First let me say this: THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED POST. I'm just going to express my personal opinion about shopping at JCPenney. Others may have different opinions. I did not get reimbursed or compensated in any way, shape, or form to say any of this stuff. These are just my own thoughts. I don't do sponsored posts on this blog. I don't have the time or energy it takes to handle that kind of undertaking. People who write blogs like that work their tails off, and I am way too lazy! I am simply mentioning the name of the store because I like it and I think they deserve to be recognized for being a store I like.
Second, I didn't upload my pictures. Sorry. But I am including some links to the JCP site where you can see some of the dresses I'm talking about.
Okay, so you might remember, those of you who read this regularly (well, as regularly as you can considering how "frequently" I post, ha ha!), that a while back I got a really nice dress at Penney's. It was navy with pink polka dots and I still love it. You might also know that I get all the girls' professional portraits done at the Penney's studio and they are awesome.
I was recently shopping for a new dress for Easter. Easter is one of those times when I just really, really want a new dress. I got a coupon in the mail from Penney's for $10 off a $25 purchase. They used to do these and then did away with coupons and sales, but that didn't work well so they're back. If you have seen or heard anything about it, you may know that JCPenney did not have a great year. But I think they're a good store, still, and worth saving. (Example of my opinion)
I went to the store and shopped for a little bit. They must have just put out all their spring dresses because there was a HUGE section of nothing but gorgeous dresses. I looked at every single one of them. Lace is really in this year and I could have bought 10 different lace dresses and been a happy camper! I ended up buying one that's got navy stripes under a cream lace, with a large ruffle at the bottom. It's sleeveless, so I wore it with a little cardigan thingy I got at Ross's. I had a coupon for $10 off $25, plus the remains of 2 gift cards from Christmas, so the dress cost basically nothing.
Well, as much as I like that dress, it just didn't seem "Eastery" enough to me. So I kept looking and bought a dress one day at a women's consignment shop that sells high-end clothes. It's a pretty dress, but I really wasn't thrilled with it. I just needed something, and nothing was materializing. So, since I wasn't so happy with the dress (for Easter), I decided today to head back to JCPenney after dropping off Karina at my mom's for a sleepover. Elena was in a good mood so she was fairly cooperative. They had definitely sold a bunch of dresses but there were still tons there. I was, of course, instantly drawn to all the lace ones, but I really didn't want to get another one (even though really I did want another one if that makes any sense at all), because I just wore the first lace one last Sunday, for Palm Sunday. I was a reader, so it's not like people didn't notice me in it. I just think it would be weird to show up to church in two new lace dresses two Sundays in a row. So, I continued looking and tried on a few dresses. I found one I really liked, but it didn't look good on me. Then I found another that was really pretty, with a white background and bright flowers all over. It's a jersey fabric, which I have to be careful with because sometimes it's forgiving and other times not. But this was a winner. I debated, after seeing this really pretty skirt, but when I tried it on, it looked awful on me and made my hips look even bigger than they are, so the dress was it. It was regular priced $55, on sale 20% off, and I had my $10 coupon plus about $10 left on my gift card. Score one $55 dress for $25! Now that's a deal I can handle.
This dress is by the same brand as the navy dress was, too, by the way, something called American Living. Oh, and today when I was in the store they had put out all their prom dresses, or at least some of them, and some of them are sooooo pretty! I had the ugliest prom dresses because fashions changed and everything was just hideous by the time I went. Blech. Now things are pretty again. Go figure! Anyway, they have them, not that I need one but some of you might know some teenagers who do need a dress, and I thought they were pretty. Of course, not all the dresses were Eastery dresses. I saw lots of different styles, colors, materials, etc. (The black one I linked to there was one I tried on that Karina picked out; it looked good on me, but it wasn't nearly Eastery or churchy enough for what I wanted so I didn't get it. But it did look good on me. The purple print one I looooved in person, but again, not what I was looking for.) And really, it was a great selection. Sometimes it's not a good selection and sometimes I think, have I finished the women's clothes section already? But not the dresses, not the last two times I've been in there. LOTS to choose from. And, at least in my store, there were lots of sizes for each dress, too. I didn't have any trouble finding my size in the ones I tried on. And my understanding is that it's a fairly common size.
I hope JCPenney doesn't go out of business. Not only do I like shopping there for clothes and things, but where will I get the girls' pictures done? Where else can I get $4 portrait sheets, any pose, any time, with a really, really small portrait club membership (I think I paid $20 for 2 years, and it waives ALL sitting fees, which are normally $9.99 per person, so I could take my entire family for pictures and there would be no sitting fees at all. That's $40 right there!)? I love the girls who do their pictures, too. They are both awesome. So if you are shopping for something one day, and you happen to pass by a Penney's, or know of one, think about maybe, if you feel like it, going in. You might be surprised. I always see pretty stuff in there. I've gotten purses, shoes, kids' clothes, kitchen stuff, and lots of clothes and dresses there. When I lived in Florida years ago it was about the only decent store in the town where I lived. I got a bunch of super cute dresses there for really cheap to go on a cruise with Bill before we got married. I don't know about markets and business and stuff so I don't pretend to know why they had such a bad year. But it's a store I like and I just thought I'd share my very good experiences there with you.
And finally, I would like to reiterate that I did not get paid, asked, thanked, compensated, or anything else for writing this post. I chose to do it of my own free will, simply because I like my dresses. :-)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
One of the strangest dreams in a long time
The other night I had a horrible dream. Not the kind where you wake up scared, the kind where you wake up and can't stop thinking about the dream because it was so disturbing. I'm going to try to share it here.
First, some information. I start remembering the dream partway through. I know there was more before the point where I can remember, but that part is lost to me. Second, this is just something I dreamed. It's not a commentary on anything. Third, one of the weirdest things was how, just a little way into the dream, I am not in it anymore, but I'm more like one of the other characters in it instead. All but one of the people in the dream are completely imagined. The real person disappears from the dream about the same time I do.
I start remembering the dream at the point where I am at what seems to be a community pool, but it's run by the military or something. There's a military guy in the place of the lifeguard and everyone has to listen to him. He's going to make everyone get out soon, so I suggest to the one person in the dream that isn't made up that he should jump in and swim now while he still has a chance. Then suddenly everyone has to get out of the pool, and the dream abruptly switches over to a new scene of some airmen dropping out of planes. They have these huge metal globe things with them, floating directly above their heads, and one of the airmen (a woman actually) ends up getting her globe thing blown up by what I assume is an enemy. She begins plummeting through the sky past 'me' (I'm not me anymore, I'm now looking through this made up person's eyes now) and my character says something supportive to her, but I can't remember what it was. Clearly she's a goner, but 'I' say something encouraging as she falls past me with a big brave smile on her face. The rest of us can't do a thing to save her. All we can do is watch her fall. I think someone else falls, too, but that is the point where I woke up.
I know that dreams don't come across very well when we try to retell them. So I know this isn't creating quite the effect for you as it did for me, but I still just had to share it. It was so weird, and I just couldn't get that woman's face out of my mind. There was more to the pool part, too, but as soon as I started typing this, parts of the dream started to disappear from my memory. Isn't it strange how dreams do that? The harder you try to hold on to them, the faster they slip away.
Well, I do feel a little better for sharing it. Do you guys have bothersome dreams like this? How do you get back to sleep after they wake you up? This was nowhere near the worst dream I've ever had, but it was just creepy. No, not creepy. Disturbing. I keep using that word, but it's the best to describe the feeling I got.
Hope all your dreams are happy ones!
First, some information. I start remembering the dream partway through. I know there was more before the point where I can remember, but that part is lost to me. Second, this is just something I dreamed. It's not a commentary on anything. Third, one of the weirdest things was how, just a little way into the dream, I am not in it anymore, but I'm more like one of the other characters in it instead. All but one of the people in the dream are completely imagined. The real person disappears from the dream about the same time I do.
I start remembering the dream at the point where I am at what seems to be a community pool, but it's run by the military or something. There's a military guy in the place of the lifeguard and everyone has to listen to him. He's going to make everyone get out soon, so I suggest to the one person in the dream that isn't made up that he should jump in and swim now while he still has a chance. Then suddenly everyone has to get out of the pool, and the dream abruptly switches over to a new scene of some airmen dropping out of planes. They have these huge metal globe things with them, floating directly above their heads, and one of the airmen (a woman actually) ends up getting her globe thing blown up by what I assume is an enemy. She begins plummeting through the sky past 'me' (I'm not me anymore, I'm now looking through this made up person's eyes now) and my character says something supportive to her, but I can't remember what it was. Clearly she's a goner, but 'I' say something encouraging as she falls past me with a big brave smile on her face. The rest of us can't do a thing to save her. All we can do is watch her fall. I think someone else falls, too, but that is the point where I woke up.
I know that dreams don't come across very well when we try to retell them. So I know this isn't creating quite the effect for you as it did for me, but I still just had to share it. It was so weird, and I just couldn't get that woman's face out of my mind. There was more to the pool part, too, but as soon as I started typing this, parts of the dream started to disappear from my memory. Isn't it strange how dreams do that? The harder you try to hold on to them, the faster they slip away.
Well, I do feel a little better for sharing it. Do you guys have bothersome dreams like this? How do you get back to sleep after they wake you up? This was nowhere near the worst dream I've ever had, but it was just creepy. No, not creepy. Disturbing. I keep using that word, but it's the best to describe the feeling I got.
Hope all your dreams are happy ones!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Learning new words (nothing bad)
Karina picks up new words from everywhere. Even TV shows. She's always learning about stuff on Sesame Street or one of her other favorite PBS Kids shows (No this is not a plug for them. I just like that they don't have commercials and the shows are nice). Anyway lately she has been very interested in the new My Little Pony show. My mom gave her the pony wedding movie for Valentine's Day, and ever since then, she's been asking to watch the shows on DVR and to watch the movie. She really loves it. And I admit, I don't mind that she loves it. I grew up playing with My Little Ponies myself, and I can remember several occasions when I got one as a gift. I loved them so much, they're that memorable. Anyway, Karina will watch the same episodes over and over. Her favorite is an episode where the main pony, a purple one, changes from a unicorn to what they call an "alicorn" which is what, as a kid, I just called a unicorn-pegasus. Anyway, when this happens she becomes a princess and the other ponies sing this nice little song as she is introduced to the country as Princess Twilight Sparkle. "Behold, behold, the Princess Twilight Sparkle". Yes. I have seen this show quite a few times and I often memorize words to songs. I still remember words to some of the shows I watched as a kid, such as (part of) the Transformers cartoon theme song. (Don't believe me? Scroll down.)(NO, I didn't look it up on Lyrics.com or anywhere else like that, either.)
Anyway I digress.
So the other day, Karina was making some things in the craft room with me. She calls coat hangers "hookers". That alone is hysterical. She was making "hookers" for whatever reason and she came over to me as I was reading email. She said, "Mommy, look. Behold, it's a hooker onner."
Behold.
She has used it more since then, too. It cracks me up.
Okay, here you go. The Transformers theme song, partly, by memory, and I hope it's not too wrong.
"Transformers, more than meets the eye. Autobots wage the battle to destroy the evil forces of....the Decepticons. Transformers, robots in disguise..." and that's all I can remember. But still, for a show I didn't actually watch, to remember all of that. That's just weird.
And let me just reiterate that nobody paid me or anything to say nice things about PBS or My Little Ponies. Everything in my blog is my opinion unless I tell you all otherwise. I'm nice like that.
Anyway I digress.
So the other day, Karina was making some things in the craft room with me. She calls coat hangers "hookers". That alone is hysterical. She was making "hookers" for whatever reason and she came over to me as I was reading email. She said, "Mommy, look. Behold, it's a hooker onner."
Behold.
She has used it more since then, too. It cracks me up.
Okay, here you go. The Transformers theme song, partly, by memory, and I hope it's not too wrong.
"Transformers, more than meets the eye. Autobots wage the battle to destroy the evil forces of....the Decepticons. Transformers, robots in disguise..." and that's all I can remember. But still, for a show I didn't actually watch, to remember all of that. That's just weird.
And let me just reiterate that nobody paid me or anything to say nice things about PBS or My Little Ponies. Everything in my blog is my opinion unless I tell you all otherwise. I'm nice like that.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Pictures
Hi there, here are a few pictures from recent things going on. First, these are the baby hats I was making obsessively recently (and I found out my relative might be VERY close to getting a baby! Like maybe this month!!!!) and a little blanket that isn't finished. It needs some kind of border but since I already sewed the edges I'm not sure how I'll go about that. And then I threw in two of the girls. For some reason, the photos never upload in the order I put them. Oh well. You're all smart out there. :-) You can tell the difference between my sewing projects and my children, ha ha! Have a great week everyone!
Baby hats! I want to do something with the two plain pink ones. They look boring next to the others. And yes, I know the stripes are off. I couldn't help it. I made it from a onesie and there wasn't much material to work with. Then I sewed the little heart on. It was at the top of the onesie where the stain was, so I just cut it out and sewed it on to the non-stained part that made the hat. I did not sew on the frog. The blue and greenish hat was the bottom of a shirt and had the ruffle already on it. I think it turned out cute! And I made the yellow one a little bigger because I realized if these are really baby sized, and the baby isn't super little, she won't be able to wear any of them! Although to me, they are still special since they're made with love. Anyway, hopefully there will be some news soon. So exciting. The relative called me the other day and I almost had a meltdown thinking it was really big news, but it wasn't. Small news, they're close, really close, but mostly she had a question about something on Facebook.
I just love this devious grin. She's always up to something. Sweet little turkey pie.
Check out Karina's little friends, the ponies. She's really (REALLY) into My Little Ponies right now and she just loves these tiny ones that come in little bags where you can't tell what you're getting. My mom's been keeping her stocked with them, and actually these two, plus one other that isn't in the photo, came in a special set. That's Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor, and they are brother and sister. There is also Princess Cadance, who is married to Shining Armor. I think she's at the other end of the sawhorse. (My dad's sawhorses...he hasn't been able to do much on the playhouse recently. Between weather and his wife's health, he just hasn't done much. Hopefully when it warms up and we have some nicer days he can start coming by again. It's so close to being done, I hope he can get to it).
And then here's the blanket. That's all material from old baby clothes, except the cherries one. That came from some old pjs of mine that don't fit. But it's still cute. And that is not a dog face peeking out, it's the hinge on my sewing table. It just looks funny to me, now that I'm looking at it! The blanket is just backed in flannel and I haven't quilted it at all yet. In fact you can still see the pins. Those are there so I can topstitch around the outside (that just means stitch on top of all the fabric to make a nice smooth edge. The quilting part is where you sew all over the blanket and make designs and stuff. I don't do fancy. I sew along the squares. Yep, that's me. Simple. And I don't do fancy designs either. Just squares, or in this case rectangles, because a few of the onesies didn't have enough fabric for my square size.
Well there you go! All caught up. Sort of. We've all been sick around here, with one thing or another. We have literally been to the pediatrician every 2 weeks since January 16th, plus an extra visit when Karina got the flu last week. We go back this Wednesday for Elena's ear recheck, and I'm going to have him check Karina's again, too, because she can't seem to hear me again, and last time she had an ear infection in both ears when that happened.
Well there you go! All caught up. Sort of. We've all been sick around here, with one thing or another. We have literally been to the pediatrician every 2 weeks since January 16th, plus an extra visit when Karina got the flu last week. We go back this Wednesday for Elena's ear recheck, and I'm going to have him check Karina's again, too, because she can't seem to hear me again, and last time she had an ear infection in both ears when that happened.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
How do I apologize?
I need to apologize to someone for saying (writing) something wrong, but I don't have any way to contact this person, so I'm putting it here. (If it's you, I think you'll know.) I wrote something in response to something, having my heart in the right place but my words not so much. Fortunately, the person did not publish it, and for that I am thankful.
I didn't think it through carefully enough. That was a mistake. I was writing with my emotions and not thinking about how the comment would come across. I just want to say that I'm sorry if it hurt you or made things harder for you. That was never my intention and I have wished that I could email you to say it more personally. I hope that things are all right and that you are doing okay. I hope that you understand what my intentions were (although we all know where that road goes. Right, the one paved with those good intentions?) and that I did not mean to sound callous or to be rude in any way.
To all of you, I am certainly not perfect and I know I mess up sometimes. I try to be a nice person as much as I can and I know in my personal life I fail miserably sometimes! It's hard to admit I did something wrong, and harder when I can't say it right to the person who needs to hear it. But to me, it's even worse sitting around thinking about the thing I messed up, even when it wasn't intentional. So as unpleasant as it is to apologize publicly (sort of) and admit that I made a mistake (because I HATE making mistakes), I know that this is the right thing. And no, not just so I will feel better, because to be honest, I won't, and that's okay. Because it's not about my feelings right now.
So again, I am so sorry I messed up.
I didn't think it through carefully enough. That was a mistake. I was writing with my emotions and not thinking about how the comment would come across. I just want to say that I'm sorry if it hurt you or made things harder for you. That was never my intention and I have wished that I could email you to say it more personally. I hope that things are all right and that you are doing okay. I hope that you understand what my intentions were (although we all know where that road goes. Right, the one paved with those good intentions?) and that I did not mean to sound callous or to be rude in any way.
To all of you, I am certainly not perfect and I know I mess up sometimes. I try to be a nice person as much as I can and I know in my personal life I fail miserably sometimes! It's hard to admit I did something wrong, and harder when I can't say it right to the person who needs to hear it. But to me, it's even worse sitting around thinking about the thing I messed up, even when it wasn't intentional. So as unpleasant as it is to apologize publicly (sort of) and admit that I made a mistake (because I HATE making mistakes), I know that this is the right thing. And no, not just so I will feel better, because to be honest, I won't, and that's okay. Because it's not about my feelings right now.
So again, I am so sorry I messed up.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Making Baby Things (Not for Me)
Someone in my family is adopting a baby girl this year, and it's all I can do to contain myself. I suddenly realized the other day that I can start getting baby gifts together, as long as they aren't sized or too specific. They know the baby will be a girl, and I believe she will be under 18 months old. But other than that, at this time, that's all we know.
So I've been obsessed with making these little knit baby caps and hats. I found a tutorial a while back at Make It and Love It and I've wanted to use it (and if you like to sew, then you need to check out this lady's blog! It's amazing!). Then a couple weekends ago, I was going on a weekend retreat with my youth group and didn't have a hat. So I made one really quickly out of an old, too-small fleece sweatshirt I was going to just give away. I felt kind of bad about cutting it up, but I really needed a hat! It was going to be highs in the 20s! Anyway, now I've been making little hats for babies. It's so much fun and it's so stinking easy! You just cut out a hat shape and sew the two pieces together! And I learned how to use a walking foot on my sewing machine! How cool is that? (I didn't even know my machine had one til yesterday!) A walking foot is basically just a different presser foot (the part that feeds the fabric through on top) with extra parts that help feed fabric through. Some fabrics are hard to feed and projects end up uneven, so this foot helps pull the top fabric through at the same speed as the bottom fabric. Go read Ashley's blog to learn more, I'm not good at explaining sewing stuff, plus she has cool pictures!
I am also cutting up some onesies that were stained and I wasn't sure what to do with. I couldn't consign them, couldn't keep all of them (I have allowed myself one bin per child and Karina's is almost full already, yikes!), and so I was just going to donate them. Then, when I was looking at them to make hats, and realized there's no good straight edge on onesies to use to make the hat, I thought of a baby blanket. So I am also making two baby blankets, one for my family member and one for me! Some of the onesies were ones I liked but not enough to keep, so I'm glad they will now have another use. And I'll have something cute to remember those baby days.
Pictures will be forthcoming. Eventually. Don't hold your breaths or anything, you know I'm slow. :-)
Have a great week!
So I've been obsessed with making these little knit baby caps and hats. I found a tutorial a while back at Make It and Love It and I've wanted to use it (and if you like to sew, then you need to check out this lady's blog! It's amazing!). Then a couple weekends ago, I was going on a weekend retreat with my youth group and didn't have a hat. So I made one really quickly out of an old, too-small fleece sweatshirt I was going to just give away. I felt kind of bad about cutting it up, but I really needed a hat! It was going to be highs in the 20s! Anyway, now I've been making little hats for babies. It's so much fun and it's so stinking easy! You just cut out a hat shape and sew the two pieces together! And I learned how to use a walking foot on my sewing machine! How cool is that? (I didn't even know my machine had one til yesterday!) A walking foot is basically just a different presser foot (the part that feeds the fabric through on top) with extra parts that help feed fabric through. Some fabrics are hard to feed and projects end up uneven, so this foot helps pull the top fabric through at the same speed as the bottom fabric. Go read Ashley's blog to learn more, I'm not good at explaining sewing stuff, plus she has cool pictures!
I am also cutting up some onesies that were stained and I wasn't sure what to do with. I couldn't consign them, couldn't keep all of them (I have allowed myself one bin per child and Karina's is almost full already, yikes!), and so I was just going to donate them. Then, when I was looking at them to make hats, and realized there's no good straight edge on onesies to use to make the hat, I thought of a baby blanket. So I am also making two baby blankets, one for my family member and one for me! Some of the onesies were ones I liked but not enough to keep, so I'm glad they will now have another use. And I'll have something cute to remember those baby days.
Pictures will be forthcoming. Eventually. Don't hold your breaths or anything, you know I'm slow. :-)
Have a great week!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Blog Candy at Andora Stamping Studio
If any of you out there are card makers or scrapbookers, check out Ginger's blog at Andora Stamping Studio. She's giving away some blog candy that's really cute and just in time for spring. Here's the link:
http://andorastamping.blogspot.com/2013/02/spring-countdown-blog-candy-february-17.html
http://andorastamping.blogspot.com/2013/02/spring-countdown-blog-candy-february-17.html
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Party, Puzzle, and My Drama Queen
Just thought I'd update since I never do that anymore. Karina went to her little friend's birthday party today and had a wonderful time. The theme was Minnie Mouse. The little girl's mom made these Minnie ears out of felt, and then she found the bows on clearance after Christmas and she hot glued them on. Aren't they just perfect?
Cupcake time!
But here is my sweetie happy!
Hope everyone is having a good February!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Happy Birthday, Elena!
Holy cow, is it January 15th already? No, no, no, it can't be! My little baby baby is one year old today. I can't believe that it was a year ago that she was born. I know, everyone says that. I say it every year on Karina's birthday, too. She's four now, that is so unbelievable. But Elena poor thing is getting shafted on her birthday. Karina had a whole party, with my mom, grandmother, dad, stepmom, and brother all here for it. She got tons of presents and a whole afternoon devoted to her. Because of course, we never devoted whole afternoons to her, ha ha. Elena is getting cake at my mom's house. She's getting presents, but not as many because we have so many hand-me-downs. She's getting cake, that's the same, but the whole party atmosphere won't be there. I feel bad for her when she's older and I have to tell her about how her first birthday party was so dull compared to Karina's.
But little Elena, don't you worry. We got off to a rocky start, you and I, but I adore you. You have turned into the happiest, funniest, silliest little girl. You are amazingly stubborn like your mommy. I mean daddy. But you eat, thank goodness! You eat food, almost anything I put in front of you. You laugh, you give kisses and you wave. You say, "Hi!" all the time. You are adorable. And I do simply adore you.
I know I haven't posted like I did and I haven't shared as much of Elena's life, but that's just because I don't have the time, and it's not a priority (sorry!). Doing stuff with the girls is my main focus, and when I have time I sit and write something.
Look at that girl, she's a nut. The one with the toy frying pan, the last photo, I have to tell you I tried to get a shot of her with it on her head. She kept putting it on her head, and of course it would fall off behind her. So she would reach around and grab it and put it back on her head, laughing the whole time. But she stopped when I got my camera out (of course) and that was the best I got. The first two are from one day when Karina came home from preschool with reindeer antlers and a Rudolph nose. It was so cute. She loves those antlers. She wears them around the house sometimes still. She tried putting them on Elena, but she doesn't like having stuff on her head. Oh, and she doesn't like having her feet messed with either. Karina never minded it, as a baby or even now, but Elena doesn't like it. She'll yank her foot away if you try to grab it or touch it. Funny how different they can be.
I have a four year old and a one year old. I am so lucky, I can't even put it in words. I am thankful beyond belief for these two sweet things.
Happy Birthday, little Elena!
Hey people please don't steal my photos, okay? Thanks.
But little Elena, don't you worry. We got off to a rocky start, you and I, but I adore you. You have turned into the happiest, funniest, silliest little girl. You are amazingly stubborn like your mommy. I mean daddy. But you eat, thank goodness! You eat food, almost anything I put in front of you. You laugh, you give kisses and you wave. You say, "Hi!" all the time. You are adorable. And I do simply adore you.
Look at that girl, she's a nut. The one with the toy frying pan, the last photo, I have to tell you I tried to get a shot of her with it on her head. She kept putting it on her head, and of course it would fall off behind her. So she would reach around and grab it and put it back on her head, laughing the whole time. But she stopped when I got my camera out (of course) and that was the best I got. The first two are from one day when Karina came home from preschool with reindeer antlers and a Rudolph nose. It was so cute. She loves those antlers. She wears them around the house sometimes still. She tried putting them on Elena, but she doesn't like having stuff on her head. Oh, and she doesn't like having her feet messed with either. Karina never minded it, as a baby or even now, but Elena doesn't like it. She'll yank her foot away if you try to grab it or touch it. Funny how different they can be.
I have a four year old and a one year old. I am so lucky, I can't even put it in words. I am thankful beyond belief for these two sweet things.
Happy Birthday, little Elena!
Hey people please don't steal my photos, okay? Thanks.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Something odd on planet Earth...I cooked food
Yes. I did. I haven't actually cooked food, from scratch or close to it, in years. Really. I hate cooking. I hate it so much that I never do it. I kept deluding myself for years, telling myself first, that once I was married, I would want to cook more. Ha. Then I thought that once I had kids, I would want so much for them to be healthy and eat good food, that I would be willing to suffer cooking for them. Well. Not so much. I really HATE cooking. It took me about 25 years to figure out why. It's because I also hate most food. I am a really picky eater, and when I say picky, I really mean it. Here are some examples of food I do not like: hamburgers, steak, pizza with toppings, sauce on my spaghetti (unless the sauce has mushrooms in it, but usually I don't like mushrooms), all nuts, spicy food, less spicy food, food with flavor....Okay I'm starting to get sarcastic again. It's so easy. There is just so much I don't like. According to my mom, I have always been this way, ever since I was a baby and refused to eat peas (which I do actually like now).
Anyway, back to the whole cooking thing. I don't know what came over me. I just went into the kitchen to heat up this macaroni and cheese that my grandmother had made and I'd forgotten about in our fridge til Bill mentioned it. So I thought I'd see if it was salvageable (it was, very deliciously so). While I was in there, the girls were playing in the living room and they were actually playing together, instead of Karina fussing at Elena, "No, Boo boo, no!". Yes, she has nicknamed her. I hate it. So while they were playing, I didn't want to go back in there and disrupt it, so I started looking at the second cookbook from Jessica Seinfeld. I have her first one and I have made a bunch of recipes from it, way back years ago when I last cooked, when Karina was probably one or two. Mom had given me the second book, and I thought I remembered most of the stuff in it was harder, or took longer to make. Well, while I was browsing through this one, I saw this recipe and thought, I could totally do this now. It was 4pm. Sure, I could make lasagna noodles. I have leftover chicken I can use. We have cheese. We have all this stuff. I'll make this.
What the heck was I thinking????
So, I started with the water boiling and the lasagna noodles cooking. Easy enough, that's one thing I can do, cook noodles. Then I got out the leftover chicken (left over from my favorite Stouffer's microwave meal, Rigatoni with white meat chicken in a basil pesto sauce. I just never eat the chicken.) and cheese. I don't like ricotta, which the recipe called for, so I grated some Colby Jack and threw in a bunch of shredded cheddar too. We had parmesan and the garlic salt and I put that in. Oh and I almost forgot, the cauliflower puree. I had some of that frozen. Don't ask. So, mix mix, and start rolling it up in the lasagna noodles. It was supposed to be chicken cannelloni or something along those lines. You had to roll it up in the lasagna noodles. That was hard. The noodles were slippery and uncooperative. Into a pan, oven was already hot from the macaroni I was reheating, and then I had to put some tomato sauce around the noodle things. We didn't have any, except my favorite kind with mushrooms in it, which I was not wasting on a "maybe" meal. But, randomly, we had two cans of tomatoes. So I pureed them in the food processor and voila. Then I looked at how long it had to cook. 25-30 minutes. By this time it was 5pm. The recipe said "Quick!" and I think it said it would be done in about 45 minutes. Well it was well past that. See why I don't cook? Anyway, stuck it in the oven, and sat down to eat some macaroni. Meanwhile, Karina and Elena have moved into the kitchen and Elena's been clawing at my legs for most of the hour I was working, while Karina serenaded me with giggly stories. They were both hungry so I warmed up some plain noodles for Elena and then some pancakes for Karina. Finally the darn food was done. It actually tasted pretty good, and Karina asked to try it (yay!) and then she said SHE LIKED IT.
Total shock.
My pickier than me kid liked it.
She said it tasted like her favorite noodles (Stouffer's rigatoni with white meat chicken in a basil pesto sauce). I told her that was probably because of the chicken I had put in there. She even asked for MORE.
I should also mention that Bill worked late tonight and I figured he'd be home around 6, which is what he had told me, so I was all happy that he'd come home and have food waiting. Well by 630 I finally dragged the girls upstairs so I could shower and he finally came home around 645.
It was crazy. I'm exhausted! I seriously hate cooking. I'm glad it turned out, but I won't be cooking again for a while. Although I was thinking about trying to cook at least once a week, maybe not always something so difficult though. But I think I should at least try. We'll see. First I have to recover from tonight.
Now all my disclaimers. I'm not affiliated with any companies mentioned in this post. None of them paid me to say anything nice about them, these are just my honest opinions. I really DO love the Stouffer's Rigatoni with white meat chicken in a basil pesto sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm. Yummy. And I do really like Jessica Seinfeld's two cookbooks. I've made a bunch of the recipes from the first one (I think it's called "Deceptively Delicious". I have no idea what the second one is called and since I'm in bed with my feet up, I am not going down to the kitchen to look), including beet pancakes, which were really good and didn't taste like beets at all, they just turned pink. But again, didn't get paid or asked to say any of that. It's just what I think. Others may have different opinions.
Anyway, back to the whole cooking thing. I don't know what came over me. I just went into the kitchen to heat up this macaroni and cheese that my grandmother had made and I'd forgotten about in our fridge til Bill mentioned it. So I thought I'd see if it was salvageable (it was, very deliciously so). While I was in there, the girls were playing in the living room and they were actually playing together, instead of Karina fussing at Elena, "No, Boo boo, no!". Yes, she has nicknamed her. I hate it. So while they were playing, I didn't want to go back in there and disrupt it, so I started looking at the second cookbook from Jessica Seinfeld. I have her first one and I have made a bunch of recipes from it, way back years ago when I last cooked, when Karina was probably one or two. Mom had given me the second book, and I thought I remembered most of the stuff in it was harder, or took longer to make. Well, while I was browsing through this one, I saw this recipe and thought, I could totally do this now. It was 4pm. Sure, I could make lasagna noodles. I have leftover chicken I can use. We have cheese. We have all this stuff. I'll make this.
What the heck was I thinking????
So, I started with the water boiling and the lasagna noodles cooking. Easy enough, that's one thing I can do, cook noodles. Then I got out the leftover chicken (left over from my favorite Stouffer's microwave meal, Rigatoni with white meat chicken in a basil pesto sauce. I just never eat the chicken.) and cheese. I don't like ricotta, which the recipe called for, so I grated some Colby Jack and threw in a bunch of shredded cheddar too. We had parmesan and the garlic salt and I put that in. Oh and I almost forgot, the cauliflower puree. I had some of that frozen. Don't ask. So, mix mix, and start rolling it up in the lasagna noodles. It was supposed to be chicken cannelloni or something along those lines. You had to roll it up in the lasagna noodles. That was hard. The noodles were slippery and uncooperative. Into a pan, oven was already hot from the macaroni I was reheating, and then I had to put some tomato sauce around the noodle things. We didn't have any, except my favorite kind with mushrooms in it, which I was not wasting on a "maybe" meal. But, randomly, we had two cans of tomatoes. So I pureed them in the food processor and voila. Then I looked at how long it had to cook. 25-30 minutes. By this time it was 5pm. The recipe said "Quick!" and I think it said it would be done in about 45 minutes. Well it was well past that. See why I don't cook? Anyway, stuck it in the oven, and sat down to eat some macaroni. Meanwhile, Karina and Elena have moved into the kitchen and Elena's been clawing at my legs for most of the hour I was working, while Karina serenaded me with giggly stories. They were both hungry so I warmed up some plain noodles for Elena and then some pancakes for Karina. Finally the darn food was done. It actually tasted pretty good, and Karina asked to try it (yay!) and then she said SHE LIKED IT.
Total shock.
My pickier than me kid liked it.
She said it tasted like her favorite noodles (Stouffer's rigatoni with white meat chicken in a basil pesto sauce). I told her that was probably because of the chicken I had put in there. She even asked for MORE.
I should also mention that Bill worked late tonight and I figured he'd be home around 6, which is what he had told me, so I was all happy that he'd come home and have food waiting. Well by 630 I finally dragged the girls upstairs so I could shower and he finally came home around 645.
It was crazy. I'm exhausted! I seriously hate cooking. I'm glad it turned out, but I won't be cooking again for a while. Although I was thinking about trying to cook at least once a week, maybe not always something so difficult though. But I think I should at least try. We'll see. First I have to recover from tonight.
Now all my disclaimers. I'm not affiliated with any companies mentioned in this post. None of them paid me to say anything nice about them, these are just my honest opinions. I really DO love the Stouffer's Rigatoni with white meat chicken in a basil pesto sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm. Yummy. And I do really like Jessica Seinfeld's two cookbooks. I've made a bunch of the recipes from the first one (I think it's called "Deceptively Delicious". I have no idea what the second one is called and since I'm in bed with my feet up, I am not going down to the kitchen to look), including beet pancakes, which were really good and didn't taste like beets at all, they just turned pink. But again, didn't get paid or asked to say any of that. It's just what I think. Others may have different opinions.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Random list of things to say
First of all I just noticed I hit 500 posts. Huh. Whaddyaknow.
Second, I bet none of you can guess how many blog posts I have composed in my head--from start to finish no less--and never written because I had to go do other things.
Third, I don't make New Year's Resolutions because I don't like to fail and if I don't make them, I can't fail at them, but I do usually have a few things in mind for the year that I might like to work on. That's how I always phrase it--things to 'work on'. So you see if I don't get to it or complete it, it's not a failure, it's just still in progress.
Fourth, I haven't had a full night's sleep in about a week, since Karina has gone back to waking up in the middle of the night and calling me, usually for no reason but sometimes for bad dreams. She has a very active imagination and I guess it's on overdrive with the holiday chaos.
Fifth, I watched the entire Rose Bowl Parade with Karina today while Elena napped. I did nothing else, just sat with her on the couch while she watched and played with some little dolls. It was fabulous. I sort of felt like I should have been doing something, but in the end it was good that we just sat there together. We haven't done that in a long time. I don't watch Sesame Street much with her anymore because I just can't take it. Too repetitive.
Sixth, I've been getting a few things accomplished in my new craft room. Mom gave me some storage boxes, just those photo sized ones mainly, but also some really pretty smaller boxes, and I've been having a lot of fun organizing my creative stash. The closet area is still a wreck, sewing and various other crafts aren't done, and the girls' area is a mess, but I'm happy because now, if I want to make a card, I CAN!!
Seventh, my cousin and his wife are trying to adopt a baby. They are doing an international adoption, and I can't give a lot of details because the agencies have strict policies and I don't want to jeopardize anything for them. But I can tell you that the first country they were going with was going great and then some setbacks happened and they are facing some major delays now. So instead of bringing home their baby this year, they've been told the earliest is 2015. But they decided that instead of just sitting still and waiting, they are going to go with another country (while still waiting with the first one) and they know, right now, that THIS YEAR they will bring HOME a baby girl! I just busted out crying when they said that. Finally, they will have a baby!
Eighth, a sad thing, my mom's best friend Julie has been battling pretty much every form of cancer there is and she is losing the fight. She has hospice now and the nurses have told the family that she is in transition, which basically means her body is preparing to die. It is breaking my heart on so many levels. She's my mom's best friend--they have known each other since middle or elementary school--and I know how I would feel if it was my best friend and that is a crushing thought. I know Julie myself and called her Aunt Julie my whole life. I went with Mom to her oldest daughter's wedding not that long ago. I think it was this summer in fact. Mostly though, I'm just sad for my mom.
And that's it. I didn't intend to end on a sad note, it just happened like that. Sorry! I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas or holiday season and that the New Year will bring much happiness to everyone. For me, I'm just hoping to feel like I've got some measure of control over my house again. I know I can't control most things in life, but I'd like to not walk into any room in my house and want to scream at the mess.
Oh, and one more thing. Elena seems not able to go to sleep tonight. Weird.
Well, I warned you it was random!
Second, I bet none of you can guess how many blog posts I have composed in my head--from start to finish no less--and never written because I had to go do other things.
Third, I don't make New Year's Resolutions because I don't like to fail and if I don't make them, I can't fail at them, but I do usually have a few things in mind for the year that I might like to work on. That's how I always phrase it--things to 'work on'. So you see if I don't get to it or complete it, it's not a failure, it's just still in progress.
Fourth, I haven't had a full night's sleep in about a week, since Karina has gone back to waking up in the middle of the night and calling me, usually for no reason but sometimes for bad dreams. She has a very active imagination and I guess it's on overdrive with the holiday chaos.
Fifth, I watched the entire Rose Bowl Parade with Karina today while Elena napped. I did nothing else, just sat with her on the couch while she watched and played with some little dolls. It was fabulous. I sort of felt like I should have been doing something, but in the end it was good that we just sat there together. We haven't done that in a long time. I don't watch Sesame Street much with her anymore because I just can't take it. Too repetitive.
Sixth, I've been getting a few things accomplished in my new craft room. Mom gave me some storage boxes, just those photo sized ones mainly, but also some really pretty smaller boxes, and I've been having a lot of fun organizing my creative stash. The closet area is still a wreck, sewing and various other crafts aren't done, and the girls' area is a mess, but I'm happy because now, if I want to make a card, I CAN!!
Seventh, my cousin and his wife are trying to adopt a baby. They are doing an international adoption, and I can't give a lot of details because the agencies have strict policies and I don't want to jeopardize anything for them. But I can tell you that the first country they were going with was going great and then some setbacks happened and they are facing some major delays now. So instead of bringing home their baby this year, they've been told the earliest is 2015. But they decided that instead of just sitting still and waiting, they are going to go with another country (while still waiting with the first one) and they know, right now, that THIS YEAR they will bring HOME a baby girl! I just busted out crying when they said that. Finally, they will have a baby!
Eighth, a sad thing, my mom's best friend Julie has been battling pretty much every form of cancer there is and she is losing the fight. She has hospice now and the nurses have told the family that she is in transition, which basically means her body is preparing to die. It is breaking my heart on so many levels. She's my mom's best friend--they have known each other since middle or elementary school--and I know how I would feel if it was my best friend and that is a crushing thought. I know Julie myself and called her Aunt Julie my whole life. I went with Mom to her oldest daughter's wedding not that long ago. I think it was this summer in fact. Mostly though, I'm just sad for my mom.
And that's it. I didn't intend to end on a sad note, it just happened like that. Sorry! I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas or holiday season and that the New Year will bring much happiness to everyone. For me, I'm just hoping to feel like I've got some measure of control over my house again. I know I can't control most things in life, but I'd like to not walk into any room in my house and want to scream at the mess.
Oh, and one more thing. Elena seems not able to go to sleep tonight. Weird.
Well, I warned you it was random!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Slowing Down? Maybe?
I wanted to go see lights tonight but it didn't work out. There's a neighborhood that does a bunch of lights every year and we haven't been yet. But I did get to visit a long time with my dad and his wife, which was nice. He is doing well, a bit stressed out. His wife is older and her health is not great. She falls often and last week she broke her wrist. So he's a bit stressed. He usually would come to our house on Christmas day, but it was just going to be too much for him to get her out of the house at a particular time, so we did our thing today. Except he forgot his bag of gifts....We only opened three, one for each girl and one that Karina made him. It's a plaque to go in the playhouse that she painted herself and wrote (herself) (I helped her spell though) "2012 Built by Grampa". He loved it. He gave Karina a new Cinderella doll and Elena a teddy bear. She loved the bear but then when she looked in the box later she burst into tears. I think she wanted a doll, too! Lucky for her she's getting one later! It's a ballerina Cinderella and only has a skirt that comes off and a crown (which I'll take) and the rest of her clothes are molded on, so I feel like it's pretty safe for her to have. I think she might be happy. She did like the bear though, but it was funny she just burst into tears like that. Both of them are tired. We had a big family gathering yesterday at my mom's house, with a whole lot of relatives. Elena woke up around her usual 7am and did not go to sleep til 3pm! I think today she was still exhausted from yesterday. Then we had my dad here today, tomorrow we are going to the Christmas Eve service at church where the kids help act out the nativity story (Karina has chosen to be a wise person), and then of course the next day is Christmas. And the next day is Karina's birthday. And then we have a little down time until Friday when we have yet another family gathering with some family who couldn't be here for the first one. And this is just my mom's side of my family! Aiee!
I tried hard to scale back Christmas this year, and I was doing great til I saw the tiny pile under the tree. It made me so sad, so I picked up a few small things more and now with some stuff Bill got, there are plenty of presents. Then we'll see what Santa Clause brings and it's going to be a fantastic, crazy, hectic, wonderful morning trying to keep Elena away from all of Karina's stuff, the ornaments on the tree, and then to try to get her to nap. We are going to my mom's in the afternoon Christmas day, and my brother will be there, too. We aren't going until around 3 because he works all Christmas Eve and will be sleeping in the morning, and it also allows us to give Elena, hopefully, a second (or first, depending on how the day goes) nap. Frozen pizza for dinner, and we're all set.
This year, one of Karina's friends came to church with these small toy mermaids. I don't know if the friend wasn't sharing and Karina didn't get a turn with them, or simply that this friend had them and Karina wanted some, but she has not let up about these mermaids. In fact, yesterday she drew a picture of them to send to Santa! I was going to mail it to my mom (who already knows about them because she was in church that day)(Oh, and it turns out they are just from the dollar store!), but I ran out of stamps. So I took it over and showed it to her. Well I didn't know what to do, should I be scouring the city for them (um, no) or what? My mom found something similar that she's going to give her, although I constantly worry that Karina is too spoiled. I don't want her to think that she gets everything she wants, because she can't and won't, but at the same time, she's never written to/drawn a picture for Santa for anything before. Well, I may be a bad mom, but I went out today and looked in 2 dollar stores and they didn't have them. My mom said the dolls didn't have very pretty faces, and I did remember Karina wanting ones with prettier faces. It turns out Target had some tiny Barbie dolls, about 3" tall and one was a fairy and one was a mermaid. So those are going in her stocking and they will just have to be good enough. If not, well, I guess that's when she'll learn she can't have it all.
I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I'm not ready for Christmas to be over, it just started for me! We do leave our tree up, but it's not the same after Christmas. Oh well. C'est la vie. Tomorrow I'm baking a cake or cupcakes for Karina's birthday Wednesday, because I am not baking them Christmas day. Other than that, and Christmas Eve service, I'm going to try desperately to take it easy. I have a cold on top of everything, but I'm glad it's me who's sick and not one of the girls. Last year Karina was sick Christmas day and it was awful. It took us a week to open all the presents from Christmas and her birthday! (No kidding)
I guess I was in a mood to write tonight, because this got awfully long awfully fast! I hope that each of you spends the next few days doing something wonderful. Merry Christmas to my Christmas celebrating readers, and to those of you who do not, I still wish you a happy time of year and a happy any holiday you might celebrate.
I tried hard to scale back Christmas this year, and I was doing great til I saw the tiny pile under the tree. It made me so sad, so I picked up a few small things more and now with some stuff Bill got, there are plenty of presents. Then we'll see what Santa Clause brings and it's going to be a fantastic, crazy, hectic, wonderful morning trying to keep Elena away from all of Karina's stuff, the ornaments on the tree, and then to try to get her to nap. We are going to my mom's in the afternoon Christmas day, and my brother will be there, too. We aren't going until around 3 because he works all Christmas Eve and will be sleeping in the morning, and it also allows us to give Elena, hopefully, a second (or first, depending on how the day goes) nap. Frozen pizza for dinner, and we're all set.
This year, one of Karina's friends came to church with these small toy mermaids. I don't know if the friend wasn't sharing and Karina didn't get a turn with them, or simply that this friend had them and Karina wanted some, but she has not let up about these mermaids. In fact, yesterday she drew a picture of them to send to Santa! I was going to mail it to my mom (who already knows about them because she was in church that day)(Oh, and it turns out they are just from the dollar store!), but I ran out of stamps. So I took it over and showed it to her. Well I didn't know what to do, should I be scouring the city for them (um, no) or what? My mom found something similar that she's going to give her, although I constantly worry that Karina is too spoiled. I don't want her to think that she gets everything she wants, because she can't and won't, but at the same time, she's never written to/drawn a picture for Santa for anything before. Well, I may be a bad mom, but I went out today and looked in 2 dollar stores and they didn't have them. My mom said the dolls didn't have very pretty faces, and I did remember Karina wanting ones with prettier faces. It turns out Target had some tiny Barbie dolls, about 3" tall and one was a fairy and one was a mermaid. So those are going in her stocking and they will just have to be good enough. If not, well, I guess that's when she'll learn she can't have it all.
I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I'm not ready for Christmas to be over, it just started for me! We do leave our tree up, but it's not the same after Christmas. Oh well. C'est la vie. Tomorrow I'm baking a cake or cupcakes for Karina's birthday Wednesday, because I am not baking them Christmas day. Other than that, and Christmas Eve service, I'm going to try desperately to take it easy. I have a cold on top of everything, but I'm glad it's me who's sick and not one of the girls. Last year Karina was sick Christmas day and it was awful. It took us a week to open all the presents from Christmas and her birthday! (No kidding)
I guess I was in a mood to write tonight, because this got awfully long awfully fast! I hope that each of you spends the next few days doing something wonderful. Merry Christmas to my Christmas celebrating readers, and to those of you who do not, I still wish you a happy time of year and a happy any holiday you might celebrate.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
I am behind in nearly every possible way
Learning to live with two children has been an interesting experience. I feel constantly behind in everything. I can't seem to get a grasp on anything. I get one thing accomplished, but there are 20 things still to do. My children are not neglected but a lot of other things are.
Christmas cards? Ha. People are lucky they got them at all. I used to make them by hand and even after Karina was born I would put pictures in them. This year some were last year's hand made ones from a card-making get-together and some were just cheap store-bought cards. I don't do the cute photo online ones. I really prefer to make them, but crafting? That just doesn't happen these days.
Keeping in touch with important friends? Not happening very well. Whenever I think of calling someone, I can't for some reason or other at that moment, and by the time I might be able to, I've forgotten. I can't get anything done when Elena's awake because she needs me to be monitoring her. She is in to everything and keeps trying to do whatever Karina is doing, some of which is dangerous for a baby (though not necessarily for an almost 4 year old). So I can't leave her alone for more than a minute or so, like to throw in a load of laundry or something. So friends aren't being called, written to, or even texted half the time. My former neighbor who moved voluntarily to a nursing home, I keep wanting to call him but every time I start to, it's when he's got dialysis. Then I think, it's been so long, how lame am I for letting it go? I just need to call him but I'm embarrassed now for letting it go. Sigh.
My house is a mess. Every room I enter has things that need to be cleaned, put away, or organized. My new craft room is amazing but it's still being organized and is a mess. I still can't get a lot done in there. My bedroom--don't get me started. Everything that doesn't have a place gets chucked in here "temporarily" and months later it hasn't budged. Because my body changed when I had the girls, almost every piece of clothing I own no longer fits, so I have about 5 bags full of clothes that need to be donated sitting along one wall. Been there for months. Karina's room is full of books and toys everywhere. I kind of expect that, but it is still stressful to know there are things that should be getting cleaned up in there but aren't. Elena's room is no better. When Karina was a baby, every load of diapers or clothes was carefully and neatly folded and put away. Elena's get dumped on the floor so I can reuse the laundry basket on another load. The poor baby is lucky if her diapers get stuffed into their bins. When she's awake, we're playing downstairs with Karina. When she's asleep, she's in that room. I clean the kitchen every morning when I get up, as I'm making breakfast, and throughout the day, and I do the bathrooms weekly while Bill watches the girls. They are the only rooms that remain clean, if not tidy.
Karina wants me to play with her, but if I do, Elena gets into whatever we're doing and Karina gets frustrated. Elena is trying so hard to be part of whatever Karina is doing, but she's still too little to play along very well, so I have to spend our together time pulling Elena away from makers, crayons, dolls, cars, and other things. I try to encourage Karina to play with things Elena can play with too, but there's a limit to how long she can stand to do that, and I don't think it's fair to keep making her play with babyish things. So I don't make her do it for too long. It's just hard finding a good middle ground.
Decorating the Christmas tree was a fiasco. We had to do it when Elena was napping, in chunks, and then fortunately Karina put most of the ornaments on. Then three days later the lights burned out. All of them. The whole lot. They were old incandescent bulbs from when I was single. I had been wanting to replace them for a long time with LEDs because of how cool they burn (rather than hot) so that if Karina (or Elena) touched one they would not get burned. So I did get to replace them but it meant taking everything off the tree and then putting it all back on. Poor Karina, she decorated that tree twice. Thank goodness for her help, really, because the dumb tree probably still wouldn't be decorated.
Well, at least Karina's birthday party for friends is over and went well. The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, and I'm done shopping (thanks to the time Karina's in preschool). I'm in bed with my feet up and my sweet girls are sleeping, here at home, where they belong. And that's the most important thing.
For oh, Connecticut, my heart is breaking. I simply can't bear thinking about it too closely or for too long. It is just too much pain to take in all at once.
I hope that all of you, so close to Christmas, or celebrating other special holidays or days, are giving thanks for all we have, and keeping the world in your thoughts or prayers. It's not just Connecticut that needs it. It's all of us.
Christmas cards? Ha. People are lucky they got them at all. I used to make them by hand and even after Karina was born I would put pictures in them. This year some were last year's hand made ones from a card-making get-together and some were just cheap store-bought cards. I don't do the cute photo online ones. I really prefer to make them, but crafting? That just doesn't happen these days.
Keeping in touch with important friends? Not happening very well. Whenever I think of calling someone, I can't for some reason or other at that moment, and by the time I might be able to, I've forgotten. I can't get anything done when Elena's awake because she needs me to be monitoring her. She is in to everything and keeps trying to do whatever Karina is doing, some of which is dangerous for a baby (though not necessarily for an almost 4 year old). So I can't leave her alone for more than a minute or so, like to throw in a load of laundry or something. So friends aren't being called, written to, or even texted half the time. My former neighbor who moved voluntarily to a nursing home, I keep wanting to call him but every time I start to, it's when he's got dialysis. Then I think, it's been so long, how lame am I for letting it go? I just need to call him but I'm embarrassed now for letting it go. Sigh.
My house is a mess. Every room I enter has things that need to be cleaned, put away, or organized. My new craft room is amazing but it's still being organized and is a mess. I still can't get a lot done in there. My bedroom--don't get me started. Everything that doesn't have a place gets chucked in here "temporarily" and months later it hasn't budged. Because my body changed when I had the girls, almost every piece of clothing I own no longer fits, so I have about 5 bags full of clothes that need to be donated sitting along one wall. Been there for months. Karina's room is full of books and toys everywhere. I kind of expect that, but it is still stressful to know there are things that should be getting cleaned up in there but aren't. Elena's room is no better. When Karina was a baby, every load of diapers or clothes was carefully and neatly folded and put away. Elena's get dumped on the floor so I can reuse the laundry basket on another load. The poor baby is lucky if her diapers get stuffed into their bins. When she's awake, we're playing downstairs with Karina. When she's asleep, she's in that room. I clean the kitchen every morning when I get up, as I'm making breakfast, and throughout the day, and I do the bathrooms weekly while Bill watches the girls. They are the only rooms that remain clean, if not tidy.
Karina wants me to play with her, but if I do, Elena gets into whatever we're doing and Karina gets frustrated. Elena is trying so hard to be part of whatever Karina is doing, but she's still too little to play along very well, so I have to spend our together time pulling Elena away from makers, crayons, dolls, cars, and other things. I try to encourage Karina to play with things Elena can play with too, but there's a limit to how long she can stand to do that, and I don't think it's fair to keep making her play with babyish things. So I don't make her do it for too long. It's just hard finding a good middle ground.
Decorating the Christmas tree was a fiasco. We had to do it when Elena was napping, in chunks, and then fortunately Karina put most of the ornaments on. Then three days later the lights burned out. All of them. The whole lot. They were old incandescent bulbs from when I was single. I had been wanting to replace them for a long time with LEDs because of how cool they burn (rather than hot) so that if Karina (or Elena) touched one they would not get burned. So I did get to replace them but it meant taking everything off the tree and then putting it all back on. Poor Karina, she decorated that tree twice. Thank goodness for her help, really, because the dumb tree probably still wouldn't be decorated.
Well, at least Karina's birthday party for friends is over and went well. The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, and I'm done shopping (thanks to the time Karina's in preschool). I'm in bed with my feet up and my sweet girls are sleeping, here at home, where they belong. And that's the most important thing.
For oh, Connecticut, my heart is breaking. I simply can't bear thinking about it too closely or for too long. It is just too much pain to take in all at once.
I hope that all of you, so close to Christmas, or celebrating other special holidays or days, are giving thanks for all we have, and keeping the world in your thoughts or prayers. It's not just Connecticut that needs it. It's all of us.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Holidays make me craaaazy
I love the holidays and the whole Christmas season, but now that I have not only my mom's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas for two girls, Karina's birthday the 26th and now Elena's January 15th, I'm uh, a little overwhelmed! Trying to manage two girls, preschool parties and pageant, birthday party, Christmas shopping, craft shows that are fun to go to, and the rest of normal life is pretty hectic.
I can't even remember the last time I wrote a post about anything. Anything!
Here's what we've been up to. My cousin had her baby and he is sweet and tiny. We met him on Thanksgiving when he was 3 weeks old. He still did not weigh as much as Karina did when she was first born. (She was 8lbs 8oz and he was, at 3 weeks, just under 8lbs). My cousin also looks amazing, like she never even had a baby. Meanwhile, I have yet to figure how to chuck the extra few pounds my beautiful lovely girls have left me with. :-) But it's okay, really. I don't mind. He was a sweet, if not sleepy, baby.
My uncle had some surgeries to remove a mass from his bladder, which turned out to be cancer, but he is doing just fine and doesn't even have to have any kind of radiation or chemo or anything. They just went in, whacked that crap outta there, and sent him home. He has to go back periodically to be checked, but it was, I guess you can say, a mild case. Thank goodness.
My dad has been out of town so no work on the playhouse for a while.
I went to a massive, humongous craft fair yesterday with some friends and had a great time. I wish they could widen the aisles though because every year we get stuck behind some annoying people who think it would be a good idea to stop right in the middle of the walkway and have a conversation. (Am I whiny today? I think I'm whining...) It was a great day. Breakfast at Panera and lunch at Cracker Barrel, and craft show in between with friends I hadn't seen in ages. Definitely nice. Then I left my phone in Steph's car...but she dropped it at the office of the school where she works, which is literally a few blocks from my house, so I got it today.
Tomorrow we're going to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens. That should be fun. Oh, I know what I didn't tell you yet. A boy in Karina's class got chickenpox, even though he was vaccinated. Karina has been vaccinated too. The nurse said it can happen, but it's usually a much milder case when it does happen. So I had to get my mom, dad, and grandmother to be sure they had the shingles vaccine, had to tell all my friends so they could decide about the birthday party and stuff we had planned. What a pain.
Elena is up now and she doesn't let me type but I will post this anyway so you know I'm still here!
I can't even remember the last time I wrote a post about anything. Anything!
Here's what we've been up to. My cousin had her baby and he is sweet and tiny. We met him on Thanksgiving when he was 3 weeks old. He still did not weigh as much as Karina did when she was first born. (She was 8lbs 8oz and he was, at 3 weeks, just under 8lbs). My cousin also looks amazing, like she never even had a baby. Meanwhile, I have yet to figure how to chuck the extra few pounds my beautiful lovely girls have left me with. :-) But it's okay, really. I don't mind. He was a sweet, if not sleepy, baby.
My uncle had some surgeries to remove a mass from his bladder, which turned out to be cancer, but he is doing just fine and doesn't even have to have any kind of radiation or chemo or anything. They just went in, whacked that crap outta there, and sent him home. He has to go back periodically to be checked, but it was, I guess you can say, a mild case. Thank goodness.
My dad has been out of town so no work on the playhouse for a while.
I went to a massive, humongous craft fair yesterday with some friends and had a great time. I wish they could widen the aisles though because every year we get stuck behind some annoying people who think it would be a good idea to stop right in the middle of the walkway and have a conversation. (Am I whiny today? I think I'm whining...) It was a great day. Breakfast at Panera and lunch at Cracker Barrel, and craft show in between with friends I hadn't seen in ages. Definitely nice. Then I left my phone in Steph's car...but she dropped it at the office of the school where she works, which is literally a few blocks from my house, so I got it today.
Tomorrow we're going to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens. That should be fun. Oh, I know what I didn't tell you yet. A boy in Karina's class got chickenpox, even though he was vaccinated. Karina has been vaccinated too. The nurse said it can happen, but it's usually a much milder case when it does happen. So I had to get my mom, dad, and grandmother to be sure they had the shingles vaccine, had to tell all my friends so they could decide about the birthday party and stuff we had planned. What a pain.
Elena is up now and she doesn't let me type but I will post this anyway so you know I'm still here!
Saturday, November 10, 2012
It's the most chaotic time of the year...
It's not even Thanksgiving and it feels like the holiday chaos has descended upon us already. This weekend alone I have had 5 different things going on and at least one other that I wasn't able to do. The next few weekends don't look to be much better. Plus, I realized tonight that Karina's birthday party will be coming up soon, very soon, and I have done all of big fat nothing to get ready for it! Last year we held her party at the beginning of December, to avoid the holiday time, and it worked out okay. I want to do the same this year, but I worry with the kids getting older that just coming over to play won't be enough. But I don't know what else we can do since we can't count on good weather and I don't think the playhouse will be finished by then. My dad is on vacation for a few weeks and with the hurricane I think it's set us back a bit. Not that there's a timetable or anything. I'm just eager to see the finished product!
One thing we've been working on this weekend is switching my current craft room into what is currently our guest room. The guest room is really big, and my craft room is really small, and we weren't really using the guest room once my brother moved out. It just seemed so wasteful to have all that space just sitting there while I was crammed into this little room trying to share space with Karina, who wants to craft with me. In the new room, I'll have a lot more space to sew, craft, and have my computer, PLUS there will be a whole space for the girls to have their own craft table! This will be the best part because it will mean their stuff will be in their space, and mine in my space. It means spending more time together AND crafting-wooohooo! And as Elena grows up and wants to join us there will be room for her, too. The room is so big we are even setting aside a small part of the room for Bill's bookcases full of books he rarely reads. Ha ha! He has 4 tall bookcases and 2 smaller ones, plus these two units that have some shelves and cabinets. I had to beg and plead to be given one small bookcase for my own books when we first moved in. And I can count on 3 fingers the number of times I remember him pulling out any of those books to use for anything. They're mostly work books. Anyway, he was so reluctant and resistant to the idea of giving up the "library" that I finally figured out how to let him keep his books and still get my craft room. The two units (not really bookcases, more like modular shelves with cabinets, drawers, and a few shelves) that are nicest are going in our living room, at least one bookcase is going into the future guest room/current craft room. He has a huge computer desk, too, and then the queen bed is also going into this new guest room...hopefully! I've measured several times, and I think it'll all fit. It's just going to be a little tight. Karina and I picked out paint colors, and right now we're painting walls pink. Then we'll be adding some kind of accents in navy blue, dark pink, and purple. I just haven't figured out exactly what kind of accents. But that's for later.
I hope everyone is doing well! Enjoy your weekend and hopefully this busy season won't run us all down before we can enjoy it.
One thing we've been working on this weekend is switching my current craft room into what is currently our guest room. The guest room is really big, and my craft room is really small, and we weren't really using the guest room once my brother moved out. It just seemed so wasteful to have all that space just sitting there while I was crammed into this little room trying to share space with Karina, who wants to craft with me. In the new room, I'll have a lot more space to sew, craft, and have my computer, PLUS there will be a whole space for the girls to have their own craft table! This will be the best part because it will mean their stuff will be in their space, and mine in my space. It means spending more time together AND crafting-wooohooo! And as Elena grows up and wants to join us there will be room for her, too. The room is so big we are even setting aside a small part of the room for Bill's bookcases full of books he rarely reads. Ha ha! He has 4 tall bookcases and 2 smaller ones, plus these two units that have some shelves and cabinets. I had to beg and plead to be given one small bookcase for my own books when we first moved in. And I can count on 3 fingers the number of times I remember him pulling out any of those books to use for anything. They're mostly work books. Anyway, he was so reluctant and resistant to the idea of giving up the "library" that I finally figured out how to let him keep his books and still get my craft room. The two units (not really bookcases, more like modular shelves with cabinets, drawers, and a few shelves) that are nicest are going in our living room, at least one bookcase is going into the future guest room/current craft room. He has a huge computer desk, too, and then the queen bed is also going into this new guest room...hopefully! I've measured several times, and I think it'll all fit. It's just going to be a little tight. Karina and I picked out paint colors, and right now we're painting walls pink. Then we'll be adding some kind of accents in navy blue, dark pink, and purple. I just haven't figured out exactly what kind of accents. But that's for later.
I hope everyone is doing well! Enjoy your weekend and hopefully this busy season won't run us all down before we can enjoy it.
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