Felt Boards

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

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!

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....

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....

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!

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?

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!

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....

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....

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?

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!

Here is the photo of Miss K and the bunny.

Prayers PLEASE

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!

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....

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!

And yet....another project

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!

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

blog ya later.

I promise....

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....

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.