"Only" Spaghetti

When we got up this morning, my Grandparents were disappointed that I wasn't allowing Keree to stay home from school. They also didn't understand why we weren't opening up our yard sale first thing. So again we explained to them that we were having our yard sale in the evening and that Keree is already going to miss quite a few days of school next week. I don't understand why it was an issue, when you consider that she's only gone 2 1/2 hrs. When I picked Keree up from pre-school, the summary said that they made spaghetti. The kids broke the noodles over the boiling water and then when it was ready helped to pour the sauce over the noodles. They read a book about a girl who lived in Italy and ate noodles. They also watched a movie about how people who live in Rome only eat spaghetti. Yes, I know Italian's don't eat only spaghetti and I also know they have alot of other great dishes that doesn't even involve pasta. I explained that to Keree also because all I could think was how stereotypical it was to assume that all Italian or everyone who lives in Rome "only" eat spaghetti. When we got home, Keree was excited to show off her artwork that she did this week. We also got the school fundraiser information. Unlike years past where the kids sold pizza, wrapping paper, etc. This year, they are relying strictly on the parents. They expect us to spend anywhere between $5 (for a magnet) to over $100 for an item with our child's artwork on it. Keree's drawing was cute but she draws me amazing pictures almost every day and they decorate my house. I then scan them all into my computer so I will have them forever. I don't need her artwork professionally mounted in a frame for $65. So I will mark my envelope "no thank you". My Grandparent's ended up leaving for the day when I put Keree down for her nap. When 230p rolled around, Keree was still napping, so I got the yard sale set-up to open at 3p. Keree was exhausted and didn't get up until almost 4p, when she did get up, I only coaxed her out of bed and outside with the promise of a rice krispie treat. Hey, don't judge me, sometimes you gotta give a little. After her krispie treat, she rode her tricycle up and down the sidewalk and I worked on business stuff. We didn't have a single person stop at the yard sale, which was a disappointment. When we got everything picked up and headed inside, we started back to sewing until my Grandparent's got home. It was really nice of them because they had picked up some fish dinners from the VFW for us. Which luckily, I was just about to start dinner when they got back. Since we were all exhausted, we pretty much headed to bed as soon as we got done with dinner.

Preschool & Homeschool

When we got up, I was having to work on some business so my Mom dropped Keree off and picked Keree up from school. My Mom said, the summary said that they played outside, made marble paintings and read the book about the women who could eat everything. My Mom asked Keree about the book and Keree could recite almost all of it word by word. When she got home, Keree also repeated all the things the women ate. Since we knew our Homeschool Coordinator would be here soon. Keree and I sat up the table outside and got everything ready. Keree spent her time waiting by riding her tricycle and I was flipping through a few magazines. Keree had joined me shortly before the Homeschool Coordinator got there and so she was super impressed that we were sitting together looking at a magazine. She said it was a "kodak moment". She showed me some of the curriculum we would be using, gave me a packed of papers and then Keree started to work. She made her write the entire alphabet. Had her say her colors and shapes in English & Spanish and then we read a book about going to school. I'm really hoping that she will speed up the lessons, because what we covered today, other than the Spanish, is stuff she already knows. I also have to keep track of all the Learning/Homeschool I incorporate into our lives and how much time we spend. The curriculum that they use gives us will give us a weekly packet of activities also we are suppose to do with our child during that week. Which I don't see a problem doing. After she left, we headed back inside to work on trying to organize the mess that is my house. Around 7p, my Grandparents arrived from out of state for their visit with us and the Family and to celebrate our Cousin's birthday on Saturday and their Birthday's on Sunday (how weird that they both were born on the 10th). Of course, they wanted Keree to stay up way past her bedtime and they also had to make comments about how messy our house is. They just don't get how my house is not only my house but my business. I have boxes stacked all over filled with my products for the shows and of course I'm not going to pack up the stuff I'm currently working on. It just frustrates me beyond belief, they make me feel like I'm a bad person because of the organzied chaos. My Mom keeps threatening to take down their bed and using it for our business storage. I'm all for it but of course, we become the bad guys when they have no where to stay.

Wednesday

When I dropped Keree off at school, my Mom and I then went and ran a few errands....actually we ran to Michaels in search of some bulk wood packs. Of course, we were meet with "I've never seen anything like that here" or "I guess we never carried it." Umm, yeah, you are the same store that we've bought about 20 packs from since last Spring till just a month ago. I don't know where they hire these people from because the ones in my store, seriously have no knowledge of their products or how they work. When I went to pick Keree up, the summary said that they made marble paintings, talked about put downs and how they can hurt our friends, also that they shouldn't tell people they aren't their friends and that they should all play nicely. It seems that the Same Boy who hit my daughter with a toy (who will now be known as Bully Boy), is also the child who is telling people they aren't friends anymore and just wrecking havoc in the classroom. Now, one interesting thing happened today, I saw who Bully Boy's Mom was. I've seen her before but didn't know who's Mom she was. Of course, it explained alot of Bully Boy's behavior. She is one of those "natural parents" (as she puts it), she lets her child do whatever, never says "no" and believes the child is always right and should not under any circumstance be punished. All I can say is a child should have boundaries and a sense of right and wrong, which this child doesn't have and probably never will. After we picked up Keree, we then had to headed up North and visited two County courthouses. I was needing a copy of my Dad's birth & death certificate. I gotta say it was all a little surreal, having these two pieces of paper in my hand. It felt like His whole life was summed up on two pieces of paper. I did find a few interesting things like, his Mom's name is wrong on the death certificate and I also found out that my Dad passed away a little after 5pm on that Friday but my Step-Mom didn't call me till around 7am on Saturday. She didn't notify any of his family until Saturday. I'm perplexed still, why didn't anyone call us until 14+ hours after he passed away? I guess it's a question I'll never have an answer for. Keree of course fell asleep while we were on the road, luckily my Mom was along, so she stayed in the car while I ran in and got the certificates. As we were heading home, we passed another Micheals. So, my Mom ran in and luckily, there was one bulk pack of wood. She was so excited that they had some. The downside, they didn't know if they would be getting anymore in. When we got home, of course Keree woke up. Since she still wasn't feeling well, she asked to lay down and watch cartoons and I happily obliged. Before too long, it was time to leave for practice. Of course, I wanted to make sure to leave early so I would actually have a parking space at this field. There is only 15 parking spaces and if you don't get one of these, you risk parking on a dead end street and getting trapped or have to park almost a 1/2 mile away and walk. As I said, how smoothly and awesome last night's practice was. This practice was a disaster! The Coach had no control, the girls were running everywhere, she would release them for a water break and instead they would go and play on the playground. I'm so lucky that Keree doesn't run off without permission, she so knows better that she would be in major trouble if she did the things the other girls do. Since practice was going so poorly, she released them early. When we got home, we were able to watch Modern Families before Keree proclaimed it was time for bed. Which was good because I'm exhausted too.

Tan-ish Skin

I couldn't believe how chilly it was this morning when we woke up. I mean I knew it was going to be cold since it was freezing all weekend, but it still catches you off guard. I searched for some warmer clothes for Keree before I woke her up. After she got dressed, I used my amazing Mommy skills and fixed Keree a rice krispie treat for breakfast. Hey, at least it's made with cereal! After dropping Keree off at school, I headed home to work on cleaning the house for company and getting ready for the show next weekend. When I came to pick Keree up from school. It said that they read a book about Different kinds of families. Keree's comment was that it focused on all the different types of skin color and how you should have the same as your Mommy and Daddy. UGH!!! Seriously, don't they think to read these books before hand? It was like, hey look this kid doesn't look like there Mom or Dad, so that must not be their Mom & Dad. Keree did follow up with this comment to my Mom, "my skin and Mommy's skin is the same." Which made me laugh but it's true, with both have a tan-ish tint to our skin. Hers is because she's Asian and mine because I'm American Indian. It also said that they drew pictures of themselves and they will do so 2 other times so they can compare the children's development. When we got home, Keree ate a quick lunch and then laid down because she's wasn't feeling too hot. Her sinuses are draining and she's coughing. She slept till it was almost time for Cheer practice. Tonight at practice, the Coach had them hoping. They learned 6 new cheers and it was the first time that it ran smoothly. She didn't let the girls run amok, she actually taught them. We also voted and agreed that the girls will be competing at a Cheerfest, which is held after the Football season is over. When we got home, Keree was exhausted so we headed to bed early.

Muffin Tin Monday

Even though I had an insomniac night, I was up and ready to go this morning. Keree actually got up fairly easy also. She got dressed but didn't want to eat breakfast but she did eat a ton yesterday, so I wasn't going to push it. When I dropped Keree off to school, I headed off to the store because I had nothing to make lunch today. So, I wandered around and stared at the aisles trying to get inspiration for the Circus Theme Muffin tin. When I went to pick Keree up, the summary outside of class said that they had a substitute Assistant Teacher today (because our favorite Assistant Teacher was out), they celebrated Max's 4th birthday with a special treat, broke up crayons and then watched them melt them down into circles, read a story about Leaves falling and sang the bear hunt song. Keree was super hyper when they released her to me. Literally, she was bouncing off the walls. When we got home, we went to work on lunch. I had a few ideas and then my Mom even got in on the fun and helped out. So for the circus theme we have from the top an Elephant. It is made from two tortilla chips for the ears, a round piece of cheese for his head, pretzel square eyes and squiggly crackers for his trunk, he is reaching for the circus peanuts in the other hole. Next up is the Circus train car with a Rhino riding inside. It was made with a rice krispie treat square, peanut butter crackers for the wheels and then yellow M&M for the axle. Then I used spray cheese to create the bars to make sure the rhino stayed safe while he was on the train. Then there are the two clowns, their collars are cheese, which I cut with my flower cutter. Then I used spray cheese to attach a cheese ball to the collar and also the bugle for his hat. The clowns eyes were m&m's and held on by spray cheese. Next up is the Lion sandwich. Keree and my Mom made it, I used havest thin bread rounds and inside was some honey turkey. On the outside, they used spray cheese as the glue and then added shredded cheese for his mane. His eyes of course was m&m's and his whiskers were broken pretzel sticks. The first thing Keree ate were her clowns (she loves cheese balls), then she went after her lion sandwich and elephant with bites of circus peanuts inbetween. Once Keree was finished, she was ready for her nap. She is so congested and having a hard time breathing because of the weather shift. The pills and inhaler worked when the weather seemed to be on an even kil. But as soon as it shifts the slightest, she has a hard time breathing and coughs so hard she loses her breath. So, I guess another Doctor's appointment is in order :( Otherwise, I spent the rest of the day trying to clean the house since my Grandparents are coming in this weekend plus next weekend we have another huge show out of town. So I'm busy working trying to make sure I have enough stock. I just feel like I'm so behind and basically after next weekend, we have a show booked almost every weekend. Keree spent the rest of the day after waking up, practicing her cheers, playing and trying her best to help Momma get ready for next weekend.

Rainy Rough Day

You know it was a rough day, when you didn't pick up your camera to take a single picture. We started our day early, we reset up the yard sale and was open for business by 7a. The plan was that after Keree woke up, got dressed and fed, we would then head about an hour west to the first meeting of a International Single Mom's playgroup. My Mom would stay home and watch the yard sale. When, Keree woke up, she just didn't feel well. I convinced her to get dressed but then she wanted to just stay inside and watch a movie. So why fight. Finally, I convinced her to head outside, I built her a little tent over her chair and so she watched her movie outside. Well right about the time we were suppose to leave, it started to pour down rain. My Mom and I hurried as quickly as we could to get everything back under the tents. We then sat outside and debated if we were going to keep trying with everything packed under the tents. Keree was in no shape to go to a playgroup and finally after checking the radar for the millionth time, we decided the rain won. We did leave the house for a short time in the rain, just to take down our yard sale signs. I spent the rest of the day working, while Keree spent her time resting and watching movies.

1st day of October

Keree was so excited that it was October and she got to wear her first halloween shirt of the season.