It never fails and other random stuff.

So, we have a ton of stuff that we need to do this weekend. My parents are coming next weekend for a visit and then we leave later that week for Chicago. Lot's of "chores". Brian started tonight with some landscaping that we've been putting off. We had to get it done before Monday because our new neighbors are moving in and our hedges were way over on their property. Want to start out on a good foot with them. We still need to catch that mole that has torn up the side yard and my flower beds. Anyway...I was getting ready to head downstairs when Miss K came tearing in the house screaming because she fell down. I sat down on the stairs and got her calmed down and decided to go outside to help Brian. I stood up and the next thing you know, I am falling down the stairs. Walk much, Hollye? At first I was just a little stiff, but 2 hours later, I can't put any weight on my foot at all. It's my ankle that hurts so bad. I'm sure I sprang it. Brian told me that I couldn't use that as an excuse not to get anything done this weekend! Big meanie. Guess I'll be doing a lot of stuff that I can sit down and do. Like cleaning out from under all the sinks. Folding the mountains and mountains of laundry. Cleaning out Miss K's drawers and sorting the clothes...give away/sell/keep. The list goes on.

So, Thursday was day two of dance class. I started talking about dance class on Tuesday. The response I got every time was, "I don't wanna go to dance class." So, I told her Wednesday night I would take her to Chuck E. Cheese on Thursday if she was good. It gets time for dance class and she aint' havin' anything to do with getting anywhere near the studio. I reminded her that the only way she was going to get to go to CEC was if she was good and that meant going to dance class. I don't know how I managed it, but I got her into the dance room on her mat and left without her flipping out. I kept looking through the window to see how she was doing. The first 15 mintues she sat in the corner watching everyone. Guess she decided it was fun because the next time I looked, she was going the mat exercise they were doing. The best part came at the end. Each girl was dressed in a princess costume and they were dancing and twirling in a circle. It was the CUTEST thing. When class was over, she came running out and the first thing she said was, "Mommy, monkey wants to come back to dance class again." Yes, I let her take her monkey. And the instructor was fine with that. I asked her if she had fun and she said, "yest Mommy, lots of fun!" Next week they are going to start doing tap. No problem, the owner has tap shoes to loan. Except for my child. Her feet are fat and flat. Think Fred Flintstone. So, I went to a local dance store. $35 for a pair of tap shoes for a toddler. Geez. I know the owner said the ones she sells are $24, but she had no stock right now because they just moved. I finally went on line and found them...$24.95. Works for me. Hope they will be here in time for class next Thursday. They are too cute. Tan Mary Jane tap shoes. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she will like dance next week!

Well, since I've been typing this, my ankle has gotten worse. I can't put any weight on it at all. Guess I will be headed to the doctor tomorrow. I told Brian I need some crutches and he told me if I need crutches, I needed a doctor. Great. I'm going to crawl in bed and pray that my ankles is better in the morning.

Blog ya later.

I'm in love

These came in the mail today. Need I say more?

PS I Love You

I read this book several years ago and I remembered that I cried like a baby when I read it. But for some reason, when the movie came out, I had no desire to see it. Well, I was at the Redbox the other day to return a movie and wanted to watch something else, so decided...."what the heck". Oh my. I think I started crying like 10 minutes into the movie and have done nothing but cry and laugh my head off since. I am a huge Harry Connick Jr. fan and his character in this movie cracks me up. I'm not done watching it yet, but I had to take a break. All the crying is starting to give me a headache. If you haven't seen it, based on what I've seen so far, I could recommend it. But it is strictly a chick flick. I don't think hubbies would enjoy it much at all.

Well, it's 3:40am and I guess I should try and get some sleep. I guess I am going to have to start taking the sleeping pills again. Can't function like this. Blog ya later.

I'm really bummed

I found these really cute invitations with matching thank you notes that I wanted to order for Miss K's birthday party. Found them on ebay. I thought I had bookmarked the store so that I could go back and order them. Now, I can't find the store or the invitations. I searched for over 2 hours tonight. I finally gave up and ordered some other ones that are cute, but not as cute as the ones I originally wanted. Dang it. Oh well. They should be here by Wednesday, so I can get them printed, addressed and mailed. That reminds me of all the other stuff I still need to do. Guess I better get started on my list tonight before I head off to bed.

I am really excited about her party. Most of you know that Miss K has a monkey that she has carried around since she was about 6 months old. Loves that thing. She loves all things monkey now. We've probably got 6 pair of monkey pjs. I can't even count the number of monkey t-shirts that we have. We've also got a couple of outfits from my favorite place, Gymboree that have monkeys on them. So, I decided to go all out on the monkey thing this year. We are having her party at the Monkey's Treehouse. It's an indoor play place. We've been there before and it's a lot of fun. And, it's not my house. The last thing I want is 20 kids, plus parents crowded into my small house for a party. And since her birthday is in the middle of July, having it outside probably wouldn't be such a good idea.

Blog ya later.

Cleaning, cleaning, more cleaning, menus and Blockbuster.

Today has been a day of cleaning. I am trying to get all three of the bathrooms cleaned. I hate doing toilets, but I hate cleaning our shower more than anything. So, it doesn't get done very ofter, therefore it usually takes a lot of scrubbing. Right now I smell like every cleaning product that I have in the house. I needed a break, so I decided to blog.

Brian finally got the boarder down that was in Miss K's bathroom. Guess we will plan on painting tomorrow. Then I will get the monkey prints hung up and the wall words on the wall and mirror and we will be done. Well, done until I decide to change it again. Honestly, I am hoping that we will move before it is time to redo her bathroom again.

So, I have a question. I am really trying to get better about cooking dinner every night. We eat out too much and I need that to change. So, I made out a menu for the week. I had the hardest time coming up with 7 meals that aren't the same that we had last week. Once I tried to do a two week menu and that was a joke. Here is my menu for the week...

Saturday - steaks, potatoes & corn
Sunday - chicken pot pie
Monday - turkey tenderloin, homemade mac 'n cheese, green beans
Tuesday - salmon, rice, mixed veggies
Wednesday - Pasta Milano
Thursday - Pampered Chef party
Friday - Mexican casserole
Saturday -grilled chicken sandwiches, baked beans

I've got a couple of other things that I usually do also. I do chicken enchiladas, spaghetti, chicken spaghetti, and shrimp & pepper pasta. Lots of pastas. I need some new recipes. I checked out two Rachael Ray cookbooks and I'm sorry, but there was maybe one recipe from each one that I would actually make. And her 30 minute meals...nothing. So, if you have a recipe that you and your family love, please send it to me. Or, if you have a favorite recipe book, tell me which one. I am desperate for some new ideas! And remember...I've got an almost 3 year old, so nothing too off the wall.

Now...let's talk about Blockbuster. When we were living in Michigan during Brian's temp assignment, I went signed up for that Blockbuster Total Access. $9.99 a month for one movie at a time and you would return the movie to the store and get a free movie each time...unlimited! Well, for a number of months we weren't watching movies and it was just a waste of money so I cancelled it. Well, this past month I've rented a number of different movies for Miss K to watch. So, I thought I would reactivate my Total Access account. The same plan that I originally had for $9.99 is now $21.99! That is just totally nuts! I can get a plan for $11.99 that is one video at a time in the mail and you can return it instore twice a month for a free movie. That is just nuts! I should have never cancelled my account to begin with. Can't decide what I am going to do.

Well, I need to start my baked potatoes and get back to cleaning. Blog ya later!

Outside, Mommy. Outisde!

Isn't she a cutie? She wants to be outside ALL the time. No matter how hot it is. I coat her with sunblock and set her loose! I bought her a little pool for the backyard (that reminds me...I need to clean it out and scrub it) and she loves to be out there. I also bought her a bucket and sponges like she had at school on water day. I bought a 19 gallon bucket. She likes to sit in it and play with her "girls". The "girls" are Princess Pollypockets. We have Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White (but Kennedy insists that her name is Dopey) and Ariel. Jasmine has been hard to find, so I finally just bit the bullet and bought it off of ebay. She asks me everyday if Jasmine is here yet. I am hoping she comes in today or Saturday.

Got the cooling stand for my laptop and it has made a HUGE difference. Just wish I could attach it to the laptop so it wouldn't keep moving around.

Got a sad email last night. The scrapbook store by my house is closing. I'm really bummed. I am going up there in the morning to get a few things. Very sad. I've not been in there much lately because of the new hours.

Still irritated about the whole dance thing yesterday. And to top it all off, I had a crappy day after all that happen. We come home and K wants to watch a movie and the dang DVD player is broken. We haven't even had that stupid thing for 3 months.

Busy day today.... 1) buy new DVD player 2) laundry 3) laundry 4) laundry. I'll probably do a couple loads of laundry too. LOL I HATE LAUNDRY. I would love to have a maid who just did laundry, floors and bathrooms. Okay...I need to get my rear in gear. Blog ya later!

I have a feeling I wasted about $150...

So, I signed Miss K up for dance class. I couldn't wait for it to start. I've been telling her about it for over a month. She's been doing "ballerina" all over my house since we started talking about it. I bought her the cute little black leotard, pink tights and pink ballet slippers. She was so excited. So, today was the day class started. She was excited. She kept talking about the fact her friend "E" was going to be there. I forgot to mention...K woke up at 6:30 this morning after going to bed at 10 the night before and did not have a nap the day before either. The child will not take a nap! So, class starts at 3:30. We leave the house...it's an 8 minute drive. Three minutes into the drive she is passed out. I woke her up when we got there and she seemed fine. Time for class to start and she is a little clingy, but I convince her to hold her friend's hand and off they go. Another little girl totally flips out. Well, I think that freaked Miss K out and she started crying. They ended up having to get me to come in the room and sit with her. I finally got her calmed down. Then the other little girl flips out again and K starts crying again. At that point, I was done. I took her out, took her slippers off and we left. She told me that she didn't want to go back next week. I did manage to get a couple of photos of her before she had her nuclear meltdown. It's was so cute. You can't tell, but her hair is in a ponytail and she has this cute big black bow in her hair. Oh well. I am going to try again next week.

If you emailed me about the Vera bags, I am working on the list. I need to pull everything out and see what I have left. I had a list that I made when I first sold some of the bags, but I can't find it. I'll have the list done before the end of this weekend.

Blog ya later.

Extra Vera Bradley bags and stupid people

I've got a handful of bags that I bought that I ended up not giving away as gifts or selling to people who were originally interested in them. I thought I would see if any of my friends are interested in them before I put them on ebay. I hate messing with ebay, but I need to get these bags outta my house! So, email me if you are interested and I will let you know what bags I have.

I hate using the word stupid, but in this case, I think it is called for. So, I was driving to get my hair done this evening. I was on I-24 at 5pm, so you can figure...the traffic is getting heavy. I get behind some guy on a motorcycle. The speed limit is 7o mph. He's going like 50mph. So, I get over so that I can pass him. HE WAS TEXTING ON HIS CELL PHONE! How freaking stupid do you have to be? Lord. I got over and kept him in my review and he was steadily texting and driving. I was just waiting for him to wipe out or cause a wreck. Then...I get to the salon. There is a little boy, I would say probably 4ish running around the color room getting into everything while his mom is getting highlights and all over color. I could tell the colorist was getting irritated. The kid took the client box down and threw all the cards all over the floor. The cards that have the client names and their color listed. Then the kid was getting into chemicals and opening cabinets. They blocked out 2 1/2 hours for her and she had been there for 2 hours by the time I left and she hadn't even gotten her hair cut yet. Why in the world would she bring her child? And before anyone says maybe she is a single mom or her husband doesn't help. She even said that her husband was home with the baby and the little boy wanted to come with her and she couldn't say no. Well honey, you should have! Trust me, no one thought he was cute after the first hour. By the second hour, I am sure people were taking bets how long it would be before he hurt himself. And for the record, he did end up hurting himself because he was spinning around in one of the chairs and fell FACE FIRST onto the concrete flooring. Now, I love my child and I am a stay at home mom because I enjoy being with my child. But, I draw the line at taking her certain places. I do not take her to the doctor's office with me unless I am just going in for a weight check and it takes like 20 minutes for the appointment. I do not take my child with me to the dentist. I do not take her to the salon. Honestly, I treat these little trips as "mini mommy vacations"! And, if I can't make my appointments for when my husband is home, I will find a babysitter. Usually a friend. I also have a nanny that I can use. There are time when you need to leave the kiddos at home. Be considerate to others. Okay...off my soapbox.

I've got to get a cooling stand for my laptop tomorrow. Just another errand to add to my never ending list of stuff that never seems to get done. One of these days I will actually take sme photos and pst them on my blog. Still want that new camera.

More on my father-in-law

Well, he is going better. My MIL said that he is resting a lot and taking it easy. He has really been good about the smoking. He has not smoked since his heart attack. I just hope that he can stick with it. Now, here's the bad news. He found out on Thursday that he has prostate cancer. They can not do any treatment until he has his second heart surgery and his heart is in better condition. After they determined his heart is better, they will start radiation. The doctor told my in laws that he feels like this will not be anything that they need to worry about. I'm sorry, but I just can't not worry about cancer.

So, my husband called me from work this morning to tell me that his phone wasn't working. I asked him if he forgot to charge it. Nope, he left it in his short last night....the shorts I WASHED before I went to bed. Dang it! We need new phones, but they are not both eligable for upgrade yet. One is now and the other isn't until August. The 3rd phone isn't until November. Luckily my mom doesn't need a new phone, so we will upgrade Brian's phone now, mine in August and if my mom needs a new one, we'll get her one in November. But, I think she is happy with the phone she has now. I don't like it because it's so freakin' small, but she likes it.

I'm off...washing sheets since Miss K announced at 8:30 this morning that she wet the bed. Then I am off to "wash that gray right out of my head". Lord, don't I wish it was that easy? Probably a heck of a lot cheaper too. But I would NEVER do home color. I have the worst luck with stuff like that. So, I would most certainly end up with green hair or something like that.

A Miss K funny for the day: "Mommy, isn't Dopey beautiful in her red dress?" For some reason, she thinks that Snow White's name is Dopey. She usually does call her by the right name, but all of a sudden she has started calling her Dopey.

Blog ya later

Snip-Snip, Clip-Clip

I CHOPPED my hair off today. We are talking a bob at my chin. I'm going back on Tuesday to have my grey covered up. Getting old is expensive! I am loving my hair though. Miss K keeps asking me what happened to my hair though.

Just random stuff

**Just trying to get back in the groove after our emergency trip to Michigan. Brian's dad had a heart attack...well, a couple of heart attacks. They didn't think he was going to make it, but much to the amazement of everyone, including his doctors, he pulled through. It was a very stressful trip for us.


**I hate the weather. I hate that it is hot so early in the morning. I can not get my child to understand that we can't be outside all day long no matter how much she wants to be. And when I do take her out, she fights me on drinking water. We are meeting some friends at the Zoo tomorrow at 8 for member morning. I am hoping it won't be too hot and we can actually enjoy ourselves.


**Took my child to get a haircut this morning. It wasn't the usual screaming and crying that I am use to. But she did not want her hair "snip-snipped" as she calls it. You know, it really isn't even a haircut. All I get is her bangs trimmed. Brian would have a fit if I cut her hair. He is afraid that the curls will be gone if I cut it. And to be honest, I don't want to cut it. My mother cut my hair SHORT when I was little and I hated it. Little girls are suppose to have cute pigtails and bows.


**Going to see Sex & The City tomorrow night with one of my girlfriends. I can not wait. I really wanted to go out for Cosmos before the movie, but my friend is pregnant, so I don't think that would be fair to her.



**I want a new camera. There I said it. Brian told me not to even think about it, but it is all I can think about! I used a friend's 40D at a birthday party a couple of weekends ago and all I have to say is ...whoa. That camera ROCKS.

I've got other random stuff, but that will have to wait until I have more time. blog ya later!

One of those mommy moments

Today Miss K and I went to a "sing along" at the library close to our house. Miss Lynn, the lady who was leading the session started asking the kids questions like, "What do babies do? and Now that you are growing up, what else can you do?" Miss K turned to me and very seriously said, "Mommy, I don't want to grow up." I thought I was going to cry. I just hugged her really tight and told her I never wanted her to grow up. I can not believe that my baby is going to be 3 years old next month.

Here's a photo of my baby. This was taken at a party at Owl Creek Park on Sunday. And yes, that is sweat in her hair. My child sweats like crazy.

Lists, lists and more lists

At this point, I think I have a list of the lists that I need to make. How sad is that. I need to make a list for all the stuff to do for Miss K's birthday party. Need to make a list for stuff for our Chicago trip. Need to make a grocery list. And then I just have a million and one things that I need to do, that at the rate I am going, will never get done. I've got too many lists going and it's not working for me. I just don't know what to do. I swear, I am so unorganized. I start doing one thing and then get sidetracked

So, I am watching the hockey game and it is now in the 3rd overtime. Believe it or not, I actually wanted to go to bed early tonight because I am tired and Miss K and I are meeting some friends for storytime at the library in the morning. I don't want to be dragging in the morning like I usually am. I'm going to sit though the 3rd OT and then I am going to bed. This will give me a chance to at least get our menu made for the next two weeks and started on the grocery list. I so need to go shopping.

Blog ya later!

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today is Brian's birthday. We had a great day. He went golfing while Miss K and I went to a birthday party. We went out to dinner at Saltgrass, came home and had a Chocolate Caramel Nirvana cake from Coldstone. Oh my. Sinfully delicious! Then we spent a couple of hours hanging with our neighbors and playing with Brian's birthday present. I managed to find a Wii Fit for him. WE LOVE IT! Can't wait to spend some time figuring out all the stuff it offers. I will say this, you WILL get a workout on it.

Anyway...Happy Birthday my wonderful and amazing husband.

I know this is a goofy picture, but it is the most recent one I have of him! I so need to get better about photos this year. I don't know what happened, but I just haven't picked up the camera like I have in the past.