Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Been gone and Twilight.

So, I've gone and done it again. Been a while since I've last posted, sorry about that. Kaitlyn just got back today from her 2 week vacation to visit her aunt in TN. Made me realize that I take for granted just how much she helps out around the house, and just how much I miss her when she's not here. I'm glad that she's home now, and not just because she sweeps the floors. lol

Work has also been surprisingly busy. The housing market is definitely not a stable environment, so I'm happy that we're busy, but (and I'll never admit this to my boss!) work is where I type up most of my blog posts so that's been slacking.


Oh, and I think I'm in love with another man. Maybe you've heard of him? His name is Edward Cullen - and btw, Robert Pattison is *NOT* the Edward Cullen I imagine (he better be good in the movie!). Oh, it's not like I'm going to leave my husband or anything, he is a fictional character after-all. But, I am embarrassingly admitting that I am ass-over-tea-kettle obsessed with the Twilight Saga. I bought the first book last Thursday, started reading it on Friday and finished the 3rd book yesterday. That's three 500+ page books in 5 days - I wasn't even able to get through the Harry Potter books that quickly. Embarrassed why? These books are aimed at the young adult section, that's why. Whatever.
Now I find myself wondering what I am supposed to do with myself until August 2nd, when Breaking Dawn comes out. As long as Stephanie Meyer (the author) doesn't pull a Christopher Pike and make it all have been a dream sequence, I think I'll be ok with however it ends. Who will Bella choose? Oh, please, we know the answer to that one - don't we? What will Jacob do? Will Alice go overboard on the wedding? - I think we know the answer to that one too. Should I re-read the first three? I suppose I should clean my house, or maybe pay attention to my husband. Eh. Shhh, I'm just kidding!

So will anyone else out there be at a bookstore at 12:01am August 2nd? I'm pretty sure I will be.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

CVS Good Deal of the Week

Here's my haul for this week:

2 Febreze Air Fresheners
2 Febreze Air Effects
2 Olay Daily Regenerating Cleansers
2 Olay Regenerist Micro-Exfoliating Wet Cleansing Cloths
2 Pert Plus Shampoo/Conditioners
4 packages Always pads
1 package CVS brand pantyliners
1 package Pampers diapers
8 32oz bottles of Powerade (these are B1G1 Free this week)
1 case CVS brand bottled water
2 packs Juicy Fruit gum
2 Reese's Whipps candy bars
(what? the girls were well behaved and I had B1G1 Free coupons for each)

Total before coupons: $77.71

Coupons Used:
$3/$15 CVS Face Care CRT
2x Febreze B1G1 Free coupons
4x $3/1 Olay Regenerist coupons
2x $2/1 Pert Plus coupons
2x Always B1G1 Free coupons
$1/1 Pampers coupons
8x $.75/1 Powerade coupons
B1G1 Free coupon for the Juicy Fruit
B1G1 Free coupon for the Reese's Whipps
$28.99 ECBs
and the Water was free with a $20 P&G purchase

Total out of pocket after coupons: $7.66

That's more than a 90% savings! All of that for less than the price of one package of diapers. Woohoo!

I split this up into 2 transactions so that I could use the ECBs earned on the first transaction toward the next one. Best way to maximize your money - and I still have $9.99 in ECBs to use another day.

For more ideas on how to maximize your dollar at CVS, check out Alyssa's $5 CVS Challenge at Keeping The Kingdom First.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I'll have to spell it out for you because it's raining so hard, you can't really see past the rain drops. (Don't worry, I pulled over to take this picture.)

Everyday, on my way home from work, I pass by a new middle school being built. Everyday, without fail, they have the stinking sprinklers on. 4 out of 5 sprinkler heads are not properly aligned so the street and passing cars get more of the water than the grass it's intended for. Obviously, or maybe not soo much from this picture, this grass is not lacking water. How, you might ask? Becasue we live in FL. Ask any Floridian - summer afternoons = rain showers.
We aren't called the Lightning Capitol of North America (used to be of the world, but now that title goes to Rwanda) for nothing.

So why, I ask, is it necessary to water the street near a lawn that is already watered everyday!?! A few lawn maintainance tips:

  • Don't overwater your yard - overwatered grass develops weak, shallow roots which can lead to brown patches in the lawn (commonly a fungal infection).
  • Linked to #1, if rain is forecasted, turn off your sprinkler system. Even a light rain will provide enough water for your lawn.
  • Water early in the day/morning - watering early in the day will give the grass time to absorb the water needed before the day sun will evaporate the un-needed water. Excess water on the grass blades can also lead to fungal infections.
  • Regularly check your sprinkler system for broken or mis-aligned heads causing an excess of wasted water.


  • Another water-saving tip: Did you realize that if you cut your shower time by just 1 minute, you could save an average of 1,000 gallons per year - per showering person in your household! If everyone reading cut their shower time by just 1 minute, think of the amount of water that could be saved!

    And my final word of the day: PLEASE, please be careful when driving in the rain and cautious of other drivers. I had the misfortune of passing by this accident on my way home yesterday and it really hit me right in the gut. I felt sick all evening, thinking of the drivers of the car and the driver of the truck that hit them.

    Monday, July 7, 2008

    I am...

    I'm not really a flowery type of person, but this is pretty accurate:

    I am a
    Canna

    What Flower
    Are You?


    "You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."



    And this is also accurate:

    You Are An ISFJ
    The Nurturer

    You have a strong need to belong, and you are very loyal.
    A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways.
    In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music.
    You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for.

    In love, you express your emotions through actions.
    Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well!

    At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time.
    You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.

    How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented

    When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

    Sunday, July 6, 2008

    Happy Independence Day!

    I hope everyone had a fun and safe Independence Day! We've had such a full weekend.

    My mom picked up the older girls on Thursday for a sleep-over - what a treat to have just the baby at home! Friday, we went over to her house and BBQ'd and then went over to the county fairgrounds for their Sparklebration celebration and to watch fireworks. Unfortunately, less than 30 minutes after getting there, the skies let loose and it rained poured. Once it let up enough, we left and drove home, upset about not getting to see fireworks. We ended up driving over to Weeki Wachee and watched the fireworks that they set off from the side of the road, along with half of the city. Happy that we got to see fireworks and tired from a long day, we all crashed as soon as we got home.

    We all slept in a little later than usual on Saturday and then the girls and I went and did our weekly shopping. We picked up some water squirters from Target and the girls played in the sprinklers with those for a while. We had an amazing dinner, complete with our own watermelon eating contest (Celeste won!), and then played Scrabble together.

    Today has been a nice relaxing day. We took the girls to see Wall-E. Such a good movie and I love the message - we have to take care of our Earth. It was neat to see the realization on Celeste's face that the longer people were lazy, the bigger they would get and the harder it was for them to not be lazy. We played some hide and seek and now the kids are getting in bed.

    I hope everyone has had as good a weekend as we've had. I love family weekends.

    Thursday, July 3, 2008

    Wooty, woot, woot!

    FINALLY!!!



    I can't begin to tell you how much of a geek I am when it comes to this show. After NBC canned Surface after just one season on me, I was afraid Heroes was facing the same doom. But, apparently I am not the only one in love with this show.

    Tuesday, July 1, 2008

    Yarny Goodness

    I finally decided on a pattern for the Cascade 220 that I had. I was planning on making the Cupcake pattern from the Stitch 'n Bitch: Happy Hooker book. Unfortunately, I have only one skein. I know Cascade 220 is a fairly very common yarn, so I figured it would be no problem to find more. I started on the pattern and worked through the entire skein in one day.

    I headed over to my favorite LYS today - which is Fibert Art in Odessa, FL btw. I'd link you, but they don't have a website - however, if you're in the Tampa area, they are on Gunn Hwy in the Citrus Park area and they are the bestest.

    Where was I? Oh yeah, trek to the LYS to buy more Cascade 220 in Lavender, color # 2422. Seems like a fairly simple task, yes? No. :( Color has been discontinued. Boo. Soooo, that project has been placed to the side for now, until I can either find more Lavender, or work up the courage to frog it and start over with a new yarn.


    I didn't leave the LYS empty-handed though, oh no. I got the new Crochet Today magazine. Loving the Lacy Baby Frock - too cute. Also got some Debbie Bliss that was on clearance - no clue what I'm going to do with it, but it was too good a deal to pass. Some Mirasol Cotanani in a pretty teal green color. And the most gorgeous yarn I have purchased to date, a beautiful lace weight Malabrigo in Indigo colorway - so soft, so smooshy, so perfect I'm almost afraid to make anything with it. But I will, just gotta find the right pattern.

    Thursday, June 26, 2008

    Re-Inspired

    It's been soo long since I've crocheted anything. Pretty much nil since Camille started walking and nothing finished all year. :::sigh:::

    Last night, I decided I needed to make something. So I searched through the project pages on Ravelry to find something cute and easy and fast. And I found this pattern, it took me less than 1 hour total crochet time. I think it took me more time to pick out the buttons than it did to make the cuff.


    Sunday, June 22, 2008

    Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. How Does Your Garden Grow?

    With silver bells, and cockle shells,
    And marigolds all in a row.

    Well, we don’t have marigolds or silver bells, but we do have pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes and more!

    We (read – hubby) finally got the outside planter boxes built for our garden. Unfortunately, the seedlings we had growing inside were not able to handle the heat after being inside and all died, so we had to start over. So we had some dirt delivered and got to work.


    My friend, Deva, introduced us to the idea of Square-Footing and we both thought it was a great idea. We modified it a bit and just did rows, but having the dividers definitely makes it much neater.


    We planted carrots, cucumbers, snap peas, green beans, lettuce, pumpkin and grape tomatoes. I’m hoping that we didn’t plant too late and they will survive and produce. I’m really looking forward to being able to eat our own vegetables - chemical-free, pesticide-free, home-grown vegetables.


    And look! Most of the seedlings have already sprouted! Yay! Sorry this pictures sucks so badly, it was dark outside when I took the photo.

    Friday, June 20, 2008

    Take 5 Friday

    Christine, over at Organizational Enlightenment is taking a break from the Take 5 Friday, but I decided to go ahead and participate this week. The idea is to share an organizational tip or project that can be completed in about 5 minutes.

    More than organizing, my Take 5 is more like Loonette's 10 Second Tidy from the Big Comfy Couch. Only, I didn't stuff everything under the couch cushions like she does.

    Before:


    and After:


    Gosh, that's better.

    The Game

    I found this meme on BitterSweet's blog a while ago and created the photo montage on Flickr. I thought it would be fun to share with everyone else.

    1. Grevillea Ned Kelly with native bee 2. My first strawberries of the season… 3. This is a bell tower… 4. Make a … wish 5. Billie Joe 6. When waves collide 7. Austrian Mountain Walk 8. Strawberry Shortcake 9. Don’t Worry, Be Happy… 10. laughing 11. Mama Cat 12. Milly’s Round Ripple Blanket

    Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

    The concept:

    a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
    b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
    c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

    The Questions:

    1. What is your first name? Kelly - aren't those some pretty flowers!?!
    2. What is your favorite food? Strawberries, anything with strawberries.
    3. What high school did you go to? Hillsborough Senior High School.
    4. What is your favorite color? Purple.
    5. Who is your celebrity crush? Billie Joe Armstrong. *sigh*
    6. Favorite drink? Water, plain - no lemon please.
    7. Dream vacation? Austrian Mountains, really anywhere Eauropean, but I love the Alps and surrounding areas.
    8. Favorite dessert? Strawberry Shortcake, naturally.
    9. What you want to be when you grow up? Happy
    10. What do you love most in life? My children naturally, but I really love the sound of children laughing.
    11. One Word to describe you? Mama.
    12. Your flickr name? ykelly1 - this was the only pricture that came up in Flickr when I searched for my name. lol



    Wanna play along? Let me know so I can check out your photo montages! :)

    Tuesday, June 17, 2008

    Blog Contests

    Mom's Crafty Life is having a give-a-way over at her site for a $25 Amazon gift card. There's some books I've been eyeing that I could sure use that for...hmmm, as of right now, I am the only contestant. Ok, that's it, no one read further, do not enter the above linked contest, I will be the WINNER! lol


    Also, found on her blog was a link to John Chow's website/blog, where he is having a give-a-way for a Market Leverage Nike bag full of goodies. Goodies like a t-shirt, golf shirt, jacket, cap, as well as some really cool goodies like a flip video camera, $200 Market Leverage Amex Rewards card, USB drive that is also a pen, and an engraved iPod Nano. How cool would that be!?!


    And last, but not least, Laura over at Organizing Junkie is (was) having a give-a-way for all of the people who participate in the Menu Plan Mondays! The give-a-way is for a Meal-Planning Notebook Planner. It allows you to list and track your grocery list and dinner menus for each week of the year all in one convenient location - not just main dishes, but side items and desserts as well.

    Take 5 Tuesday

    I came across this blog and thought that it would be cool to have a weekly meme to post each Tuesday. However, it doesn't look like it's been updated in a few weeks, so I'm posting my own 5's that I stole from a meme on someone else's blog. If the Take 5 Tuesday blog starts updating again, then I'll start participating there.

    5 things on my "to do" list today:
    1. Clean off my desk at home.
    2. Go through the girls clothes and sort by keep, toss and donate.
    3. Go grocery shopping.
    4. Finish laundry.
    5. Pay some bills.

    Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
    1. Build a bigger home for us.
    2. Pay off my mom’s house and all debt (I guess hubby’s mom too)
    3. Set up college trust funds for the girls.
    4. Donate.
    5. Invest.

    5 Bad Habits:
    1. Constant worrier, borderline paranoid.
    2. Eat too much, especially when nervous or bored.
    3. I have a short temper.
    4. Dawdle at work, not focused (for example: posting this on my blog instead of working).
    5. Don’t exercise regularly.

    5 Places that I've lived:
    1. Fort Stewart, Georgia
    2. Augsburg, Germany
    3. Palm Bay, Florida
    4. Tampa, Florida
    5. Spring Hill, Florida

    5 Jobs that I've had:
    1. Cashier at Publix (that lasted about 3 months in HS).
    2. Do everything girl at Hell (AKA – Office Depot).
    3. Sales Admin at Pulte Homes
    4. Wife
    5. Most important job e-vah - Mommy

    Monday, June 16, 2008

    Menu Plan Monday

    I've decided that I need to get back into Meal Planning - the last few months that I've been away from blogging/meal planning have been chocked full of eating out, fast-food and random dinners eaten at 8pm because I just started thinking about dinner at 7pm. So, here's our plan for this week.

    My hubby is in training again for work for the next few weeks, so our menu will probably be mostly vegetarian throughout the week, with our "meat meals" only on weekends.

    Monday: Cheese Ravioli with marinara sauce, whole wheat rolls and a Big Ass Salad.

    Tuesday: Morningstar Farms Corn "Dogs" with homemade mac-n-cheese and green beans.

    Wednesday: Loaded baked potatoes with a BAS.

    Thursday: Breakfast For Dinner! Homemade banana pancakes, scrambled eggs and Morningstar Farms breakfast patties.

    Friday: Cheese Quesadillas and fruit smoothies.

    Saturday: Parmesan crusted Tilapia, steamed brown rice with beans.

    Sunday: Either Roast Beef or Roast Chicken with potatoes and carrots and a nice BAS.

    For more menu ideas, check our Organizing Junkie.

    Apparantly, I really am a goody-goody

    You Are 14% Evil
    You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm.
    Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!



    I'm going to try and start posting our weekly menus again. Hopefully later today, I will get one posted.

    Wednesday, June 11, 2008

    Chocolate S'mores Cupcakes Part Two

    This time, I used the same cupcake but topped with a Mashmallow Frosting, some graham cracker cumbs, a small graham cracker square and a small piece of Hershey's chocolate.


    The frosting was a bit runny. I think that the next time I make these, I will try to make it a bit thicker by using less butter and maybe more of the powdered sugar. We'll see.

    So - which do you think look better? These or the original? I am baking these for my company's annual family picnic - there is a baking contest. The picnic is this Friday, so I've been testing these out.

    Tuesday, June 10, 2008

    My trip to Phoenix

    Many people are already aware of this, but for those that aren’t – Green Day has had, over the years, many side projects: Pinhead Gunpowder, The Frustrators, The Network, as well as other business ventures. Their newest side band is Foxboro Hot Tubs. I’ve not had the chance to hear most of the other side bands, so I cannot compare which is better, but I do love Foxboro Hot Tubs. They have a raw, garage, 60ish, fresh punk sound.

    Early-to-mid May they announced a mini tour – in clubs. Clubs that hold maybe 400-500 people. In comparison, the last time I saw Green Day in concert was in a venue that held more than 20,000 people. Of course, there were no dates scheduled near me. However, there was one date scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. But it was in Phoenix, AZ. I live in Florida. I don’t know how, but I managed to talk my hubby into letting us spend the money so that I could go. I’ve never done something so impulsive, frivolous or irrational in my life, but I’m oh-so glad I did. I met up with some people from the Green Day Authority forums, some people that I never knew before that weekend, but I now consider friends. I only stayed for 1 day, but we all clicked so easily. I guess when you’re stuck in line for hours on end, you get to know people.

    I arrived in Phoenix about 1:30pm and was anxious as I stepped off the plane. This was a buy your ticket at the door (availability limited due to venue size, of course) type of thing. I knew that people had been lining up since 9am and I was nervous that I had just flown across the country without guarantee of entry. I tried to rush through checking in at my hotel, but there were key issues. Once we finally got the key issue fixed, I mad-dash changed my clothes, brushed my hair and tried to make myself look like I hadn’t been sitting on a plane for the last 6 hours.

    By this time it's about 2:30 and I am in panic mode about getting a spot in line, even though the wonderful friends I mentioned above had already said I was ok to join their group. I get to the elevator and there's another gentleman there already. I'm on the 18th floor, we get down to about the 15th floor and the door opens and in walks Tre Cool. My heart skipped more than a few beats and I think my eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Managed to keep my mouth shut and not drool, we get down to about the 3rd-4th floor and finally my brain kicks in that if I don't say something RIGHT NOW, I'm not going to get this chance again, so I stammered out "ummm, before I have a heart attack, can I please get an autograph or a picture?" He kind of half chuckled and said "sure, just don't have a heart attack." We're at the lobby level by now, so as we walk out of the elevator, I ask the other gentleman to take our picture and after the picture, Tre gives me a little hug and says "man, you're shaking!" I think that I was soo nervous because he was “off the clock” so to speak, he could have said no or ignored me or been rude. But he wasn’t rude and he didn’t say no.

    We sat/stood in line until 7pm when we were allowed in the venue. Once inside we waited for another hour-hour and a half for the opening band. Girls with Guns. They sucked. Granted they had sound issues, and maybe without the vocals they would have sounded better. But, let’s just say that I wasn’t a fan.

    Once the main act came out on stage, the already packed crowd rushed the stage. Billie Joe kept telling everyone to “come closer to me!” and boy did they try. I managed to keep my spot, got the bruises to prove it too. The show was phenomenal, soo intense and the band was very interactive with the crowd. Billie Joe did not play guitar at all, they had a guest guitarist for that and he was soo cute, really seemed to be having a blast up on stage with them. Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt both crowd surfed, Billie more than a few times. Billie Joe also kept leaning over into the crowd, right by where I was, and we were all just reaching up touching him – his hair, face, arms and I know a few girls who got a bit more *ahem* personal. There were people from the crowd up on stage for just about every song and the guys seemed to welcome them. At one point, I believe, Billie Joe was asking for more people to get up there.

    After the show, our group kind of hung around talking, waiting to see if any of the guys would come out. I saw Jason Freese (touring sax/flute/keyboard/etc player) and Jason White (touring guitarist), but didn’t get a chance to talk to either of them. I then saw Mike Dirnt and went over to where he was. I got a hug from him and after a few different people asked, he autographed stuff for people. I had bought a vinyl of the Mother Mary single, so I asked him to sign that. After that, we tried to hang around to see if Billie Joe would come out but security was practically pushing us out the door.

    Last minute airfare to Phoenix: $400
    Hotel: $100
    Misc. Incidentals: $200
    Getting up close and personal with my favorite band: PRICELESS
    I'm soo glad I went.

    They were very strict about the “no photos” rule, so I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the show itself. It was soo crazy packed, I wouldn’t have been able to even if I wanted though. The only decent picture that I have from that weekend was of our group waiting in line, so I’ll share that with you:


    All the way from Ireland (!!!), Oklahoma, Florida, NYC, Washington (state, not DC), Missouri (??), New Mexico (x2), and Minnesota!

    Monday, June 9, 2008

    Chocolate S'mores Cupcakes

    Alright, so they're totally not healthy, or even home-made (I used a box mix and pre-made frosting), but they were oh-so-tastey!

    I used a box of Pillsbury chocolate cake mix, prepared per directions. Celeste dropped 8-9 mini-marshmallows into each cupcake liner, and then we filled with cupcake mix. Bake as directed. Once cooled, frosted with Pillsbury chocolate frosting. Tip - if you whip the frosting in the mixer for a minute or so, it makes the frosting fluffier and you can use less frosting, without losing taste. We then sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs, topped with a few mini-marshmaalows and a small square of graham cracker. YUM!

    The tast verdicts:
    Kaitlyn - moist, tastey and marshmallowey. Celeste - ewey, gooey and delicious!


    I'd say they were a hit. :)

    Saturday, June 7, 2008

    Slow Typer

    Well, I used to think I was a speedy typer. I mean I knew I wasn't fast, but I didn't realize I was this slow.

    52 words

    Speedtest



    How fast are you?

    CVS Good Deal of the day

    I've mentioned before just how much I love CVS. Here's my latest testament to the goodness that is CVS.


    3 packages of Pampers diapers
    6 bags Chex Mix
    2 packages of cotton swabs
    4 bottles of dish-soap
    2 bottles of kid's mouth wash
    7 small packages of batteries
    2 boxes of band-aids
    and 1 bag of gummy worms

    Sub-total before coupons: $73.23

    Total out of pocket spent: $15.22

    Would have been less out of pocket, but I was low on Extra Care Bucks to start with. I split this up into a few transactions, so that I could use the ECBs I earned for each transaction on the next transaction. Oh, and I earned back $15.00 in ECBs to spend another day.

    Friday, June 6, 2008

    Update on Milly's surgery

    Today was Camille's post-op appointment with the surgeon, so I thought I'd share some info about her surgery.

    We had surgery last Friday to remove a dermoid cyst that was on her forehead. We noticed the bump when she was about 3-4 months old, and asked about it at her 4 month check-up. After that, we did an MRI and met with 2 specialists to determine what we were doing. The 2nd specialist, a plastic surgeon, recommended that we wait until she was at least 1 year old before proceeding with surgery. So we waited for what felt like forever, but once it came up on us, felt like it was very rushed. I know that's contradictory, but I'm sure any parent whose been in a similar situation knows exactly what I mean.

    The surgery went well, but took a little bit longer than expected. Turned out the cyst was much bigger than they thought it was, it had embedded itself pretty deep into her skull and what was visible was only the tip of it. The surgeon said that it was roughly the size of a marble, whereas we originally thought it was about the size of a small pea. I know we did the right thing by going ahead with the surgery, if it had gotten any bigger it would have worked it's way through her skull.

    All of the nurses, the anesthesiologist, the surgeon - they were all wonderful. kept us in the loop on everything, they all appropriately loved on Camille, just plain friendly and nice. It made the whole ordeal much easier.

    They were also very pro-breastfeeding and were happy to hear that we were still nursing past one year. Each time I had talked to someone regarding the surgery, I was told that she wasn't going to be allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. Her surgery was scheduled for 10am! When I finally talked to the anesthesiologist, I asked again if she would be allowed to nurse any time after midnight. She asked "breast-milk, or formula?" When I replied breast-milk, she said that I could nurse her up to 4 hours before surgery because breast-milk was soo much easier for babies to digest. This was a huge relief to me, as Milly has a huge nursing session everyday about 5am, so the timing was perfect.

    They also encouraged me to breastfeed Camille as soon as she wanted after the surgery because she would be hungry and "she's going to want that comfort from her mama." It was very nice to hear someone (or in this case, multiple someones) in the medical field so supportive of breastfeeding, even past one year.

    Before surgery:

    And immediately after:

    24 hours later, you can see how swollen and bruised her eye is:

    And today, 1 week later:

    A new kind of game

    So, I found this meme on BitterSweet's blog and thought it was really cool. I wasn't tagged or anything, just wanted to play along. Click on the mosaic, check out the notes and description, and create your own. It's fun and it doesn't hurt a bit, I promise.

    Thursday, June 5, 2008

    I'mmm baaacckk!

    Holy time-warp Batman! I cannot believe it's been 3 months since I've last posted. What a slacker! So much has happened in that time that's blog worthy: Camille had her surgery, Celeste graduated from Kindergarten, last day of school for Kait and Celeste is tomorrow, I flew to Phoenix!, by myself!, to see a band! I'll create a blog post for each, but for now; just a quick note to say I'm still alive and I'm back.

    Friday, February 29, 2008

    Seven Things Meme

    I've been tagged for a meme by Dani over at InsaKnity!

    The rules...
    1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
    2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
    3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
    4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

    7 Things about Me
    1.) I still get carded to buy lottery tickets.

    2.) I can handle rats, mice, lizards, frogs, spiders, just about any type of bug - but roaches send me screaming.

    3.) I LOVE going to Disney World and am really looking forward to our trip next weekend.

    4.) I collect carousel horses.

    5.) I love to read, but am very picky about who I will read - Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Christopher Pike are my 3 favorite authors.

    6.) I am NOT looking forward to working this weekend.

    7.) I have a really bad habit of finding a new hobby, getting totally sucked into it and forgetting everything else, including past hobbies. It's almost like I cannot concentrate on more than one hobby at a time.


    I don't know a lot of bloggers, so I'm just going to leave this open and anyone who wants to blog is hereby tagged.

    Thursday, February 28, 2008

    Going Green

    With the ever-raising prices of groceries lately, and just our desire to grow our own veggies, the girls and I planted some seeds and are starting a vegetable garden. Since it's still somewhat cold outside (although not too cold, we do live in FL after all), we have them in small pots in the house for now. Once it's warmer, we'll plant them outside in the space Craig is preparing to be our garden.

    Here's some pictures of the girls planting the seeds:
    One week later:

    Two weeks after planting: They're growing like, dare I say it, weeds!

    Tuesday, February 12, 2008

    There I go, slacking in the posting department

    But to make up for it, I'm sharing a video of my littlest's newest feat. :)


    Fancy editing, complete with typos, by the hubby. lol

    ALSO - GreenStyleMom is hosting another giveaway. This time for a mom & kid set of earth-friendly water bottles from SIGG to celebrate SIGG's 100th anniversary. There's also a link in her post to enter for a chance to win a trip to Hawaii to see Jack Johnson. (But, you can't enter because we don't want the competition!)

    Monday, January 28, 2008

    Menu Plan Monday

    Damnit! Blogger ate my post. I will try to get my Menu Plan re-typed up later.

    Monday, January 21, 2008

    Menu Plan Monday

    Dh starts his new shift at work today, so we've had to re-arrange our child-care situation. On one hand, his shift is now 10am-7pm, so he is home in time to help with bed-time, we all get to see him more and he's not soo tired all the time. On the other hand, with this shift, we have no choice but to enroll Camille in a daycare. Today was her first day. The teacher in her class wrote me a little note to let me know what a sweet, snuggly little love my Milly-bear is. Ha - as if I didn't know this already.
    Here's our menu plan for the week.

    Monday: Parmasean crusted chicken fingers, steamed rice, broccoli.

    Tuesday: Pan-seared strip steak, buttered egg noodles, sweet corn.

    Wednesday: Vege-tacos with all the fixin's.

    Thursday: Oven-baked jumbo shrimp, homemade mac'n'cheese, broccoli.

    Friday: Breakfast for dinner.

    Saturday: Free Night, no plans.

    Sunday: BBQ Chicken drumsticks, garlic-buttered new potatoes, corn on the cob.


    Check out Organizing Junkie's site for more menu ideas.

    Tuesday, January 15, 2008

    Menu Plan Monday (er... Tuesday)

    So, I'm a day late on this, but here's our menu for the week.

    Monday: Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf, mashed potaoes and green beans.

    Tuesday: Lemon Garlic Talapia, steamed rice and broccoli.

    Wednesday: Vege-spaghetti with a big salad and crusty bread.

    Thursday: Roasted chicken, garlic buttered new potatoes and corn.

    Friday: Italian tukey sausages with pasta and green beans.

    Saturday: Free Night, no plans.

    Sunday: BBQ Chicken, baked potatoes and corn on the cob.

    Wednesday, January 9, 2008

    CVS Good Deal of the Day

    I've recently become hooked on shopping at CVS and am AMAZED at how much money I'm saving! I know what you're thinking, CVS jacks up the prices on everything they sell. Yes, they do, but they also offer these nifty things they call Extra Care Bucks that you earn on stuff you buy that you can use for future purchases. It's almost like spending the same dollar over and over again.

    Kaitlyn is sick and we're also out of Tylenol, so I head over to CVS (coupons in hand). I bought 2 bottles of Robotussin, Tylenol, Children's Motrin and Sudafed. I also added in some Palmolive dish soap. I did 2 transactions.


    1st transaction: 2 bottles of Robotussin, 3 bottles of Palmolive dish soap. Total out of pocket: $1.06
    Robotussin $5.99 each (on sale Buy 1, Get 1 Free)
    Palmolive $1.49 each (x3) (added to bring total up to over $10)
    Sub-total $10.46
    $2 off $10 purchase CVS coupon -$2.00
    Robotussin Manufacturer coupon -$3.00 (x2)
    Palmolive manufacturer coupon -$.25 (x2 - I was short one coupon)
    Sub-total after coupons $1.96
    Paid with $1.00 ECB, cash (change) for the remainder/tax.
    Oh, and I earned $3.00 ECB back for the Palmolive!

    2nd transaction: Tylenol, Sudafed and Children's Motrin. Total out of pocket: $.97 that's right Nintey-seven cents.
    Tylenol $9.99
    Motrin $5.99
    Sudafed $4.99
    Sub-total $20.97
    $4 of $20 purchase CVS coupon -$4.00
    Tylenol manufacturer coupon -$1.00
    Motrin manufacturer coupon -$1.00
    Sudafed manufacturer coupon -$1.00
    Sub-total after coupons $13.97
    Even that would be a good deal, but, I paid for the $13 with ECB and just paid the change.
    Oh, and I earned $10.00 ECB back to use another day.

    So, I spent $2.03 out of pocket and earned back $13.00 to spend another day. Works for me!

    Tuesday, January 8, 2008

    New Year's Resolutions


    Yeah, yeah, I know - it's the 8th already, but I wanted to share my resolutions with the blogging world to keep myself in check.


    Resolution # 1 - Lose 45 pounds. I know it's a cliche resolution, but I am putting it out there anyway. I am working on cutting out sodas and junk food from my diet completely. I am also working on upping my veggies intake, and lean towards more whole foods.

    Resolution # 2 - Continue to crochet. I really enjoy this avenue of creativity, and keeping my hands busy with this hobby definitely helps with resolution # 1. I would also like to get a sewing machine and learn that as well, just crafty-creativity in general really.

    Resolution # 3 - Set aside a weekly time for "Family Time." We sort of slipped out of this habit when the baby was born, but we used to play board games or hide & seek together as a family before bed-time every night. I loved that time together, no TV, no video games, no homework, no internet, no cell phone texting - just us together, having fun.


    So there you have it. Any one feel like sharing their resolutions?

    Monday, January 7, 2008

    Menu Plan Monday

    What a terrible blogger I've been! Man, the last few weeks have just been a whirl-wind and I've had a hard time jsut keeping my head on straight! I need to get back into a routine, online and in real life as well.


    Getting right back into things, here's my menu for the week. We have got to start eating better and having a menu always helps.

    Monday: Grilled Chicken with yellow rice and black beans. Big yummy salad on the side for me.

    Tuesday: Vege Tacos with all the fixin's.

    Wednesday: Steaks with mashed tater's and breen beans.

    Thursday: Parmasean Chicken with angel hair pasta, broccoli and garlic bread.

    Friday: Grilled Cheese sandwhiches and chicken noodle soup for the girls, Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup for me.

    Saturday: Left-overs.

    Sunday: No plans, probably grab take-out Chinese.


    For more menu plans, visit Organizing Junkie!