Fun stuff

I finally got Hailey's bow board done Friday night! I am super excited with how it turned out, and she loves it! I also got started on the invitations for my sister in law's baby shower that I'm throwing her mid-October. I wanted the invites to be extra-special so I decided to make them myself! I've never made cards before and they aren't perfect, but I'm pretty darned happy with how they turned out! I love them!

Not exactly what I had in mind...

D dropped a bomb on me last night and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I have mixed feelings I guess.

He called as my sister in law and I were waiting for my mom to pick up Hailey (so we could do our craft night finally)...he told me that the head pro at the country club he's a member at for school basically offered him a job for when he graduates the end of this school year. He's designing and building a new golf course and said D would be the 3rd person in line in charge of it. Basically there would be this guy (the owner), then a president of sorts, and then D. Sounds awesome right? I'm sure it would pay REALLY well. Like we could probably buy a house AND have me be a SAHM and have the baby I've been wanting. Sounds like my dream, right? Amazing...


except...


it's in Kentucky. :(

At wits end

Hailey's going through another one of her phases. She got sick last Wednesday morning, throwing up all over our bed (and my husband's head, ew) at 4:00 in the morning. She's been having tummy issues for a couple weeks now, alternating constipation with diarrhea, and her tummy hurts every single time she eats. I'm hoping that all this going on at once is the cause of this latest phase and that it will pass soon. She won't let me change her diaper. Saturday night she had a BIG poop and refused to let me change her diaper. It took the poop starting to leak out of her diaper and down her leg for her to let me change it! Bathtime and bedtime are also huge struggles all of a sudden. She used to not mind baths but now she cries and cries. Bedtime is especially hard...she thinks of every excuse she can to not go to sleep. The girl has developed dark circles this week, and she's only 2! I just don't know what to do. And potty training? Forget it! She pees all day at the sitter's in the potty but not at home anymore, and she never poops in the potty. I don't know what the deal is. And she still has her Soothie pacifiers! She's so attached to them, they're her comfort object. I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me to see her walking around with one...but I know other people probably look at her and think "Oh my, isn't she too old for that?!" on the rare occassion that I let her take it out in public. I know when it's worth the fight and when to give up. My mom tried to get her to leave it in the car yesterday while we went in the hardware store. She started a fit so I said just leave it. It wasn't worth the effort. Then we went in the pet store to buy fish for her new 5 gallon fish tank. I told her she had to leave it in the car because if she dropped it on the floor it would get animal poop on it. She promptly popped it out of her mouth and threw it in her car seat. Didn't want animal poop on her dear pacifier! SIGH

Is this just part of being 2?? What am I supposed to do? I'm tough but she just doesn't listen. She's way too stinking old for her britches. She's 2.5 going on 15. I talk to her sweetly, teach her to be polite, teach her to control her emotions, but she still back talks and sasses sometimes. She can be so incredibly sweet and cute but other times WHOA watch out! I'm getting really scared for her teen years!!! And honestly, I'm really starting to hope I have a little boy next!

It's a good thing she's so stinking cute, or I think I'd be gray haired and insane by now...

Washing lots of pukey laundry today as Hailey threw up all over our bed last night (and on the back of my husband's head, ew...)

My sister in law and I were supposed to get together at my house tonight for a craft night...my mom was going to watch Hailey so we were going to be kid free. I'm so bummed that this probably isn't going to happen now. Hailey's fever is coming back up even though she only threw up the one time at about 4 this morning and my nephew has what they think is walking pneumonia. So we really should reschedule. We were so looking forward to it :(

Oh, and I'm so ready for the ferret to be gone...he keeps pottying on my tile by the door to the garage and all over his cage, not just in his litter box. And I am convinced he brought fleas with him, which I didn't know could be an issue with ferrets. I can't find any fleas or flea poop on him, but we all of a sudden have a few flea bites. I am ultra paranoid about fleas infesting my house. That happened to us one time when I was a little girl because we had inside/outside cats and OMG it was HORRIBLE. Exactly why I don't want any more pets. And one of the reasons my cat isn't allowed outside at all! (She also eats grass and then comes inside and throws up on my carpet....ICK animals are just grody).

Ok so maybe I DON'T want the ferret...

Last night I couldn't find Ferret anywhere. I knew he'd gone in the kitchen but he was nowhere to be found and there's nowhere to hide in there!! Or so I thought...

I should have taken a picture, but I was just so shocked at where I found him hiding that all I could do was pull him out and stand there looking at my mom in disbelief.

I was standing in the kitchen trying to decide where else to look when I heard something in my lower kitchen cabinet...the biggest one I have, with all my pots and pans and casserole dishes in it. I even keep my extra rolls of paper towels in there. I opened the cabinet door and lo and behold, there was Ferret laying in my frying pan.

SIGH...washing that cabinet and everything in it is going to be a HUGE task. And he keeps pottying on the tile by the door to the garage.

Totally rethinking this whole "keeping the Ferret" thing...

She's gone...

She left Saturday night at about 8:00. I'm just now writing about it because I finally feel like I can think about it and not cry.

I was at her house late into the night Friday night. We spent hours making a sign for my family to hold up when my brother in law came home. We played Scrabble and Yahtzee and laughed. I got lunch with my sister and cousin one last time Saturday. I went to pick up Hailey and went back to my sister's house. She made a sign for herself to hold up when BIL got home and my cousin, other sister and I played Scrabble again. It was a really weird day. We all tried to act normal but it just felt...off. It's like we were trying to ignore the inevitable. Then the time came and my cousin left. They bawled. I busied myself packing up my brother's ferret as we're ferret-sitting him until they get back (ok I'm honestly seriously contemplating keeping the little booger...we've already grown quite attached to him, even though he smells funny and I have this odd paranoia about animals being dirty...I've already hinted around to my family that we might not be able to give him back) so luckily I had a distraction to all the sadness going on around me. After that I decided we should probably go. I hugged everybody but avoided my sister. Finally she walked over to me and I told her if she came near me I was going to cry. And I started crying. Hard. I couldn't even look at her. She just hugged me while we cried. I told her to take care of herself and that I loved her.

OK I thought maybe I could get through this w/out crying, but um, I was wrong. Crap.

**sniffle**

Anyway, it almost seems unreal. I've even slipped and said "where she lives now" in reference to the house she lived in here...that's not hers anymore. Then I remember she lives in freaking CA and it hits me like a ton of bricks. I didn't get much sleep all weekend. I'd lay in bed and cry. Sounds ridiculous, I know. But I've never been this far apart from her for this long. I can't hang out with her anymore. All we have are phone calls. I can't protect her out there. I've tried to protect her from everything since she was born. And I can't anymore. But I guess that's just part of growing up, right? She's married now, she has to learn to live life and deal with everything without me there to hold her hand. I just pray to God she does ok. Marriage is hard. Life is hard. Being alone is hard. After her excitement fades and the reality of the situation sets in I worry about what'll happen. With her history...I just pray to God constantly to watch over her. All we can do now is wait...and see how it goes.

And hopefully things will go fine and this tight, anxious feeling in my chest will fade. And I'll get used to her not being here. And I can busy myself with other things/people. And hopefully the same will happen for her...

Why I love shopping on Etsy...

I cannot stress enough how wonderful Etsy is...if you haven't checked it out yet, you really should. This is a perfect example of why...(and by the way, I politely declined her offer...the fingerprints add sentimental value) :)

(My email to HomeStudio, who I blogged about recently, and their reply...)

by HomeStudio profile shop contact Hi Erin, Thank you so much for the kind words and the back story. We LOVE the stories. That's what makes this all worthwhile. Would you like another Breathe one? I wish the diamond glaze (top coat) wasn't so fragile. I have one that melted a few weeks ago because it was sooooo hot here. Our best to your brother-in-law who served in Iraq for us. ♥ Thanks again! You made our day brighter. :) Stef & Mark 16 September 2008 2:37pm EDT

by haymay0414 profile shop contact Hi Stef, We received the necklace in the mail last night...thank you so much!! My daughter was so excited, she loved it! She wore it all evening. She thinks the cats (it was the pink one w/ the white cat outlines on it) are weasels as we're ferret sitting right now and that's what she calls the ferret(that she loves to pieces and can't get enough of)...so the necklace is extra special to her. I also wanted to let you know that the pendant I ordered from you all (Breathe Just Breathe) helped me through a really rough time...my sister who is my best friend moved to California this past Saturday to be with her husband who comes home from Iraq today (he's a Marine, this was his second time sent to Iraq unfortunately). Friday night and Saturday we spent making signs for his arrival home and playing, what else, Scrabble! :) I wore this pendant all day Saturday and everybody commented how neat it was that it was a scrabble tile pendant. I held onto it so much during the day to keep myself from crying that I made fingerprints in the clear coating. I know it seems silly, but it really did help me get through the day. It will always be special to me! Many, many thanks...we continue to get compliments everywhere we go on these wonderful pendants. Thanks again, Erin

**Dealing with actual people, just like you and me, instead of a big corporation is just beyond wonderful...I have gotten many emails after I've made a purchase that made me so glad I spent my hard earned money on that item--anything from commenting on my pretty avatar and thanking me for my order, to telling me a little background on the item I purchased and why it's special to them. It's so refreshing to do business with such amazing, friendly people!!

Feeling Crafty

Ok so my sister in law made these letters for Hailey for Christmas...I've always wanted Hailey to have letters for her bedroom but never wanted to pay what they charge for them already made! I think they look AMAZING! She did such a great job! The wooden letters are only 99 cents a piece and the paint is only 69 cents! I bought the letters today to spell out "LAUGH" and a little thing of dark brown wood paint. I found some really pretty brown/white/blue scrapbook paper for the tops of the letters...I'm going to attempt to make these by myself and hang them in my living room to match our new living room set! (brown/blue) We'll see how it turns out!!

Howdy

Life has been incredibly busy this week. Between having to take Tuesday off work because of rash and poop issues Hailey was having (the day involved a dr. appointment, 2 trips to Walmart, a Benadryl induced 3 hour nap, suppositories AND an enema, a strained muscle making her unable to walk and much crying from Hailey) and my friend having her baby Wednesday and my sister leaving this Saturday for her move to California...things have been crazy.

Things haven't been made any easier by both my sister and sister in law being pissed at me about telling my friend I'd help her out Saturday. She'll be going home from the hospital Friday. She has a 7 year old and a 3 year old. Her mom is in San Francisco, her other best friend is out of state for training for her job, and her husband has to work all weekend at the base over an hour away from here (he's in the reserves)...this 3rd baby of hers was 9 lbs so she's in more pain than she was when she had her girls. She asked me if I'd help her out Saturday. And I was supposed to say no??? Sorry, not gonna do it.

Yes I'd already promised to spend the day with my sister, seeing as how she's leaving for CA that evening and I won't see her for years. Yes I'd already turned down the invite to my nephew's 1st bday party at 2:00 Saturday because it would piss my sister off if I went. But I couldn't leave my friend high and dry with her new baby, hurting, with 2 other kids to take care of. I'm a better friend than that.

So now my sister is pissed because I won't be with her ALL day. And my sister in law is BEYOND pissed because I wouldn't make my sister mad and go to her son's bday party, but I WOULD make my sister mad to go help out my friend who just had a baby.

SIGH

Add into all this the fact that I've gotten nothing done at home because of being so busy, my dining room and part of my living room looks like my dryer threw up clean clothes all over the place, my husband continues to dirty the place up the second after I clean it, LITERALLY, I'm still having problems sleeping, Hailey's been waking up at midnight or 1 and the only way to get her back to sleep is put her in our bed which means no sleep for me...I fall asleep every night after I put Hailey to bed, don't even remember falling asleep, whether it's on the couch, in bed with all the lights on and my clothes still on, etc...but my husband STILL wakes me up and asks me to have sex with him, not even caring that I'm obviously exhausted, and when I turn him down (which is every single time, I guess I'm a horrible wife) he storms off throwing a tantrum and leaves an even BIGGER mess downstairs for me to deal with the next day. His tantrum last night involved knocking over piles of clean clothes I had folded. I found 2 onesies (that I got at a garage sale for Hailey's dolls) behind the damn recliner. ??? WHAT is the point of that, I would love to know? No sex so he makes even more of a mess for me?? Yea, like that makes any sense....more mess means I'm even more exhausted which means even LESS of a chance for sex, HELLO.

Hailey woke up at midnight last night...D brought her to me in bed, I'd only had about 45 minutes of sleep. And then he went downstairs and watched TV...why on Earth couldn't he have just handled it himself and let me sleep? Oh that's right, because he's back to his old selfish self where I have to do EVERYTHING and he does NOTHING. Except sit on his ever growing butt and watch TV and eat food and leave the wrappers in the living room. LOVING the married life right now, let me tell you.

So, to sum my week up...I'm exhausted, I hurt, Hailey hurts, Hailey's exhausted, my husband isn't helping me at all, my friend had her baby (cute, chubby little thing...even his knees are chubby! LOL), my sister leaves tomorrow (*tear*), and everybody and their brother is pissed off at me for being a good friend/person and helping someone out that really needs help. I got a letter from a collection agency this week about a medical bill I never even received a bill for (I'm guessing because of the move??), THAT'S wonderful! And I don't want to be at work today. Oh and I have nothing for lunch and D's used all the eating out money the past couple weeks because he isn't making his own lunch anymore for some reason AHEM **lazy**.

Please God (or anybody that's listening!), send some positive vibes my way!

**Update** Apparently my sister isn't mad at me anymore, so that's good at least. I'm going over to her house tonight to play Scrabble, Yahtzee and help her makes signs for my brother in law (he's coming home from Iraq the 17th!!!! YAY!!!!)

Now if only my husband would quit leaving his dirty underwear in the middle of the living room floor, getting the floor dirty after I've just cleaned it, be nice to me AND if lunch fell from the sky THEN I would be having a great day! :)

**2nd Update** So my sister in law finally emailed me back and is not mad at me anymore. Looks like God heard my plea and is helping me have a better day!

Fun with Photos

Who's that foxy lady back in 1964???

How about a pic of my husband with some hair???
1978 would have been a good year for D...
AHAHAHA!! What a corn dog!! 1964...
How cute is she??? 1984 would have been a good year for Hailey...

One more...can we say adorable in 1960??

Labor Day memories...
The new quilt my mom got me...believe it or not it was on clearance at Walmart for $35!! And it's king sized!! I LOVE IT!!
My $5 garage sale painting...

My First Award!!

Joanna over at Jo-Jo's Place has given me my first ever blogging award! I am super excited and feel very honored!! Thank you Joanna!!Now to pass the award on to two friends!!

First I'm going to give the award to Ashley. She's mom to an adorable little girl named Paisley. I've been reading her blog for a long time now and we've connected through MySpace, Facebook and email! It's a shame we don't live closer because I think we could be good friends in "real" life!

The other person I'm giving the award to is Kristin. I think her blog was the 2nd blog I started reading regularly and she's still one of my favorites. Her son Logan is about the same age as Hailey and he's absolutely ADORABLE! And now she's adding another adorable little boy to the family...it's going to be so neat to see this little boy grow up just like I've seen his older brother grow and change over the years! Sometimes my blogging buddies come up in conversations I'm having with my friends and family and Kristin is one of those that pops up in our conversations from time to time...the most recent was her appearance on a TV show my mom and I love, and I was able to share that with my mom...she thought it was too cool that I knew somebody appearing on one of our favorite shows! It's funny how you can not know a person or family in "real life" but still have them pop into your head at random times...like when Hailey asked to take her Cars to bed one night, I thought of Logan sleeping with his cars every night just like Hailey sleeps with her stuffed animals. Even if there comes a time when I quit doing Life As We Know It, I'll continue to read Kristin's blog! I hope she continues her blog for many more years to come!

Home Studio's Scrabble Tile Pendants

I LOVE ETSY! I absolutely love browsing all the different shops and I like the fact that I'm supporting a person when I order and not some big corporation...and it's even better because everything is handmade! I've started to do some early Christmas shopping on Etsy and when I came across Home Studio's shop I knew right away I'd be ordering one of their scrabble tile pendants for my mom. They were having a buy 2 get 1 free deal so I got two for myself as well. I also ordered a chain for myself and one for my mom! Their prices are amazing and after receiving the necklaces in the mail I couldn't be more pleased!! I absolutely LOVE them!! I know my mom is going to love her paisley print tile for Christmas and I can't wait to wear one of mine! I'll definitely be ordering more in the future, for myself and for gifts for others! They even come packaged in these cute little white bags, perfect for gift giving or just keeping your necklace safe when storing it. You should definitely check their store out!! The buy 2 get 1 free deal ended on September 1st but they currently offer FREE shipping worldwide!!

WOW

Conversation I just overheard (because it was said RIGHT in front of my desk)...

Person 1: I was going to tell you what that lady that came in said...when I told her the employment verification wasn't ready yet she said "well this is ridiculous I've been waiting on this for a week!" and I told her "Well I JUST got your information!" and she said "Well I can't go to work tomorrow if I don't have this faxed in today!" well guess what, I DON'T CARE!

Person 2: Yea really that's not our problem!

Person 1: I mean why can't she go to work if she doesn't have this faxed in TODAY?!?!

Person 2: Because it's for daycare assistance from DFS and if she doesn't have her verification in today they won't give her the assistance so she can't go to work tomorrow, and I say GET A REAL JOB and support your family, and that's the reason I don't have kids because I can't afford them, why'd she have kids if she can't afford them???

Person 1: Yea really don't live off money from DFS jeez!

How shitty is that??? These people are supposed to be there to help people with what they need...not be rude to them and talk shit about them behind their backs, which is what happens ALL.THE.TIME. Ok when I got pregnant with Hailey it was really unexpected, we weren't financially ready, and even though I made over the income limit for any kind of assistance, I didn't make enough to pay our rent and daycare in one month let alone everything else like food, utilities, diapers, formula etc...I would have been SO happy to get some sort of assistance. I'm sure some people abuse the system, but there are a lot of people that don't...that truly are just going through a rough time and need some assistance! But they don't care either way, even if they are just going through a rough patch, these people I work with DO NOT CARE. They are above lowly people like that (like myself!) and they have no problems voicing their opinions on the less fortunate.

LOVING the place I work, TOTALLY. Such caring compassionate people.

And this after yesterday when my boss brought me a few of my credit card payment confirmations that I'd printed off...the ones that disappeared after I printed them. I thought maybe it was my error and I hadn't hit print, but nope...apparently somebody in the office has been stealing them off the printer in the 30 seconds it takes me to get outside my office and to the printer, and copying them and giving them to my bosses boss to try to get me in trouble. I'm just taking less than 10 minutes to pay my bills and they're trying to get me in trouble for it, but yet it's ok for them to sit online and shop or whatever. Luckily my boss is a really nice person and she got them out of her bosses inbox before he saw the 2nd stack (apparently they've given him 2 stacks and he was pissed about the first one...and by stack I'm talking like 3 pages, that's it!) and gave them to me and just told me to do it before work or at lunch. I told her I'm not doing it at all at work anymore because nosy people can't mind their own damn business! I swear this place is absolutely ridiculous. I'm not good enough for them because I don't act like them or dress like them etc. so they are trying to get me in trouble however they can. How immature is that?? People need to just grow up, seriously!

Inspired

A lot of people have been inspiring me lately and I feel the need to give them credit for bettering my life in the recent weeks.

First off, the most recent...Courtney over at Small Town SAHM. I read her post today about her Household Notebook project that she recently completed. I AM GOING TO DO THIS!! I often worry about what would happen to our little family life if something were to happen to me. Dan doesn't even know where I keep Hailey's socks, let alone how to access all our financial information, what bills are due when, HOW to pay those bills...he doesn't know Hailey's doctor's number. A book like this would GREATLY help ease my worries. A book like this would also really help me get my life organized. I desperately need all my family information in one spot. I desperately need a Christmas card list. I desperately need a book with all our favorite recipes and meal plans for weeks. This would really help me simplify and organize my life. I'm buying the binders this weekend and although it's going to take me quite a bit longer than it did Courtney, I AM going to finish this project!

Secondly, I don't know if any of you read this blog...if you don't, then you should! I LOVE Owl Haven!! Mary is an inspiration to me. Her and her husband have 10 kids and yet have a wonderful life! She has inspired me in the past few weeks to start cooking more from scratch. I've gotten a couple really great recipes from her blog! Right now, for the month of September, she's doing 30 Days of Nothing where her family drastically cuts back their spending to see just how much they can get by without. Anybody that wants to can participate and you decide your own rules and ideals for your family. I'm not participating to what I consider to be the full extent, as I've got other projects going on right now that I don't want to put on hold...but it's really got me thinking about how much we spend on food and where we could cut back. I already spend very little on groceries but she had really inspired me to make more meals from scratch. It's healthier AND cheaper if you're sensible about it. Mary is also the reason I've revived my passion for garage saling...and the reason I have a beautiful new painting over my bed that I got for only a few dollars. :)

And last but certainly not least, is Joanna over at Jo-Jo's Place. She has had a LOT going on in her life lately...redoing her house, fun crafty projects...she has totally inspired me to make my home a more comfortable and inviting place and has given me so many good ideas on how to do that! Our home is still a work in progress but I am SO pleased with the results so far. I'll be sharing pictures soon! Joanna has recently started a new blog called This Southern Girl's Nest...go check it out! It's already one of my favs!

So I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to you all for helping me better my life in the past few weeks!!

Barrettes!

My sister in law finally got to come over yesterday so we could make barrettes!! I finally got the hang of it and I think they turned out great! I'm so excited! We can't wait to get together again and make more!! We're going to try to get together on a more regular basis and do things like this, we had so much fun! These are the ones I made...

The pink and blue striped one matches a dress Hailey got from Target this summer PERFECTLY!