creatures and what you love about them?

A Good Monday (Is that an oxymoron?)

Wow! I'm sure I gained 10 pounds tonight, but what else is new. It's the Christmas season! Tis the season to get fat! We had a Ladies Christmas Party tonight at my church. There were lots of ladies there. It was a great success. We ate cookies and drank hot drinks like cocoa and apple cider and played the necessary cheesy Christmas party games and sang Christmas carols. It was loads of fun. Met some new people from the church that I've only been attending for about 10 months. It was great! I did make it to Step Study this morning and was able to stay the whole time. I even found a baby-sitter for next week, when my kids are on Christmas break, so I can go then, too.

Missing Step Study

Let's see if I make it to and actually get to stay at Step Study this morning. This whole thing has been a disaster. Circumstances beyond my control have kept me away from the step study I'm supposed to be co-leading, all but 3 times. Yeah, I've been gone more than I've been there. We're already in book 2 and I've only shared my answers to 2 of the lessons in book 1. There are 6 lessons in book one. I've done all the lessons, but that's not all you're supposed to do. You're supposed to share your answers with someone even if you miss your group time. I've got a lot of makeup work to do.

A Relaxing Sunday

It's been a lovely Lord's Day. I got to relax and enjoy my day. My girls were both beautiful angels at our church's Christmas program this morning, which I had completely forgotten about! They barely got their in time to get in their costumes for second service! I guess with the two hockey games and the slumber party I had to pick Angela up from this morning, my brain was just too full for one weekend! And my son had the nerve to ask me to take him to Wal-Mart this afternoon to spend his gift card he got for selling popcorn with the Boy Scouts. Ugh! I'm not taking him until after Christmas! I don't care how much he whines!

A Rather Boring Morning (I enjoy expsosing you to the mundane things of life sometimes)

Well, we'll be going to church in about 40 minutes. We have snow on the ground again, finally! Jeremiah's outside playing in it right now! He couldn't resist the snow this morning. My daughter had a rough night. She was cold apparently. I don't know what her deal is. I wasn't cold at all last night!

Angela's First Hockey Games

Sorry, I haven't gotten back to Genesis yet. I've been promoting my son's blog instead. Again check it out. Refer to the post before this one if you need the address. I'll be getting back to Genesis hopefully, this next week. My daughter had her first 2 hockey games today. All in one day. They played LC here in Moscow this morning and then went to Lewiston to play them on their own ice. They lost both games, but tried hard and had fun. They have a few new players on their team besides my daughter, I believe, so they're just learning. Angela needs to work on her skating mostly. I think the rest will come pretty quickly once she gets her "ice legs". Right now she balances with her stick, so when she hits the puck she falls over, so learning to skate better will make a huge different. Once she gets confident on skates, I think she'll be able to be more aggressive, going after the puck and learning to control the puck and everything. I'm sure by the end of the season she'll be a very different hockey player! She loves it a lot, so I know she'll work hard to improve! She's a great little girl with a lot of fire and a lot of energy. This will be a great sport for her!

A New Blog From My Brilliant Little Scientist

Please check out my son's blog at http://11th11.blogspot.com/

He calls it that cause apparently it's a big deal that he turned 11 on the 11th this year!

Jeremiah

Today, Jeremiah is sick, so he's home leaning over my shoulder looking at my blog. He says he wants a blog. It would probably be much more interesting than mine. He'd talk about baseball, and science. I'm sure you'd find it fascinating. He's really quite brilliant! Of course, I might be a bit biased.

Our Weeekend Away

By the way, the hotel we stayed in was amazing, too. It was a big room and beautiful! As far as what we did at the hotel by ourselves with no children, besides have a big, wonderful buffet breakfast the morning after the party that didn't involve food landing on the floor, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

Our Weekend With The Boy Scouts

Well, Josh and I had a wonderful weekend! The party was fantastic! Great food, great company, great games! Such a fun group! I met lots of great people! We may be broke with this job, but Josh gets to work with some great people, doing very good work! Helping our future to become the best men they can be!

Heading Out

Well, I'm going to be leaving in just a little while for a Boy Scout Pow-wow. Right now the kids are packing for their night at grandma's. I think they're trying to pack their entire rooms into one bag! I'm not looking very festive, but I have a tendency to lose things when I bring too much, so I'm not wearing earrings or anything. I don't want to lose my Christmas earrings! I'm really tired, so it's going to be a long day.

I'm Leaving Town (Seriously, This Is A Big Deal!!!)

Tomorrow morning after Angela's hockey practice the Paparazzo's are leaving town! You have no idea how exciting this is! I haven't left Moscow since the Friday before Thanksgiving and then I only went to a small town about a half hour drive from here. Before that, the last time was last summer when I went to my grandpa's funeral. I really am too broke to go anywhere, so this is exciting! We're taking the kids to their grandma's house in Deary, but then Josh and I are going to Spokane, I believe. Or somewhere around there. And his boss is putting us up in a hotel! This is REALLY, REALLY EXCITING! I know, I'm easily amused. This is what happens when you have no money. Anything that gets you out of town is exciting, even if it is a Boy Scout employee pow-wow and staff Christmas party, with a night in a hotel. It's really kind of sad the simple things that get me excited. I mean the pow-wow will probably be really boring for me, since I have no idea what's going on with the Boy Scouts and have nothing to contribute, but just the idea of doing something without my children tagging along (not that I don't love them), and with my husband, alone, really sounds cool! Very Cool!!!!

A Paparazzo Thanksgiving

Since I never really told you all about our Thanksgiving, I thought I'd tell you now, even though it was rather normal except for when Josh burned his leg. Well, why don't I just start at the beginning.

It started the weekend before Thanksgiving on Friday night, when we went to Josh's Mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody was busy doing other things the rest of the week, so that's why they decided to do it early rather than not be able to have Thanksgiving at all. So, we went out there on Friday night after helping Josh with some popcorn organizing for the Boy Scouts. We got out there shortly before dinner. It was really noisy with Candy and Danny's 5 kids, Amy's 3 girls, and our 3. Actually that is an understatement. It was INSANELY LOUD!!!! Just so you get the idea. After dinner, we had a bonfire, so they could burn some brush. Don't worry, they had a permit. Anyway, after starting the fire we went inside and had some pie, before Josh and his brother Raymond, headed back out to work on burning the brush. It had been raining during all of this and Josh was wearing denim jeans. They were slightly damp from the rain while he was scooping stuff into the fire. He got too close to the fire and his pants started steaming on the inside. He felt like he was on fire, so he moved away from the fire and stopped, dropped, and rolled like your supposed to. It was dark, so when Raymond saw him rolling, he assumed he was on fire and ran over to pat the fire out, but he wasn't on fire. I didn't actually see this happen, cause I was in the house with the women and kids. Josh came running in and took off his pants. (Apparently pain takes away any sense of modesty one might have.) He needed to get something cold on it right away. To make a long story short he suffered second degree burns on his leg. He's still treating them and we've got a few different medicines that are working quite well for those of you who might be concerned. Not long after we treated and wrapped his burn we returned home. He was in a lot of pain for the next few days.

We were going to go to my parents house the next Wednesday, but I woke up early Tuesday morning with a very stuffy nose and achey all over, so I called my mom and cancelled our trip. Usually when I get a cold, I'm sick for at least a week. Not this time. After a VERY miserable Tuesday, I woke up Wednesday morning feeling almost completely back to normal. I still didn't want to risk getting my family sick, so we still stayed home. We went to our church where some of our friends were putting on a dinner for anyone who wanted to come enjoy dinner there and didn't have somewhere else to go. It was a really delicious dinner, and we enjoyed spending the time with our friends. We didn't stay long, since Josh was still in quite a bit of pain from his burn and wanted to get home, where he could vedge on the couch and not move much, letting his leg heal. Well, like I said, not too eventful, but that was our Thanksgiving!

Genesis 1:20-23

Genesis 1:20-23





And God said,"Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, " Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning-the fifth day.



Oh, goody! Now we're getting to the good stuff! The animals. Not a real big fan of fish or birds, but I absolutely love whales and dolphins! I'm a particularly big fan of the Orca. Otherwise known as the Killer Whale. Such a terrible name for such a beautiful creature! How about you? What is your favorite creation from this day?