New Blog Header

I decided I was tired of my current blog header so I created a new one. Since I plan on printing this blog one day as a book, this was my blog header from around July 2010 to today.

3 days till Opening Day

Since this morning, was my Mom's doctor's appointment, I decided to keep Keree home from school. This way I didn't have to pull her out early. Luckily, that meant I was able to sleep in a little longer. I flipped on cartoons, pulled the cover back over my head and got a extra 1/2 hr to sleep which was great with how sluggish and sore I still feel from last weeks sickness. We got to my Mom's doc appointment almost a 1/2 hr early but she still had to wait over an hour and half after her appointment time to get in. Luckily the appointment went as well as can be expected. While my Mom was waiting to be seen, Keree and I hung out in the car. Honestly, I hate to sit in the waiting room there because every time we do, we end up catching something. So we opt for the car. While we were in the car, Keree worked on some spanish lessons with a cd. What is amazing is each of the spanish lessons are broken down into easy to learn sections. We worked on colors and numbers today. I don't remember where I got the books/cds but they were only $1 a piece and Keree has caught on so quickly with them. After we finished them, we then worked on some 1st grade workbooks, I had also picked up. Keree almost finished the reading workbook and only touched a little bit of the math workbook. Of course, since we still had time to wait, we then drug out the Addition flash cards and worked on them. On our way home, I had to stop and pick up some pictures I had printed from the store. I was so mad because they weren't printed right and even though the Manager was working the counter, she told me to come back tomorrow to have them fixed because she didn't know what to do. Seriously, great customer service. Once home, it was past 1p. Keree ate a quick lunch and went down for a nap without fuss, which was great. So I spent my afternoon, trying to catch up on everything I put off from not feeling well. Of course, my day couldn't go completely well. The AT called this afternoon and basically said everything I didn't want to hear. So since today is Monday and it's only 3 more days till my Hometown Baseball team's opening day, I decided on a baseball themed Muffin Tin for dinner. I honestly say this was one of the most fun I have had since Halloween in creating a Muffin tin. So without further ado, I used baseball themed muffin liners turned inside out so you could see the picture. In my first cup, I took 2 piece of cheese and created my own Cards baseball player, which ball player he is, well that's a toss-up. Keree said it was Wainwright. I free-handed the ballplayer cut out with a knife because I don't own a cookie cutter shaped like that. I then drew all the small details on with edible markers. Next up is an ice cream baseball. I used vanilla ice cream for the ball and then cut little pieces of red licorice for the stitching detail. In the final cup of that row was a cherry flavored cupcake, I got at the grocery store with a Cards hat on it. It was just so cute and totally fit the theme. In the second row, the first cup contains a Home plate. All I did for this is cut the bread with a knife into the shape. It looked so plain but honestly a home plate is boring looking. In the next cup is some ballpark peanuts. Keree isn't a fan of nuts, so they are really only there for show. In the final cup is some chopped tomatoes on red toothpicks. I also placed the other cupcake pick I got in with the tomatoes. The final piece that pulls it all together is the hot dog baseball bat. I just simply cut pieces off the hot dog to make it look like a bat, then I used edible markers to write slugger on it. Of course for some reason my u smeared. The rest of our evening was spent working on crafty stuff, we have a huge show in a little over 2 weeks and I feel so far behind in everything.

Paperwork

Keree didn't go to school this morning because I had to spend my day running. After making about a hundred copies this morning, right after we woke up. We then loaded into the car for a trip 3 counties over (over a 2hr one-way trip). We made the stop at the million $ courthouse, where they had a hard time locating the paperwork I needed. So what should have been a 1/2 hr stop or so, turned into a couple of hours. While I waited on the paperwork, my Mom and Keree walked around and explored. They also got some reese pieces out of the vending machine. Because there was no place to get copies, we decided to stop by my Uncle E's work. So since we were there, we dropped off his wedding photo discs because he has never picked them up (he got married in June '10). Since he was nice enough to make the copies, it was then onto our next stop. I was dreading this stop because I really didn't want to talk to him. Luckily, he wasn't in and I got to speak with the secretary. So after dropping off a hefty check and paperwork, it was now 445p and we were finally heading home. I was emotionally exhausted, so we decided to treat ourselves to pizza. I talked my Mom and Keree into going inside and waiting for the pizza while I rested outside. Keree thought it was hilarious because I kept snapping pictures of them through the window. What was also nice, was the pizza girl gave Keree a clean pizza box for her play kitchen at home. Once we got home, we enjoyed our pizza, made a few phone calls and then settled in for the night.

Still Sick

This morning, I woke up thinking I felt ok, but the minute I moved I was pretty sure it was the end of me. I took Keree to school just so I could come home and sleep. When I picked Keree up from school, they had spent the day outside playing. Since it was so nice outside when we got home, I grabbed a chair and let Keree burn some more energy. She rode up and down the sidewalk at break-neck speeds. Thank goodness she only crashed twice, when taking her turn too quickly. She was also excited because she got a postcard from my Brother's recent trip to PA. After we headed inside, I let Keree fix her own lunch (wafer turkey meat, slice of american cheese and chips). As soon as she was finished eating, we both laid down for a nap. Since I felt so awful, I literally did nothing the rest of the day. Keree did join my Mom for some time upstairs and she worked on turning straps inside out. Which Keree thought she was such a big help and didn't realize that both my Mom and I consider it tedious work. Hoping that I feel better tomorrow because this sucks being sick.

Happy Ravioli Day

This morning when I woke up, I could barely get out of bed. I had gotten sick sometime during last night and I was really hoping that with a good night's sleep that this extreme nausea feeling would be gone. I was wrong, it was a hundred time worse this morning. Finally I drug myself out of bed, got Keree feed and dressed for school and out the door. I had started feeling better so after dropping Keree off, I ran and paid some bills, picked up the money orders to pay for our booth spaces at upcoming shows and picked up a few things at Walle mart. When I got done, I was suddenly feeling awful yet again, so I picked Keree up from school almost 45 minutes early. When I arrived, the whole school was outside on the playground and some of the classes was starting to head in. I passed the Assistant Teacher and she said, I had just missed the pep rally. I then passed one of the Directors G and she goes you just the pep rally, it was so cute. So I finally step outside, Keree was playing with Hyun and I have to say seeing these two play together was just too precious. So after signing Keree out, we walked to get her backpack before heading home. I asked Keree about the pep rally and she said that they were screaming and cheering for the Teachers. Still not sure why they were but Keree was more impressed that she got to eat her snack outside. Once we got home, my Mom and Keree stayed outside and changed our Goose, Gooselyn Bob's clothes to a more springtime outfit, while I wanted to lay down but instead made Keree her Muffin Tin. So since yesterday was the first day of spring, I decided to go with an Easter/Spring theme. Actually I thought about doing something for Ravioli day since I did grow up near the capital of toasted ravioli but just didn't have the energy. I used some Easter muffin liners to add to the spring theme. So first up, we have homemade pimento cheese spread with flip crackers (part of the cracker is pretzel and the rest is cracker), in the next cup is some broccoli grape salad (which Keree likes as much as her beloved slaw) and the final cup for that row is some sliced smoked honey turkey folded onto a bunny and chick pick. In the next row, the first cup contains a jelly filled strawberry marshmallow, they looked so good at the store, I couldn't resist. The middle cup is some key lime yogurt and a milky way shaped bunny (needed this wrapper for a craft project) enjoying a bath and in the final cup is a spring colored rice crispie treat that I shaped into a egg. As for the rest of the day, I tried to put Keree down for an early nap but she wouldn't have any of it, even though she was tired. She finally fell asleep right before 3p and by then I was beyond nauseated and couldn't lay down any more. So instead I tried to catch up on this blog. Even though I needed to get some work done, I spent my evening in bed hoping that this is just some 24 hr bug, watching Dancing with the Stars while Keree played her new-to-her leapster she got on Saturday.

Heidi Hair

Today she told my Mom she wanted Heidi hair and that's exactly what she got.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This morning, Keree donned her St. Patrick's day shirt, which is the same one she's worn the last 3 years. I'm a little sad that this is the last year she will be able to wear it. We took a few pictures outside (which weren't very good) before we headed to school. When I came to pick Keree up from school, the summary said that they had green milk and green butter for their snack today and that they made pictures (Keree said she made a house being attacked by meteroites). I asked Keree if it was butter or soy butter but she swore it was butter. Hmm, not sure how I feel about them feeding my child butter with their crackers. We then headed to meet with our homeschool teacher. While us adults filled out paperwork and talked, Keree spent her time playing with blocks. Then finally it was time for us to get down to business. Actually for the first time, it was a true struggle to get Keree to do anything. All she kept saying was she wanted to go home. We pushed through and I may have even given a little Mommy threat to get her to do the activities. Our first activity after reading a story was for Keree to draw and write the words of things that fly. She first drew a bird, then an airplane and finally a house. Both the Teacher and I, go Keree a house doesn't fly. Keree goes yes it does in that movie with the girl, dog and her house flies in a tornado, I know it's pretend but it did fly. Well you can't argue that. Our next project was to make wings. Which Keree colored two paper plates, she then poked holes through them and then I threaded the yarn through it and whola! Wings. I have to say once they were finished, they were Keree favorite and she loved running around with them on. Next she made what the Teacher called wind dancers. They reminded me of a windsock without a string (which we may add on our own). Keree made them St. Patrick's day themed, she drew a Girl Leprechaun on one and then made a rainbow and clover on the other. Our final project was to make a plastic bag kite. So since Keree was over school at that point and just wanted to go, we decided to spend a little time outside trying to fly our kite. As soon as we got out the door, the wind caught the kite and it was flying really well. Keree was so excited but then there was a huge gust and the plastic bag kite flew straight up. Keree and I just looked at each other and was sort of bewildered on how to get the kite back. Luckily the wind died down enough to bring it back down so I could run after and grab it. We spent probably another 15 minutes flying the kite before heading home. Once home, Keree had to show my Mom all the things she had made. Since Keree was extremely tired and grumpy, we ate a very small lunch and I put her down for a nap. When Keree got up, it was time to start fixing our St. Patrick's day dinner. We opted to have red potato fixed campfire way, cornbeef hash and finally using inspiration from Ludicrous Mama and her pesto croissants. Because it's tradition, Keree and I made the traditional Serpant bread. After putting the pesto on the croissant dough and rolling it, we added a cut green olive for his eyes. Keree kept laughing because she said our snake was winking. I have to say Keree and I loved it, my Mom, well she wasn't too impressed but she can be picky at times. I will be fixing it again for Keree and I but will make a few plain croissants just for my Mom. I didn't get much in the Crafty area done today, other than a few things for an order. So hoping I'll get back to working full swing tomorrow.

Green Clovers

Since Keree has two St. Patrick's day shirts, she got to wear the bigger of the two today. I also made her a new multi shades of green korker bow to go with her shirt. She also got to wear her new fairy jeans from Great-Great and YeYe. Because it was such a nice day today, Keree's school decided to spend the majority of the day outside playing instead of learning anything. The summary did say that they sang a few songs and practiced writing their names. Which basically meant that Keree did nothing because she knows how to write her complete name, including her two middle names. Once we got home and ate lunch, I laid Keree down for a nap, while I headed upstairs to work. Once Keree got up from her nap, we ended up finding a St. Patrick's day movie on tv. She was excited to watch it and I was excited to find that it contained alot of historical facts in it. Wish, I would have know the name of it because I would defiantly get it on dvd to watch again. Again we had a late night, I lost track of time while working so we ate a super late dinner yet again and then it was time for bed.

Paint

By this morning when we woke up, the snow had melted and instead we had gotten so much rain that the front yard was flooded. Luckily, it had stopped raining, so after getting dressed it was off to school. I had dressed Keree warmly because I was pretty sure they would go outside. When I went to pick Keree up, she was covered in paint. It was all over her hands, on her sleeves, on her face and then there were her pants. I have no idea, with the gigantic plastic full body aprons how paint got on her but it did. Once we headed home, I fixed a quick lunch before we headed upstairs. I spent the day primarily sewing, it still blows my mind how many projects that I'm needing to get done before our next show. But actually, my big plan is to get a ton of stock done, so that way, I'm not having to work as hard during the summer and in-between shows. So if this works, I'll be able to spend more time doing fun and educational stuff! As for Keree, she spent her day playing. Actually she pretended most of the day that she was the Statue of Liberty. She used her wood cutting board as the tablet and some megablocks from her Ariel set to create the torch. It was so funny to watch her stand on her stool, perfectly still for half-hours at a time. The rest of the time she spent her time being a chef. She cooked pretend creme brulee, filet mignon with a goat cheese puree and some roasted asparagus. Do you think I've been letting her watch the food channel too much? We headed downstairs late (after 7p), so that meant a late dinner, a story and then off to bed.

Snowy Monday

We all had a rough night, so when I startled myself out of a dead sleep at 730a. I laid there and debated if I was going to get Keree up and take her to school. When my eyes finally focused, I noticed that the ground outside was white. I had to do a double take since they weren't predicting snow, we were suppose to get a little bit of rain and thats it. I sat up and pulled back the curtain and it was coming down so heavy that I couldn't see the tree line. I flipped on the news and they were advising people not to drive unless they had to, so that meant a self-appointed snow day for Keree. Keree actually ended up sleeping in till almost 8a, so it was nice to have a little quiet time just watching the snow fall. So after some breakfast and getting dressed, the snowflakes that were falling were huge and some puffy looking. So we decided to put on our winter coats and head outside. It was such a slushy mess that we didn't move off of the sidewalk but it was so pretty. Keree spent part of her time trying to catch the huge snowflakes on her tongue. It was pretty funny watching her, with her eyes closed and her tongue out. Once we headed inside, I checked my email before heading upstairs. I was excited to open an email entitled "singles allowed to adopt from Chin@." How exciting that the country is open again to Singles who choose to adopt from the special focus program. I have to admit that I did take a peek at a few of the kiddos on the list and some totally melted my heart. I'm just so happy that it's an option again for so many singles out there. After the mail was checked, we headed upstairs to work. Well in Keree's case play, she spent her morning playing in her play kitchen. I don't know how many times she served me poison soup, sandwich or drink. We headed downstairs for lunch and since it's Monday that meant Muffin Tin. I decided that since this week is St. Patrick's day that would be a perfect theme. So in my first cup is half of an whole wheat english muffin, I used edible markers to draw a rainbow on it. Our next cup is Key Lime flavored fluffy yogurt, I then used some green apple licorice to make a clover on top. Then I added a raspberry milano cookie and again used the edible markers to write Happy St. Pat's day on it. The last cup of the top row has two marshmallows, again I used edible markers and drew clovers on them. The next row, the first cup has some cucumbers coins, I really wanted to make them gold for the money at the end of the rainbow but couldn't come up with a way. Next is some cornbeef hash, I used canned because I haven't had time to make homemade. Finally, the last cup is some green olives which Keree loves any type of olives. As for the rest of our day, I did get Keree to lay down for a short nap. It was less than an hour, so I'm hoping that she's exhausted tonight and will go to sleep early. Otherwise, we checked on my Grandparents because my Grandpa had doc appts today. Luckily, they made it safely to and from even in the snow. My Aunt V sent us a package, inside was both Keree and I's birthday presents. I got a gorgeous 2.75 ct garnet ring (which is my birthstone) and Keree got a Rapunzel pillowcase and some Rapunzel hair ties. So we called my Aunt and thanked her for our gifts. We also got to talk to my Brother for a short time while he was driving home from Pennsylvania. He had been there for a wedding and then took a few more days off to see a few sites with his girlfriend. Keree was suppose to have our final cheer practice this evening but when she woke up from her nap, she had a low grade fever again. Since there has been all kinds of stuff going around, I choose to keep her home and not chance anything. Keree spent the rest of the evening working in some workbooks and drawing.

Time Change

None of us were feeling that hot when we woke up this morning. Keree was running a low grade fever still but had a little more spunk. Since none of us wanted to fix breakfast, we decided to hit the local breakfast buffet. When we got there, both my Mom and I was starving but pretty much as soon as the breakfast hit our stomachs, we were sick. Keree on the other hand, didn't want to eat anything, instead all she wanted to do was drink chocolate milk. So since breakfast was a bust, we had to stop at the fabric store for my Mom before heading home. Once home, my Mom laid down, while Keree and I headed upstairs. I needed to finish up the Christmas presents for Kerees' Godmother's family. I'm so happy, that with some help from my Mom, they are finished. Now I just have to get them packed and shipped. Keree and I ended up taking almost a 2hr nap in the big green chair upstairs. We both ended up falling asleep while watching Snow White and woke up shortly after Aladdin started. I did a little work before we headed downstairs for the evening. Keree had a hard time falling alseep for bed. I just can't figure out why her sleep schedule is so out of whack. I know part of it, is the time change but these problems were happening before this. Hoping we get back to something normal because the last 4 days, her falling asleep at almost 11p, waking up almost everyday before 6am, and taking less than a 1/2 hr to 1hr nap, just isn't right.

Enchanted

Last night we watched Enchanted. The first time, we watched it, I wasn't that happy with the stereotype it portrayed, the whole helpless damsel in distress who was clueless. Since then we have watched it, heck I'm not sure how many times because it's been showing almost every weekend on prime time tv. So it's now grown on me and the more I watched it the more I realized at the end, Giselle finally decides on her own that she doesn't have to marry some prince, that she can do what she wants. Of course it's to marry a common person but still it's much better than the clueless, helpless girl she starts out as. Of course, Keree's favorite part is when she calls the animals. She cups her hands around her mouth and will try and call our animals outside. Of course, most of the time she scares them away but a few times they have gotten close to her and she swears it's because of her calling them.

Speed

Happy Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday, which means the day before Lent starts. As I was getting Keree dressed this morning, we were talking about what Mardi Gras is and means. Keree's response was it's about beads and masks. I had to laugh because I could see why she thought that. Keree of course had to have a special outfit for the last day of Mardi Gras. I had created this skirt almost 2 years ago and we just got around to finishing it. My Mom then whipped up the sweatshirt because it's hard to find a Mardi Gras-ish shirt. Now, when I came to pick Keree up from school, she was super excited to show me the picture she had drawn. What was funny is the story she told with it. The first two people are Keree and I, we are catching beads and then further back is my Mom holding a mask. She told my Mom that she's behind us because she's slow. Now Keree didn't wear her pettiskirt underneath her skirt at school but as soon as we got home, she had to put it on. She wanted her skirt to poof. We spent a little time outside taking pictures but we didn't stay outside for long because it was super cold. Once we headed inside, we ate a quick lunch before heading upstairs. Since I had a very ripe avocado, I decided to try my hand at making guacamole for the first time. Honestly, I couldn't believe how easy it was. I chopped up some tomatoes, onions and of course smashed up my avocado. Added a splash of lime juice and whola, it was so good. Keree even ate a little bit of it, which was progress since she's not a avocado fan yet. Our plan for the rest of the day was to spend a little time working and then get ready to head to the big city for the Mardi Gras parade. We were really hoping the storm would hold out to late but instead it showed up almost 3 hrs early. So with the rain being so heavy, plus it was super cold, there was no way we were heading out in it. Keree was disappointed but she was understanding. We had originally planned on having some authentic creole food but since we didn't head to the big city and I didn't have everything on hand for gumbo. We ended up having a boring dinner before heading to bed.