Christmas Tree Skirt

I decided to try quilting a Christmas tree skirt. I have it all pieced together, but not layered and quilted. The hardest part of this quilt was drawing the shapes and cutting them out... and that wasn't even that hard. It took about 2 weeks to piece together... that is while working on my mom's quilt at the same time. Tomorrow i am going to go to the store and get the material to back this quilt and finish it up. The quilting pattern is going to be Christmas Tree's quilted using gold thread in the center of each triangle. I will take another picture of the final product when it is totally done. I think I am going to give this to my mom-in-law for a christmas present. We will be there for Thanksgiving, so I think I will give it to her early so she can use it this year.

Mind your Manners

Cailin is trying. She was pushing one of her toys around in the kitchen and when Socksy was in the way, she said "stuse me... stuse me..." I was impressed that she was using her manners... I guess I got excited too soon because the next thing I see/hear is "MMMoooooooove" as she pushes Socksy out of the way.

No Wonder!!!

No wonder Cailin has been uber cranky, clingy, fussy and needy lately. In the past 2.5 weeks, she has had an ear infection as well as cut three of her canine teeth. OUCH!!! Today while she was in the bath tub, she grabbed my finger and put it on the spot of the new tooth so i could feel it. Now we have just one more canine tooth and her 2 year molars and we will be DONE. I am so ready for her to end the teething business... I hate seeing her hurt like she does.

Weighing Down

I have gained a significant chunk of weight since I got married 5 years ago. I hate it. I have decided that I need to start eating healthier. I need to be more active, and just make better decisions for myself and my family.

I bought a bike about 2 months ago and I have been riding quite a bit. I aim for 3-5 miles a day 3-4 days a week. I also have a WONDERFUL bike trailer called a GO BUG by trek. This thing is amazing and well worth the cost. I managed to get one on e-bay for $350. The model that I got retails for around $500. Not a bad deal if you want my opinion. It doubles as a jogging stroller and holds 2 kids, and all of their gear. Cailin LOVES to ride her bike. I will take a picture later of her trying it out.

Yesterday I was at a wedding shower for one of Chris's cousins. She looked amazing. She said that she has lost 30 pounds using the south beach diet. She likes it because it isn't as restrictive as a lot of other diets. It teaches moderation, and a healthy lifestyle. I think i might give it a try. One of the biggest challenges that I have though is cooking something that is healthy for us, that chris will actually eat. He is the pickiest eater i have ever met!!! He doesn't like veggies. He wont eat tri-colored pasta because the red and green ones have spinach and tomato in them. YOU CAN"T EVEN TASTE IT!!!! He isn't big on trying new things. This will be a challenge.

I am starting at 180. I will keep posted on what I am doing and trying.

You're how old?

I turned 30 earlier this week. I heard so many people say "oh-my-gosh... are you upset? Wow, that is a major milestone". You know... i feel NO DIFFERENT than I did 3 days ago. I do not feel old. I am not going to have a mid-life crisis just because I am 30. I am more active now than I was 5 years ago. I feel great!!! My thought to my 30's.... Bring it on Baby!!!

I'm Trying

Chris is 32, I am 30. Cailin is 19.5 months old. After some discussion and prayer, we have decided to try to give Cailin a baby brother. I've been off of my birth control pills for about a month now. I am actually hoping to get pregnant in December and have an august or september baby. Another thing about it is that I am hoping to loose a little bit of weight before I do get pregnant... and then not gain too much while I am... That would be my goal.

I am excited too because my sister in law might be trying as well. I think it would be great to have someone to go through it with!!

Air Go?

This is Cailin's favorite question. Last night we went into the store. It was still bright and sunny, although the sun was setting. When we finished, it was dark outside. Cailin gets into her carseat and starts saying "aiiir go momma... air go"? This translates into Where did it go. I asked "Where did what go? what are you looking for sweetie... " She kept saying air go and pointing out the window. Finally, She said some more and was talking about the sky... she couldn't find the sky because it was dark outside. She loves looking at the clouds, at sunsets, and at the moon in the sky. She looks for airplanes, but we aren't near any airport, or in any flight paths... She looks though. Once in a while, she will see a hawk flying overhead and think it is an airplane.

Random Thought

I figured it out... I finally figured out why a majority of the states are banning same sex marriages. Other than the fact that it is morally and Biblically WRONG (See Romans 1), There is a major problem. Think back to the last wedding you went to... what is one of the last things the minister says.... "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride". How would they be pronounced... I now pronounce you wife and wife? Husband and husband... that sounds hilarious... you may now kiss your husband! HA... I crack myself up sometimes.

And this is what you get when I sit in a quiet house with kids sleeping and no radio or anything to let my mind think about... I get these things popping into my head!

No rest for the werry...

Well, what I thought was teething pain, wasn't. I feel horrible because apparently Cailin has had an ear infection since Thursday and I didn't realize it till Friday after the Dr office closed. We have to wait till Monday morning to get to the doctor. In the mean time, she is getting antibiotics from a cough she had as well as Tylenol and Motrin alternating every 3 hours. I found some 'all natural' ear drops to heal with ear pain. I am not sure if it is working on not.

I can't wait for Monday. I feel horrible that she is hurting as bad as she is. I wish i could wiggle my nose and make her feel better. Last night i tried to sleep in the guest room with her. She didn't sleep well in a strange bed. She was waking up every hour. When she did sleep, she had her foot in my ribcage or he head on my face so i didn't sleep at all either. It was not a good night. We slept till 1130 today, had pancakes with mango for brunch and she is napping again at 130. Fussy would be an under statement.

We are supposed to go on a trip to the pumpkin patch with MOPS tomorrow, but i am not sure if i can make it... depends what time we can go to the doctor and how she is feeling in general.

Teething sucks...

nuf said!

Yesterday, Cailin's nap was abbreviated to say the least. She only napped for about an hour. She woke up crying, and clingy. I thought she was just tired still, but she couldn't fall back asleep. Finally around 5, i thought maybe she was sore, so i gave her some Motrin. It helped... A LOT!!! LOVE THE MOTRIN!!! She woke again at 1130. I gave her some more medicine and gave her some love. She fell back asleep pretty fast. She woke again at 1, 2:230, and 4. Today, she woke at 815 and wanted to gnaw on frozen blueberries. She ate a waffle too... but she wanted to sit in my lap with her head on my shoulder and thumb in mouth all morning. I hate that my beautiful girl hurts so much. I wish I could make her feel better. Thankfully, we only have 6 more teeth to go. 2 bottom canine teeth as well as her 2 year molars.

I guess we are lucky. I know people who say their kids always got sick or something worse when they were teething. Cailin gets fussy, but normally Motrin, Tylenol or both will fix that problem... that is her only teething issue. I am glad... but still sad that she hurts so much.

On a roll

Well, since my first attempt at a quilt seemed to go well so far, i am going to try it again! I'm making another one. It is a tree skirt and the blocks are all triangles and diamonds. I'll take pictures later.

Just Shoot Me

Nest time I make any kind of major decision when I am sick... oiy... just shoot me. I need to have a disclaimer that anything that I might say or do when I am sick is null, void and can not be held against me.

When I am tired, and I mean really tired, I will get a head ache. Not one that a little Tylenol will fix either. It hurts the back of my head. I can't stand to have barrettes, or hair ties in my hair. Lights are too bright. I had one of these headaches around 9:00 Saturday night. Cailin was already asleep, and I was ready to go to sleep. It had rained, so my allergies were acting up as well. To make this wonderful headache even better, I also had a sinus headache on top of the tired headache. WONDERFUL! It was too late to take any kind of allergy medicine and still plan on sleeping that night.

The phone rings. It is the mom of a little girl that I used to babysit. I honestly think this woman is a little flaky, but that's just my non-professional, personal opinion. I can't put my finger on the exact thing, nor can I give any specific reason why I feel this person is flaky, I just do... This mom asks if I was working and if I was still babysitting and trying to start a day care. I told her that i was taking care of a little girl next door and that was about it. She asks if I am able to take care of her girl again just 2 days a week. The other days she is going to be going to pre-school. I tell her sure and then end the conversation so I can go to bed and get rid of my headache.

When I went to bed, I tossed and turned for over an hour trying to fall asleep. It just hurt so much. Since I was up with my head hurting, I was thinking about that dreaded call I just had before going to bed. What did I do? Why did I say I would do this again? I wasn't thrilled last time I did this... why try again? They left me with no notice. I felt stuck at my house because mom didn't like me going anywhere with the daughter. I couldn't even go to the library for story hour. Since I stopped taking care of the daughter, I had more freedom. Cailin and I (and sometimes her friend Natalie) have started going to a play group on Tuesday mornings. I have started going to MOPS at my church on every other Wednesday mornings. I go to lunch (with Cailin and Natalie) the 2nd Thursday of each month with the women's group at church. I enjoy this freedom. I can go be around adults. My daughter is around other kids her age and having a blast. I am not tied down to the house. Why oh why did I agree to do this again?

On Sunday, mom called again to set up days. I told her that I had commitments that I am not willing to give up. (MOPS, and Play group). I also told her that since she left me with no notice, I took another commitment with the Red Cross. I teach CPR/First Aid/AED all for layperson and for professional rescuers. I do not have a set schedule. I teach here and there when they need me. They have priority over babysitting. We agree that I will take the little girl on Thursday and Friday.

Well, Today is D-day. the girl showed up early and played quietly as my girl was still sleeping. About 30 minutes after she arrived, I asked if she would like breakfast. She tells me no. I let her know that we won't be eating till lunch time, so if she was hungry, she needed to eat now. She said no again and let me know she ate at home. I am not going to fix food when they are hungry... I am going to have a schedule, and try to stick with it... at least close to it. Anyway, 40 minutes later, Cailin wakes. I get her dressed and she eats a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. 10 minutes after we finish, the little girl lets me know that she is hungry and wants to eat breakfast. I'm sorry... breakfast time is over. I am not a short order cook... kitchen is closed.

Lunch time rolls around and she tells me she is hungry. I fox 'ole faithful' PB&J for all 3 girls. Cailin and Natalie scarf theirs down as well as each eat 1/3 of an apple. The other little girl (who is starving if you ask her) plays with her sandwich. She ate about 1/4 of it and told me she was done. She is four years old... she can eat more than 1/4 of a sandwich. She wanted to get down and play with the other 2 who had already finished eating. I made her sit and finish eating. Mom called to check and see how things were going and I shared about the breakfast 'issue'. She seemed annoyed that I didn't fix something for her daughter then and there. I did offer a snack of crackers which she passed up, so she couldn't have been too starving.

I called chris and told him that i just had a bad feeling about this in my gut and that i was sorry I agreed to take on watching this girl again. His response: I am not even sure why you said yes in the first place. I thought you were done trying that and especially with this one since you had so much trouble with them before.

WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE I AGREED? The only reason I said yes is because I didn't want chris to think i wasn't pulling my weight in trying to earn some $. He told me that I didn't ask his opinoin... he's right... I didn't. It's my own fault. I think after tomorrow, i am going to tell the mom that i had a meeting with the red cross and they need me a lot more than I was planning and i am not going to be able to take care of the little girl. She doesn't need to know that i am only teaching 4-5 days a week. Who knows... maybe mom will be annoyed enough at me for not feeding her kid when she demanded and just not come back!!! That would be a blessing!

Thanks... I think...

What do you do? Do you jump for joy that they have helped you? Do you remind them (AGAIN) that bras don't go into the dryer. Chris was so proud of himself for helping me with laundry last week. While I appreaciate his thought, sometimes, it is less work if he doesn't help on some things. Laundry is one of them. I can't tell you how many times I have gone over the fact that my bras and undies are made of different material than any of his clothes and they are not dryer friendly. They are kind of pricy, and if he wants to spend that kind of money on a more regular basis then keep drying them! If he would like to save some money, hang them up and let them air dry. Chris did laundry. This was something that he told me he would rather not ever do. His reasoning is that he can not fold clothes neatly. I tried to tell him that it comes with PRACTICE, but personally, i think it is an excuse to get out of doing it. The last time he helped, he 1. threw EVERYTHING, including bras and undies into the dryer. The clothes that were in the dryer were all work clothes. Instead of hanging them up to keep from getting wrinkled, they are thrown in a pile on the couch. This means that i either have to iron them, hang them up wrinkled, or throw them back into the dryer to tumble again to get the wrinkles out. Sometimes it would be easier if he would just let me do it on my own.

How do you handle something like this? Am I supposed to be grateful that he is 'helping'? Do I ask again about bras in the dryer? Do I remind him that it is harder to fold things when they are in a mound and I have to iron?

This is the down side of that wonderful thing called marriage. If this is truely the worst complaint that I have with my husband, than I am truely blessed! I think that I am lucky to have the husband that I do. I might complane, but in all honesty, I wouldn't trade him for a million bucks!!! He has been there for me more times than I can count... I wouldn't even trade him for a professional laundry person!!!

The worlds best Mom

This past August my mom turned 60. I have to say that she did so very gracefully. I think she is a beautiful person both in looks and in personality.

No one has to question if she is thinking something other than the words coming out of her mouth. My mom will tell you exactly what she thinks of things. I love this trait about her. I don't have to worry about her telling me that something looks nice on me because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings. If it is ugly, she tells me. A lot of times I bite my tongue for fear that I might upset someone. I need to learn to be like mom and just be honest. I think people will respect that even more.

My mom has had an amazing life so far. She might not realize it, but she has accomplished so much in the 60 years she has been around. She found my dad and got married. She was able to help build the very home that she lives in. Personally, I think that is amazing! She managed to have a successful stay-at-home business in a day care so that she could raise two wonderful (at least I think so) kids. My complete unbiased opinion is that she did a great job. I can't speak for Joe, but I know that she raised a confident daughter who is willing to look challenges in the eye and give it a fair shot. She has a daughter who wants to follow in her footsteps and have a successful daycare so she can stay home with her children. She has a daughter who wants to learn to make things (food and crafts) and to share with others... just like she did and still does. She has a daughter who lives halfway across the country and misses her dearly. She taught Joe and I to have values, to love God, to love life itself... not just our life, but any kind of life.... elderly, infants, wildlife... you name it. She taught me my colors, but also to have compassion. She tried to teach me to cook, sew and keep house (although those things are all things that I am still trying to accomplish). After raising us kids and getting us through college and married, Mom was able to work full time again at a bank and then at a daycare where she currently is. She has taken college classes and passed with flying colors even though she was stressed. She helped take care of her Mom during her final days and recently, she has taken on caring for her elderly father-in-law who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

While her birthday was approaching, I thought long and hard of what I could do to give her an appropriate birthday present. I didn't want to give her a picture frame, or another piece of jewelry. I wanted to get her something special. It isn't every day that you turn 60 and have all of these accomplishments behind you. I asked and asked for ideas, but found nothing. Mom told me that all she wanted was for her whole family to be together. We were. Mom, Dad, Pop, Joe and Erin all came to stay at my house. It was a great time. Cailin was old enough to respond to and interact with everyone so much more. We got to go to the zoo, mom got to visit with her sister, so many fun things. We had a cookout, got family pictures, and then cake and ice cream to celebrate. I still felt bad that I didn't have any kind of material gift... then it hit me. I am going to use my 'material' and make my first ever full sized quilt, and make a memory quilt for my mom. It is going to take 28 pictures and i am trying to collect pictures from her childhood till now. I want a picture of her wedding, my wedding, Joe's wedding, Cailin, Mom and her best friend miss rose, some of her brothers and sister, some of her mom.... The hardest part is collecting the pictures. As of right now, i have everything done EXCEPT getting the pictures silk screened and onto the quilt. I have worked for a total of 65 hours on it from cutting out the material, to making the blocks, to putting blocks into strips and strips into a quilt. Here are some pictures so far....

here is the material I picked out. The teal should match the living room, the blue the dining room... the navy has both the teal and blue in it...

Here were my PILES of material that I cut out. There were a total of 870 pieces of material for this thing!!!

These are the squares to make a ribbon looking border

My 9-patch blocks... don't pay attention to the lack of straight lines.

These are the blocks that photos will go on.

here is the body of the quilt before borders.

A close up of a coner. The hearts will be applique'd on the corners, and photos on the large white blocks.

Here is the final produck without pictures, or being quilted.

Midnight Madness

Why is it that when I am tired, my little munchkin decides to be a night owl? Last night I was POOPED. I was working on making one block of my latest project (will post on that later) and then I was going to bed. Just as the clock strikes midnight, well, maybe not actually STRIKE because they are all silent), Cailin wakes up and is crying. I go into her room and try to console her. It works for a few minutes. I put my head on her pillow and was singing quietly to her and rubbing her back. If i picked up my head, she would put it back on the pillow. After about 3 minutes of this, she decides she is done. She picks my head up and pushes me away from her bed. She starts telling me "Dooo" "Dooo". I am not sure how to translate it... it is either Don't, or Go. I haven't figured this part out yet. I tell her night night, give her a kiss and leave the room. Cailin cries hysterically. I give her about 3 minutes and when i realize she isn't going to stop, i go back in. She asks for "wawwles and duice". Okay. We go cook a waffle and i get her a cup of milk. She plays. The monkey goes into the stroller. Pooh bear pushes the stroller. She climbs into the rocker/recliner and rocks her baby. She loves on Socksybaby. The waffles are done and she begins to gnaw on one. I think she took a total of 2 bites. She drank about 1/2 of her juice. I told her that it was night night time and we were going to go back to bed. Mommy was tired. I warm the rest of her milk and take her to bed. She drank the rest of her milk and cried for a short time, but then was asleep in 5 minutes. I'm glad. Where did all this energy come from at MIDNIGHT!!!