Our Jack O' Lantern

Karina, Bill, and I got our pumpkin this year at a local pumpkin patch.  Karina picked it out herself, you may remember if you keep up with the blog at all.  Every time we would go in or out of our house, she would point to her pumpkin.  It was finally time to carve it yesterday!  I didn't want to carve it too early in case it warmed up here (as it is today, of course).  I did most (all) of the carving, and scooping out of the innards.  Karina tried to help but it was kind of awkward for her, so she mostly just scraped the inside with a spoon and got nothing out.  Then it was time for the face.  I gave Karina choices of what shapes for eyes and nose, and choice of happy or frowny for the mouth.  She chose round eyes, a funny upturned nose that reminds me of Steve Martin's nose in the movie "Roxanne" (thank you, Rachel, for knowing what movie that was!), and a frowny mouth.

While the mouth isn't as frowny as I intended, I still think it looks pretty good.  Pretty good for someone who hasn't carved a pumpkin in yeeeeaaaars!

Here it is!

Day 25 – your day, in great detail

Oh are you ever about to be bored!  Quick, go read someone else's blog!

I get up around 7 because Karina wakes up.  I go get her and change her diaper and we go downstairs for breakfast.  What to have, what to have?  Oatmeal or waffles?  Don't ask her, or it'll be waffles!  Make tea and breakfast and sit down in the dining room to eat it.  Then we get up and play a little.  Bill gets up and we spend a little time with him.  Most days we have somewhere to go, so we go upstairs and brush our teeth (me and Karina).  We both get dressed and get all the things we will need for wherever we're going.  We leave the house and go to the place we are going.  We come back sometime before lunch, and play or put away groceries.  I fix lunch (cheese, some type of grain--crackers, bread, or biscuit--fruit, some sneaky veggie if I can, and milk) and then Karina and I go in her room and read books before she takes a nap.  Bill usually comes home for lunch with us, too.  When she's napping, I get online and do my crafting.  At around 230/3pm Karina wakes up and we read and play.  Sometimes we have errands, but I hate doing them in the afternoon.  Mostly we play.  When the mailman comes (he comes anywhere from 3pm to6pm, but he's a great mailman so we don't mind) we often go out to meet him.  Around 430 or 445 I start working on dinner, unless it's leftovers.  Between 515 and 530 we eat dinner.  While I clean up, Karina plays.  Sometimes we go for a walk and sometimes we don't.  Karina gets a bath or showers with me, and then we put on her jammies.  At 730, we go up to her room (if we aren't already there) and read books.  She gets her nighttime diaper on and goes to bed at 8pm.  I go in my room and check email and watch HGTV until about 10.  I go to sleep and pray that Karina will sleep a little later the next day. 

See?  Booooorrrrriiiiiiing!

Just Catching Up

I feel bad that I haven't had a real personal post in a while.  There's not anything really to tell!  Karina is still doing fine in speech; her therapist said she could be done by Christmas!  She's got another ear infection, only her second, but boy, I don't want to start down this road!  We carved our pumpkin today, and Karina helped by choosing what shape to make the eyes, nose, and mouth.  I drew the shape options on paper, and had her show me the one she wanted.  So he has circle eyes, a long stretched-out triangle-y nose, and a frowny vampire mouth.  We waited to carve it til today so it wouldn't rot before Halloween.

Today is my friend Stephanie's birthday, and I have to miss her party because of Karina's ear infection.  Tomorrow is my godson Colin's birthday (he'll be 9!), and yesterday was Rachel's birthday from Second Time Around.  There was a point in time where I knew someone with a birthday for every day of the last week of October, from the 24th to the 31st, no joke.  It was crazy!

We've been making Thanksgiving plans, too.  My cousin just bought her first house with her husband nearby, so we'll be going there for Thanksgiving day.  It's exciting because I love seeing the whole extended family (on my mom's side).  I was close to all my cousins growing up and love to see them.  Then the next day we're going to visit a friend that David met online and has never met in person.  He introduced me to her online, too, and now she's my friend, too, and I am very excited to meet her.  She'll be in town to visit family.  Then on Saturday, we'll be visiting my dad's side of the family to have Thanksgiving there, but it will be pizza.  I know.  That's because they figure everyone is sick of turkey by then.  (Everyone except my husband!)

So that's it.  I'm hoping we can still trick or treat a little with Karina, assuming she's not feeling sick.  Otherwise we'll be hanging out at home passing out candy!

I wish all of you a happy weekend, and for those of you celebrating birthdays right around now, Happy Birthday!

Day 24 – where I live

Well, since I say my daughter's name and you see her picture on here, I will not be sharing much about this with you.  I had made mention of it in previous posts a while back, but I have edited those mentions out, since the blog has a little more traffic than it once did.  I will say that I live sort of on the East Coast in a city that I love.  We have plenty of things to do and the traffic can be bad sometimes.  I live near my mom and grandmother, as well as within close driving distance of some other relatives, and that is important to me.  I have a house and a yard, but no good climbing trees in the yard (poor Karina...she won't know what she's missing!).  The weather changes throughout the year, which I like.  It's too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, but I like it that way.  I can drive to the mountains or the beach if I want to.  Neither one is too terribly far away.  I grew up here, and spent my childhood here.  My church is here, my first job was here, my family and many of my friends are here.  It's the perfect place for me, and if you have been with this blog for any amount of time, you know that I briefly lived in Florida and I hated it because it was none of these things that I love about where I live.

PS Happy Birthday to my friend Stephanie!

Day 22 – a website

What?  I don't get this one.  You're already reading my website.  And my list is over there on the side of ones I like.  You know I like Etsy.com (if you read this blog much).

I like Snapfish for prints (they're the cheapest I found when I had to migrate mine from Yahoo photos years ago).  I like Babysteals.com and kidsteals.com, ecobabybuys.com and of course babyhalfoff.com which is in my sidebar.  I have also appreciated Hippobargains.com.

Splitcoaststampers.com is a great site for inspiration, ideas, and projects for card makers and scrapbookers.

Day 21 – a recipe

I have no recipes, people!  I don't cook (much)!  Okay, here's the only one I know.

You need some boneless skinless chicken breasts, some swiss cheese, some bread crumbs (I use Pepperidge Farms), a little melted butter and some cream of chicken soup.

Put the chicken pieces in a shallow pan.  Put a piece of swiss cheese on top of each one.  Pour the soup on top of the cheese and chicken evenly.  (Maybe you put the soup and then the cheese?  No, I don't think so.)  Put bread crumbs on top of that.  Put a little melted butter on top of it all.  Cook it at whatever temperature one cooks chicken (375?) for however long it takes to cook chicken breasts thoroughly (30?  45?  I can't remember).

See?  I am a horrible cook!  I can't even remember the ONE recipe I "remember"!!  Good luck if any of you are brave enough to try it.  If it comes out right, though, the chicken is nice and juicy, not dry. 

Day 20 – a hobby of yours

Well, if you have read this blog more than a few times, you know that I have lots of hobbies.  They are, in no particular order:

sewing
scrapbooking and card making
shopping
making stuff
Youth Group (I consider it a hobby of sorts because I do it for fun)

I also like making hair bows, right now.  That is one of my hobbies that is a temporary one.  I can already feel it waning...

Day 19 – a talent of yours

I guess I'd say my talent is just creativity.  I like making things and doing things with my hands.  I'm pretty good at some other things, too, but I don't know if they count as talents.  I'm a fairly good writer, in that I can write and use proper grammar (when I want to, he he).  I read pretty well.  I'm a pretty good mom (I haven't completely messed her up yet).  I can draw reasonably well.  I mean, you can usually tell what it is. 

I don't have any stand-out talents, like some people do.  But those things, I can do them all well enough to make me happy.

Day 18 – your wedding/future wedding/past wedding

I actually already posted about this.  Here's the link.

30 Days of Me: Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)

Really?  Do sewing projects count?  I made both of these dresses for Karina, and I just happened to have the images available to upload, with my little watermark already on them.  I know it's not "art" but it's what I do to be creative.  And lots of other things, too. 

And hey, I almost forgot (because I haven't been making them recently) that I also make cards.  Here are some of those, too.  I guess those come a little closer to the "art" title. 

 This was for a friend who had a baby.

This one has a background made with alcohol inks and a gold metallic paint pen.  The stamp is from one of my favorite Close To My Heart sets.

Miche Bag and Shell Giveaway at Savvy Moms Save!!!

I looooooove my Miche bag (thank you Stephanie, forever!!).  You can enter to win one at Savvy Moms Save; they're giving away a small base and a shell (Naomi shell).  Even though I have a small bag, I figured maybe I could get one in a different color, or give it as a gift.  (If I won, that is)  It's a great bag, and now I'm thinking I might have to start asking for the bigger one.  I read that you can use it as a diaper bag!!  SO COOL!  Imagine having a diaper bag that you could change the outside??  I would just love that.

http://savvymomsaves.blogspot.comhttp://savvymomsaves.blogspot.com/2010/10/miche-bags-review-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SavvyMomsSave+%28Savvy+Moms+Save%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

30 Days of Me: Day 16: a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

"Feels Like Home to Me" by Chantal Kreviazuk.  It is a beautiful song about loving someone and having them be your home.  There's another one by her, too, that makes me all emotional, "In This Life".  At first, I thought it was about a couple who's fighting or going through a tough time, but then I read that it was actually about her brother who was sick. I'm very close to my brother, and I can't imagine having him be sick like that. 

Bill and I had "Feels Like Home" playing at our wedding reception.  I absolutely had to have that one. 

I don't know how well known she is, but I really like most of her songs.  If you have a chance, you should check her out. 


"Feels Like Home"
Songwriters: Newman, Randy

Something in your eyes
Makes me want to lose myself
Makes me want to lose myself
In your arms.
There's something in your voice
Makes my heart beat fast
Hope this feeling lasts
The rest of my life.

If you knew how lonely my life has been
And now long I've been so alone
If you knew how I wanted someone to come along
And change my life the way you've done

Feels like home to me,  Feels like home to me
Feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
Feels like home to me, Feels like home to me
Feels like I'm all the way back where I belong.

A window breaks down a long dark street
And a siren wails in the night
But I'm all right 'cause I have you here with me
And I can almost see through the dark there is light.

If you knew how much this moment means to me
And how long I've waited for your touch
If you knew how happy you are making me
I never thought I'd love anyone so much

(repeat chorus)

In This Life
Chantal Kreviazuk

"Let me show you what I'm made of
Good intentions are not enough
To get me through today and this life.
You're in the basement watching the TV
I'm on the second floor watching the ceiling
We sleep underneath the same big sky at night
And dream the same dream we can fly.

Well you can run from me
And you can hide from me
But I am right beside you in this life.

Let me tell you who you really are
You're my comfort, you're not a superstar
Life can reach up and bring you back down
to the ground
And give you everything you dream about

And you can run from me
And you can hide from me
But I am right beside you in this life.

I'll give you all the things that I'd never get
Give you all I have and have no regrets
Take you to the places that I've never been
Forgive you all the things that you can't forget
Take away the pain with my healing hand
Wash away your sins and set your spirit free.

(repeat chorus twice)

Let me show you what I'm made of."

30 Days of Me: Day 15 – your dream house

Oh boy!  I love thinking about my dream house.  As a teenager, I used to design houses all the time, and if not for all the math involved, I might have even become an architect. 

I actually live in a house now that is about as perfect as a pre-made house could have been for Bill and me.  When we were looking at houses, my realtor, the ever patient and fantastic Pat, showed me over 100 houses (yes, really).  I loved it.  I love househunting!  Anyway, we had these very specific criteria: 

A music/man room for Bill so he could be messy and loud there and not bother me
A craft room for me so I could be messy and crafty and not bother him
Enough bedrooms for potentially 2 children and a guest room (that would be 4+ bedrooms)
A garage or storage area of some kind
Enough room for all our crap stuff
Not on a slab (a slab foundation is a big slab of concrete with no crawl space.  Very bad if your plumbing goes out.  Guess how they get to it?  Oh yeah, they jackhammer your floor.  No thank you!)
A yard of decent size
Location

Well, we found a pretty good number of houses that came close, and finally it was time to pick.  We really liked this one but the owners wouldn't come down enough in their price for us, so we were set to buy this other house.  What do you know, we got this one! 

It has a non-open floor plan, which we needed in order to get a music/craft room.  When you walk in, there's the staircase right in front of you; living room to the left (doesn't lead anywhere), hall to the right, and dining room right off it there at the front of the house.  The hall and dining room both lead to the kitchen, which has a half bath off it and Bill's music room, which is technically a den.  Off the kitchen is the laundry room, which leads to a garage one way and the screened porch the other way.  Upstairs there are 5 big bedrooms.  The first one you come to is one of the smallest and is my craft room.  I picked it because of the closet and how light it was.  Next is a bathroom, Karina's old nursery (before we moved her to her new room), a hallway leading to our large master, Karina's bedroom, and the room David's using, which is the largest of the non-master bedrooms.  Our master bedroom is huge, and takes up all the space over the garage and laundry room.  There's a walk in closet (mine!) and a bathroom with an extra vanity outside the bathroom (mine!).  Bill's got two small closets in the hall that leads to our bedroom.  It's perfect for us because my stuff fills the closet in our room, and he works, so when he gets up before me (oh wait.  That doesn't happen any more!) he could get dressed without waking me.  Anyway, even though he doesn't get up first anymore, it still works for us.  So we got pretty much everything we wanted.  I love this house.

Now, what would make it a dream house?  Well, first I'd move Bill's music room further from the living areas of the house.  He really likes to ruin his hearing by playing his music really, really loud, and he can't because I don't let him.  If he had a room off the garage instead, he could have his music a little louder.  My craft room would be a lot bigger.  We'd have a 2 car garage instead of a 1 car.  And the screened porch would be in better shape.  And have a fan.  Better appliances in the kitchen.  Oh, and two last things:  there would be an older tree for climbing in the yard and there would be a clothesline.

Other than those fairly minor things, I really love my house.  I guess I have my dream house in a way.  Lucky me!

30 Days of Me: Day 14 – a non-fictional book

I do not like non-fiction. 

I can't even think of one book I own that's non-fiction that isn't a cookbook.  Do picture books count?  I have a few of Scotland. 

I did read a book years ago that I liked a lot that was about a woman with something like 97 multiple personalities that was mostly non-fiction; at the end she makes up the ending so it is more satisfying.  She says this in the book somewhere, that she did that, but it was a very odd and interesting book.  She has all these personalities, and they kind of decide somehow that they don't want to be integrated and so she just goes along living her life this way.  They actually made a tv movie about it once...who was the actress?  The lady from "Cheers" with the blond hair...I can't think of her name.  Shelly something maybe?  Anyway, not important. 

Important:  I don't care much for non-fiction.

30 Days of Me: Day 13 – a fictional book

This one doesn't really say what you're supposed to write about.  I guess my favorite fictional book, but I already had a post about my favorite book in general.  Hm.  Not so sure about this one.


I like a lot of books, and fiction is definitely my top choice.  I really like Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters, particularly "Legend in Green Velvet", which is about a girl who goes to Scotland for an archeological dig as a student, and is mistaken for someone else.  She winds up meeting a guy who looks like Prince Charles and many adventures ensue.  When she's writing as Elizabeth Peters, the books are mysteries with a lot of humor and not much scary stuff which is good for me.  When she's Barbara Michaels, they're scarier. 

I also like a book by Robin McKinley called "Beauty" which is a fantastic retelling of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.  It is so good that when he changes to the human at the end, I can't read that part because I am so in love with the beast! 

Another often reread favorite is "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier.  I also really love the book "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo.  It's for kids, but it is really well-written, and there's more to it than just the story on the surface.  I started reading it to my students one year (stupidly without pre-reading it) and at one point I was crying so much I thought the kids were going to have to take over.  But it has a wonderful happy ending, and I read it to every class after that.  I would have to warn them about the crying, though, because I would cry every time!  Even though I knew the ending was happy.  Finally, after years of reading this book, I realized something about it--the way the little girl refers to her father changes at a particular point in the book, so if you read it, watch for that.  It may be for kids, but it's a really great book. 

I have a few other fictional books that I like, and a shelf full of favorites that I reread every so often.  Well, I don't right now too much but when Karina was tiny, and wanted to just hear my voice, I would read books for myself out loud.  She didn't know or care what they were about, but she could hear my voice, and would happily play with her little gym or do her tummy time so I got to have these little moments to myself.  I have read so many good books, I can't even begin to list them. 

Are you looking for a good cause?

If you are looking for a good cause for the holidays or just because, here is one you may wish to consider.  The blogger at http://www.libslibrary.blogspot.com/ has adopted a service dog to help her with the various medical conditions she suffers from due to brain damage.  Her dog is heartworm positive and requires some special treatment to make sure the heartworms are completely killed and he can go on to live a healthy life.  Since she is medically disabled, she does not work and has decided to ask the blogging community for help.  You can read more about her at Second Time Around, here, if you want to learn more.  Or, you can just go to her site and read up there. 

30 Days of Me: Day 12 – something you are OCD about

Oh boy.  I don't think I am clinically OCD about anything, and since that is a real condition, let's just say I'm emphatic about some things. 

Turn off the lights when you leave a room

I hate when people leave the lights on.  It is so annoying!  My husband is so bad about it that I actually unplugged the floor lamp (switched outlet; also annoying) in my daughter's room, because he's constantly going in there and turning it on and then hours later I go up there and it's on.  He leaves lights on everywhere, and I always turn them off.

Turning off the water when you aren't using it

Just like the lights, I don't like to waste water.  I always turn off the tap when I am brushing my teeth and I just don't leave water running when it's not necessary.

I'd say those two things come closest to the OCD thing for me, but there are definitely other things that I like to be the way I want them: 


Put things away where you found them
Not "wasting" batteries
 Just not wasting things in general.

Okay wait--I just realized there is one thing I am really emphatic about, more so than the other things I just wrote about!!!  I absolutely HATE it when someone puts their feet or armpits on my pillow!!!

Halloween Party

 We had our annual Halloween Party hosted by the youth group for the little kids at church on Sunday.  It was a really long day for me, down for church by 8, and basically there all day til about 5pm.  But it was really fun.  Blogger has changed the way it uploads photos, so unfortunately these aren't in any decent kind of order.  Please bear with me as I am trying to figure out their new system.  Above is our caramel apple table.  We use these caramel apple wraps, which you microwave for just a few seconds and voila, caramel apple.  Then the kids can roll them in sprinkles or chocolate chips.

 Here's Karina decorating her little pumpkin.  She was really into it and didn't even make a big mess!

 This is one of her little friends who shall remain nameless, but what a cutie!

 Here she is at the duck pond.  She had more fun just moving the ducks around in the water than getting the prize I think!

 Someone loaned us her huge blow-up haunted house, and it was a serious hit...with everyone but Karina, who was scared to go in. 

 Here's my little Mary Had a Little Lamb...there were also 2 Dorothys (from Wizard of Oz), and an Alice in Wonderland.

 Oh, yeah, this is me, not standing up straight of course.  That's not a skirt, either, it's pants.  I'm from Star Trek and yes, I am the typical character who dies.  Everyone kept coming up and saying, "You know, the guy in red always dies."  Yep.  I know.  I am that guy.

 Here's how our social hall looked.  Sorry it's hard to see.  This is one of the craft stations.  At the way back is pin the nose on the pumpkin hanging on the wall, and more games.

This was ring toss, and Karina mastered the fine art of walking up to it and placing the ring carefully over the stake in order to get all of them onto the same one.  Oh well, she had fun!

She also enjoyed hopping while watching the bigger kids do the sack race, and played her own version of Halloween Twister, which basically involved stepping on all the squares with pumpkins and then jumping. 

The party was definitely a success for the youth group though, and compared to last year's event which had a very poor turnout, this was fantastic.  We have to get all new prizes and everything for next year!  Yay!  All the kids went home with lots of candy, even the kids with peanut allergies.  We have one little girl with a fatal peanut allergy as well as Karina's stupid allergy.  I call it stupid because I hate it.  Anyway, we were careful with the candy and did the best we could to provide lots of stuff that was peanut free.  Definitely a success and the little girl's mom was so happy that we were careful for her. 

I hope that all of you also enjoy your October fun times, whether it's Halloween fun or something else.  The weather's been great here, and I hope it is wherever you are, too.

Day 11 – a photo of you recently

Yeah, I know.  You've seen this one.  But it's the most recent one of me.  Makes me realize I don't have enough pictures of myself.  Not for me, but for Karina.  My mom hates getting her picture taken, but I love having photos of her.  I'm sure (I hope, ha ha!) Karina will one day want pictures of me, so I guess I should get on the ball.  Bill probably has some, but it takes him so long to share them with me that I often don't see photos until months and months after whatever the occasion was.  So, sorry this one's a repeat.  If I take a new one, I'll share it.

30 Days of Me: Day 10: A Photo taken over 10 years ago

This is waaay more than ten years ago.  I think I was probably less than 10 years old.  This was probably taken sometime around 1984ish.  I was 8 or 9 maybe.  Check out my stylin' sweater and ripped jeans.  But don't I look happy?

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Karina to the pumpkin patch!  I have never been to one and neither has Bill, so it was fun for all of us.  It's a very small patch run by a local orchard family.  We took a tractor ride out to the patch and got to find just the right pumpkin.  And guess what?  Bill and I both forgot our cameras!  The only one we had was on my phone, which is not the best.  Karina picked out her own pumpkin, and then Bill did some shopping in the little farmer's market area they had.  We got some apples and an onion.  I used one of the apples in the pink pancake mix that I got ready tonight for tomorrow's dinner.

Tomorrow is the Halloween party at my church that the youth group hosts for the little kids.  I'll be down there all day tomorrow, from my church service, then Sunday School (another Musikgarten class for Karina), and then after I bring her home for her lunch and nap, I literally have to turn around and go right back down there.  Bill will bring Karina back for the party after her nap. 

I was out of the house without her quite a bit today, and when we put her to bed, she started calling me right away...I had to go and reassure her that I would be there to get her in the morning.  A few little cuddles and some reassurance seems to have done the trick.  I miss her so much on these days I don't get to see her as much, so I know she misses me, too.

Well, tomorrow will be a good one for both of us, though incredibly busy!

30 Days of Me: Day 9 A Photo You Took

At first I thought this one was kind of redundant.  After all, the last two posts were pictures, and I did take some of them.   But then I remembered these two pictures I took of some roses at a botanical center near us.  I really like the way they turned out.  I love roses--maybe because my grandfather used to grow them--and anything with roses on it, and the smell of roses.  That smell is pure heaven.

30 Days of Me: Day 8: A Photo that Makes Me Angry/Sad

At first, I didn't think I had many pictures that make me sad or angry, but it turns out I do.  Besides these, any pictures of Danise before the accident kind of make me mad and sad. 

The first one here is Karina in the arms of my mother-in-law the last time I saw her before she passed away.  Bill's mom has been gone just over a year now.  I'm sad that she didn't get to know her granddaughter.

This one is my dad holding me as a baby.  It makes me sad because he missed out on a lot of me and David growing up because he and Mom got divorced.  I'm lucky though, because he still came around, but it's still sad that he wasn't always there.

And this one you'll all think I'm nuts, but this dog, Danny, was THE best dog who ever lived.  He had a terrible skin allergy that caused his hair to fall out in places (hence the funny looking tail), but he had the sweetest nature and the best disposition.  He was sweet, loving, friendly, protective, patient, and is very much missed by all of us still.  In this photo, he is on my bed at the house where I grew up, and he has somehow managed to get himself into my pajamas.  They are pajamas with little dogs on them that somewhat resembled Danny.  He had pancreatitis and had to be put to sleep when he was 10 due to chronic liver failure.

I did not like doing this post.  I don't like to be sad.  There is too much sad in the world, and I don't like to dwell on it. 

30 Days of Me: Day 7: A Photo that Makes Me Happy

Well, this is just cute, but really any picture of my daughter makes me happy.  I could literally upload about 2500+ pictures, and each one makes me happy!  (I am not kidding, either.  I definitely have at least that many.  My husband is a photo-aholic and can never stop taking pictures and won't delete any.)

But this one makes me happy because she's got such a happy look on her face, and she's wearing a cute hat.  She stopped wanting to wear them, which is okay because she wears little clips now.  But oh, how cute the hats were!

Now here are a few more happy pictures, because I don't follow rules sometimes.  He he!

 I love any picture with me and my mom.  I have the best mom ever. This was at a baby shower.

 Baby bird mouth!  She used to make this face, and it was so cute!

 This is right after she was born, like mere hours.  That's my brother holding her.  Hard to believe.  He and mom were the first people (after me, Bill, and the doctors/hospital staff) to hold her.  I love that.  The one below is of me, a little in shock I think, holding her for the first time while finally awake.  I was so out of it after she was born because I hadn't slept in 36 hours that all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

 Ah, and this one.  This is probably one of my all time favorite funny pictures.  That is my brother around age 15, with a drumstick tied to his head.  I don't know why.  He just came into my room like that one day.  That picture still makes me laugh!

30 days is confusing me!

I am trying to keep up with the 30 days of me by pre-writing the posts by a few days, but man, it is confusing me to no end!  I have to open 3 or 4 tabs, one to see the edit posts list to know what date to publish it on, one to see the list of topics, one for the new post, and one for any uploads I might need to do.  Weesh!  So if something posts out of order, that's why!

Today was another great day for Karina talking.  She said "Pop" during Musikgarten class, she was really active in the class too.  She is still saying the /t/ and /p/ sounds.  Plus, this morning Bill was asking her all these animal sounds and she made sounds I've never taught her.  She made a pig sound, a rooster, and several others.  It makes me think that she's got the knowledge up there, but she is so stubborn, she won't let it out til we ask for it!  Little turkey.  Hm.  I wonder if she knows that sound?

30 Days of Me: Day 6 – 20 of my favorite things

I am excluding the obvious child, family, and friends.  That would just take up the whole list and be boring!

1. chocolate, especially plain M&Ms
2. stamps (rubber stamps to make cards) and paper
3. roses
4. anything pink
5. shopping (including on Etsy!!)
6. hot tea (Lipton or any general English breakfast type) with sugar and milk.  Mmmmmmm
7. adorable children's clothes (I love the stuff on Etsy, and at Gymboree and Carter's)
8. shoes
9.purses (especially the Miche bag!)
10. dogs and horses and animals in general
11. making things--sewing, crafting, scrapbooking, cardmaking, etc.
12. children--I'm a teacher after all!
13. dishes.  I am always drawn to the dishware section of stores like TJMaxx, Marshalls, and Ross
14. boxes.  I love little or big fancy boxes, made of anything, wood, paper, ceramic...I just like them.
15. Lemon cooler-type cookies, which are SO hard to find
16. velvet.  Anything velvet.  It is so hard to go into JoAnn's Fabric store and NOT buy velvet...but then I just bring it home and put it in a box in my closet because I don't want to use it for something...that would be "wasting" it!
17. antique stuff and antique stores
18. yard sales
19. consignment and thrift stores
20. giving presents on Christmas. 

Speech today was great!

I am so proud of my girl today.  This was only our second day of speech, because of course we've both been sick for a week with the world's worst cold.  (We are both *still* getting over it.) So our therapist starts the usual stuff, playing and trying things to get her to talk and make sounds, and Karina is pretty hesitant.  One thing is that we have always told Karina, "Say ___" which I don't know is necessarily the best or right way, but we've done that.  Our therapist doesn't do this.  I sometimes wonder if Karina understands that she wants her to copy the sounds she's making.  So today, I mentioned it, and I started chiming in and telling Karina to make these sounds or say the words. 

For background, the basic things Karina says are "bye bye", "mama", "da" for daddy, and lots of "ba" sounds for everything else.  Today, she made the /p/ sound, the /t/ sound, tried to say "down" and tried to say "move"!!  This is so great!  Then tonight, she made the sound of the owl, which has a vowel sound that either has been hard for her to say, or which she is resistant to saying.  (I'm not sure if that sentence even remotely makes grammatical sense, but I am so happy about her speech progress that I don't even care!).

I think speech is going to work out great, and I continue to hope that once the ball starts rolling, we won't be able to stop it!

30 Days of Me: Day 5: My Favorite quote

I have so many!  My newest favorite is "You were made perfectly to be loved--and surely I have loved you, in the idea of you my whole life long."  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Beautiful, and even though she intended it for her lover, it is too perfect to describe a mother's love.

Been Sick, Blech

Karina and I have been sick for almost a week.  Last Monday, I noticed at our playgroup she wasn't as excited and rambunctious as usual, and figured she was just getting used to it, or a little overwhelmed.  That night, she woke up at 1130 crying, and I just knew.  Then that whole day she was miserable, stuffiest nose I have ever experienced in my life poor baby.  I took her to the doctor on Wednesday morning and she had the start of an ear infection (caught early though, yay!) and a very bad cold.  By that day, I realized she had given it to me.  By Thursday, I was msierable, too, and Karina was only a little better.  Fortunately, Bill was home from Chicago by that time, and I slept late all weekend.  Finally today I felt better.  I've been monitoring myself to make sure it's not going into bronchitis (which I used to get kind of a lot) but so far, so good.  Karina's doing much better, but still has the stuffy nose.  She's on antibiotics for the rest of this week and goes back next Tuesday to get her ears rechecked. 

Playgroup is great, but I'll be glad when this catch-every-germ phase is over!

30 Days of Me: Day 4: My Favorite book

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.  Hands down the best book ever written.

30 Days of Me: Day 3: My Favorite TV program

Well, my real favorite is off the air.  Alias was the all-time best show ever.  Now I just watch HGTV mostly, plus I like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.

30 Days of Me: Day 2: My Favorite Movie

Oh, I have a list.  They include, in no particular order, after the first one:

The Wedding Singer
The Burbs
The X-Men movies (yes, really)
Aladdin
The Emperor's New Groove
Anastasia
Innerspace
Avatar
Star Trek

30 Days of Me: Day 1: My Favorite Song

This is hard.  My favorite song?  It changes.  I like a lot of songs.  I love almost anything by Tom Petty.  Oh, here's one:  I really love Fleetwood Mac's version of "Landslide".  That is a wonderful song!

I also like a song called "Can't Find a Better Man" because it reminds me of my freshman year in college.  I changed some of the words to make a joke song about a guy who kept coming by our room to talk to us, but who was very, very strange.  I can't tell you the words because that would invade his privacy!

More about the Etsy shop Bloom Creations

This is the packaging that my beautiful hair clips came in!  I have never gotten anything that was packaged so cute!  I didn't want to open them.  BloomCreations on Etsy has some of the prettiest hair clips I've seen.  And when they got here, they were even prettier in person.  I mean they are so gorgeous.  I got two silky flower clips with tiny sequins and faux pearls, and another one that was done with a quilling technique.  If you are ever browsing Etsy, or if you are in the market for some little girl hair clips, I highly recommend this shop. 

I didn't get paid to say any of this.  It's just what I think and it's all my own personal opinion.  I didn't get any kind of compensation.  I just like the shop and the items I bought. 

30 Days of Me Sounds Interesting...

I saw this posted on Simply Stacie's blog and it looks kind of fun and interesting.  However, I don't do blog hops, so I'm not linking up.  I am not trying to build a huge following, because I don't do reviews and stuff, I just blog for fun.  This sounds fun so I think I will do it.  Here are the topics:
Day 1 – your favorite song
Day 2 – your favorite movie
Day 3 – your favorite television program
Day 4 – your favorite book
Day 5 – your favorite quote
Day 6 – 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 – a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 – a photo you took
Day 10 – a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 – a photo of you recently
Day 12 – something you are OCD about
Day 13 – a fictional book
Day 14 – a non-fictional book
Day 15 – your dream house
Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 – your wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 – a talent of yours
Day 20 – a hobby of yours
Day 21 – a recipe
Day 22 – a website
Day 23 – a youtube video (sorry, but you won't be getting one of these)
Day 24 – where I live
Day 25 – your day, in great detail
Day 26 – your week, in great detail
Day 27 – my worst habit
Day 28 – what’s in my handbag/purse
Day 29 – hopes,dreams, plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 – a dream for the future beyond the next year

Amazing Sight!

The other day, I was sitting at the table with Karina eating lunch, when I looked out the window, and there in my neighbor's yard across the street, sat this bird.  It was eyeing a squirrel that was hanging out on his porch, and I ran for my camera.  I followed this bird as it chased the squirrel (who did escape) from my neighbor's yard, to the fence, to my fence, to the backyard fence.  It was amazing!  Sorry the shots are blurry.  I zoomed in so you could actually see the bird, but my camera doesn't take distance shots very well.  I had to zoom so it wasn't just a camouflaged blob!

In my neighbor's yard across the street.  The squirrel scampered up this tree.  I think this was a young hawk.  He wasn't having much success with his ground-level tactics.

Now the squirrel made a run for it before the hawk left, so he beelined it into this crepe myrtle and the hawk came and sat on the fence.  Then the squirrel started across the street.

And the hawk took off after him again.

He landed on the fence between my yard and the neighbor's.  My fence is the dark brown one.

On the fence looking for the squirrel.

 He flew to the back corner of the yard where the three fences meet.

 Then he just sat there for a while, thinking.

He kept hopping from one fence to the other, around and around the pole.  He did not catch the squirrel, so I guess he was trying to figure out a new scheme!  It was really awesome to see him so close, though!

Sleepy Girl

Karina has been sick and she slept in my bed this morning.  I got this shot of her and had to share.  Sorry it's so dark; I didn't want to wake her.

That is her little Lambkin there she's snuggling with.

Etsy Shop

Here's a great Etsy shop for unique hair accessories for little girls.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloomCreations

Some really beautiful things there.


She ships fast too and has good customer service.  I bought a couple clips today and they have already shipped!

My Personal Therapy and Venting Session

I think I've posted a little about my friend Danise who has been having some serious health problems since being rear-ended over two years ago.  She has been getting worse instead of better, with one thing after another going wrong.  From constant excruciating pain, to numbness, weight loss which was later determined to be caused by Celiac's disease--the disease, which runs in her family, was triggered by the stress she's been under--to the most recent issue, loss of vision.

She went to a neuro-opthalmologist and he did brain surgery last week to try to get her brain and eyes to communicate more effectively.  They knew it was going to be a difficult surgery, but didn't know how long her recovery was going to be.  I have been calling her every day and leaving her messages because I knew she couldn't call or talk to me yet.  Today, she called me and I was finally able to talk to her.  She said the phone happened to be right next to her, and just called the last person who called, and it happened to be me, luckily.  What does she tell me?  Things are getting worse still. She said it didn't go as planned (shocker), she's having trouble talking (her hubby tells her she makes no sense, gibberish half the time, when she thinks she's making sense she's not), she is still having trouble seeing, and she's been walking into things because she doesn't see what's really there. 

It is a giant mess.  I am tired of the bad news, I want my friend back to normal.  I want her to be healthy and happy and not in pain.  I want her to be able to see her kids grow up.  I am so frustrated.  I keep hoping and hoping, that something--anything--will finally go right, but no.  Everything just keeps getting worse and worse.  It is so ridiculous.  She is so discouraged and so depressed, (which is understandable) and I do what I can to be strong and support her, but I'm hurting too because I can't make her better.

The other thing that's going on is with my mom.  Her best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer a while back (I can't remember how long ago) and now it's in her bones.  Mom said they're just "maintaining".  So I guess it means things are very bad and they are essentially trying to keep her alive as long as possible.  Mom and I went to her oldest daughter's wedding this weekend.  I haven't seen her in so long, but she looked pretty good.  I think my mom's worried that she'll die soon.  It's scary.  My mom is such an introvert and has a very small group of friends (kind of like me).  So here's my mom, with her best friend trying to live, and mine trying to live well, and it all just sucks.

I had to do this post for myself.  I just needed to see it all in writing and have a little personal therapy session.  I really miss Danise (the healthy one).

Go right now (or as soon as possible) and call your best friend and tell her (or him) that you love her (or him) because you might need her (or him) someday or vice versa.  I never knew that I would spend so many years of my friendship being Danise's support system, and I'm not sorry--I just wish I didn't have to because I wish she was healthy. I miss talking to her about other things besides whether or not she's in pain today, or what the latest news from the doctor is, or what's going wrong now.  I just want to be able to talk to her about normal stuff without this bad, stupid crap hanging over us all the time.