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.