A Conditional Offer

Today, pretty much started out as a lazy, uneventful day. I was spending the day packing, cleaning, sorting, etc. Then suddenly the phone rang, it wasn't any number I knew, so I let it go to voicemail. Yes, I admit, I'm one of those people. Most of the time, there is no voicemail left but this time it was different, there was a voicemail.....

 It started out as "Hi, Ms. This is Mister So-So from SCC. I came across the application that you sent in and would like to talk to you about it." I'll preface this and say, that since I lost my job shortly after Keree came home, I haven't had a good job. I've had jobs, here and there and even started doing Shows. Now I love doing shows, making children's clothing and accessories to sale but I'll admit that sometimes it's hard. It's hard because you never know how you will do, you don't know if the customers will be buying or just browsing and you also have to factor in the weather, economy, everything. So, back in December I was just surfing the net and came across this job post. It was a good job, I was qualified and thought, well heck it won't hurt to put in my application.

I quickly returned the phone call, apologized for not answering and we started talking. By the end of the conversation they conditionally offered me the job. All I have to do is pass my background and drug test. I was shocked!!! Actually, it was more like what just happened, did that really happen?? Now, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Plus, this will be a little weird, I haven't been in a normal 9-5 job for almost 4 1/2 years. Also, the biggest thing with this job is we will be going on the road full time. This job will have me spend 3-6 months in a job location before moving onto another job location. Being that I'm a single Mom, I can't leave Keree behind and not see her for months and months at a time. So, if this all go through, we have a new plan, we are getting an RV and were going to be living in it full time. Three days into the New Year and our whole lives are about to change big time!

Off to Tennessee

Well today, we are off to Tennessee for our big show. We are so thankful that my Uncle R has so graciously agreed to let us stay with him saving us some major bucks by not having to stay in a hotel. We started off our morning having to pack a large handful of things at the house. Then we headed to the storage unit for all the stuff that goes on top of the van. Now this particular pack was harder than usual! We have gotten some new display racks and as awesome as they are, they don't pack well. Here is Keree & KittyKitty hanging out while we packed at home.

We got a late start on the road. I wanted to be out by 10am, but we didn't finish packing till almost 1pm. So, we stopped for some lunch and that is where I snapped this picture. See Keree's hand sticking up over everything. We are really at the point were we need to a major upgrade in transportation. Actually, we been at that point for almost 2 years now. I'm leaning towards an RV and trailer, Mom just wants a truck and trailer and Keree thinks an RV would be pretty cool....as long as she can get a cat.

 As you can see, Keree was pretty snug as a bug but she was happy. She had a bag of books, games and her music to keep her entertained. For some reason, this drive was a hard one on me. I was exhausted by the time we hit Kentucky. And then it started raining on us, no, it was more than rain, it was blinding rain where I couldn't see the car in front of me. I thought about pulling over but then thought, nope I really need to keep going. I didn't want this trip to last any longer than it had to!

We called my Uncle when we hit the Tennessee border. We were just going to stop and pick up a bite to eat for dinner since it was after 7:30pm. But being the amazing person he is, he offered to make us dinner. We finally rolled into this driveway around 8:30p. We unloaded the few things we needed and then relaxed. I will tell you, he makes a crazy delicious meatloaf. Keree ate a huge plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. He wanted us to stay up and watch a movie, but we were all beat. Plus we still had tomorrow to visit before the show.

On the 2nd Day of December....

we spent our day working. In just a matter of days, we have a huge Show in Tennessee. My Mom and I have been making stuff non-stop. I've been making tons of larger hair bows and accessories and Mom has been making lots more couture dresses. Keree, like always, is so good and just does her own thing. She'll read, do her workbooks and then read some more. Since we forgot yesterday, Keree also got to eat both December 1st and 2nd in her advent calendar. I really had wanted a non-food advent calendar like the past few years but weren't able to find one. So Keree got to pick out this German made, chocolate one instead.

Crafty pictures

Well today, originally was going to just be a work day. But soon we realized that we needed some updated pictures of our products. So, we headed out to capture some. Even though it was super hot and humid, there was an ok breeze. Plus we were able to find quite a few shady spots. I was surprised by how quickly we got our photos done. Once home, I did a few crops, softened a few borders, then sent them to be printed.

Fair Entries Turn-In Day

This morning, we got up bright and early. We wanted to be at the County Fair office within the first hour to turn in Keree's entires. We also let our Daisy Scouts enter a few items, so we also had all there stuff to be tagged also. Keree had a total of 75 premiums to enter, which sort of amazed us also when we started counting. Once all the paperwork was done at the Fair office, it was then time to start the tagging. Tagging amazingly only took us about 2 hrs.  Here is Keree with a few of her premiums after we were finished tagging. 

As we do every year, we took Keree's picture by the Fair Entries sign. I swear she hadn't grown at all since last year.

 On our drive home, we stopped and picked up some lunch because we were starving. When we got home, we were walking up our sidewalk and spotted this DREADED CREATURE!! Thankfully it seems we caught this Tobacco Hornworm early on and it hadn't done too much damage to our tomato plant. It's amazing to think that in all my years growing tomatoes, it isn't until I move here that I discover this damaging creature. So, I used two pieces of paper and scooped him off our tomato plant and threw him in the road. I just can't bring myself to killing them, so the road seemed like the best place....far away from my tomato plant and he may just get run over by a car or a bird will eat him.

 I spent my afternoon and evening working on some crafty stuff, my Mom spent her's sewing and Keree spent her's building. She was so proud of her tower that she just had to take a picture of it.

Sunday learning and craftiness

Today was suppose to be a break in the heat....LOL, yep it's only suppose to be in the low 100's. This heat and drought is just crazy stuff. I don't think I've ever seen yards, flowers, trees and bushes so brown that they almost look burnt. As for today, my Mom and I worked on crafty stuff. While Keree did her core curriculum and went back to learning French. She is loving learning French and I really wish I had stuck with it, when she was a baby. After a few hours, she decided she need a break. I have to say that right now, I don't set any time limits on what she has to do and for how long. It has worked out so far because she will spend 2-3 hrs at a time learning but when August hits, I plan on setting more of a schedule for school. She spent the rest of her afternoon and evening playing and practicing for singing tomorrow at the Ball Stadium. 

 One of the many crafty things I got done today. Keree really wanted a fancy Brave flower. So, I added some bling to the petals of the flower. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Homeschool - learning French

Today was another hot day but we had to head upstairs to work on some craft stuff, so Keree decided to work on some school work. I have recently gotten a lot of flack and questions on why I'm choosing to homeschool Keree. I know it seems like a super odd choice for a Single Mom but for right now, this feels like the right choice in our lives. Plus, honestly, last year in public school, Kindergarten was a complete waste. Keree would go to school, do 2-3 worksheets, then because she got them done early, she would draw pictures on the back of them, eat lunch, have rest time, have 4 recesses and then come home. Keree constantly complained she was bored at school. So, when she would get home, we did an additional 2-2 1/2 hrs of what the public school considered 2nd grade work (adding, subtracting, reading and writing). Now before I moved, I thoroughly researched the school districts, this is one of the top rated districts in the State and still is today. But it honestly cannot compare to the education I had already provided to Keree before she started Kindergarten and continued providing her during the year. 

So, that is the short answer to why I'm choosing to homeschool. At this point, I don't want to provide the long answer about all the underhanded things the School has done and is continuing to do because I don't want them to cause us any trouble this coming school year. Today, after Keree finished her core curriculum, she started foreign language lessons. I'm using a computer based program recommended by another Homeschool Momma and so far, we love it. Plus I love that there was so many languages (Spanish, Chinese,  etc) to choose from. We choose French, why, mainly because that is her Godmother and her Godmother's Families first language. We are really hoping in the very near future that we will be able to make a trip to visit. Since we want to spend a lengthy time with them, knowing French will make the visit a whole lot easier. Otherwise, our day was filled completely with school and craftiness until bedtime.

Where did Monday Go??

Seriously, where did Monday go? Here it is and I didn't take one single picture the entire day. I can tell you that we spent the day packing, moving and all that fun stuff. In the evening Keree had her Irish Step dancing class and to my surprise, one of my former co-workers' daughter has started in the class. It's kind of cool because we got to catch up, turns out that we are both our daughter's scout leaders also.We have four more classes before the end of the term and I'm still torn on if we will continue or not. Keree really loves it but having the class time cut, I'm just not really sure it's worth the money or if we should look somewhere else? 

Otherwise, since I have no pictures to show for today. I thought I would show off some of the craftiness I had done lately. This first pic was from a improtu photo session we had in Keree's friend, Alicia's backyard. They are both wearing our dresses and bows. Aren't they just too cute! 

 These are some bows, I made and sold to a very sweet lady who had just had a brand new baby girl named Aubrey. She wanted big bows and was very specific on which bottlecaps she wanted. They turned out cute and she sent me a few pictures of the baby wearing them.

Day Two of the New Year

My entire house woke up late this morning...by late, I mean it was 10 minutes till 9am. We had planned on having breakfast and then taking a few family pictures before my Brother head home to Ohio. But since it was so late, we skipped breakfast and captured a few family pictures since we didn't get any during Christmas. We were all surprised at how well they turned out since we had the camera sat on some boxes and the timer set. After pictures were taken, we helped my Brother load a few more boxes into his car and then said our good-byes. Being that he will be moving to Michigan before late spring, we know our visits with him will become less frequent. Well unless Keree has her way, she told me that she's ready for us to move and live with Uncle. Since we were starving, I decided to throw together a crustless quiche. Literally, I started off with a basic recipe and then started adding other stuff that sounded good. So our crustless quiche had spinach, ham, onions,

roasted red peppers and 3 kinds of cheese in it. I honestly didn't know how it was going to taste but it was so pretty coming out of the oven that I had to take a picture. Thankfully, it tasted as good as it looked. As for the rest of our day, Keree spent her time playing on her new ds that my Step-Mom got her for Christmas. My Mom and I worked on adding photos to the shop website. So not a very eventful day two of the New Year.

1st Cheer Practice

I was surprised that even with the heat (it was 113 today). The new Cheer Coach, still wanted to hold practice. Of course, I also did do something a little crazy and volunteered to be Assistant Coach since no other parent stepped-up to do it. I asked her ahead of time what she wanted me to do and she said to just run them to the bathroom, that she was a strong coach and didn't need help. Ok, sounds good to me. Practice went well, two of the girls weren't there but hopefully they will be there on Thursday. They learned quite a few new cheers and worked on their Half-time routine, which honestly isn't as exciting or challenging as last year's. I think what bothered me most was during the entire practice the Coach stared at Keree's brace. I mean, it wasn't like I hide anything on her registration paperwork, it clearly states that Keree wears an AFO, so I'm not sure what the problem was. Also, after turning in my paperwork in for Assistant Coach, she never did ask me for my shirt size. Things that make you say hmm. I'm hopeful that this season will be alot better than last years.

Hot Monday

Today we had another record high day. I'm so sick of this hot weather. I think the news said it was day 32 of 90 degree + weather and of course the heat index makes it over 100 everyday. Keree spent most of her day playing and working on craft projects, while I tried my best to make some head way on everything I have left to get done before this weekend's show. I only took two pictures today and this was the better one, she was talking on the phone to her Great-Great and telling her about her day.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It never did cool down past 97 last night, so this morning it was just plain hot, muggy and miserable inside and out. Because of this, Keree woke up in a total funk...no, it was more than a funk, she was downright crabby. Since we really didn't have any plans today other than being around the house and me working on crafty stuff, I let her hang out in her pajamas until after 10a. While I was cleaning out a box, I found an old kids meal toy that I had gotten (when I worked outside the home, I ate a kids meal almost every day). So, I let Keree open it up and get to work putting the stickers on it. While she was busy, I realized I was out of quite a few things, so that meant a trip into town was required. Once Keree was dressed, we headed outside to give her new kids meal toy a spin. It took Keree awhile to figure out the proper way to make the helicopters fly but eventually she got the hang of it. By then, she was in a little better mood, so we headed to the store. Of course, all the things I needed were full price and even though I needed them, I couldn't bring myself to pay full price. So I grabbed two things, I couldn't wait on and vowed to return on Monday hoping that everything else I need is on sale. We decided to walk through the super household clearance area while we were there. Everything was 90% off and as much as I was protesting us walking through it, I'm glad we did. I was able to score my Cousin's wedding gift (3 really cool wall hangings), my other Cousin's graduation & birthday gift (embroidered pillow & treasure box) plus a ton of really cool things for Christmas presents. We got out of there with literally 2 carts overflowing with presents for $37. Really wish I had remembered my camera because it was impressive. Once we got home, Keree played and I worked. Keree decided that she didn't need to take a nap today and I was too hot to fight her on it. As the night wore on, I was surprised that she didn't want to go to bed early. Finally she decided she was tired and headed into lay with my Mom until she fell asleep or so I thought. I got caught up doing some work and before I knew it, it was almost 2a. While I was turning off the lights, I was suddenly surprised to see my daughter. She had fallen asleep on the couch in this funky position. So after snapping the picture, I picked her up and tucked her into bed. Still not sure how she indeed up on the couch.

Home

Today, we spent some time unpacking and doing laundry. As for me, I got back to work on replenishing all that had sold over the past weekend and trying to build up inventory so I don't have to kill myself in between shows. Luckily, today was much cooler than the past days we have had, so I was able to work upstairs also for a bit sewing. As for Keree, she got to play with my Brother for a short time which she was thrilled about. Otherwise, she spent her time drawing and playing Rapunzel. Of course everything she was drawing was related to Rapunzel and the entire story but at least it keeps her happy and busy.

A Long, Hot Day

This morning we got up early to drive up to Hannibal to set-up for their Tom Sawyer's day craft show. They said you couldn't start setting up until ? but when we arrived, most people had started setting up hours before then. We expected the park to be alot bigger but surprised when it wasn't. We had to park across the park (the complete opposite side of where our spot was) and loaded up quite a few things in the wagon & flat bed and went to find our space. It was blistering hot and nearing 107 degrees. Our first order of business was hooking up our electric and getting our fan going, then we set up the tent. At that point, I was finished. I had all the signs of heat exhaustion but we had to keep going. Keree spent her time sitting on the flat bed in front of the fan, while my Mom and I tried to get the grids up. Once they were up, I was near collapse, my face was beat red, my head was pounding, I was dizzy and I had stopped sweating. Even though I like having everything set-up ahead of time and not having to get up super early....I so wanted to get to the hotel and just cool down. Luckily, my Mom was feeling just as bad and so we headed to our hotel. After checking in, we quickly unloaded and headed to our room. Which honestly being that we got stuck in a smoking king room, it wasn't all that bad. They had done a really great job in scrubbing the smell away. Of course, I was so hot and sick, that I spent the majority of our first 15 minutes in the room getting sick, it wasn't pretty. After I finally had some control, I immediately changed Keree and myself into our bathing suites. My Mom thought I was nuts but I knew it was going to be the quickest way to get our body temperatures down. We spent almost 2 hrs by ourselves in the pool, we were having so much fun. Keree jumped off the side of the pool for the first time with us holding her hand and then she jumped off the side of the pool all by herself for the first time. With the water wings and floatation pad, she was swimming everywhere and it was so nice to know that if she did get further away from me, that she wasn't going to get hurt. We only got out when people started showing up. So we headed back to our room and since we were blessed to have a microwave and fridge, we heated up some frozen dinners I brought from home. Keree crashed shortly after dinner and so did my Mom. I spent my time working on lining clips and finishing up bows. I finally headed to bed around 2a, which wasn't that good since we had to be up by 5a.

Picking Out Clothes

I was up before Keree this morning, so while I worked on all those last minute things for this weekend, she slept. Which honestly I work everyday for hours a day but I'm never done. I still always have a stack of bows or something to get done. Keree joined me a little after 830a (loving she's sleeping in later but that could be because she's staying up later with me). She played happily before she finally decided, a few hours later (ok it was almost 1p) she needed to get dressed and she needed to get dressed now. Usually, I pick out the clothes she should wear ahead of time and she gets dressed by herself but today she loved that she was going to get to pick out what she was going to wear. She picked the shirt her Godmom Stef and family sent her two Christmas's ago (which is still too big on her at a size 2), some jeans (they are size 3-6 mos, so they are shorts on her), her good red socks (the tragedy of her wearing them on a non-fancy day), her favorite robeez Monkey slippers (they are size 18-24 mos, love that they fit over her brace so easily) and let me not forget her tropical loopy bow. I don't think she looked bad at all....my Mom on the other hand, well she chuckled at the outfit she put together. Looking forward to getting out of dodge for the July 4th weekend and hoping this show is as good as everyone says it will be. Keree's picture are awful but the sun and heat was unbearable even for a short time.

Can't Believe it's Wednesday

I can't believe it's Wednesday, so that means I just have Thursday to finish up a bazillion things for a show that starts on Friday. We decided since we are having to spend almost 5 days away from home at a show over the 4th of July weekend, we will only be spending 1 night, instead of 2 at this show. So we will leave super early Friday morning, set-up, sale stuff until 11p, close-up, head to the hotel and then re-set-up Saturday, sale until 11p, pack up and drive home. So that means we will be home like 4am or 5am Sunday morning. It's going to be rough but saving money, is saving money....well unless we do amazingly well at the show and we may opt for another night in the hotel then. So as for today, Keree spent the majority of time upstairs with me. I finished about 60 bows, which isn't even a dent in what I need to have done. Now, I did get about 7 outfits done, which was huge. So while I sewed, Keree spent her time playing, she did have a few moments of awfulness but I know it's because she misses my Brother so much. I just wish Keree could express her pain of missing her Uncle better than having her moments. I'm just hoping that by Friday she's alot better. We did spend about 20 minutes outside today, Keree rode her scooter up and down the sidewalk, while I worked on pulling weeds before my Mom mowed. After we came in, we ate a late dinner (after 8p) and then watched the season premiere of Toddler & Tiaras. I have to say that everytime I watch it, I'm shocked at the behavior of the kids on it.

Lazy, Crafty Day

After we got up in the morning, we got to hang out with my Brother a short time before he headed off to work. He was suppose to get the code for his apartment complex swimming pool but he had forgot. Our original plan was Keree and I was going to go swimming, while my Mom worked on crafty stuff. So since we couldn't go swimming, we ran to the grocery store and bought our weeks worth of groceries so I could cook every night. We ran to the $1 store there because for some reason they usually have a better assortment and then headed back to the apartment. I spent the rest of the day working on bottlecaps. Keree either played with Rapunzel or played wedding with a plastic wedding ring. As for my Mom, she worked on coloring rice for I-Spy bottles. For dinner, I cooked panko encrusted pork chops, baked potatoes, carrots and garlic bread. After dinner, Keree spent the rest of the evening reading books for the summer reading program. She finished 4 books and then wrote her very 1st book report. The book report portion is a weekly contest to win a bag full of books and goodies. She's very excited that she has the chance to win. We headed to bed when the news came on and are looking forward to tomorrow.

Strawberry Festival - Day 1

Of course our first show that the weatherman predicts with no rain, instead turns out to be one of the hottest June days in 100+ years. We are having normal mid-July heat, so just hope that mid-July won't be hotter because that would mean 200 degree heat or so. So, we got up early and was here by 5a, I'm so thankful for a show that's close to home because that means our own bed everynight. We had a little bit to set-up but thankfully not to much because we were still dragging from yesterday's heat. I'm also thankful we were there early because people started shopping by 7a and the show didn't start till 10a. Keree tolerated the heat well and thankfully we are a diversified booth we also faired better than most vendors who still didn't even break-even. Now Keree did get to do a few fun things - ok most kids wouldn't think it was fun but she did. We wrote a few postcards to family members and one to herself. She then got to buy stamps and ask for the special commerative cancelation of the stamps to celebrate the Strawberry Festival. I'm pretty excited for our postcard to arrive back at home to see it. They were also giving away free strawberries and Keree got one that was almost as big as her hand. The rest of Keree's day was spent either drawing, watching movies and trying to stay cool in front of the fan we brought from home. As for Mom and I, by the end of the show today, the heat had gotten to our brains. I actually had to drag out the caculator to add things up to make sure I was charging the Customers correctly. Now the highlight and lowlight of the day was a guy who called himself a one man circus. Needless to say he was one of the worst jugglers I've ever seen. I can't count how many times he dropped the knives or the flaming baton. If it wasn't so funny, I probably would have been more scared because he was within 10 ft of us. I just kept imagining him catching our tent on fire because of his uncoordination. Then later on in the day, the One Man Circus and the Balloon Clown got into a fight over street placement. I have never laughed so hard as they both shook fingers at each other. Once the festival was over, we closed up our tent for day 2. We headed home, picked up some fast food dinner, took a cold shower and crashed into bed.

It's Ours....

Today we made the finally payment on our van. So it's officially ours. 

Rainy Monday

This morning we woke up to a dark, dreary and raining morning. Keree was excited to head to school because she knew it is going to be a short week for her. Plus the upside, they are celebrating the Week of the Young Child. I'm not sure if it's just tri-county wide that they celebrate or if it's national? So last week they sent home a list of activities, today's was to make a classroom banner. When I dropped Keree off at school, I then ended up spending my entire morning running errands. I was in search of some lime green zebra ribbon and every place I went was out. So when I came to pick Keree up the summary outside said that they worked on their classroom banner, which they shaped like a kite, they played outside and worked on their songs for the end of the year program. Keree said that they glued feathers and shapes on to a kite shape. She said that then when they went outside, most of her friends were jumping into the gigantic puddle on the playground. But she was so proud of herself that she followed the rules and didn't jump in the puddle. When we got home, I remembered it was Muffin Tin Monday. So while I worked on the tin, Keree and my Mom stayed outside for a short time. My Mom said that Keree decided to check her mailbox and was disappointed that there was nothing inside. I guess she had gotten use to her Great-Great and YeYe sending her something almost everyday last week. Since I hadn't participated the last few weeks, I really wanted to make Keree one. So using what we had around the house, I was able to pull together a loosely themed Easter tin. So first up is a funky chick, I used a slice of bree cheese and broke a sesame seed breadstick cracker in half for the legs. I then used some edible markers for his eyes and beak. But once those were drawn on, it needed something else, so I colored the cheese in yellow. Next up is a strawberry filled jelly marshmallow. I picked them up a few weeks ago and Keree thinks that they are really good. Next was a pink snowball with a chick and bunny pick added to it. Because I knew Keree doesn't really like them, that meant I got to eat it. Plus being pink, it was just a great, springy color. In the next row is some organic peanut butter with a apple on top. I cut the apple in the shape of a kitty cat and then used some color sugar to emphasize the eyes and mouth. Up next is a Bunny shaped sandwich. Since Keree isn't fond of bread, I found some mini pita pockets last week. I stuffed it with slices of turkey meat. I then cut some cheese ears out and drew a bunny face on the pita. And to round out the tin, Keree is an olive lover and request them at almost every meal. So a tin wouldn't be complete without them. Keree was excited to see the tin. Of course, she mistakened my Bunny sandwich for a cat, which was disappointing but she ate it all, except the snowball of course. As for the rest of the day, it's the final push to finish stuff before we head out in the next few days for a show. I'm a little bummed that Easter fell so late this year because we are missing all the Easter egg hunts this weekend. But there's no way around it because business is business but still I'm sad that we will miss all the fun we do have at them.