Fundraiser for K's school

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

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

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

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

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

Wow

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

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

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

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

Blog ya later!

Behind, behind, behind....

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

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

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

RELAX.

Blog ya later.

Menu Planning Monday - Jan 19th

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

Monday - Three Bran Chicken Chili

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

blog ya later.

Recipe and other a lot of other stuff

Three Bean Chicken Chili

1 small onion, diced

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 can corn

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can rotel

1 can diced tomatoes

2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 package of taco seasoning

1 package of dry ranch dressing

3 cups water

For garnish:

sour cream

tortilla chips

shredded cheese

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog ya later!

Menu Planning Monday - Jan 5th

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

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

Tuesday: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie, salad

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

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

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

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

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

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

blog ya later!

Bad start on my resolutions

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

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

Blog ya later!

Resolutions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

blog ya later!

It's a wrap!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog ya later!

UNDERINSURED DRIVERS SUCK!

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

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

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

Blog ya later!

And it just gets better.....

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

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

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

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

blog ya later.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm going to bed.

blog ya later.

Getting ready for Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

Blog ya later...with photos!

I'm in Michigan and I am freezing

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.