Life Crafts & Whatever

InstaFriday. I'm on time, suckas!.

2012-02-24T07:55:00.000-06:00

I'm actually posting a post on THE day it's SUPPOSED to be posted. What what!

My absolute, favorite part of the day. Ava LOVES bath time. When you say "Do you want to take a bath?" she'll start to squeal and try and take off her clothes.

We all know how much I love Ava's curls. I just didn't realize how long they were getting.

Ordered some cake pops from a friend. Ava loved hers!

Going thru my phone for pics for InstaFriday, you'd think I only have one kid. But with the older girls in school all day, I hardly get a chance to take pics. So I snapped these this morning. My kitchen is messy, blah.

Jasmin's fake smile always makes her look a little drunk.

Ava LOVES to play with Arielle, and always ends up wearing some of her stuff.

Do you think that dogs can tell when you're pregnant? Titan has been stuck up my butt lately.

One of my favorite parts of this week? Seeing our bebe. I'm measuring 3 days ahead, so things are right on track.

The nurse asked me what vitamins I'm taking, and I told her that I'm taking a one-a-day, but I was having a hard time with how big they are. So she told me that she'd give me a sample of some different ones. I was expecting a couple of boxes, but she gave me enough for a month. I heart free stuff. And I like these.

Ava and I are twins today. Who doesn't love pink penguin jammies?

Again, Titan, won't leave my side.

Why, hello there, little bebe!

2012-02-22T07:54:00.000-06:00

I had my first OB appt yesterday at 1:30. We found a new dr for this time around, a few of my friends recommended her, along with a bunch of the NICU nurses that we know. Plus, she does a sonogram at every appointment, plus she's willing to let me try a VBAC.

So we get there, the nurse takes my blood, ask me a bazillion questions and puts me in a room while I wait for the dr. The Dr comes in, does the normal checks and then she has the nurse get Lover and she starts the sonogram. We got to see our bebe, just chillin' with a heartrate of 176. She said that you want a really high heartrate at this point of pregnancy, so that's all positive news.

I felt really bad, Lover came in the room and he was pretty upset that he had to sit in the waiting room the whole time. He's very involved with our pregnancies, and while the dr normally keeps the husbands in the waiting room during the breast exam/pap, I wish I would have asked to have him in there.

I asked her about the VBAC, and she told me that since I didn't labor before I had the c-section with Ava, that my uterus was still really thick when they cut me and sewed me back together (as opposed to laboring for hours and thinning out the uterus, and they sew something super thin back together). She said that there would be a uterine pressure monitor on me during labor to make sure my uterus was doing okay, and we'd go from there. So I was pretty excited that it's a real possibility.

I had a rough time with my c-section. Just laying there, motionless, while everyone else in the room knows what is going on except for you. Just felt so removed from the situation, like I wasn't a player in the game. So I'm hoping for a VBAC. Fingers crossed!

I left the appointment feeling refreshed. It's like, I knew I was pregnant, but I've just been so miserable with nausea that it was hard to be excited about it. But seeing that little baby on the sonogram just reminded me that it's all for a purpose. Plus, she gave me a prescription for Zofran to help with the constant nausea. Fingers crossed it works!

We are officially due October 1st, but I'm measuring a few days ahead. I'm so excited to meet this baby. Both my older girls were born at 39 weeks and 7ish pounds, Ava was of course born early due to her birth defect, but they said that if she had gone full term, she would be been a ten pound baby. Eek.

Highs and Lows 2/20/2012

2012-02-21T06:20:00.000-06:00

Lows

I thought that Arielle had been a really good girl lately. We'd had issues for months (lying, being sneaky, etc), but the past couple of weeks, it seems to have turned around. Last week, her teacher sent home a note, saying that they were out of treats in class, so if you could send in a bag of Hershey's kisses, she'd really appreciate it. So I bought a small bag, gave it to Arielle on Thursday night and told her to give it to her teacher on Friday. Our conversation on Friday afternoon (after she had homemade rice krispy treats for a snack, and just asked me for some of my hershey kisses)

Me: "Did you give the bag of candy to your teacher?

Arielle: "yesssssssss"

Me: "Why are you answering me in a weird tone?"

Arielle: "I dunno"

Me: "So I can call her right now and ask if she got it?"

Arielle: "No"

Me: "Why not?"

Arielle: "Cause I don't want you to."

Me: "So what happened to them then?"

Arielle: "I hid them in my desk and ate them."

Me: "You ate an entire bag of Hershey kisses by yourself?"

Arielle: "Well, I gave one to my friend."

It was just horrible timing, since we were about to walk out of the door to go to her first ADD appointment, which we were trying to make a positive thing. Grrrrr. Her punishment? She got popped for lying to my face. And we had planned to take her to Cici's after her appointment for one on one time with us. Oh, we still went to Cici's for dinner. But she got to bring along a peanut butter sandwich and eat that, while Lover and I had pizza, since you obviously already had your treats for the day. And she had to write a note to her teacher, telling her what happened and apologize for stealing from her. That child had the nerve to ask me for dessert that night. You ever see that skit by Bill Cosby about kids being brain damaged? I think that was written about Arielle.

The morning sickness is still ever present. Some days it's just nausea, some days are spent tossing my cookies. I understand my suffering is for a greater purpose, but dang.

Highs

Arielle was officially diagnosed with ADD. I do consider that a high, since I know that she's not just a bone head and I'm not just a shitty parent. The dr put her on a low dose of meds, and we'll try that for a month and see how it works, So far, it's just made her REALLY chatty. Yowzas.

I love that Lover always remembers to get the girls something for Valentine's day. He got them each a little box of chocolates. Love that man.

My mom. Is. AWESOME. She came over on... some day last week (darn this pregnancy brain, I can't remember anything) and she cleaned the entire house. Swept, vacuumed, did all the laundry and dishes. The house has been NEGLECTED since all I do lately is sleep. Plus she made me two different Korean dishes that I've been craving.

My husband has taken on so many more responsibilities since I've been pregnant. He's basically playing the role of single parent. He gets home from work, takes over with making dinner (since by then, the smells are probably making me nauseous), then feeds the girls (at this time, I'm probably headed off to bed right after dinner). Then he handles checking homework, playing with Ava, getting the girls ready for bed, reads to them, straightens up the house and then does freelance. Love that man.

I think that's it. My day revolves around laying on the couch and trying not to fall asleep so Ava doesn't, ya know, die or set fire to the house.

InstaFriday, a day late. Oops.

2012-02-18T06:51:00.001-06:00

So, last week, my friend Lesley did a post, linking to another blog that hosts InstaFriday. And since I've been playing with my new iPhone 4S a crap ton, I thought I'd play along. I meant to do this post yesterday, but I spent most of the day, laying on the couch. The joys of morning sickness.

Started off my Valentine's Day at Jasmin's school party. They had an ice cream bar, which Ava loved. I love Jasmin's teacher, it's the same teacher she had in Pre-k. Every two years, the pre-k teacher and one of the kindergarten teachers trade grades, and we just lucked out and had her teacher during the switch.

That was immediately followed by Arielle's school party. They had a coke/root beer float bar. Arielle had chocolate ice cream with strawberry syrup in root beer. Ummm, gross?

Went to my mom's on Thursday to do paperwork for my dad. My mom had a gift card to Starbucks, so we went there. I don't drink coffee, but did have a slice of cake. Ava picked out a cake pop.

I spend every morning snuggling with this crazy haired little girl. It's my favorite time of day.

I'm not the only one who loves snuggling with baby girl in the morning.

I eventually am somewhat able to tame those curls. Kind of. They are crazy but I love them. Lover's hair is curly, so I hope Ava doesn't outgrow hers.

And I know that everyone thinks their husband is the sexiest person. But Lover is seriously the sexiest person I know. He's been doing a new workout program that he's been loving. He's always worked out 5 days a week, but he's really cranked it up, and he's excited about the changes. He texted me this pic after his workout. Holy crap, I can't believe he's mine. Him being a hottie is probably what caused my pregnancy, which led to this super fun morning sickness. Jerk. :P

I made rice crispy treats with a recipe from my blogging buddy Julie. Lover said I'm trying to sabotage his workout.

So that be's my week. No pics of yours truly. Between morning sickness and growing out my hair and living in a hat, I look like crap, and I won't subject you to pics of me. You're welcome.

Highs and Lows 2/13/2012

2012-02-13T10:15:00.000-06:00

Lows

Nothing to report that was bad. The nausea comes and goes, but at least it's not all freaking day long like it has been. It's only made me toss my cookies three times, one of those times being a few minutes ago. Usually I have some warning, but this time, I could barely make it to the kitchen sink. Ugh.

Highs

Ava had her evaluation with ECI on Monday. They were here for about an hour, seeing what she could do. This is how she measured up (based on her adjusted age of 15 months, she's 18 months now).

self help= 20 months old
social skills= 20 months old
fine motor= 28 months old
communication= 23 months old
cognitive= 18 months old
gross motor skills= 10 months old

Holy cow! Minus the 10 months old on gross motor skills (i.e. walking), she's so far ahead. Every parent thinks their baby is smart, and while we've always thought that it's nice to see it. We declined services for now, and said that if Ava isn't walking in two months, we'll call them back.

This was Ava last night. Up until two days ago, she's only taken one or two steps, and her max was 6. Ummm, OMG! You tell her "Ready, Set...." and she'll say "GO!" and start walking. It's not the best video, my oldest recorded it on my cell phone, but OMG! So proud of that girl.

Lover surprised me on Saturday and said that we were doing an early Valentine's Day. I thought it was weird that my mom insisted on keeping all three girls, all day Saturday and overnight, when she had been out of town all week and didn't get home until 2am on Saturday morning. We went and saw Safe House (SO GOOD!) and then went to Texas de Brazil. It was awesome! I had never been there before. There is a huge salad bar, and the staff walks around with huge skewers of meat and you pick which ones you want. I ate three big plates of salad and cucumbers, and three filets. Pretty good for the chick who's stomach is all testy and weird when I'm pregnant. I'm a dork and forgot to take any pics, but holy crap, I love that man.

Last week, I was craving some chips and salsa from Chipotle. Darn you, person on Pinterest who posted a recipe about Chipotle salsa. I put up a sweet status on FB, basically asking hubby to bring some home or I would die.

An hour later, I get a text from a new friend, and it said "Check your front porch". And this is what I found.

Isn't that so sweet? And they were the best chips I've ever had. Amazing what joy $2 and a few minutes out of your day can do for someone. Thank you Elizabeth!

Spent some much needed time with Lover this weekend. I feel like we haven't seen each other at all in the past few weeks. I go to bed so early, or I'm zoned out on the couch. We did our date day on Saturday, and then Sunday we had donuts for breakfast, Five Guys for lunch, and Panda Express for dinner. Holy crap, so much eating out! But I heart eating out, and my stomach handled it well. So yay!

I've been on GREAT terms with my ex husband lately. We've been.... questionable over the years. But he's made huge efforts in the past year to keep in contact with the girls, remember to send them presents on birthdays and holidays. And he even took it upon himself to set up an increase to the child support when I asked (and saved me the hassle of going to court), since it's been 5 years since we got divorced. The girls are going to spend two weeks with him this June, and they are so excited. Fingers crossed things stay kosher. I hate fighting with people you're stuck being in contact with until the kids are 18.

I think that's it. It's been a good week.

Updates and Going-ons

2012-02-11T05:55:00.000-06:00

I swear, when this year started, I had all sorts of plans to blog more often. And I've been crafting and keeping busy (when I'm not zonked out on the couch) but just haven't had the time to post.

I'm 6 weeks and some odd days pregnant today (7 weeks on Monday), and I already have a good sized bump. What the heck? I know they say that you show earlier with each pregnancy, but what the heck. The baby is the size of a chocolate sprinkle, and here I am, looking 3-4 months pregnant.

Although I can't complain completely. I wish I ate the way I am now when I'm not pregnant. Soda makes me sick. So does sweet tea. And I can't even look at my treasured sea salt and vinegar Lays. I've been drinking a crap ton of water. And I've been craving fruit and veggies. My new favorite thing just might be lemonade from Chic-Fil-A.

I have been feeling better than in the past couple of weeks. The all day nausea is finally starting to subside, and I'm able to stay up until 8:30 instead of falling asleep at the dinner table at 6. But with feeling better, always comes those nagging feelings of worry. Why am I feeling better? Is everything okay? I think with being a mom, it always comes with a side of worry. Is this pregnancy okay? Is the baby growing? Is my toddler eating enough? Is my kid doing okay in school? Is she picking the right crowd to hang out with?

We have our first OB appt on Feb 21st, and those appointments are always exciting, mixed with fear. The dr that we're using this time comes highly recommended by our personal friends, and by the NICU staff at the hospital that Ava was at for those billion days. She does a sono at every appointment, which I'm excited about. But it's so scary, cause I haven't had the best luck with first sono appointments. I was previously married a bajillion years ago and had three miscarriages, right in a row. But my body never gave me any signs of it, it wasn't until I went in for my first appointment, they can't find the heartbeat, they whip out the sono machine, and oh so sorry, bad news.

But I'm just keeping busy, and trying not to worry so much, even though that's part of being pregnant.

I've been pinning a billion things for my sister's wedding. It's been nice to have a distraction. She loved one of the flower girl dresses that I pinned and said it's another thing checked off of her list, so that's a good feeling to know I helped.

I've started taking a Mom's study up at the church on Wednesday mornings. It's supposed to help you be a better mom with help of the Bible, scripture, etc. So far I'm kind of whatever, but we are just two classes in, so I'm staying positive. One of my good friends invited me to the class, and another two ladies that I really like are in the class, so that's been fun.

Hubby started a blog, but I'm not going to link to it for now. It's about fitness and working out. Manly stuff like that. He joined some magazine fitness competition, and the winner gets a year of free supplements. So while he doesn't expect to win, it's been fun to read. Plus he brags on what an awesome wife he has, so that's been fun to read too. :)

So I think that's it.

Highs and Lows 2/6/2012

2012-02-06T10:53:00.000-06:00

Lows

Nausea. Constantly. It's worse if I'm hungry, or if I eat too much, or I'm in a car. But it's constant. I didn't have any morning sickness with the older girls, and tossed my cookies for months when I was pregnant with Ava (but wasn't nauseous). This is awful.

Pregnancy brain = SUCKS. I can't remember anything these days. I went to Kroger for deli meat. Left the roast beef on the deli counter. Remembered it while I was paying for my other meats. Went back to the deli, got it, took it to self check out, paid for it, and LEFT IT AT THE REGISTER. Grrrrrrrr.

Highs

Lover and I FINALLY got new phones. Our tax return hit our bank account, and while it was all going to go towards bills, we decided to treat ourselves to a little present. So we went from the iPhone 3GS (Lover had the even older model, the 3G) to the iPhone 4S. Oh em gee, is it possible to be in love with a phone? Our old phones were SO SLOW. Sometimes they wouldn't open, sometimes they'd open and immediately close, the camera would take 30 seconds to open.... they were old and archaic, and it's so nice to have a new one. I ordered a case online (since the ones at At&t are so freaking expensive, and I'm just waiting for it to come in). However, until then, I'm terrified that I'm going to drop it. Eek.

Got a package from my sister Sam. She asked us if the older girls could be in her wedding in November. Love that she asked us first, in case we had to say no. But of course, we said yes. The girls are so excited, they said they're going to start practicing. She sent them Disney princess stickers (Sam is having a Beauty and the Beast themed wedding, OMG!), ring pops, and a rose printed notebook.

Another part of the package was a package for me, which I was totally NOT expecting. I figured that since she asked up on Skype about the girls being in the wedding, that she would have just asked me then if she was going to. But she said that it wasn't something she wanted to ask on the phone. She put together a little notebook for me, and the last page of it was this.

Did I mention that she changed her WEDDING DATE so we could be there (her original wedding date was only 5 days after my due date) so she rescheduled it for a month later. So sweet!

A continuation of the notebook? A description of my bridesmaid duties. Being pregnant and 700 miles away makes it a little nerve wracking when you think of all the bridesmaid duties. Bridal shower, bachelorette party, etc. But Sam thought of all of that.

"I hear weddings can become a lot of work for bridesmaids. Please don't worry about showers or bachelorette parties, or anything like that. Your presence on my wedding day is all I need. Truly.

As my bridesmaid, your only job is to:

feel beautiful
hold some gorgeous flowers
wipe away my happy tears
understand how much your presence is appreciated
know how much I love you"

Holy crap, I love her so much. I've known her for 9 years, and to see the woman she's become is such an honor. I love you Sam!

Ava took 6 steps on her own! Just let go of the coffee table and took off across the living room. Yes, that might not be a big deal for a toddler who will be 18 months old in 4 days, but considering that Early Childhood Intervention is coming out today at 3pm to evaluate her on why she's not walking yet, it's a huge deal.

I always knew that Lover was a great husband, but he's even blown my mind with how he's been during this pregnancy. Cooking dinners when I'm too tired, doing homework with the girls when I don't have the energy to do it. Even last night, I was craving Burger King (why????) so we went thru the drive thru and then went to Freebirds for Lover to eat. Of course, Burger King messed up my order (apparently "no pickles or cheese" means throw those right on there). So I'm almost in tears (hey, I'm pregnant, I'm allowed to cry over cheese and pickles) and he gets up, drives back to Burger King, has them fix my order, and even gets them to throw in two pie slices for their mistake. All this BEFORE he ate his dinner. And anyone who knows Lover knows that if he doesn't eat, it's not a good time for anyone.

Taking a "Mom's Study" at church on Wednesdays. A good friend of mine, Erin, invited me, and turns out another two ladies that I like are in the class too. Our table leader is slightly wacky though, but hey, it'll be interesting. 8 weeks, topics like kid stuff, household topics, even sex.

I think that's it. I can't remember a damn thing these days.

Leg warmers and neon and spandex, oh my!

2012-01-31T08:43:00.004-06:00

So, I mentioned that I threw a "Totally 80's" party this past weekend, right?

It started off with this invitation that Lover designed. It was girls only, cause, hey, well all need a night away from husbands and kids.

I made Pac Man cookies. I did see a Pac Man cookie cutter, but who wants to spend $7 on a cookie cutter that I'll never use again? So I just bought a round one for $5 that I know I'll use again, rolled out my dough, cut out the circle, and then used a knife to cut out a wedge for the mouth. The cookie recipe I used was this one, and I used this technique for the icing. It was definitely easier and faster to use this recipe for the icing, but it wasn't as perfect as doing it the other way (with thicker royal icing for the outline, and thinner icing to flood the cookies). But I think it's definitely a technique thing. My last ones were so much prettier than my first ones.

I asked everyone to bring a little something to share. Some brought wine, some brought 2 liters of soda, others brought veggies and fruit platters, others brought chips. My friend Jenny surprised me with the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink. On VINYL.

I made white sangria. I used one bottle of Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc, half of a 2 liter of Fresca, and chopped up apples, grapes and strawberries. I made the fruit/wine mixture the night before, and then added the Fresca right before the party. I didn't get to partake in any (ya know, the whole pregnant thang) but I heard it was yummy.

The two gorgeous ladies in this pic, I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Megan is on the left (and won Best Costume!) and blogs over at Miss Madison's Charmed Life. And Julie (on the right) blogs at It's Sew Stinkin' Cute.

And we did a couple of games. Pin the bow on Ms Pac Man (we went on the honor system, no blindfold to mess up our make up and hair), and a music trivia.

The best part? I set up a photobooth, and Julie brought her nice camera and we took pics. It was even more fun when we figured out how to use the remote.

We took some goofy pics....

And some nice group pics...

Even my dog Titan insisted on photo bombing the pics....

The photobooth was so easy to make. 8 pieces of black poster board (2/$1 at Dollar tree) taped together, with neon paint drizzled all over it. If I had to do it over again, I'd do 3 rows of 4, instead of 2 rows of 4. I had to rebuild the sides in photoshop, which took a while.

It was definitely a lot of fun, and I can't wait to do another theme party. Next party's theme? Tacky Prom!

Highs and Lows 1/30/2012

2012-01-30T09:47:00.001-06:00

Lows

Pregnant = emotional = getting butt hurt over things I have no control over. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Highs

My 80's party was awesome! I had ten girlfriends come over, we listened to bad music and played games. Plus I had a photobooth set up, so that was fun! I'll do a post with pics tomorrow. We decided that we need to do these more often. So next party? Tacky Prom. Bust out those horrible shiny, big puffy sleeved prom dresses, ladies!

Got an appt with the OB doctor that I chose. Apparently she's highly sought after, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get in. She's willing to let me try a VBAC, and she does a sono at every appt. Feb 21st, we'll see our baby!

Found a new thrift store that I like. No furniture, and their home stuff is non-existant, but it's big and clean. Some prices are outrageous (like $10 for a pair of jeans?) but I did find a bunch of cute pants for Ava for $1. That girl always needs new pants.

Signed up to take some mom's class thing at the church with my friend Erin. It's on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30 for the next 8 weeks, and they talk about mom issues, parenting, etc. Then we'll do lunch afterwards. Love girl time.

Lover won a $25 gift card to the movie theater at his quarterly staff meeting. Combine that with the Red Lobster gift card that my sister in law got me for Christmas, and that sounds like the perfect date night.

I think that's it. It's been a lazy week.

VBAC moms, I want to join your club

2012-01-25T08:27:00.000-06:00

So, I'm only 4 weeks pregnant, but I'm all about planning ahead. I put up a post on FB yesterday, looking for OB recommendations. When I was first pregnant with Ava, we were going to a place called the OBGYN Place. But I wasn't thrilled with it. They have I think 6 doctors in their practice, and every appointment, you see a different doctor. That way, when you do deliver, whatever doctor is on call is a doctor that you've met at least once before. But I never got a great feeling from that place. Every appt (granted, I only went there until 14 weeks when my Quad 4 screening came back abnormal and I had to start being seen by specialists for Ava's gastroschisis), since it was a new doctor, they would go through your file, ask you a billion questions that you've answered at every appointment before.

The doctor we ended up seeing after we had to change to Baylor Dallas, I really liked. But being that it's a 70 mile round trip to Dallas and back, I wanted to find a more local doctor. So that's when I put up the FB post. But, of course, all the doctors that were recommended are... at Baylor Dallas. Looks like we're driving out there anyway.

I've narrowed it down to two doctors. Both were rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on Health Grades. One does a sonogram at every appointment, the other does a sono at most appointments. Now, since Ava had her birth defects and we had to monitor it closely, we had sonograms at least once a week for the last 4 months of pregnancy. So, I got a bit spoiled, being able to see her every week.

So I'm going to call the one who does sonos at every visit (and apparently is a very highly sought after doctor in Dallas) and see if she's accepting new patients.

The thing that's going to decide between the two officially though is if they are willing to do a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I really want to try it, and I understand if at the end, it's not possible. I looked up a bit about it yesterday, and since I've only had one and it wasn't medically necessary for me (just a precaution for Ava's gastroschisis) I should be a candidate for it. Of course, I managed to find the small handful of horror stories about the risks. But isn't there a risk to any delivery?

If I end up needing a c-section, then so be it. But I'll be honest, I hated the one I had. It took me FOREVER to heal from it (and I hated having to wake up my husband every time I needed to get up from bed and use the restroom, since I couldn't sit up myself. Those of you who have had a c-section know what pain I'm talking about, ouch). But I felt so removed from the birth of my daughter. I'm laying there, motionless and numb on a table, with a tarp in front of my chest, and everyone in the room knows what is going on except for me. I felt so separated from the whole experience.

And, not that a c-section isn't a "real" delivery, but I really want my husband to experience a "normal" delivery. One where he's feeding me ice chips, encouraging me to breathe and push, etc.

So, dear readers, have any of you attempted a VBAC?

High and Lows, 1/23/2012

2012-01-23T15:17:00.000-06:00

Lows

We are all still hacking and coughing around here. All 5 of us. What. The. Crap. It's been like a month. I was pretty convinced that I have the ebola virus, or bird flu, or the plague, but according to the dr, it's just sinus stuff. He recommended Mucinex, but since we just discovered some lovely news, I get to suffer, medicine free.

Had to write a not to nice note to Arielle's teacher. We've been having a lot of problems the past couple of months with Arielle's behavior, and I've talked to her teacher about it. Arielle had a great conduct sheet last week, nothing marked off, so we've been really celebrating it. High fives, hugs, etc. Well, on Friday, I check the sheet, and there are two marks on it for Tuesday. What the crap? I've been signing it every day, I know they weren't there. So I wrote a note saying that it's impossible for me to discipline Arielle for something that happened four days ago, and I would appreciate it if in the future, her conduct sheet is kept up to date. I also had to remind her teacher that I'm STILL waiting on the results of the Connor's test (for ADD) that I sent in back in November. When I talked to her teacher on December 16th at the Christmas party, I mentioned that I sent in the test a month ago, and she said that they were waiting on her to do her part of the test, but she's been busy and will get to it. So I mentioned in the note (sent Jan 17th, so a full month after I talked to her) that I'm still waiting on the results, and voila! I get the results back the next day. Grrrrr. I'm all about appreciating a teacher, and I understand that my kid isn't the only one in your class, but come on lady.

Highs

Ya know, the whole I'm pregnant thang. Only 4 weeks along, but holy crap. I'm going to have 4 kids. I think it's still sinking in. We did plan this pregnancy, but dang.

We played Twister with the girls the other night, and holy cow, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We're really trying hard to spend more time with the girls, as a family and one on one.

My 80's party is this Saturday! I'm super excited. I've been pinning things on Pinterest, but surprisingly there isn't a lot of ideas on there for 80's parties. I've ordered some things for prizes, making up a music trivia, costumes required. Let's just hope that some people show up! My friends Julie, Megan, and Jenny will be there, and a few others, I'm excited. I found an awesome outfit today at a new thrift store. I just need to have my mom make some alterations, but booyah, it'll be awesome.

Found a new show that I'm in love with, it's called Once Upon A Time. Seriously, love it. I like having new shows to watch. Ru Paul's Drag Race starts up again next week, booyah.

Arielle's Connors test shows that she has significant markers for ADD. And no, while that might not normally be a high, it's nice to know that I'm not just a shitty parent, and there is something that can be fixed/helped/modified.

So, I think that's it.

Coming soon.....

2012-01-21T18:06:00.000-06:00

Green Smoothie for Weight Loss?

2012-01-20T08:37:00.001-06:00

So, like me, I'm sure that everyone has some sort of health bettering resolution on their New Year's resolution. Weight loss, eating better, whatever. We tend to eat pretty healthy in this family (minus my addiction to Lays Sea Salt & Vinegar chips and Cherry Cokes) but I'm always looking for ways to add more water/fruit/veggies to my diet.

Have you seen the green smoothie craze on pinterest? I read thru a few of them, and while some people use kale or chard, the general consensus is that spinach is the most tasteless of the "greens".

So I decided to give it a try. I was a bit hesitant on the whole "let's throw some spinach in a fruit smoothie" thing. So at first, I just put one handful of spinach in my smoothie, and I didn't taste it AT ALL. So I added another handful, and still, nada.

I've been making these for about a week now, with different fruit combinations. My girls even like drinking these.

The basic recipe I use is...

2 bananas (it's a great way to use those bananas that are getting too soft to eat)

2 handfuls of spinach

handful of strawberries (I end up using 6-8 medium sized ones)

ice cubes, about 6-8

a cup of milk

If I'm not sharing it with the girls, I'll throw in a half a scoop of my protein powder, which gives it a slight chocolate taste. The protein powder I use is Champion Nutrition Pure Whey Protein powder in chocolate. It's 130 calories per scoop with 26 grams of protein.

I'll also add a spoonful of Metamucil fiber powder to mine.

Spinach has fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K. Other health benefits of spinach can be found here. For me, I can always use more veggies in my diet, so anything that doesn't take a huge amount of additional effort in my book is a win.

Some people use orange juice as their liquid, others use water. I never drink milk, so anytime I can add milk to a recipe and not taste it, I'll do it. Other people use almond milk (which is still on my "to try" list) or soy milk.

You can basically add any fresh fruit that you have on hand (I will say that I tried it with raspberries, and didn't care for it, the raspberries were too over powering).

Now, mine did not turn out as pretty of a green color as the ones pictured on Pinterest. Mine is more of a blah, boring green. (I could have photoshopped it up, but that's not my style). But it's yummy, and easy to make. I've been doing one for breakfast. I always end up making enough for two big glasses of it. So I'll do one for breakfast, and put it in the fridge until it's time to have it for my morning snack.

Have you jumped on the green smoothie craze? Are you going to try it?

Homeless Home Owners

2012-01-17T06:15:00.000-06:00

So, here is a little story about my friends Erin and Ryan. I don't mean "friends" like "Oh, I've met them once or twice." We've been friends for 8 years. They've been there for me when I've needed them. They gave me a place for me and my two young girls to stay when Lover and I broke up temporarily and I moved out. Ryan has been there for me with answers to countless questions about my car. Erin is always there for me with a no holds barred, tell it like it is opinion, and I love that. Just good people that you hate to see anything happen to.

We've partied together.

When Jake and I go up to visit St Louis, they always plan a get together with all of our friends. We always do Dave and Busters, since our kids and all the adults can have fun.

Ryan surprised Erin for Christmas 2009 with a plane ticket to Dallas.

I drove up to St Louis to go to their wedding.

And they drove the long 10 hours to Dallas to come to ours.

And we've had countless BBQ's and parties at their house.

See that house in the background in the last pic? That's what this little story is about.

Back in October 2009, they came home and found a horrible smell in their lower level (they live in a bi-level home). They found that the drain pipe for the house's main plumbing had detached from the floor. They had a plumber come out, and the plumber found that the reason the pipe detached from the house is that the ground under the house was MISSING.

Erin and Ryan contacted the City of Arnold, MO, and the city came out and did their own investigation. The city determined that it "wasn't their problem" and the city's insurance denied the claim. Ryan and Erin then contacted their home owner insurance, who also denied the claim, since it doesn't cover "earth movement or erosion". The mortgage company also does not want to get involved until the Egleston's go into default/foreclosure.

They have contacted Erin Brockovich, Ellen, Oprah, and two of the TV stations in St Louis. They have also contacted their congressman, state reps and attorney general. They were told it's a local level issue and to start there. None of the city council aldermen will help, due to litigation. The Eglestons did have a short story on the St Louis news back in Feb 2010.

They also have a video on YouTube, showing the things they're dealing with. In the video, they also show a clip of them going to a City Council meeting to speak with the mayor. To me, the mayor seems very unsympathetic, and honestly, comes across like a jerk.

In the video, it's revealed that the house was built on a human waste lagoon on a pier, and over time, the land has washed away. The city administrator says in the video that there were 29 lagoons in Arnold at one time, and since there are no lagoons now, obviously they were all built on. It's been suggested to Ryan that he find out where the other lagoons are, and to go and talk to those residents to see if they are having the same issues, but somehow, all those records are unavailable, and they cannot find the location of the other lagoons. That should be public record, yet no one can find it?

So, since October 2009, two and a half long years, the Eglestons have been paying a mortgage on a house that is unfit to live in, and they've been living with family members. They finally have a court date set for September 2012, almost three long years after this all started.

There are a couple of other issues on their street, but the city says the problems are completely separate.

The street is literally caving away, since there is nothing under the asphalt. The city says it's not related.

The city also says that flooding isn't an issue on their street, and again, is not related.

The blue car is Erin's, and that pic was taken from their front porch. It would be impossible to get out of your driveway with that amount of water in the street. You can't even see the curb, and that area in the distance in the trees is even worse.

I don't expect anyone to have the magic answer. But a prayer, a word of encouragement or a suggestion would be appreciated.

Love you, Erin and Ry.

Highs and Lows, 1-16-2012

2012-01-16T06:25:00.000-06:00

What's up, dear reader? Guess what it's time for.

Lows

Lover is still sick. He's been coughing for the past week or two. Loud, racking coughs that make me ~~want to punch him in the head~~ feel so bad for him. He finally made a dr's appt, expecting him to tell him that he had strep or something. His $150 diagnosis? Sinuses. The prescription he gave him? Over the counter Mucinex (tack on another $35). What the hell. At least we now know that he doesn't have strep (or the ebola virus like I kept telling him that he had) but dang, that's an expensive trip.

I'm ready to punch Arielle's teacher in the head. We've been working really hard with Arielle's behavior in school (For a while, it seemed like every week, Arielle was coming home with a conduct mark, it was at it's worst in December. I had a talk with her teacher at the Christmas party that we're really working with her on her behavior). So the past week, she's had nothing written on her conduct sheet, so we've been really encouraging and cheering her on. Really celebrating her behavior and the lack of conduct marks. On Friday, we check her folder, and she has two marks for Tuesday. I've signed off on that damn thing every day so I know it wasn't there. How the hell am I supposed to discipline my kid for something she did 4 days ago? Come on lady, we're supposed to be a team.

Ava had her 15 month check up (yes, she just turned 17 months on the 10th). 30 inches tall, 22 lbs 9.5 ounces. But since Ava is still not standing/walking on her own, the dr is going to have ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) come out to the house and evaluate her. She's taken a step or 2, two or three times, but it's definitely not consistent. She walks along furniture, will walk while holding onto a finger, but as soon as you try and pull your hand away, she immediately drops to her knees. That child has never been uneventful. 6 surgeries in her first two months of life, a case of RSV , and emergency surgery 4 days after her first birthday? That girl sure does like to keep us on our toes.

Highs

Found a new banana bread recipe. Tried it, loved it, will blog about it. Made a huge loaf for us, and one for my mom and one for the elderly neighbors next door. Makes me feel all June Cleaver.

Started working on piecing together my quilt. It's pretty. I heart it.

New Meal Monday was a success. I made this recipe. Super easy. I couldn't get the cheese to stick, so I just sprinkled it on top. The whole family loved it (which doesn't always happen).

My mom kept the girls on Saturday night. We got a pizza from Pizza Hut, watched some UFC. Good times.

I tried a new dress pattern that I bought, and made a dress for a friend's daughter's birthday. I love how it turned out and can't wait to make one for Miss Ava.

Finally finished cleaning the house. Oh em gee, the house has been a disaster lately. What is it about organizing that makes the house so darn messy? Lover even gave me a little shout out on FB, and then ~~cooked dinner~~ took us to Five Guys (my FAVORITE place to eat).

Ava totally jacked my drink when we got to Five Guys, but who could say no to that face?

People are starting to leave feedback after my Etsy Christmas rush. (Buyers, if you buy something on Etsy, and you love it, please leave feedback for your sellers. Sellers live for feedback. You're only as good as your feedback score). Some that have been left lately really melted my heart. I posted a few of them on FB. It was such a nice feeling to know my hard work was appreciated.

Arielle had her post last week sickness check up. She's still not 100%, but the dr said she's so much better. Yay!

My headboard is finally finished. I didn't like where it was going, so I made a few changes and I dig it now.

I actually have crap to post about, which is awesome! Sometimes I have NOTHING to blog about, and I don't want to be one of those bloggers who sticks a picture in a store bought frame and then posts 48 pictures showing it. I just need to plan out my posts, download the pics, etc.

My Soap Scum Killa post has been repinned about 47 bazillion times. That's awesome.

I'm planning an Totally 80's party for January 28th, and people are actually RSVPing. I'm excited. I just need to find a candy store that carries vintage candy. OMG, is 80's stuff considered vintage. Am I officially old?

Dang, that was a pretty darn good week.

What's up, gorgeous stenciled wall? How you doing?

2012-01-11T10:44:00.003-06:00

So, I've hinted once or twice about how we painted our bedroom over Christmas break. I finally took ~~crappy~~ pics this morning. For some reason, I can't get a good pic of it to save my life. Either the pics turned out yellow, or grainy, I dunno.

I used the large Rabat stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. I won a giveaway over at Bella Before and After, and spent my prize credit on this stencil.

The first step was to paint the wall white, so the negative space of the stencil would be white, and not ugly builders beige. It's not the best "before" pic, I forgot to take a true one, but you can see the white paint and the original paint color. I made sure to get flat paint for the base white color, the paint guy at Home Depot said that you always want the bottom color to be a flat paint. I didn't know that. But it was the cheapest sheen, so woot!

And then it was time to get started (after letting the paint dry for a day). Lover painted the rest of the room (ceiling included) and I tackled the wall. I started at the top, in about the center of the wall. The stencil was really easy to use, I used a lot of painters tape on the edges and between the openings, and just worked my way down the wall. I had to "cheat" every few movements down the wall, since it wouldn't line up exactly. But it said on the Cutting Edge site that it's totally fine to cheat it, just make sure your stencil is level. I also got the clip on stencil level, and truly highly recommend it.

I'm pretty sure it's required to look like crap when you're doing home improvements. And a black bra under a white shirt makes you uber cool. And a little FYI, if you wear super baggy pants when you're climbing up and down a ladder, be prepared to step on them and accidentally moon your husband once. Or 4 times, whatever.

In the beginning, I just worked in rows. But then I'd run into the problem of the paint being wet while I moved onto the next one. So eventually I just bounced around, making sure it was lined up and level each time.

And voila!

The color we used was "Silver Drop" by Behr. I didn't want a gray that was blueish or yellowish. This is just a pretty, medium gray. I was worried that an all gray room would feel cold or institutional, but it's lovely and inviting.

Thanks Cutting Edge for making a super awesome product! I'd love to try out some of their other stencils, they make such a huge impact. 4 days worth of work for an eye catching accent wall? Score.

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High and Lows, 1/9/2012

2012-01-09T07:55:00.000-06:00

I am actually writing this post on Sunday night, getting it ready to post on Monday morning like it's supposed to. Yay for keeping up with my New Year's resolution! (so far).

As always, we're starting off with lows.

Lows

Jasmin has had a cough off and on for the past 2 or 3 weeks, so when Ava started having a cough and runny nose last week, I didn't think twice about it. Arielle told me on Thursday morning that she was coughing and didn't feel good, I took her temp, and when she didn't have one, I sent her off to school (I'm not a mean mom, she had been playing on her DSi for the past half hour, so I figured if she was really that sick, she'd be in bed). So I sent her off to school. I get a call ten minutes after school starts, and it's the nurse, telling me that Arielle is wheezing and I need to come get her. I call the dr and make all three girls an appt for Friday morning. Figure that Jasmin had been sick, and Ava had a cold, I might as well bring them all in. The verdict? Ava had an ear infection, Arielle had an upper respiratory infection, and Jasmin (the one who I wasn't even going to bring in since she was fine) had freaking strep. Oh. Em. Gee. Thankfully they're all doing better (the dr treated them all for strep as a preventative) but talk about these kids keeping you on your toes.

I got a few nasty cuts on the nailhead trim while we were working on our headboard. What the crap is it with me hurting myself on projects lately? I guess it's like my father in law says. "The project isn't finished until somebody bleeds." It's on the underside of my left index finger between the two middle knuckles on your finger (does that make sense?) but it hurts to move my finger. Blah.

Freaking Dexter. We finally finished the season, and oh em gee. I have to wait how long until it comes back on?

My headboard project isn't turning out how I planned it in my head. I was planning all black, thick foam with a nailhead trim. But the trim looks cheap (even thought I spent $30 on it) and I'm afraid that it'll be bubbly since it only has the nail holes every 5th head. Ugh. I've seen some plain headboards on pinterest, so I'm trying to wrap my head around just keeping it plain. I dunno, maybe the wall is so busy that a plain headboard will be good? Crap.

My house looks like a bomb went off. I'm in the middle of re-organizing everything, and I think the rule is that if you're trying to organize, the area you're organizing must look messier than it's ever been, and make you think that you should have just shoved all the crap back in the drawer. What's wrong with having 4 junk drawers? Geez.

Highs

Worked on our new bedroom headboard. While I'm not sure the direction it's going in, it was SO FREAKING nice to do a project for me. Hubby helped me, and it was great to spend time with him, doing something for our house.

Had a great night with the family on Saturday. Took them all to Red Lobster. The service sucked, but it was such an enjoyable time. My "difficult" child (Arielle) has been such a joy to be around.

I got a new blender (yes, the things you get excited about as an adult). I want to try the green smoothies I keep reading about on Pinterest. So we hit up Costco and got a bunch of spinach and fruits.

My sister in law has decided to be serious about working out and eating right, and started blogging every day about it. I'm so stinkin' proud of her for making that decision to not be unhappy anymore. Plus, she's planning a Beauty and the Beast themed wedding, how neat is that? I see amazing things in her future.

I found a new show that I love called Renovation Realities. Basically it's people who have little to no experience with renovation, taking on projects like ripping out a kitchen and updating it. And of course, they always think they'll be able to finish in 4 days or something.

I'm trying to get the house organized. So I spent some time making labels yesterday. I figure if it's pretty, I'll want to use it, right?

I think that's it. Today's agenda is clean. And clean. And clean. Anyone want to come and help? I have cookies.

Dawn + Vinegar = Soap Scum KILLA

2012-01-06T07:10:00.005-06:00

So, you might remember this post from a while back. And if you do, you'll remember that I cannot stand soap scum. Like, it actually bothers me. I hate that we have this gorgeous bathroom, and all I can see is the soap scum that threatens to take over. And God help me if Lover and I are in the shower together (hey, we're in a water shortage) and I accidentally touch the walls. Ugh, gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

I've tried it all. Kaboom. 409. Every bottle that promises to get rid of the soap scum. And I'm left disappointed every. single. time.

So when I saw this post on pinterest, I was a bit skeptical. Magic in a bottle? Yeah, okay. But I figure, what did I have to lose? So the next time I went to Walmart, I figure I could drop $3 on a bottle of Dawn and a spray bottle. We already had a huge bottle of white vinegar, thanks to Lover cleaning his stinky Vibrams (those weird 5 toe shoe things that make him look like he has swamp creature feet).

My oldest daughter asked me if I bought the Dawn just because it had a penguin on it (I collect penguins).

So it's pretty simple. Heat up some vinegar (I used a cup of vinegar and nuked it for 2 minutes). Then pour it in your spray bottle, add an equal amount of blue Dawn (the website comments were pretty specific about getting the blue kind), shake gently, and voila!

Again, that's a one to one ratio of white vinegar to blue Dawn. I measured out a cup of each originally, but only used about half of my bottle. So next time I'll just do a half cup of each. The whole point is that the white vinegar is heated up, and while I haven't used it with it being room temperature and don't know if it'd work just as well, I'd rather just make it fresh each time. Especially if it's going to give me super clean results.

Here is what we're dealing with. Gross, right? You can't tell me you'd want to touch that in the shower either. EWWWWW.

Do you know how hard it is to take a pic of soap scum? I finally figured out that I had to place the camera on the door and face it down with the flash on.

Isn't that gross? I know I already said that, but man. Ewww.

So the website said that you can spray it on and leave it overnight for tough stains. But have you ever tried to spray on a cleaner on a vertical surface? What's the first thing that happens? It all slides down. BUT, with the vinegar Dawn spray, it's a bit thicker, almost like a watery gel, and it stayed on the glass where I sprayed it. Yeah, a few places dripped, but it was staying. Holy crap.

I let it sit for 2 hours, came back in with a sponge and some warm water, and wiped it off. And holy crap.

Yes, that is an unedited (except for the watermark, obviously) photo of the same area. And that isn't soap scum at the bottom, it's the reflection of the shower floor (you can see the drain). Isn't that crazy? Lover came in to see it when he got home from work, and he said "Holy shit, it looks freaking new!". It totally shocked me when I walked in the bathroom this morning when Lover was taking a shower. Usually it looks like he's standing behind a frosted glass door where all you can see is his head. But this morning, it was completely clear. Like brand spanking new.

So if your nemesis is soap scum, give it a shot. It'll cost ya under $5 even if you have to buy everything, which is cheaper than the other cleaners that aren't working.

No, I'm not getting paid to post this. I wish I was! But ya know, Dawn making people, feel free to send a big ole check my way.

Sharing this here...

Last week of the photo challenge

2012-01-05T13:38:00.001-06:00

So, here we are, at the last week of the photo challenge over at Fabulously Flawed. And since one of my resolutions is to be a better blogger, I'm participating this week. I didn't even cheat and use old photos. Not that I've done that before.

So, what are we on?

TransportationDaily RoutineNight timeLight Self Portrait

1. Transportation.

This is our car. Lover's car has been in the shop for the past 2 years. No, I'm not joking. We finally have it up for sale, once it's finally fixed and running. Thank God that Lover has a few co-workers that live in our neighborhood, so I'm able to have the car most days. Am the the only one who doesn't end up with a clean car after I go to one of those self wash places? It looks dirtier than it did before I "washed" it.

2. Daily Routine

I'm using a picture of Ava as my daily routine, since my day revolves around her. If she's in a good mood, then a lot of stuff gets done. If she's not and wants to snuggle, well, the chores can wait.

3. Night Time

I suck and has no peekture.

4. Light

I am in love with these lamps. I won a giveaway for a $50 gift card to Target, and I picked up two of these bad boys. I want to raise them up a bit though, just need to find someone with a chainsaw so I can get a slice of tree to put under it. I don't know if that makes sense. Anywho. In the background you can see a sneak peek of the wall that I almost died while painting.

5. Self portrait.

Yeah, I refuse to post a pic of how I look right now. I've been sick for about 2 weeks now. Congested, runny nose, cough, achy, my head feels fat. And I've been hiding in sweat pants and a hat so I don't have to do my hair. So I couldn't in good conscience subject you to a pic of that. It's probably burn your eyes. So here is a pic of my dog. Since, well, I feel like dog doo right now. Doesn't he look pitiful? He was begging to get in my lap. He's convinced that if he's not in my lap during a car ride that he'll fall over and die.

So there ya go. Go check out Lesley's blog, I heart her. You will too.

High and Lows, first one of 2012

2012-01-03T07:55:00.000-06:00

So, part of the whole New Years resolution thang is that I want to be a better, more regularly posting blogger. Which means that I'll be doing my Highs and Lows every Monday. Ignore the fact that I'm a day late. Oops.

Let's start off with the lows, so we can end off with the highs, shall we?

Lows

Lover, Ava and I have been dealing with a cold all week. I'm pretty sure that Lover and I have just been passing it back and forth. I was sick two weeks ago, he was sick last week, and starting Sunday I started feeling icky again. Coughing, runny nose, my head feels fat. It sucks.

I managed to fall off the ladder when I was doing the touch up paint on my bedroom wall. I thought I was on the bottom rung and went to step down. But I was on the second to bottom rung. The ladder was close to the side wall, so I ended up falling into the wall, jacked up my elbow, scraped off some skin through my thick hoodie. And dropped the touch up paint container on the floor, spilling white paint all over our carpet. Oh, and you're asking, "Where was her plastic tarp to protect the carpet?" Yeah, I wasn't using it. I figured "Oh, I'm just doing a tiny area, I don't need it." Frack.

I am officially sick of making pillows. I used to think Etsy shops were insane for going on "vacation" mode. I mean, why would you turn down the chance to make money? But now I totally get it. Today I'm making pillows 30 and 31 within the past two weeks.

Highs

My bedroom stenciled wall is officially finished! I will be doing a blog post about it soon enough, but it's gorgeous, and totally worth a banged up elbow.

When I was being ~~a dumbass~~ lazy and not using the plastic tarp and spilling paint all over the carpet, I screamed for hubby to come help me clean. He runs in, I'm screaming about the paint and spazzing out, and he makes eye contact with me and says "Are YOU okay?" No worries for the possibly ruined carpet, just wanted to make sure I was okay. That's amazing. I was once the passenger in a car that was rear ended by someone driving 35 MPH before (and had my 2 year old in the backseat), and the driver not once asked us if we were okay, just got out to survey the car damage and scream at the other driver. So someone who immediately is more concerned about your safety than material things is something to be celebrated and appreciated.

Lover and I have finally found time to catch up on Dexter. We've been so busy lately, with his freelance and my etsy stuff that we haven't had any time to watch TV at night. While his freelance is a welcome addition to our income, I was missing our time together at night.

Etsy sales. Yes, I put this in my lows, but it's also a major high. I'm a SAHM, and Lover works so hard at this job and freelance so I can stay home with the girls. So it's wonderful to feel like I'm contributing to the finances.

I didn't have to punch my computer or throw it off a cliff! For a week or so, I couldn't upload pictures anywhere. Couldn't attach them to an email, upload them to FB or Blogger, nothing. I'd open the attachment screen, it'd immediately close. Lover took it to work, and a guy up there was able to fix it. For someone who uploads stuff constantly, it was a huge hassle to have to upload them from iPhoto to Flickr to blogger, but thankfully, it's all fixed now.

My 8 year old is such a pleasure to be around lately. We've had a hard couple of months, but the last couple of weeks has been awesome. I hope that going back to school today doesn't bring back the "Bad Arielle".

Okay, I sucked at doing Highs and Lows last week, so forgive me that this High was over a week ago. Christmas of course was wonderful, the girls received too much stuff (but in our defense, they didn't get any "big" gifts like bikes or Leappads or anything, so they got a ton of small/medium stuff). I found a site online where you can do a personalized video for your child, where Santa will say their name, show pictures of them, etc. The looks on the girls faces were PRICELESS.

Got an email from a reader, telling me she felt silly for writing me, but wanted to tell me how much she loves my blog. Seriously, NEVER feel silly for emailing someone to tell them that. It totally made my day, no joke.

So I think that's it. Boom.

Hi there, 2012!

2012-01-01T08:13:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year, dear reader! I hope you had a great time, ringing in the new year. Lover and I rang in the new year at home, which we haven't done in a long time. We've never been big partiers, we've always just gone to a friends house. But this year, we had no plans and no need for a baby sitter. I think that makes us officially "grown ups".

We spent our day starting on the bedroom makeover. Yes, the bedroom makeover I talked about in my Home Goals for 2011 got started on the last stinkin' day of the year. I won this cutting edge stencil from Bella Before & After's Sponsor giveaway a few months ago. But we all know how expensive paint is, so it got put on the back burner. That is, until my father in law got me a super awesome gift card to Home Depot for Christmas. Thanks Steve!

It's not an ugly beige color like the picture is showing, it's a really pretty light gray, and I did the background color in pure white. So pretty! But please excuse the crappy cell phone pic. The camera is in the bedroom. And since Lover spent all freaking day helping me paint, the least I can do is let him sleep in a bit. I would have loved to gotten it all finished yesterday, but it didn't happen. Our ceilings are 12 feet tall, which seems a hell of a lot taller when you're up on the ladder.

So, what are your resolutions for this coming year? Besides the obvious "eat healthy and exercise, blah blah blah" that is on everyone's list (yours truly included).

Mine is to be more organized. I'm starting that out with a chores list. I'll admit, I'm not the best at being domestic. I know, I know. As your favorite blogger, I'm supposed to be super crafty with a perfectly clean, organized house. But I'm missing the "organized" gene. Which I'm sure, makes my OCD husband want to punch me in the head most days. Lover will ask me when the last time is that I changed the girls sheets, and I'll admit, there has been a time (or four) that I've been like "Uhhhhhh....". Well, that's gross.

So I need to write it all down. Besides doing house stuff on the first of every month (touch up painting, since our builder's flat paint shows EVERY fingerprint and scuff) and Magic Eraser on all the doors, I need a list to keep me on track.

Here is my rough draft, but I'm sure I'll tweak it a bit. I figure a two week rotation will be good. Enough to cover all the chores, but not too repetitive.

I didn't want to write down every single detail, but bathroom would be toilets, tubs, mirrors, etc. Arielle and Jasmin "clean" their own rooms, but I would do trash clean up (I swear, one day you will see Arielle on Hoarders, that child keeps EVERYTHING).

And I want to be a better blogger. My Highs and Lows posts are hit or miss, and half of the time, I forget the highs and lows of my week, so on Monday mornings, I'm racking my brain and searching my Facebook profile to get a recap on my week. So I want to start writing stuff down as it happens, and being a more regular blogger. And I want to get better at commenting on other blogs. Comments make my freaking day, so I can spend 14 second to write a comment on other blogs I read.

My last resolution is to find more time for friends. My girlfriends and I always say that we need to get together more. But with kids, husbands, and other life stuff, it rarely happens. So I want to change that. Get togethers at my house, nothing fancy. But none of us are the "go out and party and get trashed" types. Our girls nights are "Nights in with wine". So I'm hosting my first party at the end of this month. The theme (yes, there's a theme!) is "80's". And yes, you must come dress in your favorite 80's attire. It'll be totally, like, tubular.

So what are your resolutions?

My Memories Giveaway WINNER!

2011-12-30T07:28:00.000-06:00

The lucky winner of the My Memories digital software download and the $10 store credit is.....

And that makes the lucky winner...

You're going to love it! I'm off to send you an email!

My One Year Bloggerversary!

2011-12-27T06:45:00.000-06:00

So, I started my blog one year ago today. My first post was mindless dribble about goals in 2011 or something, and my first follower was my friend Megan, who blogs at Miss Madison's Charmed Life. I'm not supposed to tell you that we've been friends for 15 years, cause that makes us sound old or whatever.

In that year, I've gained 804 more followers, "met" a ton of awesome bloggers online and even one in person (Hi Julie!), posted 210 posts, and had 135,139 page views in that year.

My 5 most popular posts are...

My paint chip wall art...

My Crate & Barrel "Layla" knock off pillow...

My Ballard Inspired spool...

My Restoration Hardware french animal art knock off...

And my frame necklace display...

Which tells me that apparently you guys like when I do crafts, and I do a ton of knock offs.

My goals for this year are to be a better blogger (i.e. post more regularly, keep up with my Highs and Lows posts, post more comments, etc). Ya know, and do that whole "eat healthy/exercise" thang.

Thanks for following!!! You're a rock star.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:43:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas from our house to yours! The girls opened their new Christmas pajamas last night. This momma is up early, about to get started on breakfast pizza and monkey bread. My father in law flew in yesterday from St Louis, my parents will be here this morning at 7am. I'm so excited to see the girls faces. This year, Ava will be old enough (16.5 months old) to open presents, so I can't wait to see that.

Merry Christmas! May Santa bring you everything you wanted!

Sponsor Spotlight: Fabulously Flawed!!!

2011-12-23T09:05:00.000-06:00

So, we all know that I think that Lesley from Fabulously Flawed is the cat's pajamas. The greatest thing since sliced bread. Like, she rocks my socks.

If you aren't already following her blog, you are totally missing out. You'll find super awesome (and inexpensive!) crafts, photo challenges (which I suck at remembering), and other awesome things that will totally make you laugh your butt off.

If you're already following her blog, did you know that she has an Etsy shop? I love her etsy shop. It isn't the same crap that you'll find every where else. You don't have to worry that everyone else will be wearing the same thing, it's all one of a kind stuff.

Now, this post was supposed to be about an awesome set of earrings that she sent me a few weeks ago. Silver dangly earrings with red stars. BUT, a certain 8 year old in my house has "borrowed" them, and now I can't find them anywhere in her disaster of a room. In her defense, she did say that they "look like rock star earrings", which means they were totally worth coveting.

So, luckily for you, I'm slightly obsessed with Lesley's jewelry, and I own a few pieces. One of the first pieces I bought was this Sapphire Forever necklace.

I get SO MANY FREAKING compliments on this necklace when I wear it. I've worn it with a pretty black dress, and it even makes my $3 thrift store cardigan look super fancy. It's not heavy at all, but has a good, solid weight to it. I can't say enough things about this piece. I heart it.

I also own another piece from her shop called the Jennifer Necklace. You know I had to buy something that was named after me, right?

We all know how popular red and turquoise are. I love how this necklace feels like an updated, modern twist to grandma's pearls.

So, if you don't think that Santa is bringing you everything you've asked for, why don't you treat yourself to something from Lesley's shop?

You totally deserve to treat yourself. You've been good this year, right?

Slim Fast + New Flavors? Score.

2011-12-22T04:16:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Slim-Fast. All opinions are 100% mine.

I think weight management is something that's crossed every woman's mind. Whether you're actively dieting, or just trying to watch your calories, the holidays are always so much harder. All those yummy pies, going to people's houses for huge meals, food, food, and more food, and all those little calories sure add up.

I've tried Slim-Fast in the past, I always go for the chocolate flavor. Slim-Fast has come out with some new flavors in their shakes, which is super exciting. These shakes will wow your taste buds, provide up to 4 hours of hunger control and offer 10 grams of protein, five grams of fiber and 24 essential vitamins and minerals. All that makes it so much easier to stick to your weight loss goals. If that isn't awesome enough, check out the new flavors. Flavors available in the new Slim-Fast bottle include:

• Creamy Milk Chocolate
• French Vanilla
• Rich Chocolate Royale (This is the one I want to try)
• Cappuccino Delight
• Strawberries N’ Cream

Slim-Fast also offers a 3-2-1 program to help you reach your goals. 3 snacks, 2 Slim Fast shakes/Meal Bars, 1 balanced meal. That's so easy to remember.

• 3 Snacks: Three nourishing snacks a day such as Slim-Fast 100-calorie snack bars, fruit, nuts or veggies
• Slim-Fast 100-calorie snack bars provide a delicious calorie-controlled snack to help curb sweet cravings between meals
• 2 Slim-Fast Shakes or Meal Bars per day: Slim-Fast shakes and meal bars are delicious and satisfying, providing the balanced nutrition of a meal and up to four hours of hunger control
• 1 Balanced Meal: Enjoy one balanced 500-calorie meal per day. As a rule, try to fill half your plate with veggies, a quarter with protein, and a quarter with whole grains

I love that you don't have to drive to a specialty store to pick up the shakes and bars. I mean, with 3 kids, making as few stops as possible is always a great thing. The new Slim-Fast shakes are available in the pharmacy sections of grocers and retailers nationwide, including Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway and Kroger and online at Amazon.com and the Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Store on Facebook.

Imagine how many calories you could save if you were on the 3-2-1 plan during the holidays? Tuck a meal replacement bar in your purse, and eat that instead of 14 pieces of pie.

My Memories free digital download!

2011-12-21T12:20:00.001-06:00

Did you enter my giveaway that's going on right now? Up for grabs is a My Memories Digital scrapbooking program, PLUS a $10 download from their online store!

My Memories is offering up free downloads, which I'll be sharing with you every Wednesday. The great thing is that are png files that can be used with any program, NOT just the My Memories program! How awesome is that?

The freebie I'm sharing with you today is two quickpages (for those scrapbooking newbies like me, so we can just drop in a photo and it already looks fabulous) and it has a couple of background papers and elements to personalize your page! With Quick Pages, it's super easy to just layer your photos behind the page, add a little journaling, and voila! Ready for printing or saving for the web!

Here is a quick one I whipped up for my dog, Titan. It's the picture that was on the shelter's website, it's this photo that suckered me in.

If you'd like to download this for yourself (remember, you can use these with any program, like Photoshop), click on the pic below! This set comes with 5 page elements, 2 Quick Pages, and a couple of background papers.

Don't forget, if you'd like to order the My Memories software, you can use the special code STMMMS68762 !

That code will give you a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!

Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for a new freebie!

My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Giveaway

2011-12-20T08:33:00.000-06:00

So, I've tried scrapbooking a couple of times before. I buy all the pretty paper, all the stickers and embellishments, take the time to dig through all the bazillion pics I have on iPhoto, get those printed.... and then it all just gets shoved in a box and I never end up doing it. I just can't wrap my head around the concept of working for a few hours and spending $10-20 total, just to end up with ONE page for your scrapbook.

So when My Memories offered to let me download their program, and gave me $10 to spend on their online store, I was honestly a bit hesitant. I mean, I suck at scrapbooking. I have scrapbooking stuff just taking up space and collecting dust. Would I be able to figure this out and do it justice? I went ahead and said yes.

The program was really easy to figure out. It's easy enough to navigate your way through if you've never had editing program software knowledge. I'm pretty familiar with the Silhouette program, and very well versed in Photoshop, so I was able to figure out the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking program very easily.

There are a TON of papers and embellishments that came with the program. Plus, their online store also has a TON of free stuff you can download. My Memories was nice enough to send me a $10 download code, so I had a lot of fun, browsing through their packages, trying to narrow down what I wanted to choose.

It's easy to figure out. You first open a page, decide on your layout and size.

Then it'll open up a blank page, and there the magic begins. You pick your paper, your embellishments, your photos, etc. Click on this next photo so you can view it larger, and see how much there is that you can do. One of the things I was most excited about was that it automatically pulled up fonts that I already have downloaded on my computer. Being married to a graphic designer = LOTSA fonts on my computer.

Since I'm scrapbookingly challenged, I decided to start with something super easy. The first page I did, I used a Quickpage. Basically, it's a page that is already designed, and you just drop in your photo.

Easy peasy, right? The second one I did, I used the Birthday Circus theme. It's far from the gorgeous layouts I've seen people do, but for my first attempt, I'm happy with it.

I did one more, after browsing through some scrapbook images on Google. Looks like lots of layers are the way to go.

Are you jealous that I've had the chance to play with this software? And of my free $10 download? Want a chance to win it for yourself?

Required Entry:

Head on over to My Memories Suite and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout. Then leave me one comment below, letting me know which one it is.

Additional entries:

Followers of Life, Crafts and Whatever get a bonus entry! Please leave a comment below, letting me know you're an awesome follower.
Follow LCW on facebook (+1)
Like My Memories on Facebook (+1)

This giveaway ends Wednesday, December 28th at midnight CST!

Can't wait? Will you have some Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket? If you'd like to download the software now, use the code STMMMS68762 at checkout you'll automatically get $10 off AND another $10 to the My Memories store!!

You'll also see me posting some FREE quick pages that My Memories is sending me, I'll do those every Wednesday, so be on the lookout for those!

So, who's the lucky winner of the $15 credit to Fabulously Flawed?

2011-12-17T14:15:00.000-06:00

I held a little giveaway last week, hosted by none other than the super amazing Lesley at Fabulously Flawed. And that winner is....

Technically the post will show that I had 84 entries, but one reader did all 5 entries in one post. So I added on the other 4 to the total, so 88.

And that lucky winner is..

Farrah, I will have Lesley contact you! Have fun spending your $15!!!!!

Famous on Etsy? Sure, why not?

2011-12-17T06:39:00.000-06:00

So, for those of you who actually read my blog (thank you!), you may have noticed that I've fallen off the face of Blogland. I had a few posts planned this week, and I still need to pick the winner of Lesley's giveaway, but I've been chained to my house and, well, Hobby Lobby and Joann's.

On Thursday night, I got a notification that I was tagged in a FB status. I checked it out, and my friend Emily said...

Ummm, what? I don't follow Etsy on FB, so I had no idea. Clicking the link just took ya to my etsy shop, so Lover pulled up their FB page and twitter feed.

Ummm, holy crap. That's me! Craziness, huh? And they posted the same thing on their FB. Did I mention that their twitter feed has 1.5 MILLION followers, and they have 573,000 followers on FB?

So I'm totally stoked at this point. Seriously, teared up, felt like a rock star, the whole bit. I mean, people get so excited when their stuff makes it to the front page of Etsy, right? This was HUGE.

And then the orders started rolling in. It honestly got to where I was afraid to check my email, since the orders were racking up faster than I could fathom. And while it doesn't look too overwhelming (yeah right), two of those orders were for 3 pillows, a handful of them were for 2 pillows, and one order was for 5 pillows. So, like 30 pillows. No joke.

Looks cool right? Anyone would be thrilled to have so many orders. But of course, I wasn't expecting a rush, so I didn't have much in stock as far as pillow forms and fabric. Of course, right? Did I mention that it normally takes me 4-5 days to make and ship these? And 10 of the orders came with a note with "Would love to have this in time for Christmas!".

So Thursday morning, I got up early, dropped Ava off at my mom's, and hit up Hobby Lobby. Which was completely out of the fabric that I use. Went to another, they were out too. Went to a 3rd one, they had 2 yards in stock. Finally hit up Joann's, and they had a huge bolt of it. Score! But they charge double what Hobby Lobby charges for it (Boo!).

Basically, after all the running around, I didn't get home until noon. And then just started working on pillows. I finally had to tell hubby that I needed him to come home and help. He got home at 4:30, and we worked on these until 1:30 AM. I got 10 pillows ready to pack up (I worked on the "in time for Christmas please!" orders first). Those shipped yesterday, yay! My mom came over and helped me with a bunch of stuff, like sewing and stuffing them. She's actually on her way over right now, and we'll work on these all morning until I send hubby to the post office right before they close at noon.

So I'm so thankful for these orders. I won't be tacky and say how much I profited, but even after having to buy the supplies and shipping, it was a very welcome (and needed, with Christmas and still trying to get our head above water due to all of Ava's surgeries) addition to our bank account.

I'll be cranking these bad boys out all weekend, I want to get them all finished by Monday and ready to ship.

If you need me, I'll be stuck in my house. :) You're welcome to come over and help. I have cookies.

Photo Challenge Monday

2011-12-12T19:46:00.000-06:00

So, I'm a horrible bloggy buddy. My buddy Lesley told me about her photo challenge, and gave me plenty of notice to prep, and I totally spaced on doing it last week. Bad Jen! I totally blame it on Blogger/Google reader, her posts were getting eaten.

16. Animals

Since I already posted a pic of my dog when this challenge first started, I thought I'd go a different way on this one. We took the girls to the pond yesterday and fed the birds. Ava LOVED it. She kept clapping and pointing at them. Melted my little heart!

17. Memories

Now, one thing you won't catch me doing on this blog is bitching or trash talking my ex. Not my style, I think it's tacky. But you need a bit of back story to understand my complete and utter joy when I found these pics this morning. When I left my ex, it was in a rush, and I didn't get a chance to take any of the pictures of my girls with me (darn you, digital age when everything is on the computer!) and he's never emailed them to me. And now that we are on speaking terms, he told me that his computer crashed and he can't recover any pictures. :( So I have very few pictures of my oldest from ages 2.5 and under, and even less photos of my middle daughter from ages 1 and younger. So you can imagine my surprise this morning when I found these pics hidden in the recesses of my email! I had emailed them to my now husband when we were still just dating, and somehow still had them attached to the email when he replied. So grateful to have found these. So yes, I didn't take these this week, but I did find them, so that should count, right Lesley?

18. Something New

Okay, I know I'm not the only one who hasn't heard of a cookie party? My friend Megan hosted one on Saturday. You can go to her blog and read more about the party here, but basically you bake 4 dozen cookies, bring them, and everyone trades. Gives you a ton of homemade cookies, without all the work. Did I mention that I won the prestige of "Best Cookie", for looks and taste? You'll have to go to her blog and see what I made. Spend time looking around her blog, she does so much stuff, it's unbelievable. Furniture refinishing, painting, etc. Did I mention that we've been friends for 16 years? Yowzas. Yes, I'm a bit red in the pic. I may or may not have had 4 glasses of her cranberry margaritas. Oops.

19. Best Friend.

Sounds totally cliche, but it's my husband. Anyone who can take on my two kiddos, give me one more perfect one, and love me despite all my faults? Yeah, those are totally best friend qualities. Plus he's hot.

20. Seasonal.

Our Christmas tree. Would you be able to guess that we have a toddler in the house?

Boom. Mission complete.

Teacher's gifts? Dipped pretzels, baby.

2011-12-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

So, this year, I dig my kid's teachers. My middle daughter is in kindergarten, and her teacher was also her pre-K teacher. Super nice lady, I know Jasmin loves her. And Arielle's teacher? Anyone who can deal with my oldest daughter for 8 hours a day and not strangle her is an angel in my book.

This year, I'm making dipped pretzels for their Christmas gifts. My bloggy buddy Julie at It's Sew Stinkin' Cute showed me how to make these. She said that at a bakery near her house, they sell these things for $1 a rod. Holy crap! I can make like, 30 of these for under $10.

Now, this is the lamest tutorial ever. Like, as in, no pics. I made some of these bad boys yesterday, and I had every intention to take pics. But it's impossible to take a pic and make these at the same time. So we're going to use our imaginations, mmmkay?

Things you need

Pretzel rods, duh. But I didn't get the Snyder's ones. I'm totally cheap and went with the Walmart brand in the white bag. Tastes just as yummy, and they were around $2 a bag.

TIP: take your time and go through the bags, find ones that don't have a ton of broken rods. Although hubby likes when the bag has broken rods, cause the gets those ones.

Get ya some of these. I've seen these at Walmart in the cake decorating/party section, and I've seen them at Hobby Lobby too. The ones I'll picture at the end were made with red and white. The ones I'm making for teachers gifts are white with red and green drizzles. Ya know, for Christmas.

I know some people use almond bark for the white part. I looked up online about using white chocolate, but apparently it's tricky to use, like it doesn't melt or gets all goopy, so I didn't want to deal with that.

You will also need a bowl to melt the wafers in (I like using my big measuring cup), a spoon, some wax paper and a cookie sheet.

The process

First step is take some of the wafers, place them in your bowl, and place it in the microwave. Nuke it for no longer than 30 seconds, stir it, nuke it for a few seconds more, stir it, and so on and so on until it's all melted and easy to stir. I like to add a splash of vegetable oil (NO water, it'll ruin the consistency) in the bowl to help it be more smooth. Don't just nuke it without checking and stirring it, it is possible to over cook these.

Once those are all melted, place the pretzel rod in the bowl, take your spoon, and spoon the melted candy over your pretzel rods until they are mostly covered (leave a couple of inches on one end uncovered so you can hold it). When it's all covered, I like to shake it up and down to get some of the excess off (do this over the bowl, duh). Then place it on the wax paper, which you have laid on your cookie sheet. If you are going to do sprinkles, do it at this time before the candy has dried.

Keep repeating this until all of your pretzels are covered. To speed up the cooling process, place the cookie sheet in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

To do the drizzled colors, you just repeat the above process. But instead of spooning the mixture over the pretzels, I placed it in a ziplock bag, snipped the tip off of one of the corners, and squeezed it out over the pretzels. Bloggy buddy Julie uses a squeeze bottle for this part.

I did let the red candy harden before I did the green on the teacher's gifts, so the colors wouldn't mix.

And voila! It's all done. We made these for Ava's birthday party, and they flew off the plate. Let me know how they turn out if you make them!

Christmas survey? Sure, why not!

2011-12-07T17:17:00.000-06:00

I found this over at my girl LP's blog, A Crafty Southern Chick, and decided to play along!

1. egg nog or hot chocolate? I'm not a fan of egg nog, what the heck is in it? Hot chocolate if I had to pick one. But I can't even really enjoy it, because with each sip, all I can think about is the calories I'm drinking. So if I have to have it, I want it obnoxious. Whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate syrup drizzled on top, with a peppermint stick to stir it all up with.

2. does santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped, always. Lover and I even have wrapping paper and special Santa tags that we use, and Lover always writes on the tags with a different handwriting. When I was a kid, I realized that Santa used the same paper as my parents, and had my dad's handwriting.

3. colored lights on tree/house or white? White. We don't do lights on the house, but I might string some along the walkways next year, since the girls keep begging. When hubby was growing up, one of his neighbors got hurt while putting lights on his house, so now I refuse to let Jake wander around up on the roof. And white lights on the tree. We have an all blue and silver theme on our tree, and our tree came pre-light with white lights. So pretty!

4. do you hang mistletoe? Nope. Do people do that anymore?

5. when do you put your decorations up? The day after Thanksgiving.

6. what is your favorite holiday dish? Stuffing. I love me some carbs!

7. favorite holiday memory as a child? The one that comes to mind first is this one. I had a toy poodle growing up named Sparkle, and I would always make sure to get him a present and wrap it up. One year he found his present under the tree, and would always lay down by it with his paw on it. Smart dog.

8. when and how did you learn the truth about santa? See question 2 above. I think I was about 6 or 7. Thanks Dad.

9. do you open a gift on christmas eve? My girls do. It's always new pajamas that they get to wear to bed that night. We got Ava the cutest penguin footie pajamas this year.

10. how do you decorate your christmas tree? We have a really tall tree, I think 8 feet? But I have hubby fold down the top few branches, cause when you put the star on there, there is a huge gap from all the decorations and the star. White lights, blue and silver ornaments, but none of the ornaments are lower than 3 feet. The joys of living with a toddler.

11. snow! love it or dread it? Dread it. I live in Texas, when we get an inch of snow, schools close, people spaz out, they throw sand all over the highways. I used to be stationed in Japan, and we would get over 300 inches of snow in the winter. Seriously, you'd have to go out and figure out which snow mound was your car, and then unbury it. And they wouldn't cancel work, they'd just do a 2 hour delay so you'd have time to dig out your car.

12. can you ice skate? Yes, I'm not super at it or anything though. I'm happy to remain upright.

13. do you remember your favorite gift? I would have to say my iPod. It's definitely my most used gift.

14. what's the most important thing about the holidays for you? My family, and making sure my kids have a great time.

15. what is your favorite holiday dessert? pecan pie! But apparently I say it wrong. I always call it "pee-can" instead of "pee-con". Even my Korean mother says "Oh my gosh, aren't you American? You're saying it wrong!"

16. what is your favorite holiday tradition? I love the ones that we do with the girls. Opening their new pajamas on Christmas Eve, making a big breakfast on Christmas morning. I love seeing things through their eyes.

17. what tops your tree? a glittery silver snowflake thing.

18. which do you prefer: giving or receiving? giving. I love finding that perfect gift for someone, something they wouldn't buy for themselves.

19. candy canes: yuck or yum? Eh. Those rainbow ones if I'm having them.

20. favorite christmas show? A Christmas Story. Love love love it. There is a house in our neighborhood that decorates their whole yard with that theme. Even has the kid in the yard with his tongue stuck to the post, the leg lamp in the window, it's awesome.

21. saddest christmas song? I'll Be Home for Christmas. Being away from loved ones would be so hard.

22. what is your favorite christmas song? Carol of the Bells by Trans Siberian Orchestra. Holy. Crap. I want to see them in concert.

Giveaway time! $15 credit to Fabulously Flawed!

2011-12-06T09:07:00.001-06:00

So, for those of you who live under a rock and somehow don't know of the lovely lady named Lesley over at Fabulously Flawed, let me introduce you.

Readers, meet Lesley. Lesley, meet my readers.

Now, I think Lesley is the neatest thing since sliced bread. I actually don't remember how her and I started being friends, but she's always there for me to vent to, from everything from kids to Blogland to everything in between.

On her blog, you'll find link parties, super awesome crafts, great giveaways. It's one of the blogs that I religiously stalk.

Now, this is where you should start getting excited. Lesley runs an adorable Etsy shop that I've bought a few things from. The packages come adorably wrapped, it's always a great day when I get a package from Lesley.

Today, Lesley is offering my readers a $15 credit to her shop! Want to know what I would get?

"Just Breathe charm necklace"

Isn't that adorable? I also want these. These would be a great stocking stuffer. Hint hint, Santa.

"Bent Spiral earrings"

So, you wanna know how you can enter? I'm going to make it all crazy and have TWO required entries. Please leave a separate comment for entry!

Required entry #1: Be a follower of my blog and tell me "I'm awesome cause I follow you!"

Required entry #2: Be a follower of Lesley's blog. Trust me, if you like the crap I write, you'll fall head over heels for the stuff Lesley writes. Tell me "I follow Lesley's blog, she rocks my socks"

Now, we all like extra entries, right?

Follow me on FB (+1)

Follow Lesley on FB (+1)

Go to Lesley's etsy shop, tell me what you'd spend your credit on (+1)

There ya go! Giveaway ends next Tuesday Dec 13th at midnight! Contest open to Canada and the good ole US of A!

Highs and Lows, 12-5-2011

2011-12-05T09:43:00.001-06:00

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

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.

Photo Challenge, week 2

2011-12-03T07:16:00.000-06:00

So. Yeah. Lesley's photo challenge came out on Monday, but you'll have to forgive my ~~laziness~~ lack of time, since I'm just now getting around to it.

So I told ya last week that we'd be doing 5 at a time. You don't have to do all 5, which relieves some of the pressure.

You should do it. All the cool kids are.

Day 6 Books

I've been reading a lot of children's books lately. Ava has just recently discovered a love of books. She always wants to be read to. She'll crawl over to you and try and hand you a book, and God help you if you don't take it from her quickly enough, or she'll hit you with it. Ever been clocked in the ankle with a cardboard book? No bueno.

Day 7 Something Funny

The Cam Wow app on the iPhone. It's awesome. My girlfriend Christy had it, I've never heard of it. It's pretty cool, you can see in the screen what your pic will look like (depending on the place on the screen, things either bloat or pucker). Seriously, I was laughing so hard I could barely take the pic). I texted the pic to my husband and said "My my, aren't you a lucky man?"

Day 8 Favorite Color

Yeah, I'm lame and don't have a pic of this, but I'll share anyway. Favorite colors are turquoise and red. Favorite colors to wear are dark gray and black. Exciting, right? Seems like I always gravitate towards gray and black when I'm buying new clothes.

Day 9 Inspiring person

That would be my momma. She's one of those "would give you the shirt off of her back" type of people. She's awesome. Growing up we didn't get along AT ALL. But as I've grown up, and she's relaxed, she's my best friend now. Always willing to drive over to watch the girls, come help me clean or do housework, stuff like that. She's good people.

Day 10 Nature

I guess this counts as nature. This was taken on my oldest daughter's field trip on Thursday. We went to the Dallas Heritage Village. You got to see what life was like in the early 1900's. Looking at the beds and shoes, people were so much smaller back then. It was really neat to see the clothes and pictures, and it was fun to walk around. Well, it was fun when I wasn't threatening to strangle my child because she kept running off, and I had 5 other kids to keep track of. Butthead.

So there you have it, folks.

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

2011-11-29T15:39:00.000-06:00

Thank you to those who entered the giveaway for the 5 Love Languages book!

The lucky winner is...

Congrats Madeline! I'm sending ya an email!

Photo Challenge, Days 1-something

2011-11-25T20:05:00.000-06:00

Remember how I told you that my bloggy buddy Lesley is doing a photo challenge? Somehow I missed her post on Monday. Stoopid Google Reader.

The first challenge? Days 1-5.

Today you can link up one, all or a few of the following:

1. Favorite food

2. Smile

3. Happiness

4. Leaves

5. Morning sky

Day Uno, favorite food.

That would be Sea Salt and Vinegar chips. Most specifically, the Miss Vickie's brand. Lays (NOT the kettle cooked ones, bleh) come in a close second. I got hooked on these when Ava was in the NICU all of those long months. But I love these so much that I can't buy them. I'll go through an entire big bag in one sitting. My Heaven involves Sea Salt & Vinegar chips, and Cherry Cokes.

Day Two - Smile

This smile completely brightens my day. I know all parents love their kids, but after seeing all we've been thru with Ava, with her 7 surgeries, I'm just so much more thankful every time I see her smile.

Day Three. Happiness.

I'm going to be generic and say my family. But it's more than that. I, of course, love my husband, and he treats me like no one ever has before. But he's such an awesome daddy to my three girls. My two older girls are from a previous marriage, but he treats them like his own. There is no difference to him between my older two and Ava. There is no "step" children and "real" children. I know he'd walk through fire for every single one of those girls.

Day four, leaves

The great thing about this challenge? You can interpret it any way you want. Like this pic, it's not exactly a picture of leaves. But there are leaves in the pic. This is my front yard as it sat yesterday. My dad and mom have been kicking butt on getting it done. Hubby and my father in law also got in on the action. I'm so excited to see it finished, and it's such a wonderful feeling to know that all of these people are working so hard, for free, to make your home beautiful.

Day 5, Morning Sky.

Yeah, I don't have anything. :( I'll be better prepared next week.

So there you have it. Go check out Lesley's blog, cause she's awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T14:28:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, dear reader! May your day be filled with love, laughter, and someone else doing the clean up.

Zenni Optical? Yeah, your prices rock.

2011-11-21T03:01:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zenni Optical. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've needed glasses or contacts since I was in sixth grade. Back then, I had some huge black frames with super thick lenses (thanks to my horrible eyesight). That, combined with my frizzy poodle hair and glasses? Yes, it's as tragic as it sounds, people.

I've finally figured out the whole looks thing. Got those braces off, chopped off the hair. I'm a strict contacts wearer, but with the prices and styles at Zenni Optical, I'd be willing to change my mind.

They have glasses starting at $6.95. Yeah, you read that right. And all the cheap eyeglasses (even the $6.95 ones) come with

FREE Anti-scratch coating
FREE Full UV protection
FREE protective case
FREE microfiber cleaning cloth

And they have some great upgrades that you can add to your selection

$4.95 Premium Anti-Glare Coating
$4.95 Sunglass lens tint

And shipping is super cheap! $4.95 for your entire USA order, or $9.95 for your entire international order. And they're offering free shipping if you spend over $50.

I love that when you click on the frame, it gives you a ton of information. Everything from lens width, frame width, frame weight, etc.

And my favorite part? You can upload a pic of your face, and "try on" the glasses. Saves me the trouble of trying to imagine what the glasses would look like.

The glasses I have right now cost me over $300 a few years ago. I wish I would have known about Zenni Optical back then. Would have saved me a ton of money, and these frames are so much cuter.

Wouldn't you love to save money too? The way the economy has been, I know we're all looking to save every penny we can. For me? That saved money would be going towards Christmas presents for my girls.

Wanna see my favorite eyeglasses? It's these bad boys. I would rock these, think geek chic.

A photo challenge? I accept.

2011-11-17T05:40:00.000-06:00

So, my bloggy buddy Lesley is, like, the coolest chick I know. Totally witty, so pretty that I want to punch her in the face, and does the coolest wing eye liner thing that I'm STILL waiting for a tutorial for (ahem, Lesley).

So, like me, she's been going thru a crafty slump lately. I'm catching up on Etsy stuff, being a mom, stuff like that. I haven't had the motivation to craft lately.

And while some bloggers will do a whole post like "Hey, I stuck a pumpkin on my mantle! Isn't it great? Aren't I a genius?" and then post 20 different pics of said pumpkin from 20 different angles, that just ain't my thang.

But, my dear Lesley called me out on her facebook, and challenged me to her photo challenge. And me, I can't back down from a challenge. So here ya go.

There are going to be 30 themes. But no, I'm not going to harass you with one pic a day. She's going to group 5 themes, and do one post a week for 6 weeks. But she's starting us out with baby steps, so today's theme is "animal".

We adopted Titan after we had to put Jasper to sleep. He's been a great addition to the family. The shelter didn't know anything about him except he was found in a mall parking lot. They said he's about a year and a half old, and probably a chihuahua/terrier mix.

I took him to the vet on Tuesday. The vet told Titan "Titan, you just won the dog lottery with her as your owner". Talk about a feel good moment. I was on such a high. Well, until we got finished with his shots, exam, meds and I got handed a $93 bill. Dog better get a job.

He's been so good for my heart, and while he doesn't replace Jasper, it's been a welcome addition to the house. And yes, he sleeps in the goofiest positions.

Giveaway! 5 Love Languages book

2011-11-16T08:55:00.000-06:00

So, for you long time followers, you've heard me talk about the book, The 5 Love Languages before. I swear by this book, I heart it. They always talk about it at the "Marriages That Last" seminar that we go to every year. At first, I was like, "Why are they pushing this book so much?". But after reading it, I totally get it.

In my last post, I told you how my love language is touch, followed closely by gifts. Hubby's is acts of service, followed closely by words of affirmation.

Do you know what yours is? How would you like to have your own copy?

Required entry

become a follower of my blog, or tell me that you already are cause you're awesome. That's one super simple entry

Entra entries

Like me on Facebook, the button is over there on the right. That gives you one more entry.

Bam. That's it, folks. Giveaway ends next Thursday the 24th at midnight. Contest open to US residents, and heck, I'll even ship to Canada.

Highs and Lows 11-15 edition

2011-11-15T07:12:00.000-06:00

Ugh. Another week that I didn't post crap. I'll be better this week. I have a giveaway planned for tomorrow (if I'm not going to entice you with my witty repartee, I can at least bribe you with something).

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

Yes, this was my status last week. The two older girls got their report cards, and they were both great, so we took them to Cici's. Ava was such a snot. Screaming, refusing to be in the seat. Ugh. I don't know what happened to my super sweet girl? She's been throwing temper tantrums for the past couple of weeks. Although she had a really great day yesterday, so I'm thankful for those nice days.

Highs

I'm super excited about this one. I've hated the front of our house for, forever. We bought those cheap brick thingies to put around our flowerbed, just to have something there. Well, my dad has a hook up at a paver company. He does work on their security cameras for free, and return, gets his choice of any of the left over pavers (sometimes it's a full pallet or two, not just a few pavers). I went over with him to pick out one I liked, he brought them to our house, and we (meaning him and my mom) got started on it on Saturday. We spent a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday, leveling the ground. We'll start the mortar process next Sunday when he gets back in town. Of course, we will have to buy the mortar, but we're looking at under $100 when it's all finished. Not bad, considering the neighbors were quoted $1200 for the same thing.

I officially finished week 1 of Turbo Fire. Seriously, it's the BEST FREAKING workout I've ever done. I'm the type who can't do work out videos in the house, cause I get bored and it's too easy to skip ahead (or, ahem, turn it off). But this one keeps me motivated and pumped. Seriously, I heart Chalene Johnson (the instructor). She's so spunky, I want to put her in my pocket.

You know how on the side of Facebook, it'll show you old pics of yours? A pic from when Ava was in the NICU popped up, so I put it next to a current pic of hers. Amazing what a change 14 months can bring.

My etsy sales are slowly picking up. I had a sadly neglected Etsy shop that I started before my blog, so they didn't match. So I shut that one down and started a new one.

Had a great lunch with my mom and hubby at Applebee's. Nice to just relax and have good conversation with two of my favorite people.

So there ya go.

Highs and Lows 11-6

2011-11-07T13:36:00.000-06:00

So, I was lazy and didn't do Highs and Lows last week. Bad blogger! Let's see what I can remember from the past two weeks.

Lows

Signed up to be a foster for the local animal rescue (the same ones we adopted Titan from). They called, and had a blind 10 year old pomeranian, so went and picked him up. SUPER sweet dog. Unfortunately, Titan did NOT agree with having another dog in the house. Whined, barked, threw a fit if he could see me pet the other dog. So I guess I'm not meant to be a foster. I can't fault Titan though, it's his home first, and I have to respect every family member's feelings about the matter, dog included.

We aren't going to be able to go up to St Louis this week like we had been planning. It was my choice, and hubby said we'd make it work. But with Ava's last surgery, it just wasn't the right time to drop $300 on gas/food. I'd rather my kids have a great Christmas than for Mommy and Daddy to have a weekend jaunt off to Missouri.

Ava, my precious sweet girl, has figured out, literally over night, how to throw a temper tantrum. Oh. My. Goodness. Face turned away from you, throws herself on the floor, screaming. What the crap.

Highs

Had a fabulous Halloween and visit with my father in law.

Remember how I told you we had to put my dog, Jasper, down? I got this in the mail last week. Hubby surprised me with it. Came with a stake so I can put it in the backyard.

So, before Halloween, I was talking to one of my best friends about our kids Halloween costumes, and I knew her son wanted to be Mario (from the video game). But due to time, budget, and lack of sewing knowledge, buying a $25 costume for one night just wasn't an option. So I had a free day, hit up Goodwill and found some blue overalls for $2, and spent $2 on red fleece, and I made him a Mario hat. After dinner, we drove over there and dropped it off. He loved it, and I knew Candace appreciated it. Just made my heart feel good. And after I got home that night, I found this on facebook. Talk about melt your heart, I love my friends.

I couldn't have found a better dog to adopt, minus his being jealous. He's such a lover, always wants to be in my lap. And he sleeps in the silliest positions.

Had a shoot a couple of weeks ago with one of my favorite photographers, and one of my favorite make up artists. He actually did one of my first photo shoots 3 years ago. We went down town to Deep Ellum and did the shoot there. It was super quick, and I love the pics.

I finished withe kettlebell challenge I was doing. I've been wanting to try a new workout called Turbo Fire by Chalean Johnson. I've been doing her Turbo Jam for forever, and really wanted to mix it up. So hubby surprised me with it. I did one this morning, and yesterday, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Lotsa great lunches and dinners with friends. Most Sunday nights, when the older girls are at Awana, hubby and I go with another couple friend of ours to FreeBirds (remember when hubby camped out in front of Freebirds for two nights before it opened, so he could be part of the "First 25 eat free for a year", the guy of the couple we go with was number one in line). It's always a great time. Last night, another couple joined us (her husband was also part of the first 25). Woot for cheap, free food.

I got a scarf to review from Stacie at Scarves.net that I'm super excited about. She's the lovely lady who guest posted on my blog last week. I picked the Ashlynn Leopard Scarf, and I BIG FAT HEART it. I just need to find a day this week to get gussied up, figure out a way to tie it (which will be easy with their 37 Ways to Tie a Scarf tutorial)

I think that's it. It's been a long couple of weeks. Bad blogger.

Halloween recap

2011-11-02T08:31:00.001-05:00

Did everyone have a great Halloween? We did. It was a great weekend over all. Scare on the Square on Saturday (it's where all the businesses downtown hand out candy), pumpkin carving on Sunday, trick or treating on Monday. As much as I want to strangle my kids at times, seeing them so excited makes me want to kill them, ya know, a little less.

I'm the Cat in the Hat, kinda. It was too cold for the dress. Ava is a pumpkin, we got the costume last year on clearance for $2. Jasmin is a mermaid, and Arielle is a zombie.

Jake is a dead pirate. $3 sword + $4 thrift store shirt + craft paint = dead pirate. I cut the sword in half and attached it to him with wires and cardboard. He got a LOT of compliments on it, which was cool. He said that starting next year, I have to make everyone's costumes. I'll take that as a compliment.

Ava was PRECIOUS. It took her a few houses to get it figured it, but after a bit, when we would carry her up to the house, she would start to bounce and squeal, so excited about the candy.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Who needs a scarf tying lesson? ME!

2011-10-25T08:59:00.000-05:00

Ohhhhh, do I have a treat for you today. Stacie from Scarves.net is such a sweetheart, and she emailed me and asked about doing a guest post, and I happily accepted!

Yeah, I'll admit it. I buy scarves, and have NO idea how to tie them. I still do the "wrap it around, put one tail down the back and one down the front" thing. Ya know, like an airplane pilot, or how an 8 year old would do it.

Hello! My name is Stacie Grissom and I am a new writer over at Scarves.net. I am so excited to be writing for Jen today-- she is such a creative crafty lady and she makes the cutest birthday treats ever. :) A bit about me-- I live in Indiana. When I am not coming up with scarf ideas, I love to sew and work on crafty things to put on my personal DIY blog. I also have an awesome three-legged dog named Bridget. She is so cool that she actually has her own Facebook page. Hehe. :)

As a writer for Scarves.net, I get to think and write about scarves all day, so I've got some pretty fun ideas on how to wear them.

Where to get these lovelies:

Striped Pashmina | B&W Scarf | Coral Scarf | Flower Scarf | Ruffles

Metallic Ruffle Scarf | B&W Stripes | Gold Scarf | Pom Pom Scarf

Loop Scarf | Black Sequin Scarf | Granny Square Scarf | Paisley Scarf

I am sure most of you know the usual ways to wear scarves, but I am going to show you a few of my favorite ways that are a bit more creative.

1. The Scarf Braid

To braid a scarf, it is a lot easier than it looks. Seriously. And it looks so fancy after you are done! I have found that this works best for longer scarves and it does noWt matter if the scarf is thick or thin. Need a visual? See it on Youtube.

2. Rosette Neck Wrap

I love this rosette scarf tutorial because you can also tie a scarf rosette around your head as well as a headband. This style is also easy to do but looks really sophisticated and fun. Youtube video here

3. Scarf Bow

To tie a scarf bow around your neck, you probably need a longer scarf so that the bow looks proportional. Pair this tying style with a simple shirt and you can make any outfit unique and feminine. Check out the video on Youtube

Hopefully these tips will help you gather some scarfspiration for the coming cold months! If you want more ideas on how to tie a scarf, head over to Scarves.net and check out out 37 Ways to Tie a Scarf. I want to thank Jen again for allowing me to post on her awesome blog! Happy tying. :)

If you're looking for a new scarf, there are a ton of adorable ones at Affordable Scarves. My favorite is the Ashlynn Leopard scarf in black. I can't wait to rock it.

Highs and Lows 10-24 edition

2011-10-24T09:13:00.000-05:00

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

Had to put my dog down last Monday, after being my best friend for 9 years. That's my only low. Everything else is petty.

Highs

Adopted a new dog from the shelter. I love love love him. He's attached to my hip, which makes me feel a lot better while I heal. He's part chihuahua, part terrier. So ugly that he's cute though.

Took the girls on a Haunted Trail on Saturday night. Three other families went with us. Instead of driving over there, we decided to walk the mile there, which was a nice time to relax and catch up. The girls loved it, there was a "kid friendly" section, and then you had the option at the midway point to either exit or continue on. The husbands continued on (and so did my older girls) and the moms took the babies and exited. It was a lot of fun.

Had a photoshoot on Sunday with the photographer that I did my first shoot with three years ago. I always love the pics I get with him, and one of my favorite make up artists did the make up. I'm super excited to get those pics back.

My parents decided to adopt a dog too! They had a poodle for 15 years that had to be put down in 2002. I told my dad about Petfinder, and he found a 6 month old toy poodle, and he went over the next day to meet him, and he brought him home. He's dark gray, and they named him Casey. So cute!

We got our first letter from one of the Compassion kids that we sponsor. It came on Saturday, when I was having a really hard day, emotionally wise. Talk about good timing. Really brought me out of my funk.

On Sunday nights, my girls have Awana, so hubby and I have a date night. We went to Freebirds with another couple friend of ours, always have a nice time with them.

So that's it. I need to get back into blogging, I've been slacking, majorly. Thanks for not jumping ship.

Welcome to the family, Titan

2011-10-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." - Ben Williams

Thank you for all of the comments and emails of comfort. It's been a hard week since we had to put Jasper down last Monday.

We always said that when Jasper passed, that we were going to adopt a dog from a shelter. I know there are puppies in pet stores and on Craigslist, but I'd rather open my home to a dog who need one. Plus, I'm not a fan of the whining in the middle of the night/house breaking/puppy stuff that comes along with owning a puppy. Yes, they're adorable, I just don't have the time or patience.

So on Tuesday, I started looking at different local shelters. The house was just so empty without Jasper. I found a shelter that is about 3 miles from my house, and we decided to go up there after dinner. Not set on bringing a dog home that night, just wanted to see what they had.

We got there, and after being greeted, we went to see what dogs they had. The one that caught my eye was "Miller", a little chihuahua mix that I saw online. He was adorable, and super sweet, but we didn't want to just get the first one we met. So we met a few other ones, but they just didn't "click" with us. So we did the paperwork, and he came home with us.

We named him Titan. Hubby really likes those ironic names, like a great dane named Tiny, that kind of thing. I usually don't like chihuahua's, but I think he's mixed with a bit of terrier. He has these little wisps of longer hair, so he kind of looks like an old man.

They guessed him to be a year old. He was found wandering around a mall parking lot. He's been super sweet so far. A couple of small accidents in the house, but that's no biggie. It's been great to have him in the house, and he's convinced that my lap is the best seat in the house.

The best dog in the world went to heaven today

2011-10-17T16:33:00.000-05:00

I had to put my best friend down today. I bought him when he was 6 weeks old from a little pet store in Japan, and flew him back to Texas with me. Super expensive to fly a dog that far, but he was my dog, that's what you do. He was a loyal friend for 9 years.

We found out a couple of years ago that he had some problems. He was starting to yipe when you'd pick him up, so we took him to the vet. Since he was a dachshund, we figured that he had the famous back problems that all dachshunds seem to get. The dr did an x-ray, and found a golf ball sized tumor on the underside of his spine. We didn't have it biopsied, as it was in an inoperable place, fused to his spine. It did fracture two vertebra, but as long as he was comfortable, then we didn't have to put him down.

Starting yesterday, he started to whine a lot, and he was limping and crying a lot. We decided to wait and see what today would bring, and it was the same. So we made the appointment. It was quick and painless, and he passed on while being held in my arms.

I'm heartbroken, and I don't think it's fully hit me yet. We buried him in the backyard, in his favorite spot. He would always lay in one spot, right where the sun would hit him. I loved that dog. He was with me since the beginning. From overseas, through a bad marriage and finally to where I found my Prince Charming and my happily ever after.

Rest in peace, Jasper Binx. Mommy loves you. Thank you for being the best damn dog there ever was. Whatever dog comes after you has huge paws to fill.

Highs and Lows 10-16 edition

2011-10-16T15:33:00.000-05:00

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

Last night I pulled an ab muscle. The internet says there are three kids. Mild (results from over stretching the muscle, They cause some discomfort but do not limit your activities), moderate (involve a partial tear of the abdominal wall. They cause frank discomfort when using the abdominal muscle and limit your ability to do abdominal-intensive work, such as crunches or twisting motions) and severe (strains, the muscle is completely torn, causing pain and possibly muscle spasms, swelling and bruising. Normal activities, such as sitting up from a prone position, become problematic.) Guess which one mine is? Ugh! Hurts so bad to straighten up (so I'm hobbling around like an old lady) and it feels like constant cramps. I have ice on it, and hubby is taking care of the kids and house. Ugh. so bad

Remember last week, when I said my oldest has lost her damn mind and is acting like an idiot? She came home on Monday, said two boys knocked her off of her bike for no reason. I saw red, those momma bear claws came right out. Contacted a bunch of my friends, found out where one of the boys lived, talked to his dad. Called the principal, about to call the cops, etc. The next day, the principal interviews Arielle and the boys, turns out that Arielle was bumping them in the back of the legs with her bike since they wouldn't move and let her pass, and they were pushing each other and playing around, and that's when she got knocked off the bike. Ugh! SO PISSED. Caused all of these problems when she lied. So she's grounded for a week, I was ready to strangle her.

Highs

Went on a date day with hubby on Saturday. Red Lobster, rented a metal detector (got stuck in the mud, oops), went metal detecting, went to the mall, Jason's Deli for dinner. All awesome. Well, most of it. Realized that I hate metal detecting (NOT an outdoors person), so I feel bad, like hubby wasted $40 on the rental, but it's better than buying one for $250 and realizing then that I hate it.

Had dinner with a friend that I haven't seen in ten years, since we were both stationed in Misawa, Japan. She was in Fort Worth for a conference. We met in Dallas (I live about 35 minutes East of Dallas). Super fun, makes the world seem like such a small place though.

Arielle finally has her baby tooth pulled. The adult tooth didn't come up under it, so she had the baby tooth still in place, with the adult tooth way behind it. Arielle said she didn't feel a thing. Plus, I talked to my ex on the phone about our divorce paperwork saying that he's required for paying half (which I've never send him a bill, just wasn't worth the drama) and it surprisingly wasn't an issue. Color me shocked.

Yesterday marks one year that Ava came home from the NICU, after 66 days in the NICU and 6 surgeries. So thankful for that little girl.

I think that's it. Hard to keep up with my weeks, but I'm getting better at writing things down during the week, so I'm not scratching my head when it comes to this post.

Chili Roasted Salmon with cilantro cream sauce

2011-10-12T07:28:00.003-05:00

I posted a pic on facebook of some salmon that I made the other night, and had quite a few people message me, asking for the recipe. So rather than send the recipe out, over and over, I thought I would just do a blog post about it. You'll have to forgive my picture, it's just a camera phone pic. But if it looks this good in a crappy phone pic, imagine how good it looks in person.

Chili roasted salmon with cilantro cream

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 garlic cloves, smashed
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons olive oil
4 5-ounce skinless salmon fillets
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 poblano pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Mist 2 large baking sheets with cooking spray. In a small baking dish, mix together 2 tablespoons lime juice with garlic, chili powder, cumin, and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add salmon and turn to coat; let sit.
2. In a medium bowl, toss corn, bell pepper, poblano pepper, and onion with remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil. Transfer corn mixture to one of the baking sheets; spread into a single layer.
3. Remove salmon from marinade and arrange on second baking sheet. Drizzle corn mixture with remaining salmon marinade. Season salmon and corn with salt and black pepper to taste and roast 8 to 10 minutes, until fish is just cooked through and vegetables are tender.
4. Mix together sour cream, cilantro, and remaining lime juice. Season with salt to taste. Spoon corn onto plates and add salmon. Drizzle cream over fish.

Nutrition facts per serving: 444 calories, 33g protein, 22g carbohydrate, 25g fat (5.9g saturated), 3g fiber

*I did make a small change. Where it says to "Drizzle corn mixture with remaining salmon marinade", I did do that. However, I also made up another batch of the salmon marinade and tossed the veggies with it. We really like the marinade, and just using the leftovers wasn't quite enough for us.

The Whimy Shop, check it out

2011-10-11T08:08:00.001-05:00

One of my wonderful sponsors, Janice, is off of maternity leave and ready to rock out some orders.

Her most popular necklaces are the birthstone necklaces, and the remembrance necklaces.

The birthstone necklaces are stunning. So simple, yet so meaningful.

You have the option of silver or copper colored wire, and of course, she has the option of all birthstone colors available. What a great gift for moms, grandmoms, etc.

Her remembrance necklace is her other popular seller. Janice explains it more beautifully than I can.

"After losing our own baby, Jack, after complications from a heart surgery I designed this remembrance necklace. It reminds me of something precious being encircled by two arms. The necklace is hammered to represent the beauty which comes from going through difficult circumstances."

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is on October 15th. The purpose of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is to promote Support, Education and Awareness for grieving parents nationwide (and worldwide).

Miscarriage and infant loss affects so many families. According to a national report in 2000, 1 million of the 6.4 million pregnancies in the US ended in either a miscarriage or stillbirth; and in 2003, 27,500 babies died before the age of one.

Parents who have lost babies love to hear that others remember their children and miss them. If you know of anyone who has lost a baby, give them a call or drop them a note on Saturday. It doesn't have to be anything special. Just let them know you are thinking of them and their precious baby. It will mean so much to them.

Janice can do this precious necklace with one, two or three birthstone charms.

With Remembrance Day coming up, and Christmas right around the corner, her etsy shop is definitely worth checking out.

Highs and lows 10-10

2011-10-10T10:42:00.001-05:00

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

I had to retire one of my favorite piercings, my snug (it's an ear piercing). I've had it for a couple of years, but I have a hard time with cartiledge piercings (you'd think I wouldn't have issues, I was a body piercer for a while). But it got bumped during a haircut a while back, and never wanted to heal after that. So it would hurt, or get bumped, or I couldn't sleep on that side. Just wasn't worth it. Bummed, but it's been nice not having to spaz out if someone got near my ear.

My oldest daughter has lost her damn mind lately. Back talking, pouting, whining, sore loser, not listening. It's constant, and nothing we're doing is helping. Positive reinforcement, grounding, yelling, a pop on the butt, trying to talk to her like a big girl. Ugh. She was crying when she didn't win at the sack races at Jasmin's birthday party, she was crying because "Jasmin got all the toys that I wanted". "Go get Mommy your hairbrush and a pony tail holder" means "Go play in your room." I'm pretty sure I'm speaking English, and I don't have any weird accent or voice inflections that I'm aware of, but we're just not communicating lately. Lord, grant me patience before I have to kill her.

Highs

Jasmin's party on Saturday was a success. The theme was "monster bash". She had 10 friends show up. My mom and I made monster plushies, and I bought some fabric paint and let the kids decorate them (drying time said 4 hours, but we did it right at 2pm, and I set them in front of a fan to dry. All but two of them were dry by 4pm when the kids left, but those girls had put the paint on really thick). We then walked down to the fields by our house, and did sack races, three legged races, and a pinata. Afterwards, we came back to the house and did cupcakes and punch. Then Jasmin opened her presents, and we put on the NOW 20 CD she just got, and we had a dance party for a few songs. I was really happy with how the party turned out. I plan on doing a post about the party soon enough, I got away with doing the party really inexpensively. The party favors (the hair clips in the pic above) were made by me, and all the girls got a kick out of them.

I've had some GREAT sales lately. One on Etsy, the rest by other people off of Etsy. The sales off of etsy, I took as a huge compliment, since they were both repeat customers. Means I'm doing something right. It's just nice to be able to contribute a bit to the household finances. Hubby always tells me that the money I make it to be spent on myself, but I'd rather do something with the family then get a new pair of shoes. Most of the time.

UFC 128 was on Saturday night. We had a couple of friends over, and then a bunch of guys showed up and we all watched it. Good company.

Did a double date with another couple during the girls Awana on Sunday night. We've known them for a while, but it's the first time we really hung out together. I had a great time.

In our community, you are only allowed to have garage sales twice a year, per HOA rules. This past weekend was one of the weekends. Arielle came inside and asked if she could spent some of her money at a garage sale down the street, and I said it was fine. She came back, and gave me a recipe book that she bought for me with her own money. Little glimpses of sweetness like that keep me from killing her, most days.

I posted a pic of some salmon that I made on FB, and I've had a ton of people message me, asking for the recipe. Be looking for the recipe sometime this week.

Remember on this post, where I said that my low was modeling for a make up school, and the instructor was really unprofessional? I finally got the pics back, and I love them. Great to add to my portfolio, and I finally have pics with my new short hair. I normally don't show pics on my blog, but the last time I said that, I had a couple of readers email me, saying that I should. So voila.

Had a great day with my mom. Fabric store, thrift stores, Applebees. I was feeling frumpy that day, just one of those days, ya know? I had a lady come up to me at the fabric store, and told me that she loved my hair, and I have the type of beautiful face required to pull it off. Totally made my day.

Yesterday, I've been with my husband for 5 years. It's crazy how much things have changed, but oh my goodness, I would walk through fire for that man.

So that was my week, folks.

Super Freakin' Easy Parmesean Knots

2011-10-07T06:01:00.001-05:00

I'm always looking for simple recipes that make me look like I slaved in the kitchen all day. These totally fall in that category. I found this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen, and yes, mine looked like theirs when I was finished. I call that a success.

• 1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (I used the knock off brand)

    •    1/4 cup canola oil
    •    3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I used the generic can stuff)
    •    1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
    •    1 teaspoon dried oregano
    •    1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1. Roll each biscuit into a 12-in. rope and tie into a knot; tuck ends under. Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. (I found it easiest to take each end and slowly pull it apart until it had stretched out quite a bit, then rolled it in between my hands.)

2. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; brush the warm knots with the mixture.

And voila! You look like super mom/wife, and you can take pride in knowing that your family has happy tummies, without a ton of effort on your part. These are yummy, even my picky eater asked for seconds.

Highs and Lows 10-3

2011-10-04T08:12:00.000-05:00

Dude. I've been SLACKING with the whole blogging thang. Do I still have followers? The things I see people post about, I just don't do, so sometimes I don't have a damn clue on what to blog about. I don't change my mantle decor every 5 minutes, I've only made one and a half wreaths in my lifetime... yeah. Leaves me with nothing of substance to blog about.

But I do enjoy my highs and lows, so here we are again. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Highs

Took the family to a place called Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch on Saturday. They've been featured twice on Dirty Jobs if you watch that show. It was pretty darn cool, took us about an hour and a half to drive out there. We got to pet a 7 month old zebra, 2 week old guanacos, a lemur, a baby kangaroo... pretty darn cool. It's normally $10 per adult, and $8 per kid, kids 2 and under are free. But I found a deal on Living Social a few months ago for a family 4 pack for $18. Deal.

(click on photo to see larger)

The girls were off of school on Friday, so I dropped Ava off at my mom's, and took the girls to see Kung Fu Panda 2 at the dollar theater. I heart the dollar theater, I just can't see spending $8 per ticket for a movie, I'd rather wait 2 months and see it at the dollar theater. Plus, my kids don't know the difference. We were the only ones in there, so we didn't have to deal with other idiots, talking during the movie or playing with their phones.

Hubby finally went to talk to the neighbors that live diagonal behind us about their barking dogs. I told him that either he goes, or I go, and it'll be nicer for her if he went. They have 2 small dogs that bark, ALL THE EFFING TIME. He had to run around the block (all of the fences are connected, so you just can't walk between the houses) and figured out which house it was coming from. The lady happened to be pulling into her garage (talk about pissing me off, she left her dogs outside when she wasn't even there). He just talked to her about her dogs barking, and she seemed to understand and said she'd work on it. She said that her dogs have a problem with peeing in her house, but said that it wasn't our problem and should have to suffer because of it. I didn't hear them AT ALL yesterday, when usually it's hours on end. I understand some barking, some "hey world! I'm here!" barks every now and then. But I mean, HOURS, literally. Fingers crossed it helps.

Got a package ready for our Compassion kids, Maira and Dimas. Stickers, coloring pages, pictures, and the girls colored pics for them.

Found an awesome home for my parrot with a lady, her husband and 11 year old son. She didn't have all of the money in cash that I was asking for, and offered to pay half up front, the rest in post dated checks, with her Michael Kors watch as collateral. Not something I would normally do, since I didn't know her, but something kept telling me that it would be a great home for him and to have some faith in people, so we agreed. She was super nice, Jack LOVED her (they say birds pick their person, the person doesn't pick them). Plus, the next day, she got a bonus at work, so we met up, I returned her watch, tore up the post dated checks, and she gave me the rest of the balance in cash. Thank you Lord for not letting me get screwed in this situation.

I have a shoot coming up that I need a long dress or two for. So I hit up Goodwill, and told myself I wouldn't spend more than $10-12 on it. I found two dresses that would be perfect, but they were $8 a piece. So I was standing there with both of them in my cart, trying to decide which one I wanted. A nice lady came up to me, and said she had an extra coupon for 50% off one item and gave it to me. So I was able to get both of the dresses for $12.

Lows

Lady time of the month, which means I was in a pissy mood. Nuff said.

Highs and Lows 9-26

2011-09-26T16:53:00.000-05:00

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

Took Arielle to her orthodontist consult. Poor thing has such jacked up teeth. She needs one baby tooth pulled, the adult tooth came in way behind it and won't push it out. He said that she has moderate crowding and a misaligned bite. So he said in a year, she'll need partial braces and an expander for 18 or so months. Then a few years after that, she'll most likely need full braces. Poor thing. I wore braces for almost 5 years, I hate that she's going to have to go through the same stuff.

Jasmin's birthday party is coming up, so I asked her how many girls are in her class. She told me 10, so I sent ten invites to her school with a note to the teacher, asking her if she would put them in the girls binders. She wrote me back, and said that unless I send an invite for all 25 kids, that she can't hand them out since it's "excluding" some kids. I guess I get it, but we don't do co-ed parties, and I can't imagine most parents being able to financially or space wise, invite 25 kids. Which means 25 kids, plus at least one parent and probably a sibling? I mean, what the crap, it's not like I asked her to hand them out in front of the boys. So I've sent out 6 invites, and let's hope that they show up, or it's going to be a bummer of a party for her. I mean, not everyone gets invited to everything, it's part of life. I'm just irritated. Her school friends are her friends, and I'm not friends with their moms and have no way to contact them.

I've decided to rehome my parrot, which breaks my heart. But with 3 kids, I'm just pulled in too many directions to be able to give him the attention he wants. He wants to sit on me and hang out with me, which is fine and totally expected, but with Ava usually on me or right around me, it's not an option. I just think he'd be happier in a home without small children. And Jake and I have talked about a 4th child, so it's not just a matter of waiting for Ava to grow up. I'm bummed.

Highs

I was asked to stand in as Arielle's table leader for her Awana class, since her usual table leader would be out. It was refreshing to see her so excited about God. I had to listen to each girl recite her verses, and helped out with their game. I won't be volunteering every time (Sunday night is our date night and when we have one on one time with Ava) but I wouldn't mind doing it every so often

I won the giveaway at Infarrantly Creative for the Great Ideas contest! I won a Cuisinart ICE-21R Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker. Woot! I'm super excited to try it out.

I've been doing really good with my work outs. Lost 2 lbs and an inch on my waist. Hubby and I took Ava up to the park on Saturday morning, so we jogged/walked 1.2 miles. Then I did 10 pushups, which I hate. And hubby told me to do 10 more. And then 10 more a few minutes later. I ended up doing a total of 75 pushups in about 15 minutes, all different kinds of push ups. Not bad for a girl who couldn't do ten pushups 3 weeks ago.

Had such a great week with hubby. Great quality time, went to Five Guys which I LOVE, ordered pizza and watched the UFC fights (okay, that doesn't sound great for my diet, but what can you do).

I'm finally finding time and energy (and ideas) to craft, which is awesome. Started on a Halloween wreath today, but I'm short one item. Grrrrrr.

I think that's it.

Cereal bar prize pack winner!

2011-09-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

The cereal bar giveaway has ended! There were 36 entries and Random picked lucky number...

So that makes the winner...

Congrats Donna! I loved the Lucky Charms bars, I hope your daughter does too!

Christmas is coming! Who wouldn't love a watch in their stocking?

2011-09-22T09:05:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that you've noticed that Hobby Lobby has had their Christmas stuff out for a couple of months now. And while I immediately thought it was way too early to think about Christmas decorating, it's never too early to think about Christmas present shopping.

I know you've heard me talk about one of my fabulous sponsors, Meg from Meggie's Love. She's famous for her watches. All priced around $20, it's an inexpensive gift that looks expensive. You all know the watch I own, right? She's has those in stock (if you want to own one like mine, which I know you do), but she's also added some new styles!

1. Brown suede with tortoise face 2. Red suede with multicolor face

3. Red suede with square face 4. Black suede with lizard skin watch

And although it doesn't feel like it, living here in Texas, it will be getting cold soon. Who says you don't have to be in style, just because it's cold?

1. Crochet scarf with wooden buttons 2. Crochet neck warmer with wooden buttons 3. Crochet neck warmer with colorful buttons 4. Crochet newsgirl hat with brim 5. Crochet bow earwarmers

I totally want number 3 if anyone is wondering. :)

She also had other goodies in her shop. Doggy sweaters, home decor, jewelry, vintage finds. If you like her facebook page, you can stay up to date with newly listed items (like her new wood faced watches, so pretty!) and coupon codes.

Happy shopping!

Free Jello Brain Mold, just pay $2.95 shipping!

2011-09-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

You know I totally had to order this. I jumped on the last offer they had for the 4th of July tray. It was super great quality, and quick shipping.

Have you seen their Halloween theme jello mold? It's this FREE Jello Brain mold! Just pay $2.95 shipping!
It's under the "food" category, around page 3. Use zip 12345.

Thanks to Bargain Hound for the info!

Highs and Lows 9-19

2011-09-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

Decided I'd be a good wife and clean and organize all of my make up that's been sitting on the counter since, I dunno, forever. Went to Walmart, bought some little containers, organized all of my make up. But as I was getting out all of my nail polish, I dropped one. And yes, you can guess what happened next. Yes, a completely full, dark purplish black nail polish shattered, spraying nail polish all over the tiles and cabinets. Did I mention that I was wearing brand new nice jeans? And that I only had 1/4 left in my nail polish remover bottle? Took me FOREVER to clean it up, and I'm pretty sure I lost a few hundred brain cells from all of those fumes.

Highs

Last week I had a couple of sales in my sadly neglected Etsy shop, which motivated me to start making stuff again. It's been nice having that motivation, I've gotten really lazy with it.

I didn't realize my middle daughter's birthday was coming up so soon, it's on October 8th. She asked for a skating party, only because she wants to do everything exactly like her older sister, and older sister had a skating party. But I played up the idea of a house party, with a pinata, sack races, etc, so she's really pumped. We're doing a monster theme, so I've been pinning different ideas.

I'm still doing my kettlebell fitness challenge, and running in the evenings with hubby. I've lost 2 lbs, and an inch off of my waist (and gained an inch in my thighs). I'm excited. I bought some new running shoes, and some new shorts (in a size smaller!).

Ava had her post surgery check up, and the surgeon said she was perfect! There is a 5% chance that she'll have another obstruction in the future, but I'll take 95% that she won't.

Totally silly high. Hubby and I play Alice: Madness Returns. It's only a one player game, but we take turns. He's better at the fighting parts. But he was stuck on one bad guy, and guess who was able to beat it! Me! Yes me, the one who gets killed constantly, beat the bad guy on my 3rd try. What what!

I won some pretty cool lots on etsy for jewelry destash. I'm excited to get my hands on it and see what I can make.

So that's all I can think of, I think it was a good week.

Straight Talk? Tell me more.

2011-09-17T19:01:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm one of those people who has her phone glued to her hip at all times. I feel naked without it. Even so, I don't want to spend a ton of money on it. I'm greedy, I want a lot of options, without having to put out a bunch of money. Money saved, means money that can go towards other things. And who doesn't want that?

For the longest time, I had no idea what our cell phone bill was. Ours is combined with our internet and cable, so I just see the total. But when I actually looked at my bill, I was surprised. There has to be a better way to do this.

Now there is, and it's called Straight Talk. There are no contracts. No credit checks. No crazy surprise bills at the end of the month. Plus, there is great nationwide coverage. Did I mention that Straight Talk only uses trusted phone manufacturers like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung?

The montly plan is amazing. There is an “All You Need Plan” with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data. That even covers those heavy cell phone users.

You want to know the price, right? Unlimited Monthly service is only $45, and includes calls, text, picture messaging, and web. If you do the math, it means that the whole year is under $500. Heck, we were spending that in 3 months with our old cell phone contract. Plus, Straight Talk is free from activation, reactivation, or termination fees. I know you hate those as much as I do.

You know those phones I talked about? Straight Talk has reconditioned phones are available from $10.00 with camera, mp3 player, mobile web access, and blue-tooth capability. They also have smart phones, touch screen phones, and app capable phones with features like voice navigation, camera, video recorder, music player, instant messaging, and Bluetooth®.

Need to hear some testimonials?

If you want to know more, check out Hook, line and sinker

You can also check out Android on Straight Talk and Call a friend

WINNER of the $15 credit to You Enhanced!

2011-09-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

Another fabulous giveaway has ended! A huge thanks to Nik for offering up a credit to her adorable etsy shop! She also has a blog, I love looking on there for the fashion ideas she posts. Lady has style!

Without further adieu, the winner according to Random. org...

And that means the winner is.... drum roll please!

who said she had her eye on the peacock pearl necklace!

Congrats! I'm off to send you an email! Thank you to all who entered! Be on the lookout for a great giveaway when I hit 750 followers!

Cereal treats + Back to School prize pack giveaway!

2011-09-13T08:20:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but when my kids get home from school at 3:15, the first thing I hear is "Mom! We're hungry, what's for snack?" Some days we do fruit, some days it's yogurt or pretzels. I'm always looking for something new so they can have some variety. So when General Mills offered to let me try out their new cereal bars, I gladly said yes.

I got to try out the Lucky Charms and the Golden Grahams. My girls liked both versions, but I was a huge fan of the Lucky Charms kind.

Flavor varieties include the ever popular Golden Grahams® (130 calories) and new Lucky Charms® Treats (100 calories), loaded with popular favorites like chocolate and marshmallows.
Cereal Treats Bars contain less than 140 calories per bar and are made with wholesome cereal, making them a snack option that you can feel good about giving your kids.
TWO Box Tops for Education seals on each box of Cereal Treat Bars, making earning cash for your school doubly cool!

These flavor-packed Cereal Treats Bars are sure to meet the ‘cool factor’ that kids demand. Check out Cereal Treats Bars online for great information and coupons for new products. Also, be sure to visit the Betty Crocker Facebook page and get involved in the conversation.

Want to try them out for yourself? Want some extra goodies? Keep reading!

Here's whats up for grabs!

One box of Lucky Charms^® Cereal Treats Bars
One box of Golden Grahams^® Cereal Treats Bars
Lunch bag
Locker whiteboard
Colored pencil set

Wanna enter?

Required entry: (must be a follower on my blog). Tell me which flavor you're more excited to try!

Extra entries:

Like me on FB (+1)

Blog/FB/tweet this, leave me a link (+1 for each)

This giveaway ends next Tuesday night!

"Disclosure: Cereal Treats Bars, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark."

Highs and Lows 9-11 edition

2011-09-12T08:35:00.000-05:00

So here we are again. Time for Highs and Lows. Pretty simple. Share the highs and lows of your week.

Lows

the nail on my right middle finger decided to split way down past the quick. On both sides. So basically it's just being held on by the middle part, and apparently I didn't realize how often I catch it on stuff, cause I keep doing it, and it keeps splitting deeper and deeper towards the middle. Freaking hurts. I have some acrylic nail stuff on it, but I don't have any hope. Eek. All of my other nails are longer, I'm going to have a short stumpy nail, booooo. Probably my fault since I don't put nail strengthener on it, but it's so hard with a baby. Never know when she's going to wake up, so it's hard to paint my nails during the day. I did splurge and buy some $8 Sally Hansen Miracle Cure strengthener. I know it seems silly to whine about my nail, but imagine splitting your nail about a quarter inch past the quick. Painful.

Highs

Awana started back up for the older girls, which means that hubby and I (and Ava) have date nights on Sunday nights. We went to a new (to me) restaurant. It was whatever, but it was fun to spend time with my husband.

Completed week one of the kettlebell fitness challenge. One week down, 7 to go. I've lost one lb, woo-hoo! Erin started a (secret) FB page where all of the participants can post weekly pics, and it's a great feeling of support. I won't post my pics now, but be prepared to see pics in 7 weeks of my epic hotness.

Took my mom to Olive Garden on Friday (sorry Lesley, I know you hate that place). Korean thanksgiving is on Monday, and she always feels a little sad that her whole family is getting together in Korea and she can't be there. So I always take her out to lunch for our own Thanksgiving celebration.

Had sushi with one of my girlfriends on Tuesday. It's always nice to have girl time.

I woke up on Wednesday to find a couple of sales from my sadly neglected Etsy shop. It was nice to see some money in my account, and gave me the motivation to start listing stuff again. I like making the stuff, I hate taking pics and listing it.

I think that's it? It was a pretty low key week, which isn't a bad thing.

Ava's First Birthday, a recap

2011-09-10T14:30:00.007-05:00

We celebrated Ava's first birthday party last weekend, a celebration that was long over due. I'd been planning her party for a couple of months, pinning things on Pinterest, making the decorations, etc. Her hospital stay and emergency surgery pushed everything back two weeks, but it worked out okay in the end.

I decided to go with a circus/carnival theme, with the colors red, turquoise and yellow.

Luckily, I had help with the food. Julie, from It's Sew Stinkin' Cute, took Friday off of work and came over bright and early to help. We had fun making all of the goodies. Chocolate covered pretzels, dipped marshmallows, layered jello, shortbread cookies from scratch. It was a smorgasbord of sugary goodness. I also made crackers and star shaped cheese, and star shaped pastry puffs on sausages, but those aren't as colorful and fancy. I love how we stuck with the color theme. I'll have to do a tutorial on the pretzels soon, they were super easy (or at least, they looked easy, since Julie did those), and I've heard of places selling them for $1 a piece. We made 30 of them for under $7.

I made three centerpieces that were super easy to make. I went onto Google, typed in (animal name) clip art, found a shape I liked, and printed it out. I then cut it out, traced it onto cardstock, and cut that out. The saddle and the base were found on the Silhouette store, which cost me 99 cents (under their circus elephant cut out), I just resized it to each animal. Once it was assembled, I backed it all with black cardstock. The stars I got for 20 cents a piece (4th of July decorations at Hobby Lobby) and the blue star weight I found at Party City for a dollar. So each centerpiece cost me about $2 a piece.

I was really impressed with the smash cake. I got it from a local lady named Elizabeth who runs Poppy Locks. I sent her some pics of cakes that I liked, and she took those ideas and created this masterpiece. I loved it. Did I mention that the inside was marbled with different colors? How awesome is that? The simple pennant across the top was made at the last minute. I just cut out triangles out of left over invites, glued them on a string, and glued the ends to straws. The wall banner was simple to make. I printed out letters in a circus font, cut them out, cut out carstock in a triangle shape, punched out circles, and glued it all together. The party favors were drink tumblers that I bought at Party City for $1 a piece. We didn't have an age group that we stuck to when we invited kids. All of our friends kids were welcome, so I needed a favor that was good for a one year old, up to a ten year old.

We also did a photo booth. Luckily, my husband is a graphic designer and designed the background based on a few examples I sent to him. Julie (thank you!) play paparazzi with her awesome camera. It really took the stress off of me, being able to just enjoy the party and not stress about taking pics. I made the props out of cardstock and kebab skewers. I just went to google, typed in the different shapes I wanted, found a pic that I liked, printed out the pic in the size I wanted, and cut it out and used it as a stencil on the cardstock. The fake suckers were purchased at Party City for 50 cents a piece, and the clown noses were $2.

Did you see Ava's dress? My mom and I made her a ringmaster dress! I bought the pattern when it was on sale at Hancock Fabrics for $1. The fabric cost me about $4 at Hobby Lobby. I already had the gold buttons and the gold trim, so her dress cost me about $5. For her smash cake, I found a shirt on clearance at Kohls for $2 (and I had a 30% off coupon). It said "Cutest Birthday Girl Ever". I knew that she would get messy, and I didn't want to worry about staining anything.

Thank you for letting me share! Hopefully you enjoyed our birthday party on a budget as much as we did!

And one final recap?

Let's party...

$15 credit giveaway to You, Enhanced? Yes please!

2011-09-09T07:24:00.001-05:00

***This giveaway has ended!****

I've been a bad blogger lately. Between my youngest's medical issues, and her first birthday party, I've been too tired/lazy/uninspired to create anything worth posting. To make it up to you, I have something awesome for you today. One of my sweet sponsors, Nik, is offering up a $15 credit to her Etsy shop!

In her shop, you'll find super cute, adorable, affordable jewelry. I own the POW necklace, and it's one of my favorite pieces! I always get a ton of compliments on it when I wear it.

So you're asking yourself "Wow, what are some of Jen's favorite pieces in that shop?" Well, let me show ya!

I love how the jewelry is simple, adding just a touch of fun to your outfit without stealing the whole show! I'm not usually a fan of gold jewelry, but I would totally rock that bunny.

So, what, you want to enter and get your hands on something of your own? Here's how!

Required entry: Tell me you're a follower (cause you have to be to win. All the cool people follow me, I'm just sayin') and if you are more of a bracelet or necklace wearer.

Want extra entries? Do ya? Do ya?

Go to You Enhanced and tell me what you'd spend your credit on. (+1 entry)

Heart her shop on etsy (+1 entry)

"like" me on FB (or tell me that you already do), there's a button on the right side of my blog (+1)

Blog/tweet/facebook this giveaway, leave me a link (+1 entry each)

Buy anything from her shop and let me know that you did (+10 entries)

There ya go! Super simple ways to enter! This giveaway will end next Friday night!