Having a bad day today

We are really having a rough day, I am not sure if it is the anticipation of going to Disney World or if Jamie is coming down with something - which I am afraid she is, but we are having a heck of a day. Lots of yelling and crying, (from Jamie too!) Mike and I just aren't on the same page sometimes and I need to be able to pull him aside and talk to him without Jamie hearing it as she was picking up on it. I was trying to wash her lovey 'Yaddy' and I had it in the back of my jeans, hoping to get down there and put it in the washer before she saw it. No such luck. Mike was up in the bedroom watching the airing of the Gator game from yesterday that was not televised unless you have pay per view and I was getting so frustrated. I had been up since 6:30am doing laundry and trying to get things in order for our trip. Anyway I yowled for Mike to come down and help with Jamie, and when doing so she saw Waddy behind my back and starting screaming for it. I said no I am washing him now, and then Mike entered into the fray, assuring Jamie he put Waddy to bed. Next thing we know Jamie doesn't want to eat breakfast, she wants to go back to bed...Hmmm she slept in til 9:15 and it was only 10:15, methinks something is up. Yup, she just wanted to get up here to check on Waddy. I lost it. Darnit there just wasn't any cause to lie about Waddy's whereabouts! That's life! Waddy needs to get clean just like us! And of couse there were other things I was stressing about, I just don't think lying is a good parenting practice. Geesh I even told her about Poncho dying and showed her his body! So I need some tips on getting on the same parental page with my husband and her daddy.

Anyway she is down for her nap...hope she isn't coming down with anything. At school Friday my mom and I went to see her in this Thanksgiving thing for lunch. I brought Jamies favorite Macaroni and Beef, and we saw the kids in their Indian costumes with a feathered bands on their heads. Anyway there was a kid sitting right next to Jamie who was coughing and sneezing so hard he puked. Lovely...Just in time for Jamie to get sick before our trip. ARGH!

I am trying to read about 4 guidebooks cover to cover about how best to experience the Disney and Universal parks...there is no way. We are old and not up to walking the parks three days in a row, but Mike wants to try it. I was planning on arriving the first day, with no park visit planned, going to a park the first full day, skipping the next day and touring the other park on the last full day, but Mike has assured me 'he will be fine' to tour the parks all three days. What do you think? We are both out of shape and he has issues with his lower back which affect his ability to walk long distances...wish us the best.

Downtime btn Events

I meant to post a slide show of the Halloween cuteness followed by the Ander's birthday at Chucky's cuteness, but my internet time has been taken up investigating where we should stay while at Disney. Our experience with Jamie in a hotel room hasn't been that great lately. Not that we have really gone 'anywhere' for over a year, but our power went out for one of the hurricanes once this past summer and our Air Conditioner quit another time. BOth times we opted for a $80 trip to a local hotel. Jamie just doesn't sleep with us very well in the same room. We had the tv off, with just our laptops on and she still wouldn't give it a rest. So, although I booked a room at Disney for 2 of our four days there, I have decided to switch over to a 2 room small condo with Kitchen, pool, and playground. It's not right at the park this is true, so we will give up a bit of time for travel back and forth (twice as we will take her back for a nap- we will see how that will go!) But for $80/night the price can't be beat. I read up on the resort, and it doesn't get the best reviews...kind of middle of the road, with some complaints about wear and tear and poor quality of the continental breakfast. THe pools, inside and out, and the jacuzzi and the playgrounds all sound great but the big benefit is WIFI!! Woohoo! I should get my confirmation tomorrow so I can cancel the Disney resort. Hope this place is on the level.

Disney World Bound

We are planning a trip to Disney World in the near future, (Don't want to say what day exactly on the internet) Jamie is so into Princess stuff she is just thrilled. She is already asking to dress as Belle one day, Snow White the next and Sleeping Beauty the day after that. I pooh poohed the idea at first, but little girls really dress up as Princesses to go to Disney. They even have a Beauty parlor for kids, called Bippidy boppodi boutique where you can get an updo, makeup, nails and costume in varying packages between $50-190 a shot. I was seriously considering having Jamie's hair done at least,and maybe have her wear one of her Princess dresses, but she can't. She isn't three yet and that is the minimum age. I may do it myself, I will see how I feel when we get closer. We spent a good 30 minutes on You tube the other night showing her Princess videos that looked like people shot with their cameras at Disney.

This will be our first vacation as a family that doesnt involve a family visit. Omigoodness are we ever excited.

Meet 'Waddy'

Jamie has had this green Carters Lovey since we brought her home. Though we referred to it as her 'Lovey' all along, she informed us at about 10 mos old that Waddy was his name, and her other Lovey who is a yellow Care bear is Yaddy. Yaddy is most definitely her substitute lovey though, as we found out when Waddy was missing for
a day or so - there were sure alot of tears. The Waddy rule I have instituted is to keep that from happening again, Waddy isn't allowed downstairs or outside of the house. Aren't I tough?

These two are so cute together!

Jamie has known Ander since we brought her home at four months old. When they were babies there was mild interest in each other but now they truly love each other. Jamie asks about Ander all the time. We recently enjoyed Halloween, ANders birthday, Halloweens Eve at Spooktacular at the zoo as well as a couple of Chick Filets occasions. They really are friends, I hope for a good long time!

She sure loves her daddy

I know she loves me too, it's just I end up being the disciplinarian more and the one to remember that it's time to turn the movie off, time to get dinner going, time to stop playing etc. Daddy is a bit of a big kid. And I was warned, little girls just have a soft spot for their daddy's. but I have to admit it hurts when she wants comfort from Daddy instead of me.

Tonight her friend ANder and her got a bit rough and she got knocked down. I felt a bit of a perverse satisfaction that she came crying to me. Is that sick or what?

I lost all my widgets

I made a change on my blog to include the blogs I read. (please let me know whether I should add you or take you away if you are or aren't there!). When I did that I lost my map with all my visitor locations, and all the other widgets and stuff I had on here. I am ok losing some of it. Jamie's video reacting to the CBS morning show horns was over a year old, but I miss the Flicker Badge and my tracking widgets. I think I had over 4000 hits so far on my blog, which isnt huge compared to alot of the blogs I read, but I am still sad I lost it.

This week was stressful, they laid off quite a few of our longtime employees at the company I work with. This economy is not being kind to the newspaper business. I worry about my friends and family who are not doing well right now financially. I am trying to keep my chin up and my head down. Just keep doing my job and hoping for an upturn.

We also found out our Doctor who Jamie loves is moving out of state. We visited him yesterday to find out we both have colds, not sinus or ear infections (I had him check me while we were there). We also found out Dr. Cannon is going to Texas which makes us both sad. He has such a good bedside manner, he gets her giggling with his "Gimme five" routine every time. We will miss you Dr. Cannon! I might have to find another Peditrician - we will see how the new doctor works out. Shes a she.

I still need to download my shots photos from last weekend, I am so unmotivated lately. I need to shake myself up somehow. Happy Friday everyone.

O O O~!!!

They just announced the Presidency of Obama, and just this second that Florida was one of the many states that made this historic election turn out so well. I just know this is the ticket to get our country back on track!

Such a Busy Week

We have been go go going for Halloween for the past 2 wks or so but this last 10 days has been crazy! These pictures are from last weekends Costume parade and contest in a small town near us. We were lucky good friends were also interested in going, My friend Chris' grandson won first place for his Whoopie Cushion costume. Her granddaughter Shelby is a favorite of Jamies, she is four and Jamie thinks she is so cool. I will post again with this weekends highlights later. I am bushed.

More Halloween Fun

This child just loves to be scared! I hope I am right that she will enjoy Spooktacular at the zoo as we plan to go. We also may do a trick or treat costume parade in one of our small beach communities this weekend and try to do a 'fun' spook house for small kids. There is also an event at a wild Cattery outside of town. So much to choose from. So little time (and energy! from Mommy and Daddy anyway!)

Here she is having us all try on the mask and 'being scared'. My mom the grandma was only too happy to oblige.

The prior post was a test post I did one day showing a friend how easy it was to blog, My hubby was sweet enough to pop on and add his 2 cents worth. He really is a keeper.

my sweet girl

Just a pic of me and my girl.

Update: As the husband and father of the beautiful ladies pictured here I am fortunate there is a window available for the whole world to see just how lucky I am.

Early Halloween Party

We went to our first costume party as a family. It was a riot, Jamie had a blast! The party was a costume themed party where the theme was a real life game of Clue. Mike was Mr. Green so he dressed in green, Jamie was Cinderella so I decided to dress as a witch as Jamie just loves the witch at Walmart. Well I went all out, painted my face green and got a long dress and cape at a thrift store, topped off with a witches hat. While Jamie was napping the afternoon before the party I painted my face (with a mixture of baby powder water and food coloring which was fine til I washed it off, then my face stung for 24 hours!). When Jamie woke up from her nap I went in there with a cackle and she cried! She was scared and cried for at least 3-4 minutes! Then she was almost giddy, "Mommy face is funny" she said over and over again.

Anyway this party was a hoot, they really did it up, the kids (about 15 or so, where roaring around the house looking for clues and everyone dressed up.The hostess was Miss Scarlett and the Host was Sherlock Holmes, there was also Professor Plum, Col. Mustard etc... There was wonderful food, and games and a bounce house (which Jamie loved), a pinata and plenty of party favors, like mini magnifying glasses, mini flashlights,ball paddles, tattoos, and candy. Oh boy was Jamie ever jacked up!

And then she was quite cranky today during the "Oh we are just at home?" let down. I had my mom over tonight though and we lit up all the pumpkins and played Halloween music and had a bit of our own little party.

The party continues this week. I think Halloween is going to be big around here for the next several years.

Dogtoberfest

Saturday we went to the library for Toddler art and afterwards decided Jamie needed some time at a park. We stumbled on Dogtoberfest in our local downtown park. It was really cute, Jamie really enjoyed see all the doggies in costumes and the weather was great. We had a bit of a drizzle for about 10 minutes but it wasn't too hot. First prize was a St Bernard wearing sunglasses and a purple sequined outfit - he was a Pimp! They also had four dogs as the Wizard of Oz - Dorothy, the Lion, Tin Man and the scarecrow. Another top winner was a chef with a pot with a dog dressed up like a lobster inside the pot. So cute. We kept thinking we would see some of our dogloving friends there, but we didn't. Maybe next year we can make it a group outing.

Jamieisms

"Go to the circus Mommy?"
Jamie went to the circus with Aunt Patty and Uncle John a couple weeks ago and now she asks to go again...quite often. She also asks to go to "Kirstens party mommy?" How do you explain the concept of an event to a 2 yr old?

"I tired Mommy!"
This is said after tears and meltdowns when she didn't get a long enough nap. For some reason at daycare she only naps for 45 minutes or so. She is the last one to sleep and the first one to wake up. It doesn't help that they nap at 12:30 when Jamie really isn't naturally tired til 2pm. Also they weren't giving her her lovey.

"Go see the witch Mommy?"
As you can see my girl is a go go goer. She would go see that witch at Walmart every day if we took her. It stands about 5 feet tall and laughs maniacally and has a skull that she swings in front of her that lights up. Jamie just loves it. But I don't think she is ready for Halloween Horror nights yet.

"I wanna play my puzzle"
Jamie just loves her puzzles. She can do the 24 pc puzzles that are meant for 3-5 yr olds pretty quickly. We may need to move up, but the next step is 100 piecers which I don't think she is ready for.

"Wanna go on the big toilet"
This girl is pretty much potty trained! And she prefers the tall toilet to the potty chair. Works out good for 2 parents who aren't fond of scraping feces out of a plastic pitcher.

"Daddy?"
When my blackberry rings she thinks it's daddy. Even when I am calling it to find out where it is.

"I wanta see _________"
Fill in the blank - Grandma, Aunt Patty, Unka John, Ander, Aunt Cinda, Aunt Chris, Uncle Bruce. I have been keeping my girl from her social calendar lately. We need to get out more and visit folks now that we are all healthy.

My proceeds from the consignment sale

I am relatively satisfied with my proceeds from the recent sale. Despite bringing back over 100 items when the sale was over I sold 87 items for a total of $288.50. After the $10 fee and the $100.98 commission I netted $177.52. (Of course I also spent about $120 in the two sh0pping trips I made there - one at the early bird sale for the consignors and Sunday at the half price sale. The picture above is of me and my friend Cinda who also consigned and bought from the sale at the Sunday half price sale.

Well I will be taking those 100 items back to the spring sale and hope for a new crop of folks more inclined to buy what I had- and I probably need to reprice some of it more reasonably. I couldn't believe all the holiday gear that was still there on Half price Sunday - I guess its something that we all buy alot of but the kids don't wear out.

I was happy to see that 6 of the 8 pairs of shoes taken were sold, the Octagon Baby gate sold (probably for $16 as I didn't see it Sunday morning at the half price sale) among the other items that were mostly clothes and a most of the baby toys I took. My neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend, if I had some way to hang up stuff I would think about putting it out and giving it a shot, but we will probably skip it. Our time is just too valuable anymore!

Was it really a hummingbird?

The other night I was making dinner - Pork roast with injectible marinade (you know the stuff that comes with a hypodermic) and Homemade Black beans and rice - yum - anyway I went out to check on the meat and had the camera as I was going to blog about my indirect cooking method on the grill. I came around the corner and what should I see but a tiny whirring set of wings in the plumbago.




I was out there so long taking pictures that Mike poked his head out, "What are you doing out here?"

Doesnt the Plumbago look nice against our house? It matches our old fashioned sky blue aluminum siding and makes it look almost stylish. Anyway what do you think? A hummingbird?

TGIF, Cool weather and Halloween is coming

Finally we are facing a weekend with all of us healthy for a change! And the weather has turned it is finally in the low 80's for a high and the nights and mornings are cool enough to wear a sweater. This used to be the time of the year that I would start feeling a bit depressed, in Michigan the winters were long and grey - you would hardly see the sun between October and April. And here this time of the year means no more use of our pool which I dearly love (as does Jamie!). Jamie and I took a little swim on Sunday and it may be the last time, the water temp was about 76 degrees which doesnt sound cold, but it was a bit nippy. Usually during the summer the pool is between 86 and 92 degrees.

I took the stuff to the consignment sale this week. Initially I had over 200 items, they turned only two down, one for a snag and one for a stain, and also they sent back about 25 sleeveless dresses to bring back for the spring sale. As a consignor I was able to shop at the early sale this week, and I spent about $100 on some costumes, toys and a few clothes. One of the dresses was a beautiful boutique purple velvet dress and I paid $10 for it but it is simply gorgeous. I also got a couple Princess costumes, the Yellow 'Belle' Costume which is better quality, but a bit too large for Jamie this year, and the Blue Cinderella has the tulle bodice torn, which I am going to try to fix it as this one fits her better now.

I really scored on the toys. I got lots of Princess toys that appear to be new, most are in the box and I am saving most of them for her birthday and Christmas which will be here before we know it.

Jamie is simply wild for Halloween this year. She loves to say the word SCCCCCCAARRRY with a charming little trill in her voice and loves to go see the witch at Walmart who stands about 5 feet tall and cackles maniacally. I initially got her a Batgirl outfit but she is so Princess all the time I kept looking for what I thought she would really love and am glad I could find some Princess options for her. (Walmart didn't have any Princess costumes for Toddlers for some reason). I will take the Cheap Batgirl costume back. (some of these costumes can't even be hand washed, they are barely put together and fasten with velcro instead of buttons, no hems and tulle for bodices! If you buy something cheap that you arent going to use at Walmart - don't make the mistake I did one year at Christmas. Any holiday items purchased at Walmart must be returned BEFORE the holiday, they just won't take it back after the holiday passes, receipt or no receipt.

Oh and Jamie went Poopoo in the toilet this morning! This was so very calculated - she did it first thing this morning, we both sat in there and practiced nursery rhymes while she sat on the potty and low and behold - 'PLOP'! We were both so excited we took a picture to show Daddy. I almost want to post it here, but I guess I won't I know a couple readers wouldn't like it. If I could figure out how to make it a click through hot link I would do it...Anyway we are going to do panties this weekend and see how it goes. Which means I guess we need to stay close to home. WHat are you doing this weekend?

Getting ready for the consignment sale

I have been a avid thrift store/consignment shopper for Jamies clothes, many were bought before we even got Jamie! It's probably suffice to say that she has way too many clothes. I haven't gotten rid of many of them, oh some to Goodwill and a full load to a consignment shop once where I got about $130 for what I sold to her. She probably paid too much (although it was a huge amount of really cute 6-9 month baby girl clothes) as she went out of business a month or two later.

Anyway there is this consignment sale here in town twice yearly in a huge venue and I am finally a consignor! I begged to get my UPC code early so I could start tagging the huge amount of baby clothes I had (6-8 Big Pampers Boxes filled). You have to get the template of your tags with the UPC code on it printed on card stock at the office store, and buy safety pins and hangers - lots of hangers!

I am nowhere near being done tagging the stuff but am more than half way through. I only told the lady I would be bring 100 pcs of clothing and it's probably closer to 200 pcs! They all have to be hung up on hangers with safety pins (clean and pressed of course) and the tags pinned to the right front of the garment.

Our house has looked like a clothes bomb went off for several weeks, (months really). I know it is driving Mike crazy but he is so nice about it. Mike traded the baby swings and bathtub and safety coaster to the generator repair man in lieu of the $38 repair fee last month during the hurricane scare, so we don't have the larger items to grapple with. Just lots and lots of clothes! Hope this sale brings us at least a couple hundred dollars for my trouble.

Did I get gouged?

The other day I pulled up to a pump that was advertising a good price - $3.64 per gallon. After pumping $99.50 into the tank and getting the receipt I noticed that I pumped silver instead of regular, the midgrade, and it cost me $4.29/gallon! I feel like I got gouged, all the other stations in town are a bit higher on regular, but none have mid grade over $4. I'm not saying that they switched it on me, it probably was my fault for picking the wrong lever, but that big of a price differential? Come on...bet that station owner is making up for selling regular at such a low price, just takes a few dumbies like me to make a mistake and he makes it up - $.50/gallon (guessing the fair price is probably 3.79/gallon) times 20 gallons times number of dumbies...hmmmm...This station was even on the news for having low prices. Do you feel like you have gotten gouged?

Is the sky really falling?

Listening to the president tonight has got me thinking...is this the beginning of the next depression? We all know that we are in a recession, even though we aren't calling it that yet for some reason. It seems it's the governments' new role to keep us scared for some reason, it used to be to reassure us -"there is nothing to fear but fear itself"

I just feel like it shouldn't be the American Taxpayers that bail out these huge organizations who made this mess.

I don't know what the answer is but I do know that my friends and family for the most part are having a really hard time right now. I hope we can bring about some kind of positive change in about 41 days.