I'm not crazy I'm just a mommy

Brand new blog

2006-05-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

I have a brand new blog and it's called Emily'smoms Blog. I'll be posting over there from now.

Sorry it's been awhile

2006-03-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted and I'm sorry for that. I kind of messed my template up a bit and I don't know how to fix it. You have to scroll all the way down the page to see my profile info. I'm not very computer literate especially when it comes to html and all. I should have made a backup but I didn't. Duh! Well I'm going to try to start posting on here again because I really like doing it. Ya'll will just have to put up with my template the way it is until I can figure out how to fix it.

Mini Vacation

2006-01-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

We're going to go to South Padre Island in April and I can't wait! I haven't been to a beach in about 4 years. Tim has a conference to go to and it just happens to be in South Padre Island this year and we get to go too. Last year it was in February in San Antonio. The only bad thing is that we'll have to drive and we'll have to do it in two days. The school district will pay his airfare but not Emily's and mine.

Questions, Questions

2006-01-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

Emily's been going through a new phase lately. I'm sure that it'll be one of many phases to come. She's started to ask lots of questions. Which is good really because it shows that she's thinking but many of the questions are ones that I know that she knows the answer to. For instance, today I was sweeping the floor and she looked down at the trash and asked, "What's that called?" and I said, "What do you think it's called?". And she said, "Garbage." and I said,"That's right." You see since I know that she knows the answer I let her tell me instead of just giving her the answer. It makes her have to think for herself. I still remember my mother getting so frustrated with me because I asked silly questions. So I try not to get frustrated but to just realize that she's just inquisitive.

What Emily and I Made

2006-01-06T18:30:00.001-08:00

Emily and I made some Kool-Aid play dough the other day. She had a lot of fun helping me measure and stir the play dough. But the bad thing that happened is that she touched the stove and burned her hand. She did'nt know that it was still hot. I felt so sorry for her. But there's never a good way to learn about what hot means. Here's the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid (we used Grape)
1/4 c. salt
2 tbsp. cream of tartar
1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, and Kool-Aid in a medium pan. Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat. When mixture forms a ball in pan, remove. Knead until smooth. Let cool and place in airtight containers or baggies.

2006-01-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

Kool-Aid Play Dough

Bloggy Award

2006-01-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

Well I submitted my blog for review at Bloggy Award. I don't know how I'll do but maybe submitting my blog for a review will help me to improve it somehow. I always love to get comments so tell me what you think of my blog and please be kind.

2006-01-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Emily on Christmas morning.

Surf's Up Dude!

2006-01-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

Blog Advance has got another contest going. It's to see who can surf the most in each month. Every month a blogger who surf's the most will win cash ($10) that they can apply toward either banners or credits or they can put it in their Paypal account. So get out there and ride those waves!

Happy 2006! Resolutions?

2006-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all bloggers out there. I've been thinking a lot about the year that is before us and I was thinking about my new year's resolutions. I normally don't make resolutions but I thought that I would anyway. One of the things that I'd like to do is to sharpen up my blogging skills. I'd like to make my blog a little more interesting. I'd also like to do more sewing. I've got a pretty nice machine and I'd like to use it more. I'd also like to exercise more this year. I've had a lot of problems with my feet last year and thankfully they're getting to feel a bit better. So what about you? What have you resolved to do or not do this year?

2005- My Year in Review

2005-12-31T10:01:00.000-08:00

Well this has been an interesting year to say the least. This was the year that I found out what exactly a blog is and what to write in one. I'm still trying to improve on my blogging skills. Well I'll just give a quick run down of how my year has been from month to month.

January- Not a very exciting month. Nothing really special happened this month.
February- Valentine's Day. Tim actually gave me a pretty nice present. I think that he's getting better at gift giving. This was the month that I got my soap business website up and going. And I did it myself which was a great accomplishment.
March- Emily got really sick with a stomach virus and had to be hospitalized for dehydration. I turned another year older this month.
April- Emily was hurt in a bounce house while attending a NICU reunion get together at Cook's Children's hospital. She broke her leg and had to be in a cast for 3 weeks.
May- Emily had her cast taken off this month.
June- We found a house to rent.
July- We started getting ready to move into our house. We made a trip to Tennessee to visit my parents. Emily turned 3 this month.
August- We moved into our new house. We had about 2 weeks of torrential rains that flooded our church.
September- Emily started preschool.
October- Halloween and Emily was really cute dressed up like a princess.
November- We went back to Tennessee for Thanksgiving.
December- We all had a wonderful Christmas holiday.
That's about it. Who knows what 2006 has in store for us?

2006 Plans

2005-12-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about what I want to do for the coming year and one of them is to have a Pampered Chef party. I just love Pampered Chef products and I think that having a party would be such a fun idea. My house is not very big and I worried about that at first but I decided that what the heck you only live once and if I wait until we get a bigger place that I might not do it at all. But first I do need to kind of finish getting the place like I want it. We just moved into it in August and I haven't had the money to buy things like window dressings or anything. I put some valances for the living room, an area rug, and a cover for the futon in the lay-away at Walmart. And I also want a mirror to go over the mantel. I've got the date set for March 9th so that will give me plenty of time to get my stuff out of the lay-away and spruce the place up. It should be fun.

King Kong

2005-12-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

My husband Tim and I went to the movies tonight. It's a very rare occasion that we even get to go to the movies. Most of the time we just go to Blockbuster or somewhere like that and rent a movie. But my sister-in-law Peggy and her family are here for the holidays and we took her up on a little free baby sitting. We saw King Kong. Of course that was my husband's pick (the next time it'll be my choice) but I agreed being the good wifey that I am. I thought that it was actually pretty good. The cinematography was wonderful and most of the actors were pretty good. Naomi Watts was really great playing the part that Faye Ray played. She really showed a lot of emotion. But I thought that there were too many dinosaur scenes. It almost seemed like King Kong meets Jurassic Park. And then there was something that I wondered about. How exactly did they get Kong to New York? Of course that part was missing in the original one too. I guess that you just have to let that be up to your imagination. But all in all it was a pretty good movie and worth going to.

Christmas Day 2005

2005-12-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

Well this has been a very exciting Christmas for my daughter Emily. She woke up on Christmas morning and when she saw those presents, she knew that Santa had really come. She tore into those presents in no time flat. Last year we kind of had to help her open them but this year she had no problem what so ever. Tim's dad came over to watch her open them up but by the time he came, she had almost opened them all up. It was very much a Dora Christmas this year. She got a dress up Dora and a Pet Vet Adventure outfit to go with it, a Dora edition Candy Land game, a Dora book from her Aunt Connie,a play sink to go with her stove, a play toaster and coffee pot,w[opxosp0ix a Mr. Potato Head, a Cali Girl Barbie doll, a velour jumpsuit from Old Navy, socks, a hat and mittens, and scarf (all from Old Navy), a Thomas the Tank Engine train, and two new videos. And in her stocking she got a Boots and Swiper stampers, a play cell phone, and some bead necklaces. I think that she must have been an awfully good little girl because Santa was very good to her.

The Real Santa Claus

2005-12-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

I know the real Santa Claus and he's my dad. Last Sunday my dad played Santa at the church they attend in TN. (my hometown) Well my mom called me yesterday and said that he was a real hit! She said that it was kind of a last minute thing and that the suit had not been stored properly. Mice had gotten into the box where the suit was stored so mom had to try to spot clean it. They also had put the beard in a plastic Ziplock bag so it had a really bad chemical smell to it. So mom had to wash the beard as best as she could so that it didn't stink so much. I'd have to say that my mom is also the real Mrs. Santa Claus for who else but Mrs. Claus would do all that? There is a family that attends that church who recently adopted some hispanic children from Texas. When they came to sit on my dad's lap, he told them that he didn't remember them being there before and that he remembered visiting them in Texas. Well their dad said that you should have seen the look on those children's faces! Their eyes just lit up when he said that because they just knew that he was the real Santa. I remember when I was a little kid how he was so convincing about making us believe that there really was a Santa. A few days before Christmas he would say "What's that sound? Is it? Yes I think that it is jingle bells!" And then of course me and my sister would pipe up "It's Santa Claus!" And then one year, the first year that I realized that there was not a real Santa, he told me that he had seen Santa. My mom, my sister, and I had gone to see my aunt's Christmas decorations and he conveniently couldn't go because he had a "headache". Well when we got back home, all of the toys were all around the Christmas tree. Dad said that he heard a noise while he was lying down so he got up to investigate it. And then he saw right there in the living room Santa Claus putting out Christmas presents. Well I knew then that there really was a Santa because my daddy wouldn't lie!

Snow in Texas

2005-12-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

It doesn't happen very often but it does happen. Yesterday a storm came through our area that produced about an inch of snow in Gainesville. Schools were turned out early yesterday and closed today. I know some of you who live in the northern parts of the country is wondering why did the schools close with only an inch of snow on the ground? Well around here it happens so infrequently that we are not very prepared to handle conditions such as these. Many people don't know how to drive on roads covered with snow and ice and it makes for very hazardous driving conditions. I'm glad that all of this stuff will be gone by tomorrow. One snowfall a year is plenty for me. It's not winter yet and I'm already tired of it and ready for spring.

2005-12-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Tree

Chocolate Cobbler Recipe

2005-11-30T12:59:00.000-08:00

Over the Thanksgiving holidays my mom made this lucious dessert and she gave me the recipe. It is truely sinful tasting! It is really easy to make and there are no unusual ingredients.

Batter:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. self-rising flour
3/4 c. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla

Melt 2 sticks of butter or margarine and pour into a 9 X 13 baking dish. Pour batter over butter...... DO NOT STIR!

Mix 1 1/2 c. sugar and 6 tbsp. cocoa. Mix well. Spoon over batter. Pour 1- 1/2 c. water over top (very sloooooooooooowly) Do not stir. Bake at approx. 35 min.
This would be very good served warm with icecream! Yummy!

Bifocals

2005-11-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess that I'm officially getting old. I went to the eye doctor today to get some more contacts. After he did the exam, he told me that my nearsightedness had gotten worse and that I needed bifocals. He said that they would put a stronger contact in my dominant eye and a weaker one in my weaker eye. It takes a little while to get used to but it works and the best part is that I don't have to wear those little half glasses that makes you look old.

Back Home

2005-11-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

Well we're finally home. Last Tuesday we left for my mom and dad's house in TN to celebrate the Thanksgiving holidays. We kind of celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving since we won't be going back there for Christmas. I wish that we could go back but gas prices are so ridiculous that we felt that we couldn't afford the long drive down there. On Wednesday we all went to Jackson to the mall and I spent the money that my parents gave me. I got a velour jogging suit and three tops. I wanted to get some jeans but Sears didn't have the kind that I wear. I love Land's End relaxed jeans. They are about the only kind of jeans that fit me really well. Then Thursday evening we had our Thanksgiving dinner. Mom always out does herself with the cooking. We had turkey of course, chicken and dressing (a southern favorite), green beans, lima beans, dad cooked a brisket out on the grill along with roasted potatoes and carrots. Then for dessert we had pumpkin pie, lemon ice box pie, and chocolate cobbler (a new recipe that mom found). Yummy! Of course I ate too much and I felt awful that night. I called my son on Thanksgiving day and I told him that I'd love to see him. So I picked him up Friday afternoon and we spent part of the evening together. I think that he likes his little half sister. She sure was smitten with him. I took him back home later that night and said goodbye. It was really hard to leave him. He sure is growing up fast before my eyes. I hugged him and told him that he's still my little boy and I love him very much. We left TN on Sunday morning and I was doing alright until we crossed over the Missisippi River bridge and into Arkansas. I started to cry. I'll be ok. I just have to not think about it so much and go on with my life. But it is good to be back home.

Yak, Yak, Yak

2005-11-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Emily has become quite the chatter box lately. She's a lot different than she was this time last year because it was about this time that we had ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) test her for a speech delay. She was only saying a few words and she was not putting two word phrases together. They performed the evaluation and found that indeed she did have a 6 month speech delay. She worked with a speech therapist from December until her birthday in July. She turned 3 in July and ECI only works with kids who are under 3. So then we were referred to the Gainesville special education dept. where they did another evaluation on her. She started working with a therapist in Sept. but she started making so much progress, that she was released from services last month. It seems that everyday her speech improves more and more. And it can also be quite comical the things that come out of her little mouth. She now knows both me and my husband's names. She says that daddy's name is Tim but I call him Daddy.Gazoo And mommy's name is Lisa (although it comes out something like Yata) but I call you mommy. And everything is bye bye I'll see you tomorrow. And then she'll say, I'll be right back, just a second. And now because she loves Dora, she'll say Swiper no swipeing.

Cheetos

2005-11-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

I read a post on Mommy's Busy Take a Number and it got me to thinking about my own daughter's addiction to Cheetos. She's like a blood hound when it comes to the things. She'll sniff them out and find them no matter where I hide them. Today I bought a pack of the 12 individual lunch size bags and I put them in the pantry. Well sure enough she found them. In no time at all she had the whole bag eaten and she was begging for another. She fussed only a little bit when I told her no and then we washed those orange little hands off. The bad thing about the things are the orange mess that they leave on everything that you touch. And it's really gross when your child throws up Cheetos. She did this last summer while on a road trip to my parents. All she had eaten were Cheetos. But it wasn't the Cheetos that made her sick but rather motion sickness. This year we're trying some Children's Dramamine and no Cheetos.

2005-11-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

Emily's Thanksgiving Program

2005-11-18T10:31:00.000-08:00

These are pictures that were taken at my daughter Emily's preschool Thanksgiving program. It was such a cute little program. They sang a couple of songs and the teachers told them to sit down. Well when they did, two of the kids on the back row fell off. They weren't hurt very bad but it took the teachers awhile before they could calm them down. Then there was little girl in front of Emily (she was one of the kids who had just fallen off the back row) who had her hair in braids. And of course my child could not resist playing with them. Before the program was over, Emily had both of the little girl's braids pulled out. It was bad enough that the little girl was tramatized by the fall but she had to deal with Hurricane Emily. After it was all over, we had a little mini Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey, jello, cornbread,and pumpkin pie. Of course Emily only ate a little of the jello and the whipped cream topping on the pie. But I'm so glad that I could be there to see it and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Going out of town

2005-11-17T16:43:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be going out of town for a few days so I won't be able to post much. I'm going back home to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. It will be good to see the folks again. We are going to kind of do our Christmas down there too because we won't be going back for Christmas. I hate to not be home for Christmas but it is such a long drive down there and Emily tends to get car sick lately. It takes us about 9 hours to get from Gainesville to Dyersburg. That's not too long but when you've got a 3 year old who gets restless and car sick sitting in a car seat, it can make for a long trip. I know that my mom will love to see Emily again. I hope that everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!

Been Busy

2005-11-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post anything for awhile because I've been so busy lately. I've been getting ready for a craft show that I'm going to be in this weekend. I make homemade soaps,lotions, and other bath and body stuff. This is my first show of the season. (and only)I've kind of sworn off craft shows lately because the few that I did last year just were not profitable for me. It's really hard to put all that work into doing a craft show and just barely make your booth fee. I've always done well at this one so I'm doing it again this year. I do hope that I do well.

My Saturday

2005-11-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

I had a great day yesterday. Our United Methodist Women's group had their meeting at a martial arts studio. We took a class on self-defense for women. It was very empowering and also a lot of fun! We learned different techniques on how to get away from an attacker. I tried some of them out on my husband last night and he was not very impressed. To tell you the truth he knows now not to mess with me! I wanted to try more of the tricks on him but he chickened out. I'm kind of interested in taking some martial arts classes. After our class we went downtown to eat lunch at the Tea Room. It's a very charming little cafe that is above an antique store. So overall it was a very good day.

2005-11-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

Refridgerator Art

2005-11-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween Jack O Lantern

2005-11-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Emily as Princess Aurora

Fun Halloween Game

2005-10-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a really cute game to play for Halloween. It's a really good time waster.
Dark and Stormy Night
Happy Halloween!

Chilli Weather

2005-10-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well it's really starting to feel like fall around here. We had our first real frost this morning. The low last night got down close to freezing. I love it when the weather starts to cool down cause I get to make my favorite chilli recipe. I just love the Wendy's chilli recipe. I can't tell the difference in my chilli and Wendy's chilli. I like to take a bunch of saltine crackers and smush them up in the bowl and then add cheddar cheese. Yum! And leftovers are just as good.

Pass the Potato

2005-10-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Click on this link and pass the potato. Let's see if this spud will get to visit all 50 states. He's traveled a lot already.
Pass the Potato

A Thought for Today

2005-10-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

If Adam and Eve hadn't eaten the apple, would we still have invented naugahide? Sounds silly doesn't it but that's what came to my mind as my daughter was running around the house half naked. She started to sit down to watch her favorite TV program and suddenly realized that she was half naked then she asked for her panties.

Just in Time for Halloween

2005-10-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

I got this from Sheri & SuZan at Celebrating Real Women. I'm gummy bears. What kind of candy are you?

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

We Made Poop!

2005-10-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling with my daughter Emily about potty training. Well the other night I noticed that she was hiding her eyes with a stuffed animal. I thought that that was odd behavior even for Emily. So I asked her what was wrong and she said nothing. So I suspected that she may be going potty in her pants. And I asked her if she had pooped in her pants. She shook her head but was still hiding her eyes. Then I asked her if she was embarrassed and she said yes. So I checked her pants but only a little was coming out so I quickly got her undressed and sat her on the potty. In a little while she said, "I did it!". I took her off of the potty and sure enough there was poop in there. I was so thrilled that she had made poop in the potty! And yesterday she peed and pooped in it. Now today she peed in her Pullups but I think that she is well on her way to being potty trained.

Lazy Sunday

2005-10-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

I didn't go to church today like I usually do. I was just kind of tired and I didn't feel like it. After Emily had gotten up and had breakfast she said that she wanted to go to church and by that time it was already too late. Oh well, I guess she's my conscious. We went to our local little zoo today and it was a real nice day for it. The Frank Buck Zoo as it's called is really not a bad little zoo for the size of our town. They just reopened it this spring after a lengthy renovation. It cost us $10 for the three of us which is a very good price. We got to see flamigoes, a couple of bears,a bobcat,elk,zebra,ducks,antelope, and a couple of giraffe. This is an interesting fact. They had a donkey in with the zebra and there was a sign that asked "Why do we have a donkey with a zebra?". It was because the donkey named C.J. lost it's mother and was very lonely. And since donkey's are in the same family as zebras they thought that the donkey would be happy with the Gazoo zebra. And they found that they get along just fine. I think that's great. It only took us about an hour to go through the whole zoo. We all had a great afternoon.

Katie and Tom

2005-10-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

We've been talking a lot about Katie (um sorry, Kate)Holmes and Tom Cruise on some of the other forums that I get on and it got me to thinking. I know it can be dangerous when I get to thinking. We've been talking about Katie and how she is going to have to be quiet throughout the labor process and I thought how funny it would be if SNL (Saturday Night Live) came up with a skit about this. Picture this: The scene is the living room of Tom and Katie's house and she's already to give birth in her big birthin' tub. She starts having horrendous labor pains.
Katie's pains are about 30 min. apart and she has only dialated 4 cm.

Katie: Whoa! Tom, that really hurt this time.
Tom: Sh......Kate remember you must try to be quiet for the baby's sake.
Katie: Ok, I'm sorry but that really did hurt!
Tom: Don't worry Kate it'll all be over in no time.

Several hours later and 8 cm. By this time Katie is sweating profusely and the pains are getting harder and harder. She's been in labor for a total of 20 hrs.

Katie: TOM! TOM! What the Hell did you do to me? How could I have been so foolish? What did you put in ME?
Tom: Now Kate remember for the baby Please be quiet! The pains will only last a little while and then you'll have our precious baby.
Kate: Oh Shut Up Tom! Just SHUT UP! I don't know why I fell for that Scientology Crap anyway? I think that I just thought that you were really cute and the fact that you were worth a lot of smackeroos really helped. Oh What Was I Thinking? Oh Damn! Another freakin' pain! I think I'm having an Alien baby!
Tom: Kate, really! Calm down. Do you want our baby to be scarred for life? Relax and breath.
Katie: You relax. You're not having Gigantor for a baby! And quit calling me Kate. It's Katie. Thank You!

It would kind of go something like that. I don't know who would play Katie or Tom. Maybe someone could give some suggestions.

Totally Flattered!

2005-10-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a really nice compliment from a fellow blogger today. She wrote a little post about me and my blogs and how she liked my products. Lingerie Lady is her name and her blog is AskDaddy. I had no idea that anyone really liked reading my blog. I thought that it was maybe too boring for the average blogger to read. She really made my day!

Meathead

2005-10-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

I just found this link courtesy of someone on Lilli's Place. This is a really neat party idea that will just freak your guests out! I love finding new food ideas to serve at Halloween parties. It makes great use of all that leftover coldcuts that you have around the house. Meathead

Hugs Mom!

2005-10-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

My mom just called me and said, "Well guess what happened to me?". I thought oh no, what happened?. She said that she was at Walmart with dad and she tripped and fell on a rug. She said that she fell flat on her face on the concrete. When she told me that I thought that maybe she had broken her hip or something. She blacked her eyes, nose, and chin and she broke her thumb. She pretty much all bruised up and sore but it could have been a lot worse. Walmart is going to pay for her pain and suffering and the time lost from work. She was supposed to start her new job today but will have to wait a few weeks to start. Sometimes I just feel so bad for living so far away.

Trick or Trunk

2005-10-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

We do a neat thing at our church it's called Trick or Trunk. It's kind of a tailgaiting way to Trick or Treat. We have people in the church who will volunteer to use their car, suv, van, or truck and sit out on the parking lot to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. It's a very safe way to have your kids trick or treat since going door to door is not always safe in this day and age. Last year I volunteered to do it but because of the rain we had to use tables inside the church and not our trunks or tailgaits.Gazoo

No More Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed!

2005-10-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well it's the second time that Emily has gotten hurt by jumping on our bed. I'm telling you she's wild! She's definately a jungle baby. Last night she was romping on the bed (and she thinks that it's real funny to run away from me when I tell her to get down) when she flipped off the side of the bed. I was on the other side but before I could get to her she had already fallen. It scared me so bad. I was just glad that she didn't break her neck. She cried for awhile but she was ok. Then this morning (and you would think that she would have learned her lesson by now) she was jumping around and hit her mouth on the footboard of the bed. Her mouth bled and bled. I got her a washcloth and put an icecube in it to get the swelling down. She's ok. She'll have a fat lip but she'll be fine. I think that she's going to be one of these kids that is always getting hurt. She's already had a broken leg. That happened last spring while in a bounce house. Believe me we'll never do bounce houses again.

An' tha Goblins 'ill Get Cha

2005-10-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

This was always my favorite poem at Halloween. My Grandmother had this book in her library and my mom used to read it to us about this time of year when we were kids.
This was writen by James Whitcomb Riley.

To all the little children: -- The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones -- Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones.

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,
An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout:--
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Got Spooked?

2005-10-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last night was just like any other night of week except that Emily and I are by ourselves on Mondays and Thurday nights. Tim started taking a class at night a few weeks ago. He started going to an H&R Block class on how to do taxes. He figured that it would be good if he could do that to make some extra money. And since it only cost a 100 bucks, he thought that it was worth trying it. I usually don't get spooked very easily but last night I heard a noise at the utility room door like someone twisting the door knob or something. Now maybe it was just my imagination running away with me or something but it really creeped me out. We live in a neighborhood where there are some questionable characters that walk the streets at times. And it doesn't help that my backyard is very dark. There is a security light back there but it doesn't work. I want Tim to tell our landlord to see if he could fix it because I think that I would feel a lot better if there were a light back there. Of course it doesn't help that early this morning around 2:00 am, we were awoken to the sound of fighting going on. We called 911 but someone had already called the police and they were on the scene. I'll just be glad when Tim's done with his class. Until then I guess that I'll just have to make sure that all of my doors are locked.

2005-10-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

My Little Princess

I Won BOTB's!

2005-10-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

I won! Yay! This doesn't happen very often so I'll just probably quit while I'm ahead. To all of those who voted for me, a big thank you from me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Battle of the Blogs

2005-10-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Blogexplosion has a contest called Battle of the Blogs or as it is sometimes referred to as BOTB. Two blogs battle it out to see which one is better. Each blogger wagers a minimum of 10 credits and the winner of the battle gets all of the points. Well I've only done this a few times because frankly I feel a little intimidated to do this. I don't have a fancy smancy template and I don't have a lot of bells and whistles on my blog. My content is probably not all that interesting. Maybe I'm a little boring. But I write what I feel and that's that. So I may try to play BOTB again sometime. But what the heck, it's only a game and it's only credits that I'll be losing. If I win, great. I'll jump up and down but if I don't, I'll know that it's not a reflection on me. So battle on bloggers and may the best blog win!

Happy Birthday Matt!

2005-10-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today is my nephew's birthday. He is 25 today. I still remember the day he was born. I was so excited because he was my first nephew to be born (and my only one). My sister went to the hospital on a Sunday morning and we spent all day and all night there. I never knew that it took so long for a baby to be born. It was a really boring day because in those days they would only let the dad be in the labor room with the mom. Now it's so much nicer having a baby because all of the family members can wait along with the expectant mom.

Dinner Tonight

2005-10-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well I'm going to try one of those foil pack dinners from Kraft Foods.com. I'm doing chicken with artichokes. What you do is you assemble your meat,veggies, and rice in a piece of aluminum foil and then fold it to make a pack. Then you put the packs in an oven safe dish and cook them for the ammount of time that the recipe calls for. The best thing is that there is no mess and clean-up is easy.

Train Tragedy

2005-10-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend there was a 23 year old girl who threw herself in front of a train here in town and was killed. I don't know what possessed her to do a thing like that to herself. She must have been very ill. If only she could have gotten the help that she needed before something like this happened. I just think that it is so sad when a young life is cut off short like that. I just pray for all of her family.

2005-10-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Me when I was four

Halloween Costume

2005-10-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend we bought Emily her Halloween costume. We wanted to find her a Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ costume but Target did not have anything in her size. So we found a Princess Aurora costume from Sleeping Beauty. She's not really hard to please. She hasn't gotten to that stage where she's got to have a certain costume or nothing at all. She's always going around saying that she's a princess anyway so we thought this would be perfect. But the only thing was that when we got home, she immediately wanted to wear it and I didn't want her to wear it until Halloween. So in order to get her mind off of wanting to wear the costume, I let her put on her Tinkerbell costume that she's had since she was about 15 mo. old. It still fits!

2005-10-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

Emily as Tinkerbell

Mommy Time

2005-09-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well I had a little mommy time today. Although I'd say it wasn't quite long enough. I dropped Emily off at preschool this morning and when I got home I sat down and turned on the TV. I don't get to watch what I want to watch much lately because either Emily is watching one of her movies or kid programs or Tim is watching ESPN or something like that. So I was flipping through the channel guide and I found something interesting on one of the Encore movie channels. It was Under the Tuscan Sun with Dianne Lane. I didn't catch it from the beginning but what I did see was very good. It's a terribly romantic and touching movie. I had to go to the bank before I picked Emily up so I missed the end of it. :( But it comes on again at 8:00 tonight so hopefully I can catch it again. So if you're a woman and you like romantic movies, be sure to see this one. But if you're a guy, you might just want to go out to your tool shed and have a beer or something!

The House that I Grew Up In

2005-09-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

The "Old Yella House" was what it was called by everyone in the community. When I was in the sixth grade, my mom and dad decided to buy this house that I eventually grew up in. It had been rental property for years and years and had really gone down. So they bought it and renovated it. It took about 10 years for them to restore it. The man that originally built it did not finish the upstairs so my dad had to do that. When you went up onto the 2nd floor, you could see all of the rafters above your head. My mom and dad still live there and I go home to see them at least twice a year. It's a great place to come home to.

2005-09-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Old Yeller

Preschool

2005-09-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well the second week of preschool has come and gone for Emily and she seems to be doing very well. She loves playing in their sandbox on the playground and she loves playing dress up. She's been singing "Apple Annie" a song that teaches them about the alphabet. They have a different character for each letter of the alphabet and each has a song that goes with them. This Friday they had to wear red. Colors are no problem for her. She knows them all. And she can already count to ten. It really pleases me to see her enjoy school so much. I just it carries on to elementary school. It was so different for me. I hated school from day one. I had always been with my mom constantly when I was little and I was very attached to her. I only remember going to a daycare for about 1 day. I begged my mom to take me and then when I found out that they made me take a nap, I cried to go home. Then when I started first grade (we didn't have a kindergarten at my school at the time) I cried everyday. So I certainly hope that Emily has a better experience than I did.

2005-09-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

Emily in her goofy hat

Purple Hair

2005-09-13T18:47:00.001-07:00

How do you like that pic of my daughter Emily's hair? I saw those play hair pieces at our Dollar Tree store here in town and I just couldn't resist. She's always playing dress up and this was perfect for her.

2005-09-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

Emily's hairdo

First Week of Preschool

2005-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

Last week was Emily's first week of preschool. So far I think that she is taking to it really well. We went to the open house on Wednesday and her first full day was Thursday. She really loves playing in the sand box. It's so much better when you don't have to deal with the crying and separation anxiety. I think that going to mom's day out last year really helped with that. She's really a very social creature and she loves playing with other children.

Black Cloud

2005-09-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

There has been a black cloud hovering over our community for a few weeks now. It started when our church was flooded twice. Then two youths from our church were in a tragic accident. The accident took the life of the older one and injured the other. Then the sad sad memorial service for the young boy took place at our church where 600 were in attendance. And then there was hurricane Katrina where thousands of people were displaced and even more are possibly dead. Then our city prepared to take in about 100 evaucuees from New Orleans. And then we were afraid of what might be the fate of Tim's friend, Rene, who lived in New Orleans. We knew that he lived in a part of the city that got a lot of flooding and we were hoping that he got out in time. We searched so many of the missing person boards out there but to no avail. A couple of days ago, I decided to just take a chance that he might have some access to a computer and I emailed him. I told him that we were very worried about him and to let us know that he's ok. Well, Thursday morning I got an email from none other than Rene! I was so relieved that he was all right. He said that he was ok and that he was in Baton Rouge staying with relatives of his mom. So that is one reason that I haven't been posting as much as I used to. Hopefully, the black cloud will start to lift and things will start to get to normal again.

Katrina Disaster

2005-09-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

All my prayers are with the people who have faced devastation because of hurricane Katrina. Our church is taking up a donation through UMCOR which is a United Methodist relief agency. I will be giving plus I'm going to make up a health bag for the victims. I think if everyone makes some kind of donation to the victims of Katrina, then we can all make a huge difference in someone's life.

Tim has a friend Rene who he has not heard from yet. I certainly hope that he is ok. If anyone from the New Orleans area knows Rene Farve, please let him know that his buddy Tim is concerned and we hope that he is ok.

A Night on the Town

2005-08-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Hopefully tonight Tim and I will get to go out to a movie tonight. We don't get to go out by ourselves very often. We've never really left Emily with anyone very much because we really didn't know anyone who we could trust to stay with her. The last time that we went out was on our anniversary in June. Tim's sister from Arizona was down visiting and she agreed to stay with her. Emily knows her pretty well and we felt pretty comfortable leaving her with her. Tim's dad is the only relative that we have that lives around here and he's really too old to stay with her. His hearing is really bad and he stumbles around a lot. So the other day I thought about Susie who is the nursery keeper at our church. She's really good with kids. I've known her for a while so I know that she would be good.

I think that we are going to watch the Skeleton Key. I've heard some mixed reviews about it so hopefully it'll be ok. Sometimes you never know about a movie until you go and watch it.

Google Searching

2005-08-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

I was doing a little Google searching today. I was mainly just playing around and wasting time. I remember watching Fantastic Features with my sister and some of her friends. And I put in the name of the host of the show. He was really creepy and he would always give me nightmares. I would beg mom to let me stay up and she'd let me stay up only if I promise that I wouldn't have any nightmares. If you grew up in the late sixties or early seventies and lived around the Memphis,TN area, then you know who I'm talking about. His name was Sivad and he came out riding on the back of an old hearse.

I also found that you can still buy the game Green Ghost. I found one on Ebay for about $60. If I had had the money I would have bought one right then. I loved that game as a kid. It scared me to death but I loved it anyway. I can remember being so scared to play it with the lights out. For anyone who's too young to remember, it's a game with a big green ghost that you spin and it has a raised gameboard that has creepy things that you feel when you open a door with a skeleton key. The whole thing glows in the dark. I really think that I might try to save my money and buy it for Tim for Christmas. He's a real game enthusiast.

Tragic Accident

2005-08-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well today I went to the mailbox to check the mail and while I was out, I picked up the local paper from the yard. I went inside and I read the headlines that 2 students had to be taken to a hospital in Dallas by Careflight. Now I'm very familar with the helicopter that saves so many lives for it was what my own daughter rode in when she was just barely a day old. So anytime I see a Careflight helicopter I take notice. It said that the two boys were in critical condition. One was a junior in high school and the other was a seventh grader. They were on their way to school when they ran into a tractor trailer. They were going north on FM 678 and did not yield to a tractor trailer that was going east on highway 82. They did not give the names of the boys pending notification of the family. So I thought "What a terrible thing to happen and I hope the boys are ok, but it doesn't sound good." But then a few minutes later I checked my email and there was an email from the church that I attend. It said that a family had lost their oldest son in a car accident. And then it hit me! That was the story that I had just read in the paper. The youngest boy was hurt but was going to be ok. I just felt sick. I had just seen Taylor at church Sunday morning. Their dad and mom are one of the sweetest people that you'd ever meet. I just can't imagine what they must be going through now. If you're reading this, please say a little prayer or light a candle for the family who lost their oldest son. Thank you.

I Want My Mommy!

2005-08-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day at Kid's Day Out. I had 3 boys in my class. Most of them acted pretty nice on the first day back. But I had to put one of the boys in time out when he refused to do any work. I know how Brody is so it didn't surprise me at all that he got in trouble on the first day. I had him in my class last year and we had lots of trouble with him. He can be really stubborn. We were doing a worksheet on shapes and we had them circle the circle shapes with a marker and then they had to color it with crayons. Well he wanted to color with markers and when I told him no he started pouting and refused to do anything. I told him that we had a place for pouters and it was called Time Out. And gave him the choice of deciding to color his paper or to go to Time Out. Well, he just sat there with his arms folded and his lip sticking out. So I had to pick him up and put him in Time Out. Then he started flinging his arms around like he was going to hit me. I got real stern with him and I said "That is not acceptable! You can not hit the teacher!". Then he started crying "I want my mommy!" Well, he sat in Time Out for a couple of minutes and he finally calmed down. And after everyone had finished their worksheets, he asked "Can I color my worksheet?" I told him that he could take it home and finish it there. This should be an interesting year.

Back to School Time

2005-08-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I go back to my part-time job tomorrow. I work at a mom's day out program at the church that I attend. We have 2 classes: a preschool class (ages 3 thru 5) and a toddler room (ages 10 mo. thru 2 years). My daughter Emily will be in the preschool class where I work. The kids are so sweet and it's a lot of fun to do but at the same time the kids can wear me out. Emily starts to preschool this year so that will something new to her. I really think that preschool will be good for her. But first I've got to take her to her doctor and get some of her shots that are required before she can go. That will not be fun. I'm going to do that on Friday so that she'll have the weekend to recover in case she has any adverse reaction to them.

2005-08-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

Emily's Art Work

2005-08-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Soap that I made yesterday

What I did today

2005-08-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making a batch of soap today. It's getting harder and harder to find the time to do it now that Emily's naps are so irregular. So today I decided that I would try to get ready to make some and hopefully she'd take a nap sometime in the afternoon. So I started doing things that I could feel were safe to do while she was awake like measuring the oils and lining the mold with freezer paper. Then she wanted me to put in Aladdin for her and in a few minutes she was fast asleep. So I was able to make my soap. I made Green Cactus with macadamia nut oil and liquid silk. I colored it with moss green and swirled it with red warm mica. I'll post a picture of it when is cut. It takes 24 hours to set up before you can cut it.

2005-08-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Emily loves her blankie

Maybe I Am Crazy?

2005-08-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

I've been driving myself crazy lately with blog skins. I found a really cute one but I don't know that much about codes and html to be able to make it work. Finally after a days worth of trying, I decided that it's really not worth all the hassle and this one will be fine. Someone on the blog advance forum gave me the link to this template that is a blogger template and it will do just fine. I really wish that they had more varieties in templates for dummies like me. Well how do you like this one? It's not exactly what I wanted but it looks better than what I had.

Goodbye Rain, Hello Sun

2005-08-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well the sun finally decided to shine today. Even Emily noticed it. She woke me up this morning and she said "Sunny day." We've had lots of rain lately. A few days ago, about 3 in. fell in less than an hour. The torrential rains flooded our church. Members of the church came to help clean up and pump the water out of the church. And then yesterday, we got more flooding rains. And again the church was flooded. But at least it was good to get a lot of stuff cleaned up that we needed to throw out. I work there part-time at a mother's day out program. So I spent my day cleaning out our craft closet and getting things ready to start next week. But the bad side of the return of Mr. Sun is that we probably will get our August weather back. Lately because of the rain, we've had unseasonably cooler temps. Instead of highs being in the high 90's, we've had highs in the 80's.

2005-08-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

What I'm currently reading

What Have You Been Reading Lately?

2005-08-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'd like to know what everyone's been reading lately. I don't get to read too often but I've set a goal for myself to read at least a book a month. I've been reading The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. Tim gave it too me for Mother's Day. He new that I liked romantic books. It's a very touching story of how a man tries to win back his wife's love for him. I'd like to read The Woodsman's Daughter next. I saw that in the bookstore the other day and it sounded interesting.

Tonight's Supper

2005-08-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight we are having Chicken Tortilla Soup. I got the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks Fix It and Forget It. All of the recipes in this cookbook are for your slow cooker. I love my crockpot. It's one of my favorite small appliances. If anyone said that you had to live on a desserted island and you could only take one appliance, it would have to be my crockpot. Here's the recipe for the soup:

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Becky Harder
Monument, CO

4 chicken breast halves
2 15 oz. cans black beans, undrained
2 15 oz. cans Rotel tomatoes
1 cup salsa
4-oz. can chopped green chilies
14 1/2 oz. can tomato sauce
tortilla chips
2 cups grated cheese

Combine all ingredients except chips and cheese in large slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low 8 hours. Just before serving, remove chicken breasts and slice into bite-sized pieces. Stir into soup. To serve, put a handful of chips in each individual soup bowl. Ladle soup over chips. Top with cheese.

I think that this is a very delicious soup.

2005-08-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Emily reading a book

I Have a Potty Mouth

2005-08-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

I guess that you could say that I have a potty mouth cause I've been living and breathing potty training. Today was another adventure in learning to go to the potty. I tried cloth training pants. She wore them for quite awhile before she had an accident. One time she came to me and said pee pee. We went to the potty and sat for a little while but that was about it. Then a few minutes later, I noticed a big puddle on the floor. So I guess it's back to the Pull-ups for awhile longer. I know that one of these days she's gonna get it.

Gonna Check Out the Gym

2005-08-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well I've decided to check out the gym here in town and see how it is. I've got an appointment with them today at 6:00 to just talk to them about it. If it's very expensive I won't be able to do it cause we are on a limited budget. I've got plantar facitus and a heel spur which makes it unbearable to walk. Tim and I used to walk about 2 miles almost everyday but since I can't do that now, the weight has really crept up on me. My podiatrist suggested that I either do an eliptical trainer or a bicycle. I really want to lose some weight. I feel like such a slob sometimes. And that is such a depressing feeling.

Yellin' Doors

2005-08-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

This really gets on my nerves! I was in Wally World today (for those of you who don't know it's Walmart) and when I started to go out the door, they started yellin' at me. Well I don't really think that it was me cause all I had were diapers and baby wipes and I think that those things go off when you have some kind of electronics or something. But anyway it made me feel real self conscious. I felt like someone was going to grab me and say let me look at your receipt. I just can't stand that voice either. "This is the Walmart inventory control system. Please step back and let us frisk you." And I won't ever use their self service checkout anymore. My husband Tim was scanning our items and it took him way longer that it would have if we had waited in line. You really got to know what you're doing because those things don't always scan right the first time that you pass the barcode by the scanner. I bought 2 pairs of shorts and he forgot to take the security thingy off of it. So when we went through the door, what do you think happened? You're right the doors yelled at us. Well we had to find a customer service representative to take it off. Here's the funny part. I wanted to have these because we were going to be at the lake for the weekend. I got out my shorts to put them on and there was the security thingy still on them. And I'm telling you those things can't be taken off! I don't know why the doors didn't yell at us when we tried to leave. So after we got back from the lake I took the shorts into Walmart with receipt in hand and I have the customer rep take the security thingy off.

Disappearing Reese's Pieces

2005-08-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

I bought some Reese's Pieces for Emily as a reward for going to the potty. Well they haven't helped her at all. She could care less about them. But for some reason they have been mysteriously disappearing out of the jar. Now it can't be Emily because I put them high on a shelf and she can't reach them. Hum? I wonder who has been steeling the Reese's Pieces? Tim even noticed it. He came to me tonight and said "You know Emily hasn't been very successful at using the potty but the Reese's Pieces have been dwindling." Of course I knew who the culprit was and I finally confessed. I said "Well I've been going to the potty and I think that I deserve some Reese's Pieces!"

I'm Lisa and I'm a Coca Cola Addict

2005-08-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

Ok I admit it. I'm addicted to Coke. Not Diet but good ole sugary syrupy Coke. This week I've gone cold turkey and I really haven't missed it. But when I went out to eat today, I got one of those combos and out of habit I ordered a Coke. It tasted really good. Because I haven't bought any soda except sugar free, Tim has also had to go cold turkey. Tonight he told me that he had a real craving for a sugary soda. So he informs me that he is going out to get one. Well, I thought that he only got one for himself so I asked him if I could have some of his soda. He replied with "Look around!" and then I thought that he just didn't want to share and then he says again "Look around!". I looked on the table and saw a 20 oz. Coca Cola on the table. So I unscrewed the cap and poured the wonderful brown stuff into a glass. I didn't want to drink the whole thing in one setting because I wanted to save some for tomorrow. I told him that if I was addicted to something like crack cocaine that he would be some help to my addiction. I could just imagine that he'd say "Honey I'm going out to the drug dealer." And then come back with a kilo of crack and place it on the table for me to be tempted by it. Of course he didn't think that I was being funny at all. I said "I'm only kidding!"

2005-08-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

My new clothesline

Energy Saver or Hillbilly Clothes Dryer?

2005-08-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

I just got a clothesline put up at my house and my husband Tim informed me that his landlord said that she thought there was a city ordinance against having clotheslines. What? What's wrong with a clothesline? I guess maybe some hoyty toyty suburbanite housewives think that a clotheslines is trashy looking or something. Well excuse me! I've grown up with clotheslines in my backyard all of my life and I don't think that they're tacky or trashy a bit. (Only if you leave you laundry up constantly and your draws have holes in them or something) I love the smell of sheets that have been hanging out on a clothesline. And you whites get a natural bleaching from the sun. But of course if you're prone to allergies, it's probably best to dry your things in a dryer.

My day so far..........

2005-08-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

I got up and got dressed after Tim left for work. By this time Emily was already up. I changed her dirty diaper ( and I mean dirty!). It's always lovely to wake up to a dirty diaper. Then I went in the utility room to find that it had been taken over by ants! A few days ago Emily spilled a whole bag of Reese's Pieces in there and I thought that I had gotten all of it up but some of them fell underneath a storage cabinet. They were really having a party. I moved the cabinet and swept up all of the candy so hopefully I've removed their food source. I also sprayed with some Raid ant killer. I don't see anymore ant so hopefully that's the end of them for now. I also made a batch of shower gel. It's takes awhile to fill the bottles and while I was doing that, Emily was making a mess in her room.

I don't know what to do with Emily. I think that she's going through some kind of phase where she's not eating much. I finally got her to tell me what she wanted for lunch (mac & cheese) but when I sat her down, she didn't even eat two bites. And she also threw her bowl on the floor! She hasn't done that in a long time. I guess that was my que to get her down cause she's done.

I get my hair cut today and I can't wait. It'll be so nice to have someone do something for me for a change.

2005-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Another one of my fav cookbooks

2005-08-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

What's for supper tonight? We're having Fettuccine Alfredo (Almost) with chicken and veggies. I'm making the sauce from a recipe that I got from the cookbook Desperation Dinners by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. It's got a lot of good recipes for moms that don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. I'm just adding a few things to it like chicken, broccoli, red bell pepper, and yellow squash. The sauce is good because it's not as fattening as the stuff that you buy in the jars.

2005-08-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

I got so mad at Tim last night because he snapped at me. He can be such an ass at times. I was trying to get Emily ready for bed and he was looking at his notebook of stories that he starts but never finishes. Tim is a very good writer but because of his heavy work load, he doesn't have a lot of time to spend on it. Since our bedrooms don't have any doors on them (which I find strange but that's the way it is), we all have to go to bed at the same time so that Emily will go to sleep. Tim has been used to staying up very late (sometimes until 3 or 4 in the morning). But what really makes me mad is that he's had all summer to work on his writing if he wanted to. He works for the school system so he only works about 10 months out of the year. And when we were living in our apartment, instead of working on his writing I would find him playing games on the computer. So he shouldn't take his frustrations out on me cause it's not my fault that he doesn't get to work on his writing. But I still love him.

2005-08-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm at my wits end with Emily and her potty training. She could care less if she goes in her diaper or not. I even put some Dora big girl panties on her (with her diaper over them) and she still peed in them and it didn't matter to her a bit. Sometimes she'll come to me and tell me that she pooped (which she confuses with pee a lot of times) and she'll go and sit on the potty. But she still wants to sit on it with her clothes on and she won't pull her diaper down. Sometimes I think that she's just too immature to try to potty train. She acts like she's only about 2 1/2 instead of 3. I told you about her problem at birth and that she has a language delay of about 6 months. She's doing a lot better with her language but she could still stand to improve. She's going to be going to preschool in a few weeks and I guess that I'm just getting nervous about it. It's obvious that she doesn't want to go to the potty right now. Maybe when she sees that the other boys and girls are going to the potty and not in their pants then maybe she'll want to do the same. I can only hope because it's driving me crazy!

2005-08-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

What should I do with this empty fake fireplace? Tim doesn't like it but I do. I like having a mantle to put pictures on it. I found a set of 3 candle holders at Bed Bath & Beyond and I going to put them on the mantle. I'm also going to hang a mirror above it. I think that will make the room look bigger. It'll be so much fun at Christmastime. I thought about putting a basket with a flower arrangement in it. I'd like to hear some of your ideas. I love getting comments.

2005-08-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

My empty fake fireplace

2005-08-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

The river going down my street

2005-08-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

We've had very wild weather today. There's an actual river flowing down my street. We've had very loud thunder and wicked lighting. We've already lost our signal on our cable and I hope that we don't lose our lights. A few minutes ago it was hailing which got me pretty scared because they say that sometimes tornadoes follow hail. But so far there are no reports of tornadoes and no watches just flooding. I made a trip to Sherman today and I'm glad that I did that this morning so that I didn't have to go out in this. Emily is not scared in the least of the thunder and lightening.

2005-08-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not visited my website or my soap business blog, this is what I do in my spare time. I make soap so that I can keep a little of my sanity intact. I've been making soap for almost 3 years. I haven't made any soap for a few weeks because we were in the middle of moving but I really need to get my butt in gear and start soaping for the fall and holiday season.

2005-08-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Green Irish Tweed

2005-08-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Blackraspberry and Vanilla soap

2005-08-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Emily is so funny sometimes. Everything is either mommy or daddy's turn. Sometimes she'll fuss when Tim tries to put her in the carseat. She'll say "No! Mommie's turn!". And then tonight she came up to me while I was on the computer and said "Daddy's turn." And I said "Daddy's turn for what?" And she said, "Play game." Tim sometimes lets her get in his lap while he plays computer games and she knows that I won't do that. I told her that Daddy will get his turn later tonight and then she can play some games. She loves watching Dora and Scooby Doo. Although she calls him Dooun Doo. She'll get in my lap and say "Seat belts on. So we can be saft." She's been going through speech therapy for the last 6 months and within the last few weeks she's really improved a lot. She starts speech therapy throught the school system when school starts this month. She went through ECI until she turned 3. They drop them at age 3. She's really a loving child. She loves to be kissy. But she sometimes drives me crazy when she runs from me when I have to change her Pullups.

2005-08-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Emily woke us up early again. Thank goodness that it's not like she was when she was a baby. At least the TV will do a little babysitting until you can manage to get your eyes open. She didn't go to bed until after midnight. You would think that since she went to bed so late that she would want to stay in the bed until at least 8:30 or 9:00. She's always been an early riser. Unlike my son who after he turned 2 he would sometimes stay in the bed until 10:00 or 11:00. I had the hardest time getting him ready for school. I haven't told you about my son Drew. He's 13 and he lives with his dad by choice. That's a long story that I'll have to tell sometime but I don't want to go into it right now. Hopefully she'll be a little easier to get up and get ready for school. Our landlord came by today and tried to fix the leaking of our washer hoses. He said that he thought that he had it fixed and that if it gave us anymore problems to just call him. He said that if it leaks again just to turn it off at the faucet after I do a load. I went in there and looked at it and it's not leaking quite as bad but it is a slow drip. I'm going to go ahead and wash a couple of loads anyway. I'm tired of having to take my laundry somewhere else. He said that the previous tenant had the same problem so I think that we may be stuck with a drip. Oh it's just wonderful to rent isn't it? Hopefully in a couple of years we'll have some bills paid off so that we can buy instead of rent. Renting gets old after awhile.