Friday Fragments

There are a bunch of little things that happen during the week that don't all deserve their own blog post, but they are still worth remembering, or they make me think, or they just plain amuse me and I want to share.  So Friday Fragments is a great way to get all those little things out!

*The mail man came to my house THREE times yesterday! First he brought regular, everyday mail.  Then he came back and brought a package.  That wasn't too weird since he normally brings packages back by truck after they walk the route.  But then he came back, again in the truck, the third time to bring 1 tiny political flier.  I could have done without that one!

*Caroline is almost 16 months old and already knows that when she takes her clothes off they go in the hamper. Proud mom!  Lets see if this continues into her teenage years.

*I want to make Caroline a Halloween costume this year, but I can't figure out what I want her to be.  Last year she got too hot in the costume we bought because it was still almost 80* here and I think it's going to be that way again this year. 

*Since we are not finding out whether Baby Roo is a boy or a girl I'm crocheting a pink blanket and a blue blanket so that we can use whichever one is appropriate.  I started with blue... and I'm only 1/2 done.  Time to pick up the pace because I still have a quilt to make too! 

*I'm super picky about any purse that I buy.  And I'm not one to spend more than $50.  So I've been carrying around a purse for the last couple of weeks that has 2 rips and a zipper that is almost completely falling off because I can not find one that I like to replace it.  I'm to the point of just toting my wallet instead of carrying the whole purse. 

*Shopping for Christmas this year is giving me hives already!  I'm much more excited about figuring out what we're going to do for a Christmas card photo. 

Come on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time to link up your own Friday Fragments if you've got random stuff bouncing around in your noggin!

Dinner time

Since I'm a stay-at-home-mom now, I feel more responsibility and pressure to make home cooked meals and keep my house cleaner.  Neither of which I am actually very good at. 

My standards for a clean house are not that high.  Everything is tidy and safe for my sweet girl.  But I could care less about the dust on fan blades or washing base boards.  I hope to get better about that by getting on a cleaning schedule, but that's not what I'm working on right now. 

The current focus of my attention is cooking more.  Making more "real" food and staying away from the frozen convenience food.  Hubby sure does like that fake food though.  He's pretty picky -ok, extremely picky- when it comes to eating, and he basically only likes that fast fake food.  He's giving me some grief about this new plan, but I know its best for us all in the long run.  Especially for my sweet girl.  She is developing her eating habits now and I don't want her to be picky like Aaron.  I want her to be adventurous.  I want her to enjoy veggies and have a favorite meal that she requests for birthday dinners. 

Anyway, I've been working on it for the last week or two, but this week is really backfiring so far.  Last night I made spaghetti sauce from scratch instead of opening a jar.  I used my mom's recipe, which I LOVE.  But I used twice as much tomato sauce as I was suppose to and it ended up being kinda gross.  (I'm blaming it on pregnancy brain.)  I didn't make any strides in convincing Aaron that this cooking was a good thing. 

Then this morning I set up the crock-pot nice and early to make chicken & dumplings.  It didn't turn out anything like the recipe said it should.  I actually thought it turned out pretty tasty though.  BUT it didn't look good at all!  Caroline ate it up.  Aaron, again, was not impressed at all. 

Tomorrow night I'm making my favorite homemade mac & cheese... and for my Kraft blue box guy, I don't think it's going to go over well.  If I just keep it up, he'll get use to it right?  Eventually I'll be able to change his decades worth of conditioning to like over processed, frozen food... I hope.  Until then I'm going to enjoy these real foods, because I've missed them for the last 5 years.  And it's time for a change - I'm so tired of eating the same stuff over and over and over again.

girlfriends

In high school I had 2 close girlfriends.  Most weekends Sara, Aimee and I were hanging out at football games, going to the movies, shopping, going out to eat, or spending the nights at each other's houses (never mine, but that's another story).  We talked on the phone for hours each night.  I had shoe boxes full of notes that we wrote to each other during the school day.  We were tight.

But I didn't tell them everything.  In fact, I didn't tell them much of anything that really mattered.  I keep my feelings, worries & excitement, close to the heart.  I blamed it on being an introvert.  But the truth is, I don't really trust anyone but myself with my deepest feelings and thoughts. 

My trust issues were highlighted when I went to college and had to make all brand new friends.  It was HARD!  Since I don't open up easily, not many people want to open themselves up either.  I stayed at my first school for 2 years without any close friends.  There was no one that I could talk to about everything.  No one that I shared exciting or sad news with.  If I needed to tell someone something I called my boyfriend 4 hours away or called my mom.  If I just needed to get something off my chest, I wrote it down in a journal. 

The point of all this... finally... is that I haven't had "close" girlfriends in more than 10 years.  And even then, I wouldn't say that they knew me inside and out.  As I'm getting older I am realizing more and more how wonderful those relationships can be.  And I'm feeling left out.  I'm feeling like I'm missing something important. 

I have lots of friends, but they all have other best friends.  It's my fault.  I don't open up.  I make it hard to get to know the real me.  It's the way I've been all my life.  But now I want to change.  I want to open up and have a best friend.  Someone that I can talk to about anything, any time.  Someone that knows me better than I know myself.  Someone that I can talk to when I'm frustrated with my husband or when my daughter does something super cute. 

This isn't going to be easy for me.  And I need to start slow.  So I'm going to start being more open and honest here.  Like a journal would be.  I hope that if I can get in the habit of sharing my life more easily with the unseen, unknown people of the internet then it will translate into me being more open in the rest of my life. 

*I don't know how my husband ever got me to open up to him.  It must have been a God thing.  I'm incredibly happy that I can be myself with him and that he knows me better than I know myself.  But sometimes you just need a girl to talk to.  A girl's perspective.  Someone to talk about your husband to.  :) *

need direction

before i get started let me say that i am blessed to be able to stay home with my sweet girl.  it is something that i've always wanted to do.  i love being here with her!  and i'm over the moon thankful for my amazing husband who works his tushy off to make it all possible.
now, with that being said, let's get to the point.  i'm lost. 

for the first time in my memory i don't have a schedule or an agenda.  and i've come to realize that i have no idea how to budget my time without the influence of a job or school to guide my time. my to-do list keeps getting longer, but i'm not getting anything done.

• of course there are things that need to be done around the house like dishes, grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry. 
• and more importantly there is the time i get to spend with my girl.  i want to play with her, teach her, create with her, and explore with her. 
• there's crafting time.  i've got closets, drawers & a brain full of ideas, fabric, paper, pens, wood, batting, thread, ribbon, buttons, stickers, paint etc and it is sitting there more neglected now that i'm home all day then it was when i had a full time job.
• hubby time.  my guy is working his tushy off to make it possible for me to be home and i want to make his life easier if & when i can.  not to mention carving out time for date night.
• me time.  now that i'm not around adults all day 5 days a week its more important for me to carve out the time to get together with other adults and recharge my batteries. 

waiting around hoping i will figure this out hasn't worked for the last 4 months so its time for a plan.  this is going to be a work in progress for sure.  but its time to get back to some of my teaching roots and start some "lesson" plans.  as soon as nap time is over we're headed to the store to get a planner and make this official.  but while sweet girl is still sleeping i better get the dishes washed so i can check 1 thing off my to-do list!

Caroline's 15 month stats

I should have been doing this after all her checkups just to keep track of how she's growing, but better late than never!  (All the pictures are from my phone and the main subject never sits still - please excuse the quality!)

Just before we left for the doctor yesterday Scoot pulled my water bottle down off the table and gave herself a giant bruise on her forehead.  Add that to the black eye she has from running into the side of a chair and I'm surprised they didn't question me for child abuse!  Bruises are part of the package though when your kid is half monkey - half clumsy.  See what I mean?!



On to the stats:

• 23lbs 2 1/2 oz. 
• 31 inches tall
• words she signs : more, all done, milk, juice, please, thank you, eat, help
• words she says: dada, mama, pop (for my dad), up, all done, thank you, bye bye, night night, apple, ball, dog
• she eats any and all fruits, but is "taking a break" from eating any veggies.  meat is also on her "maybe, maybe not" list, but she's always up for crackers.
• she doesn't like to drink milk at all!  and she prefers for her juice cup to be full all the time, if it gets to halfway she signs "more"
• she's obsessed with elmo, even though we never watch elmo.  the new rock-n-roll elmo commercials & target displays get rock star reactions from her!
• she just learned how to get on the couch by herself.  nothing is safe!
• she loves her "bank" and sleeps with it all the time.  i'm thinking of making a smaller, travel size blanket just to have as back up.
• she sucks her thumb when she is tired, but ONLY when she is holding bank.
• favorite toys: my cell phone, the remote, shoes, DVD cases, balls, crayons, books & her baby. 
• she's going to be a GREAT big sister in March!

my 'duh' moment

The three of us were sitting at dinner last night and Aaron was telling a story which involved very important hand gestures, sound effects, and facial expressions.  One of those sound effects was making a fart sound with his hand.  Wouldn't you know, with just one demonstration, my sweet, innocent 15 month old daughter picked up that lovely talent perfectly! 

And I thought, I want to remember this.  I want to write this down.  I want this recorded.  But I didn't want to put it on facebook or in her baby book.  Well DUH I do have a neglected blog where I could document such simple every day funny moments! 

my girl and her daddy

So here's to remembering that I have this place to record the moments of my family's life!

an end to the 5 month hiatis

Where are you even suppose to start if you've been outta touch for 5 months?!

Let's hit the highlights real quick ...

• I quit my job. I won't be going back to teaching in August. It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I'm going to miss my kids, the teachers, and the school! But I just couldn't stand the feeling of leaving my girl every day. I wasn't giving my kindergartners my best. I wasn't giving my daughter my best.
• I'm hoping to start an Etsy shop soon! I'm working right now to build up an inventory. I want to be able to give people choices right from the beginning so I've got to get busy!
• I've been in a major decluttering mood and anything in our house that isn't breathing is subject to being trashed, thrifted, or sold.
• Scoot celebrated her first birthday in June. That has to be the fasted year in the history of my life!! She is amazing and I'm so excited and blessed to be able to spend every day with her now!
• I'm actually up to date with my project 365! I've taken a picture every day for a little more than the first half of 2011! wowzers! I love this project!

My goal is to start recording more of life here. To keep my "journal" more updated and not let 5 months go by before I tell a funny story about my sweet girl.