Pooped Out

Boy, this week sure caught up with me. I'm physically and mentally tired, so I'm cutting it short tonight

Time Log -

7:30 am - crawled out of bed, so tired, started laundry, exercised, checked online for hairstyles so I could copy one and order a print to take with me to my hair appt., fed Emma, dressed her, then I showered & dressed
10:10 am - looking online at various things, was going to go to Wal-Mart to pick up my print, but baby got cranky, so I put her down for a nap
10:35 am - ate breakfast, looked online at designs for "woobies" (the little square blankets, anywhere from 12" to 18" square, with ribbon loops all around the edges), most places call them "taggies" or "lovies", also looked at the dies at Accucut for making rag quilts (they cut the block and the fringe all at once, BIG time saver), I was going to order some, so I could hurry and make a few rag quilts for this Project Linus thing, but they weren't quite what I wanted, so I will bag that project for a later date, when I can invest the time and money in what I really want, also talked to Sue on the phone
12:10 am - I think the week caught up with me, and I was really tired, so I took a nap in the tv room while Connor watched tv and played toys
1:45 pm - Emma woke up, and I messed around some
2:10 pm - got the mail outside, and worked on bills
3:45 pm - checked some things online
4:10 pm - left to pick up my prints at Wal-Mart before my hair appt
4:35 pm - my hair appt, my stylist's name was Sue, she's been cutting hair for 20 years, much better cut than the last time. Remember?
5:10 pm to 8:15 pm - back home, alternated between taking care of fussy baby and finishing the pink ladybug blanket (I really wish I could keep it, I put a lot of hours into it, and it's so cute, might have to make another one for Emma), also dropped Gil off at the college to watch the musical Aida for the third time, he has a serious thing for the stage, ever since Brigadoon
8:15 to 8:45 pm - fed Emma, bathed her and put her to bed
8:45 pm to 10:00 pm - write blog post, look at rag quilts online, then goof off for the rest of the night, might have to go pick up Gil from the play, read fam blogs, must comment on them tomorrow, sooooo tired...

Better than last time, but still not there. Should I get the bottom cut off, and just get a short bob that ends right above my ears?

End Post #17, 2009
(only 348 to go, can I make it?)

Project Linus

Packed up the kids this morning, and about half the house, to head over to the church to work on "Project Linus", a service project our Relief Society is participating in. It's being organized on a larger scale, at least county-wide, for the families of National Guardsmen, who are being deployed in a month or two to Iraq. The intent is to collect blankets for children, ages babies up through teenagers. Today was a Project Linus day, where several of us gathered in the church gym, and worked on blankets.

A view of the gym, my table is on the lower right corner
See all the junk I brought?! And I actually used almost all of it over five hours.
Connor hanging out with Emma in the pack-n-play, aka "baby jail". Emma actually crawled around on the floor most of the time, watching Connor be a spaz, except for her nap. Everyone said what a good baby she was, but she was a pill by 3:00, and ready to go home.
Connor up on the stage, with his Geo Trax train set.
Connor running like a maniac around the gym.
Emma eating wipes, and NOT her baby puff treats.
I was sewing, Connor watched Princess Bride. "Anybody want a peanut?" "Murdered by pirates is pretty good." "Inconceivable!"
Connor posed with the pink ladybug blanket, but he insisted I take a picture of his back, which he thought was hilarious.
Close-up of pink blanket.
Debra Foxley on the left, our Enrichment leader, and coordinator of this project. Gerri Allen on the right, who is spunky and also the Scout Committee Chairperson (I'm her assistant.)
Lady named April, who make a fleece blanket. Most of the ladies make fleece blankets, which is easy because you just buy the fleece and cut a fringe around the edge. But, no, I'm picky and have to sew flannel blankets. It's my thing.
A group of ladies, left to right: Lisa Norton, our RS Pres, Debra, one of my VT's (I love it when they visit, I wish they would come every week, and not just once a month) who is holding Emma (tired of the day), and of course, spazy Gerri

Time Log -

6:00 am - alarm went off, totally lazed around in bed until 6:45, when Gil came in for lunch money
6:45 am - start a load of laundry, exercise, feed Emma, shower, get dressed
8:30 am - dress Emma, start packing a bunch of stuff to go to the church for Project Linus (see pic above of all my junk I brought with me), collect fabric, sewing machine etc, kids' toys, diaper bag, snacks & milk for the day, movies for Connor, & then pack car
10:15 am to 3:15 pm - arrived at church, set up, cut fabric, & sewed. I almost finished the pink ladybug blanket, but I ran out of thread, so I got the blue & yellow dog blanket cut out
3:15 pm to 5:30 pm - unpack car & put things away, do end-of-year tax reports for daycare clients, check bills
5:30 pm to 6:20 pm - shopping at Wal-Mart & Dollar Tree
6:20 pm to 8:15 pm - cook Dinner, eat dinner, feed Emma, make more cookie dough, make treats for visiting teaching
8:15 to 9:25 pm - drop off visiting teaching treats & some of the tax reports to a few of my daycare clients, lastly stopped at Wal-Mart again because I forgot to buy the thread earlier (aaargh!)
9:25 pm to 10:00 pm - get the kids ready for bed, read scriptures with kids
10:00 pm to 11:35 pm - write my blog post, check a few things on the computer (I'm scheming some more blanket projects and Mother's Day mini scrapbook album projects)

End Post #16, 2009

Over the Hill, and Through the Woods, to Susie's House We Go...

Went to Sue's house in Cokeville today, to bring her our kids' craft table set, and our karaoke machine for Lily's birthday. Dani got it for Christmas a few years ago (or was that last year?). Once the Wii showed up, the karaoke started collecting dust. Now that Dani got a singing/dancing game for the Wii, we decided that it was time to give the karaoke machine to Lily, who can now have a blast with it!

Amelia, queen of the craft table.
Kids at play.
My Foofie-Loolie, flirting with the camera.
Susie, doing an amazing job on Lily's bday cake. Hope she blogs the final results. I had to leave before she finished it.
Dan was Martha Stewart today, wrapping presents (hope Susie took pictures, he was telling me his mother used to professionally wrap presents when he was a kid). I love how he and Amelia colored the karaoke box, which was kind of too big to wrap.
Amelia was shockingly cooperative today, and I don't think I saw the classic evil-eye pout once. She was a real ham for my camera.
Lily got home from school right before I left, so I made 'em pose with the craft table. Good sports.

Time Log for today:

6:30 am - wake up, change laundry (will it ever go away?!), fold laundry, exercise, shower, get dressed, feed Emma, bag the cooked hamburger for the freezer, wash the pans
8:45 am - start loading the car to go to Sue's, pack diaper bag, round up all the stuff I'm taking to Sue (kids' craft table & chairs, karaoke machine, soothie binkies, kids' craft supplies left over from daycare), get kids ready to go)
10:10 am - go to Wal-Mart to get shopping done for me & Sue
11:00 am - head out of town, realize I forgot some things right as I got on the freeway, I went back, and also picked up microphone adapters at Radio Shack
11:30 am - back on the road for real this time
1:30 pm - got to Sue's after a few potty break stops for Connor by the side of the road (you can do that when you travel out in the middle of nowhere), unloaded the car, hung out with Sue and the kids while she decorated a cake for Lily's party (very impressive, I hope she posts pics in the next few days)
3:20 pm - back on the road, stopped about 30 miles outside of Cokeville and picked up red rocks. There's this great hillside that sheds dark red clay rocks, I'll have to pick up some more for my yard.
5:20 pm - Got back home, had to talk to the two teenagers, who nearly killed each other while I was gone, lots of drama, unloaded the car, cooked mac & cheese (it can't all be beef stroganoff, which I made Sunday from scratch, very yummy), took pics of Emma on the stairs, first time she climbed to the top
6:35 pm - went visiting teaching
7:00 pm - back home, one sister wasn't there, plan on bringing treats tomorrow night, watched American Idol, fed Emma
8:00 pm - downloaded pics, started blogging, got Emma a bath & put her to bed
8:30 pm - played Blue's Clues Memory with Connor for the first time, he was very excited, Gil teased me again about a dirty house, and I reminded him how I'd lost my $2000 a month daycare job, and had to be the Mom and try to get an eBay store up and running, just can't keep a perfectly clean house, so wise boy that he is, he swept the kitchen floor, picked up the tv room, and vacuumed my paper shredding mess I just hadn't cleaned up in two days
9:15 pm - we read scriptures, I got Connor ready for bed
9:40 pm - back downstairs to my craftroom to finish by blog post for the day
11:15 pm - fall into bed

End Post #15, 2009

Just When You Thought You Had Enough Board Games...

I think the end of daycare is starting to sink in for Connor, because now he's driving me crazy with his boredom. He's playing less trains (an individual sport), and turned to board games, where I think he's figured out it takes two to play, which is what he's after. We probably have nearly 20 board games on top of the shelves in our tv room, but they are all geared towards older kids. I dug out this Blues Clues Memory game for him. Aaah, Memory, a classic game. It was probably my favorite when I was little.

For once, I turned the camera over to someone else, so I could be in a picture. Dani was playing with us, so she took the pics.
Connor was so excited to find matches, although most of the time we pointed them out for him. He kept screaming to get another match, and by the end of the game his eyes were bugged out, his face was red, and he was jumping up and down.

Can you recommend some games for 3-year olds? All I can think of is Hungry Hungry Hippos and Candyland.

End Post #14, 2009

Watch Out World

Emma's just bookin' it these days. She'll be walking in the next month or two. Here she is on the stairs tonight, the first time she managed to climb up all the stairs by herself.




Emma found the other binky tonight and was playing with it, so I clipped it to her. She kept switching back and forth between the two. I thought it was funny. She's been "self-medicating" for a while now. Two binkies - I'd say she has plenty of "meds."

End Post #13, 2009

Little Cookie Chef

Yesterday, I promised pics of Connor helping me make cookies for VT. Here's the chef:

This is Connor's standard picture smile, no normal pics for this kid. There's kind of a goofy streak in our family, unless we're trying to kill each other. I guess drama abounds, in one form or another.



End Post #12, 2009

Current To-Do List

Everybody has a list of things going on in the back of their head they'd like to get done. Here's mine, in no particular order:

1. Finish inventorying my craft junk, including the new stuff.
2. Get the website up and running, at least have a home page.
3. Get a final design for all my store pages on eBay.
4. Make sure to add sales, incentives, contest links to store page design.
5. Look into a store on Amazon.com
6. Design and get pricing on the mini page protectors.
7. Design mini-scrapbook covers for Accucut dies, make them "convertible", square, heart, circle, with "pins"?.
8. Design and get pricing on the lunchbox tins
9. Group and photograph all the punches and Sizzix dies to sell on eBay
10. Finish blankets for Project Linus, Relief Society service project
11. Do the daycare & craft business expense/income reports for taxes
12. Will I do my own taxes with a $79 software program, or pay someone $250 to do them?
13. Freaking sell this stuff in my craft room on eBay!!!!!!
14. Start making cards again
15. Card kits on eBay
16. Sometime in the spring, clean out and organize the garage again.
17. Build the modular boxes for my craftroom (really looking forward to having these done. I need them badly!)
18. Hang pictures on wall
19. More film developing & organizing old pictures.
20. Blog pictures from the past three months.
21. Drive stuff to Sue's house.
22. Design Mother's Day and Father's Day mini albums
23. Design RSHS scrapbook album
24. Once store is really up and running, and mini albums are in, advertise in the paper again, and on message boards at rec center & grocery stores.

I'm sure there are tons more, but that's what came out of my brain, impromptu.

Here's my log for today

6:45 am - woke up, exercised, showered, dressed
8:10 am - fed Emma, cleaned the kitchen
9:15 am - made cookies for visiting teaching, got me & the kids out the door
10:00 am - visiting teaching appt. to Irene Weber
10:35 am - back home, finished baking the rest of the cookie dough (Connor helped, I took pics, will post them tomorrow), washed dishes
11:35 am - get on the internet, check out party themes and cake recipes for Sue
11:50 am - work on my blog post for the day
12:05 to 3:20 pm - feed kids lunch, work on inventory, eat my lunch, play games with Connor, do laundry (oh, joy), fold laundry, give myself a pedicure (this means smoothing out my rough feet)
3:20 to 5:10 pm - help baby, do laundry, talk to kids
5:10 to 7:30 pm - shop at Smith's, cook dinner, eat dinner, feed Emma
7:30 to 9:10 pm - Emma's bath & put her to bed, looking for karaoke machine parts for Sue, some inventorying, more laundry
9:10 pm - scriptures with kids
9:30 to 10:45 pm - inventorying
10:45 pm - finish blog post, switch laundry, watch a little tv, go to bed

End Post #11, 2009

Time Log - Monday

I'm working on a blog post about the importance of follow-through, but I'm saving that for the end of the week, after I crack the whip on myself and give this week my best, to see what I can accomplish. I'm going to try to keep a journal of my time each day, to see how I'm spending my time, and where I need to change my habits. So, here goes today:

5:30 am - alarm went off
6:00 am - finally dragged myself out of bed
6:25 am - got out the front door, went to the rec center to swim
6:35 to 7:00 am - swam 1/2 mile in 25 min., 1 lap on my back, 15 laps freestyle
7:00 to 7:30 am - shower, dress, and get back home
7:30 to 8:00 am - eat breakfast (healthy cooked cereal with frozen fruit)
8:00 to 8:25 am - kids wake up, fix bottle, change clothes, pick up toys
8:25 to 9:00 am - eBay paperwork, invoicing
9:00 to 9:30 am - change diaper, back to invoicing
9:30 to 10:00 am - feed Emma, Connor
10:00 to 11:00 am - clearing out email, eBay messages, etc., change diapers, put Emma down for nap
11:00 am to 2:00 pm - clean out Dani's closet & storage space under the stairs
2:00 to 5:20 pm - ate lunch, watched a few episodes of my new guilty pleasure, Supernatural, and took a nap (in my defense, I didn't fall asleep until 12:30am/1am last night.)
5:20 to 11:00 pm - helped Dani make meatball spaghetti (she did a good job, made the meatballs by herself with lots of hovering from me, and darn it, I should have taken pictures!), played with Emma, gave her a bath & put her to bed, nagged kids, inventoried lots of my scrapbook stuff I ordered back in December, tried not to kill Connor who was bored and kept interrupting me, read scriptures with kids, more inventory-ing.
11:00 pm - now I'm going to bed, and will probably finish one of my episodes. Hope I get more sleep tonight!

End Post #10, 2009

My Spelling Bee Girl

About a week ago, Dani won the spelling bee for all the sixth graders in Rock Springs. She was so excited! The $50 bill they laid on her wasn't hurting, either. It started burning a hole in her pocket right away.

Then, this Friday, she went up to Western Wyoming Community College, along with other students from her school, to participate in the county spelling bee. Poor Dani didn't make it past the first round, where they administered a written test to all the kids. She was really upset, even though she studied this week. The irony is, I chewed her out/nagged her for not studying the previous week for her school spelling bee, which she wound up winning, but she didn't do so well when she did study for this one. I find the universe not cooperating with my parental concept of the rewards of hard work. Sigh... But Connor and Emma had lots of fun hanging out at the Atrium inside of the college while we waited for Dani.

The perspective on this picture makes it look small here, but the Atrium is a really cool place to hang out. They sometimes have various kinds of community concerts in there. There is also a cafe, and the cafeteria is connected to the atrium. I found myself wishing I could go to college there. Sometimes I miss the college days, that first feeling of being on your own, and actually being good at it. Plus, I was good at school, so that helped the ego. Now, I have a job where I manage drama queens, settle conflict, wipe butts, clean up other people's messes, and half the time they treat me like an idiot. Ahhhh, good times, good times...

Food for thought - if you could go back to college, what would you study? Me, it would probably be computers and something in the art department, like jewelry or pottery.

WWCC has wonderful displays of dinosaur fossils. Yes, the perspective on this picture is deliberate. Check out Foofie on the floor to get an idea of how big this dinosaur really is.
Another awesome pic! I should blow it up and stick it on the wall. "Ahhhh, don't eat me, don't eat me!!!!"
Foofie loves to crawl up to things and stand up. This is her standard photo face, sticking her tongue out at the camera. She's a spunky one!
I love the metal sculptures they have placed around the dinosaur bones. I'd love to have some in a garden someday.
I love this one, too. The great thing about these dinosaur exhibits is that they are placed around the halls of the main college building. No fees required.
Sometimes a girl just needs to take a few minutes and cry her eyes out.
Dani let me take this pic. I loved the way her eyes looked in the bright daylight. She has the most beautiful color of eyes, sometimes jade, sometimes aqua.
My troops.

End Post #9, 2009

New Hobby

Okay, seriously gotta redo my blog design layout, but that's for another day, or I'll never get a post done tonight! I pulled up my blog, and for some reason the background wasn't working. Well, I tried to fix it, to no avail, so I went with a generic template for now. I'll fix it later.

On to my post.

I've found a new hobby, jewelry making. Like, no way! (Yes, I have the tendency to collect projects, it's one of my weaknesses.) But, hey, I have at least finished my first project! I think it all started when Dani and I were in Roberts last fall, scoping out craft supplies, and we found ourselves in the jewelry-making section. I was captivated by all the beautifully-shaped beads and fantastic colors. I'm a sucker for color. So, Dani and I indulged in some pretty beads, and then they sat in my craftroom for a while (no surprise there.) I also gifted myself a jewelry-making book at Christmas. Enter the cute little binky chain clip Lora gave me when Connor was born. Alas, Connor refused the binky, but this time, with Emma, she was hooked! So, I brought out the binky clip, and it's been a wonderful way to keep track of the binky.

I temporarily lost the binky clip about two weeks ago (Connor hid it inside one of his toys.) I emailed the maker of the binky clip, sweetbabyboutiques.com or sweetbabybeads.com, to buy a new one and asked them to make it longer, but they refused to on the grounds that it's a choking hazard. I thought, "Whatever! The chain is so short on her now, that whenever she turns her head, it pops out of her mouth." Connor returned the clip ("Look, Mom, it was in the Pig!", part of a stacking farm animals set), but it broke a week ago, and I thought, "I want this thing to be longer anyway, so I bet I can fix it myself!" When we were in Salt Lake this weekend, I bought some more supplies, and lo and behold, I finished my first project this morning! It was so fast and easy, now I'm hooked, and I can't wait to make more! I may have to learn everyone's taste in jewelry, so I can start giving jewelry gifts!

Here's the original binky clip, measuring 6-1/2" from the clip to the end of the beaded loop. You can see where the wire wore out, and broke away from the clip.

My completed project! All I did was add little rainbow glass spacer beads between each of the original beads, and the new length is 8-1/2" from the clip to the end of the beaded loop.

I put a barrel clasp on the end of the chain, so I could make a variety of binky chains for the clip. You can see here, that it is detachable, so I can attach any cute chain I make. Unfortunately, today I discovered that the barrel clasp is a bad idea. I keeps twisting open, with this active baby! I'll have to restring it with a different type of clasp, but the detachable concept will remain the same.

End Post #8, 2009