Highs and Lows, 12-5-2011

Man, I don't even remember when I did Highs and Lows last. I think two weeks ago? Anywho, here we go. 






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Lows

• My oldest daughter is still being a bonehead. Ended up with a conduct grade of 75 the week before Thanksgiving, just for random crap like goofing off, stealing a kid's pencil, etc. She hasn't had a perfect conduct grade all last month, it's always something. It's getting old. I don't know if she needs to be spanked more? Yelled at more? Needs to fill sandbags in the backyard? Whatever it is, I don't know. Seriously makes me feel like a shit parent.

• My idiot dog decided to eat my Macbook power cord, which is $70 I can't afford to replace. This is after he ate my camera cord and my phone charger. We used to leash him to up to his bed, but he'd manage to stretch and grab my cords (his bed is next to my side table). So now when we're gone, he's locked in a kennel. Expensive lesson to learn. Asshole dog. 

• My middle daughter somehow managed to fall of her bike and land on her chin. Poor thing. Came in and even put her shoes away before telling me what happened. It was banged up pretty bad, and bruised instantly. She even had 4 teeth marks in her bottom lip. It looks so much worse in person. You miss all of the swelling in the pic, she's rocking a Jay Leno chin.

Highs

• Ava took her first unassisted steps! She's been cruising along furniture for a while, but whenever you'd try and have her let go of your fingers, she'd immediately drop. But she did it! Was holding onto the chair, and walked three steps over to me. About freaking time, she'll be 16 months old on the 10th. Lazy butt. 

• Had a night where I felt my heart grow three sizes. There is an elderly couple that lives next door that have always been so nice to us. The lady has been in rehab for a long time, recovering from an obstruction surgery. She came home the weekend before Thanksgiving, so I offered to bring them dinner. I made homemade lasagna, salad and parmesean knots. We were about to walk out the door, food in hand, when they knocked on the door. Turns out they thought we were having dinner here. Luckily they didn't see the food in our hands, and after some scrambling for more chairs and plates, we had a wonderful dinner with them, my parents, and my father in law. Just a refreshing evening, and they were really thankful to have been invited. 

• My front yard pavers around the flower bed are completed! I still need to take a good pic, but the weather is crappy, so that'll have to wait. But here is a sneak peek. 

• Miss Jasmin finished her Awana book! The first in her class to do so. I was a bit irritated, Jake and I showed up to her class for the awards ceremony, but they had done them early that night. So the instructor reenacted it for us so I could get a pic. 

• I went with Arielle to her field trip to the Dallas Heritage Village. You get to see what life was like in the late 1800's/early 1900's. It was pretty cool, except I was way under dressed and was freezing. And my bonehead child kept running off, even though I had 5 other kids to chaperone. My girlfriend Christy went too, her son is in another 3rd grade class, so it was nice to have someone to hang out with. 

• I tried the whole couponing/price matching thing 2 weeks ago. No, I didn't get a cart full of groceries for 26 cents. I did, however, save $11, which I was thrilled about. I figure if I go food shopping once a week and can save $11 each time? That's $572 a year.  

• We've decided to sell hubby's car. I've been tired of putting money into it for the past few years, but it was all paid off. It sat in a shop for over a year, and it's been back in the shop off and on again for the past few months. So we've been doing the one car family thang for a while. The guy who's fixing it said we'd get another 4-6 months before something else comes up, so he's selling it for us. Fingers crossed it sells quickly. Luckily hubby kept the inside immaculate, so looks wise, it's in great condition. 

• Ava's hospital bills from her 7th emergency surgery are officially paid off!! We're still recovering financially from it, but it's nice to cross that off the list. 

• Thanksgiving was great. My parents came over, and my father in law (Hi Steve!) drove down from St Louis. Hubby and FIL took care of the turkey, which was a huge relief off of my shoulders. It did, however, end up being ready two hours before we planned, so it was a scramble to finish the sides, but it was all delish. 

• My sales on Etsy have picked up. I added some painted pillows to my shop a while ago, and they're really starting to take off. I started a new etsy to better match my blog, and while I'm bummed that I lost all of my postive feedback, I'm thankful that things are picking up. 

• I won a sweet giveaway over at See Kate Sew. I picked up three yards of gorgeous fabric that I'm so excited to work with. Who am I kidding? I get great, gorgeous fabric, and then I don't use it because I want to save it for something really special. But I did buy a girls dress pattern on Etsy that I think I want to use it for. Ava would be a-stinkin-dorable in it. 

I think that's it. It's been a pretty cool couple of weeks.