A new appliance needed

Yesterday morning my days of denial couldn't be ignored any more.  A couple of days ago I noticed a big bag of frozen chicken in the freezer was completely thawed.  Hmmm......that's not supposed to happen.  Then the next day or so I went to bite into a strawberry and the coldness of it didn't hurt my teeth like it normally did.  Interesting. 

Well, yesterday I went to pour Luke's morning cup of milk, and lets just say it didn't pout.  And it wasn't due to expire for several more days.  We had a problem. 

So who do I call?  My dad.  He gives me a list of people to call, and I ended up picking Sears.  I claimed it was an emergency and the guy at the call center said someone would be out between 1 and 5.  Thanks dude.  Seeing it was only 9, I settled in to wait. 

Much to my surprise, I got a call a little after noon that the repair man was on his way.  Early?!  No way!  So the man came, the man made a mess of my kitchen, the man told me it would be $350 to fix, the man left.  After consulting with Cody, we decided to just take the money, add a little to it, and invest in a new one.  Except upon looking at things closer, it seems there's not quiet the money now to do either, so......we've got bare necessities in an ice chest.  Ha!  It's not been bad at all.  Just keeping Luke out of it is the hard part.  Maybe I should change my name to The Suburban Pioneer Woman.

Not to long after that I got a fresh pedicure.  (excuse the other nails that actually do need to be repainted)

By Luke.  I was sitting at the computer when all of the sudden I felt something cold and wet on my toe.  Holy moly I freaked out when I looked down and saw what was going on.  I snatched the nail polish away from him and frantically ran around the house like a chicken with my head cut off looking for the puddle of burgundy nail polish I was sure he dumped out.  Much to my relief I didn't find any.  He must have gotten the bottle and waited to open it until he sat at my feet.  And paint my nails like he's seen me do.  Oh brother what am I in for.

Since that was pretty much all of my morning and early afternoon, I didn't do much the rest of the day.  Luke and I played.  One of his favorite things to do play King of the Mountain on my bed or the back of the couch.  Annoying if you are sitting there, but super fun to watch if you're not. 

For dinner Cody  was meeting a few of his friends a Fuzzy Tacos, and he invited Luke and I, so off we went.  It was fun!  Dillon was there, and we teamed up against Cody to go get yogurt from Tappy's.  Oh it's so good.  The birthday cake flavor with fresh strawberries and mango is the absolute best. 

Okay.  Now I want some.

This morning Luke had a speech appointment, and then afterwards I got on facebook.  Low and behold, my friend Brandy finally had her baby last night!  I immediately texted her to see if she was ready for visitors, so we headed up.  Yay for baby Jack arriving!  He is perfect!  Then Luke and I ran to Walmart to take back some towels and get a few grocery items and ice.  Oh, the ice we are going to have to buy.  It was pretty late by the time I got us home and fed, so when I put him down for a nap at 1:30 I figured he would go right to sleep. 

WRONG!  At 3 when he was still awake and playing I just let him stay up.  Then at 5 I looked down from the fabric I was cutting and he was asleep in the floor beside me.  Poor baby!  So I picked him up and held him until Cody got home, which woke him up.  So with 10 minute nap today I figured he would go right to sleep tonight. 

WRONG!  I put him down at 8 and it's now 9 and it's finally quiet.  So there.  Now I think I'll go get a glass of milk out of my ice chest and try and scrounge up some chocolate.  My dinner of sausage, Brussels sprouts, and baby carrots just didn't hit the spot. 

Locked out. Again.

Oh that's right.  You read it.  I got locked out.  Again.

Only, unlike last time, today I was locked out of my car.  At Walmart. 

Let's start from the beginning.  This morning I decided that since the sun was out I was going to take Luke to the pool.  He's still TECHNICALLY supposed to stay away from getting his head wet because it would wash the antibiotic drops we are still putting in away, but a Momma's gotta do what a Momma's gotta do.  So I rounded everything up, and headed out a little early to stop off at Walmart before hand to pick up some towels for a hooded towel order I've got. 

We went in, we shopped, we came out.  Luke's got a nasty habit of running straight for the driver's side door and climbing in as soon as I unlock the car, so that he can "drive" and push all the buttons.  Today was no different, so as soon as I got the bags and everything in the car I went to retrieve him so I could put him in his seat and off to the pool we would go.  Wrong.  As I pulled him out of the driver's seat he was frantically pushing every last button he could reach as h passed by.  That included the door lock button.  Which I didn't realize until after I closed the door behind him. 

*head hanging*  So we were locked out.  Again.  With my wallet and cell phone inside the car. 

There was a security guy sitting in a car a few spaces away, so I went over to solicit his help.  No he didn't have a jimmy thing to hack open the door.  Could I just call someone?  No genius, the reason I'm talking to you is because I have no other life line.  He hands over his phone after making sure it would be a local call, and once again I'm left staring at it.  Nope, didn't learn my lesson after last time and still don't have anyone's number memorized.  I tried a couple of numbers that I thought might be my sister's buuuuuuuuuut......they were both wrong.  So, I just hand the phone back, smile politely, thank him, and pick up my son to start walking.

Yep.  That's right.  Luke and I start walking.  We walk from Walmart to my parent's house in our bathing suits, carrying a lone bottle of sunscreen (I had just bought it and had planned on applying on Luke before putting him in the car seat).  Now it's only 3/4ish of a mile from Wallyworld to Mom and Dad's, but with a bathing suit, flip flops, a 30 lb weight, and 95 degree weather it seems like 10 miles.  Especially since my idea of working out is standing to iron instead of sitting.  For real. 

As we (okay, I) was walking I passed this little creek with lots of brush.  I looked sooooooo hard for a dead body or at least feet sticking out, because it looked like the perfect place to dispose a body.  I may or may not watch too many crime shows.  Bad news.  I didn't. 

FINALLY I got to my parents house and Ashley did a double take when she saw there was no car.  But then she was gracious enough to take us over to the house to get my spare key, and then back up to Walmart to get the car.  Once again, I'm so glad I live 1.5 miles from them.  And also I'm so glad that Ashley currently lives with Mom and Dad.  And also I'm glad she was home. 

Summary?  I am glad.

So finally we get Luke and I got to the pool, only 45 minutes after I had wanted to get there.  I spent the rest of my morning relaxing in the shallow end while Luke ran around.  Then we came home and watched t.v.  I felt I needed a reward after all that had transpired.

Wordless Tuesday

I know it's not Wednesday, but I didn't do anything today, so  I thought I would just post a couple of pictures I snapped this morning.  I know ya'll have been jonesing for a Luke fix. 

Okay, that was more than a couple.  And yes, that was a tomato.  He loves them.

Quick note

For reason's I don't really want to go in to right now, today was not the greatest day.  But a couple of things happened that I want to make note of so I don't forget.

One thing, is that today Luke almost had his first bloody nose.  He wanted to play outside so I made him go get some shoes.  He was running back into the the living room and ran SMACK into the corner of the couch.  The part that's wooden.  Is it bad that I was laughing and moaning with him at the same time?  Poor baby kept holding his face, I thought for sure blood would start gushing out any moment.  Good news.  It didn't.

The boo boo that he DID get though, was some sweet bruises on his back from yesterday.  Last night at the park I was pushing him on the big kid swing (not very high at ALL, it was his first time on it), when at the apex of the swing he flipped out and landed flat on his back.  I thought it just mostly scared him and knocked the wind out of him, but today there are bruises back there.  But what's a boy without a few war wounds? 

Another thing I want to note is his growing obsession with saying the words "choo choo".  When he gets to babbling and just telling you all about something, whatever he has going in that little brain of his, every other babble is choo choo.  It's the funniest thing.  He says that about as much as he does the "car" sign.  Which he does.  A. Lot. 

He's also taken to waving a lot.  The first thing he does in the morning is stand at the end of the bed and wave at me until I look up from my pillow.  At nap time he stays in the hall and waves until I acknowledge him.  It's the funniest thing.  Then he'll run up to you and start telling you something, I like to think he's talking about what he dreamed about and what he wants to go do.  I sure wish I knew what he was saying.  He's also showing a lot more affection, in the form of pats, pets, and quick kisses on the leg, arm, bum, what ever is at mouth level at the moment.  So sweet.  I love that little boy more than anything, and I am just so blessed to be his momma.  Thank you Jesus for the gift of him.

Made it through church

Good news!  We made it through church today without having to go to the doctors!   Ha!  We would have made it through the entire service just fine, except five minutes into it I felt a tap tap tap on my shoulder, then a whisper in my ear that said "Did you know you have nursery duty this morning?"  Ummmm.  No.  I forgot.  OOPS!

After church Cody and I went to go pick up Ashley from Love Field, she was in a wedding this weekend in Tennessee.  Then we all went to Mooya for lunch and I gorged myself.  I mean really stuffed.  Afterwards all I could do was come home and lay down. 

By the time I got up it was already 3:45.  And I was supposed to have gotten small groups together tonight by 5:30. OOPS again.  I was dropping the ball all over the place.  I sent out an email but by then only the Hodges could make it, so we decided to meet at the park.  Bad idea on my part because it was suffocatingly hot.  It was like all the playground equipment was holding in the heat from the week.  We lasted maybe an hour before calling it quits.  I brought the boy home, Cody gave him a bath, and in the bed he went. 

So that was my day.  I didn't get to go see Shae before they left this afternoon.  They went ahead and ventured home, a nerve wracking three hour drive, but Praise Jesus! they made it safely.  Whew! 

This week doesn't have very much going on so far, but that tends to change as each new day arrives.  It starts out as a mellow, relaxing week, and then by the end we've gone 0 to 60.  No wonder the days, weeks, months are flying by!

Friend-filled day

Whew, today was a bit of a roller coaster.  This morning I got up and piddled around, then treated myself to a solo trip to Starbucks.   I called a friend and we talked for an hour, she totally let me unload on her.  This afternoon I wept with a friend who is miscarrying a baby they've tried for years to have.  Tonight I got to sit in bed with a third friend and visit even more. 

See what I mean?

And in case you haven't been keeping up, that third friend was Shae.  They released her from the hospital this afternoon, but she and Joby went ahead and got a hotel room to stay in so they would be close to the hospital.  After dinner I went over there, about 7, and finally at 10 I had to force myself to leave so they could put Dakota to bed.  Was I selfish or what!  But it's been so nice to have my friend back.  I've missed her!  They are probably going to head back to Abilene tomorrow, so that means no more visits.  :(

Can we all say boooooooooooooo together?  Thank you.

On a totally different note, I think Luke's ear drops are finally working.  Did I mention that on Friday I had to call in and ask for a new antibiotic because his ear's were STILL draining?  Ugg.  It's been a bit of a nightmare.  But he's had three doses of the new antibiotic now, and I'm thinking it's helped.  We'll see in the morning.  Typically his ears drain the most when he's laying down, and I put MORE clean sheets on his bed this afternoon, so in the morning I'll be able to tell how their doing.  Lets keep our fingers crossed for no spots. 

Hmmm...  I know you are so glad you stopped by to hear about that, aren't you.  ;)

Done lots, not much to say

I've been totally unmotivated to sit down and peck anything thing out lately.  In fact, I haven't read/checked any one's blog in the last three days.  The only reason I'm here now is because I know in a year I'm gonna wonder what I did these few days, and I won't be able to remember.  Heck.  I can't remember what I did Monday.  Really.  I'm about to go back and look, cause I have no idea. 

Yesterday I didn't do just a whole lot....but what I did do was fun.  In the morning I went over to my friend Christina's house for a visit, and I think she's convinced me to do a craft show.  Eek!  I know.  Scary stuff, but if I start now MAYBE I won't get overwhelmed.  I spent the whole morning at her house, and then came home for lunch and to put Luke down.  I meant to start baking and cleaning at that point, but the couch was so comfy I just kinda parked it until 3.   Then I had to bust it in the kitchen because I had some lady friends coming over for a girls night and  I had planned on providing lots of sweeties to munch on. 

One of the whole reasons we were getting together was so that Shae could hang out with everyone while she was in town.  Except I got a call from her late yesterday afternoon that she was in the hospital.  Long and details-you-don't-wanna-know story short, she's 32 weeks pregnant with placenta previa and some complications arose.  They immediately admitted her, and she's still there as I type.  :(  More on that later. 

So anyway, we were super bummed that she couldn't make it, but we still had fun with lots of laughs.  I mean, laughed until I cried.  My brownies, cupcakes, and chocolate covered rice crispy treats went over well.  Except I had some leftover so now I'm forced to eat them myself.  Darn.

This morning I got up and got ready for the day, then packed up Luke, the laptop and the movie Cars and headed to the hospital.  After getting Luke settled into his movie, I was able to spend upwards of 2 hours hanging out with Shae in the hospital.   In light of the circumstances, we had a pretty good time.  It's been so nice having her here and getting to hang out so much!  The doctor is keeping her over night, so I think (as long as she'll have me of course) I'll head back there in the morning.  Everyone say prayers that that little boy in her tummy stays put for a few more weeks, and that they are able to make it back to Abilene safely with no scares! 

When we came home today, I pulled out the sewing machine and finished an order I had from Etsy, then got to piddling around.  I think I may have come up with my latest design, which I'm gonna call Cutie Booties.  I want to do some quality control (read- wash and dry a couple of times to see how it holds up) before I unveil anything, but if it works out I'm thinking it could be a real crowd pleaser.  We'll see!

Also, I finally got smart tonight at brought out an extra lamp we have and put it next to the sewing machine.  It's so dark in that corner, I was literally squinting in my own living room just to see the thread.  I don't know why it took me so long to think of putting a lamp next to me.  I fancy myself as a pretty smart gal, but sometimes the obvious just really soars right over my head. 

New items!

*edit- If you are jumping over here from Kelly's Korner, welcome!  Don't let the date of July scare you, I just didn't have time to write a whole new post to link up, so I thought this one might do.  ;)  If you like what you see, please click on the Etsy button to the right to visit my shop!  Have a blessed day and happy shopping!*

Since you probably don't want to see more pictures/hear about more goo that drained from my son's ear, or listen to me rant about how dirty our bathrooms were and how now they are sparkling clean, I'll just say this....my dear friend Shae is in town and I got to spend the whole afternoon with her.  Yay! 

Now for the announcement......there are two new onesies in the shop!  Someone requested the "lil sis" onesie and so I just couldn't leave my boys out.  Having a boy has made me sensitive to the lacking of boy choices out there so it's my goal to AT LEAST have as many boy things as girl things, if not more!  Ha!  So check out a couple of more choices for the future men of our world. 

This Texas Momma on Etsy

p.s.- the both have a little something on the back!

Icky

Since Luke's clean sheets that I changed last night looked like this when he got up:

it called for a trip to the pediatrician's early.  The doctor said that he does have an infection, but the ear drum looks good, and the tubes are doing their job, hence the drainage.  She stuck these little wick things down in his ear and used THREE absorbing all the liquid that was down there.  He was a total champ, sitting patiently while they dug around.  But isn't that picture gross?   All from one ear in one night.  Poor kid. 

We came home, and didn't leave again.  I pulled out the fabric and am in the progress of making a couple of things to add to the Etsy site.  I'll let you know when new things are up!  Since I didn't leave the house once we  got home, and I and totally lost track of time in my craft, dinner was a little scrounged.  I'm not sure how long the baby carrots had been in the fridge, or the corn in the freezer, but a quick steam made them right as rain.  Add those to some bbq chicken and I was Cody's hero.  But a trip to the store tomorrow is a must.  Unless I want to scrounge some mac n cheese and pop tarts for dinner tomorrow night. 

I'll leave you with a sweet picture of Cody and Luke tonight.  Luke had the best time running with his daddy up and down the street.  Daisy loved it too!

Ya get whatcha pay for

This time I mean it in the good way....

To follow up on yesterday, last night he did have a lot of trouble sleeping.  I went in to rock him, and he was able to doze off when he was up right next to me, but when I laid him down the poor thing could not get comfortable.  At.  All.  He tossed and turned and moaned and whined and just wanted to hold my hand.  Finally at 11 I couldn't stand it anymore, so I told Cody I was putting him in our bed.  He agreed and we both dropped what we were doing and hit the sheets.  It only lasted 10 minutes though.  Luke thought the sleepover was a grand idea and kept whispering to us about it, as well as tossing and turning.  Which Cody's back got the brunt of.  At 11:10 Cody said he was done, he couldn't be kicked in the back anymore, to just give him the Motrin and put him in his own bed. 

I tried to give him the Motrin.  Really.  I did.  But he was fighting me so bad, and I didn't want to make him throw up, that Cody took over out of frustration with me and I ran out of the room so I didn't have to witness anything.  All I know is the medicine got down and he slept like a baby in his own bed. 

Today was a fun day.  This morning Luke and I went over to Mom and Dad's to say goodbye to Gran and Grandy before they left, then we made a quick trip to Wal Mart.  After Wallyworld we went back to Mom's for a quick lunch, put Luke down for a nap at their house, then Ashley and I hit the road to Sprinkles. 

And we found Sprinkles.  One of the huge benefits of living so very close to Dallas is being so very close to yummy places.  Like Sprinkles.  And their Key Lime cupcakes.  And their Mocha cupcakes.  Oh man, you haven't lived till you try those two flavors. 

On our way back home we passed a Pinkberry.  So what did we do?  Stop for yogurt.  Because nothing washes down a couple of cupcakes like frozen yogurt.  A LOT of self serve yogurt places having been popping up all over the place here in town, but only Highland Park has the original.  It was a tad bit more expensive than just the run of the mill yogurt place, but holy moly was it worth it.  I got the watermelon yogurt with strawberries on top, and it was the best.  The.  Best.  Normally yogurt's flavor is a bit subdue (at least to me), but this was crazy intense on flavor.  I believe I'll be going back. 

Then we came home, picked up Luke, and puttered around the house.  I cleaned the kitchen.  Did a couple of loads of laundry.  Gave Luke his ear drops.  Had to cuddle Luke for an hour afterwards because it was so traumatic.  2 days down, 8 more to go.  He was feeling back  to himself  today though.  And he went to sleep no problem.  Whew!  I do love that my sweet boy needs me sometimes though.  I love him so much, and any chance to give back that love makes me super happy.  This morning I was sitting with the laptop in my lap and he was pushing the c.d. drive open and close.  Finally I was annoyed enough to tell him to stop, that he couldn't push anymore buttons.  So what does he do?  He grabbed my thumb with his whole fist and used it to push the button to open it.  Who couldn't love that kid after that?

I jinxed it

Well, I said yesterday that I was going to spend another relaxing day at the pool today. 

Noooooot so much.

This morning Luke and I got ready for bible class and made it just in time.  After bible class I picked him up, and I noticed his right ear was oozing a little bit.  I took him to sit down and I stuck my pinkie in his ear to clean it out.  That's when I noticed the smell.  My poor baby had a smelly gunky ear.  That can't be good.  Then he wanted to go play outside and when I told him no, that's when all hell broke loose.  Normally when I tell him no he gets upset and then he gets over.  Today he could not get over it.  Once he started to cry it was like he couldn't stop.  At one point he was even that kid you hear in a prayer, when it's all nice and quite, suddenly scream bloody murder and start bawling.

Yep.  That was my kid.

I rushed him out the back door and I took him into the nursing room to rock him.  No, I do not nurse my two year old, but that room gets used the least out of any room and if he was contagious with something he would be the most isolated in there.  Finally after he was inconsolable for almost an hour I decided to take him to the emergency clinic.  I took him out the the Acute Kids and *grrrrrrrrr* they don't open until 12 and it was 11:30.  Of course.   So irritating.  That meant we had to go back to PrimaCare, the same I took him a couple of weeks ago.  Aaaaaaaaand the lady recognized him.  Once again, being the first at something isn't always a great thing. 

Anyway, after waiting there for 2 HOURS, I was told my sweet boy most likely has an inner ear infection.  There was so much goop in there the dr couldn't see anything.  Now he's on ear drops and an antibiotic and I need to make an appointment with the pediatrician for the end of the week. 

He's had trouble off and on all day today.  I put the drops in his ear and it's so congested it couldn't even get down into the canal.  And it took 15 minutes and a Capri Sun juice to get the antibiotic down without him gagging/throwing it back up.  And he's now been in bed for an hour and a half and he's still whimpering, not sleeping.  He keeps sticking his finger in his ear, which is probably not helping the situation.  I think it might be a long night.  We also had to skip life group tonight.  :(  That's two weeks in a row!

On top of all, the dr today said we shouldn't go swimming for at least a week.  At least!  My tan!  My tan I've worked so hard for!  Oh well.  There's always the back yard and garden hose during nap time if I'm desperate. 

Another surprising thing that happened tonight was the rain.  I know, rain in the forecast shouldn't really be a surprise considering the fact that it's rained for almost a month solid (although the past week has been clear skies with a heat index of 110.  Yikes).  But tonight I didn't even realize there were rain clouds out there until it suddenly started pouring so hard the house behind us was blurry.  All while the sky was orange.  Creepy?  Just a little. 

But on a positive note, do you see how green our lawn is?  And how the dead spot is filling in?  Who knew that all it needed was water?  The whole top left hand quarter used to be dead, but now it just looks like a little strip.  And my father in law came over yesterday and sprayed our lawn with some super serious stuff, so maybe our crab grass woes are going to be behind us soon!  If we keep this up we just might have a presentable yard next summer.

Pool days

I wish I had more to tell you from the last three days.  No, I take that back.  I'm glad I don't have anything to tell you.  Cause that would mean that we actually did something. 

We've spent the last three days at the pool.  Thursday was Justin's pool.  Friday was the water park (until nap time, then I ironed for the rest of the afternoon.  BORING!).  Today we were at Sara's mom's pool with her and Clint.  It was so relaxing, we're going back tomorrow. 

Seriously.  

I'm just making up lost time for the two weeks that it rained every day.  I've also decided I'm making February more depressing.  In February it's just cold.  No Christmas, no sun, no warmth.  And now I get to add "no tan" to that list.  I haven't been this tan in a very long time, so I'll be super bummed when it finally fades.   In February.  When it's just cold and depressing.

I keep forgetting to mention

My baby learned a few new words over the weekend....finally!  He's had Momma, Daddy ("dA-deeeeee"), and yessssssss down for a long time now.  This weekend he busted out with Nana (which sounds like more like Nan-neeeee), come on!, too tooo (for choo choo, meaning a train) and uh ohhhhhh.  He'll used uh oh appropriately most of the time, but some times not so much.  Mom also swears he was saying carry you this weekend, but I didn't get to hear that one.  He's now doing the sign for "brush teeth", which he loves to do, and he also wiggles his finger in his ear, which I figured out means he wants his temperature taken.  Aren't those funny signs for a kid to pick up and want to do? 

Today we mostly stayed at home.  Had dinner with a girlfriend at Chick Fil A before church.  Had yogurt at Tally's after church.  Bandaged Luke's ear.  What?  Yes.  He managed to get ahold of my razor and was "shaving" his face.  I thought I got it away from him before anything bad could happen, but a few minutes later there was blood dripping down his shoulder.  He had gotten a piece of his ear caught in the razor and shaved the skin off.  That things would NOT stop bleeding!  I had to put a band aid on it (his favorite thing.  Ug. Not a fan.) before we went to dinner and it was after church before it stopped bleeding.   Two hours.  I was starting to get worried!

And to top off everything else, someone was a little hunger and it seemed like my blush provided a tasty snack. 

Made it home

This morning we slept in until 9 again, whoo hoo!  Except that it made me more tired.  I felt like I was in a sleepy stupor all day.  Ashley and Luke and I drove home today (Mom is coming back with Gran and Grandy on Thursday) and I ended up sleeping part of the first half of the trip. 

The first half of the day we sat around.  We all watched cartoons, for Luke of course, but he ended up running off and we adults were still watching The Jetsons.  Lunch was huge and fabulous...the best brisket ever.  Luke only took a 45 minute nap.  Around 3 I went downtown with Mom and Ashely and Little Man to see how I was at taking pictures.  Turns out not that great, and the 100+ degree temperatures didn't help.  We were melting and Luke's rash looked like it was on fire.  :( 

I tried  so hard to get a good photo of Luke.  I couldn't get ANYTHING but his back!  Every time I had the camera up he would turn away. 

This was the closest I could get.  Pet the doggie?

Here is the movie theater and what used to be a fancy hotel.

There are paintings all over the walls.  One side of a building is covered in brand designs.  But then again, it is the building where you register your brand. (as in, the thing you burn into a cow to stake your claim)  (and not this picture, obviously this picture is of actual brands from companies.  I like to keep things confusing.)

And in one little side lot there are park benches just sitting there facing each other.  I've been going to this town my whole life and I've never seen this before. 

Since it was so hot we popped into some of the stores along the way to cool off.  Have I told you before how much Luke loves to shop?  He likes to go through the racks and pick things for me.  Sometimes it's embarrassing what he picks (like granny bras) but sometimes he makes good choices!

So obviously actual photographers don't have anything to worry about.  Any creativity or talent or whatever I have is limited to things involving fabric.  Not a shutter button.

Small town slow down

After being so busy and stressed the last few days, it was so good to get out of town.  Last night Mom, Ashley, Luke and I left town (at 9!) for a little trip up to my grandparent's for a couple of days.  The trip is 4 hours west, and normally Luke does really well in the car.  Have I said before how blessed I've been with him?  He fell asleep for about an hour and a half, but he woke up at midnight.  And he woke up mad.  I mean MAD.  He did. not. want. to. sit. anymore.  So we actually had to stop and let him walk around.

At midnight.  In a parking lot. 

Not dangerous at all. 

Eventually we made it to Gran and Grandy's, and got some sleep.  Whew.

This morning we got up to a lazy day.  My aunt, uncle, cousin, and her husband came over and visited.  We had lunch.  Luke napped.  We visited more.  Finally after Luke woke up we got our things together and headed to the lake house.  Oh me oh my, it was the perfect weather.  The temperature was perfect.  The breeze was perfect.  The peace was perfect.  The hamburgers for dinner was perfect.  It was......lovely. 

We talked.

We did bubbles.

We (okay just Luke) got some necked time.

He got to be necked because of this. 

Isn't that the saddest thing you've ever seen?  I'm not sure what's causing it, I talked  to his pediatrician's office today and it's probably just another little virus.  He's not itchy, he's not feverish, he's just spotty from knees to his face, and all the way down to his hands.  I didn't want to irritate it further with a wet bathing suit after we went swimming, so necked he was.  Only once did I catch him peeing, and that was off the back porch.  Do I have a boy or what?

Introducing.....

I have spent the last three days pinning, ironing, trimming, sewing, photographing, editing, describing.  Solid.  Nothing else.  No house cleaning.  No playing with my sweet boy.  No nothin.

But now it's finished.  And I'm hoping it was worth it, because I'm super proud of it. 

Introducing.........

This Texas Momma On Etsy!

I know there is a myriad of other baby things listed, but I've put myself out there.  Scary, but exciting.  So wish me luck, here I go!

p.s.- The horrific blue lettering up there is a link and it won't let me change the color.  Sorry about that. 

p.p.s.- Now I need to figure out how to make a button to put on the side bar of this thing for a permanent link to it for me and the 3 other people that read this.  Anyone out there know how?  And don't tell me to google it.  I'll give you the squinty eyes like I give Cody because he always says that.  If I wanted to google it I wouldn't be asking.  That's what I tell him.   Yeah.

p.p.p.s.- *edit*  When I published and went to view post the blue letters were gone and the pretty green was there.  Now back in edit mode it's purple.  Whatever color it's coming to you in, I hope it's a pretty on cause apparently I have no control.

Meddling boy and new hat

This is the summer of a thousand rains.  It has rained almost every day the last few weeks.  Not that my lawn is complaining.  Or my electric bill since the rain has brought slightly cooler weather.  But I live in Texas.  Not Seattle. 

When we first got up this morning, and it was still dark in the house, Luke decided he needed sun glasses.  Don't ask me why.  That's why he's got massive bed head and squinty eyes.  I think the only place you need sun glasses at 7:45 in the morning is the sun.

I spent the whole day sewing and cutting and pinning and measuring.  Most of it's going on my Etsy site, which *fingers crossed* should be up in the next few days, but Luke's hat won't be on there.  What do you think?

I had ordered a denim one from Etsy, and when it finally got here was too small.  Boo.  So I ripped all the seams out, used the pieces as a pattern, and made one bigger for him to wear.  This one is actually a little too big!  But it works, and I love it.  I lined the band and bill with a fun white/blue/green plaid. 

And finally tonight I was sweeping the floors (this rain has reeked havoc on my floors, everyone tracks in entire garden's worth of dirt each time a foot is stepped outside of the house) and while I was cleaning, it seems my boy was cleaning too.  I finished what I was doing and when I went to find him this is where he was.

That's shampoo in his hair.  Shampoo that he swirled around to scrub his hair. 

Now, in his defense he had actually asked me a couple of times to get in the bath, but I had told him no it wasn't time yet.  Well, he made it time.  I had no choice to turn on the water.  And I would have been more annoyed, but he was a super sweet boy today.  He's made it a point to come and give me lots and lots of hugs and kisses today.  He's also gotten into the habit of giving me lots of kisses when he's getting in trouble.  Cause who can be mad at that?  It really does give new meaning to "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you." since it just breaks my heart to discipline him.  Sometimes.

Seeeester's birthday

Today my little sister turned 23.  23!  I don't even remember what I did for my 23rd birthday.  Pssssh.  That was 4 years ago. 

This morning my friend Kristin came over to do some sewing.  She brought over her sewing machine and some fabric and wanted help with an apron to match some recipe cards/box for a shower gift, but she didn't need my help at all!  Girl was good!  She had found this cute ruffly one and  even though we only got half way done I could tell it was going to be the most darling thing.  I'm even thinking about making one and I don't cook!  Well, except I did cook (okay, bake) Ashley's birthday cake today.  I had a ton of left over fondant from Luke's cake last week and I wanted to use it up.  More on that later.  Anyway, it was so fun catching up with my friend!  We taught together my last year of teaching, and she was about the only face I truly enjoyed going to see everyday. 

Ashley picked to go for pizza and bowling for her birthday dinner.  We ate a Palio's, which is mmmmm-mmmm good, and thankfully we were just about the only people in there.  That meant Luke could get down and meddle all he wanted to after he ate without disturbing anyone.  Until he found salt on another table that is, and Daddy had to go snatch him up. 

Bowling was fun too, but I was reminded of how terrible I am.  We got through two games, and at the beginning of the first one I was almost winning.

But by the last frame I was in last place. 

Then for the second game we all did worse.  At least I was still on top then.

By the second game was over, I was just pitiful. 

I don't know what happened.  I went 4 frames without hitting a single pin. 

While Ashley, me, Dad, and Cody were bowling, Mom took charge of Cutie and let him run around the place.  He played with the balls

And drove around a little. 

Finally  it was back to the house to eat cake and open presents.  Now, my cake experience was better this time than the last two times I've tried this stuff.  I actually covered the whole thing in fondant, and it's really hard to get the side's smooth!  Not biggie I thought.  I'll just cover it with decorations.  Except when I dyed the fondant yellow I put in too much and it was waaaaaay bolder than I wanted.  Kristen told me it was kind of like a John Deer cake.  Not what I had envisioned.  But, it was all I had so I went with it.  I give you the clashing John Deer birthday cake. 

I let Luke have a whole entire slice, and man did he attack it.  Oh, he'll eat a cupcake with a fork, but a wedge of cake?  Let's just attack that puppy with our hands. 

There was icing EVERYWHERE. 

p.s.- I'm still black....

My Day Off

Okay, it was mostly my day off.  I had to do a little work before my day off started, and it's called.....I had to call the fire department.

Yesterday afternoon our carbon monoxide detector went off.  The one I bought almost exactly a year ago.  It didn't sound too urgent (? don't ask.) so I just popped open a couple of windows and it quit.  I figured if it went off again later after I shut the windows I would figure out what to do.  Well, it went off again at 11 last night.  Of course.  Cody and I tossed around the idea of going to spend the night at Mom and Dad's just to be safe, but we thought eh! we'll just pop a window again and deal with it in the morning.

So this morning bright and early at 8 (thank you Luke) I called the air conditioning company we've used before and asked them if they checked that kind of stuff.  She said no, we have to call the fire department.  Really?  Yes.  So I googled our fire department's number and gave them a buzz. Sure they can dispatch someone!  I went back to what I was doing, which was putting the couch cushion covers back on the couch since a little someone got yogurt all over them recently.  I figured the FD would show up in the next hour or so and contemplated putting on make up.  What if they were cute?

Three minutes later, I kid you not, I heard sirens.  Oh, that's sad, someone got in a wreck this early.  They got closer.  Some poor old person must have fallen and can't get up.  They stop in front of my house.

You read that right.  The big red truck.  With lights.  With sirens.  In front of my house.  There go the neighbors again. 

Apparently carbon monoxide is a super duper big deal.  Like, big deal.  He told me that if it really had been CM last night, the open window wouldn't have mattered and we'd be dead in a matter of minutes.  Thanks nice old man who isn't cute.  Glad I didn't get a chance to put on make up. 

They walked around the house, checked everything with their meter, and turns out we need our battery replaced.  Which they did.  That wasn't embarrassing at all.  Nope.  Not like having the neighbors peeking out their windows at the ruckus going on in front of our house.  Nah.  It also wasn't embarrassing that Luke took a liking to one of the fire men, who picked him up and took him out to see the truck. Wiiiiiiiiiith a dirty diaper.  I have never felt so trashy.  It all just happened so fast. 

After that ordeal, which was totally over by 8:30, I got Luke all fixed up for his Nana and Papa date today.  They came by at 10 and took him to the pool and then back to their house for lunch and a nap.  That meant I got most of the day to do whatever I wanted.  And what did I do?  Shop.  Right before I left the house I found something. 

Hmmmmm....that wasn't like that yesterday.......

I am/was looking for a certain kind of bead, so I went to a place in Denton that might have them.  Nope.  But I did just meander through several little shops and boutiques there in the old timey square.  I  lunched  alone at this little tea shop and there was an interesting table next to me.  It was an older woman with a late teen boy and girl.  They were talking about the meaning of the word wisdom and compassion.  Well, mostly the lady was talking, the boy and girl were pretty much just listening.  It was the oddest thing, and it was weird because not once did they bring up any spiritual aspect of it.  How can you talk about wisdom and compassion without talking about Christ?  That's like trying to describe a rain storm without acknowledging the clouds. 

Then I drove into Dallas to go to a bead store located close to Harry Hindes. They didn't have it either, so I just kinda drove up and down Harry Hindes to see if they had any more stores (read- bead or fabric) that I could go in.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I will never ever go on that road again.  And definitely not without a male escort.  Preferably my husband who would actually go to bat for me if something were to go down.  There are just no words to describe it.  I'll move on now.

After the strikes out I went to my redemption store, Quilter's Country here in town.  I picked up some fun fabric and then went to pick up my boy.  I sure did miss him. When we came home it was raining, and I tried to get him to play in the rain.  This was as close as he got. 

It's right before the water starts  dripping off the back of the house.

Later I got to painting my nails.  Since I have no money to get pedicures any more, I decided to give myself one.  For some reason I really needed to have something dark on my hands and feet, which is odd because I NEVER paint my finger nails.  Ever.  So I bought what I thought would work and I set out. 

That's after 4 coats.  I tried it on my fingers and I felt like a 12 year old girl.  It just wasn't dark enough.  So I ran back up to Walgreen's and I got black.  Yes, black.  I have never ever bever painted my nails black, or even anything remotely close to it.  But I just had to do it, and it had to be tonight.  It was almost like a craving.  Isn't that weird?  So yes, I did cut, file, and  paint my nails at 10 just now, and they look like this. 

Don't mind the mess, that stuff was hard to get even!  I'll fix it in the shower tomorrow. 

The 4th with no pictures

I know you are so disappointed to hear that.  No on slat of photographic evidence that what I'm describing actually took place?  Shame on me.  And shame on you for doing a silent cheer.  Just for that you're getting a freebie at the end. 

Saturday was cloudy as usual, and the threat of rain was I'm sure scary to some people as they wondered if the fireworks shows planned for that night would get rained out.  Good news.  It didn't.  And we didn't go see any shows that night.  What I DID do, was go shopping with my Momma during Luke's nap time.  It was glorious.  We "popped" into New York and Co. for a minute and they were having the most fantastic sale.  A good 75% of the store was priced at $9.99 and under!  Mom treated me to a new jean jacket, cardigan, sequined tank top, which would have normally cost us $130ish.  Ummmmm......it totaled only $26.  CA-RAY-ZEE.  What can I say?  My Momma likes to splurge on me.  ;)

After shopping I came home thinking Cody and I were going to take Luke to grab some dinner and hit up Toy Story 3, but Dillon was over and had convinced Cody to hit up the weeds out back.  So I'm definitely not complaining when I say we didn't make the movie.  We ended up still having a little family date though, we took Luke to the Blue Goose for dinner and then walked around the shopping center.  At one point we let him play in the pool/fountain and I was for sure he was going to fall in head first.  He didn't. 

Sunday was still overcast, but church was good.  And lunch at Outback afterwards with the in laws was good.  To finally get our 4th of July party on, we had Mom and Dad come get Luke while we headed to a party.  A swim party!  Whoo hoo!  Nothing says 4th of July like no kids, a pool, a hot grill, and loud music. Our friend Keith had everyone over.  When I say "everyone" I mean a whole crew of us from high school that still hang out and keep up.  We had the best time.  And this year I even watched the fire works show!  I was a little bummed that Luke couldn't experience them with me, but there's always next year.  Let's just say that it wasn't exactly a kid friendly party.  (Even though my dear friends were sweet enough to ask where he was and act disappointed he didn't come)  I know he was in good hands with Mom and Dad, who took him to one of THEIR friend's 4th of July party, which was kid friendly.  He got to swim in their pool, and was a  perfect angel.  Mostly.  There's a rumor that he threw a couple of fits, but if I don't see it, it doesn't happen.

Today I got to deal with the repercussions of not being home much this weekend.  There was a multitude of work clothes, wet towels, swim gear, and various articles of clothing EVERYWHERE, plus the giant pile of clean clothes that never got put away from doing laundry last Monday.  Needless to say I spent the entire day washing, drying, folding, ironing, and putting away laundry.  I didn't even to do any actual cleaning because that and just straightening the house took so long.  Oh well.  There's always tomorrow.   (which coincidental is the Stay At Home Momma's motto.  You have to say it at the staff meetings.)

And since I didn't risk getting my camera baby in danger by taking her to a party, the only pictures I have are from today.  Luke followed me in to the bathroom while I pottied (unfortunately a very common occurrence.  He hasn't learned "privacy" yet.) and just climbed right on into the bathtub.  Shoes and everything.  He attempted to turn on the water, but I NO NO NO!!!!ed him fast enough to stop that.

Back to slow

Life the last two days has slowed back down.  Down to a nice crawling pace.  Like, I haven't cooked the last two nights.  We've been eating leftovers from Luke's party.  What?!  If you know us well, you know we never ever eat leftovers.  But we've done it.  Twice.

Yesterday the only thing I did was meet up with a girlfriend for lunch.  It's a girl I taught with my very first year of teaching and we have kept in touch.  We laughed and shared over pizza, and my baby boy was PERFECT.  I'm not even kidding.  No fits.  No nothing.  He sat/stood in his chair and worked on a sucker.  He sat in my lap and worked on the sucker.  He was calm and perfect for two hours.  Miracle or what?

Today more of the same.  I took him to his two year well check this morning and once again he was perfect!  Not only in behavior but in his bill of health.  We've had such a good streak the last few months of no asthma related problems that I asked her if he was maybe growing out of it or was it just because of summer.  She said at this point it's probably just summer, we'll know more this winter.  But other than that, it's all good!  He's 27 lbs still, and 33 1/2 inches tall, which put him at the 25% on both.  People who think he is big for his age are crazy!  After that we stopped at Khol's on our way home to wander around.  I picked up a couple more plain little girl shirts to embellish....maybe start an inventory for an upcoming Esty shop?  :)  We'll just have to see. 

It also rained again today.  The beautiful, slow, summer rain with no wind or thunder.  Lovely.  I would have taken Luke out to play in it, but he isn't fond of the sprinkler getting him wet, so I figured the rain would be worse. 

And here's a close up of his precious eyes.  I call them hazel?

And here's a taste of our car collection now.  This is about half of it.  I was sitting right there in the middle of it playing on the computer.  I was a giant mountain in need of bulldozing.

Finally, just an FYI.....spell checker is finally back!  For the last SEVERAL months I've been without.  If I didn't know how to spell something I would either hope no one noticed or Googled it.  Mostly hoped no one noticed.  Which probably didn't go over very well, so sorry about that.  I spell about as well as I can navigate places, and I couldn't get myself out of a paper bag with both ends opened up.  What I'm saying is I'm terrible at spelling and directions.  But now spelling will be checked!