Happy Halloween

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?

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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.....

*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....

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....

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...

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...

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

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....

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

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!

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

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!!!

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

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.