Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Belle!

I cannot believe another year has flown by already. Once again I am saying how can it be possible.

You are such an amazing girl and I am very proud of you.

As we say to each other all the time, "I am very happy you are my daughter. And I am happy that you are glad I am your mom."

I hope you have a beautiful, wonderful, fun, happy day!!

I love you with my whole heart!
I love you more than anyone!
I love you more than anything!
I love you more than words!
I love you more than outer space!
I love you infinity!

Oh Santa What Are You Doing To Me

This morning Belle thinks of something different she can ask Santa for...

Tickets to Disny.

UGH>

My response was to tell her she can't ask Santa for that. That would be really hard for Santa to get plus you are not supposed to ask Santa for tickets to things.

She already thought of asking Santa for tickets to see the Jo Bros. That isn't happening either.

At least she also wants to ask for a DS, Pixos, and a snowglobe.

Twighlight The Movie

So where to begin...

I liked it.

I don't think I loved it. Not yet. But I might...

It was a lot slower moving than I thought it would be. Plus the whole time I was worried about what my husband was thinking of the movie. He didn't read the books. And he wasn't impressed. He said he would watch it again but not pay full price at the theater.

Some of the makeup was a bit overdone but really didn't bug me.

Maybe I would have loved it if I was able to just watch it without all of the knowing giggles and claps going on in the theater. I expected it to be packed and there to be a lot of teenagers but still that was getting on my nerves.

I think most of the characters were cast perfectly. I think Bella looks right but I am not sure about her as an actress. The one that really was wrong is Rosalie. And I feel bad for her in real life because she is going to get a lot of criticism for not being pretty enough.

So I have mixed feelings.

I think I will love it when I can really watch it again. Is the DVD out yet???

I do love that the next one has been given the green light, though!!

Voting

Yesterday I did my civic duty and voted.

But more importantly Belle has been very involved in this election.

They talked about it in school.

She would ask me who I was voting for and I refused to tell her.

She knew who she wanted to win. McCain.

And she had her reasons why: She did not like how Obama talked to McCain and she did not like what he said. She thought he was mean.

So funny...

Anyway, we have electronic voting booths in my precinct and I took Belle with me. Given how involved she has been I wanted her to be a part of the actual process.

Fast forward to this morning and I tell her who wins.

She starts crying. She was so upset that her choice did not win.

I felt so bad for her. Even though I also thought it was a bit funny. I know shame on me but she was so upset I couldn't believe it. She is 6 and is on her way to a future in politics if she keeps this up.

How is This Possible?

Somehow I am just as hooked on the Twilight series the second time around.

Yes, it is true.

I am reading them again.

I am now starting book 3.

What is wrong with me? :-)

Can't Wait

Hilarious

This had to be the best polital ad I have seen yet.




It showed who's practicing for the next season of Dancing with the Stars.

And I can't get the photo to post. GRRRRRR

Tragedy

I am not sure how many people have heard of this family, The Nielsons but I can't stop thinking about them.

Stephanie had her own blog and if you read through it she was really quite amazing. Her perspective on life, marriage, and especially motherhood were so joyful. She truly loved everything about her life even on bad days.

In August Stephanie and her husband Christian were in a small plane crash and were severely burned. Christian's wounds were not as severe as Stephanie's but still bad. He seems to be recovering well enough per his sister-in-laws blog but Stephanie is still in a drug induced coma with multiple skin graft surgeries going on. They both have a very long road of recovery ahead of them and I pray they are able to return to their lives/family.

They have 4 young children and they are young themselves. It is just so sad and such a tragedy.

The family as well as many bloggers out there are accepting donations or have auctions going on to help the family with their ever growing medical costs. So if anyone is so inclined please check out their blogs for more info.

Love Notes

This was a recent note trading session between Belle and I.


Belle: I love you.

Me: I love you more.

Belle: I love you evin more.

Me: No you do not!

Belle: Yess I do!

Me: How do you know?

Belle: I! Love! You! more! I can see throuwolz. (through walls)

Me: No Way.

Belle: Yess way!

Me: I loved you 1st.

Belle: I loved you evin more! 1st!

Then dinner was ready and that was the end of the notes. I kept sneeking them to her and vice versa. She is doing so good with reading, spelling, and writing. It is amazing how fast she keeps growing up.

I'm Back

It only took a week and I am already having withdrawals but I have read all 4 books in the Twilight series.

And....

I.Loved.Every.Minute.

As soon as I was done I was sad that it was done. I want to start all over again. At least there is a new series on HBO that can give me my fill but it doesn't seem to be the same and I don't know how long I will watch it. The first episode seemed to be mostly about s*x so we will see if there is really more story to than that.

As for my family, they were so funny about my reading. By the end of the week they were almost mad at me. For reading. Funny.

Belle was so happy to get her mommy back. Although, I was still interacting with her she didn't feel I was paying enough attention.

But I was mostly reading at night. Plus any other time I could ignore my "chores". Needless to say I have some cleaning to do.

And J was making remarks and getting mad at me for staying up late while he went ahead to bed. Again. Funny.

But I'm back now. And I can't wait until the movie comes out.

Obsessed

I am truly a woman obsessed.

I can't sleep. I can't eat. I don't want to work.

It is terrible.


And it is all because of this:



Man, I love me a good vampire story and this one has got me sucked in. I realize I am late getting on the bandwagon. And even when Greta said she was reading it I still didn't realize what it was about. Then suddenly I heard the story and I knew I had to read them. Luckily, my SIL, who is always buying books, just bought all 4 and is letting me borrow them.

The problem is I only have the first and second book in my possession. She still has number 3 and 4 and I.Can.Not.Wait.

I need them now. NOW I tell you. now......

Finished

Finally.

I have been working on a little sewing project for what feels like forever.

It really wasn't that difficult. In fact the pattern for New Look 6478 said it was easy.

And it was mostly. My problems were that I am really self taught unless you count the home ec class I took back in middle school a bazillion years ago.

Some took me a bit to figure out and then once I did it made total sense. I just don't like how pattern instructions are written and shown with the pictures. They really are not very clear.

This was how it looked on the hanger.

Of course it looked better on.

That elastic on the top of the back was really throwing me for a loop in the directions. That was a main once the light bulb went off it was a piece of cake.

And we have to have a model pose of course.

I think I would make this again but the tie straps that go around her neck need to be a bit longer. Plus I think it would be cute if it had something added to the neckline. It is supposed to have a little ribbon bow sewn on but I didn't have any plain pink ribbon so I may still add that. Or something.

The best part is she loves it. She loves when I make her dresses. I just need to find more time to be able to do these things since I love it too.

Unexpected Message

I decided to call my home voice mail a little while ago and this is what I heard.

You have 1 new message.

"I love you mommy. I love you too daddy."

Of course I had to call my sweet little girl and tell her that I love her too. (She is at my sister-in-laws house)

Sirens

Wow. What a night.

Or should I say morning.

My husband gets up about 2:30am to get ready for work. This morning he gets up as normal, gets dressed and lets the dog out.

I usually wake up when he does but I get to roll over and go back to sleep. Usually after a quick potty break. No exception this morning and I just fell back asleep when....

He is shaking me telling me the sirens are going off.

I say to grab Belle and we run downstairs since we all sleep upstairs in our house. On our way to the basement I grab the dog, his leash, my cell phone and keys. You never know.

Apparently, we were under a tornado warning and all the elements were there on the radar that precede a tornado. This is at 2:25 am.

The warning was set to expire at 3:15. The sirens stopped around 3:05 but we continued to watch the TV in the basement and waited until 3:15.

It was super windy and then completely quiet. Very eerie. Especially given you hear that it is always quiet and calm before the actual tornado hits.

Thank God it never produced a true tornado but it was definitely a way I don't want to wake up to again.

I needed to try to get Belle back to sleep which was hard to do since she was scared. But she finally did. Not without waking up a few times to make sure I was still around. I stayed up.

I am beyond tired. Belle has 2 hours of dance this evening and then I think we will all be crashing early.

In The Window

Let me first say I am very grateful to have a job. And it is a pretty good job too.

My problem lies in the fact that I would love to be a stay at home mom. I keep hoping as time goes by it will get easier but the fact is that it is not even a little bit easier.

My job gives me so much stress. Not because of the work itself (although there are stressful situations sometimes) but because of personal reasons. When I am on vacation or just plain off of work I am more relaxed and laid back. The way I like to be. But when I am working I always feel that I have way more to do than I have time to do it in. And most of all I hate running errands or doing housework when I just want to be playing with Belle.

And speaking of Belle she would like nothing more than for me to be home with her. Even when she has to go to school she wants me to be able to drop her off when school starts and pick her up when it is over. She would be happier to not have to get up by 6:15 every day. Especially when school starts at 8:45.

During the summer I take her 30 minutes round trip out of my way to my sister-in-laws house while I am at work. Gas prices being what they are it is a lot of extra money. Plus I work another 30 minutes away. Cha Ching.

When I drop her off every.single.day she sits in the window with a frown on her face waving bye to me. Every.Single.Day. I know she has fun with her cousins most of the time but still....

As for me... It makes me sad too.

Ideally it would be great if I was able to work from home. Sadly that is not an option for my department. GRRRR

Wow

Time sure does fly by.

Still here.

Still crazy busy.

Better posts to come.

Soon.

I hope.

Car Talk

This morning I am driving to drop Belle off so I can go to work and we get on the conversation of strangers.

I go through all of the usual statements and Belle reminds me she knows all this stuff. I tell her it is part of my job to always remind her. I tell her I don't like this part of the job or the yelling part but I have to.

As I am saying but I have to she is also saying it at the same time. She then proceeds to tell me this.

Belle: "Mom, when I say it I know it. Whey you say it it is just annoying."

Me: "What (in a silly tone). Don't make me come back there and beat your butt." She starts to say it again and I interrupt her and tell her that I am going to pull the car over right now and get her. She starts laughing.

I am thinking I have used the word annoying too many times if she is now using it against me.
:-)

Infertility Pain

My sister, that I have written about before, is dealing with infertility. I feel so bad for her. I just want her to be able to have the baby she is so longing to have.

She doesn't know about this blog so she won't know I am putting this out "there" but this is the email I got from her yesterday.

you guys would appreciate my frustration....

yesterday wend in for my "yearly" checkup....get there...I am the only one in the waiting room that is NOT pregnant...ok...fine...hard enough...then go in get the checkup..start to "clean up" and get dressed...started spotting...UGH

I was able to control myself until I got to my car....a few tears were shed...made it home..ran upstairs and started to bawl....just can't take this anymore...anyone have any tips on how to let these things go and not care?

So I go for a laparascopy on Aug 14th. Hopefully they will find the cause of all this frustration and fix it.

The real frustrating part for her is that the doctors haven't been able to give any reasons whatsoever explaining why she may not be able to get pregnant. And adding salt to the wounds you have me who was on the pill and got pregnant, and then there is our other sister who has 4 kids she seems bothered by to take care of. This is definitely one of those life isn't fair moments.

I just wish some miracle would happen and she would get pregnant.

Cruise Talk

I am driving along last night and I hear from the backseat:

Belle: "Mommy, I need a shave."

Me: "What did you say?"

Belle: "I need a shave. My hairs are really long."

Me: "bwahhhh ha ha ha. You are too young to shave."

Belle: "I know but my hairs are really really long." As she is holding her leg close to her face.
"How do you shave anyway?"

Me: "You take the shave gel and rub it on your legs."

Belle: "What is shave gel and where is it?"

Me: "It is like a cream. You then rub the razor across your legs but you have to be careful you don't go sideways so you don't cut yourself. Are you going to try this when I am not looking?"

Belle: "NO. I don't want to cut myself. You have to shave me."

Me: "You are too young to shave. You can start shaving when you get hair under your armpits."

Belle: "I don't want hair under my armpits."

Me: "That is why you shave it off."

Belle: "Only boys should get hair under their armpits. Girls shouldn't have to."

Me thinking-Oh that is just the start of what girls have to endure that boys don't.
And I better keep an eye on the razor and shaving gel.

Still Here

I am still here.

Just so incredibly busy that I can barely stand it.

I have taken pictures that I wanted to share.

I have stories to tell.

And yet I have no time.

I will get it done. I will.

I just need a bit more time.

What's Going On

So much has been going on and I have taken a few photos. I have been waiting to post until I could actually post the photos (which as you can tell takes me awhile to download).

The last day of kindergarten was 2 weeks ago and Belle took these to her teacher, latchkey women and her dance teacher. I think they came out pretty cute for pens.

When she came home from school I surprised her with this cake that she would ooh and ahh over every time we went to the grocery store. I told her it was her Happy Summer Vacation Cake. Which she loved.

The past weekend we went to a strawberry festival. It is always so yummy to get their homemade strawberry shortcakes with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream and whip cream all over a biscuit. Yummy. I meant to take a picture of that but of course forgot.

I did get pictures of Belle winning this years goldfish. She won one last year also and it lived for 2 days. Last year we tried to get her new ones from the pet store but they died within a day so we gave up. She wanted to win another this year and even though my husband didn't want her to we let her. You can see what happened on her first shot...

Yep that is the ball in the glass bowl. The person running the game was a bit haggard but oh well we won. He gave us a ticket to come back on our way out to get the fish. When we did he gave Belle 2. One little orange goldfish and a larger black goldfish. We took them home and set up the fish bowl for them. We then went to the store and got fish food. They were swimming and eating all night.

The next morning I got up and looked at the fish bowl to check on the little fish and saw this:

It was empty. Apparently when my husband got up in the morning for work he saw the little one on dead on the bottom but the bigger one was still swimming. So he gave him a little food and went to get ready for work. When he came back the bigger one was floating on the top so they both got flushed less than 24 hours after coming to us. I guess we shouldn't have fish as pets. Although, I say there is something wrong with the bowl.

Grandparents - Yeah Right

There is a little known fact about me that most people don't know or don't remember. It doesn't really affect me daily but there are times it comes and smacks me in the face.

Now is one of those times.

You see when I was not even 2 years old my mom and dad got a divorce. He used to pick me up on Saturday mornings and take me to breakfast. I can still remember what the restaurant looked like. I would always order pancakes and then he would take me home. I was probably only 2 when all this would happen. Then I remember waiting for him one time and he never came by again. Ever. I remember being so sad we weren't going to go for breakfast. Maybe that is why I love breakfast food and especially pancakes to this day.

Fast forward a few years and my mom gets re-married. I was 7. For my 8th birthday he adopted me and my name changed to their last name. I remember it was an adoption/birthday party. So now I have a dad again. Sort of.

Through all of this I had my mom's parents, my closest and dearest grandparents. They were always there for me then and to this day. Sadly this grandma, Grammy, passed away when I was in my early 20's. She didn't see me get married nor did she see my daughter. She meant the world to me and I still miss her so very much. She taught me to make chocolate chip cookies that my grandfather, Poppy, would love for us to make for him. That and pies. I am passing on the chocolate chip cookie tradition to my daughter and I still make them frequently. Poppy is still living but lives far away and I haven't been able to see him in a couple of years. I was hysterical when Grammy passed away and I will be again when Poppy passes away. Sadly I know this will be in the next several years as he is 94 this year.

So I get adopted by my step-dad and now I have his parents for a whole other set of grandparents. They have always lived close to us but we weren't close. I remember from the beginning they didn't really like me. They always tried to change me, my appearance, etc. I remember she didn't like how my thumb nails looked and wanted me to squeeze them to make them have a different shape. Things like that. Things that hurt. That do hurt.

Then my mom has 2 more kids. Now they finally have grand kids. Hey, what about me. And from there I practically didn't exist except to be that kid that came with that awful woman he married. Because I was linked to her as I got older the more distance they kept from me.

To the day that grandmother died 2 years ago she really didn't want much to do with me once my sisters were there. And because she didn't that grandfather also didn't. I remember when I was young and buying my first car I asked if he could co-sign and he said he wouldn't do it and wouldn't even do it for their neighbor kid who asked them. They put me in the same category of some neighborhood kid. I never asked them for anything ever again. Not even a penny. But my youngest sister that I don't associate with for many reasons would steal from them. She would milk them for all the money she could. They supported her for so many years it was sick. Even my sister that I am extremely close with had asked them for money over the years. She, however, gave back to them of her and her time. She was there for them as they were there for her.

Now that that grandfather passed away last month we have their will. They didn't really have much. I was able to get some mementos from their house as was everybody. But they owned their house free and clear plus I am sure he had a good savings account as well as a car in great shape with little to no miles on it. All of these have to be sold for the estate. I knew I was mentioned in the will but didn't know in what fashion until today. I am being given a small fixed amount of money. And I mean small. I didn't expect much. And it really isn't about the money. My other 2 sisters and my uncle (their only remaining son) will be splitting the rest.

It really isn't about the money. It is what that money represents. It just slaps me in the face again that I was not their grandchild. And that hurts still...

Wart Be Gone

Belle has had a wart on her big toe for probably about a year.

We tried everything.

We tried over the counter band aids that had the medicine in them.

We tried over the counter liquid.

We tried the doctor who in turn tried to freeze it.

Nothing worked.

There was one point where it seemed we got it but it just got bigger.

I was really starting to worry that her toe was going to be permanently deformed since she had this big bump on the side of her big toe.

So at the end of March I decided we were going to try again with over the counter products. We bought new brands and had medicated discs that you cover with the special round band aids that come with it plus we bought a different brand of liquid.

Daily after her bath we would file it and try to pull off what we could. It took about six weeks and layers upon layers of warts came out.

It was gross. It was painful both physically and emotionally.

I know she will remember this experience for the rest of her life.

During the process we both kept saying we will be so happy once it is finally gone. She really wanted it gone before vacation so she wouldn't feel self conscious wearing flip flops and sandals.

We both said we would celebrate.

And then Belle came up with the idea of having a Wart Gone Party. She designed how she wanted her cake to look and it went downhill from there.

We ended up having her Wart Be Gone party this past Sunday. It also turned into a bit of a cook out. I wanted to invite some of our friends but Belle was upset that I told her little friend from soccer about it because she didn't want anyone outside of the family to know about her wart.

I made her this cake:

She wanted it to be in grass so I added green food color to coconut and spread it around the foot. If you look closely you will see the wart on the big toe.

She decided that her Uncle would have to eat the wart because he is not afraid of anything. It became his honor to do it.

In the end she was glad her friend from soccer was there and I should have just gone ahead and invited our friends over but we had a perfect weather day and the party was a success. Belle even got gifts from her one aunt who brought her 2 pairs of flip flops, 2 bottles of nail polish, a toe ring, a toad (frog) web*kinz all packaged in a toad (frog) gift bag. We of course had already painted her toes so she would have pretty feet.

I hope this was the first and last wart be gone party we will have to have. :-)

Say It Isn't So

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. How does that happen. I guess I know how it happens since I have been living the crazy life but still...

So what has been happening lately:

1) We went to Disn*y for a week. I was driving myself nuts trying to get everything ready for our trip. We left on May 3rd. It was a great trip. I loved every minute of it. I could go back tomorrow. Belle of course loved it and like me was very sad to leave. We got home around 9:30pm on May 10th. My sister also went with us and left her husband at home since he just started a new job.

2) At about 9:31pm at my house my brother-in-law is there to take my sister home and informs us that my grandfather passed away while we were gone. Pretty much as soon as we landed in Florida he had passed away. We collectively had made a decision before we left to not tell us while we are gone if something were to happen. Thankfully they held the funeral until May 11th and 12th. So Sunday that was supposed to be our day of relaxation before heading back to school and work was spent at the funeral home. I went ahead and sent Belle to school on Monday while we went to the actual funeral. Now we are trying to go through the house and see if we want anything and then deal with selling the rest including the house. Not fun at all.

3) Because of everything above I didn't go back to work until May 15th and I still feel like I have no idea what is going on. I hate that.

4) Thank goodness this is a long weekend. I keep feeling like I am not on my game. I just keep feeling a few steps behind. I don't know what that is all about.

5) I am planning Belle's "wart be gone" party that she has wanted to do for the longest time. She had a pretty bad wart on her big toe for probably a year. During that time we had tried everything to get rid of it. The doctor even tried to freeze it off. Before our trip we finally finally removed all remnants of the wart and it was a painful experience both physically and emotionally for her and I.

I think that is finally it. It feels like there is more but that is all I can think of.

Feeling Sad Today

For the past 4-5 years I have worked in the same building and company as my sister.

We were 3 floors apart and in different departments but still here together.

We didn't each lunch together often or even always get to talk every single day (although mostly) but we were here together.

Today she is beginning a new job within our company. I am very proud of her.

But she is now gone from our building. She is working from one of our satellite offices.

And I miss her already.

And I am happy for her but sad for me.

Happy Birthday to Me

I am so excited. I got my camera. I ended up getting a Canon. I can't wait to get home and play with it.

My sister-in-law had some contacts at a camera store and they really took care of me price wise.

Now I have to learn how to use it.

Gum

I just had to pop in to document the fact that Belle has had her first piece of gum on Tuesday evening.

I made it almost 6 1/2 years with her not having any. We were driving and she wanted a cinnamon mint but we didn't have any. So I see her thinking for a minute and then she says, "can I try a piece of gum?"

OK

I give it to her and keep telling her to not swallow it. I ask her what she thinks and she gives me her thumbs up sign.

I also told her that the flavor only lasts a few minutes. And what does she say to that?

"Then what do you do with it?"

I laugh and say that you just chew it. She spits it out and then wants another one. But she was also making a nasty face when she spits it out.

I explained that you don't chew it for a minute, spit it out and then right away chew another one. She wanted to see if she would like the second piece better than the first. I tell her that is not going to happen.

She decides she would have liked it better if it was strawberry flavor. Here we go.......

Sorry

I have been a bad blogger. I don't know what gets into me besides too much going on.

My birthday is Monday so we are celebrating this Friday evening so I can hopefully go buy a new camera on Saturday.

And the thing about the camers is now I eliminated the Nikon from the list but have added the Canon XSI but they are no where to be found since it is just being released this month. UGH>

Poor Belle has had a wart on her big toe for forever. We have tried so many things to get rid of it and we thought we did a couple of times but it would still be there. I even had the doctor try to freeze it off with no luck. So lately we have really been working on getting rid of it and I think we are just about there. She really wants it to be gone by the time she has to wear sandals and flip flops and especially before we go to Florida. I am hoping once we get this last piece out we will be done. And I think we may be able to get it out this week. I asked her what she wants to do when it is gone and she told me she wants to have a wart be gone party. So in the spirit of things (because she really has gone through a lot with this stupid thing) I am going to try to make a cake in the shape of a foot for her to have a little party. So funny. I will have to post pictures of the cake. I hope I can pull it off.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head.

More Milestones

So much has happened with my little Belle over the last few weeks to remind me that even though her whole infant life she was a abnormal child that she is indeed a normal child.

Just a bit off of the norm with when she decides to pull out the stops.

For example, from the time she could use her tiny little hands she would help me clean up her toys. Now her idea of cleaning up her toys is to pile stuff on my dining room table or open her door and toss them in her room. This is not ok.

She also never put things in her mouth as an infant but now at 6 I am constantly telling her to take stuff out of her mouth. Now more than ever I am afraid she is going to swallow something and choke. This is not ok.

I have always felt safe in leaving her alone in a room for a few minutes to say go to the bathroom, change a load of clothes, or simply make dinner. Now I have to watch her a bit closer sometimes depending on her mood. This is not ok.

She is lying... This is not ok.

On the 13th she had a couple of clips in her hair. I had put most of her hair up in a bun so she could dress like a ballerina for her career day at school. There were a couple pieces on each side that I needed to put in clips to hold back from her face. That evening at home she wanted to let her hair down. She couldn't get the clips out of her hair and I was in the kitchen making dinner. We go to sit down to eat and my husband asks what the glob of hair on the floor is. She lies and says she doesn't know. That is just came out with her ponytail and clips. She clearly is not telling us that she in fact cut it but we can tell. She loses her scissors indefinitely for lying and I am left shocked that she cut her hair. We have talked about it before and I really never thought she would do it. She finally confessed she cut the clip out since it was stuck. Thankfully it is from underneath and to look at her you can't tell.

And the best milestone that actually brought tears to my eyes is she lost her first tooth on the 24th. It was a good experience so the next ones will hopefully not be dramatic. It freaked me out to look at it all dangly and what not but it came out on its own so that is good. The tooth fairy brought her gold which she is way excited about.

Son of a Beach

I am sick.

Again.

I have had enough already.

This makes the 4th time since Christmas.

ENOUGH!!!!

Digital Camera Research

Oh how I would love to get a new D-SLR camera. I know the features I want and don't want but it is hard to find everything bundled all together.

There are a couple that come close but again it is hard to determine which one to go with without being able to try them out for awhile.

The first is a Nikon D-80. These are so cool and has the Nikon brand name behind it. The major downfall of this camera is that is does not have a live view option on the LCD screen which my hubby would not like at all. He prefers the live view feature to the view finder any day. It does take the SD memory cards that I already have with my point and shoot camera though.

The next one is a Sony A350. This camera seems to have all of the functions that I want but does not take the SD memory cards that I already have so that increases the cost.

The most frustrating thing about these sorts of purchases are you never know how it will handle when you are out in your daily life using it without being able to do that. And so many stores will not return items like this after they are open so I always feel stuck. I think it would be great if a store would say, "Here go try it out for a few weeks." That would be worth their weight in gold. I think I would be more inclined to buy from them since they feel so confident in the product that they are willing to let me test drive it. But sadly that is not an option I have ever seen.

Once I decide which one I can start to save my money. Good thing my birthday is coming up...

Trip

Soon we will be taking a road trip to Michigan. There is a mall there that we love as well as lots of fishing stores my husband loves.

It will be so nice to have a change in scenery. I think we are all counting the days...

After we take this mini trip we are going on a larger by airplane trip to see our favorite princesses live in person. Now that I truly cannot wait for.... Hmmmmm.......

We've Got Snow

Holy mother of snow machines did we get a pile and a half of snow this weekend.

I have pictures but I haven't downloaded them yet. The only one I have right now is from my cell phone of the snow in my neighbors yard by the garage.




Suffice it to say that the pile of snow by my garage is so tall that I can climb on the roof. The snow is so deep it comes over Belle's waist.

We definitely don't need more snow. What we need is a slow thaw so we don't flood.

I Hate This

Yesterday we had another snow day. Snow days are really a pain in the butt since I have to try to scramble to find someone to watch Belle. I need to get in to work which took me an hour yesterday. And all in all they suck.

Of course this morning Belle was crying again about going to school. She was fine on Tuesday I think partially because she only had a half day.

I left her crying and walked out. I felt like crying myself.

I hate this......

School Blues

Yesterday was another bad day for Belle going to school. She was much braver in the morning at home but I think that was because we had lots of crying and fretting on Sunday. And I assured her that she had to go to school and stay all day.

When we got to the morning latchkey the women who work there saw right away the difference in Belle's demeanor. They talked to her a bit and Belle told them about Rachel yelling at her and another girl last week. Rachel is in Belle's classroom also and even though I hate to say this she is truly a bad, mean, terrible girl. I really hope Rachel learns that behaving the way she does to other people (adults and kids alike) will not get her far and she changes her attitude quickly.

I left Belle there and she was still crying. The women working were very nice and had her be their helper for the morning to keep her busy. She really enjoyed that.

A while later I got a phone call from the one lady who works there telling that Rachel's mom walked in with her and they spoke at length with the mom about how Rachel was treating others and especially Belle. From what I can gather there is a bit of a power struggle for Belle to be friends with certain girls. But the 2 other girls involved don't necessarily want to be friends with each other. Belle just wants to please them both and then gets caught in the middle.

The mom had Rachel apologize and all seems to be well with the world again. For now.

While I don't think this was the only issue since Belle was upset prior to the "incident" I think this is what pushed her over the edge and it became about this.

Today Belle went to school happily, without crying. I am so grateful.

Fake Sick

Yesterday Belle faked being sick so she wouldn't have to go to school.

I have mixed feelings about it though.

Typically she was going to latchkey (after school care at the school) every day up until this week. This week we began to have her take the bus home every day. I really think this has her really upset but it is so hard to pinpoint it.

Last week she was sick but I gave her medicine and sent her to school anyway because she really really really wanted to go. This week she is the total opposite. We did have a snow day on Wednesday and I had to stay home from work since I had no one to watch her but she was acting this way before that.

Since she exaggerated and lied about being sick yesterday I told her that she was not allowed to have any sweets since they would further upset her stomach if it was indeed hurting her. Plus due to lying she was not allowed to watch the disn*y channel last night and we still did some writing and math problems. Plus we practiced her no excuse words she should know.

She also had her dance class yesterday and I still took her because for me to not have her go (if you don't go to school you don't do anything mentality) she would have been ok with that. So I had to take the approach of if you fake being sick it doesn't mean you get out of having to leave the house. She is such a home body that sometimes getting her to the activities she loves is hard. Once she is there she is completely into it and that is why we still take her even when she doesn't want to go. When I ask her if she wants to quit going altogether the answer is always no.

Anyway, she didn't want to go to school again this morning but she is there. Hopefully this isn't an ongoing thing. Plus she has been very clingy and not wanting to leave me. I do think part of this is from when they sent her on the bus when she shouldn't have been and there was no one home but I still am trying to help her get past that.

Wish me luck next week. All I can say for now is TGIF.


***********Update**********
The school called me around 11am. Belle has been crying on and off all morning. Her teacher ended up taking her to the nurse's office. I talked to Belle and told her to try to get through the rest of the day. Even her teacher told the nurse that this is not normal. I hate not knowing what happened between last week and this week. I am so worried about my girl. I can't wait to get out of work to talk to her.

Just a Quick Post

I equally thought this was funny and upsetting.

Conversation with Belle after shopping at the Children's Place Outlet on Saturday.

Let me first set the scene. I am carrying a large bag stuffed with clothes to the car. The bulk of which are for her even though I did buy an outfit for my niece to put away for her birthday in July. I am trying to get Belle in the car and then put the bag in the trunk.

Belle, "Daddy is going to say oh shit."

Me, "What did you just say?"

Belle, "Daddy is going to say oh shit."

Me, "What???"\

Belle, " Daddy is going to say oh shit you spent too much money."

Me, thinking, "He better not because I work and make money also and grrrrrr that she would even think such a thing let alone say it out loud."

What I actually said was, "I didn't spend that much so he can't say anything at all."

Sick Times Three

Yes. It is true. I have been sick again.still. This makes 3 times since Christmas.

I am actually on the upswing of this episode. I was pretty bad the end of last week and the weekend.

And it really sucked to be sick this weekend.

I had a nice long weekend and was going to get stuff done. I was going to do fun things with Belle. This is my one funky holiday we get from work and I always look forward to Presidents day because of this.

But this year I only left the house for a family birthday on Saturday and that only took 2 hours tops. The rest of the day Saturday, all day Sunday, and all day Monday I was at home. In my sweats. Looking a bit scruffy but trying to get better.

Sadly, I think Belle is now getting sick. I hope she makes it through school.

Happy Valentines Day

I am giving thanks on this Valentines Day.

Yesterday... Yesterday my girl was in a bit of trouble. Not the kind where she was misbehaving but the kind where she could have gotten seriously hurt or worse.

Typically she goes to the after care program at her school. When we have had to deviate from that we send in a note to her teacher telling her to take the bus. And on 2 occasions to send her as a walker and we were there to pick her up. Soon she will be taking the bus home every day since my husband's hours are changing so we have been having her take the bus more often lately to help get her used to finding it on her own since they no longer have the older kids or a teacher helping them find the right bus.

Yesterday she was to go to latchkey after school and we would pick her up after work. We were both at work when school let out.

Next thing I know I have the school calling me. I thought they were going to tell me she wasn't feeling well since the sickness will not leave our house. I am sick again (which makes it pretty much constant since Christmas), my husband is sick so I really thought that is why they were calling me.

It wasn't that reason. Belle got on the bus yesterday and went home but nobody was there. She was all alone in the world. The high temperature yesterday was around 30 degrees.

Thank God for my neighbor across the street. Her son also takes the same bus and as she was watching him get off the bus and walk from the corner she noticed we were not there but Belle was. She saw her go to our back yard and then start walking down the driveway crying. Just typing this still brings tears to my eyes. She had her come to her house and then she called the school to get ahold of me to let me know what was going on. She is the PTA vice president so the school principal knows her well but all she had was my home phone number. After I talked to the principal I called my neighbor and thanked her profusely. I talked to Belle and told her that daddy was on his way to get her. He works closer to home than I do. She was ok by this point.

Needless to say I took my neighbor some flowers last night for resueing my girl. I keep replaying what could have happened had she either been left outside for at least 30-40 minutes or worse if a predator saw this young girl (she is only 6) outside her house with no adults around.

I am a bit upset with the teacher that she let her get on the bus without a note from us. I am going to address this with the school but I haven't quite figured out how I want to do it. I will be there later for Belle's valentines party so we will see.

Thank you, God, you kept my Belle safe! Thank you!

*************************************************************************************

For some fun news these are the cards we sent to family this year from Belle for Valentines Day.

And these are the valentine treat bags we filled with large and small conversation hearts for her to pass out to all her friends in her class.

Homemade

At Belle's dance class there is another mom who recently had twins. One little boy and one little girl. She delivered them about 2 months early.

The little boy was fine and home rather quickly but the little girl just came home this past week. She will be ok but had a tougher start to life.

I have been wanting to get a gift for this family and the babies. But time has gone by and now I am finally finished with our gifts to them.

I found an old bib of Belle's and used that as a template since I didn't have any patterns. I think the little girl one has a bit of a better shape to it. I also appliqued the star and monkey head on the fronts to add dimension.

I also made matching burp clothes and blankets. They are all made of flannel and chenille.

Here is the whole set together.

And here they all are nice and wrapped up. I just need to put them in a gift bag and finish my handmade card.

I really hope they like it. I know there were a couple of things I could have done better but hopefully they won't notice.

****Update: I gave her the gifts yesterday and she really seemed to like them. I also gave her a handmade card to go with it. Yay!!

The Maids Will Help Me

When Belle is at school she needs to be fairly self sufficient. I always wonder who helps these little ones that are capable of doing so many things yet still need help from time to time.

I kidding around with Belle about why she didn't just go get in the car while I finished getting our stuff together. Keep in mind that the car is outside in our detached garage. She looked at me kind of funny because she knows that she is not allowed outside by herself. Ever. I realize that is sad but in this day and age I refuse to leave the opportunity for her to get snatched by some crazy person a possibility while we are at home. Anyway, I started laughing and said that I knew why she didn't - because she isn't allowed outside alone.

She sort of looked at me with this half tilted head and the expression of whatever, Mom. I hadn't realized I had been so uncool. :-)

I then reiterated this fact that not only is she not allowed outside by herself at home but at school, etc. She proceeds to tell me that she is allowed outside by herself at school. This stops me in my tracks and I ask her what she means.

She said that as soon as they are done with their lunch they can just go outside. By themselves.

I asked about any grown ups being out there and she told me that the maids are out there already. She said it was the same maids that help them with their coats, boots, or fruit cups.

I of course start laughing and remind her that they are not maids but aides.

She is so funny.

A Little Better

I am back to work. I ended up being out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was awful.

I don't remember being that sick in such a long time.

I don't know if my husband has ever seen me throw up in person in the 9 years we have lived in our house. I can't even remember the last time I did throw up. That happened Monday. Poor Belle was home alone with me while he went to the store for me. He comes back to Belle announcing what I was doing. Thankfully that was the only time but that was enough. It was full body and nothing really coming out. I even broke a blood vessel in my eye. UGH.

Then the pain of the sore throat just wouldn't go away. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and upon inspection of my throat I heard, "Oh wow. That looks really bad."

Yes, thank you I am sure it does because it is so very painful to swallow.

Anyway, I am back to work. I think my high fever is gone. I still keep playing around with 99-100 every now and again yesterday. The Motrin is finally strong enough to keep the throat pain away and the antibiotics must be helping finally.

And all I still want to do is sleep. Crazy.

I just hope that no one else in my house gets sick. Especially Belle.

Sick again....

As if the title doesn't' say it all...

I am stuck at work and I feel like crap. I know I have a fever as well as a sore throat and a cough.

I can't wait to go home and curl up on my couch with my blankie.

Things To Do

I have been wanting to change my banner picture but just haven't had the time. I need to find a new picture that I like. The thing is I am not even sure I know what I want to put up there.

Then I was reading other blogs and found I am not the only one itching for a change. Except Greta did it. It looks really cool too.

And then I look at mine again and realize I still have my Christmas red and green fonts. Blech. It is January. Way past time to change that. So I at least changed my colors but will really need to think of a new banner photo.

Plus I really really really want to come up with some sort of cute, crafty, design-ish name so that I can get labels and set up my etsy shop and so on with my craft creations that I would like to sell. I really need help with this one. I love Beki's but it is hers and I find it funny she doesn't really like it. But I think it is great.

Any ideas?????

Screams of Terror

Last night I put Belle to bed upstairs. It was a little later than normal so I didn't stay too long or lay down with her.

I tucked her in.

I recited the 5 sentence Beauty and the Beast story and then sang her our song.

I said goodnight and went downstairs.

I was no sooner down the stairs for about a minute and she is yelling for me.

I can clearly tell that she is terrified. I ask her what is wrong and she tells me that there is something under her bed that made noise and bumped her bed.

I go back upstairs and assure her that there is nothing scary under her bed. I look under her bed and even pull out the plastic container that is under it. I show her that all that is in it is her preschool projects. I tell her it was probably just a spring in her mattress that was stuck and popped back up. She still only has a cheap twin size bed.

She wants her "mommy bear" that she likes to sleep with to feel safe. And then she goes back to sleep.

Later that night I heard news reports but still nothing clicks that what happened with Belle was anything.

Until this morning and I am talking with my mother in law. We are discussing the news reports and then I realize that my husband and I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary but that Belle did indeed feel the earthquake we had last night. The time of the quake was at the same time Belle freaked out about her bed.

I haven't decided if I am going to tell her what really happened or not yet. I don't want her to be scared to get in her bed. And then to add salt to her wounds this morning we were have super strong winds that woke all of us up. She was not a happy camper.

What is a ...

Bong? (I think that is how you spell it)

That is the question Belle asked me on Sunday.

Me, " Where did you hear that?!"

Belle, "From the big rolling turd."

Me, "That is something that grown ups do that is really bad and well and it is against the law"

Belle, "Oh. Ok."

Me thinking I really need to think better on my feet. And for the record can anyone tell me what movie could be called the big rolling turd? It is never called by the right name in our house.

There are always certain parts of movies or shows that I distract her or we turn off but apparently she caught this little snippet.

Hello Out There

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. I wasn't planning on taking a break but it was kind of forced upon me.

So what have we been up to.

Well, we had my husbands birthday party in December and then of course Christmas.

How was my Christmas you ask? Let's just say it started the eve before Christmas Eve. I started to not feel well. So I pushed on because I had things I had to get done still. Thankfully most of my gifts were already wrapped and sorted but I had a bunch of last minute things to finish up. Luckily we don't have Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at my house because I would have had to cancel. I woke up on Christmas Eve with a 103 degree fever and it went downhill from there during the week or more following. Thankfully I was off of work until 1/2.

Then I had to get back to work and back into our routine which has pretty much sucked. Not that it is really that bad but just that I love staying home. I am a much more relaxed and less stressed person when I don't have to work.

Now we are a good week into January and the weather is all wacky. It is literally 64 degrees and we set a new record I believe. People are driving their motorcycles and I even saw someone with the top of their convertible down. For us, in January, this is unheard of. Plus we were just playing in the snow last Friday. Strange, strange weather.

Anyway, that is all we have been up to. Not too much I know.