Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Snacktime


Yes, I know. I have four thousand vacation photos and I'm blogging about a friggin' orange. This was my snack this afternoon. OK, one of my snacks this afternoon if you have to be so technical about it. I'm making an effort to eat better and I plan on training for a half marathon that will be in October. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Usually I make all of these big announcements about my new "diet" and how I'm going to walk all the time, etc. and it eventually all comes crashing down. So, this time I'm not going to jinx it, not going to shout it from the rooftops, just whisper about it quietly. My first training session is supposed to be tonight, but it is currently raining so I'm not really sure what will happen.


These are the only souvenirs I have from our trip to Gulf Shores. On the way home we stopped at Peach Park in Clanton, Alabama and I bought a basket of peaches. I gave some to my MIL and Arwyn and I have been snacking on the rest. They are very good, but don't seem to be keeping very well, so I might need to make some peach bread or something soon. The turtle cup is from a Starbucks in Athens, Alabama. I ran out of goodies to keep Arwyn entertained, so I bought this cup and a sticker book. She loved the sticker book and played with it the rest of the way home. I gave her some water in the cup, which she proceeded to "drink" (i.e. dump all over herself) but had a grand time doing it and kept asking for more. I just kept giving her small doses and then changed her clothes a couple of times.


I'll post some vacation shots and then put the rest on flickr.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Just a Swingin'

We're leaving for our first vacation in 4 years! We are so very excited. Bubby and I have never been to the beach together and Arwyn has never been at all.


Forward my mail to the beach, 'cause that's where I'll be for the next week. I don't even care if there's no internet connection! All I want to do is relax and feel the breeze with a drink in my hand.

Friday, May 19, 2006

A's in the Hiz-ouse


I took these pictures earlier in the week when Arwyn chose a rather interesting outfit for the afternoon. Here she is modeling the crayon-stained t-shirt she'd had on all day, no pants, her swimshoes and beach hat. She likes to play with the old boombox and play "mu-zack". When Bubby saw the photos he said she looked like a little hip-hop rapper. She's just missing the big gold necklace. We also made a trip to Grandma's house later that evening in the same outfit, although I did make her put on shorts first.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

JCP

What's the worst way to spend a Thursday morning? Why, shopping for a new swimsuit at JC Penney's! I haven't bought a new suit in 5 years, and now I remember why! But we are going on vacation next week and I really need a new one. This was the third place I'd been, they were having a sale, and I was determined to leave the store with SOMETHING. So I have officially purchased my first old lady suit. The 70+ year old lady at the checkout (who was fixated on me opening a charge account and would not take NO for an answer. I think she thought she could guilt me into it!) thought it was a "beautiful suit". That confirms the fact that it is indeed an old lady suit. Black with hot pink stitching, no back (woo-hoo!), halter neck.


Did you think I was going to model it? Puh-leeze. I did redeem the visit by also purchasing a lovely white flowy, beachy skirt.

I also found these great shoes for Arwyn at Marshall's. I have no problem finding shoes I love for her (just problems with fitting her cute little fat feet) but never find shoes I love for me. I want kids shoes in adult sizes.

These were $9.99


and these were only $5.99!!!! I am going to be so sad if they don't fit.

Edited to add: They didn't fit. I already returned them. boo hoo.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Happy Birthday, Sis!


Friday is my big sister's birthday. She is ten years older than me and we've always had a pretty great relationship. When I was little, I thought she hung the moon, of course. Then she up and gets married (how gross!) when I was 8, moving away and leaving me high and dry. But I got to go for lots of visits and she moved back four years later. When I was a teenager and couldn't stand for my mom to even look in my general direction, I could always go hang out at my sister's, and I did A LOT. I honed my excellent babysitting skills at her house, practicing my technique (or complete lack thereof) on her kids. Now that we're both all grown up, things are a little different. We are very different. Even though she might not always understand me, she still loves me. I still call her to ask her stuff about the kid and to gripe about our mom. She calls me to gripe about her teenagers. We have wildly different perspectives and viewpoints, but have still managed to meld together a unique and loving relationship over the years. Happy B-day, Sis! I love ya!

A Funny Thing Happened

When we were at The Wiggles concert, at one point they did some song that involved a lot of flags and Greg Wiggle said to cheer really loudly when your favorite flag came out. There was an Italian flag, an Australian flag, maybe Mexican, I can't remember them all, there were like 6. He keeps saying to cheer loudly when you see your favorite flag. Then, of course, some dude dressed like Uncle Sam runs out on the stage waving an American flag and everyone cheers. I say to Bubby, "Where's the UK (British, not basketball) flag? Or Canadian? I'm not cheering for THAT." Bubs kind of laughs, that kind of laugh that usually means "Would you shut up before that redneck sitting behind you beats MY ass!"

Not a Bush fan, if you couldn't tell.

Super Moms


This was the card I sent (belatedly, but I wrote something very nice and sent pictures of Arwyn) to my mom. These were made in a mad rush on Saturday night before Mother's Day, as Arwyn was running around the house like a banshee because she was up late BECAUSE my art stuff is in her room (used to be MY room before she was born, not that I'm bitter). This one is crafted from card stock, two kinds of paper (1 sheet was reversable), ribbon, brads, and ink. I used some "Happy Mother's Day" lines I printed out last year and actually saved them FOR A YEAR so I could use them this year. Problem throwing things out? Nope, not me. I'm out of my favorite adhesive, which is really kind of a pain in the ass.

This one is made from card stock, printed paper, same recycled "Happy Mother's Day" as above, paint swatches, ink and silver brads onto which I glued flowers I cut from the paper. This card was for my third (fourth?) mama, MB. MB was a lady I met in college when I was a student worker. We became fast friends and still keep in touch, even though she's moved to two different states since we met. She's never met Arwyn, but deemed herself Grammy. She was never able to have children, but now has two step-daughters. I considered her a great stablizing factor during my tumultuous college years, always someone I could go to for advice.

I didn't get a picture of the card I made for Bubby's mom, but here she is holding it at IHOP on Mother's Day.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy!

We took Arwyn to see The Wiggles yesterday evening. The stadium is right down the street from our house, however we still had to get there an hour early for some reason. So Bubby walked up and down the many, many steps with Arwyn until it was show time. I tried not to look at how high up they were and people watched.



Arwyn and Bubby checked out the stage before the show started. When The Wiggles came out
onto the stage in their Big Red Car, she screamed, "WIGGLES!!!"



She started out excited and dancing to the songs ...



and then mostly observed the remainder of the show. But she didn't take her eyes off of the stage. I always think she has more of my personality than her dad's: stubborn, emotional, funny. But I guess she really is a combination of the two of us. I'm the excitable one and Bubby is the observer. I'm not sure what that is she's doing with her fingers in that last picture. She does that a lot, and it really cracks me up because it reminds me of something I'd do.

I was impressed with how much The Wiggles came out into the audience and interacted with the kids. Jeff and Murray both walked right past us (we lucked into great seats, but they weren't on the floor) and several of the dancers also came out to collect roses for Dorothy and bones for Wags. In all, I'd say it was a fun way to spend a Sunday evening. There is even a slight possibility that I had as much fun as Arwyn did.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

31:2



This is a birthday card I made recently for a friend of mine. I was pretty pleased with it, which is rare. I used card stock, eyelets, a sticker, ribbon (two layers, don't know if you can tell from the scan), distressing ink and rub-ons. Happy Birthday last week Barbara!



I decided to try something new with this one. This is a store-bought card which I embellished. I added stickers, eyelets, letter stickers, and that big 2 (hand-drawn with marker and matted with card stock). I'm not sure I'll do this again. I wasn't completely happy with the way it turned out. Happy Birthday in a couple of months Rafe! (No, I'm not THAT on the ball. They are moving away and we celebrated early.)

Tomorrow: The Wiggles!

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Happy Mom's Day!

This is my Mother's Day gift!




Its a Sony Cyber Shot, along with an extra battery and memory stick, cause the Bubster knows all about that, whereas I know as much as I need to know to get by. THANK YOU, BABY!!!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Gracias



These are the two cards I made for Arwyn's teachers at Mom's Morning Out (aka "school"). They are having Teacher Appreciation Day this Thursday. Only one more week, then school's out for summer (school's out for-evah!). Thank All That is Holy, a couple of the moms and I have come up with a plan to see us through the next few months. We're each going to take turns watching all three kids so two moms will get a free day.



I've been working part-time this week, which has been interesting and somewhat boring. It was kind of great to tell Arwyn, "Mommy has to go to work" when all I usually say is, "Daddy is at work" and if she can't see him, even if he's in the next room she will say, "Daddy work". No, he's in the next room sitting on his ass watching basketball. But if you want to call that "work", I guess that's your perogative.

Monday, May 08, 2006

May 7th




We had a great weekend! Friday night Bubby and I went out with friends from work for Cinco de Mayo to a local Mexican eaterie, then a quick swing through Target (no purchases! yay!). Saturday morning we went to a park for a cookout with friends. That's where these gorgeous pictures were taken. Arwyn had a blast playing on the playground while her daddy chased her around. I actually got to talk to iMollie for 15 minutes uninterrupted! Unheard of!



We came home for naps, then we went over to a friend's house for another cookout! No cooking for me! They had a large backyard with a ton of play equipment (they have 3 kids) so Arwyn had more fun playing in their treehouse and swinging. We all smelled like a campfire when we got home.

Sunday morning we got some churchin', then Grandma C watched Arwyn while Bubby and I went out to celebrate the sixth anniversary of beginning our lurve affair. We went to a walking trail near a park that we walked lo those many years ago. Then we went to a favorite pizza place and split a pizza and a pitcher of Blue Moon. Yummy! It was so great to have time to sit and talk (and not about the house or the yard or work).



Last night I went to my weekly Desperate Housewives get together. I made Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies for the occassion. I got the recipe from one of those church cookbooks that Bubby's grandma gave me for Christmas one year. I love those kind of cookbooks!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies from Mary Kay Elpers (whoever that is).

1 1/4 c flour (I ended up adding 3/4 c more flour)
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp soda
1 egg beaten
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c margarine
1 c rolled oats (I used 1 packed of brown sugar maple instand oats and added enough old fashioned oats to equal 1 c)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c chocolate chips or raisins (I used 1/2 c milk chocolate and 1/2 c dark chocolate chips)

Sift flour and sift again with soda and baking powder. Set aside. Beat margarine, sugars, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour mixture and mix well. Add oats and chocolate chips or raisins. Stir. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven until lightly browned. (I used a baking stone and baked for 12-13 minutes and let them cool on a wire rack.)


Thursday, May 04, 2006

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy!


We are taking Arwyn to see the Wiggles next Sunday. I had great plans to have Bubby design her a t-shirt, since he is a graphic designer and all. However, he is currently getting slammed at work, so it seems that I will be the one doing the designing. Maybe he'll see what a pitiful job I'm doing and take it over, or tweak it after I do all the leg work. I've been looking for fruit images on the web and for some reason it is so fun! I could spend hours looking at istockphoto! Seriously, hours, because we don't have a cable modem. There is a lot of cool stuff on there. Her birthday party is going to have a fruit theme as well, so I don't feel like I'm wasting my time.

The other reason I have so much time to spend on this is I have nothing to read! Sound the alarm! I love, love, love to read and last night I did not know what to do with myself. I didn't have any books or magazines, I'd checked every blog that I read, after American Idol I didn't have anything to watch on tv, it was an emergency. That's when I started my fruit research. I tried to go to the library today and they are closed for some sort of staff instruction! Now it is serious. I HAVE to go to the library tomorrow, which means I have to take Arwyn with me. Ugh.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Grant Hearts Trains

Here is one of the cards I made over the weekend. Most of the images and words are from old books, some that I just picked up at a garage sale and some that I already had from Goodwill. I stamped the name and used some distressing ink and torn paper to finish it out. It is now in the hands of a happy three-year-old little train lover!

I need to make several more cards tomorrow while Arwyn is at Mom's Morning Out, so I hope to have lots of new things to show you by the end of the week.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?

Yep, we're still here. Still dealing with ear crap, whiney fussy girl, etc. I called the doc again this morning and am waiting on a call back. She has never been sick for this long and its freaking me right out. We're also going through slight "passy" withdrawal, which is SO much fun! We're going to try to get back to our regular routine this week and hope that helps.

I was able to hit some yardsales Saturday morning and scored a few cool items. I picked up a small cast iron skillet for 50 cents and some awesome books from the 1950's - 60's for a quarter each! Will post pics as soon as I can. I also got Arwyn some clothes, of course.

I somehow agreed to be on a committee at the Mom's Morning Out program for Arwyn's class for Teacher Appreciation Day. So I have to call a bunch of moms and make them agree to do things! Aahhhhh! Cold calling is definitely not at the top of my list of favorite things to do.

Saturday I also took an hour or so to work on two birthday cards. One was delivered yesterday, but I'll try to get a scan of the other one to post. I was pleased with both of them. I usually struggle with "boy" items, and don't like how they turn out. This time I think I managed to pull off some nice designs without going crazy.

Sorry to leave you with the lack of photos. We need to get a cheap digital camera.