Life Crafts & Whatever: Highs and Lows

Showing posts with label Highs and Lows. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Highs and Lows 4.2.2012

Lows

Ava has decided that instead of crying normally, she needs to cry and scream "mom" over and over. And over. And over. It partly drives me batty, and mostly just makes me want to give her whatever she's crying about.

My tattoos are driving me insane. No, not in the "Oh my gosh, why did I get these things? I'll regret it when I'm 80." way. But they're so itchy all the damn time. Like, I want to scratch my skin off. I did some reading in Google, and apparently when you're pregnant, you can become "allergic" to the ink in your tattoos. Something about the different hormones in your body. Luckily, it's not all of my tattoos, just my back piece and my half sleeve. So of course, the two largest tattoos.

Highs

We had a fabulous weekend. Long, but fabulous.

First there was an Easter Egg Hunt. I was a little irritated about how it was run though. They had three sections divided into ages 0-3, 4-8, and 9-12, which is great. But then they had all ages go at the same time. Meaning I didn't get a single pic of Jasmin and Arielle getting eggs, since I was helping Lover and Ava. Whoever was running the hunt obviously didn't have more than one kid. Plus, the egg hunt said it started at 10. Luckily we got there at 9:30 because the hunt started exactly at 10:05. Usually they start at like 10:20 or so, to let everyone get in place and so the stragglers can get there. We were finished at 10:15, and we saw some very unhappy kids and parents still walking up from the parking lot when we were leaving.

Then we went to bloggy buddy Julie's daughter's birthday party. Ava LOVED the bounce house. My girls loved all the sugar. Arielle didn't get to get her face painted, since she's still getting over poison ivy, and I didn't want to possibly contaminate the face painters brushes. I'm not quite sure how it works. But she was totally fine with it. Luckily she seems to have gotten over her attitude issues from last week.

The girls spent the night at Grandma's house, so Lover and I went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and Chiloso for breakfast. Then my mom's friend was throwing a party for her husband, so we went to that. Thank goodness for heated pools.

Got the green light from Lover on a few house DIY's that I want to do. Make a light cover for the ugly light we have in the kitchen. Redo our coffee table. Paint the front door. Finally make a starburst mirror. He tends to like things how they are, I always get bored and want to change things. I can't count the number of times I rearranged my room as a teen. You'd be amazed at how many arrangements you can come up with with just a bed, nightstand, desk and dresser.

After 4 years of working there, Lover put in his two weeks at his work, and will be doing freelance full time. He has one main freelance client that he will be working with, and then he still has a bunch of repeat clients. Working at a church, even as a graphic/web designer, you just don't make what you should. But, with the lack of money, you do get the perks of the family friendly environment, like he's always able to come to OB appts with me, and they were INVALUABLE during our Ava/NICU ordeal. But it's hard for him to work there. Besides the money, there just isn't room for advancement. You have the worker bees, the two managers, and the head honcho. And unless one of the managers quits, you just can't move up. And he's too young in his career to be stuck. It'll be a change to have him home all the time, and I'm curious how Ava will do with him being home but not "available", but I'm excited for him.

One of my close friends, Candace, asked me if she could throw me a "Baby Sprinkle" this summer. I know, I know. Some people say that you can only have a baby shower with the first baby. I'm in the camp that says that each baby should be celebrated, but perhaps not as big as the first one. This time we're thinking just some girlfriends and a potluck. Any excuse for a party, right? So sweet of her to offer. She co-hosted my last shower.

Took my mom to the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday. She has such a green thumb, her backyard seriously looks like a botanical garden. Meanwhile, I can't keep a cactus alive. We had fun, but Ava was not feeling it. Only wanted me to carry her, wouldn't get in the stroller. Butthead. I didn't realize the Botanical Gardens were so expensive? $15 per adult, plus $10 for parking. Luckily, Capital One Bank has a coupon for BOGO on Tuesdays. Then my mom took me out to Red Lobster. YUM!

Pillow orders are still going good. I'm happy with 1-2 a week. I was really happy to have some money in my Paypal account so I could buy him some stuff without him getting any hints. Lover's birthday is on the 12th, and I hate when I have to buy him a present with the credit card. It really kills the surprise when he sees that I spent $xx at whatever place.

I think that's it, dolls.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Highs and Lows 3/26/2012

Lows

My oldest (almost 9 years old) has been such a butt lately. Always has a comment for everything, or asks me "why?" or says "so?" when I tell her to do something. Girl has lost her damn mind. And my 6 year old and 8 year old just do not get along. Arielle wants to be the boss or acts like a mom to Jasmin, Jasmin doesn't agree with it and gets an attitude with Arielle. Last night I was sick of the all day bickering, so they went to bed right after their showers. No watching "Once Upon a Time" with mom and dad.

Had the worst bout of tossing my cookies the other night. Like, I barely made it to the toilet, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to do some touch up paint on the walls. Yuck.

Jasmin had her first t-ball game on Saturday. Lover is her coach, which means I get to entertain Ava by myself for an hour. NO BUENO. After about 2 minutes, she did not want to be there. I think next time I'm packing more snacks and bringing along some toys she hasn't seen in a while. Miserable.

Highs

Had a great OB check up. I can't freaking wait to see what we are having at the next appt.

Arielle finished her Awana book. Awesomesauce.

Had fun with the girls on Sunday morning. We took them out in the field and worked on fielding and batting. It felt good to get out and throw the ball (I used to play softball in high school). Then we went to Five Guys for lunch (yum! Love that place!)

Hubby has some great freelance going on, which is awesome. His doing freelance is a catch 22. I love the extra money (and we need it most of the time) and I love that he has a job that he can do freelance, but sometimes I wish he had a job that was just 9-5 and he could be free of work from 5pm on, not have to stay up late most nights and work on freelance.

I'm feeling so much better lately, energy wise. I'm still going to bed around 8pm most nights, but at least I'm not falling asleep during the day.

I finally ordered a postal scale for my etsy orders. It'll save me time and money at the post office. I feel so official.

So that's it, folks. I'll announce the giveaway winner tomorrow.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Highs and Lows 3/19/2012

Have you entered my 1007 follower giveaway? No? What are you waiting for?

Lows

I really can't think of any. That's awesome.

Highs

A stranger accidentally ran over the girls scooter when he pulled into our driveway to turn around. And instead of ignoring it, he came to the door, apologized, and bought the girls a new one. Kinda renews your faith in people.

My father and sister in law were in town for three days. Ava had an upset tummy for the first two days, which made it hard, but on the third day she was back to her normal sweet self.

I've hated our dining room table since we bought it. It was metal, glass and slate tiles. But the legs flared out so anytime you'd try to walk around the table, you'd bump the legs and make the entire table shake. And the tan seat covers looked like crap, and the metal backs of the chairs would catch your clothes and hair between the slats. So I've been looking at Craigslist, but finding a wood table with 6 chairs and no fabric or leather on the seats for a good price was turning out to be impossible. After searching for a couple of weeks, I found an ad last night that had just been posted 15 minutes before. Solid wood table, 6 chairs with a wine rack/buffet table in great condition for $350 OBO. I offered her $300 and she accepted. Hubby and my father in law went and picked it up last night. Took them two trips, but I ADORE it. I feel like such a grown up. I want to do a pretty centerpiece with a distressed wooden box and plant some succulent plant thingies in it. The first two pics are hers, the last pic is when it's set up in my kitchen.

Arielle and Ava had a dr's appt on Thursday. Arielle's was her one month check up on the ADD meds, and she's doing so well with those. Seriously, she's like a totally different kid, such a pleasure to be around. Ava had her 18 month appt (and NO shots needed this appt, woo-hoo!).

There ya go, folks. I think that's it.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Highs and Lows 3/13/2012

Lows

I guess the worst one would be the stupid garage door. It hasn't been working right for a few weeks. It goes up without a problem, but it doesn't go down unless you press and hold the button (and sometimes not even then). One of our friends said that it might need grease, so we bought some $7 kit from Lowes. Nope, didn't work. I couldn't get it to go down one day, so I had to manually lower it and locked it. Well, hubby didn't know that I locked it (like he always tells me to) and since it was locked, the metal hinge snapped off the door and bent the metal. What the crap? Luckily my dad is supposed to come fix it today.

Apparently it's "tell me I'm an asshole" week. Nuff said.

Found out within 24 hours that my oldest needs glasses ($233 for the glasses) and has 4 cavities ($123). Didn't know I was going to be spending that. Ouch.

Highs

I hit over 1000 followers. Oh. Em. Gee.

All three girls spent the night at my parent's on Friday night. So Lover and I had the whole evening to ourselves. Went out to eat, wandered around Best Buy. It was a great night. I love my girls but sometimes it's just so refreshing to have a break.

Took the girls to a birthday party at ASI gymnastics on Sunday night. Of course the two older girls had fun, but it was so cool to see Ava crawling around and over things. Especially since when we had her evaluation with ECI a month or so ago, they said that she had the gross motor skills of a 10 month old (she's 19 months old now).

I'm finally starting to feel better. Less nausea, not going to bed at 6pm. But of course, instead of being super excited about it, there is always a part of me who is like "Oh my gosh, what if my pregnancy symptoms aren't going away because I'm 11 weeks but because something bad happened?" I have a bad habit of getting inside my own head.

I was able to find one of the hamsters a new home with my friend, who wanted it for her kid. We decided to keep one since Jasmin loves having one. But I couldn't handle cleaning two cages anymore since Arielle didn't even play with hers, and with my super sonic sub human sense of smell, I couldn't handle the smell of cages. I think I'm just a reptile girl, not a small animal girl.

I think that's it. It was a low key week.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Highs and Lows 3/6/2012

Lows

I forgot to give Arielle her ADD meds on Saturday, and holy crap, she lost her damn mind. Tried to cheat at a game she was playing with Jasmin, then when Jasmin told her that she was going to go tell, Arielle punched her in the stomach. So we brought her inside, punished her, and then told her that she could go back outside. Not 15 minutes later, I see Arielle playing in the construction area across the street that we already told her that she was under no circumstances allowed to play in. What the crap. So I made sure she had her meds on Sunday, and VOILA! Back to being my sweet girl. Who knew a tiny pill would make such a difference?

For some reason, my 6 year old has reverted back into being a baby. I don't get it. She's always been my easy child. But for the past couple of weeks, "Mom" and "Dad" are now "momma" and "dada", she whines and cries constantly, acts helpless when it comes to things she's always been able to do on her own, constantly sucks on her fingers. I don't get it, but it's driving me insane.

No spoilers, but The Walking Dead made me bawl on Sunday. And wish that one of the characters gets eaten by a walker. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I guess technically this would fall under this week, but since I'm late with posting, I'll just throw this on one here. I've had a ton of pillow orders this week, which is awesome. And I thought I was finished with all of them. But when I was packing up one of them and writing the card, I looked up the coordinates again (the lady wanted me to write "Love obviously lives at (insert coordinates)). And guess what. The coordinates I looked up did not match the pillow I made. I guess I accidentally typed a 1 instead of a 2. So that's just frustrating. So I get to remake that pillow. EDIT: Just rechecked the info so I can redo it, and it says I had the info right in the first place. So I get to redo it anyway. WTH.

Highs

My sister in law decided on her bridesmaid/MOH dress. I've been pinning a few things on Pinterest for her. I figure the more people you have looking, the more options you have, right. And she ended up liking one that I pinned, which of course means I LOVE it. And it cost me a whopping $35, which I love even more. I'll just have given birth a month prior, so thankfully it's not a super skin tight dress. I've always gone back to my pre-pregnancy weight (minus like the last 5 lbs) a few weeks after birth, but you know how it is, and things just aren't in the places that they were before. So you better believe I'm going to pack myself into some Spanx too. Imagine my head on this dress. Pretty, huh?

My etsy shop is getting some orders again, which is awesome. A couple of ladies said they found it from Pinterest. So the extra money has been nice, and it keeps me from laying on the couch all day.

Spent some good time with my mom. She came over one day and cleaned the house. Then we went out to lunch on another day. Love her. Right now she is outside pulling my weeds. I hate gardening, and for some reason I did not inherit her love of gardening. I have a brown thumb, every thing I try and grow just dies a slow death.

Signed Arielle up for softball. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to. Last year she played for the church (which is a ton cheaper). But they didn't have enough girls sign up in her age group to make two teams. So I ended up signing her up for the city team. It's a bit pricier, but she's really happy.

Had a great time on Sunday with the family. I put on some great oldies like "Run Around Sue" and we had a little dance party in the living room. Even sweet Ava was trying to stomp her feet and dance.

Lover had always been awesome with helping with chores and stuff, but since I've gotten pregnant, he's gone above and beyond with helping, and it's so appreciated.

The nausea is getting so much better. I still need Zofran every now and then, but not nearly as often as I was.

I think that's it. I can't remember. Darn pregnancy brain.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Highs and Lows 2/27/2012

Lows

My blog was all jacked up for who knows how long. Went to check it, and thanks to "being too popular", Photobucket wasn't showing any of my buttons, just a bunch of ugly icons, and said I had to upgrade to Pro. Wow, thanks Photobucket for the warning. Luckily, Lover is a web guy, so now he's hosting them on his server. But what a pain.

I hate the Attorney General. I've been divorced from my ex for 5 years, and felt it was time to have the child support adjusted. So, instead of paying a lawyer $1500, my friend said that she goes thru the AG and it's free. So I filled out the form online, and figured that was it. Well, apparently there is some "Affidavit of Direct Payments" form that I didn't know I was supposed to fill out to show he's been paying me directly for the past 61 months. So since we've never gone thru the AG, they didn't have any proof that he's paid me. So, rather than call me, they sent him a lovely letter saying he owes $38,000, they were going to intercept his tax return, and they sent it to collections which dropped his credit score by 100 points. So, of course, I felt like shit, even though it wasn't my intention to open that can of worms, and while I spent a lot of time on the phone crying about it, he wasn't too upset and said it was an honest mistake, that we'd get straightened out and we'd laugh about this in two years. So I spent this morning driving 45 minutes to Dallas to get the form notarized, and then went to the AG office to drop it off and close the case. The lady said that it takes up to 20 days to update the case, so we'll see if my ex gets his tax return next week like he's supposed to. I really hope he does, he's using that money to come down this summer to pick up the girls, and they are so excited about it. Oh, and trust me ladies, his reaction surprised the crap out of me. That was not the reaction of the man I was married to for 3 years. Not at ALL.

Arielle played softball last year, and she loved it. So we signed her up for it this year, but there weren't enough girls her age that signed up, so they can't make two teams. We offered to let her play soccer, but she was really bummed. We're looking into signing her up for the city, but it costs quite a bit more. So we'll see.

I might have to be a mean mommy and get rid of my daughter's hamsters. They were given to us by a neighbor (who's dad got tired of cleaning up after them). It's two girl hamsters, which I thought girls weren't supposed to smell as bad. We split them up and Arielle has one in her room, and Jasmin has one in her room. Arielle's is fine, but Jasmin's stinks to high heaven. I can't change the bedding anymore (makes me gag) so Arielle changes it once a week. Even so, not 2 days after it's changed, Jasmin's room STINKS like pee, even with a room neutralizing deoderant gel thing that I bought. I'm already spending $23 a month on the bedding, which lasts us one month. So to change it twice a week, I'm looking at $50 a month on bedding. FOR A HAMSTER. Which is can't justify spending $300 a year on something that the hamster pees on, when we're a soon to be family of 6 on a single income. We always said that we'd never have our house smell like animals, and when I got home today, the house reeked of pee and foulness.

Highs

The constant nausea is getting better! I seem to be tossing my cookies more often (like 2-3 times a week instead of 0-1) but I much prefer this.

Did dinner with a newish friend and her husband last night. Her husband and my husband seemed to hit it off, which is awesome. Ya know how you meet people, and really want to get to know them better? That's how this is. But how do you do that as an adult? Things were easier as a kid.

Had a lovely dinner with the family at Red Lobster last Friday. I heart RL. Have you ever tried their Boston Ice Tea? It's half ice tea, half cranberry juice, and a orange wedge. I get two orange wedges, squeeze those bad boys in there, and add 4 packs of sugar. YUM.

I spent so much time sleeping this weekend, and it was FREAKING AWESOME. Slept from 7:30-5am on Friday night, then took a nap from 2-6pm, then went to bed at 8:30 on Saturday, woke up at 5am, and then took a 2 hour nap. It was glorious.

Luckily, this morning at the AG office took me all of 15 minutes. The one time I called them, I was on hold for 35 minutes. I was terrified that it was going to be like the DMV, but I was in and out. Filed out a form, made a copy. Wham bam thank you ma'am, I was done.

I've had some feedback lately on my blog that's been a real high. A reader sent me a lovely email, some have left comments. Apparently you like me, you really like me. :)

It was a hectic week, but I can't complain. I feel like I've spent all damn week on the child support issue, but thankfully I've done all I can do at this point and now we're just waiting for it to be closed.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Highs and Lows 2/20/2012

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.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Highs and Lows 2/13/2012

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.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Highs and Lows 2/6/2012

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.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Highs and Lows 1/30/2012

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.

Monday, January 23, 2012

High and Lows, 1/23/2012

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.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Highs and Lows, 1-16-2012

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.

Monday, January 9, 2012

High and Lows, 1/9/2012

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.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

High and Lows, first one of 2012

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.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Highs and Lows, 12-5-2011

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

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.