amanda's adorables

Christmas Shopping

2011-12-16T23:50:00.000-06:00

OH MY.

I have been doing some Christmas shopping. And it has gone surprisingly well as far as crowd control and traffic and the like. But I have a bunch of observations and random thoughts to share:

*If you have a daughter and she is over the age of 5, wait, scratch that. If you have a daughter over the age of 5 months, you will find the most skanktralicious clothing available in her size. And her size only. Or at least her age range. This is awesome because I have totally been looking for matching hooking outfits for my daughters. Who are 6 and 12. They are going to look very hawt while celebrating the birth of our Savior. Sigh. I will be taking to the online boutique shopping once again.

*I was getting a little upset about all the want, want, want around here so one day while I was at the tanning salon, I noticed a bin for the the Toys for Tots program and I decided it would be the perfect program for all of us to particpate in. I don't tan a ton, but a Mama needs her 20 minutes of quiet time every once in a while. Anywho. While at the fakey bakey palace, I saw that the particular program was called Toys for TANS. See, if you go ahead and donate a toy, you get a nice little upgrade and/or a few free tans with your donation. Ah. Quite the win-win for all of us. So, I was truly proud of my children when they spent their own money to purchase toys for children in need (above and beyond the minimum $ amount I'd set for them) so they could make sure a small child in this county could have a toy this Christmas. And also so Mama could go in the level three tanning bed with the extra seven face tanners.

*While walking through the JCPenney (a store great for coupons, but an avid purveyor of little girls' prostitot clothing), I hear a guy talking REALLY loudly on his cell phone. Here's how the convo went: "....well, yeah man, I mean, I ain't goin' down to the district attorney's office and turning myself in and payin' all that back child support when I don't even know that's my kid or nothin'." Really? You decided to have this conversation THIS loudly in the middle of the Jacques Pennay? And you think that the child support office will actively stalk you if they are NOT SURE you are the biological father of said child? Wow. Merry Christmas to him and the child that may or may not be his. Probably he should call Maury.

*Not at all a part of my Christmas shopping experience, but sort of a little bit, since I grabbed my newspaper this morning to snap up a coupon before heading out to shop. Headlines! Headlines! Headlines screaming that a local chicken farmer has been raided and busted for raising chickens for cockfighting! His response to all charges: "Well, all you're doin', by cockfighting, is mistreatin' your own supper." Um, well, I guess if you are going to put it in those terms.

Ahhhh, the holiday season. Always a bundle of fun. And what's really most important? And what is most important every single day? This is:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.~ Romans 8:28

Because heavens-to-Betsy, we might not understand it all. But He does. And that we can be sure of.

Boy, I think I missed blogging. Especially when funny stuff happens that I just have to share.

Flies Puke

2011-08-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

Littlest Girl: (after setting her drink down) Oh gross! There is a bug in my water.
Me: Did you swallow it?
Littlest Girl: No. But, what if the bug peed in it?
Me: Well, you are probably fine. Bugs probably don't pee.
Littlest Girl: Well my friend Kate told me every time a bug lands on something, it throws up.
Me: I don't know about all bugs. I think that's true only for house flies. They land on stuff and then throw up a little bit.
Littlest Girl: Oh....no. (Makes profuse gagging noises.)
Me: What?
Littlest Girl: Well, Kate told me that part about the flies AFTER I'd eaten my sandwich and one had landed on it. I have actually EATEN FLY BARF.

Feline Depression

2011-08-03T15:57:00.000-05:00

I seriously found our little cat like this the other day. Like life was just too much and she was done. Face planted, face down between the paws, given up.

I can totally imagine where getting fed on demand at any hour of the day, getting to sleep for 16-18 hours of any day and watching the lovely nature pass by your window as you lounge within your air-conditioned home could be verrrrrrrry depressing.

Island Fun

2011-08-02T21:35:00.000-05:00

We live 30 short minutes from an island. Sounds preeeeetty swanky, right? Really tropical and extravagant, right? Images of Hawaii come to mind? tee hee. Not quite so fabulous. But we still love and appreciate it.

I mean, really? Who wouldn't the giant mer-man shrimp thingee?

We've had a lot of fun memories this summer on the island. And even though it's not Barbados, with my family with me and my kids making me laugh, it couldn't be more fabulous.

Galveston may not be perfect, but we love it all the same.

Pictures of the Kindest Big Brother Ever

2011-07-28T09:37:00.000-05:00

Is worth a thousand words, right? Well, I seem to be having some sort of "writer's block" -not that I am much of a writer to begin with. A chatter-er? Yes. I can sit and chat with a good friend for hours. But somehow putting all that chatter into some paragraphs makes things all difficult. BUT - one of my most favorite and fabulous and amazing bloggers Little Miss Momma just wrote a post about writer's block. She's awesome. And she totally inspired me with her ideas. Thank you to her. Anyway, I loved the suggestion of perusing recent photos and letting ideas sort of pop up.

As I was going through photos from recent summer outings and trips, I came across several absolutely hilarious photos of Blonde Boy. He's my almost 15-year-old stepson. He lives full-time with us and I've had the pleasure of being his mom since he was just a wee tyke of 4 years old. Let me just tell you, Blonde Boy was like the CUTEST.LITTLE.BOY.EVER. But he was also DENNIS THE MENACE. Oh, was BB naughty. Anything he could get into, he would. Writing on the walls with a Sharpie? Check. Painting the garage floor? Check. And on and on. And he was a dirt magnet. I'd have him dressed in the cutest little outfit and within 3 minutes, he'd be coated in mud, chocolate, some Kool-Aid and other unknown substances. There wouldn't even be chocolate or Kool-Aid in the house, but somehow it wound up all over the boy. You know, the good stains you can't get out? I digress. He's grown into an amazing young man. (Albeit still a spiller, though.) He's a super tennis player and an absolutely amazing brother. Every morning, he makes Littlest Girl her breakfast and eats with her. I do not ask him to do this. Nor does Littlest Girl. He just asks if she'd like breakfast and what he can get for her. The same at lunchtime and snacktime. I can't believe that God has blessed us so richly with this amazing kid. Blonde Boy has such compassion for others and such care and love for his fellow human beings and always has. Since he was young, he was acutely aware of others' feelings and what others needed. During elementary school, he was always placed in classrooms with special needs children because he seemed acutely aware of how blessed he was to learn from others who had different needs from him. He was five years old when we lost our precious angel baby at birth. One day shortly thereafter, he told me that because she had surely become one of the Lord's angels with wings, she'd always be watching over all of our family. And her wings could also help her double as a tooth fairy and fly into the windows at night when one of our children had lost a tooth. He has a strong faith in God and a strong will to do good for others and for that I am so proud.

He's also HIGHLARIOUS. He has a crazy and fun personality and I hope someday he'll do work that allows him to reach a ton of people because when you have this kind of charisma, it should be shared with all! If not, he's always got his modeling career to fall back on.

And these are only a teensy little sampling of the boy's modeling talent. hehe.

Thanks for letting me gush about my boy. He rocks. And now I've got to go so I can run him to tennis camp.

Hi.

2011-07-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

Hi there. Well, aren't I super awesome at keeping my little New Year's Resolution to go all blog crazy and post something like every single day? Yeah, SUPER awesome.

There are like a million times a day when one of my kids does something totally hilarious and I think "I should totally blog that" and then I get on the computer in the evening and get all wrapped up in other stuff like stalking everyone else's blog. There are just too many fun things to read and projects for me to put in my little decorating-and-crafting folder on my computer. Sigh. I know. There's Pinterest and I really need to go to it and "pin" all the ideas, which would be a way more creative way to display them.

Summer has been busy. And fun. And I have tons to share. And maybe my huge audience of 1-2 readers will adore seeing some posts and pics of my totally awesome kids.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-23T14:03:00.000-05:00

Some more beach. Because I really can't get enough of the beach. Ever.

Wordless Wednesday. Back to the beach......

2011-03-16T09:22:00.000-05:00

Another Refurb - Eatin' Table & Chairs

2011-03-01T20:25:00.001-06:00

We have a formal dining area in our home, but we do not use it for that and we eat all our meals in our breakfast area, so that's where our casual dining table + chairs are. Our table was a hand-me-down from my maternal grandparents, who are now guardian angels of mine. :)

Here it is before:

I am going to tell you a giant secret. I did NOT sand it. Nope. The primer promises that it will cover even unsanded surfaces so I just took a shot and primed (Zinnsser Bullseye 123) without sanding. Rebel. I am a total rebel.

I then put a coat of $5 oops paint. It's a gray/blue.

I ran the mouse sander all around the edges and then wiped down with a dry towel.

I then used the stain/water mix I mentioned in my chair post - 2 parts water, 1 part Minwax walnut stain and sloshed it on with a throwaway brush and wiped it off quickly with an old tee. Coated it with polycrylic sealer, and then turned to the chairs. One of them I found for $4 at GW and the other three I found ON.THE.CURB. I always see other people post totally awesome curb finds and I think "Oh how I wish I could find me some sweet curb furniture." Duh. I have. Because anything can be painted and fixed up. As long as it's not fallin' apart, it can be fixed up.

Sprayed 'em down with a coat of satin espresso spray paint and then ran the mouse sander over the edges where they'd be "worn" after time. OH! And once again my rebel self didn't prime these. I know, I know. They'll probably peel at some point....but again, these were free and I am hoping to replace them when I find a good set of chairs I can refurb that will have fabric cushions. So for right now, I did these with $7 worth o' spray paint and a little mouse sander action....and no primer. Rebel.

And the after:

I don't have the most fabulous camera so it's hard to see the "distressing" very well, but here are some closeups:

It's not absolutely perfect, but I love it for the price, which was almost free. Which is awesome. And I love the colors and how they went together.

Edited to add that I am linking up with: Tatertots & Jello Weekend Wrap Party!

Old Furniture Refurb - Dining Chair

2011-02-24T17:59:00.002-06:00

So, like much of the rest of the awesome bloggy world, I am trying my hand at refurbing old furniture. It is A) supa dupa economical and B) really FUN TO DO!

Here is one of my most recent projects - and I love how it turned out. It's an extra dining chair for our kitchen and when not in use for dining purposes, we use it as a catch-all by our back door (meaning it's a resting spot for my husband's computer bag).

Here's the before - $5.99 at the GW.

A light sanding.

Coated it with one coat of Zinsser Bullseye 123 Primer. I've seen this one used by lots of other bloggers who refurb old furniture and it works super well!

I let the primer dry unintentionally for like 8 days because we then had a slew of cold weather. Soooooo.....I was so excited once it got warm again. I put on a coat of $5 oops paint and let that dry for a couple of hours and then ran my little mouse sander lightly over the areas where it might have wear and tear in order to "distress" it. I wiped that down with a dry towel and then mixed water and Minwax walnut wood stain - one part Minwax, 2 parts water. (You should really use some kind of nice clear glaze, but I totally didn't have any and I did totally have some water so I used that.) I swiped on the walnut stain mixture with a throwaway brush and then quickly wiped off with an old tee. Recovered the cushion and VOILA! I love it. I am actually probably going to change the fabric on the seat, not because I don't love it. Because I really do love it and I really WANT the fabric to match the rest of my decor, but it sadly doesn't. Regardless, I think it turned out super cute for a $6 GW chair. All the materials like the paint, stain, sandpaper, etc. will be and have been used for many projects so I don't necessarily count in those costs.

And here's the AFTER:

Our dining table & chairs are soon to be revealed, too!

Edited to add: I did coat this in the end with a polycrylic sealer!

The Plague

2011-01-28T17:23:00.000-06:00

OH MY SICKNESS.

The Plague from Hades descended on this house last Friday. Littlest Girl woke up about 6:20, asked me if it was time for school and then began retching. And the poor little thing didn't stop. Like I am not kidding didn't stop. She had a few 2-3 minute breaks in like a 5 hour span of time until her pediatrician blessed us with a lovely anti-nausea drug that put LG into a coma of sorts, but at least she wasn't heaving anymore. Add to that a sweet fever of 102. It was awesome. And it lasted FIVE FULL DAYS. Every time we thought she was getting the slightest bit better, fever would return. We've had the flu shot. Apparently the flu shot was no match for this flu.

I got it and it manifested itself in a creatively sinus way because that's where any malady that affects me manifests itself. My sinuses love to be horribly evil to me. Good times. The Husband even got it. And he NEVER gets anything. EVER. But he was in some seriously rough shape.

Even the cats felt bad for us.

Poor little child trying to be a fan during the NFC Championship game.....

Anyway, I've never been the most regular o' bloggers, but this plague put us down hardcore.

Thank God we're feeling some relief around here!

And We Have a New Pet

2011-01-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

Blonde Boy wanted a lizard. I am fine with this because I think lizards are super cute. Well, little ones are. Take the legs off a lizard and make it a snake and I am fainting. But a lizard is okay. Let me introduce Tommy:

He's a baby lizard, so he'll get bigger apparently. How much bigger I am not sure, but I am hoping we aren't talking monitor lizard size. He has a cage and habitat that Blonde Boy works hard to maintain and all of this was paid for by Blonde Boy with his Christmas money. Anyway, I like Tommy. He's cute and at least today, he's totally entertaining Blonde Boy and Littlest Girl. When they leave the room, they put on Tom-Cam via BB's Ipod so they can watch what he did while they were gone.

Now, Tommy is a cute name, but no one knows if Tommy is really a Tommy or actually a Tammy. And I am just going to share with you here that my family has a loooooooooooooong history of getting this wrong.

Example number one: When I was in seventh grade, my dad got a cat for my sister and me from a rescue shelter. Apparently, he never really bothered to check on the gender of said rescued cat. Or maybe he was even misled and told that said cat was female. It was not until when an little spat between our cat and another animal required a trip to the eergency vet many years later that said cat's gender was revealed. And by many years, I mean to tell you that I was a SENIOR IN COLLEGE when we found out the cat was a BOY. Now, let me just make sure it's known that we had been taking this cat yearly to the vet. Apparently, gender just never came up. Well, at least the old boy spent his golden years being referred to in the proper manner. Thankfully, said cat had an androgynous name.

Example number two: My dad and his wife had this really neat African Grey Parrot named Caesar. They used to call him Mr. C for short and they just loved their sweet boy! Until about 10 years into owning Mr. C, when HE laid an egg. They added an 'ette' onto the end of Caesar's name. Caesarette. Cute, right?

Example number three: Insane Cat. We came across Insane Cat in our backyard when he was just a teeny abandoned kitten and took him in. And we really seriously thought he was a girl. And I named him Esthe.r. I really loved that name and well, I really thought he was a girl. When he went to the vet a couple of weeks later, the vet said Esth.er was a Chester, but we really had already been calling him Esthe.r for like 2 weeks and shoot, well, that was his name. So that is why we have a male cat named Esth.er. This is him. Totally a dude. With a girl's name. No wonder he is incredibly insane.

Example number four: My dad recently took in this cute little cat. A darling, sweet girl. Well, actually, after a few weeks and a trip to the vet, she's really a boy.

When one of my friends (who has been a friend since childhood, hence knows all of these pet gender stories) heard about this most recent pet gender debacle, she mentioned that my sister and I should feel really lucky that we were not named Ralph and Jim.

Truer words could not have been spoken.

A Very Proud (And Very NOT Wicked) Stepmother

2011-01-16T17:43:00.001-06:00

Blonde Boy rejoined our home 2 weeks ago. He started school over a week and a half ago. He had such a great attitude and was excited and happy. I was nervous for him. It was like I was sending the boy to Kindergarten all over again. What if he didn't fit in? What if he didn't like the school? What if no one sat with him at lunch? Oh, the worries were endless. (I am REALLY good at worrying.)

But of course I should not have been nervous. Because the boy fit right in and made friends immediately and will even be joining the basketball team for the tail end of the season.

He is happy. And well-adjusted. He is an amazing kid. He has always been a caring soul and has the kind of compassion for others that is rarely seen, even in adults. He is 14 and he's not perfect by any means, but he is the best 14-year-old I could ask for. And I am very, very proud!

He even humored me when I took this pic on his first day. He's mildly disappointed in the dress code enforcement....but adds his own personal touch with his wildy colored sneakers. :)

I love.....

2011-01-12T10:58:00.000-06:00

....how a chair for six bucks from GW, a can of $1 oops paint, a 79 cent brush and 20 minutes can create the cutest little chair for my sewing desk.

*Smile.*

OMG. MRI update.....

2011-01-10T09:44:00.001-06:00

I totally saw the calf molesting MRI tech yesterday in the Krog.er and he didn't even blink. Can you even get over that? I would think you'd recognize someone whose calves you molested.

Apparently not.

I feel so cheap.

Good Times in the MRI Tube

2011-01-08T10:08:00.000-06:00

So, I had an MRI this past week. Let me preface this by saying I have NEVER felt claustrophobic in my life so I am not worried. I mean, I have spent enough time in tanning beds to rival that Snooki girl, so I figure I am good on the claustrophobia part. Well, when MRI Tech Lady (who talks REALLY loudly, by the way - apparently she is only used to talking while MRI is in session) slides me into MRI machine number one, I literally almost had a coronary episode. It was the tiniest tube ever. Like putting me into a coffin made for a small dog. Soooooo, then the Loud Female MRI Lady tells me there is another machine with a larger radius, but I need to wait for that one and if I can't do that, I'll need sedation. So she sets me outside room #2 and tells me to wait. Meanwhile, she brings in older man to tiny MRI tube since I've vacated. He rolls up (literally with his walker) and sees the machine and hits the brakes on his walker so hard, the wheels leave skid marks on the floor. He won't even entertain the idea of going in that teeny little tube. (Smart man.) So the Loud MRI Lady brings out the nurse to discuss sedation. I am sitting there waiting for machine #2, so I hear the whole spiel. Which consists of the nurse trying to talk this dude into taking a pill that will make him all set to get in there. But all she's offering is ATI.VAN!? WHAT? That's like a maintenence med for some people. PUHLEEZE. So I am making motions behind this nurse's back trying to get the dude to tell her no flippin' way. Then she starts telling him about an IV sedation, but makes it sound like no one on the planet EVER uses that type, and it's such a huge deal. I am giving it a HUGE thumbs-up. I got called into room #2 before I ever saw what he went with, but I am praying it was the IV.

So then I get taken into room #2 by Cocky MRI Tech Dude (we'll call him CMTD for short). CMTD tells me an MRI is really no big deal and he could have calmed me enough to get into machine #1, as he has the golden touch for getting people into the machine. Meanwhile, my heart is still straining to remain inside my body. But I am thinking inside my own head how I reallllllly want this MRI over and I WANT THE RESULTS so I know if I am DYING or not and if I need to come back for IV sedation (like I'd even entertain the whole Ativ.an idea - I mean, PUHLEEZE, I can take a shot of whiskey at home and it's free) I'll need Husband for transportation. Well, I decide that since the radial area of this machine is, indeed, much larger, I am going to totally suck it up and do the damn MRI. And of course somewhere in this whole process, I realize the only thing I really need is my faith, since there is nothing God can't handle for us. So, of course CMTD thinks it's ALL HIM that's gotten me into this machine. Little does he know the real credit goes to the man upstairs, but as I am listening to CMTD talk on and on, I am starting to realize he thinks of himself a little bit on the same level with the man upstairs. Whateva. But anyway, he slides me into the machine and he's like massaging my calves talking to me once I am in there like this is going to calm me down some more. At this point, my inside-my-head-praying turns to praying not for myself and my possible brain issues, but more that CMTD will stop molesting my calves. Finally, CMTD leaves and MRI commences. All prayer time for me, except for when CMTD pops back into the room to inject me with some fluid. Good times. In any event, I survived the MRI. Thanks be to GOD. (Not CMTD.)

So, my doc calls me last night to give me that news that I have NOTHING life-threatening, and a syndrome that occurs with a pituitary gland issue, and lets me know that if my headaches are bad enough (um, yes, actually as of late they are like DEBILITATING), I need to go see a neurologist. Good times. Because of course you know I haven't had enough cockiness over the last day or so.

***********

Now, please let me make clear I am sooooo thankful that even though I have some suckwad headaches, I have nothing life-threatening wrong with me. And that I firmly believe that is due to our wonderful Lord. But the story leading to that whole conclusion was a doozy, so I thought I'd share.

2011 Home Goals

2011-01-06T21:01:00.001-06:00

Today I am linking up with the most fabulous Nester because she has created a little linky party showing off goals for the home in 2011.

AND BOY DO I NEED TO ORGANIZE MY THOUGHTS IN THIS DEPARTMENT. (I will just go ahead and emphasize that in all caps, boldened and underlined.)

We live in a rental house that I actually love. It's the newest construction I've ever lived in. It was built in 2003, which is like brand new to me because our old home was built by the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs' grandparents, actually. So, it's nice to have a home that's a little newer, as a lot of the living space is just more user friendly (laundry room in great spot, bedrooms laid out perfectly, bathrooms in the right spot, all the outlets work properly and there are TONS OF THEM.) So, that user-friendliness of this home is fabulosity. BUT - I have some goals. A lot of them.

First floor:

Forgive me, but I completely and totally did NOT clean up before taking the pic of the formal dining/living room. This room is really hard to handle because we do not use it as a formal dining room and are turning it into basically a very large living area.

Goals for this area include:

-New sofa & loveseat for TV area

-use sofa from TV area for front area, where there will be a storage bench and ottomans for kids' toys and games

-small table in front area for kids to play games

Here are the blah before pics (I am hoping to come up with some fantabulous AFTER pics. Or at least I am praying that will happen.)

-ALSO! And this is huge. And Nester mentioned it in her post and I was just thinking it the other day! I need to make sure I am using more handmade goodies because right now, all the decor in this room is from Kirkland's. And I love Kirkland's. But I don't live there, and that's what it looks like.

TV area:

This is looking to the front of the room, which would be a formal dining room, from the TV area:

And on to my laundry room:

Blech. Everything from the gross, bent tenement looking blinds to the horribly disorganized top shelf, it's a mess. It needs a cute overhaul. I have a confession. I like laundry. I do not mind it one bit. Maybe it has to do with the fresh smell of clean clothes.

Goals in the laundry room include:

-Organize top shelf

-replace gross rental blinds

-Organize hanging rod

My sewing/craft room is in our landing at the top of the stairs. Needs something to perk it up!

My goal is just to cutely decorate this room.

Finally, our bedroom needs some serious work. It is like .000009% done.

We need:

-new night tables

-2 new dressers

-desk (not shown) needs to be painted

-wall vinyl above bed

-master bath (not shown) needs decor - just a few accent pieces

Finally- I just had to add this pic. Insane Cat was following me EVERYWHERE when I was taking these pics. It was hilarious.

I think he thought he was my photography assistant.

Fingers crossed I can accomplish at least a few of these goals. It's really fun for me to work on my house, and I haven't had a lot of time these past couple months to work on it as much as I'd have liked! Hopefully in the new year I will get some more time!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T08:59:00.000-06:00

I love Wordless Wednesday as a theme because while I sometimes get a little wordy, it always takes me through my pics and I love to browse my favorites. It's a happy activity, you know?
This is my fave pic ever of my dad and his dog, Riley (who is the cutest dog ever to walk the face of this Earth).

In Which I Admit I am a Climatologically Spoiled Brat

2011-01-04T19:41:00.001-06:00

Sooooooooooo.........last year around this time, we were dealing with this.

I do not even remember the exact date of this picture, but this is what the norm is in Wisconsin in January. Add some below zero temps to boot. Skiing, snowboarding, ice skating (the outdoor kind)? Each member of my fam LOVES these activities. Me? Not so much. Never have. I like snow for like a week and think it is GORGEOUS. And then I am done with it and I'd like Summer back.

Fall in Wisconsin is GORGEOUS, too. Like New England-ey gorgeous. This isn't even a very good pic of how totally AWESOME and BRIGHT our backyard was at the peak of Autumn each year.

But after like a week? Maybe two? I want Summer back.

So when we moved to the Sub-Tropical Humid South where temps right now are ranging through the sixties currently, I thought I would be all content and happy.

But, nope. I mean, I am. I am WAY more content with sixties than in the cold and freezing snow.

But I LOVE this:

And this:

What a SPOILED brat am I to complain, since this year I only have a short wait until we are back to beach weather. (In WI, we'd have a minimum of six months to wait before we were back to beach weather, and that's pushing it.)

So, I admit it. I love the beach. And the beach weather. And I can't wait 'til we're reunited.

Phew. The confession was cathartic.

***********

Just in case you're curious....

Beach Pic 1: Galveston Island, TX

Beach Pic 2: Treasure Island, FL

Beach Pic 3: Lake Michigan, Belgium, WI

Changes

2011-01-03T09:45:00.000-06:00

We are in for some changes around our house again. Blonde Boy is moving here full-time with us, due to a long huge mess custody placement drama that contains more twists and turns than a Days of our Lives plot line. About the only part of an incredibly twisted and turned soap opera storyline that this particular placement episode does not contain is amnesia. But you know, perhaps it does, as we haven't seen the boy in a few months and maybe he'll have totally forgotten us. I would rehash the details of how this event came to be, but that's all a bunch of negative stuff that isn't good for anyone.

Instead, I am going to focus on the fact that Littlest Girl is going to be so excited, she might come right out of her skin. It has been a little strange for her being the only child for a few months around here. I think there have been some positives, though, and I have definitely been thankful for those positives coming out of what was a negative situation. It has offered us some precious time together as a small family of three that I think brought us even closer, and afforded us some extremely special one-on-one time with our baby! Who is five years old. But I don't think I'll ever stop calling her The Baby.

Over the past ten years that Husband and I have been together, we've had a lot of changes with placement of his 3 children, who are 16, 14, and 11. (Littlest Girl is ours together.) The changes come from instability on the part of his ex-wife - there is a lot I could write about her that would make one's jaw drop, but it's not about her. It's about us and the kiddos. It's a tough situation at times, but has brought me closer to God and my faith than I could have ever imagined, so again - I see the positive out of a negative. I think that's the way God works a lot of the time. At least in my life. (And thanks to Beth Moore for helping me realize that.)

These are a few of my favorite pics of Littlest Girl and Blonde Boy. They make me smile.

I am praying these two will fall as seamlessly as possible into life together again. And here's to many more pics that will make us all smile.

Our First Texas Christmas

2011-01-02T10:47:00.000-06:00

Is someone a bit behind? Nah. Christmas was only like a week ago. A week-ish ago.

Christmas Eve was so awesome! It was our first Christmas in Texas and it was fabulous! Christmas Eve we went to an amazing show at Moody Gardens on Galveston Island. The show included dinner and an amazing Festival of Lights! The weather was awesome except that the humidity wilted my otherwise well-sculpted Texas hair. Seriously, I was having a dern good hair day and it looked straight out of a late-eighties episode of Dallas (best show ever) and the humidity on the island wilted it in 2.5 seconds flat. Sigh.

*See wilted hair below.

After we walked through the totally awesome Festival o Lights, we headed into the dinner show, which retold the story of Christ's birth in a way that was absolutely amazing. There was some of the most beautiful singing I have ever heard. One young woman in particular took my breath away and seriously brought tears to my eyes with her a cappella version of O Come O Come Emmanuel . There were even aerial performers. Seriously, did you know there were aerial specialists in Bethlehem? Who knew!?! In any event, it was beautiful Christ-centered entertainment and we loved it!

After we left, there was a small ~~hurricane~~ storm so it's probably a good thing we strolled through the Festival of Lights pre-show and not post. As we were driving over the bridge onto the mainland, I was in deep prayer hoping we'd make it to our first Christmas DAY in Texas. No joke. CUHRAZY storm.

But we made it home and Littlest Girl sprinkled reindeer food outside so they would have a nice little snack when they stopped!

And food was left out for Santa.

And then, Christmas morning!
She spies what's under the tree!

And makes a break for it!

Her favorite gift? Makeup. That's mama's girl.

Insane Cat's favorite gift? A laser mouse which he relentlessly chases. As usual, completely INSANE.

I hope you everyone had an extremely blessed Christmas! I feel as though we are so blessed as a family. Sure, we have plenty of tough stuff to go through like anyone else, but there is no way the negative stuff is anywhere near as awesome as the good stuff.

Resolutions

2011-01-01T23:10:00.000-06:00

I am normally NOT a resolution type person because I figure if there is something I want to change, I should probably not wait until the first of the year, because then I will put it off forevah.

However, this year I have a few because they happened to fall right around when the first of the year started! Sahweet.

1) I have been trying to work on my weight. Ugh......I have gained way too much in recent years, and while I don't nosh constantly on fast food, I must not be counting calories the way I need to. I have lost a few pounds, but need to resume a post-holiday lifestyle change that was really working for me - a lot of portion control and a lot more precise calorie counting.

2) Blog. A lot more. I have fabulous family and I take tons of pics. Um, why would I not want to record these moments? Not necessarily because the world wants to see my family, but because I want to capture these moments!

3) A lot more prioritizing. I was so busy this past holiday "season" I really didn't slow down and enjoy it or celebrate the real reason for Christmas anywhere near enough. And this type of too-busy-pace is just dumb. I like to be busy and enjoy life, but I was busy and not slowing down to enjoy life anywhere near as much as I need to! We only get one shot at life and my little girl is only going to be five once, so there is no way speeding through life is the way to go! :(

I wish anyone who reads this the very, very best in 2011!

Why is it....

2010-12-15T21:38:00.000-06:00

That I cannot seem to manage to blog as often as I'd like? I know PUHLENTY of women who are just as busy as me, probably much more busy, but manage to blog often. Some of them EVEN EVERY DAY.

I am by no means a writer, but I am a chatty person, so why is it I can't seem to find enough to chatter about on the blog? I mean it's not like I can't find enough to talk about, you know? I have never been into New Years' Resolutions. But this year, I am. One of them being the blog. Not for any other purpose than the fact that I have an awesome family and I want to chronicle our lives. Kids are only young once and each day is an experience that only happens once and it's just too important to let go.

For today, I'll post a pic I love of Littlest Girl. Well, I love like every pic of her ever taken of course, but I liked this one a lot and it's pretty recent. It's so her, you know? She is just full of sass and such a ham, yet she is an amazingly caring child and good friend. I could not be more proud of her.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-08T20:43:00.000-06:00

One little monkey jumping on the bed.

A Very Happy Thanksgiving

2010-12-04T22:01:00.000-06:00

So, despite the long drive that I complained about in the previous post, we had a VERY happy Thanksgiving!

We arrived in the Bluegrass State on Wednesday and stopped right away to see my mom at my aunt's home. Oh my, I so wish I'd had my camera when Littlest Girl got to run up and hug her gran! She was SO happy! We left Littlest Girl with my mom so we could run over to the hotel and unpack and settle the cats in.

Yes. I said the cats.

I know.

I totally complain about a long drive and then I add two cats to the mix. Well. My neighbors usually check in on them, but even with that, the last time we were gone on a trip, I was all worried about them and I figured since we were driving this time, why not take them? They don't pee or poop or puke in the vehicle (which I have heard is a huge cat travel issue) so I figured it would be fine. And it was. Until on the way home, the insane cat decided he needed to meow from Tennessee to Texas.

But I digress.

Overall, I AM glad we brought them along.

Here is Littlest Cat inpsecting the hotel room.

And then of course Insane Cat is totally worn out from his long, stressful day of meowing.

My sister and her boyfriend arrived very late Wednesday night (the smart flyers), but unfortunately my sister was REALLY sick with strep or some other nasty bug so she wasn't able to join us for our planned Thanksgiving meal. We'd planned to go out to a beautiful restaurant on Lake Barkley, but without my sister and with having really bad weather, we decided to choose a spot closer than 2 hours away! We went to pick up my mom and of course then had no "real plan" as to where to eat. Seriously. What total idiots. Who doesn't have a "real plan" for a place to spend THANKSGIVING? Us. Nice.
Hence how we wound up at the free church Thanksgiving dinner. It was all sort of an accidental happening. We called around to a zillion restaurants within the area (which is sort of wide area since my aunt and uncle live in a very, very rural area) and found one that was serving. We were having really bad storms and it was relatively close so we headed over. As we were walking in, I noticed a very large sign on the door stating this was a free Thanksgiving meal provided by a local church. Oh my heavens. Here I felt like a total jerk - like I was taking food potentially from a person who might honestly not be able to afford a Thanksigiving meal. But everyone at the meal was SO kind. We were honestly SO thankful for this meal and it was super DELISH. We gave the church a donation in the amount of what we'd have paid at the restaurant and felt so much better about providing their church with a donation rather than spending the money at a restaurant anyway. These were just wonderful people and I am so glad we wound up there.
Here is Littlest Girl in her cutie little Thanksigiving outfit!

We also exchanged gifts because we won't be able to see my mom at Christmas! Littlest Girl was very into this!

A family shot of my aunt, me, my mom, my sister and Littlest Girl in front. My sister was finally able to join us for a bit on Thursday night, which was so nice!

Then Thursday night it SNOWED! Littlest Girl was SO excited! She went outside and collected some clean snow and brought it in so she could eat it! She misses the snow in the North.

Insane Cat had to do some hotel exploration. I swear he is crazy. And he is spoiled rotten by my ~~freak~~ husband.

Friday we sort of lazed around and caught up on sleep and then went to pick up my mom for a good meal in downtown Paducah, Kentucky. This town has a super amazing downtown (who would have thought!?!) and we ate at a fabulous restaurant and headed to a Christmas light show after!

It was a quick trip and I wish we'd been able to spend more time together and I wish we'd flown and all that, but honestly all in all, I am SO glad we went and SO very happy we got to see my mom and that I got to see my sister again.
Now....I am SO behind on Christmas decorating, wrapping, shopping (for kids), shipping presents out, and everything and anything else. I hoping to get caught up this weekend. Wish me luck.

Driving. And Flying.

2010-11-29T21:37:00.000-06:00

Do you like long drives? Like instead of flying? I mean, I know flying is a big hassle these days compared to the old days. But still. I am pretty sure I am a lover of the friendly skies.

We drove to Kentucky last week for Thanksgiving. About 700 miles. My mom is there with all of her family right now as she is still struggling with some health issues. My sister (smart flying girl) let me know a couple of weeks ago that she and her boyfriend were going to fly to KY to visit our mom for Thanksgiving and I, full of bright ideas as always, decided it would be a fantabulous idea for us to drive there as well. Apparently I forgot how much I love to fly and NOT drive. I mean, a 4-6 hour drive I can handle. I am just not quite so into much more than six hours. And trust me, I am not a rich snob - we always find excellent deals on airfare or we just don't go.

This trip I think really brightened my mom's holiday and I am truly glad we went, but it's going to be a while before I hop in the van again for more than a few errands.

Here are some random thoughts from our trip:

*Louisiana is beautiful. Really beautiful. This is not something I would really have known had we not driven through it. The landscape is gorgeous and the foliage at this time of year was SO gorgeous. Unfortunately I could not live there, as I am not really into coexisting with snakes. Where I live now is really pushing it.

*Going to dinner at the Golden Corral Buffet in McComb, Mississippi on a Saturday night is a people-watching activity in itself. Just sayin'.

*Accidentally winding up at a free Thanksgiving meal provided by a church is not quite as uncomfortable as you might think. (Read more on that one later.)

*Southerners in Mississippi and Louisiana drive FAST. They are awesome.

*Ole Miss has a GIANT fan population and they were all on the road Saturday with their Ole Miss flags flying on their cars. Impressive. College football is an obsession in the South. It's pretty impressive and fun.

*Traveling with cats can be really easy. And really hard when one of them decides he just can't help but meow every.single.second. of the drive home.

All for now. Pics and stories coming soon. Even with my boo-hoo-ing about the driving (most all of which my husband did), I had a really wonderful Thanksgiving and honestly have been blessed with more than I can even believe.

Modesty. And looking beautiful at the same time.

2010-11-21T20:51:00.000-06:00

I heard the best quote this morning when I was watching a sermon by Dr. Ed Young at Houston's Second Baptist Church that I think totally sums up the way I feel about the way I dress and present myself and the way I'd like and hope for my daughter and stepdaughter to feel also.

"Your clothes should be tight enough to show you're a woman, but your clothes should be loose enough to show you're a lady."

Maybe not so perfectly eloquently worded, but a great barometer nonetheless. I like to dress up and look nice, and I want my girls to like to do that, too. But in the age of prostitot* clothing for girls, it's hard to raise a girl and teach her that you can be modest and totally trendy and gorgeous at the same time! Just something I thought I'd share.

*I cannot take credit for the awesome word, prostitot. It came from my friend Heather at Hopelessly Flawed. She is really funny. Seriously.

The Unintentional Bloggy Break

2010-11-20T09:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, I never was the most regular of bloggers, but I just realized I have been on a little break for a bit.

Let me tell you, I swear I thought that when my child went to Kindergarten all day, I'd have all sorts of time on my hands. Please, if you are an at-home mom, do not make this foolish assumption. Between being at the school and helping out there (which is seriously fun - our school is filled with totally cool moms and teachers), regular housekeeping, and trying to put together some Etsy goodies to finally (at some point!) get into my Etsy store.....I have never been so busy. I would not change it for the world. Not one teensy little bit.

But, at the same time, I have lots of things I wanted to run my mouth about on my blog, so I am going to make sure to share it all soon (are you just dying anticipating all the rambling I'll be doing?).

Meanwhile, I will leave you a picture. I made the shirt & bow. :) If you'd like one for your own cute boy or girl, email me. I can do any monogram and tons of cute little ideas for boys and girls!

Wordless Wednesday..or not.

2010-11-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

I have so many pics from the last two weekends.....so it might not be totally wordless, but it will have lots of pics and few words.

Below is Littlest Girl at Chuck E. Cheese. We took her on her half-birthday. One day, she asked us if we could have "Littlest Girl Day" like we have Mother's Day and Father's Day. So we did. And we decided her half-birthday was the day to do it! So, Little Miss Five-and-a-Half picked a lunch at Chuck E. Cheese and we got her a new coloring lapdesk!

No weekend for us is complete without a trip to a thrift store. Can you get over how incredibly sexy my husband is in this sweatshirt? I know you probably cannot handle your jealousy, but he is ALL MINE.

This past Saturday, it was SUCH a gorgeous day, we headed down to The Strand to just walk for a while. As we arrived, a cruise ship was just departing. I have never been up close to a cruise ship. These things are GIGANTIC.

Littlest Girl absolutely LOVES to feed the horses. This one was all pinked out for Halloween!

Giant chair. :)

Giant chess set.

SUCH A POSER!

Ah, I just love fabulous weekends.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

Sooooooo.....I have trick-or-treated in the snow, in the rain, in 30 degree weather (or less!), but never in 80 degree weather (with lots o' humidity)! And darn if it wasn't fun!

Here is our little witch:

We had a ball trick-or-treating and Littlest Girl got SO.MUCH.CANDY! I cannot even begin to explain.

We had a wonderful weekend overall and took lots of fun pics that I'll definitely post this week!

The Sunshine State

2010-10-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

Sooooooooo.........Littlest Girl and I were recently able to tag along on the husband's business trip (thus us having uber-minimal expense) to THE Sunshine State, where my sweet baby sister lives. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to spend a few days with my sister, who is also my very best friend, and spend some serious time on some seriously AWESOME beaches! Our beaches aren't quiiiiiiite that lovely, not that I will ever complain about any beach. But these were dreamy. Clear blue water and lovely white sand. Oh beach, how I love you.

And now......for a slew of pics.

Ooooh, excited. We are outta here.......

A pic of LG with George Bush, since the airport is named after him. A friend of mine commented she knew it had to be the first George because he had a book in his hand. *snicker*

My husband playing funny games with the camera and our plane.

Daddy & LG on the beach!

All of us at dinner! Isn't my sister soooo beautiful? ;)

My baby swimming in the ocean.

Busch Gardens, where my sister treated Littlest Girl and I! It was so generous and SO fun!

More beach!

My sister and me after a fabulous seafood dinner (one of many -I am sure I gained back all eleven pounds recently lost thankyouverymuch.)

I am not sure what I did to deserve such a fabulous trip, but I am SO thankful we were able to go. I miss my sister so very much and to be able to spend some fun time with her was such an incredible blessing. I feel awful for my husband, who had to drive all over doing business all week, but so thankful for him affording us this opportunity! He rocks. I probably owe him some major fishing time.

Halloween Wreath

2010-10-13T13:16:00.000-05:00

Oh, I am sooooo late on the Halloween decor. I normally have the Halloween goodies on display in late September, but this year I have been way late. Perhaps it's because this year there are eighty degree temps and palm trees instead of gorgeous Autumn foliage and crisp fifty degrees? It's all good.

I LOVE ruffles. And I love the shabby raw-edged ruffles so I made a wreath out of them. I am sure I am not the first person to come up with this idea, but I hadn't seen it before and I had done it with a different wreath in my house, so I bought the supplies to create a Halloween wreath, which cost me all of about $7.

I cut the fabric into strips and sewed the ruffles. (*I learned this from Emily at Jones Design Co. in THIS tutorial - set your thread tension high - I put mine at 8 and set my stitch width really wide. Then the fabric naturally kind of ruffles up and you can pull the bobbin thread to pull and gather the ruffle.)

Then I pulled and created the pile of ruffles!

I am sure you could hot glue the ruffles on, but I am so lazy and I feel like the pin keeps them on the straw wreath (which I didn't even unwrap) more securely.

Here's what it looks like with just a couple of them attached:

Here it is with the ruffles all attached.

I gathered some tulle together and pinned it on in a scrunched fashion.

And then pinned the tulle onto the wreath.

And hot glued a crow and the wooden "eek" and "boo" I got from the Hob Lob onto the tulle.

VIOLA! I think it's kinda cute. A little mod with the fabric and a little traditional.

My pics are not fabulous unfortunately - the wreath honestly looks a lot better on our door. I'll have to snap a few pics from the sidewalk and post those.

Happy Halloween!

38 Special

2010-10-11T19:47:00.000-05:00

Happy 38th Birthday to my other half. Like for real I truly believe I'd feel as though I was missing half of me if I didn't have this guy.

I am so blessed to be your wife. And I love you always.

Show Us Your Home: Kitchens

2010-10-08T13:22:00.000-05:00

It is time for the Kitchen installment of Show Us Your Home over at Kelly's Korner. I am participating not because I am like totally in love with my kitchen, but I do like it much more than the one we had before and I think I might spend the entire weekend looking at everyone else's kitchen for decorating ideas!

This house is VERY open concept - like bascially, the kitchen-formal dining room-living room-breakfast area all just roll into one large room. And this is a rental, so we're not allowed to change things like paint, countertops (do not be jealous of my gorgeous countertops), or appliances. However, I do love the cabinets. There are many of them and they are tall and deep. The only thing I don't like are the nice little grooves, which took me like 45 minutes to clean this morning. We are a seriously dusty, dirty family apparently.

Here is a view looking in from the breakfast area/back door. The door you see at the end there is the 1/2 bath. There's a little alcove type area there before the door, which is a great place to put the Feline Children food.

Another view from the breakfast area. I am still hemming and hawing about the decor back there. The pic on the right is a photo of the lighthouse and harbor from my hometown. I really love to look at it. It reminds me of taking a bag of stale bread down to the beach to feed the gulls with my dad. :)

This is a breakfast bar type area we use for kids' snacktimes, etc. The two doors in the back corner are to the pantry and the laundry room.

I love these cabinets. The oven and fridge? They are antiques. Wait, not really because actual antique appliances would be totally cool. They are more like "vintage" 90s maybe?

The sink is super small for some reason. I mean, really not a big deal as we do have a dishwasher, but it's just sort of oddly small.

While not everything in this kitchen would be my first choice, I DO love the fact that there are a TON of very spacious cabinets and a TON of counter space and it's very open and spacious - easy for two people to work in and not bump into eachother. It's honestly the best laid out kitchen I have ever lived with, so no complaints here! Sure I'd love newer appliances and all that, but I am super grateful for just having a wonderful home to show off in the first place!

Have a fabulous weekend! It's my fave day of the week!

Wordless Wednesday.......

2010-10-06T20:44:00.000-05:00

This lizard taunts my cat EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

Our Weekend

2010-10-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

Sooooooo, I am kinda late reporting on the weekend, but I am almost never late for anything in real life. I am an on-timer. My husband? Not so much.

But I digress.

The dear husband came home Friday from work with a handful of free tickets to fun stuff. VERY cool. I am all about the free, as you may well know.

First free activity (and we didn't exactly need tickets for this) was an evening picnic at the beach. Gal.veston, TX does not possess the most beautiful beaches in the world, but the pocket beach we visit is one we absolutely love. It's so clean and very pretty.

***Note these are not our dogs. We have no idea where they came from. There are a bunch of beach houses on this beach and I think they may live at one and have possibly escaped their yard. But they were super friendly and hung out with us for a bit and then left for a nice walk on the beach. Alone.

Littlest Girl caught a couple of hermit crabs!

We went down to The Strand for some ice cream after the beach and passed by this store full of totally neat old nautical items. I LOVE this one above. The store was closed and apparently guarded by super well-camouflaged dogs because when we peeked in the window, the dogs came all snarling and barking straight for us. Nice. I think I peed a little.

If you ever find yourself in Galv.eston, TX, do NOT miss The Strand area. It's very, very beautiful and full of amazing places to eat, shop, and just a fabulous place to walk.

Saturday, we headed to the Pasadena Rodeo & Livestock Show. (Free tix.) We went around noontime for a lunch of carnie food and so Littlest Girl could peek at some animals. There was a really cute goat named Sterling there that Littlest Girl was able to pet and honestly was a cute goat (I know. I know.), but I completely forgot to take a pic of it. Instead, here she is with a GIGANTIC corn dog.

And seriously, you might think all we do is eat, but later that day we went for BBQ at SUCH a delish place! I had to snap another pic of LG because I seriously cannot get over how cute she is missing that tooth. And the one next to it is loose, too. She is sooooo jazzed.

Sunday we were blessed with mo' free tix! So we headed to the Astros game - so much fun! Minute Maid Park is really nice and there is a huge play area, so LG was again quite jazzed.

Mmm....hmmm, more eating.

We stayed until about the 6th inning and then went to the Galleria Hou.ston because I wanted to stop at this store - if you haven't ever seen this store, you might want to check it out online. They have SUCH fun and funky clothes - plus they are all prewashed and preshrunk, so what you see is what you get. They wash really well and I just love the unique and fun look! There was a seriously excellent sale, so I got a BAG full of much-needed clothes for LG - some for as cheap as 2 and 3 bones each. Me loves the clearance.

Now, let me tell you about the Galleria Hou.ston. We'd been to the Galleria Mall in Dallas before. Very nice mall, easy to get to, no hassles. Well, here in Hou.ston, the mall is like the size of a small Hou.ston suburb and I swear getting in and out of it and parking was like a maze. I think the dear husband was about to start spewing some serious profanities, but to his credit, he kept calm and as mentioned above, I DID manage to get the cute little clothes I came for. I am thinking it's the new blood pressure meds he's on that I can credit for my lovely shopping experience. hehe.

I cannot wait for next weekend. The weather here has turned FABULOUS (meaning it is no longer suffocatingly hot). It's mid-eighties and sunshine abounds. I am in love.

Fabulous Friday!

2010-10-01T13:36:00.000-05:00

What is your favorite day of the week? Mine is Friday. I don't know if it's the promise of the weekend, which means 2 full days of NO school for Littlest Girl and NO work for the husband or what, but I LOVE Fridays. Like Thursday night is like the start of the weekend for me, I guess just because I LOVE to "look forward" to things. NOW - this is not to say I don't try to live for every single day and every single second - I have been trying very hard to make sure I am appreciating every moment. BUT - we can all still have a favorite day of the week, right?!

Today, the husband is coming home a little early from work and we're picking up LG together from school and heading to the beach to have a beach dinner picnic, a little swim, and then we'll go for ice cream after. :) It doesn't really get much better than that, I don't think. Ice cream AND the beach? With my favorite people? That rocks. A fabulous Friday.

*AND: still working on the tooth. Wiggling, wiggling, wiggling. But still in there.

Show Us Your Life: Dining Rooms

2010-09-30T20:12:00.000-05:00

I am using a recycled post! :) But it's a recent one. See HERE!

Hairbows and T-Shirts

2010-09-30T17:31:00.000-05:00

Like her shirt? I made it and I think it turned out darn cute!

(*Please email me if you'd like a similar one for your own child. :) I can customize it for whatever sports or activities or animals or anything your child loves and obviously their names don't all start with M so we can go ahead and customize that part, too.)

I haven't put them in my Etsy shop yet, but I will be adding them soon!
I can always make a custom bow to match, too!

*Sorry for all the shameless self-promotion - I can promise you I'll still love you if you read my blog and don't buy my goodies.

I found a total clearance shirt at the Tarjhay for like a buck and some change and made a bow for that one, too. And LG loves it, which is what counts! :)

Happy Thursday! :)

Wordless Wednesday.......

2010-09-29T20:51:00.000-05:00

My Sweet Girl.....

2010-09-27T16:30:00.000-05:00

Has a LOOSE tooth. I cannot believe this. It feels like it was just yesterday these darn teeth came in. And now they're going to fall out?

I cannot get over how fast my girl is growing.

Every day is a blessing with this girl.

My Favorite Place to Be

2010-09-25T10:38:00.000-05:00

I love the beach.

I LOVED the beaches we frequented when we lived in Wi.sconsin. I grew up living on Lake Michigan my entire life. It is so beautiful and most of the beaches are gorgeous. Yes, one cannot swim in the lake (comfortably) but about 6-8 short weeks a year - it's too cold on the WI side. People in MI tell me they are able to swim all Summer, though. In any case, I think a lot of people in the country have no clue how gorgeous and expansive our beautiful Great Lakes are.

Thankfully our move brought us to more beaches. These beaches are beautiful, too....although sadly lined with many images of hurricane damage.

But you know what, I am not going to complain about ANY beach. I wonder what it is that draws us to the beach? It just seems like a "feeling." The beach is a place I can never get enough of.

Gotta run. We are headed there now. :)

The Area We Didn't Know What To Do With

2010-09-22T09:25:00.000-05:00

In the new house, there is an area by the stairs that is in the kitchen-ish/breakfast-area-ish that is probably a great spot for a desk, but we do not use it for a desk. We have a desk area for our bills and household stuff in our bedroom (where there is also a desk niche) and my sewing area also has a desk.

BUT, leaving the area totally empty was not an option because it just looked DUMB like that. Sooooo......when we moved in I found this chair in the garage. It was a wicker chair. It's not like the previous renters left a bunch of stuff, just this chair in the garage. We painted it with $1 oops paint. "Shabby painting" because actually attempting to cover wicker evenly is for a much more experienced painter than me. And a much more patient one.

We added a little table there - painted with oops paint as well that was about $5 at the GW. I made a seahorse pillow for the table with fabrics used around the house, and bought a clearance cushion at Home Dep.ot for the seat, which was $4 on clearance. I filled a glass vase with seashells from Galveston and put up some goodies I love to look at on the wall.

And voila - it appears our little spot has a purpose. Or at least I think it looks pretty.

I would like to share that my little 5-year-old neighbor complimented me on this yesterday. She is the sweetest little thing. She looked over at it thoughtfully and said in the most darling Southern accent you could have ever heard:

" I like this. It really looks pretty. My mama loves the fleur-de-lis. Because, you know, fleur-de-lis means THE SAINTS."

(In case you might be wondering, the sweet little thing is a Louisiana native.)

I told her I am not even from Louisiana but I love the fleur-de-is, too!

Anyway, it's a great spot for Littlest Girl to stop and do some posing:

Maybe it doesn't have the biggest purpose ever, but for for about $10 or less, it filled a terribly empty space and made it look a little more cozy.
Plus my cute little Louisianian neighbor loves it.

OH! And I wanted to share one of my favorite decor pieces. I made this and I love it. I took an old frame and painted it (I have actually painted these over and over many times to fit the area I am putting them, but I love the blue the best), stamped some fleur-de-lis and crows on scrapbook paper, matted and framed it. I added a flower to the crow frame and hot-glued jute twine to the backs and hung them with upholstery tacks. I love how these look. Sorta shabby but cute.

Have a wonderful and blessed day!

The Breakfast Nook

2010-09-21T16:57:00.001-05:00

So, when we came to Texas to look for a home, each home we looked at had certain features that were the same - but different from many homes in the North. Every master bedroom had it's own bathroom. Um, SCORE! And every home had both a breakfast area and a formal dining area. The home we chose is like about the most "open-concept" type home you could imagine so the formal dining area and living area are pretty much one room. And the kitchen/breakfast area opens directly into said dining/living area. I swear it's sort of like all one big room. Which has presented some decorating challenges, but I am working on it (which means I keep obsessively rearranging things on a constant basis).

One area I have finally finished (I think) is our breakfast area. Which is actually our dining area. We do not formally dine so that whole formal dining area has just been used as a sewing/living area. Normally I'd probably have kept it a formal dining area, but it just doesn't work in this particular house with our particular need. Anyway, I think I really like how the little breakfast eating area turned out!

Now, remember we are on a budget. (I know. Enough with that already.) So some of this stuff we came by VERY cheaply.

As in free.
\

The tablecloth I made from some khaki canvas curtain panels that I wasn't using anymore. The table was my grandparents, and I hate to cover it because it's beautiful, but it's REALLY dark wood and our house is all very, very light colors and it would look just wrong. The white chairs? Got those OFF.THE.CURB. Seriously, they are really cute little chairs and they were on the curb in my subdivision! The blue chair? It was at the GW for seven bucks - and it was unfinished wood, so I employed a little painter to help me paint it (with $1 oops paint, of course).

I love the creamer bowl.

It is actually from a vintage set of dishes that my husband found at the GW. Said set of dishware was marked $99.00, but somehow, and I do not know how, my husband got the GW clerk to mark it $14.99! Do I want to know how? Maybe not. Anyway, I looked it up on Ebay and it's a 1972 set - I love that 70s floral look and colors. The plates are SO pretty. I will have to post a pic sometime. I think the best $14.99 we've ever spent.

Here's what the nook usually looks like. The little green anole lizards drive the cats INSANE. The lizards seriously hang out just to annoy my cats, I swear it. Right outside the window. As if cats aren't crazy enough to begin with.

I love the shelf I have on the wall. I got it a long time ago at a garage sale for $1 and the teacups I got at GW for like 50 cents forever ago. I took a panel of linen blend fabric from the Hob Lob and used wood curtain clip rings to hang that. Now - I REALLY need a good curtain rod to hang it on, but I haven't found one cheap enough for my liking yet, so I'll wait until I do. The clip rings I found on clearance for $1.47 a while back. The fabric is from another home decor project. The placemats were 48 cents on clearance at the Walmart.

I am sure I'll change it up a little fairly soon, but for now it's cute and practical. :) I would like a new tablecloth of more mod fabric, etc. but I am okay waiting until I find a great one on the Target clearance endcap.

Lord knows. I love the clearance.

Catching Up

2010-09-17T10:02:00.000-05:00

Oh, how I have neglected my sweet little blog. What a terrible mother I am, since one of my main goals for creating my little blog was to make sure I kept a journal of sorts, complete with pics, of my family life!

So, to catch up. I think Littlest Girl and I have adjusted really well to her being gone SEVEN hours a day. Sorry, I still can't get over the fact that my baby is gone SEVEN hours a day. But you know what? I have managed to fill up those seven hours so quickly it's amazing. Rachelle, you were SO right. I never knew that 3 p.m. would really come up that quickly.

A day or so a week, I take my afternoon to help out at Littlest Girl's school, which is really fun because there are several other moms who are there helping, too. We make copies, do some cutting and pasting and all that type of good stuff. Plus a lot of chatter. Lots of wonderful women here in our little corner of the H.ouston area.

Of course, the usual mundane (though I love them) housekeeping duties also help to fill my day. I really don't mind the cleaning, vacuuming, laundry, etc. I guess God called me to domestic life? Whatever the case, He sure called me to a very blessed life.

I've also been working on lots of Etsy projects and ideas, which is a LOT of fun! I think I've pretty much mastered the pillow cover and I love to make them. I am a huge FAN of the throw pillow. On the bed, on the chairs, on the sofa. Easy way to change up decor in an instant. Also, there is just something about a pillow that says home and cozy.

Here are some I've made:

Also, my friend Amy Jo (please check out her absolutely FABULOUS creations), had faith in me and allowed me to create custom covers for her! If you'd like custom covers and have faith in me, I'd love you forever. :) Just email me for details (my email is amandasadorables{at}hotmail{dot}com. The cost for custom work is very low right now. I semi-new to all of this (though I've been sewing on and off since I was a teen), and I'd really like the opportunity to do more custom work. Amy gave me pics of the room the pillows would be living in and some thoughts on what she wanted and I went to town! As soon as I get pics of the pillows with her furniture, I'll post. :)

Okay, thanks for listening to all of that shameless self-promotion. I really appreciate it.

Littlest Girl has a half-day today and then we're heading to the beach for the afternoon!

Have a wonderful weekend!

My Favorite Post This Week

2010-09-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

Take time to read this. It's beautiful and wonderful and happy!

Sparkle Power's Hug A Muslim Post

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-09-05T22:10:00.000-05:00

I am so late on this post, but I wanted to share anyway. My sweet baby started Kindergarten on August 23rd and she could not be more happy with school. She has a wonderful and sweet teacher who she just adores. I could tell the instant we met her that she was the perfect fit for Littlest Girl!

Breakfast before school.

Pictures before school.

Walking in with Daddy.

SO happy!

This was a very bittersweet day for me. While I am SO proud that I have a sweet and wonderful girl who loves to learn and make friends, it was also very hard to let her go. Seven hours away from Mama each day is very hard for Mama. I have been home with Littlest Girl her whole life. We have never even been apart for seven hours!

I made sure to make a to-do list that is like months-long (including lots of Etsy projects) to keep myself very busy. And I have honestly enjoyed it! I fill my days sewing or helping out at the school and then when LG gets home, we are free to play and make dinner together and just truly enjoy our time together!

I am so proud of my sweet girl.

The GW Desk

2010-08-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

I love Goodwill. Well, all thrift stores really. Partially because I am cheap. Or maybe actually totally because I am cheap. In fact, I am SO cheap that....wait, I think I'd actually like to call myself a frugalista. Sounds way more chic. Okay, so I am SUCH a frugalista that I actually TALKED down the dude at the GW on a desk & end table. Seriously though, the price was way too high for realz.

I was needing a desk for my sewing machine and some storage area to keep my fabrics and sewing goodies since I am embarking on some new and creative projects these days (also known as I am seriously trying to make some extra dough so you should for sure buy all my creations once they are listed on Etsy. Shameless. I am shameless.)

But I digress.

And I really needed a desk. But I've got a tight budget. I was good with spending like all of ten bucks on the desk. And you know what? For a few dollars more than that, I got a desk and a table.

Here's the before:

See what I mean? U-G-L-Y, you ain't go no alibi.

I could see potential, though. Cute cut-outs in the wood, etc. and I knew the desk could be cute with some replacement knobs and a coat of paint or two.
I always buy OOPS paint at HD. SUCH an excellent deal. Little teensy colors are fifty cents, quarts are a buck and gallons (is that what those big cans are?) are five bucks. VERY good deal. And I have a ton left over for any other projects - and all are in colors of the decor of my house, so can be used for lotsa stuff in the future.

As you can clearly see, I ran into a plethora of "my" colors in one day and scooped them all up. I think I spent like 7 bones total. GREAT deal.

Oh, do you not wish you had a helper this cute!? My sweet girl is such a great painter. :)

She helped me paint the desk and an end table, too (but we'll show that one off in a different post) - she even helped me remove and install new knobs and VOILA:

I think it looks a zillion times better! Super cute, even!

Wait 'til you see the other goodies we put together with it! It looks really cute! I am pretty darn proud of our ~~cheapness~~ frugality and that it turned out so cute. SO much inspiration for this little project and all that follow came from the Nester and Jones Design Co blogs, among many others. This was really fun to transform a (cheap) shabby little desk into something cute and useful. I am the world's worst painter. Yes, I am seriously bad at painting. Bad at painting a flat wall. So to have something turn our cute, I am pretty proud. Plus it was way fun to do with Littlest Girl.

I have found a new hobby.

SO excited....

2010-08-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

It's the little things, really.

While hubby is immersed in a bunch of work this next week-ish (just a really busy week for him), Littlest Girl and I (well, not soooo much her, as she has a very busy social life in our new neighborhood) are tearing into decorating, rearranging, and sprucing up the house. When we moved into this rental, we kind of put everything just wherever it looked decent so we could dive right into Summer and our time with Sissy and Blonde Boy here with us. Now as you all know, we are on a tight budget these days, but that does not mean you cannot have a cute little home. I have used countless inexpensive and FABULOUS ideas from the Nester and various others to do some things around here that I think are going to turn out just fabulous. If you don't know who the Nester is, please click on the link. There is no way you won't just ADORE her and all her creativity.
Back to the sprucin' up. I am doing it all supa cheap. Like by supa cheap, I mean to tell you I TALKED DOWN THE MAN AT THE GOODWILL on a price for a desk & an end table.
Anyway, LG and I are working hard these next few-ish days (with proper breaks taken for beach & pool time) and I cannot wait to post all about the cute little things we did around here and give credit to all the fabulous bloggers who came up with all these fabulous ideas that I am using!

Wordless Wednesday.......

2010-08-11T21:36:00.001-05:00

I am not sure there is any place we love to be more than the beach.......

Co-Sleeping

2010-08-03T09:57:00.001-05:00

Thank you to a fabulous reader (Ashley - who makes awesome EVERYTHING - go check her out), for asking. :) That's the first time I've had a reader ask me something and I am flattered. Why did/do we co-sleep? I am happy to ramble on with my opinion on that....hehe.

A little background on our family:
My first three children are stepchildren. I have always treated them as my own, but I haven't raised them since they were infants, so this decision was not up to me. However, my stepdaughter, now 11, was 24 months when I "got" her and we did often allow her to sleep in the bed with us. There was SO much instability and craziness in her little life at that time that we felt like if she needed some comfort at night, we were fine with that. Plus she was the tiniest, cutest little thing ever. And I think having become insta-mom to children who were 6, 4, and 24 months helped me realize exactly how quickly growing up happens and exactly how quickly children get to the age where friends and social lives are numero uno on the priority list and a kid wouldn't sleep in your bed with you if their life depended on it!

The story of cosleeping with Littlest Girl:
Littlest Girl was a miracle child. Our first child together, a beautiful baby girl, was stillborn at 27 weeks gestation. When I became pregnant with Littlest Girl, we were so excited but also scared out of our minds that she'd never make it. But she did, perfectly healthy! And amazing. I know in many ways, my loss has definitely colored the way I parent. I don't miss an opportunity for a hug, a snuggle, a kiss, anything. I never had that with our angel, and I am not going to miss out with Littlest Girl. Also, Littlest Girl was not a particularly easy baby. She was fussy, colicky, you name it. She was fine if she was held. By ME. Otherwise? Pretty dern unhappy. So, our cosleeping started in infancy. NOW- I know almost everyone will tell you horror stories of parents rolling on their children, etc. Almost every single instance of that: parents were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Um, I'd never co-sleep if I was drunk. Besides, exactly what parent of an infant has any TIME to go out and get drunk? Clearly if you made a choice to go out and drink and then co-sleep, chances are you weren't making any OTHER good choices, either. My goodness, that's common sense. Only God has room to judge, but sheesh, boozing + co-sleeping is pretty much cut & dried bad choice.

Dr. Sears can explain the benefits of co-sleeping with an infant better than me, of course. I can only share my own experience. At the time LG was an infant, it wasn't even yet my choice to co-sleep - that was the only way the kid was going to sleep, and there were five other people in the house that needed sleep so we were going to do whatever worked. As time progressed, LG went through phases where she actually loved her crib as opposed to sleeping with us. She always, always napped in her crib from about six months on. And she often went through phases where she would go to sleep at night in her crib and then wake up in the night (her crib was always in our room) and want to come snuggle in bed. Fine with me. I do not see any issues in comforting and reassuring your child, no matter what the age. I also don't necessarily think you need to co-sleep or attachment parent to have a loved child - it's just what works best for US and what we believe. And if anyone is wondering if LG is independent? OH YES. I am like a big old mess over the fact that she's going to Kindergarten in a few weeks and she is coming out of her skin excited! She loves to play with other children and she's SO independent! She's been in gymnastics and all sorts of other little classes since she was 2.5 and she's always just marched right in without me and had a ball! I always worried if I attachment parented her, she'd be a clingy little thing, but SO not the case. Now, she's getting older and sometimes she wants to sleep by us and sometimes not. We just moved across the dern country, so if she's feeling a little unsettled, that's okay. I just want her to feel happy and comforted, plus I know from the experience of having three older kiddos that she's growing up VERY quickly and it's like NO time until her social life is number one.

Co-sleeping isn't for everyone, but a lot of people freak out about it and say "Oh, I'd NEVER do that. I don't want a ten-year-old in my bed." Um, seriously? If you have a ten-year-old who actually WANTS to be in your bed, you might have issues. My experience (and this is just mine, not everyone's) is that most ten-year-olds these days are way more into sleepovers with their friends than sleeping with their parents.

In any event, I think co-sleeping and attachment parenting are the right methods. FOR US. For the most part - not every aspect of that method is right for us. I never nursed - I pumped and fed for 7 weeks. And then formula. For some moms, nursing for the first full year and maybe even beyond is the right move. Whatever works and whatever creates the best bond for you and your children is what's best, you know? I don't judge others (well, maybe the aforementioned boozers who co-sleep), because everyone has reasons for the methods they choose. I vaccinate my children and believe in vaccines, but I have several friends who either delay or choose to not vaccinate altogether and they have many strong beliefs and reasons for their choices. It may not be what I believe, but to each his own. As moms, we face enough pressure to do everything right and tearing down other moms for their choices doesn't help anything at all. :) So that's why WE co-sleep. But if someone else doesn't, so be it. :)

The Packed Bed

2010-07-31T10:35:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am a fan of co-sleeping (and a good bunch of other Dr. Sears stuff, including attachment parenting). You may not be and that's a-okay. It is just what worked really well with our very fussy Littlest Girl when she was a baby and it's also what I believe is the best parenting "method" for our family. Obviously, Littlest Girl is five now, so she sleeps with us less and less and is making her way into the independent sleeping world, which I will admit makes me sad because I love to snuggle her.
Our Littlest Cat is also apparently really into co-sleeping. Gigantic Cat (rest in peace) used to sleep with us, but way at the end of the bed by our feet and was super polite and would only sleep in the spots where our feet weren't. Again, very polite.

Not so with Littlest Cat. She is tiny (about five or six pounds) and a very timid, skittish little thing. But apparently she has to get some snuggling in somewhere. She starts the night at the foot of the bed right at my feet. And as soon as she knows we're asleep, she moves up.

This is about 2 a.m.

I have a bladder the size of a corn kernel so I swear I get up to pee about 3 times a night (you should hear when I am pregnant, I think I pee no less than 72 times per night).

But I digress.

Anyway, when Littlest Cat first started doing this, I couldn't believe it. Like the first couple nights, I'd wake and find her right between Husband and me with her HEAD ON THE PILLOW AND HER BODY UNDER THE COVERS. I thought about reminding her that she was a cat, but then it occurred to me that it was really rather cute. And if Littlest Girl happens to be bunking with us for the night, Littlest Cat will snuggle her way up between preferably Husband and LG or LG and me. I do not joke. This happens every night. And Husband, who doesn't wake unless a minimum Category 5 hurricane happens to be passing right overhead in conjunction with an earthquake measuring no less than 8.5 on the Richter scale is shaking the house, didn't believe me that Littlest Cat would do this because she is just "oh-so-skittish" and would just NEVER sleep with us. So I brought the dern camera in the room last night and put it on my night table. And sure enough when I got up to pee for the first time, there was Littlest Cat. Amongst two loud snorers, she was snoozing quite peacefully.

And I snapped some pics.

Now, our INSANE cat is much more appropriate with his sleeping places and
really cannot be bothered with annoying photographer-slash-owners (me) who are way too enamoured with the daily lives of her felines.

Feel Good Friday!

2010-07-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, I normally never participate in linky type things - not because I do not like them, but because I always forget. BUT- this one is being hosted by TAMI, who may or may not be one of the very funniest bloggers you'll ever have the pleasure of reading. And she begged that we all participate, lest she look like a click here. I am trying to watch my mouth as of late and while this absolutely cracked me UP, I am going to go ahead and leave out the actual word.

Also, we have stumbled on some hard times (both financially and with other drama) around this house lately. Nothing we can't make our way out right past, but you know when the road gets a little bumpy and you start to forget what's REALLY important and what you REALLY need in life and value the most? I am a very blessed human and I need to remember that. Maybe even write it down. Like now. (*These are the rules for Feel Good Friday. Read here if you want to participate and then go link up with Tami so she doesn't look like that word I made you click over to 'cause I am all prim and proper and not gonna say it.)

SO: I am going to write out five things that made me happy this past week.

1) Sissy, my 11-year-old stepdaughter, creating a "spa" for Littlest Girl and me complete with her own version of pedicures, hair-do-ing, and foot massages. Who has a kid that awesome that she actually asks to give you a foot massage?!?! Me, apparently. Oh sweet Jesus, I do not know what I have done to deserve her, but THANK YOU. Here's Littlest Girl getting her facial massage. tee hee.

2) A wonderful trip with family. Even though we were on the tightest budget of our lives, it was SO fun and I realized that even a little trip on a tight budget is better than no trip at all and no matter what - it's FUN.

3. This guy. The Husband. You have no idea how much this guy has on his plate at the moment and he NEVER complains. He is mellow and laid back and really spoils me. A lot. And I am really thankful.

4. Coming home to obviously hungover felines who totally obviously had a party with all the other cats on the block right here in our house. I wonder if they served "kitty" cocktails? Oh, how I crack myself up.

5. My faith. I am thankful every day because I know God works only for good and I am one blessed chica to be a child of His.

6. OH sheesh, I went over the limit, but I have to share. This past week I stumbled on Steel Magnolias on the TV. If you are a woman and have never seen this movie, I think you should probably run out right now and go get it. It is by far and away one of the best movies ever made and an essential view to any woman's life. Plus, it is quotable beyond belief.

"Miss Truvy, I promise that my personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair.'' ~ Annelle

That is one of my faves. As with most men, Husband had not seen it. Well, he sat right down and watched it beginning to end with me (he even got tissues for me for the end part) and he LOVED it. Yes, my husband LOVED Steel Magnolias and he said that OUT LOUD. My heart swells with pride.

Okay, there's a bunch of stuff that made me happy this week. Best thing about it? I know there were more moments.

Remember the Alamo

2010-07-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

The dear husband had a business conference in San.Antonio the past few days so the kiddos and I tagged along. Last year we lived in the Snowy North, so Littlest Girl and I flew down with the Husband for this conference. This year we live a few hours away so we drove and took all three kiddos. We were also on a MUCHO tighter budget. (*See Frugal Fun post.) Also, since we lived in the Snowy North last year, when we arrived in SA, we were immediately drenched in sweat and just overcome by all that HEAT. This year? Coming from Hou.ston? Suffice it to say it felt a bit like a Siberian treat. We have a very special brand of hiumidity here in coastal Tex.as. If you've been here, you know. But I digress.

We really had a nice trip. Due to some budget constraints, we didn't do as much as usual out on the town, but we DID have fun and we enjoyed lots of great food and good times.

Crazy kids.

Husband took Blonde Boy to see the Cowboys training camp, which they both said was a ton of fun. There were SO many people all over SA in town for the training camp!

Mr. Romo is actually from a little town in the Snowy North just about a half an hour from where I grew up! Small world.

For dinner one evening, we went to Pat O'Brien.s. Such a great place to eat (and drink), though we held off on that drinking bit obviously since it was a family outing. The joys of being a grown-up, right? All the kids had Kiddie Cocktails, which Littlest Girl calls "Kiddie Cottontails."

Husband got to have a Hurricane. He owes me.

We wandered over to the Alamo after....Littlest Girl said she was feeling ill from her Cottontail (good Lord, I hope it wasn't spiked, the child IS really naughty sometimes, you know).

The next night we were on our own and headed for a yummy dinner at Chili's.

There was a crazy huge lightning storm going on after dinner and we needed to catch the bus back to our hotel and darn, I kept trying to wait out the storm, but it wouldn't give so we had a bit of a soggy (& a bit scary) walk to the bus stop. However, we managed to escape electrocution via lightning and made it back to the hotel.

We went out to a few other fun dinners, a couple window-shopping excursions and a fabulous walk on the Riverwalk. SA is a GREAT city. If you have never been, put it on your bucket list. It's gorgeous and fun and full of really nice Texans. Also, and it's not like I need this or anything, but you can eat for days upon days in that city at about a million and one fantabulous restaurants.

And I will admit, I missed our feline children and was glad to get back and see the naughty little kitties, who may or may not have had a keg party while we were gone. (A few pictures were suspiciously on the floor and not on the walls where we left them.)

Does that not look like a hungover cat?

Suspicious......

Frugal Fun

2010-07-21T15:55:00.000-05:00

So, in today's economy, frugal is the new awesome. Due to a set of rather extreme unforeseen circumstances, our monthly budget has become as tight as a college student's. Only there are five of us to support in this house. Thankfully only two of us drink and the beer consumption is nowhere near what it was in college. Meaning the beer won't take up 85% of the monthly expenditures like it did during those four years of ~~binge drinking~~ learning.

I kid. (Well, not about that 85% figure.)

Tight budgets present a new challenge.  However: NO complaints. We are still more monetarily wealthy than most people on this planet and there are not going to be any complaints unless I have to go without indoor plumbing. Simple as that. (*But you should note that if the whole going-without-indoor-plumbing should occur, there WILL be some seriously extreme freaking out.) In any event, even though said circumstances have taken a HUGE amount out of our take-home monthly income, we still have a wonderful family, friends, community, kitties, and most importantly: we have faith. Nothing is more important. And we know God is working always for good. Even if you have NO money (and even if you have NO indoor plumbing), you still have Jesus.

"We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose." ~ Romans 8:28

Now, as for the logistics of the new monthly budget, well, we are trying some new methods of tightening our budget that we haven't always stuck to - and should have. And we're always looking for even more suggestions. We never stuck to a meal plan on a regular basis. We have done it in the past, but not regularly enough.   We put a meal plan together for two weeks at a time, we allow the kids to make suggestions for their favorite meals, and we all shop together for the ingredients. That way (we hope) it helps teach the kiddos about the costs of groceries, sales, and coupons. My dad managed a grocery store when I was growing up, so he always did all our shopping and I never knew much about shopping the market, costs, and planning. And neither do my kids. For example, I ask 13-year-old Blonde Boy to grab some celery for soup. He proceeds to grab the already-cut-into-sticks variety pre-made in the deli. For SEVEN DOLLARS. I had to school the boy on the proper selection of celery for his requested chicken noodle soup. Lest we have billion dollar chicken noodle soup. We all cook the meals together, which is pretty fun and the kids are learning so much. We recently had a DELICIOUS Chinese FEAST from scratch. My dear husband did the bulk of the cooking, but had the kids help every step of the way. We had chicken fried rice, a stir-fry he creates with budget friendly Ra.men noodles, and the most delicious egg rolls I have EVER had. In any case, the meal planning and cooking as a family have turned out to be valuable in more ways than one.

The Husband has some business to do in San.Antonio at the end of the month - and we are going to accompany him. We're lucky because we get to share his hotel suite with him and don't have to pay for it, as that's part of his business expenses. Our hotel room is equipped with a fridge and micro, so we're bringing enough food for lunches for the few days we're there and the hotel provides daily breakfast free. A hot breakfast at that. In the evenings, we will go out to dinner, but not without the help of several certificates from restaurant.com. They have such great deals a the moment! I got $25 certficates for $3! Check it out - I think the sale is still on until 7/23.    We hope to keep our expenses low and still have a great time. I have been to SA before and it's such a great city with so much to offer. We are staying on the Riverwalk, which is absolutely beautiful just to wander around on.
I am always looking for new suggestions, sites, and any handy tips on saving money. So if you have any, please share!

Summer Adjustments

2010-07-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

Summer = a lot more time on our hands. Especially this particular season, because we are new to this area and our children do not have playmates yet! Littlest Girl has already made friends, so she's set, but Blonde Boy and Sissy (who are 13 and 11) have not yet....and that's kind of rough for them. However, I must say that amidst the "Mom, what are we doing today?" questions, there have been a few patches of creative play. Above you see Littlest Girl with her create-a-nail press-on nails. I would never let her out in public with her claws, but she has quite a ball decorating her little nails and then pressing them on. Bonus for me is that said nails pop off with the slightest of movement, so Littlest Girl stays like totally still for as long as she can handle it (which sometimes is like ten whole minutes) before she pops them off.

As you can see above, the children have resorted to creative dress-up. I really have no idea what their fascination with this type of dress is, but hey, whatever floats your boat, right? I love how Littlest Girl apparently knows how to throw up a bunch of gang signs of some type. Nice.

Okay, isn't this awesome? Well, since we've turned five, this is a lot of what I am getting lately. Some days I wonder if this child will spend more time on her "Naughty Mat" than not. I remember this type of sassy behavior from both Blonde Boy and Sissy the Summer before they entered Kindergarten, but because it was so long ago, apparently I'd forgotten the toll that the amazing sass of a five-year-old can take on a mama.

Dinner out. The kids absolutely LOVE to go out to eat. We are on a tight budget, so we do not go out unless we've got coupons (which I did), but I swear I always wonder why they love to go out to eat because nine times out of ten, they will order the same meal. Again, though, whatever floats your boat, right?!

Do you not love my hair like this? Sissy did it. One evening she asked if she could curl my hair and I agreed because who does not love to hair their hair brushed and primped? And it came out like this and I just LOVED it.

And here is Littlest Girl showing that her utter OBSESSION with the medical world (which includes veterinarian and dental treatments as well) is not over. We got this child a toy medical kit for $3.98 from Wal.greens for Christmas when she was 2 and that year she opened that gift and didn't want to open another. Since then, the child has amassed a collection of medical items that rival Johns Hopkins.

Did I mention it's hot here? And that's just the temp - not the heat index, which is how it "actually feels." That temperature is well into the three-hundreds.

To escape the heat, we headed to:

A nerd's dreamland. No, I kid. While I did expect it to be like Nerd Central, the area for children was amazingly fun. We bought a family pass:

And HAD A BALL!

If you live in the Hou.ston area, this is such a great deal for the year. Especially for us - we are about 10 minutes from JSC and if you buy the pass, you do not need to pay to park and you get food & gift shop discounts. My kids absolutely LOVED this place. (And no one paid me to say this, just in case you thought I would even be that ~~level of uber-nerd~~ cool that the Space Center would pay me to endorse it.) There is a gigantic play space, plus several hands-on exhibits that the children had a ball with! (And us, too.)

Littlest Girl even got herself a fat lip in the play space. Lovely.

To cap off that day, we had a VERY big milestone occur. Let me tell you, Littlest Girl lives in flip-flops and sandals. We really spend most all our days at the pool or beach, so flip-flops are sort of the basics. She never wears tie-shoes, but she did Saturday and well, she TIED THEM. HERSELF. Oh my goodness, it was AWESOME! She was so proud. And so were we!

I love this kid.

Interfaith

2010-07-07T11:09:00.002-05:00

I was raised in the Catholic church. I come from a mid-size city that is VERY predominantly Catholic and has a pretty large population of Italian immigrants. (my great-grandparents included). I graduated from Catholic school (grades 7-12) and then from a Lutheran (ELCA) college, where the student body was primarily composed of Roman Catholics. At that college, I met one of the most profound examples of a follower of Christ in a Lutheran pastor who taught a few of my religion classes. I daresay I learned more about the love of Christ and other people from him than anyone else I've met.

I am no longer a practicing Catholic, but it is not because of scandal or anything like that. I love the Catholic Church, but my husband is not Catholic and we chose to pursue the Christian faith in a church new to both of us. I am not Southern Baptist but I read Bible studies by Beth Moore and Jimmy Carter. I also read many books by Mother Teresa. There is no greater lesson in selflessness. It is amazing and inspiring to read her writings. I want to be the best Christian I can, but I am an extremely flawed person and I have made some bad choices in life (um, not some, a LOT). I guess reading the aforementioned books helps me grow in my faith, and studying different parts of the good book helps to guide why I make decisions based on the love of Christ. However, I am human and seriously flawed, so it's not like I am some Mother Teresa the Second or anything. Would be nice, but I admit some pretty serious shortfalls in that department. Gives me something to strive for, right?

Anyway, I was reading the other day about some "interfaith" Bible studies. I hear the word interfaith a lot. When I lived in my hometown, a large group of different Christian churches in our city comprised an interfaith organization that tooks turns each night of the week taking in the city's homeless population, among other human services offered. It was a super great program. But I digress.

What does "interfaith" mean to you? To me, it would mean something along the lines of "a rabbi, a priest, and a Buddhist walk into a bar"....pardon the pun. But this "interfaith" that I came across when perusing Bible studies held the meaning that the study was suitable for (examples) Methodists, Pentecostals, Catholics, and Baptists (among others). To me, that would be an INTRA-faith study, wouldn't it? Because all the faiths I just listed are Christian, correct? They are all followers of Christ. That is something that has seemed to bother me lately. It seems some of us Christians seem to focus on what differences we have instead of what unites us. And there is SO very much that unites us. For example, the LOVE of Christ. I believe that is central to any and all Christian faiths. Um, right?

Most of my friends are also Christian, though I have some friends who are of other faiths. I respect these friends very much and they respect me. It's pretty sweet. In fact, sometimes I feel as though they are almost more respectful than some fellow Christians I have come across (though seriously most Christians I know are deeply respectful of eachother - I am very blessed to have super wonderful friends).

I am doing a lot of rambling here, but I think in some ways God may have put it right on my heart to do just that. Ramble about it, and share it. Maybe it will remind all of us to be more respectful of eachother and our faiths? Remember that even if our friend is a Lutheran and we are a Baptist, we all share a love of Christ.

I don't know. Maybe not, maybe it won't help? Or maybe I sound preachy, which is what I worry a lot. I worry about talking about my love for Christ or anyone else's because I had someone tell me once I sounded holier-than-thou and as though I was purporting to be a savior (which of course at the time was NOWHERE near what I was trying to do in said conversation). I am soooooooo not trying to do that here - OR anywhere or any time. I heart Jesus with all my being, but I am a very flawed girl who is nowhere near a Bible scholar. Not even close. I am a scholar (hehe) of many things such as eighties hair bands, diaper changing (I think I am a seriously fast changer), blog reading (does loving to read them make you a scholar?), hanging out at the pool with my kids, tanning (I KNOW. I KNOW. *please refer back to flaws), shopping at Old Navy, and trolling the makeup section of my local Walgreens. Perhaps "scholar" wasn't the right word to describe the aforementioned skills? Those are just some human things I am super good at. Sharing my love of Christ? Well, I want to be perfect at that, but I am pretty sure I am not. I guess that whole "interfaith" thing was just something I was thinking a whole lot about and why not write about it?

Here's a quote from a sorority sister and super awesome friend of mine (she's wayyyy more eloquent than me) and I LOVE this:
"I believe God goes between laughing and crying when He hears the various Christian faith groups on earth tearing each other down for what they believe and practice. What a waste of time and energy that could be channeled into what is supposed to be the one common focus. And goofy to think one group has it all figured out."

Prayers and Love

2010-07-01T10:55:00.002-05:00

And here comes the rain....

2010-06-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

Darn you, Tropical Storm Hurricane of Depression Alex. Littlest Girl and I were quite enjoying the hotter-than-Hades-and-sunny-every-day weather cycle. And going to the pool each day. Now the forecast is rain, rain, and more rain. However, I guess if it means that that Alex will keep away from the oil and not exacerbate things there, that's cool.

Littlest Girl and I have been having a ball lately! I love this kid so much. I just may not be able to let her go to Kindergarten in August. Or ever. But then she'd totally kick my arse and never want to hang around me again, so Kindergarten it will be. Apparently she wants to hang out with kids her own age and not just me. Who knew?! '

She is a professional pedicurist and manicurist. She is even able to do nail stencils. Serious talent for age 5.

She recently taught herself to do dishes! Now what have I done to deserve such a joyful helper?! We'll see if this wonderful dish-doing attitude is still in full force when she's 13?

I am also hoping the extreme excitement about dental health illustrated below continues throughout her life:

I love this kid. Even if it rains and I am cooped up with her for the week, I really cannot imagine another place I'd want to be. ;)

(Of course if you ask me again after the seventy-fifth round of Sponge.Bob Operation, I might beg to differ.)

Hope you all are having a super fabulous SUMMER!

Enjoying the new......

2010-06-22T21:45:00.002-05:00

So far, new city is excellent. Well, it's a smidge hot here. And no one goes out much in Summer here, I am learning. Which is kind of different for me. Northerners spend Summer outside like 24/7. Summers where I am from are AWESOME. Like best weather ever! Here it's hot. Like extreme hot. Hotter than hot. But, it's okay and we're managing. Small price to pay for no more snow and ice. I am totally down with it. There is nothing wrong with snow - most of my fam loves it. They ski and snowboard. Littlest Girl's been skiing since she was three. Not me, however. I am not a fan o' the winter sports. Unless you'd go ahead and count snuggling under extremely cozy blanky in front of TV for many long and cold months as a winter sport.

Anyway, the new city is so great so far and we're having lots of fun just checkin' it all out.

Just checkin' my sunburn. And yep, it's still there. Perhaps I should remember I am no longer in the NORTH and apply something a little more than SPF 8.

Kiddos havin' fun on the Boardwalk.

(Actually it looks a little like Littlest Girl may have accidentally blinded herself by looking too closely.)

(Oh, and Hurricane Ike can be thanked for the absence of three-quarters of the piers located behind Littlest Girl and Blonde Boy. They don't just stick plain old poles in water here. Really. They used to be actual piers.)

Just in case you were concerned that I may have been lying about the heat. Oh, and it's not a "dry" heat here. It's the Sub-Tropical South, my friends.

To end.....such a purty sunset.

Thank you.

2010-06-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

So much for your prayers. My mom got some really good news regarding some of her health issues, and I truly have no doubt it was due to many prayers. I am utterly grateful to those of you who read this and don't know me at all and sent up prayers. Bless you all infinity!

The Sad.

2010-06-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

So far, I love everything about the new city. Even the fact that it is two hundred degrees on a daily basis.

Except for the part that makes me sad.

The part where my mom is not here. Yup, I said it. I am 34 years old and I want my mommy. I miss her so so so much and to top it off, she's having some awful health issues right now. If you read this and you're a praying person, would you mind sending one up for her? I'd really appreciate it.

Ah, the healing powers of the water...........

2010-06-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

So, my husband and I have a little contest going as to how many states in our lovely country that each of us has been. He seems to think he is like way ahead of me, but that's only 'cause he's been to more states out west than me....he's from the Left Coast originally. Anyhoo, The Natural State was another state checked off the list for both of us. I had never been!

We planned 2 nights Hot Springs. Oh, and let me tell you it's not just hot in the springs. It's about 455 degrees each day in Arkansas.

We had lunch at this fabulous little pancake place in downtown Hot Springs and then ventured out for the day to do some fun tourist stuff.

First stop, Bathhouse Row. This is amazing. I cannot even begin to tell you! All these old bathhouses that were SO popular in the early part of the last century have been fully restored on the outside and the inside of the Fordyce Bathhouse has been completely restored. These places are seriously amazing!

Above is the ceiling in the Fordyce Bathhouse. Amazing!

Here I am having fun with my camera. Please disregard the shine on my face. Need I remind you it was 455 degrees that day in Arkansas. Yes, hotter than our new city in Sub-Tropical South.

The front of the Fordyce Bathhouse.

You can actually go and fill up for free on the Arkansas Hot Springs thermal water. It comes out at 143 degrees! We filled a jug and I am going to tell you that I am not lying when I say it was seriously the purest water I have EVER had.

Next stop, a lookout tower at the top of a mountain! Really cool views of the Ouachita Mountain range. Now friends, I am from a state where we have PLENTY of hard-to-pronouce names and Ouachita could fit RIGHT in. I had to Google it.

Then, we were off to the Alligator Farm & Petting Zoo. You do not actually pet gators at this place, but you sure do get up close and personal, my friends.

The petting zoo consists of little goats and such. Some of which will eat a little girl's dress.

And her mama's dress. Hence, her mama hanging back.......

Well, anyway, they have gators from these cute, teensy little things:

To some bigger fellas:

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Hot Springs. There is truly so much to see and do. I did not even get pictures at our hotel, which was on a beautiful lake.

I was SO sad to hear the horrible news of the flash floods that happened just one day after we'd left in a little remote area right outside of Hot Springs. Please pray for all those affected. Kelly from Kelly's Korner said on her blog that over half of those claimed by the floods were small children under seven. I will be keeping these people in my prayers.

Next stop......home.

New home. :)

The Big Move, Part Deux, Day Deux Just Doesn't Sound Right

2010-06-13T22:11:00.001-05:00

We started day number 2 with a delicious lunch at Steak 'n Shake. Doesn't Littlest Girl look so darling with her little hat on?

We normally make this drive to see my family in Kentucky in one day, but as explained in the previous post, we got a little smidge of a late start.

On our way at the tail end of Illinois, right before we go over the bridge into Kentucky, we drive through a little town called Cairo. It was once an absolutely BOOMING town right at the confluence of the major rivers. Unfortunately, terrible times hit that town and it is now just the most depressed place. It's so sad to see what a beautiful place you could tell it once was.

Not one of these businesses are open. Everything is just abandoned. It is like an actual ghost town in most parts.

Then over the river we go and we enter one of my most favorite places in this country!

We got to our aunt & uncle's house and I don't think it was ten seconds before Littlest Girl was stripped down to her swimsuit and IN THE POOL! My aunt & uncle live in a very rural area that is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. So quiet and peaceful and just the best place!

We got to spend two wonderful days there! Littlest Girl caught about twelve-thousand lightning bugs and even got her very first sunburn. Yeah, I tried to make that sound cute, but it so totally was not. I felt HORRIBLE. The child has never even come close to having even the slightest blush of a burn and now this! EEK! She is, however, the cutest UK fan on earth, though, right?!?!

Oh my, she could have caught those bugs all night!

So ended our weekend in Kentucky.

Next stop.....Hot Springs, Arkansas!

The Big Move....Day 1

2010-06-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

So last week we embarked on The Big Move to Sub-Tropical South. As mentioned in a previous post, while I am all about excited for this new adventure in this new state (a whole other country, as they say here), I am not at all even remotely a little bit excited about all that actual packing and unpacking bit. Or the driving bit. I like my planes, thankyouverymuch. But apparently it just doesn't work out to put your two minivans on a plane plus your two cats and your two kids and your husband. Well, it could work out, but just not feasible. Apparently.

The PLAN was to leave around noon last Friday after our moving container was all picked up. Well, the moving container got all picked up a little later. No big whoop, right? Littlest Girl and Blonde Boy had a field day watching the whole pickup and frankly, I must say KUDOS to my darling husband who packed that container TIGHT.

Okay, so we're off schedule just a smidge, but no biggie, plus like I said, the kiddos had a ball watching the container being loaded and driven away!

So.

We proceed to pack the minivan with all these like last-minute items, plus enough "stuff" to get us through a whole week. We are stopping a few places along the way, but we need our "stuff" because our little container shown above, will not arrive in the new city until like 7 business days after it takes off with all our goods. So, we have that minivan packed as tightly as a can o' sardines. Kitties included. Some precious cargo, my friends.

See that little nose peeking out?

Well, finally after all is said and done and packed, we get in, get buckled up and the darling husband turns the key.

Nothing.

Nope, didn't stutter there.

Nothing happens.

Apparently, during all the packing-the-minivan-festivities, the interior lights of the vehicle were left ablaze. So, no battery power.

Awesome.

Wonderful neighbor comes over to give us a jump, but then the husband is worried that the battery may be just worn down and we should not drive 1250 miles with a worn down battery.

Detour to mechanic.

By now, we are so far off schedule, we may as well just throw in the towel. Um, but that would mean unpacking.

So, we proceed.

One state down.

Okay, and this one is like all of one and a half hours from our home. ha!

We drove a few more hours and THREW IN THE TOWEL, my friends! We were all just a mess. Apparently trying to do a nine-hour stretch of driving starting at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday night after packing your life up all day and night the previous week probably just isn't something easy. We were wiped.

So, anyway, we wimped out and proceeded to a hotel for the evening after only 5 hours of driving!

Apparently, the felines concurred.

Littlest Cat hopped right up on a bed and proceeded to go straight to sleep.

Meanwhile, Black Cat (also known as INSANE Cat) proceeded to climb over every piece of furniture, knocking over no less than 357 items all night long. Then he tried to eat through his food bag. Um, he had a perfectly plentiful bowl of food out. But nope. Not good enough. Then he starts hacking and coughing 'cause he's just ingested paper. I cannot begin to tell you how amazingly smart Black Cat is.

Well, so much for a good night's sleep that night.

We'll try fresh in the morning. ;)

Neglected.....

2010-05-30T15:10:00.000-05:00

Oh my. I have so neglected you, my poor sweet blog. Well, it's moving week and we are finally packing it all up and heading out at the end of the week.

We'll be taking our time and stopping along the way several different places because it takes the POD many several days to actually get to our new home. So, while we are without all our "stuff" we are just going to take our time driving from the Snowy North to the Sub-Tropical South.

Know what's even more fun? We'll have our two cats with us. I am thinking that will make for excellent stories and laughter (at me, not with me). Wish us luck. I'll be sure to share them. At my expense.

A Good Friend Will Share Free Chocolate

2010-05-19T09:24:00.000-05:00

So, I went to dinner last night with one of my very best girlfriends ever. We live an hour apart at this point in our lives (though we used to live across the hall in college!) and in a few weeks, we'll live like 20 hours apart so we needed one last dinner and shopping excursion together before I left!

Well, let me tell you something: she led me into the Godiva store wherein she tells me that if I sign up for this little club (free), I will get a truffle FOR FREE each month. All I have to do is pop into the little store each month to grab my free truffle. Um, twist my arm.

I had this one last night. Heavenly.

Since I am a good friend, I felt compelled to share with all of you, too. tee hee.

I Have Changed The Weather With My Own Complaining

2010-05-13T16:29:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh. Did you know that you can change the weather with your very own complaining? See, we have been spoiled here in the Snowy North where I live. This year, we were privy to a season that we do not have here. Or at least in the thirty-four years of my very own life, we have not had it. It's called Spring and it's lovely. Grass grows fresh and green way before June and trees have beautiful leaves way before the last week of May! It's a phenomenal season, really. I love it.

Where do I live that we do not have this season, you ask? The only reason I label where we live by lovely little names like the Snowy North or calling where we're moving Sub-Tropical South is because I do not want to be Google-able. You think that's not a word? Wrong! My friend Snarky Mom just used it because she, too, doesn't want to be Google-able. See here. Anyway, if a word's on the Internet, it MUST be real.

But I digress.

Anyway, we live right between Sellabit Mum and RN Mama. Okay, I can't MAKE you go figure out where they live, but you should totally check out their blogs because they are seriously hilarious women. Probably because they, too, are from the Snowy North - and I'll give a another hint, my home state here rhymes with Frisponsin.

Okay, so back to this whole Spring phenomenon! It's crazy, it's great and we got spoiled with it starting like back in APRIL. No joke. It is usually still snowstorming here at that point. But nope, mostly ALL GOOD WEATHER. Warm enough to melt ALL SNOW and for green things like grass to grow! Well, a person can get mighty used to nice weather. And then when a string of 40-something days rolls in, said person can get mighty annoyed. Perturbed, even. Said person being ME. But then last night I complained about it a whole bunch on my Facebook page and.............POOF! This afternoon: sun and sixty-five.

And people say you shouldn't complain.

A Day of Surprises and A Redneck Makeup Case

2010-05-08T22:07:00.002-05:00

Okay, I have so much to talk about this post. I think it may wind up being like the longest post of me rambling on and on ever.

First: look at Littlest Girl below. My best girlfriend (since the age of 5) bought her this UK dress for her birthday. She may be the CUTEST Wildcat fan EVER.

Second: I got an early Mother's Day surprise from my dad and his wife! I was SO surprised and happy to open the door to a delivery man today holding out this fantabulously beautiful bouquet!

Third: Another fantabulous surprise for Mother's Day! The other night, a commercial came on the for The Edible Bouquet and I was going on and on about how I would just LOVE to get my hands on one of those and how delicious they look, but that I could never in the worlds stomach the fact that THEY START AT FIFTY DOLLARS. Like fifty bucks for the base model. So for Mother's Day, my husband took Littlest Girl to the store and they bought all the goodies and made me their very own version of the Edible Bouquet! I cannot tell you how thoughtful and sweet I thought that was!

Today, my husband decided he really needed a saltwater fishing pole because where we live now, he does freshwater fishing, but in a few weeks when we make our move to Sub-Tropical South, we'll be in saltwater fishing territory. Now, how in the world the pole "knows" where it's fishing, be it fresh or salt water, I have absolutely no clue. But we ran down to Cabela's to pick up a pole anyway. Littlest Girl loves it there anyway since there are all manner of stuffed wildlife throughout the store. And some real fish to boot.

Here she is in a "cute playhouse." Apparently this item is called a "blind." Hmm. You learn something new every day.

So, at this next point, the dear husband is still searching for the SALTwater pole and Littlest Girl is amusing herself perusing the wide assortement of fishing lures. And then of course since she pays all of no attention to where she is going, she falls into a display of lures.

And manages to slice her wrist open. I love how she is grinning here because she was totally a mess in the store. All sorts of drama.

Oh! My favorite part about Cabela's is the lovely fashions. At one point when we were in the "Bargain Cave" I tried on this little beauty. Only $39 marked down from fifty! Would have been a steal at twice the price, right? I only didn't get it because I live up in the North and people love to hunt them some deer up here and well, I was afraid what with the lifelike art on this jacket that I might be mistaken for a target and wind up to be venison stew!

Okay, she wasn't really scared in the picture below, but we like to pretend and I thought the picture came out funny.

Anyway, it was a very fun day altogether. Littlest Girl and the Husband and I really have a ball together.

Now, on to the showcase piece of the day. We travel quite a bit. And I have a lot of makeup. And jewelry, accessories, hair items, and the like. Just a whole lot of stuff that goes into getting ready each day.

"It takes a lot of effort to look like this." ~ Truvy, Steel Magnolias

Okay, so anyhoo, I have this fold up travel cosmetic/toiletry case that is working sort of okay for me, but I really need something that is hard-backed because I have glass perfume bottles and makeup bottles and something also with a whole lot more little dividers so I can keep earrings sorted, lipsticks, etc. There is just no sorting to be had in the current makeup case. It's got a few pockets, but it still all gets jumbled up.

Well, my friends, this particular item I found was the answer to all my needs. And a steal of a deal at $15.

Behold Amanda's Redneck Makeup Case:

Yes, friends, it's a TACKLE BOX. And yes, I bought it. And yes, if you run into me randomly at a hotel you will find me with my trusty tackle box-makeup case. And all my earrings will be perfectly sorted, as will my necklaces, eyeliners and lipsticks. Because this little gem has three trays of little compartments to sort my goodies. And a bottom with lots of spare room for hairsprays, shampoos, lotions, etc. And nothing will be broken by disgruntled baggage handlers that may or may not have tossed my luggage around a little too hard. Because everything is in one hard, tough container.

It's a Redneck Makeup Case. And it works. You're very welcome for introducing you.

Names, Names, Names

2010-05-06T20:41:00.000-05:00

Friday at Kelly's Korner, the Show Us Your Life theme is names! Since I can't really disclose the names of my kids, I am going to go ahead and tell you my favorite names for any future children that may come along. This way I get to make lists that include names my husband has flat-out VETOED (and let me tell you, his taste is not up to par whatsoever in the name department. I mean if I told you some of his suggestions, visions of diner waitresses would come to mind. Not that I have anything against diner waitresses, I just do not want my children named after someone I envision wearing a pink and white uniform with really badly dyed flaming red hair and red lipstick smeared just outside the lip lines. Whew, that was a crazy description, right? Well, just ask him for a name suggestion, and he'll provide a moniker that would provide you with that vision in your very own mind.)

But I digress.

Also, I am all about alliteration. I am an alliteratin' fool when it comes to naming my children. Since my oldest three children are stepchildren, I was not involved in naming them. Our first precious daughter's (who is with God now) initials were LLM. Littlest Girl's initial's are MMM. Yes, I love me some alliteration.

So.....any name on my list would be followed with a middle name that would start with the same letter. I can guarantee it.

We'll start with Boy Names:

Carter (I love this name and I admire Jimmy so much. Excellent name.)

Grayson

Shepley

Benton

Palmer

Preston

Mason

Rutger

And the sort of a bit (WAY) more fun girl names:

Haline (Scandinavian, pronounced HAY-leen)

Halette (also Scandinavian, pronounced HAY-lett)

Gretchen

Bridget (I have absolutely ALWAYS loved this name. Unfortunately we do not have a last name to match.)

Emrynn (I think I made this up, but I love it.)

Emerette

Mary

Annabelle

Eden

Ethel

Fairleigh

Clearly I should start trying to model myself after Michelle Duggar (no offense meant - I love Michelle) because I have some seriously long lists here. ;) Plus also I am quite sure that by tomorrow morning when I link this up to Kelly's list, I will have thought of about fifteen more names. For sure.

Moving. Yeah, I LOATHE It.

2010-05-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

So, I am all into the whole moving-to-a-new-city part, it's just the actual purging and packing part I am not the biggest fan of. Now, I can purge like noboby's business. Frankly, my children and cats are lucky I haven't donated them to the Saint Vincent De Paul Society. Those hoarding shows make my skin crawl because I have like the opposite illness, and honestly I probably toss/donate TOO much. In any event, we are in the midst of packing and moving and oh-my-word, I am just not very good at this. Three years ago, we moved into this house from a smaller 3 bed/2 bath duplex. It was such a cute little rental, but we'd grown out of it. We bought this house, which is way too big, and even with all my purging over the years, we have so totally managed to fill it up. New house: much smaller. Now, I mean much smaller than this house, which again, is WAY.TOO.BIG. New House is like perfect size. This house was great, but it was just....again....TOO BIG. Yes, a house can be too big. I really never realized that type of phenomenon could even occur because, at first, that whole hugeness factor is so exciting.

Until.

Until: a) you have to clean it and b) you realize that "cosmetically updating" this amount of square footage would probably bankrupt you and c) you actually realize that a big old house with chopped up rooms displaces the family all over and seriously family time occurs way less because everyone is like all over the house. Separately. I am all for some alone time, but this just hasn't totally worked for us. And judging from the non-offers we've been getting for said house, it's not working for any potential buyers, either.

Anyway, so throughout this whole packing up process, I've seriously been trying to be positive and remember that at the end of the whole process, there is SUCH.A.REWARD.

And that reward is:

UNPACKING.

Oh shoot, that is NOT a reward.

Just kidding.

The reward is a new opportunity. A new adventure in the new city and we are truly very excited!* Honestly.

*After all that unpacking. wink, wink.

Complaint Fest for Today: Oh My SNOT.

2010-04-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

Let me just tell you how much I hate my sinuses. I never like to say I "hate" anything and obviously we do not say we hate anyone, but I am going to just say right now that I HATE my sinuses. What starts out as a normal cold for most people will always fervently progress to a full-blown sinus-fest in my face.

Littlest Girl and I are both sick. We are supposed to have Littlest Girl's five year pics taken today, but I just do not know if the poor child can make it. It's almost ten and she is still sleeping. Poor baby. I feel so awful for the poor girl, as she is clearly just so filled with SNOT. I hate snot, too.

This will end my update-slash-complaint-fest-slash-list-of-things-I-really-hate. It was short, but sweet, I think.

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Baby

2010-04-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

Oh my sweet girl, where has the time gone?

Five years ago today......

Such a beautiful baby girl.....

To an absolutely wonderful, animated, social butterfly!

Happy Fifth Birthday, My Baby!

Mama loves you so much.

House Hunting

2010-04-22T09:32:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday, we left for the new city in the Sub-Tropical South to find a rental home for our family. We still haven't sold our current home and we are not wealthy enough to do two mortgages. I am secretly pleased about this part because I'd much rather rent for a year to make sure we like the subdivision and community we are in before we go plunking down big chunks of my dear husband's hard earned dollars on a new home! My husband would much rather buy immediately because he just abhors the thought of throwing away money on rent. As you may have gathered, he is more the saver and I am more the not saver and bad money manager. But I digress.

So, Wednesday we flew into the new city after 2 plane rides. I will purposely go off on a tangent here. The new city is far from the old city, but the airports we fly out of and into are not teensy little remote huts, you know? Yet the only flight(s) we could find had us changing planes and put us in the air OVER FOUR HOURS. Seriously, from where I live in the North, four hours should get me to the other side of the country. Flying just isn't as convenient as it used to be. Anyway, I say this because Littlest Girl does not have the best stomach during turbulent flights, so we just try to limit her flight time in general. The poor dear tossed her cookies after a particularly air-pocked-filled descent into the first stop. We did invest in a little motion sickness medicine on the way back and it DID help. Thank GOD.

Thursday was a super long day. We toured rental house after rental house - lucky for us, we did have an EXTREMELY wonderful realtor who really knew our needs, likes, dislikes, etc. and was so on the ball with all of it. Second to last, we found THE house. Here it is:

Bhahahahahahahahahaha! Yeah. I wish. Nice home, eh? *Please refer back to that first paragraph where I note our lack of extreme wealth.

I am JUST as happy with the rental we found, though:

It is in the exact community, subdivision, school district, boundaries, and everything we wanted! It's newer construction, neutral colors, and has a laundry room to die for (I am SO pathetic). So even though it was a long day, it was a fruitful day and heck, it was ALL DONE IN ONE DAY! Thank you, God.

And our awesome realtor.

Friday we wrapped up all the details and headed to our beachfront condo for the weekend! The weather wasn't quite as cooperative as we'd have liked, but I am not going to complain about any type of relaxing weekend at all. I mean, I would have loved a whole bunch of hot sun to grow my crow's feet, but it's okay. I'll get plenty when we live in the new city.

We headed to the beach Saturday morning. And, um, so these were all over the beach. They are supposedly these cabbage head jellyfish that are harmless. I am not exactly going to try to find out. I am more a fan of the lovely white sand beaches that do not have strange sea creatures washed up on them, so I am going to go ahead adore this beautiful beach from afar and keep my toes in non-sea-creature-infested chlorinated pools thankyouverymuch. Still it made for a good picture and Littlest Girl did collect a bunch of shells that morning.

That night we headed to dinner on the water. Yumolicious stuffed flounder for me. And Littlest Girl looking like a little doll. Though apparently she felt this bow was too big and took it out. I have never heard of a bow being too big, but apparently Littlest Girl has become the hair bow police.

After dinner, we headed out for ice cream and on the way back to the car, we saw this. I have never been through something as awful as Katrina or Ike. Can you even imagine this?

We wrapped up the weekend with some more pool time and just a whole bunch of relaxation! It was like a total mini-vacation since we'd found our house that first day. I felt so blessed to have some nice quiet time with Littlest Girl and her daddy!

We headed home very LATE on Tuesday night. Littlest Girl was pretty worn out, but SUCH a good traveler.

Overall, the trip was absolutely wonderful. We all just fell completely in love with our new city and I pray we'll still feel the same when we actually live there. So far, so good. I feel like God has provided one amazingly awesome path for us here. I am SO thankful to God for everything He's provided.

And also...

2010-04-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so much for your kind words on the loss of Gigantic Cat. I cannot even tell you how hard it was. Like a thousand times harder than I ever expected - and trust me, I expected it to be awful. He wasn't "just a cat" to us, he was part of our family. Thank you all so much for your kind words. They hold so much comfort. xoxo

I am alive...

2010-04-21T22:27:00.000-05:00

In case anyone is wondering. hehe. Since last Thursday, we've been in the Sub-Tropical South in our new city looking for a home. It was actually an awesome trip because we found our rental house the VERY FIRST DAY! Then the rest of the trip was spent exploring the area and checking things out. It was so cool. I had never been to this particular new city ..... I will give a hint -it rhymes with Pooston. Anyway, I fell in love as soon as we got there, and loved it more each day. PHEW. I mean, what if we'd gotten there and I'd thought it was awful? Again, phew. And thank you to the good Lord for providing this opportunity for us. I am going to do a whole post tomorrow on the trip because I think all of my 2.5 readers out there love snooze-fests. No, just kidding. I've gotta do a post because I did get some very cute pics of Littlest Girl this past week, especially on the weekend when we were on the island. The island that rhymes with Kalveston. Very cool place.

Friday is Littlest Girl's birthday....she is going to be FIVE. A whole handful. Sigh. When did she get so big? As usual, I am ill-prepared and scrambling to get all the partay fixins' together.

Okay, done rambling for tonight. I have gotta go catch up on my blog READING. ;)

Saying Goodbye....

2010-04-08T20:19:00.000-05:00

Is not easy.

In February, I blogged about Gigantic Cat and his illness. He was better for a short while, and then stopped eating and became ill. Tomorrow we have to take him to the vet and say goodbye to him. Forever. If you read this, and you're a praying person, maybe send up some prayers for Gigantic Cat and our family. Even if you're not a cat person, you'd have loved this guy. Countless people have remarked Gigantic Cat is the cat for everyone. He was certainly the cat for us and we have loved him with all of our hearts. Goodbye, buddy. We'll always love you and never forget the years of happiness you brought our family.

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached.

Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way.

We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan."

— Irving Townsend

Easter!

2010-04-05T12:49:00.001-05:00

I am feeling particularly thankful this Easter. I know that Thanksgiving is normally a time we reflect on all that we are thankful for, but for some reason this year I was struck by how much I've been given. And honestly I should be thankful each and every day for all that I've been given, and I truly am. However, this Easter I really seemed to think hard and reflect on the pure and undeserved GRACE I've been given by a Savior who died for me. And I cannot tell you how thankful I truly am.

We are all so blessed.

Saturday we had a wonderful traditional Easter dinner with my mom that included a delicious candied ham, corn, taters, and the most delicious Derby pie made by my awesome husband! :)

Sunday we were supposed to get together with my dad and his wife, but they were under the weather, so we enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather! In all of my 34 years here in the North, we have NEVER had a Spring like this year. The weather has been so blissful! I am so thankful for it since this is my last Spring in the North, at least for a while! (*We are going next week to our new city in the Sub-Tropical South to find a house....but that's a whole other post!).

Here are some pics from this weekend! The Easter Bunny broughts lots of goodies and hid tons of eggs for the kiddos to find!

Below you'll see Littlest Girl and Sissy hunting eggs. Please note the GREEN grass. Yes, it's Easter Sunday and the grass is GREEN here in the North. Last year we were visiting family in the South and it was only 40-something degrees for our egg hunt. The year before? We were at home, hunting through the snow in twenty-degree weather. That's most often the case up here - the snow part, that is. But this year it was already almost SIXTY on Easter morning!

I am all out of order here, but here are the children just ready to BREAK OUT of here to get out for some eggs! You'll notice Blonde Boy is a bit tired.

Here are Littlest Girl and Blonde Boy having so much fun with her new Color Explosion notebook! She used up EVERY.SINGLE.PAGE. yesterday. The child LOVED it.

Easter weekend was just beautiful. Who could not love faces like these? I mean, really? Don't you wish your kids were this photogenic? *Snort*

I hope you all had as blessed an Easter as us!

He is Risen!

Where Have I Been!?

2010-03-30T20:05:00.000-05:00

Sweet Lesli reminded me yesterday that I have been absentee recently around here.....and my goodness, I think I get wrapped up in reading my own fave blogs and forget my very own little spot here.

I have some recent pics to catch up and then a post of maybe some actual real substance coming this week. Like I am ever really full of "substance" or anything. hehe.

Littlest Girl did an Easter Egg Hunt here in town this past weekend! We have been having a very mild and nice Spring here in the North, but of course that one morning it was like FREEZING! Still VERY fun, though!

And just in case you didn't believe that freezing part......

Otherwise, we've been having SUPER great weather and tomorrow is supposed to be seventy degrees! Lunch at the park for sure!

I hope everyone else out there in the land of blog is having a wonderful week so far!