Hollye's Hobby

I'm bringing the blog back....

2011-11-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

I know I said that once before, but I am serious this time. I've taken a break from facebook because of drama, but I really need an outlet to "record" stuff. So, the blog it is!!!

Heartbroken

2011-01-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

I sit here at 12:19 in the morning heartbroken. One of my dear friends and neighbor, lost her husband tonight. Very unexpected. The week of Christmas he went to the hospital and they thought he had bronchitics. Turns out, he had stage 4 esophageal cancer. On the 12th, he was told by the doctor's that they would not recommend chemo because he was too weak and said that it was time to call in hospice. That was YESTERDAY. Today, he's gone.

We had bunco this evening. After bunco, I came home and just hung out in the living room. About 10:40ish, I heard a truck with a large engine pull up in front of my house. I'm on a dead end street, so when I hear things like that, I always look. I saw flashing lights and I knew they were headed to my neighbor's house. I called two other friends and we stood outside to see if they were going to transport him or what was going on. We were able to talk to her before they left for the hospital. When I walked back in the house, Brian was getting ready to head out to check on me and I just started bawling. At that point, we just knew he was having problems breathing and blood pressure was bottoming out.

My heart is broken for my friend. Her husband is no longer in pain, but her pain is just beginning. She's the sweetest person ever and if there was anyway I could take away her pain, I would do so.

I'm going to hug my husband and thank God for bringing him into my life. I'm thankful for every minute I have with him. I know I would be devastated if something were to happen to him.

Please say a prayer for my friend Sheila.

Blog ya later....

Wow....

2010-12-22T22:17:00.001-08:00

I can not believe that it is almost the end of the year. I'm having a hard time getting into Christmas again this year. I think that has a lot to do with how my whole holiday season starts out to begin with. Spending time with family is sometimes hard on me. There are a lot of times when I feel as if I am just an inlaw and not really one of the family. My Thanksgiving was a little rough. Some rude comments were made to me and after years of just smiling and laughing about it, I'd had enough and I blew up. I told Brian that I think next year we should have Thanksgiving at home! I really think that is part of my holiday "blahs". It is what it is. But I will say that that whole situation made me very thankful for the wonderful relationship that I have with my brother's wife, Jennifer. To me, she's my sister, not my sister-in-law. If we ever have the chance to move back to Texas, I would jump on it in a heartbeat. Even if it was back to the Dallas area. At least I would only be about 4 hours away from my family instead of 12. I miss my niece and nephews. I want K to be able to play with them more than a couple of times a year. Crap. Now I'm homesick.

I honestly can't wait for Christmas to be over and done with. I like the new year. It's like starting over with a clean slate. I've got a lot of things I want to work on changing this year. This last year I've struggle with depression quite a bit and it has affected a lot of things in my life. I've let a lot of things suffer because of it and I need to work on fixing that. I know that I am a good parent, but I know that I've probably not done as much with K as I should have this past year. I probably should have stopped working at the beginning of the summer, but I didn't. I regret it.

This year isn't going to be a year full of resolutions for me. It's going to be a year of change. It has to be. I can't keep on this path that I've been on. It's not healthy for me, Brian or Kennedy. It affects all of us, but I think in the long run it will affect Kennedy the most and I need to make sure that doesn't happen. The LAST thing I want is for her to be in therapy when she's in her 30's talking about how much resentment she has for her mother. I've been there...done the therapy. I don't want that to be the situation with my relationship with Kennedy. When she is older, I want her to remember what a wonderful childhood she had and how much she was loved by both of her parents. I think that is the main reason I push myself so hard to be a "super mom". It's not because I am trying to be "that mom". It's because it is so very important for my daughter to be able to look back and say, "wow....my mom is awesome." I don't have those memories. That was NOT my childhood. Oy. I could go on and on.

I'm not sure what direction this blog will take next year. I know that it's most def. going to be a lot more positive!

Well....it's almost 1am here and I just made a very long list of all the things that need to be done tomorrow. I'm honestly not sure I will be able to do all of it! Oh well. I've got to try! I want to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day just hanging out with Brian and Kennedy and getting ready for our trip to Texas.

Merry Christmas!

Blog ya later...most likely in 2011!

It is hot in here to you?

2010-11-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

So, I have a Hate-Hate relationship with our thermostat. I always manage to screw it up without Brian specifically tell me how to set it. With the weather as crazy as it has been, the house is either cold in the morning or hot in the evenings...all depends on how it was previously set. Last night I was cooking and baking and I was sweating. I had to be at a Girl Scout council meeting at 6, so I was trying to get everything done and I was going to end up smelling like spaghetti sauce and sweat! ARG! So, I checked the temp in the house and it was 77 degrees. That's not comfortable when you have all four burners going and the oven is baking at 450 degrees. Anyway, later that evening, I was telling Brian a couple of different things while I was driving home and I was asking him about something I saw on TV where you could control the temp in your house by your phone. I know I saw it. Did anyone else see it? I know I'm not crazy. I'm sure it's something that cost thousands of dollars to install in your house. Anyway. I told him we needed to do something about the thermostat and didn't they make one that would automatically switch from heat to cool. Apparently, no such animals exsist that he is aware of. I'm sure that SOMEONE makes something like that. See...I hate messing with it. When I touch it, it seems to instantly be 90 degrees in the house when I wanted it to be like 68. And when I want it to be warm, we end up wearing coats after I've messed with it. And what's with the on/off/fan setting. What's the fan for? Back to the story... Brian tells me just to change it when it gets too hot. I tell him I hate messing with it because it never sets right for me. I forgot to mention...it's digital. Then my industrial engineer husband offers to write job instructions for me. He used the "technical term" that he apparently uses at work when he writes these for the workers. I called him an ass and hung up on him. Maybe I will just refuse to cook due to the heat and he will invent a thermostat that does what I want it to do. Then we would be rich and I could hire a cook and she could worry about the heat downstairs in the kitchen. Sounds like a plan, huh?

Blog ya later.

Getting back to blogging....

2010-10-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've decided I need to get back to blogging. I haven't been keeping a journal, so I use my blog to look back and remember stuff. Oops. Didn't do too good this past year. The past 6 months have been BUSY in our house and new things have happened. Change in jobs, vacations, new piano lessons, wedding, new pets, no job... And by far the biggest change in our house....my baby, my tiny little baby that I prayed everynight to God to send to me, turned FIVE and started kindergarten. I can't believe it. I feel like just last week Brian and I were freaking out over the thought of actually leaving the hospital with her and being alone and in charge of her...ALONE. Scariest time of my life, but also, the most exciting. This morning she asked me about the scar on my tummy. She asked me if that was where she came from. (just a side note....she's obsessed with weddings and having babies right now.) I told her yes, it was from when she was in my tummy. She asked me if it hurt. I told her that it didn't hurt, but even if it did hurt, it would only be a little. Then I explained to her that the "hurt" would have been all worth it. She asked me why and I told her because when it was all done, I had a beautiful baby. She had this huge smile on her face...."You had me!" It still amazes me every day when I look at her....that child grew in my body. She's the best part of me and the best part of Brian.

So, I 'm back to blogging. I'm going to try and post a couple of times a week. I'm hoping that if I get back to blogging, that will inspire me to get my camera out more often. I've really been BAD about not taking photos for the past year. I'm really disappointed in myself over that.

Okay...I've got to run. K is at school and I have a couple of errands to run before I pick her up. Tons going on this week and not enough time in the day to complete everything that needs to be completed!

Blog ya later!

OUCH!

2010-08-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Okay...I promise I am going to get back to blogging....one of these days. Just trying to get into the groove of Miss K being in school. I will blog about that more later this week. But right now.....OUCH! I had some moles removed on Friday. I've had a couple removed over the years, but this time I had seven removed. Yes...SEVEN. In the past, I guess I never really paid attention to how the whole procedure went. But I do know that I've never had stitches after having them removed. Heck, I'm 38 years old and I've never had stitches other than when I had my c-section. I am currently sporting 8 stitches. Three in one area and 5 in another. OUCH! It freaking HURTS! I've got to go back in two weeks and have them removed. OUCH! And four of the moles are in my "bra" area, so that makes it hurt even more. Because you KNOW I can NOT go without a bra. That would just be ummm...not right.

OUCH!!! And to think....I was irritated that he woudln't remove more than seven at a time.

Blog ya later!

Hello Blog. Oh how I've missed you....

2010-07-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of things going on this summer. We've been so busy that we aren't even going to be able to make our summer trip to Texas. I am so bummed. We normally spend the 4th at my dad's house cooking out and watching fireworks. They were all together...without us. Makes me sad. We were lucky to be able to join our neighbors for a cook out and some fireworks. We had a great time, but I dearly miss my family.

I am going to try and get back to blogging. I've really missed it. We are leaving for vacation Saturday. A VERY last minute trip to Disney. We are going with my bff, Joann and her family. We are really looking forward to it. This week is going to be a busy one! When we get back, K's birthday party will be the following week. Even though we are doing a Build-A-Bear party, there are still some cute things I want to make for the party. Cupcake wrappers, cupcake picks, centerpiece for the table, and some cute party favors. I waited until the last minute to order the invites, so they will not be in until Wednesday. I'll have to get them printed Wednesday and drop them in the mail on Thursday! We are doing K's party a bit different this year. Last year she had a HUGE party. This year....10 friends. All girls. She's changed her invite list a couple of times. I am going to sit her down Tuesday evening and have her make a final decision. That ought to be fun!

I hope that this is the start of regular blogging again.

Blog ya later!

The Dever Family

2010-01-31T23:18:00.000-08:00

I work at a very small church parent's day out program. I mean...SMALL. The great thing about small is, I know all the kids and their parents. I wouldn't have it any other way. Saturday evening I got a phone call regarding one of the boys in our school, Jack. Jack and his family lost their house in a fire Saturday afternoon. It's heartbreaking. His mom, Kelly just had a baby last Friday, so Lane was 8 days old the day of the fire. The family and their four dogs are safe, but now they face the task of rebuilding everything. So, please keep the Dever's in your thoughts and your prayers. A friend has set up a blog to keep everyone informed of what is going on. You can read it here. If you are in a position to help them out, please do so.

Blog ya later....

Meal Planning Monday

2010-01-17T22:51:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get back into the groove of things. So far, it isn't going so well. One thing I need to get better about doing is COOKING. I just finished making my menu for the week. I didn't realize it until I was done, but we will be eating a LOT of chicken this week! Oh well...

Monday - Leftover Chicken Pot Pie (I have a job that night at the O'Charley's test kitchen, so I will be eating there and Brian and K will be eating at home.)

Tuesday - Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, & Corn

Wednesday - Spaghetti (this is K's dance night, so I need something easy.)

Thursday - Chicken Strips/Nuggets, homemade fries, fresh fruit

Friday - Chicken Sandwiches, baked beans, fresh fruit

Saturday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Chips, mixed veggies

Sunday - Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole, steamed carrots

I also need to get better about breakfast. Since K & I leave for school about 8:15am, we are usually grabbing something to eat on the way out the door. That usually means donuts, toast, granola bars...nothing real healthy. I am going to try something new this week. My goal is to have myself ready by 7am. Get breakfast ready, get K up, feed the two of us, get her dressed adn then head out the door at 8:15. This means my night owl self is going to have to start going to bed early. (I am typing this at 1:04am!) Brian is off on Monday, so K will be staying home from school while I work. Anyway....I am going to add breakfast to my meal planning next week. Even if it is just cereal!

Okay, I am headed to bed.

blog ya later!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from The Cross Family!

Lots on my mind...

2009-12-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

I've got a lot of stuff on my mine. I could go on for days about crap that I've been dealing with, but it just makes me depressed. I can't even get into the Christmas spirit. That totally sucks because K really gets Christmas this year. I just have to keep telling myself that I need to be the best parent I can be. I can't control how other people parent or treat their kids. I know that I can be "that' parent. I have been called an "over achieving parent" to my face several times and I am sure it's been said behind my back a million times. Honestly, I don't give a damn. At least I WANT to be a parent. I put my child's needs before my own. Isn't that what you are suppose to do as a parent? Do I have it wrong? I expect a lot out of myself as a parent and in my own eyes, I fall short....a lot. I am totally rambling now.

Tomorrow starts a new week. The week of Christmas. If it kills me, I will make this a Christmas that K will remember. As much as I hate to admit this...my tree isn't even decorated yet! It's been up for weeks. How sad is that. Tomorrow I have to go downtown and take care of a few things. Then K and I are coming home and we are going to get busy. We are going to make some cookies and decorate our tree. And when Brian gets home, we are going to make our gingerbread house. This year, we are putting the dang thing together with Gorilla Glue! I'm not messing with that icing to hold it together!

It's super late and I must get to bed. I don't know if I will get a chance to blog must before the end of the year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Blog ya later!

Christmas Card Holder

2009-11-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

I actually completed a project. This HUGE. My house is the land of unfinished projects. Heck, my house is an unfinished project! Anyway, I saw this cute card holder in Family Fun magazine. I liked the concept, but thought it would look better with ribbon. LOTS of ribbon. And they used alligator clips to hold the cards. I am going to use paper clips. Check it out...

First...start with a tomato cage. If you want to do this project, you are going to have to search for these. I ended up getting one at a small mom and pop Ace Hardware. Lowe's didn't have any out and they weren't going to get one from the back for me. Ace let me go back in their storage area to pick it out. You can find them in green, but mine was not, so I spray painted it....

(Note all the board games and Mr. Potato Heads? Those are for the preschool kids. I was able to get some great games for them for CHEAP!)

Next you will need LOTS of ribbon. Hobby Lobby has their ribbon on sale all the time. I probably had enough ribbon in my house to make 50 of these, but I have no idea where half of it is. I decided to go with a red/white/green/black theme for my tree. I just cut a ton of the small pieces.And then, just start tying and a tying and tying and tying...get the picture? It's a lot of tying, but I think it's cute.

A couple of the trees like this that I have seen on line have made a cone out of paper for the top. I didn't want to mess with that. Just took a large piece of black grosgrain ribbon and tied a knot. It brought the 3 pieces at the top together. Then I just tied a bow. Not the greatest looking, but it works. Then I took our Christmas card from this year and sat it in the "nest" at the top. I just taped the card at the back to make it stay. I think it looks cute. As cards come in, I will punch a hold in them and hang them from paper clips on the tree.

What do you think?

ARG! I need to go. I've got to be at a party in less an a hour and a half and I haven't showered or packed one single thing!!!!

Blog ya later!

Finally!

2009-11-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

So, about a year ago I stopped letting K cash in her CEC tickets for tiny pieces of junk. I take that back...I didn't let her cash them all in on tiny pieces of junk. I would give her like 40 tickets and have her get stickers and a sucker. She was happy with that. She never knew the different. But I've been saving all the other ones. Over a year's worth. And there was about a 3 or 4 month period where we did not go to CEC because K went into a meltdown the mintue we walked into the place. She's scared to death of Chuck E. We've been twice in the past two weeks. We have sort of a tradition with our neighbors. On the kids actually birthday, we head to CEC, eat, play games and eat cupcakes. We didn't do it for K's birthday this year because her birthday fell on a Saturday and I would need to be medicated to go into that place on a Saturday. Anyway...tonight before we left, I told Brian to grab all the slips and we would cash them all in if we had enough. At the end of the night, we had 5,731 points. They had two Disney princess Barbie dolls that she could pick from. She tried to talk me into this GIANT stuffed bear and I put my foot down on that FAST. Then she spied this Tinkerbell set. It was 6,000. I told her if she wanted that, she would have to wait until we got some more tickets. Then the girl pipes up....you can upgrade for $3 and get that prize. So, I gave K the option...a Barbie princess or Tinkerbell. She picked Tink. Everyone was like..."wow! that's an awesome prize! That's a lot of tickets!" Yes, it was. She was so proud of herself and her prize. I told her we will start saving up again for another big prize. I didn't get a chance to take her picture with it when we got home. But I wanted to post a photo. This is one of the photos from our family photo shoot this month. I love this photo. I never thought about doing photos of our hands. I love the simplicity of it. My plan is to change it to black and white and have it enlarged. Over the past 4 months, K has had her photo taken a number of times. I am going to go broke buying all the photos I want! I've decided that this year, I am not doing a Christmas photo for her. She will see Santa, but that's it. And I am 99.9% sure that the photo of her and Santa will be of her screaming her head off.

Okay...list is still a mile long for tomorrow. Need to go to bed.

blog ya later!

Seriously?

2009-11-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

I am 37 years old. I am old. I know that. And let me just say....I am over the high school drama that some mom's seem to thrive on. We are grown ass women. Get.Over.Yourself. Seriously?

On a much lighter note, I actually got some stuff done today. Took the dog to the vet. Made a run to Lowe's for somethings. I needed a tomato cage. The lady at Lowe's was like...they are already put away for the season and then just walked away. What? We have a small Ace Hardware Store by our house, so I thought I would stop by there. They didn't have any on the floor,but the manager took me to the back storeroom and dug one out for me! Awesome. Love small places like that that go above for their customers. I need to make it a point to shop there more often. Stay tuned for a project that involves the tomato cage, some spray paint, ribbon and some paper clips. Aren't you wondering what in the world I am making with that? I'm MacGyver!! I've actually got a couple of projects that I am working on that I hope to have completed tomorrow.

I know this is going to sound silly, but I have set a small goal for myself. My goal for the rest of the year is to not bring anymore plastic bags into our house. I have probably 20 reusable bags that I've bought or have been given. I need to start using them. I picked up some super cute ones from TJ Maxx yesterday. It's pink and paisley...two of my daughter's favorite things.

Okay, I am going to change into my pjs and work on some things for tomorrow!

blog ya later.

Must get going...

2009-11-17T08:58:00.001-08:00

I've got to get motivated and get out of this house! I've got so much to do this week and today I really need to get going! Yesterday I was able to get H1N1 shots for myself and K. K because she is 4 and me because I work in a childcare facility. Since it is still so hard to get a vaccine anywhere, but the health department, I've been watching their website to see when they are offering them. I called their "H1N1 Information Line" on Sunday and they said that they were giving out 500 shots. My plans were to get up early and be there when they opened, but K slept until 9:45! We got to the health department about 11ish. We walked in, I filled out paperwork, they handed K a number, we walked into the area they were giving the shots, handed some guy the number, got shots and left. All in less than 10 minutes. Most of that time was spent talking to the nurse in code so K wouldn't realize what what about to happen. I planned it that way so she wouldn't be freaking out the entire time. When we pulled into the parking garage, she said, "oh, we are at the doctor? Ummm...how did she know that? Anyway, K screamed like she was being tortured for all of 3 minutes and then she said, "that was the worst thing ever!" and started crying again. I told Brian that when she has to go back for the booster, he is taking her.

I can not believe that it is already after 11am! I've got to get going. I am headed out for some girl time this evening with my friend Kennington. We are headed to Bare Essentials for some make-up retail therapy. I also need to get K some hairbows and some Christmas pjs. I bought her a pair, but I don't like the ones I bought. Then we are going to have dinner at Chuy's. Can I just tell you that I am in HEAVEN now that Chuy's has come to Nashville. It's AWESOME. Tex-Mex. YUM!

Since I hate posting without photos, I leave you with one of our MANY Disney photos. We happened to bump into these two while we were on our way to the Country Bear Jamboree. As soon as we got in line, we were informed that they were taking a break and would be back at 1:30pm. That happened to us quite a bit. We made the decision to stay close so that we would be first in line to see them. We went to the Jamboree and then stayed in the area their greeting site was in. We rode the Magic Carpets like 5 times and then decided to get in line when we saw that there were already people waiting. I think we were like 3rd or 4th in line. Jasmine and Aladdin were awesome. They were so cute and kept joking around with each other. This was the only time that we saw a princess with one of the "guys". Jasmine happens to be one of K's favorite princesses, so I thrilled that we just happened upon them. This was the only time we saw her other than in a parade. (Oh who am I kidding....ALL of the princesses are K's favorite.)

Okay, I am going to jump in the shower, gather all my library books and canned goods and head to the library. Thankfully, the library system is doing their Food for Fines again this year. I usually wait until the end of the year to pay my fines to see if they are going to do this. With coupons, I usually get canned goods for next to nothing, so I "pay" my fines for cheap and I also help out the Second Harvest Food Bank. It's a win-win situation for everyone!

Okay...I've GOT to get going. Blog ya later!

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

2009-11-15T23:29:00.001-08:00

That's basically how busy I've been lately. Due to some H1N1 cases at our tiny Mother's Day Out Program, I am going to be off for two weeks instead of just one week for Thanksgiving. I am hoping with the extra time off, I will be able to get some things done around the house. My plan is to get the Christmas tree up Monday. Brian is off of work, so after he gets back from golfing and K is done with dance, I want the tree up. I know, I know...it's early! But, in my defense, we have so much stuff going on this week that if I don't get it up now, it will be December before it goes up! I can not put the tree up myself. Brian is the official "tree putter upper and fluffer"...not me. I do all the decorating, but he does the assembly and fluffing.

Okay...I need to get myself to bed. Since we are not in school this week, my plan is to head down to the health department in the morning and get K and hopefully myself a H1N1 shot. I called the health department's flu information line and it said that they will have 500 shots available on a first come, first serve basis. They open @ 7am. Not sure we will make it when they open since K stayed up so late tonight. I was too into the Indy/New England football game to realize how late it was. Oops.

I am trying to get back in the blogging bandwagon, but I've been busy, and honestly, my life is pretty boring these days. I need to spend less time on my computer and more time on other things.

Here is a cute photo of K dressed up for Halloween. She had three different costumes this year. This is her JoJo Circus one that I adore. She was excite to wear it since we had just gotten back from Disney and she got to have breakfast with JoJo. Did I mention we went to Disney??? That was the best vacation I've ever had. I mean, my honeymoon was awesome, but this was so much fun and K was so over the moon at meeting Princesses and Fairies. Lots and lots of photos to share. I am thinking of making her a photo book of all the pictures from our trip. She talks about it all the time still. Originally I told Brian that we probably wouldn't go back for 3 or 4 more years, but I want to go back next fall again! It was just so much fun and even though we did a ton of stuff, I feel like there was a lot of stuff we didn't get to do.

Okay...off to check on K and then head to bed. With a couple of the kids at school getting sick, I've been keeping a super close eye on her since Friday. Overprotective Mommy is my name!

Blog ya later!

not sure...

2009-09-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if I can keep going at the rate that I've been going. Today I worked then I needed to run some errands. I needed to make some returns to Old Navy and Kohl's. When I was leaving Kohl's, the headache that I had pretty much all day long, started to get worse. By the time I was less than a mile from home, it was a full blown migraine. ARG. I climbed into bed and pulled the quilt over my head. Brian made the mistake of pulling the quilt down and got yelled at. Finally about 9pm my head was starting to feel better. Now it is down to just a lingering headache.

So, K has been gone since Sunday and I've basically gotten nothing done. Tomorrow is another school day. As soon as I get done at school, I need to run up and get my tire fixed and my oil changed. I had this tire repaired like two weeks ago it it went flat again the same day. I should have taken it back up there the same day, but I just haven't had the time. Brian wants me to get it done before we leave town on Friday. Tomorrow night is also bunco. So, I am going to come home after getting the stuff done on the truck and hopefully get a couple loads of laundry done and some other things.

I just don't know if I can keep going at this pace anymore. I'm about to drop. I can count on one hand how many times I've cooked an actual meal for my family this month. That's not good. I've got to slow down. I've got to learn to say no. And I've got to remember that I can not do everything, no do I NEED to do everything! I think I realized how bad it has gotten when I started crying over the Disney trip and the plans. Changes are going to have to be made.

Enough of my whining....I hate that I've posted without photos. This one is of K at the Zoo last month. This photo was to prove that she DID feed the birds and wasn't scared. The last time i took her in there, she poured the nectar out on the group and was ready to leave. She did get a little tense when there was a bird on my head. But she quickly got over it when she realized I wasn't freaking out. Once it finally stop raining, maybe we will head to the Zoo again. Best to get the use of our membership!

Okay, I am headed to bed.

Blog ya later!

Wow

2009-09-21T22:14:00.000-07:00

Lots going on. Not a lot of time to post. No photos this time. I am trying to get back into the habit of blogging, but honestly, it's HARD!

Today has been a little hard for me. I got some news that literally knocked me for a loop. I read the email twice and just busted out crying. My friend...if you are reading this, you know who you are......Brian and I are thinking of you. I am here if you need me for anything.

K is out of town at my inlaws in Michigan. The most awesome husband in the world bought tickets for us to see a Michigan game at the Big House. Can I just tell you...I AM SO FREAKIN' EXCITED????? We are headed for Michigan on Friday around lunch time. We will head to the game at noon on Saturday. After the game is over, we will head to my inlaws to pick up our baby girl. Spend Saturday night there and then head home!

This week is CRAZY busy. I had some things I wanted to accomplish today. The list was a lot longer than the two things I actually completed. I got a flu shot and I returned some books to the library. I really needed to work on the lesson plan for October, but I just didn't get a chance to. I am planning on completing that tomorrow.....along with a million and one other things that HAVE to be done.

Brian and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary on the 2nd of October. We will be leaving for Disney on the 3rd. A week of fun. Let me just tell you...I have a LOT of anxiety about this trip right now because other than having our room booked and our tickets paid for, we only have reservations for one thing an that is a Princess luncheon. That's it. We have no schedule made out. No reservations to dine anywhere. I'm starting to STRESS.

Okay...I am off to bed. I've got to get some sleep so I can get up at a decent out and plan some sore of assult on the day. Not to mention, I get to spend 5 hours with nine 4 year olds tomorrow. Normally it would be 10, but my child won't be there.

I WILL ACCOMPLISH MORE THAN ONE THING TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!

blog ya later!

My poor, neglected blog....

2009-09-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

there are just not enough hours in the day it seems. This is my one week off from school and what do I do? I cram it full of things that need to be done. I did have a change of schedule, so Wednesday I am planning on staying home and finishing a couple of things. Monday I worked at the school. Then Miss K and I met some friends at McD's for a late afternoon playdate. Then I hit up this awesome new place in town, Sips & Strokes with Jade and Becky from my mom's group. We had an awesome time. Check out my masterpiece! Okay...it's not a masterpiece, but it matches K's bedroom decor and will hang on her bedroom wall. She thought it was pretty cute. Tuesday was another day spent at the school. We got a LOT done. The room is completely painted...trim and all. I need to get the stuff hung back up on the walls still. I need to to my bulletin board in my room and come up with something for my classroom door as well. I REALLY need to get my lesson plans done for the month so that I can get my supply list done and to the director so she can buy all my goodies. Thursday and Friday are both busy as well. I'm glad that it's a 3 day weekend, but we do have a party to go to on Saturday and one on Sunday. Seriously...before K was born, I was NEVER this busy.

I'm looking at the time and I can not believe how late it already is! I want to go to bed, but I have GOT to work on my lesson plan. Why do I do this to myself????? I can work on it first thing in the morning when I get up because I don't think we are going to the PTS until later in the afternoon.

ARG! I just looked at the Sips & Strokes calendar and there is a painting I want to do at the end of the month. LikeI don't have enough stuff going on in my busy life. And I just remembered that I need to schedule a GNO for next week to go to Bonefish. Where is my calendar? At the rate I am going, I am going to need to go see Keeley early to cover up all this grey that's popping up! I'm off!

Blog ya later. (and I promise it won't be boring stuff!)

Felt Boards

2009-08-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

So....I made some felt boards for us to use at the preschool. I was showing the director some felt sets on Etsy and I came across a set that coordinates to the book we happen to be using this week, Go Away Big Green Monster. Here is the set that I found on etsy. I just took the book, laid it on the copier at the school and used the copies to make my "pattern". I have tons of felt around the house....except for purple, so I had to make a trip to Michael's to get purple for the monster's hair. I went for a 29 cent piece of felt and ended up with a few other things. Isn't that how it usually goes? I made two sets. I think they turned out pretty cute. I need to head to bed, but I will take a photo of them tomorrow at school. I've got to get up early in the morning and put the felt boards back together. I had Brian spray paint some old frames I bought at Goodwill about a month ago. So, for less than $15, I was able to make two felt boards for school and I have left over felt and spray adhesive.

Oh the bathroom front, Brian got the floor moulding put down. The floor actually looks pretty nice. Love the tile. I need this bathroom to be done soon because I hate taking a shower in K's bathroom. The shower seems so small compared to the one in the master bathroom. Plus, she's a little territorial over her space and things and keeps asking me when I am going to move my stuff out of her bathroom. I found my shampoo sitting on the floor next to my shower this morning. Apparently she put it there to make sure I didn't "forget".

Okay...I am headed to bed. I will post photos tomorrow of the boards. I need to clean up my mess. Felt and paper scraps everywhere.

blog ya later.

Painting

2009-08-16T17:57:00.000-07:00

Finally. We finally have picked out a color and are getting ready to paint. We will be painting pretty much every room in the house with the exception of K's room and bathroom, the downstairs powder room and the dining room. Everything else will need to be painted. We are working at getting our house in order and will be purging a LOT of stuff from our house.

We decided to start with the bathroom. We went this morning to Home Depot and bought paint, new mouldings and a few other things. One thing that we need to do is replace our light fixture in there. With Brian's job, we are not sure what is going on, so we don't want to put a lot of money into our house right now. So, we are just going to replace it with the same thing that is there right now....the cheap one the builder originally put it.

Our goal by the end of this week is to have our bathroom completed...that includes having all the goodies I bought for the bathroom at Hobby Lobby hung up. Cute, cute stuff! The other goal is to have my closet organized. I keep getting sidetracked, but my husband has "a plan" and that includes having my closet a.k.a "the black hole" cleaned and organized.

No photos tonight, but I will take some before and after photos. Although, I did NOT take any photos of my bathroom before I cleaned the mess out of there. It was a nightmare. So much crap. And I cleaned out the medicine box too. I threw out probably $500 worth of medication. (Well, that's what it would have cost without insurance.) There were some pain pills in there that were pretty expensive. Speaking of expensive...I've got to get a root canal. On the same tooth I had a crown replaced on. The same tooth that the other dentist said needed a root canal, but my new dentist disagreed and replaced the crown instead. Can I just tell you....I'm irritated about the whole thing?

Okay...I'm out of here. I am working again tomorrow. I worked 4 days last week and on the 4th day K informed me that she had been at school too much this week. She's going to be in for a shock when she starts kindergarten next year! I am hoping that the MDO program will get the enrollment up for Monday/Wednesday so that I will be working 4 days a week in the fall. I've been saving all of my paychecks for Disney spending money.

Okay....this post is all over the place. I'm going to bed....

blog ya later.

Battle for Order!

2009-08-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

So, I've been saying for YEARS that I am going to get organized and it still hasn't happened. And as Miss K gets older, my life becomes more hectic and crammed with this to do. It's never ending. School, playdates, errands, dance class, parties, and just general quality time spent with my child. My house is OUT OF CONTROL. So, I have decided to join the Organizational Challenge at Coming Clean: Confessions of an Imperfect Parent. She's got this awesome challenge going on and I've decided that I have got to make myself do it. You can check out the guidelines for the challenge here.

I've decided that my first area that I am going to declutter is going to be K's closet. The only problem is, my brother and his wife are coming into town on Sunday and are staying until Tuesday morning. I will try and get a few things done while they are here, but I am really going to have to get cracking on it Tuesday when we get home from school. K's clothing and shoes have taken on a life of their own!

I will take photos tomorrow and get them posted so that you can see the "before".

This is just the beginning....

2009-06-15T12:01:00.001-07:00

I told Brian that my pedicure bill has just doubled. Do you think she will ever let me go get a pedicure alone? She loved it. She thought the pink polish was awesome, but when the girl put the flowers on there, she was in heaven! She kept telling me and Grandma, "I love my new toenails! I want to keep them pink for always!" My baby is growing up. It's fun, but it is also so sad. I want her to stay this age forever!

Cutest thing ever....

2009-06-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

was seeing my sweet baby perform on stage with her dance class. I was the "stage mom" for her group, so I watched it from the wings, but it was too stinkin' cute. Brian video taped it for me, but it didn't turn out so great, so I got on line and ordered the DVD from the performance. Her group did so good and the dance teacher said they are one of the better classes. I will say, these girls have been together pretty much since last summer and they all get along great. They are polite with each other and I've never seen them be mean to each other. They all just meshed well together. It's going to be sad when dance starts in the fall because some of them are moving up to the next class and some are staying behind. I've not decided what to do with K yet. She will be old enough to go to the class, but I am not sure if she is ready.

I sent Brian into the theater with the camcorder and my Rebel. Too bad I forgot to put the stinkin' battery in the Rebel! My girlfriend took some pictures for me, so I'll get them from her when she gets back from vacation. But he is a photo of K and her two best friends after they finished their dances and got their trophies. Grandpa told K that we were going to have to build a trophy case for all her awards!

Blog ya later!

Let the summertime fun begin!

2009-06-07T23:31:00.001-07:00

My wonderful husband built this thing with his own two hands and he did it alone. He bought a kit on line that had the plans and the hardware. He bought, cut and routed all the wood himself. He also modified the plans and built a roof instead of buying the tarp. The only thing left to do it to put a floor on the bottom. It is suppose to be a sandbox, but we don't want to mess with that. So, he will cover it and them built Miss K a picnic table to sit under there too. She loves her new toy. It's the first thing she wants to do in the morning. Thankfully, I can sit on the back deck and watch her! It's awesome.

Busy, busy week for us. Brian is leaving in the morning to go out of town for a week for work. While I am not thrilled because this is the week I start back to work and K has her recital, this will be one less week of "downtime" for him, so he will get full pay instead of layoff pay. If you think about it, say a prayer that GM will decide that Tennessee is the best place for them to build a new small car. If they decide to build it elsewhere, I am not sure what that means for Brian. It's sort of a stressful situation, but I am looking at it with a positive view. If I look at it any other way, it will eat me alive and I can't live like that.

Okay....gotta go. Lots to do. Brian's parents will be here on Friday. Thankfully, my house looks halfway decent!

blog ya later!

Where in the world is Hollye?

2009-05-28T12:24:00.001-07:00

hey...I'm here. Just trying to get some stuff done around the house on my 2 weeks off. (my backspace key on my laptop broke, so forgive any errors.)

Today I've been cleaning out my wreck of a closet. It's a mess. The hallway is lined with folded clothes that will be going to Goodwill. I will probably have to make a second pass through the clothes I decided to keep because I think I am keeping more than I need or can possibly wear. I've not even attempted to go through the shoes yet.

Okay...my child is trying to show me something that she NEEDS me to order for her out of some catalog. Off to clean.

blog ya later.

Go me!

2009-04-29T21:04:00.001-07:00

K is out of town and I've not gotten a dang thing done. I had grand plans. Oh well. I will say, I was looking forward to K being at her grandparents, but I am ready for her to be home. I miss her...ALOT. Brian does too.

I did actually get something completed today. I made Kennedy a felt board for her playroom. We have some felt board sets that she loves to play with. I lucked out and picked them up at Goodwill for $1.99. Either someone didn't realize what they were tossing or they just didn't care. These sets are not cheap. If you buy them individually, they are about $16.95 a set. I have found a place on line where you can buy a set almost just like the one I have for $30. There are 5 different "scenes" you can make. K loves them. I took them to school for my kids to play with and they loved them. The director mentioned that she would like to have a felt board, but didn't have the money for it. I found a tutorial on line...SUPER simple. Picked the stuff up today at Hobby Lobby and made it tonight in less than 5 minutes. The spray glue is what took the longest. You have to let it set for a whole minute before you bond the pieces. I got a nice 16X20 frame, took the glass out and used it. The frame was a little pricey....$17.50 and that was the 1/2 off price. I did see a frame at Goodwill tonight that would have worked for $8, but it would have needed to be sanded and painted. The frame I bought was a large white one. I think it is going to look great on the wall in K's playroom...just not too sure where it is going to hang. (the sets we have don't hang on the wall, so we use them in the car on trips.) Brian and I need to sit down and draw out the room and make some serious plans. I've got to get that closet cleaned out in there so I can start moving stuff into there. I want to put all her art supplies and things in there. I am also putting her large tilt bin in there. I honestly need a whole separate room for the "Babies and Barbie".

Anyway....here is a link to the felt board I made. I didn't take photos. Once it is hung on the wall, I will post photos of all the things in her cool playroom.

So, I actually got a project completed. Granted, it was a NEW project, but at least I finished it and didn't just buy the stuff for it and then shove it into a closet! I am hoping to get at least one thing completed tomorrow. No pressure. If it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done.

blog ya later!

I honestly can not think of what to call this post....

2009-04-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

First off....I cleared it with the director and I will start the giveaways next week. I just need to get things together and hit some friends up for donations. Thank you to my sweet friend, Lianna for offering a set of cards from her website.

We will be hosting a Parent's Night Out/Kids Movie Night on Friday, May 8th from 6 - 9 pm. If you live in the Nashville area and want a night out without your kids, get in touch with me. Brian and I will both be volunteering our time that night, so we will be there. We are hoping to make some good money with this.

Stay tuned for more on the chip-in/giveaway thing....

So...K is going to her grandparents house in Michigan next week. I've been thinking about all the things I would love to get done. I know it won't happen, but a girl can dream. One thing I do plan on doing is making some freezer meals. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but I just never commit to it. I'm committing! I got a recipe book that has some easy recipes in it. It's called "Girlfriends On The Go". Publix had chicken on sale last week, so I picked up quite a bit. I want to make about 8 meals just to see how they are. Then, I am going to try and round up some other moms who want to swap meals. My neighbor and I have been talking about doing this for sometime, but we've never gotten around to it. But I am on a mission. If I only get a few things done while she is gone, I would like them to be the following: 1. meals made; 2. playroom closet cleaned out and the room organized; 3. ALL THE LAUNDRY DONE. Actually, if I only get one thing done, it really need to be all the laundry. But that also means I need to get the closets cleaned out so that I have a place to hang all the clean laundry! See....it's a wicked cycle. In order to get ONE thing accomplished, I actually have to do like 5 or 6 different projects.

Speaking of projects....I added a couple of new ones to the unfinished project list. K is into headbands with flowers on them. I think she would like just flower clips as well. So, I picked up some silk flowers and I want to get those made for her. That is my plan for Thursday. She keeps asking about them. Then my cousin Jami posted a photo of a shirt for made for her niece and I decided I needed to make one too. I've got the shirt, the ribbon and the wonderunder. But I really need to make the baby doll diapers that K keeps asking for. See...I'm awful!!!!! ARG! When I die, I'll need a separate casket just for all the unfinished projects. Maybe I'll get to complete them in the afterlife!

I have to work tomorrow. I need some sleep.

blog ya later!

Coming soon....

2009-04-20T18:52:00.001-07:00

So, Miss K's school needs some funds to finish their playground. We've pretty much exhausted asking the parents for donations. So, I'm going to do a chip-in/giveaway thing. My friend Lianna has been raising funds for her IVF and she gave me the idea. I've got a couple of things that I am getting ready to list, but I am going to be hitting up some friends for donations.

K attends a VERY small parents day out program. She attends Tuesday/Thursday. There are 8 kids in her class and 5 kids in the class I teach and that is it. 13 kids. Monday/Wednesday I think there are 12 or 13 kids as well. So, about 26 kids total in the entire school. The tuition basically covers the teachers and supplies for each month. Trust me when I say...this is not a money making business for the church. Like the school, the church is also very small. We do not attend this church, but every week when I walk in, I see the sign that shows how many people attended that Sunday and what the offering was. Attendance runs anywhere from 54 to 96. I think once I actually saw 115 on there. I know that some people would be turned off by the size of the program, but that is what drew me to it in the first place. I love that I know the name of every child, teacher and parent in the entire school. I love that my child get individual attention. I feel safe having my child there. I love this program so much that when I found out that K was going to age out last year, I pushed for them to add another class. They were originally not going to do it because of space, but at the time, they were only doing Monday/Wednesday classes. I gave them the idea of adding Tuesday/Thursday classes. When they told me they were doing that, I was thrilled and warned them at the time that I would start pushing for a preschool program at the beginning of this year. Which I did. And they have added that for the fall.

So, the playground last year was very sad, but it worked. Play structures cost a lot of money. The church was lucky enough to have one donated. (A family donated it to their church and the church didn't need it, so they donated it to us.) But, the fence had to be replaced. That took up most of the money that we had raised. We did a spare change drive with our kids. They raised over $115 in change! It was great. K was so cute about it. She would go around and pick up change all over the house. One day she was riding home in Brian's car and saw he had coins in his car. She came in and got a baggie and ran back out to his car and picked up everything she could find. Lots of coins.

So, now we have the fence up. The play structure is going to start going up, but we need ground covering now. Play soft mulch for a playground is not cheap. I called the landscaper who takes care of our common areas in my neighborhood. He also lives here. I called him last week, but he hasn't bothered to call me back. I'll try him again this week. We've got to get this playground completed. The weather here is Middle Tennessee is finally starting to take a turn for the better and the kids NEED to be outside and they WANT to be outside.

We will be having a Parent's Night Out/Kid's Movie Night next month. I'm hoping we can raise some good money doing that. Brian and I will both be volunteering that night.

Check back in a day or two and I should have the first giveaway posted!

blog ya later!

Where have I been?

2009-04-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

What can I say? I thought for sure that I would have some sort of scheduled worked out, but I don't. Can I just tell you....Thursday is going to be one super busy day for me. We have school from 9am - 1pm. I am actually going to try and get there about 8ish because I want to get the other cabinet in my room cleaned out. Tuesday I got one cleaned out and I am LOVING it. My second cabinet will not be so easy. Most of the craft paint in stored in this cabinet and it takes up a LOT of room. Also, there are cleaning supplies in this cabinet. Regardless....it needs to be cleaned out. I found two old potatoes in the cabinets on Tuesday. I asked the aid if she had any idea what they were for and she had no idea. So, after school I have to run to the mall and pick up some stuff I have for K on hold at Gymboree. Got to use those Gymbucks. Then I have a chiropractor appt. at 2:30. He said I missed my appt. on Tuesday, but I SWEAR it was for Wednesday. Then I have to RACE back to Nolensville to pick K up from my awesome friend Amanda's house and get her to dance by 4:30. Dance is over at 5:30. Hurry home and meet up with my mom so that she can babysit for me since I have bunco Thursday. Brian has golf league, so he won't be home until after 8. I already told my mom to bring dinner for her and K and I will just pay her for it. I am not even going to attempt to make dinner.

Tonight I managed to get some forms redone for school. I printed out some kite patterns that I need for tomorrow as well. I have some laundry going that I need for tomorrow. K had an accident at Hobby Lobby this afternoon. Honestly, I wouldn't call it an accident, I call it being a pain in the arse. She was standing in the bathroom at HL when it happened and she didn't even attempt to go potty. Still having issues with the public potties. We have a few places that she will go. Dentist office, Chicken Nick's, church, school.....I am sure that are a few others, but not many. I changed her clothes. She was lucky I had her school backpack in the car and there was a change of clothes in there. I ended up having to go to the mall and buy her something else because she managed to cover herself with chocolate. ARG! She had two accidents last Thursday. One at dance class which made me so mad because she threw a fit that I wouldn't go buy her new dance clothes so she would be dressed like all the other girls. Sorry Charlie. That's what happens when you refuse to use the potty. She told me, "Mommy, I danced so hard the peepee just came out!" They also had a sub that day, so that might have been part of it. I honestly think every single child in that class came out at one point to use the potty. Crazy. The second accident was at Sonic and I don't even want to talk about it. I will say that it ended with me having words with the manager. Still pisses me off to even think about it. I expressed my disappointment to K, but she doesn't seem to get it at all.

Okay...I need to go and pack all my stuff for tomorrow. If I don't get it done tonight, I will be running around tomorrow morning. I will end up being late and will forget something and that will totally screw my schedule all up tomorrow!

Wanted to leave you with a photo from Easter Sunday. My baby girl is getting so big. She would officially be a big girl if she would USE THE POTTY IN PUBLIC! (And I know a bunch of you don't blame her because public bathrooms are nasty, but come on....you use them if you REALLY have to go! You don't just wet your pants!)

blog ya later.

Bunny!

2009-04-01T06:57:00.001-07:00

Here is the photo of Miss K and the bunny.

Prayers PLEASE

2009-03-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

When I arrived at work (Miss K' school) this morning, the Mon/Wed aid was there. I asked her what was going on and she said that she would let Ms. Andrea, the director tell me. Long story short, one of Miss K's teachers, Ms. Chris found on yesterday that her husband has a brain tumor. He's 37 years old. When she told me, I just started crying. Chris has a son, William who is about 5 months younger than K. And Chris is just the most awesome person ever. Her absence today was very noticeable because she sings to her class pretty much all day long and it was just so odd not to hear that. We are waiting to hear back from her as to what they found out after the last MRI. But if could please, add Ms. Chris and her family to your prayer list.

Headband Cuteness!

2009-03-30T18:32:00.001-07:00

Here it is! I got a little happy with the hot glue, so there are some "bumpy" places on the headband. Overall, I think it looks too stinkin' cute. It does seem a tad bit big on her. I tried to

bend the headband a bit, but it didn't seem to help. Oh well. It's cute. I've got some polka dot ribbon that I am going to use on another one. I just need to get some more flowers. I got a really cute photo of her and the dog, but I don't want to post it because you can see the mess in my hallway. I love it!

blog ya later!

Things that would normally make her cry....

2009-03-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today was a RECORD day for Miss K. We had a lot going on and a number of the things that she had to do today are things that would normally end with her crying. Check it out....

*Dr. appt. - we are dealing with a second round of ear infections in less than two weeks. She was happy to be at the doctor. She gladly pulled her hair out of the way so the doc could look in her ear. Normally, she cries when the doctor walks in the room. The last couple of times have been okay because she has gotten use to Dr. Carr. Threw her a curve today...Dr. Carr was off. Had to see Dr. Townsend. Miss K didn't even flinch. Got our meds and we were good to go!

*Got a haircut. She is hit or miss with this. For the longest time, she cried through the entire thing. Now, she seems to be fine with it. But I will say, she is very concerned that Ms. Honey is going to cut her hair "short like Lauren's" and she wants it "long like Emma's".

*the Easter bunny. A new store opened up in Franklin this week...Learning Express Toys. I am in love. Awesome store. I could spend a LOT of money in there. I love any sort of toy/activities that involves K learning something other than how to turn the TV on. Well, they had an Easter bunny in there. I thought for sure as soon as I heard that, we were going to have to leave. She would freak out at even seeing the bunny. I told them she was not interested in seeing the bunny. Then 15 minutes later the lady asked K if she wanted her photo taken with the Easter Bunny and she said YES! Before I could say anything, she was hugging the bunny and smiling for the camera! WHAT? They are going to email me the photo. I'm shocked. I honestly never thought this would happen.

*medicine. Again...hit or miss with this thing. If the medicine is pink, I normally won't have to worry about getting her to take it. But, you never know! She took not one, not two, but THREE mediciations today and never even paused.

It was a great day. Well....it was until it was time to brush our teeth. At one point, I threatened to beat her with the toothbrush. Not my finest moment, but I was at the end of my rope. Oh the joys of being a parent!

blog ya later!

Soccer Girl!

2009-03-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

And yet....another project

2009-03-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, today I took Miss K to Sweet & Sassy to get her hair cut. While we were waiting for Ms. Honey to finish painting someone's nails, we looking around the little "store" area of the salon. I saw these super cute headbands with huge flowers on them. I didn't think they would be expensive, so I tried it on K and she thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Of course....it was pink. Hot pink. Too stinkin' cute! $16.95! No way. All it was is ribbon, hot glued to a headband with a hot pink flower hot glued to it. And whoever made them, pulled the center of the flower out and and put a big shiny jewel in it's place. K threw a small fit when I told her I was NOT buying it for her. I know I can make it for a HECK of a lot less. So, I went to Michael's to get the stuff. Here is the breakdown of what I got...

*5 yds of hot pink ribbon - $2.50 (on sale)

*bunch of hot pink flowers - $1.99 (now...the original price on these was $9.99 and they were half off, but the lady pointed out that a couple of flowers were missing. I didn't care. I didn't need 8 flowers. And, the price tag must have fallen off when I had to yank it out of the holder.)

*bag of large shiny jewels - $2.99 (I am not sure if there were 10 or 15 in the bag.)

* headbands - $2.99 (I think there were 5 in package)

So, I spent $10.47, plus tax. Thing is...I can make probably 5 headbands with the supplies I bought. And I will still have a flower or two left and plenty of jewels. So, I am going to sit down tonight after K goes to sleep and make it. I hate using the hot glue gun when she is around. She gets too close to it and it scares me.

Okay...blog ya later...WITH photos!

I found an awesome blog!

2009-03-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

You have got to check this blog out! Bakerella! When I grow up, I want to be like her!

blog ya later.

I promise....

2009-03-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

this blog will return in full force soon. I'm still trying to get on some sort of schedule. Me going back to work and then we added soccer into the mix and I'm just constantly on the go. Not to mention, I've been to the dentist seven times in the past seven weeks. My dentist diognoised me with TMJ. Can I just say.....OUCH. She gave me a referal to see a massage therapist, so of course, I HAD to go! She was a little space case, but I will say, it was the best massage I've had in forever. She didn't just rub all over me with a bunch of oils. She worked on the areas that were giving me problems. I can already tell that I am going to SORE tomorrow when I get up. I'm going back again next week for a 30 minute massage. I'm looking forward to it.

blog ya later.

Very sad here in our house....

2009-03-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Our cat, Tabby is missing. Brian and I have had Tabby for about 11 years. I actually got her when I was working in Mississippi. She is an indoor cat. She ocassionally goes in the backyard to eat grass, hunt bugs or just sun herself. She will usually come in on her own or if I don't let her in fast enough for her, she will slip through the fence and come around to the front porch and meow VERY loudly at the front door. I can hear her it's so loud. But I can't her when she is on the back deck. Anyway....she woke me up early Thursday morning meowing because her food bowl was empty. And I knew that she was going to gorge herself, go downstairs throw up on my floor and then go outside and eat grass. It happens anytime we accidently let her food bowl get totally empty. So, Thursday I was running out the door to get to school and Tabby ran out the front door. No big deal. I was only going to be gone until 1ish, she would be fine. I think that is the last time I've seen her. I just didn't realize it until Saturday afternoon on our way home from a birthday party. ARG! How bad of a pet parent am I? It's poured Thursday and Friday night and snowed last night. She's super friendly, so I am hoping that someone took pity on her and brought her in. I posted a message to my neighborhood's Facebook group. I also sent an email to the lady who chairs the social committee and asked her to send out an email to anyone that she has an email address for and attached a flier that I made up. I had 120 copies made, so we are going to put them in the mailboxes, hang a couple in the neighborhood and take one up to the vet's office. I'm just so sad. I hope nothing bad has happened to her. I worry that she is going to starve to death. I have no idea how I am going to explain it to Miss K if she doesn't come home. She already had a conversation with Brian this morning and she told him, "Daddy, I think Tabby might be lost in the bushes." Dang it.

I just realized...I can't find my iPod either.

ARG.

Blog ya later.

Fundraiser for K's school

2009-02-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

This is a fundraiser for K's school. For every book that we sell, the school gets $5. Stepping Stones is a very small school and they are currently raising money to redo their playground.

I have to turn the orders in by Feb. 26th. The books will be delivered on the 4th of March.

You can see all the different books here: http://www.abookstarringme.com/

Here is the information I will need for the book:
Your Name:
Boy or Girl
Age
Book Title
First Name
Name called (if different)
Middle Name
Last nameHometown
Friends or Relative (1 to 3 names)
Dedication: (With love from, Happy Birthday... or whatever you decide)
This book is from:
Date of gift printed in book:
Additional Information need for specific books
My Birthday Wish: birthdate needed
Hockey Hero: Favorite Hockey Team
Ballerina Princess: Ballet teachers name (opt.)
No More Diapers: Name of potty-trained sibiling or friend
Name of adult helping with training
Tea Party: Name of adult helper
Sibiling Book: Baby's name and gender

Payment information: Cash, checks, Visa & Mastercard. Total for the books after tax is $16.33

Wow

2009-02-22T22:56:00.000-08:00

Who knew going back to work 8 hours a week would throw me outta wack. I will admit, even though I am only in the classroom for 8 hours, I've spent a lot of time outside of it working on little projects for the kids. I was basically handed this class and was told I had to start from scratch because the previous teacher wasn't doing anything. It was a little stressful the first week. Last week was great. Thursday was by far the best day. We did this great little craft project that the kids loved. And one mom even commented that this was the first time her son was ever excited about showing her something he had done at school.

It's still unorganized. I'm working on it. But, believe it or not, I LOVE being in the classroom and I love working with the littles. I want to go back to school and be either a pre-K or kindergarten teacher. I think those are the only ages I could handle. I'm doing a bit of research right now on places to get my certificate.

Busy week this week. I made my to do list and if I start working on it right now, don't go to sleep and just keep working, I MIGHT get 1/2 of it done. I probably need to go to bed, so I can get up at a decent hour and get to work on my list of stuff.

Okay...I've got to go to bed.

Blog ya later!

Behind, behind, behind....

2009-02-09T09:26:00.001-08:00

Ever since our New Year got off to a rough start, I've not been able to get into a groove of any sort. I'm hoping to change that. I start working this week, so I need to really get on the ball and get some sort of system going. Today, even though it is beautiful outside, I am going to spend the day doing LAUNDRY. Seriously, I could wash for 24 hours straight and not be done.

I've got a million things going on today. This is a busy week. I need to sit down and make my list, but it is so overwhelming. ARG! I've got so many things going on right now. I need to stop, take a minute and work on ONE thing at a time and not stress about it.

I've got to finish typing up a list of donations I made to the school and then I am going to work on my menu for the week. When I'm done, I'll come back and post it.

RELAX.

Blog ya later.

Menu Planning Monday - Jan 19th

2009-01-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

I missed last week since we were out of town, but I am back to planning my menu. I really want to try a couple of new recipes this week. I feel like we are eating the same things week after week. It's going to be another "chicken" week since I was got a bunch of chicken on sale at Kroger before we left for Michigan.

Monday - Three Bran Chicken Chili

Tuesday - My mom wants to go out for dinner since we haven't seen her much since Christmas.

Wednesday - Chicken Nick's (we have dinner with friends every Wednesday night before we drop our kids off at Awanas.)

Thursday - Homemade Lasagna, garlic bread, salad (this is a new recipe I've not made before. I got it from my friend Lindsey.)

Friday - Homemade Chicken Potpie (I'm attending a baby shower brunch and they have asked us to bring a meal for the mom to freeze for after the baby is born. I figure I'll just make two of them. )

Saturday - Shrimp & Pepper Pasta (this is one of my favorite recipes of all time. I don't make it very often. I'm hoping to find shrimp on sale this week. It's a Pace recipe. If anyone wants the recipe....let me know!)

Sunday - Chicken Parm Meatball Subs (This is another recipe I've not tried before. My friend Amanda made it for bunco and it was REALLY good. I think Brian will really like it. Not too sure about Miss K though!)

I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning. I've got to spend an arm and a leg having a crown replaced. So not looking forward to that. Little irritated about this whole thing. I just had the crown done a little less than three years ago. Why is it bad already and why the heck won't my freaking insurance pay for it? Okay...I'm off to bed. I'm tired and it's LATE.

blog ya later.

Recipe and other a lot of other stuff

2009-01-18T10:45:00.001-08:00

Three Bean Chicken Chili

1 small onion, diced

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 can corn

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can rotel

1 can diced tomatoes

2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 package of taco seasoning

1 package of dry ranch dressing

3 cups water

For garnish:

sour cream

tortilla chips

shredded cheese

In a large stock pot, cook onions in melted butter until opaque. Then add all the ingredients into the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes.

I usually serve this with sour cream, crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. And this always tastes better the next day for some reason. It's a really easy recipe to make and it taste great. And since it's only Brian and I that eat this, we can eat this for several days and that's fine with me. I love this chili and would eat it all the time if I could!

If you make it, let me know how you liked it.

I've not blogged in awhile. Things have been a bit busy here. We received a phone on the 7th letting us know that Brian's grandfather, Moe had passed away. So, we headed out to Michigan and were gone for about 5 days. It was not a pleasant trip. The weather was MISERABLE. It was snowing hard when we got there and was snowing hard when we left. Moes' passing was not unexpected, but it sort of was. He has really gone down hill in the past two years. He was actually in the hospital when he passed away, but Brian's parent had dinner with him the night he passed and the doctor never indicated anything was wrong. He told them that Moe would be going back to the nursing home on Friday. It's just sad. I've only known Moe for about 12 years, but I felt like I'd known him forever. He was truly a wonderful man. I made it through the viewing just fine. But the funeral was another story. It was very emotional. At least I have some wonderful memories. My only regret is that K didn't get a chance to know him.

So, with everything that happened last week, I did not get to do anything that was on my list as far as resolutions goes. I will be back to my menu tomorrow. I'm going to try and finish up one of my many unfinished projects tonight. I started making K some hairbows at Thanksgiving. The bow part is done, but I ran out of ribbon to attach them to the clips. So, I am going to finish them tonight. I was also making some bows for her best friend.

Friday was a super busy day for us. First of all, it was freaking cold. So cold that they cancelled schools. Brian and I had eye appointments first thing in the morning. At least I can say that I made it to almost 37 years old before I had to get glasses. The doctor said that explained my headaches. I've got astigmatism in one eye and I'm near-sighted in the other. Brian loves the fact that he can give me a hard time about the glasses now. I won't get them until next week since they had to order the lenses. Then I went and got my hair done. Had to cover that gray up. She cut it a little shorter than she did last time, so I am not sure if I am loving it just yet. Maybe in a week or so. Saturday I attended a fabulous baby shower for my friend Amber. I also got a chance to see two of my favorite people, Kelli Darr and Sherri. I hate that I don't get to see them very often. I'm hoping we can get together and scrapbook a bit more one of these days. Maybe once I am organized I can actually scrapbook something!

Well, the laundry room is cleaned out thanks to my wonderful husband. He did it while I was at the shower. Our dryer has been out of commission since we left for Michigan. The hose was clogged up with lint. Now it's working perfectly. Thank goodness for that. Even though I would LOVE to have a new washer and dryer, we don't have the money for it right now. Anyway, now that it's cleaned out, I'm going to spend some time in there today organizing all the stuff that is in there. There are already baskets on the shelves, but I am bad about taking things out of the baskets and not putting them back. I really need to get better about that. (My child has decided that the laundry room, since it is clean, is now her "music room". She has put all her babies in there and has shut to the door so she can play her horn that I keep telling her I am going to throw in the trash. It sounds like a fog horn. It's awful!)

Brian has one more week off. Originally it was suppose to be three weeks, but it turns out it will only be two weeks. We have a BUSY week planned. LOTS of cleaning and MANY trips to Goodwill. I've also got an appointment with the dentist that is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

Oh my goodness....I've rambled forever.

Blog ya later!

Menu Planning Monday - Jan 5th

2009-01-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

I've been planning my menu's out for quite some time. It saves me a lot of time at the market as well as a lot of money. If I go in there with a grocery list made from my menu, I usually stick to it. Unless I find an awesome deal on meat that I just can't pass up, then I spend a bit more. I remember one time this summer I went in to get a few things and came across some meat that had just been marked down. I bought everything. $75 and it lasted us forever. And one good thing about doing a menu, I can shop my freezer and pantry and see what's there. And since my pantry is so organized, this takes me all of like 5 minutes. And before we headed out of town to Houston, I spent some time cleaning out my freezer. Everything is organized and it's easy to see what I have on hand. This week we will be eat a lot of chicken because that's what's in the freezer and I want to use what I have on hand. Plus, with Brian being off, we need to cut out grocery bill as much as possible!

Monday: Tacos, rice and beans. (Miss K will not eat this, so she will have Mac n' Cheese)

Tuesday: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie, salad

Wednesday: Miss K has Awanas, so we will eat out. Brian will have leftovers.

Thursday: Ham (left over that I froze after Christmas), mac 'n cheese, green beans, salad, rolls

Friday: Three Bean Chicken Chili - this stuff is AWESOME. I could seriously eat this all the time. I made it while we were in Texas and everyone seemed to love it. If you want the recipe, let me know and I will post it!

Saturday: Cinnamon rolls (I have not attempted to do the homemade ones yet. It's can for us!)
sandwiches, chips (lunch)
Left over chili (dinner)

Sunday: Cereal (breakfast)
Sandwiches or if there is any chili left over, Brian and I will fight over it!
Chicken spaghetti, garlic bread

Now, I am off to make my grocery list. I'll probably go ahead and make my menu out for next week as well and go ahead and get two weeks worth of shopping done. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I find some good sales!

blog ya later!

Bad start on my resolutions

2009-01-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't go to sleep until almost 5am. That's what happens when you sleep almost all day! Dang it. I ended up changing my dr. appt. to Tuesday. So, I'll drop K off at school and head downtown. I need to get my to do list done for tomorrow because I've got a ton of stuff to do! I also woke up with a 3 year old in my bed with her ICE COLD feet in my back. I don't know what it is with that kid. If she gets up to go to the potty, instead of going back to her bed, she comes and climbs in our bed. And that child is a WILD sleeper. She ran my niece and nephew off of a queen size air mattress several times while we were on our trip.

I'm off to work on my menu. I've got to get that done before I can even attempt the grocery store. If I don't, I'll spend way too much money at the market.

Blog ya later!

Resolutions

2009-01-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

I really suck at the whole Resolution thing, but I am really going to give it a go this year. Here is goes... My word for the year is ORGANIZATION. Yep. That's right. I am going to make it my goal to become organized in every part of my life. My house, my car, my body, my soul, my mind....everything. I've lived too long with every thing in my life being a wreck. Can't handle it anymore.

Since Brian is going to be off of work for three weeks, we are going to get a huge jump on the organization thing. He's going to be working late every day this week, so we will compile our list of things we want to complete while he is off. I know that we both also have some personal things to take care of. Eye appointments. I am going to the spa for a MUCH needed facial. But we are going to be very busy around the house. Goodwill is going to LOVE us before this is all over with.

My goal is to get one "area" or "thing" organized each week. I'm planning on taking before and after photos.

I also want to start exercising and taking better care of myself. I need to. I've lost 40 pounds and at the rate I am going, I am going to gain it all back. I want to lose about 50 more. Then I will be happy. I think tomorrow I am going to buy a new pair of tennis shoes. I've not bought a new pair is about 2 years. The taking better care of myself is all about eating and the amount of sleep I've been getting. I've GOT to get that under control. Here it is midnight and I'm not in bed yet. Doesn't help that I slept most of the day to catch up on the sleep I missed out on the night I stayed over at Joann's until 4am. But it was so worth it. I hadn't seen her in 18 months. That's the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other.

Since my house is the land of unfinished projects, one of my goals is to complete one project every week. No matter how small, I want to finish at least one. I've got some things that are pretty much done, I just have one thing left to do and I've not done it. WHY DO I DO THAT? I've got a fear of commitment! hehehe

Since I've been reading more than ever, I want to start keeping track of the books that I read. It's only the 4th of January and I've already read 5 books.

I also need to shift some of my focus onto being a better wife and mother. I've really let a lot of things go. There are so many things I want to do with Miss K, but I keep saying..."I'm too busy. We'll do it another time." Well, there might not be another time. The time is now. And part of that includes really spending some time doing a little bit of home schooling with her. As for being a better wife....I really have let my relationship with my husband suffer in the last year. I want us to start going out on dates again. That doesn't mean we have to go out to dinner or a movie, but just something together. Although...with him being off for three weeks...we are going to be getting a LOT of together time.

I am also going to make a new goal for myself every month. It will be different every month and I am really hoping I can stick to it. My goal for this month is to have all my Christmas decorations sorted, packed and stored. This is a huge ordeal because I've got stuff in the garage that still need to be gone through. The tree will come down this week and the easy stuff will be packed away before the weekend. I'll also be doing a bit of purging as well. I've got some decorations that I bought, but I've never put out. It's time to let go of those.

That's a heck of a lot of stuff. That's probably why I never keep my resolutions. I am really going to put forth the effort this year!

Well...I've got an early doctors appointment. I'm off!

blog ya later!

It's a wrap!

2008-12-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

Everything is wrapped. Wrapped, bagged, tulled and tagged. I used tulle for my bows this year. WAY cute. I had so many different color rolls of tulle from the tutus I've been making. Decided to put it to use since I've not made any tutus lately. I will be making Miss K one for Valentine's Day though.

For the first time EVER...I will not spend Christmas Even running around like a chicken with my head cut off wrapping presents and making sure I have everything I need. I do have to make a trip in the morning to pick up a bag of coffee for my dad and a small gift for my stepmom. I thought I had everything, but I didn't. Dang it! So...tomorrow looks like this:

*Get up early and head to the Avenue to pick up the two missing gifts. I think they open at 9. I'll be there at 9:01.

*Drop off books and gift at my friend Amanda's house.

*Stop by another friend's house to drop of presents.

*Drop of my poor wrecked truck at the auto shop by noon.

Then we are heading home and STAYING! Brian, Miss K and I will be home on Christmas Eve spending time together. Making cookies, reading the Christmas story, maybe watch a Christmas movie. But it will be a LAID BACK day. I'd like to spend part of the day just picking things up and getting ready for our trip to Texas.

It's 2am and I need to get to bed. I've got things to do tomorrow! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Blog ya later!

UNDERINSURED DRIVERS SUCK!

2008-12-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

I am not exactly 100% sure what we are dealing with yet, but it looks like Mr. I Didn't Even Bother To Ask You If You Were Okay, is not going to have a whole lot of liability coverage in his policy. Thank God my smarty husband made sure that we have awesome auto insurance. I'm still mad because in the Perfect World Of Hollye, if someone hits you and it is their fault, THEY OUGHT TO HAVE ENOUGH COVERAGE TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING! Apparently Tennessee just recently passed a law that sets a minimum for liability. I think that minimum is higher than what he had. It does into effect January 1, 2009. Not going to help me any.

Now, I am going to spend today going from adjuster to adjuster to get estimates on my car. I still don't have a rental car or a replacement car seat for Miss K. And that car seat is NOT cheap. ARG! We just can't catch a break!

I need to get going. I've got to drag K with me all over the place too and pick up a few things while I'm going and then get home and straighten up. Brian's parents will be here this evening...if they can make it out of snowbound Michigan.

Blog ya later!

And it just gets better.....

2008-12-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

So, you read my "poor me" blog post last night. Well...today was worse. I was so excited a couple of months ago when we got a notice in the mail that our car loan had matured and would be paid off in December. The truck was paid off 12 days ago. Tonight on our way to meet a friend for dinner before taking the kids to church I was rear ended. I was at a dead stop and the guy hit me doing about 45mph. I freaked out. K was asleep and woke up screaming that her head hurt. I hit the emergency button on my OnStar and that brought the fire and rescue to the scene. I probably over reacted, but I was freaking out. Plus, the guy who plowed into me didn't get out of his car for awhile and the Volvo he pushed me into was driven by an 80 something year old woman. Long story short....I'm fine. My child is fine. My truck is wrecked, but drivable. I'm even more depressed because this is the LAST thing we need/can afford right now. I've got a headache and my body is sore. I may keep K at home from school tomorrow. I have a feeling she might be a little sore tomorrow.

This is probably going to screw up our trip to Houston for Christmas. Just great.

And to top things off....K had a Christmas program at school tonight. I wasn't going to take my camera because Tommy had his camera, but I decided to grab it anyway. I wish I had left it in the car. I screwed up and reformatted my memory card. Photos from her school Christmas program. Mom's group Christmas party. Our Polar Express trip. All the Thanksgiving photos. I'm sick to my stomach. Devastated. Off to find a recovery program.

Oh. Happy Birthday to my little brother Frank Shannon. (I still call him Frankie and I don't think he likes it. )

blog ya later.

2008-12-16T23:05:00.000-08:00

It's 1 am and here I sit trying to wrap my brain around all the things that still need to be done. I'm listening to the washer and dryer hum away with my 4th and 5th load of the day. I'm never caught up. Never will be either. Fact of life.

I can't get into the Christmas Spirit. I think it's because of this whole GM thing. I worry every single day that they are going to announce the plant in Spring Hill is closing. It eats at me constantly. It has made buying Christmas presents not a pleasant experience this year. I pray every night that the Lord will see us through this mess. I keep hearing that it is only going to get worse. I pray that isn't so. Brian keeps telling me to not worry about it because there is nothing I can do. Let me call up Bob Corker and give him a piece of my mind. That might make me feel better. ARG. The more I think about it...the more upset it gets me. I think I might cry now.

Brian's parents will be here this weekend, so I have a ton of stuff to do between now and Saturday morning when they arrive. Today was a really busy day. Dropped K off at school. Party at K's school at 11. Ran to Kohl's. I have a whole post about a Christmas tree I will try and post tomorrow or Thursday. Then we went to Hobby Lobby. Office Max. Michael's, World Market, Hallmark, Barnes & Noble. Stopped at the library to pick up a book for my mom. Then had to hit the grocery store for a few things. I tried to do some banking at the ATM, but it was out of service and I wasn't in the mood to wait in the drive thru. Wednesday will be yet another busy day. K has her portraits at 9:20. I might squeeze a couple of stops in before I meet my awesome friend, kellidarrsuperstar and her daughter for lunch in downtown Franklin.

Tree is still no decorated. I keep saying that we are going to do it "tonight", but we've not done it yet. Monday night K wanted to watch the Misfit Toys, so we did that. Tonight we ate dinner a little late and watched the Misfit Toys AGAIN. Wednesday is Awanas, so we won't get it done Wednesday night either. Guess we will be putting the ornaments on Thursday. Gravy...I can't believe I am this far behind. I just haven't been in the mood.

My cards are finally done. I'll drop them in the mail tomorrow. I have never sent cards out this late ever.

It's late and I need to decide if I am going to bed or if I am going to work on a project or something. I have some sewing that needs to be done. Knowing me...I will be up until 4am trying to get it done. It has to be done for Thursday morning because they are gifts for K's classmates. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF????

I'm going to bed.

blog ya later.

Getting ready for Christmas

2008-12-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

It seems no matter how early I start doing holiday stuff, I never seem to be on top of things. I got my cards ordered today. Will pick those up tomorrow and get them addressed this weekend. I plan on getting my Christmas decorations up this weekend. That means a LOT of cleaning will have to take place. And I try to purge my decorations as I pull them out. I've got more decorations then I will ever use. I just have a hard time getting rid of stuff. Another busy, busy week for us. Wednesday is crazy. We are painting pottery in the morning at the Factory, so I will head over a little early and stop by Hobby Lobby. I need to get some more ribbon so that I can finish making the bows that I started while we were in Michigan. They are all tied, I just need some more ribbon to attach them to the clips. I also need to pick up a gift for the Christmas party for my mom's group. I think I am going to do a cute movie basket. I saw these really cute ceramic popcorn buckets at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago. They are 50% off this week, so I hope they still have some. I'll get some movie candy and a Blockbuster gift card. I'll get it all put together and try to remember to take a picture of it. I love making things up like that. I've done movie buckets for couple's gifts before, but I've never used a ceramic bucket before. I also need to pick up some gifts for Brian's work. The plant has adopted a couple of families for Christmas. Brian's department selected a young girl. I signed up for a couple different things for her, so I need to get that taken care of and sent to work with Brian so that I can check that off my list. Then I have to go downtown for my weigh in. That's going to be a DISASTER! Going to Brian's parent's house always screws with my diet. Then we have to head BACK to Franklin so that Miss K can get her hair cut. Then we have dinner with friends at Chicken Nick's and K has Awanas. That's all just Wednesday! Geez.

We took K on the Polar Express Sunday. We had a great time. She even told Santa what she wanted. She was great with him...until he picked her up. Then she freaked out. Lord did she scream. I'll post the photos tomorrow. My camera is downstairs and I'm too lazy to go down and get it.

I need to decide if I am going to make my hot chocolate cones this year. I didn't make them last year. If I am going to make them...it needs to be done this weekend along with everything else that needs to be done! I would actually like to try and get some of them made tomorrow night to take to the Christmas party on Thursday. If I get them made, I get them made. If not, I am not going to stress about it. I am bad about trying to do a lot in one day.

Need to get serious about the Christmas list. Have NO idea what to get for Brian. I think I am going to have K make Brian's mom a plate with her handprints on it for Christmas. Tomorrow if my dad's birthday. Need to get that card in the mail. I still haven't mailed my nephew's birthday presents yet. Jen...if you are reading this, I PROMISE they will be in the mail this week.

And...the Baby Gotta Go came in today. So, the Santa gift is covered! ARG....I'm rambling now. I need to finish reading my book and head to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a VERY long day.

Blog ya later...with photos!

I'm in Michigan and I am freezing

2008-11-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

I hate cold weather. When we lived in Michigan for those 9 months...I was miserable most of the time we were here. It was one of the coldest winters they had in YEARS. While it isn't that cold right now...anything that is below my age is too freaking cold for me. On the way here last night, we stopped to get gas in Indiana and it was freaking 18 degrees outside. That is NOT right. You have to remember...for the first 30 years of my life, I lived in Texas...the Houston area for 28 years and then Dallas for 2 years. And yes, it does get cold there, but it never lasted very long. In Michigan...it lasts for MONTHS. It's depressing.

So...we got into Michigan around 1am. Kennedy was so worked up that it was after 3am before she went to bed. She work up at 8am. What is wrong with my child? I love my sleep. When I can sleep...I can sleep for hours. Twelve hours of sleep is good for me. My child never sleeps. No more naps. I don't know how she does it. Crazy.

I was so excited a couple of weeks ago when we get a statement from the bank stating that our loan had matured and we were paying our last car payment. My Trailblazer will be paid off Dec. 4th. Now we will have two paid off cars. We really need the money right now. So...we drove to Michigan, no problem. This morning Brian discovers that my car is leaking some sort of fluid. He thinks it is the radiator. Why do these things happen? The truck is going to be paid off, so I guess it's time for me to pour a couple thousand dollars into it. WHY? Does the truck not realize we are in a huge recession and I don't have the money to be pouring into it right now? I thought paying the truck up would free up some money to pay off some stuff...guess the truck had other ideas. Dang it.

Before we left Nashville Saturday, we attended a birthday party for our neighbor who turned 6. It was a football themed party, so Brian wore his Michigan t-shirt. I wore my new Colts t-shirt. (Yes...I'm a Colts fan.) And Miss K wore her Michigan cheerleading outfit. We buy her one every year. The first year she was too young to know what it was, so she wore it, not problem. But last year and this year, she has not wanted to wear it. She would actually fight me when I attempted to put it one. When the birthday boy delivered the invitation, he asked K to wear her football clothes. I explained to her that he meant her "Go Blue" dress. So, I pulled it out and she had no problems wearing it. Actually, the minute I had her dressed, she ran to her dress up box because she needed her "shakers". (That's her word for pom poms.) She looked so stinkin' cute. I even put her hair in pigtails with yellow polka dot ribbons. I have a cute photo of her, but for some reason, Blogger won't let me upload anything right now. Even though Michigan got stomped yesterday, she still looked adorable!

ARG....I just saw the forecast for tomorrow...SNOW. Freaking snow. I hate snow. There isn't anything I like about it. Ick. And forgot my dang gloves. Guess I will be making a run to the store tomorrow to pick up a pair. If I have my way, I'll stay inside bundled up all day tomorrow. Oh...and in case you didn't know, I HATE SNOW! Good thing I brought some projects that I can work on while I am here and plenty of books to read.

I'm off to bed. We are having a birthday party for my MIL tomorrow morning with her sisters and her mom. Her actual birthday is Wednesday. Miss K has said that she wants to make Grandma a cake. Lots to do this week!

Blog ya later!

Photos....finally! And other random stuff

2008-11-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

I actually took my camera somewhere! K had her Thanksgiving party at school on Thursday, so I took my camera and got a couple of cute shots. Then she had dance class and that evening was "parent viewing". We usually sit in the lobby and watch them on the closed circuit TV. It was so dang cute. So, I thought I would share a couple of photos from those two events. If you are on Facebook....you've already seen them!

We are leaving for Michigan tomorrow. We have a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon, so we will be headed out about 2:30ish. It means we will get there late, but atleast we will be there! Brian and his dad will probably spend some time hunting while we are there. They normally go everyday, but my father in law is currently going through radiation, so his energy level is pretty low. We will also celebrate my mother in law's birthday while we are there. Miss K has already told me she wants to make Grandma a cake and some party hats. I need to remember to pack up some craft supplies. Speaking of crafts....I will be taking a couple of projects with me to work on . Miss K has lost almost every single bow that I have bought for her. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought SEVENTEEN different colors of ribbon to make bows. Then my friend Martini bought 4 more colors, so that's 21 new bows. I'll be making two of each. One for Miss K and one for my friend's daughter. I've just decided not to let her wear bows to school anymore. That's where she has been losing them. Totally her fault. She takes them off and throws them on the ground if she is playing and they are bugging her. The last one she lost was left in the firetruck that came to visit them at school last week. So, there is some fireman in Nolensville riding around with a cream colored bow on his helmet! Anyway...I took a bow class for $20 because everytime the bow man came to the Galleria, I was spending $30 on bows. Now, I can spend 75 cents for a yard of ribbon and make the bow myself! I've made a couple and they turned out okay, so I am going to practice and make sure these look good. My other projects are to get my Christmas cards done, the birth announcements for my new nephew done, and a Christmas tutu made for K. I've got a couple of other small things I want to do, but I am not going to commit to them. I want to get some reading done while we are there. I need to get busy packing all this stuff up. When we go out of town, I let K take one tote with a lid. It's a small tote. She is allow to take anything that she can fit in there. It's funny to watch her think about what she is going to put in there. She empties it out and replaces things and then changes her mind. I'm going to let her work on that tonight. My goal tonight it to get all the clothes packed. Tomorrow I need to clean our my truck before the party. I'm a pack rat and there is so much crap in my truck. It's awful. I need to come up with some sort of system for K's stuff in the car. I thought about getting one of those organizers that hang on the back of the seat, but I think that would be a waste. Maybe a tote with a lid or a basket of some sort. I need to think on this more. All I know is my truck is a rolling trash can right now. And I can not blame any of it on K...it's all me.

Still enjoying a beautiful, clean, organized pantry. It's the only thing that is clean in our house right now. Brian was showing it off to my mom this evening. She was impressed. I took photos, but they didn't look so great. I'll take some when we get back and post them. My next two projects are the laundry room and K's closet. Both of them are a bit scary right now.

Well...I must get. Need to finish laundry and get packing!

Blog ya later!

Lots of stuff

2008-11-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

First of all...head on over to my friend Lianna's blog and check out the awesome giveaway that she has going on. It's a Kindle! I've been wanting one of these, but couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money. I'm crossing my fingers that I win this one!!!

Just trying to get ready to head out of town for Thanksgiving. Thursday is K's Thanksgiving dinner at school. I've made cookies and a cake so far. Tomorrow I will make green bean casserole. I went to Hobby Lobby today while K was at Awanas. They had all their fall stuff 80% off. I picked up a couple of baskets and a banner for the party. I didn't take the bags out of the car until like 11 this evening and that was when I realized that she didn't give me all my bags! CRAP. I hope that all the stuff she forgot to give me was the 80% off stuff. I need to look through my receipt again. I am going to call them first thing in the morning to see if they have my bag. If they do, I will have to RUN across town to pick it up, run back home and make the green beans and then head to school. ARG!

I've been getting a little bit of Christmas shopping done. Brian has still not given me any ideas. I have no idea what to get my parents or my inlaws. Although, my mom did give me two ideas today, so I will pick those up tomorrow while I am out. I am ordering K a couple of things from American Girl. My mom is getting her the high chair and I am getting her the bath tub. I sent my sister in law a link with some items there and I think she is going to order something too.

I'm stressing about about K's school. I got a call today that she got into another program here in town. That's great. The problem is...I don't want to pull her out of her current school. Plus, the other school only has one day open for her right now. But it is already a day that she goes to school. I need her to get into that other program because that is the place that has the Pre-K program that I want her to attend. And, if I wait until open enrollment, there is no way I will get in. If I get her in for just one day a week, that will give me a chance for early registration and she has a better chance at a spot. I've emailed the director of the school she attends right now to see if it would be possible to change one of the days that she attends. I just don't want to pull her out. She loves it there. I love it. The teachers are so wonderful. I need to call the other director tomorrow and tell her I am interested! I need that spot!!!!

Okay...I need to head to bed. I've got to be up in less than 5 hours to get stuff done before K needs to be at school. The next couple of days are going to be SUPER busy.

blog ya later!

Gettin' stuff done

2008-11-16T12:27:00.000-08:00

I decided that today was a day I am going to get some stuff done! And I'm on a role so far. I've got the grocery shopping done for the week. My menu is made for the week. I've got a chicken cookie on the stove. We are having chicken spaghetti for dinner tonight. We love chicken spaghetti. There is laundry in the washer and the dryer. We are working on cleaning out the pantry right now. I didn't take before photos. I wish I had. I just got in the zone and started pulling everything out. Get this....THREE large trashbags FULL of stuff from the pantry. ARG. What a waste. Everything is on the floor right now. I've wiped the wire shelves off. I need to get the vacuum out and get all the cobwebs out of the corners. Then I need to lay the shelf liner that I bought at Costco over a month ago when I decided to finally clean the pantry. I've got canvas totes that I want to use for organizing the pantry. Right now I am taking a break. I'm getting ready to head back downstairs and start working some more. I will NOT go to bed tonight until the pantry is totally complete. I will take photos as soon as I am done. I think it is going to look great!

The only other thing I want to do today is get all the ceiling fans in the house cleaned. That is something I hate to do, but it needs to be done. It needs to be done more often than I do it....I know that. I just HATE to do it!

I might be back later today with photos.

blog ya later!

Barbie what?

2008-11-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

Last year I bought Miss K a bunch of costumes to play dress up in after Halloween. Most of them I got for 75% off. So, I hit Target the other day with her and I was going through the costumes with her and she said something that cracked me up....

K: NO! I don't like that one.
Me: You don't like the wig?
K: I don't wanna be Barbie Montana.
Me: WHAT?
K: I don't wanna be Barbie Montana.
Me: Who? You mean Hannah Montana?
K: YES! Barbie Montana!

(she has a hot pink wig a la Britney Spears that she like to wear. It was part of the Stephanie costume from Lazy Town. I always call her Britney when she wears it. that's the only reason I even considered the costume. That and the microphone.)

We don't watch Hannah Montana. I know that she sees the commercials for it occasionally, but that's it. I think because she sees that her hair is long, blonde and straight like most of the Barbies are, she assumes that she is another Barbie. Like we have an Ariel Barbie and and Cinderella Barbie. So, she must be Barbie Montana. And apparently Miss K does not like Barbie Montana.

blog ya later.

Sad mommy day...

2008-11-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

my child cut her beautiful hair. I cried when I saw the pile of hair on the floor. She knew I was mad and what she had done was WRONG because she put herself in the corner and didn't even question it when I told her she better not even think about getting out of it. Luckily, her hair dresser, Miss Honey didn't have any appointments open until Tuesday. If I had taken her in right then, I probably would have had her cut it all off. I think we will be able to just blend it in. You can't really tell when I pull it back in a bow unless I point it out. I know it's there...that's the problem. It bugs me.

Sad that her hair is a mess, but mad at myself for leaving her for 2 minutes with her scissors. She has used scissors hundreds of times and never attempted to cut her hair. I think she might have thought about cutting the dog's hair because later, I heard her ask Maxie, "do you want a new hair do?" I told her not to even think about it. So, she just brushed Maxie's ears real good. She thinks it's funny that Maxie has long ears. Oh well. Everyone I've spoken to has told me that it's a right of passage. That every kid does it. She better not ever do it again. Arg.

Blog ya later.

More Christmas shopping...

2008-11-06T21:43:00.000-08:00

I got some more Christmas shopping done yesterday. One of my addictions that I can no longer afford is Longaberger. I still buy at least one basket a year....Miss K's Easter basket. Yes, my child hunts Easter eggs with a $100 basket....don't judge. Anyway, they were having a big sale yesterday on their pottery. Love their pottery. I only own one piece...a pie pan. My MIL owns more pieces than I can count. I think she has complete sets in like 5 colors and she also has the Christmas dishes. I would love to have the Christmas dishes. Anyway...the sale was on their mini loaf pans. Normally 2 for $29. They had them buy one get one free. So, I got 2 pans for $14.50. I actually ended up ordering 6 of them. Teacher gifts for K's MDO, a birthday gift for a friend. I'm going to probably donate one to a friend. If you are looking for a gift, these are awesome. It was suppose to be a one day only sale, but they had some outage issues with their website, so they have extended their sale until they run out of stock. So, check it out!

I'm still sick. I actually feel worse today than I did yesterday. The meds don't seem to be helping. We are suppose to go to Cheekwood tomorrow, but it is all going to depend on how I am feeling in the morning. I had lunch at Puffy Muffin with a couple of girlfriends today and I honestly felt like I was going to cough up a lung! Why do I seem to be getting worse instead of better????

arg.

blog ya later.

Photos

2008-11-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

I got the proofs of our family photos! I can not wait to get the CD so I can order our Christmas cards! There are a lot of cute ones on there.

Another great giveaway!

2008-11-05T08:32:00.001-08:00

My friend Lianna is having another giveaway on her blog and this one is right up my alley! Run over there and check it out. Let me just say two words....VERA BRADLEY!

You don't have to donate anything to win, but please read her story and her reason behind her giveaway. It's a story that many people can relate to in one way or another. Brian and I struggled to become parents, but not in the same way that Lianna and David are facing. But it was an emotional struggle all the same and one that was very heartbreaking at time. So, please take the time to read Lianna's story.

Well...we are off. Busy day. Errands to run. And Miss K has Awanas tonight. She still needs to learn her verse. It's John 3:16 and it's a little long for a 3 year old to learn. But I have faith in her!

blog ya later!

Christmas Shopping

2008-11-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a little bit of on line Christmas shopping. My stepmom loves jewelry, so I am always on the look out for something new and funky for her. Last year I found some pieces that were made by a lady in Alabama while I was at a scrapbook retreat. She loved it. I loved it too and bought myself a similar piece! So, tonight I was looking on Etsy for different stuff. (I tried to get in touch with the lady who had the rub on listed that I wanted for Miss K's playroom. I emailed another lady that I bought a couple from before. She sent me a sample one and I LOVE it. Can't wait to get the room painted and done.) I found THIS seller that makes some neat stuff. I picked up a piece for my stepmom and a piece for myself. I'm slowly getting all my Christmas shopping done. I need to sit down and make my list of presents that have been bought and what still needs to be bought. My dad and my inlaws are always the hardest to buy for. So, if you have any ideas for gifts for parents who have everything, please pass those ideas on to me!

OH! I just saw this neat idea in the PBK catalog that would look great in K's playroom or even in our bonus room. I need to look into having some photos printed on canvas. Lots of ideas! Just need to DO something with them!!!

K and I were suppose to go to the library tomorrow for storytime. The downtown library here in Nashville has an awesome storytime. We love it. Singing, dancing, juggling...it's great. But, I've still feeling pretty rotten. I went to the CVS Minute Clinic this morning. I was checked for strep since that has been going around. I was negative. But I do have a sinus infection. I think I get like 3 or 4 a year. I hate it. I got some $76 medication. Hopefully that will kick this stuff pretty fast. I hate feeling like this. My head hurt so bad earlier that I could hardly keep my eyes open.

I've got to go to bed.

blog ya later!

Guest Room to Play Room

2008-11-03T18:06:00.000-08:00

Our house has become overrun with Miss K's many toys. Most of it is my fault. I can never say no to her when she wants a toy and I want her to have all the fun things I didn't have as a kid. But, our space is limited. We have a spare bedroom, but honestly, we don't get visitors that often. Plus, we have a queen size aero bed that can be used when we do have company. So, we decided to do away with guest room and make it Miss K's play room. So far all we have done is take the bed apart in there. We needed the mattress for Miss K's big girl bed. Anyway...we keep saying that "this weekend" we are going to work on it, but we haven't. Stuff gets in the way or we just aren't motivated. I've been looking at ideas for what I want to do in there. I bought a PBK table from one of the mom's in my group. It's a bit beat up, but it works! I bought some unfinished chairs from Joann's. Right now I am going through paint samples to decide on wall color and the colors for the chairs. I have a hard time committing when it comes to paint. That is why things in my house are always half done. I've got it narrowed down to a couple of colors. I am leaning towards a green. I really like the apple green, but I think it is going to be a tad bit too dark for the room. I'm thinking I'll do with Seedling Green. It's almost a mint green color. It's nice and calming. There is a small section of the wall that is behind the door when it is open. I want to use chalk board paint on that section. I've not mentioned that to Brian yet. Not sure how he is going to react. Knowing him...he will just shake his head. As far as what to put on the walls, I need to start looking for some cute, inexpensive art work. I am going to go with another rub-on for the wall. I found this cute one on etsy.com that I really like. Instead of the star in the middle, I want a crown and I want to change the font. I think it will look really cute in there. We are also going to clean the closet out and store her tilt bin in there that has her toys in it. On the toy shelves...where she can not reach, I will store paints and things that I don't want her to play with unless she is supervised. I've got a lot of ideas. I just need to do it! I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, so after I get home, Brian and I will start working in there. Brian is off tomorrow, so he will hang out with K while I'm gone in the morning.

Well...I am going to bed. I'm going to make my list of things I need to pick up at Target in the morning. (I MIGHT check out the Halloween clearance for some dress up stuff for K.) Then I am going to drink some Nyquil, crawl in bed and read myself to sleep.

Blog ya later!

Family Photo Day!

2008-11-02T17:10:00.000-08:00

It went better than I thought it would. It definately went better than last year! She cried quite a bit when we did them last year. Last year we went to the Greenway. This year we went to the Oaklands Historical House. It was a really beautiful place. I'd like to go back there when I have more time and take K out there and take photos of her playing. I'd like to play around with my camera a bit out there. Since my photographer, Jennifer Dunaway, was VERY pregnant, she told me she would try to get the proofs to me by Tuesday. I can't wait to get them.

Blog ya later.

Is it really November 1st?

2008-11-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that it is already the first of November! This year has seemed to just fly by! I need to get into the holiday planning mode, but I just can't yet. Maybe after next week I will start thinking more about it. But I am going to take this week to just relax and regroup. All the Halloween stuff wore me out. I don't think my child has EVER eaten that much sugar. Tomorrow we will be getting our family photos done. Brian actually went shopping with me this evening for clothes to wear for the photos. I couldn't believe it. He didn't complain or anything. He hates to shop. He hasn't bought his own clothes in years. We are talking like 13 years. Maybe once or twice he's had to pick up a shirt or a pair of pants while he was on a business trip or if he wanted to play golf and didn't want to come home to pick up shorts. The rest of the time, I buy all his clothes. He likes it that way and so do I! I need to take better control of weeding out his closet though. He will wear stuff until I throw it away. Stains and all. He's oblivious to everything. As long as it covers his body, he thinks he is good to go. He's not real good with the matching of colors either. He's dressed Miss K in some crazy stuff. (I think he gets it from his mom because she dressed Miss K one day and I thought K dressed herself! I even asked Linda if she let K pick out her own clothes that day. The clothes didn't even come close to matching.)

Well...I'm going to get off this dang computer. Brian headed off to play poker with the guys. I am watching Texas/Tex Tech game and surfing the internet for some gift ideas for my parents and in laws. I'm going to attempt to go to bed here pretty soon. I've got a couple of things I want to do in the morning before we head out to get our photos done.

blog ya later!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

It was a very busy day. Hair cut. Party. Playdate. Haircut for mommy. Trick or treating at Publix. Trick or treating in the neighborhood. Miss K had way too much sugar and got a tummy ache. Next year I am going to have to do better about controlling the sugar intake! Here are photos of the pumpkins that Brian carved for K. Since she was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween, we decided to make a Sleeping Beauty pumpkin. And since we had two pumpkins, Brian went ahead and did Cinderella's castle on the other one. I think they turned out pretty cute. Miss K was upset when it was time to get ready to head out to Trick or Treat. She told me that her Sleeping Beauty costume was just for the parade and she didn't want to wear it again. I asked her if she wanted to wear wings with it. I put the wings on her and she was all good. Sleeping Beauty with wings. Whatever works. But when it was time to head out, she took the wings off and made me put her coat on her. She threw a fit almost the entire time we were out. She finally decided to actually participate when we got to the final two houses. Maybe next year she be in a better mood. Mommy can only hope!

Blog ya later!

Why?

2008-10-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

Can someone please explain to me why my child has to either run away or make a goofy face anytime I point a camera at her? I've not gotten one good photo of her and her best friend in ages because they both turn into goofballs when a camera comes out. I took this photo of the two of them last night before we headed out for Trunk or Treat after Awanas. They had a great time. A lot of the "trunks" let the kids pick their own goodies. When I took the candy out of K's bag today to put it in a bowl, I realized that my child prefers suckers over all other candy. Even over chocolate. Maybe she really isn't my child? Because NO child of mine would pass up chocolate for any reason whatsoever!

Can I just say that I am so glad that tomorrow is Halloween and it will finally be over. We just had so much stuff going on. Three parties, one trunk or treat, one Halloween parade and one night of trick or treating.

Tomorrow is over scheduled. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to get everything done. We are going to be back in the Cool Springs area again on Saturday for a birthday party at CEC, so maybe I can get the other errands done then. We have two birthday parties on Saturday. One from 12 - 2 and the other 2 -3:30. I still need to make a tutu for the birthday girl whose party is 12 - 2. Maybe I will work on that now while I am waiting for the laundry to be done. I've got clothes in the washer, clothes in the dryer and I need to start another load before I finally go to bed. It's already 12:45am. Wonder what time I'm finally going to get to bed?

Okay...I'm off to get some stuff done.

blog ya later.

Set and ready to go

2008-10-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

I made 15 treat bags STUFFED full for Miss K's class. I went WAY overboard on the bags this year. I stamped tags for each one as well. I also made buckets with treats for both of her teachers whom I absolutely love and I am going to cry when the school year ends because Miss K will be too old to continue in the program there. I've got the veggie tray all made up for the party. The outfit that she is wearing tomorrow is in the dryer. (She wore it tonight for Awanas and Trunk or Treat.) I am a failure...the skirt did not get made. I let the freaking pattern intimidate me and I couldn't bring myself to cut the fabric. So disappointed in myself. I never mentioned it to K, so she doesn't know the difference, but I do. So, she will be wearing her skull and crossbones t-shirt, denim skirt and her orange and black stripped tights. I'll probably wash it again tomorrow after school and she will wear it again on Friday when we go for a Halloween playdate at a friend's house. Friday is going to be another SUPER busy day for us. Playdate across town. Then I have to come back to this side of town to drop K off at a friend's who is going to babysit for me while I go and get my hair done. I was suppose to get it done on Tuesday, but my hairdresser got stuck in Texas and they had to reschedule my appointment. Normally, I would just wait and do it when K is in school, but we are having our family photos done on Sunday and I've got to cover up all this gray! And I was thinking about getting my hair cut in an bob, but I saw a photo of myself the other day and with my the way it is, but I had it clipped back and I actually liked the way it looked. I'm thinking I will just have her trim it. Maybe I will go for the bob this spring when the weather warms up. Anyway....back to my plans for Friday. Friday evening we are having friends over so that their daughter can go TorTing with Miss K. Honestly? I'll be glad when Halloween is over. We are always so busy in October! I am dreading the holidays. I don't even want to think about it right now. It will start stressing me out.

And...because I thought this post needed a photo, meet Miss Pumpkin. She's sitting next to the Haunted House. Miss K made her at school on Tuesday. She was covered in paint. It did not come out of her clothes. And my husband wonders why my child has two wardrobes. One for school...clothes that I don't mind getting ruined because they WILL get ruined at school. (I honestly think those kids have a contest at school to see who can get the messiest. When school is out for the year, I will throw those clothes away. They won't even be worth it to donate to Goodwill!) And one for everyday wear which is 95% Gymboree. Actually, I think that there are only two outfits that are not Gymboree. One is Hartstrings and one is Gap Kids. How sad is it that I know this? A friend of mine came over on Sunday and I was giving her some of K's clothes that no longer fit and I swear her eyes popped out when she saw K's closet. It's a little out of control. I've got a little something in the works and I think I am going to start with K's closet. As soon as I get it going, I'll post more about it.

Lianna....I'm putting your package in the mail tomorrow morning.

I'm off to bed.

blog ya later!

Never looks like the photo on the box

2008-10-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

So, tonight we decided after dinner to make our haunted gingerbread house. Here is Miss K showing you what our house is going to look like when it is all done... (Brian must be prepping her for a job on a game show because he kept telling her to hold her hands like "this" so that it looked like she is one of the Price is Right girls!)Brian and I are of the opinion that you need to be a professional in order for your house to look anything remotely similar to the one on the box. It looks jacked up, but we had fun doing it and that's all that matters. Miss K was eating the jelly beans instead of putting them on the house. She also decided to eat some of the black icing....nice. And also decided that there needed to be a piece of candy corn sticking out of the back of the house. You know what? It's her house, so if that's what she wanted, that's what she gets! Here is what our awesome hanuted house looks like:
Yea..I made the photo a little small. But, if you click on it, you can see the BIG photo. The house looks jacked up. Oh...you have to see the back of it too!
And you have to see the spider web that Brian put on the side of it as well. That turned out really neat looking. And to be honest...Brian did like 94% of the work. I did like 5% and Miss K did 1%. But it was fun! I did tell Brian that I was not going to buy the Christmas gingerbread house. We will just stick to decorating cookies on Christmas Eve for Santa! We had a blast doing that last year when my brother and his family were visiting us for Christmas. Well...it's late and I need to get to bed. Kennedy has a busy day tomorrow.

blog ya later!

Giveaway

2008-10-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

The internet is a great thing. Recently, I've gotten back in touch with a number of people that I went to school with pretty much my entire public school life. One of those friends is Lianna Knight. I found Lianna through a blog of another friend. It's been great catching up with her and other friends through our blogs. So, Lianna and her husband have been struggling to have a baby. They have gone through two IVF procedures and have not be successful. They are currently saving for their third and what they hope is their final IVF. So, in order to raise money and to get their story out there, Lianna is hosting a "chip in". Check out her blog for her current giveaway. It's an awesome one! Check it out!

Halloween Parade

2008-10-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today was our neighborhood's annual Halloween parade. This is the 4th year that it's been held. And this was the first year that I wasn't responsible for doing anything other than helping with the actual parade part. There are other things that go on as well. It was nice just to enjoy everything and not worry about making sure that things were going well. Anna, the lady who organized it all ROCKS. She had everything so well organized and it went to smoothly. And there were so many kiddos. You can tell that we had a population boom about 3 years ago here in the Village. It was a lot of fun. Miss K was so cute in her Sleeping Beauty costume. Her monkey was dressed as a puppy dog. We got the costume from Pottery Barn Kids last year after Halloween. They had costumes for some stuff animals they had and it fits monkey..it's a little big, but it works. And her Beary was Cinderella. Beary was dressed as Sleeping Beauty at first, but she decided to change the clothes. She has 4 princess outfits for her BAB. The other two are Snow White and Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid outfit it so cute. It even has a red wig! So, I entered a pie in the pie contest. I made this great peanut butter pie that I think is pretty dang awesome. It's my friend Kennington's recipe. I took the pie down there, put my little tent sign in front of it and left it at that. I didn't vote. Why didn't I think to vote? Why? I lost. By one freakin' vote. My neighbor Ellen won with her chocolate chip pie. Ellen...if you are reading this, please email me your recipe. So, not only did I lose the pie contest, but I didn't even get a piece of the dang pie that I love so much! This evening I got all the goodie bags for K's class stuffed. I will put together her teacher's buckets later this week. Busy week for us, but it's going to be a lot of fun. K thinks the dressing up for Halloween thing is a blast. I'm a little disappointed in her costume already because the hem has already come out. She just needs to wear it a couple more time and then it will go into the dress up box for her to play with. I'm thinking that next year I'm going to try and get her to be Little Red Riding Hood. I saw a super cute costume on someone's blog the other day and I think K would look adorable in it. But...I've a whole year to decide! Well...I need to get in bed. It's late.

blog ya later!

Favorite toys right now...

2008-10-25T17:40:00.001-07:00

Miss K has really gotten into pretending and make believe. One of her very favorite toys right now is a pizza set from Melissa and Doug that she got for her birthday last year. I can't tell you how many times a day I "eat" pizza and have tea. They also have a birthday cake set like the pizza one. I should have gotten it for her birthday, but I didn't think about it at the time. She is also really into this wood peanut butter and jelly lunch box set by Play Wonder. I had stopped by Goodwill one day to check out their book section. And the Goodwill close to my house is lucky in that it gets donations from Target. I found the PB&J set brand new, still sealed in the lunch box for $1.99. I snapped it right up and I'm glad I did. She loves it. She pretends to pack her lunch several times a day and then spreads it out on the floor while she watches Dora or something. It's cute. Of course, she is still all about her monkey. I'm actually a little concerned about the health of the monkey. She's not looking so good these days. I actually bought a couple of patterns to make some felt food for K's kitchen. But at this point, I'm not going to commit to anything. That dang skirt is still hanging over my head. The fabric is sitting on the table downstairs taunting me. Heck....I am going to do downstairs, do the dishes, (we just had AWESOME homemade chicken pot pie...this is the ONLY way I can get K to eat veggies.) get the dining room picked up and then I am going to sit down and attempt to get some work done on the skirt. I know I won't finish it. I'm going to probably be overly cautious because I don't want to mess up. And tomorrow is our neighborhood Halloween parade. The only thing I have to do for that is make a pie and help direct the parade from the front of the neighborhood to the playground and I am done. For once...I'm not the one having to do everything. For the past three years, my neighbor Amanda and I did EVERYTHING for just about any event that went on in our neighborhood. Got old REALLY fast.

Okay...I'm off to clean the kitchen. Maybe I'll blog later about my progress on the infamous skirt. This dang thing better at least be wearable!

blog ya later!

Call Dr. Phil, Mommy

2008-10-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

Me: K...Mommy has a bad headache, please stop yelling.
K: Mommy, you don't feel good?
Me: No. I have a headache.
K: That means you are sick?
Me: Yes
K: Better call Dr. Phil.
Me: WHO?
K: Dr. Phil. He will make you feel all better.
Me: Dr. Phil?
K: Yes Mommy. Dr. Phil.
Me: Okay.
K: Here's a band aid for your face (she pretends to put a bandage on my face. I have no idea why.) And here is a puppet for you to snuggle with. (Again...she pretends to hand me a puppet. And again, I have no idea why. But she always pretends to hand me a puppet when I ask her to snuggle with me.)
Me: Thank you.
K: I love you Mommy.
Me: I love you too Boogie. (that's something we call her)

First of all...I do not watch Dr. Phil. I think the last time I saw his show was when Kennedy was an infant and I had issues with leaving the house at times. And there was that series about the one husband who was stalking his wife. Whack job. I watched that. Anyway...I have NO idea why she is telling me to call Dr. Phil. Her doctor is Dr. Carr and her dentist is Dr. Smithson, but we call her Ms. Sonia. Brian thinks that there is a Dr. Phil on one of the shows that she watches, but I've never heard it mentioned before. The funny thing is, this isn't the first time she said I needed to call Dr. Phil, but the first time I just laughed and thought it was funny. But apparently in her little mind, he is a doctor who can make mommy all better. She's a hoot.

Blog ya later!

Overwhelmed

2008-10-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

I feel so overwhelmed right now. My mother has been going through chemo for the past month or so. This is her second round. Her body is not handling it well at all. She called me Tuesday and basically had a breakdown over the phone. Getting out of bed and going to work is about the extent of what she can do. She hasn't seen Miss K in weeks. She is upset because she can't take care of her cat and is afraid that she is going to have to get rid of her. I'm going to try and get in touch with a friend who lives in her complex and see if she can't "scoop the poop" for her a couple of times a week since I can't make it over there every day.So, after I dropped K off at school, I spent the day cleaning mom's apartment and going to the market for her. I ran out of time, so I didn't get to mop her floors or dust. Brian and I are headed back over there on Saturday so that he can change out a bunch of light bulbs for her and get her patio cleaned off. So, for the next 6 or so months, I will be cleaning mom's apartment and doing her shopping for her. Brian has said that he will help me out. I know that some of my friends who work think that I have all this time on my hands and doing this for my mom shouldn't be an issue, but I don't. I might be a stay at home mom, but I am never home. I feel like I am constantly running errands or going in for a doctor's or dentist appointment or taking Miss K her and there for all the things she has going on. The good thing about us going over to help mom out is that she will get a chance to see Miss K. If you are a praying kind of person, my mom REALLY needs some prayers. Chemo is suppose to help you get better, but my mom seems to be getting worse with every treatment. She is on a two week cycle of Procrit. (I think that is how you spell it.) It's $5000. Thank you Jesus for insurance. Her part is $100. If she does not respond to the Procrit, they are going to have to do a blood transfusion and that has her really freaked out.

So...the next 10 days are going to be so freaking busy for us! Friday we have a Halloween party. I've got my goodie bags made up with the tags on them. I made 30 crafts for the kids to make. Ghost or Pumpkin on a stick. We are also doing the lollipop ghost. I have offered to take my friend Kennington's daughter with us. Saturday is a day to just get stuff done. We will head over to mom's and get some stuff done and then I have a couple of projects that need to be done. Sunday is our neighborhood Halloween Parade and Potluck. I am entering the pie contest, but I am not doing the chili. I'm making a peanut butter pie. It's my friend Kennington's recipe and it's a hit every time I make it. It's so easy. I wonder if they will take points off if I don't make my own crust?

Next week is just as busy with stuff going on EVERY single day. And before anyone asks...NO THE DANG SKIRT IS NOT DONE. Tomorrow Miss K will be wearing a skull and crossbones with a bow rhinestone t-shirt, skirt, hot pink leggings and her hot pink Converse high tops. That dang skirt WILL be done by Wednesday because she is wearing it to Awanas for Trunk or Treat. She is wearing it to school for the Halloween party and she is wearing it on Friday when we spend the afternoon at a friend's house hanging out for a playdate. I WILL FINISH THAT SKIRT. I WILL FINISH THAT SKIRT. I WILL FINISH THAT SKIRT!

And I don't want to even talk about my diet. I'm an emotional eater, so this week, since we've been home, I've not been real good about watching what I eat. Heck, I drank a sweet tea from Sonic today. I didn't even realized I ordered it until I took a sip. I ALWAYS order diet Coke. What's wrong with me? I don't even want to think about going in for my weigh in next Thursday. Ellen, my dietician is not going to be happy with me. I need to start journaling again so I am accountable for what I'm eating. I hate doing that. ARG.

Okay...I've complained and whined enough for tonight.

blog ya later.

Things I learned while on vacation.....

2008-10-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

*no matter what, my child will get sick and/or hurt while on vacation. I don't think we have been on one trip yet where she hasn't gotten sick or hurt, or both. (My friend Margie can vouch for this since my child has gotten sick at her house two years in a row.)

*giving my child Triaminic is like giving someone speed. I will never give that stuff to her again.

*being showered and in your PJs by 6:30pm is not a bad thing!

*I don't care for seafood all that much. Now, if it was crawfish, I would be all over that. But I honestly don't care for seafood. And the fact that we spent over $100 for a dinner that I thought sucked made it even worse.

*I do actually like the beach. Growing up, the only beach we ever went to was Galveston Island. I was not a fan of the beach. My reasoning was, I hated the sand and all the places it ends up. Being in Destin made me realize that I love the beach.

*I could honestly spend all day sitting on the beach reading. Give me a chair, an umbrella, some sunblock, ice cold Coronas with fresh limes and a stack of books and I am all good.

*I seriously suck at applying sunblock. When it comes to my child, I am awesome at it. When it comes to applying it to my own person...not so much. This tends to lead to some interesting sunburns.

*No matter what...I am not going to get a tan. I'm a red head.

*having Sesame Street podcasts on your iPod will come in handy when your child gets bored while eating at aboved mentioned seafood restuarant.

*doing absolutely nothing while on vacation is totally acceptable!

*it's never too early to start planning the next beach vacation!

I don't want to go home....

2008-10-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

We have one more full day here in beautiful Destin and then we have to head back home. I could cry just thinking about going home. And the funny thing is...I use to hate the beach. But you have to realize that the only beach I grew up visiting as a child was Galveston. Miss K refers to that as the 'dirty beach'. She refers to Destin as the 'clean beach'. We have had such a great time this year. Last year we were here for a week. And in that week, we spent less than 2 hours at the beach. We spent most of our time at the pool. This year, we spent 4 hours at the beach the first day! My child actually liked the sand this time. She is still a little scared of the ocean. More so today since she got knocked over by a wave and it freaked her out. She also had a little incident at the pool today. She was playing with one of those noodle things and next thing you know, she is float in the middle of the pool (the shallow part) and she can't get her footing. She started to panic and freaked out. Daddy saved her. But she has enjoyed walking down the beach looking for "dollars" (sand dollars) and other shells. All in all...it's been a perfect vacation....just like last year. My only complaint? Not long enough! I honestly could sit on the beach all day long just reading and people watching. I love to people watch. My college roommate, Becky and I use to go out to clubs and we LOVED watching people. And let me tell you....people watching on the beach is an interesting experience!

Tomorrow evening I am planning on taking Miss K over to the beach dresses in one of her white Strasburg dresses and taking her photo. I meant to do that last year when we were here, but since she freaked out anytime she set foot on the sand, that didn't happen! We are going out for seafood tomorrow as well. I'm not a huge seafood person, but I've been craving it since we got into town. I'm not sure where we are going just yet. I've gotten a couple of recommendations, but we haven't decided. Heck....we will probably just end up at Landry's since it is right here next to the condo.

I've read 3 1/2 books since we left for vacation. The 1/2 is a book I check out from the library on creative families. Like I need to add anymore projects to my life. Right now I am downloading music from iTunes to my iPod. One day I am going to have to share my play list. I listen to a wide range of music. As soon as I can put my hands on my Phantom of the Opera CD, I am going to add it. Right now I am listening to John Mayer's Slow Dancing in a Burning Room over and over again. I love that song. I'm not normally a Mayer fan, but I do like his voice and I do love this song.

Well...it's late and I need to get to bed. Blog ya later!

Just random stuff....

2008-10-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

Still trying to get the skirt thing sorted out. I'm about 95% sure I think I know what I am suppose to do. My friend Margie emailed me back and said that what I "thought" I was suppose to do is correct. So, maybe I will get the fabric cut out when/if Miss K goes down for a nap. Right now she is watching Dora Saves the Snow Princess and is eating mac n' cheese for lunch. I know...I'm a lazy mom. But I did make her scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Nothing exciting going on here at Casa de Cross. Just random things...

*the rub ons for K's room came in. I need to get them up on the wall. I don't want them to stay rolled up too long. I need to paint the rack first. I really need to get that room completed so I can move onto another room...like my bathroom that will probably never get done. And the playroom.

*need to return the bathing suits I ordered from Land's End. Did not fit. I ordered two new ones, but I have no idea if they will be delivered in time.

*need to make my list for things to do/pack before we head out for Destin. I am so ready for vacation. I just wish my child was not sick.

*tons of laundry that needs to be done.

*K and I spent the entire day in our pjs. Didn't bother getting dressed. She was sick. What's the point?

*I'm a little irritated about something and it probably sounds stupid. When Miss K has a party at school, they have a sign up sheet for the mom's to bring stuff in. I am always one of the first people to drop off. I checked for the sign up sheet and it wasn't there. I came back for pick up and there it was and people had already signed up. What makes me mad is the same people sign up for the same thing everytime. And they sign up for the easy stuff. Juice and paper products. I don't think that is fair. I end up with a veggie tray almost everytime. I would love to bring in a $4 bottle of juice and not worry about it. But no, I've got to spent $15 on a veggies to make a tray. I think that sucks. Veggies and fruit are so dang expensive these days.

*found chairs for K's PBK table. Now I just need to decide what color to paint the playroom so I can decide which color chairs to order.

*there is a baby shower at K's school tomorrow for the director of the MDO program. I think K is going to have to miss school and that makes me sad. I still have to drop off the gift and food that I said I would bring. (I offered to do this...no sign up sheet!)

*need to decide how many books I am going to take with me to the beach. I love to read. I plan on reading a lot while I am there. I need at least one book, if not two for the ride up. One for each day we are there and then one or two for the ride back.

Okay...I need to go make my to do list. It's 11pm and I just put on a chicken to cook. I am making homemade chicken potpie for dinner tomorrow night along with a salad. I did not go to sleep until 5am this morning. K woke me up at 8. I got about an hour nap when I made K lay down.

Need to get some stuff done since while everyone is asleep.

Blog ya later.

Skirt smirt...

2008-10-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still talking about that dang skirt. I finally sat down this evening and pulled everything out. I looked at the tutorial that goes with the skirt. Let me first say...I am a visual person. I learn by SEEING something. This tutorial comes with photos. EXCEPT....she does not use the cutting layout that I need for this skirt and it does not make a lick of sense to me. I'm going to cry. Once I get the fabric cut out....I'm home free. Well...then there is the elastic. But heck...I can't even get to the point where I can cut the dang pattern out of the fabric.

Margie...if you are reading this. Can I email you the snapshot of the cutting layout and YOU tell me what I am suppose to do? I emailed the lady who did the tutorial and she is suppose to email me back with "help", but I can't wait forever. Maybe K can wear it NEXT Halloween. DANG IT! I am tempted to go to Joann's tomorrow with my fabric and my pattern and BEG someone to explain to me in remedial terms what the freaking layout means.

I. Am. A. Loser.

Blog ya later. Maybe. If this skirt doesn't do me in before I leave for vacation.

She said...

2008-10-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

Miss K: Mommy, I'm sick.
Mommy: I'm sorry.
Miss K: I think you are going to have to get another K.
Mommy: WHAT?
Miss K: Get a new K from the baby doctor.

At that point, I didn't know what to say, so I just started laughing. I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff!

K and Brian watching the Cowboys game....
K: Daddy, all your friends are on TV.
Brian: All my friends?
K: Yes! Go Daddy's friends! (she yelled go because I sctarted screaming when the Cowboys sent the game into overtime.)

Dang it...I forgot I need to spend my Gymbuck! Off to do some online shopping.

Blog ya later.

Pumpkin Patch Pals

2008-10-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

We are lucky enough to have a number of pumpkin patches that are local to us. We actually have 2 within five miles of our house. The big one that we like is always busy. So, I made sure that when we made plans to go today, we got there early. They opened at 9. We got there at 9:30. By 10....the place was packed! But the girls had a great time. This was probably the first real outing for my friend Kennington. Her son is 2 1/2 weeks old. I've been helping her out the past couple of weeks and I've been taking her daughter with us Monday, Wednesday and Friday just to hang out and play. Give Miss K someone to play with. Gets Miss L out of the house and gives Kennington a break. It's really been fun having both of them in the car riding together. We've been teaching Miss L new songs and she has been learning bible verses with Miss K while we ride around in the car. I usually run them until they are at the point that they are going to drop. Then I take L home and her mom says she passes out for a couple of hours. Perfect! Anyway....the pumpkin patch was great. It was hot thought. And I refused to take my child to the pumpkin patch in shorts and a t-shirt. It's fall dang it! I put her in a fall outfit. It was toasty, but she was fine. We found the perfect pumpkins. I could have gotten 5 pumpkins from Wal-Mart for the price I paid for one pumpkin at the patch. But, it's all about the experience of picking out your own pumpkin. And she picked up a ton of different ones too. Fun, fun. The thing I noticed when I was going through the photos from today, most of the photos of Miss K are a side view or of the dang back of her head. She's at that stage now that when she sees the camera come out, she either gives me one of those cheesy grins or she takes off running. Little brat!

Well....I have a house full of poker playing men. Brian is hosting poker night this week. Oh fun. I am going to read a book and veg out in bed.

Blog ya later!

Finally....

2008-10-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

I have a cleaned off workspace in my dining room so that I can start Miss K's skirt. Friday morning Miss K and two of her friends are taking dance class in the morning to make up for a class that they have missed. Then we are going to take them to McD's and let them eat, play and run until they are about ready to drop. Then take them home and put them down for a nap. So, while Miss K naps, I will be cutting out my pattern and fabric. I'm a little nervous about this. This is the first time I've actually made a garment for someone to wear. I hope it turns out cute. I also got a plain white long sleeve t-shirt. I'm going to cut out a star in the same fabric and applique it to the front of the shirt. This is probably what she will wear to a couple of parties that we will be attending for Halloween. The director said they could wear their costumes to school, but I don't think that would be a good idea. So, the skirt will be a cute idea.

And, thank goodness I had to clean for bunco. I found a Gymboree receipt that I've been looking for. I need to return a couple of things I bought for K that don't fit and I couldn't find the receipt. I paid full price for them and now they are like 60% off.

Bunco went well. I ended up going with pizza which was not cheap because no one has that $5 for 5 special anymore. I spent $50 for pizza. Ick. That didn't include drinks, salad, dessert and alcohol. Bunco is not cheap. Thankfully...I'm done and I won't have to host again for another year!

I don't have a busy weekend planned. Brian is hosting poker at our house Saturday night, so I will have to do food for that. They are pretty easy though. He's also golfing on Sunday. My plans for this weekend are simple. Get the skirt done and start getting ready for vacation. I got notification that both of my bathing suit orders have shipped. I'm hoping that I can get over to the spa and get a pedicure before we head out Thursday. I am not looking forward to the drive, but I can not wait to get to Destin. I love the condo that we are staying in. We stayed there last year. When I told Miss K we were going to the beach she told me, "I want to go to the clean beach. I don't want to go to the dirty beach." I am assuming that by the dirty beach, she is referring to Galveston Island since that is where we went last year for vacation with the entire family. We went to Destin after we went to Galveston. (No offense to Galveston Island at all. I grew up there and spent many a summer on that beach. But Destin is so much prettier!)

I must go to sleep. I had one margarita and I feel like I drank a gallon. My head is already pounding. This means tomorrow will probably not start out so well. ARG.

Blog ya later.

I've been tagged

2008-10-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

I was tagged awhile ago by my friend Lianna, but I had to come up with seven random/weird facts about myself. I think I am pretty much a boring person, so this is probably going to be a bit on the boring side. Sorry if I bore anyone to sleep!

*I read an obscene amount of books. If I could do nothing but sit around all day and read, I would. My idea of a perfect vacation is me, a comfy place to sit/lay, a stack of books and some peace and quiet. And I read a lot of junk. Romance mainly. Brian calls it trash. I love chick lit too. I belong to a book club and they don't normally read things I would usually pick on my own, so I do read other things. I also have a friend that is an English teacher and I routinely check out what she is reading and will add a couple of those to my ever growing stack of books. The stack next to my bed is tall. I use to buy books by the bag fulls, but now I visit the library a couple of times a week. I also use Paperback Book Swap and Books Free. Thankfully I am married to a man who loves to read. Miss K is showing signs of loving books as much as we do.

*In my head I know how I want to decorate, paint and organize my house. But for some reason, I can't get the image in my head to become a reality. I'm working on this.

*I have major issues with completing projects. I've blogged about this one more than one occasion. I don't think there is any need to elaborate on this.

*I don't sleep. I want to sleep. I love sleep. Sleep is awesome. I just don't sleep. I started a clinical study in December and this is one of the side effects of the meds. They gave me sleeping pills, but they make me sluggish and I can't function. Believe it or not, I can function better without sleep than I can when I take the sleeping pills.

*I love to shop, but I hate to spend money on clothes for myself. I am a BARGAIN shopper. I am always looking for sales. I VERY rarely pay full price for clothing or shoes for myself. Now, when it comes to my child, I have no problem paying $100 for a dress that she will wear a couple of times. And I have a serious Gymboree addiction. I've known people who have to buy EVERY single piece of each line. I am no where near that bad, but I still have an addiction!

*I am addicted to Diet Coke. Before I started my diet, I would only drink Coke and sweet tea. As soon as I started the diet, I stopped drinking coke and tea all together. I made the switch to Diet Coke. Now, I can't drink anything else. We went to dinner last night at Chili's last night and the waitress accidentally brought me a Coke. I thought I was gag. It's just too dang sweet. But, there is an exception....I can not drink caffeine free diet coke. It makes me sick to my stomach. Unfortunately, the Chick-fil-a's around here only sell caffeine free diet coke. So, when we eat there, I have them mix the regular with the CF diet.

*This is probably going to sound really strange and I am not sure I can even explain this correctly. When I am watching a TV show or movie and I know that there is about to be an embarrassing scene coming up, I sometimes will change the channel. Why? Because I get embarrassed for that person. How weird am I? I hate seeing anyone embarrassed. It's a goofy quirk.

So, now I have to tag seven people. This is hard because I don't think but a handful of people even read my blog to begin with. I'll try. I'm going to tag my friend Margie over Missing Old Friends and meeting new ones and her sister Michelle at Pyrochan's World: Burning the Ground, my neighbor Ellen at Welcome to my blog. Won't you come on it?, my wildly hilarious friend Renee at Renee's Rambling of Page, Jack and Daisies, my newly expecting friend Jill at Our Life on Georgetown Drive, my super sweet friend Tracie at My Happy Life, and my other scrappy friend, Jennifer at Yes, I am Blessed.

Blog ya later!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

2008-10-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

We are going on vacation! Back to Destin. Thank you hubby for telling me, "we're going, make the reservation" when I was on the fence about the whole thing. I just didn't want to spend the money. It will be money well spent. Plus, K will be out of school on Fall break. We had such a fantastic time last year when we went. I was bummed when Brian said he couldn't get off for vacation in October. So, this morning I ordered Miss K and I both new swimsuits. The ones she has are all too small and since I've lost almost 50 pounds...both of mine are too big. (go me!) I got her this way cute mermaid one at Land's End. I also got mine at Land's End, but it's just a plain black tank suit. I've heard a lot of people say how great these suits are. Hope they are right. Hope the suits fit both of us and I hope they get here in time. I need to get working on my list of things to do/pack/schedule for our trip. I've already got my pet sitter lined up. I'm lucky enough to have a young lady in my neighborhood who loves my dog. She walks Maxie twice a week for us. And she enjoys taking care of my bad cats too. She's wants to be a vet when she grows up, so she likes doing the pet sitting thing. Plus, her mom is one of my bunco friends, so I totally trust her. But, before I can really get into my plan making. I need to get ready for bunco. The only thing I've done so far is get all the prizes and my paper goods for dinner. I have no idea what I am cooking. I went from chili to to tacos and now I am thinking of just taking the easy way out and ordering pizza! And I've got cleaning to do. Lord do I have cleaning to do!

Well...I've wasted too much time on here today. Got to get going. Have to pick K up from school in an hour.

blog ya later!

I'm loving this weather

2008-10-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

One thing I don't miss about living in Texas is the weather. Tennessee weather is great. The leaves are starting to change, so the colors are amazing. I'm taking Miss K and one of her friends to the park tomorrow, so I'm making sure that I take my camera so that I can get some photos. I've really slacked off on taking photos lately. Not good.

This weekend was nice. We had a birthday party to attend. Miss K was so cute. She handed all the presents to the birthday girl for her to open. It was so sweet. She also got a chance to kick a soccer ball around while we were there. She's a natural! I'm going to stop at Target on the way to the park tomorrow to get her a soccer ball. She loved it. I'm planning on signing her up for soccer in the spring. I hope it is something that she enjoys.

Sunday was a day spent getting stuff ready for storage. All the water stuff has been cleaned and is packed. Just needs to be put into the garage. But let's not talk about the garage. It's the place where stuff goes and is never seen again! We're actively working on that. One good thing happened today....all my yard work is done and I didn't even have to lift a finger. I love my husband for hiring a landscaper. And I tell you what, nothing makes your yard look better than fresh mulch. So, while the guy was doing the beds, I got my mums potted, my front porch cleaned off and my pumpkin door mat out. The front of the house looks great. The inside...not so great. And I've got a lot of work to do before Thursday because I've got bunco here. So, I still need to clean and I need to decide what I am going to cook. I was going to do chili, but I'm thinking not now. Heck...I might just order pizza. I hate to do that, but Thursdays are busy for me because Miss K has school and dance that day and she isn't done with dance until 5:30 and bunco starts at 6:30. Although, I think Brian said he could pick her up on his way home from work. We shall see...

Well...I need to get off this dang computer. I need to make my list of things that need to be done tomorrow. Miss K keeps begging me to plant flowers, so I am going to pick up some pansies for her to plant in the backyard. Brian and I are watching Amazing Race. (we can not stand Terrance!) Cold Case comes on next. We are picking up the living room and bubble wrapping the pieces of K's crib that need to be stored. She sees them in the hallway and keeps asking for her little bed. Sorry kiddo, I gave the mattress away to a friend's brother.

Blog ya later! (with pictures!)

SCORE!!!

2008-10-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Even though I am not doing the yard sale, there are a couple of things I am looking for. Since we are redoing our guest room into a playroom, we are getting rid of our desk, therefore we have no place for our files. I talked to my neighor tonight and told her I wasn't doing the sale, but I would be out in the morning for coffee and to look around. I mentioned I was looking for a 2 drawer filing cabinet. About 8:15 this evening, I got a call from the same neighbor. Her friend who is doing the sale with her brought over a filing cabinet! $2! YES!!! Then I saw this jumbled thing in a cardboard and I got excited. See...when I was buying stuff for Miss K's room, I got a lot of the stuff at Bombay before they closed. I fell in love with this antique white and pink chandelier. It was $100 and I was not going to spend that. I just couldn't justify it. But it goes PERFECTLY with the theme in her room. IT WAS IN THE CARDBOARD BOX MARKED $7! Brand new, never used! I scooped it up. It belonged to my friend. Then she pulled me aside and told me that since I had basically clothed her daughter for the first year of her life with all of Miss K's clothes to just take the chandelier. YES!! It's going to look so freaking cute in her room!!! I think in the morning I am going to get up and pull some of my big stuff out and take it across the street. My friend said that she would sell it for me. I've got some baby stuff I need to get rid. The little stuff is going to Goodwill.

Okay...I've been up since 5:30 this morning, so I am off to bed.

Blog ya later!

Hollye's Code of Holiday Conduct

2008-10-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm funny about holiday stuff. I won't put out Fall/Halloween stuff until October 1st. I REFUSE to put out anything Christmas related until December 1st. I will not even listen to Christmas music until December 1st. Well, here is it October 3rd and I am currently playing a Christmas CD in my truck. Faith Hill has a new CD out and it is Christmas music. It's sort of big band and I actually like it. Today was the first time that O'holy Night has made me cry. But, to be honest, I've had a rough couple of days, so I am good for a good crying episode!

Well...I made the decision to NOT garage sale this time. I'm going to sort, make lists and cart it all off to Goodwill. I've got some big ticket items that I will be listing on Craigslist. I'm also going to be selling a lot of Miss K's clothes. I donated a lot of stuff, but this is her Gymboree stuff, Janie & Jack, and boutique stuff that I refuse just to give to Goodwill. So, I'm hoping to get clothes washed and sorted this weekend and next week. My child has WAY too many clothes. I got upset because I couldn't find anything nice in my closet to wear out to dinner last night. Miss K has an entire closet full of new clothes, not to mention her dresser is full as well! I think once I lose 11 more pounds, I am going to have to buy some clothes that fit. I am tired of walking around with baggy butt jeans. Sad thing...I've also got a closet full of clothes and about 80% off it doesn't fit anymore.

Well, I need to go see what sort of destruction my child has left in the spare bedroom. We are in the process of making that room a playroom, so it's just a mess in there and she does her best to get into things that she KNOWS she isn't suppose to be messing with! Dang kid.

Blog ya later.

It wasn't bad at all...

2008-09-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

So, the bra shopping wasn't bad at all. I was actually a little irritated. I walked into the store, started digging around in the drawers looking for what I thought might be my size. I grab a couple and head to the dressing room. The dressing room is right next to the register. There were three women working there. Did not say a single word to me. I found a bra that fit (2 sizes smaller than I wore last time I bought bras! GO ME!) I checked out and the only thing the sales girl said was, "would you like to apply for one of our credit cards?" Woman, have you not been watching the news? The LAST thing I need is a damn credit card! So, very uneventful shopping experience until......I took Miss K to Gymboree. I ordered a TON of stuff on line and never tried it on her. I knew that some of the stuff was not going to fit and I needed to exchange it, but I needed to try the stuff on her. The trying on was no problem at all. Until she needed to go to the potty. She went willingly to the bathroom, but the minute she saw the toilet, she lost it. I actually held her while she was sitting on it and she was FREAKING out. So, I had to go out to the truck and get the Royal Potty. Damn potty. The things we do for our children. I look like such a goof ball carrying a potty into a restroom that has a working toilet! So, after that I got her calmed down. When we got there, we were the only people in the store, so Miss K had to run of the place. She set her the chairs in front of the TV the way she likes them. (She put them in a certain order by color and lines them up like a train.) There are 3 chairs. One little girl. Happy, happy. Then in came a family with 3 or 4 kids. I can't remember. K was sitting in the orange chair hanging out. I asked her to stand up so I could try a dress on her. She stood next to the chair while I put the dress on her. I guess the little boy assumed that he could take the chair and sat in it. K flipped out. I am not one to correct someone else's children, so I told K we had to share. It just got worse from that point on. Screaming. I had them hold the stuff I want to get with my Gymbucks and we left. We get outside and she is begging me not to take her home. She doesn't want to go home. I think she thought I was going to make her take a nap. I'm not even going to fight that battle with her.

Goals didn't go so well today....

*got 3 loads of laundry done
*cooked dinner - turkey tenderloin, rice, green beans

That's it. I wasted a whole day and got nothing done. Loser.

Tomorrow is another day. Blog ya later.

I'm pissed, but it's my fault.

2008-09-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have cats. One of them is the meanest cat in the world, Socks. Miss K refers to her as "mean cat". And she lives up to that name in every way. She was a happy and sweet kitten when we got her. Then I made this mistake of bringing home a second cat. I honestly don't think she ever forgave me for that. Tabby, who my dog walker, Delaynie has renamed "Meow's Alot" is one of the sweetest cats, but she is so lovable sometime that it can drive you nuts. And Tabby is one hairy cat. And if she gets stressed out...she sheds...a lot. Once I brought home Maxie, the first cocker spaniel, Socks became Satan's spawn. And when Betty Boop, the rescue cocker spaniel came to live with us, it was all out WAR. She's just a mean old cat. I think she is something like 12 years old. She's lost a number of teeth, but she can still bite pretty hard. And she makes it a point to bite my toes if she sees them sticking out from under the blankets when I am in bed. And she only bites me. Miss K is smart enough to stay away from her. And the dang cat doesn't hiss, she spits. It truly sounds like she is spitting at you when she gets mad.

ANYWAY...back to the point of this blog post... Two goals this week were to spend time cleaning the garage and the craft room. I sorted a couple of boxes in the garage earlier today and this evening I started working in the craft room. I keep the doors in there shut at all times, so I have no idea WHEN this happened, but I picked up a canvas bag that was sitting on a box FULL of paper. The damn cat peed on it. On the bag. Thankfully, it didn't get on anything else. At this point, I am angry. But the ONLY person I have to blame is myself. No one else. Then I pick up some home dec fabric that I bought to make drapes for my dining room. The damn cat peed on it too! I was so mad. And I KNOW that it was Socks. She is the one who does stuff like that. Tabby will just cry and cry if her litter box needs to be cleaned. Oh my goodness that cat is annoying when she wants something. Socks on the other hand is an agent of the devil sent here to torture me. I'm quite certain of this. And, I am not the type of person who gets rid of animals, but if I could find a home where I know that Socks would be well taken care of, I would give her away. She needs to be an only animals in a house. Our house has another cat and a dog. (Betty Boop passed away in May.)

Again...back to the point. If there weren't PILES of stuff all over my craft room, the dang cat wouldn't be peeing on stuff. ARG! And at this point, I seem to be just moving piles of stuff around. We are suppose to have a garage sale this weekend. I was planning on using the money to pay for part of my embroidery machine that I want to get. But I am seriously thinking of just making 500 trips up the street to the local Goodwill and giving everything to them and not messing with the yard sale. Brian keeps telling me that the tax write off it worth so much more than we will make in cash. At this point, I am SERIOUSLY considering it. But, if I go the Goodwill route, I have to set a deadline for getting all the crap out of the garage. What to do...what to do?

As for my goals today...
*I spent about an hour and 45 minutes working in the craft room and the garage. Almost two hours.
*I made dinner. Whole wheat pasta spaghetti. I'm really trying to like it, but it tasted like stale pasta to me. I've already got everything together for dinner tomorrow night.
*I took my book club book to the park with me. That's as close to reading as I got today. I have a feeling that I am not going to get the reading done. Which at this point doesn't matter a whole lot because I am not sure I am going to be able to attend the meeting anyway. I've got so much stuff to do.
*K's Halloween skirt? I've taken the pattern out of the envelope and looked at it. I also read the tutorial that I have for making the skirt from that specific pattern.

I think that's about it. I took Miss K and her friend for a playdate. We had Dippin' Dots ice cream at 10:30 this morning. Yes, I know, I'm going to be voted Mom of the Year for that. Then we went to the park and had a picnic and played on the playground. It was a fun day. Miss K goes to school tomorrow, so will be home working on stuff.

Sorry to be so long winded... Blog ya later!

I hate shopping

2008-09-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

Okay...if you REALLY know me, I bet your mouth is hanging open and you are yelling, "LIAR!" Let me clarify. I hate a certain kind of shopping. Bra shopping. To me...that's like worse then getting my teeth cleaned. (I actually enjoy my cleaning experience. My hygienist should be a stand up comedian.) Anyway. I use to be like the queen of bras. I had more bra/panty sets than I could wear in a 3 week time period. (This was pre Miss K.) Well...as I gained weight, the 'twins' grew. Lord did they grow. So, I finally decided to go in and have a bra fitting. WHAT A FREAKIN' JOKE. The girl pulls out her paper tape measure and announces that I am a 40C. I honestly think she was smoking crack. I told her something to that affect, but left out the crack comment. Just to "humor" her since she was INSISTENT that she was right, I 'shoved' myself into a 40C. And when I say shove, I mean I had to manipulate myself into the damn thing. Once I managed to get myself into it, I had cleavage up at my chin. I KID YOU NOT. And I could not breathe. I think I had more on the outside of the bra than what I had on the inside of the dang bra. It was horrible. The "bra specialist" never said another word to me. I finally grabbed a couple of ones that I thought were my size, tried them on until I found one that fit the way I liked. And because I can't do anything half-assed, I bought like 10 of them. EXPENSIVE. That was like a year ago. I am now down to two bras. This morning I was getting ready to head out for a playdate. Put my bra on and was immediately stabbed with wire. Dang wire snapped in half. Now....I know you are asking yourself, "why the heck did she let it get down to just two bras and ohmygosh is she wearing the same bra everyday? I let it get down to two bras because I've lost 50 pounds and I didn't want to replace all my bras while I was still losing weight. I've been meaning to go shopping for new ones, but I HATE SHOPPING FOR BRAS! And, believe it or not, I wash a load of clothes every night so that I will have a clean bra everyday. So, tomorrow after I take Miss K to school, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy some new bras that fit and aren't trying to kill me. The sad thing is...I love these bras. Hence me buying 10 of the same bra. I just looked on line and they are having a sale, buy one get one 1/2 off. So, about $60 for two bras.

Yes, I just did an entire blog entry about purchasing a dang bra. Tomorrow will most likely be a ranting session of how awful it was.

My child finally went down for a nap. I am going to take something out for dinner and then I am going to take a nap too.

Blog ya later!

Busy, busy!

2008-09-28T17:56:00.001-07:00

I love being busy during the week because it makes the day go by faster so that the weekend comes sooner. However, I HATE being busy onthe weekends. And for the Cross family, October until the end of the year is BUSY for us. Anniversary, birthdays, holidays...all sorts of stuff. I LOVE FALL! Can't wait to get all my decorations out. But, I will not be able to get them out until after this weekend since we are cleaning and doing a community yard sale. LOTS of junk that needs to be cleaned out of the garage and the house. My goal this week is to spend at least one hour in the garage and one hour in the craft room everyday. If I do that, I will be in great shape. The yard sale is Saturday starting at 7 and lasts until 1. Miss K has a birthday party to attend at 10 on Saturday, so either Brian or I will take her and the other will stay home with the yard sale. I'm hoping I get to go the party because I know that she is doing a whole brunch for everyone from Puffy Muffin! I love Puffy Muffin. They have this chicken and tomato quiche that I LOVE!

So...here are my goals for this week:
*buy anniversary present for Brian (9 years!)
*make inventory list of cloth diaper stuff so that I can sell it. (If anyone is interested in cloth diapering, let me know! I've got a TON of stuff!)
*make list of extra Vera Bradley bags to sell. (if you emailed me for the list, I will send it to you as soon as it is done! Sorry it has taken me so long. I'm lazy.)
*cook dinner EVERY night (except Thursday night...we are going out for our anniversary!)
*spend one hour cleaning my craft room every day
*spend one hour cleaning the garage every evening
*make Miss K a halloween skirt!
*Read The Shack (this needs to be done before Tuesday evening since that is when book club meets. Can you say 'last minute'?)
*Catch up on laundry and get the laundry room organized. (how can I convince my husband to move the washer and dryer so that I can paint?)
*print out the stuff for my Simplify 101 workshop.
*Get my Christmas binder updated. (yes...I've already started my Christmas shopping thanks to sales at Gymboree and Old Navy!)

I'm sure I will have other things that I need to get done. But, I'll be lucky to get this stuff done! Okay...my husband is yelling for me to come help him fold clothes. I don't mind washing clothes, I HATE folding and putting away. That ranks right up there with cleaning toilets! Crud...just remembered I wanted to bake banana bread for my friend who just had a baby. I'm picking up her daughter for a playdate tomorrow. We are going to Dippin' Dots for a craft and ice cream...before lunch. Aren't I a super mom? HA!

And Lianna...I promise I will do your tag tomorrow. I just can't think if 7 random things about myself that people would actually find interesting.

Blog ya later!

Why do I do this?

2008-09-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned on about oh....500 ocassions that I have a about 7000 unfinished projects in my craft room. And my craft room is a disaster. Can't even walk in there. At least I can shut the door...too bad they are glass paned french doors, so my mess is there for everyone to see. (I keep telling myself that I WILL have that room cleaned in time for bunco on the 9th.) Back to my point. I've been trolling Etsy.com for awhile checking out all the super neato stuff. I've made a couple of things I've seen on there. It's a great place to get crafty ideas. I've bought a ton of patterns to make felt food. I've bought all the felt. My hand stitching is CRAPPY, so I really need to work on it because the felt food it just too cute. So, I've seen these really cute halloween skirts and I wanted to get one for Miss K, but I know I can make one. I bought a pattern and some cute Halloween fabric. (I love the retro fabric the skirt on etsy is made out of, but I can never find anything like that. I got some while bright print that I think will look great for the skirt. And I am just using ONE fabric.) I AM DETERMINED TO MAKE MY CHILD A SKIRT! If you read my blog, please pester me about it and do NOT allow me to make excuses! I will NOT let this skirt become unfinished project number 7001!

I got to meet Baby Andrew today. So tiny. So snuggly. Miss K asked me why she didn't have a little brother or sister today. That caught me offguard. I asked her if she wanted one and she told me, "yes, pretty, pretty please. I did my best not to cry. She's going to be an only child. That's a fact. Nothing I can do about it. I'd love to be able to adopt, but we just don't have that kind of money right now. And, at the rate the economy is going, we won't for quite some time.

Getting ready to go to bed. I've got a pretty nasty headache. Blog ya later.

Another Miss K funny

2008-09-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

(I swear...this kid is going to end up doing stand up before she is 10.)

If you are a mommy of a little girl, you will probably understand this conversation.

We are out running errands today and K told me she wanted mac n' cheese for lunch. (big surprise, huh?) I pop on over to Burger King which now serves mac n' cheese on their kids menu. I ask K to grab a seat while I get all our stuff.

Miss K: (looking around at all the signs in the restuarant) Mommy?
Mommy: Yes?
Miss K: Mommy, are we eating at the King's Crown?
Mommy: (cracking up laughing) Yes! Yes we are!
Miss K: Oh wow! I'm just like Fancy Fancy now!
Mommy: Yes you are!
Miss K: (at the top of her lungs) Sally the camel has one hump! (totally nothing to do with Fancy Nancy. Just shows her ADD tendencies!)

Happy labor thoughts, please

2008-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

A very good friend of mine, Kennington, is going into the hospital this morning to be induced. This is her second child. Miss K and I met Kennington and her daughter when we were taking a class at Gymboree. Both of the girls were bald-headed and couldn't even sit up. Now they are taking dance classes together. It's been such a blast watching these two little girls grow up together. So, if you think about it, say a quick prayer for my friend today. She's had a rough 24 hours dealing with her mother who apparently thinks that verbally attacking your daughter who is 9 months pregnant is an acceptable thing to do. I'll be headed to the hospital tomorrow morning with coffee from Dunkin' Donuts for the new mommy.

Update: Kennington had her baby this afternoon at about 12:30. Not sure what happened, but she had to have a c-section pretty much right away. I'll get the scoop tomorrow when I visit her at the hospital. Can't wait to snuggle her new baby boy. I love the way babies smell.

Heard on the baby monitor last night...

2008-09-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

Miss K: Daddy...there something wrong with my night stand.
Brian: What's wrong?
Miss K: I think it's broken.
Brian: Why do you think that?
Miss K: It's meowing.

Play that Monkey Music

2008-09-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what Miss K and Brian were talking about tonight when they were getting ready for bed, but Brian started singing Play that Funky Music. Miss K told him, it was Play that MONKEY Music. And you all know how much Miss K loves her monkey. There for awhile she was content to not take the monkey everywhere she went. Now for some reason, the monkey must go everywhere we go. It's actually gotten worse than it has been in the past.

Things are pretty crazy around here with the whole gas shortage. Who would believe that no place in the country besides Nashville is having a gas shortage. We are talking waiting in line for HOURS for gas. I remember as a kid sitting in my mom's car waiting in line for gas. Would have never imagined that we'd we dealing with something like this again. and it is making people CRAZY! I swear, people are acting like they are never going to be able to find gas again. We lucked out on Saturday night and found a Shell station that had gas and for some reason there was no line. If you went down one exit, there were 100 cars waiting to get gas. I did a little dance in the parking lot I was so excited we were able to get gas. Brian and I were both on E and we needed to get gas in order to be able to make a trip to Indy to pick Miss K up. She was having a little vacation of her own visiting her grandparents. She had a grand time. She went to the fair a couple of days. She got to pet a real live monkey. She baked pies and cinnamon rolls every day. She caught a 10 inch bass one aftrnoon while fishing with her grandpa. I know she had a great time, but we were really ready for her to come home. We had a bit of surprise for her when she got home. We decided she was ready for her big girl bed. So, that meant painting and redoing her entire room. I'll blog about that tomorrow. As for now...I was watching past episodes of Lost that I never got a chance to watch. I need to clear out the DVR since Brian has like 8 shows recording over the next couple of days!

Anyway...I've got LOTS to blog about, so I hope to get back into the habit of blogging everyday. Trying to make some changes here at home. I am hoping it I actually blog about it, it will hold me accountable.

Okay...off to watch Lost. Blog ya later!

Atleast he has a sense of humor about it...

2008-09-15T17:35:00.001-07:00

I spoke to my dad this afternoon. I asked him what he was doing..."Just hanging out in the street being homeless." They've already talked to the insurance company. They are looking into getting a condo until their house is repaired/rebuilt. I'm truly hoping that it is rebuilt. It also sounds like the clinic that my stepmom works out was pretty much demolished as well. I'm trying to convince them to come stay with us for a couple of weeks. I'll even let them bring all their dang dogs!

So very sad

2008-09-13T18:11:00.001-07:00

My parents (dad and stepmom) live in Crosby, Texas. They were not in an area that was evacuated. We begged my dad not to stay, but my stepmom is a nurse for the county and they made the nurses work at the shelters that were set up around the city and my dad was not leaving without her. So, my dad was at home alone when the storm hit. They live in a very wooded neighborhood. The neighbors next door have two huge oak trees in their front yard. I should say...HAD. Both of those trees are now laying down the middle of my parent's house. Totally destroyed. Thank GOD my dad decided to go into the den where there are no windows. The tree took out the bed he had been lying in right before the trees fell. Best they can tell....the smaller tree fell into the larger tree pushing it over and they both landed on the house. I think my dad was in shock when I spoke to him this morning because he kept going on and on about all the money they had just put into the house redoing the kitchen, den, living room and utility room and a ton of new furniture. Yes, I am very sad that the home that he and my stepmom have made together for the past 12 years is destroyed, but I am so very thankful that my dad is still alive to complain about it!

If any of you who read my blog have families that live in the path that Ike to, I pray that they are all safe. I promised myself that I was not going to watch the news, but I was glued to it pretty much all night last night and all this morning. I've not turned the TV on since about 2 to see what else is on the news and I think I am just going to read a book and not bother with the TV tonight. I don't think I can handle seeing the devastation anymore.

Oh...I never got a chance to announce that I am an aunt again...for the 5th time. My sister-in-law, Jennifer (my brother's wife and my favorite sister-in-law) gave birth to their 4th child, Tanner Jase. He's their 3rd son. And I can promise that they will never forget his birth or the first week of his life. He was born on Tuesday, released from the hospital on Thursday and immediately evacuated. I don't know if they even took him to the house before they left town or not. I hope I get to see him soon.

Okay...I've got some Christmas shopping to do on line. Gymboree is having their baby sale, so I want to get some gifts bought now. My goal this year is to have ALL my shopping done BEFORE Thanksgiving.

Blog ya later!

Darius Rucker....am I the last to know?

2008-09-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

So, I am sitting in the bonus room at like 1:40 in the morning watching CMT and surfing blogs. I hear this country song come on that I've never heard before, but the voice sounds really familiar. I look up and the guy looks familiar, but I can't place him. And let's face it, there are not a lot of African American country singers. But I swear I have seen this guy somewhere before. Hootie and the Blowfish. Loved, loved, loved them in college! But to be honest with you, I didn't even know they were still together. Or, they were until August 2008 when they split so Darius could persue his solo COUNTRY music career. What is up with that? Jessica Simpson and now the lead singer of Hootie? And didn't Brett Michaels try his hand at country music? Lord help me, if Britney Spears decides to cross over to country I think I just might stop listening to the radio.

Honestly...his song wasn't that bad, it just doesn't seem right.

Potty Conversation

2008-09-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

So, this morning I get Miss K up for school. I tell her to hurry and go use the potty so we can get dressed. I have the baby monitor turned up full volume, so I would hear what she was saying in the bathroom She's sitting on the potty and I hear this...

I love my mommy
I love my daddy
I love my monkey
I do not love mean cat

Mean cat is our cat Socks. I don't think Socks likes Kennedy. Honestly, the cat likes no one but me. As I type this post, "mean cat" is as close as she can possibly get to me without being in my lap. Her entire fat body is up against my leg. Mean cat is also a fat cat.

As I mentioned last week, K is in Awanas. Brian and I have been trying to work with her on this week's verse. 'And all that He made was good' Genesis 1:31. We ask her to repeat is and her response is, "but I don't wanna be good." Good gravy.

Busy week this week....
Monday - Zoo
Tuesday - School
Wednesday - Errand day & Awanas
Thursday - school, dance class and then we are going to see Disney Princesses on Ice.
Friday - Well...we are suppose to have a playdate at CEC, but I think we are going to have to wait for the dang cable man. Comcast stinks.

Busy weekend too. K has a birthday party on Saturday and our general weekend stuff that seems to rule our lives. K is leaving next Wednesday to spend some time with her Michigan grandparents. We will be changing her room to a big girl room while she is gone. After her reaction to Brian painting her bathroom, we thought it would be best if we did it while she was gone. I seriously think the child was going to have a nervous breakdown over her walls being painted blue.

Well...gotta go. blog ya later.

Today I was "that mother" with "that child"

2008-09-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

OMG. What a day. Rain + Chuck E. Cheese = lots of hyper kiddos. So, Miss K and I met Miss E and her mom at CEC for a little fun. We had a good time. They girls were on their best behavior except for one minor incident involving the mini merry-go-round. So, after we leave, I needed to run to my favorite store...Hobby Lobby. I needed to return a couple of things and pick up some felt for a project I am working on. Well, she started doing the "peepee dance" while I was standing in line. So, I finished and took her to the potty. OMG. She lost it. I pulled her panties down and she would arch her back so that I couldn't get her to sit on the seat. And crying. HUGE tears and SCREAMING. She kicked me and was screaming "NO!" We were using the restroom at the front of the store, so I know that everyone and their mother heard us. I finally told her that if she wet her pants, I was going to spank her. We went through this whole thing at the post office on Tuesday and she did wet her pants. So, we walk out of the restroom and EVERY person in the check out line is looking at me. Miss K is still screaming. At this point I am trying to figure out why she is still freaking out. She starts jumping up and down, stomping her feet and screaming. Again....everyone is looking at me like I am the worst mother in the world. I calmly picked my screaming, kicking child up and removed her from the store. We get outside and she is even more upset. She doesn't want to go home. She wants to go back into the store. I told her that she had to stop crying first. MORE crying ensues. I pick her up and carry her to the car. She cried the entire way home. I mean....WAILING. She cried so much that by the time we got home, she was hoarce. We came home. I told her to go upstairs and go to her room. More crying. Screaming. Mommy needs a stiff drink. After about 30 minutes, she comes out and apologizes to me. And...to make it even worse, the lady who does the returns at Hobby Lobby was a complete witch to me. This is the second time I've dealt with her and both times she has made me feel like I have done something wrong. Today, after everything that happened, I've decided I do not deserve to be treated like that. I'm writing a letter to their office. Before you say, "talk to the manager", the issue today also deals with the manager. ARG. I'm just irritated. Totally. Irritated.