I'm in Michigan and I am freezing

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog ya later!

Photos....finally! And other random stuff

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

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

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

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

Blog ya later!

Lots of stuff

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

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

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

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

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

blog ya later!

Gettin' stuff done

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

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

I might be back later today with photos.

blog ya later!

Barbie what?

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

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

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

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

blog ya later.

Sad mommy day...

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

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

Blog ya later.

More Christmas shopping...

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

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

arg.

blog ya later.

Photos

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

Another great giveaway!

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

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

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

blog ya later!

Christmas Shopping

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

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

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

I've got to go to bed.

blog ya later!

Guest Room to Play Room

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

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

Blog ya later!

Family Photo Day!

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

Blog ya later.

Is it really November 1st?

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

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

blog ya later!