This is one of "those" nights...sleep is not coming. SO, I sit here and read your blogs and many other blogs around the world. I watch the clock and hope my eyes close soon as tomorrow is another day I need to be productive....

As I sit here and blog, read and wait here is what I learned today:

My son had a physical for sports, he is 15. Never in my life did I imagine that I would have a 15 year old, 195lb, 6'2 son! He towers over us and the doctor informed us...he's still growing and has a way to go. I guess he has to fill those size 17 shoes I search so hard for every other month! YEAH NORDSTROMS RACK!

David and I discussed moving today AGAIN! We are pretty sure Lake Forest/Mission Viejo is where we want to be and the housing market is where we were hoping it would be for us to buy something bigger (we will need a HUGE room to house the growing teenage boy)!

Kelly was treated to Top Ramen today against my better judgement...she loves it! Hello sodium! Who invented that stuff anyway! She can't stop talking about it and asking why we don't buy it, she told us that how to make it healthy...add carrots! Still....not so healthy, RIGHT?

As for my food adventures today...was treated to some real treats with some samples from La Mousse...I SHARED!

OH...and here is the KICKER of the day! We spent 1900. getting my car fixed (yes you read that right), I drove it ONE day after waiting months to get the problem solved. Got in the car this morning....YOU GUESSED IT DEAD DEAD DEAD! UGH! The bigger kicker was we were on our way to drop Holly's car off to get a new starter in it! I HATE car trouble, I am spoiled, I just want to get in the car, turn the key and drive! I know where the gas goes...THAT'S IT! I wish I was Julie who can change a transmission while baking and organizing her garage...BUT FACE IT FOLKS...SHE IS SUPER WOMAN, I AM NOT!

SO, that is my day while I lay here and wait for my eyes to close! So far...not happening...don't be surprised if I am grumpy tomorrow please accept my apologies now!

Where was I ten years ago?
I was in a new place with my marriage and children. It was a second chance, and I took in that year! I couldn't be happier about my choice! I was that mother that ran the book fair, coordinated the school play, and made goodie bags for the kindergarten and second grade classes. I was the asst. to the Girl Scout troop, and soccer mom to a purple wearing 5 year old soccer team! WOW...life has changed!
What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire?
I would pay for ALL of my children's education at the college of their choice! I would pay for my parents retirement so my dad didn't have to worry so much about the next ten years.
I would give the friends we know that are "hurting" or "struggling" but have worked hard enough to be comfortable and feel like they are getting a "fresh" start.
I would pay off my brother's student loans so he would never have to worry about them again or work double shifts to pay them off.
I would help my older brother find a place that makes him happy, go somewhere, do something he NEVER had the opportunity to go.
I would take each of my children on a trip with just their daddy and I and bond with them for ONE week...alone at the place of their choice (one rule...they have to hang out with us and talk to us)!
I would help my good friend start over after being put in a place that is SO out of her control. She deserves a new life and a new start being a single mom of 3 boys! I would buy her a new car, home and more food in her refrigerator and pantry than she has EVER SEEN!
I would move to Seattle, Washington buy a home, not a big home but a home we were comfortable with.
I KNOW my husband wouldn't quit his job, but I would hope that he would find more time to fish, walk with the kids, and do the things that make him happy.
I wouldn't want to quit my job but I would have to if we move, so I would find a ministry wherever we are. One where I would make a difference but have more time to spend with my husband and kids.
Five jobs I have had?
Shakey's Pizza - I started when I was 14 and worked there until the day before I left Eureka at 17 1/2.
Independent Indemnity Insurance- this is where I met 2 of my best friends still to this day! We were young, fun and drove this office crazy! They still love all of us till this day!
Orange County Register - Human Resources Specialist - I also made some amazing friends here, learned a TON about Human Resources. I was there for almost 8 years, then I stayed home with my kids for the next 14 years.
Tupperware Distributor- stop laughing, it only lasted 2 months!
Saddleback Church- Food Services Coordinator/Asst to Food Services Director- Still there, learning and loving daily!
Three bad habits that I have?
Telling it like it is! Sorry, I am working on this!
I can't sit still long enough to watch a whole movie unless I am doing something at the same time.
When I make a meal, I make WAY to much! My husband hates this! Hey, it means leftovers for the family and friends sharing a meal here!
Five things you might not know about me?
I am the product of an entire family of atheists.
I have self diagnosed ADD...hence the not being able to sit still.
I LOVE Swedish Fish and crave them to the point of paying a child or two to stop at the store and buy me some, even though I SWEAR I won't eat anymore!
I don't cry in front of people...EVER!
I hate speaking in public, in a group, or being the center of attention. I would rather crawl in a hole and hide!
I am afraid to death of being pulled over even though it has only happened three times in my whole life (I swear I have never been to jail)! 3 tickets in my entire life and none over 12 miles an hour over the speed limit. I went 22 years without one!


JULIE...are you proud...all done on the MAC! It took a time to find the copy and paste button but I did it without asking the teenagers to help me! I am feeling SO proud of myself!

OK, I tag....let's see....Linda, Holly, Diane and Steve (he needs something to do in Vegas, ha ha)!

I am SUPER good at not eating fried food or letting my kids eat fried food (yes, I know I have no control over what they eat when they are not with me). I try my best to remind them how bad it is...yet guess what....


I HAVE TO DO AN ENTIRE TASTING ON FRIED FOODS FOR THE NEW STUDENT ZONE! Do I politely just look at these foods? That won't work, it just doesn't sit right with a vendor when you won't try their product...so I am going to try fried foods...DON'T TELL MY KIDS!

The best part of this experiment is that we are doing the tasting at one of my favorite caterers...he makes the BEST BARBECUE MEATS I HAVE EVER TASTED! YEAH!!!!

I don't hear those words often but yesterday they kept radiating through my head. I went to see ANOTHER doctor to get ANOTHER opinion about my back issue. After a LONG exam his words were "you are too young to have this surgery!" What...when was the last time I heard someone say I was TOO YOUNG for ANYTHING! It's been a long time, I feel young just hearing those words. No my back isn't better yet but I am on a new road of recovery and need to see another doctor to continue this recovery but I NOW know that I am too young to have this surgery and want to live my life like I am young! I worry that my kids are going to remember the mom that needs to lay down because her back hurts or not be able to participate in activities because of my back. I have yet to miss a day of work because of my back and I am determined to not miss a day of my life and my children's lives because I was cursed with the back from HELL (you can thank my real dad for this). I want to change that...I am determined! So for now...NO SURGERY, NEW TREATMENTS and NEW OUTLOOK ON LIFE!

We just finished the Small Group Conference at work. It was so enjoyable, not overwhelming and I loved hearing the accents off so many people. My parents are all from the South, Mom from Kentucky, Dad from Greer, South Carolina, and real dad from West Virginia. I was always told by my friends that my parents had cute accents but I rarely noticed. When they would come back from a visit home the accents would come back and I would make fun of them. More times this week I was asked so many questions with that Southern Drawl and quick run on words...I actually LOVED hearing it! I met a wonderful sweet beautiful lady from Atlanta, Georgia today who was looking for a room, we ended up talking for quite awhile as she admired our campus, loved our hospitality and it felt like I had known her for years! I wanted to hug her and tell her that I could listen to her for hours just because she had so much love in her accent for Small Groups, Saddleback, California and then going home to share what she had learned about loving on people.
I may not have an accent, I may have been raised in Humboldt County, California but I was able to embrace this feeling of being home! As I venture into this next unplanned notch in my schedule I wanted to feel sorry for myself, be mad at God and say "why me," and remind him that I need to be at home in my home, church and life and not taken down...BUT, meeting this new face in a crowd today reminded me that I am home and I am thankful for the "accents" that remind us of the love we have around us and are called to share. I will heal and be back on my feet in no time, this will be just a notch so I can get up and continue to share the "Accent of Saddleback" with so many others...that is what God has called me to do! Walk someone to a room and find yourself thanking God for these interruptions that make us stop and listen to the accents of the world around us!

Still laptopless but thought I would update my news....need prayer but PROMISE not to make this blog about this over and over but will update once and a while. Ok, I am beating around the bush...so here goes!

I have battled a back disease for the last 15 years, it's gotten progressively worse the last year. I am an active working mom and I love it that way. I have been told the last 2 months that if I don't do something fast I will be in bad shape forever. SO....I am going to do it, have the surgery that is much needed. It's looking like next week. I will be out of commission for anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months.
I am sad, devastated and can't believe that I am old enough to have this done. It's scary...

AGAIN WISH I HAD BETTER NEWS!

I am still without my laptop, this means I don't know how to add pics to my blog using the MAC. I am at work and can't get the pics off my phone camera from last night so the 2 of you that got pics, feel blessed!

MY NIGHT....
We were given STYX concert tickets and a dinner gift card for the House of Blues Anaheim for last night! This was how we celebrated our Valentines after giving our oldest daughter the night out on the REAL Valentines night. My husband and I left around 4:15pm to head to Downtown Disney...bad choice for a Friday afternoon. It took over an hour to get there only to find out the wait for dinner was an hour and a half. We scored a small area in the bar (don't panic Saddleback people, I wasn't in the bar bar), ate there so we wouldn't have to wait the hour and a half. Dinner was ehhh, but being with my husband WITHOUT the kidlits and talking to just him, was amazing and wonderful! We then found ourselves standing in what HOB calls the "VIP" line that gets us into the concert a whole 15 minutes before the "regular" folks. Again, being that we had to stand in this line for almost an hour and a half, I was blessed with conversation with my husband...I LOVE THIS! We scored 2 stools right in the middle on the upper floor of the concert (I am sure this means I am old because I no longer competed for the front row standing) but no matter, WE had PERFECT SEATS...yes, I am proud to say SEATS!
This is where our night got dicey to say the least...the couples around us were more than intoxicated and a little touchy feely, we just sang along to Grand Illusion and watched the concert. The lady directly behind me had only been to one concert her whole life and was to say the least scared out of her mind at the surroundings, she held her purse in front of her like a shield all night, cute, funny and rather interesting, but fun to watch in the midst of the freaks around us.
STYX was great at first, they started playing some Beatles stuff and then did some "Circus" music...odd but I don't think the group around us even noticed!
All in all, my night was amazing...I love "date nights" and the concert was for the most part memorable!
Hopefully our next concert will be something like James Taylor or Van Morrison...but we will see!

Yes, I realize it's 9:03pm on the most romantic night of the year and I am sitting in front of the computer. NOW hear me out before I get the WORST WIFE OF THE YEAR AWARD! I have graciously accepted my WORST MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD many times over so this isn't a stretch.
My day...started out amazing. I have 2 desks at work, it's hard to explain but it is what it is at this point. I went to my first desk in the Ministry Center and found roses on my desk, cute little white ones and noticed that every woman on our team had the same! SO SWEET AND YES, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND I LOVE YOU TOO)! Headed to my 2nd place of work in the portables, the ladies in the room (YES YOU!) told me to go to my "other" desk where a bouquet of flowers were waiting from my wonderful amazing husband with rose petals thrown around my desk and a cute note! Feeling the love, let me tell you!
From there I was blessed with another vendor and my favorite distributor and LOTS AND LOTS of food samples. This is where my day gets weird...don't kill me BUT SERIOUSLY can I try another cheesecake, hash brown, colored pasta by 10:30am? I am over the whole smile and nicey, nice comments over food that I would NEVER serve to all of my favorite bloggers and friends at church. In the meantime, I have quietly without mentioning a word....indulged in Valentine's candy, cookies and treats that we have been given throughout our meeting. I am on a MAJOR sugar high proceeded by the sugar crash, and headache! (Forgot to mention my boss had to fill in at the Easter meeting for our team because of this prearranged meeting, so it was just me playing the nicey nice game). This is something I am really good at usually...but I cut back on sugar over a year ago, you guessed it...the major crash was coming on FAST!
Now...in order to salvage the day, I decided to do an interview for a position we are hiring for then get the heck out SO I can be well rested and maybe find some protein or carbs to counteract the suger floating through my body like a ship filled with sugarcane!
My kids are SO sweet, guess what they brought sweet "Mother of the year," you guessed it chocolate....smile and eat mommy!
My wonderful husband came home, started a dinner of shrimp scampi and cheese fondue...my goal...pull it together and eat with smiles and romance. I left the house for a few short 20 minutes to drop off one kid at a church event....and guess what.....came home to the song of "Daddy says I can have a sleepover HERE, Daddy says I can have a sleepover here...TONIGHT!"
Knowing our night is no longer salvageable with 2 8-year-olds, and a 15 year old I chalk it up to the amazing night we have planned tomorrow night! Concert and Dinner...wait till you hear who we are seeing!!! Again...forgot to mention...NO KIDS! CAN'T WAIT!
Forgot to mention...back at my desk this afternoon, chocolate covered strawberries (YES I KNOW THEY ARE FROM YOU AND YOUR MOM....LOVE YOU TOO)!

HAPPY VALENTINES ALL MY WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING BLOGGER FRIENDS! I love hearing your stories of Valentines, Golf, Music, kids and nights on the town. Thank you for sharing a glimpse of the fun, funny, and serious side of your lives...it helps me understand just where life can take us, has taken us and has given back to us! I thank God for each of those, even those I only know through this world! I hope your Valentines is special NO MATTER WHO OR HOW YOU SPEND IT!

RED HEARTS...PINK COOKIES...and God's shower of love of each of you! (again no pics, MAC'ING IT AGAIN)!

I am writing this from the MAC which BTW...I HATE! Ok, ok, I know, Mac's are great, but I am a PC girl and don't know any better! IF and I say IF with the understanding that Brent is probably NOT reading this, BUT if he is...I know "back away from the Mac!" I would but I am having blog withdrawals as well as I have SO many other "computery" things to take care of, like balancing the check book! I will get off soon...promise!
On that note so many things have happened and are about to happen, so I wanted to get caught up a little.
First of all, the dreaded phone call this morning came...the one I hate every year! You know the one if you remember ANYTHING about this time last year....YES, it's true...TRADER JOE'S COMPANY PARTY TIME! I have about 6 weeks to find the perfect dress and after last year you will remember that I also hate this task! I have decided that I am old and proud of not having a "night life" I want to stay home, I don't want to wear heals, dressy dresses and a smile when we are discussing the latest and greatest at Trader Joe's. Remember I work in food, I cater, I speak ALL day about food, I make calls regarding food, I order food, I don't need a night in an uncomfortable dress to talk about food and/or drinks. Ok bring it on...you are thinking FOOD IS GREAT, TRADER JOE'S IS GREAT...that's my point...I KNOW! So, who is on the "help Heather find a dress" team this year?
Backing up...last Friday night I catered the "wonderful" Singles Dance at church. WHAT A BLAST...NOT! This is the event that makes me SO grateful for my husband and family...but even if I didn't have either...this is NOT where I would be spending ANY Friday night...EVER! I do this event with such hesitation every year, I think it is WONDERFUL that we do this event, I think it's wonderful that we open our Worship Center doors to the single population so they aren't on the streets, bars, etc looking for Mr or Mrs. Right, this is where they should be, I am JUST SAYING...not me EVER! To top off the night, I was invited to a "Lemon-Drop Martini" party the next night by one of the attendee's...I guess he missed the ring on my left finger and our 20 year age difference!
Yesterday I spent the day at Fastrak trying to convince them that I didn't know that you could NOT put your transponder in another car! OOPS...can you say violations like you can't believe! If you get a new car...call them from the parking lot...take my advice! They were VERY kind...I was shocked, but REALLY I AM SERIOUS...they were SUPER KIND!
So, those are JUST a few things that happen to be happening in my life the last 5 or so days...oh the laptop is STILL in the shop! Tomorrow I am at a Food Vendor in San Dimas for some AMAZING treats...stay tuned! I would post pics but I don't know how to get them off the MAC.....yes, Julie I will take that lesson!

SERIOUSLY!

I have been blessed with another addition to our "family!" Kristi's (Kristi is the friend that came to live with David and I as a teenager and we lost to cancer 4 years ago) brother Brandon and his wife added to our family this week! We would LOVE to announce the birth of LUKE CHRISTIAN BUEHLER! He is SO SO SO AMAZINGLY ADORABLE! His "older" brother is growing up SO fast and we kick ourselves that we don't spend MORE time watching our little guys grow up! He is talking up a storm, cute as a button, and SO SO fun!
Today we were SO blessed with a fun and wonderful day spent in pure enjoyment! Added to our day with the amazing JAMIE from Vermont, and Sheila from Pennsylvania! We were almost complete minus a couple of spouses and Holly who had to stay home with a cold! We just couldn't let her visit a new baby with a cold, soon she will meet her new little family member!
Football, babies, meals shared...WHAT A GREAT DAY! Days like today make me thankful and SO blessed, I am so lucky!

Heather McTaggart
The wife of an amazing, funny, incredible man! The mother of 3 God loving amazing young persons!

- -

• Guess where I am....
• Did I disappear...honestly YES!
• Because she is......
• Favorite part of my day...
• Sad, mad, frustrated...it's all in the bag for today!
• HOME SWEET HOME!
• Moving has begun...
• Mother's Day...is a beautiful thing!
• Cassandra made me do it...
• HELP...is needed!

• April 2007
• May 2007
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• July 2007
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• September 2007
• October 2007
• November 2007
• December 2007
• January 2008
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Shopping

• Carlsbad Outlets
• Costco
• Downtown Chicago
• Downtown Seattle
• Ebay
• Irvine Spectrum
• Nordstrom
• Old Navy
• Target
• The Gap
• Trader Joe's

Movies

• Christmas Movies
• My Best Friend's Wedding
• Sleepless in Seattle
• You've Got Mail

• Allison
• Annie
• Brian
• Cassandra
• David Hughes
• Deanna
• Diane
• Doug Elliott Eric Busby NEW CHURCH
• Elizabeth
• Greg Vail
• Heesh
• Holly
• Jason
• Brad Johnson
• John Stearns
• Josh
• Julie blogger of the year
• Linda
• Pete
• Pioneer woman
• Rachel Styffe
• Randy Craft
• Rebekah Jones
• Riley
• Steve Powers
• Sue+cute baby and a half
• Tony Guerrero

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